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Title: The Aborigines of Western Australia
Author: Albert F. Calvert
* A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook *
eBook No.: 0607061h.html
Language: English
Date first posted: September 2006
Date most recently updated: September 2006
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The Aborigines of Western Australia
by
Albert F. Calvert
PREFACE.
ANY attempt to fathom the depth of mystery which surrounds the
history of the Australian Aboriginal must necessarily be--in the
main--a failure. The subject is surrounded with difficulty. Captain
Dampier was the first Englishman known to have made the acquaintance
of the Australian natives, whom he calls﹃the poor winking people of
New Holland, the miserablest people on earth,﹄and so forth. During
the intervening two centuries we have not added much to our knowledge
regarding them. They have no written language, and are forbidden to
speak of the dead: two serious obstacles to research.
I am well aware that the subject is rather out of my line, and for
this reason alone I can scarcely expect to do justice to the theme.
Nevertheless, during my wanderings through Western Australia, in the
capacity of a mining engineer, I came across a good many of the
natives; and taking a profound interest in everything connected with
the colony I resolved to set down in brief and simple form such facts
as I could glean regarding this most curious specimen of the human
race. I lay no more claim to originality than is due to one who has
arranged his matter in his own way, and added a few thoughts
suggested and accruing.
ALBERT F. CALVERT.
Piccadilly Club, W.
THE ABORIGINES OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
REGARDING the aborigines of Western Australia the materials at our
disposal are somewhat scanty.
There exists a theory that all savages are the degraded
descendants of civilized ancestors, If this be true it seems to me
that the Australian Blackboys' period of enlightenment must have
existed very far back in the dim twilight of ancient history.
Theories are, as is well known, apt to outrun facts, so I will not
try my reader's patience by venturing to discuss the question of
"rise or fall," but content myself with the observation that through
unnumbered ages there have been wanderers in the desert, side by side
with dwellers in cities; and our black Australian brother seems to
have descended from the former class. I am likewise led to remark in
passing, that our first parents before the fall did not live in a
state of civilization, but of ignorance--an ignorance which was
undoubtedly bliss,--for ever to be dispelled by the knowledge of good
and evil. It was after the fall when they had to work, and became
ashamed of their nude condition, that they bethought them of the most
primitive modes of dress. Thus did civilization and sin enter the
world hand in hand, soon after the creation; and the fig leaf was
ancestor to the petticoat.
Among the rudest tribes of men, inhabitants of the wild forests
and deserts, dependent for their food and clothing on the accidental
produce of the earth or spoils of the chase, a form of skull is
prevalent, which is termed prognathous, indicating an extension
forward of the jaws. The facial angle peculiar to this formation is
low, and is strongly developed among the Alfurian or Australian
races. They probably spring from a common source; and the Rev.
William Ridley draws attention to the interesting fact that the
blacks themselves always have in idea that their ancestors came from
the north. Then the current of migration has been ever towards the
south and west, and the natives of the north-eastern corner call it
"Kai Dowdai" or Little Country. This seems strange when New Guinea is
known to them as "Muggi Dowdai" or Great Country. The anomaly is
accounted for by their ignorance of the extent of country they
inhabit. To those living near Cape York, and passing to and fro
across the strait dividing New Holland from New Guinea, the low
narrow promontory would seem insignificant compared with the great
mountain ranges of the latter. Then again there is a tradition among
some tribes that their first parents landed on the North West Corner
from Java. All this, however, is at the best but wild conjecture. The
real source from which the Aborigines of Australia originally came is
one of those mysteries buried in the impenetrable depths of an
unwritten past.
Although marked differences exist between the various Australian
languages, and also considerable differences in frame and physiognomy
between the various tribes; still the fundamental unity of the
population from Swan River to Botany Bay, and from the Gulf of
Carpentaria to Bass's Straits is generally admitted.
The natives have no written language and our alphabet is totally
inadequate to give expression to some of the sounds which are so
volubly emitted. Then of course there are very many different
dialects of which the following may be said to be the most
important:--
Kamilaroi.--This is spoken from the Castlereagh to the Darling and
also on the Namai.
Kailwun.--Spoken on the Barwan, below the junction with the
Namai.
Kogai.--This is the dialect in use by all the nations roaming to
the Westward of the Baloune all along the Maronoa and the Congoon.
Rukumbul.--Around Calandoon in Queensland; also on the Weir and
Macintyre.
Dippil.--About Durundrum on the north side of Moreton Bay and
thence towards Wide Bay and the Burnett district in Queensland.
Turrabul.--On the Brisbane River.
Turruwal.--Once spoken by the tribe of Port Jackson, now
extinct.
Wodi-Wodi.--In Illawarra, from Wollongong to the Shoalhaven.
Waradgeri.--On the Murrumbidgee and Lauchlan.
Within the boundaries of Western Australia itself there are
numerous dialects spoken. I will only trouble my readers with one
illustration. From King George's Sound to Champion Bay a baby is
known as "Good-ja" or "Nuba"; in the New Norcian District about 80
miles north from Perth, the word is "Chiengallon"; in the Eastern
District it would be called "Coo-long", and in the neighbourhood of
Albany, "Culong". Again at Banbury, Busselton, and along the coast,
the infant becomes "Duaing"; at Blackwood, "Noba"; at Champion Bay,
Victoria District, "Nurellee"; while at Nickol Bay and in the Roeburn
District it rejoices in the cheerful name of "Yandeeyarrah."
Of the three principal languages used near the settled districts,
it may be said, in common, that they are rendered extremely difficult
to Europeans, by the--to our way of thinking--utter want of method in
arrangement of words in sentences.
An illustration of my meaning may, perhaps, best be given, by
submitting the following exercise, written by the late J. F.
Armstrong, Government Interpreter to the Western Australian
tribes.
In English the exercise runs thus:--
"When we first landed here we wanted to be friendly with you
natives. Why were you so angry, why did you spear the white people?
We did not want to kill you or hurt you in any way. Why would you not
be friends and let us learn your language? We could shew you how to
use a gun, make nets, boats, and many other things; but you set
yourselves against us for years, until you found that we were the
strongest, otherwise you should have killed us all, as you killed the
other white people."
To put that speech into a possible form, for comprehension for the
blacks, the words would have to be re-arranged and altered
thus:--
"We at first here came reside we angry not, and so on; heart good
you to; you why us hate? Why you us with no cause speared? We you in
anger thought not beat, and so on. You why heart bad? We then your
language soon understand correctly. We then you gun good use shew or
tell; net and such like shew tell; boat and such like and numerous
nameless things good and common. But you us angry strong, winter
summer many. Then we really fought. You then said 'Ah! the whites
strong.' If we weak you long ago us kill all others like."
To give the reader an idea of how the words of a native language
look when printed the above may be literally translated thus:--
"Nganneel ingar-ungar nhalla bart nginnaga, nganneel gurrangbroo
na-broo; goordoo gwabba nurang-uk; nurang nyte-juk gnalleekuk
dellut-a bart Nyte-juk nurang nganneel in yaga yaga daanugga?
Nganneel nureel en gurrang Katteege-broo booma-broo na-broo. Nurang
nyte-juk Goordoo wendang? Nganneel garoo nureeluk mya gete kateega
met in Nganneel garoo nureel in gun gwabbyne wurrung-un net, na may
wurrungun boat ware na ware nyteby nyteby na gwabbyne ware warra.
Garoo nureel nganneeluk gurrang moordooit. Muggore, Beroke, boola,
garoo ngallutta boondojil, bukadge; mureel garoo wangga-Nah! Djanga
moordoit jil. Minning ngullara babba, nurang goord nganneel in booma,
moondang-um-um waame-ma mogin."
The natives of Western Australia did not impress their first
visitors from England very favourably. In Captain William Dampier's
book, published in St, Paul's Churchyard, London in 1697, he
describes his visit to the North Western coasts and quaintly calls
the aborigines "The poor winking people of New Holland." In another
part of his work they are declared to be﹃the miserablest people in
the world.﹄To shew his very poor opinion of them, the plain spoken
Buccaneer assures his readers that the Hottentots ("Hodmadods" he
calls them), whom he allows to be rather a nasty lot, were perfect
gentlemen in comparison with the objectionable folk he was
describing. The "Hodmadods," it appeared were possessed of houses,
skin garments, sheep, poultry, and fruits of the earth, whereas the
unfortunate people who so excited his disgust differed﹃but little
from ye brutes.﹄The worthy captain admits that they were tall and
straight bodied but the extreme thinness of their legs was painful to
behold. Also their "great heads, round foreheads and big brows" did
not altogether please him.
