Of Southern Queensland Journals

Aboriginal 'resistance war'tactics-'The Black War'of southern Queensland Journals

Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal

HOME ABOUT LOGIN REGISTER SEARCH CURRENT ARCHIVES ANNOUNCEMENTS

Aboriginal ‘resistance war’ tactics – ‘The Black War’ of southern Queensland

Raymond Constant Kerkhove

ABSTRACT

Frontier violence is now an accepted chapter of Australian history. Indigenous resistance is central to this story, yet little examined as a military phenomenon (Connor 2004). Indigenous military tactics and objectives are more often assumed than analysed.

Building on Laurie’s and Cilento’s contentions (1959) that an alliance of Aboriginal groups staged a ‘Black War’ across southern Queensland between the 1840s and 1860s, the author seeks evidence for a historically definable conflict during this period, complete with a declaration, coordination, leadership, planning and a broader objective: usurping the pastoral industry.

As the Australian situation continues to present elements which have proved difficult to reconcile with existing paradigms for military history, this study applies definitions from guerilla and terrorist conflict (e.g. Eckley 2001, Kilcullen 2009) to explain key features of the southern Queensland “Black War.”

The author concludes that Indigenous resistance, to judge from southern Queensland, followed its own distinctive pattern. It achieved coordinated response through inter-tribal gatherings and sophisticated signaling. It relied on economic sabotage, targeted payback killings and harassment. It was guided by reticent “loner-leaders.” Contrary to the claims of military historians such as Dennis (1995), the author finds evidence for tactical innovation. He notes a move away from pitched battles to ambush affrays; the development of full-time ‘guerilla bands’; and use of new materials.

FULL TEXT: PDF HTML

REFERENCES A = The Australian

BC = Brisbane Courier

BFP&MJ = Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal

C = The Courier (Brisbane)

Cap = Capricornian (Rockhampton)

CC = Cornwall Chronicle (Launceston)

CM = Courier Mail

CQH = Central Queensland Herald

CQH = Central Queensland Herald (Rockhampton)

CT = Coburg Leader

CT = Colonial Times (Hobart)

E = Empire (Sydney)

FJ = Freeman’s Journal (Sydney)

GAA = Geelong Advertiser & Intelligencer MB = Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton)

MBC = Moreton Bay Courier

MM&HRGA = Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser

NT = Northern Times

NT = Northern Times (Newcastle)

NWC = North Western Courier

Q = The Queenslander

QH = Queensland Herald (Rockhampton)

QT = Queensland Times (Ipswich)

RRHNDA = Richmond River Herald & Northern Districts Advertiser

RRHNDA = Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser

SM = Sunday Mail (Brisbane)

SMH = Sydney Morning Herald

WCGACWD = Western Champion & General Advertiser for the Central-Western Districts (Barcaldine)

Bartley, N., 1892, ‘Blackfellow Criminals,’ The Queenslander (Brisbane), Saturday 11 June 1892 p. 1130

______, 1896, Australian Pioneers & Reminiscences, Brisbane: Gordon & Gotch

Behnke, S., 2010?, The Savage Kaldadoons, http://www.gattonmurders.com/thekalkadoons.pdf, accessed30/6/2014

Berndt, RM & C H Berndt, 1989, The Speaking Land: Mythology and Story in Aboriginal Australia Ringwood: Penguin

Blomfield, G., 1986, Baal Bellbora: The End of the Dancing Chippendale: APCOL

Bond, A., 2009, The Statesman, The Warrior and the Songman Nambour: Alex Bond

Bottoms, T., 2013, Conspiracy of Silence: Queensland’s Frontier Killing Times London: Allen & Unwin

Campbell, J., 1936, The Early Settlement of Queensland, Brisbane: Bibliographic Society of Queensland

Campbell-Praed, R, 1902, My Australian Girlhood : Sketches and impressions of bush life, Fisher Unwin, London

Cassidy, Lieutenant Colonel Robert M. Winning the War of the Flea Lessons from Guerrilla Warfare, Military Review Sept-Oct 2004, 41-46

Cilento R., & Clem Lack, 1959, Triumph in the Tropics- An Historical Sketch of Queensland Brisbane, Smith & Patterson

Clark, W., 1912, Explorer Walker – Organiser and First Commandant of the Native Police, The Brisbane Courier 28 December 1912 p 10

Collins, P., 2002, Goodbye Bussamarai: The Manandanji Land War, Southern Queensland 1842-1852 St Lucia: Uni of Qld

Connor J., 2002, The Australian Frontier Wars 1788-1838 Sydney: UNSW

Darragh T A & Roderick J Fensham (eds), 2013, The Leichhardt diaries Early Travels in Australia during 1842-1844, Memoirs of the Queensland Museum Culture Vol 7 (1) Brisbane

Dennis, P., Heffrey Grey, Ewan Morris, Robin Prior, John Connor, 1995 ‘Aboriginal Armed Resistance to White Invasion’, The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History Melbourne: Oxford Uni

Dutton, G., 1985 The Squatters, Ringwood: Viking O'Neal

Eckley W., ‘Guerrilla Warfare,’ 2001, John Powell, ed., Magill’s Guide to Military History Vol 2 Salem: Corunna-Janissaries Salem, 636-9

Evans, R., 2002, ‘Against the Grain: Colonialism and the Demise of the Bunya Gatherings, 1839-1939,’ Queensland Review No.9:2, Nov 2002, 47-64.

