Archives



Little Flower Mission

The Little Flower Mission was established by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in 1935 in Bath Street, Alice Springs. The Mission was moved to a new site at Charles Creek in 1937 and a Mission school was established. From 1938 children from the Mission were sent to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Primary…

Rapid Creek Mission

Rapid Creek Mission was established by Jesuit Missionaries at Rapid Creek in 1882. Missionaries opened a school for children in 1883. No dormitory was established and children continued to live with their families. The Mission closed in 1891 due to financial and other problems. The Rapid Creek Mission, also known as St Joseph’s Mission was…

Queen of the Holy Rosary Mission

The Queen of the Holy Rosary Mission, also known as Old Uniya, was established by Jesuit missionaries on the Daly River in 1886. Although missionaries aimed to educate and convert children, no dormitories were established. The mission closed in July 1891 and was reopened at a new location a few months later. It was then…

Bathurst Island Mission

The Bathurst Island Mission run by the Roman Catholic Church opened in 1911. In 1914, the first nuns from the Sisters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart arrived in Bathurst Island. In 1912 a dormitory for girls aged 5 to 18 was opened, and a boys’ dormitory was established some time later. All residents…

St Joseph’s School, Darwin

St Joseph’s School, Darwin, was the official name given to the Convent School, Darwin, in 1912. Run by the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, it provided a day school for boys and girls of primary school age and boarding accommodation for girls. It also accommodated State children, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, for…

Santa Teresa Mission

Santa Teresa Mission was the new name given to the Arltunga Mission after it was moved to approximately 80 kms south east of Alice Springs in 1953. Run by the Catholic Church the Mission included a Mission school and dormitories which accommodated Aboriginal boys and girls aged 5 to 17 years. The Mission’s administration passed…

Port Keats Mission

Port Keats Mission was established by the Catholic Church in 1935 at Werntek Nganayi in the Daly River district. It moved to Wadeye in 1938. A Mission school and dormitories were established for Aboriginal boys and girls aged 5 to 17 years. The school closed between 1942 and 1946 due to World War II. In…

Garden Point Mission

The Garden Point Mission was established on Melville Island in 1940 by the Catholic Church to take charge of all Catholic Aboriginal children from The Bungalow, Alice Springs, and Kahlin Compound in Darwin. A residential school operated at the mission for children aged 5 to 17 years. In 1942 many children were evacuated to Carrieton…

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Primary School

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Primary School was established by the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Alice Springs in 1938. From 1940 it provided accommodation and education for children aged 5 to 16. Children under the care of the government may also have been placed at the School. In 1983…

Daly River Mission

The Daly River Mission was established by the Catholic Church on the Daly River in 1955. It operated a Mission School with dormitories for Aboriginal children aged 5 to 17 from 1957. The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart were placed in charge of the girls and the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart…