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Australia Unlimited
BY
Edwin J. Brady
Author of "The King's Caravan," "The Ways of Many Waters,"
"River Rovers," "Bells and Hobbles," Si^c.
'•''^''•l.U''Oi'li^.ilA
MELBOURNE:
George Robertson and Company
PROPY. LTD.
■^
r/
VC^hoJJy Set U^ and Printed in Australia hy
The Specialty Press 'Pty. Ltd., 189 Little Collins Street, Mellourne,
and
Anderson, Gowan & DuRieu 'Pty. Ltd., 552-554 Lonsdale Street, A^elhourne.
The Illustrations Engraved by
Patterson, Shugg Pty. Ltd., Burns Lane, off Lonsdale Street, JVIelhourne.
and
The Globe Engraving Company, Temple Court Place, Little Collins St., T^elhournc
ffXCHANGE
• ••«*•• •
• • • •• • •_ •
C®HTEH'
/nr^
INTRODUCTION
My Country (Poem by Dorothea Mackellar)
THE DAWN OF HISTORY
The Genesis of Australian Settlement
Old Colonial Days
Inland Exploration
Australia's Political Elvolution
THE COMMONWEALTH
Federation of the Australian States . .
Canberra, the Federal Capital
Transcontinental Railways : East-West
„ „ North-South
Irrigation, Storages and Artesian Water
Undeveloped Industries
Federal Administration: Post, Telegraph, and Telephones
Customs and Tariff
Commerce and Finance
Immigration
Social and Intellectual Life. .
Outdoor Sports in Australia
Page
i6
26
33
39
55
64
68
71
74
87
lOI
107
III
113
119
123
131
NEW SOUTH WALES
Revenues and Resources
Trade and Production
Sydney Harbor at Night . .
North Sydney and Beyond . .
Picturesque New South Wales
Mount Kosciusko
The North Coast
The South Coast
Out West
The Western Division
Broken Hill
The Land of Milk and Honey
Irrigation and the Riverina
The Future
From Wentworth to Bourke
What a Railway Will Do
143
159
173
178
183
193
199
217
225
232
248
255
263
275
283
Evolution and Progress
Port Phillip and the Hills . .
The Western District
Gippsland
VICTORIA
291
305
325
339
A r\ t\ A
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Victoria {cent.)
The Victorian Alps
Victorian Agriculture
Irrigation Settlements
Mallee Lands
Queen of the North
The Trail of the Tropics . .
Cedar and Gold . .
Cooktown, Cape York, the Gulf
The Heart of Queensland . .
East and West . .
Southern Queensland
QUEENSLAND
NORTHERN TERRITORY
Pioneers and Outposts
Coastal Climate and Production
Darwin and Pine Creek
The Daly River . .
On the Adelaide . .
Inland Districts . .
Mineral Resources
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Adelaide and the Hills
Port Augusta, Hergott and the Great Inland
Primary Production . . . .
The "Desert" Myth
Drought and Dry Country . .
Irrigation, Water Conservation, and Drainage
WESTERN
Dampier's "Miserablest Country"
What the West Will Do . .
South to Leeuwin and Round Again
The Glamor of Gold
Kalgoorlie
The Six Divisions
AUSTRALIA
TASMANIA
Launceston and the Tamar
Hobart and the Derwent . .
Settlement and Development
Agriculture and Production
BRITISH NEW GUINEA (PAPUA)
Page
355
367
385
398
405
417
433
451
461
475
489
515
524
539
550
563
577
594
611
615
621
628
638
649
659
679
687
701
715
725
743
754
761
770
787
PATRIOTIC, BENEVOLENT
Australia's Army and Navy
State Education in New South Wales
State Education in Victoria
The State Samaritan
The late Thomas Walker, of Yaralla
The Angas Family
George Lansell: Bendigo's "Quartz King"
AND NATIONAL
795
803
811
815
821
829
845
V^K? b
» > ■> >
CONTENTS 3
Patriotic, Benevolent and National (cont.) Page
The Abbott Family . . . . . . . . . . . . • • 853
"Bell's Line" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • • 859
"Cox's Pass" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865
THE AUSTRALIAN PASTORAL INDUSTRY
Introduction
. 871
The Hon. Sir Samuel McCaughey, M.L.C.
. 877
Table Top Estate: the late James Mitchell
885
Murgha : the late A. J. Austin
889
Uardry: Chas. Mills Ltd. . .
• 893
Gum Swamp and Yooroobla : Geo. F. Simpson
• 899
Nowranie: Ferguson Simpson
903
Wangamong: W. B. Sanger
907
Big Springs: George Wilson . .
909
Merribee : W. W. KiUen . .
915
Tantallon: William Hood . .
923
Burrawang: C. Hedley Edols
927
Tocal : Frank Reynolds
933
Mooki Springs, Liverpool Plains
935
Edinglassie: the Hon. J. C. White, M.L.C. .
941
Belltrees : Hy. L. White . .
947
Palmerston and Noorindoo: N. N. Dangar
953
The Dight Family
959
Shannon Vale: Major J. T. White . .
961
Ramornie: C. F. Tindal
967
Dungalear and Tubbo : the late J. A. Campbell
973
Gracemere: Archer Bros. .. .. .
977
Hidden Vale : A. J. Cotton . .
981
Edmund Jowett, M.P. : a Great Queensland Pastoralist
• 987
John Arthur Macartney Pioneer and Explorer
992
Kooralbyn : C. L. Wyndham-Bundock
996
Willoughby : A. D. Alexander
1000
Mount Crawford: Alick J. Murray . .
1004
Robert McBride, of Burra . .
ion
Anlaby : H. H. Dutton
1014
Sidney Kidman, the Cattle King
1023
Keyneton : R. R. Keynes
• 1035
Koonoona: the late Hon. Walter Duffield
• 1039
Bungaree : R. M. and the late H. C. Hawker .
• 1043
North Bungaree: M. C. Hawker
• 1053
Anama : Walter Hawker . .
• 1059
Lucernedale: Hy. Collins & Co.
1065
The Downies, of Glenelg . .
• 1074
Government Saving Bank of New South Wales
. 1078
Olive-Growing in South Australia: G. F. Cleland & Sons Ltd.
■ 1083
Queensland Gems : Eraser Limited . .
1084
APPENDIX: CROWN LANDS LAWS OF AUSTRALIA
New South Wales
iii
Victoria
xiii
Queensland
xix
South Australia . .
xxiii
The Northern Territory .
xxix
Western Australia
xxxii
Tasmania
. xxxvii
INDEX
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tabs
The title ilesigiis, end-papers, and decorations from drawings hy Christian Yandell and Walter Seed.
An Australian Pastoral . . . . Frontispiece
Page
Edwin J. Brady (Photo: R. Buchner) . . . . 14
A Victorian Country Road (Photo: F. W. Littlejohn) 15
Decorative Border: My Country (Christian Yandell) 16
THE DAWN OF HISTORY
The Illustrations in this Section are from photographs by the Government Printers of Xew South Wales
and Victoria; George tSell, Sydney; E. E. Fescott, F.L.S., Melbovrne (botanical subjects, pages J/O and o.'i) ;
W. H. Cooper, Melbourne ; E. L. Mitchell, Perth; and the author.
Title Design by Walter Seed . .
Sunset— Torres Straits. Native Dance, Ham
ond Island
Dirck Hartogs' Plate
The Lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin
Mouth of the Blackwood River
Goonabooka Pool, near RoebUrne
The Harding River in Flood . .
Gathering Guano at the Abroholos
Cook's Monument at Kurnell, Botany Bay
Captain Cook
Mallacotta Inlet
Male Australian Aborigine. Female Australian
Aborigine
Sir Joseph Banks
Captain Arthur Phillip
Statue to Governor Phillip, Sydney
Old Colonial Home . .
The Heads, Sydney . .
In the Heart of Central Australia
On the Hawkesbury River . .
Gregory Blaxland . .
Valley of the Grose River, Blue Mountains
Page Page
17 The River Tweed . . . . . . . . 41
Hospital Sunday Procession, Broken Hill . . 42
18 A Landing on the River Murray . . . . 43
19 Sir Thomas Mitchell . . . . . . 44
20 Overlanding- Cattle . . . . . . . . 45
22 Distant View of the MacDonnell Ranges . . 46
23 Newcastle Waters, Central Australia . . . . 47
24 Some Australian Orchids . . . . . . 49
25 A Native Burial-place . . . . . . 50
26 Myall Blacks Beside a Central Australian
27 Watercourse . . . . . . . . 51
28 In a Jarrah Forest, Western Australia . . 52
John Forrest (1874) . . . . . . 53
29 Some Native Flowers . . . . . . 54
30 An Australian Jungle . . . . . . 55
31 Pioneers in the Bush . . . . . . 56
33 Pioneering: Making His Bed for the Night . . 57
34 Young Selectors: A Slab Hut in the Bush . . 58
36 A Log Hut in the Clearing . . . . . . 59
37 A Selector's Home . . . . . . . . 60
39 An Australian Farmer's Home . . . . 61
39 Bridge Street, Sydney . . . . . . 62
40 A Station Homestead . . . . . . 63
THE COMMONWEALTH
The Illustrations in this Section are from photographs by Lafayette, T. Humphrey d Co., F. Monteath,
liroothorn, Mina Moore, Sarony, The Burlington, Talma, Melbourne : ■/. C. Cruden, Appleby, Judith
Fletcher, Sydney; Vandyck, Adelaide; J. W. Beattie, Hobart (portraits, pages liZ, lH, J25, 12~i, 12i>); Dudley
Le Souef (pages 135, 136 and 139), J. A. Kershaw (page 138), and Miss D. H. Llewellyn (page 130), for
natural history subjects; ine Government Printers of Xew South Wales and Victoria; the Department of
Home ami Territories; Sutcliffe d Akers, the Sears Studio, W. H. Cooper, Weston Storer, Melbourne; Greenham
d Evans, Perth; Friend, Ingham; li. Vere Scott, and the author.
