Sharing Stories

“There was strong community spirit on the island when I was growing up”. Aunty Sandra Bolt 2007

The refuges Aboriginal people found in places like Cabbage Tree Island in the late 1800s have in turn become places of great importance and value to their cultural identity.

The many memories Aboriginal people value about this place and its surrounds (including the nearby beach areas at Boundary Creek) are reflected in the stories and recollections they pass on to their children today.

This same process of storytelling is also how the Aboriginal community shares parts of its cultural heritage with non-indigenous people.

“The river supplied us with food. As young kids we had our ways of collecting a feed so we would never go hungry. We used to haul for prawns with two people holding a hessian bag or an old sheet at each end and we’d walk around in the water near the mangrove edge where the prawns used to be. When we’d get a few prawns in the bag, there was a third person behind us who would pick up the prawns and put them in the tin. “We’d do this until the tin was full and then we’d take the prawns home and cook them up in salt water. We’d catch mud crabs in homemade traps too.” Aunty Sandra Bolt 2007