Introduction
The history regarding the legislation and separation of Aboriginal children from family, community, Culture and Country in Victoria is outlined in the Bringing Them Home Report.6 The following section uses historical records to expand on the legislation that was in place from 1869 to remove Aboriginal children in Victoria with an understanding that removals occurred prior to this time. It is important to note that historical records do not detail a complete and accurate history of the numbers of Aboriginal children separated from family or the policies and practices that allowed removals. As such the information below is not a complete history of Stolen Generations in Victoria but that which could be located from a preliminary search of historical records held in various state and national archives.
Please be advised that some of the terminology within the quotes and references from the historical records used in this section may be considered derogatory or offensive. The terms used represent historical attitudes towards Aboriginal people and does not represent the current views of those involved in authoring this report.
The Protection Board
Victoria was the first state in Australian to enact a ‘Protection Act’ that enabled Aboriginal children to be separated from their family, community, Culture and Country.
In 1869 the Victorian Government passed the ‘Act to provide for the Protection and Management of the Aboriginal Natives of Victoria’ and the ‘Board for the Protection of Aborigines’ [the Protection Board] was established in 1871.7 In 1871 the regulations formalised the separation of Aboriginal children from family, stating: ‘The Governor may order the removal of any aboriginal child neglected by its parents, or left unprotected’ to the missions at Coranderrk, Lake Wellington, Lake Tyers, Lake Condah, Framlingham, Lake Hindmarsh or ‘to an industrial or reformatory school.’8 During this era many of the missions had dormitories in existence where children were removed to.9
The 1869 Act was amended in 1886 and 1890 when it became known as the ‘Aborigines Act 1890’.10 This new legislation continued the Protection Board’s power to remove children to and from ‘stations’ [missions named in the 1869 Act above], orphanages or the Industrial Schools Department.11 In 1888 two children under the control of the Protection Board were removed to Brighton Orphanage.12
The legislation introduced in 1890 also gave the Protection Board the power to apprentice any child over the age of fourteen to work ‘for any person or persons of approved respectability’ under the oversight of the Board.13 The Bringing Them Home Report further states that during this era ‘families refusing to consent to the removal of their children were told they would have to leave the stations [missions] and would be denied rations.’14 The 1890 Act continued until 1915.15
The Protection Board reported on children who were separated from family in 1890: ‘Under the new regulations approved of by Your Excellency in Council, the Board have been able to place 28 half-caste girls in service with approved families, and the girls are doing well.Several boys have been apprenticed, and six little orphans have been transferred to the Orphanage and Industrial Schools.’16
Around 1900 it appears there were some changes in Protection Board policy driven by the practice of assimilation. In 1900 the Protection Board stated on this ‘… after careful inquiry, the practice of transferring these half-caste children on leaving the station schools to the Department for Neglected Children has been adopted; and the system of training the boys on the farm at Bayswater, and the girls at the home for domestic service, has been working remarkably well.’17 The same year the Head of the Department for Neglected Children provided the following information on these children who had been separated from family: ‘The Aborigines Board has for some years past been in the habit under their Act of from time to time transferring half-caste children who were orphans to this Department … Consequently [in 1900] … ten children - two girls and eight boys - were transferred to this Department…’ It was reported that of the ten children removed 5 were sent to Bayswater Training Farm, 3 were placed in ‘service’, 1 was released back to his parents and 1 passed away.18
Between 1901 and 1905 the Protection Board reported that between 4 and 13 children under control of the Department were residing in Industrial Schools and Orphanages annually.19 The Protection Board did not report regularly on these removals.
The ‘Aborigines Act 1915’ and the ‘Aborigines Act 1928’ continued the Protection Boards power to remove and apprentice Aboriginal children.20 The Protection Boards power to separate Aboriginal children from family, community, Culture and Country was enforced until 1957 when the Aboriginal Welfare Board was established.
