To the Director-General
Methodist Missions – Northern Territory
The Methodist Overseas Missionary Society conducts four aboriginal missions and one half-caste settlement in the northern coastal homeland. The four native stations are maintained at a very low standard viewed from any aspect other than the comfort of the staff. The half caste settlement on the other hand, serves as a vivid contrast of what may be attempted and achieved by the same organisation when inspiration and energy are not lacking.
Information regarding each station is given in detail, but certain features common to all the native stations may be dealt with and dismissed beforehand.
Diet: Rationing for the generality of the population is effected by the daily issue of cereal, (flour meal or rice), sugar and garden produce, sweet potato, yam or other. An analysis of this rationing as near as is practicable from the sketchy information Mission officers were able to afford, reveals the following serious deficiencies:
The food is issued as a dry rationing to be shared amongst the family and it is impossible to assure and unreasonable to assume equitable sharing or conservative preparation. It is assumed that it will be supplemented by native food, the product of the hunt by the males and of foraging by the women. Since a number of men are employed about the mission, it is questionable whether opportunity for contributing sufficient animal proteins for the diet will occur. The contribution made by women is predominantly vegetable in character contributing further to the high carbohydrate and cellulose content of the main ration. The normal tribal diet of the Australian native is high in animal protein, fat, mineral and necessary factors. The Mission diet substituted for it is deficient in all these.
It may be accepted that a diet should provide:
- sufficient protein, mineral, vitamin, etc. for growth and reproduction;
- fuel for efficient activity;
- resistance to parasitic disease;
- protection against deficiency disease
The Iron deficiency is significant in view of the prevalence of Hookworm infestation in natives on these Missions. The Arnhem Land Research Expedition in 1948 reported that 60% of natives on Yirkarlla, for example, showed evidence of anaemia.
The diet issued lacked sufficient protein for children.
Accommodation: Accommodation is uniformly poor consisting of unfloored, dark, ill-ventilated, iron huts, or the traditional brush whirlies.
Sanitation: Except at Elcho Island, the water supply is exposed to gross animal and human pollution and grossly insanitary practices are the rule in respect of night soil here as at the as at the other aboriginal stations. Nowhere is there any system of garbage disposal.
Ablution and laundry facilities are not available except at Millingimbi where ablution points have been provided, but these are inadequate, inefficient and polluted with human excreta.
Education: At the time of my visit, schooling had been suspended at all native stations except in respect of a few correspondence school pupils at Elcho Millingimbi and Goulburn Island.
Industry: Productive industry was neglected at all stations except:
- logging at Elcho Island which is conducted without re-afforestation and certainly serves only as an education in the European destruction of natural assets for trivial temporary gain
- Craftwork: Women are employed in weaving mats, baskets and the like. This enterprise is conducted under conditions and on a scale which suggests that its intention is to exploit the natural aptitudes of the native as a means of offsetting the cost of rationing and the individuals engaged in it, rather than as a training discipline in lucrative production calculated to give the natives a secure foothold in the white economy
Health: All the superintendents were absent from the missions at the time of the visit except at Millingimbi where there had been a recent change. Vital statistics therefore were only available for Elcho Island and these show that amongst births there has been a very heavy preponderance of male births and a significant fall in the birth rate during the years recorded. Simultaneously, there is evidence of a rise in the death rate which is attributed by the station authorities to a rising child mortality. These factors presage the repetition here of the native depopulation which is marked white intrusion into native reserves elsewhere
Although hookworm has been known to exist in these localities for nearly three decades, none of the mission authorities interviewed evinced any appreciation of its importance or knowledge of its incidence. With the exception of Yaws, all the diseases reported as causing morbidity and mortality at these stations were diseases introduced or disseminated by the establishment of the Mission.
