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Background
Protection era and missions and reserves
Post-contact, Indigenous Australian peoples were subject to huge changes in their lives: violent confrontation with Europeans (numerous massacres), loss of lands, displacement and disruption to livelihoods, introduced diseases, & imposition of new laws by white settlers (which frequently resulted in incarceration & other punishments) and other forms of exploitation (unpaid juvenile labour, sexual abuse of Aboriginal women).
In 1837 the British Parliament appointed the Select Committee on Aborigines (British Settlements) to inquire into the condition of Aboriginal people in the colonies. Their enquiries determined that Aborigines were entitled to the protection of the Queen, just as any British subject would have been. The committee therefore recommended the implementation of a system of protectorates, overseen by Protectors whose role was to:
“… promote the prosecution of all crimes committed against their persons or their property; while, in the event of any of them being charged with the commission of such offences, the protector should, either in person or through the agency of some practitioner of the law, to be employed and instructed by him, undertake and superintend the defence of the accused party […] Finally, the protector should be required to make periodical reports to the local government of all his proceedings in the execution of the duties of his office […] The collection of accurate statistical information should be one of the principal objects of these periodical reports. It is probable that the depopulation and decay of many tribes which, in different parts of the world, have sunk under European encroachments would have been arrested in its course, if the progress of the calamity had from time to time been brought distinctly under the notice of any authority competent to redress the wrong.” 1
The Select Committee on Aborigines of 1837 (coinciding with the evangelical period of Victorian England), came to the following conclusion on missions:
“It is only […] through the influence of Christianity, brought to bear upon the natives by the zealous exertions of devoted missionaries, that the progress of extinction can be checked." 2
Early missionaries dedicated themselves to 'civilising' Aboriginal people: teaching them to sing hymns and recite scripture, to read so they could read the Bible, and training them in useful (to Europeans) occupations like housework, horticulture, livestock management and (less often) skilled trades.
They also imposed Western cultural values and attempted to suppress customary religion through the denigration of spiritual belief and ritual, and the banning of its manifestations in song and dance. In addition, their authority usurped the authority of tribal leaders, and mission schools, which usually required pupils to live in dormitories away from their parents, contributed to the erosion of customary authority.
Colonial administrations frequently saw missions as agencies to which government responsibilities for Aboriginal people could be delegated, and mission stations often became the distribution points through which government supplies and rations were handed out, medical aid dispensed and children schooled. As a result, missionaries were able to assume widespread control over Aboriginal people's lives and in many instances they were heavily paternalistic.
Objectives / Purpose of Missions (relationship to ‘Protection’ era)
By 1911 every State except Tasmania had enacted Protection legislation, which manifested itself in the appointment of official Protectors to defend Indigenous peoples from encroachments by settlers, schooling, and special law for their supervision until such time as they learned to live within the general community. In reality this meant total control of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lives, including often, legal guardianship of their children.
Thereafter, thousands of square kilometres of non-arable land (not deemed productive for the pastoral industry) was gazetted as Reserves where Aboriginal people would be relocated from their own country. Throughout Australia, many Christian Missions were established on these lands and either operated with complete autonomy, or as adjuncts to State-run reserves. While Protectors were meant to ensure the safety of their charges, in practice, it was the missions themselves that frequently offered greater physical protection from the extremes of violence experienced by Aboriginal people at the hands of pastoralists and others.
They saw their role to ‘civilise’ Aboriginal people via the indoctrinated substitution of Christian beliefs over traditional practices, languages and cultural heritage. Henceforth, missionaries from numerous religious denominations applied their Christian teachings throughout Australia to attempt to convert Aboriginal people, by now a captive audience on hundreds of Reserves and Missions across the country. The Aborigines Inland Mission was one of these missions.
The Aborigines Inland Mission (AIM)
Founded in Singleton, NSW, in August 1905 by Retta Dixon (18771953, also known by her married name, Long), a Baptist missionary at St Clair, near Singleton.
She became the first AIM head, and under her direction the organisation began engaging missionaries for St Clair, and for new missions established at Redbournebury (near Singleton) and Karuah (Port Stephens). Further postings followed. By 1907, when the first annual AIM convention was held, and the mission journal Our AIM had begun appearing, the organisation had missionaries at Yass, Brungle, Warangesda, Moonacullah, Cummeragunja and Walcha.
The government Aboriginal administration agencies in Queensland and WA also gave the AIM permission to place missionaries on reserves in those states not already serviced by missions. This led to the opening of work in WA at Bassendean, in 1908, and in Queensland at Herberton, in 1911. Wherever possible the AIM employed Aboriginal assistants to the missionaries, the first of these being Alex Russell of Karuah.
