King O'Malley
Here is the story of a man who came to Emu Park suffering from
tuberculosis, but he came prepared to die, for he brought his coffin with him.
He was an American, named King O’Malley.
King O’Malley, a Californian who was suffering from
tuberculosis, was told by a sailor that if he went to Australia, to a place
called Rockhampton, he would be cured of his complaint. So he induced a captain
of a ship leaving for Australia and the port of Rockhampton to take him on
board. O’Malley was so sick he did not think he would live to reach Australia,
so he had a lead coffin made so that if he died on the voyage, he could be
buried at sea, without having to be sewn up in canvas, thus saving the captain
and sailors a lot of bother.
He survived the voyage to Port Alma where he and his coffin
were put ashore. Two fishermen on the wharf asked where he was heading for; O’Malley
said he wanted to find a place where he could live in the sun as he was very
sick. They told him they were going fishing, but they would drop him off at Emu
Park, as it was deemed a health resort. They told him there were fine beaches
and he could find a place to stay. He felt so sick and could hardly stand, so he
accepted their offer, said goodbye to his coffin and departed with the
fishermen.
They put him ashore on a small beach between Rocky Point and
Zilzie. O’Malley saw a cave there and stooped to get into it, he lay down
where the sun would shine on him and closed his eyes, too ill to care what
happened to him.
A tall aborigine named Coowonga carried him some distance and
put his down gently in a rough shelter built of logs and bark. It overlooked a
lovely stretch of beach and ocean. Coowonga left O’Malley and went back to the
cave to get his belongings. When he returned, he pointed to the cave and O’Malley
realised that if Coowonga had not found him and carried him from the cave he
would have been drowned by the incoming tide.
He had to rely on Coowonga for a great deal of help and care,
but the aborigine seemed pleased to be of service. At last, after nearly two
years, O’Malley felt he was growing strong again, and it was wonderful to be
able to breathe freely again and be free of the racking cough.
One morning Coowonga came to O’Malley and said, "We all
go walkabout, too many white men come. Kangaroo and Emu he go, we go too, you no
want me now." But O’Malley decided to go too; so he packed his few
belongings and made ready to leave Emu Park.
While in Rockhampton he offered Coowonga a sum of money in
appreciation of all the services he had rendered him, but Coowonga refused the
money and picking up O’Malley’s swag headed off in a southerly direction. He
went a few miles along with King, then suddenly he handed King’s swag back and
disappeared into the bush. O’Malley never heard of, or ever saw him again.
O’Malley travelled on foot all the way to Brisbane, meeting
a few people on the way. This man was destined to become one of Australia’s
great men. He came to Emu Park in the early part of Emu Park’s history
prepared to die, but God provided him with a "Man Friday" who saved
his file and nursed him back to health, to become the founder of the
Commonwealth Bank of Australia and to conceive the building of the
Transcontinental Railway. He was Minister for Home Affairs from 1910 to 1913 and
1915 to 1916, King O’Malley died on December 20th, 1953, at the age
of 99 years and 6 months.
Was it the climate of Emu Park, the good nursing by an
Aborigine, or the Burdekin plums that prolonged the life of this great man. O’Malley
always maintained that Emu Park was the finest health resort in the world. Emu
Park lost a great attraction when the cave that sheltered this great and
wonderful man, collapsed into the sea during the heavy rains, high winds and
rough seas, experienced in February and March 1890.
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