Kubara: a Kuku-Yalanji view of the Chinese in north Queensland

Abstract

The recollections of a Kuku-Yalanji Aborigine Norman Mitchell on the relations of his people with the Chinese in north Queensland after the Palmer River gold rush around 1900 are presented. Called Kubara, the Chinese soon controlled the trade and economy of the region. The period after 1900 is not well documented in the historical literature of this region of Cape York Peninsula and information concerning Aborigines is scanty. In the early part of this century people of three very different cultures, Aboriginal, Chinese and European, struggled to come to terms with each other around Maytown and the small towns south of there, where the three populations were often fairly evenly balanced in size. Relations between Aborigines and Chinese are of particular interest, as the Chinese were the only sizeable group of non-Europeans that inland Kuku-Yalanji had ever met. Apart from observing their habits and way of life, Aborigines were undoubtedly interested to see that another group of people suffered similar discrimination from Europeans.