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| * Both White and First Nations cultures had strong gender-based divisions, so TLM-P's memories are mostly about men. \\ | * Both White and First Nations cultures had strong gender-based divisions, so TLM-P's memories are mostly about men. \\ |
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| TLM-P's memories about First Nations Australians are a complex mixture of the realities of immense White power over their lives, but also a strong strand of respect. The words he uses to describe specific individuals include 'gentleman in manner', 'smart', 'intelligent', 'shrewd' and 'full of fun'. These depictions give context to his criticism in his diary about how Australian First Nation groups were depicted at the [[wp>The_Crystal_Palace|Crystal Palace]] in England in 1882. He thought they were presented as 'miserable looking specimens' and 'very unlike those I have seen'.((TLM-P, Diary, 29 June 1882, ML.)) \\ | TLM-P's memories about First Nations Australians are a complex mixture of the realities of immense White power over their lives, but also a strong strand of respect. The words he uses to describe specific individuals include 'gentleman in manner', 'smart', 'intelligent', 'shrewd' and 'full of fun'. These depictions give context to his criticism in his diary about how Australian First Nation people were depicted at the [[wp>The_Crystal_Palace|Crystal Palace]] in England in 1882. He thought they were presented as 'miserable looking specimens' and 'very unlike those I have seen'.((TLM-P, Diary, 29 June 1882, ML.)) Another aspect of his memoir is that he was familiar with First Nation people as most of his properties had a local First Nations community and he employed First Nation workers.\\ |
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| TLM-P admired physical toughness, bush skills and good humour in both men and women of all backgrounds. He recorded his admiration of First Nations' people's acute powers of sight and observation, a 'great aptitude on concealing themselves' in the bush, a talent for mimicry, and strong sense of humour. His described how the acute observational skills extended to detecting subtle differences in rank amongst White people. TLM-P recounted an episode when a rider was seen in the distance, but he could not see them clearly enough to identify them. An unnamed 'black boy' was asked and (correctly) identified him as a 'gentleman bullock driver'. It turned out to be a neighbouring squatter who had driven his bullock team some 150 miles in drought conditions. Given the man was tired, hot and dusty, as TLM-P commented, 'a less shrewd observer might have been pardoned for not at once detecting his position in society'.\\ | TLM-P admired physical toughness, bush skills and good humour in both men and women of all backgrounds. He recorded his admiration of First Nations' people's acute powers of sight and observation, a 'great aptitude on concealing themselves' in the bush, a talent for mimicry, and strong sense of humour. His described how the acute observational skills extended to detecting subtle differences in rank amongst White people. TLM-P recounted an episode when a rider was seen in the distance, but he could not see them clearly enough to identify them. An unnamed 'black boy' was asked and (correctly) identified him as a 'gentleman bullock driver'. It turned out to be a neighbouring squatter who had driven his bullock team some 150 miles in drought conditions. Given the man was tired, hot and dusty, as TLM-P commented, 'a less shrewd observer might have been pardoned for not at once detecting his position in society'.\\ |
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| Like many squatters, TLM-P relied on First Nation knowledge of the land and their soon-acquired horse riding skills. Dispossessed youths attached themselves to TLM-P and other squatters in order to survive. They also adopted English names to be used by the new overlords. In TLM-P's case, the mutual dependence appears to have resulted in good relationships. In 1854 when first acquiring //Hawkwood//, for example, TLM-P rode long distances with a First Nation boy ('Johnny') when he was scouting the land. He described Johnny as 'about 13 years old ... a nice, smart lad, full of fun'. He commented that, in his experience, 'Black boys are very much attached to any one they are with. They have plenty of conversation, are intelligent & make capital companions'.\\ | Like many squatters, TLM-P relied on First Nation knowledge of the land and their soon-acquired horse riding skills. Dispossessed youths attached themselves to TLM-P and other squatters in order to survive. They also adopted, or were given, English names to fit in with the new regime. In TLM-P's case, the mutual dependence appears to have resulted in good relationships. In 1854 when first acquiring //Hawkwood//, for example, TLM-P rode long distances with a First Nation boy ('Johnny') when he was scouting the land. He described Johnny as 'about 13 years old ... a nice, smart lad, full of fun'. He commented that, in his experience, 'Black boys are very much attached to any one they are with. They have plenty of conversation, are intelligent & make capital companions'.\\ |
