The Aborigines of Victoria/Volume 1/Chapter 3
Numbers and Distribution of the Aborigines in Victoria.
The numbers that at the first coming of the white man occupied the area now known as Victoria cannot be ascertained nor even estimated with precision, but enough is known of Victoria and of other parts of Australia, some but lately explored, to admit of a rough estimate being made.
The late Sir Thomas Mitchell, whose accurate observations are justly valued by men of science, and whose works even now are the best to which reference can be made as regards Eastern Australia, formed a very low estimate of the numbers of the Aborigines:—"The native population is very thinly spread over the regions I have explored, amounting to nearly a seventh part of Australia. I cannot estimate the number at more than 6,000; but, on the contrary, I believe it to be considerably less. They may increase rapidly if wild cattle become numerous, and, as an instance, I may refer to the number and good appearance of the Cudjallagong tribe, near Macquarie Range, where they occasionally fell in with a herd of wild cattle."[1]
If the reader will cast his eye over the map of the vast extent of country explored by Sir Thomas Mitchell, this estimate will probably strike him with astonishment. That there should be more than forty-five thousand acres of land required for the support of one Aboriginal appears to be incredible; but when the character of the country is carefully examined, the vicissitudes of climate to which it is subject duly noted, and its natural productions observed—and when it is considered further that the number of the Aboriginal inhabitants must of necessity be governed by the conditions of adverse seasons, rather than by those of ordinary or favorable years—and that, as will be seen when the laws of this people are considered, there was no possibility of any singularly rich or productive area in which food was plentiful adding to the resources of any tribes inhabiting adjacent less highly-favored lands—the sparseness of the population will cease to excite astonishment, and more importance will be attached to the low estimate—certainly, as regards Victoria, the very low estimate—made by Sir Thomas Mitchell.
The late Mr. E. S. Parker, who was for many years a Protector of Aborigines, stated, when delivering a lecture in Melbourne in 1854, that he estimated the number of the Aboriginal population at the foundation of the colony at 7,500. He said:—"In the year 1843 I endeavoured to take a nominal census of the Aboriginal population in the district extending from the Goulburn on the east to the Upper Wimmera on the west, and from the Great Dividing Range between the coast rivers and the interior waters on the south and the Mallee country on the north. I found then and registered by name, in their respective families and tribes, about 1,100 individuals."[2]
The late Mr. William Thomas, who for more than a quarter of a century acted as Protector or Guardian of the Aborigines, and had in the discharge of his duty visited nearly every part of Victoria, undertook at my request, some years ago, to make a careful estimate of the number of the Aborigines at the time when they possessed the land; and he arrived at the conclusion that the total number could not be less than 6,000. From his statement it appears that "the Aboriginal population in 1835-6 of the counties of Bourke, Evelyn, and Mornington was 350." But he adds that one-half at least of one of the tribes inhabiting these counties had perished in 1834 in a war with the Gippsland and Omeo blacks, and that previous to the war the total number was certainly not less than 500.[3] Further, the three counties he selected were in his opinion but sparsely peopled as compared with some other parts of Victoria, that these lands are not the best suited for the support of an Aboriginal population, and that the rivers which their boundaries embrace are not stocked with fish as are the Murray and its affluents.[4] Now the sum of the areas of these three counties is nearly 3,000,000 acres, which gives 6,000 acres for each Aboriginal; and the population of the colony would have been, if the whole of it had been peopled in the same proportion, 9,200 nearly. In estimating the numbers in this manner it is necessary to take note of the geographical features of the colony.
Though the counties named by Mr. Thomas are not the richest in Victoria, yet the greater part of the country they include is available for the uses of a savage people. Though the lands near the ranges are thickly timbered, and the eastern parts of Evelyn are covered in places with dense scrub, an immense area was in former times lightly timbered. Fine open forests of gum and she-oak covered a great part of Bourke; in the county of Evelyn there is a fine river, with numerous perennial streams falling into it; and in Mornington there are many creeks and very large swamps. Moreover, the county of Mornington has an extensive and varied coast-line where fish and molluscs are plentiful and easily procurable. These things must he borne in mind when the physical character of the colony is attentively viewed and its capability for the support of a wandering people more carefully shown. It is necessary to describe first those parts of the colony which could not of themselves support throughout the year any tribe or family of Aborigines, and some of which, if the blacks resorted to them at all, would be used by them as occasional hunting grounds only. Other parts, it is well known, would never be penetrated by them. The thick scrub, the want of water, and the fear of these untravelled wilds, would keep them as effectual barriers, separating tribes from tribes.
