Surname:
Bow-in-bah (?Harry Brown) (Indigenous)
Source:
Aboriginal Creek Names Three Lower Ironbark Creek Tributaries Report by: Community Development Group
Details:
Bow-in-bah name proposal was endorsed at the Guraki Committee meeting held on the 18th June 2007 after consultation with local Aboriginal community groups. The name Bow-inbah, commemorates an Aboriginal historical figure who was the head man of the Pambalong people of the area, and a guide to Leichhardt circa 1840s.
Surname:
Harry Brown (Indigenous)
Details:
Of Lake Macquarie. Accompanied Leichhardt on his first expedition
Surname:
Harry Brown (Indigenous)
Details:
Included in those accompanying Ludwig Leichhardt when he left Sydney on 13th August 1844 was Harry Brown, an aboriginal man from Newcastle (?Lake Macquarie)
Surname:
Harry Brown (Indigenous)
Details:
NEWCASTLE. The Last of the Newcastle Tribe. Brown, the aboriginal who accompanied the lamented Leichardt in his overland expedition to Port Essington, and who subsequently formed one of Heley s party despatched by Government to endeavour to ascertain the fate of Leichardt in his attempt to reach Swan River, died at Newcastle on Saturday, 17th inst. About eight weeks ago the deceased, being very much intoxicated, got burnt in the most frightful manner in the Black s camp on the beach. From that time till his death his Sufferings were most intense. The deceased was a general favourite with the public at Newcastle, especially with those who, like myself, knew him from boy hood 20 years ago. No fishing, boating, shooting or oystering party was complete unless poor Brown formed one. Brown was also in some respects a public character. It will then, I am sure, be satisfactory to the public to know that during his illness he was attended by Mr. and Mrs. Rinker with as much tenderness as if he was their own son. It was at one time thought that good nursing would bring him through, but he fretted and pined very much for the company of some of his sable brethren. He was however the last of his race at Newcastle, and unfortunately during his illness no blackfellows visited the city. Next to the approval of our own conscience, the good opinion of our neighbours and fellow-citizens is generally the most valued by all right minded men. It will therefore no doubt be a pleasing satisfaction to Mr. and Mrs. Rinker to know that their charitable and humane attention to this poor aboriginal is duly appreciated by the public at Newcastle.
Surname:
Harry Brown (Indigenous)
Place:
Brown was one of the Newcastle tribe
Source:
N.S.W. Legislative Council Committee Select Committee on the Condition of the Aborigines
Details:
Reply to the Council From the Reverend C. P. N. Wilton, M.A., Minister of the Church of England, Newcastle, 1st May 1846...... They are expert in catching fish, and quick in going upon errands, if they be sure of receiving payment; but in general they are inactive, and lazy. An exception, however, is to be found in Brown, who, to the honor of Newcastle, belongs to this tribe, and who accompanied Leichhardt on his late expedition from Moreton Bay to Port Essington. This Brown is a most intelligent Aborigine, and had previously to his accompanying that intrepid explorer, been employed as a seaman in a whaler, and had, some few years before, acted as a servant about a house in Newcastle, approving himself in activity and honesty equal to any European of his own age.
Surname:
Harry Brown (Indigenous)
Source:
Morning Chronicle
Details:
LEICHHARDTS EXPEDITION. By the following letter from the Colonial Secretary to Dr. Leichhardt, it will be seen that in appropriating the gratuity awarded by the government to the members of the exploring expedition to Port Essington, His Excellency the Governor has adopted nearly the same rate of division that was acted upon by the Committee to whom was confided the distribution of the funds subscribed by the public for the same object:- Colonial Secretarys Office, Sydney, 26th June, 1846. Sir,-I do myself the honour to inform you that the Auditor-General has been requested to prepare a warrant for the payment out of the Crown Revenue of a gratuity of 1000 to yourself and the party which accompanied you in your recent expedition to Port Essington, in consideration of the successful issue of that very perilous enterprise, the fortitude and perseverance displayed by the persons engaged in it, and the advantages derived from it to the colony, and I beg to add that it is with much gratification that I make this communication to you. The money is to be divided in the manner stated below, which the Governor has considered reasonable after weighing all the circumstances of the case, and advising with the gentlemen who waited on His Excellency on Friday, the 11th Instant, and who formed a deputation from the Committee who have superintended the collection and distribution of the money (1400) raised in Sydney by voluntary subscription in testimony of the services rendered to the colony by you and your companions, viz.: Dr. Leichhardt ................ 600Mr. Calvert ................... 125Mr. Roper .............. ....125John Murphy ................... 70William Phillips, who has already received from the Government a pardon ................ 30 The two aboriginal natives, Charles Fisher and Harry Brown .... 50 Total ........ 1000 The 50 for the two blacks will be lodged in the Savings Bank, and will not be drawn out without the approval of the Vice President of that institution. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, E. DEAS THOMSON.
