9 June 1932

OLD KING BOGLE-EYE GOES WEST

Bush Tragedy Of '37 Gives Gruesome Name To Gawler

Old King Bogle-Eye, nearly a hundred years old, saw the coming of the white man to steal his domain. Who, driving down Murray Street, Gawler, realises that he enters Dead Man's Pass? These are some of the historic tales told below.

Old King Bogle-Eye.

— In 1888-9, when I was a young man, I lived on the River Murray, about 18 miles from Morgan. Our camp was at Boggy Flat, where we used to muster cattle and mark and brand calves for the late Mr. James Heggie, of Angaston. Not far from our camp a number of aborigines were living in wurlies. among them Rab Rae, Kangaroo Jim, Fisherman Jimmy, Harriet, Louisa, and Overseer Tommy. The latter was more intelligent than most of them, and often used to give us a hand with the cattle. It was he who told us that King Bogle Eye was living amongst them, and that he was a great and mighty chief, and king over many tribes along the Murray.

One day I went to see the king. He was a very old man, who might easily have been a hundred years. He was lying on his back, seemed very weak, and could only raise himself by catching hold of a stack fastened to the roof of his wurlie. Considering his great age, he must have been in fair health, as he could still eat corned meat. He often said to me. 'White feller bring salt beef,' which he seemed to enjoy.

Among things he told me were that when he and his people saw the first river boat they were very frightened and thought it was a 'devil-devil.' The great King Bogle Eye and his bodyguard ran away. The people on the boat were calling to the natives and beckoning to them. They wanted to give them some rations, such as tea, sugar and bread, and to show them how to eat them. The natives came nearer little by little, hiding behind trees until they got close enough to take the rations.

No sooner had the boat left than they threw the food into the river, thinking it was poisoned. But the king laughingly remarked, 'We know better today; white feller good; give 'um plenty tucker.'

One morning, at an early hour, Overseer Tommy made his appearance and told us, 'King Bogle Eye dead.' I went across to the camp and found the old man wrapped in his blanket, lying on the river bank. I helped to carry him nearly to the top of a sandhill. I dug the grave and helped to lower him, with his old blankets, his boomerangs, waddies and spears. Overseer Tommy was very much upset over losing the king, and tears were running down his cheeks. — 'Truth,' Blanchetown.

Hectic Kind Of Day.

— Things do not happen much at Penneshaw, but about twenty years ago the little Kangaroo Island town had one day it is not soon likely to forget. [1 Feb 1911].

The occasion was the sale of plant of a company which had gone into liquidation [Kangaroo Island China, Stone, and Clay Company], a junior member of a firm of Adelaide machinists had arrived the day before to attend the sale. Just as he was setting out for the scene, his horse bolted with the vehicle, which was smashed against a post, and the occupant [Mr Forward] had a nasty spill.

The same morning a young man [Reg Bateman] who was dismantling some of the company's plant was injured by portion of it falling on him. He was carried into a nearby house. The owner of the house [W. Howard] and his sons were absent with their four-horsed waggon carting a load of wheat.

These horses were usually quiet, but on this day of days they took into their heads to bolt. They were driven home in a damaged condition.

Finally one of the boys from the house was sent across to a neighboring farm to see how the occupant — an elderly bachelor [William Travers] who lived alone with his dog— was getting on, and found he had been dead some days. — J. Howard, Newstead.

See District of Dudley (1911, February 4). The Kangaroo Island Courier (Kingscote, SA : 1907 - 1951), p. 6. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article191638410

Built In a Day.

