Buckley's Chance

by Garry Linnell

  ‘Floating wrecks housing nothing but despair and disease …’ A prison hulk anchored in Portsmouth Harbour, similar to one in which Buckley was imprisoned. Decommissioned ships like these were used to house the overflow from England’s prisons and were rife with cholera, typhus and violence. (National Library of Australia)

  ‘… a world less than half a soccer field, held together by nail and rope and more than a little of, yes, hope.’ Extract from a prison hulk log book confirming the pending transfer of Buckley and William Marmon to HMS Calcutta (their names are fifth and sixth from the bottom). (Public Record Office, London)

  ‘… it took more than 2000 wagonloads of oak dragged all the way from the forests of Sussex to put her together.’ HMS Calcutta was a 56-gun ship originally built for the East India Company. She carried more than 500 passengers, including 308 convicts, to Port Phillip in 1803. (Painting by Antoine Roux)

  ‘Good-looking man this Collins, tall and broad shouldered … no wonder so many women find him attractive.’ David Collins was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Port Phillip settlement. Shortly after Buckley’s escape, he moved most of the settlers and remaining convicts to Van Diemen’s Land and what would become Hobart Town.

  ‘… the gnarled, wind-whipped sandstone cliffs where Buckley’s Cave sits beneath the lighthouse.’ The barricaded entrance to the cave at Point Lonsdale in Victoria, said to have sheltered Buckley during the three decades following his escape from Sullivan Bay, near Sorrento. (Museums Victoria)

  ‘A favourite haunting place of yours where water flows through rock pools and small waterfalls …’ Buckley’s Falls in what is now Highton in Geelong. Buckley knew this place as Woorongo and said it provided him with regular catches of eels. John Wedge dubbed it ‘Buckley’s Falls’ while touring the region with him in mid-1835. (Georgia Linnell)

  ‘We find Buckley to be a most valuable man to us … he is a complete terror to the natives.’ The iconic moment William Buckley approaches John Batman’s Indented Head settlement in 1835, as imagined in this wood engraving by O. R. Campbell and S. Calvert in 1869. (National Portrait Gallery)

  ‘He then told us that his name was William Buckley, having the following marks on his arm – W.B and marks like a crab, half-moon and small man.’ William Todd’s original diary from 1835 recording Buckley’s arrival at the Batman camp. (State Library of Victoria)

  ‘A rogue, thief, cheat and liar, a murderer of blacks and the vilest man I have ever known.’ A rare portrait of John Batman, explorer, pastoralist and one of the co-founders of Melbourne. In later life a disease believed to be syphilis left him with a disfigured nose and unable to walk. (State Library of Victoria)

  ‘You intended to obtain undue influence over the mind of Buckley and through him over the minds of the natives.’ In this painting by H. L. van den Houten in 1878, John Batman (red shirt) is wrongly depicted as greeting Buckley at Indented Head. Batman was already back in Van Diemen’s Land boasting of his treaty with the Kulin people. (State Library of Victoria)

  ‘… a white man, of immense size, covered with an opossum-skin rug, and his hair and beard spread out as large as a bushel measure.’ Buckley became adept in the use of the spear and other weapons during his time with the Wadawurrung and became a favourite of 19th-century artists. (Museums Victoria)

  ‘… four of Buckley’s clubs of various shapes rudely ornamented.’ Some of the Aboriginal artefacts on display in the Saffron Walden museum in Essex. Many of them were donated by John Helder Wedge as souvenirs of his time in Port Phillip in the years after 1835. (Saffron Walden Museum)

  ‘There is no calculating on the mischief that might ensue by the hostile feelings he would … instill into the breasts of the natives.’ Surveyor John Helder Wedge met Buckley in 1835 and helped secure his pardon from the British government. (Tasmanian Archives)

  ‘There’s that snub nose and low bushy eyebrows hanging above hazel eyes.’ The first known sketch of Buckley, made by John Helder Wedge in 1835 just a few weeks after he made his presence known to the Batman camp. His beard has already been shaved and his hair cut. (State Library of Victoria)

