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The Advertiser, Wednesday, 10 January 1900, p. 4
The Defence Department of Victoria, gifted with an enthusiastic patriotism, evidently considers that the Australian black fellow is a tracker of a much higher order than the Zulu or the Kaffir. With a view of assisting the British troops, the Defence authorities have, according to the Melbourne "Argus," communicated with the Chief Commissioner of Police, asking him how many blacktrackers the Police Department could spare to send to South Africa. Unfortunately, the sons of the soil will have no opportunity of proving their skill in tracking over veldt and kopje, for the Victorian Police Department has only one tracker at its disposal at present, and cannot spare him. The staff of trackers is only four strong under usual conditions, and just now three of these are in the act of being exchanged with others fresh from the wilds of Northern Queensland, the university wherein the masters of tracking take their degrees.