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ray kerkhove

University of Southern Queensland, Education Faculty, Adjunct

University of Queensland, School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics, Alumnus

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Ray Kerkhove (PhD, University of Qld 2002) is an Adjunct Associate Professor with University of Southern Queensland (Toowoomba). He is a professional public historian and cultural researcher (certified through PHA in 2013), working with over 40 Indigenous organizations, galleries, museums, local councils, heritage, arts organizations, and universities. In 2017 and 2018, he was a Visiting Fellow at Griffith University's Harry Gentle Resource Centre. In 2020 he was Historian-in-Residence at Noosa. and in 2022, Historian-in-Residence with Sunshine Coast Council.

Ray specializes in reconstructing Indigenous landscapes and culture, especially in Queensland. This includes reconstructing lost crafts, conflict (battle) sites and resistance tactics.

Ray sometimes writes on religious history and religious arts, reflecting his MA (Aztec religion) and PhD (a biography on Meher Baba).

From 2007 to 2011, he was Project Manager of ICP (Interactive Community Planning) Australia Inc - a non-profit organization he co-founded for Aboriginal cultural and heritage initiatives, which won the National Trusts' Governor's Gold Award (2011). He was on the Sunshine Coast Council's heritage advisory and RADF (arts) committees (2011 to 2014), Secretary of Brisbane Southside History Network (2013-2014), President of Q-Earth Inc (2013-2014) and an executive (ordinary) Member of PHAQ (Professional Historians Association Queensland) (2019-2021).
Phone: 0417192169
Address: 13 Peta Street Deception Bay Q 4508

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Papers by ray kerkhove

Helidon fort/ barracks/ post

Helidon fort/ barracks/ post, 2018

Helidon fort or post was a very early military barracks involved in Queensland's Frontier War his... more

Indigenous Historical Context of THE Sunshine Coast A Report for Converge, Kabi Kabi Corp & Sunshine Coast Council

A summary history of the Sunshine Coast region of Queensland , focused on the main Indigenous eve... more

Brill | Nijhoff eBooks, Nov 6, 2021

Eumundi Museum Report

New research on First Nations (Kabi Kabi) sites, history and personalities of the Eumundi region ... more

Maroochy Gunyah

Maroochy Gunyah, 2017

A typology of types of traditional Indigenous dwellings in Australia and especially SE Queensland... more

Indigenous Australians

The Laws of Yesterday’s Wars, 2021

Dalaipi Referenced text

Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2020

Referenced text for Australian Dictionary of Biography (ANU) entry on the life of the SE Queensla... more

Aboriginal ‘resistance war’ tactics – ‘The Black War’ of southern Queensland

Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2015

Frontier violence is now an accepted chapter of Australian history. Indigenous resistance is cen... more Frontier violence is now an accepted chapter of Australian history. Indigenous resistance is central to this story, yet little examined as a military phenomenon (Connor 2004). Indigenous military tactics and objectives are more often assumed than analysed.Building on Laurie’s and Cilento’s contentions (1959) that an alliance of Aboriginal groups staged a ‘Black War’ across southern Queensland between the 1840s and 1860s, the author seeks evidence for a historically definable conflict during this period, complete with a declaration, coordination, leadership, planning and a broader objective: usurping the pastoral industry. As the Australian situation continues to present elements which have proved difficult to reconcile with existing paradigms for military history, this study applies definitions from guerilla and terrorist conflict (e.g. Eckley 2001, Kilcullen 2009) to explain key features of the southern Queensland “Black War.”The author concludes that Indigenous resistance, to j...

