The Rescue of William D'Oyly: Colonial Castaway Encounters and the Imperial Gaze

Abstract

Castaways and Cross-Cultural Interactions Prominent British maritime artist John Wilson Carmichael’s (1799–1868) two paintings, The Rescue of William D’Oyly, by the Isabella, from Murray Island, Torres Strait, 1836 (1839, fig. 1), and The Rescue of William D’Oyly (1841, fig. 2), depict a dramatic and once widely known episode in colonial Australian history. In 1834, whilst en route from Sydney to India, the barque Charles Eaton was destroyed in rough seas on a reef near the eastern tip of Cape York in northern Australia. It was unknown if there were survivors, although contradictory reports suggested that there might yet be hope. Almost two years later, in June 1836, the Government Schooner Isabella arrived at Mer (Murray Island) where Captain Lewis and his crew found two of the survivors, William D’Oyly (aged four) and John Ireland (aged seventeen), who were living with the Meriam people. Struggling to recall English, Ireland related his memories of events that ensued following the Charles Eaton’s demise, including the killing of all the adult survivors and John and William’s subsequent adoption into a Meriam family. John Ireland’s tale, which encompassed violence that fed colonial fears, as well as expressions of great compassion involving the adoption and care of the boys, captured public attention in Australia and abroad. Written accounts of the shipwreck and its aftermath included Ireland’s testimony (published as a children’s book), reports from rescue ship personnel, newspaper articles, pamphlets and other publications. There do not appear to be any publicly available paintings of the event apart from those by Carmichael, which are examined here. Like the written accounts, Carmichael’s works envisaged these encounters from a European worldview, and there is little documentary material revealing Islander perspectives of the events, although some information is conveyed through the European accounts, albeit in a mediated way. The artworks dramatically depict