Ayaiga

Last updated

Ayaigar
Portrait of Aya-I-Ga, also known as Neighbour.jpg
Ayaigar
Personal details
Bornc.1882
Roper River region
Died21 June 1954(1954-06-21) (aged 72)
Nationality Australian citizenship
OccupationTracker and stockman

Ayaiga, also known as Ayaigar, Aya-I-Ga, Neighbour or Nipper (c.1882 - 21 June 1954) was a police tracker and stockman in the Northern Territory of Australia. He was the first Indigenous person to be a recipient of a medal for gallantry in Australia, for saving a policeman from drowning.

Contents

Biography

Ayaigar's Albert Medal for Lifesaving Albert Medal presented to Aya-I-Ga, also known as Neighbour, for gallantry.jpg
Ayaigar's Albert Medal for Lifesaving

Ayaiga was of the Alawa language group in the Roper River region. He worked as a police tracker at Roper Bar Police Station and as a stockman at Nutwood Downs and Hodgson Downs stations. [1]

In 1911, Ayaiga saved the life of Mounted Police Constable William Johns during a river crossing. [2] Ayaiga and three other men had been arrested for cattle stealing and was being transported in neck chains by Constable Johns. While attempting to cross the Wilton River, Johns' horse overturned kicking him in the head and knocking him unconscious. [3] Despite the neck chain, Ayaiga quickly rescued Johns, dragging him to safety. Ayaiga then borrowed Johns' horse and rode to Hodgson Downs Station to request help. He was not convicted of cattle stealing. [4] Then on 16 February 1912 he was awarded the Albert Medal for Lifesaving by King George V at Government House, [5] making him the first Indigenous Australian awarded a medal for gallantry. [6] [lower-alpha 1] He was not permitted to keep the medal, which was kept for him by the government to wear on special occasions. [8]

He wore the medal in February 1915, while on trial for murder. He was acquitted. [9] [10] [11] [8]

In 1940, he ferried supplies and rescued people stranded by the flooded Roper River. [11]

Constable Johns' grandson, sculptor Greg Johns, created a sculpture inspired by Ayaiga's story. It is on display at Northern Territory Library. Another of Johns' grandsons is ABC sports broadcaster Charlie King. [8]

His medal is held at the National Library of Australia. A replica is on display at the Northern Territory Library. [11] [3]

Notes

  1. Some sources indicate he also won a medal from the Royal Humane Society medal. [7] There are no other reputable sources to support this.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Territory Police Force</span> Australian law enforcement agency

The Northern Territory Police Force is the police body that has legal jurisdiction over the Northern Territory of Australia. This police service has 1,607 police members made up of 83 senior sergeants, 228 sergeants, 912 constables, 220 auxiliaries, and 64 Aboriginal Community Police Officers. The rest of the positions are members of commissioned rank and inoperative positions. It also has a civilian staff working across the NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services.

The Alawa people are an Indigenous Australian people from Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. The suburb of Alawa in the Darwin's north, is named in their honour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King's Gallantry Medal</span> United Kingdom decoration awarded for exemplary acts of bravery

The King's Gallantry Medal (KGM), formerly the Queen's Gallantry Medal (QGM), is a United Kingdom decoration awarded for exemplary acts of bravery where the services were not so outstanding as to merit the George Medal, but above the level required for the King's Commendation for Bravery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Medal for Lifesaving</span> British medal for saving a life

TheAlbert Medal was a British decoration instituted to recognize the saving or endeavouring to save the lives of others. It existed from 1866 until 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian native police</span> Colonial military force used in Australia

Australian native police were specialised mounted military units consisting of detachments of Aboriginal troopers under the command of White officers appointed by colonial governments. These units existed in various forms in colonial Australia during the nineteenth and, in some cases, into the twentieth centuries. From temporary base camps and barracks, Native Police were primarily used to patrol the often vast geographical areas along the colonial frontier in order to conduct raids against aboriginals or tribes that had broken the law and punitive expeditions against Aboriginal people. The Native Police proved to be a brutally destructive instrument in the disintegration and dispossession of Indigenous Australians. Armed with rifles, carbines and swords, they were also deployed to escort surveying groups, gold convoys and groups of pastoralists and prospectors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Picnic Day (Australian holiday)</span>

Picnic Day is a public holiday in the Northern Territory of Australia which takes place every year on the first Monday of August.

