GROUP OF SCHOOL CHILDREN

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Subcollections

Overview

B & W photo.
The photo is in a poor state. A group of boys and girls in school uniform. Thirty nine appear to be of Aboriginal descent and one is of European descent. (seen to the lower left of Photo ).
Five younger girls are wearing pinafores, within their midst are 3 teachers, 1 man (wearing clerical collar) & 2 ladies.
All 3 are sitting in the centre of photo.
n the lower RH corner of photo, sitting between 2 pupils, there is a dog.
The front row boys are sitting on the floor & 2 more pupils are reclining on a mat.
The backdrop is a brick wall & 2 sash windows.

Historical information

It is possible the two women could be sisters Jane (Jenny) and Euphemia Mackintosh whose grandparents were on the first shipload of European settlers to the Swan River Colony and amongst the first non-Aboriginal families to settle in Toodyay.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-37-2001.1113

Item type

Photographs

Width

35 cm

Height or length

21 cm

Themes

Education

Contextual Information

It is not clear who the children are. Many Aboriginal children were sent to missions (such as Mogumber, New Norcia and Middle Swan ). If the women in the photograph are the Mackintosh sisters from Toodyay, then it is possible they may have been teaching at the nearest Protestant run Mission to their Toodyay home, in Middle Swan.
The Swan Native and Half-Caste Mission was run by the Anglican Church in Guildford (Middle Swan) from 1888 to 1920. It continued Bishop Hale's Institution for Native and Half-Caste Children (which had operated off St Georges Tce in Perth from 1871-1888). Aboriginal boys and girls were accommodated at the mission, in separate 'branches'. The boys' branch included non-Aboriginal boys by 1899, possibly earlier. The mission closed in 1920. (ref: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/guide/wa/WE00568#:~:text=The%20Swan%20Native%20and%20Half,%2C%20in%20separate%20'branches'.)

Primary significance criteria

Historic significance

Shire of Toodyay

Organisation Details
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