Robert Menli Lyon - The Yagan Incident

The Yagan Incident

Beginning about December 1831, a Noongar named Yagan had been leading a number of attacks on settlers in retaliation for the killing of one of his friends. In October 1832, Yagan and two of his compatriots were captured and sentenced to death. However, Lyon interceded, arguing that the men were fighting for their country and comparing their actions to those of William Tell and William Wallace. Therefore, he argued, they were not common criminals but prisoners of war and entitled to be treated as such. Governor James Stirling then agreed not to execute the men, instead exiling them to Carnac Island.

Lyon was granted access to the prisoners and spent a little over a month on Carnac Island with them. He used much of that time in an effort to learn Yagan's language. He discovered the names of many local geographic features and acquired knowledge about the Noongars' culture and traditions. This information was published in a series of editions of the Perth Gazette in March 1833, under the title A Glance at the Manners and Language of Aboriginal Inhabitants of Western Australia. It was the first information of its kind published in Western Australia and remains a valuable resource for anthropologists.

Lyon remained on Carnac Island from 8 October until 15 November 1832, when Yagan and a companion stole an unattended dinghy and escaped to the mainland. On reporting to the governor, Lyon asserted that if he had had three more weeks with Yagan, he might have been able to negotiate a treaty between the natives and the settlers. He urged the governor to pursue a treaty, rather than continuing hostilities. His advocacy against the use of force made him increasingly unpopular with settlers and the government. In retrospect, it also revealed his misunderstanding of Aboriginal culture, whose tribes acknowledged no leaders with whom a binding treaty might be negotiated.

In June 1833, a meeting was called at Guildford in response to continued calls for punitive action against the Aborigines. Lyon attended and delivered "one of the most distinguished humanitarian speeches delivered in colonial Australia" (Reynolds 1998).