A FIGHT TO THE DEATH AT THE QUEANBEYAN SHOWGROUND

A FIGHT TO THE DEATH AT THE QUEANBEYAN SHOWGROUND
by Dave Wheeler

   It was sometime in the 1960’s my grandmother, the late Vera Guard, told me about a fight to the death between two Aboriginal warriors during the 19^th century in an area of land which eventually became the Queanbeyan showground. 
   I had forgotten about it, but was inspired to get as much information as possible on the subject after visiting Dave Reid’s excellent blog, http://www.davesact.com, in which he has collected a large amount of literature and references to literature regarding Canberra’s early indigenous post invasion history, including a reference to the duel I have referred to.  

   Pictured above is my dear old long departed grandmother, the late Vera Guard, in 1975. She was born in 1895 and lived in Queanbeyan from the early 1920’s to 1939, prior to moving to Ainslie. She was a great talker with a keen interest in history who would readily chat to anyone. When she was a young and newly married Queanbeyan resident she got to know many of the old time Queanbeyan residents, including John Gale, and in doing so acquired much historical knowledge regarding the district’s early days. I wish I had taken in more information from her than I did when I was younger.

   As Dave’s blog has collected many documents and links associated with Canberra’s indigenous past it makes it easier to overview much of the recorded versions of history. It also highlights what is in real need of clarification; not only in relation to the duel in Queanbeyan, but other possible duels between indigenous Canberrans of the time and Canberra post invasion indigenous history in general.

HOLD IT!

     

    Since I first published this essay I have had strong agreement and disagreement on various points of the alleged history I wrote about, and have been told by various people claiming to represent the true local mob/s, who, (in their opinions), are and are not the genuine members and representatives of the local mob/s. And therefore I have been told whose version of history we should believe and whose version of history we should dismiss. 

   Therefore, because of the animosity and disagreement between some members who claim to represent the local mob/s I am deleting the rest of what I had to say in this essay as I don't wish to be the meat in the sandwich and get involved in local indigenous politics, particularly since I have never claimed to be an authority and I am not of local indigenous descent. I am doing this even though all I did in the essay was collect some old recorded versions of indigenous Canberra history and ask questions. 

   I have not however, discarded what I have deleted entirely to the extent that although it has not been published I have it stored on my computer. And if any serious students of indigenous post invasion Canberra history wish to read what I deleted eclectically please contact me via email and I will send it to you, with various caveats, as I do not claim to be an authority on the subject. 

Dave Wheeler 1/7/22