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

Timeline Map >

The following lists references to some people involved in this conflict. More may be added in future.

This information has been collected from various sources, including the Colonial Frontier Massacres, 1788-1930 project (Ryan et al, 2025) and the South Australian Frontier and it's Legacies project (Foster et al), as well as ongoing research in primary sources. Finding and gathering this much information in millions of pages of colonial texts and other sources would not be possible without the use of computer automation. All information is checked but human and computer error can persist. Please let us know any corrections. Where possible, links are provided to sources to read the full text.

Country/Nation/People/Language indicates which Indigenous group people belonged to. Different people in different places prefer different terminology, and sometimes the 'belonging' relates to one of these not another. In many cases, due to colonists' limited knowledge, the archival record only uses generalised and sometimes racist terms (eg: 'blacks' or 'Murrimbidgee blacks'). In the absence of any other detail, although people travelled and visisted, we may infer the people involved were the people of the region the event occurred.

Listed are:

• Named Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander people. This includes people involved in violent action, or in some other way involved, such as messengers. In many cases only the colonists' name (alias or aka - 'also known as') for the person is available.
• Colonists involved in the conflict. This includes people who were involved in violent actions such as massacres and shooting, or whose stock, runs or huts were raided, or similar. It may include people who played a significant role in the conflict in other ways, such as the Governor or regional administrators who ordered actions or established policies in relation to the conflict.
• Unnamed individuals or groups of people. This is as specific as possible. If a group is mentioned that is indicated and if an individual is mentioned, we also list that individual. It may be difficult to disentangle which individuals and groups in source texts are the same, and which different. Indigenous people go unnamed in colonial records of conflict encounters more commonly than colonists, but sometimes reporting also did not refer to low status workers and convicts by name, and referred to them by role, such as 'a stockman', 'a shepherd', or by their employer's name, such as, 'Mr Smith's men'.
• Auxilliaries. This is a general category for people aiding or working for one side or another, who might not be regarded as 'from' that side. Usually this means Indigenous people working for, or acting on behalf of colonists such as trackers, workers and Native Police. This can also apply to colonists working within and on behalf of Indigenous culture (such as William Buckley). The distinction is not always clear cut and some individuals acted on both sides of the conflict or changed sides. This may be voluntarily or by coercion.

Unnamed Aboriginal People

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Unnamed Colonists

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Unnamed Auxilliaries

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