The Explorers (39 page)

The blacks were credulous enough to believe that ‘as she had been so long with them, and had been so well treated, she did not intend to leave them—only she felt a strong desire to see the white people once more and shake hands with them'; adding that she would be certain to procure some axes, knives, tobacco, and other much prized articles. This appeal to their cupidity decided the question at once. After landing at the sandy bay on the western side of Cape York, she hurried across to Evans Bay as quickly as her lameness would allow, fearful that the blacks might change their mind; and well it was that she did so, as a small party of men followed to detain her, but arrived too late. Three of these people were brought on board at her own request and, as they had been instrumental in saving her from the wreck, they were presented with an axe apiece, and other presents.

Upon being asked by Captain Stanley whether she really preferred remaining with us to accompanying the natives back to their island, as she would be allowed her free choice in the matter, she was so much agitated as to find difficulty in expressing her thankfulness, making use of scraps of English alternately with the Kowrárega language, and then, suddenly awaking to the recollection that she was not understood, the poor creature blushed all over, and with downcast eyes beat her forehead with her hand, as if to assist in collecting her scattered thoughts.

At length, after a pause, she found words to say, ‘Sir, I am a Christian, and would rather go back to my own friends.'

At the same time, it was remarked by everyone that she had not lost the feelings of womanly modesty—even after having lived so long among naked blacks, she seemed acutely to feel the singularity of her position—dressed only in a couple of shirts, in the midst of a crowd of her own countrymen.

When first seen on shore our new shipmate presented so dirty and wretched an appearance that some people who were out shooting at first mistook her for a gin, and were passing by without taking further notice, when she called out to them in English, ‘I am a white woman, why do you leave me?' With the exception of a narrow fringe of leaves in front, she wore no clothing, and her skin was tanned and blistered with the sun, and showed the marks of several large burns which had been received from sleeping too near the fire on cold nights; besides, she was suffering from ophthalmia, which had previously deprived her of the sight of one eye.† But good living, and every comfort (for Captain Stanley kindly provided her with a cabin and a seat at his table), combined with medical attention, very soon restored her health, and she was eventually handed over to her parents in Sydney in excellent condition.

Although perfectly illiterate, Mrs Thomson had made good use of her powers of observation, and evinced much shrewdness in her remarks upon various subjects connected with her residence among the blacks, joined to great willingness to communicate any information which she possessed…Several hundred words of the Kowrárega language, and a portion of its grammar, were also obtained from time to time, and most of these were subsequently verified. And, although she did not understand the language spoken at Cape York, yet, as some of the Gúdang people there knew the Kowrárega, through its medium I was usually able to make myself tolerably well understood, and thus obtain an explanation of some matters which had formerly puzzled me, and correct various errors into which I had fallen. It was well, too, that I took an early opportunity of procuring these words, for my informant afterwards forgot much of her lately acquired language, and her value as an authority on that subject gradually diminished.

Gi'om was evidently a great favourite with the blacks, and hardly a day passed on which she was not obliged to hold a levee in her cabin for the reception of friends from the shore, while other visitors, less favoured, were content to talk to her through the port. They occasionally brought presents of fish and turtle, but always expected an equivalent of some kind.

Her friend Boroto, the nature of the intimacy with whom was not at first understood, after in vain attempting by smooth words and fair promises to induce her to go back to live with him, left the ship in a rage, and we were not sorry to get rid of so impudent and troublesome a visitor as he had become. Previous to leaving, he had threatened that, should he or any of his friends ever catch his faithless spouse on shore, they would take off her head to carry back with them to Múralug; and so likely to be fulfilled did she consider this threat, being in perfect accordance with their customs, that she never afterwards ventured on shore at Cape York.

† Victoria: the settlement at Port Essington.

† Wommala: woomera.

† Silurus: a catfish.

† J. H. Browne was medical officer to the expedition. He had been left in charge of the depot when Sturt and his party advanced.

† Mr Stuart: The thirty-year-old John McDouall Stuart who accompanied Sturt on this expedition.

† Sturt is referring to Leichhardt's expedition to Port Essington.

† Some months earlier James Poole, Sturt's second-in-command, had died of scurvy.

† Mr Gill: this was S. T. Gill who was to earn fame for his drawings and lithographs of colonial Australia.

† Although Patrick White based his novel
A Fringe of Leaves
on the story of Eliza Fraser, it is Barbara Thomson who gave him his title.

G
ERARD
K
REFFT

They Are Very Good Eating, 1857

Gerard Krefft is one of the great unsung heroes of Australian biological exploration. He was appointed director of the Australian Museum but, following rumours that he was profiting from the sale of risqué postcards and problems with the museum trust, he was eventually dismissed. He refused to go quietly, however, and two bully-boys were employed to carry him out of his office—still in his director's chair—and eject him unceremoniously into Sydney's William Street.

Here we join him in happier times, on the Blandowski expedition to the junction of the Murray and Darling rivers in 1857. He is brought two
landwang
, as the local Aborigines knew the pig-footed bandicoot,
Chaeropus occidentalis
(now called
Chaeropus ecaudatus
). The species is today extinct and much of what we know about it comes from these notes. Unfortunately, Krefft was so hungry that he ate his precious specimens.

