religious belief or ceremonies. A Deity, or great First Cause, can hardly
be said to be acknowledged, and certainly is not worshipped by this
people, who ascribe the creation to very inefficient causes. They state
that some things called themselves into existence, and had the property
of creating others. But upon all subjects of this nature their ideas are
indistinct and indefinite, as they are not naturally a reasoning people,
and by no means given to the investigation of causes or their effects;
hence, if you inquire why they use such and such ceremonies, they reply,
our fathers did so, and we do it; or why they believe so and so, our
fathers told us it was so. [Note 86 at end of para.] They are not fond of
entering upon abstruse subjects, and when they are induced to do it, it is
more than possible, from our imperfect acquaintance with their language,
and total ignorance of the character and bent of their thoughts upon such
points, that we are very likely to misunderstand and misrepresent their
real opinions. It appears to me that different tribes give a different
account of their belief, but all generally so absurd, so vague,
unsatisfactory, and contradictory, that it is impossible at present
to say with any certainty what they really believe, or whether they
have any independent belief at all. Mr. Moorhouse, who has taken
great pains in his inquiries among the natives around Adelaide upon
questions of this nature, states that they believe in a Soul or Spirit
(itpitukutya), separate and distinct altogether from the body, which
at death goes to the west, to a large pit, where the souls of all men go.
When all are dead, the souls will return to their former place of
residence, go to the graves of their forsaken bodies, and inquire,
are these the bodies that we formerly inhabited? The bodies will reply,
"we are not dead, but still living." The souls and bodies will not be
re-united; the former will live in trees during the day, and at night
alight on the ground, and eat grubs, lizards, frogs, and kangaroo rats,
but not vegetable food of any description. The souls are never again
to die, but will remain about the size of a boy eight years old.
[Note 86: "For that practice, they are, as far as I could learn, unable to
give any other reason than that of its being the custom of their
forefathers which they are therefore bound to follow."--Burchell's
Bichuana tribes, vol. ii. p. 531.]
The account given me by some of the natives of the Murray of the origin
of the creation, is, that there are four individuals living up among the
clouds, called Nooreele, a father and his three male children, but there
is no mother. The father is all-powerful, and of benevolent character. He
made the earth, trees, waters, etc., gave names to every thing and place,
placed the natives in their different districts, telling each tribe that
they were to inhabit such and such localities, and were to speak such and
such a language. It is said that he brought the natives originally from
some place over the waters to the eastward. The Nooreele never die, and
the souls (ludko, literally a shadow) of dead natives will go up and join
them in the skies, and will never die again. Other tribes of natives give
an account of a serpent of immense size, and inhabiting high rocky
mountains, which, they say, produced creation by a blow of his tail. But
their ideas and descriptions are too incongruous and unintelligible to
deduce any definite or connected story from them.
All tribes of natives appear to dread evil spirits, having the appearance
of Blacks (called in the Murray dialect Tou, in that of Adelaide Kuinyo).
They fly about at nights through the air, break down branches of trees,
pass simultaneously from one place to another, and attack all natives
that come in their way, dragging such as they can catch after them. Fire
[Note 87 at end of para.] appears to have considerable effect in keeping
these monsters away, and a native will rarely stir a yard by night,
except in moonlight, without carrying a fire-stick. Under any
circumstances they do not like moving about in the dark, and it is with
the greatest difficulty that they are ever induced to go singly from
one station to another, a mile or two distant, after night-fall.
Notwithstanding this dread of they don't know exactly what, the natives
do not let their fears prevent them moving about after dark, if any
object is to be gained, or if several of them are together. By moonlight
they are in the habit of travelling from one place to another, as well as
of going out to hunt opossums.
[Note 87: Fire is produced by the friction of two pieces of wood or
stick--generally the dry flower-stem of the Xanthorrea. The natives,
however, usually carry a lighted piece of wood about with them, and do
not often let it go out.]
Anything that is extraordinary or unusual, is a subject of great dread to
the natives: of this I had a singular instance at Moorunde. In March,
1843, I had a little boy living with me by his father's permission,
whilst the old man went up the river with the other natives to hunt and
fish. On the evening of the 2nd of March a large comet was visible to the
westward, and became brighter and more distinct every succeeding night.
On the 5th I had a visit from the father of the little boy who was living
with me, to demand his son; he had come down the river post haste for
that purpose, as soon as he saw the comet, which he assured me was the
harbinger of all kinds of calamities, and more especially to the white
people. It was to overthrow Adelaide, destroy all Europeans and their
houses, and then taking a course up the Murray, and past the Rufus, do
irreparable damage to whatever or whoever came in its way. It was sent,
he said, by the northern natives, who were powerful sorcerers, and to
revenge the confinement of one of the principal men of their tribe, who
was then in Adelaide gaol, charged with assaulting a shepherd; and he
urged me by all means to hurry off to town as quickly as I could, to
procure the man's release, so that if possible the evil might be averted.
No explanation gave him the least satisfaction, he was in such a state of
apprehension and excitement, and he finally marched off with the little
boy, saying, that although by no means safe even with him, yet he would
be in less danger than if left with me.
All natives of Australia believe in sorcery and witchcraft on the part of
certain of their own tribe, or of others. To enable them to become
sorcerers, certain rites must be undergone, which vary among the
different tribes. Around Adelaide they have at one period to eat the
flesh of young children, and at another that of an old man, but it does
not appear that they partake more than once in their life of each kind.
When initiated, these men possess extensive powers, they can cure or
cause diseases, can produce or dissipate rain [Note 88 at end of para.],
wind, hail, thunder, etc. They have many sacred implements or relics,
which are for the most part carefully kept concealed from the eyes of all,
but especially from the women, such as, pieces of rock crystal, said to
have been extracted by them from individuals who were suffering under
the withering influence of some hostile sorcerers; the pringurru, a sacred
piece of bone (used sometimes for bleeding), etc. The latter, if burned
to ashes in the fire, possesses mortiferous influence over enemies.
If two tribes are at war, and one of either happens to fall sick, it is
believed that the sickness has been produced by a sorcerer of the opposite
tribe, and should the pringurru have been burnt, death must necessarily
follow.
[Note 88: Also an American superstition.--Vide Catlin, vol.i.p. 134.
"Sorcerers or rain makers, for both offices are generally assumed by one
individual."--Moffat's South Africa, p. 305.]
As all internal pains are attributed to witchcraft, sorcerers possess the
power of relieving or curing them. Sometimes the mouth is applied to the
surface where the pain is seated, the blood is sucked out, and a bunch of
green leaves applied to the part; besides the blood, which is derived
from the gums of the sorcerer, a bone is sometimes put out of the mouth,
and declared to have been procured from the diseased part; on other
occasions the disease is drawn out in an invisible form, and burnt in the
fire, or thrown into the water; at others the patient is stretched upon
the ground, whilst another person presses with his feet or hands upon the
diseased part, or cold water is sprinkled over, and green leaves used as
before. There are few complaints that the natives do not attempt to cure,
either by charms or by specific applications: of the latter a very
singular one is the appliance personally of the urine from a female--a
very general remedy, and considered a sovereign one for most disorders.
Bandages are often applied round the ankles, legs, arms, wrists, etc.
sufficiently tight to impede circulation; suction is applied to the bites
of snakes, and is also made use of by their doctors in drawing out blood
from the diseased part, a string being tied to the hair, if it be the
head that ails, or to any other part, and the opposite end is put into
the sorcerer's mouth, who then commences sucking and spitting out blood,
which he declares comes from the patient. Blood letting is practised
occasionally to relieve pains in the head, or oppression of the system.
The operation is performed by opening a vein in the arm, with a piece of
rock crystal in the same way as Europeans bleed.
Fractures of the extremities are treated with splints and bandages, as in
Europe. Venereal ulcers are sprinkled with alkaline wood ashes, the
astringent liquid of the nettle bark, or a macerated preparation from a
particular kind of broad-leaved grass. Superficial wounds are left to
themselves, and usually heal without much trouble. Malformations of the
body are attributed to the influence of the stars, caused by the mother
eating forbidden food during pregnancy, or if occurring after birth it is
still caused by the stars, in consequence of forbidden food being eaten.
The teeth of the native are generally regular and very beautiful, indeed,
in their natural state, I have never seen a single instance of decayed
teeth, among them. Among those, however, who have been living near
Europeans for some years past, and whose habits and diet have been
changed from simple to more artificial ones, a great alteration is taking
place in this respect, and symptoms of decaying teeth are beginning to
make their appearance among many.
Among other superstitions of the natives, they believe in the existence
of an individual called in the Murrumbidgee Biam, or the Murray
Biam-baitch-y, who has the form and figure of a black, but is deformed in
the lower extremities, and is always either sitting cross-legged on the
ground, or ferrying about in a canoe.
From him the natives say they derive many of the songs sung at their
dances; he also causes diseases sometimes, and especially one which
indents the face like the effects of small pox. Another evil agency,
dreaded by the natives, is a spirit of the waters, called ngook-wonga, it
causes many diseases to those who go into the waters in unauthorised
places, or at improper times, hence a native is very loth to go into
water he is not accustomed to for the first time.
To counteract the evil effects produced by this spirit, there are persons
particularly devoted to this branch of sorcery, the following is a case
where I saw them exercise their powers. A boy of about fourteen had at
the Murray river been seized with a severe attack of erysipelas in the
lower part of one of his legs, from bathing and remaining in the water
when heated. As this did not get better, it was ascribed to the evil
agency of the Spirit of the Waters; and the Pachwonga or Pachwin were
called in to cure him. They arrived late at night, three in number, and
at once proceeded to the exercise of their duties. As soon as it was seen
that the magicians were coming, the friends of the boy lifted him up, and
carrying him some distance away from the camp, placed him on the ground
by himself, and then ranged themselves in two rows upon either side, in a
sitting posture, but at some distance behind the patient. The three magi
now advanced in the form of a triangle, one leading and the other two
behind, equidistantly apart. They were all painted, carried bunches of
green reeds in their hands, which they kept shaking, and danced [Note 89
at end of para.] with a measured tread, keeping the right foot always in
advance of the other as in a galopade, and singing a low solemn dirge,
which was vehemently beat time to, by the natives behind thumping
on the ground. Upon arriving at the boy, the leading native fell down
on his knees close to him, and took hold of the diseased leg, the
other two still dancing and singing around the patient. In a little
time, one of the two fell down also on his knees on another side
of the boy, leaving the third still dancing and singing around them.
At last he fell down also on his knees in a triangular position
with the others, the boy being in the centre. All three now commenced
blowing, spitting, making curious gurgling kinds of noises, waving
their green bunches of reeds, and pressing forcibly upon the diseased
leg to make the patient give audible indications of the evil spirit
leaving him. After some time, two of the three doctors got up
again, danced and sung around the boy, and then once more assuming their
kneeling positions, recommenced spitting and blowing, waving their
bunches of reeds, and making the same curious noises, but louder than
ever. Their exorcism at last was effectual, the evil spirit, in the shape
of a sharp stone, was extracted from the limb, and driven into the
ground; but it was too dark they said to see it. As soon as this
agreeable news was announced, the friends of the boy came up and hastily
removed him back to the camp, whilst the three doctors assuming the
triangular position, sung and danced round the place where the boy had
been laid, and then advancing in the same form towards the river, keeping
the right foot always in advance, they at last fairly drove the spirit
into the water and relieved the neighbourhood from so troublesome a
visitor.
