Aboriginal settlement
WARNING: Some people my find this page culturally sensitive and distressing – Proceed with caution.
Ngala kaaditj Noongar moort keyen kaadak nitja boodja.
We acknowledge the Noongar people as the traditional custodians of the land that we live and work on.
As a white person, I have developed this page with the best of intentions. However I do it through white eyes.
If anyone finds anything offensive please forgive me and let me know what is offensive so we can discuss it or I can remove it.
Individual stories of people can be found under Katanning Men and Katanning Women.
You are welcomed and encouraged to submit your stories for inclusion on this website.
The Carrolup Story project brings together four kindred spirits who believe strongly in the healing power of Story. The project is based on the core values of authenticity, belonging, connection, courage, creativity, empathy, empowerment, safety and trust.
The group’s core team includes psychologist David Clark and anthropologist John Stanton, who bring together complementary knowledge and skills to the project. When they first met in March 2017, John had been involved with the Carrolup Story for over 40 years and David was planning a book about the Carrolup child artists.
Their enthusiasm and passion are shared by other core team members, award-winning Cinematographer Simon Akkerman and website developer Ash Whitney. Simon has agreed to help develop a documentary film project focused on the Carrolup Story. Ash was a natural choice to help produce the planned Storytelling, Education and Healing resource, since he had developed David’s websites in the past.
Mr and Mrs White with some of the Carrolup boys and the Peet family.
Back row: Barry Loo, Mr. Peet, Noel White, Adrian Allen and Mrs. Peet.
Middle row: Lily White and the three Peet girls.
Front row: Parnell Dempster, unidentified boy and Reynold Hart.
Photograph taken in 1949. Noel & Lily White Collection.
From “The Carrolup Story”
The Carrolup Story team aims to:
create cultural pride amongst Aboriginal people, thereby facilitating connection to culture and, in turn, healing of historical trauma.
enhance awareness amongst non-Aboriginal people, thereby helping reduce the racism and prejudice which are barriers to healing.
ensure that Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people walk alongside each other on equal terms to help improve society.
Noongar Elders and other Aboriginal people have made it clear to them how important this Story is to them. They have expressed their full support for what the group is doing. Team members will be bringing together a group of highly respected advisors to facilitate the development of this project.
The group partner the Berndt Museum of Anthropology at the University of Western Australia, in part to help ensure that the Carrolup Story and the educational content impact on future generations of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.
Visit The Carrolup Story website HERE
Extracts from
“Nyungar Landscapes”
Aboriginal artists of the South-West:
the heritage of Carrolup, Western Australia
by John E. Stanton
Carrolup was established as an Aboriginal settlement in 1915 under the Aborigines Act 1905 in order to provide a facility where Aboriginal persons could be sent, to remove them from the public eye, from the fringes of Wheatbelt and South-West towns.
For some years, town-dwellers at Katanning had been objecting strongly to disturbances at the local Aboriginal encampment, and to the lack of facilities there, suggesting that a new camp be established at Carrolup Pool 25 km from town.
They were accompanied by Annie Lock, of the Australian Aborigines Mission, who had sought government support since 1912 for the establishment of a mission farming settlement in the local area. She assumed responsibility for issuing rations, and in June 1915 a Superintendent was appointed to the new ‘native settlement’.
A.O. Neville, the Chief Protector of Aborigines, opened a second settlement to the north three years later, near Mogumber railway siding on the Moore River. By centralising rationing at the two settlements, and closing down other ration depots, he forced Aboriginal people away from their customary camping places.
Although the early staff at Carrolup were missionaries, Neville had a poor opinion of their ability to exercise authority in what he considered to be an ‘enlightened’ manner; non-mission staff were subsequently appointed.
Although local Katanning town-campers appeared willing to stay at Carrolup, groups from neighbouring towns resisted strongly the Departments coercive attempts to relocate families. They saw little benefit in shifting to the settlement – in many cases, they knew that they would be worse off. Housing and living conditions were poor, workers were paid in kind rather than in cash, and the school was poorly equipped and staffed. Many families ‘went bush’ to avoid being relocated.
