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Chapter 1.  

"Bloody invasion, Christianity, 

and the Vagrancy Act (1836)"

"Aborigines performing a ritual in the earliest years of European settlement."

[Source: Turnbull, C., A Concise History of Australia (Thames and Hudson, 1965) p.11]

Commentary on the documents 1771 - 1837

incomplete

Cook and Banks, and Military Governors from Phillip to Snodgrass: Orders to Governors about Aborigines,

some Standing Orders, two Proclamations (1835 and 1837) and the 1836 Vagrancy Act  , all referring to Aborigines

Preliminary note: - to read the chronologically organised, complete texts of the digitised documents referred to, without this commentary, click  Chapter 1, Documents only (1771-1837) Highlighted by the use of red font in the following primary source documents, are any references to New South Wales Government military action against Aboriginal people; references to the use of firearms against the Aborigines by the settlers; references to specific Aboriginal rights, and references to the extinguishment of specific Aboriginal rights by Government Proclamation or Standing Order. The documents are organised in strict chronological order, so that the story can be seen to unfold from day to day, month to month, and century to century in following Chapters (incomplete.)

Chapter 1 covers the period 1771 - 1837, including documents deriving from Cook and Banks, and Military Governors from Phillip to Snodgrass. This period also generates some Standing Orders, two Proclamations, and the 1836 Vagrancy Act, the first Act referring to Aboriginal people to be passed by the New South Wales Government. The function of the documents is to be a brief of evidence. The Commentary points out the relevant words in each document, providing Webster's Twentieth Century Dictionary definitions of key terms, to show that every New South Wales Government administration was to flout every part of Governor Philip's instructions of 1787, and was able to carry out the progressive extinguishment of Aboriginal rights with impunity.

Between 1788 to 1837, the period of administration examined in Chapter 1, which ends at the commencement of the era of the Gipps Government, the New South Wales Government is considered as a self-perpetuating, self-rewarding entity whose political affiliations, in any particular era, are not considered relevant by this critique; as the words of the Military Governors' correspondence, the Debates as revealed in the New South Wales Legislature's Votes and Proceedings, and in the Statutes passed by the Government; of any time, and of any political affiliation; reveal, with a very few exceptions, an equally repugnant policy towards the rights and welfare of New South Wales Aborigines, on the part of every single Governor, Member of Parliament, and political party in power, from 1788 to today. 

From the moment when Governor Phillip unfurled the British flag in Sydney Cove on the evening of 26 January 1788, and made his claim for sovereignty in the name of the British Crown, "centuries of development of English law took instant root in Australian soil. For, carrying it as 'invisible baggage', the colonists brought the law with them, 'as the law is the birthright of every subject'. So much was the well-settled English common law of the 18th century, at least in the case of 'settled' colonies — that is to say, peaceful settlements or previously unoccupied or practically unoccupied territory. In his classic exposition some twenty years earlier, Sir William Blackstone had distinguished settled colonies from those which had been conquered or ceded:

... 'if an uninhabited country' be discovered and planted by English subjects, all the English laws then in being, which are the birthright of every subject, are immediately there in force. But this must be understood with very many and very great restrictions. Such colonists carry with them only so much of the English law, as is applicable to their own situation and the condition of an infant colony ... But in conquered or ceded countries, that have already laws of their own, the king may indeed alter and change those laws; but, till he does actually change them, the ancient laws of the country remain, unless such as are against the law of God, as in the case of an infidel country." [Source: Coper, M; Encounters With the Australian Constitution CCH Australia Ltd, NSW (1988) Page 52]

During the process of declaring Aboriginal land theirs by Proclamation, with the support of their guns; and ensuring that any rights the Aboriginal people possessed as British subjects (and later, Australian citizens) were progressively extinguished by Acts of Parliament, a series of New South Wales Government documents was created, to stretch like a paper-trail from in 1771, to today.

The documents relevant to this study of the wrongful extinguishment of Aboriginal rights by New South Wales Government Statute commence in 1770. In Captain Cook’s Journal during his Voyage … in M.M. Bark Endeavour 1768-71, Cook, who had been officially instructed to act, during his voyages, with a sensitivity towards Aboriginal rights, commented on the Aborigines' value system in comparison with his own.  

"From what I have said of the Natives of New Holland they may appear to some to be the most wretched people upon Earth; but in reality they are far happier than we Europeans, being wholly unacquainted not only with the Superfluous but with the necessary Conveniences so much sought after in Europe; they are happy in not knowing the use of them. They live in a Tranquility which is not disturbed by the Inequality of Condition. The Earth and Sea of their own accord furnishes them with all things necessary for Life. They covet not Magnificent Houses, Household-stuff etc., they live in a Warm and fine Climate and enjoy a very wholesome Air, so that they have very little need of Cloathing; and this they seem to be fully sencible of, for many of whom we gave Cloth etc., left it carelessly upon the Sea beach and in the Woods, as a thing they had no manner of use for; in short, they seem’d to set no Value upon anything we gave them, nor would they ever part with anything of their own for any one Article we could offer them. This in my opinion argues that they think themselves provided with all the necessaries of Life, and that they have no Superfluities …. " 

Cook was a humane and intelligent man for his times, and his insight reflected the Enlightenment rather that the capitalist pragmatism of Banks, who expressed his puzzlement at anyone who didn't understand agrarianism and money. In 1779 Banks described the Aborigines of “New Holland” to a Committee of the House of Commons as 'naked, treacherous, and armed with Lances, but extremely cowardly'. Although his evidence before the Beauchamp Committee in 1785 was more circumstantial, its main intent was to show that the Aborigines were a nomadic people, with no trace of political authority, social organisation or religious belief, and that the east coast of New Holland was, accordingly, terra nullius, open to European settlement and dominion. The First Fleet, with all that followed, was now not far distant.   

The Charter of Justice, dated 2 April 1787 (UK) is the authority for the establishment of the first New South Wales Courts of Criminal and Civil Jurisdiction, which were make available the processes of the law to the subjects of the Crown in the Colony. The Charter of Justice was in the form of Letters Patent providing for a Deputy Judge-Advocate and six court officers to be appointed by the Governor and the establishment of a Civil Court. The Governor was required to give his permission to any death sentence imposed by the Court, and was empowered to give pardons. The Civil Court had the power to deal with disputes over property and had jurisdiction over wills and estates. 

The New South Wales Court Act 1787  provided for the establishment of the first New South Wales Courts of Criminal and Civil Jurisdiction by executive action, achieved with the issue of these Letters Patent. Although the British intended to transport English law and legal proceedings along with the convicts, in practice there were significant departures from English law in the new and distant Colony. Notably, the first civil case heard in Australia, in July 1788, was brought by a convict couple. They successfully sued the captain of the ship in which they had been transported, for the loss of a parcel during the voyage. In Britain, as convicts, they would have had no rights to bring this case. [Source: http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au] But in the new Colony, the Aborigines were to have even less rights than convicts.

Australian law and policy respecting the Aboriginal population originated with the instructions to the first Governor of New South Wales: Governor Phillip, the first Governor of the Colony of New South Wales, in April 25, 1787, was explicitly instructed, that he was

" ... to endeavour by every possible means to open an intercourse with the natives, and  to conciliate their affections, enjoining all our subjects to live in amity and kindness with them. And if any of our subjects shall wantonly destroy them or give them any unnecessary interruption in the exercise of their several occupations it is our will and pleasure that you do cause such offenders to be brought to punishment according to the degrees of the offence. You will endeavour to procure an account of numbers inhabiting the neighbourhood of the intended settlement, and report your opinion to one of our Secretaries of State in what manner our intercourse with these people may be turned to the advantage of this colony."

The existence of Philip's Instructions plainly establishes that in 1787, the Aborigines of New South Wales had rights able to be recognised, defined and protected by British law; that it was an important task ("endeavour by every possible means"); and that this must include communication, conciliation, and cooperation. The word "enjoining" demonstrates the status of this document as a command which has been imposed with authority. The instructions are plain, and the definitions of the words used make no ambiguity possible. 

