Tag:blackbirding

Ben Boyd N.P. To Be Renamed

Ben Boyd National Park (NP) is to be renamed. The park lies south of Eden NSW and covers 47kms of rocky coastlines, sheltered inlets and crystal clear waters. The park, established in 1971, is named after Benjamin Boyd, a wealthy pastoralist, businessman and elected member of parliament. However, with the advent of the Black Lives Matter movement, in the wake of George Floyd’s death, Ben Boyd’s history of blackbirding has shone a light on the park’s name.

Ben Boyd national park

Benjamin Boyd (1801-1851) was a stockbroker and entrepreneur born in Penninghame, Scotland, on August 21 1801. Boyd was the second surviving son of Edward Boyd, a London merchant. He was an ambitious man, believing great opportunities awaited him in the new colony. Arriving in Australia in June 1842, flush with funds from loans at London banks, he began setting up his ventures.

Vast Holdings

Ben Boyd created a fleet of coastal steamships. These ships plied the route from Twofold Bay in Eden NSW to Hobart, Tasmania. In 1843 he purchased land near Eden and established Boydtown as his base. From here, he shipped livestock, wool, and tallow to Sydney and onto London. By 1844 he had become one of the largest landholders and graziers in the colony.

davidson whaling station
Whaling Station at Ben Boyd National Park

With his vast pastoral holdings, he constantly struggled to recruit suitable labour. This was due to a lack of immigrants and former convicts in sufficient numbers willing to work on outback stations. Consequently, he suggested a plan where convicts with tickets of leave in Tasmania could be granted pardons on the condition. Naturally, the pardon was on the condition they worked for him on the NSW properties. The government, however, declined this idea.

In evidence before the select committee on immigration on 27 September 1843 he claimed that he employed some 200 shepherds and stockmen, but despaired of the colony’s prosperity ‘unless we have cheap labour, and can bring the wages of the shepherd who will undertake large flocks to £10 a year with rations’; these included meat and flour, but not tea and sugar which he considered luxuries.

ANU
benjamin boyd
Ben Boyd, courtesy State Library of Victoria
Blackbirding

Boyd then turned his sights on recruiting labour from the Pacific Islands. Because of this, he is considered Australia’s first Blackbirder. Blackbirding was the practice of shipping South Sea Islanders to the colonies. On arrival, they would be put to work and paid minimal wages. This ensured he evaded anti-slavery laws. Common blackbirding practice was to entice natives aboard the ship with food or goods. Then ships would up anchor and leave. Other times they abducted them at gunpoint.

In 1847 he brought around 200 natives from the New Hebrides and the Loyalty Islands back to Eden. He planned to put them to work as shepherds and labourers. However, many absconded and headed to Sydney. Here, they were seen starving and destitute on the streets of Sydney, begging for passage back to the islands. There were rumours of violence and murder during the “recruiting” practices. However, the attorney general in Sydney led an inquiry, Sir Charles Fitzroy, found them unsubstantiated.

blackbirding
1869 HMS Rosario seized the blackbirding schooner Daphne and freed its passengers’ Image courtesy of Wikipedia

With complicated and obscure methods of financing his pastoral activities, by 1846, he was in financial difficulty. Boyd lost a costly legal battle over his efforts to recover £25,000 insurance on his damaged steamer, the Seahorse. Adding to his woes was dissatisfaction from his London shareholders. Boyd was found to have submitted false reports to them. The shareholders forced him out in favour of his brother though the company failed to recover and ended in liquidation.

boyds tower
Originally designed as a lighthouse for his steamships, Boyds Tower was built in 1847. Photo: Sapphire Coast Tourism.
Financial Ruin

In 1849 to evade his creditors, he slipped quietly out of Sydney aboard his yacht “Wanderer”, bound for the California gold rush. The vessel stopped in New Zealand, where they loaded the ship with flour and Maori potatoes. These they then sold for a handsome profit in San Francisco. His efforts at finding a new fortune in California were futile. So he headed off again aboard the Wanderer, this time landing in Hawaii. He then sailed to Guadalcanal in the Solomons from Hawaii, unaware that it was the same harbour where another of his ships, the Velocity, had kidnapped islanders.

Death In The Islands

On October 15 1851, he went ashore with a native to shoot game. Two shots were heard 15 minutes apart and then silence. When he failed to return, his companions on the yacht went ashore searching for him. Crews recovered his belt and an expended firearm cartridge, but his body was never found. It was concluded he had been killed by natives in retribution for the blackbirding in 1847. The remaining crew went ashore armed with muskets and swivel guns, exacting their revenge with the death of twenty-five natives.

“It is clear from the expert historical analysis that Ben Boyd’s association with ‘blackbirding’ should not be reflected or celebrated in any way in our National Parks.”

Matt Kean, Environment Minister
the pinnacles, ben boyd national park
The Pinnacles at Ben Boyd National Park
Calls to Rename

There are also calls to rename Boydtown, Ben Boyd Road in Sydney, and a plaque in his honour has to be covered up after threats were received that it would be vandalised.

ben boyd plaque
Ben Boyd Plaque Sydney

After years of lobbying by Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal community members, the local Bega Valley Shire council pushed the State Government for a dual name change for the park earlier this year. The council submission asked them to review the park’s name in light of a review of Boyd’s history. However, the state government decided one name is less confusing than a dual name. Therefore, the state government decided to drop Ben Boyd’s name entirely from the park. Community discussions with local Aboriginal elders and the community will begin shortly. They hope to identify a new name for the national park recognising the Aboriginal cultural heritage of the area.

© Bevlea Ross