McMurdo of the Schooner 'Stanley'

PART II

by WILFRED FOWLER

[In the previous issue of Queensland Heritage (vol. I, no. 8, pp. 3-15) been making a friendly visit to the Stanley were seized to be held as the first part of Mr Fowler's article was published. The article recounts hostages. though through the carelessness of the guards these prisoners the voyage of the lIS-ton Pacific Island Labour vessel Stanley, which escaped. Ultimately, after threats of personal violence were made by left Maryborough, Queensland, on 31 March 1883 with Captain Davies McMurdo against the natives, twelve of the thirteen original recruits in command. His first voyage in the labour trade, he had been licensed were handed over. The thirteenth man was considered medically unfit. to recruit 98 labourers. The crew consisted of William Connell, the The Stanley then set sail for New Britain and New Ireland and late first mate; Sydney Gerrans, the second mate; Daniel Moussue, cook and in April was brought to anchor at Mioko in St. Georges Channel, which steward; four A.Bs., Adams, Austin, Rowan and Chaillon; and eight separates New Britain from New Ireland. natives. William Anastasias McMurdo had been appointed as Government Davies went off in search of interpreters while McMurdo went to see Agent to accompany them to see that the provisions of the Pacific Islands Hernsheim, a German trader at Matupi near Rabaul on the New Britain Labourers Act of 1880 were complied with. On 10 April they anchored mainland to report the trouble they had encountered with German Charley. off Rossel Island in the Louisiade Archipelago and Davies and McMurdo When Davies found that McMurdo had promised Hernsheim that he went ashore where they were met by a crowd of young men whom [Davies] would recoup him for the loss he would incur from Davies's Davies wanted to recruit. McMurdo insisted, however, that this could burning of German Charley's trading post more trouble broke out between not be done as they were in no fit condition and there was no interpreter. McMurdo and Davies. Harsh words passed between the two who returned to the Stanley. The After gaining the services of an interpreter from a white man at ship battled against fierce gales until it came to the Laughlan Islands. Nusa,. recruiting was carried on at various points along the New Ireland At the Laughlan Islands the recruiters succeeded in persuading thirteen coastlme and by 22 May they had the full complement of 98 recruits. islanders to accompany them to Queensland. The new recruits were 1\10st of the month of May was spent in this recruiting. allowed to sleep on shore that night, but next morning they failed to More, trouble br.ewe? bet~vc::en Davies and McMurdo over the possibility keep a rendezvous with the recruiters, who went ashore to try to discover of the Stanley havmg msufflclent water and over the fact that Davies had the reason. It appeared that a German trader, Charles Tetzlaff ("German taken six rec~uit.s ~ho did not u.nderstand why they were being taken. Charley") had dissuaded them from keeping to their agreements. McMurdo On I\1cMl.'rdo s mSlstence, these SIX men were later landed making their then appears to have encouraged Davies in an all-out onslaught against number Sl'( short. Later, another one escaped when they stopped for Tetzlaff in the first place, and secondly against the huts of the islanders water and firewood. and against canoes which were used by natives of Woocllark Island who The next stop was San Cristoval in the Solomons Where they took traded in yams and taro with the Laughlan Islanders. Tetzlaff's copra on more water and rested for two days. On 30 June they were under store was set alight, and later the native village suffered the same fate. weigh again but the next day the Stanley struck a reef and Went aground The canoes were smashed to pieces with axes. Eight islanders who had on the south east spur of the Indispensable Reefs. No dry land was

Queensland Heritage ~:·,"-,·,J""Sr:l'W

II....J e•...." ••--.

"'::I"~' S ... It . loJ.&~ •

• iv 4--""-;1001 .__ .. ~. ... ~ ~~ .'. s..t... I" 'U1~1f--

Part of a chart of the Solomon Islands, showing Guadalcanar and San Cristoval. This is taken from the British Admiralty chart of 1874, with corrections down to January 1876.

in sight. One New Ireland man had been killed in the disaster. A raft Santa Anna at the southerly tip of San Cristoval. Davies had had been built with shelters for the men to sleep in and a breakwater found a man to take an order to Gerrans and the seamen to by 6 July and on 7 July, Davies, Gerrans, Adams, Rowan, Chaillon and Austin left for Makira Bay in San Cristoval to get help. bring the boat round to Ugi. They had been housed and fed For seven weeks McMurdo, Connell and Moussue tried to keep the by Tai for eight days before they left Makira Bay and pulled men working to improve their comforts even having to resort to flogging the boat sixty miles round Cape Recherche at the northerly tip them. They were getting sick and several died but in the end there of San Cristoval. They avoided the off shore reef and took was a turn for the better. Throughout the ordeal, McMurdo did not spare himself in his efforts to keep the natives alive and at work. He the boat into Selwyn Bay on the south western side of Ugi. had to punish many of them for pilfering the provisions, and some of Davies came down the path from Stephens's house and met them died as a result of his severe discipline. He was not to know that them on the beach. most coastal New Guineans suffered from endemic malaria, which enlarges "Don't unload", he said, "we're going on to Santa Anna the spleen; in this condition that organ ruptures easily. Corporal punish­ ment administered to such people could easily result in death. His regret [Owa Raha] tomorrow". at the unforseen results of his methods of discipline is recorded fully Rowan, a young fair big-boned Scot with a ragged beard and in :the journal he maintained.] thick muscular arms, took a pace towards Davies.

:I: "We are not going to Santa Anna tomorrow", he said. * * * Davies flushed, "guard your tongue, my man", he said, "or I'll make things hot for you". 7 Rowan spat and spoke in an undertone to the other three Davies, Gerrans and the four sailors were three days and seamen. They shook their heads, glaring at Davies with open two nights in the boat sometimes making good progress with hostility. the lug-sail but mostly pulling the one hundred and fifty miles "The men have had a hard pull", Gerrans said in a placatory from the reef to Makira Bay. The weather varied from fresh tone, "may I suggest they have a day's rest before we go on south easterlies veering round to the east with rain squalls to to Santa Anna". calms and hot sun. Common concern with survival made "Very well", said Davies. "The trouble is they are lily­ imposed discipline unnecessary; but the four sailors barely livered - all right, we'll leave at dawn the day after tomorrow. concealed mounting dislike of Davies. But I warn you, I won't tolerate insolence". He turned and Tai, the chief of Makira, found Davies a guide across the walked away but looked back when the seamen laughed. island over the high land and down to Wano [Wango] on the There was a break in the south east weather; there was no other side in search of a vessel; from Wano he went out by wind and they pulled for the best part of two days and a night canoe to the island of Ugi. Gerrans and the four seamen were all the way, eighty-five miles to Santa Anna at the southerly given a new clean hut and provided with food by the chief tip of San Cristoval - an almost circular atoll, two and a half until Davies sent for them. miles in diameter. In the late afternoon haze, raised land at Captain Stephens the resident trader at Ugi had charge of the centre gave it a profile like a broad-rimmed low-crowned a small coal dump, a few sheep and cattle, and a stock of hat. They took the boat into the anchorage on the western provisions for H.M. Ships. He told Davies no ships were side [Port Mary]. A fifty ton cutter layoff the beach and half expected until later in the year and advised him to go on to concealed by coconut palms, there was a house.

Queensland Heritage Page Thirteell Captain McDonald, an American ship's master, had set himself T~e cutter retur'!ed on 3 August. Heavy seas had been as a trader on Santa Anna. When the Stanley's boat beached ~unnmg off the IndIspensable Reefs and McDonald had judged he had with him his daughter, a half caste girl about seventeen It too dangerous to attempt to reach the stranded men. years old who moved about, barefoot, in shabby finery, keeping Gerrans and the four sailors watched the cutter approach house for him - and Charlie Sproul, an old man who made waiting for Davies to come ashore. Rowan and Austin dis­ himself useful in return for food and somewhere to live. regarded their promise to do nothing and accosted him as soon Three days after the party arrived McDonald took Davies in as he stood on the beach. Rowan pushed himself forward and his cutter to the reef. Next day when Gerrans and the four shouted, "Repeat the lies you've told Captain McDonald about seamen were at breakfast Miss McDonald came into the room us sailors and the second mate and I'll break your neck". and watched them. Chaillon made a polite remark but she Davies drew back and shook a finger at him. ignored it and began to giggle. "Don't you dare threaten me, my man - I've told no lies "You are all in trouble about something you did in the to anyone. I warn you that if I have any more trouble from Laughlan Islands", she said. you or anyone else, you'll find yourself in a police court in Queensland". Gerrans looked up at her. "Who told you that?" he said.' Adams held Rowan back. "Easy Francis", he said, "leave "I heard Captain Davies tell my father", she said. it all to the second mate". "Oh yes", said Gerrans, "what else did he say?" Davies asked McDonald to allow him to live in the cutter­ "He said you were a set of low blackguards I ". he said he found the company of Gerrans and the sailors The four sailors stopped eating and stared at the girl. distasteful. "Yes, Miss McDonald", said Gerrans, "and what else?" Next morning Gerrans obtained pen and ink and a wntmg She giggled again. "If he meets a man o'war, he said he pad from Charlie Sproul. He made six copies of a statement would give himself up and hand you all over". and asked McDonald and Sproul to witness his signature and "That's all?" those of the four sailors 2. "Yes, that's all", she said. Statement relating to the actions of Joseph Griffith Davies when During the remaining days the cutter was away the sailors master of the schooner Stanley to recover thirteen recruits who had talked of nothing but Davies. Rowan and Austin declared their refused to join the ship when ordered to do so prior to the vessel's intention of thrashing him but Gerrans advised caution. He said departure from the Laughlan Islands in the month of April, 1883. their position was strong but an assault on Davies would weaken On 17th of April 1883, thirteen recruits were engaged and allowed to return to their houses until ordered to join the ship of her it. He persuaded them to leave the matter in his hands and departure. On the 18th the recruits were ordered t? .be aboard but he would see that they were protected. did not obey, whereupon the Government Agent, WIlham Mcl'....lurdo,

Sketches of McMurdo's breakwater, shelter, tents etc. erected on the Indispensable Reef. These illustrations, appearing on this page and the following two, are taken from the Public Record Office, London, reference C.O. 225/15. at folio 415. and are reproduced with the permission of the Public Record Office.

