Margaret Anne Somerville

Margaret Anne Somerville (24 September 1912 – 6 August 2014) was an Australian missionary who worked as a cottage mother at the Croker Island Mission run by the Methodist Overseas Mission. She is best remembered for her bravery in assisting with the evacuation of 95 Aboriginal children from there during the Bombing of Darwin in World War II. This evacuation is commonly referred to as the 'Croker Island Exodus'.

She returned to Croker Island in 1946 and remained there until 1965.

She recorded her experiences in the book: They crossed a continent : 3,000 miles with 95 children (1967). In 2011 a third edition, They crossed a continent, the story of a wartime exodus from Croker Island to Sydney was published including a historical introduction and postscript by historians Peter and Sheila Forest.

She was also interviewed by the National Library of Australia in 2001 as part of the Bringing them home oral history project.

Early life Somerville was born in Lismore in 1912 and was the daughter of James Herbert and Margaret Jessie Somerville. Her father was a Methodist Minister and they moved regularly throughout her childhood throughout New South Wales with the most time spent in Newcastle and Sydney. She had two younger brothers.

She saw the role at Croker Island advertised in the Missionary Review in August 1941 and, after applying she was initially afraid she would not be accepted to the role as she had no training. However, the Methodist Overseas Mission were looking for someone to teach the children cooking and sewing and, as these were areas where she did well, so she was successful.

The Methodist Overseas Mission also selected Somerville as they wanted Croker Island to be as close to home as possible for the children living there, with circumstances resembling conventional family life as much as possible. It was initially a temporary appointment.

In Croker Island work had not been completed on the accommodation or facilities and many were 'shells' with no flooring. The decision to move there was expedited by the lead up to the tropical Wet Season and, soon after, the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The time spent there was short-lived with a civilian evacuation order sent through on 13 February 1942 asking that all women and children leave the region at once. Darwin was bombed, for the first time in the war, on 19 February 1942 and, despite knowing the children had to be evacuated, there was no naval shipping available to assist them.

The need to evacuate was becoming increasingly urgent as sea supply routes to Darwin were closed and the overland supply route, now the Stuart Highway, struggled to cope with the increase in traffic. One child died of a cerebral haemorrhage following a fall at Oenpelli and Somerville discusses this incident in her oral history.

When they arrived in Sydney Somerville was excited to present the children to her mother and recalled:

The children were sent to live at the Crusader's Camp in Otford and Somerville became an assistant supervisor there. During their time there two of the children were found to have leprosy and sent to Prince Henry Hospital and another died during surgery to remove his tonsils.

She worked there for another 20 years.

Connie Cole, one of the children evacuated had nothing but praise for Somerville and said: "he was the most wonderful woman that I ever come across". Another former resident Louise Neave (née Goodall) wrote a letter which was published in the NT News (20 October 1994) stated that:

Later life In 1965 Somerville retired and returned to Sydney where she took care of her parents. Croker Island Mission closed soon after, in 1968, and children were transferred to Somerville Cottage Homes in Darwin and to placements interstate. In 1991 she received the Battle of Australia Medallion; she was the first Australian woman to do so.

Her name is also used by Somerville Community Services, a disability services organisation in the Northern Territory.

She is a signatory on the Darwin Commemorative Wall Quilt held by Library & Archives NT.

Resources

Somerville, Margaret & Forrest, Peter, 1941- & Methodist Church of Australasia. Department of Overseas Missions (1967). They crossed a continent : 3,000 miles with 95 children. Methodist Overseas Missions, [Sydney] Somerville, Margaret, 1912- & Heimans, Frank, 1943-. (2001). Margaret Somerville interviewed by Frank Heimans in the Bringing them home oral history project [sound recording]. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-218420997

A full list of Northern Territory Evacuees from Northern Territory, including the children from Croker Island, is available online through the National Archives of Australia via this link.