Speared To Death On Daly River

PROSPECTORS WIPED OUT - VENGEANCE FOLLOWED

The great Daly River in North Australia has seen many tragedies, and men have found sudden death — and, fewer, a fortune — there. In this Real Life Story, 'C.V.H.' tells of the tragic spearing of four prospectors, and the terrible death of three of them. Gold had lured them to the river, noted for its treacherous aboriginals.

Somehow, tragedy and gold are always linked, and no more tragic stories of gold discovery can be told than those of the Northern Territory. Survey parties sent out by the Surveyor-General of South Australia (Mr. G. W. Goyder) found gold at Tumbling Waters and on the Charlotte and Blackmore rivers, in 1869, but not until three years later was any move made to get any of it. Then E. M. Bagot and John Chambers chartered the brigantine Alexandra. Their hopes were realised. Gold, and rich gold, at that, was found. One shoot gave them 150 oz.

Other men arrived, mostly from Melbourne, and the overland telegraph, put through at this time, gave them some sort of contact with the outside world. Living was expensive, and quite without frills. Flour went bad before it got to them, and meat, when they could get it, was worth 2/6 a pound. Beer and rum, however, were there in plenty. Dr. Guy overcame the difficulties of not having vegetables by bringing Chinese — from Singapore — who soon started gardens. One reef gave 750 oz. of gold from 7 tons of stone, and the horse in whose packbags it was placed, bolted and went wandering in the scrub while its owner celebrated his luck. The £3,000 worth of gold was still on the horse's back when the animal was found.

A rich copper lode was discovered near the Daly River, and Noltenius, Landers, Roberts, and Schollert were working on it with much success. On one morning in September, 1883, Schollert was in a bark kitchen preparing something to eat while the other three worked on their mine. Noltenius was holding a drill, which was struck by Landers, a powerful man; and Roberts was dressing ore.

Suddenly two woomera spears were driven through Landers's back, and he fell forward. At the moment, a black who had been friendly with them, struck Roberts on the head with a hammer and knocked him down. Noltenius rushed for the hut, but a barbed spear was driven through him from behind, the point projecting in front. Both Landers and Noltenius eventually reached the hut, to find Schollert lying on the floor, dead, with a barbed spear through his heart. The spear driven through Landers projected a foot in front, indicating the force with which it must have been thrown. Roberts, murderously felled with a hammer, was left for dead, but he appeared at the hut with a terrible wound in his head, with blood flowing from it in jets.

'Thank God, Harry, you are alive,' the two men said fervently. Roberts cut the spear close to Landers's back, and pulled it through from the front. Landers died in a few minutes. If an aboriginal had been drawing out the spear, he would have drawn it through wet clay on either side, so as to exclude all air from the wound. The prospectors knew nothing about this, and in not taking the correct procedure killed Landers in a few minutes. He might not have lived, certainly, even if the aboriginal method had been adopted, but he would have had a chance, at least.

Gilbert, the naturalist in Leichhardt's expedition, was speared through the lung, and Leichhardt withdrew the weapon in the same way as Roberts had done, and Gilbert was dead in five minutes. On the other hand, Terence Ahern was speared through a lung on the Daintree, and his mates took him to Cooktown with the spear still in his chest. Dr. Korteum withdrew it as an aboriginal would, and Ahern married and had a family in later years. He always felt the effects of it, and it may have shortened his life, but at all events, he lived.

Staunch Wound With Flour

The spear through Noltenius had three barbs, and as Roberts withdrew it, the points came off and remained in the body. Roberts had a terrible wound in his head himself, but he stanched it with flour and bound it with a handkerchief. Their position was desperate. Badly wounded, with two mates dead, they were 40 miles from the nearest help, the old Daly River cattle station. They had no horses, so they set out on foot. Noltenius's strength soon failed him, an presently, when they came to a clear billabong, still called 'Noltenius Billabong,' the speared man was left, having collapsed. Roberts made him as comfortable as possible, left him a dog and a gun, and went further on for help. Noltenius, with blacks likely to find him at any moment, was in a precarious position as he lay there exhausted.

His companion, Roberts, reached a lagoon after walking 15 miles, and found that blacks were camped on the opposite side of it. Three of his horses were there. He coaxed the blacks within sure and easy range of his revolver, and then dictated terms. He mounted one horse, and told two aboriginals to ride close to him in front, and to travel as quickly as possible to the Daly River station. Any attempt on their part to escape would mean sudden death — and they knew it.

Saxe, the station manager, went away to help Noltenius, but although alive, he could not be helped, mortification having set in. He simply took a glass of hot rum and died. Schollert and Landers were buried under a tree near the old Daly River copper mine.

And what followed? Plainly, it was a slaughter of the aboriginals. Parties were formed, fully armed, and they went out in all directions, shooting aboriginals on sight, caring not a scrap about the matter of innocence and guilt. They would show the aboriginal he could not spear white men, and they proceeded to terrify them into some sort of respect. The excuse for this vengeance, wreaked on every aboriginal within firing distance, was that in the laws of the aboriginals, the tribe was responsible for the acts of every man.— 'C.V.H.'

