View source for William Buckley (convict)

{{short description|English convict}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2011}}
{{Similar names|William Buckley (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = William Buckley
| image = William Buckley portrait.jpg
| caption = William Buckley, State Library Victoria, [http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/f/1cl35st/SLV_VOYAGER1664332 H30879]
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = 1776<ref name="DC" />–1780<ref name="Tipping" />{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|p= 10}}
| birth_place = [[Marton, Cheshire]], near [[Macclesfield]], [[Cheshire]], England<ref name="Tipping" />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1856|1|30|df=yes|1780}}
| death_place = [[Hobart]], [[Tasmania]], Australia
| resting_place = 
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| nationality = 
| other_names = 
| occupation = [[bricklayer]], [[soldier]], Indigenous culture recorder, public servant
| known_for = "Wild white man" who lived with the [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginal]] Wallarranga tribe of the [[Wathaurong]] nation for 32 years
| height = 
| spouse = Julia Eager, then Julia Higgins when she and her husband came to Australia
| partner = 
| children = 
| relations = 
| footnotes = 
}}
<!-- NOTE TO ANYBODY EDITING THIS PAGE - There are many so-called "facts" about William Buckley, and quite obviously the truth has been lost in a sea of myth. If new facts come to light, or if John Morgan's writings gain more credence, then much written here may be ripe for revision. Before you revise anything though, I only ask that you be convinced that you're not just following the popularised, and possibly fictitious, life of Buckley.

Addition by Grant65 4/5/06: please note that it is not clear how the expression "Buckley's/"Buckley's chance" originated. The Macquarie Dictionary tends to support the notion that the expression came from William Buckley's experiences. The Macquarie has a quid each way and says that "Buckley's and Nunn" also had something to do with it. See the talk page for more.
-->
'''William Buckley''' (born 1776–1780{{spaced ndash}}died 30 January 1856), also known as the "'''wild white man'''", was an English bricklayer, and served in the military until 1802, when he was [[convict]]ed of theft. He was then [[Convicts in Australia|transported to Australia]], where he helped construct buildings for the fledgling [[penal colony|penal settlement]] at [[Port Phillip|Port Phillip Bay]] in what is now [[Victoria (state)|Victoria]], Australia.

He escaped the settlement in 1803, and was given up for dead, while he lived among the [[Aboriginal Australians|Indigenous]] Wallarranga tribe of the [[Wathaurong]] nation for 32 years. In 1835, he was pardoned and became an Indigenous culture recorder. From 1837 to 1850 he was a public servant in Tasmania.<ref name="ADB Life sum" />

==Early life==
William Buckley was born in 1776<ref name="DC">{{Cite web |url=http://portal.archives.tas.gov.au/menu.aspx?detail=1&type=P&id=51528 |access-date=2022-10-01 | title=Buckley, William | work=Death certificate at the Colonial Tasmanian Family Links collection | publisher=Colonial Tasmanian Family Links collection of the Libraries Tasmania Archives}}</ref> or 1780<ref name="Tipping" />{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|p= 10}} in the village of [[Marton, Cheshire|Marton]] in the [[Macclesfield]] area of [[Cheshire]], England.<ref name="Tipping" />{{sfn|McHugh|2004|p=3}}{{efn|Marton is {{convert|8|mile|km}} from the town of Macclesfield.}} His father was a farmer.<ref name="Tipping" />

As a child, he was adopted by his mother's father, who lived in Macclesfield. His grandfather paid for his schooling, and at the age of 15 Buckley became an apprentice bricklayer working under Robert Wyatt.<ref name="Tipping" />{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|p= 10}} After his adoption, he was separated from his parents, two sisters, and a brother.{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp= 10–11}}

