798
AUSTRALIA
[statistics rived little or nothing from the present races to the north of Torres Church 22 per cent.; next in numerical strength are the Strait. Certainly the blacks of North Australia seem somewhat Wesleyans and other Methodists, numbering 12 per cent., in advance of the aborigines generally. But no clear connexion exists either in language, or manners, or customs with Malays or the various branches of the Presbyterians 11 per cent., Papuans. The sunny and playful disposition of the aboriginal Congregationalists 2 per cent., and Baptists 2 per cent. points to Papuan rather than Malay blood, but the probability is At the beginning of the year 1900 it was estimated that that the natives were in possession long before the present dis- there were in Australia 1,374,000 adherents of the Church tribution of Papuan and Malay. The blacks on parts of the north coast use an outrigger to their canoes—an idea evidently introduced of England, 783,000 Roman Catholics, 385,000 Presbyfrom beyond Torres Strait. The bow and arrow are not known terians, 79,000 Congregationalists, and 81,000 Baptists. among the aborigines of Australia. The question arises as to Instruction.—Education is very widely distributed, and whether they were ever acquainted with their use. Had they ever in every state it is compulsory for children of school ages known such weapons, it is hardly likely that the knowledge of them could ever have been lost. Depending, as the Australian to attend school. The statutory ages differ in the various black-fellow did, on the chase, nothing could be better fitted for states: in New South Wales and West Australia it is his wants. The absence of these implements points conclusively to from 6 to 13 years, in Victoria 6 to 12 years, in Queensland the fact that the ancestors of these people reached Australia before 6 to 11 years, and in South Australia 7 to 12 years incluthe bow and arrow became what they are now, implements in use by almost all races. It is not necessary that the first-comers sive. Religious instruction is not imparted by the state-paid should have been skilful navigators. Possibly there was land con- teachers in any state, though in certain states persons, nexion between Australia and New Guinea in post-Tertiary times, duly authorized by the religious organizations, are allowed by means of which the aborigines made their way. The study of the languages of the various tribes has so far to give religious instruction to children of their own deyielded nothing of exceptional importance. As an instance of how nomination where the parents’ consent has been obtained. a spoken tongue may vary in a short time the following is of According to the returns for 1899 there were 6357 state interest:—In 1893 a wild tribe of natives was discovered in the schools, with 13,462 teachers and 585,556 pupils, and the Wentworth district of New South Wales. This tribe originated through a black-fellow hiding in some little-known country with average attendance of scholars was 411,331. Besides a few gins for some thirty years. In that time the tribe had state schools there were 2454 private schools, with 7778 grown to thirty—men, women, and children. The country they teachers and 140,285 scholars, the average number of were concealed in is known as mallee scrub, the most wretched scholars in attendance being 109,389. The census of 1891 kind of land known in the state. The tribe lived as only black- showed that about 76 per cent, of the whole population fellows can on kangaroo, wild cat, and ant eggs. They used water bags made from the skins of kangaroo legs. They produced fire in and more than 88 per cent, of the population over five the old way by rubbing two sticks together, and their only years of age could read and write. There was, therefore, weapons were spears, which were merely stems of mallee, roughly a residue of 12 per cent, of “ illiterates,” most of whom pointed and barbed. The remarkable fact is that the station were not born in Australia. The marriage registers furnish blacks had considerable difficulty in making the wild tribe understand them, although thirty years before they must have spoken another test of education. In 1899 only thirteen persons the same language. in every thousand married were unable to sign their For purposes of comparison the aboriginal character, habits, and names, thus proving that the number of illiterate adults of customs may be summed up as follows :— Moral, Mental, and Social.—No moral code. A clear idea of Australian birth is very small. individual ownership in property. A wife is held as property. Public Finance.—The public revenues and expenditures No idea of a Supreme Being. Unable to grasp abstract ideas. No idols, no altar, and no form of sacrifice. No form of prayer or suppli- of the various Governments for the year ending June 1900 cation. Not in any way guided in their actions by the hope of were:— Revenue. Expenditure. future reward or future punishment. No written language. Build New South Wales £9,973,736 £9,811,402 no houses. No pottery. No weaving. No idea of moral justice. Victoria . 7,450,676 7,318,945 No art, save the making of some plaited bags. Very fearful of Queensland 4,588,207 4,540,418 unseen dangers and in constant dread of witchcraft. No ownerSouth Australia 2,853,329 2,936,619 ship in land, but the tribes have a well-understood limit to their West Australia 2,875,396 2,615,675 hunting-grounds. Reached only to the “binary stage” in counting. Have a gesture speech, more or less perfected in various The chief sources of revenue are customs taxation, railways, tribes, and often a complete code of smoke signals. In all that concerns hunting and the chase, their senses are far keener than postal receipts, &c., and public lands. There are direct taxes on land and incomes in New South Wales, Victoria, those of civilized man. Customs, dr. —Circumcision practised over most of the continent. and South Australia. The sums obtained during 1900 The rite of male and female introcision practised in a horrible from the various sources named were :— manner by many tribes. Some tribes force the young women to Customs and Excise submit to promiscuity after the operation, but this is a thin" . £7,180,907 Other Taxation quite apart from “communal marriage” or general promiscuity? . 2,320,076 Railways, &c. . Mutual avoidance of mother-in-law and son-in-law. A complicated . 10,440,347 Postal and Telegraphs marriage relationship. No marriage ceremony. A wife is pro. 2,148,335 Public Lands . cured by purchase, as a gift from her parents, or occasionally by . 3,430,641 Other sources . forcible abduction. Polygamy is recognized. Infanticide practised. . 2,221,038 Cannibalism common. Typical hunters, but do not use the bow and arrow. Most tribes have a chief or head man, but his office The expenditure may be grouped as follows :— is not hereditary, neither is a chief elected. Railways and Working Expenses £6,397,686 Implements, (be.—Stone chisels, hammers, and tomahawks. Postal and Telegraphs 2,095,810 Barbed spears. The boomerang. A throwing stick for spears. Public Instruction . 1,760,207 V anous clubs and fighting boomerangs noVmade to return to the Interest and Charges on Debts 7,274,923 All other services . 9,694,433 Can eS and )lait twine nets armlets" ° l » bags, and The public debt of the states on 30th June 1900 was It is right to add that the black - fellow, when unspoiled by aggression and bad treatment, is docile, capable of kindness, and £186,813,712, thus distributed :— even of great affection. But even here he is inconstant. The New South Wales . £65,332,993 early explorers found them an inoffensive people ; and even at the Victoria . 49,324,885 date of writing the tribes who practise the dreadful mutilations Queensland . . 34,349,414 referred to are seldom hostile, and, when their womenfolk are not South Australia . 26,131,780 taken from them, they are disposed to be friendly. West Australia . 11,674,640 Religion. There is no state church in Australia, nor is About 80 per cent, of the whole public debt has been the teaching of religion in any way subsidized by the incurred for the purpose of constructing public works state. The Church of England claims as adherents 39 yielding a direct revenue ; but the proportion varies in each per cent, of the population, and the Roman Catholic state, and the details of the debt will be found under