The conclusion is warranted that there is no tangible return or apparent justification for government financial assistance to these institutions, whether given as a subsidy or as Child Endowment. No effort is being made to teach the native to live in communities at a reasonable the high standard of sanitation, no progress is evident in the development of a native economy permitting integration into the Australian economic structure. The enduring conviction is that these agencies serve only to disrupt the normal healthy tribal life and substitute for it a substandard existence under grossly insanitary conditions on a deficient diet in the midst of imported diseases and conditions negligently recreated which tend towards an uncontrolled dissemination of those diseases…
(C. E. COOK)
21 August 1951
MILLINGIMBI
Methodist Overseas Mission Station established on Millingimbi Island about 1924
| Area | Approximately 40 miles² |
| Policy | Contact with natives of Arnhem Land Reserve and propagation of the Gospel |
| Site | Situated on a sandy beach on the south east shore of Millingimbi Island. Ample supply of fresh water from shallow wells |
| Population | Natives attracted from the Crocodile Island group and adjacent mainland of the Arnhem Land Reserve and population varies up to 600 under native migration. Population 375 on 23 June 1950.Adult males – 51 Floating – 16 Adult females – 80 Floating – 21 Children – 153 Floating – 54Total – 284 |
| Staff | Superintendent (ordained) previously farmer and wife agriculturalist without special training. Nurse (double certificated) absent at time of visit, Training in infant welfare. Teacher (qualified) had not yet arrived. |
| Accommodation | Timber frame and CGI dwellings for staff, one in disrepair termite and gale electric light |
| Native camp disposed in two sections, one at each end missionary each section consists of nine conventional timber frame, CGI, first floor, one door, no window | |
| No bunks or other furniture except an occasional mat on the sandy floor | |
| Dispensary also used as a baby clinic | |
| Sanitation | Water supply: six shallow wells at various points on the station, each 25 feet deep |
| Natives have access to a 20 ft. open well unequipped, collapsing and nearly full of rubbish | |
| Water is raised by mill from one well and pumped to main supply tank on the Mission from which it is reticulated to water points in native lines. | |
| ‘Macassar’ well – rock hole used for cattle and horses. | |
| Nightsoil Disposal: Pan system latrine accommodation is provided for native lines and near the administrative centre of the Mission. Pansteads are defective – broken concrete pedestals lacking service door. Leaking 4 gallon drum used as a pan. Native latrine in the community square – open drum with a board over to serve as seat. Night soil is disposed by burial in the orchard to which buckets are transported on a long pole. | |
| One pit latrine under construction – this probably involves considerable risk of polluting domestic water supply, the local water table being at the six-foot level in a great part of the year. | |
Ablution: Ablution hut provided with an earthen floor and one shower – used as latrine. | |
| Water point: The water point was used for bathing and the area flooded | |
| Garbage Disposal: Not organised | |
| Diary: formally a house. Yard littered with manure. | |
| Milking Bail: concrete floor, fair condition | |
| Diet: | All children on the station are fed once a day “to ensure one adequate meal”. Feeding is effected from a community feeding point in the Mission yard near the water tank. The meal is cooked – rice flour, porridge or custard with sugar once per week a few peanuts in lieu |
| Employees receive:Each morning – half pound of flour | |
| Mid-day – 2 pounds of sweet potatoes, and/or half a pound of flour supplemented with garden produce | |
| Evening – half a pound of flour or 4 ounces of rice | |
| Milk is issued to all children up to 10 years of age, one cup per day – local product made from powdered milk if necessary. Nursing mothers receive the same milk ration. | |
| Meat is not an issue – only kill five times a year. Good deal of wallaby, fish and shellfish available in the immediate vicinity for the natives. | |
