Marribank

Marribank

Location in Western Australia

Men at Carrolup River Native Settlement in 1951

Marribank, also known as Carrolup, was the site of one of two large camps for Indigenous Australians established by the office of the Protector of Aborigines of the Western Australian State Government.^[1]

The area reclassified from a mission to native settlement in 1915 and was initially known as Carrolup^[1] not far from the Western Australian town of Katanning, after complaints by white farmers and settlers about the Aboriginal fringe dwellers living north of the town, who were attending school to the south. Together with settlements at Moore River, Roelands and Gnowangerup, at one stage it formed part of a number of institutions that housed most of the Noongar people of the South West of Western Australia. The Carrolup facility was closed in 1922 with all residents transferred to the Moore River Settlement.^[1]

The "Aboriginal Act" of 1909 denied the rights of parents and made all part-Aboriginal children wards of the state.^[2] Aboriginal children were taken from their parents, especially if they had a European or part-European ancestry, in order to break the possibility of being socialised within traditional Aboriginal language and culture, as a part of a government policy which has become known as the Stolen Generations. It was hoped by the Protector of Aborigines that boys would be trained as agricultural labourers, and girls would obtain work as domestic servants. Children living at Carrolup of marriageable age had to obtain official government permission to marry. As the official policy was acknowledged as "smoothing the pillow of a dying race", the "breeding out" of Aboriginal racial characteristics was encouraged. The officials took little or no action in cases of sexual abuse of girls by those officially in charge of them.

The settlement was opened again in 1940 as a farm training school for Indigenous boys and in 1952 was handed over to the Baptist Church and was renamed as Marribank.^[1]

In the 1950s, Marribank was the site of an Aboriginal Noongar Art movement amongst the children resident there,^[3] famous for its portrayals of local Western Australian scenes at sunset.^[4] An exhibition of Carrolup artists was organised in Perth, in a number of Australian towns and cities and in London. A number of prominent Western Australian Aboriginal Artists started their work at Marribank.^[5][6]

Today, Marribank houses a small museum and is administered under Aboriginal control.

References

1. "Marribank, Katanning". Government of Western Australia. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
2. Rutter, Florence; Carrolup Native Settlement (W.A.) (1951), Little black fingers : the story of Carrolup Native Settlement children, Western Australia, s.n, retrieved 3 November 2014
3. Laurie, Victoria (2006), "The lost prodigies: [More than 50 years ago, Aboriginal children in WA produced art that stunned the world. Now the Carrolup paintings are back on show]", Weekend Australian Magazine (21-22 Jan 2006): 28–31, ISSN 1038-8761
4. Morrison, Noel (2008), Carrolup inspired, Matilda Pub, ISBN 978-1-921036-51-4
5. Stanton, J. E. (John Edward); Stanton, J. E. (John Edward), 1950-; Berndt Museum of Anthropology (1992), Nyungar landscapes : Aboriginal artists of the South-West : the heritage of Carrolup, Western Australia, University of Western Australia, Berndt Museum of Anthropology, ISBN 978-0-86422-180-3
6. Martin, Kelrick, (presenter,); ABC-TV (Australia) (2006), Carrolup found, ABC, retrieved 3 November 2014

Coordinates: 33°39′18″S 117°14′53″E / 33.655°S 117.248°E