A DYING RACE.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 September 1921, Page 3

A DYING RACE.

ATTEMPT TO SAVE THE AUSTRALIAN BLACK. SYDNEY, Kept. 20. At tin* iiiiiiiHliriil meeting of a “Snve the Aboriginals" movement in South Australia, Sir Archibald IVcignll, 11• -"* Governor of Unit Suite, iinnoutieet! Unit nfter efforts extomlino; over many vears sin arrangement lutil nl length iiouti arrived hi through tin* co-opera-tion of the C'oniiiiomveiilth Government ami the Slnto Goveriimems ol South Aii.strufiii nml Western Austrn lin for the* iillocution of n great nren ot In ltd for the exclusive use of A list; ru linn Almriginals. lit extent, he said, if was 1)5,000 square miles. It belonged nhsulutely to them, inul they would he left there in their nntural, wild, and free state. Not only would this he a groat service, but it must ap|K*:il to humanity as a great tliinp: that in tlie most progressive demoeratic country, in the world there would still lit* living in exactly the same liberty as they possessed thousands of years :ij*ii, the magnificent native nice of Australia. Years of experience have proved that it is quite impossible to assimilate the Australian Aboriginal in any form ol civilisation. it requires no exploitation to brine about his downhill. Mere contact with the whiles invariably result in his demoralisation and decay. In many part* of New South Wales anil id-, where loeal reserves nave been set apart for their use, but in tin* proximity of white settlement they appear incapable of living on their own energies and resources, and it takes hut a few years to decimate their ranks. Mr Herbert Basedow, a well-known authority <»t llu* Australian native, in an address at the mooting at which Sir Archill!!ld WeignU’s announcement was made, told some remarkable stories of the sturdy blacks whom he encountered in a series of expeditions into tin* interior trout Farina. Port Lincoln, and llergot. There are still thousands of them, mill only by tlie sympathetic and enlightened treatment under such a scheme as that referred to can the ilvinj; race in* saved irom extinction as white settlement -invades more and more of their territory. Due rematkalile assertion ol' his was that., though extremely rare, there existed purebred fair-haired aboriginals. He 1 'i 1 "- sell laid come across numbers of tin to. The Australian aboriginal, he sail, originated somewhere in the prehistoric cold incut. He was not a nigger, hix i colour being due merely to climatic inllttenecs, nor was lie a cannibal. I