55a[“The North-West”, The West Australian (Perth, WA), Monday 27 June 1910, page 5]

THE NORTH-WEST.

TOUR OF COLONIAL SECRETARY.

A BUSY THREE WEEKS.

(By Our Special Correspondent.)

At first Mr. Connolly was going to the North-West, next he found that he could not spare the time, and then at 24 hours’ notice he went. That was on June 4, and he returned on Saturday morning having spent just three weeks on the coast. From Fremantle to Derby is a far cry - nearly as far as from Fremantle to Melbourne - and having business to transact at each port and in addition to visit the island hospitals for diseased natives, and make other calls along the coast, the Minister and his party were kept moving too fast to allow of the white ants getting into their feet. And that is saying much in a country where the white ant attaches to everything not on the move. The departments controlled by the Colonial Secretary give that Minister a particular interest in the North-West. Harbours, rivers, jetties, and lighthouses, hospitals, gaols, and police, and the all-important native question come directly under his jurisdiction, and the facts that the Government have recently assumed control of all wharves and jetties, which hitherto had been leased, and that six new lighthouses had been either built or were in course of construction along the coast, reinforced the necessity for a Ministerial visit. As if these matters were not enough to remove all suggestion of holiday-making from the trip, news of Mr. Connolly’s impending visit had spread as if on wireless waves from Fremantle to Derby, and at each port deputations were in waiting. Place in those circumstances a Minister with a conscientious appetite for details, and a not too enthusiastic love of sea travelling, especially in boats of the Penguin’s reputation, and you have an approximation of the man who knocked off work to carry a hod.

At Denham, the small settlement in Shark’s Bay, the stay of the boat was not sufficiently long to allow of the Minister going ashore, but if Mr. Connolly could not go to Denham, Denham could and did go to Mr. Connolly, the leading townspeople waiting on him on board the Koombana in regard to matters affecting the pearling industry there.

At all other ports, excepting Point Sampson, which was reached at night, the Colonial Secretary was able to land, and with the Chief Harbourmaster (Captain Irvine) to inspect the jetties, tram-lines, and goods sheds, the gaol, hospital, and police quarters, and to hear the requests brought forward by deputations. Ministers seem fated to reach Broome on Sundays, and in Mr. Connolly’s case the misfortune was aggravated by the fact of having only a few hours to spend there, which few hours were occupied in purely official business, thus allowing no opportunity of seeing Broome in its workaday aspect - the Broome which is more Asiatic than white which has stores overflowing with the silks and chinaware and curious workmanship of the Orient, and which is in some respects a contravention of the White Australia principle. To have also missed seeing the native mission (the largest in the State) conducted by the Palatine Brotherhood at Beagle Bay was to tincture the upward journey with disappointment, a feeling somewhat mitigated, however, by the consequent necessity of seeing Derby and something of the cattle shipping business. The downward trip, though slightly marred at the outset by a second disappointment in regard to Beagle Bay, was ultimately more happy in its issue. The Minister and party left the Koombana at Port Hedland and completed the trip in that flighty midget, the Penguin. It was with some misgivings that the company exchanged the spaciousness and comforts of the Koombana for the less pretentious accommodation of the Penguin, but it is bare justice to admit that with the exception one rough night off Point Cloates, the trip was comfortably and punctually completed in the small boat, which Captain Airey so ably commands. The word comfortably is used in a comparative sense, of course, for the Penguin at all times has more noise and motion than is conducive to serious work on the part of her passengers. The Minister was ashore for a day at Point Sampson, Roebourne and Cossack, for a couple of hours at the lighthouse site at Point Cloates and for another day at Carnarvon, where the townspeople, out of their prosperity, entertained the visitors sumptuously. The balance of the trip, including the visits to Bernier and Dorre Islands, and to Cape Inscription lighthouse, was almost the most interesting of the tour, the various phases of which will be dealt with in separate articles.

THE LOCK HOSPITALS.

OFFICIAL OPENING OF CAPE INSCRIPTION LIGHTHOUSE.

