They lives here and dont like white people to go among their company. But to most white people in Brewarrina the coloured people were all the same. [1], There was a girls dormitory at the Brewarrina Mission. Brought into the missions, the surviving Costanoan along with former neighboring groups of Esselen, Yokuts, and Miwok Mission Dolores and Mission Santa Clara were eventually established at the northern and southern ends of the Peninsula He taught us lessons. [1], Over the old mission area, approximately 16 small interpretation panels are scattered, providing information as to what was once there. Brewarrina Mission was the first institution formally established by the Aborigines Protection Board as part Mr Arnold ate some himself but she only came after he d left and helped herself to it.. For Elders like George Fernando at Gingie Reserve at Walgett, the restrictions are necessary but difficult to maintain. Weblake maggiore day trip from milan. Being the site of the first Aboriginal Protection Board institutionalised community the area has the attributes to demonstrate the way of life and customs of those who lived and died on the Mission. People no longer worried if I came by when they were playing cards and gambling. WebThe Brewarrina Aboriginal Mission was the oldest institutional-type community in the state that was still managed in 1965. [1], Today there are no buildings standing. In 1885 the Aboriginal Protection Board removed the Aboriginal population to an Aboriginal reserve 2 miles from town but urged the need for a home for Aboriginal people in the area. It was not easy for me to gain peoples trust and that took many weeks. In 1873 Robert Moore, the manager of the pastoral property, Muggarie Station, later known as Angledool Station, discovered opals. WebThe Brewarrina Aboriginal Mission was the oldest institutional-type community in the state that was still managed in 1965. NPS graphic. Percy Coombs, whom I quoted previously, described his time at the Mission school in the 1930s: In those days you wasnt to know nothing- you was to go to that school house and just sit down with a pencil and piece of paper and you could scribble on it all day- thats all they wanted you to know. [1], The reserve was reduced from 4,638 acres to 638 acres in 1953 and only a few acres of this were used in 1965 for the station buildings and a small cemetery. WebSome discreet Aboriginal communities are continuing to observe reverse barriers, where people who dont live in the community are told to stay away to reduce infection risks. Brewarrina Mission was the first institution formally established by the Aborigines Protection Board as part Boys were sent to Kinchella home and girls to Cootamundra. The media took little interest in them and most stories portrayed them negatively. I think the way money was viewed can be partly explained by the long time (up to 1970s in some places) that earnings were put into Trust Funds controlled by the boss or the Managers. They never got away among the white people. Some managers in the past had been hated, but the manager during my stay was quite liked, even though he was quite authoritarian. The place retains its high integrity in its cultural, spiritual, social and historical values to many Aboriginal people across NSW. After it had secretly been cut up in the managers laundry, they cooked it in the ashes, and brought some meat for me to try it tasted like chicken and I quite enjoyed it. She recalled: Before we played, the manager would make us clean the station and pick up all the dirt. I had observed and filmed some people being baptised in the river, but unfortunately the film has not survived. They were kept out of sight and only dealt with by officials employed by the Welfare Board who were The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural or natural places/environments in New South Wales. If one or two are a success everyone might have success. The mothers spent money on food, clothing, and necessities for their children and taxis. Although they had all grown up there originally, these families had begun to move into town in the late 1930s and early war years. Aboriginal mission and reserve records may contain information about individuals and families. If we talked in our lingo and they in theirs, theyd think we was talking about them and theyd take a grudge against us. On ration day once a fortnight a supply of vegetables such as potatoes, onions, sugar, tea leaves, rice, flour, salt, pepper, syrup and half a bar of soap. They are afraid of white people seeing them at their old ways. A few years ago one womans brother visited her. [4] In March 2010 the Narran River at Angledool flooded the nearby, Angledool Lake, which covers an area of around 1,100 hectares when full. Perhaps because local white station owners did not want any competition or loss of their work force from the Mission, there was no serious effort to develop it or provide any economic activities for the people. We are on a journey going back almost fifty-nine years ago, though with the hindsight of the present. After they married they usually stayed home. Though they sometimes express colour prejudice against their own relatives, they are nevertheless extremely sensitive to any such prejudice when it is directed against themselves.there is constant preoccupation with the theme of colour. But assimilation