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Australian History

AUSTRALIAN HISTORY: Manufacturing Icon Furphy Marks 150-year Milestone in Shepparton Victoria

An old black and white picture of the front the the Furphy Foundry in Shepparton
Furphy is celebrating 150 years of manufacturing in Shepparton, Victoria.(Supplied: Adam Furphy)none

AceHistoryDesk – Part of the Australian vernacular, the word “furphy” describes a story that may be untrue or an embellishment: Its origins date back to World War I, when troops in military camps would gather, swapping tales, around water carts manufactured by the company Furphy.

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Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Nov.27: 2023: ABC History News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

An old black and white picture of the front the the Furphy Foundry in Shepparton
Furphy is celebrating 150 years of manufacturing in Shepparton, Victoria.(Supplied: Adam Furphy)none

An inventor is born

This weekend, collectors, enthusiasts and community members alike will gather to celebrate Furphy’s 150-year anniversary of operating in Victoria’s Shepparton region.

Born at Moonee Ponds in 1842 to Irish Immigrants, John Furphy had little formal education and first began business as a blacksmith in 1864.

Originally setting up operations in Kyneton, Furphy moved his business to Shepparton in 1873, after hearing good reports of the area from a family member farming in Kialla.

Furphy went on to invent and produce a horse-drawn water cart with cast-iron ends, which was used for many things, including carting water for troops in the military camps prior to being transported to the Middle East and Europe in WWI.

The water carts have become highly collectable with one selling for more than $60,000 last year.

Soldiers milling around a Furphy water cart.
Soldiers would gather around the Furphy cart to share gossip.(Supplied: State Library of NSW)

Family business

The long partnership between the Shepparton region and the Furphy name still survives today, with fifth-generation descendants of John’s — Sam and Adam Furphy — running J Furphy and Sons and Furphy Foundry respectively.

Managing director of J Furphy and Sons Adam Furphy said the 150th anniversary was an exciting milestone.

“There is a lot of people internally in the organisation that are proud to work for a company that has been around for that long,” Mr Furphy said.

“It’s part of Shepparton’s DNA.”

Mr Furphy said he tried to not think too much about the legacy and history behind his family name.

A picture of a man standing outside in a suit next to a picture of a man in high vis standing in a factory .
Adam and Sam Furphy are fifth-generation descendants of John Furphy. (Supplied: Adam Furphy)

It is pretty unique, and I think speaking on behalf of my cousin Sam and I who are both running the businesses that old John kicked off all those years ago, our primary focus is on today and tomorrow, not so much looking back,” he said.

“It is a wonderful legacy and we are very proud of it and I think both of us think our job is just to try and do something that is worthy of what John started.

“John was a pretty interesting guy, I think he was ahead of his time.”

A collector’s item

The celebrations are being held at Shepparton’s Museum of Vehicle Evolution, which houses the Furphy Museum.

The museum’s curator Josh Powell said he hoped to put on a display of interesting and not often seen water carts from collectors around the country.

A wooden entrance to a museum exhibit withthe words "Furphy's Foundry".
The Furphy legacy is told at Shepparton’s Museum of Vehicle Evolution (MOVE).(ABC Shepparton: Georgina Carroll)

“ There are a lot of collectors out there, a lot that are very passionate about Furphy products,” Mr Powell said.

One of the collectors attending the festivities is Matthew McQualter from Shepparton, who has roughly 20 Furphy water carts from the 1920 and 30s, up to the 1970s.

Some of Mr McQualter’s earliest memories can be connected to a water cart set up as a sprayer on his family farm.

“I remember the jingle on the end, ‘Good, better, best, never let it rest, too good is better and the better best’.

“I can remember working out the words and reading that, around the time I was learning to read.”

a man in a blue checked shirt standing next to a re barrelled water tank.
Matthew McQualter with a Furphy water tank that he rebarrelled.(Supplied: Matthew McQualter)

‘Remarkable’ legacy

When Mr McQualter was 12 and on a family holiday to Western Australia, he spotted a water cart at a rally.

