[Editor: This article, based upon a letter from Edmond Wright, was published in The Sydney Gazette, and New South Wales Advertiser (Sydney, NSW), 23 March 1816. The article seeks to clear the name of an Aboriginal man named Budbury, who was previously thought to have taken part in an attack by a group of Aborigines against some white settlers on 3 March 1816.]
To correspondents.
We have received a letter from Mr. Edmond Wright, the attack upon whose premises by a band of natives was reported in the Gazette of the 9th instant, stating his severe losses from their incursions upon his farm; on which account we request his acceptance of our most unfeigned condolence.
Mr. Wright’s letter also notices an inaccuracy in a statement contained in our last, wherein we found ourselves called upon to exonerate the native Budbury from the imputation which in the previous week we had unjustly involved him in, & which we repeat, upon the positive intelligence and affirmation of Charles Throsby, Esq., a Gentleman upon whose information every reliance will be placed, that Budbury was not present on the melancholy occasion alluded to; but that a native of a name a good deal similar, and heretofore notorious for his hostile deportment, was the person mistaken for the one that has been unjustly challenged.
— That Mr. Wright appears unconscious whether the accused Budbury was one of the assailants or not, will appear from the following passage of his letter to the Editor upon the occasion; wherein he states, that upon finding the natives in his corn, he went among them, and asking the name of one, was answered, “Tindle Budbury.”
He then proceeds as follows:— “This same man told me to go home, or the natives would come over and kill me. I went home, and saw no more of them till the following morning, when they came and robbed my house of cloathing, &c. amounting to more than a hundred pounds value. I do not mean the native known by the name of Mr M‘Arthur’s Budbury — but his brother I am told. I do not know him from any other black man, but this was as he told me.”
We must observe to Mr. Wright, that from the tenor of his own letter he could have had no other evidence to the identity than the man’s own declaration, while it is more likely that a person mischievously employed should feel an inclination rather to conceal his name than candidly to avow himself.
Mr. Wright’s admission that he did not speak from any personal knowledge of the man, is of itself sufficient to justify the remarks contained in our last Gazette; and when it is considered that those remarks went only to the vindication of an innocent individual, labouring under a severe censure barely from the mistake of his person, we cannot doubt that Mr. Wright will think as we do, that a poor native has as great a claim to a just vindication as any other person.
Source:
The Sydney Gazette, and New South Wales Advertiser (Sydney, NSW), 23 March 1816, p. 2
Editor’s notes:
See also: [Unpleasant accounts] [re an attack by Aborigines, 9 March 1816]
An article about an attack by a group of Aborigines against some white settlers on 3 March 1816.
Editor’s notes:
&c. = an alternative form of “etc.”: an abbreviation of “et cetera” (also spelt “etcetera”), a Latin term (“et” meaning “and”, “cetera” meaning “the rest”) which is translated as “and the rest (of such things)”, used in English to mean “and other similar things”, “other unspecified things of the same class”, “and so forth”
cloathing = an archaic spelling of “clothing”
Esq. = an abbreviation of “Esquire” (a formal but unofficial title of respect, usually abbreviated as “Esq.” and placed after a man’s surname); a squire (a landed proprietor); a member of the English gentry who ranks below a knight
pound = a unit of British-style currency used in Australia, until it was replaced by the dollar in 1966 when decimal currency was introduced in Australia
unconscious = unaware, ignorant, oblivious, unsuspecting (can also refer to a lack of consciousness or a state of senselessness, when someone has been knocked out, been placed under a general anesthetic, or has lost consciousness due to an injury, medical condition, physical trauma, or lack of oxygen)
[Editor: Changed “Mr Wright’s letter” to “Mr. Wright’s letter” (added a full stop); “Charles Throsby, Esq.” to “Charles Throsby, Esq.,” (added a comma).]
[Editor: The original text has been separated into paragraphs.]
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