AUSTRALIA'S BLACKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18519, 2 October 1923, Page 8

AUSTRALIA'S BLACKS.

CHECKING EXTINCTION.

RESULTS ' IN QUEENSLAND,

. [FIIOK, OTTE OWN CciERESEONDENT.'] ";v '~ 'SYDNEY,' Se?>t.' 19.

': It is generally- supposed that the Australian aboriginal is fast '[dying qut, and. that -in a few years he will be a - bygone type. This, . probably, is,only, too • true," as contact with '- civilisation has \ had. the most disastrous consequences to 'this primitive people, and there •/ is 'little hope, that'; they will be ' brought' to respond freely 'to its better influences. ' : , < /Anthropologists, in fad?,, have : come to the conclusion that complete segregation in great reserves of their own is the only hope of saving them from extinction. Recent reports fromrQueensland and Western Australia, where'the results of > such / segregation have been carefully observed, give / a hopeful view of its efficacy ' not only in arresting the decline but of actually stimulating the vitality of the race. :=■■.'• The latest official report on the question in the northern; State is to the;effect that statistics for 1921 and 1922 disclose 1 the interesting ; : fact that contrary\7to-: the common belief the natives are not dying out fast. ' Each % of' these years shows an increase of births over ■■ deaths..-' In the three previous years—lolß,: 1919, 1920— deaths exceeded births, but' this was entirely due to the decimating effect of the pneumonic influenza epidemic. This improved vitality./ is 'particularly >' noticeable on \ self-contained :;; reserves, where / the • native vis segregated v from -the/^evils'- to which, if the popular prophecy is to ■be fulfilled, their extinction will .be due. v Steady and, satisfactory progress is re-, ported 'at all the schools. ■, The; boys are! taught / farming, fencing,/ bush carpentering, care of stock, milking, and general handiwork, and the;, girls are trained in domestic accomplishments i and find: occupation in the making; of clothing for themselves and the younger'children; Fancy' needlework, basket /and: mat weaving, are engaged in during spare, time. : The aboriginal population of■ ; the State Usl approximately ; 17,000, , and the /total expenditure by the Aborigines Protection-Department last year was £41,318. -\ ," ,•:<.„.;.-;■, '/■ ■■" Reports/,;, from/. inland - ; districts show generally good /healthi except : for scattered cases o£ 'disease, but the coastal in-: stitutionsf especially^n, the Gulf and Torres Straits, suffered several severe epidemics. It is > proposed to establish /a: settlement or mission /on the east coast of the; peninsula to check illegal recruiting and save natives from degrading abuses, >•/■; also a hospital for ! isolation and treatment of the various diseases. ■ V " " "