NRS-13696 | Miscellaneous correspondence relating to Aborigines

Full description

This series contains correspondence, mainly of an official nature, relating to customs and habits of Aborigines, accounts of investigations instituted into atrocities committed by and against natives, the establishment and maintenance of native institutions and church missions (at Wellington Valley, Port Phillip and in New Zealand), and memoranda, notes and draft process concerning causes involving Aborigines (as defendants) in the Supreme Court. It is possible that much or all of the material was collected for or on behalf of Justice Burton from the mid-1830s.

The bundle contains two main "groups" of correspondence: between Robert Scott (Justice of the Peace at Patrick's Plains, 1826+) and various officials and private persons concerning settler-native relations at Hunter River; and correspondence and notes of Mr Justice Burton concerning a draft bill "for amelioration and protection of the Aboriginal natives of this colony" (mainly letters received from private persons concerning tribal customs and mores and recollections of relations with natives in the past), causes involving natives to be heard before the Supreme Court, and notes relating to the admissibility of native evidence.

Included is a request dated 17 August 1839 from the Under Secretary of State to Justice Burton for information on whether "any objection of the aborigines in the Courts of law" together with Burton's reply relating to the admissability of native evidence. (Items 105 and 106).

Also included are: a list of aborigines tried and convicted before the Supreme Court, 1824-36 (Item 49); a proclamation on the establishment of a native institution at Parramatta (1814); annual reports of missions at Lake Macquarie (1836, 1837, 1838) and Port Macquarie (1837); establishment of a mission at Port Phillip; proposed formation of aboriginal police; a "Memoir of Mahine", a native of New Zealand; "A memoir of Anna", a Tahitian (1837); and, printed letters of Threlkeld relating to the French invasion of Tahiti (1838).

Its arrangement is semi-chronological.

1797, 1804-06, 1814-16, 1824-40 (5/1161; photocopy COD294A & B). 1 box.

Relevant items indexed in Indigenous colonial court cases 1788-1838.

Digital copies and transcriptions of most of these documents (1-6, 8-28, 30-33, 35-87, 97, 102-108) were available on the Centre for Comparative Law, History and Governance Macquarie University website in Decisions of the Superior Courts of New South Wales, 1788-1899.

Note:
This description, as amended, is extracted from Concise Guide to the State Archives of New South Wales, 3rd Edition 2000.