Journals Of Expeditions Of Discovery Into Central Australia And Overland From Adelaide To King George's Sound In The Years 1840-1: Sent By The Colonists Of South Australia By Eyre, Edward John
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To Sanction This Aggression, We Have Not, In The Abstract, The Slightest
Shadow Of Either Right Or Justice - We Have Not Even The Extenuation Of
Endeavouring To Compensate Those We Have Injured, Or The Merit Of
Attempting To Mitigate The Sufferings Our Presence Inflicts.
It is often argued, that we merely have taken what the natives did not
require, or were making no
Use of; that we have no wish to interfere with
them if they do not interfere with us, but rather that we are disposed to
treat them with kindness and conciliation, if they are willing to be
friends with us. What, however, are the actual facts of the case; and
what is the position of a tribe of natives, when their country is first
taken possession of by Europeans.
It is true that they do not cultivate the ground; but have they,
therefore, no interest in its productions? Does it not supply grass for
the sustenance of the wild animals upon which in a great measure they are
dependent for their subsistence? - does it not afford roots and vegetables
to appease their hunger? - water to satisfy their thirst, and wood to make
their fire? - or are these necessaries left to them by the white man when
he comes to take possession of their soil? Alas, it is not so! all are in
turn taken away from the original possessors. The game of the wilds that
the European does not destroy for his amusement are driven away by his
flocks and herds.
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