Parts of Western Australia’s Indigenous community are grieving after a bushfire destroyed sections of the historic Mogumber Mission, formerly known as the Moore River Native Settlement, where members of the Stolen Generation were once institutionalised.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services confirmed that seven buildings, including the old church, were lost in the blaze at the site, located about 120 kilometres north of Perth.
Yued woman Stephanie Mippy, whose traditional country surrounds the mission, described the destruction as heartbreaking. “It’s like someone desecrating your house and burning your house down with everything in it. That’s our connection; to lose that connection, when a lot of people lost connection to culture from being placed there, is so upsetting,” she said.
Mippy’s grandparents were among those removed from their families and taken to the mission. She said elders are devastated, as the site represented a link to their families and history. The fire also damaged a cemetery where many of her relatives were buried. “Some graves were known because of tree landmarks but now, if that is all gone, they aren’t going to know where their loved ones are,” she explained.
Despite the sorrow, Mippy recalled a 2018 reunion of Stolen Generation survivors at Mogumber Mission, which helped reclaim the site with joyful memories. “They’re not just survivors, they’re heroes in my eyes. The smiles on their faces when they reunited up there said it all,” she said.
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