Escaped convict William Buckley lived for decades with Indigenous Australians

In 1835, a disheveled man with a long beard, clad in possum skins and wielding a spear, stumbled into a British colonial camp near Djilang (Geelong). His darkened skin and incomprehensible ramblings initially frightened the colonists and their Eora guides. Through gestures, he conveyed his name, William Buckley, and his identity as a convict who had escaped a settlement in 1804.

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He's s*** scared and at that point he still thinks he can make it on his own … then he realises he's wrong.

Buckley had spent the preceding three decades living among the Wathaurong people, an unprecedented feat that saw him nearly forget his native tongue. Dubbed the "wild white man," he existed in a liminal space, viewed with suspicion by the British colonizers and unable to fully reintegrate with the Wathaurong, whom he knew were not his true people. His story is now widely believed to be the origin of the Australian phrase 'Buckley's chance,' signifying a slim or nonexistent possibility.

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madness combined with the desire for liberty

Born in Cheshire, England, in 1780, Buckley worked as a bricklayer and soldier before being convicted of burglary and sentenced to transportation to Australia in 1803. At 22, he arrived at Port Phillip to help establish a new settlement. The harsh conditions, including a lack of fresh water and arable land, led Buckley and others to attempt an escape. Their initial plan to walk to Sydney proved geographically misguided, and Buckley's companions eventually returned to the settlement.

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Weirdly, they think Sydney is within walking distance. Their sense of geography is not great. And then they also went in the wrong direction.

Driven by "madness combined with the desire for liberty," Buckley chose to continue alone. Despite initial struggles and fear, he refused the Wathaurong's early offers of help. However, months later, starving and injured, he was rescued by two Wathaurong women. Their camp offered a stark contrast to his previous isolation, marked by a spectacular corroboree that, to Buckley, was likely terrifying. It was here that the Wathaurong began to teach him their ways, initiating his decades-long immersion into their culture.

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At the camp he's confronted by a rather spectacular corroboree involving a lot of dancing, a lot of singing, and some staged violence… it would've been to him, I think, bloody terrifying.