'Gentlemen of the Flashing Blade'

You may have recently read Stuart Start, the Eye Feature in the ‘Townsville Eye’, October 8, 2016, which features the post World War 2 Displaced Persons Transit Camp or Migrant Camp located in Stuart. Presently an exhibition of photographs from private collections featuring this Stuart Migrant Camp has been curated and put on display at the City Library, Townsville. The exhibition will move to the Courthouse Theatre from November 16-20 when will Full Throttle Theatre Company will perform a production entitled Displaced, ‘a locally written play inspired by the true story of a Polish couple who left war-torn Europe and settled in Townsville, after spending two years in the Stuart Migrant Camp.”

When my book ‘Gentlemen of the Flashing Blade’ was first launched in 1990 it too was released to time with a play, which was a visiting production of Summer of the 17^th Doll by playwright Ray Lawler. I find it rather fascinating then, that just as I have achieved a reprint of ‘Gentlemen of the Flashing Blade’ in 2016 through the auspices of Boolarong Press, coincidently the post World War 2 displaced people and their stories have once more captured the public eye and interest. The migration of Displaced Persons to Australia between 1947 and 1951 was, in character and scale of preparation, unprecedented in the history of migration to Australia. Despite, and possibly because of, the plight of the current huge numbers of displaced people in the world, many of whom are seeking safety and refuge in Australia, just as the displaced persons of 1947 to 1951 did, this post World War 2 story of displacement is still being revisited and re-examined by historians and survivors' children and grandchildren alike.

I wrote ‘Gentlemen of the Flashing Blade’ from a unique position being both an historian and daughter of a displaced person cane cutter. I was therefore in the position to take the reader on a graphic and authentic journey from International Refugee Organization (IRO) Assembly Camp, across oceans to the shores of Australia, through Displaced Persons Camps, and deep into the cane fields of tropical north Queensland. In that journey two major themes of north Queensland history, immigration and the sugar industry, met.

‘Gentlemen of the Flashing Blade’ celebrates and records the days of manual cane cutting through a fictional character Branko Domanovic a displaced person cane cutter. Branko however, is an embodiment of the displaced person cane cutter and a true Gentleman of the Flashing Blade. When Branko arrived in Australia in 1949, the sugar crop of north Queensland was still cut by hand, by the oft mythologized ‘Gentlemen of the Flashing Blade’. Cane cutting was one of the least desirable unskilled occupations to which the displaced persons were allocated and one to which they made an invaluable contribution. Today the days of the manual cane cutter are no more. They are but the stuff of memory, history and legend.

When Branko stepped onto the deck of the Mohammedi, a displaced person refugee, he left behind him a war torn home land and loving family. In the sweat and dust of a North Queensland cane field youthful hopes and ambitions died. But there, at least, he breathed freely and moved without looking over his shoulder. He could dream that when he made good money and his country was free he would go home. He never did.

Reprint of 'Gentlemen of the Flashing Blade' 

'Gentlemen of the Flashing Blade' can now be purchased from: 

http://www.boolarongpress.com.au/content/bookstore/bookDetails.asp?bookid=1023

I recommend to the reader the PhD thesis by Dr. Jayne Persian entitled: ‘Displaced Person (1947-1952): Representations, Memory and Commemoration. It can be accessed from this link

https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/2123/10597/1/DISPLACED_PERSONS_1947_1952.pdf

She has consequently written further on the subject including an academic article called ‘Bonegilla: A Failed Narrative’. There will be people living today in the Ingham district whose parents and grandparents passed through Bonegilla which was the largest and longest operating post-war migrant camp in the post World War 2 period. 320 000 migrants were processed through Bonegilla in the years 1947 to 1971. Persian points out that Bonegilla is referred to as the birthplace of Australian multiculturalism. In her article she questions how this came about and “raises questions not only as to whether Bonegilla is a reactivated or a failed site of memory, but also as to the success or failure of multiculturalism as a historical narrative in Australia.”

“clique of insignificant ‘cockies’ with a soul a little above sweet potatoes and pumpkins”

As you walk Mercer’s lane looking at the mosaic you may pause and wonder at a panel where a full moon is seen through an open window. It shines over men sitting inside a cottage at a table lit by lamplight. One of the men’s horses is tethered outside.  Why were they gathered? What were they discussing? Is the full moon significant?

Yearning for a sense of community and needing mutual support in a hostile new environment the European pioneers of the Herbert River district worked quickly towards creating community facilities such as churches, schools and halls. A particular characteristic of settler communities in Australia was the formation of associations and in agricultural areas, farmer and pastoral  associations. The first farmer association in this district was the Herbert River Farmers’ Association formed in 1882.  Its story begins when a number of small portions of land were taken up between 1879 and 1881 in the area between what was called the Washaway and Gentle Annie Creek. This area was formerly an Aboriginal camping ground and the Europeans that came to live there called it Blacks’ Township. August Anderssen and Francis Herron were the first to show active interest in the area for farming. Others who took up land and/or would become significant to the story of this association were Harald Hoffensetz,  John Alm, A.W. Carr, N. Rosendahl, W. Johnson, John Buchanan, J. Loder, Henry Beardsworth and R.S. Alston.