In the north-western parts of Victoria there is a vast tract of sands and clay-pans of Recent and Tertiary age, which is covered with Eucalyptus dumosa and E. oleosa, the nature of which none but those who have endeavoured to penetrate it can have an accurate idea. Its area is not less than 14,000 square miles. The Richardson River, the Yarriambiack Creek, and the River Wimmera flow northwards through it towards the River Murray; but the waters of those streams are lost in the sands. The lakes are large and the swamps are numerous in the southern and central parts; but the tract is hot in summer and cold in winter, and much of it cannot be regarded but as "back-country" for the tribes bordering on it, to be used only at certain times during each season, when the productions which it affords might tempt the Aboriginals to penetrate several parts of it. This great, dense eucalyptus thicket is somewhat in the form of a triangle as it appears on the map of Victoria. Its base extends from the confluence of the River Lindsay and the River Murray on the north to Mount Arapiles on the south; and its southern boundary reaches from Mount Arapiles in a north-easterly direction and in a broken line with numerous outlying patches of dense scrub to Inglewood; and other unconnected belts of Mallee are found between Inglewood and the junction of the River Murray with the River Loddon. Dense scrub again is found southwards covering the plains.
The mountain ranges, also, are not fitted to maintain an uncivilized people during all seasons of the year. The climate of the higher parts of the Cordillera, however agreeable in summer, is bitterly cold in winter. The flanks of the mountains which extend from Forest Hill to the Pyrenees are clothed with dense forests, and in places there are masses of scrub, some of which even yet have never been penetrated by man. These thickets cannot be passed by the colonists without great labor and much expense. They have to cut a track with the axe; water and provisions must be carried to the working party; and if the party is not strong in numbers, the attempt is relinquished. Aboriginals could never have searched but the margins of these areas. The mountain fastnesses, in winter covered with snow, and at times, in all seasons, shrouded in thick mists, were regarded with awe by the natives. Like the dark forests west of Mount Blackwood, they were held to be the abodes of evil spirits or of creatures—scarcely less to be dreaded—having the forms of men and the habits of beasts. It is certain that the blacks in the proper season occasionally visited the glens and ravines on both sides of the chain, but they did not live there. They visited them for the purpose of obtaining woods suitable for making weapons, feathers for ornament, birds and beasts for food, and for the tree-fern, the heart of which is good to eat, and for other vegetable productions.
The wide, treeless, basaltic plains which stretch from the River Wannon on the west to the River Moorabool on the east, and from Mount Cole on the north to the southern shores of Lake Korangamite on the south—an area of 8,000 square miles—were occupied by numerous small tribes. The banks of all the lakes, rivers, and creeks were frequented by them; and the ancient mirrn-yong heaps and the low walls of stone erected for shelter or other purposes are still to be seen in many parts. The plains were the resort of the emu, the wild turkey, and the native companion, and the lakes and swamps were covered with wild-fowl.
The southern parts of the counties of Heytesbury and Polwarth, now known as the Cape Otway Forest, were for the most part probably unknown to the tribes who called the Colac and Korangamite country theirs. The labor attendant on a march through this densely-wooded district would not have been undertaken but in the pursuit of enemies; and it would never have been chosen by any savage people as a permanent abode. The rains of winter and the thick fogs of autumn and spring would have been fatal to the younger members of the tribes. Whether or not any families inhabited the river basins entirely separated from the tribes who had homes on the lands lying to the north and on the coast is not known. That the Coast tribes could and did penetrate many parts of this area is not denied, but it is scarcely probable that any tribe would live in the denser parts from year to year.
It is proper then, in estimating the area available to this people for permanent settlement, to eliminate those tracts which could not of themselves support throughout the year a single tribe, also those thickly-wooded and scrubby mountain ranges which the means at the command of the natives would not allow them to penetrate, and the result is that no more than 30,000,000 acres can be considered as open to them for ordinary uses. When, further, we regard their laws, which forbid unnecessary encroachment on the lands held by their neighbours (and all the lands peculiarly their own were set out and known by landmarks), and note the localities rich in stone fit for making hatchets (common to numerous widely-separated tribes), and the debatable grounds which year after year would be the scene of conflicts, we must again make a large deduction from the above estimate.
All that is known of the original condition of the natives of Victoria points to this: that the rivers were their homes. The River Murray from Albury to the River Lindsay was well peopled; the Rivers Mitta Mitta, Ovens, Goulburn, Campaspe, Loddon, Avoca, Avon, Richardson, Glenelg, and Wimmera gave refuge to many tribes; in the lake country and on the coast and in Gippsland the tribes were numerous and strong; but as regards the rest of the land included within the boundaries of Victoria, it was either unknown or but frequented for short periods in certain seasons.
