Early History
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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- Regional developments, 1880 - 1900
| Natives present in 1881:
William and Jeanparry Kropinyeri and 3 children John and Ellen Rankine and 6 children Thos. and Louisa Martin George and Agnes Koolmatrie and 3 children John and Charlotte Laelinyeri Ellen Martin Wiliiam and Sally McHughes and 2 children Napoleon and Emily Bonney Peter and Nahraminyeri Campbell and child William and Susan Campbell John and Sarah Wilkins Philip and Isabella Rigney and 4 children Richard Bull, wife and 2 children Robert and Emily Wilson and 4 children Peter and Lizzy Gollan and 5 children John and RebeccaSumner and 4 children John Davison and 2 children Tungkutte and Flora White George and Emily Harris and 2 children Thompson, Bella and 2 children Archie and Lily Blackmoor Fred and Jessie Dodd and child Pompey and Preitpul Jackson and 2 children Lucy Holmes Single Men: D. Wilson A. McHughes Harry Hewitt Karloan A. Spender B. Tripp. J. Close A. Kartinyeri Denis Moilge F. Blackmoor G. Karpany Gollan Seymour C. Giles Anton Hall Ben Hall C. Connolly M. Polteena. AFA Annual Report, 1881 In his annual report to the AFA, Ophel was concerned about the impact on the children’s education of the daily tasks required of them in the dormitory and around the mission: Average attendance for the year has been 33 - 19 boys and 14 girls. The elder girls having to do most of the cooking and cleaning, to assist in the washing, sewing, etc., and the elder boys being often required to do work about the Station, makes the average attendance as school lower than it would otherwise have been. This irregular attendance necessarily interferes with their progress in the three Rs. But this disadvantage is more than counterbalanced by the great advantage this training in domestic and other work will be to them in the future. They have not, it must be remembered, any home training in industrial or domestic employment. C.J. Holder, Esq., visited the Mission Station in 1881 and reported on the relations between Ophel and the children: ‘I visited the school on the 1st of October, and was much pleased with the general attention of the scholars, as well as with the specimens of their work I saw. The conduct of the scholars was such as to afford ample evidence of their proper respect for their teacher, and that such respect was the result of an affection for him, rather than a fear of his anger, while that work was an evidence of his patient and persevering efforts to impart instruction, and of a satisfactory amount of success therein.’ Neither Ophel nor the rest of his family were very robust or healthy individuals; in early 1882, Ophel’s son George died, and ever afterwards, either Ophel or his wife, and sometimes both, experienced chronic ill-health. By 1885, Fred had had enough and encouraged the AFA to dismiss Ophel and replace him. Still, Ophel was very busy organising a Band of Hope, a Christian temperance group, which had 106 members in the district by early 1882. By 22 May, it had one hundred and thirty members, mostly Aboriginal, and Ophel was running fortnightly meetings. Fred worked to start a branch up in Meningie. Fred, like his father before him, was the regional vaccination officer, and travelled as far as Wellington to the north and Coolatoo in the south, including the town of Meningie and numerous villages in between. Vaccination of farmers’ and town children kept him travelling in times of outbreaks (cf. PMLB, 17.7.1882). As superintendent, Fred gave out free passes on the steamer and railway, but only for what he regarded as legitimate business. He was approached repeatedly to allow, or even to organise sporting events, cricket or football tours, of Strathalbyn and Mount Barker. John Wilkins was especially insistent about organising sports teams to visit Adelaide, for weeks at a time, but Fred discouraged such trips, on suspicion that they were pretexts for drinking parties. However, in July, 1885, he was involved in a Grand Corroboree at the Adelaide Oval, followed by a football match. By 1882, a number of young men had applied for their own farming leases, and had been approved: John Sumner, William McHughes and John Davidson at various times farmed their own land, but sometimes found themselves eaten out by relatives who had urgent business when harvest time came around. A program had been begun by George Taplin to assist boys leaving school, putting them under the control of the farm overseer, first Fred, and then Richard Blackwell, to learn the full range of farm and station work: boys were paid 1/- a day at first, rising to 12/- and 15/- per week, with rations. A matron was employed from the early eighties, specifically to look after the dormitory and to train the older girls to make their own clothes, and in general housework (AFA Report, 1882: 7). School Roll Book comments in 1882 were as positive as ever, although it is difficult to get a firm idea of what was being taught: I spent upwards of an hour in the school, had opportunity of hearing two of the upper classes read and inspected the writing of nearly all the children. Result: I am more than fully convinced that the Society is doing a work that cannot be tabulated and in no department more thoroughly than in the foundation laid amongst the little ones. (AFA Report, 1882: 8). Henry Hammond reported on his visit: In many respects these black children would bear comparison with the white children of our town schools under equal circumstances… I cannot help expressing my surprise and gratification of the intelligence and earnestness and the amount of close application evidenced by these children in the answers they made, and the work which I saw them do. (AFA Report, 1882: 11).
