Views from Western Australia

In 1829 Frederick Irwin came to the Swan River Colony as military commander; five years later he and George Moore went to Ireland and England and established the Western Australian Missionary Society (the Bush Church Aid traces its roots back to this Society being founded and the Intercontinental Church Society also sees it as important part of its history of establishment).

The Western Australian Missionary Society subsequently purchased an 866-acre site that stretched from the Swan River right up into the hills; the 69-acre “Swanleigh” property is what remains of that land.

The Society sent an Italian, Dr Luis Giustiniani, as its first missionary; he arrived at the Swan Parish in 1836. He built two houses - his home and an Aboriginal mission - and after advocating for Aboriginal people Giustiniani left the colony amid controversy in 1838.

Revd William Mitchell followed, he arrived with his family and a governess named Anne Breeze in 1838. Within a month Mitchell established a mission school on the Swan site for settlers’ children and Aboriginal children with Breeze assisting.

A second Anglican school was established at Fremantle by George King in 1841, it continued till 1850.

In 1841 Abraham Jones re-opened Giustiniani’s mission school in Guildford it also continued until 1850.

In May 1842, after arriving the year before, Revd John Wollaston proposed a plan to remove Aboriginal children to schools where they would be educated at the cost of settler families, who would then have the option of employing them as domestic servants.

In 1843 Mitchell established a second Mission School at Middle Swan and at Upper Swan Revd Postlethwaite established a Mission school for settlers and Aboriginal children which ran until 1848.

In the 1850s Swan Cottage was built at the Middle Swan site to accommodate young ‘native girls’ for the Mission School and Wollaston was granted 60 acres in Albany for an Institution. The children from the King’s School in Fremantle were then moved to the Albany institution. Henry Camfield and his wife Anne managed the Albany Institution; Mrs Camfield being Anne Breeze who had worked in Mitchell’s Middle Swan School over a decade earlier.

When Hale was appointed as Perth’s first Bishop in 1856 he is said to have had three main areas of interest: care of the Aborigines, the spiritual welfare of the convicts, and a desire to provide higher education for the ‘sons of the better class settlers’.

In 1871 the Albany Native Institution was the longest operating educational establishment for Aboriginal children in the colony and the Camfields wanted to retire; but nobody could be found to operate the Institution. Hale was troubled by this and offered his resignation with the intention of going to manage the Albany institution himself - a delegation talked him out of resigning.

With no solution to the problem in Albany, Hale purchased a block adjacent to Bishop’s House in the city (cnr of St George’s Terrace and Spring St), built a house on it to accommodate and educate Aboriginal children and brought the children from Albany to it. This was all done at his own expense.

After Hale left Perth in 1875, his successor, Bishop Parry, took over the direct management of the Institution until 1888 when he moved the children to the newly established the Swan Native and Half Caste Mission on the Middle Swan site.

The purpose built two-storey building in the City was known as Hale House. After operating as the Bishop’s “Native and Half Caste Institution” for 16 years the land was eventually absorbed into the Bishop’s See.

The Swan Native and Half Caste Mission operated on the site at the same time as the Swan Boys’ Orphanage and later the girls’ orphanage that had operated in Adelaide Terrace also moved there and was known as the Swan Girls’ Orphanage. The Mission and Orphanages were separated by some acreage and the Jane Brook. The Orphanages were predominantly for non-Aboriginal children, although some children from the Mission, particularly older boys, stayed at the Boys Orphanage. The department that was responsible for Aboriginal affairs appears to have been unhappy with this practice and after one visit instructed those responsible to move all the Aboriginal boys out of the Orphanage back to the Mission.

During this period some substantial grants of land were made to the Diocesan Trustees by the Crown in relation to these various institutions.

Later, the “Aborigines Act 1905” made the Chief Protector the legal guardian of ‘every Aboriginal and half-caste child’ under 16 years.  AO Neville was appointed Chief Protector in 1915 and subsequently opened two major reserves, at Moore River near Mogumber and Carrolup River near Katanning.

In 1920 Neville discontinued the Government subsidy to Church run Institutions. This apparently forced the closure of the Swan Native and Half Caste Mission with the remaining children sent to Moore River Native Settlement, Mogumber.

Neville’s decision and the sending of the Mission children to Mogumber effectively ended more than 80 years of Anglican work with Aboriginal children who were predominantly Noongar - that is to say children of Aboriginal children from the Perth metropolitan area and the greater South West. During that period of time the Anglican Church had responsibility for children who were moved from Fremantle to Albany (1850s), from Albany to Perth (1872), from Perth to Swan (1888) and from Swan to Mogumber (1920).

