Settlements such as Moore River were established in the early decades of the twentieth century by both government officials and missionaries. The Moore River settlements were based on the protectorate system, where by Indigenous people would establish self sufficient agricultural communities on reserved areas (Lavarch,1997). The protectorate system was based on theories that would remove any conflict over land claims by the English settlers. The establishment of the protectorate system authorized the removal of mixed race Indigenous children to improve their education and provide them training. This process involved merging Indigenous people to non-Indigenous societies through working programs.

In 1915, A. O. Neville was appointed the position of Chief Protector for Indigenous people. Neville’s vision was that within a period of one hundred years the pure black would be extinct (Lavarch,1997). The one hurdle to Neville’s vision was the increasing number of half cast communities developing around the settlement. In order to create the governments ideal community, government acts where put in place to separate the pure blacks from the half casts (Lavarch, 1997). The intention of this separation was to absorb the half cast Indigenous community into the non-Indigenous white community. Through the separation, children from all over the Australia were forcibly removed from their families and communities. The children were then sent to institutions such as Moore River to be educated and trained, so that they could be sent into white communities to work. The children who were sent away were often exploited for their labour, getting paid almost nothing and being fed scraps (Lavarch, 1997). The children had no choice but to work and when their terms of employment were up, they were made to return. Lavarch (1997) states that the physical infrastructures of missions and