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Prior to the 1960s, state governments had sole responsibilities for Aboriginal affairs, thus Aboriginal education policies differed across Australia. There was, however, a perception common to all state policies that Aboriginal people were inherently inferior and should receive minimal schooling. This perception was consistent with the general policy of excluding Aboriginal people from contact with non-Aboriginal people and the specific policies in some states of excluding Aboriginal children from government-run schools which persisted into the 1950s. Indeed, estimates suggest that only a very small proportion of Aboriginal children in Australia in the 1940s were being educated in state schools. In total, only about a quarter were receiving any sort of formal education, mostly in institutions and particularly in Christian missions. It has been well documented that the educational experiences of Aboriginal children in missions were far from ideal. Education often had a greater focus on Christian principles than formal education, with very little attention given to Aboriginal culture and languages. Source: Chapter 2 Educating Aboriginal Children – Issues, Policy and History www.telethonkids.org.au/globalassets/media/documents/abor...

Darnley Island or Erub in the native language, is an island formed by volcanic action and situated in the eastern section of the Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia The island was named by Captain William Bligh in 1792 during his second breadfruit voyage to the Pacific, after his distant relative, the Earl of Darnley. Christianity was first introduced to Darnley and the Torres Strait region by the London Missionary Society on 1 July 1871. Before this, pearlers and beche-de-mer gatherers visited the island. Over many years, these industries attracted an influx of seamen from the Pacific Islands, the Philippines and Malaya, many of whom married local women and settled on the island. Early in the twentieth century, the Queensland Government started installing various facilities such as a school, medical aid, post office and an Island Industries Board store. Darnley people have been at the forefront of the movement for adequate recognition of Torres Strait Islanders' rights, with George Mye among the most prominent advocates of Islander interests from the 1960s to the 90s and Carlemo Wacando among the first to challenge the legal notion of terra nullius. Source: kids.kiddle.co/Darnley_Island_(Queensland)

EDUCATION. Modern aids in the shape of 16-m.m. film projectors have been in operation at Cherbourg and Palm Island schools for some years and, realising the value of visual education, particularly in the case of aboriginal children, who readily absorb learning by sight, it is intended to equip all schools with machines of this type. Already arrangements are in hand to provide a machine for Woorabinda school. The films, which are obtained through the Department of Education Library, are apart from general school subjects, geographical, industrial, horticultural, pastoral, agricultural and depict bird and animal life. Apart from their educational value, they are the means of giving the native children an insight of the activities proceeding in the outside world. Manual Training and Domestic Science.— Under the manual training scheme, boys of the senior grades receive tuition in cabinet-making, carpentry, plumbing, tinsmithing, saddlery, while the older girls are taught cooking, sewing, and general domestic science. In 1949 at Mornington Island there were 104 Aboriginal children enrolled in education: 55 girls and 49 boys. Source: Native Affairs—Information contained in Report of Director of Native Affairs for the Twelve Months ended 30th June, 1950. aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/docs/digitised_collect...