mission

Looking very much unstable

Doomadgee is a largely Indigenous community located in the Gulf of Carpentaria, approximately 140km from the Northern Territory border and 93km west of Burketown. The community is positioned alongside the Nicholson River and provides access to the coast, freshwater rivers, and Lawn Hill National Park, one of the Gulf’s most popular natural tourist attractions. The Waanyi and Gangalidda people are recognized as the Traditional Owners of the region surrounding Doomadgee. The original mission, known as ‘Old Doomadgee’, was established in 1933 by a non-Indigenous family, the Akehurst family, with the support of the Christian Brethren Assemblies and Chief Protector of Aboriginals[2]. The mission was located at ‘Dumaji’ at Bayley Point Aboriginal reserve, on Gangalidda land. Archival records and personal accounts by residents describe the restrictive and difficult conditions at Doomadgee. In 1950, a government report severely criticized practices in use in the dormitory. At the time, mission policy required that all children over 6 years old lived in dormitories[14]. Boys left the dormitory around the age of 14 to take up station work. Girls were trained in domestic duties and often remained in the dormitories until they married. By the late 1950s, many residents left Doomadgee and went to the Mornington Island mission, where the practice of separating children from parents in dormitories had been abandoned. During the 1960s, older, unmarried girls began returning to their parents[16]. The dormitories closed at some point in the late 1960s. Source: www.qld.gov.au/firstnations/cultural-awareness-heritage-a...

TYPES OF HOUSES. The people live in nicely built houses of timber with thatched roofs. Some of the houses have grass walls and others use plaited palm leaves. These houses (about 80) look very attractive, and many of them are surrounded by beautiful gardens of tropical nature. All of them are spotlessly clean. The head settlement consists of three streets of houses and all buildings are supplied with electric light. The building is continually being undertaken, but the demand exceeds the supply of timber for the mission's mills, which, by the way, is quite up to date though at present it is in a temporary location. It is interesting to recall that some 20 years ago the one-time Archbishop of Brisbane and The Bishop of Salisbury (Dr. Donaldson) gave £6000 for the sawmill. The Queensland Government later also made a substantial grant. The Government annually assists the mission and last year the grant was increased to £5 ahead. Source: The Northern Herald 02 Jul 1938 trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/150831287