FRONTIER CONFLICT AND THE NATIVE MOUNTED POLICE IN QUEENSLAND Bligh, John O’Connell [O�cer] Map data ©2021 Google Imagery ©2021 TerraMetrics O�cer's name Bligh, John O’Connell Portrait Precis John O’Connell Bligh served in the Native Mounted Police for 11 years, spanning the late 1850s and early 1860s. Born in Buckinghamshire, England, Bligh was the grandson of royal naval o�cer and Governor of NSW William Bligh, and the son of cousins Richard and Elizabeth Bligh. According to one of his obituaries he was also “the nephew of the late Sir Maurice O'Connell, President of the Legislative Council, and a grandson of the great liberator Dan O'Connell” (Capricornian, 18 December 1880, p10). His nephews, John Bligh Nutting and Chalres Marshall Nutting were also members of the NMP. Although records of his NMP career are sparse, John O’Connell Bligh was �rst appointed as a sub-Lieutenant in 1853. He was stationed at the Yabber Creek NMP camp in 1854, Tiaro in 1855, Gladstone in 1857 and the Cooper’s Plains barracks near Maryborough in 1859. He was appointed Acting Commandant and then Commandant of the NMP in 1861 on the resignation of Edric Morisset. Bligh married Charlotte Dick in 1863, with whom he had eight children: Charlotte Elilzabeth (b. 1864), Charlotte Lucy (b. 1864), an unnamed son (b. 1866), Lancelot John Shanley, Francis Harold (b. 1870), Edric Alexander (b. 1873), Margaret Ruth (b. 1874) and Lily (b. 1876). His daughter Charlotte Lucy married her cousin (John’s nephew and fellow NMP o�cer), John Bligh Nutting. O�cer information Described as e�cient, energetic and “perfectly temperate” by his superior o�cer, Edric Morisset, Bligh claimed to work on very friendly and familiar terms with his troopers, although several letters to the newspapers in the early 1860s alleged very di�erent conduct, including drunkenness and cruelty. In di�erent capacities, he was involved in NMP reprisals following two of the most sensational attacks on Europeans in the 19th century: the deaths of the Fraser family at Hornet Bank in 1857 and of Horatio Wills’ party at Cullin-la-Ringo in 1861. His actions in the township of Maryborough in 1860 also created much consternation on the part of the inhabitants of the town and led to formal questioning at the 1861 Select Committee Enquiry into the Native Police. Apart from his NMP duties, Bligh was appointed a clerk of petty sessions in NSW in 1853 and as a Justice of the Peace. Following his resignation from the NMP in 1864 he became a police magistrate at Maryborough and Gympie between 1869-1880. He was a member of both the Masons and the Oddellows (Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser 18 December 1880, p2). John O’Connell Bligh died in 1880, possibly from an accidental overdose of chloral hydrate. On the eve of his marriage in 1863 he had sustained serious injuries, including the loss of an eye, that dis�gured him for life. As described by William Hill, who witnessed it, “poor Bligh had his nose kicked nearly o� while docking his favourite horse's tail. It was a terrible dis�gurement, and worse too by reason of happening on the eve of his wedding day” (Hill 1907:25). An enquiry into his death found that he su�ered from insomnia, and it may be that pain from his injuries contributed to his overdose. ID number 36 QSA �le number No QSA Police Sta� �le Earliest known date - year 1853 Latest known date - year 1864 O�cer’s reason for departure Resigned Birth date 03-Mar-1834 Year of birth 1834 Year of death 1880 Place of birth Buckinghamshire, England Date of death 12-Dec-1880 Location of grave Died in Gympie (presumably his grave is in same) Date of marriage 29-Dec-1863 Name of spouse Charlotte Eliza Dick Information about other duties JP; NSW clerk of petty sessions 1853; police magistrate at Maryborough and Gympie 1869-1880. Member of the Masons and the Oddellows (Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser 18 December 1880, p2) General notes One of the initial o�cer cohort in 1859. Commander of detachment of Maryborough killing 1860. Brother of Richard Bligh, Commissioner of Crown Lands, Clarence District, NSW. Grandson of William Bligh, son of cousins Richard and Elizabeth Bligh. Appointed Acting Commandant of the NMP in 1861. Wife died in 1876 giving birth to their sixth child Lily (Richards 2008:225) ‘I was present when poor Bligh had his nose kicked nearly o� while docking his favourite horse's tail. It was a terrible dis�gurement, and worse too by reason of happening on the eve of his wedding day.’ (Hill 1907:25) ‘111. On what terms do you generally live with your troopers? On very friendly terms, I am on much more familiar terms with them then [sic] I could be with white men’ (John O'Connell Bligh 8 July 1861, Qld Legislative Assembly 1861 Select Committee into the Qld Native Police: 156). '86. The next o�cer is Mr. John O'Connell Bligh—how long has he been in the Force? Nearly eight years. 