November 7.
Artwork by Glenn Loughrey
Warfare and martial law
Tactics used by the Darug people but casualties still occurred.
The Darug used revenge attacks against settlers on the Hawkesbury, and the British recognised these killings as such. When Robert Luttrill died from club wounds on 7 November 1811, the jury at his inquest found 'that the deceased came to his death by means of a blow from a native; which blow was given in consequence of the deceased breaking the spears of the native, and taking away their women'. The tactics Darug raiding parties used to avoid British pursuers also came from traditional warfare. The range of these tactics can be seen by examining three separate actions in April and May 1805. In the first, the angry Henry Lamb pursued the Darug men he thought had set fire to his farmhouse but they evaded him by first laying a false trail west towards the Blue Mountains before making their escape south to the Nepean. In the second, a Darug camp at North Rocks had watch dogs which barked in alarm when a settler party tried to attack, enabling the Darug to escape. In the third, a Darug group led by Yaragowby built fires on the west bank of the Nepean to give the impression of a camp in order to lure the Richmond Hill settlers into an ambush. In this incident, the settlers were accompanied by two men of the Burraberongal group. They warned the settlers that it was an ambush and the settlers were able to stealthily encircle Yaragowby's party instead, killing him and about seven or eight others. [1]
Sydney Gazette, 16 November 1811, 2 June 1805, 5, 12 & 19 May 1805.
Acknowledgment: John Connor, The Australian Frontier Wars 1788-1838, pp. 44-45, 135 n.33.
____
“Patriotic duty”
[Governor] Arthur's first response to martial law* was to encourage civilian parties to capture Aborigines in the Settled Districts. One party was led by Gilbert Robertson, chief constable at Richmond, with his friend Kickerterpoller as the guide. On 7 November [1828] they tracked down Umarrah and his wife, Laoninneloonner, at their campsite in the Eastern Marshes. Both were captured, along with another couple and a young boy, Cowertenninna, or John Woodburn, who came from Little Swanport. Robertson then shot and killed another man who had tried to escape. Umarrah's capture was triumphantly reported to the press, for he was well known to the settlers, and many believed that the event signalled a major shift in the course of the war. But Umarrah had other ideas. He told Robertson 'that white people had been murdered' because they had driven his people from their kangaroo hunting grounds and he told the Executive Council that 'his determined purpose' was to destroy all the whites he possibly could, 'which he considers his patriotic duty'. [1] In response, Arthur despatched him to Richmond gaol, where he languished with his companions for more than a year. The forced sojourn probably saved his life for a few more years. Robertson's initial success led to his appointment to 'take charge of a roving party of about 10 or 12 men to be employed against the Aborigines', under the control of the military and a salary of £50 per annum. [2]
Arthur then established military patrols or 'pursuing parties' of eight to ten men from the 39th, 40th and 63rd regiments. They operated under the direction of the local magistrate and their orders were to scour the Settled Districts for Aborigines, whom they should capture or shoot.
Col. Sec. To Robertson, 17 Nov. 1828, TAHO CSO 1/331; HTC, 22 Nov. 1828.
BPP, 'Van Diemen's Land', 31 HRA, series III, vol. viii, 335; Plomley, Friendly Mission, 30.
Acknowledgment: Lyndall Ryan, Tasmanian Aborigines, pp. 107, 370 n.3, n.4.
See entry for 1 November.