44: On the Condition and Prospects 



in consonance with the view that in other circumstances than the 

 present, (that is, in the previously undisturbed condition of these 

 tribes,) these appliances for their behoof would be a positive injury 

 and injustice. To remove the Australian savage from all intercourse, 

 whether amicable or otherwise, with other tribes, to anticipate, by 

 a gratuitous supply of food, the necessity for his accustomed corporeal 

 and mental exertion, are simply to undermine the chief sources of 

 the variety, excitement, and happiness of which his existence is sus- 

 ceptible. In the moral and physical condition, in which the Aboriginal 

 Australian has been placed, even the mutual wars of the tribes must 

 not be overlooked, as incorporated with those various adaptations by 

 which the energy and activity of the mind and body are duly maintained. 

 It is indeed only considerations of a different and a higher character 

 than the mere miseries, great as these may often be, that immediately 

 result from war, that will eventually banish such scenes from the 

 catalogue of human affairs. 



In all localities where the Aborigines are peaceably conducted, and 

 contrive to pick up a subsistence sufficient for their wants, it appears 

 advisable to leave them to themselves. In places where the sources 

 of their support are diminished, the women and old men, or, if 

 necessary, all the individuals of the tribe, should be regularly and 

 simultaneously supplied with weekly rations of bread and meat.* 



All the women and old men, otherwise unprovided for, should be 

 supplied at stated intervals with blankets : to the children may be 

 given the long robe or shirt of blue cotton cloth recommended by 

 Mr Wickham. It cannot, indeed, be considered too great a stretch of 

 generosity on the part of the Colonial Government to supply blankets, 

 at stated intervals, to all Aborigines applying for and properly using 

 them, whose territories have been occupied by the Colonists. 



Some degree of success may undoubtedly be anticipated in the train- 

 ing of the Aboriginal children, particularly where they can be separated 

 from their parents and tribes. On this principle, the present Ab- 

 original School is conducted at the Merri Creek, near Melbourne, 

 under charge of Mr Peacock. It now contains 14 boys and 7 girls. 

 As its existence dates only from the end of last year, the result of 

 the experiment cannot as yet be decided on ; but the prospects appear 

 favourable. The children are noways deficient in ability in learn- 

 ing to read. 



The experiment of Mr Tuckfield, at Buntingdale, may also be 

 regarded as successful ; namely, that of isolating a single tribe of 

 Aborigines upon a reserve of ground, and separating its members 



* Tribes which are inclined to be turbulent, are probably best kept in check 

 by a force of Aboriginal police. In the Port PhUqy Herald, of the 30th of 

 .) une 1846, an estimate is made of the expense of the Native Police (Aborigines), 

 as compared with that of the Border Police (Colonists), each of the former cost- 

 ing annually £36, 14s. 4d. ; each of the latter £53, 7s. If the native Police, 

 therefore, continue to give the same satisfaction as heretofore, there is every 

 inducement to employ the Aborigines in this capacity. 