Fred Taplin, like his father, held strong views on religion, and on the importance of voluntary observance, rather than going through the motions. As he explained to his cousin, the Rev. C.G. Taplin: … if anyone imagines that these people can be made religious or trained to be Christians by rigid rule, they are mistaken. The Aborigines are naturally a religious people, i.e. they were before the Europeans arrived. Their religion abounded in rite and ceremony, but without them understanding anything of their meaning; or at any rate for the last few generations. Now you may get them to observe Christian ritual in the same way. We here know what a fight it is against natives of intelligence applying to be admitted to church fellowship, under the impression that the form is sufficient (I know you will say that Europeans are as bad) but Europeans are as bad, I know, yes, and worse, and that is the point. These people may be led in this mission to conform to the form of Christianity and believe that is sufficient without heart service. I believe in the morning and evening call to prayer as being desirable, but when it comes to form I’ll tell you what it is, if I was a darkie I wouldn’t be religious under these circumstances. Now for what we do here. Daily routine is: The Overseer rings the Church bell at 7.45 a.m. and the workmen only meet with the Overseer alone for prayer, asking for Divine blessing on the day’s work. At 9.30 a.m. the School master rings the boarding school bell and the school children, about 40, and the servants employed in the school are called together for prayer. At 6 p.m. the School bell is rung for supper and immediately after that meal, the children and school servants again meet for prayer. The families living in the cottages are supposed to have family prayers, morning and evening and they do, as I know from my observation. But if the whole were collected within the Church by [ ... ] or we made the attempt to collect them, the result would be bad congregation and instant deception: to avoid what would amount to an irksome regulation, as it is, we work smoothly and well. We follow up the same rule with reference to attending Church service on the Sabbath. It is purely optional and nothing but moral persuasion and reassuring is used, the result is that our natives attend better, much better, than the ordinary run of whites: we have nothing to complain of with regard to their attendance generally. (PMLB, 6.8.1883: his emphases)
Rev. D. Paton visited the mission in 1884 and reported, more specifically than usual, on the school: ‘The branches of study are of course mainly simple and elementary such as reading, writing, geography, arithmetic, &c., and in these subjects the children exhibited a fair amount of ability and proficiency.’ (AFA Report, 1884) Regional developments, 1880 - 1900A railway extension from Sandergrove to Milang was built in 1884. The district experienced a very rapid move away from sheep to wheat in 1850s, and from wheat to livestock, vineyards and mixed farming in 1870s. Dairy production increased after the installation of railway, allowing local farmers to tap into the Adelaide market. Around the turn of the century, the introduction of cheap superphosphate and other means to raise the fertility of the soil encouraged a new wave of settlers. Many of the farmers began experimenting with new crops, new techniques and mechanisation. For example, the shipping merchant, W.P. Dunk, raised the first ostriches in the district and sold many to Bowman, at Campbell Park. His farm abandoned mid-1890s, due partly to price fall, partly to the birds’ reaction to the cold. Again, the vulnerability of local production to local, national and international competition meant costly investment for little returns. For example, in the early 1870s, more than half of South Australia’s exports to Victoria were being transported through Milang, but by the late 1880s, when the railway had been built through Tailem Bend, most trade through Milang withered away. In 1885, Ophel’s luck ran out: in March, the AFA approached Walter Hutley to take over as teacher. Hutley was not a teacher, but, with his wife, had just arrived in the colony from North Africa where he had been a missionary with the London Missionary Society. In May, Ophel and Fred Taplin both resigned from their positions at Point McLeay, but Fred was induced to withdraw his resignation. In June, Hutley was appointed on £ 100 per year plus three rations, and Mrs. Hutley was appointed as matron at £ 25 per year and one ration. (A practice had developed to give officers, like everybody else on the mission, one ration per head, as well as two rations for the use of visitors.) Hutley took over his duties as schoolmaster and store-keeper in August. (AFA Minutes). CCL not granting sections, unless Needles situation clarified.
