Elder: First Nations Cultural Centre ‘a matter of survival’ for FNQ Indigenous culture and youth

The King of Cairns Ye-i-nie’s ceremonial regalia sits on display in a foreign museum thousands of kilometres from home for a simple and heartbreaking reason.

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THE King of Cairns Ye-i-nie’s ceremonial regalia sits on display in a foreign museum thousands of kilometres from home for a simple reason.

Even if the British Museum returns the artefact, Cairns has nowhere to display it or so many other remnants of Far North indigenous history.

Ye-i-nie’s great-granddaughter Henrietta Marrie is leading a push for the State Government to abandon its plan to build such a vital centre in Brisbane instead of Cairns.

The CQUniversity lecturer, Yidinji elder and Order of Australia Medal recipient said it was a matter of survival – not just in a cultural sense.

Respected indigenous elder Henrietta Marrie of the Yidinji people is calling on the Queensland Government to reconsider their decision to build the proposed First Nations Cultural Centre in Brisbane. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

“If our young people are given an opportunity to express and understand who they are, maybe we won’t see so many youth suicides,” she said.

There is a similar story for the remains of a Gimuy Walubara Yidinji King that in April were returned from Berlin to Australia, only to sit in a Brisbane museum 1500km south of their ancestral home.

“The government could do us a great service to help us bring home many of the different objects that have been taken away or stolen and put in foreign museums in the south or overseas,” Ms Marrie said.

Ye-i-nie the "King of Cairns" and great-grandfather to indigenous leader Henrietta Marrie in a 1905 photo wearing his regalia which was taken by the British Museum until being finally returned to Australia in 2015. PICTURE: A ATKINSON / NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad told the Cairns Post the Government wanted to build the centre in Brisbane so it could be part of a circuit with the likes of the Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland Art Gallery and Queensland Performing Arts Centre.

“But that’s not to say we can’t also have a conversation about what might happen here in Cairns,” she said.

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The plan is still preliminary – $2 million for a study into building the centre in Brisbane with an obvious nod to the likes of Eddie Mabo and his role in native title. But Ms Marrie said there were so many stories from the north that could not be told in a southern museum.

“There’s definitely room for two centres,” she said.

“How many indigenous people who live north of Townsville are going to go to Brisbane to visit a cultural centre when most of their cultural activities are up here anyway?”

Queensland Treasurer Jackie Trad speaks at the 2019 State Budget in Review Luncheon at the Cairns Convention Centre. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

Ms Trad was receptive to suggestions a happy trade-off could be to ensure the $40 million Cairns Gallery Precinct went ahead with a one-third financial contribution from the State Government and a heavy focus on indigenous artists.

However Ms Marrie argued it was not a case of one or the other, and Far North Queensland needed both.

“A gallery is very different to a cultural centre,” she said. “One is where you hang works of art, the other is where history, stories and culture are passed on.”

Ms Trad recognised remote indigenous artists needed an outlet for their work that guaranteed a fair pay.

“When I’ve gone to the Torres Strait, to Aurukun, to Napranum, the art centres in all of these remote communities are also just terrific and need support in order to continue to flourish,” she said.

The most profound argument for basing the centre in Cairns was hard to deny.

With such a high Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in FNQ and the indigenous suicide rate at four times the national average, Ms Marrie said desperate action was needed to instil knowledge and pride in her people’s youth.

“The more young people get to learn about their own people and understand themselves, the more they can give back to society,” she said.

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Originally published as Elder: First Nations Cultural Centre ‘a matter of survival’ for FNQ Indigenous culture and youth