Pirlangimpi

History

Pirlangimpi lies from the site of the first British settlement in northern Australia, the short-lived Fort Dundas. The present settlement, then called Garden Point, was established in 1937 as a police post, because of concerns about the activities of Japanese luggers. Beginning in 1937, so-called "incorrigible natives" (Aboriginal people) were taken from their families and sent to Garden Point from Darwin to be supervised by a "Control Officer". In 1939 the newly established Native Affairs Branch started negotiations with various missions to assume responsibility for those children considered to be "half-caste" (part-Aboriginal) currently in the government reserves at Kahlin Compound in Darwin and The Bungalow in Alice Springs. It was decided that a Catholic mission would be established at Garden Point for these children. The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart looked after the boys and the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart took care of the girls. Dormitories for boys and girls were completed by 1941, with the boys brought in first to help with the building work. There were 15 girls brought from the mainland, and another 14 transferred from the Bathurst Island Mission, all between 18 months and 14 years old. A school for children between 5 and 17 was established. Three Norm Smith Medalists – Maurice Rioli, Michael Long and Cyril Rioli – were raised at the mission at Pirlangimpi. Marjorie Liddy, who grew up on the mission, provided an image that was widely used in Pope Benedict XVI's visit to World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney. Garden Point Mission was mentioned in the Bringing Them Home Report (1997), the result of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families.

Most-observed species

• Typhonium mirabile (A.Hay) A.Hay

  Typhonium mirabile (A.Hay) A.Hay · Liliopsida
  66
• Hairy fountain grass

  Cenchrus pedicellatus (Trin.) Morrone · Liliopsida
  33
• northern brown bandicoot

  Isoodon macrourus (Gould, 1842) · Mammalia
  29
• Calopo

  Calopogonium mucunoides Desv. · Magnoliopsida
  20
• Common Wireweed

  Sida acuta Burm.fil. · Magnoliopsida
  19
• Black-footed Mesembriomys

  Mesembriomys gouldii (Gray, 1843) · Mammalia
  17
• Pignut

  Mesosphaerum suaveolens (L.) Kuntze · Magnoliopsida
  17
• Masked Lapwing

  Vanellus miles (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  17

Most recent

• M 4.2 — 2002-11-01
  92 km NW of Wurrumiyanga, Australia