“I didn’t know the connection to Shepparton, we were on the other side of the country but I just liked them,” Mr McQualter said.

“I got intrigued by them, and turns out we had one back at the farm out under a tree, so when we got home I insisted we get it home and fix it up.

“My grandfather had experience in rebarreling one, we got it fixed up and took it to Shepparton for Furphy’s 125th birthday.

“That event really opened up to me how many different ones there were.”

From then on it became Mr McQualter’s mission to collect as many water carts as he could.

“The more you learn about them, the more intriguing it gets,” Mr McQualter said.

“Plenty of businesses come and go, there are not too many that stand the test of time for 150 years and to be in a regional area like Shepparton is pretty remarkable.”

Mr Powell said Furphy had made many different products over the years that were showcased in the museum.

a black and white photo of a horse towing about 7 furphy water cants behind it
The horse-drawn water cart invented by Furphy.(Supplied: Adam Furphy)

“ Most of the things in the Furphy museum are the Furphy family’s collection, we do have a few things on loan from time to time,” Mr Powell said.

“It is good that they have a significant interest in their own history.”

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An old black and white picture of the front the the Furphy Foundry in Shepparton
Furphy is celebrating 150 years of manufacturing in Shepparton, Victoria.(Supplied: Adam Furphy)none
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Australian History

AUSTRALIAN HISTORY: Mount Burr Primary School discovers ABC film buried for 50 years in a time capsule and a surprise link to our news reporter

Man sitting at old film machine with film laced up on reels. He is gesturing towards film in mid-conversation.
Jon Steiner watching the old film on the Steenbeck machine.(ABC News)

AceHistoryDesk – Whitlam was in the Lodge, flares were in fashion, man had walked on the moon, and in the South Australian regional town of Mount Burr, children were walking into open space

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Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Nov.27: 2023: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

It was 1973 and that space was a prototype of what was still a fairly new concept — the “open area school”.

Black and white photo of children sitting at desks in a large, open classroom.
ABC News documented the opening of the school which pioneered open plan design.(ABC Archives)

There was so much excitement around the opening of the new school, the ABC sent a film crew to the tiny timber town to document the moment.

After that it was long forgotten, but the opening of a 50-year-old time capsule buried on school grounds has revealed a snapshot of life in 1970s regional Australia.

The time capsule, the teacher and the reporter — a surprise connection

When the time capsule was dug up, the film came as a surprise, but it had an ABC label so the school sent it to the broadcaster’s Sydney offices and asked if it could be digitised for them to view.

Its arrival sparked interest and, as a journalist based in South Australia, I was asked if I could take a look at it and turn it into a story.

As soon as I heard about the film, I had one main thought — I wonder if my mum is in it?

By pure coincidence, my mum, Ann MacLennan, had worked at the Mount Burr Primary School in the early 1970s.

Once it was processed and entered into the ABC’s digital archive there my mum was — almost a decade before I was born — a young teacher standing in the back row of a school assembly.

Black and white photo of children sitting on floor and two teachers standing at the back watching, some children stand also.
The old film captured Leah MacLennan’s mum, Ann, (in a black top) and her friend, Bettina Richie, (next to her) standing at the back of the assembly.(ABC Archives)

Teaching at Mount Burr was mum’s first job straight out of college, part of a program that sent newly-trained teachers to regional areas.

“I had never heard of Mount Burr and it was a big adjustment for a city girl,” she says.

Despite being in the vision, mum couldn’t recall being filmed — the memory was lost in the blur of dignitaries frequently visiting the school.

“Because it was such a new concept, we had visits from many politicians, principals and teachers wanting to observe how the idea of open space teaching worked in practice,” she says.

“It was certainly an exciting start to my teaching career.”

Mum wasn’t the only person I recognised in the vision.

Standing next to her was another long-haired young teacher, Bettina Ritchie, mum’s lifelong friend.

