In 2024, State Library was honoured to receive the Home to Bilo Campaign collection as a donation.
This collection documents the determined grass roots campaign undertaken between 2018-2022 by a dedicated group of Biloela residents and refugee and asylum seeker advocates, who organised and mobilised to fight for the Nadesalingam family - a Sri Lankan family of Tamil asylum seekers, to be returned to their adopted hometown.
Placards and posters including the Home to Bilo campaign cockatoo logo, Acc. 34882 Home to Bilo Campaign collection, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland
Led by campaign organisers Angela Fredericks, Bronwyn Dendle and Simone Cameron, the campaign group advocated tirelessly for Nades Murugappan, Priya Nadesalingam and their young daughters Kopika and Tharnikaa, who were forcibly removed from their Biloela home by Australian Border Force officers in March 2018.
Placards and posters from the Home to Bilo campaign, Acc. 34882 Home to Bilo Campaign collection, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland
Four long years of detention and separation followed the family's removal. After 18 months of detention in Melbourne, nearly two years on Christmas Island and another year in community detention in Perth, the family was finally granted bridging visas enabling their return to Biloela in 2022, followed by permanent residency visas in August 2022.
The collection contains posters and placards created for demonstrations, photographs, correspondence, letters of support sent to the campaign and to the family, and other documents related to the Home to Bilo Campaign group's protest and support activities.
Costume made by Priya for Book Week while the family was isolated in detention on Christmas Island, Acc. 34882 Home to Bilo Campaign collection, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland
The devastating impact of four years of separation and uncertainty is clearly shown in the photographs of the family in detention and of various protests and demonstrations.
A significant portion of the material in the collection is artwork created for or featured in a 2022 exhibition held at the Banana Shire Regional Art Gallery called Long Way Home: The Home to Bilo Story. This exhibition was a collaboration between the Home to Bilo campaign, local and national artists and the Banana Shire Regional Art Gallery as a means to support the Nadesalingam family and to tell their story.
Members of the Home to Bilo campaign team including Iain Murray, Angela Fredericks, Bronwyn Dendle and Simone Cameron, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland
The Nadesalingam family at State Library on 5 September 2025, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland
In September 2025, Queensland Theatre staged a production by Belloo Creative called Back to Bilo, and the campaign group and the Nadesalingam family travelled to Brisbane for its opening night. On the afternoon of Friday 5 September, the family, the campaign team, and Biloela friends and supporters gathered at State Library to see the collection in its new home, and to reflect on their remarkable accomplishment.
Family and supporters looking at the collection in the State Library boardroom, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland
The collection represents a significant Queensland story but more importantly, forms a testimony to the power of community and the value of persistence and compassion in effecting change. Now preserved and accessible for future generations, the collection can be found in State Library's One Search catalogue here:
Collection: Acc. 34882 Home to Bilo Campaign collection.
The campaign website has also been archived: Home to Bilo.
Robyn Hamilton
Lead Collection Building, Queensland Memory.
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