Cry of the Curlew: The Frontier Series 1 (52 page)

AUTHOR’S NOTE

I
n the tradition of the historical saga, fact and fiction have been woven together to produce the tapestry of this story’s setting. All Aboriginal tribes mentioned are fictional with the exception of references to the Darambal people, who inhabited the Fitzroy basin region of Queensland, and the Kalkadoon tribe. I have used upper case when making reference to the entity of the Rainbow Serpent although this usage may not be considered grammatically correct. This was not done out of a need for political correctness but motivated by my personal perception of the sanctity of other people’s spiritual beliefs.

The use of the police dispersals (a euphemism for genocide) is well documented, although it was not legitimised by the laws of the time. In defence of the Native Mounted Police, it should be noted that not all commanding officers abused their power as portrayed in the character of Lieutenant Morrison Mort. One officer who did was the infamous Frederick Wheeler, who was eventually captured by the authorities. He, however, was never brought to trial, and disappeared. Some say he escaped to the Americas. Aboriginal folklore says that in his escape from European law he met with Aboriginal law and was duly punished.

Lieutenant Wentworth D’Arcy Uhr is a real character. In 1866, at the age of twenty-one, he was appointed to command the Native Mounted Police at Burketown. Alone, his real life exploits could be used as the basis of an action adventure novel. I have used literary licence to place him in the hunt for Tom Duffy as the arduous and dangerous trek was typical of his nature.

Port Denison as it was once known is today called Bowen. Burke’s Land is today known as the Gulf Country and Burketown its tiny capital – a town with a wild and colourful frontier history and a place well worth a visit for the adventurous traveller.

Readers of this novel may draw interesting comparisons to what we call today America’s Wild West. The comparisons are valid. The Colt revolver and Snider rifle were companions to the settlers as the Colt and Winchester were in the Americas; their impact on indigenous people was just as deadly.

The age of the blackbirders in our history had parallels with slavery in the Americas before their bloody Civil War. But it should be noted that not all recruiting methods were as barbaric as those employed by the character of Mort. Many of the recruits were more than willing to leave impoverished islands for a chance to earn European goods in the far-off colony of Queensland.

The ‘baby farms’ referred to in the novel actually existed and are a dark and infamous chapter of Australia’s colourful history. The practice of handing over unwanted infants to private concerns was finally addressed in the 1886
Select Committee on Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriage
s and 1892 saw the passing of a Children’s Protection Act. In 1893 a John Makin was hanged for numerous acts of infanticide and his wife sentenced to life imprisonment. For years they had been burying the bodies of babies in various Sydney backyards and at least fifteen of these have since been located. How many more backyards conceal these tiny bones may never be known . . .

But all this and more is best described by the two authors of historical works I used as a basis for the story. Glenville Pike and Hector Holthouse have written extensively on the events of the Queensland frontier and I thoroughly recommend their works to anyone interested in learning more about Australia’s own wild north of the nineteenth century.

ALSO AVAILABLE FROM PAN MACMILLAN

Peter Watt
Shadow of the Osprey

On a Yankee clipper bound for Sydney Harbour the mysterious Michael O’Flynn is watched closely by a man working undercover for Her Majesty’s government. O’Flynn has a dangerous mission to undertake . . . and old scores to settle.

Twelve years have passed since the murderous event which inextricably linked the destinies of two families, the Macintoshes and the Duffys. The curse which lingers after the violent 1862 dispersal of the Nerambura tribe has created passions which divide them in hate and join them in forbidden love.

Shadow of the Osprey
, the sequel to the best-selling
Cry of the Curlew
, is a riveting tale that reaches from the boardrooms and backstreets of Sydney to beyond the rugged Queensland frontier and the dangerous waters of the Coral Sea. Powerful and brilliantly told,
Shadow of the Osprey
confirms the exceptional talent of master storyteller Peter Watt.