[Note 89: "Dancing over him, shaking his frightful rattles, and singing
songs of incantation, in the hopes to cure him by a charm."--Catlin's
North American Indians, vol. i.p. 39.]
It was a long time before I lost a vivid impression of this ceremony; the
still hour of the night, the naked savages, with their fancifully painted
forms, their wild but solemn dirge, their uncouth gestures, and unnatural
noises, all tended to keep up an illusion of an unearthly character, and
contributed to produce a thrilling and imposing effect upon the mind.
At the Murray River, singular looking places are found sometimes, made by
the natives by piling small stones close together, upon their ends in the
ground, in a shape resembling the accompanying diagram, and projecting
four or five inches above the ground. The whole length of the place thus
inclosed, by one which I examined, was eleven yards; at the broad end it
was two yards wide, at the narrow end one. The position of this singular
looking place, was a clear space on the slope of a hill, the narrow end
being the lowest, on in the direction of the river. Inside the line of
stones, the ground was smoothed, and somewhat hollowed. The natives
called it Mooyumbuck, and said it was a place for disenchanting an
individual afflicted with boils. In other places, large heaps of small
loose stones are piled up like small haycocks, but for what purpose I
could never understand. This is done by the young men, and has some
connection probably with their ceremonies or amusements.
In others, singular shaped spaces are inclosed, by serpentine trenches, a
few inches deep, but for what purpose I know not, unless graves have
formerly existed there.
Another practice of the natives, when travelling from one place to
another, is to put stones up in the trees they pass, at different heights
from the ground, to indicate the height of the sun when they passed.
Other natives following, are thus made aware of the hour of the day when
their friends passed particular points. Captain Grey found the same
custom in Western Australia; vol. i. p. 113, he says:--
"I this day again remarked a circumstance, which had before this period
elicited my attention, which was, that we occasionally found fixed on the
boughs of trees, at a considerable height from the ground, pieces of
sandstone, nearly circular in form, about an inch and a half in
thickness, and from four to five in diameter, so that they resembled
small mill-stones. What was the object of thus fashioning, and placing
these stones, I never could conceive, for they are generally in the least
remarkable spots. They cannot point out burial places, for I have made
such minute searches, that in such case I must have found some of the
bones; neither can they indicate any peculiar route through the country,
for two never occur near one another."
The power of sorcery appears always to belong, in a degree, to the aged,
but it is assumed often by the middle aged men. It is no protection to
the possessor, from attack, or injury, on the part of other natives. On
the contrary, the greater the skill of the sorcerer, and the more
extensive his reputation, the more likely is he to be charged with
offences he is unconscious of, and made to pay their penalty. Sorcerers
are not ubiquitous, but have the power of becoming invisible, and can
transport themselves instantaneously to any place they please. Women are
never sorcerers. It is a general belief among almost all the Aborigines,
that Europeans, or white people, are resuscitated natives, who have
changed their colour, and who are supposed to return to the same
localities they had inhabited as black people. The most puzzling point,
however, with this theory, appears to be that they cannot make out how it
is that the returned natives do not know their former friends or
relatives. I have myself often been asked, with seriousness and
earnestness, who, among the Europeans, were their fathers, their mothers,
and their other relatives, and how it is that the dead were so ignorant,
or so forgetful, as not to know their friends when they again returned to
the earth.
One old native informed me, that all blacks, when dead, go up to the
clouds, where they have plenty to eat and drink; fish, birds, and game of
all kinds, with weapons and implements to take them. He then told me,
that occasionally individuals had been up to the clouds, and had come
back, but that such instances were very rare; his own mother, he said,
had been one of the favoured few. Some one from above had let down a
rope, and hauled her up by it; she remained one night, and on her return,
gave a description of what she had seen in a chaunt, or song, which he
sung for me, but of the meaning of which I could make out nothing.
Chapter VI
NUMBERS--DISEASES--CAUSE OF LIMITED POPULATION--CRIMES AGAINST EUROPEANS--
AMONGST THEMSELVES--TREATMENT OF EACH OTHER IN DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD, ETC.
There is scarcely any point connected with the subject of the Aborigines
of New Holland, upon which it is more difficult to found an opinion, even
approximating to the truth, than that of the aggregate population of the
continent, or the average number of persons to be found in any given
space. Nor will this appear at all surprising, when the character and
habits of the people are taken into consideration. Destitute of any fixed
place of residence, neither cultivating the soil, nor domesticating
animals, they have no pursuits to confine them to any particular
locality, or to cause them to congregate permanently in the same
district. On the contrary, all their habits have an opposite tendency.
The necessity of seeking daily their food as they require it, the fact of
that food not being procurable for any great length of time together in
the same place, and the circumstance that its quality, and abundance, or
the facility of obtaining it, are contingent upon the season of the year,
at which they may visit any particular district, have given to their mode
of life, an unsettled and wandering character.
The casual observer, or the passing traveller, has but little, therefore,
to guide him in his estimate of the population of the country he may be
in. A district that may at one time be thinly inhabited, or even
altogether untenanted, may at another be teeming with population. The
wanderer may at one time be surrounded by hundreds of savages, and at
another, in the same place he may pass on alone and unheeded.
At Lake Victoria, on the Murray, I have seen congregated upwards of six
hundred natives at once, again I have passed through that neighbourhood
and have scarcely seen a single individual; nor does this alone
constitute the difficulty and uncertainty involved in estimating the
numbers of the Aborigines. Such are the silence and stealth with which
all their movements are conducted, so slight a trace is left to indicate
their line of march, and so small a clue by which to detect their
presence, that the stranger finds it impossible to tell from any thing
that he sees, whether he is in their vicinity or not. I have myself often
when travelling, as I imagined in the most retired and solitary recesses
of the forest, been suddenly surprised by the unexpected appearance of
large bodies of natives, without being in the least able to conjecture
whence they had come, or how they obtained the necessaries of life, in
what appeared to me an arid and foodless desert.
Captain Grey has observed in other parts of Australia, the same ingenuity
and stealth manifested by them in either cloaking their movements, or
concealing their presence, until circumstances rendered it in their
opinion no longer necessary to preserve this concealment, vol. i. p. 147,
he says: "Immediately numbers of other natives burst upon my sight, each
tree, each rock, seemed to give forth its black denizen as if by
enchantment; a moment before the most solemn silence pervaded these
woods, we deemed that not a human being moved within miles of us, and now
they rang with savage and ferocious yells, and fierce armed men crowded
around us on every side, bent on our destruction."
Nor is it less difficult to arrive at the number of the population in
those districts which are occupied by Europeans. In some, the native
tribes rarely frequent the stations, in others, portions only of the
different tribes are to be found; some belong to the district and others
not. In all there is a difficulty in ascertaining the exact number of any
tribe, or the precise limits to which their territory extends in every
direction around. Even could these particulars be accurately obtained in
a few localities, they would afford no data for estimating the population
of the whole, as the average number of inhabitants to the square mile,
would always vary according to the character of the country and the
abundance of food.
Upon this subject Captain Grey remarks, vol. ii. p. 246, "I have found the
number of inhabitants to a square mile to vary so much from district to
district, from season to season, and to depend upon so great a variety of
local circumstances, that I am unable to give any computation which I
believe would even nearly approach to truth."
Mr. Moorhouse, who has also paid much attention to this subject, in the
neighbourhood of Adelaide, has arrived at the conclusion, that, in 1843,
there were about sixteen hundred aborigines, in regular or irregular
contact with the Europeans, in the province of South Australia; these he
has classed as follows, viz.:--
In regular contact with Europeans,
Adelaide district 300
Encounter Bay 230
Moorunde 300
Port Lincoln 60
Hutt River 30
---
920
In irregular contact with Europeans,
Adelaide -
Encounter Bay 100
Moorunde 200
Port Lincoln 340
Hutt River 40
---
680
or together about 1600.
Taking in the southern districts of South Australia 120 miles from
Adelaide, the northern ones 160, and the eastern one 200. Mr. Moorhouse
estimates that there are altogether only about 3000 natives. This
however, appears to me to be a considerably under-rated number, and I
should rather incline to the opinion, that there are twice as many, if
the Port Lincoln peninsula be added to the limits already mentioned. In
the Port Lincoln district, Mr. Schurman conjectures there are about 400.
On the Murray River, which is, perhaps, the most densely populated part
of the country, I imagine there are, from Moorunde, about three to four
natives to every mile of river, which as it winds very considerably in
its course, would give a large population to the square mile, if only the
valley of the Murray was taken into account.
There are other tribes also frequenting the river occasionally, from the
back scrubs on either side; but as these range through a great extent of
country beyond the valley, and only sometimes come down there on a visit;
I do not include them in the estimate.
At Moorunde itself I have sometimes had from four to five hundred
collected, and among those, only a few, perhaps, from the very remote
tribes.
At the Rufus and Lake Victoria, I have seen above six hundred together,
where they had no other motive to collect in so large a party, than from
custom, and for the enjoyment of festivity.
Large towns are frequently the centre of meeting for many, and very
distant tribes. The facility of obtaining scraps by begging, small
rewards for trifling jobs of work, donations from the charitable, and a
variety of broken victuals, offal, etc. enable them to collect in large
numbers, and indulge to the uttermost their curiosity in observing the
novelties around them, in meeting strange tribes, and joining them either
in war or festivity, in procuring tools, clothes, etc. to carry back and
barter in their own districts, and for other similar objects. Thus,
Adelaide is nearly always occupied by tribes from one part or other of
the country: on an average, it will support probably six hundred in the
way I have described, though occasionally eight hundred have met there.
The following returns of the numbers who have attended the annual muster
on the Queen's birthday, when bread and beef have been distributed, will
show how the ratio has gone on increasing during the last five years.
In 1840 there were present 283 men, women, and children.
1841 there were present 374 men, women, and children.
1842 there were present 400 men, women, and children.
1843 there were present 450 men, women, and children.
1844 there were present 793 men, women, and children.
In the Murray district, where it has been customary, since the first
establishment of the post at Moorunde, to issue a certain quantity of
flour once in the month (at the full moon) to every native who chose to
come in to receive it, the increase in attendance has been progressively
going on, viz.
2 issues in 1841 the average attendance were 52 men, women, and children
12 issues in 1842 the average attendance were 94 men, women, and children
10 issues in 1843 the average attendance were 136 men, women, and children
9 issues in 1844 the average attendance were 171 men, women, and children
Occasionally nearly 500 natives have been present at these monthly issues
of flour, and the reason that the average attendance is not greater, is,
that immediately after collecting at Moorunde, at the full of the moon,
to receive their flour, from 100 to 300 would usually set off to
Adelaide, where there are so many objects of interest and attraction, and
re-remain there for several months at a time, and especially during the
winter. As fast, too, as one party returned to their own districts,
another would go into town, and thus the average number would be
constantly kept down. A third reason why the musters do not appear so
large as they otherwise would, is that many of the more distant natives
come down at other times than the full moon, and I have then been obliged
to deviate from my usual custom, and issue flour to them at the periods
when they arrived. The number of natives attending such extraordinary
issues do not appear in the periodical returns.
