Mixed Race Act (1886)

The Mixed Races Act in Victoria (the entire Act amending the Victoria’s Indigenous Peoples Protection and Management Act ) was in addition to the Aboriginal Protection Act , which gave broad powers to Aboriginal people on the Aboriginal Defense Council, including the regulation of location issues residence, work and marriage ^[3] .

In particular, the 1886 Act began to isolate Aboriginal people of mixed origin, known as “mixed races,” from Aboriginal camps or reservations to force them to assimilate into European society. These actions separated families and communities, causing disasters and protests. However, the Council refused to help the deportees. It was assumed that this would lead to a reduction in the population in the camps and their possible closure.

The failure of this policy and its inhumanity led to the adoption of the Victoria Aboriginal Act of 1910 and the Aboriginal Lands Act of 1970, which were abandoned by this policy ^[3] .

Until 1886, the British Empire Colonial Department was responsible for relations with the "natives" in Western Australia. In 1886, the Aboriginal Defense Council was created, consisting of five members and a secretary, all of whom were appointed by the governor.

Following the furor over Fairburn's report (which revealed the conditions of slavery among Aboriginal farm workers) and the work of Rev. John Gribble, Parliament introduced the Aboriginal Protection Act of 1886 (WA), or the mixed race act. This led to the conclusion of employment contracts between employers and Aboriginal workers over the age of 14. The Victoria Status Act of 1886 did not contain provisions for wage contracts. But the employees had to be provided with “substantial, good and sufficient security”, clothing and blankets. In accordance with the Law of 1886 on the status of a local resident, a resident magistrate had the right to conclude contracts with “persons of a mixed race” and Aboriginal children from the corresponding age up to 21 years. An Aboriginal Defense Council was also established to prevent violations previously reported, but instead of starting to protect Aboriginal people, it was largely possible to put them under tight government control. It was designed to enforce contracts, employ prisoners, and apprenticeships, but the northern states did not have sufficient authority to enforce the provisions of the act, and they were openly ignored. The law defined Aboriginal people as, "Every Aboriginal, Native of Australia, Every Person of a Mixed Race Aboriginal or Child on behalf of a Mixed Race." Governor Broome insisted that the law contain a clause allowing traditional owners to continue hunting in their lands.

The meaning of this law was to expand the powers of the Council in relation to Aborigines, and not to create a system of punishing whites for offenses against Aborigines. An Aboriginal Affairs Office was established under the direction of the Aboriginal Chief Executive. Almost half of the Legislative Council voted to amend the law on contract labor, starting from 10 years old, but it was never adopted. Mackenzie Grant, a member of the northern constituency, argued that child labor at the age of six or seven years is a necessary and commonplace, because "in this way they gradually become independent." Attorney General Septimus Bert, in a debate on second reading, said that the contracts were not issued for current work, but to keep Aboriginal people as slaves at stations for possible future work, and therefore this act prevents their free departure.

Aboriginal advocates were appointed by the Council under the conditions laid down in various laws. Theoretically, Aboriginal advocates were empowered to conduct legal proceedings on behalf of the Aborigines, determine where Aborigines could live or work, and save all wages earned by working Aborigines.

Since the councils had limited resources, advocates received very limited pay for their actions, and therefore a number of people were appointed as local advocates, including local judges, prison guards, justices of the peace, and in some cases ministers of religious affairs, although most of They were local police inspectors. The minutes of the meetings show that they mainly dealt with requests from religious organizations for financial assistance and reports from local judges or police magistrates regarding trials and convictions of Aboriginal people under their jurisdiction.

Aboriginal defenders also issued permits to allow Aboriginal people to leave their homes and join Australian society for a specific period of time.

1. ↑ "Glossary" (eng.) // abc.net.au. - 2009. - September 1.
2. ↑ Kenneth Liberman. The Decline of the Kuwarra People of Australia's Western Desert: A Case Study of Legally Secured Domination. Ethnohistory. - 27. - 1980. - S. 119-133.
3. ↑ ^{1 2} "Aboriginal Protection Act 1869 (Vic)" (English) // Documenting Democracy. National Archives of Australia. - 2007. - May 27. Archived on June 5, 2007.

• "Ngankat-Kalo: Aboriginal Education 1901-2001 . " Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Inc. (VAEAI).
• Mission Voices : The Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Koorie Heritage Trust Inc.

• A. Grenfell Price. "Australian Native Policy: A Review." Geographical Review , Vol. 34, No. 3. (July 1944), pp. 476–478. Reviewing:

• Edmund JB Foxcroft. Australian Native Policy: Its History, Especially in Victoria
• Paul Hasluck. Black Australians: A Survey of Native Policy in Western Australia, 1829–1897
• Norman B. Tindale. Survey of the Half-Caste Problem in South Australia (The Results of the Harvard-Adelaide Universities Anthropological Expedition, 1938–9)