LOST IDENTITY 2014

lost identity

Raechel Ivey has received citizenship in Vanuatu after finding documents proving that her great-grandparents were kidnapped in the 1800s to become slaves. Raechel’s great-grandparents James Tuku and Fanny Battingarra Contributed when Raechel Ivey first stepped foot in Vanuatu, she knew she was home. It has been a long journey for the Australian South Sea Islander to prove her heritage and regain her identity.

Raechel is one of the first South Sea Islanders to gain dual citizenship in Vanuatu and Australia. The Vanuatu Government recently made a change to its constitution allowing residents and indigenous ni-Vanuatu born overseas to hold dual citizenship. Raechel said her journey to be recognised as a citizen of Vanuatu wasn’t only for her, it was about giving her great-grandfather and great-grandmother their identity back, after it was stolen in the 1800s.

James Tuku and Fanny Battingarra were stolen from their respective homes in Vanuatu during the indentured labour trade that went on from 1847-1908. Her great-grandparents were taken to Sydney, where James’s last name was changed to Togo and he was made a gardener, while Fanny was a maid.

For Raechel, 55, it has been an emotional journey learning how her great-grandparents lost their identity, language and culture after being kidnapped. Raechel, who moved to Central Queensland more than 17 years ago from Tweed Heads in NSW, got documentation of her great-grandparent’s registration as “aliens” in Australia to prove that she is originally from Vanuatu.

In the early 1900s her great grandparents were set free and later wed and had children. While their family was raised in Australia, Raechel says she’s never felt completely at home here. “My birth certificate says I’m Aussie, but we know we were brought over here,” the Emerald woman said. “Being Australian doesn’t feel like my home; we’re not Aboriginal or Torres Strait. This documentation “shows that I belong somewhere.” After several trips to Vanuatu with documentation of her great-grandparents’ history, Raechel was granted citizenship of her home country. “I got a letter to say I’ve been approved, now I’ll go back to Vanuatu to do an oath of allegiance,” she said.

The mother of 10 plans to move back to Vanuatu in the future and begin to reconnect with family she’s found in recent years. Raechel said that while her people may have been stolen; “they didn’t steal the heart of who we really are”.

Shared history honoured at Veresdale

Shared history honoured at Veresdale

Emotions ran high on Saturday when a sculpture honouring the history between Australian South Sea Islanders (ASSI), the Mununjali community and Veresdale landholders was unveiled.

The six metre high two-tonne sculpture was hand-crafted from a fallen 200 year-old iron bark log, that was found at Mt Lindesay, by artist Kakae Pakoa who lovingly worked on the project for three months.

Mr Pakoa said his design reflected the past, the present and the future of the area. “The footprints symbolise the walk the South Sea Islanders did from Redbank Plains to Beaudesert in 1863, when it took them two days to get here to start work,” he said. “They also symbolise the future-moving forward and moving together.”

Mr Pakoa’s wife Natalie said the unveiling of the sculpture reinforced the love and healing she felt after her community’s history with the area was accepted and acknowledged by the Mununjali people. “Now when I come to Beaudesert I feel love in my heart, it is home,” she said.

Scenic Rim Regional Council Division Two Councillor Nadia O’Carroll said it was a “brilliant piece of art” and a wonderful addition to the region’s cultural heritage. Beaudesert and District Community Art Project along with council organised for the sculpture to be created as part of a legacy project of the 2013 ASSI 150 commemorations.

The sculpture sits at Hopkins Park, at Mt Lindesay Highway and Worendo Street, Veresdale on land owned by the Walker family.

Joe Eggmolesse, AO recipient 2014

joe eggmolesse

A Maryborough man has been awarded the Order of Australia medal for his service to the Indigenous community.Selwyn Joel Eggmolesse, better known as Joe, has devoted his life to community service, working for government organisations and non-for-profit groups.

Mr Eggmolesse said hearing of the honour was a great feeling, with “a little bit of excitement and pride”. “After all this time the government decided to say thank you,” Mr Eggmolesse said. “The majority of community workers work 24/7 and don’t get paid.”

Fraser Coast Mayor Gerard O’Connell said Mr. Eggmolesse’s recognition was a moment of enormous pride for the Fraser Coast. “Joe epitomises what living on the Fraser Coast is all about. It’s about giving to community and continuing to appreciate the value of people.”

