I 



I 





SOMERSET AND ITS BACKGROUND 343 



Ducie River. The river and " country " were discovered by him 

 during the construction of the telegraph line in 1886-7. The 

 station was named after his son, who, it may be mentioned, served 

 with distinction in the European War of 1914-18. 



An incident of the early days of this station may be abridged 

 from Shanahan's " Sidelights." 



" The manager, Harry Price, a South Sea Islander, with three others, heard, one 

 morning in 1893, what seemed to be a murderous FUSILADE. In preparing for defence 

 they loaded up the whole of their firearms, consisting of some fifty RIFLES AND MUSKETS 

 and a 1 2-inch SWIVEL GUN, and ranged them inside the LOOPHOLED BUILDING. 

 Presently they were approached by twelve native troopers in a state of nervous blue 

 funk, who had been responsible for the firing. 



" Two men named CHARLES BRUCE and SAM ROE had been pearling or beche-de- 

 mer-ing in Torres Straits, and had been brutally MURDERED by their aboriginal crew, 

 presumably on Orman Reef, the murderers getting away to their own country on the 

 Ducie River. SENIOR CONSTABLE CONROY, of Thursday Island, with twelve NATIVE 

 TROOPERS, and accompanied by R. BRUCE, the murdered man's brother, were sent out 

 to arrest the murderers. While their boat was going up the DUCIE the BLACKS THREW 

 SPEARS at them from both banks of the river. 



" The TROOPERS LANDED at seven o'clock next morning, the constable and Bruce 

 remaining in charge of the boat. For two hours the white men listened to the sound 

 of an almost continuous firing, and concluded that the troopers were engaged in a 

 serious conflict with the natives while, in fact, the troopers were making their way 

 to the station. As the firing ceased, and the troopers did not return, the white men 

 came, as the afternoon wore on, to the conclusion that the troopers had been over- 

 powered. Then a strong force of natives appeared on the bank, boastfully asserting 

 that the troopers had been annihilated, and holding up two " captured " guns in 

 confirmation of their tale (the guns were afterwards believed to have belonged to the 

 murdered men Bruce and Roe.) Satisfied that they could do no good, they set sail 

 for Thursday Island, whence was telegraphed the false news that a detachment of 

 native police had been annihilated on the Ducie River." 



" What actually happened," says Shanahan, " was that the troopers marched straight 

 to the station, without even seeing a native, but firing almost all their ammunition 

 with the object of keeping the natives at a distance. One native came up to the station 

 after the arrival of the troopers, and in this individual the troopers recognised, they 

 alleged, one of the men * wanted ' for the murder. The troopers fired twelve shots 

 at the native, who ran away uninjured, to return shortly with a large crowd armed 

 with spears. The troopers (by this time, presumably, without ammunition) retreated 

 to Cape York, 100 miles distant, where they reported their belief that Conroy and 

 Bruce had been killed." 



The murder of Bruce and Roe, and the events which followed, 

 as above related, for a time brought the newly established MAPOON 

 MISSION STATION into popular disfavour. In Thursday Island, 

 the mere fact that the murderers, who belonged to the Ducie 

 tribe, had returned to their haunts was construed into evidence 

 that the missionaries on the coast were harbouring and encouraging 

 them in their evil courses. 



The story, as told by the missionaries, 1 takes quite a different 

 complexion. It appears that the murder of Bruce and Roe took 

 place at the Skardon River, de facto. NICHOLAS HEY, one of the 



1 The Miracle of Mapoon, p. 140. 



