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FRONTIER CONFLICT AND THE NATIVE MOUNTED POLICE IN QUEENSLAND Search results for 'Maryborough' Associated individuals 20 / 69 entries Name Role/Status/Position Notes Tools Aldridge, Selector (e.g. agricultural or other One of the rst settlers of Maryborough in 1848, along with his brothers Edgar selection);Publican/innkeeper Richard and Henry. The Aldridge brothers established the 'Bush Inn' on the Thomas northern bank of the Mary River opposite George Furber’s wool store. Alleged in the 1860s that Aboriginal people had stolen his potatoes, and later in icted several blows with a stock whip on an Aboriginal man who had bailed up a Mrs Smith. Antcliff, Farmer Owner of a farm/agricultural holding at Beaver Rock outside Maryborough. John The property was held up several times by Aboriginal people including a man called "Soldier" in February 1868. Archer, Station owner (grazier/squatter) Brother of John, David, William, Archibald, Thomas and Colin. Charles Charles joined his brothers in Queensland in 1841 and took up Durrundur (1841), Emu Creek and Cooyar (1845). With William he named the Fitzroy River and took up land on the Fitzroy in 1855, which was named Gracemere. Also took up Crinum, Capella, Belcong, Laguna Retro, Colinsby, Abor, Gordon Downs and Peak Downs (1854), shortly afterwards sold to Gordon Sandeman (Russell 2001:106, Colonial Frontiers. Indigenous-European Encounters in Settler Societies). Archer brothers also owned Eidsvold on the Burnett River (by 1855). Gave evidence to the 1857 Inquiry into the Native Police. From his Australian Dictionary of Biography Entry by Mary O'Kee e (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/archer-charles-1712): "ARCHER FAMILY: Charles (1813-1862), John (1814-1857), David (1816- 1900), William (1818-1896), Archibald (1820-1902), Thomas (1823-1905) and Colin (1832-1921), pastoralists, were the children of William Archer, Name Role/Status/Position Notes Tools timber merchant, sometime of Perth, Scotland, and his wife Julia, née Walker. There were thirteen children, nine of whom spent some time in Australia. In 1825 the family moved to Larvik, Norway, where the ve younger children were born. The rst brother to settle in Australia was David, who arrived in Sydney in 1834. He worked for his Walker cousins, and then became joint superintendent, according to the diary of Charles Darwin, whom he took on an unsuccessful hunt for kangaroos at Wallerawang in 1836. David Archer was joined by his brothers William and Thomas in 1838 and they determined to seek land on their own account. Hopes of joining the trek to the Darling Downs were frustrated by an outbreak of scab among the sheep, which held up the party until the best land was believed to have been taken. In 1841, however, David, Thomas and John, a sailor who had decided to settle ashore, pushed north and took up Durundur in the Moreton district, the most northerly station at that time. Ludwig Leichhardt stayed there for some months in 1843-44. His friendship with the brothers continued, one of his last letters being addressed to John Archer. The country at Durundur proving unsuitable for sheep, the brothers in 1845 took up runs farther west but still within the Brisbane valley, at Emu Creek and Cooyar. In 1847 Thomas Archer made exploring trips to the Fitzroy Downs and in 1848 to the Burnett. As a result, land on the River Burnett was taken up in the names of David and Thomas Archer. These runs were named Coonambula and Eidsvold, the latter after the town in which the Constitution of Norway as an independent nation was signed in 1814. After Thomas left Australia in 1849 for the Californian gold elds further exploring trips were made. Charles, who had joined his brothers in 1841, and William discovered and named the Fitzroy River in 1853, and in 1854, with Colin, explored the Peak Downs district, being apparently the rst to do so since Leichhardt traversed it in 1847. As a result of their examination of the valley of the Fitzroy the family partnership took up land there, and rst occupied it in 1855. They had been attracted to the site not only by the suitability of the country for grazing, and the beauty of the mere which reminded them of Norway, but also by its position on the Fitzroy River which would allow them to use sea transport for taking out wool and bringing in stores; the city of Rockhampton now stands on part of the original Gracemere run. First called Farris, it was renamed Gracemere in honour of Thomas Archer's bride Grace Lindsay, née Morison, whom he had married in Scotland in 1853. Cattle as well as sheep were run on Gracemere from the earliest years, and in the early 1870s it was switched entirely to cattle, for which the district seemed better suited. David Archer left Australia in 1852 and did not return. His son Edward Walker Archer (1871-1940) represented Capricornia in the federal parliament in 1906-10. John, who had returned to his original calling, was lost at sea in 1857. Charles died in Norway in 1862. In 1860 Archibald Archer, who had been a planter in the South Seas, joined his brothers at Gracemere. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly in 1867-69 and 1879-95, being colonial treasurer and minister for education in 1882-83. He was a keen supporter of the Central Queensland separation movement. In 1870 he accepted the position of agent-general for Queensland, but resigned on nding that, in the opinion of the government, his already accepted obligation to present to the Colonial O ce a petition from the supporters of separation was inconsistent with his holding this position. In 1892 and 1893 he led Name Role/Status/Position Notes Tools deputations to the Colonial O ce on the same subject. He died in Norway on 6 February 1902. Thomas, who had been in Queensland again in 1854-55, after which he left on account of ill health, and in 1872-80, was agent-general for Queensland in 1881-84 and 1888-90. He was appointed C.M.G. in 1884. He was the author of a pamphlet which reprinted a letter in which he had given his brother Alexander 'An Account of the events following the sailing of the Barque “Scottish Knight” from Keppel Bay on 7th January 1880', describing how the barque, on board which he and his wife were, had struck a reef. He also published pamphlets while agent-general: The History, Resources and Future Prospects of Queensland (London, 1881); Queensland: Her History, Resources, and Future Prospects (London, 1882); Alleged Slavery in Queensland (1883). His Recollections of a Rambling Life, printed in Yokohama in 1897 for private circulation, describe his early years in Australia and his experiences in California. His son William (1856-1924) was a leading London dramatic critic, translated the works of Ibsen and wrote plays. He visited Australia in 1876. Colin achieved fame in later life as a shipbuilder. He built the Fram, the ship in which Fridtjof Nansen made the successful exploration of the North Polar Sea in 1893-96, and also designed an improved pilot boat and a new type of rescue boat. He had taken from Maryborough to the present site of Rockhampton the rst vessel to sail up the Fitzroy River—the Ellida, a ketch of about twelve tons." Archer, Station owner (grazier/squatter) Brother of John, David, William, Archibald, Thomas and Charles. Together Colin they took up Durrundur (1841), Emu Creek and Cooyar (1845), also Crinum, Capella, Belcong, Laguna Retro, Colinsby, Abor, Gordon Downs and Peak Downs (1854), shortly afterwards sold to Gordon Sandeman (Russell 2001:106, Colonial Frontiers. Indigenous-European Encounters in Settler Societies). Archer brothers also owned Eidsvold on the Burnett River (by 1855). From his Australian Dictionary of Biography Entry by Mary O'Kee e (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/archer-colin-2224): "ARCHER FAMILY: Charles (1813-1862), John (1814-1857), David (1816- 1900), William (1818-1896), Archibald (1820-1902), Thomas (1823-1905) and Colin (1832-1921), pastoralists, were the children of William Archer, timber merchant, sometime of Perth, Scotland, and his wife Julia, née Walker. There were thirteen children, nine of whom spent some time in Australia. In 1825 the family moved to Larvik, Norway, where the ve younger children were born. The rst brother to settle in Australia was David, who arrived in Sydney in 1834. He worked for his Walker cousins, and then became joint superintendent, according to the diary of Charles Darwin, whom he took on an unsuccessful hunt for kangaroos at Wallerawang in 1836. David Archer was joined by his brothers William and Thomas in 1838 and they determined to seek land on their own account. Hopes of joining the trek to the Darling Downs were frustrated by an outbreak of scab among the sheep, which held up the party until the best land was believed to have been taken. In 1841, however, David, Thomas and John, a sailor who had decided to settle ashore, pushed north and took up Durundur in the Moreton district, the most northerly station at that time. Ludwig Leichhardt stayed there for some months in 1843-44. His friendship with the brothers continued, one of his last letters being addressed to John Name Role/Status/Position Notes Tools Archer. The country at Durundur proving unsuitable for sheep, the brothers in 1845 took up runs farther west but still within the Brisbane valley, at Emu Creek and Cooyar. In 1847 Thomas Archer made exploring trips to the Fitzroy Downs and in 1848 to the Burnett. As a result, land on the River Burnett was taken up in the names of David and Thomas Archer. These runs were named Coonambula and Eidsvold, the latter after the town in which the Constitution of Norway as an independent nation was signed in 1814. After Thomas left Australia in 1849 for the Californian gold elds further exploring trips were made. Charles, who had joined his brothers in 1841, and William discovered and named the Fitzroy River in 1853, and in 1854, with Colin, explored the Peak Downs district, being apparently the rst to do so since Leichhardt traversed it in 1847. As a result of their examination of the valley of the Fitzroy the family partnership took up land there, and rst occupied it in 1855. They had been attracted to the site not only by the suitability of the country for grazing, and the beauty of the mere which reminded them of Norway, but also by its position on the Fitzroy River which would allow them to use sea transport for taking out wool and bringing in stores; the city of Rockhampton now stands on part of the original Gracemere run. First called Farris, it was renamed Gracemere in honour of Thomas Archer's bride Grace Lindsay, née Morison, whom he had married in Scotland in 1853. Cattle as well as sheep were run on Gracemere from the earliest years, and in the early 1870s it was switched entirely to cattle, for which the district seemed better suited. David Archer left Australia in 1852 and did not return. His son Edward Walker Archer (1871-1940) represented Capricornia in the federal parliament in 1906-10. John, who had returned to his original calling, was lost at sea in 1857. Charles died in Norway in 1862. In 1860 Archibald Archer, who had been a planter in the South Seas, joined his brothers at Gracemere. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly in 1867-69 and 1879-95, being colonial treasurer and minister for education in 1882-83. He was a keen supporter of the Central Queensland separation movement. In 1870 he accepted the position of agent-general for Queensland, but resigned on nding that, in the opinion of the government, his already accepted obligation to present to the Colonial O ce a petition from the supporters of separation was inconsistent with his holding this position. In 1892 and 1893 he led deputations to the Colonial O ce on the same subject. He died in Norway on 6 February 1902. Thomas, who had been in Queensland again in 1854-55, after which he left on account of ill health, and in 1872-80, was agent-general for Queensland in 1881-84 and 1888-90. He was appointed C.M.G. in 1884. He was the author of a pamphlet which reprinted a letter in which he had given his brother Alexander 'An Account of the events following the sailing of the Barque “Scottish Knight” from Keppel Bay on 7th January 1880', describing how the barque, on board which he and his wife were, had struck a reef. He also published pamphlets while agent-general: The History, Resources and Future Prospects of Queensland (London, 1881); Queensland: Her History, Resources, and Future Prospects (London, 1882); Alleged Slavery in Queensland (1883). His Recollections of a Rambling Life, printed in Yokohama in 1897 for private circulation, describe his early years in Australia and his experiences in California. His son William (1856-1924) was a leading London dramatic critic, translated the works of Ibsen and wrote plays. He visited Australia in 1876. Name Role/Status/Position Notes Tools Colin achieved fame in later life as a shipbuilder. He built the Fram, the ship in which Fridtjof Nansen made the successful exploration of the North Polar Sea in 1893-96, and also designed an improved pilot boat and a new type of rescue boat. He had taken from Maryborough to the present site of Rockhampton the rst vessel to sail up the Fitzroy River—the Ellida, a ketch of about twelve tons." Archer, Station owner (grazier/squatter) Brother of John, Charles, William, Archibald, Thomas and Colin. Along with David his brothers, took up Eidsvold and Coonambula near Gayndah in 1847 (Queenslander 24 September 1931, p4). Before that, in 1843, had Durrandurrar near Moreton Bay. For more information see http://www.eoas.info/biogs/P002086b.htm From his Australian Dictionary of Biography Entry by Mary O'Kee e (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/archer-david-2222): "ARCHER FAMILY: Charles (1813-1862), John (1814-1857), David (1816- 1900), William (1818-1896), Archibald (1820-1902), Thomas (1823-1905) and Colin (1832-1921), pastoralists, were the children of William Archer, timber merchant, sometime of Perth, Scotland, and his wife Julia, née Walker. There were thirteen children, nine of whom spent some time in Australia. In 1825 the family moved to Larvik, Norway, where the ve younger children were born. The rst brother to settle in Australia was David, who arrived in Sydney in 1834. He worked for his Walker cousins, and then became joint superintendent, according to the diary of Charles Darwin, whom he took on an unsuccessful hunt for kangaroos at Wallerawang in 1836. David Archer was joined by his brothers William and Thomas in 1838 and they determined to seek land on their own account. Hopes of joining the trek to the Darling Downs were frustrated by an outbreak of scab among the sheep, which held up the party until the best land was believed to have been taken. In 1841, however, David, Thomas and John, a sailor who had decided to settle ashore, pushed north and took up Durundur in the Moreton district, the most northerly station at that time. Ludwig Leichhardt stayed there for some months in 1843-44. His friendship with the brothers continued, one of his last letters being addressed to John Archer. The country at Durundur proving unsuitable for sheep, the brothers in 1845 took up runs farther west but still within the Brisbane valley, at Emu Creek and Cooyar. In 1847 Thomas Archer made exploring trips to the Fitzroy Downs and in 1848 to the Burnett. As a result, land on the River Burnett was taken up in the names of David and Thomas Archer. These runs were named Coonambula and Eidsvold, the latter after the town in which the Constitution of Norway as an independent nation was signed in 1814. After Thomas left Australia in 1849 for the Californian gold elds further exploring trips were made. Charles, who had joined his brothers in 1841, and William discovered and named the Fitzroy River in 1853, and in 1854, with Colin, explored the Peak Downs district, being apparently the rst to do so since Leichhardt traversed it in 1847. As a result of their examination of the valley of the Fitzroy the family partnership took up land there, and rst occupied it in 1855. They had been attracted to the site not only by the suitability of the country for grazing, and the beauty of the mere which reminded them of Norway, but also by its position on the Fitzroy River which would allow them to use sea transport for taking out wool and bringing in stores; the city of Rockhampton now stands on part Name Role/Status/Position Notes Tools of the original Gracemere run. First called Farris, it was renamed Gracemere in honour of Thomas Archer's bride Grace Lindsay, née Morison, whom he had married in Scotland in 1853. Cattle as well as sheep were run on Gracemere from the earliest years, and in the early 1870s it was switched entirely to cattle, for which the district seemed better suited. David Archer left Australia in 1852 and did not return. His son Edward Walker Archer (1871-1940) represented Capricornia in the federal parliament in 1906-10. John, who had returned to his original calling, was lost at sea in 1857. Charles died in Norway in 1862. In 1860 Archibald Archer, who had been a planter in the South Seas, joined his brothers at Gracemere. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly in 1867-69 and 1879-95, being colonial treasurer and minister for education in 1882-83. He was a keen supporter of the Central Queensland separation movement. In 1870 he accepted the position of agent-general for Queensland, but resigned on nding that, in the opinion of the government, his already accepted obligation to present to the Colonial O ce a petition from the supporters of separation was inconsistent with his holding this position. In 1892 and 1893 he led deputations to the Colonial O ce on the same subject. He died in Norway on 6 February 1902. Thomas, who had been in Queensland again in 1854-55, after which he left on account of ill health, and in 1872-80, was agent-general for Queensland in 1881-84 and 1888-90. He was appointed C.M.G. in 1884. He was the author of a pamphlet which reprinted a letter in which he had given his brother Alexander 'An Account of the events following the sailing of the Barque “Scottish Knight” from Keppel Bay on 7th January 1880', describing how the barque, on board which he and his wife were, had struck a reef. He also published pamphlets while agent-general: The History, Resources and Future Prospects of Queensland (London, 1881); Queensland: Her History, Resources, and Future Prospects (London, 1882); Alleged Slavery in Queensland (1883). His Recollections of a Rambling Life, printed in Yokohama in 1897 for private circulation, describe his early years in Australia and his experiences in California. His son William (1856-1924) was a leading London dramatic critic, translated the works of Ibsen and wrote plays. He visited Australia in 1876. Colin achieved fame in later life as a shipbuilder. He built the Fram, the ship in which Fridtjof Nansen made the successful exploration of the North Polar Sea in 1893-96, and also designed an improved pilot boat and a new type of rescue boat. He had taken from Maryborough to the present site of Rockhampton the rst vessel to sail up the Fitzroy River—the Ellida, a ketch of about twelve tons." Archer, Station owner (grazier/squatter) Brother of David, William, Charles, Archibald, Thomas and Colin. Took up John Durundur in the Moreton district in 1841 with his brothers David, Charles and Thomas, also Emu Creek and Cooyar in 1845 (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/archer-colin-2224). Also took up Crinum, Capella, Belcong, Laguna Retro, Colinsby, Abor, Gordon Downs and Peak Downs (1854), shortly afterwards sold to Gordon Sandeman (Russell 2001:106, Colonial Frontiers. Indigenous-European Encounters in Settler Societies). Archer brothers also owned Eidsvold on the Burnett River (by 1855). From his Australian Dictionary of Biography Entry by Mary O'Kee e (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/archer-john-2221): Name Role/Status/Position Notes Tools "ARCHER FAMILY: Charles (1813-1862), John (1814-1857), David (1816- 1900), William (1818-1896), Archibald (1820-1902), Thomas (1823-1905) and Colin (1832-1921), pastoralists, were the children of William Archer, timber merchant, sometime of Perth, Scotland, and his wife Julia, née Walker. There were thirteen children, nine of whom spent some time in Australia. In 1825 the family moved to Larvik, Norway, where the ve younger children were born. The rst brother to settle in Australia was David, who arrived in Sydney in 1834. He worked for his Walker cousins, and then became joint superintendent, according to the diary of Charles Darwin, whom he took on an unsuccessful hunt for kangaroos at Wallerawang in 1836. David Archer was joined by his brothers William and Thomas in 1838 and they determined to seek land on their own account. Hopes of joining the trek to the Darling Downs were frustrated by an outbreak of scab among the sheep, which held up the party until the best land was believed to have been taken. In 1841, however, David, Thomas and John, a sailor who had decided to settle ashore, pushed north and took up Durundur in the Moreton district, the most northerly station at that time. Ludwig Leichhardt stayed there for some months in 1843-44. His friendship with the brothers continued, one of his last letters being addressed to John Archer. The country at Durundur proving unsuitable for sheep, the brothers in 1845 took up runs farther west but still within the Brisbane valley, at Emu Creek and Cooyar. In 1847 Thomas Archer made exploring trips to the Fitzroy Downs and in 1848 to the Burnett. As a result, land on the River Burnett was taken up in the names of David and Thomas Archer. These runs were named Coonambula and Eidsvold, the latter after the town in which the Constitution of Norway as an independent nation was signed in 1814. After Thomas left Australia in 1849 for the Californian gold elds further exploring trips were made. Charles, who had joined his brothers in 1841, and William discovered and named the Fitzroy River in 1853, and in 1854, with Colin, explored the Peak Downs district, being apparently the rst to do so since Leichhardt traversed it in 1847. As a result of their examination of the valley of the Fitzroy the family partnership took up land there, and rst occupied it in 1855. They had been attracted to the site not only by the suitability of the country for grazing, and the beauty of the mere which reminded them of Norway, but also by its position on the Fitzroy River which would allow them to use sea transport for taking out wool and bringing in stores; the city of Rockhampton now stands on part of the original Gracemere run. First called Farris, it was renamed Gracemere in honour of Thomas Archer's bride Grace Lindsay, née Morison, whom he had married in Scotland in 1853. Cattle as well as sheep were run on Gracemere from the earliest years, and in the early 1870s it was switched entirely to cattle, for which the district seemed better suited. David Archer left Australia in 1852 and did not return. His son Edward Walker Archer (1871-1940) represented Capricornia in the federal parliament in 1906-10. John, who had returned to his original calling, was lost at sea in 1857. Charles died in Norway in 1862. In 1860 Archibald Archer, who had been a planter in the South Seas, joined his brothers at Gracemere. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly in 1867-69 and 1879-95, being colonial treasurer and minister for education in 1882-83. He was a keen supporter of the Central Queensland separation movement. In 1870 he accepted the position of agent-general for Queensland, but resigned on nding that, in the opinion Name Role/Status/Position Notes Tools of the government, his already accepted obligation to present to the Colonial O ce a petition from the supporters of separation was inconsistent with his holding this position. In 1892 and 1893 he led deputations to the Colonial O ce on the same subject. He died in Norway on 6 February 1902. Thomas, who had been in Queensland again in 1854-55, after which he left on account of ill health, and in 1872-80, was agent-general for Queensland in 1881-84 and 1888-90. He was appointed C.M.G. in 1884. He was the author of a pamphlet which reprinted a letter in which he had given his brother Alexander 'An Account of the events following the sailing of the Barque “Scottish Knight” from Keppel Bay on 7th January 1880', describing how the barque, on board which he and his wife were, had struck a reef. He also published pamphlets while agent-general: The History, Resources and Future Prospects of Queensland (London, 1881); Queensland: Her History, Resources, and Future Prospects (London, 1882); Alleged Slavery in Queensland (1883). His Recollections of a Rambling Life, printed in Yokohama in 1897 for private circulation, describe his early years in Australia and his experiences in California. His son William (1856-1924) was a leading London dramatic critic, translated the works of Ibsen and wrote plays. He visited Australia in 1876. Colin achieved fame in later life as a shipbuilder. He built the Fram, the ship in which Fridtjof Nansen made the successful exploration of the North Polar Sea in 1893-96, and also designed an improved pilot boat and a new type of rescue boat. He had taken from Maryborough to the present site of Rockhampton the rst vessel to sail up the Fitzroy River—the Ellida, a ketch of about twelve tons." Archer, Station owner (grazier/squatter) Brother of Charles, David, John and Colin. His memoirs were serialised in Thomas the Queenslander (1899–1900) as 'The Sketcher. RECOLLECTIONS OF A RAMBLING LIFE. PIONEERING IN QUEENSLAND.' From his Australian Dictionary of Biography Entry by Mary O'Kee e (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/archer-thomas-1469): "ARCHER FAMILY: Charles (1813-1862), John (1814-1857), David (1816- 1900), William (1818-1896), Archibald (1820-1902), Thomas (1823-1905) and Colin (1832-1921), pastoralists, were the children of William Archer, timber merchant, sometime of Perth, Scotland, and his wife Julia, née Walker. There were thirteen children, nine of whom spent some time in Australia. In 1825 the family moved to Larvik, Norway, where the ve younger children were born. The rst brother to settle in Australia was David, who arrived in Sydney in 1834. He worked for his Walker cousins, and then became joint superintendent, according to the diary of Charles Darwin, whom he took on an unsuccessful hunt for kangaroos at Wallerawang in 1836. David Archer was joined by his brothers William and Thomas in 1838 and they determined to seek land on their own account. Hopes of joining the trek to the Darling Downs were frustrated by an outbreak of scab among the sheep, which held up the party until the best land was believed to have been taken. In 1841, however, David, Thomas and John, a sailor who had decided to settle ashore, pushed north and took up Durundur in the Moreton district, the most northerly station at that time. Ludwig Leichhardt stayed there for some months in 1843-44. His friendship with the brothers continued, one of his last letters being addressed to John Archer. Name Role/Status/Position Notes Tools The country at Durundur proving unsuitable for sheep, the brothers in 1845 took up runs farther west but still within the Brisbane valley, at Emu Creek and Cooyar. In 1847 Thomas Archer made exploring trips to the Fitzroy Downs and in 1848 to the Burnett. As a result, land on the River Burnett was taken up in the names of David and Thomas Archer. These runs were named Coonambula and Eidsvold, the latter after the town in which the Constitution of Norway as an independent nation was signed in 1814. After Thomas left Australia in 1849 for the Californian gold elds further exploring trips were made. Charles, who had joined his brothers in 1841, and William discovered and named the Fitzroy River in 1853, and in 1854, with Colin, explored the Peak Downs district, being apparently the rst to do so since Leichhardt traversed it in 1847. As a result of their examination of the valley of the Fitzroy the family partnership took up land there, and rst occupied it in 1855. They had been attracted to the site not only by the suitability of the country for grazing, and the beauty of the mere which reminded them of Norway, but also by its position on the Fitzroy River which would allow them to use sea transport for taking out wool and bringing in stores; the city of Rockhampton now stands on part of the original Gracemere run. First called Farris, it was renamed Gracemere in honour of Thomas Archer's bride Grace Lindsay, née Morison, whom he had married in Scotland in 1853. Cattle as well as sheep were run on Gracemere from the earliest years, and in the early 1870s it was switched entirely to cattle, for which the district seemed better suited. David Archer left Australia in 1852 and did not return. His son Edward Walker Archer (1871-1940) represented Capricornia in the federal parliament in 1906-10. John, who had returned to his original calling, was lost at sea in 1857. Charles died in Norway in 1862. In 1860 Archibald Archer, who had been a planter in the South Seas, joined his brothers at Gracemere. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly in 1867-69 and 1879-95, being colonial treasurer and minister for education in 1882-83. He was a keen supporter of the Central Queensland separation movement. In 1870 he accepted the position of agent-general for Queensland, but resigned on nding that, in the opinion of the government, his already accepted obligation to present to the Colonial O ce a petition from the supporters of separation was inconsistent with his holding this position. In 1892 and 1893 he led deputations to the Colonial O ce on the same subject. He died in Norway on 6 February 1902. Thomas, who had been in Queensland again in 1854-55, after which he left on account of ill health, and in 1872-80, was agent-general for Queensland in 1881-84 and 1888-90. He was appointed C.M.G. in 1884. He was the author of a pamphlet which reprinted a letter in which he had given his brother Alexander 'An Account of the events following the sailing of the Barque “Scottish Knight” from Keppel Bay on 7th January 1880', describing how the barque, on board which he and his wife were, had struck a reef. He also published pamphlets while agent-general: The History, Resources and Future Prospects of Queensland (London, 1881); Queensland: Her History, Resources, and Future Prospects (London, 1882); Alleged Slavery in Queensland (1883). His Recollections of a Rambling Life, printed in Yokohama in 1897 for private circulation, describe his early years in Australia and his experiences in California. His son William (1856-1924) was a leading London dramatic critic, translated the works of Ibsen and wrote plays. He visited Australia in 1876. Colin achieved fame in later life as a shipbuilder. He built the Fram, the Name Role/Status/Position Notes Tools ship in which Fridtjof Nansen made the successful exploration of the North Polar Sea in 1893-96, and also designed an improved pilot boat and a new type of rescue boat. He had taken from Maryborough to the present site of Rockhampton the rst vessel to sail up the Fitzroy River—the Ellida, a ketch of about twelve tons." Ballantyne, Worker/labourer;Carrier/teamster/packer Possibly a carrier? Charged with shooting (non-fatally) an Aboriginal man Alexander named Toby (3) on 6 November 1863 outside Maryborough; he was arrested, but the Attorney-General ultimately decided not to prosecute. Barney Worker/labourer A recent arrival in 1865 in Bowen from Maryborough, who was killed by Aboriginal people in mid-1865 Barry, Sawyer/Timber-getter;Worker/labourer Gave at statement about the death of John Piggott at the hands of John Aboriginal people at Fraser Island on 30 March 1864. Barry had been with Piggott just before his death, and himself was injured in the attack. He managed to escape, taking several days to get back to Maryborough; he gave his evidence after the Magisterial Enquiry had been completed as he did not arrive until after it had been completed. Bidwill, Police Magistrate;Commissioner of First Commissioner of Crown Lands for Wide Bay 1848. Issued warrant for John Crown Lands;Justice of the arrest of an Aboriginal man named Diamond in 1855. Carne Peace;Botanist From https://www.qld.gov.au/recreation/arts/heritage/museum-of- lands/surveying/surveyors/john-bidwill: 'Originally a native of Exeter in Devon, England this well-travelled 33-year-old man had crammed numerous and signi cant experiences into his short life. When aged just 17, he ventured to Canada for 2 years before returning to England and then onto Sydney in 1838 to act in a merchant capacity for his family’s trading rm. Combining both his business duties and his special interest in botany with an exploring curiosity, for the next 9 years he travelled both in the colony and to other Paci c Ocean destinations including New Zealand and as far as Tahiti plus brie y returning to England in that period.' From Maryborough Chronicle, 3 November 1951, p7: "SOME time ago Mrs. A. E. Woodhouse of Blue Cli s Station, Timaru. New Zealand, came to Maryborough. She is a grand niece of John Carne Bidwill, one of the earliest pioneers of Maryborough and district and she and her son came specially to Maryborough to see the grave of their respected ancestor. John Carne Bidwill is buried in Bidwill paddocks, Tinana, near the mouth of Tinana Creek. The property is owned by Messrs. Cran and Sons as a cane and dairy farm. John Carne Bidwill was the rst Land Commissioner, arriving here in 1848. just after Wide Bay was proclaimed a district. He controlled the destinies of this embryo hamlet, acting as Police Magistrate, C.P.S.. Land Commissioner, and Harbour Master. He performed marriages, read burial services and was, 'the boss' generally. CARE OF GRAVE In a letter to Mrs. D. Cran. after her visit. Mrs. Wood-house wrote; ''We look back with very happy memories of our meeting with you. and we are so happy about the setting of the grave, and the care and interest that you and your family give to it.'' In a subsequent letter to Mrs. Cran, Mrs. Woodhouse forwarded a cheque to have the inscription on the grave and the stone itself renovated and put in good order. This work has now been completed, and photographs of the grave are being forwarded to Mrs. Woodhouse who will pass them on to her relatives in New Zealand. One of them is named John Carne Bidwill. It is a matter of satisfaction to the Name Role/Status/Position Notes Tools people of Maryborough that the memory of one of its earliest pioneers who had the respect and con dence of the people of his day is cherished by the present generation. John Carne Bidwill and his fellow pioneers have passed down to us the great heritage of a prosperous community." From https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/science/display/105437- john-carne-bidwell/photo/3: "John Carne Bidwill, botanist ... was born at Exeter, England. In September 1838 he arrived in Sydney, where he joined a commercial rm while waiting for the survey of land that he had been allotted. Sent to New Zealand, he reached the Bay of Islands in February 1839, visited Rotorua and Taupo, explored the spurs of Tongariro and collected botanical specimens which included some new discoveries. He was recalled to Sydney in April, but returned to Port Nicholson in 1840; during his stay in New Zealand he collected plants from the mountains of Nelson. His rm then sent him to Moreton Bay, where his letters concerned little except plants; writing to his friend, Captain Phillip Parker King. In February 1841, having established a reputation as a botanist, he sailed for England with a letter from King to Sir William Hooker at Kew. His Rambles in New Zealand (London, 1841), which was reprinted in 1952 in Christchurch, contains observations on agricultural practices and the e ects of ring. He returned to Sydney in 1844, and in February 1845 was sent to Tahiti for a year. In September 1847 he was given charge of the Sydney Botanic Gardens as director and government botanist. By some misunderstanding, the Colonial O ce gave the position to Charles Moore who arrived in January 1848. Governor Sir Charles FitzRoy sent for Bidwill and expressed his sorrow at his supercession. Bidwill