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had purchased in 1949. Unfortunately, the water supply at Stewart’s Yard proved unreliable and after only three
years there a new homestead site was chosen at a more central location called Pigeon Point. This is the location
of the present day homestead and Aboriginal community at Kildurk (now Amanbidji). Reg and Enid remained on
Kildurk for 22 years, gradually building yards, fences, and other improvements, and also raising a family of five
children—three boys and two girls.
When Reg and Enid first went to Stewart’s Yard they had no Aboriginal employees. However, shortly after
they had left Auvergne there was a spearing incident in the station ‘black’s camp’. The offender was named Bingle
and the authorities were considering sending him to Fannie Bay Gaol, but when they discovered Bingle had a wife
and family and had worked for Reg since 1939, they decided it would better to send him to Kildurk where Reg
could be responsible for him and his family. Other families were to follow and the Kildurk ‘blacks’ camp’ came
into being.
After 20 years at Kildurk, Reg placed the property on the market. His reasons for the sale were that his children
were all academically inclined and not interested in taking over the station. Also Reg believed that, after spending
28 years with him in the outback, Enid was deserving of an easier life. A consortium of Americans began negotiations
to buy the property, but before the deal was finalised the new federal Labor government placed a freeze on foreign
investment in Australia. In 1973 the government itself bought Kildurk, on behalf of the Ngarinman Aboriginal
people, and it became one of the first cattle stations in Australia to be returned to Aboriginal ownership; it has since
been renamed Amanbidji.
After the sale Reg and Enid retired to Perth. Retirement enabled Reg to follow his lifelong interest in Greek
literature and history, and he began to attend courses in modern Greek language. This eventually led to his
collaboration with Greek–Australian poet, Vasso Kalamaras, in the translation and publication of a volume of her
poems and several of her prose works.
Although based in Perth, Reg and Enid visited the north often. At the Timber Creek Races in 1981 Reg heard
that Bullita station was to be auction the following day. He attended the auction and was the successful bidder.
After an absence of almost 50 years Reg returned to Bullita, this time accompanied by Enid. They stayed on Bullita
until 1984 when the station was resumed by the Northern Territory Government to become the nucleus of the new
Gregory National Park.
Distressed at losing Bullita, Reg bought Spirit Hills station. He and Enid worked the property from November
1987 to May 1989 and although he regarded it as a good station well improved, Reg’s heart was never in it.
His children were still not interested in cattle station life, so in 1989 Reg decided to sell out. After then he divided
his time between Perth and the East Kimberleys—winters in the north and summers in the south. They had a house
in Kununurra and a small bush block not far out of town.
In the context of north Australian cattle station life, Reg was somewhat of an anomaly—a well educated,
philosophical and, indeed, intellectual man. There are few descriptions of him from his years as stockman and
station manager, One written at Auvergne station in July 1939 by Myra Hilgendorf, the wife of a man who was
journeying across the north surveying airstrips, illuminates Reg’s intellectual leanings and how these influenced the
way he ran his stations. Myra described Reg as ‘a shy unassuming man, but dignified, considerate and well-read,
seemingly in contrast to the rather ramshackle surroundings... At breakfast, a casual remark of mine about blacks
in coloured clothing, led to a short but illuminating discussion on Mr Durack’s ideas concerning the blacks,
namely that they shouldn’t be made clowns of... He takes an interest in training the house lubras in neatness and
cleanliness, and provides mirrors and combs... I had about half an hour talking with Reg, when he revealed his
intellectual interest and Marxist leanings... He lent me several books,... Tolstoy and Dostoevsky’.
He was later remembered with fondness by Aborigines who once worked for him. ‘Old Reg Durack, he was a
good old boss’. Although in old age he spent much of his time in Perth, Reg’s heart was always in the north.
M Durack, Sons in the Saddle, 1985, Kings in Grass Castles, 1986; M Hilgendorf, Northern Territory Days, 1995; Hoofs and Horns, various
issues; interviews with R Durack, G Packsaddle, A Packsaddle and J Ah Won; V Kalamaras & R Durack, Twenty Two Poems, 1977; C Schultz
& D Lewis, Beyond the Big Run, 1994; H Walker (ed), North of the 26th, vol 2, 1994.
DARRELL LEWIS, Vol 3.
DWYER, ERIC FRANCIS (FRANK) (1920–1981), public servant and soldier, was born on the family dairy
farm at Purrumbete near Camperdown, Victoria, on 20 July 1920. He was the second eldest son of eight children
born to John Eric Dwyer and his wife Lillian Margaret, nee Johnston.
After completing his schooling at Saint Mary’s in Echuca, Victoria, Dwyer joined the Postmaster General’s
Department (PMG) as a telegraph messenger, serving at Deniliquin, New South Wales, and Echuca, prior to
transferring to Melbourne early in 1938. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he enlisted in the Army and
later served overseas. Following the war he rose to a senior position with the PMG and completed a Bachelor of
Commerce degree at the University of Melbourne.
He was appointed to the position of Northern Territory Assistant Administrator in late 1964, a post he held until
- In 1973 he became First Assistant Secretary of the Department of the Northern Territory and in 1974 became
Deputy Secretary of that Department.
In his capacity as Assistant Administrator, Dwyer was appointed an Official member of the Northern Territory
Legislative Council in 1964 and retained that position until 1969. As a senior government administrator, his time
in the Council was noted for his frequent clashes with elected members. These were the days when elected Council
members were seeking much greater powers so it was hardly surprising that controversy prevailed.