Page
Title Design by Christian Yandell . . . . 64
Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth . . 65
Federal Parliament House, Melbourne . . 67
Panorama View of Canberra . . . . . . 70
A Camel Team . . . . . . . . 71
At Oodea Soak: Freshwater Bore . . . . 72
On the Nullarbor Plain — The High Commissioner
and Party . . . . . . . . 73
On the Border of the Northern Territory . . 74
A Survey Expedition Camp . . . . . . 75
A Central Australian Scene . . . . . . 77
Near Alice Springs . . . . . . . . 78
Workers on the Transcontinental Railway . . 79
Beyond the MacDonnell Ranges . . . . 80
A Sheep Station in Central Australia . . . . 81
On the North-South Transcontinental Route . . 82
Typical Central Australian Country . . . . 83
A Northern Territorian . . . . . . 84
A Waterhole in the "Desert," Central Australia 85
On the Murrumbidgee River, New South Wales 86
Excavation for the Waranga-Mallee Channel,
Victoria . . . . . . . . 87
Inlet to Waranga Reservoir, Victoria . . . . 88
Outlet to Waranga Reservoir, Victoria . . 89
Pnge
River Boats Below Murray Bridge, South Aus-
tralia . . . . . . . . 91
Pumping Plant at Renmark, South Australia . . 96
Irrigation Channel, Berri, South Australia . . 96
Water for the Kitchen Garden, Yarrie, Western
Australia . . . . . . . . 97
Excavating Channels for Irrigation at Berem-
bed, N.S.W. . . . . . . . . 98
The Bed of the Fitzroy River, Hughenden,
Queensland . . . . . . . . 99
Timber Workers . . . . . . . . 100
Trucking Ore from Whim Creek to Balla Balla,
W.A. .. .. .. .. 101
Cedar Logs, Atherton Scrub, Queensland . . 102
Brick and Drain-pipe Works, Lithgow, N.S.W. 103
Electrolytic Room, Cobar Copper Works, N.S.W. 105
Half a Ton of Rock Ling . . . . . . 106
Martin Place and General Post Office, Sydney . . 107
Public Works Offices, Sydney . . . . 108
Hinton Bridge, New South Wales . . . . 109
Panoramic View of Sydney Harbor . . . . 112-114
The Law Courts, Melbourne . . . . . . 115
Challis House, Martin Place, Sydney . . . . 117
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Pago
"Wslcome and Good-bye," Port Melbourne Pier 119
The First Unit of the Royal Australian Navy,
1913 .. .. .. .. .. 121
Australian Artists and Authors of To-day . . 122
Melbourne Public Library and Museum . . 123
The Mitchell Library, Sydney . . . . 124
Australian Artists and Authors of To-day . . 125
Science, Music and the Drama in Australia
To-day .. .. .. •• 127
Australian Scientists of To-day . . . . 129
A Kookaburra (Laughing Jackass) . . . . 130
Henley-on-the-Yarra Regatta . . . .
Crowd at a Cricket Match . .
A Big Shoot on the Burdekin River . .
The Mountain Devil of Western Australia
Some Australian Animals . .
Brush Turkey. Kangaroo, with Young in Pouch
"All in the Day's Sport"
Melbourne Cup, Flemington Racecourse
Snapper
Australian Birds
A Yacht Club Outing, Port Phillip . .
Page
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
138
139
140
NEW SOUTH WALES
The Illustratioi^s in this Section are from photographs by the Xew South Wales Oovernment Printer,
Water and irrigation Commission, and ^Immigration and Tourists' Bureau; George Bell, Sydney; Edgar
Wilkinson, C'urlwaa, N.S.W., and the author.
Circular Quay, Sydney
Title Design by Christian Yandell
Forest and Clearing
A New South Wales Wheatfleld
Burrinjuck Township, Murrumbidgee Storage
Area
The Burrinjuck Dam, Murrumbidgee River
Sutherland Dock, Sydney
Hetton Colliery, Newcastle . .
Hauling Timber, North Coast
Marbled Flathead . .
The Beach, Newcastle
Harpoon Practice, East Coast
The Battery, Sachs' Molybdenum Mine, Kings-
gate
Blast Furnace, Lithgow
Copper Mine, Cobar
Flock of Sheep in the Riverina
Crossing a Creek . .
Loading Wheat at a Country Station . .
A Cherry Tree, Bathurst Experimental Farm . .
Wine Grapes: Thompson's Seedlings, Yanco . .
Wyandottes, Hooper's Farm, Epping . .
A New South Wales Bee Farm
A Dairy Herd at Gloucester . .
Trevitt's Seedling Apple, Yanco
Hog-Raising Increases the Income of the Man
on the Land . .
Harvesting at landra, Grenfell District
Harvesters at Work
Botanic Gardens, Farm Cove, Sydney
Open-Boat Sailing on Sydney Harbor
Surf-Bathing at Manly
Yachting on Sydney Harbor . .
Mosman Bay, Sydney
In George Street, Sydney
Kuring-Gai Chase . .
Hawkesbury River at Newport
Tea Gardens, Como
The Empire Falls, Blue Mountains . .
A Trout Stream in the Victorian Alps
Fairy Dell Falls, Blue Mountains
The Weeping Rock, Wentworth Falls, Blue
Mountains
The Waratah — Flannel Flowers
In National Park, near Sydney
Bulli Pass, Illawarra District
Christmas Bells
Bangalow Palms
A Mountain Road . .
Skating on Mount Kosciusko
Picnic on the Snowy River . .
Jindabyne, on the Snowy River
Ski-Runners at Hotel Kosciusko
A Dog Shed, Kosciusko
Club Lake, Snowy Mountains
The Summit of Mount Kosciusko
Crescent Head
A Dairy Herd, North Coast District . .
A Boat Harbor on the Richmond River
A Holiday on Richmond River
In the Big Scrub, Richmond River
A Farm near Dorrigo
Government Experimental Farm, Grafton
Page
142 "The Farmer's Friend."
143 On the Paterson River
144 A New South Wales Pasture
145 Milking Machines, Manning River District
On the Manning, near Wingham
147 South Clifton
148 Seal Rocks Lighthouse
149 Water Trees, South Coast
150 Dairying at Coolangatta
151 Ironbark Tree, Nowra
152 Eden
153 Pyrmont Bridge
154 Tumut
An Orchard at Wagga
155 Bloodwood Trees
156 Good Wheat Land . .
157 Old Police Station, Lake Cargellico . .
158 A Darling River Steamer
159 The Junction of the Murray and the Darling
161 Wentworth: Wharf and Bridge, View of Town
162 Peach-tree on Walter Sage's Block . .
162 Sorghum, Nine Feet High . .
163 Navelencia Oranges
164 Irrigating Trees Between Fruit-trees, Yanco
165 Children at Menindie
167 A River Trading Steamer
Shearers Leaving Tolarno, River Darling
168 Bridge over the River Darling at Wilcannia
169 The Bore at Pera . .
171 "All the Time He is Being Loaded He Roars"
172 What the Land is Growing To-day
173 A Train from Up-country
175 An Australian Dairymaid
176 A Broken Hill "Landscape" . .
177 Ore Dressing Plant, Broken Hill Proprietary
178 Broken Hill Proprietary Silver Mine . .
179 Open-cut Workings, Broken Hill Proprietary
180 A Broken Hill Silver Mine . .
181 The South Coast at Eden . .
182 Turpentine Trees
183 A Cream Cart
184 Blackbutt, Bateman's Bay . .
Moruya Cheese Factory
185 Narooma River
186 Benjamin Boyd's Old Home, Twofold Bay
187 At the Whaling Station, Twofold Bay
188 A Dairy Farm at Nethercote
189 White Apple Tree . .
190 Main Street, Milton . .
191 Sluice-gate, Loch and Weir, Berembed
192 Burrinjuck Dam (Down-stream Face)
193 Burrinjuck Dam (Up-stream Face) . .
194 An Apricot Tree, Yanco
195 A Riverina Pasturage
196 Irrigation at Yanco . .
197 Dairy Cows on Natural Pasture, Murrumbidgee
198 The Beginnings of an Ostrich Farm at Yanco
199 Road and River (Tumut) . .
200 Raymond Terrace Viticultural Station
201 A Farm on the North Arm, Bellingen River
203 Girls Picking Grapes, Hunter River District
204 A Wheat Stack at Gerogery . .
205 On the Karnah River, near Bowral . .
207 Jones' Bridge, Tumut
Page
209
211
213
214
215
216
217
219
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
230
232
233
235
236
237
239
240
241
242
243
245
246
247
248
251
253
255
257
259
261
262
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
281
282
283
284
285
286
286
287
288
ILLUSTRATIONS
VICTORIA
The Ilhistiatiotis in this Section are from photographs by the Victorian Government Printer, Tourist
Bureau, Department of Agriculture, and Council of Agricultural Education; Kerr Bros., R. Vere Scott, F. W.
lAttlejohn, Mrs. Daphne Dawes (pages 321, 32-'i and 338), E. E. I'escott, F.L.S. (pages 329, 331, 313, 37.'/, 377^
Scars Studio, Sutchffe cf Akers, Melbourne; t'oyle, Warrnambool, and the author.
Collins Street, looking West, Melbourne
Title Design by Christian Yandell
Surgeon George Bass
Captain Matthew Flinders
Sorrento, on Port Phillip
Melbourne, from the St. Kilda Road . .
"The Block," Collins Street, Melbourne
Town Hall, Melbourne
Central Railway Station, Melbourne . .
Fire Station, Melbourne
General Post Office, Melbourne
On the Upper Yarra
Back Beach, Williamstown . .
