SISTERS, PEARLS & MISSION GIRLS

On 4 February 2004, the Kimberley Society celebrated the completion of its first decade of existence with a screening of Sisters, Pearls & Mission Girls. Produced and directed by David Batty of Broome as a Rebel Films production, the film is billed as a moving tale of race, religion and colonisation and an epic story of Irish and Australian nuns in the Kimberley. It is all of that and, at its conclusion, the record crowd that turned out for the event burst into spontaneous applause.

Of particular interest was that Sister Pat Rhatigan, a Kimberley Society member, made a major contribution to the dialogue in the film. There was also footage of the restored bell tower at the Beagle Bay Church. The Society contributed funds to that restoration, which was overseen by another member—architect John Taylor. It was great to see the outcome.

Postscript

On Sunday 25 July 2004, Sisters, Pearls & Mission Girls premiered on the ABC Television program, Compass. It was great to see the production receive excellent promotion in the week leading up to the premiere. The Sydney Morning Herald TV Guide, in hailing it as the "Show of the Week", wrote:
Many of the stories that have emerged from this part of the world about the church and its missions over the past years have been shocking tales of abuse, exploitation and brutality. Which is just one of the reasons that David Batty's and Jeni McMahon's account of the nuns who founded Beagle Bay mission in the north of Western Australia in the early 1900's is a surprise and a relief. . . It's hard not to come away from this documentary with anything but admiration for these strong, spirited, dedicated women who made a home in the remote region and have been embraced by the community there.

MERTENS WATER MONITOR

On 3 March, 2004, Philip Mayes gave the Kimberley Society an interesting PowerPoint presentation on the topic of “Mertens Water Monitor: a field-based study of the ecology of Varanus mertensi, inhabiting the Ord River and surrounding East Kimberley”. Philip is a Marine Biologist. He completed his Honours Degree in Adelaide studying intercellular blood parasites in bobtailed skinks. He came to Perth in 2000 and went to Kununurra as a doctoral student to study Mertens Water Monitor. He is now back in Perth writing up the results of his study.
Varanus mertensi occurs across the north of Australia. It is a tropical semi aquatic animal. The adult grows to between 370 and 500 mm, not including the tail, and weighs between 1000 and 4000 gms. It is a big monitor, and it differs from land-based monitors in that its nostrils are on the top of the jaw and its tail is laterally flattened like an eel to suit its aquatic habit. It is a brilliant swimmer.
Varanus mitchellii is a related aquatic monitor. They can occur together but V. mitchellii is much smaller and darker.
The reason for studying V. mertensi is that it is close to the top of the aquatic food chain predators and can thus show what significance this has for the chain. The food chain consists of crocodiles at the top, then water pythons, V. mertensi, small vertebrates, and, finally, small invertebrates.
Phil chose the Ord River Irrigation area for the study:
1.       because, due to endemic flora and fauna, it is in the RAMSAR wetlands listings and is a refuge for many faunal spp. during dry periods;
2.       to gain an understanding of the food chains in the Ord River wetlands by looking at V. mertensi; and,
3.       because it is easy to study V. mertensi in man-made freshwater ecosystems, eg it is relatively easy to approach and noose them from the top of irrigation channels.
The Ord River Irrigation Scheme (ORIS) is based on the Ord River dam forming Lake Argyle; a large body of water. This discharges into the Diversion Weir - Lake Kununurra, to the irrigated areas and into Cambridge Gulf. Ivanhoe Plains, adjacent to Kununurra, is the largest irrigated area, and Packsaddle is a smaller area on the other side of the river.
Animals endemic to the region include the Frill-necked lizard, Bee eater, Northern blue tongue lizard, King brown snake, Terrestrial V. panoptes - racehorse goanna, Splendid green tree frog, Johnstons and Saltwater crocodiles, Rock monitor, Gilberts dragon  (Ta ta lizard), Geckoes, Red-tailed black cockatoo, Magpie geese, Large water rat, and Orb weaver spiders.
In a linear survey of 11 km of channel, 35 Mertens monitors and 45 crocodiles were counted. Being cold blooded V. mertensi basks on concrete or rocks to maintain its core body temperature. The monitors are caught, using a noose rod or by treadle operated cage traps, in order to take blood samples and examine stomach contents. To follow their movements, direction finders are used to track surgically implanted radio transmitters. Sensors are incorporated into the radio transmitters to measure core temperature by observation of heart rate, which is related to temperature. One animal was watched for 12 - 13 hours taking hourly readings to see how it regulated its temperature.
How do they fit into the food chain? What do they eat?  To answer those questions, stomach contents obtained by stomach flush and scats were examined. Scats alone were of limited use as everything is digested to such a high degree that little other than things like crab shells and reptile eggs are left.
Reproductive cycle field observations included when mating occurred, when females were gravid and when hatchlings emerged. Mating takes place in the water. Blood samples were used to check hormone levels. Museum specimens were used to examine gonad size.
Results:
1.       Spatial Movements: Between 500m to 2km in one day. Their long-term home range takes in 2 to 5 km of linear channel. When the water goes they sometimes leave and they may finish up in swimming pools.
          When the water is turned off for 3 to 6 months they retire to their burrows and become inactive. One burrow dug out was 15 cm wide and 10 cm high extending about 1 m into the bank close to the water line - 11 to 12 cm away. It had a bowl to allow turning.
          In the dry season they spend their time basking and in the wet they swim to forage coming out at 6 am and retiring to their burrows at 6 p.m. They maintain a similar body temperature throughout the year but it is naturally lower in the water.
2.       Diet: White crabs make up 70%. The rest consists of mice, frogs, spiders, fish, red claw, grasshoppers, reptile eggs and crabs. They are fussy, taking no carrion prey. Their food is taken in or near the water. They are very adept at capturing prey. They taste the air with their tongue and they have good eyesight.
3.       Reproductive cycle: Females become receptive from Dec to Feb. Mating always takes place from Dec to  Jan. So females control the cycle. Eggs are deposited from March to June and hatchlings appear 9 - 10 months later, i.e. Dec through Feb.
The preliminary conclusion is that irrigation channels provide a secure environment for the V. mertensi in spite of the negative influence of people. Channel banks are slashed to control weed growth, irrigation pumps and road traffic are hazards, and, while no ill effects were observed, the monitors do eat dying fish affected by herbicide applications.
V. mertensi was studied at other Kimberley sites such as natural water holes accessible by foot, eg Neil Pool on Parry Creek Road and Thompson’s Spring where a wall was constructed a long time ago to dam water for cattle. Field research in the Kimberley is difficult because of boggy conditions in the wet, flooding and fire.
Questions followed. How long can they hold their breath? 30 minutes if still, not so long if moving. Do they eat cane toads? Phillip thought the toads would be too large but maybe younger ones would be taken. Nests? No idea as he had never found one nor seen one being constructed. They may nest in refuge burrows. Hatchlings are taken by birds. They probably live for up to 20 years. The monitors are tagged by toe clips. There are increasing numbers in the irrigation channels.
Daphne Choules Edinger and Gilbert Marsh

