Gregory’s Escape from Tyranny

Gregory Caimbeul paused in a moment of introspection to consider his options. Things were not working out for him in the channel country of central Queensland Australia, and he was tired of his life at age fifty-five. It had been a hard slog all through his life. His father had been a brutal man cemented in his attitudes and traditions by Gregory’s grandfather who’d bought his father up in Scotland as a youth. Gregory could only remember this as a dry dusty land except for some years when the dry land had exploded with grass to the delight of cattlemen who drove their herds to take advantage of the big wet as they called the cyclone reaching down from the north and depositing enough welcome water to replenish the aquifers servicing this desert region.

Gregory turned to his foreman and friend Miro and spoke in the Baradha language. They’d grown up together under the strict ruling of his father and Gregory had been accepted from childhood as a member of the local tribe and permitted to view Miro’s initiation ceremony long ago. Legal title for this huge inland property was in his name but while the tribe had accepted this white man and others scattered through this vast outback with their cattle they had considered them as guests and not owners of these properties and there’d not been the conflict associated with the meeting of these new peoples in the coastal regions where cities had emerged and animals and the original occupants were displaced from the new towns in rural areas.

The aboriginals were not concerned about white man’s history but the tale of Grandfather Old Scot’s arrival in Australia had been passed along to Wallace aged twenty-five Gregory twenty-three Andrew nineteen Ailsa twenty-one and Branna eighteen. One by one Gregory’s children had left for the coastal regions where work was to be found and opportunities for advancement in status. Wallace it was reported had died in a bar room fight.

Only Branna remained at home, and she’d reached the age where she was looking for someone to give her a secure future. They’d heard through some of Wallace’s friends he’d left to find work in Sydney and that’s where he had met his demise though they had no confirmation that was true. Gregory had married to a woman in Rockhampton on the east coast and was working on a sugarcane farm in the area. The last thing they’d heard from Andrew was he’d found work in construction in Brisbane, the capital city of the state one thousand miles from their home property. Ailsa had married the son of one of the cattle barons and now lived a hundred miles away to the north. So only his wife Cara remained on the property with their daughter Branna, and it was obvious she’d not be with them much longer.

Gregory was not concerned about that as he felt quite happy with his friends in the aboriginal tribe that claimed his property as their ancestral land. They did all the work caring for livestock along with him and his wife Cara and he shared any profits he made from the land with them. They were not concerned about bank accounts or wages but told him what their needs were, and he ordered it from town and passed it along to the elders to distribute. There were adequate quarters for the station hands which the aboriginal people occupied intermittently but they preferred to camp by the lake formed for cattle and wildlife to drink from as the bore water settled there to cool after coming from the earth boiling hot. Some of that water was diverted to holding tanks for use of household drinking water and bathing. The high mineral content of water flowing from the earth formed mineral deposits on the inside requiring regular emptying to clean this from the tanks in turn. It was a hard life, but hard was all Gregory knew from birth.       

Old Scot his father had arrived on a passenger ship bound for south Australia from Scotland bringing migrants to this new country. He’d signed on as a deck hand and it was hard learning as he was from the highlands of Scotland. So, his work was not up to the standard of experienced seafarers, and he received a few whippings for it on the voyage across to help him to learn quicker.

He was supposed to go back with the ship to Scotland on the return journey, but Old Scot was not in the mood for the brutality of the ship’s captain on that return journey. So, he grabbed his wages for the journey across the sea and disappeared into the city of Adelaide to enjoy himself. This was an emerging city being developed in the south of this newly claimed island continent by England.  The rough sailors were sent to find him for the journey back, but he quickly made friends with the hotel owner Enid Morgan. She’d served her time in Sydney as a convict and on being freed was enticed to this new colony in South Australia where she attempted to hide her convict past. Enid hid Old Scot until the ship departed.

Enid Morgan was an entrepreneur by nature and had risen from poverty in London to operate a profitable wholesale role in the markets. She was beautiful and outgoing, so it was not surprising the youngest son of one of high society notables a Lord Hawkings, sought to entrap her for his pleasure. She was not of his class, but he wanted her for her beauty anyway, and she resisted. But with the help of his friends, he managed to kidnap her and have his way with her.

She of course noised the affair abroad in the markets and the servants of Lord Hawkings eventually came to know and soon this came to the knowledge of Lord Hawkings contemporaries in society who spread the word around their society contacts as a joke. Hawkings was angry, not with his son but with the woman for not keeping the affair to herself so to discredit her he reported her to police on a trumped-up charge of stealing from his rural property to further her business. She was arrested protesting her innocence but convicted and transported to the colony as a convict.    

Enid served her time working in the governor’s residence and found favor with the governor’s wife who eventually learned her story and was appalled at how this innocent woman had been treated by those of her social standing. She prevailed over the governor and after resisting his wife for some time he eventually granted Enid a pardon and a clean sheet to go wherever she wished in this new land.

They all agreed it would be foolish to go back to London so learning about a newly formed colony in South Australia she asked permission to locate there with a recommendation letter from the governor. This he did with a liberal settlement to get her established there. Within a short period of time her entrepreneurial skills established her with a tavern of her own offering accommodation and meals and of course the obligatory bar which was well patronized.

