Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-06-29
Only a Few of the Natives Are Left
in Australia.
MANY QUEER HABITS And CUSTOMS
Woman Does Not Rank High
With These People.
THROWING THE BOOMERANG
Copyright. 1901. by Frank G. Carpenter)

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
BRISBANE. Australia.
There are now less than 6n,op aborigines
left in Australia and of these 2o,opo are in
the state of Queensland. where this letter
Is dated. l saw no natives in Tasmania.
There are only $50 in the state of Victoria.
and only about S.0O0 in New South Wales.
South Australia has been less developed
than the eastern states. and it has L3.p"'
while the vast desert regions of western
Australia are sad to have something like
6GJ. These figures, of course, are not alb
solutely accurate. The aborigines live. in
the wiIds and in the vast regions of unex-
plored Australia one can tell how many
there are. The only pure natives 1 have
seen were in some of the towns along the
northeast coast Of Queensland. and my In
formation comes largely from travellers,
explorers and the colonial governments
Many of my photographs have been fur
nished by the governments of Queensland
and New South Wales. from the collec-
lions taken by the official explorers.
The people here call the abOrigineS
blacks and black fellows They some
times use the word negro, but the few ma
tives / have seen were chocolate brown,
rather than black Their hair was curly,
but not wOolly, and they had not the thick
lips nor the very fiat noses of the African.
Some of the abOrigines are quite fine look
ing: they are straight and well formed, al
though generally lean and scrawny. In
Townsville 1 saw a native girl about eigh-
teen years old who looked more like a mu-
larto than a negro. She had high cheek
bones a slightly receding chin and big
mouth. and her hair was glossy. smooth
and fine. Still she was by no means bad
looking for gin and would have passed
muster among a mixed crowd of colored
people from our southern states.
Their Simple wardrObes.
This girl had on European clothes. In
the Interior parts Of north Australia
the natives wear no clothes whatever.
Both men and women go naked, or
at best have only a few ornaments In their
hair, noses and ears, with perhaps a string
or two about the waist. In northwestern
Queensland the natives use belts of human
hair during certain ceremonies, and they
often stripe their bodies with paint. They
sometimes have grass necklaces and strings
OF oposSum skins about their shoulders.
They tie bands about their hair to keep it
from falling Into their eyes. and for the
same reasons soak II stiff with fat or clay.
Hair grease is everywhere prOfusely used.
and 1t Is not uncommon for a native to give
himself coat Of fish oil whenever he can
get 1t. This envelopes him in a rancid
smell which is very offensive to Europeans.
The methods Of hairdressing vary. The
hair is often bound up with cloths and the
knuckle bones Of the kangaroo are so fas-
tened to # that they hang down over the
ears; in some parts kangaroo teeth are fas-
tened to the forelocks. so that they hang
down and rest on the forehead between the
eyebrows. About Port Darwin in north
western Australia the men and women use
nose pins. some of which are ten inches
lorg. The nose is pierced In the center
and. being pulled down, these pins are