A CONTROVERSIAL COP
“Social saboteurs masquerading as friends of the Aborigines have a lot to answer for …”
By Bryan Clark
In June, 1999, in a blaze of publicity, a part-Aboriginal resident of Alice Springs demanded that Willshire Street be re-named.
Mounted Constable, William Willshire (1852-1926), he claimed, had a “ten month shooting spree up and down the Finke River (and was) responsible for hundreds of deaths.”
Surprisingly, he added: “When the Aboriginal people tried to give evidence, the court wouldn’t allow it, so he got off …”
One can only assume that he had never perused the court reporter’s carefully written documentation.
Freelance history buff, R. Kimber, joined the fray with: “The circumstantial evidence suggests to me that he, the station hands he swore in as special constables, and the native police under his command, probably shot over 200 Aborigines in Central Australia – perhaps hundreds more.”
Probably? Perhaps?
Kimber issued yet another supposition, saying: “It was almost certain Willshire used shooting kangaroos as a … cover-up reference for … shooting Aborigines.”
Further enlightenment was provided by Alice Springs singer, Ted Egan, who said one only had to read Willshire’s books to realise the man was a “murderer.”
“His own writings condemn him as a fallacious murderer,” claimed the singer.
With true residual Catholic morality, Egan said he had noticed in one of Willshire’s books a reference to an alluring Aboriginal woman ‘arrayed in her native modesty who had the bust of a juno, and hands which would delight any sculptor ‘ … He was … a perve.”
A far more balanced viewpoint was expressed by Darwin-based historian, Peter Forrest, who thought Willshire’s actions had to be judged in context.
“The fact is Willshire is a very important figure in Central Australian history, and whether he was right or wrong we can’t change that.”
Forrest told a journalist that while he did not condone or defend Willshire’s actions, he was, nonetheless, doing a very difficult job which was expected of him and he would have been supported in his actions by “virtually the entire white community of the Centre.”
Mr Forrest said the killing of Aborigines was the “inevitable result” of settlement, and he did not advocate changing the street name in Alice Springs.
“I certainly don’t think we should be sanitising history,” the historian advised. “What we need to do now is not change street names, but step back and reflect maturely on the reality of settlement.”
Apart from Alice Springs, Willshire Streets also exist in Canberra and Darwin commemorating W. Willshire’s contributions to science and knowledge.
Part-Aboriginal activist, Charlie Perkins, widened the dispute by observing: “Throughout Australia, they should look at not just street names, but lakes and mountains … whites came and re-named everything.”
Billy Goat Hill, in Alice Springs, for example, was “a stupid name” and should revert to its original tribal name, “Akeyulerre.”
Alice Springs author, Max Cartwright, accused the editor of the “Centralian Advocate” of “gutter journalism” by putting M. C. Willshire on “media trial” 108 years after being declared innocent.
“Willshire gave 30 years of commendable service as a police officer,” said Mr Cartwright, “ten of them in the Northern Territory. He left us with four books of irreplaceable and valuable Northern Territory history …”
E. Ferrier, in a letter to the editor of the same publication, commented: “Social saboteurs masquerading as friends of the Aborigines have a lot to answer for.”
Iain Morrison and G. Macpherson of the Northern Territory Police Historical Society joined forces to express their views.
Mr Morrison pointed out: “There is considerable evidence that Willshire has been the subject of deliberate slander … during his term of duty … and after his death … Historions, the new intelligensia and the media will … continue to apply current moral standards to past actions, or reflect upon them from their new philosophical viewpoint … They should not create history, adjusting it to suit their own vision … The current outcry is a typical of how recent creation can distort history and be accepted by the uninformed and thoughtless … because it fits fashionable prejudice …”
Mr Macpherson said: “The matter requires … clarification … Mounted Constable W. H. Willshire was charged with the murder of two natives – Donkey and Roger – at Tempe Downs on February 22, 1891. He was brought before Mr F. J. Gillen, JP, who committed him for trial … at Port Augusta … Sir John Downer … questioned the powers and conduct of Mr Gillen in his investigation … Nothing is mentioned of Willshire’s skill in recording the languages of natives in … the Gordon Creek and Lake Amadeus areas … It is very easy to sit in the comfort of one’s modern home … and pass judgement on departed Territorians as a means to their own personal opinion or preferences.”
Iain Morrison explained: “The majority of the so-called ‘evidence’ trotted out against Willshire … consists of uncorroborated statements by Hermannsburg missionaries … during the parliamentary enquiry conducted by H. Swan and G. Taplin … himself a missionary …”
Frank J. Gillen, JP, of the Alice Springs telegraph station, decided to investigate Willshire’s activities around the Boggy Waterhole police camp and Tempe Downs Station. Gillen was subsequently instrumental in having the policeman committed for trial, even though his informants were later deemed liars, and the JP was soundly criticised for not having interviewed Willshire himself prior to pressing charges.
Writing in 1896, Willshire said he failed to comprehend why Mr F. Gillen had exhibited “such venom” against him.
’I could never see why that man had such a set on me, “he observed.
