Confirmation of Aboriginality

The Orange Aboriginal Corporation Health Service (OAMS) is provider of Confirmations of Aboriginality in the Orange Area. We provide a ‘general’ confirmation that may support you accessing Indigenous specific housing, employment, medical, education and other related services that require this document.

 

 

The official formal criteria used by the Australian Government and most State

Governments developed in consultation with Aboriginal peoples are set out in the following formula:

 

An Aboriginal person must meet the following three criteria:

 

    live or have lived.

If you do not meet our criteria, it does not mean that you are not Aboriginal – it simply means that we are unable to attest to your Aboriginality so please do not be offended if you are unsuccessful in obtaining a Confirmation of Aboriginality from us.

 

If your family heritage is from a different location, we may suggest that you seek Confirmation from the relevant organisation in that area.

 

Evidence to support your application may include a Birth Certificate to show Aboriginal heritage, which can be used to show connection, and family genealogy. You may also need to provide support letters from local Aboriginal people to attest to this.

 

 

 

If you are well known as Aboriginal in the community and are seeking a general confirmation, we can provide these in a short time frame where 3 current directors of OAMS can attest to your heritage and can confirm your supporting documentation. Your application will need to go to a board meeting which is held every 2nd month.

 

We will notify you soon after on whether your application was successful or not and if necessary, the reason that your application was not successful, or if we may ask you for additional supporting documentation.

 

 

Many Aboriginal people are offended that they are required to obtain Confirmations of Aboriginality in order to obtain and access specific services. We understand that this is the case and seek to make the process as respectful and simple as possible and to explain that it is a necessary document to ensure that allocated Aboriginal services are for Aboriginal people.

 

Aboriginal people are not the beneficiaries of special entitlements but rather they are people who, through no fault of their own, find it difficult to obtain mainstream accommodation, employment or other services that most people take for granted. Aboriginal specific services are an attempt to redress this imbalance so that Aboriginal people can have the same entitlements and prospects as other Australians.