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| There are a number of cautions about this material. The first is language: this material was written down (at time of writing) some 150 years ago. Some meanings of words have changed and some which were commonplace then are offensive now. While appreciating the sensitivities I have not distorted the text, and the context it was written in, by censorship. The second is that the context always was that Rosa could ask for clarification - or that, with her shared knowledge, she didn't need clarification that a modern reader might. The third caution is that it was based on memory, always a slippery function and best understood as fragments which have been reassembled and interpreted with hindsight. The fourth is that we can only have the vaguest idea of the events he describes from the viewpoint of the Indigenous people he mentions. \\ | There are a number of cautions about this material. The first is language: this material was written down (at time of writing) some 150 years ago. Some meanings of words have changed and some which were commonplace then are offensive now. While appreciating the sensitivities I have not distorted the text, and the context it was written in, by censorship. The second is that the context always was that Rosa could ask for clarification - or that, with her shared knowledge, she didn't need clarification that a modern reader might. The third caution is that it was based on memory, always a slippery function and best understood as fragments which have been reassembled and interpreted with hindsight. The fourth is that we can only have the vaguest idea of the events he describes from the viewpoint of the Indigenous people he mentions. \\ |
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| Regarding the sections on Indigenous Australians, TLM-P's memories are a fascinating mixture of brute power and respect; ignorance and at least an attempt to learn Indigenous customs. TLM-P gave numerous examples of Pidgin speech, and described Indigenous people (almost all men, there is little reference to the women) as having acute powers of sight and observation, a talent for mimicry, and a deep-seated sense of humour. His description of the acute observation of Indigenous Australians was not just relevant to the natural landscape but extended to detecting subtle differences in rank amongst white people. In one case TLM-P recounted that a man was riding in the distance but he could not see him clearly to know who it was. 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. As TLM-P commented, 'a less shrewd observer might have been pardoned for not at once detecting his position in society'.\\ | Regarding the sections on Indigenous Australians, TLM-P's memories are a fascinating mixture of brute power and respect; ignorance and at least an attempt to learn Indigenous customs. TLM-P gave numerous examples of Pidgin speech, and described Indigenous people (almost all men, there is little reference to the women) as having acute powers of sight and observation, a 'great aptitude on concealing themselves' in the bush, a talent for mimicry, and a strong sense of humour. His description of the acute observation of Indigenous Australians was not just relevant to the natural landscape but extended to detecting subtle differences in rank amongst white people. In one case TLM-P recounted that a man was riding in the distance but he could not see him clearly to know who it was. 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. 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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| 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 Indigenous owners. TLM-P communicated in Pidgin and used English names for the Indigenous people he knew. As outlined earlier 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. Yet the story of colonial conquest is nuanced. When first acquiring //Hawkwood//, he rode long distances with an Indigenous boy ('Johnny') when he was scouting the land. He described Johny as'about 13 years old ... a nice, smart lad, full of fun'. TLM-P admired bushcraft and physical toughness in men and perhaps largely because of those qualities, 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'.((Rosa Praed papers, Box 3, 8370, packet 3/1/1/)) \\ | 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 Indigenous owners. TLM-P communicated in Pidgin and used English names for the Indigenous people he knew. As outlined earlier 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. Yet the story of colonial conquest is nuanced. When first acquiring //Hawkwood//, he rode long distances with an Indigenous boy ('Johnny') when he was scouting the land. He described Johny as'about 13 years old ... a nice, smart lad, full of fun'. TLM-P admired bushcraft and physical toughness and perhaps largely because of those qualities, he seems to have had good relationships with a number of young Indigenous boys. 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'.((Rosa Praed papers, Box 3, 8370, packet 3/1/1/ - in this case 'boys' probably referred to adolescents not men)) \\ |
