Vandemonian War by Nick Brodie

Author:Nick Brodie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Hardie Grant
Published: 2017-07-26T04:00:00+00:00

Through this hypothetical musing Arthur tacitly encouraged the use of hunting dogs.

About a week after this missive was sent to him, Vicary reported an encounter.23 He mentioned that during the last two weeks of July Sherwin’s force was divided, apparently ready to ambush Aboriginal people. With two of his men, Sherwin was ‘stationed at Mr Espie’s Basham Plains’. The rest of the force were ‘concealed at Weasel Plains’. Then, on 29 July, Sherwin learned ‘that fires were seen about five miles higher up near the River Ouse’. Sherwin ‘proceeded immediately in the direction with one of his Party and John Tobin Ticket of Leave, in the Service of Mr Espie’. Tobin’s sparse convict conduct record has only one offence noted, which, although concerning misbehaviour in September, is nonetheless probably quite telling about this man’s usefulness to Sherwin’s party only a month prior. Tobin’s technical offence concerned having ‘a Dog unlicensed named “Wolf” on the premises of his master at Bashan Plains’.24

With Tobin’s aid, Sherwin soon got ‘within two hundred yards of the fire’ of Aboriginal people. But, as so often, the advancing colonial force was spotted, and the intended targets fled:

one of the Blacks gave an alarm and about ten others were seen running away, the Party did not succeed in taking any of them, they disappeared in an instant, and the nature of the ground afforded them ample concealment, they however destroyed Seventeen Dogs, burned Eighteen Spears and as many Waddies, and they brought away a Drawing Knife, parts of Sheep Shears, some bags of Ruddle [i.e. ochre] and a small quantity of lead ore[.]

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