term "Aborigines" altogether within its text. It has been seen as part of his model for cultural assimilation of Aboriginal people into the white population. It was clear that the provisions applied to Aboriginal people though, by specifying that nobody who was entitled to vote could be declared a ward; at the time, this meant that it could only apply to Aboriginal people. The Director had authority over the property of all wards, his consent was needed for wards to marry, and wards were not allowed to live with a "non-ward" unless they were related. The Director could authorise police to remove children from their parents, and put children into institutions, including interstate. Two high-profile cases attracted widespread criticism of these ordinances. One was the a man called Mick Daly, charged with cohabiting with a ward, Gladys Namagu, when they wanted to marry. The other was the conviction of famous artist Albert Namatjira for supplying alcohol to a ward, as he had been (against his wishes) been given an honorary exemption from the Register of Wards. Namatjira appealed against the conviction to the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory (with his defence supported by the Council for Aboriginal Rights in Victoria). The Supreme Court upheld the conviction but reduced the sentence from six to three months. The High Court of Australia refused an application to appeal, and there was widespread sympathy for Namatjira and negative publicity about the operation of the Ordinance both at home and abroad. The law was never properly debated in Parliament, and only finally lost its force after Aboriginal people gained franchise rights in both Commonwealth and Northern Territory in 1961. There were several amendments to the Welfare Ordinance 1953 (each named "Welfare Ordinance [yyyy]") before it was repealed by the Social Welfare Ordinance 1964 (Act no. 31/1964) on 15 September 1964, which had much fewer restrictions over Aboriginal people. See also Kruger v Commonwealth (1997), in which the High Court found that the 1918 Ordinance was beneficial in intent Stolen Generations References Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory History of the Northern Territory South Australia legislation