Cherbourg QLD, 2014

NCIG’s first community visit was to Cherbourg, QLD, to discuss historical blood samples, donor choices, and genomic research, guided by Mick Gooda and in partnership with Mrs Lesley Williams.

Queensland and Visits to community

Cherbourg is a settlement to which Aboriginal people were forcibly removed from all over Queensland and northern New South Wales, from the late 1890s onwards.  Today it is the fourth largest aboriginal community in Queensland.  NCIG holds samples in its collection from Cherbourg and it was the first community visited by NCIG.  NCIG Board Chair at the time, Mick Gooda, led the delegation and we worked closely with Mrs Lesley Williams, who with her sister was instrumental in the establishment of the Ration Shed Museum.  The purpose of the visit was to explore the nature of conversations that would be appropriate when visiting communities in general to talk about the historical blood samples, invite donor decisions about their samples, and explain the potential benefits and risk of genomic research.  To date, NCIG has not formally approached any communities in Queensland regarding their wishes with regard to their samples in the NCIG Collection.