George Elphinstone Dalrymple

In 1859 Dalrymple led an expedition to assess the uncolonised Burdekin River catchment area for pastoral occupation.[10] 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.[11]

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.[12] 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 The new Queensland Government rescinded Dalrymple's claims to land in that region, but in compensation Dalrymple was appointed to the position of Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Kennedy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.[13]

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 Spitfire. 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.[12]

The expedition then sailed north to Upstart Bay and Cleveland Bay. 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.[12]

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. 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. 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.[12]

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.[14]

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."[14]

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 original inhabitants were viewed by the new colonists 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."[15]

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.[16]

In October, 1871, Dalrymple was appointed Assistant Gold Commissioner for the Gilbert Ranges, and was also Police Magistrate for Western Creek, in the Bourke District. But the gold-field shortly afterwards collapsed. Then the Government asked him to mark a road from Cardwell over the Main Range. This he succeeded in doing, but from the exposure to which he was then subjected he contracted an illness from which he never completely recovered, and which eventually led to his death. On 9 September 1873, he departed on his final expedition to explore the north-east coast from Cardwell to the Endeavour River, accompanied by Walter Hill, Curator of the Botanic Gardens, also by Sub-inspector Robert Arthur Johnstone, and others. It was on this trip that the Johnstone, the Mossman, and the Daintree Rivers were explored, and the rich and extensive alluvial lands of the Johnstone were then first discovered. Dalrymple became very ill on this expedition, and was granted leave of absence for some months after his return. Having partially recovered, he was sent to Somerset as Government Resident, but became dangerously ill after two months, and would have died at that time had not the Torres Straits mail steamer taken him away and given him the benefit of medical attention. His illness, however, was of a protracted nature, and the Government gave him a year's leave of absence, on full pay, to enable him to visit England, in the hope of the trip restoring him again to health; but it failed to produce in him any permanent benefit, and he was never well enough to return to the colony.[17]