Our Indooroopilly - Narrative of Oxley's Expedition 1823

Readings from Primary Sources on Moreton Bay & Brisbane

These "Readings" from Barron Field's book, Geographical Memoirs of New South Wales are reprinted from J.G. Steele, The Explorers of the Moreton Bay District 1770-1830, Brisbane, 1972. They relate the arrival in Pumice-stone River, Moreton Bay, of John Oxley's expedition in 1823 to Port Curtis and Moreton Bay. They were written by John Uniacke in a narrative called "Narrative of Mr. Oxley's Expedition to survey Port Curtis and Moreton Bay" and published in Barron Field's book. Field's version has evidently been redrafted from a manuscript in the Mitchell Library which may well have been in John Uniacke's writing. Steele quotes the manuscript in footnotes whenever it appears to be more accurate.
Note that Footnotes are per J.G. Steele.
Note that the introductory paragraphs below show heavy quoting from and extensive reliance on J.G. Steele's The Explorers of the Moreton Bay District 1770-1830, Brisbane, 1972. There has also been some quoting from Hector Holthouse's Illustrated History of Queensland.

Oxley and party entered Moreton Bay on 29 November, anchoring close to Point Skirmish at the entrance of Pumice-Stone River (near where Flinders had anchored 22 years earlier). The castaways, Pamphlet and Finnegan, were picked up, and on 1 December Oxley and Stirling set out in the whaleboat to explore the Brisbane River, taking Finnegan as a guide and provisions for four days.

Meanwhile, Uniacke (author of this extract) remained at Pumicestone Channel, and another party in a boat explored the islands at the southern end of the bay and continued as far as Southport, proving Stradbroke island to be indeed an island. On 6 December they all departed for Sydney.

John Fitzgerald Uniacke was Superintendent of Distilleries in New South Wales. He was chosen for the 1823 expedition to identify and collect rocks and minerals. He was also something of an expert on rare birds, and flora and fauna in general. He had a deep interest in aborigines, their culture and mode of existence. Later, he became Sheriff and Provost Master of New South Wales. He died in Sydney in 1825 from fever, at the young age of about twenty-six.

The following extract is a continuation of Uniacke's narrative...

NARRATIVE OF MR. OXLEY'S EXPEDITION TO SURVEY PORT CURTIS AND MORETON BAY

29 NOVEMBER-6 DECEMBER 1823
The principal station of the tribe, with whom we found these poor men, was about two miles higher up the Pumice-stone River (so called by Captain Flinders, from the immense quantities of that substance found on its banks) than where the vessel lay; but as they depend principally on fish for their support, they have several huts, at a distance of three or four miles from each other, to which they migrate from time to time as the fish become scarce.

Their huts¹ are built of long slender wattles, both ends of which are stuck into the ground, so as to form an arch about three feet and a half or four feet high. These are strongly interwoven with rude wicker-work, and the whole is covered with tea-tree (melaleuca arinillaris) bark, in such a manner as to be quite impervious to the rain; thus forming a spacious and commodious hut, capable of containing from ten to twelve people.

In their journeys the women are obliged to carry heav burthens, consisting of whatever rude utensils they may possess, together with a large quantity of fern-root, which forms a part of their daily food, and not infrequently two or three children besides. The men carry nothing but a spear, and perhaps a fire-stick; and their only employment consists in catching fish; this they do very expertly with a kind of hoop-net, which they use in the following manner: They go out in equal parties of four, six, or eight, each man having two nets. They then walk along the beach till they perceive the fish near the shore, which (from constant practice) they are enabled to do at a depth of four or five feet. As soon as this takes place, a little boy, who accompanies each party, creeps towards the water on his hands and knees; the party then divide, forming two lines, one on each side of the boy, at a distance of two or three yards, and as soon as the fish are sufficiently near, the boy throws among them a handful of sand, so as to distract their attention, when the men instantly rush into the water, forming a semi-circle round the fish, each man standing between his two nets, which he then draws close together. In this manner they are seldom unsuccessful, and frequently catch more than they can consume. As they never travel without fire, the moment the fish are out of the water, they commence roasting and eating them, which they do without cleaning or any other preparation; and when they have satisfied themselves, should any remain, they carry them home for their women and children, who have been employed during the day in procuring fern-root, which they call dingowa, and a part of which they give the men in exchange for fish.

When Pamphlet arrived among them, they had no more idea that water could be made hot than that it could be made solid; and on his heating some in a tin pot which he had saved when wrecked, the whole tribe gathered round them and watched the pot till it began to boil, when they all took to their heels, shouting and screaming; nor could they be persuaded to return till they saw him pour the water out and clean the pot, when they slowly ventured back, and carefully covered the place where the water was spilt with sand. During the whole of our countrymen's stay among them, they were never reconciled to this operation of boiling.