4 October 1857—After returning from a short excursion into the scrub, I fell in with a party of natives who had succeeded, at last, in securing a pair of the
Chaeropus
(male and female). They wanted all manner of things for them, from a pair of blankets to a cutty pipe; and as I was very anxious to sketch them from life I emptied my pockets there and then, and promised a grand entertainment for the night with plenty of damper and sugar and tea.

On arrival at the camp, the two animals were secured in a birdcage; and I was busy for several hours sketching my charges in different positions.

Gould's figures of
Chaeropus occidentalis
are spiritless, being taken from dry skins.† I was in the habit of showing a copy of Sir Thomas Mitchell's tail-less specimen to the natives, urging them to procure animals of that description; of course, they did not recognise it as a
landwang
and I was furnished in consequence with a large number of the common bandicoot (
Perameles obesula
) minus the tail, which, to please me, had been screwed clean out.††

About sundown, when I was about to secure my animals for the night, one of the nimblest made its escape, jumping clean through the wires of the cage.

At a quick pace it ran up one of the sandstone cliffs, followed by myself, all of the blackfellows, men, women and children, and their dogs.

Here was a splendid opportunity for observing the motions of the animal; and I availed myself of it. The
Chaeropus
progressed like a broken-down hack in a canter, apparently dragging the hindquarters after it; we kept in sight of the fugitive and, after a splendid run up and down the sandhills, our pointer, who had been let loose, brought it to bay in a saltbush.

A large tin case was fitted up for the habitation of these animals, and provided with coarse barley grass, upon which, as the natives informed me, they feed. Insects, particularly grasshoppers, were also put into the box, and though they were rather restless at first, and made vain attempts to jump out, they appeared snug enough in the morning, having constructed a completely covered nest with the grass and some dried leaves.

During the daytime, they always kept in their hiding-places and, when disturbed, quickly returned to them; but as soon as the sun was down they became lively, jumping about and scratching the bottom of the case in their attempts to regain liberty. I kept these animals upon lettuces, barley grass, bread, and some bulbous roots for six weeks, until the camp was broken up, when they were killed for the sake of their skins.

I think that about eight specimens of this species were secured during our stay; several of which proved to be females with good-sized young ones in the pouch, which is very deep and runs upwards, not like that of a kangaroo. All were provided with eight teats, and bore two young ones, only one pair of teats being drawn.

I may mention here that the
Chaeropus
drinks a good deal of water, but will neither touch meat nor attack or eat mice, as the other members of this family do.

Their dung, which I often examined when out hunting, was entirely composed of grass, very dry, about the size of a sheep's trundles, but much longer, so that I believe that in a state of nature they feed principally upon vegetables. They are very good eating, and I am sorry to confess that my appetite more than once over-ruled my love for science.

† John Gould: the great animal illustrator.

†† Bandicoots often lose their tails. The original specimen of the pig-footed bandicoot had suffered such a loss.

J
OHN
M
C
D
OUALL
S
TUART

What He Imagined I Was, 1858–60

Stuart was an independent, even lonely man with a fierce pride. He had a reputation as a hard drinker but achieved great things. His lasting innovation was to eschew large overland expeditions in favour of exploration by small, mobile parties. Stuart's great ambition was to cross the continent from south to north. We first meet him here at a rather comic moment in 1858 in the vicinity of Lake Torrens when he asks directions from a solitary Aboriginal hunter. Then we join him two years later at his celebrations upon reaching the geographic centre of Australia.

Thursday, 24th June [1858], Sandhills—At 8.30 we left on a course of 340°, commencing with about two miles of rather heavy sandhills. At eight miles these sandhills diminished, and the valleys between them became much wider—both sandhills and valleys being well covered with grass and saltbush, with courses of lime and ironstone cropping out and running east and west. At twelve miles changed our course to 79° to examine a gum creek (Yarraout), which we ran down for water, but did not obtain it before four miles, when we found a small hole of rainwater. This creek seems to be a hunting ground of the natives, as we saw a great many summer wurleys on its banks.
^†

They had evidently been here today, for a little above where we first struck the creek we saw some smoke, but on following it up we found they had gone; mostly likely they had seen us and run away. The latter part of our journey today was over a stony plain, bounded on the west by the stony tableland with the sandhills on the top. All this country seems to have been under water, and is mostly likely the bed of Lake Torrens, or Captain Sturt's inland sea. In travelling over the plains, one is reminded of going over a rough, gravelly beach; the stones are all rounded and smooth. Distance today, thirty miles.

Friday, 25th June, Yarraout Gum Creek—Started at 9.40 from the point where we first struck the creek last night, bearing 20° for two miles, thence 61° for one mile to a high sandhill, thence 39° for one mile to a stony rise. My doubt of the blackfellow's knowledge of the country is now confirmed; he seems to be quite lost and knows nothing of the country, except what he has heard other blacks relate; he is quite bewildered and points all round when I ask him the direction of Wingillpin. I have determined to push into the westward, keeping a little north of west. Bearing 292° for five miles, sandhills; thence 327° to a table-hill nine miles. Camped without water. Our route today has been through sandhills, with a few miles of stones and dry reedy swamp, all well grassed, but no water.