THE NORTH QUEENSLAND ABORIGINAL

Otago Witness, Volume 14, Issue 2648, 14 December 1904, Page 61

THE NORTH QUEENSLAND ABORIGINAL

MISSION WORK AT MAPOON". The popularity of the Rev. Dr Nisbefc, of First Church, as a public lecturer was amply manifested on Friday night by the size, of the audience which assembled in His Majesty's Theatre to hear his lecture, entitled "Life at Mapoon, Gulf )i Carpentaria, Norths Queensland." The lecture was in aid of the fund for providing for the initial expenses of the bazaar that is to be held next year for the school for Maori girls which, is being established at Turakina, on the west coast of the North Island, by the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand.

Mapoon is situated on the Batavia River, on the Gulf of Carpentaria, in the North of Quensland. To reach it one takes a week's journey from Brisbane to Thursday Island, and there takes his chance of getting a craft to lake him down the gulf, a jDroeeeding- lha-t might occupy another few clays. Prior to the Presbyterian Mission at Mapoon, a comparatively few years ago, the aboriginals were regarded as the worst cannibals in Australia, and no boat's crew who went ashore there was safe from, their attacks. As showing how speedy was the change worked by the mission in the ' natives, Dr" Nisbet mentioned that only three years afterwards a boat's crew was ' driven on shore some distance _ south of Mapoon, and they were hospitably received by the natives, and by them taken 'up to the mission station. The news of the reception these castaways received, when knoM'n throughout Australia, was re1 ceived with great surprise, and did pernaps. more than anything else to attract attention to the good work being done by the misi sionaries. So bad was the reputation of the ' blacks in that district, and so unfavourable the reports of 'the climate, that, when volunteers • teers for the mission - were ■ first called for, not one of the Australian students offered, and missionaries had to be obtained from. London, these being- the Rev J. G. Ward and Mrs Ward, and the Rev. «. Hey and Mrs Hey, the latter missionary being a German. Owing to the death from fev&r of Mr Ward the whole work soon, devolved upon the Rev. Mr Hey, who ' has carried it on ever since with a resulu "that can only be described as splendid The lecture was freely illustrated with lantern pictures showing the natives as theywere at the time Messrs- Hey and Ward went to Mapcon, and their conditions and' appearance subsequently, and also showing various incidents connected with the mission and life at the station. These views were very fine, and each one formed a pegon which the lecturer hung, an interesting' and instructive description and account of the work, the lecturer's remarks being frequently interspersed with humour which found a ready response from the audience. The starting of the mission was largely due to the late Hon. John Douglas, Government Resident at Thursday Island. Dr Roth, the Government protector 1 of the , aboriginals for the northern district., hns " taken a great interest in the mission, a.s also did Lord Lamington, the late Governor of Queensland. Mr Hey"s work, according to Dr Nisbet, has been a very great one, and he has succeeded in breaking the natives off their objectionable ceremonies, and substituting in their place customs \that . are new, clean, and (Jhristlike ; and at the same time he has encouraged in his charges those traits that srere manly and good, such as the use- of their hunting weapons, etc. The surroundings of the natives have been improved and their lives brightened, with th& result that for the first time for years past in the history of the 'aboriginal the death rate in the Mapoon district has been lower than the birth rate. The work being done by the Presbyterian. Church Mission at Mapoon and by the Church of England on the east coast was, in the lecturer's opinion, going a long way to solve the problem that the Australian aboriginal has all along presented. Th& Australian aboriginal had been depicted as a hopeless- case by most scientists, but the work of the missionaries had demonstrated i that, properly dealt with, he was capable of being taken out of his environment. Tfte Mapoon Mission is assisted by the Government of Queensland, and now has a, reserve of 2500 quare miles, over which Missionary Hey holds absolute rule. Mission stations afe being increased in number, and gradually by their mffuienoe Christian sway is extending in Northern Queensland. When first the station was established Mapoon was a sandy waste, but soil has teen carried to it by the mission hoys and girls, and now it has over 25 acres under orchard, an*! the place, throuigih the planting of cocoanut palms, is rapidly becoming- selfsupporting. " Apart from his mission work, Mr Hey has done much for the advancement of science, and has recently issued at vocabulary of the North Queensland dialect, which has been found very valuable ta scientists. In addition to the views of Mapoon, Dr Nisbet also showed a fine collection of slides descriptive of Queensland industries, those dealing with sugar plantations being particularly interesting. The lectuT© throughout was most entertaining and instructive, and that it was appreciated was amply demonstrated by the frequent encomiums of approval with which it was punctuated and the hearty applause which greeted its conclusion^ The lantern per medium of which the pictures were thrown on the screen was efficiently worked by Mr Shepard.

In connection with instructions to Mr TP. W. Mansfield, registrar of electors at Wei: lington, to go through the colony and organise - system of compiling the roils similar to *ue one -utroduoed in the Wellington City electorate, the Palmerston, Times mentions that prior to the 1902 election Mr Gwynne-, registrar of electors for the Waikouaiti electorate, adopted Mr* Mansfield's system, of compiling the rolls, and the Waikouaiti rolls for 19Q2 and 1903 were compiled in accordance with the system referred to.