Lands of Red and Gold #104: A Series of Unfortunate Events
Note: there is a map at the end of this post which will make the geography much clearer. Many thanks to Cochlea for designing this map.
* * *
“A foe should be given only one opportunity to surrender.”
- Attributed to the Hunter
* * *
The people who called themselves the Kiyungu inhabited the north-easternmost corner of farmable Aururia; the region which another history would call south-eastern Queensland. They called their ancient homeland the Coral Coast [1], and were content largely to fish and farm, dive for coral, and lie in the sun. The peoples of the Coral Coast were divided into city-states that squabbled among themselves, but the twin barriers of distance and mountainous geography meant that they were largely insulated from the wars and other affairs of the far south. As one historian famously remarked, “history mostly passed them by [2].”
Isolation was never complete; the Kiyungu were troubled occasionally by headhunting raids from Daluming to the south, or religiously-motivated raids from the Yalatji and Butjupa to the west. Occasional contact with the Māori was enough for the Kiyungu to learn how to make better ships; not enough to undertake oceanic voyages, but sufficient to sail long distances up and down the coast for coral-diving, exploration or, in time, settlement.
The Kiyungu’s ancient homeland was limited in the north by barriers of agriculture; the existing native Aururian crops could not grow reliably past the Tropic of Capricorn. A combination of Māori contact and new indigenous crops changed this. New crops of sweet potato, lesser yams and tropical wattles allowed the Kiyungu to begin a northward expansion after AD 1450. They moved north into desirable ports, establishing new city-states there and gradually pushing the indigenous hunter-gatherers away from the colonised regions. Since the expansion was by sea, there were still coastal hunter-gatherers left in some regions which the Kiyungu deemed unworthy. This expansion continued even after European contact; at that time, the northernmost major city-state was at Quamba [Mackay].
Politically, the Kiyungu had never been united. For most of their history they were never organised beyond the city-state level. In the late sixteenth century, due to the growing threats of Yalatji missionaries-by-force and Daluming raiders, the southern Kiyungu city-states banded together in a loose alliance which they called the League. This had no central government, but was a council of rulers who acted to ostracise or threaten any city-states which acted too independently. However, the northern Kiyungu city-states remained without any form of supra-metropolitan allegiance.
After European contact, the plagues reduced the rate of northern expansion, but did not stop it entirely. Some displaced southern Kiyungu still found the north more attractive. A greater disincentive to Kiyungu expansion came from the Nuttana, whose pact with the Kiyungu drew away much of the surplus population. (And, in fact, some of the not-so-surplus population). Even this pact did not cease Kiyungu expansion entirely; a new Kiyungu city-state at Menitjing [Bowen, QLD] was founded in 1655.
Only the Time of the Great Dying truly stopped Kiyungu migration. During that time of great plagues and warfare, the surviving Kiyungu were too busy trying to hold on to what they already had to undertake further northern expansion. The only Aururians who could expand much during this time were the Nuttana; with their population boosted by migration and slave labour, they continued to grow even during the worst of the Great Dying. The Nuttana expanded south even when the Kiyungu had stopped moving north, but their southernmost outpost at Nerridella [Townsville] was still comfortably north of any independent Kiyungu territory.
During and since the Time of the Great Dying, the Kiyungu preserved their formal independence. They did not make any further territorial expansion; the Nuttana continued to absorb any immigrants, and indeed continued to develop their more southerly outposts in large part due to continuing Kiyungu migration. In the Coral Coast, the League remained effectively in the Nuttana sphere of influence. Europeans were able to buy some spices and other products, but all attempts to obtain more formal influence – both diplomatic and military – had failed.
Even into the early years of the eighteenth century, the Kiyungu remained part of the Nuttana informal colonial empire. Their population had been much reduced, but the League continued to maintain relative peace amongst the city-states of the Coral Coast.
