Collection 4: Australian Board of Missions further records, 1873-1979, including papers of Reverend J. B. Gribble, Mary A. Gribble and Reverend E. R. B. Gribble

MLMSS 4503 ADD-ON 1822/Boxes 1-15, 17-58, 60-69
MLMSS 4503 ADD-ON 1822/Folder 59
MLMSS 4503 ADD-ON 1822/Box 16X

sub-fonds

1873-1979

Textual Records, Clippings, Photographs

887793

Partially Microfilmed : Selected items from Boxes 1 and 3
Partly Digitised : Selected folders from Boxes 11-13

11.74 metres of textual materials (67 boxes, 1 folder, 1 outsize box)

The Anglican Board of Mission (Australia) (ABM) was founded in Sydney in 1850. It is a mission agency of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia and was formerly known as the Australian Board of Missions.

In 1872 the Anglican Board of Mission was constituted formally as a Board of the Church, by a canon of General Synod. In the 1880s ABM supported missions to the indigenous people of Australia, and in 1891 sent the first Anglican missionaries to the island of New Guinea, which became established as a diocese within the Church of England in Australia. The Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea became an independent church in 1976.

The Anglican Board of Mission aims to meet the material, social and spiritual needs of indigenous communities in Australia and overseas. It engages not only in programs of evangelism and pastoral care, but also in projects that develop individuals and communities through health, education, agriculture and community development.

Reference:
The Anglican Board of Mission (Australia) http://www.abmission.org/about/history
(Accessed September 2013)

Ernest Richard Bulmer (Ernie) Gribble (1868-1957), Anglican missionary, was born on 23 November 1868 at Chilwell, Victoria, eldest of nine children of English-born parents John Brown Gribble, a miner who became a missionary, and his wife Mary Anne Elizabeth, née Bulmer. In January 1886 he went to Western Australia to help his father establish a mission on the Gascoyne River in the State's North-West. When the enterprise was abandoned, Ernie worked as a stockman and drover until parental pressure enticed him to accept the curacy of Tumbarumba, New South Wales. In 1892 he was summoned to help his ailing father at Yarrabah Aboriginal Mission, near Cairns, Queensland, and found himself in charge from 1894-1910 after his father died on 3 June 1893. Driven by filial obligation and guilt, Gribble reluctantly embraced a missionary career. He was made deacon on 21 December 1894 and ordained priest on 1 January 1899. He was rector of Gosford in 1911-14, head of the Forrest River Mission, Western Australia, in 1914-28, chaplain of the Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement in 1931-41 and canon of North Queensland diocese in 1941-57. In 1932 he published 'The Problem of the Australian Aboriginal' and in 1933 'A Despised Race: The Vanishing Aboriginals of Australia'. He was appointed O.B.E. in 1956.

Reference:
Australian Dictionary of Biography http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gribble-ernest-richard-bulmer-ernie-10367
(Accessed November 2013)

John Brown Gribble (1847-1893), missionary, was born on 1 September 1847 at Redruth, Cornwall, England. He arrived at Port Phillip in 1848 with his parents. They settled at Geelong where John was educated and on 4 February 1868 married Mary Ann Elizabeth Bulmer.

In October 1876 Gribble was admitted to the ministry of the United Free Methodist Church, but soon joined the Congregational Union of Victoria and became a home missionary at Rutherglen and Wahgunyah near the Murray River. His travels took him into the Riverina where he preached at Jerilderie, became its first resident missionary, had an encounter with the Kelly gang and made contact with the remnants of Aboriginal tribes.

In 1885 John Brown Gribble opened a mission on the Gascoyne River but was strongly opposed by settlers who exploited native labour. In 1887 the mission was abandoned and Gribble returned to New South Wales where he opened a mission on the Darling River for the Aborigines Protection Association. In 1892 he went to Queensland to open Yarrabah mission near Cairns. Suffering from malaria he retired to Sydney where he died on 3 June 1893. His tombstone in the Waverley cemetery described him as the 'Blackfellows' Friend.

Reference:
Australian Dictionary of Biography http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gribble-john-brown-3668
(Accessed November 2013)

Series 01: J. B. Gribble, Mary A. Gribble and E. R. Gribble papers, 1873-1979

Series 02: Australian Board of Missions correspondence relating to Aborigines, 1891-1978

Series 03: Australian Board of Missions minute books and correspondence relating to the Forrest River Mission created by the Board of Missions WA and held by the Australian Board of Missions, 1898-1957

Series 04: Australian Board of Missions minute books, 1876-1976

Australian languages, Gunggay language Y114, English

Restricted - This collection contains confidential, personal and/or culturally sensitive information: ABM has imposed a complete restriction on access until further notice.

A Guide to the Papers of J. B. and E. R. Gribble by Angela McGing, 1983, filed at Guide Shelf: 'Australian Board of Missions' and another copy in Box 69 ) : 03. E.R. Gribble

Information transferred from Manuscripts Leaf Catalogue No. 2 as part of the eRecords Project, 2009-2010

Partially Microfilmed :
BOX 1
Item 1/8
Rev. J. B. Gribble
Journal: Early Days of Yarrabah, 1891-1892
(Request Microfilm: CY 3275, frames 1-43)

Item 1/10
Rev. J. B. Gribble
Notebook, 1891
(Request Microfilm: CY 3275, frames 44-86)

BOX 3
Item 10/1
Rev. E. R. Gribble
Journal relating to Tumbarumba and Yarrabah, 1892-93
(Request Microfilm: CY 3274, frames 1-61)

Item 10/2
Rev. E. R. Gribble
Journal relating to Yarrabah, 1893
(Request Microfilm: CY 3274, frames 62-105)