It would appear therefore that Sir Thomas Mitchell's estimate of the number of Aborigines, based on calculations made after traversing a country a great part of which consisted of wide arid plains, where no savage tribes could find, in certain seasons, either food or water, is too low; and that applying the figures based on the native population of three counties in Victoria to the whole area of the colony, Mr. Thomas's estimate is too high. Between the numbers—1,220 and 6,000—there is much left for conjecture; but if we correct Mr. Thomas's estimate, so far as to make his figures applicable to the area in Victoria available for a savage people, and subtract from the area of the counties he has cited those areas within them which are covered by dense forests and scrub, we find that the total number would not exceed 3,000—that is to say, about 18,000 acres of all kinds of country to each Aboriginal.[5]
It is impossible to give figures which will satisfy the enquirer; but, in attempting to arrive at the truth, he is enlightened and helped by the preceding descriptions.
In his journey towards the Grampians—previous to the occupation of that part of Victoria by the whites—Sir Thomas Mitchell saw very few Aborigines. Mr. Landsborough, also, in travelling southwards from Carpentaria, met with very few natives, the largest number he counted being thirty; and he believes that the country is nowhere thickly peopled; and the statements of travellers generally confirm this impression. Those who are of a different opinion must not be blamed. It is only the experienced bushman who is able to estimate the numbers of a tribe in the bush. A few—fifty or sixty—moving backwards and forwards in the bush, changing their weapons, now holding their arms aloft, and anon appearing without any in their hands (all the time dragging them between their toes), uttering wild shouts, and answered by their wives at a distance, give to a stranger the impression of a multitude of people. The inexperienced man supposes that he has seen two hundred warriors.[6] On some occasions all the tribes inhabiting a large area assemble at one spot, and a stranger seeing perhaps four hundred or five hundred natives might suppose that they were usually present at the place, and that other adjacent localities were peopled in like manner.
Again, it is known that a tribe will follow white men many scores of miles. They appear at times painted in such colors, and in such places, as to lead to the belief that they are not the same men who were seen many days previously.
I have prepared a map showing some of the areas formerly occupied by the tribes of Victoria, and though necessarily imperfect and incomplete, it is interesting.
For Gippsland, my authorities are the Rev. John Bulmer and the Rev. F. A. Hagenauer.
The Rev. Mr. Bulmer gives the following account of the lands formerly held by the people:—
The area of Gippsland is, roughly, 10,000,000 acres; and assuming that there were as many as 1,500, the number of acres to each black would be 6,666.
Mr. Hagenauer mentions the following tribes, namely:—
- Tarrawarracka, inhabiting Port Albert and Tarraville.
- Wolloom ba Belloom-belloom, on the La Trobe, at Rosedale and at Lake Reeves.
- Moonoba Ngatpan, on the Rivers Macalister and Thomson.
- Worreeke ba Koonangyang, on the Elvers Mitchell, Nicholson, and Tambo.
- Dooveraak ba Daan, on the Elvers Buchan and Snowy.
Mr. Hagenauer says that the rivers and lakes frequented by them were the following:—
| Rivers. | ||
| 1. | La Trobe | Durtyowan. |
| 2. | Thomson | Carran-carran. |
| 3. | Macalister | Woouindook. |
| 4. | Avon | Dooyadang. |
| 5. | Perry | Goonbeella. |
| 6. | Flooding (Creek) | Wayput. |
| 7. | Crooked | Naylong. |
| 8. | Merriman's (Creek) | Durtin. |
| Lakes. | ||
| 1. | Wellington | Murla. |
| 2. | Victoria | Toonallook. |
| 3. | King | Ngarran. |
| 4. | Bunga | Woonduck. |
| 5. | Reeves | Walmunyeera. |
| 6. | Jones' Bay | Nepoa Daduck (tail of the lake) |
The name of the tribe that inhabited the high plains of Omeo was, according to information furnished to the Select Committee of the Legislative Council by the late Mr. Alfred Currie Wills, formerly Police Magistrate and Warden at Omeo, Gundanora. He stated that in May 1835 there were about 500 or 600 men, women, and children resident during a few mouths of each year at their head-quarters on the elevated plain of Omeo. In 1842 they frequently assembled there in large numbers, and often killed many cattle belonging to squatters, whose stockmen, it is said, retaliated by firing on them. Their hunting and fishing grounds extended northward to the Cobboras Hills, southward and eastward to the River Tambo, and westward to the Bogong Range, viâ the Gibbo and Mitta Mitta rivers.
I have not been able to ascertain what tribes commonly frequented the Indi or Limestone River.
The Talangatta Creek, a tributary of the River Mitta Mitta, was, according to Mr. James Wilson, the hunting ground of the Ginning-matong tribe; and Mr. Thomas Mitchell states the Pallanganmiddah held a portion of the lower Kiewa.
Mr. Henry B. Lane, Police Magistrate and Warden, says that the Woradjerg tribe held the country lying between Howlong (twenty miles below Albury) and Dora Dora, some thirty or forty miles above it. The tribe named Thar-a-mirttong lived on the banks of the River Kiewa.
