'Protectors' and Aboriginal people 1837-1880
In the 19th century, ‘Protectors’ were tasked with ‘civilising’ Aboriginal people which disrupted and, in some cases, ceased the speaking of languages.
In 1837 a UK Parliamentary Select Committee published the Report on Aboriginal Tribes (). The Committee recommended an office of ‘Protector’ to address conflicts between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in NSW.
The Protector’s role was to advise governments on Aboriginal people, claim lands for the maintenance of Aboriginal people and assist missionaries to educate Aboriginal children. The Committee stated:
The education of the young will of course be amongst the foremost of the cares of the missionaries; and the protectors should render every assistance in their power in advancing this all-important part of any general scheme of improvement.
The separation of Aboriginal children from their family and community and their education in English severely disrupted the learning of their language.
George Augustus Robinson was the first person to be appointed NSW ‘Chief Protector of the Aborigines’ in 1838. Robinson led a NSW Select Committee on ‘The Aborigines Question’ () which considered the duties of Protector and made recommendations which resulted in Assistant Protectors and stations being set-up in parts of NSW. One of the responsibilities of Assistant Protectors was ‘[t]he Education and Instruction of Children, as early and extensively as it may be practicable...’ (). The plan was the ‘civilisation’ of Aboriginal people.
By 1849, the Report from the Select Committee on the Aborigines and Protectorate () found that the system of protection, which first focussed its original efforts in Port Phillip, failed in its object.
The Committee found that ‘Protectors had thwarted efforts by others to educate Aboriginal children’ and stated ‘[t]he total separation of the parents from the children, seems to be essential to the success of any plan, and your committee believe that to effect this object compulsory measures would be required’ ().
By the mid-late 18th century, government Protectors financially invested in Christian missions to ‘assist’ Aboriginal people. For example, a Legislative Assembly report details how the government partially funded the Maloga mission between 1874-1880 to train and educate Aboriginal adults and children ().
To avoid government intrusion into their lives both on and off missions, Aboriginal people were cautious to use their language. For example, many Aboriginal people in the Katoomba ‘Gully’ did not pass on their languages and suppressed their Aboriginality out of fear that their children would be removed ().