A Guide to New South Wales State Archives relating to Aboriginal People
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A Guide to New South Wales State Archives relating to Aboriginal People |
Part 2: State Archives from other Government Agencies relating to Aboriginal People (cont.)
Commissioners of Crown Lands were established for the purpose of supervising Crown Lands outside the settled districts of the Colony and were first appointed under the provisions of Act 7 Will. IV No. 4 (1836). This Act provided for the issue of licences for the depasturing of sheep and cattle on unoccupied Crown land and Commissioners were appointed to police these regulations. These provisions were amplified by Acts 2 Vic. No. 19 (1838) and 2 Vic. No. 27 (1839) the latter of which established a Border Police under the control of the various Commissioners, to police the regulations. The Act also charged the Commissioners with assessing an annual levy on sheep and cattle.
Orders in Council of 1847 issued under the authority of the Imperial Act 9 & 10 Vic. c.104 (1847) provided for the issue of leases for periods up to fourteen years in place of the annual licences. In 1849 a Chief Commissioner of Crown Lands was appointed, to whom the local Commissioners were directly responsible instead of to the Colonial Secretary as was previously the case. In most cases the Commissioners of Crown Lands were the only government officials in their areas. Consequently the correspondence has many references to Aboriginal people and especially to the often violent contact between Europeans and Aboriginal people.
Letter dated 17 August 1862 from Edward Sharp, Commissioner of Crown Lands, Albert District, to the Chief Commissioner. Accompanying the letter is a sheet of translations apparently from an Aboriginal dialect to English.
| Reference Number | 2/1718.5 |
Mainly requests for information and assistance; requisitions for clothing and equipment; and reports on Aboriginal people and the goldfields.
| Reference Numbers | 2/1951, 2/7634, AO Reels 3123-3124 |
These letters include: requisitions for blankets for Aborigines in the District of Gwydir dated 5 May 1852 and for blankets and tomahawks dated 1 December 1852; accounts for medical attendance on Aborigines and arrangements for the appointment of a medical attendant dated 1851 and 1852; circulars requesting annual reports on the state of the Aborigines to be furnished; Letter no. 50/673 (Circular No. 209) regarding proposed reserves of Crown lands for the use of Aborigines; and, Circular No. 349 calling for a report on the state of Aboriginal reserves.
| Reference Number | 2/7627 |
formerly FAMILY AND COMMUNITY SERVICES
formerly YOUTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES
After the Aborigines Welfare Board was abolished in 1969, its functions and some of its records were transferred to the Department of Child Welfare and Social Welfare (later Youth and Community Services), which created the Directorate of Aboriginal Welfare to deal with these matters. Correspondence files from the Board were re-registered by the Directorate with a `D' prefix. Consequently many of the files in Aboriginal Services Branch. Correspondence ('D') files, 1969-81 date from circa 1924. In 1975 the Commonwealth Government took over many of the functions and records of the Directorate of Aboriginal Welfare, which then became the Aboriginal Services Branch. There are also individual files in Youth and Community Services correspondence relating to Aboriginal people, other than those in the files of the Branch. The Department's name was later (1988) changed to Family and Community Services and later (1995) to Community Services.
Adoption records created by the Department of Community Services are restricted for 100 years. Researchers requiring access to adoption records should contact: Department of Community Services, Family Information Services Section, Level 13, 130 George Street PARRAMATTA NSW 2150, Postal address: PO Box 228 PARRAMATTA NSW 2124, Telephone: (02) 9689 5974, Fax: (02) 9689 3507.
For enquiries concerning Aboriginal people removed or affected by adoption, researchers and those affected should contact LINK-UP (NSW) Aboriginal Corporation, PO Box 93, LAWSON NSW 2783, Telephone (02) 4759 1911, Fax: (02) 4759 2607. LINK-UP is a non-government organisation.
