A Part of Buderim's History

Life in Buderim’s South Sea Islander Village by Dr Ray Kerkove

Kanaka village in Queensland 1895 – believed to be Buderim (John Oxley Collection)

1896: two Salvation Army missionaries saw Buderim’s Kanaka (South Sea Islander) village for the first time:“Immediately around you are farms and plantations, where are bananas, sugar cane, mangoes, coffee and other tropical trees and scrubs in the most extravagant abundance, and clothed in the deepest, healthiest green. Neat homesteads there are, standing in gardens which might be small corners of paradise, surrounded by well trimmed hedges.”

The missionaries marvelled at this little gem of a village, with its magnificent views over mostly uninhabited forests and surf coasts, and the backdrop of the Blackall Ranges. It was in fact several hamlets, as the residents tended to live with others from their own particular island – Melanesia having many distinctive cultures and languages.

The roots of this community lay in the push to bring indentured labour into Queensland, out of which Joseph Dixon introduced 15 Kanakas to Buderim in 1877.  This was probably not the first time Pacific Islanders visited the area. Judicial records speak of New Caledonians and others moving between here and Brisbane since 1846.

The recruits were “blackbirded” from their islands – a combination of slavery and labour contracts at extremely low rates.  Some were willing – one telling missionaries he went to escape the memory of an earlier tragedy.

The world the Kanakas entered had affinities with their own: sub-tropical, coastal and hilly.  Sugar cane and bananas were familiar, being staple crops in Melanesia for thousands of years. The Islanders brought with them coconuts, yams and fruits that added to the experimentation in exotics that Dixon and others were conducting.

Dixon thought his crew were “reliable workers... a jolly lot,” but their 3-year contracts gave them limited pay – rarely enough to return home. They faced lengthy, backbreaking work, limited diet, bare accommodation and being treated as servants. Several rebelled.

However, the early Kanakas had weekends free. Many went fishing and swimming at Mooloolaba and Cottontree, where they also held feasts and built and raced outrigger canoes. Most were young men. Romances blossomed with Aboriginal (Gubbi Gubbi) girls from surrounding camps – the couples sometimes marrying beside the thundering surf at Maroochydore....

For Buderim history information, email Buderimhistory@gmail.com