WARNING: Distressing content.
Queensland’s South Sea Islander community is demanding action following revelations that the remains of hundreds of missing South Sea Islanders could be buried at Mackay Hospital.
Recently uncovered letters suggest that potentially 1,000 bodies could be located at the site of the hospital’s new ward development.
Queensland United Australian South Sea Islander Council (QUASSIC) president Clacy Fatnowna, says the revelations have been extremely upsetting for the community.
“The whole thing has ramped up emotionally and I don’t think the government has any inkling because we largely sit quietly with regards to engaging, but lines have got to be drawn in the sand now,” he said.
“Give us back what is ours.”
Correspondence reveals dark history
The letters show 19th-century correspondence between Mackay Hospital’s head surgeon and Queensland Museum curator Charles de Vis.
Sent in 1884, the surgeon asked the museum to age the remains, stating the hospital had 19 specimens deteriorating in various stages underground.
The hospital also appeared to be providing other remains to the museum and indicated that they were burying corpses on hospital grounds.
Fatnowna says that understanding where the remains are and what has happened to them is a priority for the community.
He says the next step should be ground-penetrating radar to determine if they are at the construction site, where there are plans to break ground this month.
However if the remains are not detected there, Fatnowna says that poses more questions on the fate of the remains.
“If we do that radar scanning of the Mackay hospital precinct, and there are no remains, there were 1,000 deaths in that hospital over that five year period. We just don’t know where they are.”
“There’s no cemetery, no area of cemeteries with Kanakas buried in it.
“Were the rest of them cut up and sold into the museum or private collection market?”
A healing process needs to start
Mackay hospital built four separate wards from the main hospital to treat South Sea Islanders due to the high death rate on the fields.
Historians and the South Sea Islander community say no one knows for sure what happened to the remains.
While these questions need to be answered, Fatnowna says the community needs action so they can reconcile and heal from what’s occurred.
“There’s some pretty nasty stuff hidden in the research,” he said.
“This is going be a truth-telling exercise similar to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
“It’s something that we’ve just learned. It’s a new story and we need assistance in processing it.”
Fatnowna says mental health services need to be a part of this healing process.
“We need support during this process, pastoral care that’s done in a culturally appropriate way. Can someone come and talk to elders, talk to our kids?.”
By Jonah Johnson of NITV