Brisbane's colonial history will be remembered on Saturday, June 16, when Aboriginal Elders and reconciliation supporters come together for the Boundary to Boundary Street Walk.
Saturday, 16 June 2018
1pm (registration), 2pm start
Meeting at: St James College, 201 Boundary Street, Spring Hill
This free annual event recognises the boundaries of exclusion from the settlement of Brisbane that were enforced on Indigenous people at twilight during the 19th century.
Reconciliation Queensland's Aunty Heather Castledine said everyone was invited to join the walk from Boundary Street, Spring Hill to Boundary Street, West End.
"Don't keep history a mystery was the theme for National Reconciliation Week and this year we encourage Brisbane residents to take the opportunity to discover more about their city's past," Aunty Heather said.
"Local Elders will join us on the walk and will recount stories handed down from generation to generation," she said.
Walkers will assemble at St James College, Spring Hill at 1:00pm to register in preparation for a 2:00pm start.
The police-escorted walk will proceed through the city centre to Reddacliff Place and then across Victoria Bridge towards Melbourne Street and down to Thomas street, crossing Boundary Street in South Brisbane.
There will be a sausage sizzle at end when the walkers arrive at Bunyapa Park, West End.
The Boundary Streets used to define the outer city limits and, although Aboriginal people were allowed to enter the city during the day, they had to exit it by 4:00pm Monday to Saturday, and were barred entry entirely on Sundays.
According to historian Dr Ros Kidd, in his report Aboriginal History at the Princess Alexandra Hospital Site, a traveller of the time recounted how ‘the mounted troopers used to ride about cracking stock whips to notify the Aboriginals to get out’.
The exclusion zone was described in detail in the New South Wales Gazette, dated 5 May 1846, as follows:
'Commencing on the Brisbane River at the mouth of a small gully opposite Kangaroo Point, and bounded on the north by a line bearing west 91 chains 50 links; on the west by a line being 40 chains west from the centre of the Windmill, bearing south 45 chains 70 links to the Brisbane River, prolonged across that river, and thence south 60 chains; on the south by a line bearing east 140 chains; on the east by a line bearing north 49 chains 10 links to the Brisbane River, by that rivers upwards to the termination of the road running through Kangaroo Point, and thence by a straight line across the Brisbane River to the point of commencement.'
See Facebook for more details and photos from last year’s walk: https://www.facebook.com/events/1282271028576432/