The earliest wri,en account of the Murdering Creek massacre a le,er from WC Low to David Bull, Meredith Walker

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1 The earliest wri,en account of the Murdering Creek massacre a le,er from WC Low to David Bull, 1944 Meredith Walker

2 Sunshine Coast motorway, south of Noosa Heads

3 David Bull, covering le?er to Secretary RHSQ, September 13, 1949 I think you can place every reliance on what he writes, Three le?ers from William Clark Low to David Bull , Royal Historical Society of Queensland archives. Found by Dr Ray Kerkhove, when researching the Omber industry in Buderim & Sunshine Coast

4 Four sons of James and ChrisOna Low, John, James, Ewan and William c1877 William Clark Low s residence, Yandina c1900 Picture Sunshine Coast, Nambour Library

6 William Clarke Low to David Bull, 14 th November 1944, pages 2 & 3 courtesy RHSQ archiv

7 Extract staoons map EG Heap In the Wake of the Ra^smen part 1, Queensland Heritage, 1965 Yandina StaOon

8 Yandina staoon homestead when George Browne was manager 1870s- 80s Photo courtesy Audienne Blyth

9 ç Noosa Heads Extract from Parish of Weyba 1914 The earliest map with the creek named Lake Weyba Murdering Creek boundary of Yandina StaOon and later Sunshine Coast Council & Noosa Shire Council

10 Lake Weyba from the west

11 John Windolf (2001) & Frances Windolf (2007) have researched the Murdering Creek massacre alsols Ray Gibbons the most perservering researcher

12 Earliest publicaoons menooning Murdering Creek year Author Publica0on Comments 1966 EG Heap In the Wake of the Ra^smen, part 3, Queensland Heritage 1961 Single sentence. Added a^er type sedng. Not referenced. Acknowledgments include RHSQ 1974 Stan Tu? Pioneer Days pp83-84 Not referenced, based on Bull s then unpublished book David Bull Colin Monks Short Cut to Gympie Gold pp Nooosa: the way it was and the Way it is Now Wri?en Not referenced, WC Low s account the major source + Bull s interpretaoon. Family story: the Kabi Kabi are lured to Murdering Creek by the offer of food. Monks family at TewanOn 1870 onwards. Later published accounts (eg Nancy Cato) are based on Bull and/or Tu?, with the author s interpretaoon or elaboraoon, and/or oral history.

13 The veracity of William Clark Low s account 1944 Were those people in the area? [could they have been involved?] Sco, ( lease holder), Chippindall (manager Yandina staoon), Jones brothers, Constable Farquarson, others George Browne? Other circumstan2al evidence? Other family stories? [Monks, Browne] Does the landscape support the account? Conclusions Date who was involved? What happened? deaths? & Consequences/results

Context William C Low in fact Chippindall s life was never safe he never went on the run without a Revolver with him, In fact Sandy Fleming Aboriginal said it was very common to see a spear coming

14 Context William C Low in fact Chippindall s life was never safe he never went on the run without a Revolver with him, In fact Sandy Fleming Aboriginal said it was very common to see a spear coming through the scrub when on the run Chippindall family history is of trouble with the blacks at Yandina StaOon. Ray Kerkhove Map: Sites of purported massacres and affrays near Murdering Creek c 1850s- 1870w

Gympie Times 5 th May, 1869, p 2 The blacks have lately been spearing ca,le in the most wonton manner on the Yandina run, and unless checked at once will be emboldened by impunity and commit more

15 Gympie Times 5 th May, 1869, p 2 The blacks have lately been spearing ca,le in the most wonton manner on the Yandina run, and unless checked at once will be emboldened by impunity and commit more serious crimes. It would not be creditable to the Execu]ve were such a state of things allowed to con]nue in the main road between Brisbane and Gympie. Could the massacre have occurred following this report?

16 Q. Could it have happened as described? Scarred tree, near Murdering creek repro canoe, Lake Cootharaba, Noosa, 2012 (photo James Muller)

17 View of Port Jackson, published July 13, 1789 courtesy Manly Museum and Art Gallery

20 Conclusions Date? 1869 Time: Late May - Early June Whose involved? The manager of Yandina StaOon - William T Chippindall? Dick and Arthur Jones? George Browne- involved with this event or others? + persons unknown Was there more than one massacre at Lake Weyba? Other scenarios?

21 Erica Chapman (Chippindall) - Murdering Creek, A work in progress 2013

22 Acknowledgements Dr Ray Kerkhove co- researcher and discoverer of the le?er in RHSQ archives Audienne Blyth, (nee Low) historian, Yandina Colin Monks, historian, TewanOn Robin Wells and Discover Eumundi (map collec]on) Dr Elaine Brown, historian, Gympie Murray Browne, descendant of George Browne, manager Yandina StaOon c Lyndon Davis, Kabi Kabi elder and his wife Nikki Davis, Yandina Val Donovan, Royal Historical Society of Queensland Ray Gibbons Heather Johnston, co- ordinator Buderim SAILS Kaye Nardella, curator, and Bill Kitson, volunteer, Museum of Lands, Mapping & Surveying, Woolloongabba Prof Lyndall Ryan,

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