Th e A This book is the first major study of Aboriginal associations with b the Burke and Wills expedition of 1860–61. It is the outcome o of an Australian Research Council project and provides a r i history of Aboriginal cross-cultural exchanges with the g expedition, as well as the various relief expeditions. i n a The book offers a reinterpretation of the literature l surrounding Burke and Wills, using official S correspondence, expedition journals and diaries, t o visual art, and anthropological and linguistic r research – and then complements this with y references to Aboriginal oral histories and o social memory. It highlights the interaction of f expedition members with Aboriginal people B and their subsequent contribution to Aboriginal u studies. The book also considers contemporary r and multi-disciplinary critiques that the expedition k members were, on the whole, deficient in bush craft, e especially in light of the expedition’s failure to use a Aboriginal guides in any systematic way. n The Aboriginal Story d Generously illustrated with historical photographs and W line drawings, The Aboriginal Story of Burke and Wills is an important resource for Indigenous people, Burke i of Burke and Wills and Wills history enthusiasts and the wider community. l l s Forgotten narratives E d i a te n d d b F y re Ia d n C D a . h C i r l a r k Edited by Ian D. Clark and Fred Cahir Aboriginal_Story_of_Burke_and_Wills_Cover.indd 1 23/04/13 9:07 AM The Aboriginal Story of Burke and Wills Forgotten narratives Edited by Ian D. Clark and Fred Cahir The Aboriginal Story of Burke and Wills Forgotten narratives Edited by Ian D. Clark and Fred Cahir © Ian D. Clark and David A. Cahir 2013 Front cover: (top) ‘Portrait of Dick: the brave and gallant native guide’. Ludwig Becker. 21 December 1860. The Royal All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described Society of Victoria Collection: The State Library of Victoria. in the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent Accession no. H16486. (right, and title page) Detail from: amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, ‘No. 40. Mr. Shirt. Mr. Nogood. Missis Mallee. Natives on the stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by Darling. Darling Depot, Jan.12.1861’. Ludwig Becker. The any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, Royal Society of Victoria Collection: The State Library of duplicating or otherwise, without the prior permission of Victoria. Accession no. H16486. (bottom) ‘Sketch of route the copyright owner. Contact CSIRO PUBLISHING for all from Balranald to Scot’s station, roughly drawn by dead permission requests. reckoning, 26 Sep. 60’. Ludwig Becker. Watercolour, pen National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication and ink. Ludwig Becker Sketchbook. The Royal Society of entry Victoria Collection: The State Library of Victoria. Accession no. H16486. The Aboriginal story of Burke and Wills : forgotten narratives / edited by Ian D. Clark and Fred Cahir. Back cover: Detail from: ‘Watpipa the “Old Man”, our guide on Sep. 24. 60. L. Becker’. Ludwig Becker. Watercolour, pen 9780643108080 (hbk.) and ink. Ludwig Becker Sketchbook. The Royal Society of 9780643108097 (epdf) Victoria Collection: The State Library of Victoria. Accession 9780643108103 (epub) no. H16486. Includes bibliographical references and index. Front endpaper: Illustration by Kellee Frith from map Burke and Wills Expedition, (1860–1861) drafted by Frank Leahy (after Valmai Hankel and The Friends Aboriginal Australians. of the State Library of South Australia 2007 Finding Burke Explorers – Australia. and Wills). Australia – Discovery and exploration – Back endpaper: Illustration by Kellee Frith from map drafted 1851–1900. by Frank Leahy (after Bonyhady 1991). Clark, Ian D., 1958– Illustrations from the State Library of Victoria courtesy of Cahir, Fred, 1963– the State Library of Victoria 994 Set in Adobe Lucida 8/12 and Minion Pro Published by Edited by Adrienne de Kretser, Righting Writing CSIRO PUBLISHING Cover and text design by Andrew Weatherill 150 Oxford Street (PO Box 1139) Typeset by Andrew Weatherill Collingwood VIC 3066 Index by Russell Brooks Australia Printed in China by 1010 Printing International Ltd Telephone: +61 3 9662 7666 CSIRO PUBLISHING publishes and distributes scientific, Local call: 1300 788 000 (Australia only) technical and health science books, magazines and Fax: +61 3 9662 7555 journals from Australia to a worldwide audience and Email: [email protected] conducts these activities autonomously from the research Web site: www.publish.csiro.au activities of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). The views expressed in this Published with assistance from the State Library of Victoria publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily 328 Swanston Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000 Australia represent those of, and should not be attributed to, the www.slv.vic.gov.au publisher or CSIRO. The copyright owner shall not be liable for technical or other errors or omissions contained herein. The reader/user accepts all risks and responsibility for losses, damages, costs and other consequences resulting directly or indirectly from using this information. Original print edition: The paper this book is printed on is in accordance with Published with assistance from The Business School of the the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council®. The FSC® University of Ballarat promotes environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world’s forests. Foreword Few episodes in Australia’s history have Victoria was fortunate in forming a liaison received as much attention as the Victorian with Professor Ian Clark and Dr Fred Cahir Exploring Expedition of 1860–61. Over 40 from the University of Ballarat. Their previous books, hundreds of paintings, several