John Henry Batis' Remarkable Courtroom Claim
In 1939 a man called John Henry Batis shot dead his brother Robert Wilfred Batis (known as Bill). There was a court case, and in an unsworn statement to the court, John Henry (known as Henry) Batis made the interesting claim that he was the great grandson of an early colonist and well known Kangaroo Island identity, George "Fireball" Bates and an unknown aboriginal woman. Batis called him George "Fireball" Batis.
This story of the family's origins has been handed down to the present day. This writer was told it at the Holdfast Bay History Centre by a person related by marriage to the family.
Here is Henry Batis' statement to the court:
Dead Brother Had Hatred of Black Blood
In an unsworn statement from the dock accused said:—
"I have been in gaol since January, and so have had a lot of time to think things over. There is little I can add to the facts I have already given to the police about what happened.
"When I ran for the gun it was the only thing I could do to protect my self. I could not run away, as he could have caught me, and I was knocked out with the fighting at the gate and afterward when Bill followed me home.
"I intended only to frighten Bill, and when he turned and ran away I thought I had missed him and that he was going for his gun. I am sorry for what happened.
ROWS WITH POLICE
"Bill has always had a bad temper. Years ago he was sent to gaol in Adelaide for two months for having resisted the police. On that occasion it took four policemen to arrest him. He had had other rows with the police. Bill was dangerous when he was drunk. He used to grind his teeth and froth at the mouth.
"He always hated the fact that he had black blood in him. My great-grand father was 'Fireball Batis,' a redheaded English runaway sailor and one of the original settlers on Kangaroo Island. He arrived there in 1824.
"He and a man named Waller went to the mainland and got two gins. Waller's gin swam back to the mainland, but my great-grandfather's gin remained.
"Whenever Bill was drunk he used to call me and my brothers black ____ s, and had threatened on a number of occasions to kill us.
"Last year my brother Walter had just come home from hospital and Bill came home and attacked him while in bed. I fought him off Wally and then he attacked me.
"On that occasion he said to my mother- 'Why did you marry a black ____? You are the cause of all this trouble.' My mother said: 'He was a better man than you are,' and Bill said: 'That has to be proved.' On a number of other occasions Bill blamed my mother for having married my father.
"Bill was going with a girl for a long time, but when she found out that he had black blood she never went out with him again. That made Bill more bitter than ever.
"I am charged with the murder of Bill. I did not murder him. When I was exhausted I took the only means I could to protect my own life, and even in doing that I intended to only frighten him." [Source: Recorder (Port Pirie, SA : 1919 - 1954) Thu 23 Mar 1939 Page 4 ACCUSED'S STATEMENT FROM THE DOCK]
Henry Batis got three years hard labour for the manslaughter of his brother, but we're not concerned here with whether justice was done. What we want to know is, was this Fireball Bates' great grandson?
What we learn from this statement:
If the liaison had involved a local aboriginal person, then it would have likely occurred a generation later. The grazing area where they lived would not have been opened up in Bill and Henry's great grandparents' time. If it had been their grandparents, then living members of the family would have known them. So a liaison between a great grandfather and an aboriginal woman would have had to occur very early in the settlement of South Australia, ie in Fireball Bates' time, when whalers and sealers were almost the only visitors to South Australian shores
Task: trace Henry and Bill's ancestors and see if we come to Fireball Bates - or even to a dead end at the right generation, a "mystery" great grandparent.
This story of the family's origins has been handed down to the present day. This writer was told it at the Holdfast Bay History Centre by a person related by marriage to the family.
Here is Henry Batis' statement to the court:
ACCUSED'S STATEMENT FROM THE DOCK
Dead Brother Had Hatred of Black Blood
"GREAT-GRANDFATHER WAS 'FIREBALL BATIS'
In an unsworn statement from the dock accused said:—
"I have been in gaol since January, and so have had a lot of time to think things over. There is little I can add to the facts I have already given to the police about what happened.
"When I ran for the gun it was the only thing I could do to protect my self. I could not run away, as he could have caught me, and I was knocked out with the fighting at the gate and afterward when Bill followed me home.
"I intended only to frighten Bill, and when he turned and ran away I thought I had missed him and that he was going for his gun. I am sorry for what happened.
ROWS WITH POLICE
"Bill has always had a bad temper. Years ago he was sent to gaol in Adelaide for two months for having resisted the police. On that occasion it took four policemen to arrest him. He had had other rows with the police. Bill was dangerous when he was drunk. He used to grind his teeth and froth at the mouth.
"He always hated the fact that he had black blood in him. My great-grand father was 'Fireball Batis,' a redheaded English runaway sailor and one of the original settlers on Kangaroo Island. He arrived there in 1824.
"He and a man named Waller went to the mainland and got two gins. Waller's gin swam back to the mainland, but my great-grandfather's gin remained.
"Whenever Bill was drunk he used to call me and my brothers black ____ s, and had threatened on a number of occasions to kill us.
"Last year my brother Walter had just come home from hospital and Bill came home and attacked him while in bed. I fought him off Wally and then he attacked me.
"On that occasion he said to my mother- 'Why did you marry a black ____? You are the cause of all this trouble.' My mother said: 'He was a better man than you are,' and Bill said: 'That has to be proved.' On a number of other occasions Bill blamed my mother for having married my father.
"Bill was going with a girl for a long time, but when she found out that he had black blood she never went out with him again. That made Bill more bitter than ever.
"I am charged with the murder of Bill. I did not murder him. When I was exhausted I took the only means I could to protect my own life, and even in doing that I intended to only frighten him." [Source: Recorder (Port Pirie, SA : 1919 - 1954) Thu 23 Mar 1939 Page 4 ACCUSED'S STATEMENT FROM THE DOCK]
Henry Batis got three years hard labour for the manslaughter of his brother, but we're not concerned here with whether justice was done. What we want to know is, was this Fireball Bates' great grandson?
What we learn from this statement:
- Henry gives a good enough description of Fireball to easily identify him as Fireball Bates: red-headed, English, sailor, deserter, original settler of Kangaroo Island. Arrived at KI in 1824 are all accurate. He said nothing about Fireball that was not accurate, or at least concurred with other accounts of the man and his life.
- No one of Henry's family contradicted him. His brother Bill was so convinced of their aboriginal blood that he became enraged about it, taking his anger out on members of his own family.
- Bill was not obviously aboriginal. His girlfriend of "a long time" had to be told ("found out") that he had "black blood". We can asssume it was not obvious in other members of the family.
- The aboriginal heritage came through the father. Bill asked his mother "Why did you marry a black ____?"
If the liaison had involved a local aboriginal person, then it would have likely occurred a generation later. The grazing area where they lived would not have been opened up in Bill and Henry's great grandparents' time. If it had been their grandparents, then living members of the family would have known them. So a liaison between a great grandfather and an aboriginal woman would have had to occur very early in the settlement of South Australia, ie in Fireball Bates' time, when whalers and sealers were almost the only visitors to South Australian shores
Task: trace Henry and Bill's ancestors and see if we come to Fireball Bates - or even to a dead end at the right generation, a "mystery" great grandparent.
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