Tea-tree on Port Phillip Shores
At Fern Tree Gully
Nyora Gully, Healesville
On the Beach at Mentone . .
The River Yarra at Melbourne
A Mountain Road in Southern Gippsland
Rocks at Phillip Island
The Break, Cowes, Phillip Island . .
In the Drained Area, Koo-wee-rup
Mathinna Falls, Healesville . .
Olinda Road, Sassafras
The River Yarra at Warburton
On the Road to Sassafras . .
Ballarat
A Vineyard at Lilydale
Mitchell Falls, Kyneton
The River at Yea . .
Pall Mall, Bendigo . .
River Goulburn, Alexandra . .
Jubilee Park, Daylesford . .
Coliban River, Kyneton
In the Grampians . .
In the Public Gardens, Bacchus Marsh
On the Erskine at Lome
In the Victorian Bush
Warrnambool
Thunder Point and Shelly Beach, Warrnambool
Tower Hill and Lake, Koroit . .
Loch and Gorge, Port Campbell
In the Grampian Ranges
In the Grampians . .
Public Gardens, Ararat
Some Australian Orchids
Stawell
Agricultural Education in Victoria . .
Longerenong Agricultural College
Rolling Down the Mallee
Saw Mill, Warrandyte
The Lakes Entrance
Kalimna, Lakes Entrance, Gippsland . .
"Bull-frogs," Eastern Gippsland
Lake Tyers
Mitchell River, Bairnsdale . .
A Backwater of the Mitchell
The Citadel, Buchan
In the Buchan Caves
Mount Wills in Winter
Winter in the Victorian Alps
Carting Timber from a Bush Sawmill . .
290
291
292
292
293
295
296
297
298
299
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
316
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
341
342
343
344
345
347
349
350
351
352
A Selector's Hut in the Gippsland Forest
"Goods Roads rre a First Essential" . .
Mount Feathertop and Ovens River . .
Eurobin Valley, from Mount Buffalo . .
North Wall of Buffalo Gorge
The Chalet on Mount Buffalo
Eurobin Creek in Buffalo Gorge
At Bright
Walhalla: A Victorian Mining Township
On the Acheron River
"The Hermitage," Blacks' Spur
A Victorian Hop Garden
Victorian Agriculture
Crossbreeding Wheats, Rutherglen Experimental
Station
A Demonstration of the Value of Top-dressing
Grass
Pot-culture House, Rutherglen Experimental Sta
tion . .
Buildings and Water Supply, State Research
Farm, Werribee
A Wool Class, Sale Agricultural High School
Landscape Gardening at the Botanical GardenS;
Melbourne
A Lily Pond at the Botanical Gardens, Mel
bourne
Wheat Breeding at Rutherglen Experimental
Station
Portion of the Burnley School of Horticulture
Ploughing, Rochester: Grading Land, Shepparton
A New District: Tongala in 1913
Maize Grown by Irrigation . .
A Hay Crop at Rochester . .
Dookie Agricultural College
A Veterinary Class at Dookie College
A Victorian Forest . .
Cohuna Main Channel
Laanecoorie Weir, on the Loddon River
Goulburn Weir, Nagambie. Pumping Station,
River Murray
Currants, Shepparton. Navel Oranges, Mildura
Measuring Water to the Irrigators . .
Orange Tree, Cohuna. A Home in an Irrigation
Settlement
Pear Trees, 32 months Old. Peach Orchard, 22
Months Old . .
Measuring Water, Mildura. Sultanas at Mildura
West's, Shepparton, 30 Months After the Settle-
ment
Peach Trees at West's (Planted 32 Months) . .
Dr. Wight's, Kyabram. A Kyabram Orchardist's
Home. Apple Picking, Harcourt
Peach Orchard, Ardmona . .
Campaspe Weir, near Rochester
An Old Homestead at Swan Hill
Clearing the Land for Grass. Heavy Sorghum
Crop
Harvesting Lucerne. Two Weeks' Growth of
Lucerne
A Victorian Butter Factory . .
Types of Australian Girlhood
Page
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
361
363
364
365
366
367
368
370
370
371
372
373
374
375
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
QUEENSLAND
The Illustrations in this Section are from photographs by Lafayette d F. Monteath (types of Australian
girlhood), the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Stock, Government Printer, and the author.
Lockyer Creek, South Queensland
Title Design, by Walter Seed
Coal Mine, Tannymorel, Darling Downs
Gold Ore Crushing at Gympie
Wool Teams, Wyandra
Page
±-ago
404
Canefields at Childers
409
405
Kaffir Corn, Biggenden. Apples, Stanthorpe .
410
406
A Queensland Settler's Home
411
407
Papaw Tree
412
408
Orchard, Redland Bay
413
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Lemon Trees, Yeppoon, Central Queensland . .
Sleepers for Africa and India. Olive Trees,
Westbrook
Gattan Agricultural College . .
Central Railway Station, Brisbane . .
General View of Brisbane (Panorama)
The University, Brisbane
Produce Markets, Roma Street, Brisbane
Avenue of Palms, Botanical Gardens, Brisbane .
Date Palms, Barcaldine
Leaving Brisbane for Northern Ports
Cronin's Artesian Bore, Barcaldine . .
Sapphire Fields, Anakie District
A Cane Farm near Mackay . .
Cane Train Going to Marian Mill, Mackay
Coconut Palms at Port Douglas
A Pineapple Plantation at Woombye, North
Coast Line
Girls of North Queensland . .
Townsville, the Capital of North Queensland
Cedar Logs at Cairns
A Queensland Railway Locomotive . .
Manager's Residence, Kamerunga State Nursery,
Cairns
Para Rubber Plantation at Kamerunga
Oil Palms at Kamerunga
A Good Crop of Pineapples . .
Palms. Cairns-Mulgrave Railway
Barron Falls, Cairns Railway
Pines for Market, Woombye . .
Coffee Plantations at Mackay
Cairns Railway, Showing Robb's Monument
Aboriginal Climbing Tree, Herberton
Mining Men of Mareeba
Mount Bellenden-Ker
Cutting Sugar Cane
Cattle Creek, Mackay District
Maize Growing at Eel Creek, Wide Bay District
Fisher Falls, Innisfail, North Queensland
Queensland Aborigines' Mission Band . .
A Wayside Station on the Cloncurry Railway
Wide Bay Creek, North Coast Railway
A Banana Plantation
Native Canoes on the Bloomfield River
Tully Falls, Cairns Hinterland
Gallet Creek, Cairns-Mulgrave Railway
Whitsunday Passage, North Queensland
Stony Creek Falls, Cairns Railway . .
Gill Street, Charters Towers
Chinese Method of Irrigation, Hughenden
Result of Irrigation, Hughenden
In the Kingaroy Country, Burnett District
Hauling Timber
Page
414
415
416
417
418-9
420
421
422
422
423
424
425
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
435
436
437
437
438
439
440
441
441
442
443
444
445
447
448
449
450
451
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
463
464
A Queensland Cattle Camp . .
3crub Clearing in North Queensland . .
A Street in Longreach
A Street View in Barcaldine . .
Grapes at Roma
Gidyea Forest
A Street in Barcaldine
Artesian Bore Drain, Balcaldine
Sheep on a Farm near Warwick, Darling Downs
Queensland Pastures
A Mob of Central Queensland Cattle
"Hills that May be Rich With Gold" . .
Gold Mines, Mount Morgan . .
Rockhampton, the Capital of Central Queensland
Examining Sapphires
Classing Sapphires . .
Sisal Hemp, Childers
A Herd of Hereford Cattle on Coochin Coochin,
Fassifern District
A Mob of Queensland Horses
Orion Downs, Springsure District
An Island on the Queensland Coast . .
The Florida Bore . .
Sheep at the Hermitage, Darling Downs
Bullocks Drawing Timber
Wheat Field, Allora, Darling Downs . .
Town Hall, Toowoomba
Hermitage Farm, Warwick District, Darling
Downs
An Early Homestead, Roma District . .
Wheat at Roma
Harvesting at Roma
Harvesting Wheat near Warwick
Bending Broom Millet
Potato Field, Killarney, Darling Downs
Picking Fruit at Westbrook, near Toowoomba .
Crop of Young Maize at Westbrook . .
Planting and Irrigating Tobacco, Te->cas, Darling
Downs
Bridge over Dumaresque River, Texas District
Tobacco Fields, Texas, Darling Downs
Ipswicn, Southern Queensland
Quince Tree, Stanthorpe
Rocks at Stanthorpe
Coalmining at Bundamba, near Ipswich
Coke Ovens in the Bundamba District . .
View from Perry's Knob, Marburg, Moreton Dis
trict . .
Scene on the Marburg Railway, Moreton Dis-
trict . .
Emir Creek, Killarney District
Scene on Marburg Line
Bottle Tree, Burnett District
Nambour Sugar Mill
Page
465
467
469
470
471
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
481
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
495
496
497
498
499
499
500
501
501
502
503
503
504
505
506
607
509
510
511
512
NORTHERN TERRITORY
The Illustrations in this Section are from photographs by the Department of Home and Territories,
C'ruden, Sydney, and the author.
A Northern Territory Billabong
Title Design by Christian Yandell
Territorial Inland . .
Sawmillers' Camp, Melville Island
Scene in Central Australia . .
Permanent Water — Batchelor Demonstration
Farm
Goats and Ant Hills . .
Cyanide Plant
The Wealth of Tropical Production . .
A Flooded River
Kapok Trees, near Darwin . .
Coconut Palms and Sisal Hemp, in the Botanical
Gardens, Darwin
Date Palms
Pineapple Plant
Bananas
How the Grass Grows at Darwin
In the Sand Hills . .
Weighing Pearl Shell, Port Darwin . .
