On 16 December 1923 three Ngarrindjeri men presented the then governor with a petition appealing to him to intervene in the passage of the Aborigines (Training of Children) Act.
The Act empowered the Protector of Aborigines to remove children under the age of 18 from their homes and place them into state care. This request was ignored and many Aboriginal children were taken from their families and placed into training institutions under the Act.
The petition has since been lost. A researcher, Karen Hughes, found a copy of the petition in 2002. It was brought to the attention of Ngarrindjeri elders Tom and Ellen Trevorrow, who believed the importance of this document needed to be acknowledged.
On the anniversary of its presentation, the treasurer of the Ngarrindjeri Land and Progress Association, Ms Ellen Trevorrow, sent a copy of the petition to The Honourable, Her Excellency Marjorie Jackson Nelson, Governor of South Australia. On 17 December 2003 this basket, the sister basket to the petition, was presented to the governor in a re-enactment.
On loan from Government House, Adelaide
