02Whole.Pdf (1.821Mb)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
"A Question of Necessity" : The Native Police in Queensland Author Richards, Jonathan Published 2005 Thesis Type Thesis (PhD Doctorate) School School of Arts, Media and Culture DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/3180 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/365772 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au “A Question of Necessity”: The Native Police in Queensland Jonathan Richards, Bachelor of Arts in Australian and Comparative Studies (Honours) IMAGE REMOVED. PLEASE CONSULT PRINT COPY OF THESIS HELD IN GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY LIBRARY School of Arts, Media and Culture, Griffith University Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March, 2005 Abstract Frontier issues are an inevitable part of Australian historiography, and have often been dealt with in either an indifferent or a moralistic manner. Specifically, it has been widely argued that records of officially condoned frontier violence have been destroyed or lost. This thesis, which deals with the Native Police in Queensland from 1860 to 1905, attempts to move the discussion on to firmer ground. It is driven by a passionate commitment to the rights of Indigenous Australians, and shows that detailed archival research does not support those who deny the violence that accompanied the colonisation of Australia. Apologists for dispossession will find no comfort in the archival records. The Native Police force was widely reputed to have been the most violent police force on the Australian frontier. Long-standing and widely cited references about the lack of Native Police records have been tied into arguments about the kind of force it was. This dissertation is the first significant archival work on the Native Police force after Separation. The force was part of broader colonial settler-society, and I analyse the Native Police in that context. The problem with existing literature is that the archives have not been adequately consulted, and historians have neglected vital contextual aspects of the force in Queensland. The sociology of policing has not been integrated with a model of military force in the Queensland case, even though in colonial Queensland the same men formed the dual function of soldiers and police. The aim of the thesis is to provide an integrated model documented by detailed research in the archives. The research hypothesis is that the Native Police played a central role in the dispossession and punitive treatment of Indigenous people. Chapter 1 sets up the research problem in the context of the existing scholarship on native policing. Chapter 2 looks at the officers. Chapter 3 is concerned with the Aboriginal troopers of the force, and Chapter 4 examines the operations of the Native Police in Queensland. The thesis is very detailed, as the topic requires, but it still only opens up essential avenues of research. In particular, more work needs to be done on the experiences of the troopers and on the records of frontier violence in general. Statement of Originality This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. Jonathan Richards March 2005 WARNING This thesis contains language and material that may be distressing for some readers. It includes references to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have passed away, and also includes racist language and expressions. Some readers will find the violence described in this thesis disturbing or offensive. No offence or disrespect is intended towards any persons living or deceased. Contents Abstract Statement of authorship and warning Contents Notes on enclosed disc, photographs and tables Map of Queensland towns and locations mentioned in text Acknowledgements Introduction: ‘Some true records are as yet extant’ Page 1 Chapter 1: ‘The bloodhounds of the Queensland Government’ – positioning the Native Police force Page 17 Chapter 2: ‘Never any lack of candidates’ – the European members of the Native Police force Page 89 Chapter 3: ‘Barbarians taken from another part of the country’ – the Aboriginal troopers of the force Page 157 Chapter 4: ‘Preserving order by terror’ – Native Police force operations in colonial Queensland Page 217 Conclusion Page 299 Appendix 1: A Nominal Roll of the European members of the force Page 305 Appendix 2: Native Police camps and stations by date of opening Page 353 Appendix 3: Frontier deaths Page 357 Appendix 4: ‘Rumours’ – false reports of frontier deaths Page 379 Appendix 5: Native Police Rules and Regulations Page 389 Appendix 6: ‘A good reliable pamphlet’: A documentary history of the Native