Everything about Palm Island Queensland totally explained
Palm Island, also known as
Great Palm Island, or by the
Aboriginal name
Bukaman, is a tropical island with a resident community of about 2,000 people. The settlement is named variously Palm Island, the Mission, Palm Island Settlement or Palm Community. The island is situated 65 kilometres north-west of
Townsville, on the east coast of
Queensland,
Australia 800 kilometres north of the
Tropic of Capricorn. It is the main island of the Greater Palm group, and consists of small
bays, sandy
beaches and steep
forested mountains rising to a peak of 548 metres. Neighbouring islands outside the Palm group include
Rattlesnake Island and
Magnetic Island.
Palm Island is often termed a classic "tropical paradise" given its natural endowments, but it has had a troubled history since the
European settlement of Australia. For much of the twentieth century it was used by the
Queensland Government as a settlement for Aboriginals considered guilty of such infractions as being "disruptive", being pregnant to a white man or being born with "
mixed blood".
The community created by this history has been beset by many problems and has often been the discussion point of political and social commentators. Of significant sociological concern is a lack of jobs and housing. At the same time it has been at the forefront of political activism which has sought to improve the conditions and treatment of Australia's Indigenous peoples as well as redress injustices visited on them broadly as a race and on Palm Island specifically. In
1909 the Chief
Protector of Aborigines visited the Island, apparently to check on the activities of Japanese pearling crews in the area, and reported the existence of a small camp of Aborigines.
'Penal settlement' 1920s-60s
The Palm Island settlement of the Bwgcolman people was established to replace the
Hull River Aboriginal Settlement.
In 1914 the original Government Aboriginal settlement was established on the
Hull River near
Mission Beach on the Australian mainland but, on 10 March 1918, the structures were destroyed by a
cyclone and never rebuilt. Subsequently, the settlement relocated to Palm Island with the new population referred to as the
Bwgcolman people. In the first two decades of its establishment 1,630 Indigenous people from at least 57 different language speaking places throughout Queensland were relocated to Palm.
By the early 1920s Palm Island had become the largest of the Government Aboriginal settlements. Administrators found its location attractive as Aboriginal people could be isolated. Palm Island quickly gained a reputation amongst Aborigines as a penal settlement. Aborigines were forbidden to speak their language and from going into "white" zones. Every day activity was highly controlled by administrators including nightly curfews and the vetting of mail.
A bell tower was built to dictate the running of the mission. It would ring each morning at eight; a signal for everyone to line up for parade in the mission square. Those who failed to line up had their food allocation cut. At nine each evening the bell would ring again signalling the shutting down of the island’s electricity. The bell tower still stands in the local square to this day, a relic of Palm's history.
In 1927 a hospital was built at nearby
Fantome Island; Aborigines were sent there mainly for treatment of
sexually transmitted diseases. In 1936 Fantome Island became a medical clearing station where people sent to Palm Island were examined and treated if necessary. A
leprosarium was established on Fantome in 1939. After World War Two the hospital was closed, and by 1965 only the leprosarium remained on Fantome, it was administered by a Roman Catholic nursing order until 1973 when the inhabitants were moved to Palm Island.
The administrators had complete and unaccountable control over the lives of residents, punishments included the shaving of the girls' heads.
'Path to self governance' 1986 - present
In 26 October 1986 ownership of the island was transferred to a newly formed
Palm Island Community Council under a
Deed of Grant in Trust (DOGIT) from the Queensland government.
Self-appointed "president" of Palm Island, Jeremy Geia, symbolically declared independence from Australia in 2001. The "Peoples Democratic Republic of Palm Island" was an expression of grievances against the Australian and Queensland Governments for neglect of Palm Islanders. There were concerns at the time that this activism would interfere in a major Government investigation into
sexual abuse by making victims too uncomfortable to come to the mainland for examination.
In 2001 The Palm Island State Emergency Services Cadet Group was formed.
