Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/38

 12 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY The Forerunner, mangktl IxkIv among the breakers on the shore. Says Captain Sturt of Barker :— " He was in disposition. ;is he was in the close of his Ufe. in many respects similar to Captain Cook. Mild, affable, and attentive, he had the esteem and regard of every companion, and the res|)ect of everyone under him. Zealous in the discharge of his public duties, honorable and just in private life, a lover and follower of science, indefatigable and dauntless in his pursuits, a .steady friend, an entertaining companion. In him the King lost one of his most valuable officers, and his regiment one of its most efficient members." Friends of this courageous victim to colonisation erected a monument and tablet to his memory in St. James's Church, London. By the experience of its three forerunners. South Australian history was baptised in wreck, in physical anguish, and in blood. Mr. Kent supplied a report of the country visited, which caused Captain Sturt to write that the eastern shore of New Holland was rich in soil and pasture, that it was a place where " the colonist might venture with every prospect of success, and in whose valleys the exile might hope to build for himself and for his family a peaceful and prosperous home." Thus was obtained the information which, upon its publication in Great Britain, created so much interest, and gave a powerful impetus to the movement for the formation of a new colony in the south of Australia. In the meantime a few adventurous spirits had for some years been exploiting the waters of the neighboring deep. Whaling was proving a source of wealth in Tasmania, and on the coast of what was afterwards formed into the colony of Victoria. Whalers and sealers sailed in their boats as far west as Kangaroo Island, formed stations, and captured Ixjth the whales and .seals which came within reach. In this dangerous and exciting occupation they found ample scope. Captain Sutherland, when he visited the island in January, 1819, according to his own statement, travelled inland with two sealers who had been living there for some years. George Bates arrived there in 1824, and, after staying on the island for 71 years, removed to Adelaide, where he died on September 8, 1895. William Walker, another whaler, is said to have landed in 1819. He assumed the title of Governor of the Lsland. These and other men were wont to visit the mainland, where they caught native women and took them away to live with them. One of these women escaped by swimming across the straits, nine miles wide at the narrowest part, notwithstanding powerful currents and the innumerable sharks with which Backstairs Passage was infested. Of tho.se who may be entitled forerunners of colonisation, the aboriginal inhabitants deserve some attention. They were a people of pleasure, lighthearted, songful, and laughter- loving. 1 hey were lithe and supple in their movements, and possessed an easy carriage. I hey knew no God, and held but a hazy belief in the spirit world. They were a mysterious people, for no one knows whence they came. To themselves the satisfaction of animal wants was quite sufficient ; to the anthropologist, terms only of regret must be applied, becau-se he has taken so litde trouble to enquire .seriously into their origin. Soon the