Alternate Names: Rannes Station Massacre, Young Massacre, Mt Larcom Massacre, Nankin Creek Massacre, Nine-Mile Creek Massacre

Aboriginal people: Darumbal, Gangalu, Gureng Gureng (Goreng Goreng), Bayali

Named Aboriginal people: King Harold, King John

Colonial Forces: Native Mounted Police, Various Squatters

Notable Colonists: Archer brothers, Leith-Hay brothers, Elliot brothers, Atherton family, John Arthur McCartney, Samuel Birkbeck, William Young, Lieutenant John Murray NMP, William Wiseman

Narrative:

Warfare and resistance in the Rockhampton region began in the mid-1850s and lasted through the 1860s. Initial provocation is uncertain, though it is likely that the introduction of cattle runs in the vicinity of Rannes and Port Curtis provided impetus for conflict. In September 1855 the Native Police Camp, established in 1853, came under attack from a large force of First Nations people. The attack killed or wounded all but one of the Native Police contingent. Mr Leith-Hay, the station owner, reported to the Government that the tribes of the Burnett, Upper Dawson, Port Curtis and those from northward and westward were involved in the violence. Taken together this suggests an alliance of First Nations Peoples, particularly the Gangalu, Darumbal, Bayali and Gureng-Gureng Peoples.

In December of the same year, another attack was made by a large group at Mt Larcom Station, killing all but the owner, who was away at the time. The perpetrators fled both north and westwards. Commissioner of Crown Lands Wiseman was to see evidence of a large party moving west, while the Native Police pursued the others to the north. Lieutenant Murray of the Native Police believed the attackers were from the Port Curtis and Fitzroy tribes. This would suggest a continuation of association amongst the tribes of the region, Mt Larcom falling between Bayali/Gureng-Gureng traditional lands with Darumbal warriors participating. Lieutenant Murray, after recovering some stolen property of Mr Young in the local vicinity at the cost of First Nations lives, pursued the rest of the band north. With the assistance of the Archer’s at Gracemere, Lieutenant Murray crossed the Fitzroy and attacked a First Nations camp at Nankin Creek in Darumbal lands. This was direct retribution for Mt Larcom, but it only triggered further violence. The Elliot’s camp at Nine-Mile Creek, a sub-branch of the Archer’s lands at Gracemere, came under attack in January of 1856, where it was reported that over 200 tribesmen engaged against twenty white men. This led inevitably to a further retaliatory raid by the Archer’s and Native Police who tracked the tribes further north, near Glenmore.

Meanwhile, at least one of the clans, “the Gracemere tribe” worked together with the Archer’s at Gracemere, led by a distinguished warrior, King Harold. The movements of the First Nations peoples associated with the preceding tit-for-tat battles from at least Mt Larcom to the attack on the Elliots’ were fed to the Archers’ and the Native Police through the agency of King Harold. This shows that the relationships of the tribes and the squatters in the area should not be over-simplified.

Intermittent attacks and retaliations seem to have occurred into 1858, when the Canoona goldrush drew around 15000 gold-crazed outsiders into the Fitzroy region. Journalist Frederick Sinnett who documented his time on the goldfields described that large groups of tribesmen would chase armed hunting parties of white men when they ventured away from town. He also pointed out that the Native Police worked exclusively against the First Nations people and that the tribes would retaliate when they were able.

In 1859, a shepherd of Glenmore station on the north side of the Fitzroy, was killed by unknown Darumbal men. Records of the time suggest the deaths of only limited numbers of Darumbal men; however, John McCartney, the station owner of the time recalled years later that one hundred people were rounded up, including their leader King John. A fight occurred but like in most battles, it was most of the one hundred who were shot.

Sometime around 1860-61 when the Atherton family arrived at their new run at Hedlow Station, a hostile mob prepared to resist the encroachment of squatters in the region between Rockhampton and Yeppoon. Violence in this case was initially averted by good will between members of the squatter party and young members of the gathered mob, said to be around 100 in strength. In the following weeks, however, the Native Police on a patrol of the area found an excuse to massacre about 40 members of the local Darumbal People.

Evidence around Rockhampton itself becomes sparse for the years between 1861 and 1865. Glenmore station came under threat in mid-1865 when a Darumbal raiding party began spearing some of the livestock. The Native Police were inevitably called in and caused the deaths of six Darumbal. No more than a few days later it is reported that up to 600 hostile tribesman drove the station owners, their family and servant out of the station, fleeing into a boat in the middle of the Fitzroy River. When the Native Police arrived, they found that the tribe had moved on.

No single event can be said to have ended the violence in the Rockhampton region. There is only a silence of connecting evidence between the ebb and flow of resistance in the region.

Sources

Avery, M. (2025) Enemy on Their Tracks: A documentary history of the Central Queensland Frontier. Coorooman Press

Bottoms, T. (2013). Conspiracy of silence: Queensland's frontier killing-times. Allen & Unwin.

Bird, J. T. S. (2016). The early history of Rockhampton: Dealing chiefly with events up till 1870. Coorooman Press. (Original work published 1904) https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:216457 

McDonald, L. (1981). Rockhampton: A history of city and district. University of Queensland Press.

Oscar de Satge (1901) Pages from the Journal of a Queensland Squatter. Hurst and Blackett https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:319365

Pattison, J. G. (2016). "Battler's" tales of early Rockhampton. Coorooman Press. (Original work published 1939)

Sinnett, F. (1859) Account of the "rush" to Port Curtis: including letters addressed to the "Argus" as special correspondent from the Fitzroy River. Ray and Richter. https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-614109466

Contributor: Mark Avery, 2026