Friday, 14 August, 2020
Making a difference.
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Wreck war hits halfway milestone
Getting set for clean-up adventure
Trevor reviews river restaurant
32-page liftout Property Guide
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INSIDE
Coming home By Phil Jarratt
Sunday school at Cherbourg Mission, 1950s. Picture: SHANKLETON DAY
Lawrence Muckan, 19 (left) and Kane Brunjes, 21, hard at work as land management trainees in Noosa Shire.
Picture: ROB MACCOLL
The Indigenous stories that can be tapped into locally are wonderful and we believe there are unbounded opportunities.” about furthering the scheme. But all involved have emphasised that the sensitivity surrounding the idea of resettlement means that progress will be slow and careful. They also stressed to Noosa Today that the Indigenous tourism initiatives and the idea of resettlement were in no way interdependent. To understand why return to country is such a sensitive and emotive issue, you only
have to look at history. In the late 1890s there were thought to be several hundred Kabi Kabi living in the area that would become Noosa Shire, far outnumbering the European population, but a decade later there were none, due to the passing of the Queensland Aboriginals Protection Act of 1897. This disgraceful legislation was the handiwork of one Archibald Meston, who had been
appointed “Southern Protector of Aborigines” while still running a “Wild Australia” touring show that blatantly exploited them. Meston recommended that First Nations people be segregated from the European population to protect them from alcohol and opium and give them “instruction in industrial habits”. Continued page 7
Every Sunday 6am to Midday It’s a way of life.
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An ambitious Indigenous tourism initiative may help to see the resettlement in Noosa of Kabi Kabi families whose descendants were forcibly removed from their traditional country more than a century ago. Already several young Kabi people from the Cherbourg Aboriginal Community, two hours west of Noosa, are living in the shire during the week while completing land management traineeships working with Noosa and District Landcare at Pomona. And while the community groups working on the resettlement concept are reluctant to discuss details at this very early stage, Noosa Today understands that the Landcare traineeships are regarded as a pilot program for what might develop. In an exclusive interview with Noosa Today this week, Noosa Shire Council CEO Brett de Chastel said: “We’ve been in conversations with the Kabi Kabi about the Yurol/Ringtail Creek area and how guided tours might evolve there. There’s a large cohort of Kabi that live at Cherbourg who are from country and want to return (to Noosa), and while there would be many avenues of employment for them, educational tourism is certainly a big one. One of the major growth areas of tourism is experience travel, and the more local and authentic it is, the more people love it. The Indigenous stories that can be tapped into locally are wonderful and we believe there are unbounded opportunities.” Tourism Noosa’s Indigenous Tourism manager Juanita Terry Bloomfield said that, funding permitting, she was looking at a five-year plan to upskill and employ as many as 15 Kabi cultural tour guides who would work in different parts of the extensive Noosa Trail Network as well as the Noosa Headland walk. “Obviously, there are a lot of variables to consider at the moment, but I think that is a realistic time frame,” she said. “There is certainly the will to make it happen. As far as resettlement of families is concerned, that would be something for careful consideration by the Kabi community, but providing local share accommodation for individual tourism workers makes a lot of practical sense.” Although the stakeholder groups recently missed out on a substantial government Indigenous tourism grant to establish the Headland walks program, Ms Terry Bloomfield and Kabi spokesperson Brian Warner were deep in talks with Noosa Council representatives last week