ABORIGINAL HERO.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19199, 16 June 1924, Page 9

ABORIGINAL HERO.

PRISONER SAVES CAPTOR. HONOURED BY THE KING. {From Oca Own Correspondent.! SYDNEY, June 5. In testifying to the heroic and selfsacrificing qualities of the Australian aboriginals, Miss C. Neill, speaking at a missionary meeting at .tiuelaide last week, related facts which were made public for the first time ,of a splendid act by a chained aboriginal which won for him recognition from the King. M iss Neill said that many people considered the aboriginals little better than dogs, and she had hoard one man in the west describe them as monkeys. Perhaps they were a degraded race, but the white mai) was responsible for their worst traits, 'that there was something noble in them, however, could not bo doubted by any person who was familiar with their lives, and she quoted an instance of heroism rarely equalled in human history in support of her assertion. One tribe, hungry and helpless, wandered across a Roper River station, and to avoid actual starvation killed a bullock. They did not attempt to conceal the action, which was dictated by natural law and their own customs, and left the skin in the paddock, i he station owner, on discovering the matter, sent for the police, and after an' investigation an aborigine wa s arrested. A trooper put the aborigine in chains and began the long journey to his station. On the way it was necessary to cross a flooded river, and as a cord could not be found (ho trooper sent his captive, still in irons, into the water to find a crossing place. He got across in safety, and then the trooper on horseback rode into the water. A log floating down stream disabled the horse, and the trooper had to swim. The current was too strong for him, and bo was becoming exhausted, when the chained prisoner jumped in after him and somehow or other brought him to safety. That act of devotion impelled the trooper to place the facts under the notice of the King, who awarded the aboriginal the Albert Medal. Humour was introduced into the sequel by the fact that the recipient had no clothes to which the medal could be pinned, so it was hung from his neck.