Joe Flick was an Indigenous Australian outlaw famous for being one of the few people to have killed a Native Police officer. He also wounded the well-known British colonist Frank Hann in a shootout at Lawn Hill Station in the colony of Queensland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Foelsche</span>

Paul Foelsche was a South Australian police officer and photographer born in Germany, remembered for his work in the Northern Territory of Australia from 1870 to 1904.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Durrie Station</span> Pastoral lease and cattle station in Queensland

Durrie Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in Queensland, Australia.

Coolibah Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Willshire (policeman)</span>

William Henry Willshire was an Australian police officer who worked in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. He was the first police officer to be charged for murder in Australian history, after killing a group of Aboriginal people at Tempe Downs Station.

The Bilinarra, also spelt Bilingara and Bilinara, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory.

The Djaru people are an Aboriginal Australian people of the southern Kimberley region of Western Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William George Murray</span>

William George Murray was a constable in the Northern Territory Police force who, in 1928, led a series of punitive expeditions against Aboriginal Australians that became known as the Coniston massacre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Watson (cattle station manager)</span>

John Watson was a frontier cattle station manager, drover, and murderer in the British colony of Queensland and in the Northern Territory. He was renowned for his fearless behaviour and also his sadistic brutality toward Indigenous Australians. He was called "The Gulf Hero" due to much of his fame being achieved while working on pastoral properties located in the Gulf Country.

The Special Honours Lists for Australia are announced by the Sovereign and Governor-General at any time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augustus Lucanus</span>

Augustus Lucanus or August Lucanus was a police officer and businessman in British colonial Australia. He played an important role in facilitating the colonisation of various goldfield regions in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. As both a police officer and civilian, Lucanus helped lead numerous punitive expeditions against Indigenous Australians resulting in multiple massacres of these people.

The Special Honours Lists for Australia are announced by the Sovereign and Governor-General at any time.

The Special Honours Lists for Australia are announced by the Sovereign and Governor-General at any time.

References

  1. "Remembering a hero called "Neighbour"". Northern Land Council. Northern Land Council. Archived from the original on 18 February 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  2. Johns, John Robert; Lewis, D. (Darrell); Historical Society of the Northern Territory (1998), Patrolling the 'Big Up' : the adventures of Mounted Constable Johns in the Top End of the Northern Territory, 1910-1915, Historical Society of the Northern Territory, ISBN   978-1-876450-00-7
  3. 1 2 "The Story of Ayaiga | Northern Territory Library". ntl.nt.gov.au. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  4. "News & Notes". Northern Territory Times and Gazette . Vol. XXXVI, no. 1946. Northern Territory, Australia. 24 February 1911. p. 3. Retrieved 29 November 2017 via National Library of Australia.
  5. "Northern Territory Times". Northern Territory Times and Gazette . Vol. XXXVII, no. 2041. Northern Territory, Australia. 19 December 1912. p. 2. Retrieved 29 November 2017 via National Library of Australia.
  6. Gibson, Jano (6 May 2011). "Heroic Aboriginal prisoner's medal on display". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC News. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  7. "Film negative - Neighbour, a recipient of the Albert Medal bravery award, Roper River, Northern Territory, photographed by Herbert Basedow, 1928". Collection explorer. National Museum of Australia. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 Everingham, Sara. "Brave indigenous digger finally recognised". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 7.30. Archived from the original on 28 August 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  9. "News & Notes". Northern Territory Times and Gazette . Vol. XXXIX, no. 2154. Northern Territory, Australia. 18 February 1915. p. 13. Retrieved 29 November 2017 via National Library of Australia.
  10. "Supreme Court of the Northern Territory of Australia". Northern Territory Times and Gazette . Vol. XXXIX, no. 2158. Northern Territory, Australia. 18 March 1915. p. 9. Retrieved 29 November 2017 via National Library of Australia.
  11. 1 2 3 McCarthy, Malarndirri (6 May 2011). "Albert medal for gallantry by an aboriginal territorian on display". Northern Territory Government Newsroom. Northern Territory Government. Retrieved 29 November 2017.