State government monitors Aboriginal spending

Following changes to the Social Services Act in 1959, Aboriginal people living on government settlements and stations could claim government payments. Some could also get payments directly and manage their own money. Previously, Aboriginal people who wanted to manage their own payment often had to move away from the settlement they lived on.

This article from Dawn in 1960 reported on 5 Aboriginal people at Boggabilla who had just begun to manage their own money. Dawn was the NSW Aborigines Welfare Board’s magazine for Aboriginal people in New South Wales.

The article said the 5 pension recipients had showed ‘without exception’ that they were able to manage their own money wisely. The government had sent them a lump sum of back payments. The article reported that they had spent it on winter goods, furniture and a radio.

The language was paternalistic and showed that state government officials were watching to see how Aboriginal people used their government payments. The article said that because the recipients had relied on the welfare board in the past, the board had to point out that ‘they now have to think for themselves’.

The piece mentions one person who was under pressure from others to share his payment. It described him as ‘being dragged down by his poor type of no-hoper fellow men’. It doesn’t mention whether he saw sharing his money as part of his kinship responsibilities.

This article shows the way the state government officials responded to changes to payments. The tone suggests that they viewed Aboriginal people as needing guidance, warning readers about their use of their payments.