Page Fourteen Queensland Huitage .:: '" 7' ~

"', .... ~

Queensland Heritage Page Fifteen . f"~ .... ~ , , ,~ ~.:'_~~ '~~4-<~;'-~~~ ,t,,,

.., ...... :.. "-'"

....

...... ,"'.. ;'.)0',' .... ' , --",c~.•~_.",=~

went on shore to learn the reason. Upon his return to the ship the Captain of any British man o'war he might encounter. On each member of the ship's company was ordered to seize one of the 14 August the Fiji labour schooner Sea Breeze came in for native visitors who were then aboard. Eight natives were secured and held as hostages (they all escaped during the night). The master. wood and water; Gerrans gave a copy of the statement to the Joseph Griffith Davies, then armed the boats' crews and ourselves Government Agent, Henry Coates. Chaillon and Adams shipped and took us in the boats, leaving the mate. the cook and one boat in the Sea Breeze when she sailed next day. Chaillon later boy in the ship. When the boats drew close to the beach a shot transferred to another Fiji vessel the Windward Ho as second was fired from the house or premises of a German copra trader. We landed and the master and the Government Agent walked to mate. On 17 August a brigantine of 200 tons, the Venture, the German's house. We saw the master break open the door and commanded by Captain Walsh, came in bound for Sydney. Walsh then set fire to the house and the stores. None of the men who agreed to take the men off the reef subject to his terms and have signed this paper put any fire to the German's premises. provided the weather was favourable. The terms were that, for At 10 a.m. the following day, the master again armed tbe same a payment of £1,250, he would deliver all the Stanley's crew men and took them on shore; one boat under his own charge and the other under the charge of the Government Agent. Upon our and the Kanakas to any port in Queensland. landing on the island named Tabataba, we were ordered to set fire to the native houses but not to shoot except in self defence. During the day about sixty houses were burnt and a number of canoes 8 destroyed. No shots were fired or natives seen. About 5 p.m. the boats returned to the ship. The next day, after an interview between At eight o'clock on 23 August McMurdo sighted the Venture the Government Agent and the chief, twelve recruits joined the ship. in squally weather to northward. He flew the ensign upside During all this affair, nothing was seen of the German. On the down and lit fires. At nine o'clock the vessel was close enough 21st. everything being settled as far as the natives were concerned. the vessel left for Woodlark Island. in for most of the men on the reef to swim off to her but she stood away to weather the south end of the reef for the other Statement drawn up and signed at Santa Anna Island. side. She hove to at two o'clock and lowered two boats; the 4th August, 1883. first with Queen the mate of the Venture was greeted with Witness to signatures - S. D. Gerrans, Second Mate cheers and a fusillade of rifle fire. The second boat followed Edward Austin, A.B. with Gerrans at twenty minutes past four. They returned to Alexander McDonald Francis Rowan, A.B. the Venture at a quarter to five with fifteen men in one boat CharIes S. Sproul Francis Chaillon, A.B. and sixteen in the other. Queen promised to return next morning George Adams. A.B. at daybreak. Food was cooked by half past three and the remaining recruits Gerrans gave McDonald two copies of the statement with all fed by half past four. McMurdo made himself ill with rage the request that he deliver them into the hand of the Government and mortification when two hours after daylight he saw neither Agent of any Queensland vessel that might call at Santa Anna. ship nor boats. The Venture was first sighted again at half past Two days later the Hazard of Honolulu came in - Gerrans gave twelve eight miles to leeward but there was still no sign of the the master a copy of the statement and asked him to give it to boats. By four o'clock McMurdo was frantic with waiting and

Page Sixteen Queensland Heritage for want of action sent Connell with twelve more recruits in Hernsheim's letter to the Immigration Agent, Sir Ralph Gore-\ the Stanley's boat which he had planned. to keep to the last. with a request for a full enquiry. McMurdo was by way of being At twenty past one the following mormng the first of. the a protege of Gore's - the latter invariably spoke well of him Venture's boats came in followed soon after by Queen In a and it seems likely that some degree of friendship existed between second boat. Connell returned at seven o'clock. Two ~o~rs them. Gore must therefore have found the enquiry distasteful. later McMurdo, Moussue, the boats' crews and the reJ?ammg On 20 September he submitted statements taken under oath from thirty nine recruits left the reef as the three boats m turn McMurdo, Davies and Gerrans. McMurdo now denied responsi­ moved out to the Venture. Walsh had two tons of yams, a ton bility for the incendiarism in the Laughlans and placed all blame of rice fifteen hundredweioht of both flour and biscuits and for it on Davies. Gerrans in his statement strongly supported plenty ~f water. He settled for the payment of £ 1,250 mentioned McMurdo. Davies swore to the contrary and blamed McMurdo. above. Gore in submitting the papers made no attempt to decide between Though he was ill with diarrhoea and vomiting for most of them but he marked certain entries in McMurdo's log. On 3 the voyage, McMurdo drove himself to see that the recruits were October, Sir Thomas McIlwraith in the closing days of his ministry disposed of McMurdo with four words, 'McMurdo to fed properly and, if they were ailing, given treatment. The health be dismissed'. Following an enquiry, the Marine Board cancelled of all but two of them improved remarkably. Davies's certificate on the grounds of incompetency in seaman­ Land was sighted at half past six in the morning of lO ship - though Davies was far from incompetent. September. An hour later one of the two ailing men died - the other appeared to be recovering. A light northerly breeze Following the defeat of the Government, dissolution, a general persisted. When the fix was taken at noon the Venture was election and the resignation of the McIlwraith ministry, the thirty miles east of Indian Head - she anchored under Cape Liberal Party led by Sir Samuel Walker Griffith came to power Moreton below the great white stone light house building at on 13 November. Samuel Griffith was born on 21 June 1845 half past four the following afternoon. A message telegraphed at Merthyr Tydvil twenty five miles to the north west of Cardiff from the lighthouse to Bulwer Pilot Station on Moreton Island on the river Taff in a bleak and hilly region at-the centre of brought the pilot schooner Clara sailing across the Bay - and the South Wales coal basin. The town then consisted principally from Bulwer, news of the Stanley survivors, seventy eight recruits, of mean overcrowded workmen's houses - it is reported that it eight boats' crew and five whites reached Brisbane. was common for fifteen people to live in one room and so foul was the stench emanating from opened doors that callers found The pilot came aboard at half past five and got the vessel it unbearable and were compelled to move away. In fact under weigh. Three houfslater she left the lighthouse on Cowan mortality was very high. Contaminated well water spread Point on the port side and proceeded southwest across the Bay cholera - typhus and small pox also took a regular toll. Men, towards the bar at the mouth of the river. At midnight they women and children were exploited without mercy by iron anchored at the lightship about a hundred yards to the eastward masters and coal owners unmoved by human degradation and of the outer edge of the cutting. McMurdo treated the one ailing to whom human dignity was of no consequence. One of them, man before he turned in - the others were all well. The Health Robert Crawshay, lies buried in Vaynor churchyard, on the Officer came alongside at twenty to eleven next day, 12 Septem­ outskirts of Merthyr. On his instructions his grave stone bears ber. Because of the recent death he was unable to give pratique the inscription 'God forgive me'. until he had consulted the Under Colonial Secretary. The Venture weighed anchor at one o'clock and sailed two miles up river to Griffith left Merthyr with his parents in 1854 when he was Lytton. The Health Officer came aboard at half past five having nine years old. He was a very precocious boy, by no means got permission for them to proceed. At ten o'clock the paddle an uncommon phenomenon - the sensitive clever son of a non­ tug Boko took the vessel in tow for the remaining thirteen miles conformist manse. If it is supposed that in later life he was up river to the Botanical Gardens. They moored her just after affected by recollections of early days in Merthyr and by his midnight in the early hours of 13 September. home environment and upbringing, much of what he did may perhaps be better understood.

