Harry Hunter and Sydney Hadley 'Dougal's Story
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Harry Hunter and Sydney Hadley Wild Times on a Tropical Coast Also 'Dougal's Story by Ian Thomas Whyte Second Edition Copyright Ian Thomas Whyte, 1972, 2011. 2 Aboriginal people are respectfully advised that this book contains references to individuals who are now deceased. 3 Contents Acknowledgements 4 Introductions 5 1 All that Glitters 8 2 The Crew of the Rover 13 3 Spears and Bullets 19 4 Hunter Moves In 25 5 The Drink, the Drink 32 6 One Summer 39 7 Hadley Repents 47 8 Tide and Time 54 9 A Pearling Mission 59 10 Boolgin Days 63 11 East of King Sound 70 12 Silver Rings 72 13 Boolgin Nights 79 14 What the Pearler Saw 84 15 Pearler's Revenge 93 16 'Frank' 97 17 Winds of Change 102 18 The Writing on the Wall 106 19 One Arm Point 110 20 Mad 112 21 Nemesis 116 22 Hunter Hunted 122 23 The Koombana 'Blow' 128 24 Home is the Hunter 131 25 Sailor Home from the Sea 137 26 'Dougal' 144 27 Djungagur 153 28 Spirits, Little People and Dangerous Places 162 29 A Father Calls 169 30 Epilogue 174 References and Notes 175 Index 198 4 Acknowledgements The Bardi people of Dampier Land, in the north of Western Australia, were generous with the hospitality, instruction, information, permissions and time necessary to gather material used in this book, 'Dougal' and Jack Hunter especially. The same is true of the Catholic Pallottine missionaries, who looked after Aboriginal people in that region for much of the 20 th century, and one lapsed Anglican for months. The J.S. Battye Library of West Australian History and the State Record Office of Western Australia [SROWA] meticulously preserve the extensive records which have been drawn upon. Their help too has been invaluable. Other Australian contributors of valuable advice, information or research have included the Archives of the Archdiocese of Perth, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, Broome Historical Society, Dr. Cathie Clement OAM, Derby Public Library [Shire of Derby/West Kimberley], the National Library of Australia, the Registrar General's Office [Perth], Sister Brigida Nailon CSB, the Supreme Court of Western Australia, University of Queensland Press, University of Western Australia, West Australian Newspapers Ltd., the Western Australian Maritime Museum and Graeme Sisson of W.A. Police Historical Society. In the United Kingdom, the Association of Old Worcesters, the Australian High Commission, Kevin Baker, Sue Nicholson and staff at Oban Library [Argyll & Bute Library Service, Scotland], The British Library Document Supply Centre, The British Library Newspaper Library, the Business Archives Council, Charterhouse, the Corporation of London Records Office, The Family Records Centre, Gloucestershire County Council Record Office, Dave Hobbs of Oban Computer Services, Anna Milton Lewis, Roger and Oliver Lewis, Helen Lewis McPhee, Lloyd's Register of Shipping, London Metropolitan Archives, The Marine Society, Iain MacKenzie of the Ministry of Defence Admiralty Library, the Mitchell Library [Glasgow City Council], The National Library of Scotland, The Natural History Museum, the Office for National Statistics [General Register Office], the Probate Registry, the Public Record Office, Rhodes House Library, The Royal College of Surgeons of England, The Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, the Royal Yacht Squadron, Shell Services International and The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office have all generously provided assistance. 5 Introductions "Harry Hunter walked down to his store, revolver on his hip as always, whip and knife in hand. He took out a large burlap sack and a length of rope, locked the door again, and went on down to the beach." "Just above the edge of the sea, a rowing boat lay on the sand. Nearby a group of Aboriginal children was playing, one of them a big boy, almost full grown. Harry Hunter told that boy, 'Row this boat'." "Soon after they set off, he said, 'This boat is too light. Pull across to the island and bring some rocks'. The boy did so, lowering them in carefully, so they wouldn't go through the bottom, then rowed out to the deep water, where sharks pass down King Sound when the tide runs full" "Out there, Harry Hunter put his revolver to the boy's head, killed him, put the body and rocks in the sack which he tied with the rope and dropped over the stern." "Taking the oars, he rowed back to the mainland shore, pulled the boat up on the beach and walked away." Jack Hunter. 1 More than fifty thousand years ago, the ancestors of the Australian Aboriginies began to move southwards out of Asia. Though sea levels were much lower during the last Ice Age and continents more extensive, there was never a continuous land route to the south. Whatever their starting points, the migrants must have made several prolonged voyages before they reached Australia. 