Carrolup River Native Settlement, c.1916.
(Battye 006982d)
Faced with so much opposition, the Aborigines Department began forcibly shifting people, using ministerial warrants to enable the police to remove families and individuals from their home camps. After 1919, the new regulations Neville sought gave police additional powers to incarcerate people on the settlements. Conditions were grim on the inside. The Superintendent had extraordinarily broad powers to discipline dissident ‘inmates’ as they were called, and to confine offenders in the goal built at Carrolup in 1918. Corporal punishment was tough, and the word soon spread outside that the settlement was a place to be avoided.
Meanwhile, Carrolup developed slowly. Hessian-covered buildings gave an air of impermanence and shabbiness to the settlement, and the poor water supply delayed the construction of permanent buildings until 1921, when a school was built from local stone. This was followed by children’s dormitories, hospital and residential accommodation for settlement staff.
Aboriginal families had to camp on the fringe of the settlement – their children lived in the compound. Farming activities were also slow to get under way, as land was cleared for cultivation. Areas near the river were stocked with sheep, but poor dietary and living conditions debilitated many Aboriginal ‘inmates’, fuelling Aborigines greater resentment and opposition to European administrators.
All this industry was to no avail. Carrolup was closed in 1922 as part of an economy drive – precisely the same reason the settlement had been established.
CARROLUP REOPENED IN 1940
Predictably, local farmers and townspeople strongly opposed the suggestion that Carrolup be reopened, and this feeling was echoed by Aboriginal camp-dwellers – albeit for entirely different reasons.
Local townspeople now sought a return to the policy of segregation for Aborigines, stricter control over the distribution of rations, and the exclusion of children from state schools. The period that followed saw the emergence of a group of young Aboriginal school pupils who, ultimately, were to achieve international fame.
The appointment, in 1945, of Noel White as headmaster at Carrolup was to have far-reaching significance. Only one qualified teacher had preceded him, and it was a chance meeting with her that encouraged him and his wife to consider teaching at the settlement. Conditions were far from happy for the children there and, in the past, many commentators have been surprised of such a distinctive style of pictorial art.
Noel White was not an artist himself, his familiarity with ink, crayons and paint were more a reflection on his career as a teacher where art was common, if not integral, part of school-room activities, than it was of his own special talents. It took some months before he earned the respect and affection of his pupils – but winning the support of the administrative staff took much longer. In fact, these persons were an increasing frequent threat to the school programme. But with the assistance of his wife, Lily, he was able to develop a teaching programme well-suited to the children’s interests and abilities.
Noticing their skills, White provided better materials and within weeks the children’s efforts had developed from doodles into complex designs of geometric shapes and naturalistic features of the local landscape. Concerned to encourage the pupils, White began taking the children on walks in the bush, after which they would return to the classroom and draw what they had observed in nature – each hiding their work from the eyes of the others, until it was finished.
It was not long before the children were asking to do drawings two evenings a week, after school, and individual styles and preoccupations soon began to emerge. The children drew and painted the world they knew from their own experience. Some of the pastel drawings were subtle and subdued, echoing the softened perceptions of the night. But in other cases, dramatic renderings of almost unbelievably rich sunsets, patterned by the silhouettes of trees, accords an extraordinary vibrancy to the panoply of these. works.
The animals of the bush, and images of body-painted Aboriginal men and spirits, compete for prominence in so many of the drawings. Imagined corroborees, far removed from the day-to-day institutionalisation of life at Carrolup, suggest a yearning for the outside world, the cherished bush of the South-West.
In July of 1947, the children sent a collection of twenty pastel drawings to the Lord Forrest centenary exhibition held in Perth. Later some 450 drawings, comprising the work of several of the children, all of them boys, were exhibited at Boans department store during the month of October 1947. Parnell Dempster, Revel Cooper, Claude Kelly, and Reynold Hart demonstrated their skills at the exhibition, which received wide press coverage.
