December 9.
“A Portrait of Australia With Important Bits Missing” by Glenn Loughrey
Casualties of ‘force of arms’
Claiming land for the Crown.
A small detachment of five soldiers also arrived from Sydney [in July, 1801] under the command of Corporal John Wixtead, whose orders were to supervise the [coal] mining operations, clear and cultivate some ground and report on the movement of any vessels that came and went. The governor [Philip King] declared the coal and timber to be the exclusive property of the Crown.
Acknowledgment: Mark Dunn, the Convict Valley, p.36
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Law and Order and the “Force of Arms”
In the aftermath of the attack, the party cleared the site. 'we destroyed 11 Dogs', [John] Danvers noted, 'and brought one alive'. Keeping dogs for hunting, and their services as canine alarm systems and additional protection, was one of the major Aboriginal adaptations to British colonisation. But there were other signs of adaptation in the camp. As well as 52 spears and 29 waddies, there were 14 blankets, 28 knives, 6 partial sheep shears, 2 razor blades, '1 Fowling piece', some gunpowder, and 'A quantity of ball and shot'.
Of the Aboriginal people, Danvers reported that 'two only were, unfortunately, taken alive'. These were conveyed back to Oatlands under guard, where the party arrived the following day. There were other casualties – 'several of whom were killed', Danvers simply but matter-of-factly reported to Anstey. He did not report what the soldiers did with the bodies, but he did note that the blankets were 'destroyed by Fire'. They also 'burned all the Native Huts'.
Upon successful completion of this operation Danvers signed a mission report, titled 'Statement of Proceedings of an armed party of 9 Soldiers, two Constables and John Danvers guide, sent out in Pursuit of the Aborigines by the police Magistrate of Oatlands'. William Holmes, one of the field police constables attached to the expedition, also signed the report on 9 December 1828. This was forwarded to the Colonial Secretary's Office for [Governor] Arthur's information.
On the same day, someone in Oatlands wrote to the Hobart Town Courier with a glowing commendation of 'their indefatigable exertions on this most harassing service'. [1] While offering a terse description of the mission, the writer clearly had exact information, listing the same numbers of trophies taken in the raid. But the letter also gave extra specifics not detailed in Danvers' account. 'Ten of the Natives were killed on the spot', the writer asserted, 'and the rest fled'. Of the 'two prisoners' that the party brought back to Oatlands, they were apparently 'a black woman and her boy'.
Hobart Town Courier, 13 December 1828, p. 2.
Acknowledgment: Nick Brodie, The Vandemonian War, pp. 34, 386 n.25
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Dispossessed by force.
By the 1870s European authority had effectively been established, and it was established by force of arms. This is a point that should not be passed over lightly; dozens of Aboriginal nations occupying a region which in combination exceeded the land mass of Europe were dispossessed through force of arms. In so far as rule of law did work on the frontier to recognise Aboriginal people as British subjects, it did so principally to punish them, indicated by the considerable figure of 22 Aboriginal people tried and executed over the first 30 years of settlement [in South Australia].
Acknowledgment: Robert Foster and Amanda Nettelbeck, Out of the Silence, p. 121.