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inclined instantly to perform, when one of te party took a fowling piece, and discharged the contents (shot) into the posteriora of the Black, who ran away, joined the strange tribe, and the consequence was, that they came upon the two men splitting timber, killed and drove the party away from the intended station. At all times danger is attached to first interviews with savages, of which the above was one; but, if men will not exercise common prudence in their conduct towards them, when it is in their interest to conciliate, they may expect to reap the rewards of their own temerity.
The two shepherds of Mr. Cobb, who were unfortunately murdered by the Blacks, suffered it is said, in consequence of the attrocities being then committed against the Blacks by the stockmen at another part of the country, which drove them towards Mr. Cobb's station, where they met the two shepherds, and wreaked their vengeance. in retaliation, on the unhappy sufferers; so I am informed by one who was there about the time of the catastrophe. Their fellow servants armed themselves, overtook or came upon the tribe, found some with the clothes of the murdered shepherds on their backs, whom they hewed to pieces with their hatchets, and killed others. Subsequently to this, Major Nunn came and retributed on the tribe to the amount before stated. An official inquiry into all the cases would no doubt, elicit many other facts in explanation.
It is astonishing that more murders have not been committed on Europeans by the Aborigines, considering the deadly extirpating warfare which has long been carried on against them, and the perfect recklessness with which the life of a Black - man, woman, or child, has been regarded. For instance, - a party of stockmen went out to punish the Blacks; they provided themselves with knives, and cut the throats of many Aborigines, leaving them for dead. It so occurred, that some months afterwards, one of the stockmen met a Black alone in the Bush, whose throat had formerly been cut, but not effectually, and it had healed! Alarmed at the circumstance, the stockman passed on, but received no injury from the wounded Aborigine. Now, had the European been killed in retaliation for his former share in the cut-throat work, and the occasion thereof had not been known, it would naturally have been considered as a wanton act of barbarian cruelty, by a "Black Brute," on an unprotected and innocent European! In another instance, two Europeans were pitching their tent for the night at the bank of a creek, near the Gwyder, when a party of armed Blacks came to them; one was known, and entered into conversation. They were asked their business, and whether they were going, &c., to which they vaguely replied, and departed. There was a stock station not far distant - In a short time the tribe returned, and acknowledged that they had been to take away a Black Woman from the stockman whom he had detained, but that there were too many people at the hut that night. On further inquiry, the Black said that the Aboriginal woman was from Wellington Valley; that she had been brought thither by two bushrangers from that place; that on her journey they sent her down a deep gully to get water; that when she went down she found two Blacks, who seized her; that she then told them that there were two White Persons with her who had plenty of property, and urged them to go up the hill and see them; they went up, and the moment the bushrangers saw them, they levelled their pieces and shot the two Blacks dead! They then travelled on to this station, and gave the woman to the stockman. One of the present Blacks had been to the hut prior to the meeting, to bring away the woman, on which the stockman took down his gun, and threatened to shoot him if he did not instantly depart from the door; the Blacks therefore now came in a strong party to bring away the female Aborigine by force; but were intimidated by the number of persons who accidently lodged at the hut that night.
There are also White Gentlemen whose taste, when in the Bush, leads them to keep Black Concubines:- no wonder that the unhappy convict, whose state of bondage generally precludes marriage, should readily follow the example of their betters, for whose conduct no such plea exists.
It is not to be presumed that the guilty can approve of the measures adopted by Government, to prevent a continuation of, and to punish crime, or that any who are grieved that the welfare of the Aboriginal Children of Australia should be sought, can desire that protection should be afforded to those beings, from whom section by section of land is sold, till there be no place for the Aborigines - that the European may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! but, nevertheless, it is a mercy, to all parties, that the Protectors are appointed, who, as Magistrates, are bound to afford equal protection, and equally to punish evildoers, whether Blacks or Whites; although for a season, until the nature of the office be mutually understood, and more generally known, the battle will be misrepresented by designing persons, and the system itself be imperfect in its operations. Perhaps much embarrassment and delay in this department might be avoided, if, instead of the routine of a separate Establishment, each Protector communicated direct with Government. The scattered positions of the Protectors in this vast country, requires dispatch and promptness in measures taken for mutual protection, to ensure success, which a direct correspondence will greatly facilitate. Europeans and Aborigines will no longer dare to set at defiance the law, when it is surely found that a just and certain punishment swiftly follows crime.
The past years of this Colony have been fearfully tinged with the shedding of innocent blood; and it is to be feared, that much blood will yet be spilled, ere peace is established in the interior. But,