Aborigines of Victoria—Mr. Westgarth’s remarks—Mr. Lloyd’s remarks
—Buckley’s residence among the Aboriginals.
Dr. Leichhardt visited the Moravian Mission in 1843, and said no
better persons could be found than the seven families and twenty-one
children to establish a colony; a little land surely might be granted
them. The Rev. Dr. Lang describes these missionaries as travelling
about, and preaching to the settlers; but this mission broke up also.
Dr. Leichhardt describes the northern natives as a fine race of men,
and the mode of preparing their food as remarkable, especially one
poisonous plant.
Sir Richard Bourke had established in Melbourne an Aboriginal
Institution, of which the Bishop says, “Some of the boys appear to
be acquiring some knowledge already, and of the most elementary
truths of religion, which it may be hoped will lead to their future
improvement; but there are no apparent signs as yet of any impression
having been made upon the adult natives, many of whom are attached to
the place, and derive advantage from the stores of provisions which
are distributed amongst them; but they have in no respect broken off
their savage usages.” The time was too short to have expected any
such changes. Missions amongst barbarians have generally been slow
in effecting results, but this institution, as I told Sir Richard
Bourke, in an interview with him, was placed under most disadvantageous
circumstances, being too near the white population, who would
counteract all religious instruction and vitiate all these unhappy
people.
That Sir Richard Bourke felt a great interest in these people is
certain. He made a trial of what may be hoped on their behalf, by
confining some adult aborigines, who had committed some serious
offences, on an island in the Sydney Harbour, placing them under the
care of Mr. Langhan, who by this means acquired their language and
became acquainted with their habits, and was thus trained to the office
of Superintendent of the Port Phillip Institution. But my prognostic
became, unfortunately, too true. Had the Institution been more
judiciously placed it might have had better results, but it had to be
abandoned—the fate of almost all attempts hitherto made on behalf of
this unfortunate race.
The rapid increase of white population alone must in a very few years
have crushed such an infant Institution, when it increased in 1836 from
Batman with a following of 244 persons to, in 1873, 700,472 persons. A
Board for the Protection of the Aborigines having been appointed, the
following is the report to Parliament:—“The Aborigines of Victoria.—The
Board for the Protection of Aborigines in Victoria has submitted a
report to Parliament, of which the following are extracts:—‘It is a
matter for congratulation that the condition of the aborigines in
all parts of the Colony is as satisfactory as could be expected,
having regard to the habits of this people, and the great difficulty
experienced by the local guardians and superintendents of stations in
keeping them under control when they are induced by old associations or
superstitions, or tempted by the lower class of whites, to wander from
the spots where in health they are supplied with good food and suitable
clothing, and in sickness tended with the same care as is bestowed
on Europeans. For many years the Board has conducted experiments at
the several stations, with the object of producing crops that would
necessitate neither heavy nor sustained labours—labours that the
aborigines as a rule are not fitted to undertake—and which would yield
a return sufficient at least to pay for the support of the natives. At
Coranderrk a great many different crops have been grown. At one time it
was expected that tobacco would yield largely; grain has been grown,
fruits of various sorts have been cultivated, and at some expense an
attempt was made to establish a dairy. All these, however, failed to
give such results as were satisfactory to the Board. It was not until
the assistance of Mr. Frederick Search was obtained that any fair
prospects presented themselves. He examined the lands at Coranderrk,
and recommended that a hop plantation should be established under the
care of a competent hop-grower. Owing to his skill and knowledge,
and with the assistance of Mr. Burgess—who has proved himself
thoroughly competent to manage hop grounds and prepare the produce for
market—success has at last been achieved. The crop sent to market
during the season just passed, 15,244 lbs. in weight, has realized
good prices. The first lot was sold at auction for 1s. 10½d. per lb.,
and the condition in which it was presented to buyers elicited the
highest praise from experts. The gross sum derived from the season’s
crop was £1,140 6s. 3d. From this has to be deducted commission,
discount, &c., and the wages of the hop-pickers, leaving a net sum of
£983 5s. 10d. The cost of the experiment has been small. Next year
the results will, it is anticipated, be far more satisfactory. The
plantation has been extended, and arrangements will be made for drying
the hops rapidly, and for sending them earlier to market. The condition
of the aborigines, from the foundation of the Colony, was never as
prosperous as at the present time. Useful employments have been found
for the adults of both sexes; the children are educated and trained by
competent teachers; and the material interests of both the aged and
the young are carefully guarded. The wise liberality of the Parliament
of Victoria may perhaps induce the Governments of the neighbouring
Colonies to enact laws similar to those under which the natives of
Victoria are now prosperous, and to provide means for the support of
the aboriginal population and for the education of the children.’” I
have not been able to learn the result of this experiment so full of
promise, but the project was discontinued.
