STURT TREE
SPRINGCART GULLY
STURT CANNON
BEDSTEAD GRAVE
EPITAPH TO A GRAND OLD TREE, WHICH ENDURED THE RAVAGES OF MURRAY FLOODS FOR A THOUSAND YEARS AND SURVIVED TO INSPIRE THE NOSTALGIC AND NATIONALISTIC EMOTIONS OF A GENERATION OF SOUTH AUSTRALIANS, WHO CAME TO KNOW IT AFFECTIONATELY AS; -
"STURT TREE".
Following a newspaper article in The Advertiser, Adelaide, Saturday October 12, 1996; - Relating to the 'thoughtless' burning of the historic "Sturt Tree" near Chowilla Station north of Renmark. - Two Letters to The Editor appeared on Monday October 14:
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"The Sturt Tree" was located almost directly at the old 379ml mark and stood on the north bank 4.8Km downstream from Chowilla Station woolshed on what is known as Little Hunchee Island, which is formed by an anabranch of the main stream. - In addition to its status as an "Aboriginal Bark Canoe Tree", renown for its uncommonly large "scar", its trunk also bore alpha-numeric symbols, which local folklore attributed to the Charles Sturt exploratory voyage of 1829/30.
Though the connection with Captain Charles Sturt makes for great folklore, unfortunately, it does not stand-up well under scrutiny. Viz;
CHARLES STURT'S 1929/30 EXPLORATION OF THE MURRAY; - AS STURT & OTHERS RECORD IT.
Extracts from "Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia" - 1834;
(Second Volume) - published by Charles Napier Sturt, (the man himself): -
26th.January 1830; The country today is extremely low, full of lagoons and
thickly inhabited by natives (Pg125); - 11am on right bank of the Murray encountered
junction of a small river coming from the North, named it the Rufus. Not many miles
below the Rufus, passed under a lofty cliff on the same side as it (Pg127/8)
[the Rainbow Cliffs at old Devils Elbow; the river
nowadays bypasses them. To see them as Sturt did you need a canoe and hiking boots]
. - In evening began rain, wind and storms, until about 7am on 27th.
27th.January 1830; Passed two very considerable junctions, one coming from the
southeast, the other from the north. The former falls into the Murray almost directly
opposite some elevation. Named it the Lindesay; - 140º29'E 33º58'S (Pg130) -
[Sturt's sextant 'fixes' were a little inaccurate,
like 45Km inaccurate, and his writing was a little
tardy. However, his hand-drawn chart of this junction bears an
unmistakeable similarity to modern-day
charts of the Lindsay Junction.
... PARTY ARE NOW HEADING INTO IN THE "STURT TREE" PRECINCT; ...
28th.January 1830; Weather been tempestuous and rainy for 3 to 4 days. This
morning it cleared a little, but we had not proceeded far when it again commenced to
rain and blow heavily; river tended to the South. Country to the West is low and bushy,
and the left bank extremely lofty, occasionally rising to 100 feet perpendicular from
the water [location; the Border Cliffs to Heading Cliff
section]; Stopped and pitched tents, evening proved extremely dark. Around
midnight it blew and rained fiercely. Towards morning wind moderated and rain ceased
(Pg134). - [This is the night on which "The Tree" was
supposedly carved].
29th.January 1830; The river inclined very much southwards for some miles below
our last camp [description suggests a campsite located near
Woolenook Bend rather than on Little Hunchee Island]. Met largest native
tribe and friendliest. At length the river struck against some elevations that turned
it more Westward. Before we terminated our day's pull it again changed direction to
eastward of south.
The right bank became lofty and the left proportionally depressed (Pg135/6)
[location; Murtho to Loxton section]. The
appearance of the country through which was passed, this day, was far from being such
as to encourage us with hopes of any change for the better, the river was enclosed on
either side, it almost appeared, as if the plain had been rent asunder to allow of a
passage for its waters (Pg137).
31st.January 1830; To my mortification, the river held so much to the Northward,
that we undid almost all our Southing; What, with its regular turns and extensive
sweeps, the Murray covers treble the ground, at a moderate computation, that it would
occupy in a direct course (Pg138) [location; Loxton to
Kingston section].
The party continued on to Lake Alexandria and Encounter Bay where they stayed only briefly. ... On the return trip they were blessed with fortuitous winds for several days and 'sailed' all the way up river to about the "Walker Flat"/"Big Bend" region. Thereafter, it was 'hard rowing' against the current.
25th.February 1830; Passed the last of the cliffs composed of fossil beds
and entered the low country, already described as being immediately above it [passed Kingston and 'entered' the Moorook to Loxton section].
... PARTY ONCE AGAIN WITHIN THE "STURT TREE"
PRECINCT - AND AGAIN - NO MENTION OF ANY TREE MARKING; ...
30th.February 1830 (sic); (Sturt forgot February only has 28 days). Fatigue
affecting the party. Rowed for 11 successive hours. Men fall asleep at their oars.
Repassed the Lindesay (Pg195) [They are now well upriver,
passed the 'state border' region].
1st.March 1830; Repassed the Rufus.
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ADDITIONAL RESEARCH;
In Charles Sturt's own published account of his 1829/30 expedition; viz, "Two expeditions into the interior of Southern Australia" - Volume 2. - There is but one reference to "tree marking". It refers to a tree in the vicinity of the Murrumbidgee base camp, which Sturt and McLeay marked, purely as an indication to Clayton, the carpenter, that this was the tree they'd chosen to be "felled" for the purpose of boat building.
The original "logbook" or "diary" in which Sturt kept a written
account of each day's events during his 1829/30 expedition is kept in Rhodes
House Library, Oxford; - although the Bodleian Library, Oxford, is named in some
instances. Whether these two named repositories refer to one-and-the-same Institution,
is not known.
The State Library of South Australia has acquired microfiche copies of the Oxford
documents (reference PR2). Unfortunately Sturt's handwriting was abominable and the
photographic technique used in the copying has left a lot to be desired. The diary
does, however, include a series of interesting hand-drawn charts, by Sturt, of the
Murray's many twists and turns. Interestingly, once you establish the sometimes
absent north/south orientation of these drawings, and discount Sturt's longitude fixes,
you can clearly see the similarity, in the meander pattern as Sturt depicted it,
compared to the modern-day Murray. - The text, however, is indecipherable and was of
little use in this instance.
-----------------------
NB - Other Europeans who, we known, transited the "Sturt Tree" region subsequent to Sturt's 1829/30 expedition, are: -
- i.. Wednesday, August 31; Passenger Mason, the Sub-Protector of Aborigines, who had hitherto travelled the river in his official capacity. Indicated to Allen, several trees on which he had previously carved numbers signifying the number of "days out" from Wellington. Mason was competent in small boats (Cutters) as well as on horseback, and it's not clear what sort of transport he'd used on his previous journeys. - Allen's account mentions "Mason's" trees as far upriver as Banrock Creek. "Sturt Tree" is a lot further upriver than that, but Mason's jurisdiction did extended to the SA border, which in those days was variously thought to be either the Lindsay or Rufus junction [410-437ml/m].
