The indictments of Dalinkua and Dalipia 1858 - 1859

Breakfast Creek was an important Corroboree site for the Turrbal People. Illustration part of the walkway signage opposite Newstead House, Breakfast Creek. 

I recently became aware of the following collection of six letters by two aboriginal spokespeople, Dalinkua and Dalipia. I am collating them into one place as an important repository of a set of primary sources. The letters have been retrieved from the National Library of Australia’s online newspaper archive, Trove.

They are protest letters that accuse  European Christians of hypocrisy in their treatment of Australian Aboriginal people. They are written from an aboriginal camp at Breakfast Creek. This camp was the base of operations for resistance actions against the colonising powers in Brisbane, and the two authors were leaders in that resistance. According to Kerkhove ..

While … unrest was unfolding, Dalaipi based himself at Breakfast Creek, an Aboriginal village comprising several camps that formed the base of attacks on European settlers. The Breakfast Creek camps were burnt down by police and early colonisers at least six times, but were continually rebuilt. They lay opposite Newstead House, home of the government resident and police magistrate Captain John Wickham, and host to the governor-general during the separation debate.

Authorship

I will admit that my first reading led me to question the authorship. It seemed too cosmopolitan in outlook and complex in vocabulary, especially given that first contact probably dated no earlier than 1838 with the establishment of the German Mission, also know as Zion Hill (Langbridge, Sloane and Ganter, n.d.). Furthermore the outlook of the first letter in particular lacks the black pride I am familiar with today. I write this during NAIDOC Week 2024, and the catch cry “Blak, loud and proud,” is not at all the feeling in these letters.

However I am persuaded that my doubts are unfounded.

Note, the spelling of the author’s names vary through the letters, Dalinkua or Dalinqua, Dalipie or Dalipia (which differs again from the spelling Dalaipi which seems to be the accepted spelling today).

Ray Kerkhove in his Indigenous Australia contribution to the Australian Dictionary of Biography on Dalaipi (Dalinkua does not have an entry) comments that …

Dalaipi and Dalinkua’s indictments offered frank and detailed condemnations of European settlement from an Indigenous perspective. Although they were probably embellished by a European ghost writer — presumably someone who met the delegates at their Breakfast Creek camp and supported their cause — the articles’ tone and topics closely align with views Dalaipi voiced on other occasions; for example, he made statements to Tom Petrie on Christian double standards and the injustices his people suffered. The indictments’ religious references can probably be traced to Dalaipi’s frequent visits to Zion Hill.

Dr Wooloombi Waters, Senior Lecturer at the school of humanities, languages and social science at Griffith University, after interviewing Dr Henry Reynolds, probably the leading Australian author in indigenous matters,  and Prof Raymond Evan, Adjunct Professor, Griffith University, Griffith University, specialising in frontier violence, states he was convinced of the indigenous authorship.

Dalinkua and Dalipie were trained by German Lutheran missionaries at an Indigenous settlement called Zion Hill situated in Nundah north of Brisbane. Dalipie in particular showed much promise in the literary arts and was able to speak and write in many languages including English, Greek and Latin.

There are six letters attached. Here are the key points

Letter 1 (17 Nov 1858) The aboriginal race lacked industry and civilisation. Contact with the colonisers could have been their salvation, but the colonisers failed to heed the doctrines of their holy book and thus betrayed their faith. It then asks “Will you hear the indictments we would bring?”

Condon (2010) comments with this letter 

… You can imagine white folk in the coffee houses or yarning at the horse bazaar in Queen Street or drinking at a nearby inn thinking or saying of course we were right, they are indolent savages, useless, worthless. Look, they admit it themselves.

It is the hook that catches the audience, leaving them open to the riposte of following letters.

Letter 2 (24 Nov 1858) First indictment: The colonisers stole hunting and fishing grounds and made no provision for the welfare of Aboriginal people to compensate.

Letter 3 (11 Dec 1858) Second indictment: The colonisers brought disease, poisoned the aboriginal with grog, and introduced a language that degrades them.

Letter 4 (29 Dec 1858) Third indictment: The Christian colonisers have not loved the aboriginal people, despite the teachings of the gospel.

Letter 5 (8 Jan 1859) Third indictment continues: the absence of a clear religion in the aboriginal people has given the colonial powers an excuse in their mistreatment of the aboriginal, especially in comparison to the occupation of India.

Letter 6 (26 Jan 1859) Third indictment continues: The whitefella has not shared the gospel with us in our own language. Christians have been inert, worldly and selfish.

The letters

First Letter -  Wednesday 17 November 1858, page 2

To the Editor of the Moreton Bay Courier.

SIR, — Permit us to thank those gentlemen who have spoken in your paper regarding our helpless state — we do need help. Far back in the unexplored annals of antiquity — sacred now owing to distance — the curse of indolence settled on our ancestors ; and we inherited from them all that rust which ages have gathered and thickened on our minds, so that we cannot open them. The darkness of centuries has stunted, dwarfed, and killed our intellects. All of man that was in us was so fettered that we became more and more stupid and indocile, as one generation succeeded another, until we reached the lowest platform of society, where we have lain stagnant in sluggish torpor until now. All of humanity, all of intellectuality, are long since dead and gone from us for want of exercise; animal gratification was all we or our people desired. Is it to be wondered that our tastes became gross, that our habits became filthy and disgusting, as you now find them to be? There is no tendency to improvement, nor has been for many ages back among our people. No example of industry did we get from our fathers, except when hunger compelled us to hunt, or fierce and revengeful feeling urged us to fight.

