‘Stolen Generation’: The possible truth of two young girls ‘rescued’ from Kgari

Two supposedly European girls “rescued” from K’gari after a shipwreck may have actually been early members of the “Stolen Generation”, a university professor who fought for Fraser Island’s name change now claims.

Dr Daryl McPhee is an Associate Professor of Environmental Science at Bond University and the author of Environmental History and Ecology of Noosa and the K’gari Coast.

A few years ago I wrote about Eliza Fraser, whose supposed ordeal among the Indigenous people of K’gari-Fraser Island made her a Victorian-era sensation.

Fraser claimed that after she was shipwrecked, she was captured by “savages”, stripped, starved and enslaved, later profiting from her story through paid public performances and grifting.

I made the case that the actions of the Butchulla people could be better interpreted as keeping Eliza Fraser safe and in relative comfort using traditional remedies and cultural approaches which were misinterpreted.

I concluded she was Australia’s first reality star, “combining the undignified characteristics of the worst MAFS and Survivor contestants in one sad colonial package”.

Her lies and cultural misinterpretations had lasting repercussions for the Butchulla people of the island, and Indigenous people more broadly.

Eliza Fraser.

But there’s a lesser-known tale from the same island that fed similar tropes: the story of two young girls “rescued” from K’gari in 1857.

The brig Sea Belle is believed to have run aground on Breaksea Spit off the northern tip of the island in 1857 while sailing from Gladstone to Sydney.

It was thought that after a Sea Belle survivor killed an Indigenous man, the Butchulla people retaliated by killing him and the remaining survivors, sparing only one woman and two young girls.

A few years later, spurred by rumours that the trio was still alive, a rescue party sailed to K’gari, located two girls aged about 15 and 10 and brought them back to Sydney.

It was, like Eliza’s lurid tale, an amazing story of survival.

But serious doubts remain: were the girls really survivors from the Sea Belle — or even of European descent?

When found, the elder girl wore only a European jacket to the waist; the younger was naked.

Their mother was never found and presumed dead. The girls were considered to be in poor health.

Neither could speak English, leading authorities to conclude they had fully adapted to Indigenous life and longed to return to it.

But given the age of the older girl it seems unlikely that she would have completely lost the ability to speak English.

The Sydney Morning Herald of October 17, 1859, reported that: “Both appeared to have forgotten their own language, and their features have been disfigured by the blacks in endeavouring apparently to make them resemble their own race.

“Thus, the bridges of their noses have been broken and flattened, and their mouths cut in some manner which gives an appearance resembling Aboriginals, of whom they have become so alike as to afford the impression first that they were half castes.”

A simpler explanation is that the girls were, in fact, Indigenous.

Maheno Shipwreck.

They spoke an Indigenous language, not English, preferred the company of Indigenous people over Europeans, and showed no recollection of having lived a European life before their time on K’gari.

Although one of the girls was wearing a piece of European clothing, it may have come from earlier contact with Europeans, possibly from the crew of Eliza Fraser’s Stirling Castle.

Given their fair skin, it’s possible the children were fathered by a European settler or escaped convict who had lived in or passed through the Wide Bay area.

Alternatively, they may have been affected by a type of albinism, a condition known to occur among Aboriginal people during the early colonial period and confirmed in modern studies.

The generally poor health of the two girls could have been associated with any number of untreated health conditions associated with albinism.

In Indigenous culture, two girls with health problems that struggled with sun exposure and had vision problems would have only been able to make limited contributions to the society.

There may have been suspicion that the children were fathered by a white man, which could have brought social stigma to the Butchulla as colonial expansion in Queensland intensified.

Tellingly, Archibald Meston, the “Southern Protector” of Aboriginals in Queensland, who in a report tabled in the Queensland parliament in 1905 — over 40 years later — identified the girls as Aboriginal albinos with the Aboriginal names ‘Mundi’ and ‘Coyeen’.

Given the treacherous nature of Breaksea Spit, I believe it is highly likely that all those on board perished at sea.

There was never confirmation the girls were Sea Belle survivors, and evidence strongly suggests they were Indigenous children with albinism.

Despite this, a significant amount of government money at the time was spent on a risky rescue mission that ultimately resulted in two children being taken from Butchulla country.

Tragically, the eldest girl died soon after arriving in Sydney, while the younger girl lived into early adulthood, learned English and was placed into ‘domestic service’, although domestic servitude is a more apt term.

They may have been some of the earliest members of what later became known as the Stolen Generation in Queensland.

* Dr Daryl McPhee is an Associate Professor of Environmental Science at Bond University and the author of Environmental History and Ecology of Noosa and the K’gari Coast.

Originally published as ‘Stolen Generation’: The possible truth of two young girls ‘rescued’ from Kgari