87. Do you consider him an e�cient o�cer? Yes. 88. Perfectly temperate? Most particularly so. 89. Energetic? Yes. 90. Altogether a good o�cer? Yes, I should say the best in the Force' (Edric Morisset 6 July 1861, Qld Legislative Assembly 1861 Select Committee into the Qld Native Police: 145). Seemingly died from an accidental overdose of chloral hydrate: 'Our Gympie correspondent writes:—"Death has again visited us, and quite a gloom was cast over the �eld on Sunday morning when it became known that Mr. J. O'Connell Bligh, warden and police-magistrate, had been found dead in his bed. From the evidence elicited at the enquiry into the cause of death, held on Wednesday, it appears that deceased had been in the habit of using a preparation of chloral with which to combat attacks of sleeplessness from which he frequently su�ered, and that on Sunday morning he must, unawares, have taken an overdose of this powerful drug, hence the fatal catastrophe, A very large funeral cortege followed the remains of the deceased to their last resting place on Monday, all denominations and classes of the community taking part in the same. The deceased, who was deservedly esteemed for the impartial and conscientious discharge of his magisterial duties and generally courteous deportment, leaves a family of six children to lament their loss.' (Queenslander 25 December 1880, p808) 'It is believed that the cause of death was heart disease, although one telegram states that the deceased gentleman had taken an overdose of chloral. Mr Bligh has been long in the public service, and has always enjoyed the esteem of the residents in the districts where he has been stationed, being a courteous, upright, and kindly gentleman It is not quite two years since Mr Bligh lost his wife, and the care of a large and young family added painfully to his responsibilities He was at times a severe su�erer, having received terrible injuries some years ago from a kick in the face by a horse, by which he lost one eye and was cruelly dis�gured, and it was probably to alleviate one of these periodical attacks of su�ering that the unfortunate gentleman took the opiate that has occasioned so sad a result.' (Brisbane Courier 14 December 1880, p2) Posting timeline Week | Month | Quarter | Year | All Malchi Hill Coope Yab Clarence and Macleay (dist Gladstone (Port Curtis) Wandai Gumbal (also s 1850 1855 1860 1850 1855 1860 Label Tools ‘My Unfortunate Habit of Nipping’ The historical record tells us that alcohol consumption in the early days of European ‘settlement’ was prodigious (Dingle 1978, 1980; see Figure 1). Indeed, the most common artefact we have recovered during excavations at Native Mounted Police (NMP) camps is glass, by far the most common type of which comes from alcohol bottles. Alcoholism and/or the over consumption of alcohol amongst the European o�cers of the NMP is a relatively common complaint in o�cial records and the reason for a number of dismissals of o�cers from the force (Richards 2008:143). Loneliness, isolation and the brutal nature of the work they were tasked with probably all contributed to excessive alcohol consumption by NMP o�cers—most of which was tolerated unless it resulted in an inability to carry out their duties. For example, Commandant Frederick Walker was dismissed from the force in 1855 after complaints that he ‘had fallen into habits of great intemperance that incapacitated him from performing his duties properly’—speci�cally irregularities, drunkenness, abuse to the o�cers, and his general irregularity in the management of the force’ (as cited in Skinner 1975:153). Second Lieutenant Richardson was dismissed in 1863 for ‘becoming intoxicated while on duty and subsequently shooting a black boy whom he had in custody as a deserter from the force’ (as cited in Richards 2008:145). Richards goes on 7 entries Blog posts Label Tools to say that, although Commandant Bligh reported he was made aware of Richardson’s intemperance, he did not report his behaviour due to ‘extenuating circumstances ... in the hope he might still prove an e�cient o�cer’. So what were NMP o�cers drinking in 19th century Queensland? A perusal of contemporary newspaper advertisements show a wide range of alcoholic beverages for sale. For example, in the 14 February 1884 edition of the Cairns Post there were advertisements for “Regular shipments of wines, spirits and ales”, including A van Hoboken gin, wines, ports and sherries —both colonial and European—rum, whiskey, brandy and liqueurs. Figure 1 clearly shows a preference for spirits throughout most of the 19th century in Australia, with beer consumption only becoming the more popular alcoholic drink at the end of the 19th century and wine consumption