Hughenden, on the banks of the Flinders River, Queensland, is on the Flinders Highway, 376 kilometres (234 mi) west of Townsville.
The Yirandhali People (also known as Jirandali, Yirandhali and also Dalleburra)
The Shire of Flinders, in the state of Queensland, is part of the lands' of the Yirandhali people.
The Dalleburra consisted of four sub-clans: Ko-bro, Woonggo, Bunberry and Koorookilla. A Ko-bro could marry a Koorookilla. The children belonged to different sections from their parents.
The first joint of one forefinger was cut off; this was done to all members of the Ko-bro section, men and women.
Mattamandukka waterhole, Towerhill Creek, in the
vicinty of Lammermoor Station, is one of the 12 significant watering holes known to the Yirendali people, which include: Pilmunny, Beroota, Marrikanna, Narrkooroo, Narkool, Newjenna, Turrummina, Mattamandukka, Teekalamungga, Teekaloonda, Kooroorinya and Bogunda.
Pilmunny water hole was where Bora ceremonies were held.
According to Robert Christison, the waterhole near his homestead was a meeting place for the Dalleburra tribe, whose hunting-grounds ranged back from the creek as far as man could travel without water. (
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Soon, the Yirandhali would lose their hunting grounds to pastoralism. Those not employed on pastoral stations often became displaced fringe-dwellers.
Flinders River, Queensland's longest river, is named after Mathew Flinders by Lieutenant Stokes of HMS
Beagle in 1841.
1860s
Frederick Walker traversed the Hughenden district in October 1861, leaving a blazed tree where Hughenden is today. (known as the first Commandant of the Native Police Force) (The Queensland Native Mounted Police operated for over 50 years, from 1849 until 1904)
William Landsborough, and party, in search of Burke and Wills camped on the present day site of Hughenden on St Patrick's Day. 1862. Both Walker and Landsborough had been searching for evidence of the ill-fated Burke & Wills expedition.
Ernest Henry (1837 – 1919), an English explorer, was the first settler on a property on the Flinders River, which he named Hughenden Station, later the location of the town of Hughenden. Hughenden was named after the Tudor Manor House of Henry's grandfather in Buckinghamshire, England.
Blacks Attack Camp"AT the farthest point the explorers reached they could still see rolling downs stretching away as far as the eye could reach, and well satisfied with the prospects for settlement, they re-traced their steps to the camp. Their alarm was great when, on reaching the defile leading to the camp, they discovered clubs, spears, and other native weapons, evidently thrown down in haste.
Hurrying on to the camp, they saw, to their great relief, the black boy mounted on his horse and riding about in evident trepidation. In their absence he had been attacked by a large party of hostile blacks, and the trunks of gum trees near the camp bristled with spears that had been thrown at him.
The blacks had crept up towards him along the river. Running for his bridle, he secured one of the horses and threw the saddle on, but before he could girth it, another mob of armed blacks
appeared on the bank nearest to him, and began making him a target for their spears.
Drawing his pistol he fired at them, on which they all disappeared in the long grass, but finding themselves un-hurt they attacked him with another shower of spears. Jacky fired his gun at them with no better result.
Crouching behind the gum trees to avoid the spears, he fired the second barrel, but missed again. He said after-wards that his hands trembled so much that he couldn't fire straight!
The blacks became emboldened on seeing that none of their number was hurt by the shots and quickened their advance.
The luckless boy now had only one shot left, and that was in his carbine which was leaning against a tree, a few paces from the one behind which he sheltered. Knowing it to be his last chance, he made a desperate rush for the carbine, while the blacks hurled their last spears at him, one passing through the arm of his shirt and another through a leg of his trousers. But he reached the tree uninjured. His assailants, having exhausted their supply of spears, now approached him with clubs and shields.
Taking a steady aim he fired his last shot at the foremost man, who immediately fell, seeing which the
others turned and fled, the wounded man crawling after them into the long grass." Sunday Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1926 - 1954)
In 1863, Robert Christison encountered William Landsborough,
camped on the Suttor River, who told Robert Christison about a tree on Towerhill Creek that he had marked with a broad arrow over March 22, 1862 , as good sheep country. Christison took up the land, naming it Lammermoor. He first stocked it with sheep but later changed to cattle.
