PADDY KING ‘BLACK PADDY’

(1877 - 1944)

Warning- This story contains images and names of Aboriginal people who have died and racist language about people of colour.

Paddy King, known in boxing circles as ‘Black Paddy’, was renowned nationally, as a boxer and locally as a skilled stockman. He was a popular local identity in Fremantle and lived in South Fremantle at the ‘Robb Jetty Camp’.

Boxing in particular was one of the few ways Aboriginal people could achieve some agency in the colonial system imposed upon them. ‘Black Paddy’ was a boxing name, probably given to him because there was another boxer- William Morgans, from Sydney who boxed under the name ‘Paddy King’, and who boxed in WA from 1904 until 1909. (reference)

By 1905 King, as ‘Black Paddy’, at only 5′ 4″ (163 cm), had earnt a good reputation as a boxer and he continued boxing into his 50’s. (reference)

Unlike most other Aboriginal people, whose every move was governed by the Department of Native Affairs, King experienced a little more freedom, perhaps because as a boxer he needed to go into venues that sold liquor or because of his regular work at the Abattoirs- he was granted an exemption from the Aboriginal Act 1905. This Act usually enabled the Government Chief Protector to take possession of any property or money Aboriginal people earned or were given. It seems somehow Paddy’s boxing success enabled him to open a bank account. (reference)

As an Aboriginal man, despite his fame as a boxer, he continually experienced racism and this was well documented, both in- and by- the press; even compliments were double edged:

1911 ‘‘Black Paddy who fought his way into practically what, might almost be termed, the affections of his host of supporters at the Port city, because, as they say in Fremantle, that although black in color, 'Paddy' is figuratively speaking a real 'white man.' They will not listen to defeat. In the ring he is a straight goer, and one who will never, give up whilst a spark of hope remains.” (reference)

Paddy’s childhood is shrouded with misinformation and wild stories. Although Paddy was quoted as saying he was from the Mount Magnet (Murchison) area- which is Badimaya Yamatji boodja/country (reference) there are also stories he was kidnapped by a pastoralist from Queensland who brought the child with him to Cue in WA. (reference) Others have suggested that he may have been taken by his family and ‘‘schooled’ at Mt Magnet Mission or that ‘’His father was speared to death on the Murchison by members of a hostile group in a pitched battle and Paddy was handed over by his mother to Mrs Ferris’s care when no more than eight or nine years of age’’ ( reference) Whatever the actual facts of his childhood upbringing, Paddy became a boxer, and was first noticed in The Empire in April 1901 (Fremantle). 

The boxing competition between Harry Miller and Raymond Burke drew a bumper house at the Fayre last night. Some four-round bouts between McCarthy and Miller, "Starlight" and Snell, and Paddy and Wandi were all very interesting. The last named are two W.A. natives, and their antics kept the house in a roar of laughter. (reference)

 Wandi Dixon (1879- 1955) and Paddy would remain life long friends. Wandi and Paddy worked for George A. Atkinson (1881-1938), who, as general manager and then part owner of Copley’s Anchorage Butchers, employed the stockmen at the family’s slaughtering plant at Robb’s Jetty. They were responsible for managing the stock that came down from the north-west ships and berthed at Robb’s Jetty, and also rode racehorses. These Aboriginal workers were required to register their employment contracts with the Department of Aborigines, through the police and were under constant surveillance from the Police. (reference 1937 Cook:74)

In 1910 while working at Robb Jetty, Paddy King lived in South Fremantle, at the ‘Robb Jetty Camp’ where Aboriginal workers including Paddy, Wandi and Simon Gentle lived. The South Beach camps were also called the ‘Smelters Camps’, and were located on a narrow strip of Crown Land, mostly sandbank covered in scrub and giving little protection from the rain or sand. (Cook 2019:69-73). He may also have spent time at the East Fremantle camp- ‘Pearce’s Paddock’ -that was located on and adjacent to what is now the East Fremantle Football Club (Marmion street and Moss street, East Fremantle).