That document was to be the first of a series of communications to the New South Wales Governors referring to the protection of the subject rights (though never the land ownership rights) of the Aboriginal native inhabitants. And all the subsequent governors of New South Wales up to and including Sir Thomas Brisbane were to be given exactly the same instructions. [Source: Woolmington J.; Aborigines in Colonial Society (Cassell Australia, 1973) page 3]

In 1787, the British Crown formally announced its ownership of Aboriginal tribal territories from Cape York to South Cape. Phillip was appointed Captain-General and Governor-In-Chief:

“in and over our territory called New South Wales, extending from the Northern Cape or extremity of the coast called Cape York, in the latitude of ten degrees thirty-seven minutes south, to the southern extremity of the said territory of New South Wales or South Cape, in the latitude of forty-three degrees thirty-nine minutes south, and of all the country westward as far as the one hundred and thirty-sixth degree of east longitude reckoning from the meridian of Greenwich, including all the islands adjacent in the Pacific Ocean within the latitudes aforesaid of ten degrees thirty-seven minutes south and forty-three degrees thirty-nine minutes south'." 

"The Governor's choice of the site of the present metropolis of Australasia was determined by the fact that an apparently perennial stream of the purest water was found discharging itself into a beautiful sandy cove ... " [Source: Coghlan. TA, Government Statistician The wealth and Progress of New South Wales 1887-88, Sydney: Charles Potter, Government Printer (1888) page 8] It was:

"... at the head of the cove, near a run of fresh water, which stole silently through a very thick wood, the stillness of which then, for the first time since the creation, had been interrupted by the rude sound of the labourer's axe and the downfall of its ancient inhabitants - a stillness and tranquility which from that day were to give place to the voice of labour, the confusion of camps and towns, and the busy hum of its new possessors ..."  [from Jose, Arthur W., History of Australasia from the Earliest Times to the Present (Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1913) Page 20]  

No permission was sought from the Aboriginal possessors of the soil, nor was any acknowledgement made of any rights they may have to it.

"According to the cases, the common law itself took from indigenous inhabitants any right to occupy their traditional land, exposed them to deprivation of the religious, cultural and economic sustenance which the land provides, vested the land effectively in the control of the Imperial authorities without any right to compensation and made the indigenous inhabitants intruders in their own homes and mendicants for a place to live. Judged by any civilized standard, such a law is unjust and its claim to be part of the common law to be applied in contemporary Australia must be questioned." Mabo  

By 1790 the Aborigines were showing open hostility towards the white invaders. Phillip did his best to treat them kindly, but few of the settlers followed his example; stragglers from the township were killed by way of revenge, and the bush was set on fire whenever the white men turned their stock into it for pasturage.   

In A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay, published at London by Watkin Tench in 1789 and here transcribed by Manning Clark; the Aborigines are described as:

"aloof, out of reach, elusive, practising a stand-offishness which puzzled and exasperated the bearers of such gifts. They remained shy in the company of the white man, though they had been treated with kindness and loaded  with presents. They seemed either to fear or to despise the white man too much to be anxious for a closer connection. The more the white men learned of their way of life and view of the world, the more they were puzzled: they observed no degree of subordination in their society; they remained strangers to their religious rites and opinions. By the end of February, however, the aborigines inferred from the building that the white man intended to stay. At the end of that month they stoned white men who attempted to land in one of the coves of the harbour; they stole the white man's tools; they stole his food; on 30 May they murdered two rush-cutters and mutilated their bodies in a shocking manner. Such behaviour quickly changed the white man from a delighted observer of the picturesque and the quaint into a partisan defending his civilization. After six months, one of them wrote of the aborigine as a creature deformed by all those passions which afflicted and degraded human nature, unsoftened by the influence of religion, philosophy and legal restriction. The behaviour of the white man was equally disgusting to the aborigine. To teach the aborigine the ways of the civilized, Phillip instructed his men to gather as many as possible to witness a flogging. The few aborigines who watched manifested only symptoms of disgust and terror. In this way, the efforts to conciliate their affections and to diffuse amity and kindness degenerated into theft and murder, as goodwill was pushed aside by the more primitive passions of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." [Source: Clark, C.M.H; A History of Australia (Melbourne University Press (1962) Page 116]

The Daruk people of the Hawkesbury opposed the first white settlement of the rich agricultural district in the early 1790s. The settlers retaliated with great cruelty and parties of the corps were despatched to the river to intervene and to suppress Aboriginal resistance. By May 1795 the soldiers were involved in what was described as 'open war' along the Hawkesbury, the beginning of a savage guerilla struggle which ended twenty years later with the extinction of the Daruk. The men of the corps were inexperienced in such warfare. A party sent out by Captain William Paterson to 'destroy as many as they could meet with of the wood tribe' expected to strike terror into the Daruk by erecting gibbets in the bush: the Daruk were only later to realise what they signified.                                                                                    

[Source: http://www.militarybadges.info/brits/eras/02-nsw-corps.htm]

After his return to Europe Tench wrote A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, which was published in 1793. Manning Clark, with Watkin Tench's account as authority, says that:

"All attempts to convert the aborigine to their civilization had proved as futile as ever. In May 1791 a convict had been caught stealing fishing tackle from the aborigines. Phillip decided to have him flogged in the presence of the aborigines that they might again see that British law governed the relations between white man and aborigine and that there was not one law for the white man and another for the white man's relations with the aborigine. Again, as with their aversion to the first flogging, the aborigines were shocked. By nature they were not of a sanguinary and implacable temper; though quick to bear resentment, they were not nevertheless unforgiving of injury. The women were particularly affected: one of them shed tears, another snatched a stick and menaced the flogger. 

[Source: Clark, C.M.H; A History of Australia (Melbourne University Press (1962) Page 126]

Major Grose and Captain Paterson, Officers in charge of the military, administered the Government from 1792, until the arrival of Governor Phillip's successor.  In 1795, Captain Hunter arrived as the second Governor and sixty men of the New South Wales Corps were sent from Sydney to the Hawkesbury settlements to combat the Daruk Aborigines.

Manning Clark, in A History of Australia, says that Governor Hunter, for all his efforts, was impotent in the face of men with evil and malice and madness in their hearts. The Europeans complained that the aborigines repaid kind treatment with base ingratitude; that they were thieves, burning and plundered the white man's property. "In 1799, five white settlers on the Hawkesbury, angered by such thefts, burnings and a murder, met in the home of the widow of the murdered man to exact revenge, captured two suspected aboriginal boys, tied their hands behind their backs with rope used ordinarily to tie up the dogs in the yard, marched them outside and shot them."

Hunter was horrified. He charged the five men with murder. In their defence the accused pleaded vengeance and justified murder of black men on the grounds that the aborigines were a treacherous, evil-minded, bloodthirsty set of men.  

[Source: Hunter to Portland, 2 January 1800, H.R.A., 1, 2, p.401 et seq., in Clark, C.M.H; A History of Australia (Melbourne University Press (1962) Page 145]    

The Aborigines' position as British subjects raised several complicated legal questions. The British Justice system made it  impossible for them to swear the accepted Christian oath and therefore made it impossible for them to give testimony in the courts of law.  Aborigines' ignorance of the workings of the law, coupled with language barriers and their illiteracy, militated against their using the law for their own defence. So then as now, they were separated from the benefits of legal protection, ignorant about the law and scared to make use of it.

This document from 1799 reveals not only the difficulty of gaining evidence of white atrocities against natives, but also the problem the Governor faced when confronted by the power of white supremacist land owners and developers whose attitudes towards the Aborigines were mirrored by the judiciary. Hunter said they were, in his opinion, too lenient on the whites. When the court returned a verdict of guilty, Hunter appealed to London for guidance. By the time the reply came he had left the colony. It would have been far more surprising for the reader, to find that Hunter was anything more than pusillanimous when confronted by the power of those capitalists and their representatives who really ran the Colony and the Military, and who had the most to gain from denying subject rights to Aborigines and thereby guaranteeing the violent destruction of their society.  

"Two native boys have lately been most barbarously murder'd by several of the settlers at the Hawkesbury River, notwithstanding Orders have upon this subject been repeatedly given pointing out in what instances only they were warranted in punishing with such severity. The above two youths had been in the habit of being much with the settlers, but from the manner in which this shocking murder was perpetrated I judg'd it highly necessary to have the murderers taken immediately into custody, and a court was instantly ordered for their trial. The court having unanimously found the prisoners guilty of killing two natives, were divided with respect to the nature of the sentence, as your Grace will discover by the trial, which is herewith, sent at the instance of the majority of the court. The manner in which this decision appears to have been come to, I conceive, my Lord;, not to have been correct. I am of opinion that a reference to His Majesty's Minister shou'd have been recommended by the court to the Governor, and not from the court directly and independently of the Commander-in-Chief, because the power either to approve and confirm or to moderate the severity of any criminal sentence is delegated by His Majesty to him.

