Warrabri was established as a government settlement 100 kilometres south of Tennant Creek in 1956. It replaced the Phillip Creek Native Settlement. Missionaries from Australian Baptist Home Mission provided welfare services at Warrabri from 1957. A school for Aboriginal children was established but it does not appear that dormitories operated at Warrabri. In 1978 the…
The Phillip Creek Native Settlement was established by the government in 1945 as a temporary settlement for Aboriginal people. It was initially staffed by missionaries from the Aborigines Inland Mission. The settlement operated three dormitories for Aboriginal children. In 1947 children who were then considered to be of mixed-race were removed to the Retta Dixon…
Hooker Creek Native Settlement, 550 kilometres south west of Katherine, was established by the government in 1948. A large number of Aboriginal people from Yuendumu Native Settlement were moved there. A school opened in 1954 but no dormitories were used. Missionaries from the Australian Baptist Home Mission resided there from 1962. The settlement was handed…
St Joseph’s Mission, Daly River opened at New Uniya in 1891. Run by Jesuit missionaries, it replaced the Queen of the Holy Rosary Mission. Although missionaries set up a school for children, no dormitories were built. The mission was forced to close in 1899 due to severe flooding. St Joseph’s Mission, Daly River was opened…
The Sacred Heart Mission was established at Serpentine Lagoon on the Daly River by Jesuit Missionaries in 1889. It was the second Jesuit mission on the Daly River after the Queen of the Holy Rosary Mission. The Mission struggled to operate for two years. The residents were devastated by epidemics and the crops planted to…
The Yuendumu Native Settlement was established at Mount Doreen, 350 kilometres north west of Alice Springs, in 1946 as a government ration depot. That same year missionaries from the Australian Baptist Home Mission began welfare work at the settlement. Although two dormitories were constructed in 1947-48, it is unclear for how long they were used….
Papunya Native Settlement was officially opened by the government in 1959. It was established to accommodate Aboriginal people moved away from the Haasts Bluff Native Settlement and others brought in by the government from desert areas. A school was built but no dormitories were established. A Lutheran missionary sent out from the Hermannsburg Mission was…
Haasts Bluff Native Settlement began as a government ration depot in 1941. In 1942 missionaries from the Hermannsburg Mission, also known as the Finke River Mission, began to provide welfare services to the Aboriginal residents. Although no school or dormitories were established at Haast’s Bluff, missionaries resided there and it operated as an outpost of…
Somerville Cottage Homes was established in 1968 and comprised six suburban cottages in the suburbs of Darwin. The cottages were run by Somerville Homes, an organization formed by the United Church in Northern Australia and the Methodist Overseas Mission. Each cottage accommodated up to eight children in a family group setting under the supervision of…
The East Arm Leprosarium opened in 1955 and replaced the Channel Island Leprosarium. Situated several kilometres south east of Darwin, it was run by the Northern Territory Administration and was staffed by nursing Sisters from the Catholic order, the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. Patients isolated at the Leprosarium included children as…
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