This file is part of the following reference:

Loos, Noel (1976) Aboriginal-European relations in North , 1861-1897. PhD thesis, James Cook University.

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.Al30RIGINA.L-EUROP~4]\T RELJlTIOl~S

IN

II

by

NOEL AlJTIIONY LOOS

B.A. (QId.), lvi.it. Qual. (James Cook)

Thesis submitted as partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History at the James Cook University of in April 1976. 387

PART III

ABORIGINAL-EUROPEAN RELATIONS

IN TIfE

PACIFIED AREAS 38R CHi\J?TER 8

ABORIQ.INAL::.EUR.OPE1~J.T REL.A.TIONS I~r THE~ Pi\.CIFIED MtE.AS 1869-1897:

THE CREATION OF A MULTI}UlCI~~ SOCIETY

Until 1868, there was a state of almost complete hostility between the Aborigines of North Queensland and the invading l settlers. During 1868, the first stlccessful efforts were made to reach an acco~llodation with the Aborigines in the earliest settled parts of the I(en.:J.edy District; alld by 1869 the process h.ad spread so drwnatically that Cha/l-.les Eden 2 tenned it a lmovement t • The first recorded ex~~le of successfully Ilettil~ the· blacks in' after a period of open conflict occurred at 1,villicul1 Ch8.~tfield1 s l'Tatal D01\rnS on the Cape illver. 'VIl~en Chatfield toolc tl:le station over, he fot-1nd that it had beel1 almost untenable because of Aboriginal resistance from 1864 to 1867 but, by January 1868, he had very large numbers 3 of Aborigines peacefully settled on the run. In September 1868, tIle ....4..bori ..gines heLd been let in "at V.ane Creek fjh~:'the Belyando ,4 in Ja.nuary 1869 at Jarvisfield at the mouth of tIle Burdelcin al1d at '\Toodstock, about thirty miles south 5 west of Towllsville. George Bridgman allowed the Aborigines

1. On Larnmerriloor and Lyndll"urst amicable relations llad been established frolu tIle beginning. In most areas tl1ere was an initial period in which there was little or no violence. See ch. 4, pp. 138-9 and Bolton, A Thousand Miles Away, p. 98. 2. Eden, My Wife and I in Queensland, p. 211. 3. Vi. Chatfield, l'Iatal Do"w:ns, to P .lv1., 1301ven, 6 Jalluary 1869, encl. Q.S.A. COL/Al21, 1483 of 1869. See also Curr, The Australian Rac~, Vol. II, p. 468: Inspector Tompson and \V. Chatfield report on the Cape River Aborigil1es; P.D.T., 5 fJarch 1881, letter from Vi •.Chatfield. 4. W. Hickson, Vane Creek, to Col. Sec., 7 June 1869, Q.S.A. COL!Al27 , 2455 of 1869. 5. 1\1. \V. Reid, 'Voodstock, to Jwnes Gordon, P.Lv!., TOlvnsville, 31 March 1869, encl. Q.S.A. COL/A122, 1568 of 1869. These t"\![O stations 1!fere o'med by l=tobert T01ms & Co. 389

in to Fort Cooper, about thirty miles from Mackay in April 1869. ~s none of the neighbouring stations or plantations followed suit for over a year, he soon had all the Aborigines in the neighbourhood camped on his run v~lich induced him to apply for a reserve, a decision with far reaching consequences 6 during the 1870 1 s. By May 1869, it was claimed that the 7 Aborigines were wholly let in between Tovmsvi11e and Bowen. This ,vas an exaggeration but does indicate hO\\T tIle letting-in 'movement' had spread. At Strathdon, near Bowen, the Aborigines ,vere let in in early February 1869 and into the tOlyn, itself, 8 in early Iv.iay. The pastoralists made sure that the Aborigines understood and accepted their conditions for the new peace. Thus Hall Scott on Strathbogie near Bowen informed the government: 'We have Inade terms of friendship with the Native Blacks and have adlnitted them upon our stations'. 9 Such terms might vary lvith the landholder but, obviously, included a guarantee not to spear or disturb the cattle, or to fire the grass. On Jarvisfield and Woodstock, though the Aborigines ,tiere allo'led 'to hunt over all the country lleld by ••• TOlvns 10 & Co', their behaviour was 'without exception good'. On Strathdon, the Aborigines promised Bode not to kill cattle, to keep to certain parts of the run alla. not to hunt lvhen cattle vrere llearby. Bode then persuaded the otl'ler colonists to allow the Aborigines to fish at the mouth of the Don Ril-~r.

6. P.D.T., 10 April 1869; G. Bridwnan to A.H. Palmer, Col.

Sec., 31 October 1870, U.S.A. LAN/AI 94 , Lands Open NOIf 19, Mackay. See ch. 11. 7. P.D.T., 15 May 1869, a letter signed 'Within 100 Miles of the Burdekin'. 8. Branston, C.P.S., B01ven, to Col. Sec., 7 !\1ay 1869, Q.S.A. COL/A122, 1662 of 1869; P.D.T., 8 May 1869. 9. J. Hall Scott, Strathbogie, Kennedy District, to Col. Sec., 10 May 1869, Q.S.A. COL/AI 25 , 2071 of 1869. 10. Reed, Woodstock, to Gordon, P.M., 'To1Vllsville, 31 March 1869, loco cit. See Curr, The Australian F~ce, Vol. III, p. 21, for Aborigines being punished for firing grass. 11. P.D.T., 20 February 1869; P.D.T., 6 March 1869. 390

After from five to eight years of violence and bloodshed the dispossessors and the disl)oi;Sessed seem to have readily accep~e.J.. d th"18 new 1n1.. . t·~at·1ve.12 This initial letting in in North Queensland depended upon a variety of factors. Hunlane pastoralists such as Chatfield, Bridgman, and Bode were eager to end the hos­ tilities and there was strong support for this by vocal 13 humanitariaIl..8 within Bowen itself- As well, there was a significant change in the balance of power. Although the colonists on the stations were still outnumbered, in many areas, the number of Aborigines had declined as had their lvill and ability to overtly resist EurOIJean intr'tlsion. As settlers were aware of this, communal fear was not as great an 1nC1. °tement t 0 Vl0"1ence. 14 One of the factors that made the people realize this near Bow'en 1vas the \vithdra1val of the 1{ative Police detacrunent froln tl1e Don River to Dalryilll)le in 1868 as the ,.A.borigiIles 15 llad beg'un ;noving about much more freely. This measure ,'las IJrOiupted by the need for tllis detachment to serve part- t 1me· as a goId escort on --lohu e Cape River. 16 Indeed, the ~epressed economic situation that de111anded this compromise was probably a significant factor in popular­ ising the letting in movement. The pastoral slump of 1866-9 made the expense of keeping the Aborigines off the runs much less bearable. As a contemporary had explained, the enormous

12. ibid.; J. Gordon, P.M., Townsville, to Col. Sec., 29 April 1869, Q.S.A COL/A122, 1568 of 1869: 'I am happy to state that the natives of this district are now shelving a strong disposition to be friendly'. See also f.n. 3 and 4 above and P.D.T., 10 April 1869. 13. N.A. Loos, Frontier Conflict in the Bowen District 1861-1874, ch. IV, 'Black Meets White', especially pp. 175-184. 14. ibid., pp. 177-181. 15. Pol. Com., to Col. Sec., 8 February 1869, 2.S.A. COL/Al17, 473 of 1869; P.D.T., 9 May 1869. 16. P.D.T., 9 May 1869. 391

amount of COl.lntry operl.ed up had meant that there vrere too felv l~ative Police camps, and this and the size of tIle runs 'compelled every squatter to keep a larger staff of men to protect each other than would othenvise have been required to work the stations'. It is also probable that the threat to their labour supply of the gold rushes to Mt. Wyatt, Cape I-liver, and later, Ravellsvrood, Gilbert River, alld a second rush to Mt. Wyatt encouraged the pastoralists to I7 come to terms with the Aborigines on their runs. The process of letting the Aborigines in after an initial period during which their ability to resist was broken was repeated throughout North Queensland during the I8 whole period covered by this research. Sometimes action ,vas initiated b)'" an individual settleriand applied only to

17. P.D.T., 20 November 1869, letter signed fA Black Protectort • See ch. 5, pp. 193-6. See also H. Branston, C.P.S., BOllen, to Col. Sec., 7 ~ylay 1869, and l\:finute, D.T. Seymour, Q.S.A. COL/A122 , 1662 of 1869; Bolton, A Thousand Miles luvay, p. 98. 18. Sub Insp. A.D. Douglas, N.P., Cairns, to Insp. Isley, Cairns, 1 March 1878, Q.S.A. POL/12B/Gl; J. Davis, Mayor, Cookto\rn, to Col. Sec., 16 September 1881, encl. Q.S.A. COL/A344, 4680 of 1882; P.D.T., 27 October 1883, from Barberton Advertiser, for letting in of some Aborigines at Herberton; W. McDowell, Cashmere, Upper Herbert, to Col. Sec., 15 November 1880, Q.S.A. COL/A3 03 , 6323 of 1880. A. fvlayou, Sec., Amelioration of Abori'gines COIlJIllittee, Thornborough, to Col. Dec., 24 November 1882, 2. S.A. COL/A351, 6882 of 1882; 2ueenslander, 26 June 1886, p. 1007, for Aborigines tentatively coming into the tmnlship of Cairns; C. Masterton, Daintree, 12 October 1891, to Actil~ P.M., Port Douglas, encl. Q.S.A. COL/139, 1581 of 1894. This is'associated with the Atherton ini~iative. T.e.C. Coventry, Stanthorpe, to Col. Sec., 14 February 1887, and Coventry to Chief Sec., Griffith, 8 October 1886, encl. Q.S.A. COL/A490, 1328 of 1887, for admission of Aborigines on the ; Towers Herald, 30 December 1884, for letting in of Abor­ igines at Cook~own, and also press cuttings from Cooh~own Independent, February and early March before 5 March, enc. Insp. H. Fitzgerald, Cooktown, to Pol. Com., 5 March 1885, Q.S.A~ COL/A422, 3053 of 188~; ·Pol. Com's Report', 1897 V. & P., Vol. II, p. 31. 19 a small number of Aborigines in a limited area. At other times, a nwnber of settlers decided to ailiuit the Aborigines and ma~e deliberate efforts to effect this, action that could involve local authorities, police, Native Police, 20 and even the colonial government. Indeed the lettil~ in of Aborigines at Atherton to defeat the resistance from the rainforest was but the most extensive and complex example of such involvement;l It is perhaps fitting that the Police Commissioner's P~port of 1897 \rhich inaugurated the period of gevernmental protection for the Aborigines evidenced the nor~mality of the letting in process when it noted, in passil~, that the eoen miners had only recently voted to ..L.} a1 -low ~le A"borlg1nes.. 1n.· 22 The Native Police played both a passive and an active role in determining when the Aborigines were admitted. When the Police Commissioner removed the Native Police from one place to anot11er Vt-here the needs were greatel', he 1Vg.S removing an aggressive force which made it difficult, if not impossible, for a station 011uer in a 1"fell patrolled area to reach an accommodation with the Aborigines. Thus, "'

19. Sub Insp. A.D. Douglas, N~P., Cairns, to Insp. Isley, Cairns, 1 March 1878, U.S.A. POL/12B!Glj W. McDowell, Cashmere, Upper Herbert, to Col. Sec., 15 November 1880, Q.S.A. COL/A303 , 6323 of 1880, for a neigllbouro1 s account of Scott's letting the Aborigines in to the Valley of Lagoons. Note also the successful letting in at Lyndhurst, Lammermoor, Natal Downs, Fort Cooper already referred to in footnotes 1, 3, 4, of this chapter. 20. J. Davis, Mayor, Cooktown, to Col. Sec., 16 September 1881, encl. U.S.A. COL/A344, 4680 of 1882. See the rest of this file for an interesting; in.terplay of private and local government initiative with Native Police and government involvement. J.C. Davies, Chairman, Amelioration of Aboriginals Co~nittee, Thornborough, to Col. Sec., 24 November 1882, and Minute J.M., 27 December 1882, encl. 2.S.A. COL/A351, 6882 of 1882. 21. See ch. 6, passim. 22. 'Pol. Com's Report', 1897 V. & P., Vol. II, p. 31. 393

Christison of Lwmmermoor, in the early 1860's,and Palmer of Gamboola,in the 1880's requested that the Native Police be kept off their runs when they wished to reach an acco~llodation 23 with the Aborigines. The native Police officer was in the best position to judge when Aboriginal resistance in his area had been broken to such an extent that the detach­ ment could be withdrawn to leave the pastoralists, or the pastoralists and ordinary police, to control the Aborigines. If the Aborigines resumed their raids on the stock and this could not be checked by the locals, the nearest Native

Police detachment could make aTh' occasional patrol to 24 'disperse' the Aborigines again. However, with the with­ dra,val of the Native Police, the settlers had to face the possibility of an accomillodation with the Aborigines. 25 The Native Police frequently played a more active role in ending the conflict. They tried to influence the attitude of the settlers as to whether they kept the Aborigines out or let them in, and how they treated them on

23. r~,1.11. Bemlett, .Christi~on of Lam.mermoor, pp. 82-85; Ullder Col. Sec. to E. Palmer, Gwmboola Station, Mitchell River, 17 November 1882, 2.S.A. COL/G19, 2091 of 1882; E. Palmer, Linden, Parramatta, to Col. Sec., 13 March 1883, Q.S.A. COL/A356, 1303 of 1883. 24. P.D.T., 12 June 1869; Petition of Bowen farmers to Col. Sec., 22 May 1872, encl. Q.S.A. COL/Al69, 1020 of 1872. Also enclosed: S. Yeates to Chief Sec., 18 May 1872; and Barron, Acting Pol. Com., to Col. Sec., 9 July 1872. Here Barron reports the disI)ersal and the transfer of the detachment. P.D.T., 2 October 1880, letter to the editor signed 'Tete a Tete'; P.D.T., 16 June 1878, from M.M.; P.D.T., 11 January 1879, letter from E.G. Smith, Suttor Hotel; P.D.T., 18 March 1871, a request for Native Police to return to disperse. 25. Laos, Frontier Conflict in the BO'w"en District 1861-1874, p. 175. 394

26 the runs. As lyell they seem to have sometimes taken an active role in bringing in the Aborigines and establishing a peace betlveen the two races. Thus, Sub Inspector O'Connor tried to establish a truce l1ith the local group at Laura in 27 1879, Sub Inspectors Carr and Brooke were instrumental in 28 bringing some Aborigines in to COOkt01nl in 1881, and Sub Inspector Carr br0ught in several Aboriginal groups to towns 29 and stations in the Cook District in 1883. Such evidence, indicating the role of the Native Police in admitting the Aborigines to the stations and townships, is scanty, like all else to do with Native Police; but as this force was familiar with the Aboriginal haunts and habits in each area and a1vare of tlleir aggressive capability_,it is reasonable to assume that this functioll of the force was not 1.lnCommon. There is also evidence to indicate that sometimes the Aborigines took the initiative in ending the hostilities when they realized that the settlers were less dangerous. Thus, the HerbertonAdvertiser reported:

26. P.D.T., 13 April 1867, l\4cDougall's letter to the editor alld Zcopil Under Col. Sec. to l\rlcDougall, 26 February 1867. See Laos, op. cit., pp. 144, 174. Sub. Insp. A.D. Douglas, N.P., C'airns, to Insp. Isley, Cairlls, 1 March 1878, Q.S.A. POL/12B/Gl; Relieving P.M., G.P.M.Murray, to Under Col. Sec., 13 November 1889, Q.S.A. COL/139, 9948 of 1889; Sgt. J. Whiteford, Musgrave Station, to Insp~ Lamond,Cookto1V"n, 4 lvlay 1897 Ltypescript cop17 encl. Insp. J. L~nond, Cooktown, to Pol. Com., 17 July 1897, 2.S.A. COL/140; Insp. J. L~aond, CooktO\fll, District Order no. 16 of 1897, ~.S.A. POL/12D/A2. 27. Queenslander, 15 February 1879. 28. P.D.T., 23 July 1881,"froiu Cooktovrn Courier, 13 Ju.ly 1881; R.T. Hartley, P.M., Cairns, to Under Col. Sec., 31 August 1881, U.S.A. Lands ~s. 81-50, 12284 of 1881. 29. Sub Insp. Carr, Barron River, to Col. Sec., 14 July 1883, 2.S.A. COL/A366, 3847 of 1883. Sub Insp. J. Brooke also helped Palmer contact the Aborigines at Gwnboola. See E. Palmer, Linden, Parramatta, to Col. Sec., 13 March 1883, Q.S.A. COL/A356, 1303 of 1883 and enclosures. 395

About twenty of our black brethren came into town on Thursday from the Silver CWllP, 1lfl~ere they have beell Canll)ed for the last five 1veeks ••• and are predominantly very anxious to I1 s it do"\vn along a lfhite fellolV'u, and to that end have established a cwnp not far from the smelting works. 30 At Bo"\ven and Cookto;vn, the llborigines 1vere most allXious to 31 come into the town despite the fears of some of the settlers. There are also records of such overtures not being accepted by cautious settlers. Thus when some Aborigines appeared on the north shore of the , the Police Magistrate Clerk of Petty Sessions and Mayor with one or two other citizens ,vent to Ineet them in a boat• •••' t1velve gins, including picaninies, and three blackfellows, one of whom bore the marks of an old wound on his body ••• all evinced a desire to come over to the t01vl1, and apt>eared reluctant to return to their native haunts after receiving the blankets, and being informed by signs that their presence was not desired. 32 liecords of suell incidents are fei1 but suggest that the Aborigines were not merely passive respondents to the settler initiative. l\£ter years of violent conflict, the Aborigines were understandably eager to be let in as J. Earl who had let in two groups of Aborigines pointed out. He observed that .the first settlers were treated as bitter enemies but that 'after t11ey have fought the <.""vllite man to -their hearts ~iil

