Descendents of Kwalba @ Policeman Jack
Strehlow Research Foundation Newsletters
Request by Aborigines from Wallis Rockhole for genealogy of Kwalba,
also known as Policeman Jack.
Part 1 Transcription of the articles in the Strehlow Research Foundation Newsletters
Strehlow Research Foundation Newsletter 1, Volume 6, January 1983
Kwalba At the request of our aboriginal members from Wallis
Rockhole (who have paid tjauerilja to the Foundation for
it), the history of Kwalba is set down here. 'Era Maiteraka Inteera
ntjaberaka' - 'he became the ceremonial chief of the whole of Inteera'.
Some of the acts of this site had been revealed to Spencer and Gillen in
1896 and Strehlow himself was taken over this great rara (or red kangaroo)
site in 1960. Kwalba, also known as 'Policeman Jack [XLII]', had been
one of the four blacktrackers accompaning Mounted Constable Willshire as
he set out for Tempe Downs from Alitera (or Boggy Hole Police Station),
and who gunned down two Matuntara men 'in the hour of grey dawn on 22nd
February 1891'. Kwalba also assisted white station hand William H
Abbott to burn the bodies by cutting the large amount of firewood (together
with Archie Akorknaltjika) necessary for this job.
Kwalba, an Mbitjana man of the rara totem of Inteera was the son of
Nakinkaka, a nala man from Imanda of the ulbolbuna (or brown bat) totem
and his second wife, given on Family Tree II, 2 as Ljikintjia and on FT
II, 8 as Totumeraka, a Knuarea woman from Patatuna (upstream from Tuna or
Henbury Waterhole) of the ilia or emu totem. Kwalba married firstly
Leisha, a Paltara halfcaste woman, and secondly Kitty Benham, also a
Paltara halfcaste woman. The children of his first wife were two boys,
Tim Armstrong and Chinaman Ted (or Ted I). He had a girl called Mauwi
from his second wife. The information for FT II, 8 came probably
from Lame Mick Kaltjirbuka (or Kaltjirbuka III), at Maryvale on 21st June
1955.
Kwalba's two siblings were Ilkalita (who produced a halfcaste son by
Charlie Walker) and Inditjalbuka I, known as Overseer Charlie of Henbury
Station, one of Strehlow's 1960 informants. Nakinkaka also had children
from his first wife, Ljimba II and although her class is not recorded, she
was a carpet snake (or arenana) woman from Tnautatara. They produced four
Mbitjana sons, half siblings to Kwalba, and the curious classifications
used (ie Mbitjana sons of an Mbitjana father) shows the 8-class system
of classification imposed on an originally 4-class Southern Aranda extended
family group. These were Inanbaka from Irbmankara of the wankara or duck
totem who married Irkatja, a Paltara woman from a green caterpillar site on
the Finke River near Henbury whose only son died as a young man at Maryvale
and whose name has been forgotten); 'Port Augusta' (whose native name has
also been forgotton) from Itarka, south-east of Tuna, perhaps of the Knulja
or wild dog totem - his wife Umbunta, a Paltara from the rain totem of
Mbontuma, produced no children; Tjueta from Tjuetalirbuka of the apma or
snake totem who married a Hermannsburg woman (apparently Cecilia); and
Jinkaniljika from Nbonuna west of Renner's Rock of the aroa or rock wallaby
totem whose Paltara wife Rakueraka, a sister to Ted Iraia produced no
children.
No grandparents have been given for Kwalba. However the genealogy
of Kwalba's descendents now gets so complicated it will take longer to set
it down than there is time or space for at present and therefore it will
be detailed in the April Nersletter.
Kwalba's name however is assured a place in history for quite a
different reason: 'The police shots that rang out through the morning air
at Tempe Downs on 22 February, 1891, had not only concluded the grim
chapter whose first blood-stained pages had been written at Irbmankara one
evening sixteen years earlier: they had also brought to an end a decade of
uncurbed police violence in Central Australia. Gillen's courage [in
attempting to bring Willshire to justice] was never forgotten by the Aranda;
and some years later their gratitude found its expression in the ceremonial
festival held in Alice Springs in 1896, where the secret totemic cycle of
Imanda was revealed for the first time before the eyes of white men - to
Gillen, and to his friend Baldwin Spencer' (pp 48-49, Journey to Horseshoe Bend).
