Everything about Cherbourg Queensland totally explained
Cherbourg is a town in the
South Burnett region of
Queensland,
Australia. It is located off the
Bunya Highway approximately 250 kilometres north-west of
Brisbane and from the town of
Murgon. It is situated very close to the dam wall of
Bjelke-Petersen Dam. Cherbourg has a population of around 2,500.
Attractions in Cherbourg include the 'Bert Button Lookout' and 'Emu Farm Tours'. Cherbourg's main tribal groups are the 'Wakka Wakka' people and the 'Culidy' people.
The town, formerly known as Barambah, was founded as a settlement for
Aboriginals in the early 1900s under a policy of segregation being pursued by the
Government of Queensland. Its history has been described in at least two books,
Dumping Ground by
Thom Blake and
Is That You Ruthie? by
Ruth Hegarty.
History
In 1900, the
Salvation Army negotiated for the establishment of the Barambah Aboriginal Reserve, which was gazetted over on
23 February 1901. It was initially populated with a few local
Aboriginals, but others from the
Esk region were soon sent to the reserve. Many were forcibly removed from their homes and "settled" at Cherbourg. Sometimes they were sent there as punishment for refusing to work on white-owned farms. People from 109 different areas were mixed together and they were not allowed to speak their own languages.
The reserve was administered by the Aboriginal Protection Society, Ipswich, until February 1905, when control passed to the
Government of Queensland and a Superintendent was appointed, who reported to the Chief Protector of Aborigines. On
8 December 1931 the settlement was renamed Cherbourg.
The settlement housed a reformatory school and training farm, a home training centre for girls, a hospital,
dormitories in which the women and children lived, and churches of various denominations. Training was provided in a variety of agricultural, industrial and domestic fields. People were hired out as cheap labour and at one stage they were not allowed to leave the reserve. In fact, until the
referendum in 1967, the indigenous people at Cherbourg were not even counted in the
census.
The effect of mixing these different groups of people together and forcing them to speak English has been an almost total loss of their cultural heritage. Many of the languages are considered to be extinct, surviving only in notes and recordings stored at the
University of Queensland.
Governance
Over the years, the policies towards Aboriginals changed from protection to assimilation and eventually participation and a measure of self-government with the passage of the
Community Services (Aborigines) Act 1984. The Act provided for elected community councils who could make recommendations to the Minister for Community Services on matters relating to the progress, development and wellbeing of the people they represented. On
28 August 1986 a
Deed of Grant in Trust was granted to the Cherbourg community, giving this council official status. The
Local Government (Community Government Areas) Act 2004 gave Cherbourg formal legal recognition as a local government.
Unemployment
The community participates in "work for the dole" schemes. Unemployment in the town is high as there's very little genuine work to be found in the town or in nearby
Murgon. Nearby, the Silver Lining Foundation has established a training scheme for young people.
Notable former residents
Further Information
Get more info on 'Cherbourg Queensland'.
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