The Dawn and New Dawn were magazines published between 1952 and 1975 by the New South Wales Aborigines Welfare Board, with the aim of providing interesting information and an exchange of news and views. The Dawn and New Dawn were also a way for Aboriginal people to keep in contact.
The magazines are a valuable source of family history information as they include details of births, deaths, marriages and baptisms, as well as hundreds of photographs.
The Dawn and New Dawn contain articles about the conditions and activities on reserves, stations, homes and schools throughout New South Wales. During their time of publication the magazines were also used to report the work of the Aboriginal Welfare Board.
What information do you need to research these magazines?
The Dawn and New Dawn have been fully indexed in the AIATSIS Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Biographical Index (ABI) and the State Library of New South Wales INFORKOORI index.
This means that you can search for articles in the magazines using keywords such as:
- your ancestor’s name
- the name of the place they lived, worked or studied.
Where do I find the Dawn and New Dawn?
AIATSIS has made digital copies of the entire collection of the magazines and published them on our website. It also has hard copies of the magazines.
To search and view the Dawn and New Dawn you can:
- search the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Biographical Index (ABI) (AIATSIS)
- search INFOKOORI (State Library of New South Wales)
- browse the digital copies of the Dawn and New Dawn (AIATSIS)
- find hard copies of the magazines held by Australian libraries using the National Library's Trove: