Wild Toby (c.1840? – 26 January 1883) was a famous Aboriginal outlaw from the Dawson River region of central

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Early life

According to a number of accounts of Toby's life, he was a survivor of the reprisal killings of

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

in the Dawson River region following the

Hornet Bank massacre The Hornet Bank massacre involves the killing of eleven settlers (seven members of the Fraser family, including a woman and five of her children) and one Aboriginal station-hand, by a group of Iman Aboriginal Australians. The massacre occurred ...

of 1857.

Bushranger

As a young adult, Toby worked for a while as a station-hand on a pastoral run in the Dawson River region but was caught stealing and sent away from the property. By the early 1870s, he had become a

bushranger Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under ...

, robbing

sheep station A sheep station is a large property ( station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sout ...

s and travellers throughout the district. He also killed a blacktracker who he thought was attempting to aid in his capture. Troopers from

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

went sent in to "teach this fellow a wholesome lesson, if possible, in a summary way", but failed to find Toby. By the early 1880s, Toby had gained the name "Wild Toby" and was blamed for several killings of shepherds and storemen. He also committed an attempted assault of a white girl and the kidnap and assault of the daughter of a well-known grazier near Juandah.

Capture and escape

After the kidnapping and assault on the grazier's daughter, a large group of police and settlers was organised in 1882 to hunt Toby down. They managed to find Toby and as Constable James Edwards galloped toward him, Toby was able to throw a spear which just missed the policeman. Edwards then subdued Toby by a blow to the head with the butt of his pistol, knocking him unconscious. Toby was chained up and placed in a storeroom at Hornetbank, but managed to escape. On obtaining freedom, Toby continued his bushranging ways and on 25 September 1882 he attempted to murder James Anderson on a road near

Wandoan Wandoan is a town and locality in the Western Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. It was formerly known as Juandah. It is on the Leichhardt Highway about halfway between Taroom and Miles and is the centre for the local cattle industry. In the ...

. A warrant was placed for his arrest and Senior-Constable William Wright, Constable William Dwyer and a blacktracker from

Taroom Taroom is a town in the Shire of Banana and locality split between the Shire of Banana and the Western Downs Region in Queensland, Australia. At the , Taroom had a population of 869 people. Geography The town is located on the Dawson River ...

were ordered to pursue and capture Toby.

Killing a police officer and subsequent death

The police group found Toby's camp on Woleebee Creek on the evening of 25 January 1883. In the early hours of the next morning, the police officers approached Toby as he was squatting outside the tent that he shared with his Aboriginal girlfriend. Constable Dwyer dismounted from his horse and rapidly went up to Toby grasping him by the throat and pointing his revolver toward him. Unperceived by the policemen, Toby was gripping a tomahawk with his toes that was hidden by leaves on the ground. Toby was able to quickly spring the tomahawk to his hand and smash it into the skull of Constable Dwyer. Senior-Constable Wright in the same instant managed to shoot Toby several times in the body, but this did not prevent Toby from picking a nearby nulla-nulla and hurtling it at Wright. The nulla-nulla hit Wright in the leg, causing an injury that partially crippled him for the rest of his life. However, Wright fired another shot at Toby which struck him in the face, killing him. Constable Dwyer died about half an hour later from the wound inflicted by Toby with his tomahawk.

Legacy

The tomahawk which Toby used to kill Constable William Dwyer was displayed at the

Queensland Police Museum Queensland Police Museum collects and exhibits items related to the Queensland Police Service and the history of policing in Queensland, Australia. It was originally established in 1893 as a collection of items for study by police for technical ...

for some years after their deaths. Toby's body was beheaded, and his skull was on display at Wandoan also for many years. Toby's Knob, a prominent hill near Woleebee which Toby used as a haven and a lookout during his time as an outlaw, is named after him. On the Queensland Police Museum website Toby is remembered as a "scoundrel with no respect for white man's law or property".

References