166 PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART I. 



printed for the House of Commons, August, 1844," p. 318, there 

 were in the district of Port Phillip, since its first occupation, 

 eight Whites killed by the natives and forty-three natives by the 

 Whites. 1 If the natives wish to continue their mode of life, 

 they must quit the region, join other tribes, or become beggars 

 and robbers, which indeed they have become. A general war- 

 fare between them and the Whites in Portland Bay and other 

 districts was the consequence. 2 That it is impossible to live 

 with or near them in peace has been often refuted. A settler 

 has frequently succeeded in gaining over the friendship of the 

 natives, so that even in critical times he was not molested by 

 them. 3 This is also proved by the success of the settlement 

 of Moorunde on the Murray in 1841. The natives, who at 

 first were inimical, became, in consequence of the kindly treat- 

 ment of the colonists, friendly and serviceable. 4 Eyre obtained 

 on this occasion a great authority over them, by which Sturt's 

 expedition into the interior was facilitated. Dawson also knew 

 how to gain them over in Port Stephens, and describes them 

 as peaceable and serviceable. With one man only he was un- 

 successful. 5 All others proved docile when well treated, and 

 especially when the principle is adopted of not limiting their free- 

 dom more than is absolutely requisite for public safety. 6 Most 

 of the settlers found it more suitable to their dignity to exhibit 

 everywhere their superiority, as the Whites did in America. 

 The natives were shot down whenever they showed themselves ; 

 cruelties were committed on women and children. 7 The natives 

 had most to suffer from runaway convicts, and it may be 

 imagined how much a penal colony must have injured the 

 native population, for New South Wales was one up to 1843, 

 Van Diemen's Land up to 1852, and West Australia has be- 



Eyre, ii, p. 156. 



Baker, p. 154. 



Hodgson, " Eeminiscences of Australia," p. 81, 1846. 



Eyre, ii, p. 461. 



Dawson, " The present state of Austr.," p. 265, 1830. - 



Compare on this subject the extract from the " Australian," Oct. 14, 1836, 

 by Dumont d'Urville, " Voy. de 1' Astrolabe/' i, p. 489. 



7 Wilkes, ii, pp. 186, 256 ; Lang, " Account of N. S. Wales," i, p. 37, 3rd 

 edit., 1840; Clutterbuck, "Port Phillip in 1849," p. 62; Byrne, "Twelve 

 years wanderings in the British Colonies," i, p. 368, 1848. 