Evans, R & Bill Thorpe, 2001, ‘Indigenocide and the Massacre of Aboriginal History,’ Overland 1993: 21-39.

Foley, D., 2007, ‘Leadership: the Quandary of Aboriginal Societies in Crisis 1780-1830, and 1966,’ in Ian Macfarlan, & Mark Hannah, Transgressions: critical Australian Indigenous Histories, Canberra: ANU Aboriginal History Monograph No.1

Grey, J.,A, 1999,‘The Military and the Frontier, 1788-1901,’ in Jeffery Grey, A Military History of Australia New York: Cambridge University

Grill, J.P.H., 2001, ‘Military intelligence,’ Ed John Powell, Magill’s Guide to Military History Vol 2 Corunna-Janissaries Salem Pasadena 2001 info 742-6

Guthrie M., 1927, "By the Pleasant Watercourses." The Brisbane Courier 19 March 1927 p 23

Harrison, R., 2002, Australia's Iron Age: Aboriginal post-contact metal artefacts from Old Lamboo Station, Southeast Kimberley, Western Australia, Australasian Historical Archaeology Vol. 20, pp. 67-76

Hoff, J., 2010, Rev Ed., Bandjalung Jugun: Bandjalung Country Lismore: Richmond River Historical Society

Hunt, J. 1933, A Wayside Cemetery – Where Pioneers Sleep, The North Western Courier 4 September 1933 p 14

Jones, E., 1989, The Story of the Falling Star Canberra: Aboriginal Studies

Jones , P., 2007 Ochre and rust: artefacts and encounters on Australian frontiers Kent Town: Wakefield

Karskens G., 2011, Red coat, blue jacket, black skin: Aboriginal men and clothing in early New South Wales, Aboriginal History Vol 35 (ANU)

Kerkhove, R., comp, 2012, The Great Bunya Gathering – Early Accounts Maleny: Pemako/ Ray Kerkhove

Kerwin, D., 2010, Aboriginal heroes: epidsodes in the colonial landscape, Queensland Historical Atlas http://www.qhatlas.com.au/content/aboriginal-heroes-episodes- colonial-landscape

Kilcullen, D., 2009, The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One Oxford: Oxford University Press

Knight, J J , In the Early Days – XI. The Birth and Growth of Brisbane and Environs. Bold Speculators, The Queenslander 27 February 1892 p 402

______, In the Early Days, The Brisbane Courier 10 November 1892 p 2

Kohen, J. L., 2005, 'Pemulwuy (1750–1802)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/pemulwuy-13147/text23797, published in hardcopy 2005, accessed online 14 June 2014

Kolberg, n/d Early Brisbane History Vol. 1, Zillmere Library (Local Studies) mss

Lack, C., 1938, ‘When Black Men Routed the Whites: A Pitched Battle of the Early Days, and something about ‘Tinker’Campbell’s Adventures’, The Courier Mail, 16 April 1938, 7.

Langevad, G., 1982,. (ed.),‘Some Original Views around Kilcoy, Queensland Ethnohistory Transcripts Bk 1:The Aboriginal Perspective Vol1:1, p. 5

Lergessner J. G, 2007, Death Pudding: The Kilcoy Massacre Kippa Ring: James Lergessner

Laurie, A., 1959, 'The Black War in Queensland, ' Royal Historical Society of Qld Journal Vol.1: No.1, September 1959, 157f

______, 1959, The Black War in Queensland mss, Fryer Library, Brisbane,

Lowe, D., 1994, Forgotten Rebels: Black Australians who Fought Back Sydney: ICS & Associates

McConnel, A J ‘On Blacks’ MSS 89/206, Fryer Library

______, 1932, Some Old Stations No 2 Brisbane Courier, 30 Jan 1932 p 19

McNab, C, 2010, The Native America Warrior 1500-1890 (Warriors of the World series) London: Amber

McKinnon, F., 1933, Early Pioneers of the Wide Bay and Burnett, Read at a meeting of the Historical Society of Queensland, on June 27, 1933, 90-97

