Where did the natives come from?

How long ago?

Where did they land first?

Where are their ancestors?

Were they ever civilised?

These and similar questions occur to those who regard the natives of Australia with interest. They live only in the past, there is no future for them, here at least. Their origin is involved in impenetrable obscurity. Scarcely on the earth is to be found a race similar to the aboriginals, whilst their antiquity is beyond doubt, and also the fact that they have a common origin. Their speech, habits, colour, customs, and superstitions, proclaim in the strongest terms that they all came from a common source; from the far north of Australia to the farthest south, a hundred proofs are forthcoming to show a common ancestry. Words that have a similar meaning are used on the Darling River and in places in the Gulf of Carpentaria; the weapons are similar all over the continent; their faces and figures are similar, allowing for the effects of varieties of food and climate. In the three hundred years since the first contact between Europeans and the New Hollanders, no change has occurred; they were then spread over Australia, the same in habits and life as they are now, and the only result of the contact of the two races of men, the civilised and the savage, is that the native is fading away before the white man like mist before the morning sun. Nothing can avert the doom that is written as plainly as was the writing on the wall at Belshazzar’s feast. And to what purpose would we preserve them? What good could accrue from maintaining a remnant of a race that it is impossible to civilise. The buffalo of America, like the Red Indian himself (the hunter and the hunted), pass over the river in front of the advancing tide of civilisation.

As a study, the native race of Australia is eminently interesting, for in them we have living representatives of the stone age; remarkable for their pureness of race, having had no admixture from any other nation through countless generations for their great antiquity, for before the pyramids of Egypt were built, they had occupied Australia and for the silence of all history and traditions concerning them and their destiny of doom; as a race problem they are full of interest.

From Cape York to the Great Australian Bight, and from the Leeuwin to the Great Sandy Spit on Frazer’s Island, there is no difference in the type of the native of Australia, although the quality and quantity of their food has caused some of the tribes to be more robust and better developed than others. In the north, where food is plentiful, there are many fine specimens of men over the average height of the European. Many of the northern aboriginals are tall, muscular men, of great activity and endurance, with keen sight and observation, and they often attain to a good old age. Nearly all are bearded, with hair that is wavy rather than straight or curly. They are not a cowardly race, as among themselves they conduct their fights with a certain degree of honour, and with great pluck, not taking advantage of an opponents’ accident. They excel in throwing their spears with the wommera or throwing stick, and can hit a mark at a distance of seventy to eighty yards with great force; the boomerang is used for game, such as ducks or pigeons, as well as in warfare, and is really a formidable weapon. On the north-east coast, they use a wooden sword which is wielded with both hands, and seems to have been an improvement or an innovation on the boomerang, where the dense scrubs prohibited the use of the throwing weapon.

They appear to have been from all time a race of hunters, ever living on the products of the chase, and from the scarcity of game, and difficulty in keeping it when killed, they seldom remain more than one or two nights in one camp, but move about in small parties. Although the tribes or families are always on the move—a nomad hunter race—their districts are well defined, and they seldom trespass on the hunting grounds of an adjoining tribe, unless with consent. This strict delimitation of districts and dislike of trespass, has led to a great diversity in their dialects, and every little tribe seems to have a different language; in a distance of one or two hundred miles, the names for the commonest things may be altered, although the same social system prevails substantially throughout all tribes, with little or no variation.

In their original state they could not have been an unhappy people; when food was plentiful, they made weapons and shaped their stone tomahawks, which of itself was a work of slow progress; they wove nets for their game, and composed or sang their wild songs, or still wilder corroborrees, or dances. Obedient to the laws and customs handed down from their ancient forefathers, and following out the rites of their marriage laws with great strictness, they lived healthy lives to a good old age, while the increase of the race was checked by the amount of food each district could supply. With the advent of the white race, the social system that held them together for thousands of years, became disturbed and broken into, and their natural food supplies were destroyed. Thus, with the introduction of new diseases, this primitive race of mankind is fast disappearing, apparently without a thought or struggle or hope, and after a few years not a remnant of them, or any sign of their occupation of the country will remain. Some of their customs appear to be very general, such as knocking out the two front teeth among women, and sometimes among men; this is done by a sudden blow on the end of a stick which is placed on the tooth, and then knocked inwards. A very general custom is boring a hole through the septum of the nose, although it is not often that an ornament is put through it. Another manner of adornment is by raised cicatrices made on the chest and back and arms, by cutting the skin with a piece of sharp flint and putting in gum or clay. In their native state, they do not appear to have made any attempt at any kind of covering or dress, either male or female, except that young girls wore an apron round the loins made of fibre or grass hanging down a few inches. For camping at night they used ti-tree or other bark as a shelter when procurable, and always slept between two or three small fires, making a slight hollow in the ground so as to get the warmth of the fire above them, and generally choosing the sandy beds of rivers away from the wind. In the Gulf country, during the wet season, they made small sleeping benches raised on forks driven in the ground, about three feet high, with sheets of bark laid flat, and over them other sheets of bark bent in a half-circle, so as to throw off rain; beneath these structures or sleeping places they kept up a smoke to save them from the mosquitoes, which in the Northern Peninsula, were dreadfully annoying. It was the duty of the gins to keep the fire going during the night. In dry weather or windy nights, a breakwind made of boughs or branches was used as a protection, behind which they made their small fires for sleeping by. The cooking was generally done away from their camp fires, mostly during the daytime.

