Pages 9 - 77 (1600kb) - Eurobodalla Shire Council

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EUROBODALLA ABORIGINAL CULTURAL HERITAGE STUDY South Coast NSW severer portion of the winter that they congregate in any numbers in the neighbourhood of towns or large Squatting establishments ; and at that time they are seen under the greatest possible disadvantage. Without clothing to protect them from the inclemency of the Season, and unable to subsist by hunting, fishing, or their other usual modes of gaining food, they swarm to the settlements in the expectation of procuring both, and are generally willing to give such labor as they are capable of in return for what food or portions of raiment they may receive. Cutting wood for the winter supply of the settlers seems to be the general use to which they are put;- both males and females. 73 It would appear from this statement that the people of the area were continuing to follow their pre-existing patterns of existence and attempting to incorporate the European presences within this pattern. However, the disruption brought by Europeans, through disease, pastoralism and increasing land alienation, grew dramatically in the following decades. Population Figures in the early 1800s As is the case generally in south-eastern Australia estimates of population for the Eurobodalla area are limited in extent and accuracy. The figures that were recorded cannot be considered to reflect the population of the area before the advent of Europeans as the impact of disease had already been felt. The earliest recorded population figure for the Eurobodalla area was recorded by the missionary Harper in his visit to Bateman’s Bay in 1826. The figures he gave apply to the single group that he met with at that location: The number of blacks present is 87 men, 36 women, 23 children ; making in all 146. besides others who are not far distant, as may be seen by the smoke ascending in various places. The land is pretty tolerable in some parts and thickly covered with timber, tho’ in some parts it is very mountainous. 74 In 1839 Commissioner Lambie undertook a census of the Aboriginal and European inhabitants of the Maneroo Squatting District. The census is far from complete in its coverage of either group. Lambie’s census identified 173 stations already formed in the District with a non-Indigenous population of 1143 free or freed individuals 75 and 565 convicts 76 . The Aboriginal population of the area was given as 448 77 individuals. 78 73 rd ‘Report on the state of the Aborigines in the Maneroo District’, Commissioner Manning, 23 March, 1852, Colonial Secretary Papers ‘Special Bundles. Annual reports on state of the Aborigines in the various districts, 1851-53’, 4/713.2, State Records of New South Wales. 74 ‘Mr. Harper’s Journal [October 1826]’, transcription in the Wesleyan Mission House Despatches, Bonwick Transcripts Missionary, 1824-1829, B.T.53, CY1529, Mitchell Library. 75 781 males, 151 female, 110 boys, 101 girls. 76 558 males, 7 females. 77 177 men, 142 women, 80 boys and 49 girls. 78 Andrews, op.cit., p.123. Goulding Heritage Consulting Pty Ltd 42
EUROBODALLA ABORIGINAL CULTURAL HERITAGE STUDY South Coast NSW In contrast to this figure Mrs Celia Rose, who arrived in Moruya as a young child in the early 1830s and remained there most of her life, remembered a population of almost that many in the Moruya area alone: I think the Aboriginals numbered about four hundred. They were quiet and harmless, and the elders of them were very kind, and would put their hands on our heads and say, “Buderree fellow white picanniny.” There were no other white children but my brother and myself, and we used to play with the blacks, and were never frightened of them. My mother was the only white woman here at that time. The first hotel was built on the northern bank of the Moruya River, and when the blacks got drunk there they would fight and kill each other, and now there is not one full-blooded black left in this district. 79 In 1834 the government distributed blankets to station run holders to in turn distribute to the Aboriginal people in their local area. Blankets were distributed to four stations in the Bateman’s Bay area, thirty blankets each to Mr Thomson, Mr Hunt, Mr Flanagan and twenty to Mr Morris. 80 The return from Walter Thomson, listing the 23 individuals to which he distributed blankets is the only one to have survived. Thomson stated in regard to the list that: The number of Blankets I received from the Government, were thirty, & you will observe by the list enclosed, that there is only the Names of twenty three of the Blacks given, but among these were several old people, with families, who suffer much more from the inclemency of the weather, than those single men who are not so much advanced in years – I thought it expedient therefore, to give the very old people double Blankets each… 81 In 1839 a total of 117 people were recorded for the Bateman’s Bay area, 50 men, 29 women, 24 boys and 14 girls. Unfortunately no further details exist. 82 In 1842 William Oldrey of Broulee supplied to the Colonial Secretary a list of all individuals taken at the Broulee Police Office at the time of the annual distribution of blankets. There is a total of 194 people listed by name, with estimates of their age and their place of normal residence, in addition there are 36 children with no further information provided. 83 79 Rose, op.cit., pp.375-6. 80 ‘List of Stations to which Blankets are to be forwarded for distribution in 1834’, Colonial Secretary Special Bundles: Aborigines 1833-35: Papers dealing with the issue of blankets, and including returns of the native population in the various districts, 4/6666B.3, State Records of New South Wales. 81 Walter Thompson to Colonial Secretary, 25 th November, 1834, Batemans Bay, Colonial Secretary Special Bundles: Aborigines 1833-35: Papers dealing with the issue of blankets, and including returns of the native population in the various districts, 4/6666B.3, State Records of New South Wales. 82 ‘Return of Aborigines taken at the respective Stations, 1839’, Colonial Secretary Special Bundles: Aborigines 1833-35: Papers dealing with the issue of blankets, and including returns of the native population in the various districts, 4/6666B.3, State Records of New South Wales. 83 ‘Return of Aboriginal Natives taken at Broulee the 6 th day of May 1842’, Colonial Secretary Special Bundles: Aborigines 1837 – 44: Papers dealing with the issue of blankets, and including returns of the native population in the various districts, 4/1133.3, State Records of New South Wales. A scanned copy of the original is included as Appendix 4 of this report. Goulding Heritage Consulting Pty Ltd 43
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Page 3 and 4: Introduction EUROBODALLA ABORIGINAL
Page 5 and 6: Scope of this Investigation EUROBOD
Page 9 and 10: Methodology EUROBODALLA ABORIGINAL
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Pages 9 - 77 (1600kb) - Eurobodalla Shire Council

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