Our Shared History: Resistance and Reconciliation

CQU Noosa campus 11 June 2015

Libby Connors University of Southern Queensland

Whose Law? The Gubbi Gubbi attack on the crew of the Thomas King

Libby Connors University of Southern Queensland Dundalli

Deserves to be as well known as Pemulwuy, Yagan, Jandamarra

Who was he?

• Law man of the Dalla – Sunshine Coast hinterland Law man

• Accused of • Attack on William Vant Durundur (Woodford) 1843 • Attack on New German mission at Burpengary 1845 • Attack on Gregor’s Forgie Station Oct 1846 (near Caboolture, foothills of Mt Mee) • Attack on Three sawyers at Whiteside Station 1847 (Pine Rivers District) • Death of Charles Gray 1849 at • Challenging naturalist Frederick Strange to a duel 1851 • Attack on Cash & surveying party 1852 (Cash’s Crossing) Law man

• In only one of these did he wield a spear – Vant • In only three of these did anyone die • However official blamed sawyers for their fate; some settlers acknowledged Gray probably contributed to his own death. • Not so Forgie Station: death of pastoralist and death of female servant • Huge emotional impact on white community;

Law man

• There is evidence that Dundalli was directing proceedings at three of these attacks and was a leading player in other events • Became the target for white community anger Settler response to attacks

• Calls for war against all Aboriginal people • Determination to see Aboriginal men hanged for these attacks British law’s response to attacks

• Many trials & police killings: • Constable 1847, 5 years hard labour • Killing of Millbong Jemmy for reward 1846 • Killing of Jacky Jacky 1846 evading police capture • Killing of Oumulli 1848 evading police capture • Mickaloe 1851 Sentenced to death – reprieved May 1852 • Tinkabed 1852, 5 years hard labour • Mickaloe 1853, discharged by proclamation • Mickie 1853, Death recorded – reprieved - 7 years hard labour Anger over ineptitude of British law

• Settler frustration that no one had officially been hanged for Gregor attack. • Mickaloe’s repeated release contributed to the pressures to arrest and try Dundalli in 1854 • Lack of mercy shown in his sentencing & execution Queen St, . • Last public hanging in Qld and possibly NSW January 1855 Mickaloe

• Mickaloe’s story important part of Dundalli’s fate but also as an illustration of Aboriginal law. Who was Mickaloe?

• Youthful appearance • Many names • Confident, young warrior • Knew James Davis/Duramboi well • Described as from Wide Bay = Gubbi Gubbi man • Acolyte – looked up to Dundalli • Had a brother = Burra. Supreme Court on circuit

• Brisbane Assize November 1851 • Mickaloe found guilty of the murder of sawyers in 1847 • Sentenced to death • Judge calls for further police investigations because of doubts about his identity • Held in Brisbane Gaol awaiting decision

1st Brisbane Gaol 1850-59. Formerly female factory in convict days. SLQ Gubbi Gubbi sovereignty

• no effective land route to Brisbane • Maryborough reached only by sea • Gubbi Gubbi & fighting pastoralists to their west • 1852 controlled all the coastal lands between Brisbane and Maryborough • Word that Mickaloe was to be hanged reaches Gubbi Gubbi by April 1852 Fate of barque Thomas King

Wrecked en route to Manilla

• Cato’s Reef near Keppel Bay on 17 April 1852 • Captain = James Walker, • Walker, five crew and one passenger set out in a small boat for the south to try to reach and organise a rescue Trading barque at an Asian Port Tasmanian State Library, AUTAS001125294629 Wreck of Thomas King Shipwreck survivors on Cooloola Coast

• land near Inskip Peninsular • find water then proceed to Double Isl point • boat fails • proceed on foot along Teewah coast Sunshine Coast Daily 7 Oct 2014 Cooloola Coast

• Severely sunburnt – try to walk evenings • 9pm pass an Aboriginal camp on the beach • Aboriginal people afraid of them • Walker and party keep walking. • Aboriginal men send women away. 2 or 3 men then rob crew of provisions and some clothes Noosa River

