Nancy Ann Gamble

Nancy Ann Gamble

1844-1895

On one of the Islands of the Archipelago of Recherche, maybe Middle Island probably Doubtful Island an Aboriginal Woman laboured.  Assisted only by her “sisters” Eliza gave birth to a little girl child.  Her father was a White man and her “sisters” were his other wives.  The girl would be known as Nancy Gamble and the event was recorded as 5 Nov 1844. 

Her father was Robert Gamble a Sealer from Bass Strait, a man with a dubious character, but like so many of the other old sealers would gain a respectable social standing later on in life.  Her mother was Eliza (Nowen), an aboriginal woman from Pt. Phillip Bay who had been kidnapped by the sealers some years previous.  Nancy was number five but only one older sister and maybe one older brother had survived.  So here on the little Island off the coast of Southern Western Australia, Nancy began her life.  It was a rigorous life, where isolation and segregation was part and parcel for the young extended family.  Her family unit would have consisted of, her mother Eliza, and at least 2 other women, one girl Martha, Nancy’s older sister and maybe a boy, Robert.  It could also have consisted of the children from the other women.  Eliza, it seems was the only one that remained separated on the islands her entire life. Passing ships and boats that came into the islands to trade was their only contact with the outside world.

Nancy’s early life could have been centered entirely on the Doubtful Island Area which is near Bremer Bay today.  There is little known of her life before she married but presumably she would have been on the island until she would have been employable and able to earn her own wage. 

Captain John Hassell had taken up enormous pieces of land around the area, up to and including the Jeramongup Area.   Robert Gamble and Captain Hassell were both seaman and so it can be surmised that they knew each other well.  John Hassell built a Station House at Qualup which is very close to Bremer Bay and so it maybe that at about 10 or 12 years of age Nancy came to be a servant at the “Big House”.   It was at this House that she may have met William Searl a Convict that had come to work as a shepherd at the Station. Robert Gamble would later be employed by Hassell as an Overseer of the large lands from the Jeramongup area.

William Searl may have fallen in love with Nancy as she was said to have been a quite a beauty when young, or it may have been that Robert Gamble saw William Searl as being a good suitor for Nancy.  Being a convict, William would have had a low social standing in the community.  These men rarely found marriageable white women to marry. William was 27 when in a Registry Office in Albany he and Nancy Ann Gamble were married.  The recorded date was 23 Dec 1858.  Nancy had just turned 14 years old. 

They would go on to live in a small cottage in Jeramongup and it was here less than a year later that an incident happened that may well have been a family tragedy.  Terdum a local native came into the hut where Nancy and Doubtful Island Bobby, an aboriginal man were sitting and speared Doubtful Island Bob, apparently he died instantly or very soon afterward.  Terdum had been nominated by a native by the name of “Jim Crowe” to spear D.I. Bobby for trying to steal his woman from him.  It cannot be verified at this stage if Doubtful Island Bobby was Robert Gamble’s son Robert born in 1838.  All that can be said was that he was known very well to Nancy as they were in the hut together.  Nancy could speak the local language of the Aboriginal People so it would seem that Nancy and D.I. Bobby were close, especially since they were sitting together at a table when the spearing occurred. 

After the spearing of Doubtful Island Bobby Nancy continued to live on the farm and although we have no evidence that she grieved any for him there was another incident that occurred to Nancy in November of 1860 that may show that the waring between Nancy Searl and Jim Crowe continued.  “Jim Crowe” tried to spear Nancy but she was able to dodge the spear and ran into her hut to avoid further conflict.  “Jim Crowe” certainly had a vendetta towards Nancy and the Hassells.  Nancy said that she had no idea why he tried to spear her but I feel there may have been something that was none of the white fella’s business.  If Nancy was morning the loss of D.I. Bob then this attempted spearing may have been a result of her retaliation.

 The same year that D.I. Bobby was killed Nancy gave birth to her first child, a daughter Emily Mary the event was recorded as 30 Nov 1859.  Nancy was to spend quite a lot of her youth pregnant and with small children.  Emily Mary, also known as Mary would be closely followed by Sarah b. 1862, William b. 1863, Emma Jane b. 1865, Ann Elizabeth b. 1867, Susanna b. 1868, Robert Charles John b. 1869, John Thomas b. 1873, Harriet Eliza b. 1877, and Henry James b. 1880.

Over this period of pregnancy and childbirth Nancy was traveling all over the South West from Esperance to Albany up to Broomehill and across to Jeramongup.  William, her husband was shepherding most of the time but towards the end of the 19th century when fences were being used more and shepherding was required less, William started sandalwood cutting with a man that would become his son in law, Richard Burridge. 

