Aborigines conduct was noble and praiseworthy

The Sydney Morning Herald

23 November 1844

Colonial Secretary's Office, Sydney, 20th November, 1844.

His Excellency the Governor has been pleased to direct the publication of the following letter from the Crown Commissioner of the Murrumbidgee district, reporting the praiseworthy conduct of the Aboriginal Natives, in the neighbourhood of the Tumut, during the inundation of that and the surrounding districts.

"Head Quarters, Tumut River. November. 4. 1844.

Sir, - I do myself the honor to inform you, for the information of His Excellency the Governor,- that having been called to Gundagai on the 24th of last month, to hold an inquiry, with much regret, on the body of an Aboriginal Native, named Gothering, drowned in a creek, near the Murrumbidgee River; that I would not be doing justice, to the Aboriginal Natives of this part, if I did not state, that during the severe and continued floods, caused by the overflowing of the waters of the Murrumbidgee and Tumut Rivers, that in the hour of peril, alarm, and danger, the blacks were most active in cutting canoes and rescuing the men, women, and children, from their huts, fast filling with water, and saved many of them from a watery grave: in fact, their conduct was noble and praiseworthy; and should His Excellency the Governor be pleased to sanction my small requisition in their favor, I consider, it would do much good, and that they (Blacks) merit some reward, in order to stimulate them to such actions and conduct, as we know not now, when they may be again called on, under similar trying moments, for exertion.

I have, &c, (Signed.) Henry Bingham."