Remembering Country: History & Memories of Towarri National Park ...

This group of people was
photographed at the rear
of Frederick and Sarah
Barwick’s property, Karoona,
on Frederick’s 80th birthday
in 1928. Frederick is seated at
front left with his eldest son,
Alfred, sitting next to him.
This house was opposite
Sparkes Creek School.
Photo courtesy Ruth Logan.
the Department of Public Instruction received a letter from Mr. H.W.
Newnham, requesting £20 for the erection of a school on Upper Middle
Creek. The request was refused and locals appealed for the decision to
be reconsidered. 20 A part-time school was eventually established. However,
attendances were erratic and the school was forced to close within a few
years of opening. In 1895, over a four-week period, the two schools at
Upper and Lower Middle Creek averaged attendances of twelve and
eleven respectively. In May of the same year, fire destroyed the Upper
Middle Creek School.A police report described the circumstances of
the blaze.
It appears from the evidence, there was a fireplace in the building,
constructed of slabs, which was only protected by a single brick. For the
purpose of keeping the School comfortable for the scholars a fire was kept
in it, and the teacher says, at the time of closing the school he took every
precaution by sweeping the fireplace, and covering the embers with ashes,
notwithstanding a spark must have got between the bricks (or otherwise) to
the slabs unnoticed, smouldered, and ultimately ignited them when the wind
freshened in the evening. The building was of wood, old, and dry as tinder. 21
The fire was deemed an accident and the school teacher, Mr Begley,
was freed from blame. Following the fire the Upper Middle Creek school
was operated on a full-time basis. In 1896 the names of the two schools
were changed, as they were considered ‘very long and unsuitable’. 22
The use of native names was encouraged, and so the names Tinagroo
and Turry were accepted.
It appears no Aboriginal children attended the Middle Brook schools.
In Singleton, however, where most Aboriginal people had moved to by
1889, education was to become the focus of racial tensions. James Miller
argues that in the early 1880s the schooling of Aboriginal children in the
Hunter Valley was non-existent, except for a few Kooris whom the Board
insisted on calling half-castes. 23
24
Life for Aboriginal people
With large areas of their traditional country having been fenced, cleared,
grazed and cropped, irrevocably changing the natural environment,
the Wonnarua essentially lost use of their land. Even hilly, more marginal
areas to which the Wonnarua had once been able to withdraw were
appropriated as the imprint of white settlement stretched back from
the rivers and creeks.
All the same, while free movement around their country was no longer
possible, the Wonnarua still had choices, albeit restricted ones. Some people
chose to camp on white properties and participate in station work; others
kept their distance and, as much as they could, lived by the old ways.
Alec Hall, former owner of Cressfield, remembered being told by his elderly
aunts about a camp of Aboriginal people on Dry Creek in the late 1800s.
Long before my time, there used to be Aborigines – I don’t know whether they
were full-blooded or half-caste – up in Dry Creek. They had a camp up there.
There could have been half-castes working among the farmhands here, but I
don’t know way back whether they had any full-blooded Aboriginals. 24
The Wonnarua continually modified their life and culture as they
were introduced to a range of new opportunities and constraints. Aspects
of traditional cultural life were maintained where possible and ingeniously
adapted to include new situations and possessions. By the 1880s the
Aboriginal population of the Hunter was concentrated around Singleton,
with only a few Aboriginal people living in towns such as Muswellbrook,
Scone and Murrurundi. In 1882 it was estimated that there were 181
Aboriginal people living in the Hunter Valley. Many were employed
throughout the district and able to support themselves with paid
labour supplemented by traditional forms of food collection. 25
With the establishment of the Aborigines Protection Board in 1883,
it was still possible for the Wonnarua to maintain a range of different
lifestyles. However, the efforts of missionaries and other individuals who
were committed to ‘improving’Aboriginal peoples’ lives 26 would have
a demonstrable effect.Typically,Aboriginal people were encouraged to
relinquish traditional cultural life and adopt European agrarian, moral
and religious ideals.
Part of the Board’s role was to distribute rations. In Singleton, by 1883
a monthly average of about sixteen Aboriginal people were receiving
rations of flour, tea and sugar. In addition to food rations and some clothing,
the Aborigines were provided with farming implements to encourage
their ‘civilisation’ through cultivation.The police in the north-east district,
as agents for the Board, reported that Aborigines within the area were
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A HISTORY OF TOWARRI