First settlement of the Colony—Claims of the Aborigines—Extracts from
Collins’s Works—Bennillong and Cole-be—Dangerous proceedings of the
Aborigines—Frightful massacre by the Blacks—Notes by a University
man—Mr. Trollope’s remarks—Aboriginal Police—Doom of the Queensland
Savage—Massacre on Liverpool Plains—South Australian Aboriginals.
The project of deporting criminals to this distant, almost unknown,
portion of the world—a country whose resources were unknown, and
distant 16,000 miles—was a bold measure, arising partly from necessity,
and much discussed in the public Press, but the expedient has been
ultimately crowned with success. Homes have been made for multitudes,
British liberty and law established, and, above all, Christianity
extended to a portion of the world that for ages had remained in the
darkness of heathenism, shut out from commerce and the intercourse of
intelligence.
Strange to say, in this expatriation no provision had been made
by the Government for that which is the foundation of national
success—religion, and it was not until Mr. Wilberforce, with his
Christian zeal, pressed the Government, that a single minister of
religion, Mr. Johnston, was provided, while a reckless and degraded
class of men was about to be cast into the midst of a savage people,
not at all calculated to raise or elevate them, but rather to depress
and vitiate, and ultimately to destroy them.
Whatever benefit the civilized world has acquired in opening up a new
territory for their over-peopled state, the poor unfortunate aborigines
have had to suffer increased misery, wretchedness, and gradual
extinction.
The Bishop of Perth has well put the question: “The darkness they were
in in their original condition was the darkness of ignorance—dark
indeed, but far darker is their state when to the darkness of ignorance
is added the degradation of the acquired vices of civilization.”
Little or no missionary zeal prevailed in the churches. At this period
vital Christianity was lost sight of under mere moral teaching, yet
a few names, as in Sardis, were found for the truth, but the heathen
world was but little thought of.
The first mission to the Pacific was that of the London Missionary
Society to Tahiti, so unscrupulously desecrated by the French.
No doubt the natives were surprised at their visitors, and were too
soon convinced of their unscrupulous invasion of the land, but right
had to submit to might.
Various conflicts took place between the races; a kind of guerrilla
warfare was carried on, and lives were sacrificed, although strict
orders were given against violence or the prisoners going without
bounds, and the severe punishment of 700 lashes was administered, and
even hanging resorted to, for disobedience and robbery, yet temptations
were too strong to check these evils.
The Governor exercised the kindest feelings toward the aborigines, so
as to win their confidence, as may be seen by the following extracts
from our earliest historian, Collins.
Many affrays took place between the natives and the Europeans, in
which life was lost on both sides, but at length the natives became
more familiar, and often danced and fought in the settlement, to the
amusement of the people; when wounded they submitted to the surgeon’s
operations.
In these affrays the natives exhibited much bravery and became
formidable to the settler, so that frequent conflicts took place, in
which much life was lost on both sides. They carried away considerable
plunder, and even made piratical attacks on vessels conveying corn, and
killed the crews. It is thought that the runaway convicts gave them
assistance. They had attacked a farm near Kissing Point, murdered a
man and woman, and having been pursued, an encounter took place near
Parramatta, headed by their chief, Pemulwy, who threw spears at one of
the soldiers. They were fired on, five natives were killed, and their
chief, Pemulwy, received five buck-shot wounds in his head and parts of
his body; he was captured and taken to the hospital.
The chief cause of warfare was the blacks plundering the maize crops,
the whites having thinned out their game, and the blacks, driven by
hunger, retaliated.
The animosity increased to such a degree that wanton acts of violence
were resorted to. In one instance, the natives murdered two men who
had farms. The settlers, in retaliation, seized three boys residing
with the settlers, and having obtained through them the muskets of the
murdered men, they tied their hands, and beat the boys to death in a
barn; the others escaped. The Governor, on hearing of this cruelty, had
the perpetrators tried, but from some interposing evidence, although
convicted of being guilty of killing, they were not executed, but
released on bail; they asserted that several whites had been murdered.
The natives however were not altogether idle; they robbed, burnt down
houses, and assembled in large bodies, it is supposed instigated by
runaway convicts.
Their government is domestic. They highly respect fathers. When they
saw respect paid to the Governor, they entitled him Be-anna, Father. On
the death of a father, the nearest of kin assumes the office, under the
title of Be-anna.
Each family had a particular residence and name to distinguish it.
Those on the south side of Botany Bay were called Gweagal, and those
on the north side were Cam-mer-ray-gal. To this tribe belonged the
privilege of extracting the tooth for the tribes inhabiting the
sea-coast.
