THE “NEVER NEVER”

Hokitika Guardian, 11 January 1929, Page 7

THE “NEVER NEVER”

OI'THACK IN A I’STR.ALIA. Tlio ;ittiu-k by an aboriginal tribe on .1 lonely i (.nsiaoie in llio eon ire oi Australia server lo recall to those who Allow soineiimig of Hie iile led by such servants ol Liie Slate, their isolation, viieir resonnel illness, and tlie calm Heroism nos and men display..! in the exercise ol liieir duty v. a rues <l. A. Gill nth, in the Aleldourne "si'gus"). Evoiyiiing in a varied round is met and coped with as ordmar,s routine. Many ol lin.se liuninted constables are stationed at places a day or two's journey J'roni the neaiest while man. Some patrol an area equal to the size ol \ ivtoria. A patrol through the districi may occupy any period from three weeks to two monllls. Leery and any function ol government may have to be exorcised, i'aei and discretion are necessary in dealing with the independent bushman and miner. Hed tape has often to lie dispensed with. At times the eluvial eye has to be shut, especially when dealing with the aborigine; the laws are made for the settled parts of the Commonwealth. Above all, the constable must be skilled in biishenil't. For a week at a time ho may not see a soul other than his black trucker, lie must be a competent cook, unless lie is content to subsist on corned (dry-salted) beef and dumper, and damper-making is in itself a fine art. 1 knew one genial and fastidious mounted constable who managed always to make bread in a small camp oven for which he found room in hi.s saddle hags. WELCOMIf TRIPS TO DARWIN. Usually a patrol is monotonous in the extreme. •Monotony is the rule ol Ihe constable’s lile. Ho looks forward to his furlough at the end of live years' duty, consoled by tlie thought of llie hank balance which perforce is steadily mounting. There is also faint hope that unexpected official business will render bis presence in Darwin for a few weeks imperative. Such an occasion is rare. Sometimes it is a case of cattle stealing. Again it may be a case of the killing of an ab >ri gino. or very seldom a white man murdered by an aborigine. Having mustered hi.s prisoner, together with his witnesses, he proceeds on his long, weary journey to Darwin. As night after night has to he spent in the •pen there is never a moment of idleness. He has to supervise the hobbling of the score of horses which comprise his “plant,” then cook meat md damper, and finally secure not only the prisoner, blit also the witnesses for the niglit. The last duty is often most diflicuTt, for the farther they get from the tribal lands the less does the journey, at first looked upon as a picnic, appeal to the native mind, and there is apt to be a serious “breakaway.” But invariably the stolid constable lands hi.s team, all ’nippy and lit. into the hands of the keepers at Darwin.

If a mild misdemeanour has been pmmitled no one is much purturbul, ■ceil the nrisoncr. The sentence having been endured in comfortable quarters, . villi plenty to eat. and, above all, ’ots of tobacco to smoke, the delinquent returns to his tribe with a halo •f experience and much “.vabher” to ,- eop hi.s friends entertained when turkey is plentiful and time hang!? heav-

Rarely (loos ;m aborigine intorl'oro villi a European unless lie or some • Iher white man has tra.listressed the iboriginal law. For certain offences he penalty is death, he the offender duck or white. It he he of another rihe the penally may ho inflicted on i substitute: any member of the tribe ill suit. The wild or “myall” black looks on. all whfUs as being of one rilie. The law must be vindicated, •iiul according to the law. In such a ••mmtry as the north, where KXK) iiniles ’a v separate tin* few white women, the commonest offence by the white I'odnst .the iiborh.'tino ;*■; associated : th women, in certain cases, often ■ nl<noun to the white man. the pendty is death. Any white man may do cliosen as victim. We call the re ■ell murder. And our pros!.ice do • lands that the culprit be found and uuishod. That, is easily said, lint la- task is difficult and fraught with real, danger. Alt It RKR OF STOCK.M AX AVF.XGFI). About ten years ago a lonely stoekoan who had served at Gallipoli wa i: found murdered at a waterholc smiw i'ii miles from the homestead. There vns no i|ueslion of the man, so far as vos known, ha vino broken the tribal 'aw. The nearest constable was summoned from his station At) miles away, lie. together with all the available whites (three) and his tracker, com mowed tlw pursuit of the gang ol evidently half a dozen, who alter the murder had deoamood into the wild •villi all tin* iiorta'ile poor's of the stockman. Though the pursuit hmoin two days behind the aborigines tlw trail was followed imr lent im.dy. Moon •I approached unexjdored wild ami roakv country, where traved by horses was difficult. Gradually the llceing natives were overtiaul-d. until they could he sec,n in the distance. As ibe pursuit drew closer the aborigine'’: look lo the rung.s. climbing up an.almost perpemlieiilar «• Ii(I several hundred feet hitch, where horses could not follow. posting his companions at points of vantage whence they could shoot, the

constable followed them on foot. S< ; on lie found himself bombarded with rocks loosed from above, but (lodging them, lie crept upward. Finally be scrambled over the ridge to lind hi: pre.v scuttling through the scrub down to a broad bamboo fringed tidal creek. Occasionally he got a shot at the fugitives, one of whom had already been wounded by file outposts, as could be seen by the movements and Ilia blood-stained herbage here and there. At last one aberitrino fell, shot through the heart. The others took to ibe wilier and cross-d the crock. Unhesitating, the constable, who hv Hi n had far outstrip cd lie mates, followed, holding his rille high and .swimming with one hand. Me knew that alligators abounded in the creek. IniL he kept on. Thy far side was more rugged than ever, and the scrub more dense. Y< I one more aborigine fell to his rille before th" safety of the denser hush was reachid. Realising then that, it was not only futile to continue the pursuit, further. hut certain death to himself, Imt not until lie had assured himself that the second man was dead, he wisely returned to • his assistants struggling in the rear. A SIM DDK STORY. His report reached headquarters in due course. It was a simple slor\. The details were few and hold. It hoped that Ills action in not continuing flic pursuit Would he considered wise m all the circumstances. His personal opinion was that justice having been fairly swift, two men having paid the supreme penalty for the death of one, the native mind must have been impressed, perhaps even more than if the aborigines had been captured, taken to Darwin, and tiieil by a jury with all tin- paraphernalia ol a court. That lie had succeeded in recovering the murdered man’s effects ho seemed to think the most satisfactory of all his efforts.

•Such arc the .men who supervise the • cal out-back, tin: real “never-never” of Australia,