October 18.
Artwork by Glenn Loughrey
Attitudes supporting violence
Public attitudes that undergirded the violence against indigenous people
It is difficult to judge who was in charge of the Native Police detachment that started its dirty work at Skull Pocket and finished at Skeleton Creek, via the Mulgrave Valley. Suspicion could fall on Sub-Inspector William Austin Nichols who was based at Nigger Creek (now called Wondecla, south of Herberton), some 40 kilometres from the start of the fracas. Certainly, he was held responsible for his troopers killing 'two gins and a picaninny and a fellow called King Billy', [1] round 8 p.m. on Saturday 18 October 1884. Sub-Inspector Nichols was 'suspended in consequence of circumstances in connection with the recent murders at Irvinebank'. [2] White settlers had some sympathy for the Sub-Inspector, as Mrs Kate Atherton wrote to her daughter, Lucy: 'I suppose you will have heard that poor Nichol[s] has been arrested...we hear Galloway [sic] and the troopers were to be arrested also there is to be a hearing at Herberton. Today Isley and Carr went up...I hope there will not be anything done to them.' [3] Kate Atherton's wish came true: Nichols was acquitted. [4] It was not until 22 October 1885 that the troopers were discharged in Townsville, because no acceptable interpreters could be found. [5] One Herberton correspondent wrote: 'the fate of Nichols will be the salvation of any amount of murderous niggers [sic].' [6]
Sub-Inspector Ronald Garraway took over from his 'disgraced' associate, Nichols, who had been dismissed. [7] Certainly the 'battue'* episode appears to have emboldened the male settlers of the district, for in mid-April 1885 a further 'outrage was committed', when Jamieson of Buchan Estate's housekeeper was threatened by the Yirrganydji, and the homestead surrounded. [8] In response, Police in a customs boat were dispatched to investigate, while '[a] number of townsmen rode over...armed with revolvers and breachloaders in case of a collision, but no such luck was in store'. The events caused great indignation. [9]
Cairns Post, 20 November 1884. 'The prosecution led conflicting evidence which could not be corroborated through the interpreters. There was strong evidence that Inspector Nicholls [sic] instructed the Native Troopers to shoot the Aborigines and burn them, and when their success was reported to inspector Nicholls [sic], he apparently commended the Troopers. However, Judge Cooper discharged the prisoners and dismissed the case...' R S Kerr, 'Aborigines & Mining in North Queensland in the 1880s – the Police Commissioner's Dilemma', unpublished article, cites Queenslander, 13 & 24 December 1884, 17 January 1885, 7 February& 2 May 1885; Herberton Advertiser, 21, 24 & 28 January 1885, 4 March 1885; Cairns Post, 30 January 1885; and QSA, 1885/342, A/18293. Personal communication with Dr Ruth Kerr, 13 February 1999. See also QSA, A/40104, Nichols' Police File. In 1921, 35 years after his dismissal, Nichols tried to claim a pension for his nine years of service with the Native Police but failed, as he had not resigned as he asserted.
Cairns Post, 20 November 1884. However, it appears that another incident prior to Irvinebank killings, where Nichols let 'two prisoners whom he had arrested on warrant' escape, was the reason for his dismissal. QSA/40104, 85/1597.
Mrs Kate Atherton to Lucy Brown (nee Atherton), 19 January 1885. John Oxley Library OM67-26/2.
Cairns Post, 22 January 1885.
QSA, 1885/342.
Cairns Post, 15 January 1885.
On a speculative note, could the dismissal have been a ruse to hide Nichols' role in the much more devastating Skull Pocket/Mulgrave River/Skelton Creek battue? See note 70 further on p.237.
Cairns Post, 16 April 1885. Two or three Yirrganydji were wounded, although not before the cattle had been raided, a horse speared and 'all the ropes and sails in the store' had been destroyed.
Cairns Post, 16 April 1885. It was even suggested that the 'entire Northern population of blacks ...should be massed together towards the north of [and opposite] Double Island, on an area admirably suited for a hunting ground...the native police... [to] see that their charge is kept strictly within a certain boundary. The present state of things is becoming intolerable'.
Acknowledgment: Timothy Bottoms, Conspiracy of Silence, pp. 148-149, 237-238 n.65, n.66, n.67, n.68, n.69, n.70, n.71, n.72, n.73.
* Battue – 'the beating or driving of game from cover in order to be killed by hunters'.