A Grave in the Long Grass (in the bush near old Ivanhoe station) - Neal Durack (10th Light Horse :^)
Channel: Kununurra Museum
Date: 21/08/2020

Patsy Durack's youngest sibling, Jeremiah John ("Galway Jerry") Durack, of Galway Downs in Queensland, was the only one of that family that was born in Australia, after his father, Michael's accidental death in 1853.  

 Galway Jerry pioneered Rosewood station with Tom Kilfoyle and Tom Hayes, before taking up the "Denham" - Dunham River station. He was murdered at the last mentioned station in 1901 by Aramanga @ Banjo, who was tried in Perth, and was acquitted of the charge. 

 JJ Durack's widow, with sons, Patsy (grazed by a bullet the night his father was shot) and Neal, stayed on and ran the Dunham. Neal was just 8 or 9 when his father died and had what was evidently a character-building childhood, brought up in a hard station environment in the East Kimberley under the conditions mentioned.

 WWI - Neal Durack signed up in 1915 and was a scout with the Tenth Light Horse Regiment, wounded at the Battle of Magdhaba in December 1916, was Sergeant by 1917. He returned to Australia and in in May 1918 Neal and his brother, Patsy, started near where El Questro is then made their way through the bush, about three quarters of the way across the Kimberley region to pinpoint Mount Barnett, adding to an almost blank plan of the region.  On the way back to Wyndham refined their route to mark out the Mount Barnett to Wyndham Stock Route, number their camps back to Wyndham. 

 On June 30th 1918 the Manager of Auvergne station (NT) for Connor, Doherty & Durack (CD&D), Archie Skuthorpe was kicked and was killed by the horse, 'Bad Luck.'  Neal was in the right place at the right time to take over as Manager of Auvergne.  He started the horse book on Auvergne in 1918, had Yates build the new "Magdhaba" yard, and instigated many improvements on the station.  He married Imelda Sellenger, who he'd brought to the station and his diaries show how in the months before, his huge order for things needed with his wife at Auvergne station.

 His diaries connect to many well known Kimberley characters, they detail who had what horses (3 or 4 each) during musters, as well as listing station orders, coming by barge on the Victoria River from Darwin. They detail his life after 1918, his first born child and wife at Auvergne, his injuries by horses and all aspects of station life.


 In 1920 with his good selection of horses he attends the Depot (Timber Creek NT) races, adjacent to Auvergne, winning big, hundreds of pounds.  His wife, Imelda, was over at Wyndham waiting for a ship to take her south to have their second child.  Neal decided to ride across to Wyndham, in hope of getting the money to Imelda before the ship left.  All went well on the ride across to Ivanhoe, where the Ord River was in flood.  Whether being wounded in WWI or injuries from horses contributed will never be known but Neal Durack's drowning took all by surprise.  His body was found by Alf Martin however the money had disappeared, so never got to his wife and Neal never got to see his second child. His grave is out in the 'long grass' on the plain in front of old Ivanhoe station now earmarked for farm development. 

Neal Durack (1892-1920).

You can see the Kununurra Historical Society's transcriptions of the Neal Durack Diaries at Kununurra Museum - 1 diary - 1918 Marking out the Mt Barnett-Wyndham Stock Route and 3 diaries Auvergne Station 1918 to 1920.