Organisation

AGY-3985 | Kinchela Aboriginal Boys' Home

NSW State Archives Collection
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Full description

Background
The Board for the Protection of Aborigines established an Aboriginal reserve at Kinchela (originally known as Arakoon) in 1884/5. (1) By 30 June 1924, dormitories had been added to the reserve in order to provide accommodation for the daughters of “Aborigines living too far distant to send their children to school” (2), and to accommodate boys transferred from Singleton Aboriginal Boys’ home. (3)

Establishment
Kinchela Aboriginal Boy’s home was established under s.7 (c) of the Aborigines Protection Act 1909 (No. 25, 1909), which specified that the Board for the Protection of Aborigines was to provide for the custody, maintenance, and education of the children of Aborigines. The Act enabled the Board for the Protection of Aborigines to regularise and enforce a policy to remove Aboriginal Children from their families. (4)

The Aborigines Protection (Amendment) Act 1915 (No.2, 1915) further consolidated the Board’s power to remove Children of Aborigines and transfer them to homes. The Principal Act was amended by the inclusion of s.13 (a), which allowed the Board to assume full control over the child of any Aborigine if it was satisfied that such course of action was in the interest of the moral or physical welfare of the Child. The Board could remove such children to custody. Parents of children removed in this way could appeal against the action in a court defined by the Neglected Children and Juvenile Offenders Act 1905 (No. 16, 1905)

Function
The purpose of home according to the Board for the Protection of Aborigines was to provide for ” the reception, education and training of neglected and orphan boys who otherwise would not have the advantage of proper care and attention.” (5) The inmates ranged from five to 15 years, and their training consisted of primary education in the primary school established at the home, and work in Kinchela’s agricultural enterprises. (6) Aboriginal Schools were generally established on the grounds of Aboriginal Reserves but were supervised by the Department of Education. (7)

On reaching 15 most boys in the home were apprenticed to the Board for the protection of Aborigines, which entailed being sent out as labourers. The Board retained control of their earnings in trust until they were adults. From the 1950’s the Boys were sent to Kempsey High School. (8)

The apprenticeship of Aboriginal children was initially arranged by the Board for the Protection of Aborigines under s. 11 (1) of the Aborigines Protection Act 1909 (No. 25, 1909). This section empowered the Board to indenture the children of any Aborigine or neglected child aged 14 – 17 having an admixture of Aboriginal blood to any employer, and to collect their wages subject to the Apprenticeship Act 1901 (No.41, 1901) (9) Children considered neglected under this section had to be found so, under the Neglected Children and Juvenile Offenders Act 1905. Under the Aborigines Protection (Amendment) Act 1915 (No.2, 1915) s. 11 (1) was amended to remove references to the Apprenticeship Act, and allowed the Board to set terms and conditions of apprenticeships. (10)

The function of the home did not change significantly from the 1920’s. However, the conditions in the home improved in the 1940’s, following reform of the Board for the Protection of Aborigines in the early 1940’s. The Board was dissolved, and the Aborigines Welfare Board was constituted under the Aborigines Protection (Amendment) Act 1940 (No. 12, 1940). Inmates also participated in more external activities in the 1940’s such as District Schools’ football and athletic championships. (11) Numbers in the home increased from 43 in 1944, to 56 in 1960. (12), (13)

Abolition
In 1967 a Joint New South Wales Parliamentary Committee examining Aboriginal Welfare found that Kinchela was ” reasonably comfortable but has a rather cold institutional atmosphere probably brought about by the dormitory system”, and recommended its closure. (14) The report also recommended the abolition of the Aborigines Welfare Board. (15) The Board was subsequently dissolved by the Aborigines Act 1969 (No.7, 1969), and replaced by the Aborigines Welfare Directorate, within the Department of Child Welfare and Social Welfare. (16) The Aborigines Welfare Board noted in its last annual report, that there had been many advances in Aboriginal affairs during the 1960’s, including the removal of all discriminatory legislation. (17)