9 10 Soon after the news of the survivors from the Stanley but Heussler the German Consul at Brisbane heard again from before the Venture had berthed a letter dated 10 September from Hernsheim. Hugh Hastings Romilly, Deputy Commissioner for J. C. Heussler, Imperial German Consul, Brisbane, reached the the Western Pacific, had been to New Britain and spent some Queensland Colonial Secretary. With it he enclosed a letter time in August at Matupi. He took statements from two dated 5 May from G. Hernsheim of Matupi, New Britain report­ Solomon Islanders who worked for Tetzlaff and from two ing what McMurdo had told him on 3 May. He wrote Laughlan men sent to Matupi by Tamiu. Tetzlaff who happened he (McMurdo) related boastingly how he and the captain of his to be there on his way to the Hermit Islands also made a vessel had a few weeks ago, at the Laughlan Islands, burnt down statement. He went much further than anyone else in his the houses of a German trader named Carl Tetzlaff ... charges against McMurdo, Davies and the rest of the ship's Hernsheim went on to say that the houses and produce stores company and introduced damaging irrelevancies such as, for contained at least twenty tons of copra representing commercial example, that they had had seven women aboard. He asserted value of between £200 and £300 sterling. After describing how that the Laughlan Islanders must starve since they depended on McMurdo and Davies burned down Chief Tamiu's village he yams and taro brought from Woodlark Island iii . the canoes referred again to the loss of produce, the ship's company of the Stanley had destroyed. He wildly It is needless to add that the houses and produce destroyed by this exaggerated the amount of produce destroyed when house and act of incendiarism did not belong to the trader, who, perhaps, may have not acted fairly to the captain of the ship whose interests store sheds were burned down. were at variance with his, but to the firm employing him, who, A copy of a letter from Romilly was left by Heussler with certainly, had done nothing to merit such treatment and loss. the papers Hernsheim had sent him. "Without offering an opinion He conduded, on this case", Romilly wrote to Hernsheim, "I regret extremely I add, that I have reported this affair likewise to the Imperial Foreign that such a charge should be brought against an English ship Office at Berlin, and that I have solicited the German Government's and I beg to assure you that I will spare no efforts to attract intervention, through our Consul-General's Office in Sydney ... the attention of the Queensland Government to it" 4. On instructions from Queensland's Premier Sir Thomas While official attention in Queensland had become focussed Mcllwraith the Under Colonial Secretary, Robert Gray, passed on the Laughlan Islands and allegations against Davies and

Queensland Heritage Page Seventeen 2. Ships, embarks, receives, detains, or confines, or assists in shipping, embarking, receiving, detaining, or confining, for the purpose aforesaid, a native of any of the aforesaid islands on board any vessel, either on the high seas or elsewhere, without the consent of such native, proof of which consent shall lie on the party accused. 3. Contracts for the shipping, embarking, receiving, detaining, or confining on board any vessel for the purpose aforesaid, any such native without his consent, proof of which consent shall lie on the party accused. 4. Fits out, mans, navigates, equips, uses, employs, lets, or takes on freight or hire, any vessel, or commands, or serves, or is on board any such vessel with intent to commit, or that anyone on board such vessel should commit, any of the offences above enumerated. 5. Ships, lades, receives, or puts on board, or contracts for the shipping, lading, receiving, or putting on board of any vessel, money, goods, or other articles, with the intent that they should be employed, or knowing that they will be employed, in the commission of any of the offences above enumerated; he shall for each offence be guilty of felony, and shall be liable to be tried and punished for such felony in any Supreme Court of justice in any of the Australasian colonies, and shall, upon conviction, be liable, at the discretion of the court, to the highest punishment other than capital punishment, or to any less punishment awarded for any felony by the law of the colony in which such offender shall be tried. and Thurston went on to say, But it is open to doubt (accepting the statement of the witness Adams in its entirety), whether any criminal offence was committed against the natives seized on board the "Stanley". It is said that some natives were seized and detained as hostages for those who, having previously recruited, would not return on board when required. Assuming that this could be proved it would follow that, notwithstanding that the detention of the natives was a high­ Portrait of H. H. Romilly. taken from the frontispiece of his book, handed and improper proceeding, it did not amount to detention Letters from the Western Pacific' alld !I1ashollaland, 1878-1891. for the purpose of removal, which is the gist of an offence under Section 9 of the Act first referred to. McMurdo, a course of related events was taking place at Suva As regards the thirteen natives said to have been recruited and in the Fiji Islands. Henry Coates the Government Agent of who (subsequently to the alleged burning of the four villages, the the Fiji labour schooner Sea Breeze delivered to the Agent trader's house. and the destruction of canoes), were surrendered to the Government Agent, and finally conveyed to Queensland, the General of Immigration a copy of the statement drawn up and offence seems clearer. signed at Santa Anna in the Solomons by Gerrans and the four In defence it will probably be urged that the resident German seamen of the wrecked Stanley 5. Adams, one of the signatories trader interfered to prevent the natives leaving the island. On the who had shipped aboard the Sea Breeze made a sworn statement other hand, it is probable that the natives left their homes under on 19 November before a Police Magistrate in Suva which pressure, which ultimately manifested itself in burning of houses and supported the original joint statement. the destruction of canoes after the German trader had endeavoured to protect them from illegal removal. In either case the alleged While Adams was being examined, J. B. Thurston, the Acting acts were wholly unjustifiable and merit severe punishment. High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, noticed a letter addressed by Hernsheim to Deputy Commissioner, George Le The Governor passed the letter to Griffith. On the day after Hunte - this was among papers reporting on a recent voyage Christmas 1883, Griffith asked, "Where are Davies and by Le Hunte to the Pellew Islands in H.M.S. Espiegle. On McMurdo? Where are the thirteen islanders brought from the 27 November Thurston wrote to Sir Anthony Musgrave, the Laughlan Islands?" Sir Ralph Gore replied "Davies is in Governor of Queensland. Adelaide, McMurdo is here; ten Laughlan Islanders with Hugh 'Tl]ere can, I think, be little doubt that the evidence so far obtained Monckton, Nerada, Maryborough; two to Henry Palmer, after­ affords good ground for a belief that most wanton injuries have wards transferred to H. Monckton. Gerrans, second officer, been 'suffered by the natives of the Laughlan Islands and by a resident trader there at the hands, primarily, of John Davies, the gave evidence before me here". Griffith directed that an enquiry master, and William McMurdo, the Government Agent of the be held at Nerada at which the islanders would be examined. Stanley at the period in question, and as these persons are probably On 15 January, 1884, H. R. Buttanshaw, Police Magistrate, and still in or sailing out of Queensland, I lose no time in placing your Excellency in possession of such evidence as may enable your T. B. Smyth, Inspector of Pacific Islanders at Maryborough, Excellency's Government to take action with a view to further were given this task. Soon afterwards the Governor received inquiry into the charges against them. another letter from the Acting High Commissioner for the and Western Pacific 6 with a number of enclosures including copies If it were proved that the persons referred to were guilty of an of the statements taken by H. H. RomiUy at Matupi in August; offence under Section 9 of "The Pacific Islanders Protection Act, 1872," they could, I apprehend, be tried in Queensland, and probably Heussler the German Consul in Brisbane had of course received the provisions of the "Imperial Statute, 18 and 19, Vic., c.91, s.21," copies direct from Hernsheim in October and had left them for would also be applicable to such a case.- the Colonial Secretary to see. They therefore contained nothing Section 9 of The Pacific Islanders Protection Act, 1872 (The new about the allegations against Davies and McMurdo but Kidnapping Act) read, there were two incidental points of interest. Hernsheim in a If a British subiect commits any of the following offences, that is letter to Romilly estimated the loss to his firm at £300. RomiUy to say,- observed that it would be premature for him to offer any I. Decoys a native of any of the aforesaid islands for the purpose opinion on the events in the Laughlans until Davies and McMurdo of importing or removing such native into any island or place had been heard - he noted that McMurdo by his own account other than that in which he was at the time of the commission of such offence; or carries away, confines, or detains any such was unusually strict in his observance of those regulations by native for the purpose aforesaid, without his consent, proof of which the morality of the Queensland labour trade is upheld 7. which consent shall lie on the party accused. He asserted that the value of such men cannot be overrated