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| In earlier decades, TLM-P was a young man determined to make good in the colony. His focus was on rural success and, like other colonists, he did not comprehend the rights of First Nation owners. As outlined in [[gaining_colonial_experience_early_properties|Gaining Colonial Experience]], while at //Hawkwood// station he had no compunction about taking part in a murderous reprisal after the Hornet Bank massacre of the Fraser family. In this document he implicitly justifies the response by detailing incidents and the White people's consequent 'feeling of insecurity' and 'being on the watch' all the time both before and after the massacre. He described how //Hawkwood// 'was a much safer place' than other properties. The reason, he believed, was the protection he gave the First Nations people who 'had been camped on the run nearly all the time & knew they would not be molested'; in return they had to refuse hospitality to other First Nations people. The latter, he knew, was a difficult condition as 'a law or custom of hospitality ... prevents the tribe from turning strangers away'.(p.43)\\ | In earlier decades, TLM-P was a young man determined to make good in the colony. His focus was on rural success and, like other colonists, he did not comprehend the rights of First Nation owners. As outlined in [[gaining_colonial_experience_early_properties|Gaining Colonial Experience]], while at //Hawkwood// station he had no compunction about taking part in a murderous reprisal after the Hornet Bank massacre of the Fraser family. In this document he implicitly justifies the response by detailing incidents and the White people's consequent 'feeling of insecurity' and 'being on the watch' all the time both before and after the massacre. He described how //Hawkwood// 'was a much safer place' than other properties. The reason, he believed, was the protection he gave the First Nations people who 'had been camped on the run nearly all the time & knew they would not be molested'; in return they had to refuse hospitality to other First Nations people. The latter, he knew, was a difficult condition as 'a law or custom of hospitality ... prevents the tribe from turning strangers away'.(p.43)\\ |
| TLM-P's reminiscences also reveal the self-justifying interpretations squatters put on the massacre of First Nation Australians. The [[wp>Myall_Creek_massacre]] - an unprovoked killing of men too old or unwell to work, women and children - is seen as an understandable retaliation for other attacks by different First Nation groups. On the other hand, he did not minimise the blood lust of the white men involved, claiming that they made a bonfire and threw all those they shot on it '(several I have been told were not quite dead'). TLM-P reflected the conventional squatter view: 'No doubt it was a cruel murder, but the circumstances of the case, the provocation to the whites, was not sufficiently taken into consideration , nor the harm which would result from the encouragement to the black to commit more outrages.' He cites with incredulity Attorney-General John Plunkett who declared 'that he would hang any man who could be proved to kill a black.' Rosa probably agreed with her father at the time but by the time she published her next memoir, //My Australian Girlhood// (1902) she thought very differently: '"All hail to thee, Plunkett! Had there been more like thee, the national conscience would have less cause for self-reproach.'(//My Australian Girlhood//, 1902, p.17)\\ | TLM-P's reminiscences also reveal the self-justifying interpretations squatters put on the massacre of First Nation Australians. The [[wp>Myall_Creek_massacre]] - an unprovoked killing of men too old or unwell to work, women and children - is seen as an understandable retaliation for other attacks by different First Nation groups. On the other hand, he did not minimise the blood lust of the white men involved, claiming that they made a bonfire and threw all those they shot on it '(several I have been told were not quite dead'). TLM-P reflected the conventional squatter view: 'No doubt it was a cruel murder, but the circumstances of the case, the provocation to the whites, was not sufficiently taken into consideration , nor the harm which would result from the encouragement to the black to commit more outrages.' He cites with incredulity Attorney-General John Plunkett who declared 'that he would hang any man who could be proved to kill a black.' Rosa probably agreed with her father at the time but by the time she published her next memoir, //My Australian Girlhood// (1902) she thought very differently: '"All hail to thee, Plunkett! Had there been more like thee, the national conscience would have less cause for self-reproach.'(//My Australian Girlhood//, 1902, p.17)\\ |