In a report dated the 30th October 1862, the same gentleman states that "the forty blacks to whom rations, &c., are distributed at Taugamballanga are the sole remnants of three or four once powerful tribes, each of which, even within the memory of old settlers, numbered from 200 to 300 souls. These tribes inhabited the tract of country now very nearly described on the electoral map as comprising the Murray District of the Eastern Province, and containing an area of about 2,000 square miles. Now a great portion of this country is still as free for the blacks to roam over as it was twenty years ago, being occupied only by pastoral stations, generally distant from each other fifteen or twenty miles. It is a mountainous and well-wooded district, the climate of which is decidedly more healthy and salubrious than that of the arid plains in the western portion of the colony. There are several fine rivers intersecting it, well stocked with fish; and game (such as usually affords food for the blacks) is probably still as abundant as heretofore, particularly towards that little known but singularly picturesque and beautiful part of the colony bounded by the Upper Murray or Hume River."
Echuca is the name given by Mr. Strutt as that of the tribe occupying the country near the junction of the Goulburn and Campaspe with the Murray. Mr. Henry L. Lewis, of Moira, states that the tribe in his immediate neighbourhood is named Panggarang; and that on the banks of the Murray and the Goulburn, Owanguttha. He says, also, that there is a small tribe on the Murray, at and below Moama, named Woollathara.
Below the Woollathara country, the boundaries of the lands of the tribes on the southern banks of the River Murray are well marked. The late Dr. Gummow, in reply to enquiries, was kind enough to send me a map, prepared mainly by Mr. Peter Beveridge, but partly by Dr. Gummow, showing the areas occupied by the Murray tribes from near Echuca to the junction of the River Darling with the Murray. They are as follows:—
| 1. Barraba-barraba. | 5. Waiky-waiky. |
| 2. Wamba-wamba. | 6. Litchy-litchy. |
| 3. Boora-boora. | 7. Yairy-yairy. |
| 4. Watty-watty. | 8. Darty-darty. |
Each name is the negative of the language spoken by the respective tribes.
Mr. Beveridge has written the following note on the map:—"It will be seen that the territory of the two tribes nearest Echuca does not extend far back from the Murray River. The reason for this contraction south-westerly was because of the dire feuds that always existed between the Murray tribes and those inhabiting the Rivers Campaspe and Loddon. Below Swan Hill the Murray tribes, as a rule, used to meet and mingle with those inhabiting the Avoca, Avon, and Wimmera Rivers during the winter months in each year. The desert scrubs between the two lower tribes and the Tattiara country tribes are so extensive that they were precluded from ever meeting."
Dr. Gummow, in a letter to me dated the 9th April 1872, says that he has tested Mr. Beveridge's boundaries and names of tribes by the Aborigines themselves, and, with one slight difference, all agree.
Dr. Gummow added the area occupied by the Yamba-yamba or Wamba-wamba tribe.
The Yaako-yaako tribe hold the country around Lake Victoria and the Rufus.[7]
I am indebted to the Rev. Mr. Hartmann, of the Lake Hindmarsh Station, for the divisions of the Wimmera district. The names of the tribes as given by him are as follows:—
| 1. Lail-buil | Between Pine Plains and the River Murray. |
| 2. Jakelbalak | Between Pine Plains and Lake Albacutya. |
| 3. Kromelak | Lake Albacutya. |
| 4. Wanmung Wanmungkur | Lake Hindmarsh. |
| 5. Kapun-kapunbāra | River Wimmera, towards Lake Hindmarsh. |
| 6. Dûwinbarap | West of River Wimmera. |
| 7. Jackalbarap | West of Dûwinbarap. |
| 8. Jarambiuk | Yarriambiack Creek (so called). |
| 9. Whitewurudiuk | East of Yarriambiack Creek. |
| 10. Kerabialbarap | South of Mount Arapiles. |
| 11. Murra-murra-bārap | Grampians. |
Mr. Hartmann states that the native tribes of the Wimmera proper have not a common name for all, although they may be considered as being one and the same tribe.
The boundaries of the areas occupied by the tribes in the Western district, and the names of the tribes, have been communicated by Mr. H. B. Lane. He obtained the information, he states, from Mr. Goodall, the Superintendent of the Aboriginal Station at Framlingham.
