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The Passing of the Aborigines: A Lifetime spent among the Natives of Australia
Daisy Bates, amateur anthrolopogist and officially designated "Protector of Aboriginies" was well qualified to write this classic on the Aboriginals of Australia.
258 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1938
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About the author
Daisy Bates
8 books1 followerThis author profile is for Daisy^^Bates, who lived in the Australian desert. Not to be confused with Daisy^Bates, who was a civil rights activist.
Daisy May Bates, CBE (born Margaret Dwyer; 16 October 1859 – 18 April 1951) was an Irish-Australian journalist, welfare worker and lifelong student of Australian Aboriginal culture and society. Some Aboriginal people referred to Bates by the courtesy name Kabbarli "grandmother."
Bates wrote with compassion about the Aboriginal people of Australia in an era when they were not considered citizens, and were victims of deeply entrenched discrimination. At the same time, her legacy is complicated by her patronising views of the First Peoples, progressive for the time but ultimately considered outdated within only a few years of her death in 1951.
Daisy May Bates, CBE (born Margaret Dwyer; 16 October 1859 – 18 April 1951) was an Irish-Australian journalist, welfare worker and lifelong student of Australian Aboriginal culture and society. Some Aboriginal people referred to Bates by the courtesy name Kabbarli "grandmother."
Bates wrote with compassion about the Aboriginal people of Australia in an era when they were not considered citizens, and were victims of deeply entrenched discrimination. At the same time, her legacy is complicated by her patronising views of the First Peoples, progressive for the time but ultimately considered outdated within only a few years of her death in 1951.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 11, 2012
Mostly shit
Despite her extensive work amnong Aborigines and extensive field notes, she reverts to claptrap about canibalism seeping out of every corner of the landscape, and appeals to the rightwing sentiments about Empire and the need to 'protect' child-like victims left behind by civilisation. The work of a misguided missionary.
Despite her extensive work amnong Aborigines and extensive field notes, she reverts to claptrap about canibalism seeping out of every corner of the landscape, and appeals to the rightwing sentiments about Empire and the need to 'protect' child-like victims left behind by civilisation. The work of a misguided missionary.
January 28, 2013
This is not a politically correct book. It is the memoir of someone who spent a lifetime living with Aborigines and watched the destruction of their ancient way of life and civilization. Daisy holds nothing back and does mention many shocking instances of infant cannibalism, pedophilia, torture, rape, murder of half-castes and all the ugly stuff nowadays swept under the rug by politically correct academes who can't handle or confront the truths written in this book.
This is not a story of one race or culture superior over another- rather it is a documentary of one of the most difficult times in Aboriginal history. This book has great historical value and it should still be read today if one wants to learn about Australian history. Chances are, if you don't have an open mind, then you can't handle what is written in these pages and you will dismiss her book and just call it "drivel".
This is not a story of one race or culture superior over another- rather it is a documentary of one of the most difficult times in Aboriginal history. This book has great historical value and it should still be read today if one wants to learn about Australian history. Chances are, if you don't have an open mind, then you can't handle what is written in these pages and you will dismiss her book and just call it "drivel".
August 12, 2019
Read for historical research. I found this work of immense interest, chilling, saddening, helpful, and an inspiration; including more than enough aboriginal cannibalism references to satisfy the appetites of the most blood-thirsty of literary connoisseurs - graphic, to say the least. And... just to mention about the brief paragraph reflecting upon six-fingered and six-toed (polydactyly/hexadactyly) and left-handed groups & tales of the trials of the half-casts.
Overall, this work is also a good resource for the researcher and enthusiast.
Readers are warned that the work may contain terms, descriptions and images which may be culturally sensitive and/or would not now be culturally acceptable. Terms and annotations which reflect the author's attitude or that of the period in which the item was written may be considered inappropriate today... and should be aware that, in some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, use of the names of deceased persons may cause distress, particularly to the relatives of these people.
