Cherbourg, Queensland

The history of Cherbourg is a dark one that saw Aboriginal people being forcibly removed and brought from all over Queensland and Northern New South Wales to a newly formed government reserve, first called Barambah, in 1904. People from more than 100 different areas were brought together, forced to live in dormitories or camps, and were forbidden to speak their own languages,. The effect of mixing these different groups of people together and forcing them to learn to speak English has been an almost total loss of their cultural heritage. In 1932, the name Barambah was then changed to Cherbourg due to a nearby property called “Barambah Station” which caused confusion in mail delivery. The Aboriginal people of Cherbourg were not even counted in the census until 1967. Things thankfully have improved since then, and the Wakka Wakka people were issued a native title claim to lands including the Cherbourg Aboriginal Community in 2012 with the Federal Court.