Mr. Goodall furnishes the following valuable and interesting list:—
| 1. Burhwundeirtch-Kurndeit[8] | East of Muston's Creek. |
| 2. Ynarreeb-ynarreeb | From Mount Sturgeon to Lake Boloke. |
| 3. Moporh (a country of water-holes) | West of the Hopkins River. |
| 4. Kolore | West of Muston's Creek, including Mount Rouse. |
| 5. Coonawanne | West of Emu Creek, including Mount Shadwell. |
| 6. Warrnambool (or Pertobe) | East of Merri Rivulet to Lake Terang. |
| 7. Tooram | West of Curdie's Creek. |
| 8. Keilambeitch | East of Lake Terang. |
| 9. Leehoorah | Mount Leura, Lakes Bulleen-Merri and Gnotuk. |
| 10. Korotch or Koroche | East of the River Moyne. |
| 11. Mumkelunk | Between the River Moyne and the River Shaw. |
| 12. Weereitch-weereitch | East of River Eumeralla. |
| 13. Terrin Challum | East of Salt Creek, including Mount Fyans. |
| 14. Purteet Chowel | South-east of Lake Boloke, including Mount Hamilton. |
| 15. Terrumbehal | Between the River Hopkins and Fiery Creek. |
| 16. Werupurrong | East of Fiery Creek. |
| 17. Moocherrak | South-west of the Pyrenees. |
| 18. Punnoinjon | East of the Serra Range. |
| 19. Neitcheyong | East of Mount William. |
| 20. Yourwychall | Between the River Wannon and the Grange Burn. |
| 21. Narragoort | East of Curdie's Creek. |
| 22. Mullungkill | South of Lake Purrumbete, including Mount Porndon. |
| 23. Barrath | Sherbrooke Creek, including Brown's Hill. |
The areas marked out by Mr. Charles Gray, of Nareeb Nareeb, agree very closely with those laid down by Mr. Goodall.
The areas occupied by many of the tribes are small, but each seems to have had a fair proportion of water-frontage.
It would be difficult to subdivide the tract more justly than was done by the Aborigines.
The late Mr. E. S. Parker has given the following information respecting the divisions of a portion of Victoria:—
"I found on my first investigations into the character and position of these people that the country was occupied by a number of petty nations, easily distinguished from each other by their having a distinct dialect or language, as well as by other peculiarities. Each occupied its own portion of country, and so, as far as I could learn, never intruded on each other's territory, except when engaged in hostilities, or invited by regularly-appointed messengers. Thus, for the sake of example, the country on the northern and eastern shores of Port Phillip Bay and to the northward and westward up to Mount Macedon was inhabited by the Wawurrong; the country around Geelong and to the northward of that place by the Witowurrong;[9] the Upper Goulburn by the Taoungurong; the Lower Goulburn and parts of the Murray by the Pangurang; the plains and tributaries of the Loddon by the Jajowurrong; the Pyrenees and country to the westward by the Knindowurrong; the terminations wurro or wurrong referring evidently to diversity of speech, as wurro, wurrong, in several dialects, mean the mouth, and, by a metonymy, speech or language. The petty nations have been erroneously designated tribes, as the 'Port Phillip tribe' 'the Goulburn tribe,' 'the Loddon tribe,' and so on. But the term tribe is more correctly applicable to an association of families and individuals, nearly or remotely related to each other, and owning some individual as their head or chief. And this distinction exists most clearly among the Aborigines. Each of the nations or languages I have instanced, as well as others I have thought it too tedious to enumerate, is divided into several tribes, sometimes as many as ten or twelve, each of which has a distinctive appellation, known by such terminations as bulluk, people; goondeet, men; lar, or, in other dialects, willam or illam, house or dwelling-place. Thus we have on the Goulburn the Yowang-illam, 'the dwellers on the mountain;' the Yerra-willam, 'the dwellers ou the river;' and on the Loddon, the Kalkalgoondeet, 'the men of the forest;' and from Pilawin, the native name of the Pyrenees, and Borumbeet, the well-known lake, we have Pilawin-bulluk and Borumbeet-bulluk. The terms Mallegoondeet and Millegoondeet are very precise in their application, as indicating the men of the Mallee country, or the inhabitants of the banks of the Murray, which is known for a very considerable portion of its stream by the native name of Mille. One tribe in my own neighbourhood, and a rather numerous one, is designated the Worng-arra-gerrar, literally the 'leaves of the stringybark.' Each of these tribes had its own district of country—its extent at least, and in some instances its distinct boundaries, being well known to the neighbouring tribes. The subdivision of the territory even went further than that; each family had its own locality. And to this day the older men can clearly point out the land which their fathers left them, and which they once called their own."[10]
Mr. Joseph Parker states that the Ja-jow-er-ong was divided into seven tribes, as follows:—
| 1. Leark-a-bulluk. | 4. Wong-hurra-ghee-rar-goondeetch. |
| 2. Pil-a-uhin-goondeetch. | 5. Gal-gal-bulluk. |
| 3. Kalk-kalk-goondeetch. | 6. Tow-nim-burr-lar-goondeetch. |
7. Way-re-rong-goondeetch. | |
The above claimed as their territory the country extending from Ballan on the south to the junctiou of the Serpentine and the Loddon on the north, and from the eastern slopes of Mount Macedon on the east to the Pyrenees on the west.
