The
Aborigines Welfare Board (formerly the Aborigines Protection
Board) was the main
NSW state government agency responsible for implementing and
administering the laws and policies affecting Aboriginal people
in NSW from 1883 to 1969. For more information on the Board go
to the State
Records NSW fact sheet.
The policies of the Board controlled
most parts of Aboriginal people’s lives, from the removal
of children, access to health, education, employment and housing
of Aboriginal people
on stations and reserves.
The Board was responsible for the removal
of over five thousand Aboriginal children from their families. In
many cases,
the children were placed
directly into forced service as domestic or farm labourers or they
were put into children’s homes, such as Bomaderry Childrens
Home, Cootamundra
Girls Home and Kinchela Boys Home (Kempsey).
Until it was abolished in 1969, the Board
kept detailed records on individual children and families that were
removed, including correspondence, school reports, educational and
health information. Not all these records, however, have survived. View
the Department of Aboriginal Affairs Family Records Unit Fact
Sheet on the Welfare Board files.
List of reports >>
