Introduction
Police Tracker Edgar Spring was buried a soldier in a simple grave in St John’s Churchyard, Reid, Canberra. He served his state of NSW as a police tracker for nearly two decades in Cassilis, volunteered to serve his country in war, and died destitute on the western fringe of Mount Pleasant in the Nation’s Capital, Canberra.
I came to write about Edgar Spring or ‘Ted’ Spring as he was sometimes referred to, as I was intrigued by the set of unimposing military graves where he is buried and started researching the individuals resting there. Each individual has an interesting story but I chose to write about Edgar first as his story was both touching and tragic. This is a revised version of my article published in the March 2023 Canberra Historic Journal: ‘Police Tracker Edgar Spring: Tracking His Story from Cassilis to Canberra’.
Edgar Spring’s grave, fifth from bottom, lies in the north western corner of the churchyard of St John the Baptist Church, Canberra.
Originally Edgar’s grave, along with the others, was marked with a wooden cross. The crosses have since vanished as years of weathering have taken their toll. Fortunately the metal plaques attached to the concrete kerbing of each grave are still firmly attached.
Getting to Know Edgar Spring
At first I did not know Edgar was a police tracker. His Australian Imperial Force (AIF) Attestation paper, signed on 12 April 1917, says he was a “Labourer” and was aged “38 years”. The paper also revealed that he was: born in Mullaley, a township in NSW 37 kilometres from Gunnedah; a “Natural born British subject”; Anglican or “C of E” and “Single”. His sister, Jessie Spring, who lived in Paddington, Sydney, was named his next of kin.
Details of Edgar’s physical appearance as documented by the recruiter state that he was: 5ft 9½ins (177cms); 154 lbs (70kgs); and measured 35-37” (91cms) around the chest. In terms of today’s body shape indicators he had a perfect BMI at 22.3.
His complexion was noted as “Dark”, his eyes “Dark” and his hair “Dark”.
Researching the name ‘Edgar Spring’ on ‘Trove’ was extremely fruitful and it was here that I discovered that Edgar was an Indigenous Australian, who had been a police tracker for a lengthy period in Cassilis, NSW. His birthplace, Mullaley is in Kamilaroi country.
Apart from his sister Jessie, I have found no other family links despite searching official records and a popular genealogical database.[vii]
Heeding the Call to Arms
Edgar was one of over 1,000 Aboriginal men who enlisted for war service in World War 1. At the time of his recruitment the referendum on conscription had been defeated and the British Government was desperate for Australia to provide more manpower. These circumstances led to the Hughes government relaxing the rules concerning Indigenous recruitment into the AIF.
Edgar seemed old for a new recruit at age 38 but he heeded the Government’s call for more men to join the war effort.
The Police Tracker Edgar Spring
Edgar became a NSW Police Tracker between the late 1890s and early 1900s after spending time as a drover.[viii] Being a tracker meant a reliable income, but, it also meant straddling two cultures – the Aboriginal and the European. This path wasn’t always easy for trackers who were often resented and distrusted by fellow Aboriginals and elements of the European community with links to those being pursued. However, Edgar’s longevity in the police force suggests he had the ability to live and work within both cultures.
Establishment of a Native Police Force in NSW
Museums of History NSW provides the reasoning behind the establishment of a Native Police force.
“The Native Police force was established in 1848 following a recommendation from Sir Charles Fitzroy that aborigines be employed outside the settled districts to help enforce law and order. He believed that this measure would reduce conflict between the European Settlers and the Aborigines and ‘hope that it may prove one of the most efficient means of attempting to introduce more civilized habits among the native tribes’ (HRA Series I, Vol XXVI, p. 559]. Their horsemanship, capacity as trackers, and physical prowess proved invaluable in the difficult task of policing the more remote areas.”
Life in Cassilis
Edgar worked for NSW Police at Cassilis, in NSW’s central west, from early 1900 to 1916 and before that he was a tracker at Parramatta and other areas west of Sydney.[ix]
On Google maps, Cassilis is 125 kilometres south of his birthplace, Mullaley via the Black Stump Way. So Edgar was providing tracking services in familiar territory close to his home country.
The Governors
In 1900, his first year at Cassilis police station, Aboriginal outlaws, Jimmy and Joe Governor were on the loose and terrorizing the area in a series of revenge killings sparked by racial prejudice. The brothers were on the run for nearly three months and Edgar as a member of the Cassilis police team would certainly have had a role in their pursuit.
Jimmy Governor had also been a police tracker at the Cassilis station between July 1896 and December 1897, before propelling himself into the worst of criminal behaviour.
