Shining a light on Bourke’s fringe camps

Halo, Lakara and Indi stand in front of a recreated humpy, representing the homes once found in Bourke’s historic camps. Their great-grandparents grew up in the historic Pound Yard Camp, which was recognised during the ceremony. Photo: Beverley Callow

Story by Tricia Duffield

One of the most moving ceremonies during NAIDOC week in Bourke was the unveiling of the signs recognising the sites known as the ‘fringe camps’ – the makeshift camps where many of Bourke’s Aboriginal people spent their childhoods.

The ceremony highlighted the story of a bittersweet chapter in Bourke’s history but was also an opportunity for truth-telling by those who lived in the camps and endured hardship, segregation and racism.

Maureen ‘Noddy’ Mackay has been one of the driving forces behind the project to have permanent signage on the sites – the Billabong, Sandhills and Railway camps, but said the project was not just about official recognition, but giving voice to what has been a largely unspoken story.

“These camps were a significant part of Bourke’s history that until recently was invisible to anyone who hadn’t lived in them or had memories of them,” Maureen said.

“On the outskirts of this town, like every town, there were always the rubbish tips, the sewerage works —  and the Aboriginal camps.

“These camps existed in the dreadful welfare era, when Aboriginal people were under the control of the government. It was called the Aboriginal Protection Board, but it was actually control about where we lived. Aboriginal people were controlled by welfare, by police authorities, there was heavy surveillance.

“If a kid missed school, the welfare people would come looking for the parents and would call it neglect, and it was an extension of the Stolen Generation. […]

Read more local news in the printed edition of The Western Herald.

To subscribe call (02) 6872 2333 today and receive The Western Herald in your letterbox next week or purchase and download a digital edition here.