 In June 1886 Gribble left for Sydney to put his case to the Anglican primate (bishop Alfred Barry) and the Board of Missions, but when the ship docked at Adelaide he was greeted with a telegram from the Missions Committee of Perth, who had met in his absence and decided to dispense with his services.His wife and youngest children were still at the mission station.His dismissal was welcomed by sections of the Perth press, to whom Gribble was a defiant, tactless, prying, boastful interloper.