I trust you, do you trust me?

[Gnarly Gnu]

Hey Frank I used to employ an Aborigine who was born in Innisfail, he looked & spoke quite different to the ones we see down here. Looked exactly like and Indian actually (same ancestors I would think). Is there a significant difference between the FNQ tribes and others in Australia do you know?

 

 

[farri]

Is there a significant difference between the FNQ tribes and others in Australia do you know?

Gnarly, I don`t know...In the early days of the sugar industry, people ( Kanaka`s ) from various parts of world, were brought over here to work in the cane fields, some of them, never to return. This will give you some information! http://www.qhatlas.com.au/content/sugar-slaves

 

We came on to our property ( sugar cane farm ), forty four years ago. Back then, there was a settlement, on the southern bank of the Mulgrave river, about half a kilometer or so up the road, towards the Bruce highway, called The Village. It consisted of some of the descendents of the original Kanaka`s and some indigenous Australian. They lived pretty rough but we never, ever, had any trouble with them, the biggest problem for them was the grog.

 

As time went on their piece of land kept increasing in value, council rates wouldn`t be paid, so, slowly but surely, they were all forced to leave. The land was made into house allotments and sold off. There is still a piece of land, called, The Church Block.

 

All the land inside the red line was the original settlement, the smaller piece is the church block. These days, there is no church.

 

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Frank.

 

[David Isaac]

Bloody hell Franco, that is a disgraceful story on that link. We were almost as bad as the Southern USA slave market by the sound of it ... very sad.

 

 

[farri]

For many years, people, white and black, from all over the place, would come to the church block, for ceremonies at Easter and Christmas, there was always a lot of children and a happy atmosphere, we would hear beautiful singing, from home here. I was told, Fran and I would be welcome there, but we never seemed to get there.

 

Originally there was a small building used as a church but it was pretty rough, so it was eventually pulled down and attempts were made to build a better church, an attempt was also made to build good toilets.... Building material would be stock piled there but no one would do the building, slowly but surely all the material would vanish and more brought in, that would would disappear... Attempts were made to try and teach indigenous kids some skills in panel beating and motor mechanical skills, vehicles were brought there, nothing ever eventuated and the vehicles simply rusted away......Eventually an indigenous pastor turned up to live on the church block and that is another, very long, complex story.

 

If you look closely at the church block, you will see his game fishing boat moored beside it. Some of his relatives are now in control of the block. I`ve been slashing the grass with my tractor for them, free of charge, for quite a few years now and I hope they can eventually build a better church than the original! so far, there`s been work done to the shed that`s there but still no church. People still come there for ceremonies, but they put up tents.

 

Frank.

 

Ps, I`m just telling it how it was and is.

 

 

[farri]

Bloody hell Franco, that is a disgraceful story on that link. We were almost as bad as the Southern USA slave market by the sound of it ... very sad.

David, You`ve got it!.... I won`t say, we, though, because, I and all of my family had absolutely nothing to do with it. We worked and sacrificed, very hard for many years to have the property we now own. Frances, retired from a lifetime of work, only a couple of months ago.

 

When the indigenous people were up the road our kids were going to school....Very often, their kids were not getting fed properly, because parents were spending all their dole money on grog and other things.... They were living in terrible conditions.... There would be drunken brawls, at night so the kids weren`t getting good sleep....The school was 6 klm away....My wife, Frances was driving our kids to school, so whenever possible, she would stop and pick up those of their kids, who were able to go to school that day........An absolutely terrible situation, mostly for the kids who were the next generation, to carry the baton on, so to speak.

 

I believe the way forward for indigenous people, is to embrace the modern world and move forward with it and that takes education. The squalor that exists in a lot of indigenous communities, is created by those living in those communities, yet, they expect the government, or others, to do something about it.

 

There`s an old saying, " God helps those who help themselves."....There`s also the old saying,"You can lead a horse to water but you can`t make it drink."......You can`t help anyone who won`t help themselves!

 

Frank,

 

Ps, I don`t believe I`ve said anything racist, just the facts!

 

 

[David Isaac]

My son Brad works with the Arabunna people who are indigenous to the Lake Eyre region in South Australia. He loves them and they love him. They call him "White Arabunna", he has become a part of their community. It is quite hilarious really because Brad has long skinny legs just as if he was aboriginal and they laugh about that (he got those legs from me ... they used to call me 'Lucky legs' as a kid ... lucky they don't snap off ...LOL). Brad admires the Arabunna people because they all hold high work ethics and manage their aboriginal estates very well. He employs quite a few of their young men on his projects and I think that has give him great favour. He is a hard taskmaster but fair and the Aboriginal community Elders like that. I am very proud of Brad's achievements working with these people.

 

I intend to go out there soon to meet these people and see the projects Brad is building for them.