and so it started ...

The First Ship at Rivoli Bay 

About the year 1822 or 1823 the first ship was seen by the natives in Rivoli Bay. Some of them thought it was a drifting island, and all that saw it became alarmed, and began to think of a hiding place. Mothers with their children secured themselves in some safe retreat, while others courageously watched the movements of this strange visitor. One morning some of the women went along the beach for shellfish, and returning were surprised by two white men.   In running away one of the women dropped her child and on stopping to pick it up was captured and taken away to the ship. About three months after the ship put into Guichen Bay and the woman took opportunity to escape, taking with her some clothing. She reached the Narrow Neck, and she came across a posse of her countrywomen lamenting her loss. She did not give a favorable account of he treatment she received from the crew. Even as late as 1846 the black women, in speaking of this event, made all sorts of grimaces signifying disgust! The woman's son (Panchy, brother of John Ball ) related the story to me, adding I do not know the truth myself, but just what I was told by the "drual". (men)

from The Booandik Tribe - a Sketch of Their Habits, Customs, Legends and Language by Christina Smith 1880 

The End of the Last of the Giants

The End of the Last of the Giants

A man while out hunting left his wife at a temporary camping place. On his return he saw traces which led him to conclude that the giant Brit-ngeal had carried her off. He tracked the giant, and found the partially eaten body of his wife. Close by was a deep narrow-mouthed cave, out of which the giant got water, and beside it lay the long drinking reed. The man got up into a tree that overhung the cave, having first crushed the reed to make it useless for its purpose. Presently the giant came to get a drink. He lowered the end of the reed into the cave, and tried to suck up the water, but he drew up nothing but air. He bit a piece off the end, but with the same result. He bit a piece more off, but again failed to obtain water. He repeated the same experiment; but to reach the water he now had to bend his head and shoulders right down into the hole. In doing so he exposed his only weak part to the watcher in the tree, who jumped down, struck his spear into the giant and shoved him head first into the cave. And in this manner the last of the giants met his death. 

from The Booandik Tribe - a Sketch of Their Habits, Customs, Legends and Language by Christina 
Smith 1880 

The Brit-ngeal ? 

Skeleton of a Thylacoleo carnifex in the Victoria Fossil Cave, Naracoorte Caves National Park

Another Petrified Native

POLICE COMMISSIONER'S COURT.

Monday May 26.

CHARLEY (a native, from Rivoli Bay, whose real name is unknown) was accused of stealing a quantity of sheep from the South Australian Company's station at that place. The prisoner had a wild and scared appearance. The adventures of the last few days must have been strange to him indeed. The fire-arms of the white men —the chain with which he was bound—the sea voyage— the buildings at the court and city—and now the justice-room, on every object of which he gazed with looks of wonder, the hand cuffs, too, annoyed him exceedingly, and he incessantly endeavoured to remove them. He several times spoke, and seemed most desirous of an answer, but his language was wholly unintelligible to Mr Moorhouse and the black policeman Jimmy, who addressed him in various dialects. The only word he seemed to comprehend was the English one of sheep. When brought to the bar he was alarmed, and evidently thought summary punishment was to be inflicted on him. 

Mr William Lillycrap, the Company's superintendent, deposed that on the 16th instant he had been passing two nights at the German Creek station at Rivoli Bay, and went to the Bluff Ranges to seek for sheep, 165 of which had been taken by the blacks in the course of the ten days previous. Returning at about four in the afternoon, he saw the sheep in the yard, and several blacks, who had made a fire and had possession of them, the two shepherds, who were without arms, having abandoned the hut. Witness, who was accompanied by Mr Frank Frew and Captain Underwood, all well armed, rushed towards them, and the prisoner (who had been the worst in the fray, and who was struggling as they came up with the shepherd) was secured, but the rest of the party had escaped. 

Remanded till Saturday.

South Australian Wednesday 28th May 1845  

In the months before Mr Brown's murder

RIVOLI BAY. - DISCOVERY OF HARBOR. ~ ATTACK BY THE BLACKS.

BY the Governor Gawler, Captain Underwood, information of a highly interesting nature has been received in reference to Rivoli Bay, which has now, for the first time, been thoroughly examined.