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| The complex and mutually dependent relationship between TLM-P and his Indigenous workers at //Bromelton// is illustrated in his recollections of 'Charlie'. In c.1848, 'Charlie' had been a potential outcast as he wanted to transgress the strict Indigenous marriage laws by marrying 'Sallie' who 'belonged to a caste into which he could not legally marry ... [because her caste was] within the [proscribed] degree of relationship'). By his framing it as a legal issue, TLM-P respected the rule of law in Indigenous culture. In recounting how he persuaded the 'tribe' to accept Charlie's transgression, he mentioned that 'their camp was close to our kitchen' - perhaps because both groups needed access to handy sources of fresh water. This was one indication how closely the competing groups lived with each other. TLM-P pretended that he had had a supernatural visitation at night to say that Charlie, who was ill at the time, should be forgiven. 'Charlie with a little care & treatment soon got quite well. He was a good boy & I did not wish to lose him naturally, so I told him that he must ((continued on p5)) not go with the blacks again or he would die.... (In the mean time I had persuaded the other blacks to forgive him & let him have Sallie)'. Charlie consequently stayed with TLM-P 'for years', but it would be wrong to assume that he was totally subservient. Charlie reminded TLM-P that 'a black man is not like a white man' in that he had tribal obligations: he had been told that he should 'go corroboree, when like it that blackfellow must go'. Charlie went but fell sick & died. TLM-P later learnt that Charlie had 'cried out very much for you' and tried to send a message to him to collect him in a dray and ensure he would not die. 'Poor Charlie - had I got the message I should certainly have gone'. This is not to suggest, however, that TLM-P or any of his compatriots rose above his culture's assumption of the superiority of British people, nor of the immense power he could wield with relative impunity. In another incident, TLM-P described frightening Charlie at a time when his horses had all been worked so hard that they were not fit to ride. The exception was TLM-P's favourite horse who Charlie rode when TLM-P was absent so that that horse too was 'regularly broken down'. With the help of 'Tinko', a Chinese worker, TLM-P pretended he would kill him - far from a harmless prank given how easily he could do so with little fear of legal consequences. Charlie explained that he had worn the horse out because he could not resist chasing after an emu then a dingo which he (correctly) thought TLM-P would wished to have killed.((Rosa Praed papers, 8370/Box 3, packet 3/1/1/)) \\ | The complex and mutually dependent relationship between TLM-P and his Indigenous workers at //Bromelton// is illustrated in his recollections of 'Charlie'. In c.1848, 'Charlie' had been a potential outcast as he wanted to transgress the strict Indigenous marriage laws by marrying 'Sallie' who 'belonged to a caste into which he could not legally marry ... [because her caste was] within the [proscribed] degree of relationship'). By his framing it as a legal issue, TLM-P respected the rule of law in Indigenous culture. In recounting how he persuaded the 'tribe' to accept Charlie's transgression, he mentioned that 'their camp was close to our kitchen' - perhaps because both groups needed access to handy sources of fresh water. This was one indication how closely the competing groups lived with each other. TLM-P pretended that he had had a supernatural visitation at night to say that Charlie, who was ill at the time, should be forgiven. 'Charlie with a little care & treatment soon got quite well. He was a good boy & I did not wish to lose him naturally, so I told him that he must ((continued on p5)) not go with the blacks again or he would die.... (In the mean time I had persuaded the other blacks to forgive him & let him have Sallie)'. Charlie consequently stayed with TLM-P 'for years', but it would be wrong to assume that he was totally subservient. Charlie reminded TLM-P that 'a black man is not like a white man' in that he had tribal obligations: he had been told that he should 'go corroboree, when like it that blackfellow must go'. Charlie went but fell sick & died. TLM-P later learnt that Charlie had 'cried out very much for you' and tried to send a message to him to collect him in a dray and ensure he would not die. 'Poor Charlie - had I got the message I should certainly have gone'. This is not to suggest, however, that TLM-P or any of his compatriots rose above his culture's assumption of the superiority of British people, nor of the immense power he could wield with relative impunity. In another incident, TLM-P described frightening Charlie at a time when his horses had all been worked so hard that they were not fit to ride. The exception was TLM-P's favourite horse who Charlie rode when TLM-P was absent so that that horse too was 'regularly broken down'. With the help of 'Tinko', a Chinese worker, TLM-P pretended he would kill him - far from a harmless prank given how easily he could do so with little fear of legal consequences. Charlie explained that he had worn the horse out because he could not resist chasing after an emu then a dingo which he (correctly) thought TLM-P would wished to have killed.((Rosa Praed papers, 8370/Box 3, packet 3/1/1/)) \\ |