Aboriginal-European Relations in North Queensland, 1861-1897

Aboriginal-European Relations in North Queensland, 1861-1897

This file is part of the following reference: Loos, Noel (1976) Aboriginal-European relations in North Queensland, 1861-1897. PhD thesis, James Cook University. Access to this file is available from: http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/10414 .Al30RIGINA.L-EUROP~4]\T RELJlTIOl~S IN II by NOEL AlJTIIONY LOOS B.A. (QId.), lvi.it. Qual. (James Cook) Thesis submitted as partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History at the James Cook University of North Queensland in April 1976. 387 PART III ABORIGINAL-EUROPEAN RELATIONS IN TIfE PACIFIED AREAS 38R CHi\J?TER 8 ABORIQ.INAL::.EUR.OPE1~J.T REL.A.TIONS I~r THE~ Pi\.CIFIED MtE.AS 1869-1897: THE CREATION OF A MULTI}UlCI~~ SOCIETY Until 1868, there was a state of almost complete hostility between the Aborigines of North Queensland and the invading l settlers. During 1868, the first stlccessful efforts were made to reach an acco~llodation with the Aborigines in the earliest settled parts of the I(en.:J.edy District; alld by 1869 the process h.ad spread so drwnatically that Cha/l-.les Eden 2 tenned it a lmovement t • The first recorded ex~~le of successfully Ilettil~ the· blacks in' after a period of open conflict occurred at 1,villicul1 Ch8.~tfield1 s l'Tatal D01\rnS on the Cape illver. 'VIl~en Chatfield toolc tl:le station over, he fot-1nd that it had beel1 almost untenable because of Aboriginal resistance from 1864 to 1867 but, by January 1868, he had very large numbers 3 of Aborigines peacefully settled on the run. In September 1868, tIle ....4..bori ..gines heLd been let in "at V.ane Creek fjh~:'the Belyando River,4 in Ja.nuary 1869 at Jarvisfield at the mouth of tIle Burdelcin al1d at '\Toodstock, about thirty miles south 5 west of Towllsville. George Bridgman allowed the Aborigines 1. On Larnmerriloor and Lyndll"urst amicable relations llad been established frolu tIle beginning. In most areas tl1ere was an initial period in which there was little or no violence. See ch. 4, pp. 138-9 and Bolton, A Thousand Miles Away, p. 98. 2. Eden, My Wife and I in Queensland, p. 211. 3. Vi. Chatfield, l'Iatal Do"w:ns, to P .lv1., 1301ven, 6 Jalluary 1869, encl. Q.S.A. COL/Al21, 1483 of 1869. See also Curr, The Australian Rac~, Vol. II, p. 468: Inspector Tompson and \V. Chatfield report on the Cape River Aborigil1es; P.D.T., 5 fJarch 1881, letter from Vi •.Chatfield. 4. W. Hickson, Vane Creek, to Col. Sec., 7 June 1869, Q.S.A. COL!Al27 , 2455 of 1869. 5. 1\1. \V. Reid, 'Voodstock, to Jwnes Gordon, P.Lv!., TOlvnsville, 31 March 1869, encl. Q.S.A. COL/A122, 1568 of 1869. These t"\![O stations 1!fere o'med by l=tobert T01ms & Co. 389 in to Fort Cooper, about thirty miles from Mackay in April 1869. ~s none of the neighbouring stations or plantations followed suit for over a year, he soon had all the Aborigines in the neighbourhood camped on his run v~lich induced him to apply for a reserve, a decision with far reaching consequences 6 during the 1870 1 s. By May 1869, it was claimed that the 7 Aborigines were wholly let in between Tovmsvi11e and Bowen. This ,vas an exaggeration but does indicate hO\\T tIle letting-in 'movement' had spread. At Strathdon, near Bowen, the Aborigines ,vere let in in early February 1869 and into the tOlyn, itself, 8 in early Iv.iay. The pastoralists made sure that the Aborigines understood and accepted their conditions for the new peace. Thus Hall Scott on Strathbogie near Bowen informed the government: 'We have Inade terms of friendship with the Native Blacks and have adlnitted them upon our stations'. 9 Such terms might vary lvith the landholder but, obviously, included a guarantee not to spear or disturb the cattle, or to fire the grass. On Jarvisfield and Woodstock, though the Aborigines ,tiere allo'led 'to hunt over all the country lleld by ••• TOlvns 10 & Co', their behaviour was 'without exception good'. On Strathdon, the Aborigines promised Bode not to kill cattle, to keep to certain parts of the run alla. not to hunt lvhen cattle vrere llearby. Bode then persuaded the otl'ler colonists to allow the Aborigines to fish at the mouth of the Don Ril-~r. 6. P.D.T., 10 April 1869; G. Bridwnan to A.H. Palmer, Col. Sec., 31 October 1870, U.S.A. LAN/AI 94 , Lands Open NOIf 19, Mackay. See ch. 11. 7. P.D.T., 15 May 1869, a letter signed 'Within 100 Miles of the Burdekin'. 