The article had components I did not understand, i.e. a ‘hurdle fork’ and an insult that was partly censored by the publisher which I investigate. I also attempt to provide some of the context for the report, in terms of race and climate. The drama below takes place in Coonambula, which is between Mundubbera and Eidsvold in SEQ. The newspaper article appears below, with some explanatory notes following.
Ah Hung, a chinaman, was indicted for that he, on the 13th of March last, at Coonambula, did make an assault upon one Edward Kelly, and, inflict divers injuries upon his person with a hurdle fork. Gan Som, being sworn as interpreter according to the custom of his country, by breaking a saucer, interrogated the prisoner concerning his plea, when he stated that Kelly had attempted to charge him £2 for the alleged losing of some sheep, which he was innocent of and on his remonstrating Kelly called him names, and threatened to beat him, whereupon he, prisoner, struck Kelly with a hurdle fork which was lying by. His Honour directed a plea of Not Guilty to be recorded.
Edward Kelly, sheep overseer to Mr. Archer, deposed that prisoner had been in Mr. Archer's employ more than two years. There were thirteen Chinese on the establishment. Prisoner was a shepherd, and had charge of 1274 sheep. On the 11th March witness went to the prisoner's station to count his sheep, and found ten deficient. Counted them twice. Told prisoner that as he had not been out with his flock for some weeks he must pay for them, and another Chinaman said "that won't make him cry." Prisoner could understand what witness said to him. Prisoner made no answer, and witness returned to the head station. Mr. Archer charged prisoner four shillings each for the sheep ; they were maiden ewes, rising two years old. Mr. Archer was at home, and settled with the prisoner himself. On the next day witness went to prisoner's station again, and counted the sheep, when he found six more than at the last counting on the 11th. Told prisoner so, and he made no answer. Witness went and counted another Chinaman's flock at a short distance, and had just finished counting, and was standing with his back to the prisoner when he struck witness a heavy blow on the leg with a hurdle fork. Another Chinaman, the watchman, attempted to strike witness with a stick on the head. They hemmed witness in, in the fold, and a native black (sic) coming up at the time was coming forward to witness's assistance, when he was kept back by a third Chinaman, who stood at the gate of the sheep yard. Prisoner struck witness several times about the legs. He warded off the blows from his head, but was so severely injured about the legs that he could not walk for some days. His legs were swoln greatly. Witness strove to retreat to the horses, but was too closely pursued by the prisoner, and therefore abandoned them. Prisoner threw the fork spearwise after him, saying, " You d—d b—r, I'll kill you." Witness made his way in company with the black to a station two miles distant. Prisoner subsequently absconded at night, without his wages, and was afterwards apprehended at Gayndah. [By the prisoner.] Prisoner was never charged for sheep that died. Witness never beat or raised his hand to the prisoner.
George Britwell deposed, that he saw the witness Kelly on the 13th March, after the assault, Kelly was suffering under injuries at the time ; witness went to prisoner's station, and prisoner asked where Kelly was, witness answered, at his station, two miles away ; prisoner asked if he was able to walk, and witness said no. The Chinamen then asked if witness would tell Mr. Archer. They said they did not want to beat Mr. Archer, because he was the master. Witness took Kelly's horses and went away.
This was the case for the Crown.
In defence the prisoner said that his master was very bad. He had charged him four shillings each for sheep that died, and half-a-crown each for lambs ; and he did not want to go back to him; he said that the witness Kelly had beaten him first, and he then struck Kelly once on the leg with a stick. He entered, through his interpreter, into some further statements, having no apparent reference to the charge.
The JUDGE shortly summed up the evidence, and the Jury returned a verdict of guilty. The sentence of the Court was that he be imprisoned fourteen days in Brisbane Gaol.
Further charges on Chinamen at Coonambula.
On the following page of the same paper we find the following.
