List of Aboriginal missions in New South Wales

Aboriginal missions in New South Wales, together with reserves and stations, were areas of land in New South Wales where many Aboriginal people were forced to live due to government laws and policies.[1] The missions were established by religious individuals or churches and they were controlled by those churches and missionaries with limited government involvement.[1][2] More than ten missions were established in NSW between 1824 and 1923.[3][4] Relocation to missions denied Aboriginal people access to their traditional lands, hunting grounds, and sacred sites, and disrupted kinship systems.[5][6][7]

The origin of laws seeking to protect Aboriginal people in the Australian colonies and to provide religious instruction and missionaries can be found in the Report of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Aboriginal Tribes, (British settlements.) which was presented to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Aboriginal Tribes in 1837.[8] The missions were primarily run by Christian churches, whose religious teaching and western values greatly influenced day-to-day life for the communities.[1] In New South Wales, there were two non-denominational Missions, the United Aborigines Mission (UAM) also called the Australian Aborigines' Mission (AAM) and the Australian Inland Mission (AIM).[9] The United Aborigines Mission[10] published the Australian Aborigines Advocate, a magazine documenting their activities.[11]

The missions

• Apsley Mission (c.1839–?) a private mission, set up by Reverend William Watson after he was dismissed from Blakes Fall Mission, near the boundary of the Wellington Valley Mission site[12][13]
• Blake's Fall Mission (1832–?) established by Reverend William Watson for London based Church Missionary Society[12][14]
• Bomaderry Aboriginal Mission (1908–88) United Aborigines' Mission[6][15][16][17]
• Bowraville Aboriginal Mission and School (1923–?) Roman Catholic[6][16]
• Brewarrina Aboriginal Mission also known as Brewarrina Mission Station, Old Brewarrina Station (1886–1967) United Aborigines' Mission[6][18][19][20][21][22][23]
• Goulburn Island Mission Station (1916–?) Methodist Church[6][16]
• Lake Macquarie (Ebenezer) Aboriginal Mission (1824–41) London Missionary Society[6][16]
• La Perouse Aboriginal Mission (1885–?) United Aborigines Mission[6][24][16][25][26]
• Maloga Aboriginal Mission Station (1874–94)[6][16]
• Parramatta Aboriginal Mission (1820–28) Church of England[6][16]
• St Clair Aboriginal Mission, also known as Singleton Aboriginal Mission, it was renamed Mount Olive Reserve (1893–1923) Aborigines' Inland Mission[27]
• Sydney Aboriginal Mission[6][16]
• Warangesda Aboriginal Mission (1879–1920) Church of England / Australian Board of Missions[6][16]
• Wellington Valley Aboriginal Mission (1832–42) Church Missionary Society[6][28][16][29][30]

See also

• Category:Australian Aboriginal missions
• List of Aboriginal Reserves in New South Wales