The Government steamer Penguin having on board the Colonial Secretary (Mr. J. D. Connolly) and Captain Irvine (Chief Harbourmaster) reached Geraldton on Friday morning after a good run from Sharks Bay. Leaving Carnarvon at 4 a.m. on Wednesday the Ministerial party, which had been augmented by Mr. W. J. Butcher and Mr. Angelo (Mayor of Carnarvon), were in a few hours landed in the bay opposite Bernier Island. They were met by Dr. Steele, the Government Bacteriologist and Acting Medical Officer, and the matron (Miss Pengelly), and spent a very interesting couple of hours in inspecting the island.

Bernier Island.

The hospital at Bernier Island is at present used by the diseased native women, who number 78, but shortly an exchange is to be effected. The men on Dorre Island will be transferred to Bernier, whilst the women will be all segregated on Dorre Island, which will become the headquarters of the doctor and nursing staff. As the Minister controlling these lock hospitals, Mr. Connolly found much to claim his attention on Bernier Island. The work there being performed has to do with a sordid phase of the native question, but it has a broad humanitarian aim, and the results so far achieved inspired the Minister with satisfaction and a conviction that an extension of the system of segregation is justifiable.

Dorre Island.

From Bernier to Dorre Island was but a two hours’ run in smooth water and in the early afternoon the visitors were ashore inquiring into the treatment of the male patients, who now number 48, of whom many are ready for repatriation. Here fine new quarters have been built for the staff, and a large surgical ward, capable of accommodating 20 of the most serious cases is in course of erection. Mr. Connolly arranged for certain other works to be undertaken, and then, when the official duties were completed, the party moved over to the west side of the island, where the sea breaks in magnificent anger upon the reefs, and where oysters that would gladden the heart of an epicure may be collected by the hundredweight from the reefs. Good fishing, too, was enjoyed, and the day’s catch included a couple of groper weighing upwards of 601b. each. After dinner the natives, whose black bodies had been ornamented with fearsome designs in plaster of Paris cribbed from the building materials

Danced a Corroboree

in the glare of a large bonfire, the orchestra supplying a weird, yet not unmusical accompaniment by chanting and beating together pieces of wood. The performance was rewarded with an extra allowance of tobacco, and then one after another the dusky figures sidled up to “Big Boss” and asked to be allowed to go to their own country. “You good boss fellow,” said one son of the bush “but me wanta my country go.” The Minister’s reply to the deputationists was the usual promise to give the matter consideration. The party moved away from the camp with an affable “Good-night, all of us,” from a corpulent member of the ballet.

...

AB notes:

Routine political reporting was seldom credited, but this is another George Romans piece. He travelled with Connolly, covering the tour for The West Australian.

55b[“Native Lock Hospitals”, The West Australian (Perth, WA), Saturday 02 July 1910, page 9, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26261596]

NATIVE LOCK HOSPITALS.

BERNIER AND DORRE ISLANDS.

By “Vindex.”

The feelings inspired by a visit to the native lock hospitals, established by the Government on Bernier and Dorre Islands in Shark Bay for the segregation and treatment of diseased natives are depressing and discomforting rather than otherwise. Little that is picturesque, less that is romantic is to be seen on those islands or in the work to which they are now being applied. Dorre Island—Dirk Hartog so christened it because of its barrenness—and Bernier Island form, together with Dirk Hartog Island, a long rampart protecting Shark Bay and Carnarvon from the roll and sweep of the Indian Ocean. But for that defensive use the two smaller islands might well be waste islands—low accumulations of rock and sand and scrub, un undulating monotony of unpicturesqueness. It is to such places as these that the unfortunate natives who have contracted some of the foulest and most loathsome of diseases are shipped by a maternal Government, there to remain exiled till drug and knife and nursing have rendered them fit to return to native society without menace to their fellows. It is on these islands that a staff of men and women have unselfishly consented to be marooned to care for the sickly aborigines, and for one who has not been there it is impossible to realise the loneliness and monotony of life that is far, very far, from the world of plate-glass windows. The one redeeming feature of the establishments is the Christian humanitarianism which pervades the work—work which is of the very essence of practical charity. No matter with what relief one may leave those compounds, the uppermost feelings in the visitor’s mind are those of sympathy for and appreciation of a truly benevolent scheme. Disease was one of the prices the black races have had to pay for their contact with white conquerors and the yellow and brown sojourners, but somewhat tardily the State has stepped forward to the rescue of the natives by the enforcement of a system which embodies as the essentials of success the segregation of the patient and competent treatment of him or her till a cure has been effected.

