William Buckley (1780 - January 1, 1856), more commonly just Buckley was an Australian convict who escaped and became famous for living in an Aboriginal community for many years. His name is immortalised in the common Australian phrase Buckley's chance, which means "no chance at all".
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2 Transportation and escape 3 Life with the Watourong tribe 4 Pardon 5 Return to white society |
Buckley was born in either Marton or Tiverton in Cheshire, England, to Eliza Buckley, and brought up by his mother's parents in Macclesfield.
Buckley became an apprentice bricklayer. Not suited to this, he became a foot soldier in the King's Foot Regiment, but was soon transferred to the King's Own Regiment. In 1799, he went to Holland to fight against Napoleon, under the command of the Duke of York. Later, while in London, he was convicted of stealing cloth; which he maintained he was carrying for a woman and didn't know was stolen. He was subsequently sentenced to transportation to New South Wales for 14 years.
Descriptions of the adult Buckley vary. According to George Russell who met him near the Yarra River in 1836, Buckley stood 6' 4" tall (193 cm), but numerous other heights are reported, ranging from 6'3 to 6'7. According to Russell, Buckley "was a tall, ungainly man, about six feet four inches in height, and altogether his looks were not in his favour; he had a shaggy head of black hair, a low forehead with overhanging eyebrows nearly concealing his small eyes, a short snub nose, a face very much marked by smallpox, and was just such a man as one would suppose fit to commit burglary or murder"
This general description was echoed by other reports of the day, although not always as flattering: his mental condition often also coming into disrepute.
Buckley left England in April 1803, aboard the H.M.S. Calcutta; a ship that was destined to be one of two sent to Port Phillip Bay to form a new settlement under Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins. They arrived in October 1803, and anchored off the south-eastern side of the bay, near modern day Portsea. The new settlement soon ran into problems, and was about to be abandoned when, on 27 December 1803,Buckley and two other convicts cut loose a boat and made their escape (it is also reported that he and eighteen others attempted to escape by jumping overboard; one being shot dead and twelve captured). Buckley, along with his two companions, made his way around the bay, and in the vicinity of present day Melbourne, the party split up. His companions went north-east, hoping to reach Sydney, which they thought couldn’t be far (some 600 miles!), and Buckley, tired and dehydrated, continued alone around the bay.
During the next two months, Buckley encountered a number of Aboriginal families. Each time they treated him well, teaching him how to fish, collect local food and understand their language. Week after week, he moved on around the bay, eventually reaching its far eastern end and the vicinity of present day Geelong. Here, two women befriended him and invited him back to their camp. Hesitantly he followed them, but as luck would have it he had been mistaken for the returned spirit of a former chief, and was promptly adopted by the tribe and treated appropriately. For the next thirty-two years, he continued to live the part among the Watourong tribe.
Eventually, Buckley forgot his birth language, and although he managed to obtain knives, hatchets and similar objects from shipwrecks, or by stealth from the occasional ship at anchor, he was quite at home living life as a "spirit". He became expert with Aboriginal weapons—though despite this, as a revered spirit he was banned from partaking in the many tribal wars—and wore kangaroo skins for clothes. He had at least two Aboriginal wives, but no children by them. One of these is said to have been killed by the tribe for preferring a man of her own kind; but it is also reported that Buckley said he gave her up in order to prevent unrest among the men; preferring to stay alive and to "return to the simple life".
It wasn't until 6 July 1835 that Buckley eventually decided to return to white society. Wearing kangaroo skins and carrying Aboriginal weapons, he walked into John Batman's camp at Indented Head. Fearful of being shot, he told them he was a shipwrecked soldier, but a few days later he confessed his identity—to the amazement of everybody present. In September of the same year, he was granted a pardon by Lieutenant-Governor Arthur, in Van Diemen's Land.
In 1836, Buckley was given the position of Interpreter to the natives, and as a guide for Captain Foster Fyans, among others, his knowledge of the Aboriginal language was put to good use. But by late 1837, he had become disenchanted with his new way of life—and the people around him—and left for Van Diemen's Land. He remained there for the next nineteen years, until his death in 1856; taking on a number of jobs, including gatekeeper of the Female Factory at Hobart.
He married Julia Eagers on 20 January 1840,a woman who is said to have been as short as he was tall! So much so that when out walking she was too short to even reach his arm. To remedy this problem he would tie two corners of his handkerchief together, and after fastening this to his arm, she would put her arm through the loop.
Buckley was always reluctant to reveal much about his thirty-two years with the Aborigines, but in later life he dictated a few stories to John Morgan for inclusion in his adventure books. Because of Buckley's reported relative lack of intelligible speech, which was to continue until the end of his life, these stories have often been referred to as more the product of Morgan's fertile imagination than a true representation of the Buckley adventures.
He died in 1856 at the age of 75, following a cart accident near Hobart.Early life
Transportation and escape
Life with the Watourong tribe
Pardon
Return to white society