Ms Ritchie says she has many fond memories of her time in Mount Burr.

“The staff was wonderful, everyone got on well and they had a good sense of humour,” she recalls.

“I met many great parents and children and the school council was really good too.

“We had a staff barbecue one night and we finished off with all of us dancing to Credence Clearwater Revival.”

Group of men women, a child and a baby standing together for a family photo.
ABC journalist Leah MacLennan (second from left) and her mum, Ann, (far right) with the rest of the family.(Supplied: Leah MacLennan)

Mum and Ms Ritchie both travelled to Mount Burr for the opening of the time capsule, but said they didn’t remember where it was or what was in it.

“The capsule contained a lot of printed information about the forestry industry and how important it was for the area,” Ms Ritchie says.

“But there were no writings by teachers or students and no children’s artworks which surprised us.

“I would definitely be adding them if I was burying it today.”

Surviving five decades underground

ABC archivist Jon Steiner was the first to see what was on the film, lacing it up on an old Steenbeck film machine and transferring it into the ABC’s digital archive.

Man sitting at old film machine with film laced up on reels. He is gesturing towards film in mid-conversation.
Jon Steiner watching the old film on the Steenbeck machine.(ABC News)

Running just over a minute in duration, the silent, black and white film appears to have been recorded to mark the opening of the school and shows children in the playground and inside the new open-plan classrooms and a local MP, Des Corcoran, speaking to students.

“The film is in pretty amazingly good condition which I think is a testament to the robustness of film as a format because I don’t think a video tape or a digital file would have lasted 50 years underground in South Australia,” Mr Steiner says.

Jon Steiner standing on a ladder looking at a can of film in between shelves packed full of cans.
The ABC has a vast film collection that is being digitised to preserve it.(ABC News: Nathaniel Harding)

Steiner and his colleagues are in a process of transferring the ABC’s video and film records to a digital database, preserving and making them more accessible to staff across the country.

“For me it’s always that connection,” he says.

“You look at archival vision and think this is a different world but then you realise those are actually people and they are still around and it isn’t just some abstract history.

“It’s a crucial role because the ABC has been there to document all of these very significant events in the nation’s history both culturally, artistically, politically, socially and the ABC’s been there recording it.”

The more things change…

In the 50 years since it opened, the school has added a few partitions, but it still largely adheres to its original open air philosophy.Mount Burr Primary School today.

Exterior, aerial view of a school building surrounded by green grass.
The town is located in south-east South Australia, about 400 kilometres from Adelaide. (ABC News)

Current principal Anne-Marie Fitzgerald says it works for their small school.

“Certainly there are not doors that close anywhere and fortunately we’ve always had staff who are happy to work together in those spaces and we have a lot of collaboration between staff,” she says.

Group of children sitting on the floor with paper in front of them, adults sitting at back watch on.
“There’s never any yelling.”Staff and students at Mount Burr Primary were intrigued to know what was on the ABC film.(ABC News)

And while smart boards have replaced chalk boards, Ms Fitzgerald says what students care about the most hasn’t changed much.

“When we ask the children what they like about the school, they talk about they like the teachers,” she says.

“A lot about relationships which is probably no different to what it was 50 years ago.”

While mum and Bettina spent a few years at Mount Burr before moving on, former teacher Julia Whennen has a lifelong connection to the school and says things have changed for the better.

“I think the school’s a much happier place now,” she says.

“It’s a beautiful school, smaller numbers in classes, more variety in the curriculum definitely probably due to technology these days.

Woman sitting between two girls in green school uniforms at small desk in a classroom.
There’s just no comparison.”Julia Whennen still volunteers at the school.(ABC News)

Ms Whennen was a teacher at Mount Burr when the time capsule was buried, and still volunteers there now.

“I didn’t think I’d [still] be here when I was younger,” she says.

“I thought I would be here on a walking stick.

“I’m privileged to work right across the school now when I come and this school’s amazing.

“It’s my whole life, it always will be, this school and the people of Mount Burr and the children.”

