The Aborigines Evidence Bill fails to receive sufficient support

The Aborigines Evidence Bill fails to receive sufficient support at the second reading in the NSW Legislative Council. Its supporters seek to give Aboriginal people “a standing” and permit their evidence in the court system. The Maitland Mercury is especially outspoken in support of reform to Acts of “rank injustice” that hold “the blacks…liable to all the pains and penalties of British law, while the protection they derive from it is extremely partial and uncertain”. A transcription of the Maitland Mercury’s editorial of 1844 is below: