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One man sits beside another on a park bench in Sydney, and tells him a story about a 'Portagee' and of theft, drunkenness and murder on a boat to Townsville.
An article on the short life of Richard Wellford who came to Australia in 1863. He and a friend, William Cole, travelled from Sydney to Rockhampton and then west to work on Rule and Lacey's station. The two then split up to work and later built a slab hut on their holding near the Barcoo River beside a waterhole used for fishing by the Indigenous People. Welford went droving and made friends with 'Kangaroo', a former native blacktracker, and brought him back to the station. When Welford and a stockman were murdered, Kangaroo was blamed and a punitive party organised. The local Indigenous People were slaughtered and much later 'Kangaroo' was also killed.