As to religion, there appears an idea of a future state. They neither
worship sun, moon, nor stars. Bennillong, who had been in England,
said after death they went to the clouds; they ascended like little
children, first having perched on trees, living on fish.
The young men often attended worship in the settlement, imitating the
clergyman with his book, being great mimics.
They knew the distinction between good and bad. The sting-ray was bad;
the kangaroo good; cannibalism they condemned as Wee-re (bad); also
murder, for which they required satisfaction.
Both sexes wear ornaments, both being adorned with scars over the
body, using a profusion of fat on their persons. The women ornament
themselves with strings of teeth and bones of some of the fishes. Women
have the two first joints of the little finger of the left hand cut
off. Some in colour are as black as negroes; others copper-coloured
like Malays. Their huts are miserable sheets of bark, under which they
sleep, huddled together. Their mode of living is not over cleanly. The
food is mostly fish; the men spear and the women catch with hooks made
out of the oyster-shell, and the fishing-lines from the bark of a tree.
Marriage is rather rude; the woman is dragged away by force, but there
are many particulars about marriage as to relationship, &c., &c.
In child-birth one female is employed in pouring cold water over the
abdomen; another ties a piece of line to the sufferer’s neck, and
takes the end in her mouth, rubbing her lips until they bleed; no
further assistance is given. The mother walks about collecting wood a
few hours after delivery. The child at six weeks receives a name from
some object, either bird, fish, or animal. From the earliest age the
boys practise at throwing the spear and other weapons. At the ages of
eight to sixteen the children undergo the operation termed Gnah-noong,
that is, of piercing the septum of the nose so as to receive a bone or
reed; and the lads, at a later period, of having the tooth knocked out.
This is a very imposing ceremony. Numbers collect on these occasions,
mostly males; they dance and are armed; the boys are seized and put in
a sitting posture all night, and some mystic rites are performed over
them; the carrahdis pretend great agony, and roll on the ground, until
at length they are delivered of a bone; the people crawl on their hands
and knees to where the boys are sitting, when they throw sand and dirt
upon them; one man carries a kangaroo skin stuffed with straw, another
carries brush-wood, others sing, while others again make artificial
tails of grass, and then leap like kangaroos, scratching and jumping
emblematic of a future chase; each then casts off the artificial tail,
seizes a boy, and places him on his shoulder until they reach where
they are to be deposited, while the men lie down upon the ground
and the boys walk over them, the former making various gestures and
grimaces. The bone is then rubbed down like a chisel, so as to scarify
the gums. The small end of a stick is then applied to the tooth and
struck with a stone; the tooth being dislodged and the gum closed, the
devotee is then encompassed with a girdle, wooden sword, and a ligature
bound round the head, in which is stuck slips of grass-tree. The boy is
not allowed to speak or eat during the operation; the people make most
hideous noises in the ears of the sufferers to drown their cries; the
patient sits on the shoulders of the man, who receives the blood which
flows down from the mouth.
The youths are now admissible to the classes of men, and are privileged
to use the spear and club, &c.
The shedding of blood is always followed by punishment, the offender
being obliged to stand the ceremony of spears being thrown at him; a
native murdered must be avenged.
They have many superstitions, as may be expected. They believe in
spirits. If they sleep at a grave, they believe the deceased visits
them, seizes them and disembowels them, but that the bowels are
replaced. A shooting star is very important, and of thunder they are
very much afraid, but think that, by repeating certain words and
breathing hard, they are safe.
Of diseases the itch is common, and there is no doubt but that they
have been visited by the small-pox, which they call gal-gal-la, of
which numbers died, and their remains were found in the caves of the
rocks around Sydney. Some of them were admitted into the Hospital,
where some died, and others recovered.
Property consists of shields, spears, clubs, lines, and certain
localities. In disposition they are revengeful, jealous, courageous,
cunning, capable of strong attachment, susceptible of joy and sorrow.
They have some idea of the heavenly bodies, sun, moon, and stars.
Funeral ceremonies:—In some instances the body is burnt, but mostly
the legs are tied up to the head so as to occupy little room; the
Carrahdi distorts his body and applies his mouth to different parts of
the deceased. They bury with the men their spears and throwing-sticks;
they wear tufts of grass, and as they proceed to bury, they throw their
spears and often do injuries. The body is placed so that the sun shall
shine on it, and all trees that may intercept the sun’s rays are cut
down. They do not mention the name of the deceased.
They have some poetic talent and they compose impromptu, and have some
taste for music.