The Palm Island Community Council became the
Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council in 2004 under the Queensland
Local Government (Community Government Areas) Act. Like the other Aboriginal Shire Councils that were created, this Act gave the Council full status as a Local Government on a par with other Councils in Queensland.
Notable events
1957 Strike
All Islanders were required to work 30 hours each week, and up until the 1960s no wages were paid for this work.
1999 - Compensation by Queensland Government for underpaid wages
In 1999 the Queensland Government apologised and gave $7,000 compensation each to former Indigenous Palm Islander employees in recompense for underpaid wages between 1975 and 1986. The payment was ordered by the
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in a case first brought to the Commission by seven Palm Islanders in 1986.
Kukamunburra remains returned
A burial site and headstone is located in the "Mission" area of Palm Island. It tells the story of a young Palm Island man of the 19th Century called Kukamunburra who was renamed "Tambo" by a circus agent for the "
Barnum, Bailey and Hutchinson's Greatest show on earth". He was toured along with eight other
Murris, three of whom were from
Hinchinbrook Island and five from Palm.
In 1884 Kukamunburra died at 21 years old of
pneumonia in
Cleveland,
United States of America. The rest of the circus group carried on to the European leg of the tour; by the end of 1885 only three of the Murris were still alive.
Kukamunburra's body was embalmed; 109 years later, in 1993, the body was discovered in a local funeral parlour. His remains were returned to his homeland and buried on Palm Island in February 1994. The station was built by two officers and 122 enlisted men of Company C of the 55th
Seabee Construction Battalion, and a similar detachment that left Brisbane later with 1,500 tons of construction material.
A 1,000 man camp was constructed at the point. Concrete flying boat ramps to the ocean were built with a tarmac parking area for up to 12 flying boats. Moorings for 18 flying boats were provided in Challenger Bay, and 3 nose hangers were also built. Coral aggregate from coral reefs at low tide was used to manufacture concrete.
Estimated Violence Rates Per 100 000 people
1976/77 to 1981/82>
|
Aboriginal
Communities |
Queensland |
Palm Island |
| Homicide |
39.6 |
6.15 |
94.3 |
| Serious Assault |
226.1 |
45.9 |
929.9 |
Wilson considered the Palm Island rates to be a gross underestimate, as the figures provided by the Legal Aid Office only counted cases that went to court, whereas the Queensland rates, provided by the
Australian Bureau of Statistics, were based on reported incidents.
The Palm Island figures demonstrated that 86% of violence involved the offender exhibiting heavy drinking patterns and in most cases the victim was also drinking. 38% of incidents involved people who were married or in a de facto relationship, and, of those, 90% of the offenders were male.
At the time alcohol was limited to beer sold in the canteen between the hours of 5pm and 9pm. Spirits were banned, however there was a flourishing
sly-grog trade.
Guinness Book of Records controversy
The 1999 edition of the
Guinness Book of Records brought international attention to Palm Island when it named the island the most violent place on earth outside a combat zone. To support this claim it stated statistics such as a murder rate 15 times higher than that of the entire state of Queensland, a life expectancy of 40 years, the highest rate of youth suicide per capita in the world, and a total of 40 suicide fatalities over a period of only five years.
The Australian newspaper hypothesised that the
Guinness Book of Records statement was based on an article in a London newspaper. It referred to violence statistics and stated that "the white overseers" left the island in 1985 removing most of the island's assets and resources, only allowing a
pub to remain.
The Sunday Times claimed that up to 30 people live in each house, without sufficient drinking water. However, it was conceded by the Queensland Aboriginal Policy Minister,
Judy Spence, that Palm Island "can be violent at times", particularly for women and children, but that the situation was being improved. (which controls the sea waters around the islands), despite the opposition of, at least some, of the people of Palm Island. On 24 September 1998 the Manbarra elders passed a resolution opposing the farms on the basis of;
"the historical and cultural significance of the Juno Bay site for both the Manbarra and Bwgcolman Peoples, the sense of trespass on traditional ownership rights, concerns that the cultural connection to the area would slip away and a strong feeling that the provision of a small number of employment opportunities offered by the pearling operations wouldn't adequately compensate the damage to cultural values."
