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The Native Police under Scrutiny

by Alan J. Hillier The year 1881 was a crucial one for the Queensland Native Pohce.

The previous year it had been subjected to scrutiny by the Queensland Parliament, following the publication of a pamphlet entitled. Black and White,' reprinting a series of articles in the Queenslander which had generated a debate over the treatment of Aborigines on the frontier. The series forced both defenders and opponents of the Native Police to consider how to improve the treatment of Queensland Aborigines. Until then, the principal method of dealing with crime involving Aborigines was by sending the Native Police to the scene. They proceeded to 'disperse' any Aboriginal tribes in the immediate area.^ The Native Police did not investigate crimes to find the causes or the real perpetrators. They were purely a retaliatory police force, reacting to the actions of hostile Aborigines. The rights and wrongs of the case did not concern the officers of this corps.

One ex-Native Police officer, William Armit, responded with a public defence of the corps.' He stated that frontier conflict was the fault of European settlers who interfered with Aboriginal women. His correspondence caused the Queensland Government considerable embarrassment. Until then it had been able to dismiss the Queenslander debate as another 'atrocity column'." Unlike previous correspondents who had hidden under pseudonyms, Armit signed his own name and his letter was printed in full. The evidence of an ex-Native Police officer who was willing to give names of officers, like Sub-Inspectors Shairpe, Johnstone, and Thompson and settlers on the frontier in his articles added to the legitimacy of the press criticism of the Native Pohce corps.^ This criticism led Police Commissioner, D.T. Seymour, to issue verbal orders to his Native Pohce officers, to keep attacks on Aboriginal tribes to a minimum. Practically all orders to Native Police officers were verbal.*

During 1881, many Native Pohce officers were busy gathering information for E.M. Curr's text on the Aboriginal tribes of Queensland. Many of the contributors to this text were Native Police officers or in correspondence with them. Sub-Inspectors A.R. Johnstone, Armit, Lamond, Uhrquhart, Frederick Murray, Thompson, Poigndestre, Armstrong, Eglinton and Coward all contributed to Curr's text. All had at one time been serving Native Police officers. This dominance by police officers who spent most of their lives hunting hostile Aborigines led to questions like 'Where are the blacks' in Curr's text.

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Armit had in 1880 suggested writing a major reference work on Aborigines to enable Europeans to understand Aboriginal culture. Native Police officers were only too happy to participate. As the Europeans most closely involved with Aborigines, they had valuable knowledge of their tribes before European settlement.' Very few accounts of first contact have been written. Sub-Inspector Arthur Johnstone is one of the few officers to record the beauty and tranquillity of Aboriginal life before the arrival of Europeans. Johnstone's account of the land from Cairns to Cardwell so impressed D.T. Seymour that he led a campaign to finance an exploring expedition in the region. This led to the Dalrymple north-east coast expedition of 1873-74 in which Arthur Johnstone led the Native Police troopers. Such expeditions inevitably involved violence towards Aboriginal tribes who resisted European intrusion. Hostility intensified between Europeans and Aboriginal tribes on the frontier, long after the end of these expeditions.*

Making peace between Europeans and Aborigines was attempted in 1881. These peace overtures were to be influenced by the deaths of two officers at Aboriginal hands in 1881. One officer was a member of the ordinary police from Normanton, whilst another was the officer in charge of the Native Police at Cloncurry.

SUB-INSPECTOR GEORGE DYAS

George Dyas was one of many Queensland police officers recruited from the Royal Irish Constabulary which was the main recruiting ground for colonial police forces in the nineteenth century. The Queensland police force realised quickly that this produced police officers who were skilled in the use of firearms, and were subject to military discipline. The Irish population of the nineteenth century were hostile to authority and lived in primitive conditions, with poor communications.' Colonial police officers faced all these conditions in Queensland where many settlers and miners were hostile to authority, especially the police.'" Sub-Inspectors James Coward and Harvey Fitzgerald both lost their positions due to fist fights with civilians.

Dyas applied for a posting to the Queensland police in 1864, after serving five years in the Irish police." He joined as a constable and was raised to the rank of Sub-Inspector in 1871. In 1874 he was posted to the northern districts to open up the Oak Park District by creating police barracks at Gilberton and opening up the Woolgar goldfield.'^ Two years later he was posted to Clermont in charge of ordinary police.

Clermont was a hundred miles from the old headquarters of the Native Police at Springsure. The post of Chief Inspector, held by George Pulteney Malcolm Murray since 1864 had been abolished in

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1872. Murray had been promoted to Police Magistrate, and was still serving in the Clermont area as he had strong links to the region. Murray had served as a Native Police officer in his youth, and had knew all existing Native Police officers, who had joined the Native Police since 1857.

