Aboriginal couple, Finniss Springs Mission, South Australia

Finniss Springs is located south of the Oodnadatta Track, 50km west of Marree on Arabana Country, South Australia. Pastoralist Francis Dunbar Warren established a station at Finniss Springs in 1922, and lived there with his wife Laura Paralta, an Arabana woman, and their seven children until his death in 1958. At a time when Aboriginal children were forcefully removed from their families, Finniss Springs station became a refuge for Aboriginal people – Warren refused to allow the children at the station to be removed. In 1939, he agreed to the establishment of the Finniss Springs Mission by the United Aborigines’ Mission. The station operated as a mission, school, dormitory and government ration station until severe droughts, water shortages and fire led to its permanent closure in 1962.

David Moore photographed Old Finke Bob and his wife Jessie at Finniss Springs Mission in 1959 while he was capturing footage of the Flying Doctor Service. Old Finke Bob was a Southern Arrernte man, whose mother was an Arabana woman named Kantyara Nhuka, meaning ‘a lot of grass’. Senior Arabana man Sydney Strangways remembers the couple, noting that Old Finke Bob would come down to spend his last days with his mother’s people on Arabana Country. In 2012 Finniss Springs was rightfully returned to its Traditional Owners.

Gift of the artist 2001. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
The series 'David Moore: From Face to Face' was acquired as a gift of the artist and with financial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AC and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001.
© Lisa, Michael, Matthew and Joshua Moore
http://davidmoorephotography.com.au/