I had to go to Murgon for work. Stayed at Wondai. While i was at Murgon i got a tour of Cherbourg by one of the local Govt workers. Was very, very interesting to say the least. There is a culture of destroying houses if you don't like it, because the government will build you a new one, free. There were parts of Cherbourg that had some quite nice houses, in isolation you wouldn't know that it was anywhere different. Then there was a part of town that the fella i was with called the 'gaza strip' cos you don't go down there, you'll get stuff thrown at you because you're white. I tell you, going there was an education. Anyone else been to Cherbourg?

awesome looking countryside...
google maps thing of cherbourg

wait, are we talking about the same place here?

last edited by Freewheelin at 14:53:51 18/Jan/08

last edited by Freewheelin at 14:54:17 18/Jan/08

yup, years ago though

old mate i came to brissy with from cairns, had family in murgon, so we stopped off and did the murgon cherbourg tour;

i remember being scared, i also remember having to rush home so that i didnt miss "chances" (lolz) on tv!

did a few houses out there about 15 years ago
didn't find it as interesting as going home when we were finished

I thought you meant Cherbourg, France as well. I have no idea what you're talking about.

do you know of any australian places outside of indooroopilly and toowong?
(not taringa)

yep i've done a fair few army exercises at the training grounds up there at wondai. we were never allowed to go into abo gaza strip, but i think it would have been fantastic to train for urban warfare there.

some nights when it was just me and 1 or 2 other soldiers out deep in the bush, you could hear the buggers coming along the dirt tracks hanging off a beaten up old fourby. they would be pissed as s*** yahooing and carrying on.

unfortunately we didnt have live rounds, but we attached our bayonets and scared the s*** outta them with full-auto blanks :D

There is a culture of destroying houses if you don't like it, because the government will build you a new one, free.

Yeah I noticed in DOD all the houses looked like they'd been bombed or something!

For those, like me, had no f***ing idea what is going on, here's the wikipedia page. Excerpt:

The town has a sad history, which has been drscribed in at least two books, Dumping Ground by Thom Blake and Is That You Ruthie? by Ruth Hegarty. Starting in 1904, indigenous people who became known as the Stolen Generation, were forcibly removed from their homes and "settled" at Cherbourg. Sometimes they were sent there as punishment for refusing to work on white owned farms. People from many different tribes or mobs were mixed together and they were not allowed to speak their own languages. Children who were born at Cherbourg, ended up living in dormitories. People were hired out as cheap labour and at one stage they were not allowed to leave the reserve. In fact, until the referendum in 1967, the indigenous people at Cherbourg were not even counted in the census.

There is a culture of destroying houses if you don't like it, because the government will build you a new one, free.

They did this and all sorts of other s*** in Mt Isa as well. I remember them having a big tribal war in one of the towns sporting fields and there were thousands upon thousands of white teeth and pink gums running around.

that's because in 1967 australia held a referednum to change the constitution, the question we voted on was 'should the people living in Cherbourg, queensland not France, be counted as citizens in the census?'.

I wish i'd taken photos. There were no street signs, no numbers on the houses. This is apparently to make it harder for the cops to find you. The bloke i was with had names for all the sections, like 'mayfair' 'park lane' 'whatever the f*** those $60 ones are past go that you get $2 rent for' and things like that.

There is a culture of destroying houses if you don't like it, because the government will build you a new one, free.

They used to do this in Tennant Creek as well. I used to be the Driver Licence Tester there back in the early 1990's and we did a tour with Housing one day and they never used to use the stoves. They would pull everything out of the houses and even though the Department used to build those nice pot bellied heaters in the middle of the lounge room area, they used to just build fires all over the floors to do their cooking and keep them warm.

Well the government clearly fails to understand their shelter requirements

yes. and they identified that about 10 years ago. so they asked the cherbourg community of what they wanted in houses. And some of them said, well i've got 15 kids, so I need 16 rooms. So there are some absolutely monstrous houses out there. The govt cottoned on to this a little while later, and the company that does the housing now do basically kit homes, they lay the slab and truck the house into cherbourg and bolt it down essentially. After the slab is layed, its then totally turn key in 1 day - except for electricity etc. These houses are inferior to the existing homes and the limit on new homes is now 15 a year - so they're doing less destroying apparently.

wtf? You should get 1 house, and if you destroy it, you should then have zero houses.

i agree trog - but it doesn't seem it works that way. Its so crap - the government shells out all this money to them but i still have to go out to far away govt offices to look after their 4 year old dying PCs that they have no funds to replace.

Thanks for the link Trog.

but what about if your cousin destroys your house, do you get another one since it wasn't you?

you get a new house regardless.

wtf? You should get 1 house, and if you destroy it, you should then have zero houses.

That made me laugh.

Abo gaza strip, there used to be a street like that in Deception Bay when I did the paper run... an entire section of housing comission houses... got bottles pelted at you, attacked by gangs of youths and chased by big ass dogs that weren't tied up.

When I come to think of it, all of Deception Bay was nearly like that.

These houses are inferior to the existing homes and the limit on new homes is now 15 a year

urr... 15 per family / person?