Mr. Westgarth does not appear to be over-attached to these unfortunate
people, and considers, with many others, it is the decree of Heaven
that they should perish before the civilized population. But this is
merely an excuse for the demoralizing influence of civilization, with
its multiplied evils, for we have the fact before us in the Sandwich
Islands, Tahiti, and where there has been a native society under
missionary enterprise, that this was not the case, but that life and
morality would be fostered with the advance of civilization under the
power of Christianity.
Let us not cast upon Heaven a destruction which is our own, and say
they are doomed by Divine decree, where the guilt lies with ourselves.
The native population in 1860 was about 2,000, but in 1859 was computed
at from 6,000 to 7,000. The Select Committee assigns the cause of
diminution to be drunkenness, and the exposure and consequent disease
too often resulting from this vice.
Mr. Westgarth says that in 1861 only thirteen natives were residents
within municipal towns; and in the gold districts, in the same year,
there were but 147. We may ask who slew the others?—the pestilential
vices of the European Christians.
Several efforts have been put forward on behalf of these people, but
with little success. The Government in 1838 instituted a protectorate;
three years afterwards, they formed a native police force, and in 1846,
a native school. During thirteen years, £60,000 was expended without
any important results.
The Wesleyans formed a mission at Buntingdale in 1838, where they were
partially successful; but, in spite of cottages and gardens, daily
employment, and daily food, the blacks returned with renewed relish to
their native wilds.
There was also an Anglical Episcopal Mission in 1853, but all alike
unsuccessful, with the exception of the Moravians, commenced in 1851,
at Lake Boga, near the Murray, removed since to the Wimmera. This
district contains about one-third of the population of the Colony. At
Cooper’s Creek there were about 300, and about 120 more within the
neighbourhood, all speaking the same language. Mr. Westgarth winds up
his summary by asking what is the destiny of these unfortunate savages,
and there can be but little doubt but that the aboriginal race will
entirely disappear before civilization at a gallop.
Mr. Lloyd describes the rapid destruction of these people. In 1837, the
Barrabool Hill tribe mustered upwards of 300 sleek healthy blacks. In
1853, his second visit, he met only nine gins and one sickly infant.
On inquiring what had become of them, the answer was, “All dead, all
dead,” and they chanted the following sorrowful dirge: “The stranger
white man come in his great swimming corong and landed with his
dedabul-boulganas (large animals), and his anaki boulganas (little
animals). He came with his boom-booms (double guns), his miam-miams
(tents), blankets, and tomahawks; and the dedabul ummageet (great white
stranger) took away the long-inherited hunting-grounds of the poor
Barrabool coolies and their children, &c., &c.” Then having worked
themselves into a frenzy, they, in wild tones, shaking their heads and
holding up their hands in bitter sorrow, exclaimed, “Coolie! coolie!
coolie! Now where are your fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters? Dead,
all gone! dead!” In broken English they then said, “Never mind Mitter
Looyed, tir, by-’n-by all dem blackfella come back whitefella like it
you.” They seemed to think that they had discovered the reality of
their belief in a resurrection or transmigration. Only nine women,
seven men, and one child out of 300 remained. How fearful the account!
The sheep-farmers destroyed their game and their support. The law of
the man-slayer prevailed here. Mr. Lloyd gives a painful history of one
black who had been speared. One dark night, the dog barked the alarm,
the avenger had traced out his victim and drove a spear through him and
killed him. Mr. Lloyd gives another of the poetic laments:—
The land’s rightful owners, now wretched and poor,
Beg their morsels of food at their white brother’s door;
Those hunters who carolled so blythely at morn,
Now wander dejected, rejected, forlorn.
To their fathers the best and the bravest have gone,
And dark-eyed Zitella sits weeping alone—
And dark-eyed Zitella sits weeping alone!
Thus the aboriginal natives melted away like snow before the sun; from
no congenial heat, but from the practices of inhuman selfishness.
What a contrast the European settlement in 1858! Scarce a black in
existence for 3 miles, while the white population numbered 488,769
souls, with 4,000,000 sheep, 400,000 head of cattle, 184,000 horses,
with imports and exports of £14,000,000 and £13,000,000 respectively,
on the graveyard of the aborigines.
