station

A telegraph station had been erected at Coen in 1886, when the overland telegraph line from Laura, at the southern end of Cape York Peninsula, to Thursday Island at the northern end, was being constructed. At Coen, a carrier station was erected adjacent to the 1886 telegraph station and connected to it. Like the buildings erected at Mt Surprise, Fairview and Cape York, the Coen Carrier Station was of pre-fabricated steel frame construction, with outer walls of corrugated iron, concrete floors, and fibrous cement roofing. They were partitioned internally with fibrous-cement sheeting to provide equipment, power and battery rooms, and living accommodation for two or three maintenance staff. It is thought that these buildings were designed and pre-fabricated in one of the PMG's workshops in Melbourne, Adelaide or Sydney. Paste: apps.des.qld.gov.au/heritage-register/detail/?id=601485

Men, women, and children living on reserves and missions were used as a cheap source of labour. Aboriginal children were considered wards of the state, and removed from their parents’ care to live in segregated male and female dormitories on the reserves. Formal education was limited to fourth grade, followed by training in farm or domestic duties. At the age of twelve, Aboriginal children were usually placed on mandatory twelve-month work contracts with local farms and stations. They were not given a choice about who they would work for, and allegations of physical and sexual abuse and cruelty were the common experiences of many young Aboriginal people. Source: www.qhrc.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/10606/Abo...

The QATB service at Charleville was so well-respected far and wide that subsequently Brigades were established at Blackall and Cunnamulla in 1923. The service at Cunnamulla was absorbed by the Cunnamulla Hospital Board during the 1937-1938 financial year. Old news items and discussions with pioneers of south-west Queensland reveal that in the early days, the ambulance would respond to calls to attend to patients in the Channel country and officers would be away from the Centre for periods of up to four days. Today the Charleville-based Flying Doctor does the round trip in four hours. Source: www.ambulance.qld.gov.au/docs/history/Charleville.pdf

Ron Richards (8 May 1910 – 14 January 1967 (aged 56)) born Ranold/Randell William Richards in Ipswich, Queensland was an Indigenous Australian professional middle/light heavyweight boxer of the 1930s and 1940s who won the Queensland State (Australia) heavyweight title, Australian middleweight title, Australian heavyweight title, Australian light heavyweight title, and British Empire middleweight title, his professional fighting weight varied from 151 lb (68 kg; 10 st 11 lb), i.e. middleweight to 168 lb (76 kg; 12 st 0 lb), i.e. light heavyweight.[1] He was inducted into the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Richards_(boxer)

Ron (Ranald) RichardsPrint Page Print this page The plaque commemorates Aboriginal boxer, Ron Richards. Ron (Ranald) Richards (1910-1967) was the holder of six boxing titles (middleweight and heavyweight). Ron Richards learned his craft in the fighting tents and was famous for his speed, toughness, and counterpunching. He retired from boxing in 1945 having amassed a ring career in excess of 140 fights and more than 60 knockout victories. He was ranked number three in both middleweight and light-heavyweight in 1938. Richards was inducted into the Queensland Indigenous Sporting Hall of Fame in 2010 and into the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003. Ron was a resident of Purga Mission. Source: monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/indigenous/display...