Alternate Names: ‘Black War of ’43 to ‘55’.

Aboriginal people: Yaggara, Kabi Kabi, Jinaburra, Jarowair (Western Wakka Wakka), Gitabel, Kambuwal, Batchulla, Goreng Goreng.

Named Aboriginal people: Old Moppy (Mappi), Commandant, Jackey Jackey, Young Moppy (Multuggerah), Mickey Mickey, Uncle Marney, Dundalli, Yilbung (Milbong Jemmy), Eumundi (Ngumundi), Dr (Billy) Barlow, Wanaunaiga, Perkla, Neddy, Moggy Moggy.

Colonial Forces: 99th Foot Regiment, 54th Regiment, NSW Border Police, NSW/ Queensland Native Mounted Police, pastoralists

Notable Colonists: Dr (Lands Commissioner), Stephen Simpson, Patrick Leslie, Gregory Blaxland, Pegg brothers, Frederick Walker, ‘Cocky’ Rogers, William Balfour, Thomas & Charles Archer, Evan MacKenzie, David McConnel, Boralchou (John/ James Baker), John Eales, Lnt John O’Connell Bligh.

Audio/visual:

 S4E1 - Dundalli - Aboriginal resistance fighter and lawman

Battle of One Tree Hill, Australian Frontier Wars - History Guild

The Battle of One Tree Hill

Narrative:

Closure of penal settlement and opening of southern Queensland to pastoral settlement 1839-1842 saw an explosion of squatting. With thousands of sheep, small bands of aspiring colonists headed north along the Brisbane River Valley to Wide Bay, or otherwise east from NSW into the Darling Downs, Lockyer and Ipswich districts.

This war began with the festering embers of the Moreton Bay conflict. Unlike the Turrbal and the Quandamooka peoples, the Kabi Kabi never made peace with the settlement. Rather, in the late 1830s, Ngumundi (Eumundi) and Pamby-Pamby – Kabi Kabi headmen - went to great efforts to protect and accommodate runaway convicts. Siding with these runaways against the colony, Ngumundi’s men attacked, killed or otherwise controlled white castaways and any colonists who ventured into their realm.

However, by the early 1840s, Ngumundi began making friendlier overtures to the German missionaries. His people’s ancient enmity with the Yaggara/ Turrbal and Bay peoples (Quandamooka/Nunukul, Ngugi) was only rekindled when the Turrbal and Quandamooka became firm friends of the settlers.

A second impetus for war came when squatter pastoralists, led by Patrick Leslie, invaded the Darling Downs from NW NSW in 1840, pre-emptively attacking and dispersing camps, whilst other squatters – the McKenzies, Archers and Mcconnels – began penetrating the upper Brisbane Valley. All these settlers brought large flocks into the areas and established huge runs. To meet this threat, the Jarowair and their neighbours began valley-wide fires to burn out livestock and pastoral workers and destroy the pastures.

Further solidifying this resistance was the massacre of up to 70 Kabi people at Kilcoy. (poisoned flour having been distributed by Evan MacKenzie’s shepherds after continual raids on flocks). The dreadful deaths were re-enacted at the annual Bunya Nut festivals both on the Blackall Ranges and Bunya Mountains in February 1842. These festivals were a major gathering of tribes from all over southern and central Queensland and northern and western NSW.

Meetings (toors) following the festivals resulted in some 14 groups all over the region declaring war against the settlers – creating a vast alliance that stretched from what is now Bundaberg to Tenterfield. In one form or another, this persisted for a decade. To appease the situation, NSW Governor Gipps created the Bunya Bunya Reserve across all of what is now the Sunshine Coast west to the Bunya Mountains – effectively protecting this area from settlement.

Five years earlier (1837), a battle between Eulope (the Quandamooka headman) and Old Moppy (a very influential Yaggara elder) fractured the traditional alliances of southern Queensland because Old Moppy was soundly defeated. On this account, he and his people (the inland Yaggara) renounced their traditional Moreton Bay (Quandamooka) allies and sided with the Downs (Jarowair/ Western Wakka Wakka) peoples and other ‘mountain tribes’ (the Jinabura, Gitabel and Kambuwal). Another factor in this decision was that Moppy at first tried to align himself with the colonists – making friends with Ltnt Owen Gorman, the Commander heading the colony. Moppy even assisted Gorman in capturing Mullan and his cohorts (Yugambah – traditional allies of the Yaggara) for their part in the destruction of Staplyton’s expedition in 1840. However, when Old Moppy found Gorman would not assist his neighbours on the Darling Downs (who came to Moppy’s camp to beg Gorman’s help against the excesses of the pastoralists), and when Cocky Rogers, who worked for Leslie, made forays into Old Moppy’s territory – shooting and killing people holding a corroboree on Mt Tabletop (Meewah) – Old Moppy began to rally many groups against the settlers.

