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Mitchell River Mission, at Trubanaman, was established by the Church of England in 1905. Children living on the Mission were separated from their parents and housed in segregated dormitories for the purposes of education. This practice was also viewed as a means of isolating the children from their culture. In 1918 the mission relocated to a site on Magnificent Creek and was given the name Kowanyama (however, for many years after this move it was still referred to as Mitchell River Mission). In 1966, the Anglican Church approached the government to take control of the mission and responsibility for the mission was handed over to the Queensland Government on 1 May 1967. The mission became a government administered reserve known as Kowanyama. Source: www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/qld/biogs/QE00958b.htm

EDUCATION. Modern aids in the shape of 16-m.m. film projectors have been in operation at Cherbourg and Palm Island schools for some years and, realising the value of visual education, particularly in the case of aboriginal children, who readily absorb learning by sight, it is intended to equip all schools with machines of this type. Already arrangements are in hand to provide a machine for Woorabinda school. The films, which are obtained through the Department of Education Library, are apart from general school subjects, geographical, industrial, horticultural, pastoral, agricultural and depict bird and animal life. Apart from their educational value, they are the means of giving the native children an insight of the activities proceeding in the outside world. Manual Training and Domestic Science.— Under the manual training scheme, boys of the senior grades receive tuition in cabinet-making, carpentry, plumbing, tinsmithing, saddlery, while the older girls are taught cooking, sewing, and general domestic science. In 1949 at Mornington Island there were 104 Aboriginal children enrolled in education: 55 girls and 49 boys. Source: Native Affairs—Information contained in Report of Director of Native Affairs for the Twelve Months ended 30th June, 1950. aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/docs/digitised_collect...

Prior to the 1960s, state governments had sole responsibilities for Aboriginal affairs, thus Aboriginal education policies differed across Australia. There was, however, a perception common to all state policies that Aboriginal people were inherently inferior and should receive minimal schooling. This perception was consistent with the general policy of excluding Aboriginal people from contact with non-Aboriginal people and the specific policies in some states of excluding Aboriginal children from government-run schools which persisted into the 1950s. Indeed, estimates suggest that only a very small proportion of Aboriginal children in Australia in the 1940s were being educated in state schools. In total, only about a quarter were receiving any sort of formal education, mostly in institutions and particularly in Christian missions. It has been well documented that the educational experiences of Aboriginal children in missions were far from ideal. Education often had a greater focus on Christian principles than formal education, with very little attention given to Aboriginal culture and languages. Source: Chapter 2 Educating Aboriginal Children – Issues, Policy and History www.telethonkids.org.au/globalassets/media/documents/abor...