Language groups and
homelands
There are 7
recognisable language groups, namely the Ayapathu,
Kaanju (Northern and Southern), Olkala, Umpila, Lamalama and Wik-Mungkan.
The traditional lands or Homelands
of these groups extend for a roughly 100 km radius around Coen. Today
there are Outstations or settlements on these Homelands named
Glengarland (South), Stoney Creek, Blue Mountain and Chuula (North),
Puntimu, Silver
Plains, Yintjintgga
(Mojeeba and Thethinji) to the East, and Meripah to the
west. See Chuulangun
for an example of Homeland development.
After the "Frontier War"
Displaced by miners and graziers, most of the inland native people
adapted by moving onto cattle stations or around mining camps to find
work and survive. (Those in coastal areas mostly moved onto Missions).
In fact, Aboriginal labour became the low-paid backbone of the pastoral
industry, men (and some women) working as stockmen, and women mainly at
domestic tasks. But it meant that they could remain on or near their
land as well as meet with other "mobs" on cattle runs. And the men were
proud of their skills. This
continued until the late 1960's when moves towards Equal Pay made it
uneconomical to employ them as well as feed their families. Queensland
resisted enacting Equal Pay legislation until 1986 although it made it
illegal to pay less than award wages in 1975. See "Stolen
Wages".
The Welfare trap
So the families then began to move to town, where they lived on the
Reserve as they were required to do until the restriction was lifted in
1971. Many of the men remained at work on the land, but family
connections and self-esteem suffered. Initially "Welfare" was limited
to below-award
wages for work done,
disbursed at the discretion of the Police or Reserve Managers
("Protectors") as cash or ration vouchers. Access to alcohol was
restricted or prohibited. But when in 1972 they were given control of
their own money (initially simply allowed to see their bank books) and
were able to buy alcohol, well-meaning activists encouraged them to
assert their rights, and the roots of the alcohol problem were sown.
Idleness, "sit-down money", and the inability to use alcohol wisely
have led to worsening self-esteem, community violence, and ill-health
or early death for many. But not all indigenous people have a problem
with alcohol; in fact the proportion indulging in "risky drinking" is
estimated to be the same or less than in non-indigenous people (Australian
Bureau of Statistics, 2002).
The way forward
These are complex problems and solutions are not clearly apparent.
Among many programs initiated by State and Federal governments and
other agencies, the Coen Regional Aboriginal Corporation (CRAC)
sustains a number of Enterprises
for community development. Read more on development here.