One of Murray's contemporaries was Frederick Wheeler, one of the most notorious officers in the Native Police ranks. Tom Petrie knew of his atrocities when Wheeler commanded the Native Pohce in the Brisbane area in the late 1850s." Wheeler had eight troopers who patrolled from the Tweed River to Rockhampton, from his Sandgate police post.'" The well known Archer family wrote in their diary about Wheeler's murderous escapades near Rockhampton. Wheeler's testimony before the 1861 Select Committee on the Native Police is one of the most damning condemnations of the Native Police Corps. Many historians hke Bill Rosser, and Henry Reynolds have quoted extensively from Wheeler's evidence.'^ Wheeler hated Aborigines and took every opportunity to disperse them.

During the late 1860s Wheeler was put in command of the North Midland District of Native Police. He was raised to the rank of Inspector and ruled over all activities in that region up until the mid 1870s. Amongst the many officers who served under his command were William Compigne, and Wilham Fraser, known as 'debbil debbil' to Aboriginals in southern Queensland.'*' The Compigne family had applied for Wheeler's aid in the Broadsound region in the 1860s. They suffered from Aboriginal raids, and it was one of their requests for Native Pohce aid which led to the Fassifern massacre of 1860. Wheeler had led reprisals in the Fassifern area, and these massacres had led to the 1861 Select Committee, after Doctor Challinor, a well known humanitarian, disputed the outcome of a government coroner's report. Wheeler's career was saved by the immunity from prosecution given by the Committee. His evidence referred to requests for Native Police aid from the Compigne family who were being driven away from their property by Aboriginal raids."

The presence of 'debbil debbil' Fraser in Wheeler's command in 1867 reinforces the view that Wheeler recruited officers with an intense hatred for Aborigines. Wilham Fraser was the eldest son of the Fraser family massacred at Hornet Bank in 1857. His revenge on Aborigines was legendary. In his dying days, he admitted going insane for a period following the massacre. Many Aborigines on the frontier feared Fraser and named him 'debbil debbil' because of his frequent attacks on Aboriginal tribes.'^

The cause of Wheeler's hatred is harder to fathom. Wheeler's wife had been attacked by an Aboriginal mob whilst staying at the Lester family home. When the mob attacked only Mrs. Lester and Wheeler

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were present. They managed to avoid personal attack by barricading themselves in a bedroom.'"* Soon after this attack Wheeler attacked Aborigines at Fassifern. Wheeler was a firm believer in an eye for an eye.

By 1876, Wheeler was based at the Mistake Creek Native Police Camp, north of Clermont, on the Belyando River. He had recently inherited a large amount of money and was now a wealthy member of Queensland society.^" His hatred for Aborigines remained. He banned his troopers from visiting a nearby Aboriginal camp. After two troopers, 'George' and 'Toby', visited women in the camp, taking a ten year old Aboriginal boy named 'Jemmy' with them, Wheeler flogged the troopers for disobedience. He applied the same brutality to 'Jemmy' who died from being kicked and flogged. When local stockmen complained about his brutality, Wheeler threatened them with a flogging.^' They reported the matter to A. Brown, owner of Banchong Station, who drafted a written complaint to Wheeler at his barracks. Wheeler waved it aside, showing callous indifference to 'Jemmy's' body.^^

Wheeler could have survived this affair, as many officers had in the past. Many investigating officers into Native Police atrocities claimed that the bodies of the victims could not be located, or were too decomposed to provide enough evidence to hang a Native Police officer for murder, a convenient cover up. All Native Police troopers were issued with special ammunition carrying a red band, that would be unmistakable once removed from a body in an autopsy. Unfortunately for Wheeler, George Dyas took an interest in the case.

Dyas exhumed 'Jemmy's' battered body and asked a Clermont Medical Practitioner John Hugh Harricks to conduct an autopsy. Harricks confirmed that 'Jemmy' had died from excessive beating as the body still carried the marks. Dyas gathered eyewitness evidence from camp constable Thomas Baker, which implicated Wheeler. The testimony of the stockman and the written evidence made the case against irrefutable." Wheeler would hang unless someone intervened.

Many knew that Wheeler had information on many atrocities against Aborigines in Queensland since 1857. George Murray in Clermont was only too aware that if Wheeler gave evidence, he could destroy the whole existing system of policing Aborigines. Murray contacted the Supreme Court and asked if Wheeler could be allowed bail.^" Bail was approved and Wheeler paid out a large sum of eight hundred pounds, half for bail, and two sureties of two hundred pounds each from two unidentified guarantors.^^ To Wheeler, a wealthy man, this was minuscule. He was guilty, and he would hang for this crime. He promptly fled to California.

