23778

Source document

# Frontier conflict event: Attack on Aboriginal people - Bundamba Lagoon (August 1860) Source dataset: University of Newcastle, "Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia 1788-1930" (c21ch.newcastle.edu.au), entry 23778. Coordinates: latitude -27.733124, longitude 152.835062. Day/month: August? Year: 1860 Nature of event: Attack on Aboriginal people Location type: Agricultural selection;Aboriginal camp;Lagoon/waterhole Location: Neighbourhood of the Bundamba Lagoon Run landowner/lessee: Owen Daly Location notes: General location on the northwest side of the lagoon mapped since it is not exactly clear where the Aboriginal camp was Number of people wounded: 1 Names of people wounded / details: Unnamed Aboriginal man Other damage / effects: [Ivory] "then killed the blackfellows' dogs and destroyed the weapons, blankets, and other property left in the camp" (Moreton Bay Courier, 1 September 1860, p2). Perpetrators: Settlers/Squatters Named perpetrator: James Ivory Other associated individuals: Ivory, James;Daly, Owen Related language group: Yuggera Related pastoral district: Moreton Contemporary reference: Moreton Bay Courier, 1 September 1860, p2 Date first reported: 1860 Other sources: 1861 Inquiry into the NMP Description of event: "The same paper [the ‘Ipswich Herald’] also has the following:— "A farmer named Owen Daly, residing in the neighbourhood of the Bundamba Lagoon has lodged an information at the Police Office against Mr. James Ivory, charging him with having fired at a party of blacks and wounded one of their number. From Mr. Daly's statement, it appears that he gave the blacks permission to camp on his ground; and while they were in camp Mr. Ivory and two others rode up. The black fellows ran away and were shot at and one of them wounded. It is stated that Mr. Ivory, and the men with him, then killed the blackfellows' dogs and destroyed the weapons, blankets, and other property left in the camp. We understand that the blacks are to be brought in, in order that the affair may be inquired into."" (Moreton Bay Courier, 1 September 1860, p2). Evidence of Owen Daly given on 14 June 1861 to the Inquiry on the NMP: "1. By Mr. WATTS: You live near Ipswich, I believe? Yes, on the Bundamba Creek. 2. Have you lived there long? I have lived there these eight or nine years. 3. An occurrence took place there—a disturbance—about twelve or eighteen months ago? Yes, last August. 4. It had something to do, if I mistake not, with some persons coming and chasing the blacks from the Logan? From the Bundamba Creek. 5. Will you state the particulars? The blacks passed in going to Cameron's from Ipswich, and they stopped an hour or two at the water-hole where the generality of whites stop while they have a pot of tea. This was late in the evening, and one of them came to my place, and asked if I would allow them to stop on my ground that night, and said that they were going away in the morning. I told him yes, and he got me to come and point out where they might stop. I directed him to go and camp anywhere along the fence where the timber was felled. He asked me if it was not my ground outside the fence, as well as inside; I said yes, and they went and camped on it. Just after dark I heard a shot fired, and, three or four minutes after, there were two more shots tired from two guns, or from a double-barrelled piece. I west out then, and could see the fire of the blacks, but could see nothing more plain at the time. A few minutes after, my wife went to the water-cask for some water, and said, "Daly, there are some men walking about the fire." I went out then, and could see them throwing dry timber on the fire, and one man gathering with his hands, and throwing blankets and clothes on to it; another shot was fired, and a dog sang out. I told my wife then to go inside, and I went out in the direction of the fire until I came close to it, and then I could see how the men were throwing wood on to burn the clothes; they were throwing out some dry wood, and blankets and opossum rugs and tomahawks along with it. One of them kept stiil holding the piece in his hand, and working like this (illustrating the movement) with his feet, and the other man was throwing things on with both his hands. I stopped there a considerable time. 6. Did they see you? They did not see me: a man, where there is a great light, can't see a man in the dark. 7. Had the blacks been in the habit of camping there for any time? For some time, until they had been hunted off. 8. Who hunted thorn from there? Mr. Ivory and his superintendent or stockman. 9. Do you know of any reason? No. 10. Who were the men that you saw at the fire? Mr. Ivory and his stockman. 11. Is the Bundamba lagoon on his run? Yes. 12. Near the head station? No. 13. Was it because they were fishing in this lagoon? There were two round at the lagoon, and I asked them what they wanted, and they said they wanted to catch a swan for some man in Limestone, of the name of Peacock. 14. Do you know of any reason that Mr. Ivory had for keeping them away from the run? No, unless he considered that they disturbed his cattle. 15. Are you in Mr. Ivory's service? No, I have a piece of ground of my own round there. 16. Is that on part of Mr. Ivory's run? It was. 17. Do you think that the blacks keeping round the lagoon, on the pretence of fishing, don't disturb the cattle? I don't think they do; there is a main thoroughfare there, from the Logan to Ipswich. 18. You say you heard shots fired on that particular night—were there any blacks shot? No, merely their dogs. 19. You have been some years in the Colony—were yon ever in any other part of it ? I have never been out of this part; I have been as far as the Downs and Callandoon. I have been living in this district for these twenty years. 20. Have you known of any other instances of the blacks being driven from their hunting or fishing grounds? I know of no cases, of my own knowledge. 21. Have you seen them driven frequently from the Bundamba lagoon? Yes. 22. You have never heard Mr. Ivory express any opinion on the subject? No. 23. Or his overseer? I have heard him say that he would never allow them on the run; he considered that they disturbed the cattle. 24. Do you consider that they don't disturb the cattle—when Mr. England was there, did you never know him to hunt the blacks off, when Mr. Kent had charge of the Government cattle? I never knew him to hunt the blacks off, or cause them to be hunted off. 25. Were you living there then? Yes. 26. Do Mr. Ivory's cattle come to drink at the Bundamba lagoon? Yes, his cattle, and more also. 27. Is it not one of the main cattle camps of the run? Which? 28. The lagoon cattle camp? It was when Mr. England lived there, but then there was no person living there but himself. The ground has since been surveyed and sold. 29. Do you mean to say that there is no cattle camp at the lagoon? There is no regular cattle camp on the run; the cattle camp is all covered with grass, because the cattle are not looked after properly. 30. That is not my question—is not that the main cattle camp of the run? It was one of them. 31. You evade the question—is that a cattle camp or not? Some cattle camp there; the main camp is Dr. D'Orsay's camp. 32. In all ordinary seasons, is not that the main place for cattle to get water? They get water at the lagoon, and at other parts of the run; it is not the main place for water; it is the main place for people who live in the neighborhood of the lagoon. 33. Is there no camp on the run at all to which the manager or stockman runs the cattle? The cattle have never been run to a camp since Mr. Ivory got the station; when they are run, they are run to the stockyard. 34. It is a customary thing for stockmen and settlers to run the cattle to the main points on the run? It never has been done there since Mr. England left, and, consequently, the camps are all overgrown with grass, and when the cattle are driven anywhere, they are driven into the stockyards, branded, and let out again. 35. Do you know what amount of blankets, or other things, these gentlemen burned, or what dogs were killed? I saw one dead dog there, and got three tomahawks from the ashes. 36. Were these far from your place? They were along my fence. 37. Inside or out? Outside, in the open ground; but both outside and inside are mine. 38. Have you ever known the blacks commit any depredations among the cattle? No. 39. You spoke of Mr. Kent during the time that he had charge of the Government cattle,—you don't know whether the cattle were ever molested during that time? I never heard that they were, and I was stockman part of the time with Mr. Kent. 40. You don't believe the blacks ever did touch them? No. 41. What tribe of blacks frequents that place? Generally the Ipswich—the Ipswich blacks, and the blacks belonging to Mr. Garden Collins' station—one of the blacks generally shepherds for Mr. Collins. 42. You never saw anyone shoot at a black? No; I never saw anyone shoot a black and I never saw a black that deserved shooting about there, or anywhere else. 43. By Mr. BLAKENEY: How far might it have been from the lagoon that you gave permission to the blacks to camp that night? About four hundred yards: my hut or house is within four chains of the lagoon. 44. Are you quite sure that Mr. Ivory had no claim or right to the land? I paid for the land,—it is my private property, and no other man has any right to it. 45. Did you see any guns with Mr. Ivory or his stockman? I saw one with Mr. Ivory himself; he held it in one hand, and had the stock-whip on the ground. 