— The United States is not the only country where extraordinary results are achieved by organised effort. South Australia can produce at least one such example, and I have an idea a feat somewhat similar was performed at Mount Gambier several years ago. A tablet in the Port Pirie children's playground bears the inscription, 'This playground was built in one day by employes of the B.H.A.S. Proprietary, Ltd., Port Pirie, for the love of the children. August 17, 1918.' Thus is commemorated a wonderful effort which transferred ten acres of unsightly land into on attractive resort. For this result thanks was due to generous monetary assistance by the Associated Smelters, to the organisation of Mr. Gerald Mussen, who suggested the scheme, and to the splendid work of the employes. The spectacle of 2,000 men, all in shirt sleeves, from the general manager (Mr. Robertson) downwards, strenuously toiling in the children's cause, mainly on the long line of ringing picks and shovels, was one never to be forgotten by those who saw it. 'Only coatless men allowed on ground' was the order of the day, bandsmen, pressmen, and photographers excepted. Scores of 'cloakroom stewards' issued tickets and safeguarded garments, and hundreds of women attended to the commissariat. The cartage of 2,000 loads of material, white Wardang sand, and garden soil, employed over 100 drays. Three miles of trenches were excavated. Five thousand tons of earth were removed. Pits were dug for the full-grown cotton palms which were replanted; one, 30 feet high, weighing five tons. No fewer than 25,000 bricks, with gear and other equipment, were carted to the ground. The erection of a fence 2,000 yards long was completed by noon. Buildings and equipment erected during the day included a central pavilion (70 ft. x 3O ft.), with kindergarten facilities, shelter sheds, basketball grounds, rounder bases, vaulting bucks, Roman rings, horizontal bars, swings, rocker boats, see-saws, hammocks, cement wading pools, and sandpits for juveniles, and 112 garden seats. The ornate entrance gates represented £500, and gives an indication of the company's contribution to the cost. In the morning chaotic conditions obtained on a bare, waste area. Evening saw a completed playground with trees, shrubberies, and flowering gardens. — S. W. Osbome, Port Pirie.

Steamer Founders In The Murray.

— Few people living inland realise that a storm on the Murray, and especially in the vicinity of Lake Alexandrina, may be as serious as a tempest at sea.

This was illustrated in 1916 in the case of the steamer Merle (Captain E. Deiner), which foundered in the river. All hands were saved, but only after a strenuous fight of hours against the elements.

The Merle had just been overhauled, and was in perfect order when it left Goolwa for its usual 'run' on the Upper Murray. At Ram Island Captain Deiner dropped anchor for the night. At daylight he started to cross Lake Alexandrina, but, when about three miles from Point McLeay, a strong wind sprang up from the west, and he decided to make for shelter.

The Merle was a two-decked vessel, with deck cabins extending from end to end, which, in a gale, offered considerable resistance to the wind. He dropped anchor on the lee side of Point Sturt. All hands were at dinner when the full force of a gale struck the ship. The anchors began to drag, and the Merle drifted into open water. The engines were set going, and desperate efforts were made to get the steamer's head to the wind. It was no use. The pressure of the gale against the deckhouses, added to the weight of the barge which the steamer was towing, gave the vessel a dangerous list.

By now huge waves were rolling over the surface of the lake. Two of these, larger than the rest, broke right over the vessel. She filled immediately, and sank. When she settled the top deck was just under water, and thither all hands, including the captain's wife, son, and daughter, made their way. It was an insecure refuge, washed every few seconds by great waves.

The boats were on the barge, where the one man on board was unable to launch them. He did finally get one into the water. He had no oars, and had to pull the half swamped shell towards the steamer by the tow-rope, but could not get closer than 30 ft.

Eventually the captain, tearing down a clothes line from the steamer, gave one end of it to the engineer to hold. Taking the other in his teeth, he plunged over the side, and swam to the boat. By means of this comparatively flimsy life-line the boat was got close enough to the steamer to rescue some of the shipwrecked people, and the remainder, by clinging to its sides, managed to get to the barge. That their escape was a narrow one is shown by the fact that before they gained the deck of the hulk, the cabins, furniture, and other wreckage from the sunken ship were swirling past them in the raging water. — E. H. Dodd, Goolwa.

Facts About Robertstown.

— Having read with interest how Laura and other towns were named after early settlers, I believe I can name Robertstown as the leader of them all. One of the first to open a business in the district was Mr. John Roberts, after whom the town which sprang up later was named, John Roberts had two sons, John and William. William still carries on his father's business and is assisted by his two sons, Reg and John. It is more than likely that one of these boys will continue to carry on the store that was his grandfather's; so there will still be descendants of the original Roberts alive long after the pioneer's memory is forgotten. Another interesting feature of Robertstown was a large fresh water lagoon which filled the flats below the town. Though it has been dry now for years, heavy rains still fill a small portion at times, but not sufficiently to endanger the splendid crops grown in its bed. People can still remember when it first filled. It was sufficiently deep for boats to be rowed upon it for some years. About three miles long and a mile or so wide, it was never much deeper than the height of the fences that ran through it, and in times of flood reached within a few chains of the town. — 'Old Resident,' Ngapala.