  ‘A mindless lump of matter.’ John Pascoe Fawkner, photographed in 1863 six years before his death, became a strident critic of Buckley and claimed his loyalties lay with the Aboriginal people of Port Phillip. (State Library of Victoria)

  ‘He is chief of a tribe and possesses the most complete control over his people – Buckley will be our mainspring.’ Dressed in a dark coat and hat (far left), Buckley is shown talking to a group of Kulin people near the Yarra River in 1837. Painting by Joseph Anderson Panton. (State Library of Victoria)

  ‘Hard and all knowing – the look of a man rarely racked with self-doubt or uncertainty.’ Foster ‘Flogger’ Fyans, who had brutally repressed a prisoner uprising on Norfolk Island, journeyed by foot from Melbourne to Geelong with Buckley and called him a ‘monster of a man’. (State Library of NSW)

  ‘You have all this place, no good have children … me tumble down and die very soon now.’ Derrimut, an arweet of the Boonwurrung people, painted by Benjamin Duterau during his visit to Van Diemen’s Land with John Fawkner in 1837. (State Library of NSW)

  ‘In an almost impregnable castle on the sea coast dwelt a terrific giant named Hacho …’ An advertisement in The Austral-Asiatic Review in Hobart on 16 January 1838, promoting Buckley’s on-stage appearance as the Giant Hacho. He quickly withdrew from the production.

  ‘His balding head softened by a chubby face and fleshy chin …’ Sir John Franklin, Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen’s Land, who gave Buckley his first job on the island in 1837.

  ‘It is … an unusual union.’ The register of marriages in Hobart records the wedding of Buckley and Julia Eagers in early 1840. Buckley is about 58, more than 30 years older than Julia, a native of Cork in Ireland. (Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office)

  ‘… you press the quill on the page just a little too long; the ink runs …’ Buckley leaves a smudged ‘X’ as he and Julia witness the marriage of Julia’s daughter, Mary Ann, to 30-year-old William Jackson. (Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office)

  ‘If you kill one white man white fellow will shoot you down like kangaroo …’ William Barak, last of the ngurungaeta of the Wurundjeri-willam clan who, as a young boy, watched and listened as Buckley warned Indigenous people not to trespass on white men’s territory. (State Library of Victoria)

  ‘The money from the book sales must be invaluable …’ An advertisement in April 1851 in Hobart’s The Britannia and Trades’ Advocate spruiking the forthcoming book co-authored by John Morgan about Buckley’s experiences in Port Phillip.

  ‘All your life you have managed to find a way out, but there is no grand escape this time …’ ‘Buckley’s Rest’, a small park off Sandy Bay Road in Hobart that commemorates Buckley’s burial place. The lush grove is on the site of the old St George’s burial ground in Battery Point.

  ‘There is no mistaking the hanging brow and the pair of haunting eyes. They stare impassively back … the look of an ageing man who has seen far more than he can ever tell.’ Portrait of Buckley believed to be painted by Ludwig Becker. (State Library of Victoria)

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  It took more than 150 hard-working crew members six months to ensure HMS Calcutta safely sailed from England to Port Phillip in 1803. There were times when it felt like I had far more people helping me trace the extraordinary journey of William Buckley. There is not space to mention everyone who made a contribution. But it would be remiss not to highlight the assistance I received from the State Library of Victoria, the State Library of NSW and the National Library of Australia, particularly its impressive digital resource Trove. In Melbourne, Des Cowley of the SLV’s Collection Development and Description section provided sound advice and steered me in several key directions. His colleague, Greg Gerrand, allowed me to sit down one afternoon and, with gloved hands, very gently turn the pages of William Todd’s calf leather diary, an extraordinary doc
ument that records the moment Buckley returned to white society.

  Professors Tim Flannery and Richard Broome were also invaluable guides in the early research. Flannery’s introduction to the 2002 edition of The Life and Adventures of William Buckley remains one of the most insightful explorations of Buckley and his experiences. Tim’s passionate advice took me in several new directions. Professor Broome, one of the most authoritative voices on Australian Aboriginal history, gave me much to think about.

  Professor Alan Cooper, the Director of the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, is one of a team of researchers who have revolutionised our understanding of ancient Aboriginal history through pioneering DNA sampling work. He read a draft of a critical section of the book and patiently highlighted areas that needed improving.

