Maryborough City Council is reaching out to the troubled Solomon Islands as a way of helping those in need and also to say thanks for the past. It is estimated around 13,000 Kanakas were brought to Queensland through the Port of Maryborough between 1867 and 1904 to labour in the cane fields. Many of those came from the Solomon Islands.
“We can now do something to acknowledge in some way all the kanakas labourers who worked in district cane fields,” Mayor of Maryborough, Barbara Hovard said.
Through a long term partnership with Solomon Island’s capital, Honiara, Maryborough will provide operational support and training and will assist in introducing effective governance and administrative support. While the exchange program is still in its initial stages, Maryborough CEO, Noel Gorrie, said that the main priority is helping out Honiara.
“When the program is established, the main benefit we hope to draw from the exchange is an understanding of Local Government in another culture much different from ours,” he said.
Earlier this year, Noel Gorrie and Manager of Corporate Services, Peter Smith, spent two weeks in the capital. They met with the Commonwealth Local Government Forum, a group that promotes effective and democratic practices in Local Governments throughout the entire Commonwealth, joining a fact finding session on how they could assist the Solomon Islands to rebuild after recent unrest.
Noel Gorrie said that ethnic tensions have completely undermined Honiara’s Local Government system and that the entire foundations need to be rebuilt.
“Funding is the biggest issue,” he said. “New Zealand Aid (the equivalent of AusAID) has provided an interim package but more money will be needed to make real progress.”
Honiara’s Chief Clerk, Peter Hauia, spent two weeks in Maryborough during August.
“He spent a lot of time looking at our procedures and methods in all areas of Local Government, including waste management, roads and cemeteries,” Noel Gorrie said.
At the end of September, Mayor Barbara Hovard, Noel Gorrie and two other Councillors will make an official visit to Honiara to sign an official memorandum of understanding.
