German Missionaries in Australia

Joseph Conrath joined the Society of Jesus in October 1873.¹ He arrived in Australia in December 1883 and at Rapid Creek in February 1884 together with Br. Vincent Scharmer.

During his first two years at Rapid Creek he devoted much of his time to language study, so that by May 1886 they were able to print the first Larrakia language books and hymns, which had been set to familiar tunes.² Fr. Conrath also studied Malak-Malak at Old Uniya on the Daly River, and was impressed with the grammatical sophistication of the language. He translated religious texts including the Ave Maria and Pater Noster and worked together with Fr. Kristen on the language. In the 1890s he began to instruct the Jesuit Brothers at New Uniya in English.³

Fr. Conrath became superior of the Holy Rosary Mission (Old Uniya) and referred to the northern missions as 'Reductions' in his diary entries. He was considered a great organiser and solicited much activity in the mission schools, but several years into the experiment he was ‘not enthusiastic’ about the prospects of the mission. He felt that the cultural translation of Ten Commandments, for example, was wrought with difficulty and misunderstanding, with Aboriginal women maintaining that to kill one’s infant was not within the sway of the 5^th Commandment. ⁴ His diary entries suggest that Fr. Conrath held very strong convictions about the intercession of Saints, the practical efficacy of baptism, and the prompt manifestation of the wrath of God. With equal force he denied the validity of 'native superstitions'. He broke up ceremonial gatherings and particularly despised a contact cult called tyaboi (which had disappeared by the 1930s).⁵ He intervened in marriage arrangements and devised the mechanism of purchasing the marriage rights of women for which Fr. Gsell at Bathurst Island later became famous.

When Fr. John O’Brien became apostolic administrator and had to move to Darwin (1898), Conrath became Vice-Superior of St. Joseph’s mission (New Uniya). He was at Uniya during the great flood of 1899 and then represented Fr. O’Brien in Darwin while the latter inspected the damage at the mission. When the mission was given up Fr. Conrath embarked for Europe.⁶ He spent several years with the Aragon Jesuit province serving at Manila's Ateneo Municpal, and returned from the Philippines to Austria in 1914.⁷