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It is difficult to gain an accurate picture of his work as a Judge. Only one of his formal judgments has survived,
as it was not his habit to deliver written judgments. There appear to have been very few appeals. The matters of
complaint raised against him before the Commission were largely unsubstantiated, or wrongly concluded against
him. Contemporaneous reports in the local press varied from being extremely critical to favourable. On one
occasion his summing up to a jury in a murder trial was reported in the Northern Territory Times and Gazette as
‘a model of lucidity’; on another his summing up was described as ‘eloquent’ and ‘clear’. His main difficulty was
the perception of lack of judicial independence generated by the fact that the terms of his appointment required
him to provide legal advice to the Administrator—a position which Bevan himself had protested—and his close
personal association and friendship with an ever increasingly unpopular and dictatorial Administrator whom he
publicly referred to as ‘the Chief’. He supported the abolition of trial by jury because of the difficulty in obtaining
true verdicts from Darwin juries—particularly in cases involving crimes by whites against Aborigines—and in
fact juries were abolished, except in capital and federal offences and except for a brief period between 1930–1933,
from 1921 to 1963.
Bevan appears as a man of medium height and build, balding, with piercing eyes, and a wry smile. He inherited
his father’s sense of humour, but lacked his qualities as a gifted raconteur. He had great affection for the Northern
Territory, and particularly admired the ‘battlers’ who braved the rigours of the outback. He was a man with a
social conscience; he recognised the true worth of Chinese and Aboriginal Territorians at a time when the former
were generally despised and the latter were considered to be the lowest form of human life. He had an interest
in mining ventures, and in fact owned two unsuccessful leases in the Territory during his period as a Judge.
He believed in patriotism, devotion to duty, and unswerving obedience to authority, that is the Administrator.
Generally unsympathetic to the claims of working men for better wages and conditions and to the constant strikes
on Darwin’s waterfront, at one time in 1913, he volunteered as a waterside worker to unload a strike-bound ship’s
essential supplies. He was hardworking, an active horseman, an active tennis player and physically fit. In 1917
he travelled from Pine Creek to Oodnadatta by horse and buggy—a remarkable feat bearing in mind the lack of
roads, lack of feed and water, the heat of the summer and the vast deserted areas to be traversed. Despite the rigours
of the journey he conducted a judicial inquiry into the alleged misconduct of a police sergeant at Alice Springs
immediately upon his arrival there just before Christmas 1917.
After his removal from office, he returned to Upper Beaconsfield, Victoria. He did not practice law again but
became an orchardist. On 24 May 1924 he married Doris Louise Reed, a daughter of the Surveyor General and
Secretary for Lands for Victoria. They had two children; David John Martin Bevan (born 7 January 1926) and
Doreen Louise Bevan (born 15 February 1928). Bevan led an active life in the Upper Beaconsfield community.
He was elected to the local Shire Council, and he was the mainstay of the small local Congregational church.
A keen Mason, he became Master of the Berwick Lodge, and served on numerous community committees. He died
at Upper Beaconsfield on 3 October 1954, and was buried at the Berwick Cemetery in the family grave.
F X Alcorta, Darwin Rebellion 1911–1919, 1984; Carey v The Commonwealth (1921–22) 30 Commonwealth Law Reports, 132; Commonwealth
Government Gazette, 13 November 1919; ‘Correspondence Relating to Report of Royal Commissioner’, Commonwealth Parliamentary
Papers, no 46 of 1920; P F Donovan, Alice Springs, 1988; Mr Justice Ewing, ‘Report on Northern Territory Administration’, Commonwealth
Parliamentary Papers, no 28 of 1920; Mrs D Godtschalk, family records; N Gunson, ‘L D and L J Bevan’, Australian Dictionary of Biography,
vol 7, 1979; D Lockwood, The Front Door, 1968; Northern Territory Times and Gazette, 1911–1920 (various); A Powell, ‘Gilruth v
Ewing: The Royal Commission on Northern Territory Administration, 1920’, Northern Perspective, vol 4, no 2, 1981; C J Swanson, ‘The
Maladministration of the Northern Territory’, (unpublished paper).
DEAN MILDREN, Vol 3.
BILLIAMOOK and UMBALLA, Aborigines, two Larakia men, were among the first Aboriginal people to
welcome Goyder and his survey team to Port Darwin in 1869. They became well-known identities in the early years
of Palmerston. As joking imitations of their real names, Billiamook and Umballa were nicknamed ‘Billy Muck’
and ‘Tom Powell’.
These two became widely travelled and well known in the southern states. D Daniel Daly, John McKinlay and
John Davis took them to Adelaide in 1870 in the ship Omeo, in order to impress them with ‘the number and power
of the white races’ and thus help them convince the local Aboriginal people to desist from hostilities. No one,
however, seems to have taken responsibility for them in Adelaide until an Adelaide citizen, Ellis Edwards, wrote
to the government, having seen them in Rundle Street, urging their return ‘simply on the grounds of humanity’.
On their return to Darwin, they caused considerable surprise by disembarking in the uniform of the Adelaide
Volunteers.
Billiamook was described by William Wildey as a ‘fine-made young man’ with ‘a muscular walk’, proudly
bearing the cicatrice scars of full manhood. He became a fluent speaker of English and was one of the first to
demonstrate a remarkable ability to adapt to European culture while maintaining his responsibilities as a Larakia.
There were those who thought he adapted too well to European culture and vices and he appeared several times
before the Darwin court for stealing liquor.
On a number of occasions letters in Pidgin English, signed ‘Billy Muck’, appeared in the Darwin newspaper
but whether dictated by him or even approved by him, it is no longer possible to tell. He continued for many years
to be a prominent and colourful, if controversial, person in early Darwin.
W B Wildey, Australasia and the Oceanic Region, 1876; Northern Territory Times and Gazette, 5 December 1973; Adelaide Register,
25 October 1870; SAA 790/100, 104/1870, September & October 1870.
JOHN HARRIS, Vol 1.