They are quite capable of receiving instruction.
They cannot pronounce the letters S and V.
Amongst the public heroes of those days (about 1790) were Bennillong
and Cole-be—the former had visited England. Both were frequent inmates
of the Governor’s house, but were fond of roving. On the occasion of
a whale being stranded at Broken Bay, Bennillong sent a present of
a piece of fish to the Governor. On this His Excellency visited the
place, and found there his friends, to whom he gave several articles of
clothing. The Governor, perceiving that the natives were surrounding
him, was retiring gradually to the boat, but on lifting up his arms on
meeting a particular native, as evidence of his recognition, the native
took alarm and threw a spear at him, which struck him in the neck,
above the collarbone, and being barbed, was difficult of extraction.
Several other spears were thrown, but fortunately without effect. The
boat’s crew rushed on shore, but their muskets proved useless. The
shaft of the spear was broken off, and the remainder was extracted by
the surgeon.
A few days after this affray, Bennillong came to a cove on the North
Shore, with his wife and companions, and stated that it was a man of
the name of Wil-le-me-ring who threw the spear at the Governor, and
that Cole-be and he had beaten him severely; and on the visit to the
Governor subsequently, Bennillong repeated the statement, observing
that it was owing to surprise that the man had committed the act.
A few days afterwards, Bennillong waited on the Governor, with a
request that a hut near the cove should be built for him, which was
assented to.
Some months afterwards Bennillong took to the bush again, sending a
message to the Governor that he had had a dispute with his friend
Cole-be and had been wounded, and could not appear at the Governor’s
table, requesting at the same time his clothes, together with
victuals, of which he was much in want. On his re-appearance at the
settlement some time afterwards, he had a wound in the mouth and some
teeth broken. The quarrel appears to have been occasioned by his
over-attention to his friend’s favourite wife, Boo-ree-a, and this led
to a severe castigation. Cole-be, meeting him shortly afterwards, asked
him sarcastically “if he meant that kind of conduct to be a specimen of
English manners.” As Bennillong had visited England, the sarcasm was
the more pungent.
Bennillong, after his return from England, was asked where blackfellow
came from—did he come from an island. He said he did not know, but that
after death they returned to the clouds, ascending in the shape of
little children, first resting on the tops of trees; their favourite
food was little fishes.
Speaking of the habit of knocking out the tooth, he said that a man of
the name of Cam-mer-ray-gal wore them round his neck, the tribe having
performed the ceremony, but as to his own teeth they were buried in the
earth.
When Bennillong’s wife died, many spears were thrown and persons
wounded. He had a serious contest with Wil-le-me-ring, and wounded
him in the thigh. He had sent for him to attend his wife, and he had
refused, and at the death of his infant many spears were thrown, and he
said he would not be satisfied until he had revenge.
Bennillong burnt the body of his wife Ba-rang-a-roo.
The ashes of the wife were the next day scraped together and covered
over with great solemnity. The most affecting part of the ceremony was
that Bennillong threw his infant child into the mother’s grave, casting
a large stone on it, saying no woman could be found to nurse the child.
On the death of the boy, Ba-loo-der-ry, whom he had watched and sung
over with Cole-be, he requested that the body might be interred in the
garden. The burial was attended with much ceremony, while the burial of
Bennillong’s wife was attended by the Governor, the Judge-Advocate, and
the surgeon.
The natives had determined to kill Bennillong, it being supposed he had
killed a man, of which he was innocent; he therefore appealed to the
Governor to protect him. He had now given way to drink, and became more
brutal and insulting, and therefore got into troubles. On the occasion
of a fight he threw a spear amongst the soldiers and wounded one,
and would have been killed, had it not been for the Provost-Marshal.
Walking about armed, he declared he would kill the Governor. Now
Bennillong associated with troublesome characters, and was once or
twice wounded. In one of these battles, three natives were killed and
several wounded. Amongst these Bennillong was dangerously wounded, and
probably died. Thus perished Bennillong, as a drunken savage, after
all the advantages he had had of visiting England, and living at the
Governor’s House. Nor is this a solitary instance of these savages who
have enjoyed like advantages.
We have here the failure of mere civilization, which produces only
outward effects. Religion alone can reach the heart. The gospel is the
power of God to the salvation of all who believe in and know it.
Bennillong has been immortalized in name, a point on the North Shore
being called Bennillong Point. His history is a sad one. There is a
street in Parramatta called, I suppose, after this chief.
The accompanying rough sketches, copied from Collins’s work, will give
some idea of the natives in person, and their numerous ceremonies, &c.,
&c., &c.