| Contractor boys buy from the store. One ration per day issued – ½ pound of flour or 4 ounces of rice. This limitation is intended to encourage them to keep hunting. When buying from the store, they may purchase up to 2 shillings value of flour and change from sugar to syrup. An endeavour is made to guide choice and persuade towards the use of wholemeal flour Tobacco is issued to workers, the sick and hunters. | |
| Education | 13 pupils in correspondence school. Day school expected to commence with arrival of teacher in six weeks. No organised games |
| Industry | Stock – 50 cows 10 bullocks 40 horses (use 10) 4 pigs 75 goats 7 fowlsCultivation: 50 acres fenced and prepared for cultivationPeanuts 12 acres yield 4 tons, Casanova 1 acre, Sweet potatoes 3 acres Bananas ½ acre, Pawpaw 100 trees, Coconuts |
| Craft work: basketwork matting and shell Mission buys for cash and resells in Darwin. The margin of profit being kept small. The Mission tries to arrange that native earnings are adequate for maintenance and adjusts prices to the time consumed in manufacture earnings are from eight shillings to 12 shillings a week, a basket, taking three days and a matt one week to make.9 dozen complete and 6 dozen partially completed articles were stored pending transport. | |
| Employment | Maximum number employed 53 – for harvesting. 25 are in regular employment being paid six shillings per week store credit and ration as above. |
| Health | Dispensary clean, light and airy with a concrete floor. Water laid on. Baby clinic conducted here. Superintendent’s wife (fully qualified) acting in absence of the nurse |
| Malaria – nil One or two unexplained fevers that might be Dengue. No case, however, amongst white staff. | |
| Venereal Diseases – does not think so. Leprosy – some cases. Five suspects come and go. No survey has been made | |
| Hookworm – no survey – incidence not known |
ELCHO ISLAND
M.O.M.S. Mission originally established in the southern end of Elcho Island in 1922, abandoned 1924, re-established 1942. Visited 22 June 1950
| Policy: | Propagation of the Gospel and medical aid to the native. It was stated that the Society grants £1000 to the Missionary for Mission work and medical aid, leaving it to him to undertake the task in his own way |
| Site: | Southwest end of Elcho Island on anchorage sheltered from the S.E. weather. An alternative anchorage from N.W. weather is situated at the eastern shore of the island, a track connecting. Abundant spring water. Soil arable |
| Access: By Air: good all-weather strip adjacent to station. Missioner has his own Tiger Moth. Jeep transport at station;Sea – Headquarters of auxiliary luggers serving M.O.M.S. stations | |
| Communications W/T schedules with date Darwin daily | |
| Population | Varies with migration. Estimated 300 to 350, including 130 children |
| Staff | Superintendent and wife Assistant superintendent and wife Nurse (trained) |
| Accommodation | Mission house Assistant superintendent dwelling Layman’s house Boat captain’s house Hospital Store |
| The buildings are new and of good type consisting of dressed timber and C.G.I. on blocks or on concrete base | |
| Accommodation for native varies from brush whirlies through to the usual iron hut to an occasional well-designed and built cottage with timber floor. | |
| Sanitation | Water supply Spring on beach. Water pumped by mill to kitchen gardenWell on billabong, interior of the island. Water pumped to 50,000 gallon gravity tank on hill near Station and reticulated from there |
| Ablution and laundry – For natives, nil | |
| Nightsoil Disposal: By bucket system. Bucket is placed under an improvised bench, not fly proof. Service for mission area only | |
| Garbage Disposal: Not organised | |
| Diet | Correspondence schools pupil – 3 meals daily. All other children: Breakfast only Male employees – daily dry rations issue of: 7 ounces of flour for each of two meals, double issue at night 7 ounces of flour for consort 7 ounces of flour for children (or 4 ounces of rice when available. Not preferred) 3 ounces of sugar (doubled when no tobacco issued |
| Food is not weighed but measured, the flour in a condensed milk tin and sugar in a cigarette tin. Tin of syrup on Friday | |
| Cassava or vegetable produce when available, issued in view of flour | |