Strehlow concludes his story of the massacre of Irbmankara by
saying: 'This, then, had been the tragic story of Irbmankara less than
fifty years earlier. But Nature does not remember human tears or human
suffering. Men may live and men may die, but Nature is indifferent to
their fate. And so on that October afternoon, when Mrs Strehlow was
busily reading out letters to her sick husband, Theo was conscious only
of the peace and beauty of one of the loveliest landscapes he had ever
seen.'
On the 22nd and 23rd of July 1960 Strehlow visited Irbmankara for the
last time: 'Actually Irbmankara was a great disappointment to me. The
spring waters still ran for several miles ... but they were choked with
jaia, and the gums ins spite of the flowing waters look sparse leaved and
had many dry branches. The green bulrushes had gone, and even the reeds
were rather sparse. We did see a few ducks swimming in one open expanse
of water; but there was no sign of any big fish, of cranes, spoonbills,
and other waterfowl. As Rubuntja remarked, now that all the folk who
belonged to Irbmankara had died - the last of them had been Iraia - their
country too was dying.'
The several diary pages that set down the 1960 Irbmankara visit
were read at the very spot to the aboriginal people who took me down the
Finke, on 2nd September 1982; we also read at the very spot the account
of the massacre from Journey to Horseshoe Bend, see Item 13, October 1982
Newsletter. (Mrs T G H Strehlow].
Strehlow Research Foundation Newsletter 2, Volume 6, April 1983
Kwalba (ctd): The first part of Kwalba's history dealt with the Family
Tree up to and including his two marriages, firstly to Leisha
and secondly to Kitty Benham, halfcaste, and mentioned their respective
children, Leisha's two boys and Kitty's girl. Since my statement about the
complicated nature of this FT can be said to be something of an understatement
(Strehlow's genealogy gives no fewer than five addenda!) the people will
be dealt with systematically in the Newsletters as time and space and tjauerilja
permit. We will thus deal firstly with Kwalba's first son, Tim Armstrong.
He married Molly I or Ilamata, christened Esther and the subject of
Addenda IV for further details. She was a Paltara woman from Ilamata of the
arenana or carpet snake totem. Tim was a 3/4 dark Nala man from Tuna or
Henbury Station, totem of the tjonba to giant goanna totem.
Before her marriage to Tim Armstrong Molly Esther had borne a girl
called Lorna II, a half-caste whose white father was Charlie Carew or Crow
(spelling uncertain), a Purula whose conception site is given also as Tuna,
and consequently Lorna is placed in the correct class corresponding to that
of her mother. Before her marriage to Harry Armstrong, a 3/4 dark Pananka
man - and therefore, because he was the son of Leisha halfcaste and Jankitja,
he married his mother's daughter-in-law's daughter, Lorna had borne Amy
Armstrong (aged 23 years in 1955), the daughter of Tempe Downs Toby (Toby II).
Amy married Tony Button, a Kamara man from Horseshoe Bend of the
ntjira grass seed totem. Tony Button's age was given as 27 years in 1955
and his parents as Todmorden Jack (Jack XVII) and the halfcaste woman
Victoria IV from Horseshoe Bend. Amy had 3 children, two girls and one
boy. Two died as infants and only Biddy (a 7/8 dark girl**) survived whose
father was Claude III (the subject of the next item in the Newsletter as a
footnote to this history) from Tempe Downs or Hermannsburg: 'the totems
and conception sites now cease to matter' wrote Strehlow in note 7, p. 3,
of FT II,2 from which this information is extracted, and this note in
passing written so long ago (on 13. 6.1955) has important (and at that time
unrealized) ramifications for all latter-day land claims. It was husband
Tony Button's two children, a male and a female, who died as unnamed
infants, all conception sites and classes being - significantly now in the
light of subsequent happenings and strehlow's observations on his informant's
own information then - unrecorded: indeed they did not have them to record.
And so ends Strehlow's account of that Family Tree, for what became of Biddy
so far remains a mystery.
The marriage of Lorna II and her husband Harry Armstrong gave rise to
a large family of 5/8 dark children: Michael II, Maxie, Maurice I, Nola
(pronounced Naula), Sheila III and Billy III. All are of Banata class
and all but Billy have Tuna as their conception site and the tjonba giant
lizard as their totem animal. Billy III is a tjurunatja or green caterpiller
from Alice Springs. All were still unmarried on account of their young age
in 1955, Billy's being then only about a year old.
And this is probably as much as any reader can take in at one
time, even if he can follow it, so it will be left until next time to continue
the saga of Kwalba and his descendents when hopefully we will deal with the
offspring of Molly I and Tim Armstrong, christened Kamos.
