This transcription of the original item was compiled and annotated by Richard Fotheringham. There is a note in the top right-hand corner 'In the posession [sic] of Hon. Joshua Thomas Bell circ. 1908-9'. Footnote on first page: 'Two manuscript notes in different hands are written in the right margin at this point ... indicates that this was compiled c. 1902 (Thomas died Jan 1904).' These recollections were shared with his son, Arthur Hoey Davis (1868-1935) (whose pen name was Steele Rudd) mostly likely in the early 1900's. Thomas Davis was a former convict. His memoir covers the period from 1849 to the separation of Queensland from New South Wales in 1859. Davis initially worked with J. C. Burnett's Survey Party. He recounts stories of the places he visited and their history, various encounters with local indigenous groups and individuals, language and culture of the Aboriginal people of the area, kinship system in the Maronoa and Balonne region, and a list of more than 100 names and phrases in the dialect of the people of the Balonne, Dawson and Comet river. Joshua Peter Bell is mentioned several times in memoir. This and other recollections by Thomas Davis were collected by Joshua Thomas Bell in the first decade of the 20th century.

Draft typescript article written by Richard Fotheringham for The Australian Literary Review which was published with the title 'Inside the killing fields of Queensland' on October 6, 2010, pp. 12-13. This article was written after the discovery of a memoir by Thomas Davis, father of Arthur Hoey Davis (aka "Steele Rudd"), which discussed massacres of Australian Aborigines in his time of working in Queensland in the 1800s. Fotheringham suggested the name of the manuscript.

Content advice: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are warned that this resource may contain images, transcripts or names of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples now deceased. It may also contain historically and culturally sensitive words, terms, and descriptions.