Despite the great determination of those living in Hollywood Camp to provide clean and safe conditions for their families, a Health Inspector’s report of May 1950 refers to the ‘non-existence of sanitary accommodation’, and in 1964 the local Council responded to complaints by town residents that the camp was an eyesore and unsanitary, by forcibly relocating the families of Hollywood to Sandy Camp (or Sandy Lands or Sandy Town) on the other side of the river. The Council installed a sewerage system in the new camp, but its outflow adjoined the camp and created a stench that affected everyone in the camp.
Plaque to mark the site of Sandy Camp
An Aboriginal Elder, Daisy Weatherall, worked with officials and Ministers to have Aboriginal people moved into properly built homes in town. However families and friends were split up in the process, and children no longer had ready access to their playmates and to the river.
Visitors can see a plaque on the corner of Mitchell Street and Whytes Road that commemorates Sandy Camp.
