Extract from ABC News
South Sea Islanders worked on Australian sugarcane plantations in the 1800s. (Supplied: Queensland State Archives)
In short:
A ground-penetrating search at the Mackay Base Hospital site has failed to locate ancestral remains of South Sea Islanders.
Hospital upgrades were put on hold in July, while a search began under the hospital grounds.
What's next?
Advocates say the community will not give up on locating the remains of those who are unaccounted-for.
The resting place of hundreds of South Sea Islanders who died in a north Queensland hospital in the late 1800s remains a mystery after a search using a ground-penetrating radar failed to find any burials.
Construction work to expand Mackay Base Hospital was paused in July to search an area that historians believed once housed a hospital for Pacific Islanders.
Health authorities at the time referred to it as the Kanaka hospital.
The hospital was one of four established across Queensland in the late 19th century to curb scurvy outbreaks that killed hundreds of indentured Pacific Islanders, many of whom were brought to Australia to work on sugarcane plantations during the 'blackbirding era'.
In a statement, Queensland Health said a ground-penetrating radar survey in September "did not identify the location of any burials" and that construction would proceed.
Blackbirding of South Sea Islanders remains a dark chapter in Australia's agricultural history. (Supplied: State Library of Queensland)
In the 1880s, Mackay Base Hospital doctor Charles Clarkson sent letters to the Queensland Museum that discussed burying bodies in the hospital grounds to decompose and sending skeletons and skulls to the museum.
The exact site of the Kanaka hospital is unknown.
Clacy Fatnowna, head of the Queensland United Australian South Sea Islander Council (QUASSIC), said the council was still waiting for a copy of the full survey report.
He expressed relief that the site was explored but said more work needed to be done.
"There were over 1,000 deaths in a five-year period when the hospital was there," Mr Fatnowna said.
"So if there's nothing there, where are they?
"There's still a lot more to be done from where we sit with regards to talking to museums and other academics and finding out where a thousand or so of my people's remains ended up."
Mr Fatnowna said the search was an emotional experience for the community, as some of the children and grandchildren of the people potentially buried on the grounds were still alive today.
Queensland Health said it had "shared and discussed the findings with Mackay Hospital and Health Service, and ASSI [Australian South Sea Islander] and First Nations representatives."
It said it would continue to "work closely with ASSI and First Nations representatives on construction activities."
Clancy Fatnowna says the community will continue searching for the remains of their ancestors. (ABC News: Amy Sheehan)
Museum still holding remains
The Queensland Museum has confirmed it holds the remains of 65 Pacific Islanders in its collection.
The museum said it was "working with QUASSIC to develop culturally appropriate protocols relating to how the museum works with communities in the South Pacific Region."
Mr Fatnowna said he was seeking ongoing discussions with the Queensland Museum, the Minister for Health and the Minister for Multicultural Affairs.
"[We want to know] the amount of remains that they've got there [in the museum] and the process we've got to go through to repatriate, to return what's ours."
Marion Healy says she will continue to lobby for the remains to be found. (ABC News: Nathan Morris)
'Sensitive subject'
Australian South Sea Islander elder Marion Healy said the search brought up a lot of "sorry business" for her community.
"It's still going at the present," she said.
"It is a sensitive subject still."
Ms Healy said she would continue to lobby Queensland Health for a broader search to find the remains.
"We might not have an answer today, but I know we'll get an answer in time," she said.
In 2023, Emeritus Professor Clive Moore, who specialises in Pacific studies, called for a full assessment of the 48 acres of the Mackay Base Hospital.
Mr Fatnowna said QUASSIC supported that request.
He said Professor Moore's research suggested the sites of three former Pacific Islander hospitals across north Queensland could hold the clues to the whereabouts of remains.
"We've still got to explore Maryborough, Ingham and Innisfail," Mr Fatnowna said.
"Those communities are watching us, and I think Mackay is the litmus test with how Queensland Health deals with us.
"We just want to get it right."
He said regardless of the outcome, the community would not give up on discovering the location of those who remain unaccounted-for.
Around 50,000 South Sea Islanders were brought to Australia for work in the 1800s. (ABC Archives)
Changing the future
The hospital added a fifth flagpole to the front of the building this week, now flying the ASSI flag alongside the Australian, Queensland, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags.
Mackay hospital and health board chair Helen Darch said while the health service could not change the past it was determined to create a better future.
"Raising the Australian South Sea Islander flag here today is also a further acknowledgement of the sad historic treatment and care provided at a Pacific Islander Hospital on these grounds more than 130 years ago," Ms Darch said.
"Raising this flag is a visual reminder of our commitment to care and inclusion."
The South Sea Islander flag was raised at the Mackay hospital. (Supplied: Mackay Base Hospital)
Healthcare worker Elizabeth Warren said the flag served as a reminder of people's hardworking and strong forefathers.
"They came here, most of them against their will, to work in the sugar industry," she said.
"They had no rights, they were treated harshly but they made their way through it and we are we are their descendants … and we are living what they taught us to work hard, fit in."
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