Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement
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Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement, later officially known as Director of Native Affairs Office, Palm Island and also known as Palm Island Aboriginal Reserve, Palm Island mission and Palm Island Dormitory, was an
Aboriginal reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th ...
and
penal settlement A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer t ...
on
Great Palm Island Great Palm Island, usually known as Palm Island, is the largest island in the Palm Island, Queensland, Palm Islands group off North Queensland, Northern Queensland, Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal Australian, Aboriginal community, the ...
, the main island in the
Palm Island group Palm Island is a locality consisting of an island group of 16 islands, split between the Shire of Hinchinbrook and the Aboriginal Shire of Palm Island, in Queensland, Australia. The locality coincides with the geographical entity known as t ...
in
North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its Tropical North Queensland, trop ...
, Australia. It was the largest and most punitive reserve in Queensland. Gazetted in 1914, the first residents were only moved there in March 1918 from the Hull River Aboriginal Settlement after that reserve was destroyed by a cyclone. The settlement continued under government control in various forms until 1975. Palm Island was mentioned in the '' Bringing Them Home Report'' as an institution that housed children removed from their families, part of the
Stolen Generation The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church mis ...
.


Background

In 1909 the
Chief Protector of Aborigines The Australian colonies in the nineteenth century created offices involved in managing the affairs of Indigenous people in their jurisdictions. The role of Protector of Aborigines was first established in South Australia in 1836. The role beca ...
visited the island, apparently to check on the activities of Japanese pearling crews in the area, and reported the existence of a small camp of Aboriginal people. In 1916 he found Palm Island to be "the ideal place for a delightful holiday' and that its remoteness also made it suitable for use as a penitentiary" for "individuals we desire to punish".


1914/1918: Establishment

In 1914 the Government established the Hull River Aboriginal Settlement on the
Hull River Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...
near Mission Beach on the Australian mainland. On 10 March 1918, the structures were destroyed by a
cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an ant ...
and were never rebuilt. Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement had been gazetted as an
Aboriginal reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th ...
on 20 June 1914, although at the time there were few Aboriginal people living on Great Palm. Its size was about . After the cyclone had demolished Hull River, around 1 April 1918 the settlement relocated to Palm Island, with the new population from various Aboriginal peoples – from at least 57 different language groups throughout Queensland – later referred to as the Bwgcolman people. The Superintendent of Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement was directly responsible to the
Chief Protector of Aboriginals The Australian colonies in the nineteenth century created offices involved in managing the affairs of Indigenous people in their jurisdictions. The role of Protector of Aborigines was first established in South Australia in 1836. The role becam ...
, who in turn was responsible to the Home Secretary's Office (after 5 December 1935, the Department of Health and Home Affairs). The Aboriginal residents were deemed
wards of the state Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pri ...
, with every aspect of their lives controlled by this office.


1920s–1930s: Missionaries, school and dormitories

A number of
missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...
from various
Christian denomination A Christian denomination is a distinct Religion, religious body within Christianity that comprises all Church (congregation), church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadersh ...
s visited or settled and worked on the island. In the 1920s, two female
Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
missionaries began some work on the reserve, and
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
priests visited between 1918 and 1924. In 1930, Father Paddy Molony began his work, and the Sisters of Our Lady Help of Christians occupied the
convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
built in 1934. A Catholic school was built in 1937. In March 1921 Great Palm Island and Eclipse Island were gazetted as Aboriginal Reserves. In 1922–3 an Industrial School (under the ''Industrial and Reformatory Schools Act 1865'') and segregated dormitories for the children were established. On arrival, children were separated from their parents and then segregated by sex. The dormitories operated as care for
orphan An orphan is a child whose parents have died, are unknown, or have permanently abandoned them. It can also refer to a child who has lost only one parent, as the Hebrew language, Hebrew translation, for example, is "fatherless". In some languages ...
s or neglected children, but also places of detention for single mothers and their children.


1930: Superintendent murders

On 3 February 1930, in an incident known as the 1930 Palm Island Tragedy, the first Superintendent of the Settlement, Robert Henry Curry, who had been a strict disciplinarian, shot and wounded two people, and set fire to several buildings, killing his two children. Later in the day, the Superintendent was shot dead. An official inquiry by the Queensland Attorney General followed. Those involved in the shooting of the Superintendent, including the Deputy Superintendent and the Palm Island Medical Officer, were charged with murder. During the trial the Crown Prosecutor was directed by the trial judge to drop the charges, stating that the shooting was justified.


