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Shoalwater Bay
Shoalwater Bay is a large bay on the Capricorn Coast of Central Queensland, Australia 100 km north of the coastal town of Yeppoon and 628 km north-north-west of the state capital, Brisbane. Since 1966, the land surrounding Shoalwater Bay has been under the ownership of the Australian Defence Force, for the purpose of military training exercises. Shoalwater Bay is also a noted dugong habitat and is part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The bay is bounded by the Torilla Peninsula to the west and the Warginburra Peninsula and Leicester and Townshend islands to the east.
The traditional inhabitants of Shoalwater Bay are the Darumbal people.The Darumbal (Tarumbul, Tharoombool) language region includes the city of Rockhampton extending south towards Raglan Creek and north towards the Styx River and inland along the Broad Sound Ranges. Specific tribes that lived and in some cases continue to live in the area include the Cookeeburra (green-headed ant people of the Warginburra Peninsula), the Risteburra (the sandfly people of Raspberry Creek), the Cooinmurburra (the plains people of Torilla) and the Woppaburra (the people of the islands in the region).
The first recorded European to sight Shoalwater Bay was British navigator James Cook on 28 May 1770. Cook referred to the entire region, from Cape Palmerston (south of Mackay) to Cape Townshend, including Shoalwater Bay, as the "Bay of Inlets", a name which is no longer in use. Cook bestowed the name "Shoalwater Bay" on the southeasternmost of these bays, a reference to the number of sandbars in the bay. Following Cook, Matthew Flinders conducted further exploration of Shoalwater Bay in 1802, landing on Akens Island (a small island on the western side of Shoalwater Bay) and exploring the head of the bay. Flinders described the land as such:
The hills are stony, but some of them are clothed with grass and wood, and the pine grows in the gullies between them. The low land is sandy or stony, but covered with wood & herbage. Fresh water stands in ponds at the foot of the hills.
European colonisation of the land in Shoalwater Bay region commenced in 1858. By the early 1860s, it had been divided into four pastoral stations: Tilpal, Raspberry Creek, The Peninsula and Torilla. The process of colonisation was violent with the killings of settlers and the massacres of local Aboriginal people being recorded frequently until the mid 1870s.
Tilpal was formed as a sheep station in the late 1850s by "Hobby" Elliott. Not long after establishing Tilpal, Elliott and his shearers had a skirmish with the local Aboriginal people which resulted in the death or severe wounding of two of his workers and seven Aboriginal men being shot. The Native Police were called in and they tracked down "the blacks" to Torilla Hill where some more were shot. Elliott later sold Tilpal to James Black and a minor gold rush occurred on the property in the late 1860s.
Raspberry Creek was initially taken up by James Ross and James Hutton. Hutton commenced building the Raspberry Creek Homestead and brought his family to the station in 1861. The resident Risteburra people speared Hutton's cattle and the Native Police were called in to "disperse" the tribe. Many were shot or fell from cliffs after being pursued by the troopers into the Polygon Range. Raspberry Creek remained under the ownership of the Hutton family until 1917.
The Peninsula Station was taken up by Edward Hampton Baker (also known as "Cranky" Baker), which encompassed the entirety of the area today known as the Warginburra Peninsula. Baker was consistently at war with the local Cookeeburra people who took his rations and speared his cattle. Baker booby-trapped his house with self-firing rifles and poisoned the Cookeeburra with arsenic-laced flour. Native Police operations occurred frequently in the 1860s on The Peninsula with Baker being pleased with the efforts of Inspectors Aubin and Compigne "to inspire the natives with a wholesome respect for their Majesty's colors." Baker offered money to Rockhampton residents to shoot Aboriginal people on his property, and threatened to place an advertisement in the local newspaper offering "a premium for scalps" if the government did not provide him with even more assistance against "the blacks." In 1873 Inspector Alexander Douglas of Native Police led a large patrol through The Peninsula and around the adjacent islands. A local colonist later described the operation:
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Shoalwater Bay
Shoalwater Bay is a large bay on the Capricorn Coast of Central Queensland, Australia 100 km north of the coastal town of Yeppoon and 628 km north-north-west of the state capital, Brisbane. Since 1966, the land surrounding Shoalwater Bay has been under the ownership of the Australian Defence Force, for the purpose of military training exercises. Shoalwater Bay is also a noted dugong habitat and is part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The bay is bounded by the Torilla Peninsula to the west and the Warginburra Peninsula and Leicester and Townshend islands to the east.
