Louis Giustiniani

Louis (or Luis) Giustiniani was the first missionary to the Swan River Colony. He was outspoken in defending Aboriginal Australians, but in doing so alienated the colony and was eventually removed from office. After leaving Western Australia, Giustiniani became a Minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States.

Appointment In 1835, the Western Australian Missionary Society, a society formed in Dublin and London in part by Colonel Frederick Irwin, appointed Giustiniani to establish a mission in the Swan River Colony, Western Australia. Rev Dr Giustiniani, the Missionary selected by the Society, is highly approved of by the London and Dublin Committee, for his spirit and acquirements; he is a man singularly fitted to conduct the Mission. Dr Giustiniani has been in the habit of preaching in London in English, German, French and Italian; he knows, also, the Hebrew, Syriac, Greek and Latin languages. He has a good practical knowledge of the sciences, botany, chemistry, mechanics etc. He has also taken a degree as a physician. He has fully proved his sincerity and devotedness to the cause by the sacrifices he has made.

His mission was to "civilise" and Christianise the Aboriginal people, and to learn their language.

His response included the statement that the settlers "stand nearly as much in need of religious instruction as the" Aboriginal people. This statement resulted in numerous letters to the Perth Gazette, particularly on the part of "A Publican", ("A Publican" was later suggested to be Captain Francis Whitfield, Government Resident of Guildford, a leading civil servant and Justice of the Peace.)

Giustiniani visited York in September 1836 and preached the first sermon in the York district, at Joseph Hardey’s and then at Rivett Henry Bland’s. He promised to visit every seventh week. This visit coincided with the murder of an Aboriginal person who was taking flour from a barn, by Ned Gallop, at the direction of his employer Arthur Trimmer, which Giustiniani investigated.

Governor Stirling gave Giustiniani a parcel of his own land at Woodbridge, Guildford, upon which to start a mission and school, which he intended to be along Moravian lines. His wife was probably a member of the Moravian Church. He succeeded in constructing a church which was situated approximately where the Guildford Grammar School Chapel now stands.

Giustiniani begins to detail incidents Giustiniani befriended William Nairne Clark, the editor of the Swan River Guardian, a solicitor and self‐proclaimed radical and government critic, who led a group of colony radicals.

In the Swan River Guardian and correspondence, Giustiniani began to openly name and accuse important settlers of acts of violence against Aboriginals.

He accused "Arthur Trimmer and other gentlemen" of organising a "hunting party" to shoot as many Aboriginals as possible. Trimmer was married to Mary Ann Spencer, a daughter of the Government Resident of King George Sound, Sir Richard Spencer.

Giustiniani also claimed that Edward Souper shot and killed an Aboriginal woman and wounded an Aboriginal man, the woman's ears were cut off and Trimmer hung them in his kitchen as a trophy, his house being next to Bland who was the Government Resident. "Mr Trimmer who permits such barbarous acts in his house, is invited to the Governor's table".

Giustiniani wrote a series of open letters to Lord Glenelg, critical of the treatment by settlers of the Aboriginals, including allegations of the "blood scene at York". Each of these letters was published in the Swan River Guardian. The letters were sent by private messenger, mistrusting the office of the Colonial Secretary, Peter Broun. The fact that the editor of the Perth Gazette had advocated "a second Pinjarra example", the first being the Pinjarra massacre.

Claims against Giustiniani Giustiniani was attacked for being a foreigner and a number of claims were made against him including: beating his wife, who had "more than once had been compelled to seek the protection of a neighbouring Magistrate against his violence", and one of his catechists, Abraham Jones, was committing "certain improper acts and intercourse with the native women." Giustiniani denied these claims

Giustiniani was also refused permission to become a British subject and buy land.

Departure The Western Australian Missionary Society dismissed Giustiniani and gave him 50 pounds for his passage home. Giustiniani departure for England on 13 February 1838 on . By every measure, his mission failed.