Help support TMP


"Ducie River 1893/Joe Flick " Topic


2 Posts

All members in good standing are free to post here. Opinions expressed here are solely those of the posters, and have not been cleared with nor are they endorsed by The Miniatures Page.

Please remember that some of our members are children, and act appropriately.

For more information, see the TMP FAQ.


Back to the Victorian Colonial Board Message Board


Areas of Interest

19th Century

Featured Hobby News Article


Featured Recent Link


Featured Ruleset


Featured Showcase Article

Austro-Hungarian Syren Aeronef

I updated this model, and discovered it's now a collector's item…


Featured Profile Article

First Look: Battlefront's Rural Fields and Fences

Personal logo Editor in Chief Bill The Editor of TMP Fezian gets his hands on some fields and fences.


572 hits since 14 Mar 2019
©1994-2025 Bill Armintrout
Comments or corrections?


TMP logo

Membership

Please sign in to your membership account, or, if you are not yet a member, please sign up for your free membership account.
Henry Martini14 Mar 2019 5:42 p.m. PST

I came across an online reference to an 1893 'massacre' on Cape York in Queensland, and managed to track down on Trove a couple of newspaper accounts of a Native Police expedition following up the murder of two white men, Conroy and Rowe, by local tribesmen. Surprisingly, the victims of the 'massacre' turned out to be the Native Police troopers, who left their commanding officer and another white man in their boat to pursue their quarry, only to lose five men killed, with the remaining five escaping and turning up some days later. The officer and his companion were forced to sail away after the victorious warriors showered their boat with spears from the shore.

Because it wasn't witnessed by a white man, and because even if a report was obtained from the surviving troopers it's since been lost or destroyed, no written account of the NMP defeat exists.

Also on Trove are detailed accounts of the saga of Joe Flick, a 26 year-old part-Aboriginal stockman who was involved in a series of violent encounters in 1889 during which he escaped from police custody twice and engaged in a number of shoot-outs at and around Lawn Hill station in Queensland that resulted in his own death and those of a white police constable and an NMP trooper and the wounding of pastoralist Frank Hann.

Flick was labelled a bushranger by some contemporary commentators, but his actions hardly justify the appellation.

While all this was happening Hann was in conflict with local clans over cattle spearing. In fact, the shoot-out in which he was wounded occurred immediately after he'd returned from a pursuit of tribesmen. The events were completely unconnected.

Henry Martini17 Mar 2019 5:52 p.m. PST

The Ducie River expedition wasn't the only occasion on which the NMP swapped its horses for a boat/boats. For instance, there were the operations on Fraser Island and other islands. Patrols also often dismounted when the terrain was too rough for horses.

Sorry - only verified members can post on the forums.