Ceremony marks churches’ 100-year association

The Mowanjum Uniting Church community marked its 100-year association with the Presbyterian Church with reflections and ceremony at both the old and new Mowanjum Community sites.

The relationship, which continues to the present day, was formed with the establishment of the Kunmunya Mission in 1912 and continued as the people were moved to Wotjulum, on the Kimberley Coast, then onto Old Mowanjum in the mid-1950s, where they stayed till the late 1970s.

The Mowanjum Council was formed in 1974 and the people were once again moved by the Government to their current community site in 1980, to make way for an expansion of the Derby airport.

Last Saturday afternoon, members of the Mowanjum Uniting Church community were joined by elderly Mowanjum residents of Numbala Nunga and Perth-based Uniting Church congregations, at the site of Old Mowanjum.

A smoking ceremony was held to clear the spirits and afterwards the people reflected on relationships between the church, the people of the three tribes, Worrorra, Ngarinyin and Wunumbal, who now reside at Mowanjum, and their relationship with the changes they have endured over the past century.

After sunset, as the older people enjoyed a community dinner at New Mowanjum Church, 30 excited and proud young Mowanjum people were transformed by ochre and totems, as they danced a traditional Junba, sung by elder Janet Oombagooma and Ngarinyin song man Mathew Martin.