No Triptolemus ever came to teach our fathers to cultivate the ground. No Cadmus ever came to them bringing useful arts with him. We never heard of a Mancocapac descending from the Sun to show them the conveniences of civilisation. No John Beck has ever read or told them or us the " Story of Grace'' in our own tongue, so that we could understand it.

We were possessed of a splendid country, not exceeded by any part of this earth. We had a most salubrious climate, and ample space to roam over, until the Anglo-Saxon came from a far way off, and showed us an olive-branch; and we smoked the pipe of peace with him.

Sir, this Anglo-Saxon brought with him a "book of books," containing the laws and commands of the high and the holy One, who was Father of all, black and white ; and we were all brothers, all to love one another. They told us that the law of that book was perfect, converting the soul. Good, said we. — That it's testimony was sure, making wise the simple. Good, also said we.  — That its statutes wore right, rejoicing the heart. Much needed, we often sorry when hungry.—That its commandment was peace, enlightening the eyes. Just suited to us still. — That its judgments were true and righteous altogether. Good also. It said, moreover, the naked were to be clothed, and the hungry were to be fed. We were overjoyed at this. — It was also to enlighten by its light every man and woman. How suitable for our darkness. That it contained streams of comfort for every creature; and to crown the whole, we were told that love was the fulfilling of the whole of this law. That white fellow love us ; and we were told that the Great Father was everywhere present to see that his children observed all things whatsoever he had commanded them.

But, Sir, these Anglo-Saxons have not behaved towards us as if they believed that His eye was on them who has given them these statutes; and who has given them more knowledge than any other nation, also a loftier civilisation. In their dealing with us have they not all been selfish — many of them sensual and devilish? All the above laws have they trampled on, and we are sorry to have to impeach them before high heaven of crimes and misdemeanours. They will find many and terrible counts in that indictment which shall be brought to the bar of the Judge of the Universe who, when He makes inquisition for blood, will proceed on the very principles contained in the above-mentioned book ; and the sentence, " inasmuch as ye did it not to these, ye did it not to me."

We have spoken! If you hear us, we will speak next week more to our white brothers, and read their indictment.

DALINKUA, DALIPIE,

Delegates for all blackfellows Camp, Breakfast Creek, Nov. 16,1858.

Second Letter Wednesday 24 November 1858, page 2

To the Editor of the Moreton Bay Courier

Sir, — Accept our thanks for hearing us last week. Hear us now in the indictment we bring against our Anglo-Saxon brothers' at the bar of Universal Justice. These, our white brothers, have taken our hunting and fishing grounds from us, that spot of earth from which we and our fathers obtained food, which was all we required; and they have not made any provision, to preserve us from starvation. They, the strongest nation on earth, have taken from the weakest nation the domain of their ancestors, and they have driven away defenceless fellow creatures to banishment, hardships and death. This, then, Sir, is the first count in that indictment which we bring against them before that Judge, "whose work is perfect, for all his ways are judgement; a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He." Such, according to the book brought by our white brother, is the character of the great Father of all men ; and to him we appeal for justice, while we charge them with having robbed us" in the Queen's name."

Now how did our pale-faced brother obtain our land? Not by conquest for no one opposed him! He lost neither blood nor treasure in obtaining it. Not by cession, for no parties that we know off could cede it to him; but being possessed of power and knowledge, and we being weak and ignorant, he merely ran it over with a theodolite, a chain, a hatchet and some pegs or some marks on trees — their titles patent from the Queen, it thus become his property and we may starve, unless we skulk about and spear cattle. Sometimes we are driven away from any river frontage, where we could fish and find game, as was the case some years ago on the Ballona, where we were compelled to go back, because the cattle were frightened at us, to a track of country where no fish were to be got, and where there was not sufficient game to keep us alive to be found within a distance accessible to water; and where, amidst drought and starvation, we were tormented by a formidable species of ant, which infest the forests there in hot seasons. On those who assume the ownership of our land, and grant leases to occupy the same, making no provision that we shall be supplied with food, must and does lie a heavy responsibility; and at their door lies very much of the bloodshed of white and black through the colony. Something must be wrong, either here or in the mother country, for that mother's selfish children in this country have forfeited public honor; they have neither acted according to truth nor love; and they stand condemned by the ever-lasting maxim, " Whatever ye would that men should do unto you do ye also unto them."

But, Sir, our white brothers say that we have no right or proprietorship to the land, because we made no use of it. That we were wandering nomads, raking up grubs and snaring opposums one day, hunting kangaroos another day, and going a long way for some favorite fish on a third day. Now we grant that as we cannot subdue the land and make it productive, we have forfeited our right to as much of it as we do not require to support us; but support we must and ought to have. We were here before white men, and while the habits of our white brother adapt him to live in any climate, no part of the globe would suit us to live on but this the country of our birth. Now we might be content to be killed or starved, or run away and drown ourselves, believing that as our white brothers need all the country we are here by some mistake, and therefore ought to be off and give no trouble. But our white brother's law says he is "to respect aboriginal interests," and his Charter says he was to "invite the natives to the truths of Christianity." Well, then, there were aborigines and natives of the countries expected where colonies were to be planted by any Christian country whose hive swarmed and flew off to some distant shore.