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| Robert Christison, Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933) |
In 1864, Cargoon was taken up by James Gibson. (building himself a log cabin) (
3.) Burleigh taken up by E. Henry. Kirk and Sutherland take up Afton Downs. Reedy Springs, Anning.
In 1865, Henry sold Hughenden Station to Robert Gray.
In 1866, Robert Gray and Robert Christensen blazed a trail between Pentland and Hughenden.
The first gold fields in North Queensland, the Cape River fields,
announced on June 12th 1867.
The great flood of 1869-70.
Requests by settlers for an increased Native Police presence in the Upper Flinders (near Hughenden) area. The Native Police force is known to have been the most violent police force on the Australian frontier.
1870s
In 1873, O'Rourke took up Rockwood station and H.W. Hardwicke was the manager
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| 'Starting Out'. Lammermoor 1874. QLD, State Library of Queensland (Christison faced drought, debt and the restrictions of the new Land Bill) |
In 1877, the site of Hughenden Township surveyed by Government Surveyor Bishop.
In 1877, William Mark built a hotel.
The Great Western Hotel was erected in 1877 by W. Mark and Henry Magnay.
Hughenden Post Office opened on 1 July 1878.
Police Court opened in 1878.
1880s
Queensland National Bank opened in 1880.
Hughenden Provisional School opened on 22 April 1880.
Post and Telegraph Office opened in 1881.
The Bank of Australasia and Hughenden Hospital opened 1882.
In 1883, St Thomas Church of England, is built.
Hughenden's first newspaper
established 22nd August 1883.
Regular Cobb and Co coach services begin in 1883.
Mr. Robert Christison of Lammermoor imported the first boring plant from England by 1889, and this water supply proved crucial to Queensland’s pastoral industry.
Correspondence occurred after Alfred Howitt, in 1884, requested information about the culture and practices of the Dalleburra people of the Yirandali from Robert Christison.
Ko-Bro (Barney)from the Dallebura group of the Yirandali nation, Kobro section, acted as a go between for Robert Christison and the Yirandali people and worked for Robert Christison as a station hand until 1908. Christison gave Barney a king breast plate, which is now in the collections of the State Library of Queensland.
The first Catholic Church was built by Father Mouton in 1888.
1890s
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| Cobb & Co. coach, fully laden with passengers crossing the Flinders River at Gillespie Crossing (at the eastern end of Brodie Street, Hughenden), ca.1890. Flinders Shire Historical Collection |
The Shearer's Strike of 1891 was primarily between unionised and non-unionised wool workers. The strike spread throughout Central Queensland, including the town of Hughenden.
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| Shearers' strike camp, Hughenden, central Queensland, 1891.SLQLD |
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| THE GREAT WESTERN HOTEL,HUGHENDEN (Mr. Hardwick was the licensee.), North Queensland Register (Townsville, Qld. : 1892 - 1905), Wednesday 21 December 1892 (As the western terminus of the Northern Railway, Hughenden) |
Mary Montgomerie Bennett (1881–1961), the daughter of Robert Christison, a pastoralist who established Lammermoor Station near Hughenden, had a deep sympathy for Aboriginal people. Robert Christison
collected objects from the Yirandali people he employed on the station, and her mother took photographs of them.
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| Yirandali men standing, women seated, Lammermoor, Queensland, circa. late 19th century. |
The successful tapping of artesian water at Lammermoor, south-east of Hughenden, in the
early 1890s.
The Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897.
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| Worker (Brisbane, Qld. : 1890 - 1955), Saturday 2 October 1897 |
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| Worker (Brisbane, Qld. : 1890 - 1955), Saturday 2 October 1897, |
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| Pugh's Queensland almanac, directory and law calendar. 1862-1866 (1898) |
1900s
St. Francis Convent
opened 1900. And Central Hotel was built.
1n 1901, Hughenden Volunteer Fire Brigade began.
