Three Aboriginal Australian men posing outside a tent, Durundur reserve, circa 1902

Durundur Mission 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 c ...

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 , established_ ...

, Australia. It operated from 1877 to 1905 in the area now known as

Woodford Woodford may refer to: Places Australia *Woodford, New South Wales *Woodford, Queensland, a town in the Moreton Bay Region *Woodford, Victoria Canada * Woodford, Ontario England *Woodford, Cornwall * Woodford, Gloucestershire *Woodford, Greate ...

in the

Moreton Bay Region The Moreton Bay Region is a local government area in the north of the Brisbane metropolitan city in South East Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it replaced three established local government areas, the City of Redcliffe and the Shires ...

Background

Since colonisation, Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people have been subject to a range of legislative and other forms of control. Prior to the

separation of Queensland The Separation of Queensland was an event in 1859 in which the land that forms the present-day State of Queensland in Australia was excised from the Colony of New South Wales and created as a separate Colony of Queensland. History European sett ...

from New South Wales on 10 December 1859, the

Native Police Australian native police units, consisting of Aboriginal troopers under the command (usually) of at least one white officer, existed in various forms in all Australian mainland colonies during the nineteenth and, in some cases, into the twentie ...

were the main instrument of colonial authority and order in relation to Aboriginal people on the mainland.

Torres Strait Islander people 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 grouped ...

initially came under the jurisdiction of the Police Magistrate on

Thursday Island Thursday Island, colloquially known as TI, or in the Kawrareg dialect, Waiben or Waibene, is an island of the Torres Strait Islands, an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait. TI is located approximately north of Cape ...

, and later, for a short time, the

Government Resident A resident minister, or resident for short, is a government official required to take up permanent residence in another country. A representative of his government, he officially has diplomatic functions which are often seen as a form of indir ...

of the island. After separation, the administration of Indigenous affairs was transferred to the Colonial Secretary's Office for Queensland and from 1896 the Home Secretary's Office. In 1897 the Queensland Government introduced legislation called the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 (Qld). This Act created the positions of Protectors of Aboriginals, and in 1904, the Office of the Chief Protector of Aboriginals. The 1897 Act and the subsequent amending Acts of 1901, 1927, 1928 and 1934 gave the Chief Protector of Aboriginals, as well as the individual Protectors, enormous control over almost all aspects of the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Queensland. Prior to the introduction of the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 (Qld.), a number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mission stations had been established by religious organisations in Queensland and small amounts of land throughout Queensland had been gazetted as reserves for the use of Aboriginal people. With the passing of the 1897 'Protection' Act, all Aboriginal reserves became subject to the Act. For a number of these reserves Superintendents were appointed to carry out the provisions of the Act. Missionaries in charge of Aboriginal settlements also became Superintendents. The majority of Aboriginal reserves in Queensland were never "managed" reserves; that is no Superintendent was appointed. Unmanaged reserves were usually controlled by the Local Protector of Aborigines.

Mission at Durundur

In March 1877, of land were gazetted as an Aboriginal reserve in the parish of Durundur near Monkeybong Creek. At that time more than two hundred Aboriginal people were camped there under the supervision of the Rev Duncan McNab. In 1878 an amendment to the original notice was made noting the size of the reserve as . In January 1905, the Queensland Government decided to close Durundur Mission. It was closed on 1 March 1905 and the remaining inmates transferred to Barambah Mission. 61 people were forced to walk to Barambah, with the remaining 115 inmates taken by train.

References

Attribution

External links

{{coord, -26.9447, 152.7595, type:landmark_region:AU-QLD, display=title Aboriginal communities in Queensland Woodford, Queensland