Bwgcolman

The Bwgcolman (pronounced "Bwookamun") is the name recently given to the indigenous Australians who were deported from many areas of the Queensland mainland, and confined in resettlement on the Palm Island group after the establishment of a reserve there in 1918.

Name

Bwgcolman, meaning 'Palm Island' in Manbarra, is a collective name adopted for those many Palm Islanders peoples who, as distinct from the Manbarra, were subject to coercive displacement from a wide-ranging number of aboriginal communities on the mainland, a descriptive term that is used in recent claims for native title. The term was devised by the Manbarra elder Dick Palm Island in order to give a collective identity to the 46 groups who found themselves frequently in conflict because of their disparate linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

People

The original inhabitants of Palm Island are the Manbarra people. Indigenous Australians from throughout Queensland were resettled on Palm Island by the Queensland Chief Protector of Aborigines under provisions of The Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 (Queensland). The traditional background of these people is often not known, although individuals trace descent from some 43 different tribal groups.

Sources

• Garond, Lise (2014). "'Forty-plus Different tribes':Displacement, Place-making and Aboriginal Tribal Namjes on Palm Island, Australia". In Hermann, Elfriede; Kempf, Wolfgang; van Meijl, Toon (eds.). Belonging in Oceania: Movement, Place-Making and Multiple Identifications. Berghahn Books. pp. 49–70. ISBN 978-1-782-38416-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• The Manbarra People and Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority [2004] AATA 268 (15 March 2004), Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
• Watson, Joanne (2010). Palm Island: Through a Long Lens. Aboriginal Studies Press. ISBN 978-0-855-75703-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)