Surname:
Harry Brown (Indigenous)
Source:
Geelong Advertiser
Details:
DR. LEICHHARDT The Moreton Bay Courier states that it is enabled to furnish its readers with some additional information respecting the progress of Dr Leichhardt and party in their exploring expedition towards Swan River. We learn from a gentle- man recently arrived from the Dar-ling Downs that the party arrived at Mr Andrew s station, Oakey Creek, about the 24th ultimo, and consisted of the following persons :-Dr Leichhardt.Mr John Mann, Mr Hovenden Hely, MrBunce, Mr Turnbull, James Perry, (saddler). Henry Boacking (tanner), and two aboriginal blacks, Harry Brown and Womai, the former from Newcastle, and the latter from Stroud.
Surname:
Harry Brown (Indigenous)
Source:
The Maitland Weekly Mercury
Details:
{Extract} En passant, it would not be out of place to refer to Harry Brown and Charley, the two aboriginals, who accompanied Leichhardt. Harry Brown had a wonderful talent for anecdote and was most entertaining a rather happy accomplishment when no newspaper was seen for over a year. Brown was burnt to death at Newcastle some years after the return of the expedition. Charley, on the other hand, was morose and silent, hardly ever speaking. Mr. Roper was the only one in the party who would trust himself alone with Charley. The latter s strong point was his knowledge of direction, which was most wonderful. In making excursions in search for water or horses, etc., no matter how tortuous the course taken, Charley could point direct to the main camp and give the approximate distance
Surname:
Harry Brown (Indigenous)
Source:
The Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate
Details:
In July, 1844, Leichhardt was back in Sydney, and on August 13, 1844, left for Brisbane in the Sovereign steamer. He took James Calvert, John Roper, John Murphy (a boy of 16), a ticket of-leave man named Bill Phillips, and Harry Browne, a Newcastle aboriginal. On the Downs he added Pemberton Hodgson,- Charles Gilbert (a collector for Gould), Caleb (an American negro), and Charley (a Bathurst aboriginal), but Caleb and Hodgson returned to the Downs after the first month, leaving Leichhardt with five white men and two aboriginals, a small party to face that long journey through wild, unknown country to Port Essington. His provisions included 12001b. of flour, 2001b. of sugar,801b. of tea, and 201b. of gelatine. They had 301b. of powder, eight bags of shot, chiefly 4 and 6, seven muzzle loading guns, four pistols, and two cutlasses. His instruments included sextant, chronometer, Katers compass, artificial horizon, and small thermometer. Thus that small party journeyed on across creeks and rivers, through thick Brigalow scrubs, over rough ranges, through country where game and fish were abundant, the aboriginals either friendly or keeping out of sight, eating goannas, opossums, flying foxes, eels, fish, carpet snakes, mussels, and any bird or animal that could be cooked and eaten. Flying foxes were a favourite dish, and are excellent if roasted on red coals. The long-continued safety from the blacks led to a suicidal want of common precautions, especially at night, and on the night of June 28, 1845, the party camped beside a small lagoon on a box-tree flat on the present Nassau River, in latitude 15.55. Though surrounded by hostile and dangerous blacks, they camped in tents far apart, PhiUip3 actually on the opposite side of the lagoon, and there was nobody on watch. The blacks made a night attack, with a shower of woomera spears and a chorus of fearful yells. The party were all asleep, and even the fires burning brightly to reveal their position. The stupidity of it all seems incredible. Even the guns were not capped. Calvert and Roper received several spears, and were severely bruised by blows from the woomeras. A spear was driven into Gilbert s left lung, and he walked over to where Charley and Leichhardt were standing by the fire, gave his gun to Charley, saying, The blacks have killed me, drew the spear, and died at once. Drawing the spear was the very act he should not have done. How all the others escaped death on that unfortunate night passes all comprehension. Just 38 years afterwards I stood by that lagoon and heard the story from blacks who were among those who speared Gilbert. They told me that Leichhardts two blacks had improperly interfered with two aboriginal women a couple of days before, and the men were seeking revenge. Roper told me the same story in one of several letters I received from him when he was stock inspector at Merriwa, in New South Wales. The blacks told me that two of their people were killed and three wounded, and that when Leichhardts party went away, they dug up the body of Gilbert and cooked and ate it. So Gilberts grave, like that of Leichhardt, is lost for ever to the knowledge of mankind.
Surname:
Harry Brown (Indigenous)
Source:
Australian Dictionary of Biography Online
Details:
{Extract}....Another notable Aborigine from the Lake Macquarie mission was [Harry] Brown (b.1819?) who accompanied Leichhardt on his first and second expeditions, and after whom Brown s Lagoons were named. Niel Gunson, Biraban Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University
