We of the Never Never
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Jeanie Mrs. Aeneas Gunn >> We of the Never Never
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19 Dedicated
To
"The Bush Folk OF THE NEVER-NEVER"
PRELUDE
We--are just some of the bush-folk of the Never-Never.
Distinct in the foreground stand:
The Maluka, The Little Missus, The Sanguine Scot, The Head Stockman,
The Dandy, The Quiet Stockman, The Fizzer, Mine Host, The Wag,
Some of our Guests, A few black " boys " and lubras, A dog or two,
Tam-o'-Shanter, Happy Dick, Sam Lee, and last, but by no means least,
Cheon--the ever-mirthful, ever-helpful, irrepressible Cheon,
who was crudely recorded on the station books as cook and gardener.
The background is filled in with an ever-moving company--
a strange medley of Whites, Blacks, and Chinese; of travellers,
overlanders, and billabongers, who passed in and out of our lives,
leaving behind them sometimes bright memories, sometimes sad,
and sometimes little memory at all.
And All of Us, and many of this company, shared each other's lives
for one bright, sunny year, away Behind the Back of Beyond,
in the Land of the Never-Never; in that elusive land with an elusive name--
a land of dangers and hardships and privations yet loved
as few lands are loved-- a land that bewitches her people
with strange spells and mysteries, until they call sweet bitter,
and bitter sweet. Called the Never-Never, the Maluka loved to say,
because they, who have lived in it and loved it Never-Never voluntarily
leave it. Sadly enough, there are too many who Never-Never do leave it.
Others--the unfitted--will tell you that it is so called
because they who succeed in getting out of it swear they will Never-Never
return to it. But we who have lived in it, and loved it, and left it,
know that our hearts can Never-Never rest away from it.
WE OF THE NEVER-NEVER
CHAPTER I
To begin somewhere near the beginning, the Maluka--better known
at that time as the new Boss for the Elsey--and I, his "missus,"
were at Darwin, in the Northern Territory, waiting for the train
that was to take us just as far as it could--one hundred and fifty miles--
on our way to the Never-Never. It was out of town just then,
up-country somewhere, billabonging in true bush-whacker style,
but was expected to return in a day or two, when it would be at our service.
Jack, the Quiet Stockman, was out at the homestead, "seeing to things"
there. The Sanguine Scot, the Head Stockman, and the Dandy, were
in at the Katherine, marking time, as it were, awaiting instructions
by wire from the Maluka, while some of the Company "put finishing touches"
to their New Year celebrations. And every one, with, of course,
the exception of those in Darwin, was blissfully unconscious of even
the existence of the Maluka's missus. Knowing the Maluka by repute,
however, every one was agreed that the "Elsey had struck it lucky,"
until the telegraph wire, whispering the gossip of Darwin to the Katherine,
whispered that the "new Boss for the Elsey had been and gone and married
a missus just before leaving the South, and was bringing her along
with him." Then the Sanguine Scot was filled with wrath, the Company
with compassion, while the Dandy's consternation found relief
in a dismayed "Heavens above!" (The Dandy, by the way, was only a dandy
in his love of sweet, clean clothes and orderly surroundings. The heart
of the man had not a touch of dandyism in it.) The Head Stockman
was absent in his camp. Had he been present, much might have been said
on the "advantages of having a woman about the place." The Wag, however,
retained his usual flow of speech and spirits.
"Buck up, chaps!" he chuckled encouraging!" They're not all snorters,
you know. You might have the luck to strike one of the "ministering angel
variety."
But the Sanguine Scot had been thinking rapidly, and with characteristic
hopefulness, felt he had the bull by the horns. "We'll just have to block
her, chaps; that's all," he said. "A wire or two should do it";
and, inviting the Dandy "to come and lend a hand," led the way
to the telegraph office; and presently there quivered into Darwin
the first hint tbat a missus was not wanted at the Elsey.
"Would advise leaving wife behind till homestead can be repaired,"
it said; and, still confident of success, Mac felt that
"ought to do the trick." "If it doesn't," he added, " we'll give her
something stronger."
We in Darwin, having exhausted the sight-seeing resources of the little town,
were wishing "something interesting would happen," when the message
was handed to the Maluka.
"This may do as a stopgap," he said, opening it, adding as he
read it, "It looks brimful of possibilities for interested onlookers,
seeing it advises leaving the wife behind." The Maluka spoke from experience,
having heen himself an interested onlooker "down south," when
it had been suggested there that the wife should be left behind
while he spied out the land; for although the Maluka knew most
of the Territory, he had not yet been to the Elsey Cattle Station.
