
The ''Aboriginal Witnesses Act 1848'' was a series of
South Australian
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which includes some of the most arid parts ...
ordinances, acts and amendments that permitted
Indigenous South Australians to give unsworn evidence in Court, because at the time it was considered that Indigenous people could not make an
oath
Traditionally, an oath (from Old English, Anglo-Saxon ', also a plight) is a utterance, statement of fact or a promise taken by a Sacred, sacrality as a sign of Truth, verity. A common legal substitute for those who object to making sacred oaths ...
. The Act existed from 1848 until 1929.
Enacted by
Governor of South Australia
The governor of South Australia is the representative in South Australia of the monarch, currently King Charles III. The governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the governor-general of Aust ...
George Grey
Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Gov ...
during the
early colonial period of
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
, the act was established "To facilitate the admission of the unsworn testimony of Aboriginal inhabitants of South Australia and parts adjacent". Despite the act's stated aims being to facilitate Aboriginal testimony, it had the opposite effect, creating a situation where the massacre of Aboriginal peoples by European colonisers could not be tried solely on the evidence of Aboriginal witnesses.
History
In 1844, the ''Aborigines' Evidence Act 1844'' was enacted. This was followed by the 1848 ''Aboriginal Witnesses Act 1848''.
Governor
George Grey
Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Gov ...
was responsible for the act, and later Governor
Frederick Robe
Major-General Frederick Holt Robe CB (1801 – 4 April 1871) was the fourth Governor of South Australia, from 25 October 1845 to 2 August 1848.
Early career
Frederick Holt Robe entered the Royal Staff Corps as an ensign in 1817, following his ...
was responsible for the act's amendments.
[ The acts:
*
*
*
*] While its stated aim was to make provisions for
unsworn testimony
Testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter.
Etymology
The words "testimony" and "testify" both derive from the Latin word ''testis'', referring to the notion of a disinterested third-party witness.
Law
In the law, testimon ...
by "uncivilised people" to be admissible in court, the act made it possible for a judge to dismiss the testimony of an "uncivilised person or persons" as insufficient unless corroborated by other evidence - that the court could not base the conviction of a white man on the testimony of an aboriginal witness alone.
Although it was a progressive law for the time, the act decreed that the credibility of the evidence be left to the discretion of "the justice of the court, or jury under direction of the judge". The act also made Aboriginal testimony inadmissible in trials that carried the penalty of death.
Effectively, the act created a situation where settler solidarity and the law of evidence ensured that the murder and
massacre
A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...
of
aboriginal Australians
Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands.
Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...
by
European colonisers could not be tried solely on the evidence of aboriginal witnesses.
Possibly in response to the
Avenue Range Station massacre
The Avenue Range Station massacre was a murder of a group of Aboriginal Australians by white settlers during the Australian frontier wars. It occurred in about September 1848 at Avenue Range, a sheep station in the southeast of the Colony of ...
, where three
Tanganekald women, two teenage girls, three infants, and an "old man blind and infirm" were murdered by Australian mass murderer and pastoralist
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...
, the Aboriginal Witnesses Act of 1848 was amended in July 1849 to allow a person to be convicted on the sole testimony of an aboriginal person, though this rarely occurred.
The act remained in force until 1929.
See also
* ''
Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003''
* ''
Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988''
* ''
Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006
The ''Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006'' (AHA) of the state of Victoria, Australia
Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second ...
''
* ''
Aboriginal Lands Act 1995''
* ''
Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976
The ''Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976'' (ALRA) is Australian federal government legislation that provides the basis upon which Aboriginal Australian people in the Northern Territory can claim rights to land based on tradi ...
''
* ''
Aboriginal Protection Act 1869
The ''Aboriginal Protection Act 1869'' was an Act of the colony of Victoria, Australia that established the Victorian Central Board for the Protection of Aborigines, to replace the Central Board Appointed to Watch Over the Interests of the Abo ...
''
*
Australian heritage law
Australian heritage laws exist at the national (Commonwealth) level, and at each of Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia state and territory levels. ...
* ''
Half-Caste Act
''Half-Caste Act'' was the common name given to Acts of Parliament passed in the colony of Victoria (''Aboriginal Protection Act 1886'') and the colony of Western Australia (''Aborigines Protection Act 1886'') in 1886. They became the model fo ...
''
* ''
Native Title Act 1993
The ''Native Title Act 1993'' (Cth) is an act of the Australian Parliament, the purpose of which is "to provide a national system for the recognition and protection of native title and for its co-existence with the national land management sys ...
''
References
{{Aboriginal South Australians
1844 in Australia
1844 in British law
19th century in South Australia
Indigenous Australians in South Australia
Australian frontier wars
Public policy in Australia
Australian legislation concerning rights of indigenous peoples