WTF?

nope, 15 for the town
and thats a town of about 2000 people

inappropriate housing for aboriginal families ftw (hint: think about being offered a tent as an unemployed whitey)

abo sympathiser itt

i'm not catchin what you're saying persay
can ya break it down for me?

wtf? You should get 1 house, and if you destroy it, you should then have zero houses.

hahaha That's the most logical maths I've seen in a while

Well last i remembered (that would be recently as i do live in Cherbourg) there isn't a place called "gaza strip" but there are a few other names around the community. I also don't think just any "White person" would get treated the way you described, but one that would be "Racist" and deserved to be bottled maybe? you tell me......

Not trying to be smart or any-thing but just trying to protect my culture, as we are one of the oldest living cultures in the world, we also not only had our country taken off us but we went through hell as a race, and looks like we still are.

The reason we can't live in small houses is because we do have big families (as we are family orientated) and traditionally our people used to live off the land. Last but not least the GOVERNMENT owes us money, you should study history and learn about "Stolen Wages" our ancestors worked their butts off for 'White people' and they never got a cent, in fact all that hard earned money built hospitals and roads and everything else so that "white peole" could live in comfort.

So next time you want to talk about Cherbourg peole or my people, study your history.....

To all racist people out there, thanks for saying "SORRY" and i hope you all have a nice day :-)

I was tempted to wait until everyone else posted first to read the no doubt hilarious responses to "cherbourg girl".

I didn't know it was ok to throw bottles at "racist" people like you said?

To all racist people out there, thanks for saying "SORRY" and i hope you all have a nice day :-)

What the hell does that even mean?

What the hell does that even mean?

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/02/12/2159248.htm

The Australian Government is saying sorry....

I'm not racist, I just hate f*****s.

The Australian Government is saying sorry....

I was refering to the whole statement.

meh, it's a fake account anyway. sif they can afford computers and internets in cherbourg.

ORANGE





SHERBERT

i ain't apologising to anyone i don't know. f*** that.

we also not only had our country taken off us

f***in boo hoo, nothing we can do about it now. not like we would even if we could

get over it

meh, it's a fake account anyway. sif they can afford computers and internets in cherbourg.

You forgot to mention that even if they could afford a computer AND could afford internets they would just spam "Can I've a dollar bruddah?" everywhere they post.

we also not only had our country taken off us

This is one thing I have no empathy for. You were conquered by a superior race/culture whatever. That's how things worked back then. It's not their fault that aboriginals hadn't invented gunpowder.

The reason we can't live in small houses is because we do have big families

It's called birth control. Do try it.

in fact all that hard earned money built hospitals and roads and everything else so that "white peole" could live in comfort.

Last time I checked those roads and hospitals were available to everyone. Also correct me if I am wrong but don't aboriginals get added government health benefits over white australians?

When do the cries for compensation and handouts end?

Is it possible that one day in the future our fellow indigenous Australians will function practically in society or should we expect their hand wringing to go on until the end of time?

I had to laugh when I saw one of the Boori elders outside Parliement House say "Once we have this apology from PM Rudd, we can all move forward as a nation".

What he REALLY meant to say was "Once we have this apology from PM Rudd, you whitey's can continue making things better, faster and stronger and we will continue to sit in parks where your kids go, sniffing paint out of a Gatorade bottle and smashing headstones in your white cemetaries, so we can make fire pits and seats out of them."

And yes, I have seen both of those things with my own eyes. Go for a walk through Townsville Cemetary one day. It'll make your blood boil.

as we are one of the oldest living cultures in the world,

I am sure in the dreamtime your people were

sniffing paint out of a Gatorade bottle and smashing headstones in your white cemetaries,

And yes, I have seen both of those things with my own eyes. Go for a walk through Townsville Cemetary one day. It'll make your blood boil.

Blood is basically a water solution. The dissolved solutes are more complex than a simple NaCl solution, but the principle of boiling point elevation (and freezing point depression) should still apply. The salt (NaCl) concentration of blood is 0.9%. This is approximately 0.154 moles of NaCl per kilogram (litre), or 0.308 moles of dissolved solute per liter. This should result in a boiling point elevation of a whopping 0.158 degrees centigrade.

You forgot to mention that even if they could afford a computer AND could afford internets they would just spam "Can I've a dollar bruddah?" everywhere they post.

Hey, this scam works.

There used to be a few old Aboriginals that would hang around Burpengary train station (which had a bottle shop JUST across the road). The parents would send multiple kids around, asking for SMALL amounts ("I only need 20/50 cents to buy my train ticket") and nearly 100% of people obligued.

You have 5 really young kids doing this non-stop, getting a $1 in change every 5 minutes and the parents were drinking VB tallies non-stop.

Saw them practically everyday for 2 years everytime I went to uni... the kids would get the silver coins and run them back to the drinkers.

And yes, I have seen both of those things with my own eyes.

ditto

All I'm gonna say is that I was having a crap day until I stumbled upon this thread. Thanks for giving me the best laugh I have had in ages :)

You people all just got trolled. That's right "You people". We're done here.