Bunbury—Exploring Days—The Estuary—Early Times—Whaling—Native
murder—Mr. Layman—Retribution—Pasture Land—Robert Scott—Old
Residents.
[Illustration: Paper Bark Tree]
Bunbury is 13 miles from Collie, and is the terminus of this line
of railway. In passing through Picton, 4 miles before you come to
Bunbury, you can see the homestead of the Forrest family. It is a
picturesque-looking old house on a little hill with a pretty brook
running below, and the surroundings are very beautiful. Mr. William
Forrest, the ex-Premier’s father, who recently passed away at the ripe
age of 80 years, arrived in this colony by the ship _Trusty_ in 1842, and
first settled at Australind. Some three years later he erected a mill
on what has since been called Mill Point, on the banks of the estuary
near Bunbury, and in 1849 removed to Picton, where he resided until
the day of his death. Mr. Forrest bore with indomitable courage many
misfortunes, such as the burning of his flour-mill, the engine and stones
of which were afterwards removed to Bunbury, and formed the nucleus of
the well-known Koombanah Mill, now owned by Mr. Robert Forrest, his
sixth son. The above-mentioned mill was the first water flour-mill in the
South-West, and was erected in 1849. Mr. Forrest dammed up the Preston
river and utilised it for the purpose of his business. You may be sure
that he was particularly proud of his explorer sons, John and Alick, and
also proud of the fact that one was Premier of the colony, and the other
Mayor of Perth. Sir John made three exploring expeditions, and it is
amusing to hear what “Tommy Pierre,” one of the natives who accompanied
him, said at the banquet held in honour of the explorers’ return to
Perth: “Well, gentlemen, I am very thankful to get back to Swan river,
Bunbury, Fremantle; I thought that we never get back again. Many a time
I go into camp, going through desert places, and say, ‘Master Forrest,
where the devil are you going to? Master Forrest, I give you one pound
to take me back.’ Master say: ‘Hush! What are you talking about? I’ll
take you right through to Adelaide,’ and I hush. I always obey him; I
only black fellow, you know, but I am all thankful; I always very glad to
see white fellow around me.” The _South Australian Register_, of August
27, 1870, says: “On Saturday morning, the band of explorers from Western
Australia, under the leadership of Mr. John Forrest, reached Adelaide.
They were escorted to Government House by a number of horsemen, and the
crowd heartily cheered them as they came up. These men are heroes in the
highest sense of the term. The expedition, as many in Western Australia
still remember, was organised through the instrumentality of Governor
Weld.” The late Premier, who a year before had piloted an expedition to
search for the remains of the explorer Leichhart, readily acquiesced in
the suggestions that were put forward by the then Governor of the colony,
and on March 30, 1870, accompanied by Mr. Alex. Forrest as second in
command; H. M’Larty, a police constable; W. H. Osborne, farrier, &c., and
two natives, he set out for Perth. The party followed the course taken
out by Eyre in 1841, but in an opposite direction, and although they did
not experience the difficulties that Eyre encountered, the troubles
were numerous enough. On March 18, 1874, Sir John Forrest led another
expedition to Adelaide. From Perth his party proceeded to Champion Bay,
and the wild, untrodden desert was safely crossed. On November 3, the
explorers reached Adelaide, and at a banquet which was given in their
honour a few days afterwards, the Premier of South Australia (the Hon.
Arthur Blyth), speaking of the leader, said: “Here we have the likeness
of a man who knew not what fear was, because he never saw fear—who
carried out the thorough principle of the Briton, in that he always
persevered to the end.”
[Illustration: LADY FORREST]
I have before me as I write a picture of Sir John as he was in 1866, 34
years ago; also a picture of the third expedition crossing the spinifex
desert; terrible country to go through. An extract from Sir John’s diary
says: “Tommy (a native) went on with the only horse not knocked up to
find water. I followed his tracks, leading the two done-up horses.
Spinifex everywhere. We can only crawl along, having to walk and drag the
horses with us.” At some places the aborigines were very troublesome,
the camp being attacked one night by 60 of them, who could not be driven
off until some of them had been shot. Sir John Forrest is a man who
has the colony’s interests at heart. By his wisdom and foresight great
tracts of land are being opened up. In his own words: “We have a great
work to do in the great continent of Australia, all of it encircled by
the sea, and flying the flag of Old England, no other nation having any
right or part in it. And what a continent it is! The Western Australian
territory is as big as France, Spain, Italy, Austria, and Germany, and
contains 973,000 miles (square). If you were to walk round it, you
would have nearly a 4000-mile walk. The Empire of Australia represents
nearly one-seventeenth part of the world’s surface. We have great works
and great responsibilities before us, and we are proud of Western
Australia. We want to be in the future one of the brightest gems in the
English Crown.” In 1890 Sir John spoke the following words into Edison’s
phonograph: “I firmly believe that Western Australia has started on
a progressive and prosperous career.” Such words bring to mind the
prophetic words of Cowper’s “Boadicea”:
The progeny that springs from the forests of our land
Armed with thunder, clad with wings, shall a wider world command;
Regions Cæsar never knew thy posterity shall sway
Where his Eagles never flew, none invincible as they.
