February 3.
Artwork by Glenn Loughrey
Killings in Maryborough
The killing of indigenous people in Maryborough in Queensland
On the morning of the 3rd February [1860]...Mr. Bligh, with a party of the police, rode into town early, and fired several shots at a few blacks encamped near Cleary's; then came into East Maryborough, charged a camp near Mr. Melville's, drove the poor creatures from it – some through the town, some into the river – and commenced butchering them forthwith. 'Darkey' who had been constantly employed in the town – who could have been apprehended at any moment, had there been any desire, or occasion, was shot down opposite Mr. Palmer's, where his body was left, and subsequently roasted. 'Young Snatchem', an excellent and industrious black, was driven along the river, near the public wharf – scores of men, women and children stood by, and Lieut. John O'Oconnell Bligh stationed himself in the bow of a boat, which was in readiness, and forty or fifty shots were fired, five or six by Mr. Bligh himself. The boat overtook him (the black) in an exhausted state, and [Bligh] lowered his carbine, and shot the defenceless, tired, unresisting wretch, in the back. 'Yankine', who was then wounded, has since recovered. Against him, there never was a single charge. Another poor fellow, blind in one eye, an old grey headed man, was taken prisoner, triumphantly marched in handcuffs through the town, led out some miles by these bloodthirsty brutes, and has never been seen since. The blacks immediately brought in word that he had been shot dead near the Six-Mile Creek, and as the old creature was well known here, and a frequent visitor at certain houses, it is beyond doubt that he too had been, if possible, more barbarously murdered than the others. Thus terminated the foulest deed – and shall I say, the foulest day – Maryborough ever witnessed. [1]
Letter to Editor, Moreton Bay Courier, 25 April 1861 from 'A Believer in Gasson's Statement'.
Acknowledgment: Henry Reynolds, Dispossession – Black Australians and White Invaders, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, 1989, pp. 48-49.
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With this letter to the Moreton Bay Courier in mind, historian Henry Reynolds writes:
Events in Maryborough [Queensland] in 1860 bore out both the worst fears about the Native Police and of broad community support for its activities. On the morning of 3 February Lieutenant Bligh led his detachment into the town and dispersed the local Aboriginal camps and shot the residents as they ran...Early the following week a public meeting expressed strong support for Lieutenant Bligh and opened a subscription to buy and present him with a ceremonial sword to commemorate the event. [1]
'Lieutenant Bligh's Sword', Moreton Bay Courier, 25 April 1861.
Acknowledgment: Henry Reynolds, This Whispering in Our Hearts, pp.99-100, 259 n.20.
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And elsewhere in central Queensland near Emerald.
Possibly suspecting he wouldn't get published, Charles Dutton wrote not to the Brisbane papers but to the Sydney Morning Herald (3 February 1861) stating that:
Before there were any complaints against the blacks in the district [around Cullin-la-Ruingo Station near Emerald] the conduct of the native police was characterised by the grossest cruelty, the most oppressive and exasperating acts, inspiring a feeling of hatred, and desire for revenge, which the conduct of many whites has rather tended to inflame than to soothe or allay.
Acknowledgment: Timothy Bottoms, Conspiracy of Silence, p. 54