Northern Territory Aboriginals Act 1910

The Northern Territory Aboriginals Act 1910 was an Act of the South Australian parliament (Act no. 1024/1910),[1] assented to on 7 December 1910. On 1 January 1911, the Northern Territory was transferred from South Australia to federal control. The Act was repealed by the Aboriginals Ordinance 1918 (Act No. 9/1918) on 13 June 1918, which combined and replaced the Northern Territory Aboriginals Act 1910 and the Commonwealth Aboriginals Ordinance 1911. The 1918 Ordinance was amended 18 times over the following decades, and was repealed by the Welfare Ordinance 1953.[2]

The Act established the Northern Territory Aboriginals Department and created the office of Chief Protector of Aborigines. The department was responsible for the control and welfare of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. Under the Act, the Chief Protector of Aborigines was appointed the "legal guardian of every Aboriginal and every half-caste child up to the age of 18 years", and had the power to confine such children to an Aboriginal reserve or institution. The Act provided the legal basis for enforcing segregation. That is, Indigenous children could be removed by Administrative order, whereas non-Indigenous children at the time could only be removed by order of a Court.[3]

After the Commonwealth took control of the Territory, under the Aboriginals Ordinance 1918, the Chief Protector was also given total control of all Indigenous women regardless of their age, unless married to a man who was "substantially of European origin", and his approval was required for any marriage of an Indigenous woman to a non-Indigenous man.[4]

The Act, carried forward into the 1918 Ordinance, allowed for regulations to be made for the "care, custody and education of the children of aboriginals". This included the power to transfer children to "aboriginal institutions" and "industrial schools". The Act was the first and only legislation passed in South Australia which related to Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory.

Between 1918 and 1921, large areas of the Territory and adjacent states were classified as Aboriginal reserves and sanctuaries for remaining nomadic populations who had hitherto had little contact with white Australia. In 1920, the area including Uluru, in Anangu territory, was declared an Aboriginal Reserve under the Aboriginals Ordinance (Northern Territory).