"(King) John Harvey, better known as ... the King of Laidley (one of the most accomplished of the Queensland Aboriginal Monarchs), passed through Toowoomba yesterday... Accompanied by his ...spouse, (he) was ... pleased to inform us that he had been to the Bunya Bunya Mountain, to ascertain, by personal observation and investigation, the actual position of the two rival tribes — those occupying the district around Maryborough and Wide Bay District, and those on the Darling Downs and Ipswich districts. "King John asserts that the Wide Bay and Maryborough blacks have long acted in a haughty, over bearing, and taunting manner towards 24 their neighbours on the Downs and in the Ipswich district, which culminated in an appeal to arms. The rival commanders mustered their men-of-war and, by mutual consent, the forces met each other in the field at the Bunya Bunya Mountain. The conflict is described as having been short, sharp, and decisive, the Wide Bay and Maryborough blacks being beaten at all points, and fleeing in the greatest disorder, leaving the moderate number of 0000 (no) dead on the field. The victorious heroes were in ecstasies of delight at the glorious triumph they had achieved.' - Toowoomba Chronicle, 'War,' re-printed in The Cornwall Chronicle (Launceston) Saturday 29 June 1867, p 2
Sources
ID
td008f
Source
Kerkhove, Ray The Great Bunya Gathering, Early Accounts Enoggera, 2012 https://www.academia.edu/8244371/The_Great_Bunya_Gathering_Early_Accounts