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Very little criticism fell on the Queensland Government or officials in the Clermont District. Murray's career continued unabated and he became Chief Magistrate of Brisbane in the 1900s. The fuh force of Government disapproval fell on Dyas. He had suffered from illness in the northern districts for many years, common to many police officers who served on the frontier. Dyas produced a medical certificate to prove that he was unfit for service in the trying climate of the Northern Districts, and attempted to retire on the grounds of ill health, but the government refused his application. Ignoring the medical certificates, it sent Dyas to Normanton,^* adjacent to what was known popularly as the 'swamp coast'.^'

In January 1881 Dyas was ordered from Normanton to Georgetown in the Etheridge District to take command of the police there. He set out alone, proceeding first to the forty mile water-hole outside of Normanton. From there he trekked ten miles down Rocky Creek. In this area, Dyas lost his horse, walked for some distance, and then stopped to remove his boots, and then walked barefooted towards the telegraph line, hoping to find the telegraph station at Creen Creek, eighty-two miles from Normanton.^* He did not notice that he was being followed.

Dyas was still carrying his bridle, and one cartridge belt. When this became too heavy, he left it on a tree. Further on he removed the

^ \ • Normanton Bynoe River „ ^ ,

\ , Creen Creek

« Cloncurry

« [Croydon]

, Savannah Downs

• Georgetown

, Charleston [now Forsayth]

• Gilberton

, Woolgai Goldfield

« Richmond

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bullets from his cartridge belt and left the belt on his track. Realising he was lost, he began to mark his route, scratching an arrow on the bare ground with the name Dyas above it every one hundred yards.

Dyas stopped and rested. During this rest a spear landed in his shoulders and penetrated through to his chest. He slumped forward and slowly bled to death. His attackers retreated from the scene but returned the following morning and stripped and buried him. They did not remove his kidney fat, the common fate of Europeans murdered by Aborigines. They covered Dyas's blood stains on the ground with sand and buried him eighteen inches below ground.^'

Dyas was reported lost on 16 January 1881 and Sub-Inspector Lamond gathered his squad from the Bynor River Native Police camp and set out to search for him. He had met Dyas only once in Port Douglas when Dyas was suffering from illness. Lamond took Constable McGrath with him to identify a body if necessary.

He followed Dyas's tracks and found the grave on 23 January. Reconstructing Dyas's movements, he estimated the time of death as the twentieth.'" He could not remove Dyas's decomposing body, and there was no autopsy. Lamond now turned his attention to the murderers.

Tracking was made easier as Lamond had followed barefooted tracks into the area, and had not seen barefooted tracks moving outside of his tracking circle. Lamond knew that the attackers were inside the tracking circle within striking distance. He found their camp on 30 January and ordered his troopers to encircle the camp. He ordered his troopers not to use rifles but only tomahawks and only in self defence." Three troopers noticed two Aborigines moving outside of the camp and stalked them, awaiting an opportunity to take them alive. Constable Fielder and trooper 'Soda' were closing in on the camp from another direction. The trap closed in and the camp was almost completely surrounded.

Without warning Constable Fielder fired his rifle, sending a bullet that hit the ground ten yards from trooper 'Soda'. The Aborigines inside the camp ran in all directions to avoid being captured by the Native Police. Lamond knew that it was now impossible to take prisoners to find out how Dyas met his death. He searched the empty camp and found Dyas's hat, shirt, tweed trousers, watch pouch, silver watch and gold chain with a trinket attached, and pieces of a gun which the Aborigines had carved up to make knives. All were identified as Dyas's by Constable McGrath who had served with him at Normanton.

Lamond could do nothing now, as bad weather was closing in. His rations had run out, as he had only carried enough food for ten days

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in the bush, and his squad had been out fourteen. The three police who joined in the search, had to be fed by Lamond. He returned to Normanton and completed two reports. He knew the identity of the tribe who attacked Dyas and marked them down for a future visit. His task was made easier when the tribe agreed to hand over the guilty parties in order to avoid a visit from the Native Police.'^ Following the murder rumours spread throughout the north that Dyas had met his death at the hands of Europeans. These rumours were never investigated as Lamond's evidence was accepted as conclusive.

SUB-INSPECTOR HAROLD KAYE

The year 1881 saw a resurgence in the profitability of the Woolgar goldfield. A Native Police detachment was posted to this section of the Etheridge Goldfield in 1873, at the Oak Park barracks, to protect miners from Aboriginal attack. The area had been opened up by Sub-Inspector George Dyas. The goldfield was largely abandoned following the Palmer gold rush in 1874 but six years later, a new rush had begun to the Woolgar. Despite drought, some 250 to 600 European miners were working the area throughout 1879 and 1880." During 1881, the Aborigines used the area as a meeting place, and approximately 600 Aborigines arrived on the field. Their presence frightened local miners who called for aid from the nearby Native Pohce camp at Craigie. This request was to have serious consequences.

