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Brown gave evidence to the 1901 Dashwood inquiry into the pearling and trepanging industry and in 1903 was
appointed Assistant Health Officer, Bowen Strait. He sailed fairly frequently to Palmerston with loads of trepang,
buffalo hides, timber, pearl shell, tortoise shell, emu and turtle eggs and sometimes oysters, which were collected
by local Aborigines and some of the few white men living on the Cobourg Peninsula, including R J ‘Joe’ Cooper
and Jim Campbell (Ernest Clair Muir). In the early 1900s he had several pastoral leases, including land on the
Cobourg Peninsula, Croker Island and near Tor Rock, north east of the East Alligator River.
In July 1906 the South Australian government decided to terminate the Macassan trepang industry and Brown’s
post as customs officer ended. He continued to gather trepang and to trade in the area, using camps at Bowen
Strait, Port Essington and Blue Mud Bay near Cape Don. About 1909 he married Mumulaj, an Iwaidja Aborigine,
at Port Essington according to the customs of the Iwaidja people and she remained his partner until she died.
His business ventures included breeding goats, selling wild pigs from Croker Island, and selling timber.
He inherited his grandfather W V Brown’s Thatched House Tavern at Brighton, South Australia, but in 1920 gave
up his interest in it in controversial circumstances. As well as his regular trips to Darwin to sell produce and collect
stores, he travelled to Adelaide every few years to see his family and friends. His half-brother Jack Roy Brown
worked with him in the early 1900s and in 1928 George Sunter was his partner for a short time. In later life
he suffered badly from cataracts and had operations at Sydney Eye Hospital, then returned to the Cobourg
Peninsula.
Brown was near Cape Don when the Japanese bombed Darwin in February 1942. He and some of his family
travelled in a dugout canoe to Cape Don, then were taken to Darwin by ship and evacuated south to Alice Springs.
Later in 1942 he left his family in Alice Springs and went to Adelaide, where he lived until his death. He died on
21 July 1955 at Eventide Home, Linden Park and was buried in the Brown family section of St Jude’s Cemetery,
Brighton. His known children were two daughters, who survived him.
Brown was of medium height, slim, compactly built, always very trim and neat and was nearly blind when
he died. He had a kind and paternalistic attitude to Aborigines and was respected by them. He believed white
men should keep up their own way of life and standards but was not in favour of the activities of many of the
missionaries who came to Arnhem Land. Like many of his fellow white trepangers, he led an unconventional
and interesting life, often hundreds of kilometres away from his nearest white neighbour. Many stories have been
told and published about him, some of which are exaggerated or untrue. There are photographs of him in the
W V Brown family papers and in J Rich’s Gum Leaf and Cow Hide.
W E Harney, Brimming Billabongs, 1947; E Hill, The Territory, 1951; J Rich, Gum Leaf and Cow Hide, 1986; G Sunter, Adventures of a
Trepang Fisher, 1937; ‘Out among the people’, Adelaide Advertiser, 15 October 1942; C J Dashwood, Report on the pearl shelling industry in
Port Darwin and the Northern Territory, (CPP 1901NN1902); Research material held by author.
JENNY RICH, Vol 1.
BROWN, CAROLINE: see CLELAND, CAROLINE
BROWN, EMANUEL (MAN) VICTOR VOULES (1866–1950), station master, agent and auctioneer, was
born on 2 September 1866 at St Mary’s, South Australia, second child of Victor Voules Brown and his first wife
Julia, nee Solomon. His father was a farmer and publican, and later agent and auctioneer in Palmerston, Northern
Territory. He grew up at St Mary’s and Brighton and went briefly to Pulteney Grammar School in Adelaide, then in
1879 went to Palmerston with his family. After his mother died in 1881 he and his brothers and sisters were sent to
Adelaide to be educated. He attended Thomas Caterer’s Norwood Commercial College, then in 1885 returned to
the Territory and went to Burrundie, where he became storekeeper, postmaster and licensee of the Pioneer Hotel.
In 1889 he became a porter with the Palmerston and Pine Creek Railway and received various promotions until he
was appointed Palmerston stationmaster in 1896, holding this post until April 1910.
When Brown’s father died in 1910, he took over his father’s auctioneer and agency business in Smith Street,
usually referred to as ‘Brown’s Mart’, and was appointed agent for Eastern and Australian Steam Ship Company
and Ocean Accident and Guarantee Corporation Ltd. He was also appointed Clerk of Palmerston District Council
in his father’s place. In 1912 he resigned as Clerk and was elected councillor, holding this position until 1915,
then again in the 1920s, finally leaving the Council in June 1930. He lived in Brisbane for a few years about 1920,
but by 1925 had returned to Darwin, where he lived until 1940. He advertised in 1925 as shipping, mining, land
and general commission agent, prepared to undertake stock and station business, reports on mines, land agency,
indents and forwarding, rent collection and the buying and selling of mining shares on commission. He later
became agent for Willys Cars. In 1940 he bought a house at Glenelg, South Australia, for his retirement. He was in
Adelaide when Darwin was bombed in 1942 and never returned to the Territory. The Commonwealth government
in 1946 compulsorily acquired Brown’s Mart and he received 7 000 Pounds in compensation.
Brown was very optimistic about the future of the Territory, particularly its mineral and pastoral possibilities.
He said in 1913: ‘Give us people and we will be the greatest centre in Australia. We will be the front door.’
He believed mining would be the Territory’s salvation, but saw scarcity of labour, capital and reasonable means of
transport as the main problems. Some of the mining ventures with which he was involved were Foot Gold Mining
Company No Liability, Coronet Hill Syndicate (silver and lead mines), Northern Territory Mining and Smelting
Company Ltd and New Zapopan Gold Mining Company. He inherited a share in some land at Rum Jungle on
which uranium was found in 1949 and which the Commonwealth compulsorily acquired, but he died before the
Commonwealth agreed on compensation to the owners. Another of his main interests was speculating in land
and there are 41 sections of land listed in his name at the Northern Territory Land Titles Office, including a