As vermin that infest the land, and whose blood may be shed with as
little compunction as that of the wild animals they are compared to.
By those who have heard the dreadful accounts current in Western
Australia, and New South Wales, of the slaughter formerly committed by
military parties, or by the servants [Note 47 at end of para.] of the
settlers upon the Aborigines, in which it is stated that men, women, and
children have been surprised, surrounded and shot down indiscriminately,
at their camps at night; or who have heard such deeds, or other similar
ones, justified or boasted of, it will readily be believed to what an
extent the feeling I have alluded to has occasionally been carried, and
to what excesses it has led. [Note 48 appears after Note 47, below]
[Note 47: The following extract from a reply of his Honour the
Superintendent of Port Phillip to the representation made to his Honour
by the settlers and inhabitants of the district of Port Fairy, in
March 1842, shews that these frightful atrocities against the natives
had not even then ceased.
"That the presence of a protector in your district, and other means of
prevention hitherto employed, have not succeeded better than they have
done in repressing aggression or retaliation, and have failed to establish
a good understanding between the natives and the European settlers,
is greatly to be deplored.
"As far as the local government has power, every practicable extension
of these arrangements shall be made without delay; but, gentlemen,
however harsh, a plain truth must be told, the destruction of
European property, and even the occasional sacrifice of European
life, by the hands of the savage tribes, among whom you live, if
unprovoked and unrevenged, may justly claim sympathy and pity; but the
feeling of abhorrence which one act of savage retaliation or cruelty on
your part will rouse, must weaken, if not altogether obliterate every
other, in the minds of most men; and I regret to state, that I have
before me a statement presented in a form which I dare not discredit,
shewing that such acts are perpetrated among you.
"It reveals a nightly attack upon a small number of natives, by a
party of the white inhabitants of your district, and the murder of
no fewer than three defenceless aboriginal women and a child, in
their sleeping place; and this at the very time your memorial was
in the act of signature, and in the immediate vicinity of the station
of two of the parties who have signed it. Will not the commission of
such crimes call down the wrath of God, and do more to check the
prosperity of your district, and to ruin your prospects, than all
the difficulties and losses under which you labour?" Mr. Sievewright's
letter gives an account of this infamous transaction.
"WESTERN ABORIGINAL ESTABLISHMENT,
THOLOR, 26TH FEBRUARY, 1842.
"Sir, - I have the honour to report that on the afternoon
of the 24th instant, two aboriginal natives, named Pwe-bin-gan-nai,
Calangamite, returned to this encampment, which they had left with their
families on the 22nd, and reported 'that late on the previous evening,
while they with their wives, two other females, and two children, were
asleep at a tea-tree scrub, called One-one-derang, a party of eight white
people on horseback surrounded them, dismounted, and fired upon them with
pistols; that three women and a child had been thus killed, and the other
female so severely wounded as to be unable to stand or be removed by
them;' they had saved themselves and the child, named 'Uni bicqui-ang,'
by flight, who was brought to this place upon their shoulders.
"At daybreak yesterday I proceeded to the spot indicated, and there found
the dead bodies of three women, and a male child about three years of age;
and also found a fourth woman dangerously wounded by gunshot wounds, and
severely scorched on the limbs by the discharge of fire-arms.
"Having proceeded to the station of the Messrs. Osbrey and Smith, distant
about 700 yards from where the bodies were found, and requested the
presence of those gentlemen as witnesses, I proceeded to view the bodies,
upon which were found the wounds as set forth in the accompanying report.
"All knowledge of this barbarous transaction is denied by the proprietors,
overseer, and servants at the home station, so near to which the bodies
were found, nor have I as yet obtained any information which may lead to
the discovery of the perpetrators of these murders.
"I have, etc.
(Signed) "C. W. SIEVEWRIGHT."
James Croke, Esq.,
Crown Prosecutor,"
etc. etc. etc.
Description of Gun-shot Wounds upon the bodies of three Aboriginal Women
and One Male Child found dead, and an Aboriginal Woman found wounded in a
tea-tree scrub, near the Station of Messrs. Osbrey and Smith, Portland
District, upon the 25th of February, 1842, by Assistant-Protector
Sievewright.
"No. 1. Recognised by the assistant-protector as
'Wooi-goning,' wife of an Aboriginal native 'Pui-bui-gannei;' one gun-shot
wound through the chest (a ball), and right thigh broken by a gun-shot
wound (a ball).
"No. 2. Child (male); one gun-shot wound through the chest (a bullet),
left thigh lacerated by some animal.
"No. 3. Woman big with child; one gun-shot wound through the chest
(a bullet), left side scorched.
"No. 4. Woman; gun-shot wound through abdomen (a bullet), by right hip;
gun-shot wound, left arm broken, (a bullet.)
"No. 5. Woman wounded; gun-shot wound in back (a ball), gun-shot through
right hand (a ball).
"(Signed)
"C. W. SIEVEWRIGHT."]
[Note 48: The belief on the part of the Home authorities that such deeds
did occur, and their opinion, so many years ago, regarding them, may be
gathered from the following extract from a despatch from Lord Glenelg to
Governor Sir James Stirling, dated 23rd of July, 1835.