It is only fair to show what dangerous and treacherous neighbours the
aborigines are, and how the squatters and inhabitants were often placed
at their mercy.
A numerously signed petition was presented to the Governor from the
settlers on the road to Port Phillip praying for protection, as they
had suffered much from the incursions and assaults of these people, and
stating that, if they could not obtain protection, they must take the
law into their own hands.
The Governor immediately despatched a police force to be stationed
along the road for protection.
As for their raids on stations, they actually drove away the sheep and
cattle from two or three stations, and in some instances violated women
and committed robberies.
We must however consider that their laws strictly limited the tribes
to certain districts, and to intrude upon these was criminal; and this
was so strictly carried out that, on my approaching the Shoalhaven
River, my guide would on no account cross over with me. But whites, as
foreigners, would be regarded with even more hostility.
The following account, from the _Rockhampton Bulletin_, 26 October,
1861, will show one of these murderous assaults, and at the same time
the brutal character of the aboriginal police force, who thought it
pleasant work to shoot down their countrymen:—
“A man arrived in Rockhampton last evening (Tuesday) with intelligence
of the murder of a number of persons on Mr. Wills’s station, Nogoa,
including Mr. Wills himself. The messenger brings a written deposition
of the facts, so far as they are known, which was made on Friday last,
to Mr. Gregson, Bainworth station, by a shepherd belonging to the late
Mr. Wills. The shepherd’s name is Edward Kenny. We are informed that
Mr. Wills had only arrived on the station about a fortnight previous to
the time when the murders were committed, and Kenny states that during
that time the blacks came upon the station in considerable numbers, but
they were quiet and appeared friendly, and no notice was taken of them.
Mr. Wills used to carry a revolver himself, but although he had plenty
of firearms on the station, the men were not supplied with them.
“On the evening of Thursday, the 17th October, Kenny was returning to
the station with his sheep, when he met Paddy, who had been shepherding
the rams. Paddy said to him, ‘There has been slaughter here to-day.’
Kenny then went up to the station, and saw the corpse of his late
master (Mr. Wills), the overseer’s wife (Mrs. Baker), with grown-up
daughter and two children, Mrs. Manyon, and three children, and a man
named Jemmy Scotty—in all ten bodies—having evidently been killed
by the blacks. He then took a horse and rode over to Bainworth (Mr.
Gregson’s station), where he arrived about 1 p.m., on Friday last. He
does not know what became of Paddy after he left him. There were at the
time twenty-two Europeans on the station, and it is feared that others
have shared a similar fate to that of the ten above-mentioned. The
remaining eleven on the station were, the overseer (Mr. Baker), Patrick
Manyon, George Ling, Paddy, George Elliott, Harry, Tom, Davey Baker,
Charlie, Ned, and John Moon. Mr. Thomas Wills (son of the deceased) and
two men had left the station the previous Sunday morning, with drays,
on their way to Albinia Downs, for loading.
“We are informed that the remnant of the Native Police Force, at the
camp Rockhampton, consisting of Cadet Johnson, two sergeants, and one
trooper only, will start to-morrow for Peak Downs, an officer named
Genatas with ten men being stationed there, and from thence they will
proceed to Nogoa. There is also a small company of troopers under
Lieutenant Patrick stationed at the Comet River.
“Preparations are being made by Mr. P. F. Macdonald, of Yaamby, for
the equipment of a private party to accompany him to the scene of the
recent massacre, to assist in succouring the men left on the station,
and preserve the property from injury. A subscription, headed by Mr. P.
F. Macdonald, £100, which already amounts to £236, has been opened to
defray its expenses, and will be found at the Banks.
“_Later intelligence._—News was received on Thursday evening that
Lieutenant Cave, with eleven troopers, arrived at the scene of the late
tragedy two days after its occurrence. Lieutenant Cave was on patrol
with the troopers at Living’s station, on the Dawson, when he heard of
the murders. He hastened off in the middle of the night, taking with
him fresh horses. Mr. Living and the settlers in the vicinity formed a
separate party, and started at once to render assistance. No further
particulars have as yet transpired.”
In a work published in 1871—“Colonial Adventures; by a University
man,”—we have a chapter devoted to the Aborigines of Queensland, in
which the writer gives the general opinion as to the destruction of the
black race, “That God never intended them to live long on the land in
which he had placed them, therefore away with them until there be none
remaining, and we will go in and possess the land.” The writer draws a
distinction not creditable between the tame blacks and wild ones:—“The
former picked up all the worst characteristics of the white man, and
lost some of their own. They learned to drink, smoke, and become lazy,
living on the white man’s scraps. They do not hesitate to commit
murders and robberies—doing as they are done by. In short, instead of
improving their condition, we have made them more wretched and base
than ever, not over complimentary to Christianity or civilization.