Songbird Oxley Estate

Songbird Oxley Estate, 2022

A summary of major Indigenous and non-Indigenous sites, resources and historical themes of the Ox... more

Heritage Values of the Mary Cairncross Reserve Vicinity, Maleny, Sunshine Coast (Queensland Australia)

Cultural Research Report & Mapping: Ecological Park -Sunshine Coast Council (Vicinity of Mary Cairncross Reserve

A report on the Indigenous resources, history and likely significance of the area around the well... more

Buranda Village

Buranda Village Report, 2022

A study of Indigenous place names, Indigenous resources, former Indigenous sites and general hist... more

Keperra estate: Report for Blacklash Creative

Keperra Estate, 2022

A study of the Indigenous place names, Indigenous resources, former Indigenous sites and general ... more

Contacts and Context: Indigenous peoples and early settlers around Bankfoot House and the Glasshouse Mountains

Contacts and Context: First Nations peoples and Early Settlers Around Bankfoot House and the Glasshouse Mountains Region, 2022

Bankfoot House is one of the oldest remaining continuously-occupied buildings of the Sunshine Coa... more

Evidence of external contact between the Pacific Basin and the east coast of Australia during the Holocene: A review

Queensland Archaeological Research

The prospect that First Nations Australians were in contact with cultures beyond Australia prior ... more The prospect that First Nations Australians were in contact with cultures beyond Australia prior to European arrival has fascinated theorists for over a century. Early views tended to see Aboriginal culture as too primitive to have independently developed ‘higher level’ cultural traits. Once this view was abandoned, further enquiry into external contact largely ceased. However, it has been gradually recognised that transformations occurred within Australia not only independently but also through external elements arriving from the north (Macassans and Papuans). This paper offers perhaps the first comprehensive overview of a less studied potential conduit: the eastern seaboard of Australia. Given the vast scale of the eastern seaboard (and its geographic position directly opposite the seafaring cultures of the Pacific Basin it is surprising that the notion of contact between these two realms has received such limited attention. The east coast is a potentially very large target for co...

'No-Sir' and 'Tea-want-him': Naming Noosa and King Tommy's humour

No-Sir and Tea-want-him: Naming Noosa and King Tommy's Humour, 2020

Australia's Indigenous place names have a complex history. Many major towns have local Indigenous... more Australia's Indigenous place names have a complex history. Many major towns have local Indigenous names that are much older than is commonly assumed. This article looks at the origins of 'Noosa' and 'Tewantin' - part of a resort area of Queensland's Sunshine Coast, and the folk tales that developed concerning these words. It reveals the role of gammon (nonsense-talk) and the largely forgotten role - both in placenaming and early tourism - of a Kabi Kabi elder known as 'King Tommy of Noosa.'

Lesser-known Noosa 'Massacre Tales': Reconstructing Noosa during the Frontier Wars

Noosa Massacre Tales (Heritage Noosa), 2020

A historical analysis of two lesser-known purported massacres of the Noosa region (Queensland, Au... more

Nervous nation: Fear, conflict and narratives of fortified domestic architecture on the Queensland frontier

Aboriginal History Journal, 2021

The frontier of nineteenth-and twentieth-century Australia was a place in which colonists routine... more The frontier of nineteenth-and twentieth-century Australia was a place in which colonists routinely lived in fear of retaliation by the Aboriginal peoples whose traditional lands they had forcibly dispossessed. It has been suggested this concern manifested itself in domestic architecture, in both active and passive defensive strategies designed to afford protection against various forms of potential attack. Yet there remains a lack of substantive research to support such assertions. In this article, we present an analysis of accounts drawn from a range of sources of 97 domestic structures across Queensland with claims for defensive features. Although suggesting that fortified domestic structures were more common than previously envisaged, our review indicates that defensive features were usually minimal-holes in walls and barrable doors, windows or other ports of entry-reflecting the often expedient nature of the structures themselves. First-hand accounts of these buildings are rare, although not entirely absent, with most written accounts being reminiscences told in hindsight by later descendants, resulting in both distortions and myth-building. Accounts of fortified domestic structures peak in the decades following Federation and through both World Wars as the newly minted Australian nation explicitly engaged in nation-building and constructing the 'glorious pioneer' narrative.

