Cries and Whispers from Wandering Mission Finally Heard a Half-century on

By Victoria Laurie
The Australian
May 13, 2017

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/cries-and-whispers-from-wandering-mission-finally-heard-a-halfcentury-on/news-story/afaf2d64700c1fd30f33718ba6095cff

This week, the deep silence that has hung for 50 years over Western Australia’s now-crumbling and derelict missions ended in two short police statements.

The WA child abuse squad announced it had charged two men with a string of sex offences dating back to their duties, as Catholic priest and former teacher respectively, at the isolated Wandering Mission. The charges include rape and indecent assault of several girls aged between eight and 15.

A day later, another media release: a second teacher was charged with sexually abusing five girls aged nine to 13 across a period that began when he was at Wandering Mission in 1959 and continued until 2003.

Although a court will have to determine guilt or innocence, three old men — retired priest Allan Mithen, 78, teachers Michael Moran, 82, and Keith Chesson, 83, all non-Aboriginal — face charges dating back more than 50 years. This hints at the stifling silence that has long enveloped 50 or more Aboriginal missions and children’s homes that once oper­ated across the state.