First Contact

Story: Dan Walker | Photo: Jessica Cook

Despite blustery conditions and the threat of rain, a sizeable crowd quietly assembled in Maryborough’s Queens Park on Saturday morning, 22 April, 2023. The crowd gathered to witness the unveiling of a memorial many years in the making, the passion project of distinguished Butchulla Elder, Uncle Glen Miller.

In 2003 Uncle Glen was driving into a country Queensland town with long-time friend, John Felan, when they approached a Cenotaph, standing proudly in the town’s centre. Observing it caused John to turn to Uncle Glen and ask “where is the monument for all of the Indigenous men who died protecting this country?” The question ignited a spark in Uncle Glen’s mind that could not be extinguished. Taking this project of truth telling and historical justice on, Uncle Glen worked tirelessly to secure the funding and support necessary to make his vision come to life. He sought to have the memorial made as locally as possible. He reached out to world renown local foundry, Olds & Sons, who worked with Uncle Glen to design a fitting monument.

The Butchulla Warriors’ Memorial monument is a strikingly beautiful yet understated bronze. Featuring three Butchulla shields scattered on the ground as Butchulla defenders would have dropped them – each shield inflicted with a musket ball hole – it depicts an encounter between Butchulla Warriors and European settlers. Conflicts between Indigenous tribes involved throwing spears at your enemy, who would then pick them up and throw them back. It asks us to imagine these men attempting to defend their Country against the colonisers, having thrown their spears and expecting them to be thrown back, but instead being mown down by musket balls.

“I just want the observer to stand in front of that monument and think about that moment – when men threw their spears and stood there – in that first contact with Europeans.

“Aboriginal men were involved in a very long conflict that began in Australia on 26th of January 1788 and continued for over a hundred years.

“This conflict has never been recognised, is rarely mentioned and is one in which many Aboriginal warriors lost their lives in defence of their country.” said Uncle Glen Miller.

In fact, Uncle Glen says he was genuinely overwhelmed by the support of the community in realising this project with people from various backgrounds all coming together to share this story. It has le him feeling optimistic about achieving true reconciliation in Australia. It was somewhat fitting then, that just as the memorial was unveiled and the crowd joined together to sing “I am Australian” by the Seekers, that the clouds parted and the sun shone through the crown of the Bunya Bunya and onto the monument and crowd below. While it may have marked the end of a long journey, it was also just the beginning.

Read the full story at www.ourfrasercoast.com.au