Ingham, like any small town,
despite its rural location and small population, has produced many great people
over the time who have gone out into the wider world and left their mark. These
have come from all walks of life and backgrounds. A good number have been Indigenous
Australians and descendants of the indentured Melanesians labourers brought to Queensland to work on the sugar plantations.
One such, was Dr. Evelyn Scott
(formerly Backo), an activist for equality, and for Aborigines and Torres
Strait Islanders. Dr. Scott passed away
in September at the age of 81. She was farewelled on Friday October 6 in
Townsville at a State Funeral. Fittingly, the accolades, tributes and memories
of a remarkable woman flowed.
Dr. Scott attributed her
achievements to the values imparted by her family and her childhood spent in
the Herbert River Valley. Here she recalled experiencing “tolerance and
acceptance of all peoples;” very
different to what she encountered when she left. Those differing experiences
shaped the activist she was to become.
Her political activism began with
her initial involvement with the Townsville Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Advancement League in the 1960s. She went on to actively campaign for
a YES vote at the 1967 Referendum as a member of the Federal Council for the
Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI). In the late
1990s, she held the chairmanship of the National Council for Aboriginal
Reconciliation. She was instrumental in the establishment of Aboriginal legal
services, housing societies and medical services and was on numerous government
advisory bodies. Her achievements include being made an Officer in the General
Division of the Order of Australia, a recipient of the Queen’s Jubilee Medal
and an Australian Achiever Award, and being named a Queensland Great. She was also awarded two honorary doctorates.
Her life and work were underpinned
by the simple but powerful philosophy that her son, Sam Backo, recalls Dr Scott
instilling in her children: "There's only one race and that's the human
race."
Sources: Abraham Rhea. “Indigenous
activist Evelyn Scott hailed as key freedom fighter at state funeral in
Townsville.” ABC News, October 6,
2017. Accessed October 11, 2017.
“Dedication earns doctorate,” Herbert River Express, May 9, 2000.
Vidonja Balanzategui Bianka. The Herbert River Story. Ingham:
Hinchinbrook Shire Council, 2011.
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| Source: National Museum Australia |
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| Marchers during the May Day 1968 procession in Brisbane holding placard. (F3400 Grahame Garner Collection, image 39 Fryer Library, University of Queensland) |
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