Ebenezer Mission, also known as Wimmera mission, Hindmarsh mission and Dimboola mission, was a

mission station A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as ...

for

Aboriginal people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

established near

Lake Hindmarsh Lake Hindmarsh, an ephemeral lake located in the Wimmera region of western Victoria, Australia, is the state's largest natural freshwater lake. The nearest towns are Jeparit to the south and Rainbow to the north. After more than a decade of dro ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia (near

Jeparit Jeparit ( ) is a town on the Wimmera River in Western Victoria, Australia, north west of Melbourne. At the 2016 census Jeparit had a population of 342, down from 394 five years earlier. History The area around Jeparit is originally home to th ...

) in 1859 by the

Moravian Church The Moravian Church ( cs, Moravská církev), or the Moravian Brethren, formally the (Latin: "Unity of the Brethren"), is one of the oldest Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination, denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohem ...

on the land of the

Wotjobaluk The Wotjobaluk are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Victoria. They are closely related to the Wergaia people. Language R. H. Mathews supplied a brief analysis of the Wotjobaluk language (now known as Wergaia), describing what he ...

. The first missionaries were two Germans, Reverend

Friedrich Hagenauer Friedrich Hagenauer (1829–1909) was a Presbyterian minister and missionary in Australia who established Ebenezer Mission and Ramahyuck mission.Robert Kenny, pg 134-145, ''The Lamb Enters the Dreaming - Nathaniel Pepper and the Ruptured World'', ...

and Reverend F.W. Spieseke (c. 1821–1877). In 1861 the Victorian Colonial Government gazetted as a

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

for the Ebenezer Mission Station. The mission was established a few years after the failure of the Moravian

Lake Boga mission Lake Boga Mission station was established on the south-eastern shores of Lake Boga, Victoria, Australia in 1851 by the Moravian Church on the land of the Wemba-Wemba. The mission was established by two Moravian missionaries from Germany, Andreas ...

Wemba-Wemba The Wemba-Wemba are an Aboriginal Australian people in north-Western Victoria and south-western New South Wales, Australia, including in the Mallee and the Riverina regions. They are also known as the Wamba-Wamba. Language Wemba-Wemba bears st ...

territory. Horatio Cockburn Ellerman, an early settler who established Antwerp Station, suggested the site where the mission station was established rather than the three sites suggested by the Government. The site selected was known as "Banji bunag", and had traditional meaning for the Wotjobaluk, being a

corroboree A corroboree is a generic word for a meeting of Australian Aboriginal peoples. It may be a sacred ceremony, a festive celebration, or of a warlike character. A word coined by the first British settlers in the Sydney area from a word in the l ...

ground according to elder Uncle Jack Kennedy, and also contained the grave for an Aboriginal woman shot dead, the mother of William Wimmera.Ian D. Clark, pp177-183, ''Scars on the Landscape. A Register of Massacre sites in Western Victoria 1803-1859'', Aboriginal Studies Press, 1995 The main aim of the mission was to "civilise" and

Christianise Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...

the Aboriginal inhabitants of the area. In 1860, the first convert to Christianity, Nathanael Pepper, was baptised. Rations were given to residents on the condition that they attended church services and school. As a result of the '' Half-Caste Act 1886'' which forced "

half-caste Half-caste (an offensive term for the offspring of parents of different racial groups or cultures) is a term used for individuals of multiracial descent. It is derived from the term ''caste'', which comes from the Latin ''castus'', meaning pu ...

" Aboriginal people off missions, by 1892 the number of residents at Ebenezer Mission Station had dropped to only 30 people. In 1902 the State Government of Victoria decided to close the Ebenezer Mission due to low numbers. The mission closed in 1904, and most of the land was handed back to the Victorian Lands Department and made available for selection in 1905. In the following twenty years, many Wergaia people were forcibly moved to

Lake Tyers Mission Lake Tyers Mission, also known as Bung Yarnda, was an Aboriginal mission established in 1863 on the shore of Lake Tyers in Victoria‘s Gippsland, region as a centralised location for Aboriginal people from around Victoria. History The Lake T ...

in Gippsland under police escort, along with closure of all rations to Ebenezer Mission and seizure of children. Despite these measures, some Wergaia families avoided relocation and remained on their ancestral lands.

References

* – very detailed overview. * * Blake, Leslie James (1967); "Education at Ebenezer"; ''The Education Magazine''; Vol 24, No 1; Feb 1967, pp 37–48 * Brown, Anne (1992); "Ebenezer Dreaming"; ''Site''; no 13; pp 12–14 * Christie, MF (1979); ''Aborigines in Colonial Victoria, 1835-86''; University of Sydney Press, Sydney. * Clark, ID (1990); ''Aboriginal Languages and Clans; An Historical Atlas of Western and Central Victoria, 1800-1900''; Monash Publications in Geography, Melbourne * Edwards, Bill (1999); ''Moravian Aboriginal Missions in Australia 1850-1919''; Adelaide * Fels, Marie Hansen (1998); ''A History of the Ebenezer Mission''; Melbourne * Harris, J (1994); ''One Blood: 200 Years of Aboriginal Encounter with Christianity: a Story of Hope''; Albatross Books, Sutherland * Jensz, Felicity (2008)
"Imperial critics: Moravian missionaries in the British colonial world"
in ''Evangelists of Empire? Missionaries in Colonial History''; Amanda Barry, Joanna Cruickshank, Andrew Brown-May and Patricia Grimshaw (eds), University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre, Melbourne. * Jensz, Felicity (2001);

'. * Longmire, A (1985), ''Nine Creeks to Albacutya: a History of the Shire of Dimboola''; Hargreen Publishing and Shire of Dimboola, Melbourne * Lydon, Jane (2009); ''Fantastic Dreaming: the Archaeology of an Aboriginal Mission''; AltaMira Press, Maryland USA * Massola, Aldo (1970); "History of Ebenezer Mission Station"; ''Aboriginal Mission Stations in Victoria''; The Hawthorn Press (Melbourne); pp 31–62 * Massola, Aldo (1966); ''The Aborigines of the Mallee''; Melbourne * McKenzie, Janet (1983); ''Ebenezer''; Blackwood * Rhodes, David (1998); ''An Archaeological Report on the Ebenezer Mission Station''; Melbourne * Robertson, Susan (1988); "Nathaniel Pepper of Ebenezer, Chapter 1: Ebenezer is Founded"; ''The Aim''; Vol 22, No 2; pp 6–7 * Robertson, Susan (1992); ''The Bell Sounds Pleasantly: Ebenezer Mission Station''; Doncaster; (Revised Edition) * Werner, A.B. (1964); ''Early Mission Work at Antwerp''; 2.Ed; Dimboola {{DEFAULTSORT:Ebenezer Mission Aboriginal communities in Victoria (Australia) Australian Aboriginal missions Wergaia 1859 establishments in Australia Victorian Heritage Register Victorian Heritage Register Grampians (region) Shire of Hindmarsh

See also

References

Further reading