A Frontiersman
Page
514 After Ten Years' Tent Life in the Territory
515 Pastoral and Mineral Areas . .
516 Natives of Oodnadatta
517 A Northern Territory School
518 Dairy Stock — Merino Sheep at the Batchelor
Demonstration Farm . .
519 Stack of Upland Rice Hay . .
520 Coconuts
521 Spiders' Nests
522 A Native Canoe
523 Pearling Luggers, Darwin . .
524 Chinese Residents at Darwin
Papaws at Point Charles . .
525 Darwin
526 Guinea Grass, Residency Grounds, Darwin
526 A Darwin Verandah — New Type of Residence
527 Darwin
528 An Artesian Boring Party . .
529 Botanic Gardens, Darwin
530 A Creek in Central Australia
531 Government School at Pine Creek
Page
531
532
533
534
535
536
536
537
538
539
540
540
541
542
543
544
545
547
549
ILLUSTRATIONS
Page
On the Daly River . . . . . . . . 550
A Glimpse of Daly River . . . . . . 551
Screw Palms . . . . . . . . 552
A Water Lily Lagoon . . . . . . 553
Fruits of the Tropics . . . . . . 554
Pigs bred on the Adelaide River, near Darwin 555
In Tropical Australia . . . . 555
Maize, Daly River . . . . . . . . 556
"Good Country" . . . . . . . . 556
A Northern Territory Jungle . . . . . . 557
Aboriginal Drawings . . . . . . 559
Myall Blacks . . . . . . . . 560
A Daly River Farm . . . . . . 561
Aborigines with Buffalo Horns, Melville Island 562
Bound for Melville Island . . . . . . 562
On the Adelaide . . . . . . . . 563
A Traveller . . . . . . . . 564
A Camp . . . . . . . . . . 565
Black and White . . . . . . . . 566
Buffalo Hunting . . . . . . . . 567
A Creek in Central Australia . . . . . . 569
Repairing the Waggonette at Lawrie's . . 571
"Like the Patriarchs of Old" . . . . . . 573
A Northern Territory Bushman . . . . 574
Spring near MacArthur River . . . . 575
Edible Turtle . . . . . . . . 576
A Hundred Miles up the Roper River . . . . 577
Page
Oodnadatta Railway . . . . . . 578
Horses and Cattle in the Northern Territory . . 579
A "Heart of Australia" Station Homestead . . 580
A Lily Pond, Northern Territory . . . . 581
Chambers' Pillar, Central Australia . . . . 583
Pine Creek Railway . . . . . . . . 584
A River of the Farthest North . . . . 585
Crossing the Katherine River . . . . 587
Northern Territory Forest . . . . . . 588
Horses from the MacDonnell Ranges . . . . 589
An Ant-Hill . . . . . . 590
Palms, Krichauff Ranges . . . . . . 591
A Garden at Alice Springs . . . . . . 593
The Prospector's Camel . . . . . . 594
Primitive Windlass . . . . . . . . 595
Chinese Bagging Dried Concentrates . . . . 597
Tin Concentrates . . . . . . ■ ■ 598
A Territorian . . . . . . . . 599
Turtles .. .. .. .. .. 600
Robbing a Turtle's Nest . . . . . . 601
Copper Mine, Coronet Hill . . . . . . 602
Central Australian Aboriginals . . . . 603
Men Who are Needed for the Territory . . 604
King's Cove, Fort Dundas, Melville Island . . 605
White and Black . . . . . . . . 606
A Surveyor's Camp . . . . . . . . 607
Camels Drinking at a Creek . . . . . . 608
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
The Illustrations in this Section are from photof/raphs by the South Australian Intelligence and Tourist
Bureau, and the author.
North Terrace, Adelaide
Title Design by Christian Yandell
Orchards in Mount Lofty Ranges
Piccadilly, from Mount Lofty Ranges
Ostriches on a Port Augusta Farm
Flinders Range
Camels in Central Australia . .
Afghans Loading a Camel . .
A Horse Waggon at Hergott . .
At a Hergott Springs Race Meeting
Smelting Works at Port Pirie
Crushing and Sorting Plant, Wallaroo
Traders on the Upper Murray
Sandstone Cliff and Pool
A Big Melon and a Little Kangaroo
Rock Formation
Government Reclaimed Area, Murray
Angaston
The Beach at Glenelg
The "Dead Heart" of Australia
A Forest Veteran . .
The Bread of the Wastes
Long Reach at Morgan, on the Murray
Lake Bonney Landing, Murray River
Harvesters at Work in the Pinnaroo
Sons of the "Desert"
Pinnaroo
Page
610
611
613
614
615
616
617
618
618
619
621
0 Mines . .
622
623
624
625
625
Bridge . .
625
626
627
628
629
630
ly River . .
631
632
633
634
• .
635
Page
Shipping Wheat on Land, once Condemned as
Sterile . . . . . . . . 636
In South Australia . . . . . . . . 637
An Apricot Orchard . . . . . . . . 638
Jetty, Port Lincoln . . . . . . . . 639
Agricultural Machinery for tyre's Peninsula . . 639
A Settler's Home in South Australia . . . . 641
A Sheep Station Homestead . . . . . . 642
A Forest Pool . . . . . . . . 643
A South Australian Mail Coach — Port Lincoln to
Eucla . . . . . . . . 645
Grass and Water in the Interior . . . . 646
South Australian Merinos . . . . . . 647
An Irrigated Orchard . . . . . . 648
Drying Raisins at Renmark . . . . . . 649
Irrigation Drain near Beachport . . . . 650
The Austin Excavator Working on Swamp Lands,
River Murray . . . . . . 651
Steam Shovels at Work on South-Eastern
Drains . . . . . . . . 651
Barossa Reservoir (Capacity 1,000,000,000 gal-
lons) .. .. .. .. 653
Drain Excavated by Machinery in Limestone
Country . . . . . . . . 654
Swamp Country Before Drainage, South-East
South Australia . . . . . . 655
Inferior Country after Irrigation, Millicent . . 655
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
The Illustrations in this Section are from photographs by E. L. Mitchell, Oreenham rf Evans, Dwyer,
L. E. Shnpcott, and the author.
Page
Fremantle and Rottnest . . . . . . 658
Title Design by Christian Yandell . . . . 659
"An Air of Leisured Prosperity at Geraldton" . . 659
Harvesting on Hawkhurst Estate, York . . 660
Loading Camels for Nullagine . . . . 661
Unloading Pearl-shell . . . . . . 662
Diver and Crew on a Pearler . . . . . . 663
Cleaning Pearls . . . . . . . . 663
Pearling Luggers at Anchor, Fort Hedland . . 664
A Pearl Blister (containing either a Pearl or
Mud)
Port Hedland
The Chinese Tally Clerk
Heaving the Lead
A Wool Schooner . .
O'Meara, Boss of the Gang
On the Road to Marble Bar
Coongan River, Marble Bar
Page
664
665
666
666
667
667
668
869
lO
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Japanese Monument, Broome . .
Landing at Broome
A Westralian Mounted Policeman
A Camel Train — A Camel Sulky
The Camel as a Lady's Hack — as a Carriage
Horse
Captain Dalgleish and "Paddy" — A Baobab Tree
Derby
Papaws and Cabbages
Fishing on the Estuary — Mandurah
Date Palm, Yarrie — Prospectors of Kitchener
Mine
A Ship of the Desert — A Trolly Driven by Sail
Sheep at the Harding River
The City of Perth ..
St. George's Terrace, Perth
Yachting on the Swan River
Bathers on the Swan River
Ascot Racecourse, Perth
The Swan River at Perth
An Irrigated Crop . .
Land that will be Cleared for Cultivation
State Saw-mill, Manjimup
A New Selector at Brunswick
On the Busselton Road — Road near Brunswick .
Folded Shawl, Yallingup Cave
The Old Mill at Busselton . .
Millar's Mill, Karridale
Young Australians, Jarrahdale
Unloading Jarrah Piles, Cossack
Young Jarrah Forest, The Warren
Hauling Jarrah Logs
New Settlers in the Forest . .
Karri
Wheatley's Apple Store — A Pear Tree, Bridge
town
Old Homestead in Western Australia . .
Nuggets of Gold from Ruby Well, Peak Hill
Crowd of Miners Listening to Father Long An-
nouncing the Locality of the "Sacred
Nugget," Kanowna, 1908
Characteristic Quartz Outcrop
Page
670
671
671
672
673
674
554
675
676
677
678
679
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702-3
704
Coronation Day at Bamboo Creek . .
Sulphide Dump at Gimblet Goldmine, Ora Banda
Wild Flowers at Murrim Murrim — A Guamma
Hole
Sandstone, East Murchison Goldfield . .
Oroza Goldmine, Black Range, East Murchison
Frazer's Mine, Southern Cross
A Currajong Tree . .
The Weir, Murray River, Pinjarra . .
Helena River, Mundaring
Hannan Street, Kalgoorlie . .
School of Mines, Kalgoorlie . .
Intersection of Hannan and Maritana Streets
Kalgoorlie
Oranges Grown at Kalgoorlie
A Garden in Kalgoorlie
Goldfields Girls
A Native of the Goldfields . .
Early Days on the Golden Mile
Deserted Alluvial Diggings . .
Westralian Native Flowers . .
On the Sheep Hills, Newmarracarra . .
Pearling Luggers at Broome . .
Whim Well Copper Mine
Westralian Natives . .
Waiting for Kangaroos
A Prospector — Salt Formation in a Mine
Natives Fishing in the De Grey River . .
A Westralian Aboriginal — Curious Aboriginal
Marking
Murray River, Ravenswood . .
Coppin's Gap, near Marble Bar
Meteoric Shower, Calgardup Cave
A Date Palm, with Fruit — Irrigated Garden
near Carnarvon
Avon River, York . .