- ii.. Friday, September 2; at four o'clock p.m., "the Lady Augusta was hauled up by the side of the river, at a thickly-timbered spot, for the purpose of replenishing their stock of wood, which was nearly exhausted." - Systematic analysis of Allen's account, by persons with knowledge of the river, suggest this spot was somewhere between the 375ml and 380ml marks; i.e. in the region of "The Tree".
Coincidentally, Allen describes how, four days earlier, on August 29th, near North-West Bend Station; - "As a means of amusement, we lit bonfires ashore in every direction around the ship, which we were able to do in rather a large way, from the abundance of fuel that was left over as waste by the wood cutters. The magnificent appearance of five or six bonfires, lit within twenty yards of each other - the flames towering up to fifty or sixty feet in height, and at times consuming whole trees under which the fuel had been places - may be imagined, as also the agreeable excitement it afforded to those engaged in the amusement." - According to Allen, this "amusement", was re-enacted on many more evenings during this voyage. (Ed; - I'm betting the aboriginals weren't especially amused.)
Thereafter, steamboats plied the river in ever increasing numbers.
However, using logic and the historic data herein contained. One can arrive at a number of basic deductions regarding the carved symbols on the tree known affectionately as "Sturt Tree": -
-----------------------
About the symbols themselves; -There is a good photo
of the controversial symbols in the booklet "RIVER BOAT TRAIL" by the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources, SA; (see below). -Basically they comprised
four evenly spaced symbols which, at first glance, could be taken to read M E 2 0.
But the bark only had been carved and the wood underneath bore only vague, indistinct
gouge marks. A closer inspection, however, revealed that they were prefixed with, what
appeared to be, a misshapen and less-obvious letter S. - -The M was widely splayed and
fragmented, but is unlikely to be anything other. - -The 'supposed' E could equally
well have been an A -B -F -H or 8. - -The 2 was the most distinct of all and it's hard
to imagine it as anything other. - -The 0, though probably a zero, had its centre
missing and could equally well have been the letter "Oh", or even a 9 or 6 with
centres missing.
Author Phillip Smith, however, the perpetrator of the "Sturt" connection, chose
the ME20 (Murray Expedition 20) interpretation to validate his theory, which
was; - "From Sturt's published account we known the whaleboat journey started from
the Murrumbidgee base-camp on the 7th January 1830. We also known they were in the
"Chowilla" region on 28th January. Therefore the Sturt party marked this tree,
indicating their 20th night out from base-camp;" ... While Mr Smith's credentials
as an author are, no doubt, impeccable. We, regrettably, cannot say the same about his
mathematics - e.g. in this instance, the whaleboat crew would've camped-out on the
night of the 7th, so the 7th ought to be counted as 'camp 1#', it follows that 'camp
20#' would've been on the evening of 26 January. Notwithstanding, that in the
traditional form of mathematics a 'starting point' is commonly assigned the value
'zero', in this instance that does not apply.
Anyway! Even if we ignore the fact that it was, arguably, the 22nd night out, Mr Smith's theory would be more creditable if the marks looked like they were 170-years old. But they don't! Likewise, if there was any other similarly marked tree along this, or any other routes, of the several expeditions led by Charles Sturt. But there are none! The tree at "Chowilla", allegedly marked to designate a one-night stopover, stood alone. - - But never-mind! If one is prepared to permit quixotic notions to colour one's interpretation of chronicled history. That shouldn't be a problem!
Lets say it was whittled on a night in January 1830. By Clayton the carpenter perhaps, as he sheltered under a tree during a thunderstorm, which precluded any sleep. That would explain the stand-alone nature of this tree, would it not? - And Yes! we know you shouldn't stand under a tree during a thunderstorm. But Clayton was, after-all, described by Sturt as "a giant of a man"; -And! Are such men not popularly satirised as having the cranial alacrity of a funeral march? Which would likewise explain the two-day discrepancy in the "days out", would it not? Clayton must've run-out of fingers and toes by-then. - Of course! It might be convenient to forget that Clayton, 'the carpenter', was a man of some genius, capable of turning a 'gum-tree' into a half-scale version of a whaleboat! That part doesn't fit the dull-witted theory very well, does it? .. Never mind! - Perhaps it was Hopkinson, the soldier, who whittled the tree, with his bayonet no-less, while on guard duty perhaps? We're not sure what Hopkinson's first name was but it might have been Malcolm, which would suite the 'MH' interpretation very nicely; -thank you very much!
However, one would have to anticipate a certain degree of scepticism when postulating these interpretations among one's peers. Me thinks!
It's also interesting to compare the bark regrowth on the "Sturt Tree" at
Chowilla, hypothetically carved in 1830. With other trees, which we know,
were blazed during Sturt's 1844/46 "Central Australia" expedition; viz, a tree at
Depot Glen to mark the grave of James Poole and a tree at Fort Grey,
established 95-mls N'W of Depot Glen in the arid NSW 'Corner Country', during the
winter of 1845. -- On both of these trees, sizeable sections of bark were first
removed and the symbols carved deep into the heartwood. Mind you! At Fort Grey
the party had plenty of time to carve trees, as they waited for Sturt to complete his
forays into the desert country beyond. While they waited they also found time to
build stockyards and, after witnessing the demise of Mr Poole, strove long-&-hard to
grow a vegetable patch in an effort to avert the dreaded "scurvy":
--- Another "old" blazed tree is the famous "Dig Tree" at Cooper Creek,
blazed in 1861 by the Bourke & Wills party, now almost totally overgrown with new
bark. - - The bark regrowth on all of these, more recently blazed trees, adds up to
several centimetres, whereas the "Sturt Tree", at Chowilla, appears to have regrowth
amounting to only millimetres. Though no finite conclusion can be drawn from this
comparison due to the different species of eucalyptus involved and the fact that the
Chowilla tree had died in the interim.
The above does beg the
question however! ... ... "Do the marks on the Sturt Tree really pre-date those on the
Depot Glen tree, the Fort Grey tree and the Dig Tree?"
The scientific answer to this question is, of course! "Not bloody likely!" ... BUT,
it's something we will NOW never know for certain.
|
'John
Poole' tree carved in 1845 near 'Depot Glen', Corner Country N.S.W.. |
The
(lower) blaze carved in 1845 on the tree at 'Fort Grey', Corner Country
N.S.W.. |
Burke
& Wills 'Dig Tree' carved in 1861, Cooper Creek N.S.W... |
Alpha-numeric
symbols cut into the bark of the 'Sturt Tree' at Chowilla on The Murray,
SA/Vic border precinct S.A.. |
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Naturally, in the week after the burning, a number of articles and letters appeared in the regional newspaper "The Murray Pioneer". To a degree, there was a certain amount of repetition involved, however, the item by Dan Lennard on Friday 11 October 1996, and reproduced below, pretty much summed-up the collective views expressed.
TOURISTS APOLOGISE FOR TREE DESTRUCTION - The tourists responsible for the
accidental burning of the famous 'Sturt Tree' near Renmark last weekend have issued a
public apology. Former Riverlander, Mr Peter Rogers, who was one of the seven Adelaide
holidaymakers involved in the incident, said on Wednesday, they were all "most
distressed" by the incident. Mr Rogers said this week they accepted responsibility for
the loss and had spent almost two days trying to put out the fire. - "It has been very
upsetting and we sincerely apologise to the Riverland," he said. - Meanwhile river
users have been urged to use more caution when setting up campfires following the
incident. The large dead red-gum tree, located up-river of Renmark on the edge of
Chowilla Station, was an invaluable piece of the region's river history.