Cloncurry was to become a death trap to Native Police officers in the years 1881 to 1883. Sub-Inspector's Kaye and Beresford both died at Aboriginal hands when they were posted to this area. The area was part of the Etheridge Police District, as was the Woolgar River. Cloncurry was a copper mine in its early days, with a small number of European and Chinese gold miners in the area.'"

In 1880, Sub-Inspector Harold Pollock Kaye was based at this remote outpost. He was an upper class EngHshmen, the son of a well known author. Sir John Kaye who had written the history of the Indian Navy. Kaye had arrived in Queensland in 1868 on the The Flying Cloud. By 1880 Kaye was based three miles from Cloncurry, at Police barracks known as the Native Police water-hole." He had eight troopers with him, 'Whalebone', 'Forrest', 'Charley', 'Brisbane', 'Sam', 'Billy', 'Wildboy', and 'Ben'. He was a bachelor, about thirty-eight years old with no living relatives in Queensland. Some two years earlier he had lost his father, two younger brothers and a sister and was completely isolated at Cloncurry.'*

Kaye did, however, have one interest. Kaye was corresponding with A.W. Howitt on the Aborigines of the Leichhardt and Gilbert Rivers. Howitt was a well known Aboriginal expert in his time. He recorded the language of the Aborigines in the Coopers Creek area, for E.M.

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Curr's text in 1886. Kaye's specific interest for research was the 'Mungern men' or local medicine men in the Cloncurry area. Kaye's research resides in his staff file, an untouched primary source. Kaye knew the power of the medicine men over the local tribes, also recorded by Arthur Johnstone in his series Spinifex and Wattle. Johnstone tracked and trapped one medicine man. He claimed the medicine man held a quartz crystal, which he held up when Johnstone's troopers fired on him. Their fire failed to harm him. They believed the crystal made the medicine man into a 'debbil debbil' and immune from bullets. Johnstone coldly settled the matter by shooting the medicine man himself.'^

In 1881 P. Smith of Savannah Downs station asked Kaye for help after some eighty Aborigines from outside of the district had speared cattle and wounded two shepherds on his run. Kaye took his detachment to Savannah Downs, to pick up Smith to identify the Aboriginal raiders who attacked his station. Savannah Downs had a long history of hostility between Europeans and Aborigines. The Jardine Expedition of 1864 shot its way to the north from Savannah Downs, using it as a supply base.'*

Accompanied by Smith, Kaye rode out to track the offenders to the Woolgar. His movements are not recorded, but it was an enormous tracking feat, as the Woolgar was over 200 kilometres from Savannah Downs. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Kaye undertook a major effort to find the right offenders, rather than disperse the nearest Aboriginal tribe.

Meanwhile, Sub-Inspector NichoUs and his troopers based at Craigie for some years, were moving towards the Woolgar. He had set out on patrol on 8 September 1881, at 1 pm. Nicholls had troopers, 'Sambo', 'Sandy', 'Pituri', 'Carlo', and 'Larry', with ten horses.'^ Trooper 'Sambo' or 'Sam Pootingah' was a well known Native Police scout and interpreter on the frontier with over ten years experience in deahng with hostile Aborigines."" Nicholls teamed up with Kaye on the Woolgar purely by chance.

'Sam Pootingah' aUas 'Ferriter', also known by the derogatory term 'Sambo', led an interesting life. He was a childhood friend to Tom Petrie, and had joined the Native Police in 1852 on reaching manhood. He deserted many times and was implicated in many thefts, and was suspected of the murder of a known Aboriginal murderer named 'Piper' in the Gympie area. Like many other Native Police troopers he was recruited from the gaols to serve out his sentence in the far north of Queensland. He accompanied Wentworth D'Arcy Uhr to Burketown in 1865, and served with Arthur Johnstone in the Herbert River detachment in the early 1870s until Johnstone banished him from the Townsville region when Sam deserted in 1874. Good troopers were hard to find and 'Sam' was back in the service by 1878.

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Nicholls arrived on the Woolgar four days after leaving Craigie. Kaye had tracked his quarry to within twelve miles of the Woolgar, and had camped outside of the goldfield, away from the sight of Europeans and Aborigines on the goldfield. Nicholls and Kaye joined forces, to make a double detachment. Nicholls requested Kaye's aid in moving an estimated five hundred Aborigines off the field. Kaye agreed and the two men moved their camp to within two miles of the Woolgar on 13 September. Next day, Nicholls, Kaye, Smith, and 'Sambo' went to the goldfield to interview local Aborigines and miners. Smith's presence in the party can only be seen as a request from Kaye to see if he could identify any raiders amongst local Aborigines. Trooper 'Sam' as the most experienced interpreter and chief scout, was the sole trooper amongst the party."'

