HELD BY BLACKS?

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 10508, 11 February 1928, Page 5

HELD BY BLACKS?

CI PPSLaN D MYSTER V. SUPPOSED CAPTIVE WHITE WOMAN. ECHO OF THE EARLY DAYS. About- eighty years ago tlie small white community of Gippsland was deeply stirred by- the strange reports that a woman of their own race had fallen into the hands of the aboriginal tribes, states'the Melbourne Argus. The facts siirroundnig the disappearance ot this woman are scanty, but there are -probably people still living whose parents remember tile anxiety that was aroused and the sending of an armed expedition to search the iorcst and hills; In the mist of distant years the episode now appears as a curious •piece of Australian mythology, comparable'with that of ancient Greece. It is lmdouHtahle that many .white settlers firmly believed that the. woman was with the blacks; .and several authentic scraps of evidence suggesting the presence of a white woman among the blacks have to this day never been , satisfactorily explained. Included in one search party ‘was an aboriginal, girl who claimed not only to have seen tlm woman herself, Rut also to have played with her children. People perturbed by these reports instanced the eas,, of William Ruckley, the soldier convict, who', after being landed at Sorrento in ISI).'!. escaped to the bush. Becoming separated from his two 'companions, Buckley wandered about alone for a vear. living for sonic time in a cave. One day bo saw natives looking attentively at him from a hut in awed amazement. Evidently they thought' hint a returned spirit, and his gigantic stature—he was (>' feet 15 inches—Helped to preserve him their hostile intentions. At any rate, he joined the blacks and lived their life for 3 2 years. When discovered by Batman's*'party, in 1 S.Yi, Buckley Uriel forgotten his own language, and in appearance resembled the black men. his body, being.painted over with red ochre and pigment.

Jf such a fate should befall Buckley, why. .asked tile; settlers, should rot, a woman be similarly treated? The timbers of several noble 1 ships lay rotting on the sands and shoals from "Wilson's Promontory to Gabo. It was conceivable that survivors of flics,* wrecks bad crawled ashore, wandered about the country,- and fallen'' jn with hostile tribes. Unarmed. exhausted mini arc an easy prey for llie arrows and darts of I lie savage; the woman was probably spared, An old black attached to a mission 'declared in the early 'part of this century, that the white woman was the wife of a- miner who accompanied her husband to Stockyard Creek at the tune of the gold rush. This story must be dismissed, however, for it was some I .'years after the search that Gippsliind attracted any attention from miners.

CLOTHING DISCOVER ED. More disquieting than the storms of blacks, whose propensity to tell a. questioner what they conceive be wants them to say, is well known, was- the discovery made by a party of pioneers hear Port Albert in 18U, Upon disturbing a camp of blacks the latter hurriedly made off, leaving five hark canoes. Among the materials used to Id nek the ends of, the craft, so as to prevent the ingress of water, were a towel and. an article of woman’s attire. It was, of course: conceivable that these fabrics had come into the possession of the blacks from- a wrecked vessel, or by theft from a, settler’s home; but the discovery,, combined with a strange drawing found later at the site of the deserted camp*, was an arrow pointing to the bush, spurred powerfully the demand for a search. Immediate representations were made to' the Government at Sydney, with the result that two-parties were organised and sent out. One. t-r.-in-prising five whites and nine blacks, left- Melbourne on October'2o. 1840. by r.ho; steamer Shamrock. The intention was to land about Port Albert. Rani Head, of .Rabbit rslnnri. according", to the/ weather, and . then separate into whaleboats. The sear'chcrs were provisioned for four months, well armed, and furnished with a supply of fish hooks, lines, blankets, and other articles esteemed by the blacks. Of special interest was a large number of handkerchiefs on -wbich were printed these words, in English and Gaelic: White Woman.—There are fourteen armed men, partly white and partly black,; in search -of you. Be cautious, and rush to them ' /when you** seethem*near you.- Be particularly on the' look-out every- , dawn of/morning, for it is then that the.party are in hones of reselling you. .The white settlement is towards the setting sun."

These handkerchiefs ? were, affixed to the trunks of trees so as to attract attention, and to convey information of the Search party to the woman. On the reverse side were pictures designed to arouse-the ctjriousitv of ;the- natives! The . Gaelic was employed .beenuse some time previously a barque was wrecked on the- Ninety Mile. Beach, and among those 'missing- wore a woman from the highlands of Scotland and - Tier husband. Mirrors were also affixed to trees bearing' a similar message at the backs.

According to the “Port- Philip Patriot’’ of 2tlth October. ]B-1-0. too Government also intended to dispatch a party on horseback. Ai all events, the utmost endeavours of the search parties proved negative: no white woman was encountered, and the poetical admonition in tun languages failed to induce the supposed captive to come to her rescuers. If such a woman existed, her fate must forever remain an impenetrable mystery. Possibly there was a large admixture or imaginative native stories in the episode, and at that time the white settlers had not become so well accustomed to this characteristic of the native mmd. There was subsequent evidence. The white figurehead of a woman, taken from a wrecked ship, Was observed in possession of the natives, who probably attached some emblem-

aiic value to it. In those days carved of Britlaqnia were frequently seen u,nder the bowspit, and the object would be regarded with wonderment by the savages. Mure recently, a similar report given by a black-fellow to an oil exploration party in the Northern Territory led to a search of i-\rnheim Land for a supposed white woman survivor from the steamer Douglas Mnwsoii. The country was scoured ; a special police station was established, lurid and imaginative fiction about the fate of the supposed woman were published abroad by sensa-tion-mongering journals, but the episode turned out to he ; t myth, no trace of a white* woman or any substantial basis for the report lwing over discovered