In endeavouring to estimate the numbers and proportions of the sexes, and
children, almost as great a difficulty exists as in that of obtaining
their aggregate numbers. This arises from the fact of the more distant
tribes who visit Europeans stations, frequently leaving their younger
wives, or little children at home, with aged relatives, whilst they
themselves go to a distance. In all the periodical, or regular issues of
flour at the time of full moon, I have accurately kept lists of all who
attended. The gross totals of thirty-three issues are as follows:--
Men 1266
Women 1330
Boys 930
Girls 551
Infants 52
----
4129
From this it is apparent, first, that the women attending the monthly
meetings at the Murray have been, on the whole, about five and a half per
cent in excess of the men, an extraordinary and unusual circumstance, as
compared with the results obtained at other places. I can only account
for this upon the supposition before given, that when large bodies of
natives leave Moorunde for Adelaide, more men than women go away, and
that consequently a larger proportion of females is left behind. Mr.
Moor-house remarks, upon this point, that he has found the males to
average seventy per cent more than the females, among the Adelaide
tribes. My own observation leads me to the opinion that upon the Murray
the two sexes are as nearly equal in numbers as may be.
Secondly, it would appear, that of the Moorunde issues, the number of
girls attending has been little more than one half that of the boys. This
may, perhaps, arise in some measure from females assuming the duties of
women, and being classed as such, at an age when males would still be
considered as only boys. The principal reason, however, must, as before,
be ascribed to a greater number of girls being left behind by the more
distant tribes when they come to visit Moorunde.
Thirdly, from the list I have given, it seems that to each woman there
would be about 1 1/3 child. Upon this subject Mr. Moorhouse remarks, that
his investigation has led to the conclusion that each woman has, on an
average, five children born (nine being the greatest number known), but
that each mother only rears, upon an average, two; and this I think, upon
the whole, would be a tolerably correct estimate.
There is one point connected with the return I have given, peculiarly
striking, as it shews the comparatively small increase that now appears
to be going on among the more numerous tribes of the Aborigines, I allude
to the fact of there only having been fifty-two young infants among 1330
women. By infants I mean such as had to be carried in the arms, for those
who could walk at all have been classed among the boys and girls.
I have never known a case of twins among the Aborigines, and Mr.
Moorhouse informs me that no case has ever come under his observation;
but Captain Grey found such to occur sometimes in Western Australia. On
the number and proportion of the sexes he observes, that 4.6 seemed to be
the average number of children born to each woman, and that there was one
female to every 1.3 males. With respect to the duration of life among the
Aborigines, Captain Grey says, vol. ii. p. 246-248--"With regard to the
age occasionally attained by the natives, I believe very erroneous ideas
have been prevalent, for so far am I from considering them to be short
lived, that I am certain they frequently attain the age of seventy years
and upwards." "Yet were these instances of longevity contrasted with the
great number of deaths which take place during the period of infancy,
there can be no doubt whatever that the average duration of life amongst
these savage tribes falls far short of that enjoyed by civilized races."
These remarks, as far as my observation has extended, apply to the
natives of New Holland generally. I have frequently met with many
venerable, white-headed men among the Aborigines, who could not, I think,
have been less than eighty years of age, and who yet retained the full
vigour of mind, and the bold, upright, though now wasted form, that had
characterised them in the pride of manhood; but about sixty-five appears
perhaps to be the average age attained by the old.
The second inference is more than borne out by the statement already
recorded, that for every five children born on an average to each mother,
two only are reared, and these subject to all the casualities and dangers
which savage life is exposed to.
[Note 90: This can of course only apply to tribes tolerably well known to
Europeans, and more or less frequently coming in contact with them. Of
tribes in their natural state we can have no accurate data, and but few
passing notes even that are worthy of confidence. Generally I have found
children to be numerous among tribes who have never had intercourse with
Europeans' and it is a well known fact that the increase of numbers in
aboriginal tribes is checked in proportion to the frequency, or the
extent of their communication with Europeans. At Flinders island to which
210 Van Diemen's Land natives were removed from Van Diemen's Land in
1835, this is singularly exemplified. In 1842 Count Strzelecki says, page
353--"And while each family of the interior of New South Wales,
uncontaminated by contact with the whites, swarms with children, those of
Flinders island, had during eight years an accession of only fourteen in
number."]
Upon inquiry into the causes which tend to prevent population going on in
an increasing ratio among the natives of Australia, the following appear
to be the most prominent. First, polygamy, and the illicit and almost
unlimited intercourse between the sexes, habits which are well known to
check the progress of population, wherever they prevail.
Secondly. Infanticide, which is very general, and practised to a great
extent, especially among the younger and favourite women.
Thirdly. Diseases, to which in a savage state young children are
peculiarly liable, such as dysentry, cold, and their consequences, etc.
[Note 91: Huic accedit, ex quo illis sunt immisti Europaei, lues venerea.
Morbum infantibus matres afflant, et ingens multitudo quotannis
inde perit.]
Fourthly. Wars and quarrels, occurring sometimes from the most trivial
circumstances, and often ending in deaths, or wounds that terminate in
death.
The diseases to which the natives are subject, are with the exception of
those induced by artificial living, as gout, rheumatism, etc. very similar
to those which afflict Europeans, the principal being the result of
inflammation, acute, or chronic, arising from exposure to the cold, and
which affects most generally the bronchiae, the lungs, and the pleura.
Phthisis occasionally occurs, as does also erysipelas. Scrofula has been
met with, but very rarely. A disease very similar to the small-pox, and
leaving similar marks upon the face, appears formerly to have been very
prevalent, but I have never met with an existing case, nor has Mr.
Moorhouse ever fallen in with one. It is said to have come from the
eastward originally, and very probably may have been derived in the first
instance from Europeans, and the infection passed along from one tribe to
another: it has not been experienced now for many years.
[Note 92: Ex morbis quos patiuntur ab adventu Europaeorum longe
frequentissima et maxime fatalis est lues venerea. An hic morbus
indigenis, priusquam illis immiscebuntur Europaei erat notus, sciri nunc
minime potest. Ipsi jamdiu ex oriente adductum dicunt, ex quo maxime
probabile videtur, eum, origine prima ex Europa, inde de gente in gentem
per totam poene continentem esse illatam. Neque dubium eum in gentibus iis
quibus non immiscentur Europaei, neque frequentem esse, nec acrem, eorum
autem per immistionem terribilem in modum augescere. Quinetiam ii sunt
indigenarum mores, ut, adveniat modo forma sub pessima morbus, velox et
virulentus qualis nusquam alias illico latissime effluat. Licet bene
sciant hae gentes, hunc, sicut ejus modi alii morbum per contactum
contractum esse illis tamen pestem cujus indies spectantur tantae tamque
terribiles offensiones, vitare minime curae est. Vidi egomet plurimos non
modo aegrotorum in tentoriis otiari, verum etiam foedatus ita secure
induere vestes aut iisdem in stragulis cubare, ac si optima ibi adesset
sanitas. Mihi stationem publicam ponendi causa ad "Morrandi" in mensa
Octobris, 1841, advenienti, occurrebant populi morbis poene liberi
formam atque membra bene formati; postea autem ex frequenti cum oppido
et proximis stationibus commercio, circa Octobrem 1844, morbos quam
maxime horridos contraxerant. Inde eo tempore moribundi erant plurimi,
nonnulli mortui, paucique ex iis, qui frequenter coibant, ex omni aetate
et sexu hujusce pestis formis omnino expertes erant. Apud indigenas
morbus hic eodem fere modo quo apud Europaeos sese ostendere videtur
variis tamen ex causis etiam magis odiosum, eo praesertim quod pustulae
rotundae, magnitudinem fere uncialem habentes, simul in cute exsurgunt.
His gradatim, cum pure effluente, pars media expletur, et inde magis
magisque crescentibus et dispersis corporis universi superficies tabe ac
scabie laborat, quae propinquantibus simul horrorem ac nauseam movent.
Ulcera haec aliquando infra sex vel octo menses ipsa se cohaerent;
plerumque autem incitamentorum et vi causticorum ad locum adhibita infra
hebdomadas tres sanantur. Nec minus apud indigenas quam apud Europaeos,
remedium hujusoe morbi speciale: medicamenta sunt mercurialia, majore
tamen illis cum periculo, tum propter eorum mores, quum quod plerumque
sub dio vivunt, omni absente medicina. Post annum primum aut alterum
morbus evanescit, interdum mortem affert. Semper autem aegrotis miseris
cruciatus maximus et dolores perpetui inde flunt. Moorhousi de morbo hoc
opiniones in paucis a meis experimentis dissident, quum ille num glandem
penis aut inguinis, principio nunquam, glandem autem penis rarissime vel
secundo attingere arbitrabatur. Ego autem et hoc et illud in ripis
Murray fluminis vidi.]
Many natives of deformed persons are occasionally to be met with,
especially in the extremities. I have seen natives tall, and perfect, and
well built in the body and limbs, from the head down to the knees: but
from that point downwards, shrivelled and blighted, presenting but skin
and bone. Many are blind in one eye, some in both; sometimes this appears
the effect of inflammation, or of cataract; at others, it may be the
result of accident. Among those natives inhabiting the sandy drifts along
the western coast, where the sand is always circling about in a perfect
shower, I have no doubt but that many become blind from its effects.
In October, 1839, Mr. Moorhouse found nine inhabitants in two huts to the
south; out of these, five were quite blind, and one had lost one eye;
they were occupied in making nets.
Deaf and dumb persons are not often found among the Aborigines, but I
have met with instances of this kind. One of the most intelligent natives
I ever met with, was a deaf and dumb youth at the Wimmera. From this poor
boy, I could more readily and intelligibly obtain by signs a description
of the country, its character, and localities, than from any native I
ever met with, whose language I was at the time quite unacquainted with.
The blind, or the infirm, are generally well treated, and taken care of
when young, but as soon as they advance in years, or become an impediment
to the movements of the tribe, they are abandoned at once by their
people, and left to perish.
The crimes committed by the natives against Europeans do not bear any
proportion, either numerically, or in magnitude, to their number, as a
people, and the circumstances of their position. When we consider the low
state of morals, or rather, the absence of all moral feeling upon their
part, the little restraint that is placed upon their community, by either
individual authority, or public opinion, the injuries they are smarting
under, and the aggressions they receive, it cannot but be admitted that
they are neither an ill disposed, nor a very vindictive people. The
following are the returns of the convictions of natives in South
Australia for the years 1842 and 1843, viz. :--
SUPREME COURT.
--------------
OFFENCE. 1842 1843 1844
Larceny 2 0 2
Assault with intent to murder 2 0 0
Wilful murder 0 3 1
Sheep stealing 1 2 1
Cattle stealing 0 1 2
RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.
----------------------------
Assault 0 3 3
Breaking windows 1 0 0
Intoxication 3 0 0
Injuring park trees 0 0 2
----------
9 9 11
In the colony of New South Wales, the return of all the trials of the
Aborigines, from 10th February, 1837, to the 24th July, 1843, amounted to
thirty-three cases, and implicated sixty-one individuals. The offences
were chiefly murder and assault, or stealing sheep and cattle. In ten
cases only, out of thirty-three, convictions took place, and nineteen
individuals were sentenced, viz., twelve to death, six to transportation
for ten years, and one to a flogging. [Note 93: For particulars vide
Papers on the Aborigines of Australian Colonies, printed for the House of
Commons, August 9th, 1844.]
Among the natives, but few crimes are committed against each other; in
fact, it would be somewhat difficult to define what their idea of crime
would be, for that which is offensive on the part of another is
considered a virtue in themselves. Accustomed to act upon the impulse of
the moment, and to take summary vengeance for injury, real or imagined,
their worst deeds are but in accordance with their own standard of right,
having no moral sense of what is just or equitable in the abstract, their
only test of propriety must in such cases be, whether they are
numerically, or physically strong enough to brave the vengeance of those
whom they may have provoked, or injured. Custom has, however, from time
immemorial, usurped the place of laws, and with them, perhaps, is even
more binding than they would be. Through custom's irresistible sway has
been forged the chain that binds in iron fetters a people, who might
otherwise be said to be without government or restraint. By it, the young
and the weak are held in willing subjection to the old and the strong.
