Deebing Creek Mission, Aboriginal mission site in Deebing Heights, Australia
Deebing Creek Mission is a former Aboriginal mission site in Deebing Heights, south of Ipswich in Queensland, listed on the Queensland Heritage Register. Scattered building remains, historic plantings, and an underground water tank survive on the grounds along South Deebing Creek Road.
The Aboriginal Protection Society of Ipswich founded the mission in 1887 as a residential school for Indigenous young people, and it operated until 1915. During that period, it formed part of the wider colonial system that controlled where Aboriginal people in Queensland could live and work.
The cemetery on the grounds remains an active place for Aboriginal families who come to tend graves and maintain their connection to ancestors and country. Visitors can see personal objects and flowers left at gravesites, signs that the place still holds deep meaning for people today.
The site is in a rural area south of Ipswich and is reached by road along South Deebing Creek Road. Because the remains are spread across open ground with uneven surfaces, sturdy footwear is a good idea before visiting.
Records show that some children sent to the mission came from places as far as Burketown, over 1,200 miles (about 2,000 km) away in northern Queensland. That distance gives a sense of how far families could be separated from one another under the system that ran the mission.
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