Bilin Bilin, (“many parrots”) a “well-known and well-respected” indigenous man in the Logan district, to read and write. He was also known as Jackey Jackey or King of the Logan and Pimpama. He was born in the early 1800s and became a leader of the Yugambeh people around 1863 and in 1875 was given a brass “king plate”. He was a diplomat who “demanded equality of wages for his people” and is credited with aiding the survival of the early explorers and settlers to the Logan district.
The Aborigines Protection Act of 1897 saw the removal of most of the remaining Yugambeh people from their land to Aboriginal missions and reserves throughout Queensland, but Bilin Bilin resisted pressure to move until the late 1890s, when old age forced him to relocate to the mission at Deebing Creek (now known as Purga Mission), where he passed away in 1901. A family reunion in 1987 resulted in a gathering of over 300 of his descendants. (Source: http://www.reconciliation.org.au/) |
A resident at Deebing Creek in the late 1890s, Bilin Bilin who was well-known and well-respected in the general Logan area. Born in the early 1800s, he became a leader of the Yugambeh people about 1863. Bilin Bilin appears to have moved widely through the area as many people recalled meeting him, usually referring to him as Jackey Jackey. He spent time with Pastor Haussmann at Bethesda Mission near Beenleigh. Haussmann taught Bilin Bilin to read and write and said that he recognised him as an important man among his people. Bilin Bilin's brother Mark was a good singer. In 1864, the settlers of Waterford were invited to a corroboree and Mark entertained their guests by singing an English song. Around 300 Aborigines from Pimpama, Coomera and Tambourine also attended the corroboree which was held in a paddock at Hinchcliffes property Broomhill - their usual camping place. In 1875, Bilin Bilin was given a kingplate which stated that he was King of the Logan and Pimpama. In 1887, he was granted a free pass on the new railway to visit his married daughter at Beaudesert. One settler F.W. Hinchcliffe recalled that Bilin Bilin and Minnippi (whose kingplate said King of Tingalpa) were returning from a visit to Brisbane but when they reached the north side of Waterford, Minnippi became ill. They both took shelter in a disused building which had been Edens hotel, but Minnippi died a few days later and Bilin Bilin buried him at night in an unknown location.
As Bilin Bilin grew older, the Chief Protector Archibald Meston pressured him to live in an Aboriginal reserve but he preferred to remain in the Logan area. Hinchclife said that Billy, King of the Albert, had told him that he and Jacky were too old to travel about and Mr Meston had at last caught them to go to Deebing. Photographs taken shortly before he died show Bilin Bilin at Deebing Creek, a long way from his own land but still wearing his kingplate. (Source: http://www.logan.qld.gov.au/) |
The Aboriginal regard for the nuts was evident from many records that show they were an early item of trade with European settlers. Probably the first commercial marketer was an Aboriginal entrepreneur, Bilin Bilin, head of the Yugimbah people whose area was the Tweed River to Beenleigh. From the mid-1850s he organised his people to collect the nuts and, building on his relationship with European settlers and missionaries, he traded them for tomahawks, rum, tobacco and other items. The town of Bilinga on the Gold Coast was probably named for his contribution to the work of the great surveyor, Francis Roberts, who surveyed the Queensland/New South Wales border in 1863. In 1875 Bilin Bilin received a breast plate from the Queensland government and the title of ‘Jackey Jackey King of the Logan and Pimpama’.
(Source: www.heritageaustralia.com.au)
(Source: www.heritageaustralia.com.au)