Mr Auber Octavius Neville
- Position
- Member Centenary Committee
- Year of death
- 1954
- Plaque number
- FB46
- Dedicated by
- Kings Park Board on 29 September 1929
- More information
Biography abstract:
Auber Octavius Neville (misspelt Nevile) (20/10/1875 - 18/4/1954) was born in Ford, Northumberland, England.
After ten years in Victoria, he came to Western Australia in 1897 where his brother was living. He joined public service as a clerk and advanced rapidly.
In 1900, Neville was appointed to the Premiers' Office and in 1902 and later promoted to the registrar of Colonial Secretary's Department.
In 1906, he became immigration officer and from 1910-14 was closely involved in selecting and processing some 40,000 British immigrants to Western Australia.
He married Maryan Florence Low, they had three daughters and two sons. One of his daughters, Private Cynthia Neville, also has a plaque in Kings Park.
Mr Neville came into the public eye as Chief Protector of Aborigines. He shaped the official policy towards Aborigines from 1915 until his retirement in 1940. He worked to establish the Carrolup and Moore River reserves, intended as training institutions and centres for education, health and rations for separated Aborigines.
He gave evidence before the royal commission on the Constitution (1927-28), and was a key figure at the first Commonwealth conference on Aboriginal administration in Canberra in 1937.
In retirement he wrote 'Australia's Coloured Minority' (1947). The book defends the controversial policy he presided over of removing mixed race Aboriginal/European children from their families (children who came to be called the Stolen Generations) but also acknowledges that Aborigines had been harmed by European intervention and for that reason, he said, more had to be done to assist them.
Mr Auber Neville was a member of the Western Australian Centenary Committee in 1929.