History of Indigenous wages

From the 1890s to the 1970s the Queensland Government managed the wages and savings of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders who were controlled under the Protection Acts.

Some workers lived on settlements and missions and their wages were paid in rations, shelter and cash. Other workers were sent to work for employers and a portion of their wages was paid into a savings account held by the government (as demonstrated in the diagram on the right).

There was a similar system for control of the wages and savings of Torres Strait Islander people.

Where did the money go?

An individual savings account was operated by the Queensland Government for each person. Transactions on these accounts were entered on a ledger card record which showed their name, individual deposits and withdrawals, and the balance of their savings account.

Not all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were subject to the Protection Acts, but, for those who were, many were forced to make compulsory deposits of their wages, savings and government benefits into these accounts.

Often, Indigenous people didn't know what was happening to their money. Unlike the rest of the community, many had no control over their own money.

Government officials took money out of these accounts to pay for things like clothing, travel fares, postage, medical and dental expenses and purchase orders for workers or their families. Indigenous workers were generally not told about this.

This has led to concerns about how the money was spent and whether people got all the money they should have. Others have raised questions about possible fraud and mismanagement of savings accounts, wages and pocket money.

The Queensland Aboriginals Account was a single bank account operated by the department of the day, composed of the aggregated balances of the individual savings accounts. A similar system operated for Torres Strait Island people.

From the 1970’s, these accounts began to be closed and by the early 1990s, the departmental savings bank system was finally wound up. There is now no money in these accounts, or in the Queensland Aboriginals Account.

Aborigines Welfare Fund

The Aborigines Welfare Fund (the Fund) was set up in 1943 for the general benefit of Aboriginal people.

Until 1966, a percentage of Aboriginal workers’ wages were put into the Fund. Workers either had 2.5%, 5% or 10% of their wages taken, depending on family circumstances and their location.

Other money that went into the fund included:

• surplus interest earned from investment of money in the Queensland Aboriginals Account (after paying savings bank interest on individual accounts)
• money from the operations of retail stores, cattle, farming and other activities conducted on settlements (now Aboriginal Deed of Grant in Trust or DOGIT communities)
• unclaimed money from the estates of deceased or missing Aboriginal people.

In June 2008, there was $10.8 million in the Fund (which had been earning interest since it was frozen in 1993).

Indigenous Wages and Savings Reparations Scheme

In 2002, the Queensland Government made a reparations offer to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders whose wages and savings were controlled under the Protection Acts. The offer was called the Indigenous Wages and Savings Reparations Scheme.

The 2002 package included:

• $55.4 million allocated for reparations payments to be made by administrative processes to people who had their wages or savings controlled under the Protection Acts
• an apology
• a Parliamentary Acknowledgement (a statement made in Parliament House)
• government protocol to acknowledge traditional owners.

Priority was given to paying elderly people and those who were seriously ill.

This scheme was in addition to the $40 million paid to Indigenous Queenslanders in compensation for the payment of under-award wages to departmental employees during the period 1975-1986.

By 30 June 2010, when the Reparations Scheme was finalised, 5779 eligible claimants had been paid approximately $35.5 million during 2 rounds of the process. This included payments made to 225 eligible people following the re-opening of the scheme to new claimants in August 2008.

The balance of the original funding allocation for reparations, together with the balance of the Aborigines Welfare Fund was used to establish the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Foundation. This is an independent foundation, established under a trust deed and managed by the Public Trustee of Queensland to provide scholarships to young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The funds used by QATSIF for its programs and activities are drawn from the interest earned on the original capital provided to The Public Trustee to establish the Trust.