Cassilis 1900. Photo from the Robinson Family Collection
During the period of ‘terror’, Cassilis and neighbouring Merriwa, were flooded with people as huts were vacated in the Wollar Ranges by residents seeking safety in the townships. There wasn’t a hotel room to be found in either Cassilis or Merriwa and there was hardly a person around who wasn’t carrying firearms.[x] Killers on the loose meant district police were under pressure and no doubt the 21 year old Edgar felt pressure on many levels as an Aboriginal tracker and as a new recruit to the locality.
Police Tracker Edgar Spring – A Newsworthy Local
Edgar featured frequently in local newspaper stories during his policing career at Cassilis and finding these stories on ‘Trove’ helped build his story. He was obviously well known, respected and liked within the community and considered newsworthy. The stories painted a picture of a strong, athletic, capable man who was also an excellent marksman. One report said that Edgar was a drover before joining the police which added another piece of information about his life.
A Strong Man
His strength was revealed during a court trial concerning sheep stealing in 1903 when Edgar said it was possible to pick up a sheep while still in the saddle as he had done this himself when droving.
“The question about the lifting of the sheep, while in the saddle, arose out of an opinion expressed by the tracker, Edgar Spring. He had followed the tracks of a horse and a sheep in Boobialla paddocks and into a gully. There the tracks of the sheep were lost. The horse tracks came back to the place where the wires were down at the corner of the McLaren’s Selection and Boobialla paddock. Spring said he thought the sheep was lifted on to the horse by the man in the saddle. He had lifted sheep in that way himself when droving. The witness Petters also said he had seen it done.”[xi]
A Fast Runner
He was a fast runner and entered in the 1904 Cassilis Sheffield Handicap with 30 other competitors. This race was the main event of the annual Cassilis Sports Day with a total prize of £15 for the placegetters.[xii] The race was 130 yards and was the greatest attraction on the day. Edgar was on a handicap of 10 yards, about mid-field.
The race had been going since the 1880s where the organisation and fund raising for the event took place at the local community hub, the Cassilis Hotel pictured below. In 1885 event organisers assured that:
“… lovers of pedestrianism may look forward to witnessing a real good day’s sport.”[xiii]
The Cassilis Hotel 1900. Photograph from the Robinson Family Collection.
A Good Shot
Shooting was a natural pastime for many country people and foxes were highly prized from the mid-1800s. They were introduced into Australia for recreational purposes by the British in 1855 and by 1907 were declared an invasive pest. As a major threat to livestock, shooters were encouraged to go out and shoot them on sight. Edgar was one of these shooters and earned a write up in the Mudgee Guardian after a successful weekend outing:
“Edgar Spring, tracker, was out with his rifle on Saturday on a part of Dalkeith, near the Wash-pen, when he surprised a full-grown fox. He fired as Reynard was making for cover with all haste, and hit his mark. His dog gave chase, and came upon the wounded fox about half a mile from where he was hit. Edgar brought home a fine skin and brush as trophies of his excellent marksmanship. Foxes have been seen, and their havoc amongst lambs noted often of late on other stations around, but they are generally clever enough to safely get away.”[xiv]
In the Line of Fire
Disastrously in 1909 Edgar found himself at the wrong end of a gun while out for a day’s shooting with some lads who perhaps were not as experienced with firearms. The story made page one in the Muswellbrook Chronicle.
“On December 31, Edgar Spring the police black tracker at Cassilis, went away early in the morning with two lads shooting. The next heard of them was news that the tracker had been accidently shot in the head by one of Senior Curley’s boys. We learn that whilst sitting in some rocks after shooting at a rabbit, a pea rifle by mistake went off, the bullet striking Spring, and penetrating the top of his head. He was brought to Merriwa Hospital, and is doing as well as may be expected. The bullet has not yet been extracted.”[xv]
The Mudgee Guardian heralded his return to health a few weeks later.
“Edgar Spring, the Cassilis black-tracker, who was recently accidently wounded in the head as a result of being shot with a pea rifle bullet, was last week able to leave the Merriwa hospital, and appear to be none the worse for his experience.”[xvi]
A Skilful Tracker
Edgar’s skills as a tracker were reported in the Mudgee Guardian in April 1916 when he tracked two thieves into the bush leading to their arrest.
