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a young missionary, Evans, was fatally wounded when he accidentally shot himself on his first excursion inland.
These events deeply impressed Mahony, though long letters to his fiancée, Kathleen O’Shea, expressed frustration
at the boredom of his assignment and concern over ill treatment of some Aborigines at the mission.
Ion Idriess wrote of these events in Man Tracks and Mahony acted as a consultant. Apparently, the two argued
when Mahony insisted on accuracy. Vic Hall wrote of the Arnhem patrol in Dreamtime Justice and Outback
Policeman. He wrote of Mahony, ‘How he loved the bush, this stocky Irish-Australian with the warm, green [sic]
eyes and the flaring temper. A good man in a jam, tender to horses, women and kids. Anybody in trouble could
have his last shilling.’
Kathleen O’Shea and Jack Mahony were married in Katherine on 10 October 1934. They had three daughters:
June born in 1936 and identical twins Denise and Deader in 1944. They were stationed at Mataranka, Roper River,
Alice Springs, Arltunga, Lake Nash and Anthony’s Lagoon. Mahony was responsible for inspection and mass
dipping of cattle, and duties as Protector of Aborigines, earning praise from the Native Affairs Department for
exceptional care in the latter role. He was involved in other dramatic episodes and cases, most notably during the
Roper River floods of 1940.
Mahony’s version of these floods has been published in Northern Territory Affairs. He drove his family to
safety in Katherine and then returned to take stores, horses, mules and goats to Telegraph Hill just before the river
came down with tremendous force. Using Roy Chisholm’s motorboat, Mahony and his trackers made several
trips to the camp, collecting fear-stricken Aborigines and government property, struggling against floodwaters
that carried them well downstream on each occasion before they could battle their way to the camp. Mahony
fed and cared for 27 Aborigines, moving the party and rations again, when rising waters reached them. Safe
on Gardargabul Hill, Mahony erected a shirt flag and named the camp Mount Ararat. For eight days, the party
survived, though Mahony was exhausted, nearly blind from infected eyes and suffering from a poisoned foot and
rheumatics after constant immersion in water and mud. Later he sought no praise for himself but argued for gifts
for his loyal Aborigines who, he considered, had saved many lives. The Aborigines received nothing and Mahony,
who had lost considerable personal property and had a new car ruined in the flood, was only partially compensated
by an unsympathetic administration. This proved a bitter blow.
In 1953, Mahony retired from the police force to become licensee of the Larrimah Hotel, built by Tim O’Shea.
He gained a reputation for his hospitality and humour. The hotel became known as the Vatican because Mass
was held there, though the ‘smoke signals’ to alert people to the mass were metaphoric and not fact, as has been
reported. In 1956, Mahony was active in petitioning the Administrator and Hasluck for the police station at
Larrimah and in 1958, he was appointed a Justice of the Peace.
Mahony’s final years were tragic. In 1957, he was shockingly injured when the petrol engine of a lighting
plant he was helping to repair exploded and he became a human torch from feet to waist. He spent many months
recovering in Katherine hospital, and whilst he joked that he was ‘too green to burn’ there was no humour in the
heart problems he suffered afterward and which led to his death on 27 February 1959. Father Henschke, who
had married Mahony, officiated at his burial at the Katherine cemetery and members of the police force travelled
hundreds of miles to act as pallbearers and guard of honour.
Jack Mahony had a great respect for Aborigines as reflected in ‘The First Citizen’ which was published in
Bank Notes, and his story of the survival of Cramulla after a bad mauling by a crocodile, which appeared in
Citation. A conscientious and outspoken man, he was disappointed that he was only a Senior Constable at the end
of his police service.
Those who admired his loyalty and courage, his refusal to admit defeat, and his ability to laugh at himself have
written of Mahony with great affection. He was known to challenge criticism of his cooking by the retort that
he had ‘cooked for Gandhi on his 40-day fast’. Mahony’s wife, Kathleen, considered him a wonderful husband
and father. There was something of a paradox about a man who could survive the rigours of early police work,
the Roper River flood and several thrashings as he carried out his police duties, and yet could write weekly with
charm to his small daughter, June, who had been evacuated during the war. The letters were delightfully illustrated
with sketches and little stories which have been kept by June Grant who also has many photographs and original
documents.
Kathleen Mahony presented a bell to St Joseph’s Church, Katherine, in memory of her husband.
S Downer, Patrol Indefinite, 1977; V Hall, Dreamtime Justice, 1962; V Hall, Outback Policeman, 1970; Bank Notes, September 1948; Citation,
June 1966, June 1967; NT Affairs, 1975 ; Northern Territory News, 3 March 1959; Mahony family papers, in possession of J Grant, Rossmoyne,
WA; J Mahony papers, NTA; K Mahony, oral history interviews by R Jamieson, NTA.
RONDA JAMIESON, Vol 1.‘MAJOR’MAJOR’ (c late 1880s–1908), Aboriginal outlaw, belonged to the Wageman language group of the Daly River
area. He was ‘picked up’ as a boy by the South Australian stockman Jack Kelly. According to one account, he was
brought to the east Kimberley from the Overland Telegraph Line. Another yarn tells how he came from Darwin
in the company of a Queensland Aboriginal woman named Rosie. By 1898, Kelly was working on Texas Downs
Station in the east Kimberley close to the Western Australian/Northern Territory border. Beyond this, little is
known of Major’s familial background with certainty. In the oral record, it was said that Aborigines of the Djaru
and Gidja languages raised him but he appears in later life to have maintained links also with the Wageman.
As a child, Major was mistreated by Kelly in a variety of ways. He was beaten, thrown early one morning into
a waterhole and hung from a tree overnight in a sack. As he grew older and stronger, he began to stand his ground
and it was Kelly who occasionally received a beating. At the same time, Major became relatively sophisticated in