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remained with Plowman on this patrol until the last week. Plowman began this patrol on 27 April and arrived back
at Oodnadatta on 14 September ‘both self and camels very tired.’
They had travelled via Hamilton Bore and Federal Station, Blood’s Creek Store, Mount Dare Station, Charlotte
Waters, New Crown Station, Old Crown Store, Horseshoe Bend, Alice Well Police Station, Maryvale Station,
Mount Burrell Station, Henbury Station and Erldunda Station, then backtracked to Alice Springs via the Hugh
River, Old Owen Springs Station and Heavitree Gap to the small township of Alice Springs (still known officially
as Stuart). The patrol then continued to Arltunga and north, visiting the stations along the Overland Telegraph Line
to the Tennant Creek Telegraph Station.
On his 1915 patrol, he extended his northern boundary with the inclusion of Hatches Creek wolfram miners
and his western with the inclusion of Hermannsburg, Tempe Downs, Umbeara and Tieyon, the 1915 limits of white
settlement.
Plowman’s diary demonstrates how he interpreted his role and set a pattern he developed with increasing
sensitivity. He arrived in Alice Springs on Monday 15 June 1914 on his first northern visit and immediately ‘visited
all the folk’ including Bond Springs and the Telegraph Station. On the Wednesday evening, he ‘put on a Magic
Lantern picture show in the Old Store’ and at a Saturday picnic at Heavitree Gap, he gave the children camel rides.
On Sunday 21 May, he conducted the first church service ever held in the township.
It was in Sandy Myrtle’s Glencoe Hotel on Sunday 28 June that he conducted the first church service ever held
in Arltunga. An elderly character, Arthur Evans, who confessed that it was 40 years since he had been to church,
produced an ancient phonograph with some cylindrical records of hymns. The first, ‘Son of my Soul’, scratched
and crackled its way through with dubious aid to the singing, but the second, which turned out to be ‘Flannigan’s
Wedding’, was greeted with ‘a roar of laughter which shook the room’.
It was also Sandy Myrtle who, when questioned about the yellow powder on the goat meat, said: ‘Insectibane!
Holy Smoke! That’s for killing flies. That’s why I put it on. It keeps the flies off.’ The following week, at their
cottage at the Arltunga Police Camp, Plowman baptised Mr and Mrs Ben Webb’s three boys, aged four, two and
six weeks. The eldest boy was born at Oodnadatta and the other two with the help of an Aboriginal ‘midwife’.
After the birth of the eldest boy, Mrs Webb did not see another white woman for three years! Her three boys lived
to make a notable contribution to the Centralian cattle industry.
Plowman was aware of Sandy Myrtle’s complex character as a vindictive yet generous man—when it suited
him. His real name was MacDonald, a member of the notorious ‘Ragged 13’ gang and a self confessed cattle
duffer and horse thief whose ‘Glencoe Pub’ came under the scrutiny of the authorities from time to time. It was
to Plowman’s credit that knowing this he had a remarkable capacity to accept each man as he found him and win
mutual respect. He recognised the hard life that shaped each man’s character and by his acceptance drew a response
from many to their better nature, seen in an unpretentious diary entry on his return to Alice Springs: ‘Tuesday 18th.
August. Went to Alice Springs. Also found that “Texas” [Jim Carter] had a fall from camel fortnight previously
& was still very bad. Went and camped with him in old kitchen “Myrtle Villa”. Suffering from shock, broken arm
& drink, but made courageous rally, gave up the drink and pulled himself together. End of Alice Springs Tennant
Creek trip. 680 miles, 5 weeks, 25 men met. Saturday 22nd. Still attending Texas. Monday 24th. Spent most of
time with Texas who was making good recovery.’ His deepest compassion was with the few, and often lonely
women, who like Mrs Webb, Mrs Bloomfield and Mrs Edward Hayes, found new hope and comfort in his visits.
Plowman’s unpublished handwritten diary is not only a day to day account of his journeys but records the
names of every white man and the few white women who lived between Oodnadatta and Tennant Creek Telegraph
Station in the years 1914 to 1917. He was a layman who conducted a simple ‘church’ service when asked, as he
did with baptisms, marriages and funerals. He taught children and some adults how to write and read and answered
letters. He could give ‘first aid’ and ‘doctor’ a sick or saddle sore camel, tune a piano, cut hair, mend harness and
soon learned how to be useful in the cattle muster and camp: ‘Wed. 5th May, [1915] Dinnertime Well. Made up
Taylor’s accounts for Income Tax purpose, hard job. Married John Hamilton Reid, 34 yrs to Zoe Ross, 21. Wedding
took place under bough shed.’ Though serious by nature, his sense of humour is evidenced by the relish with which
he recounted his experience when conducting the first church service ever held at Arltunga.
Plowman’s longest patrol lasted six months. His permanent ‘camel boy’, selected on the recommendation of
Mrs Ida Standley, was Dick Gillen, a part Aboriginal lad whom he claimed ‘was the best friend a man ever had.’
Again and again, ‘my tender footed Kabool’ or ‘Ameer’ became footsore, and he and Dick took turns at walking
long distances. During his four years at Oodnadatta, he pushed himself relentlessly. He sought out every battler
trying to make a living on the utmost fringes of settlement. Though entitled to annual leave, he remained on his
patrol for two years without a break in 1915 and 1916.
Several of his diary entries in 1917 indicate the strain resulting from the long years on patrol with little rest and
no medical or dental attention: ‘August 1st. [Hatches Creek] Intended leaving, but not well decided to rest for few
days. 4th to 6th. resting & visiting. Was appointed by Hatches Creek miners special representative to visit Minister
for Home Affairs to put before him claims and needs of the wolfram miners. Also given a letter of authority to
Minister signed by all the men. Agreed to do so. Tuesday 7th. Got up before daylight and away before sunrise.’
Plowman finally broke down at Bonney Well. His diary ended there with these last scribbled entries, and a
footnote added later at Oodnadatta: ‘Saturday 11th. [August]. Left [Tennant Creek] after breakfast. Dick riding
Ameer sulky and gave lot trouble. Reached Kelly Well sundown water unfit use full of birds. 30 miles. Saturday
12th. Rough day threatening storms. Pushed on to Bonney Well & camped about 2 miles up Bonnnie [sic] Ck. from
well. Rigged fly no rain. 35 miles. Unable to finish diary owing to getting nervous breakdown, accompanied by
insomnia. Rev. Kingsley Patridge came North to Blood’s Creek and we travelled back to Oodnadatta together.’