INLAND AUSTRALIA
PROSPECTING FOR GOLD FIERCENESS OF BLACKS N.Z. MAN'S EXPERIENCE Men who strike out into the heart of the great continent of Australia must expect unusual experiences, and .\lr J. 11. O'Kcefe, an Aucklander who returned to his native city about a month ago. can claim to have had his share of them. For the past three years he has been prospecting in the Northern Territory, with Alice Springs as his headquarters,"" and the country has laid its fascination upon him, for lie intends to go back there before long. Mr O'Keefe went prospecting sometimes alone, sometimes with a male, and sometimes as a member of a party. He met with varying success. On one occasion his mate and he took out £BCC worth of gold in a fortnight in the Schist .Hills district, and naturally thought they had struck a new El Dorado, but it proved to be only a pocket. That was his best strike, and for the most pari anything lie made in. prospecting was quickly spent in filling out another expedition.
PERILS OF DESERT
Mr O'Kcefe took part in the Oranites, rush, and be ami his party nearly lost their lives from thirst coming back' from there to the railhead at Alice Springs. They had to cross a bare bell ol' 200 miles absolutely without water. and their motor truck caused litem serious trouble. The tail-shaft broke, and the tyres were destroyed so thai they had to travel on the bare rims. They were fortunately found and rescued by another party coming out from Alice Springs, but "they had to abandon their truck. The country described in. "Lassiter's Last Ride" is familiar to Mr O'Kcefe. and he has met. several of the men who figure prominently in that book. He describes many of the blacks in that part as savage and' dangerous. One man he knew", when pitching camp recently, was set on. by about a dozen natives, who clubbed him about the head. He managed, however, lo struggle to his rifle, and they fled after he had shot several of then!, lie will bear the marks of the encounter to the grave. TRIBAL LAW ■ The blacks keep their own tribal boundaries very strictly, and it is death for a native of one tribe to be found in the territory of another, (hi one occasion Mr O'Keefe's parly brought a black boy with them some hundreds of miles to' Alice Springs. The boy took one look at the strange settlement and then fled, lie was "afterwards found about 200 miles out, cut to pieces beside a water-hole. Ho bad' been trying to make his way back to bis. own people, but had been caught by members of another tribe and paid the penalty of being out of bounds.
The lonely granite gravestone of Frederick Brooks bears testimony to the fierceness with which these blacks hold to their custom. Brooks was in the habit of giving damper to native children who came about his camp. As in duty hound they took if home to the men of the tribe, who consumed it themselves. This was not what J'rooks wanted or intended, so he made the children eat the clamper in his presence. This breach of tribal law sealed bis doom, and the outraged men of the tribe set upon him and murdered him.
LACK OF WATER Lack of water is, of course, ihe great curse of the land. The temperature, goes up to 120 degrees by 10-o'clock, in the morning, but it is surprisingly cold at nights; At Alice Springs, where there ii" vegetation, and a good supply of underground water is available, children seven years of age have been known to become hysterical with excitement at the sight of their first shower of rain. When'water is obtainable it is often of poisonous quality, and charcoal filters and Condy's fluid are habitually used to purify it." Barren and'desolate, as great areas' of land are, yet if there should come good rains it proves wonderfully fertile, and grass and flowers of many kings spring up in a marvellously short time.
In spite of its hardships and deprivations the great inland territory makes its strong appeal to many and weaves its spell over them.
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Bibliographic details
Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18879, 3 December 1935, Page 2
Word Count
706INLAND AUSTRALIA Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18879, 3 December 1935, Page 2
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