in a letter to King showed no resentment. At his own request he was appointed commissioner of crown lands at Wide Bay. He wrote in 1849 that he had more than £500 a year for doing what was only a pleasure. At Tinana, now a suburb of Maryborough, he began to plant a botanic garden. While surveying a road from Wide Bay to Moreton Bay he was lost in the bush for eight days and died at his home from his privations on 16 March 1853. Most of his plants were transferred to Sydney after his death and the Tinana garden no longer exists. The genus Bidwillia and some twelve species of native Australian and New Zealand plants commemorate his name." Billy (7) Aboriginal person Along with Bobby (1), Jimmy (2) and Yorkey, alleged to have robbed a miner name John Thompson at Yengarie Creek, near Tooth's meat-curing establishment outside Maryborough on 11 April 1866. Billy (8) Aboriginal person Alleged to have killed John (or William) Roberts, a bullock driver outside of Maryborough on approximately 10 October 1850. Bobby (1) Aboriginal person Along with Yorky (1), Jimmy (2) and Billy (7), alleged to have robbed a miner name John Thompson at Yengarie Creek, near Tooth's meat-curing establishment outside Maryborough on 11 April 1866. Also alleged, along with Blue Jacket, Yorky (1) and Johnny (6) to have robbed Mary Eisentrager the same day at her hut on Myrtle Creek. Name Role/Status/Position Notes Tools Bourse, Worker/labourer A German labourer whose house at Maryborough was robbed by Martin Aboriginal people on 25 January 1867. Browne, Journalist Sub-editor on the Townsville Herald in 1877 and editor of the Cooktown Reginald Herald in 1878. He wrote extensively about deaths on the Palmer River Spencer gold eld. By a colleague's account, Browne accompanied the NMP on some of their patrols, so presumably had rst hand knowledge of unlawful killings. From his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry by H.J. Sumners (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/browne-reginald-spencer-5394): "Reginald Spencer Browne (1856-1943), journalist and soldier, was born at Oaklands, Appin, New South Wales, on 13 July 1856, son of William James Merrick Shawe Browne, pastoralist, and his wife Rachel, née Broad. His father, a native-born scion of an already old Australian family, was superintending o cer of Yeomanry and Volunteer Corps in 1854. Educated at Appin, at Corowa and in England, Browne became a journalist and precociously published slim volumes of verse in 1874-75 from the o ces of the Deniliquin Pastoral Times and the Albury Banner. He was a sub-editor on the Townsville Herald in 1877 and editor of the Cooktown Herald in 1878. When Sir Thomas McIlwraith arranged a cabinet syndicate to control the Observer in 1881, Browne moved to Brisbane as its editor and married Violet Edith Fanny Sutton of Maryborough on 13 October. She died soon afterwards. Browne joined the Brisbane Courier in 1882 and stayed there for nearly all his working life. As associate editor of the Queenslander, he discovered and encouraged the poet George Essex Evans. Commissioned in the Queensland Mounted Infantry on 20 December 1887, he was said to have found work brie y on the London press to facilitate military study. He published Romances of the Gold eld and Bush, a volume of slight prose sketches, in London in 1890. Browne commanded a ying column of his regiment in western Queensland during the shearers' strike of 1891 but was, nevertheless, always sympathetic to trade-unionism. He was promoted captain in 1891 and major in 1896. In November 1899 he sailed for South Africa as a special-service o cer with the rst Queensland contingent, carrying the local rank of major. With active service in many elds, he was appointed C.B., received the Queen's Medal with ve clasps, was invalided to Australia in November 1900 and mentioned in dispatches in 1901. His return to Brisbane was a triumph. Browne progressed slowly through the literary hierarchy of the Courier, but devoted much time still to soldiering as lieutenant-colonel commanding the 13th Light Horse Regiment from 1903 and colonel of the 5th Light Horse Brigade from 1906; in 1911 he was transferred to the reserve. He was disappointed in his aspirations in 1906 to become lieutenant-governor of Papua and in 1908 acting State commandant. He presided at a meeting on 20 January 1911 when one faction among Brisbane journalists forestalled another connected with the Trades Hall, and formed an association. As rst president he steered it through complications caused by the general strike of 1912 but was never again active, though he urged young men to support the association and he later contributed to its funds while overseas. As an old friend and political Name Role/Status/Position Notes Tools adherent of (Sir) Littleton Groom, he transmitted regular political intelligence and worked informally for the Liberal Party. On 4 March 1915 Browne joined the Australian Imperial Force as colonel commanding the 4th Light Horse Brigade; when it was broken up he took over the 6th Infantry Brigade at Gallipoli, at the age of 59. He served at Lone Pine and Quinn's Post and was evacuated on 10 December but, too old for further active service, was given charge of the Australian Training and General Base Depot at Tel-el-kebir, Egypt, on 20 March 1916 as brigadier general. Publication by him in 1915 of The Heroic Serbians won him the order of the Serbian Red Cross. In 1916 in England he commanded the Australian Training Depot on Salisbury Plain, then moved to No.2 Command Depot at Weymouth where he probably met the novelist Thomas Hardy. He returned to Australia, un t, in November 1917, commanded the Molonglo Concentration Camp at Canberra from February to December 1918, was then demobilized, and was formally retired on 20 October 1921 as honorary major general. For two years he was State president of the Returned Soldiers' and Sailors' Imperial League of Australia. Between 1925 and 1927 Browne contributed a weekly article to the Courier, giving his memories of men and events in the Queensland of his time. These were published as A Journalist's Memories (1927); the book is still the source of much of both the history and legend of Queensland. In his later years Browne was a famous Brisbane identity. He was nominally nancial editor of the Courier Mail, reporting only the limited operations of the Brisbane Stock Exchange; he also edited the Queensland Trustees Review. On 7 August 1889 he had married Catherine Fraser Munro (d.1942), a noted musician and amateur actress. He had been interested primarily in pastimes like polo, shooting and shing, but henceforth shared wide cultural interests with his wife. He died, childless, on 9 November 1943, and was cremated with Anglican rites. His estate was sworn for probate at £1912. Tolerant and broadminded, Browne had been widely respected as 'in every sense a gentleman'." Burgess, Selector (e.g. agricultural or other A selector on the Burrum River (near Maryborough) whose 'house' was first name selection) broken into by Aboriginal people and money and jewellery taken. unknown Name Role/Status/Position Notes Tools Campbell, Aboriginal person;Bushranger A kaki Kabi man born in 1846 at Imbil on Yabber. Captured by Johnny Johnny Gri n (though Tom King took most of the credit) in 1880; he was (aka sentenced to be hung but the sentence for changed to 14 years "Black imprisonment. However, while he was imprisoned the police brought him Campbell" up on another charge, this time of committing a capital o ence on Jane and Macalister, for which he was tried, nd guilty and hun on 16 August 1880. Kagariu) There are some suggestions he served in NMP for a few years as a teen, but this is not 100% con rmed (Prentis 1991). 'The above individual, the perpetrator of many crimes, is at the present time being hunted by the police in this district. The following are a few facts associated with Black Campbell's career, who must now be about thirty- ve years of age: — About twenty- ve years ago Sir Colin Campbell had stations in the Wide Bay and Burnett districts. This philanthropic knight conceived the idea that if some of the aboriginals were properly educated, and could see the white man in all his power in the old world, they would impress upon tbe nomadic mind the value of self-improvement and submission to law and order, and as tutors would implant the blessing of civilisation, which, if but properly planted, might take root and eventuate in much good to this abject race. To carry out this idea Sir Colin selected two little black boys, sent them to Sydney, and from thence he took them to England where they were sent to a preparatory school. Shortly after this one of the black boys died, the other, the present subject of this communication, remained at this school for a few years, making rapid progress in all the branches of primary education. He was afterwards sent to a higher class school, and here he became famous as a linguist and scholar, and was admired as an athlete. On one occasion Sir Colin Campbell, with the present Marquis of Lorne, paid a visit to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and they took this primeval son of Queensland with them. Sir Colin detailed to Her Majesty the history of his nativity, and the object for which he intended him. The Queen appeared greatly interested in him, shaking his hand and conversing with him. The Marquis used to frequently take him to cricket matches and State ceremonies. In fact Mr John Campbell's (as he now calls himself) career was drawn in pleasant places, but for two very unforeseen contingencies. Sir Colin died, and he became ill and debilitated, so much so that tbe doctors advised that he should be sent back to Australia. Unfortunately for Mr John Campbell, the doctor's dictum was put in force. John was well rigged out with the best of clothes, a good supply of cash, and a saloon passage to Sydney; the agents there transhipped him as a saloon passenger to Maryborough. When the steamer came close to one of the numerous islands in the river, some naked blacks there yelled out in the aboriginal fashion. Mr Campbell, with the old Adam still alive, replied with some more yelling, and overboard goes John, clothes, jewellery, cash, and all, and in a few moments of time he was in camp once more among brothers, sisters, uncles, and aunts; whether to ful l the hopes and aspirations of his poor father let history speak.' Church, Worker/labourer Alleged to have been involved in reprisal attacks against Aboriginal people Alfred on Raglan Creek Station and another after the George Furber murder near Maryborough in the 1850s. Name Role/Status/Position Notes Tools Combo Aboriginal person Alleged to have been amongst those Aboriginal people who held up John Antcli 's farm/agricultural holding at Beaver Rock outside Maryborough in February 1868. He was arrested and put on trial, being found guilty and sentence to three years hard labour. Subsequently, upon nding that he had not in fact committed previous crimes alleged to have occurred and that in uence his sentencing, a remission of 12 months was granted. Blog posts 7 entries Label Tools ‘I Suppose I My name is Frank Uhr, and I am a 70-something historian living in Brisbane, following and Have Had More thoroughly enjoying the adventures of the Archaeology on the Frontierteam as they help open the Experience veil on men who served in the Qld Native Mounted Police (NMP). You see, my great grandfather Amongst the Wentworth D’Arcy Uhr (Figure 1) and his older brother (Reginald) were both o cers in the NMP, Blacks than any so I am one of many descendants of those men, able to relate stories that will go to help build the Other Man of My pro le that future historians will be looking to examine. This is the rst guest post of a two-part Age in This adventure that culminates with what we believe is the longest horse chase in Australia. This rst Colony’: post tells a little of D’Arcy’s background, his upbringing in Maryborough, and then his enlistment Wentworth as a cadet in the NMP in 1865. Following his “training”, his rst assignment was to lead a D’Arcy Uhr Part I detachment of troopers to the wild and untamed township of Burketown in the colony’s far north. Here is his story. Wentworth D’Arcy Uhr was born on 31 October 1845, at Wivenhoe station in the Moreton Bay District, to Edmund Blucher Uhr and his wife Amy (née Kemp). At the time of his birth, Edmund and Amy already had three children: Edward, aka ‘Ned’, born 1841; Mary, born 1843; and Reginald (who also served in the NMP from 1863–69), born in 1844. (Another child who didn’t survive was born in 1847.) When D’Arcy was four the family sold Wivenhoe and his father took up another station —“Barambah”—not far from the small port town of Maryborough. However, within a year of moving an outbreak of the highly contagious sheep disease catarrh made the situation untenable. Edmund did a deal with his brother-in-law, Richard Jones, who bought Barambah while Edmund took over the boiling down works that Jones had imported into Maryborough. Edmund selected a house site on the Yululah Waterholes and opened the boiling down works on a delightful bend of the nearby Mary River. From ages ve to nineteen, D’Arcy lived with his family in Maryborough, at that time a bustling, rough frontier village built around the port facilities and the wool export trade. Here, no doubt, the adventurous teenager learned how to look after himself among the rowdier element of the town. As the town grew, the foul-smelling boiling down works was moved from the bend of the river now known as Queens Park, to a site Edmund chose to call “Woodlands”, some four miles down river. The combination of the isolation at Woodlands and the nature of the boiling down operation, where sheep and cattle carcases were plentiful, especially during the rendering season, often attracted Aboriginal attention. This brought the Uhr family, and especially the young brothers, D’Arcy and Reginald, in close contact with Aboriginal people. While we do not have extensive reports on deaths in the vicinity of Woodlands, there is no doubt the close proximity of the di erent land users sometimes spilled over into violence. For example, in June 1852 two workers at the boiling down works were attacked by Aboriginal people and severely injured: "One of them managed to escape outside, and give the alarm, when the Label Tools murderers ed, stealing the blankets of the Chinese, and leaving two nearly dead, Dr. Palmer considering them in a very precarious state. We shall not be surprised to hear any day of something worse occurring at that place, for Mr. Uhr’s boiling place is more like a blacks’ camp than anything else ; hundreds of camps being round it, numbers being employed by the proprietor to carry on his operations" (Moreton Bay Courier, 15 June 1852, p1). Through such experiences D’Arcy must have become very conscious of the strengths and weaknesses of Aboriginal people and Europeans as groups, as well as on their own, and in turn, he learnt how to maintain his own safety. Having spent his childhood and teenage years on the frontier, D’Arcy would have been constantly faced with the racial tension that was ubiquitous as the undeclared war for control of the land and its resources proceeded. This undoubtedly shaped him, and possibly prepared him for his future hunting down Aboriginal people in the NMP, for in 1875 he would claim that “I suppose I have had more experience amongst blacks than any other man of my age in this colony…” (Telegraph, 26 June 1875, p5). Although he didn’t attend The Kings School, Parramatta, as did his two older brothers, his letter writing is testament to a sound local education, and his sporting prowess was evident from his results in the Mary River regattas (Maryborough Chronicle, 14 December 1864, p2), coupled with a reputation in later years as “the fastest runner in these parts [i.e. Burketown]” (Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 17 October 1871, p2). On leaving school, D’Arcy began working in the family business, which had grown from the original boiling down works to include a butcher shop supplying fresh meat to Maryborough, a large sawmill, and a 16,000 acre property called “Marianna”. By the time his father Edmund was o ered the Brisbane-based position of Sergeant-at-Arms in the Qld Parliament in 1866, D’Arcy had added to his natural talents with expertise in butchering, saw milling and droving, as well as becoming a hard business man. He was well over six feet tall and strongly built, weighing about 13 stone. His years of hunting in the bush surrounding his home had taught him to be an excellent marksman with both ri e and pistol, and the hours droving stock honed his skills with the long stockwhip – a favourite weapon in future years, and one that would gain him the nickname “Stockwhip Uhr” (The Sunday Mail, 3 January 1971). Logic would have almost demanded that he take up a cattle station of his own when his parents sold Woodlands and moved to a house in Margaret Street, Brisbane. However, little was left from the proceeds of the sale and two children (Elizabeth, who had been born in 1852 and William who had been born in 1855) were still at home, so it was improbable that his parents could have spared the cash necessary to establish him—or any of their other surviving seven children—on a station. Given his upbringing, D’Arcy was never going to be happy in what could be considered a “normal city or town job”. His older brother Reginald had already joined the NMP and that o ered him much of what he was looking for, so, with the promise of an adventurous life in uniform, D’Arcy too sought employment with the Force, being o cially appointed a cadet as a 19-year-old on 17 October 1865. His training and preparation for life as an NMP o cer was short and most likely followed the outline illustrated by Kennedy (1902:127): " … nothing of the sort, as far as examinations were concerned, was required, and as for training, as long as a man bore a good record, could ride and understand the use of rearms, he had as good a chance of entering the force as any one …" Similar comments regarding the training of recruits is attributed to a contemporary, Haydon (1911): "… No exams were required … so long as a man bore a good record, could ride and understand the use of rearms, he was eligible to become an o cer …" Label Tools D’Arcy’s rst posting was to the camp at Owanyilla, 20 miles up the Mary River from Maryborough (Figure 2). Owanyilla had originally been an out station of Eales’ Tairo Station in the mid-1840s until it was abandoned due to Aboriginal harassment. In the early 1860s, Owanyilla had become an NMP frontier outpost of squatter protection and the same camp that Reginald had been posted to when he had joined two years earlier. It was described a few years later as: "… a hamlet extending from the bank of the Mary to the Gympie road, half-way between Maryborough and Tiaro. Here … the native Police had their headquarters … until the blacks in the neighbourhood having been su ciently “ameliorated”, this chivalrous corps were transferred to more distant outposts of civilisation …" (Maryborough Almanac, 1875). At the time D’Arcy joined the NMP the pastoral industry was providing Qld with over 70% of its revenue, and over 90% of total export income at the time of separation (1859), so the progress and prosperity of the colony was directly linked to the safety and security of squatters (Barnett 1975). D’Arcy’s rst orders, direct from Police Commissioner Seymour, were to recruit his troopers and "… report himself with the least possible delay to the Inspector of Police for the Northern Districts of the Native Police barracks Rockhampton for further orders" (QSA POL/4/168). One of his recruits was a trooper known as “Sambo”, who had been incarcerated in Brisbane Goal for over a year. Recruiting NMP troopers from gaol was not uncommon and two or three others in the contingent had “also matriculated in the same college” (Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 2 December 1865, p2). D’Arcy’s association with Sambo is interesting in that they maintained a long relationship stemming from the days of teenage youth in Maryborough and from prior associations between Sambo and the Uhr family. It was a relationship that would continue at least until March 1869 when Uhr resigned, at which time he asked for Sambo to be allowed to resign from the force also as a gesture for his service (Wentworth D’Arcy Uhr to Commissioner of Police, David Seymour, 29 March 1869). On 30 November 1865, the freshly minted Sub-Inspector boarded the coastal steamer Leichhardt with his detachment of troopers for the short voyage from Owanyilla to Rockhampton. There they joined the party of the recently appointed Police Magistrate, William Landsborough, who was bound for the newly established port town of Burketown in the Gulf of Carpentaria, a 1500 km overland journey. On 22 December 1865 Landsborough’s party left Rockhampton. Leading the small column in typical NMP fashion were either ve or six Aboriginal troopers and three Aboriginal women; all members of the clans from the Wide Bay district (Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 2 December 1865, p2). The troopers were followed by the newly-appointed Police Magistrate (PM) Landsborough, his 20 horses and Aboriginal assistant Jemmy, also an NMP trooper[2], plus the new Government Surveyor George Phillips, and nally D’Arcy (Brisbane Courier, 10 May 1870 p3). They reached Bowen Downs, a station founded by Landsborough near Longreach three months later in March, and then pushing on, arriving at the outskirts of Burketown on 11 April 1866. The township serviced a community of some 35 neighbouring sheep stations in the district, with two general stores, two doctors, a butcher and a milkman, plus a blacksmith’s shop, a ginger beer factory, private boarding house and a new boiling-down works on the Albert River (Figure 3). PM Landsborough went almost directly to Sweers Island to escape the wet season fever that was wracking the town, while the NMP set up their camp on “Beames Brook” station, about 25 km away (Brisbane Courier, 10 November 1866, p6). Following his help in evacuating the town to Sweers Island, using the sailing skills he had learned on the Mary River, and during which he himself experienced illness and was forced to bury his best trooper, Tommy Curtis, who died of the fever, Uhr settled down to “routine” patrols along the Flinders River (Brisbane Courier, 10 May 1870, p3). Label Tools For the next two years D’Arcy was in charge of a patrol area of some 50,000 square miles centred around what was widely considered to be the most lawless town in Qld (e.g.Queenslander, 27 July 1867, p8; Queenslander, 29 October 1870, p11; Week, 28 December 1878, p14). Despite his young age and inexperience, D’Arcy was soon lauded for his work in “dispersing” Aboriginal people in the region: "… Everybody in the district is delighted with the wholesale slaughter dealt out by the native police, and thank Mr Uhr for his energy in ridding the district of 59 myalls …" (Illustrated Police News, 12 September 1868). To be continued. References Barnett, S. 1975 A Study of the Queensland Native Mounted Police Force in the 1870s. Unpublished BA(Hons) thesis, Department of History, University of Queensland, St Lucia. Haydon, A.L. 1911 The Trooper Police of Australia. London: Melrose. Kennedy, E.B. 1902 The Black Police of Queensland. London: John Murray. Parry-Okeden, W.E. 1897 Report on the North Queensland Aborigines and the Native Police. Uhr, F. 1999 Once Upon a Colonial Time. Brisbane: Frank Uhr Advertising. Footnotes [1]“The Evening Telegraph”, June 26 and July 3, 1875. [2] ‘One of the police, “Jemmy,” was previously with me [William Landsborough] at Carpentaria, when I was in search of Burke and Wills. Two of the native police were, before they enlisted, servants to my brothers, and have been with them as such from childhood; the others were enlisted at Wide Bay by Mr. Uhr’ (Brisbane Courier, 6 November 1866, p2). Australia’s Although the Native Mounted Police (NMP) were primarily tasked with putting down Aboriginal Longest Horse resistance on the frontier, the Force also did various “normal” police duties. These sometimes Chase: included road making, gold escort duty, nding lost or missing persons, and tracking down regular Wentworth criminals. In the 1897 words of the Commissioner of Police, William Edward Parry-Okeden, these D’Arcy Uhr Part II tasks were “protecting life and property, and in honesty carrying out on the very outskirts of civilization the responsible work thrust upon them”. In this post I pick up the story of my great- grandfather, Wentworth D’Arcy Uhr, to reveal an amazing piece of regular policing in early colonial Qld. Australia’s longest horse chase dominated his life during the latter part of 1866 and the rst months of 1867. So, picking up from where we left o last post, D’Arcy had arrived in Burketown in April 1866 and by July 1866 would have settled in to a daily routine. In the nal week of that month, a precipitous meeting occurred between two young men in one of the rowdier shanties around Burketown: Matthew Du y, a 23 year old bushman from NSW (Springsure watch-house charge book QSA A/36336) and George Holt (alias “Boulton”), a 25 year old a horse breaker from Bowen Downs Station (Queensland Police Gazette, 8 September 1866). We don’t know what Du y looked like, but Holt was described as “six feet high, dark complexion, brown hair, grey or blue eyes; a native of New South Wales; dressed in moleskin trowsers (sic) and Crimean shirt” (Queensland Police Gazette, 8 September 1866). Both men began a hard-drinking session with the other bushmen around the bar until neither had any money, and could no longer a ord to keep drinking. However, being resourceful, and with a good knowledge of horse esh, Du y and Holt stole two valuable horses from the paddocks of Alexander Scott Holmes, with the sole aim of selling them for some quick cash so they could then return to the shanty and continue their drinking (Maryborough Chronicle, 27 October 1866; Queensland Police Gazette, 8 September 1866). Unfortunately, they hadn’t bargained on being unable to sell two such well-known and easily identi able horses in the small community of Label Tools Burketown. To avoid arrest and community hostility, Du y and Holt decided it was best to take the horses and sell them either far to the south or at Port Denison on the east coast. On Sunday July 29, armed with a warrant from Police Magistrate (PM) William Landsboroughto arrest at least one of the thieves, D’Arcy and one of the Aboriginal troopers from his NMP detachment —possibly “Sambo”—set out on what was to become the longest horse chase in Australia’s history (Brisbane Courier, 10 May 1870). For the next six weeks on the track south, these four young men pitted their wits against each other in a deadly game of cat and mouse on the western plains of Qld as they moved south toward the safety of the NSW border, some 1200 km distant. D’Arcy, now a hardened 21-year-old NMP o cer and his trooper companion were hard in pursuit, pushing their horses as hard as they dared, knowing that the two horse thieves must be captured before they reached the border. Du y and Holt had to make their escape from Burketown quickly with the two valuable Holmes’ horses, so may not have had the time to prepare as well as they would have liked. D’Arcy and his trooper companion, used to long patrols, would have taken the time to prepare, ensuring they had two riding horses each and a pack horse to carry their food, swags, arms, ammunition, oats, and even a supply of horse shoes and nails. Averaging 24 km a day, alternately trotting and walking their horses, they would have reached a top, but intermittent, speed of up to 5 or 6 km an hour. Each day was the same: freezing nights and mornings, and cool clear days through the western Qld winter, travelling until darkness began to descend and the horses had to be fed and hobbled for the night, waiting for the other party to make a mistake. Both o cer and trooper would have remained constantly alert, always suspicious of anything unusual and carefully questioning anyone they met on the long track south. Finding or keeping their horses fresh would have been uppermost in both parties’ minds as they pushed further south. About 1000 km from Burketown, probably south of the NMP camp on Northampton Downs station near Tambo, this challenge forced D’Arcy to make a decision: “… nding it di cult get a supply of horses for both, I proceeded alone” (Brisbane Courier, 10 May 1870), dispatching Sambo to nd his own way home while he continued the chase alone. Du y and Holt, maybe a day or so ahead, were having similar troubles, but took a di erent approach to resolving the situation by stealing what they needed, increasing their small stolen mob to ten horses. As D’Arcy crossed the Barcoo River, west of Blackall, and began to follow the Blackwater Creek system south toward the Bulloo River, he was hard on the heels of his quarry. Carefully questioning anyone he met he eventually realised that the warrant he had for the arrest of George Holt would not stand up in court—it turned out that Holt was really George Boulton using an alias (see p135 of the Fairhall Family Genealogy). On Blackwater Creek, D’Arcy approached the local JP William Lambert, at his station Listowel Downs, and had a new warrant granted in the name of George Boulton. Approaching the border near Thargomindah Station on the Bulloo River, Matthew Du y and George Boulton parted company. Boulton pushed east toward the Culgoa River, which crossed the border over 200 km to the south east, while Du y mixed with the stockmen on Thargomindah and started to negotiate the sale of the horse he had stolen from Alexander Holmes in Burketown. D’Arcy, by now, was only hours behind, asking for information and tracking along the watercourses until he reached the Bulloo and Du y’s tracks down the river leading to Thargomindah (Maryborough Chronicle, 27 October 1866). Matthew Du y had just completed a sale to one of the stockmen there, and was actually demonstrating to him just how quiet the horse in question was, when D’Arcy rode up and arrested Label Tools him, impounding at least six other horses that Du y had stolen from stations along the Barcoo River. It was 13 September 1866: 47 days and around 1200 km since D’Arcy had left Burketown. With the help of another man, and with Du y chained or handcu ed to the stirrup iron of his horse (Lawrie Kavanagh, The Courier Mail, 29 April 1993), the chase for Boulton began, with information that he was staying at a shanty on the Culgoa. When they arrived nearly a week later, though, George had moved again, this time south, across the colonial border toward the Narran Lake, about 100 km east of Bourke. Now in NSW, D’Arcy needed his warrants “backed for execution” in the new jurisdiction and, as his horses were totally spent, made for the police station in Bourke for help with both. On 26 September, Du y was escorted into the police station at Bourke, handed over to Sub- Inspector Zouch and bought before the Police Magistrate on charges of stealing (Maryborough Chronicle, 27 October 1866; Brisbane Courier, 10 May 1870). His Honour referred the matter to the court at Springsure, where witnesses would be available to testify to Du y’s o ences along the Barcoo. The following day, Thursday, D’Arcy secured Du y to his horse and, with the help of a special constable, began the long trek back to Northampton Downs station. With rule number 193 uppermost in his mind—“neither by day or by night, must the charge be separate from, or lost sight of, by an escort”— D’Arcy, the special constable and Matthew Du y rode 600 km north, through Cunnamulla, Charleville, Augathella and onto Northampton Downs and Inspector Aulaire LiddiardMorisset’s NMP camp: "… Uhr would not have got much sleep once he took the prisoner. He would have had him chained to a tree by the ankle at night … by day he probably had his ankle chained or handcu ed to the stirrup iron of his saddle … Uhr would have had the prisoner riding out front and probably told him he’d blow his head o if he tried anything funny … "(Lawrie Kavanagh, The Courier-Mail, 29 April 1993). On 23 October, Du y was handed over to Morisset, who eventually had him taken to the Watch House in Springsure where he was checked in at 4 pm on 19 November. With just a bridle and a saddle to his name Du y was prisoner number 111, a literate Catholic, and was remanded to the Albert River court, presided over by PM Landsborough, on charges of horse stealing (Springsure Watch House Charge Book. QSA A/36336. RS 127/1/1). Coincidently, on the same day Du y that was remanded Wentworth D’Arcy Uhr arrived back at his post in Burketown. He had ridden some 2600 km and been on the road a total of 83 days, having returned with only one of the men he chased (Du y). George Boulton got cleanly away, marrying Alice Eggins at Jones Island, near Forster Tuncurry on the NSW coast on 27 December, and living to be an old man, nally dying in 1926 (see p135 of the Fairhall Family Genealogy). Meanwhile, Du y was in con nement awaiting transport on a ship bound for Sweers Island where there was no lock-up, the entire island simply being a “prison” some 30 km o shore from Burketown (Deposition of Wentworth D’Arcy Uhr; QSA SCT/CC 18). Here we take a slight detour for a moment – but don’t worry, we’ll get back to his fate soon. Around this same time, 52 km south of Burketown, at a sly grog shanty on Millar’s Waterhole near the boundary of Floraville and Armraynald Stations, a man named John Williamson shot and attempted to kill a local blacksmith, Charles Molloy (Queensland Police Gazette, 20 May 1867). On 17 December 1866 D’Arcy arrested the Scottish born bushman Williamson, a solidly built 29 year old who had arrived as a free immigrant on the ship City of Sydney, and whose wife still lived in Geelong (Prisoner records, Brisbane Goal, 1867- number 260, July 24, 1867. QSA PR/1/16AA; PRV 5939/1/8). Molloy had been walking about wrapped in blood-soaked mosquito netting nursing a chest wound made by a ve-chamber revolver before the doctor arrived at the guest house later in the day. PM Landsborough also arrived and held an enquiry the following day (Deposition by Wentworth D’Arcy Uhr. QSA Depositions & Indictments. SCT/CC 18; PRV 11628/1/142). Williamson was remanded and, like Du y, was to be held in safe custody on Sweers Island before being sent Label Tools to Brisbane on a charge of attempted murder (Molloy ended up dying of his wounds late in January 1867). A cottage on Sweers Island housed both PM Landsborough’s Court House and the o ce for the new Collector of Customs, George Frederick Sandrock, who had been appointed on 28 December 1866 (Treasury Dept. Registers of inwards correspondence. QSA, TRE/B5;SRS6033/1/5. Letter 1500, 27 November 1866); he was also postmaster, shipping master, meteorological observer, district registrar and uno cial gaoler to anyone being held in “safe custody” awaiting a hearing from PM Landsborough. Early in February 1867 the “Salamander” arrived at Sweers Island with Matthew Du y following his hearing in Springsure. Du y joined Williamson in Sandrock’s safe custody on the open prison island of Sweers. Neither was happy with their internment. Rather than endure their punishment the two teamed up to steal an open boat and escaped on or about 12 February 1867, sailing ~70 km to the coast and up the Albert River to try and hide themselves in the shanties around Burketown. There they would prepare for a nal escape, either south following Du y’s earlier route, or a quicker, faster ride to one of the sea ports along Qld’s east coast. Their escape was discovered by D’Arcy, who had gone to Sweers to arrange for Du y’s extradition to Rockhampton to face charges of horse stealing. Not being able to nd him, and learning that one of the boats was missing, he went to PM Landsborough’s home and again obtained arrest warrants. Wanting to avoid another long ride, he then paid a man to sail him back to Burketown so he could arrest the two escapees before they had gone too far. Arriving on 24 February, almost two weeks after the pair had escaped from Sweers, D’Arcy spent the next ten days “back-slapping” and drinking (“hail fellow, well met” was his