Traditional Owners
Turrbal People - The Traditional Owners and Custodians of Brisbane
The Petries acknowledge the Turrbal people as the Traditional Owners of the land around Brisbane (Meeanjin) and acknowledge their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders past and present and have done this since our time on Turrbal lands.
The Petries have a long connection with the Turrbal people and were accepted into the Turrbal people and recognised as Turrbal with our early family members learning their language and their customs. We were some of the very few to be invited to participate in some of their sacred ceremonies and be accepted as one of them. We have respected their traditional laws and customs whenever possible even in times of deep and widespread hostility towards the Turrbal people.
We are proud that members of our family have sought the permission and approval of the Turrbal people before acquiring land, like Tom Petrie did in 1858 for his estate Murrumba. His is a lesson in reconciliation 160 years ahead of his time.
We are thankful the Turrbal people continue their association with their lands and hope that we continue the association between our family and their people long into the future.
Learn more about early Queensland indigenous history with Tom Petrie’s book.
Tom Petrie’s book is the authoritative text on indigenous life, culture and history of the Turrbal and aboriginal people of South East Queensland.
This book provides a brief sketch of the early days of the colony of Queensland from 1837, through the eyes of Tom Petrie.
Tom was considered an authority on the Aboriginal people at the time and in this book there is a wide range of interesting and important information.
These stories first appeared in the "Queeslander" in the form of articles, then recorded and published by his daughter, Constance Campbell Petrie, in 1904.
Janice Hall (great granddaughter of Tom Petrie) and Maroochy Barambah (great great granddaughter of Kulkarawa) stand together by the refurbished Tom Petrie memorial in 2010.
“Examples of the average aboriginal type may be found among the aboriginal friends of John Petrie, between whom and the Turrbal around him a strong attachment was known to exist. Petrie was a "guide, philosopher, and friend" in the eyes of his aboriginal followers"
W.W. Craig 1925 (Note: some language has been updated)
The Turrbal Tribe comprises direct descendants of the original owners and custodians of Brisbane. These bloodlines link Turrbal peoples’ past, present and future to one another, with traditional customs and laws intact.
The beautiful ancestral homelands of the Turrbal Tribe stretch north from Elimbah Creek, south to the Logan River, and inland as far as Moggill.
“The Turrbal or Brisbane tribe owned the country as far north as North Pine, south to the Logan, and inland to Moggill Creek. This tribe all spoke the same language, but, of course, was divided into different lots, who belonged some to North Pine, some to Brisbane, and so on. These lots had their own little boundaries. Though the land belonged to the whole tribe, the head men often spoke of it as theirs. The tribe in general owned the animals and birds on the ground, also roots and nests, but certain men and women owned different fruit or flower-trees and shrubs..”
— Tom Petrie 1904