Walter David Taylor Powell (25 March 1831 – 23 December 1906) was an English mariner and paramilitary Native Police officer in the British colonies of New South Wales and Queensland. He played a significant part in the practical implementation of British colonial rule in the coastal areas of Queensland. His role as an officer in the Native Police was central in a number of important moments in colonial Queensland history including that of the brutal crushing of localised Aboriginal resistance after the Hornet Bank massacre, the foundation of Rockhampton and the creation of the Bowen settlement. He also had major contributions in the founding of Cardwell, the coastal and South Seas trade, and the British colonisation of the Torres Strait.
Early life
Powell was born in Bampton, Oxfordshire in 1831 to Walter Posthumus and Matilda Pearl Powell. His full name was Walter Frederick David Taylor Powell. In 1838, his father was employed by the East India Company as an Archdeacon and consequently the Powell family moved to Madras. After three years there Walter returned to England for schooling. He was not academically inclined and chose a career at sea instead of finishing his formal education. He became a teenage midshipsman on various vessels including the Sutlej and the Vernon. In 1852, he arrived in the Australian city of Melbourne as third mate aboard trading vessel of Green & Co. The Victorian gold rush was occurring at this time, and Powell absconded from his ship to become a digger at Castlemaine, Victoria. He acquired not much more than dysentery and returned to England. After failing in an attempt to join the Turkish Navy he returned to Melbourne in 1853 to try his luck on the Bendigo goldfields. His prospecting attempts again were poor.
Trooper in the Gold Escort
At the time of his presence at Bendigo, the local government were reforming the armed escorts of the transportations of gold from the various diggings to Melbourne. The shooting of the McIvor gold escort in 1853 prompted this reorganisation and Powell was employed as a member of the reformed Gold Escort. He worked the Beechworth to Melbourne route from 1853 to 1855.
Shipwreck of the Reindeer
In 1855, Powell wished to again return to England, this time with the view of enlisting in the Crimean War. He joined the crew of the vessel Reindeer which departed Melbourne in August 1855. On the 5th of September, the Reindeer ran aground on Pocklington Reef in the Louisiade Archipelago. The 19 crew members managed to stock and launch the longboat from the stricken vessel and initially sailed to mainland New Guinea but felt threatened by the Indigenous people they encountered there and so decided to head south on the prevailing winds to the nearest safe British port they knew of in Moreton Bay. They started to run low on provisions at Lizard Island and subsequently went ashore at Cape Grafton to obtain food and water from the Aboriginals they observed there. Two crewmen decided to stay with the local people, but after a violent disagreement, they returned to the longboat just as it was departing with the other crew members firing upon the locals. The longboat made its way down the eastern coast of Australia, stopping where it could to obtain supplies of food and water resulting in further conflict with Aboriginals. On the 25th of November, they arrived in Port Curtis and were surprised to find the fledgling British outpost of Gladstone where they became re-acquainted with European civilisation.
Officer in the Native Police
The settlement of Port Curtis, at this stage, had detachments of the Native Police stationed there. Lieutenant John Murray of the Native Police was present at Port Curtis when Powell and the other shipwrecked crew members arrived. As officers in the Native Police were in short supply during this period, Powell agreed to Murray's offer of being enlisted as a sub-Lieutenant into the force in December 1855.