Point Pearce, also spelt Point Pierce in the past, is a town in the

Australian state The states and territories are federated administrative divisions in Australia, ruled by regional governments that constitute the second level of governance between the federal government and local governments. States are self-governing ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. The town is located in the

Yorke Peninsula Council The Yorke Peninsula Council is a local government area in South Australia. Its boundaries include most of the Yorke Peninsula. The council seat is at Maitland; the council also maintains branch offices at Minlaton and Yorketown. History It c ...

local government area, north-west of the state capital,

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. At the , Point Pearce had a population of 91. It is known for 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 ...

established 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 ...

in the late nineteenth century. The location was originally known as Bookooyanna by the local

Narungga The Narungga people, also spelt Narangga, are a group of Aboriginal Australians whose traditional lands are located throughout Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. Their traditional language, one of the Yura-Thura grouping, is Narungga. Country ...

people, usually spelt Bukkiyana in modern sources. Established as Point Pearce Mission Station in 1868, it became the Point Pearce Aboriginal Station after it was taken over by the state government in 1915, as 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 ...

. In 1972, ownership was transferred to the Point Pearce Community Council under the '' Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 1966''.

History

Also known as Point Pierce, it was one of several missions established in South Australia in the late 19th century, which included

Poonindie __NOTOC__ Poonindie is a small township near Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. The land upon which it sits was originally the land of the Barngarla people. Poonindie Mission was established as a mission for Aboriginal people ...

(1850), Point McLeay (Raukkan, 1850), Killalpaninna (1866) and Koonibba (1898). Some of these missions were the basis for Aboriginal communities which persist until the present; they were among the few places in the southern part of South Australia where dispossessed and displaced Aboriginal people were welcomed, even if the primary aim was Christian evangelism. Soon after the establishment of

in 1836, settler had begun moving into

Yorke Peninsula The Yorke Peninsula is a peninsula located northwest and west of Adelaide in South Australia, between Spencer Gulf on the west and Gulf St Vincent on the east. The peninsula is separated from Kangaroo Island to the south by Investigator Str ...

. The British concepts of property ownership were incompatible with the

s' nomadic lifestyle, resulting in the gradual displacement of the Aboriginal population. In 1868, the Point Pearce Aboriginal Mission was established by the Moravian missionary Reverend W. Julius Kuhn. A site of for a settlement was granted on 2 February 1868 at a place known as Bookooyanna (spelt Bukkiyana in modern sources), about south of Kadina. The Point Pearce Mission Station, run by the Yorke Peninsula Aboriginal Mission committee, initially attracted 70 Narrungga residents. Poor conditions and illness led to consequent deaths, and by 1874 only 28 remained. In 1874 the reserve was extended by another , and including Wardang Island. By 1878, the

was largely self-sufficient from its wool and wheat income. In 1894, families from the closed

Poonindie Mission __NOTOC__ Poonindie is a small township near Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. The land upon which it sits was originally the land of the Barngarla people. Poonindie Mission was established as a mission for Aboriginal people ...

were moved to Point Pearce. The mission operated a school, with a separate school house built in 1906. Many children of mixed European and

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

descent were among the 31 pupils who enrolled. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, men from Point McLeay and Point Pearce were among the first Aboriginal men in the state to enlist. As a result of the Royal Commission on the Aborigines on 1913, the

South Australian government The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government, SA Government or more formally, His Majesty’s Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of South Australia. It is modelled o ...

took over management of the mission in 1915 and it became known as the Point Pearce Aboriginal Station, an

. Included in the recommendations was that the government become the legal guardian of all Aboriginal children upon reaching their 10th birthday, and place them "where they deem best". Seven years after the final report of the commission, the '' Aborigines (Training of Children) Act 1923'', in order to allow

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

children to be "trained" in a special institution so that they could go out and work. The institution is named in the ''

Bringing Them Home ''Bringing Them Home'' is the 1997 Australian ''Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families''. The report marked a pivotal moment in the controversy that has come to ...

'' report, as one which housed Indigenous children forcibly removed from their parents and thus creating the

Stolen Generations The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church mis ...

. In 1972, ownership was transferred to the Point Pearce Community Council under the ''Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 1966''. Many of the buildings remain today.

Location and facilities

Point Pearce is about north along the coast from Port Victoria, and along with Wardang Island, provides shelter for the small fishing and recreational port.

People

* Ivaritji ( – 1929),

Kaurna The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kaurn ...

elder and last known speaker of the

Kaurna language Kaurna ( or ) is a Pama-Nyungan language historically spoken by the Kaurna peoples of the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. The Kaurna peoples are made up of various tribal clan groups, each with their own ''parnkarra'' district of land and ...

, lived there for many years. * Gladys Elphick (1904 – 1988), founding president of the Council of Aboriginal Women of South Australia, grew up there. * Lewis O'Brien (b.1930), Kaurna elder, was born there. * Alitya Rigney (1942 – 2017), Kaurna elder and scholar, who did much to revive the Kaurna language, was born there. * Tauto Sansbury (c. 1949 – 2019), Indigenous activist, was born there. *

Natasha Wanganeen Natasha Wanganeen is an Aboriginal Australian actress. She is known for her starring role in the 2002 feature film ''Rabbit Proof Fence'', aged 15, and numerous television roles. Her debut film as co-writer and co-producer is the 2022 short fil ...

(b.1984),

AFI award The Australian Film Institute (AFI) was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry. It is responsi ...

-winning actor grew up in Point Pearce.

History

Location and facilities

People

References

Further reading