Over the next three decades, in the period to the Second World War, AIM work extended to almost every Aboriginal settlement in NSW, as well as to Gayndah, Cherbourg, Woorabinda, Palm Island, Normanton, Stradbroke Island, Ravenshoe and Cooktown in Queensland, Port Augusta and Tarcoola in SA, and in the NT at Parap, near Darwin. Subsequent enterprises in the postwar decades included the establishment of the Retta Dixon Children's Home in Darwin.
By 1991 the AIM was maintaining 25 establishments and was conducting an outreach program, using 29 missionaries (two Aboriginal) and local Aboriginal helpers, to reach communities in more remote locations. Although the missionaries came from various backgrounds (including Baptist, Uniting church, Anglican and Brethren), the AIM maintained an evangelical religious orientation.3
Australian Indigenous Ministries (AIM) has evolved from the Aborigines Inland Mission (AIM) retaining the acronym. You may read more about Australian Indigenous Ministries on their website
The post-mission era
Although missionaries provided refuges from the worst effects of the European invasion, they fostered dependence upon themselves. The failure and eventual closure of some missions stemmed from dwindling numbers exacerbated by the departure of dissidents.
Nevertheless, some missionaries helped Aboriginal people maintain their culture while acquiring skills valued by non-Indigenous Australia. The personnel at the Benedictine mission at New Norcia (1850searly 1900s), the Anglican mission at Poonindie (1850s90s), the Lutheran mission at Hermannsburg (1870s1970s), and the Methodist (Uniting church) missions in Arnhem Land (1920s70s) were among the more successful in this respect. Despite individual achievements like these, the overall attainment of the Christian missions was meagre, if success is measured by conversions. What many missionaries failed to appreciate was that conversion for Aboriginal people was not simply a matter of exchanging new ideas for old, or of abandoning one culture for another. Instead, their new-found Christian faith had to be reconciled with their understanding of traditional beliefs, while allegiance to Christ and mission could not imply the severance of customary social affiliations and obligations. 4
Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people did adopt Christian beliefs and others even furthered their religious education into roles as missionaries and clergy. Some communities took over the running of their churches and continue to this day to deliver Christian services and pastoral care to their parishoners.
Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress
Established by the National Assembly of the Uniting Church of Australia in 1985 for mission and work amongst Aboriginal people, in response to a request from Aboriginal leaders within the church.
In 1982 the Reverend Charles Harris began to envisage Aboriginal Christian leaders taking full responsibility for mission and evangelism. He shared his ideas with others such as the Reverend Djiniyini Gondarra and Pastor Bill Hollingsworth, and invited all Aboriginal Christian leaders to consider the creation of a major Aboriginal Christian organisation.
Eighty leaders from around Australia subsequently met at Galiwinku (Elcho Island) in 1983, and formed the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress. A charter adopted at a 1984 conference in Ballina, NSW, was approved, as the mandate for the work of the congress, at the assembly of the church in 1985. Following the assembly, the Calvary (Queensland) and Bethel (Northern) presbyteries were established, with full powers. Subsequently, Bethel Presbytery was replaced by the Northern Regional Council of Congress, to enable Aboriginal Christians to adopt indigenous ways in their structure.
The congress has the responsibility of oversight of 35 congregations around Australia, served by 17 ordained Aboriginal ministers and several pastors. The ministers have been trained at Nungalinya College in Darwin. Djiniyini Gondarra succeeded Harris as president of the congress in 1990. The Reverend Shayne Blackman is national administrator and based in Townsville.
The congress undertakes work in drug and alcohol rehabilitation, community development in isolated and urban communities, and the development of effective education for Aboriginal people. In 1992 it established Shalom College in Townsville as a primary and secondary school. The congress was also the organiser of the 1988 March for Freedom, Justice and Hope, in Sydney. 5
You can learn more about the UAICC on their website.
1 Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Aborigines (British Settlements) Report of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Aboriginal Tribes, (British settlements : reprinted with comments by the Aborigines Protection Society. London : Published for the Society by William Ball, 1837, pp.127-128 [AIATSIS Call no. B S971.68/A1]
2 Ib id, p.11
3 Howie-Wills, Ian in Horton, D 1994, Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia, Canberra : Aboriginal Studies Press, p.26 [AIATSIS Call no. REF 030.9940049915 ENC Vol 1]
4 Ib id, p.705
5. B Clarke & WH Edwards in Horton, D 1994, Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia, Canberra : Aboriginal Studies Press, p.1119 [AIATSIS Call no. REF 030.9940049915 ENC Vol 2]