Then, white brother, don't let your avarice or your pride let you seize on more of our former runs than you need — than you need we say, because to that extent only is it yours; and it is ours as much as we need until we gradually sink among the waves on the sea of time, leaving no ripple to mark where we sailed or sank.

But if we are to have no provision made for our few wants—it is but little we want " nor need that little long "— if our aged totter about your streets and stations only to be mocked and hooted, sometimes flogged and dogged; and our wives and children pine in want and hunger, then what a practical demonstration do you give us that you are our protectors and benefactors? Has not your conduct been to us more of malefactors than benefactors? You profess good will to all men, and say we are all children of one common Father, and that to that Father belongs all the silver and the gold — all the oil and the wine — all the wool and the flax — yes! and the cattle on a thousand hills; and that He sends food for every thing that lives. How then do you attempt to grasp our share and your own?

You feed the poor in your own land in times of dearth just to keep them from your throats but you make us poor and leave us to starve. The voice of Him who says "Blessed is he who wisely considereth the case of the poor " is not heard by you because you have no time. You came to make a fortune if possible; you live like a bird of prey, and if you amass wealth you soon become a bird of passage, and fly away to make way for hungry successors. You do not seek the good of the land where you dwell. Your avarice makes you forfeit the blessings of the life that now is — and as for the life to come we should not like you in the same heaven with us, unless you're greatly altered. But, Sir, some brother will perhaps say the Government ought to look to us. So they ought, perhaps; but it's no use our looking to them; if they have taken our lands it's for the good of the inhabitants of these lands for whom they govern; besides the government is what the people made it and it's responsible to the people to do what they wish. The government will not be recognised at that bar to which we appeal. Had our country been defended by gods — our white brother's government would, as it has done in India, have endowed them, and their priests and pagadoes. Had we been led by princes of our tribes to fight, those princes would have been pensioned off to live in affluence on the banks of the Parramatta river ; but as we have no national gods — and never trusted in princes, we leave our case with Him who has all power in heaven and earth.

Second count next week.

DALINKUA. DALIPIA.

Delegates.

Camp, Breakfast, Creek, Nov. 22nd, 1858.

Third Letter -  Saturday 11 December 1858, page 2

To the Editor of the Moreton Bay Courier.

SIR, Permit us this week to tell our Anglo-Saxon brothers the second count in that fearful indictment, which we are compelled to bring against them, before the great Father of us all, white and black. Said second count being, that they have poisoned our bodies by disease ; degraded our habits by drunkenness; and polluted our language by a foul and tainted slang. Now for the proof! Look at our bodies, made like your own, all but the skin. Are we not healthy, sound, strong, and nimble, until we come into contact with our white brother? But look at us after we have been contaminated by a loathsome disease, bequeathed to us by our white brothers, and see how many of us are disgusting spectacles, rotting with putrefaction while yet living; and when the cold of winter sets in, see our numbers fearfully reduced by death. See also our wretched off-spring, masses of putrid sores while yet at their mother's breast, from the same disease conveyed in their very blood. The history of this baneful malady, as introduced among our tribes, we cannot give. It is "naked and open" to the all-seeing One, to Whose tribunal we appeal.

No doubt we could only obtain such a curse as this from coming in contact with that scum and filth, frequently found on the front of the onward wave of civilization; particularly in these colonies; where crime and sorrow were brought — cargo after cargo — and landed to feed as they might, the appetites they had acquired in the worst society of their fatherland. But what have the more respectable portion of the community done to remedy the evil thus inflicted on us? We know nothing of the required medicine for this disease. By us no medical man can be consulted secretly or openly. There is no hospital or "house of mercy" where our sick can be received and treated for such a complaint as we have described. No, we are looked on with ineffable disdain, and left to perish, unpitied sacrifices to civilization. Oh for the spirit of a Howard or a Wilberforce in our land!

But our white brother has also degraded our habits by introducing his fire-water to us, giving us drink from that woeful well of liquid poison which overruns like a flood his fatherland, and branches off to all its dependencies ; and as these colonies were at first founded by the victims of Rum and Co., an abundant supply of the "blue ruin" was, from the earliest period of their history, supplied to them by the then authorities of the land, so that these outcasts might be whirled about in the vortex of vice, and retained in their wretched position ; and that their coercion might be a pretext for creating and sustaining colonial sinecures. Ever since then the Upas tree has been growing day and night. Its branches have untiringly given out its seductive distillations and dews of death, while health and beauty give way before its fearful fecundity. Virtue withers in the land, and patriotism droops and decays. From head to foot it binds our white brother as a slave, but still he nurses it. The members of the House of Lords import the national curse. The members of the Lower House register themselves as "wholesale" distributors of the stream of want, and waste, and woe; and then the keenest, the cutest, and most profit-loving members of the community are eager to dispense the national, drinkable tyrant, in single globules, to moisten the dry clay, and cool the hot coppers who call on them.

Oh, Sir, our white brothers say we savages are foul feeders! Are not they dirty drinkers? and by their drinks given to us we have got an appetite also for stimulants, and we drink, and we go mad ; and our bodies become full of pains and cramps, which we had no knowledge of before. Wild passions lash us into fury — and with eyes starting from their sockets, and with shrieking, rolling, and roaring, friends embrue their hands in each other's blood, for revenge of imaginary grievances. Wives and children are beat and trampled upon; and the young women of the tribe have their throats cut in such wild fits of jealousy as sometimes take white demons, and prompts them to make sure that no one else get her. The intoxicating drink has left among us the insane, the idiot, and the cripple. Yet, Christian reader, those debased, degraded, miserable, and pitiable savages are your neighbors. Can you love them? If so, you will help them — you will no longer allow them the means of degradation.

