liY I'KorKSSOU SlU T. W. K. .lAVID. K U.K.. KTC. 245 



cd the Australian Pharaoh and his hounds cv ^hs; Victorian 

 bank. What ditfcience, if any, ensued in his culture as the 

 result of this isolation from tha mainland? 



Then with what animals was the Tasmanian man con- 

 tomporaneous? 



Did he see the marsupial rhinoceros alive, and, if so, did 

 he defend himself against him with his spears and throwing- 

 sticks? 



The whole problem teems with interest, and is worthy 

 of devoted work from many workers. 



Whoever may f(;llow this trail in the future should 

 never forget that the man who blazed it was the man whom 

 we specially delight to honour to-night. 



One cannot conclude this memorial lecture on the Geo- 

 logical History of the aborigines of the Commonwealth with- 

 out some thoughts for the future as well as the past. 



Unfcrtjnately, most unfortunately, these most primitive 

 children of men. the genuine Paleolithic type of hunters, the 

 Tasmanian aborigines, are extinct, have been extinct since 

 1877. Most unfortunately, our remaining Australian aborig- 

 ines are fast becoming extinct. These people whom we have 

 dispossessed of their hunting grounds, and mostly driven into 

 the most inhospitable and arid areas of the Commonwealth, 

 will soon share the fate of the Tasmanian aborigines, unless 

 we quickly change cur mctViod of dealing with them, and 

 cease interfering with their normal mode of life. They must 

 not be allowed to live in houses, they must be discourajjed 

 from wearing more thar. the very minimum of clothing. They 

 must be prohibited from opium, alcohoi, and every form of 

 the white man's vices. These conditions can be secured for 

 them if we have the will, in two ways: (1) When they are 

 in actual employment as stockmen, domestic servants, etc., on 

 stations, by treating them firmly, but kindly, as I saw them 

 treated by Mr. and Mrs. E. R. Kempe, on Sir Sidney Kid- 

 man's station at Macumba, near Oodnadatta. There they 

 are healthy and happy. (Secondly). Where they are not 

 in the employ of white people, they should have suitable re- 

 serves made and maintained for them as has been so eloquent- 

 ly advocated by Sir Baldwin Spencer, of Melbourne, and 

 Captain S. A. White, of Adelaide. The Ni>rth American 

 Indians were becoming extinct until our American cousins 

 seriously took up the subject of their presei'vation, and 

 secured for tribes like the Kavajo Indians suitable reserva- 

 tions, with proper hygienic regulations. Now the Navajos 



