Bishop Gsell and the Founding of the Settlement

Francis Xavier Gsell was born in Alsace in 1872 shortly after Franco-Prussian War. His family had been French, but shortly before his birth the Alsace became German.

He studied to be a priest and was ordained in Rome before coming to Dawin in 1906

In 1909 he became a naturalised Australian and in 1911, he went to the Tiwi Islands to established a mission - he lived with Tiwi for the next 27 years

Bishop Gsell became concerned by the marriage customs among the Tiwi people, and began a practice by which he ‘bought’ young girls who had been betrothed to older men, freeing these girls to receive education at the mission school and, in time, to marry men of their own choosing.

In all he bartered for 150 young girls, which later led to him being called “the Bishop with 150 wives”.

The Tiwi Custom had been that at first blossom young girls were given to Old men to add to their collection of wives - powerful men had many wives. Similarly, older widows were given to maturing young men as their first wife.

The cultural system had a Social Security dimension, and as Bishop Gsell would supply good steel axes in exchange for the young girls, and because it was clear that the girls were well looked after, the swap was seen to be fair and good value.

Tiwi people are not docile. The Tiwi Islands is one of the few places on the globe where the British attempted to establish a Fort but were beaten off by the locals

Governor King fearing other nations would colonize Northern Australia, dispatched Captain J.J.G. Bremer in August, 1824 to establish a fort which they called Fort Dundas close to Pularumpi on Melville Island and the area was declared a British colony.

The Establishmeht of Fort Dundas was not welcomed by Tiwi, and with strategic killing of cattle and pigs and the ever present attack of mosquitos the settlement was officially closed after five years.

Education and Health standards have not improved since the end of the Mission era, and the St Vincent de Paul effort is in conjunction with UQ Kidney and heart disease prevention

Earlier contacts with Tiwi http://www.tiwilandcouncil.net.au/documents/about/Dutchtiwistory.pdf