It seems to have been, however, the ocular eccentricities of the
poor creatures which most excited the circumnavigator's contemptuous
pity. "The, eyelids," he informs us, were﹃always half closed to keep
the flies out of their eyes, they being so troublesome, that no
fanning would keep them from coming to one's face, and without the
assistance of both hands to keep them off.﹄He continues﹃they will
creep into one's nostrils and mouth too, if the lips are not shut
very close.﹄So that "the poor natives from their infancy being thus
annoyed with these. insects they do never open their eyes as other
people; and therefore they cannot see far, unless they hold up their
heads as if they were looking at somewhat over them."
The "great bottle noses" of the poor Australians also much
disgusted the gallant voyager. And their "full lips and wide months,"
the two front teeth wanting in all of them, men and women. I fancy Mr
Dampier was mistaken regarding the women--old and young, likewise
irritated him. Whether they drew them out he unfortunately﹃knew
not.﹄"Neither," he goes on to remark, in his unflattering
description, "have they any beards. They are long visaged, and of a
very unpleasing aspect, having no one graceful feature in their
faces. Their hair is short, black, and curls like that of the
negroes, and not long and lank like the common Indians. The colour of
their skins is coal black, like that of the negroes of Guinea."
The poor creatures appear in every way to have disappointed
Dampier, inasmuch they had no houses,﹃the earth being their bed and
the Heaven their canopy, and no food except a small sort of fish
which they got by making wares of stone across little coves or
branches of the sea.﹄These they eked out with cockles, mussels, and
periwinkles. Then strange to say they broiled these on the coals, the
only respectable sort of thing he noticed about them; though as to
how they got their fires, he confesses his ignorance. Anything in the
shape of work they declined to perform, and when the crafty mariner
gave to one an old pair of breeches, to another a ragged shirt, and
to a third a jacket "that was scarce worth owning," expecting the
savages in return to "work heartily" at filling the ship's water
barrels, he was chagrined at their behaviour. As a matter of fact
they stood "grinning at him and at one another like so many monkeys!"
In this it may be remarked they were not quite such fools as they
looked. Such an account as the famous voyager gave, in England, of
his visit to Western Australia, in January, 1688, was not calculated
to encourage emigration; nor, indeed, was the record of his later
experiences on the same coast eleven years later.
Dampier was regarded as one of the most intelligent and
trustworthy of the navigators of his time, and, because his
descriptions are quaint and forcible, I have quoted him rather fully.
When, however, he states solemnly that﹃the earth affords the natives
no food at all,﹄and that "there is neither herb root pulse, nor any
sort of grain, nor any sort of bird or beast that they can catch or
kill, having no instruments wherewithal to do so"; it only proves how
erroneous are apt to be superficial or cursory observations.
Dampier's indictment was, however, chiefly directed against the
country itself, the natives being treated with a sort of amused
commiseration.
Throughout Australia as in America, and elsewhere, the gradual
extinction of the natives seems to be one of the inevitable results
of civilization. Even where the most humane measures have been
adopted, it seems the flat of some inscrutable power that the savage
race must cease to exist. The surrounding conditions of life, mental
and physical being entirely changed, those who collect around
townships and stations slowly but surely follow the fate of their
fellows who have previously been killed in conflict with the first
settlers. Upon the white man, alas! the responsibility chiefly rests.
His vicious habits are too faithfully copied by the sons and
daughters of the desert; drunkenness and the diseases which follow in
its train being a potent factor in thinning the aboriginal ranks. It
is their misfortune to have stood in the way of colonization, and it
is scarcely to be wondered at if they have endeavoured to avenge
occupation, invasion, and robbery of their hunting grounds by deeds
of bloody atrocity. It must not be forgotten, however, that the
colonists were the aggressors, and that they were oftentimes guilty
of crimes against the natives of even more ferocious cruelty than
those of the savages themselves. It is, indeed, a humiliating
reflection, that British colonization has alone much to destroy, and
British Christianity but little to save, the aborigines of Australia.
Their degrading customs and brutal crimes have been put forward as a
justification for their speedy extinction; while their nobler
qualities, as true friends and faithful servants, have been
forgotten. If degradation alone be held to justify extinction, how
many subjects of Her Majesty might well be wiped off the face of the
earth, within a four-mile radius of the British Museum! Civilized
human nature is a strange and fantastic compound, whether it owes
allegiance to the Union Jack, the Stars and Stripes, the Tricolor, or
any flag that flies. Is it then to be marvelled at, that we find
among these untaught savages a wild conglomeration of wisdom and
folly, nobility and depravity, honour and treachery?
Many of our habits, doubtless, they refuse to imitate. They will
cook their food on the embers, but object to boiling or steaming;
most kinds of work they rather object to, but smoking and drinking
are of course readily acquired. Praiseworthy efforts have been made
by both Protestant and Catholic Missionaries among the natives of
Western Australia; the most successful of the missions being that
started by Bishop Salvado. This Monastic Institution at New
Norcia--conducted by Spanish monks--was that spoken of by Sir F.
Napier Broome, G.C.M.G., in a paper read by him to the members of the
Royal Colonial Institute some years ago.
He says "Australian natives not only sing in church or study in
school, but are engaged side by side with the Monks in agriculture
and various other industries, also, besides playing the violin and
other instruments in the Mission Band, playing cricket in the Mission
eleven which visits Perth for an occasional match, and is generally
victorious. The New Norcia Mission merits much more notice than time
allows me to give to it. Its philanthropic and practical work among
the aborigines of the Colony, has now been carried on for more than a
generation year by year. With infinite pains, labours, and expense it
turns a number of the natives into Christian and civilized beings.
The first principle of the work at New Norcia is that it shall go
beyond schooling and religious teaching. I have known a full-blooded
low type savage go forth from this Mission into civilized life, not
only a good Christian but an expert telegraphist."
Lady Barker also writes of this noble monastery of Spanish
Benedictines. She says:--
"Just below us lay a wide fertile valley, with a large and
prosperous village, or indeed town, mapped out by excellent roads and
streets, with neat little houses on each side. In the centre stands a
good-sized chapel, with good schools near it; and the large monastery
on the opposite side of the road seemed to have a splendid garden at
the back, stretching down to the river-side." Then she goes on to
describe:--"A regular string band, some eighteen or twenty strong, of
native boys; one playing a big double bass, others violins, a cello,
and so forth. Such nice little fellows, black as jet, but
intelligent, well-looking, and well-mannered." And she adds: "It is
impossible to imagine anything more devoted and beautiful than the
life these good fathers lead; and more encouraging than the results
of their missions work of about thirty-five years."
The success of these practical, earnest and well-directed efforts
proves that the Western Australian native is not the intractable
human brute which Captain Dampier supposed.
Passing over a period of a century and a half, during which time
many other navigators were more or less disappointed, if not
disgusted, by "the poor winking people of New Holland," I notice,
that when in June, 1829, a party of, officers and men, under
Lieutenant Preston, R.N., landed from H.M.S. Challenger at Browne
Mount, Cockburn Sound, for the purpose of exploring the Canning River
and intervening country, they were surprised at the absence of
natives on this occasion. "But," says the writer of the account of
the exploration,﹃there can be little doubt we passed close to some
of them, as we saw many of their wigwams and many traces of
themselves. It is more than probable they did not like our appearance
and avoided us; arid from the nature of the country and their
superior power of vision they have easy means of concealment.﹄It
will be remembered that Dampier described them as being almost blind,
and as having no sort of but as shelter.
Then in September of the same year Lieutenant Preston describes
his meeting with the natives, having landed for exploring purposes
from H.M.S. Sulphur. He found them most friendly and intelligent,
gave them a swan, some rings, knives, beads, etc., and received in
exchange some spears and a stone hatchet. The shooting of a kangaroo
rat astonished them mightily, and they scattered in all directions at
the report of the gun. "In November," the Lieutenant says,
"accompanied by Mr. Collie, we examined Geography Bay, and came
across thirty-five natives near Port Vasse. They were most amiable,
but shewed considerable shrewdness in bartering, parting with knives,
hatchets, and spears, only after considerable arguments."
Ensign Dale, in August, 1831, directed an expedition to the
eastward of the Darling Mountains. He leaves Perth, we read, on the
last day of July, and proceeds to Thompson and Trimmer's on the Swan
River; then he picks up Mr. Brockman--his party consisting of a
soldier, a store-keeper, and the last-named gentleman. On the 7th of
August they discover Mount Mackie, which they named in compliment to
the then chairman of the court of quarter sessions. On the 10th, they
arrived at the Dyott Range, called after General Dyott, commanding
the 63rd Regiment; the same day finding a litter of native dogs, the
mother having left at their approach, and succeeded in bringing two
of them alive to Perth. This would have made an interesting little
item of news for the "Perth Enquirer." But the printing press had not
yet arrived from England. Near their bivouac they discover a cavern,
the interior being arched and resembling an ancient ruin. On one side
was rudely carved what was evidently intended to represent an image
of the sun, it being a circular figure about eighteen inches in
diameter, emitting rays from its left side, and having without the
circle lines meeting each other nearly at right angles. Close to this
representation of the sun, were the impressions of an arm and several
hands. This spot they consider to have been a native place of
worship.