In new districts taken up by the whites, almost invariably by way of
retaliation, either from the whites destroying their camps or possibly
firing on them, the black meditates revenge, and spears or kills the
first defenceless shepherd or traveller. Then the Europeans turn out
to disperse them—to shoot them down—men, women, and children. The
native police, being blacks trained to arms, delight in shooting their
fellow-men. For every white man murdered, six blacks are made to bite
the dust.”
The writer gives a description of a shipwrecked sailor who lived with
the blacks twenty years, and experienced continual kindness, and of
their kindness to his fellow-seamen who escaped from the wreck, but
died of fever. These very men having boarded a cutter near the coast,
and one of them having stolen a tomahawk, leaped overboard with his
prize, the rest following. The crew fired upon them while swimming, and
killed two of them.
The writer, in describing the massacre of the natives by the black
police, says:—“I have seen two large pits, covered with branches and
brush, secured by a few stones; the pits filled with dead bodies of
blacks, of all ages and both sexes.” Again, he says, “Whilst travelling
along the road, for more than a quarter of a mile the air was tainted
with the putrefaction of corpses, which lay all along the ridges, just
as they had fallen. This was in retaliation for the murder of five
shepherds. Each detachment of four or five troopers is officered by
a European, domiciled in barracks or camps. They sometimes show some
compunction in shooting women, but they are usually encouraged in this
work, as the women are often the abettors and agents in most of the
murders, and as the blacks must be exterminated, the more shot the
better.”
The celebrated tourist, Mr. Trollope, in his work on “Queensland; a
Flying Visit,” devotes some pages to this people. He describes them as
sapient as monkeys and great mimics of white dandies. He then refers
to the opposition Cook, Dampier, and Phillip met with on their landing,
as if they had no right to defend their country. What is a virtue with
all other people is a crime in them. Comfortably accommodated in a
squatter’s residence, he says there were more settlers killed by the
blacks than blacks killed, and thus balances the account.
Some murders have been brought before the public in Queensland which
called for immediate Government interference. Camps of aboriginals
have been attacked, the wretched beings fired upon, and on escaping to
the water, were then deliberately shot. On one occasion, one of their
number eluded the aboriginal police; at length they saw a bundle of
grass floating, into which they fired and shot the unfortunate being,
who held the grass in his mouth to conceal his head, but the stratagem
failed. In another instance, where the aboriginal police attacked the
camp, one of the women was seized and violated, and her brains dashed
out.
In 1880, the _Sydney Mail_ wrote:—“The doom of the Queensland savage
is not merely to perish before the advance, but to actually receive
his death-blow at the hands of the British colonist. In another page,
we reprint an article from our senior morning contemporary, which
puts this fact beyond dispute. A competent and impartial special
reporter declares the condition of things as it is, and his melancholy
narrative must re-awaken regret for the fate of the race which enjoyed
an uninvaded possession of this continent for centuries, and is now
rapidly melting away in the presence of civilization. Stripped of all
exaggeration, the story of what is happening in the remote districts of
the neighbouring Colony has a horrible sound to Southerners who have
no environment of savagery, and to whom peace and plenty have become
monotonous and undervalued privileges. Yet the far north of Queensland
is not being stained more terribly with aboriginal blood than has
been our fair New South Wales. The black was improved off the face of
the lands we occupy, as pitilessly as he is now being dismissed from
his haunts on the banks of the tropical rivers. We cannot thank God
that the pioneer settlers here were more merciful than those who are
appropriating the cedar forests and auriferous deposits in Northern
Queensland. From first to last the line of contact between the two
races has been a red one. From first to last the strong Caucasian has
trodden the naked nomad like mire into his own sod.
“It is easy to voice regret and condemnation in general terms; but
could this extermination have been altogether avoided? We think not.