Ms Whennen said she’d been looking forward to seeing the film.

“I loved it, absolutely loved it,” she says.

“It brought back many memories.

“Probably some I didn’t like, like the milk delivery and kids having to drink this revolting milk, things like that.”

Black and white image of shoes on a shelf.
Mount Burr Primary School discovers ABC film buried for 50 years in a time capsule and a surprise link to our news reporter – ABC News

Current Mount Burr year three student Eloise Teagle says the school has changed a lot since the film was made.

“I thought [the film] was cool and it was weird how they took their shoes off in the classroom,” she says.

“You don’t need to take your shoes off and there used to be different things in different places.”

Year two student Michael Williams says his grandfather also went to the school, and it was interesting to see what life was like when he was young.

“[It was] really different from young to old,” he says.

ABC BACKSTORY Mount Burr Primary School discovers ABC film buried for 50 years in a time capsule and a surprise link to our news reporter

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Australian History

AUSTRALIAN HISTORY: Epic 1970s raft journey from Ecuador to Ballina still holds world record

men stand around a raft and make it  lots of people watch
The rafts were assembled in about two and a half weeks.(Supplied: Ballina Naval and Maritime Museum)

AceHistoryDesk – It’s a salty tale of odyssean proportions, yet most Australians are unaware of the adventure of 12 men, three balsawood rafts, two monkeys, and a couple of cats that in 1973 became the world’s longest raft journey.

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Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Nov.20: 2023: ABC North Coast News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

Two of the Las Balsas rafts at sea with sails up, 1973.
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The trio of rafts travelled 14,000 kilometres across the Pacific Ocean from Ecuador to eventually and accidentally arrive at Ballina on Australia’s east coast.

It wasn’t the first time long-range raft travel had been tested in open seas — in 1947, the Kon-Tiki, skippered by Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl, sailed 8,000km from South America to the Polynesian Islands.

Spanish explorer Captain Vital Alsar wanted to double that journey and bolster Heyerdahl’s theory that the ancient civilisations of South America could have traversed the Pacific in such a way in the past and potentially populated its islands.

Mr Alsar attempted a trip in 1970 in a single raft, but wanted to attempt the feat with three rafts travelling in formation.Two of the Las Balsas rafts at sea, 1973.

Captain Alsar recruited a crew of 11 men from Canada, the United States, Chile, Mexico, and Ecuador. 

Original crewman Fernand Robichaud from Canada said the crew faced storms, a lack of drinking water and doldrums, but it was the monkeys — a departing gift from the locals — that were the biggest regret.

“Monkeys are too much like humans. They watch you tie ropes, but in the middle of a storm he can be trying to undo one of your ropes because he thinks he’s helping out,” Mr Robichaud says.

“So they can be incredibly annoying and dangerous, especially when I caught one trying to throw our compass overboard. We only had one compass.”

Seven-five year old Fernand Robichaud holding a boat oar
Fernand Robichaud, 75, is once again behind the oar as he returns to Ballina to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Las Balsas landing.(ABC North Coast: Elloise Farrow-Smith)

There was a lot at stake.

“We had one little two-man rubber dinghy, that’s not a life raft for 12 people,” Mr Robichaud says.

There were no life jackets onboard.

Female of the species

The balsawood rafts themselves had high buoyancy, due mostly to a little-known fact about the female balsa tree.

Ron Creber at the Ballina Maritime Museum is the custodian of the only surviving raft from the voyage.

Ron Creber is the curator of the Ballina Naval and Maritime museum standing next to one of the Las Balsas raft
Ron Creber says the balsawood was harvested under a full moon.(ABC North Coast: Elloise Farrow-Smith)

“ Most people remember balsawood from when they were young children. They made planes and built boats out of very light timber; that particular wood that we use to make those models is the sapwood,” he says.

“The tree is actually a hardwood, but it has a very large sapwood around it.