30. P.D.T., 27 October 1883, from Herberton Advertiser. 31. P.D.T., 6 February 1869; P.D.T., 3 April 1869. See also P.D.T., 23 July 1881, from Cooktown Courier, 13 July 1881, for account of four Aborigines coming voluntarily from Cape Bedford to Cooktown ·with the consent of the tribe of that locality'. They acco~ panied Sub Insp. Brooke. 32. 11.1i., 7 !vlay 1870. See also II.A., 11 February 1887: t;;lve Aborigines from the Russell River expressed their intention of 'sitting down' permanently at Carrington but a~ they had abundance of arms and wnmunition from previous raids the settlers 'were alarmed. See also R.A., 30 September 1887, when a party of Aborigines visited Kelly's store at Atherton. 396

content they never forget the first white man that t~~es 33 them in and makes an asylum o£ rest for them, • This, in part, explained the dramatic ease with which such men as Chatfield and BridgID~n established working relationships with the Aborigines. In a dangerous world suddenly and inexplicably t asylum t 1vas granted. The period ~w"hen cOIlliTIull.ications had just been established between the two races was one fraught with fear and potential danger. An ex-Native Police Officer wrote: My eA~erience has led me to believe that when the blacks are let in to the stations and fed they conmlit fewer depredations on cattle but at first it is very dangerous for the whites as 1V"itl1out great care and fi'rmness in their treatment they are not to be depended upon but after they have been in for some time this danger passes. I do not remember any blacks committing any personal outrages after they have been let in for twelve or eighteen months individual cases are kno"\vn but this has been most likely to revenge some injury. 34 The Aborigines' failure to understand or accept the terms offered, sometimes led to disaster. Thus Henry Williams of Walshtolffi was killed when he attempted to establish co~nun­ ications lV'itll the local Aborigines II He believed the llborigines ,vho had allo'w"ed thenlselves to be seen ,vere indicating their desire to come in and led a group of unarmed miners towards 35 them. Similarly, E. '\Vatson of Pine Creek Station on tIle head of the Pxcher River was killed and a companion wounded only a fe"\\" 1\Teeks after "\Vatson had pernlitted tIle ilborigines to come in. Such apparent ingratitude incensed the colonists

33. J. Earl,Butchers :Hill, to J• Hamilton, ~\fj."·L.A., 5 August 1894, encl. Q.S.A. COL/139, 13850 of 1894. TIle groups lvere on tIle and at Butcllers Hill near Cooktown. 34. Fred Margetts, Central Auction Mart, Townsville, to J. Hanlilton, M.L.A., 6 August 1894, encl. Q.S.A. COL/139, 13850 of 1894. 35. Inquest of I-Ienry Viilliams, Engineer, killed by ...l\..borigines near 'v~alsllto,vn 011 17 August 1873, 2. S.A.. JUS/I\f37, 182 of 1873. Cookto~~ Aborigines Soon After Being Let In. 398

,rho apI)!auded the subsequent disl)ersal of five Aboriginal camps during vthich 8tlb InSI)ector Urquhart made sure 11e 36 'dealt with' all of Watson's murderers. As late as July 1897 Inspector Lmnond 1varned that, l'lllat must have been one of the last Aboriginal groups to be let in in Queensland, might 'become a seriou.s trouble agaill' ,,(hen tlley 'begin to 37 kn01f their 01vn strengtll'. The letting in process 1vit11 its concomitant tensions was repeated with one Aboriginal group after another to the very eve of the era of protection.

* * * * *

In addition to humaJ:litarian motives li'11ich tIle advocates of letting in tended to stress, there was strong economic 38 motivation. Indeed, Charles Eden defined the 'letting-in' of Aborigines to a station in purely economic terms: let in ••• tllat is, allolved and encouraged to come and make themselves useful, shepherding a few sheep, chopping wood, stripping bark, and a thousand odd jobs to which they are adapted, receiving in return protection as long as they behaved well, and little presents of blankets, tomahawks etc. 39 Indeed, in the pacified areas each race provided economic resources for the other to exploit. The .F_borigines "\rere freed from some of the more serious restraints previously

36. c. C., 14 1\iay 1889. 37. Insp. J. Lamond, Cool~own, to Pol. Com., 4 July 1897, LPopll encl. 2. S .A. COL/140. There is no registration number in this copy froll the Police Co~riissioner~ office. 38. C.P., 4 August 1888, editorial; A.H. Zillman, P.M., Herberton, to Under Col. Sec., 15 March 1889, encl. g.S.A. COL/l39, 11961 of 1890; F.T. Wimble, 7M.L.A., Brisbane, to Col. Sec., B.D. Morehead, 20 March 1889, encl. Y.S.A. COL/139, 11961 of 1890; Loos, Frontier Conflict in the Bo,~ren District 1861-1874, Pi). 170-174, 193; Lumholtz, .t\rllO~ Cannibals, p. 336; R.B. Anning, Sun on the Right, Unllub11shed typed 11lanUScrlpt, James Cook History Dept), pp. 12, 32. 39. Eden, My Wife and I in Queensland, p. 211. 399

OI)er[1ti~ng OIl their traclitional life anel 11011 fOUlld t11I3..t tlley could earn food, tobacco, alcoll01, OIJi'lli""TI or clotlliIlg irl excl1ange for t11eir 1 abour or tlleir vrOl11en.

l\..borigillal labour had 111a:ny obvious ad.vantageso It ~\fas

Illitially, i.Je, "letS 131e:n.tif7-11 al1U reo"dily availalJle so t11c?.t it cotlld oftell by 'utilised ill accordance ·witll tIle deraands, a fe)'{ .ll.borigi:nes bein.g en1l)loyed IJel~{aaneiJ.tly or selui-IJenilfLllel1tl:r, tIle others beillg sellt for "\;rlle:n lleeded. T11us, tIle ()ue811s1allder described tlle s'uccess of tIle IIilde'bralld brothers 011 tIle DOll lliver: l\Iecessarily vlith all tiliE' po.JCJato gro-\ring cL:nd other "work considerable labour is required. At first, starting some sixteen years ago ••• white labour was oyed to the extent of five or six mell, 1,110 11ad to be l)aid

258. l)er # 1v-eelc. Filldillg th.at at this ra,te tlley Tfould soon go to the wall, Messrs. Hildebrand hit upon the idea of eil11)loying tIle l1ative hIaclcs; they 11ave t,vo boys alvlays residiIlg 1~7ith tllefil 1v110 Ce,,!l do allY fanll 1TOrl( eveXl to l)lo·ughillg ••• O\ihen ex'tra ila:nds are require¢L, suell as at I)ot,Lto IJlalltirtgor diggillg, or the maize llarvest, or fOl~ ll0eing, 'lord is seIlt to tIle tribe of l)lacks beloll.gi:ng to tIle district, allcl SOEle £tre at OIlce told off by tl1eir 'cl1iefs t • l.'lley are ·vrell fed a:nd clothed fLl1d little if allY lilouey. llt tIle tinle of Iny visi·t, tIle POtt1tO field lool£ed like a Ii.laclr=.ay IJlalltatiol1. ill COl1.Sequ.ellce of tIle score of blacks IJicl£illg Ul), sOl"-t..iIl,g and bagg:i11g tIle lJroduce. TIle blaclcs are also enliJlo:fed by the otller Gerlna,l). settlel"'S of tIle district. 40 T:J,c:; ILborigilles ",'lere often very useful for certaill k:illds of rO;~Lgh., menial, or casual labou.r vrllicll no one else ,vould do" or do ecollonlically. :l'llUS, _t.\.l)origines l~lere doing Elellial . ~ 41 ~ . . 42. \!{or!c ln4tlle .Je"o"\rl1s, 1VOrKl.ng for illlilers, for small farmers, o for temnsters

40. P.D.T., 5 l~oven}ber 1881, froILl .J6he f';ueen.slallder. See also 'TIle l-\.ustralian Black', Nevlsl.:8i..'per Cutting Book: i\lbum (lvl.L. 1\1;38 1893, cartoll 110. 4), fOD l~elialJili.JlJY of Aboriginal labour. 41. P.D.T., 27 October 1887; P.D.T., 25 September 1880, editorial. 42. P.D.T., 10 Ju~ne 1876; Ii. Tal'bot , l~e·y; IliduoGn. -valle~y·, to Sgt. Stubbs, BO\'.~en, 12 October 1892, $S.jl~ POLf/lIB/Gil, p. 450; I~ot11, Coolrto1Ill, to Pol. ConI., 2 l:tUgUSt 1898, encl. Q.S.A. COL/142, 9944 of 1898: 'easily earning food by "dollyi:ngH for tIle lui:ners t. 43. .B. Kelly, Atherton, to Col. Sec., 19 October 1894, Q.S.A. COL/139, 12292 of 1894. ~ packers,44 for sm~ll1-11ers,45 ana f or sugar p 1anters.46 As has l)een no.Jved, the beclle-de-ruer int1.l1stry \~{as delJGlldent on the cheap labour of Aborigines as was the pearlshell .. d . ~""le ~ded. 47 · b - . indust ry 11.1.h ell Sl){lnun1ng 1. vers 'W"ere ..\.1. ':: A Orl.glnes l'{ere eSl)ecially usefl.il to settlers iIl 11.elvly OIJened up COulltry, clea.. riIlg scrub, carting tiruber, hoeillg, lvood splitting, looking after unfenced cattle and sheep, finding lost animals, and,not least, acting as informants against threatened 48 Aboriginal attacks. Aborigines proved their usefulness to the pastoralist of Nortll Queensland.' Sonie 1ljere employi!lg local ...llborigines 49 on stations before the gold rushes but Bolton's conclusion that, after the discoverY,of gold many stations would have found it difficult to keep going except for Aboriginal 50 labour is '\vell founded. .£\. reI)ort in the Nortllerll 11rgus

44. P.D.T. ,20 tviay 1876; C"C., 5 November 1895. 45. B01ven IIistorical Society, 'John \Vitll11all: as told by his daughter and sons'. (Unpublished illS. at Bowen). 46. T.e.C. Coventry, Tenterfield, to Chie~ Sec., Griffith, 8 October 1886, encl. Q.S.A. COL/A490, 1328 of 1887, Villele Plantation, near Bloomfield River; Queenslander, 28 February 1886, p. 349, reports 200 Aborigines employed at Villela Station, Bloomfield River. 47. See ch. 7, pp. 313-17 and IllSp. J. stuart, Brisban.e, to Pol. COlll., Gayndah, 19 Itiarch 1898, .2.8 ....4.. POL/I, p.29. 48. Wimble to Col. Sec., 20 March 1889, encl. Q.S.A. COL/139, 11961 of 1890. See also Sen. Cons. D. Casey, Port Douglas, to Sub Insp. Galbraith, Berberton, 21 December 1893, encl. Q.S.A. COL/139, 1581 of 1894; Eden, My Wife and I in Queel~land, pp. 90-91. 49. Such as Christison of Lammermoor, Fulford of Lyndhurst, Chatfield of Natal D01VllS and apparently the ~~~nings of P~edy Springs. See Bennett, Christison of L~linermoor, pp. 56-95. Anning, Sun on the Right, pp. 12, 13. 50. Bolton, 'Valley of Lagoons', p. 109. Mention of Aborigines employed on stations is frequent, e.g. F.L. Jardine, Somerset, to Col. Sec., 16 December 1870, Q.S.A. COL!Al52, 285 of 1871; C.P., 31 August 1887; P.D.T., 5 November 1881; P~,D.T.,61viarcll 1867; P.D.T., 21 iv[ay 1870; Eden, . Ivly "Wife alld I in QueenslanC!" PI). 90-91, 106. 401

ill 1875 iildico.lted th.L"tt in tIle 1valre of -tJhe Palnler rusll, ; " 51 .A.bOl~iginal laboll1~ ,vas in gl""ca,t aeU1Etl1U. IIlitially, soutllern

lllJorigines "'(rere en:l)loyed. TIlliS, Eden, 1~"ritil1,g of ~tl1e 1860 t S before ,Al)origi:nes 1Iere let ill, clairned t11ere Tiere gellerally one or two on each run, he 11inlself . 52 Inerl a:.nd tJleir 1ilves. l1o"vrever, at Larrrrnernloor, in 1881, Christison had 150 Aborigines COllStal~ly oyed.,53 'while

Clle",tfield. of I·ratal D01Vl1.S l~1'as tIle la"rgest en11)loyer of suell

1 abour in tIle Bovrell J)i strict D.l1d T{£LS SO der)e!ldent 011 tIle

". • '" ''1 54 z\.borigi1188 tllat 110 c culd ~not 11&Ve rUll si1eep 'Ul'ttl101Lt -Cl1elH. Idore was made of the Cloncurry District in 1899. It Vlas rel)orted tllat 76 local l1.bol~igi:nes "Viere IJcrr:nanel1.tly el:1l)loyed on tIle

stations Tfitllin [l,bollt one 11undred miles I raditlS of Clollcurl~Y liliile others of the 108 still semi-nomadic _iliorigines did

-; '1 • - • t ], . ""'.J 55 caa JObS ~o emen tnelr UleG.

Tile cliclle tllat 11.borigin.al labour "\~rej,lsusefttl only ill the pastoral industries, the fisheries, and the initial t~ ClearJ.llg'- • OJ:..t:.' . 119 "la,llC1... 56 1vas l.nV8"1"".. J..da~ve·j. d repea:'t""l·eel. y ll1. 'hIl\orTJll, ..

Tablelalld f01.lnd tile ;:t'bori la"boll!" so val-_Lable as late as 1898 that they vigorously clliq)aigned to deny the Chinese farmers access to this labour pool. They alleged that the Clli:nese fD..rIilers ,[ere Sllpplyil1g Opirull to the .t"lborigil1es", Itoth concluded tllat tl1is 1vas un.true and tlla..t, in fact, tIle

Clli:nese tIle .A,borigilles better ELnd treated tllelll Ti"itIl 1.:101"'e

respect. TIle Ilul1dred EurOl)ea..n farnlers of tile ...:ltllertoll District iIl

51. C.C., 13 ldarch 1875, frOill l'J'ortllern .A.rgus. 52. .Edel1~, L

1898 had per~mits for 116 Aborigines while the two hundred Chinese farmers em.ployed on.ly bet1reen fifty and sevellty. There lv-ere over four hundred .ilborigines of all ages in the district. The Chinese 1vll0 "ere paying quite a high rent to t4e European farmers insisted that they could not make their farms pay \vitl'lout the use of ...L\.bol~iginal labour. At this time over he"lf the land ill the district lvas \\Torked by 57 the Chinese. Indeed, European resentment of Chinese access to Aboriginal labour had been building up from at least late 1891, less than tTfO years after 11eace ,'{as made 58 with the Aborigines of the Atherton rainforest. The attractiveness of Aborigin~l labour in perfonning such Inenial but essential jo13s as carting \'iood and 1vatel" lvas further evidenced by the report that, after the Aborigines were let 59 60 in at Ivlaytol'ffi on the Palmer, the Chinese 1rere not employed. In 1895, there was another report that, on the Palmer, the 61 Aborigines had completely replaced Chinese labour• .tl. reading of the nelvspapeI's and reluiniscences of nineteentll century North Qlleensland reveals unmistakably the importance of the labour of Aboriginal women. Very frequently they were the first Aborigines contacted and taken into the stations as domestics-or concubines, even 62 before th~ cessation of hostilities. They then could act 63 as emissaries to their hunted relations. Someone who had

57. Roth Atherton, to Pol. Com., 20 October 1898,~yped cop;? encl. Q.S.A. COL/139 (no registration number). 58. Zillman, P.M., Herberton, to Under Col. Sec., 14 December 1891, and Const. J. Higgins, Atherton, to Sub Insp. Galbraith, Herberton, hO August 1893, encl. 2.S.A. COL/139, 823 of 1895. 59. gueenslander, 8 March 1890, p. 438. 60. pueenslander, 27 September 1890, p. 582. 61. Queenslander, 26 January 1895, p.150. 62. Loos, Fro11tier COlulict in the B01ren District 1861-1874, pp. 180, 198; P.D.T.: 20 February, 3 April, 10 April, 1 May, 22 May, 5 June 1869. 63. Loos, op. cit., pp. 180, 198; P.D.T., 20 February 1869. 403

kn01Vw n n0rth and nOl,.th-l~rest Queensland in the early 1870 1 s described the usefulness of the typical Aboriginal station domestic: In the far~a'1ay back country the gins as domestics are invaluable, and being gentle with children make good nurses; and ,rr}len proI)erly trailled ,

Eden's account of station life in tIle 1860' S sUPIJorts this conclusion. I-Ie eilllJloyed tYlO P....boriginal lvome:a, one as the baby's nurse, the other as general help: 'Kitty served our purpose admirably, an.d ,vith constant looking after, lvould help to lv-asll, s11reep out, and scrub the house, and make herself very useful. She rode as well as well as Dick. She knew all the horses by name and would go and catch 65 any particular one you wanted l • The editor of the Cairns Morning Post, similarly attested to the value of Aboriginal labour, in general, while encompassing the role of the women: Is it not within the recollection of every wan who kn01V'S }-~orth Queensland, tllat casual abol~iginaJl labour has been the salvation of the wives of pioneer miners and pastoralists. Without such labour the settlement of the North would have been retarded if not prevented.66 Capitalists 1!lere not tIle only ones to exploit .L\.boriginaJl female labour. The working classes could often avoid the most unattractive tasli:s. A BO'w'en resident described ho\v her lvl1ite servant hired all l-\.boriginal \~·onlan: Biddy's a superior girl, 'Vho f s moved in f igher splleres,

64. 'The Australian Black', Sydney Morning Herald, Newspaper Cuttil1g Book: Album (M.L. 118S. 1893, carton no. 4)•. The date lvas amitted frolIl the cutting. 65. Eden, My Wife and I in pueensland, p. 108. 66. Iv~orning Post, 31 October 1902. Slle says as folks as kno1fs her \rell Would take her an~vhere.

