"OLD NED."

Otago Witness, Issue 2523, 23 July 1902, Page 37

"OLD NED."

There died in the Dunedin Hospital on Saturday, July 19, a man of the name of Edward Bracegirdlc — known to joany people about Ca\ei-slmm as " Old Ned. ' Tin, man has been a figure of conbiderable impoitance in the bush life history of Victoria. He was known in the Dandenong Ranges amongst the bu'-hmen and gold diggers as " P.occl's Ned,' on Recount of haiing •worked as station boy for a runholder of the name of Recce, whoso property lay in Dandenong and Westeruport. Ned as a boy was to a gieat extent associated with blackfellow = , and was quick in picking up the blackfcllow6' methods of reading the mysteries of the forest and plain. He soon acquired a reputation as a tracker. In this capacity Ned's exploits were confined to the rescue of persons who -were lost in the bush. It is easy to write the words, " loi=t in the bu*h," but those who know anything about the Dandenong and Gippuland Ranges will be familiar with the terrible import of that tragic sentence. Great numbers of tho adventurous pioneci-3 of 1 land's inaccessible mazes will remember Reere's Ned as a magician who could master, by hw invincible courage and wonderful insight into the botanical and geological aspect of Nature's is.cc, every danger of mountain and glen. He faoed the dangers of the great ranges, timbered as they are with trees, certainly the most -gigantic of Australia's growth, and these interlaced with dense scrub 12 or 14 feet high. There was also an undergrov.-th of spear and wire grass and a most vicious product called the lawyer. Under thesa conditions it was not turpiwng that many inexperienced bushmen— ttodemen and golddiggers—should lose themselves in this foimidable tangle. In moot cases the man ■who lost his way died in the bush. When prospecting parties started out to try the gold-laden gullies and rtvers their first caie wiii to blaze a track a- they advanced. Each party blazed their own roadway, and in a short time thw blaming process became so zigzagged and interwoven as to make a perfect maze, which, when the lost man got into it, -his death eenter.ee was dcci fed

I have had the. happiness to rescue one nnn who had got into the la-t throes of delirium from ptanation mid excitement after having suffered the mopt inconceivable hoiro<-s of his situation. I can theivfore appreciate the heroic status of the frarlf"^ bnshmnn who can outs-trip the blackfcllow in the search and successful TP'cue of the grim forett'B victim*.. Okl TSfd had no equal as a bushman — one who knew no fear -when on the trail of a lost n~>sui. I knew him well, having bein? one of a party in which Rpece's Ned was a prominent member, who discorered and worked the first golden gully of Gippslaud — " Pheasant Creek " — near "Mount Ba-Ba. 1 would like to name here some of die party who worked t his famou- e'.iim : Ned Wild, my particular mate (a Wiltshire Iran, and nn« of the be=t men that over livp"l). Jimmy Rice and Murk Rice, Pat O'Brien (an American, and a real gocd fellow), Dennia O'Brien (from Old Ireland, and a real gentlemen*, then came Morgan, a man of adventurous life, and Harry Man, afterwards partner of our fellow-townsman MiTynan, of St Clair. There were 18 m our party, and standing in the front rank wa< Recce's Ned, or as he is known here, "Old Ned." This man piloted the «.ur vcyors and track-makers of Gippslaiid through the ranges, and marked out the way for them to follow through country that could not have been faced without the assistance of great skill and courage. D untie hia career he acquired very conbi<!eraV>l° woa'th by his gold discoveries and <Juy<-i '-.icii rowaids. He saved many lives in his searches for lost men, And in these melancholy and dangerous undertakings he never failed. He would find the lost one, dead or alne.. Oiv' many occasions he would go out accompanied by a policeman and others, but. when he had won theie out h« would keep on and ne\er etop till lie had found his man. He did not require to burden himself with heavy supplies of food — a hor.«e pistol, a tomahawk, and fcheath knife were all he required. These, would furnish him with all he wanted. Gipp"!and teemed with birds and animals.. and a man with a cool heid and who did not mind isolation from his fellow man could not go hungry when he had such took to work with. Under Mich eircum-Bt-SBces you would not expect that being lost in the bush should be so full of terrors. I never knew a man, however, who was rescued after, say, 8 or 10 days in the bush, ■who thoroughly recovered the shock. From what I have 6een it must be an appallintr sensation, for I have seen men, whom I knew to be anything but cowards, when so rescued, broken and timid ever afterward". Of course there are exceptions, but very few.

Recce's Ned has, as I have indicated, >»3.; ed fortunes through his hands. Un-

fortunately he ha<3 no appreciation of money, | and would give it away or spend it prodigally. It is not then to be wondered at that he should finally pull up and make a finish of his life in a public hospital ; but such is the history of many an old colonial. J. J. C'OXNOE. The Grey River Argus understand* that the executors of the late Mr Johnstone, the tecond mate of the P<_tone. who was killed by a fall of timber from a truck on tho Greymouth wharf, have made a claim for £1500 damagris" against the Union Steam Shin Company. The Bruce No-License League has decided to issu" a weekly temperance paper up till the timo of the general election. The paper, which is to be edited by the present editor of the Tablpt, who is an ardent temperance worker, w ill be sent to every home in the electorate. The ship Invercargill, about which fome concern is bring felt, left Oamaru for London on March 10 la«r. She had a cargo of wool on board valued at £47.000. She wa- commanded -by Captain Bowling, who had with him his three daughters and a son. aa well as a passenger named M'lnnee. The Prince of Wales, who laid the fov.ndation stone of the Victoria Maori Girls' Sc hool at Auckland la=t year, ha* sent the Governor 20 iruineas as a donation to the funds of ihe institution