Again in the same year, we have the record of an excursion in a
whale-boat from Raine, Point to Point d'Estrecasteaux. This explorer,
whose name is not mentioned, formed very favourable impressions of
the natives, who were highly delighted at the catching of snappers
with fish hooks. The narrator goes on to say "Mitchell saw a man on
the beach about half a mile distant, and with a glass made him out to
be a native. I took my gun and walked towards him. After I had gone
about half way, and he saw no other person following me, he advanced
and seemed highly delighted when I made him understand I wished him
to go to the boat with me; and he very readily gave me his three
spears and throwing stick, (which were certainly better made than any
I had seen before), and carried my gun to the boat. He appeared
astonished when we made him understand that we came from the sea
through the breakers. After dressing him, giving him a stocking full
of sugar, a little bread and as much cloth as he chose to carry away,
and making him understand that he was to go and bring the whole
tribe, he departed, but we did not see him again, nor did he bring
his friends."
Mr. J. Bussell appears about this time to have made a journey from
the Blackwood to the Vasse, and about this period traversed a tract
of country which seems to have enraptured the explorer, for he bursts
into poetry:
"With daisies pied, and violets blue
And ladies smocks all, silver white."
he exclaims speaking of the herbage he passed over. But
immediately after, moderating his transports he explains that "The
flowers were not perhaps precisely the same that characterized an
English meadow; they not the less beautiful in appearance. As usual,
"nought but man was vile," or at all events of rather an unlovely
appearance for amidst flowers varied in form, as brilliant in colour,
and among grass which was plentiful, and clothed with bright scarlet
and yellow flowers, the daisy, buttercup, and a purple marigold, the
party met with "three natives of smaller stature than was usual, and
wearing no skins (sic). Two were very ugly and brutal looking, but
the third sprightly and good humoured in appearance, accompanied with
that "revolting laugh so general with these savages." They apparently
made themselves very agreeable, and this leads Mr. Bussell to remark
that the British population about to flow westward towards the Vasse,
may expect a friendly reception from the blacks.
From the foregoing extracts, which I have selected from the
original journals in the British Museum, it will be allowed that the
natives of West Australia seem to possess an average degree of
intelligence, and cannot be said to belong to the very lowest rank of
human beings. In their natural state they cultivate only the
qualifications of hunters, and while able to endure privations and
fatigue, they are quite unfitted for continuous bodily labour like
the whites. In this connection it is laid down by Bishop Salvado,
whose authority is unimpeachable, that to condemn a native to hard
labour is equivalent to condemning him to death; and he found it
necessary to divide the day's employment, giving three hours to
mental, and three hours to bodily labour, the rest of the time being
devoted to such relaxation as gymnastics, games, music and
dancing.
The native diseases do not seem to be amenable to the ordinary
course of medical treatment, and native remedies are frequently more
efficacious. They pine at times after their wild bush life, and this
"home sickness" is best allayed by allowing them an occasional
hunting expedition.
Father Carrido, also an excellent authority on everything
appertaining to the natives, assures us that they make good stockmen,
teamsters and shepherds, and considers that an agricultural life is
the easiest and most natural path towards civilization.
Regarding the native girls, Mrs. Camfield, superintendent of the
school at Annesfield, Albany, reports that they have a great fondness
for music. One young woman, she mentions, who was sent to Sydney,
played the harmonium in St. Phillip's Church, and gained her living
by teaching. Washing, cooking, and sewing are also very readily
acquired by the young women under Mrs. Camfield's care, and many of
her charges have left her to marry respectable civilized natives and
become excellent housewives.
In the north of the colony, natives largely supply labour on the
settlements and in the Pearl Fisheries, and are thus gradually
becoming civilized.
It is, therefore permissible to hope that, in the case of our poor
aboriginal, he will not, as all other seem doomed to do--die out. The
conviction that he will is, very strong among the whites, and is,
probably, mainly based upon the sad experience of many, who are
witnesses to the frightful havoc wrought among the black, by that
terrible gift of civilization--alcoholic drink.
It is often erroneously believed that man in a savage state is
endowed with an absolute individual freedom of action, whereas in
reality he is subject to a complete system of laws, which not only
enslave thought, but allow no scope for intellectual or moral
development. These traditional regulations and superstitions keep the
Western Australian natives in a condition of barbarism, and cause
them to violate many of the most sacred usages of life. For example
the female sex are condemned to a degradation which is hopeless,
simply because, they are defenceless; and this not the result of
momentary caprice, but enforced by unwritten traditional laws, are as
binding as those of the Bible or the Koran.
The same, or similar traditions, have on the other hand, taught
the children of the bush how to provide for their natural wants, and
well-armed intelligent white men will die of hunger, in the desert,
where the native will find a sufficiency of food.
One of the most interesting of their laws is that of marriage,
which is founded on the fact that they are divided into certain great
families, all the members of which bear the family name as a second
one in addition to their own. According to Sir George Grey the
principal families are the following:--Ballaroke, Idondarup, Ngatak,
Nagarnook, Nogonyuk, Mongalung, and Narrangur.
Then in different districts the members of these families give a
local name to the one to which they belong, which is understood in
that district to indicate some particular branch of the principal
family.
The common local names are:--Didaroke, Gwerinjoke, Maleoke,
Waddaroke, Djekoke, Kotejumino, Namyungo, and Rgungaree.
Strangely enough these family names are common all over the
continent. They are perpetuated and spread throughout the country by
two remarkable laws.
1st.--That children of either sex always take their mother's
family name.
2nd.--That a man may not marry a woman of his own family name.
These singular laws exist among North American Indians, and a
well-known writer reminds me that a similar law of consanguinity was
probably inferred in Abraham's reply to Abimelech (Genesis, chapter
xx, verse 12), "And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter
of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my
wife."
Each Australian native family has its Kobang, or crest. Some
animal or vegetable is taken as the sign, and in recognition of this
the owner of the Kobang will never kill the animal to which it
refers, should he find it asleep while his family vegetable can only
be gathered under certain condition, and at special seasons of the
year.
Again the North American Indians have a similar custom of taking
animals, at all events, for their coats of arms. Thus the Iroquois
have the turtle, and the Hurons the bear. Among civilized people in
Europe, this custom, as we know, only exists among the upper classes.
It is strange, indeed, to reflect that while the despised blackboy
proudly owns and knows all about the cognizance of his ancestors, in
shape perchance of Squirrel, Bandicoot, Iguana, or Kangaroo, the
white settler's knowledge of heraldry is probably limited to a hazy
idea that the lion, and the unicorn, are somehow connected with Her
Majesty, the Queen.
Another very curious law is that which obliges families connected
by blood, upon the female side, to unite for the common purpose of
defence and avenging crimes. The family name, as I have said, is that
of the mother; and as the father may probably have several wives, all
of different families, so his children are liable to be divided
against cacti other by deadly feuds. This law would itself prove a
hindrance to any people emerging from a savage state. Thus it will be
seen that the ties of blood-relationship are as nothing, compared
with the bond of family; and one of the effects of a father bearing a
different name from his children, is that a district of country
seldom remains; for two generations successively in the same family.
It is not easy to successfully pursue an enquiry into matters of this
kind, because another aboriginal law forbids them ever to mention the
name of a deceased person, male or female.
Although the natives do not cultivate the soil--subsisting
entirely by hunting and fishing, or on wild roots and fruits--it must
not therefore be supposed that they have no idea of property in land.
Every tribe has its own district, and any intrusion for hunting, or
other purpose, by another tribe, is liable to be resisted by force of
arms.
These particular sections of their tribal districts are recognized
as the property of individual members, as are also the wild animals
found upon it; and each "landowner" is naturally very jealous of his
rights, and pugnacious in upholding them. Trespass for hunting
purposes is punished with death if the hunter is caught in the act;
if the trespasser is tracked by footmarks, and so discovered, he is
killed, if alone and in a defenceless state., but if he is attended
by his friends, justice is satisfied with a warning spear-thrust
through the thigh. The possession of friends has the tendency, as
among more civilized folk, to somewhat mitigate the rigour of the
law!
Death from natural causes is scarcely recognized by the savages of
Western Australia. Murderers, by violent means, and sorcerers, by
causing diseases, are held to alone prevent the poor people from
living for ever. Someone is therefore always to blame; and this
belief naturally keeps the survivors pretty busy in seeking out these
same sorcerers and murderers, in order to avenge the deaths of their
friends. Another principle is that if the guilty persons are not
found, all his relatives are held to be implicated, so that
satisfaction is generally obtained from someone!
