In the morning when he moulded and formed the land masses; his weapons; as he laid them aside to do his work, made their unique picturesque marks on the creeks and river beds. Thirsty, he struck the rock where he had rested overnight with his stone hatchet to bring forth water and the stains made where he whetted the blunt tool became permanently etched in the rock as a reminder of his progress. His people would trace Baiamai's tracks over the newly-formed lands by these stains. The water which gathered in Wuggarbuggarnea would save lives and provide help to travellers. On another portion of the rock he left an imprint of his giant right foot, one metre long. He moved off to the virgin west, building the hills and trees and pausing to rest at Gulumbur.
His next camping place was a shelter in the rock at Kubbur which sloped inwards streaked with koparra; his excrement in legend. In times to come, his people would meet at this place to conduct secret initiation rights under the watchful eye of Daramulun, peering out from the rocks placed there for that purpose by Baiamai only a short distance to the north. Daramulun, he would put in charge of all his creations and to punish men if they broke the laws. At Kubbur the tribes of men would meet to exchange gifts, arrange marriages and to remember the deeds of Baiamai, the creator.
He started off from this spot after a wild bee, on the feet of which he had put down feathers of a bird. He thus followed the bee all the way to a large rock at Wittaguna in a cleft of which was a honeycomb which Baiamai succeeded in securing for food. There is still a bee's nest in that rock but ordinary mortals cannot reach far enough into the crack to get at the honey.
Baiamai then continued away northwards from Kubbur and Wittaguna and formed a camp in the solitudes of the great forest. All the trees lean towards the camp from all surrounding points but small shrubs and berry-bearing trees grow straight up. Hanging from the branches of the larger trees are bullroarers which sound to this day to recall the passage of Baiamai, the great spirit, guardian and father to his people. On the Barwon (river0 they say there is One who made all things, whom they never see, though they hear his voice in thunder. They speak of this being by the name of "Baiamai"; and those, who have learnt that "God" is the name by which the white man speaks of the "Creator", say that "Baiamai" is "God".
As well as from surface waters and springs, the native obtained water in dry country from a number of "waterholes"; the location of which were well known to every member of a family, group, tribe or tribes. Some of these waterholes were only used when other, more readily available, sources dried up; others were conveniently situated a marching distance between two permanent sources of water.
When the elders of the Wongaibon decided that there was a sufficient number of boys ready for initiation, messengers were despatched to invite members of the neighbouring Ngemba and Naualko tribes to be present at the ceremonies alongside the Kubbur waterhole situated halfway between the great western rivers of Callewatta (Darling) in the north and Lulara (Lachlan) and Murrembidgee (Murrumbidgee) in the south. In most cases, the guest tribes were invited to bring any boys of their own group whom they considered should also be initiated.
The Kubbur waterhole featured strongly in local Aboriginal dreamtime legends and not only because it was a favourite source of koparra, a kind of earth which was used in body painting. The raddle was rolled into a ball, roasted in a hot fire to turn it into a brilliant red colour before being mixed with animal fat. The local was equally important as being in the close vicinity to the legendary home of the keeper of the laws, Daramulun. His name was made up from dhurru - thigh and mulan - one side, the whole name meaning leg on one side as he was said to possess only one leg. He was also called Ngullagelung from ngulla - a tree because he lived in the trees. He had a voice like the rumbling of distant thunder.
The sloping walls of the Kubbur waterhole were covered with traditional designs and other religious delineations. No tribe lived predominantly in this area due to the lack of a permanent water supply. Nevertheless, it played an important part in the ceremonial life of the three tribes and also served, as did the other scattered waterholes, in providing sustenance for families and tribes who might choose to head across the arid plain in preference to following the longer safer routes by the meandering rivers. ... ...
Like the Aborigines, the squatters followed sources of permanent water. Settlement on the dry plains inhabited by the nomadic Wongaibon came later ... and for quite a different reason.
In the months following Tom's disembarkation, three more young men arrived in the colony to seek their fortunes in the goldfields. Two Danes, Ferdinand Emilius Kempf, a 19-year old bricklayer, and Thomas Alfred Hartman, an 18-year old seaman. Kempf was a handsome, swashbuckling character with leadership, intelligence and boundless confidence. Hartman was a quieter style of Viking with fair, hawklike Nordic features and a steady workmanlike manner. The third was George Samson Gibb, a strong youthful giant of a mere 16 years with a modest unassuming nature who hailed from Auchinleck, in the Burns country of Scotland. No stranger to hard work despite his few years, he lacked the experience and polish of his fellows.
