yarrabah

AUSTRALIAN AB0RIGINES RAPIDLY DISAPPEARING Contact with Whites Fatal In the whole of Australia it is estimated that there are 70,000 Australian blacks still living. During the past ten years, the ratio of the increase of aborigines and half-castes at Yarrabah Mission in Queensland has been greater than that of Queensland's white population. __ This is taken in some quarters as an indication that the Aboriginal race can be preserved. Mr. F. Garnett, South Australia's Chief Protector of Aborigines, does not hold that view. "In sixty years a full-blooded Australian black will be a curiosity in South Australia". he said. , 'Full bloods are decreasing to such an extent that 60 years is a conservative estimate". Statistics support Mr. Garnett. Taking official figures over a period of years the decline of ' full-bloods and -the increase of castes indicate that the 'black race is rapidly disappearing". "The Australian black is not black to the same degree as the African negro" he said, "and- the pigments that give his skin a dark, chocolate, tinge are not so deeply imbedded or strong as' the African negro. For that reason, the Australian Aboriginals quickly lose color when crossed with white blood. Most quadroons show only slight traces of black parentage and this fact will eventually wipe. the evidence of the Australian aboriginal existence." Source: The Mail, Adelaide, 31 May 1924 trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/63787464

Grey Peaks is a national park in Far North Queensland, Australia, 1,374 km northwest of Brisbane. It is part of the Coastal Wet Tropics Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for the conservation of lowland tropical rainforest birds.[1] The forests of the national park dominate are dominated by large-fruited red mahogany Eucalyptus pellita and red turpentine Syncarpia glomulifera. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Peaks_National_Park

HISTORY OF THE SETTLE- MENT Yarrabah Mission, situated approximately ten miles from Cairns by launch is conducted by the Church of England and maintained by the Board of Missions and the Government. It was established in 1892, the settlement being opened by Rev. Gribble, who died six months later. His son Rev. E. R. Gribble filled the breach caused by the death of his father, and for seventeen years did faithful service. At the time of our visit, the inhabitants numbered approximately 400. The white staff comprised eleven members, their respective duties being as follows:- Mr. S Lyon, Superintendent. Mrs Lyon, Matron of Hospital Rev. A. C. Flint, Mission Clergyman Mr. R Matthews, in charge of saw-mill. Mr. Howard in charge of cattle and teams. Mr. Thompson, storekeeper, and boys master. Miss Kent, Matron of girls' dormitory. Miss Bain, secretary Misses Howard (2), teachers Mrs Howard (residing with her husband and daughters PASSED EXPERIMENTAL STAGE Mr. Lyon is the type of missionary who evidently believes in the efficacy of teaching a man a congenial trade, and thereby keeping his mind occupied with healthy thoughts if one is to make him increase his self-respect; this, of course, is in addition to wholesome religious teachings. He put his theory into practice at Yarrabah and that it was a success is evident from the moment one steps ashore. Yarrabah has passed the experimental stage! It is now a well-organized community of highly-skilled tradesmen. The township is lit by its own electric light plant and the Houses are "larger: and' cleaner than many of the buildings called "homes" in Cairns. To trace the stages of the evolution of the native from a child of the wilderness to a highly skilled mechanic, carpenter or electrician would seem a tall order, but it means reviewing only a few years of work done at Yarrabah. Source: The Mail, Adelaide, 31 May 1924 trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/63787464

Ancient traditions Yarrabah is the traditional country of the Gunggandji and Mandingalbay Yidinji people. These people had traditional beliefs and values different from those we have today. They were guided by Buleru, ancestral spirits who gave us our cultural law, belief system, and creation stories and followed a defined social structure and kinship system. Our people were hunters and gatherers, and the surrounding rainforest and beachside traditional lands around Cape Grafton provided food in abundance. Dwellings were made from material found within the environment, the structure dependent on wet season or dry season needs. The lands we occupy are ancient. Our people have a connection to the country stretching back into the dream time. Our local customs and traditions, continue today and our people continue their responsibilities as custodians of the land. Source: www.gyhsac.org.au/site/user-assets/Yarrabah%20Community%2...

Living Conditions: Dormitories were where children from the age of 10 lived Under the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 children were started to be taken from their parents and kept in these dormitories In the early 1900s the church created unpaid work for all of the residents at the mission which was compulsory Children worked in agriculture to supply food Businesses from Cairns also used the Aboriginals for cheap labor in local industries including coffee and sugar farming 'We never had any choices back in those days. We was told to do what we had to do. It wasn't a good place to live. It was very difficult' Eric Bell a Nugunnawal elder 'We never had any choices back in those days. We were told to do what we had to do. It wasn't a good place to live. It was very difficult' Eric Bell a Nugunnawal elder Children used to hide in shrubs and bushy areas to hide from the government people when they came around The point of missions was to protect the Aboriginal people of the surrounding area Their goal was also to 'Christianize' the Aboriginal people At the time many people didn’t like them because they wanted their own land the colonial government responded by setting up reserves or stations Aboriginal people who heavily restricted to their land and freedom The reserves had their own machinery and the Aboriginals were forced to crop and look after livestock Devastating things went on at the missions such as disease, pastoral expansion, and conflict. Source: yarrabahlife.weebly.com/yarrabah-mission.html

Hanlon was home secretary from 17 June 1932 until 5 December 1935 when he became secretary for health and home affairs. As the minister largely responsible for the development and implementation of the A.L.P.'s welfare policies, Hanlon held assumptions and attitudes that had important consequences for the character of Queensland society. Under his administration Aborigines continued to be subjected to 'enforced population transfers, confinement to particular areas under relatively arbitrary and quite authoritarian regimes, excessive moral scrutiny, interference in intimate human relationships, supervised breeding, imposed placement and calculatedly inferior educational training for their children, control over their labour conditions, wages and personal property, and even suppression of their ''injurious" or menacing ''customs" or practices'. In these ways, Aborigines who, in their 'natural' state—according to Hanlon—were 'about 1,000,000 years behind the white race', were 'protected' by the state. Source; adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hanlon-edward-michael-ned-10411