Black and White Children in Welfare in New South Wales and Tasmania, 1880-1940

‘Such a Longing’ Black and white children in welfare in New South Wales and Tasmania, 1880-1940 Naomi Parry PhD August 2007 THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname or Family name: Parry First name: Naomi Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: PhD School: History Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences Title: ‘Such a longing’: Black and white children in welfare in New South Wales and Tasmania, 1880-1940 Abstract 350 words maximum: When the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission tabled Bringing them home, its report into the separation of indigenous children from their families, it was criticised for failing to consider Indigenous child welfare within the context of contemporary standards. Non-Indigenous people who had experienced out-of-home care also questioned why their stories were not recognised. This thesis addresses those concerns, examining the origins and history of the welfare systems of NSW and Tasmania between 1880 and 1940. Tasmania, which had no specific policies on race or Indigenous children, provides fruitful ground for comparison with NSW, which had separate welfare systems for children defined as Indigenous and non-Indigenous. This thesis draws on the records of these systems to examine the gaps between ideology and policy and practice. The development of welfare systems was uneven, but there are clear trends. In the years 1880 to 1940 non-Indigenous welfare systems placed their faith in boarding-out (fostering) as the most humane method of caring for neglected and destitute children, although institutions and juvenile apprenticeship were never supplanted by fostering. Concepts of child welfare shifted from charity to welfare; that is, from simple removal to social interventions that would assist children's reform. These included education, and techniques to enlist the support of the child’s family in its reform. The numbers of non-Indigenous children taken into care were reduced by economic and environmental measures, such as payments to single mothers. The NSW Aborigines Protection Board dismissed boarding-out as an option for Indigenous children and applied older methods, of institutionalisation and apprenticeship, to children it removed from reserves. As non-Indigenous welfare systems in both states were refined, the Protection Board clung to its original methods. It focussed on older children, whilst allowing reserves to deteriorate, and reducing the rights of Aboriginal people. This cannot simply be explained by race, for Tasmania did not adopt the same response. This study shows that the policies of the Aborigines Protection Board were not consonant with wider standards in child welfare of the time. However, the common thread between Indigenous and non-Indigenous child removal was the longing of children and their families for each other. Declaration relating to disposition of project thesis/dissertation I hereby grant to the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all property rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstracts International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). (Naomi Parry) 31 August 2007 …………………………………………………………… ……………………………………..……………… ……….…………… Signature Witness ………...…….… Date The University recognises that there may be exceptional circumstances requiring restrictions on copying or conditions on use. Requests for restriction for a period of up to 2 years must be made in writing. Requests for a longer period of restriction may be considered in exceptional circumstances and require the approval of the Dean of Graduate Research. FOR OFFICE USE ONLY Date of completion of requirements for Award: THIS SHEET IS TO BE GLUED TO THE INSIDE FRONT COVER OF THE THESIS Declaration ‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of the thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project’s design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’ Signed: Acknowledgements My special thanks go to my patient supervisor Anne O’Brien and my co-supervisor Grace Karskens in the School of History. Beverly Kingston and Jill Roe eased my path into this project, and Michael Roe and Michael Bennett of the University of Tasmania’s History Department welcomed me back when I went there to research. I have survived on an Australian Postgraduate Award, and enjoyed an Eric Dark Varuna Fellowship. John Ramsay, former Secretary of the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services, made records available, as did the NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs. Link-Up (NSW), then headed by Barry Duroux, was supportive. Archives would be nothing without the guidance of archivists, so I am grateful to the staff of the Archives Office of Tasmania, especially Kim Pearce. At NSW State Records I must thank Fabian Lo Schiavo, Kirsten Thorpe, Melissa Donovan (also at the Mitchell) and Christine Yeats. The University of Sydney’s Nursing Archives, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd and the Hobart Benevolent Society allowed me to use their records. There have been many long conversations over the course of this thesis, but some of the best were with Tony Brown of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery; Caroline Spotswood of Riawunna; Leonie Sheedy, Joanna Penglase and CLAN; Doreen Mellor, of the National Library; Jacqueline Wilson; Mary Harris and Roy and June Barker; Lyn Stanger, Dianne Johnson, Sharyn Halls, Aunty Mary King and Nichole Hoskin; and Peter Bishop. Victoria Haskins and Caroline Evans offered constructive criticism; Sarah Shrubb and Jeremy Thomas performed the editing. Caroline and her daughters Freya and Leah let me live with them for a bit, and babysat. My mother got me settled back into Hobart (for a while). My dad was suitably insouciant, and my in-laws, Bill and Ruth, have provided bulk childcare and a sympathetic ear. My friends Kim, Craig, Cynthia, Helen and Jane have been saving graces, but extra thanks to Delia and Richard and to my dearest ones, Rachel and Nicola. My biggest debt is to Martin Thomas and our son Aaron, neither of whom have ever known me without this thesis. Both of you have guided it and supported me in ways little and big. You both made it harder and so much easier, all at the same time, and now it’s done. i Table of Contents List of Figures ...............................................................................................................iii Abbreviations Used ......................................................................................................iv Maps.................................................................................................................................v A Note on Sources ........................................................................................................vii Introduction....................................................................................................................1 PART I 1: ‘Artificial parental and filial love’: The Ideology of Rescue and Boarding Out......................................................................................................22 2: ‘Devoted to Rescue Work’: Tasmanian Child Welfare, 1880–1914...........33 3: ‘Dear Sir, I am writing a straightforward letter …’: The Voices of the Tasmanian Child Welfare System..................................................................77 4: ‘This dark blood’: Indigenous Children in Tasmania’s Child Welfare System 1880–1914.............................................................................................101 5: ‘An Act of Faith’: The NSW Child Welfare System, 1881–1914 ..............118 6: ‘Proper spheres of usefulness’: Indigenous Children in NSW1880-1914 .............................................................................................................................154 PART II 7: ‘Misdirected and Misguided’: Children in Care in Tasmania, 1915–1940.......................................................................................184 8: ‘No shame in being a nigger’: Indigenous Tasmanian children 1915–1940...........................................................................................216 9: ‘In every case happy and bright’: Review and inaction in NSW, 1915–1940...............................................................................................238 10: ‘Very close to slavery’: ...................................................................................274 Conclusion: ‘My mother told me never to part with them’: ....... Tying threads together in Katoomba’s Gully.......................................................................318

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