Approximately 120 pounds was raised from donations and sales of drawings at the Boans display, and the money was held in trust by the Department of Native Affairs for the purchase of materials necessary to encourage art. All these exhibitions did much to overturn preconceptions in the wider community about the work of child artists and the naivety of the notion ‘primitive’ art. But it was the chance reading of a magazine article about the Boans exhibition that sparked off a life-long interest in the Carrolup art by Florence Rutter, an English woman visiting Perth at the time. Perhaps more than any other, apart from the Whites, she was to have the greatest impact on the development of Carrolup art.
Florence Rutter was sure that difficulties in planning for the future of the Carrolup children would be solved once their work was publicised and their talents recognised. She spent the remainder of her Australasian journey exhibiting a selection of drawings. Carrolup art was exhibited in Sydney, Hobart, Launceston, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, London and the Netherlands.
CLOSURE OF CARROLUP
With the appointment of S.G. Middleton as Commissioner there was rapid change in policy within Aboriginal welfare administration, as he was convinced that the whole environment of Carrolup was detrimental to the welfare and future of the children. At first Middleton suggested that Carrolup should remain as a reserve for older Aborigines, and that the school would be transferred nearer to Perth since the settlement lacked essential water, lighting and medical services.
Noel White found it increasingly difficult to collaborate with the superintendent Mr. V.H. Scully, who strongly criticised the art programme as having no vocational value. Conditions at Carrolup continued to deteriorate. Noel White was finally given notice by the Director of education that drawing will not, in future, be produced for use outside the school, particularly for commercial purposes, and the emphasis will in future be more on the general education rather than the artistic attainment of the pupils.
Carrolup was closed in 1951 and Middleton moved the younger children to Roelands mission, near Bunbury. Many of the older children had, by then, reached minimum school leaving age, so left entirely. They continued with their painting, sporadically in some cases, for the rest of their lives.
MARRIBANK
Renovated as the Marribank Farm School, the settlement was intended to provide rural and technical training for young Aboriginal men and boys. This idea foundered, and the assets of the settlement were passed to the Baptist Church, which continued to operate the settlement as the Marribank Family Centre until it withdrew in 1989. The Marribank Aboriginal Corporation sought control of the lease, but this is now held by the Southern Aboriginal Corporation, a regional body that covers areas of the South-West.
CARROLUP IN THE NEWS
Further Chronicles of Carrolup.
Southern District Advocate
3 January 1921 – P1
About two-and-a-half years ago the then superintendent of the Native Settlement was adjudged overzealous in his care of one of the young girls who was given to skipping by the light of the moon, inasmuch as he chained her to her bunk by the neck, and for this exceeding good care he was fired.
Mr. J. B. Blake was then given the appointment at the salary of the average navy, and though the living costs have jumped right up and the work has trebled, he has been unable to move the Chief Protector, or the Minister controlling the Department, to advance an extra sou, the result being that Mr. Blake has politely “chucked it.”
We have not personally had the pleasure of a look over the camp to note its workings, but the following copy of the gentleman’s resignation, as forwarded to the Chief Protector, is highly interesting as showing what some of these brass hats expect a man to do in the way of minding Aboriginals on a niggardly pittance of four quid a week.
“On the 20th October, 1919, I requested that my position as superintendent of this settlement might be classified under the Public Service Act, but this was refused by the Chief Protector, in amemo dated 11th November, 1919.
On the Minister’s visit here in April last I spoke to him as to an increase in salary. He appeared favorably disposed, yet when the estimates were framed no such increase was provided for. I then put in. a notice of appeal to the Civil Service Appeal Board on the 1st October last; but nothing has since been heard of it, and it appears that the matter was intended to be shelved until after the long vacation.
I spoke to you when discussing another matter on the telephone, and was surprised, to learn that the Minister had absolutely refused to sanction any increase. I have now been the superintendent of this settlement for upwards of two and a half years and, during that period,
the work has trebled. Yet I am to receive no more salary than when I came here, viz., the handsome sum of £4 per week. What am I expected to do for this?
1. Manage and layout a station, of 11,000 acres.
2. Act as architect, quantity surveyor, foreman of works and timekeeper for such bricklayers and carpenters as are engaged in putting up the numerous buildings I have been instructed to erect. Arrange, provide, and control the quarrying of stone, and the haulage of same and all other material.
