Wotjulum

Wotjulum, near Yampi, was established by the United Aborigines Mission in 1934, with people transferred from Sunday Island. In 1937 Wotjulum closed and the mission returned to Sunday Island. Children at Wotjulum were under the guardianship of the heads of the departments responsible for Aboriginal welfare. In 1951, the Presbyterian Church opened a mission on the Wotjulum site, but the two missions were not related even though they shared the same name.

Wotjulum, near Yampi, was established by the United Aborigines Mission (UAM) in 1934, with people transferred from Sunday Island.

According to the Minister for the North-West in 1945, the Sunday Island Mission had moved from the island to Wotjulum on the mainland and back to Sunday Island again because the ‘adult natives were not willing to stay at Wotjulum’.

Children at Wotjulum were under the guardianship of the heads of the departments responsible for Aboriginal welfare.

Young people from Wotjulum could be placed out at service. For some years, the government required reports about these placements. For example, the Annual Report of the Commissioner for Native Affairs in 1939 (p.34) reported that a ‘quarter-caste’ girl aged 15 had been placed at domestic service in Derby.

In 1937 Wotjulum closed and the mission returned to Sunday Island.

In 1951, the Presbyterian Church opened a mission on the Wotjulum site but this was not related to the previous Wotjulum mission, which had been run by the UAM.