THE BLACKFELLOW

Hokitika Guardian, 10 March 1932, Page 8

THE BLACKFELLOW

AUSTRALIA’S ABORIGINAL. It is about one hundred and fifty yoar s since the enormous continent of Australia became a- British colony and the natives of the country were first driven inland by 'the presence of white invaders. There are to-day 70,000 or .so of the aboriginals, and a half of -these are still living as their ancestors .did whilst the remaining half, many of w.hom are half,or three-quarters white, are considered a “problem” by the authorities. New Zealanders who look upon their treatment of the Maori race as natural and, almost inevitable may marvel at the neglect of their native neighbours by the Australians, and it is no. credit to England that the unfortunate wild men of Australia have been left to a few volunteer missionaries to be saved from extinction and guided into ways of living les s animal in character. It is in the more Northern parts of the continent that the various wild tribes are to be found, and so greatly do they differ in physique according to their respective districts that, apart from a fairly common cast of countenance, they are barely distant cousins in appearance. The tobacco-begging native of'the settlements, dirty, wretched and uncultured as he is, i s of being trained and educated' to a surprising extent, which makes it more deplorable on the part of successive governments to deal with the whole body' of wandering natives.

SETTLERS AND BLACKS. The Rev. Ti. R. Gribble, after between thirty and forty years’ experience in different districts, -tells ns how the neglected aboriginal tribes are living. Leaves, seeds, roots, berries, snakes, grubs land insects, together with the always diminishing opossums and kangaroos and, on the North Coast, turtles and fish, form 'the native diet, much of which (is eaten raw, and most of which would cause a European to turn away in disgust. The women do all the -hard work, the men being warriors and hunters only. Forty years ago some of the .settlers of .the ‘Nevex'Vever” had their places raided by the blacks and in reprisal poisoned some flour left out for the natives 'to take, and in other ways treated, them as •vermin. In those days white -settlers were murdered, police were few, anti natives were beyond the law either in punishment or in protection. They carried, and still carry, spears, .boomerangs, waddys and fire -sticks,, and lived in shelters of sticks and bark. Some of the more intelligent are clever in construction and decoration, using such material as the bush provides ingeniously and usefully. Native'doctors and their methods are interesting. A belt made ol the hair ot a man’s mother-in-law will protect him ..from '‘‘any kind of ache a man may have,” but a woman's “in-laws” can give nothing of use in a similar way for her.

The sign language is general, not because language is deficient, but because “that tired feeling” renders a sign less f'A + : rrniprr than t«lk. In th" North a •waist string is lull the clothing worn, yet, naked as both sexes are, they are quite modest. In the colder South, clothing ranges from a body dressing ol mud, grease and ochre to skins ot kangaroo and wallaby. They dress their hair with grass, grease and blood of animals, and sometimes the dressed hair is used •as a pocket for small articles. At the missions strips of calico are kept to be given as “dress” to visiting unclothed natives. ’ A strip four inches wide for men and wider for women. The men 6pok,e of the wider strip as women s dress and refused it indignantly.

A BAD RECORD. Again and again reports have been published showing that judges and juries in trials between white and black invariably punish natives and exonerate 'Europeans, permitting outrages bv the latter, and punishing for venial offences. Once the foreman of a jury was asked, after a verdict of guilty had been given against a native if the same verdict would have been given on the same evidence had the offender been white, and immediately came the reply, •‘No.’’ The cruelty oi police and trackers when ‘‘rounding up ’ natives to find a wanted man is well known. They are tied with chains, innocent and guilty alike, and sometimes shot without compunction and without excuse. Doctors and missionaries have repeatedly reported cases ot injustice and cruelty. As recently as 1928 there was an inquiry into the ruthless shooting of 30 native men and women whilst the police, were arresting two, who were afterwards proved to he innocent. Mr dribble supplies verified evidence of sins of omission and commission on the part of Australia’s owners that we should shocked to have put before us by a foreigner. No matter how bad