3. Control all natives capable of working who may be on the settlement and see that they work, these at some periods, have amounted to thirty and upwards and, at others, gets as low as two (yet the settlement has to be carried on), audit and certify their time and pay sheets and pay them monthly.
4. Manage a store for all natives and staff on the settlement (averaging 140 souls). Make out monthly stock returns, showing free issues to natives and staff, and sales, etc. Also keep ledger accounts for every native family, showing every item issued to or purchased by it, and similarly in regard to the staff.
5. Purchase all killing sheep, and control the meat supplies and the baking of bread for working men and upwards of 60 children confined to the compound, and generally act as headmaster of a boarding school for 60 children.
6. Make bi-weekly issues of stores to all camp natives and periodical issues of clothing.
7. Generally act as a disciplinarian over all, inmates of whom some 25 are confined here under section 12 of the Act, exercising the powers of imprisonment and other punishment given by the Act, as and when necessary.
8. Manage a clothing factory, accounting for all material supplied and all garments made, and were made in the first seven months of the last financial year. Pack and dispatch to Government Stores all garments.
9. Institute all prosecutions necessary and act as prosecutor.
10. Control erection of bridges, road making, fencing, clearing, poison grubbing, and all kinds of farm and station work.
11. Make monthly returns of stock and clothing manufactured and material used; also return of inmates, monthly reports of all operations during the month, and of what is proposed to be done in the succeeding month.
12 Keep a register of all inmates, showing the date of their arrival and departure, their age, and whether full blood or half caste, and forward periodical copies of such register to Perth.
13 Give orders for all stores (flour, etc., purchased locally), also timber, iron work, etc.; and check and sign all No. 10) vouchers in respect of same and requisition on Perth for all groceries and other articles as and when required, and keep up a somewhat voluminous correspondence with head office.
14. Live among these natives a large percentage of whom are suffering from tuberculosis many in an active and virulent state, while most of the others are afflicted with scabies, not to mention other filthy complaints.
15. Act as undertaker in the case of all natives dying on the settlement, burying them in the settlement cemetery.
In addition to the aforementioned princely salary of £4 per week it has been suggested that my quarters and rations are supplied. The quarters consist of a 4-roomed weather-board and iron cottage, and the rations as allowed and drawn by me do not reach 20s per week for myself and family. Yet the Department pay the cook at the Moola Bulla station £250 per annum, with quarters and rations, and the carpenter working on this settlement £6 15s per week for a nine hours’ day.
The schoolmistress, a girl of 21, who works four hours a day on five days only of the week, and who gets nine weeks’ holiday per year, £110 a year, quarters and rations; though I, as the. superintendent, who am on duty for the whole 24 hours of seven days per week, rarely put in less than 14 hours work per day, and take the whole of the responsibility of this establishment am, according to the ideas of your Minister, so sufficiently well paid that he refuses me an increase.
My only assistant in the above numerous duties being a man classified as a farm assistant at a salary of £146 per year, quarters and rations. I therefore tender you my resignation and, as I have three weeks’ holiday on pay approved by the Minister, of which I have in a previous memo informed you, I propose taking as from the 1st January, 1921, 1 suggest that my term as superintendent, shall terminate on the day of the expiration of such holiday.
That I have more than done my duty by the Department during the period of my management here, the settlement showing what has beer accomplished with native labor, is standing evidence for all to see.
I am keeping a copy of this which I propose publishing, since it will no doubt be educational of the way the Government, or perhaps I should say, the Aborigines Department, pay those members of their staff who are in responsible positions, and who do not happen to be members of a trades union.
CARROLUP NATIVE SETTLEMENT
DEMONSTRATION BY SCHOOL CHILDREN
Great Southern Herald
3 December 1948 – P9
On Tuesday evening, November 23, at the Carrolup Native Settlement, the schoolteacher, Mr Noel White, arranged a demonstration by his pupils for the benefit of a number of visitors from Katanning. The opportunity was also taken for the distribution of prizes won by the children in the drawing competition held by the W.A. Historical Society recently in Perth. Another feature of the evening was the presentation of a silver cup donated by Mr and Mrs G. W. Beeck for perpetual competition, to the girl holding the best record for advancement and good behaviour during the year with the name of the winner each year to be inscribed on the cup.
