"We have grown to love her". The Aborigines Inland Mission, Aboriginal People and the NSW Aborigines Protection Board, 1905-1920

Abstract

In this paper I trace the establishment of Aborigines Inland Mission (AIM), the Faith basis of itsmission and missionaries and its response to the New South Wales Aborigines Protection Boardbetween 1905 and 1920. I will argue that the AIM and its missionaries became advocates forAboriginal people and increasingly at odds with the Aborigines Protection Board as the latter movedto control the lives of Aboriginal people. After 1910 the Board urged minimal education forAboriginal people, training for domestic service and absorption into the white community to breedout Aboriginal heritage, the missionary solution was to provide marketable skills and a philosophyacceptable to the white community. This of course was Christianity. While this approach had scantregard for Aboriginal culture, AIM archives show that its missionaries provided Aboriginal peoplewith resources with which they could negotiate with the white community. They also acted asintermediaries between the Government and Aboriginal people. However the missionaries were nomatch for a ruthless Board. The principle architect of the Board's child removal policies, RobertDonaldson had a different agenda- the elimination of the race. Inevitably the missionaries lost thebattle. The continuation of the fight by Aboriginal people to recover their worth we now see, owesmuch to these missionaries who saw a great wrong and tried to do something to correct it. Show more