McGibben's Estate, Bruce Rock
Bullock Wool-Team, Carnarvon
Felling a Karri Tree
A Camel Wool Team — Town Water Supply,
Derby — A Wheat Waggon Drawn by
Donkeys
Page
705
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
738
939
740
TASMANIA
The Illustrations in this Section are from photographs by fSpnrling c£- Son, Launceston; J. W. Bcattie,
Hobart; and the author.
Launceston . .
Title Design by Christian Yandell
The Nut, Stanley . .
North Coast Railway, near Burnie
Hartnett Falls, Upper Mersey River
Electric Power Station, Launceston
Freshwater Point, River Tamar
Wool Mills, Launceston
Trevallyn and the River Tamar
In Denison Gorge, Scottsdale . .
Devonport
Mount Wellington, showing part of
Carnaroon (Port Arthur)
Bushy Park, Derwent Valley . .
The River Derwent at New Norfolk
Fern Tree Bower, near Hobart
A Tamar River Orchard
Page
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
■751
752
Hobart .
753
755
756
757
759
761
At Devonport Station
The Devil's Gullet, Western Tiers . .
The Alum Cliffs, Mersey River
Mount Lyell Copper Mine, Gormanston
Ringtail Gully, Waratah
A Young Orchard . .
Table Cape, North-West Coast
Lake Hartz, Hartz Mountains
Gordon River Gorge, West Coast
St. Columba Falls, George River
Mount Olympus, Lake St. Clair
Lobster Creek, Leven River . .
Timber Train in Geeveston . .
Packing Stores to the Ringarooma Tin-Mines
A Harvesting Scene, Glenore
On the North Coast Road . .
On the River Mersey
Page
763
764
765
767
769
770
771
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
PAPUA (BRITISH NEW GUINEA)
Native Village, Port Moresby — Settler's Home,
Samarai
Samarai (Papua)
Sisal Hemp at Fairfax Harbor
Page
786
787
788
A Native Village
A New Guinea Belle
At Sariba, near Samarai
Para Rubber Trees at Javarere, Papua
Page
789
790
791
792
ILLUSTRATIONS
II
NATIONAL, PATRIOTIC AND BENEVOLENT
The Illustrations in this Section are from photographs by the Government Printers of yew South Wales
and Victoria; Geo. Bell, Hall £ Co., Sydney; Sears, Darge, Melbourne; C. P. Scott, Adelaide; Hy. Phillips,
Katoomba ; Bartlett Bros., Bendigo.
Page
Soldiers of Australia . . . . . . 794
The First Australian-made Armored Motor Car 796
Aviation in Australia . . . . . . 797
Small Arms Ammunition Making in Australia . . 798
Australian Light Horse Field Artillery . . 799
Some of the Crew of H.M.A.S. "Australia" . . 799
Australia's Navy . . . . . . . . 801
Infant Public School, Sydney . . . . . . 802
A Kindergarten Class . . . . . . 804
Sydney Technical College and Museum . . 805
Conservatorium of Music, Sydney . . . . 805
Junior Technical Class in a Public School . . 807
Hawkesbury Agricultural College . . . . 808
Field Work at Hawkesbury College . . . . 809
Sloyd Woodwork Class, Victoria . . . . 810
A State Infant School, Auburn, Melbourne . . 811
Victorian State School Gardens . . . . 812
Physical Training for Boys — Domestic Economy
for Girls . . . . . . . . 813
Training College for State School Teachers, Mel-
bourne . . . . . . . . 814
One of the Wards in Sydney Hospital . . . . 816
Melbourne General Hospital . . . . . . 817
"Cicada," Burwood, Sydney . . . . . . 81S
Some Government Institutions under the Chil-
dren's Relief Board . . . . . . 819
A Bedroom at "Cicada," Children's Home, Sydney 820
The late Thos. Walker, of Yaralla . . . . 821
"Yaralla," Sydney .. .. .. .. 822
The Entrance Hall, Yaralla . . . . . . 823
The Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital,
Sydney .. .. .. .. 824
Dutch Tower on the Wharf . . . . . . 825
Joanna Walker Memorial Children's Cottage
Hospital . . . . . . . . 826
In the Garden at "Yaralla" . . . . . . 827
"Yaralla" (Entrance Front) . . . . . . 828
George Fife Angas, the Father of South Aus-
tralia .. .. .. .. 829
The South Australian Company: 1st Board of
Directors
The Hon. John Howard Angas
Lindsay House, Angaston
Collingrove House, Angaston
The Church at Collingrove . .
Angas Shorthorns, Collingrove
The Angas Memorial, Adelaide
Chas. H. Angas on "Fleetwing" — Charles
Howard Angas
Rugias Prince 40th — Charming Oxford 51st
Hackney Stallion :"Shirley Freelance" (imp.)
Capt. Ronald F. Angas — Lieut. Dudley T. Angas
"Fortuna," Bendigo . .
George Lansell
The Entrance Hall, "Fortuna"
The Music Room, "Fortuna" . .
City of Bendigo
A Cabinet, "Fortuna"
Lansell's "180" Mine
Statue to Mr. George Lansell at Bendigo
Sydney Cove in "First Fleet" Days . .
Mrs. Eleanor K. Abbott — Mrs. Frances A. Abbott
Sir Joseph Palmer Abbott — Macartney Abbott,
M.L.A.
W. E. Abbott— Thos. Kingsmill Abbott
House Built by John Kingsmill Abbott at
Wingen
The Younger Generation, Abbott Family
The Old Tank Stream at Sydney Cove . .
Jameson Valley, Blue Mountains (Panorama)
Hon. Archibald Bell, M.L.C. . .
The Homestead, Pickering . .
Pure-bred Durham Cattle at Pickering
Lieut. William Cox . .
Wm. Cox, jun. — John Cox
Chas. H. Cox, J.P.— John A. H. Cox . .
Page
831
832
833
834
835
837
838
839
841
842
843
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860-1
862
863
864
865
866
866
THE AUSTRALIAN PASTORAL INDUSTRY
The Illustrations in this Section are from photographs by C. P. Scott, Adelaide; Geo. Bell, Hall d Co.,
Freeman rf Co., Sydney; Greenham Studios, Newcastle; Lafayette, Sears Studio, Melbourne; the Dobson Studio,
Rockhampton; J. W. Beattie, Hobart, T. J. Killen, P. J. Nally, E. .4. Vidler, and others.
Page
Wool Store, at Port Adelaide, South Australia 870
Title Design by Christian Yandell . . . . 871
Reserve Feed on a Riverina Station . . . . 871
Hand-Shearing in a Riverina Woolshed: Merribee 872
A Beef Shorthorn — Windmill and Trough,
Yooroobla . . . . . . . . 873
A Mob of Merino Ewes in the Riverina . . 874
Private Bridge over the Light River, Anlaby
Estate . . . . . . . . 875
A South Australian Pastoral: Keyneton .. 876
Romney Marsh Ewes and Lambs, Victoria . . 876
The Homestead, North Yanco Station . . 877
The Hon. Sir Samuel McCaughey, M.L.C. . . 878
The Homestead — Turbine Windmill, Coonong . . 879
Blacksmith's Shop, Upper Yanco Station . . 880
Era Grader Making Drains, Upper Yanco . . 881
Men's Omrters at North Yanco . . . . ?8t
Sawmilling Plant, North Yanco Station . . 882
Woolshed at North Yanco (45 stands) . . 883
One of ITiree Haysheds at North Yanco . . 884
Mr. and Mrs. James Mitchell, Table Top . . 885
View from Verandah, Table Top Homestead . . 886
Table Top Homestead (looking South) .. 887
Table Top Mountain . . . . . . 888
Murgha Stud Rams (Pure Wanganella) . . 889-890
Murgha Stud Rams: No. 94 and one of his Sons 891
Murgha Stud Ewes (Pure Wanganella)
Uardry Homestead . .
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Mills . .
The Murrumbidgee in Flood
Loading MTieat for Echuca at Uardry
Annual Classing of Young Rams
Young Rams brought in to be Classed
A Typical Uardry Stud Ram
Kismet: Uardry Special Ram
The Homestead, Yooroobla . .
The late Geo. Ferguson Simpson
George F. Simpson . .
The Woolshed, Yooroobla
Typical Sires, Yooroobla Sale Rams . .
Perfection: Yooroobla -bred Ram
Yooroobla-bred Ewes (under 18 months)
Typical Nowranie Stud Rams
A Flock of Merino Ewes, on Nowranie
Herd of Cattle, on Nowranie . .
The Woolshed, Nowranie
"Rose," Champion Brood Mare, Nowranie
Ferguson Simpson . .
Nowranie Stud Merino Ram . .
The Homestead, Wangamong
X Wangamong Riverina Ram
Double-Stud Ewe, Wangamong
Page
892
893-894
895
895
896
897
897
898
898
899
900
900
901
902
902
902
903
904
904
905
905
906
906
907
908
908
12
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Big Springs Homestead, from the Lake
The Woolshed and Huts
In the Centre of Big Springs Station, looking
West
A Good Field of Wheat
O'Brien's Creek, on Big Springs Estate
A Part of the Garden, Big Springs . .
Merribee House
William Wilson Killen
The Merribee Stud Merinos . .
Merribee Merino: a Good Staple
Mr. and Mrs. W. Killen and Family
Merribee Country, with Mount Binya in the
Distance
A Flock of Merribee Ewes and Lambs
On Goobragandra and Blowering Stations
The Tantallon Lineolns
Mr. and Mrs. William Hood . .
Tantallon Lineolns — Yearling Filly by Earlston —
"Wentworth," 4-year-old Draught Stallion ....
Three Lincoln Ram I/ambs, 9 months old
Gunner Tom Edols Hood
Welsh Mountain Pony Stallion, "Tantallon" . .