From the 1921 until 1954 Aboriginal people in institutions were recorded in the ‘Victorian Year Books’, generally under 20, however it was not further specified how many were children.21 In 1930 it was recorded in the Children’s Welfare Department and Reformatory Schools annual report that three children had been admitted as neglected under the ‘Aborigines Act 1928’.22 It is very unusual that these statistics were recorded in these reports.
Research found that by the end of the Protection Board era, between 1956 and 1957, 150 Aboriginal children were in institutions, more than 10% of the Aboriginal children in Victoria at that time.23
The Welfare Board
As stated in the Bringing Them Home Report, ‘In 1955 the newly elected Premier Henry Bolte commissioned Charles McLean to review and recommend changes to Victoria’s Aboriginal affairs policy.’24 During McLean’s inquiry between 1955 and 1957 the following information about the removal of Aboriginal children was recorded:
24 children were removed from Mooroopna by the police and committed to the care of the Children's Welfare Department by the Children's Court’25
During the inquiry it was stated that 16 Aboriginal children were in institutions in the ‘Metropolitan’ region of Victoria and 3 in other institutions.26
26 Aboriginal children had been ‘committed to Children’s Welfare Department’ between April and July 1956.27
The outcome of the McLean inquiry was the ‘Aborigines Act 1957’ which replaced the former 1928 Act and established the ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’ [the Welfare Board].28 The Welfare Board remained in power until 1967. This Act, and those following it, discontinued the power to apprentice children over the age of 14 and did not include any provisions with regards to the Board’s power to separate children from family, community, Culture and Country.29
Previous research found that following this change in legislation Aboriginal children in Victoria were removed under the Child Welfare Act 1954. By 1962 there were 86 Aboriginal children in the care of the Children’s Welfare Department.30
As the following information indicates, although the Welfare Board was not legislated to do so they remained involved with separating children from family by providing funding, oversight and formal advice with relation to children in care:
- The Bringing Them Home Report states that the Welfare Board: ‘… could notify the police that it was concerned about a particular child and thereby initiate forcible removal action.’31 Additionally the Welfare Board worked with Victoria Police in 1961 to develop procedures to ensure that they were notified of any Aboriginal child bought before the court on a child protection application.32 This indicates police accepted the Welfare Board’s authority to oversee Aboriginal child removals.
- Between at least 1959 and 1965 the Welfare Board provided formal advice on removals of children to institutions and foster care.33 In 1965 the Welfare Board stated: ‘Occasionally Welfare Staff [Social Welfare Department] make a direct approach to negotiate the placement of children and the Board has met the costs involved’ again indicating formal involvement with the removal processes at the time’.34 In 1966 a member of the Welfare Board, and also Director of the Family Welfare Division, Social Welfare Department stated in a speech that the Family Welfare Division used the advice of the Welfare Board ‘on whether [Aboriginal] children should be returned to their family’s care’35 This indicates institutions and government staff accepted the Welfare Board’s authority to oversee Aboriginal child removals.
- Between at least 1959 and 1964 the Welfare Board paid ‘maintenance’ fees to institutions and foster parents where Aboriginal children were held indicating they had an authority to oversee child welfare payments for Aboriginal children.36
- Between 1960 and 1962 Aboriginal Welfare Board staff visited various children’s institutions housing Aboriginal children, Winlaton, Bayswater Salvation Army Boys Home and Gordon Boys Home, indicating they had some formal oversight on the children within these institutions.37
- Previous research found that the Welfare Board were also involved with the ‘supervision of interstate placements of Aboriginal children by Northern Territory and Queensland authorities’. Another record shows that Victorian Aboriginal children removed in NSW Children’s Court were released to Victoria ‘if they placed themselves under the control of the Victorian Welfare Board’.38 Both examples indicate that the Board was seen as a formal representative to oversee Aboriginal children’s removals across jurisdictions.39
The Welfare Board was one of the private adoption agencies approved under the 1964 Adoption Act.40 In 1965 the Board made ‘an application for registration as a private adoption agency’ and in 1966 it was noted that the Welfare Board had been approved to operate as an adoption agency.41 The 1966 Welfare Board developed a procedure on adoptions which indicates they were also involved with interstate adoption of Aboriginal children.42 Previous research found that the Welfare Board arranged between 7 and 15 adoptions prior to 1968.43
Records also indicate that the Welfare Board reported irregularly on numbers of children removed and the reasons for continued child removals in Victoria further indicating an official oversight of the Aboriginal children who were in out of home care.