Oh yes, she'll do the parlour hout, But sweep the kitchen floor She really can't demean herself, And really won't, that's more.

She hired a gin, and Biddy 1101'[ Inspects her sweep the floor, And gives~r o~m directions From her stock of household lore. 67 Employment was not strictly assigned to Aboriginal women in accordance with the sexual. division of labour of contemporary

Europe as Eden has already indicatedo Inspector Douglas who had long experience in the Native Police reported that many stations employed Aboriginal women as 'stockmen', especially in areas ''lhere tIle Inale popula,tion had decreased dispr01Jortionately: 'tIle), could ride lv-ell and do good 1york 68 as stoclonen'• It is unfortunately rare that the colonists reported on the modified Aboriginal society. One COmTI1entator, however, described a reversal of roles in the new society in which the l'/oman 'Vias 'tIle breadl1inn.er, tIle tobacco IJrovider and general provider of the camp' 1vl1ile the filen produced littl,e or notllillg. This ,vas very different from the role of tIle ·sexes in traditiollal .A.borigil1al society 1'{here, thOtlgh tIle l~romell provided much, the Inerl had a very ilnIJortal1.t role in providing the larger game and much of the fish. The article, published in 1903, referred to a group close to a town and it is likely that as SOlue t0111ns becarn.e more sophisticated, there was less need for the labour of Aboriginal men, but still a great demand for the women as domestics. The writer clainled tllat th.is had resulted in t1:1e 1'{omen becoming more

67. P.D.T., 23 August 1884, 'A Queensland Grievance', B.C.P., 23 July 1884. 68. Insp. A. Douglas, Brisbane, to Pol. Com., 1 December 1892, Q.S.A. COL/A717, 14199 of 1892. . 405

assertive in tlleir relations 1vitil their husbands, ill fa.ct dominating them, and becoming more confident and aggressive in their relations with the settlers. She wrote: With regard to our sable sisters there is a great contrast between the meek, patient slave of the bush, allvays toiling in the rear of her lord and master; ••• and her sister aboriginal of the back settlements. The services of the latter are in request and well aware she is of this fact. She precedes her husband both in the line of march or in negotiations for remuneration and her demands are not characterized by Inodesty. • •• TIle bump ••• of self esteem heconies enormously developed in these ladies. "They rule the Roost, tI and to dislodge thenl from tlleir perch viiIl req*uire more a...stuteness than tlleir lords seenl to possess. 69 The writer then gave several exwmples of this role reversal. Indeed the greater use found for female labour in the towns helps to explain the contrast often remarked between Aboriginal men in the towns and in the country. Men lost their confidence in this new situation, especially in the environment of the tovm 'blacks' camp'. On the stations tl~ey 11ad at least found a Ineallingf'ul role 1vith a certain if inferior status in the newly emerging colonial society.70 Thus, in 1899, within 100 miles of Cloncurry, 60 of the 76 71 Aborigines perruanently employed were men. The labour and sexual services of the women were always in demand. Through both they often received an intimate understandi!~ of the colonists denied to tlleir men, eSlJecially in tIle t01vns, and felt less pO'w"erless in tlie nelV situation. It is indisputable that the colonists of North Queensland

69. N.Q.R., 20 December 1903, 'Aboriginal Jottings'. 70. P.D.T., 16 June 1877, letter from W. Chatfield Jun. See also the editor's COllllilent where the difference is drawn between Aborigines working on Natal Downs and 'the s_mieocivilized arid 1vholly demore.,lized blacks that infest the streets and the jetty'. 71. Sgt. M. Green, Cloncu.rry, to Insp. La.rnond, JiJorrna.nton, 8 June 1899, Q.S.A. POL/14B/15. 406

found Aboriginal labour useful and sometimes essential. Those who used it most effectively had to adjust their expect­ ations or adalJt tlleUlselyes to accOIDlllodate Aboriginal patterllS of behaviour. Thus Chatfield cO~llented: These people, if properly managed, are docile, intelligent, and for a short time hard"vrorking, but tile migratorJ­ instinct is too strongly developed to be overcome by a coup de main. 72 Christison found them 'very good servants considering their nature and waI~ of training' and believed 'the North Queens­ land aborigin~l ••• capable of a fair degree of civilization if pr nerly d It with'. Other colonists lilio were un~le

or un1zlilling to adaIlt tlleir labour ne8ds to tIle lLborigines strongly criticised their unreliability or their inability 74 to 1V"ork hard for lOllg. It is not surprising that the Aborigines often refused

to tie tJ.lemselves d01f,n to do tIle menial drudgery rnany colonists eA~ected of them, especially as the remuneration was generally so poor. Many could subsist as they had done before contact or find en~loyment with other colonists. As tlleir tl~aditional tool. kit was often enriched by steel axes, knives, fish hooks, and metal or glass implements and they could obtain clothing from the settlers, much of the time tlley -would have previously Sl)ellt in Inanufacturing traditional artefacts - as ·vlell as tile tilile SIJent on neglected cerelnonies and rituals - was available for food producip~ activities. Unlike the kanakas, few were legally bound to work for an e111ployer so they could ofte:n escape from tlnpleasal1t ",'fork

72. P.D.T., 16 June 1877, letter from W. Chatfield Jun. 73. P,.D. T., 5 l~ovember 1881. Iv1y underlining. 74. J. Earl, Butchers Hill, to J. Hmnilton, M.L.A., 5 August 1894, encl. Q.S.A. COL/139, 1385 of 1894; 1874 V. & P., Vol. II, p. 440; N.Q.R., 11 October 1893; J.A. Nilsson, IIistory of 1\'laclca;f2 tIle ISugar TOTln 18_6..2:-1915, (Unpublislled Honours thesis, University of Queensland) p. 38. P.D.T.; 19 Jtl.!lUary 1884; 2 JUile 1883. 407

and still s-ubsist~ SUCll i11d'ependence did not S11it many eluployers. There is some evidence to suggest that, after a few

Jrears ill the settled areas tile Aborigines Trorlred ,~i th less efficiency and greater reluctall.ce tllal1 ·vr11en tlley 1vere first let in. In 1884f'tl'1e Port Dellison Tinles relnaI"ked: Not, long since BOTren ""flas knO"iVn througho·ut tIle nortll as a. pla.. ce 1'{here the blaclr.s 1rere very fe",r above aveI"age , and many were recruited for employment on stations etc. 75 Firstly, this probably reflected their unpleasant realization that their conquerors were the pentlanent possessors of their lalld, 21.1 ConcelJt ...ttborigines found diffic'ult to accept or even 76 understand. Secondly, the tensions and anxiety of accultura.tion - of Tfhich disl)Ossessiol1 lvas all iml)Ol'''tant factor - led many to an addiction to alcohol or opium which seems to have affected adversely their labour value to the settlers. ,A. Bo·w·en resident claimed they 11ere no longer SIJellding tlleir earnings on food a:nd lvere presellting ~>,a very debauched appettrallce'. }jumhers could be seen lying abo'ut intoxic,ated 1vllile fU.l...tller nortll they "rere incapacitated by 77 opimu. The editor had earlier lamented that 'the colonists get but little work out of them,78 although eager to use l\.boriginal 1 abour. Yet "'\Then it 'lvas a!:1!10Unced tllat a reserve liould be established at Bo~w·ell by Bridgluan and th.e l\.borigines ConnnissioIl, tIle editor had immediately urged: It should not be too far frOll! t01vn, as tile l)lacks are very usef;.!l for certain kinds of rough Yfork, alld the townspeople have asnuch right to their services as country residents. 79

75. P.D.T., 19 January 1884. 76. K.M., 29 (1897), p. 67, note C; Dixon, ~rirbal Language, p. 36; K.M., 20 (1888), p. 2. This Aboriginal attitude will be~cussed later in this chapter. 77. P.D.T., 19 January 1884, letter from, IA Resident'. Bowen. 78. P.D.T., 2 June 1883, editorial. 79. P.D.T., 27 October 1877. .A settler of tIle Cookto·\vn District claimed that the ...4..borigines would not work for more than a day, except at stockriding, . 80 although they would do anything for Oplum. ~vo factors need to be considered 1vh.ich Inay clarify t~hese conflicting views. White employers probably becwule less satisfied with Aboriginal labour as they became more fanliliar with it. H01'leVer, the sllortcoraings of servants, slaves al1d employees is a regular conversation piece of employer!onuer classes in most societies and should not necessarily be taken at face value. It is seldoll1 evidence of any "\villil1gness to disIJense lvith that labour. Despite its shortcomillgs and the criJc,icisUl levelled

at it, l\.boriginal labour ·Vlas a valuable eleluellt in the n1ne· t eenth cent ury worK~ f·orce. 81 Th. ere are no overa11 f·19ures before 1897: a fe1\r enlployers signed Aborigines under the Masters and Servant Act~2others obtained Aboriginal labour . 83 from the Native Pollee, but most through personal and

ad 110C arrangeL."lents of yrllich no adecluate record remains. Under the 1897 Act lfork permits were required but the records of these are difficult to interpret. Roth reported 1,116 in North Queensland in 1899, but this exeludes many Aborigines in casual employment as indicated by his figures for 1898 when he was trying to have all employment registered. The

80. J. Earl, Butchers Hill, to J. Hwnilton, M~L.A., 5 August 1894, encl. Q.S.A. COL/139, 13850 of 1894. 81. I\~.O.R., 11 October 1893; P.D.T., 2 June 1883. 82. P.D.T., 29 August 1891, 'Bowen Police Court': 'if. P~1acdonald v. Tommy, an-~Aboriginal, charged 1ritll absconding himself from hired service without just cause. P.D.T., 2 June 1883; LA settle!7, Geraldton, to J. Hamilton, M.L.A., 8 August 1894 encl. Q.S.A. COL/139, 13850 of 1894. This is a 14 page letter but the final nage(s) are missing, so no signature appears. 83. LA settle!7, Geraldton, to J. Hamilton, M.L.A., 8 August 1894, lac. cit; Davidson, Journal, 15 March 1866, p. 30: 'Marlow promised me a blackboy from Wide Bay, if possible'. 40!l

~resent 1rriter concludes that not fe'w'er than 2,000 l~re~e employed at anyone time in North Queensland in the closing years of the nineteenth century and not fewer than 4,000 .. 84 in Queellsland as a 1vllole. The Queensland "total is equal to Blore tllan one-tllird of the Pacific Islanclel~s e111ployed in Queensland in the peak year and equal to the largest number imported in anyone year. In North Queensland the proportion of ...i\..borigines eluployed to Pacific Islanders

84. 'Report of the N.P.A., for 1899 1 , 1900 V. & P., Vol. 5, p. 581: Roth reported that 1,116 employment perulits were registered in the second half of 1899 in North Queensland: 303 at Normanton, which encompassed tIle Burke District; 50 at T01vnsville; 239 at Coolctovrn; 241 at Thursday Island (the number discharged from the fisheries at the shipping office); 24 at Charters Towers; 55 at Jviacl~ay; 112 at Coen; a,Ild 92 at Cairns. In acldition 'many blacks' and 'many eruployers t objected to inalring agreement for casual "vlorl, and ,rare not forced to register their agreements. In 1898 "ltv-hen Roth 1'las trying to have all employment registered, over 1,100 permits ,vere glrtanted in the Cook District alone and 60 refused, 1ihereas only 684 1vere registered in 1899 ill the Saiue district: 239 in Cooktown, 241 in Thursday Island, 112 i,n Coen, and 92 in Cairns. In 1898, Roth had estimated between 166 and 186 were employed on the Atherton Tableland alone so the figure of 92 for Cairns seems as misleading as does the figure of 1,116. See f.n. 57 above and Roth to Pol. Com., 1 July 1898, 'Aborigi11als ~Protection and IiestrictioIl of tb.e Sale of f Opium .r\ct, 1897: First Half Yearly Iteport , encl. Q.S.A. COL/142, 13442 of 1898. Figures for Burke and Kennedy Districts were not known at this stage. In 1900, Maston reported 2,300 Aborigines employed in south and . See A. Meston, Protector of Aborigines, South Queensland, to Under Sec., Home Office, 24 l'-Tove~nber 1900, Q. S.A. COL/145, 19269 of 1900. Compare Maston to Under Sec., Home Office, 14 February 1899, Q.S.A. COL/140, 3618 of 1899. Meston was just beginning to issue and record work pennits issued and estimated at least 2,000 Aborigines in service south of the Tropic of Capricorn. 410

85 canged from about five to nine to about five to seventeen. Thus it can be seen that Aborigines made up an important segment of the unskilled labour force. Although the work conditions of Aborigines was not a subject likely to be publicly aired, there is scattered evidence of poor treatment before 1897, especial y with regard to the paynlent of "rages. In 1874, Chatfield pointed out that Aboriginal labourers 1fould work only for employers 86 they ID1ew as they had been cheated of their pay so often. The working of the 1897 Act provided IDuch fuller inforillation on this subject altrlough pO'vler to regulate 1~~ages had l)een deliberately omitted. Two years' experience, however, convinced Roth that this was a deficiency and he sought to remedy it. He reported publicly: 'I wn satisfied the bla,clr.s do not, as a rule, receive the \vages - small ellOu.gh as tlley are - lv-hi ell they are justly entitled to under tlleir

t 81 agreements • In this SMle report, he compared ~uropean employers of A.boriginal labour most 'unfavourably 1fith the desI)ised Cllinese al1.d tfas SUpf)orted "by t,ne Sub Inspector

85. Parnaby, Britain and the Labor Trade in the Sou~?:~es~ Pacific, Appendix and Tables I and II. The largest number of Pacific Islanders employed in the colony occurred ~etween 1883 and 1886 and was probably greatest at 11,443 in 1883, while the largest number introduced in anyone year was 4,004 in 1883. The number employed in Queensland from 1887 to 1900 varied from 7,489 in 1894 to 9,428 in 1891, the average being 8,362. (See Table II). In North Queensland, between 1889 and 1902, the numl)er of Pacific Islal1ders elnployed varied betlveel1 3,621 in 1894 and 5,686 in 1902. See Bolton, A Thousand Miles luvay, p. 242: 4,216 in 1889; 5,659 in 1891, 3,621 in 1894, 5,686 ill 1902. 86. P.D.T., 25 July 1874, letter from \V. CI'latfield Jun. See also F.D.T., 5 August 1876, 'The Aborigines', and Croydon Golden Age, 23 bTovelnber 1897, for ill treat­ ment of an .l1.boriginal, IVlarco, 1\rhich led to his deatll. 87. 'Annual Report of the N.P.A. for 1900', 1901 V. & P., Vol. 4, p. 1329. My underlinjng. of Police at Mackay: My experience here is that the Chinese farmers who em!lloy aborigillals treat them very !l1uch better tlH1.11 !nost ef the 1vhite peOl)le 17110 e1nlJloy them. The Cllinese offer better 1J;ages, and Trllat is more, pay tIle aboriginals their l;rages 'when due; they also ho'use alld feed tllelTI tvell. 88 Attenil)ts to regulate l\.boriginal erilI)loyrn.ent in the early years of the tTfelltieth cent'ury evoked intense EurolJean hostJ."lOt1 y. 89 There is surprisingly little evidence that white workers in North Queensland objected to the use of Aboriginal labour probably because they,vere rarely in cOIll13etition. HO\feVer, a corl--esr;ondent to'the Port De!lison Times in 1876 mentioned the 'jealousy of many \~{orl~ing rnen 11'110, to use ~(jlleir 01~rn expressiOll, don't 1~rish to see the bread taken 01.lt of a

"\vhite man's illout11 by a nigger, a:nd e!ldeavour in rnany cases to entice or frighten them from any work they may be employed in'. 90 It is difficult to say hO-l'l COilllllOl1. this hostility Tlas but suel1 objectiollS lv-ere ll1ade in soutl1ern 91 Queensland in tile lean times of 1900•. Another factor attesting the usefulness of Aboriginal labour to the settlers 1vas the 1v·ideslJread evidellce of kid­ nappil~ in the pacified areas throughout the 1rllole period of tllis resea,rch. Eur01Jeans kidnapi>ed l:Jacified Jtborigil1es as soon as the opportunity existed. In Bowen, while the

88. ibid. 89. Morning Pos~, 31 October 1902, editorial. See also Sub lnsp. Cooper, Cairns? to Pol. Com., 3 June 1898, Q.S.A. COL/142, 7179 of 1898; Itotll, CooktOVll1., to Pol. Com., 1 July 1898, encl. 2.S.A. COL/142, 13442 of 1898. This topic is beyond the scope of this present study. 90. P.D.'l'., 5 August 1876, 'TIle Aborigines'. See also R. McCaig, 'Native Policy - the Attitude of the Labour Party', (unpublished ms, J:~ewstead Ilotlse, 27 October 1949). 91. Worker, 21 July 1900, encl. Q.S.A. CQL/140. 'Scrub­ Cutters', Brisbane, wrote of a station in the south­ west Queensland that employed only Aborigines and locked eight or nine women up each night. 412

letting in process was hesitantly t~~ing place, one resident announced tllat he was going to the Aborigines' nelvly-established Queen-1,"s Beach camp 'to catch himself a young one'. The editor felt constrained to point out that .A.borigil1.eS l'lere not mop~eys, and that 'kidnapping Aborigines ~a~ punish- 92 able by 1a1Y'. \Vithin a year of cODling to terlns 'vitll tIle Aborigines on Natal Downs, Chatfield infonued the Attorney