In a newspaper article (1895), Willshire again addressed the matter, noting: “It appears that South Australian law is so constructed that an executive officer … in command of a police detachment, can be seized upon a warrant issued by a single Justice of the Peace, removed from command, sent away in irons and committed for trial without the least legal evidence of guilt, upon bare statements by natives made in the absence of the accused …”
Interestingly, Gillen, in collaboration with anthropologist, Baldwin Spencer, was engaged in very similar research in Aboriginal lore, as was Willshire himself. One cannot help but wonder to what extent was professional rivalry, and territorial jealousies, involved in Gillen’s persecution of the policeman. By denigrating the man in public, would this then have a negative effect on Willshire’s publications, as well as lessen his credibility as a serious researcher?
In his book, “Journey To Horseshoe Bend,” T. Strehlow (son of Hermannsburg missionaries) wrote: “ … All ‘mulga wires’ in aboriginal Central Australia had been running hot with never-ending stories of the alleged murderous zeal of this police officer in … shooting down tribesmen in any area from which stories of cattle killing had been sent to him by worried pioneer cattlemen.”
Manacled and travelled overland for 980 kms, incarcerated in the Port Augusta gaol for 17 days, with nine days in leg irons, Willshire learnt that northern cattlemen had raised his bail money (equivalent to $5,000 in today’s currency), as well as engaging Sir John Downer Q.C., an emininent lawyer, to represent him at his trial.
The “Port Augusta Dispatch” newspaper of July 24, 1891, carried a lengthy report of William Henry Willshire’s trial of the previous day before “His Honor Chief Justice Bundey and jury,” the charge being “that he did … wilfully murder Donkey, an aboriginal native man, and also, on the same date and place, kill one Roger …”
In a firm voice, Willshire pleaded: “Not guilty.”
The Crown Prosecutor, Mr J. Stuart, informed the jury of 12 that there was no doubt that Donkey and Roger were shot by the native police, under the control of the prisoner, but unless he could be proven guilty by evidence provided, then he must be discharged.
Willshire was said to have informed his subordinates (the black troopers) that the natives were not to have been shot, although the black police were armed and said to have been supplied with neck chains and handcuffs.
If it was proved that the black trackers had disobeyed the orders of Willshire, acquittal must follow; if he was an instigator of the shooting, he would be found guilty of murder in the first degree.
A factor against Willshire was the burning of the bodies of the victims by the trackers, a fact not mentioned to his superior officer. This, however, was believed to be a tribal custom among the natives of that area, and it was done “openly and not in any surreptitious manner.”
Thereafter followed a comprehensive examination of largely Aboriginal witnesses.
Jack (alias Tualpa/Kwalba) said: “ … Larry/Aremala and Archie (Akorkngaltjika) went along creek, and Thomas (alias Takwn/Tekua) stop alonga bush. Larry shoot Donkey. Roger run away, and run straight along Thomas. Thomas been shoot him … He had a gun, and shot Roger in the leg. Willshire tell him shoot Roger … After breakfast, he, Larry and Thomas were told to go along camp, get him camel … Take one camel along Donkey’s camp … Take him along sand hill and burn him … Took camel to Roger, put him along camel, took him along creek, burn him …”
Under cross examination, the witness admitted he had told a lie about many of the events, and had deliberately lied to Mr Gillen when initially supplying evidence which led up to the murder trial. It was intimated that the killing of Roger and Donkey was, in fact, a pay-back tribal execution perpetrated under the guise of an official police action.
Thomas told the court in broken English that he was a native constable, and was at Tempe Downs with Larry, Archie, Jacky and Willshire.
He said: “ … Larry been shoot Donkey. I been shoot him Roger. First time Donkey shot. Roger run away. Then I been shoot him in the breast … Willshire tell him same day, ‘Me wantem Donkey and Roger taken.’”
Another unnamed Aboriginal witness told the court: “Thomas been shoot Roger. No been see him. Heard Willshire tell all the trackers not to shoot blackfellows.”
Addressing the jury, Willshire’s representative, Sir John Downer, stated: “This is a monstrous, an unjustifiable prosecution,” and that he felt confident the jury would restore his client to his liberty.
Chief Justice Bundey summed up “paricularly in favour of the prisoner,” pointing out that in British law a man could not be convicted on the evidence of an accomplice.
The jury deliberated for “about 15 minutes” and returned to court to announce their verdict: “We find the prisoner not guilty, and would add that we consider there is not a tittle of evidence incriminating the prisoner.”
W. H. Willshire was then honourably acquitted by Chief Justice Bundey.
` The newpaper report concluded: “There was considerable excitement evinced in court … and the stentorian call of ‘Silence’ had to be given more than once before order was restored. On Willshire’s retirement from the court a free man, he was lustily cheered by the onlookers.”
Seventeen years later, on January 31st, 1908, W. H. Willshire, by then promoted to Senior Constable, resigned from the South Australian Police Force, and died in 1926 at the age of 74.
(Research material gleaned from the newspapers, Central Australian Advocate and the Port Augusta Dispatch, also books, Journey to Horseshoe Bend, Willshire of Alice Springs.
W. H. Willshire’s books are: “The Aborigines of Central Australia” (D. Drysdale, Port Augusta, 1888; “The Aborigines of Central Australia” (South Australian Government Printer, Adelaide, 1891; “A Thrilling Tale of Real Life in the Wilds of Australia” (Frearson and Brother, Adelaide, 1895, and “Land Of The Dawning” (W.K. Thomas & Co., Adelaide, 1906).
Sadist events such as these must not be hidden or forgoten
— reg dodd · 26 March 2011 · #
suffering of our people must be known world wide.
— ARABUNNA PEOPLE · 26 March 2011 · #