Ngumundi’s Kabi Kabi and the Batchulla and Goreng Goreng were drawn into this ‘super alliance’ after the Kilcoy massacre, because it mostly killed Kabi Kabi people on Jinabura country. The first major action was a combined Jinabura-Yagara-Kabi offensive involving Old Moppy – some 300-500 warriors - in which MacKenzies’ men were driven off Kilcoy altogether by sieges and repeated raids. What followed was a series of sporadic killings and large-scale removal of flocks, led by each group in its own district from 1842 to 1846, but particularly intense 1842-1844.

Old Moppy was killed by Cocky Rogers in 1842. His son Multuggerah (Young Moppy) continued the struggle. For two weeks in 1843 many of the newly formed sheep runs on the Darling Downs, Upper Brisbane and Lockyer Valley were held in siege: the sheep being kept boxed in their corrals and many staff quitting their runs or otherwise being unable to venture out. Multuggerah also closed routes in and out of his region by having warriors harass travellers or otherwise blocking roads with logs. Simultaneously (April 1842), the first forays of settlement in Wide Bay (Kabi Kabi, Batchulla territory) were successfully pushed back, with several would-be settlers killed.

Lamenting the siege of their runs, Lockyer and Downs settlers met and decided to send a convoy of three (some say ten) drays manned by 18 of their armed employees, in a bid to reopen the route to the Downs and revive supplies to that area. Multuggerah’s men successfully ambushed and sacked this convoy, trussing saplings along the roadsides and placing logs across roads – halting the drays from advancing. The men manning the drays fled back to Bonifant’s Inn, from which some 25-50 squatters and their employees set out to avenge the attack.

This culminated in the Battle of One Tree Hill (Meewah – Mt Tabletop, near Toowoomba) – September 1843. The avengers were lured up Mt Tabletop, where Multuggerah’s men hurled rocks and boulders, defeating the colonists. This Indigenous victory became known as ‘The Battle of One Tree Hill’. It was immortalised in the ballad ‘The Raid of the Aborigines.’

Lands Commissioner – head of police – Stephen Simpson visited the scene with his police but declared the situation too dangerous to take any action. Instead, he returned to Brisbane and from there, assembled several units of 20-30 men at different locations. These were drawn from all over SE Queensland and set out to drive Multuggerah’s warriors off the Lockyer region. In response, Multuggerah, Mickey Mickey and their men retreated to the extensive Rosewood Scrub, from where they successfully launched further raids, sometimes evicting people from their holdings. They began to use Rosewood Scrub as their new base.

However, by October 1843, one of the units Simpson assembled eventually penetrated Rosewood Scrub and sacked the main base camp, destroying weapon arsenals and killing some leaders. An inland fort – Helidon, manned by soldiers of the 99th and 54th Regiments - was established by Simpson as a ‘checkpoint’ to watch over and accompany dray conveys to and from the Downs (1843-1846). Multuggerah was himself killed in 1846 after trying to hold Rosewood Station homestead in siege for a few weeks.

Others such as Uncle Marney and Jackey Jackey continued activities in the Ipswich and Rosewood area, with the attempted capture of Jackey Jackey at Brisbane leading to an affray. In 1848 the NSW Border Police (ancestral to the Native Mounted Police) were introduced, effectively ‘turning the tide’, although small acts of resistance continued across the Lockyer and Ipswich region into the 1850s and in some cases 1870s.

Moreover, by this time, the ‘front’ of conflict was moving north of Brisbane and across Wide Bay due to the expansion of settlement in these regions. Around today’s Pine Rivers and Caboolture districts, Jinabura and Kabi Kabi figures such as Commandant, Yilbung, Mickaloe, Billy Barlow and Dundalli began conducting punitive raids or (in Yilbung’s case) extracting regular ‘rent’ payments of flour from Brisbane’s windmill. There were also raids at Gin Gin (1849) with a follow-up punitive expedition by Gregory Blaxland. This culminated in the massacre of Goreng Goreng people at Paddy’s Island near Bundaberg (1850) and a pitched battle with Kabi Kabi at Widgee Widgee.

Wanauniaga, Perika, Charlie, Bungalee, Neddy and others were main figures in the resistance around Wide Bay. In December 1851-January 1852, following continuous attacks and robberies on the hamlet of Maryborough, a pose of some 28 Native Mounted Police led by Commandant Fred Walker invaded K’gari (Fraser Island) as it was the main Batchulla refuge. It is unclear if they achieved much, although the NMP camp was attacked. Oral Batchulla stories tell of a massacre at Indian Head. A few months later, 5 castaways from the Thomas King wreck at Coolum were killed on Kabi Kabi land in an attack led by Moggy Moggy, in reprisal for a purported hanging and perhaps in connection to the Indian Head massacre.