Superstitious to a degree they are taught from earliest infancy to dread
they know not what evil or punishment, if they infringe upon obligations
they have been told to consider as sacred. All the better feelings and
impulses implanted in the human heart by nature, are trampled upon by
customs, which, as long as they remain unchanged, must for ever prevent
them from rising in the scale of civilization and improvement, or to use
the apt and expressive language of Captain Grey upon this point, vol. ii.
p. 217 :--
"He (the native) is in reality subjected to complex laws, which not only
deprive him of all free agency of thought, but at the same time, by
allowing no scope for the development of intellect, benevolence, or any
other great moral qualification, they necessarily bind him down in a
hopeless state of barbarism, from which it is impossible for him to
emerge, so long as he is enthralled by these customs, which, on the other
hand, are so ingeniously devised as to have a direct tendency to
annihilate any effort that is made to overthrow them."
Those customs regulate all things, the acquisition and disposal of wives,
the treatment of women, of the elders, the acquiescence of the younger
members of a tribe in any measure that may have been decided upon by the
old men, the rules which guide the international intercourse between
different tribes, the certain restrictions or embargoes that are put upon
different kinds of food or at certain ages, the fear of sorcery or
witchcraft if they transgress the orders of the elders, or break through
the ordinances that have been imposed upon them, and many other similar
influences.
In their intercourse with each other I have generally found the natives
to speak the truth and act with honesty, and they will usually do the
same with Europeans if on friendly terms with them. In their treatment of
each other, and in the division of food, policy and custom have induced
them to be extremely polite and liberal. Old men are especially well off
in this respect, as the younger people always give them the best and
largest share of everything. Males generally are generous and liberal to
each other in sharing what food they have, but it is not often that the
females participate in the division. When following their usual pursuits
upon the Murray, I have seen the men after an hour or two's fishing with
the nets, sit down and devour all they had caught, without saving
anything for their family or wives, and then hurry about noon to the
camps to share in what had been procured by the women, who usually begin
to return at that hour, with what they have been able to collect.
Favourite kinds of food are also frequently sent as presents from one
male to another, and at other times two parties will meet and exchange
the different kinds they respectively bring. Among the younger people I
have often seen a poor hungry fellow, who had by his skill or
perseverance obtained some small article of food, compelled by the rules
of savage politeness to share out the petty spoil among a group of
expectant sharks around, whilst he whose skill or labour had procured it
dared hardly taste it, and was sure to come in for the smallest share.
Naturally, I do not think they are bloodthirsty; custom or example may
sometimes lead them on to shed blood, but it is usually in accordance
with their prejudices or to gratify the momentary excitement of passion.
With many vices and but few virtues, I do not yet think the Australian
savage is more? vicious in his propensities or more virulent in his
passions than are the larger number of the lower classes of what are
called civilized communities. Well might they retort to our accusations,
the motives and animus by which too many of our countrymen have been
actuated towards them.
I have remarked that as far as my observation has enabled me to judge,
the natives are rarely guilty of offences (which they deem such,) towards
members of their own tribes. There are many acts, however, which
according to our ideas of right and wrong, are acts of the greatest
cruelty and tyranny, which they exercise towards each other, though
sanctioned by custom, and enforced by daily practice. Such are the
cruelties inflicted upon the women, who are looked upon in the light of
slaves, and mercilessly beaten or speared for the most trifling offences.
No one under any circumstances ever attempts to take the part of a
female, and consequently they are maltreated and oppressed in a shocking
degree. Does a native meet a woman in the woods and violate her, he is
not the one made to feel the vengeance of the husband, but the poor
victim whom he has abused. Is there hard or disagreeable work of any kind
to be done--the woman is compelled to do it. Is there a scarcity of food
at the camp when the husband comes home hungry--the wife is punished for
his indolence and inactivity.
[Note 94: In February 1842, Mr. Gouger, then Colonial Secretary at
Adelaide, caused a dog belonging to a native to be shot for some cause or
other I am not acquainted with. The animal had been left by its master in
the charge of his wife, and as soon as he learnt that it was dead, he
speared her for not taking better care of it.]
The complete subserviency of the younger people of both sexes in the
savage community, to the older or leading men, is another very serious
evil they labour under. The force of habit and of traditional custom has
so completely clouded their otherwise quick perceptions, that they
blindly yield to whatever the elders may require of them; they dare not
disobey, they dare not complain of any wrong or indignity they may be
subjected to this has been and will be the greatest bar to their
civilization or improvement until some means are taken to free them from
so degrading a thraldom, and afford that protection from the oppression
of the strong and the old which they so greatly require.
On the Murray river, or amongst the Adelaide natives I am not aware that
any stated punishments are affixed to specific crimes, except that of
spearing in the arm to expiate deaths. Vengeance appears usually to be
summarily executed and on the spot, according to the physical strength or
number of friends of the individual injured; otherwise it is made a cause
of quarrel between tribes, and a battle or disturbance of some kind takes
place. This appears to be one great point of distinction between the
practice of some of the tribes in Southern and Western Australia. Captain
Grey says in reference to the latter place, (vol. ii. p. 243.)
"Any other crime may be compounded for, by the criminal appearing and
submitting himself to the ordeal of having spears thrown at him by all
such persons as conceive themselves to have been aggrieved, or by
permitting spears to be thrust through certain parts of his body; such as
through the thigh, or the calf of the leg, or under the arm. The part
which is to be pierced by a spear, is fixed for all common crimes, and a
native who has incurred this penalty, sometimes quietly holds out his leg
for the injured party to thrust his spear through."
This custom does not appear to hold among the tribes of South Australia,
with whom I have come in contact; but I have often been told by natives
of tribes in New South Wales, that they practised it, although an
instance of the infliction of the punishment never came under my own
observation.
Injuries, when once overlooked, are never revenged afterwards. Tribes may
compel members to make restitution, as in the case of stealing a wife;
but I have never known an instance of one of their number being given up
to another tribe, for either punishment or death. Occasionally they have
been induced to give up guilty parties to Europeans; but to effect this,
great personal influence on the part of the person employed is necessary
to ensure success. Though they are always ready to give up or point out
transgressors, if belonging to other tribes than their own.
Chapter VII.
LANGUAGE, DIALECTS, CUSTOMS, etc.--GENERAL SIMILARITY THROUGHOUT THE
CONTINENT--CAUSES OF DIFFERENCES--ROUTE BY WHICH THE NATIVES HAVE
OVERSPREAD THE COUNTRY, etc.
During the last few years much has been done towards an examination and
comparison of the dialects spoken by the aboriginal tribes of Australia
in different portions of the continent. The labours of Mr. Threlkeld, of
Captain Grey, of Messrs. Teichelman and Schurmann, of Mr. Meyer, of Mr.
Schurman, with the occasional notes of visitors and travellers, have done
much to elucidate this subject, and have presented to the world
vocabularies of the Hunter's River and Lake Macquarie districts in New
South Wales; of Swan River and King George's Sound in Western Australia;
of Adelaide, of Encounter Bay, and of Port Lincoln, in South Australia;
besides occasional phrases or scanty manuals of various other dialects
spoken in different districts. From these varied contributions it would
appear that a striking coincidence exists in the personal appearance,
character, customs, traditions, dialects, etc. among the many and remotely
separated tribes scattered over the surface of New Holland. Each of
these, no doubt, varies in many particulars from the others, and so much
so some times, as to lead to the impression that they are essentially
different and distinct. [Note 95 at end of para.] Upon close examination,
however, a sufficient general resemblance is usually found to indicate
that all the tribes have originally sprung from the same race, that
they have gradually spread themselves over the whole continent from
some one given point; which appears, as far as we can infer from
circumstantial evidence, to have been somewhere upon the northern
coast. There are some points of resemblance which, as far as is yet
known, appear to be common to most of the different dialects with
which we are acquainted. Such are, there being no generic terms
as tree, fish, bird, etc., but only specific ones as applied to
each particular variety of tree, fish, bird, etc. The cardinal
numbers, being only carried up to three, there being no degrees
of comparison except by a repetition to indicate intensity, or by a
combination of opposite adjectives, to point out the proportion intended,
and no distinction of genders, if we except an attempt to mark one among
those tribes who give numerical names to their children, according to the
order of their birth, as before mentioned. [Note 96: Chap. IV.
nomenclature.] All parts of speech appear to be subject to inflections,
if we except adverbs, post-fixes, and post-positions. Nouns, adjectives,
pronouns and verbs have all three numbers, singular, dual and plural. The
nominative agent always precedes an active verb. When any new object
is presented to the native, a name is given to it, from some fancied
similarity to some object they already know, or from some peculiar
quality or attribute it may possess; thus, rice is in the Moorunde
dialect called "yeelilee" or "maggots," from an imagined resemblance
between the two objects.
[Note 95: Catlin remarks the existence of a similar number and variety in
the dialects of the American Indians, but appears to think them radically
different from one another.]
The most singular and remarkable fact, connected with the coincidence of
customs or dialect, amongst the Aborigines, is that it exists frequently
to a less degree among tribes living close to one another, than between
those who are more remotely separated. The reason of this apparent
anomaly would seem to be, that those tribes now living near to one
another, and among whom the greatest dissimilarity of language and
customs is found to exist, have originally found their way to the same
neighbourhood by different lines of route, and consequently the greatest
resemblances in language and custom, might naturally be expected to be
met with, (as is in reality the case), not between tribes at present the
nearest to each other, but between those, who although now so far
removed, occupy respectively the opposite extremes of the lines of route
by which one of them had in the first instance crossed over the
continent.
Without entering into an elaborate analysis, of either the structure or
radical derivation of the various dialects we are acquainted with, I
shall adduce a few instances in each, of words taken from the
vocabularies I have mentioned before, for King George's Sound, Adelaide,
Encounter Bay, and Port Lincoln, and supply them myself from other
dialects, including those meeting on the Murray or at the Darling, to
shew the degree of similarity that exists in language.
In selecting the examples for comparison, I have taken first the personal
pronouns and numerals, as being the words which usually assimilate more
closely in the different dialects, than any other. Secondly, those words
representing objects which would be common to all tribes, and which from
their continual recurrence, and daily use, might naturally be supposed to
vary the least from each other, if the original language of all were the
same, but which, if radically different in any, render the subject still
more difficult and embarrassing.
DIALECTS
========
[Note: At this point in the book a table appears, which lists
common English words and the equivalent word as taken from the
vocabularies of aborigines from various locations. This table has not
been reproduced in full, however, a few entries are given below.]
