Abstract
INFORMATION lately received in this country discloses an appalling condition of affairs among the aborigines of the interior of Australia. The whole population is thoroughly polluted with disease, both tubercular and venereal, and the northeastern tribes are doomed. It is anticipated that another ten years will see the last of such interesting-tribes as the Dieri, Yanntowanta, Ngameni, and Nauroworka. This is largely due to contact with the lower elements of European and immigrant Asiatic civilisation. Misdirected kindness, however, is also, to some extent, responsible. A liberal supply of Government blankets has been distributed among the tribes; they wear the blankets when working in the sun, and then, when thoroughly overheated, sleep on the ground; pneumonia follows as a natural consequence. Another cause of their disappearance is due to the difficulties attendant on food-supply. The game on which they subsist is killed off or driven away by the encroachment of civilisation. Distress from this cause has recently been aggravated by severe drought. The extent of the ravages arising from these various causes may be gauged by the fact that half a century ago it was estimated that there were 12,000 aborigines within 180 miles north and 200 miles east of Adelaide, and now there are not more than about 120 in that area. In the early eighties of last century Gason stated that if steps were not taken, multiplication of the aborigines would result in the disappearance of the European population, yet in this same area of which he wrote it is now estimated that at the outside there are not more than 2000.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
FALLAIZE, E. The Present Condition of the Aborigines of Central Australia. Nature 105, 601 (1920). https://doi.org/10.1038/105601a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/105601a0