Ahone, a Chinaman, was brought up on a charge of absconding from the hired service of Mr. Archer, of Coonambula. The case was dismissed, as there was not sufficient proof of the agreement. Assam, a native of China, was charged with having committed an assault on Mr. Kelly, overseer to Mr. Archer, of Coonambula. The circumstances of the case are detailed elsewhere, under the head of Circuit Court proceedings. The prisoner was proved to have aided the Chinaman Ah Hung in his violence, and was sentenced to pay a fine of fifty shillings, or be imprisoned for one month.
Assam was clearly one of Ah Hung’s helpers in the first report. Prison entry records show that he chose imprisonment rather than pay the fine. Perhaps Ahone was the other helper.
What is a hurdle fork?
Shepherding in this period occurred on ‘runs’, that is property without fences, where shepherds would attend the sheep and place them in holds overnight for safekeeping. The ‘holds’ were made either of basket woven fencing or hurdle panels. In both cases sticks with forks in them were used to hold up the fence, hence ‘hurdle forks’. [3] If fencing is an interest for you then John Pickard (2009) Illustrated glossary of Australian rural fence terms, is fascinating [3]. Ah Hung is not the only person to be recorded using these ‘sticks’ to attack others. The main reason that ‘hurdle forks’ appear in Trove is when they are used as weapons.1834 - the murder of William Cook by Francis Manley. [4]
1841 - the murder of Thomas M’Nab by John Lawler [5,6, and others]
1864 - assault with intent and attempted murder of Margaret Rutledge by ‘Dick’ [7 and others]
The term does not appear in the archive after 1875.
Was the treatment of Chinese shepherds overly severe?
A fine of £2, was four months wages for a Chinese shepherd who earned £6 PA [8].If like me Pounds, Shillings, Crowns and Pence make no sense here are the conversions.
1 pound = 4 crowns = 20 shillings = 240 pence
Is four shillings per sheep and half a crown (i.e. 2.5 shillings) per lamb too much? Probably not. The value of a sheep the previous year was 3 shillings and sixpence. [8] But the value of sheep was falling. The year 1851 was a dreadful year weather wise, drought and high heat across the nation brought disaster to the primary industries of Australia. 1851 was the year of the Black Thursday fires in Melbourne [9]. Landholders were slaughtering the lambs and keeping the ewes as the carrying capacity of the land was so reduced.
From nearly every district in the colony we receive accounts of an intended wholesale slaughter of the lambs of this March dropping, and the wretched condition of the flocks consequent upon the starvation to which they have been subject for many months. Three-fourths of the entire pastoral districts, we are assured by competent authorities, are as bare of feed as Adam was of pantaloons ... [10]
Given that the loss to Ah Hung’s flock was only 10 (later reduced to 4) sheep in 1271, and that the owner of the sheep was probably about to slaughter some sheep or at least lose them to the drought. We can ask "is it right to penalise a man for that loss given that the rate at which you pay him is probably one quarter of the rate at which you would pay a European?"
A subscriber to the Moreton Bay Courier had expressed outrage that in the previous year a Chinaman had been penalised 21 months wages for lost sheep on a property at Eton Vale. [8]
What is “d—d b—r”?
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Screen grab of a portion of the feature article.
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1827 - “d—d Irish b—r” an insult thrown at a guard by a man who was not allowed to water his horse. [10]
1833 - “d—d soldier b—r” an insult thrown by a tyrannical captain aboard the Henry and Jane [11]
1848 - “d—d chattering b—r” is an insult thrown at a passenger who complains of the lack of rations on a voyage aboard the Thomas Lowry” [12]
1853 -“You d—d Scottish b—r I’ll split you open” a threat delivered by a man wielding an axe, who was chasing a man away from his wife. [13]
1854 - “you d—d old b—r lie there an die” abuse thrown by a man toward a woman lying in the gutter as he stomped on her neck. [14] Notice that the abuse is targeted toward a woman.