If there be any hesitation, on the part of some abnormally
tender-hearted relative, to undertake this holiest office of revenge,
the ladies loudly remind him of this duty. He is, so to say,
boycotted by his womankind. His wives will have nothing to say to
him, the old women scold him, and as for the single girls they will
not even glance at him. The funeral therefore is scarcely over before
the average savage seizes his spears, collects his friends, and
starts upon the warpath. The party sometimes find the culprit, and
despatch him there and then; but if they fail, their anger becomes so
inflamed that they slay any unfortunate native who falls into their
bloodthirsty hands.
Among the West Kimberly natives a curious method is in vogue for
discovering the whereabouts of a murderer. The corpse is fixed in the
fork of a tree, and in the ground underneath a number of small sticks
are stuck pointing north, south, east and west. After the lapse of a
few days the friends carefully examine these, and from the droppings
of putrid matter which adheres to them, determine in which direction
the guilty man is living. I am not aware that this practice is
adopted in other parts.
Wife stealing is punished with the death of the seducer, or one of
his relatives. Minor punishments consist of spear-thrusts through
certain portions of the body, such as thigh, calf, arm etc., a
different part being assigned for all ordinary crimes.
Duels are common between individuals who have private quarrels to
settle; a certain number of spears being thrown until honour is
satisfied. They pay little, attention to these wounds, but they soon
heal owing to their naturally abstemious habits, Sir George Grey
mentions an amusing and striking instance of their apathy, in
connection with a fight, in what was then the village of Perth. He
says:--"A native received a wound in that portion of his frame which
is only presented to theenemy when in the act of flight; and the
spear, which was barbed, remained sticking in the wound. A gentleman
who was watching the fray regarded the man with looks of great
commiseration, which the native perceiving came up to him, holding
the spear (still in the wound) in one hand, turned round so as to
expose the injury he had received, said, in the most moving voice
'Poor fellow! Sixpence! Give it um!'"
Regarding Native marriage, I should mention that a female child is
betrothed, in her infancy, to some native of another family,
necessarily very many years older than herself. He watches over her
jealously, and she goes to live with him as soon as she feels
inclined. If she possesses personal charms she has anything but a
happy young womanhood, for even if she gives no sort of encouragement
whatever to her admirers, attempts are pretty nearly sure to be made
to carry her off. Encounters resulting, she is in considerable peril,
for each combatant orders her to follow him and throws a spear at her
if she refuses. The youth of a woman of any pretensions to good looks
is thus often full of wanderings and captures and wounds, not the
least of which latter are dealt her by the jealous wives of her
abductors, who possibly find little difficulty in persuading
themselves that she must have given their lords some encouragement.
Lovely woman is given to this sort of thing, both in the hovels of
the poor and the palaces of kings.
To use the word., of the author quoted above--"Rarely do you see a
form of unusual grace and elegance but it is marked and scarred by
the furrows of old wounds, and many a female wanders several hundred
miles from the home of her infancy."
From the nature of its food a black child needs very strong teeth;
hence the mother suckles them for two or even three years, and
families seldom exceed four or five in number.
Polygamy is general, and women are so highly valued to be very
frequently stolen. This is, however, chiefly because they perform all
the laborious work, and collect a great portion of the food.
Alas! woman's rights are shamefully neglected, and no one takes
her part whether innocent or guilty--the general principle being,﹃If
I beat your mother, then you beat mine; if I beat your wife, then you
beat mine,﹄and, so forth. Yet these poor wild creatures are not
devoid of modesty. Their rules as to seclusion correspond remarkably
with the law of Moses, as written in Leviticus (Chapters XII. and
XV.), while another Mosaic law--that of circumcision--is observed by
the men.
The sympathies of travellers have been much wasted upon
Aborigines, on the score of a supposed scarcity of food. As a rule
they have an abundance, although they may run a little short in the
height of the rainy season, or when they are overcome with laziness
in very hot weather. The following list of articles, forming the food
of the West Australian, is from the Journal of the last-named
explorer:--Six sorts of kangaroo, twenty-nine sorts of fish, one kind
of whale, two species of seal, wild dogs, three kinds of turtle,
emus, wild turkeys, two species of opossum, eleven kinds of frogs,
four kinds of fresh water shell fish, every sort of sea shell fish,
except oysters, four kinds of edible grubs, eggs of birds awl
lizards, five animals of the rabbit class, eight sorts of snakes,
seven sorts of iguanas, nine species of mice and rats, twenty-nine
sorts of roots, seven kinds of fungis, four sorts of gum, two sorts
of manna, two species of by-yu, or the nut of the zamia palm, two
species of mesembry and themum, two kinds of small nuts, four sorts
of wild fruit, besides the seeds of several plants. The above can
hardly be called a starvation bill of fare, although, of course, it
does not look very appetizing to the European.
The equipment of the Blackboy consists of his kiley (boomerang),
hatchet, and dow-uk (a short heavy stick), which are stuck in his
belt of opossum fur; also his different spears for war and
chase--which, with his throwing stick, he carries in his hand. In the
colder parts of the continent he sometimes wears a warm kangaroo skin
cloak. He also occasionally carries a wooden shield, curving inward
at the ends.
The wife, who always follows her lord at a respectful distance, is
usually in heavy marching order. A long stick is carried in her hand,
and a bag on her shoulders, in the top of which is placed any child
who cannot walk. The other contents of this useful receptacle are
numerous and heterogeneous, comprising the stock-in-trade of the
family.
There will be a flat stone to pound roots with, pieces of quartz
for making spears and knives with, and larger stones for hatchets.
Prepared cakes of gum for making and mending weapons. Kangaroo sinews
for manufacture of spears, and to sew with. The shell of a mussel to
cut hair with, different small stone-knives, pipe clay, red and
yellow ochre. These are a few of her belongings; and she likewise
carries spare skins for cloaks, &c., between the bag and her
sorely tried back. The natives are very skilful hunters, and it is an
interesting and beautiful spectacle to watch one of these swarthy
savages on the trail, with bright eye, and swift noiseless footsteps.
Sometimes they join in company for the chase, which if kangaroo are
hunted is "Yowart-a-Kaipoon." These public battues are governed by
certain rules. The invitation issues from the native owner of the
soil, and the first spear which strikes determines whose property the
game is to be, no matter how slight the wound. The animals are
surrounded, and each man has his position assigned; then the circle
gradually closes in oil the terrified creatures, but few of which
escape. The native hunting cries are wild and strange, always
commencing with a hard consonant, such as "Kau," or "Koo-ee." They
are thus audible much further than our "Hullo" or "Ho," beginning as
the latter do with a soft aspirate. Kangaroos are also caught in
nets, and pitfalls, and the hunter will sometimes follow up their
tracks until they are so weary as to be approachable. This latter
mode requires the very highest class of skill and the greatest
endurance; for which reason only a few of the most renowned sportsmen
can perform the feat.
So far as their cooking is concerned they cannot exactly be
considered epicures. Sometimes they roast the kangaroo whole in a pit
which they dig for the purpose; and occasionally cut it up and broil
the portion piecemeal. The blood, entrails, and marrow are considered
delicacies, and as such are reserved for the head men of the
tribe.
Of their fishing, our native friends are justly somewhat proud.
The captures are effected in three different ways; spearing,
entrapping in a weir, and netting. In the first method they show
marvellous skill, whether in rivers or the sea. They scarcely ever
miss their aim. Regarding the weirs they shew considerable sagacity
in hitting upon the exact place; of course constructing them at low
water.
Probably the greatest joy which a coast Native knows is the
discovery of a stranded whale upon his property. As a rule he is very
greedy over his food, not being greatly given to sharing it with
others. Such unusual abundance, however, changes his whole nature. He
lights fires, and invites his friends from near and far.
Then, I am sorry to say, a most disgusting orgie sets in. The host
and guests continue feasting for weeks, knowing no regular meal times
but literally continually cutting, and for ever coming to the attack
again. The revellers have been known to stay by the mammoth's carcase
long after it has become quite putrid, and even it is etiquette to
present each guest at parting with an evil-smelling chunk, to convey
to absent friends, whose urgent private affairs have kept them away
from the delicious banquet.
Adult wild dog is occasionally eaten for a change, but puppies are
an ever--welcome treat. As the dog is, however, with the blacks, as
among the whites, frequently trained up to be the slave of man, the
pups are often spared; and revolting as it appears to our
notions,--wet nursed by the women of the family. Australia being the
land of contraries, black swans and so forth, we need not be perhaps,
too much surprised at this approach to a reversal of the history of
Romulus and Remus.
Like the leading citizens in a well known city, the West
Australian native is a great admirer of the luscious turtle, and are
not surpassed by the New Yorkers in their appreciation of terrapin.
