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The Aborigines of Amtralid. 6d
that they wanted intelligence. I found them intelligent, and, where
they were kindly treated, affectionate and faithful. I have known
them to attend a white man for days when he was sick, and to supply
him with food ; and, in one instance within my knowledge, show
great grief and shed tears when he died. It is a hbel to say that
the AustraUan Governments did not do all within their power for
the protection of the aborigines. Of course, in the early days of the
Colony before they became accustomed to the white people it was
not possible to do much ; but even so far back as the year 1814 the
Government created reserves for the aborigines near Sydney, and
before the time stated by Mr. Greville there were missionary estab-
lishments in New South Wales. I recollect well an estabHshment
at Wellington, which was presided over by the Kev. Mr. Gunther
and subsequently by the Bev. Mr. Watson, but they did not do much
good, for in spite of all their efforts and kindness they failed either to
teach the blacks religion or induce them to work. Although they re-
mained for a considerable time with the missionary establishment,
they soon got tired of the life and returned to their tribes, prefer-
ring the independent life which they had been accustomed to in their
youth, to the home of the white man. There is one instance well
known where an aboriginal was brought from Sydney to England, and
was shown all the sights of London, and witnessed all that, to us,
are the blessings of civilisation, and it was thought by those who
brought him here that he had become perfectly civilised, was a
good Christian, and that he would return to New South Wales
(then all Australia) and be of service in persuading the aborigines
of the tribe to which he belonged to leave their savage ways and
have recourse to those of the white man, instead of which he threw
all his clothes off, abandoned all his finery, and returned to his
tribo to follow the savage life he led before he left them. I have
known many instances of very remarkable inteUigence. Their
aptitude for copying and mimicking was very great. Some years
since an Australian aboriginal was brought to England by a squatter
from Queensland. He took him into the city on a very busy day
when there were a large number of people passing to and from the
Exchange and banks, and while waiting to cross the street he
said: ** Jacky, what do you think of this place?" The black
replied, with an exclamation of surprise : " Why, master, it's hke
an ant-bed.*' Now, anyone who has seen the busy ants in Australia
going in myriads to and from their work will realise what an apt
simile this was. Then, again, I recollect while I am speaking
another incident which, if not exactly an evidence of intelligence.
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ti !rhe A borigincs of A tistralia.
does at least show that they were observant. One day a black
fellow, who was an especial favourite with the white men as well
as with his own people, died, to the great regret of everyone on
the station. Shortly after his death several of the blacks came to
me— they said : " Tamuel " (for they could not pronounce the
" S ") " you lend black fellow wheelbarrow." I said, •* What do
you want a wheelbarrow for? " and they replied that they wanted
to wheel poor Jacky away and bury him. I said, ** Why do you
not carry him as you always do ?'* They rephed, " White fellow
bury their people in big wheelbarrow, and they wanted to do the
same in little wheelbarrow." I lent them the barrow, and poor
Jacky was wheeled to the grave, his black friends following, and
some white men too, myself amongst the number — not the worst
friend, I believe, he had — and this was the way these people desired
to do honour after death to one whom they had really loved. I
must mention that when we were approaching his last resting-place
the blacks asked the white men to retire, evidently not wishing that
we should be present at their mystic funeral rites. When I after-
wards visited the place where he was buried, I found a huge mound
raised, and the ground around carved, as well as the trees, with
some strange hieroglyphics. I could give other instances which
would be interesting to show their intelligence and some of their
good quaUties, did time permit. Their race has now become nearly
extinct in the settled portion of the Australian Colonies, not so
much by ill-usage by the whites, as by the fact that they took to
the vices of the white man, which, with drink, has led to tlieir
extinction.
