Rations for Aboriginal people starts in 1838 in South Australia and continues at regional depots; ends in 1960s

Rations being distributed to Kaurna Aboriginal people at a ceremony in the Adelaide park lands in 1838 to celebrate the arrival of second governor George Gawler.
Image courtesy State Library of South Australia

Distributing government rations to Aboriginal people in South Australia, begun in the earliest days of European settlement, continued until the early 1960s.

In November 1838, to celebrate the arrival of second South Australian governor George Gawler, a ceremonial meeting was arranged with the Kaurna people in the Adelaide park lands. Colonists made speeches, the Kaurna performed songs and dances before baked beef, biscuit, rice, sugar and tea were provided to them. This event set the precedent for an annual distribution of rations in Adelaide, coinciding with the Queen’s Birthday on May 24, continued until about 1861.

In 1841, after the violent clash between Aboriginal people and overlanders on the Rufus River, governor George Grey appointed the explorer Edward Eyre sub protector of Aboriginal people and resident magistrate at Moorundie on the River Murray. He brought peace to the district, in part by periodically distributing rations of flour and blankets. A similar system was instituted at this time in the Port Lincoln district on Eyre Peninsula.

The distributions became more systematic by the late 1840s with new depots being set up in frontier districts, usually at police stations, in response to outbreaks of violence. As settlement spread, denying Aboriginal people access to their country and resources, rations were distributed as both as compensation and a means of influence. In 1859 there were about 14 depots were operating.

The daily food ration was one pound of flour, two ounces of sugar and half an ounce of tea, with other foods, clothing and material items (such as nets and fishing lines) issued on an occasional basis. Issues were restricted to the old, sick or infirm, orphan children and women with children under 12. The able-bodied were only given rations if they could not obtain work or subsist by fishing and hunting.

One of the few tangible outcomes of an 1860 select South Australian parliamentary committee into Aboriginal people was to expand the system of ration distributions. By 1867, 58 depots were operating throughout the colony. In the southern settled districts most depots, as before, were at police stations, while in the northern districts most were on pastoral stations.

The amount and quality of rations issued on missions and in the settled districts improved gradually into the 20th Century, but in the remote regions flour, tea and sugar remained the staples. Distributing rations ended in the early 1960s when Aboriginal people became eligible to receive the same government benefits as other members of the community.