The party interviewed a small group of peaceful Aborigines, containing women, children, and nine warriors, camped within sight of local gold miners. To colonial frontiersmen the presence of women and children was a guarantee that Aboriginals were not on the war­path. Trooper 'Sam' explained to these Aborigines that the Native Police were not on the Woolgar to disperse or fire on any tribal members. Kaye, Nicholls, and 'Sam' had divested themselves of their weapons to prove their goodwill. The only armed European was Smith, who carried a concealed revolver. What Kaye and Nicholls would do with the Aborigines once they had gathered them together at their armed camp was not indicated by Nicholls in his report. The Native Police used special methods when herding large mobs of Aborigines away from towns or other centres of European population.

The Aborigines agreed to go peacefully, and the four man escort split up with Kaye and Nicholls in the centre. Smith on the left and 'Sambo' on the right, with a few yards separating each man. Nicholls became agitated at the thought of escorting nine warriors, and asked Kaye if he would ride ahead to collect a few armed troopers to aid in escorting them. Kaye realised that his own horse and Smith's horse were knocked up from the long ride from the west. Nicholls horse was by far the better horse, and Kaye asked him to go ahead to send some troopers back."^ Nicholls agreed.

The Aborigines could not have seen these events without some consternation about Nicholls' intentions. Somehow Kaye obtained Smith's pistol. Perhaps Smith became alarmed and let Kaye know he had a concealed pistol. If the Aborigines witnessed the movement of a concealed weapon from one white man to another, their faith in Kaye's word would have been broken. The nine warriors planned to save the lives of their wives and children by wiping out their escort. The greatest danger was the trooper, whilst the Europeans presented an easier target, with Kaye almost riding amongst them, and the other European an unarmed civihan.

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Smith had dropped back from being a few yards to fifteen yards from Kaye who was almost in the middle of the party. Without warning a spear penetrated Kaye's right breast, and proceeded with enough force to penetrate his heart, and become embedded in his left breast. The point broke, and Kaye died instantly."' Three warriors detached themselves from the main party and attacked 'Sam'. He ducked below his horse as several spears passed over an empty saddle. As soon as the attack began it ended. The Aborigines decamped quickly, as they had thrown their weapons away. One tried to remove the spear from Kaye's body but the shaft broke, and the warrior threw away the bloodied shaft. Kaye's body was left untouched where it fell and Smith and 'Sam' reclaimed it. The fact that Kaye's kidney fat was not removed proves that the attack was not premeditated.

Nicholls knew nothing of the attack when he arrived at his camp and ordered three troopers to join Kaye's party, whilst he remained at the bush encampment. When trooper 'Sandy' returned and informed him of Kaye's murder, Nicholls rode to the scene to find Smith and 'Sambo' still at the murder site. Smith's revolver lay where it fell from Kaye's hand, fully loaded. Trooper 'Jerry' found the bloodied shaft of the spear, thrown away by retreating Aborigines. These spears were often barbed and were thrown with bullet-like speed at ranges of one hundred yards. Many Native Police officers suffered lifetime wounds from spears, if they were lucky enough to survive. The lethality of Aboriginal spears encouraged Native Police officers to shoot on sight from distances of over one hundred yards.**

Nicholls now turned to revenge. He had a double detachment, approximately a dozen troopers, more than enough to deal with some four to five hundred Aborigines dispersed in small groups on the Woolgar, if Nicholls used hit and run tactics to destroy each mob.

The chief advantage of the Native Police in bush warfare was their mobility against a numerically superior enemy. The Snider rifle then in use was not the most efficient or accurate weapons then available to colonial police forces. It was, however, lethal, and any person hit by a bullet from these weapons would die if not treated, as it left a massive wound at close range."^ The Native Police specialised in hit and run tactics, riding up to a mob of Aborigines, firing into them, and then retreating out of range, before moving rapidly to another point, and hitting the same mob, often twenty-four hours after the first engagement. These tactics kept numerically superior Aboriginal tribes continuously on the run.

The Aborigines on the Woolgar learned quickly about the death of Kaye, and knew what to expect from the Native Pohce."* All tribes on the frontier used runners who moved with incredible speed through the bush and in rough country were often faster than horsemen.

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Nicholls buried Kaye on 15 September at 10am, with Smith and a number of diggers present. He then moved to disperse all Aborigines by force of arms. He found only empty camps as the local Aborigines had anticipated him. Nicholls did not have enough men to track all the different mobs so he decided to ride in ever widening circles to attempt to pick up the tracks of retreating Aborigines. This method would eventually lead him into contact with some Aborigines that he could disperse in the bush.

After four days searching the surrounding hills, Nicholls concluded that all the Aborigines on the Woolgar were retreating to the safety of the European settlement at Gilberton. He stated in his official report that he confined his retribution to the tribe responsible for the murder, but provides no details."' Nicholls' thirst for revenge was not satiated on the Woolgar and he widened his circle of activity. The Aborigines knew that the Native Police only operated in remote spots away from the prying eyes of European police and settlers, who would interfere if they saw an atrocity committed. The tribes moved towards Gilberton and camped outside the town en masse to await the arrival of the Native Police.

When Nicholls arrived, the Aborigines rushed instantly into the town and claimed the protection of the small white police detachment there. Nicholls could only sit and wait, as he could not conduct dispersals in the confines of the town, and the police refused to aid him in removing the Aborigines from the town. Nicholls waited a day and then moved his patrol to Georgetown, where he handed over Kaye's detachment to his immediate superior, Frederick Macquarrie Thompson, who commanded the Etheridge District and the local gold escort. He sent trooper 'Sam' ahead to the Craigie barracks with one of Kaye's troopers and seven horses. In Georgetown on 26 September, Nicholls made out his reports criticising the Gilberton pohce for interfering in the activities of the Native Police."*

AFTERMATH

Nicholls returned to Craigie with two troopers on 30 September, leaving two troopers in Gilberton to watch the Aborigines camped within the town limits. Nicholls set his troopers to cleaning their arms and equipment for another patrol. On 6 October Nicholls left for another patrol for six days with six troopers, a pattern he continued, covering areas like the Gilberton bridle track and gorge."'

Sub-Inspector Kaye's body was left untended on the Woolgar. The government ignored his death and refused assistance to Lady Kaye to bury her son properly. The Queensland Government refused to recognise officers who died on the frontier in Native Police service. Even in death the secrecy of its activities had to be maintained. The

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deathtoll even of troopers and officers on the frontier will never be known. Kaye's body, like those of Sub-Inspector's Cecil Hill and Marcus Beresford,^" were left in an unmarked grave. Hill and Beresford were left in the bush where they had fallen to Aboriginal spears, until their families took an interest in their deaths. In Kaye's case, his mother managed to obtain the aid of a local Justice of the Peace and erected a headstone on the Woolgar which read:

Sacred to the memory of Henry P. Kaye, late Sub-Inspector of Native Mounted Police, eldest son of the late Sir John Kaye, of the India Office and of Lady Kaye, his wife, who was speared by aboriginals at the Woolgar, whilst in the execution of his duties, on the 14th of September, 1881. Aged 38 years. This tablet is erected in affectionate remembrance by his loving mother.^'

This stone was still readable on the Middle Park Station, ninety miles north from Richmond, in 1920.

Nicholls and his troopers spent three more years patrolling for the Native Police after the incident on the Woolgar. The detachment was moved from Craigie to Nigger Creek following the murder of a local mailman in 1882." Nicholls finally made the mistake of sending out too many scouts on patrol. These scouts were sent in 1884 to locate and arrest an Aboriginal runner named 'Tommy', for interrogation about a local murder. Nicholls left the command of these scouts to Corporal 'Sam'. The patrol was in their unofficial battle dress of cap and cartridge belt and it ended in the death of four Aborigines, one old man named 'King Billy' and his wife 'Kitty', plus another young woman and a child. The Aborigines had caused the troopers to lose face when one Aborigine spat in Nicholls' face. Although Nicholls was not in command of the troopers when the murders took place, he was implicated through his neghgence in allowing a patrol to proceed without a white officer present, and lost his position. The troopers refused to co-operate with white authorities and the maximum sentence they received for this crime was their banishment from future Native Police service by S.W. Griffith," despite the objections of Inspector Isley.'"

The Kaye and Dyas cases illustrate the problems of bringing peace to the frontier region." The Native Police officer corps were dominated by officers who knew little and cared even less about the Aborigines in their care. By studying local Aborigines, Kaye, an aristocrat from a well heeled English family, did attempt to understand the Aborigines he controlled. In 1881 this attempt was largely futile, as all the senior officers in the Pohce Department in the northern districts of Queensland were products of the years of conflict between Aborigines and whites. In his attempts to allay Aboriginal fears on the Woolgar, Kaye fell victim to the mistrust between police, settlers and 'myall' or wild Aborigines. The warriors under escort attacked him in order to protect their families. The revenge wreaked by Nicholls will never be known.

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The incident was just one of many on the frontier. The whole Native Police system was flawed, kept alive only because of its use of frugal resources. The Queensland Government could never have afforded to police Aboriginal tribes through normal methods. During this period of colonialism the mistreating of Aboriginal peoples rarely worried the population at large, even when atrocities became known. Several lone voices like the authors of the 'Black and White' pamphlet did cry out, but they failed to influence a government that had come to rely on the Native Police as a cheap method to control a very large Aboriginal population in Queensland. The last word rested with the Police Commissioner D. T. Seymour. Seymour in his Annual Report for 1881 merely stated that 'attempts to conciliate Aboriginals in the north had not come up to expectations'.^*

ENDNOTES

1. Black, C. & T. The Way we Civilise: Black and White. A series of articles and letters reprinted from the Queenslander, 1880. Brisbane: C. & T Black.