Buckley grew to the approximate{{efn|Descriptions of the adult Buckley vary. According [[John Helder Wedge]], who met him in 1835, 'with his long, matted hair, he was a most awfully savage-looking fellow, standing {{convert|6|ft|5+7/8|in|cm}} in height without shoes, erect in person, and well proportioned'.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1677318 |title=Before Melbourne Was |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=14 February 1920 |access-date=17 January 2012 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> When Buckley appeared at their camp, Englishman [[James Gumm]] out of curiosity measured him as {{convert|6|ft|7|in|cm}} or {{convert|6|ft|8|in|cm}}.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9110483 |title=Pioneering Fifty Years Ago |newspaper=[[The Mercury (Hobart)|The Mercury]] |location=Hobart, Tasmania |date=14 September 1885 |access-date=17 January 2012 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Buckley himself records his height as being {{convert|6|ft|5|in|cm}}.{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|p=12}} [[John Pascoe Fawkner]], who was also at [[Sullivan Bay, Victoria|Sullivan Bay]] when he was 11 years old, states that Buckley's height was {{convert|6|ft|4+1/2|in|cm}}.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5827316 |title=The Founders of the Colony |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=16 September 1868 |access-date=18 January 2012 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> According to George Russell who met him near the [[Yarra River]] in 1836, Buckley stood {{convert|6|ft|4|in|cm}} tall, but numerous other heights are reported, ranging from {{convert|6|ft|3|in|cm}} to {{convert|6|ft|7|in|cm}}.}} height of {{convert|6|ft|6|in|cm}}, which was very unusual for the time.<ref name="Tipping" /> According to an acquaintance George Russell, Buckley "was a tall, ungainly man ... and altogether his looks were not in his favour; he had a bushy head of black hair, a low forehead with overhanging eyebrows nearly concealing his small eyes, a short snub nose, a face very much marked by [[smallpox]], and was just such a man as one would suppose fit to commit burglary or murder." That general description was echoed by other reports of the day, although not always as flattering. He was generally represented as being of low intelligence,<ref name="Tipping">{{harvnb|Tipping|1966}}</ref> but biographer Marjorie J. Tipping stated that "according to his easy assimilation into an unfamiliar way of life may also suggest that he was intelligent, shrewd and courageous".<ref name="Tipping" />

At about 19,{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|p= 10}} Buckley enlisted in the Cheshire Militia,<ref name="Tipping" />{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|p= 10}} beginning a four-year military career. He was later at the [[King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster)|4th (King's Own) Regiment of Foot]].<ref name="Tipping" /> Because of his height, he was given the role of pivot man for the regiment. He had a good reputation with the officers. In 1799, his regiment went to The Netherlands to fight against [[Napoleon]],<ref name="Tipping" /> under the command of the [[Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany|Duke of York]]. Buckley was severely wounded in his right hand.<ref name="Tipping" />{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=11–12}}

The corps then was stationed at [[Chatham, Kent|Chatham]], where Buckley became restless and associated with several soldiers of bad character.{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=12–13}}{{efn|According to the ''Hobart Town Almanack and Van Diemen’s Land Annual'', he was among of group of mutineers from Gibraltar intent on shooting the [[Duke of Kent]], but there is no corroboration of his involvement in that event.{{sfn|McHugh|2004|pp=3–4}}}} According to Buckley, he was asked by a woman to carry a roll of cloth to the garrison where his regiment was stationed, not knowing that the fabric was stolen.{{sfn|McHugh|2004|pp=3–4}} Buckley was convicted on 2 August 1802 at the Sussex Assizes of knowingly receiving a roll of stolen cloth.<ref name="Tipping" /> He was sentenced to [[penal transportation|transportation]] to [[New South Wales]] for fourteen years{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=xv}} or life.<ref name="Tipping" /><ref name="ADB Life sum">{{Cite web |title=Life Summary – William Buckley |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/lifesummary/buckley-william-1844 |access-date=2022-10-01 |website=Australian Dictionary of Biography}}</ref> Due to the manner in which the military was prosecuted at the time, he was unaware of his final sentence.{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=12–13}} After his conviction, he never saw nor heard of his family again.{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|p=13}}

==Transportation and escape==
[[Image:Sullivanbig.png|thumb|right|Sullivan Bay, Victoria where passengers of ''Calcutta'' landed in 1803. He later lived predominantly on Bellarine Peninsula over 32 years.]]
[[File:Tommy McRae Buckley's Escape.jpg|thumb|Buckley's transportation and escape as depicted by 19th century Aboriginal artist [[Tommy McRae]]]]

