ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA

Taranaki Daily News, 9 July 1929, Page 3

ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA

' NOT A VANISHING RACE. [x The last aboriginal native of Tasmania died in 1876, and it is customary to speak regretfully of the Australian aborigine generally as “a vanishing race.” But is this opinion in accord with the statistical information available? It seems not. The Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics has prepared tables showing that the number of full-blooded aborigines in Australia is 60,000, while there are upwards of 17,000 half-castes, many of whom are living in a nomadic state. An eminent authority on the Australian aborigines, Dr. W. Ramsay Smith, remarks that it is impossible to form any accurate estimate of the number of aborigines in Australia at the time when the white man first arrived there, but he mentions that modern writers show a remarkable unanimity in recording the aboriginal population at the time of the first settlement as 150,000. . ±it, * All that can be said of this is that it is a mere guess. When the Commonwealth first came into being it was found that the aborigines enumerated a« the census of 1901 numbered 41,389. They were distributed as follows:— West Australia 5,261 Victoria •••••••• •New South Wales .... 4,Zb7 Queensland . South Australia 26,4a3 But precise numerical information regarding the aborigines still in the state was of a most untenable nature and could be regarded as the result of mere guesswork. In 1911 the Commonwealth authorities announced the total number of aborigines “in the employ of Whites hi Australia as 19,939. In January of last year the Commonwealth Bureau published the- net results of the last three censuses of aborigines a 51925 62,394 full-bloods, 13,393 half192g—59,296 full-bloods, 15,102 halfofis tes 1927 —59,945 full-bloods, 15,468 halfCcistcs. • Reading ’i&ese figures in.: connection

with those just published, it is clear that the aboriginal natives are not “a vanishing race” by any means. Indeed, it seems that they are actually increasing slightly in numbers, or at least are holding -fheir own. —Melbourne Herald.