The land surrounding the Boondall Wetlands was originally owned by the Turrbal people of North Brisbane. Cabbage Tree Creek was the original name of the suburb now known as Sandgate. The area was known to the Turrbal people as Warra, which is a Turrbal word for a stretch or expanse of water. Prior to the European settlement, there were about 5,000 aborigines in the Brisbane area. The first Europeans to meet and live with the friendly local Aborigines were the lost ex-convict's John Finnegan, Thomas Pamphlett & Richard Parsons.

 

The Turrbal language was said to be spoken as far north as North Pine, west to Moggill, and south to the Logan, according to Tom Petrie, an Australian explorer, grazier, and friend of the Aboriginal people. A large number of the district's roads were marked out by Petrie along pre-existing Aboriginal trails. Old Northern Road, Sandgate Road, and Gympie Road are some of these.

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Even though they were formally the Crown's subjects, Aboriginal people had no legal protections, and British law was constantly applied against them. Around 1500 settlers died in clashes, skirmishes, and full-scale wars between 1850 and 1870, while the estimated number of Aboriginal casualties among the 200 or so Queensland tribes was around 65.000.

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A prominent factor in the massacres' of Queensland was the Native Police Force. Aboriginal natives that gave up their traditional way of life in to gain favour with their new neighbours. Betraying their clans and setting forth the destruction of their culture. 

Though these police forces existed across the country the violence was most fierce in Queensland. There are also reports of Aboriginal people being killed in cold blood by Native Police while on the hunt for defending their lands and poisoning waterholes and flour. Smallpox killed a significant proportion of the Aboriginal population. Long-standing rumours about smallpox being purposefully spread among Aboriginal people just like the Darkinjung in New South Wales.  Today, there are under 50 surviving members of the Turrbal Tribe from a populace of over 3000.