The names of some tribes are inserted in the map on the authority of the Local Guardians of Aborigines, whose papers, under the head of "Language," may be consulted in reference to the division of the territory in former times.
The map, though compiled with all possible care from the records in my possession, is not as complete as I had intended to make it; but it is probable that settlers throughout the country will add to it, and amend it; and the publication of it may eventually lead to the preparation of a larger and better one.
Though I have specially marked only those names of the "petty nations" mentioned by the late Mr. Parker, it is possible that some names printed as the appellations of tribes are really those of "nations." I have had to depend entirely on the information afforded by my correspondents, and though they have, I am quite sure, used all available means to arrive at the truth, there is so much difficulty in ascertaining the facts, that it is necessary to make allusion to the possibility of error.
Mr. Charles Gray, of Nareeb, who was good enough to prepare a map of his district, thus writes in a letter, dated January 1872:—"I have endeavoured to procure for you the information required, but the result of my enquiry is not at all satisfactory. In fact, my informants (born and reared near this) can only speak positively as to the boundaries of the lands occupied by their own tribe. This I have little doubt will be found the case in almost every instance. In former times, when no native dared cross the boundary of the area occupied by his own tribe, there was no opportunity of learning the boundaries of the lands of others. And I imagine that it is only from a member of a tribe that has occupied a certain area that the boundaries thereof could be learned."
I have already stated that the map furnished by Mr. Gray agrees as far as it goes very closely with the large map furnished by Mr. Goodall.
My compilation, it may be assumed, is nearly accurate in cases where boundaries are given, and one has only to lament that it is not complete for the whole colony.
The extreme difficulty of ascertaining even approximately the number of natives that are in the colony at the present time should teach caution in dealing with the estimates made when there was no machinery for collecting statistics. The Board for the Protection of the Aborigines has had the assistance, during the past sixteen years, of the Honorary Local Guardians in all parts of Victoria, and also the benefit of the labors of its salaried officers, and yet, even now, no more than a mere estimate of the numbers can be given.
Even an estimate is valuable, and it is much to be desired that the authorities in the other colonies of Australia should ascertain the number of natives now living within their territories.
In the third report of the Board, the number and distribution of the natives of Victoria were—on 25th September 1863—as follows:—
| Districts. | Localities. | Authority. | Total Number of Men, Women, and Children. | |
| Southern | Wawoorong or Yarra tribe | Green | 22 | |
| Boonoorong or Coast tribe | Thomas | 11 | ||
| 33 | ||||
| South-Western | Geelong and Colac tribes | Green | 28 | |
| Camperdown | Green | 40 | ||
| Warrnambool | Musgrove | 51 | ||
| Belfast and Port Fairy | Green | 17 | ||
| Portland | Green | 100 | ||
| Casterton | Green | 45 | ||
| Balmoral | Green | 53 | ||
| Hamilton | Learmonth | 58 | ||
| Mortlake | Green | 43 | ||
| Mount Emu and Ballarat | Porteous | 69 | ||
| Wickliffe, Mount Rouse, and Hexham | Gray | 70 | ||
| Bacchus Marsh | Maclean and Young | 33 | ||
| Franklinford | Stanbridge | 38 | ||
| 645 | ||||
| North-Western | Yaako-yaako tribe | Goodwin | 66 | |
| Yarre-yarre tribe | Goodwin | 39 | ||
| Kamink tribe | Goodwin | 27 | ||
| Kukyne, Lower Murray | Green | 50 | ||
| Swan Hill, Lower Murray | Green | 171 | ||
| Boort, Lower Loddon | Green | 65 | ||
| Gunbower | Houston | 72 | ||
| Cobram | Green | 38 | ||
| Horsham and vicinity | Speiseke | 31 | ||
| Glenelg and Mount Talbot | Speiseke | 45 | ||
| Richardson and Morton Plains | Speiseke | 52 | ||
| Lake Hindmarsh and vicinity | Speiseke | 112 | ||
| 768 | ||||
| Northern | Campaspe and Echuca | Strutt | 74 | |
| Goulburn | Green | 95 | ||
| 169 | ||||
| South-Eastern | Port Albert | Hagenaner | 17 | |
| La Trobe and Rosedale | Hagenaner | 51 | ||
| Macalister, Maffra, Upper Mitchell, Omeo, &c. | Hagenauer | 52 | ||
| Nicholson, Tambo, Bruthen, and Lake Tyers | Hagenauer | 66 | ||
| Buchan, Snowy River, &c. | Hagenaner | 35 | ||
| 221 | ||||
| North-Eastern | Tangamballanga | Green | 45 | |
| Barnawartha | Green | 27 | ||
| 72 | ||||
| 1,908 | ||||
Note.