remaining relatively low until the mid-20th century. To what extent this consumption is re�ected in the archaeological record is di�cult to ascertain, as, although some bottles at archaeological sites remain intact, the majority are broken into thousands of fragments, making it very di�cult to identify bottle types. These fragments are sorted into colour groups and examined for tell-tale clues as to how they were manufactured—which may give us clues about the date of manufacture —or for lettering and other marks which may tell us who made the product where it came from and what the bottle was used for (Figure 2). Gin and Schnapps Of the many types of bottles, two in particular are universally found in all the NMP camps we have studied so far: gin and schnapps. These bottles are readily identi�able archaeologically because they tend to be square and more often than not have lettering or other marks identifying the company that made them. They also tend to be dark green/black in colour and the glass is often signi�cantly thicker than other bottle types. These square bottles are called ‘case bottles’ because of the method of their transport, packed neatly into rectangular wooden cases (Figure 3). It was common for manufacturers to have their names embossed on the sides of the bottle—usually on two opposite sides and sometimes with a ‘blob seal’ containing a design or their initials. For example, Figure 4 shows a gin bottle with the maker’s name ‘A Houtman & Co Schiedam’, on the side and a blob seal on the shoulder with the maker’s initials ‘A H.’. A schnapps bottle with the words ‘Aromatic Schnapps’ on one side has the place of manufacture—‘Schiedam’—on another and the maker’s name ‘Adolphus Wolfes’ on a third. Blob seals are especially helpful in identifying a manufacturer, as they often include the maker’s initials and, because they are quite thick, they usually survive well in archaeological sites. An interesting detail in regard to the blob seals on these commonly found bottles is that they both appear to have the same initials: ‘AH’. Upon closer examination, however, it is clear that the A Van Hoboken initials are not AH but AVH – the V being formed by joining the bottom of the A and H together (Figure 5). For the A Houtman bottle the letters A and H are clearly separate. Label Tools Most of the gin and schnapps brought to Australia in the 19th century was imported from Holland. Two common gin manufacturers whose bottles are found on NMP sites are A Van Hoboken and Co, Rotterdam, and A Houtman and Co, Schiedam. The Houtman distillery building, built in 1872, still stands in Holland today and is said to be a typical example of a gin distillery from the period 1850–1880. Many of the gin case bottles were large. A Van Hoboken case bottle weighed almost 1 kg when empty and could contain up to 1.5 litres of gin (over 2.6 British pints), meaning if they came in a case of 12 they would weigh a substantial 30 kg—case not included— and contain 18 litres of gin. Schnapps was often not sold as an alcoholic drink per se, but rather was promoted as a medicine, as the advertisement for Adopolphus Wolfe’s Aromatic Schnapps below— dated 1871—makes clear (Figure 6). Despite its alleged medicinal qualities, however, it was ‘sold by all wine and spirit merchants, hotels and store keepers throughout the colony’ and there is little doubt that the strong alcohol content of this ‘medicine’ was an important factor in its ‘restorative’ properties. From examining inventories and receipts of purchases of supplies by the NMP it would appear that alcohol purchases were not funded by the government, although ‘medicinal’ alcohol may have been an exception. Wine and Beer Other commonly found glass at NMP camps is associated with wine and beer bottles. One of the features of wine bottles is a distinctive and pronounced upward indentation on the base—referred to as a push up or kick up—commonly found on wine and champagne bottles today (Lindsey 2018) (Figure 7). Although kick up bases were not wholly restricted to wine bottles in the 19th century, those with very pronounced kick ups were most likely to be wine containers rather than beer. Wine bottles were most commonly olive green in colour, with beer bottles more likely to exhibit a wider range of colours, including olive green, brown/amber, black and clear. Although beer bottles sometimes had embossed lettering, wine bottles more often had paper labels, making it di�cult to attribute to manufacturer, place of origin or wine type. Bottles with no markings made them eminently suitable for recycling and any given bottle could have been recycled and reused many times for totally unrelated products, making it di�cult for archaeologists trying to attribute contents based on bottle type (Lindsey 2018). It is clear from contemporary