The tree caught alight when a campfire established by the houseboat users got out of
control last Saturday night. Despite their frantic efforts to extinguish the fire, the
tree was totally destroyed.
"It's a great tragedy," said the Murray Darling Association's publicity officer, Mr
Max Schmidt, of Paringa, "It's terrible, particularly to lose it the way we did."
He said the fire was caused by "utter carelessness". Mr Schmidt said bet$ter education
about the dangers of campfires was required for river users.
Renmark historian Mr Brian Glenie said this week that the 'Sturt Tree' had
great historical* significance as it was believed explorer Captain
Charles Sturt carved initials on the tree to mark one of the campsites of his River
Murray expedition in 1830. Some years ago, Adelaide author Mr Phillip Smith provided
evidence from Sturt's journals that the markings had been made by Sturt's party, and
was the campsite on the expedition's 20th night out of base camp. However, further
examination of the tree by two curators from the SA Museum in 1971, threw doubts on
the claim **. Curator of anthropology Mr Robert Edwards said at the time, the markings
were obviously not made by Sturt or any explore; - He suggested the mark was more
recent - probably made in the 1940s or 1950s and could be a fisherman's reach number,
or could mark a pastoral lease or woodcutter's camp. ... Despite debunking the
popular-held belief, the tree continued to be known as 'Sturt Tree', and remained a
valuable landmark and reference point for river users.
* - After a telephone conversation with Mr Brian Glenie, it became clear that the words "great historical" were the result of some over zealous reporting. This writer, therefore, deemed it appropriate to strike these two adjectives from the newspaper transcript in an effort to more accurately represent Mr Glenie's true sentiments.
** - Murray Pioneer - January 21, 1971; - "Canoe Trees Arouse Interest". - The Adelaide Museum Curators were quite emphatic about their conclusions regarding "the tree", viz; "the markings were obviously not made by Sturt or any explorer."
The tree that some believed was 1,000 years old and which was, without doubt, many hundreds of years old. Was amongst the largest of the myriad of "canoe trees" on the Murray/Darling system. - Hundreds of years before any initials appeared on it, the Aborigines had carved a huge "bark canoe" from its trunk, leaving a huge and very recognisable scar. - For that reason alone, as Mr Schmidt said, "It's a great loss to the area. It was a well-known landmark."
One paragraph from P. Rogers letter also warrants a mention: - "I would like to correct Adelaide media reports that suggest the campfire was lit then abandoned. The fire was built on an area that had clearly carried many previous campfires, but was left unattended for a period, an irresponsible act with tragic consequences."
Below is a photograph of the controversial "Sturt Tree" inscription, taken prior to the tree's burning. It shows the alpha numeric symbols carve into the bark. Someone has 'chalked' or 'painted' Mr Phillip Smith's interpretation of M E 20.
Feel free to judge for yourselves: -
Do these symbols look like they are170-years old -?
Were they really carved in 1830 -? ... Or was it 1930 perhaps -?
Did this tree really warrant the title "Sturt Tree" -?
Or would the homonym "Stir-Tree" perhaps be a more fitting epitaph -?
Unfortunately this tragic consequence was reminiscent of a somewhat similar incident that befell the "Bunyip Tree", not far from here; at-least, according to Ian Mudie that is: -[Ian Mudie "Riverboats" - 1961; Pg.207 - "the Bunyip Tree - for sixty years a landmark in Bunyip Reach - had been cut down for a piece of Saturday afternoon amusement, by men who were working on the building of Lock Six, seven miles downstream."]
FOLKLORE and FACT REGARDING A ONCE MIGHTY TREE;
by Peter J REILLY 1997; pereilly@esc.net.au
THE "SPRINGCART GULLY" FALLACY:
THE POPULAR MYTH MOST COMMONLY ASSOCIATED WITH THIS HISTORIC PLACE NAME, WAS SPAWNED BY ONE, OF THE SEVERAL, FACTLESS ASIDES, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS 'JOURNALISTIC LICENSE', WHICH JAMES ALLEN Jnr. INCLUDED IN HIS SPLENDID ACCOUNT OF THE P. S. LADY AUGUSTA's EXPLORATORY VOYAGE UP "THE MURRAY" IN 1853.
The offending entry, of Monday, October 10; (1853), when the P S Lady Augusta was heading back downriver, is reproduced hereunder.
Monday, October 10. - After procuring a supply of wood this morning from the top of the cliffs, where dead pine-trees were obtainable, and were easily precipitated down the bank to the edge of the water, we started on our way at eight o'clock. Arrived at Chapman's Station at half-past twelve o'clock, where we were detained for an hour.springcart - a lightweight cart designed to be drawn by a single horse.
There was NO springcart in the whaleboat!
Mr. Allen, it seems, assumed that everything and anything to do with Charles Sturt, occurred during "his exploratory voyage down the Murray", and Mr. Allen is demonstrably wrong on all counts. - i.e. about the "Springcart Gully" incident, and about the details relating to "Sturt's Cannon".
There was NO springcart in the whaleboat!
Capt Sturt was still in the Army in 1829/30 and was
the appointed Military Secretary to Governor Darling. His close association with the
Governor led to him being put in Charge of the exploratory expedition that discovered
the Murray River. - It was an official Governor sanctioned expedition and, as such,
highly detailed inventories of personnel, equipment and supplies, issued to the party,
remain to this day in NSW archives. - And, there was NO springcart in the
whaleboat!
By 1833/34 Sturt was back in England, where he married Charlotte
Greene and quit the Army: - -In 1835 Charles Sturt, the civilian, returned to NSW with
his wife and settled near Mittagong, where he raised cattle. - - In 1838, Sturt
emulated Hawden and Bonney's Overland epic, and himself Overlanded cattle to Adelaide.
So! Sturt was back in the "Riverland" region during 1838, but those early Overland
treks were no place for a "springcart". - -Sturt must've liked what he saw in Adelaide
for, in 1839, he sold off his Mittagong property and moved his family to Adelaide. - -
During the early 1840s, the "Sydney Road" became well established and grazing leases
sprang up all along The Murray. The Chambers family were prominent among the early
leaseholders and Sturt was very well acquainted with them: - -We also know that Sturt
transited the region in 1844, on his way to Central Australia, and returned from there
in 1846. So! Sturt was, again, in the "Riverland" region between 1838 and 1853, which
was when he departed S.A. for England, for the final time. - -PERHAPS he travelled via
a springcart on one or more of those latter occasions, but NOT before that time, and
certainly NOT while on "his exploratory voyage down the Murray", as James Allen Jnr.,
would have us believe.
