1861.

VICTORIA.

FIRST REPORT

OF TDB

CENTRAL BOARD

APPOINTED

TO WATCH OVER THE INTERESTS

OF TIIE ABORIGINES IN THE COLONY

OF .

1

PRESENTED TO BOTH HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT BY HIS EXCELLENCY'S COMMAND.

1g auttoritv: JOHN FERRES, GOVERNMENT PRINTER, MELBOURNE. No. 39.

REPORT.

_Ate'bourne, 1861. SIR, THE Central Board appointed by Your Excellency to watch over the Interests of the Aborigines have the honor to (.) report as follows :— They held their first meeting on the seventh of June, 1860, and disposed of some questions of a pressing nature, having reference to the management of the Mohican Station, on the River Acheron, and the Aboriginal Station at Mount Franklyn. Usually a meeting has been held every Monday since the date of the Commission, and special meetings have been held when necessary. The Central Board and the Local Committees were appointed in the first instance in consequence of a vote of the Assembly, on the motion of Mr. Heales, and the names of the gentlemen composing the Board, and those Committees were, by command of Your Excellency, published in the Government Gazette, but no Commission was issued, and it soon became obvious to the Board that it would be necessary to obtain from Your Excellency some clear explanation of the functions which would devolve upon them, and that the duties of the Local Committees should be, in like manner, clearly set forth, or that the constitution of those bodies should be changed. Communications had been received from many members of the Com- mittees to the effect that it was impossible for them to hold meetings, as some of them (members of the same Committee) lived more than one hundred miles apart. A letter explanatory of the views of the Board on these points, and requesting that proper control over the moneys voted by the Assembly for Aboriginal purposes should devolve on them, was accordingly prepared, and the matter was finally settled by the issue of a Commission, under the hand of Your Excellency, and the seal of the Colony, clearly defining the duties of the Board, and giving them power to deal with the Votes in aid of the Aborigines. The Local Committees at the same time were abolished, and Honorary Correspondents were appointed in those districts most frequented by the Aborigines. Physical wants of the blacks. The Board then cheerfully addressed themselves to their important duties. The imperfect manner in which the physical wants of the blacks had been previously attended to, as shown by the letters received from the honorary correspondents in all parts of the Colony, immediately after the appointment of the Board, the small amount of information available as to the numbers and distribution of the Aboriginal population, and the necessity for prompt action at that period of the year in the furnishing of stores and clothing, left but little opportunity, in the first instance, to investigate the subject of the management of the blacks generally : it only remained to supply food and rough clothing on the requisitions of the correspondents, as far as the funds at the disposal of the Board would allow. As soon as the most urgent demands for supplies had been attended to the Board issued a circular letter to the several honorary correspondents, wardens, police magistrates, and respectable settlers throughout the Colony, asking for information as to the numbers, condition, and location of the Aborigines, and inviting suggestions as to the best means of permanently improving their position. This letter was published in the newspapers ; it attained a wide circulation, and the attention of all classes was directed to it. Answers were received in nearly every case, and a mass of information was accumulated which has been of great utility to the Board An approximate table of the Aboriginal , population, compiled from those letters, and the replies to the more important questions will be found in the Appendix to this Repo