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| WOOL TEAMS ON THE EOAD AT HUGHENDEN,NORTHERN QUEENSLAND.. Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Saturday 8 December 1900 |
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| Mail car from Hughenden to Muttaburra - early 1900s, Vintage Queensland |
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| THE HUGHENDEN POST OFFICEOFFICIALS, QLD, North Queensland Register (Townsville, Qld. : 1892 - 1905), Monday 22 April 1901 |
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| FIRE AT HUGHENDEN. QUEENSLAND. Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 24 June 1903 |
In 1903, ten public houses existed in Hughenden.
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| THE GRADER ON THE HXTGHENDEN-RICHMOND RAILWAY., QLD, North Queensland Register (Townsville, Qld. : 1892 - 1905), Monday 4 April 1904 |
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| Hughenden QLD, 1905 |
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| Early premises of Hughenden's Bank of New South Wales, 1907 Bank branch adjoining McDermott's Chemist shop in Hughenden. SLQLD |
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| Convent at Hughenden, QLD, 1909, SLQLD |
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| Mail Coach at Hughenden, QLD - circa 1908, Vintage QLD |
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| Start of a goat race along Brodie Street, Hughenden, Queensland, ca. 1910 Children mounted on goats or seated in goat carts at the start of the race. In the background is the Queensland National Bank. SLQLD |
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| Bushman with his dog and horse outside a humpy, Hughenden district - 1910s (SLQLD) |
The Grand Hotel at 36 Stansfield Street, Hughenden, was
built in 1910.
WWI
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| Arthur Murdock was born in Hughenden, Qld. about 1898 to Arthur Murdock and Zoe Button. He was working as a stockman on Antrim Station, Tangorin south of Hughenden, when he volunteered to serve with the first AIF in October 1916. Murdock initially trained in Enoggera at Bell's Paddock Camp, having been allotted to the 7th Machine Gun Company, but was later attached to the Light Horse Regiment at Lytton Camp. His skills as a horseman would certainly have been highly valued, but in June 1917 he was selected to serve as an Infantry man with the 41st Battalion and left Sydney on board the troopship Horarata bound for England. Read more |
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| Private Francis Joseph Gilvarry, a postal assistant from Hughenden, enlisted on the 23rd August 1914 and embarked the next day on the H.M.A.T. Omrah. He died of pneumonia on the 1st March 1915 at Mena, Egypt. He was 24 years of age. Private Gilvarry is buried in the British Protestant Cemetery, Cairo.(Image courtesy of the State Library of Queensland) |
1920s
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| Aeroplane landed behind the show grounds in Hughenden, QLD - circa 1920-SLQLD |
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| Olympia Theatre, Hughenden, QLD, built 1920s. In 1989, the cinema building was destroyed by fire and demolished |
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| Lammermoor Station, Tower Hill Creek. QLD. Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 - 1929), Saturday 21 May 1921, |
Christison’s daughter, Mary Montgomerie Bennett, in her 1927 book,
Christison of Lammermoor, |
| This list of words was collated by M M Bennett 1927. |
Mary Bennet describes listening to Wyma who spoke of Koonkoolmujja, a creature who lived in the mountains and filled the people with dread. Wyma also enacted Koonkoolmujja’s story.
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| "WYMA". (By M. M. Bennett.) While she was still a child she was married to the notable fighting man and ko-bee-berry (2), Wamboomooloo. She was the Cinder- rella of Wamboomooloo's camp, and all had to to their share which was their utmost. Wyma's quick eye and brain and little nimble body were always on the alert to provide food; nobody could track down the smallest lizard so unerringly; no one was too clever in finding emus' nests. But Wyma never ate the emu eggs: only Wamboomooio, being a ko-bee-berry, could eat them and live; he used to tell Wyma that if she ate them she would die, and nothing would have induced her to break the traditions of her tribe. Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954), Saturday 19 May 1928 |
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| Post office at Hughenden, QLD, 1928, SLQLD |
1930s
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| Hughenden, QLD, 1930s, PD |
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| WATER SUPPLY FOR HUGHENDEN, QLD, Week (Brisbane, Qld. : 1876 - 1934), Friday 9 May 1930 |
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| Catholic Press (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1942), Thursday 22 June 1933 |
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| Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Thursday 29 August 1935 |
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| The Royal Hall and Alloway's motor ice delivery. Both were destroyed in fire at Hughenden, QLD. Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954), Thursday 21 February 1935 |
1940s and WWII
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| Soldiers posing with their mascot dog at camp, Hughenden, ca. 1940. Part of a large camp of Army personnel at Hughenden during World War II. The camp was on the Hughenden Showgrounds, QLD |
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Debutantes from St. Francis Convent School in Hughenden - 1940
Standing, left to right: Kath Sladden (chaperone); Loy leanoard; Cecilia Price; Joy Hawthorne; Billie Collins; Lelia Dallow; Joan McBryde; ----; Peg McLean; Mary Lilwall (chaperone)
Others: unidentified child; Kate Hill (matron of hnour) Child: Myrna Corney.