PLATINUM IN THE KIMBERLEY: GEOLOGY, PROSPECTS, AND POTENTIAL MINES
On 7 April 2004, John Bunting, a consulting geologist, and John Lewins, from Platinum Australia, presented an interesting and very detailed talk to the Kimberley Society. A summary of John Bunting’s component of the illustrated talk follows.
The six platinum group elements are platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd), rhodium (Rh), iridium (Ir), ruthenium (Ru) and Osmium (Os). All are very rare, but they have physical and chemical properties such as high density, hardness, lustre, melting points and catalytic capacity that make them essential in modern living – uses such as jewellery, emission control (catalytic converters), dental products, electronics and, potentially, fuel cells. They are also very valuable – at about A$1000/oz platinum is twice the price of gold, which means it is also held as an investment. Supply is dominated by South Africa, Russia and North America, with the only WA production being a minor by-product of nickel mining. Exploration geologists are, however, optimists, and there is ongoing exploration for platinum in WA (from here on I’ll use the term “platinum” to mean the platinum group elements).
Now a few words about how platinum occurs. Platinum in the earth’s crust is normally measured in parts per billion, with economic concentrations generally about 2 to 10 parts per million (or grams per tonne) – i.e. similar to gold. Economic deposits are found mainly in layered mafic-ultramafic intrusions, which are large bodies of igneous rock, often several kilometres thick and tens to hundreds of square kilometres in area. The rocks crystallised deep in the crust from a magma that was similar to the basalt lavas that erupt from modern volcanoes. In the magma chamber the early formed minerals are rich in magnesium and iron. These settle out to form an ultramafic base, leaving a less dense magma to crystallise as gabbro (mafic) in the upper part of the chamber. Platinum is found in layers in the lower part of the intrusion, commonly associated with chromite (a chromium-iron oxide), or in nickel-copper sulphides at the base of the intrusion.
In the Kimberley region the main platinum-bearing layered intrusions are in the Halls Creek Orogen – a linear belt of igneous and metamorphic rocks, about 1800 million years old, that stretches from Kununurra to the SW of Halls Creek. Most of the platinum is associated with chromite layers. The biggest resource found so far is the Panton deposit, about 50 kilometres north of Halls Creek. As described by John Lewins in the second talk of the evening, a feasibility study by Platinum Australia Ltd initially showed that a viable mining operation was possible, but falling metal process, especially palladium, and high fuel costs have resulted in mining being delayed. Exploration by Platinum Australia and other companies has found platinum-bearing chromite layers in other intrusions, such as Big Ben, Eastman, Lamboo, Melon Patch and Mini M.
Sally Malay, about 100 kilometres north of Halls Creek, is an example of platinum as a by-product of nickel mining. Sally Malay Mining Ltd has identified a reserve of 3.4 million tonnes at 1.5% Ni, 0.64% Cu plus platinum in sulphides at the base of the intrusion. Open-pit mining started in February 2004, with the first shipment of metal concentrate and the start of underground mining planned for September 2004. Similar platinum-bearing sulphides have been found by other companies at Copernicus, Salk North and Eileen Bore.
There seems little doubt that with further successful exploration, innovative metallurgy and improved economic conditions, we will eventually see an operating platinum mine in the Kimberley region.

KINGANNA AND OTHER KIMBERLEY COASTAL SETTLEMENTS,1920–1944
On 5 May 2004, Dr Ian Crawford spoke to the Kimberley Society about a little known part of our coast. Ian is an anthropologist and archaeologist who, despite having retired some years ago, retains a professional and personal interest in the Kimberley and its people. This summary is a précis of the notes he used to present an illustrated talk that answered questions posed by fellow members who had visited or expressed curiosity about Kinganna.
The importance of Kinganna is that it was a key settlement on the northern Kimberley coast between approximately 1924 and 1944. A lot of Aboriginal people first made contact with industrial society there—some of them preferring it to the missions in the vicinity. Forrest River and Pago/Kalumburu were to the east; Kunmunya was to the west. The few other establishments in the locality included Jack Cleverley’s place in Admiralty Gulf, which Ian had been told was the setting for a slide in which Willy Reid could be seen with Helmut Petrie and Fred Merry during the Frobenius expedition of 1938.
Willy Reid was an unusual character who first turned up in Western Australia on the Presbyterian mission’s lugger W.S. Park in 1911. Described in Maisie McKenzie’s book (The Road to Mowanjum) as the lugger boy, he is said by some to have been the son of a policeman at Yeppoon. Yet, Albert Barunga, who knew him very well, was evasive when Ian once asked about Reid’s ancestry. His answer, as Ian recalled, was ‘some sort of half-caste chinaman’. Albert admired Reid and, by speaking with Maisie McKenzie and Hugh Edwards, indirectly provided Ian with some of the information for his talk. That information related mostly to the years during which Reid, who was ‘a hero of all the small boys on the Worora coast’, taught Albert, as a boy, to sail a lugger.
Christine Halse, writing in A Terribly Wild Man about the life of Ernest Gribble, the one-time Forrest River missionary, mentioned that the Church of England trained Willy (or rather Horace) Reid and James Noble, another Aboriginal man. Ian understood, without being able to prove it, that James Noble’s wife Angelina was Reid’s sister. In 1908, Reid and Noble went as missionaries from Yarrabah to Roper River. Bishop Frodsham had refused to ordain Noble, and perhaps also Reid. In the light of Halse’s information, Ian noted that Reid was more than a boy when he arrived at Kunmunya. His was the first Christian marriage celebrated at Kunmunya but he seems to have broken away from the church soon afterwards. His promiscuous nature caused his dismissal from the mission’s lugger and, while he retained a propensity to preach, his message in later life was one of free rather than Christian love.
In describing life on the northern Kimberley coast, Ian cited a book by Vic Hall who, with ex-lieutenant Darkie Deutchman and several other men, set out to grow cotton on one of the islands. They looked first at Augustus Island but shifted to Sir Graham Moore Island. After that short-lived venture failed, Deutchman and Willy Reid went beachcombing on Long Island in the Eclipse Group. Ian did not know of any Aborigines working for them but he discovered that they soon abandoned their settlement. Deutchman disappeared from the scene, and Reid, after trying sites near the Prince Regent River and Coronation Island—and perhaps elsewhere as well—established his Kinganna settlement, possibly in about 1924.
Ian has collected a number of Aboriginal accounts relating to Kinganna. Some depict an interesting place, with relatively good conditions; others describe poor conditions, hard work, and little food. There was, of course, no pay. What is clear is that it was a big settlement based around the Gambera people, in whose territory it had been established. In the mission accounts, the Gambera were depicted as trouble-makers. When they visited, fights broke out. Reid and the Benedictines were therefore not competing for the attention of the same Aborigines.
The nearest settlement was Pago, later to be transferred to Kalumburu. In describing the settlements as major contact points for Aborigines with the culture of the western world, Ian commented on their fundamental differences in philosophies:

