- a compilation of references to the use of the Brisbane town
boundary,
especially Boundary Street and Vulture Street, West End,
for the exclusion of Aboriginals from the town at night during the 19th
century.
- by Daryll Bellingham
© 2000
(This page has been compiled and published in a spirit of reconciliation and in the hope that it will provide useful and accurate information for people working towards that aim. It will be progressively updated as more information comes to my attention. I welcome suggestions of potential additions to the list of references. I would appreciate it if your use of this is acknowledged by publishing the URL for this page to help make its availability known.
It is my intention to compile a similar list of references to actions and statements of support for local Indigenous communities and individuals and would welcome contributions to such a list as well.)
1829 'The 1829 Regulations'
• from 'Brisbane Town in Convict Days 1824 - 1842': J.G. Steele. p. 120
• regulation 35 gives the Commandant the 'full authority to remove at his discretion, any Free person from the Settlement, who's Conduct shall appear to him to render this proceeding necessary for the due maintenance of discipline.'
In other words the Commandant could institute a curfew under this power and this regulation helps set up a culture or expectation that people could be excluded from the settlement. This does not indicate that a curfew was set up at this time however.
1842 Wade's survey of Brisbane, 1842
• MT5 Sunmap
• p. 78 of Brisbane the First 30 Years, W. Ross Johnston
This map shows survey of streets and allotments for sale on north side and on south side around Stanley Quay etc. but not the town boundaries as below
1844 Wade's plan of the environs of Brisbane, 1844,
from West End to Eagle Farm.
• MT12, Sunmap
• p. 96, Brisbane the First Thirty Years, W. Ross Johnston
Shows boundaries as described above and surveyed allotments around Montague Rd. and around Stanley St., Grey St. etc.
1844 Burnett's plan of the town limits, 1844
• MT11, Sunmap
• notes on map reads - 'This cancels former Survey by Mr. Wade ......... 18th Dec,1843. Boundaries proclaimed in the Gov. Gaz. for 1846 folio 537.'
Plan shows boundaries as described above in 1) but without the allotments that Wade put in his.
p. 82 Brisbane the First 30 Years, W. Ross Johnston
1846 - p. 83 Brisbane the First 30 Years, W. Ross Johnston
•Johnston states in para three
As early as September 1843 Wade had prepared a plan of the
town for police purposes. Burnett followed this up with a further
plan six months later; this involved 'tidying up' central Brisbane
to give it a clear identity. But almost two years elapsed before
the government decided to bring Brisbane within the provisions
of the Police Towns Act of 1839. The town limits were drawn roughly
into the shape of a square, straddling the river. (45) Today
the limits fall with Boundary Street on the north and west, Vulture
Street on the south, and Wellington Road on the east. This act
was aimed at the removal and prevention of nuisances and obstacles,
and 'for the better alignment of the streets'. Wickham had complained
in April 1846 that dogs, apparently without owners, were 'constantly
prowling about'; pigs and goats were also a nuisance rambling
about 'in search of food, destroying gardens, crops'. So the
Police Towns Act and the Dog Act came to apply to Brisbane.'
(46)
(45) Plans B1110, h.i. COD84, f.111; NSW, GG, 1846, 537 -
The Police Towns Act and the Dog Act were extended to Brisbane.
(46) Police Magistrate to Colonial Secretary, 25 April 1846,
(2 letters), 4/2735.2,SANSW.
1846 Description of Boundaries
• p. 42 Brisbane 1859 - 1959
• NSW Gov. Gazette, 5 May, 1846
'Commencing on the Brisbane River at the mouth of a small
gully opposite Kangaroo Point, and bounded on the north by a
line bearing west 91 chains 50 links; on the west by a line being
40 chains west from the centre of the Windmill, bearing south
45 chains 70 links to the Brisbane River, prolonged across that
river, and thence south 60 chains; on the south by a line bearing
east 140 chains; on the east by a line bearing north 49 chains
10 links to the Brisbane River, by that rivers upwards to the
termination of the road running through Kangaroo Point, and thence
by a straight line across the Brisbane River to the point of
commencement.'
1846 W. Ross Johnston states in 'Brisbane the First
Thirty Years' p. 114
'The hostility of the European community was increasing as the blacks made their stand. ............... Europeans put much blame upon the corroborees, the fights, the 'pullen-pullen' between different groups. ............... In July 1846 'one of the most desperate fights' between two Aboriginal groups occurred at Kangaroo Point. This led all 'right-thinking persons' to urge that 'such exhibitions may in future be prevented from taking place in the township'. The blacks needed to be 'checked', to be put in their place. Europeans concluded that these 'pullen-pullen' always ended in violence and depredations, partly because the Aborigines were hungry after fasting. So the cry went out that such gatherings should be stopped by the military, with bayonets on the ready.' (44)
44. SMH, 13 March 1845, p.2, 22 March 1845, p. 2; MBC, 25
July 1846, p. 3; T. Dowse, 'Diaries', 26 February 1845.
