Jackey Jackey | |
|---|---|
 Wood engraving (Walter G. Mason, 1857) of the solid silver breastplate made for Jackey Jackey in recognition of his heroic deeds (shaped to include swans and a fox)[1] | |
| Born | approx 1833 |
| Died | 1854 (Aged 21) |
| Other names | Galmahra |
| Citizenship | British |
| Occupation | Guide |
| Employer(s) | Surveyor-General's Department State ofNew South Wales |
| Known for | Heroic deeds as guide and companion for surveyorEdmund Kennedy |
| Website | https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/jackey-jackey-2264 |
Jackey Jackey (also speltJacky Jacky) (c. 1833–1854),[2] Aboriginal nameGalmahra[3] (or Galmarra),[4] was theAboriginal Australian guide and companion to surveyorEdmund Kennedy. He survived Kennedy's fatal 1848 expedition intoCape York Peninsula (in present-dayQueensland) and was subsequently formally recognised for heroic deeds by theColony of New South Wales in words engraved on a solidsilverbreastplate orgorget,[5] which read as follows:[5]
Presented by His ExcellencySir Charles Augustus FitzRoy K.D. Governor ofNew South Wales, to Jackey Jackey, an Aboriginal native of that colony. In testimony of the fidelity with which he followed the late Assistant SurveyorE.B.C. Kennedy, throughout the exploration of York Peninsula in the year 1848; the noble daring with which he supported that lamented gentleman, when mortally wounded by the Natives of Escape River, the courage with which after having affectionately tended the last moments of his Master, he made his way through hostile Tribes and an unknown Country, to Cape York; and finally the unexampled sagacity with which he conducted the succour that there awaited the Expedition to the rescue of the other survivors of it, who had been left atShelbourne Bay.
In the 1970s Australian school textbooks, such asMargaret Paice'sJackey Jackey, were published recording Jackey Jackey's life and achievements:
To the people of his tribe he was Galmarra, the Songman; to the men of the ill-fated Kennedy expedition he was Jackey Jackey, the young Aborigine. This slightly built teenager was to be their strength as they faced the mangrove swamps and tropical jungles.[6]
The name "Jackey Jackey" since entered general Australian and Aboriginal Australianslang:[7]
For whites it was a generic dismissive, denying blacks their individuality and hence their dignity. To blacks it meant a collaborator, the subservient native complicit in his own people's dispossession.[2]
As a young man, Galmahra seems to have grown up and lived atJerrys Plains nearMuswellbrook, New South Wales, most likely as a member of thelocal Australian Aboriginal nation:[8] theWonnarua.[9]
In April 1848, still a young man, Galmahra was asked to accompany and help guide Assistant SurveyorEdmund Kennedy and team (including botanist William Carron[10][11]) on an expedition through unknown country heading up intoCape York Peninsula. On that expedition Galmahra proved his value (including bush skills) and turned out to be a loyal and resilient member of the expedition upon whom Edmund Kennedy increasingly relied until he died, speared byYadhaykenu (a.k.a. Jathaikana) people in the northern Peninsula area[2] (December 1848), somewhere near the Escape River.[8]
Following an inquiry into Edmund Kennedy and other expedition members deaths, Galmahra became more generally known to the colony of New South Wales as Jackey Jackey: anAboriginal Australian to be honoured for his loyalty, heroic deeds, and general assistance to the expedition.[12] By March 1849 alithographicportrait of 'Jackey Jackey' had been produced for sale,[13] and by the beginning of 1851 the Governor of New South Wales had presented him with a specially made, pure silver breastplate (see above) plus a £50 bank accountgratuity.[2][14]
Galmahra never wore the breastplate, never accessed the £50 bank account, and did not seem to have otherwise been fully engaged or employed by the colony. Instead he gained a reputation for enjoying his alcohol and, in 1854, after drinking too much during an overland journey toAlbury, New South Wales, fell into a campfire and died.[2][8]