The earth was never intended to be kept waste, but the evil is as to
the way of settling it—this is the perplexing question.
One of the singular circumstances of a European of the name of Buckley
living with these aboriginals for a long period is worthy of mention
here. Buckley enlisted as a soldier, but was transported for having in
his possession a parcel of stolen clothes, which a female had asked
him to take charge of. He was sent to Westport, and with two others
effected his escape from the ship, and after wandering about the bush
nearly starved, he fell in with a family of the aborigines, with whom
he lived a month or two, but being desirous of reaching Sydney, he left
them and wandered to the Yan Yean, where Melbourne now stands; from
thence he wandered to Geelong, where he met a tribe of blacks, who were
much astonished to see him, but treated him with kindness, and took him
with them to the Barwon River, where they, 200 blacks, viewed him with
much astonishment. The blacks supposed he had been a black, changed
to white—a supposition very general. They treated him kindly and gave
him a wife, but fearing jealousy, he transferred her to another man.
Shortly afterwards, he and one of his companions, long separated, met,
but this man behaved so badly towards the women, that Buckley insisted
on his leaving the tribe, which he did, and he heard afterwards that
he was dead. Buckley lived some years with the Geelong tribe, and
acquired their language, always impressing on them that he had been a
blackfellow, so as to secure his safety. He says, “Having the best hut,
and a good fire, the children congregated about me, and I told them of
English ships, tools, and wars, &c., to which both adults and children
listened with wonder, but they did not like the idea that I should
leave them. On their missing me once, when I went to wash, they made
great search, and when they found me, an old man burst into tears, and
rejoiced at the discovery. Their numbers had greatly decreased, owing
to their wars and cruelties. Their expeditions are generally in the
night; men, women, and children are then murdered wholesale. I often
reflected on the goodness of Providence in preserving me, but I did not
venture to instruct them, fearing that they would injure me; they do
not think of a superintending Providence.”
They believe, he says, in two spirits, whom they treat with great
respect. One of these they believe resides in a certain marsh, and is
the author of all their songs; he communicates by his songs, and these
songs are circulated through the tribes, and they have them new every
year. The other spirit they believe has charge of the pole that props
up the sky, and they stand in dread lest the sky should fall down
and destroy them. Just before the Europeans came to Port Phillip, in
1836, there was much conversation about this spirit—that he had sent a
message to the effect that in order to repair the sky-props, he needed
immediately some tomahawks, which were to be made out of the carts used
by the sealers at Western Port. On this report, the natives went down
to Western Port and stole a cart, such as the sealers used, and made
tomahawk handles out of the spokes of the wheels.
Although Buckley had heard that the whalers now visited Western Port,
he had become so reconciled to his way of living, that he lost all
desire to return to civilization, and feared meeting with any of the
white people.
He became such an adept at fishing, that he supplied not only his own
tribe but others with food. The tribe he lived with were cannibals.
They ate the flesh of enemies they had slain, not to satisfy hunger,
but from a belief that they obtained some particular virtue thereby;
but some were content with rubbing the fat into their bodies.
Promiscuous intercourse was common, and the husband often consented to
it, and then beat his wife for submitting to it.
They warned their children from going where the dead were buried; and
when an infant they loved died, they placed the body in a hollow tree
until it had shrunk up so that they could carry it about. The same
practice exists in the north.
Their principal food is the wombat, an animal that burrows, which they
kill by thrusting a boy feet foremost into the hole, who, when reaching
the animal, pushes it to the end of the hole, and then makes a noise
so that the men above may mark the spot, and make an entrance for the
purpose of seizing the animal. The porcupine is another dainty, roasted
on the fire; the flesh is excellent.
About eight years before the settlement at Port Phillip, some Europeans
had gone up the river in a boat, landed, and left a tomahawk behind
them. Buckley was much agitated at the news.
When the European settlers with Mr. Batman arrived, Buckley did not
discover himself for some time, as he had no desire to leave the
blacks. He, however, suddenly appearing to some horsemen with his
spears and opossum cloak, and being a very large man, astonished
the whites by his visit. For some time he could not endure European
clothing. He was appointed by the Governor as overseer of the blacks at
the mission institution, at a salary of £60 per annum, having received
his freedom, but never appeared happy. He afterwards was appointed as
constable at Hobart Town, where he died. It appears he had lived nearly
thirty years in that savage condition.