NEWS FEATURE 35

FRIDAY OCTOBER 23 2015

Tracker Teddy Egan sifts for clues in the disappearance of tourist Peter Falconio in 2001, He will be posthumously awarded the Police Valour Medal for Bravery for his role in the capture of Billy Benn..

Tracker earns honour for his

heroic actions, 48 years ago
Toyah Shakespeare

Flashback to August 1967: Teddy Egan played a crucial role in

helping capture Billy Benn.
V1 - CAVE01Z01MA

NEARLY half a century ago, proud

Warlpiri man Teddy Egan captured a
tracker who shot a man dead during the
Harts Range Races.
Some 48 years later, the late NT Police
tracker has been acknowledged with a
Police Valour Medal for Bravery, after he
led a search party on a seven-day trek
through perilous Central Australian
country to make the arrest.
The Harts Range Races were in full
swing on Saturday, August 5, 1967, when it
was discovered police tracker Billy Benn
had shot dead fellow tracker Harry Neal.
Mr Benn took off into the bush with a
rifle and family members.
Alice Springs Sergeant Len Cossins and
Lake Nash Constable Blake Jobberns were
at the race meeting and began to search
the nearby range for Mr Benn.
The fugitive opened fire and wounded
Mr Jobberns across the stomach and
Mr Cossins in the buttocks.
A search party was put together and included second-in-charge Sergeant Peter
Haage, six constables Malcolm King,
Ross Kerr, Rob Moore, Les Perry, Terry
OBrien and Laurie Kennedy along with
two Aboriginal trackers Sonny Woods
and Teddy Egan.
It appeared to us who attended that we
had a desperate and dangerous man on
the loose, Mr Kennedy said in the NT
Police Historical Society Newsletter.
The group commandeered station
horses from the racetrack, with a riding
horse and packhorse each.
The astuteness of the trackers
(Mr Wood and Mr Egan) was amazing,
Mr Kennedy said.
If we needed to water the horses, it was
virtually just find a likely spot, dig down
about a foot or so and we had it.
On day six of the search, Mr Egan,
Mr King, Mr OBrien and Mr Kennedy
continued to track the area and the rest of
the group returned to Harts Range.
That evening, we were in a steep
gorge, when Tracker Egan started to get a
bit toey and reckoned Billy Benn was
close by, Mr Kennedy said.

What Mr Egan did back in

1967 was extraordinary His
efforts will not be forgotten.
NT POLICE COMMISSIONER
R E E C E K E R S H AW

It turns out we had walked right past

him as he lay camouflaged in the bush.
The group of four set up camp as it was
getting dark and Mr Egan heard some
noises and went to investigate.
He saw some of Billys relatives and
went over to them, took a rifle from a
fellow called Long Dick and fired a shot
into the air, Mr Kennedy said.
Then he sang out to us that he had
the rifle, we scrambled up to where Teddy
was and soon spotted Billy Benn close by
and grabbed him.
They guarded him through a cold night
and then trekked back to Harts Range.
It was some magnificent country as far
as scenery goes but we had no idea where
we were going and if it wasnt for the
trackers, I believe we could have still been
there, Mr Kennedy said.
Mr Benn was later acquitted of the
murder on the grounds of insanity and
went on to become a famous artist and
winner of the national Alice Prize for his
landscape work.
FORMER police officer Graham
McMahon was sent to Alice Springs as
officer-in-charge of the criminal investigations branch about two or three months
after the Billy Benn incident.
I was talking to one of the policemen
who went out with Teddy and he was
saying that the three of us were hiding behind rocks and the tracker went off and
made the arrest, Mr McMahon said.
The police dived for cover and Teddy
walked up and took the rifle off him which
was fully loaded with 15 bullets.
Its a display of courage that should
be recognised and I wasnt going to forget
about it.
Mr McMahon said in 1969 he
wrote a report and asked for Mr Egan

to be considered for an award but

nothing happened.
He was forced to retire not long after
due to an injury, but stepped up his pleas
for Mr Egans acknowledgment in 2002.
Teddy was a very quiet person,
very intelligent, didnt say much at all,
Mr McMahon said.
He was a marvellous, an exceptional
tracker.
Trackers were really menial workers
around police stations then he went
back to raking up and sweeping out when
he got back.
Finally, more than 45 years after
Mr McMahon first wrote to police,
Mr Egan will be posthumously recognised
with a Police Valour Medal for Bravery at
a ceremony today at the opening of
Yuendumu Police Station.
Six commissioners did nothing about
it then Reece Kershaw, the current commissioner, did something straight away,
Mr McMahon said.
Im looking forward to meeting his
family in Yuendumu, I think theyre going
to be very proud to get the medal.
Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw
will present the medal to Mr Egans
family, understood to be the first time an
Aboriginal tracker has been presented the
highest honour NT Police can receive.
I cannot speak on behalf of the past
commissioners, but when I was appointed
as police commissioner, the Teddy Egan
file was brought to my attention,
Mr Kershaw said.
I immediately recognised the importance of recognising his brave efforts in the
Harts Range standoff with Billy Benn.
Mr Kershaw said Mr Egan went above
and beyond his duties as a tracker.
What Mr Egan did back in 1967 was
extraordinary, he said.
His efforts will not be forgotten.
With this award his family and the
Walpiri people can be proud of one of
their own, an extraordinary man who dedicated his expertise to the NT Police.
Mr Egan continued to work on cases
with the NT Police force, including helping with the search for murdered English
backpacker Peter Falconio in 2001.