William Buckley

William Buckley (* 1780 in Marton , in Macclesfield , Cheshire , United Kingdom ; † thirtieth January 1856 in Hobart , Tasmania ), and wild white man ( "wild white man") called, 32 years lived long as escaped convict under Aborigines .

Buckley was born out of wedlock and grew up on a small farm with his grandparents. He began training in a brick factory , but broke it off and became an infantry soldier . In 1799 he served in the Netherlands , where he was wounded in battle. After his return to Great Britain he was sentenced to 14 years in a penal camp in Australia for stealing clothes on August 2, 1802 and came to Port Phillip in April 1803 on the HMS Calcutta with Lieutenant Governor David Collins . There he fled with two other convicts. He befriended the Wathaurong , who believed that the 1.98 m tall man was their elder's reincarnation . He adopted the language, customs and manners of the Aborigines and lived with an Aboriginal woman with whom he said he had a daughter.

William Buckley saw several ships but refused to reveal himself for fear of punishment. It was not until July 1835 that he surrendered to John Wedge at Indented Head . Wedge was a member of the Port Phillip Association led by John Batman . Buckley had forgotten his own language but was identified by the WB tattoo on his arm.

Wedge obtained Lieutenant Governor George Arthur to pardon Buckley. Then John Batman - and later the government - hired him as an interpreter for £ 50. However, since he was not recognized by either the whites or the Aborigines, he went to Hobart in December 1837, disaffected. There he found a job in an immigrant home and from 1840 to 1850 was a security guard at a factory where convict women worked. In 1840 he married Julia Eagers, the widow of an immigrant , with whom he had two daughters. At the end of his working life, he received a pension from the Victoria government .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} adb.anu.au : Marjorie J. Tipping: Buckley, William (1780–1856) , accessed July 3, 2011