Examination before the Committee of the Legislative Council, 1838.—Extracts from the Minutes of Evidence on the Aborigines Question.
Lieutenant Richard Sadleir, R.N., Liverpool, examined:—
When I first arrived here, in 1826, I was employed on a tour of inquiry as to the state of the aborigines, by order of the Home Government, and under the immediate direction of Mr. Archdeacon Scott.
I proceeded first into Argyle, and examined into the numbers of the tribes, and as to their intercourse with the whites, and the cause of the disputes with them.
From the Murrumbidgee, I struck off to Bathurst, pursuing the same inquiries, and from thence, I went 80 miles below Wellington Valley, on the Macquarie River; afterwards to the head of Hunter’s River, which I traced down to Newcastle.
I had with me only one man, two horses, and a cart.
I sometimes ventured from 30 to 60 miles beyond the stations of the whites, and on one occasion reached a tribe consisting of about 100 persons, at the Cataract, on the Macquarie, who had never seen white people. I made them presents, and was received in a friendly manner, and remained with them for the night.
I had intended to have proceeded further, but was apprehensive of danger in doing so, and therefore returned, accompanied for some distance by the tribe, who, however, would not go to the establishment at Wellington Valley, but took alarm about 9 miles from thence, and left me.
I think it would be dangerous for a single individual to go amongst the native tribes beyond the white settlements. It would be a perilous undertaking, but one which I have already ventured upon myself, and it is a well-known fact that whites have lived amongst them for years, as in the case of Buckley, and some bushrangers. There would be a difficulty in communicating with any but the tribe whose language had been previously acquired, from the difference of dialect, nor can I conceive that an individual could effect any extensive good by so exposing himself. The only instance I have ever heard of was that of Mr. Robinson, of Van Diemen’s Land. It is, however, certain that a small body of Europeans may travel amongst them well armed and maintaining a conciliatory spirit, as in the case of Mr. Eyre and others, in their journeys to South Australia, and also Captain Sturt and Mr. Cunningham. Indeed we see stock stations extended amongst them, where there have been but a very few white persons, and those persons having shown a spirit of conciliation, have not been molested; whereas in other instances, where, in all probability a different spirit had been exhibited, aggression has followed. Impressed, therefore, with this opinion, I wrote to the Moravians to say that I thought their system of missions would be well suited to this people, inviting them to send out a missionary, conceiving that if small bodies of stockmen (men of depraved habits) could venture to reside amongst them, a small community of virtuous people, such as the Moravians, would not only be secure, but likely to effect much good.
Respecting the office of Protectors, if they are persons qualified to fill the office, and Magistrates, I conceive that they may be of great benefit both to the whites and the aborigines, as at present both parties have much reason to complain of the impossibility of obtaining justice; the natives have to endure a variety of wrongs, without any means of redress but by retaliation; and the whites are placed in much the same situation; the consequence is that there ever has been, and must continue to be, a system of reprisal, often leading to the most atrocious acts of violence on both sides; but more especially inexcusable on the part of the whites, who have in several instances practised barbarities on these people, revolting to human nature, which have been overlooked, in consequence of there being no public officer to apprehend and prosecute the parties.