May 15.
Artwork by Glenn Loughrey
The utmost secrecy
Function of the Native Mounted Police of Queensland
The prime function of the [Native Police] Force can be seen from the Official Instructions of the Commandant to the Officers and Camp Sergeants:
It is the duty of the officers at all times and opportunities to disperse any large assemblage of blacks; such meetings, if not prevented, invariably lead to depredations or murder; and nothing but the mistaken kindness of the officers in command, inspired the blacks with sufficient confidence to commit the late fearful outrages on the Dawson River. The officers will therefore see the necessity of teaching the Aborigines that no outrage or depredation shall be committed with impunity – but on the contrary, retributive justice shall speedily follow the commission of crime, nevertheless the officers will be careful in receiving reports against the blacks, as it frequently happens that mistakes are made as to the identity of the aggressors. In cases of any collision with the Aborigines, a report is to be forwarded to the Commandant without delay. [1]
These instructions left a great deal to the discretion of the Sub-Inspector in determining the authenticity of information and on the interpretation to be given to such terms as “Aboriginal crime', “retributive justice” and “dispersal”.
When a dispersal developed into wholesale slaughter, or when in fact, a dispersal was a murderous raid, no one really knew except the Sub-Inspector. The (white) officer of a Native Police detachment, unaccompanied by any other European, was in fact a law unto himself as he patrolled the remote frontier of Queensland. Evidence of Aborigines who were being repressed on the pretext of depredations and assaults was inadmissible as was that of the native troopers of the detachment.
The workings of the Native Mounted Police were shrouded in the utmost secrecy. Sub-Inspectors were instructed to be “very particular in always avoiding indiscrete discussions” and were not to allow any person unconnected with the Native Police to interfere with or accompany them or give orders to any of the troopers under their command. Sub-Inspectors would hardly forward reports to the Commissioner that would incriminate themselves.
Some “white” opinion was critical of the functions of the Native Mounted Police. The Queenslander commented in 1880: “How many of us understand the euphemistic word 'dispersal'? If it advisable that, as a colony, we should indulge in wholesale murder pf the rate...let us have the courage of our opinions, and murder openly and deliberately, calling it 'murder' and not 'dispersal'”. [2] It was very convenient for Native Police officers and for the European colonizers to refer to a Native police action as a “dispersal” with its overtones of politeness and nebulousness. A “dispersal” was in fact a camouflage for indiscriminate killing, rape and child braining. Quite often, dispersals were instigated on grounds that were highly doubtful. “I don't think they can understand anything else except shooting them” stated Lieutenant Wheeler… [3]
An appendix to the Select Committee on Native Mounted Police Votes and Proceedings, (Legislative Assembly Queensland) 1861, pp. 151-152.
The Queenslander, 15 May 1880.
“Evidence of Minutes” in Votes and Proceedings, 1861, p. 29.
Acknowledgment: Robert E. M. Armstrong, The Kalkadoons – A study of an Aboriginal tribe on the Queensland frontier, William Brooks & Co, pp.109, 111, 114 n.18, n.19, n.20.