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Postmaster, coroner (by virtue of being a Justice of the Peace) and President of the McArthur River Institute, which
operated the famous Carnegie Library.
He was also, of course, the judge at the annual Borroloola races. According to author Bill Harney, ‘the front
verandah of the hotel was the grandstand, and a line from the bar door to a verandah post was the time-honoured
sight for the finishing post. Each race was always judged by ‘The Lawyer’ who conveniently stood at the bar to
judge the races’. In a number of Harney’s books, Havey is referred to as ‘The Lawyer’.
In 1919 he bought the cutter Avis from Captain McLennan of Thursday Island for 120 Pounds. He used it for
delivering freight, transporting gear to his various businesses and hiring out to others, until it was stolen from the
wharf in Darwin by two fugitives who wrecked it on the coast of Bathurst Island.
A close association with Aboriginal people was a major feature of Havey’s years in the outback. Back at
Cooper Creek there were a number of important Aboriginal sites on Kanowana and a permanent camp of about
40 Dieri people, some of whom worked for him. Havey’s extensive business interests in the Borroloola district,
however, relied heavily on the many Aboriginal people who worked for him and with whom he developed a close
relationship. Tim Rakuwurlma, a Yanyuwa from Vanderlin Island, worked on and off for Havey for some 40 years
assisting him in various ways, including making him a dugout canoe and catching and salting dugong. Another
long time employee was Old Pluto, Havey’s head stockman, who also supervised the unloading of the supply boat
from Darwin, for which Havey was the agent. Although never legally married, Havey lived for many years with
Yama, a Yanyuwa woman, and was considered by her family to be a relative. They had no children.
Havey in turn was able to assist local Aboriginal people. A number of them remember Havey fondly for his
kindness. And as a Justice of the Peace he would have been in a position to assist Aboriginal people in legal
matters, both formally and otherwise. If someone fell foul of the law, the first advice from friends would be ‘see
Charley Havey’, who might have a quiet word with the local policeman.
Despite living so far from Adelaide, Havey occasionally travelled there to visit relatives and attend the races.
He went down in 1923 to see his brother Frank who was dying of cancer, and stayed for the funeral. His visits,
however, were not welcomed by all of his Adelaide relatives. On one occasion when it was learnt that Charley
was travelling by train from Alice Springs with his swag, the wife of one of his nephews complained that Charley
would no doubt take her husband out on the town and bring him home the worse for wear.
Havey disposed of the last of his grazing interests in 1943 due to ill health. In the late 1940s he eventually
accepted a long-standing offer from Albert Morcom, licensee of the Newcastle Waters hotel, to buy his store.
A young soldier stationed at Borroloola in 1942 later recalled being fascinated by the collection of old items in
Havey’s store. He remembers Havey as ‘a quiet, good-mannered man’.
Early in 1950 Havey became seriously ill. He was taken across the McArthur River to the town in a dugout
canoe by a large number of his Aboriginal friends, for evacuation to Tennant Creek hospital by the mail plane.
The farewell by the Aborigines was an emotional one and Havey too was visibly upset. He knew he would never
return to the people he had lived with for almost 50 years. Some, however, travelled by truck to Tennant Creek,
a distance of 700 kilometres by rough track, to be with him at the end. He died in Tennant Creek hospital a week
later, on 12 February, and was buried in the Tennant Creek cemetery in an unmarked grave.
The obituary in the Northern Standard observed that ‘he was known by all hands from the Administrator down
and was liked and respected by all who knew him’. In a letter to relatives in Adelaide, the Acting Superintendent
of Police in Darwin described him as ‘a very highly respected man’, who ‘lived a hard, lonely life at Borroloola—
but was content with his lot’.
When news of his death reached Borroloola the Aborigines marked it with ‘sorry business’—wailing and the
cutting of heads. The old timers declared they had never known the Aborigines to wail for a white man before.
RM Baker, ‘Land is Life’, PhD Thesis, University of Adelaide, 1989; Australian Archives, Australian Capital Territory, CRS E332; Australian
Archives, Northern Territory, CRS F275 vols 3 & 4; WE Harney, Content to Lie In The Sun, 1958; Northern Standard, 17 February 1950;
Northern Territory Times and Gazette, 21 July 1923, 28 July 1923, 5 September 1924; South Australian Parliamentary Papers, 77/1899; State
Records of South Australia, GRG 384/1887; H M Tolcher, Drought or Deluge: Man in the Cooper Creek Region, 1986; personal communication
M Harvey, S Johnston, E W Morey, J R Twyford.
TONY ROBERTS, Vol 3.
HAWKS, CEDRIC JAMES (SID) (1907– ), seafarer, storekeeper and adventurer, was born at Belfast, Ireland,
on 13 April 1907, the first of three sons to Norwegian/Irish James Thomas Hawks and his English wife Amy,
nee Durden. Prior to his marriage, Hawks’ father had been with the Gloucestershire regiment and then aide-de-camp
to a governor in China. His father returned to England in 1906 to be married and commence duties with the
diplomatic service. Hawks’ childhood was mostly spent in Malta and China before returning to England in 1915.
Hawks commenced training as a cadet at the Portsmouth Naval College but was ‘sent-down’. At age 15 he was
apprenticed for six years to Harland & Wolff, Shipbuilders and Engineers, Queen’s Island, Belfast. Although
his uncle was in charge of the draughting office, Hawks’ preference for marine engineering was accommodated.
Hawks found that in that environment ‘with the name Cedric you got yourself into a bit of trouble’ and on his
uncle’s advice switched his name to Sid.
At age 22 he signed on as a ship’s engineer with the Aberdeen and Commonwealth Line, which had passenger
and cargo vessels calling at Australian ports. Hawks became ‘a bit enamoured with a girl in Sydney’ in late 1938.
He left the Line and obtained employment with Tulloch’s Steelworks as a leading hand/turner. The love affair
did not last but an alternative commenced as Hawks’ weekly pay of nine Pounds 10 Shillings was sufficient
to commence twice-weekly flying lessons at the Kingsford Flying School, Mascot. With the outbreak of war,