When gold was discovered in Coolgardie, William Searl and Richard Burridge started hauling fresh water into the area as there was no water to be found in the there at all.  It was during this period that the population soared and living conditions plummeted, everyone all looking for that elusive dream of riches.  Unfortunately of course so many would never realize that dream.  There was an outbreak of Cholera and Nancy took to nursing those afflicted with this dreadful and sometimes fatal disease at Southern Cross, an outpost of the goldfields. 

Cholera is a disease that in those days was often fatal to certain parts of the population, the young children and the aboriginal population.  Nancy ultimately succumbed to this disease.  Nancy’s life was one of variety, she was able to adapt to all the situation of her life readily, and she seemed to do it well.  Her early life out on the islands had given her all the skills she needed to apply in her lifetime except an immunity to a disease that an adult white person could combat with a certain amount of immunity.  Her death was record as 12 Jun 1895.

(c) Theresa (Terrie) Lo Presti

      May, 2013

Robert Gamble - Sealer of the South Coast of Australia

Following is the story of Robert Gamble and one of his Aboriginal wives "Eliza".  I thought that I would like to blog it to get initial reaction or just to get this important story of Australian History that is rarely written about, i.e. the stealing of Aboriginal women from the South Coast of Australia, "out there".

With the push of the publish button it will be there and I hope some may read it, some may even think about it, if only that I have blogged it is all that happens, perhaps that is enough.

Robert Gamble was believed to have been born about 1808, at this point the place of his birth is unknown however evidence seems to suggest that he came to Australia aboard the ship Surrey which sailed from Cork Ireland, maybe as crew or as part of a contingent of men to help ferry convicts down to Hobart from Sydney in about 1820.   

From around 1825 to 1830 Robert was sealing in Bass Strait.  He spent 10 months on King Island where he was later accused of murdering two Tasmanian aboriginal women. 

These women were taken from their people either from the Victorian coast or from the Tasmanian coast and forced into work for the sealers.  The sealers considered these women their property and would buy and sell them accordingly.  The men found that these women were hard working, could catch kangaroo and wallabies for their skins and food as well as being able to herd, skin and process the seal.  Sealing was extremely profitable and there is evidence to suggest that Robert Gamble made a good profit from it. 

In 1830 Robert gained employment with the Government of the day in what was then Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania).  George Augustus Robertson, later to become the first “Protector or Aboriginals” in Victoria was commissioned by the government to seek out and relocate Tasmanian Aboriginals.  The main objective was to remove these people from their lands and place them on the islands of Bass Strait. 

Robert was first employed as coxswain on the schooner Carlton and then onboard the Charlotte with R.G. Robertson to navigate through the islands of Bass Strait.  R.G. Robertson believed that Robert Gamble was alerting the sealers to his intentions of removing the women from the sealers and R.G. Robertson dismissed Robert from the services of the government.

Robert now appears to go back to sealing and acquires a couple more women, these women this time coming from Port Phillip.  Eliza Nowen as she was to become known was most probably one of these women.  She was said to have come from the Pt. Nepean area.

Robert’s life now begins in the area of the Archipelago of Recheche were he is now involved with the sealing gang of John “Black” Anderson.  This man was well known in the Archipelago and was apparently an African slave escaped from America.  His reputation along with his circle of sealing men was infamous.

Robert and Eliza’s first recorded child was Martha in 1835.  She was recorded as having been born in Albany but was most probably born on one of the islands for the Recherche Archipelago.  Martha’s early life must have been extremely hard and family history states that she became deaf from an early age as a result of a boating accident. 

John, Robert and Isobella were shortly to follow all recorded as having been born in Albany however their fate is unknown and it is likely that they died in infancy and were buried in the islands somewhere.

Robert and Eliza become more involved within the community of Albany around the 1840’s and there are varying references associating him with the Hassell’s in what was to become Jeramongup and the search for coal in that area. 

As Robert becomes older he becomes more settled and by 1844 is overseer at Hassell’s property when Nancy is born.  Here Robert is to remain in part for the best part of the next fifteen years, indeed Nancy was still at the property of the Hassell’s up until and after she married William Serle.

Emma and John are apparently born in Albany in 1853 and 1860 respectively and in 1864 took up the position of Lighthouse Keeper for the Harbour and Lights Government department at Breaksea Island.  He wrote to his daughter while he was there that it was not arduous work, however it was isolated and there was a lot of writing to be done each month.

Robert and Eliza’s health deteriorated and in June 1867 they left Breaksea Island and returned to Albany where on the 28 Aug 1867 Robert passed away, followed by Eliza on the 5 Oct.  Martha also died in 1867 in September after complications in childbirth.  All are buried in the Albany Memorial Cemetery but the exact locations of the plots are unknown.

Robert and Eliza’s legacy to us as their descendents is truly amazing.  We have continued to multiply and grow as families and, I believe that both Robert and Eliza would be proud to know how varied and wide spread their descendents have become.

©Theresa Lo.Presti

and

Pat Keenan

Revised, 2009-08-20