James Davis was convicted and transported to Sydney and then sent on to the settlement of Moreton Bay in 1828 ( Monument Australia, 2019). The Maryborough Chronicle states "James Davis was a boy of 16 working in his father's blacksmith's shop in Glasgow....he was sent out to Botany Bay in the convict ship, Minstrel, in 1824. Davis was in the chain gang when he and another escaped." According to the Maryborough Chronicle a certain resemblance to a deceased warrior named Durramboi led to the name. An article in the Maryborough Chronicle (1905) written by By Wargandilla claims that Davis was moving from Tribe to Tribe for fourteen years and was fluent in two dialects having almost forgotten English. In 1842, Mr. Andrew Petrie was exploring the Wide Bay and the Mary River when he found Daramboi. The Maryborough Chronicle claims in his last years he kept a crockery shop in George street, near the Lands Office where he and Mrs. Daramboi resided. He was also engaged as Aboriginal interpreter in the Supreme Court, "travelling about the colony wherever a native unable to speak English was placed on his trial" (Monument Australia, 2019). Davis died in Brisbane in 1889. A monument was erected at Tiaro in 1961 by the Maryborough Historical Society to commemorate the finding of James Davis.
References:
The Maryborough Chronicle 30th July, 1905 James Davis the Wild White Man 30th July, 1905 retrieved from Trove on the 15th August, 2019.
Monuments of Australia (2019) retrieved from http://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/settlement/display/100165-james-davis-durrumboi- on the 15th August, 2019
Tags #Daramboi #FraserIsland #MaryRiver
No comments:
Post a Comment