In 1824, the Moreton Bay penal settlement was established on the site of present-day Brisbane. In 1842, the penal colony was closed and the area was opened for free settlement. By 1850 the population of Brisbane had reached 8,000 and increasing numbers of pastoralists were grazing cattle and sheep in the Darling Downs west of the town. However, several attempts to establish settlements north of the Tropic of Capricorn had failed, and the settler population in the north remained small. Frontier violence between settlers and the Indigenous population became severe as pastoralism expanded north of the Tweed River. A series of disputes between northern pastoralists and the government in Sydney led to increasing demands from the northern settlers for separation from New South Wales. In 1857, the British government agreed to the separation and in 1859 the colony of Queensland was proclaimed. The settler population of the new colony was 25,000 and the vast majority of its territory was still occupied by its traditional owners.
Godine 1824, Moreton Bai kazneno naselje je osnovano na mestu današnjeg Brizbejna. Iste godine zatvorska kolonija je zatvorena i područje je otvoreno za slobodno naseljavanje. Do 1850 stanovništvo Brisbane je dostigao 8,000 i sve veći broj stocara su za ispašu stoke i ovaca koristili Darling Dovns zapadno od grada. Međutim, nekoliko pokušaja da se uspostave naselja severno od Tropskog Jarca nije uspelo, a naseljenicko stanovništvo na severu ostao je malo. Granično nasilje između doseljenika i domorodačkog stanovništva postalo je ozbiljno jer se stocarstvo proširilo severno od reke Tveed. Niz sporova između severnih stocara i vlade u Sidneju dovelo je do povećanja zahteva od severnih doseljenika za odvajanje od Novog Južnog Velsa. Godine 1857. britanska vlada se složila sa razdvajanjem, a 1859. godine proglašena je kolonija Kvinslenda. Sanovništvo nove kolonije je naraslo na 25.000 i velika većina njene teritorije je i dalje okupirana od strane svojih tradicionalnih vlasnika.