2011 - Theses - Flinders University

White Lives in a Black Community: The lives of Jim Page and Rebecca Forbes in the Adnyamathanha communityTracy SpencerVolume One Creative Writing Component: Excerpted Chapters from Volume Three Appendix Onefor what the mission needed, he fronted McLachlan’s allegations and defended the honestyand honour of the community members. He managed government monies and schooling andquarrels in the camp. Along with Ted Coulthard and others, Fred turned the barityes mineinto an enterprise until he had regular orders, three utilities and the young women of theMission lined up under the lean-to verandah along the church sewing up bags of dirt to sendto Adelaide. A row of prefabricated cottages called Eaton’s row or the Rainbow cottagesstood tribute to his endeavours to improve the standard of housing at the mission. Mr Eatonwas the presence of authority at Nepabunna for two decades, and it had not always been easy.Ken McKenzie had told me once,I was always also told that Mr. Eaton got upset once and he felt like taking his life as well.But like Harold Wilton said “Oh, Mr. Eaton, you can’t do this: think about Jesus. Who’sgoing to look after us?” Then he walked around and he said “I might as well be dead”, youknow. But Harold Wilton said to him “No Mr. Eaton, don’t do this because you knowyou’ve got to look after us: who’s going to be looking [after us]?” Then he walked backand he said “I’m sorry, you know. I guess I’m just miss my brother so much”. But Mr.Eaton: I liked Mr. Eaton a lot, you know…he preached the gospel. He used to preachabout hell and all this! Used to really say “If you don’t give your life to the Lord you’ll bejudged”, eh? But it was good because it stirred a lot people up, and he preached well, Mr.Eaton. But I had a lot of time for Mr. Eaton. 227Enis, still a child in the 1950s, continued,This is my personal feeling: I thought he was the only one that knew how to run a SundaySchool…and then when Mr. Hathaway came along and we went to Sunday School itwasn’t the same, until we got used to it, of course. But it wasn’t right. Yes, oh you knowAboriginal people are very forgiving and very unforgiving, you know. Like Mr. Eaton, heshould never of left, he should of stopped there till the day they died…Yes they were likefamily in the mission.158