What should have been done with the aboriginal? Did his possession
of the territory for centuries give him a right to possess it for
ever? Did mere possession confer a title so absolute that British
colonization must be ranked as a national crime? Surely no rational
man can defend such a view as that. The blackfellow’s title to the
country was destroyed by his savagery. Nature gives everybody a chance
of some kind, and the blackfellow had his chance. He had given to him
a magnificent continent, rich in manifold resources; but he was lord
only over snakes and kangaroos—a king of brutes, but little more than
a brute among brutes. Back of the brute there was, no doubt, the germ
of manhood; but a creature with only an undeveloped germ of manhood
cannot live among men. The blackfellow shrank from men, preferring to
dwell with marsupials. He did not understand, he did not like man—using
the word in its large sense. He fought against him as a wild brute
would fight—treacherously, savagely. In the far north, to this day, he
is not averse to eating the colonist. He has had two chances: Nature,
as before remarked, has given him a splendid country, and he has been
brought into contact with a highly civilized race; but he has proved
unworthy of both. His blood is therefore upon his own head.
“In saying this we do not, it need hardly be insisted, endorse all that
has been meted out to the black by his white conqueror. The Briton was
a savage once, and he is not an angel now. Beneath his civilization,
there are the passions which may be developed into savagery; and there
have been too many white savages in Australia. The line of contact
between the two races is the line where Government, representing in
this matter the conscience as well as the physical force of the whole
community, should be strong, but where it has too frequently been
weak. The Queensland Government should be strong in the administration
of justice, tempered abundantly with mercy, along the line where
white and black are struggling for supremacy, and not merely able to
grapple with questions of tariffs and mail contracts in Brisbane. It
is a disgrace to a civilized people to be represented by many of the
‘boys’ who are employed to hasten the extinction of their countrymen
in the far north. The braining of children, the violation of women,
the slaughter of the wounded and the aged, the callous disregard of
all tender considerations which, when observed, shed lustre on the
strong—these are reproaches which it is humiliating to have recorded
in any part of the British Empire. They make an Englishman’s blood
boil with shame and indignation. War, whether of the open sort or
of that unrecognized kind which ‘disperses’ blackfellows, is apt to
demoralize those who are engaged in it, and what has been transpiring
for years in the ‘unsettled’ districts of Australia has had that
effect in too many cases. The business of ‘dispersing’ blackfellows
has had the result of ‘dispersing’ the conscience of whitefellows.
Troopers may have received the letter of their orders from Brisbane;
but the spirit of their atrocious deeds has been inspired by the
passion-blinded pioneers, to whom the taking of an aboriginal life is
rather meritorious. But we repeat that where, as in the far north, the
conscience of individuals is weak, the conscience of the Colony should
be all-potent. Blood-shedding would not cease, for the savagery of the
blacks will inevitably bring about their extinction; but the stain
would not be the indelible one of guilt.”
The facts of the dreadful massacre on Liverpool Plains may be gathered
from the charge delivered by Judge Burton on passing sentence of death
upon the criminals, and exhibit barbarity horrible to think of:—
“Prisoners at the bar, you have been found guilty of the murders of
the aborigines at Liverpool Plains—men, women, and children. The
circumstances of these murders are so atrocious that you must be
prepared for what the result must be. This is not a case where death
has ensued from drunkenness, nor the murder of one individual, but
probably of thirty poor defenceless beings.
“The blacks round their fires at night were suddenly surrounded by
an armed body of you prisoners at the bar. The blacks fled to one
of your huts for safety. In that hut, amidst the tears, sobs, and
groans of these unhappy victims, you bound them—father, mother, and
children—together, and then led them to common destruction.
“Nothing else but the grace of God could reach men’s hearts so hardened
as to slay father, mother, and children. To conceal the affair you
burnt the bodies, swept the place, and removed the remains, but
hundreds of birds of prey floating in the air awakened the attention
of the neighbourhood, and notwithstanding every precaution a jaw-bone
with teeth was found, while, as it rained the day before the deed,
the traces of horsemen, of men, &c., with naked feet, being blacks,
were left visible to the place, while there was no trace of the blacks
returning. This offence was not without premeditation, as it is certain
the whites were mustered from down the river to help, and on Sunday you
closed that day with the murder of these blacks.
“I cannot but look upon you with commiseration. You were placed in a
dangerous situation, entirely removed from religious instruction, 150
miles from any police station, by which you could have been controlled,
&c., &c.” The Judge then passed sentence of death in the usual manner.
Certainly the case was one of great criminality and diabolical in the
execution; but these unfortunate men were left in the solitude by their
employers, without any correcting good, and were taught by influential
persons to look upon the blacks as not human beings. Religion after
all is the great panacea to heal nations, for it is righteousness that
exalteth them.
The influence of crime on the virtuous portions of society, either as
to its costliness or insecurity of life and property, is very serious,
and demands much statesmanship; the solution of the problem lies in
conservatism.
