A QUEENSLAND HEROINE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6534, 4 February 1882, Page 6

A QUEENSLAND HEROINE.

It now transpires that Mrs Watson was not killed by the Natives, but that she escaped with her child and the wounded Chinaman, Ah Bam, in a marvellous manner, to a sand island in the Howick Group, forty miles distant from Lizard Island, but only to perish from thirst after enduring several days of terrible suffering. The main facts of one of the moat remarkable feats ever accomplished by a woman are briefly stated in the short paragraph which we published the other day. With some help, it must be supposed, from Ah Bam,' who wounded as he was, could not have been of very much assistance, Mrs Watson appears to * have launched into the water an old ship’s tank, which had been out down and need as a boiler. In this unmanageable and clumsy craft she put to sea with her infant and the Chinaman, and after battling with the wind and waves for a distance of forty miles found at last a refuge on a small spot of laud known as Number Five Island. What were the dangers and difficulties of the passage will never be known. The brave woman, who has left a brief record of the last few days of her existence, in the shape of a diary; makes no allusion to them, nor does she say what time was occupied in getting from Lizard Island to the Howick Group. The period, however, must have been considerable, for there is an interval of eight days between the las (sentry in the diary found at Lizard Island and the first entry in (hat discovered at Number Eire Island.

The following extracts are taken from Mrs Watson’s diary : Oct. 9. —Brought the tank ashore as far as possible with this morning’s tide. Made camp all day under the trees. Blowing hard; no water. Gave baby a dip in the sea. He is showing symptoms of thirst; and took a dip myself. Ah Sam and self very parched with thirst; baby showing bad symptoms. Sunday, 10th.—Baby very bad with inflammation. Very much alarmed. No fresh water, and no more milk but condensed. Self very weak. Really thought I should have died last night. Monday, 11th.—Still all alive. Baby much better this morning. Self feeling very weak. I think it will rain to-day. Clouds very heavy. Wind not quite so high. .... No rain. Every appearance of fine weather. Ah Sam gone away to die. Have not seen him since the 9th. Baby more cheerful. Self not feeling at all well. Have not seen any boats of any description, or water. Dead with thirst.

The diary here ends abruptly, but death must have soon ensued, as the fugitives had then been five days without water. The agonies which the unfortunate fugitives suffered during the five or six days which elapsed between their arrival on the desert island and their death must have been terrible indeed, and yet not a complaint or a murmur is to be found in the diary of the noble woman, whose indomitable courage, resource, and presence of mind must command the admiration of all who read the simple and pathetic tale. All her care and concern appear to have been for her baby, and she is rejoiced to find, on the day when the entries ceased—which is believed to have been that of her death—that her child, who has been kept alive with condensed milk, is “ much better " and “ more cheerful." Her own Bufferings are alluded to in three short words, “ Dead with thirst," and there the melancholy record ends. The courage and endurance shown by Mrs Watson throughout the frightful ordeal could scarcely be surpassed. The departure from Lizard Island was well planned, and but for. the unfortunate circumstance that Number Five Island contains no water, the fugitives would no doubt have been saved; for notwithstanding the terrible danger which menaced them, there was no panic or flurry about their departure, and the tank was well stored with provisions, while Mrs Watson even took with her a box containing her spare clothing and account books. If the lives of the party could have been prolonged for a few days they would certainly have been rescued, for the island upon which they had taken refuge lies right in the track

of steamers, and small failing veueta frequently oruiae about near the group. Mr» Watson eaya fa her diary that on October •he aaw one iteamer pass, and that signals were male, but that they failed to attract attention. ThU might very ewily be the ■ case, for a* the ieland 11 uninhabited no i ■peoial attention would be paid to it in pacing, and, aa the land liea rery low, aignaU , unleaa hoieted on a flag pole or fa aome auoh - way, would be rery likely to escape the i notice of the nnobaerrant. That thia par* i tioular reaael did not keep a (harper look out : ia much to be deplored, Life and death . were in the balance, and death turned the •cate. The melancholy fate of «o brave and • devoted a woman will be widely lamented, and throughout Australia the memory of • Mri Wateon will long be preserved aa that of ; a true and noble heroine.