The women weave a strong neat kind of net with rushes; with one or two of these each native is furnished to carry fish, dingowa, or any thing else they may pick up. The nets used for fishing are made by the men from the bark of the kurrajong (hibiscus heterophyllus), a shrub which is very common in the swamps. It is difficult at first sight to distinguish them from nets made of hemp. They have also nets of a much larger size, which they use in taking the kangaroo.²

Both sexes go perfectly naked; nor are the females at all abashed at appearing in that state before a stranger. They do not seem to have any ornaments, though they were much gratified with strips of red cloth and bunting, with which we decorated their heads; and some of the scarlet tail feathers of a black cockatoo, which I gave them, had nearly produced a quarrel among them. Several articles of clothing were also given them, but they were invariably taken off and hidden as soon as they arrived at their camp; nor did we see ever any article again after they once became possessed of it.

Each individual of this tribe above the age of six years had the cartilage of the nose perforated, and many of them (especially the children) wore large pieces of stick or bone thrust through it, in such a manner as completely to stop the nostrils. This operation is always performed by the same person, whose office is hereditary, and confers some privileges, such as receiving fish, &c., from the others. It was held in this tribe by a fine intelligent young man, who was called the Doctor by our men.³ His father held a similar situation in another tribe on the south side of the river.⁴

These tribes are distinguished from each other by the different colours they use in painting their bodies. Those on the north side⁵ blacken themselves all over with charcoal and bees' wax, which, with wild honey, they procure in abundance; and those on the south side⁶ paint themselves with a sort of red jaspar,⁷ which they burn and reduce to a powder. Other tribes make use of a white pigment, with which (having previously blackened themselves) they daub various parts of their body.

Their chief appeared to possess an unlimited authority over them; he Was a tall, middle-aged⁸ man, with an intelligent countenance. He had two wives, which (though it sometimes occurs) does not seem to be common among them. However, only one of them lived with him as a wife; the other was employed, while he ate or slept, in going among the other huts and collecting from their inhabitants fish, fern-root, &c. - a tribute which was daily paid to him without murmuring, although the rest of the tribe in consequence occasionally fell short themselves. The chief possesses nets both for fish and kangaroo, but seldom uses them except for his amusement. Neither does his head wife ever go out to gather fern-root with the rest of the women.

The same practice of scarifying themselves with sharp shells prevails here, as at Sydney; but most of these Indians⁹ were cut more deeply, and all with great regularity. The women here, as at Sydney, all lose the first two joints of the little finger of the left hand; but the men do not extract a front tooth on their approach to puberty, as is invariably the case in the vicinity of Port Jackson. The amputation of the finger is performed by the same person who bores the noses.¹⁰ Pamphlet and Finnegan, while among the Indians, were regularly painted twice a day, and were frequently importuned to allow themselves to be further ornamented by scarifying the body and boring the nose; but on their signifying that they did not wish it, the natives always desisted; nor was any violence used against them during their whole residence.

On only one occasion during our stay did the Indians show the least inclination towards pilfering, although they were constantly begging for every thing they saw. Our men had been employed on shore all day cutting timber, and several natives had been with them in the afternoon. Upon returning in the evening, it was found that somebody had stolen the best falling axe we had: this, as we originally had but two, we could ill spare; and on Mr. Penson's¹¹ informing me of the circumstance, I resolved to recover it if possible. I accordingly took the jolly boat,¹² and, with Mr. Penson and Bowen,¹³ pulled up to their encampment.¹⁴ On landing, several of them came out to meet us, and to them I endeavoured to make known our loss by signs. They soon seemed to understand me, and signified that they would accompany me to the place where it was hidden, which several of them accordingly prepared to do. However, I observed that they dropped back one by one, so that by the time I had advanced half a mile, there were only one old man and one young man left with me; one of these I was determined to secure till the axe was restored. I had some difficulty in making them keep up with me, as they were continually framing pretences to get into the bush; but I at length succeeded in bringing them opposite the vessel. Here the old man made signs that he and I should stop till the young man brought the axe, and we accordingly halted, while the other was soon out of sight in the wood. I then happened to take my eye a moment off my companion, when he darted into the bush with amazing celerity, and was out of sight in an instant. We now supposed that our friendly intercourse with them was at an end, and that we should not again see the axe; but at eight o'clock next morning¹⁵ we found a number of them on the beach, abreast of the vessel, shouting and elevating the axe, which, on my going on shore, was delivered to me by the old man who had shown such speed the evening before.

So this incident, instead of interrupting our good understanding, rendered our mutual confidence more strong; for several of the natives ventured on board that day for the first time, whereas they had always before refused to do so with signs of fear. From this time forward not a single day passed, on which we had not ten or twelve of them on board at a time. They seemed very curious, inquiring the use of every thing they saw, but it was longer before we could persuade them to eat anything with us. However, when they once began, it was by no means an easy matter to satisfy them Our cats and goats struck them with particular astonishment. We could not prevail on them to approach the latter, of whose horns they seemed to have a great awe. They were, however, continually caressing the cats, and holding them up for the admiration of their companions on shore.

I could not ascertain that these people had any idea whatever of religion. They do not stand in awe of either good or evil spirits; nor did the Englishmen we found with them ever observe anything like religious ceremony or prayer among them, during all the time of their residence.

