Mona Mona Mission
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The Mona Mona Aboriginal Mission is a former
Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...
mission for Aboriginal people established around 1913 near Kuranda,
Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...
, Australia. In 1913, large numbers of people, particularly of the
Djabugay people The Djabugay people (also known as Djabuganydji or Tjapukai) are a group of Australian Aboriginal people who are the original inhabitants of mountains, gorges, lands and waters of a richly forested part of the Great Dividing Range including t ...
, were rounded up and forcibly taken to the
mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
. Until 1940 it was almost self-sufficient, growing its own food, and cutting and milling timber. After this period,
soil fertility Soil fertility refers to the ability of soil to sustain agricultural plant growth, i.e. to provide plant habitat and result in sustained and consistent yields of high quality.
deteriorated and with the increasing costs, the mission soon became unviable. Also the city of
Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...
was growing and needed more water. A decision was made to flood Flaggy Creek, which flowed through the mission land and would have flooded the mission houses. In 1962 the mission was closed and the people were removed to other missions in places such as
Great Palm Island Great Palm Island, usually known as Palm Island, is the largest island in the Palm Islands group off Northern Queensland, Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal community, the legacy of an Aboriginal reserve, the Palm Island Aboriginal Sett ...
and
Woorabinda Woorabinda is a rural town and locality in the Aboriginal Shire of Woorabinda, Queensland, Australia. In the , Woorabinda had a population of 962 people. It is an Aboriginal community. Geography Woorabinda is in Central Queensland, inland abo ...
. However the dam did not go ahead, and some Djabugay people and former residents have moved back to Mona Mona and built houses. They have been waiting for 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 fr ...
to consider building new houses for all residents and other infrastructure, including a school. In 2010 the state government gave the local Indigenous people a 30-year lease of the Mona Mona area.


See also

*
List of reduplicated Australian place names These names are examples of reduplication, a common theme in Australian toponymy, especially in names derived from Indigenous Australian languages such as Wiradjuri. Reduplication is often used as an intensifier such as "Wagga Wagga" ''many ...


References


External links


Mona Mona Mission
on ''Find and Connect''
Stories of previous Mission residents
Towns in Queensland Australian Aboriginal missions Far North Queensland Former Seventh-day Adventist institutions {{SeventhdayAdventist-stub