Very different accounts have been given by voyagers and explorers relative to the color and form of the natives of Australia. Some have represented them as coal-black, like the negro, with bottle-noses, spare limbs, and ferocious countenances: others as models of symmetry, having a complexion scarcely so dark as to conceal a blush; and the greater number regard them simply as "blacks," with such conformations generally as belong to the African.
They differ in appearance in different parts of the continent, and this may account, in a measure, for the different statements made by observers. They differ from one another in stature, bulk, and color probably as much and no more than the inhabitants of Great Britain, Germany, France, and Italy differ from one another. Those that have abundance of food are tall and stout, and exhibit well-developed figures; and such as maintain a precarious existence in the arid tracts which the larger animals do not frequent are small, meagre, thin-limbed, and most unpleasing in aspect.
I sought information, during the year 1870, relative to the height, weight, and chest-measurement of the Aboriginal natives of Victoria, and I have compiled the following tables from the figures supplied by the Managers of the several Stations in the colony:—
Height, Weight, &c., of Aboriginal Natives at Coranderrk, Upper Yarra, from information furnished by Mr. John Green:—
| Name. | Age. | Height. | Girth. | Weight. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men. | years. | ft. | in. | ft. | in. | lbs. |
| Tommy Banfield | 26 | 5 | 6½ | 3 | 9 | 214 |
| Wellington | 34 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 2½ | 150 |
| Peter Hunter | 30 | 5 | 3½ | 3 | 0 | 145 |
| Redman | 40 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 134 |
| Dick | 36 | 5 | 3½ | 3 | 4½ | 150 |
| Tommy Arnot | 28 | 5 | 5½ | 2 | 11½ | 126 |
| Donald | 23 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 11½ | 125 |
| Johnny Philips | 25 | 5 | 5½ | 2 | 11½ | 127 |
| Avoca | 36 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 130 |
| Harry | 40 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 127 |
| Jemmy Barker | 36 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 134 |
| Simon | 40 | 5 | 10½ | 3 | 2 | 148 |
| Boys. | ||||||
| Samson | 15 | 5 | 4½ | 2 | 9 | 115 |
| Martin | 16 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 115 |
| M. Bell | 16 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 115 |
| McRea | 16 | 5 | 6½ | 2 | 9 | 145 |
| Willie Hobson | 9 | 4 | 1½ | 2 | 1 | 59 |
| Women. | ||||||
| Eliza | 37 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 135 |
| Maggie | 33 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 98 |
| Sally | 50 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 2½ | 139 |
| Borat | 36 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 10 | 108 |
| Norah | 30 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 124 |
| Harriett | 36 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 132 |
| Annie | — | 5 | 1 | 2 | 10½ | 110 |