When the Colonial Sugar Refining Company came to the district with the promise of a mill (the Victoria Mill which first crushed in 1883) it gave hopes to the small land holders that they might be able to grow cane that could be milled by the CSR Company because the company was already doing that in NSW.  Two representatives of the Blacks’ Township, August Anderssen and John Alm, were deputised to approach an officer of the CSR Company with a proposal that the smaller landholders grow sugar cane for supply to the new mill. This officer suggested that the Blacks' Township settlers form an association through which they could communicate their proposal to the CSR General Manager via the local officer. Undoubtedly he was of the mind that a collective approach to the Company would be more effective.  Following that a meeting of the Blacks' Township settlers was called at August Anderssen’s farm, Riverview, so that Anderssen and Alm could report back on what had transpired in their meeting with the CSR officer. Six settlers attended the meeting: Harald Hoffensetz, August Anderssen, A.W. Carr, N.C. Rosendahl, John Alm and Francis Herron. It was decided at this meeting to form an association which would be henceforth known as the Herbert River Farmers ‘Association. The founding premise was “to work for and promote the interests of the farming industry in general and the welfare and progress of the Herbert River district in particular”. Given the latter broad aim, membership was open to anyone regardless of occupation. Nevertheless A.W. Carr confirmed, that the new association would be first and foremost, a “Bureau through which the farmers could communicate with the Government or others on any matter of common interest” with one voice. These men were convinced of their ability to work and thrive in the tropics. Nevertheless they still maintained that Melanesian labour was required for certain aspects of field work and that this labour should be available to planter and small grower alike. Harald Hoffensetz is credited with proposing the formal motion for the formation of an association to be named the Herbert River Farmers’ Association and A.W. Carr is on record as the seconder of the motion”. August Anderssen was elected as the first Chairman, John Alm as Secretary mid A.W. Carr as Treasurer. Meetings would be held at the homes of each of the foundation members in rotation. Membership subscription was set at £1.  Our mosaic panel then pays tribute to the first farmer’s associations that came into being in this district including the Herbert River Farmers’ League and the Halifax Planters’ Club and their first informal and then formal meetings held in their outlying cottages .

But why the full moon?  Getting around the district from one small holding to another, from outlying farm to Ingham town was no mean feat in those times. Clouds of choking dust rose from unpaved roads in dry weather, while in the wet season the roads became a quagmire of cloying mud. Lesser used roads would become overgrown with vegetation after long periods of rainfall and impassability, and would then need the undergrowth to be cut away in order to become passable again. Streams were unbridged and crossing a full stream of water risked an encounter with crocodiles.  Travelling around the district in daylight hours was hazardous enough let alone at night. Therefore meetings of the Herbert River Farmers’ Association were scheduled on the Saturday night nearest each full moon so that the way would be lit and hazards could be avoided. While farmers travelled to the meetings on horseback they might also bring their families in a sulky as the meetings provided an opportunity for sorely needed fellowship amongst the farmers and their families The women especially, appreciated the chance to gather, chat and share a cuppa while their menfolk held their meeting. August Anderssen and his wife had set the precedent from the first of serving a supper for both the members and their wives after the meeting.

These first meetings of the Association quickly proved the value of unified action. Nevertheless there were detractors who regarded the Association members as a “clique of insignificant ‘cockies’ with a soul a little above sweet potatoes and pumpkins”. This attitude changed somewhat when in 1882, six months after its formation, upon receiving an unsolicited letter of support from Frank Neame accompanied by a donation of five guineas, the Association invited him to become the President of the Association. He eagerly accepted the position but due to illness was unable to go out at night to attend meetings. Meetings were henceforth held on Saturday afternoons in a room at the Hotel. At this time membership had grown to around 20 members. Frank Neame had been a long time resident of the Herbert River district, a successful planter and Chairman of the Hinchinbrook Divisional Board in 1880. His approval of the Association and the small grower ideals quietened any criticisms for he “was so universally admired and respected by all sections of the public that they would not adversely criticise anything in which he took a leading part.” As President he pledged to “do all he could to advance the causes of the Association” believing that cooperation amongst farmers was much needed in the district. It is argued that his presidency added weight to the Association’s petitions to both CSR and the Divisional Board. Twelve months after formation the Association was able to boast 30 members.

The Herbert River Farmers’ Association was the first small sugar cane farmers’ association formed in tropical north Queensland (north of Townsville) and did successfully negotiate the supply of small grower cane to the CSR mill. In 1884 the Association received the long awaited letter from CSR offering a seven year contract for cane supply. No limitations were put on how much cane the farmers could supply to the mill. The Mill offered a price of 10/- a ton and would harvest the cane. The Association had achieved a major victory for north Queensland small cane growers and had made them the first tropical north Queensland small growers to sell cane to a mill.

Herbert River Farmers' League Building built 1925
Hinchinbrook Shire Council Library collection

Sources:

Alm, John. Early History of the Herbert River District being “The Memoirs of the Early Settlement of the Lower Herbert and the Start and Progress of the Sugar Industry in the District. Ingham: Herbert River Express, 1932,33,34.  

Vidonja Balanzategui, Bianka. The Herbert River Story. Ingham: Hinchinbrook Shire Council, 2011.