- In late 1958 the Welfare Board conducted a census of Aboriginal children in institutions and found a total of 90 children. 72 were Aboriginal wards of the state, of these 65 were in children’s homes and seven ‘boarded out’. 18 children were residing in other forms of institutions including 12 in hospitals.44
- In 1959 the Welfare Board reported that ‘generally Aboriginal housing throughout the State is undoubtedly the lowest standard of all poor housing’ and as a consequence children ‘have been placed under the care of hospitals and welfare departments’. They also reported at this time that 130 Aboriginal people [not further specified] were residing in ‘institutions etc’, however the report did not clarify how many of these were children.45
- In 1966 the Welfare Board stated, ‘Aboriginal children are much more likely to become state wards’ and ‘Aboriginal children placed in Homes conducted by religious and voluntary societies are usually there as a result of wardship’. 46
- Also in 1966 a member of the Welfare Board, and also the Director of the Family Welfare Division, Social Welfare Department stated in a speech that ‘about 100’ of 5200 wards of the state were Aboriginal children.47
Although the Welfare Boards official policy was to keep children with families ‘rather than admitted to the care of the Social Welfare Department’ records do not indicate that any practice of upholding this policy existed.48
Previous research found that voluntary organisations dominated the role of placing of Aboriginal children in institutional or foster care during this time period.49 It is evident in historical records that the Welfare Board worked closely with Save The Children Fund and organisations such as the Apex Clubs or the Country Women’s Association with regards to Aboriginal child welfare matters.50
Records also indicate during this time period, a number of children were separated from family due to a lived experience of disability or under the pretext of educational advancement.51
Previous research summarised this era of the Welfare Board: ‘In the absence of specific legislation Aboriginal children became wholly subject to the general system of child welfare and juvenile justice. There was also a continuation of ‘informal’ removal of children… and Aboriginal children continued to be over-represented in the young offenders system…’ 52
The Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs
The Welfare Board was abolished in 1967 with the Aboriginal Affairs Act 1967. Under this new legislation, the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs [The Ministry] was established on 1 January 1968 and an Aboriginal Affairs Advisory Council consisting of six Aboriginal people was established in February 1968.53
The Ministry was primarily funded by the Commonwealth Government and was designed to ‘provide housing and housing loans, educational assistance, health and medical care, employment and training, rehabilitation and welfare programs, legal aid’ and coordination ‘of the activities of voluntary organisations concerned with the welfare of Aborigines’ among other agendas.54
Although the Ministry was not the lead agency in child welfare, records indicate that they had some significant oversight of the Aboriginal children who were in care until at least 1971 as noted below.55
- In their first Annual Report in 1968, the Ministry noted that they were aware of ‘unauthorised fostering arrangements of Aboriginal children’ and stated that ‘over 300 Aboriginal children had been informally separated from their parents’ with possibly many more unknown.’56 The Director of Aboriginal Affairs at this time stated in the media that these children were illegally or unofficially adopted into non-Indigenous families.57
- The following year in 1969 the Ministry reported that after investigation it was found that ‘many of the children had become separated from their natural parents following hospitalisation and the need for temporary accommodation while receiving out-patient treatment’. The Ministry stated that to address this issue they were establishing an Aboriginal family group home with the intention of employing Aboriginal couples to be house parents.58 In 1970 the Ministry reported that one family group home, Wirraminna in Essendon, had been established, for the purpose of ‘alternative accommodation for Aboriginal wards of the state’, five children were living in that home at the time and six in 1973 and 1974.59
