In the Christmas week of 1894, a prospector James Anderson, known as ‘New Zealand Jimmy’, finally had some success after a run of bad luck at Kurnalpi and Peake’s Find, by finding a nugget at Pig Flat at Coolgardie. It weighed in at 28 ozs for which he received £102 from the Union Bank.
James was a native of Aberdeen, Scotland and was aged 40yrs with a fair complexion and was five feet seven inches in height. He had been a sea-faring man who had also spent time in New Zealand. He was well-known for his kindness and no one went away empty-handed when asking him for help.
After his find, in 1895, he moved to Siberia, where, with William Hogan he set up a condenser, 8 miles from the town. He employed two aboriginals to work for him, Jacky and Polly. The couple had arrived in Siberia some 9 months prior from the Murchison area. Anderson gave them food and blankets and even provided them a tent for the cold weather.
Polly was a great favorite with the men camped around Siberia. She was described as short, robust and rather plump, quite attractive and intelligent, a fine-looking girl! Polly would have been in her mid teens at the time. She looked after the horse, washed clothes and collected firewood to keep the condenser fire going. Polly was a hard worker it was said, but Jacky was lazy, he often disappeared for days at a time. He and Anderson had some arguments about this.
Polly – a fine looking girl
Jacky, whose native name was Yalya, was also known as Jimmy, he was from the Mt Ida district. He was described as of slight build and about 28yrs of age with a thick mustache and a small beard.
He was generally considered to be a harmless fellow, but it was Polly who told people that Jacky had killed three other natives, two men and a woman about three years ago at Southern Cross. She also claimed he had killed her child a year before. He often used to beat Polly, and wanted her to leave and ‘go bush’ with him. She didn’t want to go. Anderson often defended Polly from these attacks.
On the 25th of April 1895, after the three had eaten their evening meal, Anderson had retired to his tent when he heard screaming from the direction of the condenser. On reaching the spot he found Jacky beating Polly. He intervened and Jacky struck Anderson with his waddy to little effect. Anderson then struck Jacky with a tomahawk but did not badly injure him. Jacky disappeared into the bush pursued by Anderson, and another condenser worker. Anderson was heard to say, “I’ll kill you if I get my hands on you”. This was about 8pm, he then set fire to Jacky’s camp and burnt all his belongings. On returning to his own camp he was surprised by Jacky, who was hiding behind a wood heap, Jacky thrust a spear right through Anderson’s ribs, penetrating the heart, death was instantaneous.
Sign in the Siberia Cemetery
Polly told Hogan what had happened, she said that the spear belonged to Jacky. After seeing the body, Hogan and Polly set out for Siberia taking with them the spear. When a party of armed men arrived back at the camp, they found Jacky had returned and had taken all the food, water, blankets and money. The men then brought Anderson’s body back to Siberia for burial. At the burial service Polly, with tears in her eyes, was heard to say “Good fellow my boss, some day me find Jacky and me kill him”. However there was little sympathy for the deceased due to his unlawful relationship with Polly, which was common knowledge by the diggers,
Coolgardie police trooper Percy Brown, with a police tracker and Abdul Rahman, an afghan camel driver, set out to find Jacky. At the inquest, Doctor Andrew McNeil said he had the body exhumed, and on examination he had found, death was caused by a spear wound entering in the right shoulder directly into the heart. The verdict at the Inquest was that Anderson had been willfully murdered by a native called Jacky.
Jacky was apprehended in Coolgardie on the 2nd July, and was remanded for 8 days to allow the witnesses to come from Siberia. This was when the following photograph was taken of him. This photograph has been widely used many times and often it is not properly identified.
Jacky in the Coolgardie Police Camp lockup.
On the 19th July word was passed around the police camp that Jacky had thrown of his shackles and had cleared out. During the night Jackie slipped the legal grasp and leaving only his shackles and clothes, he disappeared into the night.
Jacky Escapes
Strange to say in the circumstances, but Jacky had the sympathy of all in the police camp. It was noted that the other nine prisoners who were confined that night with him did not escape. The most mysterious part of the whole affair was that he unlocked the handcuffs with a key. The key was found still in the lock. A combination of complicity with the other prisoners and either carelessness or assistance from his keepers was suspected. (an inquiry into the matter was forwarded to the Commissioner of Police by the Inspector) When free of his restraints Jacky dug under the corrugated iron shed wall and slipped into the night, discarding his clothing as he went.
Jacky was again apprehended only a month later in a native camp at daybreak. On the 7th October the trial began. Jacky was charged with the murder of James Anderson, he pleaded ‘not guilty’! Polly was the first witness and she caused a stir when she said the accused was her husband, and she had known him ‘long time’, she married him when she was a ‘little fella’, they had no children.
She told the court that she would spend every night with Anderson and he wouldn’t let her go back to Jacky. He said this is why Jacky and Anderson argued. Jacky gave evidence that Anderson had taken Polly from him and wouldn’t allow her to return to him.
In the judges summing up, he said there was no indication of the intent of murder and that Jacky had been under some extreme provocation when Anderson had taken his woman, threatened to kill him and burnt down his camp. The jury brought in a verdict of ‘Not Guilty’.
What happened to Jacky and Polly after this is not known. It seems that a death certificate was never issued for James Anderson and it’s not known if his family back in Scotland ever knew of his fate.
The following story was told by Kathleen Mary Birth, and may tell of the later fate of Jacky and Polly:-
An Aboriginal man, Jacky, and his blind wife Polly, were often about the place. I did hear that Polly became blind through ants eating her eyes out many years before ‑ she was drunk and asleep at the time. She just sat out near the stables all day and when Jacky went bush with horse and cart to get wood for Mum, I’d have to take her dinner and billy of tea. She led a miserable life and old Jacky was so good to her. Then sometimes Jacky would go out ‘specking for gold’ and when he returned Mum would ask, “Get any gold today Jack?” and he’d sadly say, “No missus, only little ‘ply chit’”.
After a few months in Bardoc they would go up the line on the train ‑ riding in one of the trucks and later would return to Bardoc the same way and Jacky would do all the same work again. If it was hot Mum would fill a beer bottle out of the keg on tap and he’d go and share it with Polly.
Western Argus on 05/02/1929 – the final chapter in Polly’s life.
Moya Sharp
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Good Afternoon,
Very interesting article.
THANKS AND REGARDS
I think this is the same Polly who was buried in the grounds of the Broad Arrow Cemetery in February 1929. I think she should be included in the burial records of the Cemetery.
If you search “Broad Arrow Cemetery” in Trove the story can be found in the “Western Argus” Tuesday 5th February 1929 and the “Kalgoorlie Miner” Monday 4th of February.
Regards
Rae
Hi Rae Many thanks, I have now added this to the blog post and have also added her to the Broad Arrow Cemetery list on the Outback Family History web page.