Category Archives: Wantok 2014

Faendem Baek Famili – Solomon Islands participant 2014

faendem baek famili pr

Graham Mooney, who was a participant in the workshop, says “I hale from Mackay in far north Queensland, which is home to our largest ASSI / Solomon Island descent community. I have both Aboriginal and South Sea Islander ancestry from my father and mother’s lines.

My father was brought up strictly in Solomon Islander culture and still speaks pijin today. I was given the role as our biological family historian both on my father’s (Percival Mooney (senior) ancestry and lineage into the Solomon Islands and my mother’s (Jessie Darr) ancestry and lineage into my Vanuatu heritage.

This will be my first time to visit the Solomons in my over 60 years. Our great grandfather, Kwailiu, and great grandmother, Orrani, were brought to Queensland as indentured workers to grow sugarcane in Innisfail in far North Queensland.

They came from Fataleka, Malaita, Solomon Islands in 1888. My father’s lineage as a Solomon Islander comes through his mother Cecily Fatnowna, the youngest daughter of Kwailiu and Orrani.”

Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre launch 2014

LIVERPOOL LORD MAYOR (far right), SAMOA HIGH COMMISSIONER (far left), VANUATU HIGH COMMISSIONER (middle)

LIVERPOOL LORD MAYOR (far right), SAMOA HIGH COMMISSIONER (far left), VANUATU HIGH COMMISSIONER (middle)

Vanuatu High Commissioner Mr Kalfau Kaloris introduces WANTOK NSW at the Casula Power House Arts Centre – Pacific Gods Program acknowledging ancestors and work to date for ASSI recognition the speeches were followed by more brilliance of Pacific Cultural groups and a highlighted performance by Uncle Johnny Nicol and Aunty Shireen Malamoo. A humble thank you to the CPAC and particularly creative producer Leo Tanoi for their commitment to ASSI recognition.

Poem entitled “WANTOK had a breakthrough”

Poem entitled "WANTOK had a breakthrough"

WANTOK had a breakthrough – written by Veronica Griffin.

WANTOK had a breakthrough

Wantok had a break through
Wow how’s that
Wantok had a break through
Now a working group has been selected
Wantok had a break through
How deadly …Oh how deadly
Wantok had a break through
My people from near and a far
Hey … Wantok had a break through
Emelda, Graham and Michael … all of us can relax
Cause Wantok … had a break through
Our Kanaka voice will be nationally heard
Now that … Wantok had a break through
Australian South Sea Islanders rejoice
We can never again be blue
Our … Wantok had a break through
Will not remain silent we will be ever strong
Why? …Wantok had a break through
My birthday 30th March 2014 will always be know as the date that …
Wantok had a break through
From Mackay our progressive town where
Wantok … had a break through
Let us hear loud clear voices … hey!
Wantok had a break through
Shout it from every beat of your heart
Hooray…
Wantok had a break through
Go back to your family and your people and tell them…
Wantok had a break through
Teach the children… listen to the young folk and respect your elders be humbled by this thing.
Remember all of you the date the time the place … when
Wantok had a break through.

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.

John Mackay – Blackbirder

John Mackay - Blackbirder

This weekend Australian South Sea Islanders are holding WANTOK in Mackay, the last of three national workshops aimed at bringing together the diverse Islander community. The first of their ancestor were brought to Mackay in 1867, just a few years after the founding of the settlement in 1860.

What few Mackay residents realise is that John Mackay, a leading member of John Macrossan’s 1860 expedition which “discovered” the Pioneer Valley, went on to work in the labour trade and that Mackay, the city, owes its name to a Blackbirder.

Born in 1839, as a young man John Mackay was involved in mining, exploration and pastoral ventures. He stocked Greenmount run in the valley but had to sell out in 1863. Mackay had previously served on one Pacific voyage as a purser while still in his teens, which led him to gain his master’s certificate in 1865 and for the next eighteen years he commanded various ships in the Pacific trade. A Captain of several vessels recruiting Melanesian labourers, one was Sir Isaac Newton in 1868 on a voyage bringing Melanesian labourers to Gladstone. Records also suggest that he was twice master and recruiter on Queensland vessel the Flora in 1875.

He was also on another voyage, either that of the Daphne or the Carl, and was master of Waiau in the Fiji labour trade. John Mackay also spent some years in Fiji on a sugar plantation before becoming harbour master in Cooktown (1892-1902).

Back in 1978 and 1979 when this labour trade connection was aired in the pages of the Daily Mercury, his granddaughter Margaret Mackay defended what the family believed to be the honour of John Mackay (D.M. 25-4-1979). A trip, thought to be on the Daphne, was discussed. The 1868 Australian Daphne  voyage is well known because of a NSW Royal Commission and there is no evidence that John Mackay on this voyage.

The Mackay family has correspondence from Archibald Watson, later a professor of anatomy in Adelaide, who worked as crew on the Carl in 1871-72. In 1914 Watson wrote to John Mackay saying that had he not used the ship’s guns, the vessel would certainly have been taken and all on board killed. To avoid prosecution, Watson left for Europe straight after the Carl voyage. The Carl made two voyages recruiting for Fiji. The first was the most horrific voyage in the Melanesian labour trade. Fifty Islander recruits were shot and about twenty were wounded on the ill-fated voyage. Was John Mackay on board, and if not when did he turn a ship’s guns on Islanders?

