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over a vast area. In the 1880s, especially, there seemed to a rosy future in many development schemes and Searcy
was always an optimist.
In 1890, his wife and family returned to Adelaide for health reasons, but Searcy was unable to find a suitable
position until 1896 when he succeeded his brother, Arthur, as Clerk Assistant and Sergeant-at-Arms in the South
Australian House of Assembly. In 1918, he became Clerk of the House and in 1920 Clerk of the Parliaments. These
positions were well suited to his talents for capable administration and friendly dealing with his fellows.
Searcy’s first book, In Northern Seas (1905), is a collection of newspaper articles about his period in the
Northern Territory. When this was well received, he reworked and extended the material as In Australian Tropics
(1907). The original manuscript includes printed extracts from his newspaper articles, and his original customs
reports bear the marks of his editing for inclusion in the book. Despite these diverse origins, this is Searcy’s best
book: it is held together by his vigorous style and enthusiasm, tinged with nostalgia for the north. He stressed the
tropical nature of the area and looked to its development with non-European labour, preferably Chinese. Two later
editions of the book appeared in 1909. Searcy’s last book, By Flood and Field (1912), is a less successful, fictional
version of the same material. Despite his interest in promoting the Territory, which he saw as a form of government
service, his vivid prose and narrative skill give all the books considerable literary and historical value.
In 1876, Searcy married Jane Annette Rainsford, daughter of Joseph Rainsford, an early South Australian
settler. They had four sons and three daughters. He died on 1 October 1925 in Adelaide.
Adelaide Register, 27 February 1923, 2 October 1925; H T Burgess, The Cyclopaedia of South Australia, 1907; C C Macknight, The Voyage
to Marege, 1976.
CAMPBELL MACKNIGHT, Vol 1.SECRETARY, BOBBY also KOOLAMURINEE (1929–1984), Aboriginal land rights leader, was born in
Darwin in 1929, a member of the Larrakia people, which had lived in the Darwin area for thousands of years.
His Larrakia name was Koolamurinee. His wife’s name was Bessie Murine. In the 1960s there was a rising tide of
Aboriginal demands for the right to live on traditional lands. Secretary, who like many Larrakia disliked living on
the inland reserves allocated by the white administration at Bagot and Berrimah, lived on a section close to the sea
in Coconut Grove. Larrakias were salt-water people and the crocodile was their token.
In 1970, Secretary was visited by Bill Day, a white journalist. When Day asked if the land belonged to Secretary,
the latter replied that it did. But the Larrakia had no official right to the land. Secretary decided that the only way
in which the Larrakia people could secure its right to live on land close to the sea was to make a land claim for
the area on which he lived, known to the Larrakia as Kulaluk, which stretched along the seaward side of Coconut
Grove. A major problem, however, was that the Larrakia were scattered throughout camps on the outskirts of
Darwin. Another factor was that it was not only the Larrakia Aborigines who were landless. Groups such as
the Woolner, Wiget and Brinkins were also willing to fight for land on which Aborigines could live without
interference. At Secretary’s suggestion the name ‘Gwalwa Daraniki’ was adopted for the organisation that would
fight for the right to own Kulaluk. Translated from the Larrakia language, the name meant ‘Our Land’.
The first land claim for Kulaluk was made on 21 May 1971. The white establishment, though, proved
unwilling to discuss any possibility of the Larrakia owning such a valuable piece of foreshore. On 4 October 1971,
those involved in the land claim held a ‘sit in’ on Bagot Road to publicise the land rights issue. A petition was
sent to the Northern Territory News outlining the justice of the Aboriginal claim. With no response from senior
government officials, apart from ‘talk’, the agitation continued. On 7 November the Larrakia flag was raised on
the pole outside the Supreme Court in Darwin. If it was good enough for Captain Cook to raise a flag to claim all
of Australia, then raising an Aboriginal flag was seen as good enough to claim back Darwin for the Aboriginal
people. There were also protests about the living conditions of Brinkin people at their camp and a further Bagot
Road ‘sit in’ was held on 22 November.
In January 1972 Johnny Fejo, a representative of the Gwalwa Daraniki Association, attended an Action
Conference on Racism and Education held in Brisbane. Fejo read a paper on the aims of the association and the
treatment of Aborigines in the Northern Territory. Met by the police on his return to Darwin, he was asked what he
had told the conference. ‘That we were treated like a pack of mongrel dogs’, was the reply. The actions of Secretary
and the Gwalwa Daraniki Association created divisions in Darwin society. Accusations of stirring up troubles were
common in letters to the press, and whites such as Bill Day who supported the Kulaluk land claim were labelled
as ‘militants’ and ‘southern trouble makers.’
Aboriginal Day on 14 July 1972 saw the biggest Aboriginal protest marches in Australian history up to that
time. In Darwin, the Gwalwa Daraniki Association and its supporters marched to Fort Hill, the site of the first
meeting between Larrakia Aborigines and Europeans in 1869. Crosses were erected to call attention to the deaths
of Aboriginal people since the coming of the white man. On 30 August Secretary led a march to the Iron Ore
Wharf to protest the loading of ore on to a Japanese ship. Secretary told the Japanese, ‘This is our land in your
ship. We have bugger all.’
Two Gwalwa Daraniki demonstrations, which made news in the national and international press, were the
‘passport protest’ and a petition to Princess Margaret. The ‘passport protest’ caused severe embarrassment to
local white officials. Secretary and his people met flights into Darwin and passengers handed forms asking them
to fill in an application to visit Gwalwa Daraniki, the Northern Territory. Embarrassment was also caused when
an attempt was made to present Princess Margaret, the sister of the Queen who was visiting Darwin, with a
petition signed by over a thousand people from throughout Australia. Despite efforts by the police, who locked