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Calls for the Queensland government to apologise for burning of Mapoon
Former resident Susia Madua at Old Mapoon. Image: Courier Mail
by Jack Andrew Wilkie-Jans 7 June 2014
T
here are calls upon the Queensland Government to apologise for the Burning of Mapoon fifty-one years on. Mapoon Traditional Owner and Far North Queensland based Aboriginal Affairs advocate, Jack Wilkie-Jans, is asking for either the Minister or Assistant-Minister of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs to make a motion in parliament to acknowledge and apologise for the Burning of Mapoon- an atrocity committed in 1963 under the Sir Frank Nicklin KCMG, MM government.
The Burning of Mapoon, an incident rumoured to have influenced the Beds are Burning hit song by Australian band Midnight Oil, is a shameful smudge on the history of Queensland. In 1963 the then Queensland Government sanctioned for the people of Mapoon to be forcibly moved from their homes, to be split up and sent to different locations such as Thursday Island and New Mapoon, while razing the homes and facilities of the residents. This act was supposed to free up the land in order for bauxite mining by Comalco to ensue. Luckily the people of Mapoon were strong and were determined to
move back to their home town and did so. Now Mapoon has no mining and is a prime example of Australian coastal living, where blue waters meet white sands, which meets the red dust of Australian soil. This incident is not something that is widely known or taught in schools, much like most of Australia’s history relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Last year the community of Mapoon celebrated the Paanja Festival, commemorating fifty years on from the burning and celebrating the survival of their home. “Mapoon is a positive place now,
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Residents in front of the Mapoon Community church that was burnt down by Queensland Police along with all the buildings in 1963, when the Aboriginal community were removed under the terms of a mining lease. Image: Courier Mail
a happy and productive town which attracts tourism to Cape York. “This is all due to the people’s determination to, not just return but to also make it worth something,” said Mr Wilkie-Jans of the Cape York Teppathiggi and Tjungundji tribes, “Our politicians will rise in parliament and make motions for deceased members of their constituency which is admirable, they will do so to acknowledge genocides overseas (such as the Sikh genocide in 1984) which is understandable, but why do Australian parliamentarians not rise for the Aboriginal people of their
states? “I’m not asking for anything more than acknowledgement. “The National Apology is in regard to the Stolen Generation and the state governments of Australia have allowed that occasion to ignore their responsibilities to make amends for their preceded governments’ wrongs”. Mr Wilkie-Jans said he feels that it is the right time and that it is the right government in Queensland to make this momentous gesture saying, “this government has been more active for Cape York than any other in recent times, I feel this is something that this government can
champion”. In the year 2000 the Beattie Government delivered a hand written letter of apology at the same time as the Western Cape Communities Co-existence Agreement (WCCCA) was signed but Mr Wilkie-Jans says that the then Minister for Transport delivering a piece of paper at a meeting, nor is the formulation of the WCCCA, an actual apology. “A penned letter is not a motion of parliament. If there is no motion in parliament then there is no standing, formal apology or recognition of the atrocity”, Mr Wilkie-Jans said.
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