Those men found guilty of murder are now at large and living upon their farms, as much at their ease as ever. I conceive, from the nature of the Governor's authority, I might have rejected the bail and kept the prisoners under confinement until the effect of the special reference was known; but I have been unwilling to shew to the colony that any difference is likely to take place between the judicial and executive authoritys, particularly when in the smallest degree inconsistent with lenity. If I am mistaken in my ideas upon the above trial, I hope and request to be instructed.

You will discover, my Lord, what a host of evidence is brought forward from that quarter to prove what numbers of white people have been kill'd by the natives; but cou'd we have brought with equal ease such proofs from the natives as they are capable of affording of the wanton and barbarous manner in which many of them have been destroy'd, and to have confronted them with those of the white inhabitants, we shou'd have found an astonishing difference in the numbers. Every information within my power respecting the light in which the natives of this country were to be held as a people now under the protection of His Majesty's Government was laid before the court. The Order given upon that subject, both before my time and since, was made known to it. I also laid before its members an article in His Majesty's instructions to the Governor, which is strong and expressive, and is as follows:

'... to endeavour by every possible means to open an intercourse with the natives, and  to conciliate their affections, enjoining all our subjects to live in amity and kindness with them. And if any of our subjects shall wantonly destroy them or give them any unnecessary interruption in the exercise of their several occupations it is our will and pleasure that you do cause such offenders to be brought to punishment according to the degrees of the offence. You will endeavour to procure an account of numbers inhabiting the neighbourhood of the intended settlement, and report your opinion to one of our Secretaries of State in what manner our intercourse with these people may be turned to the advantage of this colony.'

The intentions of His Majesty from this part of the Governor's Instructions are clear and evident. The above cruel act is the second which I have brought before a Court of Criminal Judicature in order to prevent, as far as in my power, this horrid practice of wantonly destroying the natives. Much of that hostile disposition which has occasionally appear'd in those people has been but too often provoked by the treatment which many of them have received from the white inhabitants, and which have scarsely been heard of by those who have the power of bestowing punishment. [Source: Hunter to Portland, 2 January 1800, H.R.A., I, ii, pp. 401-2; in Woolmington J.; Aborigines in Colonial Society (Cassell Australia, 1973) page 127-8]

Philip Gidley King

The next Governor was Phillip Gidley King ... (Governor, 26/9/1800-12/8/1806). The New South Wales Corps, a military body enlisted for service in the Colony, (the first detachments of which had arrived in 1790), formed an efficient garrison. The New South Wales Corps' " sole work would consist in acting as a prison guard, or, at most, in making a few raids, in alleged reprisals for the misdeeds of the ill used, and often sorely provoked, aborigines." [Source: Coghlan. TA, Government Statistician The wealth and Progress of New South Wales 1887-88, Sydney: Charles Potter, Government Printer (1888) Page 12] A. G. L. Shaw says of King that

"he ... strove to keep peace with the Aboriginals. These, he told Governor Bligh, he 'ever considered the real Proprietors of the soil'. He refused to allow them to be worked as slaves, tried to protect their persons and their property and to preserve 'a good understanding' with them; but he found them 'very capricious', often 'sanguinary and cruel to each other', and like his contemporaries failed to understand what he called their 'most ungrateful and treacherous conduct'.”  

By the end of 1801 Governor King made an Order that crops were to be protected from the Aborigines by a Military detachment.

"A detachment at George's River is to consist of a sergeant, corporal, and six privates until further orders, who are to be posted as follows:—A sergeant and four privates at Major Johnston's, a corporal and two privates at Sergeant-major Jamieson's or Corporal Teutrill's. This detachment is to prevent the natives from firing the wheat, for which purpose a private will patrole occasionally from daylight till nine o'clock at night, and one private to be always ready during the night as a picquet. They are to fire on any native or natives they see, and if they can, pursue them with a chance of overtaking them. Every means is to be used to drive them off, either by shooting them or otherwise, taking care always to leave one private where posted."

A captain is to inspect that post once a week. Similar orders are to be given to the outposts from the Parramatta detachment; an officer from that post will inspect these outposts once a week, or oftener."                                                                                                 [Source: Government Order by Governor King, 1 May 1801, HRA, I, .i., pp.406-7 in Woolmington J.; Aborigines in Colonial Society (Cassell Australia, 1973) page 38]

In June 1802 King received instructions from Lord Hobart to pardon the five Europeans who had been found guilty by the criminal court on 18 October 1799 of wantonly killing two aborigines. Hobart added the rider that every means should be used to cultivate the goodwill of the natives. At that time King had not lost faith in the policy of amity and kindness. In a proclamation he announced that any future injustice or wanton cruelty against the natives would be punished as if it had been committed against the persons and estates of any of His Majesty's subjects. He went on to forbid any of His Majesty's subjects using any act of injustice or wanton cruelty against the natives. At the same time he pointed out that the settler was not to suffer his property to be invaded, or his existence endangered by the natives, qualifying this by adding that he was to use effectual though humane means of resisting such attacks.  

"By His Excellency Philip Gidley King Esq. etc. Whereas a Despatch by the Coromandel has been received from the Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, containing His Majesty's Commands, That notwithstanding His permitting the Governor to Remit the Punishment of the five Persons tried by a Court of Criminal Judicature on the 18th of October, 1799, for wantonly killing Two of the Natives, yet 'It should, at the same time, be clearly understood that on future occasions any instance of Injustice or wanton Cruelty towards the Natives will be punished, with the utmost severity of the Law'; And His Majesty having at the same time recommended that every means should (after the Receipt of those Despatches) be used to conciliate the Goodwill of the Natives, I do hereby strictly forbid any of His Majesty's Subjects, resident or stationary in this Colony, from using any act of injustice or wanton Cruelty towards the Natives, on pain of being dealt with in the same manner as if such act of Injustice or wanton Cruelty should be committed against the Persons and Estates of any of His Majesty's Subjects; But at the same time that His Majesty forbids any act of Injustice or wanton Cruelty to the Natives, yet the Settler is not to suffer his property to be invaded, or his existence endangered by them; in preserving which he is to use effectual, but at the same time the most humane, means of resisting such attacks. But always observing a great degree of forbearance and plain dealing with the Natives appears the only means they can adopt to avoid future Attacks, and to continue the present good Understanding that exists.      

[Source: Lord Hobart to Acting Governor King, 30 January 1802, H.R.A., I, iii pp. 366-7; in Woolmington J.; Aborigines in Colonial Society (Cassell Australia, 1973) page 5]

Official policy from England remained the same for each Governor from Phillip onwards until 1825

"Before I dismiss this subject, I cannot help lamenting that the wise and humane instructions of my predecessors, relative to the necessity of cultivating the good-will of the natives, do not appear to have been observed in earlier periods of the establishment of the colony with an attention corresponding to the importance of the object. The evils resulting from this neglect seem to be now sensibly experienced, and the difficulty of restoring confidence with the natives, alarmed and exasperated by the unjustifiable injuries they have too often experienced, will require all the attention which your active vigilance and humanity can bestow upon a subject so important in itself, and so essential to the prosperity of the settlement, and I should hope that you may be able to convince those under your Government that it will be only by observing uniformly a great degree of forbearance and plain, honest dealing with the natives, that they can hope to relieve themselves from their present dangerous embarrassment. It should at the same time be clearly understood that on future occasions, any instance of injustice or wanton cruelty towards the natives will be punished with the utmost severity of the law."             

[Source: Lord Hobart to Acting Governor King, 30 January 1802, H.R.A., I, iii pp. 366-7; in Woolmington J.; Aborigines in Colonial Society (Cassell Australia, 1973) page 5] 

 In March 1803, Governor King permitted the government printer to establish the Sydney Gazette, allowing him the use of the government press and type. The Sydney Gazette, Published by Authority, reported on what was happening to the Aborigines as news during this time, frequently referring to them by name; and also provided an official organ for the government administration, in publishing successive Governors' Standing Orders about the protection of the rights, or the taking away of other rights of the Aborigines, first in the immediate vicinity of Sydney, and then very soon, on the land further out.   