| Employed natives spend Saturday morning hunting to supplement the diet. There is abundant game, especially marine. | |
| Tea is available to purchase, but there is no permanent issue | |
| ¾ pint of milk daily to each child. This assumes 12 gallons daily throughout the year. From a herd of 34 goats, this seems problematical unless heavy issues of dry or canned milk are substituted. | |
| Education | No school. Pupils on correspondence course |
| Industry | Stock – 15 cows, 34 goats. Poultry for mission private use. N.B. Cattle kept for beef rather than milk |
| Cultivation. Kitchen garden produce grown near beach spring. Extensive plantation fenced with reticulated water supply inland from Station, prepared for cultivation, chiefly of Cassava. No produce sold all put through the Russian store | |
| Craft work – matting woven cane, etc. Crocodile skin, crude turtle shell, dressed timber – Cyprus Pine | |
| Employment | Male: Boats 12, Logging 12, Sawmill 6, Engineers 2, Building 2, garden 3 (plus as required) Labourers 8 |
| Female: hospital 2, Milking 2, Domestic 2, Casual 3 | |
| Remuneration for services is by ration issue as above plus store credit to 2/- to 5/- per week | |
| Loggers are paid one penny per super foot store credit and purchase their requirements from store | |
| Crocodile hunters are paid up to 2/3 of the market value of the skins brought in, (up to 3 shillings an inch). | |
| The population includes a large congregation of “hangers on” being pauperised and conditioned to an unaccustomed and indifferent ration. | |
| Training: The station is too preoccupied with routine management to spare the necessary time for training the individual native. The mission officer interviewed gave as an instance boat repairs and mechanical maintenance. He could not afford the time or material to explain and develop skills, the dominating necessity being to rush the work through to completion. | |
| Health | 4 or 5 deaths during the year attributed to Tuberculosis. Measles – 6 deaths brought by boat crew from Darwin Whooping cough – no deaths Leprosy – Informant did not think there was any leprosy on the station Yaws cases coming from the bush occasionally No cases of Hookworm treated. No survey made since establishment |
| Medical officer was called three times in the last 12 months. His examination has always been limited to those brought to him | |
| Malaria nil |
YIRKALLA
Methodist Overseas Missionary Society Station established 1935 near Cape Arnhem
visited 23rd of June 1950
| Policy | Contact with natives between Arnhem and Blue Mud Bay, propagation of the Gospel |
| Site | Situated on the northern shore west of Cape Arnhem on the bank of a permanent running stream. Soil arable |
| Access | By air: ex/RA.A.F. bomber and fighter strips at Gove some 7 miles south. Motor transport available over first-class road. Old mission strip adjoining station to the west unserviceable Auxiliary lugger shared with other M.O.M.S. stations Communication: Radio communication scheduled with Darwin daily |
| Population | Fluctuates with migration. Estimated at 200 on 23rd of June 1950 96 children |
| Staff | Acting superintendent and wife (Fijians) |
| Accommodation | Good type mission house, timber framed dwelling on high blocks. Corrugated iron hospital and aid post, school etc.Accommodation for Natives, Timber and iron ill-ventilated huts in mission lines, some primitive furnishingsScrap iron and brush whirlies in beach camp beyond creek; Large hut for unmarried men |
| Sanitation | Water Supply: Water raised from stream by dipping pump unserviceable Stream open to pollution by water carriers and by adjacent bush camp 2 special tanks of 20,000 gallons and 5000 gallons Reticulation – not in use. No mill nor pumpAblution facilities – nil Nightsoil Disposal – Better type of bucket service with panstead for hut lines and mission house. Pans cleared twice weekly and emptied into the sea. Panstead is not securely fly proof. Some evidence of soiling. Free soil pollution in the vicinity of beach camp and water supply.Garbage Disposal: – not organisedNatives bathed in the stream without regard to the site of collecting domestic water |
| Diet | see Elcho Island |
