The governments passed laws related to such reserves that gave them much power over all aspects of Aboriginal people’s lives.
[3] The Governor proclaimed that Aboriginal people were "to be considered as much under the safeguard of the law as the Colonists themselves, and equally entitled to the Privileges of British Subjects".
The office of Protector was abolished in 1856; within four years, governments had leased 35 of the 42 Aboriginal reserves in South Australia to settlers.
[5] In the second half of the 19th century, in an attempt to reduce the violence on the frontiers, devastation by disease, and to provide a "humane" environment for Aboriginal people, perceived as a dying race, the colonial governments passed legislation designed to "protect" them.
They lost what would later be considered basic human rights like freedom of movement, custody of children and control over property.
In some states and the Northern Territory, the Chief Protector had legal guardianship over all Aboriginal children, ahead of the parents.
"In the name of protection", suggest the authors of the 1997 Bringing Them Home report, "Indigenous people were subject to near-total control".
Many Aboriginal people have adopted the term ‘mission’ or ‘mish’ to refer to reserve settlements and fringe camps generally.
Education (in the form of preparation for the workforce), rations and housing tended to be provided on these reserves, and station managers tightly controlled who could, and could not, live there.
[16][17][18] Included in the recommendations was that the government become the legal guardian of all Aboriginal children upon reaching their 10th birthday, and place them "where they deem best".
In 1958 and 1960, two new Aboriginal settlements were built by the government in northern Victoria to provide transitional housing for people living in camps.