__NOTOC__ Poonindie is a small township near Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. The land upon which it sits was originally the land of the Barngarla people. Poonindie Mission was established as a mission for

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

people in South Australia in 1850, at the instigation of the first Archdeacon of Adelaide, Mathew Hale, who also served as superintendent for several years. St Matthew's church, built in 1854-55 and originally intended to be the school, served both the mission and the local community. It survives and remains in use today. Hale ran the Aboriginal Training Institution at the mission. His friend, the Anglican Archbishop of Adelaide, Augustus Short, visited the mission, which prospered. The mission closed after 44 years, after which the land was divided and sold, with just St Matthew's and a small area of land remaining the property of the Anglican Church. of land was became an Aboriginal reserve when the Mission closed in 1894. Most of the residents were moved to

Point Pearce Point Pearce, also spelt Point Pierce in the past, is a town in the Australian state of South Australia. The town is located in the Yorke Peninsula Council local government area, north-west of the state capital, Adelaide. At the , Point Pearce h ...

and

Point McLeay Raukkan is an Australian Aboriginal community situated on the south-eastern shore of Lake Alexandrina in the locality of Narrung, southeast of the centre of South Australia's capital, Adelaide. Raukkan is "regarded as the home and heartland o ...

missions, while others moved to the nearby Aboriginal reserve, but a small number of residents remained on the mission site until the 1910s. The institution is named in the ''

Bringing Them Home ''Bringing Them Home'' is the 1997 Australian ''Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families''. The report marked a pivotal moment in the controversy that has come to ...

'' report, as one which housed Indigenous children forcibly removed from their parents and thus creating the Stolen Generations. The former reserve is now an Aboriginal self-managed Aboriginal community called Akenta, run by Akenta Incorporated. Pooonindie Uniting Church lies to the north of the township.

Heritage listings

Poonindie has a number of sites associated with the former mission listed on the South Australian Heritage Register, including: * Poonindie Mission Bakehouse Complex and Well * Poonindie Mission Superintendent's Residence * Poonindie Cemetery * Poonindie Mission Schoolhouse * St Matthew's Anglican Church

Heritage listings

See also

Other 19th century Aboriginal missions in SA

References

Further reading