tAPLIN'S Journal 1859-1879
The Reverend George Taplin (1831-1879) Set up Point McLeay (Raukkan) Mission  Station on Lake Alexandrina in 1859 in the heart of Ngarrindjeri country.  He built and taught in the School there (in the Ngarrindjeri language at first), built cottages, developed the farm there, provided medical attention to Aboriginal people in the region and, of course, preached on sundays, all pretty much on his own.    By the time he died, at 47, he had built up one of the most prosperous Aboriginal villages - and one of the best schools - in Australia. 

ALSO - an up-dated and revised INDEX to Taplin's Journal.




And -  FAMILY TREES AT RAUKKAN, ROUGHLY UP TO 1912, (including clan affiliations and country.)
The Wilkins Family had a short but colourful history: they moved from Kangaroo Island to Point McLeay in 1860 and played quite a role there for twenty years.   This is a collection of references to their activities, up to the 1880s.
TAPLIN'S  first book, "The Narrinyeri" [The Ngarrindjeri"]​
​was one of the first books in Australia on Aboriginal Culture, written in 1874.   It also covers the language, its grammar and some vocabulary. 

Point McLeay letter-books
 The superintendents at Point McLeay kept copies of all of their letters, the usual practice of the day.  They provide a picture of day-to-day life and operations of the Mission.  
THESE LETTERS OUT ILLUSTRATE THE EVERYDAY NATURE OF LIFE AND WORK ON A NINETEENTH-CENTURY MISSION.   AS WELL, THEY CONTAIN A WEALTH OF INFORMATION ABOUT MANY ABORIGINAL PEOPLE AT THIS PARTICULAR COMMUNITY.

POINT MCLEAY LETTER-BOOK, 1879-1884

Point McLeay Letter-Book, 1888-1892

Point McLeay Letter-Book 1892-1899


Index of Aboriginal people mentioned in the Letter-Books:
Combined INDEX of people mentioned in Taplin's Journal AND the Pt McLeay Letter-Books.


Movements to and from Point McLeay School, 1880-1960
Taplin had the School up and running in 1860 and it came under Education Department supervision from about 1880.  A total of about 800 children attended the school between 1880 and the 1960s.   About 20 came from outside regions in those eighty years, and about 45 were taken away into temporary care, sometimes for six months, sometimes longer, but all but one child returned to Raukkan.
Readers can make up their own minds from these maps and tables whether Aboriginal people were ever 'herded onto missions', by the one-man Department, or whether 'countless numbers of children were removed from families' and taken to missions, at least in South australia.  I couldn't possibly comment.    
Notice the massive movements to and from the school between 1940 and the late fifties as families moved away for work in country towns;  then movement only from the settlement and school;  until in the sixties, movement more or less ceases.