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MILNER, RALPH (?–?), pastoralist, came from Kopperamanna Station in South Australia. His wife Phoebe
died in the mid 1860s whilst they were enduring a drought somewhere near Cooper’s Creek. In September 1870
Ralph Milner, accompanied by his brother John set off for the Northern Territory hoping to claim a reward from
the South Australian government for taking the first sheep overland to the Territory.
The party consisted of Ralph and John Milner, Kirk, Thompson, Lamb, Pybus, Wooding, Brown, Ashwin, and
two Aborigines. They took with them one wagon, two bullock drays, two carts, 12 months’ provisions, materials
for 50 packhorses, 300 horses, 7 000 sheep and 25 dogs (10 sheep dogs and 15 stag hounds). Each man was
to be paid 25 Shillings a day plus a share of half the reward promised by the South Australian government.
This indicates that Milner was a generous man. The reward was never paid and may even have been more a rumour
than a promise. The expense required for such a journey indicates that the Milner family were relatively wealthy.
The party kept to the Overland Telegraph Line as far as it went and then relied on John McDouall Stuart’s journal
for the rest of the journey. Ashwin records that Stuart’s journal proved fairly accurate.
Their journey was not without adventure and tragedy. On their way north they encountered the Finke River
after 130 kilometres without water. The Finke was dry when the party arrived. However, due to rain upstream the
riverbed was covered with more than 2 metres of water and was 400 metres wide the next day. Milner decided to
swim the river after it did not subside. The sheep were washed downstream and many were lost in the quicksand.
At Alice Springs the party made camp with the surveyor Mills. Disaster lay ahead at Wauchope Creek. The sheep
ate the poisonous native Gastrolobium plant and approximately two thousand of them died by morning.
If this was not enough, there was another, more grave, tragedy awaiting the party at Attack Creek further north.
Ralph Milner and some of the party went ahead after the camp was established to explore, while John Milner stayed
behind to mind the sheep and camp. A tall strong-looking Aborigine was invited into the camp by John, over the
protests of Brown and Thompson. Ashwin later recalled that with no provocation by John, the Aborigine clubbed
him on the head. John died as assistance came. Ashwin recorded that the camp was a miserable place for a week or
so as Milner took the death of his brother hard. John was buried and a carpenter later erected a gravestone.
Later at a camp at Powell’s Creek the dogs were let loose on the Aborigines and they killed one more whom
Milner believed to have been following the party. Wet season camp was established at Red Lily Lagoon near the
Roper River. The party, joined by Knuckey, lived on cold water and meat. Stores from the Post Master General’s
Store at the Roper River landing supplemented this. Christmas 1871 was spent at the Red Lily camp. In February
1872, some of the sheep were sold to Patterson of the Overland Telegraph party to feed the workers who had
been living on tinned beef and water. The sheep were delivered to them at Bitter Springs. At this time, that Milner
suffered a bout of rheumatism. He had previously suffered from rheumatic fever throughout his life.
In March of 1872, Milner arrived in Port Darwin with a broken arm. He was treated by the Acting Government
Resident, Dr J S Millner, who also happened to be the medical officer. Milner applied for a pastoral lease of
1 500 square kilometres on Cox Peninsula but was defeated by an appeal by a ‘Government House man’, and
Mr Cue. Milner was described as a fair man. He offered support to Ashwin and others of his party who wished to
pursue new opportunities in the north such as gold prospecting.
Milner’s expedition proved that there was a stock route for either cattle or ship through Central Australia.
The poor condition of the sheep and the poison grass episode were valuable lessons for future pastoralists in the
north, emphasising the harshness of the northern environment.
It is believed that Milner later went to New Zealand and died a much more prosperous man.
E Hill, The Territory, 1951; A Powell, Far Country, 1982; Australian Encyclopedia, vol 6, 1976; A C Ashwin, ‘Recollections of Ralph Milner’s
Expeditions from Kopperamanna to the Northern Territory with sheep and horses in 1870–1871 with an account of his subsequent experiences
in the Northern Territory’; Proceedings of the RGSA, SA vol 5, pr 32.
HELEN FAVELLE, Vol 1.
MILNER, THOMAS (TOM) (1916–1985), sailor, master mariner and marine surveyor, was born on 13 July 1916,
one of two sons of Herbert Edmund Milner and Frances Ridgway, nee Morcombe. Tom was born in Adelaide but
his father developed tuberculosis and a drier climate was recommended. About 1919, when he was about three,
the family moved to Waikerie on the Murray River where they developed an orchard. Tom was later to recount
how fascinated he was by the Italian migrants who settled in the area, by their self-sufficiency and their customs.
He tells of seeing grapes trodden in the traditional way and of hearing opera on the night air.
He attended the Waikerie primary school and decided to join the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). He sat the
entrance examination in 1929 and was one of 12 ‘boy entrants’ to be accepted that year and the only one from
South Australia. His initial training was at HMAS Flinders (a shore station) at Westernport, Victoria where
as a cadet he was ‘bullied in the traditional way’. He was promoted Midshipman in May 1934 and began his
sea service in HMAS Canberra and HMAS Australia. He was then posted to the United Kingdom for further
training. In 1936 when playing rugby in a Service match at Alexandria in Egypt, he was kicked in the right temple.
He continued to play but later collapsed and a brain haemorrhage was diagnosed. He recovered sufficiently to
return to HMAS Flinders. He was posted back to the Gunnery School at Greenwich in London where he got
mumps. He was invalided out of the RAN, 15 per cent permanently unfit, in 1939.
He was refused entry to the RAN when war broke out and in 1940, he joined the mercantile marine and sailed
as an Able Seaman on Trinder Anderson-Manz line’s Tricura. Although there were initial doubts from the Director
of Marine that his naval time counted towards the sea-time required for his Second Mate’s certificate he was asked
to sit for the examination in Sydney. The chief examiner encouraged him but until the doubt had been resolved
Tom did not know whether to ‘swot or have a good time’ as he was then courting the girl who became his wife.