2. A term used to describe death and destruction. 3. William Armit was dismissed from the Native Police in 1880. His post was the

Bynor River Native Police camp near Normanton prior to his dismissal. 4. See Queensland Parliamentary Debates (hereinafter QPD), 33,1130-1146. 5. See Queenslander 14 September 1880 p. 307. One settler named was Bode, a well

known settler on the frontier who let in the first Aborigines on the Lower Burdekin, with the aid of Sub-Inspector Thompson.

6. Barnett, S. A Study of the Queensland Native Mounted Police in the 1870's. St. Lucia, BA Honours Thesis, 1975, unpublished, pp. 114-5.

7. Curr, E.M., The Australian Race. Melbourne: Govt. Printer, 1886. 8. See Johnstone, A.R. Spinifex and Wattle, published in a series of articles in the

Queenslander 1903-1905. Queenslander, 19 March 1904. 9. Jeffries, C. The Colonial Police. London, Parrish, 1952, p. 31.

10. Fitzgerald lost his job in the Burdekin Crossing affair of 1876, and Coward during his time as Gold Warden on the Palmer.

11. George Dyas's staff file, AF420, A/38770, Queensland State Archives (hereinafter QSA).

12. QPD 35,887-888. 13. See Petrie C , Tom Petrie's Reminiscences. Hawthorn Vic, Lloyd O'Neile Pty

Ltd, 1905, for Tom Petrie's recollections on Wheeler. 14. See Colin Archer's journal, Gracemere 1858-59, pp. 16-17, held by the John Oxley

Library, Brisbane. 15. Reynolds, H. With the White People. (Ringwood, Penguin Books, 1990) and

Rosser, B. Up Rode the Troopers (St. Lucia, Uni. of Qld. Press, 1990). For Wheeler's original evidence see Queensland Parliament Votes & Proceedings (hereafter V&P) 1861, Select Committee on the Native Police.

16. See Statistical Register of Queensland 1867, Reference to Native Police detachments. In 1867 Wheeler was based at Waverley Broadsound with W. Compigne and W. Fraser with seven troopers.

17. See COL/A13 61/712, QSA Wheeler's report of 1 January 1861 stating that Aborigines were stock raiding on Compigne's run. See 1861 Select Committee on the Native Police, pp. 422-423, 438. For Fassifern massacre see JUS/N3, 61/1, QSA, 1861 Select Committee, and V&P 1867 Volume I, p. 962. for Dr Challinor's evidence on Fassifern murders.

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18. For references to Fraser see Pike, G. Queensland Frontier (Adelaide, Rigby, 1982) p.61. Reid, G. A Nest of Hornets (Melbourne, Oxford Uni. Press, 1982). See also COL/A28 62/1118, QSA, Correspondence by Aboriginal expert on causes of violence between Aborigines and Europeans. For deathbed confession of William Fraser see Queenslander 15 April 1905, p.8.

19. See 1861 Select Committee p.424.and evidence of L.E. Lester, p. 514. 20. See Mackay Mercury 23 December 1876. 21. Frank Hamilton and R. McGavin of Banchong Station, working on the Ditely

outstation when 'Jemmy' was returned to that station after his flogging. 22. The evidence against Wheeler is contained in Supreme Court miscellaneous files,

19/4/1876-6/12/1876, SCT/CG7 372/1876, QSA. The depositions of witnesses against Wheeler is given in full.

23. Wheeler had written to A. Brown on 15 March 1876, informing Brown to do what he liked with the body of 'Jemmy'.

24. George Murray questioned all witnesses. J. Lutwyche of the Qld. Supreme Court granted Wheeler bail.

25. The bail was lodged at Rockhampton. Wheeler was supposed to appear in Rockhampton for his trial.

26. QPD 35,887-888. 27. See Town and Country Journal 11 August 1888, p.277, for details of Normanton. 28. Creen Creek was only a series of lukewarm stagnant pools. 29. The failure to remove the kidney fat and the burial of Dyas's body lent credence

to the beUef that Dyas was murdered by Europeans. 30. The Native Police judged the date of death of murder victims by the blood stains

found near the murder sight. For evidence of this method see Archibald Meston's evidence in the Royal Commission into the Criminal Investigation Branch Inquiry 1899, pp. 547-548.

31. Tomahawks were widely used on the Queensland frontier. Many murders were committed using this weapon, see Ust of inquests in Queensland, QSA.

32. This account of Dyas's death was built up from Lamond's reports which in George Dyas's staff file, A/38770 AF420, Inquest on Dyas dated 2 February 1881, and Constable Fielder's staff file, A/31789, QSA. For Aborigines offer to hand over murderer see, QPD 35,889.

