September 17.
Treaty by Glenn Loughrey
Not land ownership but extermination.
Destruction of Indigenous communities... and no provision made for Aboriginal ownership of country.
When reflecting on the results of one of his expeditions [George] Robinson summarised the view of the Aborigines he had encountered:
Some white men they said very good but plenty very bad, that these shoot too much blackfellow and take away their lubra and picaninnie and that by and by blackfellow all gone. They were poor now. White man had taken their good country, no ask for it but took it. Black men show white men plenty grass, and water, and then White men say be off come be off and drive them away and no let him stop. [1]
As Robinson learnt more about the squatting system at Port Phillip he understood the important role Aborigines had played in the earliest phases of pioneering. They were not always hostile at the time of initial incursions and often guided overlanding parties across their country and showed them where to find grass and water. 'The natives', he observed, were the parties who first guided the white men 'through the intricacies of the forest' and led them to their runs, their springs and rich pastures. The white men who made their living by what was termed 'finding country' sold the information thus gained to speculators in runs who hurriedly occupied the land with stock. [2]
Soon after his arrival Robinson expressed his concern about the land question to senior government officials. In May 1839 he had a long conversation with the chief surveyor about providing space for the Aborigines. He observed that although the government was officially committed to their protection no provision had been made for Aboriginal ownership of country. He was shown a map of an area covering 30 square miles which was already marked off into allotments. He told the surveyor that if a similar map was' Exhibited to the people of England' they would at once see the way the natives were treated. Their lands were sold 'from them' and no provision was made for their maintenance. [3]
Robinson Journal, 17 Sep. 1841, GAR Papers, vol. 26, ML MSS. A7047.
Robinson, Report of a Visit to the Goulburn, Loddon and Mt Rouse Stations, 1847, GAR Papers, vol. 60, ML, MSS. A7081.
Robinson journal, 3 May 1839, GAR Papers, vol. 14, ML, MSS. A7035.
Acknowledgment: Henry Reynolds, The Whispering in our Hearts, pp. 50-51, 256-7 n.13, n.14, n. 15.
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Extermination - massacres
Extermination is then the word – wholesale massacres of men, women and children... These terrible razzias [plundering raids] occurring in the remote back settlements and pastures, are for the most part ignored by the local authorities – crown land commissioners,* police magistrates, and others, or else considered a justified negrocide. [1]
'Residence and Rambles in Australia', Blackwoods Magazine, September 1852 (Vol. 72), p. 304. Extract cited in S. Rosenberg, 'Black Sheep and Golden Fleece A Study of Nineteenth Century Attitudes Towards Australian Colonies', Ann Arbor, Michigan, University Microfilms, 1954, pp. 127-28.
Acknowledgment: Timothy Bottoms, Conspiracy of Silence, pp. 46, 217 n.2.
* For an instance when a Crown Land Commissioner led such a murdering band of squatters, see the entry for 4 May.