Nonetheless, the fact that James Allen even mentions the name Springcart Gully, at-all, indicates this placename was in popular use in 1853. - - However, the fact that Springcart Gully is not a "gully". But is instead a cliff-top location where the old 'Sydney Road' veered rather close to rather precipitous cliff face. Causes this researcher to find more credence in Mr. John Theodore Schell's account re this placename's origin. - Viz;
The Murray Pioneer, December 19, 1924;-Mr. J. Theodore Schell was interviewed at the age of seventy-six, after a lifetime spent pioneering the grazing industry in the Murray and the Mallee districts; - Recounting a trip he'd made with his parents (circa 1856), the interviewer paraphrases Mr. Schell thus; "Travelling down the river, Spring Cart Gully is remembered, and Mr. Schell thinks it was named thus because a horse attached to a springcart bolted over the cliffs and fell into the river. Discussing these high cliffs, Mr. Schell remembered that it was high time a substantial fence was erected at this spot. Motor cars travelling at 30 miles an hour, he said, only need to make a very little mistake in direction to meet disaster."- Theodore Schell had, obviously, known of the name and the location of "Springcart Gully" since he was a lad of eight:
Now! Anyone who is familiar with the Australian propensity for overstatement would realise that such a horse-drawn tragedy need not necessarily have occurred. One or more near misses would be sufficient to incite some local 'wit' to invent such a colloquial placename. Thereafter, word-of-mouth, together with that other Australian propensity for 'leg pulling', would soon have the placename embedded into the district's vocabulary.
Notwithstanding, there may be some readers who are still reluctant
to let-go the site's legendary association with Sturt. - And! If one dwells in a world
of possibilities to the detriment of probabilities; -Then, PERHAPS, it
was Sturt's horse that bolted over the cliff, in the 1840s. That would simply be a
matter of embellishing the facts, to accommodatethe legend. But history is rife
with such embellishments. - So, what the heck! - Just remember!
There was NO springcart in the whaleboat!
© Peter J REILLY 1997; - pereilly@esc.net.au
THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE " STURT CANNON ":
THE WIDELY HELD BELIEF THAT, WHILE ON HIS '1830 MURRAY DISCOVERY VOYAGE', CAPT CHARLES STURT LEFT OR ABANDONED A CANNON, A CUTLASS AND A CARBINE SOMEWHERE IN THE VICINITY OF THE MURRAY-DARLING JUNCTION, IS BUT ANOTHER PIECE OF FICTION THAT CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO THAT RASCAL OF 'JOURNALISTIC LICENSE', Mr. JAMES ALLEN Jnr. ~ ~ FOR IT WAS IN HIS 1830 PUBLICATION, "EXPERIMENTAL TRIP BY THE LADY AUGUSTA ON THE RIVER MURRAY", THAT JAMES ALLEN Jnr. WROTE -
Thursday, September 8;
(1853) - Off again this morning at
five o'clock. Reached Williams's Cattle Station at half-past ten o'clock, and eased
the vessel opposite to it for a quarter of an hour, while the captain and a few of the
passengers went ashore. There was a crowd of natives assembled, eagerly scanning us;
some of them of the most extraordinary growth, regular Brobdignagians. One man must
have been at least six feet three inches in height.
Mrs. Williams, the wife of the owner of this station, was gallantly
guarding a small piece of cannon, and using the most persevering efforts to discharge
it, as a salute in honor of our arrival. A native by her side, armed with a rusty
carbine, kept up a continual clicking with it, in his vain endeavours to get it to go
off, but both without success.
The carbine and the cannon (a small boat cannon) are kept by Mrs.
Williams as a valuable memento of Captain Sturt's exploratory voyage down the Murray,
he having brought them with him on that occasion, as also a cutlass, mounted in a brass
sheath, which are always shown as precious relics.
_______________________________________________
-Allen's text reviewed: James Allen's account of how this cannon came to be in the possession of Mrs Williams, was widely accepted by all who read his account of the Lady Augusta's first voyage on The Murray. - Upon analysis, however, it may be noted that Allen cites how the Lady Augusta did not tie-up for this fifteen-minute stopover at Williams Station but, instead, used paddle-power to stem the flow of the current "while the captain and a few of the passengers went ashore." The implication being that Allen was not among those who went ashore. His subsequent allegations about Sturt having brought them [a cannon, a cutlass & a carbine] with him on his exploratory voyage down The Murray. Is, in all probability, based on the hearsay of others reporting on what Mrs Williams said during what, for her, must surely have been a fairly hectic, fifteen-minute interlude with a group of erstwhile strangers. - And! Although it makes for a good read, it is just another, of a litany, of assertions that Allen makes throughout the Lady Augusta text, that simply do not stand-up to scrutiny. Nonetheless, the cannon exists and perhaps the name 'Sturt' was mentioned, in some context, on that September day in 1853.
-An especially obvious contradiction to Allen's version is the fact that,
Other than those in the Expedition whaleboat, in 1830, there were no Europeans, of any
description, in the Murray-Darling Junction territory: - Albeit Europeans had
already crossed The Great Dividing Range and, as early as 1814-15, they were
squatting on the inland rivers of central and northern NSW as well as trekking
southward to the shores of Port Phillip Bay, via the route pioneered by
Hume & Hovell in 1824.
In the Murray-Murrumbidgee//Murray-Darling junctions latitudes, a region that both
Charles Sturt & Thomas Mitchell described in lacklustre terms. European expansionism
moved at a much slower pace. So much slower in fact that, by 1830, European influence
in those latitudes extended no further west than Wagga Wagga; i.e. 425Km
(260-miles) further east than the Williams Station location. ~
Sturt's own account of his 1829/30 expedition variously records how, even on the
Murrumbidgee, his party were- "the first white-men in this country ...a source of
much curiosity to the natives ...who were few in number here, and kept their
distance". - - The expedition's return trip, up the Murray/Murrumbidgee, likewise
supports this notion as they rowed all the way up the Murrumbidgee, to approximately
20Km upstream of the latter-day township of Maude, before fatigue made it
impossiblefor them to continue as a group. The two fittest among them then trekked
back along the expedition's dray tracks, for 3-days, ere they encountered the relief
party, encamped on the Hamilton/Pondebadgery Plains, in the vicinity of latter-day
Narrandera. It took a further 3-days for help to get-back to Sturt's location.
Moreover there was, at that time, a propensity among journalists and orators alike to draw parallels between the exploration of The Murray and the exploration of the great North American rivers, notably The Missouri. So! Although this concept is purely speculative. It is possible that Allen's thinking, in this instance, may have been tainted with notions of the much-lauded Lewis & Clark Expedition, which, in 1803 through 1806, explored the Missouri River in North America. –A purpose built 'Mississippi keelboat' was the flagship of that expedition's three-vessel flotilla. And! For the purpose of the expedition, a 'one-pounder' swivel-mounted cannon was fitted on the keelboat's foredeck. However, at 55-ft long with a crew of 27 men and sporting 20-oars, the Lewis & Clark keelboat had more in common with a 'Viking longship', than with Charles Sturt's 27-ft, 5-oar, prefabricated whaleboat.
-The case for the cutlass is quite different; -for when only three days
into their whaleboat journey, Sturt recorded, "it was at last discovered that an
extensive robbery had been committed upon us during the night, and that, in addition
to the frying-pan, three cutlasses and five tomahawks… had been carried away. I was
extremely surprised at this instance of daring in the natives" -So! Courtesy of
some daring natives, there were three 1830-Expedition cutlass 'at-large'
on the Murrumbidgee plains when Europeans commenced their westward exodus across that
country; from around 1832 onwards:
-As for the 'rusty carbine.' -Traditionally, a 'carbine' was a weapon
designed for horseback use, it having a shorter barrel than a musket, and it was
consequently less accurate than a musket, which makes it an odd choice of weapon to
have been in the whaleboat. -But it was a weapon of choice among drovers; and this one
could have been left behind, lost, perhaps at a river crossing, abandoned or stolen by
natives; and it could have happened pretty much anywhere along the entire Overland
route. At the time Allen saw this 'worse for wear' weapon it, as likely as not,
belonged to the native who was 'clicking' it.
