BLACK CRACKERS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 150, 21 December 1929, Page 31

BLACK CRACKERS

ABORIGINES' SKILL

EPISODES RECAUED

BUSHBANGIFa DIYS

' The blacktracker who beat a 'plane in searching for a missing jaekeroo at Longreach, Queensland, recently is following, in modern fashion, a tradition set in the bushranging days of long ago, when native trackers were recognised as the best o£ all searchers. The Kelly gang feared O'Connor's blacktrackers as they feared not all the Victorian police force, says a writer in the Adelaide "Observer."

Humble, primitive, and despised, the native people of Australia: have brought one^unique gift to the service of white justice. In following the trail of evildoers who have taken the bush for the sanctuary of lawlessness, tliey have far excelled the efficiency of the most skilful detective.

As early as 1525, the possibilities of the blaclitracker were recognised. At that date the • young. colony of New South Wales was terrorised by bands of bushrangers, and the Legislative Council addressed a memorial .to Governor Brisbane, suggesting that* small parties of soldiers and natives, under the charge of constables, should bfe stationed on the mam roads out of Sydney to keep watch tor desperadoes. Brisbane duly forwarded tne memorial to Bathursty but there the proposal lapsed. ' 4 7 e2, r 'ater > Brisbane's successor, Sir Kalpn Darling, recommended police officers to attach some of the most intelligent of" the natives to their parties "as these People may be made | extremely, useful, .if properly employed, in tracing the Bushrangers and discovering I then: Haunts. It will, be left to the Discretion of the Officers to Eeward'.the-Na-tives according to their exertion; 'for which purposes some Slop' Clothing will be put at their Disposal, "and they will be at Liberty from Time to Time to furnish ■ them with such provisions as they may require when employed." : THE GHOST OF THE POOL. A remarkable instance of the blacktracker's skill at that early time has been recorded. .- ■ '"-■■• . i One Fisher,, of Campbell Town t an exconvict, who lived with another emancipist called Worrell r bad mysteriously disappeared. This :in itself was: no great matter in those.days, and nothing more was thought about it until a story went round that. Fisher's ghost had been seen sitting on a fence at the corner of his home paddock. '■■ Superstitious bushmen then dema:nded an inquiry, and a police trooper, with two natives, made a close search for the missing man. ■ ■ , One of the. trackers finally turned his attention to a.pool;of water.;- •'..: '^Here," said the "trooper, in giving evidence; afterwards, '-Gilbert Uook a cornstalk, which he-passed over the surf ace of tJio water, and put it to his "nose; and said he 'smelt-the fat of a white nian.'"' The black next turned' into a small creek leading out of the pool, and came' Stu 1184.* 0 " StOp- at a place on its ank- I Iheres something here," he said; and,' when they dug, the body-of the murdered man was found. Worrell, confessed to the murder: at his trial, and: was executed. - - 1 .One blacktracker at least put to ill use his experience^ in the service of justice. Mosquito was a member, "of a, Sydney mbe, who had been transported to Van Uieman's Land. He was used there in hunting escaped convicts, but at last he escaped himself. :

At Oyster Bay he became the leader of a tribe of 200 blacks, and terrorised the island by his atrocities. As a bushranger he was thorough, and left only the mutilated remains of hia victims as evidence or his hold-ups; A great reward was offered for the capture'-of'-Mosquito, and another native finally tracked'him down. He was captured after, desperate fighting. AFTER THE KELLYS. ,Bl a<?k trackers, as distinct from the black .police—who had massacred so many . oi their V.aWk.. people in Queensland.-, achieved:; interstate reputations.1 - O'ConTior's trackers were borrowed-from-Queens-land to'-help "in hunting down the Kellys. .-■■' "O all-those- who: pressed close- upon their heels/ 'says Ju;]x. Haydon- in "The Trooper Police ;Qf Australia;" "the bushrangers.jnost-. feared O'Connor's trackers. These blacks, Hero, Jack, Johnny, Jimmy, and Barney by name, were men of exceptional skill,.who had been in the Queensland Native Mounted Police.for many years. By.their quickness in picking up and following -a- trail,: the trackers ■kept the -gang-.in >. a continual state of. .suspense. : :Tht. vEellys- ■ more than once evinced their- fear -of these - sleutiihounds-^flittle- black •- devils/ tliey ca'led theinVi-beihg lar::"inbre""anxipus to • shoot them , than the troopers whom they could more easily hoodwink. _ "Sir Watkin Wynne," a very skilful and brave black tracker, bore » notable part in the break-up of the Clarke gang of bushrangers. ' He lost an arm in the .fight, and was-rewarded by being made an honorary sergeant-major; but his honours apparently, went ; to his head, and be/drank himself : to death. ."""...•./. "■-:':.'-. — ,- "Native. assistant'; Bilella"" also ;stands OUt ; among famous-trackers.--- This black boywas .the protege of- Sir:.I liatrick: 'Jennings, of Victoria, who had'hfin educated at Lyndhurst College. : He:: made several attempts to follow a learned calling," but tne.call of the bush was always too strong for him. . EARLY TRAINING. Police officers take their .best trackers Straight, froib an aboriginal camp, as civilised life spoils the keenness'of native perceptions. '. ■-■.■'-■■ •■•;-' : :':::. .:.■.■■.•* j Tracking is' not - a-'ca'se -of -speeiai- gifts;•! v-.a , unclyl'"'sed aboi'igines can accomplish the seeming miracle of tracking down' an emu or kangaroo: by the-minutest of signs. In .an almost. waterless country where native animals are scarce, this has beeu the gift of life to countless generations. ''.'"■'■'■

Native children are schooled by Nature as soon as they can run about. From infancy they learn to draw tracks in the sand; and to "look out tucker" is the main occupation of adolescence. In a higher civilisation, it is conceivable tnat. tne native mastery p£ the ways of .Nature, the : keen perceptions broucht to perfection in the wild life of the bush might be put to some use other than the tracking down of human ben. s.' Then aborigines would be the animal tamers tiie naturalists, and the interpreters of the unknown life of the bush. But before such an advance m civilisation, the child race with its one pitiful but extraordinary talent, Tvill have perished from the earth