13 September 1934

KING'S DAUGHTER SAVES HER LOVER'S LIFE 

Warns Her Future Husband Of Tribe's Treacherous Attack

Joe Cooper, the famous buffalo hunter, is probably better known than any other man in the Northern Territory today. He has hunted wild buffaloes for more than 40 years. For most of that time has has lived right out in the wilds, unaccompanied by any white man, hundreds of miles from the nearest white resident, and, except on one occasion, has never been attacked by hostile blacks. 

The secret of his success in that direction is that he always carried a good supply of quinine (the best known remedy for malaria), that he spoke the Aboriginal language like a native, and cultivated a sort of sixth sense that warned him of the approach of danger. Cooper could not explain how or why, but he could rest in his tent, with safety, and no one could approach within a quarter of a mile, day or night, unknown to him. 

Once, when in Arnhem Land, in the presence of several blacks who had never before seen a white man, he shot a kangaroo at a distance of about 200 yards. He also killed dingoes with a pinch of white powder (strychnine) and cured natives of malaria with another pinch of white powder (quinine). To the native mind the powder was of little account, being merely the medium for carrying the magic of the white man, who could either kill or cure, just as he willed with the same thing. 

It is remarkable that while a native will quickly recover from a wound which would invariably prove fatal to a white man, he quickly succumbs to even mild attacks of fever, which a European would throw off with but little inconvenience. And a native has the utmost confidence in a white man's power of driving out diseases. If a white man says (after dosing him with quinine). 'You'll be all right tomorrow.' he will certainly be all right, so great is his faith. But if the white man says, 'You very bad: I think in two days you finish,' it is an equal certainty that within the time stated the black man will die. 

One day, while resting in his tent during the mid-day heat, a faint cooee was heard in the distance, and Cooper sensed that natives in trouble were approaching. He therefore sent his 'boys' out to investigate. They returned shortly with two black women, both evidently suffering from mild malaria. The younger one explained that the other was her mother and was the wife of the king of the tribe. They had heard of Cooper's great powers as a medicine man, and had travelled a long way in the hope that he might relieve them of the evil thing that possessed them. 

The king's daughter was a handsome girl of about 16 years, with coal black wavy tresses neatly combed back over her head, a string of bright red native beads round her shapely neck, a loin cloth of sewn wallaby skin, a breast covering of woven fibre, and shapely athletic limbs. But for its color, her face was more European than Aboriginal, a type frequently seen in Arnham Land, due largely to the introduction of new blood from adjacent northern islands. This largely explains the superior intelligence and fighting abilities of the Arnhem Land coastal tribes, though they still follow all the laws, customs, and superstitions of their ancient Aboriginal ancestors. 

Cooper gave each of the women a strong dose of quinine, a cup of tea, and some food, made them sleep for two hours, and then repeated the dose. In four hours they had quite recovered and had left for their tribe, happy in the possession of a stick of tobacco and a box of matches. 

That night the king and the old warriors sat in council round the campfire and discussed the wonderful white man who seemed to have plenty of medicine which could drive devils out of black men, had firesticks which could kill kangaroos at two spear throws, blankets to keep out cold and wet, and priceless tobacco and matches. 

After a long discussion, it was arranged that an attack should be made on Cooper's camp just before dawn the next morning. The king's daughter listened with thrilled excitement as the warriors discussed the plan of attack. 

On the west side of Cooper's camp was a thick forest of large trees, from the cover of which long distance spear-throwers could land their light poison-tipped bamboos into the camp. To the east of the camp there was a clearing covered with long grass. From this cover the younger and stronger warriors, armed with heavy ironwood spears and clubs, were to approach as close as possible, and while Cooper was facing the attack from the west, the men in the grass would launch an attack from the rear, throwing heavy spears at short range and then rush in with clubs and stone axes. 

There was only one white man and two 'boys' to deal with, and the success of a swift assault upon an unsuspecting victim would be certain. Attacks of this kind are always arranged to take place just before dawn. With his superior sense of sight the black man can see as far as he can throw a spear, while in the semi-darkness his dusky body is invisible to a white man. But in this craftily planned attack the king and his council were ignorant of one important fact— that the king's daughter had fallen in love with her kind-hearted benefactor, the white medicine man. 