"The European theft of the land, with the response of the aborigine to such a theft, and European ideas on the nature of man and his destiny, rushed both groups into a clash which doomed the culture of the aborigine, condemning him to destruction or degradation and the white man to peace, security and material success, at the price of a reputation in posterity for infamy."  

[Source: Clark, C.M.H; A History of Australia Vol 1, Melbourne University Press, 1962 Pages 160-169]

Organised military expeditions by detachments of the New South Wales Corps, against Aboriginal perpetrators of what the Gazette called depredation and outrage, are reported, as a continuation of the perpetual campaign of vilification and propaganda carried on in all New South Wales Government organs, for a very long time to come. The Aboriginal Tribes of Sydney found themselves forced to share their ancient hunting and ceremonial grounds with ignorant and brutalised Europeans who witnessed their traditional social and spiritual events as another sideshow. And significantly for the population crash which was to be experienced by the Aboriginal society, in October, 1803, the Sydney Gazette refers to the Aborigines as "already thin and scattered handfuls" of people.

"NATIVES."

16 October, 1803, Sydney Gazette

"On Sunday last a number of Natives assembled on a ground at the upper end of Pitt's Row, with a design of inflicting punishment on two men who were directly or indirectly concerned in the assassination of two others who died of their spear wounds.

About an hour before sunset the parties made their appearance, and were received by their friends and partizans, who presented each with a target or Reoleman, as a defence against the missile assaults of their adversaries, who instantly arose and approached the intended victims of an ungovernable antipathy and rage. One of them, known to us by the name of Musquetto, was the first assaulted, and he with surprising dexterity defended himself against 64 spears, all thrown with rancour and malignity, and 17 of which went through the target, some to a depth of nearly two feet. The 65th and last thrown at him entered the calf of his right leg, and penetrated six inches through - the spear measured more that eight. This was cut short before it could be extracted. At the other only nine were launched, all of which he avoided.

A contest afterward took place between two opposite parties for the wife of one of the deceased. The exercise of merciless barbarity on this and similar occasions strongly characterises this wretched race of men, who, but for their barbarous and irreconcilable usages in cases of homicide, would wholly extirpate their already thin and scattered handfuls.

After receiving many severe blows from either party, and having their arms almost dragged from their sockets, the unfortunate PAIR was borne in triumph from the field by an Hibernian Taylor, who probably could sympathise in the sufferings of an unhappy fellow-creature, notwithstanding all the difference in complexion."

In December, 1803, the Sydney Gazette journalist speaks with sneering disrespect about the death of a significant Aboriginal Elder and spiritual leader.

"The death of Boneh"

December 18, 1803, Sydney Gazette 

"A visitor from Hawkesbury mentions the death of Boneh, an ancient Native, who we believe was but little known in Sydney. This veteran had for many years back profited with supreme authority over his tribe, from whom he received a species of homage which approached to adoration. In fact, the straggling subjects of this sooty chieftain, have been frequently heard by the settlers resident nearest the foot of those inaccessible Mountains, to ascribe to him the power of agitating the elements, and of causing floods, rains, &c., &c., a finesse probably constructed purposely to impress us with awe and reverence for a being possessed of such extensive qualifications. That the mythology may in some degree owe its existence to similar causes, we shall not argue, but had this inky venerable been known to those imaginary exhibitions, little doubt can be entertained but his complexion would at least have recommended him to a seat in the infernal regions, where, in the course of time, he might have become a com-peer with the augustiniate." 

It’s from long ago, but the ‘piercing shrieks’ of grief still echo from the past; as if the tragedies of 1803 were only yesterday.

“Injured Native burned alive at Milkmaid Reach”

December 25, 1803, Sydney Gazette

"A circumstance that lately took place at Milkmaid Reach, on the Coast between Sydney and Hawkesbury, among a body of Natives, stands, in point of deliberate inhumanity towards a fellow creature, unparalleled, save only in the barbarous usages  to which their people are habituated. One of their number had climbed a lofty tree in pursuit of a Cockatoo; and as soon as he gained the summit and had secured the bird, unfortunately got entangled in the twigs, and in trying to disentangle himself, lost his hold, & by a tremendous fall had both a leg and a thigh broke. The woman at the instant sent up a piercing shriek, and the men assembled around him. The elders examined the fractures minutely, and pronouncing them incurable, hastily commanded the females to retire; then erecting a pile of brushwood, actually set it on fire, whilst the unhappy creature was alive. As soon as this inhuman yet effectual remedy was administered, the Boatmen who were spectators of the proceeding, were advised by one of the more friendly natives to get off as quickly as possible, as the fatal event had aroused the indignation of the whole tribe against all white people, to whom the present misfortune was ascribed, as the Cockatoo would not have been climbed for, had not a reward been the known consequence of its capture."  

In April 1804, the report "Neglect to profit by the abundance of mackaral" shows the modern reader not only the significant diminution in environmental resources from that day to this, but also shows the inability or unwillingness of an ignorant European newcomer to comprehend the Aboriginal use of, and custodianship of the ancient and fragile environment. 

"Neglect to profit by the abundance of mackaral"

Sunday, April 8, 1804, Sydney Gazette

"The present being the season for Mackaral the prodigious quantities now about the Coast are declared by habitual observers to exceed all former years. No stronger proof can be required of the improvidence and total thoughtlessness or indolence of the Natives on the Coast, than in their idly suffering to pass unprofitably by, a season, which with a little care, might defend them for a considerable part of the year against the wants and exigency to which their indolence naturally exposes them; by drying these fish, which they dexterously take in any numbers, magazines might be erected in places of concealment, to which, from the secrecy, the conservators themselves might alone have access; but this would be attended with a portion of trouble to which this race are totally averse, that every exertion must be the concomitant attendant of fatal and extreme necessity."

Governor King allowed summary executions of Aborigines carried out without trial or coronial enquiry; and encouraged their violent removal, by New South Wales Military Corps, and by individual colonists, from lands earmarked for white settlement. However, according to A. G. L. Shaw, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography Vol. 2, King  "... strove to keep peace with the Aboriginals. These ... he 'ever considered the real Proprietors of the soil'. He refused to allow them to be worked as slaves, tried to protect their persons and their property and to preserve 'a good understanding' with them; but he found them 'very capricious', often 'sanguinary and cruel to each other', and like his contemporaries failed to understand what he called their 'most ungrateful and treacherous conduct'."

 But in 1804 Aborigines, unlike other British subjects, could not protect their rights by turning to the common law; whose precedents, even at this early point in the development of equity in the law, and of democracy in politics, had begun to define the rights of the individual. The relationship of the Aborigines with the rest of society was to be from now on, defined by the State and not by the common law. In comparison, the rights of the European people of the Colony, and even to a certain extent the convicts; were to be protected not only by the laws of the State, but also by the precedents of the common law. Even in 1804, the colonists of English origin could refer to lawyers and the Court, for the describing and protection of their rights, while those of Aboriginal origin could not.

After the "Outrages at Portland Head", in June 1804,  Governor King  "dispatched a file of Troopers to the Magistrate at Hawkesbury, with the instructions promptly to adopt such measures as the exigency of the case required"  

Outrage at Portland Head

June 17, 1804 Sydney Gazette

Last week in consequence of HIS EXCELLENCY'S despatches to T. ARNDEL, Esq. Magistrate for Hawkesbury, a body of Settlers, fourteen in number, went in pursuit of the Native that had committed numerous outrages at Portland Head; and separating into two divisions, one party, seven in number, led forward by I. Phillips, who was best acquainted with the travel through the brush, proceeded towards the Mountains, and at length came up with forty or fifty of the hostile savages, who had a quantity of property of which they had stripped the Settlers; these retreating towards a cluster of Rocks formed a junction with another group much more formidable, compleating in all about 300. The few settlers, agreeable to their instructions, endeavoured to ascertain their motives for the acts of depredation and cruelty they had committed, all they offered in their justification was an ironical declaration that they wanted and would have corn, wearing apparel, and whatever else the settlers had; then throwing down a flight of spears, compelled the pursuers, in their own defence, to commence siring, in hopes of intimidating their assailants, but without the desired effect; and tho' several must have been wounded, yet the great body hovered round the Settlers party, three of whom were laden with the most valuable part of the spoil which they had retaken from the sorty at first fallen in with, and under cover of the fire of the other four, got into Richmond Hill without receiving a spear wound.