The latter they cook whole, shell and all, in the ashes; then
removing the bottom shell, the upper one serves as a dish. Most
delicious of all, however, is accounted the emu, and hence it follows
that heavy penalties are pronounced, by the law-makers of the nation,
against any one eating this bird but themselves. I think I remember
having heard that any sturgeon, caught in the Thames, belongs to the
Lord Mayor of London, which would be a parallel case.
Cockatoos are considered another great delicacy, are often killed
with the boomerang. To see this strange weapon swooping, wildly among
a flock of these birds,--spinning and whirling and slaying,--is one
of the oddest sights imaginable.
One of the dexterous feats which Sir George Grey recounts is the
killing of a bird as it flies from the nest. Two men are in it, one
of whom, placing himself under the nest, transfixes the latter with a
spear. As a rule the creature is only frightened or very slightly
wounded, and is slain by the unerring dow-uk of the other hunter as
it quits the tree.
In opossum hunting the savage climbs the tree, which he notches
into footholds as he proceeds; then either smokes or prods the animal
out of his hole, when he seizes it by the tail and dashes it to the
ground--always careful, however, to avoid being bitten.
Frog catching, when the swamps are partly dried up, is usually the
duty or pastime of the women. It is no easy task, however, for while
poking about with their long sticks in the mud, they are almost
devoured with flies and mosquitos. This is pretty rough on these
poor, wild, dusky damsels of the Desert.
Grubs, which are extremely palatable, are procured from the grass
tree; and likewise in an excrescence of the wattle tree. They are
eaten either raw or roasted but seem to be greatly improved by
cooking. I am told they have a nut-like flavour, but I never had the
courage to sample them.
In addition to their culinary duties the women have to dig for the
various roots they dress for their husbands, and they become very
expert in this occupation. When found the roots are sometimes pounded
and mixed with a kind of earth, and sometimes roasted plain.
The Bu-yu nut is also collected and eaten with relish, which
proves the great difference which exists between the Australian and
European stomach, for so violent a cathartic is this nut, that some
of Captain Cook's crew who ate it dearly paid for their experience
with their lives. There is, however, a pulp which encases the inner
kernel, which, after certain preparation, can be used as an agreeable
and nutritious article of food. Besides those I have glanced at there
are innumerable other native dishes, products of the earth and of the
chase, with which I will not trouble my courteous reader.
The Australian is a very thick person, and hardness of the native
skull is brought home to the European, who for the first time sees
him using his head, as we sometimes use the thigh, to break obstinate
pieces of stick across. I have seen them thus splinter tough boughs
of nearly the thickness, of a policeman's truncheon!
Next to this extraordinary hardness of cranium the extreme
dexterity with which they use their feet would excite the surprise of
the observant white man. They will pick up anything from the ground
as readily with their toes as we can with the hands; and as for
climbing, they will "swarm up" a tree, a hundred feet high, in as
smart a manner as an English sailor mounts the rigging of a ship. Nor
does it matter to the climber whether the trunk of a tree is slender
enough for him to embrace it or not. I have seen black fellows
literally walk up a big tree by throwing a kind of lasso round it,
and across their shoulders, and then lying well back, twisting the
rope of vegetable fibre higher and higher as they ascend until in the
giddy height they land safely among the boughs at the top.
With all his physical strength, however, the poor Australian
savage is but a short lived being. Not only are there no centenarians
among them, but Englishmen, who have studied the natives attentively
for a lifetime, have assured me that it is extremely rare for a black
man to attain the age of fifty. The women age at a very early period
of life, and little wonder. Moreover, with out wishing to be
ungallant or hypercritical, I may say that any living being more
repulsive, than the average old "gin", can scarcely exist on the face
of a globe.
The childhood of the little black, who has escaped his parents
occasional infanticidal proclivities, is probably the "jolliest"--to
use a word well understood by English school-boys-which can be well
imagined. Do what he will the young hopeful of the wilds is never
chastised. Solomon's injunction about the rod has no place in the
code of the Australian Aboriginal. The boy, who is rather brother
than father to the man, (for the men are practically children all
their lives) does literally seems right in his own eyes. The crime of
ill-treatment of children is quite unknown among these poor
uncivilized folk, who fortunately for us do not read English police
news, or they might occasionally wonder how their white brothers and
sisters could be such savages as to maltreat helpless infants, as is
but too common. In wife beating, however, they certainly manage to
hold their own, and thus possibly manage to relieve their ruffled
feelings. Yet am I assured that even this almost universal rule of
marital brutality is not without its exception. White men, who have
lived among the blacks, have assured me that there are henpecked
husbands even in the Australian desert, and they further allege that
the energetic spouses of the victims, instead of exciting disgust
among their neighbours, are looked upon with more than ordinary
respect; being, indeed, in some cases, run away with by men, envious
of the possession of such strong-minded ladies. This is very
encouraging.
In his admirable play of the Mourning Bride, far too little known
to modern readers, Congreve has the well known lines:--
"Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast."
"To shatter rocks and rend the solid oak."
If the dramatist overdoes it a little in the second line, he fall,
short of the literal truth in the first. The Australian savage is
devouringly fond of music, but it has sometimes the reverse of a
soothing effect upon him, for instance, when it takes the form of a
war song. During the singing of one of these he rushes madly up and
down, stamping and jumping in an ever increasing frenzy.
And yet to the eye, when the words of one of these spirit stirring
ditties are coldly set up in type, there seems but scanty material
out of which to get up so much superheated steam.
Here is a specimen of a well-known war song.
"Yu-do dan na
Nan-do danna! (Staccato!)
My-eree danna
Goor doo danna
Boon ga-la dan-na (with a shriek)
Gonogo dan na.
Dow-al dan-na.
Narra-ra danna," &c., &c.
The last lines being hissed and shrieked with energy
indescribable. All this, being interpreted, means--
"Spear his forehead.
Spear his breast.
Spear his liver.
Spear his heart.
Spear his loins.
Spear his shoulder.
Spear his thigh.
Spear his ribs," &c., &c.
When we consider our very slight knowledge of their language,
feelings and passions, it is not surprising that we fail to
appreciate the niceties of their music and poetry. Nevertheless it is
a fact that an elderly and spiteful female, who possesses musical and
poetic gifts, can very readily set scores of warriors, thirsting for
each others blood. Mr. Threlkeld, in his Australian Grammar,
says:--
"There are poets among them who compose songs which are sung and
danced to by their own tribes in the first place; after which other
tribes learn the song and dance which passes from tribe to tribe
throughout the country, until from change of dialect not one of the
original words remain."
A new song is highly appreciated, and a savage who has travelled
to distant parts of the Continent, some times brings back a few of
the latest, with which, no doubt, he greatly﹃astonishes the
natives!﹄Certainly these effusions are very savage and
discordant-sounding to European ears, but of course, on the other
hand, our music is insipid and ridiculous to the aboriginal taste and
estimation.
An imitation by a native of an English song never fails to produce
astonishment and shrieks of laughter. Indeed, all other matters
besides music, the black boy regards us as all extremely absurd race
of mortals. Perhaps he is right.
The only accompaniment to native songs which I have heard, is the
beating of a board or clapping of hands. Any remarkable circumstance
which occurs, is, as used to be the case with us, perpetuated in a
ballad.
Sir George Grey tells us that when Miago, the first native who
ever quitted Perth, was taken in H.M.S. Beagle in 1838, the following
was composed by a relative, and constantly sung by his mother during
her boy's absence.
"Ship bal win-jal bat tar dal gool-an-een.
Ship bal win-jal bat-tai dal gool-an-een," &c., &c.
Meaning.
"Whither is the lone ship wandering?
Whither is the lone ship wandering &c., &c.
Then, on his safe return, the same poet commemorated his voyage
thus:--
"Kan de maar-o, Kan de maar-a-lo
Tsail-omar ra, tsail-o mar-ra-lo," &c., &c.
Meaning.
"Unsteadily shifts the wind oh! Unsteadily shifts the wind oh!
The sails-oh handle oh! The sails-oh handle oh &c., &c.
It is impossible to describe the strange wild music of these
swarthy denizens of the forest; but the abundant evidence of passion
and feeling which it expresses should forbid too hasty a judgment of
a people of whom we really know so little.
But while it is difficult to describe the music so as to convey
anything like an adequate idea of its effect, especially as many of
their songs are simply deep guttural unmusical notes, it is within my
power to give to the public the "words and music" of several of their
more melodious songs. These have been supplied to me by a resident in
Western Australia, who has also appended to each a few remarks as to
the circumstances under which they were sung.