General that it was becoming 'a COWlllon practice in this district to kidnap boys from the CWffipS of quiet blacks'. Only six weeks previously two men had kidnapped three boys and taken them to the Cape River diggings. He 1vas '!filling to prove that two of these (one had escaped) were offered for sale after being locked in a hut. Chatfield asse~ved that stealing and selling boys paid so well that the offence ·w·ould probably be repeated, thus a.lienatillg the Cape River

A •• 93 ~borlg1nes. He knew of other instances of childstealing which he could not prove and the Aborigines on his station 94 constantly complained of the practice. To indicate its extent it should be noted that reliable references have been found of kidnapping from Bentinck Island in 1868, 95 at Normanton in 1874,96 at Bowen and other coastal tmms in 1880, 97 at Watsonville near Herberton 98 99 in 1884, at Flaggy Creek nea,r Hel"berton in 1884, at 100 101 Thornborough in 1884, near Cookto,m in 1885, at 1iossman

92. P.D.T., 3 April 1869. 93. W. Chatfield, Natal Downs, to Attorney General, 6 January 1869, encl. Q.S.A. COL/A121~ 1483 of 1869. 94. \V. C11a.tfield, l~atal Doyrns, to P.lyi., BO"\1ren, 14 January 1869, encl. Q.S.A. COL/AI 21 , 1483 of 1869. 95. 1N. LandsborOtlgh, P.~ii., Burketo'\1n to Attorney General, 19 July 1868, Q.S.A. COL/Al15, 4031 of 1868. 96. P.M., Nonnanton, to Col. Sec., 29 September 1874, Y.S.A. COL/A203, 2913 of 1874. 97. P.D.T., 25 September 1880, editorial. The kidnapping was referred to in passing as being 'well known'. 98. .!!:.!.., 13 Septelnber 1884, 'TIle Old Com.plaint'. 99. R.A., 6 September 1884, letter from F.G. McKiernan, Flaggy Creek. 100. II.A., 17 December 1884, 'hiore trouble I and 20 Deceu1ber I884, report of a court case. 101. Insp. H. Fitzgerald, to Pol. Com., 5 March 1885, encl. Q.S.A. COL/A422, 3053 of 1885. ~13

River in 1889,102 at Normanton in 1890,103 at or near Cairns lon· 1891 , 104 f rom the S'ljaa·t en I)'-~J.ver fedor roy 01'1 J.11. 1°09o v"'"' , 105 au.J.. .D-'"'1 OOlllIn·leJ..ct1."" It-.1."-",, ver l.n• 189--,106t~, t'nrO~t1g1101_1t -T110rt-vi'! jd-ueensn 1an d generally in 1894,107 at and near Cardwell in 1896,108 Emd at Whitsunday Island in 1898.109 This does not encoD-pass references to kidnapping for the beche-de-mer and pearl fisheries. Considering how little legal protection was availa,l)le to .A.borigilles, tl1is is a sigllificallt nunllJer of reported insti:ti:1CeS" Still lllore -co:n.:vincing are the connnents of ,veIl in.forn.H~d conteillI)Oraries ~ In 1874, tIle Police !vIagistrate at ItJor2aal1ton 17rote: ... the stealing of gins and children from the blacks is a lllattel~ of freq'ue:nt occurrellce llere the eonsequence is the roads are not sa£e..0 ,110 In 1880, the editor of the Port

t OJ. Denison Times remarked dogmatically: • •• ~ v is vre 11 lrnolln that the numerous black children in the coast towns are eitller forcilJly talcen from tlleir parents 01" the pal'""e:nts killedI.III The Herberlon Advertiser captioned the kidnapping 112 of an Aboriginal child in 1884 as 'The Old Complaint f • ~nile smmning up in a court case in Cairns in 1891, Mr. Justice

102. Insp. Stuart, Port Douglas, to Pol. Com., 13 April 1889 encl. 2.S.A. COL/A579, 4281 of 1889. 103. P•Iii. , Norlllanton, to .A.ssistaIlt Under Col. Sec., 10 t~ovember 1890, and rest of file encl. Q.S.A. COL/A639, 12476 of 1890. 104. P.D.T., 18 April 1891, quoting Justice Chubb. 105. Insp. A. Douglas, Normanton, to Pol. Com., 26 July 1892, Q.S.A. COL/A707, 10203 of 1892. l 106• .2.:.£., 2 April 1892, 'The Black Gin Ivlarket • 107. Queenslander, 13 January 1894, p. 58. 108. W. Craig, Niagara Vale, Cardlvell, to Col. Sec., 4 April 1896, encl. 2.S.A. COL/139, 13634 of 1896. 109. J. "\Vitllilall, 1V}litsUl1d8..~T Island, to 1!-. I\~eston, 15 Iviarch 1898, en.cl. Q.S.A. COL/143, 11351 of 1899. 110. P.M., Nonnanton, to Col. Sec., 29 September 1874, Q.S.A. COL/A203, 2913 of 1874. Ill. P.D.T., 25 September 1880. 112. H.A., 13 September 1884. 414

CllUbb said: rdr. Itligllill 1fan.ted a black boy and. a lvir. Ivlurdoclc got him o:ne. This lntl..n steEt..,lillg ,vas very faslliona})le it appeared but it was slavery, and he cautioned any offender against the law coming before him. In this case a savage \vho couldn't speak English was captured and put to clean boots and soon afterwards disappeared. 113 The la\¥" 1101vever 'was as pO'w'erless to prove the offe:nce in the pacified areas as it was on the sea frontier. Several times Police Magistrates were urged to use 'The Slave Act' (5 Geo. 4 Cap. 113)114 but it was admitted that the kidnarlI)illg of an Abol"-iginal ,vas I a very difficl11t thil1g 115 to prove'. No instance of an atten~t to prove the kid- napping of an Aboriginal in the pacified areas has been discovered. There are rare exwnples of the police trying to prosecute blatant kidnappers on a lesser charge, but they

1vere OIlly occasionally successful, a11d then tIle 11unishment lvas unlikely to deter l)otential lcidnaplJers. It vras only on tile infrequent occasiol1 11[hen concerned Europeans "jere willing to give evidence that even a charge of aggravated l16 assault was successful. Thus for flogging an Aboriginal

113. P.D.T., 18 April 1891. 114. Minute R. Gray L?d~, Chatfield, Natal Dovnls, to P .1\1., BO'w"en, 14 Jal1.uary 1869, encl. Q. S.A. COLIA121, 1483 of 1869: 'The Slave Act 5 Geo. 4 Cap. 113 1vould reluedy such pra/ctice'; It. Gray, for Und.er Col. Sec., to P.I\,i., BurketoTm, 17 Decelnber 1868, e!lcl. Q.S.A. COL/A304 , 6821 of 1880. This advice was referred to again in 1880 and 1884. See above' file and anno­ tation, 21 August 1884, P.M., Burketovnl, to Attorney General, 19 July 1868, n.S.A. COLAu15, 4031 of 1868. 115. See Idinute, P.Il/i., I~Onllal1ton, to Col. Sec. ,28 October 1874, encl. Q.S.A. COL/A203, 2913 of 1874. 116. See P.M., Normanton, to Assistant Under Col. Sec., 10 r~ovember 1890, and the rest of tllis file, $l.S.il. eOL/A639, 12476 of 1890; II. A.: 17 Decernber 1884 and 20 December 1884. 415

woman, 'Dot', and obviously forcing her to stay in his emJ)loyrnent, John Casey of KarU111ba ",vas fined £10, "lith 117 £2/15/6 costs, for aggravated assault. At Thornborough a settler, Vallely, 'VI10 11ad forcibly tal(en a 1'foman, Ebola, from a camp 1fas charged l'fitIl her murder ,....hell she 1iras found dead. at the foot of a cliff but 1fas eventually filled 5 shillings with 7/6 costs for the assault on an Aboriginal boy, ')lflonday', as tIle police cOl.lld produce no evidence for 118 . the other charges. In another instance, a settler Jones who employed an Aboriginal and his wife bullock droving, fencing, and splitting logs, tried to retain possession of the Aborigine's wife and child by accusing the man of threat­ ening the Iiyes of Jones alld llis flUllily. For this he ,vas brought before the bench and sentenced to six months in gaol as he could not provide sureties to keep the peace. The Inspector of Police at CooktOl\TJ1 knevr the Aborigil1al and vias so s'ure th.at -l"here lfas a miscarriage of justice that l'le had him released. Jones reluctantly s'urrendered the Aboriginal 1V"Oinan to her 11usband but refused to part 119 with the child, despite the Inspector's request. The Inaking of false charges to the police or Native Police by settlers to have un;,-elcome fathers or 11usbands removed ,vas 120 alJparently quite COllmon. The kidnapIJing of Aborigines ,·ras regarded by most Europeans and by most police as a luinor crime. After six a~ed Pacific Islanders kidnapped three Aboriginal women at

117. P.M., Normanton, to Asst. Under Col. Sec., 10 November 1890, rest of file, encl. Q.S.A. COL/A639, 12476 of 1890. 118. H.A., 17 December 1884 and 20 December 1884. 119. Insp. H. Fitzgerald, Cookto\rn, to Pol. Com., 5 March 1885, encl. Q.S.A. COL/A422, 3053 of 1885. 120. W. Craig, Niagara Vale, Car~rell, to Col. Sec., 4 April 1896, encl. Q.S.A. COL/139, 13634 of 1896. 416

Mossman River, Senior Constable Portley only 'cautioned the Kan~cas not to meddle with the gins again and told them 121 if they did that they would all be arrested'. This report went to his Inspector and eventually to the Police Co~nissioner without COilllilent. Indeed, preventing all Aboriginal from leaving his employment was often not seen as a crime at all 122 alld sometinles tile police helped to return runa1vay employees. Corfield recorded in his reminiscellces hov: he had an l23 Aboriginal woman returned against herwill as did Police l24 Magistrate, Charles Eden. It was only in some older settled areas near--·the t01vns, that more accultn.rated

. .. 'b' J.. • t h· .. -l- .. 125 Aborlg1nes were a ie ~o reS1S suc_ 1mposlv10ns. The Aborigines had in effect become an inferior racial caste. For not only was the exploitation of Aboriginal labour almost incredibly callous, it was also an important factor in the development of a stratified, multi-racial society in which the Aborigines' were powerless to change their status. The exploitation of Aboriginal ,\Toman ,vas another factor of equal importance and it was no less callous.

* ** **

SeA~al relationships between Aboriginal women and male colonists were extremely common and varied in nature from casual encounters through to long-standing, stable

121. Snr. Const. Portley, , to Insp. stuart, Pt. Douglas, 4 March 1889, encl. Q.S.A. COL/A579, 4281 of 1889. 122. ~., 6 September 1885, letter from P.G. McKiernan, Flaggy Creek; W. Craig, Niagara Vale, Cardwell, to Col. Sec., 4 April 1896, ellcl. Q.S.A. COL/139, 13634 of 1896. 123. Corfield, Reminiscences, p. 40. 124. Eden, AilY ,Vife and I in Queensland, p. 108. 125. F.D.T., 18 April 1891. 417

relationships that were luarriages in all but nwne. They varied from the prostitUti011 of .llborigin.al 1v-omen 1vitIl the sanction of the Aboriginal cOIDlllunity to rape, from 'white slavery' to relationships freely and maturely entered into by both partners. In this section there will firstly be a discussion of the IJrostitution of Aborigi11al 1V Oille11 , then of those relationships where Aboriginal women were forced to be se~ual paI1O t.uers, and finally of those 1vhi ch 1yere maintained without the use or threat of force. Significantly, there ,rere no instances of actual marriages "betvreen Abor1g1nes. .m~ d wl1tes1· 1n. tleI per10. db·e1ng St Ud·1ed • 126 Throughout the nineteenth century male colonists greatly outnumbered female colonists. In North Queensland, in 1876, there ,vere over t1jvice as ma"ny Eur01Jean lllen as 1YOmen. 011 the frontier, of course, tIle dispr01JOrtioll l'ras much greater. Thus at ·Gilberton there ,vere five times as lnany European males as females and on the Palmer over 22 times as many. The sex ratio ,vas fllrther unbalt.:tnced 'w-Ilen the Chinese and Pacific Islanders are taken into account. Thus, in the 1876 census the Pacific Islander population of North Queens­ land 1vas giveIl as 1,617 males and 53 feDlales and tIle Cllinese population as 8,531 males and two females. The overall result Tras that male colonists olltnumbered faniale colonists by l~· to 1 in Tovmsville and Bovren, by 3 to 1 at Card1vell, 6 to 1 in the Burke District, 10 to 1 at Somerset, and almost 90 to 1 on the Palmer. It should be noted that the predominant- ly- ~male Chin.ese pOIJulation of 1'1orth Queensland lfas 127 estimated to have doubled in the next year. This sexual imbalance persisted throughout the nineteenth century on the

126. This topic 1viII be examined for its rele,rance to European racial attitudes in eh. 12. 127. 'Census', 1876 V. & P., Vol. II, pp. 812-819; Bolton, A Tho'usand A·files A"'"rlay, p. 56. 418

frontier and to a lesser extent in North Queensland as a whole where there were still 138 males to 100 females in 128 1891. To satisfy their sexual needs the settlers were able to exploit the powerlessness of Aborigines and their tradition­ al sexual practices. ~~ong Aborigines, although sexual expression ,vas traditionally restricted and regulated, pre-marital a:n.d e:A.~ra-marit.al sexllal relations lvere COll1I.llon and often socially sanctioned. A husband could lend his 1vife who would nor~mally acquiesce dutifully. Sexual relations outside narriage "lvere often associf~ted ·w·i th gifts, 129 and elopement to escape from a spouse was common. In addition, Aborigines traditionally used sexual relationships as 8.1 means of lllailltaining or improving social relatiollsllips. In the disturbed situation in which the Aborigines found themselves it was predictable that, in North Queensland, as throughout the history of Aboriginal-European contact in ,130 the 'Women would be used to establish communi­ cations with the conquerors, to placate them, and to try to place them with some degree of predictability in their kinship system. Indeed, sex must have been the common hillnan denominator by 1vhicll .L~horigines t-tnd settlers thought they best understood each other. Moreover, with the traditional economic life of the Aborigines greatly changed and restricted1 Aboriginal women would be able to obtain food, cloth.ing, and the desir·ed elell~ents of t11eEur·opeD.,ns 1

128. Bolton, A Thousand Miles Away, pp. 174, 175; Parnaby, Britain and the Labor Trade in the South11est Pacific, p. 150. See 'Census of Queensland': 1882 v. & P., Vol. I, pp. 1008, 1009; 1892 V. & P., Vol. III, pp. 899, 1328-9; 1901 V. & P., Vol. II, pp. 956, 957. 129. R.!\1 & C.II. Berndt, The \Vorld of the First Australial1s, pp. 85, 110, 158-177, 283. 130. ibid., p. 441; R01vley, The Destruction of Aboriginal Society, p. 30. 419

material culture. They could also obtain tobacco, alcohol, t1n.d opium which l~Tould become i:i1.creasir~ly ilnportal1.t to relieve the tension implicit in the culture contact situation and to escalJe its crDtde llarshlless. It is clear that such casu.al sexual relationships 'were very common indeed. The official reports of the Northern Protector, Rotll, confinG. tIle 1videSlJread nature of the prostitution of Aboriginal wonlen. His reports ~~r 1899 and 1900 botll conlplailled,~~of '1vhites at blacks f camps' and ~ request eu 1eg1s . 1at·1ve act 10n..J..lJO prevent- th·-! 1S. 131 Tllere is much evidence to suggest that Tfhile tIle sexual exploit­ ation of Aboriginal women by Europeans as well as Asians and :Pacific Islalltlers lv-as publicly criticised, it ,vas in fact an accepted integral part of frontier society. Thus when the European settlers at Atherton complained that the Chinese and Malays were prostituting the women and, for this reason, should not be allowed to employ Aborigines, tile Police :tdagistrate added ironically: t :r~or am I at all sure that the action complained of is confined to the alien population of the scrub' .132 Even in the to·wnships themselves, Aboriginal ,rOluen -w"ere much exploited. it resident of BOlven requested that Aboriginal women should be prevented

froln row.ning at their Ol'ln S11leet 1\Till tllrough the alleys of the t01vn and plying after nightfall a nef(trious calling that accounts for the degenerate bleary-eyed appearance of so many youths that ilrlest the street corners. 133 Much earlier the S~le newspaper· had indicated that at least sonle EurOI)ertll 1lfOfllen feared the dOluestic discord a tyoung

131. 1900 V. & P., Vol. V, p. 590; 1901 V. & P., Vol. IV, p. 1337. 132. P.M., Herberton, to Principal Under Col. Sec., 7 June 1895, encl. Q.S.A. COL/139, 16681 of 1896. P.D.T., 21 January 1888, 'Lucutrations by a Peripatetic 1\;lasI1er t • 420

134 and good looking gin' could create if given employment. There is mnple evidence that Aboriginal women were cOillYnonly raped and forced into sexual relatiollships ,vith colonists against tlleir \\rill. Thus a correspOIldent to t11e

Cookto1rn Courier reCOlillted hov{ t1'fO "\yhites rode an .A.boriginal l\TOman do,~rn and kept her all night desl)ite ller protests 135 and those 'of her llusband. On the 1t1ulgrave, John Con,vay lras murdered 1fhen he tried to talre a1!ray a 1i-oman against the 136 wishes of the Aborigines. The Normanton Police Magistrate described how some Chinwnen were forcibly detaining an