English Western Adelaide Encounter Parnkalla Aiawong
Australia Bay (Port Lincoln) (Moorundie)
I Nganya Ngaii Ngaape Ngai, ngatto Ngappo
Thou Nginnee Ninna Nginte Ninna Ngurru
She Bal Pa Kitye Panna Nin
We (Ye) Nganneel Ngadlu Ngane Ngarrinyalbo Ngenno
They Balgoon Parna Kar Yardna Ngau-o
We two Ngal-li Ngadli Ngele Ngadli Ngel-lo
You two Newball Niwa Ngurle Nuwalla Ngupal
They two Boala Purla Kengk Pudlanbi Dlau-o
One Gyne Kumande Yammalaitye Kuma Meiter
Two Kardura Purlaitye Ning Kaiengg Kuttara Tang kul
Many Partanna Towata Ruwar Kulbarri Neil
Few Warrang Kutyonde -- -- Baupalata
Upon comparison of the different dialects given in the two foregoing
tables, and which comprise an extent of country, embracing fully one half
of the continent of Australia, it will be apparent that a sufficient
degree of resemblance exists to justify the conclusion, that they were
derived from one and the same original. It is true, that in many
respects, there are sometimes even radical differences in some of the
words of various dialects; but as Captain Grey judiciously remarks, if
the comparison in such cases be extended, and the vocabulary of each
enlarged, there will always be found points of resemblance, either in the
dialects compared, or in some intermediate dialect, which will bear out
the conclusion assumed. [Note 97 at end of para.] This view is still
further strengthened, by including in the comparison the weapons, habits,
customs, and traditions, of the various tribes.
[Note 97. I may here refer to a curious mathematical calculation, by
Dr. Thomas Young, to the effect, that if three words coincide in two
different languages, it is ten to one they must be derived in both cases
from some parent language, or introduced in some other manner. "Six words
would give more," he says, "than seventeen hundred to one, and eight near
100,000; so that in these cases, the evidence would be little short of
absolute certainty."--Vestiges of the Creation, p. 302.]
It must be admitted, however, that where the languages spoken by two
tribes, appear to differ greatly, there is no key common to both, or by
which a person understanding one of them thoroughly, could in the least
degree make out the other, although an intimate acquaintance with one
dialect and its construction, would undoubtedly tend to facilitate the
learning of another. A strong illustration of this occurs at Moorunde,
where three dialects meet, varying so much from each other, that no
native of any one of the three tribes, can understand a single word
spoken by the other two, except he has learnt their languages as those of
a foreign people.
The dialects I allude to, are first that of the Murray river, called the
"Aiawong" and which is spoken with slight variations from the Lake
Alexandrina, up to the Darling. Secondly, the "Boraipar," or language of
the natives to the east of the Murray, and which appears in its
variations to branch into that of the south-eastern tribes; and thirdly,
the "Yak-kumban," or dialect spoken by the natives, inhabiting the
country to the north-west and north of the Murray, and which extends
along the range of hills from Mount Bryant to the Darling near Laidley's
Ponds, and forms in its variations the language of the Darling itself;
these tribes meet upon the Murray at Moorunde, and can only communicate
to each other by the intervention of the Aiawong dialect, which the
north-western or south-eastern tribes are compelled to learn, before they
can either communicate with each other, or with the natives of the
Murray, at their common point of rendezvous.
To the tables already given, it is thought desirable to add two of the
dialects, spoken in the country to the eastward of South Australia, and
which were published for the House of Commons, with other papers on the
Aborigines, in August 1844.
[Note: At this point in the book two table appear, with the following
headings. These tables have not been reproduces in this eBook.]
A SPECIMEN OF THE DIFFERENCE OF DIALECTS SPOKEN BY THE NATIVE TRIBES OF
PORT PHILLIP.
SPECIMEN OF FIVE DIALECTS SPOKEN BY THE ABORIGINES OF THE NORTH-WESTERN
DISTRICT.
Captain Flinders observed the same difference to exist in various parts
of New Holland, which he visited, and yet that judicious navigator
inclined to the opinion that all the various tribes had originally one
common origin. Vol. ii. p. 213-14, he says,
"I do not know that the language of any two parts of Terra Australis,
however near, has been found to be entirely the same; for even at Botany
Bay, Port Jackson, and Broken Bay, not only the dialect, but many words
are radically different; and this confirms one part of an observation,
the truth of which seems to be generally admitted, that although
similarity of language in two nations proves their origin to be the same,
yet dissimilarity of languages is no proof of the contrary position.
"The language of Caledon Bay (north-west coast) may therefore be totally
different to what is spoken on the east and south coasts, and yet the
inhabitants have one common origin; but I do not think that the language
is absolutely and wholly different, though it certainly was no better
understood by Bongarrco (a Sydney native) than by ourselves. In three
instances I found a similarity. The personal pronoun of Port Jackson,
'Ngia' (I), was used here, and apparently in the same sense. When inquiry
was made after the axe, the natives replied 'yehangeree-py,' making signs
of beating, and py signifies to beat in the Port Jackson language. The
third instance was that of the lad Woga calling to Bongarree in the boat,
which after he had done several times without being answered, he became
angry, and exclaimed Bongarree-gah in a vehement manner, as Bongarree
himself would have done in a similar case."
Captain Grey, in speaking of the Aborigines of New Holland, says (vol.
ii. p. 209),
"One singularity in the dialects spoken by the Aborigines in different
portions of Australia is, that those of districts widely removed from one
another, sometimes assimilate very closely, whilst the dialects spoken in
the intermediate ones differ considerably from either of them. The same
circumstances take place with regard to their rights and customs."
And again, after comparing some of the dialects of South Australia and
New South Wales with those of Western Australia, Captain Grey says (vol.
ii. p. 216),
"Having thus traced the entire coast line of the continent of Australia,
it appears that a language the same in root is spoken throughout this
vast extent of country, and from the general agreement in this, as well
as in personal appearance, rites and ceremonies, we may fairly infer a
community of origin for the Aborigines."
Had we a collected and an authentic account of the dialects, weapons,
habits, customs, and traditions of all the tribes of Australia with whom
Europeans have already been in close or friendly contact, and which, with
very few exceptions, would embrace the circuit of the whole continent, we
should have a mass of valuable and interesting information, that would
enable us, not only to form a probable opinion as to the community of
origin of the various tribes, and the point from which they first
overspread the continent, but also to guide us in conjecturing the routes
which the various offsets have taken from the parent tribe, the places of
contact where they have met from opposite extremities of the continent,
and the gradual change which has taken place in the habits, customs, and
dialects of each.
In the absence of many links necessary to form a connection, we can at
present only surmise conclusions, which otherwise might have been almost
certainly deduced.
Connecting, however, and comparing all the facts with which we are
acquainted, respecting the Aborigines, it appears that there are still
grounds sufficient to hazard the opinion, that it is not improbable that
Australia was first peopled on its north-western coast, between the
parallels of 12 degrees and 16 degrees S. latitude. From whence we might
surmise that three grand divisions had branched out from the parent
tribe, and that from the offsets of these the whole continent had been
overspread.
The first division appears to have proceeded round the north-western,
western, and south-western coast, as far as the commencement of the Great
Australian Bight. The second, or central one, appears to have crossed the
continent inland, to the southern coast, striking it about the parallel
of 134 degrees E. longitude. The third division seems to have followed
along the bottom of the Gulf of Carpentaria to its most south-easterly
bight, and then to have turned off by the first practicable line in a
direction towards Fort Bourke, upon the Darling. From these three
divisions various offsets and ramifications would have been made from
time to time as they advanced, so as to overspread and people by degrees
the whole country round their respective lines of march. Each offset
appearing to retain fewer or more of the original habits, customs, etc. of
the parent tribe in proportion to the distance traversed, or its isolated
position, with regard to communication with the tribes occupying the main
line of route of its original division; modified also, perhaps, in some
degree, by the local circumstances of the country through which it may
have spread.
Commencing with the parent tribe, located as I have supposed, first upon
the north-west coast, we find, from the testimony of Captain Flinders and
Dampier, that the male natives of that part of the country, have two
front teeth of the upper jaw knocked out at the age of puberty, and that
they also undergo the rite of circumcision; but it does not appear that
any examination was made with sufficient closeness to ascertain,
whether [Note 98: Vide Note 78.] any other ceremony was conjoined with
that of circumcision. How far these ceremonies extend along the
north-western or western coasts we have no direct evidence, but at
Swan River, King George's Sound, and Cape Arid, both customs are
completely lost, and for the whole of the distance intervening
between these places, and extending fully six hundred miles in
straight line along the coast, the same language is so far spoken,
that a native of King George's Sound, who accompanied me when travelling
from one point to the other, could easily understand, and speak to any
natives we met with. This is, however, an unusual case, nor indeed am I
aware that there is any other part of Australia where the same dialect
continues to be spoken by the Aborigines, with so little variation, for
so great a distance, as in the colony of Western Australia.
Following round the southern coast easterly, the head of the Great Bight
is the first point at which any great change appears to occur, and even
here it is less in the character, language, and weapons of the natives,
than in their ceremonial observances. For the first time the rite of
circumcision is observed, and conjoined with it the still more
extraordinary practice to which I have before alluded. The ceremony of
knocking out the two upper front teeth of boys arrived at the age of
puberty, is not, however, adopted. We have already noticed, that for six
hundred miles to the west and north-west from the Great Bight,
circumcision is unknown. The tribes, therefore, who practise it, cannot
have come from that direction, neither are they likely to have come from
the eastward, for after crossing the head of the Port Lincoln peninsula,
and descending towards Adelaide, we find the rite of circumcision alone
is practised, without any other ceremony in connection with it. Now, in a
change of habits or customs, originating in the wandering, unsettled life
of savages, it is very likely, that many of their original customs may
gradually be dropped or forgotten; but it is scarcely probable, that they
should be again revived by their descendants, after a long period of
oblivion, and when those tribes from whom they more immediately
proceeded, no longer remembered or recognised such ceremonials. By
extending the inquiry still further to the east, the position I have
assumed is more forcibly borne out, for the rite of circumcision itself
then becomes unknown. It is evident, therefore, that the Adelaide or Port
Lincoln natives could not have come along either the eastern or western
coasts, and retained customs that are there quite unknown, neither could
they have come across the country inland, in the direction of the
Darling, for the ceremonies alluded to are equally unknown there. They
must then have crossed almost directly from the north-western coast,
towards the south-eastern extremity of the great Australian Bight. And
from them the Adelaide natives would appear to be a branch or offset.
Returning to the north-west coast, and tracing down the route of the
third division of the parent family, from the south-east Bight of
Carpentaria, towards Fort Bourke upon the Darling, we shall find, that by
far the greatest and most fertile portion of New Holland appears to have
been peopled by it. In its progress, offsets and ramifications would have
branched off in every direction along the various ranges or watercourses
contiguous to the line of route. All the rivers running towards the
eastern coast, together with the Nammoy, the Gwyder, the Castlereagh,
Macquarie, Bogan, Lochlan, Darling, Hume, Goulburn, etc. with their many
branches and tributaries, would each afford so many routes for the
different sub-divisions of the main body, to spread over the varied and
fertile regions of Eastern, South-eastern, and part of Southern
Australia. As tribe separated from tribe, each would retain, in a greater
or less degree, some of the language, habits, or customs of the original
division; but such points of resemblance would naturally again undergo
many changes or modifications, in proportion to the time, distance, or
isolated character of the separation. If we look at the progress of any
two parties of natives, branching off upon different rivers, and trace
them, either upwards or downwards, we shall find, that the further they
went, the more isolated they would become, and the less likely to come
again in contact with each other, or with the original division from
which they separated. We may, therefore, naturally expect a much greater
variety of dialects or customs in a country that is much intersected by
rivers, or ranges, or by any features that tend to produce the isolating
effect that I have described, than in one whose character has no such
tendency; and this in reality we find to be the case. In Western and
South-western Australia, as far as the commencement of the Great Bight,
the features and character of the country appear to be but little
diversified, and here, accordingly, we find the language of the natives
radically the same, and their weapons, customs, and ceremonies very
similar throughout its whole extent; but if, on the other hand, we turn
to Eastern, South-eastern, and part of Southern Australia, we find the
dialects, customs, and weapons of the inhabitants, almost as different as
the country itself is varied by the intersection of ranges and rivers.