"Some time ago," he says, "one of the white colonists, held in
high esteem by one of the native tribes near Guigin, was presented by
them with what may be best described as 'tribal rights'
(corresponding to citizenship) over certain lands. During the
ceremony of presentation was sung the following song, and it may be
explained that 'Wilbeniah' was the name of the land, and
'Yandiwirrie' the name by which the natives knew their friend. When
they sang the first word they pointed to the land, and when they sang
the second they pointed to the adopted tribesman, indicating by this
probably, that the land was his, and that he belonged to the
land."
Wil-be-ni-ah, Wil-be-ni-ah, . .
Wil-be-ni-ah, Yan-di-wir-rie.
Yan-di-wir-rie, Yan-di-wir-rie.
Yan-di-wir-rie, Wil-be-ni-ah.
Yan-di-wir-rie, Yan-di-wir-rie.
Yan-di-wir-rie, Wil-be-ni-ah.
Wil-be-ni-ah, Wil-be-ni-ah.
Wil-be-ni-ah, Yan-di-wir-rie.
Two natives were married, and, which is not always the case, both
parties were great favourites, and wonderful to relate very young.
After the marriage, a party of natives, male and female, belonging to
their tribe gathered round the fire in front of their hut and sang
the following measure, scores of times: "Harinan" was the name of the
Benedict, and "Woorinan" that of his Beatrice. The air is not
unmusical, and the men's voices blended with those of the women very
effectively.
Ha-ri-nan, oh! Ha-ri-nan, oh! Ha-ri-nan.
Ha-ri-nan, oh! Woo-ri-nan, oh!
Woo-ri-nan, oh! Woo-ri-nan, oh! Woo-ri-nan, oh!
The next is a different class of song altogether, being one sung
at a corroborie, or native dance. Like all native ditties, it is
repeated almost ad infinitum. It may be said to be divided into two
parts, the first terminating at the asterisk, and being sung very
smoothly--the second, which is largely composed of what, in music,
are called "accidentals," is sung in a very loud excited, staccato
manner, and its effect may better be appreciated by the singer
speaking the notes rather than singing them. What the words mean I
was never able to learn. No inducement was potent enough to win from
my black friends even the faintest hint as to the meaning of thesong.
They merely laughed, and said, "nothing tell 'em." I am, therefore,
unable to furnish a translation.
Ah, bar-ra-bahn-di-duhr-rah bin-rin-goo-rah, Ah. (repeat six times)
bar-ra-bahn-di-dur-rah, bir-rin-goo-rah,*
Ah, bar-ra-bahn-di-dur-rah!
Ah bar-ra-bahn-di-dur-rah!
bar-ra-bahn-di-dur-rah!
bir-rin-goo-rah, Ah!
The Western Australian aboriginal does not sing in his; own
language only, nor does he sing only when he is pleased. I have seen
two native women fight with their long, thick, hard wood staffs,
accompanying their thwacking with songs in which they alternately
cursed and derided each other in the choicest English and native
Billingsgate. Indeed, it may be said that whatever passion or feeling
seizes them, the black fellow must express it in song, and this
leads, of course, to the improvising of such as the following
recitative which was the result of a refusal to give a notoriously
drunken, lazy native woman sixpence to enable her to indulge her
propensity by drinking. She professed to be hungry and to want nalgo
(food), but she had at that time sufficient food in the bag slung at
her back to feed her for a week, Finding her entreaties were,
unavailing, she sang the following to me several times--"Wongy" means
"say" or "promise," and that I had promised her something was one of
her pleasant little fictions.
remonstratingly
What for you white fellow wongy you gib'em chickpence, and you nothing gib-er-em.
pathetically
Poor old debbil me, poor granny me, nothing nalgo, and want'em bread and
viciously
you big fellow lie tell'em.
Regarding the religion of the aborigines, the evidence is somewhat
conflicting. Certain it is that their legends are full of evil
spirits and malignant demons which destroy men, women, and children.
I think it is very doubtful if they have any knowledge of a
beneficient God or righteous Creator. "Mullion" is a wicked being who
lives in a high tree and seizes black fellows to devour in a higher
abode, for he lives in the Milky Way.
Then there are some female demons who are much more cruel and
implacable; one particularly who impales the poor black with her
spear and carries him off wriggling and writhing to her den, where
she roasts and eats him.
Then there is a famous creature called the Bunyip, a terrific
monster, somewhat like our sea serpent. It is some fifty feet long,
with a snake-like head and inhabits lagoons, rivers and swamps. The
Bunnyar is another variety of the Bunyip--, which, as an American
might say,--is a good deal like its horrible brother-demon, only
considerably more so.
From the peculiarities of this evil beast, it is probable that the
stories of the alligators in the North of Australia and in Queensland
have penetrated to other parts of the Continent, and these formed the
model upon which this terrible water demon has been constructed.
Piama, is in some districts a word which signifies the common
ancestor of the black folk, and may bc taken to indicate a
beneficient deity, and there are periodical celebrations and
ceremonies which seem to contain the idea of a supposed conflict
between good and evil influences.
It is, of course, unknown whether such religious observances have
crossed over from Asia, or were invented on Australian soil.
Be that as it may, Christianity, the most potent engine of
civilization, has undoubtedly proved its efficacy once more on the
history of man in raising some of these wild natives so that they
abhor their old degrading superstitions.
The aboriginal funeral ceremonies vary somewhat in different parts
of the Continent, as may be well supposed over such a vast area.
For the readers' information on this lugubrious subject, I will
set down briefly two or three description; culled from various
sources.
The first funeral we will refer to took place at Perth in June,
1839. There were but few men present, as they were watching the
widows in Perth. The two blackboys, Yeuna and Warrup, were digging
the grave, which, as usual, extended east and west. They commenced by
digging with their sticks and hands several holes in a straight line,
and then united them. All the white sand was thrown carefully into
two heaps, and these heaps were situated one at the head and the
other at the foot of the hole, whilst the dirty coloured sand was
thrown into two other heaps, one on each side. The grave was very
narrow, just wide enough to admit the body. During the process of
digging--an insect having been thrown up--its motions were watched
with intense interest, and as it thought proper to crawl off in the
direction of Guildford, strong proof was furnished that the sorcerer
resided there; for as I have already said, there must be a sorcerer
somewhere to account for a death. When the grave was completed, they
set fire to some dried leaves and twigs, and throwing them in, soon
had a large blaze. Old Weeban knelt on the ground at the foot of the
grave, his head bowed to the earth in profound attention. He was
watching to discover in which direction the "boyl-yas," or the
aforesaid sorcerer, when drawn from the earth by the fire, would take
flight.
At last he indicated a due east direction with his spear, and a
smile of satisfaction irradiated the faces of the young men, for they
knew that it was towards Guildford they must go to avenge the foul
witchcraft which had slain their brother-in-law.
The next part of the proceedings was to take the body from the
females. They raised it in a cloak, the poor old mother making no
objection to the removal, but passionately kissing the cold rigid
lips, which she could never press again. The corpse was then lowered
into the grave, and seated upon a bed of leaves, which had been laid
there directly the fire was extinguished, the face being turned
towards the east. The women grouped together, sobbed forth their
mournful songs, Whilst the men placed small green boughs upon the
body, until they had more than half filled up thegrave. Then cross
pieces of wood were fixed in the opposite sides of the grave, green
boughs were placed on these, and the earth from the two side heaps
thrown in until the grave was completed, which then, owing to the
heaps at the head and foot, presented the appearance of three graves
nearly similar in size and form lying due east and west.
The men having completed their task, the women came with bundles
of blackboy-tops which they had gathered, and laid these down on the
central heap, so as to give it a green and exceedingly pleasing
appearance. So much for the first funeral.
The corpse at another obsequy (this time on the Vasse River), was
that of a native herdsman, who had been murdered. His master
writes:--"The funeral was a wild and fearful ceremony. Before I had
finished in the stock-yard, the dead man was already removed and on
its way to the place of interment, about a quarter of a mile distant.
I was guided to the spot by the shrill wailing of the females, as
they followed mourning after the two men who bore the body in their
arms. The dirge, as distance blended all the voices, was very
plaintive, nor did the distance destroy the harmony. Some of the
chants were really beautiful; but, perhaps, rather harsh for our
ears. They produced a terrible jarring on my brain, and caused tears
to flow even from the eyes of children, who knew little of the cause
of the lament."
At length the procession reached the place, and there was a short
silence. When the body touched the ground a piercing shriek was
given; and, as this died away into a chant, some of the elder women
lacerated their scalps with sharp bones, until the blood ran down
their faces in streams. The eldest of the bearers stepped forward and
proceeded to dig the grave. I offered to dig the grave, but they
refused: the digging stick was the proper tool. When with this the
earth was loosened, it was thrown out in showers with the hands,
forming, in the same line with the grave, two elongated banks.