Again, Sir, it is pitiable to hear the demoralising language given us by our white neighbours; themselves possessed of a language which is capable of conveying the truths of a holy religion, as well as the profoundest science and the purest literature; or varied into lively conversation, and made the medium of disclosing the most hallowed emotions, why should they have given us only foul and sensual slang, full of obscenity, oaths, and blasphemy! (all of which the rising generation round the towns and hamlets are learning from us again). And that nation, that boasts of the language of a Chatham, has in Australia degraded the speech of the savage by the wicked trash taught to him.

Third count next week.

DALINKUA, }

DALIPIA, } Delegates.

Camp, Breakfast Creek, Dec. 3,1858.

Fourth Letter  Wednesday 29 December 1858, page 2

To the Editor of the Moreton Bay Courier,

Sir,—The third count in that indictment which we are compelled to bring against our white brothers is, that though they have received from the Great Father a valuable book containing laws that are holy, just, and good containing precepts inculcating brotherly kindness and charity-containing words more precious than gold, and sweeter than honey — containing sincere milk — and heavenly manna for food; and containing light to those who pine in darkness, all of which they have entrusted to them with the command, that they are to invite "every creature" to share with them out of those abundant supplies, and, to share free gratis without money and without any price; but they have not done so. They are leaving us, their neighbors, ignorant of these inexhaustible treasures — ignorant that our very degradation forms our best recommendation, to the fountain of all goodness, since we have all been bought with a price.

But, Sir, at once let us be understood, that we are not addressing ourselves to infidelity in any of its existing forms. Not to the infidel, who, issuing from darkness, guided — only by the dark lantern of his own reason, and approaching the darkness of eternal annihilation, with no conscience to smite him, no hope to cheer him, nor any dread of punishment to deter him. With his perishing soul and his putrifying body, he can take refuge in his nothingness against the vengeance of that tribunal to which we appeal. Not to the infidel who denies the existence of a God — not to the infidel who annihilates the personality of Deity and knows no God distinct from the universe of being. Not to the infidel who denies the Divine Providential Government of the world, even though he were the author of the "Progress of the Intellects." Not to the infidel who denies the responsibility of man for his conduct, even were he such a one as the author of the "Constitution of Man,'' since society always advances morally in Proportion as the sense of individual responsibility is high. No! nor to the formal infidel who, while he draws near with his lips to his Maker, is far distant — who may be mindful of the claims  — of the treasury of his -own sect, while he contents himself with saying to a needy brother, "be thou warmed and filled," but for which he furnishes no means when it is in his power. He considers not, that in proportion to his ability is his responsibility. He will never be eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, a father to the poor, nor reserve the blessing of them that are ready to perish.

But to those, who recognise the divine authority of the God-like and heaven-sent book above-mentioned, we do speak. Of them we ask, will the treatment of the aborigines of Australia bear the light of Christian love; or will such light not show that if Christians have come into our neighborhood, they have been selfish Christians, contented to sit under their own vine and fig-tree, not wishing to know why they, the possessors of a holy religion, should have been brought from a land of light and knowledge, and settled among "pagans suckled in a creed outworn," not discerning that heavenly light? While our Christian neighbors decline or delay to help us in this matter, they give us great reason to doubt whether they are the disciples of Him whose " marching order" was, " go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Let them remember who brought to their fatherland that light from the foun-tain of celestial radiance which still continues to shine on Britain, and has put her in a position to send her sons and daughters to colonise and christianise distant lands; and let them know that Providence evidently intended that they should carry with them the love of Christians, the spirit of Christians, and that grateful for what themselves possessed, they should be ready to impart to any whom they might find destitute. Nor can they either from indolence, insensibility, or cuddled up selfishness, neglect their Master's command, without forfeiting all claim on His promise, "Lo, I am with you"; but to neglect to make known the redemptive economy of the Saviour to his sin-stricken creatures, is to neglect a duty, and necessarily forfeiting all claim to the blessing; for it is only the liberal soul that shall be made fat; it is those who water others that shall be watered themselves. That any one who has a capacity for knowledge should die ignorant is to be deplored; but that a whole people should be left in ignorance is, indeed, a foul stain in the history of the world. Let not Christians clasp their scorpion conscience closer to their breast, when it speaks that something ought to be done for these poor pagans, and still continue to neglect us and our people. Mind if you sow the seeds by conveying to us the great truths, greatest of truths, in our own language, so that we can understand them, you are not accountable for the consequences; and if you do your duty, you may leave the rest to Him with whom are the issues from death.

But let your teaching be accompanied by such treatment as will convince even black-fellows that you love them. Impart to them some of the good things of this world, for if hunger pinched you and none cared for your body, how could you believe that they cared for the soul? It takes stronger faith than any blackfellow has to draw comfort from heaven when the bounty of earth is withheld.

Continued next week.

DALINQUA,

DALIPIE, Delegates.

Camp, Breakfast Creek, Dec. 27,1858.

Fifth Letter - Saturday 8 January 1859, page 2

To the Editor of the Moreton Bay Courier.

