TRAVEL CLUB.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 230, 28 September 1935, Page 23

TRAVEL CLUB.

TOURISTS IN QUEENSLAND.

WITH THE ABORIGINALS,

Motor travel with all its drawbacks and compensations was most interestingly dealt with at yesterday's tea of the Auckland Travel Club at Milne and Choyco's reception room by Mr. A. Banks, a retired Rotorua school teacher, who recently, with Mrs. Banks, completed a tour from Sydney to Townsville, a journey of 2028 miles. The visitors were welcomed by Lady Sinclair Lockliart. Mr. Banks said the roads in the "waybacks" of Queensland were not to be compared with those of New Zealand backblocks, and there was also an absence of the excellent system of direction posts which are the pride of the A.A.A. in New Zealand. Mr. Banks said that before leaving Auckland he intiTYintpd to the A.A.A. tnat he wished to take his car to Australia. He handed it over .and at Sydney the day aftei l s arrival the car was there ready foi linn. Everything the A.A.A. had done was done without charge.

Mr. Banks said he had been giv® n ample opportunity to study the life, customs and conditions of the aboriginals These people, lie said, had their own settlements, or, rather, settlements controlled by the Queensland Government, which appointed a chief inspector over each ''colony." Every year police magistrates paid visits to the settlements and subsequently reported to the Gove ™" men t The settlements were self-con-tained, and the cost to the Government was approximately 3/ per head per week. The aboriginals grew numerous crops, but the produce was not sent to market to compete with private growers. The aboriginals lived in small, huts, and the boys and girls were kept apart. They received a certain amount of education, but it was not nearly of the high standard given to nativps in New Zealand. Ml- Banks described Queensland scenery, including the wonderful falls at- Cairns and the coral reefs at Green Island just off the coast of Cairns. He also spoke of the weird dances of the aboriginals and many other strange incidents. He was accorded a vote of thanks by acclamation.