Preferring to be "the interested onlooker" myself this time,
when we went to the telegraph office it was the Maluka who wired:
"Wife coming, secure buggy", and in an incredibly short space of time
the answer was back: "No buggy obtainable."
Darwin looked interested. "Mac hasn't wasted much time in makmg inquiries,"
it said.
"Or in apologies or explanations," the Miluka added shortly,
and sent in reply: "Wife can ride, secure suitable mount."
But the Sanguine Scot's fighting blood was up, and almost immediately
the wire rapped out: "No side-saddle obtainable. Stock horses all flash";
and the onlookers stared in astonishment.
"Mac's in deadly earnest this time," they said, and the Maluka,
with a quiet "So am I," went back to the telegraph.
Now, in the Territory everybody knows everybody else, but particularly
the telegraph people; and it often happens that when telegrams
of general interest are passing through, they are accompanied
by confidential asides--little scraps of harmless gossip not intended
for the departmental books; therefore it was whispered in the tail
of the last message that the Katherine was watching the fight
with interest was inclined to "reckon the missus a goer,"
and that public sympathy was with the stockman--the Katherine
had its women-folk and was thankful; but the Katherine knew
that although a woman in a settlement only rules her husband's home,
the wife of a station-manager holds the peace and comfort of the stockmen
in the hollow of her hand.
"Stock horses all flash," the Sanguine Scot said, and then went out
and apologised to an old bay horse. "We had to settle her hash somehow,
Roper, old chap," he said, stroking the beautiful neck, adding tenderly
as the grand old head nosed into him: "You silly old fool!
You'd carry her like a lamb if I let you."
Then the Maluka's reply came, and Mac whistled in amazement.
"By George!" he said to those near him, "she IS a goer,
a regular goer"; and after much careful thought wired an inane suggestion
about waiting until after the Wet.
Darwin laughed outright, and an emphatic: "Wife determined,
coming Tuesday's train," from the Maluka was followed
by a complete breakdown at the Katherine.
Then Darwin came in twos and threes to discuss the situation,
and while the men offered every form of service and encouragement,
the women-folk spoke of a woman "going bush " as "sheer madness."
"Besides, no woman travels during the Wet," they said,
and the Maluka "hoped she would prove the exception."
"But she'll be bored to death if she does reach the homestead alive,"
they prophesied; and I told them they were not very complimentary
to the Maluka.
"You don't understand," they hastened to explain. "He'll be camping out
most of his time, miles away from the homestead," and I said,
"So will I."
"So you think," they corrected. "But you'll find that a woman alone
in a camp of men is decidedly out of place"; and I felt severely snubbed.
The Maluka suggested that he might yet succeed in persuading
some suitable woman to come out with us, as maid or companion;
but the opposition, wagging wise heads, pursed incredulous lips,
as it declared that "no one but a fool would go out there
for either love or money." A prophecy that came true,
for eventually we went "bush" womanless.
The Maluka's eyes twinkled as he listened. "Does the cap fit, little 'un?"
he asked; but the women-folk told him that it was not a matter for joking.
"Do you know there is not another white woman within a hundred-mile radius ?"
they asked; and the Maluka pointed out that it was not all disadvantage
for a woman to be alone in a world of men. "The men who form her world
are generally better and truer men, because the woman in their midst
is dependent on them alone, for companionship, and love, and protecting
care," he assured them.
"Men are selfish brutes," the opposition declared, rather irrelevantly,
looking pointedly at the Maluka.
He smiled with as much deference as he could command. "Also," he said,
"a woman alone in a world of men rarely complains of their selfishness";
and I hastened to his assistance. "Particularly when those men
are chivalrous bushmen," I began, then hesitated, for, since reading
the telegrams, my ideas of bush chivalry needed readjustment.
"Particularly when those men are chivalrous bushmen," the Maluka agreed,
with the merry twinkle in his eyes; for he perfectly understood
the cause of the sudden breakdown. Then he added gravely:
"For the average bushman will face fire, and flood, hunger,
and even death itself, to help the frail or weak ones who come
into his life; although he'll strive to the utmost to keep
the Unknown Woman out of his environments particularly when
those environments are a hundred miles from anywhere."
The opposition looked incredulous. "Hunger and death!" it
said. "Fiddlesticks!" It would just serve them right if she went";
and the men folk pointed out that this was, now, hardly flattering
to the missus.
