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There
are some stories that are just so awful you hate to tell them, yet they
are so fascinating they must be told...this is
such a story. John, Thomas and
William Velvick, are distant relatives, but like all Velvick's I have found
to date, they
are on the same tree. Their father,
John Velvick, was a brother to my first known ancestor, William Velvick
who married
Margaret Jury. No doubt the William
in our story was named after his Uncle, my great-great-great-grandfather!
The year was 1830 when our three
young brothers arrived in Australia, near Perth, aboard the ship Hooghly.
Times were
rough in England and they must
have come to this new land with high hopes of a better life. What an adventure
for
three young brothers! Never could
they have guessed all the tragedy that waited for them just around the
next dusty
curve. The boys, as well as the
others in our tale, were victims of the times and the ugly racial unrest
that beseiged it.
Perhaps the best place to begin
is with the newspaper account of the story as told in the PERTH
GAZETTE, May 4, 1833: I have typed the story just as it appeared
with no changes in punctuation or such. It should be noted that prior to
the event
as described below transpired,
the paper was full of articles concerning the Natives breaking into stores
in town, murdering
settlers, and many other atrocities.
It is also true that various groups of the tribe had been fired
upon by settlers for no apparent reason. The Aborigines were, of course,
concerned that their land was begin taken away by these settlers.
Tensions were HIGH among both the
Natives and the Settlers...to an American this story sounds all to familiar
as we
think of our own Native American
History!
On the night of April 29, 1833 while
breaking into a store in Fremantle that Yagan and his group thought to
be unoccupied they discovered the owner was there. The owner shot and killed
Yagan's brother...it was in apparent retaliation for this
that my ancestors, who had no part
in any of it, lost their lives:
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"On
Wednesday last, an inquiry was instituted by the Magistrates of Fremantle
touching the murder of the two VELVICKS,
when the following facts were elicited;
Mr. Phillips having ordered a quantity
of provisions for the supply of his farm to be sent up to Bull's Creek
from Fremantle
by Captain McDermott's boat, proceeded
to the Creek, a distance of about 5 miles from the farm, on Tuesday morning
with three carts and four of his
men, two of whom were the unfortunate Velvicks'. On their arrival at the
Creek, about 30
Natives came up and appeared to
be friendly. Migegaroo was extremely inquisitive, and asked repeatedly
how many men
were with the first cart, which
by this time had been loaded and dispatched on the road; being told there
were two they
instantly made off in the direction
of the cart. The other carts being loaded, also proceeded on the road,
and when about
four miles from the Creek the men
thought they heard a noise, and Mr. Phillips instantly rode forward to
ascertain the
cause, and when at a short distance
from the cart discovered Yagan, the daring villian we have too frequently
had
occasion to notice, in the act
of plunging his spear into the body of one of the deceased, and jagging
it in the wounds;
such was the determined ferocity
of the blood-thirsty savage, that the body had the appearance of having
received
upwards of one hundred spear wounds;
other Natives Mr. Phillips perceived plundering the cart. His firearms
being
out of order he considered it most
prudent to return to the men he had left behind him; they unyoked the cattle
and
rode to the adjoining farms on
the Canning for assistance. When re-enforced, they returned to the spot,
and found
the body of one of the men in the
state we have described, and after searching for a short time, discovered
the body
of the other man about 200 yards
in the bush, where it was presumed he had crawled on his hands and knees--he
was
dead. Mr. Yule who rode with Mr.
Phillips as far as the Creek, on his way to Fremantle, can identify four
natives as being of
the party...YAGAN, MIGEGAROO, MIGO,
and MUNDAY: before he left Mr. Phillips volunteered in the event of
his apprehending any danger from
the Natives, to accompany him back to his farm, which offer was declined,
as that
Gentleman not being aware of what
had taken place at Fremantle, did not entertain the slightest suspicion
of any hostile
intention. Mr. Phillips was unable
to attend the inquiry but Mr. Churchman stated on the part of Mr. Phillips
that
he was confident it was YAGAN he
saw pulling the spear out and repeatedly thrusting it into the body of
Thomas Velvick.
In consequence of this information
a Proclamation, which will be found in another part of our paper, offering
a
reward for the body of the desperado,
alive or dead, was immediately issued, and we do hope will lead to his
capture...."
(sorry I know that was hard to read,
but thought it fun to keep it as it appeared in 1833) |
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The
Reward was for $60.00 (US dollars). A large
sum for the times. Posses were
quickly formed, however
they had hardly begun the search
when the rains set in
forcing them to continue at a more
marked pace than planned.
The troops ran into opposition from
many farmers who
were afraid of Yagan's bullies
and would thus not give
the troops information. Some of
the farmers were
known to have paid what we would
call extortion fees
in flour and food to the Aborigines
to keep them from
harming their families and land.
(the Aborigines were known
to burn the land)
The hunt went on with both soldiers
and settlers in pursuit.
Midgegooroo, the leader of the
tribe and father of Yagan,
was finally captured on May 17th.
To add intrigue to the story in
July of 1833, it was two young
shepherd boys turned bounty hunters,
James and William Keats,
13 and 18 respectively, who finally
took the life of Yagan!
They lured him into a false sense
of security by befriending him.
William Keats was speared to death
in the fracas that ensued
before Yagan was killed. |
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