1847 Kerkow quotes the T.B. Stephens in the Moreton
Bay Courier, 16 January, 1847 Vol.1, No.31
'We have secured their country by the right of might, and by the right of might the whites will continue to possess it ........ they ought to be subdued by compulsion.'
1855 Kerkow states (appearing to quote Perry - 'Memoirs
of the Hon. Sir Robert Philp, K.C.M.G., 1851 - 1922' by Harry
C. Perry, Brisbane: Watson, Ferguson & Co., 1923.)
'From 1840 to 1855 Aborigines moved quite freely around the
settlements, but after 1855 Blacks were prohibited from venturing
inside Vulture and Boundary Streets after 4 p.m. or on Sundays.'
Perry however wrote p 21-
'Further on was the One Mile Swamp now the Brisbane Cricket
Ground. This locality provided a favourite camping ground for
the aboriginals, of whom there was a considerable number about.
Because of their predatory instincts they were compelled to withdraw
from the confines of the town by 4 o'clock each afternoon.'
1856 The Moreton Bay Courier Sat 16 August 1856 Page 2
'EXTENSION OF BRISBANE TOWN BOUNDARIES.
PROCLAMATION
From Government Gazette, August I. By his Excellency Sir William Thomas Denison, Knight, Governor-General in and over all her Majesty's colonies of New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia, and Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of the territory of New South Wales and its dependencies, and Vice-Admiral of the same, &c, &c, &c.
Whereas in pursuance of an Act of the Governor and Legislative Council of New South Wales, passed in the second year of the reign of her Majesty Queen Victoria, intituled, "An Act for regulating the Police in the towns of Parramatta, Windsor, Maitland, Bathurst, and other towns, respectively and for removing and preventing nuisances, and obstructions, and for the better alignment of streets therein," the provisions of the said Act were, by a proclamation of the thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, extended to the Town of Brisbane, in the 'District of Moreton Bay; and whereas it was by the said Act amongst other things enacted, that, upon a description of the boundaries of such town being published in the New South Wales Government Gazette, the same should be deemed to be the limits of the said town; ..................'
What follows is a description of the town boundaries. This proclamation by the Governor General establishes the Brisbane Town boundaries in legislation and establishes a use for those boundaries, i.e., 'for regulating the Police in the towns' and 'for removing and preventing nuisances, and obstructions, and for the better alignment of streets'. It would seem likely that a curfew was established shortly after this proclamation.
1857 The Moreton Bay Courier (3/7/1858 p.3) is quoted by Rod Fisher in 'From depredation to degradation. - Brisbane the Aboriginal Presence 1824-1860' p. 35 as saying -
'These savages have been within the suburbs, if not actually
within the town boundary at night. It is impossible for our small
police force to maintain the regulation, and drive them out.
..................... We understand that the Native Police cannot
be employed within the town to drive them out. The Magistrates
are therefore obliged to make the best use they can of the Town
Police when any disturbance occurs. ................................'
(12)
The words 'maintain the regulation' point to the possibility of an actual regulation here. Likewise the reference to Native Police not being able to be employed within the town could be inferring that this is because under a curfew regulation they would not be allowed in the town themselves.
1859 Moreton Bay Courier (20/12/1859) p. 42 of Fisher
'The residents who live in the more immediate parts of the
town are not acquainted with a tithe of the outrages which are
committed; and for the sake of those who live on the outside
prompt measures should be taken to ensure the exit of every aboriginal
before evening sets in. ............ As the town is known to
be quiet, it would not be amiss if special service was made by
the police for a few weeks in the outside of the town after five
or six o'clock in the afternoon.'(33)
In other words some sort of curfew has worked for the town proper and the M BC was wanting an unofficial extension into the suburbs.
1859 'The Municipalities Act of 1859'
from 'Memoirs of the Hon. Sir Robert Philp, K.C.M.G., 1851 -
1922' by Harry C. Perry, Brisbane: Watson,Ferguson & Co.,
1923. p. 19
'After a preamble setting out that the Proclamation was issued
under the provisions of the New South Wales Act entitled 'The
Municipalities Act of 1859,' pursuant to a petition from the
residents, the Proclamation goes on to declare the boundaries
of the new Municipality in the following most interesting language.'
What follows is the description of the boundary as previously.
1865 'Slater's Pocket Map of the City of Brisbane,
1865'
• p. 17 'South Bank an historical perspective from then until now' (BCC Lib)
• shows Boundary St. marked as City Boundary, Musgrave Park marked as Res. for Public Recreation, and West End school site marked as Cemetery.
late 1870's Evans in 'Brisbane: The Aboriginal Presence'
p. 88 and Colliver & Woolston in 'Aboriginals in the Brisbane Area' p. 64 quote Carl Lentz
as saying
'even in the late 1870's mounted troopers would ride about Brisbane
'after 4pm, cracking stockwhips' as a signal for Aborigines to
leave town.' (23)
1875 letter to the editor from Toowong in The Brisbane Courier Mon 3 May 1875
'Treatment of Aborigines.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE BRISBANE COURIER.
