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| * Both White and First Nations cultures had strong gender-based divisions, so TLM-P's memories are mostly about men. \\ | * Both White and First Nations cultures had strong gender-based divisions, so TLM-P's memories are mostly about men. \\ |
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| TLM-P's memories about First Nations Australians are a complex mixture of the realities of immense White power over their lives, but also a strong strand of respect. The words he uses to describe specific individuals include 'gentleman in manner', 'smart', 'intelligent', 'shrewd' and 'full of fun'. These depictions give context to his criticism in his diary about how Australian First Nation people were depicted at the [[wp>The_Crystal_Palace|Crystal Palace]] in England in 1882. He thought they were presented as 'miserable looking specimens' and 'very unlike those I have seen'.((TLM-P, Diary, 29 June 1882, ML.)) \\ | TLM-P's memories about First Nations Australians are a complex mixture of the realities of immense White power over their lives, but also a strong strand of respect. The words he uses to describe specific individuals include 'gentleman in manner', 'smart', 'intelligent', 'shrewd' and 'full of fun'. These depictions give context to his criticism in his diary about how Australian First Nation people were depicted at the [[wp>The_Crystal_Palace|Crystal Palace]] in England in 1882. He thought they were presented as 'miserable looking specimens' and 'very unlike those I have seen'.((TLM-P, Diary, 29 June 1882, ML.)) Another aspect of his memoir is that he was familiar with First Nation people as most of his properties had a local First Nations community and he employed First Nation workers.\\ |
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| TLM-P admired physical toughness, bush skills and good humour in both men and women of all backgrounds. He recorded his admiration of First Nations' people's acute powers of sight and observation, a 'great aptitude on concealing themselves' in the bush, a talent for mimicry, and strong sense of humour. His described how the acute observational skills extended to detecting subtle differences in rank amongst White people. TLM-P recounted an episode when a rider was seen in the distance, but he could not see them clearly enough to identify them. An unnamed 'black boy' was asked and (correctly) identified him as a 'gentleman bullock driver'. It turned out to be a neighbouring squatter who had driven his bullock team some 150 miles in drought conditions. Given the man was tired, hot and dusty, as TLM-P commented, 'a less shrewd observer might have been pardoned for not at once detecting his position in society'.\\ | TLM-P admired physical toughness, bush skills and good humour in both men and women of all backgrounds. He recorded his admiration of First Nations' people's acute powers of sight and observation, a 'great aptitude on concealing themselves' in the bush, a talent for mimicry, and strong sense of humour. His described how the acute observational skills extended to detecting subtle differences in rank amongst White people. TLM-P recounted an episode when a rider was seen in the distance, but he could not see them clearly enough to identify them. An unnamed 'black boy' was asked and (correctly) identified him as a 'gentleman bullock driver'. It turned out to be a neighbouring squatter who had driven his bullock team some 150 miles in drought conditions. Given the man was tired, hot and dusty, as TLM-P commented, 'a less shrewd observer might have been pardoned for not at once detecting his position in society'.\\ |
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| Like many squatters, TLM-P relied on First Nation knowledge of the land and their soon-acquired horse riding skills. Dispossessed youths attached themselves to TLM-P and other squatters in order to survive. They also adopted English names to be used by the new overlords. In TLM-P's case, the mutual dependence appears to have resulted in good relationships. In 1854 when first acquiring //Hawkwood//, for example, TLM-P rode long distances with a First Nation boy ('Johnny') when he was scouting the land. He described Johnny as 'about 13 years old ... a nice, smart lad, full of fun'. He commented that, in his experience, 'Black boys are very much attached to any one they are with. They have plenty of conversation, are intelligent & make capital companions'.\\ | Like many squatters, TLM-P relied on First Nation knowledge of the land and their soon-acquired horse riding skills. Dispossessed youths attached themselves to TLM-P and other squatters in order to survive. They also adopted, or were given, English names to fit in with the new regime. In TLM-P's case, the mutual dependence appears to have resulted in good relationships. In 1854 when first acquiring //Hawkwood//, for example, TLM-P rode long distances with a First Nation boy ('Johnny') when he was scouting the land. He described Johnny as 'about 13 years old ... a nice, smart lad, full of fun'. He commented that, in his experience, 'Black boys are very much attached to any one they are with. They have plenty of conversation, are intelligent & make capital companions'.\\ |
