Tag: New Zealand

WA History

The Māori Whaler

Jessica Barratt

It was the people who knew him best who, after he had passed, recounted the early years of William Parr, also known as Butty. While it was likely that they knew these details because he had told them the tales of his life, it was also possible that there were some inaccuracies due to the second-hand nature of the telling of the story.

Butty was born circa 1813 and was said to be from Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) in Aotearoa (New Zealand). He was the son of a Māori chief and was given the names Pah or Putty, which later became Butty. In the 1820s, during the musket wars, he was captured by another Māori tribe from the Bay of Islands. He lived with them for many years until, at age 16, he joined a church mission and sailed on their schooner Columbine.

…his face and chest were scarred with tatoo markings.

The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 – 1954); 22 July 1933; Page 4; Old Colonial Days
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WA History

Credgington & Bradbury

Jessica Barratt

This blog post is a follow up to Death at Lake Austin. You may wish to read Death at Lake Austin first before reading the story of Credgington and Bradbury.

Old Mate! In the gusty old weather,
When our hopes and our troubles were new,
In the years spent in wearing out leather,
I found you unselfish and true –
I have gathered these verses together
For the sake of our friendship and you.

To An Old Mate – Henry Lawson

Having a mate on the goldfields may not have been preferred or necessary for some but for others it certainly helped. It meant there was someone there to talk to; to share in the ups and downs and discuss the next move over a cup of billy tea. It meant the jobs of prospecting and transporting equipment as well as the burden of costs were shared. Most importantly, it meant there was someone there to look out for you should anything untoward happen.

Alfred Credgington and Ernest Bradbury’s stories were separate for most of their lives. Both were chasing the golden dream and it was this dream, on the goldfields of Western Australia, that led the pair to meet; their stories converging and remaining joined indefinitely.

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History

The Cornish Pixie

Jessica Barratt

On the night of Jan. 5th, 1905, a fearful storm raged on the South and South West coast of England. A vessel was seen making desperate struggles to keep her course. She was, however, lost to sight and the eager eyes watching, could see no more. Next morning some fishermen searching among a quantity of wreckage, discovered the mannikin, known as Dick Trelawny, tied to a beam of timber.

Washed up on the coast of Penzance in Cornwall, the fishermen who initially found Dick Trelawny eventually became wary of him and came to think of him as something sent to them by the Devil. He went to live with an old lady and, so the story goes, it was there he remained until Captain Jack Neville came across him.

Captain Neville said that he recognised the “importance of this little mite from a scientific and physiological standpoint…“and, after several Doctors looked him over, they came to the conclusion that Dick Trelawny was between 48 and 75 years of age, weighed over four kilos and was about 65 cms tall.

Cornish Pixie ImageHe initially spoke in a “guttural tongue” unable to be deciphered by linguists but soon learnt English and French.

His features, though pensive, are constantly illumined by a sweet smile which, with his merry little laugh and winning eyes, make him a most interesting and pleasant study.

He was given the name ‘The Cornish Pixie’ and agreed to go with Captain Neville to be exhibited around the world.

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