Rottnest Purgatory

© Christopher Earls Brennen

``Wadjemup: The place across the water where the spirits are"

The name given to Rottnest Island by the Whadjuk Noongar people.

 

In another chapter we have recounted the story of Jandamarra, the remarkable resitance warrior from the Bunuba aboriginal group whose ancestral lands occupied a large portion of the floodplain of the Fitzroy River in the desolate Kimberley region of Western Australia. Here we tell what is known of the story of one of Jandamarra's accomplices, a man known only by the white man's epithetic name of Captain.

Map of the Kimberley

Captain was born about 1859 in or near the small seashore aboriginal community of Le Grange Bay in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, about 120 miles south of Broome. At that time, Le Grange Bay was the site of a multiracial community that included english and asian pearl divers. There Captain learnt pearl diving and some basic English. At some point prior to 1894 he ran afoul of the law and was sentenced to traumatic imprisonment at Rottnest Island far to the south. Upon release he came north again and, in September 1894 at the age of 35, was drafted into the custody of Bill Richardson, the stockman and quasi-policeman who had been placed in charge of the Lennard police camp on the vast flood plain of the Fitzroy river just south of the Napier Range in the desert-like interior of the Kimberley. Richardson's responsibilities ranged widely across the traditional lands of the Bunuba native people and included the Lillimooloora Police Station just a little over a mile from Windjana Gorge, a beautiful verdant gap in the Napier Range and a place very sacred to the Bunuba. Richardson had been assigned the task of rounding up outlawed Bunuba and thanks to the tracking skills of Captain and a young Bunuba stockman by the name of Jandmarra was immediately succesful in capturing a group of nine rebellious Bunuba. Further captures included several of Jandamarra's kinsmens and aquantainces, among them Ellemara, a highly respected Bunuba elder and one of Jandamarra's mentors (they belonged to the same family). In August 1894 when Richardson and Captain were transporting the chained group to jail in Derby, Ellemara made his escape allegedly by breaking his padlock with his bare hands. Others suspected that Jandamarra may have had a hand in the escape. Guided by Jandamarra, Richardson then scoured the Napier range trying to find Ellemara and other Bunuba rebels. But when Richardson and Captain returned to Lillimooloora to resume their mission Jandamarra was nowhere to be seen. Frustrated, Richardson commenced patrolling without him. After several days he returned empty-handed only to find a brash Jandamarra waiting casually for his return. Out Richardson went again, this time with Jandamarra, and captured a large group of Bunuba including Lilamarra, the brother of Jandamarra's wife, Mayannie. Finally, with the help of Captain and Jandamarra, Richardson located and captured the elusive Ellemara. They chained the whole group of seventeen Bunuba together close by the Lillimooloora police station and awaited instructions from the authorities in Derby.

  
Aboriginal prisoners posing with a policeman  The remains of the Lillimooloora police station

Days passed during which Jandamarra was continually berated by his imprisoned kinsmen, particularly Ellemara and Lilamarra. On the night of Oct.31, 1894, Jandamarra finally broke and silently released Lilamarra. He proceeded into the station and shot dead the sleeping Richardson. Then, releasing all the other prisoners they took possession of all the guns and departed for the nearby Bunuba stronghold in Windjana Gorge. Captain, also armed, had no choice but to join them. The report that reached the police headquarters in Derby several days later claimed that Captain had colluded in the killing with Jandamarra. It also commented that Jandamarra and Captain were the best shots in the district over 100 yards.

Map of the Napier Range

Looking out at entrance to Windjana Gorge

As the news of the revolt spread throughout Western Australia, mild panic set in and, with orders from Perth, a substantial police force of 28 (17 of them Aboriginal) set out from Derby to storm the Bunuba stronghold in Windjana Gorge. There Jandamarra had set up an ambush utilizing the maze of caves and crevices in the steep cliffs at the entrance to the gorge. The armed Aborigines including Ellemarra, Lilamarra, Muddenbudden, Luter, Byabarra, Wongamarra, Tiebuck and Captain strategically hid themselves in the dark holes surrounding Jandamarra's cave. At dawn on Nov.16, 1894, the police contingent approached the Gorge and, as they entered, a great fusillade erupted from the caves and crevasses. The gun battle continued for about eight hours until about 2pm when an unfortunate setback occured. As he tried to switch from his hiding place to Jandamarra's cave, the influential Ellemarra was shot and killed. This traumatized the Bunuba but Jandamarra emerged from his cave, gun blazing to reestablish the standoff. In the pause that followed the Bunuba, men, women and children scattered and escaped. A wounded Jandamarra also vanished, his condition unknown though it later became clear that he had taken refuge in his Tunnel Creek hideout about 15 miles from Windjana Gorge.

Upon his recovery, Jandamarra, with his small band of loyal followers, changed his tactics and embarked on a series of guerilla attacks in an attempt to counter the widespread atrocities inflicted on the Bunuba by the authorities. The band included his mother and wife as well as his brother, Barney, and the faithful Captain (despite not being Bunuba). After many successful raids, Jandamarra's luck finally ran out in October 1895 when, through carelessness, his band was surprised while resting by the river in Windjana Gorge. While he evaded the ambushers, his mother and wife were captured. Frozen by the suddenness of the raid, Captain ran towards the police with his arms raised in surrender. While all three chained captives were taken to the Lillimooloora station, Jandamarra bartered for his mother's release from the top of the Napier range. Through Captain's mediation the police released his mother at which point Jandamarra jeered at them and promptly disappeared into the range. His wife, Mayannie, and Captain were led away in chains; Jandamarra would never see them again.

Captain was jailed in Derby prior to his trial for the murder of Richardson in Roebourne in June 1896. It is not clear whether he was anything other than a bystander. His defence was that he was a foreigner and had been forced to join the rebellion by Jandamarra and the other Bunuba. Though convicted and sentenced to death, the jury recommended mercy. This plea was accepted and he was sentenced to life imprisonment on Rottnest Island. He was promptly transported to that awful prison. There, some nine months later in April 1897 at the age of about 36, he died during a measles epidemic along with 20 other Aboriginal prisoners.

Map of the Rottnest Island

The prison and burial ground

Aboriginal prisoners at Rottnest prison about 1885 with cell doors behind them

The detention of Aboriginal men in appaling conditions in the Rottnest prison and the abuse to which they were subjected represents a gross human rights violation and a stain on the history of Western Australia. Though the prison was closed in 1904 after some 65 years of inhumane activity, it continued to be used as a forced labour camp until 1931. Even then it seems that it was closed primarily to make way for a booming tourist resort. In total, more than 373 Aborigines died in custody during their imprisonment on Rottnest. They were buried in unmarked graves whose location was lost in the years that followed. The area where they were buried was developed as a tourist campground where visitors sometimes dug up bones.

Today the bustling tourist venue of Rottnest Island (known as Wadjemup in the Noongar language of the traditional Whadjuk custodians) also represents an Aboriginal heritage and reconciliation site. Only very recently has the Aboriginal graveyard been recognized and protected. Somewhere in that graveyard lie the remains of Captain who was caught in the quagmire of Western Austalian history. He had done his best to help the people of his homeland and ought to be remembered for that service. A small gravemarker is the least he deserves.

More than a century later (in 2021), the Bunuba are still waiting for recognition of their claim to their ancestral lands near the National Parks of Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek. In places where they gather, like the nearby township of Fitzroy Crossing, their anger seeps to the surface.

Last updated 9/20/04.
Christopher E. Brennen