Guides and Indexes for Aboriginal History
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Purpose of Guides
State Records of South Australia has produced a number of guides and indexes to assist researchers with records relating to Aboriginal people. Records cover a variety of subjects including women, children, art, education, health, housing, enforcement, legislation, missions and reserves.
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Availability
These Guides are available at both Research Centres and for purchase.
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Guide to Records Relating to Aboriginal People
This five volume guide provides an overview of the records that relate to Aboriginals from the early 19th century to the present day. It covers records from the Aborigines' Office, Police Department, and the Colonial Secretary's Office and includes records from South Australia and the Northern Territory. The Guide is useful for people researching: - Aboriginal family history
- Aboriginal reconciliation
- sociology
- administrative history of Aboriginal affairs.
The minutes of the Aboriginal Protection Board and the Aboriginal Affairs Correspondence Files (letters received) 1866 - 1968 are two series that contain a wealth of information about Aboriginal people, and how their lives were affected by government policies and practices. Historical researchers may find some attitudes expressed in the records distressing or offensive. Records should be viewed in their historical context and do not reflect current Government attitudes toward Aboriginal people. This guide is available for purchase.
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The Aboriginal Resource Kit
The Aboriginal Resource Kit provides examples of primary sources held by State Records relating to Aboriginal people. It contains records from 1842 through to 1970 and a list of GRG 52 Department of Aboriginal Affairs records, topical interest lists, and a detailed index. The following subjects are covered: - Aborigines Protection Board
- adoption
- Advisory Council of Aborigines
- assimilation
- Daisy Bates
- Boandik Tribe
- burial customs
- ceremonies
- children
- colonisation
- corroborees
- customs
- discrimination
- diseases
- education
- employment
- Exemption Certificates
- half castes
- health
- integration
- inter-tribal conflict
- land rights
- language
- law
- missions
- native lore
- Northern Territory
- paternalism
- Point McLeay
- prisoners
- quadroons
- racism
- religion
- reports on Aborigines
- rights and treatment of Aborigines
- women
- youth.
The Kit provides a chronology of policies and events that affected Aboriginal society. It covers different eras of the administration of Aboriginal affairs: colonisation, protection, assimilation and the post 1967 referendum period. The Kit is useful to South Australian secondary school students, in particular those studying S.A.C.E (South Australian Certificate of Education) Aboriginal Studies. It is also an excellent cross cultural training package. Government Agencies have provided copyright permission for the use of the primary records reproduced in the Aboriginal Resource Kit. Information in the records can be used under Copyright Act 1968 sections 40 and 103 which make provision for fair dealing where no more than 10% of a literary work can be copied for the purposes of research and study. The Aboriginal Resource Kit is available for purchase.
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A Little Flour and a Few Blankets
A Little Flour and a Few Blankets is a guide to records relating to Aboriginal people held in the State Records collection. It includes: - summary of legislation used to govern Aboriginal people
- overview of government policies and practices
- overview of key departmental figures, i.e. the Protectors and Chief Protectors, involved in the administration
- photographs and imaged documents
- tables which provide summaries of legislative and departmental changes in relation to Aboriginal affairs over time
- series register of holdings of various South Australian government agencies
It is not intended to provide a comprehensive social or cultural history of Aboriginal affairs in South Australia. Nor is it intended to trace the impact of the administration on Aboriginal individuals, families or communities. A Little Flour and a Few Blankets is available for purchase.
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