Correspondence had taken place between the Governor and the Home Government. The latter did not understand the precise condition of affairs in Western Australia, nor could Imperial statesmen conceive that deadly clashing was inevitable when primitive law met English law. They believed that native offenders, whether murderers or thieves, should be treated in the same manner as Europeans, and should be given the same opportunities. Summonses must be issued, arrests made in the usual order, and the cases tried with the same legal formula as with white offenders. The Secretary of State issued instructions that the aboriginal race must be treated in the full and sufficient routine of English law. A Pinjarra battle became impossible, or rather illegal, and the trifling shooting down of a Midgegooroo was not allowed.
The settlers complained bitterly of the want of foresight of the Imperial authorities. They resentfully suggested that members of the English Government should become settlers in the remote stations. Then they would permit the old course to be pursued.
In 1837 the natives had not forgotten the shooting of the two thieves at York. Irregular attacks were made on stock. In June the tribe of the dead men speared and killed Isaac Green, a soldier. They went to the farm where their companions had been shot to commit this deed. Fear for a time seized upon all white residents of the York district. The natives were excessively daring, and threatened and openly scorned them. Dr. Guistiniani caused some annoyance by publicly blaming the Government for not proceeding to commit and execute a settler who shot down a native.
Each week the natives were more ferocious at York, and moved about in such numbers that settlers were in daily dread of an attack. An Englishman was wounded near Beverley, and another at Northam. Then on the 8th July, a fierce band of blacks rushed down upon two settlers, Messrs. Jones and Chidlow, near Northam. Both men were brutally murdered, and nine spears were found piercing the body of one, and seven that of the other. The natives drove off some cattle. A daring attack was shortly afterwards made at the estate of Mr. Waylen, in Toodyay Valley. The murderers of Jones and Chidlow called at his hut begging for wheat. They received it and went away, only to return next day. Numbers of them congregated round the hut, and five forced their way inside. They rushed upon Mr. Waylen and two soldiers, who, however, soon overpowered them and threw them to the ground. A soldier shot two blacks through the head with a pistol, and Mr. Waylen cut another down with an axe. The remaining two got outside and hurried off. One was shot in the attempt, and the fifth was wounded. The hut was so low and small that the natives could not use their spears.
The Government did all in its limited power to protect settlers, and a body of men was set in motion to apprehend and punish the savage murderers. The night after the attack on Mr. Waylen's hut Lieut. Bunbury, of the Militia, with a party of soldiers, shot one of the offending blacks, and wounded another. Mr. Bunbury and his men, led by a black-tracker, crept in shoeless feet for nearly a mile, over sharp stones and rocks, and surprised the natives. Other natives were shot down in the York district, and the infuriated whites followed the tribes into their lairs, and hunted them from place to place.
Mr. G. F. Moore, who was acquainted with their language, was sent to York to interview the tribes in that district. He gathered a few blacks around him and delivered a long oration. Murder, he said, would not be tolerated by the whites, and every offender would receive inevitable and severe punishment. He begged them to discontinue their depredations, and offered the lasting friendship of all Europeans if they obeyed. The natives listened intently, and then dispersed to tell the story round the camp fire.
There was a general exodus of aborigines from York after the determined punishment inflicted by the soldiers. Most of them congregated in the Swan River district. The Governor viewed their presence there with anxiety and anticipated serious attacks on settlers in the outskirts. He conferred special authority on private persons, and increased the military and police. Friendly natives were commissioned to act as spies, and occasionally gave information of offending York natives hiding among those on the Swan. An armed force was kept in readiness near Guildford, and was instructed to inflict stern punishment in case of attacks. A few cattle and sheep were killed on the Swan.
No serious results accrued from the concentration of natives in the Swan country. They held corroborees and fought several battles among themselves. Members of York tribes constantly quarrelled with members of Swan families, and several frays took place. A black boy employed by a settler was killed in his master's kitchen, and a native woman and a child were speared before the kitchen door. Except for the wounding of two shepherd boys on the Canning late in the year no harm was done to the white people.
The stern measures taken by the Government checked the natives in 1838. Only one white murder appears to have been committed, although the blacks caused constant annoyance. A native from King George's Sound was murdered by members of the Swan River tribe on Garden Island early in the year. These men accompanied the Champion, schooner, to the island, and while alone, savagely murdered the Albany man. Later in the year several natives walked overland from King George's Sound to avenge this murder, and they also carried despatches and small articles to white people in Perth.
Thefts of wheat and fruit were made in the first few months of 1838, and in July several natives were tried at the Court of Quarter Sessions. One was sentenced to seven years transportation for housebreaking, and for a like offence a second was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment. A third, charged with murdering a native woman, was sentenced to be executed, but was afterwards reprieved. In May a native was shot in the act of dragging a sack of flour away from a private house, and a second was shot in August while attempting to wrest a musket from a soldier on guard at the Murray. Mr. Turner was slightly wounded by a native while proceeding overland from Augusta to Perth. A white boy was killed on the Canning, and a native woman was murdered in Perth streets during the year.
Up to this time the natives at King George's Sound had assisted settlement, but in February, 1838, they speared a fine bull and two oxen owned by a settler on the Hay River. Later in the year they committed other depredations.
The native prison at Rottnest was inaugurated early in 1838. The more troublesome offenders were sent there and placed under a guard. In August there were five prisoners on the island, but they soon contrived to make their escape. There was but one boat at Rottnest, and, carefully watching for the opportunity, the natives seized it and made their way to the mainland. The boat was upset in the surf, and one of the natives was drowned. The remainder got into the bush, but they had to suffer from the vengeance of friends of the drowned man, who blamed them for his death.
During the year Mr. Mitchell was appointed the native interpreter, and also a missionary to work among the natives. The
