Merriman

Merriman was a Pallanganmiddang man of the Waywurru or Waveroo people. His father was Hone.ne.ap, a respected Waywurru Elder, known as King Billy of the Barwidgee. GA Robinson recorded Merriman’s real name as Min.nup and noted in his journal that he was born in 1823 which would make him 15 years of age in 1838 at the time of the attack at the Broken River when 8 of WP Faithful’s shepherds were killed. (1)

During his childhood, Merriman caught smallpox and survived but the memory of the disease stayed with him for life in the form of tiny pockmarks that blemished his skin. (2)

Each spring Merriman would have travelled to Mungabareena with his family to see the trading, corroborees and competitions of skill. Stories would be told of the white people squatting on the Murrumbidgee River and of the white arriving by ship and building huts in Port Phillip Bay.

Eddie Kneebone, Bangerang man, artist and educator (3) told me about the trade and activities that would have taken place at Mungabareena. He said that while the young men participated in athletic games, the young women would cheer for their favourites. One can imagine a handsome athletic youth like Merriman would have enjoyed the experience.

At the end of the gathering, the Dhudhuroa and other mountain tribes extended invitations to join them for summer on the high plains. Eddie Kneebone said that upon entering another’s country weapons would be laid on the ground and stepped over as a sign that there would be no hostilities during this time.

Summer in the high country meant the days would be cooler and water abundant, fresh and clear. There was plenty of fish in the mountain streams and vegetables and leafy greens along the fertile gullies. But above all, there was feasting on protein-rich Bogong moths. As autumn came and the mornings became colder, mists could be seen lying in the floor of the valleys far below. Eddie Kneebone said Indigenous people saw the white wisps of mist and knew the spirits of winter were coming and it was time to head down to the low country.

When Merriman was 14 years old CH Ebden brought his cattle to Mungabareena and built a hut near Albury’s present-day waterworks. (4) The arrival of the white men would have been a controversial issue. On one hand, Merriman and his people knew about the brutality of the white men from the stories they heard but they were also keen for the strange new items such as horse-shoe nails and glass that could be worked into deadly spear tips.

In early 1838 when Merriman was 15, Robert Brown set up his store on the banks of the Murray River. Merriman learned to speak English and showed Brown where to plant crops above flood level and before long he was employed by Robert Brown to use his canoe to ferry goods and passengers across the flooded Murray River. (4)

1838 was also the year of the Faithful massacre of WP Faithful’s shepherds at the Broken River and Merriman was said to have been a ring leader. The strongest evidence I have found to confirm Merriman as being present at the Faithful massacre is from Dr George Mackay when he told GA Robinson the names of three of the Blacks involved. He named Merriman, Yarre and Jacgga Jagga in November 1840. (4.1) JFH Mitchell (5) wrote of Merriman being present and a newspaper article of 1875 also said Merriman was there. (6)

In January 1839 Merriman led a raid to burn David Reid’s crop but the white men managed to get their guns in time and chased the Blacks away. Merriman was shot by Reid in the thigh as he tried to get across a creek. Being wounded Merriman could not outrun his pursuer so he leapt into the creek hiding in the shadow of a fallen log. Merriman lay still in the water with just his nostrils showing and watched David Reid run over the log searching for him. Merriman waited to be found but to his surprise, the white man was unable to follow his tracks. (2)

Merriman’s country was Tarawingee as noted by GA Robinson (8) and in late 1838 William Bowman set up his station there. Bowman had just come from the Macedon area where he had been involved in the Waterloo Plains massacre of 23 Indigenous people. (9) Assistant Protector ES Parker’s report to GA Robinson, dated 20 June 1839, claimed that ‘Bowman was in the habit of shooting every black man, woman or child whom he met on his run.’

One of Bowman’s neighbours at Tarrawingee was George Faithful who had set up a station across the Ovens River on the Oxley Plains. Mr Faithful had ongoing troubles with Indigenous people who were spearing his cattle on a regular basis. (9.1) But that was not surprising as the Waywurru people knew he was involved in the slaughter of up to one hundred Indigenous people on the King River just a few months previous. (10)

Merriman would have been outraged by having Bowman and George Faithful in his country but to make matters worse Bowman brought with him ticket-of-leave stockmen who had no respect for Indigenous people. Bowman’s neighbour at Macedon, John Coppock, led the massacre of Indigenous people on the Waterloo Plains and admitted his men, ‘were in the habit during his absence of shooting down the blacks on sight; they did not confine themselves to men, but destroyed the lubras and piccaninnies as well.’ (11)

William Bowman’s stockmen had been in company with John Coppock’s men and some of them would have taken part in the Waterloo Plains massacre. (10)

Benjamin Reid had a life sentence for housebreaking and would have been about 30 years old when he arrived in Merriman’s country. He was in charge of Bowman’s Tarrawingee station had no respect for Indigenous people and on one occasion threatened to, ‘shoot every bloody Black on the river.’ (12)

In late 1839 Benjamin Reed was granted his freedom and married Mary Godfrey and brought her to live with him at Tarrawingee.  Reed was now a free man and worked for a wage and in May 1840 he went to stay at Dr George Mackay’s Whorouly station taking Mary with him. Dr Mackay had gone away leaving his brother, John Scobie Mackay in charge. (13)

On the afternoon of 27th, May 1840 Merriman and Harlequin and 18 other Blacks arrived. Benjamin Reid and his wife along with John Mackay and a bullock driver barricaded themselves inside the hut while Merriman called out for Mary Reed to be handed over. According to David Reid, a neighbour at Carraragarmungee station and no relation to Benjamin Reed, Merriman called out, “Turn out white gin along with black fellow, blackfellow then all gone cooler,’ meaning by cooler, “all anger gone.” (2)

The siege ended with the death of a shepherd in a nearby hut and immediately afterwards, Merriman and his brother Harlequin became wanted men.

About this time Merriman and Harlequin were said to have raided huts, chased and harmed stock and killed men belonging to Mr Chisholm and Mr Waugh. According to Dr Ian D Clarke, Chisholm is presumed to have held ‘Myrrhee’ station, 96,000 acres on the King River east of Greta. According to Dr George Mackay in his Letters of Pioneers, he first took up Myrhee but fled after the massacre of Faithful’s shepherds. and when he returned found Myhree taken up so he took Whorourly instead. Mr Waugh, presumably David Waugh, Devil’s River, Delatite, whose letters to family were made into a book, “Three Years’ Practical Experience of a Settler in New South Wales” (1838)  (25)

Two of David Waugh’s men were killed in May 1840 on the upper Goulburn River. One of them was Emanuel Hayley whose actions brought about his death. GA Robinson wrote, Sunday 22nd November 1840, pg 232, ‘he went among the natives and broke their spears.’

Commissioner for Crown Lands, Henry Bingham was sent to search for the brothers and others involved in the Mackay raid. He tracked Merriman and Harlequin for several days through forest and over mountains until at last, he lost all track of them as they crossed the Ovens and proceeded towards the head of the Goulburn. (15)

Around June or July, the brothers were apprehended by stockmen. A newspaper article told of the brothers being locked in a hut, the plan being to burn the building and destroy its occupants. But just in the nick of time Major Nunn and Captian Christie arrived and set the prisoners free. (14)

The article is a fanciful account placing the outraged stockmen as the heroes of the hour even though, in reality, they knew of the abuse of Aboriginal women, had perhaps taken part in such acts and knew of the indiscriminate killing of Aboriginal people. It is unlikely their intention to burn their prisoners alive was the first time they had acted in violence against Aboriginal people. One of those present, Bill Thomas, had been at the Mount Dispersion massacre of Aboriginal people in 1836 under the employ of Surveyer, Sir Thomas Mitchell. The author of the article may well have confused Major Nunn and Corporeal Christie with Major Lettsom who was in the area at that time with at least four troopers.

The squatters pressed the government to apprehend the criminals so Major Lettsom was sent from Sydney to bring the brothers to justice. On 27th September 1840 Aboriginal protectorate, William Thomas received a visit from Major Lettsom demanding to know the locations of the wanted men. William Thomas told Lettsom that Merriman was between the Goulburn River and Mount Macedon. (16)