Mr. J. Hennikeb Heaton, M.P. : Something has been said about
the neglect of Colonial Governments, but in the year 1815 there was
\ an ^\borigines Protection Society in Australia, and every year since
then the New South Wales Governments — particularly those with
which Sir Saul Samuel and Sir John Robertson were connected —
have passed regulations of a protective character. It is well known
that Sir John Robertson when Prime Minister laid down the formula
to be observed in regard to the aborigines. He said, " It is perfectly
useless to attempt to civihse them according to European ideas.**
What is the use of clothing them in the European fashion ? The
aborigines threw off the clothes, and they contracted consumpti(m
and other diseases and rapidly died. 1 have always held the views
laid down by Sir John Robertson — that is, to protect the aborigines,
not by giving them the hard work of Europeans and giving them
rum, but by allowing them the freedom to which they were accus-
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The AborigtJies of Australta. 65
tomed. I can bisar out what Sir Saul Samuel has said as to the
intelligence and faithfulness of these people^ A very intelligent
clergyman who came to Queensland resolved to teach them a higher
Christianity. He said, ** We will have no more gifts — no more
blankets, rum, and tobacco." King Billy, with a brass plate
announcing his dignity, approached the clergyman and said, '* No
more blankets?** The clergyman said, "No.** "No more baccy?"
"No." "No more rum?" "No." "Then," said King Billy,
drawing himself up to his full height and looking scornfully at the
clergyman, " all right, good day ; no more Alleluias." Another
anecdote I may mention. Mrs. D'Archy, the first white lady of
the Lower Murrumbidgee Biver, had a difficulty in finding a black
woman to help her, but at last she saw one on the top of a great
gum tree and succeeded in getting her to come and stay with her.
The first present Mrs. D*Archy made to the woman was a Manchester
pink cotton dress, fastened behind with hooks and eyes. The first
thing the black servant did was to dive into the river with it on,
and march off to the tribe. On the following day she reappeared,
and, to Mrs. D*Archy*s horror, she was accompanied by her
sister, with whom — anticipating the principles of Mr, Henry George
— she had divided the garment, herself wearing the body while her
sister had on the skirt only. I deeply regret to refer to the wrongs
of the aborigines, but they arose imfortunately through their not
understanding the customs and laws of Europeans.
Dr. J. G. Gabson : Though I have never visited our AustraUan
Ck)lonies, I have taken much interest in the anthropology of their
aborigines, and it is on this subject I would like to make a few
remarks to-night. The first question which presents itself to the
anthropologist to solve is, whether this vast territory is peopled by
aborigines of one race, or, like Europe, includes several races. The
general impression among anthropologists is, that in Australia we
have to deal with a single race, but that on different parts of the
coast there is some admixture with the races of neighbouring
islands which causes certain variety in the physical characters of
the inhabitants of these places. Some anthropologists, however,
believe that they have evidence of a second distinct race in some
parts of South Australia, more or less allied in character to the
now extinct inhabitants of Tasmania. Another important problem
to be determined is, whether the aborigines of Austraha are in-
digenous, or have they at some period of the world's history
migrated there, displacing or amalgamating with former inhabi-
tants, and finally, by long isolation have developed the homo-
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66 The Aborigifies of Amtralia,
geneous character which they are now found to possess. The
solution of these intricate questions regarding the origin of the
Australians and their relation to the surrounding races can only
be accomplished by careful and comparative study, both of the
physical anthropology and the ethnology of the aborigines of all
parts of Australia. Many competent observers have given us very
accurate accounts of the manners, customs, and habits of the
natives of several parts of Australia, though much still remains
to be done. In physical anthropology the same amount of data
for investigating successfully the questions indicated do not exist.
The data we want are exact individual descriptions and measure-
ments of several series of natives, and complete skeletons from
every part of Australia — generalisations regarding the characters of
the living, such, for example, as statements that the stature of the
Australian averages from 5 ft. 6 to 7 inches, are scientifically of
httle use. Directions for making such observations as are required
may be found in a small work entitled *• Anthropological Notes and
Queries." The number of complete skeletons we possess of Aus-
tralian natives is very small. In the Museum of the Royal College
of Surgeons, which contains the largest human osteological
collection in this country, there are only about eight adult
skeletons from the whole of Australia, and by no means a collection
of skulls. The Natural History Museum at South Kensington
contains still fewer specimens, instead of possessing a collection
adequate to its position as the National Museum of Natural History.