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| In earlier decades, TLM-P was a young man determined to make good in the colony. His focus was on rural success and, like other colonists, he did not comprehend the rights of First Nation owners. As outlined in [[gaining_colonial_experience_early_properties|Gaining Colonial Experience]], while at //Hawkwood// station he had no compunction about taking part in a murderous reprisal after the Hornet Bank massacre of the Fraser family. In this document he implicitly justifies the response by detailing incidents and the White people's consequent 'feeling of insecurity' and 'being on the watch' all the time both before and after the massacre. He described how //Hawkwood// 'was a much safer place' than other properties. The reason, he believed, was the protection he gave the First Nations people who 'had been camped on the run nearly all the time & knew they would not be molested'; in return they had to refuse hospitality to other First Nations people. The latter, he knew, was a difficult condition as 'a law or custom of hospitality ... prevents the tribe from turning strangers away'.(p.43)\\ | In earlier decades, TLM-P was a young man determined to make good in the colony. His focus was on rural success and, like other colonists, he did not comprehend the rights of First Nation owners. As outlined in [[gaining_colonial_experience_early_properties|Gaining Colonial Experience]], while at //Hawkwood// station he had no compunction about taking part in a murderous reprisal after the Hornet Bank massacre of the Fraser family. In this document he implicitly justifies the response by detailing incidents and the White people's consequent 'feeling of insecurity' and 'being on the watch' all the time both before and after the massacre. He described how //Hawkwood// 'was a much safer place' than other properties. The reason, he believed, was the protection he gave the First Nations people who 'had been camped on the run nearly all the time & knew they would not be molested'; in return they had to refuse hospitality to other First Nations people. The latter, he knew, was a difficult condition as 'a law or custom of hospitality ... prevents the tribe from turning strangers away'.(p.43)\\ |
| TLM-P's reminiscences also reveal the self-justifying interpretations squatters put on the massacre of First Nation Australians. The [[wp>Myall_Creek_massacre]] - an unprovoked killing of men too old or unwell to work, women and children - is seen as an understandable retaliation for other attacks by different First Nation groups. On the other hand, he did not minimise the blood lust of the white men involved, claiming that they made a bonfire and threw all those they shot on it '(several I have been told were not quite dead'). TLM-P reflected the conventional squatter view: 'No doubt it was a cruel murder, but the circumstances of the case, the provocation to the whites, was not sufficiently taken into consideration , nor the harm which would result from the encouragement to the black to commit more outrages.' He cites with incredulity Attorney-General John Plunkett who declared 'that he would hang any man who could be proved to kill a black.' Rosa probably agreed with her father at the time but by the time she published her next memoir, //My Australian Girlhood// (1902) she thought very differently: '"All hail to thee, Plunkett! Had there been more like thee, the national conscience would have less cause for self-reproach.'(//My Australian Girlhood//, 1902, p.17)\\ | TLM-P's reminiscences also reveal the self-justifying interpretations squatters put on the massacre of First Nation Australians. The [[wp>Myall_Creek_massacre]] - an unprovoked killing of men too old or unwell to work, women and children - is seen as an understandable retaliation for other attacks by different First Nation groups. On the other hand, he did not minimise the blood lust of the white men involved, claiming that they made a bonfire and threw all those they shot on it '(several I have been told were not quite dead'). TLM-P reflected the conventional squatter view: 'No doubt it was a cruel murder, but the circumstances of the case, the provocation to the whites, was not sufficiently taken into consideration , nor the harm which would result from the encouragement to the black to commit more outrages.' He cites with incredulity Attorney-General John Plunkett who declared 'that he would hang any man who could be proved to kill a black.' Rosa probably agreed with her father at the time but by the time she published her next memoir, //My Australian Girlhood// (1902) she thought very differently: '"All hail to thee, Plunkett! Had there been more like thee, the national conscience would have less cause for self-reproach.'(//My Australian Girlhood//, 1902, p.17)\\ |