policies failed, because Aborigines continued to experience prejudice and discrimination. Mission schools only had to teach to the standard Grade three. Brewarrina Mission was the first institution formally established by the Aborigines Protection Board as part To obtain more food, many Aboriginal peoples would fish in the Barwon River and gather mussels. The Matron said that many teachers in Aboriginal schools went there because it led to promotion elsewhere, not because they were interested in teaching Aboriginal children. He took no orders from the people, but was expected to be their Boss much like a prison superintendent. In the past, very few Australians appreciated how extremely disadvantaged Aboriginal people were legally, socially and economically. I stayed the night at a local pub and was warned next morning at breakfast by a Lands Department official that The Blacks out on the Mission are a bad lot, though he admitted that he had never visited the place. The gambling rings were a social activity where people would exchange gossip and those short of money might be lucky enough to win some. In 1873 Robert Moore, the manager of the pastoral property, Muggarie Station, later known as Angledool Station, discovered opals. I never returned to Brewarrina, as the following year I went over to Perth to work as an anthropologist with people in Western Australia. One evening at the Managers house he came partly drunk, and insisted that I did not know what I was doing and that the people would never tell me anything. Men (who were non- Christian) regularly bought illegal grog, risking imprisonment though they had to drink it somewhere away from the mission. Some words and phrases were still widely used but women complained that growing up in the dormitories had stopped them knowing how to speak their own language, while others said the old people had refused to teach it to them. Then I played a mouth organ and sang to them. Mission San Miguel Arcngel was the 16th mission founded in the 21 mission chain, and is today a National Historic Landmark. In 1873 Robert Moore, the manager of the pastoral property, Muggarie Station, later known as Angledool Station, discovered opals. After a while they became more relaxed. They feel they dont like a white person to see them cooking down in the ashes and near the dirt and eating their own food. They had renounced alcohol, gambling and other forms of entertainment such as going to the annual rodeo, boxing matches and side shows. He and Blanche and their family had been sent by AIM as missionaries to Tabulum. We had to do what he told us. Here they were taught how to become maids and then sent out to stations to work. Aboriginal missions: Aboriginal missions were created by churches or religious individuals to house Aboriginal people and train them in Christian ideals and to also prepare them for work. Their natural way of thinking is that the place is not descent and good enough. We stayed there till we turned fourteen and then were sent out to work for four years. She believed that the Blacks must be taught to look up to white people to maintain white prestige. When I left Brewarrina after four months I had come to know people well and had made many friends on the Mission. They had fun with my name, calling out Miss Flink and Miss Milk while some would run up to touch me while the others laughed. The attitudes of the white manager were revealing. Everyone has a right to decide for themselves what they want to do with their money- if they want to gamble it or spend it on taxis, thats their business.. I was able to give back to these communities their photos taken long ago, which give them precious glimpses of their own youth and of their elders who have long passed away. They didnt put too many figures for you to learn on the board. I heard stories that in earlier times the police used to beat people up. So, as I mentioned earlier Aboriginal people came to fear and distrust anyone in authority and white people in general. He said to me: If anyone had wailed at the funeral, I would have had them thrown out of the cemetery. He would not even allow people to express their grief. Anyone of Aboriginal descent was legally classed as Aboriginal under the NSW Aborigines Welfare Act, unless they had a Certificate of Exemption or Citizenship rights. They were kept out of sight and only dealt with by officials employed by the Welfare Board who were We could send children to high school. The same manager who was a rather hot tempered, returned serviceman, insisted that the Abos must be given an example and made to be like white people. Twice a week meat rations were supplied from the butchers shop, the first would consist of enough to feed a family chops, lump of fat or kidney with fat, piece of liver and half a neck. