The Bwgcolman (pronounced "Bwookamun") is the self-assigned name for the

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Isl ...

who were deported from many areas of the

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

mainland, and confined in resettlement on

Great Palm Island Great Palm Island, usually known as Palm Island, is the largest island in the Palm Islands group off Northern Queensland, Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal community, the legacy of an Aboriginal reserve, the Palm Island Aboriginal Sett ...

after the establishment of 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 c ...

there in 1918, the Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement, and their descendants today. The name has also sometimes been applied to the island itself.

Name

Bwgcolman means "many tribes – one people", or "one people from many groups". The word originates from one of the languages of the many among the relocated people, who decided to unite under this name. Created to give a collective identity to the 46 groups who found themselves frequently in conflict because of their disparate linguistic and cultural backgrounds, one source says that the term was devised by the Manbarra elder Dick Palm Island. It is a collective name adopted for the many Palm Islander peoples who, as distinct from the Manbarra (who were there before the reserve was established, but had been moved onto the mainland by the Queensland Government in the 1890s), were subject to coercive displacement from a wide-ranging number of Aboriginal communities on the mainland. Bwgcolman is also used as a descriptive term in recent claims for

native title Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...

, where the Bwcgolman are described as the "historical people", while the Manbarra are (arguably) the

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have right ...

(although this has not been determined by law, and the Bwcgolman "historical people" have an

Indigenous land use agreement Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

with the government). The name has also sometimes been applied to the Island itself.

People

The original inhabitants of Palm Island are the Manbarra people.

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

from throughout Queensland (Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander Torres Strait Islanders () are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia, they are often groupe ...

people) were resettled on Palm Island by the Queensland Chief

Protector of Aborigines The role of Protector of Aborigines was first established in South Australia in 1836. The role became established in other parts of Australia pursuant to a recommendation contained in the ''Report of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Abori ...

under provisions of the

Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 The ''Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897'', long name ''A Bill to make Provision for the better Protection and Care of the Aboriginal and Half-caste Inhabitants of the Colony, and to make more effectual Provision ...

(Queensland). The traditional background of these people is often not known, although individuals trace descent from some 43 different tribal groups. The people were deported from many areas of the Queensland mainland, as well as the

Torres Strait Islands The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their total land ...

, and confined in to the Aboriginal reserve on Great Palm Island in 1918, known as the Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement.

2018 centenary

In 2018, a series of official public events were held to mark the Palm Island Centenary, being 100 years since the first Aboriginal people were moved to the reserve, creating the Bwcolman people. The occasion was a time of mourning for many descendants of the

Stolen Generations 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 ...

created by the forced removals.

Notes

Citations

Sources

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