Monday, June 22, 2015

THE ADVENTURES OF DON QUIXOTE IN AUSTRALIA #3

After having been harassed and pushed about  by authorities in Spain and France  for  many years, anarchist  Salvador Torrents  and his  friend , Juan Jordana , were pleasantly surprised  to be  treated  respectfully as  passengers aboard the  SS Osterley  which left Marseilles for Australia in 1915.    Torrents compiled  a  detailed  account of the trip  and sent  back  details   to   family and  friends  in Spain , including  his wife and  daughter he  had  been   forced   to   leave behind. Torrents's  ideology  gave  him  further  insight  into  the  gross inequalities and  injustices of  the  world.

At each  port of call Torrents  went  ashore   and bought  postcards , some of which  are  in the Special Collections at  the Eddie Mabo Koiki Library, James Cook University, Townsville . Sent   from   Port  Said ,   the  postcard  below contained critical  comment about  the slave like treatment of  workers in  Egypt. 
In Colombo ,Ceylon,  he was extremely critical of  the  British and deplored the sight of  skinny rickshaw men  pulling well-fed and well-dressed people about .
 
By Peter Simon
 
Through  their  Spanish  friends in  Melbourne ,Torrents  and Jordana   obtained work on a market garden in North Essendon . Torrents had  expected  the old world's harsh ways to  have less sway in  far away Australia  but   found it gripped by  the distant war which had extracted a terrible toll . He deplored  the heavy  drinking in Melbourne , which had also  been noticed among  Australians  aboard  ship . Nevertheless  the modernness  of Melbourne   found favour.    The  French p , below, was  sent  to  Torrents at  Essenden.
       
After paying  back  the ship fare  advance ,  the  two close friends made  their  way to North  Queensland seeking  work  as  canecutters, postcards  bought along the way included  views of  Mosman  Bay ,Sydney, and  Hamilton, Brisbane .

During  the war ,  in an attempt to start new  local industries, the Australian government offered  new settlers cheap  land  for sugar plantations in Queensland . Hard working Torrents and  Jordana  pooled  their money and  took up 60 acres of rainforest at Mena Creek, near Innisfail, which they converted  into  a  farm  to which  they  brought  their  families in 1920.

Found by this writer  inserted  in  a  book at the university   is  the above 1944  receipt, one of  two  for sugarcane crushed for  Jordana  and Torrents at  the  South Johnstone co-operative  mill.
Among the many other surprises in the Salvador Torrents collection at  James Cook University  are a number of  early  Northern Territory Edward Reichenbach  Ryko  real photo postcards. Born in Australia of German descent, Ryko, 21, rode a bicycle from Adelaide to Darwin  in  1915 and travelled about the Top End taking thousands of photographs , a small number surviving , of  the  isolated  part of the nation .  Some  of  the  postcards  are shown below . 
East Arnhem Land tribesmen.
With competition from pigs, gathering "famous" red lily roots , Daly River. 
 
Armed  Coburg warriors.
Ryko opened a shop in Darwin but left the Territory in 1917 because the military wrongly regarded him  as a German spy. Later he worked in the railways and became a noted botanist  and student of natural history. The Northern Territory Library ran Ryko. A Wild Life exhibition to mark  the centenary of his epic bicycle   ride across the  continent . Ryko's reconstructed bicycle was  used  in the celebration.  
A staged photograph showing Ryko  under  attack
There are  other early  postcards , some taken in Queensland , not indicated as having  been taken by Ryko , including  the  following 1905 posed  shot  of subjects carrying  shields and  wearing   nameplates.

In the interesting Torrents's book collection  is  a copy of  In Australian Tropics , by Alfred Searcy , an early Territory  Customs officer  based  in  Darwin  for 14  years from  1882, later a South Australian parliamentary clerk. NEXT: Researching   Torrents's  strong interest in  the Northern Territory , a Spanish connection   is   found  during  a  tumultuous  time  in  Darwin .