Maitland Brown
Encyclopedia
Maitland Brown was an explorer
Exploration
Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...
, politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
and pastoralist
Pastoralism
Pastoralism or pastoral farming is the branch of agriculture concerned with the raising of livestock. It is animal husbandry: the care, tending and use of animals such as camels, goats, cattle, yaks, llamas, and sheep. It may have a mobile aspect, moving the herds in search of fresh pasture and...
in colonial
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. He is best remembered as the leader of the La Grange expedition
La Grange expedition
The La Grange expedition was a search expedition carried out in the vicinity of Lagrange Bay in the Kimberley region of Western Australia in 1865. Led by Maitland Brown, the expedition searched for three settlers who had failed to return from an earlier exploring expedition...
, which searched for and recovered the bodies of three white settlers murdered by Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
, and subsequently killed a number of Indigenous people in an incident that remains controversial to this day.
Early life
Maitland Brown was born on 17 July 1843 at Grassdale near York, Western AustraliaYork, Western Australia
York is the oldest inland town in Western Australia, situated 97 km east of Perth in the Avon Valley near Northam, and is the seat of the Shire of York...
. The son of Thomas Brown
Thomas Brown (Western Australian politician)
Thomas Brown was an early settler in colonial Western Australia, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council....
, he was educated by tutors, and in 1858 was apprenticed to his brother Kenneth
Kenneth Brown (pastoralist)
Kenneth Brown was an explorer and pastoralist in Western Australia. He was hanged for murdering his wife.Kenneth Brown was born in England in 1837. The eldest son of Thomas Brown, he later became the older brother of Maitland Brown. In 1840, The Brown family emigrated to Western Australia,...
at Glengarry. He was supposed to learn sheep farming, but was more interested in horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
breeding.
Exploration
Brown was a volunteer member of the Francis GregoryFrancis Gregory
Francis Hoyt Gregory was an officer in the United States Navy during the War of 1812 through to the Civil War, serving then as a Rear Admiral.-Early life; service during the War of 1812:...
's exploring expedition of 1861, which sailed to Nickol Bay, then explored first southward across the Hamersley Ranges to the Tropic of Capricorn
Tropic of Capricorn
The Tropic of Capricorn, or Southern tropic, marks the most southerly latitude on the Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This event occurs at the December solstice, when the southern hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun to its maximum extent.Tropic of Capricorn is one of the five...
, and later northward as far as the Oakover River
Oakover River
The Oakover River is a river in the Pilbara of Western Australia.The headwaters of the river rise North of the Wadara Range and West of the Saltbush range near Junction Well then flows in a northerly direction...
. During the latter exploration the party suffered extreme danger from lack of water, and at one point Brown saved Gregory's life by riding back to the party's base camp and returning with a supply of water. The five-month expedition opened up large tracts of good pastoral land, but little with the potential to support agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
.
In 1865, Maitland Brown was again part of an expedition to the north. The year before, three explorers, Frederick Panter
Frederick Panter
Frederick Kennedy Panter was a police officer, pastoralist and explorer in colonial Western Australia. While exploring in the Kimberley region of Western Australia in 1864, he was murdered by Australian Aborigines....
, James Harding
James Harding
James Harding was a pastoralist and explorer in colonial Western Australia. While exploring in the Kimberley region of Western Australia in 1864, he was murdered by Australian Aborigines....
and William Goldwyer
William Goldwyer
William Goldwyer was a police officer and explorer in colonial Western Australia. While exploring in the Kimberley region of Western Australia in 1864, he was killed by Australian Aborigines....
, had set out from Roebuck Bay
Roebuck Bay
Roebuck Bay is a bay on the coast of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Its entrance is bounded in the north by the town of Broome, and in the south by Bush Point and Sandy Point. It is named after HMS Roebuck, the ship captained by William Dampier when he explored the coast of...
to explore the area around La Grange Bay
La Grange Bay, Western Australia
Lagrange Bay is located south of Broome, Western Australia in the Kimberley region. It is the site of the Catholic Pallotine ‘’’La Grange Mission’’, and the Aboriginal community of Bidyadanga...
