EXCLUSIVE: Divisive right-wing politician Fraser Anning denies his family has a racist past where 'blacks were hunted' and Aboriginal children enslaved on a North Queensland cattle station
- A relative of Fraser Anning's cattle farming family reportedly 'hunted blacks'
- Great-grandfather is also claimed to have taken Aboriginal children for labour
- Frank Anning was quoted in 1982 history book saying: 'catchem young'
- Sen. Fraser Anning dismissed the reports as 'nonsense' and denied allegations
- The Senator is regularly criticised for his hard-right views on immigration
- He was censured on Wednesday for comments on Christchurch terror attack
- Parliamentary colleagues called his words 'pathetic and shameful'
Australia's most divisive right-wing politician, Fraser Anning, has denied claims his family boasted about enslaving young Aboriginal children on their North Queensland cattle property.
'Catchem young' was the phrase allegedly used by Senator Anning's great-grandfather in an unpublished memoir detailing how Aboriginal children would be captured and forced to work on the family's Reedy Springs cattle station near Richmond.
Another ancestor of Senator Anning reportedly 'hunted blacks' during the early years of white settlement in the region.
The alleged racist past of the Anning family emerged as the Senator was censured by Federal Parliament on Wednesday over 'pathetic and shameful' remarks, in which he blamed the Christchurch massacre committed by a white supremacist on high levels of Muslim immigration.
Senator Anning told Daily Mail Australia the claims about his family were 'nonsense', and while acknowledging they had been printed in history books, he said: 'At no time did any of my ancestors force anyone to come on to their properties - the opposite is actually a fact'.
He also said there was 'no way' they would have attacked Indigenous Australians.
The former One Nation senator became a poster child for right-wing groups since referring to the 'final solution' – a term used in Nazi Germany to describe the extermination of Jews - in his maiden speech to Parliament in 2018.
Senator Anning used the term while calling for an end to Muslim immigration to Australia.

Fraser Anning, pictured on Instagram in front of the cattle property where he grew up, has denied claims his ancestors 'hunted blacks' and captured Aboriginal children to use as free labour during their time as pastoralists in northern Queensland

Pictured: Fraser Anning's father Bill (left) with his aunt Mary (centre) sit with grandfather Harry


William Connolly, 17, smashed a raw egg on the back of Senator Anning's head in response to his inflammatory remarks about the Christchurch shooting
Following his inflammatory Christchurch remarks, Senator Anning had a raw egg cracked over the back of his head by William Connolly, 17. He retaliated by turning and hitting the boy twice.
Senator Anning has consistently denied accusations he is a racist and doubled down ahead of his censure motion in Parliament on the need to stop 'sinister' Muslim immigration to Australia, which he blames for increasing violence and terrorism.
'What is really being censured here is not me, it is the right of anyone to say something that those in power disagree with,' he said.
Senator Anning is proud of his family's cattle farming history, and a picture from his Instagram page shows him happily posing in front of the property he grew up on at Wetherby, near Richmond.
The Anning family took over a large section of farming land in north-west Queensland when they settled in Australia in 1861. They went on to own multiple cattle stations.
But Senator Anning's happy snap from the front gate of his family farm may hide an ugly ancestral past, according to historians.
A history book published in 1982, which focused on white settlement in the late 1800s, claims the Anning family would take young Indigenous people from their families and force them to work on their cattle station.
Invasion and resistance, by historian Noel Loos, refers to excerpts of an unpublished memoir by Senator Anning's great-uncle Richard Anning, collated in a book titled: 'Sun on the Right'.
In the memoir, Richard described how his father, Frank (Fraser's great-grandfather) had captured a young boy to work on his station at Reedy Springs, using the phrase: 'catchem young' in his explanation of events.

The 69-year-old has been seen affiliating with right-wing extremists like Blair Cottrell (pictured right), and enjoys a huge wave of support from people who subscribe to far-right politics

After settling in Australia in 1861, Anning's family took over a great deal of land in northern Queensland, which they developed into multiple cattle stations. Anning grew up at Wetherby Station (pictured)

A history book alleges Senator Anning's ancestors 'hunted' Indigenous people and captured young Indigenous people so they would work on the family cattle stations, but the Queensland politician has firmly denied this ever happened (pictured: stock image of an Indigenous family in Queensland)
Another relative of the Queensland senator is accused of attacking Indigenous people nearby his cattle station, with explorer and pastoralist Frank Hann writing in his memoirs in 1874 he met John Anning who had 'just come back from hunting blacks'.
Excerpts from the memoirs were published in Aboriginal Family and the State, written by Sally Babidge, in 2010.
Senator Anning told Daily Mail Australia there were no fights between the Anning family and local Indigenous people, and his ancestors worked hard to ensure a high standard of living for those in their employ.
'I was lucky enough to know my grandfather [Harry] - he was still alive at 93,' he said.
'When I was 22 or 23, I spoke at length to him about his life in the early days. I questioned him about wars with the Aboriginies, and he said that may have been the case in some other areas, but he was busy trying to run a cattle farm.'
The former hotelier said there was no way his ancestors could have been 'hunting blacks', because they were simply too busy.
'When you're trying to run a thousand mile place with little help, you don't have time to go out hunting anyway - I'm not sure if it's happened, but it certainly never happened in our family,' he said.