Hutley quickly made a favourable impact on the AFA who sent J. McEwin and M.H. Madge to report on his running of the school: Mr Hutley, they reported: … has introduced into the school the course of instruction, and the methods of teaching, followed in the public schools. We were present when the various classes were exercised in reading, arithmetic, Australian geography, and a blackboard object lesson, and found the children fairly proficient in all subjects. The lesson on Australian geography was given from an outline map, from which the names of the places were omitted, and some of the native boys were able to indicate correctly the names of the chief towns and ports, with their products and extracts. The writing of the boys and girls was good, the books clean and neat, and the composition and dictation fairly free from error. (AFA Annual Report, 1885) The 1880s and 1890s were probably the most prosperous decades in the early history of Point McLeay, if AFA reports can be believed: There is a sewing machine in nearly every cottage, and as a rule the native women make most of the clothing worn by their families. The children’s dormitories were clean and comfortable and the children healthy and contented. Mrs Hutley is matron and instructs the girls in needlework. (Ibid.: 11) In 1886, The Needles lease was sub-let on condition that the lessee removed all rabbits, which were again in plague proportions: complaints were being lodged from neighbouring farmers and there was a danger that the terms of the lease might not be fully met. Fred Taplin involved himself more closely in the work of the school while Hutley was in charge, and in the work of evangelizing in the district. He recommended the appointment of Mark Wilson and Joseph Koolmatrie to paid positions as assistant teacher and itinerating evangelist respectively: At Pt McLeay, a new departure has been made in the appointment of Joseph Koolmatrie as a native evangelist. He is located on the shore of Lake Albert, near Campbell House. His duties are to teach the children whom he can gather, and the adults when the opportunity offers. A young native, named Mark Wilson, has been appointed assistant teacher in the school with the two-fold object of helping Mr Hutley, and training himself for useful work elsewhere, if opportunity offers. The Reading Room has been of considerable benefit and entertainment to our young people. We have to thank the proprietors of the Observer, Chronicle, and Christian Colonist for kindly furnishing us with free copies of these papers - also the Stow Church Sunday School and Mr. H. Hussey for a supply of books for the library. F. Taplin. AFA Report, 1886: 7-9.
This I have modified in some points since them, but have adhered to it in the main. My highest class is now doing the work of the third standard, but towards the end of the year I hope to commence the work of the fourth or compulsory standard. As a consequence of this measure, some new subjects were introduced, drill amongst others, which have become a favourite with the children. Av. Daily attendance: 23-25. AFA Report, 1886: 11. Hutley seems to have had some strong ideas about the conduct of his school and the welfare of his students:
The AFA supported Taplin against Hutley over the accommodation of the young men, which must have put Hutley – and his wife who was matron of the dormitory – well off-side. In the late 1880s, the development ofPoint McLeay as a self-supporting community continued: in 1886, their own sailing boat, the Teenmine, was launched, and the AFA was granted control of four more sections of land, which they put at the disposal of Aboriginal lessees: these blocks were taken up at different times by George Karpany, Henry Lampard, Alfred Cameron and other residents at Point McLeay. The population at the Mission still kept increasing however, with many young children, often orphans or children abandoned in Adelaide, being brought there particularly in the period 1885-1900. The need for more cottages and an expanded dormitory did not diminish. In his report on a visit to Point Mcleay for the AFA, John McEwin spoke of his meeting the Education Department Inspector on the steamer to Milang: Fellow passenger Inspector Stanton of the Education Department… opportunity was taken to press the claims of the school to a semi-official inspection. The schoolwork is being carried out carefully and methodically by Mr Walter Hutley, with Mrs Hutley as matron. Both the subjects taught and the manner of teaching, strongly resemble the public school system. The children are bright and intelligent, ready to answer, and not very often wrong. The subjects are, of course, such as only find place in the lower classes of town schools. There is no ‘higher education’ for boys, nor advanced school for girls, at the Point, but sound and substantial work, quite equal to the general necessities is being done. The writing is in many cases good, and the books, as a rule, clean. In arithmetic, the first three rules only are at present in hand: in those, both boys and girls are fairly proficient. In dictation, the percentage of error was perhaps large, but in reading the children did better. In recitation, many of the younger ones did nicely, “Mary and her little lamb” being apparently a favourite. It has been suggested to bring the school more immediately under government control. We do not favour the idea. A divided authority would be calamitous, nor do we see prospect of great gain in any direction by the change. The school is doing a good work, and we advise the letting well alone.’ AFA Annual Report, 1886: 12, 14.
