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New South Wales - Organisation

Church Missionary Society Home for Half-Castes, Mulgoa (1942 - c. 1947)

  • Mission children, Mulgoa NSW

    Mission children, Mulgoa NSW, c. 1942 - c. 1947, courtesy of Northern Territory Archives Service.
    Details

From
1942
To
c. 1947
Categories
Anglican, Children's Home, Home, Mission and Protestant
Alternative Names
  • Mulgoa Half-Caste Home (also known as)
  • Mulgoa Home (also known as)
  • Mulgoa Mission (also known as)

The Church Missionary Society Home for Half-Castes at Mulgoa was established in 1942. It housed Aboriginal children who had been evacuated under military orders by the Commonwealth Department of Native Affairs. They were mainly from South Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland, though some were from New South Wales. They were aged 1 to 14 and some were accompanied by their mothers. The Church Missionary Society Home for Half-Castes closed around 1947.

Details

The children at Mulgoa had been evacuated from Croker Island and Groote Eylandt (Emerald River), as well as from Queensland, South Australia and far western New South Wales.

At Mulgoa the children and their mothers were cared for by Mrs Port, Miss Dove and Miss Alder, who had travelled from Roper River, along with Aboriginal women.

Some of the younger children and their mothers were sent to Milleewa, an Anglican children's home in Ashfield, for six months in 1942. Others were sent to private homes. Some fathers later joined their wives and children. According to John Harris, these families left Mulgoa to settle in Sydney.

After the end of World War II some of the people remained in Sydney and others returned to the Northern Territory and South Australia.

Mulgoa Mission was mentioned in the Bringing Them Home Report (1997) as an institution that housed Indigenous children removed from their families.

Location

1942 - 1945
Location - Church Missionary Society Home for Half-Castes was situated on Mulgoa Road, Mulgoa. Location: Mulgoa

Related Glossary Terms

Related Organisations

Publications

Books

  • Harris, John, We wish we'd done more : ninety years of CMS and aboriginal issues in North Australia, Openbook, Adelaide, 1998. Details

Reports

Resources

  • Director : Steven McGregor; Producers: Anna Grieve and Danielle MacLean., Croker Island exodus [videorecording (DVD)]., Jennifer Crone Productions; ABC Program Sales, 2012. Details

Online Resources

Photos

Mission building, Mulgoa NSW
Title
Mission building, Mulgoa NSW
Type
Image
Date
c. 1942 - c. 1947
Source
Northern Territory Archives Service

Details

Mission children, Mulgoa NSW
Title
Mission children, Mulgoa NSW
Type
Image
Date
c. 1942 - c. 1947
Source
Northern Territory Archives Service

Details

Sources used to compile this entry: 'History', in Church Missionary Society's Website, Church Missionary Society of Australia (CMS), 2010, https://www.cms.org.au/about-us/history/; George, Karen and George, Gary, 'Interstate movement of Northern Territory children (1942-1970s)', in Find & Connect web resource, Find & Connect web resource project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2013, http://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nt/biogs/YE00088b.htm; George, Karen and George, Gary, 'Croker Island Mission (1940 - 1968)', in Find & Connect web resource, Find & Connect web resource project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2014, http://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nt/biogs/YE00021b.htm; Harris, John, We wish we'd done more : ninety years of CMS and aboriginal issues in North Australia, Openbook, Adelaide, 1998; Correspondence with Church Missionary Society Archivist, 15 December 2012.

Prepared by: Naomi Parry