The Dominican Sisters belong to an order of nuns, priests and laity inspired by St Dominic , the founder of the order and St Catherine of Siena who is referred to as the co-founder. The Order was established in Europe in 1221. In 1868 the Bishop of Adelaide invited seven Dominican sisters from Cabra, a…
Cabra Dominican Convent opened in Adelaide in 1868 as a day and boarding school. Run by the Dominican Sisters it was initially staffed by nine sisters who supervised 37 boarders. In 1886 the school moved to a new site in Goodwood. By 1928 numbers of boarders had grown to 93 with 232 day students. In…
The Finniss Springs Mission was established by the United Aborigines’ Mission (UAM) north west of Marree, in 1939. It operated as a Mission, a Mission school and a government ration station. A dormitory for Aboriginal children whose parents worked away from the Mission was operating by 1944. Approximately 75 people resided at the Mission in…
The Point Pearce Mission Station was established 35 miles south of Wallaroo in 1868. It was run by the Yorke Peninsula Aboriginal Mission committee to assist the Narungga people living on the outskirts of copper mining towns in the area. Moravian Missionary Julius Kuhn was the first superintendent. Initially 70 Narrungga people came to the…
The Point McLeay Mission Station was established at lake Alexandrina by the Aborigines’ Friends’ Association in 1859. Dormitories were set up at the Mission for orphan Aboriginal children. When Poonindie Mission closed in 1894 some families were transferred to Point McLeay. The State Government took control of the Mission in 1916 and the dormitories were…
The Yalata Mission was established in 1954 by the Lutheran Church on a government Aboriginal reserve 130 miles west of Ceduna. Aboriginal people from Maralinga and the Ooldea Mission had been brought to the area in 1952. The Mission operated a school and other facilities for the residents of the reserve. In 1974 the Yalata…
The Swan Reach Mission was established by the United Aborigines Mission [UAM] at Swan Reach in 1926. A rented cottage was used as the Mission House and a school opened at the Mission in early 1926 to provide Christian education to local Aboriginal children. The site at Swan Reach was prone to flooding and permanent…
The Nepabunna Mission was established by the United Aborigines’ Mission (UAM) in north-east South Australia in 1931. The Missionaries assisted with housing, schooling, health and other facilities at the Mission. A dormitory for Aboriginal children was constructed at Nepabunna early in the 1940s but was not used for several years. The State Government took control…
The Ernabella Mission was established by the Presbyterian Church in the Musgrave Ranges of north-west South Australia in 1937. A school operated at the Mission. In 1970 the State Government took administrative control of the Mission and in 1972 this transferred to the Commonwealth Government. In 1974 the administration of Ernabella Mission passed to the…
The Rescued Sisters’ Home was opened by the Salvation Army on the corner of King William Street and South Terrace in 1890. It operated as a rescue home for destitute women and girls. From 1893 it operated in conjunction with the Adelaide Maternity Home. The Rescued Sisters’ Home closed in 1899 when the Salvation Army…
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