| Historical notes: | 5.1.4First Europeans: Thomas Mitchell the Explorer Reaches Wilcannia in 1835.
Thomas Mitchell led the first exploring party to reach Wilcannia and gave the Barkandji their first unpleasant taste of what was to come. Mitchell travelled via the Bogan to the Baaka/Darling River near Bourke and then down the river to Wilcannia then Menindee, reaching it in July 1835. Mitchell called the people near Wilcannia the "Spitting Tribe" because of their demonstrations of anger which included spitting on the ground and making dust with their toes to warn the exploring party off.
Mitchell's comments show that the Barkandji groups he met occupied "different portions of the river" (Mitchell 1839:304), and that they owned the resources in their territories including the water in the river. The exclusive possession enjoyed by the Barkandji and the need to obtain permission before using any of their resources is demonstrated by the following comment about the "Spitting Tribe" from the river near Wilcannia:
The Spitting tribe desired our men to pour out the water from their buckets, as if it had belonged to them; digging, at the same time a hole in the ground to receive it when poured out; and I have more than once seen a river chief, on receiving a tomahawk, point to the stream and signify that we were then at liberty to take water from it, so strongly were they possessed with the notion that the water was their own" (Mitchell 1839 Vol I:304).
The heavy exploitation of seeds, notably Panicum grass seeds, was a feature along the Baaka/Darling River and its tributaries, as indicated by the vast number of unbroken and broken grinding dishes found in archaeological sites all along the river and out from the river. Mitchell describes harvesting of grasses along the Baaka/Darling north of Wilcannia:
the grass had been pulled and piled in hayricks ... extending for miles All the grass was of one kind, being a new species of Panicum. ... Not a spike of that kind of grass was left, the whole of the ground where it lay some-what resembling a harvest field (Mitchell 1839 Vol I: 237).
Fire was a major tool of land management used by Barkandji at the contact period. The discontinuation of Aboriginal fire practices brought about immediate change to the vegetation and was possibly a major factor in the extinction of some animal species as well. It has been shown that Aboriginal firing varies from natural firing in both intensity and frequency, with specific methods for different ecosystems and cultural areas. After his trips to the Baaka/Darling River Mitchell stated:
Fire, grass, kangaroos, and human inhabitants, seem all dependent on each other for existence in Australia; for any of these being wanting, the others could no longer continue" (Mitchell 1848:412).
Explorer Charles Sturt noted that the Menindee Lakes (similar to the Wilcannia Lakes) when filled by floods formed "temporary reservoirs" holding "immense numbers of fish... which may thus be considered a providential provision for the natives, whose food changes with the season" (Sturt 1849:135).
Sturt described the diet of Bolboschoenus corms (parilla) and "witchetty" grubs (parrti) when Cawndilla Lake was dry in 1844:
At this period they subsisted on the barilla root, a species of rush which they pound and make into cakes, and some other vegetables; their greatest delicacy being the large caterpillar (laabka), producing the gum-tree moth, an insect they procure out of the ground at the foot of those trees, with long twigs like osiers, having a small hook at the end. The twigs are sometimes from eight to ten feet long, so deep do the insects bury themselves in the ground (Sturt 1849:135).
Mitchell described one method of fishing used in a deep broad reach of the Baaka/Darling River at Menindee in 1835:
they fished daily in different portions of it... The king stood erect in his bark canoe, while nine young men, with short spears, went up the river, and as many down, until, at a signal from him, all dived into it, and returned towards him, alternately swimming and diving; transfixing the fish under water, and throwing them on the bank. Others on the river brink speared the fish when thus enclosed, as they appeared among the weeds, in which small openings were purposely made that they might see them. In this manner, they killed with astonishing despatch, some enormous cod-perch; but the largest were struck by the chief from his canoe, with a long, barbed spear (Mitchell 1839 Vol I:268-9).
In 1862 the area north west of Momba/Mt Murchison on the Darling River near present day Wilcannia was still frontier country. The Crown Lands Commissioner Sharp reports from Cumpedore near Tilpa on his attempt to find the bodies of two white men reportedly killed by the Paroo people;
report the return this day from the Paroo without having been able to discover any portion of the remains of Messr. Curlewis and McCullogh. We were informed that the Blacks have destroyed everything, some by burning them, and others by putting them in water holes" (Sharp 1862).
Frederick Bonney who was based at Mt Murchison homestead at present day Wilcannia and then Momba homestead to the north-west from 1865 to 1881 bluntly states in his notebooks that in this period "natives killed by settlers - shot like dogs" (1866-1915 MSS). Mt Murchison/Momba Station was the very large original station that included the location that was to become Wilcannia township, later split into separate stations. In 1865 it was known as Mt Murchison, in 1881 it was all known as Momba (Figure 11). The original Mount Murchison Station homestead block was also known as Head Station or Karannia, the Barkandji name for the area just north of Steamer Point, near where the Paroo River meets the Baaka/Darling and where the original head station was located (where Kalyanka homestead is, not where Mt Murchison homestead is now). Bonney may have originally lived at "head station" on the river near the location of Wilcannia, but then moved to the new head station where Momba Station is based now between Wilcannia and Peery Lake.
