A hanging, a hostage drama and several homicides: why sovereignty in 1859 is problematic

Abstract

This article briefly considers the strength and continuity of traditional Indigenous culture into the 1850s in the oldest parts of white settlement by briefly considering three particularly provocative events of the 1840s and 1850s. This is the persistence of European insecurity in response to the hanging of the title, a hostage drama initiated by the Nunukul of Stradbroke Island and a homicide enforced by northern traditional owners which were all important manifestations of Indigenous politics and law – perhaps the most understudied aspects of colonial Queensland history.