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[Page 8]
Some Recollections and Records of the
Clarence and Richmond River Aborigines.
AT Kirkconnel, near Bathurst, about the year 1866,
I saw my first Australian aboriginal. He was a
tall man, he carried a spear, and was draped in a dingy
blanket in which clung a young opossum which he was
trying to sell. Aborigines must have been fast dying
out in that early settled district, for, during four years
of my childhood at Kirkconnel, this man was the only
one of his race I recollect seeing.
Changing the scene to Bellevue, seven miles from
Grafton and with frontage both to the Yulgilbar road
and to the Clarence River, parties of blacks, travelling
to and fro, said sometimes camping near our house, were
frequent and familiar sights during the year 1869 and
part of 1870.
On one occasion, by invitation from King Billy, the
Yulgilbar Chieftain, my parents, my brother and I, with
two employees, went on horseback to see a big fight
between the up river natives and those from Grafton
and the Lower Clarence, quite an interesting and exciting
adventure. Later on, escorted by King Billy,
my brother and I went, after dark, a couple of miles
into the bush to a camp of about 250 blacks to see
a corrobboree, a wild and savage scene which made a
vivid impression upon my childish mind. We two
little boys were the only whites present but we felt no
fear, having perfect confidence in King Billy who had
made himself responsible for our safety. My recollections
of these two events under the titles of "An Aboriginal
Fight" and "An Aboriginal Corrobboree", were published
in the Grafton "Daily Examiner" of July 16th
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1931, and copies are now in a scrap book held by the
Royal Australian Historical Society, Sydney, together
with the "Tindal Letters" and other items of Clarence
River history.
At Bellevue, I first saw blacks robbing a bee's nest.
One man extracting large pieces of honeycomb from
a hole he had cut high up the trunk of an ironbark
tree while his comrades below dexterously caught the
luscious morsels in small sheets of bark as he dropped
them from his lofty perch. The pieces were then
slipped into billy cans and other receptacles while the
women and children enjoyed a rich feed. Blacks found
bees' nests by the power of the strong keen eyes. Just
as one "moons" a possum they would "own" a likely
tree. If bees were there the dark bodies and gauzy
wings showed clearly out against the sun rays as they
flew to and from their nest.
Both on the Clarence and on the Richmond it was
fascinating to watch the natives tree climbing with vine
and tomahawk. As this method is now probably a
lost art, it may be well to give a detailed and accurate
description of it. Obtained from the brushes, the tough
and pliable vine was usually about three fourths of an
inch in diameter and was cut in a length of 15 to
20 feet. At one end a knot was tied forming a loop
for the left hand. The vine was cast round the tree
the loop end then being gripped by the left hand while
the right hand closed on the free end. With tomahawk
in belt the climber was now ready to start. With
slippery smooth barked trees, it was necessary to cut
shallow steps for the big toe all the way to the first
one or two being cut before leaving the ground. To
cut subsequent steps, the climber, with left toe in a
notch, brought the right hand end of the vine round
under the right knee and then over the shin bone and
gripped it between the big toe and the next one which
gave a secure purchase and prevented the vine from
slipping. The right hand was thus released to grasp
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the tomahawk and cut two more notches, one to right
and one to left and so on as become necessary. With
rough barks, such as bloodwoods, an expert climber
walked right up to the fork even wore the tree perpendicular
and 80 to 100 feet from ground to branches.
The "walk" was really a series of jerks, toes pressed
against the bark and the body lurching towards the
tree thus slacking the vine and enabling it to be jerked
upward a couple of feet or so at every stride. At the
fork or first branch came the critical part of the climb.
Here it was necessary in all trees to cut two steps, one
to right and one to left, opposite one another and a
little deeper than usual. The blackfellow then detached
the vine from his big toe and right leg and placing a toe
in each notch, brought his body upright with chest close
against the tree trunk and chin almost touching it and
his arms round the trunk as far as possible, still holding
the vine in each hand. He then very carefully
and cautiously let go with his left hand of the vine loop
and jerked it gently up with his right to get the loop
over or above the fork. Sometimes this took several
tries but a certain stiffness in the vine, not found in a
hempen rope enabled it to be done and the loop regrasped
a stiff scramble soon brought the triumphant
climber in to the fork. The miniscule exertion, accurate
balance and nerve necessary for such a feat were great
and the black athlete generally rested a moment or two
in the fork before continuing his climb up amongst
the branches. To locate a possum he broke off a light
branch and thrust it down any likely hollow until it met
some obstruction. On withdrawing it he knew that if
some fur adhered in the jagged end of the stick his
game was there and that he had not been poking rotten
wood. He then measured the distance on outside of
the branch and after cutting a hole, hauled out the
little animal by its tail, banged its head several times
against a branch and dropped it to the ground.
Should a 'possum or a bees' nest be located almost
halfway up a hollow trunk, the blackfellow cut fairly
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