•11, IN THE WAKE OF THE RAFTSMEN A Survey of Early Settlement in the Maroochy District up to the Passing of "the Crown Lands Alienation Act, 1868" [PART 1] by E. G. HEAP, B.A. (Abridged from the Manuscript in the John Oxley Library) [Ml rights reserved] 1» Early Visitors Neither of the great marine explorers of Australia, James Cook and Matthew Flinders, paid mich attention to the Maroochy District on their voyages along the eastern coast. Cook, after observing the Glasshouse Mountains, commented on "several other peaked hills" to the northward of these. Cook's "low bluff point which was the south point of an open sandy bay" must have been present-day Noosa and Laguna Bay. A belief that he marked the low hills in the Coolum area on his chart as "green hills", (hence the early name for the district), cannot be sus­ tained. During his voyage in the "Investigator", Flinders did not come close enough to see the Mboloolah and Maroochy estuaries, but remarked on the "ridge of high land topped with small peaKs" which forms part of the western hinterland of the Maroochy District. T3ie first men of European extraction to penetrate the Maroochy District were itinerant ticket-of-leave men and escaped convicts. The district had more than its share of these - two tlcket-of-leave men and five convicts - between 1823 and 1840. The ticket-of-leave men were Paophlett and Parsons, two of the three men located by Oxley's expedition to Moreton Bay, who travelled through the Maroochy District while JouraeylBg to Vide Bay and returning to Stradbroke Island in 1823. In 1827 John Graham (Mollow) reached the Noosa River and lived with a Kabi tribal group.at Tewantln and on the Maroochy River until his return to Moreton Bay in 1833. Four years la^r (1831) Samuel Derrington wandered through the Maroochy District to the Burnett Riv»r District, returning to Moreton Bay in 1836. In 1829 James Davis (Dura^iol) travelled through the Maroochy District to reach Mt. Bauple. He was located by And^tew Petrie during an expedition to the Mary River in 1842, and returned with Petrie to Morettm Bay. In the same year (1829) David Bracewell (Bracefell, BracefieM, otherwla* Wandl) travelled along the usual route to Maroochy- dore and beyond, and then retueBed to Moreton Bay. Absconding again in 1831, Brace- well followed the saae route, is&til he reached the Cootharaba region, where he was adopted by the aborig^tnal warrior ^Eumtsndi. He returned to Itoreton Bay in 1837, but was off again two j&mx later, finally returning to civilisation as a result of Petrie 1842 expedition. The last of the convict viaipaxs was John Fahy (Fahey, otherwise Gilberri), who absconded froa Konaro in 1S40, aad travelled 1,000 miles to the Blackall Ranges^ where he lived with the aborigines for nearly twelve years, being recaptured in 1854. All of these tidket~of-ii.iT-a men and convicts, with the exception of John Fahy, supplied the authorities with iaforaation relating to the Maroochy District, and this knowledge was used by Andrew Petrie during his expeditions to the area. 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"•'vHoK ,^.-fi^.- ' z^-" '^t- .,.'•• ;ia?/.«"»" • IW "C \ .V»7*."V.„ .4 •CT ii0vw The actual affect of the Proclamation of 1842, however, was to create an aboriginal reserve which 'vma bounded on the north by the Maroochy River, and on the west by the Great Dividing Range, while on the east it extended to tha Pacific Ocean, as at that stage Andrew Petrie did not know whether the Buuya tree grew in the iistem part of the Maroochy district. Thirty-five years later the Douglas Government established an aboriginal reserve, at the urging of Tom Petrie, o^_Brible Island, but this was abolished two years later by the Mcllwraith Government. According to Jolllffe, Petrie had suggested a combined expedition by himself, Russell and Jolllffe, the two last-named having been on the look-out for sheep runs to the north of Brisbane. Petrie was anxious to explore further his beloved "bunnia bunnia" country. They set out from Brisbane in a ship's gig at 4.00 a.m. on 4 May 1842, and early the following aomlng they reached the mouth of the "Morouchidor", which they wanted to enter In order to brew themselves some tea. Alas, a forebidding line of breakers barred their passage, and, abandoning all thoughts of exploring the bunya country, they sailed north until they reached the Mary River. The Maroochy District was again very nearly occupied for grazing purposes when. La 18^!3, Thomas Archer, seemingly lgnoran.t ofGlpps's proclamation, and searching for more suitable sheep-raising county than Durundur, headed for the Maroochy. However, the couutrj' he saw did not please him: On reaching the banks of the river, we found that the country consisted of .