THE ELIZA FRASER STORY - THE NAMING OF FRASER ISLAND

This is a story of a shipwreck, a survival, a landing on a sand island, along walk of endurance, a time with Butchulla Aboriginal People and an eventual return to the colonial settlement of Brisbane. This story reveals hardship in an unfamiliar landscape. It covers contact with an Aboriginal group. Eliza’s writings and her talks given on her return have been regarded as slices of accuracy embellished with sections of creative writing. At the time very little was known of Aboriginal culture and this account of contact was believed by most Europeans in the colony, The Butchulla People were falsely depicted as backward warlike savages. What followed Eliza Fraser’s accounts were the increasing impacts of European farmers, miners, forestry industry and tourism on an island that was named after the Frasers. Eliza’s story is a prelude to changes that resulted in the loss of Butchulla land resources, the removal of Butchulla People from the island and the population decline. For the remaining Butchulla People on the island the name “Fraser” is not regarded as appropriate.