OUTBACK PERILS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22525, 16 September 1936, Page 18

OUTBACK PERILS

DEATH OF A HUNTER DESERTED AND ALONE DISCOVERY BY COMPANION [from our own correspondent] SYDNEY, Sept. 10 Circumstances surrounding the death of Bertram H. Coombes, aged 44 years, a returned soldier, who came to Australia from New Zealand about seven years ago, bear eloquent testimony to the hardships of lifo in the outback of North Australia. Coombes was a buffalo hunter in the Northern Territory, and his body was found by his mate, Edward Sawdy, near the dried-up Alligator River. Coombes had died from thirst and exhaustion.

Sawdy reached Darwin, aftor many sufferings himself, with news of his mate's death,, and his story was an illustration of the risks men and women "up north" take„in tho course of their everyday existence. Sawdy said that Coombes, who was making for tho nearest settlement to got petrol lor their car, apparently had a dispute with the aboriginal who was guiding him to Namborgo Swamp, and the native left him. Also with the party was a piccaninny who remained loyal to the white man. Water In Motor Tube

Coombes rode his horses until they knocked up, then walked with the piccaninny toward the coast, carrying a motor tube over his shoulders to hold water. Coombes worked back toward the river and stayed there for five days. He had fever, and when he became weak he scratched a message on a tin billy and sent the piccaninny back to Sawdy. The piccaninny did not want to leave his master, but went whep Coombes threatened to shoot him if he stayed. The message read: "Perished Namborgo. Dried out. Can't find water. anywhere. Bert." There was another line at the bottom of the tin which Sawdy could not decipher, something about matches.

Breaking News to Wife

Next day Sawdy found Coombes only eight miles from water, exactly where the piccaniiiny had left him. Coombes had then been dead 12 hours. Sawdy had nothing to dig a grave, so he covered the body with bushes. Sawdy himself was now in need of water, so went to the nearest water hole and then straight to another buffalo hunter's camp, where he arranged for flour to be sent to the camp where Mrs. Sawdy and Mrs. Coombes were staying. Sawdy sent a letter to his wife, whom he described as worth "50 men," telling her to break the news to Mrs. Coombes. Sawdy said he was anxious about Mrs. Coombes, who came from England and was not a bushwoman, but not about his own wife, a Hawkesbury woman of 30, who was a real bushwoman.

Sawdy then continued his tedious iourney to Darwin. The coastal steamer Maroubra will take him, a coroner, police, and a doctor to Alligator River, whence they will endeavour to find the spot where Coombes' body was left. Meanwhile no news has been received of the plight of Mrs. Sawdy and Mrs. Coombes, but Sawdy has full confidence in his wife's ability to keep them safe.