Precis 16

Early Days on Eyre Peninsula 16

THE COMING OF WHALERS AND SEALERS

By J. D. Somerville

Frederick Hamborg, mate of the brig Socrates, a sealing vessel from Launceston, was in Spalding Cove in 1832, anchoring on the eastern side. He went inland 14 miles, and discovered two streams of fine water as clear as crystal, running into the core from the southward (had there been a thunderstorm to produce these streams at the time of his visit ?) … The boat had brought 30 persons with five boats for whaling. The crew he had brought had been in the vicinity on the three preceding seasons. Hamborg states that the natives he saw were numerous and peaceful. …

About this time (1834), an adventurous character, George Meredith, arrived at Kangaroo Island, from Sydney, by way of Tasmania. He devoted his time to sealing and agriculture. It is said that in his wanderings, he captured a native woman at Port Lincoln, who was subsequently named "Sal" and who became a well known character on Kangaroo Island. There are many and varied tales told of Meredith; how he was finally killed by some of his black boys on the mainland, near Yankalilla …

… we get another fantastic tale, [about] two boys, James Newell and James Manning, [who] arrived at King George's Sound on August 9, 1835, and claimed to have walked from the mainland opposite to Middle Island. They stated that they left Sydney in August, 1833, in Reliance, commanded by George Meredith, with provisions for sealers on the islands on the southern coast of Australia. They were shipwrecked on Cape Howe Island in the same year, and Meredith and part of his crew made for Kangaroo Island in a whale boat.

In September 1834, a black man named Anderson, arrived at Kangaroo Island from Long Island (Thistle Island ?) accompanied by John Bathurst, another black man. … Newell and Manning took a passage with them to Long Island, and Anderson employed them at sealing to recompense him for their keep. In the course of a boating trip, Meredith, who had been left on Kangaroo Island, arrived on the scene, and accused Manning of robbing him of £4 10/-. With the assistance of Anderson, and at pistol point, Meredith took a corresponding amount from Manning.

On Long Island there was another boat's crew, Roberts, Hewlett and two Forbes. In November this crew was on Boston Island, and caught five native women from the neighborhood of Port Lincoln, killing two of their husbands. …

In January, 1834 (1835?) there arrived at the island the ship Mountaineer (Capt. Evanson Janson). Manning paid Capt. Janson £3 for a trip to King George's Sound. However, the captain sailed away without him. Newell and Manning afterwards asked Anderson to land them on the mainland, so that they could walk to King George's Sound, but the request only met with a refusal. Anderson is said to have robbed Manning of £50.

The captain of the Mountaineer, with six men and two women, are said to have been on the island again in April, his vessel having been driven ashore at Thistle Cove (Memory Cove?). In May, five of them left in a boat, without provisions, with King George's Sound as their goal, and that was the last heard of them.

On June 23, 1835 (?), Anderson was prevailed upon to land Newell and Manning on the mainland opposite Middle Island. Following the coastline, the boys walked to King George's Sound arriving there on August 9, 1835, doing the journey in seven weeks. They had been kindly treated by the natives, who did everything in their power to aid the boys to reach their destination. The editor of the Perth 'Gazette' endeavored to check the statement, and he stated that his search, as far as he could proceed with it "fully confirmed" some of the facts.

In the early records, Middle Island is frequently mentioned. … [Is it] Wedge Island? Mr. James Henty, in 1838, in giving a list of islands visited by some members of his family, mentions both of these islands; from this it would appear that they must have been separate islands. ... It would appear that Middle Island was in the vicinity of Port Lincoln, on that assumption, the boys walked over 1,300 miles in 47 days, or over 30 miles per day. The boys had to hunt for water and food.

The paper ends the article with the prophecy of what the whites would have to suffer, in the days to come : — "The habits of the men on the islands to the southward, by whaling or sealing vessels, have long borne the character given them by Manning and Newell, it appears therefore deserving of some consideration by what means, their practices can be checked, as future settlers in the neighborhood of Port Lincoln will be made to expiate the crimes and outrages of these lawless assassins."

In this place it may be appropriate to quote from Fitchett, when he was narrating the black outrage of Tasmania, when he said, "Revenge may come slow footed, but it comes surely. For evil word shall evil word he said ; For murder stroke a murder stroke be paid ; Who smite, must smart. . . . . and revenge, which has always in it an element of blindness, does not discriminate."

Read the full article at https://bit.ly/3kPVFD6 

The next article considers Edward Henty, Captain Hart’s adventures, and what really happened on Thistle Island if the ruins were not those of Perouse.