The following year, Walker conducted an invasion of the Bunya Bunya Reserve, the southwest of which was already being settled. Walker also had a serious confrontation at Yabba Creek/ Imbil Island 1853-1854. This same period saw a purported massacre at Teewah through a campaign led by Lnt O’Connell Bligh.

Dundalli was a particularly notable leader along the southern end of this invasion (Pine Rivers/ Caboolture/ Bribie region), being involved in the demise of several settlers, usually in surprise ambush punitive attacks. Dundalli’s trial and hanging in 1855 became a tense showdown as his supporters gathered in hundreds to protest the proceedings and had called in every man with arms, as well as all the police and army, to surround the gallows.

However, Dundalli only demanded his death be avenged on the Turrbal man (Wumbungur) who betrayed him. Billy (‘Dr’) Barlow continued Dundalli’s campaign, trying to halt the settlement of Caboolture, and the Pine Rivers/ Sandgate/ Caboolture region continued to see incidents of settlers evicted from their properties through Indigenous harassment. This culminated in a battle in 1858 of some 300 warriors with the Native Mounted Police towards Dayboro, in which some police were killed or wounded. Soon after this, a Native Mounted Police headquarters was established at Sandgate, under the notorious Lnt Fred Wheeler, effectively putting down further resistance both here and across the Sunshine Coast/ Cooloola area 1861-1865.

One of the last notable incidents of the war was the massacre at Murdering creek on the Yandina Run c.1865-1867. This came after spearing of workers and repeated (successful) cattle raids. A dozen local landowners and at least one policeman lured Kabi Kabi people up along the creek, where some 20-50 were systematically shot.

Contributor: Ray Kerkhove, 2025

Sources

‘The Blacks – Moreton Bay, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 September 1843, p. 4 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/12418733

Bartley, Nehemiah, 1896, Australian Pioneers & Reminiscences, Brisbane: Gordon & Gotch.

Bloxsome, H. S., 1945, The Early Settlement of the Burnett River District of Queensland.

Campbell, J., 1875, The Early Settlement of Queensland, Brisbane: The Bibliographic Society of Queensland.

JOL OM 76-72 (McConnel Papers 1844) McConnel, D., ‘Notes on Australian Bush Life.’

JOL OM Box 8923 ‘Kilcoy Homestead Collection’ & ‘Kilcoy Station’ (OM 74-99)

Knight, J.J. 1895, In the early days: history and incident of pioneer Queensland: with dictionary of dates in chronological order, Brisbane: Sapsford.,

Petrie, C. C., 1904, Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences of Early Queensland (Brisbane: Watson & Ferguson.

UQFL 89 ‘McConnel family’ Box 2.

Timeline Map >

The following lists references to some people involved in this conflict. More may be added in future.

If an individual or group is mentioned more than once in an article, only one instance from that article is referenced. If they are mentioned in more than one article there is a record for each article. Where possible, links are provided to the article to read the full account. The sentence quoted may contain poor quality uncorrected text from Trove OCR.

Country/Nation/People/Language indicates which Indigenous group people belonged to. Different people in different places prefer different terminology, and sometimes the 'belonging' relates to one of these not another. In many cases, due to colonists' limited knowledge, the archival record may indicate only use generic terms (eg: 'blacks' or 'Murrimbidgee blacks'). In the absence of any other detail, it is assumed it is the people of that region (eg: Wiradjuri).

Listed are:

• Named Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander people. This includes people involved in violent action, or in some other way involved, such as messengers. In many cases only the colonists' name (alias or aka - 'also known as') for the person is available.
• Unnamed individuals or groups of people. This is as specific as possible. If a group is mentioned, we indicate that group, then if an individual is mentioned, we also list that individual. These numbers should not be tallied to arrive at a total, as that would result in double counting. Estimates of numbers of people effected, of combatants directly involved in action, or of non-combatant victims, should be derived from population estimates and understanding of cultural roles, as well as information in sources.
• Colonists involved in the conflict. This list includes people whose stock, runs or huts were raided, or were involved in violent actions. In most cases colonists are named. In some cases someone involved may be referred to by their role only or as belonging to a run, or the owner of the run, eg: 'a shepherd' or 'Mr Smith's hutkeeper'.
• Indigenous Auxilliaries Auxiliaries are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people working for, or acting on behalf of colonists. This may be voluntarily or by coercion. This includes people such as trackers, workers and Native Police. The distinction is not always clear cut and some individuals acted on both sides of the conflict or changed sides.

Named Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People

Name / Alias:

Unnamed People

Colonists and Auxiliaries