46. Did they appear to destroy many of the opossum rugs and blankets? They destroyed all they got. 47. Did the destruction appear to have been considerable,—were there one or a dozen blankets and rugs burned? There were not a dozen,—there might be four or five blankets. It was after their getting the Government blankets, and they had a few old ones; they had also some striped shirts. 48. Were they all burned? They were all burned, and some trowsers they had given to them by the people for whom they cut wood, and other clothes as well. 49. Were these destroyed? All burned. 50. By Mr. Ivory and his man? Yes. 51. Did you make a report of this to any authority? Yes. 52. To whom? To Mr. Quinn. 53. The Chief Constable in Ipswich? Yes. 54. Was any action taken on the report you made,—was there any enquiry—or did the Police come out? No, the Police did not come out. 55. Did you mention the occurrence to anyone else? To Dr. Challinor. 56. Did you not go to Dr. Challinor in the first instance—and did he not take you to Mr. Quinn? Yes, I went and asked who was the proper authority. 57. And he brought you to the Chief Constable? He told me to go to Mr. Quinn. 58. You went to Mr. Quinn? Yes, and Dr. Challinor went also, and Mr. Quinn asked me whether the blacks were shot. I said that I did not know,—that one of the blacks had told me that one of them had been shot, but that I did not know myself. 59. Do you mean wounded or killed? Wounded. 60. Did Mr. Quinn do anything further? He said that it would be no use to send out the Police—that if they were sent out, and the blacks heard that they were in pursuit, they would be all off; but he asked me to get what information I could from the blacks, and if any were shot he would get a warrant issued, if the black were shot dead; I said that the blacks told me he was only wounded. 61. Nothing further than this was done? Nothing further. 62. By Mr. FERRETT: Did you see either of those white men, that you saw at the fire, fire a shot? No; how could I see a man fire a shot in the dark? 63. You say you have been in these parts twenty years, and that you have been about the Colony a great deal—have you ever known the blacks do any damage? I have not seen them do it, but I have heard of it. 64. Of your own knowledge, have you not known of it? Not of my own knowledge. 65. Have you never known them to rob huts, steal sheep, or destroy or spear cattle? No. 66. Never? No. 67. How long have you been in the Colony? Twenty years. 68. Have you never been brought into collision with the blacks, from their depredations committed on the property of any other person? No, never. 69. By Mr. FITZSIMMONS: You were in the employ of Mr. Ivory for some time, I believe? Before I got a place of my own, I used to shear occasionally for Mr. Ivory, as well as for other gentlemen in the district. 70. Were you employed on that establishment before Mr. Ivory came? My establishment was there before Mr. Ivory got his. 71. Was not this ground that you got supposed to belong to the cattle run? Before it was sold. 72. And a bad feeling existed between Mr. Ivory and yourself in consequence of your having got the land? I don't know what kind of feeling he might have towards me. 73. Don't you know of his having an objection to your living there? I might think so, but I can't say so. 74. Are you on good terms with Mr. Ivory? No; I never went to Mr. Ivory's since he came there. 75. You stated in your evidence that you went out, and saw Mr. Ivory and another person at the fire? Yes. 76. After having fired some shots? After I had heard the shots. 77. What distance were you from them at the time? When I saw them, the fire was about 150 paces from my hut—the lagoon was on the one side, and the fire on the other I told my wife to go inside, and stop there. I then went about half the distance towards, the fire—leaving seventy or eighty yards to it. 78. You could distinguish Mr. Ivory at that distance? Yes. 79. At seventy or eighty yards? Yes. 80. In the dead of night? You can see as well as ever on the darkest night, where there is a large fire, when you are standing in the dark, and an object is standing by the side of the fire. 81. Is this all the information that you can give this Committee—that a blackfellow told you that a black fellow had been shot? All that I can say from my own knowledge is that the blacks' clothes were burnt. 82. Did you see these blacks the next morning? I saw one of them. 83. Did the blacks commit any depredations after this occurrence? Not that I know of. 84. By Mr. BLAKENEY: When you searched the fire the next day, what did you find besides the remains of the clothes and the tomahawks? Knives and tinder-boxes. 85. Were there any rations? There was tea, sugar, and flour scattered about. 86. Did you see any remains of blankets? Yes, of blankets, and trowsers, and shirts."