Hidden in plain sight: the archaeological landscape of Mithaka Country, south-west Queensland

Antiquity, 2021

Ethnohistoric accounts indicate that the people of Australia's Channel Country engaged in act... more Ethnohistoric accounts indicate that the people of Australia's Channel Country engaged in activities rarely recorded elsewhere on the continent, including food storage, aquaculture and possible cultivation, yet there has been little archaeological fieldwork to verify these accounts. Here, the authors report on a collaborative research project initiated by the Mithaka people addressing this lack of archaeological investigation. The results show that Mithaka Country has a substantial and diverse archaeological record, including numerous large stone quarries, multiple ritual structures and substantial dwellings. Our archaeological research revealed unknown aspects, such as the scale of Mithaka quarrying, which could stimulate re-evaluation of Aboriginal socio-economic systems in parts of ancient Australia.

Charting two centuries of transformation in a coastal social-ecological system: A mixed methods approach

Global Environmental Change, 2020

Oyster reef ecosystems used to form significant components of many temperate and subtropical insh... more Oyster reef ecosystems used to form significant components of many temperate and subtropical inshore coastal systems but have suffered declines globally, with a concurrent loss of services. The early timing of many of these changes makes it difficult to determine restoration targets which consider interdecadal timeframes, community values and shifted baselines. On the Australian continent, however, the transition from Indigenous (Aboriginal) to Westernized resource use and management occurred relatively recently, allowing us to map social-ecological changes in detail. In this study, we reconstruct the transformations in the Sydney rock oyster (Saccostrea glomerata) wild commercial industry of central and southeast Queensland, and by extension its reef ecosystems, as well as the changing societal and cultural values related to the presence and use of the rock oyster through time. By integrating data from the archaeological, anthropological and fisheries literature, government and media accounts, we explore these transformations over the last two centuries. Before the 1870s, there was a relative equilibrium. Aboriginal peoples featured as sole traders to Europeans, supplying oysters and becoming a substantial component of the industry's labour pool. Effectively, Australia's commercial oyster industry arose from Aboriginal-European trade. During this initial phase, there was still a relative abundance of wild oyster, with subtidal oyster reef structures present in regions where oysters are today absent or scarce. By contrast, these reefs declined by the late 19th century, despite production of oysters increasing due to continued large-scale oyster recruitment and the expansion of oyster cultivation in intertidal areas. Production peaked in 1891, with successive peaks observed in regions further north. During the 1890s, flood events coupled with land-use changes introduced large quantities of silt into the system, which likely facilitated an increase in oyster pests and diseases, ultimately decreasing the carrying capacity of the system. Today oyster production in this region is less than one-tenth of historical peak production. Many cultural heritage components have also been lost. Indigenous management is now very minor due to the massive decimation of Aboriginal populations and their respective practices. Yet, we found strong cultural attachment to midden remains and oyster production continues within Indigenous communities, with considerable broader community support. This study highlights the value of conducting thorough analysis of early media accounts as a means for reconstructing historical resource decline and management. It further demonstrates the application of historical information and context for contemporary management, protection and restoration of much-altered coastal social-ecological systems.

A Different Mode of War? Aboriginal Guerilla Tacticss in Defining the Black Warr of Southern Queensland 1843-1855

