Day Four

Ted paid a visit to Peter's mum today. He is an elder of the Atherton Uniting Church and paying a pastoral visit. Mum said she might even make it to church this Sunday depending just how she was feeling. Peter joined in on the conversation and Ted shared a story from when he and his family were missionaries at Mornington Island, in the 1950's.
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Ted shared that on one weekend, seven Aboriginal boys all about the age of ten took him on a long hike accross the island. They had wanted to do that for some time and finally the time arrived and he was off with them as guides.
A number of times along the way one of the boys would find a stone and clean it and press it into a fork of a tree by the track. When Ted asked why they did this they said that this would remind them of their walk with Ted. There was no way they would get lost. These stones were memory stones.
When they reached the other side of the island they made damper with the salt and flour they had carried with them. Then they showed Ted the fresh water spring near by. It could only be accessed at low tide though it was possible to dip a can under the sea water in the place and pull out drinkable water if it was done right. Ted did not like the taste of the spring water.
When it was time to return it was a very long trip right along the coast back to the mission. It was nearly sunset and there was no way that the boys were going to return the way they came in the dark. There were spirits in the forest they said.
The long trip actually caused a leg ulser for poor Ted and it took three weeks to heal. That was just one story from his three years there with his wife and three children, with a fourth one born while they were there.
It is nice to share real stories like this from the past. We share our story and weave it into the cosmic story... an everyday adventure with God.

A picture taken over fifty years ago of children in a Mornington Island school. Could one of these boys have guided Ted on his excursion across the island?

Mornington Island is the largish obvious island at the southern end of the Gulf of Carpentaria, the large gulf shared by Queensland and the Northern Territory. These days a visitor needs permission from the island community to be allowed to go there.