AustLit

'This is the first and only complete biography of Frederick Walker, 1820 to 1866. Mr Walker's life was one of isolation, hardship and rejection. As Commandant of the Native Police, he was the man who stood at the front line of Australian history with his true and trusty sable force. He was much abused in his day by the squatters for his careful and clement handling of Aborigines, ami des noirs. He is still much abused and neglected today and stands accused of many high crimes and misdemeanours against humanity and the aboriginal natives of Australia. These are all gross slanders and monstrous calumnies. This treatise on his life and times is a complete defence to these infamous allegations, backed with pages of original sources.

'After being driven from his command of the Native Police by petty minded squatters and disloyal officers, he took up the worthy profession of a run-hunter and opened up much grazing land in southern and central Queensland, in particular, Plant Downs. He was readily enlisted in the search for Burke and Wills, the forever lamentable tragedy of Australian heroism lost to the unforgiving Outback. Frederick Walker's final act was in the service of the State of Queensland in surveying a telegraph line from Townsville to Burketown for the purposes of an overseas telegraphic link to India. He now lies in a bush grave where he fell on the road to Floraville, Leichhardt River, Queensland. Walker was a bushman par excellence, an Aboriginal Whisperer beyond comparison and an explorer without equal.' (Publication summary)