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Reverend H E Warren in 1913. Joynt was no leader and welcomed Warren’s appointment as superintendent of
the mission.
Joynt worked faithfully at the Roper Mission throughout most of the years of the First World War and did not
take his second furlough until January 1918. While in the south he was made deacon by the Bishop of Bendigo, for
the Bishop of Carpentaria, at St Paul’s Bendigo, on 15 September 1918.
On his third tour from September 1918 until January 1921 Joynt saw the consolidation of the work at Roper,
and joined in the planning for the second mission for the half-castes to be started on Groote Eylandt. He returned
from his furlough in March 1921. On 1 December 1921 he was ordained priest in Christ Church, Darwin by
Henry Newton the Bishop of Carpentaria. The journey from Roper to Darwin and return for the service was 1379
kilometres, during which he travelled 722 kilometres on horseback and 657 kilometres by train.
During his furlough in 1923 Joynt took with him Timothy Hampton, a half-caste helper whom he had adopted.
Timothy was very well received by CMS supporters in the south. On their return, he married Timothy to another
half-caste, Sarah Johnson, in St Catherine’s Church, Roper River on 15 January 1924. Alf Dyer gave the bride
away and Esther and Naomi, two fellow confirmees, were bridesmaids. Timothy and Sarah then became the first
full-time non-European staff members at the mission.
At the beginning of 1928, the Roper Mission began to pass through very difficult times. The rains had failed
and the gardens were not producing food. The general tone of the place was poor. Joynt felt that Warren, who was
in charge of both the Emerald River Mission on Groote Eylandt and also Roper, was not giving sufficient time and
help to the latter. As a result, he and Timothy Hampton resigned. Joynt withdrew his resignation several months
later, and Hampton the following year. Joynt carried on the work but he was long overdue for furlough.
In order to relieve the staffing crisis Messrs Kenneth Griffiths and Keith Langford Smith agreed to staff
Roper for twelve months, enabling Joynt to take his furlough. When he arrived back in the south, the CMS agreed
to allow him to take two years’ leave in England. While there, he resigned from the Society as at 30 April 1930.
In accepting the resignation, the CMS expressed its gratitude for the twenty years’ excellent service that Joynt had
given to the Aboriginal people in north Australia.
Joynt continued to minister as an Anglican clergyman in England until his death in 1946. In his will,
he bequeathed the whole of his estate for the support of a CMS male missionary at Roper.
K Cole, Roper River Mission 1908–1968, 1969; CMS Records, Melbourne.
KEITH COLE, Vol 1.