THE WEST AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13454, 3 June 1907, Page 6

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES.

STATEMENTS BY A CATHOLIC

BISHOP.

A short time ago it -was stated in our cables how Dr. Gibney, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Perth, had written to the press making serious accusations regarding the treatment— ill-treatment— the aborigines in West Australia. In the course of the letter he said: " ; "It is not my purpose in reverting to the question of the treatment of the natives of West Australia to again review the past; that has had sufficient exposure. My object—and I think I may be pardoned for it, because the credit of the State is still involved—is to draw attention to the lethargy of the authorities in the direction of preventing a continuance of the abuses that were exposed only two years ago. I will leave out of the question the barbari-

ies of the past; I only desire to allude to

the conditions that exist at the present time, and from what can be gathered are likely to continue to exist unless some compelling force is used to bring about the change that all wish to see effected. Is the important fact forgotten that the land we are living in was originally the property of the natives, and that we have not compensated them-for having appropriated it? Some will say that we are recompensing them by voting £10,000 yearly towards their maintenance, but how far will that amount go when it is remembered that the known population of the natives who are in contact with whites numbers 12,000? From this munificent amount quoted we must deduct administrative expenses, and the natives will have left, perhaps, 15s per head per annum. There are thousands who do not benefit to. the slightest extent from the vote, and, driven, as they frequently are, to commit acts of depredation, arrest follows, and then commence the barbarous practices which have been exposed often, but which, in spite of everything, are permitted to form part of a system that has everything to condemn it. Why does it continue? It must be because the black is not regarded as a fellow-being ', by those whose duty it is to protect and help them. . "The tarnish on the reputation of the State still remains, and nothing is being done te remove it. What an opinion must outsiders have formed of us? Only recently Dr. Klaatsch, in a paper he read 1 "before the Adelaide Congress, alluded to native atrocities that existed in West Australia. This scientist, like Dr. Roth, conducted investigations :in our northern parts, and learned what others knew, and he related to the congress his conclusions. The statements were allowed to go out to the world unchallenged, and so it must be gathered that they carried the hallmark of approval. Indeed, it is admitted that a relic of barbarism in the shape of chaining the natives by the neck . still exists. True, the Government, after the disclosures made by Dr. Roth, decided that lighter chains should be used, but the system is still inhuman, and reveals the fact: that because of • their colour these unfortunate people are shown no form of mercy. I have known instances of the repeated slaughter of natives, and as thesw have occurred during my period of residence in the State, they cannot be alluded to as ancient history. But as far as I know, the decadence of the race in more recent times is not altogether due to this cause. The country which ' yielded them support has been taken from them, not only in _ West Australia, :.but throughout the continent, and no adequate return has' been made to them. In many directions, especially in the Northern Territory, settlers, have taken : up extensive runs for their sheep, and cattle. The ■ kangaroo, opossum, and wild fowls,: etc. on which the natives were accustomed to live, soon disappeared. They are often told to clear off, which they are reluctant to do. Anyone with a humane heart would cry pitv. If they remain they must starve. If they Kill a sheep they go to prison. If they go into the territory of the other tribes, they will be speared! "Of all these evils,'the- prison has the greatest terror for them. The arrest is what the poor natives call 'war,' and it is truly war for them. , They are terrorised. Arrested indiscriminately, often chained one to another, and then to the necks of the police horses. Very seldom they escape conviction ; many of • them do not know for what offence they. get imprisonment for years, and are kept in chains day and nigire. Most of them do not live long after their arrest; burials from the native prisons : are, therefore, common. Treatment of this description to dumb animals would .be counted gross cruelty, yet to the natives it is. claimed to be what the law demands. And this, too, to a race of aboriginal humanity occupying the north'west of this State, which can boast of .being physically well-formed men, and, as I can bear witness, honest, kind-hearted, and moral. ' , ; '

"It has been suggested that reserves should be established wherein to keep the offenders, but apparently the idea has not commended, itself to those, in authority, for nothing more than the suggestion made two years ago has ever been heard. This, and the like behaviour of the whites towards the natives, is largely responsible for the rapid extinction of the race. In the sixties, when I covered a ! great deal of the settled parts of this territory,, natives were to .be met with in every direction. To-day tliere is not a sign of them in or near the settled districts, except occasionally in isolated places. What has become of them? They have died of starvation. The lands they used to call theirs became occupied by whites, and the game, etc. on which the natives lived disappeared, and, as I have stated, if thev took a lamb to supply food instead of the vanished kangaroo they were imprisoned. " The State has not assisted. to preserve the race; on the contrary,, it has done much towards its annihilation. But for the

! grand work performed by the Benedictines since 18ft, when they established a mission, it is difficult to conjecture what i might have befallen many of the natives who came under the 'beneficent control of this organisation. The Benedictines' success with the aborigines was assured from the very inception of the work; yet a Government that called itself, paternal made an allowance of the beggarly sum of £200 per annum. : There were •'other missions

tablished at other centres by different re

ligious bodies, viz., at Wanneroo, York, Busselton, Albany, etc., but from these the [natives reaped no benefit. It was those who were given the misnomer of custodians who gained, the advantage. The natives could not.be induced'to leave their particular haunts, and, consequently, refused to igo near these places. I knew of "one of these, institutions that received from '.'■ the Aborigines' Protection Board £100 per annum for the maintenance of - three- native children.'' " • ~.'" ■ / :