  Many thanks also go to Dr Stefan Petrow of the University of Tasmania, who steered me in the direction of Jacqueline Fox, the author of a highly praised biography of the former Chief Justice of Van Diemen’s Land, John Pedder. Jacqueline found previously undiscovered material relating to Buckley in the archives and was a tremendous resource on the island’s colonial times, as well as being a valuable sounding board. Thanks also to the staff of the Rare Book Collection at the University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Archives.

  In England there was only one man to turn to when it came to uncovering faded historical documents in Cheshire – the ‘History Detective’, Tony Bostock. A retired policeman who has lost none of his prosecutorial skills, Tony seemed to instantly uncover information and papers that would have taken me months. In the village of Marton, Roger Lomas, a landscape architect and the managing director of urban design company e*SCAPE, helped me understand the countryside around Buckley’s birthplace. Books, papers, theses and other key resources are mentioned in the bibliography. But it would be remiss not to highlight the importance of Marjorie Tipping’s seminal work, Convicts Unbound – the Story of the Calcutta Convicts and Their Settlement in Australia, along with that astonishing body of work, the foundation series of Historical Records of Victoria.

  Jill Baker – as she often did during our time in newspapers – rescued me when I was drowning in doubt, patiently going through an early draft of the book while trying to write one of her own.

  Alison Urquhart at Penguin Random House Australia is one of the publishing industry’s greatest enthusiasts and she saw the possibilities of this book long before I did. Her passion for this project made it happen and, ultimately, led me to the watchful eyes and careful hands of two brilliant editors – Michael Epis and Patrick Mangan. Their suggestions on the book’s structure as well as their ability to save me from many errors – factual and grammatical – were invaluable. Any remaining faults must rest with me.

  But when it came to writing Buckley’s Chance, I always had the sense that two other people were looking over my shoulder, critiquing every sentence. One of them, of course, was William Buckley. The other was Les Carlyon, the master storyteller himself, a man I had been fortunate to call a friend and mentor for more than 30 years. He fell ill and passed away as this book began to form. A day didn’t pass when I did not wonder what he would think of this passage or that chapter. Like everyone else whose life he touched and influenced, I will continue to sorely miss his voice and advice and regret that I never thanked him enough for his wisdom and encouragement.

  ENDNOTES

  PROLOGUE

  1. There is a full moon in hell … based on the moon’s phase for the evenings of 26–27 December 1803. www.moonpage.com.

  2. No punishment can be fitting enough … Details of the escape are drawn from the diary of Robert Knopwood, daily notices by David Collins at the Sullivan Bay settlement, Convicts Unbound by Marjorie Tipping and John Morgan’s The Life and Adventures of William Buckley.

  3. He has come up with a solution for this … The looped handkerchief Buckley used while walking with his wife in Hobart is reported by various sources, including The Narrative of George Russell of Golf Hill (edited by P. L. Brown).

  PART 1

  CHAPTER 1

  4. It is dark and damp … Descriptions of life on the prison hulks are drawn from several sources including The Scots Magazine, July 1770; www.royal-arsenal-history.com/woolwich-prison-hulks.html; Hughes, Robert, The Fatal Shore; Campbell, Charles F., The Intolerable Hulks: British Shipboard Confinement, 1776–1857.

  5. Imprisoned on the Portland … George Lee letter to Sir Henry St John Mildmay, 24 January 1803, Bentham papers, British Library.

  6. So best leave the most colourful description … Vaux, James Hardy. A New and Comprehensive Vocabulary of the Flash Language.

  7. ‘These guards the most commonly of the lowest class …’ Vaux, James Hardy. Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux.

  CHAPTER 2

  8. She’s an old ship, this one … Tipping, Marjorie. Convicts Unbound; Colledge, J. J., Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of All Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the Fifteenth Century to the Present.

  9. More than 500 of you – 300 convicts … Tipping.

  10. She was built in John Perry’s yard … Currey, John. Sullivan Bay: How Convicts Came to Port Phillip and Van Diemen’s Land.