SIR,—In continuation of the "third count" in that indictment, which we are forced to bring against our white brothers, we charge them with having disregarded the command of the Great Father, and being unfaithful to the trust reposed in them; insomuch as they leave us and our people, whom they find stripped of land where our fathers hunted on, and driven off naked and wounded, diseased and destitute, to pine away and perish; while their government, like the priest in the parable, passes us by on the one side, and their church, Levite like, passes us on the other, neither of them taking any notice of our utter helplessness; leaving us, perhaps, until some good Samaritan, of another creed and another nation, pass this way, and supply us with what is needful, both for this life and that which is to come.

Let it not be thought that we wish a revival of the Protectorate we once had assigned to us; the working machinery of which was badly constructed, and the wrong men often in the right place. But, surely, our white brothers, in their wisdom, could devise means whereby our wants could be met; especially as we are told, that there are orders from mother England that lands be appropriated to our use, and that our support and instruction are to be liquidated out of the land fund. We refer to the despatches of Earl Gray, Lord Glenelg and others, and to the then colonial Governors.

We know also, that our white brother's government, among our neighbors in India, have paid large sums for the maintaining of a religion which they regarded as idolatry. The Marquis Wellesley's instructions to the then British resident at Lucknow was, to pay " liberal attention to the religious establishments and charitable foundations of the country." He was also to furnish to that nobleman "a statement of such public endowments of both the Hindoo and Mahommedan religion as you may propose to confirm "or extend." In the Madras Presidency, at Conjeveram, vast sums were expended by the Government in the support of the Brahmins, in adding to the Pagoda, and even decorating the elephants and danc-ing girls, at the festivals in honor of the idol. At the same place we find a Mr. Lionel Place procured for himself posthumous fame, by a present to the god of a gorgeous head ornament worth a thousand pounds. In fact, throughout a great part of the then Indian Empire, officers were appointed to see the temples were kept in repair, the services duly performed, and the god kept properly clothed. No doubt these were the dark age of India—as this is the dark age with us. Things are altered since in India, but the seeds then sown have indeed produced their fruit now, and they are "bitter clusters."

If we had a temple on Bribie's Island, with a stuffed dugong presiding as the god of health, ministered to by priests and waited on by attendants, it is very probable that we might have obtained some of the £28,000, which the British minister has made the inhabitants of these lands "stand and deliver," for the purposes of religious instruction. Or, if we had a Pagoda at the Bunya Bunya scrub, having a wooden Bunyip to worship as the hero of plenty, surrounded by devotees and frequented by pilgrims, we should have a grant of land for the benefit of the staff required to keep the idol shrine, and funds from the government for the idol festivals. Such grants we would have reason to expect, judging from what took place in the early history of Indian colonisation. We are aware that our country does not yield such a revenue as India ; but of what it does yield how much per cent, is bestowed on our people?

Christians, you are here in this land by the inscrutable Providence of God! Have you brought your religion with you? Is not its precept " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself?" If so, " Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." Governed by this law you can no longer disregard the well-being of your fellow-creatures. Your brotherhood must develop itself more, if ye belong to Him who does not wish that any of His "little one's perish"; nor does He claim from you anything but what He has given you. "Give therefore a portion to seven, and also to eight, for thou knowest not what evil shall be on the earth," to deprive thee of the power to give any.

Continued next week.

DALINKUA,}

DALIPIE, } Delegates.

Camp, Breakfast Creek, Jan. 6,1859.

Sixth Letter -  Wednesday 26 January 1859, page 3

ABORIGINES.

To the Editor of the Moreton Bay Courier.

SIR,— In continuation of that "Third Count" which we bring against our white brothers, we charge them with neglecting a great public duty in not making known to us the truths of Christianity, when it is in their power to do so. And this duty they would find comparatively easy, because with us there is no old prejudices in favor of established abuses — no time honored systems of false theology to clear away. They have only to convey to us the truth in our own language to insure its reception.

But some among our Christian (?) brothers say, "these darkies are a dirty degraded doomed race for whom nothing can be done ; they are incapable of being improved and will soon die off." Now, as to the prophecy that we will soon die off, that has nothing to do with the duty devolving on them; and nothing but culpable indolence or indifference could invent such an excuse. As to the next statement — " that we are incapable of being improved," permit us to say that where the experiment has been tried, with any degree of perseverance, our old as well as our young have been found able and willing to learn. First for our young:— a writer who labored among our people on the other side of the colony, and on whose judgement and testimony reliance may be placed, says; "In reference to the children, they are capable of considerable elevation, intellectually, socially, and morally, if due care be only taken of them." Again, the same writer says, "When taken young they are capable of rapid advancement in every respect, and prove most interesting pupils." Again, "patience and perseverance will overcome every difficulty in connection with the aborigines. I know their very worst qualities as well as their best, and they are certainly not so bad as they are represented to be." Any one having a file of the Moreton Bay Courier, and will turn to the 10th vol. No. 497, dated August 18, 1855, will find the evidence we bring and much more, in a letter to the Editor signed "AMICUS NIGRORUM." The writer being still in our neighborhood, will no doubt state what he knows as further evidence, if further evidence were wanted.

