THE ABORIGINES.

 There was lately published, in the proceedings of the Diocesan Assembly, an able paper on the state of the Aborigines, and the best means to be adopted for their preservation. On this subject Mr. RUSDEN is a good authority, as he has devoted much attention to it. We cannot, however, agree with him in every part of his proposed system, though, on the whole, it is an immense improvement upon any plan hitherto adopted.

The question is, can any of the aboriginal tribes, or their children, be civilised and if they can be, can they be altogether, or only partially ? It is most important that we should get correct information on this point, for otherwise our efforts would be sure to be misdirected. We will throw what light we can upon the subject, in the hope that it will assist in guiding in the right path those who take a kindly interest in the native population.

Can the adult natives be civilised ? To answer this question satisfactorily we should understand what, with regard to them, would be called a civilised state. If it means the implanting of Christianity, and the settled habits of their European brethren, we answer in the negative. This experiment has been tried most fully at Wellington Valley, in New South Wales. At the missionary establishment there neither money nor labour was spared to effect that desired object. There were gardens, cultivation fields, huts, schools; everything to interest and elevate and the whole under the zealous care of the Rev. Mr. THRELKELD. It was soon found that nothing could cure the wandering habits of the adults, but it was hoped that, by keeping the children at school, and separating them from their tribes, they, at least, would be rescued from the savage State. They made good progress in reading, and were well up in Scripture history and the principles of Christianity ; but as soon as they arrived at puberty nothing could keep them from returning to the free and wild life of their tribes, and, after a patient trial of some fifteen years, Mr. THRELKELD was obliged to write, with sorrow and regret, that the experiment was a total failure, and to recommend the abandonment of a scheme which brought as its fruits only expense and disappointment. We might also question the numberless instances in which native children have been brought up in the families of settlers, and treated in every respect as one of their own. In no instance has the original nature been overcome : they all had their fits of wandering, and nothing could stop them. It is unnecessary to accumulate evidence on this point. It is sufficient to say that wherever it has been tried the experiment has failed. Nor has the attempt to instil religious knowledge in their minds been attended with more satisfactory results : all is forgotten the moment they resume their wandering habits. We assert, therefore, that all attempts to civilise or evangelise the adult blacks must fail.

Can nothing, then, be done to ameliorate the condition of the native races, and save any remnant from the fate which is so rapidly overtaking them ? We think much may be done. We believe that if there was an establishment formed near some port — say Melbourne or Geelong —to which native children should, when practicable, be brought, so as to be entirely removed from intercourse with their parents, a permanent good would be done. In the case of pure-bred children, it would be necessary to obtain the consent not only of the parents, but of the tribe, for their removal to their new home, and to insist that they were not to attempt to take them away for a certain number of seasons. Presents should be given on the occasion, and the transaction made as impressive as possible. But in the case of the half-castes, we think more stringent measures might be adopted. Were there no other reason than the well known fact that a male half-caste child rarely is permitted to pass his tenth or twelfth year, we think Government is bound to rescue them from their almost certain fate. But, moreover, these children may be said to be abandoned by their white fathers, and on that ground the State may step in and act as their guardians. In some parts of the interior the half-caste children are numerous, and it is melancholy to reflect that such fine and intelligent lads should be doomed to an early death. As for the half-caste girls, they grow up to become the women of the neighbouring tribes, and ill-usage and exposure never fail to bring them to early graves. In the case of the half-castes, therefore, we would have the State step in and take these children away from an early age. We would have them placed in an asylum close to the sea. We would have the boys receive a fair education, and, in fact, have them brought up as the children of Christian parents. We would also bring them up for the sea, as a pursuit in which they will be more likely to do well than any other. Where they have been tried they make excellent sailors, and are remarkable for their acuteness of sight. A small vessel should be attached to the establishment, in which they should be exercised and taught their trade, and in due time they can be advantageously placed. In this way we should reclaim a number of beings and wear a valuable body of men; whose services to the colony would alone repay the cost and labour bestowed on them. They should be a garden attached to the building in which the boys might be made to work, as far as weeding and keeping it in order. But it would be futile to attempt to teach them agriculture, or indeed any ordinary trade as there would be little chance of their following them when thrown on their own hands. But the pursuit of the sea is more congenial to their nature, and there would be small chance of their abandoning it. For the girls, they should be also plainly educated, and brought up expressly for domestic service. They are very " neat-handed," attentive, cheerful, and teachable, and very kind to children. There could be the means of teaching them all the branches of domestic duties; and it is possible that by their sewing they might help to pay the expenses of the establishment. That, however, is a secondary consideration.

The fallacious part of Mr. RUSDEN'S plan is the proposal to have the children located in their own districts, where communication with their tribes would be easy, and indeed inevitable; and, being thus broken up into small bodies, it would be impossible to attend to their education, and remove them from the influences of those habits from which we would wean them. In fact we should fail, in part if not wholly, and our objects be defeated. To succeed, we must remove these children so far from their native haunts that their tribes would be unlikely to attempt to visit them ; or if they did so, it would be so rarely that very soon the children would forget their language, and lose all sympathy with them. That result is the great element of success in the plan we propose.

With respect to the black children, we should follow the same mode of education, according to sex, as we would with the half-castes. But their case is more difficult to manage than the latter. They cannot be taken away forcibly from their tribes; and if we accept the charge of them with conditions, those conditions must be observed. All that we can do when they are yielded to our care is to exact that they shall not be taken away before a certain number of years. The best chance for the children is, that by that time those who have a right to exercise a control over them will be dead, when our own authority may be still further extended. In no other way need we hope for any success and by the plan we suggest, we believe we should attain it, and thus save a remnant of a fast expiring people.

While upon the subject, we will touch briefly upon the causes of the rapid disappearance of the natives. Some years ago an idea prevailed that there was something mysterious in the causes which led to the disappearance of the savage tribes before the foot of the white man. Nothing, however, can be more natural than such a result. As soon as a district becomes settled, nearly all the young men of the tribes belonging to that tract of country attach themselves to the different stations. There they are regularly fed, and warmly clad, and they remain with the whites, perhaps, for two or three months. Then a number of their tribe passing, they must go and join them ; they throw off their clothes, and expose themselves to all the changes of weather they are sure to encounter. This brings on pulmonary disease, and consumption is one of the most frequent causes of death among the young men of the tribes. Among the women these causes do not operate so powerfully, as they are not so much exposed to sudden changes of habits. But their mode of life is fatal to the increase of their race. As a rule, the young girls rarely have more than one child, —numbers of them never bear children at all. This is chiefly to be attributed to the constant intercourse and connection kept up among themselves as well as the whites. Constant smoking and getting drunk on every occasion that offers itself, no doubt, assists to check their natural increase, but the first mentioned is the chief cause of their barrenness. And thus, while most of them die when still young, the numbers remaining to take their places are reduced more and more each year, till at last a unit will express the strength of a tribe which only a few years since may have consisted of many hundreds. And so they will continue to diminish, till not one of a kindly race remains, unless the State steps in to rescue them from total extinction.

Argus (Melbourne, Vic. 1857,http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7132790