** Footnote on Biddy's father
Although Biddy's father is given as Claude III so far I have been unable to find any
further reference to him in the FT information, only Claude I and Claude IIs
being listed. [Mrs T G H Strehlow] Great interest is shown in
Central Australia by aboriginal members of the Foundation in the information
contained in the Newsletters about their family histories; for that is
precisely the reason they are being written up - at the request of the aboriginal
people themselves, descendents of these great heroes of times gone by
before the white man and his animals came to their lands.
Strehlow Research Foundation Newsletter 4, Volume 6, 1983
Kwalba (ctd) : From the marriage of Kwalba's daughter. Molly I
(christened Esther III), a Paltara woman from Ilamata of
the arenana or carpet snake totem, to Tim Armstrong, a nala man from Tuna
(= old Henbury waterhole) of the tjonba or giant goanna totem were born 4
7/8th dark offspring: Rufus Armstrong, Mary, Fogarty and Augusta. All
were of the Mbitjana class and were conceived into the tjonba totem of Tuna.
However before her marriage to Tim, Molly I or Iamata Molly had borne Lorna I
(discussed in the April Newsletter).
Rufus married Elsie, a Paltara woman from Mbontuma (near Idracowra
Station) of the Kwatja or rain totem. Elsie was the daughter of Erota and
Nunjala (see Addendum III for further details; and her age was given in her
marriage certificate as 38 years in 1955, that is born in 1917 according
to Family Tree II, 1, Addendum I). They had one son, Puppet Armstrong,
a 15/16ths dark Nala man from Tnautatara of the wankara or duck species
totem. However before her marriage to Rufus Elsie II had produced one
daughter, Una, of the knuarea class from New Crown Point whose father was
the Paltara man Tjabiata, allegedly from the Unmatjera region who had come
to New Crown Point for work.
Mary II married halfcaste Harry Forest of the Banata class from 'East
of Alice Springs'. According to F.T. II, 1, p. 7, he came from Udebatara
and was of the eritja or eagle totem. He was later christened Daniel
(=Daniel II). Mary and Harry had 2 children, Ray, a Pananka boy from Tuna
of the prenti totem and Valda with the same details called 'Balta' by Tim
Armstrong and this would be a corruption of some English name, probably
Valda or Violet.
There is a note (=Note 15) on the Family Tree that 'Fogarty is still
unmarried', ie, in 1955, but he married Jean who was one of my guides on
our trip down the Finke to Irbmankara in 1982.
Augusta IV married Percy Lockey, a 3/4 caste from Erldunda and they
had one son, Gollon Lockey. Percy Lockey had been christened 'Dan'. His
mother was a halfcaste and Addendum II must be consulted for further details.
Thus ends all recorded information on this particular twig of the
Kwalba Family Tree. Next time we shall examine the offspring of Chinaman
Ted (Tim Armstrong's full brother) and his wife Maggie (=Maggie I) 'from
somewhere west of Erldunda, perhaps Wilbia or thereabouts'. Chinaman Ted,
a Nala man, was from Mbontuma of the rain or Kwatja totem: his wife's
details are not given.
Strehlow Research Foundation Newsletter 1, Volume 7, January 1984
Kwalba (ctd): Chinaman Ted is the 3/4 dark son of Kwalba and his first
wife Leisha (a halfcaste Paltara woman from Tuna (=Henbury) of
the tjonba totem). As stated in the last Newsletter, Chinaman Ted married
Maggie I 'from somewhere west of Erldunda, perhaps Wilbia or thereabouts'.
They produced 5 offspring, all 'still too young to be married' at the time
Strehlow compiled the genealogy on 13th June 1955 at Alice Springs from Tim
Armstrong (Chinaman Ted's full brother) and Molly Esther. Their 7/8th dark
children were all classified (as one would expect from a Nala father), as
Mbitjana and all come from Erldunda: Stan (a boy), Nancy V (a girl), Eski
(a girl(, Mac (a boy) and an unnamed girl born in Alice Springs
Hospital in May or June 1955 and therefore too young to be named then.
Significently - particuarly as regards present day 'land rights' claims
all had been given no totems which supports Strehlow's claims that they had
been given up by this generation, although this is not exclusively so.
For personal totemism represented the strongest - though not the only -
territorial claims that there were in traditional times.
