- page -
http://www.cdu.edu.au/cdupress
Go Back >> List of Entries
K
KANCUBINA-KIANG-OO-PANNY (known in 1930s), described as a ‘witchdoctor’, was a member of the
Ballamogna people at Caledon Bay. On 21 April 1937, Kancubina and his wife Boo-koo-murra arrived at the
Roper River Police Station carrying a youth, Smiler, who was stricken with leprosy. The 386-kilometre journey
from Caledon Bay had taken nearly nine months, Kancubina and Boo-koo-murra having carried Smiler for most
of the way. Smiler had previously worked for Constable Ted Heathcock and hoped that Heathcock’s wife, Ruth,
a nursing sister, could cure the disease.
A letter from Constable Heathcock to the Chief Protector of Aborigines, dated 7 October 1937, related the
incident, and as Smiler spoke some English, used his words to describe the journey: ‘Kancubina and Boo-koo-murra
and me bin leave Caledon Bay last cold weather time. Two fella bin carry me all the way longa back. I bin want to
come to Roper River for Mrs Heathcock to fix up hands and feet belong me. Me can’t walk, too sick longa foot and
longa leg and Kiang-oo-panny and Boo-koo-murra bin talk “We take im you”. They bin carry me from water to
water and Kiang-oo-panny bin hunt and bring me kangaroo and porcupine and wallaby and when im go long way
to hunt sometimes many days Boo-koo-murra bin get yams and roots and lilies belonga tuckout. Boo-koo-murra
too, when me bin no good smell long sores, im bin get im gum leaves and box im up longa hot water and bin bogie
me longa leaf and water and kill im no good smell. I bin talk plenty times long two feller. More better you leave im
me die here. Two fella bin talk. No more we can’t leave you, we get you longa police station allright. I bin try get
im to go back plenty times but im no more go. I bin propery no good smell longa sores and I bin chuck im fingers
and toes when im break off longa road.’
Smiler, Kancubina and Boo-koo-murra were transferred to Mataranka and then to Darwin by train, where the
Chief Protector of Aborigines, Dr Cecil Cook, immediately ordered the removal of Smiler to the leprosarium at
Channel Island. Kancubina carried Smiler to the dinghy, and was deeply distressed when he was not allowed to
accompany the boy to the leprosarium. He and Boo-koo-murra were placed in an Aboriginal compound.
The dedication of Kancubina and Boo-koo-murra to their sick companion and their epic journey were reported
in both national and overseas publications. Efforts were made to have Kancubina awarded the Albert Medal for
Bravery and to give his wife an award for her role in saving Smiler’s life. Both Constable Heathcock and the
Administrator of the Northern Territory, C L A Abbott, however, pointed out that similar awards to Aborigines in
the past had shown that such awards had little meaning to the Aboriginal people, and suggested that the provision
of a regular supply of more practical items, such as hunting equipment, knives, fish hooks and tobacco, would be
of more value to Kancubina and his wife. The sum of 12 Shillings and six Pence, sent by a Mr S Lane, who had
received that amount from a London periodical Passing Show for an article he had written about the event, was
also used to buy provisions for Kancubina and his wife.
Australian Archives, Northern Territory Office, F1 37/580.
EVE GIBSON, Vol 2.
KEKWICK, WILLIAM DARTON (1822–1872), explorer, second-in-command to John McDouall Stuart,
travelled with him on four of his journeys in South Australia, Central Australia and to the north coast.
Kekwick was born in East Ham, County of Essex, in 1822, of a Quaker family. His brother, Daniel, was born
in November 1818. They were educated at Ackworth School, a Quaker institution in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
The family came out to South Australia in Warrior in 1840. He tried business in Burra, and then went to the
Victorian gold diggings. His brother Daniel later introduced him to the pastoralist James Chambers and he was
appointed second-in-command under John McDouall Stuart in a series of pastoral journeys to the north of South
Australia, the first being in 1859.
In his second journey under Stuart, the exploration moved north of the 26th parallel for the first time into
Central Australia, on 3 April 1860. Stuart named Mount Beddome after Magistrate Samuel Beddome who had
married Kekwick’s sister. A further hill nearby he named Mount Daniel after Kekwick’s brother. They all reached
Central Mount Stuart (called Sturt originally by the explorer) on 21 April 1860. Daniel Kekwick’s next son (1862)
was called William Mountstuart Kekwick, obviously commemorating the fact that his brother had been with Stuart
in 1860 when they reached the centre of Australia. A little later, in naming Kekwick Ponds, south of Attack Creek,
Stuart remembered his second-in-command.
William Kekwick was with Stuart in South Australia on his third journey and again with him on his fourth,
fifth and sixth journeys—the last one in 1862, when they reached the north coast. On his way up the coast on
9 and 10 July, Stuart rested at a spring and blazed trees there, marking them with ‘JMDS’. He named the springs
Kekwick Springs to honour the man who had given him loyal support over the three overland journeys. Kekwick
had, in the words of Mona Webster, ‘exerted a fine influence over the young men in Stuart’s party and helped
to smooth over many difficulties when Stuart’s strict discipline came into conflict with youthful high spirits and
dislike of restraint. Kekwick’s ability to take his leader’s place when Stuart was absent from the main party or too
ill to grapple with the difficulties confronting them contributed much to the ultimate success of the expeditions.’
Kekwick left Stuart in 1863 in Adelaide and as Mona Webster relates, ‘lived for some years in Port MacDonnell
where he married in 1864. In 1871, he returned to Adelaide expecting to obtain employment on the construction of
the Overland Telegraph Line but was unsuccessful. He then turned again to mining, at Echunga. Shortly after he
went there an expedition under the command of W C Gosse was organised by the South Australian Government