Aboriginal bid to buy back WW2 gun land

08 Feb 2012By Stefan Armbruster

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A Queensland Aboriginal community is trying to buy back land requisitioned 70 years ago, to defend Cairns from Japanese attack.

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70 years after the army requisitioned prime real estate at Yarrabah to defend Cairns from Japanese attack, the Aboriginal community is trying to buy it back.

 

The complex of gun emplacements is heritage-listed and the site, known as False Cape, also served as a leper (lepp-er) colony in the 1800s for Chinese and Malay arrivals in Cairns.

 

A proposed development of a $40-million dollar gated community on the 120 hectare site was halted in 2008 by the federal government over concerns it could damage the Great Barrier Reef.

 

Yarrabah mayor Percy Neal told Queensland correspondent Stefan Armbruster his community has never stopped using the land and would like to officially manage it.

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