newspaper advertisements that both imported and ‘colonial’ wines were available in colonial Queensland, and that ‘claret’ (a generic term for red wines from the Bordeaux region of France) and Sauternes (a sweet wine also from Bordeaux), as well as forti�ed wines such as sherry and port were commonly consumed. Available beer types were advertised as ales, porter and stout, and could sometimes come in stoneware containers. These types of heavier beers had a higher Label Tools alcohol content than lighter beers such as lagers, which acted as a preservative—an important consideration before pasteurisation and the invention of the crown seal lid in 1892, and which is still common to beer bottles today (Lindsey 2018). It is clear from the amount of imported alcohol-related bottle glass found at NMP camps (in the case of gin and schnapps from as far away as Holland and wine from France, Portugal and Spain), transported overland across vast distances to some of the most remote places in the state, that alcohol was an important component of daily life for European NMP o�cers on the Queensland frontier. How this a�ected their performance, judgement and relationships with their Aboriginal troopers is little understood, but the e�ects of heavy alcohol consumption, especially in the form of strong spirits such as gin and schnapps, would inevitably have taken a severe toll on the mental and physical health of these men over time. *From a letter by ex-Sub-Inspector Alfred Smart in 1888 attempting to reapply to the NMP after having been dismissed for drunkenness. References Anderson, K. 2015 Growth and Cycles in Australia’s Wine Industry. A Statistical Compendium, 1843 to 2013. Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press. Dingle, A.E. 1978 Drink and Drinking in Nineteenth Century Australia: A Statistical Commentary. Melbourne: Monash University Department of Economic History. Dingle, A.E. 1980 ‘The truly magni�cent thirst’: an historical survey of Australian drinking habits. Historical Studies 19(75):227–249. Lindsey, B. 2018 Bottle Glossay. The Historic Glass Bottle Identi�cation & Information Website. Accessed online 30 March 2018 at . Richards, J. 2008 The Secret War: A True History of Queensland’s Native Police. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press. Skinner, L.E. 1975 Police of the Pastoral Frontier: Native Police 1849-1859. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press. Cramming Monkies A large part of our project involves sifting through various sources of historical information for insights into the NMP. One of these sources is TROVE, a repository of historical Australian newspapers from every state and territory in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Searching TROVE is dangerous. Each attempt reveals a chain of interconnected events, people and places that all need to be followed up, cross-referenced and independently veri�ed wherever possible. Amongst the many incidental things that TROVE reveals are various aspects of Australian life in the places and times of the NMP. One of these is a recurring reference to ‘monkeys’ in relation to the triggers for some reprisals and (presumably) massacres of Aboriginal people: "A complaint was made by some one on the station that one of these parties “looked Label Tools suspicious,” and “asked him for monkeys,” on which the police went out and shot some of them. My blacks asked “what for policeman shoot him, bail blackfellow kill whitefellow, bail take monkey, bail take ration, what for shoot him? you been yabber blackfellow budgery bail policeman shoot him.” The blacks in this neighbourhood have frequently told me the Warpahs or Nogoa blacks would kill some whitefellow for those shot at Albinia Downs" (Rockhampton Bulletin and Central Qld Advertiser 15 February 1862, p3). Edward Morris’ (1898:300) Dictionary of Austral English gives the meaning of ‘monkey’ as ‘bush slang for sheep’, citing A.C. Grant’s Bush Life in Queensland (a novel sub-titled, or, John West’s Colonial Experiences), published in 1881. Partridge and Beale (1984:748) qualify this by noting that ‘monkey’ was still in use in the 1940s. There are older references to ‘monkeys’ in newspapers, however, speci�cally in relation to the repercussions of stock spearing and theft for Aboriginal people left with few other food resources because of European encroachment on traditional food and water resources. One complaint, published as an advertisement by the brothers John and Alexander Mortimer of Manumbar Station on the Burnett River and addressed to ‘the O�cer in command of the Party of Native Police, who shot and wounded some Blacks on the Station of Manumbar, on Sunday, the 10th instant’, claimed: "As most of the blacks you left dead on our run were feeble old men — some of them apparently not less than 