History Week runs from 5-13 September 2009, and Manly Library is marking this year’s theme of “Scandals, Crime and Corruption” with a display of memorable front page stories from the Manly Daily and other newspapers. One of the more unusual cases was recorded by the Queenslander newspaper in March 1883. Two Queensland Aboriginals were discovered in the bush near Manly, one wearing a shirt, the other nude. When challenged by the local policeman, Senior-Constable John Leplaw, the two ran off. When Leplaw went to apprehend one of them, he produced a knife from under his shirt and wounded the constable. But with assistance, Leplaw was able to subdue and handcuff the pair, and took them by the Fairlight ferry to prison in Sydney.
It transpired that the two Aboriginals, with seven others, had been procured in Queensland by an agent for the well-known P T Barnum circus, who had brought them to Sydney with the intention of removing them to the USA. None of them could speak a word of English. When the case came to court the Magistrate, Mr Marsh, stated that it appeared to him as though the Aboriginals had simply been kidnapped. The two men in question had escaped from the agent and were endeavouring to find their way home when they were approached by Senior-Constable Leplaw. Marsh instructed the police to investigate the agent’s behavior to see if criminal charges should be brought against him, and the two Queensland Aboriginals were set free. But did they find their way home? The newspapers don’t tell us, so we can only speculate.
It transpired that the two Aboriginals, with seven others, had been procured in Queensland by an agent for the well-known P T Barnum circus, who had brought them to Sydney with the intention of removing them to the USA. None of them could speak a word of English. When the case came to court the Magistrate, Mr Marsh, stated that it appeared to him as though the Aboriginals had simply been kidnapped. The two men in question had escaped from the agent and were endeavouring to find their way home when they were approached by Senior-Constable Leplaw. Marsh instructed the police to investigate the agent’s behavior to see if criminal charges should be brought against him, and the two Queensland Aboriginals were set free. But did they find their way home? The newspapers don’t tell us, so we can only speculate.
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