PEOBLEMS OP ABORIGINAL ART IN AUSTRALIA. 225 



fact in the case of Australia. It has been practically isolated, and 

 has, therefore, fed on itself as far as intellect is concerned, and has 

 gone down to a most extraordinary degree ; not but what, as has 

 been pointed out by the author — and very properly, the race is yet 

 improvable. They can be made to utilise a thing and they can be 

 utilised not only for the ordinary purposes of woi^k, but they are 

 also receptive of religious feeling and religious teachino*. In 

 some parts of South Australia there have been institutions for 

 training the aborigines for many years, and not without success, 

 though there have been disappointments; but the extraordinaiy 

 thing is, that throughout that continent there should be such an 

 obliteration of all the leading features of modern civilisation. 



Some things that the author has drawn our attention to exist 

 a thousand miles inland, and therefore they could not have been 

 brought about by any persons touching on the coast of that 

 country at a late period ; this shows that the period in which 

 they were done must have been very many ages ago, and that, 

 therefore, anything that can be found there must be a relic of the 

 long past. 



Mr. Hawkins. — It seems to me that if these rock-carvings and 

 paintings were done many years ago, by the ancestors of the 

 present inhabitants, who were more civilised than those of the 

 present day, it raises this difficulty — that they appear to have 

 neglected the representation of the living. If the race who did 

 these carvings had a certain amount of artistic talent they would 

 probably have attempted to delineate the features of those living ; 

 but these representations do not give anything like the type of 

 face you now have ; these rock-carvings are quite dilferent, and 

 that seems rather to militate against the idea that they were done 

 by the ancestors of the present inhabitants. 



A Member. — The scientific may object that the paintings are 

 not by the aborigines of Australia, but by foreign races. I think 

 it is important to know Avhether the present aborigines are still 

 given to writing and painting. The American Indians are, but 

 the Arabs are not. So I would ask whether the present abori- 

 gines of Australia are still a picture-making race. 



The Bishop of Ballarat. — I may answer that in the affirmative. 

 The aborigines are fond of painting, and still carve the rocks, and 

 also paint inside caves, and draw on bark. The art of the present 

 day is distinctly inferior to the specimens I have shown you; 



