What is it about?
First Australians have been subjected to diverse forms of legislative mistreatment since colonial settlement, and Christian communities have been sometimes more, sometimes less complicit in the enactment of these policies. Cruickshank and Grimshaw carefully trace the conflicting and conflicted roles of white women in the context of colonial Australia, particularly in their roles on Aboriginal missions (on which First Nations people were mandated to live, particularly in south-eastern Australia). This article offers a review that traces key themes of Cruickshank and Grimshaw's book.
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Why is it important?
It is essential for Christian communities to understand the ways in which relationships between Indigenous peoples and churches have unfolded since the colonial settlement of Australia—particularly if they want to engage meaningfully with First Australians now towards recognition and reconciliation. Christians too, need to develop critical thinking skills that can hold complexities and tensions, rather than reverting to simplistic, binary analyses and responses to historical situations. Cruickshank and Grimshaw demonstrate these critical capacities, coupled with sensitivity and research insights. Their characters are not villains or victims, but women in difficult circumstances who raise key ethical questions about our behaviours now.
Perspectives
I found Cruickshank and Grimshaw's book a meaningful, skilfully written book. It highlights the agency and tensions faced by Aboriginal people at the hands of non-Aboriginal, Christian women, and it addresses the way in which white women were caught between (male) governments, (often male) Church institutions and their sense of religious conviction in responding to the circumstances of colonial Australia. I highly recommend the book for anyone interested in Australian history, Church history and history of missions, the relationship between First Nations peoples and religious organisations, and historical works that bring women to the foreground.
Sarah Bacaller
Western Sydney University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: White Women, Aboriginal Missions and Australian Settler Governments: Maternal Contradictions, written by Joanna Cruickshank and Patricia Grimshaw, Mission Studies, February 2022, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/15733831-12341834.
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