antagonism to their rights and interests. They might have thought the white man's bread worth the trouble of stealing, but we should doubt the chivalrous notion of honour to assert a national independence.
The misfortune of the Natives of both New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land was, that the men who came to settle among them were chiefly of a class expatriated for their non-observance of rules of propriety; and who, having been indifferent about the virtues when with their countrymen at home, were not likely to be more courteous and conscientious in dealing with savages abroad.
But while the history of the two colonies is so far similar, it is right to observe that the first actual conflict between the two races occurred under different circumstances in each. Before narrating that of the island, the continental rupture may be noted.
It was not two months after the fleet of convicts took up quarters on the shore of the delightful Port Jackson, that is, only in March 1788, that some men came into the infant settlement with a tale of aboriginal outrage. The Natives, said they, had set upon them without any cause, and had roughly beaten some, and badly speared others. But these are the remarks of Captain Collins, our first colonial historian:—
"There was, however, too much reason to conclude that the convicts had been the aggressors, as the governor on his return from Broken Bay, on landing at Camp Cove (Sydney), found the Natives there, who had before frequently come up to him with confidence, unusually shy, and seemingly afraid of him and his party; and one who, after much invitation, did venture to approach, pointed to some marks upon his shoulders, making signs that they were caused by blows given with a stick. This with their running away were strong indications that they had been ill-treated by the stragglers."
In all probability the experience of the infant days of New South Wales had prompted the then Secretary for the Colonies, Lord Hobart, to give specific instructions to Captain Collins in 1803, when proceeding to form a new penal settlement in the south. This statesmanlike and humane despatch runs thus:—
"You are to endeavour, by every means in your power, to open an intercourse with the Natives, and to conciliate their