While social divisions in Aboriginal society determined who associated with whom, another factor also existed. When Aborigines were in trouble, either with the missionaries for transgressing the mission laws, or because of things they had done against the white criminal laws, they often went to Kinganna. The place thus acquired a reputation as the most remote outstation of western culture, where most of the troublemakers could be found, or if they were further out, from which they might be found. Examples included Mogu, who killed Bob Anderson, and Charlie Pandibra, who had his wife murdered because he could not obtain a separation.
Ian had some amusing stories to tell about the differences of opinion between Reid and the mission. He also noted that, although their contact continued, the missionaries were clearly opposed to Reid and his way of life. Father Sanz told Ian one of the famous stories about Reid. It involved parties from Kinganna and the mission encountering one another on Sir Graham Moore Island as they collected goods landed for them by the State ships. A Father (unnamed) confronted Reid along the following lines:

A man named Augustin told another story about some missionaries walking all the way from Pago to learn how Willy Reid managed to grow such good paw paws, bananas, coconuts, sorghum, and even oranges. The distance meant that they had to camp one night on the way but, on arriving at Kinganna, they left before they saw the gardens. Somebody, probably Bullocky, had painted and put up over the door to Reid’s house a message that read, “There is no god”. In describing the fuss that the message created, Augustin said:

The missionaries were also incensed when Reid, in conjunction with Jack Cleverley, tried to claim Kinganna as a mission and said that he had to cope with many Aborigines who had left Pago. “Harem more like”, they recorded in their daily journal. Ian speculated that the incident might have prompted a trip involving Dr Rogers and Bob Love. Love, from Kunmunya, was impressed with the progress that Reid had made. Rogers, however, issued a summons for Reid to appear in the Derby court for employing Aborigines without a licence.
Ian’s slides, taken during one of his visits, enhanced the stories. He showed Reid’s house, the message over the door, the workshop, and a plough. Images from other places showed a smoke house that Reid had used at Vansittart Bay, and some hearths and campsites that he and others had used. Indonesian fishing parties had occupied some of those sites.
After Reid established Kinganna, other people started stations and floated ideas for schemes such as fish canning and groups settlement that would grow tobacco. The Haldane family established their settlement near the western coast off Scott Strait. It was called Lungunda. They were Bill Haldane (a returned soldier), his wife Charlotte, children Bob, Barbara, Dora, Jim and Peggy, but after Peggy’s birth, Charlotte became very ill. She died shortly after the Haldanes left, in about 1936. Aboriginal accounts depict Charlotte as a kind, likable woman and Bill Haldane as ‘a bit rough’. Their settlement was in the midst of the Wunambal people, and those with whom Ian spoke said that, had the Haldanes stayed, they would have kept working for them.
The Haldanes grew peanuts, did some beachcombing, and ran a schooner, the Colami, in which they carried adventurous tourists. Ian thinks that their passengers including the author Ernestine Hill, who later recorded the most detailed description available for the Haldane’s remote existence, and that of the Drysdales at Yampi. She also wrote a description of Marigui, probably from the same trip.
Photographs owned by the Haldane family were among those that Ian showed. Those images, added to Ian’s photographs and others taken from published works, provided rare glimpses of the people who lived at Lungunda, Kinganna, and other Kimberley coastal settlements of the 1920s, ’30s and early ’40s. The audience, as might be expected, greatly appreciated the slide show and Ian’s intriguing narrative.
Cathie Clement

RECENT FEDERAL NATIVE TITLE DECISIONS IN THE KIMBERLEY

The advertised speaker, Griff Ranson was unable to attend the Kimberley Society meeting of 2 June 2004 but Gary Simmons very ably took his place. Gary is currently General Manager of Native Title and Mining Titles in the Department of Industry and Resources. He has extensive experience in administering the Mining Act, particularly the native title aspects of mining tenements.
Under the Mining Act, the extinguishment of any native title that may exist is suspended for the length of the life of the mining tenement. When freehold title is granted under the Land Administration Act, native title is extinguished.
In the Kimberley, a high proportion of the country is covered by native title claims, a few of which overlap. Thirty-five claims have been made in the Kimberley and five of these have been determined. In the whole of WA, 136 claims have been made under the Commonwealth Act but most of those in the lower Pilbara, Goldfields and South West will more than likely fail the test of continuous Aboriginal connection with the area (Yorta Yorta decision). The present WA government prefers to negotiate claims rather than litigate them in the Federal Court.
Native title can be exclusive e.g. on vacant crown land (native title rights and interests do not extend to minerals and petroleum) or non-exclusive e.g. on a pastoral lease where Aboriginal people and pastoralists will have co-existing rights. In the Kimberley most native title determinations are exclusive, which means that non-Aboriginals cannot enter without permission. Travellers in the outback need to consult the Department of Industry and Resources, which has maps showing pastoral leases and native title areas with map co-ordinates of the boundaries. It is then necessary to approach the Aboriginal owners. In the Kimberley, 27 of the claimant groups use the Kimberley Land council to negotiate for them and it is recommended that approaches should be made through this council if one wishes to enter native lands where exclusive rights exist in the Kimberley.
There have been five native title determinations in the Kimberley region comprising three consent determinations (Tjurabalan, Karajarri and Miriuwung Gajerrong #1) and two litigated determinations (Rubibi #6 and Wanjina).
The Tjurabalan title (2001) covers 25,917 square kilometres in the Tanami Desert, south of Halls Creek and abuts the NT border in the east and Aboriginal reserve land to the south. It is an exclusive title. The Karajarri title (determined in 2002 by consent) is also exclusive (except for a mining lease) and covers 31,220 square kilometres in the west Kimberley. Most (24,725 square kilometres) is over vacant crown land south of Broome but it includes the pastoral stations Shamrock, Frazier Downs and Nita Downs. The claim over the vacant crown land has been granted but that over the pastoral stations is currently being negotiated.
The Miriuwung Gajerrong claim #1 (determined in 2003), which covers an area from just south of Kununurra to the north coast, was rejected by the Federal Court which found that native title was extinguished. That decision was overturned by the Full Court. The title gives exclusive rights over Lacrosse Island, Kangguru Island, Aboriginal reserves within the Kununurra townsite, a women’s site within the township, Glen Hill pastoral lease and Hagan Island in Lake Argyle. The Government is now negotiating with the claimants on the development of Ord Stage II.
The Miriuwung Gajerrong #2 claim covers 6,767 square kilometres in the shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley. It has not yet been registered by the National Native Title Tribunal.
The Rubibi claim #6 (determined in 2001) gives limited native title rights to the Yawaru People in Broome over the Kunin law ground in the Broome township. This is a non-exclusive native title.
The last claim so far determined is the Wanjina Wunggurr-Wilinggin, determined in December 2003.  This area, south-west of Kununurra, includes Pentecost Downs and Durack River stations. Exclusive possession native title rights exist in all areas of this claim where extinguishment has not occurred.
A further three claims are currently being actively negotiated, these are the Bardi Jawi (around Lombadina and One Arm Point) and cover 5,347 square kilometres. The State Government and Kimberley Land Council have reached agreement but the Commonwealth Government wishes to proceed to litigation. The state would prefer it to be a consent determination.
The remainder of the Karajarri claim is still being negotiated but is expected to be determined by consent very soon. The remaining part of the Rubibi claim covers 6,375 square kilometres and overlaps the town of Broome. This was not able to be resolved through mediation and is currently in trial, with a decision expected in 2005. A further 22 claims have been registered with the Native Title Tribunal.
Gary gave us a fascinating insight into the complexities of Native Title in the Kimberley and left with the Society several copies of a coloured map showing the areas claimed, pastoral stations and reserves. A number of claims include large areas of the sea but this only applies to the islands above high water mark.                 
Loisette Marsh

