The Courier-Mail 'Stolen' woman wins full apology By RACHEL MOORE and TONY KOCH 28aug99 THE Queensland Government has published a national apology to an Aboriginal woman taken from her family as a teenager and sent to work on rural properties. Lesley Williams, 52, of Gympie, won the historic apology as part of an out-of-court legal settlement brokered with the State Government yesterday. It follows a landmark resolution in Federal Parliament this week expressing "deep and sincere regret" for injustices to Aboriginal people. Mrs Williams, who was removed from her Cherbourg family at 16, sued the State Government for part of her wages which were paid into an account kept by the Department of Native Affairs, but were not given to her. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Judy Spence yesterday said Mrs Williams had been at the forefront of the fight to find out what happened to money earned by indigenous workers but never paid. The State Government advertisement, published today, says the Government sincerely regrets "any distress, hurt or humiliation suffered by Mrs Williams as a result of the allegedly oppressive schemes under the various Aboriginals Preservation and Protection Acts under which she lived and worked at Cherbourg and Taroom, particularly in relation to the alleged failure of the governments of the day to ensure fair working conditions, appropriate accommodation and just remuneration". Premier Peter Beattie yesterday told State Parliament major increases in funding for health, housing, police and education on indigenous communities would be announced in next month's Budget. He said he was committed to ensuring the proposals advanced by Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson to abolish welfare dependency and reconstruct the lives of Cape York Aborigines were promoted. Mrs Williams yesterday told how she was sent to work on pastoral properties at Condamine and Taroom. She said she was not allowed to sleep in the homestead with the white owners, but had cramped quarters in a shed. And although she prepared the meals for the main house, she was made eat on the verandah while the owner's family dined inside. Of her wage of 310s a week, 2 were paid into a savings account by her employer but were never passed on to her. The account is estimated to be worth $8000. Mrs Williams also took her case to the Queen, writing "May it please Your Majesty – I am writing to tell you the wrongs that Aboriginal people have suffered, how we were rounded up and put on reserves and forced to go out to work. Please help us in our cause to have an inquiry so the truth can be told". "I sent it to Buckingham Palace and received a reply," she said. Mrs Williams said yesterday that thousands of indigenous people had worked hard and made a contribution to the economy of the state. "I think often public perception is that Aboriginal people are seen as having lived off government handouts," she said. Ms Spence said the legal action taken by Mrs Williams was settled yesterday, but did not include monetary compensation. "Lesley will commence work with this department to assist in sorting out the sorry mess that has been left with the Aboriginal Welfare Fund." Ms Spence said those who were under-paid were being compensated. ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/