- In 1968 an amendment to the 1967 Act was implemented and this governed that ‘…where an Aboriginal child is the subject of any proceedings before a Children’s Court and the informant is a member of the police…’ the police official was to notify the Ministry’s Director of the Aboriginal Affairs.60 The Bringing Them Home Report states that once notified the Aborigines Advancement league would then be notified of the court case so that the child could be legally represented.61
- In 1971 the Ministry had oversight on the of the transfer of Aboriginal children in a family group home St Cuthbert’s Home, Colac to the Ministry family group home Wirraminna in Essendon. Records indicate that the Ministry, after seeking advice of the Social Welfare Department, had the final authority on the movements of these Aboriginal children in state care.62
By 1973 there had been a significant increase in reported numbers of Aboriginal children in out of home care. 220 Aboriginal children were recorded as in out of home care, 120 more then was reported 6 years earlier in 1966.63 By 1974 there were 323 Aboriginal children were in recorded in out of home care, it was estimated this equalled 1 out of every 6 Aboriginal child was a ward of the state at that time.64
The Ministry was decommissioned in 1974 with the introduction of the Aboriginal Affairs (Transfer of Functions) Act. Under this legislation responsibility for Aboriginal Affairs transferred from Victoria Government to Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs.65
Social Change
Social changes around the separation of Aboriginal children from family began to occur in Victoria following the closure of the Ministry and due to the long-standing advocacy of the Aboriginal community including Stolen Generations and Aboriginal community organisations.
The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service was established in 1973 and according to the Bringing Them Home Report appeared for Aboriginal children in the Children’s Court, however it appears this process was not formalised within child protection policies until around 1979.66
The Victorian Aboriginal Child Placement Agency, later renamed the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA), was established in late 1976 and began receiving federal government funding in 1978.67 In 1977 VACCA had 205 clients and 5.5 staff on board.68
The numbers of Aboriginal children who were wards of the state at this time were still high, 350 Aboriginal children in 1976, reducing to 270 Aboriginal wards of the state by 1979.69
In 1977 and 1978 the Victorian Social Welfare Department issued a policy that regarded VACCA as the official spokesperson on ‘Aboriginal Juvenile Welfare’. According to this policy VACCA was to be present at all case planning and review meetings about Aboriginal wards of the state, departmental quarterly meetings about policy and practice and at foster care conferences. By 1979 VACCA were also present on an Adoption Committee and were to be consulted with on Aboriginal adoptions although in 1983 VACCA reported this did not always occur.70 Consultation with VACCA may not have always occurred within fostering as a Bringing Them Home Oral History Project recording states that a Stolen Generations person, born in 1977, was removed in 1979 into foster care and then to Wirraminna Family Group Home in Essendon. The oral history summarises that despite numerous instances of her parents attempting to return her to their care she was instead made a ward of the state. Her mother was also a Stolen Generations person.71
In 1979 and 1980 the Victorian and Commonwealth governments formalised this policy with a focus on VACCA’s role in child protection, on providing cultural safety support for non-Indigenous foster and adopted parents of Aboriginal children, on cultural safety support for Aboriginal children in institutions, emphasis on fostering rather than adopting Aboriginal children, on supporting Aboriginal families to foster children from their local region and preventative family support programs. It was stated at this time that further development was needed in Victoria to provide training on the needs of Aboriginal children in foster care, to increase placing Aboriginal children with extended family or community members and to improve housing conditions which were often the principal issue that led to the removal of Aboriginal children.72