| Workers are paid whilst in employment which is discontinuous, the rest feed themselves. Each child receives ½ pint of milk per day milk from cows and goats made up with tinned milk. | |
| Natives can buy from the store, flour, rice, sugar jam, syrup, condensed milk, canned meat vegetable stew. No record of sales. | |
| Education | nil |
| Industry | Matting caneware and shell workSalvage of materials – wire, cartridge shells, insulators, etc. from Gove areaStock: 14 cattle, 34 goats, “odd” horses. No killCultivation 15 acres available for cultivation. Garden not fully restored since cyclone damage in 1948. Main products Cassava, sweet potato, banana. No outside sale.Certain natives have sections of the total cultivated area and trade produce with each other |
| Training | Nil |
| Employment | 10 native employees Unskilled labour is paid two shillings per week while working, Leading Hand five shillings, rations additional Employment is not continuous Women are paid in cash for baskets and mats |
| Health | Does not know of any Leprosy or Hookworm (Arnhem Land Research Expedition reported 33% Hookworm in 1948) Yaws – Thinks some venereal disease might come with natives returning from Darwin No malaria or unexplained fever Measles and Whooping Cough caused “several deaths, not more than 10”. Infection came from Elcho Island. Lost no measles at the Station where cases were nursed by a sister. “A lot” died in the bush. Knows of 7 but never knew the total. The disease was brought to Elcho Island by boat crew and natives returning from hospital.Births – no record. Informant does not know Deaths – no record. Informant does not know |
| Summary | Bad diet, low in protein, vitamin and minerals. Neglect of training. No education. Unsafe water supply Poor housing Some medical attention, but the only diseases except Yaws of which the mission has knowledge have been introduced and disseminated by the mission agency/Apparently a purposeless intrusion into the native area involving concentration under unsafe epidemiological conditions. Habituation to defective diet and disruption of native society, without any compensating advantage. |
GOULBURN ISLAND (28th of June 1950)
| Area | Approximately 40 miles² |
| Policy | Propagation of the Gospel and to give natives the benefit of civilisation |
| Site | Situated on south-eastern foreshore of South Goulburn IslandSoil parable. Water supply from shallow wells, no adjacent swamp or marshAccess by:Air. One good all-weather strip adjacent to Station Sea anchorage off station in N.W. weather. Anchorage in S.W. Bay on western side of island in S.E. weather. Track connecting. Both shared with other M.O.M. Missions with headquarters at Elcho Island – auxiliary luggerCommunication – W/T schedules with Darwin daily |
| Population | Varies around 250. Natives visit from mainland opposite as far east as Liverpool River. 28 June 1950 – 46 under 20 years and 25 under 7 years under instruction and control |
| Staff | Superintendent and wife (both absent on 28.6.50) Lay teacher (unqualified) Sister (double certificated) Agriculturalists |
| Accommodation | Mission house, sister’s cottage, schoolhouse, 2 school buildings and dispensary all of timber frame and C.G.I. with concrete floor. |
| No dormitory. Natives live in camp – usually bush timber and C.G.I. humpies, dirty, unfurnished, untidy, dark. A few have beds – blankets only | |
| Sanitation | Water Supply: – Water derived from unprotected shallow wells close to dwellings and camp areas. Pumps broken down – water raised by dipping, natives standing over well and spillage returning. Supply not reticulated – carried in open buckets.Ablution Facilities – Nil Nightsoil Disposal – 3 bucket latrines in camp area. Purport to be changed twice weekly, but on 28.6.50 system had broken down. Sanitary detail had ceased work unknown to Acting Superintendent. Disposal by burial in garden. Extensive soil pollution round camp.Garbage Disposal: – Not organised. |
| Diet | Workers dry rations issued twice dailyChildren dry ration issued for breakfast only cooked midday meal. Fend for themselves in camp for evening meal – afternoon off for hunting. Pre- school children given breakfast All children – ½ pint of milk twice a week Ration issue formula: flour or meal 6 ounces rice 6 ounces sweet potatoes or other produce 8 ounces Tea and sugar. No fats. No meal issue.Cooked meal for children four days per week only. rice with syrup and milk two days Stew of potatoes, pawpaws, beans or pumpkin 2 daysMeat is dried buffalo or 3 tins of corned beef for total meal |