Buckley left England in April 1803 aboard {{HMS|Calcutta|1795|6}}, one of two ships sent to [[Port Phillip]] to form a new settlement under [[Lieutenant-Colonel]] [[David Collins (lieutenant governor)|David Collins]].<ref name="Tipping" />{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|p=14}}{{efn|[[Penal colony|Penal colonies]] of English convicts were established in Australia beginning in 1788.{{sfn|McHugh|2004|p=2}} At the time, the Port Phillip Bay area was part of New South Wales.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Broome |first=Richard |title=A Brief Overview and Timeline of Port Phillip History |url=https://www.historyvictoria.org.au/the-judge-willis-casebooks/a-brief-overview-and-timeline-of-port-phillip-history/ |access-date=2022-10-04}}</ref>}} They arrived at the eastern side of Port Phillip Bay in October 1803{{sfn|McHugh|2004|p=4}} and landed at one of its small bays, [[Sullivan Bay, Victoria|Sullivan Bay]] near what is now [[Sorrento, Victoria|Sorrento]].{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=xvi}} [[Royal Marines]] and labourers encamped together. Skilled labourers, including Buckley, lived in huts nearer building sites. The skilled labourers were given a degree of freedom because there was more than {{convert|600|mile|km}} of wilderness to the nearest settlement at [[Sydney]], which made escape treacherous.{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=14–15}}

The new settlement lacked fresh water and arable soil,{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=xvi}}{{sfn|McHugh|2004|pp=4–8}} and a decision was made a couple of months later{{efn|McHugh said the decision was made a few weeks later,{{sfn|McHugh|2004|pp=4–8}} but they arrived in October and did not abandon the site until after December 1803. For more information, see [[Sullivan Bay, Victoria#History|Sullivan Bay, Victoria § History]].}} to abandon the site and move to [[Van Diemen's Land]] (Tasmania).{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=xvi}} Buckley and five others escaped during a rain storm on 27 December 1803, to avoid being sent to Tasmania, hoping to escape to [[Port Jackson]] ([[Sydney]]). Of the six, Charles Shaw was shot by a soldier and was captured with another convict. Daniel Allender surrendered to [[Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land|Lieutenant Governor]] [[David Collins (lieutenant governor)|David Collins]] on 16 January 1804.{{sfn|McHugh|2004|pp=4–8}} The three remaining men subsisted on rations of food that they brought with them as well as seafood and berries that they collected, but they struggled to find enough food and fresh water.<ref name="Tipping" />{{sfn|McHugh|2004|pp=4–8}} After travelling along the coast of Port Phillip Bay to what is now Melbourne and across the plains to the Yawong Hills (now in the [[Shire of Buloke]]), the men finished the last of their rations. They realised that to survive they needed to return to the bay for food. They doubled back to the west side of the bay to what is now [[Corio, Victoria]] and then to [[Swan Island (Victoria)|Swan Island]]. Along the way, they avoided huts of Indigenous people.{{sfn|McHugh|2004|pp=4–6}} The men attempted to signal a ship anchored in Port Phillip Bay without success for a week.<!---one day + 6 more from McHugh ---><ref name="Tipping" />{{sfn|McHugh|2004|pp=6–7}}{{efn|Buckley stated that the ship was the ''Calcutta'', but it had left the area in mid-December, before they had escaped. The ship was likely the ''Ocean''.{{sfn|McHugh|2004|pp=6–7}} The ''Calcutta'' and ''Ocean'' made up the first fleet of Victoria.{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=xv}}}} His two fellow travellers decided to walk back to the eastern edge of Port Phillips Bay (Sullivan Bay). Buckley decided to try his luck on his own.{{sfn|McHugh|2004|pp=8–9}}

Over the next several days, Buckley became increasingly ill due to dehydration, starvation, and painful sores from [[scurvy|poor nutrition]]. Buckley was near death when he arrived at [[Aireys Inlet]] where he found embers from an earlier fire, fresh water, seafood, and a cave for shelter. He stayed awhile to build back his strength and then he followed the Victorian coast south to a spot near a stream where he established a hut for himself of tree branches and seaweed. He foraged for plants, berries, and seafood to sustain himself.{{sfn|McHugh|2004|pp=8–9}}

==Life with the Wathaurong people==
[[File:Aboriginal Australians of Port Phillip, Victoria.jpg|thumb|Aboriginal Australians of [[Port Phillip]], Victoria]]
Buckley met three spear-carrying [[Wathaurong]] people, who befriended him{{sfn|McHugh|2004|pp=10–11}} at a place called Nooraki (Mount Defiance Lookout, [[Wye River (Victoria)|Wye River]], [[Great Ocean Road]]).<ref>{{cite document|title=Great Ocean Road and Rural Environs (105875) | publisher=National Heritage List: Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities of the Australian Government | date=11 August 2007 }}</ref> His visitors made him a meal of crayfish. They then asked Buckley to follow him to their huts, where they arrived by nightfall. In the morning the trio went on further into the woods, but Buckley communicated that he would remain in the area.{{sfn|McHugh|2004|pp=10–11}}

