of the Aborigines of Australia. 45 



alike from those of other tribes, and from the colonists, and engaging 

 the various individuals in useful, active, and self-supporting occu- 

 pations. 



The means of support should be extended by the Government to 

 each of such descriptions of schools or missions, both by conditional 

 grants of land, and by the assistance of money or rations. Where 

 a locality has been thickly settled with squatting stations, it is indeed 

 highly desirable that the scattered remnants of surviving tribes 

 should if possible be transferred to the care of the missionary. In 

 such localities, the Aborigines usually wander about, either begging 

 from or plundering the settlers, and with but little scope or stimulus 

 for the exercise of their primitive manner of life. At the missionary 

 reserve, on the other hand, they would be secured from the disease 

 and dissipation to which their restless habits continually expose them. 



The plan of the Protectorate is unsuited to the case of the Ab- 

 origines, from the circumstance of the mutual distrust and animosity 

 of the tribes. Another mistake, and of a more evident character, 

 has also been made in committing to the accidents of a civil appoint- 

 ment the responsible and laborious duties attending the work of 

 Christianising and civilising the Aborigines. The. exalted motives, 

 strength, and perseverance of religious zeal, form, generally speak- 

 ing, the only efficient agent in such a work.* It appears desirable, 

 however, except in particular instances, and in the case of the native 

 children, to leave the Aborigines, as far as circumstances will permit, 

 to the free enjoyment of their own mode of life. Interference should 

 be the exception, not the rule, and the apparatus of the Protectorate 

 appears to be no longer necessary. In other respects this establish- 

 ment might perhaps have been continued with advantage under a 

 modified form. The heavy expenses attending it were unavoidable, 

 under any practical arrangements for the civilisation and maintenance 

 of large bodies of the Aborigines. 



Such of the natives as were not under the special care of mis- 

 sionaries, or employed by the colonists, might be nominally under 

 charge of the Crown Land Commissioners, who should furnish 

 periodical reports on the numbers and condition of the Aborigines 

 in their respective districts. The services of a few of the magistrates 

 residing in different parts of the colony might be made available for the 

 occasional distribution of such provisions and clothing as the neighbour- 

 ing tribes might be considered to require.f — {Vide Westgarth on the 

 Condition and Prospects of the Aborigines of Australia, in Journal 

 of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, vol. v. p. 704.) 



* From the evidence given by the two present assistant Protectors, Messrs 

 Parker and Thomas, it is very apparent that they have been actuated in their 

 labours by a missionary spirit, and stimulated by religious zeal. They have in 

 fact been missionaries, operating on an extensive scale. 



t These remarks are intended to apply to the Port Philip District only, 

 which is best known to the writer. 



