Page:Feilberg.djvu/26

Rh THE ABORIGINAL COMMISSION.

May, 1876, the Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council, appointed five gentlemen commissioners for the purpose of enquiring into and ameliorating the condition of the aborigines. These gentlemen were Bishop Hale, and Messrs. A. C. Gregory, W. L. G. Drew, C. J. Graham, and W. Landsborough. Their duties, as specified in the commission, were to "enquire into and investigate the condition of the aboriginal inhabitants of our said colony, and to report from time to time to our Governor aforesaid upon the best means to be adopted—by legislative enactment or otherwise—for improving the condition of the said aboriginal inhabitants." They were given full power to summon and examine witnesses. In the letter accompanying the commission from the then Colonial Secretary, the following clause occurs:—"It is considered desirable that the commission should have, for the present at least, continuing powers; and that the attention of the commissioners should be given to the best means of reclaiming and benefiting the aborigines not only at Mackay, but throughout the colony."

The commission went to work. As a starting point there was in existence at Mackay a large reserve of 10,000 acres, on which Mr. Bridgman bad persuaded the blacks of that district to congregate—at least to make it their headquarters—and where he had succeeded in establishing a beneficial influence over them. Working on this foundation, they recommended the establishment of a school on the Mackay Reserve, for which a grant of money was made by Parliament. Mr. Bridgman having induced the blacks to undertake a certain amount of work, substantial school buildings and quarters for the protector were erected at a total cost of £90. Mr. MacGroarty, who was sent in June, 1878, to report on the school by the Department of Public Instruction, found that about twenty-three boys, of an average age of 9 or 10, had reached the standard of attainment of the two lowest classes of the primary schools. When it is remembered that they had to be taught the language in which instruction was conveyed to them, speaking only the usual "nigger English" when first brought to school, this progress may be regarded as very satisfactory. The general plan of the reserve system was adapted to reclaiming the blacks gradually, and without too violent a change from their natural habits. They were induced to work a little, and gradually weaned from their purposeless shiftless tribal life. Produce was raised on the reserve by the labors of the blacks for their own use and they were also allowed ad encouraged to engage in contracts for the neighboring sugar planters. It was desired in the first place to create a taste among them for a more settled and orderly life, so that a foundation might be laid for the inculcation of moral and religious sentiments. But the reserve was not a missionary establishment. With the young a different system was adopted. They were induced to attend school, with the results noticed above.

Other reserves were formed. At Bribie a little group of the blacks of Moreton Bay were established and cared for under the supervision of Mr. Thomas Petrie. Near Bowen and Townsville other centres for instruction in the rudiments of civilisation were established under the supervision of local committees. In these places the experiment promised well, but it was not permitted to have much chance of success. The commission, seeing from the facts that had come under their observation that it was possible to ameliorate to a considerable extent the condition of the coast blacks, made recommendations to the Government involving the expenditure of an increased sum of money. In September, 1878, the Premier moved in committee a grant of £1,600. The motion was rejected without division and almost without discussion, the ground alleged, by those who spoke against it, for their opposition being that an expiring Parliament should not enter on what was practically a new undertaking. The commission were thus left without funds, and obliged to abandon their work. Finally, in March, 1879, Bishop Hale having written to the Colonial Secretary as chairman of the commissions, asking whether there was any official report confirming a statement which appeared in the Courier of a wholesale massacre of blacks near Cooktown by Sub-inspector O'Connor, received a brief letter in reply declining to answer any questions. This practically ended the career of the commission. With no funds to do anything, and being unable to get a civil answer to questions which by their constitution they were certainly entitled to ask, their existence was practically ended, and Mr. Drew formally resigned.

The subjoined letter will give the history of the Mackay Reserve—the only one in existence—to the present time:—