Late accounts state that they still continue their ravages, and that another European had been speared at the beginning of the week. Two of the most violent and ferocious were shot at the Green Hills by the Military detachment sent to the relief of the settlers, whose self preservation requires that they should ever be on the alert to counteract the mischievous designs of the savage and unfeeling enemy."

Also in June, escaped prisoners were speared by Aborigines near Newcastle. The escaped convict, Johnson, speared by Aborigines, was left alive to carry a message of war to the British invaders. 

An extract of a letter from Lieut. Menzies, Commandant of the Settlement at Newcastle to His Excellency, dated June 15, 1804, 

to HIS EXCELLENCY, dated

JUNE 15, 1804.

0n the 29th ult, James Field, one of three persons who ran off with Serjt. Day's boat from, Sydney, gave himself up, he was quite naked, speared and beat in several places by the Natives, and has not eat any thing for five days - I took him just as he came in, and showed him to all the prisoners: I could wish to be allowed to remain him here, as I think from the account he gives of his misfortunes, and the truly miserable and wretched spectacle he exhibited, it will prevent others from attempting the same with any of our boats that go up the River, by his representing to them the punishment and misery that awaits their rashness and offence..."

From the start, the system was one of free grants at a very moderate quit-rent, but there were no rules to determine the area granted.  It was supposed to be that convicts were to have 30 acres, private soldiers 80, and free settlers up to 100, but this became a joke when the Governor was empowered to give extra land to 'any particularly meritorious settler or well-deserving emancipated convict'. Then in 1794 officers began to acquire land and  capitalists received special privileges in 1804). In 1804, the first large grants were given to Macarthur (5000 acres), Davidson (2000) and an orphan establishment (13.000) and, from that time onwards, in Sir Stephen Roberts' words, "the Governor merely received a vague recommendation for each settler, ordering him to give 'every encouragement to which they may appear entitled'. Grants could be given and withdrawn on the slightest pretext. On the one hand, they were freely given to infants, absentees, and persons about to be married; a school-mistress obtained one grant in virtue of her office and another when she left it; an officer obtained 15,000 acres because the Governor was 'inclined to think' that the recipient 'has an intention of settling here."                                                                                                                        [Source: Roberts, Sir S., History of Australian Land Settlement, (Macmillan of Australia, 1968) p.36]

The Sydney Gazette reported in June 1804 on "Further outrages by Aborigines". Only the breathtaking arrogance and hypocrisy of the European arrivistes, hard-wired for white supremacy, allowed them to describe the Aborigines' acts as "outrage", when the definition of the word, in terms of murder, violence and rape, perfectly describes their own behaviour towards the Aborigines. This writer also proudly displays his ignorance and misinterpretation of Aboriginal people and their place within the environment, using the sneering and pejorative terms which confirm the propagandist function of the account. The writer can't believe that the Aborigines aren't grateful to the settlers for "constantly contributing to their support". 

"Further outrages by Aborigines"

June 24, 1804 Sydney Gazette

To our further accounts respecting the hostile hordes whose conduct has lately been the subject of attention, we have to add, that among the reaches about Portland Head their ravages have been felt with much greater severity than elsewhere. The farms of Bingham and Smith were robbed the same day, and their bedding and wearing apparel taken out of their houses; in that the latter John Wilkins, a labouring servant, was wantonly treated with detestable barbarity; aster patently submitting to be stripped, and without even challenging the injustice of the proceeding, a slight of spears were darted at him, most of which the unfortunate man received; and had he not precipitately made towards and plunged into the river, must doubtless have perished beneath their brutal hands: the owner of the farm, however, appeared at the critical juncture, armed with a musquet, which levelling at the savages induced them to desist from the further persecution of the wounded man, and to consult their own safety by a timely flight.

Last Friday se'nnight the farms of Crumby and Cuddie at the south Creek were totally stripped by a formidable body of natives supposed to be about 150 in number, many of whom darted their spears at a labouring servant, who fortunately affected an escape without receiving any wound. - The above persons have been thrice plundered in the space of a very sew months, and have now lost not only their crops, but their whole flock of poultry, together with their bedding, wearing apparel, and every other moveable. On Thursday last they represented to HIS EXCELLENCY the excessive inconvenience as they stood in immediate need of..

Another group made a visit to Tench's River on the maraud, where getting among the corn of J. Kennedy without endeavouring to conceal themselves they were speedily discerned gathering in the crop with unusual activity: the settler disapproving their diligence, as it promised but little advantage to the interests of his own family, instantly embraced the means of repelling a visit that had no real claim on the laws of hospitality, and by a few discharges obliged them to retreat with a trifling booty:- We do not hear of any other attempts thereabouts; nor that any Europeans have lost their lives through their spear wounds.

Although these unenvied people must already feel the miserable effects of unprovoked hostility and aggression, yet no doubt can be entertained that their rancour will continue until some of the more obdurate and enterprising be marked out, as the immediate cause and spur to the recent atrocities; and as they are no less remarkable for perfidy to each other than ingratitude to the settlers, who by constantly contributing to their support, and endeavouring to maintain a friendly intercourse have done the highest credit to themselves and the British Nation, they would no doubt, as in the case of Pemulwoy, whose assassination was voluntarily undertaken by themselves, again willingly qualify a treaty by the sacrifice of such whose superior malignancy may have distinguished them.

It may be verily advanced, that no set of people in the known world were ever so totally destitute as these are of industry and ingenuity, or to whose innate indolence rendered them so wretchedly inattentive to the very means of subsistence. However gratified they may be with a shelter from the inclemency of the seasons, yet none aspires to the superior comforts of civilization, none attempts to erect a hut for himself or his little naked progeny; and though pierced with cold yet none contrives a garment, which the skins of animals would furnish them with little trouble - and yet it is obvious their nudity proceeds only from supineness as they invariably condescend to clothe themselves when furnished with European habiliments.

As sportive nature would seem to have designed the southern hemisphere for the display of phenomena in the animal creation, so also does the polity of these barbarous inhabitants oppose itself to every principle of rational government, and to the propagation of the human species.

That the natural strength of a country must consist first in its population is a maxim that needs no embellishment, as it admits not opposition; but here it is discernible, that unless the propagation of the species be limited by destructive and abominable customs, their natural indolence must in process of time have reduced them to the horrible necessity of existing as cannibals, as nature is wholly unassisted, and the increase of herb and animal alike neglected.

Thus then, even though the supply of their immediate wants by chance research constitutes their only civil occupation, still it is mysterious how the hordes of the interior, who have not the advantage of fishing can possibly supply their wants throughout the year without indulging in all the terrible excesses of refined barbarity."

 In July,  in the report, "Peaceful attitude of Richmond Hill natives, during outrages at Portland", a party of the New South Wales Corps go to Portland Head, two Aborigines are executed by shooting without the benefit of a Trial or subsequent Coronial enquiry, two of the Richmond Hill chiefs, Yaragowhy and Yaramandy, are summoned the day after the firing, by the REV. MR. MARSDEN and MR. ARNDELL, residentiary Magistrate, who take no interest in the fact of the summary executions of the Aborigines.

"Peaceful attitude of Richmond Hill natives, during outrages at Portland Head"

July 1, 1804

We understand from good authority that the Natives of and about Richmond Hill, are for the most part averse to the hostile measures adopted by their brethren down the River, and that during the whole of the wanton warfare, they met with every protection their pacific inclination entitled them to from the surrounding settlers, from one of whom we receive the following narrative of transactions immediately subsequent to the commencement of the excesses committed at and about Portland Head.

'On the 11th instant a party appeared near my farm. who seemed desirous of maintaining that friendly intercourse which is indispensable to their true interests; and their chief, placing himself in a warlike attitude, with his spear shipped, declared he was determined to kill every one of his own complexion whom chance should throw in his way; but I thought myself bound in humanity to avert so terrible a resolution, is possible, by dissuasion, and at the same time to encourage the amicable disposition of himself and his adherents, who were from thirty to forty in number, by repeated assurances that no one would be hurt that did not act offensively - they then became confident, and accepted an offer to remain on my farm, as in that case I could be responsible for their peaceable behaviour from that period to the 18th ult. accounts continued to arrive of the many enormities, that have been committed about Portland head, whither a party of the New South Wales Corps has been detached to the relief of the settlers: but upon this latter information some of my guests became timid, and could no longer be prevailed upon to remain: 12 or 14 accordingly took to the woods, after many times thanking me, and promising still to retain their friendship towards us, and I verily believe they have not forfeited their promise. On the following day I heard the discharge of three musquets, and afterwards heard that two of the hostile natives had been shot; one of whom, better known by the name of Major White than any other, had ever been remarkable fomenting mischiefs. Since then their rancour has greatly subsided, or at all events its consequences much less injurious than before, and many have signified a desire of returning to their accustomed habits, without which the wants peculiar to the savage state must be felt with increased severity, as well from the succour afforded them by the settlers, as from the relaxation produced by a long state of dependence upon the bounty of their benefactors. 