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| As was also conventional among squatters, TLM-P praised the dreaded Mounted Police under Major Nunn including their forays against bushrangers and First Nation resistance: 'Many were the stories told at the Campfire of the adventures of these Policemen.' One of those stories was likely to be the massacre of Indigenous people by the Mounted Police at Waterloo Creek, south-west of Moree. Like other squatters, TLM-P also supported the equally brutal Native Police. Like many of his compatriots, he particularly relished tales where First Nations police or trackers killed other First Nation people (e.g. story of 'Nelson' taking revenge for an attach and shooting bound prisoners, eventually killing them, p.59). He also included an account of the vigilante group in the aftermath of the Hornet Bank murders, where a 'half-caste' (as the term was then) lad called Paddy was the only one of the party who could detect First Nation men hiding in the scrub - Paddy, TLM-P wrote, walked in and shot two men before the rest ran away. Nora added her own anecdote featuring 'a black trooper (always the worst against the wilder blacks)'. TLM-P amply illustrates the Native Police's savage, murderous attacks on First Nations people. He describes a long ride during summer with one of the stops being //Taroom// station. The station hands had been mustering scrubbers (wild cattle) and 'the native police had also shortly before visited the station. The carcasses of wild bulls were lying about the stockyard as well as the bodies of several blacks (Jerry[?] among them)' covered only by a number of boughs.(p.56) \\ | As was also conventional among squatters, TLM-P praised the dreaded Mounted Police((There are numerous books and scholarly articles about the Native Police: see Heather Burke, Lynley A. Wallis and Bryce Barker, //Archaeology, Frontier Conflict and the Queensland Native Mounted Police//, Sydney University Press, 2026; and Jonathon Richards, //The Secret War: a true history of Queensland's Native Police//, University of Queensland Press, 2008)) under Major Nunn including their forays against bushrangers and First Nation resistance: 'Many were the stories told at the Campfire of the adventures of these Policemen.' One of those stories was likely to be the massacre of Indigenous people by the Mounted Police at Waterloo Creek, south-west of Moree. Like other squatters, TLM-P also supported the equally brutal Native Police. Like many of his compatriots, he particularly relished tales where First Nations police or trackers killed other First Nation people (e.g. story of 'Nelson' taking revenge for an attach and shooting bound prisoners, eventually killing them, p.59). He also included an account of the vigilante group in the aftermath of the Hornet Bank murders, where a 'half-caste' (as the term was then) lad called Paddy was the only one of the party who could detect First Nation men hiding in the scrub - Paddy, TLM-P wrote, walked in and shot two men before the rest ran away. Nora added her own anecdote featuring 'a black trooper (always the worst against the wilder blacks)'. TLM-P amply illustrates the Native Police's savage, murderous attacks on First Nations people. He describes a long ride during summer with one of the stops being //Taroom// station. The station hands had been mustering scrubbers (wild cattle) and 'the native police had also shortly before visited the station. The carcasses of wild bulls were lying about the stockyard as well as the bodies of several blacks (Jerry[?] among them)' covered only by a number of boughs.(p.56) \\ |
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| The complex accommodations that First Nations people made to survive and their entanglement with the Native Police is illustrated by the story of stockman Billy Hay. TLM-P recalled that his manager at //Hawkwood//, 'Ernest Davis went to the [nearby] Auburn [River] & took my boy Billy Hay with him. Billy made his camp close to Davis' room. In the middle of the night the policeman came up'. They mistook Billy for 'Auburn Boney' who TLM-P described as 'a great chief & a very dangerous enemy'. The Native Police 'pounced on Billy' who 'struggled bravely' and called out to 'Mister Davis' who was able to confirm his identity. On his return to //Hawkwood// Billy recounted the story, proud that the Commandant [[wp>John_O%27Connell_Bligh]] had apologised to him for the error. As Bligh and his troops were responsible for numerous massacres, Billy was lucky. One reason for this luck was that, as TLM-P later noted, 'Billy had been a good deal with the native police'. \\ | The complex accommodations that First Nations people made to survive and their entanglement with the Native Police is illustrated by the story of stockman Billy Hay. TLM-P recalled that his manager at //Hawkwood//, 'Ernest Davis went to the [nearby] Auburn [River] & took my boy Billy Hay with him. Billy made his camp close to Davis' room. In the middle of the night the policeman came up'. They mistook Billy for 'Auburn Boney' who TLM-P described as 'a great chief & a very dangerous enemy'. The Native Police 'pounced on Billy' who 'struggled bravely' and called out to 'Mister Davis' who was able to confirm his identity. On his return to //Hawkwood// Billy recounted the story, proud that the Commandant [[wp>John_O%27Connell_Bligh]] had apologised to him for the error. As Bligh and his troops were responsible for numerous massacres, Billy was lucky. One reason for this luck was that, as TLM-P later noted, 'Billy had been a good deal with the native police'. \\ |