Figure 9 is a very early posed photograph of a group of Aboriginal people outside the original Mount Murchison homestead with pencilled annotations identifying the non-Aboriginal people in image: "Dec. 12th, 1865; F.B. (?) Clayton; Byrne of Bowillie (?) JP I (?); Howard storekeeper; By Pickering travelling photographer." [Photographer possibly Charles Percy Pickering]". The house to the left seems to have bark tile roof, and the smaller building on the right, possibly the very first house, has sheets of bark for the roof. In the middle the building with a white roof may be a large tent. The trees in the background are on the bank of the Darling River. The Aboriginal people include men, women and children, wearing a mixture of traditional and European clothing. Notably five of the women are wearing traditional mourning caps, indicating that close relatives had recently passed away. 5.1.8 The Wilcannia Fringe Camps
The town of Wilcannia always had fringe camps although the details are seldom recorded. In 1876 Constable Harper arrested at Wilcannia a man named Harry Giles, charged him with “shooting and wounding with intent to murder on Tommy, an Aborigine of NSW”. Tommy died a short while later, Harry was remanded for eight days (Wilcannia Police Duty Book 9/6014), it is recorded in the newspapers that he was given 3 years hard labour for the manslaughter of Tommy (Adelaide Observer 11 Nov 1876:12). Importantly it was recorded that Tommy was shot at the “blacks camp” and that the “blacks were camped near the public-house” in the town (The Sydney Morning Herald 23 October 1876: 5), indicating that there was a fringe camp in 1876 in Wilcannia.
Aboriginal Protection Board reports are very patchy but list 18 Aboriginal people living in Wilcannia in 1894, 1897 and 1909. In the 1901 census 22 Aboriginal people are listed as living in Wilcannia, including 17 living in tents in the “blacks camp” and M.A. (Mary Ann?) Smith and her two daughters living on the town common. Two others were living in the town. The Aborigines Protection Board minutes from 1893 to 1901 consistently list rations, clothing and medical attention given to the Wilcannia Aboriginal people, plus tents, and an iron hut for Mary Ann and her daughters.
Barkandji matriarch Eliza Knight is recorded as living in Wilcannia in 1919 where she had her youngest daughter Rita (Births Deaths and Marriages Register), and her other younger children would also have been with her. Her sister Annie Knight/Keagan (later Granny Moysey) was living in Wilcannia around 1922 when she cut out the canoe tree in Union Bend before travelling with her family down river to Albemarle station and then Pooncarie. Granny Moysey’s son Arthur Clark and his wife Gertie nee Whyman/Brown were camped at Steamers Point on the northern edge of Wilcannia in the 1920’s, as Gladys Lawson was born in 1926 when her family were camped at Steamers Point (Tanya Lawson pers. comm.). Eva Knight/Black (daughter of Eliza Knight) and Karl Leppard’s children Eileen, Elsie and Fred were also born at Steamers Point, Elsie in 1928. Figure 18 shows a group of Aboriginal and non- Aboriginal people at Wilcannia in 1925. By comparing other photos, the Aboriginal people can be recognised as belonging to the Quayle and Andrews families, and they may have set up tents for an event such as the annual show, as these families were still living on stations at this time (Beckett, Hercus, & Martin 2008)
In around 1925 the Lawson/Cabbage family moved to Wilcannia from Menindee and set up camp on the riverbank on the Aboriginal Reserve (now within the proposed Aboriginal Place). A photo shows their substantial house in 1935-7, the woman standing at the front has been identified as part of this project by June Jones as her Aunt Ruby Lawson, possibly with one of her sons (Arthur, Ray or Pat) (Figure 19). The location of the house can be determined by the river bank and the stone building across the river on the extreme left of the photo (the Bond Store which still stands). Note the strong wooden forked pole structure, and the use of flattened tins as roof tiles and wall cladding.
In December 1930 the sum of £7 0/4 was distributed among nine adult and five Aboriginal children at Wilcannia under the Aborigines Protection Board (Barrier Miner 2 December 1930: 3).
The following article gives a description of the fringe camp on the east side of the river in the area of the Mission camps in the proposed Aboriginal Place:
"About 40 aborigines still live in the Wilcannia district and most of these are camped about a mile below the town on the eastern bank of the River Darling. One of the occupants of the camp is engaged on Government relief work, while some of the others work on stations near Wilcannia. Ten of the remainder get Government rations. Norman and his wife Selina are the interesting couple of the camp, and it is claimed by Selina that she remembers 'Burke and Wills going through the district" (Barrier Miner 30 October 1930, p 2).