• Reach Noosa R next evening – proceed upstream looking for a crossing • Come across another Aboriginal camp which feeds the crew; provides canoes to row them cross the river • Aboriginal men send women away then stole money jewelry papers watch and clothes South of Noosa River

• 2 hours further south, perhaps near Peregian, large party of Aboriginal men warn Europeans to turn around & go back to Noosa River • They refuse, one of the crew is assaulted • Aboriginal men depart as thunder storm breaks • Walker orders his men to proceed in the rain Significance of the warning

• Walker believe men were going to assault them. Reason for their aggression? • Aboriginal men had gesticulated a hanging: • ‘after they robbed us, they put their hands about their necks, and then pointed upwards, representing a man hanging by the neck’ • Trying to explain that Burra, brother of Mickaloe, knew his brother had been sentenced to death and was on his way with a party of armed warriors. Burra & Dulingbara knew Mickaloe had been sentenced to death

• Determined to avenge his brother’s death according to the dictates and obligations of Aboriginal law • Someone had sent word to Burra that a group of unarmed whites were travelling south along the coast. • Burra had gathered a group of kin together and sought out the shipwreck party. • Mickaloe was in fact still alive. • Officials still prevaricating over his fate Near Mt Coolum

• See Burra and 40 men approach with spears • Walker ordered his men to head for thick scrub near brow of a hill Near Mt Coolum

• Walker could hear his men being assaulted & then their moans as they died through the night • He spends the night in the scrub in water up to his knees • Believed he was the only one to survive Walker continues south alone

• Walks for 2 days and 2 nights • Difficulty crossing Maroochy River • Becoming delirious; crosses 2 small rivers in 2 days • Blocked by large river – possibly Pumicestone Passage

Looking across Pumicestone Passage from Bribie Isl, Sunshine Coast Libraries Rescued by 2 Aboriginal women

• Near Aboriginal women find him and feed him • Provide him with a hut and possum skin rug • Tend his wounds • When well enough they take him across Pumicestone Passage in their canoes Finds his way to another Aboriginal village

• Possibly permanent village at Sandstone Point • Aboriginal people point the way to Brisbane but Walker gets lost and returns • Seaman Sherry arrives at the same camp – had survived the onslaught at Mt Coolum • Aboriginal people cared for him and brought him via the inland route to Toorbul Point Aboriginal people lead him to Brisbane

• After 3 days the chief takes them on an arduous overnight journey to Aboriginal camp at Breakfast creek. • While recuperating Brisbane hospital Walker learned that his men back on Cato Isl had been rescued by a passing whaler and were all safely back in Sydney Brisbane authorities launch search party for any remaining survivors

• White men set up camp at Bribie Isl • Aboriginal “guides” head north to learn of fate of remaining Europeans

• Return with some of their property Nicker, one of the • Second rescue expedition heads out Aboriginal from Caloundra a few weeks later guides, and recovers bodies in June photograph ed at • Burra comes in to Caloundra base Durundur in camp where Aboriginal women from the 1860s Brisbane berate him for acting pre- emptorily conclusion

• Communal & democratic nature of Aboriginal law • Law is proof of sovereignty • System of law = system of governance • British settlers knew of Aboriginal law and feared payback. • Despite this knowledge there were no attempts at negotiation or at making any treaties • Killing of Dundalli did not destroy Aboriginal belief in their sovereignty or their law conclusion

• Gubbi Gubbi control of lands Brisbane to Wide Bay well into the 1850s • Whites control only small pockets even after 1859 when Queensland separates and becomes a self-governing colony of the British empire sources

• J. H. Walker, The Wreck, the Rescue and the Massacre, London: Wesleyan Conference Office, 1875. • J.J. Knight , In the Early Days, Brisbane: Sapsford, 1898 2nd ed. • Moreton Bay Courier, 5 & 19 June 1852.