Queensland Aboriginal Protection Association

Last updated December 15, 2024

The Queensland Aboriginal Protection Association (QAPA) was responsible for the creation of various mission stations or Aboriginal reserves in Queensland, Australia, in the late nineteenth century.

Aims

While they were concerned with the welfare of Australian Aboriginal people, they thought that the people needed to be changed to learn and adopt European values, in a form of cultural assimilation.^[1]

History

Two local precedents

In 1887, the "Aboriginal Protection Association of Ipswich" (a local organisation) commenced work on the establishment of the Deebing Creek Mission.^[2] In 1889, the Secretary of the "Townsville Aboriginal Protection Association" proposed to the Colonial Secretary that an Aboriginal reserve be created on Great Palm Island.^[3] However it is not known if either had any link with QAPA.^{[ citation needed ]}

Founding of QAPA

The inaugural meeting of QAPA was held in Brisbane. In 1890, the Association established a mission on Bribie Island, off the coast near Brisbane, at the northwestern end of Moreton Bay. A school and provision for 20 residents living in dormitories was established. QAPA suffered financial difficulties on Bribie, with the Colonial Secretary, Horace Tozer, refusing to pay their creditors in September 1892.^[1] The Association turned their attention to Stradbroke Island, then one island and known as Minjerribah by the local Aboriginal people. In October 1892, an area of 20 hectares (49 acres) was reserved for a mission station at Moongalba, near the northern tip of what is now North Stradbroke Island, and Myora Mission was created.^[1]

Myora Mission

On 26 November 1892, Myora Mission was proclaimed a "Reserve for Mission", signed by Queen Victoria. "Assimilation through institutionalisation" began in October 1893, with the staff enforcing European cultural practices and values. The Mission was declared an "industrial and reformatory school" and a Mission Superintendent and Mission Matron was appointed by QAPA, but paid by the Queensland Government.^[4] The mission later ceased to be a school, the dormitories were closed, and the children classified as orphans and removed to Deebing Creek Mission. It was then re-proclaimed a "Reserve for the use of the Aboriginal Inhabitants of the State", changing its official status to Aboriginal reserve, coming under the control of the Chief Protector of Aborigines.^[4]

Related Research Articles

Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are used by commercial operators who provide seafood to market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moreton Island</span> Island off the Queensland coast, Australia

Moreton Island (Mulgumpin) is an island on the eastern side of Moreton Bay on the coast of South East Queensland, Australia. The Coral Sea lies on the east coast of the island. Moreton Island lies 58 kilometres (36 mi) northeast of the Queensland capital, Brisbane. 98% of the island is contained within a national park and a popular destination for day trippers, four wheel driving, camping, recreational angling and whale watching and a 75-minute ferry ride from Brisbane. It is the third largest sand island in the world. Together with K'gari, Moreton Island forms the largest sand structure in the world. It was the traditional country of the Ngugi before settlement.

Stradbroke Island, also known as Minjerribah, was a large sand island that formed much of the eastern side of Moreton Bay near Brisbane, Queensland until the late 19th century. Today the island is split into two islands: North Stradbroke Island and South Stradbroke Island, separated by the Jumpinpin Channel.

North Stradbroke Island, colloquially Straddie or North Straddie, is an island that lies within Moreton Bay in the Australian state of Queensland, 30 kilometres (19 mi) southeast of the centre of Brisbane. Originally there was only one Stradbroke Island but in 1896 it split into North Stradbroke Island and South Stradbroke Island separated by the Jumpinpin Channel. The Quandamooka people are the traditional owners of North Stradbroke island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bribie Island</span> Island in Queensland, Australia

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Deebing Heights is a residential and semi-rural southern suburb of Ipswich in the City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Deebing Heights had a population of 3,960 people.

Great Palm Island, usually known as Palm Island, is the largest island in the Palm Islands group off Northern Queensland, Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal community, the legacy of an Aboriginal reserve, the Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement. The original inhabitants of the island were the Manbarra people, also known as the Wulgurukaba, who were removed to the mainland by the Queensland Government in the 1890s. The island is also sometimes referred to as Bwgcolman, which is the name given to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from disparate groups who were deported from many areas of Queensland to the reserve in 1918, and their descendants.

