With assimilation policies taking hold in the 1940s, Aboriginal people were once again displaced from their lands; but this time the government aimed to teach them skills that would aid their ‘transition’ into white society. In 1945, due to a shortage of water, the mission and ration station at Six Mile was abandoned and the government set up a new temporary settlement and ration station near Phillip Creek, just north of Tennant Creek. The government was well aware that this area also lacked permanent water supplies, yet they moved Warumungu, Warlpiri, and Warlmanpa people to the ‘Mission’ (as it came to be called) as a way of clearing a path for miners (Davison 1989; Nash 1984). After the initial move to Phillip Creek, Aboriginal adults set up bush camps east of the station where they were able to organize their living quarters in terms of kin relations in order to maintain restrictions due to marriage, death, or family disputes. Outside the fenced mission grounds, adults and small children could maintain traditional practices such as hunting and gathering bush tucker in the area and holding ceremonies. Yet within the mission boundaries strict policies governed Aboriginal living arrangements and interactions.

For the first six years, under the direction of Christian missionaries, boys and girls were separated from their parents and each other. Missionaries sought to teach the children “European” etiquette, the English language and domestic skills, all of which were a precondition of national assimilation policies.

Housed in dormitories, the children had little contact with their elders during the week, although they were often permitted to see them on the weekend. Removed from their families, these children were vulnerable to abuse. For example, in a letter from the Senior Education Officer in 1951, cases of sexual abuse were revealed. The record titled ‘Phillip Creek Native School’ states: ‘It is advised that Mr. I. Thomas formerly Settlement Superintendent of Phillip Creek Native Settlement, has been imprisoned following conviction on a charge involving a native girl’ (CRS F1 1955/731). In fact, the school was plagued with problems between the teachers and the administration for most of its life (CRS E738/2 GE 95; CRS F1 1955/731; CRS E51 1960/661). In addition to the physical abuse, ‘half-caste’ children were routinely removed from Phillip Creek and their Aboriginal families (Davidson 1989).

Along with these painful separations, during their time at the mission, Aboriginal people were restricted from town unless they were accompanied by missionaries or by special work permits. Native Affairs officers decided which men and women could work for white settlers and business owners. However, most people worked at the mission. Most often women did domestic work or acted as teacher's assistants at the school while men worked on the grounds or at nearby mines (Davidson 1989, CRS F1/0 1952/487; CRS F1. 1955/731).

Despite its brief history as a mission and government settlement, the area known to the Warumungu as Mangkamarnta is one of several important dreaming sites for Warumungu people in the area. The area that was once Phillip Creek mission was part of the Warumungu Land Claim launched in 1978. In 1992, after years of litigation, the Phillip Creek Mission Block was handed back to traditional owners as part of the Warumungu Land Claim to be held by the Warumungu Aboriginal Land Trust. In both 2001 and 2002, traditional owners made bids to purchase the station land through the Indigenous Land Commission citing continued spiritual, economic, cultural, and social uses for the land. These applications were denied, but Warumungu people continue to go to the area.

In June 2004 a ‘return’ ceremony was held near the old station to welcome back members of the Stolen Generation who had been taken from Phillip Creek when they were children. Warumungu and Warlpiri women danced and a memorial plaque was dedicated to the remaining men and women who were taken away.