Mokare’s Mob – Summary and Conclusions

As with every aspect of The View From Mount Clarence‘s look into the inclusive history of Albany and the South Coast, exploring the life and times of Mokare and his fellow Menang Aborigines has been nothing short of compelling. This is because most non-indigenous people, myself included, have little knowledge …

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Mokare’s Mob – Part 4b

Collie after Mokare (Continued from Part 4A)   Cultural impasse aside, it’s important to stay close to our intended purpose of trying to determine the ultimate role played by Mokare in leading the Albany Aborigines into non-violent intercourse with the incoming European presence. The question is not whether Mokare and …

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Mokare’s Mob – Part 4a

Mokare and Dr Alexander Collie (1793-1835) And so to Dr Collie himself, Albany’s original ailing academic. Doctor, botanist and casual explorer, by the early 1830s Collie had become a reknown natural history collector as well. His naval experience aboard HMS Blossom cruising the coasts of the Americas, including the Pacific …

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Mokare’s Mob – Part 3

 Mokare and Captain Collet Barker Our impression of life with the Aborigines at the garrison prior to the arrival of Captain Collet Barker can be compared to Scott Nind’s watercolours. From them we get a sense of place and time, but the landscapes Nind painted are unpeopled and vacant. In …

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Mokare’s Mob – Part 2

Mokare- His character and influence  Above: Louis de-Sainson’s  Albany Aborigines sketched in October 1826, coloured and printed 1833. The images are of Mokare (bottom right); Patyet, thought to be Nakinah (bottom left); and young brother Yallapoli with the brothers’ father, also named Patyet (middle). The two men at the top …

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Mokare’s Mob – Part 1

Mokare: 1800 – 1831 Not since the time of Mokare has there been more future driven anxiety facing the South Coast’s Indigenous. As final deliberation on the Single Noongar Claim looms, Western Australia’s South-Western Aborigines face acceptance of the decades long Native Title case against the Government of Australia, an issue as much rooted …

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In Search of Ngurabirding-Part 4 (a)

John McKail and George Cheyne: From the Swan River to The Ship Inn, Cape Riche and Eticup     In the continuing search for Ngurabirding we complete the background to John Maher’s 1854 arrival at Albany with a look at the activities, enterprises and connections of the disputatious pair John McKail and George …

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In Search of Ngurabirding – Part 3

Moorilup   In our search for Ngurabirding we are building  background to the arrival of his father, Ticket-of-leave man John Maher, in the Albany area during 1854. Maher took up work as a farm labourer or shepherd on one of the Spencer sheep runs closer to Mount Barker, north of …

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In Search of Ngurabirding – Part 2

The Hay River Brigade   Before we go on with the story of John Maher after the issuing of his Ticket-of-Leave, it’s important to look into what had already taken place at Albany relative to his arrival. This applies to the earliest period of free settlement and the story of the …

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The Garrison Years (and shortly after)

Originally published 12 April 2014: The fourth story in the OUTDONE collection, When Patrick Taylor Met Charles Darwin, is set in March, 1836, nine full years after the Amity’s arrival. By this time the New South Wales colonial outpost Major Lockyer had called Frederickstown had been usurped by the newly …

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