Records
Relating to Tasmanian Aboriginal People
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a pdf format version of this Guide
It should be noted that this guide can only
serve as a general indication of sources as references to Aboriginal people occur through a large number of records of many government agencies
over the past two hundred years. If it is family history that is of
interest then our guide to Records Useful for Genealogical Research should be used in
conjunction with this document. The guide can be found on the Archives
Office website at http://www.archives.tas.gov.au/guides-to-holdings/usefulgenres.htm.
Except for a Committee established in 1830 Tasmania
did not have an agency with specific responsibility for Aborigines until
the 1970’s. Those agencies are listed below –
- TA 261 Committee for
the Care and Treatment of Aborigines. 1830 – 1833
- TA 1557 Office of Aboriginal
Affairs. By 1989
- TA 393 Office of the
Minister for Aboriginal Affairs 1982 – 1985
- TA 1427 Office of the
Minister assisting the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs 1989 – 1992
- TA 307 Aboriginal Affairs Study Group Apr 1977
- TA 327 Tasmanian Aboriginal
Research Trust 1979 - 1985
When using indexes to Government files it is important to remember to
look under the terms that the civil servants would have used at the time,
for example “half caste” is a term that was in common use for many
years.
Records
of government administration with a focus on Aboriginal matters
There
are very few records prior to 1824 so for this period you will need to
rely on published sources such as the books by Dr Brian Plomley and Historical
Records of Australia. The registers of St David’s Church of England
and the early newspapers will also provide some information. The
main source post 1824 is the records of the Colonial Secretary’s Office
later Chief Secretary’s Department. A guide to the use of the Colonial
Secretary’s records has been published by the Archives Office as Section
1 Guide to the Public Records of Tasmania. The present Office
of Aboriginal Affairs is placed within the Department of Premier and
Cabinet and the earlier records of the Premiers Office are also a useful
source.
Listed
below are some of the more specific series of records relating to Aboriginal
matters.
·
CSO 1/316 – 332 File 7578 is a large file (one
metre of records) “relating to the Aboriginals” within the general
files of the Colonial Secretary’s Office created during Governor
Arthur’s administration 1824 – 1836.
Further files will be identified in the various indexes to these
files.
·
CSO66 Copy of an itinerary of Lieutenant Governor
Arthur during the campaign against the Aborigines.
1830
·
AB 694/1 p600 - Bonwick transcripts – examination
paper given to children on Flinders
·
CSO89 Reports made by the Visiting Magistrate,
Surgeon and Chaplain when making calls on the Aboriginal Establishment at
Oyster Cove. July 1855 – Aug
1869
·
ED156 Records of the Cape
Barren
school 1898 - 1971 (TA1136)
·
PD1/237 file 108 for 1911. This is a file within the
Premiers Department relating to CapeBarren
Island.
It contains a considerable amount of correspondence between the Islanders
and the Government plus returns of people living on the Reserve and in
other parts of the Furneaux group.
·
LSD187 Lands Department: Applications to occupy
agricultural blocks under the Cape
1912. 1913 – 1945 (Alphabetical register see LSD 189)
·
LSD188 Lands Department: Applications to occupy
homestead blocks under the Cape.
Jan 1917 – Dec 1950 (Alphabetical
register see LSD189)
·
POL205 Flinders Police – Record of Occurrences and
daily activities. 1917–1973 (gaps)
·
LSD51 Lands Department: Correspondence concerning the
administration of Cape
Barren Island.
Jan 1936 – Dec 1956
·
POL203 Flinders Police – General Correspondence –
Cape
Barren Island
1955 – 1959
·
AD771 Records of the Director of Public Prosecutions
representing Tasmania
before the Commonwealth Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in
Custody. Dec 1986 – Oct 1989
Records
of general government administration
Records
held on behalf of Agencies such as Social Welfare and Health, which
provides a service for the whole of the Tasmanian community, will as part
of that include Aboriginal people. For example:
·
The general correspondence files of the former Lands
Department will contain files on Cape Barren Island (LSD1),
·
The case files and administrative records of the
former Department of Social Services will contain relevant information on
Cape Barren Island and individuals although they will not usually be
identified as Aboriginal people (SWD1,
AA226, AD203 and AD245) The register of children admitted to the Orphan
School contains references to Aboriginal children (SWD26).
·
The administrative files of the former Health
Department will have files on services such as bush nursing on the Islands
(HSD 5 and HSD6).
·
The administrative records of the Education
Department and records of schools on the Tasmanian mainland will contain
information on all children who attended school including Aboriginal children but they will not be identified as
Aboriginal.
·
Records created by the courts, prisons, police, and
hospitals may be relevant but once again in these earlier records in
particular it will not indicate that a person is an Aboriginal.
Researchers
should also note the issues mentioned in Brief Guides No 16 Documenting
Tasmanian Aboriginal descent and No 17 Issues in Documenting
Aboriginal Genealogies
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