It was in 1890 that representative government was granted to Western
Australia, and Mr. Forrest chosen as Premier. In 1891 her Majesty Queen
Victoria conferred on him the honour of knighthood, and for ten years Sir
John Forrest remained Premier of Western Australia (establishing a record
in Australia’s history), a post which he resigned in order to assume
that of Postmaster-General for Australia; but has since been appointed
Minister of Federal Defence in the Ministry of the Commonwealth of
Federated Australia. Not long before her lamented death, our late beloved
Queen was pleased to bestow on Sir John Forrest the Grand Cross of St.
Michael and St. George, he being, I believe, the first Australian born
who has received that honour.
I was quite surprised to find such a fine hotel as Gordon’s Pier in a
country town. The dinner was excellently served, the meat especially
tender, the fish sweeter, the vegetables nicer, and the fruit more juicy,
than usual. Perhaps it was because I had been roughing it a little just
before that I valued the extra comfort I obtained here. A splendid
balcony reached right round the hotel, from which was visible the
sparkling water of Koombanah Bay, with its long pier and beach of silver
sand. The lighthouse on the hill, with its square tower and grey walls,
stood like a sentinel against the sky. The light that shines out to sea
at night is 117 feet above high water, and is visible 12 miles. As it was
a hot night, most of the guests were out on the balcony. I lay back in
my comfortable lounge-chair, inhaled the health-giving sea breeze, and
thoroughly enjoyed a cup of delicious coffee brought me by the attentive
waiter. From the drawing-room, where some of the guests were passing
a pleasant half-hour, and while singing for their own pleasure, also
affording gratification to the visitors outside, came strains of music.
I retired early, and was agreeably surprised to find my bedroom lit up
with electric light. The noise from the machinery rather kept me awake at
first, but I soon passed into the land of dreams. The housemaid told me
in the morning that a great many people from the goldfields stay here in
the summer to recoup after the dryness and heat of the fields, and that
the managers of the mines usually wish to have their bedrooms on the side
near the machine-room, as the noise is home-like, or mine-like, and lulls
them off to sleep.
In the morning I took a waggonette and drove out to explore Bunbury,
going first to the Leschenault Estuary, a sheet of water divided from the
sea by a strip of land 10 or 12 miles long. The surface was dotted with
wild fowl and its depths are full of fish. The Collie and Preston rivers
fall into the estuary. On the shore there are plenty of black swans and
wild duck which seem to be quite tame. On the east side of the estuary
is the site of Australind, to which, 57 years ago, many people came
from England to settle, but finding the place was not what it had been
represented to them by unscrupulous agents, they disbanded and settled in
different parts of the colony, so that Australind now is merely a name.
It is very prettily situated at the junction of the Brunswick and Collie
rivers. There are large dykes about there not yet explored, which may
contain wonderful mineral wealth. Manna gum-trees are to be found, and
yield sometimes as much as fifty tons of gum from one tree.
Bunbury’s history dates from the first settlement of the colony, when New
South Wales sent soldiers to King George’s Sound in order to circumvent
the French, who nearly had possession of Western Australia. Governor
Stirling took up large tracts of country near Bunbury in lieu of salary,
and settlers were granted 200 and 300 acres of land as an inducement to
go there. When, 60 years ago, the intending settlers arrived and pitched
their camps, a few soldiers were stationed for their protection, but as
the natives were mostly friendly and intelligent, the soldiers had little
to do, so whiled away the time by helping the settlers, and as many hands
make light work the little community soon became prosperous.
In those days the post was sent twice a month by an aboriginal foot
postman. Sometimes he got tired of his work, and would leave the post-bag
under a tree and decamp. Then scouts had to be sent out to find the mail.
An old colonist, Mr. R. Scott, related to me many of his experiences at
that time. Mr. Scott’s father arrived in the colony in 1830, and not
liking the look of Fremantle, which was merely a sandy beach and wild
bush, with a few tents scattered about, intended returning to Scotland,
but Governor Stirling persuaded him to go to Bunbury with some other
intending settlers. The younger members of the party traversed the 115
miles on foot, the older people going in the Governor’s ship to the port.