In the Gulf country also, the coast blacks make small gunyahs of bent twigs thatched with grass. These are only used during the wet season as a protection, chiefly from mosquitoes.

The treatment of the native races has always been a difficult question. Whenever new districts were settled, the blacks had to move on to make room; the result was war between the races. The white race were the aggressors, as they were the invaders of the blacks’ hunting territory. The pioneers cannot be condemned for taking the law into their own hands and defending themselves in the only way open to them, for the blacks own no law themselves but the law of might. The protection of outside districts by the Native Police, was the only course open, although the system cannot very well be defended any more than what was done under it can be. The white pioneers were harder on the blacks in the way of reprisals when they were forced to deal with them for spearing their men or their cattle or horses even than the Native Police. But how were property and the lives of stockmen, shepherds, and prospectors in the north to be protected unless by some summary system of retribution by Native Police or bands of pioneers? The vices and diseases of the white race have been far more fatal to the blacks than the rifles of the pioneers, more particularly when they were allowed about the towns, where they always exhibit the worst traits of their character, becoming miserable creatures, useless for any purpose, and an eyesore to everyone. Those employed on stations as stockriders and horse-hunters become very useful and clever at the business, having a special aptitude for working among stock, and they are, as a rule, well treated, clothed, and fed. The Northern Peninsula up to Cape York is the only territory in Queensland where the natives may still be found in their original state, and on some of the rivers flowing into the Gulf they are still numerous.

Their cave drawings show their taste for drawing or sketching to have been of the rudest; just a few marks on their boomerangs, line drawings on water koolimans, and some attempts at drawing figures on rocks in caves are all that have been discovered. The drawings are found wherever sandstone caves are found, and many of these are to be met with on the range about the Normanby River, near Cooktown, where the steep cliffs have been eaten into by the weather or by landslips, leaving hollows or caves in which the blacks have camped and ornamented with figures rudely drawn and coloured with red ochre or pipeclay; many of these drawings represent nothing at all; in some a hand is drawn, occasionally an attempt at some bird, or animal, or tree. Sir George Grey describes some elaborate drawings on the north-west coast of Australia found in caves of a similar nature, and large numbers are found on the coast near the Roper River in the Gulf of Carpentaria, and at Limmen’s Bight, in the hollows of rocks, where, sheltered from the weather, the face of the stone is entirely covered with their rude attempts.

All the lands in the southern seas are supposed to have been populated by castaways, driven by gales out of their reckoning, and landing haphazard at the first land or shore. The first visitor to the unknown and uninhabited land, arriving by accident, would have a struggle for existence, and a hard one too; he would have to improvise his weapons for the chase, and to learn to adapt himself to his new surroundings. His only chance of existence would be to become a nomad, a hunter; and all his spare time would be taken up in finding food and making weapons for the chase; for which Nature provided in a rude way the materials such as flints that break with a cutting or conchoidal edge that would answer very well for carving flesh, fashioning spears, or hollowing vessels for carrying water, though large shells could be used for this; the gum that exudes from many trees would serve to fasten handles to these flint knives. Hard rocks, such as diorite, would be used for axes. These stones require a vast amount of patience in chipping and grinding into shape. To make canoes out of sheets of bark would become a necessity for fishing and visiting the islands, and they would have to be sewn together with twine made from the inner bark of a tree. Wonderfully well made some of those canoes on the coast are; three sheets of thin bark tapered to a point; one sheet for the bottom and one each to form the sides; the fire is laid on some mud on the bottom, with a shell to bail out. Using a single paddle on each side alternately, the natives will make long voyages among the islands on the coast. Primitive Nature would be the castaway’s granary or storehouse; the herbs and fruits as they grew naturally, and the wild animals and fish would form the only means of subsistence.

