The history of Musgrave Park

By Anthony Brown BRISBANE — Musgrave Park has long been important to the city's indigenous people. It is a part of Kurilpa or "place of the water rats" which include West End, South Brisbane and Highgate Hill which form a triangle on this bend of the Brisbane river. Before European settlement, this land belonged to the Kalperum-jaggin people. The Moreton Bay and regional communities recognised the entire Brisbane valley as a communal area, but they all came to Kurilpa for its wealth of game and wild fruits. The Europeans cleared Kurilpa, first for its timber, and later to plant maize and build houses. By 1842, much of South Brisbane was built up, with the exception of a few pockets. By the 1870s the European settlers created Musgrave Park out of a former recreation reserve. They also destroyed the region's Bora Rings — the Aboriginal equivalent of a church. Sarath Matara-Arachchi believes Aborigines established a makeshift Bora Ring in Musgrave Park and it is for this reason many Aboriginal people frequent the park. Between the 1870s and 1890s, South Brisbane's Aboriginal community declined. Some remained to work as servants, and in their time off, would meet in Musgrave Park. In 1897, a law was passed banning all Aborigines from the area except those contracted as servants and orphans. The police evicted many Aboriginal families still living in the region and, according to historian Ray Kerkhove, a number of people were killed. In 1911 even harsher laws restricting Aboriginal people were passed. By the 1930s, Musgrave Park was used by 11 different sporting clubs, and was a common venue for Sunday strolls and police bands. During the Depression and World War II, the restrictions on Aboriginal people weakened, and many migrated back to the city from reserves and outlying towns. By the 1950s, some hotels and their nearby parks became regular social venues for Aboriginal people. Many were still tied to the 1897 work contract system which restricted their freedom of movement. From 1960 to 1985, as they won more democratic rights, Aboriginal people returned to South Brisbane. The late 1960s exodus to the city intensified the accommodation and employment problems Aboriginal people had. A number of Aboriginal organisations formed in the late 1970s to provide child care, legal aid, medical care and employment and social welfare. These included the One People of Australia League, one of the first Aboriginal organisations in Australia, and the Born Free Club and Hostel in Highgate Hill which provided shelter and care for alcoholic and homeless Aborigines and whites. By the early 1980s, Brisbane's largest indigenous population lived in the inner city. Musgrave Park was increasingly used by people who had just left the reserves, or who had been released from prison as a first stop before settling in the city. It became an "information centre" where a newcomer could learn the whereabouts of any Aboriginal friend or relative in the city. Kerkhove in his West End to Woolloongabba — the Aboriginal and Early European History of a District, said that as "large numbers of homeless and alcoholic Aborigines were also drawn there, the various newly established Aboriginal organisations became deeply involved with the park, providing the 'park people' with essential services, often against considerable opposition from the local and State governments." During the Commonwealth Games land rights protest in 1982, hundreds of Aboriginal people occupied the park. Senator Neville Bonner claimed the area on behalf of the Aboriginal people of Australia. In 1984 then Premier Bjelke-Petersen ordered the eviction of Aborigines from the park following complaints by local residents. In 1985 the Musgrave Park Aboriginal Corporation (NVAC) was formed and immediately began campaigning for a cultural centre.