The Kiyungu of the League did not give much heed to the rise of the man they first knew as Mowarin, and later as the Hunter. Previous warleaders had successfully united some groups amongst the Yalatji and Butjupa. Some had even gathered enough numbers to raid into Kiyungu territory from time to time. Ultimately, all of these warleaders had been defeated by internal divisions, a fact which the Kiyungu had noted.
Right up until the time of the Battle of Bundaroo, the Hunter’s forces were outnumbered by rival Tjarrlinghi groups. The emergence of an alliance against him was what the Kiyungu had expected. The Hunter’s smashing victory at Bundaroo caused some concern, but even then most Kiyungu assumed that his alliance would fall apart, as others had done before.
Unfortunately, as the Kiyungu would soon discover, this would be one time when history did not pass them by.
* * *
After the turmoil of the Great Dying and the worst of the plague era, the League continued to rule the southern Kiyungu. The League consisted of eleven major city-states, not counting a variety of satellite towns and their surrounding rural inhabitants [3]. The position of most populous and influential city-state changed regularly, due to the usual low-level squabbles and vagaries of plagues. As the first decade of the eighteenth century neared its end, Kabeebilla [Caboolture, QLD] was the most influential city-state, although no single city-state could be considered predominant.
Reliable population figures for seventeenth and early eighteenth century Aururia do not exist, outside of the few large states: Durigal, Tiayal, Tjibarr, Gutjanal and Yigutji. Even the Nuttana, so organised in other ways, did not bother to conduct formal censuses.
So historians and anthropologists have only educated guesses for the population of the post-Great Dying southern Kiyungu. Most population estimates range between two hundred thousand and three hundred thousand people, with lower figures being preferred within that range. Certainly, however many inhabitants the League had, it still outnumbered the combined Yalatji and Butjupa forces by a significant margin, probably at least double their population.
Unfortunately, the Tjarrlinghi cavalry would prove to be a devastating force multiplier.
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From
The Man From The Neeburra, a celebrated epic by the Kiyungu poet Yukoo Laylee, describing the Great Ride that the Hunter led through the lands of the Kiyungu League
There was movement in the Nation, for the word had passed around
That the Hunter had declared to ride their way,
And would bring the wild Horse-Men—their fury had no bound,
When all the bolds would gather to the fray.
All the feared and fabled riders from the daunting Neeburra
Had mustered to ride for his grand delight;
For the Horse-Men love hard riding whether to land near or far,
And the warhorse snuffs the battle with delight. [4]
* * *
27 August 1709
Kabeebilla [Caboolture, QLD]
Gorang had attended the royal court for most of his adult life. As one of the most senior scribes, he had been privy to many secrets, to many things which should have surprised him. He had thought that he was a man not easily shocked. Yet never until now had he found it so hard to maintain his composure in front of his Younger Brother, Prince Muggawurun.
Kabeebilla had been considered the paramount city in the League for most of his life. Yet nothing which Kabeebilla could deploy, not even if every man was levied and given a spear, could match the display of might now being provided before him.
Gorang had seen horses before. The Nuttana and Inglidj had traded a few to Kabeebilla over the years. He had heard, too, of raids against other League cities by Tjarrlinghi unbelievers, carried on horseback.
But never, in all of his days, had he imagined that there were so many horses in the world.
Gorang stood on the walls of Kabeebilla, the prince by his side. The walls were crowded with townsfolk and those who had fled ahead of the rumours of oncoming Tjarrlinghi raiders. Now they came, but they were not raiders. Or not precisely raiders.
A great column of Tjarrlinghi rode around the city walls.
Rode. On horseback, at a steady pace. Four abreast they marched, in a great loop around Kabeebilla, keeping carefully out of range of bowshot or musket fire. The head of the column had already passed halfway around the city, and the last horsemen had yet to reach the city. Thousands, to be sure, although Gorang knew no way to estimate their true numbers.
They had done this at Mullumba [Petrie] and other cities further south, if the rumours had told true. Never bringing battle unless they were attacked, but riding deep into the lands of the League. Much further than raiders usually came.