Extending the Scope of the Hospitals.

The work at these lock hospitals has been deseribed often enough to be understood by now, but the Colonial Secretary had a special object in revisiting the islands a few days ago. Sufficient success had already come out of the experiment to prove that it was proceeding on right lines, and the Government had come to a decision to persevere with the work and to adopt measures which it was believed would conduce to greater efficiency. There were things being done and to be done which Mr. Connolly wanted to see for himself. It was for that reason that coming southward after his trip to the North-West he ran across in the Penguin from the mainland and landed on a stretch of shelving sandy beach on the eastern side of Bernier Island. The resident medical officer (Dr. Lovegrove) was absent, but the Minister was met by Dr. Steele, the Government bacteriologist, who has been conducting research work there, and is acting-officer in charge, and the matron (Miss Pengelly) who with two nurses and a laboratory assistant constitute the staff. A cottage built by a squatter, who was so hermit-like as to choose Bernier Island as a summer watering place, provides very cosy quarters for the nurses, who, when the day’s task is over, can get vigorous relaxation by playing tennis ankle-deep in sand, or fishing, or swimming—when the sharks are not looking. Bernier Island is reserved entirely for the women, who, at the time of Mr. Connolly’s visit, numbered 78. Half a mile from the staff’s quarters is the dressing ward, and on the surrounding flats are the camps of the patients divided and regulated into little tribal communities. This odd jumble of low shelters of brush and hessian is the village of the Marble Bar ladies, and [?40] yards yonder is a settlement of Kimberley origin. The furniture in each domicile consists of a couple of coloured blankets, a billy can, perhaps a couple of jam tins, and a small smouldering fire. In summer and winter they all have their fires—not that the fires are of any use but simply that they are part of their lives. Everywhere a little wisp of smoke is rising from a few smouldering chips, and near by the modest conflagration sits Mary Broome or Rosie Marble Bar, or Fanny Somewhereelse in a loose overall of coloured fabric. The wardrobe of these ladies is not half so extensive as their vanity.

Leading the Simple Life.

This concession to convention is the only attempt to restrict the natural life of the natives. Small cubicles of wood, hessian, and iron are provided by the Government for them to live in, but in the majority of instances the girls prefer their own little rude shelters of leaves and brushwood. Food they get in abundance. With flour they make a damper which makes a good showing on the scales, and they get other stores, including occasional jam. In the matter of supplies they sometimes show a dainty fastidiousness, as, for instance, when one lady of precise tastes returned her tin of black currant jam saying, “No want black stuff; gib em white jam.” They prefer their native game, and as some of the tribes are particularly good hunters they feed plentifully on wallaby, boodie rats, and fish, and turtles when in season. The treatment of the women does not require very studied dieting, and the consequence is that the majority range from fatness to positive corpulency. The pride of the island is Rosie, who tips the scales at 15 stone. Except that each day they must attend for dressing, they live a free and unfettered life, and they seem to take their detention with smiling philosophy. They are affable and tractable, but beauty is a rare grace, whilst in some instances disease has reduced the features to revolting hideousness. They all smoke and even exceed the daring of the lady of fashion in that it is not a dainty scented cigarette, but a well-seasoned clay pipe that one sees between their lips. A couple of picanninnies, one born on the island, afford opportunities for the natives to reveal the maternal instinct which is strong in all of them. The real sordidness is not revealed to the visitor, and clothes cover a multitude of sins, but knowing why the women are there one feels glad to wave goodbye to the unfortunates, and to get beyond the menace which each fly of the myriads that throng the camps seems to convey. At the same time there is a breath of hope and sunshine in the record of the many cures effected, and former sufferers, who had been veritable perveyors of disease, returned whole and happy to their tribes.

Changes at Dorre Island.

