Layer

NameDalrymple's Campaigns
Description

The Australian Wars on the tropical north east coast of Australia were instigated primarily by George Augustus Frederick Elphinstone Dalrymple, between 1859 to 1863 in expeditions to the lands and waters of many peoples, including Darumbal, Guwinmal, Yuwi, Giya, Yuru, Bindal, Baradha, Biri, Gugu-Badhun, Nyawaygi, Wargamaygan, Djirbal, Yidinjdji, Djabugandjdji and, Kuku-yalanji people. This is the coast to the north of Rockhamption, to Townsville, and later, as far as Cooktown.

  • Burdekin River (1859)
  • Cleveland Bay and Port Denison (1860)
  • Bowen (1861)
  • Burdekin River (1862)
  • Cardwell (1864)
  • Herbert River (1864)

A later expedition in 1873 extended between Mourilyan Bay to the Daintree and around Cooktown. Previously, Dalrymple had supported the violent suppression of a peasants revolt in Ceylon and occupied land on the Darling Downs.

On these expeditions north Dalrymple expected resistance and prepared well armed and coordinated landings aimed at capturing and securing sites for colonial outposts, bringing with him troopers of the Native Police. He and his men killed many Aboriginal people. From these coastal locations, colonists extended into the hinterland and beyond the Great Dividing Range. 

According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, "He hoped to explore the coast north of Cooktown but in 1874 was given charge of the government settlement at Somerset on Cape York."

Among the motivations for these expeditions was a shortage in global sugar supplies caused by the American Civil War (1861-1865). These regions are prized sugar growing areas. It was also hoped to establish livestock, and potentially connect telegraph lines to Singapore. These industries and gold rushes prompted colonisation in the area. A cluster of massacres in Djirbal country, between Townsville and Cairns, a broad fertile coastal area, suggests that conflict there was especially intense and prolonged.

TypeEvent
Content Warning

WORKING DRAFT ONLY

ContributorDr Bill Pascoe
Entries12
Allow ANPS? No
Added to System2024-01-22 21:39:12
Updated in System2024-01-22 22:48:01
Subject history, colonial, tropical coast, Queensland, Indigenous, Frontier Wars, Australian Wars
Creator
Publisher
Contactbill.pascoe@unimelb.edu.au
Citation
DOI
Source URL
Linkback
Date From
Date To
Image
Latitude From
Longitude From
Latitude To
Longitude To
Language
License
Usage Rights
Date Created (externally)

Burdekin River Expedition

Placename
Burdekin River
Type
Event

Details

Latitude
-19.6660277837459
Longitude
147.52458569262322
Start Date
1859
End Date
1859

Description

Dalrymple Burdekin River expedition. More detail required.

Sources

TLCMap ID
td0029
Created At
2024-01-22 21:47:00
Updated At
2024-01-22 21:47:00

Cleveland Bay Expedition

Placename
Cleveland Bay
Type
Other

Details

Latitude
-19.2168299002691
Longitude
146.89201351855144
Start Date
1860
End Date
1860

Description

Sources

TLCMap ID
td002a
Created At
2024-01-22 21:52:08
Updated At
2024-01-22 21:52:08

Cleveland Bay and Port Denison Expedition

Placename
Port Denison
Type
Other

Details

Latitude
-20.012064239767014
Longitude
148.27560421679365
Start Date
1860
End Date
1860

Description

Sources

TLCMap ID
td002b
Created At
2024-01-22 21:54:04
Updated At
2024-01-22 21:54:25

Bowen Expedition

Placename
Bowen
Type
Other

Details

Latitude
-19.993352726054262
Longitude
148.23371884081672
Start Date
1861
End Date
1861

Description

Sources

TLCMap ID
td002c
Created At
2024-01-22 21:55:43
Updated At
2024-01-22 21:56:03

Burdekin River Expedition

Placename
Burdekin River
Type
Other

Details

Latitude
-19.660450816537477
Longitude
147.50458714220835
Start Date
1862
End Date
1862

Description

Sources

TLCMap ID
td002d
Created At
2024-01-22 21:58:52
Updated At
2024-01-22 21:58:52

Cardwell

Placename
Cardwell
Type
Other

Details

Latitude
-18.26367430946429
Longitude
146.0275884624337
Start Date
1864
End Date
1864

Description

Sources

TLCMap ID
td002e
Created At
2024-01-22 22:00:37
Updated At
2024-01-22 22:00:37

Herbert River Expedition

Placename
Herbert River
Type
Other

Details

Latitude
-18.53641980722449
Longitude
146.29137036059274
Start Date
1864
End Date
1864

Description

Sources

TLCMap ID
td002f
Created At
2024-01-22 22:02:44
Updated At
2024-01-22 22:02:44

Details

Latitude
-17.600450512475955
Longitude
146.1211982295566
Start Date
1873
End Date
1873

Description

Sources

TLCMap ID
td0030
Created At
2024-01-22 22:39:30
Updated At
2024-01-22 22:39:30

Trinity Inlet, North East Expedition

Placename
Cairns
Type
Other

Details

Latitude
-16.912310938731405
Longitude
145.77827450487987
Start Date
1873
End Date
1873

Description

Sources

TLCMap ID
td0031
Created At
2024-01-22 22:40:29
Updated At
2024-01-22 22:40:29

Endeavour River, North East Expedition

Placename
Cooktown
Type
Other

Details

Latitude
-15.464599483214698
Longitude
145.24131771777076
Start Date
1873
End Date
1873

Description

Sources

TLCMap ID
td0032
Created At
2024-01-22 22:42:00
Updated At
2024-01-22 22:43:58

Details

Latitude
-16.279937164337657
Longitude
145.4452943489351
Start Date
1873
End Date
1873

Description

Sources

TLCMap ID
td0033
Created At
2024-01-22 22:43:26
Updated At
2024-01-22 22:43:26

Somerset, Cape York

Placename
Somerset
Type
Other

Details

Latitude
-10.940474989947846
Longitude
142.44649883959767
Start Date
1874
End Date
1874

Description

"He [Dalrymple] hoped to explore the coast north of Cooktown but in 1874 was given charge of the government settlement at Somerset on Cape York. He sailed for Somerset in May but soon after he arrived was incapacitated by fever and a stroke. He was taken south by mail steamer and granted leave in September. After a summer in Scotland he went to St Leonards, Sussex, where he died, unmarried, on 22 January 1876." (Australian Dictionary of Biography)

Sources

TLCMap ID
td0034
Linkback
https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dalrymple-george-augustus-3357
Created At
2024-01-22 22:48:01
Updated At
2024-01-22 22:48:01
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