ATSIHP Protection Application (s10)

…My name is Aunty Sandra King, I am an Elder and belong to the Yagara, Quandamooka and Bundjalung communities in Magandjin (Brisbane). I am a direct descendant of Maggie King and Charles Francis King (Ginter), both were well known on Quandamooka, and he was a respected boatman of the Koenpul and Ngugi Tribe. My cousins, the Moreton family, are descendants of Kerwalli (also known as King Sandy of Brisbane), a Yagara headman of the Gerrgum Tribe.

I am writing to you to seek urgent protection of Victoria Park / Barrambin - my first home.

My address was Flat 1, Hut 45, Area 2, Victoria Park Housing - a community of both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal families brought together by circumstance in the years following World War II. I recall it as a friendly place, where everyone was welcome.

Sitting at the feet of my Elders in Victoria Park when I was young marked the beginning of my leadership journey. I learnt so much from my Mum, my family and community Aunties in this place. Even after we left the Victoria Park Housing Camp, which was demolished in 1960, this park has held a treasured place in my heart and I continue to return to it, to this day.

But I am sharing with you just one personal chapter in this land’s ancient cultural history.

Barrambin has long been a place of welcome, a site of spiritual connection, and a meeting ground for various clans. This area of Magandjin is particularly well known for its special significance to our people. It has served as a major camp, a hunting area, a place for gathering and corroborees. Our stories, our traditions are in the ground here - in the vegetation, the trees, the lakes, the hills. Barrambin is one of the last locations of untouched beauty and cultural heritage in this city - and we hold on to that. It is irreplaceable.

I ask you to please protect Victoria Park / Barrambin as a significant cultural site for Aboriginal people and the wider community as a whole. This is not the spot for Olympic stadiums. These “developments” would destroy the values of the park and all that makes it special. I would no longer be able to relate to this place. When we hold on to and celebrate our cultural heritage sites, we give the non-indigenous community an opportunity to learn about who we are as a people. Our history has long been suppressed but our stories need to be told - this is a crucial step towards reconciliation. And this is exactly what the Olympic Games promised to do - to unite us and leave a positive legacy for First Nations.

“If the stadium developments go ahead at Victoria Park, this event will do the opposite. It would sever us - from our traditions, our Country. I would be devastated, lost. I cannot even think about it.”

In June, I appeared as a witness at Queensland’s Parliamentary Hearing into the Planning and Other Legislation Bill (now Act) to voice my concern about the stadium plans and their impact on Aboriginal heritage in Brisbane. It is our duty, our cultural protocol, to keep our Yagara traditions alive, to protect Barrambin. If we break protocol, we break lore. But my voice was ignored. Our ability to protect culture and Country is being stripped away in the name of the Olympics.

I was born under the Aboriginals Preservation and Protection Act 1939, and like many others, my life has been forever marked by it. My grandfather and his family were escorted off their homeland on Dunwich and taken to Cherbourg, against their will. My father, separated from his mother as a little boy, was a member of the stolen generation. Where others grow up knowing the full extent of their ancestral history, I have had to spend many years searching, poring over old records and opening doors shut tight by trauma to re-establish my linkages. These things - my communities and connections - mean everything to me. My people have faced so much disconnection, but we are - despite all this - keeping our traditions alive. 

Caption: Aunty Sandra King, pictured at Victoria Park / Barrambin in the ‘50s

Today, I am an Elder, following in the footsteps of my beloved Mum and Aunties. They have all passed on now, but I carry them with me - their wisdom, their stories; I can still hear their laughter. As an Elder, I am now in the blessed position of welcoming people to this beautiful city of Magandjin (Brisbane), my home which I will never leave. I love doing the Welcome to Country, as I can hear and see that the audience are all loving it and paying attention. I get so many people who come up to thank me afterwards, as they have learnt something and actually felt welcomed.

The Queensland Government did use Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in their promotion to sell Brisbane as the host for the 2032 Olympics. Now this state government is taking everything away from us, including our Truth Telling and Healing programs. Of course, they will want Aboriginal and Torres Strait traditional dancers and performers in the Games opening ceremony to sell Brisbane and Queensland to the world. Well, this may not happen because of the government’s ongoing treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

I turn 70 next year - and I hope to celebrate my birthday at Victoria Park / Barrambin, the special part of Magandjin where I was born. Please, help me protect it…