The Ooldea Mission was established by the United Aborigines Mission (UAM) in 1933 at Ooldea Soak. A government Aboriginal reserve was established in 1938 that encompassed the Mission. A children’s dormitory was established at the Mission which accommodated up to 60 Aboriginal children. A small number of children were moved to Gerard Mission in 1945….
Gerard Mission was established in 1945 near Loxton by the United Aborigines Mission (UAM) to replace the Swan Reach Mission. A school and a children’s dormitory was established and 15 children from Swan Reach and Ooldea were initially accommodated. From the mid 1950s children attended the local Winkie School. The state government took control of…
Umeewarra Mission Children’s Home opened near Port Augusta in 1937. It was run by the Christian Brethren as a Home and school for Aboriginal children.. In the 1950s-60s between 50 and 70 children lived at the Home. In 1964 the Mission came under government control and was renamed Davenport Reserve. The Open Brethren Assemblies of…
The Australian Board of Mission (ABM) was established in Sydney in 1850, and was the missionary body of the Church of England in Australia. It was originally called the Australasian Board of Missions and was led by the bishops of the Church in Australia and New Zealand. In 1872 it was formally constituted as the…
The Cherbourg Aboriginal Settlement was located on the lands of the Wakka Wakka people, near the town of Murgon in south eastern Queensland. The Salvation Army missionary William J Thompson established a mission at Barambah in 1899. Initially it was sponsored by the Ipswich Aboriginal Protection Society. In 1904-1905 the Queensland government took over management…
Mona Mona Mission, at Kuranda, was run by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Mission opened in 1913 and children from the mission, aged 6 and up, were taken from their families and placed into single-sex dormitories. The last dormitory closed along with the Mission in 1962. The Mona Mona Mission was established in 1913 at…
Mitchell River Mission, at Trubanaman, was established by the Church of England in 1905. In 1918 the mission relocated to a site on Magnificent Creek and was given the name Kowanyama (however, for many years after this move it was still referred to as Mitchell River Mission). In 1966, the Anglican Church approached the government…
Kowanyama Mission was previously known as the Mitchell River Mission (although it had been given the name Kowanyama – meaning ‘many waters’ in 1917). In 1966, the Anglican Church approached the government to take control of the Mitchell River Mission. The dormitories closed in April 1967 and control of the Mission was handed over to…
The Lockhart River Mission, on Cape York Peninsula, was run by the Church of England, and operated a dormitory system to house Mission children. It opened in 1924 and control was handed over the the State Government in 1967. The Lockhart River Mission followed the usual pattern for Church of England missions, which was to…
The Hope Vale Mission, at Hope Vale, was run by Lutheran Church missionaries. Previously known as Hope Valley Mission, it was taken over by the Army in 1942 and residents were transferred to Woorabinda in southern Queensland. After World War Two, in 1949, a work party of former residents returned to re-establish the mission which…