"SA Mounted Police on the Frontier" Topic

Recently, whilst doing a heritage walk around the streets of the mid-north South Australian town of Clare during a weekend camping trip, we happy campers paid a visit to the Old Clare Police Museum. I was somewhat taken aback to see mounted on an inside wall of that building a studio shot of two mounted police troopers in full dress with swords, the first lines of the accompanying caption to which quite openly declared that the primary function of the force in the region was the protection of settlers from Aboriginal stock raids and attacks on homesteads. Take my word for it that this is a most unusual cultural context in which to encounter such a public acknowledgment of the reality of the Australian frontier.

If anyone is interested in learning more about frontier conflict in South Australia, currently the most erudite one volume source is the 2012 publication 'Out of the Silence: the History and Memory of South Australia's Frontier Wars', by University of Adelaide academics Robert Foster and Amanda Nettelbeck. This volume makes very clear the strongly military character of the Mounted Police Force from its inception.

In years past I've covered the Rufus River conflict on these boards, including the full text of Commissioner of Police, Major O'Halloran's marching orders for the 1841 expedition to that locale. 'Out of the Silence' quotes Commissioner Warburton (1853 – 1867), another former army officer who'd served in India. In an 1856 report he insisted that 'a mounted officer's clothing and equipment should plainly show that he was a cavalry soldier', and that the Mounted Police Force should be regarded as a 'military body'.

Over the succeeding years a 'system' developed in which frontier workers were actively encouraged by the Commissioners of Police to arm themselves (not that they needed any encouragement)and act in their own defence. In an 1867 memo newly-appointed Commissioner George Hamilton opined that, 'Two or three troopers supported by armed bushmen would be able to repel a large number of natives and overawe them and keep them in order…', and this prescription for frontier policing served as the standard formula in the north of the colony.

A couple of additional points:

A complaint made by a Corporal(NB: military rank!)Wauhop after an armed confrontation in 1863 gives the impression that, unlike earlier periods, firearms carried by Mounted Police troopers at this time were probably normally restricted to revolvers: 'Breech loading rifles are the only weapons that would intimidate such a determined lot of natives – for they appear to take no notice of pistols'. The requisite rifles (carbines?) and ammunition were duly supplied.

The intensity with which the conflict in the north of SA was perceived by the resident Whites can be gauged from a couple of quotes from pastoral station staff from 1865, during a fierce drought that exacerbated conflict between the races.

Henry Dean, part-owner of Lake Hope station north of the Flinders ranges, wrote in a letter to his business partner 'We must have more men and more arms to defend our position and our property, otherwise this country will have to be abandoned by the settlers.' One of Dean's men insisted 'We want some large sized revolvers, as those we have are too small. We shall not be able to settle the up-creek country until we are stronger handed, as I am afraid it is now open war between the blacks and us.'

As I've said elsewhere I'm reading Mostert's book Frontier in it a well connected evangelical missionary comments that the situation in the Cape and beyond was pretty much what was happening in Australia.

Henry Dean's comment above is certainly echoed by colonists in the Cape and on the frontier.

I have the Mostert book, OB. On what page is the missionary position given?

I'll check and get back to you Henry.

Thanks OB.

While you're busy investigating the missionary position OB, I'll just add that the above book discusses the difficulties faced by Lutheran and Moravian missionaries in the Lake Hope region.

In early 1867 they feared that they were about to be attacked by Aborigines who were gathering in the area. The Lutheran pastor wrote to his superior in Germany for guidance about how to respond, and Commissioner of Police Hamilton became frustrated with their pacificistic refusal to defend themselves and the consequent need to bolster the police presence on their behalf, calling them in a memo 'non-combatants'. As it was, an attempt was made to kill a Lutheran brother while he was returning to his mission from the Moravian mission.

In the end the missionaries abandoned the region because of the perceived danger.

Sorry Henry cannot locate it but if memory serves it was Dr John Philip.

I'll check the index then. Thanks for your efforts, OB.

Smith's defence of his actions on page 726 is probably of interest to you Henry.

Perhaps things are changing generally on the public acknowledgement front. Over the long weekend just passed I was camping further north, in the southern Flinders Ranges at Melrose. This small town has a very comprehensive museum in the former police station (that was for a couple of decades of the 19th century the HQ of the northern police division, covering a vast area of SA and the NT) and courthouse, and once again frontier conflict was directly addressed in the displays.

That's good to read and the right thing to do imho.

BTW OB, the only direct reference to Australia I could find in 'Frontier' was a mention of the spearing of Governor Grey during his northwest expedition.

Smith references what is happening in Australia when defending his treatment of the Xhosa. The thrust of it is that what he has done is natural and in line with what is being done elsewhere in the Empire.