This led to legislative change in the 1980s when the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle was legislated in the 1984 Adoption Act and 1989 Child Protection Act. The Aboriginal Child Placement Principle at the time required under legislation that an Aboriginal agency must approve or be consulted with regarding the placement of an Aboriginal child in care or in adoption.73
The Bringing Them Home Report found this legislation was further put into practice in 1992 when a procedure between the Department of Health and Community Services and VACCA was signed. It affirmed VACCA’s right to be consulted and involved in the case management of Aboriginal children in care.74 Almost 80% of Indigenous children in out-of-home care in Victoria were placed with Indigenous carers at the end of June 1996.75
End notes
6 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997, Bringing Them Home Report
7 Victoria Government, 27 October 1871, Victorian Government Gazette, no.68; Victoria Government, 11 November 1869, ‘An Act to provide for the Protection and Management of the Aboriginal Natives of Victoria’
8 Victoria Government, 24 February 1871, Victorian Government Gazette, no.15
9 Victoria Government, 12 September 1890, Victorian Government Gazette, no.81; Find and Connect, Coranderrk Children’s Asylum and Dormitory 1863-1924; Find and Connect, Ramahyuck Aboriginal Mission Dormitory [Lake Wellington] 1863-1900 [dormitory years]; Find and Connect, Lake Condah Mission Dormitory 1867-1919; Find and Connect, Ebenezer Mission Dormitory [Lake Hindmarsh] 1859-1904; ‘Board for the Protection of the Aborigines’, 10 August 1872, 8th Report of The Board for the Protection of the Aborigines [Framlingham children’s quarters]; Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997, Bringing Them Home Report [Lake Tyers]
10 Victoria Government, 16 December 1886, ‘The Aborigines Protection Act 1886’ [operated in conjunction with the 1869 Act]; Victoria Government, 16 May 1890, Victorian Government Gazette, no.43; Victoria Government, 10 July 1890, ‘Aborigines Act 1890’
11 Victoria Government, 16 May 1890, Victorian Government Gazette, no.43; Victoria Government, 10 July 1890, ‘Aborigines Act 1890’
12 ‘Board for the Protection of the Aborigines’, 13 October 1888, 24th Report of The Board for the Protection of Aborigines
13 Victoria Government, 16 May 1890, Victorian Government Gazette, no.43
14 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997, Bringing Them Home Report; Victoria Government, 1 December 1899, Victorian Government Gazette, no.101; Victoria Government, 23 September 1908, Victorian Government Gazette, no.113
15 Victoria Government, 6 September 1915, ‘Aborigines Act 1915’; Victoria Government, 13 September 1916, Victorian Government Gazette, no.172
16 ‘Board for the Protection of the Aborigines’, 4 October 1890’, 26th Report of The Board for the Protection of the Aborigines
17 ‘Board for the Protection of the Aborigines’, 5 September 1900’, 36th Report of The Board for the Protection of the Aborigines
18 ‘Board for the Protection of the Aborigines’, 3 September 1901, 37th Report of The Board for the Protection of the Aborigines
19 ‘Board for the Protection of the Aborigines’, 3 September 1901, 37th Report of The Board for the Protection of the Aborigines; ‘Board for the Protection of the Aborigines’, 10 September 1902, 38th Report of The Board for the Protection of the Aborigines; ‘Board for the Protection of the Aborigines’, 8 October 1903, 39th Report of The Board for the Protection of the Aborigines; ‘Board for the Protection of the Aborigines’, 4 October 1904, 40th Report of The Board for the Protection of Aborigines; ‘Board for the Protection of the Aborigines’, 12 October 1905, 41st Report of The Board for the Protection of Aborigines [There are no further reports of this nature following 1905.]
20 Victoria Government, 6 September 1915, ‘Aborigines Act 1915’; Victoria Government, 13 September 1916, Victorian Government Gazette, no.172; Victoria Government, 12 February 1929, ‘Aborigines Act 1928’; Victoria Government, 13 May 1931, Victorian Government Gazette, no.100
21 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Victorian Yearbooks 1920-1954
22 Children’s Welfare Department, 1925-1961, Annual Report Children’s Welfare Department 1930, VPRS 5694/P1
23 Victoria Government, August 1996, Final Submission, Part 1, National Inquiry into the Separations of Aboriginal Children and Torres Strait Islander Children from their families.
