The truth about the Australian Aborigines Protection Act

The claim

A meme has circulated making false claims about the Australian “Aborigines Protection Act”. The following image claims to be a representation of a certificate of exemption from this Act.

This meme is based on an image presented by the Australian SBS TV channel, which was published in an Australian newspaper to advertise their TV documentary series “First Australians”. The newspaper advertisement included an image which was allegedly showed an original “General Certificate of Exemption” from the Australian Aborigines Protection Act. This is how the image appeared in the newspaper advertisement.

This was tacitly represented by SBS as a photo of an original, authentic historical document. The contents of this “General Certificate of Exemption” are clearly incredibly racist, and calculated to outrage the sensibilities of any ethically aware human being. They are also intended to imply that the Aborigines Protection Act placed the following restrictions on Aborigines.

• Unable to leave their reservation to go to work, without permission
• Unable to “walk freely through town without being arrested”
• Unable to “Enter a shop or hotel”

The certificate gives the impression that the purpose of the exemption is to enable Aborigines to “live like a white man”, by freeing them from the restrictions of the Aborigines Protection Act. It also states that the granting of the exemption is dependent on a number of conditions which are clearly intended to strip the applicant of their ethnic identity and culture, forbidding them to speak in their native language, engage in traditional dance and other cultural rituals, associate with other Aborigines, or enter non-segregated areas.

The facts

This meme (and the photo used by SBS in their advertising), is a deliberate fabrication intended to create outrage and encourage conflict between Australian Aborigines and non-Aboriginal Australians. Several lines of evidence prove it is a manufactured falsehood.

Firstly, the language and syntax do not reflect government conventions of the era (certificates of exemption were granted by state government bodies, not by the Commonwealth), contain errors of spelling (“JOSESPH” instead of “JOSEPH”), and punctuation (misuse or non-standard use of hyphens, commas, and capitalization), and use at least two modern typefaces which did not exist in the 1950s. This alleged photo of a document cannot be original or historically authentic.

Secondly, the contents of the certificate imply restrictions which the Aborigines Protection Act did not apply or enforce. It is true that the Act was applied disastrously by government officials, with catastrophic inter-generational consequences, especially after its expansion in 1915. However, it did not place any restrictions on the Aboriginal use of their language, or the practice of their customs, nor did it forbid Aborigines to associate with each other.

Thirdly, although certificates of exemption from the Act were issued, their contents were nothing like the contents of this meme, or the fabricated photo advertised by SBS. A genuine certificate of exemption followed this form.

“NEW SOUTH WALES GOVERNMENT ABORIGINES PROTECTION ACT, 1909–1943, SECTION 18c.

[REGULATION 56]

CERTIFICATE OF EXEMPTION

From provisions of the Act and Regulations

THIS IS TO CERTIFY that ………………………….………….Aborigine, aged …………years, residing at (Caste) ………………..…………………………………………… is a person who in the opinion of the Aborigines Welfare Board, ought no longer be subject to the provisions/following provisions of the Aborigines Protection Act and Regulations, or any such provisions, and he/she is accordingly exempted from such provisions:-……………………………………………………………

Photograph of

Issued in compliance with the Resolution of the Aborigines Welfare Board and dated the ………….day of ………………

………………..Chairman

…………………..Member of the Aborigines Welfare Board.

Countersigned by The Secretary,”

Certificates of exemption were applied for by Aborigines who could demonstrate they were self-sufficient and no longer in need of the government benefits (called “provisions”), which the Aborigines Protection Act supplied. The purpose of these exemption certificates was not to free Aborigines from restrictions on the use of their native language, or the practice of their customs, or their ability to associate with each other, since the Act did not place any such restrictions on them.

The debunking

The Australian national media watchdog program Media Watch carried out a thorough debunking of this falsified “certificate” when it was publicized back in 2008. They also contacted SBS (responsible for advertising the fabrication), and the documentary production company Blackfella Films which approved the falsified image.

According to Media Watch, neither organization addressed the concerns which Media Watch raised over the deliberate falsification of historical documents, and the deliberate misrepresentation of those documents as genuine.