February 14.

Artwork by Glenn Loughrey

Original inhabitants but ‘dispersal’

In October, 2015, Ray Barraclough visited his home town of Clermont in Central Queensland. Hoods Lagoon, which is an attractive small lake at the end of Clermont's main street, has been enhanced with greenery and walkways, while ducks, water fowl, turtles and other natural life cavort on and in the waters.

There are several plaques along the walkway, including this one erected with the Aboriginal flag embedded in the rock mounting beside it. The inscription reads:

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The original inhabitants of the Clermont district were the Aboriginal people, the four main tribal groups in the region being the Kairis, the Wangans, the Jagalingus and the Jambinas.

The taking up of traditional lands by the early white settlers in the 1850's saw the eruption of hostilities as the Aborigines sought to protect their traditional lifestyle and food sources from invasion by the white settlers. However, as in other parts of Australia, the sheer numerical and military strength of the European settlers determined the ultimate outcome.

The struggle of the indigenous people against the white colonisation continued well into the 20th  Century, and it has been said by the old Aborigines that the 1916 Flood, which destroyed the original town of Clermont situated on the northern side of Hoods Lagoon, was 'sung' by an old Aborigine, “Happy Jonny”, in retaliation for the harsh treatment meted out to the Aborigines by the white man. Happy Jonny, and a group of Aboriginal men, women and children, were walked, with chains around their necks, from Batheaston, near St Lawrence, to Clermont. At Clermont, the men were chained to the gum trees on the banks  of this Lagoon where Happy Jonny sang three songs, one each day, and each more severe and frightening than the first, culminating in the great flood.

The art work is a recognition of the historical association of the Aboriginal people with the Clermont area, and seeks to promote a greater acceptance and understanding of Aboriginal culture and way of life, and a bridging of the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal society.

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The euphemism for killings at Clermont.

Some lines in the Clermont column of the Brisbane Courier in late 1864 stated that: the blacks have been lately menacing the Native Police barracks in the Belyando', but pursued by Sub Inspector Thomas Coward and his troopers they were 'dispersed in the usual and approved manner'...*

* For fuller reference to the terms “disperse/dispersal” see entries for 17 February, 9 May, 15 May and 16 May.

Acknowledgment: Ørsted-Jensen, Frontier History Revisited, p.36.