Two letters written in Western Aranda (Arrernte) from the Finke River Mission at Hermannsburg in 1942 and 1944
Each letter is quarto, one leaf written double-spaced in ink (recto only), with an English translation on the intervening lines (one translation is typed, the other is in pencil).
Both letters are creased where folded for posting; in excellent condition.
Both letters were sent to a young lad in country Victoria who was about 10 years old at the time; they are classic introductory pen-pal letters. The first one, dated 14 July 1942, is from Maxina: 'laka Thursdanga nuna kutata walkabout lama.... [On Thursday afternoons we always go walkabout.... we come together at Abel's house to have some singing. Then we go to sleep in the girls house]'. The second one, dated 18 February 1944, is from Milton: he is well, and at school again; he has been riding donkeys with his friends, he saw the Finke River, and went hunting rabbits. Accompanying the second letter is a small greeting card featuring original colour-pencil artwork - kangaroos being chased by dogs - by Milton (a card bifolium, 75 × 96 mm, with green wool knotted neatly around the fold, and the drawing on the front panel, the verso signed by Milton, 'Native School, Hermannsburg, C. Aust'). Records in the National Archives of Australia accessed online list Maxina and Milton as 'Children (over 9 years)' among the 'Hermannsburg Mission Inmates as at 24. 8.1943 (Tea and Sugar Permits applied for)'. Provenance: Pastor Gordon Gerhardy (1933-2023), sometime Lutheran missionary in Papua New Guinea. [3 items].
Item #134696
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