“The trees that they had to use were female trees, which they had to cut down at the full moon because the sap content then is at its highest and keeps it afloat.”

men stand around a raft and make it  lots of people watch
The rafts were assembled in about two and a half weeks.(Supplied: Ballina Naval and Maritime Museum)

The crew travelled into the Ecuadorian forest and felled the logs, floating them downriver to the local port.

There they made models before constructing the full-sized rafts.

“That was a very good idea to practice on models beforehand because they managed to build those rafts in about two and a half weeks,” Mr Creber says.

At the mercy of the current

The journey’s 50-year anniversary is being celebrated at the museum this week.

Mr Creber says sailing the boat would not have been as easy as other marine craft.

two rafts
Two of the Las Balsas rafts make their way up the Richmond River to Ballina.(Supplied: Ballina Naval and Maritime Museum)

“ They didn’t have a rudder, they had keel boards and they go through the logs. [The crew] could move them slightly up and down and they could move the sail to port and starboard to adjust their course.”

Fernand Robichaud has spent a lot of his life on the sea but said sailing on a raft was unique.

“It’s not like you can pull it in the harbour and then take off again, it’s pretty much one direction.”

The journey mostly relied on the current that sweeps across the Pacific.

Crowd gather on the shores of Richmond River looking at one of the rafts
Crowds watch as one of the Las Balsas rafts makes its way to Ballina.(Supplied: Ballina Naval and Maritime Museum/David Harrison)

The original plan was to arrive at Mooloolaba in Queensland.

After six months at sea, the crew indeed sighted their destination, but before they knew it the three rafts were picked up by a different current and were travelling south.

As the rafts travelled in the shipping line there was much discussion about where to end the journey safely.

With the help of the navy, the rafts were towed into Ballina.

Monkeys not the only hazard

Mr Robichaud believes the crew was lucky to survive the journey.

“We could have easily lost people. All the time you’re by yourself on the sail everybody else is sleeping and you just do the wrong move or you get a wave on the side you can easily get dragged overboard,” Mr Robichaud says.

The safety backup was a rope that hung off the back of the rafts.

One of the adventuring sailors taking a break on the roof of the hut on the Las Balsas raft.
One of the adventuring sailors taking a break on the roof of the hut on the Las Balsas raft.(Supplied: Ballina Naval and Maritime Museum)

“ If you don’t grab that rope when you fall overboard it’s bye-bye because there’s no way in the world you can turn the raft around and pick anybody up,” Mr Robichaud says.

Then there were storms.

“We were in the eye of a cyclone once. There were some interesting moments then,” he says.

A monkey looks at a camera as it sits under shade of a hut on a raft
The crew faced waves of more than 12 metres in height.One of the ill-fated monkeys from the 1973 Las Balsas expedition.(Supplied: Fernand Robichaud)

And the monkeys?

“Sadly, one got caught in between bins during a storm and got crushed,” Mr Robichaud says.

“The other one got an infection and we didn’t really know how to fix it.”

But the cats and the men lived to tell the tale.

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men stand around a raft and make it  lots of people watch
The rafts were assembled in about two and a half weeks.(Supplied: Ballina Naval and Maritime Museum)
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AUSTRALIAN HISTORY: Norah Head lighthouse reserve celebrates 120 year anniversary as descendants return to care for site

A lighthouse with storm clouds behind it.
The Norah Head lighthouse is an iconic structure on the Central Coast.(ABC Central Coast: Keira Proust)none

AceHistoryDesk – The descendants of lighthouse keepers who manned an iconic site on the New South Wales Central Coast in the 1900s have returned to celebrate its 120-year anniversary.

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Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Nov.15: 2023: ABC Australian History News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

A lighthouse with storm clouds behind it.
The Norah Head lighthouse is an iconic structure on the Central Coast.(ABC Central Coast: Keira Proust)none

Local resident Matt Smith, who grew up hearing grand tales about life on the iconic Norah Head lighthouse reserve, is one of those descendants.

His father, grandfather and great-grandfather all manned the lighthouse at various points in the last century.

