Mr & Mrs T. E. ColebrookPrint Page

The Colebrook Memorial Aboriginal Evangelist Church was named in honour of Mr and Mrs T. E. Colebrook who did much for the aboriginal people.

Mr Thomas Edward Colebrook was well known as a lay worker in the Methodist Church. For 30 years he was intimately associated with mission work among the Australian aborigines. Mr Colebrook also served as an Alderman in the Leichhardt and Allendale municipalities and was twice Mayor of Allendale.

"You have taken our country from us. Give us Christ, and we shall be satisfied." Thus spoke John Bundy, a deformed aboriginal, who lived in a miserable humpy but who was instrumental in having a little mission church erected on tne South Coast. Though Bundy has been dead for many years, the significance of his words found new expression in a ceremony at La Perouse yesterday, for at a time when the nation was celebrating the anniversary of the first white settlement in Australia survivors of the race which that settlement doomed virtually to extinction opened in their reserve a tiny wooden church. Known as the Colebrook Memorial Church, in honour of the late Mr. and Mrs. T. E. Colebrook, who did much for the natives, the edifice might also be regarded as a memorial to a vanlshlng race. Though whites and natives rejoiced together at the opening of the church and sang "Blessed be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love," It was impossible to escape the underlying note of tragedy, however subdued.

The president of the United Aborigines Mission (the Rev. E. J. Telfer), the Rev. A. W. Setchell, Mr. James Page (whose mission has led him to the great arid heart of the continent), Miss H. Baker, and Mr. L. H. J. White (resident missionaries), and many other white people participated with their dark-eyed brethren in the ceremony. There were many affectionate references to pioneer mission workers, including the old native queen, Emma Timbery. After a humble beginning in the latter part of the last century, their efforts prepared the way for the present Commonwealth-wide organisation.
The Sydney Morning Herald, 12th May 1928.
 

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