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| As was also conventional among squatters, TLM-P praised the dreaded Mounted Police under Major Nunn including their forays against bushrangers and First Nation resistance: 'Many were the stories told at the Campfire of the adventures of these Policemen.' One of those stories was likely to be the massacre of Indigenous people by the Mounted Police at Waterloo Creek, south-west of Moree. Like other squatters, TLM-P also supported the equally brutal Native Police. Like many of his compatriots, he particularly relished tales where First Nations police or trackers killed other First Nation people (e.g. story of 'Nelson' taking revenge for an attach and shooting bound prisoners, eventually killing them, p.59). He also included an account of the vigilante group in the aftermath of the Hornet Bank murders, where a 'half-caste' (as the term was then) lad called Paddy was the only one of the party who could detect First Nation men hiding in the scrub - Paddy, TLM-P wrote, walked in and shot two men before the rest ran away. Nora added her own anecdote featuring 'a black trooper (always the worst against the wilder blacks)'. TLM-P amply illustrates the Native Police's savage, murderous attacks on First Nations people. He describes a long ride during summer with one of the stops being //Taroom// station. The station hands had been mustering scrubbers (wild cattle) and 'the native police had also shortly before visited the station. The carcasses of wild bulls were lying about the stockyard as well as the bodies of several blacks (Jerry[?] among them)' covered only by a number of boughs.(p.56) \\ | As was also conventional among squatters, TLM-P praised the dreaded Mounted Police((There are numerous books and scholarly articles about the Native Police: see Heather Burke, Lynley A. Wallis and Bryce Barker, //Archaeology, Frontier Conflict and the Queensland Native Mounted Police//, Sydney University Press, 2026; and Jonathon Richards, //The Secret War: a true history of Queensland's Native Police//, University of Queensland Press, 2008)) under Major Nunn including their forays against bushrangers and First Nation resistance: 'Many were the stories told at the Campfire of the adventures of these Policemen.' One of those stories was likely to be the massacre of Indigenous people by the Mounted Police at Waterloo Creek, south-west of Moree. Like other squatters, TLM-P also supported the equally brutal Native Police. Like many of his compatriots, he particularly relished tales where First Nations police or trackers killed other First Nation people (e.g. story of 'Nelson' taking revenge for an attach and shooting bound prisoners, eventually killing them, p.59). He also included an account of the vigilante group in the aftermath of the Hornet Bank murders, where a 'half-caste' (as the term was then) lad called Paddy was the only one of the party who could detect First Nation men hiding in the scrub - Paddy, TLM-P wrote, walked in and shot two men before the rest ran away. Nora added her own anecdote featuring 'a black trooper (always the worst against the wilder blacks)'. TLM-P amply illustrates the Native Police's savage, murderous attacks on First Nations people. He describes a long ride during summer with one of the stops being //Taroom// station. The station hands had been mustering scrubbers (wild cattle) and 'the native police had also shortly before visited the station. The carcasses of wild bulls were lying about the stockyard as well as the bodies of several blacks (Jerry[?] among them)' covered only by a number of boughs.(p.56) \\ |
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| The complex accommodations that First Nations people made to survive and their entanglement with the Native Police is illustrated by the story of stockman Billy Hay. TLM-P recalled that his manager at //Hawkwood//, 'Ernest Davis went to the [nearby] Auburn [River] & took my boy Billy Hay with him. Billy made his camp close to Davis' room. In the middle of the night the policeman came up'. They mistook Billy for 'Auburn Boney' who TLM-P described as 'a great chief & a very dangerous enemy'. The Native Police 'pounced on Billy' who 'struggled bravely' and called out to 'Mister Davis' who was able to confirm his identity. On his return to //Hawkwood// Billy recounted the story, proud that the Commandant [[wp>John_O%27Connell_Bligh]] had apologised to him for the error. As Bligh and his troops were responsible for numerous massacres, Billy was lucky. One reason for this luck was that, as TLM-P later noted, 'Billy had been a good deal with the native police'. \\ | The complex accommodations that First Nations people made to survive and their entanglement with the Native Police is illustrated by the story of stockman Billy Hay. TLM-P recalled that his manager at //Hawkwood//, 'Ernest Davis went to the [nearby] Auburn [River] & took my boy Billy Hay with him. Billy made his camp close to Davis' room. In the middle of the night the policeman came up'. They mistook Billy for 'Auburn Boney' who TLM-P described as 'a great chief & a very dangerous enemy'. The Native Police 'pounced on Billy' who 'struggled bravely' and called out to 'Mister Davis' who was able to confirm his identity. On his return to //Hawkwood// Billy recounted the story, proud that the Commandant [[wp>John_O%27Connell_Bligh]] had apologised to him for the error. As Bligh and his troops were responsible for numerous massacres, Billy was lucky. One reason for this luck was that, as TLM-P later noted, 'Billy had been a good deal with the native police'. \\ |