A DYING RACE

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 112, 14 May 1927, Page 9

A DYING RACE

AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES

ROYAL COMMISSION URGED

(From Oui" Own Corrtsptndent.)

SYDNEY, sth May.

Much has been written, and said concarning the gradual extinction of ttu Australian aborigines, and statistifci only too strongly emphasise what writers and speakers contend. The area ia which the natives live the lives o* pr#civilisation days has contracted greatlyj during the last two decades, and as their old haunts have disappeared and theirj contact with white men increased, so have their numbers fallen.

Members of a deputation which this week interviewed the Minister of Homo and Territories (Mr. C. W.^Marr) madej startling allegations concerning the causes of the decline in the aborigines' numbers. In asking for a Royal Com* mission to investigate the present position of aboriginal tribes the deputation, consisting of scientists, missionaries, 1 and others, suggested that Australia was being, humiliated in the eyes of| the world, and the Commonwealth's ability for mandatory administration was being doubted because of the disregard by the Australian Government of the welfare and the future of dwindling aboriginal tribes. !It was suggested, that the scope of the inquiry, should include the. operations of the various missions anil the possibilities ty" natives in civilised life;

Mr. Aubrey Williams, a Sydney journalist, revealed how sypTiilis and influenza wero carrying off the aborigines^ and the smoking of .opium supplied by; Asiatics in Northern Australia was degenerating the tribes. "There are common rumours in the North-West off Western Australia," he declared, "that when natives become what is considered a nuisance, cyanide is put in their, meat or arsenic in their flour. I cannot saywb other that is true, but it would be interesting and important "to know if that is going ou to-day. Or the transcontinental line a oiice-uumcr-ous tribe, following its contact with whites, has been decimated by drink and sickness. In Wyndham racial feeling against, the blacks runs almost as high as it does ia some American towns., Expressions of sympathy with: the natives are vigorously discounteiiane.ed."

Bishop Gilbert White, who has spent a lifetime .among*, the aborigines, ia Northern Australia, declared that everything had been taken from the aborigines, and the startling decrease ia their numbers was partly attributable to the fact that they were left with no object in life and with nothing to interest them. He combated views-that the Australian aborigines wi>re mentally the lowest race on earth. Their marriage system was complicated,' strict, and gave evidence of intelligence. He had seen the Royal -Albert Medal nvesented to a full-blooded abor« igino who. when Under arrest and iii chains, swam a river and rescued a constable who was escorting him when the) latter""s horse fell and was washed: along tin.stream. The natives, too, pos? sessed remarkable musical ability. Ha knew of a brass band of aboriginal women whose playing had been highly; praised.

(Messaces marked "BrlHs!) - Official Wire* less," published In tbls Issue, art Mot cut by the Imperial Affairs Branch of (bt Prfma Minister's Department or the New Ittlaa* GorersmeDt.) ,„ - ■ • - _ . •_ ■ -.-.