The function was held in the Settlement schoolroom, the walls of which were covered with samples of the artwork – crayon drawings, oil paintings, and woodwork – executed by the children.
The programme comprised musical items by the children as a whole, solos sung without musical accompaniment, and tableaux vivant representing Western Australian historical events. The whole presentation was remarkable for the self-possession and dramatic instinct displayed by the various performers.
The evening concluded with an address to the children by Mr Beeck, who presented the cup and prizes, oranges and sweets for the children, and supper for the visitors. The demonstration throughout being intensely interesting and wholly surprising.
HISTORICAL SOCIETY MEETING AT CARROLUP
HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PICNIC OUTING
Great Southern Herald
16 December 1949 – P3
On arrival at the settlement, the visitors were conducted by several native boys to a picturesque picnic spot at a bend on the river where an early tea was prepared. The place had been well selected and members spent an enjoyable two hours in a peaceful setting of peppermints and paperbarks at the river’s edge. Continue reading
The recent meeting of the Katanning Branch of the Historical Society was held under most unusual conditions on December 3, when members and friends visited the Carrolup Native Settlement. The holding of the meeting at Carrolup had been arranged by the headmaster, Mr. Noel White, and proved so successful and enjoyable, it was later decided to endeavour to hold a similar outing each year.
CARROLUP SCHOOL TO CLOSE
MISSION TRAINING FOR NATIVE BOYS
Great Southern Herald
15 December 1950 – P1
Information was received during the week that the Native Affairs Department had decided the school conducted at Carrolup by the Education Department would be closed at the termination of the current school year. The Commissioner of Native Affairs subsequently stated the younger boys would be placed in the care of Missions, and Carrolup itself would become a rural training centre.
Information was received this week that the Department of Native Affairs intended closing Carrolup as an educational centre for native boys. It proposes the younger lads should be sent to Missions for their education and that older boys, of 12 years and over would receive rural training only at Carrolup.
Some twelve months ago, the Department of Native Affairs announced a change of policy with Carrolup. Following the removal of adult natives, girls then attending the school were sent to Missions at Wandering and Rowlands, and the young boys from the Moore River Settlement were transferred to Carrolup. The institution was no longer to be used as a penal settlement and was destined to be a native educational centre. At the time, the Department stated special educational facilities would be provided and arrangements made for the older boys to receive manual training at the Katanning Junior High School.
STATEMENT BY COMMISSIONER
When it was rumoured the Carrolup School was to be closed, a telegraphic request for information was sent to the Commissioner of Native Affairs, Mr. S. G. Middleton. As a result, Mr. Middleton gave a statement by phone concerning his Department’s proposals regarding Carrolup.
Mr. Middleton said the transfer of native girls to Missions at Rowlands and Wandering had been an outstanding success, and the girls had become transformed in behaviour and bearing. He, personally, had been very surprised and most gratified with the change.
The Missions, and also the native parents, had queried the necessity of segregation, and both considered it would be better if members of the one family were together. The Missions, and the Department, also favoured co-education, and the Missions were in the position to maintain the necessary control.
Whereas the Department could find no fault with the present scholastic education being received at Carrolup, it had become apparent that the boys were lacking something within themselves. It had been considered the lack of spiritual education at Carrolup was the cause, and the transfer of the younger boys to Missions would provide the character stabilisation the children now lacked. Spiritual and secular training would be provided by the Missions and the Department looked forward to the stabilisations of character which would enable the coloured children to be accepted into the white community.
It had therefore been arranged for the Missions to accept the younger boys on the same basis as the girls, and Carrolup would be made into a rural training centre for the adolescent boys and youths. It was hoped to engage as superintendent a man with agricultural qualifications and to work Carrolup up again, and to rehabilitate its reputation. The Department might even change the name of the settlement.