“What brings these Horse-Men this far? And what shall we do about it?” Prince Muggawurun asked.
Unfortunately, Gorang had no idea how to answer either question.
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From
Bareena Uranj, a Tjarrling religious tract which is usually though inaccurately known in English as the
Orange Bible:
Chapter 9:
1. And it came to pass that the Men of the North [Yalatji] and Men of the South [Butjupa] were united under Tjuwagga and followed the blood-stained banner.
2. His companions asked him if the coming together of North and South meant that this would now be a time of peace, a time when there was no need for Warego [heroes/visionaries].
3. Tjuwagga said, “A land cannot be brought to harmony alone, for no land is truly in isolation. No ruler, even be he most astute and insightful, can prevent discord from spreading beyond his borders.”
4. Tjuwagga said, “This, then, is the need for Warego: the Neeburra has been set on the path to harmony, but those lands outside know not the true path. They must be shown this, in a form they cannot mistake.”
5. North and South had been divided of old into families [5], whereby each man fought for the leader of his blood and kin.
6. Tjuwagga said, “The Warego are men of vision, and they will lead those who show the heathens the true path.”
7. It pleased Tjuwagga to arrange the men of North and South into new armies commanded by the most renowned of the Warego.
8. Tjuwagga said, “Let men of many families follow one Warego, that they may learn from his vision.” [6]
9. It pleased Tjuwagga to move the Warego regularly to new armies, so that the men of North and South could learn of many visions and thus gain greater understanding [7].
10. Tjuwagga told his Warego, “Choose your leaders from those who show skill or vision, not men of family.”
11. And this was done.
12. Tjuwagga said, “All that can be done to reduce discord to the lands within has been done. Now the time has come to bring harmony to the lands without.”
13. Tjuwagga told his Warego, “Now we ride.”
* * *
Had the Hunter been to the lands of the League in his youth? How much did he know about the lands which he intended to conquer?
That is a matter for much disputation amongst surviving sources. The
Bareena Uranj (Orange Bible) reports that the Hunter had raided into the Coral Coast in his youth. The
True History of the Yalatji claims that the youthful Hunter was part of a peaceful religious mission where he argued with Plirite priests about the best ways to bring harmony to the chaotic world of the Time of the Great Dying. Gorang’s
Chronicle of Tjuwagga the Unbeliever explicitly denies that the Hunter had ever been to the lands of the League before leading the Great Ride. The
Lord of the Ride does not mention any raids into Kiyungu territory, despite giving detailed descriptions of many other raids which the Hunter undertook during his youth.
Regardless of what he may have done personally, though, the Hunter certainly had access to other Yalatji and Butjupa raiders who were familiar with the general geography and divisions of the lands of the League. He put them into good account when planning the first great accomplishment which brought him to the attention of the wider world: the Great Ride.
In so far as it can be gleaned from the surviving sources, the Hunter’s intention for the Great Ride was to intimidate the League into submission, or at least to create enough fear to make it easier to obtain submission later. Certainly it was consistent with his previous actions to first attempt a manoeuvre which would conserve the lives of his own men; always a consideration for a person who intended to launch a broader campaign of conquest. He may also have believed that it would create less discord if he could subdue some or all of the League cities without direct conquest.
The Hunter ordered the Great Ride to begin in the winter of AD 1709. He assembled several thousand Yalatji and Butjupa riders to take part in the non-raid, although again sources conflict about the exact numbers. His instructions to his followers were simple: demand food and water as you wish, but fight only if attacked.
The Great Ride entered nominal League territory when it crossed the pass which the Yalatji called Coral Gap [8]. From there, they proceeded roughly east to the League city-state of Butjira [Nerang]. The shock of their appearance caused the Kiyungu to flee inside their city walls, as they usually did when faced with raids. This left the Horse-men free to ride once around Butjira’s walls, then ride north to the next League city, Gunowa [Upper Coomera]. They performed a similar manoeuvre at Gunowa, and proceeded north through most of the League cities as far as Munyiratta [Nambour]. (See the attached map for the exact route of the ride). After Munyiratta, the Hunter led the Great Ride to return home through an inland route, rather than risk ambush by angered Kiyungu.
