Multuggerah was an Aboriginal Australian leader and resistance fighter of the Ugarapul[1] nation from the Lockyer ValleyinQueensland. He was an important warrior and negotiator, bringing numerous Aboriginal clans together in an armed resistance against the 99th (Lanarkshire) Regiment of Foot, squatters and the squatters' servants and other workers in the 1840s.
From 1841 over the course of decades, 1200 Aboriginal warriors in the Colony of New South Wales in the Lockyer Valley area (which became part of the Colony of Queensland from 1859), were opposed by, amongst others, the 99th (Lanarkshire) Regiment of Foot. Intermittent conflict continued on into the 1850s and 1860s.[1] The line of settlement was held back by 15 years of armed conflict.[2] Multeggerah's tactics included road blocks made from felled trees, and setting an ambush site on a steep hill and in amongst bogs and heavy scrub.[3] Multeggerah was said by some to have lived to old age; but possibly died in 1846[3] as part of the continuing conflict.[4]
The mass poisoning at Kilcoy Station instigated a strengthening of resistance activity. Multeggerah organised ambushes of the supply drays on their way up the escarpment from the coast; "He had sent word to the Europeans, warning them not to come through."[4]
In September 1843 an armed convoy of three drays with a crew of 18 was stopped and turned back.[3] A counter attack against the Aboriginal battle group by more than 30 squatters and their servants was also turned back from the high ground by the use of spears and thrown rocks.[1]
The 800-metre (2,600 ft) viaduct on the Warrego Highway section of the Toowoomba Bypass was named in honour of Multuggerah.[5]
Between 1841 and 1848, the Ugarapul headman 'Old Moppy,' his son Multuggerah and other headmen led many raids and sieges. Their allies – the 'Mountain tribes' – conducted similar resistance on the Darling Downs plateau and as far as Cunningham's Gap.
Such was the ferocity of the resistance that the British were forced to re-direct soldiers from the Maori wars in New Zealand, sending them to the Lockyer Valley. Part of Multuggerah's success lay in his ability to mobilise warriors from across language groups and his knowledge of the terrain. At one point his warriors feigned a retreat and led the soldiers and settles on a frantic chase through the forest. Without knowing, the whites walked into a trap and were pelted by stones and boulders from Multuggerah's men, positioned on the high country above them.
The nub of a long story is this: trouble began the moment whites moved down into the Lockyer Valley. But the 1842 poisoning of 50 or 60 people on Kilcoy Station provoked an uprising across this stretch of Queensland. One of its leaders was Multugerrah, a diplomat, strategist and warrior who gathered nearly all the mountain clans to deal with the invasion of their land.
About 1200 warriors waged war against a crack unit of British soldiers, the 99th regiment, who had been brought to the area specifically to battle the Aborigines.
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