An analysis of the total weekly issue reveals the following deficiencies which may or may not be made good by native diet:-
| Notice substitution of bulky cellulose and preponderantly carbohydrate diet, low in vitamins, mineral and fat for the natural diet high in all these factors and unconfirmed assumption of adequate supplementing from native sources | |
| Education | Pupils attend one session daily four days per week. Schooling, however, very intermittent and elementary. Some have reached a 3rdgrade standard in reading.Morning session, (age 7 to 16 years) 29 Afternoon session (aged 15 to 20 years) 17 |
| Industry | Stock: 39 goats, 16 pigs. “about” 12 cattle, 10 horses, 13 chickensCultivation – 8 acres under cultivation, mainly sweet potatoes, yams. Some Cassava, banana and pawpaw plantation. Smaller area of pineapples. No sale – used as food supply on station.Craftwork: Shell and pandanus weaving yield revenue of approximately £600 p.a. Shell worker receives ration for 3 meals per day, and 1/3 sale price of product Basket workers receive one meal per day and 2/3 sale price of product |
| Training | Nil except craftwork |
| Employment | House girls are clothed and receive 2 meals daily and 5/- per week store credit. Garden workers receive 2 meals daily and 2/6 to 3/- per week store credit. Tradesmen 10/- per week store credit. |
Health
Malaria | Identified periodic fever occurs at times. No splenic enlargement noted in children examined. |
| Leprosy | Cases occur from time to time. 2 cases ex Channel Is. being at Mission. Not available for examination |
| Hookworm | Said by A/Superintendent not to exist on the Island. However, surveys years ago revealed incidence of 40%. No recent survey |
| Measles | In 1949, 80 cases of measles reported. Infection originated by contact on mainland. No deaths. |
| Whooping Cough | Early in 1950 epidemic of whooping cough occurred. Origin not known but first case came from Liverpool River. One death – infant of five months |
| tuberculosis | One death from tuberculosis reported – child of 11 years |
| births | Two births on Station in the year – one stillborn |
| Deaths | 3 during the year. Old age 1, Tuberculosis 1, Whooping Cough 1.one medical aid trained nurse double certificated dispensary |
| Medical Aid | Trained nurse (double certificated) Dispensary |
| Summary | Probably nowhere in the Territory does the cleanliness and comfort of the staff quarters contrast so vividly with the squalor and neglect of the native camp as here. |
| Salient features are – gross insanitation, gravely deficient diet, neglect of training in useful pursuits, inadequate sanitation and absence of any attempt to elevate the standard of living. | |
| The mission has been under my notice at intervals since 1925. As far as the natives are concerned, there has been deterioration in living standards since I last visited the Mission in 1937.There is no tangible return for the government funds available to this Station, either as a subsidy or child endowment. It serves only as an agent for:fostering and marketing of relatively unimportant craftwork and teaching the native to live in communities at an abnormally low standard. |
Croker Island Methodist Overseas Missionary Society settlement
for mixed blood children established 1941, evacuated 1942-45 reoccupied 1946
| Area | 110 square miles |
| Policy | To train the mixed blood as a white citizen “feeling our way policy to develop as we go”. |
| Site | Situated on the north on the eastern shore of Croker Island Norris Bay Soil arableAmple supply of good water from wellsPatches of fair pastoral country on the island |
| Access | By air – all-weather landing strip adjacent to the settlement. Motor vehicle transport By sea – share to auxiliary luggers with other M.O.M. Stations. 25 foot motorboat. 2 dinghies. 1 barge W/T schedules with Darwin daily |
| Population | children 86 (53 female 33 male) Full bloods 2 About 15 natives, original occupiers of the island come to the station and trade fish and oysters, crabs, etc., in exchange for tobacco once a week |