He returned to his hut along the creek on the western side of Port Phillip Bay.{{sfn|McHugh|2004|pp=11–12}} Winter was approaching and he was finding it increasingly difficult to collect adequate amounts of food and keep warm. Lonely and worn-down, he journeyed to the eastern portion of the bay in the hope that there were some English escapees who remained in the area. On his journey, he found a burial mound with a spear sticking out of the ground. He took it and used it as a walking stick. Further on his trek, he stumbled while crossing a stream and he was carried away by the current. He managed to get to the shore but was too exhausted to walk. The next morning, still quite feeble, he walked to a lake or lagoon known as Maamart by the Indigenous people. There he met two women who realised that he needed help, and with assistance of their husbands, they led Buckley to their huts.{{sfn|McHugh|2004|pp=11–12}} The people were members of the Wallarranga tribe of the [[Wathaurong]] nation.{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=xix, xli}} They believed him to be the spirit of a deceased tribal chief,<ref name="Tipping" />{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|p=192}} whose spear he had taken from the burial mound. Buckley was given the name Murrangurk, which McHugh says was the chief's name.{{sfn|McHugh|2004|p=12}} [[Tim Flannery]] states that Muuranong guurk means "one who has been killed and brought back to life again".{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=xxvi–xxvii}}

For the next several days, there were ceremonies of mourning and rejoicing. He was cared for and given food specifically selected and prepared to strengthen him. Buckley was taken in by the former chief's brother, sister-in-law, and nephew.{{sfn|McHugh|2004|pp=12–14}} He was adopted into the tribe about one year after he had escaped.<ref name="Dawson" /> The Wallarranga tribe shared their food with him and taught him their language, customs,<ref name="Tipping" />{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|p=192}} and bush skills. He learnt to catch fish and eels, cook in their manner, skin possums and kangaroo, and make thread from animal sinew.{{sfn|McHugh|2004|pp=14–15}} The tribe appeared to hunt and gather sufficient food. They had little illness and lived long lives. During the evenings, Buckley often shared his campfire with tribal members and told stories of life in England, on ships, and at war.{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=xxxii–xxxiii}}

[[File:Bellarine Peninsula Map.PNG|thumb|Bellarine Peninsula map. [[Breamlea]] and the Barwon area is on southwest coast of the peninsula]]
For thirty-two years, Buckley lived among the Wallarranga tribe of the Wathaurong nation on the [[Bellarine Peninsula]] of southern Victoria. He lived primarily near the mouth of Bream Creek,<ref name="Tipping" />{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=xix, xli}} now known as Thompsons Creek, near present-day [[Breamlea, Victoria|Breamlea]]{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=vii–viii}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://breamlea.com.au/main.asp?_=History |access-date=2022-10-03 |website=The Breamlea Association}}</ref> and he also lived {{convert|2|km|mile}} east at the mouth of the [[Barwon River (Victoria)|Barwin River]].{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=vii–viii}}{{efn|Barwon River is spelled Barwin River in Flannery.{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|p=vii}}}} Living on the western side of the bay, he had access to fresh water, yam daisy ([[murnong]]), [[bream]], seafood, and birds. His diet was supplemented with game—including kangaroo, wombat, koala, wallaby and turkey—that he hunted on the basalt plains.{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=vii–viii}} There were several shipwrecks along the coast in which no one survived. Buckley and other tribal members collected tools, blankets, and other items.<ref name="Dawson" />

When Buckley showed himself to be a successful hunter, fisherman, and forager who provided for himself and the tribe, he was given a wife, with whom he had a daughter.<ref name="Tipping" />{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|p=viii}}{{efn|According to Dawson, he had no children.<ref name="Dawson">{{Cite book |last=Dawson |first=James |url=http://archive.org/details/australianaborig81daws |title=Australian Aborigines : the languages and customs of several tribes of Aborigines in the western district of Victoria, Australia. |date=1881 |publisher=Melbourne}}</ref>}} A [[Buninyong]] woman, Purranmurnin Tallarwurnin, was 15 years old when she met Buckley and became his wife and she may have been the mother of his daughter. By 1881, she lived in Victoria's Western District at the [[Framlingham Mission]].{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=xxvi–xxvii}}{{efn|In 1881, Purranmurnin Tallarwurnin gave an account of her life to the superintendent of the mission station. There are varying accounts with limited detail about Buckley's relationship with women over the three decades. According to George Langhorne,{{sfn|Langhorne|1837}} Buckley stated that he never lived with a native woman, but he also stated at some point that he had a daughter with a native woman.{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=xxvi–xxvii}}}} He is also said to have been given a wife when he was single,{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=xxvi–xxvii}}{{sfn|McHugh|2004|p=15}} but there was jealousy among some of the tribesmen and he was once again single.{{sfn|McHugh|2004|p=15}}

