Chapter II: Preface

A few words concerning the following narrative may not be out of place.

Many years ago, and before the present township of Townsville, in Northern Queensland, was thought of, I found myself wandering in the neighbourhood of Mount Elliott, and also about the waters of the Burdekin river, in latitude a little south of 19 degrees.

Whilst so engaged, looking for country suitable for stock, hunting, &c., it was my privilege to make the acquaintance of one “Jimmy Morrill,” and through him I enjoyed the unusual advantage of intercourse with the perfectly wild blacks.

A word about Morrill.

Many years before my meeting with him, he had been wrecked upon the northern coast of Queensland, and when I met him he had just left the northern tribes who had protected and cared for him for seventeen years; his own English language he had nearly forgotten, never having seen a white man all that time.

At the end of that period, civilization, in the shape of a handful of white men, had crept up to him, the sole survivor of the wreck, from the southern districts.

From Morrill I heard of customs and ceremonies of the natives which no other white man but himself had ever been permitted to witness.

One of these “rites” I have described in my story, it is called the “Boorah” or “Boree.”

Therefore that part of the narrative referring to the native blacks and their habits is absolutely founded upon fact, and the statements made concerning them I will answer for.

I spent many months amongst the Queensland natives, and at a later period, when Morrill had journeyed farther south, and had been induced to publish a “Sketch of his residence among the Aborigines,” he gave me a copy of his pamphlet, which I have retained, and from which I have refreshed my memory.

I may mention that the adventure with the big cockle, or giant clam shell, _Tridacna gigas_, was a fact; also that the account of the walking fish, _Ceratodus forsteri_, is true.

I am indebted to the kindness of my friend, Dr. Günther, of the British Museum, for the scientific names.

The buckjumper, “Satan the first,” was a notorious horse, the worst of many which I saw ridden on a northern station in 1864.

In that portion of my story where the scene is laid in New South Wales, the bushranger “Magan,” and his coat of mail will be recognized by many old Colonials, who will remember the great excitement caused by the cruel crimes of this monster, and the subsequently strange manner by which his death was brought about.

In the hopes that this little work may amuse and interest the youth of Great Britain, and also those of my Queensland friends who may come across it, I now offer it to the public.

E. B. K.

CONTENTS.

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CHAPTER I.
PAGE
The New Forest—Sampson Stanley the gipsy—Mat and Tim—A New
Forest sportsman—Braken Lodge 1

CHAPTER II.

Squire Bell—Annie’s gift of a book—Shooting a New Forest
deer—Felony—Chased by a keeper—Capture—Escape—Fight with
a bloodhound 11

CHAPTER III.

Mat bids farewell to the Forest—The _Young Austral_—Tim and
Jumper on board 26

CHAPTER IV.

Life on board the _Young Austral_—The wreck—A swim for life—Safe
ashore 35

CHAPTER V.

The island—The gigantic cockle-shell—Amongst the blacks—The
_Corroboree_ 48

CHAPTER VI.

Wild honey—They find the wreck—The Thunderstick 65

CHAPTER VII.

Spearing geese—Killing ducks with boomerangs—Possum-hunting—How
to make fire—The tribe shift camp—The Boorah—Mat and Tim’s
journal 82

CHAPTER VIII.

Gold—Hostile natives—Flight by night—The great battle—Clubs—
Fists—New Forest wrestling—“Old Joe” 99

CHAPTER IX.

After the battle—Burial rites—The Waigonda wish to make chiefs of
the white men—Our “twins” leave with Dromoora and Terebare
for the south 118

CHAPTER X.

Burns’ station—The horse-breaker—Colonial “Blow”—Satan the
First—Mat “collars” the buckjumper 137

CHAPTER XI.

An official summons—Travelling in state—Brisbane—On board
ship again—Triumphal entry into Sydney—In a church again—The
lecture—Meeting old friends—Soft reflections 147

CHAPTER XII.

Tim starts for the Darling Downs—French as spoken by Mrs.
Bell—Parson Tabor—Leichardt’s grave—The French
“professor”—Mat unmasks the “professor” 165

CHAPTER XIII.

Tim’s unpleasant reception at Bulinda—The bushranger’s camp—The
robbery—Annie kidnapped—Tim’s good Samaritans 188

CHAPTER XIV.

Mat on the trail of the bushranger—Annie’s signal—Mat tracks the
bushranger to his lair—The cave—Our hero as the black
warrior once more—A fearful fight—Dromoora’s timely
cry—Annie’s rescue—Blissful moments 202

CHAPTER XV.

Magan’s armour—Safe at Bulinda Creek again—The professor’s last
lesson on the island—Mat and Tim once more together—Tim
convalescent 221

CHAPTER XVI.

The Squire’s offer—Tim decides to go home—Our heroine’s advice
to Mat—Our forester takes to gardening—The “new chum’s”
difficulties and troubles 231

CHAPTER XVII.

English Society _v._ Colonial—Music—The “new chum’s”
letter—“Two’s company and three’s none”—Unpleasant
reflections—Parson Tabor’s advice—Mrs. Bell shows that she
has a “down” on our hero—The “Spider”—The “new chum” proves
that he is “not such a fool as he looks”—Tim returns home 249

CHAPTER XVIII.

Our hero visits the old Waigonda country once more—The
overlanding—The Golden Gully—The last sight of Dromoora 274

CHAPTER XIX.

Bulinda Creek once more—Mat again asks Tabor’s advice—The parson
“on matrimony”—Annie’s little arbour 294

CHAPTER XX.

Back in the old Forest—Jumper’s last home—Return of our hero and
heroine for good and all to Bulinda Creek—Conclusion and
farewell 306

BLACKS AND BUSHRANGERS.