2-979-626 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sketches in Southern Australia - Woman of South Australia, from a photograph, 1857. 'The features of the aborigines are not pleasing, being very coarse. Their lips are thick, with flat noses and low, receding foreheads. They are not, generally speaking, tall or well made, neither are they particularly strong. Their going about in such numbers alone makes them dangerous. The number of aborigines is not great, and it is steadily decreasing. Several tribes have already wholly disappeared. Many efforts have been made to protect them, and to induce them to adopt settled and industrious habits, but with various success. Schools have been established by the Government, but the young people almost invariably when passing out of childhood, throw off their clothes and return to their native haunts and habits. A few girls become house servants, but they are easily induced to leave for the woods'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.