John Mackay was badly treated by the Queensland government. In 1864 the Governor had promised to give him a financial recompense for his part in discovering the Pioneer Valley, but the government never honoured this pledge. John Mackay protested this on several occasions, and this is probably why in later years he presented himself as leader of the 1860 expedition. Evidence from the Macrossan family suggests that John Macrossan was the real leader.

As chairman of the Queensland Marine Board (1902-12) and finally harbour master of Brisbane until his death in 1914 he became a venerable figure, held in high regard, but in the 1860s and 1870s he was a young man seeking his fortune on land and at sea.

The 1860s Queensland labour trade was confined to the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) and the Loyalty Islands (now in New Caledonia). Historians believe that there was a great amount of deception and trickery involved and that kidnapping and violence was rife in the early years, although not universal. Many of the labour recruits from the Loyalty Islands and southern New Hebrides had already worked as crews on inter-island shipping.

The word Blackbirding is used to describe the early years of the labour trade. Even by his family’s admission, John Mackay was involved in at least one very violent incident, and there were official French protests over the Sir Isaac Newton voyage.

John Mackay deserves to be remembered as a 1860s explorer and pastoralist, but let us also remember that, similar to Robert Towns, founder of Townsville, his name is connected to the Blackbirding years.

Professor Clive Moore will be speaking at Wantok on Day 2 of the program Saturday the 29th March in his capacity as an advisor to the Australian south Sea Islanders (Port Jackson) historical panel in also sharing Mackay Births Deaths and Marriages Register as well as DATSIMA finding family record complimented with a Q&A.

For interviews call Professor Clive Moore mobile: 0419 676 123
University of Queensland

The complete WANTOK 2014 program can be downloaded HERE.

Photo courtesy of The National Library of Australia

John Mackay – Blackbirder Posted 27 March 2014.

WANTOK 2014 Mackay

Wantok 2014 Media Release 26-03-2014

WANTOK 2014 (Mackay) Prioritizes Governance Education and Democratic Representation at the Mackay March Forum

Cook Lecture Theatre – Central Queensland University Mackay – 28–31 March 2014

Emelda Davis, President of the Interim National Body for the Australian South Sea Islanders announces: “The WANTOK 2014 Australian South Sea Islanders Mackay Forum will prioritise governance education and democratic representation when South Sea Islanders from all around the region meet in Mackay. This national forum will determine how to work together to draft a constitution.”

The forum will be hosted at the Central Queensland University in Mackay 28 – 31 March and will be facilitated by independent moderator, Michael Chapman. Over the last five year Michael has worked with many culturally diverse organisations.

The first day of the Forum will see the important educational session “Working together to draft a constitution” facilitated by Darren Fittler from Gilbert and Tobin, one of the nation’s leading law firms. Delegates will explore vital issues associated with understanding what a constitution means and how it operates, the status and responsibilities of an unincorporated working committee, and how a governance model for a federation may work.

One of the key initiatives for the Forum will be to consider a motion to dissolve the former Wantok 2013 Governance Model and replace this with the selection of a National ASSI Governance Working Group (NASSIG) and the formation of Friends of NASSI initiative. The proposed brief of the Work Group is to deliver a Constitution for an incorporated association which will be presented to the ASSI community for possible adoption by Friends of NASSI at a special meeting.

Emelda Davis stated: “The proposed new structure will give our people the necessary means to deal with important ASSI matters that have remained largely invisible to the political processes that direct government policy. Tens of thousands of people in our communities have been disadvantaged through the impact of an indentured labour trade akin to slavery which was imposed on their forebears who were brought to this country to establish the economical base of Australia in sugar and cotton plantations of the mid 19th century.”

“Today there are issues of educational, social and economic disadvantage to address amongst our people. We also need assistance to strengthen our culture and connect back to our families in the Pacific,” Ms Davis continued.

“The delivery of the structure for a national body has been several years in the making. Considerable work has been undertaken by ASSI (Port Jackson), the Interim National ASSI Secretariat, which was given this responsibility at the 2012 WANTOK (Bundaberg) conference,” said Ms Davis.

Conference delegates will also be discussing opportunities to educate ASSI communities about the importance of the National Census and to influence how information about our communities is defined and collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The Forum will be opened by the Mackay Mayor Deirdie Comeford and Jason Costigan, Member for Whitsunday (Representing Glen Elms, Queensland Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Multicultural Affairs) with speeches given by Tim Mulherin, Member for Mackay, Patron Mrs Bonito Mabo – AO, Aunty Rowena Trieve – AO (former MADASSIA President), Starret Vea Vea (MADASSIA President), Emelda Davis (ASSI.PJ President).

For more information and interview with Emelda Davis please contact:

Marie Geissler: 0416 285 727

Emelda Davis:0416 300 946

PDF Transcript can be downloaded HERE.