DOVE, EMILY ISABETTA MAY (b. Melbourne, Vic, 26 Mar 1889; d. Melbourne, Vic, Nov 1978). CMS missionary to Aborigines.

May Dove and her sister were brought up by their widowed mother at Heathcote, Vic. She had limited schooling and no professional training, but played an important part in the ongoing life of the CMS missions in the North Australia.

She was accepted by the CMS on 5 February 1923, and on arrival at the Roper River Mission the following May, commenced helping Miss L G Cross in caring for the half-caste children there. She accompanied the 35 half-caste children when they were transferred to Groote Eylandt in 1924, and with Miss Cross spent the next 8 years caring for them at the mission.

After several year's leave South, she returned to North Australia, and commenced working at the Oenpelli Mission. She was evacuated South with the Mission and the half-caste women and children in 1942 and continued with several missionaries to care for the evacuees at Mulgoa, NSW, until they were transferred back to Alice Springs in 1945. She died in Melbourne in November 1978.

Keith Cole, From Mission to Church: the CMS mission to the Aborigines in Arnhem Land, 1908-1985 (Bendigo, 1985)

KEITH COLE