The division I have supposed as taking a south-easterly course from the
Gulf of Carpentaria, would appear early to have lost the rite of
circumcision; but to have retained among some of its branches, the
practice of knocking out the front teeth of the upper jaw. Thus, those
who made their way to Port Jackson and to Hunter's River, and to some of
the southern parts of New South Wales, still retained the practice of
knocking out one of the front teeth at the age of puberty; but at
Keppel's, Harvey's, and Glass-House bays, on the north-east coast, at
Twofold bay on the south-east, at Port Phillip on the south, and upon the
rivers Darling and Murray, of the interior, no such rite is practised. It
is clear, therefore, that when the continent was first peopled, the
natives of Sydney or Hunter's River could not have come round the
north-east coast by Keppel's or Harvey's bays, and retained a ceremony
that is there lost; neither could the Murrumbidgee or southern districts
of New South Wales, have been peopled from Port Phillip, or from South
Australia, or by tribes passing up the Murray for the same reason. It is
not demanding too much, therefore, to suppose that the general lines of
route taken by the Aborigines in spreading over the continent of
Australia, have been somewhat analogous to those I have imagined, or that
we can fairly account for any material differences there may be in the
dialects, customs, or weapons of the different tribes, by referring them
to the effect of local circumstances, the length of time that may have
elapsed since separation, or to the isolated position in which they may
have been placed, with regard to that division of the parent tribe from
which they had seceded.
At present our information respecting the customs, habits, weapons and
dialects of the various tribes is too limited and too scattered to enable
us to trace with accuracy the division to which each may have originally
belonged, or the precise route by which it had arrived at its present
location; but I feel quite confident that this may be done with tolerable
certainty, when the particulars I have referred to shall be more
abundantly and correctly recorded.
It is at least a subject of much interest, and one that is well worthy
the attention of the traveller or the philanthropist. No one individual
can hope personally to collect the whole material required; but if each
recorded with fidelity the facts connected with those tribes, with whom
he personally came in contact, a mass of evidence would soon be brought
together that would more than suffice for the purpose required.
Chapter VIII.
EFFECTS OF CONTACT WITH EUROPEANS--ATTEMPTS AT IMPROVEMENT AND
CIVILIZATION--ACCOUNT OF SCHOOLS--DEFECTS OF THE SYSTEM.
Some attempts have been made in nearly all the British Settlements of
Australia to improve the condition of the aboriginal population; the
results have, however, in few cases, met the expectations of the
promoters of the various benevolent schemes that have been entered upon
for the object; nor have the efforts hitherto made succeeded in arresting
that fatal and melancholy effect which contact with civilization seems
ever to produce upon a savage people. It has already been stated, that in
all the colonies we have hitherto established upon the continent, the
Aborigines are gradually decreasing in number, or have already
disappeared in proportion to the time their country has been occupied by
Europeans, or to the number of settlers who have been located upon it.
Of the blighting and exterminating effects produced upon simple and
untutored races, by the advance of civilization upon them, we have many
and painful proofs. History records innumerable instances of nations who
were once numerous and powerful, decaying and disappearing before this
fatal and inexplicable influence; history WILL record, I fear, similar
results for the many nations who are now struggling; alas, how vainly,
against this desolating cause. Year by year, the melancholy and appalling
truth is only the more apparent, and as each new instance multiplies upon
us, it becomes too fatally confirmed, until at last we are almost, in
spite of ourselves, forced to the conviction, that the first appearance
of the white men in any new country, sounds the funeral knell of the
children of the soil. In Africa, in the country of the Bushmen, Mr.
Moffat says--
"I have traversed those regions, in which, according to the testimony of
the farmers, thousands once dwelt, drinking at their own fountains, and
killing their own game; but now, alas, scarcely is a family to be seen!
It is impossible to look over those now uninhabited plains and mountain
glens without feeling the deepest melancholy, whilst the winds moaning in
the vale seem to echo back the sound, 'Where are they?'"
Another author, with reference to the Cape Colony, remarks--
"The number of natives, estimated at the time of the discovery at about
200,000, are stated to have been reduced, or cut off, to the present
population of about 32,000, by a continual system of oppression, which
once begun, never slackened."
Catlin gives a feeling and melancholy account of the decrease of the
North American Indians, [Note 99: Vide Catlin's American Indians,
vol. i. p. 4 and 5, and vol. ii. p. 238.] and similar records might be
adduced of the sad fate of almost every uncivilized people, whose country
has been colonized by Europeans. In Sydney, which is the longest
established of all our possessions in New Holland, it is believed that not
a single native of the original tribes belonging to Port Jackson is now
left alive. [Note 100 at end of para.] Advancing from thence towards the
interior a miserable family or two may be met with, then a few detached
groups of half-starved wretches, dependant upon what they can procure
by begging for their daily sustenance. Still further, the scattered
and diseased remnants [Note 101 at end of para.], of once powerful,
but now decayed tribes are seen interspersed throughout the country,
until at last upon arriving at the more remote regions, where the
blighting and annihilating effects of colonization have not yet
overtaken them, tribes are yet found flourishing in their natural state,
free from that misery and diminution which its presence always brings
upon them.
[Note 100: "In the first year of the settlement of New South Wales, 1788,
Governor Phillip caused the amount of the population of Port Jackson to be
ascertained, by every cove in it being visited by different inspectors at
the same time. The number of natives found in this single harbour was
130, and they had 67 boats. At the same time it was known that many were
in the woods making new canoes. From this and other data, Governor Phillip
estimated the population between Botany Bay and Broken Bay inclusive,
at 1500."--Aboriginal Protection Society's Report, May 1839, p. 13.
In Report of the same Society for July 1839, page 71, Mr. Threlkeld
says--"Of one large tribe in the interior four years ago there were 164
persons--there are now only three individuals alive!!"]
[Note 101: "The whole eastern country, once thickly peopled, may now be
said to be entirely abandoned to the whites, with the exception of some
scattered families in one part, and of a few straggling individuals in
another; and these once so high spirited, so jealous of their independence
and liberty, now treated with contempt and ridicule even by the lowest of
the Europeans; degraded, subdued, confused, awkward, and distrustful, ill
concealing emotions of anger, scorn, and revenge--emaciated and covered
with filthy rags;--these native lords of the soil, more like spectres of
the past than living men, are dragging on a melancholy existence to a yet
more melancholy doom."--STRZELECHI'S N. S. WALES, p.350.]
It is here that the native should be seen to be appreciated, in his
native wilds, where he alone is lord of all around him. To those who have
thus come into communication with the Aborigines, and have witnessed the
fearless courage and proud demeanour which a life of independence and
freedom always inspires, it cannot but be a matter of deep regret to see
them gradually dwindling away and disappearing before the presence of
Europeans. As the ravages of a flood destroy the country through which it
takes its course, and which its deposit ought only to have fertilized,
[Note 102 at end of para.] so the native, who ought to be improved by a
contact with Europeans, is overwhelmed and swept away by their approach.
In Van Diemen's Land the same result has been produced as at Sydney, but
in a more extended and exterminating manner.[Note 103 at end of para.]
There, instead of a few districts, the whole island is depopulated
of its original inhabitants, and only thirty or forty individuals,
the banished remnant of a once numerous people, are now existing as
exiles at Flinders Island, to tell the tale of their expatriation. [Note
104 at end of para.] In Western Australia the same process is gradually
but certainly going on among the tribes most in contact with the
Europeans. In South Australia it is the same; and short as is the time
that this province has been occupied as a British Colony, the results
upon the Aborigines are but too apparent in their diminished numbers, in
the great disproportion that has been produced between the sexes, and in
the large preponderance of deaths over births. A miserably diseased
condition, and the almost total absence of children, are immediate
consequences of this contact with Europeans. The increase or diminution
of the tribes can only be ascertained exactly in the different
districts, by their being regularly mustered, and lists kept of the
numbers and proportion of the sexes, births, deaths, etc.
[Note 102: "Hard indeed is the fate of the children of the soil,
and one of the darkest enigmas of life lies in the degradation and
decay wrought by the very civilization which should succour, teach,
and improve."--ATHENAEUM.]
[Note 103: "That the Aboriginal Tasmanian was naturally mild and
inoffensive in disposition, appears to be beyond doubt. A worm, however,
will turn, and the atrocities which were perpetrated against these
unoffending creatures may well palliate the indiscriminate, though
heart-rending slaughter they entailed. Such was the character of the
Tasmanian native before roused by oppression, and ere a continued
and systematic hostility had arisen between the races--ere 'their
hand was against every man, and every man's hand against them.'"
--MARTYN'S COLONIAL MAGAZINE, May, 1840.]
[Note 104: "At the epoch of their deportation, in 1835, the number of the
natives amounted to 210. Visited by me in 1842, that is, after the
interval of seven years, they mustered only fifty-four individuals."
--STRZELECKI'S NEW SOUTH WALES, p. 352
Respecting the Aborigines of Van Diemen's Land, who were thus forcibly
removed, Mr. Chief Protector Robinson (who removed them) observes
(Parliamentary Report, p. 198), "When the natives were all assembled
at Flinders Island, in 1835, I took charge of them, and have continued
to do so ever since. I did not find them retaining that ferocious
character which they displayed in their own country; they shewed
no hostility, nor even hostile recollection towards the whites.
Unquestionably these natives assembled on the island were the same who
had been engaged in the outrages I have spoken of; many of them, before
they were removed, pointed out to me the spots where murders and other
acts of violence had been committed; they made no secret of
acknowledging their participation in such acts, and only considered them
a just retaliation for wrongs done to them or their progenitors. On
removal to the island they appeared to forget all these facts; they
could not of course fail to remember them, but they never recurred to
them."]
In April, 1843, or only six and a half years after South Australia had
first been occupied, the Protector of the Aborigines in Adelaide
ascertained that the tribes, properly belonging to that neighbourhood,
consisted of 150 individuals, in the following proportions, namely, 70
men, 39 women, and 41 children. Now, at the Murray, among a large number
of natives who, until 1842, were comparatively isolated from Europeans,
and among whom are frequently many different tribes, I found by an
accurate muster every month at Moorunde for a period of three years, that
the women, on an average, were equally numerous with the men, from which
I infer that such is usually the case in their original and natural
state. Taking this for granted, and comparing it with the proportions of
the Adelaide tribe, as given above, we shall find that in six years and a
half the females had diminished from an equality with the males, to from
70 to 80 per cent. less, and of course the tribe must have sustained also
a corresponding diminution with respect to children.
[Note 105: This result seems to be generally borne out by the few accurate
returns that have hitherto been made on the subject. In Mr. Protector
Parker's report for his district, to the north-west of Port Phillip (for
January, 1843), that gentleman gives a census of 375 male natives, and 295
female, which gives an excess of about 26 per cent. of males over females.
In 1834 Mr. Commissioner Lambie gives a census, for the district of
Manero, of 416 males and 321 females, or an excess of the former over the
latter of nearly 45 per cent. It would appear that the disproportion of
the sexes increases in a ratio corresponding to the length of time a
district has been occupied by settlers and their stock, and to the density
of the European population residing in it. Official returns for four
divisions of the Colony of New South Wales, give a decrease of the
proportion of females to males of fifteen per cent. in two years. Vide
Aborigines Protection Society Report, July, 1839, p. 69. In the same
Report, p. 70, Mr. Threlkeld states, that the Official Report for one
district gives only two women to 28 men, two boys, and no girls.]
