Lake Condah Aboriginal Mission - Victoria - Ghost Towns on Waymarking.com

1860
A Central Board to Watch Over the Interests of the Aboriginal People in the Colony of Victoria was established. It would continue, in various forms, to control every aspect of Indigenous people’s lives in this state for the next hundred years. The Board was comprised of male pastoralists, philanthropists, government and church officials.

1869
The Victorian Colonial Government gazetted 2,043 acres of land for the Lake Condah Aboriginal Reserve and the Church of England Mission set up the station under the auspices of the Central Board.

1870
The Lake Condah Mission School opened. The school wasn’t closed until 1948, even though the station closed in 1919.

1883
The Lake Condah Mission Station bluestone church, St Mary’s Church of England, was completed, built by the Koorie people of the mission. It was destroyed in 1957, with the use of explosives, when the remaining residents of Lake Condah were expelled from the mission site.

1886
The Victorian Colonial Government passed an amended Act to Provide for the Protection and Management of the Aboriginal Natives of Victoria that stated that only ‘full-blood’ Aboriginal people and ‘half-caste’ Aboriginal people over the age of 34 were entitled to government assistance on Aboriginal reserves. The Government implemented the Act in January 1890 with the purpose of eventually closing down all missions and reserves in the state. The Act resulted in many Aboriginal people and families being forced off the missions and reserves, dividing families and communities.

1913
The Mission Station Manager, Reverend Stahle retired and the Mission became a Government Station.

1919
The Board for the Protection of the Aborigines closed Lake Condah Station, but Koorie people continued to live on the Station until the 1950s.

1951
The Victorian State Government handed over nearly all of the Lake Condah Reserve to the Soldier Settlement Commission to give farm lots to soldiers returned from World War Two. This land was not available to Koorie returned servicemen and women, of whom there were many from Lake Condah.

Information was taken from the Australian Broadcasting Commission website (visit link) March 10, 2010

Reason for Abandonment: Economic Date Abandoned: 01/01/1919 Related Web Page: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
Please include a unique picture or two with your log if possible.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.