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2014

Frontier violence is now an accepted chapter of Australian history. Indigenous resistance underli... more Frontier violence is now an accepted chapter of Australian history. Indigenous resistance underlies this story, yet it has barely been examined as a military phenomenon (Connor 2004). Our understanding of military strategies Indigenous groups employed, and their broader objectives in undertaking resistance remains vague, being more often assumed than proven. Building on Laurie's and Cilento's contentions (1959) that an alliance of Aboriginal groups staged a fairly successful 'Black War' in southern Queensland during the 1840s and 1850s, the author seeks evidence for a historically definable (1843-1855) conflict during this period, complete with a record of Indigenous declaration, victories, coordination, leadership and planning. A. "But was it Warfare?": Defining and Identifying Resistance Wars in Australia During the 1950swell before 'Bill' Stanner's Boyer Lecture (1968) roused innumerable historians into filling up the gaps in Aboriginal history-Arthur Laurie (c.1889-1970)-a trade unionist and amateur historianpenned notes and articles concerning "the Black War of Resistance in Queensland." This probably makes Laurie, as Peter Sutton alleges, "the first historical writer to espouse the strong version of the resistance model of Aboriginal contact history." 1 Arthur Laurie's proposal of a "Black War" of resistance, which he viewed as becoming "systematic" over the 1840s-1850s, 2 was further developed by Clem Lack and Ralphael Cilento in their definitive Queensland history: Triumph in the Tropics (1959). Cilento and Lack stated that this war "flared " after the bunya festivals of 1841 and 1844, growing in ferocity over twenty years, costing 250 white lives, and seeing settlers driven off Wide Bay and southwestern Queensland, until it culminated in the massacres at Hornet Bank and Cullin-la-ringo. 3 They even called this a "guerrilla war" on the "fragmentary aboriginal frontiers." 4 At this time, it was extraordinary to apply such terms to Aboriginal tribesmen fighting against the tide of settlement. However, in the decades of scholarship that followed Stanner's lecture, an avalanche of purported heroes, battles, massacres and even genocide has been added to the developing theme of Aboriginal "wars of resistance." Now it almost taken for granted. Despite this, half of Forgotten War (2013)-the most recent work of the champion of frontier violence (Henry Reynolds)-concerns two problematic questions: "But was it warfare?" and "What kind of warfare?" The issue, as military historian John Connor has repeatedly highlighted, is that resistance history has rarely been analyzed from a military perspective, despite some remarkable forays by David Broome (1988) and Jeffrey Grey (1990). 5 Connor notes that even the British government seemed disinclined to accept that "war" was being fought in Australia. 1838 saw the last major deployment of a military regiment on this continent against Aboriginal groups (for Waterloo Creek under Major Nunn). Thereafter, the "Aboriginal problem" was left largely up to police and vigilante settlers, who became a

Helidon fort/ barracks/ post

Helidon fort/ barracks/ post, 2018

Helidon fort or post was a very early military barracks involved in Queensland's Frontier War his... more

Indigenous Historical Context of THE Sunshine Coast A Report for Converge, Kabi Kabi Corp & Sunshine Coast Council

A summary history of the Sunshine Coast region of Queensland , focused on the main Indigenous eve... more

Brill | Nijhoff eBooks, Nov 6, 2021

Eumundi Museum Report

New research on First Nations (Kabi Kabi) sites, history and personalities of the Eumundi region ... more

Maroochy Gunyah

Maroochy Gunyah, 2017

A typology of types of traditional Indigenous dwellings in Australia and especially SE Queensland... more

Indigenous Australians

The Laws of Yesterday’s Wars, 2021

Dalaipi Referenced text

Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2020

Referenced text for Australian Dictionary of Biography (ANU) entry on the life of the SE Queensla... more

Aboriginal ‘resistance war’ tactics – ‘The Black War’ of southern Queensland

Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2015

Frontier violence is now an accepted chapter of Australian history. Indigenous resistance is cen... more Frontier violence is now an accepted chapter of Australian history. Indigenous resistance is central to this story, yet little examined as a military phenomenon (Connor 2004). Indigenous military tactics and objectives are more often assumed than analysed.Building on Laurie’s and Cilento’s contentions (1959) that an alliance of Aboriginal groups staged a ‘Black War’ across southern Queensland between the 1840s and 1860s, the author seeks evidence for a historically definable conflict during this period, complete with a declaration, coordination, leadership, planning and a broader objective: usurping the pastoral industry. As the Australian situation continues to present elements which have proved difficult to reconcile with existing paradigms for military history, this study applies definitions from guerilla and terrorist conflict (e.g. Eckley 2001, Kilcullen 2009) to explain key features of the southern Queensland “Black War.”The author concludes that Indigenous resistance, to j...

