A Queen's Birthday Feast
South Australia's Governor Gawler inaugurated a Queen's Birthday feast for Kaurna people (of the district now occupied by Adelaide) in 1839; and the settlement of land on the lower Murray River was made easier by magistrate, and protector of Aborigines, Edward John Eyre issuing monthly rations at Moorundie in the early 1840s.
In 1842 the British Parliament's Sale of Waste Lands Act provided that some land in South Australia could be set aside as Aboriginal reserves. Officials envisaged that rations could be issued to reserve Aborigines. By the early twentieth century, 97 reserves had been established in South Australia, though few were then inhabited. Reserves were land the colonists did not yet want badly enough; they were not necessarily of practical use to Aboriginal people.
In 1842 the British Parliament's Sale of Waste Lands Act provided that some land in South Australia could be set aside as Aboriginal reserves. Officials envisaged that rations could be issued to reserve Aborigines. By the early twentieth century, 97 reserves had been established in South Australia, though few were then inhabited. Reserves were land the colonists did not yet want badly enough; they were not necessarily of practical use to Aboriginal people.
Keywords: Eyre, Edward John, Kaurna people, land boundaries, land ownership, Murray River, reserves, Sale of Waste Lands Act (1842), South Australia, 1839-1842
Author: Rowse, Tim and Graham, Trevor