The Danes were well educated for these times. Kempf followed his father's occupation of bricklayer on leaving school. ... During Easter 1854, Kempf was entered in the Copenhagen conscription register. He obtained a passport in 1859 for journeys at home and abroad. ... On 27th July 1859, he left, not for Europe, but for Australia. In the following years or at least until 1864, he was wanted by the Danish police under the Compulsory Military Service Laws from 1862; but by then it no longer actively concerned him - he was now Charles Campbell and would remain so for the rest of his life.
It is not surprising that Kempf (Campbell) and the other lonely young Dane, Thomas Alfred Hartman, should become firm friends despite their opposite personalities. Interest in and knowledge of Denmark was not widespread in the Colony of Victoria. ... [A long story of Campbell's marital affairs follows and is omitted.]
Campbell, Hartman and Gibb worked the Victorian goldfields until the mid-1860s by which time it was apparent that none of them would enjoy the instant riches of a gold bonanza. This also meant no funds to return to Europe and perhaps a grudging acceptance of the like in Australia. ... Charles returned to his trade as a bricklayer and Hartman and Gibb joined him as members of Campbell's contracting party. They undertook regular contracting opportunities to sink tanks and build dams for the squatters in the dry west of NSW. During droughts, it had become necessary for squatters to move their stock from their properties to the safety of the river banks of the Darling River to the west. In September 1870, the countryside was deluged with over 5 inches of rain and the flat lands were flooded. Campbell and his friends gave up trying for work in the Bourke area of NSW and moved down river but could not make their way through the floodwaters. They engaged two blacktrackers (Aboriginal men) Frank and Boney as guides. They followed a route known to the local Aborigines which linked the permanent watering places in the vast plain, usually in the form of soaks in rock outcroppings. Boney led them to the Kubbur waterhole and they camped there for the night. The waterhole was about eight feet by five feet on the surface with a maximum depth of water of about 5 feet. The sides of the depression consisted of kaolin and raddle streaked with blue and green.
Accustomed only to the outcropping of gold veins, the tanksinkers did not understand the significance of the "colours" but were sufficiently impressed to take samples of the minerals from the bank of the waterhole. ...
The comparatively small outcrops [in mining terms, gossan] on the main lode of minerals afforded little indication of the immense ore bodies below. Carrying the blue-green specimens with them, they proceeded south. They met up with Mr and Mrs Kruge on the way. And that is where they found out from Mrs Kruge, a lady who had worked at the surface of Cornish copper mines as a girl, that the specimens were of copper carbonate, confirmed by Henry Kruge in his forge. All plans of tanksinking vanished and Campbell's party set off at once for Bourke with the intention of securing the ground around Kubbur waterhole.
And this started what became a very large copper mining area with a town of its own in due course. There was no Post Office there until tenders were invited for a mail service to the Cobar Copper Mine. This petition for a mail service is of significant historical interest as it is the first official record of the name COBAR, a corruption of the native Kubbur.
Some of the continuing story can be reached from the Menu List about Cobar and Gilgunnia.
Gods and Black Men
Story Part (i)
Baiamai rested on his spear and gazed over the hot landscape towards the setting sun. No shadows were thrown by the fiery orb; the land where Baiamai had to tread was virgin and unformed. He would sleep by this rock, destined to bear his name, and continue his work at daybreak. Nothing stirred, no living thing broke the silence; only a star swooping down towards Nyingan near Ghirralangbone disturbed the still-life. It was the beginning of time ... the origin of the dreamtime legends ...
Story Part (ii)
Water was perhaps the most important element in the life of Aborigines in arid regions of the continent. Every camp had to be within reach of water and indeed most aboriginal locality names refer to water; for instance the big water, Murrumbidgee; overflowing water, Wilcan...; shallow water, Tindarra; chain of water holes, Boorabbin.
Adventurers and Entrepreneurs
Story Part (iii)
Perhaps the first real gold-rush in Victoria was made to Daisy Hill, but the great business of gold digging did not commence until the discovery of Ballarat. This occurred in September 1851 and by the end of that year full 250,000 ounces of gold had been obtained in Victoria. Soon, as the news reached Europe on the return voyage of shipping to Port Melbourne, thousands of men turned their backs on the lack of opportunity for the common man in the old world and took ship to Victoria. With the vast majority, the idea of settlement in Australia was never considered. For men like Tom Matthews (well known much later in the area west of Cobar), it only meant a voyage in a ship, a rapid run round a strange country, some huge pieces of gold picked up anyhow and anywhere, then home again rich and happy to family and friends. For many others, only the circumstances of their arrival, such as deserting ship or evading the authorities, dictated a permanent, or certainly a more extended, stay in the new land.