Ukerebagh Nature Reserve
Indigenous Australians
Ukerebagh was declared an Aboriginal reserve in 1927. It was gazetted as "reserved from sale for future public requirements" in 1951. Many Indigenous families were sent to Ukerebagh in the 1920s and 1930s with the intent of segregating them from the general population. They were "reliant on government rations, but supplemented their diet with fish, oysters, mud-crab, pippies, wallabies, lizards and birds".
The island remains a significant area to the local indigenous Australians. The Minjungbal people were the first people to live in the district, they spoke the Minjungbal language, a dialect of the Bundjalung. Senator Neville Bonner, the first indigenous Australian member of parliament was born under a palm tree on the island in 1922. Though the settlement was abandoned in the 1960s, Aboriginal people still visit the island regularly.
Vegetation
The island is surrounded by mangroves. There are four mangrove species in the far north east of New South Wales. Other common plants on the island include David's Heart and the Coast Hibiscus. A small patch of littoral rainforest occurs on the island.
See also
References
- ^ "Tweed Heads Historic Site and Ukerabagh Island Nature Reserve: Plan of management" (PDF). NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service (PDF). Government of New South Wales. 7 September 1999. pp. 3–4. ISBN 0-7313-6053-2. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
- ^ "Ukerabagh Island". Office of Environment & Heritage. Government of New South Wales. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
- ^ "Ukerebah / Ukerebagh Nature Reserve". Tweed Regional Museum. Retrieved 18 June 2022.