Songbird Oxley Estate

Songbird Oxley Estate, 2022

A summary of major Indigenous and non-Indigenous sites, resources and historical themes of the Ox... more

Heritage Values of the Mary Cairncross Reserve Vicinity, Maleny, Sunshine Coast (Queensland Australia)

Cultural Research Report & Mapping: Ecological Park -Sunshine Coast Council (Vicinity of Mary Cairncross Reserve

A report on the Indigenous resources, history and likely significance of the area around the well... more

Buranda Village

Buranda Village Report, 2022

A study of Indigenous place names, Indigenous resources, former Indigenous sites and general hist... more

Keperra estate: Report for Blacklash Creative

Keperra Estate, 2022

A study of the Indigenous place names, Indigenous resources, former Indigenous sites and general ... more

Contacts and Context: Indigenous peoples and early settlers around Bankfoot House and the Glasshouse Mountains

Contacts and Context: First Nations peoples and Early Settlers Around Bankfoot House and the Glasshouse Mountains Region, 2022

Bankfoot House is one of the oldest remaining continuously-occupied buildings of the Sunshine Coa... more

Evidence of external contact between the Pacific Basin and the east coast of Australia during the Holocene: A review

Queensland Archaeological Research

The prospect that First Nations Australians were in contact with cultures beyond Australia prior ... more The prospect that First Nations Australians were in contact with cultures beyond Australia prior to European arrival has fascinated theorists for over a century. Early views tended to see Aboriginal culture as too primitive to have independently developed ‘higher level’ cultural traits. Once this view was abandoned, further enquiry into external contact largely ceased. However, it has been gradually recognised that transformations occurred within Australia not only independently but also through external elements arriving from the north (Macassans and Papuans). This paper offers perhaps the first comprehensive overview of a less studied potential conduit: the eastern seaboard of Australia. Given the vast scale of the eastern seaboard (and its geographic position directly opposite the seafaring cultures of the Pacific Basin it is surprising that the notion of contact between these two realms has received such limited attention. The east coast is a potentially very large target for co...

'No-Sir' and 'Tea-want-him': Naming Noosa and King Tommy's humour

No-Sir and Tea-want-him: Naming Noosa and King Tommy's Humour, 2020

Australia's Indigenous place names have a complex history. Many major towns have local Indigenous... more Australia's Indigenous place names have a complex history. Many major towns have local Indigenous names that are much older than is commonly assumed. This article looks at the origins of 'Noosa' and 'Tewantin' - part of a resort area of Queensland's Sunshine Coast, and the folk tales that developed concerning these words. It reveals the role of gammon (nonsense-talk) and the largely forgotten role - both in placenaming and early tourism - of a Kabi Kabi elder known as 'King Tommy of Noosa.'

Lesser-known Noosa 'Massacre Tales': Reconstructing Noosa during the Frontier Wars

Noosa Massacre Tales (Heritage Noosa), 2020

A historical analysis of two lesser-known purported massacres of the Noosa region (Queensland, Au... more

Nervous nation: Fear, conflict and narratives of fortified domestic architecture on the Queensland frontier

Aboriginal History Journal, 2021

The frontier of nineteenth-and twentieth-century Australia was a place in which colonists routine... more The frontier of nineteenth-and twentieth-century Australia was a place in which colonists routinely lived in fear of retaliation by the Aboriginal peoples whose traditional lands they had forcibly dispossessed. It has been suggested this concern manifested itself in domestic architecture, in both active and passive defensive strategies designed to afford protection against various forms of potential attack. Yet there remains a lack of substantive research to support such assertions. In this article, we present an analysis of accounts drawn from a range of sources of 97 domestic structures across Queensland with claims for defensive features. Although suggesting that fortified domestic structures were more common than previously envisaged, our review indicates that defensive features were usually minimal-holes in walls and barrable doors, windows or other ports of entry-reflecting the often expedient nature of the structures themselves. First-hand accounts of these buildings are rare, although not entirely absent, with most written accounts being reminiscences told in hindsight by later descendants, resulting in both distortions and myth-building. Accounts of fortified domestic structures peak in the decades following Federation and through both World Wars as the newly minted Australian nation explicitly engaged in nation-building and constructing the 'glorious pioneer' narrative.

