How funds were raised to make Butchulla memorial a reality

The memorial will recognise Butchulla lives lost at settlement. See how it came about here.

The sculpture would show three Butchulla shields lying on the ground as they would have been dropped by the Butchulla defenders: each shield would have a musket ball hole in it.

The fight to build a monument to the Butchulla people has taken a significant step forward, with a total of $27,500 in donations committed to the project.

This amount which will be matched by the council to make the memorial a reality.

The monument has been a longtime passion project of Butchulla elder Glen Miller with the sculpture paying tribute to the Butchulla lives lost at settlement while also celebrating the survival of their culture against all odds.

In August last year, the Fraser Coast Regional Council unanimously voted to support the Butchulla Men’s Business Aboriginal Association with their proposal for a memorial.

Since then, tens of thousands of dollars have been contributed to the project.

The sculpture would show three Butchulla shields lying on the ground as they would have been dropped by the Butchulla defenders: each shield would have a musket ball hole in it.

Among those who made donations were Nadia and Rob Campbell from Monto’s Goodicum Pastoral, Maryborough’s Downer EDI factory, Butchulla descendant Wayne Miller, Maryborough MP Bruce Saunders, WYLD Projects Abroiginal Corporation Bundaberg and Terry Long.

The Fraser Coast council has agreed to match the donations and supply their staff to oversee and co-ordinate the creation and installation of the monument, Mr Miller said.

The goal of the sculpture is to show the end result of the unequal match between spear and musket, defender and intruder and ask the observer to imagine what must have happened when Butchulla men threw all of their spears and stood there waiting for them to be thrown back – but instead were cut down by musket balls.

Traditional conflicts involved Aboriginal men throwing spears at each other, which were collected from the ground and thrown back and forth between opposing groups until a resolution was reached.

The sculpture will show three Butchulla shields lying on the ground as they would have been dropped by the Butchulla defenders: each shield would have a musket ball hole in it.

Traditional conflicts involved Aboriginal men throwing spears at each other, which were collected from the ground and thrown back and forth between opposing groups until a resolution was reached.

The memorial will also include a plaque which will outline the reason for the memorial and an interpretation of the sculpture.

The three shields commemorate the three Butchulla laws; What is good for the land comes first; Do not touch or take anything that does not belong to you, and If you have plenty you must share.

Mr Miller has received photos of Butchulla shields from the University of Queensland’s Anthropology Museum.

The photos will be used to create replicas of the shields.

“Once we have completed making these replicas, we will be taking them to gun club members who have black powder weapons to see if they will shoot them to achieve the effect that we need, of damaged shields.

“Once we achieve the effects we are after we will send them to Brisbane to have the sculptor create a model that the foundry can work with.”