Cabbage Tree Island, New South Wales

For the island and nature reserve, see Cabbage Tree Island (John Gould Nature Reserve).

Cabbage Tree Island
Town
Cabbage Tree Island
Coordinates: 28°58′47″S 153°27′23″E / 28.97972°S 153.45639°E / -28.97972; 153.45639
CountryAustralia
StateNew South Wales
LGA
Government
 • State electorate
 • Federal division
Population
 • Total89 (SAL 2021)[2]
Postcode
2477

Cabbage Tree Island is a locality in Ballina Shire located in the Northern Rivers Region of New South Wales. It is about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) south of Wardell.[3][4]

It was a predominantly Aboriginal community and is on the lands of the Bundjalung people. Much of the community was relocated off the island following the 2022 eastern Australia floods.[5][6][7]

Origin of place name

Colonialists named the island because of the presence of the cabbage-tree palm. However, the Bundjalung language name for this place is Monggongbin.[3]

Demographics

In the 2016 census, the population of Cabbage Tree Island was 78.[8] In the 2021 census, it had increased to 89 persons.[9]

History

The island was reportedly settled by three Aboriginal pioneers in 1885 Yuke, Jack Roach and Jack "Poppa" Cook after they were displaced there by the police. Little is known of the first two of these men and it is unknown whether they remained on the island, however, Cook is acknowledged as an ancestor of many islanders today. The islanders engaged in cane farming and had their own food gardens, reportedly living self-sufficiently.[10][11][12]

Many of the early homes there where constructed from cabbage-tree palms and many were removed to make room for cane farming and for sale as wood; there are few palms now remaining on the island.[10]

In 1893 the island was designated an Aboriginal reserve, with Aboriginal people moving there (often by force) from throughout the region.[13] This movement was also encouraged by the Cabbage Tree School opening in October 1893 although this was closed in January 1895 and was not reopened until June 1908.[14]

In 1911 a government manager was installed,[15] and the island was then run by various government Aboriginal welfare agencies until the mid-1970s. The manager's permission was required in some periods to leave the island.[16] The welfare agencies provided regular food rations. Many of the islanders worked as cane cutters or other cane labourers. Young women often went to work as domestic servants in Sydney.

In the late twentieth century government management was transferred to a local Aboriginal land council, Jali Aboriginal Land Council (Jali LALC) which maintains the houses on the island. The school continued in operation.

2022 floods and 'closure' of community

Buildings were damaged by the 2022 floods and residents were moved to temporary housing pods in Wardell and Ballina. The school on the island was temporarily relocated to Wardell in November 2022 and, by March 2023, residents were frustrated by a lack of permission to return.[5][6]

In September 2023, the Jali LALC, announced that the island homes would not be rebuilt, but the residents would be relocated to 26 new homes to be constructed in Wardell, due to "unacceptably high risk" from flood. Former residents on the islands were first placed in temporary accommodation in the form of a "pod village"; these are formally known as Northern Rivers temporary housing.[7]

Many residents were upset by this decision and one local woman stated:[7]

"If I move back to the island and I get flooded away, I get flooded away and I die, that's how much [Cabbage Tree Island] means to me."

— Fay Anderson, as quoted by ABC, 2023

In 2025 it was identified by Wade Charles that the flooding event, and response to it, illustrated systemic inequalities and how Aboriginal communities are overrepresented in disaster-affected areas and are then under resourced during response and recovery efforts. Charles believes this reflects historic and ongoing structural failures and that the forced removal severed ancestral ties and led to increased trauma from the flood.[17]

Facilities

As of 2026 the school, Cabbage Tree Island Public School, is in operation and has been relocated to Wardell and is being taught in demountable buildings.[5][18]

Notable people

  • Frank Roberts (1899–1968), paternal grandfather of Rhoda Roberts, went to the segregated school there.[19]
  • Frank Roberts Jnr, father of Rhoda Roberts, grew up in the reserve[20]
  • A boat moored at a jetty at Cabbage Tree Island in 1961
  • The church at Cabbage Tree Island in 1961
  • A home on Cabbage Tree Island in 1961
  • Unidentified community building at Cabbage Tree Island in 1961

References

  1. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Cabbage Tree Island (Ballina - NSW) (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022. 
  2. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Cabbage Tree Island (Ballina - NSW) (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022. 
  3. ^ a b "Cabbage Tree Island". Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. New South Wales Government. Retrieved 16 March 2026.
  4. ^ "Untold: Cabbage Tree Island". ABC North Coast. 5 November 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  5. ^ a b c Boltje, Stephanie (21 November 2022). "Indigenous Cabbage Tree Island community moves into new temporary home". ABC News : The drum. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
  6. ^ a b Jeffery, Eve (21 March 2023). "Residents of Cabbage Tree Island want to go home". The Echo. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  7. ^ a b c Shoebridge, Joanne (17 March 2026). "Cabbage Tree Island's Indigenous community to move, told its flood rebuild poses 'unacceptably high risk'". ABC. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  8. ^ "2016 Cabbage Tree Island (Ballina – NSW)". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  9. ^ "2021 Cabbage Tree Island (Ballina – NSW)". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  10. ^ a b Unknown (1 June 1961). "The Cabbage Tree Island Story" (PDF). Dawn. 11 (5). New South Wales Aborigines Welfare Board: 6 – via Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
  11. ^ "The Aborigines of New South Wales". The Northern Star. Vol. 17. New South Wales, Australia. 25 June 1892. p. 8. Retrieved 16 March 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ "Richmond River Blacks". The Richmond River Herald And Northern Districts Advertiser. Vol. 9, , no. 403. New South Wales, Australia. 19 January 1894. p. 4. Retrieved 16 March 2026 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  13. ^ "Aborigines' Protection Board". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). No. 4384. New South Wales, Australia. 14 July 1893. p. 2. Retrieved 16 March 2026 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ "NSW Government Schools History Database Search". NSW Education Department. 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  15. ^ Unknown (18 September 2016). "Culture & Country – Cabbage Tree Island". Planet Corroboree. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  16. ^ Various (2007). Aboriginal Women's Heritage: Ballina & Cabbage Tree Island (PDF). Sydney South: Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW. ISBN 978-1-74122-593-8.
  17. ^ Charles, Wade. "Social inequalities and vulnerabilities revealed by the flooding event on Cabbage Tree Island in March 2022". Australian Journal of Emergency Management. 2025 (July): 72–78 – via Australian Disaster Resilience Knowledge Hub.
  18. ^ "Cabbage Tree Island Public School". cabbagetre-p.schools.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 16 March 2026.
  19. ^ Radi, Heather (1 January 2002). "Frank Roberts". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 3 September 2024. This article was published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 16, (Melbourne University Press), 2002.
  20. ^ Chenery, Susan (26 July 2024). "Rhoda Roberts: 'Dad believed if you changed one person's mind it would have a ricochet effect'". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
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