Nut Quad The Contemplation of Contrasts, The Brisbane Courier 8 July 1911, p 13

Parry, N., ‘Hanging no good for blackfellow: Looking into the life of Musquito, 2007, in Ian Macfarlan, & Mark Hannah, eds, Transgressions: critical Australian Indigenous Histories, ANU Aboriginal History Monograph No.16, 153-174

Petrie, CC., 1904, Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences of Early Queensland Brisbane: Watson, Ferguson & Co

Prentis, M., 1975, A Study in Black and White: The Aborigines in Australian History Sydney: Metheun Australia

Reynolds, H., 1982 The Other Side of the Frontier Melbourne: Penguin

______2013, Forgotten War Sydney: New South Richards, J., 2008, The Secret War: A True History of Queensland’s Native Police, St Lucia: University of Queensland Press

Roberts, J., 1981, Massacres to Mining: The Colonisation of Australia Dove

Russell, H., 1888, The Genesis of Queensland, Sydney: Turner & Henderson

Ryan, L., 1981, The Aboriginal Tasmanians St Lucia: Uni of Qld

Schmidt, K.W E, 1842, Report of an Expedition to the Bunya Mountains in Search of a Suitable Site for a Mission Station, Acc 3522/71 in Box 7072, JOL.

Sheaffe, S.,, 2005, Dundalli – resistance fighter or murder, Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland Vol.19:3, August 2005, 680-700

Smith, K.V., 2010, Mari Nawi – Aboriginal Odysseys Rosenberg Dural

Steele, J.G. 1975.Brisbane Town in Convict Days 1824-1842, Brisbane, University of Queensland Press

Summer, H J 100 Years Of History In Newstead House Quadrilles—and A Snake In Vice-Regal Bed, The Courier-Mail 14 December 1946 p 2;

Sutton, P., 2008 Stories about feeling: Dutch-Australian Contact in Cape York Penninsula, 1606-1756, in Peter Veth, Peter Sutton & Margo Neale, Strangers on the Shore: Early Coastal Contacts in Australia Canberra; National Museum of Australia

Wales, M., 2000, ‘Shepherds on the Stanley,’ in Fisher R. & Jennifer Harrison, 2000, Brisbane: Squatters, Settlers and Surveyors Brisbane History Group Papers No 16, Brisbane

Wilton, E., 2001, ‘Guerrilla Warfare,’ in John Powell, Magill’s Guide to Military History Vol 2 Corunna-Janissaries Salem Pasadena 2001, 637

Windschuttle, K.,, 2004, Guerrilla Warrior and Resistance Fighter? The Career of Musquito Labour History No. 87 (Nov., 2004), pp. 221-235

PDF HTML

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5130/ccs.v6i3.4218

Share this article:

ISSN: 1837-5391

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Browse

BY ISSUE BY AUTHOR

Information

FOR READERS

FOR AUTHORS FOR LIBRARIANS

Notifications

User Username

Password

Remember me

Make a Submission

UTS: Library Contact Southern Queensland, 1842-1852 by Patrick Collins. Bussamarai was a powerful resistance leader whose influence spread across five Aborig inal nations. Like the legendary Pemulwuy, Yagan... This is the introduction and bibliography to Goodbye Bussamarai: The Mandandanji Land War. Southern Queensland, 1842-1852 by Patrick Collins. Bussamarai was a powerful resistance leader whose influence spread across five Aboriginal nations. Like the legendary Pemulwuy, Yagan or Jandamara, he fought for the survival of his people, the Mandandanji of southern Queensland. Their homeland bordered northern New South Wales and its infamous sites of Aboriginal massacre and frontier warfare: Myal Creek, Slaughterhouse Creek and Waterloo Creek. Black war the destruction of the tasmanian aborigines. By RUNOKO RASHIDI. Dedicated to dr. gracelyn smallwood. The aboriginal inhabitants of the island were Black people who probably went there by crossing an ancient land bridge that connected Tasmania to the continent of Australia. The Black aborigines of Tasmania were marked by tightly curled hair with skin complexions ranging from black to reddish-brown. They were relatively short in stature with little body fat. They were the indigenous people of Tasmania and their arrival there began at least 35,000 years ago. Aboriginal people did not have distinct ideas of war and peace, and traditional warfare was common, taking place between groups on an ongoing basis, with great rivalries being maintained over extended periods of time.[17] The aims and methods of traditional Aboriginal warfare arose from their small autonomous social groupings. Poster issued in Van Diemen's Land during the Black War implying a policy of friendship and equal justice for white settlers and Indigenous Australians. The frontier wars were particularly bloody and bitter in Queensland, owing to its comparatively large Indigenous population. Queensland's Native Police Force was formed by the Government of New South Wales in 1848, under the well connected Commandant Frederick Walker.[72]. Major massacres[edit].