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NTRS 3658 Children's registers

Recording Agency:Administrator, Northern Territory [II] (523); Welfare Branch (695); Welfare Division (696); Department of Community Development (562); Department of Health and Community Services [I] (570); Territory Health Services (687)
Date Range:1951 - 1999
Access:Agreement Pending
Location:Darwin (NTAC)
Legacy Series Id:

How to Use the Records

Entries in registers are chronological by court date. Both registers include an alphabetical index of names of children in care. Folio numbers included with entries relate to child case files. Registers include the names of both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children.

Function / Content

This series consists of registers of children in care of the Northern Territory Government. The registers record name, date and place of birth of a child and a corresponding case folio number. Further specified are details of parents, details of the case, name of court and date, legal action enforced, variations of legal order, and expected date of discharge from care. Entries in the register were later stamped to mark where time in care had ceased. The registers were initially held with the State Children's Council in Darwin. The Council had been established through the State Children Act 1895 (South Australia) and subsequent Northern Territory State Children Ordinances (1934-1952). Council members, appointed by the Administrator, were responsible for 'State children', children declared to be destitute or neglected, convicted of an offence, or received into an institution to be apprenticed or placed out. The State Children's Council was responsible for the care, management and control of State Children and their property. The Council was required to keep accurate records of proceedings and children's details (State Children Act, Section 18). From 1958, the Child Welfare Council (Child Welfare Ordinance 1958) took on a more advisory function. The first register (Unit 1) includes a list of child welfare cases falling under this Ordinance. The Director of Welfare was the legal guardian of every State child, and a court could commit the child to the care of the Director or another person, to be sent to an institution or released on probation. The Community Welfare Act (1983), repealing previous legislation, defined a child in need of care as a child who has been abandoned, who has suffered maltreatment or has engaged in harmful conduct, or who is excused from criminal responsibility but has persistently engaged in conduct harmful to the general welfare of the community (Child Welfare Ordinance, Section 4).

Recording Agency

PeriodTitleAgency Id
1951 - 1955Administrator, Northern Territory [II]523
1955 - 1970Welfare Branch695
1970 - 1972Welfare Division696
1978 - 1987Department of Community Development562
1987 - 1995Department of Health and Community Services [I]570
1995 - 1999Territory Health Services687

Agency Responsible

PeriodTitleAgency Id
1951 - 1955Administrator, Northern Territory [II]523
1955 - 1970Welfare Branch695
1970 - 1972Welfare Division696
1978 - 1987Department of Community Development562
1987 - 1995Department of Health and Community Services [I]570
1995 - 2001Territory Health Services687
2001 - 2008Department of Health and Community Services [II]571
2016 - 2020Territory Families1291