comingofthelight

Some Aboriginal people work for the settlers. They are dressed in European clothes, fed European food, and live in camps near the homestead. They play a vital role in the development of the Queensland pastoral industry. The owners of Booubyjan had a good relationship with the Aboriginal people who lived and worked on the station. They commissioned FW Whitehouse to paint the portrait of Cobbo, which was hung on the homestead. Source: cherbourgmemory.org/booubyja-cobbo-at-booubyjan-station-1...

Doomadgee is a largely Indigenous community located in the Gulf of Carpentaria, approximately 140km from the Northern Territory border and 93km west of Burketown. The community is positioned alongside the Nicholson River and provides access to the coast, freshwater rivers, and Lawn Hill National Park, one of the Gulf’s most popular natural tourist attractions. The Waanyi and Gangalidda people are recognized as the Traditional Owners of the region surrounding Doomadgee. The original mission, known as ‘Old Doomadgee’, was established in 1933 by a non-Indigenous family, the Akehurst family, with the support of the Christian Brethren Assemblies and Chief Protector of Aboriginals[2]. The mission was located at ‘Dumaji’ at Bayley Point Aboriginal reserve, on Gangalidda land. Archival records and personal accounts by residents describe the restrictive and difficult conditions at Doomadgee. In 1950, a government report severely criticized practices in use in the dormitory. At the time, mission policy required that all children over 6 years old lived in dormitories[14]. Boys left the dormitory around the age of 14 to take up station work. Girls were trained in domestic duties and often remained in the dormitories until they married. By the late 1950s, many residents left Doomadgee and went to the Mornington Island mission, where the practice of separating children from parents in dormitories had been abandoned. During the 1960s, older, unmarried girls began returning to their parents[16]. The dormitories closed at some point in the late 1960s. Source: www.qld.gov.au/firstnations/cultural-awareness-heritage-a...

In 1871 on 1 July representatives from the London Missionary Society arrived on Erub Island (Darnley Island) accompanied by South Sea Islander evangelists and teachers. Clan Elder and Warrior, Dabad greeted them on their arrival. Ready to defend his land and people Dabad walked to the water’s edge when the Rev Samuel McFarlane dropped to his knees and presented The Bible to Dabad. Dabad accepted the gift, interpreted as the ‘Light’, introducing Christianity to the Torres Strait Islands. The people of the Torres Strait Islands adopted the Christian rituals and ceremonies and continued to uphold their connection to the land, sea and sky, practicing their traditional customs, and cultural identity referred to as ‘Ailan Kastom.’ Each year on 1 July, ‘The Coming of the Light’ or ‘Keriba Lagaw Buiya’ in traditional language is a day of celebration, performance, oral tradition and reverence. Source: www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/coming-light-celebrating-150-year...