80 years of age — will you please to inform us whether these hoary sinners are the parties chie�y engaged in spearing bullocks, and “cramming monkeys,” &c., or whether you just shoot them because the younger ones are too nimble for you" (Sydney Morning Herald 25 March 1861, p2). In a later letter to the editor, the Mortimers named the o�cer and gave the local Aboriginal version: "Towards night some of our station blacks came up, and we inquired of them the reason why so many blacks were leaving the bunya bunya; they told us ‘That Mr. Bligh been come up, baal shoot him, and baal run him, only woolah. I believe you budgeree fellow: baal spear him bullock, and baal cram him monkey, but you been sit down good while and batter bunya, you go home and work now.'” (North Australia, Ipswich and General Advertiser 7 June 1861, p4). ‘Cramming’ (presumably taking, stealing or capturing) is an equally interesting word, especially as one of the other contemporary sources for it is the address by Frederick Walker, �rst Commandant of the Qld NMP, to his troopers in 1851 (Skinner 1975:55): "I shall be quick after you, and when the charcoles in the Balonne think that will do, I shall leave my rogues with Mr. Fulford at Wondai Gumbal and take Logan and Willy’s two sections to help Mr. Marshall and Cobby’s men to cramer [take] the Island [Fraser Island]. Label Tools The word ‘cram’ in this context clearly has a slightly di�erent meaning to that usually ascribed to it in contemporary slang dictionaries as a lie or deception (Hotten 1860:123). Although often noted as general slang (e.g. Paterson 1906), both ‘monkey’ and ‘cram’ were obviously also part of the Aboriginal Pidgin lexicon. The Pidgin that was used in what became Qld after Separation (post-1859) had some vocabulary inherited from NSW (such as ‘bail/baal/bael’ for ‘no’ or ‘not’ and ‘budgeree’ for ‘good’), and other words and grammatical features that were unique to di�erent sectors of Qld (Dutton 1983). This is not surprising given that the squatters in inland Qld from the 1840s onwards came from southern and western NSW, often bringing Aboriginal workers with them. More interestingly, many of the earliest troopers in the NMP were also recruited from southern and western NSW, and Dutton (1983:Appendix 4) provided a long list of Pidgin English that was used speci�cally by Qld Native Police troopers. Perhaps both ‘monkey’ and ‘cramming’ entered nineteenth century Qld speech in part because of the role played by the NMP in policing sheep spearing and the legacy of frontier violence that ensued. References Dutton, T. 1983 The origin and spread of Aboriginal Pidgin English in Queensland: a preliminary account. Aboriginal History 7(1):90–122. Grant, A.E. 1881 Bush Life in Queensland or, John West’s Colonial Experiences. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons. Hotten, J.C. 1860 A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words, used at the Present Day in the Streets of London. London: John Camden Hotten. Morris, E.E. 1898 Austral English: A Dictionary of Australasian Words, Phrases and Usages with those Aboriginal-Australian and Maori Words which have become Incorporated in the Language, and the Commoner Scienti�c Words that have had their Origin in Australasia. London: Macmillan. Partridge, E. and P. Beale 1984 A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English: Colloquialisms and Catch Phrases, Fossilised Jokes and Puns, General Nicknames, Vulgarisms, and Such Americanisms as have been Naturalised. 8th Ed. New York: Macmillan. Paterson, A.B. 1906 The Old Bush Songs. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. Skinner, L.E. 1975 Police of the Pastoral Frontier: Native Police 1849–59. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press Friendships on the Frontier: Exploring relationships Between The relationship between white o�cers and the Aboriginal troopers who served under them is one of the most perplexing and elusive of all interactions within the Native Mounted Police (NMP). What those relationships were like, the bases around which they were constructed, and how they played out day-to-day would have been as varied as the histories, tempers and dispositions of the men concerned. Label Tools Officers and Troopers of the NMP While we know that many o�cers were reprimanded or dismissed for excessive ‘discipline’, including extra-judicial killings of troopers, others claimed a strong bond, sometimes even suggesting that a form of friendship existed between them. It seems unlikely that any such ‘friendships’ were truly equal in a system that took young vulnerable men from recently paci�ed areas and placed them into a military-style structure, and certainly many relationships seem to have been based more on the degree of control exerted by the o�cer rather than any