I am not aware that any of the Australian Colonies are taking
steps to procure collections of skeletons to illustrate the osteology
of their native inhabitants. As the extinction of the Australian
aborigines seems to be only a question of comparatively few
years, it is most urgent that Colonists and others who have the
opportunity should hasten themselves to obtain observations on
their physical characters as well as specimens of their osteology.
We have already lost for ever some of the native races of Austra-
lasia before their physical anthropology and ethnology were satis-
factorily studied ; as an example, I may mention the Tasmanians.
The history of the disappearance of this most interesting race should
be a lesson to us to secure, before a similar fate overtakes the
aborigines of Australia, a sufficient amount of information regarding
• them as will enable us to study completely their anthropology. I
think you will agree with me as regards their skeletons, it is much
better that these should be preserved in our museums for study, than
that they should be allowed to waste away in the ground*
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The Aborigines of Australia. 57
Mr. Gilbert Pabkeb : It is quite unnecessary for me to speak in
commendation of this paper. It has distinguished approval At
the same time there are some things which may be said even by a
humble citizen of the Empire like myself. The first is that I have
heard this paper with pleasure and profit. There are two ways of
looking at every question. There is that which comes from the
accumulation of information, and that which comes from the accu-
mulation of impression. It is the habit of some people to base their
opinions entirely upon information, and of some to base them entirely
on impression. It seems to me there is a questioning middle ground,
and that is, where the information is sound to accept it, and then to
come to conclusions from such Ught as impressions and personal
observation give to the matter. I think Mr. Greville has laid the
proper foundation for the discussion of the subject. He has given
information apart from personal opinion. No sentiment has entered
into his discussion of the question ; it is widely suggestive. That is
just what we want. It seems to me the most important matter
connected with this paper is the care and treatment of the Australian
aboriginals by Austrahan governments. Whether the discussion
on the paper has been entirely on a proper basis it is not for me to
say, but I will say of certain impressions which have been stated
that they are wrong — cruelly wrong. The reputation of the Anglo-
Saxon race is at stake in regard to the native races — never so much
as at this moment. I think if we read history aright we find that
the Anglo-Saxon race has been, at least, not more cruel than any
other race ; personally I should say it has been less cruel. Pubhc
opinion has tnisted itself too much at times to the mild, but occa-
sionally fatuous, guidance of Exeter Hall. If we take the United
States, we find that the greatest difficulty in the world was to bring
to justice the bloodthirsty Indians. In Canada eveiything was done
that was possible for a government to do to induce the Indians
to go into industrial employment as a civilised race, but the
Indians preferred their blankets and such rum as they could get,
and to trust to the beneficence of the government. If anyone
would wish to see what happened in AustraUa, let him read
Mrs. Dominic Daly's book on " Pioneering, Digging, and Squatting
in the Northern Territory of South Australia." He will there
find as complete and artistic an epitome of murders of Colonists by
natives as could be imagined. It was impossible, in the early and
rough-and-ready forms of civilisation, to bring to justice marauding
tribes, some of which were like jaguars crushing their prey, and
retaliation was often, and I think properly, sudden and complete.
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68 The Aborigines of Australia.
In the early days there is always more or less injustice done. It is
impossible it should be otherwise. And as for the vices, is it not
clear that they come and are disseminated not alone from the
cruelty of the Anglo-Saxon or other European, but from the lack of
the power in the native race, through hereditary influence, to with-
stand that which the Anglo-Saxon, by long centuries of endurance,
has been able to endure ? The Anglo-Saxon can stand his rum,
the native cannot. It is the power of resistance that preserves the
Anglo-Saxon, and the lack of it that destroys the native. I think,
if we look at the question fairly, and try to estimate it properly and
on broad grounds, we shall find, surveying the whole field, that
while there has been individual wrong and cruelty towards natives
in Australia, there has been a genuine and hearty co-operation of
the Colonial Oovemments to advance the interests and preserve the
existence of a dying race. I believe firmly, from records as from
experience, that the Anglo-Saxon race, whether in Australia, or Africa,
or elsewhere, is doing as much as any race has ever done to preserve,
where they can, the native races, and prevent them sinking into a
condition which perhaps is inevitable, but which everyone, Anglo-
Saxon or otherwise, must deplore.
