Isles of Exile Australia s Living History Maev O Collins 19 August 2009 ANU Emeritus Faculty

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1 Isles of Exile Australia s Living History Maev O Collins 19 August 2009 ANU Emeritus Faculty

2 Island identity, I suppose, is always in the Now and it is always in process. The Now is never a shallow surface thing, however. It reaches back into untold millennia, by right of memory, of language, of story, of genes. The Now reaches forward too. The new will always be a metaphor of the old. Greg Dening 2003:206 Afterword in Islands in History and Representation R. Edmond and V. Smith (Eds Eds).

3 Places of Exile or Homelands?

4 Islands as Places of Exile Australian Penal Settlements Islands as places of refuge Communities on Cape Barren and Palm Islands Off-shore detention centres: Nauru and Manus Island Christmas Island Detention Centre

5 Different experiences of islands Island born my island home Islander by adoption Involuntary resident who desperately wishes to escape Involuntary exile who seeks to return home or settle elsewhere Exile who settles in only to be moved again Researcher, tourist, journalist or accidental visitor

6 When deprived d of hope, existence becomes the most unsupportable of all evils; the captive who sees no end to his chains is careless ess as to his present conduct, and totally indifferent as to his future fate.. Comment on convicts transported t for life in the Quarterly Review, October 1814 a review of Matthew Flinders: A Voyage to Terra Australis, 1814

7 The detention camp is a small jail and the island is a big jail. All of the island, same jail. I want to get freedom. [Nauru Detainee Nonawir Al-Saber, quoted in Freeing Ali the Human Face of the Pacific Solution,, Michael Gordon 2005:77]

8 We lived on an island of peace without fear of the outside world coming in and turning our lives around. In the midst of the mainland turbulence, this little island shone upon the waters of Bass Strait like an oasis in the desert. Molly Mallett,, 2001, My Past- Their Future: Stories from Cape Barren Island,

9 Island Ownership and Identity Brief Encounter, Involuntary Exile, or Adopted Homeland

10 Distance, Isolation, and Danger

11 Ownership, Belonging, Security

12 Kangaroo Island South Australia Past History and Present Reality

13 Local community facing their past Outsiders whose indigenous ancestors were once residents Presenting the best face to the tourists

14 Flinders Island, Bass Strait, Tasmania Access determined by weather conditions Tourist image at variance with underlying community tensions Impact of earlier settlements on current relationships

15 Wybalena: Past and Present

16 Cape Barren Island Place of Exile which became a homeland

17 Norfolk Island Living History

18 Perhaps the best lesson to be learned from Norfolk s past is the reaction of George Hunn Nobbs who concluded that, although all was not as the Pitcairners had been led to believe: The land is a goodly land, and needs nothing but a contented mind, a persevering spirit and a grateful heart to render it productive and pleasant.

19 Palm Island Past History and Present Reality

20 Christmas Island Home to the Local Community Eco-tourism destination

21 Place of Detention and Exile

22 Isles of Exile or Homelands? Lessons from Australia s Living History When will we ever Learn?