Wp/nys/Missions in Noongar Country
Carrolup was a government run settlement (for the stolen generations) near Katanning that operated from 1915 to 1922, and again from 1938. It 1952 it became Marribank Farm School run by the Baptist Church until 1970. There is more information about Carrolup art in Koorah Coolingah (Children Long Ago), a catalogue of Carrolup art produced by the Berndt Museum of Anthropology in 2006.[1]
Sister Kates (Manguri)[edit | edit source]
Sister Kate's was a 'home' where children from the Stolen Generations were sent after being literally kidnapped from their parents wer family.
Sister Kate Clutterbuck MBE (1860 - 1946) was an Anglican nun well-known in Perth for her humanitarian work caring for children in need. She had worked with orphans in the London slums for 17 years until 1901 when she and several other sisters were sent to Western Australia to establish a girls' school and orphanage. She arrived in Western Australia in December 1901 with 22 orphaned English children in her care and helped establish an orphanage which became Parkerville Children's Home in the Shire of Mundaring. She retired in 1930 at the age of 70 and was awarded an MBE the following year.
The Native Mission Farm, Roelands was established in 1941 as a non-denominational mission for children. It was set up by a group of Christians headed by Perth businessman Albany Bell, who also owned the land. The mission was located on the Collie River between Bunbury and Collie, and had a dairy, chooks, orchards and grazing. In total about 500 children spent time at Roelands before it closed in 1975.[1]
Roelands is now managed by Woolkabunning Kiaka Inc., a group of former mission residents. The group runs educational and healing programs on the site and some former residents live in the mission houses.[1]
Anglican mission in Albany which operated from 1852 to 1871. In 1858 there were 13 girls and 5 boys, aged from 18 months to 16 years. They were cared for by Mrs Camfield, wife of the Government Resident in Albany. The girls did domestic work for the mission. The children were also taught reading, writing and arithmetic. Some of the girls married men from the Albany area and others went to Victoria to marry men from the Ramahyuck Mission Station, including Bessie Flower. In 1871 Bishop Hale closed the mission and transferred the children to Perth.[1]
Established by Miss Mary Belshaw and Miss May McRidge at Badjaling near Quairading in 1930. It operated until 1954. There was a school room, hospital ward and a church. Children lived with their families nearby.[1]
Aunty Doolann Leisha Eatts talks about Noongar people camped at Badjaling Mission working together to protect children from being removed.[1]
Moore River Native Settlement was a government run settlement that operated from 1918 to 1951. In 1951 it became Mogumber Mission, run by the Methodist Church from 1951 until 1980.
Doris Garimara Pilkington’s 2002 book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence was based on her mother’s and aunt’s experiences being taken away to Moore River Native Settlement in 1931. They escaped and walked back to their home at Jigalong in the north-west of Western Australia, 2,400km away. The book was made into a film: Rabbit Proof Fence.[1]
Following the closure of the Carrolup Native Settlement, the residents were relocated to Moore River Native Settlement. See the section "The Stolen Generation" at the bibool "Carrolup Native Settlement".
Established in 1846 by Benedictine monks, the mission closed in 1974.[vii] Initially Noongar families lived in cottages and worked on the property. St Mary’s Aboriginal boys’ mission was established in 1858 and St Joseph’s Aboriginal girls’ mission in 1861.[viii]
As Perth developed along the river, new settlers and Noongar people clashed for their own livelihood and access to land and water. One of the strategies was to remove the children and place them in missions with the idea that the parents would follow. A lot of Noongar people surrendered to New Norcia because of massacres down here. So therefore Noongar people saw the mission as a safe place. They could live anywhere on the farm because it all belonged to the church.[1]
There were many deaths from measles at New Norcia in the 1860s. By 1875 there were 180 Aboriginal people at the mission, and in 1890 there were 122.
After reductions in government subsidies for missions in the 1890s and Bishop Salvado’s death in 1900, Noongar families were encouraged to work for other farmers in the area rather than for the mission. Children lived at the mission and parents had restricted access to them. Sometimes children from other places were taken by the Welfare and placed in New Norcia.
By 1946, when the mission had been operating for 100 years, more than 700 boys had been through St Mary’s orphanage and school.[xii]
In the 1950s and 60s a combination of the welfare and Benedictine community rules made it difficult for parents to keep in contact with children in the mission.[xiii] They needed special permission to see their kids and that was only on a Sunday.
Catholic mission in Wandering, ran from 1944 to 1976. Also known as Saint Frances Xavier Mission.[1]