Personal Reminiscences of '53

95 Personal Reminiscences of '53. By MR. THOS. MATHEWSON. [•Read at a meeting of the Society on September 2nd, 1915.] Having left Liverpool with my parents in August, 1852, on an old tub named "The America," after five months voyaging we cast anchor in Moreton Bay on the 10th day of January, 1853. Whilst waiting for a small steamer to convey us to Brisbane, a number of insects (which we afterwards learnt to be "Lady Birds"), measuring some three inches from wing to wing, were observed flying through the rigging. We boys jumped to the 'Conclusion that these must be the mosquitoes of which we had so often heard, but needless to say our juvenile conjectures were soon dissipated by the affec tionate attention of the real article. When we arrived at Brisbane, my father, through Mr Henry Buckley, secured an engagement on a station described to us as being situated on the Darling Downs, which very name was full of fascination to us new chums. We were able to proceed as far as Ipswich on a small river steamer, and on the follow ing day our belongings were placed upon a bullock dray, the only means of transport available. At that time nearly every bullock driver was a ticket-of-leave man (or ex-convict). These drivers were all exceedingly fond of spirits, rum being their favourite drink, and at every roadside inn, few though they were at the time, a spree was indulged in which invariably end'ed in a free fight. In 1853 there was no hotel at the Swamp (now Toowoomba), indeed, I can remember nothing more than two bark huts, one of which was occupied at the time by the men who were making the bricks for the Royal Hotel, the first public house to be erected in Toowoomba. We did not pass through Drayton, but proceeded along the Westbrook and Jondaryan road towards Dalby, then called "Myall Creek," eighteen miles beyond which was the furthest-west hotel on our rente. After six or eight weeks travelling, we arrived . 'at 96 our destination, "Warkon," on the Balonne River, far beyond the Darling Downs and within 30 miles of Surat. This station was further west than any other in the Moreton Bay settlement along that route. Four miles west of Surat was "Talavera," a cattle station owned by Joseph Fleming; beyond that we knew nothing. Once a fort night a mailman on horseback passed Warkon. He went as far as Surat and then returned; I have to-day letters in my possesion which were written in Edinburgh in 1853, and brought to Warkon by that very mailman. Whilst travelling in 1867, some 250 miles south-west from Surat, I discovered that there were in that district many stations founded some years before we arrived at Warkon. There were, however, pioneered from New South Wales. At Warkon only a few blacks were employed about the station, but there were in the neighbourhood hundreds of wilder natives, who were called "Wady- galos," and who kept to the scrubs, one of which was, I learnt on good authority, about a hundred miles in length, being broken here and there by small plains. These wild blacks were responsible for many depreda tions, and although we remained for only thirteen months at Warkon two White men were killed during that brief time. One of these was Mr. Burke, the superintendent of Onedungal station, owned by Thos. Bell and Sons, and situated eight miles to the east of Warkon; the other was a squatter named Kettle, of Bogandilla, situated thirty miles towards the north-east. The blacks also frequently killed cattle. They knew, from the tracks, where the animals watered. Several of their number armed with heavy weapons known as "Emu Spears," were accustomed to conceal themselves in the branches of the trees above the watering places, and, whilst the animals were knee deep in the mud, to discharge their weapons simultaneously—usually securing one or two of the beasts. A certain amount of protection was afforded by the native police, whose barracks were at Wonti gumble, about fifteen miles north of Warkon. There were about a dozen troopers commanded by Lieutenant Fulford. They occasionally paraded the district, a.'d, if they-'leariit of any d^redation, they hurried to investi gate it. I remember once being alarmed on seeing the the whole force suddenly emerge from the forest, and with their commander at their head, charge at full speed 97 towards the blacks' camp sftuated some five hundred yards to the rear of our house. I was afterwards told that some sheep had been stolen from Onedungal, and that the police had adopted this method of intimidation to discover the guilty parties. In 1853, the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Mr. Witty, had his headquarters at Surat, and, accompanied by his orderly and a black trooper, he often passed Warkon clothed in his offiieial garb, with its profusion of gold lace. I remember the feeling of awe with which I, as a Iboy, eyed him on these occasions. It was he who dealt with all applications for new runs, and he had a peculiar method of delineating their boundaries. He had a horse which would jog a certain distance in a certain time, and with this horse, aided by a compass, he travelled ten or more miles in one direction, marking trees at various points along the boundary, thus indicat ing the number of blocks measured off. I recall another incident which Oiccurred in 1853. Mr. J. P. Bell (afterwards Sir Joshua Peter Bell, and Lietenant-Governor of Queensland), one day rode up to Warkon, asking if we had seen a 'man on foot pass dur ing the morning. On receiving a reply in the affirmative he borrowed an old horse-pistol and a piece of rope before continuing the chase. It was about two hours afterwards that. Mr. Bell returned leading the fugitive by means of the rope. He told us that the man had left Onedungal, leaving his sheep in the yard, this being in those days regarded as a very serious offence. Although the natives were particularly partial to the white man's beef and mutton, they had, in those early days abundant supplies of native game. Opossums were to be found in almost every hollow boxwood tree, the rivers and the lagoons swarmed wifth wild ducks, many of which were brought down by the boo^merang of the native as they were on the wing in large fiocks. A great luxury, too, when it could be found, was what the natives called "Sugar Bag." This was the honey-filled nest of the native bee, always found in the hollow branch of some tree. An opening having been made at the base of the deposit, the honey was run into whatever vessels were available. Native honey is .always very liquid, and I have seen quite a bucketful secured in this manner, 98 I have' spoken of th% emti spears which were used for killing cattie. These were spears from 10 to 12 feet long, and were originally made to icapture the bird which gives the weapon its name. On hunting expeditions one or two of these spears were carried by the gins, and if an emu were sighted a small bunch of emu feathers would be secured to some twig three or four feet from the ground; some of the blacks would ascend an overhanging tree, whilst the others would keep out of sight. Those in the.tree would then imitiate the young emu's cry, the swajdng feathers would attract the older bird, and it would be secured by spearing in just the same way as the cattle were secured at their watering places. .

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