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'Shooting Tommy'
Title : 'Shooting Tommy' 'Shooting Tommy'
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Date of creation : ca. 1880
Format : Photograph
Dimensions : 94 x 133 mm
Contributor : State Library of South Australia
Catalogue record
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Description :

'Shooting Tommy' a resident of Point Pearce Mission.


In 1868 about six hundred acres, 35 miles south of Wallaroo, was given over for the establishment of the Yorke's Peninsula Aboriginal Mission, later called Point Pearce.

About 70 Narungga came to live at the Mission. However, the conditions were hard, and illness was rife which led to a number of deaths in 1872.  By 1874, the population of the mission had dropped to 28.

Not understanding the significance of traversing their own country, Moravian missionary Pastor Kuhn was concerned by the 'wandering' ways of the residents and tried to keep them on the Mission with the economic incentive of paid employment. "it was disheartening to find the Mission being constantly scattered by seemingly aimless migration, which was considered evidence of base ingratitude and selfishness on the part of the Aborigines." from 'Yorke's Peninsula Aboriginal Mission Incorporated : a brief record of its history and operations'.

Those Narungga who had resisted living on the Mission were reluctant to pass on their cultural knowledge and language to Mission residents. In 1894 the Mission was thrown into chaos when the former residents of the closed Poonindie Mission were shifted to Point Pearce. This introduction of people of different cultural backgrounds, some who had been living long under colonial influences, compounded the loss of the Narungga's own cultural identity.

Despite this, the Narrunga people of the Yorke Peninsula continue to revive and revere their language and culture.

The Aboriginal people of Point Pearce were given control of the land in 1972, when 5,777 hectares was transferred to the ownership of the Point Pearce Community Council under the Aboriginal Lands Trust Act.
Subjects
Related names :

Shooting Tommy

Coverage year : 1880
Region : Yorke Peninsula
Further reading :

Archibald, T. S. Yorke's Peninsula Aboriginal Mission Incorporated: a brief record of its history and operations. Adelaide: Hussey & Gillingham, 1915.

Cabbages and kings: selected essays in history and Australian studies v. 20, 1992, pp. 25-35. Paula Richardson. 'History of the Point Pearce Mission Station, South Australia'.

Graham, Doris. As we've known it: 1911 to the present. Underdale, SA: Aboriginal Studies and Teacher Education Centre, South Australian College of Advanced Education, 1987.

Hill, D. L and S. L. Notes on the Narangga tribe of Yorke Peninsula, Port Lincoln, S.A. : D.L. & S.J. Hill, 1975

Kartinyeri, Doreen. Narungga nation. Point Pearce, SA: Doreen Kartinyeri, 2002.

Point Pearce: past and present. Underdale, SA: Aboriginal Studies and Teacher Education Centre, South Australian College of Advanced Education, 1987.

Yorke's Peninsula Aboriginal Mission Incorporated. Brief review of the operations of the ... Mission for the first five years (with report for 1870/1-1871/2). Kadina, SA: The Mission, 1872.

Internet links :
District Council of Yorke Peninsula. Indigenous History

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