South Wellesley Islands

South Wellesley Islands are an island group and locality in the Gulf of Carpentaria within the Shire of Mornington, Queensland, Australia.[2] In the 2016 census, South Wellesley Islands had a population of 0 people.[1]

South Wellesley Islands
Queensland
South Wellesley Islands
Coordinates17.0037°S 139.3634°E / -17.0037; 139.3634
Population0 (2016 census)[1]
 • Density0.000/km2 (0.000/sq mi)
Postcode(s)4871
Area144.2 km2 (55.7 sq mi)
Time zoneAEST (UTC+10:00)
LGA(s)Shire of Mornington
State electorate(s)Traeger
Federal Division(s)Kennedy
Location map of the South Wellesley Islands

Geography

The islands are (west to east):

  • Southern part of Bentinck Island and Albinia Island
  • Bentinck Island with the Australian continent in the background
  • the small Fowler Island is located between Seers Island and Bentinck Island
  • Location of Bentinck Island
  • Southern part of Sweers Island

History

Kayardild (also known as Kaiadilt and Gayadilta) is a language of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Kayardild language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Mornington Shire Council.[5]

Sometime around 1916, a man remembered only as McKenzie came to Bentinck Island and set up a sheep run, basing himself on a site at the mouth of the Kurumnbali estuary. He would ride over the island, accompanied by a pack of dogs, and shoot any Kaiadilt man who came within sight; in local memory, he murdered at least 11 people. He also kidnapped and raped native girls. He then moved to Sweers Island, and set up a lime kiln there. The Kaiadilt managed to return to Sweers only on McKenzie's departure. The massacre was only recorded by researchers in the 1980s.[4]

Sweers Island was declared an Aboriginal reserve in 1934. After a cyclonic tidal surge swept the area in 1948, which followed fast on the severe drought that struck in 1946, the Kaiadilt were transferred by missionaries and the Queensland Government to Mornington Island. The uprooting effectively set in place the process of the destruction of both Kaiadilt culture and language since all children were restricted to dormitories, away from their parents and kin, and the transmission of the language and lore was lost. On Mornington Island they lived in a separate zone, in beach humpies facing Bentinck Island. They were looked down on by the Indigenous Lardil people, who denied them access to the fishing grounds. Conditions were so severe that for several years all children were stillborn, creating a gap in the generations. From the late 1960s onwards, the Kaiadilt began to return to their own islands.

References
  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "South Wellesley Islands (SSC)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  2. "South Wellesley Islands – locality in Shire of Mornington (entry 42537)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  3. Bruce Elder (1998). Blood on the Wattle: Massacres and maltreatment of Aboriginal Australians since 1788. Page 203 - 206: New Holland Publishers. ISBN 1-86436-410-6.CS1 maint: location (link)
  4. Kelly, Roma; Evans, Nicholas (1985). "The McKenzie massacre on Bentinck Island" (PDF). Aboriginal History. 9 (1). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 February 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  5. This Wikipedia article incorporates CC-BY-4.0 licensed text from: "Indigenous languages map of Queensland". State Library of Queensland. State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
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