The principle adopted last year has been adhered to in compiling the above return, namely, to obtain from one person, where possible, returns for a whole district, using the other returns only as a check. The above figures must be taken as approximations only. It would be very difficult and expensive to take a census yearly, and no good purpose would be served if it were done.}}
There is apparently a reduction in the total numbers amounting to 257, which is accounted for thus:—The Taa-Tatty and Lutchye-lutchye tribes, numbering 180, improperly included in Mr. Goodwin's return last year, are omitted in this; and, at Swan Hill, Mr. Green could find only 171 blacks, less by 44 than last year's return. The reduction, therefore, in the total sum is only 33.
Comparing the tables, district by district, it will be seen that the Southern is 1 less than last year. In the South-Western there is an increase of 71, which is thus accounted for: Franklinford, numbering 28, was omitted last year; and in other cases, more recently, careful returns made by the Honorary Correspondents have been substituted for those obtained by Mr. Green during his hasty visit to the Western district. The difference in the numbers for the North-Western district has been already explained; and those observed in the Northern, South-Eastern, and North-Eastern districts do not call for remark.
The figures in the table are sufficient to show that the Aborigines are not decreasing so rapidly as is generally supposed. If, instead of looking at the totals, which are liable to error for reasons already explained, we compare the returns made by Honorary Correspondents, who have a complete knowledge of the blacks under their charge, and who keep accurate accounts of the births and deaths, we shall see that in no case is the diminution very startling, having regard to the habits and present condition of this people.
It is to be regretted that it has been necessary to use last year's returns for some localities; but it is almost unreasonable to expect the Honorary Correspondents to make elaborate returns every year.
The Central Board are now in possession of the names and other particulars of 1,788 Aborigines; those respecting whom such information is wanting amount to 120, and they are located principally at Wickliffe, Mount Rouse, Hexham, Bacchus Marsh, and Warrnambool.
As the above return is imperfect, the Central Board would be glad if Honorary Correspondents and others possessing information would communicate with the Secretary. There is reason to believe that some Aborigines in the central part of Victoria are not included.
On the 31st May 1869, a very careful return was prepared by Mr. John Green, and the estimated total number was 1,834.
In the seventh report of the Board—under date 1st August 1871—the following statement is made:—"There is no reason to believe that there has been any great decrease in the number of Aborigines during the last few years. It is wrong to suppose because tribes are broken up and dispersed that all the members of these tribes have perished. Tribal relations and family ties are much interfered with by the whites, who now occupy the whole colony, and gladly avail themselves of the services of the blacks. Men of the Lower Murray take service in Gippsland, and men and women of the Gippsland tribes are found in the Western district. At Coranderrk, there are men, women, and children all living amicably with members of the Yarra and Goulburn tribes, who have been gathered from the Upper and Lower Murray, from Gippsland, and from the north and south-western parts of the colony.
"During the past seventeen months, the births and deaths reported by the Superintendents of the principal stations are as follows:—
| Births. | Deaths. | |
| Coranderrk | 9 | 7 |
| Lake Wellington | 5 | 3 |
| Lake Condah | 2 | 2 |
| Lake Tyers | 3 | 6 |
| Lake Hindmarsh | 3 | 7 |
| Framlingham | — | 1 |
"It is not easy accurately to ascertain the numbers of the Aborigines, but the Board does not hesitate to declare that the oft-repeated statement that the race is rapidly disappearing is by no means in accordance with fact."
The difficulty of forming an estimate of the numbers increases year by year. There are several natives employed occasionally, and some continuously, on sheep stations and farms, and the natives of Victoria now travel a good deal, and many cross the border.
The number of natives under the direct control of the Board, and living continuously at the stations formed for the support and education of the Aborigines is, at the present time (1876), as follows:—
| Coranderrk | 137 |
| Lake Hindmarsh | 67 |
| Lake Condah | 89 |
| Framlingham | 63 |
| Lake Wellington | 81 |
| Lake Tyers | 63 |
| 500 |
An epidemic of measles carried off a large number of natives both in Victoria and in the Colony of South Australia during the early part of the year 1876.
Now that the natives are no longer able to follow their old pursuits, now that they are cut off from those enjoyments which in their natural state kept them in health, now that they are held in restraint either at the stations established by the Government or where living in the neighbourhood of places peopled by whites, it is probable that the numbers will decrease, and that, as a race, they will ultimately be extinguished in Victoria. Nothing that can be provided for their sustenance and comfort can compensate for the loss they experience in being deprived of their lands, the society of their friends, and the delights of the chase.
- ↑ Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, vol. II., p. 345.
- ↑ The Aborigines of Australia: A Lecture; by E. S. Parker, 1854, pp. 13-14.