An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th century to the 1960s to keep Aboriginal people separate from the white Australian population. The governments passed laws related to such reserves that gave them much power over all aspects of Aboriginal people’s lives.

The Quandamooka people are Aboriginal Australians who live around Moreton Bay in Southeastern Queensland. They are composed of three distinct tribes, the Nunukul, the Goenpul and the Ngugi, and they live primarily on Moreton and North Stradbroke Islands, that form the eastern side of the bay. Many were pushed out of their lands when the English colonial government established a penal colony near there in 1824. Each group has its own language. A number of local food sources are utilised by the tribes.

Dunwich Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery at Bingle Road, Dunwich, North Stradbroke Island in the City of Redland, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1847 to 1952. It is also known as One Mile Cemetery. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.

Deebing Creek Mission is a heritage-listed former Aboriginal reserve at South Deebing Creek Road, Deebing Heights, City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. It was built from c. 1887 to c. 1915. It is also known as Deebing Creek Aboriginal Home, Deebing Creek Aboriginal Mission, and Deebing Creek Aboriginal Reserve. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 24 September 2004.

Purga Aboriginal Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery at Carmichaels Road, Purga, City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 18 September 2008.

The Ngugi are an Aboriginal Australian people, one of three Quandamooka peoples, and the traditional inhabitants of Moreton Island.

Myora Mission was established as a mission station in 1892 in the Colony of Queensland, at Moongalba on Minjerribah. It became an Aboriginal reserve and "industrial and reform school" in 1896, was used as a source of cheap labour, and eventually closed in 1943.

Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement, later officially known as Director of Native Affairs Office, Palm Island and also known as Palm Island Aboriginal Reserve, Palm Island mission and Palm Island Dormitory, was an Aboriginal reserve and penal settlement on Great Palm Island, the main island in the Palm Island group in North Queensland, Australia. It was the largest and most punitive reserve in Queensland.

Paul Tripcony (1901–1975) was an Indigenous Australian and a collector of rare books and Aboriginal stone artefacts from Minjerribah, also known as Stradbroke Island.

Robert Vincent Anderson is an Australian Aboriginal elder and former union official.

References

1 2 3 Walker, Faith (20 April 1998). "Useful and Profitable: History and race relations at the Myora Aboriginal Mission, Stradbroke Island, Australia, 1892-1940". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Cultural Heritage Series. 1 (1). Brisbane: 137–175. ISSN 1440-4788 . Retrieved 27 February 2020.
↑ "Deebing Creek Mission (former)". Queensland Government. 20 January 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
↑ "Palm Island". Queensland Government. 26 November 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
1 2 Anderson, Robert V. (2001). "History, Life And Times of Robert Anderson: Gheebelum, Ngugi, Mulgumpin". doczz.net. Uniikup Productions. Retrieved 27 February 2020. Community and personal history of a Ngugi Elder of Mulgumpin in Quandamooka, South East Queensland, Australia.

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[qldmuseum-1] 1 2 3 Walker, Faith (20 April 1998). "Useful and Profitable: History and race relations at the Myora Aboriginal Mission, Stradbroke Island, Australia, 1892-1940". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Cultural Heritage Series. 1 (1). Brisbane: 137–175. ISSN 1440-4788 . Retrieved 27 February 2020.

[Queensland_Government_2016-2] "Deebing Creek Mission (former)". Queensland Government. 20 January 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2020.

[qldgovpalm-3] "Palm Island". Queensland Government. 26 November 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2020.

[nstrad-4] 1 2 Anderson, Robert V. (2001). "History, Life And Times of Robert Anderson: Gheebelum, Ngugi, Mulgumpin". doczz.net. Uniikup Productions. Retrieved 27 February 2020. Community and personal history of a Ngugi Elder of Mulgumpin in Quandamooka, South East Queensland, Australia.

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