I began with the idea that I would write a complete history of marine incidents in Queensland waters and adjacent islands which involved indigenous elements. When first looked at, this seemed straightforward enough. After all, everyone is now writing about Aboriginals and their connection with this or that. It’s the hip thing to do. So, linking Aboriginals to marine incidents in Queensland waters would be just another doddle. Noel Loos looked at something similar way back in the 1970s. The further I researched the issue the greater the complexity of the matter became.
Generally speaking, if one looks at Australian colonial history from a race perspective one could pose the following question:
Compare and contrast the treatment of Aboriginals and Chinese in each of the colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and West Australia.
This would be a valid exercise as each colony began with an indigenous population and most colonies were overrun by the Chinese pre-federation. However, when the colony of Queensland is examined, it might be noted that Queensland not only dealt with Aboriginals and Chinese on the mainland of the colony but also imported Pacific Islanders on work permits; expanded its colonial borders to include another aboriginal group called Torres Strait Islanders, and further still annexed part of an adjacent country, ultimately known as British New Guinea and involved itself in the administration of this group of people. As a consequence, the work became far too extensive to try and reduce to a book of even 500 pages.
Consequently, I divided the project into three areas of study: mainland indigenous natives and Torres Strait islanders, Papuans, and Pacific Islanders.[1] The research involving the first group produced an extensive range of data that revealed 95 marine incidents involving Australian and Torres Strait indigenous elements.
When this data was collected, sorted, classified, and the case studies written up together with the narrative and the conclusions, the study produced a manuscript of 103,600 words. This document was privately published for a limited academic audience, Bêche-de-mer and the Binghis.
The second area of study, marine incidents in Queensland waters and adjacent islands involving Papuan elements, again produced an impressive collection of data which when refined and analysed resulted in an equally extensive manuscript of 115,000 words, which has also been published under the title of Dispela Kantri Bilong Mi, Nau! Queensland Annexes New Guinea.
The third area of study, marine incidents in Queensland waters and adjacent islands involving Pacific Islander elements, is still under study.
The following pages of this book represent an abridged and revised edition of the original manuscript without the inclusion of individual case studies.
[1] Indigenous means for these purposes any aboriginal native of Australia, Torres Strait, Papua, New Guinea, Pacific Islands & South Sea Islands; commonly known as Aborigines, Torres Strait Islanders, Papuans, Kanakas, Polynesians & South Sea Islanders.
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