8. Branston, C.P.S., B01ven, to Col. Sec., 7 !\1ay 1869, Q.S.A. COL/A122, 1662 of 1869; P.D.T., 8 May 1869. 9. J. Hall Scott, Strathbogie, Kennedy District, to Col. Sec., 10 May 1869, Q.S.A. COL/AI 25 , 2071 of 1869. 10. Reed, Woodstock, to Gordon, P.M., 'To1Vllsville, 31 March 1869, loco cit. See Curr, The Australian F~ce, Vol. III, p. 21, for Aborigines being punished for firing grass. 11. P.D.T., 20 February 1869; P.D.T., 6 March 1869. 390 After from five to eight years of violence and bloodshed the dispossessors and the disl)oi;Sessed seem to have readily accep~e.J.. d th"18 new 1n1.. t·~at·1ve.12 This initial letting in in North Queensland depended upon a variety of factors. Hunlane pastoralists such as Chatfield, Bridgman, and Bode were eager to end the hos­ tilities and there was strong support for this by vocal 13 humanitariaIl..8 within Bowen itself- As well, there was a significant change in the balance of power. Although the colonists on the stations were still outnumbered, in many areas, the number of Aborigines had declined as had their lvill and ability to overtly resist EurOIJean intr'tlsion. As settlers were aware of this, communal fear was not as great an 1nC1. °tement t 0 Vl0"1ence. 14 One of the factors that made the people realize this near Bow'en 1vas the \vithdra1val of the 1{ative Police detacrunent froln tl1e Don River to Dalryilll)le in 1868 as the ,.A.borigiIles 15 llad beg'un ;noving about much more freely. This measure ,'las IJrOiupted by the need for tllis detachment to serve part- t 1me· as a goId escort on --lohu e Cape River. 16 Indeed, the ~epressed economic situation that de111anded this compromise was probably a significant factor in popular­ ising the letting in movement. The pastoral slump of 1866-9 made the expense of keeping the Aborigines off the runs much less bearable. As a contemporary had explained, the enormous 12. ibid.; J. Gordon, P.M., Townsville, to Col. Sec., 29 April 1869, Q.S.A COL/A122, 1568 of 1869: 'I am happy to state that the natives of this district are now shelving a strong disposition to be friendly'. See also f.n. 3 and 4 above and P.D.T., 10 April 1869. 13. N.A. Loos, Frontier Conflict in the Bowen District 1861-1874, ch. IV, 'Black Meets White', especially pp. 175-184. 14. ibid., pp. 177-181. 15. Pol. Com., to Col. Sec., 8 February 1869, 2.S.A. COL/Al17, 473 of 1869; P.D.T., 9 May 1869. 16. P.D.T., 9 May 1869. 391 amount of COl.lntry operl.ed up had meant that there vrere too felv l~ative Police camps, and this and the size of tIle runs 'compelled every squatter to keep a larger staff of men to protect each other than would othenvise have been required to work the stations'. It is also probable that the threat to their labour supply of the gold rushes to Mt. Wyatt, Cape I-liver, and later, Ravellsvrood, Gilbert River, alld a second rush to Mt. Wyatt encouraged the pastoralists to I7 come to terms with the Aborigines on their runs. The process of letting the Aborigines in after an initial period during which their ability to resist was broken was repeated throughout North Queensland during the I8 whole period covered by this research. Sometimes action ,vas initiated b)'" an individual settleriand applied only to 17. P.D.T., 20 November 1869, letter signed fA Black Protectort • See ch. 5, pp. 193-6. See also H. Branston, C.P.S., BOllen, to Col. Sec., 7 ~ylay 1869, and l\:finute, D.T. Seymour, Q.S.A. COL/A122 , 1662 of 1869; Bolton, A Thousand Miles luvay, p. 98. 18. Sub Insp. A.D. Douglas, N.P., Cairns, to Insp. Isley, Cairns, 1 March 1878, Q.S.A. POL/12B/Gl; J. Davis, Mayor, Cookto\rn, to Col. Sec., 16 September 1881, encl. Q.S.A. COL/A344, 4680 of 1882; P.D.T., 27 October 1883, from Barberton Advertiser, for letting in of some Aborigines at Herberton; W. McDowell, Cashmere, Upper Herbert, to Col. Sec., 15 November 1880, Q.S.A. COL/A3 03 , 6323 of 1880. A. fvlayou, Sec., Amelioration of Abori'gines COIlJIllittee, Thornborough, to Col. Dec., 24 November 1882, 2. S.A. COL/A351, 6882 of 1882; 2ueenslander, 26 June 1886, p. 1007, for Aborigines tentatively coming into the tmnlship of Cairns; C. Masterton, Daintree, 12 October 1891, to Actil~ P.M., Port Douglas, encl. Q.S.A. COL/139, 1581 of 1894. This is'associated with the Atherton ini~iative. T.e.C. Coventry, Stanthorpe, to Col. Sec., 14 February 1887, and Coventry to Chief Sec., Griffith, 8 October 1886, encl.

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