The Homestead, Tantallon
Burrawang House and Lagoon
The Late Thos. Edols— C. Hedley Edols— Thos.
Reginald Edols
Typical Burrawang Stud Rams
Mount Burrawang — Shearing Sheep by
Machinery
Champion Tocal Hereford Cow: Minerva
The late Charles Reynolds . .
Imported Hereford Bull: Twyford Horace
Frank Reynolds — The Homestead, 'Tocal
The Garden, Mooki Springs . .
Devon Long-Woolled Sheep — Suffolk Punch
Horses
Mooki Rotherwood: Shorthorn Stud Bull
Baron Oxford 21st: Mooki Shorthorn Stud Bull
Young Durham Bulls
The Home Paddocks, Mooki Springs . .
Mooki Springs Stud Shorthorn Cows . .
Shaded Water-troughs on the Plain Country . .
The Original Edinglassie
Five Generations of the "Edinglassie" White
Family
Edinglassie
A Farm on the Edinglassie Estate
An Imported Bull, Edinglassie
The Hon. .las. C. White and His Divining-Rod
Belltrees Homestead
Manager's Residence — Bachelors' Quarters
Typical Belltrees Stud Merino Ram . .
Private .Suspension Bridge over the Hunter River
Henry L. White
"Palmerston," Armidale
Part of the Rose Garden, Palmerston . .
The late A. A. Dangar
View from Palmerston House
Devon-Merino Cross-bred Ewes and Lambs
Devon Merino Cross-bred and Hereford Bullocks
The Woolshed, Noorindoo
Sinking No. 3 Artesian Bore, Noorindoo
- No. 2. Artesian Bore, Noorindoo
A Herd of Shorthorns at Yetman
G. W. Dight, Senr. . .
Shannon Vale Homestead
The late Edward White
Shannon Vale Country
Major Jas. F. White
The Mann River, Shannon Vale
Old Shannon Vale . .
At Ramornie, on the Clarence River . .
Charles Grant Tindal
The Homestead. Ramornie
"Bona Vista," Armidale
Mr. and Mrs. C. F. Tindal and Family
Typical Ramornie Bulls
Australian Meat Company's Works, Ramornie . .
Donald Campbell, of Glengower
Manager's House and Barracks
The Homestead, Dungalear . .
J. A. Campbell
The Home.stead, Gracemere . .
Hereford and Shorthorn Herd Bulls, Mount Scoria
The Garden, Gracemere Homestead . .
Hereford Cattle, Gracemere . .
The Homestead, Hidden Vale
Page Page
909 Alfred -John Cotton— Mrs. A. J. Cotton . . 982
910 "Elected," A. .J. Cotton's Champion Stallion 983
Hidden Vale Suffolk Punch Family Group . . 983
911 Hidden Vale Shorthorn Bulls— Stud Shorthorns 984
912 "Mintoburn," Mr. Cotton's Tasmanian Home . . 985
913 Mr. A. J. Cotton's Motor Launch . . . . 985
914 "Canobie," Mr. Cotton's Steam Yacht . . . . 986
915-917 The Cotton Family . . . . . . . . 986
916 The Standard of the Home of Edmund Jowett . 987
918-919 Edmund Jowett, M.P. . . . . . . 988
920 "Manningham," Toorak, Melbourne . . . . 989
920 Captain Arthur Craven Jowett . . . . 990
Mr. Jowett's Book-Plate . . . . . . 991
921 Ormiston House, near Brisbane . . . . 992
921 John Arthur Macartney . . . . . . 993
922 Hereford Cattle at Waverley . . . . 994
923 Lagoon at Waverley . . . . • • 995
923 Kooralbyn Homestead . . . . . . 996
View on Kooralbvn Station, from the Homestead 997
924 Chas. Wyndham"Bundock .. .. .. 997
925 Cattle and Horses on Kooralbyn Station . . 998
925 General View of Kooralbyn Station . . . . 999
926 Willoughbv House . . . . . . . . 1000
926 Part of the Garden at Willoughby . . . . 1001
927 Typical Willoughbv Stud Rams . . . . 1002
Stud Merino Rams, Willoughby . . . . 1002
928 Stud Merino Ewes, Willoughby . . 1003
929 A Willoughby Stud Ewe . . . . . . 1003
Albert Durer .Alexander . . . . . . 1003
930 Murray Vale House and Outbuildings, Mount
931 Crawford . . . . . • . . 1004-5
932 Mount Crawford Country . . 1006
933 The late John Murray . . . . ■ • 1007
934 Murray Vale House . . . . - . 1008
935 .'^lick J. Murray — John Murray, Junr. . . 1009
Radium II.— Lion II. .. .. ■■ 1010
936 Murray Merino Stud Ewes . . . . . . 1010
937 The late Mrs. McBride— R. J. M. McBride—
938 Mrs. McBride . . . . . . 1011
938 Mr. R. J. McBride's Residence, Kooringa . . 1012
939 Grandsons and Great-Grandsons on Active
940 Service . . . . . . • • 1013
940 The Woolshed, Anlaby — Anlaby Merinos . . 1014
941 Anlaby House, near Kapunda . . . . 1015
Francis Stacker Dutton . . . . 1016
942 Frederick Hansborough Dutton . . . . 1016
943 A Medal of 1832 . . . . . . . . 1017
944 Anlaby House in 1850— The Kennels . . . . 1018
944 The late Henry Dutton— H. H. Dutton . . 1019
945 Anlaby House . . . . • • . • 1020
947, 948 The Gardens of Anlaby House . . . . 1021
949 St. Matthew's, Hamilton — Dutton Memorial
950 Church . . . . . . . . 1022
951 "Eringa," Kapunda . . . . . . . . 1023
952 Sidney Kidman Drafting Horses, Oakland
953 " Downs Station . . . . . . 1024
954 Six Hundred Horses "rounded up" at Bulloo
954 Downs . . . . . . . . 1025
955 Shorthorn Cattle at Nundorah Station . . 1025
956 Sidney Kidman Starting Drovers for Cattle,
956 Queensland . . . . . . . . 1026
957 Sidney Kidman .. .. .. .. 1027
958 Salt-Bush— Wool-Waggon Camels. Yantara . . 1028
958 Merino Sheep at Yancanna Station . . 1028
959 A Waterhole on Allandale Station . . . . 1029
960 A Camel Team carrving Cases, Oodnadatta . . 1030
961 The Homestead, Fulham Park . . . . 1031
962 Blood Stallion, "Passing-By" . . . . 1031
963 Sidney Kidman's Daughters .. ., 1031
964 Allandale Homestead. Central Australia . . 1032
965 Artesian Bore. Allandale . . . . . . 1033
966 An Artesian Bore. Central Australia . . 1034
967 Joseph Keynes— R. R. Keynes . . . - 1035
968 The Homestead, Keyneton . . . . . . 1036
969 Keyneton Country . . . . . ■ 1037
969 Typical Keyneton Ram— Tyoical Ewe . . 1038
970 Gunner Joseph Kevnes — R. N. Keynes . . 1038
971 Koonoona Country . . . . . . . . 1039
972 Hon. W. Duffield— W. S. Hawkes . . . . 1040
973 Special Stud Rams: Lord Kitchener — Lloyd
974 George— Admiral Beatty . . . . 1041-2
975 Bungaree . . . . . . . . 1043-50
976 North Bungaree . . . . . . . . 1051-56
977 Anama .. .. .. .. .. 1057-62
978 Lucernedale . . . . . . . . 1063-1071
979 The Downies, of Glenelg . . . . . . 1072-1075
980 Queensland Gems: Opal-fields . . . . 1078-9
981 N.S.W. Government Savings Banks . . . , 1080-1084
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T7"
MfIS(DlIIJ(DTII®EJ
MY work on Australia Uitlitnited began defi-
nitely with the year 19 12. Prior to
that I flattered myself that I knew the
Australian Continent better than most people.
I had spent many years in the bush, where I
was cradled and reared. I had driven a covered
waggonette from Parramatta to Townsville, and
taken a motor boat down the Murray from
Albury to Lake Alexandrina, establishing a
world's record for an internal-combustion engine
over river distance — in a country which is credited
with having no rivers.
I had ridden, driven, motored and booted
thousands of miles in New South Wales, Queens-
land, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania.
I had worked as a surveyor's assistant,
draughtsman, timekeeper, clerk, accountant, sales-
man, settler, vigneron, orchardist, journalist,
editor, photographer, canvasser and proprietor.
I had personally fenced, cleared, ploughed,
harrowed, builded, and planted on my own small
Australian acreages.
I had a technical education, supplemented by
scientific reading, a general business experience,
and the width of knowledge which is imparted by
the eclectic school of the newspaper press.
I flattered myself also that I was familiar with
Australian conditions: I had organized Labour
and organized Capital, and was in a position
thereby to know the needs and claims of Aus-
tralian producers and investors.
But I did not consider that this knowledge,
such as it was, entitled me to undertake the com-
pilation of the book I wanted Australia Unlimited
to be, without a more exhaustive travel and a
closer investigation of my subject.
So I set out for South Australia early in 19 12,
and, with a note-book and kodak, began to collect
special material for this volume.
I travelled over the Central State from Ade-
laide to Hergott and from Pinnaroo to Port
Lincoln. I examined for myself the wheat-
growing possibilities of the Mallee, the problems
of development in the Far North, the settlement
of the Murray Valley — all the big and little
things that go to make the prosperous and slowly
progressive life of that small community.
I travelled across the great Australian Bight,
and established my literary headquarters in the
fair city of Perth for a period.
Thence I radiated to the goldfields, the wheat
lands, the timber areas, the agricultural districts,
and finally along the great tropical North-West
as far as Derby, in Kimberley.
From there I went over to the Malay States
and Java, to study the agriculture and production
of contiguous tropics and learn, as far as I might,
how the Dutch and English had met the problems
of European life in tropical climates.