Eventually, Major Lettsom heard the wanted men may be in Melbourne, having gone there for a ceremonial gathering. Lettsom demanded that Protector William Thomas hand over the Goulburn ‘troublemakers’ but he refused, arguing that there were no warrants for their arrest. Lettsom then gained permission from Superintendent La Trobe to make the raid. On 11th October 1840 Major Lettsom rounded up 400 Indigenous men, women and children camped near Melbourne and marched them at bayonet point to the stockade. GA Robinson came to visit the prisoners and was disgusted that most of them had bleeding backs and buttocks from being prodded with bayonets. Two Indigenous men died as a result of the round-up but Merriman and Harlequin escaped. (19)

Anonymous letters were often sent to the newspapers portraying Aboriginal people negatively. An example of this propaganda can be seen in the following article which refers to Aboriginal people as ‘ruffians’ and justifies the shooting of the camp dogs as necessary as  “these animals being employed by the blacks in destroying the sheep of the settlers.” However, there is no proof this was the case and all the weapons of the Blacks were also destroyed. Trove newspaper article 24th Oct 1840

GA Robinson wrote in his journal of the destruction of the camp adding that personal items were taken by the inhabitants of Melbourne. The destruction of the camp occurred 5 years after the so-called treaty or agreement made by John Batman and the people of the Kulin nation.

At that time the Magistrate in Melbourne deciding whether there was enough evidence for a case to go to the Court for a trial with a judge and jury was William Henry Yaldwin. This is also the man who employed John Coppock to set up ‘Barfold’ station in 1838. John Coppock wrote of his men indiscriminately shooting Aboriginal men, women and children. (11) This brutality culminated in the Waterloo Creek killing of at least 23 Djadjawurrung people in July 1838. Yaldwin’s Barfold station joined William Bowman’s Sutton Grange and CH Ebden’s Carshrue station on the Campaspe River. These men joined forces to retrieve sheep they claimed the Djadjawurrung had stolen and this resulted in the Waterloo Plains massacre. Curiously, William Bowman quit Sutton Grange station only months after arriving and Yaldwin did the same. Yaldwin sold Barfold and moved to Melbourne and was appointed a Magistrate – a strange choice considering his involvement with the Waterloo Plains massacre.

The next mention of the brothers is in early December of 1840 when Harlequin was captured near the Murray River, placed in chains and made to jog behind mounted police taking him to Melbourne. He was 19 years old and the drought of 1837-42 was in full swing so weather in December would have been hot and clean water scarce.

Harlequin was delivered to the watchhouse on 6th December in poor condition and he was not given any medical aid. On the 8th of December Merriman was brought into Harlequin’s cell by GA Robinson. Robinson wrote, ‘Merriman…cried bitterly on seeing him…and he gave kind offices…gave him water to drink.’  Harlequin died later that day. (20)

GA Robinson wrote of the cruel treatment saying Merriman had been apprehended in the same manner and had complained of being dragged with the chain around his neck and demonstrated the position in which he was forced to walk. (20)

GA Robinson visited Merriman in his cell and heard from others confined with him and who had been brought to Melbourne in the same manner as Harlequin and Merriman. GA Robinson wrote their arms, wrists, necks and ankles all bore evident marks of ill-usage such as would not be done to a horse. Some of the men had their skin torn and ulcerated by their bondage.  (21)

On Monday 28th December 1840 Merriman was released from gaol and given a blanket and a set of ‘slops’ otherwise known as sailors’ clothing of loose-fitting shirt and trousers. He was given a lift on a cart to take him back to his country. (22)

GA Robinson’s finding of a cart to transport Merriman out of Melbourne was more a precaution than a courtesy as Melbourne belongs to the Bunurong Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation. Merriman’s presence could have been seen as trespassing and the penalty was death by spear. When Edward Micklethwaite Curr sought the release of a Black named Warri, a man wrongfully held in custody in Melbourne, he organised safe passage in the same manner as Robinson did for Merriman.

“to prevent the Melbourne Blacks from killing him, he would the next day after dark be driven in a spring–cart well outside the limits of the town, and there be set at liberty.” (22.1)

Benjamin Reed’s ticket of leave was revoked in 1841 and he was returned to Hyde Park Barracks. However, it was reinstated within two years – there is no evidence he ever returned to Tarrawingee.

