NOTES ON THE ABORIGINALS, ETC., 43 



what I was told was an outbuilding a long way to the rear of 

 the main station, but this also went a good many years ago. 



A branch convict establishment was formed at Dunwich 

 where the convicts were employed sawing timber rafted from 

 the Logan, etc. This necessitated a guard and barracks there. 



Trouble followed between the blacks and the authorities, 

 and conflicts took place, well remembered by some of the older 

 aboriginals as having happened when they were lads. Tlie 

 blacks in these encounters suffered considerably. Something of 

 a massacre took place on the south end of Moreton Island, near 

 the head of the fresh water lagoon. The soldiers surprised and 

 surrounded a camp at daybreak, when nearly all were shot 

 down. My informant, a young boy at the time, escaped with a 

 few others ; he by hiding in a clump of bushes. Affairs of a 

 similar kind took place on Stradbrooke, one in the neighbour- 

 hood of Point Lookout, and another farther to the south. A 

 genuine stand-up fight came off west of the Big Hill on Strad- 

 brooke, when the blacks were badly beaten. 



Some time after the convict establishment was broken up, and 

 the buildings at Dunwich were loaned to a party of Italian mis- 

 sionaries for a mission station. So far as I have learnt, the mission 

 was carried on for but a short time and without any success. 

 The blacks would not remain with the missionaries. These 

 buildings have now entirely disappeared. The brick and stone 

 material has been utilised in the construction of the Superin- 

 tendent's residence and one of the wards of the Benevolent 

 Asylum, and in the shore end of the jetty at Dunwich. 



As before said, the aboriginals of these islands rejoiced in 

 an abundant supply of food. The kangaroo is not found on 

 Moreton Island, and is also rare on Stradbrooke except on the 

 the sonthern end where it is plentiful in the neighbourhood of 

 Swan Bay. Wallabies of two or three kinds range very 

 sparingly over both islands. The native dog is only found in the 

 kangaroo district. The opossum and the native bear do not 

 occur at all. The bandicoot, echidna, and fresh water tortoise 

 are occasionally met with. 



