Journals Of Expeditions Of Discovery Into Central Australia And Overland From Adelaide To King George's Sound In The Years 1840-1: Sent By The Colonists Of South Australia By Eyre, Edward John
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Upon the inability of natives to give evidence in a court of
justice, Mr. Chief Protector Robinson remarks, in
A letter to His Honour,
the Superintendent of Port Phillip, dated May, 1843 - "The legal
disabilities of the natives have been a serious obstacle to their civil
protection; and I feel it my duty, whilst on this subject, respectfully to
bring under notice the necessity that still exists for some suitable
system of judicature for the governance and better protection of the
aboriginal races. 'As far as personal influence went, the aboriginal
natives have been protected from acts of injustice, cruelty, and
oppression; and their wants, wishes, and grievances have been faithfully
represented to the Government of the colony,' and this, under the
circumstances, was all that could possibly be effected. There is,
however, reason to fear that the destruction of the aboriginal natives
has been accelerated from the known fact of their being incapacitated
to give evidence in our courts of law. I have frequently had to deplore,
when applied to by the Aborigines for justice in cases of aggression
committed on them by white men, or by those of their own race, my
inability to do so in consequence of their legal incapacity to give
evidence. It were unreasonable, therefore, under such circumstances,
to expect the Aborigines would respect, or repose trust and confidence
in the Protectors, or submit to the governance of a department unable
efficiently to protect or afford them justice. Nor is it surprising they
should complain of being made to suffer the higher penalties of our law,
when deprived (by legal disability) of its benefits.
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