Rivoli Harbour, as it may now be called, in the form very nearly of the spread horns of a bullock, or an extended half moon, seven miles from tip to tip of the horns. Directly in front at the distance of a few miles from the shore are a number of sand banks and & small island, and near the tip of the south-east horn, are a few reefs, which so completely protect the harbor, -that during one of the heaviest gales Captain Underwood has seen, and which continued 50 hours, he sailed about at leisure, and with comfort in a small dingy. Inside of these banks, reefs and islands, Captain Underwood sounded and found 4, 5, and 6 fathoms, shoaling (10 feet near the beach; but all round and behind the banks and island there is deep water for the largest ships in completely sheltered situations. The deepest water, and altogether the best ground for shipping, is near the south-east horn of the harbor, which was not before examined. 

The Governor Gawler's cargo consisted of stores for the South Australian Company's party and stock, which had lately gone to runs near Lake Bonney. Captain Underwood when he arrived was forced to take a journey into the interior in search of the party, when he met with some adventures. He had likewise the opportunity of meeting on the beach with some gentlemen from Portland Bay, who brought the important intelligence that a number of inhabitants of that place intended to leave it for Rivoli harbour if they could succeed in securing town allotments.

It appears that the blacks had been very troublesome. They had stolen and destroyed about 500 sheep belonging to Mr Leake, and 150 belonging to the Company. One of the natives had been captured and was brought to Port Adelaide by the Gawler.

Having been favored with Captain Underwood's journal, we select from it some interesting particulars regarding these events....

"At the Company's station is a cavern about ninety feet deep, seventy broad, and one hundred long, with an entrance above about fifteen feet by ten, having, besides, an opening like a chimney, about four feet wide. In the evening, curiosity prompted me to go down it by a line fastened to a winch above, for the purpose of drawing water from it. It is like an immense dungeon, with an island in the centre, about thirty-five feet by 30, of a conical form, and surrounded by excellent fresh water, apparently [ very deep, as the sides of the island are very steep. The sides of the cavern look almost like a work of art ; one is about perpendicular, and looks like a blank wall. It then assumes rather the form of a D than square. The sensation in going up or down it was not very happy, as the line was small, and caused me, by the unlaying of the rope, to whirl round like a goose on a spit. It was very cold at its bottom. It has an endless supply of water. The island in its centre is about fifteen feet above water, and appears to have been formed by the falling in of the centre. About a mile from that cavern are two others one about forty feet, dry at the bottom, and about seventy feet across, the opening at top about twenty feet; it is strewed with bones of various animals, and has two beautiful fern trees growing in it : the other cavern is about one hundred yards across the top, and about twenty deep, with very steep sides, covered at bottom with scrub and grass.

Tuesday morning, May 13.-Started from from the Company's head station, in company with Messrs Lillecrappe, Frew, and McLaren. My old horse being the only one in the service, as all the Company's horses had been lost for two or three weeks, I was the only one who was mounted, which made the journey rather fatiguing to the party on foot. We had with us, besides, a native, who had accompanied the overland party from the Coorong. On our journey westward we touched at the Company's stations, to see that all was right. The day was very wet, which made travelling very unpleasant. We started several small herds of kangaroo. The country in that line is generally flat and grassy, but very woody. Had a view of the flocks. Saw the men busy erecting huts, &c.

We started two fine emus; they were very shy. In the evening, about sunset, we arrived at the western most station, distant about five miles from Lake Bonney, where we heard from the shepherds that one hundred and sixty five sheep had been lost the night before: it was uncertain, however, in what way they had disappeared from the flock. This news caused the superintendent to stop a day, to examine into that circumstance, and, if possible, recover them, or find out where they were. Consequently, on Wednesday morning, a party set out to examine all round the stations and runs, to trace them out. In the evening they returned, and one of the shepherds had found a track of about one hundred sheep, going off in a northerly direction from the station, and the tracks were quite fresh; so it was concluded that the blacks had taken them. I remained this day at the hut, and amused myself by shooting. Shot and skinned a laughing jackass and a scarlet parrot. 

