Musgrave Park, Brisbane
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Musgrave Park is a park in
South Brisbane, Queensland South Brisbane is an inner southern Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , South Brisbane had a population of 14,292 people. Geography South Brisbane is on the southern bank of th ...
, Australia. The park is bordered by Edmonstone, Russell, and Cordelia Streets, and Brisbane State High School, and has an area of . The park is of cultural significance to
Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...
. The park and the former bowls clubhouse (now used as a community centre) are listed on the Brisbane Heritage Register.


History

Musgrave Park is a remnant of the former Kurilpa (South Brisbane) Aboriginal camping ground that stretched from "Highgate Hill and on (to) the slanting slopes of Cumboomeya ( Somerville House)" and additionally "sometimes they made a camp in the little scrub then situated on the river bank near the recent entrance to the Dry Dock". From here and Woolloongabba, Aboriginal people in the 1840s and 1850s would go into South Brisbane to work chopping wood, carrying water, and selling fish. The South Brisbane Recreation Reserve (as it was originally known) was created in 1856. In 1867, it was proposed to build a public grammar school ( Brisbane State High School) adjacent to the reserve. In 1884, it was renamed Musgrave Park after the then
Governor of Queensland The governor of Queensland is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in the state of Queensland. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia, governor-general at the national level, the governor Governors of ...
, Sir Anthony Musgrave. An effort to collect documents related to the Aboriginal historical links to the park was spearheaded by Bob Weatherall in 1983. In 1985, the Musgrave Park Report was released, identifying Indigenous links to the area. In 1998, the Brisbane City Council allocated part of the park for the establishment of an Indigenous cultural centre. The council has described the park as a place for holding feasts,
ceremonies A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan origin, via the Latin . Religious and civil (secular) ceremoni ...
and dispute resolution. In 1982, Denis Walker, son of famous Australian poet, Kath Walker ( Oodgeroo Noonuccal) was shot at during an Aboriginal protest. About 500 Aboriginals were set up in tents at Musgrave Park to organise their land-rights protest during the Commonwealth Games.


Current use

Musgrave Park is home to the Jagera Arts Centre (formerly the lawn bowls clubhouse) and is one of the few remaining green spaces left in Brisbane's inner city. On 24 August 1998, after twenty years of legal struggles with the Queensland state government, the Musgrave Park Aboriginal Corporation (MPAC) secured a lease to build a
cultural centre A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run. Africa * ...
on portions of the park.FAIRA: Historic handover at Musgrave Park
/ref> The park holds special significance to the local indigenous population due to a past restriction barring the Aboriginal people from crossing the park and entering the city of Brisbane. Notably, being the site of a buried bora ring, it has historically been a sacred site to the native Murri people. Each year, the park hosts the Paniyiri Greek Festival, the National Aboriginal and Islander Day of Celebration ( NAIDOC) Park Day, and the Lesbian and Gay Brisbane Pride Festival Fair Day. In 2020, the last day of
National Reconciliation Week National Reconciliation Week (NRW) is intended to celebrate Indigenous history and culture in Australia and foster reconciliation discussion and activities. It started as the Week of Prayer for Reconciliation in 1993, developing into National R ...
was marked by a candlelight vigil in Musgrave Park on 3 June 2020, with 432 candles lit for each of the Aboriginal deaths in custody since the 1991 end of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and an extra one for
George Floyd George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd had used a counterfeit tw ...
, an Afro-American man killed by a police officer.


See also

* List of festivals in Brisbane *
List of parks in Brisbane This is a list of major parks, gardens, and nature reserves in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. See also *Brisbane native plants *Australia's Open Garden Scheme *Gardening in Australia *Heritage gardens in Australia *Protected areas of ...


References


External links


Musgrave Park Cultural CentreThe Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action (FAIRA)
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