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intentionally by the authors, but nevertheless it is present), that the mass killing of Indigenous
Australians is neither cause for emotion or punishment by the perpetrators.
The second primary source narrative takes a significantly different perspective, and is written
by an unnamed daughter of a squatter in Queensland. The general message of the extract (see
Source 6.22) centres on the dual living arrangements on her father’s property, and the
peaceful relations between the local Indigenous Australians and her father as a result of
traditional hunting grounds, water sources and camping areas being respected.
Source 6.22. Squatter’s daughter’s
narrative extract from The first hundred years (Palmer and McLeod, 1954/ 1964, pp.
60-61)
What this narrative clearly demonstrates is that knowledge of violence and cruelty committed
against Indigenous Australians was well known at the time of it happening, even by those
who did not participate in or condone these acts. This is particularly accentuated for the
reader in the last three sentences of the narrative (see Source 6.22), which reads:
It was not till years after my childhood that I learnt of cruelties to the blacks, and I
refused at first to believe it possible. This I know, that there were very many
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