Reverend John B. Gribble & Robert LedgerPrint Page

The plaque commemorates Reverend John Gribble, founder of the Warangesda Mission and Robert Ledger, the store keeper at the Mission. It was installed in the Mission Church in 1893 and removed to St Paul`s when the mission closed in 1925.

The Reverend John Brown Gribble, a miner who became a missionary, was deeply affected by his observation of the exploitation of Aboriginal women in the Riverina area of New South Wales in the early 1870s. This led him to set up a dormitory for women and their children at Warangesda or 'Camp of Mercy' mission on the floodplain of the Murrumbidgee River.  

Gribble decided to leave his comfortable posting at Jerilderie and in 1880 arrived at a parcel of land on the Murrumbidgee which had been revoked from lease. Despite local opposition, he was granted the reserve, given permission to establish a government school for Aboriginal children, and paid a government teacher's salary.  The name for the mission was chosen around the fireside one evening, combining "Warang" the Wiradjuri word for "camp" and "esda", the last part of the scriptural "Bethesda" (Hebrew meaning "house of mercy").

By the end of 1880, Gribble was able to write a newspaper article describing the mission. At that stage, seven houses had been built inside the ten acre mission settlement, enclosed by a post and rail fence. There were 42 Aboriginal residents, of which two thirds were said to attend the school. All of the building work had been done by the Aboriginal men.

It is with deep regret that we learn from our Sydney files of the death of the Rev. John Brown Grlbble, who passed away a victim to the dread disease of consumption.The reverend gentleman may be said to have been the staunchest friend the Australian aboriginals ever had, as it was largely owing to the energy exercised on behalf of his stable and, whom he termed, his down-trodden brethren, that Mr, Gribble contracted the disease which ended his highly useful and self-sacrificing career. Referring to his death the Sydney Morning Herald states :— 'The death is announced of the Rev.J. B. Gribble, who has been closely identified with mission work among the aboriginals for some years past.

As the founder of Warrangesda Mission Station on the Murrumbidgee he was widely known in the colonies, and more recently as superintendent of Bellenden-Ker Aboriginal Mission, near Cairns, in Northern Queensland, under the control of the Australian Board of Missions. By the death of Mr. Gribble the aborigines have lost a friend, and one who in Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia, and Queensland devoted the best years of his life to their temporal and spiritual welfare. His decease took place at Marrackville on Saturday last, and was expected for some time.  He was relatively a young man, being in his 46th year. He leaves a widow and a family. A funeral service will be held at St. David's Church, Arthur-street, Surry Hills, at half-past 1 p.m., after which the interment will take place at the Waverley Cemetery.
Daily News (Perth, WA), 13 June 1893.

Robert Ledger Death 1885

Location

Details

Dedication