{{External media|image1=[https://archive.org/details/livingwithlocals0000mayn/page/27/mode/1up?q=Buckley Sketch of long-haired William Buckley with weapons and a cloak]}}
He was treated with great affection and respect. "By virtue of his age and peaceful ways, Buckley ... became a ''[[Ngurungaeta]]'', a person of considerable respect among his people and his voice was influential in deciding matters of war and peace."{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|p=xli}} Buckley became expert with Aboriginal weapons, though despite this, as a revered spirit, he was banned from participating in tribal wars.{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=xxvi–xix}} During one battle, the family who had taken him in and many other members of the clan were killed. Buckley then decided to live by himself, first along the [[Bass Strait]] coast and then along Bream Creek. He leveraged all that he had been taught about foraging for food, and then he figured out how to catch fish in greater number using a [[weir]]. He also began to dehydrate and preserve food. Members of the clan he had previously lived with joined him there.{{sfn|McHugh|2004|pp=20–21}} Over time, he forgot the English language and his hair grew very long.<ref name="Dawson" />

Buckley had periods of time where he lived as a hermit, but he had become accustomed to his life among the Wallarranga tribe. For many years, he avoided meeting Europeans who visited or settled in the area.{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|pp=xxiv, xxvii}} An escaped convict, he was afraid what would happen to him if he turned himself over to the Englishmen.<ref name="Tipping" />

==Pardon==

[[File:Frederick William Woodhouse - The first settlers discover Buckley, 1861.jpg|thumb|[[Frederick W. Woodhouse|Frederick William Woodhouse]], ''The first settlers discover Buckley'', 1861, [http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/f/1cl35st/SLV_VOYAGER1654251 H26103] [[State Library Victoria]]]]
In July 1835, a ship arrived at [[Indented Head]] and Buckley learnt that some of the Aboriginal people intended to murder the English passengers and rob the ship.<ref name="Tipping" /><ref name="NLA" /> On 6 July 1835, William Buckley and a party of Indigenous people appeared at the camp site of [[John Batman]]'s [[Port Phillip Association]],<ref name="NLA" /> led by [[John Helder Wedge|John Wedge]].<ref name="Tipping" />

He wore kangaroo skins, carried Aboriginal weapons, and wore a tattoo with the initials 'W.B.' and tattoo marks.<ref name="Tipping" /><ref name="NLA">
{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8648488 |title=Domestic Intelligence. |newspaper=[[Colonial Times]] |volume=20 |issue=1008 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=25 August 1835 |access-date=28 May 2016 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> William Todd recalled in his journal entry for 6 July 1835:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Todd |first1=William |title=Journal 1835, June 8 – 1835, November 1|type=manuscript|pages=26, 27 |url=http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/f/1cl35st/SLV_VOYAGER1636585}}</ref>
{{Blockquote
|text= About 2 o'C. a White Man came walking up to the Native huts, a most surprising {{sic|hight|nolink=y}}, Clad the same as the Natives. He seemed highly pleased to see us. We brought him a piece of bread, which he eat very heartily, & told us {{sic|immedeatily|nolink=y}} what it was. He also informes us that he has been above 20 years in the Country, during which time he has been with the Natives....He then told us his name was William Buckley....being so long with the natives he has nearly forgot the English language – but the native languages he can speak fluently.}}

The tattoo of initials proved he was the convict William Buckley, who had been given up for dead three decades ago.<ref name="Webb" /> Legally, he was still a convict and could be imprisoned again.{{sfn|Pyke|1889|p=84}} Buckley had not used the English language for many years and had forgotten how to speak English, but it returned to him over time.<ref name="Webb">{{Cite magazine |last=Webb |first=Carolyn |date=2019-09-27 |title='Wild White Man' William Buckley should be household name, says author |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/wild-white-man-william-buckley-should-be-household-name-says-author-20190926-p52vbe.html |magazine=The Age |language=en |access-date=2022-10-05}}</ref> Although still intent on raiding the Englishmen, Buckley convinced the Indigenous people not to attack the Englishmen, and he promised to reward them if they remained peaceful.{{sfn|Pyke|1889|p=84}} Wedge obtained a pardon for Buckley through [[Lieutenant-Governor]] [[Sir George Arthur, 1st Baronet|George Arthur]].<ref name="Tipping" />

