Seminarios – Taller

Folio 44 Donahoo …the noted Irish bushranger. Folio 58 Thomas Meager…native...in Ireland. Folio 103 Irish Bushranger Regan.

Folio 246 Samuel Cover Irish, author of Irish Legends and a Ribbonman who wore his green sash proudly.

Folio 246 Wild Goose Lodge, a hideaway in Ireland for Irish Patriots.

Folio 246 Torching of Scullobogue Farm in Ireland.

The following story of Donahoo is found in only the manuscript and the first edition. It is doubtful whether Cash knew the story first hand. However, Cash relates:

Captain Bingley his Superintendent…it would appear that on his return from Sydney in company with three prisoners who he had assigned to his employ he met Donahoo, the noted bushranger. The meeting took place at the Bulgar road which ran along an interminable chain of hills for the distance of one hundred miles. Mr Clements on seeing three armed men some little distance ahead, observed to those in his company that he would ride up and capture them and putting spurs to his horse he road on sharply in front, but not having far to ride before coming up with the party he was in pursuit of the men in rear could see and hear distinctly what took place. Calling upon them to stand and throw down their arms they laughed at him, which seemed to but him verry much out of temper, and after repeating his commands which they still treated with derision, he took a pistol from his breast pocket, on seeing which one of the bushrangers ordered him to put that back again but on his attempting to cock it one of the bushrangers shot him through the head.75

There is no record of Cash being involved with Donahoo in New South Wales, nor is there a probability that Cash had dealings with him as Donahoo had learned to keep out of people‘s way. Likewise, the possibly false story of Cash's cattle duffing is explained in the following:

…[Boodle] now informed me that the men who had just left us were perfectly aware of the circumstances …Boodle now informed me that the cattle we were branding did not belong to him…observing that the best and safest plan I could now adopt would be to leave the colony immediately.76

75 _{It has not been possible to identify this murder by Donohoo. Perhaps it is a convict legend as Donohoo} killed and robbed freely, or so the myth would lead us to believe, and he was known to be very vicious. 76 _{Cash, Folio 72.}

Campfire Anecdotes and Tall Stories

Standing by themselves, some of the campfire anecdotes are not particularly important to the Cash saga, but they do convey the lifestyle of convicts under extenuating circumstances. A number of these bear the tenor of both male conflict and male camaraderie. According to Abbott, such tales inflect the Cash story even though they may not have been directly involved in the episode. The following story, though not directly pertinent, gives insight into convict life of the period:

A series of most improbable tales then recited by some of the flashest/wittiest of the party, vieing [sic] with each other to see who could tell the greatest bouncer. I was of opinion that they were all married judging by their conversation but in this I was mistaken. One stated that some short time before he had lost his wife for a day and a night, and wondering where she had got to was at last of opinion that the' blacks' must have carried her off, however, on going into the garden to get a pumpkin to have it cooked for dinner, and finding a verry large one with a hole cut into it on examination he found his wife inside. This circumstance appeared to surprise the rest of the party verry much, at least as far as appearances went, when another stated that his wife had lost a flat iron weighing seven pounds sometimes previous, and not finding it for several days...she at last put her hand in her pocket in search of her thimble and found the missing article.77

Such a preposterous yarn evokes the image of a group of exiles passing time by spinning tall stories around a campfire. Naturally, the group would try to outdo each other which possibly helped launch the Australian tradition of telling impossible tales.

The Cash/Burke manuscript gives two accounts pertaining to Aborigines. First is the mention of an Aboriginal/European war which took place in New South Wales. Allegedly, the battle was initiated by a large group of Aborigines when they attacked a settler's hut. Two hundred of the attackers were supposedly killed, whereas the Europeans had no casualties. The second story refers to an Aboriginal fishing method in which poisonous plants were ground and thrown into the water. When the fish rose to the surface they were killed. No reference to the war could be found in records which throws doubt upon its veracity. It seems most unlikely that the massacre of two hundred Aborigines by a handful of whites would not be in official documents. Including this

story is a puzzle. Perhaps it is another campfire 'tall tale' illustrating the superiority of the settlers over backward savages from an inferior race. Likewise, no account of the Aboriginal method of fishing could be found. According to the manuscript account, the Aborigines had developed an ingenious technique. There is a hint of admiration in the description which contrasts with the projection of superiority in the account of the war. The two passages suggest ambivalence towards the widely held view of white supremacy. To see sections of the Cash/Burke narrative as irrelevant to its historical value is to miss the psychological impact upon those who were designated to exile. The campfire stories give a scintillating glimpse of assignees wiling away free time by outdoing each other. The Aboriginal stories are suggestive of the attitudes of station-hands who were more likely to come into contact with indigenous people although, by this time (1835) Aborigines were to be found in all major urban centres. Although numerous passages may be seen as unnecessary diversions, there is little doubt they inflect the narrative. A distinction must be made between the telling of a simple narrative and the revelation of the feelings and aspirations of those involved. By taking this seemingly extraneous material into consideration, the Cash story widens beyond Cash's immediate experiences and the simple story gains more subtle dimensions. To ignore these passages would be an unfortunate loss. While the poems are not truly part of the story per se, they are traditional to the time; more importantly, although they may be seen as simple 'embroidery', to view them as unimportant is to miss the need of powerless people to create their own heroes who outshone those in authority.

CHAPTER 7