The Pass System, Urban Segregation & Prohibited Areas

1. Spatial Apartheid in the City of Perth

Between 1927 and 1954, the capital city of Western Australia operated under a rigid system of racial spatial segregation comparable to South African apartheid.¹ Following moral panics and demands from white shopkeepers and municipal leaders, colonial Governor Sir Robert McMillan issued an executive proclamation on 28 January 1927 under section 42 of the Aborigines Act 1905 declaring the entire City of Perth a "Prohibited Area" for Aboriginal people.² The boundary covered an expansive zone encompassing the central business district, government precincts, and surrounding residential suburbs.³

2. The Pass System: Enforcement, Curfews, and Arrests

Under the Prohibited Area regime, any person possessing Aboriginal ancestry was legally barred from entering the City of Perth unless they were in possession of a valid, stamped police travel pass or employment permit signed by the Chief Protector.⁴ Police were stationed at primary transit choke points—including the Causeway Bridge, Perth Railway Station, and West Perth railway underpass—to intercept, question, and turn back Aboriginal travelers.⁵ Furthermore, a strict 6:00 PM curfew was enforced: even workers holding daytime employment passes were required to vacate the city before sunset under penalty of immediate summary imprisonment.⁶

3. Displacement to Fringe Camps and Rural Peripheries

The immediate consequence of urban banishment was the forced displacement of Bibbullmun families to squalid fringe camps situated beyond municipal boundaries.⁷ Denied housing within the city, families constructed temporary tin-and-canvas shanties at places like Eden Hill, Bassendean, Guildford, Welshpool, and Bennett Brook.⁸ These fringe camps lacked municipal running water, electricity, or sanitation services, yet they became vital centers of community solidarity, cultural resilience, and political organising where elders kept traditional knowledge and language alive away from police harassment.⁹

4. The Struggle for the Streets: The Coolbaroo League Challenge

The Prohibited Area system stood until the 1950s, when courageous Bibbullmun activists of the Coolbaroo League launched direct challenges to the pass regime.¹⁰ Organising dance clubs, publishing protest newspapers, and marching through the center of Perth, the League exposed the hypocrisy of Australian democracy on the world stage, forcing the eventual repeal of the Prohibited Area proclamation in 1954.¹¹ The history of urban segregation remains a vital truth in the contemporary fight for Indigenous visibility and sovereign land rights in the city.¹²