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[Page 14]
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descendants in possession undisputed possession
of this island continent before the advent of the white
man, heralded by Captain Cook? The answer to these
questions may well be left to anthropologists to do the best
they can with them but, even so, any answer must be
more or less surmise, for there is little data to work upon,
and therefore it seems likely that the [^actual] genesis of the
Australian aboriginee will remain a veiled mystery
for all time.
Universal customs amongst the blacks, such as tattooing and
the "making of young men", or "bora" ceremonies have been
written about almost "ad nauseam" nor can I add anything
of special interest and or value, except to say that these
customs were common to the Clarence and Richmond and,
in the early 'seventies, I remember a bora ring on our
property across the Back Creek from Bentley.
Before concluding these "recollections"; what of the general
characteristics of the blacks of the far northern rivers and
of their early relations with, and treatment by, the white
usurper? There is a good [^deal] to be said upon this
somewhat controversial subject.
Recently, turning over "Sydney Morning Heralds" for the year
1848, I came across several letters from the Clarence
river relating pitiful stories of depredations by