Although evidence to verify the stories of massacres is anecdotal, the Murdering Creek massacre and the massacre near Teewah Beach have been much dicussed topics for generations of local historians.

MURDERING CREEK. With names such as Murdering Creek and Murdering Creek Road in official use, there is little doubt that some dark episode of Noosa's history occured here. Murdering Creek lies in the south east corner of lake Weyba, 8km south of Noosa Heads. Historians such as John Windolf, Elaine Brown, Nancy Cato, Stan Tutt, Colin Monks, David Bull, Denise Edwards and Ray Kerkhove have all explored this subject in their publications with variations between many but the most commonly stold story tells of a planned massacre of Weyba Aborigines by cattlemen around 1860-70.

The most commonly recounted version of the massacre is told by David Bull in his Shortcut to Gympie Gold book. His version is the closest to a contemporary account that is currently published. As Bull tells it, the massacre was organised by a local policeman and the Yandina Station Manager. Lake Weyba represented the northernmost boundary of Yandina Station's cattle run. It is unsure whether the motivation was prompted by aboriginal poaching of cattle or whether it was simply that the aboriginal population of Lake Weyba were considered nuisances and a potential threat but the prevailing attitude of the day was that thier permanent removal was preferred.

A party of 8 men were chosen to go to Lake Weyba to shoot the aborigines. One man was sent out to the edge of the Lake on his own as a decoy. As soon as he was spotted by the aborigines, they took to their canoes and paddled towards him. When the decoy noticed them getting closer, he made for the scrub where the other 7 men were waiting with guns. As soon as the aborigines were close enough, the men open fired, killing many instantly and wounding others who were shot again as they tried to escape. Some of the men involved went on the live and raise their families in Tewantin. It is unsure how many aborigines were slaughtered or what year the massacre occurred but Murdering Creek is so named because the massacre took place there.

TEEWAH BEACH Another report tells of a massacre of aborigines near Teewah Beach on Noosa's North Shore in the 1850's. The Native Mounted Police under Lieutenant John O'Connell Bligh pursued them on horseback accross Lake Cooroibah towards the beach where they were shot.

---