Buckley's hope: The story of Australia's wild White man

by Craig Robertson

On Boxing Day 1803 a young English convict named William Buckley escaped from Victoria's abortive first settlement at Sorrento. Soon after, the settlement was abandoned and Buckley was left behind. For thirty-two years Buckley survived in the wilderness, mainly because he was adopted and helped by local aboriginal tribes.In 1835 Buckley emerged with tribal friends to meet Melbourne's founders, and quickly became an important guide and interpreter in the crucial first years of the European conquest of the Port Phillip region.

Suddenly, trapped in the rapidly ensuing conflict between two vastly different societies, Buckley found himself mistrusted by his former black friends and by his white compatriots. He was so harshly reviled that his reputation has suffered to this day.

This is a story whose time has come. With great sensitivity, and based on meticulous research, Craig Robertson has recreated the fateful encounter between Australia's 'wild white man' and the original inhabitants of the continent. Remarkably, through Buckley's eyes we can see how much was at stake and how much was lost when two worlds collided. The enthralling story of William Buckley' odyssey continues to haunt and challenge us all.

Genres: History

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is it that drives me to read this book??

The first thing that came to mind was that
I used to read a lot of True Escape stories.
It was the tension that they generated that held me - the escape from a cruel enemy or system which so destroyed one's spirit that risking death was preferable.

BUT here I find that it is the Escape into Another World that intrigues.
Yes, the penal system could be incredibly destructive, although ironically it's Enlightenment Spirit was horribly misdirected by it's heavy reliance on Solitary Confinement which sent men mad.But William Buckley did not flee into the Familiarity of a Former life but almost into Another World, onto Another Planet!!
Here he stayed for the next 32 years although it was a totally Alien World. And I think he always regretted finally leaving it.

REVIEW IN THE PIPELINE

I am hoping to glean some of the "Magic" he found there and I expect it to be subtle and simple...far from "magical".

[Amanda Witt · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this is probably a partly imagined account of Buckley's 30 or so years spent in the wild, it is still a good read, with full details of the local Aboriginal tribes and groups that he lived with for that time.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this years ago, before I had read Larissa Berendt's Finding Eliza: Power and Colonial Storytelling about the misrepresentation of indigenous people in survival stories like these. At the time, I found it a compelling fictionalised narrative based on fact, and I believed what it said about it being a unique story.
But interesting as it was, it was not a unique story, as I learned when in 2016 I read Living with the Locals, Early Europeans' experience of Indigenous Life. Living with the Locals tells the story of 9 shipwreck survivors and convict escapees who were taken in and cared for by indigenous peoples.
And I notice that later editions of the book have dropped the unfortunate sub-title referring to Robinson Crusoe...

[Joan Harthan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Categorised as an Australian classic. Interesting but got a bit tedious before the end as it is all written in 3rd person summary - basically it was rather like reading an historical account of Buckley. All telling, no showing. There were also a lot of typos which were a bit disconcerting.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not entirely sure how this arrived on my TBR but on the whole I'm thankful, as the trials experienced by William Buckley made for interesting reading. So too did the unusual friendships forged between this young Englishman and the Aboriginal tribes of Australia during the 1800s.

This novel shows how tempting a new beginning would be to someone like William Buckley, a unique soul who appeared to fit into the world like a square peg in a round hole. His life's transformation came from taking advantage of fresh opportunities, but their origins came from a world of tribal rivalries with lethal consequences he could never fully understand.

Undoubtedly, he faced many challenges during his many decades of existing in the Australian wilderness: threats to his life and that of his adoptive communities, extreme hunger, and periods of restlessness to name but a few. Perhaps one of the strangest was becoming reacquainted with English customs, and even its language.

Eventually, his experience of these two communities would prove to be both a help and a hindrance, inviting further personal difficulties as he attempted to bridge the gap between them.

Although the narration is a little stilted and awkward in places and there's also minor editorial issues where a few typos appear (particularly where a 'h' replaces a 'b' and vice versa) I'm glad I persevered. It's a subject / period in history I'd like to read more of in future, for sure.