Fears hundreds of missing South Sea Islander bodies buried on hospital grounds (2024)

Nestled along Queensland's coastline, Mackay is known for its pristine beaches and as the gateway to the Whitsundays, but this tropical town has a dark history.

Warning: This story contains images of Pacific Island people who have died.

Between 1852 and 1904, tens of thousands of Pacific Islanders were kidnapped or coerced and brought to Australia to work on sugar cane farms around Mackay and other coastal towns in a practice known as blackbirding.

Encountering diseases for which they lacked immunity, many of the workers died and the death rate was the highest for any group of immigrants entering Australia between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

While the remains of many are unaccounted for, a prominent historian believes they could be buried beneath the site of a ward being built at the local hospital.

And with early civil works set to begin on the site next week, the local Islander community wants the mystery resolved once and for all.

Missing bodies from Mackay's Islander hospital

To try to stem the high death rate among its migrant workforce, the Queensland government set up four "Islander" hospitals at Mackay (where it was known as the Kanaka hospital) Maryborough, Innisfail and Ingham.

Emeritus professor Clive Moore, an historian specialising in Pacific studies, said no-one knew for sure what happened to the bodies, but he had a theory.

It comes from letters exchanged between Charles Clarkson, who was appointed as the Mackay hospital's surgeon in 1884, and the Queensland Museum.

"We certainly know that Dr Clarkson in his correspondence with the museum says he is burying bodies in the ground," Professor Moore said.

"They're not in the Mackay cemetery.

"What the Islanders want … is to use whatever science we have at the moment to try and investigate the entire hospital site to see are there any bodies buried there."

Clarkson had ongoing correspondence with the museum in the 1880s as he was providing it with Islander skeletons and skulls and had asked for it to age the remains.

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Professor Paul Turnbull has researched the scientific theft of the remains of Australia's First Nations people, but in his 2017 book Science, Museums and Collecting the Indigenous Dead in Colonial Australia, he also discussed Clarkson's treatment of Pacific Islander remains.

He quoted a letter Clarkson wrote to Queensland Museum curator Charles de Vis in which the former described "planting" corpses for "resurrection" in the hospital grounds.

Clarkson also wrote of having "19 specimens quietly crumbling away in various stages underground".

Professor Moore said the land surrounding the original Islander hospital in Mackay would be the most likely location for the remains as there were limited other possibilities.

"In the Mackay cemetery, we know the bodies that are there are in what used to be called the 'Heathen' ground, where they put Chinese and Japanese and South Sea Islanders. There's only 40 or 50 of them there.

"They're not going to be on anybody else's private land."

Today, the site of the Islander hospital is located on land belonging to Mackay Base Hospital, although the exact site of the hospital on these grounds is unclear.

Professor Moore has sought more information from both the Mackay Hospital and Health Service and the state government, including records and original site maps, but said these had not been provided.

From his research, however, he believed the final resting place of Islander people could be beneath the site of the new ward.

"The possibility is 1,000 bodies are buried there."

Professor Moore wants a survey of the entire grounds using ground-penetrating radar to determine if remains are under the surface.

But despite his multiple requests to the hospital, no action had been taken, he said.

Sod turned on potential burial site

In April, the first sod was turned at the construction site for the new ward in a move that upset Clacy Fatnowna, the head of the Queensland United Australian South Sea Islander Council (QUASSIC).

"It was interesting that they had a sod-turning ceremony there with the premier, the chief executive and the Member for Mackay; I was a bit horrified," he said.

"Here they are, turning sod on land which could possibly hold the remains of our ancestors.

"[We want them] to assess the hospital grounds to ensure that when new developments occur that they aren't being built on any of our people's remains."

Mr Fatnowna said he had met grandchildren of Pacific Islanders who worked in the sugar industry during this period, which meant the children and grandchildren of the people potentially buried on the hospital grounds were alive today.

"It goes back one generation … they're not ancient [remains]."

In a statement to the ABC, Health Minister Shannon Fentiman said she was unaware of the history of the site.

"I was unaware of Professor Moore's concerns and cultural sensitivities associated with the Mackay Hospital site at the time of the sod-turn ceremony," she said.

"I sincerely apologise for any distress any images may have caused for the local Australian South Sea Islander community."

But Professor Moore said he published a report on the issue in August 2022 that was tabled in state parliament in April 2023.

Meanwhile, a Queensland Health spokesperson said in a statement that the department was aware of the significance of the location.

"We understand the importance of cultural sensitivities associated with the area," they said.

"The project team has already engaged with the Yuwi Aboriginal Corporation registered native title body corporate to establish a cultural heritage agreement.

"This agreement may include procedures for work stoppage in case of significant discoveries. To date, we have found no remains at this site."

Queensland Health did not respond to the ABC's question about whether it planned to use ground-penetrating radar at the site.

Major excavation activities have not begun yet but early civil works are scheduled to start from June 17.