(SLQLD) |
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| Mr. S. C. Anning tells of the passing of an old aboriginal, 'Governor Sam of Reedy Springs.' Mr. Anning writes : 'Sam was my boyhood hero. The bush was an open book to him. He, early, taught me much. The use of smoke signals down; and in return, received the right of administering the rod when thought necessary. But woe to black and white, if ever they thought they had the same right., 'Sam was never king, but was made Governor of Reedy Springs by my father In the 'eighties. He was given a plate suitably inscribed. He held the position until death.Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954), Saturday 6 December 1941 |
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PTE. NOEL J. QUINN, son of Mr. Con Quinn, Hughenden. Killed in actionTownsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954), Wednesday 27 August 1941 |
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| New recruit, Malcom Scott (Hughenden, QLD). Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954), Wednesday 12 November 1947 |
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| Cyclone at Hughenden, QLD, Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954), Wednesday 26 October 1949 |
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| The unroofed kitchen at the Hughenden District Hospital., QLD, Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954), Tuesday 25 October 1949 |
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| The Church of England, damaged and lifted off ils blocks, has suffered (Hughenden, QLD). Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954), Tuesday 25 October 1949, |
1950s
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| HUGHENDEN (rear) and Bowen teami which contested the B Grade (Wiltwn Cup) final. Hughendtn won 12-10. Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954), Wednesday 13 September 1950 |
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| Hughenden Show, Queensland Country Life (Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Thursday 8 June 1950 |
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| Goats in Main street - Hughenden, QLD, 1952, Queensland State Archives |
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| View of Brodie Street, Hughenden, QLD, from opposite the Central Hotel, 1952. SLQLD |
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| SCENE OF DISASTROUSOUS HUGHENDEN FIRE. Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954), Monday 8 December 1952 |
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| Grey Street, Hughenden, QLD, 1952, Queensland State Archives |
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Seated on the front bumper oi a Rjiis Royce owned by Mrs. W. Golman, of Hughenden, aboriginal stockman Johnnie watches Redex trial competitors pass through Hughenden on the route from Townsville to Mt. Isa.Brisbane Telegraph (Qld. : 1948 - 1954), Friday 9 July 1954 |
The new courthouse at Hughenden finally
opens in 1955.
1960s
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| Hughenden, QLD, 1960s |
The Grand Hotel, built in 1910, was destroyed by fire in 2018.
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| The Grand Hotel in the town of Hughenden, Queensland situated 243 km west of Charters Towers. In front of it stands "Mutt", a life size replica of the Muttaburrasaurus Langdoni herbivore that roamed the shores of the inland sea where Hughenden now stands. Stonestreet's Coaches - The Extra Mile |
2000s
The Hughenden Solar Farm is finished in 2018.
Around Hughenden
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| Flinders Discovery Centre - Hughenden, Outback Queensland |
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| Great Western Hotel, Hughenden, QLD, built 1877 |
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| Hughenden, QLD |
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| Hughenden Lake, QLD |
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| "Moonda Nurra," the rainbow serpent, on Flinders River Eco Walk in Hughenden, QLD |
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| "Mutt" is a replica of the Muttaburrasaurus Langdoni herbivore, Hughenden, QLD |
Things To Do and Place To Go
Hughenden Discovery Centre
Blacks Attack Camp
In 1864, Cargoon was taken up by James Gibson. (building himself a log cabin) (3.) Burleigh taken up by E. Henry. Kirk and Sutherland take up Afton Downs. Reedy Springs, Anning.
