88 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ave., 1902. 
even at that time all but extinct and now entirely so, which once flourished 
as occupants of that locality. It must be understood that before the white 
man intruded, the country was parcelled out among different native tribes, each 
having exclusive rights over particular tracts, the limits and borders of which were 
well understood by the aborigines all about.. Questioning this old survivor whether 
the knoll or range of which it forms part had any name, Mr. Radford learned that 
it had been known as “Coot-tha”—honey; the place of honey. ‘There, in the good: 
old days, when there were no white men to trouble people, bees. abounded and 
“plenty sugar-bag sit down.’’ In other words, hives abounded in the hollow trunks 
and limbs of the trees. The coast tribes had no share in this part of the country. 
They lived along the seashore, and had game and lots of fish. How plentiful was 
their supply of fish we know from the accounts given in 1823 to Mr. Trae! one — 
of Lieutenant Oxley’s companions on his first visit to Moreton Bay; by Finnegan 
and Pamphlet, the two castaways then rescued after living over a year among the 
natives. They had plenty, and weren’t mean with it. The castaways were generously 
supplied by them with all they could eat. But honey was not plentiful so near the 
coast; and, of coursé, salt-water fish was not in the bill of fare of the tribes 
inhabiting the inland hills. So, according to this old blackfellow’s story, at certain 
seasons the different tribes arranged to change places. The inland blacks left their 
district and trooped down to the seaside for the benefit of their health, and the seaside 
natives took a jaunt to the hills for the nice fresh air. The first mentioned had a good 
time fishing and sea bathing, and the latter were braced up by hill-climbing and bee- 
hunting. A pleasant memory of early reciprocity! Of course, the bees of those days 
were not the European honey bees since spread by swarms through the Queensland 
bush. They were the little stingless, fly-like, native bee, with their comparatively 
small stores of sweet but insipid honey, and they only nipped one’s brown naked skin, 
instead of driving one crazy with venomed darts. 
Enough of the name, however. The excursionist, arrived at the boundary of the 
Mount Coot-tha Reserve, finds before him a road with a pretty steep gradient, and 
which winds, following the course of the ridges, upward for about 1}.mile. Ifa 
vehicle be used, the horses draw it at walking pace. The road seems a clever bit of 
engineering. The easiest ascents have been artfully chosen. But in reality, the smart 
engineering in this respect was done by cattle. The road, in fact, was formed to 
follow, generally, an old cattle track. It was not found possible to improve much 
upon the guidance of brute instinct. Keeping mostly along the crown of a spur 
overlooking the low country, amidst the original forest, here and there glimpses are 
obtained through natural vistas among the trees of the extensive prospect in one 
direction—southward — which is presently to be disclosed in its full beauty when 
the knoll above is reached. 
It is quite likely that this knoll was cleared of trees at the instance of Captain 
Logan, who was Commandant at Moreton Bay from 1825 till 1830, when he was 
murdered near Mount Esk, a long way up the Brisbane River. Logan was a severe 
man and much hated by the convicts, of whom in.one year alone, 1828, about 130: 
escaped into the bush, out of an average of 500 prisoners under his charge, and close 
upon half of the absconders are not known ever to have been heard of again. Logan 
was out exploring and was knocked on the head. It is supposed that natives, egged. 
on, and probably assisted, by some escaped convicts, did the deed. But there is a lot. 
of mystery about the affair. Anyhow, Logan wasa very energetic and active explorer, 
and a very likely man to have caused this projection of the hills to be cleared of trees 
so as to afford a good view over the country. Every man who is familiar with the 
bush knows how tantalizing it is to climb to the top of a hill in forest country and 
find, after one’s trouble, that no prospect can be seen on account of the trees on its 
summit. Besides, there are no bare-topped heigiits near Brisbane. The Glasshouse 
Mountains, away towards the North, are the only hills of that sort within a wide 
circuit. From Observatory Hill, on Wickham Terrace, in Brisbane itself, there is a: 
fine and extensive view; and as the Observatory Tower was early built for a windmill,. 
no doubt that neb hid been cleared as far back as Logan’s time, and the partial 
prospect from it would just serve to make a man, like Logan, with the instincts of an 
explorer, long for a more commanding look-out place. 
That Captain Logan resorted to this spot for the sake of the prospect it afforded. 
is not merely supposition. Mr. Frazer, Government Botanist, in his journal recorded 
a visit paid by him to Moreton Bay in 1828, when Logan took him and Allan 
Cunningham, a botanist, but better known as an explorer, and who had just a year 
before discovered the Darling Downs, to this: elevation. Frazer, mentions by name: 
various distant peaks and mountains which were observed. His journal is printed in’ 
a volume. of Sir Wm. Hooker’s ‘ Botanical. Miscellanies.’’ MA 