Selina passed away in Wilcannia in 1933, she was the wife of Norman Lindsay, a well-known Miikitja or cleverman:
"Lena Lindsay, a full blooded aboriginal, and known as the "Queen of the Paroo," died at Wilcannia a few days ago. Her age is not known, but she stated to many people that she was in the district when the Burke and Wills expedition passed through." (Barrier Miner 11 April 1933, p 2). In 1933 it is recorded that 48 Aboriginal people were “Camped near Wilcannia” (Barrier Miner 4 April 1933, page 4). The Wilcannia fringe camp numbers swelled when visitors from the north west or other sections of the Darling River arrived:
"ABORIGINES MOVING ABOUT
Aborigines are again on the move according to reports received by Superintendent Gibson from police in the district. A large number recently left Tibooburra for White Cliffs, but they have apparently tired of that place for they are now at Wilcannia where they are receiving Government rations" (Barrier Miner 1 July 1932, p. 1).
In 1935 an Aboriginal man from Wilcannia was interviewed by the Broken Hill paper: “The Wilcannia man mentioned that many of the [Aboriginal people] at the river town are still engaged on station work, but that jobs were not plentiful” (Barrier Miner 2 May 1935, page 6).
The Menindee Aboriginal Station, better known as Old Menindee Mission, was opened in September 1933 and in 1949 it was closed and moved to Murrin Bridge near Lake Cargelligo (Martin 2001). About 270 Aboriginal people were brought by train from the Carowra Tank Aboriginal Station (or Mission) north of Ivanhoe and dumped on a bare sandhill about 12 km north of Menindee township and on the eastern side of the river and this became Menindee Mission. About another 100 people were forced into the Mission from Barkandji country including Menindee, Pooncarie and White Cliffs. It had a significant impact on the history of the Mission camps in Wilcannia as it was very unpopular and people were dying at a terrifying rate from Tuberculosis (TB) because of the enforced concentration of people, so as time went on more and more people left Menindee Mission and settled in Wilcannia.
Barkandji people began to escape from Menindee Mission immediately, and many started to move to Wilcannia in the mid 1930's. Aunty Amy Quayle quickly escaped from Menindee Mission to resume her old life of freedom travelling up and down the river:
"I ran away with Grannie Moysey, I was about 8 or 9. She had a sulky with a horse and only Emily [her youngest daughter Emily Clark] was with her. Grannie settled Wilcannia at Mukuli Bend, then others came to Wilcannia and she moved closer to town. ... she didn’t like the idea of living on a mission... we went back to Menindee [only] to visit the family. I got a job at Culpaulin, I took Molly Lawson’s place. Emily used to work for Leckie’s at Nelyambo "(Martin 2001).
As people moved out of Menindee Mission and Brewarrina Mission, the fringe camps at Wilcannia grew. People also moved from White Cliffs to Wilcannia at this time, shown by the Catholic Church baptisms of well-known Barkandji family members, largely at White Cliffs in the 1930’s and then mostly at Wilcannia in the 1940’s. The fringe camps were located mainly on the eastern side of the Darling River but also on the western side near Steamer Point, and Wowser Bend and Union Bend. These fringe camps were located on the river to be close to water, fishing and yabbying, and also shade from the large trees on the riverbank. The camps were spread along the river bank for a distance either side of town.
In 1950, 1951 and 1956 the river had record-breaking floods and the fringe camps along the river were flooded out. People moved to higher ground on the western side of the river, mainly in the area back from the river known as the Mallee, but also at Steamers Point. Tents were supplied during the 1956 flood and many people began to build tin houses and settle down at the Mallee. This was repeated in 1974 when there was another very high flood. The Aborigines Welfare Board (AWB)after many years of broken promises finally built some houses on the flat ground behind the river where people were camped. In May 1953 the fourteen new houses on the Reserve or “Mission” were finally completed. The “new housing settlement for aborigines at Wilcannia” was officially opened and “provides modern accommodation for aborigines who formerly lived in bag huts and humpies” (Barrier Miner Thu 7 May 1953 ). These tiny houses were all lined up on both sides of a street, providing an uncomfortable social experience for people who had previously chosen to live next to family and kin and self-managed their distance to neighbours who were not close kin. The rent for the houses was also an issue for families who had to exist on seasonal and non-permanent work for income. For the first six months there was no water connected and the people still had to get water from the river, which was now even further away than it was in the riverbank camps. There was no electricity to begin with. As part of this project and the Wilcannia Community Aboriginal Heritage Study we collected oral history from members of the community and recorded some canoe trees and coolamons trees, places where people camped along the river, and places with traditional or historic stories. This oral history is very significant because it documents who lived there, but more importantly it documents what was hard about those times (carting water, no electricity, primitive toilets etc,) and what was better about those times than today (no bills, extended families and friendships, freedom and pride, a beautiful river and lots of fish). The stories talk about the close family ties and extended kinship groups, it talks about how everyone helped each other, and how every child was looked after. They emphasise a sense of freedom and pride, and the self-reliance and resilience of the people.
Some of the oral history about living in the Mission camps collected is summarised in the assessment report (the story tellers and their family have copyright of these stories) |