Australian Dictionary of Biography

Galmahra (c. 1833–1854), better known as Jackey Jackey, guide, was a member of an Aboriginal language group of the Merton district near Muswellbrook, New South Wales, possibly Wanarruwa. He was probably little more than a boy when, in April 1848, he was selected to accompany the explorer Edmund Kennedy on his expedition to Cape York Peninsula. He soon acquired a reputation for hard work, sagacity, and superb bushcraft. As privation and disaster gradually overcame the party, he steadily emerged as one of its strongest members. The worse conditions became, the more it seemed he could be relied on. Finally a rear party was left at Weymouth Bay; Jackey Jackey and Kennedy pressed on towards Cape York, first with three others, then alone, only to find that they were trapped by the mangroves and swamps of the Escape River within a few miles of the waiting supply ship. There Aboriginal warriors attacked them, and Kennedy was killed; although still in danger, Jackey Jackey buried him before making his own escape. With heroic tenacity he made his way at last to the supply ship, reaching it about a fortnight later on 23 December 1848. He was completely exhausted, but could not rest the first night of his return, grieving for Kennedy.

The deep rapport between Kennedy and Jackey Jackey was further demonstrated in May 1849 when, under Captain T. Beckford Simpson, Jackey Jackey served as guide on an expedition to locate any other survivors and find Kennedy’s body. They were unsuccessful, but Simpson praised Jackey Jackey’s skill, modesty, respectful manner, and devotion to Kennedy’s memory.

On his return Jackey Jackey was given a silver breastplate by Governor Sir Charles FitzRoy and a government gratuity of £50. The name Jackey Jackey (also Jacky Jacky) quickly became a nickname the colonisers used, often derisively, for Aboriginal people. Later, when used by Aboriginal people, it came to mean a collaborator or subservient Aboriginal person.

Jackey Jackey died in 1854. A portrait of him by Charles Rodius (1849) shows his youth, his sensitivity, and some degree of his suffering. A monument was erected in his honour at Bamaga, Queensland, in 1960.

♦♦  This article was revised on 11 July 2025