en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Augustus_Robinson
2 corrections found
by the Aboriginal Protection Board
This is anachronistic. Robinson became Chief Protector in the Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate in 1838–1839, but the Victorian Board for the Protection of Aborigines did not exist until decades later.
Full reasoning
The article attributes Robinson’s 1839 appointment to an Aboriginal Protection Board, but the relevant Victorian board had not yet been created.
Authoritative Victorian archival sources state that:
- the Aboriginal Protectorate was established in 1838, with George Augustus Robinson as Chief Protector; and
- the Board for the Protection of Aborigines in Victoria only dates from 1860/1869, well after Robinson’s appointment.
So Robinson was appointed under the earlier Protectorate system, not by an Aboriginal Protection Board.
3 sources
- Chief Protector of Aborigines records (1839-1851) | PROV
The Aboriginal Protectorate was established in 1838, with George Augustus Robinson as Chief Protector.
- Board for the Protection of Aborigines correspondence | PROV
The Board for the Protection of Aborigines were given statutory authority by the Victorian Aborigines Protection Act 1869.
- Aborigines Welfare Board | vic.gov.au
This Act abolished the Board of Protection (first formed in Victoria in 1860).
a £5 bounty was to be awarded for every native captured.
The 1830 reward was not a flat £5 for every Aboriginal person captured. Contemporary records say it was £5 for each adult captured and £2 for each child.
Full reasoning
This sentence overstates the reward as a uniform £5 for every person captured.
A contemporary memorandum reproduced by the State Library of New South Wales distinguishes between adults and children:
- on 24 March 1830, the reward was £5 for every adult native captured and delivered without injury; and
- in August 1830, the reward schedule again specified a reward for each adult native and £2 for every child captured.
So the article’s wording is inaccurate because it turns a tiered reward system into a flat £5 bounty for all captured Aboriginal people.
1 source
- Aborigines of Van Diemen's Land, 1830-1840 - Page 182 | Transcription Tool
On the 24th March two parties ... with the engagement of a Reward of £5 for every adult native they might capture ... In August 1830 ... to receive a Reward for each adult native and £2 for every child captured.