Lockhart River

Introduction

Lockhart River is a remote community located on the eastern side of the Cape York Peninsula. The community has a strong cultural identity stemming from the 6 different traditional language groups who call Lockhart River home. The community is well-known for being the home of the internationally acclaimed Lockhart River Art Gang, a group of local artists whose contemporary artwork has gained international recognition and fame.

The Kuuku Ya’u (Koo-koo Ya oo) people are the Traditional Owners for this area^[1].

History of Lockhart River

European contact

The first European explorer to visit the Lockhart River area was Edmund Kennedy in November 1848^[2]. The area around Lockhart River was first settled after Robert Sefton found gold at the Coen River in 1876. He built a log fort there and prospected for gold in the surrounding country. In 1878, there was a gold rush to Coen following Sefton’s return to Cooktown with 140 ounces of gold. About 500 miners flocked to the Coen field but exploration further afield was not possible due to the danger of being attacked by local Aboriginal people. The alluvial gold was soon extracted and the miners began leaving after the discovery of gold at Lukinville on the Lower Palmer River^[3].

In 1879, Robert Logan Jack (a geologist) led a government sponsored exploration of Cape York. He left Cooktown and travelled up the Coen track previously marked out by Sefton, where they encountered Aboriginal people in great numbers:

‘Most of them were frightened of the white men having, no doubt, learnt a few lessons at the muzzles of Snider rifles in the hands of the diggers travelling the Coen track’^[4].

In 1880, it was reported that about 350 Chinese miners had returned to the Coen field^[5].

Robert Logan Jack visited the Lockhart River area in February 1880 and named Lockhart River after a Scottish friend, Hugh Lockhart^[6].

Due to the fierce resistance of local Aboriginal people, settlement around Lockhart River only took a tentative hold during the early 1880s. In 1881, the first settlers on the Coen and McIvor rivers had to retreat to Cooktown. A Cooktown newspaper correspondent reported that:

‘The McIvor country is now completely abandoned …I fear it will be some time before there is any attempt to stock the country again, as the blacks are likely to be very troublesome to the next party which goes out. I am informed that there are still two Europeans and ten Chinese prospecting about the Coen, but all the teams and cattle have come in’ ^[7].

The Overland Telegraph to Cape York was built between 1883 and 1887 and European expansion and settlement were accelerated. European settlement progressed into Cape York with the help of Native Police protection after a Native Police camp was established at McIvor in 1886 and at Coen in 1888^[8]. The Aboriginal people on Cape York Peninsula adapted to European settlement by moving onto the newly established cattle stations where they became stockmen and domestic labour^[9].

During the 1880s, beche-de-mer and pearling operators began recruiting Aboriginal men from Lockhart River and Lloyd Bay to work on their boats^[10]. In 1908, Hugh Giblet established sandalwood harvesting and fishing businesses in the Lloyd Bay area and soon gained a monopoly on local Aboriginal labour^[11]. In March 1908, an Aboriginal reserve was proclaimed at Lloyd Bay^[12]. Between 1907 and 1913, Chief Protector Howard pressed for a settlement at Lloyd Bay, in order to control the pearling and sandalwood operators, but without success. After Hugh Giblet died in 1923 his businesses ceased operation^[13].

In 1924, an Aboriginal reserve was gazetted in the Lockhart River area. This reserve was placed under the control of the Anglican Church and the Protector of Aboriginals, Cornelius O'Leary. Harold Rowan was appointed superintendent of the new mission^[14]. A temporary camp at Orchid Point was established and work began on the preparation of a permanent settlement^[15]. Rowan moved the mission fifteen miles south to Bare Hill in 1925^[16]. A school was built and the population grew to 180 people. Sandalwood was harvested for income and the mission also supported itself through fishing and hunting^[17].

Superintendent Rowan ordered the removal of groups of Aboriginal people from different parts of Cape York to Lockhart River. The removals were often carried out by commandeering Aboriginal children and forcing their families on to the mission^[18]. The majority of documented removals to Lockhart River occurred during the 1930s and 1940s^[19]. The outbreak of World War Two forced the mission to be disbanded by the Anglican Church and residents were instructed to live in bush camps^[20]. By 1944, most residents had returned to Lockhart River^[21].

In 1947, Superintendent H. Johnson restructured the mission from a series of sub-villages representing tribal groupings to a single settlement in order to break down old tribal hostilities^[22]. John Warby took over as mission superintendent in 1950. At the time of Warby’s appointment, Lockhart River was in a desperate situation. Warby reorganised housing so that the medical conditions and hygiene of the people could be more closely supervised. By 1952, the health of the community had improved^[23].

Warby changed mission policy from a system of authoritarian rule to a more democratic regime through the establishment of the Lockhart River Christian Cooperative^[24]. For the first time, mission residents were allowed to participate in decision-making and play a role in routine administration. John Warby resigned as superintendent and was replaced by J T Currie in 1960^[25].