Hidden in plain sight: the archaeological landscape of Mithaka Country, south-west Queensland

Antiquity, 2021

Ethnohistoric accounts indicate that the people of Australia's Channel Country engaged in act... more Ethnohistoric accounts indicate that the people of Australia's Channel Country engaged in activities rarely recorded elsewhere on the continent, including food storage, aquaculture and possible cultivation, yet there has been little archaeological fieldwork to verify these accounts. Here, the authors report on a collaborative research project initiated by the Mithaka people addressing this lack of archaeological investigation. The results show that Mithaka Country has a substantial and diverse archaeological record, including numerous large stone quarries, multiple ritual structures and substantial dwellings. Our archaeological research revealed unknown aspects, such as the scale of Mithaka quarrying, which could stimulate re-evaluation of Aboriginal socio-economic systems in parts of ancient Australia.

Charting two centuries of transformation in a coastal social-ecological system: A mixed methods approach

Global Environmental Change, 2020

Oyster reef ecosystems used to form significant components of many temperate and subtropical insh... more Oyster reef ecosystems used to form significant components of many temperate and subtropical inshore coastal systems but have suffered declines globally, with a concurrent loss of services. The early timing of many of these changes makes it difficult to determine restoration targets which consider interdecadal timeframes, community values and shifted baselines. On the Australian continent, however, the transition from Indigenous (Aboriginal) to Westernized resource use and management occurred relatively recently, allowing us to map social-ecological changes in detail. In this study, we reconstruct the transformations in the Sydney rock oyster (Saccostrea glomerata) wild commercial industry of central and southeast Queensland, and by extension its reef ecosystems, as well as the changing societal and cultural values related to the presence and use of the rock oyster through time. By integrating data from the archaeological, anthropological and fisheries literature, government and media accounts, we explore these transformations over the last two centuries. Before the 1870s, there was a relative equilibrium. Aboriginal peoples featured as sole traders to Europeans, supplying oysters and becoming a substantial component of the industry's labour pool. Effectively, Australia's commercial oyster industry arose from Aboriginal-European trade. During this initial phase, there was still a relative abundance of wild oyster, with subtidal oyster reef structures present in regions where oysters are today absent or scarce. By contrast, these reefs declined by the late 19th century, despite production of oysters increasing due to continued large-scale oyster recruitment and the expansion of oyster cultivation in intertidal areas. Production peaked in 1891, with successive peaks observed in regions further north. During the 1890s, flood events coupled with land-use changes introduced large quantities of silt into the system, which likely facilitated an increase in oyster pests and diseases, ultimately decreasing the carrying capacity of the system. Today oyster production in this region is less than one-tenth of historical peak production. Many cultural heritage components have also been lost. Indigenous management is now very minor due to the massive decimation of Aboriginal populations and their respective practices. Yet, we found strong cultural attachment to midden remains and oyster production continues within Indigenous communities, with considerable broader community support. This study highlights the value of conducting thorough analysis of early media accounts as a means for reconstructing historical resource decline and management. It further demonstrates the application of historical information and context for contemporary management, protection and restoration of much-altered coastal social-ecological systems.

