Fred Gray
Frederick Harold Gray (December 1899—1995), was born in Kidderminster, England, the son of a Police Chief Constable.
As a child, Gray was not an outstanding scholar, but achieved a gold medal for perfect attendance at school. He served briefly in the Royal Air Force during World War I and then was apprenticed to a farmer. Farming, the growing of vegetables and flowers, was his passion and it remained so for the whole of his life.
In 1924 he immigrated to Australia with hopes of taking up land. He took various labouring jobs and saved enough money to purchase land, but drought left him broke and he worked at a variety of jobs.
Finding his way north in about 1928, Gray invested in a pearling venture, the Oberon, operating out of Broome with a Japanese crew, then moved to Darwin in 1931. This time his quarry was not pearlshell but trepang (sea cucumber). He borrowed the money to invest in a boat, the Northam, for his first trip to Arnhem Land in 1932. On this trip Gray met many Aborigines from Arnhem Land and made some friendships that lasted for the rest of his life – and because Gray lived so long, the friendships endured from father to son, son to grandson.
According to Fred Gray's own correspondence, he began the settlement at Umbakumba, on Groote Eyelandt, at the request of the Reverend Taylor, superintendent of the Church Missionary Society's (CMS) Groote Eylandt Mission at Emerald River.
Gray states that in 1938 the Reverend Taylor became concerned about local Aboriginal people coming into contact with non-Aboriginal people working to establish a flying boat base at the north east of the island. Gray, having lived and worked in East Arnhem Land since 1932 and being on friendly terms with the local Aboriginal population, was requested to look to the welfare of the Aboriginal people of eastern Groote Eylandt on behalf of the CMS. He set up the beginnings of a settlement at Umbakumba on the opposite side of Little Lagoon to the flying boat base.
On 23 July 1942 Gray was appointed as an Honorary Protector of Aboriginals. In 1943 Gray stated that there were 49 children under the age of 10 at the settlement. At the time, he ran a school for the children, doing the teaching himself; in 1944, he married an English woman, Marjorie Southwick, who emigrated and took over teaching duties.
On the 17 February 1958 Fred Gray signed an agreement to transfer the settlement of Umbakumba to the Church Missionary Society (CMS). He remained on Groote Eyelandt until May and then moved to Darwin with Marjorie; some of their adopted children came with them, Bellima Mamarika, Betty and Richard Herbert.
Gray died in 1995 following a stroke. He was buried at Umbakumba.
Cole, Keith. (1984). Fred Gray of Umbakumba : the story of Frederick Harold Gray, the founder of the Umbakumba aboriginal settlement on Groote Eylandt. Bendigo, Vic., Australia : K. Cole Publications
Dewar, M. (2006, September 23). Fred Gray and Umbakumba: the 1930s and 1940s [conference presentation]. Picturing relations: Groote Eylandt barks symposium, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Umbakumba Settlement 1938-1958. (2023). Find & Connect. https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/nt/biogs/YE00027b.htm
