Cabbage Tree Island, New South Wales

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Cabbage Tree Island
New South Wales
Australia New South Wales location map blank.svg
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Cabbage Tree Island
Coordinates 28°58′47″S153°27′23″E / 28.97972°S 153.45639°E / -28.97972; 153.45639
Population78 (2016 census) [1]
Postcode(s) 2477
LGA(s) Ballina Shire
State electorate(s) Ballina
Federal division(s) Page

Cabbage Tree Island is a locality in Ballina Shire located in the Northern Rivers Region of New South Wales. [2] [3]

It was reportedly settled by three aboriginal pioneers in 1885, including “Bubba” Cook, ancestor of many islanders today. [4] The islanders engaged in cane farming and had their own food gardens, reportedly living self sufficiently.

In 1893 the island was designated an Aboriginal Reserve, with aborigines moving there from the region, and Cabbage Tree School (aboriginal) opening. [5] In 1911 a Government manager was installed, [6] and the island was then run by various Government aboriginal welfare agencies until the mid-1970s. The manager’s permission was required in some periods to leave the island. [7] The welfare agencies provided regular food rations. Many of the islanders worked as cane cutters or other cane labourers. Young women often went to work as domestic servants in Sydney.

In the late twentieth century Government management was transferred to a local aboriginal lands board, which maintains the houses on the island. The school continued in operation.

Buildings were damaged by the 2022 floods, residents were moved to temporary housing pods in Wardell and Ballina. The school on the island was temporarily relocated to Wardell in November 2022. [8] By March 2023, residents were frustrated by a lack of permission to return. [9]

In September 2023, the Jali Aboriginal Land Council (Jali LALC) announced that the island homes would not be rebuilt, but the residents would be relocated to new homes on the mainland, due to “unacceptably high risk” from flood. [10]

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References

  1. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Cabbage Tree Island (State Suburb)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 9 October 2020. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  2. ↑ "Cabbage Tree Island". Geographical Names Board of New South Wales . New South Wales Government . Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  3. ↑ "Untold: Cabbage Tree Island". www.abc.net.au. ABC North Coast. 5 November 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  4. ↑ Unknown (1 June 1961). "The Cabbage Tree Island Story" (PDF). AIATSIS. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  5. ↑ "NSW Government Schools History Database Search". NSW Education Department. 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  6. ↑ Unknown (18 September 2016). "Culture & Country – Cabbage Tree Island". Planet Corroboree. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  7. ↑ Various (2007). Aboriginal Women's Heritage: Ballina & Cabbage Tree Island (PDF). Sydney South: Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW. ISBN   978-1-74122-593-8.
  8. ↑ Boltje, Stephanie (21 November 2022). "Indigenous Cabbage Tree Island community moves into new temporary home". ABC News : The drum. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  9. ↑ Jeffery, Eve (21 March 2023). "Residents of Cabbage Tree Island want to go home". The Echo. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  10. ↑ Shoebridge, Joanne (1 September 2023). "Cabbage Tree Island's Indigenous community to move, told its flood rebuild poses 'unacceptably high risk'". ABC. Retrieved 2 September 2023.

[1]


  1. ↑ Unknown (1 June 1961). "The Cabbage Tree Island Story" (PDF). Dawn. New South Wales Aborigines Welfare Board. 11 (5): 6 – via Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
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