POLICING THE WILDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18772, 28 July 1924, Page 9

POLICING THE WILDS.

ADVENTURES IN AUSTRALIA.

DESPERATE MEN AND BEASTS.

MANY EXCITING EXPERIENCES.

[FROM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] SYDNEY,. July 17.

The retirement from the public service o£ South Australia of Mr. R. Thorpe, chief inspector of leases and Government vaulator, removes from active: work one who, for 55 years, has seen more of the adventurous side of wild Australia, probably, than any other living; man. Hejoined the service as a mounted trooper, and his first assignment was enough to daunt the most venturesome spirit. Forthwith he was sent to Darwin, Ishen known as Palmerston, to join Mounted-Constable Curnow, who was bound for Camooweal in order t-o open a station or. the Queensland border, where cattle "duffing" was prevalent. In addition the blacks had proved exceedingly troublesome, and a numbefc of bad characters were coming into the territory from Queensland and New South Wales. Nobody in Darwin appeared to know where Camooweal was, much less how to get there.

Finally M*~srs. Curnow and Thorpe left by the Government steamer Victoria, and after a week of buffeting seas reached the mouth of the Roper River, which is navigable for 90 miles. When half this distance had been covered the captain anchored and' blew the siren. In'response to the clamour, score 3 of wild blacks came out, swimming in the alligator-infested waters, armed only with stout saplings with which to scare off the saurians. Many of the men. bore witness to previous encounters with the monsters, in the shape of terrible scars. One blackfellow had a dreadful wormd in the head. The skull had evidently been laid bare, and the wound had been filled up with a whitish clay, which must have had great medicinal properties, for lit was all the natives ever used for their wounds, however severe. It was a habit among them to hamstring their adversaries in a tribal fight. Chinaman Attacked by Swagman. " After 2000 miles of perilous travelling from Darwin," relates Mr. Thorpe, " the pai;ty reached 1 Camooweal, and my real adventures in the territory began. One evening, when I arrived at Austral Downs, I was just in time to meet a Chinaman staggering into the head station with dried blood all over his face and clothes. The man, who was faint from weakness, was calling pitifully for water. It appeared that he had been attacked by a swagman, who had bailed him up with his own revolver.. The swagman had snatched this from the belt of the astounded Chinese, but fortunately for its owner had expended his last three cartridges on an elusive wild turkey. His assailant thei\ beat the unfortunate man over the head and face in a shocking manner and left him to get along as best he could.

" I immediately set off in pursuit of the swagman, who was accompanied by a big wall-eyed sheep dog, according to the frightened, Chinese. I found both the dog and his master savage fighters, and if it had not been for my stout leather leggings, my legs would have been bitten by the collie, which sprang to its master's assistance. The swagman was summarily dealt with at Camooweal, but the sentence of six month's imprisonment imposed on him meant that I now had to escort the man 400 miles to Boroloola police prison to servo it. At first my prisoner refused to mount a horse, and said he would have to be dragged all the way. When at last I pretended to take him at his word and buckled a long leather strap round his waist and attached the other end to a pack horse, he gave in, and thereafter we were good friends all the way." The old wall-eyed dog followed his " boss " with pa.thetic faithfulness, and he too made friends with the trooper, who had to sleep handcuffed to his prisoner through many a lonely night watch.

Avenging a Murdered Friend. . Mr. Thorpe always took a deep interest in the habits and customs of the native tribes, a fact which stood him in good stead when he set out to avenge the murder of his friend, Mr. Will Calder, a young squatter, who had been battered to death by Arralla, a ferocious; blackfellow. Tlio murderer had fled to the desert country, but hearing that a big corroboree had been held near Lake Nash station, Messrs. Curnow and Thorpe, accompanied by Mr. Isaac Little, set out for the scene of the festivity, where more than 100 wild blacks were assembled, Their camp was rushed at dawn, by the white men, but Arralla was not among them.

Finally, Arralla was unearthed at the edge of the scrub, from which Mr. Thorpe tried to head him off. He then rallied the frightened blacks and called on them to spear the white men, and his own boomerang grazed Mr. Thorpe's ihoulder. It was impossible to take him alive, for at the slightest hint of mercy he howled and spat defiance, and the other warrigals were getting out of haijd. Finally, jnst as he was in the act of flinging a stone-headed spear at Mr. Thorpe, he was shot through the heart, and the others seeing him fall, immediately sat down and made overtures for peace. There was rough justice in; those days, but even then Mr. Thorpe had to ride out in every direction in order to secure a justice and jury to visit the scene, and free him of blame in connection with the blackfellow's death. Snakes, Scorpions and Alligators. From Camomveal Mr. Thorpe was transferred to Powell's Creek police station., 400 miles inland. Stores reached here once a year, and all flour had to be emptied out into a huge tarpaulin and. kept in the open air, lest the weevils and muggy heat should render it unfit to eat. " I got a lot of experience in tracking for I was continually out in search of missing men," said Mr. Thorpe, " and have sometimes . been able to beat the black boys at their own' game in this regard. The lubras I think are better trackers than the men as a rule.

" Snakes and scorpions abounded at. Powell's Creek, and I have often shaken a scorpion out of my sock:;. One night at Cobb's Creek we killed 17 black snakes before we lay down to sleep, and in the morning one fine horse was lying dead. In addition to my duties as a police constable, I acted as cattle inspector and customs officer. Ticks were a curso to the cattle, and the dreaded bot fly was also prevalent. Swamp cancer and lumpy throat also affected many of the poor beasts. The human beings made up for it all in malaria, and I had my share of it. Nobody but a bushman knows the kinship which grows up between a man and his horse in those outback places. " I lost only one horse during my strenuous career. An alligator got the poor beast as we were crossing a flooded river. These dreadful creatures are a terrible scourge, and I have heard many tales Gf their ferocity. A man wai; dragged out of his boat on the McArthur River one moonlight night, and no tirace was ever found of the unfortunate fellow, who had foolishly disregarded all warnings and gone to sleep with one foot hanging over the side of his boat. One station had so many horses and cattle taken by alligators that the owners abandoned the place in disgust."