. The Panter-Harding-Goldwyer expedition had failed to return, and it was widely speculated that they had been speared by natives. When the Government
Government of Western Australia
The formation of the Government of Western Australia is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1890, although it has been amended many times since then...
learned of the missing men, it organised a search expedition. Maitland Brown offered his services and was appointed leader of the expedition. The La Grange expedition
La Grange expedition
The La Grange expedition was a search expedition carried out in the vicinity of Lagrange Bay in the Kimberley region of Western Australia in 1865. Led by Maitland Brown, the expedition searched for three settlers who had failed to return from an earlier exploring expedition...
left Fremantle
Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
in February 1865, and on 3 April it found the missing men dead. They had been speared and clubbed to death by natives, at least two of them in their sleep. Shortly after the discovery of the dead men, the expedition party engaged in a pitched battle with a tribe of natives. Between six and twenty natives were killed, with no injuries to the expedition party. Brown's journal states that the party had walked into an ambush, but most latter-day historians have interpreted the event as a punitive attack on the natives by Brown's party.
Magisterial career
Brown was appointed a Justice of the PeaceJustice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
later that year, and in 1866 was made Resident Magistrate
Resident Magistrate
A resident magistrate is a title for magistrates used in certain parts of the world, that were, or are, governed by the British. Sometimes abbreviated as RM, it refers to suitably qualified personnel - notably well versed in the law - brought into an area from outside as the local magistrate,...
at Greenough
Greenough, Western Australia
Greenough is a historical town located 400 kilometres north of Perth, Western Australia and 24 kilometres south of Geraldton on the Brand Highway. The historic buildings are controlled by the National Trust of Australia...
. During his time in the position, he became involved in a protracted dispute with the Governor
Governor of Western Australia
The Governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of Australia's Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The Governor performs important constitutional, ceremonial and community functions, including:* presiding over the Executive Council;...
, John Hampton
John Hampton
John Stephen Hampton was Governor of Western Australia from 1862 to 1868.-Early life:Little is known of John Hampton's early life. His death certificate states that he was born in 1810, but other evidence suggests 1806 or perhaps 1807; these latter figures are considered more likely...
, and the Colonial Secretary
Colonial Secretary of Western Australia
The Colonial Secretary of Western Australia was one of the most important and powerful public offices in Western Australia, in the time when Western Australia was a British colony. The Colonial Secretary was the representative of the British Colonial Office in Western Australia, and was usually...
Frederick Barlee
Frederick Barlee
Sir Frederick Palgrave Barlee KCMG was Colonial Secretary of Western Australia from 1855 to 1875; Lieutenant-Governor of the British Honduras from 1877 to 1882; and Administrator of Trinidad in 1884....
. Brown declined to obey an instruction to reverse a minor legal decision he had made, essentially on the grounds that it was inappropriate for a magistrate to reverse a decision on the instruction of the Government: "I have yet to learn that a magistrate has any right to pursue a course which in his view is in opposition to Law upon the mere instructions of the Governor"1. Hampton was angered by Brown's repeated refusal to obey him, and by the "tone and tenor" of his letters, which he though insolent. Brown eventually resigned over the issue, but in the meantime Hampton appointment had ended. Acting governor John Bruce, who agreed with Brown's legal position, smoothed the matter over, and Brown withdrew his resignation.
Brown was Resident Magistrate at Greenough until 1869, when he was appointed Government Resident and Resident Magistrate at Geraldton
Geraldton, Western Australia
Geraldton is a city and port in Western Australia located north of Perth in the Mid West region. Geraldton has an estimated population at June 2010 of 36,958...
following the death of Alfred Durlacher
Alfred Durlacher
Alfred Durlacher took part in the 1847 expedition to Gingin, Western Australia with Anthony O'Grady Lefroy....
. The following year a number of magisterial positions were reshuffled, and Brown was appointed Resident Magistrate at Bunbury
Bunbury, Western Australia
The port city of Bunbury is the third largest city in Western Australia after the State Capital Perth and Mandurah. It is situated south of Perth's central business district...
. He was reluctant to take up the position, however, and took a long leave of absence. He still had not taken up the position in October 1870 when he was appointed to a nominee position on the Western Australian Legislative Council
Western Australian Legislative Council
The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state...
.
