Cabbage Tree Island

History

The island was reportedly settled by three Aboriginal pioneers in 1885 Yuke, Jack Roach and Jack "Poppa" Cook after they were displaced there by the police. Little is known of the first two of these men and it is unknown whether they remained on the island, however, Cook is acknowledged as an ancestor of many islanders today. The islanders engaged in cane farming and had their own food gardens, reportedly living self-sufficiently. Many of the early homes there where constructed from cabbage-tree palms and many were removed to make room for cane farming and for sale as wood; there are few palms now remaining on the island. This movement was also encouraged by the Cabbage Tree School opening in October 1893 although this was closed in January 1895 and was not reopened until June 1908. In 1911 a government manager was installed, and the island was then run by various government Aboriginal welfare agencies until the mid-1970s. The manager's permission was required in some periods to leave the island. The welfare agencies provided regular food rations. Many of the islanders worked as cane cutters or other cane labourers. Young women often went to work as domestic servants in Sydney. In the late twentieth century government management was transferred to a local Aboriginal land council, Jali Aboriginal Land Council (Jali LALC) which maintains the houses on the island. The school continued in operation.

Most-observed species

• koala

  Phascolarctos cinereus (Goldfuss, 1817) · Mammalia
  4,410
• Great Crested Tern

  Thalasseus bergii (M.H.K.Lichtenstein, 1823) · Aves
  3,393
• Rainbow Lorikeet

  Trichoglossus haematodus (Linnaeus, 1771) · Aves
  3,261
• Torresian Crow

  Corvus orru Bonaparte, 1850 · Aves
  2,961
• Lewin's Honeyeater

  Meliphaga lewinii (Swainson, 1837) · Aves
  2,898
• Silver Gull

  Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae (Stephens, 1826) · Aves
  2,848
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  2,765
• Australian Ibis

  Threskiornis molucca (Cuvier, 1829) · Aves
  2,326