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

EUROBODALLA ABORIGINAL CULTURAL HERITAGE STUDY
South Coast NSW
the piece set forth in the rough sketch annexed hereto; and that portion
having been offered for sale and being under Forty acres, cannot be
applied for in the usual manner.
That as a new Oyster Fisheries Act is almost inevitable, and your
Petitioner could make an excellent livelihood by Oyster-gathering, a
small boat or dinghy would be necessary to that purpose; and as your
Petitioner has always kept himself aloof from the other aboriginals,
who have a fine sea-going boat, unfit for oyster-gathering, he would
humbly prefer a small boat of his own. 134
The adjoining European landowner, Ernest Hawdon, wrote to Richard Dansey
regarding the attempt to gain a reserve for the use of William Benson:
I have not the slightest objection to your endeavouring to obtain the
reservation of the piece of land enclosed between my purchased
selection of forty acres… & my two hundred acres… for the aboriginal
William Benson as I think he is equally entitled to land with other
aboriginals for whom you have obtained reserves and much better
qualified to make a good use of it – as I know him to be an honest
sober and hardworking man. 135
As stated in his letter William Benson had worked for the Hawdon family of Kyla
Park for many years. In 1883 Benson’s reserve was stated to be:
… occupied by 5 males, 3 females, and 6 children some of whom go to
the Turlinjah Public School. Fairly grassed, no cultivation. Not cleared.
Good fishing station. 136
In the official report of the Aborigines Protection Board for the year 1890 it was
stated that of the 6 reserves in the Moruya area 137 the Turlinjah reserve was the only
one that was occupied:
…. occupied by the aborigines. It consists of good open country, is
well grassed, and about 10 acres are suitable for cultivation. About a
quarter of an acre is fenced in for a garden, and 2 acres have been
cleared. A quantity of seed potatoes were supplied by the Board, and
they have been planted by the aborigines. Galvanized-iron has also
been furnished for them for roofing, and making them more habitable.
They have a fishing boat, which is kept on the Tuross Lake. It is fairly
134 William Benson (Wynoo) to His Excellency Lord Augustus Loftus, Governor of New South Wales,
20 th August, Turlinjah, 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.
135 Ernest Hawdon to Richard Dansey, 19 th July 1880, Kyla Park Turlinjah, 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.
136 Register of Reserves, op.cit., p.1.
137 The six were R378 near Bodalla, R347 near Bircoul Lake (Terouga), R346 at Tuross/Wagonga,
R345 on the coast near Bodalla and R553 at Turlinjah.
Goulding Heritage Consulting Pty Ltd
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