Discuss the major changes in Aboriginal policy from 1901 to the present time. How effective were each of these changes?
...ue to Aboriginal efforts. With this land came independence, farming land and a place away from the whites and their 'white charity'. In 1860 one of the first Boards for the protection of Aboriginals was set up in Victoria. Here the Board contolled Aboriginal education,incomes, location of housing and the power to remove Aboriginal children from their parents. In 1883 the Aborigines Protection Board was established in NSW. This organisation handled the ration distributions and responded the charity offers from churches. However, the road of success was stopped in its tracks when the Privy Council in England ruled that the Aboriginal people had no right to the land and the economic depresson arrised in the 1890's. The Board then turned around and started kicking 'part-Aboriginals' off the reserves.By 1910 the Board was giving half of all the reserve land in NSW to European farmers who wanted more land. Queensland also set up reserves and passed the Aboriginals' Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act. Sadly this act did not end up helping the Aboriginals. It disposesed many of their land and took away their rights to make decisions for themselves. Other States as well as the new Federal Government then began to follow in Queensland's footsteps. Life on reserves became difficult and independence was lost. The reserves grew to unhealthy numbers and many Aboriginal people died. Churches then established missions, although these places of protection were even more strict. The missions' aim was to 'christianise' the Aboriginals. Then in 1916 the NSW Aboriginal Protection Board could 'assume full custody and control of the child of an Aborigine.' Station managers and police could then take children from parents 'for the sake of their moral and spiritula welfare'. Thousands of children were taken away fromt their parents and were then prepared to enter white society. The whites thought they were protectiong the children and giving them a better life in a white society. They did not realise the devastating effects it would have in the future. The Protection Policy and its stolen generation then led into that of an 'assimilation policy' as the Protection Policy was clearly not effective. This policy was brought on by the changing attitudes of people in the 1940's, the campaigns formed by white and Aboriginal groups and the actions of the Federal Council for Aborigoinal Advancement. The fact that over one thousand Aboriginals served Australia in WWII and Australia's signing of the Declaration of Human Rights also helped. However, even though Aboriginals were protestiong and forming their own groups the process of removing the descrimination was slow. All Aboriginal people were officially appart of the assimilation policy after Paul Hasluck, the Federal Minister for Territories, successfully promoted the policy at the Native Welfare Conference of 1951. Even though Aboriginals were now given the same opportunities as white poeple it meant that they had to give up every aspect of their Aboriginality. Discrimination was also still present , especially in rural areas and there was still many restrictions placed on the Aboriginal population. The Aboriginals just saw the new policy as another way to wipe out their culture. Many now had to move out of the reserves and they usually ended up in fringe camps on the outskirts of towns. Here they recieved their government payment directly and therefore they had control over their financial affairs. However, unemployment rates were high amoungst the Aboriginals and many public facilties like parks, hospitals and swimming pools were 'whites only'. There were now three types of Aboriginal groups- the tribal group who had managed to be able to continue with their traditional lifestyle, those living on reserves and those living in the fringe camps. As white Australians began to realise that the treatment of Aboriginals needed to change the government changed its policy from assimilation to that of intergration. Under this new policy great changes occured not only for Aboriginals but for migrants aswell. The government and the people wanted equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders and now realised the need for allowing all the different cultures to maintian their traditions and way of life. The government now realised that previous policies were not effective in dealing with Aboriginal culture and existence. The media brought attention to their issues and many Aboriginal groups were formed to campaign for the rights of Aboriginals. In 1962 the Voting Rights Act was passed which gave all Aboriginals the right to vote in Federal elections. Aboriginal workers started to protest against the discimination of their pay and in 1965 the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission approved equal pay for Aboriginal people. Australia signed the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in 1966 and this sparked a new wave of campaigning to have Aboriginals counted in the census. In 1967 a referendum was held to change the Constitution so that the Aboriginal population was counted in the Australian population and to allow the Commonwealth the power to make laws to help Aboriginals in all States. The referndum was successful with 89% of people voting 'yes'. In 1969 the policy which allowed the separation of Aboriginal children from their parents was also ended. At this piont in time the Intergration act was the most effective policy yet, it was a turning point as it started to respect Aboriginal culture and rights. In stepping towards an even better future for the rights of Aboriginals the government introduced a policy in the 1970's that increased opportunities for self-determination. In 1971 the Aboriginal Advancement League asked the United Nations to support its claim for land rights and compensation. However,the government refused to do either and in...