Iris grew up on Cherbourg Reserve in Queensland. “At the age of 15 to 16, the government organised for you to work as a domestic woman,” she explains.  

Iris was under the impression she would earn five pounds a week as a domestic helper.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Australian governments introduced legislation to regulate the lives of many First Nations people. This legislation is commonly referred to as 'The Protection Act' because its stated intention was to 'protect' Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Bambrick H (2003) Landscapes and Legacies: Cherbourg past to present [thesis], The Australian National University Open Research Library website, accessed 2 February 2022. Commonwealth of Australia (December 2006) Unfinished business: Indigenous stolen wages [Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs report] Parliament of Australia website, accessed 2 February 2022.

Bambrick H (2003) Landscapes and Legacies: Cherbourg past to present [thesis], The Australian National University Open Research Library website, accessed 2 February 2022. Commonwealth of Australia (December 2006) Unfinished business: Indigenous stolen wages [Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs report] Parliament of Australia website, accessed 2 February 2022.

Living under 'The Act'In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Australian governments introduced legislation to regulate the lives of many Indigenous people. This legislation is commonly referred to as the 'protection Act' because its stated intention was to 'protect' Indigenous people.

The impact on children who were removed from their families:

Many children were psychologically, physically and sexually abused while living in state care and/or with their adoptive families, leading to lifelong trauma.

 

ALRC (Australian Law Reform Commission) (1986) The Recognition of Aboriginal Customary Laws, (ALRC Report 31), Australian Government, accessed 20 June 2022.

“I couldn’t imagine what my father felt coming home to an empty house that was his home”

Iris remembers a man arriving at her home on Cherbourg Reserve when she was 12 years old.

Stories of our past reveal how the lingering injustices of colonisation continue to affect First Nations people in Australia, despite determined efforts to resist and overcome this adversity.

Ruth arrived at Cherbourg mission when she was six and a half months old. It was during the Depression and Ruth’s mother had taken her parents to Cherbourg where she was told they’d be cared for.

Iris remembers a man arriving at her home on Cherbourg Reserve when she was 12 years old. He announced that in two days, a truck would arrive to take Iris, her mother and siblings to a house in the community.

The Walk-off took place 80 years after the British took over Gurindji lands, bringing cattle and farming that destroyed water and food sources, and Gurindji People’s livelihoods. These 80 years included massacres and killings, stolen children and other abuses by the early colonists.

A landmark event that inspired national change

On 23 August 1966, Vincent Lingiari led 200 courageous First Nations stockmen and their families to walk off Wave Hill Cattle Station in the Northern Territory protesting against the pay and work conditions.

Have you heard someone ask, "Why can’t Indigenous people just get over it? After all, it happened ages ago. . . "

On the surface this might seem like a fair question, prompted by a genuine desire to see all Australians prosper together.