The People of K’Gari/Fraser Island: Working through 250 Years of Racial Double Coding

A groundbreaking study recovers and reinterprets the history of the Badtjala people on K’gari (Fraser Island) through a personal, clan-based lens, challenging colonial narratives and asserting Indigenous sovereignty. The research, led by artist-academic Fiona Foley, traces 250 years of racial double coding—where the Butchulla people were simultaneously erased and commodified in Australian history—while emphasizing genealogy as a tool for cultural responsibility and Native Title recognition. Through archival analysis, oral histories, and artistic practice, Foley demonstrates how land claims (including the 2014 K’gari determination) restore Badtjala authority over their traditional country, countering centuries of dispossession. The accompanying film, Out of the Sea Like Cloud, further centers this local perspective within broader national and international contexts.

Foley, F. (2020). The People of K’Gari/Fraser Island: Working through 250 Years of Racial Double Coding. Genealogy, 4(3), 74. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy4030074