Myora Mission was established as 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 ...

in 1892 in the

Colony of Queensland The Colony of Queensland was a colony of the British Empire from 1859 to 1901, when it became a State in the federal Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. At its greatest extent, the colony included the present-day State of Queensland, ...

, at Moongalba on

Stradbroke Island Stradbroke Island, also known as Minjerribah, was a large sand island that formed much of the eastern side of Moreton Bay near Brisbane, Queensland until the late 19th century. Today the island is split into two islands: North Stradbroke Islan ...

. It became an

Aboriginal reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th c ...

and "industrial and

reform school A reform school was a penal institution, generally for teenagers mainly operating between 1830 and 1900. In the United Kingdom and its colonies reformatories commonly called reform schools were set up from 1854 onwards for youngsters who wer ...

" in 1896, was used as a source of cheap labour, and eventually closed in 1943.

History

Failed mission, 1843

An earlier mission was established at Moongalba by

Passionist The Passionists, officially named Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ (), abbreviated CP, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men, founded by Paul of the Cross in 1720 with a special emphasis on and d ...

priests under Archbishop Polding in 1843, but their attempts failed and they left the island not long afterwards.J. Franklin
Catholic missions to Aboriginal Australia: an evaluation of their overall effect
, ''Journal of the Australian Catholic Historical Society'' 37 (1) (2016), 45-68; O. Thorpe, ''First Catholic Mission to the Australian Aborigines'' (Pellegrini, Sydney, 1950); R. Ganter
The Stradbroke Island Mission (1843-1847)
.

Establishment, 1892

The Queensland Aboriginal Protection Association established the mission on the island and known as Minjerribah by the local

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 ...

, the

Quandamooka The Quandamooka people are Aboriginal Australians who live around Moreton Bay in Southeastern Queensland. They are composed of three distinct tribes, the Nunukul, the Goenpul and the Ngugi, and they live primarily on Moreton and North Stradbr ...

. In October 1892, an area of was reserved for a mission station at Moongalba, near the northern tip of what is now

North Stradbroke Island North Stradbroke Island ( Jandai: ''Minjerribah''), colloquially ''Straddie'' or ''North Straddie'', is an island that lies within Moreton Bay in the Australian state of Queensland, southeast of the centre of Brisbane. Originally there was onl ...

(after the original single island was divided into two by wave action). On the 26 November 1892, Myora Mission was proclaimed a "Reserve for Mission", signed by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

. "Assimilation through institutionalisation" began from October 1893, with the staff enforcing European cultural practices and values. The Mission was declared an "industrial and

reformatory school A reformatory or reformatory school is a youth detention center or an adult correctional facility popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Western countries. In the United Kingdom and United States, they came out of social concerns ...

" and a Mission Superintendent and Mission Matron were appointed by QAPA, but paid by the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended f ...

. The older boys and girls were trained to be "made useful and profitable to the mission and to society", and punished if they transgressed. The mission later ceased to be a school, the dormitories were closed, and the children classified as

orphans An orphan (from the el, ορφανός, orphanós) is a child whose parents have died. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usuall ...

and removed to Deebing Creek Mission.

Aboriginal reserve, 1896

It was then re-proclaimed a "Reserve for the use of the Aboriginal Inhabitants of the State" changing its official status from mission to Aboriginal reserve. The reserve came under the control of four Chief Protectors of Aborigines between 1897 (the year of the ''

Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 The ''Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897'', long name ''A Bill to make Provision for the better Protection and Care of the Aboriginal and Half-caste Inhabitants of the Colony, and to make more effectual Provision ...

'') and 1940. By 1905, there were about 48 permanent residents at Moongalba, including five South Pacific Islander men married to local women. The residents were used as cheap or free labour at the Benevolent Institution, whose Medical ran the mission from 1906 to 1917, as well as the fish

cannery Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container ( jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although ...

abattoir A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...

and the Moreton Bay Oyster Company. They also worked as nursing assistants,

domestic servant A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...

s and

fishermen A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recreati ...

on the island.

Closure, 1943

Myora reserve closed in 1943, and the land was handed over to the Benevolent Institution. The residents were moved to Moopi Moopi Pa (One Mile) and Goompi (Dunwich). In 1947 the Benevolent Institution was moved to Sandgate, taking all of its amenities and opportunities for employment.

References

{{coord missing, Queensland Australian Aboriginal missions Aboriginal communities in Queensland Stolen Generations institutions Mission stations in Australia