Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/9200
Title: | The Failure of Noble Sentiments: Bogimbah Mission on Fraser Island | Contributor(s): | Armstrong, Sandra (author); Roberts, David (supervisor) ; Atkinson, Alan T (supervisor); Ihde, Erin (supervisor) | Conferred Date: | 2011-10-07 | Copyright Date: | 2010 | Open Access: | Yes | Handle Link: | https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/9200 | Abstract: | In the 1890s, as the Australian Aboriginal population appeared to be declining, and as debates raged over how to 'save' them and find a place for them in colonial society, two men, Archibald Meston and Ernest Gribble, proposed answers to this pressing 'problem' in Queensland. Their solutions were quite different, one involving the state, the other the churches via the Australian Board of Missions, and they clashed fiercely as each tried to make their own solution work. This dissertation examines the background, the philosophy and the methods of the two men during the years from 1895 to 1905 with particular focus on the administration of Bogimbah Reserve and Mission on Fraser Island in Queensland and its impact on the Butchulla people of the Wide bay district. It will be shown that while Meston wished to segregate Aborigines as a means of preserving a certain semblance of their traditional life, Ernest Gribble, a missionary, wanted to civilise and Christianise them, and was given the opportunity to do so after Meston's state-funded experiment had allegedly failed. The tensions between the two men, and their respective treatments of the Aborigines entrusted to their care, are explored here in order to understand the differences between their approaches. Ultimately it will be shown that from the perspective of the Butchulla people who were subjected to the methods of the two men, both Meston and Gribble's vision were failures. | Publication Type: | Thesis Doctoral | Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: | 210301 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History | Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: | 450107 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history | Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: | 940102 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Development and Welfare | Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: | 210101 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community service programs 210102 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander development and wellbeing 210199 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community services not elsewhere classified |
Rights Statement: | Copyright 2010 - Sandra Armstrong | HERDC Category Description: | T2 Thesis - Doctorate by Research | Description: | Indicated in the Right of Access form, the author agrees to make the thesis freely available for all purposes including copying. |
---|---|
Appears in Collections: | Thesis Doctoral |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
---|---|---|---|---|
openpublished/ArmstrongSandraPhD2011Thesis.pdf | Thesis | 1.19 MB | Adobe PDF Download Adobe | View/Open |
Page view(s)
2,278
checked on Mar 7, 2023
Download(s)
1,462
checked on Mar 7, 2023
Items in Research UNE are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.