Tommy CARNAMAH
Born C.1878 [15]
Aboriginal man named Tommy who was widely known as "Carnamah Tommy" [P9]
Worked for Donald MACPHERSON on Carnamah Station [P9] [34]
He was among the Aboriginal shepherds employed on Carnamah Station, another being "Dido" Joachim DIDO [P300]
He helped George MACPHERSON find and follow the tracks of a particular horse in Carnamah on 30 March 1898 [39: 4-Jun-1898]
The horse was that usually ridden by an Aboriginal named Dick who Albert NEBRONG said had left the sheep [39]
After following the tracks of Dick's and another horse for a mile they found the body of Dick, who had died of stab wounds [39]
He gave evidence at the Supreme Court sitting in Geraldton into the alleged murder of Dick on 3 June 1898 [39]
The jury returned a verdict against Albert NEBRONG of "manslaughter, with a strong recommendation to mercy" [39]
Rode Miss MACPHERSON's horse Sunsplit in the Ladies Bracelet race at the Three Springs Races on 9 March 1911 [9: 17-Mar-1911]
He was a phenomenal tracker and if any farmers lost livestock they'd get him and he'd be able to find the missing stock [P9] [P300]
On one occasion he was referred to as "Tommy the tracker - said to be the best footprint sleuth in the world" [4: 17-Dec-1927]
Member of the Carnamah Football Club in 1913 [9: 11-Jul-1913]
Member of the Carnamah Cricket Club in 1913, 1914 and 1915 [9: 26-Jun-1914, 28-Nov-1913, 10-Dec-1915]
In June 1919 the Midland Railway Company paid him £4 for killing dingoes in Carnamah [34]
He is known to have participated in the kangaroo hunts held in Carnamah which were organised by Donald MACPHERSON [P9]
On the recommendation of Donald MACPHERSON he was approached by local farmer J. K. FORRESTER to find five horses [P300]
The five horses had broken out of a paddock of Dunester Farm on the Carnamah-Perenjori Road and couldn't be found [P300]
After going home for sugar and tea he set off following the tracks and eventually found the horses at the back of Arrino [P300]
Years later he again came to the rescue of J. K. FORRESTER who couldn't find a recently purchased £30 Dorset Horn ram [P300]
He followed the tracks from Carnamah and found the ram in a culvert near John RAFFAN's Inchgower Farm in Winchester [P300]
He is known to have on numerous occasions located missing livestock for John BOWMAN of The Home Farm in Carnamah [P9]
Member of the Carnamah Cricket Club in 1922-23 [9: 15-Dec-1922]
Accompanied three employees of the Midland Railway Company on a horse ride into the bush in Carnamah in December 1927 [4]
The three men were Percy C. MACPHERSON, George ROBERTS and local stationmaster Albert J. MORTIMER [4]
They rode towards the coast and across behind Winchester admiring the scenery and country near Mulliah / Yarra Yarra Lakes [4]
After spotting a dingo (native wild dog) "they forgot scenery, distance, time and everything to give wild chase after game" [4]
The dingo won the race but not before they rode their horses to exhaustion over many miles at great pace [4]
They returned the next day and he picked up the tracks of the dingo which they followed until sighting it again [4]
Another chase ensued, it again escaped but he then once more set upon its tracks also discovering milk drops [4]
He followed the milk drops and realised the dingo had been leading them around in a circle and had moved its pups [4]
Five dingo pups were found sleeping under a York gumtree so they killed four and left the fifth tied up along with a trap [4]
They returned the next day and found the mother dingo with one of her front feet caught in the trap [4]
After three days of hunting and two nights of camping they returned to Carnamah where grateful farmers paid them a £7 reward [4]
Farmhand for C. Harold NAIRN on Lakeview Farm situated partly in Carnamah but mostly in Three Springs [103: page 47]
He went before two Justices of the Peace at the Police Court in Three Springs on Monday 12 February 1940 [4: 17-Feb-1940]
He was charged under the Natives' Administration Act with having knowingly received intoxicating liquor [4]
His charge was withdrawn at the request of the police, however, the man who supplied the liquor wad fined £20 and 3/- costs [4]
He later worked as a Stockman on Coodingnow Station near Paynes Find for £5 per week [P424]
Years after leaving Carnamah he passed through one day and asked Miss Les BOWMAN "Missy you got any tucker for us?" [P9]
She gave him and his companion, who she described as "nice old fellows," a leg of mutton and a dish of white pudding [P9]
They went and ate them at a nearby dam and later returned with the dish from the pudding after they'd scrubbed it clean [P9]
After leaving Coodingnow Station he is believed to have resided in either Yalgoo or Mount Magnet [P424]
Died 22 May 1959; buried at the Mount Magnet Cemetery in Mount Magnet, Western Australia (Native, Plot 17) [80: 17-Jul-1959] [164]
He was possibly a brother or relative of an Aboriginal man who was known as both 'Carnamah Fred' and Fred CARNAMAH [31] [86]
Carnamah Fred lived in Yalgoo for many years, where he died in 1939 aged about 75 years [31: 18-Jul-1917] [86: 12-Aug-1939]
Is believed that he and/or Fred might be children of the Macpherson Family of Carnamah Station [P1]
| Reference: Carnamah Historical Society & Museum and North Midlands Project, 'Tommy Carnamah' in Biographical Dictionary of Coorow, Carnamah and Three Springs, retrieved 19 April 2024 from www.carnamah.com.au/bio/tommy-carnamah [reference list] |
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