I returned to Australia from Sourabaya in
Java, and secured first-hand information and
impressions regarding our great Northern Terri-
tory.
From Port Darwin I came home to Melbourne,
and, setting out a few days later in a light motor
car, travelled the glorious little State of Victoria
from end to end. »
Then I went back to New South Wales, the
State of my birth, and saw the western wheat
belt, the rich red lands beyond the Darling River,
and those parts of coast and mountain which had
not found a place in previous itineraries.
From Sydney I went north into Queensland as
far as Cairns, and worked down the map until I
had been over practically the whole of that mag-
nificent northern State.
In the summer of 19 14, I did the southern
coast of New South Wales and the happy little
island of Tasmania.
This is merely a rough summary of the jour-
neys which have been made in search of literary
material, but it shows that the compilation of
this book has not been undertaken in a casual
manner.
The author feels called upon to express by a
general acknowledginent his lasting obligations
for the assistance which he has everywhere
received from Australian Governments and
Government officials, from the pastoral com-
munity, the public, and the press.
13
14
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
To the administrative staffs of the various
State and Federal Governments I am especially
indebted. Sources of information have been
freely opened to me, valuable data placed at my
disposal, Premiers, Ministers, secretaries, heads
of departments, sub-officers, district officials have
aided my efforts to obtain correct information
and facilitated my progress through the continent.
Under an arrangement made common to all
the States, Australia UnUmited contains sections,
specially prepared, on behalf of New South
Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the Northern
Territory, and also a proportion of matter com-
piled from data furnished by the Governments
of South Australia, Western Australia and Tas-
mania.
Such national statistics as are quoted have
mainly been taken from Mr. G. H. Knibbs'
Official Year Book of the Commonwealth, to
which the author is greatly indebted.
Mr. Edward A. Vidler has prepared this
volume for publication, exercising a valuable
editorial supervision over the whole production.
He has brought to the onerous task great
organisation, good judgment, and rare patience.
As Australia UnUmited evolved, the most per-
plexing consideration became, not what it should
contain, but what would have to be left out in
order to keep it within the limits of one volume.
Much interesting material had to be jettisoned,
and the claims of many places which called for
descriptive attention reluctantly denied.
One would like to have dealt in detail
with the educational and agricultural systems of
each State, and made an exhaustive survey of
subjects like industrial legislation. State-owned
railways, and various civic and Government enter-
prises on which casual attention is bestowed here
and there throughout the book.
Anything like a complete survey of Australian
mining proved out of the question. It was felt
that the pastoral industry, being the oldest, most
permanent and important feature of our material
development, merited the fullest possible exten-
sion of space.
Readers may find the author's Australia to be
unlike the Australia of pre-conception. They
may conclude that his outlook is over-optimistic.
But this optimism is no more than a reflection
of facts. I have travelled the country and studied
it to the best of my ability, hoping to forecast
the future from the efforts and achievements of
the present, drawing conclusions from compari-
sons, endeavouring to bring to the task judicial
methods, in order to reach sound judgments.
Everywhere — prejudiced I believe by no over-
sanguine temperament — I found Wonder, Beauty,
unequalled Resource. Under the arid seeming
of the plains I saw the possibilities of marvel-
lous tilth. Barren hills poured out a golden
recompense in minerals. The whole continent
has proved to be a vast storehouse of mainly
undeveloped Wealth.
Nor is the message of Australian Nature
uttered in tones of predominant melancholy, as
many alien souls have affected to believe. Acci-
dental conditions, personal, social and material,
have been and still are depressing to certain indi-
viduals, but Australia, in itself, is nowhere
depressing. To the foreigner, at first, it is a dif-
ferent, unusual country. To the sane, healthy
native-born it is a mother of everlasting youth
and beauty, and the freest, richest, happiest land
on earth. As a crude expression of the main
features of this glorious land, I launch this book,
hoping that its literary shortcomings may in part
be atoned for by its patriotic intentions.
If it helps to give the outside world an impres-
sion of the real Australia, and assists Australians
to a greater faith in their own country, its mission
will be at least partially fulfilled.
A Victorian Country Road
MY COUNTRY.
The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens.
Is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams, and soft, dim skies- —
/ know but cannot share it.
My love is othei-wise.
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains.
Of ragged mountain ranges.
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror —
The wide brozvn land for me!
The stark white ring-barked forests.
All tragic to the moon.
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
IVhere lithe lianas coil.
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.
An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land —
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand —
Though earth holds many splendours, ■
irherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.
Dorothea Mackellar.
V
I THE DAWN OF HISTORY
im I U »li^^
■ " " " " "
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
BOOKS on Australian history have too
often begun with a dirge and ended with
an apology. Australia Unlimited, to
be in keeping with its subject, should open with
an anthem and close with a march of triumph.
If twenty years' close personal study of a coun-
try be time enough to form correct conclusions,
then the writer of this volume should be com-
petent to offer a compilation of some value.
The body of the material for Australia Un-
limited has not been gathered from printed
pages, but collected carefully. State by State,
district by district, mile by mile, year after
year, from the wide circle of a continent — a con-
tinent of potentialities still unrealized, for Aus-
tralia is yet like a flower in the seed, or a song
written — but unsung.
For unrecorded years Australia remained a
Cinderella among the countries of the world.
Centuries of written history had practically
passed her by. The ancients had some hazy
knowledge of the existence of a great country to
the south of India. The learned of Chaldea,
Greece and Rome doubtless possessed indefinite
information on the subject. From the 4th cen-
tury, B.C., to the 15th of the Christian Era, this
information remained like most ancient geog-
raphy— open to much question.
Then, as the story of maritime discovery be-
gan, an occasional line, with long spaces between,
fell to her share in the earlier volume of events.
It is difficult for the twentieth century mind to
realize how wide the world was in the year 15 1 1,
when the first blunt Portuguese keel Is said, on
questioned authority, to have accidentally drifted
towards the Australian shore line.
Asian canoes, junks, and praus had doubtless
visited our northern coasts at intervals for cen-
turies before, driven out of their courses by storm
or lured by the ancient sirens of Trade and
Adventure.
The Malays, who were ever hardy sailormen,
came down regularly in their lean ships for tre-
pang, mayhap for pearls and gold. The Arabs,
it is believed, preceded the Portuguese. The
Continent at least appears on Saracenic maps of
the 13th century. As far back as 1489 the
undoubted shore of Australia is shown on a
European map. The oldest globe extant (1492)
also shows part of the Austral Coast.
While European colonization was pushing
westward to the Americas and southward to the
Indies, the Spanish and Dutch in turn interested
themselves in a Great Southern Continent, then
— and for centuries to come — a disputed problem
of geographers. ♦
In 1567 Alvaro de Mandana sailed out of
Callao in search of this Continent. He discov-
ered the Solomon Islands.
i8
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Sunset: Torres Straits
It is contended that authentic evidence exists
of Spanish ships having visited and remained for
some time at Port Curtis and Port Jackson on
the eastern coast of Austraha.
But the first recorded discovery — unless future
geographical research alters present conclusions
— lies to the credit of the Dutch, who are still
our nearest colonial friends.
Gold, which played an important part in
our subsequent history, was the attraction. In
1605 Frederick de Houtman, Governor of Am-
boyna, in the Moluccas, outfitted a local expedi-
tion under the auspices of the Dutch East India
Company, for purposes of exploration on the
coast of New Guinea, where gold was rumored to
exist.
So the yacht Duyfken (Willem Jansz, com-
mander) sailed out of Bantam on the i8th of No-
vember, three centuries ago.
In March of 1606 this Little Dove was timidly
touching the shores of York Peninsula, her stout
commander believing all the while that he be-
held the west coast of New Guinea.
At Cape Keer Weer ("Turn Back"), some-
thing more than three degrees below the extreme
northern point of the Continent, Jansz put his
tiny ship about. He had written an important
paragraph in the history of exploration without
being aware of the significance of his discovery.
The journal of good Captain Jansz has eluded
the search of the archivists, but his memory de-
serves a tablet on Cape Keer Weer.
In December of 1605, Mandana's pilot, Pedro
Fernando de Quiros — accompanied by Luis Vaz
de Torres — had come out of Callao with three
Spanish ships to find, if they might, this elusive
Tierra Austral. They sighted instead one of the
New Hebrides, and named it Austratlia del
Espiritu Santo. Hereabout Torres, on the nth
June, 1606,. went wide of de Quiros. Finding
that their joint discovery was no more than an
island, he bore westward and passed through
the straits that now bear his name, sighting, un-
awares, the Continent that New Spain was seek-
ing.
In the earlier years of the 17th century the
Dutch East India Company made at least one
abortive attempt to determine and take posses-
sion of the "Lands to the Southward of Java."
In the third year of the present century, an
interesting "find" was made in the State Museum
at Amsterdam.
It proved to be the original tin plate nailed
to a post by Captain Dirck Hartogs at Shark Bay,
Western Australia, In the year 16 16.
The inscription on the plate, translated from
the Dutch, reads : —
Anno 161 6, the 25TH of October. —
Arrived here the ship Eendracht {Con-
cord), OY Amsterdam; the first mer-
chant GiLLIS MiEBAS of LiEGE. DiRCK
Hartogs, of Amsterdam, Captain.
27TH DO. Sailed for Bantam.
On the lower part, cut with a knife, probably by
the ambitious Jan himself. Is added: —
The Under Mercluuit Jan Stiiis, Upper
Steersman, Picter Dockes, of Bit. Ao., 1616.
This plate stood for 81 years at the north end
of Dirck Hartogs' Island. It was removed by
another Dutch navigator — Captain Willem de
Vlaming — in 1697, and forwarded to Holland
by the then Governor of Batavia In due course.