| Staff | Superintendent (married) Agriculturalists 2 female teachers (qualified) one female general duties 1 female Handicraft Instructor |
| Accommodation | 2 staff residences. 8 cottages 1 store 1 recreation room-shop 2 sawmills – plant, sawmill etc. Butcher shopNumber of temporary premises – bakehouse, Church, school, etc. Dwellings are well-built, timber frames, corrugated iron, fibro cement, concrete floor, No dispensary or hospital |
| Sanitation | Note: Children are accommodated in cottages under a ‘family’ system with a housekeeper. They are provided with beds, sheets, pillow slips etc. and showers. Premises are clean, tidy, attractive and maintained at a good white standard. |
| Water Supply: Water is pumped from two wells to a supply tank and reticulated into buildings. The well is open and unprotected.Nightsoil Disposal – Pan system: pans are improvised, latrines are not fly proof. Disposal is by burial in cultivation. This phase of sanitation provided the only outstanding defect in an otherwise well-conducted settlement. The pans removed from latrines are emptied as fertiliser in the cultivated area and washed at the garden tub by barefoot boys. Ablution – Showers provided in cottagesGarbage Disposal: fed to pigs and fowls Meat house – good There are many mosquitoes in the area, including anopheles. Malaria defeated early settlement by British troops at Raffles Bay on the opposite side of Bowen Straits many years ago |
Diet
| Breakfast | Rice, semolina or rolled oats, milk, sugar, sometimes egg, stew, curry. Bread as required. |
| Midday | Beef, sometimes tinned, fresh weekly, fish, pork, goat, mutton, goose, sweet potatoes, cassava, peas, fresh vegetables and tin vegetables |
| Supper | Bread, jam, treacle, syrup, fruit pudding, custard, rice, dried fruit, butter or dripping |
| Education | South Australian curriculum. Pupils taken up to intermediate standard. A “sort of” library, mostly comics. School building small,, temporary but well ventilated and lighted with good desks. |
| Training | Boys trained “up to a point”. Cannot apprentice. May become good as carpenters by imitating carpenters. “Feeling our way”.Sporting equipment for football, baseball, softball rounders, but no organised games or training to conventional rules. Children make and enjoy their own fund |
| Industry | Stock: 290 beef cattle. Kill one bull per week 250 goats. Kill 4 or 5 periodically 40 pigs. Kill 4 or 5 periodically 35 horses 150 fowls – plenty of eggs Dairy stud of six TB tested Illawarra cattle Hundreds of wild pigs and Timor ponies on the islandCultivation: 6 acres: bananas 2, pawpaw and pineapple 1, custard apple and citrus, 1. Kitchen garden. Rest under seasonal crops – peanuts, cassava, corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, watermelons, pumpkins.Craftwork – Personal ornaments manufactured by girls affords free scope in their self-expression in design and development of skill and executionLogging – Sell timber in Darwin |
| Employment | Timber, pigs and pineapple sold in Darwin. Proceeds go to maintenance but employees share 1/3rd to ½. Two native employees paid 5/- per week and all found. Seven half-caste boys between school-age and leaving age 14 to 18 – paid 5/- per week Loggers 10/- per hundred super feet Timber millers 10/- per hundred per milling feet unless timber used on Station |
| Health | Superintendent knows of no diseases. No Malaria, Dengue, nor fevers. Station visited monthly by N.T.M.S. by ’plane and the sick presented are examined by the Sister (or doctor if available.) Superintendent cannot remember a general inspection in the last two years No Hookworm survey does not know of any incidenceNote: The cottage system in which a group of half caste children live in houses with a white matron assures a high standard of training in domestic cleanliness and comfort.Hygiene is generally good except:exposure of well water to contamination defect in the conservancy system at all stages The employment of natives for whom no latrine accommodation is provided and the freedom of children to wander barefoot over the island on which a remnant of the original native tribe still lives affords opportunity for Hookworm infestation |