She’d taken pity on old Scot when he came from the ship and drank until he shared his life story with all who were sober enough to listen to him. The brutality of his voyage got her immediate sympathy. He was a tough young man from Scotland and good looking in a rugged way, but she was a tough Irish woman who’d survived and prospered in London despite the cards stacked against her. They were Celts by origin and the Celts had once extended themselves across the whole of Europe prospering with the skills they possessed in business and arts. He was strong enough to ensure her protection and she was wise enough to manage him. First it was a partnership and then marriage.

Enid learned that settlers had penetrated the north center of the country and understood money could be made offering to supply their needs on a regular basis for cash or products from their properties in return which she could trade for profit. The settlement of Sturt in central Australia was renamed Alice Springs and settlers were there requiring supplies. A Lutheran Mission had been established on the Finke River and settlers had already established in the vast area surrounding there in their cattle stations so there was a substantial potential business to be established, the journey was hazardous and at times life threatening but if money was to be made Enid was all for it.

She asked Old Scot if he was willing to give it a try and he jumped at the chance to show his resilience in following the trails being established to these central Australian European buyers for their wares. So, horses and mules were purchased, and commonly needed supplies loaded, and Scot headed north with some helpers passing through newly established huge farm holdings to the north of the state. He was deluged with requests for the goods carried along the way so did not cover much territory on that first journey returning triumphant to his wife loaded with cash or animals for sale. However, he did learn from the settlers he met that going further north to Alice Springs where a team would have to pass through areas of scant water supply horses and mules were not the best kind of pack animals for that journey. Camels imported from Afghanistan were now being used in the interior, so he reported this to Enid as she busied herself counting the money he returned with and arranging for the sale of animals acquired on the trip.

Enid thought about that for a week then concluded obviously the places Scot had visited needed regular supplies so they’d keep the horses and mules and serve those to the immediate north but there was still business to be had in the center where Sturt now called Alice Springs served as center for the cattle empires already established and the telegraph relay station.

Perhaps they should establish a distribution point there and keep it supplied from Adelaide, Edith thought. She talked this over with Scot and he agreed this had possibilities. Scot would take some trusted workers who were willing to live rough for a while in the outback and Edith promised those willing to run the distribution center a substantial bonus once the books were audited by Scot and attested that they’d dealt with the Caimbeul assets in an honest way. They could be relieved from their duties to return to Adelaide with someone else to take their place if they chose at the end of a year or opt to stay on and establish themselves there. They’d be well rewarded for their skill and honesty in serving Caimbeul interests.

The Caimbeul’s had two children now, Gregory and Iian. Gregory was six and Iian four and one more on the way who was eventually named Adelaide after the city that had given her parents refuge.

Scot felt it was time for Gregory to be introduced to the rigors of life as a toughening up process as he was a son of Scotland, but Enid threatened him not to even think about taking the boy and Scot always deferred to her. No man would ever be permitted to argue with him, but he deferred to Enid.

Gregory was twelve before Enid permitted him to make that trip to Alice Springs. They’d been using camels for the Alice Springs trip for six years now and the camels were kept along with their Afghan minders on the fringe of the desert much further north where Scot had established a camp and saw the Afghans got all the things they needed along with appropriate wages in the camp they’d made among the aboriginal tribe there. Some of them had intermarried with the aboriginals and produced children. Gregory needed to learn from the Afghans how to manage camels. Scot had learned some of the Dari basic language in his interaction with the Afghans on their journeys. He was now picking up some of the language used by aboriginals in Alice Springs too and could use some of the basic expressions of Arrernte to converse with them.

The trip was a steep learning experience for the child and Scot was hard on him as they were both away from the restraining influence of Enid. It was the way a young child would become a man in Scotland and Scott was faithfully passing on the traditions of his clan. The child would thank him for it when he had to face life by himself.

But this developed a resentment against his father in the mind of young Gregory which he allowed to fester until he reached the age of sixteen. Pocketing a wad of money from the store in Alice Springs and stealing two camels he persuaded two half caste Afghan children to flee with him to the adjourning state to the east where he’d establish himself independently leaving the old man and his stern discipline behind. When Scot learned from the Afghans Gregory had departed with two of their children and camels with drovers from the east country, they were surprised that Scot smiled and nodded. He’d prepared his son for the rigors of life and was confident he’d make a go of it wherever he settled just as his old man had after jumping ship in Adelaide years ago.

The whole of the east coast of Australia had once been given the name New South Wales. But in 1859 the northern portion of the east coast had been given independent status and was called Queensland. While this new state was sparsely populated the European population had disbursed throughout the state and formed settlements. Europeans now farmed and grazed the entire length and breadth of the state and as there were no roads to link those settlements supplies were delivered by bullock cart trains where practicable. However, this did not fit with the limited water supply of the far west bordering the state which was still called South Australia. It was only several years later that the northern part of that state was separated into what was to become Northern Territory with Alice Springs as one of the larger cities.

To be continued.

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