Mr Eggmolesse was born in Nambour and was diagnosed with leprosy as a child. He was sent to live on Fantome Island for 10 years. Mr Eggmolesse, who proudly calls himself a Kanaka, said he began working in Aboriginal affairs in 1974 in Victoria.

In the 1980s Mr Eggmolesse began work in NSW as a health promotion officer and reported on the environment Aboriginal people were living in. He is also proud of his work on the $2.8 million Namatjira Reserve Project. Mr Eggmolesse returned to Queensland in the 1990s, working in health at the Princess Alexandra hospital in Brisbane, at Wide Bay region Indigenous Health co-ordinator and at Cherbourg Community Health.

Joe retired in 1999 but it didn’t last long. “Eight weeks after being retired I went back to work ,” Mr Eggmolesse said. He finished his career with Fraser Coast Health service in 2006. He said much of his work was convincing Aboriginal clients to get help. “It was our job to help people reach out to the services.” He said his best advice was to encourage people to be a humanist.

Mr Eggmolesse is an adviser to the Fraser Coast Housing Services Board and a former member of the Maryborough Aboriginal and Islanders Elders and Community Leaders Group.

Joe Eggmolesse, AO recipient 2014

Centrelink – A change is a coming.

Centrelink questionnaire included - Are you an Australian South Sea Islander

Centrelink questionnaire now including “Are you an Australian South Sea Islander ” & definition Question 18 & 19 which are optional and will not affect your payment. If you do answer, the information it will help us to continue to improve services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and Australia South Sea Islanders.

Australian South Sea Islanders are the descendants of Pacific Islander labourers brought from the Western Pacific in the 19th Century. Feedback on the above is welcome and appreciated.

Centrelink – A change is a coming.

Letter from Alex Greenwich

Letter from Alex Greenwich

Attached is a letter from Alex Greenwich (Member for Sydney) regarding census count for ASSI in 2016 (image)
Wantok Mackay 2014 – consensus was that we stay with the term Australian South Sea Islanders but provide drop down explanations / description yet to be decided.

Wantok moves ahead to reach National Goal in Mackay QLD.

Wantok moves ahead to reach National Goal in Mackay QLD.
Wantok moves ahead to reach National Goal in Mackay QLD.

The 2013 National Secretariat Model has been dissolved at Wantok 2014 Mackay. In its place an ASSI Governance Working Group has been formed to progress the developments of a constitution for a National body representation.

The new administration arm is to be announced in coming weeks and the working group is Chaired by Greg Sutherland with committed skilled ASSI representatives Dennis Bobongie, Emelda Davis, Mabel Quackawoot, Jennifer Darr and Christine Monday.

Mackay 2014 saw community and organisations unite in solidarity for the first time in a decade. Wantok finale ended today with community participation in sharing of stories from some prominent ASSI names and ni Vanuatu international participants. The CQU Theatrette rang with fits of laughter by elders, friends and family finishing on a high with delicious morning tea. Tanku Tumus Mackay.

Daniel Boyd has become the first indigenous/ASSI man to win the Bulgari Art Award

daniel boyd

Daniel Boyd has become the first indigenous/ASSI man to win the Bulgari Art Award, one of Australia’s richest cultural accolades.

The Cairns-born, Sydney-based artist received the $80,000 award from Italian jewellery brand Bulgari for a work based on a 19th-century photograph from Vanuatu. The luxury brand was guided by the Art Gallery of NSW which, under the terms of its partnership with Bulgari, acquires the painting for $50,000.

Boyd receives that money, plus $30,000 for a residency in Italy. “It’s very humbling,” the artist said after Tuesday’s announcement. “I’m very grateful to be seen in the company of the previous winners,” Boyd added, referring to Michael Zavros and Jon Cattapan.

In the award-winning piece, Untitled 2014, Boyd bedecked his large, predominantly black painting with glistening droplets of transparent glue, which he refers to as “the cultural lens”. “My use of dots references the idea of the cultural lens and the fact that we all have different points of view,” he said.

Boyd’s current series of history paintings investigates the hidden and mysterious histories that took place during the colonisation of the Pacific Islands. Pentecost Island in Vanuatu was home to Boyd’s great-great-grandfather before he was brought to Queensland to work in the sugarcane fields – a practice known as “Blackbirding”.

Many South Sea islanders were brought to Australia to support this industry between 1863 and 1904, and worked for little or no pay. The 31-year-old artist, who left Cairns to study at the Canberra School of Art, also belongs to the Kudjla/Gangalu people from far north Queensland.

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