At length the grave was finished, and they then threw some dry
leaves into it and kindled a fire. When this had burnt, they placed
the corpse beside the grave and gashed their thighs saying--
"I have brought blood!"
They stamped their feet forcibly on the ground while repeating
this, and splashed the blood around them. Then, wiping their wounds
with wisps of grass, they took up the dead man. A loud scream ensued,
and they gently lowered the body into the grave, resting it on the
back.
After that they filled up the grave with soft brushwood, and piled
logs on this to a considerable height; after which they constructed a
hut over the top of the wood work. Thus ended the funeral number two.
The third, and closing account, I take from the sketch of a funeral
at King George's Sound.
The death ceremonies in the neighbourhood of King George's Sound
are invariably accompanied by specially loud lamentations. A grave is
dug about four feet long and three wide, and perhaps also a yard in
depth. The earth that is removed is arranged on one side, in the form
of a crescent. At the bottom of the hole is placed some bark, and
then some green boughs; and upon this is laid the body, ornamented
and enveloped in its cloak, with the knees bent up to the breast, and
the arms crossed. Over the body are heaped more green boughs and
bark, and the whole is then filled in with earth. Green boughs are
finally placed over the earth, and upon these are deposited the
spears, knife, and hammer of the deceased, together with the
ornaments that belonged to him; his throwing-stick on one side and
his kiley and dowak on the other side of the mound. The mourners then
carve circles in the bark of the trees that grow near the rave and
lastly, making a small fire in front, they gather small boughs, and
carefully brush away any portion of earth that may adhere to them.
Their faces are coloured black or white in blotches across the
forehead, round the temple, and down the cheek bones; and these marks
are worn as mourning for a considerable time. They also cut the end
of the nose, and scratch it for the purpose of producing tears.
There is thus, it will be seen, considerable diversity in the
burial rites of the different tribes. One point, however, which they
all appear to attend to, is the careful investigation regarding the
boyl-yas, or sorcerer, who has caused the death. They are always
objects of mysterious dread, having power, they believe, to transport
themselves through the air in invisible form. Sometimes another
monster is to blame, called the wan-gul. It resides in fresh water,
and usually attacks females, who pine away and die under its baleful
influence.
It has been said elsewhere that the physical features of Western
Australia resemble, in many respects, those of the Holy Land. Both
suffer from periodical draughts, and largely depend upon wells for
water. Then both have fertile and smiling pastures, side by side with
barren sandy wastes. Both have a warm summer, and a pleasant
sea-breeze near the coast, and both have largely a limestone
foundation. Still more curious to notice is the similarity in some
points between the customs of the Aborigines and those of the ancient
Jews.
Some of the superstitious rites just referred to remind us of the
passage in I. Kings, chap. xviii, verse 28:--"And they cried aloud,
and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till
the blood gushed out upon them."
Then again, Jeremiah xlvii, 37:--"For every head shall be bald,
and every beard clipped: and upon all the hands shall be cuttings,"
etc. In many parts of Australia the natives cut off portions of their
beards at funerals, in addition to the lacerations.
Again, in Deuteronomy xiv, 1, it is written, "Ye shall not cut
yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead."
Evidently the prohibition referred to an ancient Jewish, as well as
an idolatrous custom. It is also very singular to remark that when
the women among the Aborigines do cut and disfigure their faces for
the dead, it is always between the eyes, just as was explicitly
forbidden by Moses.
Elsewhere the Prophet Isaiah reprehends the custom of remaining
among the graves, which is, to this day a prevalent custom among the
natives of Western Australia.
"A people which provoke me to anger," etc., "which remain among
the graves and lodge in the monuments."
The native form of taking an oath also closely resembles that
described in Genesis, where "the servant put his hand under the thigh
of Abraham, his master."
Australian mothers, again, name their children from some
circumstance connected with their birth, or early infancy; just as in
Genesis xxx, 11, Leah said, "A troop cometh, and she called his name
Gad."
I have already referred to the practice of circumcision, which is
common in many parts, from St. Vincent's Gulf to the Gulf of
Carpentaria.
I have likewise alluded to the interesting coincidences, but make
no attempt to draw inferences therefrom. With but meagre data and
inadequate knowledge, the subject is unapproachable. If, however,
these primitive people should have received from the common Creator
certain laws for the guidance of their lives, does it not furnish
food for reflection? It is scarcely necessary that I should disclaim
any intention of identifying my aboriginal friends with the Lost
Tribes!
I have already mentioned the kiley, or boomerang, as a native
weapon; but this most extraordinary implement deserves special
attention. Its possession alone, I contend, redeems the Australian
savage from his usually assigned place at the foot of the human
ladder. Doubtless other nations--notably the Africans and
Indians--have an instrument of somewhat similar form, but the main
characteristic is wanting, namely, the return flight. Its usual form
is a piece of hard wood with the curve of a parabola, about two feet
long, two and a half inches broad, one third of an inch thick, and
rounded at the extremities. One side is flat, the other rounded, and
it is brought to a bluntish edge. It is discharged by the hand at one
end, the curved edge being forward and the flat side upwards. After
advancing some distance and ascending slowly in the air with a quick
rotatory motion, it begins to retrograde, often falling on the ground
behind the thrower.
As long as the boomerang retains the forward impetus and catches
the air as it will naturally do--on the flat side, it continues to
rise. When, however, the movement imparted to it ceases, it begins to
fall, and its course of falling will be in the line of least
resistance, which is in the direction of the edge that lies obliquely
towards the thrower. It will therefore fall back, in the same manner
as a kite when the string is suddenly broken is seen to do, when it
falls back for a short distance. But the kite, having received no
rotation to cause it to continue in the same plane of descent, soon
falls, in a series of fan curves, to the ground, as also will the
boomerang if it loses its rotatory motion.
Now it is evident that this apparently marvellous property of the
boomerang (founded of course on a well-known law of projectiles) must
be of great advantage to the natives, who largely use it for throwing
among flocks of fowl on rivers, lakes, and marshes. When, after
striking or missing its object in the water, instead of being lost it
returns back to its owner.
There are several varieties of boomerang, but they all follow this
law, being of course to some extent dependent on the skill of the
person wielding it. Could any device be more ingenious.
I have often heard it averred that the natives are utterly wanting
in a sense of humour, and therefore are certainly irredeemable
savages. Well, I do not know the exact line by which humour and wit
are separated, but I think the following anecdote has a savour of
both about it.
A well-known explorer, worn out with fatigue, and weak from
privations, flung himself by the fire to rest, having almost reached
Perth on his return journey. His wretched and woebegone appearance
attracted the attention of the native who accompanied him. He had
some knowledge of English, and thus addressed his master: "What for
do you who have plenty to eat, and much money, walk so far away in
the bush?"
The explorer, tired to death, and rather annoyed at this
conundrum, made no answer. The black went on:﹃You are thin, your
shanks are long, your belly is small-you had plenty to eat at home,
why did you not stop there?﹄It is hard to make these simple folk
understand the love of enterprise and adventure, so the traveller had
to say:--
"Oh, you don't understand; you know nothing."
"I know nothing!" he exclaimed, with a laugh, "I know how to keep
myself fat, the young women look at me and say, 'he very nice, he
fat.' They look at you and say, 'No good, he too thin legs too long,
he walk too far in the bush.'"
It cannot be denied that the Englishman had the worst of the
argument.
Into the discussion--a warm one in the Colony--as to whether the
present Aborigines Protection Board, which is independent of the
Government, should be directly responsible only to the Crown, and
should therefore, be abolished, and the charge of the natives left in
the hands of the Executive at Perth, I do not mean to enter. There is
much to be said on both sides. Those against the Board's independence
say that it is absurd that the latter who are charged with all
governmental duties respecting the superior race, the Whites, should
not be trusted to deal also on their responsibility with the Blacks.
Those in favour of the continuance of the Board's exceptional powers,
say that the poor ignorant black subjects of the Queen should be
specially protected against the possible greed and racial prejudices
of their powerful neighbours, who have, after all, gradually pushed
the poor creatures out of their ancient inheritance. The case for the
Colonial Government is very ably put by the Premier, Sir John
Forrest, in the following memorandum, addressed to the Administrator,
for the Governor's perusal:--
Premier's Office.
Perth.
20th April, 1892.
Memorandum for His Excellency, The Administrator.
1. I have the honour to bring under your consideration the
question of the position occupied by the Aborigines Protection Board,
constituted under the local Acts 50 Vic. No. 25 and 52 Vic. No.
24.
2. The 70th section of the Constitution Act provides the funds;
for the use of this Board, which are expended without the slightest
control on the part of the Ministry or Parliament.