In the transfer, not many of the older boys would be involved. Of the number at present at Carrolup, 17 this year completed their schooling and would be the first youths to come under the new training scheme. Other older boys, where the home environment was satisfactory, would be allowed to return to their parents and attend their local schools.
For those with special aptitude, it was hoped to establish a hostel in the metropolitan area in the near future in order they could obtain specialised training. The Department had found that a number of employers were quite prepared to offer employment to the coloured boys. Boys without special aptitude would receive rural training at Carrolup and, if necessary, special arrangements would be made for education of those between 12 and 14 years of age.
THE SETTLEMENT
The Carrolup Native Settlement covers an area of approximately 5,000 acres, of which some 1,000 are cleared, and has had a somewhat chequered career as a settlement. Originally used for a native settlement it was closed down and neglected for a considerable period, but of more recent years it was re-opened and used, first as a penal settlement and, for the past twelve months, as an educational centre On November 29 last, the Hon. J. M. Thomson, M.L.C., asked a number of question in the Legislative Council regarding Carrolup. The questions, and the respective answers, were as under:
1. How many employees are on the staff and what are their respective duties?
2. What are the salaries?
Sixteen on Native Affairs Staff.
Superintendent £13/ 6/8
Storekeeper £8/19/3
Farm Manager £8/ 3/6
Carpenter £10/ 8/1
Maintenance Assistants (4) each £8/ 1/7
Driver-mechanic £8/ 1/7
Welfare Assistant £8/ 9/1
Compound Cook £8/16/7
Staff Cook (female) £5/14/0
Clerk (female) £5/ 9/2
Attendants (female) (3) each £5/ 9/2
3. Is it classed as an Agricultural College whereby boys may be taught to be useful citizens?
Yes
4. How many boys are being taught at Carrolup Settlement?
All inmates, numbering 78, are being taught either school work or occupational training.
5. Is any attempt being made to make the place partly self-supporting; if so, what is it producing?
Revenue from Carrolup for 1949-50 amounted to £3,396 from the sale of wool, skins, stores etc. Various fodder crops, such as barley, oats, wheat and peas, are grown as forage for Carrolup livestock. Vegetables are grown for inmates. Daily cows and poultry keep the institution supplied with milk and eggs.
6. What progress has been made in the Boy Scout troop since its formation?
On June, 24, 1950, the 86th W A. Scout Group, Carrolup, was invested, and is functioning as such.
However, from local information available, it would appear the position has changed since that date. In the first place it could hardly have been classed as an agricultural college in the past if only now the Department is hoping to obtain the services of a superintendent with agricultural qualifications. It is further understood that there has been no extensive gardening activities conducted at the Settlement and both vegetables and butter have been purchased outside. Other information available would suggest the number of boys is under the stated number and that the scout group has not met, as such, since the time of the investiture.
PUBLIC ENQUIRY URGED
The Carrolup Native Settlement came under discussion at the meeting of the Katanning Road Board on Wednesday. It was decided the Board should seek an immediate enquiry into the administration of the Settlement. Members also considered the proposed closure of the school a retrogressive step and made formal protest against such action.
CARROLUP
Great Southern Herald
15 December 1950 – P2
The amazing rumour that the Department of Native Affairs had requested the closure of the school conducted by the Education Department at the Carrolup Native Settlement has been confirmed by the Commissioner of Native Affairs, Mr. S. G. Middleton. In a Press Statement to this paper on Monday, the Commissioner advised the education of native boys, at present attending Carrolup, in both “spiritual and secular” fields would next year be undertaken by Missions, and that the Department had hopes of engaging a superintendent with agricultural qualifications to conduct Carrolup as a rural training centre.
Such a drastic change of Departmental policy is astonishing in view of the fact that only twelve months ago Native Affairs removed adult natives from Carrolup, placed girls in the hands of Missions and concentrated boys from Moore River with those already at Carrolup and proclaimed it as a native educational centre. It was then stated that special alterations and additions would be made to accommodate both the boys and the education plans, and the Native Affairs Department envisaged great strides being made towards the training of the young native and his ultimate assimilation as a useful and responsible member of the white community.
