On the “eve” of the first State of Origin, we travelled to Palmer Coolum Resort to interview a Queensland footy legend and generally all around fabulous guy, Mal Meninga. And although on arrival we saw the maroon bus, we could only imagine the boys were deeply entrenched in some training camp, because we saw neither … Read more
Guest blogger: Dylan Mooney, artist. As an artist with Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Australian South Sea Islander heritage it is important to me to continue to represent and connect too all my cultural identities through my artwork. Through my Australian South Sea Islander heritage I have strong connections to Mailata in the Solomon Islands … Read more
Plantation Voices: Contemporary conversations with Australian South Sea Islanders is now open until 8 September. On 16 February with a special community event hosted by the State Library of Queensland to welcome the Australian South Sea Islander community and open the exhibition. Over 210 people from communities all along the eastern coastline came together to celebrate … Read more
This week the State Library has been hosting 35 delegates as part of the Pacific Libraries Network. The delegates are from the Pacific nations of American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Northern Mariana Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. This dynamic group brings together a … Read more
In the Queensland Parliament on Thursday 7th September 2000 at 9:37am, a silence fell across the floors of parliament as the then Premier the Honorable Peter Beattie AC stood up and spoke the following words: “I seek the support of all members of the House in acknowledging a very significant advance. Today my Government will … Read more
I knew, at the beginning of 2013, that the year ahead was going to be an important one for the Australian South Sea Islander Community. The 150th anniversary in Queensland, was a milestone that needed to be marked in history forever. It was a time for our ancestors to be remembered, our history to be … Read more
Guest blogger: John Waldron – ASSI 150 SEQ Project Coordinator A strong feature of the ASSI150 SEQ program was the showcase of Australian South Sea Islander artists and Australian South Sea Islander arts workers. The series of Australian South Sea Islander exhibitions, developed by regional and state facilities, provided the first opportunity to promote Australian South Sea Islander artists and … Read more
Guest blogger: John Waldron – ASSI 150 SEQ Project Coordinator ASSI 150 SEQ was a commemorative program presented across south east Queensland (SEQ) from June to September 2013. The program delivered a series of small and large scale events, exhibitions and gatherings to an estimated 40,000 people. In 2010, representatives from the Australian South Sea … Read more
Guest blogger: Kathleen Mary Fallon – John Oxley Library Fellow, State Library of Queensland In South Brisbane, on the corner of Russell and Grey Streets, there was a South Sea Islander (SSI) boarding house run by the Church of England. This boarding house is documented in The Church Chronicle between the years 1891 and 1892 … Read more
Guest blogger: Emelda Davis – National ASSI Secretariat Australian South Sea Islanders (Port Jackson) delivered WANTOK 2013 ASSI Capacity Building Forum at the State Library of Queensland from 1-3 November. This is the first of a series of three workshops funded by the Commonwealth ‘Community Cohesion’ grants program which saw the event opened by the Prime Minister … Read more
