Wakka Wakka (Waka Waka, Wocca Wocca, Wakawaka) is an
Australian Aboriginal language spoken in the Burnett River catchment. The Wakka Wakka language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the North and South Burnett Regional Council, particularly the towns of Cherbourg,
Murgon,
Kingaroy,
Gayndah,
Eidsvold and
Mundubbera. The town was founded as a settlement for
Aboriginal people, known as an
Aboriginal reserve, under a policy of segregation being pursued by the
Government of Queensland under the
Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897. In 1900, the
Salvation Army negotiated for the establishment of the Barambah Aboriginal Settlement, which was gazetted over on 23 February 1901. It was sponsored by the Ipswich Aboriginal Protection Society. , 1917. Cobbo came from the Barambah Aboriginal Mission. It was known as Barambah Aboriginal Settlement from 1904 to 1932 and then Cherbourg Aboriginal Settlement until 1986. Other names include Barambah Aboriginal Mission, Barambah Aboriginal Reserve, Barambah Mission Reserve and Barambah Mission Station. The district was renamed
Cherbourg on 8 December 1931 to avoid confusion with the mail deliveries to the Barambah pastoral station. It was initially populated with a few local
Aboriginal people, but others from the
Esk region and further afield were soon sent to the reserve. Many were forcibly removed from their land and "settled" at Barambah. People from 109 different areas were mixed together and they were not allowed to speak their own languages. The effect of mixing these different groups of people together and forcing them to learn to speak a foreign language (English) has been an almost total loss of their cultural heritage. Many of the languages are considered to be extinct, surviving only in notes and recordings stored at the
University of Queensland. The settlement housed a reformatory school and training farm, a home training centre for girls, a hospital,
dormitories in which the women and children lived, and churches of various denominations. Training was provided in a variety of agricultural, industrial and domestic fields. People were hired out as cheap labour and at one stage they were not allowed to leave the reserve. In fact, until the
referendum in 1967, the Indigenous people at Cherbourg were not even counted in the
census. Barambah Aboriginal School opened in 1904, its name changing to Cherbourg Aboriginal School in 1931–1932. The school was operated by the Department of Native Affairs until the 1960s when it came under the control of Queensland Department of Education and became Cherbourg State School. The reserve was administered by the Aboriginal Protection Society, Ipswich, until February 1905, when control passed to the
Government of Queensland and a Superintendent was appointed, who reported to the
Chief Protector of Aborigines. There were approximately 2079 documented removals of Aboriginal people to Barambah between the years of 1905 and 1939. The Anglican Church of the Holy Spirit was dedicated on 19 February 1939 by the Bishop-Coadjutor. Its closure circa 2018 was approved by Bishop
Cameron Venables. Cherbourg Post Office opened on 15 November 1965 and closed in 1986. In 1982, Cherbourg was granted a
Deed of Grant in Trust (DOGIT), becoming self-managed by its own local authority. In 2009, then-Mayor Sam Murray claimed the restrictions were not being enforced and the problem was being pushed underground.
Truth telling In November 2024, the community held a
truth telling event. == Demographics ==