There was NO cannon in the whaleboat!
Ok! What do we know about Mrs Henry Williams: - In 1830, when Sturt
was discovering The Murray, the Mrs Henry Williams cited in Allen's
journal, was one of five Jenkins siblings living on their parents'
property at Sutton Forrest, in the shadow of the Blue Mountains, NSW.
- Mrs Henry Williams, nee Elizabeth Jenkins, was born in 1818, but it
seems they grew-up pretty quick in those days, for, on 11 June 1832, Elizabeth
Jenkins, of Sutton Forrest (age 14yrs), married Mr Henry Williams in the 'All
Saints Church' at Camden NSW.
- Of particular interest, however, are two of Elizabeth's brothers, -John (born 1816)
and Francis [Frank] (born 1820).- For these two were to became legends in their own
lifetime on account of their remarkable exploits at the very forefront of the
squatters exodus, which moved ever westward across the Murrumbidgee hinterland in the
wake of Capt Sturt's 1829/30 discoveries:
- As these two intrepid brothers literally led the settlers 'westward exodus’,
they came into frequent & oftentimes hostile communion with the region's native
population. It is entirely possible that one of the stolen cutlass may have
ended-up in the hands of John or Frank Jenkins, perhaps by-way of native barter, or
as the spoils of war. For although the era of the Wiradjuri Wars was largely a
thing of the past and contact with local natives had, for the most part, become
cordial. Sporadic confrontations between graziers and local natives, over some
perceived transgression or other, were to remain a fact-of-life for several more
years to-come. ... The Jenkins brothers' exploits may be reviewed on the www by
combining Jenkins with other keywords such as 'Sutton Forrest' 'Berrima'
'Toyool' 'Buckingbong' 'Yanko' 'Nangus' 'Canonba' 'Yerre Yerre' 'Gillenbah' 'Golgol'
'Gol Gol' 'Mildura' or 'Portland'.
The fact that the Jenkins 'clan' did possess a cannon
was quite widely known. - It is mentioned in a variety of journals, memoirs
and publications; -and it may explain, in part, why the Jenkins bros were able to
set-up and maintain cattle runs in regions where other come-lately Europeans
were abandoning their selections on account of Aboriginal harassment:- But
NOWHERE, other than in James Allen Jnr's account re the P. S. Lady Augusta, is there
to be found even the vaguest suggestion that the Jenkins's cannon was in
someway/somehow associated with Capt Charles Sturt "Discoverer of The Murray" -
viz;
… In the book "Narrandera
Shire" (p.38), by Prof. Bill Gammage, the author quotes a line from an old
"Narrandera Argus" newspaper, citing an elderly local resident reminiscing about the
good old days, wherein a reference is made about the Jenkins fighting the
Aborigines "with courage and a cannon" at Buckingbong. – As the
Jenkins set-up Buckingbong Station around 1839 then, logically speaking, a cannon
would've been at its most useful during the first five-or-so years of their tenure;
i.e. 1839-1844.
… The O'Shaughnessy
diaries: - In, what's reckoned to be, 1848 a young 13-yo Thos O'Shaughnessy
accompanied his father in overlanding 800-odd cattle from Cowra district NSW to the
Barossa district SA. Some time thereafter Thos began keeping a diary and
prefaced same with a narrative of the overland trip he had done as a boy, which
includes the following, "travelled down the Murray to Jenkins Station on a high
bank over the river, at this Station they had a small swivel gun mounted on a stump,
some time previous the blacks were troublesome. I believe the owners had to use this
gun – from Jenkins we came to the junction of the Darling river with the Murray, poor
country along here..." ~~~ In 1857, a now married Thos
O'Shaughnessy, and wife, returned to the Cowra district along the same route he'd
travelled as a boy; -the relevant diary-pages, marked 1857, read thus; …"24 (June)
Crossed the carts over the Darling in a boat and swam the horses across and went to
Williams Station, we fired an old Cannon off after dark." … "25 (June) stayed all day
raining." … "26 (June) Mr McFarland's 25 miles past Jenkins old station." … ...
... Clearly Thos O'Shaughnessy spent a lot more time in the company of those
who possessed this cannon than James Allen Jnr. ever did; yet Charles
Sturt's name is nowhere to be found in the O'Shaughnessy diaries.
… Up until the 1960s “The
Bulletin” magazine had an 'Aboriginalities' page that featured outback
anecdotes as submitted by readers. - In the winter of 1949 John Ziegler Huie
IV was perusing an old copy when he happened upon an article, submitted by an old
station-hand, that was of particular interest to him. -
J Z Huie IV paraphrases the article thus – “In 1888 ... when working on a station
in western NSW ... the manager of the station ... would on the rare occasions that a
cloud appeared ... roll out a cannon that had been on the station for many years and
was formerly used to frighten natives when they were spearing cattle. He would load
this up with a charge of powder and nuts, bolts, stones or whatever, and with everyone
present, point it up towards the clouds and set it off. At the explosion he would stand
back and shout “Send Her Down!” in the attempt to get rain.” – J Z Huie IV
believes this to be the origin of the expression - “Send her down Huie!”, which is
nowadays commonly used, in the bush and elsewhere, by persons desiring a change in the
weather, particularly when rain is needed.
– [ed.. we can but ponder in amazement at how the old timers
managed to convince the cattle to ‘stay put’ when the cannon was discharged to
frighten off the natives.]
Anyhow! The details cited above are known to have taken place on Canonba Station, and
the manager in question was John Ziegler Huie II, the grandfather of J Z Huie IV. -
At one time or another, J Z Huie II managed a number of large outback stations
including Canonba, Lake Midgeon & Buckingbong. - He later became a
son in-law to Frank Jenkins when, on 29th May 1894, he married Frank’s daughter, Ada
Mary [Nonie] Jenkins. …The couple had three children, Ada Mary, John Zeigler III
& Marjory. …‘Mum’ Nonie, however, was killed accidentally by a falling tree in 1917.
…Some time thereafter J Z Huie II married Nonie’s sister, Clara Florence Jenkins
(born 1865)
 |
Shown here is a British made swivel cannon\gun, circa 17-1800s, from an antique
weapon collection: Sailing ships such as HMS Endeavour, HMS Bounty, and similar,
commonly had upward of six such cannon mounted around their gunwale. -They were used
to signal landing parties etc., also as a defence against pirates, or similar
hostiles, and by flagships to signal other vessels in a fleet. Weighing-in at
around 1-cwt, a couple of seamen could ship, or unship, these cannon as and when
required. |
There was NO cannon in the whaleboat!
