04/06/2026
This week is Reconciliation Week, and a large part of the week is about celebrating our First Nations community, the Indigenous culture and working towards equality and a unified future.
But a big part of reconciliation is, also, community truth telling, the acknowledgment of historical injustices and sharing ALL the stories of our Indigenous Australians.
It’s uncomfortable to admit that our forebears often acted with no respect or humanity towards others, purely because of race, but it is necessary to acknowledge the injustices experienced and not let them be forgotten, so that we can continue to act better, and so that healing and unity can be achieved.
Sadly, the stories of the Indigenous population are not so diffuse among the newspapers, and when stories do appear they usually include terms and descriptors that are not acceptable today.
But there are stories there.
One which I think we should all keep in our memories into the future, as we are approaching the 140th year since the railway line was opened to Barcaldine and it officially became a township, is one that I have been able to find very little documentation of, but is as much a part of the early history of our community as any other.
It is that, very shortly before, or possibly even the same day, the first trains started running to Barcaldine - on the 8th November 1886 - a young Aboriginal lad had an altercation with a navvy from the railway team, whilst under the influence of alcohol, and it tragically ended in his death when the navvy’s mates joined in on the fracas.
Aside from the mention that “three constables have since the occurrence been located there”, I have not come across any evidence of an inquiry or ramifications for the navvies, nor have I been able to identify a death or burial record.
There are no names, there is no way to know if he was returned to his community for burial. At that time, there was no surveyed cemetery, but even so, Indigenous Australians often weren’t buried within the cemetery.
Nonetheless, the story is important.
The history is significant.
The inequality and injustice poignant.
📰 sourced from Trove;
The Australian
6 November 1886, pg 13 (noted railway to Lagoon Creek would be opened 8th November).
The Morning Bulletin
9 November 1886, pg 5 “Aramac”
16 November 1886, pg 5 “Aramac”
The Capricornian
13 November 1886, pg 4 “Aramac”
20 November 1886, pg 23 “Aramac”
The Telegraph (Brisbane)
20 November 1886, pg 3
(It was the same two pieces of correspondence from the Aramac correspondent of The Morning Bulletin, copied; but these are the only instances I have found, so far. Articles were regularly copied in various papers throughout Australia.)
There was no mention of it in the local paper, The Western Champion - that survived at least. The November 16th edition has only partially survived, but all the other editions throughout November seem to be fully intact.
