Thursday, July 31, 2014

THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL AND BILLY BORKER : Continuing biog of Northern Territory Crusading Editor,"Big Jim" Bowditch.


In April l967 the Gurindji petitioned the Governor-General, Lord Casey , seeking to gain tenure of their tribal land  in  the Wave Hill-Limbunya area .  The petition  carried the  thumb prints of  Vincent Lingiari , Pincher Manguari, Gerry Ngalgardji  and Long-John  Kitgnaari. It explained the document  had been transcribed,  witnessed and  transmitted by Frank Hardy  and J. W. Jeffrey, a Welfare Department  officer , sympathetic  to the Gurindji cause , because the  Gurindji  had never  had  the opportunity to  learn English .  It  read -


We , the leaders of the Gurindji people, write to you  about our earnest  desire to regain tenure of our tribal lands in the  Wave Hill-Limbunya  area  of the Northern Territory ,  of which we were dispossessed in time past, and for which we received  no recompense. 

 
Our people have  lived here from time immemorial  and our culture, myths, dreaming and sacred  places have evolved in this  land .  Many of our forefathers were  killed in the early days while trying to retain it.  Therefore we feel that morally the land  is ours and should be returned to us.  Our very name Aboriginal acknowledges  our prior claim.  We have  never ceased  to say  amongst ourselves  that Vesteys should go away and leave us to our land .
 

In the attached map , we have  marked out the boundaries  of the  sacred places of our dreaming , bordering  the Victoria River from  Wave hill Police Station to Hooker Creek, Inverway,Limbunya, Seal Gorge,etc,.  We have begun to build  our own new homestead on the banks of  beautiful Wattie Creek  in the Seal Yard area, where there is permanent  water.   This is  the main place  of our dreaming  only a few  miles  from Seal Gorge where we have kept   the bones of our martys  all these  years since white men killed  many of our people.  On the walls  of the sacred caves  where their bones are kept  are the paintings of the totems of our tribe.
 

We have already  occcupied  a small area at  Seal Yard  under Miners  Rights held by  three of our tribesmen.  We  will  continue to build our  new  home  there ( marked on the map  with a cross), then buy  some working horses with which we  will trap  and  capture  wild  unbranded  horses and cattle.  These we will  use to build up  a cattle station  within the  borders of this ancient  Gurindji land.   And we are searching  the area  for valuable rocks which  we hope  to sell to  help feed  our people.   We will  ask  the N.T. Welfare  Department for  help with motor  for pump, seeds for garden, tables, chairs, and others things as well .  Later on we will  build  a road and an airstrip  and maybe a school. Meanwhile, most of our people  will continue to  live in the camp  we have built  at the Wave Hill Welfare Centre  12 miles away and the children continue to  go to  school there.  
 

We beg  of you  to hear our voices asking that the land marked  on the map  be returned to the Gurindji people. It is about 500 square miles in area but this is only  a very small fraction  of the land  leased by  Vesteys  in these parts.   We are prepared to  pay  for our land  the same annual rental  the Vesteys  now  pay.  If the question of compensation arises , we feel  that we have already  paid enough  during  50 years  or more, during which time  we and  our fathers   worked for no wages  at all much of the time  and for  a mere pittance  in  recent   years. 
 

If you can grant  this wish  for which we  humbly ask, we would show the rest of Australia  and the whole world  that we are capable of working  and planning  our own destiny as free citizens .   Much  has  been  said about  our refusal  to accept  responsibility  in the past  ,  but who  would show  initiative  working for starvation wages , under impossible conditions, without education  for strangers  in  their land ?   But we are ready to show initiative  now .  We have  already begun.  We  know how to  work cattle better  than  any white man and we  know and  love this land of ours.
 

If our tribal  lands are returned to us, we want  them, not as  another  " Aboriginal Reserve ", but as a leasehold  to be run cooperatively as a mining  lease and cattle station by the Gurindji Tribe.  All practical work will be  done by us,  except  such work as  book-keeping, for which we would employ  white men of  good faith , until such time as our  own  people are  sufficiently educated  to  take over .  We will also accept  the condition that if  we do not  succeed  within a reasonable  time, our land should go back  to the  Government.  ( In August last year, we  walked away from the Wave Hill  Cattle station . It was said that we did this because  wages  were very poor  ( only  six dollars per week ), living conditions  fit only for dogs, and rations  consisting  mainly of salt beef and  bread.   True  enough.  But we walked away  for other reasons  as well.  To protect  our women  and our tribe , to  try  to stand  on our own  feet.  We will never  go back  there.  ) .  Some of our  young men are working  now at Camfield  and Montejinnie Cattle Stations  for proper wages .  However,  we will ask  them to come  back to our own Gurindji  Homestead  when everything is ready...
 

In  his reply, Lord Casey said the Vestey’s  lease did not  expire till the year   2004. Robert Tudawali  also supported the Gurindji  and  took   part in the campaign   . He was  about to go to  Wave Hill on a  supply truck run  from  Darwin   when it was discovered he was  suffering from TB and  Captain Major went in his place .   Tudawali  died a terrible death  in July  l967 at the age of  38  . In a deathbed statement  to police he claimed  that he had been drinking a  flagon of wine with others  near Bagot  when a row broke out over his  12 year old daughter.  He had been knocked to the ground  and grass  deliberately   ignited to burn him .  He died of burns to the chest, back and arms .   Police, however, said it was not clear what had happened. There was a suggestion that  after drinking, Tudawali might   have   woken up after  drinking and, feeling cold,  set  fire to the grass  to  warm himself.
 

Hardy  was involved in a  more light-hearted event  in  l967 - the Australian  Yarn Spinning Championship , an NT News promotion .  He was  pitted against a colourful local identity, the much tattooed  Tall Tale  Tex Tyrell who had  won  a Talkathon in  Alice Springs back in l954 , about which  Keith Willey  had written a lively account .  There were several photographs  of  Frank , he being  billed as  Billy BorkerHardy .   Hardy  boasted  a  “secret weapon ”-his pipe, which he  jabbed to emphasise a point. Judges included Cec Holmes and Doug Lockwood .
 
 
 The event was staged in the Hotel Darwin and eventually won by Hardy  after  Tyrell collapsed  following   more than three hours of earbashing.  A subsequent  Swan Brewery  advertisement in the  NT News carried  drawings of  Hardy and Tyrell which  were probably  done by  Frank.   A lengthy article  by Hardy explained how he had become involved in the contest -Bowditch and others in  a pub  had urged him to  enter . NEXT : A quiet place to write a book