2 Probably moving along the coast and up the river valleys initially, they lived by hunting wild animals, fishing and gathering the natural plant foods their new homeland offered, for nowhere on Earth was agriculture yet practised. Eventually they spread out over the whole enormous country, dividing it into hundreds of territories where they developed indigenous languages, rich religious traditions, comprehensive social systems and remarkable art. With the passing of the last Ice Age, sea levels rose dramatically, submerging vast tracts of low country and turning high ground into islands. Though Australia became remote from mainland Asia, some immigration from the islands continued, as proven by the introduction of a breed of dog, the dingo, about four thousand years ago. 3 Much more recently, fishermen from those islands used seasonal winds to voyage annually to north Australian waters where they collected and processed the edible sea-slug known as beche- de-mer or trepang. They clearly influenced Aboriginal culture in some places but there was conflict too; if they attempted to settle permanently, they were not successful. 4 Dutch seamen landed on that coast in A.D. 1606 and on the western seaboard ten years later, perhaps the first Europeans to do so. The charts they developed in subsequent decades led the English pirate ship Cygnet to the north-west shores of 'New Holland' in January 1688. 5 While the vessel underwent nine weeks of repairs and maintenance in the vicinity of the bay which now bears its name, crewman William Dampier recorded the first detailed observations of the land and its inhabitants. As commanding officer of the naval vessel Roebuck, he returned eleven years later, his landfall a thousand miles [1600 km] further south. Coasting northwards, he and his men periodically went ashore to search for water and explore. During their last foray, Dampier's attempt to capture an Aboriginal man resulted in a skirmish during which one of them was shot and a crewman injured, causing him to withdraw, 'very sorry for what had happened.' Now seriously short of fresh water, Dampier set sail for the island of Timor to the north, then ranged east to New Guinea before making his way home. His report on New Holland and its unique fauna and flora was so discouraging economically that the British made no further explorations in the region for seven decades. 6 6 Later, his visits were commemorated in the naming of Cygnet and Roebuck bays, the Dampier Land peninsula between them, the Buccaneer and Dampier archipelagos, the port of Dampier and in native flora. James Cook's arrival in 1770 at a more fertile, better-watered coast far to the east was followed in turn by the establishment of a British colony there, the discovery that it belonged to the same great landmass as New Holland and the adoption of the name Australia for the whole. Perceived territorial competition from the French revived British interest in the western region, resulting in the foundation of the Colony of Western Australia in 1829. Eight times larger than the British Isles, the interior of its near-million square miles [2.5 million sq. km] almost entirely unknown, the new colony dwarfed the tiny European settlements in its south-west corner. For years, the colonists remained there as they struggled to establish themselves. About the mid-19 th century however, a small but determined movement northwards began, inspired by explorers' reports of pearls, fertile land and the possibility of gold. 7 There was no feeling among these adventurers that they were invading Aboriginal land. As they saw it, natural resources were there for the taking and Aboriginal people were to be pushed aside or exploited. Laws intended to protect the latter were difficult to enforce at great distance and widely ignored. And so almost two centuries passed between Dampier's visit to the tropical peninsula which now bears his name and the arrival of white men who began to make a lasting impact on that area. Under the influence of the newcomers, some of whom were initially more piratical and less compassionate than their buccaneering forebear, the lives of local Aboriginal people began to change as they had not changed from time immemorial. Born at Cygnet Bay soon after these changes began, and destined to live through wild times, 'Dougal' was a direct descendant of people William Dampier met in 1688; they call themselves the Bardi. His contemporary Jack Hunter was one of Harry's many children by Bardi women. Their memories of the men who dominated their world, Harry Hunter and Sydney Hadley, recorded in 1972, are the origin of this book. 7 8 Chapter One All that Glitters "Before Harry Hunter left England, his grandfather said, 'I can see by your face, boy, that you'll never come back. Take this book.