For such a large-scale military manoeuvre, the Great Ride produced relatively little bloodshed. In most cases the Kiyungu followed their usual practice of withdrawing within city walls, and the Hunter’s orders were to leave them there rather than settling into siege. A few clashes occurred where Kiyungu refused to hand over provisions or allow watering rights; a few more occurred where overeager Horse-men treated disobedience as attack and struck down those responsible. Yet on the whole casualties were light.
Of course, just as the Great Ride did not cost the lives of many Kiyungu, it also did not produce much communication. On the few occasions when heralds from one Kiyungu king or another reached the Hunter, his message was simple: submit to my rule and adopt the true path. Unsurprisingly, the Kiyungu monarchs rejected such demands.
Unfortunately, the Great Ride was not the end of the Hunter’s ambitions.
* * *
These two letters are translated from surviving copies preserved in the literary collection of Henry Theophilus Clinton, 12th Earl of Lincoln. They were discovered there after his death in 1874. No surviving records describe how Lord Lincoln obtained them. However, his grandfather Alexander Clinton, 10th Earl of Lincoln, was a noted orientalist (as the term was then used) and participant in the Magna Meliora, a late eighteenth and early nineteenth century European intellectual movement which studied comparative religion and philosophy, and in the process translated many Hindu, Buddhist and Plirite texts into European languages. These letters may have been obtained as part of that study. Considerable scholarly analysis has been conducted on the letter attributed to the Hunter, since if it is genuine it represents one of only three surviving documents composed directly by him. There has been no definitive consensus, although the majority of scholars have concluded that it is authentic.
1st Letter
To Tjuwagga Tjarrlinghi, Lord of the Horse-Men
I, Kallangur, king of Kabeebilla, champion of the League, write to you in the name of all of my allies: the kings of the League cities of Mundarrona, Munyiratta, Kutjigerra, Kabigara, Mullumba, Nyandra, Mungaree, Gunowa, Woginee and Butjira; the kings of the Coral cities of Quamba, Gularee, Yilangu, Tjeeladi, Nguwanna, Tukka Nyukka, Beyral, Mambu Gama, Ooneerraba, Kunnamara, Menitjing and Mandankaiyal [9]; and the Six Lords [Nuttana] of Dangelong [Cairns], Nerridella [Townsville] and Wujal [Cooktown].
All the League has seen the ride which your followers made around our cities. We commend you for your boldness, for only a man of decisiveness would venture to send his followers so far so fast. While you and I differ in much of our understanding, we still both know the Seven-fold Path and how it guides every man’s life.
Yet for all of your courage, we counsel you not to bring war upon the lands of the League. Your riders are determined, but they are few. Our people are far more numerous, and our soldiers are well-armed. Our friends of the Nuttana have supplied us with muskets and cannon from their own forges and from their traders across the far seas in Yurrup and Nhippon.
We hope for peace, but are prepared to make you pay the price if you declare war.
Kallangur, king of Kabeebilla.
2nd Letter
To Kallangur, king of Kabeebilla
You name your allies in this city and that city as if such a long list will bring me fear. But I thank you for this, for now you have chosen my targets for me.
My land is vast, far larger than you who are cramped between the mountains and the sea. The rolling hills of the Neeburra are home to the finest horses and the finest men. If we do not name this city or this town as our homes, it is because our land yields what we need, where we need, and does not bind us to the one place. So I need sign only one name for my people’s land, and you can know that the one name Neeburra is worth more than your two dozen and two names.
No man worthy to lead the Warego could bow to any demands, let alone your insignificant mewling. I shall do as seems best to me, for the betterment of the North-men and South-men and the greater harmony of the world.