The Maluka passed the interruption by without comment. "The Unknown Woman
is brimful of possibilities to a bushman," he went on; "for although she
MAY be all womanly strength and tenderness, she may also be anything,
from a weak timid fool to a self-righteous shrew, bristling with virtue
and indignation. Still," he added earnestly, as the opposition
began to murmur, "when a woman does come into our lives,
whatever type she may be, she lacks nothing in the way of chivalry,
and it rests with herself whether she remains an outsider
or becomes just One of Us. Just One of Us," he repeated,
unconsciously pleading hard for the bushman and his greatest need--
"not a goddess on a pedestal, but just a comrade to share
our joys and sorrows with."
The opposition wavered. "If it wasn't for those telegrams," it said.
But Darwin, seeing the telegrams in a new light, took up the cudgels
for the bushmen.
"Poor beggars," it said, "you can't blame them. When you come
to think of it, the Unknown Woman is brimful of possibilities."
Even then, at the Katherine, the possibilities of the Unknown Woman
were being tersely summed up by the Wag.
"You'll sometimes get ten different sorts rolled into one," he said
finally, after a long dissertation. "But, generally speaking, there's
just three sorts of 'em. There's Snorters--the goers,you know--the sort
that go rampaging round, looking for insults, and naturally finding them;
and then there's fools; and they're mostly screeching when they're
not smirking--the uncertain-coy-and-hard-to-please variety, you know,"
he chuckled, "and then," he added seriously, "there's the right sort,
the sort you tell things to. They're A1 all through the piece."
The Sanguine Scot was confident, though, that they were all alike,
and none of 'em were wanted; but one of the Company suggested
"If she was little, she'd do. The little 'uns are all right," he said.
But public opinion deciding that "the sort that go messing round
where they know they're not wanted are always big and muscular
and snorters," the Sanguine Scot was encouraged in his determination
to "block her somehow."
"I'll block her yet; see if I don't," he said confidently. "After all
these years on their own, the boys don't want a woman messing round
the place." And when he set out for the railway
along the north track, to face the "escorting trick," he repeated
his assurances. "I'll block her, chaps, never fear," he said;
and glowering at a "quiet" horse that had been sent by the lady
at the Telegraph, added savagely, "and I'll begin by losing that brute
first turn out."
CHAPTER II
From sun-up to sun-down on Tuesday, the train glided quietly forward
on its way towards the Never-Never; and from sun-up to sun-down
the Maluka and I experienced the kindly consideration that it always
shows to travellers: it boiled a billy for us at its furnace;
loitered through the pleasantest valleys; smiled indulgently,
and slackened speed whenever we made merry with blacks, by pelting
them with chunks of water-melon; and generally waited on us hand
and foot, the Man-in-Charge pointing out the beauty spots and places
of interest, and making tea for us at frequent intervals.
It was a delightful train--just a simple-hearted, chivalrous,
weather-beaten old bush-whacker, at the service of the entire Territory.
"There's nothing the least bit officious or standoffish about it,"
I was saying, when the Man-in-Charge came in with the first billy of tea.
"Of course not!" he said, unhooking cups from various crooked-up fingers.
"It's a Territorian, you see."
"And had all the false veneer of civilisation peeled off long ago,"
the Maluka said, adding, with a sly look at my discarded gloves
and gossamer, "It's wonderful how quietly the Territory does its work."
The Man-in-Charge smiled openly as he poured out the tea, proving thereby
his kinship with all other Territorians; and as the train came to
a standstill, swung off and slipped some letters into a box nailed
to an old tree-trunk.
At the far end of the train, away from the engine, the passengers' car
had been placed, and as in front of it a long, long line of low-stacked
sinuous trucks slipped along in the rear of the engine, all was open view
before us; and all day long, as the engine trudged onwards--hands
in pockets, so to speak, and whistling merrily as it trudged--I stood beside
the Maluka on the little platform in front of the passengers' car,
drinking in my first deep, intoxicating draught of the glories
of the tropical bush.
There were no fences to shut us in; and as the train zig-zagged
through jungle and forest and river-valley--stopping now and then
to drink deeply at magnificent rivers ablaze with water-lilies--
it almost seemed as though it were some kindly Mammoth creature,
wandering at will through the bush.
Here and there, kangaroos and other wild creatures of the bush
hopped out of our way, and sitting up, looked curiously after us;
again and again little groups of blacks hailed us,
and scrambled after water-melon and tobacco, with shouts of delight,
and, invariably, on nearing the tiny settlements along the railway,
we drove before us white fleeing flocks of goats.
