[Journals Of Expeditions Of Discovery Into Central Australia And Overland From Adelaide To King George’s Sound In The Years 1840-1 Volume 2. by Edward John Eyre]@TWC D-Link bookJournals Of Expeditions Of Discovery Into Central Australia And Overland From Adelaide To King George’s Sound In The Years 1840-1 Volume 2. CHAPTER I 30/45
The lives of aboriginal natives known to have been destroyed are many, and if the testimony of natives be admissible, the amount would be great indeed; but even in cases where the Aborigines are said to be the aggressors, who can tell what latent provocation existed for perpetrating it? Of the numerous cases that could be cited, the following from a recent journal of an assistant protector, Mr.Parker, of the Lodden, will suffice to shew the insurmountable difficulty, I may add the impossibility, of bringing the guilty parties to justice, for in nine cases, I may say, out of ten, where natives are concerned, the only evidence that can be adduced is that of the Aborigines. "This evidence is not admissible.
Indeed the want of a code, suited to the Aborigines, is now so strongly felt, and of such vital importance to the welfare and existence of the natives, that I earnestly trust that this important subject may be brought under the early consideration and notice of Her Majesty's Government. "The following is the extract from Mr.Parker's journal referred to: 'On the 8th of March 1841, I proceeded to the Pyrenees to investigate the circumstances connected with the slaughter of several Aborigines, by a Mr.Frances.On the 9th and 10th I fell in with different parties of natives.
From the last of these I obtained some distressing statements, as to the slaughter of the blacks; they gave me the names of seven individuals shot by Mr.Frances within the last six months.
I found, however, no legal evidence attainable.
The only persons present in the last and most serious affair with the Aborigines, which took place in December of last year, were Frances, a person named Downes, and a stock-keeper in Melbourne.
<<Back Index Next>> D-Link book Top TWC mobile books
|