Life of the Blacks

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 41, 4 March 1937, Page 12

Life of the Blacks

Australian Aboriginals and Their Ways_ :

'C2MALL bands of blacks, clad in t ha u ragged, elothes oi white snen, may be seen any day Jn the Darwin aboriginal compound, or in any centre oi civilisation in the Northern Territory. -They sit cross-legged in & circle in ihe ahade thrown by galvanised iron huts, playing some queer gambling game with a greasy pack oi cards, or with Iittle stones like marbles (states a writer in the Sydney Morning Herald). Each has Ms little stake to gamhle with — a small pde of eut-up pieces of plug tebacco, probably a few small coiHS, and ofeher odds and ends of useful things. They are enthralled by gambling games, and will gamble the shirts off their becks. Everything goes into the pool. For the most part they are gerious and silent and absorbed in ihe game, but occasionally sudden bursts of highpltched laughter annotmce some incidenfc in ihe game. Other blacks lie about dozing in the shade out of the terrific heat. Bands of lubras may also be sitting about gambling, while piccaninnies more active will be playing with dogs or engaged in a ballJgame or with sticks. The Aged and Inflnn. r A T remote police stations or telegraph stations in the Territory there are small groups of aged and decrepit aboriginal men and women, some blind, or deaf, or diseased, or all three. They are ihe "aged and infirm," and are eared for by the Government, on whose behalf the police or telegraph men supply them with rations, blankets, and elothes to keep their miserable bodies alive. It is a pitiable sight to see them waiting, cringing in Ihe dust for their food. On the stations or farms young aboriginal men, expert bushmen and horsemen, help to run the cattle or peanut Industry. They are happy and carefree. Their dependents, lubras, children, and older members of the tribe, hang about ihe homesteads, and, if not employed in some form or other, live in their disreputable camps close by. The stations, %y employing. the young males of the tribes, and thus depriving the others of their food supply, are obliged by law to feed their dependents. These descriptlons show briefly how the black population of the Northem Territory, -which outnumbers the white by four to one, lives in contact with civilisation. These sights may be seen by any traveller, and many a worse side to their lives may be seen as well. The great majorlty of the 18,000 to 19,000 blacks in the Territory ar© in contact with civilisation, and more are coming into touch every year. Is this the best that civilisation can do for them? In their native element, the bush, the blacks are amazingly efficient at securing food for their tribes, but they feel an irresistible urge to drift towards settlements, instead of moving to more remote parta as settlement encroaches. , They accepfc llfe tothe settlements willingly, although it breaks up their tribal life, and leaves them as weak dependents on the whites. The attraction is probably that of obtaining food without the extreme di^eulty of hunting for it. .Wearing Spectacle Frames. rFHEY ape ihe white man, but acquire • nothing of their culture, and lose their own. They succeed only in imitating dress, habits, and speech. I have seen blackfellows wearing spectacles, from which they have taken the lenses because the glass interfered with their remarkably keen eyesight. Dr. Donald Thompson, one of Austraiia's foremost apthropologlsts, who is now

llvtog amongsfc the natives in Arnhem Land, describes the study of their complex tribal organisation, ceremonies and languages as a "nightmare." Yet in civilisation a child could exploit their simplicity. Their lives are full of contradictlons. Although he is supreme in the inhospitable northern bush, llving his nomadic existence, the aboriginal is really a subnormal type in civilisation. A white man with his small capacity to learn and earn his living would have to be looked after. Apart from some of the mission stations, which are endeavouring to attract blacks away from civilisation, there is no move to preserve the tribal organisations. DaiwJn's Black Populatien. /"\F the'hundreds of blaeks who drift ^ into and out of Darwin each year, most are employed by the townspeople as domestic assistants. There is also a eonsiderable black population pennanently in. Darwin. Their employment is controlled by the Aboriginal Department of the Interlor. After obtaining a lieence from the department, the employer is obliged to pay the blackfellow or lubra 8/- a week. OI this, 3/- each week is paid to the black as "cash alonga hand," while 2/- a week is paid into a trust fund, which he has with the Aboriginal Department. The trust fund accumulates until the black decides that he is siek of working and wants to "go bush" or "go walk-about." In other words, he wants to return to his belofed bushland for a timo and hunt his food, but he will invariably return. Then he can have his money to buy a few necessary things, The blackfellow is free to come and go anywhere in the Northern Territory as he pleases. No hand can be raised to prevent biwi. Statlon owners cannot hunt him ofl their properties. Theoretically he owns the land. However, he must obey the white man's law, and stealing or spearing cattle is heavily punishable. Fun at Cinemas. "DLACKS are not allowed within the town of Darwin at night — a measure which was adopted to prevent exploitation of the women, opium smoking and drinking. All blacks in the town are supposed to be in the Aboriginal Compound after dark. However, they are allowed to attend the local picture show on two nights a week by special permlssion of the Chief Protector. The iront portion of the theatre is set apart for them, They are partlcularly fond of pictures with plenty of action, such as Amerlcan western pictures. They shout and whistle whai one of these pictures is about to be shown. It is fascinating to watch these stone-age natives at a picture show. Although the propriefcor takes special ineasures to prevent the blacks bringlng their dogs into the theatre, they are so attached to their pets that they smuggle them in by hiding them inside their elothes. The programme is frequently disturbed by a dog fight. A number of galvanised iron huts were erected in Ihe compound to provide shelter for the blacks in wet weather, but they preferred to build disreputable humpies on the compound beach out of odd bits of galvanised iron, petrol tins, and timber. I was present recently when the authoritles deeided to tear down these humpies and make the blacks return to the huts. When they were torn apart many aged men and women, who were nothing more than skin and bone, were discovered. The following day the blacks had erected their humpies again, and were living in them quite contentedly.