One of the singular circumstances of a European of the name of Buckley living with these aboriginals for a long period is worthy of mention here. Buckley enlisted as a soldier, but was transported for having in his possession a parcel of stolen clothes, which a female had asked him to take charge of. He was sent to Westport, and with two others effected his escape from the ship, and after wandering about the bush nearly starved, he fell in with a family of the aborigines, with whom he lived a month or two, but being desirous of reaching Sydney, he left them and wandered to the Yan Yean, where Melbourne now stands; from thence he wandered to Geelong, where he met a tribe of blacks, who were much astonished to see him, but treated him with kindness, and took him with them to the Barwon River, where they, 200 blacks, viewed him with much astonishment. The blacks supposed he had been a black, changed to white—a supposition very general. They treated him kindly and gave him a wife, but fearing jealousy, he transferred her to another man. Shortly afterwards, he and one of his companions, long separated, met, but this man behaved so badly towards the women, that Buckley insisted on his leaving the tribe, which he did, and he heard afterwards that he was dead. Buckley lived some years with the Geelong tribe, and acquired their language, always impressing on them that he had been a blackfellow, so as to secure his safety. He says, “Having the best hut, and a good fire, the children congregated about me, and I told them of English ships, tools, and wars, &c., to which both adults and children listened with wonder, but they did not like the idea that I should leave them. On their missing me once, when I went to wash, they made great search, and when they found me, an old man burst into tears, and rejoiced at the discovery. Their numbers had greatly decreased, owing to their wars and cruelties. Their expeditions are generally in the night; men, women, and children are then murdered wholesale. I often reflected on the goodness of Providence in preserving me, but I did not venture to instruct them, fearing that they would injure me; they do not think of a superintending Providence.”
They believe, he says, in two spirits, whom they treat with great respect. One of these they believe resides in a certain marsh, and is the author of all their songs; he communicates by his songs, and these songs are circulated through the tribes, and they have them new every year. The other spirit they believe has charge of the pole that props up the sky, and they stand in dread lest the sky should fall down and destroy them. Just before the Europeans came to Port Phillip, in 1836, there was much conversation about this spirit—that he had sent a message to the effect that in order to repair the sky-props, he needed immediately some tomahawks, which were to be made out of the carts used by the sealers at Western Port. On this report, the natives went down to Western Port and stole a cart, such as the sealers used, and made tomahawk handles out of the spokes of the wheels.
Although Buckley had heard that the whalers now visited Western Port, he had become so reconciled to his way of living, that he lost all desire to return to civilization, and feared meeting with any of the white people.
He became such an adept at fishing, that he supplied not only his own tribe but others with food. The tribe he lived with were cannibals. They ate the flesh of enemies they had slain, not to satisfy hunger, but from a belief that they obtained some particular virtue thereby; but some were content with rubbing the fat into their bodies.
Promiscuous intercourse was common, and the husband often consented to it, and then beat his wife for submitting to it.
They warned their children from going where the dead were buried; and when an infant they loved died, they placed the body in a hollow tree until it had shrunk up so that they could carry it about. The same practice exists in the north.
Their principal food is the wombat, an animal that burrows, which they kill by thrusting a boy feet foremost into the hole, who, when reaching the animal, pushes it to the end of the hole, and then makes a noise so that the men above may mark the spot, and make an entrance for the purpose of seizing the animal. The porcupine is another dainty, roasted on the fire; the flesh is excellent.
About eight years before the settlement at Port Phillip, some Europeans had gone up the river in a boat, landed, and left a tomahawk behind them. Buckley was much agitated at the news.
When the European settlers with Mr. Batman arrived, Buckley did not discover himself for some time, as he had no desire to leave the blacks. He, however, suddenly appearing to some horsemen with his spears and opossum cloak, and being a very large man, astonished the whites by his visit. For some time he could not endure European clothing. He was appointed by the Governor as overseer of the blacks at the mission institution, at a salary of £60 per annum, having received his freedom, but never appeared happy. He afterwards was appointed as constable at Hobart Town, where he died. It appears he had lived nearly thirty years in that savage condition.