MODERN POLICING IN THE KIMBERLEY

On 7 July 2004, speaking on behalf of the Western Australian Police Service, Commander Murray Lampard APM delivered a PowerPoint presentation to the Kimberley Society. At a personal level, he has served as a detective for most of his career – a period of almost 30 years. As a regional commander, he has responsibility for the huge North - Eastern Police Region, which includes the Kimberley, the Pilbara, the Mid West Gascoyne, and the Goldfields Esperance Districts. Almost 42,000 of the 210,049 residents in the North - Eastern Police Region live in the Kimberley District. Superintendent Steve Robbins is the senior officer for the Kimberley. Superintendent Alan Gronow APM, who preceded Steve Robbins, is now the senior officer for the Mid West Gascoyne.
To provide some context, Commander Lampard spoke about the challenges presented by the diversity of policing. Most people are aware that crime is increasing but not everyone realises that the police have a lead agency role in emergency management. In tropical cyclones, for example, police work with volunteers and local government to evacuate people and maintain control. Commander Lampard tracks cyclones as part of his job so that the police can be ready to deal with any impact on a community or a town. Other joint exercises include police working with CALM officers to remove or kill rogue crocodiles and to search for the bodies of people taken by those reptiles. In April 2003, the police, acting on a CALM order, shot a four-metre crocodile on Cable Beach.
Other aspects of policing for which Commander Lampard holds responsibility include the provision of services relevant to terrorism, coastal activities, indigenous communities, and the safeguarding of tourism. As a trained anti-terrorism commander, he works with other agencies and emergency services to provide training, awareness, and risk assessment relevant to terrorism incidents. Those activities included monitoring the risk of terrorists attacking the cruise ships that visited Broome after the Bali bombing.
Coastline and state security involves police officers putting measures in place to prevent the interruption of shipping associated with the exploitation of natural resources. The police also work with Coastwatch in the management of illegal entry. With regard to that activity, members will recall that John Rogers spoke to Kimberley Society in June 2003 about Coastwatch activities of the 1980s. Since then, and particularly in the wake of the bombings that have occurred in Asia, security in northern Australia has been a matter of much greater concern.
The large budget available for remote area policing provides a six-seater Cessna Navaho aircraft to assist with delivery of police services to nine localities in the top half of the state. Those localities are Balgo, Bidyadanga (Lagrange), the Dampier Peninsula, Kalumburu, Warmun (Turkey Creek), Warakuna, Kintour, Warburton, and Jigalong.
The way that the police deal with cultural issues that include traditional lore and tribal punishments in indigenous communities has changed. When it is taken into account that the Kimberley has some 122 indigenous communities, and that 30,469 of the people within the North - Eastern Police Region are indigenous, it is not surprising that all officers who serve in remote localities receive cultural awareness training. They receive generous financial packages for working in those localities but they are on call seven days a week. Members will recall that Inspector Martin Cope provided a personal view of remote policing in northern WA in August 2003 and that, whilst he obviously enjoyed that work, he showed that it can be very demanding.
A lot of effort goes into building rapport with children in remote communities and, in the towns, police work with indigenous people to manage alcohol abuse. The provision of sobering up shelters plays a large part in that process. Commander Lampard commented on the excellent job done by Police Aides and Wardens and he noted that, on a recent visit to the north, the Minister for Police, Michelle Roberts, presented Malcolm Dann with an award that recognised his long term service (12 years) as a Warden to Beagle Bay.
In safeguarding tourism, the police face pressure from the increasing number of visitors who arrive from cold climates to experience the outback. Not all are prepared for the intensity of the heat and, as a result, some need to be rescued. Australian tourists who lack tropical experience also strike problems.
In the Wet season, the police need to monitor situations where floods wash away sections of roads or bridges. On the Gibb River Road, only six hours of rain can fill a creek bed with water and wash out the road. Stranded tourists might then need to be rescued or supplied with food and water. At other times, people come to grief trying to cross fast-flowing rivers. In January 2003, after a vehicle washed off a crossing into the Elvire River, police officers worked with the Shire of Halls Creek, community members, and the Fire & Emergency Services Authority to rescue nine people. Hire vehicles are prominent in such incidents, and in others in which the tide stands vehicles that have been taken onto beaches or mudflats. Lake Argyle is big enough to require the occasional search and rescue operation, and other rescues take place in remote localities that include Wolfe Creek Crater.
Another area of work that taxes the police is the massive escalation of crime associated with drug use and substance abuse. The police use a harm minimisation approach in dealing with both drug users and people affected by substance abuse.  In particular, they try to protect women and children against a range of abuses.
The evening’s talk was mostly serious but Commander Lampard managed to slip in a few light-hearted anecdotes. He finished by remarking that modern policing in the Kimberley is “not all work and no play”. There is a lot to be said for working in a place where a person can drop a line in the water and come up with a marvellous Red Emperor or Barramundi.
Cathie Clement

Editor’s note: Since presenting his talk, Mr Lampard has been promoted to Assistant Commissioner and the old North - Eastern Region has been merged into a new super portfolio of Regional Western Australia. Only the immediate metropolitan area remains outside the new super portfolio.