His personal habits were remarked upon in the press - that Paddy never smoked cigarettes or drank beer- his only vice by his own admission was that he liked to have a bet on the horse races at Bicton. (reference)

1911 ‘’Of late Paddy has been having a good time of it in the "magic square" at the expense of a few white athletes- and with every victory his popularity increases.’’ (reference)

Despite spending time in hospital in March 1911 with pleurisy and pneumonia (reference) it seems Paddy became a Professional Boxer in 1911 and a list of his major fights from 1911 until 1938 can be found here (reference)

It was only in 1911 that rules for Boxing were introduced internationally, to make it safer for boxers. (reference) In July 1911 a young boxer– Wooding, had died of concussion in a Fremantle fight. (reference). This caused concern and at Kings next fight – against ‘Joe Summers’ from Canada, at the Kings Theatre in Fremantle- a 20 round boxing match, both contestants were given a  medical examination before the fight. (reference)

Aug 1911 BLACK PADDY AGAIN. At no time in his pugilistic career did the Fremantle aboriginal boxer, Black Paddy, fight better than he is fighting at the present time, and last Friday night - he demonstrated before a large crowd at the Fremantle Stadium that his punch is more potent than ever. (reference)

March 1912 'BLACK PADDY’ V. ‘ZULU’. Both men are strenuously training for their meeting at the Shaftesbury Gardens on Easter Monday morning, recognising they have a hard struggle in view. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons next Zulu will give an exhibition of sparring at the hall of the Bohemia Hotel from 4.30 each day. (reference)

In May 1912, NSW Boxing promoter and manager Charles Gerald ‘Charlie’ Lucas (1896-1944) took ‘Black Paddy’ on a National Boxing Tour. They started in Adelaide. It was here that the racism they encountered was complained of, by Lucas:

"I can't write back and tell you that they made us welcome to this city. Just the reverse. We did not land till 8 o'clock last Monday evening after a fine passage across the Bight. So we caught train to Adelaide, and started to look for some place to put up for the night. Well, after hunting the city all over, we got fixed up as I thought, at the Hotel… There were seven of us together, so two of us went in to fix up, and I never thought to mention that I had a black man with me but paid for the bed and breakfast, and was told to come hack after 11 o'clock. Well, 11 o'clock comes round, and we set sail for bed, as we thought; but when we arrived, just after closing time, and this fine gentleman saw poor Paddy, he kicked the lot of us out, saying that he would not have a dirty nigger about his place. You can just imagine how we felt—in a strange city at that hour of the night! It seems to me if it’s a crime to be an Australian in Australia” (reference)

 Lucas reports on the beating that Paddy took in June 2012:

“Paddy… had taken a ton of punishment without flinching… Paddy had a bad cramp in the right leg, and for about five rounds it was wonderful how he kept up. Then he had a big boil on his chest, so that you can imagine the terrible pain he was suffering from. But there they stood, toe to toe, swapping punch for punch during the whole of the 17 rounds. They say here that it was the best fight ever seen in Adelaide… lt was a most popular win, the crowd getting hold of Paddy and carrying him shoulder high to the dressing-room. They think the world of him here, and they cannot make out how he takes the amount of punishment he does, They have found another name for him- The India Rubber Man.” (reference)

Charlie Lucas took King to fight in Brisbane in February 1913 and after two strong fights in Broken Hill, Paddy was named as ‘the middle-weight champion of Australia’. (reference)

From April 1913 King was in Sydney training in the hope of fighting some of Sydney’s light or middle weights. This included one of the greatest Aboriginal boxers –light heavy-weight champion, Queensland’s Jerry Jerome. (reference)

Interest was high in both successful boxers at this time and formal photographs were taken of ‘Black Paddy’with Jerry Jerome in 1913. (Arnold Thomas Boxing Collection, National Library of Australia). An article in the Sydney Sun couldn’t resist adding a racist line to the photo which accompanied it – ‘Jerry Jerome and Black Paddy dressed up’. (reference)

Defeat at the hands of Jerome put Paddy into a depression. The Sunday Times of 5 January 2013 published a report it had received from Charlie Lucas: 

“To tell the truth, things have not been as good as they might have been. It has been a battle here to keep going. Paddy, as you know, got a terrible doing from Jerome, and he took it to heart for some time. I got an offer from Townsville to fight Albert Scanlon. We went up, and Paddy got beaten again. After that he would not train. He fought a couple of mug-fighters in Malone and Sol. Jones, and lost again. A few heated words seemed to bring him to his senses, and we left Townsville owing about £20 on the trip. We arrived back in Brisbane, where I managed to get a fight with Charlie Godfrey. We had to accept a Wednesday night (a rotten night). The crowd here of course looked upon Paddy as a joke after these mug fighters up North getting away with him, and laughed at the idea of Paddy standing a chance with Godfrey. Well, Paddy trained as he never trained before, and got into fine shape. I felt confident about his chance, but luck was against us, and he got beaten, but, I am glad to say, he put up such a grand go that he has brought himself right into public favour again. The papers spoke well of him, and the fight was the talk of the town… If our luck is in, things will be good, as Paddy will be right in the front rank again. I might mention that he trains now, and it's a pleasure for me to work with him. He has altered for the best, and I think, as far as the training part of the business goes, things will turn for the best.” (reference)

Paddy seems to have remained in the eastern states throughout 1913 and fought a few times with moderate success. It seems his manager Charlie Lucas left to join the AIF at the start of WW1- where he took charge of the AIF team and the Inter-Army Boxing championships. (reference)

In early 1914 Paddy joined Jimmy Sharman’s boxing troupe. He fought in Woolongong (training under Fred Kay) and then fought Rob Bailey twice in Brisbane. He never recovered his winning game after losing a fight with Bailey in April 1915. In May he was arrested for swearing:

1915 The well known West Australian boxer Black Paddy appeared in the City Police Court this morning, to answer a charge of having made use of bad language…Paddy was playing two-up near the A.U.S.N. Company's wharf yesterday. He won 2s. and the loser refused to pay up. Paddy wanted to fight, and punctuated his invitation with certain adjectives. A fine of 10s., or three days, was imposed. (reference)

Paddy had one more fight in Townsville in July 1915 when he lost to Les Gleeson and then he stayed in far north Queensland during the war years, 1916-1918.

At the Kings Carnival in Cairns in December 1918 a charitable Paddy endured duckings as part of an offensively-named fundraising game:

Amongst the opportunities given to try one's skill, the most popular was "Ducking the Abo." The very popular colored boxer, Black Paddy, was engaged for the performance and, as he knows all the lads about town, his sallies, when they failed to duck, kept a large crowd in gleeful humor. (reference)

In 1920 The Queensland Aboriginals Department, promoted Boxing as a sport but never as a business, for the ‘protection’ of Aboriginal boxers, reporting that it found that:

“Black Paddy a West Australian black, was being exploited shamelessly by promoters who had signed him up to fight for 10/- a week and his tucker. The Crown interfered and made the promoters pay Paddy a fair percentage of the gate money”.

However, ulterior motives were perhaps expressed further into the report:

“It is considered harmful to proper control of blacks to let any one fancy himself a champion. It turns his head and if he makes much money sets him drinking, and he is apt to assert his superiority, over all whites…” (reference)

In January 1923 Paddy refused to carry out an agreement with the Queensland Protector of Aborigines, which resulted in his being sent to the Palm Island Aboriginal Institution. (reference) Palm Island, off the Queensland coast, was established as a penal colony for Aboriginal people who were sent there for a variety of offenses such as insubordination to a cattle station manager or requesting extra rations in return for work. (reference) It had a history of trouble and in 1930 the Superintendent of the Palm Island Institution, Robert H Curry, known to be heavy drinker, was charged with ‘flogging the natives’. He then went on a rampage, killing his own son and daughter and shooting a medical officer and his wife. (reference)

Apparently being homeless with no visible means of support, was reason enough to exile Paddy in March 1923, with his dog- a brown retriever. (reference)

In August 1924, when news came through to people in Fremantle that Paddy was being held on Palm Island, Bartholomew T. Daly, a Fremantle Councilor for 26 years, requested the WA Chief Protector of Aborigines, A.O Neville, ask that Paddy be returned.

‘Word has been received that Black Paddy is anxious to return to Western Australia, but that it will cost about £25 to bring him home. When the news of Black Paddy's plight was conveyed to his old pal Wandi, a scene indicating the great affection was seen. Wandi cried and said, "Mr. Daly, I have a few quid; take 'em and bring Paddy home." There is no doubt but that the sports of Fremantle will quickly raise the "necessary" to bring Paddy to the West. Those willing to contribute towards bringing Black Paddy home can forward subscriptions on to Mr. B. T. Daly, Douro Road, South Fremantle” (reference)

A committee was formed with Messrs. Joe Darley and Dan Riley, both of the Tramways, (reference) and in October 1924 a ‘bumper’ boxing match Benefit was held at the King’s Theatre, Fremantle to raise the money to bring Paddy home; including a fight between Wandi and Dido Plum (an African American fighter). (reference)

Paddy set out on the 16 February 1924 by train, and arrived in Perth on Friday 22, where he was reunited with his old friend Wandi, and work was found for him in Fremantle. February (reference)

Immediately in April 1924 Paddy took part in a comeback fight- but one report told a sad story:

Black Paddy's fighting days were over years ago; and it was therefore with mixed feelings that the fans read the news that some person at the Port (whose name did not appear in the advertisement  as the promoter) had arranged a ring battle between Paddy and young Larry Johnston, the  "fighting cook" of the Zealandia… Last Friday night's affair at the King's Theatre was a pitiful thing. Larry Johnson is no boxer, as a matter of fact he is one of the worst boxers the writer has seen, but he is full of fight and packs a  punch, and he welcomes the opponent who will come in and "mix it" with him.  And that's the only way Black Paddy could ever fight… Inside three rounds of anything but edifying milling, poor old Paddy was done to a  turn. Not only was it evident that the weight of years was pressing heavily on him but he was palpably right out of condition. He should never have been permitted inside that ring. In the fifth round Sergeant Cassidy who is in charge of the local police station could stand it no  longer and he did the correct thing by stopping the slaughter. (reference)

In 1927, 1928 and 1930 Paddy took part in charity events for the Uglielands carnivals, raising money for returned soldiers:

 “At Fremantle Uglieland last night a log-chopping contest between 'Stumpy' Dalton, Black Paddy and Wandy caused much amusement. Black Paddy just lasted long enough to defeat his opponents.’ (reference)

Paddy continued to take part in boxing bouts even though many people thought he shouldn’t be competing anymore. (reference)

Sunday Times 10 June 1934:

Fremantle has two noted characters without whom the Port would not be itself. They are "Black Paddy," and the equally inky "Wandi," both old time scrappers who, in their time, have given many fight pugilists a good go and a hiding. In spite of the fact that both are elderly, both have been battered about during the course of their boxing and rough-and-tumble careers, they are about the merriest lightest-hearted pair of humans in the State, dinging, whistling, and generally jolly, they are real  favourites wherever they go. A question put to any of the waitresses in public cafes where the two dine, would elicit the reply that there are hundreds of white men who do not have the politeness and general good manners of the pair.” (reference)

Paddy boxed his last game against Willy (Bill Sporl) at Unity Stadium Perth on July 8 1938:

The bout between ex-welter weight champion Black Paddy (13.0) and Bill Sporl (13.0) was a pathetic Roman holiday for Paddy, whose fighting days are over, although he still packs a champion's punch. At the end of the fourth round the referee (Jock McKay) couldn't place them. A fifth round gave an unpopular but merited decision to Sporl. (reference) 

From 1910 it was illegal in Western Australia to supply Aboriginal people with alcohol. Paddy had a growing problem with drinking, and was charged with drunkenness in 1939. It was explained then that Paddy had obtained an exemption from the provisions of the Natives' Administration Act -in his boxing days- when he didn’t drink.

The magistrate quipped: “Then he is not an aboriginal,“ said Mr. Moseley. Taking a look at the features, he added quickly: “But he certainly looks it." Paddy was cautioned. (reference)

In 1940 Sergeant Chambers told the court that:

 King, during the past twelve months had been convicted five times for drunkenness. He had become a pest. King, the sergeant said, had been granted an exemption under the Aborigines Act which permitted him to enter hotels and wine saloons, but he had abused the privilege. The police intend to apply for the cancellation of the permit. (reference)

In March 1941 Paddy again won against a charge of drunkenness:

Legal Flaw Saves Paddy- Omission of the words 'being a native' saved Paddy King (65), aborigine, from conviction on a charge of drunkenness in the Fremantle Police Court today. Evidence was given that King, who is well known as 'Black Paddy,' was found lying drunk in Nairn Street, Fremantle, on Saturday night. After referring to the Aborigines Act, the magistrate discovered the flaw in the wording of the charge. 'You behave yourself; the charge must be dismissed,’ said the magistrate. 'All right, thank you, Mr. Craig,' Paddy replied. (reference)

In 1942 a white labourer was fined for supplying 69 yr-old Paddy with wine and mentioned he thought Paddy was ‘exempt’ ( reference)

1942. Black Paddy' Goaled. Once a noted pugilist, 68 year old aboriginal 'Black Paddy,' alias King, was sentenced to three months gaol in Fremantle Police Court today. He was charged with having been drunk yesterday and with being an habitual drunkard. Evidence was given that Paddy was found asleep on the footpath in Market Street yesterday afternoon and had been convicted of drunkenness three times this year. Sgt. Cooper said that Paddy seemed to be getting worse and was also neglecting himself. Mr Craig: Yes, he does not look too well today. (reference)

1 August 1944 The Daily News reported that 'Black Paddy' had died at 67 years old:

Death occurred at 'Sunset' Rest Home today of 'Black Paddy,' former well-known aboriginal boxer. Under the name of Paddy King he was classed as the second best aboriginal boxer Australia has produced. Jerry Jerome was the best. ”Black Paddy' met Jerome and although defeated on points he made a splendid showing. Paddy, who fought between 1900 and 1910, was a very strong boxer and game. He fought in every State and earned large sums but spent freely and was very generous. For many years he had roamed Fremantle and his hearty laugh and care-free mode of living made him a popular figure. He died in poverty. (reference)

Paddy was buried at Karrakatta Cemetery in the Roman Catholic section, in a pauper’s grave with no headstone. A mausoleum has been built over the top and a plaque commemorating Paddy can be found in the mausoleum, just opposite the main doors. (reference)

BLACK PADDY HAD COURAGE AND A BIG FIGHTING HEART (By Charlie Truslove) We are proud to be white- we have that superior complex; but are we? I saw a black man show me the best exhibition of courage I will ever hope to see. Kid George hit him every round with deadly punches, but the black man took them all and had a smile of white teeth at the finish — he was Black Paddy! (reference)

Wandi Dixon died in Moora in 1955 at the age of 76.

Thank you to Museum of Perth volunteer Bec for research and commitment to this story.

We would love to hear from anyone with more information to share about Paddy King/’Black Paddy’. Please contact jo@museumofperth

References:

Cook, Denise. 2019, "That was my home": Voices from the Noongar camps in Fremantle and the Western Suburbs." UWA Press: Nedlands

 And Boorloo Boodja, Facebook 17 August 2020 https://www.facebook.com/LostWadjuk/posts/2112463405564074

Postscript: Fremantle City Library History Centre contains quite a few oral history interviews that mention ‘Black Paddy’. Paddy was mentioned in one with Raymond Charles Wright (2012, with Larraine Stevens ), who said that when the Fremantle Council’s sanitary depot closed down in Forsyth Street, O’Connor, an Aboriginal man named Black Paddy and his wife set up a camp nearby. In 1944 brother Ronnie was asked to shoot some pigeons with his air rifle for the couple to cook and eat and Black Paddy was well known throughout the area selling wooden props for clotheslines. This does not sound like Paddy King.