Aboriginal people ‘ripped off big time’ by the Queensland government, says Aunty Lesley Williams

One of Queensland’s pioneers in the fight to reclaim wages stolen from Aboriginal people by the state government said they were ‘ripped off big time’ for decades by their employers.

First to appear before the Inquiry, Aunty Lesley Williams 77, on the first day of sitting for the Truth Telling and Healing Inquiry, at the convention centre in South Brisbane. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen / Courier Mail

One of Queensland’s pioneers in the fight to reclaim wages stolen from Aboriginal people said they were “ripped off big time” for decades by their state government employers.

Guwa woman Aunty Lesley Williams campaigned for Aboriginal workers’ justice through the 1990s, which led to the Queensland government paying $55.4m in reparations in 2002. In 2019, the state government settled a separate Stolen Wages Class Action for $190m.

Speaking at the first hearing of Queensland’s historic Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry, Ms Williams shared recollections of her childhood in the Aboriginal settlement of Cherbourg, west of Gympie, her teenage years as a domestic help and her fight to reclaim the wages that were taken from Indigenous people by the state.

In the Cherbourg community, her working family members would receive their “pocket money” every Friday, with a portion of their wages held back and controlled by the superintendent. In return, they were given a roof over their head, rations each Monday, and meat on Tuesdays and Fridays.

“The government said we’ve already looked after you … that’s how we can justify you getting that kind of money,” Ms Williams said.

She wrote a book about her story in collaboration with her daughter, Tammy Williams.

Ms Williams said the wealth accumulated by Queensland’s Indigenous people “helped keep the state and commonwealth alive”.

“We were ripped off, we were ripped off big time,” she said.

“I’m not just talking about myself. This state flourished under the work done by everyone, Aboriginal people.”

The Truth Telling inquiry was launched after Queensland’s Path to Treaty legislation was passed in 2023. It is designed to uncover the long-term effects of colonialism on First Nation’s peoples in the hopes of improving the future

“It’s to pass on the knowledge and the history for the next and future generations,” Ms Williams said. “This is a record now for all Queenslanders … we’re on the journey, all of us, together.”

Inquiry chair Joshua Creamer acknowledged those who long advocated for the opportunity to be heard in his short opening statement. “It’s a significant step for the inquiry but also a historic step for this state,” he said.

The independent inquiry is expected to run over three years and carry the same powers as a royal commission.

Professor of Indigenous education at the University of Queensland, Ngugi/Wakka Wakka woman Tracey Bunda, also gave evidence about her parents and grandparents’ lives in Cherbourg and the power of education.