Statement by MSC Provincial Chris McPhee  Garden Point Mission – Melville Island

• Class Action Completed

Today completed a class action by Indigenous Australians who were brought to Garden Point Mission on Melville Island.

The class action was against the:

• Commonwealth Government;
• Darwin Diocese;
• Missionaries of the Sacred Heart; and,
• Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

• An Apology

The process finished with the Provincial of the MSC’s, Chris McPhee, and the Provincial of the OLSH, Philippa Murphy, and a representative from the Commonwealth Government, speaking to the claimants and family members personally, to deliver their apology.

Chris anticipated that an apology would take place at a later date, however, they were asked to speak this morning, so Chris spoke spontaneously and a paraphrase of what he said is as follows.

We, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, have been in the Northern Territory since 1906.

I am Chris McPhee, and I am the Provincial of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. I joined the MSC in 1992, and I was proud of our history here in the Northern Territory.

In reading your stories over the last two years I can say personally that I am ashamed of what has happened in our Australian history and of how we, MSC, were complicit in this event. I am also ashamed of the behaviour of some of our men who worked at Garden Point mission. Today, I feel very sad and emotional and on our behalf I am sorry. I also want to thank those of you who have had the courage to come forward and to shed a light on this dark page of Australian history – for this I say thank you.

We are Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, and today we want to, hopefully, walk together, with our hearts on the outside (as he pointed to his heart) – hand in hand. To journey together into the future as one heart. 

• Media Statement

GARDEN POINT MEDIA STATEMENT

Parties, including Slater and Gordon Lawyers, for the claimants, the Catholic Diocese of Darwin, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Our Lady of the Sacred Hearts Sisters and the Commonwealth of Australia have met in Darwin over the last three days to resolve claims brought by a number of Indigenous Australians who between 1942 and 1969 were placed as infants, children and adolescents into the Garden Point Mission on Melville Island.

Today represents the conclusion of two years of investigation, discovery and research into those circumstances and what happened to those Indigenous children.

The circumstances that prevailed during that time, do not require mention. What has been acknowledged by all the parties is an overwhelming desire to recognize and address, through an appropriate resolution and access to justice, what occurred in the past.

The claims have been resolved. That resolution has been achieved through overwhelming cooperation on behalf of all parties to ensure that justice was bestowed in the right way. This resolution process involved a meeting between survivors, church representatives and the commonwealth which brought with it a level of validation, apology and remorse.

Today is symbolic for many of the Indigenous who spent time at Garden Point. Their circumstances have been acknowledged and this brings, as best as it can be a conclusion to what was a difficult and traumatic period in their lives.