==Return to Western culture==
[[File:Sketch of William Buckley by John Helder Wedge (c 1835-1836).png|thumb|left|Sketch of William Buckley by John Helder Wedge]]
Buckley was employed by John Batman to be an interpreter and help build his house in Melbourne. He was then an Indigenous language interpreter for the government.<ref name="Tipping" /><ref name="SLV" />

On 4 February 1836, William Buckley accompanied [[Joseph Gellibrand]] and his party, which included [[William Robertson (Australian settler)|William Robertson]], one of the financiers of the [[Port Phillip Association]], on a trip west from Melbourne, heading toward Geelong, where they met with a group of [[Wathaurong]] people with whom Buckley had lived. From Gellibrand's diary:<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/encounters/Journeys/Gellibrand/Buckley.htm|title=Museum Victoria [ed-online&#93; Encounters<!-- Bot generated title -->}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/lifeandadventur00morggoog|title=The Life and Adventures of William Buckley: Thirty-two Years a Wanderer ...|date=4 October 1852|publisher=A. Macdougall|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

<blockquote>February&nbsp;5th, 1836: I directed Buckley to advance and we would follow him at a distance of a quarter of a mile. Buckley made towards a native well and after he had rode about 8 miles, we heard a cooey and when we arrived at the spot I witnessed one of the most pleasing and affecting sights. There were three men five women and about twelve children. Buckley had dismounted and they were all clinging around him and tears of joy and delight running down their cheeks.... It was truly an affecting sight and proved the affection which these people entertained for Buckley ... amongst the number were a little old man and an old woman, one of his wives. Buckley told me this was his old friend with whom he had lived and associated thirty years.</blockquote>

By this time, Buckley was wearing clothes of the Englishmen. As he prepared to leave the gathering, his friends were disheartened to realise that he would not be living with them again.{{sfn|Pyke|1889|p=86}}

During the course of his career as an interpreter and mediator, he tried to manage his role working for the government while also being concerned about equitable treatment of Aboriginal people.<ref name="Tipping" /><ref name="SLV">{{Cite web |title=Buckley's return to European life |url=https://ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/explore-history/colonial-melbourne/convicts/buckleys-return-european-life |access-date=2022-10-06 |website=State Library of Victoria}}</ref>{{sfn|Pyke|1889|p=87}} He felt that Indigenous people and influential white men were suspicious of him and he decided to move to Van Diemen's Land.<ref name="SLV" /> In December 1837, he left Port Phillip and on 10 January 1838 he arrived in [[Hobart]]{{sfn|Pyke|1889|p=88}} in what was then known as Van Diemen's Land ([[Tasmania]]). He worked at the Immigrants' Home as assistant storekeeper. Four years later,{{efn|Pyke states that Buckley received the position of gatekeeper a few months later.{{sfn|Pyke|1889|p=88}}}} he worked at the [[Cascades Female Factory|Female Factory]] as a gatekeeper.<ref name="Tipping" /><ref name="G Morton">{{Cite magazine |last=Morton |first=Genevieve |date=2020-06-03 |title=You Had Buckley's Chance When the Circus Came to Town |url=https://thehobartmagazine.com.au/when-the-circus-came-to-town/ |magazine=The Hobart Magazine |language=en-AU |access-date=2022-10-05}}</ref>

On 27 June 1840, he was married to Julia Higgins, at St John's Church, New Town, Hobart, by the Reverend T. J. Ewing.<ref name=Anniversaries>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23748613 |title=Anniversaries |newspaper=[[The Mercury (Hobart)|The Mercury]] |location=Hobart, Tasmania |date=12 July 1924 |access-date=20 January 2012 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> According to a contemporary, George Russell, she is said to have been as short as he was tall—so much so that when out walking she was too short to even reach his arm. To remedy this problem he would tie two corners of his handkerchief together, and after fastening this to his arm, she would put her arm through the loop.{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|p=xliii}} Julia was the 26 year-old<ref name="Webb" /> widow of Daniel Higgins (he changed his surname from Eagers to Higgins upon coming to Australia),<ref name="Linnell" /> who allegedly had been murdered by Aboriginal people while en route overland from Sydney to Port Phillip in 1839. He had met the Higgins family, Daniel, Julia, and their daughter when he worked at the Immigrant's Home. After Daniel's death, Buckley asked his widow to marry him.{{sfn|Pyke|1889|p=88}}

