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The Romance Of The Aussie Bush: Peter Lumberg

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Only the mango tree that soared and sprawled over the native scrub seemed out of place in the otherwise familiar scene. A bush clearing, a tent, a campfire, and an old bushie — an artist might title a painting The Romance of the Aussie Bush. In fact, an observer would soon sketch a likeness, though not with artistic intent and the drawing later lost amid the chaos of a murder investigation. On Monday, 4th September 1905, an assailant raised a knife in the air and plunged it deep into Peter Lumberg's throat. The blade skewered through his chest almost to the heart. Blood gushed onto nearby bushes. Probably a fatal injury, but not enough for the attacker who unleashed a frenzied assault, punching the knife so deep into the flesh it struck bone. …show more content…

Instead of a killer, his reconnaissance unearthed another body. In this instance, not one he could dispose of in the mud. Noticing wounds on the head and neck, he marched off to summon help. At the nearby Royal hotel, he recruited George Dunwoodie. "Put your hat on and come over. I think there's a man dead." Even before they turned off the road, George glimpsed the tent, a tent he suspected belonged to Peter Lumberg, and beyond the tent, a swarming cloud of flies. Although the body lay face down George recognised the man he met two days before. George worked at his mother's hotel, the Royal, dubbed by the patrons either the Parramatta after a predecessor which burned down years before or Dunwoodie's in honour of the publican. On the previous Sunday afternoon, Peter Lumberg and two friends stopped at the pub for a drink. Beyond any doubt, Peter's appearance scorched the memory of those he met. Almost twenty years before an author depicted him as, "all skin and bone, matted beard and hair forming one tangled mass, with the last twelve month's dirt accumulated on his hard, weather-beaten old face, he looked the very personification of a... missing link." All these years later, he was no prettier. Later that night Peter returned to the pub alone and chatted with George's mother on the verandah. Over the weekend, he said, he moved from the shed where he bunked down in town and set up camp near …show more content…

In hushed tones, they conjectured on the cause of death. "I suppose a drunken kanaka did it," said one woman. 'Kanaka' was the common term for South Sea Islanders imported to work in the sugar industry. Fanny McDaniel, the nearest neighbour, said she'd seen no coloured people in the area for weeks. She rejected the presumption a coloured person committed the crime, "A white man could as easily have done this." Any concern about George's custodianship proved unwarranted. He neither interfered with evidence nor brooked interference. Although courteous to inquisitive onlookers, he was steadfast in his refusal to allow intrusion. He examined both the position of the body and the suspect boot prints. He perused the layout of the site. His astute observation later enabled him to sketch an accurate representation of the murder scene, a task none of the investigating officers thought to undertake. Over at the pub, McGuire, Murray, Seaton and O'Shea returned to the cab, fortified by Mrs Dunwoodie's refreshing beverages. A homicide awaited investigation, so the intrepid crime fighters resumed their journey. This day would afford ample opportunity for boozing. The party had only begun. To borrow the official nomenclature of Mrs Dunwoodie's premises, today would prove a right royal

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