Then, as respects our adults, we might mention many whose honesty and fidelity, and whose Christianity far exceeded that of many whites. We will trespass on your space with only one, in the hope that our white brothers, who surely know something of that charity which "hopeth all things," will believe that what was accomplished in one might, under similar favorable circumstances, be accomplished in many. The case we select will be found in a letter by the Reverend W. M. Cowper, the present respected minister of St. Philips, Sydney, contained in the 34th vol. of the Sydney Morning Herald, the 5167th No., dated Dec. 12th, 1853. Mr. C. says, it is a short account of the Australian black to whose christian death I alluded at the meeting of the Board of Missions last evening." Mr. C. further says he writes to "encourage those who are anxious to do something for the remnant that is left." Of this aboriginal Mr. C. says that he never learnt to read more than very simple words. This shows the necessity of having the word of life translated, and taught to them in their own language: — that it was by oral teaching that he acquired a knowledge of the truths of the Bible — that he was once led astray by his European companions (how likely) — that after having gone through a further course of instruction and probation, he was baptised, and subsequently confirmed by the late Bishop of Sydney. In reference to him further, Mr. C. says, " But from what I have since seen and known of him, I do not hesitate to say, that as far as I could judge, his faith was sincere, and his hope and trust of salvation through Christ simple and intelligent." At the same time his life was upright, and his character marked by truth and justice. He appeared to have learned from the gospel to act on the golden rule, so much neglected by many who call themselves Christians, " Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, even so do unto them"; and he faithfully did his duty in that state of life in which God had placed him." Mr. Cowper's letter is valuable, as exhibiting the progress in knowledge and experience of this man, whose Christian instruction was owing to the pious and benevolent care of the lady of the late Colonel Dumaresq, at Tahlu [Tahlee] — and who was afterwards taken, into the service of Captain King, R.N., after Colonel Dumaresq departed for England, and that when he died of disease of the lungs, he was in the employ of Mr. T. G. King. All honor to the lady who sowed the seeds of life in such (to the faithless) unpromising soil, and to those who watered it from time to time. They shall have their reward.

These, and others which might be given, are instances and evidences that we are susceptible of being taught; and that the difficulty does not lie with us. If Christians will remain so inert — so worldly and selfish — they must see that our blood lies at their door; and it may be required by Him, who though He was rich yet for our sakes became poor; and through a whole life of suffering sought the welfare of men by living among them, teaching them, healing them, feeding them, converting them, and comforting them, and then leaving on record His command to His followers, " I have given you an example that you should do as I have done unto you." Is the unquenchable zeal of British missionaries buried in the graves of a Martyn and a Carey? Is there none to be found worthy of the mantle of the martyr of Erromanga? Although the churches expect that every professed disciple will do his duty attaching to his profession, and duties also which are inalienably attached to property, you who have acquired property in Australia, to what extent have you discharged those duties which are concomitant with your rights? Take up any of the almanacs for 1859 and point, if you can, to any single institution designed for the exclusive benefit of the aborigines, for improving their moral or physical condition? Think, then, of discharging that debt of justice as some reparation for the wrongs inflicted on us by the avarice, the intemperance, and the licentiousness of civilisation! Let your liberality find the means! Your ingenuity, the method of applying them, and your energy and perseverance will, with God's blessing, ensure success.

DALINKUA, DALIPIE } Delegates.

Camp, Breakfast Creek, Jan. 18,1859

References

The letters

ABORIGINES. (1858, November 17). The Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 - 1861), p. 2. Retrieved July 9, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3721756

ABORIGINES. (1858, November 24). The Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 - 1861), p. 2. Retrieved July 9, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3716463

ABORIGINES. (1858, December 11). The Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 - 1861), p. 2. Retrieved July 9, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3723143

ABORIGINES, (1858, December 29). The Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 - 1861), p. 2. Retrieved July 9, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3716993

ABORIGINES. (1859, January 8). The Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 - 1861), p. 2. Retrieved July 9, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3723869

[?]rigin[?] Corresponden[?] (1859, January 26). The Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 - 1861), p. 3. Retrieved July 9, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3723382 

Sources cited in the letters -

Letter 1 “Permit us to thank those gentlemen who have spoken in your paper regarding our helpless state” may refer to a racist piece of Doggerel that appeared in the same paper 

HELP FOR THE ABORIGINES. (1858, October 27). The Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 - 1861), p. 2. Retrieved July 17, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3719075

Letter 6 The letter penned by Amicus Nigrorum

AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM. (1855, August 18). The Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 - 1861), p. 2. Retrieved July 17, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3708767 

Letter 6 The letter to the editor penned by Rev W. M. Cowper.

To the Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald. (1853, December 12). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 5. Retrieved July 17, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12956814 

Quoted others

Condon, M. (2010) Brisbane. University of NSW Press.

Kerkhove, R.(n.d)  Dalaipi (c. 1795–c. 1863), Australian Dictionary of Biography https://ia.anu.edu.au/biography/dalaipi-29713

Langbridge, C., Sloan, R., and Ganter, R. (n.d.) Zion Hill Mission (1838-1848) German Missionaries in Australia. http://missionaries.griffith.edu.au/qld-mission/zion-hill-mission-1838-1848 

Waters, W. (2015)  What legacy do you want to leave your children?  https://thestringer.com.au/what-legacy-do-you-want-to-leave-your-children-9806

In memoriam of the late Rev. Wm. Hill - A poem by Zachariah Sutcliffe 1869

Portrait of the Rev William Hill.
Photograph by Charles Wherret
Source: National Portrait Gallery

This poem is part of a theme in this blog examining the poems of Zachariah Sutcliffe. An index of blog articles related to Sutcliffe can be found here.