References

1. "Remembering the Mission Days". Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. 19 February 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
2. State Library of New South Wales; Briggs, Ronald, 1968-; Jackson, Melissa (1996), Black routes through the library : a guide to Aboriginal family and local history resources relating to NSW, State Library of New South Wales Press, ISBN 978-0-7310-6608-7
3. "Living on Aboriginal reserves and stations". NSW Office of Environment and Heritage. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
4. Smith, Diane (Diane Evelyn); Halstead, Boronia; Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (1990), Lookin for your mob : a guide to tracing Aboriginal family trees, Aboriginal Studies Press, ISBN 978-0-85575-209-5
5. Bangarra Dance Theatre. "Our Land, People, Stories: Teachers Notes" (PDF). Retrieved 25 January 2018.
6. Thinee, Kristy; Bradford, Tracy; New South Wales. Department of Community Services (1998), Connecting kin: guide to records: a guide to help people separated from their families search for their records (PDF) (1st ed. printed September 1998 ed.), New South Wales Dept. of Community Services, ISBN 978-0-7310-4262-3
7. New South Wales. Department of Community Services; Gungil Jindibah Centre (1994), Learning from the past : aboriginal perspectives on the effects and implications of welfare policies and practices on Aboriginal families in New South Wales, Gungil Jindibah Centre, Southern Cross University for the NSW Dept. of Community Services, retrieved 25 January 2018
8. Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Aboriginal Tribes; Aborigines Protection Society (1837), Report of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Aboriginal Tribes, (British settlements.), London Pub. for the Society by W. Ball [etc.], retrieved 25 January 2018
9. Djenidi, Valerie; Ramsland, John, 1942-. a history of Aboriginal-European relationships in the Manning Valley of New South Wales. Custodians of the soil; University of Newcastle (N.S.W.). School of Humanities and Social Sciences (2008), State and church involvement in Aboriginal reserves, missions and stations in New South Wales, 1900-1975 : and a translation into French of John Ramsland, Custodians on the Soil. A history of Aboriginal-European relationships in the Manning Valley of New South Wales, 2008, retrieved 25 January 2018
10. Telfer, E. J (1939), Amongst Australian Aborigines : forty years of missionary work : the story of the United Aborigines' Mission, E. J. Telfer, retrieved 26 April 2019
11. Australian Aborigines Mission (1908), Australian Aborigines advocate : a monthly record of work amongst the dark people of Australia, T.E. Colebrook, retrieved 15 May 2018
12. "Blacks Camp". NSW Environment & Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
13. "MISSION TO THE ABORIGINES". The Sydney Morning Herald. Vol. XV, no. 1828. 28 March 1843. p. 2. Retrieved 25 January 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
14. Woolmington, Jean (1988), Writing on the sand : the first missions to Aborigines in Eastern Australia, retrieved 26 April 2019
15. "Bomaderry Aboriginal Children's Home | NSW Environment & Heritage". www.environment.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
16. "Mission and reserve records". Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. 27 November 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
17. "Bomaderry Aboriginal Children's Home (1908 – 1980)". Find and Connect.
18. "Brewarrina Aboriginal Mission Station". The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser. Vol. XLVIII, no. 6713. New South Wales. 2 May 1891. p. 6 (Second sheet to the Maitland Mercury). Retrieved 26 March 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
19. Latukefu, Ruth A; Shakuto-Neoh, Shiori; Quer, Giovanni Matteo (2014), Recollections of Brewarrina Aboriginal Mission, retrieved 26 March 2018
20. Burridge, Nancy; Barker, June; Barker, Roy; Biles, Eugene; Gordon, Bert, Aboriginal life stories from Brewarrina Mission Station and the Brewarrina district [videorecording] / Nancy Burridge (ed); Aboriginal elders Auntie June Barker ... [et al.], Institute of Aboriginal Studies and Research, Macquarie University, retrieved 26 March 2018
21. Latukefu, Ruth A Fink (2014), "Recollections of Brewarrina Aboriginal Mission", Australian Aboriginal Studies (1): 72–87, ISSN 0729-4352
22. "THE BREWARRINA MISSION STATION". Western Herald. New South Wales. 3 December 1892. p. 2. Retrieved 26 March 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
23. Hodder, Steve; Red Ochre Events (Firm); Geagle Productions (2009), Singing the spirit home : the Aboriginal history of Christianity in Australia and the people of Brewarrina Mission, Geagle Productions, retrieved 26 March 2018
24. "ABORIGINAL MISSION AT LA PEROUSE". The Daily Telegraph. No. 4808. Sydney. 19 November 1894. p. 3. Retrieved 25 January 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
25. "La Perouse Aboriginal Mission". Dictionary of Sydney. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
26. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (1988), La Perouse : the place, the people and the sea, Aboriginal Studies Press, ISBN 978-0-85575-191-3
27. "St Clair Aboriginal Mission - Summary | Find & Connect". www.findandconnect.gov.au. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
28. Elphick, Beverley Gulambali; Elphick, Don J (2004), The camp of mercy : an historical and biographical record of the Warangesda Aboriginal Mission/Station, Darlington Point, New South Wales ([Rev. ed.] ed.), Gulambali Aboriginal Research, ISBN 978-0-646-43136-9
29. Ireland, Tracy (27 January 2010). "From Mission to Maynggu Ganai: The Wellington Valley Convict Station and Mission Site". International Journal of Historical Archaeology. 14 (1): 136–155. doi:10.1007/s10761-009-0098-6. S2CID 162195275.
30. Woolmington, Jo (October 1983), "Wellington Valley in 1838: a house divided against itself", Push from the Bush (16): 24–32, ISSN 0155-8633