Sub Inspector Stanhope O'Connor came to Victoria at the request of the
Victorian
police due to the expertise
of his Native Trackers.
These trackers were the
'black devils' that Ned was so fearful of.
Fearful because they appeared to be
the only match for him in
the bush.
O'Connor
and his men had not been fully appreciated whilst in Victoria and were
not fully
utilised in the search for the
gang. Partly due to jealousy and partly out of
fear,
the trackers
were simply not given a chance to prove their worth.
Eventually
they were
heading home, ironically they were on the first leg of
this
return journey when the gang
broke cover and killed Sherritt.
O'Connor was
in Essendon and the police special, along with
the reporters, collected him
there for the journey north east.
On the
ground at Glenrowan at the start of the fighting the trackers were keen to get
into the middle of the action. O'Connor
had taken his wife and sister-in-law on
the train and
it was said
that he was more interested in their safety than
capturing the outlaws.
Much was made of the
fact that he was seen keeping his
head down within the drains near
the Inn, rather than be in
full view of the
gang. Perhaps he was just smarter than the others.
It seems
from reading the text of the Royal Commission
that O'Connor was attacked mostly
to put the blame of what had happened off others and
onto him.
The
trackers would fight valiantly all day long at Glenrowan and then find that when
the reward was distributed that they would miss out. A deal had been struck to
bring them
to Victoria on the pretence that they would be afforded a fair share in
the reward should
they be responsible for the capture of the outlaws. They
certainly did as much as any other
man that day, if not more. Yet in the end
they would be given the lowest amount allocated
and it appears that they never
actually received it anyway. In those days it was not seen as
a good thing to
give money to Aboriginals and the funds were held for their benefit, one
which
never seems to have been forthcoming.
When one of the
trackers was wounded questions of cost were asked before
treatment was given,
yet when Superintendent Hare was wounded great costs were
borne by the
community.
The names of the five trackers with O'Connor were:
Corporal Hero
Trooper Johnny
Trooper Jimmy
Trooper Jack
Trooper Barney
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