Sutcliffe published this work as a stand alone poem, a copy of which is pasted into a scrapbook in the State of Library of Victoria’s (SLV) Sutcliffe Archive, along with the following newspaper clipping which appears to be from the Mount Alexander Mail of 31 July, 1871.

Mr Z. Sutcliffe has left with us a copy of his new book of poetic effusions. Some of the pieces are very creditably written, more particularly one on the death of the Rev. Wm. Hill.

This indicates that the poem was subsequently printed as part of a collection, probably one of the editions of “A Few Simple Lines”.

The SLV does provide an electronic version of the stand alone poem ... available here.

The poem consists of ten quatrains with an ABCB rhyming pattern. It is undated but probably dates to the year in which the murder took place, 1869. Unless Sutcliffe knew Hill personally it probably postdates the publication of some of the tributes. The line “he who hath carried glad tidings of peace, To swarthy sons of the Orient strand” would be linked to Hill’s missionary work in India, details of which were not present in the first flush of reportage.

A post about the murder of Rev. Wm Hill can be found here. It is too long a digression to act as an introduction to a poem.

IN MEMORY OF THE LATE REV. WM. HILL, Who was killed by a Convict (RITSON) while administering the solaces of the Gospel to him, at Pentridge Stockade, on 13th May, 1869.

Hark! what means that loud cry, swelling high on the breeze, 

Resounding the length and the breadth of our land? 

'Tis the voice of a nation, in loud indignation, 

Denouncing a cruel and murderous hand.

A brother has fallen, the beloved lies low, 

A ministering Abel is brutally slain;

And the wails of a people, as tolls from the steeple 

Fall on the ear of a blood-guilty Cain.

Yes, he who hath carried glad tidings of peace 

To swarthy sons of the Orient strand; 

And hath echoed the chime in Australia's clime, 

And won for himself a name in our land;

A name that doth shine fair, illustrious, and perfect, 

And bright among Austral's noblest and best; 

Yet, in criminal's cell, there, bleeding he fell; 

His blood dyed the hand he had labored to bless.

Behold in the horizon a beautiful star 

Shedding its light calm and tranquilly bright, 

When an envious cloud doth its lustre enshroud, 

And shadows are left in the trail of its flight.

Then be hushed every cry, the star has not fallen, 

But hid for a season the brighter to shine; 

When the shadows shall flee, then wondering we'll see 

In the deep rolling cloud a finger divine.

Then fare-thee-well! brother, we cannot deplore thee; 

Thy life was a life of labour and love; 

When death did its duty, its clothing was beauty, 

A herald of glory to take thee above.

There the crown of the martyr shall circle thy brow 

And sweetly the song of victory sing; 

The palm shall be thine, -- Oh! how bright wilt thou shine, 

Whose last moments were spent in serving thy King.

Yet we cannot but think of thy once happy home, 

Of the orphans now so doubly bereft, 

Their light and their guide both winged from their side, 

And they lonely and weeping are left.

True, we cannot restore their dear parents again, 

Or stem the sad tears of their natural grief; 

But the destitute's cry we can surely supply, 

And honor the dead by giving relief.

ZACHARIAH SUTCLIFFE.

[Undated]

The murder of Rev William Hill at Pentridge Stockade - 1869

This post is a work in progress ... publication of which occured to allow for linking from another post.

This post is an introduction to the characters and events that culminated in the murder of Rev William Hill, at the Pentridge Stockade on the 13th May 1869. I present this research as a summary in its own right, but also as an introduction to a poem by Zachariah Sutcliffe, which addresses the same matter.

The post about that poem can be found here.

Key dates mentioned in this post

27 Nov 1867 - The Protestant Hall Riot

24 Jun 1868 - Attempted murder of James Kinsella

31 Dec 1868 - Death of Lucy Mary Hill, wife of William Hill, due to ill health.

13 May 1869 - Murder of Rev William Hill

3 Aug 1869 - Execution of James Ritson

James Ritson the Murderer

The incident that led to Ritson being in the custody of the Pentridge Stockade is recounted thus in the Illustrated Sydney News of 11 July 1868.

A murderous outrage was committed at the Eastern Market on the 24th ult. About 6 a.m., Mr. James Kinsella, market inspector, was sitting inside his inner office, and hearing foot-steps approaching from the outside, he turned round in his seat to recognise his visitor. A young man, decently attired, immediately walked up to within a yard of Kinsella's seat, and deliberately presented a cocked pistol in front of him. The self possession evinced by the ruffian, coupled with the audacity of the proceeding, completely unnerved Kinsella, and before he could adopt any means to insure his safety, the pistol was discharged in his face. The report of firearms in such an unusual place attracted the attention of the people in the market. Mr. Robinson was the first person who entered the office, and was just in time to prevent the escape of the ruffian, who had reached the .street entrance, holding the pistol in his hand. He was instantly secured, and as soon as the facts of the outrage had been explained, he was conveyed to the lock-up. It was then ascertained that the injuries sustained by Kinsella were confined to a severe flesh wound on the nose, and a dangerous singing about the eyes. Search was instituted for traces of shot or ball, but no marks of any missile could be detected. When brought to the watch house, the ruffian gave the name of James Ritson, and described himself as a dealer, but refused to assign any motive for the perpetration of the attempted murder. He is personally unknown to Kinsella, as well as to many of the dealers frequenting the market. In his possession were found a double-barrel pocket-pistol, a flask of gunpowder, a box of percussion caps, and a number of roughly-cast bullets.