'Two of the Richmond Hill chiefs, Yaragowhy and Yaramandy, were sent for the day after the firing, by the REV. MR. MARSDEN and MR. ARNDELL, residentiary Magistrate, who requested that they would exert themselves in putting a period to the mischiefs, at the same time loading them with gifts of food and raiment for themselves and their friendly countrymen; and I have no doubt that the mild and placid measures which have been pursued by Government on this, as on every former such irksome occasion, will have the desired effect of recalling these unfortunate creatures to a state of amity, and restore safety and tranquillity to the remote settler.'"  

In August 1804, Governor King again ordered a file of men to be despatched from the Corps; presumably (although the writer avoids saying so in "Depredations at George's River") to attack and shoot Aboriginal individuals and groups suspected of property theft from the settlers in the vicinity of the George's River. 

Accompanied by "several persons armed with firelocks", in September 1804, another settler shoots at a large gathering of Aborigines who have taken food from servants on a farm located in their Tribal territory, from which they are now being rapidly alienated. Instead of the Aboriginal people, as British subjects by decree, being able to turn to the British legal system for protection, the white settlers are being given approval by the Government for their summary executions of Aboriginal people. All that these Aborigines are given by way of a trial is the hearsay description and biased judgement in the Sydney Gazette. (July 15 1805, "Crime of Major White and Nabbin" )

"Crime of Major White and Nabbin"

July 15, 1805 Sydney Gazette

"It is remarkable that Major White and Nabbin, the two Natives lately killed at Richmond Hill, were the two identical persons who between sour and sive years since inhumanly and treacherously murdered Hoskinson. and Wimbo, the game-keeper and settler, on the second ridge of the Mountains, whither they had unfortunately straggled in search of the Kangaroo. They always discovered a rancour to an European, and never lost an occasion to repay their favours with hostility and ingratitude."

From July until December in 1804, the reports "Depredations at George's River"; His Excellency, as an official act of Government, "ordered a file of men to be despatched from the Corps" 

"Depredations at George's River"

August 19, 1804 Sydney Gazette                       

"In the vicinity of George's River several depredations have recently been committed by the Natives on the settlers stock, grain, and other property:- At the beginning of the last week the farm-house of Gilbert was attacked and his wife treated with barbarity, unpardonable in the most savage race of men. The poor woman perceiving that they were driving her little flock of poultry off the ground, reproached them with their injustice, and fain would have rescued a portion of her property, but the unfeeling wretches turned their spears upon her, nearly twenty of which they threw, but happily without the intended barbarous effect. One of the miscreants ran into the house and seized a musquet, which she also grasped, and determined not to part with it maintained a short struggle against the assailant's whole exertions, who at length yielded to her resolution, and quitted his. hold, but with a violent blow on the head brought her to the ground. The wretches then took away every thing that was portable and made off. Several other settlers have lost swine as well as poultry, for which they can only account in the same manner, and such is the treachery of those indolent and vicious hordes that infest the above neighbourhood, as to render useless and abortive every effort to maintain their friendship By long intercourse many of them have acquired so much of our language as to understand and be understood, but only apply the talent to mischief and deception. Some short time since a settler's wife with a large family, entertained half-a-dozen of these idlers with an almost reprehensible hospitality, and they in return, amused her with assurances of their best wishes and gratitude to her bounty, but in the very interim, a body of their colleagues were busily employed in clearing a whole acre of corn, which they carried off either in canoes or on their shoulders. Major JOHNSTON was on Monday informed that they had given earnest of a new campaign in the above vicinity, and representing the circumstances to Head Quarters, HIS EXCELLENCY ordered a file of men to be despatched from the Corps, and as no fresh accounts of depredations have been since received, it is to be hoped the fury of these savages, for which they appear likely ever to remain, may somewhat have abated."

The report, Attack on Wilshire's Farm at Lane Cove", demonstrates the presumption that the white arrivistes have inviolable rights to possession of the land which they have a right to defend; that any English resident had the right to use guns, and to shoot at will at the Aborigines in defence of their property and the welfare of their servants, that the Aboriginal defence of their land and resources was inherently comical and to be despised, and that the Aborigines were still numerous.

Attack on Wilshire's Farm at Lane Cove

September 2, 1804 Sydney Gazette 

"NATIVES

The natives have during the last week been very troublesome about: Lane Cove:- on Tuesday and Wednesday a party visited the farm of Mr.Wilshire, where they bound the labouring servants, and seemed disposed to remain until expelled by famine.  The poor men's store allowance they unbound one, and obliged him to cook; potatoes, vegetables, and such articles of poultry as had accidentally fallen in their way assisted in the fete, and the first day they devoted to mirth and jocularity.  Accounts, however reached the town the next morning, and, Mr. Wilshire immediately prepared to render assistance to his servants. Accompanied by several persons armed with firelocks, he arrived at the farm in the afternoon, and was welcomed with shouts of defiance from the barbarous ranks, who formed into subdivisions, and anticipate triumph with a brandished spear. A blank discharge proved of no other efficacy than to provoke them to irony, so that any attempt to repel them by intimidation only, promised to encourage their excesses. A discharge of shot convinced them of the danger of maintaining their position, and they fled precipitately to an eminence, where they were joined by a prodigious number, unperceived before, having taken with them all the servants' necessaries and bedding. The men supposed, that at various intervals during the period of their captivity, the number of natives must have exceeded 200. Shortly after their expulsion from the farm they dispersed, and may not, it is to be hoped, return." 

"Aborigines chase sheep", depicts, as a brief vignette, the impact of the fatal clash of  concepts of ownership.

Aborigines chase sheep

December 16, 1804 Sydney Gazette

"Last week a flock of sheep were chased by the natives from Farm Cove to the Brickfield hill; where the owner accidentally witnessed the hunt, and obliged the pursuers to retire. Their design was manifestly that of selecting one for their own use, and availing themselves of the shepherd's absence, attempted to effect it."

In "Punishment of a wife deserter", the Aborigines are called a "barbarous people", and the writer reflects on their "inhumanity".

"Punishment of a wife deserter"

December 16, 1804 Sydney Gazette

"Yesterday evening a Gala was given by the Natives at Parramatta, at which the well-known Yaranibi received a very severe spear wound in the back. The motives that gave rise to the meeting rendered the scene particularly interesting to honour and humanity; while it reflected credit to the feelings of a barbarous people. The above had inhumanly forsaken his unfortunate female companion in the hour of her sickness and affliction, to perish unassisted. Discovered in a solitary condition, her eye-lids nearly closed by grief and famine, tumultuous vengeance was proclaimed, and the earliest occasion seized to inflict upon the offender the punishment so justly his." 

The reference in "Serious affray at Sydney" could be an early description of the implement that Europeans were to later call the boomerang.

"Serious affray at Sydney"

December 23, 1804 Sydney Gazette

"The beginning of the week presented a native warfare the most malignant that has been witnessed. On Sunday morning last a number of people assembled at Farm Cove for the purpose of inflicting punishment on the heroic Wilhamannan; who, after avoiding an immense number of spears, received one at length in the hand, through his shield, the wound brought on a stubborn conflict which for nearly an hour was general; during which time the white spectators were justly astonished at the dexterity and incredible force with which a bent, edged waddy resembling slightly a turkish scymetar, was thrown by Bungary a native distinguished by his remarkable courtesy. The weapon, thrown at 20 or 30 yards distance, twisted round in the air with astonishing velocity, and alighting on the right arm of one of his opponents, actually rebounded to a distance not less than 70 or 80 yards, leaving a horrible contusion behind, and exciting universal admiration.

