December 4.
“A Portrait of Australia With Important Bits Missing” by Glenn Loughrey
The bias of juries
[This citation is continued in the entry for 6 December.]
“In...Queensland] it thus generally remained impossible to imagine a jury of whites ...pass[ing] a verdict leading to the conviction and execution of a white man for the murder of a black.
From the separation [of the state of Queensland] in 1859, if not earlier, and many years onwards, it thus generally remained impossible to imagine a jury of whites who would pass a verdict leading to the conviction and execution of a white man for the murder of a black. Indeed, as it was phrased by the editor of the frontier journal the Cooktown Courier in October 1876: 'we all know that it is ridiculous to expect a white man to be hanged for the murder of a black in Queensland'. [1]
The first time such a sentence was passed [by a judge] was in December 1884. It was the case of two crew of the recruiting schooner 'Hopeful'...charged with the murder of two islanders [not Queensland Aboriginals] off the Harris Island village Senorowa...off the east coast of New Guinea. It was the second mate Neil McNeil and the boatswain Bernard Williams who were both convicted to hang. The entire case and the manner in which it was allowed to play out in public meetings throughout the colony speak volumes about the attitudes of the period and are certainly worthy of some serious attention.
...The case for which they were convicted emerged at Senorowa where a group of Islanders had canoed out, in traditional style, to meet and trade peacefully with the vessel, only to see themselves surrounded by armed men in boats. The murder victims were from the description entirely unarmed; they were shot when they resisted or attempted to flee their captors. McNeill killed one man with a shot to his chest when this fellow attempted to defend himself with his oar and Williams seemingly lost his patience after the other islander refused to give in and attempted for the second time to jump overboard and swim to his freedom. Williams was then described as coolly taking aim...and shooting this man in his back at close range.
...The idea that [frontier society] was now about to face...the very real prospect of seeing two whites hanged in the courtyard of Brisbane's main gaol for the murder of 'blacks', caused an absolute sensation with massive protest-meetings at all key locations in the colony.
The number of participants, speeches and reports from these meetings, added public statements, petitions, and letters to newspapers and leading articles altogether makes the most compelling statement and reading. Indeed, these papers ought to be classified as no less than obligatory reading for anyone who wishes to understand colonial race relations and the mindset of the settlers in this period. The fact that this and many similar events have been entirely ignored by all previous historical accounts add significantly to the list of issues worthy of some reflection.
...while a majority of Queenslanders accepted that men found guilty of such behaviour ought to be punished in some way; they remained deeply appalled at the thought of seeing a white person publicly executed for the killing of a black. Many speakers were particularly dismayed by the thought that these convictions and executions might be performed on evidence predominately provided by the schooner's 'negro cook', three kanaka crew and a 'pacific islander'...
Cooktown Courier, 18 October 1876 p.2a.
Acknowledgment: Robert Ørsted-Jensen, Frontier History Revisited, pp. 27-29, n.26.