THE ABORIGINES AND THEIR TREATMENT 229 



with, and amongst the tribes. One of them has already resigned ; 

 another never quitted for more than a year the spot on which he 

 first seated himself, called the Salt Water Eiver, though there were 

 no blacks there. Mr. Latrobe has complained nearly in terms as 

 strong of the difficulty of getting another to move from Geelong." 



The gentleman referred to as having resigned was Mr. Dredge. 

 His letter of 17th February, 1840, was a most doleful production. 

 In it he implied that he had been misled by the representations 

 made to him by the authorities in England. Being under the im- 

 pression that the work was of a missionary character, for which men 

 with families were desirable, and expecting that " the Government 

 would render the situation respectable," and provide such families 

 with suitable residences and all other facilities, he had been induced 

 to relinquish the comforts and advantages he had enjoyed in 

 England to accept it. But he was undeceived at the outset. The 

 100 passage money was insufficient to procure a passage for a 

 family, except in a vessel the accommodation and provisions of 

 which were anything but respectable. A generous Providence 

 enabled him to triumph over this discomfort, but apparently did 

 not support him under the chilling reception he met with in Sydney, 

 where, he says, he had to endure an amount of obloquy which 

 could not have been exceeded had he been an expatriated felon. 

 Fresh indignities were put upon him by his having to go to Port 

 Phillip in a vessel that was taking down emigrants and soldiers, 

 and was consequently shamefully crowded. When he got to Port 

 Phillip he had to pay for the transport of his luggage to Melbourne, 

 and no residence having been assigned to him he had to sojourn in 

 a tent. After doing this, and apparently nothing else for three 

 months, he was directed to proceed to the Goulburn Eiver. When 

 he demanded how his family were to be removed there, he was 

 coldly told : " The Government has only to do with you, and knows 

 nothing of your family ". In a like strain he pours out his griev- 

 ances over several pages of foolscap, and winds up by tendering his 

 resignation. 



This letter evidently excited the wrath of Sir George Gipps, for 

 the Colonial Secretary was directed to reply, which he did, travers- 

 ing the various statements, and showing how preposterously Mr. 



