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THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA. 25 Speaking of the habit of knocking out the tooth, he said that a man of the name of Cam-mer-ra-gal wore them round his neck, the tribe haying performed the ceremony, but as to his own teeth they were buried in the earth. When Bennillong’s wife died, many spears were thrown and persons wounded. He had a serious contest with Wil-le-me-ring, and wounded him in the thigh. He had sent for him to attend his wife, and he had refused, and at the death of his infant many spears were thrown, and he said he would not be satisfied until he had revenge. Bennillong burnt the body of his wife Ba-rang-a-roo. The ashes of the wife were the next day scraped together and covered over with great solemnity. The most affecting part of the ceremony was that Bennillong threw his infant child into the mother’s grave, casting a large stone on it, saying no woman could be found to nurse the child. On the death of the boy, Ba-loo-der-ry, whom he had watched and sung over with Cole-be, he requested that the body might be interred in the garden. The burial was attended with much ceremony, while the burial of Bennillong’s wife was attended by the Governor, the Judge-Advocate, and the surgeon. The natives had determined to kill Bennillong, it being supposed he had killed a man, of which he was innocent; he therefore appealed to the Governor to protect him. He had now given way to drink, and became more brutal and insulting, and therefore got into troubles. On the occasion of a fight he threw a spear amongst the soldiers and wounded one, and would have been killed, had it not been for the Provost-Marshal. Walking about armed, he declared he would kill the Governor. Now Bennillong associated with troublesome characters, and was once or twice wounded. In one of these battles,three natives were killed and several wounded. Amongst these Bennillong was dangerously wounded, and probably died. Thus perished Bennillong, as a drunken savage, after all the advantages he had had of visiting Eng land, and living at the Governor’s House. Nor is this a solitary instance of these savages who have enjoyed like advantages. We have here the failure of mere civilization, which produces only outward effects. Religion alone can reach the heart. The gospel is the power of God to the salvation of all who believe in and know it. Bennillong has been immortalized in name, a point on the North Shore being called Bennillong Point. His history is a sad one. There is a street in Parramatta called, I suppose, after this chief. The accompanying rough sketches, copied from Collins’s work, will give some idea of the natives in person, and their numerous ceremonies, &c., &c., &c. It is only fair to show what dangerous and treacherous neighbours the aborigines are, and how the squatters and inhabitants were often placed at their mercy. A numerously signed petition was presented to the Governor from the settlers on the road to Port Phillip praying for protection, as they had suffered much from the incursions and assaults of these people, and stating that, if they could not obtain protection, they must take the law into their own hands. The Governor immediately despatched a police force to be stationed along the road for protection. As for their raids on stations, they actually drove away the sheep and cattle from two or three stations, and in some instances violated women and committed robberies. We must however consider that their law r s strictly limited the tribes to certain districts, and to intrude upon these was criminal; and this was so strictly carried out that, on my approaching the Shoal- haven River, my guide would on no account cross over with me. But whites, as foreigners, would be regarded with even moro hostility. The following account, from i\ie Rockhampton Bulletin, 20 October, 1801, will show one of these murderous assaults, and at the same time the brutal character of the aboriginal police force, who thought it pleasant work to shoot down their countrymen:— “ A man arrived in Rockhampton last evening (Tuesday) with intelligence of the murder of a number of persons on Mr. Wills’s station, Nogoa, including Mr. Wills himself. The messenger brings a written deposition of the facts, so far as they are known, which was made on Friday last, to Mr. Gregson, Bainworth station, by a shepherd belonging to the late Mr. Wills. The shepherd’s name is Edward Kenny. We are informed that Mr. Wills had only arrived on the station about a fortnight previous to the time when the murders were committed, and Kenny states that during that time the blacks came upon the station in considerable numbers, but they were quiet and appeared friendly, and no notice was taken of them. Mr. Wills used to carry a revolver himself, but although he had plenty of firearms on the station, the men were not supplied with them. D
