154 THE ABORIGINES 



At the time of the Friends' visit to the Flinders 

 Settlement in L834, the health of the surviving abori- 

 gines was erood. A ereal mortality had occurred in the 

 rainy season of the preceding year, chiefly among the 

 men from the West Coast tribes, who had been the 

 shortest time on the island. Between 1st .January and 

 31si December 1833, out of some 140 at the settlement, 

 31 had died : of these, sixteen belonged to the West 

 Coast tribes. Most of the deaths resulted from sudden 

 and acute affections of the chest — pneumonia or phthisis. 

 'This kind of disease appears to have often made great 

 havoc among them when at large in their own country. 

 In the previous winter it had been more fatal among the 

 few aborigines at large on the West Coast than amongst 

 those at the Settlement on Flinders. It was proposed, 

 as likely to conduce to the better health of the natives, 

 that they should wear shoes ! 



Thus far I have followed Mr. Walker's account. The 

 rest of the brief and melancholy history of the remnant 

 of the Tasmanian aborigines is soon told. 



In 1835, George Augustus Robinson, who had just 

 completed his mission by bringing in the last party of 

 wanderers, was sent by the Governor to take charge of 

 the Flinders establishment. In a speech which he made 

 at Sydney some few years later, he gave a long account 

 of his administration. He boasted that his efforts to 

 lead forward the blacks in the scale of civilisation had 

 met with flattering success. Their minds were beginning 

 to expand. In their intercourse with each other they 

 were affable and courteous. They were placed under no 

 restraint, but enjoyed the fullest degree of personal free- 

 dom. They were instructed in the Christian religion. 

 Two services were held on Sunday, and others during 

 the week. The services were conducted in English, 

 which the natives well understood. Attendance was 

 voluntary, yet all attended. He had established schools, — 

 a day-school for boys, a day-school for girls, an evening 

 school, and a Sunday-school. Periodical examinations 

 were held, from which it appeared that the youths were 

 able to answer questions in the leading events of Scrip- 

 ture, in Christian doctrine, arithmetic, geography, and 

 several points of general information. Some of them 

 could write very fairly. The girls were taught sewing 