- Excerpts:
"...Daisy Bates... She was the daughter of an Irish family, and came over to London in those far-away days when journalism was a noble business...."
"They named her Kabbarli, grandmother... She can talk to them in 188 dialects."
"It is saddening indeed to wander the vast expanse of hill and dale and cliff and grove, and find not one of its own people remaining. They have vanished from the face of earth as completely as the extinct sthenurus, of which their far-off ancestors were contemporaries. The first landing of the white man was the beginning of the end."
"Human meat had always been their favourite food, and there were killing vendettas from time immemorial... Those who received skull, shoulder or arm kept the bones, which they polished and rounded, strung on hair, and kept on their person, either as pointing-bones or magic pendants... My first words to them were always 'No more man-meat'."
“Gan’ma nyinnin nyoora nongu; wan’yu ngalli-anning” (Glad you here to see-come again)
- Table of Contents
Introduction
Prologue: A Vanished People
1. Meeting with the Aborigines
2. In a Trappist Monastery
3. Sojourn in the Dreamtime
4. The Beginning of Initiation
5. The End of Initiation, the Blood-Drinking
6. Three Thousand Miles in a Side-Saddle
7. Last of the Bibbulmun Race
8. South-West Pilgrimage
9. Isles of the Dead
10. I Inherit a Gold Mine
11. with the Desert Tribes
12. Across the Bight by Camel Buggy
13. Wirilya’s Pleasant Vale
14. by Yuria Water
15. First Days at Ooldea
16. A Revolution and a Royal Visit
17. Introduction to Civilization
18. My Friends the Birds
19. In the Grip of the Drought
20. Interlude
21. Birth and Death, Healing Arts and Justice
Epilogue: Leave-taking
Appendix
___________________
Another earlier related work (University of Christiania):
Among cannibals; an account of four years travels in Australia and of camp life with the aborigines of Queensland; by Lumholtz, Carl, 1851-1922; Anderson, Rasmus Björn, 1846-1936
https://archive.org/details/amongcann...
Carl Sophus Lumholtz is regarded as one of the great discoverers of the last decades of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. For almost 40 years, he explored jungles and desert regions in Australia, Mexico and Borneo, and was internationally recognized as a naturalist, ethnographer, author, speaker and photographer.
Lumholtz was concerned about the way of life of the Australian indigenous people. As the first European, he lived with a minimum of equipment with the Australian hunters and gatherers in the tropical rainforest on the Herbert River in Queensland, where he, like them, lived in small cabins and under shelter. Lumholtz won their respect by kindness and gifts. The natives became his friends, but also his enemies. The account of his time in Australia was presented in the book 'Blandt menneskeædere' (Among Human Eiders), published in 1888. Lumholtz was given a national park in 1991 named after the Herbert River in Queensland, Australia.
Lumholtz's books have come in several editions in many languages. All four of his major works were published in English between 1979 and 1991. His scientific output is found in journal articles and dissertations.
Overall, this work is also a good resource for the researcher and enthusiast.
Readers are warned that the work may contain terms, descriptions and images which may be culturally sensitive and/or would not now be culturally acceptable. Terms and annotations which reflect the author's attitude or that of the period in which the item was written may be considered inappropriate today... and should be aware that, in some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, use of the names of deceased persons may cause distress, particularly to the relatives of these people.
- Excerpts:
"...Daisy Bates... She was the daughter of an Irish family, and came over to London in those far-away days when journalism was a noble business...."
"They named her Kabbarli, grandmother... She can talk to them in 188 dialects."
"It is saddening indeed to wander the vast expanse of hill and dale and cliff and grove, and find not one of its own people remaining. They have vanished from the face of earth as completely as the extinct sthenurus, of which their far-off ancestors were contemporaries. The first landing of the white man was the beginning of the end."