WILLIAM DAMPIER IN NEW HOLLAND, 1688 AND 1699

At the Kimberley Society meeting of 4 August 2004, Alex George spoke about William Dampier collecting natural history specimens. Alex is a well-known West Australian botanist and author who started work in the WA Herbarium in 1959 under the equally famous Charles A Gardner, Government Botanist at the time. In 1968, Alex travelled to Kew in the UK and examined in detail all of Dampier’s 25 remaining Western Australian plant specimens. On his return, he wrote a paper on this subject and it was published in the WA Naturalists Club Journal in 1971.
In 1998, Alex and Dr. Phil Playford took berths on STS Leeuwin from Carnarvon and landed on Dirk Hartog Island, retracing one of Dampier’s voyages. Because it was close to the 300th anniversary of Dampier’s second visit to Western Australia, Alex got the idea of writing a book about him, not only of the plants collected, but the fauna and all aspects of natural history that he described and illustrated in his account of the long and arduous voyage. Alex completed the book, which was well received. Of course he wasn’t the first to write about this fascinating man. Lesley Marchant was among those who had already completed accounts.
To get back to Dampier’s story: He was born in 1651 at East Coker, a village in SW England. He had a good schooling but both his parents were dead by the time he was 12 years old. He went to sea as an apprentice in 1669. He then joined the Royal Navy in about 1672 or 1673 and was in a battle against the Dutch.  He left the Navy and in 1674 was in Jamaica on a sugar plantation, then in the timber trade, and occasionally privateering. A privateer attacks enemy ships only. A buccaneer attacks any ship of any nationality so, strictly speaking, Dampier was not a buccaneer as in the Buccaneer Archipelago (in the Kimberley), which is named after him.
He returned to England in 1678 and married a woman named Judith, of whom we hear nothing further. He travelled back to the West Indies in 1679 and continued privateering, then to Virginia (USA) in 1682, and the next year to Africa and the west coast of South America. In 1686 he crossed the Pacific to Guam, sailing from Mexico to Guam in 51 days, then cruised among the islands and visited Thailand and China.
Late in 1687, he and others sailed south and made landfall on the west coast of what is now the Dampier Peninsula on 14 January 1688, probably anchoring off Salural Island. They landed on several others before beaching their boat, the Cygnet, in Karrakatta Bay, after rounding Swan Point and sailing into King Sound.
Dampier was not the first Englishman to land on Australian soil even though he beat James Cook by 81 years, a fact that is not often appreciated, especially by some Eastern Staters. In 1622, the British ship the Tryal was wrecked on the rocks now named after the ship (off the north-west coast) and some of her crew survived and landed on the rocks and were later rescued.
It is not known what rank Dampier held in January 1688. Most scholars think he was probably the navigator on the Cygnet, whose captain was John Reed. Dampier did not collect plant specimens in that time, but he mentioned dingo tracks and the Dragon’s Blood tree which, from his description of it, sounds like a red gum or bloodwood, now Eucalyptus or Corymbia dampieri. The gum was useful for caulking a boat’s timbers. The Cygnet left New Holland in mid-February or March 1688 and pulled into the Nicobar Islands where Dampier, being sick of the crew, left the ship. He reached England towards the end of September 1691 and wrote an account of his travels including a discourse on winds etc. It was very popular. People wanted to know about these journeys into the unknown.
Dampier persuaded the British Government to give him a ship for further exploration of New Holland and this was the Roebuck, not HMS because that didn’t come till 100 years later. We have no picture of the Roebuck but we know that she was a 6th rate ship of the Royal Navy. Dampier departed England on 24 January 1699 and was meticulous in keeping his diary. He travelled via Brazil, collected plants there, and kept observations all through the voyage. For instance, they observed a Cape Petrel off the Cape of Good Hope and it followed them all the way to New Holland, which they sighted just north of the Houtman Abrolhos. They sailed up past the Zuytdorp Cliffs, to Shark Bay, named after the many sharks seen there. They also landed on Dirk Hartog Island and anchored at Dampier Landing, 5 km south of Cape Inscription in a calm bay. He recorded a plant like English samphire, Nitraria, which he didn’t collect. He tended to throw away bits that didn’t press well. He went ashore looking for water and was enthralled by the island so it must have been a good season. They collected firewood from the native Pittosporum, and plants such as: Beaufortia dampieri, Triodia (Spinifex), a Brachyscome (daisy), Calandrinia (parakeelya), Acacia rostellifera,  and Dampiera incana which is common on the island and which was named by Robert Brown in 1810. Dampier pressed his specimens in a book and they suffered no mould, surprisingly.
Dampier was intrigued by the fauna, especially the Bobtail Lizard, which he described in detail and wrote that it appeared to have a head at each end. He also mentioned the Banded Hair Wallaby, the red necked avocet, tiger sharks, rays, cuttlefish, squid, sea weeds and sea snakes. He stayed here from 16 to 24 August, rounded the North West Cape and onto the Dampier Archipelago to spend one day on East Lewis Island where he collected the aromatic daisy Olearia axillaris. Here he also collected the now famous Sturt Desert Pea, Willdampia formosa. Alex visited East Lewis Island especially to see this pea.
Dampier then sailed north east to Lagrange Bay where he saw a partial eclipse of the moon. It was very rocky at low tide but he went up Mangrove Creek. He collected many shells etc but only his plants survived. Of that, more later. He saw termitaria or termite mounds for the first time and called them Hottentot Huts or rocks, not knowing what they were. The bush flies were very bad. On 15 September, he departed for Timor and New Guinea, then turned for home. By the time they got to Ascension Island, in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, the ship was leaking badly and finally sank. Dampier, who managed to save his plants, was picked up and returned to England in 1701, where he wrote a “Voyage to New Holland” which was published in 1703.  Later, he did two more voyages around the world, making it three in all. He was also reputed to have rescued Alexander Selkirk alias Robinson Crusoe.
Dampier’s collection of 25 plants went to John Woodward who divided them between John Ray and Leonard Plukenet. A Ptilotus was illustrated, also Acanthocarpus  preissii. He probably had Woodward’s guide book for collecting specimens on board and kept his own journals in lengths of bamboo. Dampier was very observant of people, customs, landscapes, natural history, weather and tides, and he compared plants and animals with those seen elsewhere.
Of course there are memorials to Dampier, especially in and around Broome, eg at Bedford Park. He didn’t go to all of the places that are named in his honour, eg Roebuck Bay and Cygnet Bay. He was not a good captain and was court martialled twice. He eventually died in London in March 1715, aged 64. The latest book about him is called A Pirate of Exquisite Mind by Diana and Mike Preston. There’s that pirate again!
Daphne Choules Edinger

Further reading
Alex S. George, William Dampier in New Holland: Australia's First Natural Historian, Bloomings Books, Hawthorn (Vic), 1999.