In all Leisha produced six children: Tim Armstrong and Chinaman Ted
(whose father was the full blood Kwalba), two 3/4 white girls, Sarah Breadon
(whose father was the white station owner Alan Breadon) and Susie Armstrong
(whose white father was Louie Bloomfield, making her therefore a
half sister of Baden Bloomfield), and two children, Ivy (a girl) and Harry
(a boy) Armstrong from her second full blood husband Janktija or Yankee
(later known as Sam). (For further details consult
What happened to Sarah and Susie - both Nala girls from Mbontuma or
Idracowra Station of the kwatja or rain totem - is not recorded. They were
sent south and never returned to the Northern Territory. (The Nala class
is determined by their dark step-father).
Ivy Armstrong, the 3/4 darl Pananka woman from Mbontuma of the kwatja
totem married Corrigan, a full-blood man from the 'Lilla Creek side' whose
class, totem, etc could not be ascertained on 13. 6.1955; he was the son of
Kutunata from that region. They had three 7/8th dark children: Clem II
(a boy) from Tuna of the tjonba or giant goanna totem, Daphne, a girl, also
from Tuna of the same totem, and an unnamed small girl from Alice Springs
of the tnurunatja totem.
Harry Armstrong, the 3/4 dark full brother of Ivy, also a Pananka from
Mbontum of the kwatja totem, married Lorna II, a halfcaste who was informant
Molly Esther's first child. Her father was the white man Charlie Carew
(or Crow? Strehlow was uncertain of the spelling), and consequently Lorna
is placed in the correct class corresponding to that of her mother. (Since
Molly I Esther herself supplied the details of class here they are certain
to be more correct than those given on Family Tree II, 1, p.7 which were
supplied by Kwaninja.)
Part 2 Genealogy constructed from Part 1 by P J Mackett
NB In this section I have added information from other sources
to add a time element to the genealogy.
Abbreviations
P/A Part Aboriginal
H Husband
W1 Wife 1
W2 Wife 2
Ch Child
F Father
M Mother
Tabula Data
H Nakinkaka (50)
W1 Ljimba II, from Tnautatara (52)
Ch Inanbaka, from Inanbaka (56)
Ch Port Augusta, from Itarka, south east of Tuna (58)
Ch Tjueta, from Tjuetalirbuka (60)
Ch Jinkaniljika, from Nbonuna west of Renners Rock (62)
H Inanbaka, from Inanbaka (56)
W Irkatja, a Paltara woman from the Finke near Henbury (57)
Ch A son who died a young man at Maryvale (64)
H Port Augusta, from Itarka, south east of Tuna (58)
W Ulbmunta, a Paltara woman (59)
No children
H Tjueta, from Tjuetalirbuka (60)
W Cecilia from Hermansberg (61)
H Jinkaniljika, from Nbonuna west of Renners Rock (62)
W Rakueraka, a Paltara woman (63)
No children. Rakueraka is the sister of Ted Iraia
H Nakinkaka, a Nala man from Imanda (50)
W2 Totumeraka or Ljikintjia, a Knuarea woman from (51)
Patatuna, upstream from Tuna or Henbury Waterhole
Ch Kwalba, a Mbitjana man (1)
Ch Inditjalbuka I @ Overseer Charlie (53)
Ch Ilkalita (female) (54)
F Charlie Walker (65)
M Ilkalita (54)
Ch A son H/C (55)
H Kwalba @ Policeman Jack F/B (1)
W2 Kitty Benham, a Paltara H/C woman (48)
Ch Mauwi (49)
H1 Kwalba @ Policeman Jack F/B (1)
W1 Leisha, a Paltara H/C woman (2)
Ch Tim Armstrong 3/4C, a Nala man from Tuna or Henbury Stn (4) Aged 60 yrs in 1951
Ch Chinaman Ted (5) Aged 60 yrs in 1951
H2 Janktija @ Yankee Sam F/B (3)
W Leisha, a Paltara H/C woman (2)
Ch Ivy Armstrong 3/4C, a Pananka woman from Mbontuna (6)
Ch Harry Armstrong 3/4C (7)
F Alan Breaden (white) (15)
M Leisha, a Paltara H/C woman (2)
Ch Sarah Breaden 1/4C, from Idracowra Stn (8)
Sarah sent to South Australia and never returned to N.T.
F Louis Bloomfield (white) (16)
M Leisha, a Paltara H/C woman (2)
Ch Susie Armstrong 1/4C from Idracowra Stn (9)
Sarah sent to South Australia and never returned to N.T.
