A bit more on the missionaries at the Roper River.The government of South Australia granted a lease of 320 square kilometres with a frontage of sixteen Kilometres on the Roper River and promised financial aid for a mission and in 1908 a mission was officially established. The motivation and justifications for the northern mission were the Aborigines that had been sorely oppressed.
‘We had failed to bring them the gospel, we had better do something about it: I think if the Lord Jesus came to Australia he would be moved with great compassion for those poor outcasts, lying by the wayside, robbed of their land, wounded by the lust and passion of a stronger race, and dying -yes, dying like rotten sheep with no man to care for their bodies and souls.’ There was also a sense that, ‘if we didn't occupy the north, the Asian hordes on our doorstep soon would.’
From the outset it was intended that the mission should be industrial and agricultural as well as educational and spiritual. The mission was to take advantage of Aborigines who could tolerate the climate and they were to be used for non-skilled or semi-skilled work.
‘If we were to preserve Australia for ourselves, we had to train the Aborigines to develop the north: Only by united efforts and mutual willingness to sacrifice our own interests and our own particular theories for the common good can we hope for long to preserve this continent as a whole for ourselves and our children. . .’
The South Australian government made the reverend J. Huthnance a Sub-Protector of Aborigines and from that moment on there was tensions between the missionaries'duties to their mission and their and their duties to the government. ‘You are being set apart for the special work of proclaiming the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Aborigines of Northern Australia and more particularly to those living in the vicinity of the Roper River. You are the ambassadors of Christ. We send you forth as his representatives. Teach Christ. Preach Christ.Live Christ. Glorify Christ. This is our primary instruction to you.’
‘In going to the Roper River of the Northern Territory you, my brethren, are entering upon a service of a distinctly national character. One of the most sacred obligations resting upon the people of this Commonwealth is to give the original possessors of this continent - the Aborigines - the benefits of our Christianity and civilisation. . .
You are going on behalf of the people of Australia and especially as the honoured representatives of the Church of England in Australia. . . You are going to a service of great urgency. The Aboriginals need to be properly protected, properly taught various industries and adequately cared for…’
