[Editor: An article published in Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Reviewer, 10 July 1858. See the related light-hearted article, “The Cobra-Bal, or Bald Pated Blacks”.]
New race of Aboriginals. — Gold discovery.
— Some time since a paragraph appeared in the Empire relative to the discovery, in the far interior, of a new race of blacks, “who had no hair on the top of their heads, in the place where the wool ought to grow.” The account of this most extraordinary arrangement has been corroborated by an eye-witness — a Mr. Thompson, who is at present residing at Mr. Whittaker’s, in East Maitland, who has just arrived from the vicinity where these funny aboriginals ruralise.
They are of a copper color, and are tall and athletic, much superior in every respect to their darker-skinned brethren. The women are also said to have more claims to beauty. They, however, are also deficient of what is generally acknowledged to be “the glory of a woman.”
Mr. Thompson, it appears, was at camp on the Upper Balonne, with others, on ground hitherto untrodden by a white man, when he was surprised by a visit from those bald-pated copper-colored beings. They appeared to have friendly intentions, and as nothing was noticed in their conduct of an aggressive nature, a conversation by signs and nods ensued.
After a while a sovereign was shown to them, when one of them, picking up a stone, pointed with his finger to the far west, and intimated that stones of a similar description to the sovereign were to be picked up on the ground, in masses as large as the stone he held. The place was understood to be some hundred miles further in the interior, but they signified their attention of bringing some of these stones at their next visit.
Mr. Thompson intends to return again to the Balonne, and to await their arrival. If this story is true, the age of wonders truly has not ceased. The incredulous may, by a visit to Mr. Whittaker’s hear the particulars as we have described them.
— Maitland Mercury, July 3.
Source:
Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Reviewer (Sydney, NSW), 10 July 1858, p. 3
Editor’s notes:
Balonne = Balonne River, an inland river located in the south-west of Queensland
Empire = The Empire, a newspaper published in Sydney (New South Wales)
[Editor: Corrected “as not ceased” to “has not ceased”.]
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