A Queensland publican has received an outpouring of support after asking the government to remove new signs welcoming people to the “traditional country of the Bigambul people“.
Michael Offerdahl, who runs the Toobeah Hotel in the small town of Toobeah, near Goondiwindi, and previously fought the secret transfer of 95% of the town to the Bigambul Native Title Aboriginal Corporation, shared a photo of one of the signs on Tuesday along with an open letter to Premier David Crisafulli.
“I am formally requesting that these racial conquest signs be removed from our shire until evidence is provided to back the claim or we are formally beaten on the battlefield and forced into a treaty,” Mr Offerdahl wrote.
“I also request that schools and kindergartens immediately stop teaching inaccurate history to our children.”
In the letter he stated that the signs were historically inaccurate, and said they appeared to have been erected as a result of the decision by Goondiwindi Regional Council to “consent to a native title determination that occurred without community consultation”.
Mr Offerdahl asked for all evidence relied on to assert that Toobeah and surrounds were “Bigambul traditional country”, and a review into whether the signage complied with government policy.
“If no primary-source historical evidence exists to substantiate the claim printed on the signs, I request their immediate removal or amendment, as they misrepresent the documented cultural history of the region,” he wrote.
“Please treat this as a formal request under the principles of administrative accountability. I look forward to your response immediately. I grow tired of this weird social experiment.”
The letter was greeted with an overwhelming amount of support on social media, where many other Australians said they were sick of seeing the same thing.
“With you 100%. I’m constantly seeing signs to suburbs I’ve never heard of, I’m a 5th Gen Aussie and now I’m not recognising even historical sites or locations. No tourist will ever fathom where to go,” wrote one woman.
“I don’t know who started all this divisive crap but it needs to stop. I live in a rural town with many aboriginal people, and even they are baffled by the name changes.”
“Great to see someone challenging this nonsense,” another woman wrote.
“Should happen everywhere! Political correctness gone mad!” a third commenter said, while another wrote: “Remove them all, this is Australia.”
But some aboriginal users objected to the post, calling Mr Offerdahl a “coloniser” and an “immigrant”.
Mr Offerdahl told Noticer News he had been bullied and harassed by the police, government workers, Bigambul cultural rangers and anti-Australian activists since opposed the Bigambul claim to 210 hectares in Toobeah, which had zero indigenous residents during the last Census.
In May the Bigambul group lodged two more native title claims over almost 8,000sqkm of land in the Darling Downs region, upsetting locals who said there had been “no engagement”.
One resident, former Toowoomba mayor Paul Antonio, told The Courier Mail he had never even heard of the Bigambul people “until just a few years ago”, while others complained that the constant land claims were dividing the community.
Header image: Left, Michael Offerdahl. Right, one of the signs crossed out (supplied).