Again, in 1844, the Protector ascertained from the records he had kept
that, in the same tribe, there were, in four years, twenty-seven births
and FIFTY deaths, which shews, beyond all doubt, the gradual but certain
destruction that was going on among the tribe. If no means can be adopted
to check the evil, it must eventually lead to their total extermination.
By comparing the twenty-seven births in four years with the number of
women, thirty-nine, it appears that there would be annually only one
child born among every six women: a result as unnatural as it is
evidently attributable to the increased prostitution that has taken
place, with regard both to Europeans and other native tribes, whom
curiosity has attracted to the town, but whom the Adelaide tribe were not
in the habit of meeting at all, or, at least, not in such familiar
intercourse prior to the arrival of the white people. This single cause,
with the diseases and miseries which it entails upon the Aborigines, is
quite sufficient to account for the paucity of births, and the additional
number of deaths that now occur among them.
In the Moorunde statistics, given Chapter VI., the very small number of
infants compared with the number of women is still more strongly
illustrated; but in this case only those infants that lived and were
brought up by their mothers to the monthly musters were marked down; many
other births had, doubtless, taken place, where the children had died, or
been killed, but of which no notice is taken, as it would have been
impossible under the circumstances of such a mixture of tribes, and their
constantly changing their localities, to have obtained an accurate
account of all.
Under the circumstances of our intercourse with the Aborigines as at
present constituted, the same causes which produced so exterminating an
effect in Sydney and other places, are still going on in all parts of
Australia occupied by Europeans, and must eventually lead to the same
result, if no controlling measures can be adopted to prevent it.
Many attempts, upon a limited scale, have already been made in all the
colonies, but none have in the least degree tended to check the gradual
but certain extinction that is menacing this ill-fated people; nor is it
in my recollection that throughout the whole length and breadth of New
Holland, a single real or permanent convert to Christianity has yet been
made amongst them, by any of the missionaries engaged in their
instruction, many of whom have been labouring hopelessly for many years.
In New South Wales, one of the oldest and longest established missions in
Australia was given up by the Rev. Mr. Threlkeld, after the fruitless
devotion of many years of toil. [Note 106 at end of para.] Neither have
the efforts hitherto made to improve the physical circumstances or social
relations of the Aborigines been attended with any better success. None
have yet been induced permanently to adopt our customs, or completely to
give up their wandering habits, or to settle down fixedly in one place,
and by cultivating the ground, supply themselves with the comforts and
luxuries of life. It is not that the New Hollander is not as apt and
intelligent as the men of any other race, or that his capacity for
receiving instruction, or appreciating enjoyment is less; on the contrary,
we have the fullest and most ample testimony from all who have been
brought much into contact with this people that the very contrary is the
case: a testimony that is completely borne out by the many instances on
record, of the quickness with which natives have learned our language, or
the facility with which temporarily they have accommodated themselves to
our habits and customs.
[Note 106: Vide Parliamentary Reports on Australian Aborigines, 9th of
August, 1844, pages 160 and 161.--"In submitting to this decision, it is
impossible not to feel considerable disappointment to the expectations
formerly hoped to be realized in the conversion of some at least of the
Aborigines in this part of the colony, and not to express concern that so
many years of constant attention appear to have been fruitlessly
expended. It is however, perfectly apparent that the termination of the
mission has arisen solely from the Aborigines becoming extinct in these
districts, and the very few that remain elsewhere are so scattered, that
it is impossible to congregate them for instruction; and when seen in the
towns, they are generally unfit to engage in profitable conversation. The
thousands of Aborigines, if ever they did exist in these parts, decreased
to hundreds, the hundreds have lessened to tens, and the tens will
dwindle to units before a very few years will have passed away."
"This mission to the Aborigines has ceased to exist, not from want of
support from the British Government, nor from the inclination of the
agent, but purely from the Aborigines themselves becoming extinct in these
parts; and in leaving this scene of much solitariness, privation, and
trial, it is earnestly hoped that He who fixes the bounds of our
habitation, apparently in Sydney for a season, will guide our feet through
life to his glory, and provide support for a numerous family, so that the
'ministry be not blamed.'"]
On the natural intelligence of the native children, Mr. Moorhouse
remarks, after several years practical experience:--
"They are as apt as European children so far as they have been tried, but
they have not been put to abstract reasoning. Their perceptive powers are
large, as they are much exercised in procuring food, etc. Anything
requiring perception only is readily mastered, the alphabet will be known
in a few lessons; figures are soon recognised, and the quantities they
represent, but addition from figures alone always presents difficulties
for a while, but in a little time, however, it is understood."
Upon the same subject, Captain Grey remarks, vol. ii. p. 374.
"They are as apt and intelligent as any other race of men I am acquainted
with; they are subject to the same affections, appetites, and passions as
other men."
Innumerable cases might be adduced, where native boys, or young men, and
sometimes even females, have been taken into the employment of the
settlers, and have lived with them as active and useful servants for many
months, and occasionally even years. Unfortunately, however, in all such
cases, they have eventually returned again to their savage life, and
given up the customs and habits they had assumed. The same result has
occurred among the many children who have been educated at the various
schools established for their instruction, in the different Colonies.
Numerous examples might be given of the great degree of proficiency made;
and often, of many of the scholars being in such a state of forwardness
and improvement, as reasonably to sanction the expectation, that they
might one day become useful and intelligent members of the community:
this hope has, however, hitherto, in almost every instance, been sooner
or later disappointed, and they have again descended from the civilized
to the savage state. What can be the causes then, that have operated to
produce such unfavourable results?
If we admit, and it is admitted by all whose experience best qualifies
them to give an opinion, that the Australian is fully equal in natural
powers and intelligence, to the generality of mankind; it is very
evident, that where so little success has hitherto attended any attempts
to improve him, either morally or socially, there must either be some
radical defects in the systems adopted, or some strongly counteracting
causes to destroy their efficiency. I believe, that to both these
circumstances, may be traced the results produced.
The following remarks, by Captain Grey, upon this subject, point out some
of the evils to which the natives are subject, and in a great degree,
account for the preference they appear to give to their own wild life and
habits. (Vol. 2. pp. 367 to 371.) He says:--
"If we inquire into the causes which tend to detain them in their present
depressed condition, we shall find that the chief one is--'prejudice' The
Australians have been most unfairly represented as a very inferior race,
in fact as one occupying a scale in the creation which nearly places them
on a level with the brutes, and some years must elapse, ere a prejudice
so firmly rooted as this can be altogether eradicated, but certainly a
more unfounded one never had possession of the public mind.
"Amongst the evils which the natives suffer in their present position,
one is an uncertain and irregular demand for their labour, that is to
say, they may one day have plenty of means for exerting their industry
afforded them by the settlers, and the next their services are not
required; so that they are necessarily compelled to have recourse to
their former irregular and wandering habits.
"Another is the very insufficient reward for the services they render. As
an example of this kind, I will state the instance of a man who worked
during the whole season, as hard and as well as any white man, at getting
in the harvest for some setlers, and who only received bread, and
sixpence a day, whilst the ordinary labourers would earn at least fifteen
shillings. In many instances, they only receive a scanty allowance of
food, so much so, that some settlers have told me that the natives left
them because they had not enough to eat.
"The evil consequence of this is, that a native finding he can gain as
much by the combined methods of hunting and begging, as he can by
working, naturally prefers the former and much more attractive mode of
procuring subsistence, to the latter one.
"Many of the natives have not only a good idea of the value of money, but
even hoard it up for some particular purpose; several of them have shewn
me their little treasure of a few shillings, and have told me it was
their intention to save more until they had enough to buy a horse, a gun,
or some wished-for article, but their improvidence has always got the
better of their thriftiness, and this sum has eventually been spent in
treating their friends to bread and rice.
"Another evil is the very extraordinary position in which they are placed
with regard to two distinct sets of laws; that is they are allowed to
exercise their own laws upon one another, and are again held amenable to
British law where British subjects are concerned. Thus no protection is
afforded them by the British law against the violence or cruelty of one
of their own race, and the law has only been hitherto known to them as
the means of punishment, but never as a code from which they can claim
protection or benefit.
"The following instances will prove my assertion: In the month of October
1838, I saw early one morning some natives in the public street in Perth,
in the act of murdering a native woman, close to the store of the Messrs.
Habgood: many Europeans were present, amongst others a constable; but
there was no interference on their part until eventually the life of the
woman was saved by the courage of Mr. Brown, a gardener in Perth, who
rushed in amongst the natives, and knocked down the man who was holding
her; she then escaped into the house of the Messrs. Habgood, who treated
the poor creature with the utmost humanity. She was, however, wounded in
several places in the most severe and ghastly manner.
"A letter I received from Mr. A. Bussel, (a settler in the southern part
of the colony,) in May, 1839, shews that the same scenes are enacted all
over it. In this case, their cow-keeper, (the native whose burial is
narrated at p. 330,) was speared by the others. He was at the time the
hired servant of Europeans, performing daily a stated service for them;
yet they slew him in open day-light, without any cause of provocation
being given by him.
"Again, in October, 1838, the sister of a settler in the northern
district, told me that shortly before this period, she had, as a female
servant, a most interesting little native girl, not more than ten or
eleven years of age. This girl had just learned all the duties belonging
to her employment, and was regarded in the family as a most useful
servant, when some native, from a spirit of revenge, murdered this
inoffensive child in the most barbarous manner, close to the house; her
screams were actually heard by the Europeans under whose protection, and
in whose service she was living, but they were not in time to save her
life. This same native had been guilty of many other barbarous murders,
one of which he had committed in the district of the Upper Swan, in the
actual presence of Europeans. In June, 1839, he was still at large,
unmolested, even occasionally visiting Perth.
"Their fondness for the bush and the habits of savage life, is fixed and
perpetuated by the immense boundary placed by circumstances between
themselves and the whites, which no exertions on their part can overpass,
and they consequently relapse into a state of hopeless passive
indifference.
"I will state a remarkable instance of this:--The officers of the Beagle
took away with them a native of the name of Miago, who remained absent
with them for several months. I saw him on the North-west coast, on board
the Beagle, apparently perfectly civilized; he waited at the gun-room
mess, was temperate (never tasting spirits), attentive, cheerful, and
remarkably clean in his person. The next time I saw him was at Swan
River, where he had been left on the return of the Beagle. He was then
again a savage, almost naked, painted all over, and had been concerned in
several murders. Several persons here told me,--"you see the taste for a
savage life was strong in him, and he took to the bush again directly."
Let us pause for a moment and consider.
"Miago, when he was landed, had amongst the white people none who would
be truly friends of his,--they would give him scraps from their table,
but the very outcasts of the whites would not have treated him as an
equal,--they had no sympathy with him,--he could not have married a white
woman,--he had no certain means of subsistence open to him,--he never
could have been either a husband or a father, if he had lived apart from
his own people;--where, amongst the whites, was he to find one who would
have filled for him the place of his black mother, whom he is much
attached to?--what white man would have been his brother?--what white
woman his sister? He had two courses left open to him,--he could either
have renounced all natural ties, and have led a hopeless, joyless life
amongst the whites,--ever a servant,--ever an inferior being;--or he
could renounce civilization, and return to the friends of his childhood,
and to the habits of his youth. He chose the latter course, and I think
that I should have done the same."
