Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 2

by George Grey

5. The plea generally set up in defence of this principle is that the natives of this country are a conquered people, and that it is an act of generosity to allow them the full power of exercising their own laws upon themselves; but this plea would appear to be inadmissible; for, in the first place, savage and traditional customs should not be confounded with a regular code of laws; and secondly, when Great Britain insures to a conquered country the privilege of preserving its own laws, all persons resident in this territory become amenable to the same laws, and proper persons are selected by the Government to watch over their due and equitable administration; nothing of this kind either exists or can exist with regard to the customs of the natives of Australia; between these two cases then there is no apparent analogy.

6. I would submit therefore that it is necessary from the moment the aborigines of this country are declared British subjects, they should, as far as possible, be taught that the British laws are to supersede their own, so that any native who is suffering under their own customs may have the power of an appeal to those of Great Britain; or, to put this in its true light, that all authorized persons should, in all instances, be required to protect a native from the violence of his fellows, even though they be in the execution of their own laws.

7. So long as this is not the case the older natives have at their disposal the means of effectually preventing the civilization of any individuals of their own tribe, and those among them who may be inclined to adapt themselves to the European habits and mode of life will be deterred from so doing by their fear of the consequences that the displeasure of others may draw down upon them.

8. So much importance am I disposed to attach to this point that I do not hesitate to assert my full conviction that, whilst those tribes which are in communication with Europeans are allowed to execute their barbarous laws and customs upon one another, so long will they remain hopelessly immersed in their present state of barbarism: and, however unjust such a proceeding might at first sight appear, I believe that the course pointed out by true humanity would be to make them from the very commencement amenable to the British laws, both as regards themselves and Europeans; for I hold it to be imagining a contradiction to suppose that individuals subject to savage and barbarous laws can rise into a state of civilization which those laws have a manifest tendency to destroy and overturn.

9. I have known many instances of natives who have been almost or quite civilized being compelled by other natives to return to the bush; more particularly girls who have been betrothed in their infancy and who, on approaching the years of puberty, have been compelled by their husbands to join them.

10. It is difficult to ascertain the exact effect the institutions of a country produce upon the character of its inhabitants; but it may be readily admitted that, if two savage races of equal mental endowments, and with the same capacity for civilization, were subject to two distinct sets of laws, the one mild and favourable to the development of civilization, the other bloodthirsty and opposed to it, the former race might gradually be brought to a knowledge of Christianity and civilization, whilst precisely similar efforts made with regard to the latter might be attended with no beneficial result.

11. Again, it would be unfair to consider the laws of the natives of Australia as any indication of the real character of this people; for many races who were at one period subject to the most barbarous laws have, since new institutions have been introduced amongst them, taken their rank among the civilized nations of the earth.

12. To punish the aborigines severely for the violation of laws of which they are ignorant would be manifestly cruel and unjust; but to punish them in the first instance slightly for the violation of these laws would inflict no great injury on them, whilst by always punishing them when guilty of a crime, without reference to the length of period that had elapsed between its perpetration and their apprehension, at the same time fully explaining to them the measure of punishment that would await them in the event of a second commission of the same fault, would teach them gradually the laws to which they were henceforth to be amenable, and would show them that crime was always eventually, although it might be remotely, followed by punishment.

13. I imagine that this course would be more merciful than that at present adopted; namely, to punish them for the violation of a law they are ignorant of, when this violation affects a European, and yet to allow them to commit this crime as often as they like when it only regards themselves; for this latter course teaches them not that certain actions, such, for instance, as murder, etc., are generally criminal, but only that they are criminal when exercised towards the white people, and the impression consequently excited in their minds is that these acts only excite our detestation when exercised towards ourselves, and that their criminality consists not in having committed a certain odious action, but in having violated our prejudices.

14. In the vicinity of towns where there is a certain judicial force, and where, on account of the facility of obtaining food, the natives always congregate, it would, by a steady and determined line of conduct, be comparatively easy to enforce an observance of the British laws; but, even partially to attain this object in the remote and thinly settled districts, it is necessary that each colony should possess an efficient mounted police, a portion of whom should be constantly in movement from district to district, whilst another portion, resident in a central situation, should be ready to act instantly in any direction where their presence was required. I do not apprehend that this body need be numerous, for their utility would depend more on their activity and efficiency than on their numbers. It is absolutely necessary, for the cause of humanity and good order, that such a force should exist; for so long as distant settlers are left unprotected and are compelled to take care of and avenge themselves, so long must great barbarities necessarily be committed; and the only way to prevent great crime on the part of the natives, and massacres of these poor creatures as the punishment of such crimes, is to check and punish their excesses in their infancy: it is only after becoming emboldened by frequent petty successes that they have hitherto committed those crimes which have drawn down so fearful a vengeance upon them.