AUSTRALIAN MORALITY 151 



As to treatment of wives among the central tribes (Spencer and 

 Gillen), there were undoubtedly cases of cruelty, but they were the 

 exception rather than the rule. The savage husband has a hasty tem- 

 per and in a passion might act harshly, while at other times he might 

 be quite considerate of his wife. Among the aborigines of the Darling 

 Eiver, New South Wales, quarrels between husband and wife were 

 said to be quite rare (Bonney), and Smith says- that love is not rare 

 in Australian families, while another observer (Palmer) says that the 

 life of the women is hard and that they are much abused by their hus- 

 bands. Dawson, who wrote expressly to show that the Australian 

 blacks had been misrepresented, maintained that in Victoria, at least, 

 there was no want of affection between members of a family (p. 37). 

 Lumholtz (pp. 161ff.) holds that the Queensland husband felt little 

 responsibility for his family, that he was really selfish and hunted only 

 for sport, often consuming the game as caught, bringing nothing home. 

 The same author refers to one case of a wife being terribly beaten 

 because she refused, one cold night, to go out and get fuel for the 

 husband. Over against this testimony, we have that of Spencer and 

 Gillen, referred to above, that the husband was ordinarily by no means 

 cruel. In hard seasons men and women suffered alike. A woman, 

 however, suspected of breach of marital relations, was treated with 

 revolting severity. They point out that many things which to us seem 

 harsh were by no means so in their eyes, and that the savage woman 

 recovers easily from wounds that to a civilized woman would entail the 

 greatest suffering. Treatment which we should naturally think cruel 

 was to them merely rough and in conformity with the rest of their 

 life. Howitt (p. 738) says that among the Kurnai tribe family 

 duties were shared by husband and wife, each performing an allotted 

 part toward the support of the family. The man's duty was to fight 

 and hunt, the woman's to build the home, catch the fish and cook them, 

 gather vegetable foods, make baskets, bags and nets. 



With reference to their children, much affection was usually shown, 

 and this in spite of the fact that abortion and infanticide were prac- 

 tised in many localities (e. g., in northwestern central Queensland, 

 (Both, p. 183) ; and among the southeastern tribes, Howitt, pp. 748ff.). 

 In this connection Howitt says, "... they [the Mining tribe] are 

 very fond of their offspring and very indulgent to those they keep, 

 rarely striking them," a mother often giving all the food she had to 

 her children, going hungry herself. Infanticide was by no means so 

 unrestricted, or as indicative of cruelty of nature and lack of parental 

 affection as is implied by Mackenzie, writing in the year 1852.* 

 Among the north central tribes 5 infanticide was practised, but only 



4 Vide, " Ten Years in Australia," p. 130. 



6 Spencer and Gillen, " Northern Tribes," p. 608. 



