Page:The Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina.djvu/8



A twofold reason may be advanced for the publication of this little volume. The first is that the Widow of the Author seeks thereby to pay a tribute of respect to the memory of her late Husband, in carrying out what had long been his cherished intention. In thus putting into a permanent form the results of his labours, she has furnished an appropriate "memento" which cannot fail to be highly prized by the wide circle of his relatives and friends.

But in so far as it may find its way into the hands of the general public it must be judged on altogether different grounds, and must stand or fall on its own intrinsic merits; and as a reliable record of Aboriginal life we think it of unique value. Most of the information on this subject that is met with has been gleaned at second-hand, and wears about it a somewhat legendary aspect. Here, however, everything has been learned at first-hand, and is the result of the Author's personal observation. For a period of twenty-three years—from 1845 to 1868—he enjoyed the very best opportunities of making himself acquainted with the manners and the customs of those numerous tribes that then occupied the Lower Murray and Riverina Districts—and that too at a time when the Natives had been but little influenced by contact with European Settlers. Such a record cannot fail to become increasingly valuable as one of the Headwaters of Australian History —the publication of which is all the more a necessity that now it would be absolutely impossible to collect the information contained therein from the few Aborigines that remain.

With reference to Mr. Peter Beveridge, it may not be out of place to say a word or two. He was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, in the year 1829, and ten years later his family landed in Victoria, and commenced pastoral pursuits near the Township of Beveridge, to which they gave their name, and eventually settled down at Woodburn, near Kilmore, where the Mother of the Author still lives at the ripe old age of eighty-five.

In 1845 Mr. Peter Beveridge, accompanied by his brother Andrew, set out northwards to take up new country, taking with them 1000 head of cattle, a sufficient number of teams and servants, and provisions enough to last for a year. This they were induced to do through the representations of Mr. MacDougal—afterwards widely known as a successful breeder of cattle—who had already visited the Lower Murray, and who undertook to guide Mr. Beveridge into suitable country. The spot on which they settled was called Tyntyndyer, About ten miles below where the Town of Swan Hill now stands, and