The Aborigines of Australia

Excerpt: “Shortly after my arrival in the Colony in 1826, I was appointed to a Commission of Inquiry into the state of the Aborigines. Previous to that, martial law had been proclaimed about Bathurst, where the blacks had been committing serious aggressions under Monday, their chief. My journey, extending over 1,600 miles, occupied six months. I lived partly with these people, so as to ascertain their number, language, habits, &c., and proposed a scheme of reserves, as in Canada, a border police, and missionary education, but the cost, £6,000 per annum, was considered too much, and my suggestion was therefore not acted on. I was subsequently examined, together with Mr. Robinson and the Rev. Mr. Threlkeld, before the Committee of the Legislative Council, about 1837, from which much information was acquired. The present work is part of a large manuscript, and I have thought it a favourable opportunity to publish it, now that fresh interest is awakened about these people, devoting any profits to the Missions lately established within New South Wales."