Page Eighteen Queensland Heritage and he ventured to hope that every facility would be given to Pacific Islanders. Muskets, but more especially Snider rifles McMurdo of explaining and, if possible, denying the charges were highly esteemed items in the trade goods stocks of labour brought against him. recruiters. They were shipped out in thousands from Brisbane, Maryborough, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Mackay and Townsville On 2 February the Police Magistrate and the. ~nspector ~f Pacific Islanders at Maryborough reported to Gnfflth on their by ship's masters and just as much if not more by islan?ers returning home after three years' work on the sugar plantations enquiry at Nerada Plantation where the Laughlan Islan~ers were employed. Two who understood English were exammed first of Queensland. The British Snider was an Enfield muzzle individually and then together - their names were .spelled Sea loader converted into a breech loader by fitting a hinged breech Whimp and Na-Mee - both stated that they had Wished to go block with a firing pin passing through it - the invention of to Queensland and that they had understood t~at they would Jacob Snider of Philadelphia. These were effective weapons be away three years. Buttanshaw and Smyth tned to get state­ weighing just over nine and a half pounds, four feet long, with ments from the other Laughlan Islanders - th~ best they could rather more than a half inch bore. A biggish hammer was do was a repetition of the statements by Sea Whlmp and Na-Mee. cocked and a two and a half inches long cartridge of coiled There could have been little doubt but that the Laughlan brass and an iron base with a copper percussion cap pushed Islanders were recruited without duress and wanted to work into the breech and the weapon was ready for firing; it was in Queensland knowing they would be away for three years. sighted up to 1,000 yards and was accurate and could kill at It seemed equally true that Tetzlaff had brought strong pressure 500 yards. What gave these weapons their special character to bear upon them to break the.ir agree!Uents because he wan~~d was the 'Tower' mark on the stock plate. Though this showed them to go on working for him makmg copra and collectmg merely the weapons had been inspected by the Board of. Or~in­ shell and beche de mer. ance in the Tower of London and found to be up to specification the mark also had almost talismanic significance and enhanced William Connell who had been first mate in the Stanley ~lso the appeal of the British Snider above all other weapons in the made a statement - apparently with some reluctance. Smce Pacific Islands labour trade. Dealers in Australia bought the he stayed aboard the schooner .while she was at. the Laughlans surplus Sniders in very large quantities and. it wa~ the sale. of the value of his evidence relatmg to events which took place these weapons both in Queensland ports and m the Is~ands which ashore must have been limited. It was however clearly estab­ gravely impaired the good name of the Colony .durmg .the late lished that Tetzlaff's houses and store buildings and the huts 'seventies and early 'eighties 10. But the censonous attitude of and canoes of many of the islanders had been destroyed by many people in Britain and in the Australian Colonies must have parties off the Stanley acting on orders from McMurdo and been galling to Griffith. The traffic in firearms was repugnant Davies; not everyone would agree that the stateTents.amounted to him. Moreover he was the leader of the party opposed to to a prima facie case against the men of carrymg away, the introduction of black labour into Queensland. He was confining and detaining without consent" under Section 9 of the convinced that recruiting could never be adequately regulated "Kidnapping Act". Nevertheless Griffith directed that warrants by legislation and that if the Colony was to preserve or recover were to be obtained against Davies and McMurdo 8. An its good name, the traffic must cease. He was of course one information was sworn by Charles Colville Horrocks, Acting of the advocates of small sugar acreages worked by Europeans Immigration Agent, as Sir Ralph Gore the substantive Immigra­ and served by central mills. tion Agent had been granted a year's leave of absence on full pay. McMurdo was living at Ashford Villa, Turbot Str~et, and Griffith's brief reply to the Governor's enquiry concluded, was under police surveillance; Davies had gone to Adelaide ~nd Davies, the master, was lately arrested in Adelaide upon a ~arrant from this colony, and arrived here in custody on the 14th Instant; application was made for his extradition from South Austraha. and McMurdo, the Government Agent, is at present in Brisbane In the meantime the Governor of Queensland received another under the surveillance of the police. Both these men will be brought letter from Thurston, and with it a copy of a statement by Frank up at the Police Court on 21st instant, arraigned on a ch~rge ':If kidnapping at the Laughlan Islands, and the result of the tnal Will Chaillon, formerly a seaman in the wrecked Stanley but who in due course be communicated to Your Excellency II. was then second mate in the Fiji schooner Windward Ho 9. Instructions had already been issued to Government Agents Chaillon added little new to what had already been stated but ~aragr~ph forbidding recruiting from either New Britain or New Ireland. he amplified it and was more precise. The concluding Heussler the German Imperial Consul at Brisbane now raised of the covering letter to the Governor from the Actmg High the matter of the loss to Hernsheim's company. He began his Commissioner, read- letter to Griffith, ... I should be glad to learn the views of your Excellency's Government with respect to its power of jurisdiction in this case, Some short time ago, when I had the honour of mentioning verbally and as to what steps, if any, have to be taken towards br~ngi,?g to you the subject of a claim which I was requested by Messrs. Robertson and Hernsheim, in Hamburg, and Hernsheim and ~?, to justice the master and Government Agent of the ship In question. Matupi, New Britain, to institute on their behalf, for the ~trocltle~ committed by the officers and crew of the labour schooner Stanley The Governor passed the letter to Griffith for the information on their property in the Laughlan Islands, you kindly ~emarked the matter was pending, and would have your closer attentIOn after of Ministers; he wanted to know what was happening about the the session of the Parliament was over. Stanley so that he could reply to the Acting High Commissioner. The letter from Suva might have been taken to imply a and concluded, reminder to the Queensland Government of its duty to examine The loss, which naturally cannot be exactly ascertained, has been represented to me as considerably over £1,000, and when it is the extent of its jurisdiction and then to take what action was taken into consideration that between 50 and 60 tons copra, over possible against Davies and McMurdo. To gauge the probable 5,000lbs. beche-de-mer, 1 cwt. pearl-shells, 16 lbs. tortoise-s.hell, &c., effect of it on a man of Griffith's character, high ability and besides the building and its other contents have been destroyed by political convictions, the Stanley cannot be treated in isolation. the incendiary, the valuations seems only reasonable 12. For years there had been friction between Queensland and the It will be recalled that Hernsheim originally estimated his Imperial Government - there was a feeling that the Queensland loss at something between £200 and £300. Robert Gray the Government was not doing all it might to regulate the Labour Under Colonial Secretary was directed to write to Heussler and Trade and was by inaction condoning abuses. On the other enquire whether he would accept a valuation of the damage hand Australian Colonies, in particular Queensland, criticised by Hugh Romilly, Deputy Commissioner for the Western Pacific. the British Navy for not adequately punishing native islanders Heussler stuck to the figure of £ 1,000 but in the meantime for crimes against white men - yet contributed nothing towards Romilly was consulted and he made a valuation of £800 based naval expenditure and moreover directly aided and encouraged on other people's estimates of the quantity of copra, pearl shell, murderous attacks by refusing to ban the sale of firearms to beche-de-mer and turtle shell destroyed in the fire. He wrote,

Queensland Haitage Page Nineteen I should say. therefore, that if Carl Tetzlaff's statement is to be In conclusion, I take leave to inform Your Excellency that this believed, and he is the only man who can be possessed of a!1y Government is deeply sensible of the scandal that has been brought knowledge on the subject, that the loss sustained by Mr. Hernshelm upon this Colony and the British flag by the want of due supervision must be at least £800 or £850 13. of the Pacific labour trade, and is firmly resolved that if their Griffith directed that an offer of £550 be made to Heussler endeavours to remove the cause of the scandal prove ineffectual no alternative will be left but to put an end to the trade itself by in full discharge of the claim. Heussler accepted this offer with refusing to issue any further licences. little ado. In these endeavours they confidently anticipate the sympathy and The Executive Council meeting on 24 April agreed that since support of Her Majesty's Government. it had been unmistakably shown that the Government A~ent was implicated in the loss sustained by Messrs Hernshelm and 11 mad~ Company the payment could be and should be charged Davies and McMurdo appeared at the City Police Court on to the Pacific Islanders Fund. ThIs fund was created by 31 March, before William Henry Day, J.P. Assistant Police section 46 of the 1880 Act - it was not affected by the Magistrate and Messrs Warry and Forsyth JJ.P., charged on the amending Act of 1884 - and clearly stated that the fund was information of Charles Colville Horrocks, Acting Immigration available for carrying out the provisions of the Act and for Agent with having, on or about the 17th April 1883 ?eing then no other purpose. It might have been argued therefore that th~ ~harge on the high seas, near the Laughlan Islands, m PaCIfic Ocean, the payment to Heussler could not properly be made a unlawfully carried away on board the vessel two Islanders named th~ attentlO~ against this fund. Perhaps this was engaging of Sea Whimp and Na Mee, natives of certain islands in the Pacific Sir Anthony Musgrave, the Governor. On 5 Apnl he receIved f~r Ocean, such islands not being in Her Majesty's dominion, nor a disturbing letter from Lord Derby the Secretary of State within the jurisdiction of any other civilised Power, for the the Colonies 14. Hernsheim's exploitation of the Stanley affair 'pl~ce ~eport ~o purpose of removing them without their. consent into a had begun to catch up on events in Queensland. His other than that in which they were at the tIme of the commISSIon the Imperial German Foreign Office led to a buzz of dIpl.omatIc of the offence, contrary to the Act in such case made and activity. Though exchanges centred on the events m t?e provided. Inspector Lewis appeared 40 prosecute. M,r C. S. Laughlan Islands the German Foreign 0!Iice took the ?pportumty Mein, then a Solicitor, appeared for the accused DaVIes; and to go over a wide range of alleged mIsdeeds commItted under Mr Gore Jones, instructed by Mr Bunton appeared for the cover of the labour trade. Earl Granville the Foreign Secretary accused McMurdo. passed a copy of a note from Baron Plessen, the German Charge In addition to the witness on matters of form, Hugh Romilly, d'Affaires in Great Britain, of a later note from Count Munster, Charles Horrocks, Sea Whimp and William Connell were the German Ambassador, and of a report by the Commander of witnesses for the prosecution. Under cross examination by Gore the German Corvette Carola to the Admiralty Office in Berlin, Jones, RomiHy deposed to Lord Derby, the Secretary of State for the Colonies. L?rd The reputation of William McMurdo as a Government agent was Derby added a copy of a long diffuse report by Hugh Romdly an extremely good one. to the copies of these documents and sent them to t~e Govern?r and Horrocks deposed, with a request for a report on the matters contamed therem I have known him as a Government Agent between two and three years' he has borne the best character during that time as a and especially in regard to the injury said to have been done Gove~nment to the property of Messrs Hernsheim and Company. The Agent; I have heard the Immigration Agent, Sir .Ralph Gore, say that the accused McMurdo was the best man In the German notes expressed a humane concern for the people of service. New Britain and New Ireland - their concern with German Connell was non-committal, favourable where he could be to commercial interests plainly appeared only in the final paragraph McMurdo. Sea Whimp was the only witness to facts, referring of the report by the commander o! the Ge~man Corv.ette Ca~C?la, to the occasion when McMurdo went ashore with the white flag, The whites (Germans) are now In a particularly. anxIOus posItI?n, he deposed, " . as this year the labour trade in the New Hebndes not affor~!ng long a morning Mr McMurdo takem stick tyem whIte cahco long a sufficient supply of labourers, a large number of labour recrUIting a stick (flag); he come ashore long a one-fellow black boy; when vessels, about twenty, have come from Queensland t? the coast of Mr McMurdo come ashore he see one-fellow black fellow boy­ New Britain. With the great demand for labourers In Queensland, he say. "No more fight altogether boy, come o,n bo~rd and go and the consequent exploit?tion of these islands, the supply will long a ship"; he say. "suppose boy no go to ShIP, shIp stay and soon come to a stop. and German interests will be thereby directly me look after boy; supposing boy no go, me take gun, go ashore, injured, since New Britain a~d New Irela~d are the only. places and shoot boy altogether"; me afraid when he say that; me went where the Trading and PlantatIOn Company In Samoa can stIll draw with Mr McMurdo; any considerable number of labourers. The notes by the German Foreign Office may well have been Gerrans the second mate and Austin, one of the seamen in designed as preliminary deck-clearing for the annexation by the Stanley, gave evidence in McMurdo's defence. They did their best to exculpate him emphasising that under the trying Germany'later in 1884 of New ~ritain and New Ireland ~nd the off-lying islands. In the meantime a measure of the anxIety circumstances arising from Tetzlaff's lies and the dereliction of felt by the Governor appears in his minute to Griffith, the freely recruited Laughlan Islanders he showed great restraint. Austin deposed that Tetzlaff had threatened to shoot McMurdo This shall be sent in the usual manner to the Clerk of the Council. but as I am anxious to reply at once, I shall be glad if you will and Davies because, as he had said, they did not show him read it and furnish me with the needful information as to what sufficient respect. If any of the islanders had been wounded, was done in the Hernsheim case. Austin said, it must have been by Tetzlaff who had admitted In a letter 15 suggesting careful composition, Griffith reported shooting at an intruder during the night. Both Gerrans and on the settlement made with Heussler acting for Hernsheim and Austin appeared to blame Davies for setting fire to Tetzlaff's Company and on the prosecution of Davies and McMurdo for an premises and the islanders' huts. offence against Section 9 of the "Kidnapping Act". He concluded The two accused were remanded for seven days after each of his letter, fifteen appearances before the court. Mr Gore Jones appearing While deeply regretting the former existence (which cannot be for McMurdo strongly submitted that the police should show denied) of many of the abuses alluded to in the despatch now they were really in earnest and complete their case. He protested under consideration, I am glad to be able to remind Your Excellency that the regulations lately published (and for the due supervision of that the repeated remands could prejudice McMurdo's defence. the execution of which ample arrangements have been made) cover. His witnesses were seafaring men who were not permanently I think all the points to which attention has been called. I have resident in the Colony. He asked the court without further also to'say that earnest efforts are being made to secure the appoint­ delay to find there was no case for McMurdo to answer. But ment of a superior class of persons as Government agents, and that no one is now allowed to go in that capacity until I am this the court would not do - it is tempting to speculate on personally satisfied of his intelligence. sobriety, respectability. and whether they would have shown as much patience with the police competence. in criminal proceedings free of such political overtones as beset

