March 21, 2023
The State Government’s Path To Treaty with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples was one of the subjects on the agenda for Monday’s Wide Bay-Burnett-Fraser Coast Regional Community Forum.
Nineteen appointed Regional Community Forum members – including local businesswoman Amy Wicks, from Moffatdale, and Cherbourg Economic and Community Development Manager Sean Nicholson – were invited to attend the discussions, the first organised by the State Government this year.
The forum members come from across the Wide Bay, Burnett and Fraser Coast regions and were accompanied by three MPs and representatives from various government departments.
The group attended a dinner on Sunday with South Burnett and Cherbourg councillors at Dusty Hill Winery at Moffatdale.
On Monday, they were welcomed to the Cherbourg Historical Precinct by Mayor Elvie Sandow, Cr Fred Cobbo and local State School captains Austin Sandow and Elvie Saltner and vice-captains Jeffrey Alberts and Jokayla Hopkins in a small ceremony on the verandah at The Ration Shed.
The forum members and others toured The Ration Shed, the Boys Dormitory and Artists’ Studio and viewed films about the history of the community.
They then returned to Dusty Hill for more discussions, co-chaired by the Member for Bundaberg Tom Smith and the Member for Hervey Bay Adrian Tantari.
Speaking at Cherbourg on Monday morning, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Craig Crawford said the Forum would be discussing a number of items but he planned to raise the Truth Telling Inquiry – part of the State Government’s Path To Treaty process.
The inquiry will begin in the second half of this year, be headed by five people and will run for three years. It will delve into the true history of Queensland, going back to 1824 up until the present day.
“The Ration Shed here is the best place to actually come and get some kind of picture of what life was like back in those days if you were an Aboriginal person from anywhere across the southern half of Queensland,” Minister Crawford said.
“There’s nowhere else in Queensland that tells the story like The Ration Shed. I think it’s absolutely amazing and I want everyone in Brisbane to be able to come and see this. That is the challenge that I am going to put to the Forum members here.
“They come from a range of different backgrounds but the challenge I want to put to them is to say ‘How do we get two to three million people in Brisbane to come here, see this, feel this and then take that away?’.
“The more people that we can bring here, the more people who can come and experience this, the better.
“This is where everyone should come to begin their journey to understand our State’s history a bit better.”
The Regional Community Forums are part of the State Government’s Advancing Queensland’s Regions strategy, supported by the Office for Rural and Regional Queensland.
Other regional forums were held on Monday in Gordonvale, Ingham, Mackay, Emerald and St George.
The State Government plans to hold three more Regional Community Forums this year at venues to be announced.
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