Adult labour under the Aborigines Protection Act 1909-1969
From 1909, the Aborigines Protection Board and later the Aborigines Welfare Board had control over the labour of Aboriginal people living on reserves and could remove people from reserves if they determined they should be working off the reserve. Labour on reserves was often for no pay, unfair pay or rations instead of wages. Exploitation of Aboriginal labour was common and acknowledged in Parliament.
From 1909 to 1969, the Board controlled the lives of many Aboriginal people through the Aborigines Protection Act 1909 (NSW) (). This included powers over who lived on Aboriginal reserves and some control over their labour, although this was not as extensive as the apprenticeship system that forced Aboriginal children into labour (see SUB0463).
Throughout this period, laws and policies relating to labour were directed at assimilation as well as minimising expenditure on reserves (, , ).
Labour on reserves
For Aboriginal people living on stations (a type of reserve usually run by a manager), the law forced Aboriginal people to work on the station by requiring every ‘able bodied Aborigine, half-caste or other person … to do a reasonable amount of work' ().
The law also permitted the withdrawal of supplies from Aboriginal people and forcible removal of anyone on a station ‘persistently refusing’ to do labour (). Board reports show this law being applied in practice (, , ).
Women were often employed as domestics and laundresses on stations (, ).
Pay and conditions
From 1915, while the law still forced Aboriginal people on stations into labour by permitting the withdrawal of supplies for the person and their family and the threat of removal from the reserve, it introduced a requirement for Aboriginal people to be paid for the work they were required to perform on stations (). See SUB0467 for more about remuneration.
Labour off reserves
From the outset, the ‘protection’ law authorised the Board to remove from a reserve any Aboriginal person who ‘should be earning a living away from such a reserve’ (). The Government said the object was that people ‘who are half-castes, quadroons, or even octoroons, should merge as soon as possible into the general community’ ().
In 1918, the definition of ‘Aborigine’ in the law changed ‘to remove quadroons, octoroons and their descendants from the atmosphere of the aboriginal camps’ (, see also ). When this change was made, the Government said ‘there is hope that… this bill will tend towards reducing this expenditure very considerably and that in years to come the expenditure in respect of aborigines will reach vanishing point’ (). This focus on savings was strongly criticised in the subsequent Parliamentary debate (, ).
The Government argued that the savings were incidental. Some members referred to the benefits of labour, for example one said ‘the only chance of doing good for the black race, and giving them a chance to continue in existence, is to make them work’ and another said ‘the object of this bill is to save the quadroons and octoroons by making them go out and work instead of living in idleness in the camps’ ().
According to the Board, the effect of the introduction of the 1918 law was ‘noticeable in the exodus of able-bodied aborigines from the Station [reserve] to obtain employment’ ().
Opportunities for employment off reserves appear to have fluctuated depending on demand, with Board Reports and Parliamentary debates describing challenges finding employment during times of drought, war and depression (, , , , ).
This labour included rabbitting (), scrub-cutting, mustering, droving (). rural farm work, including cattle driving, shearing, fencing, general farm work and work on the railways and for Shire Councils (, ).
In 1936, the law gave the Board the power to ‘terminate’ the employment of an Aboriginal person if it formed a view that the person was ‘not receiving fair and proper treatment’, was ‘not being paid a reasonable wage’, or if their ‘moral or physical impairment’ was being impaired (, ). The Board was also given the power to direct the wages of those Aboriginal people under its control (ie not just apprentices) to the Board (). This power to direct wages to the Board was removed in 1963 ().
When Parliament debated this 1936 amendment, a proposal was raised that the Board should be able to terminate an Aboriginal person’s employment if they were not paid an award wage, rather than a reasonable wage. This proposal was not successful ().
In 1941, Regulations were made about the ‘employment of Aborigines’ which included that any person employing an ‘aborigine shall provide accommodation for them… and shall, if so required, supply his aboriginal employees with suitable substantial and sufficient food and drinking and bathing water’ ().
The exploitation of Aboriginal people for their labour was repeatedly acknowledged by members of Parliament (, , , , ).
In 1969, Aborigines Protection Act was repealed and the Board was dissolved ().