- page -
http://www.cdu.edu.au/cdupress
Go Back >> List of Entries
many occasions. The answer to this dilemma was resolved by the fact that he was unable to leave Groote until
October 1926 because of a severe shortage of staff. Dyer and his wife had been transferred to Oenpelli in 1925 to
start the new mission there. Other missionaries had their furlough to take. All this meant that Perriman could not
be spared. He had by now determined, however, that he would resign at the end of that tour.
On his return south in 1926, he put his resolution into action and resigned from the CMS. He purchased a
house for his mother so that she could have a permanent home and settled back into an engineering job for what he
thought was a permanent stay in the south. But this was not to be as within a year he found himself back on Groote
in the work, which although beset with many difficulties, was one that still lay very close to his heart.
Perriman returned to Groote initially on a year’s term of service that came as the result of a staffing crisis
that had arisen. Perriman accepted the invitation to accompany a new missionary, Ernest Wynne Evans and
help him settle into the work on the island. After doing this, he returned south, but in 1929 once again became a
CMS missionary for work among the Aborigines. The Society had now changed its policy from care of the part
Aborigines on Groote to that of all Aborigines there. This was more in line with Perriman’s views and he did not
have to face problems of discipline with young part-Aboriginal people he could not control. Warren had been
recalled and Perriman was placed in charge of the Emerald River Mission for the next three years. He was not a
leader, but was faithful and meticulous in what he did. During this time, the Roper River Mission went through a
very difficult period, culminating in a government board of enquiry in 1933.
Perriman’s fourth tour of service in Arnhem Land was highlighted by the CMS Peace Expedition of 1933 to
1934 (see Warren). This term of service demonstrated more than ever his continued faith and painstaking efforts
in the looking after of the Groote Eylandt mission in the face of great difficulty. On his return, he found that
Wynne Evans had been placed in charge. The latter, however, was killed on Central Hill on 15 November 1933
and Perriman was once again appointed Superintendent. The CMS supplied the mission with a pedal radio at this
time because of the tense situation connected with the Aboriginal killings. The use of this radio broke down the
isolation of the mission but also gave Perriman many extra hours of work. The arrival of Philip Taylor and his wife
in July 1936 enabled Perriman to take a well-earned furlough.
Perriman’s final term of mission in Arnhem Land lasted from October 1937 until October 1941. He spent about
half of this time at Oenpelli and the remaining half at Roper River. He was not in charge at either of these places,
but the contribution that he made as a mechanic, builder and general helper was of the greatest significance in
maintaining the ongoing life of these two places. Yet they were not easy years for him and he still experienced that
tension of obeying his calling to be a missionary and his personal obligations to his mother, with whom he had a
special relationship.
He resigned from the CMS on his return south. In its extensive minute of appreciation, the Society recorded its
deep appreciation of his 20 years’ faithful work ‘for the Aborigines and Half-castes in North Australia.’ It went on:
‘The contribution he made to our missions was of a unique character, for as a mechanic he possessed remarkable
skill which enabled him to render invaluable service at the three stations not only in the maintenance and repair
of all kinds of machinery, but also in building design and construction, and by means of the reliable advice he
supplied when occasion required...
But his ability was combined with a manner and personality which won for him the confidence and affection
of both Aborigines and Euralians [part-Aborigines] who profited greatly from his scrupulous honesty and fairness
in his dealings with them, as well as his never ending patience and cheerfulness.’
Yet his long service with the CMS was not undertaken without frequent frustration and continual personal
conflict. He referred to these tensions in his almost daily letters to his mother. His faithfulness to the task with the
ever-present burden of inward struggles is perhaps one of the major contributions that he made in his service in
the north, indicating the very human side of missionary work and the personal problems that missionaries usually
have to face.
Perriman married Rotha Mann in Melbourne on 18 December 1943 and from that time until his death in 1987
continued to have a deep and an abiding affection for the Aborigines of Arnhem Land.
K Cole, Perriman of Arnhem Land, 1973; records of the Church Missionary Society of Australia; personal papers of H L Perriman.
KEITH COLE, Vol 2.
PERRON, CHRISTABEL JOHANNA: see RODERICK, CHRISTABEL JOHANNA
PERRY, CONSTANTINE (CON) (also KHAN-PERI) (1900–1986), miner, businessman, pastoralist and
entrepreneur, was born in December 1900 at Tibilsa, Georgia, Russia, son of John Joseph Khanperi. Little is known
of his early life. It is said he jumped ship in Adelaide in 1919 after an argument with the bosun and was gaoled
as an undesirable alien. He was to have been deported but managed to evade the authorities. He worked as a road
worker, fettler, and shearer and at any other job he could find. There are two stories about his arrival in Tennant
Creek. One says that he came from Ceduna, in far western South Australia, where he had been a professional
fisherman for some time. The other story is more romantic; it was claimed that he arrived in the Tennant Creek
area as a bullock wagon driver, carrying beer and supplies. It is said that the town of Tennant Creek was founded
where a bullock wagon broke down, 11 kiometres south of the Telegraph Station. In his obituary published in the
Tennant Creek Times, the writer claims that Perry was the driver. Such is the fabric of Territory legends.
In 1930, Perry married Ellen Marion Bennett in Adelaide. By 1934 when the gold rush in Tennant Creek was
beginning they had three children and the family settled at the Three Thirty Mine, not far from what later became