expression; Brisbane Courier, 10 May 1870) his way around the local pubs and bars, asking questions from the tough bush workers to gather any information on the track Williamson and Du y had taken to escape the district. Through this process D’Arcy learned that Du y and Williamson were said to be headed to Port Denison and the growing township of Bowen on Qld’s east coast (Deposition by Wentworth D’Arcy Uhr. QSA Depositions & Indictments. SCT/CC 18; PRV 11628/1/142). From there it was presumed they would attempt to board a ship and, within hours, be out of reach of the Qld police, safely bound for the southern colonies, New Zealand or even California. Early on the morning of 6 March, D’Arcy quietly saddled his horse before daylight and, without anyone knowing, slipped out of Burketown and headed south down the Leichhardt River and east across to the system of creeks feeding into the Flinders River, and then south again until he started to bear east along the ridge that separates the north and south owing watersheds. He moved fast for six days and nights, avoiding any contact with the stations and their bush workers along the way; stopping only brie y to take some supplies from a remote hut, all the time aware of the traditional dislike the workers held of any one in power, in particular the police, or the “traps” as they called them. Du y and Williamson were less than 200 km from the coast when their escape to freedom came to an end on 12 March. Confronted by D’Arcy in the bush, they were recaptured “with little trouble”, and returned to Sweers, handcu ed and chained, along the same track they had ridden to escape (Brisbane Courier, 10 May 1870). D’Arcy, still following police rule number 193, performed the feat with no help, returning the two prisoners to to safe custody singlehandedly. In 26 days he had ridden about 1000 km, the return journey with the two men in tow. On 15 April D’Arcy was reimbursed £21 for expenses he had incurred on his journey in pursuit of the escapees (QSA Col BB: M3152 – micro lm Z 4390). Label Tools Williamson was ultimately sent to Brisbane for trial and released in the latter part of 1867, presumably to return to Geelong and his wife. A record of Du y’s hearing has not yet been found, but in 1874, seven years after his Qld adventures, he married Mary Colts in Young, NSW. D’Arcy eventually resigned from the NMP in March 1869, following a dispute with his superiors over advancement. He would drive the rst mob of cattle and horses from Qld to Darwin just a few years later, and then gure prominently in the development of the Palmer River, the Northern Territory, and nally the West Australian gold elds, where he died in 1907. He also (brie y) ran a pub (the Botanic Hotel) in Adelaide, where he was a contemporary of Thomas (Tom) Coward [link to post], one of the superiors he had clashed with in Burketown. This exploration of D’Arcy’s long horse chases—the rst being the longest in Australia’s colonial history—is a ne example of other signi cant deeds by a member of the NMP, showing very graphically that some of the o cers of the Force were also “policemen” who didn’t spend 100% of their time leading dispersal raids against Aboriginal people in the bush. From the Horses Today we don’t think twice about travelling vast distances by car at great speed, so it’s hard to Mouth: Horses imagine what life was like before the invention of the internal combustion engine. The First Fleet and the NMP that arrived in southeast Australia in 1788 included horses, and by the time colonists began pushing into Qld there were more than 150,000 in the country (Dobbie et al. 1993; Kennedy 1986). Initially bullocks were the most important animal for colonial transport of goods using drays (not to mention camels later in the nineteenth century in the desert country and parts of far north Qld), but for personal needs horses were the primary mode of transport for everyone across Australia. It was recognised very early on that each NMP o cer and trooper would require at least two horses to do their work: "… [Francis Nichols] had also sent his best horses to the Dawson some months since, and he could not, under any emergency, e ectually mount above ve troopers; for it has been satisfactorily proved that two horses are indispensable to enable each man satisfactorily to perform his duty." (North Australian, Ipswich and General Advertiser, 8 September 1857, p2) "The native police districts are excessively large—200 miles and even more in length and width. For each district one patrol party is thought to be su cient, and this consists usually of one European o cer with six boys, provided with arms and ammunition, besides 12 to 14 pack and saddle horses." (Sydney Morning Herald 16 October 1880, p7) And, as Uschi Artym discussed in an earlier post on the layout of NMP camps, the availability of feed and water for horses was a critical element in the decision of where to locate NMP camps. Despite the best e orts, however, sometimes these decisions were later found to be wanting. For instance, John O’Connell Bligh, writing to the Colonial Secretary in October 1862, noted: "… I proceeded to Sandgate – Second Lieutenant Wheeler being absent on patrol I could only inspect that part of his detachment which remained and I found the men very backward in their drill and the horses nearly dying from starvation. There is no feed for horses in the neighbourhood of the Sandgate Barracks – the place is surrounded by small farmers and the season has been very bad – I opine that it will become necessary to remove that detachment from Sandgate ere long or else to supply forage for the horses." (QSA846764_1862_Letter from John O’Connell Bligh to Colonial Secretary 8 October, In letter 62/2512, M lm 2512) Likewise, in 1888 Archibald Mosman complained to Ernest Carr about the lack of water at the Moonah Creek NMP barracks in the northwest of the state: Label Tools "I have the honor to inform you that as all the surface water had dried up here, I was compelled to engage two men to put down 64 feet of troughing in the sand so that the horses could get a drink. For some time previous myself and the Troopers had been throwing out the sand to deepen the waterhole but had to give it up at last. Rochedale station have had to put down troughing also, and there is no surface water t to drink between here and Carandotta, a distance 50 miles, and none up the creek for the same distance, where Rochedale have most of their cattle." (QSA290289_1888_46_Letter from Archibald Mosman to Ernest Carr 31 December, Moonah Creek Native Police Camp le) And when grass wasn’t locally available for horses, the cost of buying in fodder was a cause for concern in the ever-scrimping NMP. For instance, Hervey Fitzgerald in his 1880 report to the Commissioner of Police noted that at the Eight Mile NMP camp: "… hitherto a very heavy expenditure in forage has been occasioned by the miserable grass in the former paddock and absence, in the latter portions of the year of “fresh water” ". (QSA289940_1880_ 2 to 8_Report from Hervey Fitzgerald to Commissioner of Police 10 March, Cooktown Police Station le) In 1897 the Eight Mile NMP camp had 25 horses, and feeding and watering them was a concern according to a report on the camp by James Lamond: "Horses – serviceable 6, Unserviceable 3, In Cooktown 3, At Highbury 1, At Coen 1 (draught), En route from Mareeba 9, Inspector’s Transferred Port Douglas 1, Cairns 1, Total 25. Owing to unprecedented drought the water has given out at the 8 Mile & the horses have to be take 2 & 3 miles to water – such a thing was never before known. The grass in consequence of such dryness is very bad & if rain does not fall soon the horses will have to receive hay – So far the horses have been kept in very fair order on 9 lbs corn daily …" (QSA290298_1897_44 to 46_Report on Inspection of 8 Mile Police Station 6 October, Eight Mile Police Station le) Despite a near total reliance on horses, the NMP did not breed their own. Instead they purchased them, sometimes locally, sometimes further a eld, and such purchases generated much correspondence between o cers and their superiors. For example, John O’Connell Bligh described the arrival of Edric Morisset at Head Quarters in 1861, “bringing with him thirty three horses which he had purchased in Brisbane for the Force” (QSA846746, In letter 61/1492, M lm Z5601). The following year, Bligh provided more information about this essential business: "Second Lieutenant Wheeler has purchased nine remount horses at an average price of £20 per head. I have not yet had an opportunity of inspecting; and cannot therefore yet report on their tness for the service—he has also caused four cast horses to be sold, which only realised an average price of £6.10.0—his number of Troop horses is now complete…. Since the commencement of the year 16 Troop horses have been cast as unserviceable and sold at Rockhampton—the average price realised is about £12.10.0 per head after deducting the auctioneer’s charges the proceeds have been forwarded to the Treasury. To replace these, fteen horses have been purchased averaging exactly £18.11.4 in price. I do myself the honor to request that I may be allowed to send an o cer or go myself to the Clarence and New England to purchase fty horses which will be required to mount the new detachments and to ll existing vacancies. Suitable horses cannot be procured here in su cient numbers at anything like such low prices as in the Districts I have mentioned." (QSA846762_1862_Letter from John O’Connell Bligh to Colonial Secretary 26 May 1862, In letter 62/2123, M lm Z5607) As contemporary author A.W. Stirling (1884:97) noted, "horses, especially draft horses, were in great demand ... and large pro ts were made by the wise men who Brough up batches from New South Wales". Label Tools The outlay of funds for the purchase of horses was a constant requirement, and both the cost and quality of mounts was on occasion subject to complaint in the media: "The native police have returned from their search after the murderers of Probert. We understand that they tracked the blacks from the Springs to the Belyando country, where heavy thunder storms overtook them and caused them some trouble. We were glad to notice that the men were mounted on new horses that did not display the same venerable aspect that usually characterises the chargers of our cavalry. On making inquiries of the o cer in charge how, when, and where these hordes had been obtained, we were met with a reserve we were unable to penetrate. But … means of inquiries elsewhere, and information obtained from the southern papers, we found out that they had been purchased in Brisbane at a cost of £17 a head. It was interesting to know, that when horses could be bought here for local use, they were bought in the capital 800 or 900 miles away; but it was still more interesting to know that whilst equally good or better horses could have been bought in Clermont for from £6 to £8 per head, these were bought in Brisbane at more than double the price. The cost of bringing them up alone must have equalled their value when they got here, so that £17 a head was dispensed by a liberal and open-handed somebody to somebody else who had secured this fruitful contract. Unfortunately it was public money." (Brisbane Courier, 24 December 1870, p6) It was a particularly common complaint that detachments were often prevented from doing their duties because their horses were “knocked up” or of such poor quality they were unsuited to the tasks at hand (Figure 1). For example, R Kellet, writing from Natal Downs for assistance in 1865 after two murders in the district, complained: "… on nding what had happened I at once started as necessary to the police camp on the Bowen River a distance of 130 miles our nearest protective force requesting the o cers above to start and the answer I got back was that the horses were all knocked up, but that they hoped to be up here in a fortnight." (QSA846794_1865_Letter from R. Kellett to Colonial Secretary 26 January, In letter 65/499, M lm Z6410) A year later, the same problem persisted: "Mr. Lamb, the superintendent of Imbill station, informs us that since the murder at Mooloolah, of Mr. Stephens, the travelling botanist for the Government, the blacks have accumulated in great numbers on the Imbill run, and have slaughtered two heifers, and threaten further destruction. Mr. Lamb says that, though that part of the district swarms with blacks, the squatters are left utterly without protection. Sub-inspector Freudenthal called at the station last week with black troopers, but their horses were all knocked up, and they were not able to perform any other service than to recruit and return to Maryborough. We would remind Mr. Commissioner Seymour that the object the country has in submitting to be taxed to support a police force is to obtain some protection to life and property, and a force that, through false economy, is ine cient to compass this purpose, is worse than no force at all. What is the use of sending men after blacks or bushrangers on horses which he must know beforehand will not carry a trooper more than two or three days without breaking down. A good mount is as essential to a trooper as a good weapon." (Brisbane Courier, 26 March 1866, p3). But there were suggestions that perhaps the treatment that o cers and troopers dished out to horses wasn’t always conducive to getting the best out of them: "I have frequently impressed upon the Native Police o cers the necessity for constant Patrols and the evil results of waiting for requisitions and then hurrying and over riding their horses with the e ect, generally, of arriving too late to be of any use, their horses knocked up, and un t for further work without a spell after which the same course is repeated." (QSA847000_1879_Copy of Label Tools instructions given to Inspector Stuart, In letter 79/382, M lm 94583). [From DT Seymour] In any case, it wasn’t solely the poor quality of horses, or a lack of care, that was the problem: the rough nature of the country they had to travel, and the constant patrols would wear down even the most expensive mounts. As Inspector Hervey Fitzgerald noted with regard to north Qld: "The additional horses six (6) purchased @ £6 per head have been of good service but I must still represent the great di culty there is in the west season to patrol the Murray and Tully Rivers by land – it simply cripples horse esh – as the country is a veritable quagmire." (QSA290322_1897_21 to 22_Inspection of Kirtleton Native Police Station 29 January, Kirtleton or Fairmead NP Camp le). Good horsemanship and/or experience working with horses was often a quality emphasised by potential o cers in their application letters, such as that by William Arundel in 1882 (QSA562911). Despite his horsemanship, Arundel was ironically killed by a fall and a kick from his horse on the road near Watsonville in 1890 . Likewise, in 1881 John Fanning, in his letter of application, referred to the fact that he was “well accustomed to horses, and can ride very well” (QSA563436). The following year Fanning took a severe fall from his horse whilst on duty, though in this case he survived, although there was an investigation into whether he was drunk at the time (QSA563436). Horsemanship amongst the men was also remarked upon by their commanding o cers, such as Hervey Fitzgerald’s assessment of William Dawes in 1883 as a “good horseman” (QSA563346) and Charles Marrett’s assessment of Alfred Brennan in 1898 as a “poor horseman” (QSA564850). The Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser of 19 April 1902 said of Sergeant Michael Portley that he “has had years of experience in the native police, is a splendid horseman, can track is well as an aboriginal, and may be said to have been reared in the saddle”. In fact, Joseph Needham, stationed as a camp keeper at the Carl Creek NMP barracks in the late 1880s, was such an excellent horseman that after he left the Force he became a professional jockey (Letter to the Editor, Northern Miner, 4 June 1904, p6). Of course the NMP didn’t only employ men who were good with horses – several o cers appear to have been employed as camp keepers speci cally because of their skills as blacksmiths generally, or as farriers in particular (Figure 2). Joseph Needham, the camp keeper who went on to become a jockey, was also mentioned by Inspector Alexander Douglas to the Commissioner of Police in 1888 because of his blacksmith skills: "I would also suggest Const Needham camp keeper and blacksmith at Carl Creek be stationed at Corinda with a portable forge to do the shoeing of all the Police horses which will be kept in the Corinda Paddock. There is no farrier at present in this district though I believe a man is likely to start soon in Burke Town; but the price will be high and by providing shoes &c with our own farrier a saving of at least 5s per set will be e ected." (QSA290307_1888_32 to 34_Letter from Alexander Douglas to Commissioner of Police 28 August, Carl Creek Police Station le) Constable Peter Egan also served as a farrier for the Nigger Creek camp, doing “all the police farriery of that portion of the district” (QSA290286). In 1897 Egan requested an allowance for his services on top of his regular pay, noting: "The Constable shoes the Troops horses at Nigger Creek, Herberton, Atherton, Irvinebank, Montalbion and all other Troop Horses travelling through the district, a mountainous country Label Tools which the Troop Horses have to travel over. They require to be newly shod every three weeks or a month. With regards to the Constables capability as Farrier, his Inspector can testify to it. The Constable further states it costs a good deal extra to supply himself with the required clothes for the Blacksmiths shop as it is Very rough on clothing." (QSA563570_1897_40 to 43_Request for farrier allowance Peter Egan) With 15 horses at Nigger Creek, 3 at Atherton, 7 at Herberton, 1 at Irvinebank and a further 3 at Montalbion, Egan had quite a lot of work to do. Lamond suggested this was saving the NMP “over £5 a month for the 4 stations exclusive of Nigger Creek” (QSA563570). Although Lamond was supportive of the request, Commanding O cer