Aboriginal lvolnan, such kidnappillg being I of frequent 137 occurrence1. In fact tIle 110rnlality of rape is perhalJS best brought out by Roth's approval of the brothers 1Vebb at the Starcke River: I learnt also that practically all the miners are very h:illd to tllese local aboriginals, a conduct in great rneaSllre due to the t1VO leadillg DIan - the brotllers Webb - insisting upon a finn code of honour ronong the remaining 25 or 26 diggers. Not so long ago, th~se two, I am informed, gave a sound thrashing to one of the Europeans for attempting sexual connection with a gin against her censent: of course, where the woman is a consenting IJar-'Gy, no interference is lnade. 138 There is also some evidence to suggest that Aboriginal women were procured for profit. Thus Roth objected to the granting of ~\[ork pernlits to IJublica..ns 110t only because they ",'{ere generally paid in licftlor but because they 1vere kept, practically for the purpose of prostitution, to attract clierlts, eSI)ecially at ports villere they vrere used t:o decoy !~ men pa1°d 0ff"boa-sot 139"tI was a 1so Q1Scovere"". d ..1..1~la0..I In• ~ne

134. PoD.T., 12 May 18770 135. ~.: 18 Septernber 1891; 2 October 1891. 136. D.T. SeyrJour, Pol. Com., to Col. Sec., 13 November 1884, Q.S.A. COL/A406, 7964 of 1884. 137. P.1I., Nonnanton, to Col. Sec., 29 September 1874, encl. Q.S.A. COLjA203, 2913 of 1874. las. Rot,11 , Cookt01f"11, to Po18 Com., 24 June 1898, e:n.cl. Q.S.A. COL/139 ~yped cop~ 139. Rotll, COOI(tO·~Yl1., to Pol. Com., 4 February 1898, encl. 2.S.A. COL/139 ~yped copll. 42t

It1oss!Uall, Salt1.vater, and Dcvintree areas, sever'al peo:ple 'were able to eH11)loy Pacific Islal1.ders Oil a nosuillal \iage 'by 140 alloting them aboriginal gins , • Finally, in the Petty

Debts court at l\.yton 011 the Bloomfield River, Olle item claimed by a European of a Cingalese settler was '£2 per week ••• for expenses lvhile endeavouring to procure a black ., 141 g1n • ...Lts vrell as such fleeting 1villing or UIT\villi11g sexual encounters, a~n.otlleI~ feature of colonial society in North Quee11s1and 1!faS the large nUfuber of perrna:nerrt or serui­ IJerm.anent liaiso!lS betlveen EurOpeal1., _~iall, and Pacific

Islander mell al1.d Abol"l>igil1.al "tV'omen. ¥i11i te l'J.ell. !naking such liaisons were termed 'combos', the practice itself,'comboism', that is 'the rnaintaining of black \V"ome!l 011 a station by a white man'. This was publicly scorned in the press and in to··w·ns lV!lere t110 European fcunily structure 1vas tIle norm but was tolerated or accepted in the remoter areas. The §Zdney Bulleti~ pointed out: 'No one on the stations sees much harrn ill tllese practices.. The native vrornell are the 142 legitimate perquisite of the white man, • There were varieties of 'colnboism'. IVIany 1vorking men forined a relatively stable relationsllip 1lith an .c\.boriginal 1voman and aCcelJted responsibility for the mother and the children. Some 3tation managers and 01V11.erS, hO'w"ever, for-lued SllCh. liaisons but very rarely acknowledged their children or provided for the motller and childr311 once tlley had tired of the Liaison. 143 Archibald Ivleston, Southern Protector of Aborigines, ~laimed that the appropriation of the most attractive ~boriginal women by those in authority on the station was l40. Insp. Stuart, Pt9 Douglas, to Pol. Com., 13 April 1889, encl. Q.S.A. COL/A579, 4281 of 1889. l41. ~., 2 April 1892, 'The Black Gin Market'. 142. Sydney Bulletin, July 1901, Bel~tie r-le17spal)er Cuttillj?;s, no. 73, p. 2, (N.L., Canberra). 143. pueenslander, 31 f~ugj.st 1901; loosideIlts, Bloofafield River, to Home Sec., 29 November 1897, encl. Q.S.A. COL/139, 16399 of 1897. ~22

'painfully CO~llonl in the west and north-west of Queel~ll~. Publicised exposes of the concubinage of Aboriginal wrnuen produced white-wash enquiries by the local police while routine reports by the police and the post-1897 protectors 145 revealed situations similar to the publicised charges. Thus Sub Inspector Jocelyn Brooke of the Native Police informed his Inspector: I may say that it is a comrnon practice for men to keep gins up here and if I enquire into the matter I mu told the gins belong to a black boy so that I can do nothing to preven.t it tl~ough I' believe tl1is is the cause of most of the depredations. 146 The Bloomfield River will serve as an example. In a report on this area, in February 1898, Roth reported selector R. Ilislop of f\:Vyalla' as l{eeping his three part-.A.borigiIlal children although he had dislnissed tIle lllother; tl11--ee Portuguese selectors of 'St. Nicholas' living with Aboriginal ~women and caring for their three part-Aboriginal children who attended the local school; a selector,Baird of 'Cunnamurra', a former mayor of Cooktown, with two part-Aboriginal children 147 cared for and sent to school. Indeed of the thirteen selections and fifteen selectors on the Bloomfield Iuver

144. A. Meston, Southern Protector of Aboriginals, Brisbane, to Home Sec., 11 August 1900, encl. Q.S.A. COL/142, 17276 of 1900. 145. B. Purcell, Brisbane, to Col. Sec., 14 November 1892, and Insp. A. Douglas, Brisbane, to Pol. Com., 1 December 1892, encl. Q.S.A. COL/A717, 14199 of 1892. See file Q.S.l\'. COL/_J\.752, 12837 of 1893, re the t\~/ild Australia' troupe of Purcell and Meston. See also Insp. D. Grahwn, Charleville, to Pol. Com., 5 November 1900, and Sgt. H. Blyton, Hughenden, to Sub. Insp. McN~ara, Charters TOlJrers, 14 September 1900, encl. U_S •.A.• COL/142, 17276 of 1900 ~opie~. 146. Sub. Insp. J. Brooke, to Insp. Fitzgerald, Cooktown, 20 December 1882, encl. g.S.A. COL/A356, 1303 of 1883. 147. Roth, Cooldown, to Pol. Com., 24 February 1898, encl. Q.S.A. COL/139 ~yped copJl. ~23

in 1898, five selectors on three selections were 'combos'

"rho acknoTrledged their children. ilS ,veIl, six millers lvere then living with Aboriginal women, at least four of these agaillst tIle lt/isnes of the Aboriginal groups from 1vhich 148 their women were obtained. Here, too, it is clear that tIle men 11110 acknolYledged and lool(ed after their IJart-

Abor1.gJ.na. . 1C I11oldren ,yare we11 J.l1° the m1nor1- -ty. 149 There is no reason to believe that the Bloomfield River was an atypical frontier cOU'llllunity.

The public acceptance of I c omboism' on the frontier and the private acceptance of it by men who understood tIle frontier, such as Itotll and even the MOIne Secretary, Tozer, was clearly illustrated. One 'combo', the former mayor of Cooktown, was a Justice of the Peace while an attempt to denigrate I-lislop to the governm.ent brougllt forth a petition with fourteen signatures to vouch for his good character, an assessment agreed with by Roth and the Home Secretary. The petitioners added: With reference to Hislop's having half-caste children lile beg to inform you though correct he feeds clothes and looks after the cllildren and their mother at his own expense not like the majority who allows them to run \V"ild unacknoviledged and uncared for. 150 Per~ane:nt or senli-l)erillall~n~ 1 iaisons of' l~siatics and

Pacific Islanders with llboriginal "w·omen Viere expected and accepted, althrrugh sometimes with a distaste based on a racial prejudice. Sub Inspector Cooper of Cairns reported tha.t in Ilis district tllere ,~rere t a good number of cases of Chillese and I(anakas 1:rho llave been living \v-ith gins for

148. ibid. Roth does not make it clear if two of the six had the consent of the Aboriginal group. 149. Residents, Bloomfield River, to Home Sec., 29 November 1897, encl. Q.S.A. COL/139, 1~399 of 1897. 150. ibid. See also minute H.T. LHorne Sec. Toze!7, 26 December 1897. See also Roth to Pol. Com., 24 February 1897, encl. Q.S.A. COL/139 ~yped cop17. 424

from three to fifteen years and have families of half-caste

t 151 children • He suggested that such liaison be not inter­ fered 1'lith b:r nleans of the 189/1 legislation. Yet, at Atherton, residents and settlers had strong objections to Pacif ic I s 1 and ers ent 1C1ng·· women f"rom Aor1g1nab . · 1 camps. 152 Roth himself, like most of his contemporaries, had strong radial prejudice against the Chinese. In a society where

Aborigil1al and part-.A.boriginal WOilleIl C1Ild girls "\\rere so commonly exploited by white men, ~th justified his removal of half-caste girls to missions by special reference to the Chinese males. Of a nine or ten year old half-caste Aboriginal, he emotionally co~nented: t)JlY day the Chincuu!en may get hold of her'. And 1vhile approved Europeans \vould be allowed to employ young half-caste or full-blood girls 153 in the new era of protection, all Asiatics were refused. The nwnher of half-caste children in North Queensland was increasing despite infanticide and attracting attention before the end of the century__ Some concern was expressed that ther·e ,vera many such children in tile north roaming 154 about almost wild without any education. .After twelve

months in office dllring It;~hicll he had Inade 0" s'ul~vey, l=toth estililated tllat tllere ,vas OI1.a half-caste to every t\~-enty-five Aborigines in Nort11 Queenslalld adding that this did not represent tIle true pict'ure of half-caste children born as 'many ~er~ killed as a matter of principle - the colour

151. Sub Insp. Cooper, Cairns, to Chief Protector of Aborigines '-the Pol. GomJ, 2 JUl1e 1898, encl. Q.S.A. COL/142, 12911 of 1898. See Benllett, Christiso:n of Lwmmermoor, p. 255. Queenslander, 31 May 1902, 'I(a11akas \Vho IIave IViarried A.borigines t, Bertie Ne'w'spaper Cuttings, no. 71, p. 18 ~.L~. 152. Const. J. IIigt~illS, Atllerton, to Sub Insp. LOO1011d, '1 Decenlber i ;1891, Q.8•.1\.. POL/12B/ttTl. 153. 1901 V. & P., Vol. IV, p. 1336. 154. M. Tyson, Sec. Aborigines Protection Society of Queens­ land, Brisbane, to Col. Sec., 25 November ~893, Q.S.A. COL/A754, 13881 of 1893. ~25

be~ng· suff'lClen4 tt • 155 The attitude to half-caste Aborigi:nes varied frolll concerll t11at IJartly ,vhite children tv-ere being degraded to the level of 'savages' by being left in Aboriginal camps156 to an emotional horror of 'piebaldism,.157 This will be further explored in a subsequent chapter.

* * * *

The nature of the relationships between Aborigines and colonists which developed after letting in is typified by the attraction of large numbers of Aborigilles to tIle towns and settlements of North Queensland. This occurred throughout the whole period of this research, the trend only being reversed by the post~1897 Protection legislation. This important nmlti-racial aspect of colonial life has

\~lere been seerningly overlooked. Yet tIle ...d04oborigines a usefttl and integra.l part of tile urban and village societies despite the fact tllat the to"\vnsfolk often found tlleir presence distasteful. As late 8JS 1896, a Iv.Iissionary nwned Poland wrote that in Cooktown they seemed to be 1audible and visible 158 ever~lheret, although they had been admitted to the town, 159 after several earlier attempts, in late 1884. Indeed, when a meeting was called by the police in 1889 to ban the Aborigines from the town not one man voted in favour of it~60

155. Roth, Cool~o,m, to Pol. Com., 23 December 1898, Q.S.;A. COL/142, 16232 of 1898. Inspector Marrett of Cook~own estimated 6-7% of births:did not mention infanticide. See Insp. Marrett, Cookto~~, to Pol. Com., 19 December 1898, encl. above. 156. See f.n. 154 above. 157. S fie Bulletin, July 1901, Bertie Newspaper Cuttings, no. 73, p. 2 N.L~: giving two samples of tpiebaldism' from North Queensland. 158. K.M., 28 (1896), p. 41. 159. TO'tvers Herald, 30 Decenlber 1884. 160. K.r\1., 21, (1889), p. 35, l\-1issionary Pfaizer•. Cooktown, about 1875. Album: Vi e1VS of 2ueensland. (N.L.).

Sydney Street, MacKay, about 1875. Al bUIll: Vie·w·s 01. Queensland. (N.• L. );!;I 427

It is important to remember that the ubiquitous Iblacks camps r near each to\V11Ship represented an interdependel1ce . betlfeeIl i\.borigi!leS as providers and the colonists as utilizers of nle:nial labollr and services. Notllillg in this research has revealed the likelihood of colonists t altruis­ tical y supporting a large (or small) number of J.\borigiIlal beggars for any lep4th of time. The colonial concept of Aborigillal beggars in large meaSllre ref~lected tIle "\vages IJaid and tIle natul--e of the 1iorlr and services re~tuired. ...t\.t 161 most, begging supplemented an inadequate subsistence. The usefulness of cheap Aboriginal labour around the t01'lI1S 1fas rarely cornlne:nted on -~lrllereas the COlOl'lists' distaste for tIle life style of the Aborigilles atUong them 'lias referred to frequently. In the early years of each t01Tn, llla"ny residents objected to the nakedness of the Aborigines and their ignorance of 'the decencies of life'. The Northern Miner reported with horror that at Millchester a 'completely nude t Aborigi,nal 'vroman gave birth to a half-caste cllild bet1reell

O t·wo sopsh Iltamos W1·thIn eyeslg.• ht l 162 mh1 e ~enswoodD...... ~lner"$0"'. re,ported that iihe. ,A.borigines had made their caml) in the centre of t01m. tNight !Jail rendered hideous by tileir yells,

161. For examples of Aborigines 1jr orking in to'w"ns, see: Croyden Golden Age and Normanton Advertiser, 13 July 1897, and 8 February 1898; P.D.T., 27 October 1877, P.D.T., 18 April 1891, for Bowen; M.M., 26 May 1877~ for BOTlel1. and Townsville. Collinson, Early Days of Cairns, p. 65 for Cairns; The Evenip4 Telegraph, 20 August 1903, and M.M., 14 March 1874, from Northern 1\1iner, 21 February 1874, for Charters T01fers; Sub. Insp. R. Garrmvay, Maytown, to Pol. Com., 18 June 1898, e:ncl. 2.S.A. COL/143, 11352 of 1898; Itavens·nrood Miner: 24 February 1872, 18 January 1873, 25 January 1873, 28 June 1873; for"Cooh.-to'~ln see f.ll. 158, 160, and ~.: 25 January 1889; 26 October 1894. 162. M.M., 14 March 1874, 'The Blacks at Millchester', from N.M., 21 February 1874. See also J.M. Murphy, Minicipal Clerk, Townsville, to Col. Sec., 13 November 1879, encl. Q.S.A. COL/A287a, 4535 of 1879, for the To'wnsville Council's objection to llborigi:nal nakedness. ~28

Burdekin River Aboriginal, about 1870. Bolton, Richard Daintree.

Aborigines in Transition.