CEREMONY IN KIMBERLEY ROCK ART

On 1 September 2004, Dr David M Welch, who was visiting Perth, treated the Kimberley Society to a lively discussion about rock art. At the time, he was on a trip from Darwin, where he practises as a GP. David has studied Australian rock art for 25 years, and has published widely on the subject. He has also worked with Grahame L Walsh.
David first introduced us to the mythical figures acknowledged by present day Aboriginal people: the Wandjina figures of the Kimberley, ancestral beings involved in law-making, and other large deities such as the Lightning Men—the rainmakers. Much earlier were the so-called Bradshaw figures, described by David as “Tasselled Figures” and “Bent Knee Figures”, which the Aborigines recognise as part of the rock rather than being made by humans. These are beautifully elegant figures that strongly suggest human movement. One such figure has been dated as being at least 17,000 years old, by thermoluminescence from a mud wasp nest over it.
Then David went on to talk about various rock art features which occur as a result of ceremony or ritual. Amongst these were hand stencils, which imply “belonging”, cupules or hollows in rock walls, abraded grooves used in rainmaking rituals, deliberate defacing of earlier art, sacred thin slabs of rock sandwiched in crevices in caves, sacred rounded stones thought to be “eggs” or “kidney fat” of Ancestral beings, and, finally, stone pathways and piles of rock associated with initiation ceremonies.
David went on to illustrate with slides many of features that occur repeatedly in photographs of ceremonies and in the depiction of humans in all periods of the rock art. These features include body decoration, hand held items, and ceremonial or dancing positions. In the art, they appear in the “Tasselled Figures”, “Bent Knee Figures”, and long thin “Straight Part Figures”.
Common body decorations include elaborate headdresses. The long conical headdresses are common to all periods, and David showed one in a 1932 photograph. They were made into a cone shape with bark wrapped around with human hair and coloured with ochre. There were also cylindrical or bucket-shaped headdresses, often with extensions such as branches, and arc shaped and circular headdresses such as those shown on the Wandjinas and earlier figures. Still others were circular ones shown above the head. Decorations include upper armbands holding tassels, strings, feathers or plant protrusions such as leaves. Hanging from the neck may be string necklaces, ceremonial bags common in Arnhemland, and occasionally animal claws. Waist belts with feather tassels, bunches of emu feathers, or skirts of such things as bandicoot tails or branches are often featured. Body paint and feather body decoration are often seen on “Straight Part Figures” but rarely seen on “Bent Knee Figures” or “Tasselled Figures”. Large forearm bracelets are specific to “Bent Knee Figures”, which don't exhibit tassels. Ankle decorations are rare. Feathers are stuck on with blood or, more often now, with flour and water. Some worn items make use of native bees’ wax as a fixative.
Hand held ceremonial items include lengths of string, ceremonial bags, “wands” i.e. ceremonial or dancing sticks, bunches of leaves or small branches, emu feather fans and effigies—models representing totems or specific combinations of weaponry. Specific weaponry combinations are one or more boomerangs in each hand, a boomerang and a spearthrower, a boomerang and a club or stick and one spearthrower but no spears. Items are sometimes held in unusual ways, e.g. a spearthrower held at the wrong end. In fighting scenes a club is used with a shield, and in hunting scenes a spear is fitted into a spearthrower. Spearthrowers possibly came into use about 11,000 years ago; they don't appear in earlier art.
Ceremonial scenes may include a song man with clap sticks, clap boomerangs or a didgeridoo; the latter being rare in Kimberley art. Weapons may be shown lain on the ground. Figures with bent knees may be shown in side or frontal view, arms may be held in front of the body with elbows bent and pointing down, or both arms may be raised above the head possibly holding weapons. Alternately, one arm may be raised and the other on the hip (as in dancing a jig), or they may be shown with arms outstretched sideways. Sometimes two people are depicted facing each other with arms raised, and sometimes several figures are shown with synchronised, choreographed alignment. Ceremonial dancing poses are recognisable.
On the whole, by comparing the rock art images with archival photographs of Aboriginal people and their ceremonies, David provided an interesting new perspective on this fascinating topic.
Daphne Choules Edinger and Gilbert Marsh
Further reading (published articles written by David Welch):
‘The early rock art of the Kimberley, Australia: developing a chronology’ in Time and Space: dating and spatial considerations in rock art research: papers of Symposia F and E, Second AURA Congress, Cairns 1992, edited by Jack Steinbring, et al., Archaeological Publications, Melbourne, 1993,  pp. 13–21.
‘Early naturalistic human figures in the Kimberley, Australia’, Rock Art Research, Vol. 10, No. 1, May 1993, pp. 24–38.
‘Beeswax rock art in the Kimberley, Western Australia’, Rock Art Research, Vol. 12, No. 1, May 1995, pp. 23–9.
‘Material culture in Kimberley rock art, Australia’, Rock Art Research, Vol. 13, No. 2, Nov. 1996, pp. 104–23.
 ‘Fight or dance? Ceremony and the spearthrower in Northern Australian rock art’, Rock Art Research, Vol.14, No. 2, Nov. 1997, pp. 88–112.