Thursday, we mustered all our forces and arms to pursue and recover the sheep, if possible. We had, however, but one charge of powder for each gun, as the stock was exhausted. We made seven in number, including black Jemmy; myself the only cavalry man among them. We started off early, rank and file, in good order and good spirits. We came on the track after about an hour's march, and, following it about an hour longer, we perceived fresh prints of horses feet in the same direction, and we soon smelt the fumes of burning flesh; as there was but little wind the smoke lay among the trees. Immediately after we came to a fire, and found it to be a white man's fire. Following the direction of the tracks, and finding the strong smell of burning increase, we concluded we were near the scene of slaughter and feasting. Ten minutes after we saw the smoke of several fires through the trees. 1 then dashed forward on my old horse to reconnoitre, and coming up to the first fire saw it covered with parts of sheep, roasting most merrily. Going forward I soon saw a number of persons standing among the distant trees, and at first thought them natives. They were drawn up to receive us, thinking us to be natives coming to the attack. We were mutually and happily undeceived, when we recognised Messrs Leake and Mcintyre, and five others, under arms, and on the same errand as ourselves. They had five horses, and had met the blacks at their camp about half an hour before we came up. They told us they were very busy cooking sheep for breakfast, and quite secure and happy when they surprised them. There were about two hundred of them. They drew up in half-moon form and gave battle, but on receiving two rounds from the guns of their assilants they dispersed, leaving their camp, spears, and cooking sheep, with some axes, tomahawks, waddies,&c, &c. The camp was in a thickly wooded spot, close to a reedy swamp and thick belt of tea-tree, which afforded them instant shelter from their pursuers. There were about twenty fires burning, covered with parts of sheepskins, &c. The ground was thickly strewed with offal all through the camp. Parts of sheep were hanging on the trees, making altogether, including the motley group of whites, a scene for a Hogarth or Cruikshank. I sketched something like it, but cannot do it justice. After staying awhile to make observations and concoct our next plan, we joined forces, making a respectable show of six horsemen and nine footmen. Finding further pursuit fruitless, and no hopes of recovering the sheep, we determined on going altogether to Mr Leake's station, about five miles distant, at the foot of the Bluff Range, at which I halted on my journey to Mount Gambier. There we got refreshments - talked about the rascally blacks -their daring and successful robberies - the necessity of a local police, or taking rash measures into private hands - and otherwise amusing ourselves. 

We again started with our little party of seven back to the Company's station, being quite satisfied that the missing sheep had been taken away by the natives. Having reached near the station, a party of natives were seen through the trees about the hut, and the sheep were in the yard. Fearing that mischief had been done I again galloped forward to surprise the natives, who on seeing the horse scampered off in all directions. There were about a dozen of them. One of the shepherds hearing us coming up, and sure of support, seized on one of the natives and made him a prisoner, when the party on foot coming np instantly secured him; he was foremost among them in robbing the hut, and taking possession of the station. They had demanded the sheep, and made a fire a short distance from the entrance of the sheep yard ; on examination we found they had taken from the hut a damper and a shirt, a leg and side of mutton I picked up in the reeds where they crossed, running off. The prisoner showed great uneasiness and terror at his being in our hands : a watch was kept over him during night. Saturday morning we finally started for the bay, and set out about eight o'clôck, taking the prisoner with us made fast to the horse."

& from the same edition of the South Australian Tuesday 27th May 1845 

POLICE COMMISSIONER'S COURT. MONDAY MAY 26, 1845

Charley, a native, was charged with stealing sheep, the property of the South Australian Company, at Rivoli Bay. Mr Lillycrappe, Superintendent of the sheep in that district, was examined and gave the particulars of the attack. The black was remanded. 

"Imperious Caesar, dead and turn'd to clay, May stop a hole to keep the wind away."

THE PETRIFIED ABORIGINE.

THE following article appeared in the South Australian Register of December 3rd, shortly after the trial in the Supreme Court in Adelaide, in which Mr. Craig sued Dr. Wehl for the recovery of "the petrified aborigine" now on view in Sydney. The writer (very correctly, as it has since transpired) apprehended that the rest of the poor aborigine might be again disturbed, and that he might be carried round the world for exhibition.  

