A Part of Buderim's History

Where Did they Go? The Story of Buderim’s Indigenous Residents
Part Two

Ray Kerkhove

1840s - 1850s:  For local Aborigines, the start of 'free (non-convict) settlement' was marred by the Kilcoy massacre (1842 – Meston 1923). Some 60 of their people (Gubbi Gubbi) from Mt Bauple perished in that event (Johnson & Saunders 2007: 6). In response, many amongst the Gubbi Gubbi and neighbouring groups met at the bunya lands (near Maleny) and declared war on white people. Thus began a sporadic, guerrilla conflict that lasted till c.1855 – what Chas Melton recalled as “the fighting Fifties” (Melton 1919).  It mostly consisted of economic sabotage – depleting or driving away the herds and crops that fed the settlers (Adams 2000:137), and trying to disrupt their lines of transportation or inflict revenge killings on particularly bothersome whites.

The very same year (1842), the entire 'North Coast region' (today's Sunshine Coast - mostly Gubbi Gubbi territory) was declared a 'Bunya Bunya Reserve' by Governor Gipps.  This halted settlers moving into the area and made it an important ‘hide out’ for resistance leaders like Dundalli and Yilbung.

Many Aborigines from the 'North Coast' were nevertheless curious about the strange white men of the fledgling colony. Melton records that Brisbane’s Indigenous visitors at this time were “mostly from tribes of the North Coast region” (Melton 1921: 85).  The visitors came to trade or sell their wares and sea foods, or take up casual jobs such as water-carrying.  Others simply visited to observe the curious antics of the newcomers or to beg and pilfer what they could of their strange objects, foods and intoxicants.  By such means, the Gubbi Gubbi and other groups rapidly grew proficient in English, horse-riding, shooting, boat-piloting, the use of iron and countless other objects - blending all this as best they could with their traditional lifestyle.

A little more than ten years after the Bunya Bunya Reserve had been proclaimed; two large pastoral leases engulfed the Mooloolah/ Buderim district (Heap 1965: 7). Timber getters such as Richard Jones were already exploring Buderim’s forests (Robertson 1962: 5). They established tiny timber ports at Alexandra Headlands, Mooloolaba, and Maroochydore.

The usual workers for these early arrivals were local Gubbi Gubbi people. It was they who cut and dragged the mighty logs down to what had been their old pathways - down the creeks, to the Mooloolah River and eventually on their way around the world. It was also they who created the roadways to transport the timber (Andison 1997: 3).