- ↑ I give this statement as it was given to me. The native warfare generally does not result in the destruction of great numbers of the belligerents. One or two may fall in battle, never to rise again; but not seldom is a war concluded without actual loss of life. Mr. Thomas, in stating that 150 persons had perished in this war, merely repeated a story he had heard. During a protracted war—if the enemy followed the ordinary practices of the Australian savages—it is possible that a number of women and children might be carried away, and some warriors killed, not in open warfare, but treacherously by night—either strangled by the noose, or knocked on the head with the club; but a war resulting in the death of 150 persons is not certainly common amongst the blacks.
Mr. Thomas, in a note dated the 17th February 1864, states that, according to his observations, the Aborigines invariably adopted natural boundaries for their territories, as rivers, creeks, and mountains. The Wawoorong or Yarra tribe claimed the lands included within the basin of the River Yarra; all waters flowing into it were theirs, and the boundaries were the dividing ranges on the north, east, and south. The Boonoorong or Coast tribe claimed in the same way all the country lying to the south of the southern rim of the Yarra basin, eastwards from the Tarwin River to Port Phillip Bay, and southwards to the sea. In 1838 there were 205 members of the Wawoorong tribe, and 87 of the Boonoorong tribe.
- ↑ The Murray cod-perch (Oligorus Macquariensis), a large fish, often three feet in length, is found only in the River Murray and its tributaries. Black-fish, trout, eels, &c., are found in the rivers which flow from the southern and south-eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range towards the sea.
- ↑ It appears from a statement in a pamphlet published by Mr. W. Westgarth in 1846, that Mr. G. A. Robinson, the Chief Protector of Aborigines in Port Phillip, had made an estimate of the number of the Aboriginal inhabitants within the area of land now known as Victoria. His estimate was 5,000—one Aboriginal to each sixteen square miles. This closely approximates to the number given by Mr. Thomas. The mean of the three estimates—that made by Mr. Thomas, that made by Mr. Robinson, and that made by me—is 4,600, nearly. Grey found it impossible to give an estimate of the number of Aborigines—not, it is presumed, because of the great multitude of them, but because of the paucity of them. He says:—"Several writers have given calculations as to the number of native inhabitants to each square mile in Australia. Now, although I have done my utmost to draw up tables which might even convey an approximate result, I have found the number of inhabitants to a square mile to vary so much, from district to district, from season to season—and to depend upon so great a variety of local circumstances—that I am unable to give any computation which I believe would even nearly approach the truth; and as I feel no confidence in the results which I have obtained, after a great deal of labor, I cannot be expected to attach much importance to those which, to my own knowledge, have, in several instances, been arrived at by others from mere guess-work."—Journal of Two Expeditions of Discovery, vol. II., p. 246.
- ↑ It is very difficult for a stranger to distinguish one Aboriginal from another. The face of one man appears to be the same as the face of another man—to the eye of one inexperienced. A Chinaman just arrived in Victoria will tell you that he sees no differences in the faces of the Europeans he meets. An Englishman, at the first sight of the people, cannot tell one Chinaman from another. It is long before one can really know a blackfellow. They seem to be all alike; and though they are alike to us, we are not alike to them. The Australian Aboriginal knows a friend at once. I have had many proofs of this instinct; and I have many times been stopped and spoken to by Aboriginals whose names or faces I could not—until after much exertion of memory—call to mind.
- ↑ Mr. Eyre, in a report dated 28th May 1842, stated that when he visited Lake Victoria there were assembled there five different parties of natives within a distance of three miles. One encampment, on the west side of Lake Victoria, was formed of the tribes from a considerable distance below the junction of the Rufus and the Murray, and consisted of probably 100 natives. The second encampment, at the junction of the Rufus and Lake Victoria, comprised the Lake tribe and those from the Murray or other sides of the Rufus, and numbered about 300. Three other parties from the eastward, inhabiting the country about the Darling and the Rufus, were not less than 200 in number. Of these—600 in all—200 were full-grown men. This far exceeded, Mr. Eyre says, any muster that he had previously thought it possible the natives could make. For sixty miles before reaching Lake Victoria he had not seen a single native. The people were living on fish they caught in the lake, of which they had abundance.
- ↑ Kurndeit signifies a country or tribe, and may be added to any of the names.
- ↑ Dr. Thompson informed the Honorable A. F. A. Greeves that when Geelong was his sheep-run, with two hundred miles of water frontage, he ascertained from W. Buckley and others, to whom he had made gifts of blankets, &c., that the Geelong tribe of Aboriginals numbered one hundred and seventy-three souls (men, women, and children). In 1853 they numbered thirty-four souls only, including but one person under ten years of age. They died chiefly of pulmonary affections, and of diseases brought on by over-indulgence in intoxicating liquors.
There were other causes at work, however, that are not mentioned by Dr. Thompson. When the colony was first settled, the diminution in the numbers of the natives was very rapid. Quarrels occurred between the whites and the blacks, and how many of the latter were slain will never be known.
- ↑ The Aborigines of Australia; A lecture; by Edward Stone Parker, 1854, pp. 11-12.