H Corrigan F/B from Lilly Creek (10)
W Ivy Armstrong 3/4C, a Pananka woman from Mbontuna (6) Aged 30 years in 1951
Ch Clem II from Tuna (12) Born 25.11.1947 Henbury Stn
Ch Daphne from Tuna (13) Born 29. 5.1949 Henbury Stn, P/A
Ch Unnamed female from Alice Springs (14)
H Harry Armstrong 3/4C, a Pananka from Mbontuma (7)
W Lorna II H/C (11)
F Charlie Carew or Charlie Crow (68)
M Molly I @ Ilamata & christened Esther, (17)
a Paltara woman from Ilamata
Ch Lorna II H/C (11)
F Tempe Downs Toby @ Toby II (69)
M Lorna II H/C, a Purula (11)
Ch Amy Armstrong, aged 23 yrs in 1955 3/4C (24)
F Claude III from Tempe Downs or Hermansberg (70)
M Amy Armstrong, aged 23 yrs in 1955 (24)
Ch Biddy 7/8C
H Harry Armstrong 3/4C (7)
W Lorna II H/C, a Purula (11)
Ch Michael Armstrong or Michael II 5/8C (18)
Ch Maxie Armstrong 5/8C (19)
Ch Maurice Armstrong or Maurice 1 5/8C (20)
Ch Nola Armstrong 5/8C (21)
Ch Sheila Armstrong or Sheila III 5/8C (22)
Ch Billy Armstrong or Billy III, aged 1 yr in 1955 5/8C (23)
F Todmorden Jack @ Jack XVII (66)
M Victoria IV H/C from Horseshoe Bend (67)
Ch Tony Button, from Horseshoe Bend aged 27 yrs in 1955 (25)
H Tony Button, a Kamara man from Horseshoe Bend (25)
aged 27 yrs in 1955
W Amy Armstrong, aged 23 yrs in 1955 (24)
Ch A girl, died as an infant (26)
Ch A boy, died as an infant (27)
F Tim Armstrong 3/4C, a Nala man from Tuna or Henbury Stn (4) Aged 60 yrs in 1951
M Molly I or Ilamata christened Esther III F/B, (17)
a Paltara woman from Ilamata
Ch Rufus Armstrong (29)
Ch Mary Armstrong (31) Aged 26 yrs in 1951
Ch Fogarty Armstrong (33) Born 1928 Henbury Stn
Ch Augusta Armstrong (35) Aged 19 yrs in 1951
F Erota (71)
M Munjala (72)
Ch Elsie II, aged 38 yrs in 1955, from near Idracowra Stn (30)
H Rufus Armstrong (29) Elsie Erouta and Rufus Armstrong married 9. 6.1955
W Elsie II, aged 38 yrs in 1955, A Paltara woman (30)
from Mbontuma near Idracowra Stn
Ch Puppet Armstrong 15/16C, a Nala man from Tnautatara (37)
F Tjabiata, from the Unmatjera region and came to (73)
New Crown Point to work
M Elsie II, aged 38 yrs in 1955, A Paltara woman (30)
from Mbontuma near Idracowra Stn
Ch Una, from New Crown Point
H Harry Forest H/C christened Daniel, from east (32) Aged 42 years in 1951
of Alice Springs or Udebatara
M Mary Armstrong (31)
Ch Ray Forest, a Panaka boy from Tuna (39) Aged 2 yrs in 1951, father said to be Corrigan
Ch Valda Forest, a Panaka girl from Tuna (40) Aged 8 years in 1951
H Fogarty Armstrong (33) Born 1928 Henbury Stn
W Jean (34) Born 1931 Middleton Ponds
Not married in 1955
H Percy Lockey 3/4C christened Dan, from Erldunda (36)
Mother was a half-caste
W Augusta Armstrong (35)
Ch Gollon Lockey (41)
H Chinaman Ted @ Ted I, a Nala man from Mbontuma 3/4C (5) Aged 60 yrs in 1951
W Maggie, from west of Erldunda (42)
Ch Stan, a Mbitjana from Erldunda (43)
Ch Nancy V, a Mbitjana from Erldunda (44) Aged 8 yrs in 1951
Ch Eski, female, a Mbitjana from Erldunda (45)
Ch Mac, male, a Mbitjana from Erldunda (46) Aged 13 mths in 1951
Ch Unnamed, born Alice Springs Hospital May/June 1955 (47)
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