bond between the men. It may also be that the possibility for any such relationships changed over time as the NMP itself developed. During the 1857 and 1861 Select Committee hearings into various aspects of the force, several observers claimed that troopers responded better to ‘gentlemen’ than to those who were considered less respectable. This highlights a deep and seemingly unbridgeable class divide between the two tiers of o�cers: the Lieutenants and the Sergeants. The Lieutenants — who were commissioned o�cers — came from good educational and at least middle class family backgrounds, with all the social capital this gave them. In contrast, the Sergeants — the non-commissioned o�cers — were often only functionally literate members of the working class. Middle class values viewed the behaviours of each completely di�erently: "It was found that the men had not the slightest respect for white men in the capacity of Sergeants, who went into the huts on the stations they visited and associated with the men they found there on an equal footing. I believe that was the reason why the white Sergeants were done away with, and it was thought advisable to get respectable young men to whom the Police would look up as gentlemen, under the name of Sub- lieutenants" (Charles Archer 25 November 1856, NSW Legislative Assembly 1857 Native Police Force. Report from the Select Committee on the Native Police Force; Together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence). "63. What was your reason for this recommendation? I thought that the Native Troopers would look with more respect on those who associated with gentlemen, than on those who associated with the labouring men at the stations they visited, and who were continually getting drunk and setting a bad example" (Richard Purvis Marshall 2 December 1856, NSW Legislative Assembly 1857 Native Police Force. Report from the Select Committee on the Native Police Force; Together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence). John O’Connell Bligh went so far as to claim this as a basis for friendship, aligning himself more closely with his troopers than with the labouring class of Sergeants: "111. On what terms do you generally live with your troopers? On very friendly terms, I am on much more familiar terms with them then [sic] I could be with white men" (John O’Connell Bligh 8 July 1861, Qld Legislative Assembly 1861 Select Committee into the Qld Native Police: 156). One of the o�cers who is often cited as having a particularly strong bond with ‘his’ troopers is Frederick Walker, the �rst Commandant of the Native Police, who Label Tools established the original force in the Qld-New South Wales border country in 1849. Several squatters to the various Select Committees remarked on the closeness of this relationship: "From what I have gathered of his dealing with these natives, it would appear that Mr. Walker was extraordinarily familiar with them. He was more familiar than we should consider it right to be with servants, for instance—he treated them almost as friends" (William Forster 18 June 1858, Legislative Assembly of NSW Report from the Select Committee on Murders by Aborigines on the Dawson River: 10). In 1844 Walker had worked as a station manager in the Murrumbidgee District of NSW, a situation which enabled him to recruit men from the region whom he had sometimes known and worked with for many years: "As the natives continued hostile, we found it necessary to punish them for plundering Ross’s camp, and several Murrumbidgee men came to our assistance, John Scott, the Jackson brothers. Williams—an ex-barrister, who lived with them—Lee, and Frederick Walker, who brought with him two �ne Murrumbidgee natives— Robin Hood and Marengo—who proved most useful. These two blacks afterwards accompanied Walker to Queensland when he was appointed commandant of the native police" (Sydney Mail and NSW Advertiser, 4 December 1907, p1443). "Then the Native Police Force under Mr. Walker was e�cient? That section was more e�cient than they have ever been since; because, when he got more to do he had to trust to others. To increase the force, he had to go away a second time to the Murrumbidgee and Lachlan, and those places. Mr. Walker had several advantages: he was a superintendent in these Southern Districts, and knew a great deal of the country, and the blacks there individually, and that enabled him to recruit successfully" (William Butler Tooth 23 June 1858, Legislative Assembly of NSW Report from the Select Committee on Murders by Aborigines on the Dawson River:26–27). Walker’s �rst recruiting drive on the Murrumbidgee took place in 1848; his second in 1850. These long-established individual, personal relationships are probably the best explanation for the bond that Walker seems to have shared with his troopers, although how Walker maintained that relationship is less clear. By all accounts he was a harsh disciplinarian: "62. What is the mode of punishing them? There is none now. Under Mr. Walker they used to be �ogged, with great e�cacy ... 