88 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



infirm mentally and physically with narcotics and senility, 

 though managing to crawl into town and out again in spite of a 

 deformity of both feet (double talipes equi no- varus). The head- 

 camp of these Wakka, of whom only two or three are said to 

 survive in the district, used to be on the present site of Glad- 

 stone whence they would travel southwards as far as Bundaberg, 

 and westwards to a distance which I was unable to locate. In 

 former days the home of the Duppil — of whom only four now 

 remain locally — was situate some three miles south of Gladstone 

 at Barney Point, known as Dolowa, whence the name of the 

 main Gladstone thoroughfare has evidently been applied. 



9. At Miriam Vale I came across the comparatively large 

 permanent camp of the Koreng-Koreng with about tweuty-live 

 to thirty adults, and the majority of them diunk. They travel 

 northwards as far as Gladstone, .southwards to Bundaberg, and 

 westwards out to Cania Station and the diggings. Mr. C. E. 

 Roe has known them travel as far inland as the Bunya Ranges 

 (Rosalie, etc.), but does not think they ever went very far north 

 or south beyond the limits just .stated ; he has seen a camp with 

 visitors — a total of six or seven hundred — congregated at Miriam 

 Vale and stretching over a length of three miles, though they 

 were perforce to keep shifting owing to the food-supply. 



10. Two excursions to the Keppel Islands gave very interest- 

 ing results. On Big Keppel where the nineteen remnants of the 

 islanders are now congregated, there are sixteen full-bood adults, 

 two half-caste children, and a full-blood six-month old (October 

 1898) female infant; among the adults only three are males, the 

 overwhelming preponderance of women being easily explicable 

 when the character of some of the previous European visitors to 

 the island is borne in mind. On North Keppel is still to be 

 seen the actual camping ground where at least seven males were 

 shot down one night in cold blood, the father of one of the 

 surviving women (who described to me the scene as it actually 

 took place) being butchered while his little girl was clinging 

 round his neck. Other males were deported and decoyed to the 

 mainland, by false promises of food, etc. ; some of them (including 

 Yulowa) succeeding in swinn»nng l)ack the distance of between 

 six and seven miles whilst others were shark-eaten. Mr. Wynd- 

 ham, the first white occupant of Big Keppel, in 1884, tells me 

 that there were thf^n about fifty-four individuals there ; lie was 

 just and kind to thein. The manner in which he first entered 

 into communication with them is interesting : — in his own 

 words — " At first when 1 was there the blacks used to keep 

 away from me and the two mainland natives who accompanied 