films, work on Aboriginal history and place names poems, music, numerous public memorials was an essential prerequisite for the task. The and sculptures have all celebrated or University of Ballarat and the Royal Society of commemorated the exploits and fate of Victoria were then successful in obtaining an Burke and Wills. From the contemporary Australian Research Council Linkage Grant to newspaper campaigns of the 1860s, through undertake the project. As part of the project, the Commission of Inquiry, Frank Clune in November 2011, the University of Ballarat and Alan Moorehead to Tim Bonyhady and hosted a symposium at which it became clear Sarah Murgatroyd, authors in successive that we had raised subjects that were long generations have sought to explain, and overdue for examination. in many cases to attribute blame for, the In creating this book Professor Clark and outcome of that expedition. Dr Cahir have brought together participants The Burke and Wills Anniversary at the symposium, including members of the Advisory Committee, established by the project team at the University of Ballarat. Royal Society of Victoria in 2008, identified The authors include scholars who have made major deficiencies in the existing histories. extensive and notable contributions to our Remarkably, no book had been written about understanding of Indigenous people, their the scientific achievements of the Victoria language and their relationship to the land. Exploring Expedition. Nor had any in-depth The introduction provided by Aaron study been made of the interaction between Paterson, a Yandruwandha descendant, Indigenous people and the expeditioners and sets the scene for the examination of the their potential and actual contribution to the interactions between the Yandruwandha expedition. We were determined to rectify people and Burke’s party at Cooper Creek. this through two sesquicentenary projects. Other records of oral histories also provide The first project culminated in the insights into the Aboriginal understanding at publication by CSIRO Publishing of Burke and the time. Wills: The Scientific Legacy of the Victorian The authors of this book provide linguistic Exploring Expedition. This notable work has and anthropological evidence which reminds changed the thinking about the scientific us that, far from being terra nullius, even the achievements of the expedition. most arid areas were populated by Aboriginal In its endeavours to ensure that the communities interlinked by language and Indigenous contribution to the VEE was given protocols and tradition. Although the proper consideration, the Royal Society of linguistic material gathered by the explorers v the aboriginal story oF burke and Wills was limited, it provides evidence of the path and possessed intellectual tools capable the expedition took as it moved through the of explaining the presence of strange areas occupied by different language groups. humans and animals. The geographical A central theme of this book is the and mythological territory they contrast between the skills, perceptions and inhabited was familiar to them. It was knowledge of the Indigenous people and the Europeans who were out of place, those of the new arrivals, and the extent anxious, aggressive, bristling with arms to which this affected the outcome of the and ready to use them. expedition. The very varied backgrounds To the new, brash and confident colony of the expedition members provide an of Victoria in the 1860s, the country to the opportunity to consider differing perceptions north represented territory to conquer and of the Indigenous people, their capability if possible to exploit. The fact that the land and their communication skills and their was already occupied by Aboriginal peoples knowledge. The diary notes and reports was apparently not of great significance. prepared by members of the expedition The Victorian Exploring Expedition was sent provide material by which the different world forth to cross the continent, equipped with views of the varied expedition members may specially imported camels and supplied be gauged. (probably oversupplied) with goods and Of particular importance were the German stores calculated to make it independent of scientists Ludwig Becker and Hermann Beckler the country it would traverse, but regrettably (and for part of the journey Georg Neumayer). underequipped with a real understanding Steeped in the Humboldtian tradition, they of the task it faced. The instructions to had particular interest in understanding the the expeditioners did not oblige them to land and its people. Their carefully illustrated gain an understanding of the world of the and documented observations were gathered Indigenous people nor to utilise their skills in spite of Burke, rather than because of him. and knowledge of the country. As author Peta Jeffries suggests, Becker’s To Burke, the leader, the expedition background and artistic sensitivity may offered a stage for glory and heroic have attuned him to the task of bridging the endeavour. The inland was a place to be divide between the different cultures. Their conquered. In passing through it he would attitudes may also have been influenced by rely on his supplies and the introduced Becker’s previous contact with Tasmanian animals which carried them, supplemented Aborigines and the fact that the Germans by whatever sustenance his firearms could were themselves aliens in a British colony. bring. It is inescapable that this book is As the authors of this book make clear, concerned not only with the Indigenous the Aboriginal skills in communication, people and the explorers but with the land in tracking and in navigation which were itself, and the different attitudes to the recognised and utilised by other explorers, land held by the different cultures. To the both before and after the Burke and Wills Aboriginal