Saint Mary's beacon., 1879-06-26


tralian correspondent give terrible
description Of some Of &c hhabilauss
OF Queensland. Re says - ba colony
Of Queensland. though one f she most
recently established. possesses one OF
The largest territories II AusIrslin, over
the unsettled part of whisA San the
sborigines. They ars - ~ - lowest
81 mankind u mealsI and il
plsypiral gssnalion 4 u
had been made 70 civilize lbem, because
experience has. shown that they are al
most incapable Of living civilized life.
They wander in small tribes, subsisting
on roots. Their weapons are the spear,
the boomerang, and the nnllah-nullah.
The wealthy squatter (the term squatter
in Australia is title Of honor and dis
tinction). moving into the interior Ofthe
country, pastures bis sheep and cattle
upon the land. and now and then some
wandering blacks take what they want.
In the northern parts Of the colony the
blacks capture, kill. and eat human be-
ings. Gold mining is carried on there
extensively, and there are thousands Of
Chinese engaged in the work. These go
out in small parties to work o. travel to
and from the alluvial diggings, and are
often speared and eaten by the natives,
who prefer q Chinaman.to sehite man.
Whites occasionally perpetrate serious
ofenses, and, to escape punishment, Hy
to the vast unexplored tracts that lie be-
yond the settled districts. To capture
offending blacks or escaping whites the
Queensland government established the
native police force, or Black Trackers,
as they are more generally termed. They
are selected from tribes Is far away as
possible from the region in which they
are designed for work, taken to police
station in some small town, and taught
to ride and handle q revolver. When
there is any need for their services they
are drafted to the place at once. They
are employed to track white men who
have lost their way, or who are attemPt-
ing to escape from justice. Many ahoFse
thief and murderer has esght TO
the bar Of justice by their efforts, and
hundreds Of lives have been saved by
their efforts, and hundreds of lives have
been saved by their perseyenng search;
for the lost IN the bush is IN Australian
phrase, almost synonymous with hor-
rible death by thirst and starvation.
There is another work performed by
the Black Tracker, and one in which he
is constantly engaged. Australian jour
nails frequently contain items TO the ef-
feet that some officer went out with a
party Of native police and dispersed q
mob Of blacks. To one who does not
understand the peculisrties of the
Queensland police. this item is unintel-
lIgible; it simply means that the black
butchers murdered every man. woman
and child they could find. TO disPerse'
means to massacre. Notlong since some
cattle were stolen from . station about
two hundred miles from BeWen, and
about sixty aboriginals, men, women
and children, were ell butchered by
these black fends, because they were in
the neighborhood. Three Chinese, on
their way from Cooktownto the Palmer
River Diggings. were speared and eaten
by the blacks, and several daysafterward
about twenty natives were slaughtered
by the black troopers. when little
girl was killed and eaten near Towns
vile, the natives fell like leaves in au-
tumn.
II may be asked IL these people do
not resort to firearms. Strange 10 say,
they do not. Nor do they seem to un-
derstand the use OF them until il is
proved by the death Of many OF their
men. When first brought in contact
with the trackers they had no fear OF
the yevolvers and carbines, but rushed
wildly to certain death. On one occa-
sion, atter q number Of them had been
killed, some OF the remainder took re-
fuge in the trees, imagining that they
were as safe among the branches as the
bird from their own boomerang. They
have never adopted the weapons, how
ever. though they could easily do 50.
for the same class who have furnished
the Indians with firearms could supply
them. There are many small towns into
which they are not allowed 10 enter,
partly because they dress as nature
dressed them, but principally On account
Of their treachery.
The black trooper detests his less for
tunate brothers Of the wilderness, and
showsno mercy. he pursaes them day
after day, for hundreds Of miles, and
shoots them d0whs one ard all. Their
ann is 10 punish the perpetrators Of The
crime. but they combine The powers OF
Judge, jury and exeesfioner. The white
men who lead them are frequently Is
bloodthirsty as themselves. and often
excel them in acts Of wantOn cruelty,