The tramp was a long one, and young Scott’s clothes were so tattered
when he arrived that he would not go out to speak to the Governor, but
hid behind a tree. He was, however, persuaded to show himself, and the
Governor, seeing the poor boy in such a plight, sent to the vessel for a
suit of his own clothes and a cap, no others being available. By cutting
off portions and tucking in other parts the boy was made presentable. Mr.
Scott’s mother, who died some years ago, aged 88, kept those clothes with
great pride until the day of her death.
Whaling was a local industry in those days. Mr. Scott and his brother had
several whaling-boats, and sometimes took as much as 90 tons of whale-oil
to Fremantle. An American vessel went ashore at that time, and the
enterprising captain, being stranded, took up a piece of land and started
a garden, which he fenced in with the staves of olive barrels.
The only native murder at Bunbury was perpetrated in 1840, Mr. Layman,
a settler at Wanerup, being the victim. He was speared by the king of
the black tribe then at Wanerup, about 6 miles from Busselton. This
booka (king) came to Mr. Layman’s camp when a native boy, servant to
Mr. Layman, was packing up his damper (a kind of large colonial scone
cooked in ashes) to take with him as rations when he was going out with
sheep. The booka took the damper from the boy, and throwing him a small
piece, was going off with the rest. Mr. Layman came up and saw this, and
taking the booka by the beard forced him to give up the damper. This was
evidently too much indignity for him, and when Mr. Layman turned his back
he speared and killed him, then immediately made off into the bush. The
settlers, about twenty in number, determined to follow and execute him,
but found many difficulties in the way, as none of the natives would lead
them to his tracks. They, however, tracked him as well as they could, and
to frighten the tribe they shot down every native they came across. This
put such fear into them that an old man called Crocodile was induced to
show them the way, and they then tracked the murderer to the Capel river,
to a hollow tree, whence it was some time before he could be dislodged.
When this was effected he was found to be well armed with spears ready
to fight. He was, however, summarily shot by Corporal Gill, and his
head carried back on a pole to the Vasse (now called Busselton). Since
then the only known murder by natives was that of Mrs. McGowan, who was
speared by a half-witted native. The shooting of the blacks, although it
seems cruel, was the means of showing them that the white man was their
master, and after this no more trouble arose with the various tribes. Had
it not been done the tables would have been turned, and all the white
settlers might have been murdered.
The natives are divided into four families or tribes—the Ballarook,
Deduruk, Donderup, and Gnakerunk. Consequently, if you want to find
out what tribe a certain native belongs to you must say to him: “You
Ballarook?” If he does not belong to that tribe he will say: “No, me
Donderup.” They are all brothers and sisters in each tribe, and bound
to protect one another. When civilised they make fairly good servants,
but never quite lose their wild instincts; and when they have a holiday,
which they frequently take of their own free will, away they go to their
tribe, and revel in free life until they tire and once more long for the
flesh-pots of civilisation, when they again return to their work.
[Illustration: BUNBURY]
Thousands of acres of land are available here for purchase. The Mangles
Estate has lately been opened up for settlement on very easy terms.
Potatoes, onions and other vegetables grow most luxuriantly. The pastoral
and agricultural land is very rich, and as many as three crops a year
are sometimes taken off the same land by Mr. Clarke, who has a farm near
Bunbury. The forest lands around abound with splendid jarrah and other
timber. The harbour is very safe and partially protected by a coral reef.
There are many handsome residences. The Hon. Charles Spencer has a large
house on a hill in the most beautiful position in Bunbury, and there are
some splendid vineyards, the soil being specially good for vine culture.
The town has 1200 inhabitants and the district about 3000. It is very
prosperous, and has many fine public buildings; some of the early
settlers who went through so many rough times are now in the enjoyment of
comfortable homes, and passing peacefully down the vale of life. There
is an exceptionally fine post-office, standing near the spot where the
barracks were erected for the soldiers in the long-ago days. The hospital
is an imposing building, on an elevation commanding a fine view of the
bay, and has very pretty grounds. It would be by no means intolerable to
be ill in this lovely seaside resort, but, as a rule, people who come
to Bunbury get well, not ill. The walking, driving, boating, fishing,
bathing and shooting excursions that are the order of the day give one
no time to think of being ill. Cycling is a favourite pastime, and there
is a very good club. The streets are wide and planted with shady trees.
The Preston river runs into the estuary, its banks are loaded with bright
flowers, and the golden sunshine shining through the trees, the blue
water and the massive breakwater in the distance make beautiful Bunbury
look like a bit of Paradise.
[Illustration: Blackwood River]