Why a monument to Butchulla lives lost means so much

The city is recognising its Indigenous people

Butchulla Men’s Business Aboriginal Association members Marks Singho, Eddie Jackson, President Glen Miller, Darren Blake and Rod MacDonald on Fraser Island. Photo Lachie Millard

WHEN Glen Miller was a young man, he couldn't wait to leave Maryborough.

The Butchulla man encountered racism and bigotry growing up and when he left, he thought he would never come back.

Now, as the city takes another step towards building a monument to the Indigenous lives lost during settlement, some of those wounds are starting to heal and a new side of the city is emerging.

One can already see it around Maryborough.

There's the mural on the side of the library celebrating The Legends of Moonie Jarl, which was illustrated by Mr Miller's mother, Olga Miller, and written by his uncle, Wilf Reeves.

Wilf Reeves, better known in Maryborough as Uncle Wilfie, has a portrait on the side of the Maryborough Military Museum.

He fought for Australia in World War II, including serving on the Kokoda Track in New Guinea.

Mr Miller sees it as the start of the city embracing its proud Butchulla heritage.

The next step is acknowledging the painful past.

This week the Fraser Coast Regional Council unanimously voted to support the Butchulla Men's Business Aboriginal Association in its proposal for a memorial.

The first step will be to support an application for a grant of up to $100,000 through the First Nations Commissioning Fund of Arts Queensland build the memorial.

Fraser Coast Mayor George Seymour agreed with Mr Miller that the project was not an attempt to make the non-Aboriginal population feel guilty or apportion blame - the goal was to recognise what took place and honour those who lost their lives.

"I was moved by Glen's address at a council briefing at which he spoke of the need for the Butchulla memorial," he said.

"In his address he told of giving the Welcome to Country at the unveiling of the Gallipoli to Armistice memorial in Queens Park where he noted that while we have memorials for many other groups and occasions in Queens Park, there is nothing that represents the people who have lived on this land for more than 40,000 years."

The monument, a bronze sculpture, would support connection with the Butchulla community and help us work towards reconciliation, Cr Seymour said.

Mr Miller has a vision in mind for the memorial.

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 goal of the sculpture is to show the end result of the unequal match between spear and musket, defender and intruder.

Mr Miller says the observer will be asked 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.

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 memorial would also include a plaque outlining 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".

This project has been identified by the Premier's Regional Economic Forum for the Wide Bay Burnett Fraser Coast as one of the projects worthy of support by the Queensland Government.

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