“Exciting Chase — Our local tracker, while patrolling Borambil last Sunday, had his suspicions aroused by the action of two young men on bicycles, who had just left the residence of Mrs. A. Constable. On making investigations he found that Mrs. Constable was absent, and that the dwelling had been forced into. He immediately followed the men who took to the bush, and finding themselves hotly pursued, they abandoned their bikes and swags. The tracker followed their tracks for about five miles, and then returned and took charge of their bikes and swags, and then reported himself to the police station. Sergeant Bisley and Constable Kirk eventually arrested both men at Turill last night, and conveyed them to the local police station, where they awaited their trial on several charges of stealing. Edgar Spring, the tracker, deserves much credit for his action, which proves his capability as a vigilant police officer.”[xxi]
A Case of Mistaken Identity – Case One
The photograph of Edgar above has its own story. Reproduced and published in the Daily Telegraph on Friday 29 June 1928, the original caption read:
“Late Tom Byers and Ted Spring. Byers tracked Ned Kelly and Spring Jimmy Governor”.[xviii]
However this information was incorrect. Mr H. W. Smith, a teacher for over thirty years in Cassilis, wrote to the Daily Telegraph on 13 July 1928 claiming that he took the photo sometime between 1908 and 1910 when he was a teacher at Cassilis Public School. He wrote:
“The figure on the left is described as Tom Byers; that is wrong, as Byers was a white man and he never tracked Ned Kelly. But he was one of the many civilians who went out in pursuit of the Governors. The figure on the left is “Toby”, a full-blooded Aboriginal, well known in the Cassilis district a couple of decades ago. The figure on the right is correctly given as Edgar Spring, at the time a half-caste tracker at Cassilis.” [xix]
A Case of Mistaken Identity – Case Two
Subsequently in more modern times the image of Edgar Spring in Smith’s photograph has been misused in a published work about the Governors, wrongly assumed to be the notorious Jimmy Governor.[xx] A title Edgar Spring does not deserve.
Something Goes Badly Wrong for Police Tracker Edgar Spring in West Maitland
Towards the end of 1916 something went badly wrong for Edgar after he was transferred from Cassilis to West Maitland Police Station. Here he came under the command of Superintendent George Goulder.
He was only at the new station for one month and was suspended from duties due to “allegations”. These “allegations” were not made public by the Superintendent but were said to be the subject of an inquiry. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be any information about such an inquiry within the NSW Police Archives.
Edgar was said to be “incensed” and cited his unblemished record in nearly two decades of service to the NSW Police. The Northern Times reported:
Suspended. MAITLAND’S BLACK TRACKER.
Yesterday afternoon the black-tracker at West Maitland was suspended by Superintendent Goulder. The tracker is a pure aborigine, and goes by the name of “Ted Spring.” He acts as orderly to the superintendent, besides holding the position of tracker. He has held positions all over the west, as well as at Parramatta. He was transferred to Maitland from Cassilis about a month ago. The cause of the suspension has not yet been made public, but an inquiry is to be held. The tracker is incensed at certain allegations that have been made, and states that he has a blameless record of many years’ service in the police departments.”[xxii]
Whatever the allegations and outcome of the inquiry, Edgar never returned to police work. He enlisted for war service in April 1917 citing his occupation as “Labourer”.
Edgar Spring – The Soldier
There were many reasons why Indigenous Australians like Edgar enlisted for war service. For some there was perhaps a sense of national pride and patriotism, but other important reasons included the opportunity for financial security, and the chance to be treated as an equal and receive equal pay.
It gave Aboriginals the opportunity to prove they were equal to Europeans on the battle field and with that the hope for better treatment after the war. Unfortunately this did not usually eventuate and on their return many faced the same racial prejudice and discrimination as they had previously.
Indigenous Australians tried to enlist when war first broke out in 1914, but most were rejected on the grounds of race.[xxiii] Only those individuals who were white or who could pass as white Europeans could enlist.
However, by October 1917 recruits were harder to find, a conscription referendum had been lost and Britain continued pressing Australia to provide more manpower.
In this context the Government relaxed the rules in relation to the recruitment of Aboriginals, with a proviso:
“Half-castes may be enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force provided that the examining Medical Officers are satisfied that one of the parents is of European origin.”[xxiv]
Edgar passed the ‘racial’ test and was twice declared medically fit for service before embarking on the troopship ‘Marathon’ in May 1917.
With his background in the police force and his ability with fire arms it should have been an easy transition for Edgar into the armed forces. He was also used to a regular income working for the NSW Government.
However, in a strange twist of fate he was declared medically unfit when he reached England with debility, arteriosclerosis and asthma.[xxv] He was soon on the next ship home and discharged. He’d been a soldier for less than nine months.
Despite his short-lived military experience the Mudgee Guardian gave him a shout out as only the Mudgee Guardian would in 1917:
“Edgar Spring late tracker here who enlisted some time ago and proceeded to the front, is on his way home, having been declared medically unfit for service. Edgar’s heart is a white one, in spite of a dark skin, and his action should be an example to many eligibles.”
