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Western Australia and beyond, as possibly no other white man did. As a result of his travels the Aborigines knew
him too, and although he had little to do with them, they had a general respect for him. On the fringe of the cattle
country, with Aboriginal cattle-spearers at work, Brown was more appreciative than the station owners; on one
occasion he acted the role of one of the cows while the boys practised with their toy spears.
In January 1926 Brown was at Tanami, far to the northwest of Alice Springs, with 19-year-old Ben Nicker as
his offsider. They had travelled all day before making camp. After a couple of hours sleep Brown awoke Ben with
the intention of getting an early start. Ben demurred so Brown, without any ill feeling, gave Ben a bit of tucker
and they parted company. Anyone travelling with Brown had to be ready to start at Joe Brown daylight’, so only a
handful of people ever travelled with him more than once. In Ben Nicker’s case it was fortunate that he was already
a superb bushman, for he managed the return journey where others would have perished.
By the mid-1920s age was catching up with Brown. He had a deformed hand for many years, the result of an
accident when loading packsaddles, and on cold mornings had a hard time with arthritis. However, he still seemed
to be indestructible.
From 1926–1928, he lived some 450 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs, searching for Jimmy Wickham’s
lost gold reef; Wickham, an old stockman, cattle-duffer and prospector, claimed to have made a rich find in the
1924–25 period. By 1928 he had handed Brown all his notes in the hope that his old bush mate could relocate it.
Alex Wilson accompanied Brown and the two men thought that they were very close to the site. Brown became
ill and Alex cared for him for a while, and then rode for help. He arrived back in time to hear Brown’s last words.
He helped him from his camel as he died, then he buried him near Mount Hardy.
Thus did Joe Brown, ‘the greatest bushman of this century in the North’, die. He was a rogue in hard country,
who gave the police a hard time, yet he was respected in the bush. A contemporary wrote, ‘No man is more highly
spoken of for his bushmanship than Joe Brown.’
G Buchanan, Packhorse and Waterhole, 1933; L C E Gee, General Report on Tanami Gold field and District, 1911; R G Kimber, Man from
Arltunga, 1986; M Terry, Hidden Wealth and Hiding People, nd; M Terry, Sand and Sun, 1937; M Terry, War of the Warramullas, 1974;
K Willey, Boss Drover, 1971; W H Willshire, The Land of the Dawning, 1896; R G Kimber, Unpublished Journals.
R G KIMBER, Vol 1.
BROWN, JOHN ALEXANDER VOULES (1852–1945), miner, carter, town clerk, district clerk, publican,
merchant and Member of Parliament, was born on 8 January 1852 at Brighton, South Australia, tenth child of
William Voules Brown and his wife Harriet, nee Perkins. His father was a publican, farmer and cemetery manager
at Brighton. His parents arrived in South Australia in the Coromandel in 1836. He grew up at Brighton, attended
Mr Jemson’s local school and was brought up as a low church Anglican. When aged about 10 he ran away from
home after an argument with his father. After reconciliation, his father apprenticed him to a watchmaker, but
Brown did not like this and went to work on his brothers’ farms at Green’s Plains and St Mary’s.
In 1873 he went to the Northern Territory to try his luck at the goldfields. He worked as a miner, then carted
machinery, stores and men to the mines at the Shackle, Pine Creek and Union. He also helped to build bridges.
About 1876 he returned to Brighton, carted stone and worked on his father’s farm. He married Eleanor, nee Johnson,
on 23 May 1878 at St Peter’s, Glenelg. In 1879 he was appointed Town Clerk of Brighton and held this post until
October 1882, when he returned to Palmerston to supervise the building of Fannie Bay Gaol, of which his brother
Victor was the contractor.
In May 1883 he was appointed District Clerk of Palmerston and held this post until September 1885. He was
licensee of the Exchange Hotel 1883–84 and in November 1883 joined the newly formed Northern Territory Reform
Association. In September 1885 he went to Derby to establish a branch store for Adcock Brothers, merchants,
commission and shipping agents, to serve the miners going to the Kimberley goldfields. On the way to Derby,
he and his brother Victor delivered stores for the Duracks at Cambridge Gulf. William E Adcock treated Brown
unfairly so he resigned from Adcock Brothers and returned to Brighton.
In September 1887 he left his family at Brighton, returned to Palmerston and became a partner with his brother
Victor and Herbert Adcock in Port Darwin Mercantile and Agency Company, importers, custom house, shipping
and general commission agents, using the building now known as ‘Brown’s Mart’. He was appointed a member
of the Local Board of Health and became licensee of the Exchange Hotel again. In December 1887 he led the
search party that found his brother Victor and T H Harwood, who were lost for seven days near Bynoe Harbour.
He was Palmerston district clerk from 1888 to 1894 and held a number of mineral leases (in the Hundred of Milne,
Daly River area, east of Pine Creek, near the Mary River and near the Cosmopolitan Mine). He was a committee
member and starter of the Northern Territory Racing Club 1883–94, also an office bearer of the Palmerston Cricket
and Athletics Clubs. In 1894 he ended his partnership in Port Darwin Mercantile and Agency Company, resigned
as District Clerk and left the Territory.
After spending a few months with his family in Adelaide, he went to the East Murchison goldfields in Western
Australia, first at Cue, then at Lawlers where he ran a general store and built the Lawlers Hotel. About 1898 he sold
out at Lawlers and went to Wiluna, where he built the Golden Age Hotel and some other buildings, was agent for
Cobb and Co and was also involved in some mining ventures. In 1904 he retired to his 16-hectare orchard property
at Brighton, South Australia, and was manager of St Jude’s Cemetery, Brighton, until 1923.
In 1910 he stood successfully as Independent Liberal candidate for one of the two seats in the South Australian
Parliament representing the Northern Territory. He was in favour of the transfer of the Northern Territory to the
Commonwealth and was strongly in favour of building the railway line from Oodnadatta to Pine Creek. He wanted
the building of the railway made a condition of the transfer of administration to the Commonwealth and said that