Gold was the Brig ‘Maria’s’ goal

When the coastal steamer Boomerang called at Cardwell on the followng Wednesday, Lawrence Hargrave sailed to Sydney. Only the surgeon of the Maria went south at the same time and he was not a member of the working committee.

All other survivors remained in Cardwell to continue sailing with vessels seeking survivors.

To some people, Hargrave’s departure must have been viewed as similar to that of Stratman from the Maria. The fate of 40 men was still unknown and Hargrave, as a com mittee member, had a responsibility to remain; furthermore, his own papers suggest that when he arrived back in Sydney, his only impedi ments were a slight limp and some minor after-effects of exposure.

For the next six weeks, together with murders in the Parramatta River and the Tichbourne case in England, the wreck of the Maria dominated the news. The accounts published revealed many details omitted from Lawrence’s private records.

For example, one survivor wrote: “There are men of some ability whose conduct and demeanour would have the effect of keeping good order and inspiring other men to maintain a respectful obedience to the rules of the Association. I am happy to say that very little ill-feel ing was manifested though at times a few displayed some objectionable proceedings (I shall refrain from saying what they were) .. . Some would not join the others because they . . . said the ‘swells’ wanted

everything their own way. Such ideas were, of course, erroneous and discussed by men scarcely able to judge the merits of others, much less venture an opinion on matters foreign to them”.

At the subsequent inquiry, Strat man was condemned as being ‘ut terly worthless as a navigator ...

Scarcely had the luckless vessel fastened herself to the rocks than the master, whose incapacity had caus ed the disaster, basely deserted the vessel before daybreak, taking six men in the best boat which would have held 20, pretending he was going for assistance Whatever his motives, Stratman received poetic justice; he was mur dered by Aborigines, as were two of the men in his boat, when they land ed some 16 km north of Cardwell.

Twelve days later, two other sur vivors from this boat, horribly emaciated, wounded by spears and naked, reached Cardwell after a tor tuous walk through trackless bush.

Two more arrived several days later.

When it was realised that some Aborigines had murdered several survivors and had then eaten them (some of the men from one of the rafts had got to shore and also been killed), there was alarm in Card well. The townspeople demanded retribution, insisting that, otherwise, the Aborigines might attack the town. A punitive expedition led by Sub-Inspector Johnstone and a patrol of Aboriginal troopers was escorted by crews from Captain John Moresby’s ship. Moresby re

lated how his officers had been com pelled to watch the troopers ‘inflict decisive punishment’ on the Aborigines. The tribe was surprised before daylight several unfor tunate blacks were shot down by the native troopers who showed an unrestrained ferocity that disgusted our officers.’

In his report to the Attorney- General of New South Wales, the in vestigating officer. Lieutenant Gowlland, also wrote ‘it appears that the spot where they (the crews in the two other boats) camped was in a small bay on the north-east side of Hinchinbrook. If, instead of leav ing this place and steering to the south, they would most probably have sighted shipping .. . and thus saved a pull of nearly 80 km.

He added, ‘What 1 cannot pass over without noticing is that the boats and their crews abandoned the rafts to their fate, which had neither food, nor water, and only one oar, instead of, as is invariably the rule in such cases, keeping in their com pany, and towing them when prac ticable.

It was obvious that the expedition had been a tragic fiasco but strong pressures must have been applied by people who felt that the final remarks (above) had to be answered. Ignorance of the law (or maritime tradition) is no defence, and Lawrence Hargrave, a Judge’s son, could not allow himself to be labelled guilty of a misdemeanour.

Some defence was necessary.

On April 1, 1872, this letter was published in the Sydney Morning Herald; Sir.

We saw in your paper of March 30th, a re port censuring the two boats of the Maria for abandoning the rafts. The facts of the

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case stand thus; The rafts were considera bly to the northward when the boats left.

We pulled to the W.S.W. for the only land in sight, intending to return with our best ; pullers, and make the men leave the masts ... we were utterly unable to carry out our intentions. Supposing we had done as Lieutenant Gowlland seems to think we ought to have done, viz, try to tow the rafts ashore, what would have been the conse quences? Why, we should have towed perhaps for two days, which is the most any man’s stomach would have allowed him to do with land in sight, then we should have tried to cram some more into our boats, when all hands, in their endeavour to come, would inevitably have swamped us and nothing ever would have been heard of the Maria or her crew. (Signed); L. Hargrave, Jacob Magg and ‘lO other names'. 31 March 1872 As a result of the tragedy, amend ments were made to the Navigation Act making lifeboats mandatory for the crew of a ship; but no action was instituted against the organisers of the expedition. Nor was any ex planation offered as to why they were able to avoid prosecution.

Throughout the weeks of reports, one voice was conspicuously silent.

Dunmore Lang seemed to have dis appeared into an opaque cloud of anonymity. Finally, he was persuad ed to support a second appeal for the survivors. He ignored the Herald, which was strongly critical of the expedition, and wrote to the Empire, Sydney’s other morning newspaper, stating; T feel bound to do so (appeal for funds) from having been in some way connected with the original expedition if not its original author ...

I have no reason to regret having written the paper (for the Royal Society) ... I was only ... pointing out .. . the way for as noble and heroic an effort in British colonisa tion as has ever been made Without apology he continued, That another expedition will, in due time, be undertaken with the same objective, and I trust under happier auspices, I have no doubt whatsoever

• A US Congress conference committee has approved a sup plementary budget of SUS2I.4 million for the US Trust Territory.

The amount comprises $11.4 million for regular programmes and $lO million for the new Truk air port.