24 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997, Bringing Them Home Report
25 Victoria Government, 1957, ‘Report Upon the Operation of The Aborigines Act 1928 and the Regulations and Orders Made Thereunder’
26 Victoria Government, 1955-1956, McLean Inquiry – Notes on Country visits, Item ID 1073170; Victoria Government, 1956, McLean Inquiry – Police reports and population details, Item ID 1073176
27 Victoria Government, 1956, McLean Inquiry – Police reports and population details, Item ID 1073176
28 Victoria Government, 11 June 1957, ‘Aborigines Act 1957’; Victoria Government, 24 July 1957, Victorian Government Gazette, no.207
29 Victoria Government, 27 August 1958, Victorian Government Gazette, no.80, [known as 1958 ‘Aborigines Welfare Regulations’]; Victoria Government, 30 September 1958, ‘Aborigines Act 1958’; ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’, 30 June 1959, Report of the Aborigines Welfare Board 1958-1959, [No changes to 1958 Regulations when 1958 Act passed]
30 Haebich, A., 2000, Broken Circles: Fragmenting Indigenous Families 1880-2000, Fremantle, Fremantle Arts Centre Press; Victoria Government, August 1996, Final Submission, Part 1, National Inquiry into the Separations of Aboriginal Children and Torres Strait Islander Children from their families
31 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997, Bringing Them Home Report
32 ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’, February 1962, Minutes of meetings – Aboriginal Welfare Board 1962-1964, Item ID 1338541
33 ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’, February 1959, July 1959, Minutes of meetings – Aboriginal Welfare Board 1959-1961, Item ID 1046524; ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’, Minutes of meetings – Aboriginal Welfare Board 1962-1964, August 1964, Item ID 1338541; ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’, November 1965, Minutes of meetings – Aboriginal Welfare Board 1965-1967, Item 3019138; Victoria Government, January 1996, Interim Submission, Part 1, National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal Children from their families
34 ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’, 30 June 1965, Report of the Aborigines Welfare Board 1964-1965
35 ‘Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs’, 1966-1974, Third Victorian Aboriginal Congress speech by Mr A.G. Booth 11 June 1966, Item ID 31532602
36 Aborigines Welfare Board’, August 1959, Minutes of meetings – Aboriginal Welfare Board 1959-1961, Item ID 1046524; ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’, March 1964, May 1964, July 1964, Minutes of meetings – Aboriginal Welfare Board 1962-1964, Item ID 1338541; ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’, 1956-1965, ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’, Correspondence files – Institutions, Item ID 1942034
37 ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’, 1956-1965, Correspondence files – Institutions, Item ID 1942034
38 ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’, January 1960, Minutes of meetings – Aboriginal Welfare Board 1962-1964, National Archives, Item ID 1338541
39 Haebich, A., 2000, Broken Circles: Fragmenting Indigenous Families 1880-2000, Fremantle, Fremantle Arts Centre Press
40 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997, Bringing Them Home Report
41 ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’, November 1965, Minutes of meetings – Aboriginal Welfare Board 1965-1967, Item 3019138; ‘Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs’, 1966-1974, Third Victorian Aboriginal Congress speech by Mr A.G. Booth 11 June 1966, Item ID 31532602
42 ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’, 1965-1968, Correspondence files – Adoption, Item ID 1938619
43 Victoria Government, August 1996, Final Submission, Part 1, National Inquiry into the Separations of Aboriginal Children and Torres Strait Islander Children from their families
44 ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’, 1958-1959, Health – Children in Institutions and hospitals, Item ID 4115945.