Page Twenty Queensland Heritage the Stanley affair. Moreover it seems open to question whether class she sailed only moderately well. She had lain moored in on the evidence available to the court a prima facie case could the river since 16 May when she arrived at Brisbane with have been made out against the two accused for offences against -Romilly bringing warrants from the High Commissioner's Court the Kidnapping Act - otherwise, why the failure to commit for the arrest of Davies and McMurdo. She sailed on 19 June 16 them? It is worth recalling that only by virtue of the specific and after calling at the Laughlan Islands for witnesses sailed provisions of the Kidnapping Act o~ences against this Act w~re into Suva Harbour, Fiji on 28 July. The following day McMurdo indictable in any Supreme Court III any of the Australasian and Davies were brought before Fielding Clarke, Acting Chief colonies. Provision for other offences committed by British Judicial Commissioner, and remanded in custody until 4 August. subjects in islands in the Western Pacific Ocean not in any The preliminary examination was completed that day and both British colony, or within the jurisdiction of any civilised power prisoners committed for trial before the Court sitting with were made indictable in the courts of the High Commissioner assessors arraigned upon a joint charge of for the Western Pacific by Western Pacific Orders in Council (l) having on the 18th April, 1883, in the Laughlan Islands, 1877 and 1879. On 10 April warrants were issued from the in the Western Pacific, feloniously and maliciously set fire High Commissioner's Court at Suva, Fiji, for the arrest of to a storehouse and dwelling-house of one Karl Tetzlaff; Davies and McMurdo for (2) having on the 19th April, 1883, feloniously and feloniously, unlawfully and maliciously setting fire to certain dwelling maliciously burnt the dwelling-houses of certain natives houses ..... It must be a matter for surmise whether the High Commissioner of the said Islands; and the Queensland Government were acting in concert in an (3) having on the last-mentioned day unlawfully and effort to ensure punishment for Davies and McMurdo. Informed maliciously destroyed property of the said natives to onlookers must have had doubts whether that end was going an extent exceeding the value of £5. to be achieved by the proceedings in Queensland. On 9 May The trial was held on 6 August, and was concluded the same Romilly sent a telegram to the Colonial Secretary- day, the prisoners being found guilty of all the offences charged. Sail for Brisbane tomorrow in "Raven". Will you hand over The assessors were Mr Sharpe, of the firm of Sharpe, Fletcher, Davies and McMurdo to me on High Commissioner's warrant to and Co., and Mr Malan, the Government Hydrographer. These be taken to Pacific Islands to be tried for burning German store. gentlemen, while giving an unhesitating opinion as to the guilt Can you supply me with two native witnesses. They will be sent of the prisoners, strongly recommended them to the mercy of back. A wire before 10 a.m. will reach me. the Court. After the Governor had endorsed the two warrants proceedings were begun on 19 May -the two men were therefore subject to Sentence was deferred until 7 August, when the prisoners two separate court proceedings. Those arising out of the charges were again brought up and sentenced to three months' imprison­ preferred in Suva were largely on formal matters. Romilly ment each. witnessed to the validity of the warrants. He also produced The proceedings against the two men at Suva were determined the depositions of Adams and Chaillon. There was evidence within a period of ten days - in Brisbane proceedings against to the effect that the Stanley had been a British vessel and that them were inconclusively drawn out for nearly three months. Davies and McMurdo were both British subjects - it appeared On 10 August Fielding Clarke reported to the Acting High that McMurdo was the son of a General of the British Army Commissioner, The evidence and admissions left no doubt as to the facts. The and had a brother who had attended the Royal Military College, only difficulty which the case presented to my mind was the degree Sandhurst. Both accused were committed to prison for fifteen of consideration to be given to the matters urged in extenuation of days, there to await conveyance to Suva, Fiji. They were the prisoners' conduct. forthwith brought up on a writ of habeas corpus and upon that, Without referring particularly to the evidence, I may say that I am convinced that the destruction of Tetzlaff's house and store an application for their discharge. Lilley C.J. delivered a was an act of retaliation for Tetzlaff having told a series of somewhat academic judgement to the effect that cases for the falsehoods to the recruits in order to frighten them from going two prisoners failed and he remanded them to custody under to Queensland, and under the influence of which they had refused the endorsed warrants from Suva. On 17 June, the charges on to come on board when the "Stanley" was ready to sail. I hear, to my surprise, that the Queensland Government have McMurdo and Davies for an offence contra Section 9 of the compensated Messrs. Hernsheim and Co., in whose employment Kidnapping Act were withdrawn on the application of Inspector Tetzlaff acted. in the sum of £550. At the trial it was not shown Lewis. When it became evident to McMurdo that he would that Tetzlaff had property of any value, and, considering the have to stand trial at Suva he wrote from the gaol asking for provocation which Tetzlaff's conduct naturally caused I should probably, had the matter rested there, have thought that the a certificate relating to his work and conduct as a Government prisoners had already suffered sufficient punishment by the course Agent up to his last trip in the Stanley. Griffith was away at which the proceedings have taken up to the present time. Townsville alld Gray the Under Colonial Secretary wired for With respect, however, to the burning of the villages and destruc­ guidance. Griffith replied, tion of native property which followed, I consider that the prisoners had no provocation whatever. They had no just cause of resentment Do not give McMurdo any certificate or testimonial at present against the natives. They, in fact, knew that the natives would nor may Mr Horrocks give one. have been perfectly willing to fulfil their engagement had it not been for the deception of Tetzlaff; and that being the case, their 12 conduct was cruel and unjust. They resorted to ruthless intimidation with the paramount object of getting the men - acting without sense of right and without discrimination. On 16 June Griffith advised the Governor Sir Anthony The compensation in trade which appears to have been freely Musgrave to sign warrants addressed to the Keeper of Brisbane given to the king after the recruits were returned, and which was Gaol and to Harry L. Ross Esq., Lieutenant and Commander probably prompted by a sense of the injustice with --which the of Her Majesty's sh:p Raven ordering the removal of McMurdo prisoners had acted towards the natives, was one matter which I was able to take into consideration in determining the amount and Davies to the jurisdiction of Her Majesty's High Com­ of the sentence. missionn for the Western Pacific. Raven was a screw gun boat I also, of course, made allowance for the harassing nature of the of 465 tons with a barquentine rig - square sails on foremast proceedings preliminary to the prisoners being brought to trial, and with fore and aft rig on all three masts. She was built in 1882 also for the prosecution for kidnapping which, although having no relation to the High Commission Court, was, as I understand. based and commissioned at Sheerness in April of the following year. upon the same transaction as the present prosecution. Her armaments were two 64-pounder muzzle loaders mounted The prisoner McMurdo produced a pamphlet of the laws enforced on revolving slides on the upper deck and two rifled 20-pounder in Queensland respecting the Polynesian Labour Traffic. Copies of breech loaders on traversing mountings in the bow and stern of this pamphlet were, I believe, received by Your Excellency from ~pper Queensland a short time ago. It contains the Imperial Pacific the deck as chase guns. Her cest speed under steam Islanders Protection Acts, the local StatutE's of Queensland regulating was Just over nine and a half knots - like other ships of her th~ introduction of Polynesian Immigrants. regulations for the

