Mount Margaret

BTH Oral history project, Doris: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-218435613/listen ; BTH Oral history project, Eileen: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-218348735/listen

-28.795436, 122.184031

Some people considered Mount Margaret Mission as an alternative destination for children who were labelled 'half caste' by legislation and government policy . These children would otherwise have been removed from their families and taken to the Moore River Mission near Perth, nearly 1,000 kilometres away . The quality of care at Moore River was known to be substandard and a former nurse at Mount Margaret recalled that the children arriving from Moore River Òwere in a dreadful stateÓ . Because of this, some parents voluntarily placed their children at Mount Margaret. However, it is acknowledged that many parents had no choice, and that many children were also forcibly removed from their families. Mount Margaret believed that assimilation was important and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages were prohibited. Children were prevented from leaving, but some did escape .

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Established in 1921, closed in 1975 and ownership was passed onto residents.

Mount Margaret Mission

Western Australian Museum, Missions, Settlements and Reserves http://museum.wa.gov.au/explore/wa-goldfields/first-peoples/missions-settlements-and-reserves

John Bannister, Interview with Kathleen Mack (Oral History Report, 16 January 2001) http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-218367374/listen

Western Australian Museum, Missions, Settlements and Reserves http://museum.wa.gov.au/explore/wa-goldfields/first-peoples/missions-settlements-and-reserves

WA
Mount Margaret

Anindilyakwa Land Council 
http://anindilyakwa.com.au/

Anindilyakwa Land Council, Anthropology, Anindilyakwa Land Council 
http://anindilyakwa.com.au/culture/anthropology

Wangkatha people (also known as the Wangkatha, Wongatha or Wangkathaa people) Wangkatha dialect of the Western Desert Language Noongar in the south-west. Anangu in Central Australia. WA
Confidential evidence 681 Personal WA Mount Margaret Mount Margaret Mission

Every morning our people would crush charcoal and mix that with animal fat and smother that all over us, so that when the police came they could only see black children in the distance. We were told always to be on the alert and, if white people came, to run into the bush or run and stand behind the trees as stiff as a poker, or else hide behind logs or run into culverts and hide. Often the white people - we didn't know who they were - would come into our camps. And if the Aboriginal group was taken unawares, they would stuff us into flour bags and pretend we weren't there. We were told not to sneeze. We knew if we sneezed and they knew that we were in there bundled up, we'd be taken off and away from the area. There was a disruption of our cycle of life because we were continually scared to be ourselves. During the raids on the camps it was not unusual for people to be shot - shot in the arm or the leg. You can understand the terror that we lived in, the fright - not knowing when someone will come unawares and do whatever they were doing - either disrupting our family life, camp life, or shooting at us (p. 21).

Confidential evidence 681, Western Australia: woman ultimately surrendered at 5 years to Mt Margaret Mission for schooling in the 1930s.

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Bringing them Home: National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander Children from Their Families (1997)

5 years Confidential evidence 681
A black and white photograph of Mount Margaret Mission. There are several small buildings scattered among trees, with a large open clearing in front of the buildings. There is a person riding their bicycle in the clearing.

Mount Margaret Mission, 1956

A black and white photograph of young children at Mount Margaret Mission. They are standing side-to-side in a row. The child on the left is hiding a laugh.

Mount Margaret Mission, 1949

A black and white photograph of a group of children at Mount Margaret Mission. Some children are seated on the grass, and some are standing. They are smiling and looking at the photographer.

Mount Margaret Mission, 1949