John Stuart denied Egan’s request on the grounds that “This Constable draws a salary of £132 PA and with 6 d per diem Ration allowance and Free quarters in which is good pay for the work he has to do” (QSA563570). Farriers were seemingly few and far between in colonial Qld, and it was di cult to entice them to outside places, so an NMP o cer’s skills in this area were apparently more important than their service record or drinking habits. For example, in 1899 Constable James Walsh was charged with drunkenness whilst on duty and in charge of two troopers bound for the Turn O Lagoon camp. Initially his Commanding O cer James Lamond recommended he be dismissed, but then had a change of heart, stating: "I believe Walsh will now reform & be a good man & hope you will give him another chance as he appears to give satisfaction as a camp keeper – can shoe horses – mend saddlery &c and am afraid it would be a di cult matter to get a good man to be contented at such an outlandish hole —in fact very few capable men would live at such a place." (QSA564643_1899_Letter from James Lamond to Commissioner of Police 7 September, James Walsh Police Sta le) James Walsh wasn’t the only farrier who liked a drink whilst on duty; similar charges were laid against Andrew Allen in charge of the McIvor detachment in 1893: "The present man in charge of the McIvor detachment—Constable Allan —is most unsuitable for the position – he is a farrier and has had no experience in the bush. Further he is addicted to drink and when I inspected his camp on the 9th Inst he was then under suspension for being drunk in Cooktown on the 25th ult. As he pleaded guilty and was required for duty I relieved him from suspension which I trust will under the circumstances meet with your approval." (QSA290072_1893_84 to 86_Letter from John Stuart to Commissioner of Police 12 December, Laura Police Station le). The various accoutrements for the horses, including saddlery and forage, as well as a forge, also had to be accommodated at NMP camps – yards were particularly important so that the horses could be easily found when required (Figure 3). Stables were less common, however. In a letter headed “Nigger Creek stables in ruins” penned in 1892, Sub-Inspector James Lamond complained to Inspector Hervey Fitzgerald that: "… the stabling at Nigger Creek is in ruins & dangerous for anything be near same, as all the post slabs etc near the ground is [sic] perfectly rotten & the whole building liable to fall at any time. As all the horses there are fed out of nosebags I see no necessity for stabling at all, with your permission will have the whole fabric pulled down & a horse shed put up in its place." (QSA290286_1892_61_Letter from James Lamond to Hervey Fitzgerald 11 February, Nigger Creek Police Station File) Nigger Creek was one of only two NMP camps which we are aware of that had dedicated stable buildings (the other was Frome on the Palmer River), despite the fact that horses were so valuable and vital to the work of the Force. Why this should be is not clear, although it may simply be Label Tools another consequence of the thrift so constantly in play at each and every NMP camp across Queensland. References Dobbie, W.R., D.M. Berman and M.L. Braysher 1993 Managing Vertebrate Pests: Feral Horse. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. Kennedy, M.J. 1986 The Role and Signi cance of Bullocks and Horses in the Development of Eastern Australia 1788 to 1900. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Melbourne, Melbourne. Stirling, A.W. 1884 The Never Never Land: A Ride in North Queensland. London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington. Men in Blue (and "[The Native Police] are clothed in a uniform of blue with scarlet relief, armed with Snider ri es, Red): A Brief drilled in semi-military fashion" (Brisbane Courier, 15 June 1878, p3). History of the Qld NMP From the start of the Native Mounted Police (NMP), the uniforms worn by o cers and troopers Uniform were a central element of their structure and presence. The lure of a uniform was thought to be one of the key attractions for Aboriginal men to join the Force, although more often than not this was seen as vanity by white observers: "Mr. Clohesy has found some eight men, all new to the service, and has rigged them out in the uniform of the troopers of which they are evidently not a little proud" (Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser 15 February 1872, p2). In giving evidence to the 1857 Select Committee enquiry into the deaths of the 11 members of the Fraser family and their employees on the Dawson River, William Foster thought that the troopers, "… seem to be a better race than the wild men they were taken from. The vanity of each individual is a ected by having an uniform, and being made a soldier of, and an esprit de corps is formed among them" (Legislative Assembly of NSW 1858:11). It is more likely that the uniforms were seen by Aboriginal men as a visible symbol of a labour agreement between themselves and Europeans. Given how important reciprocal (exchange) relationships were in Aboriginal society, the guns, hats, boots, uniforms and rations that were exchanged for their labour were critical ‘proof’ of a European promise. Failure to deliver could result in dissatisfaction or even desertion, as was the case in 1853 when three recruits from the Macintyre River—“Herbert”, “Luke” and “Owen”—deserted because ‘they had been for six months kept at drill, without uniforms, saddlery, or arms, and consequently without anything to gratify their feelings of pride, or self respect’ (Moreton Bay Courier, 29 January 1853, p.3). Eight recruits deserted from Rockhampton in 1862 for the same reason, suggesting that the Native Police’s supply chain had not improved in the intervening 10 years: "It was reported to me on my return that eight Recruits had been sent from Moreton Bay to Head Quarters by Lieutnt Wheeler but that they had all deserted a fortnight after their arrival here; the men had been led to expect a full supply of Clothing, Arms and Accoutrements and deserted in consequence of their disappointment" (QSA846765_1862_John O’Connell Bligh to the Colonial Secretary 15 December, In letter 62/2994, M lm Z5623). Supplies were often hard to get on the frontier, and the system of distributing uniforms from far- distant centres meant that camps could go without for long periods. Scarcity also created frugality, and it was not uncommon to recycle uniform components between successive troopers. Lieutenant George Fulford, for example, noted that a collection of clothing sent to Wondai Gumbal from the Dawson included several torn and useless items, including one jacket that appeared "to have been worn for some length of time and has the name “Ralph” in it" (Fulford to Commandant 5 August 1855). All we know of “Ralph” was that he had been a trooper in the Clarence/Macleay region of NSW in 1854. The troopers’ uniform of the 1850s consisted of a dark blue cloth jacket, a choice of blue or white Label Tools trousers, a shirt, boots and a forage cap (QSA86141 Native Police Work Downs Maranoa 1849- 1857). The 6th and 8th sections, who were posted to Wondai Gumbal (between Dalby and Surat) and Yabba (between Nambour and Kingaroy), respectively, were also issued with a cloak. Edric Morisset, the second Commandant of the NMP, thought that little change needed to be made to the uniform in 1861 other than to increase its durability and introduce a full dress outer jacket: "[R.R.Mackenzie] Would you suggest any di erence in the clothing? [Morisset] It might be made of much more lasting material, but it would add considerably to the expense; that is why the clothing is at present made of colonial tweed. [R.R.Mackenzie] Do you think those blue jumpers they wear are good? [Morisset] Yes, for the bush. [R.R.Mackenzie] And you believe they are not expensive? [Morisset] No, very cheap. [R.R.Mackenzie] Do you think there should be jackets for the men to appear in parade in? [Morisset] Yes." (Qld Legislative Assembly 1861:149) Like their arms, ammunition, swords and badges, these uniforms would have been supplied by the NSW Government (QSA846738 60/2100), since the rst explicitly Queensland police uniform was not introduced until 1864. The rst ordinary, or ‘undress’, Queensland uniform was very similar to its predecessors, consisting of a dark blue jacket (also called a ‘jumper’) and shirt, a forage cap and dark blue trousers, with the option of white or drab cord breeches (Qld Police nd). For the Native Police the trousers were further accented by red stripes ‘strapped’ down the outside of the leg, the jackets with red cord (Queensland Government 1867:261) and the shirts with red facings (Moreton Bay Courier 18 December 1860, p3). These red accents were only added around 1861, since Frederick Carr, when questioned by the 1861 Select Committee, thought it was ‘a very good idea they are acting on—that of getting blue shirts, striped, with a red facing ‘ (Qld Legislative Assembly 1861:135). The uniform appears to have remained fairly consistent throughout the 1860s, 70s and 80s. The full dress uniform was di erent, of course, but was also only worn on ceremonial occasions (Figure 2). Amongst the o cers status distinctions were maintained through the number of cords in the sleeve ornament (one for a sub-inspector, two for an inspector and three for the Commissioner) (Qld Government 1867:261). The sword that accompanied it was also only for display, even though troopers were usually still drilled in it, and often became very pro cient (Qld Legislative Assembly 1861:157). "Full dress Jacket—Dark blue cloth, Garibaldi pattern; standing collar, rounded in front, and edged all round with round gold cord; two rows of round gold cord down the front; one-quarter inch apart; Austrian knot of round gold cord on sleeve; round gold cord shoulder-straps. Trousers—Dark blue cloth, with two strips of gold lace, oak leaf pattern, half an inch wide and quarter an inch apart, down outer seam. Boots—Wellington Spurs—Steel, crane neck Sword—Light cavalry, scabbard steel Sword-knot—Gold cord, with acorn end Sword-belt—Cavalry pattern, pale Russia leather, snake clasp Pouch-belt—Pale Russia leather, two and a-half inches wide Pouch-box—Pale Russia leather, Q.P. in gilt on ap Sabretache and three slings—Pale Russia leather, Q.P. in gilt Gloves—white leather Head Dress—Blue cloth forage cap, with black oak leaf band, Q.P in gilt in front, straight peak. Label Tools Undress Jacket—Same as for full dress, except that red cord is substituted for gold Trousers—Dark blue cloth, with two stripes of red cloth, half an inch wide, quarter an inch apart, on outer seam Or Pantaloons—Drab cord Boots—With trousers, Wellington boots, with box spurs, steel crane neck; with pantaloons, Napoleon boots and hunting spurs Sword-knot—Black leather Sabretache—None Head-dress—Same as full dress Gloves—White leather" (Queensland Government 1867:261). The 1866 Rules for the General Government and Discipline of the NMP Force required that ‘the men at out stations, when in quarters, will, invariably, parade on Sundays in full dress’. It is di cult to imagine the detachments at some of the furthest- ung NMP camps complying, even though many of them seemed to have been organised around open central spaces that probably did serve as parade grounds. When in town the troopers were not to ‘appear in the streets unless dressed strictly according to order’ and were ‘at all times … expected to be smart and clean’ (Qld Government 1867:260). The red and blue colour scheme of the NMP uniform became a distinctive part of their identity. In 1861 Charles B. Dutton disparagingly referred to troopers who came on to his run as ‘bluemen’ (Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser 8 February 1862, p6) and a series of rare 19th century drawings by a young Aboriginal man from north Qld known only as “Oscar” captured the vivid colours as the essential markers of a trooper. Oscar was ‘obtained’ by Augustus Henry ‘Gus’ Glissan, the manager of Rocklands Station, near Camooweal, in 1887, when he was only 9 or 10 years old. It is likely that his family were killed, since he was handed over to Glissan by the NMP, who were renowned for kidnapping women and children following ‘dispersals’ across the frontier. Oscar came from the Palmer River area, and nearly half of his drawings describe activities and people on the Palmer River or in Cooktown, the Palmer River’s main port. Several of his sketches depict groups of troopers dressed in full uniform, including boots and caps (Figure 3). Oscar was a keen observer, including details such as slashes of red on the troopers’ shoulders, down the fronts of their jackets (and possibly also on their breast pockets), both sides of their trousers, and across their caps. For Oscar, these were obviously crucial identifying markings, highlighting the red facings on the jackets, the red shoulder marks and the trouser stripes that are also very distinctive in the reproduction trooper’s uniform on display in the Police Museum in Brisbane (Figure 4). These red accents echo the uniform of the third incarnation of the Victorian Native Police, who operated in Victoria between 1842 and 1849. Their colour was green rather than blue, but their uniform maintained the distinguishing red contrasts on cap, trousers and jacket for both troopers and o cers (Figure 5). The earliest photographs of members of the Qld NMP date from the 1860s, apart from one isolated image from the 1850s. Interestingly, they show that the dominant form of headgear for both o cers and troopers seems to be the kepi, rather than the forage cap (Figure 6). The kepi was typical of most 19th century police and military, and was issued to the NMP with a removable ‘Havelock’ sun shade that could be tted over the cap to protect the back of the neck (Lamond 1949:32). Label Tools Apart from the Havelock, none of the elements of the uniform seem particularly suited to the Qld climate, particularly as settlement spread further west and north. It was only toward the end of the century that uniforms were changed, including introducing helmets, supposedly as better protection against the sun (Qld Police n.d.). While the non-dress uniforms of the mid-19th century showed only subtle distinctions between o cers and troopers, in 1896 Commissioner William Parry-Okeden introduced two further changes: a looser tunic in khaki and a soft felt hat for ‘bush duty’ (Qld Police n.d.; Figure 7). The adoption of Parry-Okeden’s uniform seems to have resulted in two parallel systems operating within NMP camps. At Coen in 1900 these were described as ‘Blue and khaki’ and at Eight Mile in 1902 as ‘khaki and N. Police’ (Report on Inspection of 8 Mile Police Station 2 December 1901, QSA290298 Police Stations –Durhan, Eight Mile, Highbury). In other words, while the o cers adopted the new khaki, along with the ‘bush’ hat, the regulation for troopers remained the blue tunic with blue or white trousers and kepi. What this means is that the original emphasis on dark blue with red accents for the Aboriginal troopers remained essentially unchanged throughout the second half of the 19th century and was even carried over into the 20th century through the trackers’ uniforms (Figure 8). While the image of o cers changed to re ect wider changes in the nature of policing, this doesn’t seem to have been the case for the Aboriginal members of the force. References Fulford, George to Commandant 5 August 1855, QSA86141 Native Police Work Darling Downs, Lower Condamine and Maranoa 1849–1857. Haydon, A.L. 1911 The Trooper Police of Australia. A Record of Mounted Police Work in the Commonwealth from the Earliest Days of Settlement to the Present Time. London: Andrew Melrose. Lamond, H. 1949 Native mounted police. Walkabout November 1:31–32. Legislative Assembly of NSW 1858 Report from the Select Committee on Murders by the Aborigines on the Dawson River; Together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence and Appendix. Sydney: William Hanson, Government Printer. Queensland Legislative Assembly 1861 Report from the Select Committee on the Native Police Force and the Condition of the Aborigines Generally together with the Proceedings of the Committee and Minutes of Evidence. Brisbane: Fairfax and Belbridge. Queensland Government 1867 Rules for the General Government and Discipline of the Native Mounted Police Force. Queensland Government Gazette 7(28):258–261. Queensland Police n.d. A brief history of the Queensland Police uniform. Police Bulletin 342:32– 36. Whittington, A. 1965 The Queensland Native Mounted Police. Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland 7(3):508–520. NMP Troopers The story of bushranger Ned Kelly and his gang is widely known amongst Australians, with literally and the Search 100s of books and articles having been written about their exploits in colonial Victoria. What is for the Kelly less well known is the role a group of Native Mounted Police (NMP) troopers from Queensland Gang played in the downfall of the outlaws. Frustrated by repeated failed attempts to capture the Kelly Gang, the Victoria Government requested the assistance of the Qld NMP. In return, the Queensland Commission of Police agreed to send a contingent of Aboriginal troopers under the leadership of Sub-Inspector O’Connor Stanhope, then stationed in Cooktown, and native police Constable Thomas King from Maryborough. The troopers were Hero, Johnny, Jimmy, Jack Noble, Barney, and Corporal Sambo ... Label Tools The contingent left Qld in late February and, after travelling via boat to Sydney and then overland via Wagga Wagga, the group reached Benalla in early March 1879. Captain Standish of the Victorian Police Form met them on their arrival in Benalla and O’Connor was sworn in as a Sub- inspector of the Victorian police. Thereafter they set to work. Sadly however, Sambo had been quite unwell during the sea voyage, and despite participating in an unsuccessful search of the ranges for the gang, when the group returned to Melbourne on March 19 after their initial foray (luckily for Ned rain fell and obliterated their tracks), he was seriously ill and died from in ammation of the lungs that evening. Although not con rmed yet by other sources, it has been suggested that one of the other troopers was his brother: "His black companions cried when they heard of his death, but only one of them, said to be a brother of deceased, went to the cemetery with Inspector O’Connor to see him buried" (Morning Bulletin, 2 April 1879, p2). By early June 1880, the troopers had had no success in capturing the Kelly Gang. Their movements during the past year were said to have been relayed to Ned by scores of informants and sympathisers, Ned’s fear of the troopers tracking abilities (he was said to have referred to them as “bloody black devils”), led the gang to curtail their activities and use of horses that could be too easily tracked. Despite their best e orts, their lack of success saw O’Connor, King and the troopers about to make their way back to Queensland, when word reached them that the Kelly Gang was holed up at Glenrowan, after they had shot police informant Aaron Sherritt at Sebastopol. O’Connor, King and the troopers left Melbourne by special train at 10 p.m. on June 27, en route for Beechworth (Brisbane Courier, 10 July 1880, p5). Ned was said to have been aware that the Aboriginal troopers would be amongst those aboard the train dispatched from Melbourne to Beechworth to come after him, and it’s been suggested that his fear of the troopers was the explicit reason that he forced line-repairers James Reardon and Denis Sullivan to damage the track. After being warned of the damage to the tracks, the train was safely pulled up and the troopers and o cers began disembarking and taking the horses o . Another man came up and told them that the outlaws were holed up at the public-house. As O’Connor recounted later: "Superintendent Hare and I started at once o towards the house, calling the men to follow us, but, owing to the confusion and noise in taking out the horses I presume, some of the men did not at once respond, as only Mr. Hare, myself, and three or four white men, and I think about two of my boys, were in the rst rush. We rushed straight for the house, and upon getting within about twenty yards of the place one shot followed by a volley was red at us from the verandah. We returned the re, and before I could load again Superintendent Hare called out to me, ‘O’Connor, I am wounded ; shot in the arm. I must go back." (Brisbane Courier, 10 July 1880, p5). Thereafter, "Sub-inspector O’Connor and senior-constable Kelly then took charge of the police force. The former took up a position in a small creek in front of the hotel, and stationed his black troopers one on each side of the creek, and stuck to this position gallantly throughout the whole encounter. The black troopers also stood the baptism of re with fortitude, and never inched for an instant" (Brisbane Courier, 29 June 1880, p3). Label Tools O’Connor later advised that Hare was not the only person present to have been wounded during the shootout: "One of my troopers was shot alongside me—cut across the eyebrows. He jumped on the bank, red ve shots into the house, and said, “Take that, Ned Kelly.” It seemed to a ord him great relief, but rather amused us" (Warwick Examiner and Times, 7 July 1880, p2). From all accounts, the e orts of Hero, Johnny, Jimmy, Jack and Barney were highly regarded by the press, police and pubic in the southern states: "I must not omit to mention that Inspector O’Connor and his black trackers have not been allowed to leave this colony without a very general expression of thanks for the services they have rendered. Without doubt their presence at rst was treated as an intrusion by the Victorian police force, but the feeling wore away as their willingness, cheerfulness, and endurance became manifest. Surely the men who are capable of developing such qualities in an employment not at all elevating or ennobling might be reserved for a better fate than the imminent extinction with which the Australian aboriginal is threatened" (Brisbane Courier, 20 July 1880, p5). In the wash-up of the a air, Hero, Johnny, Jimmy, Jack and Barney reportedly each received £50 of the $8000 reward money on o er, with Sub-Inspector O’Connor receiving £237 15s. While O’Connor ultimately transferred permanently to the Victorian police force, the Aboriginal men returned to Qld and, at this stage of our research, we’re not sure exactly what became of them. We’ll let you know if we ever nd out; alternatively if you know anything about the fate of these ve men after their return to Qld, we’d love to hear from you! POSTSCRIPT 28 May 2016: We’re very excited to have just heard from a descendant of Jack who has told us that the Aboriginal troopers never received their reward monies. Back in the 1990s the families of Jack Noble and Barney began, and thereafter failed, to secure payment for their ancestors involvement. We’re looking forward to talking more with these people about their family history! What’s in a Naming can be a means of identi cation, classi cation, control and transformation. For Name? Europeans, the stability of their names—particularly their rst names—is taken for granted. Both rst and last names provide an anchor for the individual and connect them to family and place. For Aboriginal people names were much less stable but no less meaningful, often changing according to age, context of use and personal circumstances. Aboriginal people could bear several names or other kinds of identi er throughout their lifetime, and often still do today. We currently have the names of over 500 Aboriginal troopers in our database. Trying to identify, connect and separate these individuals suggests much about the power of names, as well as contemporary attitudes and relationships between Europeans and Aboriginal people. As with so much else surrounding the NMP, we know very little about how troopers were recruited or whether the name they were known by while in the NMP was one they came with or one that was given to them. In some cases, troopers had clearly Aboriginal names that must have come with them into the NMP, such as Goondallie, Warbregan, Cooraman, Gebonpelra, Goorandirie, Wygatta and Yoorboola. Some of these men came from the Edwards River in NSW, but most (31 out of 62) came from Maryborough. The vast majority, however, bore some form of European name and often only a single one at that. The majority of these were common British names: there are 10 Billys, 9 Charlies, 9 Harrys, 9 Sams, and 8 Tommys in our database, for example, although it is often impossible to tell whether each refers to a di erent person. In some cases troopers had one name while in the NMP and another when outside it, as was the case with the man who was known as ‘Macbeth’ while in the Label Tools force, but ‘Georgey’ both before and afterwards (Courier, 7 May 1863, p.3). His case, at least, suggests that ‘Macbeth’ was a name he was given upon recruitment. If true, it may have been the NMP o cers who assigned troopers their names, although there is no indication in any record to say this was the case. Only a very few troopers (10%) had the luxury of a surname. Surnames amongst Aboriginal people were often assigned by European employers and could be the employer’s surname itself or one derived from the name of the pastoral property on which they were born or worked (click here for more info on this). Certainly some troopers carried names that were indistinguishable from European ones: Sam Weller, Willie Gordon, Barney Mileson, Jimmy Brown, Jimmy Chisholm, Billy Douglas or Wilfred Owen. Others had synthetic names that combined a European name with another type of identi er, such as Mickey Free, Cargara Jimmy (or Jemmy), Johnnie Snake or Long Jemmy. Some names are clearly place names, possibly indicating a trooper’s area of origin, such as Callandoon, Callandoon Jemmy, Brisbane, Breeza and Dick Normanton. Some, while not strictly place names, were still indicative of origin, such as Jimmy Mainland, Bunya Jimmy and Bunya Sammy. Interestingly the name ‘Coreen’ recurs as a pre x for three troopers—Coreen Jimmy, Coreen Billy and Coreen Ned—although whether it is a reference to the place is unknown. Other names are more diverse and re ect a variety of in uences ... Some names can be considered highly derogatory: we know of seven troopers called ‘Sambo’, one called ‘Jim Crow’, and one called ‘Jacky Jacky’. Both ‘Sambo’ and ‘Jim Crow’ are distinctly American and derived directly from the legacy of slavery. ‘Sambo’, of African derivation (Handler and Jacoby 1996:699), became commonplace in the 18th century as a slave name (Cohen 1952:104) and was then popularised in the 19th century through literature such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin. ‘Jim Crow’ derives from a ctional character created in the 1830s by white actor Thomas Dartmouth as part of a minstrel act and later became a widely used derogatory nickname. ‘Jacky Jacky’, according to the Macquarie Dictionary, has the meaning of: "noun 1. (derogatory) (racist) a. (a nickname for an Aboriginal person, especially when seen as being in a supportive role to the dominant white settlers.) b (also lower case) an Aboriginal person who has adopted a white lifestyle." There are other similarities between the system of troopers’ names and slave naming practices. The choice and assignment of Jamaican slave names by white planters fostered the practice of thinking of them as inferior—‘more like animals than Anglo-Europeans’ according to work by Burnhard (2001). Burnhard noted that the sources of slave names were (in order of frequency) English, African, Classical, place names and biblical. When names were English they were usually diminutive—e.g. Jimmy instead of James, or Johnny instead of John—as was the case with many troopers; approximately 18% of names in our database are diminutives. In addition, typical Classical, Latin-derived slave names commemorated either mythical or real historical gures such as Ajax, Jupiter, Hannibal, Pompey or Apollo. Most disturbingly, names for livestock and slaves were often similar and overlapping. The same problem is evident with troopers: names such as Jingle, Monkey, Monday, Daylight, Mayboy, Friday, Mister Jones, Nipper, Wild Boy, Hero and Smuggler (for troopers) follow the same pattern as Roanoak, Marlow and Brutus (for horses) (GPM Murray to Commandant 31 March 1863, QSA ID846768/63/748). Whalebone, Simon, Hector, Charlie (QSA ID86146 Oak Park Daily Journal 1879– 1882) and Forrester were names given to both horses and troopers. The level of similarity in naming patterns again suggests that NMP o cers could well have been responsible for naming both. Label Tools Unfortunately, we know so little about the troopers that we have no idea of how they felt about these practices, nor how much control (if any) they had over the process. Aboriginal people had certainly deliberately adopted European names very early in NSW, possibly to cement social relationships with particular Europeans or as a result of ‘Christianisation’ practices (Wood 1998). These names were often used strategically and deliberately and were clearly chosen by Aboriginal people themselves. Those troopers with distinctively Aboriginal names presumably had much greater control over their identity and how they were represented, but why some may have been a orded this opportunity and not others is unclear. Moreover, an untold number of troopers will probably remain completely nameless, despite our best endeavours, simply because details of their service and experience were never recorded. References Burnhard, T. 2001 Slave naming patterns: onomastics and the taxonomy of race in eighteenth- century Jamaica. The Journal of Interdisciplinary History 31(3):325–346. Cohen, H. 1952 Slave names in colonial South Carolina. American Speech 27(2):102–107. Handler, J.S. and J. Jacoby 1996 Slave names and naming in Barbados, 1659-1839. The William and Mary Quarterly 53(4):685–728. Wood, M. 1998 Nineteenth century bureaucratic constructions of Indigenous identities in NSW. In N. Peterson and W. Sanders (eds), Citizenship and Indigenous Australians. Changing Conceptions and Possibilities, pp.35–54. Cambridge: CUP. Wired: In a previous post, Alyssa Madden discussed the relationship between telegraph stations and the Aboriginal Native Mounted Police (NMP) across colonial Queensland. Seven years after the rst telegraph people and o ce in the Southern Hemisphere was opened in Melbourne in 1854 (Gerrand 2014), the line colonial from Brisbane to Ipswich was operational, and was connected to NSW in November 1861 (Rea communications 1971; Figure 1). Heading northwards, the line from Brisbane was connected to Port Denison networks (Bowen) by 1867, and then Cardwell in June 1869. Another line extending from Cardwell to the Etheridge River was completed in October 1871, and a further extension to Burketown in the Gulf of Carpentaria was opened for tra c at the start of 1872. The telegraph line from Cooktown to Thursday Island, completed on 25 August 1887, gave coverage across the entire state (Rea 1971:217). Of course, the purpose of the initial surveying and construction parties for the telegraph lines — who would have commenced work with a great urry of activity, vigorously clearing trees and vegetation from a 40 m wide strip and then erecting regularly spaced poles in the new clearings, stringing wire and insulators between them, and then just as quickly moving on — would likely have been a complete mystery to Aboriginal people. It is entirely possible they came up with novel explanations for this new set of strange European behaviours and structures. One indication of this was an instance where Aboriginal people themselves constructed a replica line running alongside the actual line: “There was, however, a singular and ludicrous discovery made by the line-repairer the other day between Georgetown and one of the stations towards the Gulf, being nothing less than a sort of opposition line, which the blacks had constructed in true orthodox style, running parallel with the real line, post for post, for a distance of a quarter of a mile.” (Illustrated Sydney News and New South Wales Agriculturalist and Grazier, 16 October 1875, p19) What the reasoning behind this construction by Aboriginal people was will likely never be known. Perhaps not understanding how the communication system worked, they thought the construction of a similar looking structure would confer some sort of bene t or advantage for them. Label Tools Regardless of how they initially made sense of the telegraph lines, as Europeans relentlessly persisted in building such lines across the state, Aboriginal people gained a clearer understanding of their purpose and responded accordingly: “It appears that their rst idea in thus destroying the line was to prevent it from bearing tidings of their ill-doings to the Native Police camps, they having been incautiously informed by some of the native troopers that it was intended for that purpose.” (Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 14 June 1870, p3). The desertion of Aboriginal troopers from the NMP would likely have contributed to this understanding: as the account above indicates, troopers would have been familiar with this means of sending messages, and in some cases would have themselves been sent out to ‘punish’ Aboriginal people for destroying the line. The various telegraph surveying and construction parties were themselves the focus of repeated attacks, with their equipment stolen, travel routes sabotaged, rations ransacked and horses speared. Many such reports were published in newspapers, such as the following example from the Cardwell area: “… the overseer of the Government telegraph party … reported that three Government horses had been speared, and that two were dead at the camp, about sixteen miles out of town; and that the bridges over the creeks had been broken down for some distance along the road.” (Brisbane Courier, 28 November 1874, p6) Even after the construction parties had left an area, the telegraph line repairers who replaced them were subject to attack, as were the telegraph station buildings (especially those on Cape York Peninsula which were built with gun turrets at opposing corners to repel attackers). One such line repairer in the north, a Mr Parish, was speared, though not fatally and it appears that he responded in kind: “The Blacks.