Two people standing in front of a lighthouse.
Jacki Lamphee and Matt Smith are both descendants of lighthouse keepers at Norah Head.(ABC Central Coast: Keira Proust)

Now, he and other locals hope they can also play a role in caring for the site.

“While we’re not manning the lighthouse or tending to it, we’re hopeful we can preserve this,” he says.

“And help in any way possible to make sure it’s here for everyone because it’s such an iconic location.”

Mr Smith is part of a newly formed group that hopes to protect the the lighthouse and the surrounding reserve.

Norah Head Reserve Community Liaison Group chair Ian Rhodes said the reserve was an important mainstay for the community today.

“I feel like it’s an anchor and a point of reference,” he says.

A photo of the top of a lighthouse during a storm.
“It’s something everyone holds to.”Norah Head lighthouse first opened on November 15, 1903.(ABC Central Coast: Keira Proust)

Celebrating 120 years

The lighthouse turned 120 years old on Wednesday.

In the late 1800s, well-known Noraville resident Edward Hargraves pushed for it to be built after he witnessed several shipwrecks off the coast.

Construction began in 1901 and cost about £24,000 to complete.

It was first opened and illuminated on November 15, 1903.

Since that time, it has helped protect ships travelling with vital cargo and passengers off the coast.

A family having tea at a lighthouse keeper cottage in the 1930s
People having tea in the Norah Head lighthouse keeper’s cottage in the 1930s.(Supplied: State Library of New South Wales)

Mr Rhodes says a lot of ships were lost at sea off Norah Head before the lighthouse opened.

He says it was the last one to be built along a dangerous part of the state’s coastline.

“All the other sites that were a danger to ships up and down the coast were built well before Norah Head,” he says.

A man looking out from a brick room.
“This was the very last one that went in.”Ian Rhodes says the community liaison group will help preserve the reserve for tourists and locals.(ABC Central Coast: Keira Proust)

A lonely but ‘idyllic’ existence

People who lived in lighthouses during the 1900s said the lifestyle was often isolated and exhilarating.

Jacki Lamphee spent her early childhood living in lighthouses across NSW, including the Norah Head lighthouse.

She too is part of the new community group caring for the site.

“I do remember it as idyllic,” she says.

“I just remember every afternoon we were on the beach exploring.”

An old photograph of a woman hanging out washing near a lighthouse.
Many families lived at the Norah Head lighthouse site during the 1900s.(Supplied: State Library of New South Wales)

She says her dad had to find another job once the systems were automated in the late 1900s.

“When we first started there were lots of lighthouse keepers and a relief lighthouse keeper, so a couple of families living in each place,” she says.

“And then over time because it became more automated all the families and men weren’t needed, so they started going to new careers.”

Mr Smith said it was important that the history of these places was remembered.

“The [lighthouse keepers] were providing an essential service — people’s lives were in these guys’ hands,” he says.

“If they did their job properly people survived [but] if they did their jobs poorly people would die.”

These days the lighthouse and reserve, now managed by Reflections Holiday Parks, is a popular wedding venue and lookout for whale watching.

Reflections says it will work with the Norah Head Reserve Community Liaison Group and a passionate group of volunteers to care for and preserve the historic site.

The group will celebrate the lighthouse’s 120th birthday this Saturday.

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AUSTRALIAN HISTORY: Beowa National Park name change to remove reference to slaver Ben Boyd part of ‘truth telling’, elder says

A tall stone tower on a cliff, surrounded by shrubs.
The ceremony was held near Boyd Tower.(ABC South East: Chris Sheedy)

AceHistoryDesk – After years of lobbying the state government, traditional custodians have gathered to celebrate the removal of the name of Scottish slave trader Ben Boyd from a national park on the NSW far-south coast.

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Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: Nov.12: 2023: ABC South East NSW News: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/+PuI36tlDsM7GpOJe

On Saturday, Thaua and South Sea Islander elders joined together to officially mark the changing of the park’s name to Beowa National Park, in honour of the orca, or killer whale.

