[TO THE EDITOR OF THE QUEENSLANDER.]
Sir,—As the improvement of the condition of the blacks is a matter of great interest at present, I feel it to be my duty to acquaint you with the result of my work in this district. I was appointed by the Minister for Lands to act as Protector of Aborigines for the Mackay district. My duties I consider to be the following:—
- To protect the blacks from ill treatment.
- To endeavor to make them useful to the inhabitants instead of being a nuisance.
- In case of offences committed by blacks, to assist the police in getting the right offenders.
- To try and keep the blacks out of townships, where they obtain grog and learn every vice.
- If they are employed by whites, to see that they are paid wages.
- To remove them from places where they are a nuisance and bring them to people willing to employ them—if the blacks are willing.
- To explain to the blacks our ideas of right and wrong, which are very different from their own.
As you are no doubt aware, the Government some years ago devoted 10,000 acres of land in this district as a reserve for aborigines, with a grant of £500, for the purpose of civilising the blacks. Mr. Bridgman, a gentleman who takes great interest in the blacks, was then Protector of Aborigines in this district, and it is due to his management that the blacks are so well behaved now. He collected the blacks, formed separate camps for the different tribes of blacks, made them do a little cultivation at times, and at other times they worked for planters in the district. He also formed a school for black boys, as an experiment, of which I had management, which having proved a success, Bishop Hale, who was chairman of a commission in Brisbane, sent a married couple to take charge of the school, which was enlarged, and consisted of forty children—boys and girls; and, Mr. Bridgman leaving the district, I was appointed in his place.
The present Government, with a view to retrenchment, suspended the vote. The school was disbanded and the reserve thrown open for selection. The blacks being uncontrolled became a nuisance, hanging round the towns, frightening cattle through the fences, pilfering corn, potatoes, &c. Having made the blacks useful to many of the residents, they requested me to apply to the Government to be reappointed. I did so, and was reappointed by the Minister for Lands. Since then the blacks have not only been well-behaved but very useful to the planters, taking contracts under my supervision, and, though earning but small wages owing to their natural indolence still being useful and kept out of mischief. I have about 300 blacks in the district at present, many at work trashing cane (stripping off dead leaves), clearing scrub, cutting firewood, hoeing, &c.; and I ride round from one lot to another to see that they are working, and also to see that they get paid fairly for what they do. I hear any complaints they have to make, as they have confidence in me, and tell me all their troubles. I have very little trouble with them; they are very easy to manage, with few exceptions. I have more trouble to please the whites, who are very unreasonable. One man wants to have blacks to work, and his neighbor will not have them near the place because they frighten his milkers; as they live close to each other, it is a difficult matter to please both parties. The blacks are Tory sensible and obedient—far more so than I have any right to expect. They can be led, but not driven. They offend often through ignorance, seldom wilfully.
I am sure that though the native police may be necessary in outside places, still in the inside districts they might be done away with. One camp has been removed in this district, and though there was a great outcry at first no harm has come of it.
Hoping my letter may contain information useful to you, I will now end it.—Yours, &c.
Rockleigh, Mackay, May 23.
—Queenslander, June 5,1880.
THE ABORIGINALS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
Bishop Hale has placed in our hands some correspondence, recently received by him from South Australia giving an account of the manner in which the aborigines in the settled districts of that colony are cared for. This includes letters from R. T. Hamilton, sub-protector of aborigines; Mr. Shaw, superintendent of the Poonindie Native Institution; and the annual reports of the sub-protector for 1878 and 1879.
The letter of Mr. Hamilton bears emphatic testimony to the possibility of preventing the blacks in the settled and pastoral districts from being a nuisance to the white inhabitants. He writes that "they appear to be a quiet, inoffensive, and law-abiding people; the criminal records for the past five years show a marked absence of any serious outrages against the European population, and the offences charged against the aborigines have been confined to one case of murder (that of two other natives) and a few cases of drunkenness and petty larceny." With regard to Poonindie, an institution which has been entirely self-supporting since 1860, he warns his correspondent that there is no sufficient evidence to show that its influence extends beyond the natives attached to it. General orderliness and comparative comfort are due to the effective supervision and general care exercised by the Government throughout the colony. Nevertheless, as far as the natives living on the place is concerned, the institution has kept them from crime, and to a considerable extent from vice, and has very sensibly raised their condition, without cost to the Government.
From the reports and letters we learn that the census enumeration of natives in 1876 showed a total of 3,369 souls. This does not include the tribes in the interior west of Queensland, which of course have not been reckoned. The total expendi-