- Hypothetical No.1# =
Additional details re where the Jenkins family lived in the early days merits some
further comment. - In 1825 the Jenkins's were granted 60 acres of land at Sutton
Forrest NSW where they farmed & raised cattle. In 1835 John senior built the first
house in the nearby, recently surveyed town of Berrima. Later on, in 1841, he purchased
that house, which became their family home and it shortly became known as "Jenkins
House" - Jenkins descendants continued to own that house up until 1950, when it was
sold, and it has since been renamed "Berrima House". ~ ~ ~ In 1835
Charles Napier Sturt, the nouveau family man lately retired from the army,
arrived back in NSW with his wife, after a 2-year sojourn in England. Sturt at once
took-up a property at Mittagong, which just happens to be within a 'bull's roar'
of Sutton Forrest, where the Jenkins family lived. - Sturt raised cattle on his
Mittagong property and, in 1838, he overlanded 400 cattle to Adelaide, while
there, he purchased acreage in a section known as the Reed Beds, on the lower
reaches of the River Torrens. Sturt's overland route replicated that of Hawdon &
Bonny's; i.e. they headed south till they intersected the river Hume, as it
was then known, and crossed over to the south side. Then, as near as was possible,
they followed the Hume/Murray westward. At a spot, which Hawdon described as being
4-miles short of the Darling junction, they came across a section of river that, to
a cattleman's eyes, was a good crossing spot. Here they discovered a 'dig tree'
blazed by Thomas Mitchell, who had for similar reasons chosen this spot to cross over
The Murray in 1836. The Hawdon party dug-up a glass phial containing a message from
Thomas Mitchell, Hawdon added a message of his own and reburied the phial where he
found it. As likely as not, Sturt repeated this process when he arrived at this spot,
4-months after Hawdon. The following year, 1839, Sturt sold-off his Mittagong property
and moved his family to Adelaide.
- This gives rise to a possible scenario of .. i..a departing Charles Sturt gifting a
cannon etc., to the Jenkins family, whom he may have befriended. or .. ii..of the
Jenkins family perhaps purchasing the cannon etc., at a lock, stock and barrel
type sale of stuff that Sturt deemed did not warrant transhipping to SA. ~ Either way,
the Jenkins clan may have acquired a cannon, which was associated with Charles
Sturt, but NOT with the 1830 discover the Murray Expedition.
- However, it needs to be understood that there exists NO substantiating data to
support either of these scenario. So it/they can never be anything other than a theory.
- Nonetheless, if John jnr. or his brother Francis did use this cannon, to
frighten-off natives from spearing their cattle, as is elsewhere suggested, then the
most likely timeframe for that eventuality would have been around 1839-1849, when the
brothers were establishing the Buckingbong & Gillenbah stations in
territory that had, until that time, been the domain of tribal Aboriginals.
[Ed note ... distance Mittagong to
Berrima/Sutton Forrest was then and is now 8 to 12 Km, approx.]
The 'Sturt' cannon; - An unmounted cannon, purported to be the one that James
Allen saw in 1853, was gifted to the Royal Geographical Societyof Australasia, S A
Branch, in 1907: - The RG€S promptly ascertained it was not a military cannon but was
of a type known as a trade or signalling cannon, which, in the
19th-Century, was retailed to the general public and could be had by anyone who could
afford it.
As this cannon's association with Capt Sturt was a topic of some controversy. The
RGS opted to researched the claim and, thanks to the diligent efforts of
Past-President Dr Chris Whitaker, their findings are archived
The RGS research also unearthed a newspaper report that adds more fuel the riddle of the cannon’s origin; – viz: -The Advertiser, Adelaide, 21 May 1908. – Report of RGS Annual Meeting; – quoting from an interview with a Mr Thos Williams (circa 1907) - “it (the cannon) did not come from Fort Bourke but from Gol Gol Station where a stockman named Jesse Dear was living and was actually present when Captain Sturt gave the gun and sword to Mr. Frank Jenkins.” - It's highly probable, however, that this statement was a rebuttal aimed at a parallel account alleging the cannon had been left by Sturt on the bank of the Warrego River, an Upper Darling tributary, in 1828. Where it was purportedly later found by a station manager, named as Mr Henry Williams, who afterwards had it sent by steamer to Wentworth in 1863. – Clearly, however, if there was a cannon found on the Warrego River, as claimed, it could not be the same cannon that James Allen jnr. saw at the Williams Station, on The Murray, in 1853.
If nought else, Mr Thos Williams’s statement does prompt us to consider, just when
did 'stationing' activity begin in the Darling Junction precinct? - And! We find
history numerously records how squatting activity in that region did not commence
until around 1845/46. And! One of, -if not THE-, first to squat the region was none
other than, the aforementioned, Mr Frank Jenkins. For around 1846, or thereabouts,
Frank Jenkins swan 900-odd cattle across The Murray and set up a squat on what
is nowadays the 'Mildura' countryside. In July 1847, however, one of the Jamieson
brothers arrived on-site with 6,000 sheep and a NSW lease to the land whereon Frank
was squatting; -Frank had little option but to acquiesce and remove his cattle
back to The Murray's north bank. i.e. the region dubbed Golgol country by surveyor
Thomas Mitchell in 1836, on account of it being the aboriginal term used to describe
that region as a "place of meetings": - Mitchell used Aboriginal names to mark his
maps as he believed it would be more useful to settlers if they could ask a local
Aboriginal where a place was.
- At a later date, a 302,000 hectares station named "Gol Gol", one of several of what
were colloquially known as "back block" stations, was established within the
Willandra Lakes region, some 90-odd Km back from both The Murray & The Darling rivers
and wherein Lake Mungo National Park nowadays exists. But this is not to be confused
with the general term of "Golgol" that Thomas Mitchell applied to the whole of the
greater region, bordered on the west by the Darling and on the south by the Murray.
Nor with the later-to-be-established ‘Gol Gol’ township, surveyed in 1865/66, which,
though it struggled to survive at first, remains to this day on the Murray’s
north-bank opposite the latter-day town of Mildura.
- Hypothetical No.2# = As a
result of corroborating data from the Jamieson & from the O'Shaughnessy fraternities.
We now know that Frank Jenkins had established a 'squat', on the south banks of
The Murray in the Darling Junction precinct, from as early as July 1847, possibly
earlier; - and was still there, on the north bank, in 1848. - But he was gone from the
region in 1853, when the P S Lady Augusta came this way. The 'possibly
earlier' means he could have moved into the region in 1846, or earlier. And! It
was in January 1846 that the Central Australia Expedition, led by Charles Sturt,
returned from the inland via The Darling.
Summary of the 1844/46 "Central Australia Expedition": - This expedition
assembled on the, then vacant, land at the corner of King William & Currie Streets,
Adelaide. From whence, in August 1844, the party of sixteen set-off, carting yet
another boat to navigate the fabled “Inland Sea”; - the site is memorialised with a
bronze plaque mounted adjacent the Currie Street footpath. - The party trekked along
the old Sydney Road to the Darling & Great Anabranch country, where they
surveyed Lake Victoria, then headed north through the Barrier Ranges and on
into what is nowadays known as Corner Country, at the congregation of the SA,
NT, Qld & NSW borders. The extreme aridity they experienced in this region trapped the
party, at the Depot Glen waterhole, from January-to-July 1845. Sturt’s deputy,
James Poole, died from the combined effects of heat and scurvy during that time and
other members of the party came close to perishing. With the fortuitous arrival of
winter rains, in mid-July 1845, Sturt sent the weaker members of his party ‘home’.
