General News
9 July, 2023
Be fair dinkum
PRESSURE is being put on the Palaszczuk government to place the state’s First Nations Cultural Centre in the Far North – not Brisbane.
The Queensland Government has announced it was considering a centre for Cairns along with the main one in Brisbane, setting aside $2 million for business cases for both.
But community and Indigenous leaders say the region is home to both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, so the principal centre should be in the Far North.
After a proposed $1 billion Global Tourism Hub, involving a casino, hotel and retail developments, was axed in 2020, a First Nations’ heritage centre was back in the spotlight.
Mayor Bob Manning said Cairns Regional Council had been advocating for a First Nations Cultural Centre since 2019.
He said the location of such a centre had to be “authentic” and highlighted the Cairns 2050 Shared Vision document endorsed by federal and state governments. “Cairns has the highest proportion of population that is Indigenous of any city in Australia. Cairns is also the only region with direct connectivity to both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture,” Cr Manning said.
He said Longreach became the home of the Stockman’s Hall of Fame because of the authenticity of the location – not Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Rockhampton. Cr Manning said an Indigenous centre of such significance didn’t need to be built in a capital city and could be anywhere in the Far North, not necessarily in Cairns.
“Cairns/TNQ provides an authentic location for the establishment of such a National Indigenous Heritage Centre,” he said.
Cr Manning said the council was now in talks with the state government about the business case.
Gimuy Walubara Yidinji elder and CQUniversity Associate Professor Henrietta Marrie believes a proposed First Nations Cultural Centre in Cairns will play second fiddle to the main venue in Brisbane.
“I think Cairns is an after-thought. The main museum or cultural centre will be in Brisbane. Cairns will be a small hub and it’s something that won’t do it justice,” she said.
She said the Cairns building would have to represent the diversity of Indigenous culture in the region, including the Torres Strait Islanders, so it would have to be a big structure.
“For the business plan they really need to make sure there are Indigenous people from the region on the committee, not just from the south and Brisbane,” Ms Marrie said.
She said most of the arts and culture exhibits must come from the region with a full story attached to each one.
Ms Marrie said there were artefacts that should be repatriated from other museums and private collections in Australia and overseas, and a priority was her great-grandfather King of Cairns Ye-i-nie’s ceremonial regalia in the British Museum.
Ms Marrie also revealed she had negotiated for some artefacts from a British museum – details of which are still confidential – to return to Australia.
Yirrganydji elder Dr George Skeene, who has worked with James Cook University and Cairns Museum documenting Indigenous exhibits and artefacts, said a cultural centre in Cairns had been talked about for many years, mainly during electioneering. “It’s never got off the ground. We have a unique area, the Wet Tropics from Townsville to Cooktown along the east coast, with 18 Indigenous groups,” he said.
“It’s unique, the many languages, the rainforest peoples. A First Nations Cultural Centre would have the potential to showcase the unique culture of this area.”
Dr Skeene said the location had to be in the Cairns CBD within walking distance at either the Cairns Museum site in Lake St or the council’s gallery precinct between Abbott St and the Esplanade.
He said Yirrganydji artefacts such as a stone axe and a nut cracking rock he found should be displayed in the building as well as local Indigenous art.