Police in Queensland (on disc) Bibliography Page 397 Notes on disc (enclosed with thesis) The disc at the rear of the dissertation contains a copy of the documentary history, digital versions of the chapters and appendices, and extra images of the Native Police. Photographs ‘Sergeant Whiteford and troopers, Cape York Peninsula, ca.1905, Queensland State Archives, A/19899 Front cover ‘Dispersal’, Carl Lumholtz, ‘Chez Les Cannibales’, Le Tour Du Monde 1 (1889) Page 1 ‘Patrol’, Charles Sievwright, The bride of a savage, MSS 6908, Mitchell Library, PXA 413, Photo 27 Page 17 ‘Frederick J Murray’ (served 1865-95), from Nellie Murray’s photograph album of ‘Inspectors, Sub Inspectors, District Registrars, Police Magistrates and Native Police’, John Oxley Library, APA 74, D2-8-87, 147074 (1881) Page 89 ‘A famous old Native trooper’, Queensland State Archives, PRE/140 Page 157 ‘Queensland Squatters “Dispersing” Aborigines’, Vogan, The Black Police Page 217 ‘Native Police patrol’, National Archives of Australia, J2879, QTH314/3 Page 397 ‘Group of Natives at Badu’, Queensland State Archives, QS 177/1, B1/314 (1900) Disc label Tables 1: Native Police officers appointed as Police Magistrates Page 99 2: Dismissals of Native Police officers Page 101 3: Command structure and numbers, 1859 Page 111 4: Command structure and numbers, 1864 Page 112 5: Command structure and numbers, 1872 Page 112 6: The ‘clusters’ Page 119 7: The ‘higher ranks’ Page 120 8: Violent Native Police officers Page 125 9: Troopers shot dead by police Page 185 10: Recorded mass desertions of troopers Page 206 Acknowledgements Much of the research for this dissertation would not have been completed without the invaluable assistance of so many people in community organisations, government departments, libraries, archives, and universities. Individuals: Malcolm Alexander, Adrian Beattie, Marshall Bell, Timothy Bottoms, Kevin Brown, Richard Buchhorn, Patrick Buckridge, Lee Butterworth, Janine Cassidy, Mark Copland, Stuart Cowell, Rebekah Crow, Jocelyn Cuff, Greg de Moore, Louise Denoon, Lyn du Toit, Mike Enders, Raymond Evans, Sue Featherstone, Dan Feehely, Karen Feehely, Kay Ferres, Mark Finnane, Trish Fitzsimons, Kathy Frankland, Peter Freeman, Nola Fulwood, Regina Ganter, Geof Genever, Sean Gouglas, Mary Graham, Ernie Grant, Anna Haebich, Jörn Harbeck, Lorraine Harden, Trevor Hicks, Richard Hill, Lyn Hockey, Wayne Hudson, Lord Edmund Ironside, Robert Ørsted Jensen, Jill Jones, Jenny Kidd, Ros Kidd, Bill Kidston, Sharon Klein, Rebecca Langlands, Trevor Marshall, Katie McConnel, Belinda McKay, Bill Miles, Janice Mitchell, John Mitchell, Paula Moore, Albert Moran, Aileen Moreton-Robinson, Christine Morris, Elizabeth Nunn, Janet Prowse, Peter Read, Gordon Reid, Margaret Reid, Henry Reynolds, Anne Richards, Michael Richards, Bruce Rigsby, Tony Roberts, Stephanie Ryan, Anna Schnukal, Kevin Slattery, Margaret Stonall, Peter Thomas, Robert Thomson, Pamela Tomes, Paul Turnbull, Frank Uhr, Andrew Walker, Rebecca Ward, John Weaver, Geoff Wharton, Loris Williams, Sheryl Williams, Kerry Wimhurst and the Native Police collector who agreed to help me on the condition that his name was not mentioned. Organisations: Archivists, librarians and staff at Brisbane City Council Library Service, Cairns Historical Society, Community and Personal History Unit, Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy, Griffith University Library, Mitchell Library (State Library of New South Wales), National Library of Australia, Queensland State Archives, School of Arts, Media and Culture, Griffith University, John Oxley Library (State Library of Queensland). Introduction: ‘Some true records are as yet extant’1 On the Queensland frontier in the nineteenth century, Aboriginal men under the command of Europeans killed large numbers of Indigenous men, women and children. They were members of a force created by the New South Wales government in 1848 and called the Native Police. The Queensland government retained this armed force as an effective means of crushing Indigenous resistance to European colonisation. The Native Police were deployed in mounted detachments (usually about six Aboriginal troopers led 1 ‘Reminiscences of The Native Mounted Police of Queensland’ by ‘An Ex-officer’, Town and Country Journal (29 March 1879:607). by a White officer). When aspiring settlers complained about ‘attacks’ or ‘depredations’, the force went into action, ‘punished the offenders’, and made the country ‘safe’ for Europeans. They were the ‘defenders of colonisation’. Were the Aboriginal men of the Native Police in colonial Queensland soldiers or police? What sort of force was the Native Police? In this