  11. Two men are losing their heads … The trial of Edward Marcus Despard has been the subject of many books, including a shorthand account of the trial by the brothers Joseph Gurney and William Gurney in The Trial of Edward Marcus Despard for High Treason, 1803, available online. Description of his execution from Jay, Mike. The Unfortunate Colonel Despard.

  12. The effects of this new Industrial Age can be seen … Jackson, Lee. Dirty Old London – the Victorian Fight against Filth.

  13. War has long been its greatest industry … Haythornthwaite, Philip. Redcoats – the British Soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars.

  14. And ruling over this divided kingdom … Many historians and doctors now believe King George III suffered from porphyria, a disorder that affects the nervous system. Researchers who discovered traces of arsenic in samples of the king’s hair reported their findings in the medical journal The Lancet on 23 July 2005.

  15. Many were sold to private contractors … Hughes, Robert. The Fatal Shore.

  16. There are more than 160 offences … Tipping.

  17. The smell will reach its climax … Halliday, Stephen. The Great Stink of London.

  CHAPTER 3

  18. In late 700 AD … One of the best descriptions of the Marton Oak has been written by Julian Hight, author of World Tree Story: History and Legends of the World’s Ancient Trees (2012).

  19. But Offa is a man … Encyclopaedia Britannica.

  20. And suddenly you find yourself indentured to Robert Wyatt … Morgan, The Life and Adventures.

  21. Apprenticeships in the late 18th century … The London Lives project, Digital Humanities Institute, University of Sheffield. www.londonlives.org/index.jsp.

  CHAPTER 4

  22. The scum of the earth … Haythornthwaite.

  23. Hard pounding this, gentlemen … as quoted by Sir Walter Scott, Paul’s Letters to his Kinfolk (1815).

  24. They will celebrate Old Nosey in ballads … Some of them include Nosey the King of Waterloo and his row dow dow iddy iddy pipe clay nose and Poor old King Nosey is getting old. Source: Muir, Rory. Wellington: Waterloo and the Fortunes of Peace, 1814–1852.

  25. The Secretary of War will stand up … Haythornthwaite.

  26. One regiment employs the 42-inch dwarf … Description of John Heyes from The Gentleman’s Magazine, Volume 83, Part 1; Volume 113 (January to June 1813).

  27. There is little they won’t try in the quest … Haythornthwaite.

  28. One soldier who joins the ranks … ibid.

  29. Little wonder John Gaspard Le Merchant … The United Service Magazine and Naval and Military Journal, 1843, Part II.

  30. Alcohol has become a peculiar British disease … Howard, Martin, MD. ‘Red Jackets and Red Noses: Alcohol and the British Napoleonic Soldier’. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Vol. 93, J
anuary 2000.

  CHAPTER 5

  31. ‘A swarm of bees, here on the battlefield? …’ Haythornthwaite.

  32. The little Frenchman’s sore arse … Mason, Phil. Napoleon’s Haemorrhoids: and Other Small Events That Changed the World. Skyhorse. 2008.

  33. More bloodshed before another embarrassing retreat … The campaign in the Netherlands also became well known for one of the more bizarre incidents during the Napoleonic Wars. A soldier with the 31st, John Cames, buried a colleague, Robert Hullock, who had been shot through the jaw. But Hullock was not dead, just in shock. He eventually came to his senses and clawed his way out of the ground. Years later, as the pair served on another battlefield, Hullock spent a few spare hours digging a 10-foot grave. Asked what he was doing, Hullock said: ‘Building a grave for Cames … it will puzzle him to creep out as I did.’ Letter by Asaph Shaw, Lt., 31st regiment. The United Service Journal and Naval and Military Magazine, Part III, 1831, pp.380–1.

  34. Restoring Prince William to power … Descriptions of the 1799 campaign drawn from various sources including The Campaign in Holland, 1799 by Terry Astley (Subaltern), Henry Bunbury’s A Narrative of the Campaign in North Holland, 1799 and Anglo-Russian Invasion of Holland (Wikipedia).

  35. Some of them had placed leather pads in their shoes … Haythornthwaite; Galofré-Vilà, Gregori, Dr. Heights across the Last 2000 Years in England. University of Oxford. 2017.