VICTORIA. (1868, July 11). Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1853 - 1872), p. 6. Retrieved June 2, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63514064

Ritson was 16 years of ages at the time of the shooting. Fortunately for Kinsella the weapon was not loaded properly and the injury was not fatal. However, the injury did require significant treatment, the timing of which delayed the trial of Ritson, until Kinsella was well enough to give evidence.

The Argus of 21 July 1868 reported

The Eastern-market Shooting Case. James Ritson, a young roan, was brought up, on remand, charged with shooting and wounding. James Kinsella deposed, — I am assistant market inspector. At ten minutes to six on the morning of the 24th June I was in my office at the market. No one else was there. I was engaged looking over the morning's collections. I heard a footstep, but thinking that it was Mr. Robinson, the lessee, 1 did not take any notice. Hearing the step again, I looked up, and saw the prisoner standing beside me. He presented a pistol, and discharged it in my face. I was hit, and put my hand up to my cheek. The blood oozed out between my fingers. Prisoner waited till he saw that the shot had taken effect, then deliberately walked away. I got up and followed, and did not let him out of my sight until Mr. Robinson arrested him. I then cried out, " That is the man who shot me." I have since been under the care of Dr. Beany and an operation was performed on me by him, assisted by other medical gentlemen. I have known the prisoner for three or four years as a hawker. I have had to caution him two or three times in the course of my duty, for trying to evade the market dues. That was about two and a half years ago. I have also seen him since May last. He was then hawking, and I demanded the dues from him. He paid them without any words, but always doggedly and reluctantly. George Robinson, lessee of the market, proved seeing prisoner run out of the office on the occasion referred to. Witness stopped, and arrested him, A flask of powder was found upon him when he was searched at the watchhouse, together with several bullets, and the double-barrelled pistol produced. Mary Pickford stated that she had seen the prisoner walking up and down before Mr. Kinsella's office for about ten minutes before he went in. James George Beaney, surgeon, deposed that Kinsella had been under his treatment ever since the morning of the 24th June. Saw him first that morning at half-past eight. He was bleeding very much from the nose and throat. There was a wound on the left side of the nose — a circular wound. On probing the wound he found that the probe passed in about five inches, and he ascertained that the bone was smashed. On the 7th July he per-formed an operation. There was a distinct communication through the bone of the nose, thence to the jaw-bone and forward to the back of the throat. Witness and the other medical gentlemen who assisted at the opera-tion, had expected to find the bullet buried in the upper jaw, but after the operation they concluded that the bullet, having been spent, merely glided into the throat and into the stomach. There was no doubt that the wound was caused by a bullet. The patient was in a very dangerous state. Constable Rivers proved that after he had taken prisoner to the watchhouse, and duly cautioned him, he (prisoner) said that he shot Kinsella with a bullet similar to the one found on him, and added that he would have done it again if he had not been prevented. He was willing to bear the consequences of the act. He stated that his reason for doing it was that he had received an insult from Kinsella. This being the evidence against the prisoner, he was asked if he had anything to say. He replied in a determined tone, "No, sir, I have nothing to say at present." He was committed for trial.

Ritson was tried and sentenced to death and this was overturned on the basis of insanity.

Rev William Hill the victim

Hill, according to the National Portrait Gallery, was a …

Wesleyan minister, … thought to have spent time as a missionary in India before coming to Victoria around 1854. He worked in Melbourne, Castlemaine, Ballarat and Sandhurst (Bendigo) before becoming superintendent of the Collingwood circuit, in which role he attended to the spiritual needs of prisoners at Pentridge Gaol.

There is some speculation that a poor constitution led to his migrating to Australia, whether that ailment was the cause of the remarked on thin skull is difficult to determine.

He married, and sired five children via his wife, Lucy Mary Hill, who predeceased him after a short illness in December 1868. She was 35 years old.

Family Notices (1869, January 1). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 4. Retrieved May 25, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5820836

The murder

The transcript of the inquest held two days after the event can be found here … LINK

TLDR - Ritson smashed in Hill’s head with a 9 inch long iron hinge he had removed from his bed almost immediately upon entry into into the cell. Help arrived within minutes but it was too late for Hill.

The denouement.

The attack was premeditated, the commentary on the execution reveals that Ritson resented Hill’s determination to have him become contrite for his attempted murder of Kinsella.

I was not able to find a transcript of the trail, but Ritson’s execution on the 3 August 1869 was widely published and much commentary accompanied it. Some of which relates to the trial.

Prior to the execution a plea was made by xxx to have the death penalty removed on account of Ritson’s insanity. It can be found here

Link

Much of commentary was therefore attributes to portraying Ritson as both sane, an accepting 

Perhaps the strangest part of this story (from my perspective) was that at the time of the trial a gory wax recreation of the event was available for street side viewing in Bourke St, Melbourne.

In 1921, The Smith Journal, rewrote the story of Hill’s murder, with a godless sympathy for Ritson’s having to endure the ministry of Rev. Hill. The retell was attributed to the pseudonym “The Man in the Mask” can be found here …

THE MAN WHO SLEW A SERMON (1921, February 5). Smith's Weekly (Sydney, NSW : 1919 - 1950), p. 15. Retrieved May 25, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article234271256