And so, at midnight, while the whole tribe slumbered round the camp fires, the king's daughter slipped silently out and hastened to Cooper's camp. She arrived there sometime before the attackers, and told Cooper of the plot. 

He immediately set about preparing for the attack. He filled a bag with grass, tied it up to resemble a human form partly covered with a blanket, and laid it on his bed in the tent. He then built a good fire outside the open door, the light from which plainly showed what appeared to be a man asleep inside. Cooper then retired about 80 yards to the south, where he waited under cover, with his two 'boys' and his shotgun. 

He did not have long to wait. A shower of spears from the west fell on the tent, some actually going through and sticking in the straw man on the bed. Then one of his boys whispered that he could see the grass moving on the east side, and it was evident that the rear attack was being launched. Cooper reserved his fire until the rear attackers had risen and thrown their heavy spears and were rushing in with their waddies. 

Then he opened fire with the shotgun, heavily charged with buckshot. At that distance, from 60 to 80 yards, the heavy shot scattered well, and practically every one of the attackers was more or less seriously wounded. Four shots with the gun, and two or three with a rifle fired into the timber to the west, the bullets ricocheting off the trees with, a vicious screech, and the rout was complete.

Cooper was never again molested. The blacks never knew that he had been prepared for the attack. They never knew of the absence of the king's daughter from the camp, for she was at home when the bedraggled and humiliated members of the expedition limped back again. 

Cooper afterwards made friendly overtures to the king, cured many of his warriors who suffered from slight fevers, and received the hand of his daughter in marriage. Two of their sons afterwards proved very fine athletes and won many championships at Darwin sporting carnivals. 

One son recently created a sensation by diving off the wharf at Darwin into a swarm of large sharks, and killing three of them with a butcher's knife. The oldest son is credited with having been mainly responsible for the Buffalo team winning the final of the football competition this year.— J.A.P., Darwin.

Battle With A Bull

Many years ago I was working for a man who kept stud Jerseys, the head of the herd being an old bull which had been procured originally from the eastern States. 

As it had outlived its usefulness as a sire it was replaced by a younger animal. Normally, the old bull would have been shot and buried, but a man living a few miles away wanted his hide to make into buckets, with which to haul pipe clay from a shaft. 

As the owner was willing to let him have the animal, he came up to get it, intending to kill it at his own place. I was there the day he came, and a finer type of Australian manhood it would be hard to find. Strong, supple, and wiry, he looked a picture of health and strength, as he indeed was. 

To lead the bull he got a good strong piece of wattle about five feet long, bored a hole through the end, put a piece of strong fencing wire through it, and fastened it to the ring in the animal's nose. Having got him securely fixed, he took him out of the yard and set off. 

In my mind's eye I can still see the old bull with his head thrown high in the air as he walked majestically to his doom. He went well for about a mile or so, and then began to shorten his stride until he stopped altogether. The man allowed him to have a rest, and then by gently pulling on the stick got him going once more. 

Not for long, however, for a quarter of a mile further on the bull stopped once more. The man once more urged him on by pulling on the stick, and then the battle began in earnest. The animal, instead of walking down the road, made a plunge at his captor. Pressure was put on the stick to ward off the attack but again and again he charged. 

The man was a leader no longer, but one who had to depend for his life on his fleetness of foot and strength of mind nerve, and body. He side-stepped and dodged all over the road, evading the horns of the infuriated animal as best he could. 

The bull was fast tearing the ring out of his nose, and it became a matter of whether help would arrive before it got quite free. Once free the doom of the man was sealed. After an intense struggle between man and beast, both being very tired, and only a little piece of skin holding the ring in the bull's nose, it became the toss of a coin which would win, and if outside help had not come when it did the bull would have done so. 

A neighbor coming up the road from the opposite direction, however, saw the plight of the man, and a bag was thrown over the bull's head. An axe and a strong arm did the rest. The carcase was taken the rest of the way on a trolley. 

Strength, nerve, and fleetness of foot saved the man's life, for nine men out of ten could not have lasted till help came.— A.C., Houghton.