VI 



ntnonnt of work still to be done in many 

 departments of science, iiie botany of 

 West Australia has been apparently weil 

 studied, but there are fields of science 

 virtuall}' unexplored — shells, insect life, 

 and, perhaps fauna; for these a great 

 deal has to be done. Cut there is yet 

 another department needing attention, 

 and that without delay. The crying need 

 in West Australia seems to be for a small 

 bod}' of men Avho would study the habits 

 and customs of the aboriginals of the 

 colonj'. In no colony in Australia are 

 they so numerous, and in no colony have 

 they been so little studied. The reason 

 is obvious. For the last ten years this 

 colony has been engaged in the tremen- 

 dous task of providing the resources of 

 civilisation for a quadrupled population, 

 and before that period the colonj- \vas 

 small in number, and oppressed with 

 the state of too much land area. The Go- 

 vernment, however, is most generous to 

 science, as a yearly grant now raised to 

 je4,000 to the Museum in Perth testifies ; 

 and theie is no reason now whj- this press- 

 ing dutj^ in regard to the natives should 

 not be taken in hand effectively. I put 

 the ciiiestion, indeed, to Dr. Stirling, in 

 Adelaide, whether there was still room 

 for a work on tue i31acks of West Aus- 

 tralia commensurate with such books as 

 those of Eoth, of Spencer and 

 Gillen, and of the Horn Expe- 

 dition. Dr. Stirling answered in the 

 affirmative without hesitation, adding 

 that, though the Australian black all 

 through the continent is the same person, 

 yet the effect of a long western coast line 

 of thousands of miles with the food it 

 gave, and the habits it fostered, must 

 make us look forward with the deepest 

 interest to th,e work on the blacks of this 

 vast region, which has still to be written; 

 and as the native population tends to 

 diminish, I ventured to urge the question 

 in Perth, suggesting, indeed, that steps 

 should soon be taken to found a Koyal 

 Society, which does not at present exist. 

 I went further and reminded them of the 

 meeting in Hobart of the Science Associa- 

 tion in 1902, and I even proceeded to sug- 

 gest that West Australia might make a 

 bold move, and try, at all events, to in- 

 duce the Australasian Association to visit 

 Perth in 1904. 



"It seemed also a fitting opportunity to 

 remind the Museum authorities and the 

 Public Library, that possibly large ciuan- 

 tities of historical material might soon be 

 lost or removed to Sydney or Melbourne, 

 unless they turned their attention to old 

 records of the colonv. 



"1 now proceed to give some account of 

 the blacks of West Australia, their num- 

 bers, and the steps taken for their wel- 



fare. Two years ago the blacks were un- 

 der the charge of an Aborigines Board, 

 but this has now become a regular Go- 

 vernment department, and in 1899 the 

 first Government report under the new 

 management was published, Mr. Prinseps 

 being the Protector of the aborigines. 

 Last year nearly ,£11,000 was spent by 

 the Government on 'he natives, chiefly in 

 the distribution of food to the aged and 

 infirm, and in their own camps, blankets 

 also forming a large item. There is a 

 travelling inspector, who understands the 

 dispensing of simple medicines. As to 

 the numbers of natives in the colony, the 

 following is the latest calculation: — Em- 

 ployed bv settlers, 4,740; in receipt of 

 relief, 868; self-supporting, 6,690. This 

 makes a total of 12,300, exclusive 

 of what may be called wild blacks^ 

 chieflj^ in the Kimberley district. 

 They are numerous there, and of 

 fine physique. The total number 

 of blacks now in the colony of West Aus- 

 tralia is computed to be 30,000. It will 

 be of interest also to note what is the 

 number in other colc-nies. Apparently the 

 following are the latest figures: — New 

 South Wales, pure blacks, 3,230; New 

 South Wales, half-castes, 3,661 ; Queens- 

 land, computed, 20.000; Victoria comput- 

 ed, 479; South Australia (in the North- 

 ern Territory chiefly i, iiu,000; in all, 

 80,000 in the continent of Australia. 



"It will be noted that the colony which 

 has the largest number of this interesting- 

 race has still its scientific work to do 

 among them. Indeed, up to the present 

 there has been no regular svsteni for 

 photographing or measuring the natives 

 at the prison at Eottnest, although for 

 years blacks have been kept in confine- 

 ment here, brought from all parts of the 

 colonj^ I believe this first step is now to 

 be taken. With regard to areas of land 

 reserved for blacks, I note that 890, o^a 

 acres are put aside for this purpose, one 

 block in Kimberley being 700,000 acres. 

 By far the largest portion of this reserved 

 ground is simply left for the blacks to 

 roam over, and they are undisturbed in 

 it. There are, of course, a good many 

 questions of extreme interest which have 

 to be faced by the Government. 



"I believe there is no doubt that public 

 opinion is becoming more and more direct- 

 ed to the welfare of the native popula- 

 tion. There is much less chance of their 

 ill-treatment, and cases of injury are 

 more quickly detected, and the offend- 

 ers punished. A great many of the 

 blacks, chiefly in the proximity of a 

 white population are becoming dreadr\illy 

 and distressingly diseased, and owing to 

 their nomadic habits and their impatience 

 of regular control in hospital, it is hard 