1938/1941: Re-gazetting

Palm Island was re-gazetted as an Aboriginal reserve on 16 July 1938, and on 20 September 1941 some of the small islands surrounding Great Palm, including
Curacoa Island Curacoa Island (pron. KEWR-É™-sow) is one of the islands in the Palm Islands group off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The nearest island is Great Palm Island, after which the group is named. Curacoa Island is uninhabited. The Aborigina ...
,
Falcon Island Falcon Island is one of the islands in the Palm Islands group, off the eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. The nearest island is Esk Island. The Nyawaygi name of the island is ''Carbooroo''. Along with nine of the other islands within the ...
,
Esk Island Esk Island is one of the small uninhabited islands in the Palm Islands group. The nearest island is Falcon Island. The Aboriginal name for the island is Soopun. Along with nine of the other islands within the Palm Islands group, it falls under ...
,
Brisk Island Brisk Island is an island in Australia's Great Palm Island group. The nearest island is Great Palm Island, after which the group is named. The Nyawaygi name for Brisk Island is ''Culgarool''. Along with nine of the other islands within the Pa ...
, and
Havannah Island Havannah Island is one of the islands in the Palm Island group. The nearest island is Great Palm Island, after which the group is named. Havannah Island is the southernmost island in the group, and uninhabited. Along with nine of the other isl ...
, were also gazetted as reserves, under Chief Protector
John William Bleakley John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...
, who targeted them as sites for further institutions for punishing people. There is no record of dwellings or other structures being built on these islands, but Eclipse Island had become known as "Punishment Island" under Curry. Curry, as punishment for misdemeanours such as speaking their own language or gambling, was to exile men to Eclipse Island, and sometimes Curacoa, with only bread and water, sometimes for weeks at a time.
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
n anthropologist
Norman Tindale Norman Barnett Tindale AO (12 October 1900 – 19 November 1993) was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist. He is best remembered for his work mapping the various tribal groupings of Aboriginal Australians ...
visited the island in 1938, and recorded the
genealogies Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...
of people representing a large number of tribal groups from across mainland Queensland.


1939: Director of Native Affairs Office, Palm Island

After 12 Oct 1939, when the '' Aboriginals Preservation and Protection Act 1939'' and ''
Torres Strait Islander Act 1939 Torres may refer to: People *Torres (surname), a Spanish and Portuguese surname *Torres (musician), singer-songwriter Mackenzie Scott ** ''Torres'' (album), 2013 self-titled album by Torres Places Americas *Torres, Colorado, an unincorporated co ...
'' were passed, the name changed from Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement to Director of Native Affairs Office, Palm Island. The Act effected a change in policy: instead of protection and segregation of Indigenous people, it instead focussed on assimilation into the "white community". It gave freedom and full citizenship rights to Aboriginal who qualified for these, but also streamlined the administration and development of Aboriginal reserves. On a surprise inspection of the Palm Island Prison during an official visit in the late 1960s, Senator Jim Keeffe and academic Henry Reynolds discovered two 12- to 13‑year‑old schoolgirls incarcerated in the settlement's prison by the senior administrator on the island (the
superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Building superintendent, a manager, maintenance or repair person, custodian or janitor, especially in the United States; sometimes shortened to "super" *Prison warden or superintendent, a prison administrator *Soprin ...
), because "they swore at the teacher".


Life on the reserve

In the first two decades of its establishment the population of Indigenous "inmates" increased from 200 to 1,630. In 1939 there were 1248. By the early 1920s, Palm Island had become the largest of the government Aboriginal settlements. Administrators found its location attractive as Aboriginal people could be isolated, but Palm Island quickly gained a reputation amongst Aboriginal people as a
penal settlement A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer t ...
. They were removed from across Queensland as punishment; being "disruptive", falling pregnant to a white man, or being born with " mixed blood" were among the "infringements" that could lead to the penalty of being sent to Palm Island. New arrivals came after being sentenced by a court or released from prison, or they were sent by administrators of other missions wishing to weed out their more ill-mannered or disruptive Aboriginal people.pages 49–50 The death rate on the reserve was higher than the birth rate until after 1945, with replenishment of numbers from the mainland the only reason for the growth in population there. Palm Island was used as a penal institution for Indigenous people who ran afoul of the 1897 Protection Act, as well as those who had committed
criminal offence In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...
s. Many men who had already served their time in jail on the mainland were afterwards moved to the reserve, thus punishing them a second time for the same offence. In the 1930s a local doctor highlighted
malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...
on the island, and demanded that the Government triple rations for the islanders and that children be provided with
fruit juice Juice is a drink made from the extraction or pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat or seafood, such ...
, but the request was denied. On the reserve there was a "hospital, two schools, a Female Welfare Organisation with a Home Training Centre, an Old People's Home, a Child Welfare Centre with baby and child clinics, dormitories for children, women and youths, churches of various denominations, a curio shop, sawmill and logging operations, and a workshop where training was undertaken in carpentry, joining and plumbing". A
bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...
was built to dictate the running of the mission. The bell would ring each morning at eight, a signal for everyone to line up for parade in the mission square. Those who failed to line up had their food allocation cut. At nine each evening the bell would ring again, signalling the shutting down of the island's electricity. The roll call and curfew lasted until the 1970s. The bell tower still stands in the local square to this day, a relic of Palm Island's history. It was recorded that there was almost military-like discipline in the segregation between white and black, and that inmates "were treated as rather dull retarded children". The following letter was written to a new bride by the "Protector":
"Dear Lucy, Your letter gave me quite a shock, fancy you wanting to draw four pounds to buy a brooch, ring, bangle, work basket, tea set, etc, etc. I am quite sure Mrs. Henry would expend the money carefully for you, but I must tell you that no Aborigine can draw 4/5 of their wages unless they are sick and in hospital and require the money to buy comforts... However, as it is Christmas I will let you have 1/5 – out of your banking account to buy lollies with."
Aboriginal people were forbidden to speak their language and to go into "white" zones. Everyday activity was highly controlled by administrators, and there were nightly curfews and the vetting of mail. In some cases, women were put into dormitories and their husbands sent to work on the mainland.


