History

THIS PAGE GIVES YOU SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THE HISTORY OF PALM ISLAND. FOR A FULL HISTORICAL SUMMARY BY MR BILL BLACKLEY ( AUDIO ), CLICK THE PLAY BUTTON BELOW. THE MAIN POINTS ARE LISTED BELOW:       

·        THE FISRT WHITE SETTLEMMENT IN QLD WAS AT BOWEN

·        BLACK/WHITE WARFARE STARTS

·        THE ABORIGINAL RESERVE SYSTEM ON PALM ISLAND SET UP IN 1914

·        THE ORIGINAL PALM ISLAND PEOPLE WERE CALLED THE MUNDARRA PEOPLE

This page gives you some information about the history of Palm Island. For an audio summary by Mr. Bill Blackley (long time resident), click the play button below. Some main points are summarized below:

·        The first white settlement in Queensland was at Bowen

·        Black/white warfare starts

·        The Aboriginal reserve system starts in 1914

·        The original Palm Island Aboriginals were called the Munburra people

·        The people from the Hull River Mission brought to Palm Island in 1918.

·        There was an act of parliament that controlled the lives of all the murries and they called it “government time”.

·        They stated to build up the Community. They built a huge farm down at the Farm area. They had a diary farm down there with lots of cows.

·        People were forced to work to build the community

·        There was no electricity.

·        To keep your food cold you used to get ice.

·        The airstrip was built in 1961.

·        They had two homes.  A home for boys and a home for girls. You had to stay there until you got married.

·        Everybody had to work. There was no unemployment benefits.  You couldn’t get the dole. There was no CDEP.

·        There were a lot of strict rules but people were rather happy

Bill                                         Caption

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