to witness their habits, when a party of them were enticed over by the late Mr. Boyd. They were located at Mr. Fennel's (Mr. Boyd's agent), on the banks of the Yarra; as soon as fever attacked them, they crept to the banks of the Yarra and plunged themselves in three or four times a day.
15. I attach to this report on the diseases of the Aborigines the opinion of twenty-nine gentlemen, situated in various parts of the colony, who, one and all, bear testimony to the awful mortality among them, the following opinions of the cause:—
Names of the Gentlemen consulted. |
Diseases. | Names of the Gentlemen consulted. |
Diseases. |
Mr. Orr | Venereal | Mr. Gilles | Intemperance |
Mr. Lane | Scorbutic | Mr. Strutt | Intemperance and violence |
Mr. Templeton | Intemperance and venereal | Mr. Allan | Influenza, inflammation of lungs, venereal |
Mr. Sherard | Intemperance and exposure | Mr. Godfrey | Drunkenness, consumption, venereal |
Mr. Shuter | Consumption and decline | Mr. Gottreux | Bronchitis, affection of the chest |
Mr. Wilson | Intemperance and exposure | Mr. Currie | Pulmonary complaints, intemperance |
Mr. Fisken | Bronchitis, pericarditis, psoriasis, and intemperance | Mr. Lydiard | Syphilis, intemperance, rheumatism |
Mr. McLeod | Intemperance and exposure | Mr. Stewart | Consumption, intemperance |
Mr. Ormond | Consumption, venereal, intemperance | Mr. Mitchell | Pulmonary consumption, venereal |
Mr. Cooke | Syphilis | Mr. Cooke | Consumption and old age |
Mr. Aitken | Liver complaints, intemperance, rheumatism | Mr. Huon | Influenza, intemperance |
Mr. Skene | Syphilis, consumption, rheumatism | Mr. Wills | Intemperance, gun shot wounds, venereal |
Mr. Beveridge | Pulmonary consumption, venereal | Mr.Featherston-haugh | Pulmonary consumption, venereal |
Mr. Allen | Influenza | Mr. Lewes | Atrophy, influenza |
Mr. Craig | Influenza, consumption, intemperance |
16. A return from a public hospital I deem would be a fair criterion for the Central Board, embracing the two points, mortality and disease.
Return of Aboriginal Natives admitted into the Melbourne Hospital from 1st January to 8th November 1860:—
Date. | Name. | Tribe. | Disease. | Remarks. |
April 17 | Tommy Buckley | Gippsland | Burnt back | Discharged July 20 |
July 4 | Maria | Yarra | Pneumonia | „„ 24 |
Sept. 14 | James Shaw | Hopkins River | Pleurisy, phthisis | Died October 20 |
„ 18 | Sandy | Sydney | Pneumonia and phthisis | „Sept. 25 |
Oct. 30 | Tommy Buckley | Gippsland | Pleurisy and phthisis | „Nov. 2 |
„ 30 | Tommy Mannering | Yarra | Pneumonia and phthisis | „„7 |
Four deaths and two discharged.
I have, &c.,
(Signed) William Thomas.