Practically the same work is in progress at Dorre Island, which has less than 50 male patients. But the men seem more civilised than the women. They nearly all speak intelligible English, and they appear to be cleanlier in their person and in their camps, in which the portable cubicles supplied by the Government have been more largely employed. Disease in the case of the men is more easily treated, and provided that the sufferers are brought to the islands before it has advanced too far, a fairly high percentage of cures can be relied upon. When Mr. Connolly was there he saw a number of patients who had been completely restored to health, whilst half a dozen of the more able-bodied of these were being usefully employed in knapping stones and doing other work connected with the building operations then in progress. At present the male patients occupy the larger of the two islands, but as the treatment of the women is a bigger and more important work, the men will shortly vacate Dorre, and will take up their abode at Bernier, whilst the women will take their places at Dorre. In preparation for this change special buildings are being erected on this island. A small cottage for the doctor and extensive premises for the staff, built with due regard to ventilation and coolness, are already completed, and the erection of a surgical ward with baths, sanitary conveniences, washing room, and operating room attached is well advanced. When first the native lock hospitals were established it was believed that ordinary outdoor treatment would be sufficient, but as experience has proved that in many cases surgical treatment is better than medical, the provision of wards for such cases becomes necessary. Patients on whom the doctor’s scalpel had been used could scarcely be left to lie about in the sand and dust. Therefore the Government are erecting this ward to accommodate twenty beds; and in it the most serious cases will be housed and treated. The building is to be of timber and iron, with graded concrete floors, so that the place may be kept fresh and clean. Some distance away is another smaller building, where the out-patients will be attended to daily. This building as well as the living quarters for the doctor and staff will be of wood and iron, with walls of asbestos sheeting. At Bernier also a surgical ward identical in design with that at Doree, except that the accommodation provides for only twelve beds, is to he built. The Colonial Secretary has further arranged to run a flock of goats on Dorre Island, and to have experiments made in vegetable gardening.

The Problem of Mustering.

When the new buildings are completed. the proposed transfers made, and a medical officer in charge permanently appointed under the Public Service Act, Mr. Connolly expects to gets good results from these lock hospitals. Much importance is attached to the bacteriological investigations now being made by Dr. Steele at Bernier Island, with a view to determining the origin and character of the malady with which the natives are afflicted. The folly of the present system of leaving to the police the responsibility of saying whether a native is or is not a subject requiring the aid of the hospitals is obvious. For whilst the force undoubtedly contains many able and earnest officers the identification and diagnosis of an obscure disease is not the proper province of any layman. And yet it is essential to the success of the Government scheme that disease should be detected and the sufferer segregated for treatment. The natives will not submit themselves voluntarily, and the station owners, though cordially sympathetic towards the Government’s efforts, seem not yet to have seen a satisfactory way of co-operating with the State. What has been recommended to the Minister is that the Government should engage a young doctor to travel through the North and North-West, examine all suspicious cases, and make arrangements for the transport to the seaboard of those who need the services of the lock hospitals. To this proposal, provided it can be proved to be practicable, Mr. Connolly is cordially favourable. The need for an efficient mustering of the diseased natives was several times impressed upon the Minister, who was assured that the sufferers are legion, and that they are spread throughout the country. Unless these natives can be collected the present hospitals, while they may slightly ameliorate existing conditions, must utterly fail as a means of eradicating the disease.

AB notes:

Another information-rich “Vindex” piece.

55c[“The Lock Hospitals”, The Western Mail (Perth, WA), Saturday 08 April 1911, page 43]

LOCK HOSPITALS.

The Colonial Secretary (Mr. J. D. Connolly) stated that a batch of aborigines consisting of seven males and 45 females are about to be discharged from the Lock hospitals at Bernier and Dorre Islands, cured of the disease which necessitated their segregation. They will be sent back to their districts, principally Wyndnam and Derby, by the steamer Koombana this week. The Minister explained that this would be the second lot of cured natives discharged from the hospitals. It had been found that they responded more readily to surgical than medical treatment. The surgical ward at Dorre Island had been completed, and was now in working order, and the surgical ward at Bernier leland was in course of construction Mr. Connolly expressed the opinion that the result was highly satisfactory, and amply justified the belief that the natives could be cured.

AB notes:

It is explicitly stated here that this group of 7 men and 45 women is the second repatriation from the island hospitals. But the first repatriation was in February 1910, and Mjoberg in his Bland Vilda Djur och Folk i Australien claims that a group of cured patients joined Koombana at Carnarvon on his voyage north in September/October 1910. Unlikely to be sorted out.