Poonindie is a small township near
Port Lincoln on the
Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. The land upon which it sits was originally the land of the
Barngarla people.[8]
Poonindie Mission was established as a
mission for
Aboriginal people in
South Australia in 1850, at the instigation of the first Archdeacon of Adelaide,
Mathew Hale, who also served as superintendent for several years. St Matthew's church, built in 1854-55 and originally intended to be the school, served both the mission and the local community. It survives and remains in use today. Hale ran the Aboriginal Training Institution at the mission.[9] His friend, the
Anglican Archbishop of Adelaide,
Augustus Short, visited the mission, which prospered.
The mission closed after 44 years, after which the land was divided and sold, with just St Matthew's and a small area of land remaining the property of the Anglican Church. 300 acres (120 ha) of land became an
Aboriginal reserve when the Mission closed in 1894.[9] Most of the residents were moved to
Point Pearce and
Point McLeay missions, while others moved to the nearby Aboriginal reserve,[10] but a small number of residents remained on the mission site until the 1910s.[11]
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ab"Poonindie"(photo). State Library of South Australia. Retrieved 6 February 2020. View of Poonindie with Aboriginal men, women and children in foreground. Akenta, as it is now known is a small township near Port Lincoln. The land belongs to the Barngarla people. The mission has been converted to a small
homeland.
^
ab"Poonindie Church". Saint Matthew's Anglican Church Poonindie. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
^"Former Poonindie Mission Cemetery". South Australian Heritage Register. Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources. Archived from
the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2016.