Edgar’s life goes into decline after his short life as a soldier. This once proud and successful police tracker was in no man’s land. Not wanted in the police force. Not wanted in the military. And now not wanted in a white man’s world just like other Indigenous Australians of the time.
Alcohol wanted him though and its evil grip tightened as incidents are reported from Yass to Queanbeyan in the post war years. In a Yass Police Court session a defendant referred to a place called “Ted Spring’s Camp”, identifying his likely living quarters before moving to Canberra.”[xxvi]
Life in Canberra for Former Police Tracker Edgar Spring
In 1928 a year after the provisional Parliament House opened Edgar, now 49 years, moved to Canberra where work was prolific during the construction phase of the National Capital. Here, he called the White City Camp home until the Depression started to bite in May 1931.[xxvii] Work was drying up and the Government began transferring single men out of the White City Camp. Edgar was one of those men.
Edgar moved on to another camp, called variously, the ‘Mount Pleasant Pensioners’ Camp’, the ‘Duntroon Pensioners’ Camp’, the Russell Hill Pensioners’ Camp, or somewhat facetiously ‘Happy Valley’.[xxviii] The camp was originally the Duntroon Reservoir Camp where workers involved in the reservoir’s construction, between 1922 and 1925, lived.
After the reservoir was completed the camp morphed into a place where single men forced out of other workers’ camps, as they were abolished due to the construction downturn, gravitated. Some of the men were war veterans, some were invalids with chronic health issues and others simply unemployed. It would be safe to say that all of the men were pioneer labourers from the Canberra construction era. Here they existed on the fringe of a well planned and prestigious city in temporary structures, at best a hut at worst a humpy.
The men were charged one shilling a week, for the privilege of living on the camp site in their self constructed huts, and in return the Commonwealth Department of the Interior provided water and a sanitary service.
A Tragic End for Former Police Tracker Edgar Spring
The old pensioners’ camp is where Edgar spent his final years, a marginalised Aboriginal man, who had served both the NSW government and the Federal government when they wanted him, but cast aside when he was no longer wanted.
He died on 29 September 1933, at 54 years on the fringe of Canberra society, a broken remnant of the war and a broken remnant of a life lived in a white man’s world.
His death brought him back into front page news with a headline in the Canberra Times on 2 October 1933 that said:
“Died in Squalor – Pensioner’s End at Russell Hill.”[xxxi]
After the police saw the conditions in which he lived a coronial inquiry was called. The acting coroner at the time Col. J. T. H Goodwin advised that there needed to be stricter supervision of the health conditions at the ‘pensioners’ camp at Duntroon. The Canberra Times ran the headline:
“Pensioner’s End. Stricter Supervision of Health Conditions Urged by Coroner.”[xxxii]
The medical superintendent at the Canberra hospital, Dr L. W. Nott said that he had been treating Edgar Spring for four years as both an inpatient and outpatient. He suffered from chronic bronchitis, asthma and eye trouble, and the probable cause of his death was heart failure following a bronchial and asthmatic attack. There were no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.[xxxiii]
One of Edgar’s mates, another Aboriginal man, Robert Williams, also living in the camp told the Coroner that “Ted” had complained of chest pains the day before he died. He also said that the health inspector last visited the camp less than a fortnight before “Ted’s” death at which time Spring was in “more or less good health”.[xxxiv]
Edgar Spring’s story is a tragic tale but unfortunately not rare. His condition was like that of many Indigenous Australians.
Edgar died destitute in squalid conditions off the walking track leading to General Bridges grave and within view of the new Federal Parliament established in Canberra in 1927 to serve all Australians.
Despite his impoverished circumstances when he died, he is now in a resting place close to where he spent his last years and surrounded by a wide range of late Canberra citizens, and a number of former government dignitaries, including two Governor Generals and a Speaker of the House of Representatives. [xxxv]
Endnotes:
[i] There are so many stories waiting to be uncovered from the graves at St John’s. Being the oldest church and churchyard in Canberra, heritage researchers are blessed to have before them a palette of life from early Protestant European settlement days and beyond. Catholics born in Canberra were buried at the Riverside cemetery in Queanbeyan just over the border in NSW which is as equally tantalising for heritage researchers..
[ii] The wooden cross is no longer at the grave site.
[iii] The date of death on his plaque is incorrect. It should read 29 September 1933.
[iv] This age is incorrect. If Edgar was 66 years when he died in 1933 this means he was born c1867. If he was born in 1867 that would make him 50 years when he enlisted. His correct age is most likely the 38 years shown on his Attestation papers. Calculating back from 1917 this makes his birth around 1879. This means he was more likely 54 years when he died which was the age stated in The Canberra Times.
