Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve Story Map

Over time, conditions at Coranderrk declined due to increasing government control and pressure to close the station. 

The Board for the Protection of Aborigines (the Protection Board) exerted increasing control over the people living there and conditions deteriorated. In 1874 the Board removed John Green as manager, and a series of harsh managers were subsequently appointed.

In the 1870s and 80s, Coranderrk residents led campaigns of political activism including letter-writing, protests, and deputations to Parliament to protest the deteriorating living conditions and increasing control of the Board over their lives.67

This political action resulted in the 1881 Parliamentary Inquiry into conditions at Coranderrk.8 First Peoples gave evidence at the 1881 Coranderrk Inquiry, and this helped to stop the closure of the station.

However, First Peoples were forced off Coranderrk under various ‘Protection Acts’, particularly the Aborigines Protection Act 1886 (Vic), known as the ‘Half-Caste Act’. The Half-Caste Act forcibly removed people with mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry from Coranderrk and other missions, breaking up families and communities, and reducing the number of residents at Coranderrk significantly.

Settlers continued to advocate for the closure of Coranderrk so the land could be used by non-Indigenous farmers. From the 1890s, the Board gradually revoked, sold or leased Coranderrk land to settlers. This included 78 acres which were granted to Colin MacKenzie in 1920 for a fauna research centre, now known as Healesville Sanctuary.

Official closure of Coranderrk in 1924

The Board officially closed Coranderrk in 1924, and all but six people were sent to Lake Tyers mission.

In 1948, the government divided up the remaining reserve area for soldier settlement. No Aboriginal veterans received soldier settlement land at Coranderrk.

Wurundjeri people have successfully advocated for the return of some of the Coranderrk land. For example, in 1991 the cemetery at Coranderrk was handed back, and a further 200 acres were purchased by the Indigenous Lands and Sea Corporation, which is now managed by Wandoon Estate Aboriginal Corporation. However, to date than 10 per cent of the original reserve has been returned to First Peoples.

In the 1990s a cultural centre known as Galeena Beek was established out of a building on the Coranderrk site close to the current Healesville Sanctuary. The centre was closed down in 2000, and the building was used for private businesses and as a wedding venue until 2011 when it was left unoccupied. After much advocacy, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation obtained title to Gallena Baeek are planning to open a new Nangenala Cultural Centre in 2025.