Groote Eylandt
Groote Eylandt Mission was opened specifically to house Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who had been labelled "half-caste" by policy and law . However, changes in government policy later lead the Mission to shift its focus to local Indigenous peoples, and many of the remaining residents who were labelled "half-caste" were forcibly transferred to Roper River Mission . Like the Kahlin Compound, Groote Eylandt housed the younger boys and girls in dormitories which we were locked at night . With the bombing of Darwin in 1942, many residents of the Mission were transferred to the Church Missionary Society Home for Half-Castes in Mulgoa, New South Wales. Only five children returned to Groote Eylandt; the majority of the boys were taken to St Francis House, South Australia, and many of the girls were to St Mary's Hostel in Alice Springs .
0Established in 1921 by the Anglican Church Missionary Society, closed in 1978 and became a self-governing community.
Groote Eylandt MissionGary George and Karen George, Groote Eylandt Mission (1921 - 1978) (28 November 2014) Find & Connect, para 3 https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nt/biogs/YE00011b.htm
Gary George and Karen George, Groote Eylandt Mission (1921 - 1978) (28 November 2014) Find & Connect, para 18 https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nt/biogs/YE00011b.htm
Gary George and Karen George, Groote Eylandt Mission (1921 - 1978) (28 November 2014) Find & Connect, para 19 https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nt/biogs/YE00011b.htm
Gary George and Karen George, Groote Eylandt Mission (1921 - 1978) (28 November 2014) Find & Connect, para 2 https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nt/biogs/YE00011b.htm
NTCherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council
http://www.cherbourg.qld.gov.au/
Queensland Government, Cherbourg (8 April 2015) Queensland Government
https://www.qld.gov.au/atsi/cultural-awareness-heritage-arts/community-histories-cherbourg/
Pg. 120. Several of these children in later adult years recalled the sorrow of that separation. CMS, however, saw what they were doing as creating some positive opportunities for these children. None of these separations were permanent. Their mothers visited them on Groote Eylandt, and some spent school holidays and other times with their mothers at the Roper River Mission. Pg. 121. The stated intentions of the mission were to protect Aboriginal people from exploitation and murder, to bring the Christian faith, and to provide European education and vocational training. Right from the outset, CMS was concerned about the obligations which the then South Australian government might place upon them if government funding was accepted. The first missionaries told the Premier that they 'did not care to devote their lives to training cheap labour'
Submission 453 - Church Missionary Society
Groote Eyelandt Mission, 1958: Living quarters
Groote Eyelandt Mission, 1928
Groote Eyelandt Mission, 1928