First Contact
Story: Dan Walker | Photo: Jessica Cook
Despite blustery conditions and the threat of rain, a sizeable crowd quietly assembled in Maryborough’s Queens Park on Saturday morning, 22 April, 2023. The crowd gathered to witness the unveiling of a memorial many years in the making, the passion project of distinguished Butchulla Elder, Uncle Glen Miller.
Born in Maryborough, Glen Miller attended school in both Hervey Bay and Maryborough before beginning his working life at the age of 15 at a farm machinery and truck dealership in Maryborough. In 1981 Mr Miller joined the Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs, later joining the Aboriginal Development Commission (ADC) in various roles to eventually become the Queensland State Manager of the ADC in 1988. In 1990 Glen returned to Brisbane where he formed the Moonie Jarl Aboriginal Guide Services, one of the early Aboriginal tourism businesses in the State. Here he employed and trained numerous Aboriginal and Islander staff to be tour guides before becoming the Manager of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Tourism for the Queensland Tourist and Travel Corporation in 1993 and remained with the QTTC/ Tourism Queensland for 17 years until retiring from the position of Manager of Special Interest Tourism in 2010.
Uncle Glen continues to hold numerous board positions in the community, working tirelessly to support Indigenous community development in Maryborough and beyond. In 2015 Uncle Glen founded the Butchulla Men’s Business Aboriginal Association, whose aim is to develop the skills and knowledge of Butchulla men.
In 2003 Uncle Glen was driving into a country Queensland town with long-time friend, John Felan, when they approached a Cenotaph, standing proudly in the town’s centre. Observing it caused John to turn to Uncle Glen and ask “where is the monument for all of the Indigenous men who died protecting this country?” The question ignited a spark in Uncle Glen’s mind that could not be extinguished. As Kev Carmody famously sang in 1993, “from little things, big things grow’. Taking this project of truth telling and historical justice on, Uncle Glen worked tirelessly to secure the funding and support necessary to make his vision come to life. He sought to have the memorial made as locally as possible. He reached out to world renown local foundry, Olds & Sons, who worked with Uncle Glen to design a fitting monument.
The Butchulla Warriors’ Memorial monument is a strikingly beautiful yet understated bronze. Featuring three Butchulla shields scattered on the ground as Butchulla defenders would have dropped them – each shield inflicted with a musket ball hole – it depicts an encounter between Butchulla Warriors and European settlers. Conflicts between indigenous tribes involved throwing spears at your enemy, who would then pick them up and throw them back. It asks us to imagine these men attempting to defend their Country against the colonisers, having thrown their spears and expecting them to be thrown back, but instead being mown down by musket balls.
“I just want the observer to stand in front of that monument and think about that moment – when men threw their spears and stood there – in that first contact with Europeans.
“Aboriginal men were involved in a very long conflict that began in Australia on the 26th of January 1788 and continued for over a hundred years.
“This conflict has never been recognised, is rarely mentioned, and is one in which many Aboriginal warriors lost their lives in defence of their country.” said Uncle Glen Miller.
It is estimated that at least 100,000 Australian Aboriginals were killed during colonisation. Some conflicts occurring as recently as 1934.
However, rather than looking to attach blame or guilt, Uncle Glen sees the monument as a testament to true reconciliation.
“I hope that people will see it as the beginning of a new relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians”
In fact, Uncle Glen says he was genuinely overwhelmed by the support of the community in realising this project with people from various backgrounds all coming together to share this story. It has left him feeling optimistic about achieving true reconciliation in Australia. It was somewhat fitting then, that just as the memorial was unveiled and the crowd joined together to sing “I am Australian” by the Seekers, that the clouds parted and the sun shone through the crown of the Bunya Bunya and onto the monument and crowd below. While it may have marked the end of a long journey, it was also just the beginning.
Watch: Butchulla Elder, Uncle Glen Miller, in conversation with long time colleague and friend, John Felan, about how the 'First Contact Butchulla Warriors Memorial' came to fruition.
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