A Different Mode of War? Aboriginal Guerilla Tacticss in Defining the Black Warr of Southern Queensland 1843-1855

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2014

Frontier violence is now an accepted chapter of Australian history. Indigenous resistance underli... more Frontier violence is now an accepted chapter of Australian history. Indigenous resistance underlies this story, yet it has barely been examined as a military phenomenon (Connor 2004). Our understanding of military strategies Indigenous groups employed, and their broader objectives in undertaking resistance remains vague, being more often assumed than proven. Building on Laurie's and Cilento's contentions (1959) that an alliance of Aboriginal groups staged a fairly successful 'Black War' in southern Queensland during the 1840s and 1850s, the author seeks evidence for a historically definable (1843-1855) conflict during this period, complete with a record of Indigenous declaration, victories, coordination, leadership and planning. A. "But was it Warfare?": Defining and Identifying Resistance Wars in Australia During the 1950swell before 'Bill' Stanner's Boyer Lecture (1968) roused innumerable historians into filling up the gaps in Aboriginal history-Arthur Laurie (c.1889-1970)-a trade unionist and amateur historianpenned notes and articles concerning "the Black War of Resistance in Queensland." This probably makes Laurie, as Peter Sutton alleges, "the first historical writer to espouse the strong version of the resistance model of Aboriginal contact history." 1 Arthur Laurie's proposal of a "Black War" of resistance, which he viewed as becoming "systematic" over the 1840s-1850s, 2 was further developed by Clem Lack and Ralphael Cilento in their definitive Queensland history: Triumph in the Tropics (1959). Cilento and Lack stated that this war "flared " after the bunya festivals of 1841 and 1844, growing in ferocity over twenty years, costing 250 white lives, and seeing settlers driven off Wide Bay and southwestern Queensland, until it culminated in the massacres at Hornet Bank and Cullin-la-ringo. 3 They even called this a "guerrilla war" on the "fragmentary aboriginal frontiers." 4 At this time, it was extraordinary to apply such terms to Aboriginal tribesmen fighting against the tide of settlement. However, in the decades of scholarship that followed Stanner's lecture, an avalanche of purported heroes, battles, massacres and even genocide has been added to the developing theme of Aboriginal "wars of resistance." Now it almost taken for granted. Despite this, half of Forgotten War (2013)-the most recent work of the champion of frontier violence (Henry Reynolds)-concerns two problematic questions: "But was it warfare?" and "What kind of warfare?" The issue, as military historian John Connor has repeatedly highlighted, is that resistance history has rarely been analyzed from a military perspective, despite some remarkable forays by David Broome (1988) and Jeffrey Grey (1990). 5 Connor notes that even the British government seemed disinclined to accept that "war" was being fought in Australia. 1838 saw the last major deployment of a military regiment on this continent against Aboriginal groups (for Waterloo Creek under Major Nunn). Thereafter, the "Aboriginal problem" was left largely up to police and vigilante settlers, who became a

Glasshouse Mountains Sites

Glasshouse Mountains Sites, 2019

Referenced dot points compiled from source literature on Aboriginal sites in and near the Glassho... more

EULOPE (NAPOLEON) AND THE BATTLE OF MOONGALBA (STRADBROKE ISLAND) (Script for 'Life in Irons' Exhibition, Museum of Brisbasne

Eulope, 2018

A tentative biography of Eulope, an early Queensland Aboriginal resistance leader from Stradbroke... more

Dundalli (biographic summary)

Dundalli, 2018

Summary biography of Dundalli, composed for Triballink Centre (Kabi Kabi/ Jinaburra Centre) Maple... more

Queens Wharf Report FINAL

Indigenous Historical Context of the Queens Wharf Precinct, 2018

This report reconstructs the environment, Indigenous sites and Indigenous history of the Brisbane... more

NOTES AND QUOTES CONCERNING INDIGENOUS WYNNUM-MANLY

Source materials and maps concerning Indigenous sites of the Wynnum-Manly area of Brisbane (Baysi... more

SOME INDIGENOUS ASPECTS AND SITES OF MAROOCHYDORE AND COTTONTREE (Report for Kabi Kabi & CreativeMove

Referenced analysis of main Indigenous sites of Cottontree/ Maroochydore (Sunshine Coast Queensla... more

Early and Pre-Mission History and Significance of the Deebing Creek Area

Deebing Creek Mission played a pivotal role in the history of Indigenous Southern Queensland. Thi... more Deebing Creek Mission played a pivotal role in the history of Indigenous Southern Queensland. This report analyses the Aboriginal and European use of the area prior to the formation on the Mission, and the historical developments in the region that culminated in its establishment. Some reconstruction of life patterns at the Mission, and an investigation of the purported massacre here is conducted. The report also includes a listing of persons and families who resided at some point at Deebing Creek.

