The United Aborigines' Mission (UAM) was an interdenominational Mission organisation established in New South Wales in 1895. In South Australia, the first UAM children's Home was established in Oodnadatta in 1924. In 1927 the UAM established Colebrook Home in Quorn, residents of which included the residents and matron of the former Oodnadatta Children's Home. The UAM was later renamed the United Aboriginal Ministries. In October 2019, Sharrock Pitman Legal Pty Ltd, a legal firm based in Melbourne, advised the Find & Connect web resource that the United Aborigines Mission and UAM Ministries were in the process of being wound up. As of February 2020, UAM Ministries remained a registered charity, last reporting to the Australian Charities and Not for Profit Commission in September 2019.
The United Aborigines Mission ran residential institutions for the care, education and conversion to Christianity of Aboriginal children, mostly on Mission stations and in children's Homes. The institutional care provided by the UAM was closely tied to Government funding and policy in the area of Indigenous affairs.
The United Aborigines Mission was mentioned in the Bringing Them Home Report (1997) as an institution that housed Indigenous children removed from their families.
Sources used to compile this entry: Barry, Amanda et al, Evangelists of Empire? Missionaries in Colonial History, The University of Melbourne, 2008; George, Karen, Finding your own way, Nunkuwarrin Yunti of South Australia Inc., 2005, http://nunku.org.au/resources/; Gerard, A E, United Aborigines Mission (of Australia): an outline of the history of the mission particularly in South Australia, Adelaide, 1950; Haebich, Anna and Doreen Mellor, Many Voices: Reflections on Experiences of Indigenous Child Separation, National Library of Australia, 2002; Australian Charities and Not for Profit Commission, 'U.A.M. Ministries' Charity details, ABN 13062042951 (website accessed 14 February 2020).
Prepared by: Ann McCarthy
Created: 15 February 2011, Last modified: 14 February 2020
Last updated: 24 November 2021
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/sa/biogs/SE00139b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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