Arriving in the country with such surroundings and difficulties to contend with, no wonder the castaways remained in a state of savagery. Without any means to better their condition, or even to know that it could be bettered, they remained as they landed, simple savages or children of Nature, quite satisfied with their surroundings, and happy enough if left alone to follow their own mode of life. What spare time they had would be passed singing songs or composing them. The women would assist in all the work of life and perform all the drudgery, collecting roots, nuts, and fibre; grinding the seeds, making the fire, and carrying wood and water to the camp. It is well known that savage women are possessed of uncommon endurance and vitality. In the course of ages, as their numbers increased, they would gradually spread abroad, carrying with them the customs and habits of their forefathers, but not improving or adding to the knowledge of the tribe. The natural instincts of the aboriginals are sharpened by exercise, and their skill in tracking is marvellous; they can follow the trail of another black over bare rocks or on the driest earth; they can recognise an acquaintance by the track of his foot. As bushmen they excel, having the faculty of being able to steer a course to any place they may wish, even in the dark, although, from superstitious ideas, they do not travel about much at night. Most of their quarrels are over their women; one man appropriating the wife of another. It is allowable by their laws for a man to have several wives, and marriage by arrangement is the general course. They are betrothed at a very early age, and the girl remains with her parents till the man comes to claim her. The brother-in-law has the right to marry the widow, and is expected to do so. The mother-in-law never looks on the face of her son-in-law, avoiding him on every occasion, even if in the same camp; this is a custom peculiar to all parts of Australia, and even to other savage peoples outside the continent.

They are all compelled to marry within their class, and all tribes come under the same system, an equal rule prevailing all over Australia. The system of their marriage laws is puzzling to white people, but it is well understood by every black, male or female, old or young, and will be referred to further on, under the class system, the writer having collected information of several class systems for Mr. A. W. Howitt, of Victoria.

The blackfellow generally wears his hair long, and usually caked into thick matted rope-like coils, with a band of red above the forehead, or else a native dog’s tail. When dressed for a dance or corroborree, the hair is sometimes tied in a tuft with cockatoo feathers on the top. The married women wear their hair shorter, but the unmarried women generally wear it long. When mourning for the dead, the hair is plastered all over with mud, and the eyes and forehead are painted round with pipeclay.

The natives are fond of singing, and their voices are melodious, while they keep excellent time by beating two boomerangs together; they sing a sort of monotonous chant, and keep it up in camp to a late hour. Their songs of mourning are always pitched in a minor key, and convey a dreadfully sorrowful expression; they are sung by both male and female, but the chant is soon varied, as their natural inclination is to be merry, and they look on most things in a ludicrous light. Their sense of humour is very keen and to mimic everything is their chief delight. The clear ringing laugh that they indulge in, and their merry chatter, are an indication of the cheerful nature and freedom from care, that help to make them so contented and easily pleased.

They believe that the spirits of the dead, which are good and bad, go about at night and hold communication with some members of the tribe, particularly with the medicine men, or doctors. The medicine men claim to have power to talk with the spirits, and the blacks firmly believe that they have such power of communication. These old men are also supposed to preserve the traditions and superstitions of the tribe, and they alone can perform with efficacy the various ceremonies attendant on the healing of the sick; they also instruct the young men in the beliefs of the tribe and as to the proper conduct of their lives, and this they do at special meetings known as bora meetings. It is the special privilege of the old men to hold communication with the spirits of the departed, by which they become possessed of much knowledge which they impart to their tribe. They believe they have the power of making rain and healing the sick. The blacks live in continual dread of death, which they attribute to some spirit agency or to witchcraft. Scarcely any death is put down to natural causes, except those killed in fight; sickness and death are always regarded by them as the works of an enemy at a distance. This belief is universal among Australian blacks. They have various ideas as to how this evil influence is brought about; one of them is by pointing a bone at the victim, and for this a piece of a human leg bone sharpened to a point and several inches long is used. They live in dread of this bone (Thimmool) being pointed at them, and have a great aversion at any time to touch or even look at any bones of deceased members of the tribe. It is supposed that the pointing of the bone causes a gradual wasting away of the victim until death takes place. Another process is to take the pinion of a bird, the two bones fastened together with wax, including some hair of the person whose injury is intended; this is stuck in the ground and surrounded with fire, then it is set in the sun, and again returned to the fire, varying the performance according as to the extent of the harm to be caused; when sufficient sickness has been caused, they place the bone in water, thus dispelling the charm. This process is called “Marro.” There is a superstition about abstracting the kidney fat of a blackfellow for promoting luck in fishing, and this is said to be done in various ways. The blacks are very good to the aged and infirm, and carry them from camp to camp; they are also good to the blind, whom they feed and care for, and when death ensues, they will mourn and chant their death song nightly.

