Beagle Bay, Western Australia
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Beagle Bay Community Western Australia |
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 Beagle Bay Community
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| Coordinates | 16°58′44″S 122°39′58″E / 16.979°S 122.666°ECoordinates: 16°58′44″S 122°39′58″E / 16.979°S 122.666°E |
| Population | 285 (2011 census) |
| Postcode(s) | 6725 |
| Location | |
| LGA(s) | Shire of Broome |
| State electorate(s) | Kimberley |
| Federal Division(s) | Durack |
Beagle Bay is a medium-sized Aboriginal community on the western side of the Dampier Peninsula, north of Broome.
The community is situated adjacent to the Indian Ocean. Beagle Bay is the gateway to communities further north such as Djarindjin Community, Bobeiding Community and Ngardalargin. The main access road from Broome is unpaved and so becomes inaccessible during the 'wet season', although it remains connected to other towns on the peninsula to the north by a bitumenised road.
The community was established by Trappist monks around 1890. Beagle Bay has a history of caring for stolen children. In 1884, the first ever priest arrived to serve the Catholics in the Kimberley to try and convert the Aboriginal people. Bishop Matthew Gibney founded the Beagle Bay mission, developed in the land of the Nyul Nyul people; this became a site for the Aboriginal people in 1890. The first Catholic School was established by the Trappist Fathers at Beagle Bay in 1892. In 1895, the Trappist monks of Sept-Fons in France extended their missionary work from Beagle Bay to Broome. In 1901, Pallottine Fathers from Germany took over the Beagle Bay Mission with two priests and four brothers. In 1907, the St John of God Sisters began to run a mission school at Beagle Bay and in 1918 the famous church was opened. It features a pearl shell altar which is now a tourist attraction. The Beagle Bay Mission subsequently became home to Indigenous people from across the Kimberley and further afield. Lawman and artist Butcher Joe Nangan lived and worked at the mission from around 1920 to the 1960s.
In her autobiography, Last Truck Out, Betty Lockyer recalls the Beagle Bay mission in the 1940s as a "Garden of Eden", in which "The men had their jobs to do, each going to their own workplace, whether it was the bakery, gardens or checking the windmills. The women stayed at home to look after the babies and little ones ... There was no such thing as idle hands."
Beagle Bay Community has a school, Sacred Heart School, which caters for students from ages K-10. The school was established in 1892 by the Trappist Monks.
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Wikipedia