people their country was their expedition, were apparently not recognised dwelling place. Through their skills in by Burke. On the contrary, he perceived navigation, hunting and gathering, honed the presence of the Indigenous people as over millennia, their country provided their a hindrance and potentially a threat to the sustenance and was integral to their being. survival of his party and the success of his As Professor Harry Allen says in Chapter 7: mission. Reliance on pack animals and the Aboriginal people living in the areas supplies they carried resulted in constant traversed by the explorers were at anxiety. Any loss of supplies or animals or home. They were surrounded by kin injury to a member of the party was a threat vi ForeWord to the survival of the expeditioners, whose Australia’s early history. The Burke and Wills supply lines were frail or non-existent. expedition is a notable example, in part In particular, the members of the party because the expedition covered so much who travelled to the Cooper and the Gulf had territory and in part because its leadership little appreciation or understanding of the was even less attuned to the capability of capabilities of the Indigenous peoples. As a Indigenous people than most expeditions. consequence, when the supplies they carried However, in our assessment of Burke we were exhausted and their animals failed, might reflect that he had been in the colony several of the men died. for only a short time and that we as a nation, Perhaps also because the margin between 150 years later, still have difficulties in survival and death was so fine, we cannot reconciling differing perceptions of our land help but feel that even a slightly greater and of its traditional owners. respect for the knowledge and capability This publication of this book is a of the local Aboriginal people might have milestone in an ongoing project. It will tipped the balance. contribute to our understanding of our past The contrasting perceptions of the land and present relationship with this harsh yet as provider, the land as a resource to be fragile land and the people it sustained for exploited and the land as threat run through countless millennia. Dr Peter Thorne Vice-President, The Royal Society of Victoria Chair, Burke and Wills Commemoration Committee vii Contents Foreword Peter Thorne V List of contributors X Acknowledgements XI Introduction: a Yandruwandha perspective Aaron Paterson XIII Responding to Yandruwandha: a contemporary Howitt’s experience Richie Howitt XVII Chapter 1 The Aboriginal legacy of the Burke and Wills Expedition: an introduction Ian D. Clark and Fred Cahir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Chapter 2 The members of the Victorian Exploring Expedition and their prior experience of Aboriginal peoples Ian D. Clark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Chapter 3 ‘Exploring is a killing game only to those who do not know anything about it’: William Lockhart Morton and other contemporary views about the Victorian Exploring Expedition and its fate Ian D. Clark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Chapter 4 The use and abuse of Aboriginal ecological knowledge Philip A. Clarke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Chapter 5 The Aboriginal contribution to the expedition, observed through Germanic eyes David Dodd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 appendix 5.1: Extracts from the 1861 Anniversary Address of the Royal Society of Victoria delivered by the President, His Excellency Sir Henry Barkly KCB on 8 April 1861 109 appendix 5.2: English translation of Beckler H (1867) Corroberri: Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Musik bei den australischen Ureinwohnern Globus 13, 82–84 111 Chapter 6 Language notes connected to the journey of the expedition as far as the Cooper Luise Hercus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Chapter 7 Burke and Wills and the Aboriginal people of the Corner Country Harry Allen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Chapter 8 ‘Devil been walk about tonight – not devil belonging to blackfellow, but white man devil Methink Burke and Wills cry out tonight “What for whitefellow not send horses and grub?”’ An examination of Aboriginal oral traditions of colonial explorers Fred Cahir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Contents Chapter 9 How did Burke die? Darrell Lewis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Chapter 10 Telling and retelling national narratives Deirdre Slattery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Chapter 11 The influence of Aboriginal country on artist and naturalist Ludwig Becker of the Victorian Exploring Expedition: Mootwingee, 1860–61 Peta Jeffries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Chapter 12 If I belong here … how did that come to be? Paul Lambeth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Chapter 13 Alfred Howitt and the erasure of Aboriginal history Leigh Boucher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Chapter 14 Remembering Edwin J Welch: surveyor to Howitt’s Contingent Exploration Party Frank Leahy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 Chapter 15 ‘We have received news from the blacks’: Aboriginal messengers and their reports of the Burke relief expedition (1861–62) led by John McKinlay Fred Cahir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Chapter 16 William Landsborough’s expedition of 1862 from Carpentaria to Victoria in search of Burke and Wills: exploration with native police troopers and Aboriginal guides Peta Jeffries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 Chapter 17 ‘I suppose this will end in our having to live like the blacks for a few months’: reinterpreting the history of Burke and Wills Ian D. Clark and Fred Cahir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301 Index 305 ix