Harry Leslie PERRIMAN

PERRIMAN, HARRY LESLIE (b. Dunedin, NZ, 6 Sept 1883; d. Melbourne, Vic, 29 Nov 1987). CMS missionary to Aborigines in North Australia.

Harry Perriman was the eldest son of Henry and Mary Ann Perriman. The family moved from New Zealand to Melbourne when he was three years old. After education at Essendon State school, and a six yeas' apprenticeship, he became foreman at J Clarke's engineering workshop in Melbourne. The training he gained there was invaluable for his later work as a missionary.

Perriman was accepted as a CMS missionary for North Australia in 1919, but was unable to travel north for two years, because he was incapacitated by Mediterranean influenza. In 1921 he was posted to Groote Eylandt, where he worked, first among the half-castes, and then among the Aborigines until 1936. From time to time he was placed in charge of the Mission, although he himself acknowledged that he did not have the temperament of a leader.

Perriman's final term of mission service in Arnhem Land lasted from October 1937 until October 1941, when he spent half the time at Oenpelli and the remaining half at the Roper River Mission. He was not in charge at either of these places, but the contribution which he made as a mechanic, builder and general helper was of the greatest significance in maintaining the ongoing life of these two missions, especially under straitened war-time circumstances.

His long service with the CMS was not undertaken without frequent frustration and personal conflict. His faithfulness to the task with the ever-present burden of inward struggles is perhaps one of the major contributions which he made in his service in North Australia. He married Rotha Mann in Melbourne on 18 Dec 1943 and from that time onwards until his death in 1987 at the age of 104 years maintained his deep interest in and abiding affection for the Aborigines of Arnhem Land.

Keith Cole, Perriman in Arnhem Land (Melbourne, 1973)

KEITH COLE