NOT SO STUPID

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 799, 21 October 1929, Page 1

NOT SO STUPID

PSYCHOLOGIST DEFENDS ABORIGINALS EXPEDITION IN AUSTRALIA “The Australian aboriginal is a representative of probably the most interesting native race on earth. Despite what has been said about him, his mentality is not low in relation to his environment; on the contrary, he has adapted himself to his own requirements for survival in Australia’s inhospitable regions in quite an intelligent way.” That is the summing up of Professor S. D. Porteous, professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii, who is a through passenger on the Niagara, at present in Auckland. Professor Porteous told a Sun man of his interesting and, at times, exciting experiences in the little-known interior of North-west and Central Australia. An .Australian by birth, and.late of the University of Melbourne, the professor is making a special study of racial characteristics from the viewpoint of the psychologist. Recently he accepted a commission from the National Research Council to study and report on the habits, customs and mentality of the Australian aboriginal. TEST OF ENVIRONMENT

“Our expedition travelled first to the North-west Coast,” he said. “We went by land from Wyndham to Broome and after a study of the natives in that area I came to the conclusion that they were quite adaptable to their own natural conditions, though this was not the case in their dealings with European civilisation.” It was difficult, he continued, to compare the Australian aboriginal with any other native, because his environment was so different and had been so for a long period of time. The New Zealand native, for instance, by force of circumstance had become skilled in the arts of warfare and inter-tribal parley. Consequently when civilisation had come along the Maori had been more ready to meet the white man, discuss with him, and learn from him.

But in Australia the aboriginal had always had more land than he could possibly need and tribal disputes about property were few and far between. Consequently the arts of warfare were little known and inter-tribal intercourse was rare. “I made one trip of 1,800 miles, examining all the natives we came across,” said the professor. “We also visited the aboriginal station at Perth. With Dr. Withington I journeyed in a lugger from Broome to Wyndham—a distance of 500 miles by sea. We had motion picture photographers with us and secured interesting film. RISK OF HOSTILITIES “We had been told that we would have to be careful in case the natives became hostile, but we kept to the recognised routes and if that is done there is no danger. “In the north-western area we visited five missions, while the Government has three stations, one of which is a cattle run, conducted by the natives under a white manager. We then came to Adelaide, where I made another trip to Alice Springs and came into contact with an even more primitive type. There had been a drought and they had been forced down from the interior. I was extremely lucky to see them.” Professor Porteous had forwarded a preliminary report to the National Research Council and intends also to embody the results of his Australian investigations in a book he plans to publish.