… A school at Point McLeay Mission Station … ‘conducted much on the lines of our public and provisional schools, but any inspection they get are purely unofficial so far as the Government is concerned. I was there a short time ago, and .. I found several thoroughbred black boys able to work a proportion sum, and to write fairly well from dictation difficult passages in the fourth Royal Reader.’ Meningie … is dreariness itself, but boasts a post and telegraph office, and a police station; there is neither clergyman within thirty-six miles [i.e. at Point McLeay] nor lawyer nor doctor within fifty miles, though some drugs and medical advice can be procured from the superintendent of the Point McLeay Mission Station. (Stanton, 1887: 53-54)
My own examinations have been held quarterly and although no prizes are given, beyond the honour of being at the top of the class for the quarter, yet the children look forward with eagerness to them. (AFA Annual Report, 1887: 8) Nothing is as clear, or as purely motivated, as it first seems: at this time, the number of ‘half-castes’ and ‘quadroons’ was growing rapidly, and ‘full-blood’ numbers were declining. These terms are offensive nowadays, but were freely used in the nineteenth century: in fact, policy was often based on these differences, with an assumption that the ‘more white’, the more civilised, therefore the more assimilable and the more educable (and the converse as well). As a visitor to Point McLeay reported at the time: What strikes a visitor more, however is the very small portion of pure natives and the variable degrees between white and black complexions, which make up the school. A few could hardly be distinguished from the swarthier children in our state schools, and only about as many as these show unmistakeable features and skin of the Aboriginal. The majority of the children seem to be half-caste. It would be unfair, however to infer from this that the school is composed mainly of illegitimate children; as I am informed by Mr Taplin that these are quite the exception, and that the reason for the prevalence of the half-caste is that these intermarry and that the offspring of such unions have more vitality than those of the pure natives. It is evident, therefore, that a new race is being generated, and one which will be much more likely to be engrafted into the community than the Aboriginal could ever be expected to be. Canon Andrews. (AFA Annual Report, 1887, in Jenkin, 1979: 187). It turned out that Joseph Koolmatrie made an outstanding evangelist and Sunday School teacher: he was employed by the AFA for some years. In 1887, Matthew Kropinyeri was also taken on as a Sunday School teacher and may have worked as a teacher for some time on the Coorong. However, by 1891, he was being employed at Point McLeay as a mason, along with Robert Wilson. In the late 1880s, Tailem Bend was proclaimed as a town, a railway depot and works centre on the new route between Adelaide and Melbourne. Small farmers’ and town blocks were offered for sale in the face of opposition from local pastoralists who feared more resumptions of their land. Tailem Bend rapidly became a union town, and the spirit of unionism spread through rural communities in the district. This was not necessarily good news for Aboriginal workers, since the unions of the day were in the forefront of racism, refusing to work with Aboriginal people. Many sheds thus became barred to Aboriginal shearers and employment became even more difficult to find: So, despite the decades-long custom of inter-racial labour, the white and Aboriginal shearers now worked in separate sections of their sheds. The new muscle of labour brought apartheid in its train and delivered another blow to the proud Ngarrindjeri. (Linn, 1988: 136-137) There were still many large pastoral properties in the district: Wellington Lodge pastured thirty thousand sheep and the flocks of others, such as Pontt, Allan Bell Lawson, and Anderson, numbered in the many thousands. The Meningie (and Tailem Bend) Council first met in 1888, under the solid domination of pastoralist interests: the first chairman was Hyde, manager of Warrengie Station, and its concerns were almost exclusively those of ‘the man on the land’, especially of the one in the station homestead. The Meningie Council area encompassed Point McLeay, but it agreed at one of its first meetings to exempt the mission from rates and road charges, since, one suspects, one should not be paid for doing nothing. Thus employment opportunities for Aboriginal people beyond the mission gates were rapidly withering