The animal has strong links to the Thaua people, who believed when a person died they were reincarnated as an orca.

While the park’s name and signage was changed this time last year, Saturday’s ceremony was an important moment for traditional owners, and for the relatives of South Sea Islander people who were brought to Australia as slaves in the 1800s.

In 2021, 50 years after Ben Boyd National Park was created, then Liberal environment minister Matt Kean agreed to change the park’s name, after historian Mark Dunn proved Boyd had been involved in creating an Australian slave trade.

A tall stone tower on a cliff, surrounded by shrubs.
The ceremony was held near Boyd Tower.(ABC South East: Chris Sheedy)

In 1847, Boyd brought 65 men from Lifou Island in modern day New Caledonia to work on his properties near Eden.

They either died, vanished, or escaped to Sydney in an attempt to get home, which lead the British colonial government of NSW to ban the practice.

“It is clear from the expert historical analysis, that Ben Boyd’s association with ‘blackbirding’ should not be reflected or celebrated in any way in our national parks,” Mr Kean said, at the time.

An Indigenous man wearing sun glasses and a hat speaks at a mircophone.
Uncle Steven Holmes speaks to the crowd at the newly re-named Beowa National Park.(ABC South East NSW: Chris Sheedy)

Truth-telling about Australia

Thaua Elder Uncle Steven Holmes said Saturday’s ceremony was part of a process of truth-telling about Australia’s history.

“The islanders thought when they came here they would be coming to a land of freedom, but they were put straight in chains and shackles,” Mr Holmes said.

“My ancestors suffered the same fate, and many of them, and also islanders are buried here.”

The ceremony took place at the site of Boyd’s Tower, a five-storey sandstone tower built by Boyd in 1846, marking the entrance to his vast, commercial empire.

Mr Holmes said the area also held a sacred burial site, where his ancestor Budginbro, who personally knew Boyd, and his son Oswald Brierly were buried.

An Indigenous man in traditional dress and white body paint, with a group of children also in traditional dress.
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“ If we build a memorial it will only get vandalised, so we’ll leave them in an unmarked grave where they can rest,” he said.

“Racism is still here, and this name change will help explain our culture and the suffering of our ancestors.”

He said while he had hoped the park would be named Thaua National Park, he was working with the state government on further name changes of locations along the coastline.

waskim pic
Waskam Emelda Davis speaks to the crowd of onlookers on Saturday.(ABC South East NSW: Chris Sheedy)

Family members stolen from their homes

Chairwoman of the Australian South Sea Islanders, Port Jackson group and Sydney City councillor Waskam Emelda Davis told the crowd about her personal connection with blackbirding.

“My grandfather was 12-years-old when he was stolen from the island of Vanuatu, and my great-great grandmother was 14 when she was stolen,” she said.

“We’re still unpacking that history, and there’s alot to grapple with and understand.

“It all started with Ben Boyd, illegally, who brought our people to Eden to slave alongside our First Nations families and Maori mob, who were also part of the atrocities.”

Eden Local Aboriginal Lands Council chairperson BJ Cruse, who has held the position for the last 39 years, said the name change was part of protecting heritage.

A crowd shot of people watching the ceremony, with dignitaries at the front.
Waskam Emelda Davis, with BJ Cruse and his father Pastor Uncle Ossie Cruse.(ABC South East NSW: Chris Sheedy)

“ I didn’t see that it was fitting for such a devious, cruel, disrespectful and insensitive person like Ben Boyd [to] have the honour of having such a beautiful part of Mother Earth named after him,” Mr Cruse said.

The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service’s South Coast branch director, Kane Weeks, described the day as “significant”.

“It’s a very emotional day,” he said.

“We are telling the story of Benjamin Boyd and what he did to Aboriginal and South Sea Islander people.”

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A tall stone tower on a cliff, surrounded by shrubs.
The ceremony was held near Boyd Tower.(ABC South East: Chris Sheedy)
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