Established in 1868, Point Pearce Mission was set up as a farming station where the residents worked in many capacities; shearing, shepherding, farming, building, blacksmithing, fencing and in domestic service.

By the end of the 1910s many of the Mission residents had grown up on the Mission and considered it their home. However, there was frustration that despite all of their toil, they were not able to claim any of the land for their own, and work for themselves.

There was a feeling of particular injustice, that white 'sharefarmers' were able to come and work the land, and take a part of the profit - but a similar entitlement was not available to Aboriginal people.

These sentiments were expressed in the submissions to the Royal Commission on the Aborigines, 1913. The Commission was established "to inquire into and report upon the control, organisation, and management of the institutions in this State set aside for the benefit of the aborigines..."

This extract contains evidence given by residents of Point Pearce; Tom Adams snr, William Adams, Joe Edwards, Alfred Hughes and Walter Stansbury.

The recommendation of the Commission was that Missions should be placed under Government control, and in 1915, the Mission was taken over by the State Government and became known as the Point Pearce Aboriginal Station.

Point Pearce residents continued to fight for their rights to benefit from their labours, but only after World War II were Aboriginal farmers able to reap any such reward - even then only earning one in ten bags produced by the white farmers they worked along side of.

The Aboriginal people of Point Pearce were finally 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.

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

Attwood, Bain and Markus, Andrew. The struggle for Aboriginal rights : a documentary history, St Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, 1999

Cabbages and kings: selected essays in history and Australian studiesv. 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.

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.

South Australia. Royal Commission on the Aborigines.Progress report of the Royal Commission on the Aborigines : together with minutes of proceedings, evidence, and appendices,Adelaide: Govt. Printer, 1913

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.

District Council of Yorke Peninsula. Indigenous History