"Human meat had always been their favourite food, and there were killing vendettas from time immemorial... Those who received skull, shoulder or arm kept the bones, which they polished and rounded, strung on hair, and kept on their person, either as pointing-bones or magic pendants... My first words to them were always 'No more man-meat'."
“Gan’ma nyinnin nyoora nongu; wan’yu ngalli-anning” (Glad you here to see-come again)
- Table of Contents
Introduction
Prologue: A Vanished People
1. Meeting with the Aborigines
2. In a Trappist Monastery
3. Sojourn in the Dreamtime
4. The Beginning of Initiation
5. The End of Initiation, the Blood-Drinking
6. Three Thousand Miles in a Side-Saddle
7. Last of the Bibbulmun Race
8. South-West Pilgrimage
9. Isles of the Dead
10. I Inherit a Gold Mine
11. with the Desert Tribes
12. Across the Bight by Camel Buggy
13. Wirilya’s Pleasant Vale
14. by Yuria Water
15. First Days at Ooldea
16. A Revolution and a Royal Visit
17. Introduction to Civilization
18. My Friends the Birds
19. In the Grip of the Drought
20. Interlude
21. Birth and Death, Healing Arts and Justice
Epilogue: Leave-taking
Appendix
___________________
Another earlier related work (University of Christiania):
Among cannibals; an account of four years travels in Australia and of camp life with the aborigines of Queensland; by Lumholtz, Carl, 1851-1922; Anderson, Rasmus Björn, 1846-1936
https://archive.org/details/amongcann...
Carl Sophus Lumholtz is regarded as one of the great discoverers of the last decades of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. For almost 40 years, he explored jungles and desert regions in Australia, Mexico and Borneo, and was internationally recognized as a naturalist, ethnographer, author, speaker and photographer.
Lumholtz was concerned about the way of life of the Australian indigenous people. As the first European, he lived with a minimum of equipment with the Australian hunters and gatherers in the tropical rainforest on the Herbert River in Queensland, where he, like them, lived in small cabins and under shelter. Lumholtz won their respect by kindness and gifts. The natives became his friends, but also his enemies. The account of his time in Australia was presented in the book 'Blandt menneskeædere' (Among Human Eiders), published in 1888. Lumholtz was given a national park in 1991 named after the Herbert River in Queensland, Australia.
Lumholtz's books have come in several editions in many languages. All four of his major works were published in English between 1979 and 1991. His scientific output is found in journal articles and dissertations.
December 28, 2012
Having lived amongst the aboriginals for many years, Daisy Bates gives a very clear understanding of their customs and culture.
August 25, 2021
This book has to be read in the context of when it was written. It’s not an easy read, but it is interesting.
June 8, 2021
Having read the Desert Queen, and reading this with the caveats about Daisy Bates reliability in other works such as Queen of Deception, I would nevertheless recommend it to anyone studying anthropology or NAtive Title Law, Indigenous studies or colonialism, as a detailed portrait of the decline in numbers and health, the despair of dispossession and its effect on social organisation. Daisy Bates most problematic claims are about cannibalisms, especially of newborns, and "half castes" and it is mystifying why towards the end of the book, she is so focussed on these when there has not been any corroborating evidence. Consciousness of providing exotic material for the readers of the newspapers she wrote for is not a convincing reason - for someone who lived among the people for so long, it doesn't ad up. Others of her stories are also of dubious truth value, but read it and make up your mind for yourself.
September 4, 2023
Great Insight into her time spent in the lands of the desert, great old school writings.
Speaks openly on her time with the Aboriginies and ways in which she witnessed their way of life and communicated with them without judgement of their traditions regardless of their beauty or harshness.
Speaks openly on her time with the Aboriginies and ways in which she witnessed their way of life and communicated with them without judgement of their traditions regardless of their beauty or harshness.
December 31, 2020
great anthropological narrative of a life lived amongst full-blood Australian Aborigines; dated these days but still a relevant reference text on the subject
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews