William Buckley (1780-1856), known as 'the wild white man', was transported for life in 1802 for receiving stolen cloth. Part of a group of officials and convicts sent to establish a settlement at Port Phillip, he became the only person to escape it successfully when he absconded with two others in October 1803. His companions turned back, never to be seen again, but Buckley made it to the opposite side of the bay. There he was found by a band of Wathaurong people, who gave him food. Buckley first encountered the Aboriginal people as he was carrying a spear which he had earlier found on a burial mound. It has long been supposed that the spear led to the six-foot-six white man's being welcomed by the Wathaurong as the reincarnated spirit of a kinsman. Accepted into their community and culture, Buckley learnt their language and customs and lived with them for more than thirty years before giving himself up to authorities. He was pardoned by lieutenant-governor George Arthur and employed by John Batman as an interpreter and guide. In Hobart from 1837, he worked at the Immigrants' Home and at the Female Factory and married in 1840. With the publication of The life and adventures of William Buckley (1852), his story became the stuff of folklore.
