Transcription

13

letters

miles from town; it was stocked with fowls, cats, and dogs. The several bark huts were pretty substantially built, giving shelter to 12 or 14 occupants, mostly old men and women. Some of these blacks work during the day either in the township at house-work, or on the shore at fishing, and together with various odd jobs, manage to get along fairly comfortably; everything however in the way of money is sacrificed for opium. They are of very mixed origin being representatives of Duppil (from Barney Point), Koreng-Koreng (Miriam Vale), Wakka (Gladstone, Calliope), Yungkono (Bundaberg) and other tribes. As a remnant of the Wakka, there was 'Palmer' (who long ago was in the employ of Mr C. Hedley at Boyne Island) a well-known Gladstone identity: he is an old ex-tracker, very infirm mentally and physically with narcotics and [indecipherable], though managing to crawl into town and out again in-spite of a deformity of both feet (double talipes equino-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 Gladstone whereas they would travel southward, 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  25  to 30  adults, and the majority of them drunk. 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

Current Status: 
Ready for review