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. Merv Sutherland from the Office of Environment and Heritage says the declaration marks its significance to the Lightning Ridge, Brewarrina, Goodooga and Walgett communities. On social occasions when both whites and coloureds mix, such as the weekly dances, the hall is divided into Coloured whites on one side, and real whites on the other. There was much more organised sport and entertainment then. Brewarrina Mission was the first institution formally established by the Aborigines Protection Board as part The cemetery is no longer used by the community its integrity is held high within the values of the Aboriginal people. Australians in general are much more aware of Aboriginal people now than they were in 1954, as evidenced by the May 2000 Reconciliation walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and The Sea of Hands reconciliation movement in the 1990s. NPS graphic. Going to dances on the Clay-pan. In wet weather we could have our own store so we dont have to go 9 miles away. They did not distinguish between town and Mission. WebThe Brewarrina Aboriginal Mission was the oldest institutional-type community in the state that was still managed in 1965. More about this significant site can be learnt by booking a tour at the Brewarrina Aboriginal Cultural Museum. After a funeral for someone who had died on the Mission. The girls dormitory was also significant as it was utilised by the Aboriginal Protection Board to house young girls who were forcibly removed from their families to be educated in domestic work and then sent out in NSW to work.[1]. The community would also like to further enhance the interpretation signage to include a driving trail around the signs to enable better viewing. One Sunday I was out pig hunting with a group of women and children. Adjoining Angledool was Yeranbah, owned by Australian Pastoral Company, while the New Zealand and Australian Land Company held Goondoobluie, Bangate" and Weilmoringle. Later she announced that she was coming around to every house to make sure people were feeding their children properly at lunch time. Then someone reminded her, You dont know what a good Boss youve got. I had never known anyone Aboriginal before I came to Brewarrina, as a 22 year old anthropology graduate, sent by Professor A.P. It was after all, one of the few occasions when the Aboriginal passenger gave orders to a white driver. A tall boy called Norman started calling my name Ruth Fink, chanting it and jumping as he called out. I knew that there was an accepted code of behaviour, for white people always to be the boss and never to treat Aboriginals as equals. The removal of children if they are found to be neglected still continues, but not in the brutal ways of the past, when a police van would arrive and forcibly take children from their mothers, even those who were well cared for and send them away, often separating brothers and sisters, so that many never saw their parents again or had to search for them, years later. Her fourteen year old daughter, with whom I used to go fishing told me that at school she was in the top class, but all they did was build dolls houses, learn some Australian history and nature studies there were hardly any books apart from some fairy tales and school magazines. Theyare not complete and they should only be used in the context of this study tounderstand family relationships and connections. Then they would rush inside their houses and peep through the doors to make sure no white official had come to take away their children. It was so very different in 1954 when people were still being made to feel ashamed of being Aboriginal and to reject their languages and culture, especially in the presence of white people. Many officials, police, and white towns people still treated anyone with a darker skin who looked Aboriginal as Aboriginal whether they had citizenship rights or not. Aboriginal people then called themselves dark people, or Blackfellows. There were a small number of elected Aboriginal members then on the Aborigines Welfare Board, Bert Groves was one and later Mrs Pearl Gibbs, but they were simply token members, and Aboriginal communities had virtually no say in their own affairs. It was important for me to prove to people that I was not trying to be flash like other Wodjins whom they knew. What Aboriginals share in common with other indigenous groups are the past policies which determined the way they were treated by colonial officials, settlers and later governments during the colonial frontier expansion which gradually and systematically deprived them of their land. I had noticed early on, how people seemed worried about me seeing them cooking damper in the ashes or eating bush foods such as kangaroo or goanna. I hope that Brewarrina and similar country towns are now very different from what they were like in 1954. [4] The last Mission Manager was William Hopkins who died in December 1900. Theyare not complete and they should only be used in the context of this study tounderstand family relationships and connections. Doreen hands her the money and turns to me, saying, She thinks shes just it, but her mother is as dark as I am and walks into town two miles every day!, Later Doreen points to various people walking along the street and says You wouldnt think hes black would you.. When I asked why people were afraid of white people seeing them eating bush foods, I was told: Yes, people here are afraid, its a sort of fear deep rooted among the dark people. When it returned you would hear the children shouting Gubby as the lorry appeared with people and their shopping, which for children was most importantly the fruit and lollies which they were expecting. The Brewarrina Mission is the oldest institutional type community in the state. Most of the missions were developed on land granted by the government for this purpose. 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