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up as many Aborigines as possible, the demonstrations at the entrance to Government House were noisy affairs.
The Aborigines were, however, not allowed to present the petition to Princess Margaret.
The election of a federal Labor government in 1972 raised the hopes of many Aborigines regarding land rights.
The Land Rights Commission and Justice Woodward visited Kulaluk. The original land claim at Kulaluk was
extended from 1,6 hectares to 160 hectares, space that would allow for hunting and fishing. The claim also listed
other lands to be returned to the Aboriginal people, including Goondal, a sacred area on Emery Point, Bagot and
Old Man Rock. Notices were put up at Kulaluk announcing that the land was under claim. The first lot of notices
was pulled down, and several members of Gwalwa Dariniki were threatened with violence. Over the following
weeks, developers made several attempts to start laying roads and building at the Kulaluk site. As fast as the
pegs were laid down the Aborigines removed them. After a particularly heated confrontation, Secretary, Fred
Fogarty and David Daniels were arrested. Secretary was fined 16 Dollars. The violence continued, with the federal
government holding off on making a decision.
The battle for Kulaluk was a long one. It was not until 23 August 1979 that a Special Purpose Lease was
granted, giving the Gwalwa Daraniki Association rights to the land. Amongst the names of those who endorsed the
new Kulaluk lease were Bobby Secretary, Kathleen Secretary and Topsy Secretary.
Bobby Secretary died on 11 November 1984. His wife Bessie, who had been deeply involved in the fight for
Kulaluk, had died four years earlier. There were no children of the marriage. On 20 November, Secretary was
buried in the traditional burial ground at Kulaluk.
C Buchanan, We Have Bugger All!, 1974; Northern Territory News, 1971–1984.
EVE GIBSON, Vol 2.
SHANKELTON, AMELIA NELLIE (1902–1990), book keeper and missionary, was born in Marrickville,
New South Wales, on 4 June 1902, the eldest of five children of William David Shankelton, a salesman, and his
wife Mary Ellen, nee Sprague. Her father died when she was 10 years old. After his death, Mary Shankelton, an
experienced businesswoman, carried on as sole parent supporting the family as a storekeeper. The family were
members of Saint Mark’s Church of England, Marrickville, and from an early age Amelia, then known to family
and friends as ‘Millie’, attended the Petersham School in Sydney. She left school in 1916 to attend the Stott and
Underwood Business College, also in Sydney, in preparation for a commercial career, chiefly in book keeping.
Her first job after leaving Business College was with the bakery company, Gartrell White. During this period,
Shankelton’s interest in missionary work found her aspirations turning to China and in her late teens she was
attending evening classes in preparation for work in that country. At this time, she also changed her employment
and began work at the city markets where she hoped to become better acquainted with the Chinese people and their
ways. However, in 1927, when 25 years old, she attended a public meeting in Sydney held by the Aboriginal Inland
Mission of Australia (AIM). It was whilst at this meeting that Shankelton ‘felt the call of God’ to work among
Australian Aborigines. She was hesitant at first to pursue this calling as she was aware of the family responsibilities
that weighed heavily upon her being the eldest. Her mother, however, was supportive and encouraging of her
calling, qualities she retained throughout Shankelton’s life in the Northern Territory. Shankelton was accepted as
a probationary missionary in March 1927, and later that year began a six-month probationary course at Erambi
Reserve near Cowra in New South Wales. After 12 months, she was transferred to Woorabinda Aboriginal Reserve
in Queensland where she remained engaged for five years in all facets of church work; organising women’s and
men’s meetings and preaching. In 1932, Shankelton was transferred by the AIM to Cherbourg in Queensland.
She remained at Cherbourg for the next five and a half years until 1940. In keeping with the AIM motto, ‘Our God
is Able’, AIM missionaries were guaranteed a field of service but did not receive either salaries or allowances.
In July 1940, Amelia Shankelton and four other female AIM missionaries arrived in Darwin in response to
increasing calls for women to work among the ‘coloured’ women there. They first took up residence in the mission
house on, the site of the old aeroplane runway, then later they moved to Berrimah, a suburb on the outskirts of
Darwin. Later still Amelia lived briefly at Delissaville, an Aboriginal community across the harbour from Darwin.
The missionaries established Sunday schools, organised church meetings among the people of the Police Paddock,
a suburb close to the town centre, and at Bagot Compound, built in 1939 to house Aboriginal people transferred
after the close of the Kahlin Compound, and at Channel Island, where the hospital for Hansens disease (leprosy)
patients was located. Her work in these widely dispersed locations meant on at least one occasion employing the
services of an Aboriginal helmsman to cross the harbour in a dug out canoe.
In 1939, the Minister for the Interior, John McEwen, announced his ‘new deal’ for Aborigines, a policy which
abandoned protectionist policies in favour of assimilation. As a result, Shankelton was requested by the Native
Affairs Branch to look after six young part Aboriginal women and their children who, for various reasons, could
not be placed with the more established missions. Similarly, at Delissaville, and again at the behest of the Native
Affairs Branch, she became responsible for the care of twenty children in transit prior to their resettlement at
Croker Island.
Later, in December 1941, following the order to evacuate Darwin upon the threat of Japanese invasion,
Shankelton and a fellow missionary, Mary Beasley, were requested by the Native Affairs Branch to accompany
87 Aboriginal women and children to South Australia. The party left under military escort by train, bus and truck
for Alice Springs, where more women and children from the Alice Springs area joined it. It left Alice Springs
by train for Adelaide. The group was accommodated in a farmhouse at Balaklava, about 60 kilometres outside
Adelaide. The farmhouse, owned by a Mr Saint, meant that henceforth Shankelton and her group became known
locally as the ‘Saints of Balaklava’. The group under Shankelton’s care arrived back in Darwin in May 1946.