Site 14: Indigenous Rocks Recognition and Reconciliation

These two imposing columns of Mintaro slate, weighing 8 and 6.5 tonnes respectively, were procured in June 2016 to honour the Ngadjuri people as the first custodians of the Sevenhill lands, called ‘Open Range’ or ‘Open Ranges’, purchased from the Crown by the Jesuits on January 28, 1851.  In 2017, in consultation with Ngadjuri elders, consideration was given to the appropriate siting and scripting for the stones, and on 31^st May 2018 the stones were erected in their current setting. On 2^nd June 2028, the eve of Mabo Day, the base and surrounds were covered with red earth.

In December 2022, two young Ngadjuri artists, Adam and Elley Warrior-Read, with the endorsement of their Elders, designed and painted the unscripted stone in traditional Ngadjuri pigments, depicting the journey and meeting in an amicable relationship between the Ngadjuri and first Jesuits, despite the history of surrounding violence and death.

The Jesuits maintain an ongoing commitment to reconciliation and to the First Nations people.

The Ngadjuri people were custodians of the land stretching from Gawler in the south to Quorn, Koonamore, and Bimbowrie in the north. Before white settlement, the Ngadjuri people lived a peaceful, nomadic life. However, colonisation brought disease and death, as well as the disruption of flora and fauna cycles that led to the loss of key food sources.

The arrival of colonisers threatened not only the Ngadjuri culture but their very survival. By the time Father Kranewitter arrived in 1848, the Ngadjuri population had already been decimated, with a dramatic decline in population since pre-contact times. There was a small group of Ngadjuri still living near Weikert Cottage, and in letters to the Provincial Superior in Rome, Fr Kranewitter suggested that the Jesuits work with them.

This possibility was never pursued until much later, in 1866, when Fr Joannes Hinteroecker arrived at Sevenhill. One of the main reasons he wished to come to Australia was to work among the first nation peoples here. We have on record the Jesuits baptised 23 Ngadjuri people between 1854 and 1868.  There is also mention of translation of the Creed, Our Father, and other prayers into the local language. [Br Poelzl].  Hinteroecker was committed to working with the Ngadjuri.  He wanted their survival in the district and the preservation of their culture.  To strengthen the commitment, a substantial piece of land near Oodnadatta [approx. 930kms north of Sevenhill] was leased and a team of two priests and two brothers was prepared to settle there among the communities. Hinteroecker was to be assisted by Fr John Pallhuber and Brs Georg Eberhard and Francis Poelzl. However, in October 1866, the Jesuit General, while praising the dedication, generosity, and zeal of the Jesuits for the mission, did not give his consent, mainly on the grounds that there were not enough Jesuits in lower South Australia to carry out their current commitments. He believed they were over-extending.  A second concern was the state of health of Fr Hinteroecker. Frs Hinteroecker and his successor Hager continued to work with the local Ngadjuri at Sevenhill, but by 1871 there were few of them remaining in the district. As for the property at Oodnadatta, government administrators informed the Jesuits that they would lose the lease unless they could put wells on it. As this project was way too expensive, they lost the lease.

Serious Jesuit ministry to First Nations Australians did not resume until the 1880s in the Northern Territory, when a new mission commenced on the Daly River in 1886 and continued for 14 years, involving 19 Jesuits [8 priests; 11 brothers] including Donald MacKillop, Mary McKillop’s brother. This is another remarkable story, told not only by Jesuits but more significantly by Elders, like Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann, who visited Sevenhill in 2021 from the region of the Daly River in Northern Territory.

The Rapid Creek mission, located 11 kilometres Northeast of Palmerston (now Darwin), became the first mission established by the Jesuits. There, they developed a school, learned the Laragiya language, and translated hymns, prayers, and lessons into the native tongue. The Jesuits also built gardens and taught modern farming techniques to the First Nations people, all while allowing families to maintain their existing living arrangements, as no dormitories were built, to ensure the continuation of traditional family units.

These stones, beautifully detailed by emerging Indigenous artists Adam and Elley Warrior-Read over the course of five days, seek to embody reflect the spirit of meeting and relationship, and what might be realisable for the future.

Aunty Angelina. “The wish and the will of the Ngadjuri people is for us to come together in this country and be one. We have lost respect and kindness and all those valuable things that are innate within us, that allow us to look after the land and allow us to be looked after by the people of the land. I am part of one of the first families to move back to country to restore culture … the painting on the stone behind me was done by my daughter and son-in-law. On the side of the stone, is another painting, which I taught my daughter, showing the three stages of the Dreaming story – us, the peoples from other countries joining us, and we are walking the future together, along all the roads, by the light of the stars that guide us. We have a responsibility to future generations. We all have a right to be birthed, but we certainly must take the responsibility of moving together in this country. And we can’t do it alone, and you can’t do it alone. So, this painting painting being here makes sense – coming together, meeting, and working together for our common future.   The painting shows everything that my daughter has learned from me”.

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