Francis Armstrong

. Methodist pioneer and missionary to Aborigines

Australian Aborigines

Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...

 in WA.

Youngest son of Captain Adam Armstrong, Francis Armstrong arrived in the Swan River Colony

Swan River Colony

The Swan River Colony was a British settlement established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. The name was a pars pro toto for Western Australia. In 1832, the colony was officially renamed Western Australia, when the colony's founding Lieutenant-Governor, Captain James Stirling,...

 with his father, four brothers and sister (his mother had died in Scotland) on 15 Dec. 1829 aboard Gilmore from Dalkeith, Scotland. The family settled on the banks of the River Swan between Perth and Fremantle and named the locality Dalkeith after their home village in Scotland. While Francis Armstrong helped with the work associated with establishing themselves he met and befriended a number of the local natives. He felt strongly attracted to these primitive people and at once set out to learn something of their customs and dialect.

A little later Armstrong went to work in Perth for George Fletcher Moore

George Fletcher Moore

George Fletcher Moore was a prominent early settler in colonial Western Australia, and "one [of] the key figures in early Western Australia's ruling elite"...

 who kept a small store. Then, for a number of years, he managed a store for George Shenton

George Shenton

Sir George Shenton was a prominent businessman in colonial Western Australia, the first Mayor of Perth, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council for over thirty years.-Early and family life:...

 in St George's Terrace. Still later, he entered into business for himself as a grain and produce and commission agent. From this business and several others he ventured into he acquired sufficient wealth to give him a modest retirement.

The young Francis Armstrong quickly associated himself with the Tranby Methodists and helped to establish the first Methodist Society in WA. In 1836 he married Mary Mews, second daughter of T W Mews. Mary was a devout Anglican and like her husband was greatly interested in the welfare of the local Aboriginal peoples. They had four sons and five daughters.

Francis Armstrong never forgot his early contact with the local natives and it became his overriding ambition to do all he could to improve their lot. He became so proficient in the language of the Aboriginal people he wrote or assisted in the writing of two books translating some of their dialects into English. Before either government or church interest was stirred to the plight of the Aboriginal people, Armstrong and his wife were seeking to improve their circumstances and better their lives. Eventually his lone attempts to help the natives came to the notice of Governor Hutt. In 1841 the governor granted to the Methodists an annual subsidy of £75 to help establish a mission for the Aboriginal people on the foreshore near the Mount Eliza

Mount Eliza

Mount Eliza can refer to:*Mount Eliza, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia*Mount Eliza , a hill in Perth...

 Bay area. It was to Francis and Mary Armstrong, that the Rev John Smithies, the first minister of Wesley Church, turned to entrust the superintendency of this mission. Aged 21, Armstrong had already been appointed the official Government Interpreter and Moral Agent for Aboriginal people on a salary of £90 a year. At one time Governor Hutt

John Hutt

John Hutt was Governor of Western Australia from 1839 to 1846.Born in London on 24 July 1795, John Hutt was the fourth of 13 children of Richard Hutt of Appley Towers, Ryde, Isle of Wight. He was educated at Christ's Hospital, and in 1815 inherited Appley Towers...

 appointed him to investigate the treatment of Aboriginal prisoners on Rottnest Island

Rottnest Island

Rottnest Island is located off the coast of Western Australia, near Fremantle. It is called Wadjemup by the Noongar people, meaning "place across the water". The island is long, and at its widest point with a total land area of . It is classified as an A Class Reserve and is managed by the...

. In spite of a previous enquiry, complaints of the treatment meted out to Aboriginal prisoners continued to come to the governor's ears. Armstrong reported, 'It is refusal to work that brings on the punishment they complain of. This has been with the worst characters some of them who have robbed the store, killed the poultry and run off into the bush ... The number of strips is limited to 36, and I would respectfully suggest that it might he reduced to half that number and that only in extreme cases and immediately under the direction of Mr Vincent

Mr Vincent

Henry Vincent was the first Superintendent of Rottnest Island Aboriginal Prison, in Western Australia.Vincent had been wounded and lost an eye in the Battle of Waterloo...

.' However complaints from the Island continued and Francis Armstrong was involved in yet another enquiry, and for a short period was appointed Storekeeper and Moral Agent on the Island 'to improve the habits and morals of the prisoners'. Considering the fact that Vincent, the government manager of the prison did not co-operate willingly with the Moral Agent it is not surprising that Francis Armstrong soon transferred back to Perth.

Judged by the light of the time, the Methodist Aboriginal Mission under the superintendency of Francis Armstrong was quite successful. The baptismal register of Wesley Church records a number of natives received into the church by baptism.

Francis Armstrong was one of the foremost men in Wesley Church and, with other equally devoted Methodists, his name is associated in the founding of the Wesleyan Methodist Sunday school in the colony. He also laboured in the same quiet way in the cause of temperance and other social reforms, and in his own modest manner displayed the finest qualities of a good citizen.

Gradually the years took their toll on his health and he was aware that his strength was beginning to fail, then he was attacked with influenza.