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Stories of History and
Country
About the Storytellers
David Fairfield and Sam Lovell are two retired
Aboriginal stockmen who first met each other on the back of a
truck on their way to the Native Settlement of Moollaboola near
Halls Creek. They lived there with 150 other half-caste children
for nearly 14 years until they were in their early teens and old
enough to do a man's work in the stock camps and stations. They
are life-long mates who love to have a yarn and share some of
their stories
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Who am I?
David never knew his mother or his father and was one of so
many coloured kids who never knew the security of a family or
a permanent home. He didn't even have a name and was given the
name Fairfield because he lived for a while at Fairfield
Station on the back-road between Derby and Fitzroy Crossing.
Sam and David try to piece together David's childhood
history...............
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The policeman grabbed me and took me away
Sam was only three years old at the time but he vividly
recalls the day when a truck arrived and the policeman chased
him up the creek to take him hundreds of miles away to the
Native Settlement at Moollaboola near Halls
Creek..............................
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The blackfella's gonna spear us
David, Sam and Charlie Yeeda were out gathering wild oranges
when they suddenly see a blackfella with a bundle of spears.
They describe the hilarious events that followed.......
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Corroborees during the wet season
For three or four months during the wet season, most of the
Aboriginal workers on the stations were sent off on walkabout
so that the station-owners wouldn't have to provide for them.
This is when the corroborees would be held, with people coming
hundreds of miles on foot, but the half-caste children were
neither black nor white and they weren't allowed to
go............
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Life at
Moolaboola
Sam describes life at the Native Settlement as being hard, but
he acknowledges that he learnt a lot about his Aboriginal
culture from the old people at the
station...........................
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Moving on
Aboriginal offenders were also sent to Moollaboola to serve
out their sentences instead of going to jail. Sam and David
talk about the harsh treatment and life-style that these
offenders faced. At age 17, after 14 years at the Native
Settlement, Sam and David moved out into stockmen's jobs at
Glenroy and Mount House Stations up the Gibb River
Road.........................
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The runaways
The Kimberley countryside can be fatally unforgiving and even
the Aboriginal people themselves can get into trouble. Sam and
David tell the story about two prisoners ran away and how an
Aboriginal man followed them to try and get them to come back,
but nearly perished in the
attempt.............................
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Spearmint the
mule
David recounts the hilarious story about the mule that
couldn't swim - but he soon learnt!
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The
crocodile got me
Freshwater croc's are normally quite timid but will attack if
they feel threatened. David gets attacked by a freshwater
crocodile in the Morris River and then has to drive back to
the homestead where the Flying Doctor was called and David
gets flown off to Derby hospital...
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He shot
the stud bull
A visitor to the station goes out hunting a killer for fresh
meat but ends up shooting one of the prize stud bulls. David
also talks about seeing a flock of pigeons so thick it looked
like a cloud of smoke from a bushfire.......................
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Don't
that just take the cake
Sam talks about some of the horses that were difficult to
break in and recalls a humorous incident involving Eeyaw the
donkey...................
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