— We learn (says the Cooktown Herald) that the telegraph line-repairer, Mr. Parish, was speared by the blacks while engaged some two weeks ago inspecting the line between Palmerville and the Blacksoil. We are led to believe it would have fared much worse with Mr. Parish, but for the timely aid rendered by Mr. Devereux, the line-repairer at the Black-soil section of the telegraph line.” (Capricornian, 14 April 1877, p2). While the telegraph lines were of vital importance as European communication networks, including for calling in the NMP to ‘disperse’ Aboriginal people after some ‘depredation’ [1] had occurred, they also developed considerable importance to Aboriginal people for an entirely di erent reason: like the many glass bottles that Europeans left littered around the landscape the telegraph lines were a valuable new source of raw materials. The ceramic and/or glass telegraph insulators that were strung along the line are well known as having been a speci c target of Aboriginal people, who found the thick ceramic excellent for the production of sharp akes that served the same purpose as aked stone or glass artefacts (Figure 2). Many aked ceramic insulators have been reported from colonial period sites across the country (e.g. Walsh and Loy 2004) and, alongside aked glass, are one of the most common types of artefacts associated with technological change in Aboriginal material culture post-European invasion. We know this was the case across Queensland after 1861 when the rst line was established in the state: “On Monday last a cask of insulators (wardens) disappeared; also, the iron of the wire barrow, together with Mr. Strickland’s pack saddle. On the following day the blacks also burned the cases of insulators.” (Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 28 September 1869, p2) ” A MESSENGER just arrived from the Telegraph Camp tells me … several insulators have been removed … ” (Queenslander, 25 February 1871, p11) Label Tools “Only last week, within 10 miles of the main telegraph station, the blacks cut the wires, and carried away some insulators and pegs. The troopers followed them to the head of the Batavia, and found the stolen property in their possession.” (Telegraph, 6 July 1889, p5) Yet a closer assessment of the available evidence suggests that it was the telegraph wire, perhaps preferentially to the insulators, that was the main target of Aboriginal attention: “Camp near Cardwell, October 1st … The blacks are very numerous there, and he [NMP o cer William Armit] was dispersing them, as they had cut the telegraph wire, and stolen some of it.” (Telegraph, 17 October 1872, p3) “The Blacks … the removal of 229 yards of the telegraph wire from the poles at Battle Camp was the cause of the last interruption of communication on this line. ” (Capricornian, 14 April 1877, p2) “COOKTOWN AND THE PALMER … The maintenance of telegraphic communication in this district will soon become very doubtful, if the blacks continue the present system of carrying away the wire. This week again an interruption occurred, and on the line repairer going out, he found fully two hundred yards missing, near the same spot where it was cut before.” (Rockhampton Bulletin, 16 March 1877, p2) “For the fourth time in six months (says the Cooktown Herald) the telegraph wire has been severed near the Blacksoil by those accursed niggers, who have appropriated, we suppose, some hundreds of yards of wire … ” (Daily Northern Argus, 3 August 1877, p3) “Cooktown, February 2 … A man patrolling the telegraph line, which was interrupted last Wednesday, found that it had been cut by the blacks at the foot of Normanby Range, and 80 yards of wire carried away.” (Telegraph 2 February 1878, p2) “Between the hours of eight and nine on Tuesday evening last, and during a thunder storm, telegraphic communication was interrupted. Mr. Parish imputed the circumstance to the storm, but when on the following day the line repairer visited the locality of the break, it was discovered that the blacks had cut away eighty yards of wire …” (Capricornian, 18 January 1879, p14) “NORMANTON, May 20.…Last week the blacks cut and carried o some 9½ chains of the telegraph wire between Normanton and Kimberley, and so stopped communication for a time. The line was cut in two places, about two miles apart.” (Queenslander, 6 June 1885, p895) “The blacks have lately been very troublesome in the Gulf country, At Bertiehaugh Station they killed three bullocks, and stole two boats and a large quantity of telegraph wire.” (Morning Bulletin, 26 February 1889, p6). The miles of strong wire strung between the poles could be used for multiple purposes, the most common of which appears to have been the manufacture of sharpened barbs attached to the tip of the spear (Figures 3 and 4): “Last Wednesday’s Independent says:—”On Sunday while Mr. George Hawkins and his black boy were coming down the Normanby Gorge, about twelve miles from Oakey, they both dismounted and were leading their horses along the steep incline, the black nine yards in front, when two spears whished down from behind the rocks, one of which went clean through the boy. Hawkins quickly opened re from his six-shooters and kept it up until they went out of the gorge, but it is not probable that he hit any of the wily and treacherous enemy. Hawkins broke o the spear, which was barbed with telegraph wire, and the boy was conveyed to the hospital, where he now lies.” (Cairns Post, 16 May 1888, p2) “The poor blacks amused them-selves by spearing one of these [a bullock] on the Ducie, and stuck no less than twenty- ve spears into him. Some of these skewers were from eight feet six inches to nine feet three inches in length, and artistically jagged with bits of iron or wire. ” (Morning Bulletin, 4 January 1887, p5) “…a spear whizzed past Mr. Hawkins and entered the back of the left shoulder of the black boy, passing through the esh about 9 inches, and protruding over the shoulder about 3 inches. The spear was. 9 feet long, and barbed with a piece of telegraph wire, and was only got out after considerable cutting and pulling … ” (Telegraph, 22 May 1888, p2). Label Tools “The blacks, have given considerable trouble, carrying away wire, insulators, pins, and plates, bending down the poles (iron), and generally trying to destroy the (Cape York) line. A large number were employed at this work between Musgrave and Coen last April. Our men from the latter place found a large camp, containing forty gunyahs, and in the camp, besides a number of tomahawks. &c. over a hundredweight of spear-heads formed out of telegraph wire were discovered, showing that the same mob had been guilty on former occasions of interfering with the line.” (Week, 14 April 1927, p48) “The Telegraph line from the time of its construction has supplied the blacks with material for weapons of the most deadly kind – miles of wire in the immediate neighbourhood having been taken away and communications interrupted every wet season notwithstanding the presence of a detachment of trackers constantly on patrol.” (QSA289937 1891 Petition from the residents of Coen and vicinity to Colonial Secretary undated, Coen, Musgrave NP Camp le, Part 1). Alternatively, rather than being used as small barbs the wire could be sharpened to form the main point(s) of the spear (Figures 5, 6 and 7): “Mr. Williams also showed us several spears and a variety of other articles, such as chalk, sinews of animals, native working tools, a penknife, a butcher’s knife—all of which were found in a blacks’ camp. Some of the spears are pointed with wire about the size of that used for fencing, one of the number having a sharp pointed piece about 4ft. long. ” (Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, 18 June 1881, p6) “…the following articles were found … Shark’s tooth, apparently from a native spear; And a piece of sharpened telegraph wire, about 4 inches in length.” (Extract from the diary of William P. A. Clarke, as published in Queensland Figaro, 23 February 1884, p11) ‘The telegraph line was cut near the Four Mile at a very early hour yesterday morning, and a considerable length of the wire carried o by the niggers. The damage was repaired during the afternoon.’ (Brisbane Courier, 12 March 1878, p3) “The Blacks.— Our sable brethern [sic] have been at work again, and the telegraph line is down between the Laura and Palmerville. The dark gentlemen have taken a loan of about ve hundred yards of wire, and will probably put it back when they have done with it …” (Daily Northern Argus, 31 January 1879, p2). “…the blacks had cut and carried away about a mile of wire, sixteen miles to the south of Coen. A party was organised and went out in search of the marauders. Very early on the following morning they came on a large camp composed of more than forty mi-mis. The party destroyed the camp and found a large number of tomahawks and over 1cwt. of spear-heads made of telegraph wire.” (Brisbane Courier, 7 April 1887, p4) Another demonstrated use of the wire was for the production of sh hooks, which until the easy availability of wire were commonly made of shell or bone: “… they have discovered that they can convert the wire into shhooks, many of which, manufactured in a very ingenious way, have lately been found in their possession. ” (Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 14 June 1870, p3) “Communication has sometimes been interrupted by blacks cutting wire from the line. Numerous well-tempered sh-hooks manufactured from line wire, were found in their camps, together with several broke earth-plates stolen from iron poles in the vicinity of Normanton.” (Queensland Votes and Proceedings 1873, p1268) “A Cardwell correspondent of a Sydney paper says … I have in my possession, at the time of writing, a native sh hook made from telegraph wire.” (Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 6 April 1871, p2) And it wasn’t just the wire that Aboriginal people found new uses for. Although most poles were wood, the nal 130 miles of the most western section of the Cardwell-Burketown telegraph line was built using iron poles 24 feet long because there weren’t suitable trees in the area (Rea 1971:213). Like the wire strung between the wooden posts elsewhere, the iron posts themselves were soon being re-purposed by Aboriginal people, this time into axes: Label Tools “… recently they removed an iron telegraph pole from the line, near Saltwater Creek, about 70 miles north of the Laura, and carried it away a distance of four miles. These poles they endeavour to transform into tomahawks.” (Week, 28 August 1886, p19) “Here we ushed two niggers, who were busily engaged in digging up an iron telegraph pole, in order to gut the foot-plate to make tomahawks of.” (Queenslander, 28 June 1879, p812) The European invasion of Australia resulted in massive, catastrophic upheaval and changes for Aboriginal peoples and their ways of life. But rather than being an ‘unchanging people in an unchanging land’, Aboriginal people were highly exible, having already adapted to 60,000 years of changing environments and new arrivals from the north. In some ways the British invasion was just another in a long line of events that tested Aboriginal ingenuity and resilience. The erection of telegraphic communication networks across Australia provided opportunities for Aboriginal to respond in multiple ways. Attacks on those telegraph lines demonstrate two of those responses: a conscious choice to deliberately disrupt European communication services, and another to procure raw materials that could then be incorporated in innovative ways into their rich material culture. [1] This is a phrase that was regularly used by Europeans of the time to describe Aboriginal attacks on people, livestock and property. References Allen, H. 2011 Thomson’s spears: innovation and change in eastern Arnhem Land projectile technology. In Y. Musharbash and M. Barber (eds), Ethnography and the Production of Anthropological Knowledge: Essays in Honour of Nicolas Peterson, pp.69–88. Canberra: ANU E Press. Allen, H. and K. Akerman 2015 Innovation and change in northern Australian Aboriginal spear technologies: the case for reed spears. Archaeology in Oceania 50(Supplement):83-93. Gerrand, P. 2014 160 years of Australian telecommunications. Australian Journal of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy 2(2), Article 43. Moyal, A. and I. Jones 1984 Clear Across Australia: A History of Telecommunications. Melbourne: Nelson. Rea, M.M. 1971 Communications across the generations: an Australian post o ce history of Queensland. Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland 9(2):168-226. Roth, W.E. 1897 Ethnological Studies among the North-West-Central Queensland Aborigines. Brisbane: Government Printer. Roth, W.E. 1909 Fighting Weapons. North Queensland Ethnography Bulletin 13. Brisbane: Queensland Government Printer. Walshe, K. and T.H. Loy 2004 An adze manufactured from a telegraph insulator, Harvey's Return, Kangaroo Island. Australian Archaeology 58:38-40. NMP camps 20 / 27 entries Label Comments Earliest Latest Tools Attie/Meunga Creek This was the camp that was three miles from town and was associated 1864 1871 with John Murray's property, Kirtleton (but see separate entry for the Kirtleton camp, which is a later iteration). The heritage recording for the Murray graves at Kirtleton/Meunga records the rst NMP camp as being located 'on the southern bank of Attie Ck, a tributary of Meunga Ck' (Cassowary Coast Regional Council Local Heritage Places May 2013). John Murray is recalled and leaves Cardwell in 1865 (Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, 17 June 1865, p4 [1]), but returns in 1866 (Brisbane Courier, 28 July 1866, p6). It is unclear if the Label Comments Earliest Latest Tools NMP camp continues at Attie/Meunga Creek in the interim. It is also unclear if the earliest camp, when Blakeney was posted to Rockingham Bay in 1864, was at Attie Creek. This is described as the '2nd Cardwell' in the 1868 Return shewing the strength and disposition of the Queensland Police Force with 13 troopers (QSA846833, In letter 68/930). Referred to as "Lynd River and Rockingham Bay" and "Lynd River and Cardwell" in Pugh's Almanac 1865: "Rockingham Bay—Sub-Inspector—C.J. Blakeney, 1 camp sergeant and 11 troopers" (Pugh's Almanac 1865:55) 1866: "Lynd River and Rockingham Bay—Inspector—J. Murray, Sub- Inspector—R.B. Uhr, 1 acting Sub-Inspector and 10 troopers" (Pugh's Almanac 1866:56); 1 Inspector (John Murray), 1 acting sub-Inspector (James Scott), 1 constable and 4 native troopers (Statistical Register of Queensland for the Year 1868). Note that Scott may have been at Glen Dhu/Valley of Lagoons (see separate entries) 1867: "Lynd River and Rockingham Bay—Inspector—J. Murray, 2 acting Sub-Inspectors and 14 troopers" (Pugh's Almanac 1867:54) 1868: "Inspector—J. Murray, 3 sergeants, 2 constables and 12 native troopers" (Pugh's Almanac 1868:58); Only 4 native troopers according to Statistical Register of Queensland for the Year 1868 1869: John Murray, 1 acting sub-Inspector, 2 constables and 8 troopers (Pugh's Almanac 1869:62) 1870: "Lynd River and Cardwell—Inspector—John Murray, 2 acting sub- Inspectors, 1 acting sergeant, 2 constables and 9 native troopers" (Pugh's Almanac 1870:62) 1871: 1 sub-Inspector, 1 acting sergeant, 2 constables and 5 native troopers (Pugh's Almanac 1871:70) NMP Barracks erected 1866 (Statistical Register of Queensland for the Year 1866:88) Patrol area included country as far as Western Creek and the Gilbert gold- elds (Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser 26 July 1870, p4) '... at the head of Attie Creek, on which were formed the rst Native Mounted Police Barracks in the early sixties, by Inspector John Murray (a brother of G. P. M. Murray, the lately-retired P.M. of Brisbane). ... By accident Inspector Murray had chosen for the site of the police camp what had been a favourite aboriginal camp, as was testi ed by the ancient "middens." This was at the foot of Mount Graeme, at the head of the tidal waters of Meunga Creek, into which Attie Creek ows. A sentinel at the Painted Rocks overlooked the police camp, from which a sentinel could signal or send a messenger to the valley of the Herbert or the Murray or Tully long before a messenger could be sent from the police camp. No one could arrive at or depart from the barracks without being seen by a sentinel at the Painted Rocks, as there is or was a track from them over the crest of Mount Graeme, dropping over into the watershed of the Herbert at the Graeme Waterfalls, on the head of Gowrie Creek, a distance of about 6 miles, while a white messenger would have to go over Dalrymple Gap by the only road, a distance of 35 miles and a range to cross.' (Johnstone in The Queenslander 30 July 1904. See also Spinifex and Wattle). NOTE that Mt Graeme/Graham is nowhere near Meunga Ck Label Comments Earliest Latest Tools and is on the southern side of the Cardwell Range. John Murray was sent to Cardwell in 1865 to report on desertions from Blakeney's detachment in 1864: 'The native police force is still quartered here [Cardwell]; but Lieutenant Blakeney is now on a visit to the interior, and on his return it is probable that part of them will be drafted to the Herbert River.' (Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser 5 November 1864, p3). QSA846793 65/159—Report from the Police Magistrate in Cardwell dated January 2, 1865 advising that "the Native Police have this day arrived in Cardwell" [M/ lm Z6403]. 'By the 'Caroline' a detachment of native police and horses arrived here. These were gladly received by us, as the natives still continue to be too near' (Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser 11 February 1865, p2). 'It will be necessary for me to go as far back as the appointment of Mr. John Murray as Inspector of the Native Police (than whom a more e cient o cer could not have been). He had hardy been amongst us six months when he was recalled, by the head of the department, to recruit in the neighboring colony for the Queensland force. This o cer had performed his duties so well, and had ingratiated himself so thoroughly into the good opinions of the inhabitants that, on his removal, a petition was signed by the a whole of the inhabitants, praying that he might be returned. This request was granted, and for years order reigned supreme; for wherever the blacks were troublesome, or a complaint or request was made there would Mr. Murray and his troop be found as soon as horses could take him to the desired spot. Some two years since, Mr. Murray thought t to resign, and on his resignation being accepted the force was removed to Waterview and placed under the command of Mr. Sub-Inspector Tompson. This o cer followed in the steps of his predecessor, and exerted himself to the utmost to protect the property of the inhabitants, but as he was placed quite in one corner of his district, he found it utterly impossible to mete out a fair share of justice to all, principally from the distance and the miserable way in which a parsimonious Government horse the forces.' (Queenslander 6 July 1872, p2) Belyando River/Belyando Part of the Northern Midland District (1866). 1863 1879 (Mistake Creek) 'Mr. Coward, with his detachment of eight troopers, is now located on the Belyando, forty ve miles from Clermont (from which place he is separated by the Drummond Range), and forty- ve miles from any post town.' (Brisbane Courier 23 July 1866, p4). 1866: "Belyando—Sub-Inspector T. Coward. 1 sergeant and 10 troopers" (Pugh's Almanac 1866:56–57) 1867: Coward, 1 sergeant and 6 troopers (Pugh's Almanac 1867:54) 1868: "Belyando River—1 Sub-Inspector, 1 sergeant, 1 constable and 9 native troopers" (Pugh's Almanac 1868:58); 1 acting sub-Inspector (J. McKay Dunne), 3 constables and 7 troopers according to Statistical Register of Queensland for the Year 1868. 1869: 1 sub-Inspector, 1 sergeant, 3 constables and 9 native troopers (Pugh's Almanac 1869:61) 1870: 1 sub-Inspector. 3 constables and 6 native troopers (Pugh's Almanac 1870:61)