Marribank
Encyclopedia
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
established by the office of the Protector of Aborigines
Protector of Aborigines
The role of Protectors of Aborigines resulted from a recommendation of the report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Aborigines . On 31 January 1838, Lord Glenelg, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies sent Governor Gipps the report.The report recommended that Protectors of...
of the Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
n State Government.
It was established not far from the Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
n town of Katanning
Katanning, Western Australia
Katanning is a town located 277 km south east of Perth, Western Australia on the Great Southern Highway. At the 2006 census, Katanning had a population of 3,808.-History:...
, after complaints by white farmers and settlers about the Aboriginal fringe dwellers living north of the town, who were attending school to the south. Together with settlements at Moore River
Moore River Native Settlement
The Moore River Native Settlement was the name of the now defunct Aboriginal settlement and internment camp located north of Perth and west of Mogumber in Western Australia, near the headwaters of the Moore River.- Name change :...
, Roelands and Gnowangerup, at one stage it formed part of a number of institutions that housed most of the Noongar people of the South West of Western Australia. The "Aboriginal Act" of 1909 denied the rights of parents and made all part-Aboriginal children wards of the state. Aboriginal children were taken from their parents, especially if they had a European or part-European ancestry, in order to break the possibility of being socialised within traditional Aboriginal language and culture, as a part of a government policy which has become known as the Stolen Generations. It was hoped by the Protector of Aborigines that boys would be trained as agricultural labourers, and girls would obtain work as domestic servants. Children living at Carrolup of marriageable age had to obtain official government permission to marry. As the official policy was acknowledged as "smoothing the pillow of a dying race", the "breeding out" of Aboriginal racial characteristics was encouraged. The officials took little or no action in cases of sexual abuse of girls by those officially in charge of them.
In the 1950s, Marribank was the site of an Aboriginal Noongar Art movement amongst the children resident there, famous for its portrayals of local Western Australian scenes at sunset. An exhibition of Carrolup artists was organised in Perth, in a number of Australian towns and cities and in London. A number of prominent Western Australian Aboriginal Artists started their work at Marribank.
Today, Marribank houses a small museum and is administered under Aboriginal control.