away: pastoralists required only shearers, and then only for a few weeks each year, and small farmers did not need much hired labour at all, nor could most of them afford it. Aboriginal girls were not eager to work as domestics at this time. The one option, of allowing, or even encouraging, Aboriginal people to move to the city to find work in the rapidly growing industrial sector, was not even contemplated: the rightful place for primitive people was in the countryside, the city would be alien to them, and so on. But much of this was so taken for granted that it did not ever come up for discussion or argument. But if employment opportunities were diminishing, what was the role of education in preparing people for post-school work ? The links between education and employment were becoming more tenuous, as a consequence of racism and isolation, just at the time when Aboriginal education was being brought more into line with education policy generally, when at last Aboriginal children were being promised an education of roughly equal quality, the promise of eventual entry into the mainstream economy and social mobility system. But this was not to be for many generations: the betrayal of any Ngarrindjeri aspirations towards equal rights was yet to come. Hutley’s labours were rewarded by better attendance and enrolments: by 1887, forty three children were enrolled, with a ninety percent attendance. However, his wife was growing increasingly resentful at having to act as matron of the dormitory and resigned in July. The AFA was forced to appoint a single woman, Miss Evelyn Hunter, on £ 25 per year, as matron. She was to remain for nearly thirty years, but this extra expenditure put some strain on the finances of the AFA: the annual budget of the Mission had grown to £ 2,550, or a million dollars in today’s terms. Joseph Koolmatrie continued as teacher, travelling around the lakes and as far as Murray Bridge. The AFA was very satisfied with his work: ‘The native teacher Joseph Koolmatere is doing good work amongst the camps and is well worthy of his hire.’ On the other hand, Fred Taplin was accused once again of improper conduct, this time charged by the Destitute Board with being the father of Susan Broad’s child. After an investigation, Fred was cleared, the perennial innocent victim. In 1888, Fred Taplin toured mission and government stations in Victoria and reported back to the AFA on the disparities in funding: In 1886-1887 alone about £ 12,084 was spent on 553 aborigines in Victoria, being at the rate of £ 21 per head. In SA during the same year, the annual vote for about 6,000 aborigines, only amounted to £ 5,104 or about seventeen shillings per head. (AFA Annual Report, 1888: 9)
In 1888, a pound was worth roughly what $ 400 is worth today. From the table, one can identify who Lived and worked regularly at Point Mcleay, and who either worked very irregularly, or spent a lot of time working away from the Mission, John Davidson and Alfred Cameron, for example. Alfred Cameron worked for at least fourteen years as a farm hand for G.G. Hacket on Poltalloch, saving enough to set up himself and his large family on his own lease on the Coorong. There was no award for farm labourers in those days, in fact not until early this century, and wages, as one can see, were low, but supplemented by rations, which included a loaf of bread per person per day, and as much meat as anyone required. School numbers continued to rise, as set out in Hutley’s report: Statistics to June 30, 1888: Boys Girls Total Total number instructed during year 34 22 56 Average daily attendance 22 11.5 33.5 Number of days Day School open 215 “ “ Boarding “ “ 337
In 1888, the rupulle of the Ngarrindjeri, Pullum, passed away. The AFA marked his passing with a tribute: ‘the co-operation of the chief was of considerable value to the missionary endeavours to work reforms.’ The mantle of rupulle should have fallen onto the shoulders of his son, John Laelinyeri, or of his nephew, Joseph Koolmatrie, but both men were devout Christians by this time, and the office of rupulle lapsed. With it died any chance of reviving the tendi, or yanarumi: The formal Narrinyeri yanarumi, a unique Aboriginal court in which both men and women participated, was winding down by 1860, when its punitive functions gave way to the European mounted police. It struggled on, however, attempting to resolve matters of an internal nature, until the death of King Peter Pulami in 1888. (Berndt, 1989: 64) Differences between Fred Taplin and Walter Hutley came to a head in early March, 1889, when