x, 414 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some colour), facsimiles, maps, portraits ; 25 cm
Contents
1. Introducing Gumbuli -- 2. One island - three cultures -- 3. The development of the CMS Mission on Groote Eylandt -- 4. Stories and spirits -- 5. World War II comes to Groote Eylandt -- 7. The early days of Roper River Mission -- 8. Migrating to Arnhem Land -- 9. A new life at Roper River Mission -- 10. Connecting Arnhem Land with Africa -- 11. Life on the Mission - 1960s -- 12. Local leadership grows -- 13. From Roper River to Ngukurr - a period of turmoil -- 14. The Government takes control -- 15. The quest for a distinctive identity -- 16. The 1970s: so-called 'self determination' -- 17. Now the Church belongs to Ngukurr -- 18. Creating a new harmony and community wellbeing -- 19. Ngukurr in the 1980s -- 20. More Aboriginal church leaders -- 21. Developments beyond Ngukurr -- 22. Ngukurr turns 90, Gumbuli turns 60 -- 23. The late 1990s -- 24. Autonomy denied, autonomy practised -- 25. Aboriginal pastor in Arnhem Land -- 26. Ceremonies remain an issue -- 27. An elder becomes an old man
Summary
Two stories overlap and interweave in this biography of Gumbuli. One is of Aboriginal elder, Michael Gumbuli Wurramara, who became the first Aboriginal Anglican priest in the Northern Territory and for over 30 years, leader of the Arnhem Land Anglicans and 'architect' of the Kriol Bible Translation Project