Hull River Settlement Monument (Mija Memorial)Print Page

Also known as the Mija Memorial, it commemorates the victims of the 1918 cyclone which destroyed the Hull River Aboriginal Settlement.

The Mija Project, built on traditional country belonging to the Djiru Aboriginal people, was established to provide a permanent keeping place for the story of the settlement and its inhabitants and also a memorial to the Aboriginal people who were forcibly sent there and who died during the cyclone and also from disease.

The Hull RIver Mission was established in 1914 (Mission Beach derives it name from this) and destroyed in the 1918 cyclone. The storm surge at Mission Beach swept hundreds of metres inland. The cyclone is widely regarded as the worst cyclone to hit a populated area of Queensland and it is thought that up to 100 aborigines may have died. With the destruction of the Hull River Settlement the authorities decided to relocate the people to Great Palm Island off Townsville. The surviving materials from Hull River were taken to Palm Island to establish the Reserve there and for many years people from the Tully and Cardwell areas were relocated to Palm Island.
 

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