Deconstructing and Reconstructing the Martin Cash/James Lester Burke
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___________________________________________________________ DECONSTRUCTING AND RECONSTRUCTING THE MARTIN CASH/JAMES LESTER BURKE NARRATIVE/MANUSCRIPT OF 1870 Duane Helmer Emberg BA, BD, M Divinity, MA Communications Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy October 2011 School of History and Classics The University of Tasmania Australia ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work began in the Archives of the State Library in Hobart, Tasmania, approximately twenty-one years ago when my wife, Joan, and I discovered a large bundle of foolscap pages. They were thick with dust, neatly bound and tied with a black ribbon. I mused, ‗perhaps this is it!' Excitement mounted as we turned to Folio 1 of the faded, Victorian handwritten manuscript. Discovered was the original 1870 narrative/manuscript of bushranger Martin Cash as produced by himself and scribe/co-author, James Lester Burke. The State Archives personnel assisted in reproducing the 550 pages. They were wonderfully helpful. I wish I could remember all their names. Tony Marshall‘s help stands out. A study of the original manuscript and a careful perusal of the many editions of the Cash adventure tale alerted me that the Cash/Burke narrative/manuscript had not been fully examined before, as the twelve 1880-1981 editions of Martin Cash, His Adventures…had omitted 62,501 words which had not been published after the 1870 edition. My twenty years of study is here presented and, certainly, it would not have happened without the help of many. Geoff Stillwell (deceased) pointed me in the direction of the possible resting place of the manuscript. The most important person to help in this production was Joan. She always assisted when I cried out as the computer broke down, cajoled me for being sloppy in some sentence structures and always encouraged me when I really wanted to give up on the whole project…at times it all appeared to be just too difficult. She has been more than a rock…more like a harbour in a storm and an anchor when overwhelmed by the difficulty of the task. Joan, a simple thank you carries all. Dr Tom Dunning was excellent as my supervisor. He answered all correspondence and phone calls immediately and always encouraged me. He was continually available for help. As Joan was my rock, Tom was my goad. Neither would he allow me to quit when everything was coloured black. The deep knowledge of Dr Hamish Maxwell-Stewart kept me digging for new information from the Tasmanian colonial period. Dr Tom Gunn's persistent help and friendship lifted my sights. Dr Mike Powell was there with assistance too. To Sue Walker, who helped calm some of my fears about computers and straightened out many bad situations; to Tony Walker who showed me many errors of my ways; to Damien Collins, who found my entire (lost and not-backed-up properly) manuscript in the bowels of my computer; to Anne Edwards, friend and helper who knew the meaning of my strangled cries from the other side of the office; to Ross Hart who encouraged me to proceed with my circumstantial evidence hypothesis concerning Marcus Clarke and Cash‘s influence upon For the Term of His Natural Life; to Mike Wilson my webmaster who was willing to come to the house at any time, even when lightning struck our house and outed the computer; to Roberta Blackwood-Beattie from whom I received great advice about literacy and some research tricks; to Nigel and Judith King, sharp readers of detail; to Mike Bolan, friend and advisor. Also those who must be mentioned are Jill and Mike Cassidy, Fr. T. Southerwood, Dr David Coulson who knew the problems of research and called many times to find out how I was getting along; Dr Stan Gottschalk who had faith in me; Bonnie and Bruce Kedwell who stuck by me, and the people who I have forgotten to acknowledge and who I will remember when this goes to press. If ever I have done something which was a corporate product, this is it. Profound gratitude rings. Buck Emberg September 2011 Launceston, Tasmania DECLARATION This is to certify that: (i) The thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD degree. (ii) Due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used and quoted. (iii) This thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying in accordance with Copyright 1968. (iv) The entire work will be placed on www.tasmanian-tiger.com or another website. Duane Helmer Emberg…………………………………………………. Date …………………………………………. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements i Declaration iii Table of Contents iv Abstract 1 Chapter 1 Introduction and Methodology for Deconstructing and Reconstructing the Cash/Burke Narrative/Manuscript 3 Chapter 2 Literature Review 28 Chapter 3 Martin Cash and Narrative Reliability 69 Chapter 4 James Lester Burke Scribe and Co-Author 105 Chapter 5 Omissions 'The Book Within the Book' 118 Chapter 6 Additional Materials Inflecting the Narrative 164 Chapter 7 The Influence of the 1870 Edition Upon Marcus Clarke's 1874 For the Term of His Natural Life 185 Chapter 8 Conclusion 206 Postscript 213 Appendices Appendix 1 Printed Editions of The Adventures of Martin Cash 219 Appendix 2 William Gates' Account of the Kimberley Robbery 222 Appendix 3 Master Muster Frank Belstead's 1896 Letter 224 Appendix 4 Cash's Life and Death 227 Appendix 5 Document Verifying Cash's Illiteracy 231 Appendix 6 Cash Recall of Names, Places and Events 233 Appendix 7 Thirty-five Words and Phrases Idiosyncratic to Burke 241 Appendix 8 Abbreviated Sections from the Addenda 243 Appendix 9 Burke's Brickfield Letter and 'Poverty' Letter 245 Appendix 10 Omissions in Cash Narrative from the Norfolk Island Period 248 Appendix 11 The Long Poem 259 Appendix 12 The Ten Short Poems 262 Appendix 13 More Cash/Clarke Comparisons 265 Tables Table 1 Examples of Name and Place Recall 83 Table 2 Omissions per Chapter 119 Table 3 Irish Connections 182 Figures Figure 1 Cash Convict Record (page 1) 70 Figure 2 Cash's Convict Record (page 2) 71 Figure 3 Narrative/Manuscript: Burke's Handwriting 112 Figure 4 Burke's 'Letter from the Brickfields' 113 Figure 5 Burke's Convict Record (page 1) 114 Figure 6 Burke's Convict Record (page 2) 115 Bibliography 270 ABSTRACT DECONSTRUCTING AND RECONSTRUCTING THE 1870 MARTIN CASH/JAMES LESTER BURKE NARRATIVE/MANUSCRIPT OF 1870 The 1870 Cash/Burke narrative/manuscript narrated by Irish bushranger, Martin Cash, and co-authored by fellow convict, James Lester Burke, was not published in its entirety in the twelve editions after the first edition of 1870. The words in the full narrative/manuscript total 151,104. Of these, 62,501 were omitted from all post-1870 editions. This removal of text resulted in the loss of large portions of a significant document from the convict era in New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land and Norfolk Island. The narrative is told from the point of view of an illiterate Irish convict. It is established that Cash's recall of his twenty-seven years in the British penal system and Burke‘s scribing and co-authoring produced a narrative/manuscript which adds fresh dimensions to the historiography of time and place and also buttresses already known data. The basic dilemma was to establish a methodology which both separated and rejoined the exclusions into the full manuscript and in the process examine the origins and meanings of the omissions. With the separation and rejoining of the text in mind, the thesis examines the Cash/Burke narrative/manuscript closely by extricating Cash's words and experiences from sometimes seemingly unconnected material inserted by Burke or others. By reinstating the missing material from the twelve editions of 1880-1981, a fuller understanding of a long-term convict's experience within the British penal system emerges. Also examined is the relationship the Cash/Burke work has with Marcus Clarke's For the Term of His Natural Life. The result is the reconstruction of the Cash/Burke narrative/manuscript as a primary source from the years 1828-1855. This reconstructed information is in addition to material gained from official records, the opinions of contemporaries, newspaper reports and the mythology of bushranger Cash. Burke's role in the production may be referred to in a number of ways as 'editor', 'biographer', 'amanuensis', 'co-author' 'scribe' or 'author'. He was all of these. For the purpose of this thesis, the term 'co-author' will be the operative definition. The result is a new examination of an overlooked Australian colonial manuscript. D. H. Emberg University of Tasmania School of History and Classics 2011 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY FOR DECONSTRUCTING AND RECONSTRUCTING THE CASH/BURKE NARRATIVE/MANUSCRIPT This thesis seeks to make a case for restoring the original edition of the Cash/Burke narrative/manuscript and to establish that the more complete 1870 first edition1 provides a much richer source for understanding the convict era than subsequent bowdlerized editions.2 The Cash/Burke narrative/manuscript was narrated by illiterate bushranger Martin Cash and recorded by fellow emancipist and co-author James Lester Burke who penned the entire work in his careful copperplate hand. A very destructive fire in 1924 razed the printing sections of the The Mercury newspaper of Hobart destroying all relevant records of transactions, editing and re-editing of the manuscript which was held by The Steam Press, a publishing arm of The Mercury. The Mercury Steam Press was the publisher of all thirteen editions from 1870-1981. In editions following 1870, the term Steam Press was dropped and replaced with Mercury-Walch. It appears that the Cash/Burke narrative/manuscript was misplaced somewhere between the first and second editions 1870-1880.