In 1875, the _South Australian Register_ published the following notes
on the aborigines met with on the trip of Mr. Lewis’s exploring party
to Lake Eyre, by Mr. F. W. Andrews, collecting naturalist to the
expedition:—
“The first natives we met with after leaving Mount Margaret were on the
Macumba Creek, where a small number visited our camp in a very quiet
and friendly manner. They were young men and a boy or two. They could
not speak any English, except one or two very commonplace words, as
‘whitefellow,’ &c. Their food appeared to consist of snakes (morelia)
of the boa tribe, lizards, rats, &c., but the principal food at this
season of the year (December) appears to be the dried fruit of the
pigs’-faces (mesembryan-themum), which they gather in large quantities
and store by until wanted, or as long as it will keep. The quantity
they consume at a time is something enormous, and it appears to be
very nutritious and fattening food, no doubt from the large amount
of saccharine matter it affords. They wear no covering for the body,
except the men, some of whom wear a small fringed curtain in front of
their persons. This is sometimes made of the tail of the pouched hare
(_Peragalia lagotis_), the white tips of which are worked into a very
neat and ornamental covering. This is called ‘Thippa.’ They also wear
a similar fringe, only larger, made of wallaby or rat’s hair, which
they call ‘Unpa.’ The ends of the tails of the native rabbit or pouched
hare are carefully saved up until about forty or fifty in number are
fastened in rows, forming a very attractive adornment; they have,
however, often as many as from 150 to 200 in one bunch. The weapons
they carry with them when visiting are few and simple, consisting
of a yam-stick for digging out rats, &c., and an awkwardly-made
boomerang. I found that they had plenty of spears, and large two-handed
boomerangs like immense wooden scimitars. These they kept out of sight
on most occasions. They had some very neatly-constructed trough-like
water-vessels, which they called ‘Pirras.’ The men were finely-formed
young fellows, with pleasing and regular features, and one, in
particular, had beautifully-formed olive eyes; he was a very handsome
young fellow, and we all admired him very much. Through our native
interpreter, ‘Coppertop,’ who joined us at Strangways, we were enabled
to converse with them. They were very anxious for rain, as they could
not travel far away from the waterholes on the creeks. Travelling
further on towards Lake Eyre, we met with several wild-looking
lots—plenty of men, women, and children—all looking very hearty and
contented. The old men were about having a meeting to ‘make rain,’ and
as it looked likely for rain, they would no doubt before long be able
to again astonish their tribe by their power as ‘rain-makers.’
“We were now keeping a strict night-watch, as (if they meant no
mischief ‘leading to human gore’) they were diligently intent on
what they called ‘tealing.’ It was evident, by the cut timber about
the creeks, that they had axes or tomahawks, and on inquiry ‘where
blackfellow got um tomahawk,’ the answer received was, ‘him teal um
along a whitefellow.’ There is no doubt they had stolen several during
the construction of the overland telegraph. They, however, always kept
these tomahawks out of our sight. Knives, tomahawks, &c., are their
principal weaknesses; but they will steal anything they can lay their
hands (or toes) on. Our interpreter, ‘Coppertop,’ having arrived in
his own country, the Macumba, made tracks, leaving his clothes, which
were transferred to another young man who joined us. Tommy was his
name, and he had a good smattering of English, from having been with
the telegraph construction parties for some time, and was very useful
as a guide and interpreter. One day, when travelling, we met with
natives—‘outsiders,’ whose patois Tommy was unacquainted with, and he
cried out in despair, ‘Me cant hear um.’ Tommy was of a very inquiring
turn of mind, and thinking sugar was “dug up” at some ‘berry good
place,’ he one day asked the question, ‘When we catch um that big one
sandhill all same where whitefellow get um sugar?’
“On Willis’s or the Salt Creek we saw, in a large mob of natives, one
old man who had evidently been in the wars; his arm had been broken
in two places, and had set crooked at each fracture, giving the poor
old man a very battered appearance. The old fellow walked up and down
the camel train from one person to another, talking and gesticulating,
evidently wishing us to go on; and on our starting, he looked very
pleased, and pointed in the direction we were going, saying, ‘Appa,
appa’ (water, water), as much as to say, ‘Go on; there is plenty of
water over there for you.’ At starting, much to our amusement and
surprise, the old man said, ‘Good morning, good morning.’ This was
towards evening, but although the old man seemed to wish us away from
his own camp, he was at our camp the next morning to see us start, and
wish us good morning again. Several women at the old man’s camp were
smeared all over with burnt gypsum (plaster of Paris), making them
quite white, and giving them a horrid-looking appearance. They were in
mourning for deceased relatives. All the natives we saw looked very
healthy and fat, the children looked as clean in the skin as could be
desired, and, altogether, their appearance and physique showed them
the pictures of health and contentment. We saw one fine young man who
was blind from cataract, and the poor old man with the broken arm was
leading him about and attending to his wants. We afterwards saw, at
Kopperamana, a young hearty-looking woman, who was suffering from the
same affliction.
