Boobera+Lagoon+timeline+activity





__Pictures __

__The Legend of Boobera __

__Boobera Lagoon Timeline. __ This time line is not in the correct order, your task is to read all the entries, then to cut and paste this document so that it is in the right chronological (time) order. Then answer the questions at the bottom of the page.

From the dreamtime to the present Kurrea/ Rainbow Serpent has lived in Boobera Lagoon.

May 1995 Hal Wooten QC appointed to prepare a report on Boobera Lagoon. During the extensive studies of the area,artifacts have been found at Boobera that are probably between 1000-5000 years old, some of these were made of silcrete and brought from another site. Ovens and middens were also found as well as a partially eroded burial site.

May 1842 Squatters urged to leave the area because of the conflict between them and the Aboriginal people.

April 1996 Hal Wootten QC report recommending the ban of powerboats on the lagoon and a ban on camping and vehicle use 100 m from the lagoon shore was presented to Senator Herron.

1842 Newspaper stories in the south told of conflict between white and Aboriginal people in the area.

1972 Aboriginal Tent Embassy on lawns of Parliament House. 2000 ban on water skiing and powerboats on Boobera Lagoon.

2003/04 Goondiwindi Water Park which was built to replace Boobera was opened for water skiing, fishing and camping.

1970s Gamilaraay people of Boggabilla and Toomelah started to agitate to have Boobera recognised as a signifigicant Aboriginal cultural site. This was done because elders and other community members were distressed at the lack of respect shown towards the lagoon and at the deterioration of the waters and banks and loss of vegetation, animal and bird life at Boobera.

1830s white squatters moved into the area selecting large areas of land on which to run their cattle. These squatters were mostly young men, some were ex-convicts. No white women came to the district at this time.

1974 With the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Act the people of Toomelah had a legal avenue through which to express their concern about the usage of Boobera for water skiing and the damage being done to the lagoon.

1843 Aboriginal people tried to drive the squatters off the Mooney, McIntyre and Barwon Rivers. Some lives were lost on both sides in this conflict, probably more Aboriginal than non-Aboriginal people died.

1847 More squatters arrived in the area including Jacob Lowe at Welltown Station. In the late 1840s James Mark took up Goodar a station which still exists in the area today.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1895 Bora ceremony at Talwood attended by 150 people.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1845 Jonathon and Margaret Young settled at Umbercollie their third daughter is said to be the first white child born north of the McIntyre River in July 1847. The Youngs stayed for twelve years on Umbercollie and were said to enjoy good relations with the Aboriginals. Aboriginals worked for them as stock keepers, shepherds and domestics.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">September 10, 1847 James Mark’s eleven year old son was killed on Goodar. This was said to be a revenge killing after a neighbour sent some fresh meat to James Mark with three Aboriginal men, Mark is thought to have shot and killed at least one of these men. In revenge for that death James Mark’s son was killed. James Mark and others went out to get revenge on Aboriginal people, killing a number of Aboriginal people. They are thought to have attacked one campsite where the people attacked were not involved. Other squatters were horrified by this behaviour.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1985 There was a fish kill in Boobera Lagoon which was probably the result of poisoning by endosulphin an insecticide used in the cotton industry.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">June 1848 James Mark and a team of seven stockmen attacked a camp of sleeping people killing at least two women. James Mark is thought to have been a bitter and twisted man who was involved in other attacks on Aboriginal people, including one at Umbercollie where two women and an infant were killed a boy was seriously wounded.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1983 The Toomelah Local Aboriginal Land Council lodged a claim for Boobera Lagoon under the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1848 Commissioner Richard Bligh noted that atrocities had been done by both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal groups, noting that he thought that the Non-Aboriginal group were the worst behaved.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1971 Gove Land Rights Case.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">September 8 and 9, 1848 Constables arrested four men over the Umbercollie killings and another man was arrested eight weeks later. James Mark and another man escaped arrest. James Mark fled to Moreton Bay, on September 11 a bullock dray carrying his belongings was seized and plundered by Murris and the driver killed.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">27th October 1848 Commissioner Bligh nominated a site at Boobera Lagoon for a native reserve. Commissioner Bligh seems to have been quite a decent man who was very unhappy with the way some of the white settlers in the district behaved. He believed them to be dishonourable and probably able to get away with unlawful behaviour because they were a long way from their bosses and the police, the closest police station was in Warialda.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1849 Five head of cattle owned by Jonathon Young had been speared, following this there was a fight in which a white man was knocked unconscious and an Aboriginal man was killed.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">July 1849 a group of about thirty Aboriginal people were caught butchering a cow on Carbucky, one of the Aborigines was killed and others seriously wounded. Other reports of this incident claim that many more Aboriginal people were killed at this time.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1938 Mission moved east to current Toomelah site.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">By 1850 there had been decade of tension and conflict between the Indigenous people and the squatters.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1851 Many white stockmen left the area to join the Gold Rush in Victoria. This allowed for Aboriginal people to return to their own lands mostly as employees on stations. It was reported that the number of Aboriginal people south of the McIntyre was decreasing due to a low birth rate. Occasional clashes continued with loss of life on both sides.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1891 Bora ceremony at Kunopia (between Boomi and Goondiwindi). King Billy Wightman was responsible for this ceremony.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1894 Bora ceremony at Gundabloui attended by 203 people.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1984 Boobera Lagoon declared an Aboriginal Place this meant it was an offence to deface or damage the site.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1927 Mission moved twenty kilometres east to (Old) Toomelah.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1967 Referendum giving Aborigines the right to vote.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1980 NSW Aboriginal Lands Trust sought protection of Boobera.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1861 Jacob Lowe reported falling numbers of Aboriginal people in the area and admitted that many had been shot.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1848 Frederick Walker was appointed Commandant of Native Police. In April

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1849 he arrived in Warialda, the government headquarters in Northern NSW, with fourteen Aboriginal men recruited mainly from the Murray/Murrumbidgee area on his staff.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1987 Justice Marcus Einfeld visited Boobera and Toomelah as the leader of a Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Enquiry.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1912 Mission established at Euraba.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">1. List 3 things that surprise you about the information in this timeline. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">_ __<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">2. Cut the instructions at the top of the page. __ __<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif';">3. When you read this timeline how does it make you feel? _____