Himself and the remainder of the party then pressed-on a further 95Km into the
interior where they established a base-camp named Fort Grey.
Sturt then conducted further forays into “a million hectares of waterless gibber
plains, red sand hills and eroded ranges” before, in Nov 1845, he gave-up in
despair: - The entire party was now in a very emaciated state and the risk of man and
beast perishing in the desert was very real. Sturt was so paralysed from the scurvy,
himself, that he was forced to travel in the cart. So! In order to ‘travel light’, he
directed that much of the equipment & supplies be abandoned, en-route, as it became
redundant to their survival strategy. Paralysed as he was, Sturt directed that some of
the bullocks were to be killed and their skin be stitched-up and used as water bags,
in a manner he had observed the natives use opossum skins. He then supervised a
400Km /24-day forced march back to The Darling, where a relief party, led by
a Mr Piesse, awaited them. En-route Sturt was fed a diet of local native berries
that afforded him some relief from the scurvy. On the 22nd & 23rd December the men of
the "Desert Party" straggled into the "Relief Party's" camp, on the
Darling River, where they rested for 2-days and celebrated Christmas. They then
continued on down the Darling to a spot some 32Km
(20-ml) north of the Darling/Murray junction where they crossed over to the Great
Anabranch and so-on to Adelaide. During this time, all that remained of the
expedition's fishhooks & fishnets, Sturt gave away to the natives they encountered
along the way, as he also did with the-odd sheep or two. ~ ~ Alas! There is no record
of any sort of encounter with any "non-expeditionary" Europeans during this
trip down the Darling, nor anywhere else within the precincts of Lake Victoria. Also,
as it was with the 1830 Murray Discovery Expedition. There is not the slightest
hint of any cannon having a role in the 1844/46 Central Australia Expedition.
There remains a slim possibility, however, that Frank Jenkins may have fraternised with
the Relief Party, headed by Mr. Piesse, which was encamped on the Darling River
for some months while they awaited Sturt's return from the inland. Whether the
Relief Party had a cannon in its arsenal or not is a matter that could bear
some further investigation.
For several years thereafter, perhaps even decades, it was variously reported that the
tracks of Sturt’s drays were still discernible upon the landscape. An intrepid bushman,
such as Frank Jenkins, perhaps in the company of a stockman named Jesse Dear, would've
had little trouble back-tracking those dray tracks to wherever, perchance even
restoring an abandoned dray to working order, seasonal conditions permitting,
then loading it with whatever abandoned equipment was worthy of redemption. -- Though
this hypothetical scenario 'fits' rather snugly into recorded history, only Frank
Jenkins, or perhaps Jesse Dear, could assert as to the veracity, or otherwise, of any
of this latter-day fiction. -
- Of course, hypothetically speaking, there are other possibilities;
e.g. The Jenkins could have acquired a signalling cannon, which was -- a/ purchased in
Sydney and been told by the salesman that it was an ex-"Sturt Expedition" cannon. --
b/ associated with either of the Relief Parties that attended the 1829/30
or the 1844/46 Sturt Expeditions. -- c/ associated with any of the squatters
who are known to have attempted to establish stock runs in the western wilderness,
ahead of the Jenkins brothers, but abandoned those runs in the face of Aboriginal
hostility, any cannon thus abandoned and later found, may have been assumed
by the ‘finder’ to have been left there by Charles Sturt. -- d/ somehow passed-on by
Evelyn Sturt, the brother of Charles Sturt, who was also a consummate bushman and
accomplished Overlander, regarded by many as the equal to Joseph Hawdon.
-- and the list goes on........... ~ ~ ~ Any of these hypothetical scenarios could
result in the Jenkins family acquiring a cannon, which they believed was associated
with Charles Sturt, the man who discovered The Murray, but not with the
“Expedition” that discovered The Murray.
Conclusion: - James Allen jnr. stands alone as the only person in
recorded history to claim that Captain Charles Sturt had a cannon with him, in the
whaleboat, when that gentleman explored and named the River Murray in 1830. -- Allen's
claim is based on, what was probably, a second-hand account of a conversation that
took place in 1853, between erstwhile strangers, during an impromptu fifteen-minute
stopover at Williams Station, the primary objective of that conversation being to
arrange for the shipment of the Station's woolclip. -- In short! Allen's claim
is hearsay, it would never stand-up in a court of law, the circumstances surrounding
it provide more than sufficient reason for anyone to be justifiably sceptical about
James Allen's 'cannon' claim.
In view of the broadly sourced information to the contrary, hereinbefore cited, it
can be reasonably stated that Allen's aside re -"The carbine
and the cannon ... a valuable memento of Captain Sturt's exploratory voyage down the
Murray, he having brought them with him on that occasion," is poppycock! …
( … poppycock , n. Colloq.
nonsense; bosh. )
In fairness to Allen, I seriously doubt it was his intention to deceive. More likely
it simply never occurred to him to question the veracity of what was told to him and,
as likely as not, he was a disciple of that age-old journalist's adage, re-
"never let the truth get in the way of a good story".
Nevertheless, in view of this, and the numerous other facile allegations that Allen
makes throughout the Lady Augusta text,
it can be fairly stated that, had Jumping to Conclusions been an Olympic sport,
James Allen jnr would have been a Gold Medal contender.
There was NO cannon in the whaleboat!