33. ViP 1881 Vol. II, Report of the Mines Dept. for 1880, p. 221. 34. See Queenslander 2 July 1870 p.6. for description of Cloncurry area. 35. Eglinton E. Pioneering in the North-West, OM 74-94, a series of letters published

in the Winton Herald, 1920. John Oxley Library, Brisbane. 36. Harold Pollock Kaye's staff file, A/38864, AF 955, QSA. 37. Queenslander 16 July 1904 p.27. 38. All Aborigines carried some form of unique identification that could separate

one tribe from another. This included unique scarification, the knocking out of teeth, use of feathers, colouring on weapons, the piercing of noses and ears, and the use of prnaments, necklaces, and identification marks on cheeks, arms, etc. These unique markings gave many Aborigines an identity they lost in civilisation. See Curr, 1886, for details on body markings and identification.

39. See Craigie Native Police Diary, NMP/13/1, QSA. 40. See Rockhampton Bulletin, 12 December 1865 p.2, COL/A202, 2515 of 1874, QSA

re desertion of trooper Sam; Petrie; C. op.cit. p. 118; NMP 6, enclosure from officer in charge Walla Native Police camp to Commandant Native Police, dated 19 June 1855, Queenslander 24 July 1880, Queensland Police Gazette 7 July and 3 November 1869, 5 January 1870, 5 June and 6 November 1872, NMP 13/1 Oak Park/Craigie Native Police daily journal.

41. In 1885 Inspector Isley and Sub-Inspector Nicholls in their correspondence on the Irvinebank massacre refer to 'Sam' as a scout, and not a tracker. See COL/A419 85/2331, Sub-Inspector Nicholls to Samuel Walker Griffith 2 March 1885.

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42. Nicholls and Kaye were of the same rank and almost identical seniority. Both had been promoted to Sub-Inspector Second Class within one week of each other. See Police Gazette 5 January 1876 p.l3, Queensland Police Museum.

43. The bloodied shaft of the spear was found by trooper 'Jerry' after the murder. Aboriginal spears thrown from close range rarely failed to kill.

44. For evidence of shoot on sight, see Hill, W.R.O. Forty Five Years Experience in North Queensland (Brisbane: H. Pale & Co., 1905). For Sub-Inspector A.R. Johnstone see May, S. ed. The Diary of Arthur Neame, 1870-1897. (Brisbane: John Oxley Library), Curr, E.M. Australian Race, contribution by ex-Native Police officer F.M. Thompson on the PoguUoburra tribe shot on sight in 1868 near Natal Downs Station, Cape River.

45. The Queensland Government purchased large numbers of cheap surplus Sniders after the British army moved from Sniders to Martini Henri rifles in 1877. See QPD 23,41-46.

46. For example see Sub-Inspector Oscar Paschen's report of reprisals against the Dawson tribes after Sub-Inspector Cecil Hill's murder in 1865, Rockhampton Bulletin 6 July 1865. For copies of Paschen's subsequent clashes with the Dawson tribes see duty sheets in correspondence on the dismissal of Sub-Inspector Charles Blakeney, V&P 1867, and COL/A92 67/1549, QSA.

47. There were two groups of Aborigines given European names on the Woolgar, one group was known as the Forest Aborigines and one known as Spear Creek Aborigines. Spear Creek Aborigines were supposedly the murderers of Kaye.

48. For NichoUs's reports see JUS/N77 81/259 and Kaye's staff file, A/38864 AF 955, QSA.

49. NMP 13/1 Craigie/Oak Park diary, for September 1881, QSA. 50. The Hill family were lucky, one son Stanley Hill, worked on the Police

Commissioner's small staff in 1865 and notified his family, which included W.R.O. Hill and Charles Eden, two significant writers on early Queensland. Beresford like Kaye was a Cloncurry Native Police officer killed by Aborigines, and was left in an unmarked grave until his family took action to erect a monument.

51. Eglinton, op. cit., OM74-94, p. 1. 52. See JUS/N83 82/108, QSA. 53. Samuel Walker Griffith, Premier and Colonial Secretary from 1883 to 1885. 54. Isley was not concerned with Nicholls, he was however worried about losing

experienced troopers who could not be replaced easily. See Queensland Figaro, 3/1/1885, p. 6, COL/A414, 85/989, Regina verses Nicholls, Depositions from witnesses, QSA.

55. An example of peace overtures failing was Sub-Inspector Douglas's and Carr's attempts to make peace on the Barron River in 1881. Inspector Isley, a Native Police officer from 1868 to 1870 was dumbfounded to find peace overtures being made by junior officers to Aborigines in the Cairns region in 1878-81, as he had received no official notification to begin such moves.

56. V&P 1882,1,419-26, Annual Report of the Police Commissioner.