Buckley lived in the Arthur Circus neighbourhood of [[Battery Point, Tasmania|Battery Point]], Hobart.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Barry |first=Yvette |date=13 November 2008 |title=Shady characters of Old Hobart (Part 4): William Buckley|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |url=https://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2008/11/13/2418551.htm |access-date=2022-10-06}}</ref> He retired in 1850.<ref name="Tipping" /> Buckley was seriously injured after he was thrown from his [[Gig (carriage)|gig]]{{sfn|Pyke|1889|p=89}} at Greenpond near Hobart. He died of his injuries on 30 January 1856 at the age of 76.<ref name="Tipping" /><ref name=Anniversaries/> Buckley was interred at the burial ground of [[St George's Anglican Church, Battery Point]].<ref name="Linnell" />

After his death, his widow Julia moved north to live with her daughter and son-in-law, William Jackson, and their family. Eventually they moved to Sydney. She died there at the [[Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney|Hyde Park Asylum]] on 18 August 1863.

==Legacy==
A plaque commemorates him at Buckley's Rest, a small park in [[Sandy Bay, Tasmania|Sandy Bay, Hobart]].<ref name="Linnell">{{Cite book|last=Linnell|first=Garry|title=Buckley's Chance|publisher=Penguin Michael Joseph|year=2019|isbn=|location=Melbourne|pages=images}}</ref>

[[Buckley's Falls]] near Woorongo was named after Buckley by John Helder Wedge.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Buckley myth |url=https://ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/explore-history/colonial-melbourne/convicts/buckley-myth |access-date=2022-10-06 |website=State Library of Victoria}}</ref>

==John Morgan's ''The Life and Adventures of William Buckley'' as history==
Almost all knowledge of Buckley's life with the Wathaurung people is based on the 1852 account written by John Morgan (1792–1866), ''Life and Adventures of William Buckley''.<ref>
{{cite Wikisource
 | first = John | last = Morgan
 | title = The Life and Adventures of William Buckley, Thirty-two Years a Wanderer Amongst the Aborigines of then Unexplored Country round Port Phillip, now the Province of Victoria.
 | wslink=Life and Adventures of William Buckley
 | year = 1852
 | publisher = A. Macdougall
 | place = Hobart
 | oclc = 5345532| ol = 6571577M
 }}
</ref>
Written when the illiterate Buckley was 72 years old, it was clearly intended to make money for the insolvent Morgan and Buckley.{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|p=xxiii}} As a result, the account has sometimes been dismissed as more the product of Morgan's fertile imagination than a true representation of Buckley's experiences. Its references to the mythical [[Bunyip]] and tribe of copper-coloured, pot-bellied "Pallidurgbarrans" who supposedly lived in the [[Great Otway National Park|Otway]] forests are often cited as evidence of this. However, while acknowledging its limitations, some scholars, such as [[Lester Hiatt]], see it as consistent with "modern understandings of Aboriginal social life".{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|p=xl}} [[Tim Flannery]] suggests that Buckley's story has been "ignored or mentioned only in passing by historians" because it is "so at odds with contemporary preconceptions". Another factor, he suggests, is that "studies of Aboriginal Victoria have long relied heavily on archaeological research".{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|p=xxxix}} Flannery cites [[Edward Micklethwaite Curr|Edward Curr]], an early author of Aboriginal studies, who claimed Morgan's book gave "a truer account of Aboriginal life than any work I have read".{{sfn|Flannery|Morgan|2002|p=xxxix}}<ref>
{{citation
 | first = Edward Micklethwaite | last = Curr
 | author-link = Edward Micklethwaite Curr
 | title = The Australian race: its origin, languages, customs, place of landing in Australia and the routes by which it spread itself over the continent.
 | year = 1886
 | volume = 1
 | page = 57
 | publisher = J. Ferres
 | place = Melbourne
 | url = https://archive.org/details/australianracei01currgoog
 | oclc = 786599}}
</ref>

