Imposing Peace and Finding New Recruits (1844-1847)

The level of resistance the Native Police encountered in the Western District in 1843 was not repeated in following years and expeditions into the area met with fewer reported incidents. There were however reports of growing conflict further north, in the Pyrenees. In May 1844 the shepherd at the pastoral run of Mr Pettit and Mr Clarke was seriously wounded and a large number of sheep were taken by a group of Aboriginal men. Commissioner of Crown Lands FA Powlett, with four troopers of the Border Police, joined forces with Commandant Henry EP Dana and four of his Native Police troopers to catch those responsible. When they came across the Aboriginal camp and attempts were made to apprehend the men, fighting and shooting broke out.

In his August 1844 report, only 15 days into an expedition, Dana wrote that on their way to the Western District they passed through the area north of the Pyrenees where there continued to be unrest. Of the Western District itself, Dana reported all had been quiet, with no stock taken or 'outrages' committed for some time. He claimed this change was all due to the positive effect of the Native Police presence in the region in previous seasons, and stated that 'the lesson they were taught last year seems to have had a beneficial effect upon them - I trust it may continue so'.

Image 20: The annotation on this image states that Corunguiam (also known as Robertson) joined the Corps in 1845, at a time when the Native Police had begun to make their first new recruits of Aboriginal men from the Western District.
William Strutt, Robertson (Port Fairy Tribe), pencil and watercolour, 1850, in Victoria the Golden: scenes, sketches and jottings from nature, 1850-1862. Reproduced with the permission of the Parliamentary Library, Parliament of Victoria.

In mid October 1844, Dana wrote to Superintendent Charles La Trobe, reporting that there had been a remarkable reduction in conflict in the Western District compared to the previous year. In Dana's view, the Native Police had now proven themselves as a policing unit. The degree to which the Commandant's confidence in his troopers had grown can be seen from the favourable report he lodged in early 1845, generously praising their conduct in the field.

One sign that changes had taken place was that the Native Police now began to recruit new troopers from the Western District. In 1845, two new troopers were signed up from the Port Fairy area. They made an effective contribution to the work of the Native Police and in turn helped to train further recruits to strengthen the Corps. Meanwhile, the settlers continued to lobby the government to maintain levels of Native Police protection. Some of the settlers of the Port Fairy area wrote to La Trobe in 1846, praising the work of Dana and his troopers but requesting the recall of the Native Police for fear that the level of attacks would again increase in their absence.

The pattern of recruitment from areas that had recently experienced acute conflict was similar wherever the Native Police were deployed. There was usually an initial wave of defiance in response to their presence and resistance to their patrols. Eventually, however, hostilities subsided and new recruits were made from the Aboriginal people of that area. In effect, this pattern brought the new recruits and their communities into a compromise similar to the one that had been struck initially by the Woiwurrung and Boonwurrung people.