Alick and Nunginna- a love story

TRIBAL LAW DRAMA
ERRING COUPLE PUNISHED

The story of a drama, among the aboriginal people of the Laverton district, has been received at Kalgoorlie.  A young woman called Nunginna had fallen in love with a boy named Alick, She had deserted her husband and run away with Alick. This was an offense against the tribal laws and the erring couple was wrought back to the tribe and Alick was threatened with death.

Later Nunginna’s husband died, but according to the law, she was still not yet free to marry Alick, but she went to live with him anyway. Her husband’s body was placed in a shallow grave and covered with sticks. In a year, or perhaps later, the tribe, including the widow, would return and complete the burial, and then Alick would be free to marry Nunginna.

In the meantime, the couple’s offense had aroused, the anger of three male members of the tribe. They caught Alick and held him, to the ground, tied a rope around his neck, and inserted a splinter of mulga into the artery on each side of his neck, expecting this to cause his death within two or three days.

Two white men found him however and took him to the Laverton Hospital. Within several days Dr. G. Myles had removed the splinters and although his neck is swollen, Alick is unlikely to die. Nunginna was also to pay for her indiscretion. A half-brother of her late husband speared her in the stomach and she was found by Constables Gravestock, Jones, and Gamble in a camp, suffering acute pain. Her assailant was arrested and sentenced to three months imprisonment, while she was taken to hospital and treated alongside Alick.

I have tried to find out if Alick and Nunginna did end up together after all they went through. I do hope so, and that they were eventually happy together.