Aboriginal women and children at the Hope Valley Mission, North Queensland - circa 1907

The Hope Valley Mission, at Hope Valley, was run by Lutheran Church Missionaries. Previously known as the Cape Bedford Mission, it was established around 1896 and closed in May 1942. It reopened as the Hope Vale Mission in 1950..This was written by Wilhelm Poland, a Lutheran minister, in old German script. Translation written below..The plants in the photo are sisal plants,the fibre is traditionally used for rope and twine, and has many other uses, including paper, cloth, footwear, hats, bags, carpets, and dartboards...Translation of the German script courtesy of my Flickr friend Saskia (Beauty of the Past).."Hope Valley, 7 July 1907.Dear Mr. Henschmann!.Unfortunately, you have been waiting to no avail for the second set of stamps I have been meaning to send to you. The business / shop in Melbourne which I used to know doesn't exist anymore. In all harbours / ports where we only stayed for a short amount of time, I have been searching and asking for used stamps, too, but to no success. Collecting stamps doesn't seem to as popular in Australia as it is in our homeland. I will send written inquiries, too. If I'm not successful here, either, I will ask my brother-in-law to return 4 Mark (German currency) to you. You should have received the Japanese stamps by now...--------------..Thank God our journey has been fine so far. We've been here for three weeks now and yesterday, we could finally finish building our organisation / mission. We are both fine and thinking a lot of our beloved home / homeland and our experiences there. We also love to remember our meetings with you, especially the last one. We had been looking forward to receiving news about you via our beloved ones. Of course, a personal message would be much preferred and make us especially happy. Wondering if you have been to M., again? Our kindest regards to you, your lovely wife and daughters. Your loyal W. Poland, M."