Aborigil1es in Tra:nsition. Kennedy, The Black Police, pp. 16, 268. 429

and chatter ••• and sleep, to those ••• Llivi~ near them ••• qu~*t·e 1mposslb. - 1e ' • 163 The attraction of large numbers of Aborigines to the t011"nS placed ne,v stresses upon Aboriginal social life vrith the result that quarreling among them was accentuated and this was often aggravated by the bringil~ together of different Aboriginal groups who may have had traditional enmities or may not have been used to living in such proximity for long periods of time. In 1891, there was an hour long fight bet'w"een the Cooktolvn and rJcIvor Aborigines in fIope Street, Cool~own, during which one Aboriginal 1vas speared through the thigh and one hamstrung with a tomahawk. 164 In December 1893, the Mt. Cook Aborigines fought the

Norrnallby ...ilborigines OIle llundred yards from tile rail1\r ay station,

OI1.e il. borlg:tna . . 1 receJ..v111g... f our slJec1.r lYOUnas.:; 165 I'n·,;,..,1894 1\.1. ..,. lvas reported there ,yere many scattered ClliUpS 1~~i tllin ~he municipal boundary of Cooktown. The fact that they had 'frequently' quarrelled 'of late! and the number of scattered camps suggest that the attraction to the town of a number of different Aboriginal groups 1vas resulting in increased tensions be~ween them. Battles took place in the back streets bet,veen several dozen .A..borigines Wll0 llurled spea,rs and other weapons at each other lllnch to the alarm of 166 neighbouring householders. The concentration of large numbers of Aborigines sometimes comprised of inimical or potentiaJlly iniE1ical groups for atypically long periods of time "\vas a function of the colonial to·urns. It then produced noisy fights which the residents objected to. The distu~bing

163. R.~1., 24 February 1872. 164. c.e., 4 August 1891. 165. ~., 19 December 1893, 'Tribal Fight'. 166. e.c., 26 October 1894, editorial. The Aborigines had earlier anlloyed Cookto"\rn residents ,vith their fighting. See C.C., 25 January 1889. 430

aspect of concentration similarly offended the missionarlg~. The in~ortance of this as a disturbingfuctor of Aboriginal society is examined in chapter 9 in association with the findings of transcultural psychiatric research on the subject. There were thus various traditional factors of Aboriginal life that obviously offended the colonists in the towns: the noises of the Aboriginal camp at night,168 their nake!g~ss, their numerous dogs,l70 their fighting in the streets,171 their sexual activities;172 while such a custom as carrying 173 the body of a baby wrapped in bark was found abhorrent. There were other features of Aboriginal life that developed becal~se of acculturation in or near a t01Vll such as: petty 174 - . 175 t . t t· 176 d· 177 theft , beggJ.ng, pros 3. U l.on, . 1sease, and

167. See ch. 10, pp.582, 587, 592. See also P.D.T., 29 April 1882, for 'yelling and fighting every night!. 168. C.C., 25 January 1889; P.D.T., 16 June 1894. 169. M.M., 14 March 1874, from N.M., 21 February 1874; P.D.T., 7 August 1869, letter from 'Candidus'. 170. P.D.T., 21 October 1882; P.D.T., 21 October 1876; P.D.T., 6 February 1886. 171. See f.n. 164; C.C., 20 June 1889; To·wnsville I:Ierald, 9 May 1877; Argus, 6 August 1875, from Brisbane Courier, 16 July 1875: a very good description of a large scale fight in the middle of Townsville. 172. P.D.T., 7 August 1869, letter from 'Candidus', 'The Aboriginal Abomination': This article complained that 1;l'hite cllildren 1vere familiarised '1vitll the undisguised appearance of open, shmneless, unrebuked vice, producing a moral and perhaps indelible taint'; M.M., 14 March 1874, from Northern Miner, 21 February-r874. 173. C.C., 30 June 1891. 174. C.C., 27 July 1894; P.lJ.T., 28 II"Iay 1892; R.!v!., 7 Septelllber 1872; InSl). II. Fitzgerald, Cool~to-w'n, to Pol. Com., 5 March 1885, Q.S.A. COL!A422, 3053 of 1885, enclosil1g cuttil1.gs frol11 COOl(to~v11 Inde})e:udent of 1885; Cro~o11 Golden Age artd I~Ori1lf3.,:ntorll .i\..dvertiser, 13 July 1897. 175. J. Pa.lmer, It,iayor of BOTfen, to Col. Treasu.rer, 19 LIay 1877, Q.S.A. COL/A239, 3011 of 1877; R.M., 24 February 1872; P.D.To, 2 June 1888. 176. PoD.T., 21 January 1888, 'Lucubrations by a Peripatetic Ivlasher' • 177. ibid.; Croydon Golden Age and Normanton Advertiser, 13 J'uly- 1897; lvI.IvI., 26 Itray 1877, in Bo\'{eIl and To·vrllsville. 431

178 drunkenness. Tllere 1rere also occasions 1vIlel1 ,.I,t\.b014 igilles refused to accept European orders or beC&ile aggressive to 179 tllem. Inevitably, therG 1'lere many req'uests to llave the .11.borigines 180 excluded from the to~~ at night and some for total exclusion.lSI The correct legal reply to these requests

'lras given to the Mayol" of T01 1lnsville in 1879 'Jrhen he ·vras infonned: The aborigines are on the Sall1e footing as others of Her IVlajestyt s subjects so long as tlley COIlduct theulselyes properly and do not violate any of the provisions of the Police Acts. 182

IIo,~revel'" tile Itborigiiles t rights as a British citizen Tfe11 e not respected in practice. Thus, by 1871 the CWl~ of the 183 Bowen Aborigines had been moved out of town. At Ravenswood, in 1873, SOllIe RaveIlswood residel~ts drove tIle l,.borigilles awayl84 although they subsequently allowed them back to work during the day.185 Indeed, in 1876, the Police

178. N.Q. Telegraph, 21 August 1885; C.H. Haggar, Hon. Sec., Aborigilles Protection Society, T01 lrnsville, to Ullder Col. Sec., 30 October 1889, and whole file Q.S.A. COL/A595, 9668 of 1889. Aborigines' addiction to alcohol will be further discussed in Chapter 9. 179. P.D.T., 7 l\.Ugust 1869, letter from 'CandidtlS 1 ; R.Al., 18 January 1873. 180. P.ll.T., 2 June 1888; J.M. Murphy, Municipal Clerk, Townsville, to Col. Sec., 13 November 1879, Q.S.A. COL/A287a, 4535 of 1879; P.D.T., 6 November 1886; I~layor, I\iackay, to Col. Sec., 15 January, 1886, Q. ;S.A. COL/A453, 551 of 1886; Croydon Golden l~e and Nonuanton Advertiser, 13 July 1897; e.c., 26 October 1894; R.M., 8 June 1873. 181. P.D.T., 1 April 1876; c.e., 4 August 1891; M.M., 14 March 1874, from N.M., 21 February 1874. 182. J.M. Murphy, Municipal Clerk, Townsville, to Col. Sec., 13 November 1879, and Minute, Attorney General, Ratcliffe Pring, 24 November 1879, Q.S.A. COL/A287a, 4535 of 1879, See also Insp. }.1• .t\.rmstrong, T01Vllsville, to Const. Bradley, Ravenswood, 21 February 1880, Q.S.A. POL/IIB/A2, District Order no. 7 of 1880. 183. P.D.T., 17 June 1871. 184. R.M., 8 January 1871. 185. R.M., 28 June 1873. ~ 32-

CODUllissioner had to iss'ue a 'General Order' to police to refrain from using illegal methods in solviw6 the towns' 'black problem', probably to quieten white complaints of illegal police actions: It havillg come to the lrnolvledge of the Goverllillent tllat the police 11ave i:n SOlue illstc~nces, 'used 1vhips to expel tl1.e ...4.."borigi!leS fronl certain t01vns, • _. suell IJrac­ tices must be discontinued; and it is to be distinctly understood tllat any member of tIle Force )rho flogs, or authorizes the floggillg, of a~n aborigin.al 'w~ill be instantly dismissed the force. 186 Yet, the Police Connnissioller subseq-uently perrilitted the police at Mackay to assist remove the camp of 'the large numbers' of Aborigines but insisted that Aborigines who CaJ1..le to tIle to'w'n duril1g tIle day, dressed and or·del"-ly, co·uld 187 not be removed or arrested. It is obvious that in frontier to·w·ns tIle I)olice and local authorities did not concern themselves with such legal niceties. Thus, in 1894, at Townsville, when a number of young Aborigines inconvenienced and alllloyed passersbY,the police forced them to leave the 188 tOWll. At COolitO\fl'l, tIle police eventu~lly made the Aborigil1.eS cmnp on the Nortll Shore at nigllt viitIl ·the 189 between them and the town. _~ most resideI~s did not want to lose this cheap source of menial labour, the solution developed of a 'black's cwnp' outside

186. 'General Orders 1864-1896', General Order no_ 596, signed D.T. Seymour, 28 October 1876, Y.S.A. POL/4. 187. Mayor, Mackay, to Col. Sec., 15 January 1886, and Minute, D.T.S. {?ol. Com. Seymo~, 3 February 1886, Q.S.A. COL/A453, 551 of 1886. 188. TO'w-n Clerk, To,vnsville, to TO'wn Clerk, Cookto'vln, 22 October 1894, Townsville City Council Records. The Town Clerk humorously wrote: ' ••• the Police, at the request of the rvlunicil)al Council took such steps as resulted in the dispersion of the cause of cornplaint J • This reference 'las given to me by p;lr. Lon \Vallis, an 110nours student at Jariles Cook University. 189. G.G., 26 October 1894; 1(.:&f1., 28 (1896), p_. 41. 433

of tIle tOlvn. Vlllether or not a curfe1v was imposed seelllS to have depended on local initiative. Thus, the Bowen Aborigines who had been forced to camp beyond the boundaries of the t01vn in 1871 ,vere reported camping 1yithin the to'w-n and lighting 190 fires in 1886. Indeed, in 1895 the Colonial Secretary, Horace Tozer, issued a decree,that deliberately ran counter to,British law,accepting the colonial custom:

Aboriginals are, and should be removed after tIle Stin goes down, and no law is necessary to justify this, save tile la1\' of Ilecessity. 191 The philosophy of the 1897 Protection Act was suggested in this ironical discounting of the fiction of the Aborigines' British citizenship• .1\..8 the _t\.borigines 1\Tere unused to the permanent occupation of a particular area, it soon becwme an unhygienic eyesore. C.A. Meyer of the Bloomfield River Lutheran mission pointed out: For once the blacks have inhabited an area for a fair stretch of time, it is turned into a cesspool, because of their uni~ygienic " practices. And it is sinall \vonder if they get ill. 192 J.W. Collinson, an early Cairns resident and local historian, described the Cairns 'blacks' camp' established in 1886: a camp of 'townl blacks had been formed on the banks of Lily Creek, at th.e turn-off c£ the '!Jest Cairns Road and !vlulgrave Road. Tell years had sufficed to bring about all the degradation civilization could bestow; ••• they begged and did a little wood and water carrying 190. P.D.T., 17 June 1871; P.D.T., 6 Noyember 1886. See K.M., 21 (1889), p. 35. ' 191. Insp. Lamond, Cookto'w'n, 18 July 1896, District Order no. F30 of 1896, 2.S.A. POL/12D/A2. The Colonial Secretary's decree of 30 June 1895 was quoted in this District Order. 192. Missionary C.A. Meyer, to Mission Congregation, South Australia, 12 October 1889, U•.E.L.C.A.A., B808.~ See also Sub Insp. R. Garroway, Maytown, to Insp. Marrett, Cooktown, 18 June 1898, encl. Q.S.A. COL/143, 11352 of 1898. for a miserable existence. The camp was a nondescript of mia.-mias, built of bags, old kerosene tins, and bark, \vith a populatioll of aboriginals and ski:nny and noisy curs. The men scavenged the town, but became a fuenace to lOIlely llouselvives, and it becam.e necessary to shift them from the town boundaries. 193 A description in 1903 of the 'blacks' cwnp' at Charters Towers revealed not only a similar situation but also the contempt for the Aborigines that their condition around to~~s aroused and augmented. Those who wish to see an ideal crump should pay a visit to the reserve on tIle DalrYluple road, a few' luiles out of t01vn, 1tlhere a cl'uster of gunyal'1s built of bags and branches of trees fonm the most primitive conhuunity that it is possible to find in any part of the world. To take one of these dusky inhabitants from the squallor LSi£? of a CaElp such as this and place him in a luxuriant villa would kill him. • •• Our arrival at the camp was greeted by the barking of about a hundred of the mangiest famine stricken mongrels that ever wagged a tail. As it is their custom to resume their 1l10st savage habits 11rhell alone in tIle cmups, -' ••• They were naked, and evidently ashmned - they hurriedly put on tr

Queen Bea,ttie 1\raS arra.,nged in all her royal robes, l~rhich COllsisted of an old white Sllil~t opelling dO'vin the back, ••• she lifted up an old lv-ooden l)ipe and grinned again.

193. Collinson, Early Days of Cairns, pp. 64, 65. Collinson llad been editor of th-e Cail'ns Post alld mtlch of 11is factual ilUformation seems derived from this. 435

To the nineteentll centliry observer, the lack of adequate reparations for the conquest of the Aboriginal land implied a contemptible Aboriginal race ratller thall a contemptibly mean government and electorate: The interior of tIle l)ala.ce royal is furllislled ,'Iitil blankets - bearing the brand. These blankets constitute the paytnent for value received in the shape of the richest territory in the world. The pover·ty of tIle ltborigines and tlleir inability to find

a lileaningf1..11place i:n tIle conqueror's society was again thought contemptible: These habitations contain all the earthly possessions of the tribe, principally old clothes and blanliets. ~rhey have to 1vork to mal(e boomerangs, and tlley don't like work, it is far easier to, beg. 194 The repeated efforts to 11ave the camps rellloved from the ' .' 195 t Olvns Tfas partl"jT b ased 'upon th'e1r nOlsome 11.Ut ure. Most contemporaries treated the 'Blacks' Camp' simply as an unsightly nuisance and its inhabitants as mere parasites on 1lfhite society; tlley tv-ere in fact flllfil ing an inlportallt economic role. For though the settlers ill the to·w"ns ,yere ,villi~ng to let the P....borigines live and die in unhygienic, degrading conditions out of sight, they were still eager to exploit their labour and the Aborigines were increasingly attracted to a subsistence based on 196 European goods. Poland, the Hope Valley missionary described the interaction in 1896: During the night the blacks are separated from Cooktown

194. The Evening Telegraph, 20 August 1903. 195. P.D.T., 21 January 1888, 'Lucubrations by a Peripatetic Masher'; Croydon Golden Age

by the river, Wllich is fairly lvide. Early in the Illorning this nOl~therl). shore is a hive of activity. The blacks have left the cmnp and are preparing to corne across the 1rater. They come over in groul)s, IDostly f'amily groups, using canoes, lvhich mostly leave only when they are very fully occupied. Once they reach the t01vn t11ey seem to be audible and visible ever~vhere: dirty and very scantily clad, they shout and chatter, but they know where they are heading for. Many of them are being expected•••• The wife of the Clerk of the Court is calling one black girl. 'Colne on, .;.L\.nl'lie, quickly, it's Saturda,y, I have a lot of work for you today, you have to sweep all through the house for me~~ 'Tobacco, missy, just a little bit~t 'Afterwards, Annie, as much as you like, aftenvards; but now get on with itJt And else-w'here: Long _t\.h Kong, the jovial plunlP Cllinese is -beckoning to a black lad, \vl1ile carefully tucking up his long plait: 'Billy, lad, COBle and s1veep my store for Ine. I'll give you a lovely watermelon!' There is a third, TO~llY, who does not need to be told l}/llLl,t to do. He h.E1S SOine vr'"ood to split every nlorni~ng for C., the publican, and he doesn't mind doing it, because the re,rard is lvell and tri~ily 1'lorth it .•. beerl 197 This is hardly the picture of unwanted, useless beggars.

Yet it is clear tllL"Lt acculturation in t01Yl1S 1'laS very different from acculturation in the country. The towns often attracted mOl~e .l1..borigilles tllan they could adequa,tely feed especially 1'{hen, lvith tIle stress of acc·ult·uration, the Aborigines could be paid cheaply in alcoholic drinks, tobacco, al1d opium. ~Nit11 the irupairment or breakdo1fn of the kinship system there was sometimes much suffering, eSIJecially w.J.ong tIle children and tIle old" as inadequa..te food was brought back to the cmnp for distribution. Thus, at Townsville in 1889, an Aborigines Protection Society was formed with the Anglican Bishop, Stanton, as Chairman to ameliorate the condition of the 250 to 500 TOlfi1sville Ab~~~gines.

197. K.M., 28 (1896), p. 41. 198. C.li. Ilaggar, lIon. Sec., T01vl'lsville .A.borigi:nal Pro­ tection Society, to Col. Sec., 10 September 1889, encl. Q.S ....Jt. COL/A595, 9668 of 1889. See rest of tllis file. See also N.D. TelegraEh, 2 July 1885. 437

By 1877, eight years after tlley ,vere let in, the editor of tIle Port Denison Times clainled the Aborigines of Bo\'ren 1'lere , semi-civilized alld 1vholly denloralized' ·wl1ile Chatfield 1vas claiming that those of Natal Downs were 'docile, intelligent, and for a short time hardworking', still living a nomadic l99 life that had to be respected. Ironica.lly, a. year after the Aborigines had been a~nitted to Bowen, the editor had lvritten: The aborigines of this part of the colony seem to be intelligent, docile and hOllest, and 1~"illil1g to ,York to earn any little food or clothiD4 that is given to tl1elll. 200 Some of the criticism of the Aborigines reflected their groYling understanding of t11eir ne,V" society and some of its values. Thus, the :t~orthern J...rgus reported tl~at 'The old type of the Australian black is fast dying out', beil~ repla,ced by a J civilized darky ••• by no luea:as an imI)roVeluent'. rfhe local Abox"igiiles '1yllO }1o.,d once givell a good clay's "fork for tobacco, flo'ur, and sdgar, 1vere n.01V' bargaining ty!ith all the shrewdness ·of a white man' as they realized that labour was so scarce and dear as a result of the Palmer Gold Ruskl. The report 18...L:ell.t)ed the ilborigines 1{{ere "becolnillg . 201 la.zier and lllore deinarldll1.g. Similarly; tile l)ort Denison Times rel)Orted ~\![i th disapproval:

Tile blaclrs are becoluing very indeIJel1den.t and '\ve kno'v that SOille of tllern are possessed of (for them) consider­ able sruns of money. 202

It is clear tlLdt vel"y SOOl1. il1allY ...4.borigines found no sat·is­ faction in the work they were expected to do. ** * *

199. P.D.T., 16 June 1877, letter from W. Chatfield Jun., J:~atal D01fns, and editor's cOIlb;;le!lt. 2(<<0. P.D.T., 21liriay .1870, editorial. 201. f.&., 15 1viarcll 1875, from Nortllerll ...4..rgus. 202. p.D.cr., 5 Jal1uary 1889. The reporter suggested t!ley might be robbing white dru~~s. 438

The colonists t grolV"ing despair that the .A.borigilles

,\TOllld become a clleap, useful source of subservient, menial labo'ur is T£lisleading. It obscures the fact that revolutioIlary cllanges 1vere occurring \vitllil'l Aborigiilal society. This 1¥as lTIOst obvious with regard to t:heir material cultu.re. A'lthough the penmanent presence of the conquerors upon their land restricted their traditional life, Aborigines also freely modified it so they could best exploit the new conditions. The conqueror's cu.lture rendered olJselete various aSIJects of traditional culture as the Aborigines, \rith su.l--rJrising speed, utilized materials such as steel ~~es, knives, clothing, and illetal contail1ers vl11ich tlley could obtain vlith less effort froId th.e intruders and 1vllich 1vere often all iluprOVemel1.t on their traditional implements. In 1898, Roth could only send the Police Comrnissioner t,v-o dilly bags from Cape Bedford, th.e site of Hope Valley Iviission a fell'" miles nOl--th of Cooktovrn, ti10 message sticlrs frora Highbury on tIle I\1:i tchell River for ,'{hiell he apologized: I run \vell alV'are that the above curios are not of allY extra special ir~erest, but the local blacks are too civilized to make anything for themselves: as soon as I can get out into the back country, I shall be able to do better. 203 Unfortunately very little of the continuing and developed aspects of traditional Aboriginal life emerges from the extant records; yet this was an important facet of the multi­ racial society that evolved in the nineteenth century. To a large extent the Aborigines were still at the mercy of the settlers, especially on the stations and selections, and it is clear that many serious restrictions were placed on them which forced them to modify their life style. Firstly their freedom of movement was limited to suitthe needs or the 1vhims of the settlers. This obviously hampered their traditional economic, social, alld religio'us life. Thus

203. Roth, Cookto,vn, to Pol. Com., 27 l11ay 1398, encl. Q.S.A. COL/142, 6946 of 1898. tIle ,veIl illtentioned IIall Scott, of the BOlven District, inforraed tIle Aborigil1es Connnission that his first step 'Vias to mals:e the Aborigines disco:ntinue tlleir nomadic habits and to prevent them holding corroborees and meetings. He forbade illtertribal gatllerin.gs to 1vhich he kne11 Aborigines sometimes travelled hundreds of miles as he believed these led to theft, robbery, and murder. Indeed he insisted that the Aborigines rer:.laill 1vith.in their ' native place t • Presum­ ably he confined each local group to its normal foraging area thus greatly inhibiting its social, religious, and 204 economic illteI~action lvitll other local groups. Hall Scott stated that several times he had successfully made agreements 1vitIl tl'le leading nlen of su.ell sub-tribal groups 205 on stations he had owned. Some pastoralists, like Chatfield of Natal Downs, did not object to such extended movement or lived in areas where Aborigines could travel without alanning them. Thus Chatfield reported that the Cape River ltborigines sOIuetimes met Aborigines frOJll the J:~ogoa and Dalvson at Peak DOlvns lvhich lYQuld indicate considerable travelling by all three groups through areas 206 where they would presumably be unknown. Similarly, in 1899, the remnants of three previously discrete tribes

1'{hose old 11/ay of life had been shattered by settlement had

204. P.D.T., 18 April 1874, letter from J. Hall Scott, enclosing a copy of the letter he had written to the Aborigines Comr~ission. See also R.M. & C.ll. Berndt, The World of the First Australians, pp. 44, 45, for 'horde' and pp. 42-46 for other possibilities.

