Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Volume 2Sturt, Charles
History
Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Volume 2
Sturt, Charles
New South Wales -- Discovery and exploration; Sturt, Charles, 1795-1869
While waiting at his hut, one of the stockmen pointed out two blacks to
me at a little distance from us. The one was standing, the other
sitting. "That fellow, sir," said he, "who is sitting down, killed his
infant child last night by knocking its head against a stone, after
which he threw it on the fire and then devoured it." I was quite horror
struck, and could scarcely believe such a story. I therefore went up to
the man and questioned him as to the fact, as well as I could. He did
not attempt to deny it, but slunk away in evident consciousness. I then
questioned the other that remained, whose excuse for his friend was
that the child was sick and would never have grown up, adding he
himself did not PATTER (eat) any of it.
Many of my readers may probably doubt this horrid occurrence having
taken place, as I have not mentioned any corroborating circumstances. I
am myself, however, as firmly persuaded of the truth of what I have
stated as if I had seen the savage commit the act; for I talked to his
companion who did see him, and who described to me the manner in which
he killed the child. Be it as it may, the very mention of such a thing
among these people goes to prove that they are capable of such an
enormity.
We left Yass Plains on the 14th of May, and reached Sydney by easy
stages on the 25th, after an absence of nearly six months.
* * * * *
CONCLUDING REMARKS.
To most of my readers, the foregoing narrative will appear little else
than a succession of adventures. Whilst the expedition was toiling down
the rivers, no rich country opened upon the view to reward or to cheer
the perseverance of those who composed it, and when, at length, the
land of promise lay smiling before them, their strength and their means
were too much exhausted to allow of their commencing an examination, of
the result of which there could be but little doubt. The expedition
returned to Sydney, without any splendid discovery to gild its
proceedings; and the labours and dangers it had encountered were
considered as nothing more than ordinary occurrences. If I myself had
entertained hopes that my researches would have benefited the colony, I
was wholly disappointed. There is a barren tract of country lying to
the westward of the Blue Mountains that will ever divide the eastern
coast from the more central parts of Australia, as completely as if
seas actually rolled between them.
GEOGRAPHICAL REMARKS.
In a geographical point of view, however, nothing could have been more
satisfactory, excepting an absolute knowledge of the country to the
northward between the Murray and the Darling, than the results of the
expedition. I have in its proper place stated, as fairly as I could, my
reasons for supposing the principal junction (which I consequently left
without a name) to be the Darling of my former journey, as well as the
various arguments that bore against such a conclusion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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