ture by the Government on aborigines was covered by an annual vote amounting in 1878 to £5,254. This was expended partly on grants in money and goods to four mission stations. The fifth, Poonindie, at Port Lincoln, which has a reserve of 15,000 acres attached to it, received nothing. The others which received various sums were Point Pierce, Yorke's Peninsula, with 12,800 acres of land; Point Macleay, Lake Alexandrina, with 4,498 acres; Kopperamanna, Far North, with 64,000 acres; and Hermansburgh, Finke River, N.T., with 576,000 acres. Besides these there are fifty depôts, distributed through the districts, at which rations, clothing, medical comforts, &c., are distributed to the sick and infirm aborigines, and boats, netting, tools, &c., to the men. All this is done within the vote mentioned, assisted by contributions from the religious congregations—apparently chiefly Lutheran—which have engaged in the mission work. Individual instances of progress are reported by the sub-protector which are astonishing to those who know the natives. One aboriginal had obtained a four years' lease of a farm of 160 acres. He is "an industrious intelligent man, has saved money, and now possesses stock and farm implements, keeps a bank account, and has made several improvements on his farm." Similar leases were about to issue to four other natives, "one of whom recently married a European woman."
The general report for each year contains special reports from the mission stations and other agencies. Taking the latest, that for 1879, we find that the superintendent of Kopperamanna reports that in his district the natives during the year had been well off. On the mission station were sixteen buildings, 5000 sheep, 45 head of cattle, 40 horses, and 850 goats. There had been an average attendance at school during the year of about twenty-five children, who seemed particularly fond of arithmetic. The country was not very suitable for agriculture, but the natives were employed in shepherding, fencing, building, &c., and hunting wild dogs, having secured 235 dingo scalps during the year. The missionaries have taken the trouble to learn the aboriginal tongue, which helps them with the natives, who are, of course, under no restraint, coming and going as they please, and therefore only to be kept by moral influence. As an instance of the difficulties in the way of raising the condition of the race, we quote the remark of the superintendent, "They all, with few exceptions, suffer from syphilis."
The Hermansburgh station, on he Finke River, in the Central Territory, is especially interesting to Queenslanders, as it is situated in country similar to our own Western interior. It has been lately established, and there also the missionaries have learned the aboriginal dialect. They have on the station 2530 sheep, 100 goats, 32 head of cattle, and 52 horses. From a special report made on this mission by the station-master at the telegraph station, Alice Springs, we learn that substantial buildings, yards and woolshed, have been erected, and a large paddock fenced in. Attempts were being made at cultivation with promise of success, and the missionaries proposed to lay down next year (1880) 100 acres in grain. The natives come and go, and are shy and retiring. The station-master reports of the missionaries that "they have had, and will still have, a certain amount of uphill work, but in the end will, I think, be successful." The neighboring squatters speak "in most praiseworthy terms" of the mission station. The report ends by an admission on the part of the writer that he has been most favorably impressed by the mission station, "and erroneuos opinions previously entertained are entirely removed."
No special remarks need be made on the Point Macleay and Point Pierce institutions, but Poonindie deserves special mention. At this place some of the natives appear to be really rising into civilised beings. One—a half-caste—is mentioned who does nearly all the painting, glazing, and carpentering of the institution, and who made a neat little boat in his spare time out of a few boards he bought in Port Lincoln. The average number resident has been from sixty-four to eighty-four, although a number of others come and go. They work well, and the produce of their labor supports the whole institution very comfortably. They are taught in the school, doctored by a skilful medical man, who visits the place once a week. They must have decidedly a good time of it, as besides cricket and bagatelle, of which they are fond, and out-door sports, there is a weekly dance in the school-room "in which nearly all, young and old, take part; and were it not for the rather heavy boots and bare feet of some, their graceful manner and movement would surprise many of those of our own people who delight in the 'light fantastic toe.'"
We have no space for further extracts from these interesting documents. The Souh Australian Government, unlike our own, recognises that it owes a duty to the aborigines, and very effectively discharges it, without any very great cost to the Treasury. No Queenslander will require that we should point the contrast between the