Tjuwagga of the Neeburra
* * *
The Great Ride made a strong impression in Kiyungu lands, and not just the impression of millions of hoofprints. The display of Tjarrlinghi might certainly made many of the Kiyungu people, and several monarchs, uneasy. Yet it was unsuccessful in forcing immediate submission.
As such, the Hunter proclaimed what he called the
Yaluma. This was a Yalatji word which could variously be translated as
search or
struggle, with connotations of being a religious endeavour. English speakers, though, would apply a word with which they were more familiar:
crusade.
The Hunter assembled an army larger than that which had taken part in the Great Ride, and sent the first elements east from his current semi-permanent capital at Cankoona [Toowoomba], down the nearest river valley [Lockyer Valley] into League territory. Skirting the north side of the Riversea [Brisbane River], they arrived to besiege the first chosen target: Nyandra [Indooroopilly].
The Tjarrlinghi did not have much experience of siege or knowledge of siege equipment. But they were experienced fighting both on horseback or using horses to arrive at the battlefield (dragoons, in effect). So they established siege forces around Nyandra.
The League amounted to nothing if it failed in its pact for mutual defence. So, naturally, the king of Nyandra called for aid, and most of the other League cities responded. Woginee pleaded the need for defence against troubles from further south, while the most northerly city of Kabigara experienced a great many inconvenient delays in assembling its forces. The remaining cities established combined forces which marched to relieve Nyandra, coming from both north and south to attack the besiegers.
Unfortunately, that was their greatest mistake.
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[1] The Coral Coast includes approximately the regions which would historically be called the Gold Coast, Moreton Bay and Sunshine Coast. Its major cities stretch from Woginee [Tweed Heads] in the south to Kabigara [Noosa Heads] in the north.
[2] For more details about the Kiyungu, see
post #45.
[3] The major city-states were: Kabigara [Noosa Heads], Kutjigerra [Maroochydore], Munyiratta [Nambour], Mundaroona [Caloundra], Kabeebilla [Caboolture], Mullumba [Petrie], Nyandra [Indooroopilly], Mungaree [Meadowbrook / Daisy Hill], Gunowa [Upper Coomera], Butjira [Nerang], and Woginee [Tweed Heads]. See the attached map for an overview of the geography of the Coral Coast.
[4] Any similarities to the most famous poem of Andrew Barton Paterson are purely intentional.
[5] The Yalatji word which is translated here as
family refers to extended family, since the Horse-men were divided into social groups of extended family (or those adopted into their family). Depending on the size of the group, this could be a genuine extended family, or people who followed a particular warleader out of personal loyalty. The latter could also be referred to as
clan, but the Yalatji language at the time did not distinguish between the two.
[6] And also, incidentally, mean that now Horse-men warleaders could not rely on family/ clan loyalty for their warbands, which made it much harder for any of them to rebel against the Hunter.
[7] And which had the convenient benefit of limiting other commanders’ ability to build up personal loyalty from their soldiers, against the Hunter.
[8] Known historically as Cunningham’s Gap. It is one of the major passes across the continental divide between the well-watered coastal fringe occupied by the Kiyungu, and the drier highlands of the Neeburra (Darling Downs).
[9] The Coral cities are the cities of the northern Kiyungu. There is no geographic or status order to Kallangur’s list of these cities; apparently he simply added them in the order he received confirmation of their support. In geographical order (south-north, the northern Kiyungu cities are: Tukka Nyukka [Maryborough], Ooneerraba [Dundowran / Hervey Bay], Beyral [Buxton], Kunnamara [Elliott Heads], Gularee [Bundaberg], Mambu Gama [Tannum Sands], Yilangu [Gladstone], Nguwanna [Rockhampton], Mandankaiyal [Yeppon], Quamba [Mackay], Tjeeladi [Cannonvale], and Menitjing [Bowen].
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Thoughts?