" The cause of Craig v. Wehl, recently tried in the Supreme Court, shows how irresistible is the law of supply and demand. Nothing can escape the public rage for curiosities. A new phenomenon is a new pleasure. It must be obtained at any price, and every corner of the earth must be ransacked in search of it. Of course, when there is work like this to be done adventurous spirits will be ever found ready to do it. Barnum, perhaps, is the type of the class, and is the one who has most nearly elevated his calling to a science. But a better known grade of the profession is represented by Mr. Grinnidge, the showman, who, in the drama of the "GreenBushes," is seen venturing with his " caravan " into the forests of America, where he secures the services of a native "injine" to dance the war dance to the British public at the low charge of one penny a head. Thanks to the genius of Adelphi actors, this character is now so firmly established as the representative of the stage showman that there is no danger of its being displaced, otherwise Grinnidge would certainly now have to make room for Craig, whose recent adventures in search of a preserved aborigine beat those of his predecessor hollow. But the facts of the case shall speak for themselves. We find them in the reported proceedings of the Supreme Court, where, as the Crown Solicitor has ably shown, they form the raw material of at least an excellent farce.

" Our readers must in the first place know that the South-Eastern District had until recently rejoiced in the undisturbed possession of "a natural curiosity." What the cedars are to Lebanon, and the rocks of Stonehenge to Salisbury Plains, the "petrified abori- gine" was to Mount Gambier. For a showman to have attempted the removal of either cedars or rocks would, we need hardly say, have been an outrage of the deepest dye; but not less so was it in the eyes of many persons to carry off from its resting place, near Mount Gambier, the preserved remains of the dead aborigine. The showman, however, had set his heart upon those remains. The scientific world had long wished to see a petrified man, and here, at least, was some distant approach to one -a dying black-fellow had crawled into the caves of Penola, had there after death become encrusted with lime, and was now a naturally preserved mummy, coated over with stone. To secure this phenomenon was worthy the enterprise of a Belzoni and a Grinnidge united. Science and curiosity both demanded that the effort should be made, and it was made. But to the glory of Mount Gambier it was defeated. It appears that a Crown Lands ranger was the first to get an inkling of the proposed desecration. It came to his ears that a mysterious stranger, with some- thing like a harp in a dark bag slung over his back, had been seen steathily moving through the district. Who could he be, and what could be his errand? Men noticed that he travelled on foot ; that he passed along by-places ; and that he never quitted his hideous-looking burden day or night. When he rested to eat and drink he sat upon it, and when he slept he hid it beneath his bed. Women and children soon began to look upon this mysterious stranger with terror. Perhaps a horrible murder had been committed - perhaps another Eugene Aram, doomed to carry hither and thither the body of his victim, was walking the earth. But the Crown Lands ranger soon put an end to all these horrid sus- picions, and roused the attention of the residents to a new danger. The black bag contained nothing less than the "petrified aborigine," and the mysterious stranger was no other person than a showman seeking, to remove that valued curiosity out of the district forever.

" This discovery led to a seizure of the stolen treasure, and the seizure led to the trial which took place last week in the Supreme Court. The showman brought an action, with damages laid at £500, against the magistrate who ordered him to be dispossessed of the property, and the jury, after hearing the case, had no alternative but to lind a verdict for the plaintiff, since, if he was not the rightful owner of the mummy, it was impossible to say who was. The damages given, however, amounted to only one farthing, which left the unlucky showman, not merely to pay his own law costs, but also to bear the whole of the expenses incurred by his excursion to Mount Gambier. In the meantime the interesting cause of the dispute has been replaced, we believe, in its former resting place. But now its value is known, how is it to be kept there ? 

The Commissioner of Crown Lands stated in Parliament a few days ago that, should he remain in office, he would   take care that the last rest of the poor aborigine should be no further disturbed. We hope he will keep his promise; but if the curious are determined to possess themselves of the mummy, we are afraid it will be difficult to prevent them. Nothing but locks and bolts will probably be sufficient to keep those encrusted bones in the caves of Penola. The unfortunate aborigine by selecting that spot to die in perhaps doomed himself to visit after death every part of the civilised world. The poet has said

"Imperious Caesar, dead and turn'd to clay, May stop a hole to keep the wind away."

But more curious still would be the fate of the Australian aborigine, valued after death at £500 - fought for in the Courts of Law-taken jealous care of by a Commissioner of Crown Lands -and, after all, perhaps carried round the world for public exhibition. " Imperious Caesar" might have envied all this postmortem distinction; but he lived too early. The spirit of Barnum was not abroad in those days, and especially not in the strengtn and vigour which, judging from the particulars of the cause Craig v. Wehl, it seems to possess amongst ourselves."


Sydney Morning Herald 21st February 1862