They Had Everything But The Water

Some years ago a small country town borrowed money for a water reticulation system. In due course a dam was built, mains laid, and a reservoir established at the highest point round the town. All went well for a year or two, but then various difficulties developed.

The first and most serious was that the thin clay bed which had been relied upon to hold up the water con served behind the dam developed serious cracks during a dry spell; with the result that, despite various attempts to remedy the defect, the loss of water before pumping grew to enormous proportions through percolation, on top of heavy evaporation. Concrete lining of mains was un known in those days, so that the gradual corrosion of the pipes on the inside rapidly cut down the flow of water through them.

This in turn imposed an additional, an almost impossible, task upon the solitary, but expensive pumping engine that had been installed. It was found impossible to either borrow the large sum necessary for reconditioning the plant, nor could the rates be increased much higher to establish a fund for the purpose. In the end, it was decided that the only way out was to continue as usual, but to make every effort to cut down consumption to the absolute minimum.

Among the undertakings that had been begun in the first flush of enthusiasm was a large reserve. Over an area of several acres, grass had been planted and avenues of trees set out. Playing fields were laid out in some parts, garden-beds dug in others, while in the centre was a large concrete construction, intended to function as a combined fountain and fish pond. Reluctantly, the whole project had to be given up, and water was cut off altogether from the reserve. The grass withered right away, leaving lawns of dust; the trees died, and the garden beds went back to nature. Even the fountain played no more, while the fish-pond never reached the stage of being stocked. Amidst the arid wilderness, a forest of taps alone remained to mark the site of hope frustrated. Over the entrance to the reserve was a large wooden pergola, upon which one night a wag inscribed in black paint the simple words 'Tap Park,' and there the name remains to the present day. — 'Kerriki.'

When Nieces Can Be Most Annoying

A good many years ago a young mother with two children, the elder a girl about two and a half years old, went to show them off to her husband's people. One was a young woman who was visited frequently by a young man, evidently with matrimonial intentions. Then 'auntie' thought it necessary to titivate her self after the manner of the 'modern' girl.

The little girl was of an enquiring disposition. When the young man was next expected 'auntie' started "making up." The child eyed the operation with mingled curiosity and wonder, and at last asked, 'What yu doin' that for, auntie?' Auntie replied that she was cleaning her face, and the little one informed her that 'her mummy did not wash her face like that, but used a basin of water and a nice, large piece of flannel,' and later conveyed the information to her 'mummy' that she had seen auntie washing her face with a teeny piece of dirty rag.

It did not please auntie, and matters were not improved, when on the next visit of the young man, the child gathered up the decorating paraphernalia and showed it to the swain as the 'stuff that auntie made herself look pretty with when he was coming to see her.'

On the next occasion that the child displeased auntie, she was shut in auntie's own room as punishment. Later, the child's mother, passing the room, smelt violet powder, opened the door and peeped in. The child stood in the middle of the floor in deep concern, with the very dirty powder pad in one hand and the empty container in the other. She quietly remarked to her mother, 'I've cleaned all under the bed, mummy, but there's no more stuff left!'

On the next defection, the child was put into the uncle's room, with the remark as the door closed on her, 'There is nothing in there for the little brat to get into mischief with!' Investigating later, auntie discovered her with an empty ox-blood stain tin in one hand and brush in the other, and the overhanging portion of the white counterpane on the 'boy's bed' presented a rather sanguinary appearance. 'If I ever have any 'kids' like that that I'd choke them,' said auntie.

That is more than twenty years ago, and auntie is still unmarried. The young man evidently preferred a 'natural' wife to a 'modern' one.— Tanta-Tyga.

Dan Wooed A Charming City Girl

Dan — let us call him that— was a young man in the north, who had a high opinion of himself as a woman charmer. He was an enthusiastic sportsman, and being a fair boxer, he commanded respect. Dan — to use his own words — could flirt with any young woman he liked, and when he cared to, could bring forth all his charms so that no young woman could withstand him. So thought Dan.

There was great excitement among the lads of that country township when the news went forth that a niece of the local storekeeper had arrived from Adelaide, bringing with her all the latest fashions. When Dan was introduced to her he thought that he had never met such a charming person. The city girl in every way — including dress — was far ahead of her country sisters. She had eyes for no one but Dan.

Each evening they would meet at the rear of the storekeeper's dwelling and spend an hour in each other's company. How proud Dan was of his city girlfriend as he walked by her side through the main street. The local lads seemed to find fresh fields for amusement. Dan, of course, had no time to share in their rough pastimes. All his evenings were given to the charming girl from the city.

After about a week, Dan was, as usual, waiting at the appointed time and place to take her for a walk, but this night, for the first time, she kept Dan waiting. Ten minutes went by; Dan sat on the woodheap whistling softly to himself. His cobbers, a little way down the street, seem to be having the time of their life. When 60 minutes went by Dan joined his cobbers in the street. What a cheer greeted him!

Little did he dream that for a week he had entertained them as they had never been entertained before. His beautiful girl from the city, the charming niece of the storekeeper, was none other than one of the local lads dressed in girl's clothes. — Rising Sun.