Comments on: Why most Punthamarra people don’t live in their claim area…

By: Robert Burns

Robert Burns — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 06:58:59 +0000

I identify as a Punthamurra ( sometimes seen as Bunthamurra ,boonthamurra or Puntamurra) man on my mothers side. We also have to suffer the indignity of proving to the State Government (who enforced the movement of all traditional owners)that we belong to our country. My Mothers family moved around South west Qld working on pastoral properties and living in fringe camps in towns such as Charleville, Cunnamulla, Mitchell and Roma.

This was done at a time that if you stayed in one place too long you were seized by the police and sent to missions. My grandfather applied and was granted an exemption from the Aboriginal Protection Act, but still had to notify local police of his movements.

My grandmother on moving to Brisbane was involved in a place called “open doors” which was a meeting place and venue for aboriginal people to meet their mob. My mother continued the tradition being involved in organisations for the betterment of Aboriginal people. So the struggle continues.

By: Claire

Claire — Thu, 31 May 2007 05:22:06 +0000

Good point Michael, and of course it wasn’t confined to Queensland either, although what I’ve read about in Western Australia doesn’t quite approach the vindictiveness and spitefulness that seems to be there in Queensland.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 30 May 2007 21:44:34 +0000

Removing people from their country was common practice in Qieensland until the 1960s-70s. It had largely died out elsewhere, although individuals, mainly kids, were still being taken from their mothers throuhgout Northern Australia in this period.
After WW2, the Queensland Government thought it would be a good idea to move every Aboriginal person in North Queensland from their home communities to Bamaga. This would, they thought, solve two problems: it would make it easier to ‘control’ people; and it would free up their land for development.
It was a commonplace to send in the trucks or the boats and then tell people they were going to Cairns for a medical check-up or a church picnic. There’s many a tale of people getting out to sea and then looking back to see their homes burning.
Some stayed in the Cape at New Mapoon and Umagico, but people from Lockhart River, for one, just up and walked home.
At about this time, they were still using Palm Island - off the coast near Townsville - as a penal colony. ‘Cheeky blacks’ could be bundled off there without trial, but with every expectation that they’d never see their home country again.
In 2007, the Federal Government is using money earned from mines on Aboriginal land as a slush fund tp pay for, among other things, an office that will deal with 99-year leases on Aboriginal land in remote townships. The leases will be held by government - some of them to be parcelled out to private enterprise - in exchange for funding for schools, housing and health services.
As you can see, not much has changed.

By: tulugaq

tulugaq — Mon, 28 May 2007 08:28:14 +0000

That’s one of the worst cases of adding insult to injury I’ve ever heard.

By: language hat

language hat — Tue, 22 May 2007 16:53:59 +0000

I googled around but couldn’t find the date either. What an awful story.