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Event mentions

• Abduction and slavery at Kangaroo Island
  1 Jan 1812 – 31 Dec 1837 — Kangaroo Island

  "A bay called the Bay of Shoals, on the north coast next the main, is resorted to by the fishermen on account of a salt lagoon, or sea pool, which, when dried up after the rainy season, is filled with excellent salt to the depth of 5 or 6 inches. Near it is a lake of fresh water, both being situated about 2 miles from the beach, which distance the productions are curried on the back to the boats. This, as well as every other labour, is performed by the native women, whom these unprincipled men carry off from the main, and compel to hunt, work, and fish, and do every other menial service, while they themselves sit on the beach, smoke, drink, and sleep by turns, occasionally perhaps rousing to kill a young seal while basking on the sunny beach. This food, though far from palatable, is all that their indolence will in general allow them to procure, and they sometimes salt it down for future store. It is much to be lamented that so debased a specimen of the Christian race as these men, should be the first to give an impres-sion to the natives, who are there very numerous, and of a superior cast to those here and at Sydney. They live in regular villages, are all clothed with a cloak made of skins stitched together and orna-mented, and though like all other savages addicted to stealing, are nevertheless friendly and hospitable. The tide in this bay rises about 6 or 7 feet; it is not however safe for any large vessels, and about first quarter ebb, numerous shoals are visible. Ten miles to the east is a fine river called American River, with an excellent harbour. It is so named from an American who visited that neighbourhood about ten years ago, and built a very handsome schooner of the pine tree, peculiar to the island. This wood resembles the red Swedish timber, and contains turpentine. Mr. Smith sailed 13 miles up this river, and by culling one of these trees in halves, scooping it out with an adze, and afterwards uniting it with hoops, he constructed an admirable pump for his vessel. The trees common here also abound there, and the small species of kangaroo is very numerous. Among the animals which we have not seen here, is a kind of edible guana, a species of bear, about the size of a fox, and species of cockatoo, of a grey colour, with a red crest. The fish are superior, and well flavoured; among them a kind of whiting is described as being ex-cellent eating. When the fishing season for seals is over, these men, with the native women and their offspring, amounting in all to about 40, re-tire into a valley in the interior of the island, where they have a garden and huts. One man called Abyssinia, has led this life for 14 years. Are then these men, thus strangers to religion, strangers to principle, among whom rapine of every kind, and even murder is not unfrequent, are they to be suffered to debase human nature? They are at present supported and encouraged by the Colonial vessels that visit them for the purpose of bartering their skins for rum. Many of them are armed, and in a short time it will not be safe even for a large vessel to go among them." (Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 1 July 1826, page 3

  
  

  "There are no natives on the island ; several Europeans assembled there; some who have run from ships that traded for salt; others from Sydney and Van Diemen's Land, who were pri-soners of the crown. These gangs joined after a lapse of time, and became the terror of ships going to the island for salt, &c. being little better than pirates. They are complete savages, living in bark huts like the natives, not cultivating any thing, but living entirely on kangaroos, emus, and small porcupines, and getting spirits and tobacco in barter for the skins which they lay up during th e sealing season. They dress in kangaroo skins without linen, and wear sandals made of sealskins. They smell like foxes. They have carried their daring acts to an extreme, venturing on the main land in their boats, and seizing on the natives, particularly the women, and keeping them in a state of slavery, cruelly beating them on every trifling occasion ; and when at last some of these marauders were taken off the island by an expedition from New South Wales, these women were landed on the main with their chil-dren and dogs, to procure a subsistence, not knowing how their own people might treat them after a long absence." (The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser 1836, July 2, p 2).

  Source:

  RUNAWAYS IN THE STRAITS. (1826, July 1). The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), p. 3. Retrieved April 2, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2186083

  THE SOUTHERN COAST OF NEW HOLLAND. (1836, July 2). The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), p. 2. Retrieved April 2, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2205208

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