Patrick Cahill

Patrick "Paddy" Cahill (c. 1863 – 4 February 1923) was a buffalo hunter, farmer, and protector of Aborigines in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Biography

Cahill was born in around 1863 in Laidley, Queensland and was the son of Thomas and Sarah Cahill. His father was a blacksmith and his birth was not registered.

Cahill moved to the Northern Territory in 1883 when he and his brothers (Tom and Matt) joined Nathaniel Buchanan overlanding (droving) 20,000 cattle from western Queensland to Wave Hill Station; he and his brothers then stayed on to manage the station and later Delamere Station and Gordon Downs Station as well.

Soon after Cahill became aware of 60,000 water buffalo in the Alligator River floodplains, near Darwin, and entered into a partnership with William Johnson to shoot them for their hides and horns. They employed groups of Aboriginal people to assist them and hunted primarily in the Dry Season in semi-mobile camps throughout the region. During this period he is credited as being one of the first to shoot buffalo from horseback and much of his success has been attributed to his horse St Lawrence who was considered particularly fast and intelligent.

From December 1898 to March 1899 Cahill wrote a series of seven newspaper articles, entitled "In the Northern Territory buffalo country" for the Northern Territory Times and Gazette. While visiting Darwin in 1898 he also met with Banjo Paterson and spoke to him of the main topics of interest in the town and Paterson later wrote about him, and their meeting, in The Bulletin.

Early in 1899, when there was a downturn in profits buffalo hunting, Cahill purchased a pearling lugger Ethel. Later that year, on 18 October, he married Maria Pickford at St Mary's Star of the Sea Cathedral in Darwin. Cahill also supplied the National Museum of Victoria with zoological specimens and a collection of over 100 bark paintings which he added to those already donated by Spencer.

Also based on this visit Spencer recommended a 6,000 square km reserve, the Alligator River Reserve, be formed around Cahill's lease, with Cahill and Maria appointed to run the reserve. Cahill planned to employ Aboriginal people to work under 'European' supervision and establish a wide range of experimental crops (including tobacco) and run a cattle and dairy herd.

This venture was, ultimately, a failure due to financial mismanagement and staffing difficulties, however, it was finally ended by the Spanish flu outbreak there in 1919 in which Cahill and Maria both almost died.

In 1922 Cahill travelled to the Melbourne Cup with his wife and son. During this visit he became unwell, with a bout of influenza, and insisted on been taken to the home of his brother Tom in Sydney. He died there on 4 February 1923 and he is buried at Randwick cemetery.