Also known as Point Pierce, it was one of several missions established in South Australia in the late 19th century, which included Poonindie, Point McLeay, Killalpaninna and Koonibba. Some of these missions were the basis for Aboriginal communities which persist until the present; they were among the few places in the southern part of South Australia where dispossessed and displaced Aboriginal people were welcomed, even if the primary aim was Christian evangelism. Soon after the establishment of Adelaide in 1836, settler had begun moving into Yorke Peninsula. The British concepts of property ownership were incompatible with the Narunggas' nomadic lifestyle, resulting in the gradual displacement of the Aboriginal population. In 1868, the Point Pearce Aboriginal Mission was established by the Moravian missionary Reverend W. Julius Kuhn. A site of for a settlement was granted on 2 February 1868 at a place known as Bookooyanna, about south of Kadina. The Point Pearce Mission Station, run by the Yorke Peninsula Aboriginal Mission committee, initially attracted 70 Narrungga residents. Poor conditions and illness led to consequent deaths, and by 1874 only 28 remained. In 1874 the reserve was extended by another, and including Wardang Island. By 1878, the mission was largely self-sufficient from its wool and wheat income. In 1894, families from the closed Poonindie Mission were moved to Point Pearce. The mission operated a school, with a separate school house built in 1906. Many children of mixed European and Chinese descent were among the 31 pupils who enrolled. During World War I, men from Point McLeay and Point Pearce were among the first Aboriginal men in the state to enlist. As a result of the Royal Commission on the Aborigines on 1913, the South Australian government took over management of the mission in 1915 and it became known as the Point Pearce Aboriginal Station, an Aboriginal reserve. Included in the recommendations was that the government become the legal guardian of all Aboriginal children upon reaching their 10th birthday, and place them "where they deem best". Seven years after the Final Report of the Commission, the Aborigines Act 1923, in order to allow Indigenous children to be "trained" in a special institution so that they could go out and work. The institution is named in the Bringing Them Home report, as one which housed Indigenous children forcibly removed from their parents and thus creating the Stolen Generations. In 1972, ownership was transferred to the Point Pearce Community Council under the Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 1966. Many of the buildings remain today.
Location and facilities
Point Pearce is about north along the coast from Port Victoria, and along with Wardang Island, provides shelter for the small fishing and recreational port.
