George Augustus Frederick Elphinstone Dalrymple (6 May 1826 – 22 January 1876) was a colonist, explorer, public servant and politician. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. He founded the towns of Bowen and Cardwell, and pioneered the opening up of the Herbert, Burdekin, Johnstone and Daintree River regions to British colonisation. During this time he was responsible for many killings of Aboriginal people who lived in the area.
Early life Dalrymple was born in Scotland, the tenth son of Sir Robert Dalrymple Horn Elphinstone, Bart., by his marriage with Graeme, daughter of Colonel David Hepburn.
Ceylon In the mid-1840s, Dalrymple moved to the British colony of Ceylon where he became a coffee plantation owner in the Central Provinces. Much of the land used to establish these plantations had been confiscated from local peasants, who were left both landless and unemployed as imported Tamil coolies were used as labour. Discontent over their loss of land led many Sri Lankan peasants to revolt in 1848 in what is known as the Matale rebellion. Dalrymple was a prominent plantation owner during this period and publicly defended the Governor of Ceylon, Lord Torrington, who was recalled due to the harsh methods he used to suppress the rebellion.
Queensland He arrived in Australia in 1857 and travelled to the Darling Downs where his deceased brother, Ernest Elphinstone Dalrymple, had been a pioneer of British colonisation establishing the Talgai pastoral run in 1840. Hoping to acquire land, George instead became a sheep station superintendent, managing James Charles White's Jondaryan property. In 1858, he was appointed to the position of a local magistrate by the colonial government.
1859 expedition to the Burdekin River In 1859 Dalrymple led an expedition to assess the uncolonised Burdekin River catchment area for pastoral occupation. This group included Ernest Henry, Philip Frederic Sellheim, Robert Phippen Stone, James Hood and Richard Haughton which left Rockhampton with two Aboriginal guides. The party travelled west through the region and then north to the Valley of Lagoons, making surveys on the Burdekin and Suttor Rivers and marking out promising runs for sheep. Ernest Henry and James Hood made their way back early to present their land claims, shooting at various local Aboriginal people and setting a dog upon them along the way.
Dalrymple and his remaining men followed the Burdekin River through difficult terrain and monsoonal weather to the coast at Upstart Bay. Here, they had two skirmishes with a large group of resident Aboriginal people which involved the expedition members charging at them on horseback. The expedition returned to Rockhampton in March 1860.
The area Dalrymple explored was known as the Kennedy district which was in New South Wales when the expedition started but on returning it had become part of Queensland which had been declared a separate colony. The new Queensland Government rescinded Dalrymple's claims to land in that region, but in compensation Dalrymple was appointed to the position of Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Kennedy district.
1860 expedition to Cleveland Bay and Port Denison In 1860 Dalrymple led a second expedition north, this time by sea. He was accompanied by Lieutenant Joseph W. Smith, Robert Phippen Stone and Eugene Fitzalan on the schooner . They landed on Brampton Island where they encountered some Aboriginal people and soon after traded with two Aboriginal men in a canoe near Hook Island. They arrived in Port Denison in September and Stone Island, in Bowen Harbour, was named after R. P. Stone. Dalrymple noted that the banks of the Don River near the harbour were lined with Aboriginal camps indicating a "very thickly" inhabited area.
The expedition then sailed north to Upstart Bay and Cleveland Bay. At Cape Cleveland, local Aboriginal people attempted to explain the presence of shipwrecked James Morrill to Dalrymple through signs and gesticulations but Dalrymple interpreted this as hostility and members of his group shot dead one of the Aboriginal men and wounded another. Because of this, he did not meet Morrill.
They landed on the shore near to where the modern city of Townsville now stands and met with a number of Aboriginal people, giving them biscuit and tobacco. The Aboriginal people then started to touch and feel all the expedition members, and began "smacking their lips", which Dalrymple interpreted as an indication that they wanted to eat them. Another group of Aboriginal people came down, attacking them with a shower of stones and spears. Dalrymple and his men "were necessitated" to fired upon them, "repulsing them with loss." They landed again near to Cape Pallarenda to obtain surveys from the hilltops but decided to descend to their awaiting dinghies as they noticed residents of three Aboriginal camps below were moving in their direction. These people were yelling and dancing "in a very hostile manner" and Dalrymple felt obliged to fire upon them. Dalrymple's group then made an "orderly retreat" to the dinghies halting at intervals to fire upon those throwing spears. The crew which had remained upon the Spitfire had seen about eight armed Aboriginal men in canoes approaching them from nearby Magnetic Island in an apparent attempt to board the ship. They were repulsed by a discharge of the brass gun.
Dalrymple's party then returned to Port Denison to survey the area further to find a suitable site for a township. Dalrymple recommended the northern corner of the port, as it was sheltered and supplied with fresh water from the wells belonging to the resident Indigenous people. Also, the country around was open forest and plains with an abundant supply of granite and pine, with easy access from all parts of the interior. The occupants of this area attempted to defend themselves from this incursion but were forced to retreat. Dalrymple's men then cleared the surrounding scrub and placed sentries. They then excavated the wells into a larger repository of fresh water in preparation for the future arrival of colonists. This site later became the township of Bowen.
