Women at Ebenezer and Ernabella Missions: a personal perspective

Abstract

In this article I draw attention to two shortcomings relating to women in the presentation of mission history. First, more attention has been given to male missionaries than to their female colleagues. Second, women missionaries have suffered the same stereotyping as men in many references to their work. My focus is on the contribution of women missionaries and their Indigenous female co-workers on two Aboriginal missions in Australia: Ebenezer, a Moravian mission in Victoria in the nineteenth century and Ernabella, a Presbyterian mission in South Australia. To overcome the distortions arising from the aforementioned stereotypes, attention is given to the close daily interaction of women missionaries and the Aboriginal women who worked with them in schools, hospitals, craft rooms and homes. Similarities and differences between the two missions are identified, as are ways in which women missionaries were unequally treated in contrast to the conditions under which males served. Despite this discrimination, I conclude that the women missionaries referred to were more than equal to the tasks allotted to them.