The Hon. Henby S. Littleton endorsed what had fallen
from Sir Saul Samuel, and told several anecdotes to show that the
Australian aborigines were capable of some of the higher mental
attributes common to civilised races, such as an appreciation of
the beauties of scenery and colour, a capacity for romantic attach-
ments, &c., while he admitted that they did not seem capable of
receiving the truths of religion as understood by Western civilisa-
tion ; and he could not deny the enormous gulf that now lay between
the Australian black and the white man. He then referred to
customs, identical with those found among the Jews, which existed
in the tribes inhabiting the great central watercourses of Australia,
but did not obtain among those on t^e Eastern slopes of the groat
dividing range ; and suggested that a carefrd examinatioh of the locali-
ties of these practices, together with a study of the different dialects,
might throw a light on the tide of the first migration of humanity on
to the continent of Australia. He suggested that the assistance of
the Australian Oovemments might be asked to distribute all over
Australia, among squatters, magistrates, clergymen, doctors, and the
police, a series of questions on the subject of the aborigines, which,
when filled up, could be returned to the Ethnological Society, and
would doubtless, when collected, afford much useful and novel infor-
mation. He then referred to the one custom which is common over
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The A horigines of A tistratia. 69
a large portion at least of the continent, as he could testify from
personal experience, and this custom consists in naming every child
after one of four names, which names are not hereditary, but are
used in some sequence which the speaker was not able to explain,
but which was well understood by the aborigines. This was the only
custom coming under his observation which proclaimed that they all
sprang from one common stock, and must not be confused with the
totem system among other races. The only place in which, as far
as we Imow, this custom obtained was in New Britain, where the
Bev. G. Brown, a missionary there, records identically the same
custom. From this it would seem that the nature of the two coun-
tries must have had a common origin. Further enquiries on this
head among the aborigines in India and Ceylon, as well as the
Malay Penmsula and the Eastern Archipelago, would be satis-
factory.
Dr. John Bae, F.B.S. : I should not have ventured to stand on
this platform to-night but for some remarks made by Mr. Gilbert
Parker on the subject of the Indians of North America. Having
passed twenty years of my life as an officer of the Hudson's Bay
Company among the Indians, I may claim to know something about
this matter. Instead of being difficult to manage, we found the natives
there not at all troublesome and easily managed. The good Indians
are so predominant and so friendly, that if any bad members of
their tribe injured one of the Company's people they would hunt him
up or help us to do so. Five, six, or a dozen men might find
themselves placed in the midst of hundreds of these people, but by
kind yet firm treatment, by never telling hes, and by the exclusion
of spirits, we were able to keep them under perfect control. We did
not allow a drop of rum or whisky or spirit of any kind in all the
vast teiTitory of British North America under the Company's rule. I
must tell you that we, as officers, had a small allowance of very
admirable Madeira —a few dozens, and a little brandy — ^but what did
we do ? We gave up this allowance willingly, not because we were
total abstainers, but in order that the Indians would not be able to
say we took ourselves what we would not give to them. Our men
came from different parts — I am an Orkney man myself, though a
small specimen of one — but coming from different parts we were all
impressed with the advantages of total abstinence in a cold country ;
and on five expeditions to the Arctic, where I could have taken as
much spirits as I wanted, I never took a drop with me except as
medicine in the medicine chest. The total quantity was three bottles
of brandy and three of port wine. Two of the bottles of brandy
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60 TJie Aborigines of Australia.