Accusations against Aboriginal people regarding the killing of sheep must be viewed with the following in mind. On Monday 16th November 1840, GA Robinson spoke with an Aboriginal man he knew as ‘Yabbee’ regarding an incident involving the killing of sheep belonging to Mr Peter Snodgrass. (*Snodgrass led the massacre of Blacks on the King River following the killing of Faithful’s shepherds) Yabbee said, ‘That fellow plenty gammon (talk rubbish) Goulburn whitefellow take Black women and then give them sheep for the women and kill sheep for the natives’. GA Robinson wrote in his journal pg 230, that he believed this to be the correct account of the incident.

There are many stories of Merriman being caught and making daring escapes. One tells of him being locked in a hut and setting fire to it to escape in the ensuing melee. But this might be a confusion with a Wurunderi man named Tullamareena (or Tullamarine, Dullamarin) of the Melbourne area who set alight the hut he was locked in and made his escape in April 1838. (17)

Another extraordinary escape was when Merriman got away from a mounted trooper who was taking him to Melbourne. Apparently, the incident happened near the Ovens River when Merriman got free from the rope and irons and bolted. The trooper tried to ride him down but Merriman seeing no other way to escape turned and faced his opponent. He seized the reins and leapt up under the horse’s head and hung there gripping hold, his feet tucked up under the horse’s neck. The trooper swung his sabre but Merriman swung from side to side avoiding the deadly blade and eventually unbalanced horse and rider, however, he lost a toe as a consequence, it being stepped on by the horse. (18) This account may well be true because of the amount of detail and that it has not been attributed to anyone else.

The above account is from a newspaper article published in the USA and written by an author who had journeyed through the Albury area during the gold rush days.

This escape apparently happened after Merriman had attended the horse races at Albury and an article from the Colonial news, Victoria, writes of Merriman being encouraged to drink until he is inebriated. After this, he attacked a woman in a hut on the edge of town before murdering his wife in a drunken act. some days later Merriman is seen wearing a mourning cap of white pipe clay or gypsum showing he was taking part in ritual observances after a death of a loved one. The circumstances of the death of Merriman’s wife are unknown. It is a cruelly written article. Source link to be added soon.

The article mentions Merriman’s wife belonging to the Devil’s River people. She was apparently of an Aboriginal mother and white father and could read and write and had been educated in Bible verses. It is worth noting that in 1839 or 40 David Waugh arrived at Devil’s River and established a station – Waugh later had trouble with Aboriginal people and Merriman was said to have been involved in the killing of two of his men, one of which, broke the native’s spears in front of them – as written earlier in this article.

In 1852, Thomas Mitchell purchased Tangambalanga station from Dr George Mackay. Adjoining Tangambalanga was a parcel of land designated as an Aboriginal reserve. Thomas Mitchell then became a protectorate of Aboriginal people. He wrote of witnessing a payback where Merriman was made to stand in a clearing while three men with spears hurled their weapons simultaneously. Mitchell wrote Merriman was armed only with a heeliman or shield to defend himself. As the spears came at him, Merriman leapt into the air twisting his body sideways to avoid one spear while opening his legs midair for another to pass through, the third he deflected with his heeliman. (23)

That same year, 1852, gold was discovered near Merriman’s country and prospectors arrived and began diggings. Creeks and waterways were fouled by their search and trees felled and the countryside changed forever. Merriman must have been heartbroken to see his country treated this way and he was helpless to stop it. William Howitt went prospecting for gold during these very times and upon finding a quiet pristine stream he wrote, “We foresaw that all those bushy banks of the creek would be rapidly and violently invaded. The hop-scrub would be burnt, the bushes in and on the creek cleared away, the trees on the slopes felled, and the very ground torn up for miles around. The crystalline water would be made thick and foul with gold-washing and the whole converted into a scene of desolation and discomfort.” (24)

Merriman and his father and mother and other family members were mentioned as attending the Beechworth Races in April 1858. The article printed in, The Age, Tue 13 Apr 1858, pg 4, Titled; THE MURRAY NATIVES, gives a description of a corroboree performed by Merriman and his family on the night they were near town. Merriman at the Beechworth races

It suited the narrative of the day to portray Merriman as a fiend. While David Reid said Merriman was the worst kind of Black because he knew the ways of the whites, knew their weaknesses and how to exploit them. (2)

The last record of Merriman was 1859 when he once again escaped custody. This time it was from the Wangaratta jail and what happened to him after that is still to be discovered.

 

• IMAGE: Artist Unknown (Australian c1930s) Unframed Watercolour – Boys

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