1929
Yelta Station Vic., 1860
The following list of articles supplied the Yelta Station in 1860 and 1861 shows a considerable amount of thought and attention to detail for aboriginal wants: 13/ 10/ 60; 90 pairs trousers, 500 yards print, 500 yards calico, 50 pairs blankets, 2 cross-cut saws, 2 cwt. assorted nails, 1 dozen spades, 3 assorted rakes, 2 pairs maul rings, 1 dozen assorted wedges, 2 hand-saws, 4 oz. Dover’s powders, 28 lbs. Epsom salts, 1 lb. senna, 4 bottles of liniment for rheumatism, 1-lb. pill in lump for coughs, 5 lbs. mustard, 2 lbs. linseed meal, 6 yards adhesive plaster, 1 lb. bluestone, 1 lb. tow, 15 yards linen for bandages, scales and weights for medicine and box for same, 3,000 lbs. flour, 1,000 lbs. sugar, 200 lbs. tea, 100 lbs. soap, 200 lbs. tobacco. 26/11/61–2 tons of flour, 10 cwt. sugar, 1 chest tea, 56 lbs. tobacco. 16/3/61–2 tons fiour, 1 chest tea, ½ ton sugar, ½ ton rice, 3 cwt. soap, 2 cwt. oatmeal, 1 box pipes, 1 gross knives, 1 gross combs, 1 gross looking-glasses, 2 cwt. seine twine, 1 cwt. fishing lines, 500 fish hooks, 150 blankets. Men’s—8 dozen cotton shirts, 11 dozen woollen guernseys, 4 dozen red serge shirts, 2 dozen blue serge shirts, 2 dozen waistcoats, 2 dozen coats, 6 dozen felt hats, 12 dozen cotton handkercbiefs. Boys- 3 dozen cotton shirts, 2 dozen woollen guernseys, 2 dozen red serge shirts, 2 dozen moleskin trousers, 2 dozen jackets, 3 dozen men’s blucher boots, 2 dozen boys’ blucher boots, 3 dozen women’s and girls’ boots. Women—3 dozen red serge petticoats, 100 yards flannel for petticoats, 100 yards red serge ditto, 3 dozen woollen polka jackets, 3 lbs. assorted thread, 3 dozen white cotton thread, 4 dozen brown and black cotton thread, 1 gross assorted broad tape, 2 dozen assorted thimbles, 4 oz. sulphate zinc, 1 lb. washed flowers of sulphur, 16 ozs. tinct. arnica, 4 ozs. tinct. arnica, l oz. tinct. belladonna, 4 ozs. tincturis sulphuris, 3 American felling axes, 12 handles. The Aborigines Board, just recently appointed, viewed this collection with grave displeasure, and the inclusion in the succeeding six months of six cricket bats and three cricket balls proved the last straw. A stern ukase was issued that no more such frivolous things were to issue.
‘The Story of the Mallee’,
Victorian Historical Magazine, Melbourne, 1929