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The Nth cont.The Daly River Aborigines, however, proved friendly. ‘In fact they helped . . .with the work for a very meagre reward and brought fish and other foods. The region proved rocky, shattering almost immediately their dream of an agricultural paradise, but on the other hand, they were gratified to have arrived before any significant influx of other Europeans.
The Woolna people began to take an interest In St Joseph's, displacing some of the Larakla and this did not overly concern the Jesuits. The languages were similar and they even considered concentrating on the Woolna inviting all 150 of the natives to settle at St Joseph's.
These plans were thwarted when a third group entered the situation. This group is now difficult to identify, but the Jesuits called them the Alligator tribe. They probably came from further west, near what are now the Alligator Rivers. They were between 300 and 400 men, women and children with all their possessions, but a splendid race of men they were!
They seemed lively and well-fed.., and they were kind, frank and cheerful but their presence offended the Larakia and Woolna and on a later visit, the tension culminated in a battle which the 'Alligator tribe' easily won. Like most of these Aboriginal battles, the casualties were carefully controlled - in this case one dead and five wounded.
This event seems to have marked the end of St Joseph's, although a few young men were brought from the Daly River for training, the work at the mission declined. The Woolna and Larakia came much less frequently, claiming to be apprehensive of the 'Alligator tribe' returning.
Meanwhile at Uniya, the situation was near desperate. In their anxiety to copy the Paraguayan Reductions, the Jesuits were caught in a dilemma. The only part of the land suitable for farming was the river bank itself and this was subject to unpredictable and devastating floods.
Year by year they lost their crops and, lacking a balanced diet, their health declined. They caught malaria and tropical complaints of various kinds - eye infections, diarrhoea and fevers. They could not look at the light, not even at the nails they were hammering.
In their abject misery and hunger, the Aborigines sometimes brought those fish and game, but in their damp house and damp clothes and bedding through the long wet seasons, their health deteriorated further.