Aspects of the indigenous History of Western Brisbane Suburbs

Brisbane Spreads West, 2017

This is the fully referenced version of material submitted by the author for Brisbane History Wes... more This is the fully referenced version of material submitted by the author for Brisbane History West (ed), Brisbane Spreads West: A Local History 1840-1901(St Lucia: Brisbane History West, 2017). It details the Indigenous resources, site and major events in the Indigenous history of the western suburbs of what is now Brisbane (Queensland, Australia).

Palmwoods and Eudlo Flats Indigenous History and Massacre Site (Notes)

A summary of historical records on Aboriginal sites around Palmwoods, Chevallum, Eudlo Flats and ... more

Mangroves, Oysters and Fishing on the Early Sunshine Coast: Reference Notes focussing on Aboriginal Use

Reference materials on early mangrove use and early fishing and oystering in the Sunshine Coast r... more

INDIGENOUS SITES OF WOOLLOONGABBA

Reconstructing the location and nature of camps, tournament grounds and other features of Woolloo... more

Inter-tribal Gatherings and Tournaments in the Ipswich Area – Early References

Early newspaper references to large-scale gatherings and traditional battles (tournaments) in the... more

New Farm: Notes on Aboriginal Sites/ Aboriginal Use

Referenced notes on Aboriginal sites and land use in and around New Farm

Notes: Newstead & Breakfast Creek Aboriginal Sites

Referenced notes on the location of Aboriginal camp sites and other areas of Aboriginal use withi... more

Notes on Aboriginal Sites and Use of the West End to Woolloongabba Area (Brisbane

Camps The Woolloongabba/ South Brisbane camps seem to have been the largest encampments of souths... more

Aspects of Nambour's Indigenous Heritage

Summary of some problems and findings regarding the naming of Nambour and various aspects of its ... more

Aboriginal Cultural Sites Lower Maroochy & Mooloolah Rivers: Some Research Findings

Research notes: a summation of historical (19th-20th) century) source references to camps, burial... more

Daniel Castro, Another Face of Empire: Bartolome de los Casas (Book Review)

Book review re/ Bartolomene de Las Casas

Sarah Midgley's Piccanninies' Yabba Yabba and her Budgerree dolls

Noosa Regional Council, 2022

A children's book based on recollections of the Noosa region (Queensland) during the 1870s, and h... more A children's book based on recollections of the Noosa region (Queensland) during the 1870s, and how this led to the creation of Australia's first 'national costume' (and First Nations) souvenir dolls. Piccanninie's Yabba Yabba is a late 1920s children's historical novel about early Noosa. It was lost until very recently rediscovered. The following is the extended author's version of The Midgley Dolls: Telling Tales of Noosa

Bandarra gan+chidna+ +strong+woman+track

by ray kerkhove and KAY SAUNDERS

bandarra-gan chidna: strong woman track/ track of strong women , 2019

An illustrated booklet on Judy Watson's evocative artwork along the path beside Kingsford Smith D... more An illustrated booklet on Judy Watson's evocative artwork along the path beside Kingsford Smith Drive: the key artery of transport between Brisbane's port and Airport and the CBD. This booklet includes numerous women's biographies by Professor Kay Saunders, Gaja Kerry Charlton and other writers, and a historical essay by Ray Kerkhove about the Indigenous history of the area.

Kabi Kabi Sites and History of the Legendary Mount Coolum

Mount Coolum is an iconic area of the Sunshine Coast region of Queensland. This booklet reconstru... more