One event dominated the news on 20 March 1847 – the recent wreck of the steamer Sovereign, and the loss of 44 lives. The murders of Andrew Gregor and Mary Shannon six months earlier still haunted the Courier and its readers. Page 1 The front page was, as usual, the place for advertising. First, MrContinue reading “The Latest News for March 20 (1847)”
Tag Archives: Indigenous people at Moreton Bay
February 4, 1862: Kipper Billy and Billy Horton sentenced to death
In January 1862, near Ipswich, a woman named Mrs Jane Rae was assaulted, probably sexually, on the banks of the river, as she did the family wash. When her grown son came to her aid, she stated that a number of indigenous men had been responsible, although none were about when he found her. SheContinue reading “February 4, 1862: Kipper Billy and Billy Horton sentenced to death”
Death on the Pine River – September 11, 1847
On 11 September 1847, three men working as sawyers on the Pine River came under attack from a group of indigenous people who were armed with spears and waddies. William Waller and William Boller died, and James Smith was injured, but survived to give evidence to the Coroner. James Smith was working a two-man sawContinue reading “Death on the Pine River – September 11, 1847”
All the news fit to print – September 5, 1850
A glance through the Moreton Bay Courier of September 5 1850 shows the reader the era in Brisbane Town in a nutshell. Rosewood was out in the never-never, and locals banded together to discourage (in their worldview) indigenous raiders. This was the time when relations between determined free settlers, and dispossessed indigenous people was at itsContinue reading “All the news fit to print – September 5, 1850”
The men of the Stapylton Survey
Who were the men who took part in the ill-fated survey party in 1840? Granville William Chetwynd Stapleton was the youngest son of Major-General Granville Anson Chetwynd Stapylton, born in 1800. He married Catherine Bulteel in 1825, and decided to make his career in the (very) New World in 1828, becoming an Assistant Surveyor inContinue reading “The men of the Stapylton Survey”
Murder at Mount Lindesay – the deaths of Stapylton and Tuck.
On the morning of 31 May 1840 the surveying party run by Assistant Surveyor Stapylton was camped in the bush near Mount Lindesay in South East Queensland. The Assistant Surveyor was an English gentleman of 40 named Granville William Chetwynd Stapylton, youngest son of a very grand family, and grandson of the 4th Viscount Chetwynd.Continue reading “Murder at Mount Lindesay – the deaths of Stapylton and Tuck.”
From the Trial Book of Moreton Bay – Indigenous people
For millennia, the indigenous people of Moreton Bay lived in and travelled about their country without external disruption. There had been the occasional sighting of ships in the distance, a surveying boat now and then, and a few brief sightings of Europeans, but they had not had their lands entirely taken over. The establishment ofContinue reading “From the Trial Book of Moreton Bay – Indigenous people”
Murder at Moreton Bay – Bhinge Multo
In late January 1828, Samuel Myers, overseer, Michael Malone and Francis Reynolds were guarding a field of maize on the South Bank of the Brisbane River. There had been problems with the local indigenous people raiding the crops there for six months. In the last bad incident, an indigenous man had been killed, and aContinue reading “Murder at Moreton Bay – Bhinge Multo”
Moreton Bay and More 