Maloga Aboriginal Mission Station also known as Maloga Mission or Mologa Mission was established about 15 miles from the township of Moama, on the banks of the Murray River in New South Wales, Australia. It was on the edge of an extensive forest reserve. Maloga Mission was a private venture established by Daniel Matthews, a Christian missionary and school teacher, and his brother William. The mission station operated intermittently in 1874, becoming permanent in 1876. The Mission closed in 1888, after dissatified residents moved about upriver to Cummeragunja Reserve, with all of the buildings being re-built there. The community at Maloga were people of the Yorta Yorta Nation and other groups from the Murray River region. There are reports of the Maloga cricket team competing with other teams in the area.
Maloga Mission School
The Maloga Mission School was started in 1874.Janet Matthews, the wife of Daniel, was involved in teaching at the school.Annual reports from the school were published.
Daniel Matthews wrote detailed reports on the Maloga Aboriginal Mission covering the years 1873-1891. The papers of Daniel Matthews include his diaries and mission reports, a draft constitution and notes on the formation of the Association for the Protection of Aborigines of New South Wales dated 1878 and there are many references to Reverend William Ridley and to Reverend John B. Gribble of the Warangesda Mission nearby.
Petitions
In April 1881, 42 of the Yorta Yorta men living at the Maloga Mission wrote a petition to the Governor of New South Wales, Augustus Loftus, requesting land. Daniel Matthews took the petition to Sydney on their behalf and it was published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 2 July 1881 and the Daily Telegraph on 5 July 1881 the same day that it was presented to the governor. Two years after the petition land was reserved to create the Cummeragunja Reserve, about upriver from by the Maloga Mission. In 1882, Maloga Mission, together with the Mission at Warangesda, whose superintendent was J. B. Gribble, were the subject of a NSW Government enquiry. In July 1887, the Governor Lord Carrington visited Moama and the reception included representatives from the Maloga Mission who presented the Governor with a petition requesting Queen Victoria grant the community land. The petition was signed by Robert Cooper, Samson Barber, Aaron Atkinson, Hughy Anderson, John Cooper, Edgar Atkinson, Whyman McLean, John Atkinson, William Cooper, George Middleton, Edward Joachim. By 1888 most of the residents of Maloga relocated to the Cummeragunja Reserve in protest at the strict religious rules of Maloga, and the Maloga buildings were moved to Cummeragunja Reserve. The name Coomerugunja was given to it by a superintendent appointed by "the Aborigines Protection Association in Sydney". Thomas Shadrach James continued as teacher at the new location, and was praised as a dedicated teacher by Matthews' son, John Kerr Matthews, who was one of his pupils. Matthews apparently had some connection with the Aborigines Protection Association, but that ceased in April 1888. According to his wife Janet, he continued to be "engaged in work on behalf of the blacks"; the couple stayed on at Maloga Mission, doing their "particular work", and were looking to establish a new mission at Bribie Island after the residents had left.