Queensland Heritage Page Twenty-one ouidance of Government Agents and recruiters, and particular The Acting High Commissioner replied on 18 August, instructions to Government Agents. As pointed out by McM1!rdo, I have given careful consideration to your Honour's letter of however. these regulations and instructions were first publIs.hed 10th April, 1884, with regard to the case of Regina v. McMurdo after the events under consideration, and one of the regulations and Davies, and I have perused with an anxious interest the whole (No. 20) is probably the direct outcome of them. The statutes of the various and voluminous series of papers enclosed with it, afford no information whatever as to the nature of a Government including the log of the "Stanley", the official journal kept by the agent's duties, and the Court was informed by McMurdo. that !Ie prisoner McMurdo as the Government agent of that vessel, the was employed absolutely without instructions ~s to wha~ his dutIes extracts from his journals on previous voyages of a similar character, were, and that, except certain forms, he receIved nothIng bu~ th.e and the abundant and remarkable testimony which he has been able bare formal appointment, which is among the papers. ThIs,. If to adduce with regard to his character. true, might have led McMurdo to mistake his position an? authonty, The acts which have been proved against the prisoners cannot and as I believe it to be true, although of course It was not be regarded otherwise than as involving a very grave culpability; but proved, I took it (inter alia) into consideration. .. the above perusal has nevertheless forced upon me the conclusion McMurdo also produced certain letter~ and ~ num~er of c~rtlfJed with regard to McMurdo (who with characteristic courage has extracts from his official logs on prevIous tnps, .wI~h. a .vIew .of unnecessarily assumed the whole responsibility), that he believed showing his general official conduct and a~so that IntimIdation wIth himself in doing them to be simply performing a duty which, if a view of compelling the presence of recrUIts had not been censured not actually approved, would not be disapproved by his official by the Queensland authorities. In his statement to the Court, he superiors; and it is, I regret to say, almost equally evident that referred to a case on board a vessel named the "Janet Stewart", he was not without reasons for this belief. which if true was not unlike the present case, and which he says is fully ~elated in the official log, and was left unnoticed. On a previous occasion, when Government agent of another vessel, Considering the position of the prisoners, and also thll:t they were he had reported himself as having seized and confined certain innocent without legal assistance, I considered it right, before paSSIng sentence, islanders as "hostages" in order to compel their friends to secure to read through all the papers which McMurdo produced, and to the return of recruits, belonging to different and distant islands who make any allowance which I thought might fairly attach to them. had escaped from the ship, preferring apparently to their experiences I also bore in mind that the native houses destroyed were on board the risks to be encountered among strangers on shore; he probably of a miserable and temporary nature, and that no very had moreover reported the immediate engagement by another Queens­ great loss was inflicted upon the owners, though I am bound to say land vessel of a "recruiter", upon whose dismissal from his own that this was due rather to the poverty of the islanders than to any vessel he had insisted on account of flagrant acts of kidnapping; spirit of moderation evinced in the wo!k of destruction. . and as he found that no notice was hiken of this and other reports McMurdo showed himself to be entItled to all benefit accrumg of a similar character while the kidnapping recruiter and the Govern­ to a most excellent character; and although the same cannot be ment agent who connived at his re-engagement were permitted to said for Davies, there was at any rate nothing against his previous remain in the service, the conclusion was not unnaturally arrived character proved at the trial. . at that violence to natives was of little consequence by comparison After giving consideration to the above matters I still came to with the procurement of "recruits", or with their recovery in the the conclusion that the offence required additional punishment, event of their escape. though not of a very severe nature. I regarded Davies as the The wrong perpetrated in the Laughlans was no doubt greater worst offender because, although he was no doubt considerably than any reported on former occasions by the same officer; but, influenced by McMurdo, he was the man in actual command and on the other hand, the loss which it was intended to avert was authority. As, however, he had been previously imprisoned to proportionately greater than had been previously experienced; and a much greater extent that McMurdo, the sentence was the same it is clear that he had always believed (and he had apparently been for each. encouraged in the belief) that his Government duties included the I would draw Your Excellency's particular attention to the securing as well as protection of recruited labourers. suggestion of McMurdo that his conduct was not such as he had It is fortunate for the cause of humanity, though unfortunate for reason to believe would meet with official censure. Though not McMurdo, that his action in the Laughlans included the arson of material to the question of criminality, Your Excellency might think the German traders' huts. that it affords a ground for a very unusual leniency. The numerous reports in the possession of the High Commission, McMurdo said that he knew nothing whatever about the Order proceeding from naval officers, from deputy commissioners, from in Council, and that, as regarded his responsibility to the Queensland missionaries, and from traders, even after very large allowance is authorities, his mind was perfectly at rest. I really think that he made for erroneous information, together with incidental admissions had some reason for supposing that he would not be officially made by persons connected with the labour trade, of a similar blamed in his own department. If this opinion rested only upon character to those contained in these papers, have long ago his unsupported statement that no inquiries followed the various reports (some startling enough) of which he produced copies, it convinced me that many crimes have been perpetrated in connection would perhaps be a rash one; but it is I think to a certain extent with this traffic which have never come to light. supported by two letters addressed to him (sent herewith), one In this particular case the information which put in motion the from Sir Ralph Gore, the Agent for Immigration, and the other Deputy Commissioner came from the Imperial German consul from Mr. C. Horrocks, who I believe is now acting in Sir Ralph acting on behalf of an injured German subject as well as in his Gore's place during the absence of the latter on leave. own personal interest; and it is extremely doubtful whether a full Sir Ralph Gore refers to McMurdo's conduct as "an error of knowledge of the matter would otherwise have been obtained except judgment", of which he says "you" (McMurdo) "are now reaping when, as on many previous occasions, it would have been too late what I think a harsh result", referring, I presume, to McMurdo's for any useful purpose, and when either the guilty persons or the dismissal from office, as I think that the date of the letter is necessary witnesses could no longer be secured. anterior to the commencement of any proceedings. For though the whole of the events which have given occasion Mr. Horrocks expresses deep grief at McMurdo being committed for this prosecution were faithfully .and frankly reported in to Fiji, and says, "There is only one comfort, you did nothing McMurdo's' official journal, it would seem that his immediate dishonorable or that you need in the least be ashamed of". I believe superiors regarded his action as merely a venial "error of judgment" I am right in supposing that at the time this was written Mr. for which dismissal from office was an over-severe punishment; Horrocks was the acting head of the department. and though the whole course of the present Government of Queens­ land under circumstances of extreme difficulty has, to their lasting From these two letters I cannot help thinking that the prisoners honour. been such as to induce the certainty that they would deal were tolerably safe from any severe consequences at the mere severely with a case of this kind, it is by no means certain that instance of the Immigration authorities. the official report of this case would have been known to them In passing sentence I told the prisoner McMurdo that though unless their attention had been directed to the subject by information I could myself give no considerable effect to what I believed to from outside. For, until the contrary is shown, it must be presumed be the light in which his official superiors had regarded the affair, in favour of their predecessors that they were never made aware of the T would specially draw Your Excellency's attention to the matter extraordinary facts revealed in McMurdo's previous journals, and did when I reported upon the case. As far as the official spirit properly not therefore give either a direct or tacit sanction to the inaction affects McMurdo's case, I think it should affect that of Davies also, of the Immigration Department. as it appears that Davies had had no previous experience in the That there has been a remarkable absence of notice in respect labour traffic and relied upon McMurdo's superior knowledge as of such matters, which subordinate officers might not unnaturally to what was regarded as legitimate. regard as approval, is indicated by the case of the "Ceara", which In conclusion, I think T may without impropriety refer Your is noted in McMurdo's official journal. At least two separate charges Excellency specially to that part of McMurdo's diary which relates of kidnapping against this vessel have been brought to the notice to the subsequent wreck of the "Stanley". You will there find the of the Government of Queensland, Commodore Erskine having made simple narrative of a thrilling adventure, with regard to which persistent efforts to obtain their investigation; and yet" it is now nobody could disagree with an expression in Sir Ralph Gore's found that no investigation followed a similar charge, supported letter, that McMurdo's conduct was "beyond all praise". by a considerable amount of evidence, though it was made officially