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| Billy Hay, his wife Mary Anne (Nora spelt the latter in various ways) and TLM-P had an ongoing relationship. TLM-P recalled that 'Billy had been well-trained & was a gentleman in manner. His gin [a Australian First Nations woman, now a highly derogatory term] Mary Anne had followed me up from Bundoona [? there are a number of possibilities, all in remote Queensland]. She had two half-caste children with her, the eldest Jenny was about 6 years old and came to us for some time. I thought that Billy & Mary Anne had better be coupled'. He described how he asked each one if they wanted to marry the other and when they both said yes, he said 'All right Billy, mine give him, now you are married.' There was a small one-roomed hut with a chimney close to the house' with a verandah and a bark roof. They lived there and did the hut up 'smartly', with the usual habit of hanging up a firearm over their bed 'handy at a moment's warning'. One time, he recollected, a 'black [man] had come right into the kitchen & had frightened Mary Anne out of her wits, but had gone away without doing any harm.'(p.55) Mary Anne, TLM-P asserted, 'was a capital cook & used to make good bread, curries etc. In fact the black boys had the nicest quarters & the best living on the station. They were very seldom put to labour, their duty being to look for lost sheep to ride about among the cattle & to bring up the horses. I used to be quite proud of my boys. Maryanne washed their clothes & their moleskins were always white & their shirts clean. They used to wear a silk or coloured handkerchief over one shoulder & knotted under the other arm, which gave them a dressy showy look. ... Billy, Freddy, & a small Wide Bay boy Tombo (who had a beautiful voice) used to sing songs they had picked up, & made their camp quite jolly. Billy afterwards went North & purchased a dray & a team of bullocks. When I last heard of him he was doing well.'(pp.50-52) | Billy Hay, his wife Mary Anne (Nora spelt the latter in various ways) and TLM-P had an ongoing relationship. TLM-P recalled that 'Billy had been well-trained & was a gentleman in manner. His gin [a Australian First Nations woman, now a highly derogatory term] Mary Anne had followed me up from Bundoona [? there are a number of possibilities, all in remote Queensland]. She had two half-caste children with her, the eldest Jenny [or Jinny?] was about 6 years old and came to us for some time. I thought that Billy & Mary Anne had better be coupled'. He described how he asked each one if they wanted to marry the other and when they both said yes, he said 'All right Billy, mine give him, now you are married.' There was a small one-roomed hut with a chimney close to the house' with a verandah and a bark roof. They lived there and did the hut up 'smartly', with the usual habit of hanging up a firearm over their bed 'handy at a moment's warning'. One time, he recollected, a 'black [man] had come right into the kitchen & had frightened Mary Anne out of her wits, but had gone away without doing any harm.'(p.55) Mary Anne, TLM-P asserted, 'was a capital cook & used to make good bread, curries etc. In fact the black boys had the nicest quarters & the best living on the station. They were very seldom put to labour, their duty being to look for lost sheep to ride about among the cattle & to bring up the horses. I used to be quite proud of my boys. Maryanne washed their clothes & their moleskins were always white & their shirts clean. They used to wear a silk or coloured handkerchief over one shoulder & knotted under the other arm, which gave them a dressy showy look. ... Billy, Freddy, & a small Wide Bay boy Tombo (who had a beautiful voice) used to sing songs they had picked up, & made their camp quite jolly. Billy afterwards went North & purchased a dray & a team of bullocks. When I last heard of him he was doing well.'(pp.50-52) There is also mention in TLM-P's many papers, in a reference we will follow up, a story of a First Nations man complaining about foolish White men, with TLM-P commenting that he would appoint him head stockman if he could, but that the other men would not accept a black man in authority over them.[to do]\\ |
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| From the above description of the First Nations stockmen at //Hawkwood//, it is likely that this faded and damaged photo ((Murray-Prior papers, ML PXB661)) is of Billy Hay and his fellow stockmen: | From the above description of the First Nations stockmen at //Hawkwood//, it is likely that this faded and damaged photo ((Murray-Prior papers, ML PXB661)) is of Billy Hay and his fellow stockmen: |
| {{:ml_undated.jpg?400|}} \\ | {{:ml_undated.jpg?400|}} \\ |
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| While Billy Hay appeared to survive well in the hostile new world, Mary Anne and her daughter Jenny (there is no information about her second daughter) were much more vulnerable. As both daughters had an (apparently absent) White father, it is quite possible that their conception was based on rape. When TLM-P first meets them, he and his family were making a long and arduous trip to //Hawkwood// and Jenny was around six-years-old. TLM-P told Rosa that he believed that, because she had a White father, she could be killed and (in an example of a bizarre belief) eaten. He accordingly asked her to come and live with him, his wife Matilda and family. It is disingenuous phrasing as she would be a servant with few rights. It would be up to Matilda to look after and teach her and, with young children of her own, it is not surprising that, as he wrote, 'My wife did not quite like the responsibility'. In addition, he 'agreed to take her provided that Mary Anne should have nothing more to say to her.' He claims that