Pritchard as to the derivation of the Tasmanians and Australians are noteworthy. In 1839 Captain Robert Fitzroy, in his narrative of the surveying voyages of the Adventure and the Beagle, between the years 18, attributes the origin of the aborigines of Tasmania and Australia either to a party of negroes who might have been driven by storms from the coast of Africa, and thus reached New Zealand or Van Diemen's Land, or to negroes escaping or being brought to the northern shores of Tasmania as slaves by "red men." Davis considered the Tasmanians to be scions of the Australians, and that their ancestors, being driven to sea in a canoe from the vicinity of King George's Sound, would, by the prevailing winds and currents, be apt to reach the western part of Van Diemen's Land, He selected that point of departure apparently for the reason that the word for "water" among the western tribes of Tasmania is similar to that used by the natives of Cape Leeuwen.
The question of the origin of the Australian and Tasmanian aborigines has engaged the attention of many writers, who have attempted its solution by inferences drawn from language, from custom, from the physical character of those savages, and, while direct evidence is not existent, from what some writers apparently assume to be fact.īefore entering upon the conclusions to which I have been led in this inquiry, it will be well to note in chronological order the views of various authorities, in doing which I have found it necessary to include those dealing with the Tasmanians.
Mathew's Malayan hypothesis-Australians belong to Caucasian stock-The connection between the Australians and Dravidians considered-Tasmanians placed among the Oceanic Negritos-The evidence points to vast antiquity of both races in their latest surroundings. Literature relating to the subject-No evidence that the Tasmanians reached the Island by water-They must have gone when there was land communication with the Australian coast-Literature relating to the Australian coast-The Australian ancestors must also have arrived by land communication-Probably they came from lands lying to the north or north-west of the continent-Physical geography of the northern coasts-Probable route of migration by New Guinea-Evidence of antiquity of man in Australia-Legends of volcanic era in Australia-Evidence of period of subsidence in Victoria-Coastal soundings-The Tasmanians the autochthonous inhabitants of Australia-Mr.
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