There appears little doubt that the announced alterations and additions have taken place, and taxpayers generally could well ask if public money has not been utterly wasted in view of the new proposal.
There are a great any questions, in fact, which district people particularly could ask of the Department. They could ask, for instance, what internal trouble has brought about an almost ceaseless procession of superintendents through Carrolup; they could ask why it has been necessary for an administrative staff of about twenty to control some 50 or 60 native boys, outside school hours; they could ask why during these past years the Settlement has been obliged to purchase its vegetables, butter and other similar foodstuffs, which could reasonably be assumed to be a natural product of the Settlement; they could ask the necessity of an expensive “window dressing” such as the scout investiture earlier this year which turned out to be the last scout activity. on the Settlement.
There are, in fact, almost endless numbers of questions which could be asked of the Department of Native Affairs. Over and above all these problematical questions, the real tragedy of the closure of the Carrolup school goes far beyond the Department of Native Affairs. Some four and a half years ago the Education Department stationed at Carrolup a man who proved himself to possess a remarkable insight into the workings of the native mind, and by kindness and encouragement, has developed the unsuspected latent artistic ability of the boys. Not only has the result of the Department’s efforts brought world-wide attention and acclaim to Carrolup, as such, and to the undoubted talents of the young natives, but it has progressed far along the way towards a greater understanding between black and white.
Through sympathetic treatment, a number of pupils have been able to break down former barriers and are now welcomed as employees in a number of establishments, and yet it would now appear the guiding influence of the Education Department is to be arbitrarily curtailed. Whereas taxpayers may or may not have a legitimate complaint regarding the expenditure of public monies at Carrolup, there is no shadow of doubt they have every reason to query the removal of the wonderful influence which has done more than anything else of recent years towards the ultimate goal of the assimilation of Australia’s coloured minority.
RE-OPENING OF MARRIBANK
Baptist Union Outlines Long-Range Policy
Great Southern Herald
28 November 1952 – P1
The realisation of a long-standing ambition to establish its own mission will be marked tomorrow, Saturday, when the Baptist Union of Western Australia will officially open Marribank as a Baptist Aborigines Mission. In a statement to this paper, the secretary of the Baptist Aborigines Committee, Rev. G. N. Voste, detailed the long-range policy it is intended to follow at the Mission.
The handing over of the Marribank native settlement, previously conducted by the Department of Native Affairs, to the Baptist Union of Western Australia will take place at 2.30 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday. The function will be attended by the Minister for Native Affairs and Baptist Union officials and will mark the opening of the new mission.
In a statement to this paper, the secretary of the Baptist Aborigines Committee, the Rev. G. N. Vose, said, “Saturday, November 29, will mark a decisive missionary step for W.A. Baptists when the new Baptist Aborigines Mission will be officially opened at Marribank.
“For a number of years Baptists, particularly those of the Great Southern, have been deeply concerned at the condition of our coloured Australian minority. Although warmly supporting interdenominational missions which work within our own State, they have long been anxious to see a Baptist mission commenced.
“At the 1951 Annual Assembly, a committee was formed to implement this desire, and while this committee was investigating the possibilities of commencing mission work, the Government made a proposal to hand over Marribank to any religious body which could successfully handle the problems of such a work. The committee seized the opportunity and made successful application.”
The Rev Vose went on to say “the following long-term plans will indicate the wide scope of the Mission’s aims:
(1) The evangelisation and Christian education of coloured Australians both adult and children.
(2) Welfare and social work.
(3) Creche and kindergarten for infant welfare.
(4) Establishment of nursing aid post or hospital as required.
(5) Provision for the primary education and training of coloured children.
(6) Provision for the post-primary school training of boys and girls by the provision of (a) Farm technical training for the boys; (b) Training in domestic science, child welfare and nursing for the girls.
(7) While the institution will function primarily for children, under certain circumstances, and in co-operation with the Native Affairs Department, aged and infirm natives would have their welfare considered and provided for.
(8) The farm side of the property will receive full attention in the continued development of the stock and feed to the extent necessary to make the Mission as self-supporting as possible and expanded to provide facilities for the training of young men in science of farming methods.
