Katrina MCDOUGALL & Krystel HILL
Finniss Springs, located south of the Oodnadatta Track some 50km west of Marree, has a fascinating and unique story to tell. This pastoral station was established at the site in 1922 by Francis Dunbar Warren (the youngest son of well connected politician and pastoralist Scotsman, John Warren of Anna Creek), and his partner Bill Wood. F D Warren married an Arabana woman, and with their 7 children lived at the site until his death in 1958. More than 100 aborigines lived or camped at Finniss Springs, and at a time when aboriginal and part aboriginal children were taken away from their parents, Warren refused to allow the Finniss Springs children to be removed. In 1939 he agreed to the United Aboriginal Mission establishing a church, school and other facilities adjacent to his station complex, thus establishing a safe environment for the Arabana people. All the station children's births were registered and individual bank accounts were set up for aboriginal station workers, both unique steps for the time. At Finniss Springs, Aboriginal families could live together, find part time employment on the Pastoral Station, and children receive both traditional and European education.
Finniss Springs Mission is of special interest for two reasons: it commenced as a private rather than a government or church initiative, and it is remembered with great affection by former and still surviving Aboriginal residents, unlike most other mission settlements. Warren was pivotal to its success, and the mission closed two years after his death. The site, a symbol of reconciliation of Aboriginal and European worlds, is now under the control of the Marree Arabana Peoples Committee.
This paper will present the story of this unique and very remote site, and discuss the myriad challenges of future management, including lack of water, appropriate conservation and interpretation and visitor safety.