1957: Strike

One of the harshest Superintendents was Roy Bartlam, who arrested workers for being a minute behind the roll call in the reserve. All Islanders were required to work 30 hours each week, and up until the 1960s no wages were paid for this work. The catalyst for the strike was the attempted deportation of Indigenous inmate Albie Geia who committed the offence of disobeying the European overseer. The strike was also against the harsh conditions imposed by Bartlam, low or no wages, as well as poor housing and rations. Bartlam was forced to flee to his office and call for reinforcements. Armed Police arrived by RAAF launch from Townsville, and the "ringleaders" and their families were deported in chains to other Aboriginal settlements. Seven families were banished from the Palm Island in 1957 for taking part in a
strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...
organised to protest against the
Dickensian Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by many as the greate ...
working conditions imposed by the Queensland Government under the reserve system. Athlete
Cathy Freeman Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman (born 16 February 1973) is an Australian former sprinter, who specialised in the 400 metres event. Her personal best of 48.63 seconds currently ranks her as the ninth-fastest woman of all time, set while fin ...
's mother, Cecilia Barber, and the family of strike ringleader Frederick William Doolan including Billy Doolan Jnr. were among those banished from the island.


1960s–1975

New dormitories for boys and girls were constructed in 1962 and 1965 respectively. By 1966, there were about 71 children housed in them. The Director of Native Affairs Office was superseded by the Aboriginal and Island Affairs Department on 28 April 1966, after being abolished by the '' Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Affairs Act 1965''. The functions were transferred to the Aboriginal and Island Affairs Department, District Office, Palm Island. The women's dormitory closed in 1967 and demolished two years later. In this period, most of the children were being sent by the Children's Services Department. As ideas about the care of young people changed, fewer children were sent to Palm Island, and by 1975 there were only 27 children left in the dormitories. They were closed completely on 5 December 1975.


Legacy


Descendants

Today's population are descendants of people taken to the reserve from 1914 up to 1971. Estimates vary, but the number of tribal groups represented by the descendants (known as the Bwgcolman people is at least 43 and has been said to represent 57 different
language groups A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term ''family'' is a metaphor borrowed from biology, with the tree model used in historical linguistics anal ...
. At least 5000 people were forcibly removed to the reserve from all over Queensland, the
Torres Strait The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes ( Kalaw Lagaw Ya#Phonology 2, ˆzen̪ad̪ kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, ...
and Melanesian islands. The majority of the current population descend from peoples occupying the region between Bowen and Tully, from north-western Queensland, and from the
Cape York Peninsula The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...
.


Social issues

The "largest and historically most punitive of Queensland's Aboriginal reserves", Palm Island was mentioned in the '' Bringing Them Home Report'' (1997) as an institution that housed children removed from their families, part of the
Stolen Generation The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church mis ...
. Its history has been a major factor in the many social and economic problems which have beset the island since: in 2006 it was reported that the community suffered from chronic
alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...
,
drug A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via insufflation (medicine), inhalation, drug i ...
and
domestic abuse Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. In a broader sense, abuse including nonphysical abuse in such settings is called domestic abuse. The term "domestic violence" is often use ...
, high
unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...
and an average
life expectancy Human life expectancy is a statistical measure of the estimate of the average remaining years of life at a given age. The most commonly used measure is ''life expectancy at birth'' (LEB, or in demographic notation ''e''0, where '' ...
of 50 years, 30 less than the Australian average. Economist Helen Hughes wrote in 2007 that the state of affairs was largely due to the establishment of the "penal settlement in 1918 for Aborigines unwilling to be docile, underpaid bush and domestic workers", and historical and current "
apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English:  , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
-like" policies: the Queensland Government was failing the community by "stalling the Commonwealth's efforts to improve policing, education and health and to introduce private property rights".


References


Sources

* * (Available a
AIATSIS Library
* Map:


Palm Island Select Committee (PISC) reports

* * *


Further reading

* {{coord missing, Queensland Aboriginal communities in Queensland Australian Aboriginal missions Far North Queensland 1914 establishments in Australia 1918 establishments in Australia Stolen Generations institutions Prison islands