© by Peter J REILLY 1997; pereilly@esc.net.au
THE MYTH OF THE "BEDSTEAD GRAVE" AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH THE VICTIMS OF THE "P. S. BUNYIP" FIRE:
CONTROVERSY SURROUNDS A LONELY GRAVE LOCATED NEAR LOCK 6#, ABOUT 50KM UPSTREAM FROM RENMARK: - IT IS KNOWN LOCALLY AS THE "BEDSTEAD GRAVE" AND IS ON THE HIGH GROUND TO THE EAST OF THE MURRAY, NOT FAR FROM THE RIVER SECTION KNOWN AS "BUNYIP REACH", WHICH GOT ITS NAME FROM A TRAGEDY THAT OCCURRED THERE IN 1863: - FOR IT WAS ON 8TH DECEMBER 1863 THAT FOUR PEOPLE LOST THEIR LIVES WHEN THE P. S. BUNYIP WAS DESTROYED BY FIRE WHILE TRAVELLING IN THIS SECTION, ABOUT 2K ABOVE THE LOCK. THE PROXIMITY OF THE BEDSTEAD GRAVE TO THE FATALITY SITE, LED TO THE MISTAKEN BELIEF THAT IT HELD VICTIMS OF THAT TRAGEDY. NAMELY, THAT IT HOLDS THE REMAINS OF A MRS. DUNCAN FRASER AND/ORHER INFANT CHILD, WHO WERE BOTH INCINERATED IN THE BLAZE:
Popular though the folklore may be. Meticulous research of the reams of archived material relating to the incident has failed to find any evidence, whatsoever, to substantiate these allegations. A passenger, Mrs Duncan Fraser, & her infant child were incinerated in the blaze, and only fragmented and charred human remains were ever recovered: - On or about 11 Dec.1863, Corporal Besley of the SA Police submitted a report to Headquarters, which indicated some human remains, believed to be of a woman & child, were found: - On 21st December, however, aborigines assisting in the salvage operation found a more substantial quantity of charred adult human bones, and these were reported to be in an area of the wreck that coincided with the location of Mrs Fraser's cabin: - Mr Jamieson SM, who conducted an inquiry at the site, reported that no remains of the infant Fraser were ever found, "but there could be no doubt that the infant had perished with its mother". He also reported that the remains, that were recovered, were placed in a bag and buried at Chowilla Station, on the west bank: - The deceased's husband, Mr Duncan Fraser, later made what appears to have been a verbal request to Overland Corner Police, to have his family's remains removed to higher ground, above what he deemed to be the Murray's flood level. The official response was that Mr Fraser would have to pay for any reinterment that took place, and a total lack of further reporting suggests the matter was dropped at that point: - Believers of the myth, however, believe that Duncan Fraser, himself, dug up the remains, transported them to the east side of the river, and there re-interned them on the high ground overlooking the site of the fatal tragedy:
| In regards to the "Bedstead Grave", on Bunyip Reach Station, which has been operated by the Stoeckel family since the 1880s. The Stoeckels are in possession of a piece of a tin plate that marked this grave in earlier times. Family history relates how, in the early 1900s, a former relative removed the surviving piece of tin plate to the family homestead, for safe keeping, and marked the grave with an old iron bed-head, which continues to mark the grave to the present time: The presence of the iron "bed-head" no-doubt bestowed a level of prominence on this grave that it would not otherwise have had: - That! Together with its proximity to Bunyip Reach, led to the local notion that it must somehow be associated with the Bunyip tragedy. Proponents believing that it held the re-interred remains of Mrs Fraser & infant: - (See image at right) |  |
- The Stoeckels' tin plate clearly shows the name jane (sic), as also the word july (sic), along with the word born and a rather enigmatic... the II A .... In official records, however, the female victim of the Bunyip fire is known as nothing other than Mrs Duncan Fraser and the name of the infant Fraser is nowhere stated. Therefore, the tin plate's inscription did nothing to dispel this locally popular myth:
Modern technology in the form of the CD-Rom changed all that. We now have a tool
capable of searching historic records in unprecedented detail! -Such a search,
revealed the given name of the deceased Mrs Fraser to be Elizabeth and
the deceased infant was her 7-month old daughter Jessie: -In addition we
know Elizabeth (nee Harris) married Duncan in 1859 at Angaston SA, and they had
two children, Finlay born in 1861 & Jessie born at Moorara Station
on the River Darling on 6 April 1863: We also know that Duncan remarried in 1865 to
another Elizabeth (nee Lindsay) at Gawler Town SA, and had six children by his second
marriage. He was variously described as a stockman or a labourer:
So! We now know there was NO "Jane" aboard the P.S.
Bunyip, when it was consumed in flames in 1863, and this fact disassociates
the "Bunyip Grave" from having anything to do with the Bunyip Fire Victims:
There is, therefore, no factual basis for associating the grave known as the "Bedstead Grave", located on the east bank, in the Lock#6 region, of the Murray, with any of the victims of the P S Bunyip fire tragedy: - Moreover, the "Bedstead Grave" is not the only grave located on the high ground to the east of the Murray in this vicinity. There are many souls interned thereabouts, both Aboriginal and European. Mostly they are associated with the early grazing industry, which was active in this region since the 1840's - OR - with the unsuccessful attempts, in 1893\94, to establish a privately funded village settlement at Murtho...
____________________________
- Ok! Who then was the elusive "Jane"? ... Once again the CD-Rom comes to our rescue and reveals the rather sad story of little Jane Elizabeth SMITH: - This young lass's Death Registry details are as follows: -
|
Surname: SMITH Given Names: Jane Elizabeth Date: 12 April 1887 Age: 1y9m |
Sex: F
Status: C (child) Relative: William DEAN (F) Relative 2: Emma Smith (M) Residence: Murthoo |
Death Place: Murthoo District Code: Bur Book: 162 Page: 461 |
It is clear from the 'age' and from the 'date of death' that young Jane was necessarily born during July 1885: -A search for her Birth Certificate, however, returned a "no record" response, indicating the 'Birth' was never officially registered; and her Death Certificate rather ambiguously cites the "Cause of Death" as "a Cold".
Nonetheless, the combination of -Jane, -July, along with the -'Residence' and -'Death Place' being cited as 'Murtho', it being the district wherein Bunyip Reach Station is located; - adds up to a very persuasive argument that supports the claim of, 1-year 9-month old 'Jane Elizabeth SMITH', illegitimate daughter of 'Ms Emma SMITH' and 'Mr William DEAN' (woodcutter), being the real occupant of the 'Bedstead Grave', located near the sourhern boundary of Bunyip Reach Station SA. ... Furthermore, as Jane's grave is not the only grave in this vicinity. Like others interned hereabouts, this young lass, or at least her mother. Was doubtless associated with the early grazing industry that was active in this region since the 1840's. -Regional historians are aware of other details relating to the life and times of 'Ms Emma Smith', as also of 'Emma's' parents, so there is likely more to be learned, if not about 'Jane' herself, then about the times and the conditions that surrounded her life prior to her untimely death.
--------------------------------------------------------------
|
- At far left is on image of the list that
Corporal Besley, of SA Police, included in his official 'Report to
Headquarters' citing all passengers and crew who were aboard the ill-fated
P S Bunyip. The deceased are indicated as, James Mullins, George Gunner, Mrs
Duncan Fraser and child: -From a study of Fraser family genealogy it becomes
clear that the Mrs Duncan Fraser, who died in the 'Bunyip fire', was Mrs
Elizabeth Fraser, nee Elizabeth Harris and her daughter "of about
7-months" was named Jessie, born 6th April 1863 at Moorara Station
on the River Darling: - At near left is an image of the "tin plate", which previously marked the "Bedstead Grave" and is nowadays retained for safe-keeping at Bunyip Reach Homestead. At the top of the plate the inscription jane is quite clear, as is the word born, the word july, and what looks like the ll A: |
About the "tin plate" ! -The decipherable words appears to read jane , born , july , and the II A , with other marks less clear. ... None of the decipherable words (apart from the word 'born' ) have anything whatsoever to-do with the deceased Mrs Elizabeth Fraser or her 7-month old daughter, Jessie; -the other two victims of the Bunyip fire; viz- two drowned crewmen, were both male. Which further disassociates ALL/ANY of the 'Bunyip fire' victims from this gravesite.
... However, in Jane SMITH's case! - Not only was 'Jane' born in 'July' but her Death Certificate cites her 'date of death' as being 12th April 1887! ... Is it then possible that the enigmatic - the II A , on the tin plate, is in fact the first part of - the 11 April ? ... The one-day discrepancy being the result of a minor human error; perhaps? -Or! Did the Magistrate, Mr Robertson J P of Chowilla Station, sign the Death Certificate on the day following Jane's death; perhaps?
COPY OF JANE'S DEATH CERTIFICATE SHOWN BELOW:
Surname: SMITH |
Relative 2:
Emma SMITH (M) |
Any additional information that the public may be able to contribute, which could add to what is already here stated, regarding the young "jane SMITH" her parents or their circumstances, would be gratefully received at our Research Department: - email = pereilly@esc.net.au
© Peter J Reilly - 1998;
