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Aboriginal breastplates (also called king plates or aboriginal gorgets) were a form of regalia used in pre-Federation Australia by white colonial authorities to recognise those they perceived to be local Aboriginal leaders. The breastplates were usually metallic crescent-shaped plaques worn around the neck by wearer. Aboriginal people did not traditionally have kings or chiefs. They lived in small clan groups with several elders—certain older men and women—who consulted with each other on decisions for the group. By appointing kings of tribes, and granting them king plates, the white colonial powers went against the more collegiate grain of traditional Aboriginal culture. In the 19th century, king plates were given by numerous communities in various Australian States to esteemed Aboriginal men and women, who were usually elders of their particular tribal or kinship group. The plates were presented to perceived 'chiefs', courageous men and to faithful servants.[1] There have been suggestions that the presentation of breastplates also had a great deal to do with whether or not the recipient was seen as useful or respected by the white Australian community of the area in question. While some Aboriginal people wore their breastplates with pride, others saw them as yet another insult to their culture from the white European settlers.[2] Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aboriginal_breastplate

"If clothes were given to workers in lieu of wages by way of reward for labour, then the clothes should have become the possession of the worker. By possession, I mean that the clothes should have been theirs to keep, to sell, to trade, or to give to family or to others to satisfy customary exchange. But despite official policy, clothes were rarely given as wages, and it was common for clothes to remain the property of the employer. On cattle stations, Aboriginal stockworkers were given clothes suitable for riding and working, but these clothes were on loan rather than clothes to keep." In 1932 Owen Rowe, commented that: One big station firm indulged in the Christian practice of compelling the stockboys, after the mustering of the cattle was finished, which is just a seasonal work, to hand back the clothes, issued them to work in, and then sending them naked into the bush to fend for themselves [:::] The scarcity of clothing among these unfortunates compels them to wear the clothes until they are absolutely filthy or until they fall to pieces on them.30 The assimilation policy was based on the assumption that the barrier to equal rights and citizenship for Aboriginal people was not the fundamental inequality of the law, but the inadequacy of the Aboriginal people themselves. It was assumed that an innate inferiority existed which might, with suitable training and guidance, be gradually overcome. The question of clothing and cash wages was an important part of the new policy. Source: 2007 " When wages were clothes: dressing down Aboriginal workers in Australia's Northern Territory" Julia T. Martinez ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1786&contex...

Under various Acts of Parliament, Aboriginal women were sent to privately owned properties to be utilised as ‘domestic servants’ through a system of forced indentured labour, which continued until the 1970’s. This social history research reveals that the practice of removing Aboriginal women from their families at the age of 12 or 13 and to white families was more common practice than not. These women were often: not paid, worked up to 15 hour days, were not allowed leave, and were subjected to many forms of abuse. This hidden Aboriginal Australian women’s history needs to be revealed to better understand the experiences and depth of misappropriation of Aboriginal women as domestic workers. In doing so, it also reveals a more accurate reflection of women’s work in Australia. Source: Indigenous Australian women and work : an historical context Best, Odette & Fredericks, Bronwyn (2013) Indigenous Australian women and work : an historical context. In The Oxford Women's Leadership Symposium eprints.qut.edu.au/71360/