agreement with the monks. However, the agreement did not include any ongoing obligation on the part of the Benedictines to ensure that Aboriginal people could use and benefit from the land. Abbots at the monastery include: Rosendo Salvado, 12 March 1867 – 29 December 1900, died as abbot, aged 86 years Fulgentius Torres, 1902 – 6 October 1914, died as abbot, aged 53 years Anselm Catalan, 1915–1951 (resigned), died 29 July 1959, aged 80 years Gregory Gomez, 1951–1971 (resigned), died 31 May 1995, aged 91 years Bernard Rooney, 31 March 1974 – 15 June 1980 (resigned) [Placid Spearritt, appointed apostolic administrator of the community 1983 -1997] Placid Spearritt, 29 January 1997 – 4 October 2008, died as abbot, aged 75 years John Herbert, 23 January 2009 to present New Norcia Mission There were also two institutions for Aboriginal children: St Mary's (for boys) and St Joseph's (for girls), collectively known as New Norcia Mission. The children were taught mainly practical skills, and after leaving school they often worked at the Mission. The New Norcia Mission was scheduled under the Industrial Schools Act 1874, meaning that the abbot had "complete control" over the children living there. Both schools closed in 1974. St Mary's Mission, also known as St Mary's College, was founded in 1848 as a boarding school for Aboriginal boys. Some boys, including wards of state in the 1960s, were place there by the state government. In his 2021 autobiographical book God, the Devil and Me, Alf Taylor recounts the horrific verbal and physical abuse meted out to Aboriginal boys living in the mission by the brothers and nuns during the 1950s and 1960s. The book was short-listed for the 2022 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Indigenous Writers' Prize. St Joseph's Native School and Orphanage was founded in 1861 by the monks. Benedictine Missionary Sisters sent from Spain took over in 1904 and ran it until its closure in 1974. Aboriginal girls and young women lived and attended school there, sometimes sent by their families, and sometimes placed there as government policy if they were children of single mothers. The school and orphanage were rebuilt in 1909. There were stories of physical and emotional abuse of the girls at St Joseph's. The monks Latinised the children's Aboriginal names, making it hard to trace who they were later. From the time of Abbot Fulgentius Torres onwards, the focus changed and