Mona Mona
The former Seventh-day Adventist mission, established around 1913 near Kuranda at Mona Mona, operated until 1962, when plans to build a dam on Flaggy Creek, which flowed through the mission, would have flooded the site. The closure saw the residents forcibly relocated to Kuranda, Mantaka, Kowrowa, Koah, Mareeba, Cairns and locations further afield, including Palm Island and Woorabinda.
Large numbers of Djabugay people were forcibly relocated to the mission, and were subsequently joined by remnants of the Kuku Yalanji, Muluridji, Buluwai, Yirrgay, Gunggay, Yidindji, Ngadjan, Mbabaram, Djirubal, Ewamin and Wakaman people, as well as survivors from tribes further up the cape. The mission's location in Djabugay country meant that the whole population was regarded as Djabugay — today, their children and grandchildren may identify as Mona Mona Descendants.
Mona remained almost self-sufficient — growing its food and cutting and milling timber — until World War II. After the war, soil fertility deteriorated and increasing costs made the mission increasingly unviable.
When the proposed dam was not built, some former residents returned to Mona Mona. The Queensland Government gave local Indigenous people a 30-year lease over 1,600 hectares of the mission site in 2010.
Sources:
Buluwai Indigenous Corporation: Mona Mona Descendants: https://buluwai.org/content/uploads/Mona-Mona-Descendants.pdf
Find & Connect: Mona Mona Mission: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/entity/mona-mona-mission/
Wikipedia: Mona Mona Aboriginal Mission: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Mona_Aboriginal_Mission
