'Contested Territory':Colonial Queensland in the Writings of the Late Bill Thorpe (1943-2009) (Obituary‪)‬

This article provides an overview of the contribution to colonial Queensland studies by the late Bill Thorpe, explaining the reasons for his enduring association with Queensland, and reviewing his long-standing collaborations with former PhD supervisor Raymond Evans and members of the Ipswich Aboriginal community. It argues that the belated appearance of his doctoral thesis on the subject was a significant intellectual event in seeking to theorise colonialism in Queensland, drawing upon interdisciplinary insights and examples. The article spans his career, from the ambitious class analysis of his early writing to an assessment of his local study of the Deebing Creek Reserve in late career, in order to identify his strengths as a social and economic historian, and to situate his work in the context of generational change and the reconceptualisation of Queensland studies. At first glance, Bill Thorpe may seem an unlikely candidate for a Queensland Review obituary. Born and bred in New South Wales, he spent time in Sydney and overseas before studying in Queensland, only to leave the northern state before his doctorate at the University of Queensland was completed in the early 1980s. After his departure to Adelaide, where his partner and collaborator Claire Williams was appointed to Flinders University, Thorpe's contacts with Queensland were sustained in a number of ways, including through regular visits to a range of environmental locations and through social connections with members of the Koala Club, which he had helped found while living in Brisbane. (1) Most importantly, however, it was through his ongoing correspondence and collaboration with Raymond Evans, his honours and doctoral supervisor at The University of Queensland, coupled with an enduring association with Frances Wright of the Ipswich Aboriginal community, that he maintained the strong research ties and social bonds that enabled him to sustain his interest and writing in absentia.