=="You've got Buckley's chance"==
Buckley's improbable survival is believed by many Australians to be the source of the vernacular phrase, "you've got Buckley's or none" (or simply "you've got Buckley's"), which means "no chance", or "it's as good as impossible". The ''[[Macquarie Dictionary]]'' supports this theory. The [[Australian National Dictionary Centre]] deprecates a second theory:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://slll.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/andc/meanings-origins/b|title=Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms|website=ANU School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics}}</ref> that the expression was a [[pun]] on the name of a now defunct Melbourne department store chain, [[Buckley & Nunn]]<ref>''[[Macquarie Dictionary]]'', 4th ed. (2005), p. 192.</ref> because this second explanation "appears to have arisen after the original phrase was established".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms: Buckley's Chance |url=https://slll.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/andc/meanings-origins/all |access-date=2022-10-06 |website=School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, Australian National University College of Arts & Social Sciences}}</ref>

The phrase “Buckley’s chance” spread outward from Australia with emigration and into the vernacular of other countries. For example, John Kennedy O’Brien (1907–1979, AKA Jack O’Brien) used this phrase to highlight inter-town travel difficulties following New Zealand’s Murchison Earthquake of 1929; “...from what Mr O’Brien saw of the country, the...man had only Buckley’s chance of reaching his goal”.<ref>{{cite news|title=Missing Motorists|newspaper=[[Grey River Argus]]|date=22 June 1929|page=4|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GRA19290622.2.31|access-date=7 May 2023}}</ref> Although John himself was born in New Zealand, his father, Kennedy Hugh O’Brien (1874-1927), was a native of Victoria, Australia, having emigrated to New Zealand in the mid-1890s, bringing some forms of colloquial language with him. “Buckley’s chance”, it seems, came with him.

==See also==
*[[List of convicts transported to Australia]]
* People rescued and taken in by Aboriginal people
**[[Eliza Fraser]]
**[[James Morrill (castaway)]]
**[[Narcisse Pelletier]]
*''[[Strandloper (novel)|Strandloper]]'', a novel about Buckley by Cheshire author [[Alan Garner]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{cite book | last1=Flannery |first1=Tim|author1-link=Tim Flannery|year=2002 |last2=Morgan |first2= J. | title=The Life and Adventures of William Buckley |orig-year=1852 | publisher= Text Publishing |location=Melbourne, Australia |isbn= 9781877008207| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PsPPI06M-lcC}} Also [https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/items/3cfe4f96-5cc9-4eef-8a0e-bdd44f1e4065] (Written with Buckley himself.)
* {{cite book|first=George|last=Langhorne|title=Reminiscences of James Buckley who lived for thirty years among the Wallawaro or Watourong tribes at Geelong Port Phillip, communicated by him to George Langhorne|url=https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma9916397453607636|year=1837|access-date=5 June 2023|via=[[State Library Victoria]]}}
* {{Cite book |last=McHugh |first=Evan |url=http://archive.org/details/outbackheroesaus0000mchu |title=Outback Heroes : Australia's Greatest Bush Stories |date=2004 |publisher=Viking |isbn=978-0-670-04162-6 |location=Camberwell, Victoria}}
* {{Cite book |last=Pyke |first=William Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ykk1AQAAMAAJ&q=married |title=Savage Life in Australia: The Story of William Buckley the Runaway Convict who Lived Thirty-two Years Among the Blacks of Australia |date=1889 |publisher=E. W. Cole}}
* {{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Tipping|first=Marjorie J.|title=Buckley, William (1780–1856)|id2=buckley-william-1844|volume=1|year=1966}}

==External links==
* Moore, Bruce [http://andc.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/ozwords_oct08.pdf Buckley's (chance)] at [[Australian National University]] and [[Oxford University Press]] periodical ''[[Australian National Dictionary Centre#Ozwords|Ozwords]]'', April 2011, p. 7 (folio 6)
* {{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Roe|first=Michael|title=Morgan, John (1792–1866)|id2=morgan-john-2479|volume=2|year=1967|ref=none}}
* [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/history/hindsight/stories/s1252488.htm William Buckley], Hindsight, [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] / [[Radio National]]
* [http://cv.vic.gov.au/stories/immigrants-and-emigrants/william-buckley William Buckley story on Culture Victoria]

{{Convicts in Australia}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckley, William}}
[[Category:18th-century births]]
[[Category:1856 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century English criminals]]
[[Category:Australian folklore]]
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[[Category:Convicts transported to Australia]]
[[Category:British emigrants to the Colony of New South Wales]]
[[Category:English escapees]]
[[Category:Escapees from British detention]]
[[Category:People from Cheshire]]
[[Category:Recipients of British royal pardons]]
[[Category:Convict escapees in Australia]]
[[Category:Escapees from Victoria (state) detention]]