Kerwalli

Kerwalli was born in Brisbane around 1832.{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Kerwalli (c. 1832–1900) |encyclopedia=People Australia |url=https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/kerwalli-32071 |access-date=7 August 2024 |last=Kerkhove |first=Ray}} His name meant "spilt".{{sfn|Petrie|1904|p=187}} His grandmother was named Sarah. He was possibly related to Dalaipi, another Aboriginal headman from the Pine Rivers area of Queensland. Many Aboriginal families in South East Queensland claim Kerwalli as an ancestor.

From 1862 to 1880, Kerwalli worked for Thomas Petrie and William Pettigrew. He captained the first Aboriginal timber team in Queensland - a team of about 45 men, women and children. Kerwalli led his team around Mooloolaba and Buderim, eventually expanding to Noosa, the Blackall Ranges and Maroochy.

Kerwalli accompanied Petrie to the Mary River and Wide Bay regions. Around this time, he also travelled with a timber-hauling steamer, the Gneering, working as a fishmonger. After he ceased working as a foreman, he continued to sell fish and oysters in Brisbane City.

In 1875, Kerwalli famously opined that "white people had taken Brisbane from him" and given him a breastplate in exchange. In 1877, several Australian capitals produced medallions to commemorate the supplanting of Aboriginal headmen by the British colonies. One medallion was cast with Kerwalli's image and inscribed with "Sandy: Ex: Rex: Queensland".

In 1880 he assisted police during a search for a body in the Brisbane River.

On the request of Assistant Clerk Henry Wyatt Radford, Kerwalli would often advise the Queensland Parliament on local placenames. Radford and Kerwalli were responsible for officially retitling One Tree Hill to Mount Coot-tha in 1883.{{cite news |date=14 September 1883 |title=SHIRE OF TOOWONG. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3421971 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809092446/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3421971 |archive-date=9 August 2022 |access-date=10 March 2020 |newspaper=The Brisbane Courier |location=Queensland, Australia |page=3 |via=Trove}}{{Sfn|Kane|Kerkhove|Memmott|2022|p=16}} Politician Archibald Meston (Protector of Aborigines, 1898–1903) referenced Kerwalli as one of his main informants.{{Cite SLQ-CC-BY|url=https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/archibald-meston-papers-1867-1960-treasure-collection-john-oxley-library|title=Archibald Meston Papers 1867-1960: treasure collection of the John Oxley Library|author=Lynn Meyers|date=24 February 2021|website=John Oxley Library Blog|access-date=21 May 2021}} However, Meston wrote in 1923 that "Gootcha" is a more accurate transcription, and that "Coot-tha" is a separate word translating to an obscenity; supposedly a joke played on Radford by Kerwalli.{{Sfn|Kane|Kerkhove|Memmott|2022|p=37}}

Kerwalli was the subject of numerous photographs and drawings, most notably an 1899 portrait by Swedish-born painter Oscar Fristrom.{{Cite web |date=1899 |title=Oscar Fristrom King Sandy [Work of Art] 1899 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/255435876?keyword=King%20Sandy%20Kerwalli |access-date=2024-08-07 |website=Trove}}{{Cite SLQ-CC-BY|url=https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/oscar-fristrom-and-his-aboriginal-paintings|title=Oscar Fristrom and his Aboriginal Paintings|author=W. Ross Johnston|date=25 June 2012|website=John Oxley Library - State Library of Queensland Blogs|access-date=27 May 2021}}{{Cite web |title=Portrait of King Sandy |url=https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/media/50999 |access-date=2024-08-07 |website=State Library of Queensland |language=en}}

File:Portrait of Kerwalli by Oscar Fristrom 1889.jpg]]

File:Tom Petrie's reminiscences of early Queensland - King Sandy.jpg

After the death of his first wife Sarah, he married well-known Aboriginal busker Margaret Catchpenny.

Later in life, Kerwalli resided in coastal areas such as Sandgate and the Moreton Bay Region (Toorbul and Redcliffe). Commonly seen selling fish in Brisbane, he became known as a popular and much-loved character.

For the last few years of his life, Kerwalli resided in Wynnum; he died there in May 1900.{{sfn|Petrie|1904|p=194}}{{Cite web|last=Jones|first=Ryan|title=Wynnum Camp|url=https://mappingbrisbanehistory.com.au/stage1/wynnum-camp-145/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200824020230/https://mappingbrisbanehistory.com.au/stage1/wynnum-camp-145/|archive-date=24 August 2020|access-date=2020-08-23|website=Mapping Brisbane History|language=en-AU}}

• {{Cite book |last=Petrie |first=Constance Campbell |author-link=Constance Campbell Petrie |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924063745495 |title=Tom Petrie’s reminiscences of early Queensland / recorded by his daughter Constance Campbell Petrie |date= |publisher=Watson, Ferguson & Co. |year=1904 |isbn= |access-date=7 August 2024}}
• {{Cite book |last=Kane |first=Jessica |url=https://adp.uq.edu.au/files/13189/Aboriginal-Places-of-Inner-Brisbane-2022.pdf |title=Aboriginal Places of Inner Brisbane: Based on analysis of early ethnographic sources |last2=Kerkhove |first2=Ray |last3=Memmott |first3=Paul |date=5 December 2022 |publisher=Aboriginal Environments Research Centre |access-date=7 August 2024}}

• {{Cite book |last=Kerkhove |first=Ray |url=https://clubrunner.blob.core.windows.net/00000013782/en-us/files/homepage/dr-ray-kerkhove-caloundra-and-duck-holes-abor/18-03-23-Dr-Ray-Kerkhove.-Caloundra-and-Duck-Holes--Aboriginal-Sites-and-History--Some-Historical-Conclusions-Feb-2018.pdf |title=Caloundra and Duck Holes, Aboriginal Sites and History: Some Historical Conclusions |date=February 2018 |access-date=7 August 2024}}
• [https://collections.slq.qld.gov.au/viewer/IE1200475 Man wearing breastplate inscribed, King Sandy - Brisbane, 1864-1869 | State Library of Queensland]

Category:Indigenous Australians in Queensland

Category:1830s births

Category:1900 deaths

Category:Australian Aboriginal elders