Carrolup Aboriginal Cemetery

Statement of Significance

The place is significant as the gazetted burial site in the district.

Physical Description

An unknown number of burials took place here from those confined at the Carrolup Native
Settlement some 3kms to the south across the Carrolup River. The site comprising a fenced
reserve in light sandy soil is about 200 metres west of Cemetery Road and 0.8 km north of the
junction of Cemetery and River Roads. It is marked with a timber sign.

History

The 1905 Act played an important part in downgrading conditions of the South West Aborigines.
Farmers continued to employ Aborigines for clearing and other work without permits as they had
always done. The Act was first seriously applied to rural Aborigines in the South West in 1911,
the first bad year of drought in the newly opened wheatbelt and hence a time when work was
more than usually hard to find. Their children were refused entry to the local schools after
complaints from white parents and the severe drought of 1914 further exasperated matters. The
shortage of water increased the difficulty of Aboriginal parents living in unsanitary humpies, in
sending their children to school in an acceptable state of cleanliness.
In Katanning, a school had been started in 1912 as part of the Australian Aborigines Mission. For
the local white residents this proved all too successful. Aboriginal families came from miles
around - the expelled famihes from the Mt Barker School, others from Tambellup, Gnowangerup
and Wagin - and camped on the outskirts of town so that their children could be educated. The
Minister, after a visit to Katanning in 1913 said: "The Aborigines constitute a nuisance and their
presence is a menace to the morals of the youth of Katanning, " and urged his cabinet colleagues
to support the removal of them to a reserve well away from the town. In June 1914 the
Government decided that funds could not be found for the establishment of a mission at Carrolup,
with the drOought, and being an election year there were other more pressing priorities. With the
coming of summer the police decided not to wait for a favourable Government decision about
Carrolup. They simply rounded up the Katanning Aborigines and dumped them there. The fait
accompli was accepted and Carrolup was established as a departmental settlement.
Chief Protector Neville persuaded the Government to set up a second reserve at Moore River in
1918. However the pressure of finance compelled the closure of Carrolup in 1922. The Mosely
Royal Commission in 1934 was critical of the conditions and disciplinary practices at Moore
River. Attempts were made to improve the conditions at the settlement and in 1940 Carrolup was
re-opened. The appointment of Noel White as Superintendent brought a new understanding of
problems of the children. He encouraged the stories of tribesmen of the older days and men like
Wylie and Winditch. Songs, traditional dances, art and bushcraft were encouraged.
A report in 1948 by FE Bateman, a special magistrate sent to survey the position at Carrolup
found that the teaching here had attained a standard not seen elsewhere in the native schools and
was largely due to the excellent methods adopted by White. Mr Bateman said that the artwork
was remarkable, being very much advanced on white standards. At that time the population of the
settlement was 163 which included 103 children. Children from the settlement gained world
attention following an exhibition of Australian Aboriginal children's art at Foyle's Art Gallery in
London presented by Mrs Florence Rutter.
However these new opportunities for Aboriginal children at Carrolup were to be shortlived and
the school was closed at the end of 1950. The area was later to become the Marribank Mission
run by the Baptist Church.

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