Page Twenty-two Queensland Heritage by an employee of the Immigration Departmen~ who. evide.n~ly natives of an extremely low type (most of them probably cannibals) believed it to be true and to whose trustworthIness hIs official were left behind on the reef; and it is equally certain that after superiors have borne s~ch remarkable testimony.. . seven weeks passed in this position ninety survivors remained to On the whole, and having regard to the revelatIOns ma~e. In be rescued. Even without taking into account the extreme consti­ connection with this trial when considered with others of a sImIlar tutional delicacy of the Northern Melanesians as shown not only nature which have previously come under m~ notice,. I cannot but in Queensland and Fiji, but in the comparatively equatorial climate fully concur with the view which has .evIdently. mduced Yl?ur of Samoa, this large survival is sufficiently remarkable in itself to Honor to pass a light sentence upon the prIsoners, VIZ. - that beIng warrant the belief that very high qualities must have been exercised unaware of the law under which they have been condemned they to secure it; and having regard to what is known of the other had no reason to expect even the disapproval of their ~ct.s, .a!1 d wh:te men who should doubtless receive a certain share of credit. that they have accidentally become the scapegoats for the InIqultles I am satisfied of there being no reason to doubt that it was of the system. ., principally owing to the heroic fortitude, the facility of resource. This decision being reached, there stIll however remaIned the and the active humanity displayed by McMurdo. that the whole somewhat doubtful question, whether the facts which Your Honor of the survivors owed their lives. has so forcibly brought to my notice were such as to warrant me In view of this saving of life, and when it is borne in mind in using the merciful prerogative of the Crown with reference to that no deaths resulted from McMurdo's action at the Laughlans. a sentence which, for such a series of outrages, would, under there can be no question that humanity was a large gainer by ordinary circumstances, be a very unduly lenient punishment even his conduct on this voyage taken as a whole; and I am of opinion if left intact. that, however serious his faults, he subsequently made ample Having, after careful and anxious consideration of t~e subject, atonement for them. For this reason, and because he has already decided that I am so warranted, I have ordered the dIscharge of suffered a considerable term of confinement besides the degradation the prisoners from custody. But in coming to this conclusion I have of being again and again placed in the criminal dock in two felt it especially incumbent upon me to avoid the danger which different colonies, I have no difficulty in ordering his immediate would arise if such a remission of sentence were permitted to pass release, and I am not without a feeling of regret that it has been in silence; and I have therefore determined to publish this correspond­ necessary for the sake of example to cause him so much suffering ence with the object of showing that the special circumstances which already. have induced clemency did not include a lenient regard to the With regard to Davies, however. I have no such feeling. The crimes committed, and that any repetition of such acts after the contemptible character which may be inferred from the facts stated publicity given to this case would render the perpetrators liable to in McMurdo's journal with respect to him, appears to have heavy sentences of penal servitude of which there would be little received incidental confirmation from his attitude at the trial; and probability of remission. in reality he probably deserves a far severer punishment for his Apart from the considerations above mentioned, that which specially general conduct than any which has been awarded in respect of induces me to clemency in the case of McMurdo is the evidence the charges made against him. But, on the other hand, I cannot contained in these papers that within the limits of the area (too disregard the fact that for the acts of which he was found guilty small in some respects, and far too wide in others) where he McMurdo has voluntarily assumed the higher responsibility, so that had been encouraged to discern his duty, he performed it with the release of the latter almost necessarily involves that of Davies extraordinary zeal and with rare combination of moral and physical also. courage. These qualities were remarkably, though unhappily, displayed I have not overlooked the possibility that the absence of severe even in the events at the Laughlan Islands; but they were at other punishment in this case may give the appearance of a futile result times and during the same voyage no less signally shown in the to a very large expenditure of trouble and money. Your Honor cause of humanity. His firm resolution, against persistent opposition, will. however, I doubt not, agree with me in a wholly contrary to land again at their homes men who had not understood their view. The case has, for the first time, made known to the ill-doers .:ontracts of service, when he found that he had been deceived as of the Pacific that none of the Australasian Colonies are now to the ability of the interpreter to make himself understood by a safe refuge for them; it has elicited incidentally the hearty them, was worthy of all praise. From the report of Deputy co-operation with the High Commission of the Governments of Commissioner Romilly, it would appear that several hundred recruits Victoria and South Australia, and, even more directly and signally, were obtained last year from places near the scene of this occurrence. that of Queensland also; and finally, it has thrown a light on where the natives speak languages of which no interpreter is obtainable; various features of the labour trade which, though previously within and as the impossibility of obtaining interpretation is one of the the cognizance of the High Commission, have never been before causes which induced the Governments of Queensland and Fiji to so clearly revealed. place the r;:cent restriction upon the area available for the labour Three weeks later copies of the correspondence reached trade, it may be regarded as certain that a large proportion of the Griffith. He directed that Horrocks's attention be drawn to labourers obtained from the excluded area had extremely little (if any) knowledge of the contracts which they are supposed to have the extract from Fielding Clarke's letter 17 - made. While other Government agents have thus shown themselves Mr. Horrocks expresses deep grief at McMurdo being committed to be without McMurdo's conscientiousness in this respect, it may to Fiji, and says: "There is only one comfort; you did nothing be doubted whether any but a very few would, to satisfy a scruple dishonourable or that you need in the least be ashamed of". ] of this kind, have kept a vessel for five days in such a neighbourhood believe ] am right in supposing that at the time this was written after a full complement of recruits had been obtained. Mr. Horrocks was the acting head of the department. The fact that two of the six men to whom McMurdo had extended Horrocks was asked to explain himself. He wrote in reply 18_ his protection were landed in the wrong place and thereupon (as he had some reason to suppose) met the terrible fate which I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of ordinarily follows such "accidents", was evidently not his fault. He yesterday's date, asking me to explain, for the information of the had done all in his power on their behalf, and the circumstance Honourable the Colonial Secretary, why I addressed a letter to affords only an additional instance of a deplorable incident to the Mr. McMurdo on his committal to Fiji, in which ] stated that trade which has on many previous occasions been brought to the he "did nothing dishonourable, or that he need in the least be notice of the High Commissioner. ashamed of". In reply, [ have the honour to state that my letter to M r. But while creditable action was taken by McMurdo on several McMurdo, which was written on the eve of his departure from occasions, all of these are thrown into the shade by his conduct the colony, was strictly private and confidential, and not written after the wreck of the "Stanley" on the Indispensable Reef; I have in my official capacity of Acting Immigration Agent; so that I can not lost sight of the fact that the principal account of the events hardly understand Mr. Fielding Clarke's action in publishing it. which followed that disaster has been furnished by himself, or that As, however, he has thought proper to do so, I wish to state that its incidental confirmation in many trifling points by the mate's log I am still of opinion that Mr. McMurdo did nothing dishonour­ may possibly have been the result of an extremely subtle collusion. able; but his conduct, more especially in burning the huts and But even if the account were not supported by the writer's copra station, was highly injudicious, and displayed want of tact character for veracity, and otherwise confirmed in many important and judgment. In trying to recover the deserters, he was merely particulars, I am satisfied after reading it that it has upon its following what had up to that time been the practice in the trade. face the unmistakable stamp of truth, and that what Your Honour I regretted that no opportunity was afforded me of testifying to has aptly termed a "thrilling narrative" is at the same time a the good qualities invariably displayed by Mr. McMurdo during faithful record of actual facts. his four years' service as a Government Agent. He was well known Whether this view be correct or not, there can be no question as the strictest and most upright man in the service, and feared as to the main features of the events recorded. It is certain that accordingly. I also thought that some consideration was due to the vessel was wrecked on the Indispensable Reef, which is far out him for his heroic conduct whilst on a reef in mid-ocean for six of sight of any land, and, if ever above the sea, is at least covered weeks at the mercy of about ninety savages. by it at every high tide. It is again certain that after the master Griffith was not satisfied; he ordered Horrocks to be relieved (the prisoner Davies) and the greater part of his white crew had left for assistance, McMurdo and two other white men together of his duties in the Immigration Department and the Executive with the boats' crew of eight semi-savage islanders and ninety Council, meeting a week later, approved this action.

