The Aborigines of Australia

by R.N. Richard Sadleir

The spear is the chief weapon, and is thrown by help of a throwing-stick (woomera), by which an increased leverage is obtained. Some of them are barbed, and deadly in their effect. The shafts of some are of heavy wood, others of reed.

The shields with which they defend themselves are of either bark or wood, and the dexterity with which they ward off the spears is astonishing. I have seen in a case of punishment, when the criminal had to stand all alone and to defend himself from the shower of spears cast at him, that he stood perfectly self-possessed. On these occasions perhaps a hundred or more natives are assembled. The criminal stands at a certain distance until a given number of spears have been cast at him.

The boomerang is another weapon of very singular formation. It is a crooked blade, very like the blade of a steamer’s screw, and much on that principle. It is cast by the hand, and gyrates through the air, and can be so thrown as to return to the feet of the thrower; or in a longer flight, dancing along the ground. It is particularly hard to guard against, from the curvature of its motion. It is used for killing birds on the wing, and can be thrown to a distance of 150 yards. The late Sir Thomas Mitchell fashioned a propeller for a steam-boat on this principle.

Their manufactures are few. Their canoes are miserable vessels, made out of a sheet of bark tied up at the ends. But having no great lakes to cross, like in America, nor any very dangerous rivers, they answer the purpose of ferrying two or three persons over at a time, if great care be exercised.

The late Admiral King describes the natives as having canoes 18 feet long, capable of containing eight persons in some instances, made out of trees; while the natives on the coast capture dugong, from which the celebrated oil is procured. Some of these fish weigh from 12 lbs. to 14 lbs.; they live on marine plants.

There is certainly some indication here of a higher order of natives than those generally dispersed to the south. Probably they were at one time higher in civilization than at present.

They make baskets and mats from the bark of the mallee tree, and the latter also from sea-weed, which sometimes serves the purpose of a bed. But their cloaks, made of opossum skins, prepared and sewn together with sinews, form comfortable, and warm garments. They likewise dress other skins—of the kangaroo and native cat, sewing them together with the sinews of the kangaroo’s tail. Their stone axes are merely stones ground down to an edge and fastened to a handle by gum and thread, and require the exercise of much patience in cutting through wood, &c.

The name given to the river Bogan is probably a corruption of Bungan. One of the early explorers maintains that the name of the Bogan was Bungan-Gallo. The course of the river is less circuitous than that of the Macquarie, and the rate of the current averages about 4 miles per hour.

Of the many aboriginal tribes mentioned in the narratives of the old explorers, not one can be said to exist, and the numerous wandering remnants are dying off. The few gins and blackfellows that I saw at the stations are very useful to the settlers, but in most cases the blacks come and go when they please. Sir Thomas Mitchell mentions three great tribes: 1. The Bultje, composed of many intelligent natives. This tribe numbered about 120 in 1835. Their hunting grounds were around the head waters of the Bogan. The local peculiarity of this tribe was that one, or in some cases two, of the front teeth of the males were extracted on their arriving at the age of fourteen. 2. The Myall tribe, who inhabited the central parts about Cudduldry, at the great bend of the Bogan to the northward. These natives had many curious customs. Some of the young men were gaily dressed with feathers, and were apparently formed into some sort of society or association, as they were all called by one name, “Talambe,” and great interest was taken in them by the other members of the tribe. What their chief or leader’s name was, or what were their purposes, were never mentioned, nor by any accident did any solution of the secret transpire. These natives did not extract the front teeth. 3. The Bungan tribe, inhabiting the Bogan between Cambelego and Mount Hopeless. They were less subtle and dissimulating than the Myalls. 4 and 5. Two tribes lower down the Bogan, the haunts of one being eastward of New Year’s Range, and those of the other to the north of the Pink Hills. Both these tribes were described as being inoffensive, and of a friendly disposition. They were terrified at the sight of cattle, and still more afraid of sheep. The principal food of these various tribes consisted of opossum, kangaroo, and emu. Fishing, which was left entirely to the gins, was effectually yet simply performed by a moveable dam of long, twisted dry grass, through which water only could pass. This being pushed from one end of the pond or water-hole to the other, all the fish were necessarily driven before it and captured. The gins further used to gather fresh-water mussels (which abound in the mud of these holes), by lifting the shells out of the mud with their toes. A small plant with a yellow flower, called Tao by the natives, was pointed out to me. It grows in the grassy places near the river, and on its root the young children used chiefly to subsist. About as soon as they could walk, they were taught to pick about the ground for these roots, and to dig out the larvæ of ant-hills. Wild honey would appear to have been also plentiful.

Adding a few notices from Mr. Eyre’s journal, and Captain Sturt’s also, and Sir Thomas Mitchell’s exploration:⁠—Mr. Eyre describes the food of the natives to be often the wild fruits of the forest. Although there is in New Holland very little of what can be called fruit, yet Mr. Eyre speaks of a kind of plum or gooseberry which grows in the sand near Spencer’s Gulf, which is acid and pleasant to eat, and on which the natives live for some time. Also, a description of wild grape has been found by the explorers. Sir Thomas Mitchell used to say all these fruits wanted was to be “fattened.”