FACING THE BLACKS

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11913, 6 April 1933, Page 3

FACING THE BLACKS

y A ■ DAUNTLESS HEROINE.

In.vthe..’ early.; days ’of. hack-country,, settlement,-.the, girls and-, wives; who ■helped in .the pioneering-of Australia. were as'.brave a class -of . womanhood as has ever existed; They faced dangers and perils in solitude,.ahd loneliness that are only legends' now,, hut were very real ; then, with a - stoutness ; of heart that is not easily matched in any i records off colonisation, and has certainly ;never been excelled. This is the’tale of onp of .tlffim,. who ..was ’the' wife? of a stntion-oversoer in the Lachlan’ district of; New ■ South, Wales in the very early ’forties of tho- last ’century,', and, although she must have been a very ■ exceptional woman, there were not a few others of the pioneer breed whose stories, equally brave, liave never been recorded. , •

The. station , her husband was in charge of was stuck up hy two notorious bushrangers, of the runawayconvict ’type/ known as .• “Scotchey” and Witton, and, although her husband nticY, six* men were present in •the'-hut; she* alone stood up to the desperadoes: The men, covered by muskets,, were ordered to come outside and.-put- their- hands up, and everyone, obeyed' except, the young wife, who coolly walked up to • tho bushrangers and said:—

. “T am. sure you would not hurt a woman, bushrangers though you are!”

She laid her hand on “Scotchey’s’’ arm and begged him earnestly not to take any of their little store, as they were but newly-married, and were trying. hard to . save something „ so. that they might make a start, for themselves.

The astonished: • bushranger looked at her for a while, and then dropped his 'gun;' swearing by God . .that, he wouldn’t rob them—and be was true to his word.- He called his mates together, ■ and they rode away, whilst the overseer and his men looked °n in'bewildered amazement. ■ A DAUNTLESS WOMAN, But this is .the real story that ■shows what dauntlessness was the .characteristic of this splendid woman. Soon after the incident related above she and her husband we>it to another station,. belonging to the same owner j much further removed from civilisation—a lonely stretch of . country ■ where the blacks were very troubletome, wild and treacherous. One day the cattle stampeded from the new ■run, and the overseer and his men •saddled up and went after them. They were absent something more titan two days before they recovered 'the cattle, rounded them up, and brought them home. On the first day of the men’s nb- ■ sence, the lonely girl—for she was little more than a girl—was startled by the appearance of a couple of score of blackbellows at the station. They were painted and daubed with clay, and were without their gins—a certain indication that they wore up to no good. Here is what happened, in this Australian Heroine’s own words. It is impossible to read them without being moved to the fullest admiration of such a woman:—

“The blacks came up and asked me, f Wliere white fellow?’ I, of course, .gave them no satisfaction. I was taking mv tea, and they ordered me to give thorn bread (tongtong’), a commodity I was very short nf at the time. Flour was then £5 10s per owt, and, so far in the hush, it was not to he had for money. However, I shared’ what I had with them ; but that did not satisfy them, and one of them threw ,it -in the fire. This so annoyed mo—knowing how glad ( would be of it myself—that-;, in the heat:, of the moment, I .twisted a- leg out' of ..the :stool -an cl'T united- them .to ntof the.hut, striking the follow that had thrown the bread in the. fire a heavy blow between the shoulders Ho turned and uttered a savage yell, and said:— " ‘You be poor fellow before euroka lie gone next night’—you’ll he dead before the sun sets to-morrow night. LONELINESS AND HORROR. “When they were gone 1 shall never forget the feeling of loneliness and horror that came over me. Night came on, but no Lawrence—no white man ; and. I was alone in the . wild back woods, in a frail bark hut without a bar or lock. And terrible to relate, I never once looked.up to ‘the •Strong for strength’; yet, unsought and unseen, His mighty arm was uplifted to shield me from every danger. As the night advanced I extinguished both fire and. candle, and kept myself perfectly quiet. . About twelve o’clock I beard my kangaroo dog bark and- growl, nnC know he smelt a . black. Presently T beard a small.voice softly call:— “ ‘Mittiss, mittiss,. yon let in blackpickanini—mine pialla (I’ll tell y°n> news.’' •

“I took courage and unfastened -the door, which I bad secured as well as T could by placing a stool and four pails of water against it. To my great'relief, the boy (a little blackfellow who had occasionally been employed about the place by my husband) was alone. He had stolen away

| when the' blackf allows had gone to sleep, and had ventured his life to give me word tlrat the blacks were going to kill mo in the morning, ‘when the sun jump up’—lo r they were afraid 1 to move, )except in extreme cases, in the darky for fear of evil spirits. But.for this fear, they pan track in tho dark; and no white person they desii'e to murder would be safe within their reach. The hoy said it was ‘Gentleman Billy’ I had struck, 'and it was he who was going’ to kill me. I gave the poor hoy some milk to drink, of which the blacks are foqdy and w 0 spent the night .quietly- crouching together. Tt was' a night of the horror and darkness of death; and uo one hut such as have .been in similar circumstances can toll bow tho heart will warm and cling oven to a faithful kangaroo dog in such danger. WHICH ELACrvFELLOW? v “Just before day broke I let out •tho little black hoy. Daylight had a W'onderful effect in cheering my spirits and scattering the horror of the night. I knew tho blacks so well that I knew you must never appear afraid of them, so I resolved to face the danger before it came to mo. I got the double-barrelled gnu (it was a little beauty Lawrence had bought mo shortly after our wedding), and, looking to the caps. I set off for the blacks’ camp. They were all up and seated round, their camp fire crosslegged like tailors. On m v approach ’they all held down their heads and. •began to j abhor. I said firmly, 'Good 'morning.’ .''None took anv notice, hut still, talked.

•• “ ‘My men,-’ I said, Y-obhnn (head) .mine been dream last night that •black follow was going to kill me when sun jump up. Now, then, which one blaekfellow ?’

• - “No response. I immediately levelled my gun at a tree near them and fired one barrel. They saw where Ihe bark flew off, and ail started to their feet. I again demanded which blackfellow wanted to kill me, and bade him come on now, for T had another barrel left for him, and my gun neve: told a lie. I levelled the barrel at ■one, then another, repeating my question. They all fell hack crying: ‘Not me, mittiss; not me, mittiss. No blaekfellow want to kill yon—you raurry good woman.’

''.So, after a. great many assurances, I was allowed, to go back to the but, and was not disturbed by them that clay.’’