At every settlement we stopped and passed the time of day and,
giving out mail-bags, moved on again into the forest.
Now and again, stockmen rode out of the timber and received mail-bags,
and once a great burly bushman, a staunch old friend of the Maluka's,
boarded the train, and greeted him with a hearty hand-shake.
"Hullo! old chap!" he called in welcome, as he mounted the steps
of the little platform, "I've come to inspect your latest investment";
but catching sight of the "latest investment" he broke into
a deafening roar.
"Good Lord!" he shouted, looking down upon me from his great height,
"is that all there is of her? They're expecting one of the prize-fighting
variety down there," and he jerked his head towards the Never-Never.
Then he congratulated the Maluka on the size of his missus.
"Gimme the little 'uns," he said, nearly wringing my hand off
in his approval. "You can't beat 'em for pluck. My missus is one of 'em,
and she went bush with me when I'd nothing but a skeeto net
and a quart-pot to share with her." Then, slapping the Maluka
vigorously on the back, he told him he'd got some sense left.
"You can't beat the little 'uns," he declared. "They're just the
very thing."
The Maluka agreed with him, and after some comical quizzing,
they decided, to their own complete satisfaction, that although
the bushman's "missus" was the "littlest of all little 'uns,
straight up and down," the Maluka's" knocked spots off her sideways."
But although the Territory train does not need to bend its neck
to the galling yoke of a minute time-table, yet, like all bush-whackers,
it prefers to strike its supper camp before night-fall,
and after allowing us a good ten minutes' chat, it blew a deferential
"Ahem" from its engine, as a hint that it would like to be "getting along."
The bushman took the hint, and after a hearty "Good luck, missus!"
and a "chin, chin, old man," left us, with assurances that "her size
'ud do the trick."
Until sundown we jogged quietly on, meandering through further
pleasant places and meetings; drinking tea and chatting
with the Man-in-Charge between whiles, extracting a maximum of pleasure
from a minimum rate of speed: for travelling in the Territory
has not yet passed that ideal stage where the travelling itself--
the actual going--is all pleasantness.
As we approached Pine Creek I confided to the men-folk that I was feeling
a little nervous. "Supposing that telegraphing bush-whacker decides
to shoot me off-hand on my arrival," I said; and the Man-in-Charge
said amiably: "It'll be brought in as justifiable homicide; that's all."
Then reconnoitring the enemy from the platform, he "feared"
we were "about to be boycotted."
There certainly were very few men on the station, and the Man-in-Charge
recognising one of them as the landlord of the Playford,
assured us there was nothing to fear from that quarter.
"You see, you represent business to him," he explained.
Every one but the landlord seemed to have urgent business
in the offfice or at the far end of the platform, but it was
quickly evident that there was nothing to fear from him;
for, finding himself left alone to do the honours of the Creek,
he greeted us with an amused: "She doesn't look up to sample
sent by telegram"; and I felt every meeting would be, at least,
unconventional. Then we heard that as Mac had "only just arrived
from the Katherine, he couldn't leave his horses until they were
fixed up"; but the landlord's eyes having wandered back to the
"Goer, "he winked deliberately at the Maluka before inviting us
to "step across to the Pub."
The Pub seemed utterly deserted, and with another wink the landlord
explained the silence by saying that "a cyclone of some sort"
had swept most of his "regulars" away; and then he went shouting
through the echoing passages for a "boy" to "fetch along tea."
Before the tea appeared, an angry Scotch voice crept to us
through thin partitions, saying: "It's not a fit place
for a woman, and, besides, nobody wants her!" And in a little while
we heard the same voice inquiring for "the Boss."
"The telegraphing bush-whacker," I said, and invited the Maluka
to come and see me defy him. But when I found myself face to face
with over six feet of brawny quizzing, wrathful-looking Scotchman,
all my courage slipped away, aud edging closer to the Maluka,
I held out my hand to the bushman, murmuring lamely: "How do you do?"
Instantly a chauge came over the rugged, bearded face. At the sight
of the "Goer" reduced to a meek five feet, all the wrath
died out of it, and with twitching lips and twinkling eyes Mac
answered mechanically, "Quite well thank you," and then coughed
in embarrassment.
That was all: no fierce blocking, no defying. And with the cough,
the absurdity of the whole affair, striking us simultaneously,
left us grinning like a trio of Cheshire cats.
It was a most eloquent grinning, making all spoken apology
or explanation unnecessary; and by the time it had faded away
we thoroughly understood each other, being drawn together by a mutual
love of the ridiculous. Only a mutual love of the ridiculous, yet
not so slender a basis for a lifelong friendship as appears,
and by no means an uncommon one "out bush."