Kinchela was closed in May 1970, and the seven wards remaining in the home were transferred elsewhere. (18) The property including all building, land and equipment were to be sold, as the home had ceased to function as a home for wards under s. 7 of the Aborigines Act 1969 (No. 7, 1969) (19). s. 7 (1) (a) and (b) of the Act redefined all Aboriginal Reserves as Crown Land, and s.7 (1) (o) (i) and (ii) of the Act allowed the minister administering the Child Welfare Act 1939 (No.17, 1939) to close homes constituted for the reception, maintenance, education and training of Aboriginal Wards, if other arrangements could be made for their care. Kinchela was closed as a home because it was considered poorly located, uneconomical and unsuitable for the continual care of Aboriginal Wards. The funds from the sale of Kinchela were to go towards the establishment of an Aboriginal Hostel for Boys. (20)

Footnotes
(1) Mc Guigan A Aboriginal Reserves in N.SW: A land rights research aid (Occasional Paper No. 4 New South Wales Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs), Sydney, c.1983 pp. 32 – 33
(2) Report of the Board for the Protection of Aborigines for the year ended 30 June 1923 p.1 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1923 Vol. 1 1923 p. 427
(3) Report of the Board for the Protection of Aborigines for the year ended 30 June 1924 p.2 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1924 Vol. 1 1924 p. 318
(4) Archives Authority of New South Wales a guide to the New South Wales Archives relating to Aboriginal People, The Archives Authority of New South Wales, Sydney, 1998 Appendix 1 p.63
(5) Report of the Board for the Protection of Aborigines for the year ended 30 June 1925 p.2 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1925 – 1926 Vol. 1 p.368
(6) Horton D (Ed.) The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History, Society and Culture Aboriginal Studies Press or the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Canberra, 1994 A-L p. 550
(7) Report of the Board of Protection of Aborigines for 1925, Op. Cit., p.2
(8) Horton D (Ed.), Op. Cit., p. 550
(9) New South Wales Department of Aboriginal Affairs Securing the truth: NSW Government submission to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their families NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs, Sydney, 1998 p.19
(10) Loc. Cit.
(11) Horton D (Ed.), Op. Cit., p. 550
(12) Report of the Aborigines Welfare Board for the year ended 30 June 1944 p. 6 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1944 -1945-1946 Vol. 2 p.788
(13) Report of the Aborigines Welfare Board for the year ended 30 June 1960 p. 6 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1960 –1961 Vol. 1 p.6
(14) Report from the Joint Committee of the Legislative Council and Legislative Council upon Aborigines Welfare, 13 September 1967 p.21 in New South Wales Parliamentary Papers 1967 – 1968 Vol. 5
(15) Securing the Truth, Op. Cit., p. 92
(16) Report of the Minister for Social Welfare on the Working of the Aborigines Act, 1969 for the year ended 30 June 1970 p.2 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1969 – 1970 –1971 Vol. 1 p.2
(17) Report of the Aborigines Welfare Board for year ended June 1968 p. 15 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1968 – 1969 Vol. 1 p. 15
(18) Report of the Department of Child Welfare for year ended 30 June 1970 p. 11 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1969 – 1970 –1971 Vol. 1 p.789
(19) Report of the Minister for Social Welfare on the Working of the Aborigines Act, 1969 for year ended 30 June 1971 p.6 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1971 – 1972 Vol 1 p. 6
(20) Report of the Department of Child Welfare 1970, Op.Cit., p.11


References
(1) Archives Authority of NSW, "The Concise Guide" 2nd Edition, Sydney
(2) Elphick B, Elphick, D.J Kinchela Aboriginal Home and School: An Alphabetical index of students B, and D Elphick, Canberra, 1997
(3) National Inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their familles [Commissioner Sir Ronald Darling Wilson] Bringing them home: The report of the National inquiry into the Separation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their families. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Canberra, 1997 from the Indigenous Law Resources-Reconciliation and Social Justice Project, Austlii Website http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/stolen/ (accessed 03/06/2004)



 

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