ENERGY SOURCES OF THE MUDFLATS OF ROEBUCK BAY AND THE EIGHTY MILE BEACH
At the Kimberley Society meeting of 6 October 2004, the audience heard from Dr Andrew Storey, an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the School of Animal Biology at the University of Western Australia. His illustrated talk, which described the connections between the food and foraging birds on the mudflats to the south of Broome, revealed the intricate web of interactions that occur in that environment. Dr Storey’s summary of the talk is presented below, with a list of material for further reading.
Roebuck Bay is one of approximately 20 locations worldwide characterised by extensive soft bottom intertidal mudflats supporting large numbers of migratory shorebirds. It is the foremost internationally important site for shorebirds in the Asia-Pacific flyway system, providing a key migratory stopover in spring and autumn, and is home for up to 150,000 birds in the non-breeding season. The ability of the bay to support large numbers of shorebirds, and to facilitate their annual migration, appears to relate to the particularly abundant and diverse food source residing in the mudflats.
Surveys of the mudflats have revealed a preliminary total in excess of 200 species of benthic invertebrates, indicative of a very rich food source for resident and migratory shorebirds. However, current knowledge of the benthic fauna is largely descriptive. An understanding of the food web of the mudflats, especially the main energy (viz. carbon) sources supporting the benthic invertebrate fauna will assist in the sustainable management of this system.
A preliminary study of the food web of the benthic fauna, using stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen, has identified the main carbon sources assimilated by the invertebrate fauna to be mangroves and their detritus, near-shore planktonic algae and mud-dwelling unicellular micro-algae (diatoms). Of these sources, planktonic algae appear to act as the dominant carbon source assimilated by benthic invertebrates. Species with known feeding modes were used to track the carbon signatures of the different sources through the food web. Suspension feeders (i.e. barnacles, sponges, fan worm, and bivalves) reflected the carbon signature of planktonic algae (-10 to -18 del13C). Deposit feeders (i.e. crabs, mud skippers, bivalves, isopods, and sea cucumbers) showed a greater contribution from mud-dwelling unicellular algae (-5 to -10 del13C). And species known to consume mangrove leaves (i.e. mangrove snails) reflected the carbon signature of mangroves (-24 to -28 del13C).
Analyses also showed that the phytoplankton and filamentous algal sources from the bay had an elevated del15N signature (approx 6 del15N), which is usually indicative of nutrient enrichment. The source of this enrichment is unknown but could relate to naturally-enriched tropical waters, direct or diffuse nutrient inputs from the township of Broome, or enrichment from other sources such as pearl fisheries in the bay.
This initial study suggests that near-coastal plankton play an important role in supporting the benthic invertebrate fauna of the mudflats, although mud-dwelling unicellular algae and mangroves also play a role in providing energy. The primary sources supporting the food web need to be protected to ensure the sustainable management of this important ecosystem. Future work on food webs will determine carbon signatures of a greater range of benthic invertebrates of dietary importance to shorebirds, and will attempt to link these carbon sources through to the shorebirds. It is also intended to examine seasonal changes in sources and their utilisation.
Further reading (on energy sources on mudflats):
Boon, P I and Bunn, S E (1994). ‘Variations in the stable-isotope composition of aquatic plants and their implication for food-web analysis’. Aquatic Botany, 48, pp. 99–108.
Boon, P I, Bird, F L and Bunn, S E (1997). ‘Diet of intertidal callianassid shrimps Biffarius arenosus and Trypea australiensis (Decapoda: Thalassinidae) in Western Port (southern Australia), determined with multiple stable isotope analyses’. Marine & Freshwater Research, 48(6), pp. 503–11.
France, R L (1996). ‘Carbon-13 conundrums: limitations and cautions in the use of stable isotope analysis in stream ecotonal research’. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 53, pp. 1916–19.
Lajtha, K and Michener, R H. (1994). Stable isotopes in ecology and environmental science. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, U.K.
Loneragan, N R, Bunn, S E, and Kellaway, D M (1997). ‘Are mangroves and seagrasses sources of organic carbon for penaeid prawns in a tropical Australian estuary? A multiple stable isotope study’. Marine Biology, 130(2), pp. 289–300.
Newell, R I E, Marshall, N, Sasekumar, A and Chong, V C (1995). ‘Relative importance of benthic microalgae, phytoplankton and mangroves as sources of nutrition for penaeid prawns and other coastal invertebrates from Malaysia’. Marine Biology, 123, pp. 595–606.
Pepping, M, Piersma, T, Pearson, G & Lavaleye, M (1999). ‘Intertidal sediments and benthic animals of Roebuck Bay, Western Australia’. NIOZ Report, 1999-3, 212 pages.
Peterson, B J and Fry, B (1987). ‘Stable isotopes in ecosystem studies’. Ann. rev. Ecol. Syst., 18, pp. 293–320.
Piersma, T, Lavaleye, M, & Pearson, G (2000). Preliminary Research Report: Anna Plains Benthic Invertebrate and Bird Mapping 1999 (ANNABIM-99). Unpublished report.
Piersma, T et al (2002). Preliminary Research Report: Southern Roebuck Bay Invertebrate and Bord Mapping 2002 (SROEBIM-02). Unpublished Report.
Primavera, J H (1996). ‘Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of penaeid juveniles and primary producers in a riverines mangrove in Guimaras, Philippines’. Bulletin of Marine Science, 58, pp. 675–83.
Rodelli, M R et al (1984). ‘Stable isotope ratio as a tracer of mangrove carbon in Malaysian ecosystems’. Oecologia, 61, pp. 326–33.
Rounick, J S and Winterbourn, M J (1986). ‘Stable carbon isotopes and carbon flow in ecosystems’.  BioScience, 36, pp. 171–7.