205. :P .D e T., 18 April 1874, letter from J. Hall Scott above. His term: 'chiefs of tribes'. 206. F.M. Ton~son and W. Chatfield Jun., 'Natal Downs Station, Cape lliver', E.liil. Curr, The Austr·aliall I~ce, Vol. II (n1elbourl1.e, 1886) p. 4.73. A commUllication route may have been provided by the rugged in this case. intermingled as one tribe and moved in small parties through an area within 100 miles radius of Cloncurry. How far each small group would or could move within this area was not indicated .. 207 Roth reported that the trade routes within and beyond this area were still in existence up to 1897 but that some 1yere dist'urbed by the hostility of the ~ 208 past ora1189 t s ana new rout es fo·u·nd. Presruuabiy 1engvny+' journeys of sInall groups or individl.lals could occur but it is hardly likely that many settlers would allo1y larger gatherings as they ,,{ould IlltVe had to 1i ve off a 1 al1.d no"\v­ depleted of much of its g~ne and a great deal of its vegetable products by the presence of the intruders with their vast numbers of heavy, hard-hoofed,voracious animaLs. Hall Scott was no doubt correct when he asserted that such gatherings would lead to stock losses and often to an excitement which could threaten the lives of the intruders. There were very commonly other important limitations on the ..A.borigines t use of their land and 1rater resources. If lvater was scarce Aborigines lv-ould be prevented froIIl using the remaining water holes lest they disturb the cattle. The police sergeant at Burketown infonned his insI)ector: The Acting Sergt. does not wonder at Cattle being killed by the blacks ••• All the Freshlrater is surrounded by cattle and if an unfortunate 'black happens to be seen by any of the station hands he

207. Sgt. 1'11. Green, Cloncurry, to Insp. Larl1ortd, t~ornlantol1, 8 June 1899, Q.S.A. POL/14B/15, 58 of 1899. 'Kalcadoons': Kalkadoon (Roth), Kalkadunga, Tindale; tMydathidyt: Mitakoodi (~th), Maithakari, Tindale; 'Unamurra': 'Woonamurra (Roth), 'ilanamara, Tindale; W.E. Roth, Ethnoloryical Studies Amo the North­ West-Central Queensland Aborigines Brisbane, 1897), Plate I. Tindale map, Aboriginal Tribes of Australia. 208. Roth, Ethnological Studies .Among the North-\Vest­ Central pueensland Aborigines, pp.134, 138. is hunted whiped ~i£7 and severely maltreated. 209 The sergeant of IJolice at Cloncurry casually infol....llled 11is inspector .-1vl10 accepted tile limitation as norrnal even in 1899 - that in this dry district in winter 'pastoralists calillot allo·w· ljboriginei] to llUl1.t l1ear the 1vater-holes a.s tb.ey disturb the stoclc at the lV"aterholes 1vhen hunting' 210 the game and birds attracted tllere. This ,vas the area in \Vllich the spirited resistance of the Kalkadunga and other tribes had occurred 1vllen they llad been rlttll1essly restricted to the barren ranges to prevent their disturbing 211 tIle cattle. The l-1.borigines ·w·ere let in if tlley accepted tile conditions that the l~ativa Police alld squatters demanded. The Police Corumissioner, Parry-Okeden, in his 1897 report, and Roth, repeatedly, 130inted out h01![ the Aborigines lv-ere 212 prevented from hunting freely in their homeland. A$ late as 1901, Roth made public the brutality with which pastoralists in Cape York Peninsula drove Aborigines off their TUllS ,vitIl stoclcwhips and even froDl areas lvhere tl1ey 1vere rulming cattle lvhicll they did not 110ld legally under leasehold. 213 In Roth's annual report for 1904, after six years of 'protection' some settlers were still complain­ ing tllat tIle Aborigilles \rere frightel1.ing their cattle and canlping on 1vaterholes, f·orcing Rotl! to retort: t ••• tIle ~ 214 Aboriginals have as much right to exist as the ~ropeans'.

209. Acting Sgt. J. Dun, Burketown, to Insp. Police, Normanton, 15 May 1897, Pol. Com's Office file 412M, 17785 of 1897. 210. Sgt. 1i. Greene, .CloIlc'urry, to Insp. Lamol1.d, l~ornlallton, 8 June 1899, Q.S.A. POL/14B/15, 58 of 1899. 211. G.P. Preston, Oa~Yood, to Premier Griffith, 16 October 1885, encl. Q.S.A. COL/A433, 8460 of 1885. 212. 'Pol. Com's Report', 1897 V. & P., Vol. II, p. 16. 213. 'l\nnual Report of the N.P.A. for 1900', 1901 V. & P., Vol. IV, p. 1334. See also Rotll, COOkt01vIl, to Pol. COIl1., 12 I\fay 1899, enclo Q.S.il. COL/142, 7643 of 1899. 214. 'lrnnl.lal Report OI the :N.P.A. for 1903', 1904 ·Q.P.Po., Session 1, p. 870. A110ther important aspect of their economy forbidden the Aborigines was grass burning. Constable McGuire of Thornborough reported as a sign of the success of the Atherton initiative that there ,~ras less grass b'urlling during 1892 than in past years as the Aborigines had been infor~med their rations would be stopped if they 2l5 persisted. Sergeant wbiteford reported in similar vein to indicate the success of the Parry-Okeden initiative 2l6 to inaugurate the era of protection. A :Mr. James 1~lacGla.shan, a resident for tell :rears of tIle area bet1!fee!1 the Cape al1.d B,elyalldo Itivers, inforllied Curr how· a girl of fifteen and several others were shot dead in 1889 when they unwittingly allowed the grass to take fire on the bank

~ 4 o·f a rl.ver on 'vh·lC11 they lvere f·lSh l.ng. 217 There l1as 11ever any question by the squatters or their goverrunent that Aborigines had a right to exploit their land in any way that conflicted with the interests of the colonists. A sInall incident near B01ren illustrated this truism. In 1879, some residents of the to,\~ discovered that turtles could be easily and profitably caught at Holborn Island. The local Aborigines pointed out to these residents that tl1ey thought the EurOrieans ought to lilnit tllemselves to the turtles 11esting on tIle mai!11and. TIle editor of tIle Port Denison Times philosophically remarked:

There is some sense ill that" but 1vllen savages are concerned the conquering race is satisfied with nothing less than all. What is to be will be. 218

215. Canst. J.D. McGuire, Thornborough, to P~M., Herberton, 24 January 1893, encl. Y.S.A. COL/139, 823 of 1895. 216. Sgt. J. Villiteford, I\1usgrave Station, to InSI). J. Lamolld, Cooktown, 24 July 1897, encl. Q~S.A. COL/140, 12117 of 1899. 217 • J" f\lacGl ashan, t rvlain ~'=Lnge Betlveel1. t11e Belyando aIld Cape Waters', in Curr, The Australian Race, Vol. III, p. 21. 218. P.D.T., 29 November 1879. 219 No more was heard of Aboriginal Objections. In some areas the structure and effectiveness of Aboriginal social groups was disrupted severely. Limitations on hunting, on fishing in the rivers and waterholes, and on foragil1g llleant that the food taken back to cwnp lv-as diminislled 1vhi ch often resulted iIi deperldents') stJ.c11 as tIle very young and the very old,going hungry. ~nile the group vras a cohesive unit tllis ,vas one of the cllief induceniellts to steal from the settlers or to become dependent on them . . 220 tllrough ''lork or I)rost1tutl0n. As "\vell, tllere ,vas often a great dirninution in the number of adult males through frontier conflict or attraction into employment. This resulted in difficulty in secu.rirlg large game such as lcanagroos or emus which would normally be brought back to the camp to be divided according to kinship obligations. Much or all of the small gmne would be consumed away from the cru.np 1\'hicll also deprived tIle very young and old delJel1.dents. Inspector Lamond pointed out this fact and it was the rationale for establislling feeding stations in critical 221 ., . areas. He added that filS long experience with the Aboriginal had convinced him that 'if he has food to spare 2~2 11e 'will see notl1ing go hungry'. Suell restrictions could th'us threa.te:n tlleir pllysical survival. Yet it was not only the limitations imposed on their traditional life style that caused Aborigines to associate

219. P.D.T., 6 December 1879: boats collecti!lg turtles on llolborn Island and shipping some to Sydney; P.D.T., 6 December 1884: obtaining turtles and t'Lirtle eggs frori1 IIolborn Island. 220. Zillman, P.M., HerbeF~on, to Under Col. Sec., 18 June 1889, encl. Q.S.A. COL/139, 5684 of 1889. This is ' Zillman's insightful conclusion of the Aboriginal raids in the Atherton District. 2210 Insp. J. Lamond, Herberton, to Police Commissioner, 27 November 1891, encl. Q.S.A. COL/l39, 823 of 1895. 222. ibid_ 1~ith the invaders. There can be no doubt that some features of ·\~111ite society exercised a pOi'{erflll attraction 011 tllem.

I\.fany yOUl1.g mell an.d ,vornen l'{ere dralJffi temlJorarily or l)errilanently to the seemingly more gl&uorous or exciting life that the intruders had to offer~ As has been seen, approximately 300 Aborigines were employed in the fisheries, most of these willingly once they had been introduced to the life. At J~

tl1ey in.formed me that tIle i-oung nlell and gillS, had removed to the Griffiths L17 mining can~ some thirty miles distant alld that tlley irel'-'e u:nable or un1~rilling to follo\v. 224 225 This situation. vtas not Ul1COliID10n. There Vlere thus the tlVO forces competing with the desire to follow the traditional 1vay of life: EurOlJean restrictio~n of Aborigi!lal life allcl the attraction of settler resources, especially for the )T01111ger men and 1{[Omen. It 1fa,S possible for these t11ree forces to co-exist and fluctuate in rnany areas tllro~_lgllout

223. See ch. 7, pp. 356, 362. 224. A.C. I-Ialdane, P.l/l., IIerberton, to Ul:.der Sec., :HOlne Sec's Office, 5 November 1896, encl. Q.S.A. COL/139, 7080 of 1897. 225. See E." I-Iallntu"11, l'JorthboUl~lle, Jdyola, to Col. ;Sec., 3 October 1895, encl~ Q.S.A. COL/139, lU689 of 1895. Croydo:n, Gold.-en. l~e andl~orr;1~llto:n. ltdvertisel~, 10 IilUY 1897: a nU.luber or .:\.bOlA igi:n:3S hELd travelled 11ul~dreds of !uiles fro1H the I'Jitcilell River to I~ol"nla.:nto:n. 445

aI~ beyond the whole period of this stuuy."' 226 Only the drwnatic aspects of the continuing traditional or il10dified traditio:nal life caugllt tIle atte:ation of tIle settlers. Incidents ,~here Aborigines attacked or killed ., _.. . -:227 otner Aborlglnes were sometlmes reportea, as were the ritualised combats between two groups of Aborigines,~°2°0 C.~9 . Aboriginal funeral rites,~~ and accounts of cannibalism of other Aborigines. 230 In fact, such incidents were some­ times viewed as entertainment for spectators and interesting subject matter for articles on the savage life at the colonistts door. Thus, at Mt. Albion in 1887 and Townsville ill 1875, th.e settlers had calmly 1ratched 1-\.borigi!leS in ritual cOJubat. In the lattel" case tllree 11undred l-\.borigil1es had assembled over the course of a week to join combat

..L J.. 231 only fifty yards fl'"'om T01'rnsville's UlaJ.n svreev. At Thursde~y Island, the Torres Straits Pilot reported tl1e

226. Sgt. M. Greene, Cloncurry, to Insp. Lmnond, Normanton, 8 June 1899, Q.S.A. POL/14B/15, 58 of 1899. 227. ,C. C., 29 .t\.pril 1890; Il.A., 14 Jalluary 1885, from ~ktOlvll Independent; II • ..;1... : 26 June 1885, and 3 July 1885; P.D.T., 29 llug-ust 1891, 'Telegrapllic New's'; Consto A. Thiesfield, Port Douglas, to Insp. Police, Cairns, 19 December 1899, Q.S.A. POL/12B/G3; Const. Jo MacCarthy, Port Douglas, to Sub. Insp. Police, Cairns, 15 July 1897, Q.S.A. POL/12D/G2. 228. P.D.T., 5 May 1877; C.C., 10 January 1890; Const. J. IiiggillS" .f1.therton, to Sub. Insp. LamO!ld, lier'bertoIl, 7 December 1891, Q.S.A. POL/12B/Nl; P.D.T., 26 February 1881; ~., 19 December 1893; Argus, 6 l\.ugust 1875, A~ori,ines: Newspaper Extra.cts 1875-80, Vol. 1, p. 21 (rn. L. • 229. !:!.:!!., 12 Deceinber 1874, frolH T01vnsville Times. This ceremony was at Townsville. 230. N.p.R., 2 August 1893; J. Earl, Butchers Hill, to Sub. Insp. Cooper, Cairns, 20 February 1899, LPop17, Q.S.A. POL/12D!G2, 75 of 1899. 231. Argus, 6 August 1875, from Brisbane Courier, 16 July 1875, Aborigines: Newspaper Extracts 1875-80, Vol. 1, (i.'l.L.). Prince of Wales Islanderstannual corrobories had 'drawn 23° large "housesu nightly'. ~ The new stresses placed upon Aborigines trying to live a traditional life in the pacified areas must have often bee!l very great indeed. There 1\raS tile obviou_s pro­ vocation of having alien Aboriginal employees of the settlers 1vorking and living on their land,and there are indications t11at often such .A.borigil18..1 illtruders 11ere resented, alld SOilletimes actioll take!l agai!lst them "ihere it lvould not 11 ave been taken against lrhites for fear of the greater retaliation this ,vould bril1.g. TI1US this researcll has revealed four murders of Aboriginal employers by the local .i.4..borigines in areas 1vhere such .A.borigillal agg'l-'essiol1. \vould 233 not have been expected against white settlers. It is probable tl1at such murders 1vould not be oftell reported. One 1ifould expect tllese new conditions to accentuate the potentialities for conflict within Aboriginal society and there are a few reports which support this. It seems theJt in SOllIe areas at least m£'~le cOlnpetitioll for 'VrOlUell. had increased so much that Aboriginal groups raided other groups more freqllently, alld this often led to bloody repr·isals. Thus J. Allingham of Hillgrove near Charters Towers reported that the abduction of women by other Aborigines was a 2 n 4 daily occurrence that no pastoralist could or should prevent. U

232. C .. C.", 27 l'foveraber 1888. See also Croydon Golden .Age, 19 October 1897, 'An Aboriginal Romance: A Fight for a -lVife', for a satirical article on Aborigil'lal life. 233. P.D.T., 3 April 1886: Aborigines from the Belyando River killed an Aboriginal at Conway Station near Proserpine; P.D.T., 19 November 1887: Belyando River Aborigines killed a Proserpine Aboriginal in the Bowen District at Elgin Downs; P.D.T., 7 September 18898 four Geraldton Aborigines (now Innisfail) killed an Aboriginal 'belonging' to F. Hann; R.A.: 26 June 1885 and 3 July 1885 i an Aboriginal near Irvinebanls: had been in contact with pacified Aborigines. The Aborigines had resented his interference with their wives. 234. P.D.T., 14 AIJril 1883, from lI'.D.B. 447

Occasionally, it was reported that, the inter~erence of aliell Aborigil18s l Jlith tIle local 'fOlilen !l£~.,d led to violence 235 and death. The evidence as to ·w"het-her there 1vas i,llcreased inter-group fighting a1vay from the t01vns is lueagre altho"ugh there is an occasional reference to such distortions of .~. trad....;t1·onal 11·fe.236 1:Roth maKes1 the nlOSt sl)ec~,.L 1C ref ere~nce about the Butcher's Hill Aborigines: These Butcher's Hill aboriginals used in the old days to have their walk-about comprising the head of the Daintree R., the Bloomfield, Mount Windsor, and sometimes to the Laura and. 1~1aytoYro:' at IJreSel1t hO"r,yever there are some party feuds on, and their peregrination is very limited. ••• They l'lave apparently at 1va:y-s ~isprint: alway!! been, and still are, at enmity \lith the Deighton blaclcs. 237 It seems likely that pastoralists and selectors prevented many large scale conflicts themselves, or called in the local police. There are indications also that some Aborigines were able to utilize the aid of Europeans against traditional enemies. An Aboriginal group on the Murray lliver near Cardwell inforilled the constable at Cardwell that the Aborigines inhabiting the rainforest-covered ranges to the 'vest lvere reSIJOnsihIe for burning d01ffi Rockingl~Wll Station in January 1895. The constable reported the 'range blacks' 'numerous and treacherous' and 'totally uncivil~zedt a.,nd it seeU1S probable that they llfere also 1vorrying the 238 coastal Aborigines. In 1897, while inaugurating ..

