The Aborigines of Western Australia

The Aborigines of Western Australia by Albert F. Calvert.

ANY attempt to fathom the depth of mystery which surrounds the history of the Australian Aboriginal must necessarily be--in the main--a failure. The subject is surrounded with difficulty. Captain Dampier was the first Englishman known to have made the acquaintance of the Australian natives, whom he calls "the poor winking people of New Holland, the miserablest people on earth," and so forth. During the intervening two centuries we have not added much to our knowledge regarding them. They have no written language, and are forbidden to speak of the dead: two serious obstacles to research.

During my wanderings in Western Australia, in the capacity of a mining engineer, I came across a good many of the natives; and taking a profound interest in everything connected with the colony I resolved to set down in brief and simple form such facts...