REASSESSING THE MISSIONS: BALGO – ITS HISTORY AND CONTRIBUTION
On 3 November 2004, Mark Nevill presented an illustrated talk that covered some of the social history of Balgo. In his varied career—after living in Wyndham and Derby as a teenager in the early 1960s—Mark commenced professional life as a government teacher at Balgo. He later became a geologist before being elected MLC for the Mining and Pastoral Region; a position he held for 18 years.  He is in a unique position of having seen Balgo both in the Mission days and subsequently, having visited regularly since teaching there.
First, Mark told us about the history of Balgo Mission. In 1928, the Pallotines, represented by Father Droste (who built the famous Beagle Bay Church) and Fr Raible, took over the Kimberley Vicariate from the Trappists who had established Beagle Bay and Lombadina.
The Pallotines—the Society of Catholic Apostolate, was founded by Italian priest Vincent Palloti and the German Branch subsequently blossomed under Bismark and operated in the Cameroon before being displaced by the French.  Fathers Droste and Raible came from the Cameroon.  The last German Pallotine in the Kimberley—Father Lorenz—has just retired some 75 years after their arrival.
Fr Raible travelled the Kimberley by horseback and camel and became concerned at the plight of the Aborigines, particularly in the East Kimberley. Leprosy and yaws were widespread. A Royal Commission into Aborigines in 1933 drew attention to the problem of leprosy.
In 1934, because the Pallotines were looking for a mission base to establish contact with the Aborigines in the inland, they bought Rockhole Station for £1400. It was situated about 20 miles (32km) south-west of (old) Halls Creek and ran about 1000 sheep.
In September 1934, the selected staff set about founding the Mission and soon a shed and a mud brick room were built, a windmill installed, and 1154 sheep shorn.  Father Ernest Worms, the missionary and ethnologist, made a wonderful contribution studying the local Djaru Tribe.
Father Raible applied to the Health Department to set up a hospital and leprosarium at the Mission but there were government objections to the movement of Aboriginal lay helpers from Beagle Bay to Rockhole.  Father Raible went back to Germany to be consecrated a Bishop. On his return to the Kimberley he brought out Dr Betz and his wife (also a doctor), in a final attempt to help convince the Government to agree to his plan.  However the scheme was dealt a final blow when a medical clinic was set up at Moola Bulla Station in 1935.
In 1936 Father Herold took over the running of the Mission but it only survived until 1939, not being in a position to properly look after the Aborigines. During the period 1937-39, Bishop Raible and Father Worms made three expeditions into the country south of Halls Creek looking for a new Mission site.  They found good country but it was inaccessible by car or truck and devoid of timber for building and firewood.
Dick Smith (a mixed-blood drover and lay helper) found a promising spot 80kms south of (old) Billiluna Station and 30km south-east of Lake Gregory at a place called Djaluwon.  In 1939 it was decided to sell Rockhole and drove the stock to the new site, using camels and donkeys to transport possessions. (Ernie Bridge’s father bought Rockhole).  The Pallotines were treated hospitably by the owners of Ruby Plains and Billiluna Stations on their way and were permitted to stay at Comet Bore on Billiluna using it as a base until either the creek at Djaluwon filled or until a windmill was erected there.  They reached Djaluwon in September 1939 where 60 Aborigines awaited them.  Water was the main problem but in December they struck water at 70 feet.  They erected a bush shelter to live in.  The heat, over 40°C on most days, was overpowering. It ruined the vegetable garden and affected the donkeys so much that moving equipment from Comet Bore was slowed to a trickle.  The second Balgo lasted only 6 months.  No rain fell. There was no wind so water had to be pumped, the debilitating heat continued and the lambs perished.  Showers of rain were followed, as was the Aboriginal custom, taking the livestock with them.
Father Alphonse and helpers made many excursions into the interior sinking bores and wells to look for water, which they found at two places in 1940 (Darbi and Bishop’s Well).  Darbi became the new Mission site when Bishop Raible decided it was suitable for stock and mission work.  However, water, feed and communications were poor.
Conditions at Djaluwon worsened and they were forced to retreat to Comet Bore where they were met with hostility by the new manager, war having been declared on Germany in September 1939 and anti-German feelings were rife.  In 1941 the police came from Halls Creek and confiscated their guns and ammunition, but they were not interned as were the religious at Beagle Bay and Lombadina.
The stock had been moved back to Darbi late in 1940 following rain.  No major catastrophes occurred in the next few (war) years and they lived an isolated life, tending to their stock and to Aborigines without any communication, as the pedal radio didn’t work.  They continued drilling for water and had success near Balgo and Bishop Raible decided Balgo Hills would be the new site for the mission homestead.
In 1942 work commenced there, at what is now known as Old Balgo. Fifty Aborigines were there and by 1943 the timber work for the Mission was completed using bloodwood and river gum.  The preferred timber was the desert oak from Billiluna but they were driven off by the new manager.  Ant-bed bricks were made for the homestead and chapel.  The camp at Darbi was abandoned.
The first years at Balgo were tempestuous with drought, sandstorms and floods with resulting stock losses and a plague of flies.  However the Mission was consolidated over the next few years. Buildings were completed, a vegetable garden established, a well sunk, horse and wool sales made, and an aerodrome site selected.  In 1947 monthly visits by the flying doctor commenced.  There were now 150 Aborigines at the Mission.  They didn’t want houses because they couldn’t see the stars.  In 1956 two St John of God sisters arrived, beginning a tradition that continues today.
In 1958 Father McGuire replaced the Germans and he immediately set about rebuilding the Mission in steel.  Accommodation and a new school were planned, but the Native Welfare Department grant was withdrawn when it was found the Mission was just inside the Billiluna pastoral lease boundary. Although Margaret Doman, the new owner of Billiluna offered to cede the land, Father McGuire decided to seek a new site for the Mission.
In the meantime the Mission prospered.  There were 87 children under the age of 13 years, and the first Government teacher came to the school in 1961. Another came the following year. Horses and chickens were sold, a pig industry commenced, they had their own grader, and roads were graded to all bores. The Lotteries Commission donated a water boring plant, and abundant water was found at what would become the site of the new Mission.  By 1964 the population had grown to 200 people.
The new Mission was completed in 1965, built of local Permian sandstone, timber and steel.  It had an administration centre, hospital, school, monastery, teacher’s house, kindergarten, church, convent, laundry, men’s accommodation, dormitories, bakery with a brick oven (100 loaves/day), dining room, slaughter house, store, workshop and a head stockman’s house.  The Mission was largely self-supporting with extensive vegetable gardens, a cattle industry with over 1000 head, a thriving horse industry together with goats, donkeys, sheep, pigs and fowls.  They had machinery for road and dam building, trucks and water boring equipment.
By the late 1960s the Aboriginal population numbered 300.  The children sent to the school lived in dormitories.  In 1967 there were 35 in Mark’s first class, Grades 2 and 3, all born in the desert.  There was no power during the day to operate the fans in the summer.
In Mark’s view the work of the Pallotines and the St John of God sisters in the Kimberley is an heroic chapter in our State and national history.  Mark sees the strength of Balgo then, compared with now, as being:

• Better policing, no alcohol,
• Better education, no truancy,
• Better health,
• Better diet, supplemented with much bush tucker,
• Organized work and the learning of skills. The policy was no work, no tucker!
• Industry developed, horses, cattle, etc.,
• There was a role for men,
• The Aborigines were free to move around, and,
• Minimal impact on Aboriginal culture—they were free to practice their customs outside the immediate Mission area.

Negative change in Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley is often attributed to the introduction of the equal wage. Yet, while pastoralists were concerned about the possibility of higher wages, little displacement occurred as a result. The other factors that Mark identified as causing an exodus from the stations were:

• Access to child endowment and unemployment benefits, or ‘sit-down money’ as it was called,
• Rising costs due to the first oil price hike, and,
• Changes in the pastoral industry, which displaced the need for labour.  Changes such as mechanisation - mustering planes, motorbikes, portable pumps, better fencing, steel cattle yards, etc

The result is that many Aboriginal people lost the structure they had in their everyday lives, a structure that was there in the traditional lifestyle in the desert, on the missions and on the stations. The increased disposable income gave them increased access to alcohol and nutritionally poor food.
Daphne Choules Edinger & Gilbert Marsh.
Further reading:
Byrne, Francis. A Hard Road: Brother Frank Nissl, 1888–1980: A Life of Service to the Aborigines of the Kimberleys. Tara Publishing House, Nedlands, 1989.

RIVERS, RAVINES, ROCK ART AND WATERFALLS: ADVENTUROUS WALKS IN THE NORTHERN KIMBERLEY
On 1 December 2004, Roger Passmore, Victoria Jackson and Jeff Gresham presented talks about their bushwalking experiences in the Kimberley. No summaries were made of the illustrated talks but a summary of a later presentation by Victoria Jackson is available on the Web site under the date 1 June 2005.