Between 1960 and 1963 the Anglican Bishop of Carpentaria held confidential talks with the Queensland Government about the transfer of control of the mission. The transfer of power to the government began in 1963 and was completed by 1967. The government planned to close down Lockhart River and transfer the mission residents to Bamaga^[26]. The community protested the decision, and the government relented. A new settlement was built near the Iron Range airstrip and residents were relocated to the new site in 1970^[27].

Local government and Deed of Grant in Trust community

On 30 March 1985, the Lockhart River community elected 5 councillors to constitute an autonomous Lockhart River Aboriginal Council. On 29 October 1987 the council area, previously an Aboriginal reserve held by the Queensland Government, was transferred to the trusteeship of the council under a Deed of Grant in Trust (DOGIT)^[28]. Part of the Lockhart River DOGIT area was transferred to Traditional Owners in September 2001 into the Mangkuma ^[mung-Kooma] Land Trust^[29].

In December 2003, the Lockhart River community signed a shared responsibility agreement with the Australian and Queensland governments to help develop a community plan around economic development and improved community involvement in education^[30]. On 1 January 2005, under the Local Government (Community Government Areas) Act 2004, Lockhart River Aboriginal Council became the Lockhart River Aboriginal Shire Council.

End notes

1. Kuuku Ya'u People v State of Queensland ^[2009] FCA 679.
2. E Beale, Kennedy, Edmund Besley Court (1818–1848) (Australian Dictionary of Biography 2006-2012) http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kennedy-edmund-besley-court-2297 at 15 November 2012; A Chase, Which Way Now? (Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Queensland, 1980), 92-95.
3. G Pike, The Last Frontier (Pinevale Publications, Mareeba, 1983) 63-64; Author unknown, ‘The Coen’, The Queenslander, 13 July 1878, 470.
4. Pike, above n 3, 70.
5. Author unknown, ‘The Palmer’, The Queenslander, 30 October 1880, 563.
6. Chase, above n 2, 95-97; D Hill, Jack, Robert Logan (1845-1921) (Australian Dictionary of Biography 2006-2012) http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/jack-robert-logan-3843 at 15 November 2012.
7. Author unknown, ‘Current News’, The Queenslander, 22 January 1881, 101.
8. J Richards, The Secret War: a history of Queensland’s Native Police (University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 2008).
9. Queensland State Archives, Queensland Police Service, Series SRS 16865, Police Correspondence, Item A/44851, 205M-2, Police Trackers Stationed at Coen.
10. Lockhart River Aboriginal Shire Council, Annual Report 2010-2011 (2009) http://www.lockhart.qld.gov.au/sites/default/files/Joseph/Lockhart_River_Annual_Report_2011.pdf at 15 November 2012.
11. D Thompson, ‘Struggling for Relevance at Lockhart River’ in B.J. Dalton N (ed.), Lectures on North Queensland History, No.5 (1996) 142.
12. Queensland, Queensland Government Gazette, 19 March 1908, 691.
13. Chase, above n 2, 108-110.
14. Queensland, Queensland Government Gazette, 18 October 1924, 1244; A. Chase, ‘Lazarus at Australia's Gateway: the Christian Mission Enterprise in Eastern Cape York Peninsula’ in T. Swain and D.B Rose (eds.) Aboriginal Australians and Christian Missions (Australian Association for the Study of Religions, Bedford Park, 1988) 129-130.
15. Chase, above n 2, 112; Queensland, Annual Report for Chief Protector of Aboriginals for 1924 (1925) 10.
16. Chase, above n 14, 30-131.
17. Chase, above n 2, 113.
18. Chase, above n 2, 116. & 131.
19. Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait and Multicultural Affairs, Community and Personal Histories Removals Database (access restricted).
20. Chase, above n 2, 132; J Warby, You-Me Mates Eh! (Rams Skull Press, North Rockhampton, 1999) 41.
21. R Marks, Queensland Airfields, World War Two, 50 Years On (R & J Marks, Brisbane, 1994); Chase, above n 2, 132.
22. Chase, above n 2, 118.
23. Chase, above n 2, 119-120.
24. Thompson, above n 11, 154.
25. Chase, above n 2, 132-134.
26. Thompson, above n 11, 160.
27. Chase, above n 2, 124-127; Thompson, above n 11, 159-160.
28. Queensland, Annual Report of Department of Community Services (1986) 3; Queensland, Annual Report of the Department of Community Services (1987).
29. Lockhart Aboriginal Shire Council, Our Lands (2009) http://www.lockhart.qld.gov.au/our-lands at 15 November 2012.
30. Australia, Shared Responsibility Agreements (2012) https://apps.indigenous.gov.au/sra/qld/fact_sheets/qld05.html at 15 November 2012.