



Produced by Nick Wall, Anne Storer, and the Online
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Transcriber's Notes:
1) Morrumbidgee/Murrumbidgee each used on several occasions
   and left as in the original. 'Morrumbidgee' is the aboriginal
   name for the Murrumbidgee.
2) Used on numerous occasions, civilisation/civilization;
   civilised/civilized; civilising/civilizing; uncivilised/uncivilized:
   left as in the original.
3) Same with variations of colonisation/colonization, and a few other
   "z" words that should be "s" words in their English form.


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 The
 Englishman's Library.
 XXVI.




 AUSTRALIA,

 ITS HISTORY AND PRESENT CONDITION;

 CONTAINING
 AN ACCOUNT BOTH OF THE BUSH AND OF THE COLONIES,
 WITH THEIR RESPECTIVE INHABITANTS.

 BY THE
 REV. W. PRIDDEN, M.A.
 VICAR OF BROXTED, ESSEX.


 "_Truth_, in her native calmness and becoming moderation, shall
 be the object of our homage and pursuit; and we will aim at the
 attainment of knowledge for the improvement of our reason, and not
 for the gratification of a passion for disputing."--_Address of
 the Bp of Australia in 1841 to the Church of England Book Society._


 LONDON:
 JAMES BURNS, 17, PORTMAN STREET,
 PORTMAN SQUARE.
 1843.




 LONDON:
 PRINTED BY R. CLAY, BREAD STREET HILL.


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[Illustration: Map of Australia]




PREFACE.


A few words by way of Preface are requisite, in order that the objects
of the present Work may be stated to the reader, and that he may also
be made acquainted with the sources whence the information here
communicated is derived, and from consulting which he may still
further inform himself concerning Australia. The aim of the writer of
the following pages has been,--while furnishing a description of some
of the most flourishing and interesting settlements belonging to the
British Crown, which, at the same time, exhibit in contrast to each
other the two extremes of savage and civilised life;--to call the
attention of his countrymen, both at home and in the colonies, to
the evils which have arisen from the absence of moral restraint and
religious instruction in colonies of civilised and (nominally)
christian men. And although it must in many ways be a disadvantage
that the person professing to describe a particular country should
have gained all his knowledge of it from the report of others, without
ever having himself set foot upon its shores; yet, in one respect at
least, this may operate advantageously. He is less likely to have
party prejudices or private interests to serve in his account of the
land to which he is a total stranger. In consequence, probably, of his
being an indifferent and impartial observer, not one of our Australian
colonies wears in his eye the appearance of a perfect paradise; but
then, on the other hand, there is not one of those fine settlements
which prejudice urges him to condemn, as though it were barren and
dreary as the Great Sahara itself. And the same circumstance--his
never having breathed the close unwholesome air of colonial
party-politics--will render it less likely that his judgment
respecting persons and disputed opinions should be unduly biassed.
There will be more probability of his judging upon right _principles_,
and although his facts may (in some instances, unavoidably) be less
minutely accurate than an inhabitant of the country would have given,
yet they may be less  and less partially stated. Instead of
giving his own observations as an eye-witness, fraught with his own
particular views, he can calmly weigh the opposite statements of men
of different opinions, and between the two he is more likely to arrive
at the truth. With regard to the present Work, however impartial the
author has endeavoured to be, however free he may be from colonial
passions and interests, he does not wish to deceive the reader by
professing a total freedom from all prejudice. If this were desirable,
it is impossible; it is a qualification which no writer, or reader
either, possesses. But thus much may be stated, that all his
prejudices are in favour of those institutions with which it has
pleased God to bless his native land. In a volume that is intended to
form part of a series called "The Englishman's Library," it may be
permitted, surely, to acknowledge a strong and influencing attachment
to the Sovereign, the Church, and the Constitution of England.

The object and principles of the present volume being thus plainly
set forth, it remains only to mention some of the sources whence the
information contained in it is derived. To the Travels of Captain Grey
on the western coast of New Holland, and to those of Major Mitchell in
the interior, the first portion of this Work is deeply indebted, and
every person interested in the state of the natives, or fond of
perusing travels in a wild and unknown region, may be referred to
these four volumes,[1] where they will find that the extracts here
given are but a specimen of the stores of amusement and information
which they contain. Captain Sturt's "Expeditions" and Mr. Oxley's
"Journal" are both interesting works, but they point rather to the
progress of discovery in New Holland than to the actual state of our
local knowledge of it. Dr. Lang's two volumes upon New South Wales are
full of information from one who has lived there many years, and his
faults are sufficiently obvious for any intelligent reader to guard
against. Mr. Montgomery Martin's little book is a very useful
compendium, and those that desire to know more particulars concerning
the origin of the first English colony in New Holland may be referred
to Collins's account of it. Various interesting particulars respecting
the religious state of the colonies in Australia have been derived
from the correspondence in the possession of the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, free access to which was
allowed through the kind introduction of the Rev. C. B. Dalton. Many
other sources of information have been consulted, among which the
Reports of the Parliamentary Committee upon Transportation, in 1837
and 1838; and that of the Committee upon South Australia, in 1841,
must not be left unnoticed. Neither may the work of Judge Burton upon
Religion and Education in New South Wales be passed over in silence;
for, whatever imperfections may be found in his book,[2] the
facts there set forth are valuable, and, for the most part,
incontrovertible, and the principles it exhibits are excellent. From
the works just mentioned the reader may, should he feel inclined,
verify for himself the facts stated in the ensuing pages, or pursue
his inquiries further. In the meantime, he cannot do better than join
the author of the little book which he holds in his hand, in an humble
and earnest prayer to Almighty God, that, in this and in every other
instance, whatever may be the feebleness and imperfection of human
efforts, all things may be made to work together for good towards
promoting the glory of God, the extension of Christ's kingdom, and the
salvation of mankind.