The aborigines believe that the spirit survives after death, and that it walks about on earth for a time, and then departs for another country which is supposed to be among the stars, the road to which is by the milky way, and the ascent by the Southern Cross, as by a ladder. The life supposed to be led there is similar to that on earth, but the food is abundant and shade trees and water are everywhere. They have names for all the constellations, and understand their times and movements. The Pleiades they call “Munkine,” the name for a virgin or unmarried girl. Orion’s Belt is called “Marbarungal,” they believe him to have been a great hunter who formerly dwelt among them. The moon is a male, who, they say, was once a blackfellow, who killed a lot of their people. The latter burnt him in the struggle, and they point to the shadows on its surface as marks of the scars. A paper was read before the Royal Society of Brisbane by E. Palmer on October 2nd, 1885, “Concerning some superstitions of North Queensland aborigines.”

Cannibalism is practised among the blacks everywhere, but more from custom following certain traditions than for the sake of food; certain blacks are eaten, while others are not; those killed in a fight are generally eaten. In some places they skin the dead blackfellow, and twist the skin round a bundle of spears with the hair sticking up on top, and they carry this to different camps, sticking it in the ground by the points of the spears; children are sometimes eaten when they die.

They are expert at all game hunting, and in snaring wildfowl; the plain turkey can be caught with a long reed on the end of a spear with a running noose made of twine and quills; with this in one hand, and a bush in the other, a man with patience will creep up close enough to catch a turkey round the neck. They make strong nets of cordage, having a large mesh to catch emus, kangaroos, or wallabies. These nets they stretch in certain places, and drive the game into them; small hand nets are used to catch fish with; pigeons and ducks are snared in nets which are stretched across creeks. The habits of birds and animals are closely studied, and their instincts are overmatched by the cunning of the savage, who wants them for food.

All their food is cooked before being eaten, generally on stones made red-hot. It is wrapped in green leaves, and then covered over with hot ashes to steam. In the north they eat the alligator when they can manage to kill one, and the small fresh-water crocodile, found in most of the Gulf rivers, is also an article of food.

Seeds of various grasses are ground into a paste with water and poured into the ashes to cook, while some fruits and nuts require great preparation before using, as they are extremely poisonous without such treatment. In preserving game, the blacks are very cruel, they twist the legs out of joint to prevent them getting away, and keep them alive in this way until they are wanted for cooking.

They eat the dingo, and everything else that lives; and are very clever at discovering the nests of the native bees; honey, or “sugar-bag,” as they call it, is a favourite food of theirs. It is only by constant moving about from camp to camp that a supply of food can be kept up, the women doing their share of providing by digging up yams and roots, fishing for crayfish and mussels, and grinding seeds between two stones. Their life is a constant worry for food from day to day, and nothing passes them that can be eaten. A favourite food of theirs is the tuber of the water-lily growing in lagoons, of this they even eat the stalks or stems of the seed stalk.

The dugong, a large marine grass-feeding mammal is netted and speared; the flesh, when dried, is similar to bacon, and in the Wide Bay dialect is called “Koggar,” the same name they give to the pig. White ants are esteemed a treat, and their nests are broken into, and the young ones, with the eggs winnowed from the dirt are eaten raw, as well as the grubs, which are the larva; of some locusts or beetles, and which are cut out of the trees.

THE CLASS SYSTEM.

All natives acknowledge the same system of class divisions, and these correspond all over Australia. The blacks are born into these divisions, and the idea is instilled into them from the beginning that they are to observe them as sacred.

Though differing in name or in totem, the classes and divisions prevail everywhere, and a blackfellow knows at once which of the divisions corresponds to his own in a distant tribe.

All things in Nature are divided into the same classes, and are said to be male and female; the sun, moon, and stars are believed to be men and women, and to belong to classes similar to the blacks themselves.

The following is an instance of the system of class divisions belonging to a tribe on the Upper Flinders River, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, calling themselves “Yerrunthully.” They had four class divisions, namely:—

Each boy and girl in the tribe is born under one of these divisions, and is subjected to the laws, connected with tribal marriages. These classes are represented by totems, which are different in other tribes lower down the river:—

Many other instances could be given, but they all partake of the same divisions and classes. A blackfellow can only marry into one class, namely that opposite to his name, the other three are forbidden to him strictly. The descent seems to be reckoned through the mother, for the child takes its name, not from its mother’s class, but from the grandmother’s class. The class name always goes back to that of the grandmother on the female side, the father’s class name having no influence in the matter. Woonco’s daughter is always Coobaroo, and Coobaroo’s daughter is always Woonco, and so on through succeeding generations. The father might possibly be of a name representing the proper class, but from a far away tribe, for they correspond in class though not always in name; still the children take their name through the mother in this tribe. The blacks understand these relationships well, and exemplify them with two sticks crossed.