Missionaries
First contacts | Explorers | Buffalo hunting | Missionaries | Miners | Pastoralists
Missionaries had a big influence on the Aboriginal people of the Alligator Rivers region, many of whom lived and were schooled at missions in their youth. Two missions were set up in the region in the early part of the century.
The priests were mongrels.
They would call and if you didn't come they'd wait until you were in the classroom and strip you naked in front of the class. They used a fine belt from a Singer sewing machine to belt us over the backside, cutting us all up because we were late.
The more I think about it, we were sent there to be changed, to get the Aboriginality out of us; there was no other reason.
-Senior Murumburr Traditional Owner
Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre
I was nine when I reached Garden Point. All the nuns and girls were waiting for us. I didn't speak English. I had to learn, and when I learned I became happy.
I enjoyed my stay there, it was excellent. The nuns were really nice. I enjoyed going to school. We played games and they took us swimming on the weekends.
When I finally came home I had to learn my language again. It took me ten years.
I had to learn how to know my country and learn how to hunt. I had to learn about my relationships with all the people here.
-Jessie Alderson, Murumburr clan
Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre
Kapalga Native Industrial Mission was established near the South Alligator River in 1899, but lasted only four years. The Oenpelli Mission began in 1925, when the Church of England Missionary Society accepted an offer from the Northern Territory Administration to take over the area, which had been operated as a dairy farm mostly under Paddy Cahill. During Cahill's time the station became a focus for Aboriginal people in both Kakadu and eastern Arnhem Land. The Oenpelli Mission operated for 45 years, the last few of which were severely disrupted by the availability of alcohol from the Border Store near Cahills Crossing (Press et al, 1995). In 1975 responsibility for Oenpelli was transferred to an Aboriginal town council.
The extent to which missions have influenced Aboriginal society is the subject of debate. Some writers and anthropologists argue that missionaries, in seeking to 'civilise and institutionalise' Aboriginal people, forced them to abandon their lifestyle, language, religion and ceremonies-indeed, the whole fabric of their lives. Others argue that, although criticism can be levelled at the methods used to achieve their goal, the missionaries did care about the welfare of Aboriginal people at a time when wider Australian society did not and that without missions many more Aboriginal people would have perished (Cole 1988).
A number of Aboriginal people now living in the Kakadu area were sent to missions on Melville, Bathurst and Croker Islands. Their experiences were as different as the quotes on the right.