The women are far more fortunate than those in the neighbourhood of Sydney, where they are abused in the most cruel way by the men;¹⁶ and where the marriage ceremony consists of seizing the bride and beating her till she is senseless. Pamphlet assured me that, during his residence among these natives (nearly seven months), he never saw a woman struck or ill-treated except by one of her own sex. Indeed, save among the women, he never saw a quarrel in that or any other tribe he was with. The women that I saw were far superior in personal beauty to the men, or indeed to any natives of this country whom I have yet seen. Many of them are tall, straight, and well formed; and there were two, in particular, whose shape and features were such as no white woman need have been ashamed of.

This tribe amounted in number to about thirty men, sixteen or seventeen women, and about twenty children. Their quarrels with neighbouring tribes are frequent, and often end fatally. As some of them were witnessed by Pamphlet and his companion, it may not be uninteresting to insert here the description which they gave me of two, at which they were present, and which I took down at the moment. That which Finnegan describes may be considered as the most faithful, as he witnessed it only two¹⁷ days before we found him, and the particulars were then strongly impressed on his mind.¹⁸

Messrs. Oxley and Stirling had named Thursday, the 4th December, for their return to the vessel; but after waiting dinner till past seven o'clock, we gave them over for that night; and were employed on the following day in completing our wood and water, so as to be ready for sea the next morning. On Friday evening, at sun-set, I went ashore and made a large fire, in order to serve as a beacon for the boat, which, however, not having arrived at ten o'clock, I went to bed, somewhat uneasy, lest some accident should have happened: however, after I had been in bed about an hour, Mr. Penson came down to let me know that he had heard and seen a gun fire. On this I rose, and just before midnight the boat came alongside, having rowed with very little intermission since five o'clock in the morning.¹⁹ They were very much fatigued, particularly Messrs Oxley and Stirling, who had not been well before they left the vessel,²⁰ and now appeared quite exhausted, from constant exposure to a hot sun for twelve or fifteen hours daily in an open boat. Our hardships were rendered less tolerable from our having been so shamefully robbed by our servants, in consequence of which these gentlemen had no wine or spirits to take with them.

Mr. Oxley told us that after losing the first day in the examination of a large creek, which Finnegan mistook for the river, they had on the following day entered the river itself, by an entrance three miles wide, and had proceeded above fifty²¹ miles from the mouth. The water was fresh about eighteen miles up,²² even at high water, and where they left off, the tide still rose four feet and a half. This magnificent river, the further examination of which they were obliged with reluctance to postpone to a more favourable opportunity, was, at the termination of their progress, above half a mile wide, and eight fathoms deep; and from an eminence near it they obtained a view of its course, meandering for nearly thirty miles through a rich flat country, clothed with large timber, among which was an unknown species of pine²³ in considerable abundance, which from its size and the apparently excellent quality of the wood, will probably prove a valuable acquisition to the colony, it being well calculated for ships' spars. The soil on both banks was a rich black loam, and in every part the wild indigo²⁴ was growing in abundance.

Having been thus successful beyond our expectations in the main object of our expedition, and the cutter being ready for sea, we got under way morning of Saturday, 6th December, with the last quarter of flood tide.

1.	Flinders had described the huts in 1799.
2.	Kangaroo nets were made with mesh of 2 or 3 inches and stretched between trees. Kangaroos were chased towards the nets, where they were clubbed or speared.
3.	Pamphlet and the Doctor were friends.
4.	The mainland, south of Pumicestone Channel (thought to be a river).
5.	At Bribie Island.
6.	Toorbul Point, Redcliffe, and Petrie.
7.	Red rock is plentiful on the mainland, but Bribie Island is composed entirely of sand.
8.	Bingle, Finnegan, and Pamphlet described the chief as old.
9.	The natives were often called Indians. For example Indian Head, on Fraser Island, was so named by Cook because some natives assembled there to watch the "Endeavour" go past.
10.	According to Tom Petrie's Reminiscences of Early Queensland,the amputation was performed by the mother, or some old woman, by binding hair around the finger until it swelled up and died, then allowing the ants to eat the flesh, so that the bone came off easily. It was practised only on the coast, and was a sign that they were coast women.
11.	Charles Penson was master of the "Mermaid".
12.	Oxley had taken the whale-boat.
13.	Earlier in this narrative, Uniacke refers to "a native black by the name of Bowen whom we had brought from Sydney".
14.	Two miles up the channel from the "Mermaid".
15.	Probably Tuesday, 2 December.
16.	Flinders mentioned this in his journal for 30 July 1799 (Flinders in the "Norfolk").
17.	According to Finnegan's account, it was four days before.
18.	Refer Our Indooroopilly Web archive.
19.	They had camped at the mouth of the Brisbane River, near Fisherman Island, and spent the, whole of Friday "in sounding the entrance and traversing the country in the vicinity of Red Cliff Point." (Oxley, Report, 29 November - 6 December 1823).
20.	They had suffered from lack of fresh water at Port Curtis. By the time they reached Cook Island (7 December) Oxley and others were suffering from scurvy, and at Port Macquarie (8 December) Oxley could scarcely move on account of a swelling in the legs.
21.	Actually about 40 miles, to Goodna.
22.	Near the Story Bridge.
23.	Hoop pine.
24.	Indigofera australis, a shrub 2 - 4 feet high, with red, showy flowers.