A suspension of hostilities took place as abruptly and unaccountably to those who were not in the secret, as the affray had commenced ; and the wounded, after parting a few unintelligible invectives, sat down perfectly satisfied with the event.

Nothing more passed of a hostile nature during the day ; but as perfidy is inherent to some, whatever be the complexion or condition in life, whether of polished manner and fascinating address, or moving in the humble sphere of nature's naked sons, the tranquillity of the unhappy creatures was at midnight interrupted by a villain of  the darkest hue, who treacherously discharged a spear among a dormant and promiscuous group, which was received by Musquito in the arm. A general alarm was the immediate consequence: and between the hours of twelve and one the most frightful shrieks and lamentations resounded upon all sides. By the spear the premeditated assassin was immediately known and pursued; parties took different routes towards the Brickfields, where falling in with the fugitive they compelled him by the light of the moon to defend himself for a time, but was at length severely wounded in his turn.

The affray at Parramatta yesterday se'nnight, in which Yaranibi (commonly called. Palmer) was said to be wounded, was misrepresented ;—there were two wounded very severely, but he was not one of the number." 

These reports carry on their job, on behalf of the ruling colonial Government, of vilifying and demonising the Aborigines, whose mysterious ritual and daily behaviour, still being carried on as for time immemorial on the area now newly invaded by the Europeans, is reported with little comprehension or sympathy, as an entertaining sideshow.

"NATIVES"

March 17, 1805, Sydney Gazette

"On the road between Parramatta and Prospect a meeting took place on Monday last for the purpose of inflicting punishment on a native well known to the above settlements by the name of Goguey, whose mischance it has been to hasten one of his opponent's departure for the shades on a similar occasion. His crime was defensible upon custom immemorial; but so likewise was his extraordinary mode of arraignment an event consequent upon the former. Perceiving an unusual degree of rancour in the menaces of his judges, he endeavoured for a short time to avoid them by retiring; but being closely pursued he formed his resolution, and made a stand, with two adherents near him. The spears of his adversaries were barbed and rough-glazed, and three at once advancing on him until within ten or twelve feet, he caught the first thrown at his target, but the second, discharged by Bennelong, entered above the hip, and passed through the side, so as to be afterwards extracted; but the third thrown by Ninbery as he wheeled to defend himself from the former, entered the back below the loins; when perceiving that his seconds had left him, in a transport of rage and anguish turned his resentment upon those from whom he expected assistance but had deceived him, and then exhausted, fell. The last spear he received was attempted to be drawn by two Europeans indued from motives of humanity to tender their assistance; but their combined strength was ineffectual, and the unfortunate creature was on Thursday night still numbered with the living, but the spear continuing immoveable."

Up against Anglo-Saxon land greed, the right of non-Aboriginal people to defend the land against all comers, the support of the British law, and the Aboriginal hunting and ceremonial lands alienated by written decree, justice for the Aboriginal people was doomed.

A CAUTION

March 31, 1805

"ALL persons are hereby strictly cautioned against cutting timber, turning stock, or in any other manner trespassing on a certain farm at the Hawkesbury belonging to D. Dunstan, and called or known by the name of David Dunstan's Back Farm ; and also from shooting at or about the lagoon thereon, as every and any person detected to so trespassing will be prosecuted at the law directs. 

Hawkesbury, Feb. 21st

One question that has to be answered, in terms of my topic, is whether the treatment dealt out to the Aboriginal inhabitants was legal for the times. My thesis posits that the behaviour of the New South Wales Government towards the Aborigines flouted their own official orders from the Crown and Parliament in England. Remember that Philip, in 1787, only 18 years before, had to ordered to ‘endeavour by every possible means to open an intercourse with the natives and to conciliate their affections, enjoining all our subjects to live in amity and kindness with them'. This order had never been officially countermanded. But here, in this 1805 report, can be seen the very opposite of understanding, conciliation and kindness.

Aided and abetted by the negligence and compliance of the English law, as embodied by the infant system of magistrates and benches of magistrates, (all of whom were simultaneously occupiers of land grants) the violence and injustice towards Aborigines was also to go unchecked by the common law of the times. It is plain to see that in 1805, non-Aboriginal British subjects could easily have access to the common law; (and as well, of course, to an official coronial enquiry). With reference to the brief law report, following, it is from these earliest days, in the history of the law in Australia, that it becomes clear that Australia is never going to have a group of pro bono, radical lawyers, like in England and America, passionately espousing the civil rights of New South Wales Aborigines. From the start, the lawyers who came here were more likely to be rich, land owing, and to become politicians.

SYDNEY

March 31, 1805

"In a cause Baker v. Chalker, brought forward on Wednesday, the plaintiff obtained a verdict with trivial damages and costs of suit: in consequence whereof the defendant gave notice of Appeal; for doing which he declared his reasons to be the very heavy expense of witnesses subpoenaed, it would appear, unnecessarily, as their evidence had been mostly dispensed with; and upon this representation the Court thought proper to order, that the charge for witnesses should be limited to such only as had been called upon in Court; and the notice of Appeal was in consequence withdrawn."

The satirical tone of the writer in the following report, about observed behaviour of local Aboriginal people, is common to all the reports on their social customs. These Sydney Gazette articles, starting in 1803, acted to provide a constant drip of anti-Aboriginal propaganda, able to be used as a justification and an excuse for bullying, rape and violence, and as public support for those settlers who killed Aborigines in defence of their English-style property rights. 

"Native Disputes"

March 31, 1805

"The unfortunate native, whose pitiable condition we last week endeavoured to depicture, died on Monday shortly after the spear was extracted. Vengeance against the infamous assassin agitates the tribes in the vicinity of Hawkesbury; and it is devoutly to be hoped, that by the unseen hand of justice a point may be directed that may put a period to the enormities of the sanguinary miscreant. Another charge of murder recently committed helps to fill the measure of his offences. This was an unhappy creature whom he obtained by purchase from her real partner ; who soon afterwards becoming incensed at the brutal treatment she experienced, thought proper to reclaim her, without a restitution of the property received in barter, a blanket. As her inclination had in neither case been consulted, he was held under an irksome submission to the alternate caprice of the rivals, whom she could only despise and abominate; and although debarred by terror from any act whatever of free-agency, yet her destruction was resolved upon, and fatal accident throwing her in the way of her determined murderer, he cleft her head open. Goguey, whom we mentioned to have received a spear in the back three weeks ago, still lives to the astonishment of every European, the weapon still remaining fixed and immoveable."

It is at this point in the establishment of white settlement in New South Wales, that the New South Wales Government, using their formal powers, and in spite of any rights of the New South Wales Aboriginal people as British subjects; began their campaign of extermination of the Aboriginal people. Such reports as the following one, in April 1805, clearly establish the intention of the Government of the day to take large scale and wide spread official military action against the Aboriginal warriors; saying that "before the flame can be extinguished, severity will be found necessary, though reluctantly resorted to". 

The settlers (a word implying some kind of a peaceful transition of possession) were in fact the victorious beneficiaries of the war against the Tribes, and, as seen in these Sydney Gazette reports, were now coming to own the land by the English rule book,  during a declared war in which the Europeans were the victors because of their possession of guns, but even more importantly, there was official compliance for their using them freely against the Tribes, in first establishing property rights over aboriginal land, and then in defence of their newly acquired land holdings. 

The English lust for land ownership and its attendant privilege, motivated their desire to go to "new and vast territories holding out ... the refuge of a virgin land that they could make to prosper ..."; [Source: Sergeanne Golon, Angelique in Revolt; Pan Books London, (Opera Mundi, Paris, 1962), Page 249]) and in New South Wales, as is evident from the following Sydney Gazette report, there was not even the inconvenience of any technologically sophisticated military opposition. And significantly, many of the new arrivals both convict and free, referred to in these reports,  were skilled graduates from brutal war-fronts.

The defenders of the land, on the other hand, had spears, a reverential attitude towards the earth, of which they knew every stick and stone in their ancient territories; and a communalism of attitude towards property than ran directly counter to the tenets of capitalism in every way. " ... they avowed, in general, a determination to take advantage of every opportunity to execute their sanguinary purposes, but without assigning any motive whatsoever ..." states the report. It sits conveniently in the world-view of the reporter and his society, that no motive for Aboriginal behaviour can be understood or seriously acknowledged. No explanation of the Aboriginal gatherings by the participants appeared in the press at this time, even though it would plainly have been possible to do this, as even in 1805, some Aborigines appear to be able to speak and understand English. 