The Queensland Senator is regularly criticised for his hard-right views, and espouses conservative beliefs regarding topics like abortion (pictured is a flyer for his political party, Fraser Anning's Conservative Nationals)
'In the conversations I had with my grandfather, he just laughed at suggestions anyone had thought of doing that. The blacks and whites got on very well together and it was a great relationship.'
Senator Anning also said Indigenous people would fight to get a job on one of his family's cattle stations because of the excellent conditions, and many took on the Anning name or the name of the station they were working on when the Federal Government ruled they needed to have last names.
But the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies says 'surnames were often assigned by European employers, and Aboriginal people were sometimes given their employer’s surname'.
Anning's extreme views on immigration could have been passed down from his family.
In an article written in newspaper The Barrier Miner in September 1948 - the year before Anning was born - his grandfather W.H. Anning said he'd nominated an English family to emigrate to Australia who he'd never met and even built them a house 'because he wants to bring the right type of migrants to Australia'.
Senator Anning, now 69, worked on Wetherby until he married his wife Fiona, and the pair moved into the hotel business, which they believed to be more profitable than cattle farming.
He then worked in aircraft manufacturing before returning to the hotel business, and enjoyed a brief stint in construction at the gas plants in Gladstone before launching a career in politics.
Senator Anning was sworn into federal Parliament as a Senator on a salary of $199,040 at the end of 2017, despite only securing 19 votes in the 2016 election.
He replaced One Nation's Malcolm Roberts who was disqualified over dual citizenship, but the father-of-two announced almost immediately he was leaving One Nation to stand as an Independent.
He joined Bob Katter's Australia Party shortly after, but was dumped after falling out with the outspoken Member for Kennedy.
Mr Katter told Daily Mail Australia he had known Anning 'all his life', but was never close to him.
While Katter stood by him after his controversial maiden speech, telling reporters it was 'solid gold', the veteran politician said he was unable to continue supporting Senator Anning after he made subsequent outlandish statements about immigration.
'Fraser gets started talking about Europeans and non-Europeans, and that's straight racial, and we're not a racist party,' he said, adding they were 'happier' without him.

Senator Anning left the family farm at Wetherby Station after marrying wife Fiona (pictured), and the pair began working in the hotel business

After famously leaving Pauline Hanson's One Nation party soon after he was propelled to a senate seat in place of Malcolm Roberts, Anning joined the Katter Australia Party (Bob Katter pictured left)
Since joining Parliament, Senator Anning has attracted a far-right following, with United Patriot Front leader Blair Cottrell and fellow right-winger Nick Folkes associating with him at a rally against 'African gangs' held in St Kilda in January, which he charged taxpayers $2,800 to attend.
Senator Anning justified the expense claim by saying he was there to 'represent the people of Queensland who had also been subjected to African gang violence recently'.
'I didn't see any people there who appeared to be radicals,' he said after the event. 'There were no skinheads, just ordinary working people who'd had enough.'
Fraser Anning's Conservative National Party, which was registered by the Australian Electoral Commission on Tuesday, plans to run a senate candidate in every state.
The party's official Facebook page already has 17,000 'likes' - which is a substantial increase in support on the 19 votes he received at the 2016 Federal Election.
In his speeches to Parliament, Senator Anning has called for 'lethal force' to be used against 'Sudanese gangs' by civilians, a plebiscite on who can emigrate to Australia and shared his extreme opposition to abortion in all forms.
The Senator came under fire following the Christchurch massacre when he released a statement asking: 'Does anyone still dispute the link between Muslim immigration and violence?'
He was censured for his remarks on Wednesday by all parties besides Pauline Hanson's One Nation, which abstained.

Senator Anning, pictured at the St Kilda rally, said he did not see any 'radicals' there, 'just ordinary working people who'd had enough'

Senator Anning was expelled from Katter Australia Party because of his views on immigration. Anning believes only Europeans should be able to come to Australia, which Bob Katter claims is 'racist'

Senator Anning was censured in Parliament on Wednesday following his remarks about the Christchurch terror attack, where a gunman with far-right views stormed a mosque, killing 50

Senator Anning said on social media: 'Does anyone still dispute the link between Muslim immigration and violence?'
In one of the strongest and most emotional condemnations, Western Australian Senator and respected Indigenous leader Pat Dodson said Senator Anning, through his words and actions, had 'aligned himself with the most vicious form of ethnic and racial hatred'.
'He is exonerating the murderous actions of a deranged and hate-filled killer,' he said.
'Our First Nations peoples have carried the consequences of murderous prejudice throughout our entwined history. First Nations peoples in Australia know what it's like to be powerless in the face of hateful prejudice, fanned by the illusion of superiority and the false courage created by a weapon in the hand of the oppressors.
'The murder of 50 innocent people does not just happen. It arises from the fuelling of hatred, irresponsible language and the demonising of people of colour and difference.
'It is neither fair nor honourable for that senator from Queensland to shift the responsibility of that crime to the community who were the targets.'
Before leaving the Senate on Wednesday, Senator Anning called the motion a 'blatant attack on free speech' and 'an exercise in left-wing virtue signalling of the worst sort'.
'The claim that this somehow blames the victims is absurd. My real crime, of course, is that I simply told the truth.'

Western Australian Senator and Indigenous leader Pat Dodson linked Senator Anning's comments following the Christchurch massacre to hateful rhetoric heard by Australia's Indigenous population