File:Australia's greatest need - with an introductory note by the Archbishop of Brisbane (1914) (14580094057).jpg

Identifier: australiasgreate00toml (find matches)
Title: Australia's greatest need : with an introductory note by the Archbishop of Brisbane
Year: 1914 (1910s)
Authors: Tomlin, James William Sackett, 1871-
Subjects: Church of England in Australia and Tasmania Missions New Guinea
Publisher: (London) : Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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mob, big mob, completes theirnumeral table. Their mental powersare simply developed along the lineswhich are ot service to them in theirdaily life. ^ But along those lines theyshow considerable adroitness. Theirbush-lore is wonderful. In fishing andhunting they are adepts. They can followthe tracks of man or beast by imprints,which to the eye of a white man areabsolutely invisible. Mrs. Gunn in her Little Black Princess tells us how sheraised a merrv lauo:h from the lubras (black women) by her failure to distinguishher own husbands traces. The blacktrackers, for this reason, have been in-valuable to the police forces of Australia.If they could lecture on natural historythey would hold audiences enthralled.With the lire-stick they can produce ablaze whenever they need it. By cuttingnotches in the bark they will climb anytree after the sugar-bag or the opossum.Their means of communication reveal ahigh degree of intelligence. The blacks 1 The Northern Tribes of Central Australia, p. 31.
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AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINALS The Aboriginals 185 sign language, writes Mrs. Gunn, isvery perfect. They have a sign for everybird, beast, fish, person, place and action.They have long talks without utteringa word. There are many times when ablack fellow must not speak, unless bysigns. For instance, if he is mourning fora near relative, or has just come from avery special corroboree. Often he mustkeep silent for weeks, and occasionally formonths, and it is because of this andmany other reasons that the sign languageis so perfect. Everyone can speak it andeveryone does so when hiding in the bushfrom enemies, and then there is no fear ofvoices being heard. Besides the sign language there is alsoa smoke language ; and the yabber-stick,which is about the length of a walkingstick and is notched with various signs,serves the black fellows instead of letter-writing. They know nothing of houses orhuts, unless the temporary gunyah madeby a few strips of bark hung over somesaplings be dignified by that

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