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Filipinos, the only labour he could muster in Darwin, he landed at Nguiu on Bathurst Island. He had chosen a spot
opposite Joe Cooper’s camp.
It was a prudent as well as picturesque choice, for Nguiu on ‘No Man’s Land’ was neutral territory and
Father Gsell knew enough about Aboriginal law to count this as a bonus. At the time Joe Cooper’s Iwaidja buffalo
shooters were threatening the Bathurst Islanders. Joe had hired them to shoot buffalo but they were also after local
women. Christopher (Foxy) Tipungwuti reported that Father Gsell was initially regarded as a potential protector,
which explains why the Tiwi allowed him to land and build a hut, whilst making no immediate contact. The priest
made quite an impressive figure with his short yet powerful build, clear grey eyes, broad forehead, heavily moulded
features and fine, long beard. The watching tribesmen nicknamed him ‘Tirninia’ or ‘Whiskers’, and observed him
perform a new kind of corroboree as he celebrated his first mass at his camp on 8 June 1911. Father Gsell later
noted that the day coincided with the Feast Day of the Sacred Heart.
Gsell was to remain on Bathurst Island for 27 years and regarded the history of the mission as falling into two
distinct categories. The first period (1911–1921) was one of establishment. Toward the end of this period he made
a brief return visit to his homeland, France. The second period (1922–1938) was one of growth and consolidation
He was ultimately ordained the Northern Territory’s first bishop and returned to the mainland. Father Gsell’s
memoirs, afterwards published as The Bishop with 150 Wives, provide the sole source of historical information
for the early years of the mission. He admits to being lonely and rather frightened, before Father Kegis Courbon,
another Frenchman, arrived in 1912. Tall and handsome, quick to learn the native tongue and an expert fisherman,
Father Courbon was greatly admired and was soon offered a wife. The Tiwi were very puzzled when he refused
but thought the problem solved when the Sisters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart arrived about 1913. They were
surely the wives of the priests, although it was a mystery why they chose to live apart from them. The sisters were
highly regarded by the islanders, who then allowed their own children to attend the mission. Father Gsell described
them as ‘the pillars of the station’. Father Henschke, the first Australian-born missionary to come to the islands,
replaced Father Courbon in 1915. He too was a tall impressive figure, who helped Father Gsell establish a saw
mill and later, when the mission acquired a boat, St Francis, to conduct a cypress pine industry between Bathurst
and the mainland. Together the two priests survived the war years and the cyclone of 1919 until Father Henschke,
like Father Courbon before him, was forced to leave the mission because of ill health. He left in 1922.
Despite his praise for his colleagues, there is no doubt that Father Gsell was the mainstay of the mission
during that first testing 10-year period. Christian penetration was slow, but this missionary had endless patience
and perseverance. He readily acknowledged the deeply spiritual nature of the Tiwi people and the complexity
of their tribal customs. However, the rigid laws regarding the status of Tiwi women had created problems for
Christianity from the outset, most notably the system of arranged marriages. A young girl, Martina, who was
educated at the mission, ran away when her elderly tribal husband Merapanui came for her. She appealed to the
mission for protection and, a few days later, Father Gsell found himself confronted by Merapanui and his tribe.
Gsell negotiated an overnight stay and next morning greeted his guests with a long table of tempting goods. Father
Gsell proceeded to solve the mission’s most serious problem by what Father Flynn described as ‘a neat piece of
supersalesmanship’. He ‘bought’ Martina who was at once regarded by the Tiwi as his legitimate wife.
Father Gsell’s policy of buying young native girls for the mission, hence the title ‘the Bishop with 150 wives’,
had profound effects on his missionary activities on Bathurst Island between 1922 and 1938. Old customs were
maintained but the women generally enjoyed greater freedom. It also tended to change the lives of the young
men, particularly those baptised as Catholics. For the first time Tiwi men could wed single women of their own
choice and generation. In his own day Bishop Gsell became a controversial figure but when asked to ‘please
explain’ by church and state, he emerged with flying colours. Recently he has at times been condemned for his
lack of understanding and sympathy for the Tiwi culture. It is true he often referred to the Tiwi as ‘simple souls’,
‘primitive men’ even ‘savages’ with ‘bestial customs’. However, in the context of his time, his tone was one of care
and concern, certainly not derision.
From 1922–27, Father Gsell was alone on Bathurst Island except for three sisters and Alphonso, captain of
the mission boat, St Francis. He emphasised the good care the Tiwi took of him: ‘the behaviour of my flock was
exemplary...’ His agricultural policy was working efficiently and the crops from the gardens produced well above
local needs. Likewise the timber industry flourished. Friesian cattle were also introduced and a dairy started.
From 1927 to 1937 were years of continued material progress, with more houses being constructed as the mission
village grew. The mission gained a reservoir, an aerodrome, a new church, school and hospital. Father Gsell
praised the work of two lay missionaries, Pat Richie and Peter de Heyer.
On the spiritual side, conversion to Catholicism remained slow. Hope obviously lay with the young people
and future generations. Father Gsell constantly praised the loyalty and integrity of the young Christian converts.
There is a tone of wry affection in his comments about some of the older people. He accepted the futility of trying
to convert them, offering instead companionship and comfort in times of illness.
In 1936 Bathurst Island Mission celebrated its Silver Jubilee and Father Gsell was made an Officer of the Order
of the British Empire (OBE) for his work with the Tiwi people. As he approached his 66th birthday, his career as
an ordinary missionary came to an end. In 1938 he was nominated by the Holy See as Bishop for the Northern
Territory, still known as the Diocese of Victoria and Palmerston. Humble in his acceptance, Francis Xavier Gsell
asked to be created Bishop of Darwin. His request was granted and on 5 June 1938 he was consecrated at Randwick,
Sydney. With a touch of French whimsy, he recalled that at the reception that followed the guest he was most
pleased to encounter was a Mr Pickford, one of the three gentlemen who had greeted him when he arrived in Port
Darwin in 1906.