“They told us that the weather last year in the winter was very cold,
but that no rain fell. They make the best wurleys I have seen anywhere,
all covered in securely, and having a hole for the exit of the smoke,
as well as the entrance hole, which is, however, small. They are
covered all over with grass, rushes, roots, earth, &c., and are quite
dry. In the summer they have only a shade constructed of boughs. During
the hot weather they were catching large quantities of fish with nets,
which they constructed very ably from rushes. These nets are mostly
fixed stationary across a favourable spot in the creek, and the fish
caught by endeavouring to pass through the meshes, when they get fixed
in the net by the mesh passing over their gills. When the supply of
fish fails, or wanting a change of food, they have roots, seeds,
herbs, caterpillars (in bushels), lizards, snakes, and numerous odds
and ends, to procure all of which in quantity requires at times much
labour, and this food-labour mostly falls to the lot of the lubras, who
have generally plenty to do, for after they have got the food to their
wurleys, there is much to do grinding or pounding seeds of acacia,
nardoo, &c.
“Some of the large waterholes on the Salt Creek have superstitious
terrors attached to them. One blackfellow, after killing a pelican with
a boomerang, would not attempt to recover his weapon, as he said there
was a large snake in the hole always on the lookout for blackfellow.
“At Kopperamana, the Lutheran Mission Station, only a small number,
about a dozen or so, were camped. They appeared to easily obtain
plenty of fish in the lake, but had not such a fat, hearty-looking
appearance as the natives on Salt Creek. Some were employed on the
station shepherding goats, others lamb-minding, &c., and all appeared
to be well-treated. Of their scholastic attainments I cannot say very
much, as I was informed that as they got taught any learning they went
away. One young fellow appeared to have a good idea of figures, and
counted twenty-five very fairly. Only a few natives were seen at Lake
Hope; these talk pidgin-English with fluency, well interlarded with
strong adjectives. They have plenty of fish in the lake, and the rats,
snakes, roots, &c., according to the season. Perrigundi Lake has long
been known as a so-called dangerous place for whites to camp at, unless
well armed and in pretty good force. It was at this place where a party
of stockmen from Lake Hope were attacked some years ago, while they
were asleep, and, only for the bravery and promptitude of one of the
party, the whole of them would have been killed. One young man, named
Newman, died of the spear wounds he received in this fatal affray. We
camped here two nights and one day—Saturday night and Sunday. Seven
or eight finely-made, strong young fellows paid us a visit, and were
very peaceably disposed, and fetched us some fine fish in exchange
for a little tobacco. Some of the weapons they had with them were of
the most formidable dimensions, and well adapted for knocking down
a bullock. They did not make any offer to molest us; but the sight
of our revolvers, rifles, and guns, no doubt everywhere acted as a
good warning to them, as to what they might expect if they commenced
hostilities.
“They did not appear to pay much respect to old age, after decease,
as one of them was noticed by one of our party taking some dead wood
from an old grave to make a fire, and on being remonstrated with, he
replied, ‘All right; only old woman been tumble down.’ Proceeding on
to Lake M’Kinlay, there is a pretty numerous tribe there, but only
eight or nine visited our camp, as most of them were away hunting in
the sandhills, where they always go after the rains have left water
enough in the claypans for their subsistence while hunting. Some of
them were much frightened at the camels. They looked in excellent
health. We camped here close to the tree which M’Kinlay marked on his
journey. The tree had been partly destroyed by the blacks, but some
fine young saplings are springing up, straight and tall again, and the
old tree promises to be soon as good as ever. I think it is only an
act of justice to these poor creatures to record their peaceable and
friendly behaviour to us all the way we travelled, and we hope that
as soon as the Salt Creek country is occupied, which from its fine
grazing capabilities it immediately will be, a thoughtful and liberal
Government will send a supply of useful things to them—as blankets,
tomahawks, &c.
“The Salt Creek tribe is numerous and powerful, and I feel convinced
that kind but firm treatment at the outset will bring about the most
desirable results. Police protection ought to be at once given to the
first settlers on this and the neighbouring creeks. It would act as a
wholesome check on the bad propensities and cupidity of the natives,
and at the same time procure their proper treatment.”