64. But you have understood that he �ogged them? Yes — a regular scourging — the fellow being tied up and �ogged by one of his mates. 65. By the Chairman: And that had a bene�cial e�ect? Decidedly; it is an excellent way of appealing to the feelings of a black trooper. 66. By Mr. Cowper: The men did not abscond in consequence? No; I never heard of the men absconding in Mr. Walker’s time; he could �og them, and the next moment be Label Tools friendly with them. 67. Who in�icted the punishment? One of themselves. He had corporals and sergeants among them. 68. Do you know whether any form of trial was observed? Yes; he used to call them all up and tell them — “this fellow has been doing so and so—isn’t he a great rascal — hadn’t we better �og him”; and then he would have him tied up and �ogged. My brother has seen it" (William Archer 22 June 1858, Legislative Assembly of NSW Report from the Select Committee on Murders by Aborigines on the Dawson River:17). James Blain Reid, a squatter on the Burnett River, summed it up most succinctly: ‘‘He was very severe, more so than any other person has been since” (J.B. Reid 23 June 1858, Legislative Assembly of NSW Report from the Select Committee on Murders by Aborigines on the Dawson River: 24). Despite his harshness, there are various other pieces of evidence pointing to a signi�cant bond. Although none of the troopers appear to have left the NMP immediately following Walker’s dismissal in 1854, we know that by 1861, when Walker was commissioned to search for Burke and Wills, eight former troopers went with him: Jemmy Cargara, Jingle, Coreen Jemmy, Patrick (Paddy), Rodney, Jack, Harry, and Walter. All of these men, with the exception of Jemmy Cargara, came from the Murray, Murrumbidgee and Edward rivers area, presumably enlisted on Walker’s second recruiting drive there in 1850. In traversing — and in many instances �rst mapping — the country between the Nogoa River and the Gulf of Carpentaria, Walker thought enough of some of these companions to name geographical features after them, including Patrick Creek (‘I called this the Patrick, after one of my old comrades (aboriginal)’) and Mt Rodney (‘About 1 mile lower down than where we crossed the Alice, was a range on the right bank, which I named Mount Rodney, after one of my Murray men’). Walker also named a creek after Jingle, whom Walter Clark described as ‘Walker’s favorite henchman’. In remembering Walker, Clark recounted an incident that Jingle was fond of telling from the Burke and Wills expedition: "Jingle was and had been in the old corps with him. Of course a great part of the fun of the incident consisted in the dramatic e�ect Jingle employed in the recital of it. According to the sergeant, Walker had taken him as escort when reconnoitreing some country on Gulf waters some distance from the camp. One afternoon when it was nearly dusk and their horses were knocked up, entering on an open plain they found a large mob of natives at a distance of about a mile away. As soon as the natives noticed them the mob began to move towards them at the double quick. The idea of being surrounded by the savages with knocked up horses didn’t suit. Walker consulted Jingle, pointing to the peril they were in. Jingle’s wit came to the rescue with a novel expedient for which Walker ought have created him a �eld marshal on the spot. One of the horses Label Tools was far fresher than the other. Addressing his commander, Jingle suggested he should make his escape on the best horse, leaving Jingle to his fate. Walker replied he would not leave Jingle, but if necessary die with him. Then Jingle made a proposition, saying “I tell you, Murro-billa,” i.e., in the native vocabulary — big nose — the commandant’s native name, “we leave done- up horse, take’m good fellow, you ride murry quick ahead, Jingle run behind, bye and bye I been no more run; Jingle been ride little bit, Murro-billa been run. Then Jingle more run.” They adopted the expedient and gradually the two gained ground on their pursuers who threw up the sponge. The escapees camped that night in the bottom of a dry creek. The horse left behind was never got. The saddle they had placed in a tree and was recovered. A space round the tree was covered with tracks but the blacks had been afraid to handle it. When relating the matter to me, Jingle would yell with laughter as he mimicked Murro-billa’s running for at that time Walker was immensely corpulent" (Gympie Times and Mary River Mining Gazette, 2 June 1906, p7). Both Jingle and Coreen Jemmy had been dismissed from the NMP four years before