235. M.M., 11 September 1875; H.A.: 26 June 1885 and 3 July 1885. - . 236. M.M., 4 May 1878: mentions three large 1tribes' Bel"yando, BO,yen, and coast tribes 'often called by their chiefs to meet to do battle with their neighbours'. 237. ~th, COOk~OWl1, to Pol. Com., 6 June 1898, encl. Y.S.A. COL/139 ~yped copJ1. Butcher's Hill is near Cooktoim. 238. Const. J. Splaine, Cardwell, to Insp. Murray, T01nlsville, 21 January 1895, encl. Q.S.A. COL/139, 13634 of 1896. tIle Parry-Okedel1 policy of concili2~tion, Sel"geant Villiteford, at tile rdusgrave Station south-lvest of Princess Cho"rlotte BaY9was informed by about 200 Aborigines that the 'Cookaminnie Aborigines' were going to spear cattle on the , adding as an afterthought that they had also stolen one of their women. l\£ter changing his plans to prevent the raids on tile cattle, \Vhiteford reported:

TIle real reaSOll that the Radrnah blaclcs ha,d for lVal1.tillg the Sergeal~ to go after these blacks was that they wanted him to get a gin, which these blacks had stolen from them, and tIle RadJnah 1)lacli:s 1vere cute ellough to kno"'\v tllat \'rhen they told the Sergeant that these blacks were spearing cattle that he ,v-auld go after th.er.a. The Sergeant did get the gin••• 239 itt Cape Yor!(, 1vhere il1.ter-tribal h9stility seems to have been atypically fierce one of the smaller Aboriginal groups had allied itself to the ~~ropean intruders at Somerset against other more prrwerful groups. Indeed the 'chief' ~was slJeared for passillg il'uormation abo'ut the different 240 tribes to Chester. There were even reports that some Aboriginal groups took care to spear horses and cattle and, in one case, a settler, outside their O~~ district, ce.rtainly hoping to escalJe retalia,..tion f)",nd, possibly, to

~ . t't ..L ~ - •• 1 241 dl.rec 1 lJO an ellelny llborlg111.a group. Roth also demonstrated the proprietary paternalism settlers COllld eJrhi'bit to llborigiues 11{110 ,rare conforl:li:ng to European expectations. He remarked of a group of thirty-four Aborigines near Cooktown: It is this tribe vrl~ich is al"w"ays made the scal)egoo..t by neighbouring blacks for any deaths etc. • •• they

239. Sgt. J. lVhiteford, I\'l"Usgrave Station, to Il1Sp. Lamolld, Cooktown, 8 November 1897, encl. Q.S.A. COL/140. 240. H.11. Chester, P.1rl., SOlllerset, to Col. Sec., 31 lilarch 1870, 'Records of Somerset: 2 September 1868 to 30 December 1871' LP.L~. 241. C.C., 5 l\Tovember 1895, 'The Case of P. Bal~llon'; ~-tOtV'Il Independent., 7 April 1897, letter from A. McNickle, encl. Q.S.A. COL/142, 14887 of 1897. are comparatively "trveak, ",vi tll0Ut any fri ellcls, yet are good workers, the best turtle fishers, and the most civilized comparatively speaking. They alone would appear to lvallt protectioll from physical violence at tile han.ds of tlleil~ ellemies. 242 This information had been given to h~m by the settler on 1vhose land tllese Aborigilles ccuuped. lIe had empathi,sed vlitl1 this group, could conununicate easily 'w"itll t11em and 'Vlas 243 able to see the world somewhat through their eyes. Such idel1.tificatio:n of the ltboriginal group l\Titll the local settler and vice verS8,1 ,vas corrnnon, arisi:ng from a need tlley both had for wnicab1e relations so that both races could ,244 exploit the land. Each race had become a part of the other's environment. It is rare, of course, that one finds the expression of Aboriginal opinion about the continued presence of the intruders. The Myola Aborigines felt free to express their thougl~s to a s~npathetic settler, Mrs. Hannam: ••• they cOlupl-ain tll:.:t.t 1![e have cut their trees d012fn tal\:en tlleir creek from them al1d sent alfay tlleir wallabies etc. This is all true. 245 The llborigines expressed their contenllJt for the Chinese to the German missionaries at Hope Valley. They refused to lrear the 1V"ide trousers tile Gerruans Vlore because they ~w·ere simile... r to tll0se ,vorl1 b:V the Chinese. Vlhen they 246 wanted to insult someone, they called him a Chinaman.

242. Rotll, CooktOllTll, to Pol. COIn., 24 Febr-uarJr 1898, loco cit. 243. ibid. The daughter of this settler, Osmundsen, of Rannabilla could speak the Aboriginal language fluently. 244. P.D.T., 16 June 1877, letter from W. Chatfield Jun., Natal D01VfiS; P.D.T., 18 April 1874, letter from J. Hall Scott; E. IIannam, l{Ol-thbourne, Iv!.yola, to Col. Sec., 3 October 1895, encl. Q.S.A. COL/139, 10689 of 1895; P.D.T., 14 April 1883, letter from J. Allingham, Hillgrove, "from T.D.B. 245. E. fIannaJ1l , Nortllbourne, lilyola to Col. Sec.,- 3 October .1895, encl. 2.S.A. COL!139, 12189 of 1895. 246. K.J:iI., 18 (1886), p. 91, Ivlissionary Pfalzer.• ~50

TIle Germa,ns believed they hated the Chi:nese more tI1an the 247 white settlers. This may have been true in the Cook District where the Chinese had often been the most numerous invader. One would like to know inlat the Aborigines said to the Chinese of the white settlers. AB has been pointed out l)reviously, the ...4..borigines I l)reference for elnploymel'1t with the Chinese at such places as Mackay and the Atherton Tableland lias based partly on tlleir grea.ter accord ,vitIl 248 them. The Ger~man missionaries at Hope Valley also discovered that the Aborigines had a hearty contempt for the il1truders, USil1..g tIle l1"ord f evil SIJirit' to rel:JreselTt the whites, a fact which was only partly suggested to them by the initial belief that the whites were the returned spirits of deceased Aborigines. The adult Aborigines sllo\'red their disda.i!l for the yrl1i tes by using thelll and their artefacts as the base to eA~ress their scorn for Aborigines they" dis.apl)roved of, SllCh as the young gil"ls \'1110 110uld not leave the mission. Thus Poland noted: 'The women mocked the girls 1rho stayed, ca.lled them ttwhite folk" and told us to get them a house. They were no longer suited to the natives' huts •• they regard it as disgraceful to try to , 249 copy the white man • The most interestil~ Aboriginal attitude revealed by this research was the firm belief that the intruders were not penllament possessors of the Aborigines' land: that they 1V'oulet le8...ve and tIle Aborigi:nes w~ould once again control tlleir 01vn destin.y. Though S·UCll references are fel¥" it is sigllificant tllat they lyere expresi~Jed in t,vo lvidely separated areas to vrhites 1rho understood the local It:oI11gu.age and l~-ho

247. K.M., 19 (1887), p. 12. 248. 'Annual Report of the N.P.A. for 1900', 1901 V. & P., Vol. IV, p. 1329. 249. K.M., 21 (1889), p. 53, Missionary Poland. See Ie.Iv!., 21 (1889), p. 20 fOl~ ·use of term 'evil sliirit t for 1fhite luan. were not closely idel1tified witIl the dominant 'Yhite p01ver structure. This was reported firstly from Hope Valley mission in 1888 and 1897 and secondly from a cohesive group of Aborigines as late as the 1960's. In both cases it 'tas associated with the idea that the Aborigines

"vrould inherit the 111ateriEloil wealth of the intrJliling 'vrllite cultu.re. Thus Polalld remarked lvitll s'urprise: The blacks dol' not admire, respect or envy our building skill in the least. On the contrary they feel sorry for us, for we seem to them condemned to work and they do intend to inherit from us in the end an~vay. 250 Pfalzer had reported eight years previously that Aborigines had inforrned hiul they expected to rise from tile dead as whites to inherit the settlers' material wealth and knowledge thus emphasizing their belief that the disadvantage they suffered in comparison with the intruders was only 251 temporary. These two references should be taken in conjunction with the belief of the Aborigines of the

Tully Iiiver reIJOrted by Dixon fr0i11 llis fielo_ \fork of the 1960's: Perhaps the main factor in the survival of the Dyirbaloan has been a solid hope that one day the white man would be driyen out, and the t ribe 1vo'uld OllC e more be abl e to resume peaceful occupation of its traditional lands. 252 It is terapting to COI1C11.lde t118..t this belief hTJ.ay h~l,ve be,en corillIlon muong ...4..borigir1es "\rl10 Iuaintained. a.n integral lil1k "lith their land. It is not inconsisten.t l1ith tIle limited understanding suell p,o..lJorigines iIiUst llave had abOl.lt eV011ts beyond the I10ITiial area in "tVllich tlley cOllli!lunic211ted.

250. K.M., 29 (1897), p. 67. 251. !:.M., 20 (1888), p. 2. 252. Dixon, Dyirbal Language, p. 35. This should not be confused \'litll tIle Inodern Aborigina/l clainl for land rights. 452

Occasionally Aborigines in the pacified areas found it impossible to tolerate the presence of the intruders and overtly resisted \vhite authori-ty in \V£l/YS ranging frofD ("5 ,OJ simple refusal to accept the dictates of the settlers~ uto upsurges of UllexlJected violexlce. Thus ...:i.borigines on tIle

Ivlulgrave and Russell llivers, soutll of C£l,irl18, WllO llad previously accepted the l!J'urolJean. IJl'"'esence lcilled t1VO 25Lt settlers in separate attacks and threatened others. • l~orth of Cookto\vn _4.borigi:nes 11ad beell lra,rned fou.r ...tovJ.mes "55 to cease killing cattle but stubbornly refused to obey.~ There vrere other more drfLilla..tic exmnl)les 1vhicll yrerl:;: referred to ill tIle 11illeteenth cent'ur:v iJress i~fl tenus more aplll i cable to "'~yhi te 1 e.,\vlessl1.ess?but 1vhicll lvould IJroba,bly be lJetter ullderstoocl in ter'LllS ofllbol~igines and part-AboJ-igil'leS finding their life in the new society so unsatisfactory that tlley i:u

COllstable, alld 1¥Otlllcled tl\'"O of 11is ot11er l)ursuers 1vllel1 tracked down to L~n Hills;256 the ~otorious blackboy kno1'fn as Jacky l'iornlan' 'rho s110t de:J.,d one of tile policelnen .. . . 257 endeavollring to Ctl.tch hiB ,vitIl t118 pollceman1 S 01i11 gu:n; and the 'notorious' Aboriginal Ji~~y, 'an object of terror and alariu, not Oilly to tIle 1'l!li·te COI1ITnunity ••• bu·"c, also

253. P .D. T., 24 ilugust 1878. ...tL~ l\.borigi~nal Ilea,r B01ven iIlfornled a squatter tr:y'ing to preve:nt hiln goi:ng tllrough a !)aduock t that he ",VOllid 11.0t go out of tIle road for a bloody 1vhitefe.f.101\r't and tllreate11ed to kill 11im. 254. C.P., 1 January 1885; C.P., 21 August 1884. 255. K.M., 28 (1896), p. 45-.-- 256. \lueenslander: 21 September 1890, p. 538 and 2 November 1890, 1). 821. 257. Queenslander: 15 September 1894, p. 487, and 13 October 1894, p. 679. 453

to his o'vrn countrymen', lv-ho stole frofil residellts in 8..11U close to Bowen and intimidated the settlers into giving 258 him tobacco, food etc. lwth's early reports also mention ullder the terrn 'Aboriginal Crime' l\.borigi:nes 'vrho Tiere a sou.rce of danger or ' possible danger' to the w-hite populat~~n. Such men as 'Missie' of the Starcke River, 'Tommy Roderick' and 'Billy Nolan' of the Normanby, 'Long George' of Mt. lUnos and young 'Larry' of the Endeavour River were exiled from }~or·th !lueensland as COlIilllon criluinals 1vhel1. it See111S likely tllat tlleir 'anti-social' behaviour 1fas a refusal or inability to accept white authority. 260 Any show of Aboriginal aggression or resistance to 1vllite aut110rity lvas thorough.ly crushed either by resort to British law,against liliich such Aboriginal resistance so often offended,or by extra-legal means. The records of nineteentll ce:ntury police stations ,V'llich have survived

SllOT{ theut, surveillal1ce of tIle local J\boriginal pOIJulations "'\Vas an important part of their duty. 261 .1-1.s one settler

258. P.D.T., 23 June 1883 and 14 July 1883. 259. 1900 V. & F., Vol. V, p. 591; 1901 V. & P., Vol. IV, p. 1337. 260. 1901 V. & P., Vol. IV, p. 1337. 261. Sub InSI). Clohesy, RavellslV'ood, to InsIJ. nlarlow, 22 June 1871, Q.S.A. POL/lIB/G2 , 75 of 1871; st. J. Griffill, liave:nslrlood, to InsIJ. li1orisset, B011en, 7 August 1878, Q.S.A. POL/lIB/GS, 221 of 1878; Const. J. I~vin, Ravenswood, to Insp. Fitzgerald, T01~llsville, 4 December 1897, Q.S.A. POL/IIB/G5; Sgt. ~4, Griffin, li.avel'lSlVOod, to Sub Insp~ To.mpson, N.M.P.,Liflegible addres~, 14 July 1876, Q.S.A. POL/IIB(G3, 39 of 1876. Sgt. J. Griffin, Ravens~w·ood, to Const. Cab.ill, Rocllford, 25 June 1878, 2.S.A. POL/IIB/G3, 219 of 1878. See 'Duty Book 26 August 1893 - 26 January 1895, Police Department, Port Douglas Station', Q.S.A. POL/12D/N2, for accounts of regular busIl patrols and 1I1ore notable account of police work muong Aborigines, on 8 November 1893, 3 January, 6 June, 7 JUly, 14 November, 31 December 1894; 12 January, 24 January 1895. See 'Diary of Duties and the Occurrences Cloncurry 18 November 1894 - 13 June 1896', Q.S.A. POL/14Bl. See file Q.S.A. COL/A422, 3053 of 188q containing CUttil1gS from Cookto''ln Inde])el1dent, 14 February 1885. observed: The police in e~ch district tknow luore about the blacks and their movelnents, centres, number, requirements, and condition generally, than anyone else. They are so to speak more in touch 1'/itl1 them t11an- otller peoIJle are alld the ljlacks 011 tl1eir side l'(.\'1o\\T pe11 fectly vlell lrho the IJolice are - and respect tllem for these reasons any many others. 262 But neither settlers nor the police felt much constraint about using extralegal means to assert white authority over Aborigines. Thus a police sergeant's flogging of an Aboriginal "lv-oman for stealillg a child' s petticoat 1vas applauded by tIle editor of the Port Denison Times 'though perhaps not strictly 26&) legally tile rigllt thing to dQ under the circumstances t • 0 Th.e ·use of such means or tile threatened use of firearms to enforce obedience was corr~on both by police wad non-p~ytce.

Even in pacified areas, t troubiesollle t Aborigin.es ,~-ere still killed ·w·ithout legal justification, largely vritll impunity, 265 by botll police and se-ttlers.

* * **

Thus, ill the last third of the nineteenth century, a Iuulti­ racial society emne into being throughout North Queensland.

262. LUni

The Europeans had complete power and asserted their authority, whenever they thought it necessary, over the Aborigines 1fho were a conquered and despised people. Yet, as each race w"as depelldent on tIle other, a racial caste systern came illtO being to provide the mechanics for such interdependence. Tile dynmnic forces creating this ne1V society l~rere econornic and sexual. The Europeans 1 need of cheap AboriginiLl labour and the Aborigines need or desire for the colonists' material wealth brought the two races together on stations, fanus, alld lliining fields, in the fislleries, and in the t01vns. Similarly, the largely male European population on the frontier c0ill111only turned to Aboriginal l¥Olllen to satisfy their sexual needs and, in doing so, created another area of deIJendence in "\V"hich each race exploited the other. i!uite often permanent or semi-permanent unions created a stable family situation otherwise lacking on the frontier. Such unions and the children of such unions resulted in a third racial caste cut off to a large extent from the main Aboriginal or European groups. The dyuSWlic changes occurring in both the European and Aboriginal populations were masked by the deIiloralizing effects of acculturation on the iLbol--igines and their drastic decline in population. Thus, the reality of tl"le multi-racial society ,vas unnoticed and the· illusion of la doomed race' accepted as reality.