"Does the station pay for the telegrams, or the loser?" the landlord
asked in an aside, as we went in to supper and after supper
the preparations began for the morrow's start.
The Sanguine Scot, anxious to make amends for the telegrams, was full
of suggestions for smoothing out the difficulties of the road. Like
many men of his type, whatever he did he did it with all his heart
and soul--hating, loving, avenging, or forgiving with equal energy;
and he now applied himself to helping the Maluka "make things easy for her,"
as zealously as he had striven to "block her somehow."
Sorting out pack-bags, he put one aside, with a "We'll have to spare that
for her duds. It won't do for her to be short. She'll have enough
to put up with, without that." But when I thanked him, and said I could
manage nicely with only one, as I would not need much on the road,
he and the Maluka sat down and stared at each other in dismay. "That's
for everything you'll need till the waggons come," they explained;
"your road kit goes in your swag."
The waggons went "inside "once a year--"after the Wet," and would arrive
at the homestead early in June. As it was then only the middle of January,
I too sat down, and stared in dismay from the solitary pack-bag to
the great, heaped-up pile that had been sorted out as indispensable.
"You'll have to cull your herd a bit, that's all," Mac said; and needlework
was pointed out as a luxury. Then books were "cut out," after that
the house linen was looked to, and as I hesitated over the number
of pillow-cases we could manage with, Mac cried triumphantly:
"You won't need these anyway, for there's no pillows."
The Maluka thought he had prepared me for everything in the way of
roughness; but in a flash we knew that I had yet to learn what a bushman
means by rough.
As the pillow-cases fell to the ground, Mac was at a loss to account
for my consternation. "What's gone wrong?" he exclaimed in concern.
Mac was often an unconscious humorist.
But the Maluka came with his ever-ready sympathy. "Poor little coon,"
he said gently, "there's little else but chivalry and a bite of tucker
for a woman out bush."
Then a light broke in on Mac. "Is it only the pillows?" he said.
"I thought something had gone wrong." Then his eyes began to twinkle.
"There's stacks of pillows in Darwin," he said meaningly.
It was exactly the moral fillip needed, and in another minute
we were cheerfully "culling our herd" again.
Exposed to Mac's scorn, the simplest comforts became foolish luxuries.
"A couple of changes of everything is stacks," he said encouragingly,
clearing a space for packing. "There's heaps of soap and water
at the station, and things dry here before you can waltz round twice."
Hopefulness is always infectious, and before Mac's cheery optimism
the pile of necessities grew rapidly smaller. Indeed, with such visions
of soap and water and waltzing washerwomen, a couple of changes
of everything appeared absurd luxury. But even optimism can have
disadvantages; for in our enthusiasm we forgot that a couple of cambric
blouses, a cotton dress or two, and a change of skirts, are hardly equal
to the strain of nearly five months constant wear and washing.
The pillow-cases went in, however. Mac settled that difficulty
by saying that "all hands could be put on to pluck birds.
The place is stiff with 'em," he explained, showing what a simple
matter it would be, after all. The Maluka turning out two cushions,
a large and a smaller one, simplified matters even more. "A bird in
the hand you know," he said, finding room for them in the swag.
Before all the arrangements were completed, others of the Creek
had begun to thaw, and were "lending a hand," here and there.
The question of horses coming up, I confided in the helpers,
that I was relieved to hear that the Telegraph had sent a quiet horse.
I am really afraid of buck-jumpers, you know," I said,
and the Creek looking sideways at Mac, he became incoherent.
"Oh, look here!" he spluttered, " I say! Oh, look here!
It really was too bad!" Then, after an awkward pause, he blurted out,
"I don't know what you'll think, but the brute strayed first camp,
and--he's lost, saddle and all."
The Maluka shot him a swift, questioning glance; but poor Mac looked
so unhappy that we assured him "we'd manage somehow." Perhaps we could
tame one of the flash buck-jumpers, the Maluka suggested. But Mac said
it "wouldn't be as bad as that," and, making full confession, placed
old Roper at our service.
By morning, however, a magnificent chestnut "Flash," well-broken
into the side-saddle, had been conjured up from somewhere by the Creek.
But two of the pack-horses had strayed, and by the time they were found
the morning had slipped away, and it was too late to start until after
dinner. Then after dinner a terrific thunderstorm broke over the settlement,
and as the rain fell in torrents, Mac thought it looked "like a case
of to-morrow all right."
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