Queensland author Lesley Synge recently launched her new book, Know Their Names, at the Royal Historical Society of Queensland’s Commissariat Store.

Know Their Names concerns itself with the erasure of Aboriginal people from Australian history through examining the Queensland government’s Rewan Police Horse Breeding Station in the Central Highlands. Part I is an overview of the pastoral station founded in 1909 when the government decided that, instead of buying horses to provide transport for Queensland’s network of police stations, it would breed them on a property on Bidjara Country near Carnarvon Gorge Nature Reserve in Central Queensland. Part II presents biographical sketches of the Aboriginal workers who worked there and honours their lives and contributions to the stud. Four men – Rob, Prince Albert, Boolboora-Leo Freeman and Splinter – were key, with drovers from Woorabinda Settlement central in 1934. By delving into their backstories, writes Synge, we can ‘know their names’. In Part III, the author turns her focus to the colonial mindset of government ministers and officials in the Executive/Treasury Building in Brisbane. This is a work of engaged history with over 60 illustrations, including historic photographs and location maps.

Know Their Names is available at bookstores including Books@Stones and the Library Shop, State Library of Queensland.