1857 - “you d—d b—r, you struck my mate” insult exchanged following a blow to the head with a bottle. [15]
1863 - “What shall we do with the d—d b—r?” exchange between prisoners accused of stealing a trunk of boots. [16]
1868 - A curious walk by taunt
Defendant was passing, and , "spoke after the following: —"Ye're a d—d black, ugly-look b—r, waxend thief — that's what you are." Witness asked him if he wished to go to the Court. He replied, "I'll court you, you d—d b—r. I'll smash your face for you. If I catch you outside I'll throttle you." He then passed on. Every time defendant passed the house he would, say something — either 'eggs' or "quack, quack." [17]Then the term, like 'hurdle fork' seems to fall into disuse.
Eight instances is a small sample to build a definition from. But we can make the following observations (a) it is often associated with violence, (b) assuming that the user in 1854 applies the phrase correctly it can apply to either gender, admittedly the majority of times it is directed toward males, (c) the two words do not need to be beside each other for the insult to work, (d) in a number of the cases listed the insult appears in the context of failing to supply an expected resource, water - 1827, food - 1833, 1848, money - feature article.
I am favouring a reading of “damned bugger” but I declare my ignorance, and admit it does not quite fit (b) above. Perhaps it is too much to expect a violent drunk to use the right word.
References
[1] BRISBANE CIRCUIT COURT. (1851, May 17). The Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 - 1861), p. 3 (Moreton Bay Courier Supplement). Retrieved January 19, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3709032][2] DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE. (1851, May 17). The Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 - 1861), p. 4 (Moreton Bay Courier Supplement). Retrieved January 19, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3709031
[3] Pickard, J, (2009) Illustrated glossary of Australian rural fence terms. Heritage Branch,
News South Wales Department of Planning, Sydney. Heritage Branch Report HB 09/01. Accessed January 18, 2018 from http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/heritagebranch/heritage/IllustratedglossaryofAustralianruralfenceterms2009.pdf
[4] LAW INTELLIGENCE. (1834, August 11). The Sydney Herald (NSW : 1831 - 1842), p. 2. Retrieved January 19, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12850145
[5] LAW INTELLIGENCE. (1841, February 2). The Sydney Herald (NSW : 1831 - 1842), p. 3. Retrieved January 19, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12867622
[6] Supreme Court. (1841, February 2). Australasian Chronicle (Sydney, NSW : 1839 - 1843), p. 2. Retrieved January 19, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31730710
[7] LOCAL AND PROVINCIAL. (1864, February 27). Goulburn Herald (NSW : 1860 - 1864), p. 2. Retrieved January 19, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article102850752
[8] To the Editor of the Moreton Bay Courier. (1850, February 2). The Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 - 1861), p. 2. Retrieved January 19, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3716137
[9] Black Thursday bushfires. (2017, December 19). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 4, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Thursday_bushfires
[10] COLONIAL EXTRACTS. (1851, May 24). The Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 - 1861), p. 4 (Moreton Bay Courier Supplement). Retrieved January 24, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3709370
[11] Sydney Quarter Sessions. (1827, October 19). The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), p. 3. Retrieved January 20, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2189195
[12] SHAMEFUL TREATMENT OF THE PASSENGERS BY THE " THOMAS LOWRY." (1848, December 16). Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), p. 2. Retrieved January 20, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158926891
[13] Quarter Sessions. (1853, April 8). The Perth Gazette and Independent Journal of Politics and News (WA : 1848 - 1864), p. 2. Retrieved January 20, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3174331
[14] SYDNEY POLICE COURT.—TUESDAY. (1854, January 4). Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1875), p. 5. Retrieved January 20, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60147961
[15] COURT OF GENERAL SESSIONS FOB THE DISTRICT OF BUNINYONG AND BALLARAT. (1857, March 19). The Star (Ballarat, Vic. : 1855 - 1864), p. 2. Retrieved January 20, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66041372
[16] POLICE-COURT, IPSWICH. (1863, February 24). Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld. : 1861 - 1908), p. 3. Retrieved January 20, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article123603822
[17] POLICE COURT. (1868, August 15). Bunyip (Gawler, SA : 1863 - 1954), p. 3. Retrieved January 20, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1
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