It’s a Fraser Island Land Grab!

First, the name of this beautiful island was changed from Fraser Island to K’gari in 2023, although I’m not going to be calling it that, at least not for the time being. According to the Queensland Department of Resources: “The island’s new name pays respect to the thousands of years of Butchulla tradition…” I believe that respect is earnt. From what I see going on on Fraser Island, respect has gone out the window (I’ll get to that soon), so why should we use the traditional name as a sign of respect? Although, I’m open to changing my mind if relations and attitudes improve.

Apparently, the name is pronounced “Gurri” – the ‘K’ is silent. Why would a people who never had a writing system include a silent K? It doesn’t make any sense, linguistically, apart from making our lives difficult.

There’s actually a website called, “A Sign of Respect”: “A Sign of Respect is a simple way to show respect for First Nations Peoples in your neighbourhood.” Basically, they want you to buy a physical sign for like $25 to $155 that states: “We respect the First Nations people of this land and its waters. This is Kaurna country.” At least they’re trying to make some money I guess, but how many of these do you think they actually sell? I wouldn’t think very many.

Anyway, back to Fraser Island. To be fair, even the ABC are still using the island’s dead name: “Toddler bitten by dingo on K’gari (Fraser Island)”. But the latest news which has inflamed the locals: “‘Secretive land grab’: Fury over K’gari freehold ownership bid. An Aboriginal corporation has launched a bid for freehold ownership of most of the two main townships on Fraser Island”. Basically, the Butchulla people, who already hold native title over most of Fraser Island as well as almost 30 hectares of freehold land, are vying to have large tracts of the townships of Eurong and Happy Valley transferred under the Aboriginal Land Act. We must have all known that this wasn’t going to stop with just the name change. They want all the land! Obviously!

Upset locals say they were only told about this last week in a “hasty” meeting with the Department of Resources, Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation, and the Fraser Coast Council that the transfer was “definitely” going to happen. Fraser Island Association President, David Anderson, whose father built the first house on the island and has a Eurong street named after him, wasn’t too happy with the recent happenings. He said, “There were fears residents and tourists could be denied access to large areas of Eurong and Happy Valley after a BAC representative said that existing Aboriginal freehold land was ‘private land’ and the public would be ‘trespassing’. We believe that’s going to be the attitude for all of their land. They want land. They’ve got native title over the rest of the island and now they want even more freehold than they’ve already got. It’s just a gimme. I mean, how much do you want?” Well, the answer’s clear, isn’t it? They want it all.

Happy Valley Community Association secretary Scott Bell also wasn’t very happy. He said, “We’re a pretty unhappy little bunch of people. The land transfer process has all been very, very secretive – we only just stumbled on it by accident. The public’s been told there’s nothing to fear but what they are doing now is going around every local authority area and making claims on every reserve and every piece of council land. They made a claim on our police reserve, our education reserve, and the esplanade which effectively denies us access to the beach.”

Here’s the Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation Strategic Business Plan 2020-2030. Their goal is clear, get as much land as possible! On page 15, “Our Land and Sea Estate”. In their Early Vision Statement”, they state: “We have owned this land since creation”; “We have never sold this land”; “We have never surrendered our rights to this land”; and, “All we want to see is only your footprints, nothing else!” One of their self-identified weaknesses: “Butchulla People reside on the mainland due to dispossession”, and one of their opportunities: “The native title compensation claim”, which is a real Government initiative that users your taxpayer money to financially compensate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander native title holders, because you know, Aboriginal people don’t get enough taxpayer money already.

If anyone thought that all these name-change niceties were going to be the end of it, well, they were sadly mistaken. It’s clear this only ends one of two ways. Either we give all the land to people of Aboriginal descent (making non-Aboriginal people second-class citizens in the process), or we stand up and collectively say, “Enough is enough!”. This is Australian land for all Australians.

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Allégro by Emmit Fenn