Subsequently the Park Authority refused to extend the pearl farming permits and Crimp took action before the
Administrative Appeals Tribunal to have this decision reversed. On 15 March 2004 the Tribunal agreed that the permits should be terminated but allowed the existing pearling operations to continue to 1 December 2005. This decision was substantially upheld by the
Federal Court on 21 October 2004.
2004 death in custody controversy and riot
Australian Aboriginal Palm Island resident,
Mulrunji (known as Cameron Doomadgee while alive), aged 36, died in November 2004 in a police cell on Palm Island, one hour after being picked up for allegedly causing a public nuisance. The family of the deceased were informed by the Coroner that the death was the result of "an intra-abdominal haemorrhage caused by a ruptured liver and portal vein".
In late September 2006, coroner
Christine Clements found that Doomadgee was killed as a result of punches by the Senior Sergeant arresting officer. Despite the finding of the coroner,
Leanne Clare, the Queensland
Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), announced on 14 December 2006 that no charges would be laid. After media and public pressure, the Queensland Attorney-General appointed former Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court of New South Wales, Sir
Laurence Street to review the decision. The Street Review resulted in the overturning of the DPP's decision, with a finding that there was sufficient evidence to prosecute for
manslaughter. A high profile trial in the Townsville Supreme Court pursued. In June 2007 the jury found the Senior Sergeant not guilty of manslaughter and assault charges.
Geography
At 70.9 km², Palm Island is nearly twice the size of
Norfolk Island and of a similar size to
Magnetic Island.
Topographically, the island is dominated by Mount Bentley and Mount Lindsay and is covered by
rainforest (other than a small section cleared for the settlement and airstrip). The settlement is spread over three locations; Butler (Surrumbroo), Coolgood and Coolgaree Bays. The Palm Island airstrip straddles the breadth of land between Butler (Surrumbroo) Bay and Casement Bay.
The waters surrounding Palm Island include Challenger (Gowyarowa) Bay, between Palm,
Curacoa (Noogoo) and
Fantome Islands. Other bays surrounding the island include Barber, Bullumbooroo, Cannon (Numbullabudgee) Mundy, North East, Numbullabudgee and Onion Bay. There are three man-made bodies of fresh water on the Island, including Bamboo Dam at the peak of Mount Bentley. Many of them have been tortured, starved to death, and beaten by local teenagers. A local Aboriginal, Wayne Coolwell, has been quoted as saying "I don't like to accuse my own people of things like this, but it's self-evident … and cruelty is cruelty, and when you see the photographs and you hear the stories, there's obviously a real problem on that island."
As an island in
North Queensland, Palm Island is vulnerable to
cyclones. In March 1997
Cyclone Justin passed over the
Cairns coastline and remained near Palm Island causing a great deal of
flash flooding. Peaking at Category 4, at landfall it was a Category 2 cyclone; it caused significant damage in the
Cairns region during its relatively long, 3½ week life.
In April 2000 category 2
Cyclone Tessi passed directly over Palm Island, but caused little damage.
Governance
March 2008 Palm Island
Mayoral election |
| |
Josephine Grace Geia |
107 |
| |
Delena Oui-Foster |
285 |
| |
Alfred Lacey |
324 |
|
Local Government on the island is provided by the
Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council, created under the
Local Government (Community Government Areas) Act (2004). Previously, Palm Island was a community council without the same powers as other Queensland Shire Councils. It was constituted under the Authority of the Queensland
Community Services (Aborigines) Act 1984 as the Palm Island Aboriginal Council and had a Deed of Grant in Trust (DOGIT) for ten islands in the Palm Island Group.
The structure of the Aboriginal Shire Council (or Community Council as it was previously) has been criticised for the following reasons;