[v] Salisbury, Jean. (2011). St John’s Churchyard Canberra 1844-2010, Jean Salisbury, Canberra, ACT.
[vi] Church of England
[vii] NSW historical records regarding Births, Deaths and Marriages and Ancestry.com
[viii] He mentions this while giving evidence in court in relation to a sheep stealing matter that was under his investigation.
[ix] Northern Times, 15 November 1916, p4
[x] Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, 1 August 1900, p5
[xi] Maitland Daily Mercury, 30 September 1903, p4
[xii] First placegetter (£12), second (£2) and third (£1). Unfortunately it is not known where Edgar came in the 1904 race.
[xiii]The Maitland Mercury et al, 28 February 1885, p15
[xiv] Mudgee Guardian et al, 17 October 1907, p19
[xv] Muswellbrook Chronicle, 13 January 1909, p1. Senior Curley was Senior Constable McCurley of the Cassilis Police Station.
[xvi] Mudgee Guardian et al, 25 February 1909, p4
[xvii] Photograph found at https://aguidetoaustralianbushranging.com/2018/07/11/jimmy-governor-an-overview/ where the caption incorrectly states: “Jimmy Governor (right) as a police tracker.” The person on the right is Edgar Spring as a police tracker.
[xviii] The Daily Telegraph 29 June 1928, p27 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/246780732?searchTerm=tom%20byers
[xix] The Daily Telegraph, 13 July 1928, p6
[xx] The front cover of the book ‘Jimmy Governor: Blood on the Tracks’ by Maurie Garland (2009) features a graphically reproduced head shot of Edgar Spring from the original photograph by W. H Smith portraying him as Jimmy Governor. The website https://aguidetoaustralianbushranging.com/2018/07/11/jimmy-governor-an-overview/ also incorrectly uses the image stating that the person on the right is Jimmy Governor when in fact it is Edgar Spring.
[xxi] Mudgee Guardian et al, 27 April 1916, p22
[xxii] Northern Times, 15 November 1916, p4
[xxiii] Enlisting officers were instructed that “Aboriginals, half-castes or men with Asiatic blood are not to be enlisted. This applies to all coloured men.” https://www.awm.gov.au/about/our-work/projects/indigenous-service
[xxiv] https://www.awm.gov.au/about/our-work/projects/indigenous-service
[xxv] Edgar Spring’s war record available at www.naa.gov.au
[xxvi] The Yass Courier, 16 February 1928, p5
[xxvii] Australian Electoral Rolls 1928, 1930 and 1931.
[xxviii] The Canberra Times, 17 June 1960, p1
[xxix] Reference required
[xxx] Reference required
[xxxi] The Canberra Times, 2 October 1933, p1
[xxxii] The Canberra Times, 5 October 1933, p2
[xxxiii] The Canberra Times, 5 October 1933, p2
[xxxiv] The Canberra Times, 5 October 1933, p2
[xxxv] Governor Generals, first Viscount Dunrossil (1893-1961) and Major General Michael Jeffery (1937-2020). Speaker of the House of Representatives Sir Littleton Groom (1867-1936)
Sources:
Aboriginal Trackers: https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/the-indigenous-men-and-women-who-helped-the-police-in-the-bush-20200228-p5458h.html
Ancestry: https://www.ancestry.com.au/
Australian Broadcasting Commission: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-18/aboriginal-trackers-recognised-for-police-work-in-nsw/8037064
Australian Dictionary of Biography: https://adb.anu.edu.au/
Australian War Memorial: https://www.awm.gov.au/
Bennett, Michael (2020): Pathfinders – A history of Aboriginal trackers in NSW, NewSouth Publishing, University of NSW Press Ltd.
Gugler, Ann: Canberra Camps, Settlements & Early Housing, https://canberracamps.webs.com/
National Archives of Australia: https://www.naa.gov.au/
NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages: https://www.nsw.gov.au/births-deaths-marriages
Salisbury, Jean. (2011). St John’s Churchyard Canberra 1844-2010, Jean Salisbury, Canberra, ACT.
Trove, National Library of Australia: https://trove.nla.gov.au/
Acknowledgments:
I would like to thank the following people for their assistance in researching and writing this story:
Dr Barbara Hill, Hon. Administrator, St John’s Churchyard Reid, Canberra,
Michael Bennett, Author of ‘Pathfinders – A history of Aboriginal trackers in NSW’ (2020), and
Tony Maple and Members of the Canberra and Region Heritage Researchers (CRHR).