3. The insertion of the 70th section in the Constitution Act, and
the simultaneous passage of the Act 52 Vic. No. 24, were at the time
viewed with much dissatisfaction by the people of the Colony,
inasmuch as it was considered as a reflection upon their past
treatment of the Aboriginal Race, besides being, in their opinion,
totally unnecessary. It being, however, understood that the Imperial
Government would insist on these Acts being passed before, granting
Responsible Government, when they were introduced by the then
Government no opposition was offered.
4, The Board thus constituted and supplied with ample means has
had all existence of about 18 months, and has not in the slightest
degree been interfered with, nor has it in any case sought advice
from Ministers. The appointments to the Board have been made by the
Governor without any reference or consultation with Ministers, and
the Board has managed its business as it pleased.
5. This Board, so carefully brought into existence by statute, and
supplied with funds by the Constitution Act, is still to a very large
extent dependent on the Government for carrying out its duties. While
it purports to be a body independent of the Government, it is in
reality greatly dependent upon it. Take, for instance, the machinery
through which it distributes relief to the sick, the old, and the
infirm. This has to be done by the magistrates, the Government
medical officers, and the police; nor is any charge made against the
£5,000 a year paid by the Government to the Board. As this vote
is not all expended, and the unexpended portion is invested by the
Board, the Government might fairly charge for all services rendered
by the magistracy, the medical officers, and the police; or, seeing
that the Government is opposed to the continuance of the Board, might
even refuse to render any assistance, whatever, in which case the
Board would be almost powerless to render relief throughout the
limits of this very extensive Colony. Again, in regard to the
protection of the aborigine, the Board is to a large extent
powerless. It cannot execute warrants without the assistance of the
Government through the police, and is, therefore, altogether
dependent on the Government in this respect.
6. I do not remember, during the 18 months of its existence, any
act or representation on the part of the Board with the object of
protecting the aborigines, that duty being carried out now, as it
always has been, by the Government.
7. The question asked by everyone is, What is the use of this
Board, and with what object is £5,000 of the revenue of the
Colony handed over to it? Can it be contended that the aborigines are
better looked after by this irresponsible body of five gentlemen, who
meet once a fortnight at Perth, than they would be by the Government,
which is responsible to Parliament, and which has officers all over
the Colony to carry out the duties? Or, is it because the Imperial
Government believes that these five gentlemen, who meet once a
fortnight in Perth, and who have but little machinery to do anything,
are more competent and more trustworthy, or more likely to do what is
just and right to the aboriginal race than Her Majesty's Government
in this Colony? No one, I venture to say, will assent to either of
these absurd propositions.
8. And yet it would appear that a feeling of distrust of the
people of the Colony to act fairly in dealing with the Aboriginal
Race was the only reason why this section found a place in the
Constitution Act. There was really a misconception of the whole
question. The paucity of the aborigines within the settled districts
was not realised. In the South-Western corner of the Colony, with the
exception of a few score scattered about here and there, they have
entirely disappeared; while within what is called the settled
portions of the Colony, the natives work on the sheep stations, and
the police visit the stations and protect their interests when
necessary. The natives who live on the borders of settlements, who
are, as a rule, troublesome as sheep-stealers, the Board is
altogether powerless to deal with, and those in the interior have no
dealing yet with the white man.
9. The whole duty of this Board since its appointment has merely
been to authorise the officers of the Government, viz., magistrates,
medical officers, and police, to give relief to the sick, the old,
and the infirm; and the Board has to rely upon these officers of the
Government to bring these cases under its notice, or it would never
hear of them. The number of natives living near Perth, and therefore
such as may personally apply to the Board, is not more than a
dozen.
10. Supposing the Government decided to leave the Board to carry
out its duties without any assistance, what would be the result? It
is clear that the Board would be almost powerless to (to anything.
The means at its disposal would be really in appointing agents here
and there, and the old, infirm, and sick natives would in many places
be entirely neglected. It would be impossible for the Government to
permit this on the grounds of common humanity, and the Government
finds itself in the position of having to look after the interests of
the natives through its officers, and at the same time pay for the
upkeep of a Board which has not the power or the machinery to do the
work.
11. My object in writing this to you is that you may submit this
memorandum to the Right Honourable the Secretary of State, and that
he may be informed of the position of this question, and the views of
this Government upon it.
12. It seems to me that the approval of the Imperial Government to
the repeal of the 70th section of the Constitution Act, and the
consequent placing of complete trust in the people of this Colony to
do what is just and right to all Her Majesty's subjects, whether
white or black, would be a graceful act, and would still further
strengthen the bonds of loyalty and affection existing between the
mother country and this portion of Her Majesty's Dominions.
13. Should the Secretary of State be disposed to take a contrary
view of the question, the dissatisfaction now existing must increase,
and it will be found that a Bill to repeal this section will be
passed every year, or will either have to receive the Royal assent or
be vetoed. It was with difficulty I was able to prevent a Bill being
introduced at the recent session of Parliament, and if it had been
introduced it must have been carried unanimously, as the feeling
against this exceptional and unnecessary legislation is unanimous
throughout the Colony.
14. Besides the reasons I have given there is also the
Constitutional one, which is very important. By this exceptional
legislation the Governor is placed in a position to act on his own
responsibility, and not upon the advice of Ministers. This may easily
place the Governor in direct conflict with his advisers, and result
in much inconvenience and injury to all concerned. In no other part
of Australia was it considered necessary to place the Governor in a
similar position, by which he is involved to act on his own
responsibility; and the people of this Colony naturally resent being
treated differently to all other of the Australian Colonies, and they
very justly, I think, consider it a grave reflection upon their honor
and integrity of purpose.
15. I would, therefore, most strongly urge upon Lord Knutsford the
advisability of acceding to the unanimous desire of the people of
this Colony; and in urging this I am confident, that while the
concession will remove a grievance and a just cause of complaint, it
will be to the advantage of the Aboriginal Race.
(Sd.) JOHN FORREST,
Premier.
Last year a series of suggestions for the Board's beneficial
interference, on behalf of its humble protegés, was made by
its Chairman--the Hon. G. AV. Leake, and these are, I believe, at the
present time, being carried out.
Mr. Leake's contention was that the Aborigines Protection Board
have £5,000 a year and more, to spend in the interests of the
natives, and it is submitted that it would be beneficial if the Board
could get a statement of the condition of the natives throughout the
Colony, and of the relations in which they and the Europeans stand to
each other.
With that view it would be well if the Board, could get a highly
intelligent, educated gentleman, who could visit every station in the
Colony, the various goldfields, and the pearl fisheries, from about
Geraldtown to the DeGrey, and ascertain the number of natives, their
mode of employment, their habits, their treatment, their diseases,
and this is as much for the sake of statistical information, as of
finding fault with either race. Of course there must be great
differences in the treatment, by various Europeans, of the natives in
their employ. For instance, I know of some squatters who feed their
natives badly and work them hard. Then the natives run away, and
warrants are issued by the magistrates for their arrest as
absconders. Sheep are stolen, and this may arise from the fact that
the native shepherds are few and insufficient, that they are
imperfectly supervised, that they are poorly fed, that they suffer
from the destruction of native game.
In any case these are matters which should be investigated, which
has never been yet adequately done. The Tasmanian Aboriginals are
extinct, those of South Australia are nearly extinct, those of New
South Wales and Queensland are lessening in numbers, and it is surely
desirable that some specimens of the surviving race should be
preserved.
There are some stations that occur to me as I write--Darlot's,
Lacey's, Wittenoom's, Bush's, Forrest's, Sholl's, Grant's--these are,
I believe, models as to treatment of natives, and they might be taken
as standards for comparison. Reports could be made, not to the
general Government, but to the Board, who would impart them to the
Government, and so place it in a position to judge to what extent
"police protection," as a means of repression of native outrages, is
needed.
Every station should be visited and reported on, the opinions of
settlers and police gathered and examined, a vast body of valuable
facts could be amassed, and thus some tangible results would follow
from the expenditure of the sum apportioned from the General Revenue
and placed at the disposal of the Board. Nor need it be feared by the
squatters, or settlers, or gold diggers, that the Board is starting a
system of espionage or interference. The motive of the Board is
simply to obtain information, more or less accurate and practical,
from all available sources, and these investigations should likewise
extend to the blacks inhabiting country not as yet occupied by
Europeans.
In concluding these remarks on the West Australian Aborigines, I
would say a few words to English folk who flatter themselves that
they belong to a higher order of created beings than the Western
Australian Aborigines, who have been represented as mere baboons
possessing an innate and incurable deficiency of intellect, rendering
them incapable of instruction or civilization. Let them reflect that
a similar opinion was one time held by the cultured Romans concerning
the Aborigines of Great Britain. Cicero, in one of his epistles to
Atticus, thus refers to our ancestors:--
"Do not," says he, "obtain your slaves from Britain, because they
are so stupid and utterly incapable of being taught, that they are
not fit to form a part of the household of Atticus."
THE END
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