Today (23. 4. 08) the full bench of the Federal Court upheld an appeal by the West Australian and federal governments against the granting of native title over Perth. 

But the court did not rule that native title no longer existed over Perth, opting instead to refer the question back to a Federal Court judge for another hearing. 

This ruling shows how difficult it is for Aboriginal people to prove their continuing connection to country.

The Federal Court assumed that in 1829 the laws and customs governing land throughout the claim area were those of a single community.

However, it held that the 2006 decision failed to consider two matters that claimants were required to establish in order for their application to succeed.

The first being whether there has been continuous acknowledgment and observance of the traditional laws and customs by the single Noongar society from sovereignty until now.

The second being whether claimants have a connection with the Perth Metropolitan area.

The Court therefore set aside the 2006 decision and has remitted it for future determination.

This decision puts the Noongar’s native title aspirations back to square one.

The Premier along with other Cabinet Ministers publicly acknowledges that Noongar people are the traditional owners and custodians of the land Perth sits on and the South West.

This decision provides an opportunity for Premier Carpenter to show some leadership by engaging with Noongar people and negotiating a just settlement. This would be an important step forward in the reconciliation process.

I also hope that the WA Government conducts itself with dignity and acts respectfully toward the Noongar people.

This video starts with Bill Murray playing ‘Gloria’ on guitar, which was not quite as bad as his singing on another movie soundtrack. Murray is the MC and while playing his guitar he is ‘rescued’ by Eric Clapton. This is interesting in itself as the Crossroads Guitar Festival is a fundraiser for Clapton’s Crossroads Centre rehab facility in Antigua, which is essentially about rescuing people.

Held in Chicago last July, this event showcases several of the guitarists who featured at the inaugural festival held in Dallas (2004). They were Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, John Mayer, Vince Gill, John McLaughlin, and Robert Randolph.

While most the festival was blues, blues-rock or country, Jeff Beck takes you to another zone with the sounds he creates and no one else comes close. His band features Australian bassist Tal Wilkenfeld who at the age of 22 clearly captures the moment with an extensive solo.

Hubert Sumlin (ex-Howling Wolf guitarist) also makes an appearance and shows why many call him the ‘guitarist’s guitarist”. Los Lobos does a great set and Johnny Winter shows you how to make a Gibson growl!

Steve Winwood plays a great selection, particularly the Blind Faith material which he plays with Clapton.

Eric Clapton plays a ‘Derek & the Dominos’ set with Derek Trucks filling the Duane Allman role spectacularly, which isn’t surprising given he has been playing in the ‘Allman Brothers’ band for the last ten years!

The video also features: Willie Nelson, Susan Tedeschi, Albert Lee, Vince Gill, Robbie Robertson, Jimmie Vaughan and more.

Buddy Guy closes the event with his usual intensity and you’d be forgiven for thinking it was his show.

The Jeff Beck performance makes this video a worthwhile purchase as there is not much footage of him playing available. Overall, there is roughly four hours of music on the two discs, making `Crossroads’ required viewing for all fans of blues-based rock and roll.

PS for trivia buffs: Bill Murray sang ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ in the 1980 film ‘Where the Buffalo Roam’. The high cost of music licensing has seen DVD release replace most of the original music with generic approximations. I have the 1980 soundtrack album on vinyl and it has not been released on CD.

The Black Keys meets Jethro Tull with the “Same Old Thing” including a flute! 

The Black Keys have perfected their own brand of Delta-tinged, garage rock. Last year they were contacted by producer Danger Mouse to do an album with Ike Turner; but then Ike died.  This left the Keys with a truckload of material that became their most unusual album to date.

The instrumental additions are mind-blowing. As well as the flute you can hear acoustic guitar and organ; along with a banjo in “Psychotic Girl” and bass guitar on a few tracks. Add to that a sonar ping on “Oceans and Streams” and a vibraphone in “So He Won’t Break”.  

People who have enjoyed the Keys earlier material might be surprised the first time they hear Attack & Release.  There is a hint of Memphis soul in "Lies" and a mixture of vintage Southern R&B, British blues rock, and country blues.  But after a couple of listens you notice that the Keys still have plenty of fuzzy riffs and maintain their blues-garage-rock feel.  Having said that, there are songs ("Remember When – Side A”, “So He Won’t Break") that have an early ‘60s sound and there is a bit of country influence in the closing track, “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be”, with pedal steel and vocals from bluegrass and country singer Jessica Lea Mayfield.  Along with this Waits and Elvis Costello guitarist Marc Ribot brings his skill to a number of tracks.