Such are a few of the disadvantages the natives have to contend with, if
they try to assimilate in their life and habits to Europeans, nor is
there one here enumerated, of which repeated instances have not come
under my own observation. If to these be added, the natural ties of
consanguinity, the authority of parents, the influence of the example of
relatives and friends, and the seducing attraction which their own habits
and customs hold out to the young of both sexes; first, by their offering
a life of idleness and freedom, to a people naturally indolent and
impatient of restraint; and secondly, by their pandering to their natural
passions: we shall no longer wonder that so little has been effected
towards ameliorating their condition, or inducing them to adopt habits
and customs that deprive them of those indulgences.
In New South Wales and Port Phillip, the Government have made many
efforts in behalf of the Aborigines; for a series of years past, and at
present, the sum of about ten thousand pounds, is annually placed upon
the estimates, towards defraying the salaries of a Chief Protector, and
several subordinate ones, and for other expenses connected with the
natives.
[Note: Not included in thei eBook, Table on pages 428-9: ABSTRACT
OF EXPENDITURE IN N.S.W ON ACCOUNT OF THE ABORIGINES FROM 1821 TO 1842
INCLUSIVE.]
In Western Australia a sum of money is also devoted annually towards
defraying the salaries of two Protectors, and other expenses connected
with the department.
I am not, however, personally aware, what the particular arrangements may
be that have latterly been adopted in either of these colonies, for the
benefit of the Aborigines, or the degree of success which may have
attended them. I believe, however, that in both places, more has been
attempted, within the last three or four years, than had ever been the
case before. What the eventual result may be it is impossible to tell,
but with the past experience before me, I cannot persuade myself, that
any real or permanent good will ever be effected, until the influence
exercised over the young by the adults be destroyed, and they are freed
from the contagious effects of their example, and until means are
afforded them of supporting themselves in a new condition, and of forming
those social ties and connections in an improved state, which they must
otherwise be driven to seek for among the savage hordes, from which it is
attempted to reclaim them.
In South Australia many efforts have been made in behalf of the
Aborigines, and an anxious desire for their welfare has frequently been
exhibited on the part of the Government, and of many of the colonists.
For the year 1845 the sum of 820 pounds is noted in the estimates for the
Aboriginal Department. This sum is distributed as follows:--
Salary of Protector 300 pounds
Master of Native School at Walkerville 100
Matron of School at Native Location 20
Provisions 150
Donation to Lutheran Mission 100
Miscellaneous 150
---
Total 820 pounds
There are three native schools established in the province. The first is
that at the native location in the town of Adelaide, commenced in
December, 1839, by Mr. Klose, one of the Dresden missionaries. The
average attendance of children has been about sixteen, all of whom have
latterly been lodged as well as fed at the school. The progress made by
the children may be stated to have been as follows: on the 16th February,
1844--
14 were able to read polysyllables.
2 were able to read monosyllables.
2 could repeat the cardinal numbers.
14 were in addition.
3 in subtraction.
9 in multiplication.
2 in division.
Most of the children could repeat the Lord's Prayer and Commandments, and
they were able to narrate the history of the Creation, the fall of our
first parents, and other portions of the Old and New Testament. A few
were able to write these subjects to dictation. In geography many of the
scholars knew the ordinary divisions of the earth, its shape, diameter,
circumference, and the names of the continents, oceans, seas, gulfs, etc.
etc. together with the general description of the inhabitants of each
part, as to colour, etc. Of the girls, fourteen had been taught to sew,
and have made upwards of fifty garments for themselves, besides several
shirts for Europeans.
Mr. Klose receives as salary 33 pounds per annum from the Government, and
a remittance from his society at Dresden. The matron of the establishment
also receives 20 pounds from the Government. The average expense of
provisions for each child per week, amounts to two shillings and ten
pence. The cost of clothing each child per year is 2 pounds. Until very
recently this school was taught in the native language; but English is
now adopted, except in lecturing from Scripture, when the native language
is still retained.
At Walkerville, about one mile from North Adelaide, another school has
been established under the superintendence of Mr. Smith, since May, 1844.
Up to October of the same year the average attendance of children had
been sixty-three. In that short time the progress had been very
satisfactory; all the children had passed from the alphabetical to the
monosyllabic class, and most had mastered the multiplication table;
eighteen could write upon the slate, and six upon paper; twelve girls had
commenced sewing, and were making satisfactory progress.
They go four times in the week to the council chamber to be instructed by
gratuitous teachers. On Sunday evening service is performed according to
the Church of England by Mr. Fleming, and the children are said to be
attentive and well-behaved. The Methodists of the New Connection have
them also under spiritual instruction in the morning and afternoon of
each Sabbath, assisted by persons of other religious denominations.
All instruction is given in English; their food is cooked by the elder
children, (who also provide the firewood,) and distributed by themselves
under the master's eye The cook is said to take good care of himself, and
certainly his appearance does not belie the insinuation, for he is by far
the fattest boy in the lot. The school building is a plain, low cottage,
containing a school-room, a sleeping-room for the male children, another
for the female, and apartments for the master and mistress. There is also
an old out-building attached, where the children perform their ablutions
in wet weather. Mr. and Mrs. Smith receive 100 pounds. per annum from the
Colonial Government for their services. The children of this school have
not yet been generally provided with other clothing than a small blanket
each. The third school was only just commenced at Encounter Bay, where it
has been established through the influence and exertions of Mr. Meyer,
one of the missionaries. The Government give 20 pounds per annum, and the
settlers of the neighbourhood 100 bushels of wheat, and some mutton. Six
or eight children are expected to be lodged and boarded at this school,
with the means at present existing.
Besides the establishment of schools, there is a Protector resident in
Adelaide to take the management of the aboriginal department, to afford
medical assistance and provisions to such of the aged or diseased as
choose to apply for them, and to remunerate any natives who may render
services to the Government, or the Protectorate. At Moorunde, upon the
Murray, the natives are mustered once a month by the Resident magistrate,
and two pounds and a half of flour issued to each native who chooses to
attend. This is occasionally done at Port Lincoln, and has had a very
beneficial effect. Once in the year, on the Queen's birthday, a few
blankets are distributed to some of the Aborigines at Adelaide, Moorunde,
Encounter Bay, and Port Lincoln, amounting in all to about 300. Four
natives are also provisioned by the Government as attaches to the police
force at different out-stations, and are in many respects very useful.
Exclusive of the Government exertions in behalf of the Aborigines, there
are in the province four missionaries from the Lutheran Missionary
Society at Dresden, two of whom landed in October 1838, and two in August
1840. Of these one is stationed at the native location, and (as has
already been stated) acts as schoolmaster. A second is living twelve
miles from Adelaide, upon a section of land, bought by the Dresden
Society, with the object of endeavouring to settle the natives, and
inducing them to build houses upon the property, but the plan seems
altogether a failure. It was commenced in November 1842, but up to
November 1844 natives had only been four months at the place; and on one
occasion a period of nine months elapsed, without their ever visiting it
at all, although frequently located at other places in the neighbourhood.
A third missionary is stationed at Encounter Bay, and is now conducting a
school, mainly established through his own exertions and influence.
The fourth is stationed at Port Lincoln. All the four missionaries have
learned the dialects of the tribes where they are stationed, and three
have published vocabularies and grammars as the proof of their industry.
Such is the general outline of the efforts that have hitherto been made
in South Australia, and the progress made. It may be well to inquire,
what are likely to be the results eventually under the existing
arrangements. From the first establishment of the schools, until June
1843, the children were only instructed at the location, their food was
given to them to take to the native encampments to cook, and they were
allowed to sleep there at night. The natural consequence was, that the
provisions intended for the sonolars were shared by the other natives,
whilst the evil influence of example, and the jeers of their companions,
did away with any good impression produced by their instruction. I have
myself, upon going round the encampments in Adelaide by night, seen the
school-children ridiculed by the elder boys, and induced to join them in
making a jest of what they had been taught during the day to look upon as
sacred.
A still more serious evil, resulting from this system was, that the
children were more completely brought into the power, and under the
influence of the parents, and thus their natural taste for an indolent
and rambling life, was constantly kept up. The boys naturally became
anxious to participate and excel in the sports, ceremonies, or pursuits
of their equals, and the girls were compelled to yield to the customs of
their tribe, and break through every lesson of decency or morality, which
had been inculcated.
Since June, 1843, the system has so far been altered, that the children,
whilst under instruction, are boarded and lodged at the school houses,
and as far as practicable, the boys and girls are kept separate. There
are still, however, many evils attending the present practice, most of
which arise from the inadequacy of the funds, applicable to the
Aborigines, and which must be removed before any permanent good can be
expected from the instruction given. The first of these, and perhaps one
of the greatest, is that the adult natives make their encampments
immediately in the neighbourhood of the schools, whilst the children,
when out of school, roam in a great measure at will, or are often
employed collecting firewood, etc. about the park lands, a place almost
constantly occupied by the grown up natives, there is consequently nearly
as much intercourse between the school children and the other natives,
and as great an influence exercised over them by the parents and elders,
as if they were still allowed to frequent the camps.
Another evil is, that no inducement is held out to the parents, to put
their children to school, or to allow them to remain there. They cannot
comprehend the advantage of having their children clothed, fed, or
educated, whilst they lose their services; on the contrary, they find
that all the instruction, advice, or influence of the European, tends to
undermine among the children their own customs and authority, and that
when compelled to enforce these upon them, they themselves incur the
odium of the white men. Independently, however, of this consideration,
and of the natural desire of a parent to have his family about him, he is
in reality a loser by their absence, for in many of the methods adopted
for hunting, fishing, or similar pursuits, the services even of young
children are often very important. For the deprivation of these, which he
suffers when his children are at school, he receives no equivalent, and
it is no wonder therefore, that by far the great majority of natives
would prefer keeping their children to travel with them, and assist in
hunting or fishing. It is a rare occurrence, for parents to send, or even
willingly [Note 107 at end of para.] to permit their children to go to
school, and the masters have consequently to go round the native
encampments to collect and bring away the children against their wishes.
This is tacitly submitted to at the time, but whenever the parents
remove to another locality, the children are informed of it, and at
once run away to join them; so that the good that has been done in school,
is much more rapidly undone at the native camp. I have often heard the
parents complain indignantly of their children being thus taken; and
one old man who had been so treated, but whose children had run away
and joined him again, used vehemently to declare, that if taken any more,
he would steal some European children instead, and take them into the
bush to teach them; he said he could learn them something useful,
to make weapons and nets, to hunt, or to fish, but what good did the
Europeans communicate to his children?
[Note 107: "Mr. Gunter expressed very decidedly his opinion, that the
blacks do not like Mr. Watson, and that they especially do not like him,
SINCE HE HAS TAKEN CHILDREN FROM THEM BY FORCE: he would himself like to
have some children under his care, IF HE COULD PROCURE THEM BY PROPER
MEANS."--Memorandum respecting Wellington Valley, by Sir G. Gipps,
November 1840.]
A third, and a very great evil, is that, after a native boy or girl has
been educated and brought up at the school, no future provision is made
for either, nor have they the means of following any useful occupation,
or the opportunity of settling themselves in life, or of forming any
domestic ties or connections whatever, save by falling back again upon
the rude and savage life from which it was hoped education would have
weaned them. It is unnatural, therefore, to suppose that under existing
circumstances they should ever do other than relapse into their former
state; we cannot expect that individuals should isolate themselves
completely from their kind, when by so doing they give up for ever all
hope of forming any of those domestic ties that can render their lives
happy.