The Wild White Man of Badu

Another of Ion Idriess's narrative non-fiction stories pieces together from historical records and the local stories handed down from generation to generation. This one - like a few of his other books (more below on this) is set in the Torres Straits Islands between Australia and Papua New Guinea. There can be little doubt Idriess has taken a lot of liberties to make the sparse facts fit a narrative, but it is all pretty entertaining!

This story describes the life of an (unnamed) escaped convict (from Norfolk Island Penal Colony) who, having killed and eaten his fellow escapees, lands eventually on the island of Badu. Torres Strait Islanders at this time, firmly believed that a white man was a lamar - a spirit in human form, a reincarnation returned to earth life. They should be quickly killed so that the spirit can fly back to the world of spirits, otherwise disease, death and disaster would be theirs. So as he lands, the convict is attacked, in this case by the chief.

From an earlier landing the convict thinks he knows a war cry in the local language, but it is actually the name of a god (who the people he overheard were giving thanks to). Yelling his ‘war cry' “Wongai!” he stabs the chief in the heart, killing him instantly. There are a few other coincidences which aid the narrative here. The island has been in the height of a terrible drought, and he arrived in a terrible thunderstorm. Wongai was the lieutenant of Sida, the God of Crops, brother to Kwoiam, God of War, and so the people concluded that he had arrived, reincarnated to break the drought, and lead them in cropping and war! He replaced the old Chief. Like any Lamar he recalls nothing of his Torres Strait life, and needs to be re-taught everything.

In his author's note, Idriess describes his time sailing in the Coral Sea (this sea leads into the Torres Strait) and hearing stories from the ‘greybeards' - the story of Wongai, chief of chiefs of all Badu and Mabuiag and conqueror of Moa. Reincarnated from the skies to teach the natives how to make gardens and how to make war. It was not until later that Idriess realised that Wongai was a white man. On Thursday Island, a pub called Jack McNulty's old time pearler's would tell stories of Wani, the Wild White Man of Badu. There are also historical references to him in books such as MacGillavray's Narrative of the Voyage of HMS Rattlesnake and in Dr Logan Jack's Northmost Australia, and later in the journals of Frank Jardine of Summerset on Cape York.

There are various stages to Wongai being accepted as Chief of the village, then more widely recognised as chief of the island, and beyond. There are raids and battles. There are intrigues with the network of witch-doctors. There is also the tie-in with a previous book Isles of Despair, a fictionalisation of Barbara Thompson, who was a shipwreck survivor who lived with Torres Strait Islanders on Murralug (now Prince of Wales Island) for five years before being rescued.

Overall, a quick, easy read. Entertaining, but more along the lines of what might have happened, rather than being well bedded in historical fact.

4 stars