John and Hannah Duff lived in a hut on Spring Hill Station in the Wimmera region of Victoria. Their three children; Isaac (9) Jane (7) and Frank (4) often went into the bush to gather bunches of twigs for their mother, who used them to make simple brooms. One winter morning in 1864 the siblings left home at mid morning, but failed to return.
A widescale search began, but as days passed there no sign of them. It was not until nine days later that they were found with the help of an Aboriginal tracker. The children were huddled together, barely alive.
Unfortunately we only know the tracker by his European name of ‘King Richard’. He was a member of the Wotjobaluk nation.
The Wotjobaluk tracker who led searchers to the children.
This remarkable photo of the children is held at the State Library of Victoria.
The story of their survival spread around the world. It greatly appealed to 19th century sentimentality. Above all, people were touched by the loving care Isaac and Jane provided to their little brother. At night, Jane would remove her dress and lay it over Frank as a makeshift blanket.
Gifts and tributes poured in. There was a letter from Queen Victoria, toys, and an illustrated bible from the children of Tasmania.
One man who was particularly moved was Richard Daniell, a high-end porcelain merchant in London’s Mayfair. His premises in New Bond Street still stand.
The building that housed Richard Daniell’s ceramics business at 129 New Bond Street.
Daniell commissioned a ceramic piece as a tribute to Jane, who he fondly called Jeanie. In a letter accompanying the gift he wrote;
My dear Jeanie – I must call you so, although you have never heard my voice and I never saw you. I read the sad account of you being lost in the bush and I love you for taking such care of your little brother, and I have, therefore, sent you as a memorial of your own danger and God’s deliverance, the accompanying representation of The Babes in the Wood…‘
The first Australia heard of this was in August 1865, from a piece published in the British Standard on June 16. ‘ A gentleman of genius and a lover of art, Mr. R. P. Daniel, of New Bond Street, well known in the higher walks of life of his profession both in London and Paris, has honoured us with the sight of a model in Parian china, of singular beauty.’ This was followed by a brief account of the Duff story.
Daniell sent the piece out on the ship Sussex, in the care of a Mrs Foss.
The ship arrived in January 1866, but Mrs Foss failed in her duty of care and simply abandoned the precious box. With no address label, it sat in the Hobson’s Bay Railway Company’s left luggage department for over twelve months, as lost as Jane Duff and her siblings had been.
Fortunately, someone eventually opened the abandoned box and discovered the ceramic ornament, along with the letter from Mr Daniell.
The Chairman of the Railway Company, the Honourable Thomas A’Beckett, M.L.C, took the matter into his own hands. He passed the box on to the Reverend Spieseke, from the Ebenezer Mission in the Wimmera. Spieseke, who was visiting Melbourne at the time, undertook to have the gift delivered to Jane Duff’s home.
The memento, was treasured by Jane for the rest of her life, She had also kept the lilac coloured dress that helped save the life of her young brother.
Below is a photo of Jane, now Mrs Turnbull, with the relics. It was published in The Horsham Times, when she died in 1932.
The indistinct object in the background is the ceramic statue of Jane and her brother. After much searching I was able to find a better photograph at the Horsham Historical Society.
The silver plaque reads as follows;
Presented to Jeanie Duff, 1965. By one whose eyes never saw her, but who by this memorial would express his heartfelt admiration of the self-sacrificing love and devoted care evinced by towards her little brother during their woeful wanderings for eight long days and eight sad nights when lost in the Australian bush.
When Jane died it was proposed to have the relics sent to Victoria’s National Museum, but this did not occur. Well, who could blame her descendants for being unwilling to give them up? On February 14 1972, the Horsham Times reported that the ceramic figurine was in the possession of a relative, Mrs B. Mildren, of 22 Edward Street Brunswick.
Let’s hope it is not lost, and that it will be cared for and treasured by succeeding generations.
Grave of Jane Duff in the Horsham cemetery. (Source – Find a Grave)
FOR AN ANALYSIS OF EARLY CHILDREN’S LITERATURE INSPIRED BY THE STORY OF THE DUFF CHILDREN, CLICK HERE