1861 expedition to establish the town of Bowen In 1861, Dalrymple set out again to Port Denison with a group of colonists to establish the settlement on the site he had chosen. He led an overland expedition from Rockhampton, complemented with a naval contingent to rendezvous at Port Denison. Dalrymple planned this two pronged entry into the area because "a sudden cooperation of land and sea forces..would either strike terror, which would result in immediate flight, or enable a blow to be struck" against the local Aboriginal people of which many had been seen camped around the harbour. To facilitate this plan, Dalrymple travelled with Lieutenant Williams and six Native Police troopers, while Lieutenant Walter Powell and his troopers travelled on the ships. These ships were the Jeannie Dove and the Santa Barbara under the command of Captain McDermott.
The maritime group arrived first and waited for Dalrymple's overland party by camping on Stone Island at the mouth of the harbour. Dalrymple's group, which included 140 horses and 121 cattle, arrived on 11 April 1861. He rode down to the area on the foreshore in order "to clear off the aborigines from the same, should such be necessary" and to signal McDermott's group on Stone Island. The local people had already fled. The settlers on Stone Island then came over and the town of Port Denison (later called Bowen) was founded. Dalrymple wrote that it was "deeply gratifying to me to see the British flag flying over the spot where..a few days ago, the wild aboriginal held undisputed sway" and that the settlement marked "the advance of another great wave of Anglo-Australian energy."
Dalrymple was the chief officer and police magistrate of this new township, overseeing the entry of colonists into the port and the construction of the buildings. He also officiated over the response to the local Aboriginal people. Within the first six weeks of colonisation, the Native Police and armed volunteers conducted at least six operations against the Aboriginal people in the area resulting in these people being driven off the land and also pursued by sea. These actions culminated in the whole available force in the town being utilised in an engagement where a large group of Aboriginal people were "speedily put to rout with a loss sufficient to teach them a severe and it is hoped, useful lesson." The Aboriginal people were viewed by a correspondent of the Rockhampton Bulletin and Central Queensland Advertiser as "wretched caricatures of the human race...faithless stewards of the fine property on which they horde," and that it was "the duty of civilisation to occupy the soil which they disregard and disgrace," and that "force and even severity may be necessary to restrain their brutal disposition." Dalrymple proved to be a popular chief officer, organising the Queen's birthday celebrations in Port Denison with "an approved style of loyalty."
1862 expedition to the Burdekin River In 1862, Dalrymple made another journey to the lower Burdekin River region concluding that the "richly grassed open forest country" would become "a most valuable addition to the pastoral and agricultural resources of the colony." This area was soon after opened up to pastoral occupation and later became the sugarcane growing region around the present day township of Ayr.
1864 expedition to establish the town of Cardwell In January 1864, Dalrymple led an expedition to establish a port and township on the shores of Rockingham Bay. This port was to facilitate transport access to the Valley of Lagoons Station about 80 km inland. Dalrymple was part of the company that established the Valley of Lagoons Station in 1862 after the area was opened up by the government. A partnership formed between Walter Jervoise Scott, his brother Arthur, Dalrymple and Robert Herbert (then Premier of Queensland) financed the acquisition of the leasehold. The partnership became Scott Bros, Dalrymple & Company with Dalrymple acting as manager.
Dalrymple's group consisting of twenty men, including Captain Walter Powell, Lieutenant John Marlow of the Native Police, Philip Frederic Sellheim and James Morrill, set out from Bowen on board the Policeman. They arrived in Rockingham Bay and on 21 January, Dalrymple chose the most adequate site available for the new port. Morrill, who had a good knowledge of the local Aboriginal dialects after living with a nearby clan for 17 years, was asked to convey to the Aboriginal people that the group had come to take possession of the area. Morrill told them to clear out or they would be shot, with Dalrymple's men later setting upon a group of "armed blacks" leaving them "rather cut up". Dalrymple also found a very neat village, bora grounds and pathways of these native residents. The new British port settlement was named Cardwell after Edward Cardwell, 1st Viscount Cardwell, the Secretary of State for the Colonies at that time.
1864 expedition along the Herbert River After establishing the site of the new township of Cardwell, Dalrymple set out to make a route to the Valley of Lagoons Station. After following a native path and cutting through thick jungle along the range behind Cardwell, the group found a valley of grassy plains intersected with bands of rainforest. A river meandered through this valley, which Dalrymple named the Herbert River after his business partner and first Premier of Queensland, Robert Herbert. Dalrymple followed this river, which was inhabited by a tribe of Aboriginal people, up into the Seaview Range and to the Valley of Lagoons sheep station. Here he obtained supplies, men and livestock, and made a difficult journey back to Cardwell, expanding the path into a road of sorts. Land along the Herbert River valley was soon taken up by colonists and the town of Ingham was later established.
Politics