45 ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’, 30 June 1959, Report of the Aborigines Welfare Board 1958-1959
46 ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’, 30 June 1965, Report of the Aborigines Welfare Board 1964-1965
47 ‘Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs’, 1966-1974, Third Victorian Aboriginal Congress speech by Mr A.G. Booth 11 June 1966, Item ID 31532602
48 ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’, 1966, Aboriginal Policies of the Aboriginal Welfare Board Victoria, Item ID 32690783
49 Haebich, A., 2000, Broken Circles: Fragmenting Indigenous Families 1880-2000, Fremantle, Fremantle Arts Centre Press
50 ‘Aborigines Welfare Board’, January 1960, Minutes of meetings – Aboriginal Welfare Board 1959-1961, Item ID 1046524; Victoria Government, January 1996, Interim Submission, Part 1, National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal Children from their families
51 Victoria Government, August 1996, Final Submission, Part 1, National Inquiry into the Separations of Aboriginal Children and Torres Strait Islander Children from their families
52 Victoria Government, August 1996, Final Submission, Part 1, National Inquiry into the Separations of Aboriginal Children and Torres Strait Islander Children from their families
53 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997, Bringing Them Home Report; ‘Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs’, 30 September 1968, Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs Annual Report 1967- 1968, Item ID 31532602
54 Lyons, G., 1983, ‘Official Policy Towards Victorian Aborigines 1957-1974’, Aboriginal History Journal, 7(1), 61-79
55 ‘Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs’, Register - Children in care of Social Welfare Department, 1970-1971, Item ID 23616819; ‘Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs’, 1971, Family Group Home – Policy, Item ID 23616870
56 ‘Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs’, 30 September 1968, Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs Annual Report 1967- 1968, Item ID 31532602
57 Haebich, A., 2000, Broken Circles: Fragmenting Indigenous Families 1880-2000, Fremantle, Fremantle Arts Centre Press; The Canberra Times, 26 June 1968, ‘Aboriginal children 'better with parents’
58 ‘Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs’, 17 October 1969, Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs Annual Report 1968-1969, Item ID 31532602
59 ‘Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs’, 30 November 1971, Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs Annual Report 1970-1971, Item ID 31532602; ‘Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs’, 30 October 1973, Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs Annual Report 1972-1973, Item ID 31532602; ‘Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs’, 30 October 1974, Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs Annual Report 1973- 1974, Item ID 31532602
60 Victoria Government, 26 November 1968, ‘Aboriginal Affairs (Amendment Act) 1968’
61 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997, Bringing Them Home Report
62 ‘Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs’, 1971, Family Group Home – Policy, Item ID 23616870a
63 ‘Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs’, 1966-1974, Third Victorian Aboriginal Congress speech by Mr A.G. Booth 11 June 1966, Item ID 31532602; Victoria Government, August 1996, Final Submission, Part 1, National Inquiry into the Separations of Aboriginal Children and Torres Strait Islander Children from their families.
64 ‘Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs’, 1975, Research - Aboriginal Children in State Care in Victoria, Item ID 23572977
65 Lyons, G., 1983, ‘Official Policy Towards Victorian Aborigines 1957-1974’, Aboriginal History Journal, 7(1), 61-79
66 ‘Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs’, 30 October 1973, Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs Annual Report 1972-1973, Item ID 31532602; Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997, Bringing Them Home Report; Victoria Government, Department of Aboriginal Affairs, 1975-1984, Aboriginal Adoption and Fostering Policy Review, Item ID 23478958
67 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997, Bringing Them Home Report; Victoria Government, Department of Aboriginal Affairs, 1975-1984, Aboriginal Adoption and Fostering Policy Review, Item ID 23478958
68 Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency, Our History
69 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997, Bringing Them Home Report
70 Victoria Government, Department of Aboriginal Affairs, 1975-1984, Aboriginal Adoption and Fostering Policy Review, Item ID 23478958
71 Angela Louise Hood interviewed by Jane Watson, 2001, Bringing them home oral history project, National Library of Australia
72 Victoria Government, Department of Aboriginal Affairs, 1975-1984, Aboriginal Adoption and Fostering Policy Review, Item ID 23478958; Victoria Government, August 1996, Final Submission, Part 2, National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal children and Torres Strait Islander children from their families
73 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997, Bringing Them Home Report; Victoria Government, ‘Adoption Act 1984’; Victoria Government, ‘Children and Young Persons Act 1989’
74 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997, Bringing Them Home Report
75 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997, Bringing Them Home Report
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