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Nan told me that in her day so much of what happened in Australia was still decided in London. One can imagine the ecclesiastical tones of men of religion who gathered by the Thames to consider the future of our people. Although much of this is anecdotal, the evidence suggests that their knowledge of indigenous Australians was at best, superficial. Their views having been fermented by traditional church morality, perhaps tempered in the teeming cities of pre-partition India, and much vindicated by a belief in white superiority that had been further encouraged by their experience in Africa.
For in the traditional way of missionary societies, it was decided to send the Reverend Michael Whiteside and his family to Australia, where he was to report on the state of the church’s work amongst