the child was not there when they left but that 'Mary Anne overtook us on the road & begged us to take Jenny. So I gave her an old shawl & a clasp knife by way of ratifying the bargain' and took the girl. Goodness knows what 6-year-old Jenny thought, especially when that night they reached Cadarga (in Queensland's western Downs). There TLM-P shaved her head (the usual means of dealing with lice infestations) and she was thoroughly washed by Mrs Galbraith, a 'a very kind old lady' and her servant, 'a German girl'. Jenny was then dressed in 'some of our children's clothes'. TLM-P's recollection was that 'she looked clean & pretty & much pleased with herself' and added that she 'used to sleep in our room'. As Mary Anne later followed TLM-P and lived on the property, she did manage to stay near Jenny despite the 'bargain' not talk to her. First Nations people in TLM-P's world had very little power, but the ones he particularly remembers were assertive and resisted as much as possible.\\ | While Billy Hay appeared to survive well in the hostile new world, Mary Anne and her daughter Jenny/Jinny (there is no information about her second daughter) were much more vulnerable. As both daughters had an (apparently absent) White father, it is quite possible that their conception was based on rape. When TLM-P first meets them, he and his family were making a long and arduous trip to //Hawkwood// and Jenny/Jinny was around six-years-old. TLM-P told Rosa that he believed that, because she had a White father, she could be killed and (in an example of a bizarre belief) eaten. He accordingly asked her to come and live with him, his wife Matilda and family. It would be up to Matilda to look after and teach her and, with young children of her own, it is not surprising that, as he wrote, 'My wife did not quite like the responsibility'. In addition, he 'agreed to take her provided that Mary Anne should have nothing more to say to her.' He claims that the child was not there when they left but that 'Mary Anne overtook us on the road & begged us to take Jenny. So I gave her an old shawl & a clasp knife by way of ratifying the bargain' and took the girl. Goodness knows what 6-year-old Jenny thought, especially when that night they reached Cadarga (in Queensland's western Downs). There TLM-P shaved her head (the usual means of dealing with lice infestations) and she was thoroughly washed by Mrs Galbraith, a 'a very kind old lady' and her servant, 'a German girl'. Jenny was then dressed in 'some of our children's clothes'. TLM-P's recollection was that 'she looked clean & pretty & much pleased with herself' and added that she 'used to sleep in our room'. In a diary for 16 October 1863, he 'asked Mr Reid to give Jinnie 6d. per week for me', possibly the same girl he recalled in his memoir. As Mary Anne later followed TLM-P and lived on the property, she did manage to stay near her daughter despite the 'bargain' not talk to her. First Nations people in TLM-P's world had very little power, but the ones he particularly remembers were assertive and resisted as much as possible.\\ |
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| Another of the stockman TLM-P remembered, Freddy, had a more typically unhappy story. TLM-P wrote that 'Freddy rejoined his tribe near Brisbane, took to drink, gave up his cleanly habits & I have little doubt did not live long.' He added that 'Rosie may remember meeting him in Queen Street, Brisbane on one occasion afterwards, when he recognised her & wished to renew an old acquaintanceship.'(p.53) Rosa's version was told in //Australian life: black and white// Chapter 2 with down-and-out looking 'Tambo' grabbing her hand when she was a guest at an official function - she was young and mortified. TLM-P also recounted his memory of the story of a First Nation boy he recalled as 'Charlie Coxen' (actually John Bungarie) who was taken from his family and raised with the family of Charles Coxen, including going to school with the Coxen sons. He did well at school but TLM-P recalled him expressing profound loneliness at being caught between two worlds. A more accurate, but no less sad, version of his life is at [[https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bungarie-john-29754|John Bungarie]] \\ | Another of the stockman TLM-P remembered, Freddy, had a more typically unhappy story. TLM-P wrote that 'Freddy rejoined his tribe near Brisbane, took to drink, gave up his cleanly habits & I have little doubt did not live long.' He added that 'Rosie may remember meeting him in Queen Street, Brisbane on one occasion afterwards, when he recognised her & wished to renew an old acquaintanceship.'(p.53) Rosa's version was told in //Australian life: black and white// Chapter 2 with down-and-out looking 'Tambo' grabbing her hand when she was a guest at an official function - she was young and mortified. TLM-P also recounted his memory of the story of a First Nation boy he recalled as 'Charlie Coxen' (actually John Bungarie) who was taken from his family and raised with the family of Charles Coxen, including going to school with the Coxen sons. He did well at school but TLM-P recalled him expressing profound loneliness at being caught between two worlds. A more accurate, but no less sad, version of his life is at [[https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bungarie-john-29754|John Bungarie]] \\ |