Not be interfered with

By far the most damaging part of The Act was the power to force any non-exempt Aboriginal person ‘to be removed to’ and kept within ‘the limits of any reserve’. For Norman, the threat of removal was a constant concern throughout his life.

It was common for authorities to remove, relocate and segregate Bama to locations where they would cause the least inconvenience. The land where a reserve was established was usually unsuitable for agriculture or other economic activity and was generally isolated from mainstream communities.

As the provisions of The Act were implemented political opinions from down south were being voiced. A former Premier asked if ‘the wretched remnants of an ill-treated race are to be treated as if they were worse than criminals?’

Another politician said The Act made Bama absolute slaves who ‘could do nothing without protectors, and the protectors could do just as they liked. To take them away from the bush and put them on distant reserves is everything that is stupid and bad.’

The loss of hunting habitat and the increased dependency on rations caused significant hardship to Bama. In 1901 Robert Baird wrote to a Cooktown parliamentarian suggesting that Aboriginal men be issued with rifles to hunt pigs after reports of theft caused by hunger. The idea was rejected with the Local Protector saying ‘the missionaries now on the Bloomfield are able to cope with any case of alleged starving’. Despite this reassurance, funding for the Bloomfield Mission was discontinued shortly after and the Lutheran Church withdrew from the area.

By 1902 the mission site in Bloomfield was totally abandoned, the buildings dismantled and the reserve status of the land revoked. The closest reserve for Bama of China Camp and Bloomfield was Cape Bedford Mission north of Cooktown.

In the same year the mission was dismantled a decision was made to remove ‘half-caste’ children from Bloomfield. Some children were taken as far as Durundur reserve near Brisbane; others were taken to the Yarrabah, Fraser Island and Cape Bedford Missions. As part of the assimilation process was to extinguish language it was essential to separate the children from each other.

Norman, 15 and Charles, 13 remained under observation with a 1903 police report stating they were working ‘in the claim and on the run for their father’. The Local Protector stated ‘The two Baird boys are men... and would not be interfered with’.