These files contain correspondence relating to various subjects including Commonwealth Capital Fund loans, policy matters, interdepartmental committees, reserves, education, Aboriginal co-operative societies, health, drought relief, Aboriginal languages, racism, employment and housing. The information in these files dates from circa 1941 and are related to the Board's correspondence files (See Correspondence files, 1949-69).
| Reference Numbers | 12/2921-2922; 12/4035-4095; 12/4158-4165; 12/4453-4575.1 |
This is a card index to the surviving Correspondence `D' files, 1969-81 held by the Archives Authority at 12/2921-2922, 12/4035-4095, 12/4158-4165, 12/4453-4575.1. The index is divided into two sequences - place name and subject. Each card records the registration number and a summary. Subject headings include: Aboriginal relics; Boomerangs, manufacture of; Complaints; Demolition of cottages; Education; Pension warranty accounts; Poverty; Training Schemes for Women; and Workshops.
| Arrangement | Alphabetical |
| Reference Number | 6/25542 |
These files contain information on the following matters: the Society for the Advancement of Aboriginal Children; school attendance of Aboriginal children; an Aboriginal mission settlement; services for Aboriginals provided by the Department; Far South Coast Aborigine Conference; allowances paid to foster parents of Aboriginal wards; health inspections of numerous stations and reserves; ministerial representations by the Bega Valley Aborigines Advancement Society; holiday placements; and Aboriginal Secondary Grants Scheme policy and accounting records.
| Reference Numbers | 7/4621-4633, 12/2909, 12/1704-1705 |
The `Endeavour Project' was a project to erect 28 houses and a community centre for Aboriginal people at La Perouse.
| Reference Numbers | 7/8965, AO Plan No. 1715 |
These registers consist of maps of reserves pasted into two volumes. They give the reserve number; date of notification (which ranges from 15 June 1875 to 17 November 1971); area in acres; county and parish; and the revocation date, where applicable (which ranges from 21 February 1912 to 5 September 1969). Extracts from the New South Wales Government Gazette relating to the notification and/or revocation, correspondence relating to the reserves and references to the Board's correspondence files (`C' files) are occasionally included. These volumes appear to be part of the same series as the Board's Register of Aboriginal Reserves, 1884-1904 (See Register of Aboriginal Reserves, 1875-1904).
| Reference Numbers | 4/10590-10591 |
This register contains standard forms giving the property or reserve name and location, details of any dwellings erected (contractor's name, date, cost, and correspondence file (`C') number). Some forms give the tenant's name, occupation, year of birth, monthly payment or rental and period of repayment. There is an alphabetical index in the front, arranged by town name.
| Reference Number | 4/10952 |
These cards are arranged alphabetically by the name of the town in which the Aboriginal reserve is located. In cases involving individual dwellings, there is a card for each one. The front of the cards is headed `Rates and Charges' and records: property name; site details (address and dimensions); Aboriginal reserve number, with date of New South Wales Government Gazette notification and/or revocation; valuations received from the Valuer-General; improvements such as the date of construction of house, the capital cost of construction, kerb and guttering; lettings and disposal (eg. date, tenant's name and rental). The reverse side of the card is headed `Payments Made' and details the amount paid in rates and for services such as water, sewerage, sanitary and garbage collections for each year. Some cards are annotated with the date a particular reserve was transferred to the Aboriginal Lands Trust in 1975.
| Reference Numbers | 4/10587-10588 |
This volume records details of home loans granted in the same numerical sequence as that used on the advices to the Housing Commission. It shows the `D' (Directorate) file number, the client's full name and address, the date the loan commenced, the amount of the loan and the terms.
| Reference Number | 4/10589 |
In response to growing public concern the Commonwealth Government established a Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in October 1987. After hearing evidence in each State the Commission handed its final report to the Government on 30 March 1991.
This series consists of records from the then Department of Family and Community Services which were presented as exhibits before the Royal Commission. The records include family case work files, institutional files, state ward `B' files, institutional `B' files, personnel files of staff, institutional incident reports and staff institutional procedure manuals.
| Reference Numbers | 10/48469-48471.1, 6/21568-21569 |
May 1998
The State Records Authority of New South Wales
Sydney NSW, Australia.
© Copyright reserved by the Government of New South Wales, 1998. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced by any method without the prior written consent of the State Records Authority of New South Wales.
ISBN 0 7310 1737 4 First published 1998.
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