“It will be appreciated, however,” said Rev Vose, “that the work of bringing all these plans into operation is very great and depends upon suitable staffing arrangements and finance running into many thousands of pounds. The initial steps in this plan will be the primary and post-primary education and training of coloured Australian children. This will have first priority.”
Pending the appointment of staff to key positions on the Station, the Rev. E. Gibson, M.A., B.D., Principal of the Perth Bible Institute, has taken over the position of Acting Superintendent.
Concluding, Rev Vose said, “Not only are Baptists of W.A. enthusiastic and confident that Marribank will fulfil a sore need in the Great Southern, but Baptists in other States are watching the experiment with close interest.”
HOUSING FOR LOCAL NATIVES
Committee Launches Appeal for £3,000
Great Southern Herald
24 July 1953 – P3
The Katanning Native Welfare Committee has this week circularised district residents with an appeal for support in its drive to raise £3,000 for the provision of housing for natives on South Camp. Signed conjointly by Messrs H. Moorhouse, president, A. E. Coate, secretary, and R. B. Hill, treasurer, the circular outlines the plans formulated by the Committee and seeks both financial and moral support.
The circular goes on to state: “We realise that some will naturally criticise the project, but that is human, and in a democratic country like Australia such comments are accepted in good faith. On the other hand, there are the many who will commend what the Committee is seeking to do to uplift the Native peoples and endeavour to help them become good citizens of the town and nation. In this latter phase we trust that you and your firm are with us.
It is the Committee’s intention, as far as possible in our power, to give and apply Christ’s teachings to these original Australians, to assist them in social uplift, and, as far as funds and other donations allow, to provide small two roomed houses for them to occupy. These modest little houses will be under constant supervision of members of the committee to ensure that those who occupy them learn to appreciate what is being attempted for their comfort and to teach them a better way and give them a better deal In life than that to which they are now accustomed.
One inspection of their present dwelling conditions will convince that such a state of living is a disgrace to the town and an advertisement none would be proud of if filmed and shown in other lands. We seek to improve this miserable condition of life under which they are forced to live and help them enjoy many of the amenities which have become part of our daily living by reason of being born white. We accept responsibility for the fact that they have been so long a neglected people and share this with other members of the community. That is why we are now endeavouring, even at this late hour in our history, to make amends by showing practicable support and interest in their welfare.
“An immediate aim of raising £3000 for welfare work is part of our campaign to fulfill our ambition and we trust that you, Sir or Madam, will make a generous donation to this fund. Already some firms have shared with us this work by donating valuable materials for the building of the first cottage now under construction, and we are sure that you will rise to the occasion by giving your support in a tangible manner.
“Kindly make your donation payable to “Katanning Native Welfare Committee” and hand or send it to the Treasurer, Mr R. B. Hill, 47 Clive Street East, or to the Secretary, Mr A. E. Coate, P.O. Box 34, or 38 Arbour Street. The Secretary will be pleased to arrange cartage for any materials donated with Katanning Transport Service”.
FURTHER READING
Deal signed to restore Marribank Mission
Tom Zaunmayr – West Regional News
Friday, 14 September 2018
Former Marribank residents Ralph Edgill, Jennifer Jones and Garry Ryder, Marribank Aboriginal Corporation chairwoman Caron Wynne, Shire of Kojonup President Ronnie Fleay and MAC vice chairman Timothy Flowers.
Picture: West Regional News, Tom Zaunmayr
Marribank Mission
Southern Aboriginal Corporation
27 September 2018
Past Marribank residents on the banks of the Carrolup River
Timeline of Aboriginal history of Western Australia 1629 onward
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Carrolup exhibition evokes memories of the past in Katanning
By Karla Arnall – ABC Great Southern
NO SUGAR
By Jack Davis
SOUTHERN ABORIGINAL CORPORATION
Our History
CHILD ARTISTS OF CARROLUP
Revel Cooper
EXPLORED VISIONS
Greg Davis
Facebook
SHARING CULTURE
Life after Carrolup
MISSIONS CONNECT
Carrolup-Marribank Mission
(Curtin University)
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