History & Culture

The history and culture of the Palm Islands is as diverse and rich as the people themselves. 

These cruising grounds were first discovered by white settlers back in 1770 when explorer  James Cook sailed up the eastern coast of Australia on his first voyage.  But long before his arrival these islands were inhabited by the Manbarra people with an estimated population of around 200 people. To its traditional owners Palm Island is known as Bukaman.

From the 1850s many residents had been recruited to leave the island to be involved with bêche-de-mer (sea cucumbers) and pearling enterprises with Europeans and Japanese. By the end of the 19th century the population had been reduced to about 50 people.

The Palm Island settlement of the Bwgcolman people was established to replace the Hull River Aboriginal Settlement (Mission Beach) that was destroyed by a cyclone in 1918.  It is said to still be one of Australia's worst natural disasters with close to 100 deaths. The Dyirbal speaking Aboriginal people who inhabited this island coast were linguistically, culturally and socially related to the Dyirbal, Girramay and Gulngay groups of the Tully and Murray River districts. Hunters, fishers and gatherers of the rainforest's and coast, they utilised the rich plant and animal resources to provide their needs. They excelled in making and using canoes and rafts and were expert fishermen of both fresh and marine waters.

Contact with early navigators and coastal surveyors as well as with bêche-de-mer fishing boats was established long before the first white people settled the beach areas in 1882. Timber-getters also camped on the beaches during their cutting expeditions and occasionally utilised Aboriginal labour in return for tobacco or tools.

In the first two decades of the Palm Island establishment 1,630 Indigenous people from at least 57 different language speaking places throughout Queensland were relocated to Palm Island. The traditional background of these people is often not known, although individuals trace descent from some 43 different tribal groups.

By the early 1920s Palm Island had become the largest of the Government Aboriginal settlements.  Administrators found its location attractive as Aboriginal people could be isolated; Palm Island quickly gained a reputation amongst Aborigines as a penal settlement. They were removed from across the state as punishment for such "crimes" as being "disruptive", falling pregnant to a white man or being born with "mixed blood";  all classed as infringements which could lead to the penalty of being sent to Palm Island.  New arrivals came after being sentenced by a court, or released from prison or were sent by administrators of other missions wishing to weed out their more ill-mannered Aboriginals. These removals to the Palm Island Mission continued until the late 1960s.

In 1927 a hospital was built at nearby Fantome Island and a leprosarium was established in 1939.  After World War Two the hospital was closed, and by 1965 only the leprosarium remained on Fantome, it was administered by a Roman Catholic nursing order until 1973 when the inhabitants were moved to Palm Island.

In 1943 the US Navy built a naval air station at Wallaby Point; an isolated area of Palm Island that still contains submerged and visible remains of Catalina flying boats. The 55th Seabee Construction Battalion created a 1000-person camp and would house twelve flying boats, store 60,000 gallons of fuel, and repair an average of four aircraft per day. The remains of the steel rails and planes can still be seen today.

Palm Island is often termed a classic "tropical paradise" given its natural endowments, but it has had a troubled history since the European settlement of Australia.  The community created by this history has been beset by many problems and has often been the discussion point of political and social commentators.  At the same time it has been at the forefront of political activism which has sought to improve the conditions and treatment of Australia's Indigenous peoples as well as redress injustices visited on them broadly as a race and on Palm Island specifically.