James Davis (also known as Duramboi;[a] 1808[2][3] – 7 May 1889) was a Scottish-born convict notable for escaping custody in Australia and living with Aboriginals for thirteen years. He subsequently rejoined Western society and became a shopkeeper and interpreter.
Davis was born in Broomielaw, Lanarkshire, Scotland. His father was a blacksmith, and at 14 he was apprenticed to his father at Old Wynd, Glasgow.[2][1][4] He soon deserted Scotland and made his way to the south of England.[1]
On 19 July 1824, Davis was sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia for stealing 2 shillings 6 pence from a church box in Surrey. He arrived in New South Wales on the passenger ship Norfolk,[b] on 18 August 1825.[3][2]
In 1828 he was tried for robbery at Patrick's Plains and was sentenced to three years imprisonment at the Moreton Bay penal settlement (now Brisbane, Queensland). Davis arrived at the penal settlement on 6 February 1829.[3][2][1] The settlement's commandant, the strict disciplinarian Patrick Logan, was notorious for his excessive use of the lash.[2][6] Indeed, Logan's punishments were so extreme that certain convicts at the settlement commited murder with the intention of getting themselves hanged; preferring death to further lashing.[7][5]
On 30 March 1829, Davis escaped northward with a companion[2][7][1] (possible John Downie).[8] Apparently neither of the men had suffered punishment - it has been suggested that either the fear of being murdered or possible future lashings is what led them to abscond.[5][9]
The duo soon joined a group of Aboriginals - the Doomgalbarah people of Wide Bay.[7] Their leader Pamby-Pamby believed Davis was his reincarnated dead son Duramboi, and accepted him into the tribe as "an honoured guest".[2][1][5] Not long after, Davis's companion broke tribal law by desecrating an Aboriginal grave - removing the deceased's remains from a basket in a tree in order to carry oysters - and was killed.[1][5][8]
Shortly after, Davis accidentally killed his adoptive mother's pet dog. The woman persuaded Pamby-Pamby to kill Davis. At first Pamby-Pamby was not indisposed to do so. He accused Davis of being not his son but a "mawgooy" (ghost), and threatened to have him killed. In response, Davis gave Pamby-Pamby "such a merciless drubbing with his fists that he not only subdued his murderous intentions but induced him to forgive the death of his pet dog".[1][5]
Davis stayed with the Doomgalbarah for 12 months.[6] He eventually travelled hundreds of miles from Brisbane and learned the languages and customs of many tribes.[2][1] All of these tribes treated him as a reincarnated Aboriginal man. For each tribe, Davis would assume the identity of a recently deceased tribesman, but over time these lies became increasingly difficult to maintain. On the occasions that Davis wasn't "recognised", he would claim he had forgotten his name after his "death".[1]
He eventually settled with the Ginginbarrah people,[5][6] who similarly claimed him as a fighting man's son.[6] He was allotted a flat named Toon about eight miles off the Mary River.[5]
On 12/13 May 1842, Davis was found by tradesman and explorer Andrew Petrie in Wide Bay, amongst the Ginginbarrah tribe.[2][1][6] Petrie's party was travelling northwards from Brisbane when he came across "the wild white man".[10][2] They had recently located another convict escapee named David Bracewell (known as Wandi), who had spent seven years amongst the Aboriginals.[1][11][5]
Petrie and his party planned to bring Davis back to Western society. Bracewell and an Aboriginal man from Moreton Bay managed to sneak into the Ginginbarrah encampment unnoticed. Then two of Petrie's men, armed with guns, went towards the encampment to secure Davis. The operation was so risky that the men were promised improved conditions if successful.[1]
Bracewell and the Moreton Bay native were recognised and received by the Ginginbarrah. The two convicts were spotted from a distance, prompting the natives to prepare to spear them. Bracewell and Davis communicated and managed to convince the Ginginbarrah to spare the two convicts.[1]
Petrie persuaded Davis to accept that it was safe to return to Brisbane with the cessation of transportation.[2] Once assured of his freedom, Davis ran towards the convicts and surrendered. Davis accused Bracewell of betraying him to mitigate his own sentence. Bracewell, enraged, began singing a war song, causing Davis to rush off towards Petrie's party.[1]
"I shall never forget his appearance when he arrived in our camp – a white man in a state of nudity, and actually a wild man of the woods; his eyes wild and unable to rest a moment on any one object. He had quite the same manner and gestures that the wildest blacks have got. He could not speak his 'mither's tongue,' as he called it. He could not pronounce English for some time, and when he did attempt it, all he could say was a few words, and those were often misapplied, breaking off abruptly in the middle of a sentence with the black gibberish, which he spoke very fluently. During the whole of our conversation his eyes and manner were completely wild, looking at us as if he had never seen a white man before. In fact, he told us he had forgotten all about the society of white men, and had forgotten all about his friends and relations for years past, and had I or someone else not brought him from among those savages he would never have left them."
— Andrew Petrie's diary[1]
Davis had forgotten the English language, and "could only tell his name and place".[3] Petrie and his group were the first white people Davis had seen since first encountering Bracewell around 1832.[3][11]
Davis's chest was tattooed with parallel horizontal scars. He had scars of old wounds in his backs and legs.[5] Davis was described as taller than Bracewell and well-built.[5] According to a contemporary report by The Australian, Davis "was naked, besmeared and cut the same as the natives. He is equally as expert in climbing a tree, [etc], as they are. Both [Davis and Bracewell] can give much information to the Government, and as they have been the means of saving the lives of Mr. Petrie and party, I doubt not but they will receive their free pardons."[3]
Davis relearned English and gradually fitted back into Western society.[2] In later life, Davis was unwilling to discuss his experiences in the bush.[6]
Davis became employed by land commissioner Stephen Simpson.[2][1] Later he became a blacksmith at Kangaroo Point.[5][2] In 1864 he established a crockery shop in George Street.[2]
He occasionally worked as an court interpreter for Aboriginal people. In 1866 he unsuccessfully petitioned the governor to raise his salary to the standards of other interpreters. Davis also gave some descriptions of Aboriginal rites, with the exception of one apparently obscene ceremony.[2]
Davis is the subject of a 1893 painting by Swedish artist Oscar Fristrom.[12]
On 3 November 1846, Davis married Annie Shea; she died in 1882. On 28 July 1883 he married Irish-born widow Bridget Hayes.[2]
Davis died in Brisbane on 7 May 1889.[2][3] He is buried in Toowong Cemetery.[3]
According to Davis's obituary in The Brisbane Courier, "his career included some of the strangest experiences that have ever fallen, perhaps, to any man in this colony, and are on a par with those of the once famous "Crusoe" of Victoria".[4]
Under his will, he donated £750 in 1889 and £1100 in 1911 to the Brisbane General Hospital.[2]