The almost simultaneous abolition of the slave trade and the cessation of convict transportation to the colony of New South Wales'now eastern mainland Australia'started a quest by the squatter pastoralists for alternative sources of cheap labor for their vast sheep runs. Over a period of five years, beginning from 1848, around three thousand Chinese men and boys from Fujian Province were recruited under conditions little different from the slave trade. In Among Australia's Pioneers, author Margaret Slocomb focuses on the experiences of approximately two hundred of these Chinese laborers between 1848 and 1853. Her research examines their working conditions during the five-year indenture period and also traces the lives of several of the men who, at the end of their contract, chose to remain in those districts, which, by then, had become familiar to them. Perhaps they regarded themselves as pioneer immigrants. Slocomb recounts the experiences of these men on the dangerous northern frontier of European settlement. While some succumbed to the despair and loneliness of a shepherd's life, others survived their indenture and went on to play an important role in the emerging society of the new colony of Queensland. They may certainly be counted among the nation's pioneers.

Previously overshadowed in the public imagination by notions of American cowboys and the wild west, Australian stockmen are given the place they so richly deserve in pastoral and Australian history in this insightful study. From the lonely months on a long cattle drive to the boots they wore and the places they lived in, the stockmen and their unique way of life is intelligently explored in this comprehensive work.

Robert Philps, later a Minister for Mines and a Queensland Premier, called it "the biggest ever mining swindle in the Colonies". He for one certainly knew, because Robert Ross himself sold Philps a swag of the Company shares in early 1888. This is the true story of multiple gold frauds by Robert Ross near Yeppoon Queensland, and a dubious Sydney Company involving many leading identities now well known in our history. Some made fortunes almost overnight and some ended up mortally wounded. The Supreme Court sessions featured most of the leading 'silks' in the Colony and even our later first Prime Minister Edmund Barton and all the sworn evidence and verdicts were meticulously recorded and then first sealed under Statute for 30 years.

This second edition has been reviewed and expanded to include some of Australia’s best qualified historians and researchers in Aboriginal history. Many of these authors continue to campaign for more research into First Nations history and the Frontier Wars. This second edition of Brisbane: The Aboriginal Presence now comprises a foreword which examines recent research in Aboriginal studies, and seven instead of six papers on race relations in the Brisbane region between 1824 and 1860. It covers the convict and early settlement periods until the Separation of Queensland from New South Wales in late 1859. The papers provide overviews of race relations during each of these periods, and highlight various themes, including: • Aboriginal occupation before European settlement • The impact of European settlement • Reciprocal attitudes and relations • Aboriginal resistance and European repression • Sexual relations between Aborigines and Europeans • The role of law, administration and the press • Aborigines in the local economy • The failure of assimilation • The fate of local clans These themes are illustrated by numerous incidents and case studies including: • The observations of explorers, missionaries and administrators • Convict, runaway and settler experiences • Violent clashes on Stradbroke Island in 1831–32 • Aboriginal hangings between 1841 and 1859 • Unrest in the ‘suburbs’ during the late 1840s to 1850s • Squatters, Governor Gipps and the Kilcoy poisonings between 1841 and 1843 • The white raid on Yorks Hollow camp in 1846 • The police attack on Breakfast Creek camps in 1846 These papers are based on detailed research of primary sources by experienced historians who are distinguished for the originality and calibre of their work. This attractive and informative volume is for everyone interested in race relations generally and Brisbane in particular, including students, teachers, schools, libraries, academics and the general reader.

Includes the Society's Annual report and statement of accounts.