Great 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.
Manbarra (also known as Wulgurukaba) is a language of the Palm Island region, which lies within the local government boundaries of the
Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council.
18th century The islands in the area were named the "Palm Isles" by explorer
James Cook in 1770 as he sailed up the eastern coast of Australia on his
first voyage. It is estimated that the population of the island at the time of Cook's visit was about 200 Manbarra people. Cook sent some of his men to Palm Island and "they returned on board having met with nothing worth observing". wrote to the
Colonial Secretary asking for a reserve to be established on the Island, but no action was taken. By the end of the 19th century the population had been reduced to about 50. In 1884, Kukamunburra died at 21 years old of
pneumonia in
Cleveland, United States. 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 partner, died 1885 in
Wuppertal, Germany, aged about 17 years. Kukamunburra's body was embalmed; 109 years later, in 1993, the body was discovered in a local funeral parlour. Anthropologist
Roslyn Poignant was able to identify the body and his remains were returned to his homeland and buried on Palm Island in February 1994.
1918–1975: Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement 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 Aboriginal people. In 1916 he found that Palm "suitable for use as a penitentiary" for "individuals we desire to punish". Palm Island had been gazetted as an
Aboriginal reserve on 20 June 1914, although at the time there were few Aboriginal people living on Great Palm. After the cyclone, the residents of Hull River were relocated to Palm Island, with the new population from various Aboriginal peoples – from at least 57 different language groups throughout Queensland and the
Torres Strait Islands – later referred to as the
Bwgcolman people. In the first two decades of its establishment the population of
Indigenous "inmates" increased from 200 to 1,630. Indigenous people were removed from across Queensland as punishment for a variety of infringements, including being "
half-caste", and sent to Palm Island. An official inquiry by the
Queensland Attorney General followed. Those involved in the shooting of the Superintendent, including the Deputy Superintendent and the Palm Island Medical Officer, were charged with murder, but the Crown Prosecutor was directed by the trial judge to drop the charges, stating that the shooting was justified. A
bell tower was built to dictate the running of the mission. The bell 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 Island's history. After 12 Oct 1939, when the
Aboriginals Preservation and Protection Act 1939 and
Torres Strait Islander Act 1939 were passed, the name changed from Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement to Director of Native Affairs Office, Palm Island. The Director of Native Affairs Office was superseded by the Aboriginal and Island Affairs Department on 28 April 1966. The functions were transferred to the Aboriginal and Island Affairs Department, District Office, Palm Island.
1943–44: WW2 use as US airbase In July 1943 the
US Navy built a
naval air station at Palm Island, with facilities to operate and overhaul
Catalina flying boats and
patrol boats. The air station was built at Wallaby Point, an isolated area of Palm Island, overlooking a large stretch of sheltered water in Challenger Bay, which was ideal for
flying boat operations. The station was built by two officers and 122 enlisted men of Company C of the 55th Naval Construction Battalion (
Seabee) that arrived 6 July 1943, 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 three nose
hangars were also built. Coral aggregate from
coral reefs at
low tide was used to manufacture concrete. A series of
fuel tanks were constructed to hold 60,000 barrels of
aviation fuel. Steel rail lines were installed to launch the PBY Catalinas back into the water. The remains of the steel rails and submerged wrecks of a number of Catalinas can still be seen today.
1957: Strike One of the harshest Superintendents was Roy Bartlam, who arrested workers for being a minute behind the roll call in the reserve. The strike was also against the harsh conditions imposed by Bartlam, low or no wages, as well as poor housing and rations. Bartlam was forced to flee to his office and call for reinforcements. Armed Police arrived by RAAF launch from Townsville, and the "ringleaders" and their families were deported in chains to other Aboriginal settlements. In a 2007 commemorative ceremony the Queensland Government apologised to the surviving wives of two of the strikers for the actions of the Government in the 1950s.
1979: Mystery disease The Palm Island mystery disease was an outbreak of a
hepatitis-like illness on Great Palm Island, reported in 1979. Associated in many cases with
dehydration and bloody
diarrhoea, 148 people (138 children and 10 adults) of
Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander descent were affected.
1985–2020: Palm Island "Stolen Wages" Case 1985 and 1986, several Aboriginal people who had formerly worked for the Queensland Government on the Palm Island reserve lodged a complaint of
racial discrimination under the
Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (RDA), alleging underpayment of wages between 31 October 1975 (the RDA start date) and 31 May 1984, when the
Palm Island Aboriginal Council took over governance of the Aboriginal reserve land on 10 of the islands in the group, including Great Palm Island. In 1996, the
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission found in favour of the applicants, in
Bligh and Ors v State of Queensland [1996] HREOCA 28 that "...payment to be made to an Aboriginal worker doing the same work and providing the same level of skills had necessarily to be less". was awarded to each applicant, although the evidence suggested that the loss of income to . Following this case, the government settled 5,729 claims with a single payment of under the Award Wages Process, established in May 1999, to Indigenous people employed by the government on Aboriginal reserves between 1975 and 1986 (the date their policy of paying below-award rates to Indigenous people officially ended).
1999: 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. 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 ensued. In June 2007 the jury found the Senior Sergeant not guilty of manslaughter and assault charges. On 24 October 2008, a jury found
Lex Wotton, a two-time councillor on the
Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council, guilty of inciting the 2004 riot that resulted in the destruction of the island's police station, the courthouse, and an officer's residence. Wotton then was sentenced to seven years in prison, reduced to six years for time already served. The
Crime and Misconduct Commission examined police relations in Queensland and as part of this, conducted an inquiry into police handling of the Mulrunji investigation. In 2010 it reported that more work was needed on police relations, while noting that some improvement had occurred, recommending 51 specific actions. with a record class action settlement of awarded to victims in May 2018. The raids were found by the court to be "racist" and "unnecessary, disproportionate" with police having "acted in these ways because they were dealing with an Aboriginal community". == Geography ==