were used on Christmas and New Year's Day among twelve persons,
and the port wine was taken back to York Factory. I am afraid a good
many men would not have done that. I lived there wholly without
strong drink, and did not feel the want of it. What do the
Americans do? In Dakota and Minnesota, where the troubles
are at present, the citizens of the United States are prohibited
from giving or selling spirits to the Indians, but plenty of the worst
kind of whisky was brought in and concealed in the woods by the con-
nivance of the Indian Conunissioner, and when the Indians were
paid the dollars which formed part of their annuities, every cent of it
was spent on this beastly stu£f, and the Indians became so intoxicated
that the payments had to be stopped for several days until they got
sober again, all the dollars coming back into the hands of the
Commissioner and his allies. Let me mention another incident.
When Canada took over the government of the Company's territory,
several distinguished men came from Ottawa with great pomp to
make treaties with the Indians. The chiefs asked '' Who are you ?
You will perhaps tell us lies. Get some of our old friends from
the Company with you ; we will beUeve them being our friends."
They did get two of our chief factors, who told the Indians all was
right, and the treaties were at once made. When the Commissioner
goes out to make the Indian payments, some of those fine fellows,
the mounted police, go with them, not to protect the Commissioner,
but to keep away the fellows with the fire water, who, when caught,
have all their property confiscated. The same system is carried
out now by the Canadian Government that was carried out half a
century ago by the Hudson's Bay Company.
Mr. Henuy Cave (Fiji) : I am afraid I am hardly in my
proper place in speaking about the aborigines of Australia, for
although twenty years have passed since I first went there I did not
actually Hve there many years. On the other hand, I have lived
amongst the aborigines of Fiji for most part of the time. I think
that sometimes injustice is done to the Colonists, and in my opinion
injustice has been done by one of the speakers to-night. I think
we are all agreed that the aboriginal native is worthy of special
care and protection, but I do not think it is quite fair to the
Colonists for people in the old country to assume that in the
Colonies natives are iU-treated, and that only at home do they know
how they should be treated. The greater portion of the people
who live in the Australasian Colonies are British, and they have, I
say, the same feelings of humanity as Englishmen at home. I have
lived in a country where vei7 many believe that injustice has been
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The Aborigin^B of A ustmlia, 01
done to the white population by assuming that it is their practice
generally to take advantage of the natives. As has been said,
•* Evil is wrought by want of thought as well as want of heart."
I may mention that the natives of Fiji have agricultural instincts.
They are in the habit of planting much of the food they require*
In this trait they differ from the Australian aboriginals, who are
hunters, and depend on what the ground will give without culti-
vation. In Fiji great efforts have been made to protect the native
race. The object is a good one, but I think the means adopted
have not been altogether judicious. In fiELct, the native race has not
increased, while, on the other hand, the pohcy pursued ostensibly to
preserve them has resulted to a large extent in the repression and
emigration of the white population, which is not now more "than
one half what it was four or five years ago. I think I am not out
of place here in saying that it is wrong to mahgn the Colonists
in the way that is sometimes done, on the reckless assumption that
they are disposed to ill-treat native races ; and I would add that
Englishmen should be a little more careful before they try to take
away the characters of their Colonial sons on quite insufficient
evidence.
The Chairman : It now becomes my duty, as chairman for the
evening, to bring the discussion to a close by proposing a very
earnest and hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Greville for his instructive
and valuable paper. I think that if one benefit more than another
has arisen from this paper it is in having elicited so wise a discus-
sion of the question brought before us. In opening the debate,
Mr. Wrixon alluded to that very important ingredient of the question,
viz., what is to be the future population of Australia, and in this
connection he touched on the crucial question of Chinese immigra-
tion. His remarks, I am sure, must have made a considerable
impression on the audience. Mr. Bonwick, in a playful way, gave
ua an animated description of the intelligence of the aborigines, and
Mr. Fox Bourne asked the very pertinent question. Why should they
die out ? We have had many and very great differences of opinion
on the subject. He thinks they need not die out, but might be