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

Australian state The states and territories are the national subdivisions and second level of government of Australia. The states are partially sovereignty, sovereign, administrative divisions that are autonomous administrative division, self-governing polity, ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. The town is located in the

Yorke Peninsula Council The Yorke Peninsula Council is a Local government areas of South Australia, local government area in South Australia. Its boundaries include most of the Yorke Peninsula. The main Council office is at Maitland, South Australia, Maitland; the coun ...

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

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. It is known for the

mission Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * ...

established for

Aboriginal people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

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. Countr ...

people, later spelt Bukkiyana or Burgiyana. Established as Point Pearce Mission Station in 1868, it became the Point Pearce Aboriginal Station after it was taken over by the

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

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 ...

. In 1972, ownership was transferred to the Point Pearce Community Council under the ''

Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 1966 The ''Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 1966'' is the short title of an Act of the Parliament of South Australia, assented to on 8 December 1966, with the long title "An Act to establish an Aboriginal Lands Trust, to define the powers and functions ...

''.

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 township is situated in the historic Country of the Nauo People (an Australian Indigenous community), though it is within the modern government ...

(1850),

Point McLeay Raukkan is an Australian Aboriginal community situated on the south-eastern shore of Lake Alexandrina in the locality of Narrung, southeast of the centre of South Australia's capital, Adelaide. Raukkan is "regarded as the home and heartland o ...

(Raukkan, 1850), Killalpaninna (1866) and

Koonibba Koonibba is a locality and an associated Aboriginal community in South Australia located about northwest of the state capital of Adelaide and about northwest of the municipal seat in Ceduna and north of the Eyre Highway. The settlement ...

(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 Evangelism, or witnessing, is the act of sharing the Christian gospel, the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. It is typically done with the intention of converting others to Christianity. Evangelism can take several forms, such as persona ...

. Soon after the establishment of

in 1836, settlers had begun moving into

Yorke Peninsula The Yorke Peninsula, known as Guuranda by the original inhabitants, the Narungga people, 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 ...

. 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 or Burgiyana in later 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 Wardang Island, also known as Waralti (also spelled Waraldi or Wauraltee) is a low-lying 20 km2 island in the Spencer Gulf close to the western coast of the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. It acts as a natural breakwater, protecting the f ...

. By 1878, the

was largely self-sufficient from its wool and wheat income. In 1894, families from the closed Poonindie Mission 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 may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

descent were among the 31 pupils who enrolled. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, 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 or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the highest ranking mem ...

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 Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), the oldest inhabitants of central Italy in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of sev ...

'', in order to allow

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

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 Aboriginal Australians, Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Gover ...

. 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

, provides shelter for the small fishing and recreational port.

People

Ivaritji Ivaritji ( – 25 December 1929) also spelt Iparrityi and other variations, and also known as Amelia Taylor and Amelia Savage, was an elder of the Kaurna tribe of Aboriginal Australians from the Adelaide Plains in South Australia. She was "al ...

( – 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. Kau ...

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 Alitya (Alice Dorothy) Wallara Rigney , née Richards, (27 November 1942 – 13 May 2017), also knowns as Aunty Alice, was an Australian Aboriginal scholar. She was a Kaurna elder and part of the team that revived the Kaurna language. Early lif ...

(1942 – 2017), Kaurna elder and scholar, who did much to

revive Revive or Revived may refer to: * Revival, especially bringing back to life * Revive (video gaming), resurrecting a defeated character. Music * Revive (band), a Christian rock band * ''Revive'', classical album by Elīna Garanča 2016 * ''Revive' ...

the Kaurna language, was born there. *

Tauto Sansbury Tauto Sansbury (c. 1949 – 23 September 2019) was a Narungga man from the Yorke Peninsula of South Australia. He was the recipient of the NAIDOC Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2015 NAIDOC Week celebrations. Sansbury was born and raised on an ...

(c. 1949 – 2019), Indigenous activist, was born there. *

Natasha Wanganeen Natasha Wanganeen (born 20 June 1984) is an Aboriginal Australian actress. She is known for her starring role in the 2002 feature film '' Rabbit-Proof Fence'' and numerous television roles. She made her debut as co-writer and co-producer in a 2 ...

(b. 1984),

AFI award The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industry, ...

-winning actor grew up in Point Pearce.

History

Location and facilities

People

References

Further reading