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

EUROBODALLA ABORIGINAL CULTURAL HERITAGE STUDY
South Coast NSW
In 1878 a reserve of 40 acres was formed on the Tuross Lake for a man named
Neddy. 127 Although by 1890 it was recorded that 3 acres had been cleared it was also
stated that it was uncultivated and unoccupied. 128
A European settler from the area, Richard Dansey, appears to have been involved in
the process of acquiring these early reserves. In a letter written in 1880 to the
Governor of New South Wales he made some interesting comments on the difficulties
encountered by the Aboriginal farmers that highlight some of the reasons that these
reserves were unoccupied:
Your Ministers have ever been ready to aid to the utmost of their
limited powers, any efforts that are made with a view to bettering the
condition of the unfortunate aborigines, and have sanctioned various
reserves of Forty Acres each for individuals in this neighbourhood…
Two of the Aborigines who had taken up Forty Acres each, have made
repeated attempts to cultivate, but insuperable difficulties beset them ;
they could not find food for their families while fencing, and the crops
they put in were destroyed by trespassing Cattle. If Your Excellency’s
Ministers could see their way to fencing these reserves, and, in
deserving cases, supplying seed and implements, under proper
supervision and restrictions, I am persuaded that several of them would
prove good and creditable farmers, as most of them know the simple
routine of farming generally pursued in the bush. One notable, a halfcaste,
made three (sic) several attempts to cultivate his reserve, but was
persecuted and harassed by a vagabond neighbour, and had to abandon
the attempt. 129
In the period from 1883 to 1885 records indicate that two additional reserves were
formed in the area of the Moruya Heads, one of 24 acres and the other of 320 acres,
however, no further details are known. 130
A reserve of 32 acres was formed on the shores of Lake Tuross near Turlinjah in
1880. 131 The reserve was formed for, “… the use of the Aboriginal William Benson
during his lifetime…”. 132
127
Register of Reserves, op.cit., p.1.
128
Register of Reserves, op.cit., p.1.
129 th
Richard Dansey to His Excellency Lord Augustus Loftus, Governor of New South Wales, 20 August,
1880, Turlinjay, Moruya, in ‘Applications for land and reservation of land, 1877, 1880’, Department of
Lands, State Records of New South Wales, File 80/4240-7/6404-15/A/16.
130
McGuigan, op.cit., p.36.
131
McGuigan, op.cit., p.16.
132
‘Applications for land and reservation of land, 1877, 1880’, Department of Lands, State Records of
New South Wales, File 80/4240-7/6404-15/A/16.
Goulding Heritage Consulting Pty Ltd
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