The Many Meanings of ‘X’

10/26/2018.Reading time 20 minutes.

By Tony Pagels The annotation ‘XXX’ can have numerous meanings. For centuries illiterate people have used an ‘X’ in place of a signature on contracts and agreements, or to make their mark. This was a regular occurrence in depositions given by illiterate workers to Native Mounted Police (NMP) officers, as well as by many of […]

When Bureaucracies Kill

10/12/2018.Reading time 23 minutes.

By Heather Burke Cecil Fulford Hill was 21 years old when he was speared by Aboriginal people near Rannes station in central Qld in 1865. Along with Henry Kaye (1881), George Dyas (1881) and Marcus Beresford (1883), Hill was one of only four NMP officers to be killed while on patrol, although many more were […]

Friendships on the Frontier: Exploring relationships between Officers and Troopers of the NMP

09/30/2018.Reading time 22 minutes.

By Heather Burke The relationship between white officers and the Aboriginal troopers who served under them is one of the most perplexing and elusive of all interactions within the Native Mounted Police (NMP). What those relationships were like, the bases around which they were constructed, and how they played out day-to-day would have been as […]

Getting Away with Murder: Who Was Really Responsible for the Deaths of Hugh and Donald Macquarie?

09/14/2018.Reading time 17 minutes.

By Peter Bell and Lynley Wallis The remote nature of colonial Qld meant it was possible not to see another human being for weeks, if not months. This isolation was one reason why squatters sometimes had no qualms about dispensing illegal “colonial justice” to Aboriginal people (although after the Myall Creek trials of 1838 squatters […]

‘To be Seen and Not Heard’: Children and the NMP

08/23/2018.Reading time 14 minutes.

By Lynley Wallis and Heather Burke Given the work with which they were routinely engaged, it is hard to reconcile the idea of a Native Mounted Police camp replete with happy children scampering through the bush, bursting with laughter. But in many cases this must have been a relatively common occurrence since, as we noted […]

‘A Large Comet Appeared in the West’: The Daily Journals of Three NMP Camps

08/08/2018.Reading time 16 minutes.

By Heather Burke Jonathan Richards (2005:1–9) has pointed out the rich veins that can be tapped when searching for Native Mounted Police (NMP) records in the Qld State Archives by burrowing through general file series, such as the Colonial Secretary’s inwards and outwards correspondence, the inquest files of the Justice Department, or the Executive Council […]

Treachery or a Matter of Survival? The Attempted Murder of Sub-Inspector Brabazon Stafford

07/20/2018.Reading time 21 minutes.

By Heather Burke .. six of the Native troopers at the Laura [have] done their level best to disperse Sub-inspector Stafford and his camp-keeper … the occurrence shows vividly the dangers to which Native Police officers are exposed from their own men, who when they break the bounds of discipline become so many wild beasts […]