The traditional inhabitants of Shoalwater Bay are the Darumbal people.The Darumbal (Tarumbul, Tharoombool) language region includes the city of Rockhampton extending south towards Raglan Creek and north towards the Styx River and inland along the Broad Sound Ranges. Specific tribes that lived and in some cases continue to live in the area include the Cookeeburra (green-headed ant people of the Warginburra Peninsula), the Risteburra (the sandfly people of Raspberry Creek), the Cooinmurburra (the plains people of Torilla) and the Woppaburra (the people of the islands in the region).
The first recorded European to sight Shoalwater Bay was British navigator James Cook on 28 May 1770. Cook referred to the entire region, from Cape Palmerston (south of Mackay) to Cape Townshend, including Shoalwater Bay, as the "Bay of Inlets", a name which is no longer in use. Cook bestowed the name "Shoalwater Bay" on the southeasternmost of these bays, a reference to the number of sandbars in the bay. Following Cook, Matthew Flinders conducted further exploration of Shoalwater Bay in 1802, landing on Akens Island (a small island on the western side of Shoalwater Bay) and exploring the head of the bay. Flinders described the land as such:
The hills are stony, but some of them are clothed with grass and wood, and the pine grows in the gullies between them. The low land is sandy or stony, but covered with wood & herbage. Fresh water stands in ponds at the foot of the hills.
European colonisation of the land in Shoalwater Bay region commenced in 1858. By the early 1860s, it had been divided into four pastoral stations: Tilpal, Raspberry Creek, The Peninsula and Torilla. The process of colonisation was violent with the killings of settlers and the massacres of local Aboriginal people being recorded frequently until the mid 1870s.
Tilpal was formed as a sheep station in the late 1850s by "Hobby" Elliott. Not long after establishing Tilpal, Elliott and his shearers had a skirmish with the local Aboriginal people which resulted in the death or severe wounding of two of his workers and seven Aboriginal men being shot. The Native Police were called in and they tracked down "the blacks" to Torilla Hill where some more were shot. Elliott later sold Tilpal to James Black and a minor gold rush occurred on the property in the late 1860s.
Raspberry Creek was initially taken up by James Ross and James Hutton. Hutton commenced building the Raspberry Creek Homestead and brought his family to the station in 1861. The resident Risteburra people speared Hutton's cattle and the Native Police were called in to "disperse" the tribe. Many were shot or fell from cliffs after being pursued by the troopers into the Polygon Range. Raspberry Creek remained under the ownership of the Hutton family until 1917.
The Peninsula Station was taken up by Edward Hampton Baker (also known as "Cranky" Baker), which encompassed the entirety of the area today known as the Warginburra Peninsula. Baker was consistently at war with the local Cookeeburra people who took his rations and speared his cattle. Baker booby-trapped his house with self-firing rifles and poisoned the Cookeeburra with arsenic-laced flour. Native Police operations occurred frequently in the 1860s on The Peninsula with Baker being pleased with the efforts of Inspectors Aubin and Compigne "to inspire the natives with a wholesome respect for their Majesty's colors." Baker offered money to Rockhampton residents to shoot Aboriginal people on his property, and threatened to place an advertisement in the local newspaper offering "a premium for scalps" if the government did not provide him with even more assistance against "the blacks." In 1873 Inspector Alexander Douglas of Native Police led a large patrol through The Peninsula and around the adjacent islands. A local colonist later described the operation: