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The Aborigines of South Australia, 



By J. D. Woods. 



[Communicated by the President.] 



Nearly three hundred and forty years have passed away 

 since Portuguese enterprise made known to the world the 

 existence of the Australian continent. More than 100 years 

 ago Captain Cook took possession of New Holland in the name 

 of King George III. An immense number of natives with 

 their possessions came under British rule. But while the 

 country has expanded into a number of States which occupy a 

 splendid position in the family of nations, the native races 

 have in a great measure passed out of existence, and their 

 history can only be traced with difficulty through the scattered 

 and imperfect records which private persons have left behind 

 them. The mode in which the first Australian settlement was 

 commenced and carried on for years was not favorable to any 

 scientific consideration of the Australian savage as a portion 

 of the human family.. His occupation of the soil was more an 

 accident than a part of a grand providential design. His land 

 was handed over to men who could show no claim to it except 

 that which rests on the right of the strong. The blackfellow 

 came before long to be looked upon as an interloper, one who 

 had no right even on the soil, and his life was held of little 

 more account than that of the kangaroo, which constituted a 

 chief part of his daily food. A learned Judge in Tasmania in 

 the early days formally decided that the lessee of a sheeprun 

 could prevent aboriginal natives from " trespassing" on the 

 land included in the lease. Botany Bay, where Cook first put 

 foot on shore, was inhabited by a large native population. 

 They offered no serious resistance to his landing, but those 

 who were present at that time showed at least that they did 

 not hail the new arrivals with much satisfaction. The actual 

 occupation of New Holland by the English did not take place 

 for many years afterwards. Captain Phillip, E.N., who 

 founded the first settlement in 1788, was met by a large 

 number of aborigines, who at first made a slight demonstration 

 against the new comers, but their weapons were soon laid 

 aside, and they became friendly with the intruders. This is 

 the substance of the accounts of the Australian natives who 

 first came into contact with the white men. 