Sir,-I was somewhat startled on reading the following extract from "Our Brisbane Letter," published in the Sydney Morning Herald of the 23rd April :-
We are suffering from the usual annual nuisance created by the distribution of blankets among the blacks. They are congregating in considerable numbers in camps near the city, and as, despite the law, publicans and others will supply them with drink by way of cheap wages for woodcutting and other odd jobs, the unfortunate creatures become noisy and offensive. They are not permitted to remain within the municipal boundaries after dark; but in order to enforce this regulation they are driven out at the point of the whip by mounted troopers. This process is anything but an elevating sight, reminding the onlooker more of the hunting of vermin than of the enforcement of law against human beings ; and the way in which blackfellows, gins, and picaninnies will take to the water when to hard pressed by the horses, makes the vermin comparison still stronger.
It would appear from this that the aborigines of Queensland are hunted fiom the streets of Brisbane by mounted troopers armed with stock whips, to escape which they take to the water like rats- to the great amusement, 1 presume, of our small boy population. Whcn such fibs as these are vouched for by one of ourselves to the editor of the leading journal of the adjoinig colony, it is no wonder that still more extravagant reports should be published and accepted as truths at the other end of the world. We have enough to answer for with respect to our treatment of the blacks, in all conscience, and rejoiced would I and many others be if, by the establishment of reserves or otherwise, they could be kept from the public house, and their position improved. But to say that the citizens of Brisbane stand calmly by and see half-clad women and children flogged through their streets by mounted troopers is too cross a libel for us to allow to pass without challenge.
Yours, &c,
May 1. TOOWONG.'
1881-1890
Kerkow (unpublished report for FAIRA) states -
'Officially, it seems, blacks were considered nonentities. However, there is a hint of Aboriginal presence in Musgrave Park in talk of 'nuisances' in the park and in the creation of by-laws that legalized the removal of 'undesirable persons' and forbade camping, lighting of fires, etc. (South Brisbane Municipal Council Minutes 1881 - 1890)
1897 'Aboriginal and Islanders Protection and Restriction
of the Sale of Opium Act'
Ray Kerkhow, 'Aboriginal Places in Brisbane', unpub. paper, 1986
(FAIRA) quotes - G. Gutherine, 'Cherbourg: A Queensland Aboriginal
Reserve'; Uni of New England, Armidale, 1977, p.7 -
'This act brought the complete exclusion of blacks from towns
and cities; controls on their employment therein; and restriction
of their access to alcohol and opium.'
Kerkhow continues
'This meant that in 1897, the blacks resident in fringe camps in parks and vacant land around Brisbane were forcibly removed to the reserves Deebing Creek, Durundur, Fraser Island, Myoura, Cherbourg (Barambah).'
Photograph on Plate xvi of 'Triumph In The Tropics: an historical sketch of Queensland', compiled and edited by Sir Raphael Cilento with the assistance of Clem Lack; Brisbane: Smith & Paterson, 1959. Held Oxley Library, & FAIRA.
No date on photograph.
states:
"Trespass" post, marking limit of aboriginal approach
to Brisbane at night.
By courtesy of (Mrs.)Ann Finlay, granddaughter of T.B.Stephens who built "Coomboquepa" here. The site is now occupied by Sommerville House, Vulture St., Sth. Brisbane. The people shown include members of his family.
The photo shows what appears to be a wooden post approx 1 m high, just outside their fence line. It has a sharpened top, presumably to help preserve it from the weather. In the print in the book there appears to be some writing or illustration of some sort on the post. In the copy of the image held by Qld State Library, see http://enc.slq.qld.gov.au/slq/neg/research/020000/20289r.jpg , this can not be seen however. The photo was taken by Boag around 1872 before the raillway line excavation that caused the Stephens to move and rebuild Cummbooqueepa on it's current site in the grounds of Sommerville House. It has been suggested that the photo is possibly taken from Stephens Road and not from Vulture Street. If this was the case, it would throw some doubt over whether it was actually a "Trespass" post as claimed in 'Triumph of the Tropics'. However, a close examination of the three images currently available in the Picture Queensland collection would seem to make it more likely to be taken from Vulture Street thus adding some circumstantial validation to the 'Trespass Post' claim.
The above notes are made available in the spirtit of reconciliation. If you do make use of them could you please credit my research and the URL for this page. If you would like to publish this page please seek my permission. I'd welcome any suggestions, comments or possible additions to the above.
Daryll Bellingham, Storyteller
P.O. Box 5300, West End, Q4101,
Brisbane, Australia
Tel. 61 7 3846 3135
Email. mail@storytell.com.au
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Last update: 22nd June, 2009.
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