Hutley tendered his resignation. Fred wrote enthusiastically in its support, in a letter loaded with possibly scurrilous accusations against both Mr and Mrs Hutley: 8 March 1889 Rev. F.W. Cox [Gen. Secretary, AFA] Mr. [Hutley’s?] resignation having been accepted, I take liberty of writing to you regarding the duties of the school master and an explanation for doing so, should explain that after Mr. Hutley entered on his duties, he complained to me more than once that he had not been fairly treated as the work was more than he had been informed of before accepting the appointment. The work done by Mr. Hutley has not been so great as that of his predecessor, Mr. Ophel, and no more than could be expected of an industrious man with his heart in the work. I enclose with this a list of the duties falling to the lot of the Schoolmaster, set out as explicitly as possible apart from verbal explanations. We shall be exceedingly pleased to have a change in this particular department, and hope that the coming man may be of such a disposition as may inspire the trust and confidence of all concerned. With reference to the matronship, I do not think that a wife and mother ought to undertake the duties; they would be too great a tax on her .... attention. The appointment of Mrs. H. was an utter failure from the first. Those most acquainted with the work here can understand that all the officers should be willing to undertake their duties apart from mere necessary considerations. A man in charge of Aborigines cannot succeed until they are convinced that he has their welfare at heart. Mr. Ophel with all his shortness, was respected by all the people and his strong point always was genuine Christ-like character and missionary zeal. Another point which I would venture to make is, we must take into account the fact that the domestic and social life of the Aboriginal children is founded in that Boarding School and is of more importance than with technical education. Given a Christian Leader and Matron above suspicion of anything bordering on lack of integrity or selfishness, ... our work will go forward. At present we are extremely unsettled. We are expecting the [Rev.?] Lyall next Tuesday and shall be very pleased to have his company. One desirable thing in any official here is that they be total abstainers, both man and wife.
Many years later, David Unaipon would write about his educational experiences, under Ophel and Hutley: ‘My earliest impressions as a native boy were centred mainly in learning the art of tracking animals, in knowing where the eggs of birds could be obtained, to find out the nests of honey bees, and on moonlight nights to observe the movements of opossums in the gum trees, and, if possible, capture them for food purposes. Swimming and boating were the recreations of aboriginal boys in those days, and they were taught how to use the net and the line in obtaining fish. Mr Taplin did not expect to change the lives of the older people, but centred his activities upon the younger generation. He established a school which I attended and there entered a new mental world. He associated with this a dormitory so that the boys and girls might be trained in civilized ways … The Association endeavoured to train the natives in some of the trades, and a boot department was established and I was set to mend shoes. .. .. the Association founded a Mutual Improvement Society and endeavoured to ascertain the ability of the natives to acquire a knowledge of the fine arts. Teachers were provided to give lessons in music, shorthand, drawing and other subjects. Some of the aborigines became efficient in these studies. One of my old chums became a teacher, another an expert shorthand writer, and I became so advanced in music that I was appointed the church organist… … In course of time, music became my recreation only, for my mind became obsessed in other directions as I read the books and journals sent to the Station, especially the scientific works which showed the new inventions which were coming into the world… As I am a product of missionary work, to which I owe any advance I have made, I feel it my duty to testify to its value in advancing the welfare of the aborigines, for I feel that the only hope for the improvement of my race lies along the line of properly-conducted missionary enterprise, which goes down to the fundamental needs of the aborigines and gives them the inner power to reconstruct their lives which have become shattered by contact with white civilization. (Unaipon, 1949)
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