An acknowledgement by Government of the Aboriginal right  to possess land, could not exist simultaneously with the overt violence and conscience-less land-grabbing that was now proceeding apace. As can be seen in this report and others, these actions were going ahead in direct cooperation with the Government military forces. This behaviour is consistent with the hierarchical, bullying English society of 1805, so well depicted by Jane Austen, in which the elite don't have to be aware of, or care about the welfare and opinions of anybody they are able to overpower.

"NATIVES"

April 28, 1805, Sydney Gazette

 “In addition to the inhumanities mentioned last week to have been wantonly practiced by the natives, we have unfortunately to add the assassination of two stockmen on Captain McARTHUR’S farm between Prospect Hill and the cow-pasture Plains, on Wednesday last. They are supposed to be recruited since by a number that have joined from the interior of the mountains, as many strangers are seen among them, whose number, in addition to their own, is estimated at between three and four hundred. They were traced during the late heavy weather by a small party of settlers, armed, some of whom had been recently plundered; and were come up with, but on opposite sides of the creek, the increased rapidity of the current preventing any nearer approach. Not designing any personal violence to the aggressors, detestable as the outrages committed by some of them had been, the settlers commenced a parley, in which many of the natives who spoke English tolerably, readily engaged; and when their object for the renewal of excesses was demanded, they avowed, in general, a determination to take advantage of every opportunity to execute their sanguinary purposes, but without assigning any motive whatsoever. It can be no longer necessary to point out the impropriety of encouraging any of these people about the our farms at the present crisis, as the experience of former years has to well convinced us of their perfidy; as well as of their being with little exception actuated by the same diabolical spirit, which in a single instance no sooner manifests itself, than spreading like wildfire, their operations are somewhat systematic. and assume the appearance of a pre-concerted plan. Notwithstanding all that has been done, however, we are confidently assured that the measures adopted against them have as yet had no other object than to repel them by intimidation; but in this particular the bare appearance of fire arms has lost much of its efficacy; so that it is to be apprehended, that before the flame can be extinguished, severity will be found necessary, though reluctantly resorted to.”

The following report refers to the specific civil rights of Aboriginal people, the fact that their transgression meant that an injustice had occurred, and that punishment would follow. The report gives an example of a European receiving punishment for assault.  Only one "native", had complained about anything to the "Government and its Officers". This report demonstrates again that wasn't the civil rights of an Aboriginal subject of the Crown which the New South Wales Government would never willingly recognise, but any rights to land ownership, or any right to protect the possession of their land against armed British invasion. (also see native title; Mabo, 1993). However, according to the quasi-official line followed by the report, the Aborigines had no cause for resentment, and should be grateful to the settlers. 

NATIVES

April 21, 1805, Sydney Gazette 

"With inexpressible concern we have to recount a series of barbarities lately practiced by a banditti of these people, inhabiting the outskirts of Havvkesbury.

Last Wednesday se'nnight a fellow known by the name of Branch Jack went to the farm of John Llewellyn, one of the Military settlers, who was at dinner with his labouring servant in a field; he was invited to partake of the fare, and after sharing in the repast found means to get the settler's musket and powder horn in his possession, with which he made off with a loud yell, which was returned by about 20 others that had before. concealed themselves, but now came forward, and discharged several spears at the unfortunate men, two of which entered the master's breast, who fell immediately, two others passing between the servants' legs. The latter requesting to know their motive for the barbarous assault, was answered by flight of spears, one of which penetrated his shoulder, and another one of his groins. After he had fallen the natives closed upon him, and thrice struck him on the head with a tomahawk, each blow occasioning a dreadful wound. They then hurried the unfortunate object of their fury towards: the bank of the river, and hurled him downwards; when he had lain some time half immersed he heard the groans of his unhappy master, who was shortly after dispatched by some of the assailants who returned to all appearance purposeIy; and supposing the servant dead, left the site of horror. In this deplorable condition the poor man lay for the space of two whole days ; and when upon the very point of expiring, snatched by the hand of Providence from immediate death, and taken to Hawkesbury in a boat accidently passing, where he gave the above detail to the Magistrate there resident.

On the same day another event of the same horrible kind took place at the branch, within three miles of the above. The farm house of T. Adlam was set on fire by body of natives supposed to be the same, and after the alarm had been given, a search was made for the settler and his man, but they had shared a merciless fate, a part of their Relicks being found among the ashes, and the remainder scattered piecemeal, to become the prey of prowling animals and carnivorous birds; from which circumstance it is probably conjectured, that after the ill-fated people had been inhumanly murdered, their limbs were severed and wantonly scattered. 

It since appears, that some of these pitiless barbarians had several weeks before intimated their detested purpose to several individuals, who treated it with levity, as nothing was visible in their deportment that could justify suspicion of a hostile change. The above survivor, whose name is John Knight, gave the foregoing detail upon Friday evening; and armed boats were sent from the Green Hills, to prevent any further mischief about the Branches: and it is devoutly to be hoped that the measures adopted by order of His Excellency may bring the barbarities to a speedy crisis.

It is sometimes contended, that these outrages are only acts of retaliation for injuries received, but such a persuasion must be allowed to yield to observation and experience to the contrary. 

Should it at any time appear that an individual amenable to the law abuses by maltreatment any of these people, the offence is immediately investigated, and the slightest act of injustice treated with even greater rigour than it would have been had the complaint proceeded from a European. The natives are themselves perfectly aware of the protection they owe to the Government and its Officers; and seldom suffer an occasion to escape of representing the slightest grievance.

During the last Twelvemonth no complaint has been set up by a native, except in one single instance of assault about four months since: and in consequence or which the aggressor, altho" a freeman, was committed to the County Gaol from Hawkesbury and still remains a labourer in the gaol gang.

Nor did the act of this delinquent extend further than a blow, as he himself declares in his own justification, to a native who designed to plunder him, so infrangible are the Regulations providing for their security by inflicting exemplary punishment upon any. whose want of humanity might stimulate them to acts of wanton violence against this race of men.

The benefit they daily receive from the settlers and other inhabitants are on the other hand boundless, and should lay claim to every grateful return which can extend no further than to a passive forbearance from rapacity; but no consideration whatever can bind them; nor even secure from assassination him that is in the very act of contributing to their relief from want. And nothing further need be said to refute a notion of their being actuated to enormity by a principle of resentment, than the bare recollection that those enormities are periodical in their commencement, at every season when they may despoil the settler of his crop, and reap by stealth and open violence the produce of a tract they are themselves too indolent to cultivate; and unless a provoked opposition to their doing which be deemed a provocation to the renewal of mischiefs, certain we are that no pretence (at justifi)cation whatever can exist."

Under the heading, General Orders On April 28, 1805, the Sydney Gazette (also the New South Wales Advertiser, Published by Authority), Governor King proclaimed an Order that reaffirmed the legal status of the settlers, as land owners with a legal obligation to repel the Aborigines from the land. These orders were re-published on May 5th, 1805. By defining and affirming these rights for non-Aboriginal people, the Order simultaneously takes away the rights of Aboriginal people to have access to their traditional lands. The reference to them as "insurgents" implies a political conflict, with the Aborigines as guerrilla fighters in a war against an implacable enemy which has imposed martial law on them so that they are outcasts without right to defence. This formal act of Government had the effect of making any communication, conciliation and cooperation between Aborigines and whites illegal, the opposite of what was enjoined by the Crown only 18 years previously.

Standing Orders

April 28, 1805, Sydney Gazette 

"Whereas the Natives in different parts of the Out-settlements have, in an unprovoked and inexcusable manner, lately committed the most brutal Murder on some defenceless Settlers whose hospitality seems to have drawn upon them the most barbarous treatment; and there being but little hopes of the Murderers being given up to Justice, the GOVERNOR has judged it necessary, for the preservation of the Lives and the Properties of the Out settlers and Stock men, to distribute Detachments from the New South Wales Corps among the Out settlements, for their protection against those uncivilized Insurgents, but as those measures alone will only be a present check, it is hereby required and ordered, that no Natives be suffered to approach the grounds or dwellings of any Settler until the Murderers are given up. And that this Order may be carried into full effect, the settlers are required to assist each other in repelling those visits: And if any Settler, contrary to the purport and intent of this Order, harbours any Native, he will be