Aboriginal Mobility, Scholarships and Anglican Grammar Schools in Melbourne, 1958–65

This article provides a historical perspective on the Aboriginal scholarships developed by Anglican grammar schools in Melbourne in the 1960s through a detailed case study of the scholarship created by Caulfield Grammar School. By interrogating the connections between grammar school culture in Melbourne, the Anglican church, and the government policies and practices of the Northern Territory, Victoria and Queensland, this article argues that an examination of Aboriginal scholarships reveals the complexity and diversity of understandings of assimilation in Australia. In attending to the role played by educational institutions in Victoria in enacting the assimilationist agenda of state governments, schools are shown to be critical sites of the experiences of Aboriginal children during the era of assimilation. By paying attention to the mobility of Indigenous children, this article contributes to understandings of the experiences of Indigenous children in the mid-twentieth century.