  [1] Published, all of them, by T. and W. Boone, London, to whom it is
  only just to acknowledge their kindness in permitting the use that has
  been made of these two publications in the first portion of the present
  Work.

  [2] See Dr. Ullathorne's Reply to Burton, especially at p. 5, where it
  appears that the judge was not quite impartial in one of his statements.
  Dr. Ullathorne himself has, in his 98 pages, contrived to crowd in at
  least twice as many misrepresentations as Burton's 321 pages contain.
  But that is no excuse. The Romish Church may need, or seem to need,
  such support. The cause defended by Judge Burton needs it not.




#Contents.#


INTRODUCTION.

[Page 1.]

 Subject of the Work--Discovery and Situation of New Holland--Its
   Interior little known--Blue Mountains--Conjectures respecting the
   Interior--Van Diemen's Land, or Tasmania.


CHAPTER I.

[Page 8.]

 The Bush described--Remains of it near Sydney--North-western Coast
   of New Holland--Sandy Columns and Fragments--Recollections of
   Home--Gouty Stem Tree--Green Ants--Fine Volcanic District--Cure
   for Cold--Travelling in the Rainy Season--Rich sequestered Valleys--
   Plains near the Lachlan--Falls of the Apsley--Beauties of Nature
   enjoyed by Explorers--Aid afforded by Religion--Trials of Travellers
   in the Bush--Thirst--A Christian's Consolations--Plains of Kolaina,
   or Deceit--Bernier Island--Frederic Smith--A Commander's Cares--Dried
   Streams--Return from a Journey in the Bush--Outsettlers--Islands on
   the Australian Coast--Kangaroo Island--Coral Reefs and Islets.


CHAPTER II.

[Page 42.]

 Forbidding aspect of coast no argument against inland beauty and
   fertility--River Darling--The Murray--Other Rivers of New Holland--
   Contrasts in Australia--The Lachlan, Regent's Lake, &c.--Sturt's
   Descent down the Murray--His Return--Woods--Difficulties and Dangers
   of Bush travelling--Wellington Valley--Australia Felix--Conclusion.


CHAPTER III.

[Page 72.]

 Comparative advantages of Europeans over Savages--Degraded condition
   of Natives of New Holland--Total absence of Clothing--Love of
   Ornaments--Peculiar Rites--Ceremony of knocking out a Tooth--Hardships
   of Savage Life--Revengeful Spirit--Effect of Native Songs in exciting
   Anger--Cruelty--Courage--Indifference to accounts of Civilized Life--
   Contempt of its ways--Treatment of Women--Family Names, and Crests--
   Language--Music.


CHAPTER IV.

[Page 97.]

 Means of Subsistence--A Whale Feast--Hunting the Kangaroo--Australian
   Cookery--Fish--Seal Catching--Turtles--Finding Opossums--Birds--
   Pursuit of the Emu or Cassowary--Disgusting Food of the Natives--
   Vegetables--_By-yu_ Nuts--Evils of European Settlements in cutting
   off the native supply of Food--Native Property in Land--Inhabitants
   of Van Diemen's Land--A word of Advice to Christian Colonists.


CHAPTER V.

[Page 120.]

 First Shyness of Natives natural--Their perplexity between European
   Customs and their own--Health and Longevity--Old Age--Funereal
   Rites--Belief in Sorcery--The _Boyl-yas_--Various modes of
   Interment--Tombs--Riches of a Native--Bodily Excellences--Secrecy--
   Quickness of Sight, &c.--Kaiber and the Watch--The _Warran_ Ground--
   Various Superstitions--Mischief of bad Example, for which the British
   nation is responsible--The Church, the right Instrument, and the only
   one that will be found successful, for civilising the Australian
   Tribes, if they are ever to be civilised.


CHAPTER VI.

[Page 149.]

 Bennillong--Barangaroo's Funeral--The Spitting Tribe--Mulligo's Death--
   The Corrobory--Peerat and his Wives--Woga's Captivity--Ballooderry
   and the Convicts--Native Hospitality and Philosophy--The Widow and
   her Child--Miago.


CHAPTER VII.

[Page 186.]

 Infancy of New South Wales an interesting subject to Englishmen--Arrival,
   in 1788, of the Sirius, and the Supply at Botany Bay--Settlement
   commenced in the Harbour of Port Jackson--Character of the
   Convicts--Influence of Religion--Particulars respecting the Chaplain--
   His peculiar situation and efforts--A Gold Mine pretended to be found--
   Supply of Food precarious--Farming--Failure of Pro