Founded in 1837, the Aborigines' Protection Society published tracts, pamphlets, and a journal titled The Colonial Intelligencer, or Aborigine's Friend. The Society continued until 1909, when it merged with the Anti-Slavery Society. All volumes published by the Aborigines' Protection Society that are in the collection of Anti-Slavery International are compiled here, along with volumes in Rhodes House Library, Oxford. The publications reference numerous native tribes and include the Aborigines of Australia; the Maoris of New Zealand; the Native American and Canadian Indians; the Native South American Indians; as well as the tribes of Papua/New Guinea and other Melanesian, Polynesian, and African tribes. Subjects include the effects of colonization, slavery, forcible removal from ancestral lands, forcible land purchases and land grabbing; religious practices and conversion; the social state of the various tribes and their interactions with Europeans; and leading personalities, including tribal chiefs and leaders.
Included in the collection are the Annual Reports from 1839-1908; The Aborigines' Friend from 1847 to 1909 (originally known as The Colonial Intelligencer, or Aborigines' Friend and Aborigines' Friend, and the Colonial Intelligencer); and a volume containing 32 of the Society's pamphlets from 1896-1908.