In politics
The role of nominee members of the Council was somewhat ambiguous at the time, there being some dispute over whether nominee members were obliged to vote with the government. Maitland Brown vigorously defended his right to vote according to his conscience, and did indeed vote against the government on a number of occasions. After GovernorGovernor of Western Australia
The Governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of Australia's Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The Governor performs important constitutional, ceremonial and community functions, including:* presiding over the Executive Council;...
Weld
Frederick Weld
Sir Frederick Aloysius Weld, GCMG , was a New Zealand politician and a governor of various British colonies. He was the sixth Premier of New Zealand, and later served as Governor of Western Australia, Governor of Tasmania, and Governor of the Straits Settlements.-Early life:Weld was born near...
dissolved the Council in 1871, new elections were held in 1872, and Brown was not nominated to the new council. Although Weld denied that he expected his nominee members to support the government, the decision not to re-nominate Brown was widely seen as a sign that the government expected its nominee members to "toe the line".
In September 1874, Brown was elected unopposed to the Legislative Council's Geraldton seat, on a policy platform of opposition to responsible government
Responsible government
Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy...
. He had also nominated for the North seat, but on his election to the seat in October 1874, he refused election, preferring to sit for Geraldton.
On 16 February 1875, Brown married Amy Frances Howard, with whom he would have three sons and four daughters. In January 1876, Maitland Brown's brother Kenneth
Kenneth Brown (pastoralist)
Kenneth Brown was an explorer and pastoralist in Western Australia. He was hanged for murdering his wife.Kenneth Brown was born in England in 1837. The eldest son of Thomas Brown, he later became the older brother of Maitland Brown. In 1840, The Brown family emigrated to Western Australia,...
murdered his wife in a drunken argument. Maitland was prominent in the family's unsuccessful attempt to mount a defence of diminished responsibility, sparing neither his personal privacy nor his standing in the community in the failed attempt to save his brother from execution. Perceiving that his standing in the community had been damaged by the trial, Brown resigned his seat in the Council in March. He was persuaded to renominate, however, and was re-elected unopposed on 22 July.
Brown's views changed markedly during his later years in the Legislative Council. Whereas he had earlier argued against the necessity of an "opposition", he later became himself firmly opposed to the government. He became an outspoken critic of nearly every government measure, and was especially critical of Governor Robinson
William Cleaver Francis Robinson
Sir William Cleaver Francis Robinson GCMG was a British colonial administrator and a musical composer, being the author of several well known songs...
. For a time he was widely recognised as the Leader of the Opposition
Leader of the Opposition (Western Australia)
The Leader of the Opposition in Western Australia is the leader of the largest minority political party or coalition of parties in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia. By convention, he or she is generally a member of the Legislative Assembly...
, although on at least one occasion he repudiated the title. Brown's views on responsible government also changed. He had been one of the colony's staunchest opponents of responsible government, but by 1883 he had declared himself a supporter of the proposed change. Having been elected on a policy platform of opposition to responsible government, Brown considered it inappropriate to retain his seat after changing his opinion, so in April 1883 he resigned the seat of Geraldton for the second time. A few weeks later he was elected to the new seat of Gascoyne, which he would hold until his resignation in April 1886.
Later life
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
. Brown's wife died in early 1905, and shortly afterwards, on 8 May, Brown himself died in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
. He was buried at Karrakatta Cemetery
Karrakatta Cemetery
Karrakatta Cemetery is a metropolitan cemetery in the suburb of Karrakatta in Perth, Western Australia. Karrakatta Cemetery first opened for burials in 1899, with Robert Creighton. Currently managed by the Metropolitan Cemeteries Board, the cemetery attracts more than one million visitors each...
, but in 1911 his remains were re-interred with the remains of Panter, Harding and Goldwyer in East Perth Cemeteries
East Perth Cemeteries
East Perth Cemeteries is a now disused complex of seven independently administered cemeteries in East Perth, Western Australia. It is estimated that as many as 10,000 people were buried there between 1830 and 1919; however, only around 800 gravesites have been identified...
. In 1912, a monument
Explorers' Monument
The Explorers' Monument is a monument located on The Esplanade in Fremantle, Western Australia. It is approximately six metres high, and consists of a head and shoulders statue of Maitland Brown, sitting on granite pedestals on a granite base inset with plaques honouring three explorers, Frederick...
to Brown was erected on the Fremantle Esplanade.