Settler and Savage One Hundred Years Ago in Australia
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Settler and Savage One Hundred Years Ago in Australia De Boos, Charles (1819-1900) A digital text sponsored by Australian Literature Electronic Gateway University of Sydney Library Sydney, Australia 2003 http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/oztexts © University of Sydney Library. The texts and images are not to be used for commercial purposes without permission Source Text: Prepared from the print edition published by The N.S.W. Bookstall Co. Sydney 1906 The original text is incorrectly paginated with pages 235 and 236 missing. This pagination has been retained. Originally published by Gordon and Gotch under the title “Fifty Years Ago: An Australian Tale”. Images from print edition not included here. All quotation marks are retained as data. First Published: 1867 setis australian etexts novels 1840-1869 Settler and Savage One Hundred Years Ago in Australia Sydney The N.S.W. Bookstall Co. 1906 Publishers' Note This story was first published in 1867, under the title of “FIFTY YEARS AGO”; but, in order to give the events their true perspective, it was deemed advisable to alter the title to “SETTLER AND SAVAGE ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO IN AUSTRALIA.” The Publishers, having purchased the copyright from the late Author's heirs, have had the work carefully revised and illustrated, and hope that, in its new dress, the book may prove as attractive as it did forty years ago, and thereby justify the present edition. Book One—The Oath Chapter I The Marauders THE sun was setting over the ranges just beyond the headwater of the Paterson River, a tributary of the Hunter, on the east coast of New South Wales. All there was still and silent, with no sign abroad of animal life, until three native blacks made their appearance upon the ranges above. They halted upon a small flat that had been formed in the curve of one of the steeper spurs, and as they looked round, it was evident that they were men of mark in their tribe, for three finer specimens of the aboriginal race could scarce have been encountered, even in those early days. And here it must be remembered that, beyond the boundaries of settlement, the Australian savage had not been inoculated with the vices introduced into the land by the white usurpers of his domain. The tribe of the Upper Paterson claimed as their patrimony the hunting grounds lying intermediate between those of the Port Stephens and Manning River tribes, and these three blacks were of that tribe. They were fully armed after the Australian fashion. Each man carried in his left hand his shield and a bundle of spears. In his right he held his woomera, the instrument by which the spear is propelled when it is required to be thrown with greater force or to a longer distance than usual. Each wore a girdle of opossum hair, with the exception of which they were entirely nude. Stuck in it was the never- absent tomahawk and two or three boomerangs. The hair of each was drawn up into a knot upon the top of his head, and beautified by feathers fixed in the ligature that bound the hair. In the selection of these feathers, which were worn not so much as a matter of taste as a distinctive badge, each warrior differed. Macomo, the leader of the party, wore the pinion feather of the eagle hawk, the tall plume giving an appearance of greater height to his stature; Atare wore the tail feathers of the black cockatoo; and Opara was decked with the feathers of the blue crane. Round the forehead of each was bound a broad strip of the fine inner bark of the stringybark tree, and from this being coloured red, any person cognisant of the habits of the blacks might have known that the three savages were out upon some deed of bold daring, and that it would be derogatory to their manhood to return to their tribe without some evidence of success, even if it were but that disgusting aboriginal trophy of triumph, the kidney fat of a foe. Having chosen a camping-ground, one set himself to work collecting materials for a fire; another employed himself in stripping a few short sheets of bark to form a gunya or rude shelter; whilst the third went off in search of game. By the time the gunya was completed, the fire was burning with a ruddy glow, and the hunter soon arrived with an opossum he had secured. This was thrown on to the red embers without the slightest culinary preparation, and when done—being in a state that a European would call “warm through”—it was taken off, cut up into three with a tomahawk, and the portion allotted to each speedily devoured. Hitherto there had been but little talk amongst the blacks, save only what was necessary in connection with what each had undertaken for the general comfort; but now they sat round the fire, evidently with a fixed intention of having what bushmen would term a yarn. “Atare has never smoked the dark leaves of the whitefellow?” said Macomo. Atare shook his head in reply, and then asked, “Does it give pleasant thoughts and happy dreams, as the Port Stephens men say?” “One smoke,” replied Macomo, “is better than the greatest feed of wombat. When another sun goes down, we will have tobacco enough to last us many moons; and sugar and tea for warm drink, and perhaps a bottle of strong water.” “Macomo is right,” put in Opara. “If the sheep man goes out with his flock, we shall have what we want before the next sun goes out. He never comes back to the fire of his gunya until the sun is below the hills. We have our time.” “But if he should send out his son?” questioned Atare. “He is a brave man, and his gun carries farther than our spears.” “The eaglehawk mounts into the sky, and wheels round and round, watching, with untiring eye, when to make his descent upon his prey,” answered Macomo. “Is Atare less patient than a bird? Can he not watch and wait until the moment comes for swooping down upon his prey?” “True! True!” said Atare, somewhat abashed. “Atare has lain and watched for half a sun to spear a wallabi; he will watch half a moon for the strong water, the sugar, and the whitefellow's leaves.” “You said there were three blankets in the hut?” asked Opara by way of solving some doubt that had arisen in his mind. “The wind is cold when the sun goes out, and fire sends a track up into the sky that is seen a long way. A blanket is better than a fire for a warpath.” “There are three and more than three—there are six,” replied Macomo. “Atare will have one for himself, and one for the young gin he brought into the camp last moon. Opara will not need to maan a gin, for the young girls from other tribes will come to him when he shows the blanket he has to give.” Atare's eyes dilated with cupidity and expectation at this remark; and Opara, equally eager, said, “Let Macomo tell us again of the many good things he saw in the sheep man's hut.” “Open your ears, then, for the talk of the many wonderful things that are to be yours when the next sun comes up,” Macomo commenced, and then, with much grandiloquence of diction, and with considerable exaggeration, he proceeded to tell of what appeared to these wretched blacks the boundless wealth contained in the hut of a shepherd. To this hut he had gone from accounts given him by others of his tribe. He had eaten white-fellow's bread, drunk his tea, and tasted his sheep flesh. All that they could conceive of best in the bush was not worthy to be named in the same breath with the white man's articles. He then dwelt upon the blankets, the tea, the sugar, the tobacco, the flour, calling into play all his powers of eloquence and description, and succeeded so well that when at last his companions lay down to sleep, it was with a firm resolve to make all that store of wealth their own, no matter at what cost to themselves either in suffering or endurance. At the time of which we write, there was no way of legally holding land in Australia except by free grant under the hand of the Governor. These grants were issued to civilians or emigrants, on proof of the possession of so much capital, the quantity of land given being in proportion to the cash in hand for investment. To military settlers retiring from the service, grants of land were made in accordance with prescribed regulations. But already a kind of embryo squatting, though on a very small scale, had been initiated. There was certainly but little stock then in the colony, for it was not until some ten or twelve years after that the great sheep and cattle mania fell upon the land, in conjunction with the first issue of the occupation permits; still, however, there were some who took a more correct view of the great grazing capabilities of Australia, and maintained small flocks of sheep. But the animal was still somewhat rare, was difficult to obtain, and was high-priced, so that the possession of a few hundred of them was, in those early days, regarded as an indication of great wealth. It is with one of these shepherd squatters that we have now to do.