Australian Dictionary of Biography

Jumbo (c. 1855–1886), also known as Sambo, labourer, prisoner, and inquiry attestant, was a Yamatji man from the Murchison, Western Australia, probably born around 1855 to parents whose names are no longer known. He was from Gulleway, near Mount Magnet, east of the Irwin District, on Badimia Yamatji Country. Wyadong and Jack, also known as Doughboy, were his brothers, and Windedong was his sister. Windedong did not know her own father but may have been raised by Jumbo’s.

Sometime in his youth Jumbo made his way west to the Irwin District, on Southern Yamatji Country (belonging to Nhanhagardi, Wilunyu, and Amangu peoples). Colonists had begun moving into this region in the 1850s to graze cattle and sheep, leading to sustained conflict with local Yamatji over many years. Despite this, traditional food remained plentiful and Yamatji continued to speak their languages and undertake their cultural practices. This began to change in the late 1860s, during Jumbo’s formative teen years, when smallpox struck the community. The disease was new to Yamatji. With little knowledge of how this untreatable disease spread, many were compelled to come into contact with the colonists: some sought medical care, others were forcibly vaccinated, and many who were too ill and demoralised to fend for themselves became dependent on government-issued rations.

As a young man, stout and five feet seven inches (170 cm), Jumbo spent the 1870s and 1880s sporadically working for settlers in the Irwin District and was considered ‘partly civilised’ (West Australian 1883, 3) by Thomas Oliver, a settler living in the area. At some point Jumbo was arrested for stealing flour and sent to the prison at Rottnest Island, also known as Wadjemup, part of Whadjuk Noongar boodja. After his release he was attached to the police station at Bannister, Noongar Country, most likely as a tracker; former prisoners were often involuntarily assigned as trackers or labourers after their sentence. However, he deserted in April 1881 to return to Yamatji Country.

In late July 1882 Jumbo heard that his brother Doughboy had been killed by Wilbiculla, his sister Windedong’s husband, and said in front of Oliver that if it was true he would kill the man, as indeed he was obliged to do under Aboriginal law. During daylight hours on 1 August, he and two other men, Wyatooka and Miagoo, went to Oliver’s property where the couple lived and worked as shepherds. They initiated payback by first stripping naked and then hurling spears at Wilbiculla who was making a kylie (boomerang) at the time while his wife sat by his side. Jumbo’s spear struck Wilbiculla in the torso, proving fatal.

Jumbo was apprehended by Police Constable William Doran on 28 August 1882 and remanded in custody. On 19 September he was brought to Dongara Police Station, Courthouse, and Gaol and charged with murder. When he appeared again on 30 November, he, Wyatooka, and Miagoo were committed for trial, to be held on 8 January 1883 at the Supreme Court in Perth before Chief Justice Henry Thomas Wrenfordsley.

At his committal Jumbo had admitted to throwing his spear at the deceased, a statement read to the court at trial. But his lawyer, John Horgan, argued that he was not guilty of murder since he was acting in accordance with Aboriginal law. Horgan insisted that Jumbo and the other prisoners did not understand English law and did not realise that ‘it could supersede their own tribal law’ (Herald 1883, 2). He ‘dwelt on the fact that … Europeans had taken possession of their country, unasked … [and] had grossly neglected our duty towards these natives’ (West Australian 1883, 3). Instead of punishing the men, Horgan suggested that itinerant instructors be appointed to teach Aboriginal people about English law. The judge disagreed, advising the jury that the accused were to be treated as British subjects, ‘and as they were protected by English law were subject to its penalties’ (Herald 1883, 2). The jury found the three men guilty of murder and they were sentenced to death, subsequently commuted to life imprisonment on Rottnest Island.

Jumbo was well liked by the prison administration and was popular among the other inmates, but he was not happy at the prison. In 1884 he was selected to testify at a commission of inquiry investigating overcrowding, disease, and death at the prison, and the broader problem of how Aboriginal people were treated in the colony, particularly in the north. Jumbo complained that:

At night it is very cold. My blanket is old and thin. The food is not good, there is something wrong with it. The bread is not good, there is salt or something in it. No potatoes. I like potatoes … I do not like Rottnest at all. I would rather be away, even in chains, than here. (WA Commission 1884, 13)

His greatest worry was that he would get sick and die on the island.

In 1885 Jumbo’s long sentence, amenable character, and English language proficiency earned him a spot on a training program initiated in response to the inquiry by the new superintendent at Rottnest, Henry Timperley. Jumbo learnt carpentry and ploughing, was put in charge of the superintendent’s dogs, and tended to the pigs and the garden. In May 1886 he was sent to the prison hospital suffering from bronchitis, and the following month was diagnosed with inflammation of the lungs and considered to be in a critical state. Timperley supplied him with his own medication, but Jumbo died on 28 June 1886, leaving his fellow prisoners in a state of ‘gloom’ (SROWA AU WA S675). He is one of 365 Aboriginal men who were buried on Rottnest Island during its time as a prison.

Shino Konishi is a Yawuru woman and Ann Curthoys is of British descent. Curthoys was born on Gadigal Country and worked on Jumbo’s story while living in Whadjuk Noongar and then Gadigal Country. Alexandra Ludewig is of German descent and lives and works on Whadjuk Noongar boodja.