228 On tJie Condition and Prospects 



Judging from the comparatively numerous aboriginal population 

 in the earlier years of the colony, the present average ratio of abo- 

 riginal inhabitants to extent of territory for the entire Australian 

 continent might be anticipated greatly to exceed the very slender 

 estimate above given for New South Wales. But the explorations 

 of Captain Sturt, Mr Eyre, and other travellers, have made known 

 the existence of such extensive tracts of steril country throughout; 

 Central and North-west Australia, that it may be doubted if that 

 estimate can be much exceeded. 



. ... ■ ri^ii 



2. Their Decrease, and the Causes to which this circumstance is 



attributable ; their Present Condition, and Means of Subsist- 

 ence, hum 

 The diminution of his number, and the final extinction of savage 

 man, as he makes room for the civilised occupant of his territory, is 

 a feature of which Australia furnishes neither the first nor the only 

 example. The uniform result of all inquiry on the subject of the 

 numbers of the Australian aborigines exhibits a decrease in the po- 

 pulation of those districts which have been overspread by colonial 

 enterprise. The ratio of decrease is variously given for different 

 parts of the country. The causes of this gradual extinction appear 

 to be tolerably ascertained ; their own mutual wars ; their hostile 

 encounters with the whites ; the diseases and vices of European so- 

 ciety, unusually destructive in their effects, from irregularity in the 

 mode of life, and the want of proper medical treatment ; the com- 

 mon practice of infanticide ; and, more remotely, perhaps, by the 

 gradual disappearance of various animals used as food, and of other 

 sources of their support. The causes of decrease alluded to by 

 Count Strzelecki are of a striking and important nature. The 

 Australian aborigines do not appear, in general, to want for good 

 humour and contentment; but to one who is accustomed to the com- 

 forts of civilised life, their condition, in other respects, appears to 

 have reached the lowest extreme of misery. 



The aboriginal Mahroot states, that, in his recollection, in Go- 

 vernor Maequarie's time, there were about four hundred individuals 

 of his tribe occupying the southern coast of Port Jackson. There 

 are now hut four remaining, namely, three women and himself. 



At the Lake Macquarie Mission, the Rev. Mr Threlkeld laboured 

 to acquire the local language, in order to translate the Scriptures, 

 and learn the aborigines of that locality to read ; but, in the midst 

 of these efforts, the aborigines themselves, the objects of his exer- 

 tions, were rapidly disappearing, and, eventually, scarcely any re- 

 mained to reap the fruits of his zeal. 



Assistant Protector Parker estimates the decrease among the 

 tribes of the Loddon and the Goulburn at five per cent, only for the 

 last five years ; the Chief Protector's estimate for the entire district 

 for the last six years is twenty per cent. By a census taken at the 