Queensland Heritage Page Twenty-three Although possibly humiliated, Horrocks does not ap.pear. to 13 have suffered materially from his removal from the ImmIgratIOn What of that 'strict, most upright, and courageous man' Department. He continued to hold the position .of Secretary McMurdo. For three and a half years with little or no official to the Medical Board and on 6 November was appomted Inspec­ guidance he had interpreted the laws as best he could and tor of Orphanages and was in fact rather better off financially conscientiously performed what he conceived to be his duties. than he had been before. On 1 October, Griffith wrote to the Not only did he permit himself no compromise with the Governor saying, as it were, the last word on the Stanley standards he set himself, but also he made it his business affair 19_ to observe the work and conduct of his fellow Government I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt from Your Excellency of copies of the correspondence that recently passed Agents and report on them if he supposed them guilty of between Mr. Fielding Clarke, Acting Chief Judicial Cor;l1I:nissioner abuses or of failing in their duty, It is therefore paradoxical for the Western Pacific, and His Excellency Sir G. WIilta~ Des that he certainly did more for the good order of the labour trade Voeux, Acting High Commissioner, with reference to. the tnal of by misconceived action in the Laughlan Islands than by his McMurdo and Davies, at Suva, for offences commltteed at the Laughlan Islands, and the subsequent remission of the sentence personal example and all his watching of others. Samuel Griffith passed upon the prisoners. .' must inevitably have turned his attention to the labour trade if On reading the correspondence, my attention was speCially not merely to satisfy the humanitarian elements in his party, to attracted by the statement in Mr. Fielding Clarke's report of the retain working class support. But it is unlikely that he would trial, that McMurdo set up in mitigation of his conduct the sugg~s­ tion that he had reason to believe that it would not meet with have acted so soon or attempted so much so quickly without official censure from the heads of his Department in the colony, the commotion induced by McMurdo's extraordinary behaviour 20. and that in support of this contention he produced two letters­ Executive directions followed it at once - Government Agents' one from Sir Ralph Gore, the Immigration Agent, and anoth~r diaries were to be examined with greater care and action taken from Mr. C. C. Horrocks, who was at the time of McMurdo s extradition from Queensland Acting Immigration Agent during Sir if any entry justified it; recruiting at New Ireland and at New Ralph Gore's absence from the colony on leave. Britain ceased because of difficulty in obtaining competent I immediately directed that Mr. Horrocks' attention should be interpreters. The first of the Acts amending The Pacific Island called to the statements in Mr. Fielding Clarke's letter, so far as Labourers Act of 1880 became law on 10 March 1884. This they affected him, and that he should be invited to make any contained two radical provisions touching the trade as it had explanation he desired to offer on the subject. His explan~tion was to the effect that his letter to McMurdo was of a pnvate existed till then. It became an offer:ce to make payments to nature, and not intended to be used officially. It appeared to me, masters of labour vessels based on the number of recruits however, that the writing of such a letter as that written by Mr. secured - remuneration was in future to be at fixed rates - and Horrocks indicated a mental attitude towards the subject of abuses in the labour trade such as to render him unfit to be entrusted for the first time the supply of firearms or ammunition to with the supervision of that trade; and I accordingly directed him islanders was prohibited. A provision concerning employment to be at once relieved of the charge of the Immigration Department. in the Colony designed mainly to please members of the This action has since been confirmed by the Executive Council. Queensland Labour League and similarly minded people specified I have no reason, however, to think that while he was in charge of the Department any abuses escaped detection through any failure what could not be included within the term 'tropical or semi­ of duty on his part. tropical agriculture' which curtailed the range of employment Sir Ralph Gore being absent from the colony on leave, I have of islanders, The Governor, Sir Anthony Musgrave, disliked been unable as yet to call upon him for any explanation in this because it withdrew the right of certain people to choose connection with his conduct in the matter; but immediate action their work - in some quarters it was also seen as discrimination will be taken on his return to the colony. against squatters. This political development cannot be seen I recognise the difficulty which must be experienced by anyone who has no special knowledge of the recent action of this Govern­ as flowing directly from the events in the Laughlan Islands but ment in disassociating the action of subordinate officers of the it may have derived impetus and support from them. It is Government from that of the Government itself in such matter; virtually certain however that some regulations made by the and I cannot, therefore, wonder that other persons besides McMurdo, Governor in Council in exercise of powers conferred by the Act and who are not in the employment of the Queensland Government, should from the laxity of supervision which too long prevailed, were a direct consequence of these events - in particular that have been led to believe that the Government of this colony were one making it an offence to retake deserting recruits by force not in earnest in endeavouring to suppress the abuses which disgraced or threats. Following, it is to be supposed, McMurdo's com­ the labour trade. I am confident, however, that the vigorous efforts plaints of lack of official guidance the Governor on the advice which have lately been made, and which will not be relaxed, will have the effect of removing this erroneous impression, which, unless of the Executive Council issued to Government Agents a removed, would be most prejudicial to the reputation of the colony. miscellany of instructions on the manper in which they should I observe that Mr. Fielding Clarke expresses surprise that the exercise their powers and perform their duties under the law. Government should have compensated Messrs. Hernsheim and Co., Allegations, hearsay, and rumour contJ.ined in the correspond­ in the sum of £550, for the loss which they sustained through the unlawful acts of McMurdo and Davies, and adds that at the trial ence, reports and other papers turned up in connection with it was not shown that they had property of any value. I am not the charges against McMurdo and Davies focussed attention on aware what evidence was given at the trial as to the value of the the operation of the Queensland labour trade in New Guinea, property of Messrs. Hernsheim and Co. which was destroyed. As, however, the value does not appear to have been relevant to the the Louisiade Archipelago, the D'Entrecasteaux Group and New qUEstion which the Judicial Commissioner had to try, I presume Ireland. Humanitarians were caused deep disquiet - representa­ that much evidence was not adduced on that point. The question tives of the trades unions and the Australian Labour Federation of value was, on the other hand, very material to be ascertained were helped in their opposition to the employment of islanders by this Government before awarding compensation; and as Your Excellency is aware, the sum of £550 was not agreed to be paid in Queensland. A Royal Commission appointed towards the until the fullest available information, including a special report end of 1884 to satisfy the public conscience and to protect the from Mr. Deputy Commissioner Romilly on the subject, had been good name of the Colony worked from January to May 1885 obtained. I do not quite apprehend the pertinency of M r. Fielding inquiring into voyages by the Queensland labour vessels, Ceara, Clarke's remarks on the subject. It is evident, however, that they were written on imperfect information. Lizzie, Forest King, Heath and Sybil. The findings of the Royal In conclusion, I venture to express my regret that the case of Commission are well known. The Amendment Act of 1885 McMurdo and Davies should have terminated in a manner which, followed and provided particularly in the Eleventh Section for I fear, will tend to seriously diminish the deterrent effects which the bringing to an end of the introduction of islanders after 31 might have been expected to follow their extradition from Australia December 1890. But later because of difficulties in obtaining to the jurisdiction of the High Commissioner, labour for carrying on the Queensland sugar industry, this section There is no record of any explanation given by Sir Ralph was repealed by the 'Extension Act' of 1892. All this is part Gore when he returned from leave, nor of any disciplinary of Queensland history and known well enough - what is the treatment to which he was subjected. place of William Anastasias McMurdo, and how much is known

Page Twenty-four Queensland Heritage of him. Honours and public acclaim were denied him though however that with the change over among troops in India, service they have been granted time and again for far less than the 'Sniders' and among them those with the 'TOWER' mark, could have found their way in appreciable numbers into the ·hands of courage, fortitude and the skilful contriving he showed on the traders and thence to Queensland. There was, of course, no restric­ Indispensable Reefs. Maybe the wreck of the Stanley will stand tion on the traffic in 'Sniders' made at Birmingham and Liege for out as notable in the forty eventful years of the Queensland commercial purposes and it is likely that these formed by far the labour trade. And it is likely that the heroic qualities displayed greatest number of those used in the labour trade and in the early days of North Queensland and that the 'TOWER' marked 'Snider' by McMurdo after the wreck will claim the place they deserve was something of a rarity. in the maritime history of Queensland. For what it is worth 11. Minute by Governor to Colonial Secretary, dated 14 March 1884. some may see more in McMurdo and his brush with the 12. J. C. Heussler, German Consul. Brisbane to the Colonial Secretary, law - a timely instrument setting changes in motion which 11 March 1884. 13. Hugh Romilly to Under Colonial Secretary, 2 April 1884. within a year transformed the engagement of Pacific Islanders 14. The Secretary of State for the Colonies to H.E. the Governor of for work on the canefields of Queensland into an orderly and Queensland No 16 of 8 March 1884. well regulated trade. 15. The Colonial Secretary to H.E. the Governor, 7 May 1884. 16. Sir Samuel Griffith. The assistant secretary in the Colonial REFERENCES Secretary's Office who drafted the letter of 7 July 1884 to the 1. ChaiIlon's statement at Suva, Fiji. 19 January 1884. Colonial Secretary, Fiji for Griffith to sign must have been careless. 2. Enclosed with a letter from Acting High Commissioner for the The log of Raven shows that she slipped from moorings in the Western Pacific to the Governor of Queensland dated 27 November town reach and proceeded down river on 18 June 1884. She did not 1883. call at the Laughlan Islands, as the letter suggests, but kept a 3. Ninth Baronet of Manor Gore, Co. Donegal (Burke 1895). rendezvous with the Sydney collier A voca in Selwyn Bay, Ugi Island 4. In the correspondence returned by the Under Colonial Secretary in the Solomons. She spent two days alongside her taking on to the German Consul, Brisbane, 26 October 1883. tW~l)t,Y-two tons of coal and then for six days parties off Raven 5. The statement drawn up and signed at Santa Anna. Solomon Islands landed coal to replenish the dump maintained at Selwyn Bay. The (vide supra). ship's company spent 9 July cleaning the ship - for an undisclosed 6. Acting High Commissioner for the Western Pacific to RE. the purpose RGI'en called in at Santa Anna before proceeding under Governor. dated 4 December 1883. sail and steam for Suva on 10 July. 7. Copied letter from Romilly to Immigration Agent, Brisbane, dated 17. Under Colonial Secretary to the Acting Immigration Agent 11 17 August 1883. September 1884. 8. Minute dated 5 February 1884. 18. Acting Immigration Agent to the Under Colonial Secretary 13 9. Letter dated 26 February 1884. September 1884. 10. The signficance of the 'Snider' in the early days of the Queensland 19. The Colonial Secretary to H.E. the Governor 1 October 1884. labour trade as welI as in the exploration and development of the 20. W. A. McMurdo subsequently made application for re-employment northern areas of the Colony itself is such that some qualification as a Government Agent in the Immigration Department on 6 and further comment may be .iustified. According to experts at the August 1900. He stated that, after his "resignation" in late 1883, Tower of London Armoury, the word TOWER' was imprinted below he was employed as Confidential Clerk and Accountant by McSharry the view date on the stock plates of service muzzle loaders converted and Co., Railway contractors of PhilIip Street, Sydney. His applica­ in the 'sixties' by the fitting of the 'Snider' block breech at the tion included copies of testimonials from his Sydney employers as Royal Ordinance Factory at Enfield. The stock plates of rifles well as from Queensland associates during the Stanley affair. The subsequently made at Enfield with the 'Snider' block breech were Executive Council minute of 15 September 1900. decreed that imprinted with the Crown, the Royal Cipher. a proof mark and McMurdo was to be appointed to the supernumerary staff for one a view date but not with the word 'TOWER'. 'Sniders' made at voyage only on the Lochiel, sailing soon to recruit Pacific Islanders. Birmingham and at Liege bore only a proof mark and view date. However, on 23 April 1901 he received notification of his appoint­ The British Army was never fully armed with 'Snider' type breech ment to the Permanent Staff as a Government Agent, only to be loading rifles. In 1871 the Martini Henry rifle was adopted and placed again on the supernumerary staff by 1 July 1902. W. A. the 'Sniders' withdrawn. The notion that the surplus 'Sniders' were McMurdo died on 4 July 1903, stilI in the employment of the then sold to dealers is rejected by the Tower authorities. The Immigration Department. locations of large stocks of these old rifles are known-it is suggested [Premier's Dept. in-letter 9870 of 1900 Q.S.A. PRE/A 69]

Queensland Heritage Page Tl1'enty-{iI'e