for engaging in “conduct which could not be overlooked” (Skinner 1975:363). Along with Boney, Larry, Billy, and Coreen Neddy, they were sent packing by Edric Morisset — the man who took over from Walker as Commandant — for leaving their barracks at Wandai Gumbal to attend a corroborree with local Aboriginal people. For his part, Walker had been living on the Dawson River since 1854, operating as a successful speculator for new pastoral runs. By 1857 he was living on the station of Hornet Bank (McManus 1903), where, on the 29 October 1857, 11 members of the Frazer family were killed by Aboriginal people. Certainly both Jingle and Coreen Jemmy were with Walker by the beginning of 1858. In January of that year Andrew Scott, the owner of Hornet Bank, and his neighbour, Pollett Cardew, organised Frederick Walker, another ex-NMP o�cer, Thomas Ross, and ten ex- troopers into a private police force to protect them and patrol their Dawson River runs. According to Morisset this ‘armed party’ consisted of the men he had dismissed from Wandai Gumbal (Skinner 1975:359). "60. By the Chairman: You know the late Commandant of the Native Police—Mr. Walker? Yes. 61. Where is he now? He has a small Native Force of his own about Euroombah and Hornet Bank. 62. Who employs him? I believe some of the neighbouring squatters keep him to patrol about their stations. 63. Has he many troopers? Eight or ten, I think; I do not know exactly" (E.M. Royds 22 June 1858, Legislative Assembly of NSW Report from the Select Committee on Murders by Aborigines on the Dawson River: 21). Another ex-trooper — Jemmy Sandeman — was also with Walker in late October 1857 when they were attacked near the Expedition Range by some of the same people Label Tools supposedly involved in the Hornet Bank murders (Inquirer and Commercial News, 20 January 1858, p3). We don’t know whether he was also a member of Walker’s private police force. George Dickson later claimed that this private force was still employed on stations around the Dawson and Comet Rivers in 1862–63, after the expedition in search of Burke and Wills, including on his own run, Arcadia Downs: "As Mr. Walker had no further employment for his troopers, Mr. Dickson arranged to employ them, and, with their assistance, had little trouble with the blacks, who were let in to the station" (Northern Star, 13 February 1913, p8). That these Aboriginal men continued to work and live with Walker — some of them going to him on the Dawson, and subsequently accompanying him to the Gulf — does suggest a bond beyond the customary o�cer-trooper relationship, although there were no doubt other factors that a�ected an ex-trooper’s choices. Frederick Walker died in 1866 at Floraville, near Normanton, at the end of another exploring trek, this time to establish a telegraph line between Cardwell and Normanton. We know that ‘four of his old troopers’ were still with him on this journey, although none of them were identi�ed by name in the newspaper accounts (Wagga Wagga Express and Murrumbidgee District Advertiser, 10 February 1866, p4). These men disappear from the historical records after Walker’s death. Jonathan Richards (2005:156) has remarked on the ‘close and a�ectionate relationship’ that existed between Walker and his troopers, also noting that there was little evidence of this amongst other o�cers and their detachments. There seems little doubt that Walker certainly felt a�ection for some of these men. When Tahiti was killed (shot by the NMP) in 1858, Walker seemed genuinely upset: "This poor lad, who was about twenty-four years of age, had been with me at various periods since 1844, had always been noted for his paci�c demeanour, his integrity, sobriety, and good conduct during eight years’ service upon the river, and his only fault, for which he has been murdered, has been his strong attachment to me. So much did I value him, that when I left the police force, I left him my sword, sent to me by my mother, and which now has become the spoil of his assassins" (Moreton Bay Courier, 4 August 1858, p2). Regardless of whether or not he was a harsh disciplinarian and treated the troopers in ways that we would consider inappropriate now, some of those men followed him, and stayed with him, probably until his death. References McManus, M. 1903 Reminiscences of the Early Settlement of the Maranoa District. Richards, J. 2005 ‘A Question of Necessity’: The Native Police in Queensland. Unpublished PhD thesis, School of Arts, Media and Culture, Gri�th University. Label Tools From the Horses Mouth: Horses and the NMP Today we don’t think twice about travelling vast distances by car at great speed, so it’s hard to imagine what life was like before the invention of the internal combustion engine. The First Fleet 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 decis