Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), Sunday 2 September 1804, page 2


𝑁𝐴𝑇𝐼𝑉𝐸𝑆.

The Natives have during the last week been very troublesome about Lane Cove.— On Tuesday and Wednesday a party visited the farm of Mr. Wilshire, where they bound

the labouring servants, and seemed disposed to remain until expelled by famine. The

poor men’s store allowance they unbound one, and obliged him to cook ; potatoes,

vegetables, and such articles of poultry as had accidentally fallen in their way assisted in the 𝑓𝑒̂𝑑𝑒, and the first day they devoted to mirth and jocularity. Accounts, however, reached town the next morning ; and Mr. Wilshire immediately prepared to render as-sistance to his servants. Accompanied by several persons armed with firelocks, he ar-rived at the farm in the afternoon, and was welcomed with shouts of defiance from the barbarous π‘Ÿπ‘Žπ‘›π‘˜π‘ , who formed into subdivi-sions, and anticipated triumph with the bran-dished spear. A blank discharge proved of no other efficacy than to provoke them to irony, so that any attempt to repel them by intimidation only, promised to encourage their excesses. A discharge of shot convin-ced them of the danger of maintaining their position, and they fled precipitately to an eminence, where they were joined by a pro-digious number, unperceived before, having

taken with them all the servants’ necessaries

and bedding. The men supposed, that at various intervals during the period of their π‘π‘Žπ‘π‘‘π‘–π‘£π‘–π‘‘π‘¦, the number of the natives must have exceeded 200. Shortly after their ex-pulsion from the farm they dispersed, and may not, it is to be hoped, return.

A native male infant, whose age is sup-posed to be from two to three years, was left by the parents at Risdon Cove, upon their retreat from a hostile attempt made upon the borders of the settlement. The little captive was humanely received and cherished ; and is at this time under the protection of a Gentle-man of the Settlement at π‘†π‘’π‘™π‘™π‘–π‘£π‘Žπ‘› πΆπ‘œπ‘£π‘’. The little creature was very fond of the kangaroo flesh, but would at first only receive it after it had been scorched upon the cinders ; it is now become more nice in the choice of

food, and has consequently resigned a prefer-ence to the above mode of cookery : he is remarkably active and tractable, manages a stick, and even handles a spear with surpri-

sing agility, and does not in any degree ap-

pear susceptible of fear or apprehension ; but

on the contrary, opposes with firmness every imagined danger. Against the attack of a dog he not only defends himself with a stick, but in turn becomes the assailant.— In compliment to his native soil, and in re-membrance of the month upon which it was the will of Fate that he should be rescued from a state of barbarous insignificance, he has been baptised π‘…π‘œπ‘π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘‘ π»π‘œπ‘π‘Žπ‘Ÿπ‘‘ π‘€π‘Žπ‘¦.— The natives are in general somewhat more

robust than ours, and are more expert in throwing a stone than in the use of any other missile implement ; their offensive weapons evince no mark of ingenuity ; their spears are of uncouth workmanship, and all that have been hitherto seen, strait pointed and unbarbed ; their π‘€π‘Žπ‘‘π‘‘π‘–π‘’π‘  are little more than unpolished clubs, and shields, or targets, they carry none. Vegetables and potatoes thrive in tolerable abundance; the sascifras, or a species of it, is found upon the banks of the Derwent ; and among its feathered pro-ductions is a bird of exquisite flavour, about the size of a daw, on which the name of the πΏπ‘œπ‘π‘˜π‘’π‘‘ π‘π‘–π‘Ÿπ‘‘ has been bestowed.