You Can Trust Me — I'm With The Government
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1321816600000489Keywords:
Aboriginal class action, Aboriginal affairs department, historical context, control of wages and savings accountsAbstract
In Queensland today, a class action is being considered against the state government to recover and return to Aboriginal control, cash and assets which were acquired from Aboriginal earnings by the Aboriginal affairs department over a period of 60 odd years. In the process of three years' research into the workings of Queensland's Aboriginal department I have accumulated a range of information relevant to this matter. This summary provides a historical context within the constraints of incidental material which was available to me. I will canvass two separate, but interlocking, issues: the department's control of wages and savings accounts; and the government's handling of the trust funds built up from the accumulated, and compulsorily acquired, earnings of thousands of Aboriginal men and women.
References
Queensland Parliamentary Debates (QPD) 1901: 213
QPD 1901:614. For the year 1899–1900 £180 was distributed in this manner.
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Annual Report 1915: 5
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See DAIA 1A/975 for exchanges concerning the Commonwealth State Housing Agreement.
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