From the board room of the Seventeen Directors
of the Dutch East India Company it had pre-
sumably been conveyed at some subsequent period
to the RIjks-Museum, where It lay unnoticed
while two hundred years were setting Australia's
feet firmly In the path of progress.
Vlaming substituted for Dirck Hartogs' plate
another bearing a similar Inscription, which was
removed by De Freyclnet In the early part of
the nineteenth century, transferred to the Mu-
seum of the French Institute, and lost.
Native Dance, Hamond Island
THE DAWN OF HISTORY
19
The alleged post, of cypress pine, on which
Vlaming nailed his duplicate is preserved in the
Perth (W.A.) Museum. As the first European
memorial erected on our territory, Dirck Har-
togs' plate remains of particular interest to Aus-
tralians.
Dirck Hartogs' Island, low and flat, is now
an Australian sheep station. Steep Point, at its
southern end, marks the extreme western reach
of the Australian mainland. The Island runs
north and south, fifty miles in length, by four to
six miles wide. It is separated from the coast by
a narrow passage. On its northernmost sandy
headland, Cape Inscription Lighthouse guides the
modern shipmaster on his ocean way.
that portion of the Continent nearest to their
East Indian possessions.
The mainland was sighted by the Zee-wolf, in
May, 16 1 8. Later, in the same year, another
Dutch ship, the Mauritius, touched the north-west
coast and found the Ashburton River. In 16 19
Houtman's fleet discovered the Abrolhos Islands,
45 miles west of the present town of Geraldton.
These islands nine years later were destined to be
the scene of a vivid tragedy.
In 1622 the Dutch ship Leeuwin rounded the
Cape now bearing her name and explored the
coast as far as the present site of Albany
(W.A.).
The year 1623 found the Dutch busy further
Dirck Hartogs' Plate
Just inside the lighthouse is a little bay, where
Hartogs, "bound outward from Holland to the
Indies," landed in 16 16, in the fullness of a West
Australian spring. Hartogs sailed along and ex-
amined the coast between the latitudes of 26 deg.
30 min. and 23 deg., and named it "Eendracht's
Land." At that time of the year the country
would be ablaze with wildflowers. The days
would rise bright and sunny, the nights fall starry
and cool; but the Dutchman and his ship's com-
pany recorded no favorable impressions. Still
the homely tin plate which has turned up, after
nearly three hundred years of oblivion, at the
State Museum of Amsterdam is an eloquent ex-
pression of high achievement.
Between the time of Dirck Hartogs' accidental
visit and the year 1627, the Dutch seem to have
carried on a fairly systematic investigation of
north. An expedition from Amboyna, headed by
one Jan Carstenz, with the vessels Peru and
Arnhem, had an adventurous time along the
shores of the present Northern Territory. The
skipper of the Arnhem was killed by the natives,
and the explorers' report of the country was not
favorable.
In 1627 came Peter Nuyts, afterwards am-
bassador to Japan and subsequently Governor of
Formosa, in the Golden Sea Horse, round the
Leeuwin and across the Bight as far as Nuyt's
Archipelago. The Golden Sea Horse put about
somewhere near the present margin of the wheat-
growing belt of South Australia.
On the 4th June, 1629, the Bata-'a, Pelsart's
ship, having been driven out of her reckoning,
struck on one of the islands of Houtman's Abrol-
hos and became a total wreck.
20
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Pelsart's ship was part of a Dutch East Indian
expedition. It was intended originally that the
fleet should consist of eleven vessels. But the
Batavia and two others, being earlier equipped,
sailed out of Texel under the command of Com-
modore Francis Pelsart on the 28th October,
1628. After leaving the Cape of Good Hope the
Batavia separated from the other two during a
storm, and so met her fate alone. Among Pel-
sart's company were a number of youths and men
who, even in an age of piracy, might be classed
among the most godless ruffians afloat.
These scourings of the Low Countries had
already found a suitable ringleader in one Jerome
Cornells, the supercargo, a sometime chemist of
Harlem City, with, as it proved, an overweening
vanity, a plausible tongue, and neither conscience
nor humanity. Some attempt has been made to
elevate this soulless scoundrel into a figure of
adventure, but from first to last he seems to have
been a blundering assassin at best.
On board the Batavia were a number of Dutch
emigrants and their families, bound for Java.
Among them the handsome Frau Lucretia Jansz,
whom Cornelis coveted.
From subsequent evidence it was made clear
that after leaving the Cape a mutinous plot had
been hatched under the auspices of the atrocious
Cornelis to seize the ship, slay commodore, sol-
diers, and passengers, and go pirating upon the
high seas.
The skipper of the Batavia, Adrian Jacobs,
and fifty or more of the ship's company, were
in the conspiracy, which, for one reason or ano-
ther, did not come to a head until after the vessel
was wrecked.
Panic and drunkenness followed the wreck.
After grinding heavily on the coral the ship
burst. But Pelsart, who forms a fine historic
figure, despite torrential rain and rapidly rising
seas, succeeded in safely landing 180 of his
people and a supply of provisions on two of the
neighboring islands.
The weather forced him to leave Cornelis and
seventy others aboard.
As the Batavia had settled quickly, submerg-
ing her casks, a very inadequate supply of fresh
water was got away with the ship's boats.
The Abrolhos apparently contained none, so,
after consultation, Pelsart and the captain sailed
in two of the ship's boats towards the mainland.
Bad weather drove them north, and the skipper's
boat parted company and was heard of no more.
It was eighteen days before Pelsart discovered
water. They were then a hundred miles from
the Abrolhos, with the wind behind them. Nine
days later their boat made the coast of Java,
where they were picked up and carried into Ba-
tavia.
The Lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin
After remaining for ten days on the wreck,
Cornelis and his group succeeded in getting
ashore on the Abrolhos. Here, in a short time
the conspiracy was fully hatched, and on an ap-
pointed day the work of extermination began.
It had been resolved and sworn to that all but
forty of the survivors were to be killed, the yacht
which Pelsart had promised to return in seized,
and a career of piracy begun under "Captain
General" Jerome Cornelis.
So these bloodthirsty ruffians stole upon the
weak and unsuspecting victims, awaiting wearily
and anxiously the return of the Commodore, and
the cruellest and ugliest chapter in the history
of Australia was written in blood upon the lonely
Abrolhos.
The callous band of putative pirates succeeded
in exterminating most of the men upon the
islands. It chanced that Webbe Hayes, corporal
in the Dutch East Indian Service, who had taken
charge in Pelsart's absence, was that day away
in one of the ship's boats seeking water. He
returned with glad news of successful quest, only
to be met by chance survivors with a hastily-told
account of piteous tragedy.
With 47 stout men behind him, Hayes rapidly
improvised his defences, and being attacked in
force by the rebels eight days later, beat them
THE DAWN OF HISTORY
21
off. A second sortie from Cornelis left the gal-
lant corporal again the victor.
Cornelis and his gang meanwhile apportioned
the women, the leader taking the coveted Frau
Lucretia to himself, after seeing to it that her
husband was foully murdered.
Having helped themselves to the ship's stores,
the blood-drenched company went about their
island domain arrayed in much gold lace and
scarlet cloth, awaiting the return of Pelsart,
whose ship they had determined to secure.
Failing to suborn the men who stood with
Hayes, they made repeated attacks upon them.
In one of these sorties the "Captain General"
was captured and remained the Corporal's pri-
soner.
While these stirring events were disturbing the
quietude of the Abrolhos, Pelsart, comforted
with a stout ship by the Governor General at
Batavia, was bravely hurrying back to the rescue
of his shipwrecked company, little dreaming of
the tragedies that had been enacted in his ab-
sence.
He came down in the Saerdam, upon the
Abrolhos, on September the 13th.
Putting out a boat laden with bread and wine,
he had barely landed when Hayes came rowing
to him with evil news. Pelsart hurriedly re-em-
barked his company and gained the Saerdam,
hotly followed by a boatful of armed ruffians.
From the commanding position of his quarter-
deck, with trained guns to emphasize his order,
the Commodore promptly called on the conspira-
tors to throw their weapons into the sea, or be
blown to the inferno they had earned.
Whereupon, without further show of resis-
tance, the boat's company surrendered and were
clapped into irons.
Having transferred Cornelis to the Saerdam,
Pelsart went methodically to work. The grim
commander, as God-fearing and righteous as men
may be in any age, first surrounded the remaining
mutineers on the island which had proved the
Batavia's graveyard, and forced them also to lay
down arms.
Then he set to the recovering of his Company's
plundered property and the trial of the offenders.
Jerome Cornelis, being duly sentenced and
condemned by the "noble court," was hanged
with several of his companions.
Justice accomplished, Pelsart weighed anchor
on the 28th October, 1629, and, after maroon-
ing two of the mutineers on the coast near
Champion Bay, sailed for Batavia.
What became of those two unworthy first set-
tlers is a matter of conjecture. They may have
died of thirst or been speared by the blacks.
Many relics of castaways have been found along
the Westralian coast, dating back no doubt to
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Pelsart bore to Europe in time some definite
information about the mainland, upon which he
reported very unfavorably. It had been an un-
lucky discovery for him.
In the Public Library at Perth (W.A.) there
is a valuable volume accidentally picked up in
a secondhand bookstall in London a few years
ago by one Broadhurst, the then lessee of the
Abrolhos Islands. The only copy extant, it is
printed on beautiful old linen paper, in bold
black type, and sets out to be the
Ongeluckige Voyagie
Dant
ScHip "Batavia"
The "Unlucky Voyage of the Ship Batavia"
bears the imprint of Jan Jansz, Amsterdam,
Anno 164J. It tells in detail the story of the
mutiny of the shipwrecked men of the Batavia
and contains several gruesome woodcuts of the
methods of justice dealt out by Pelsart to the
mutineers on the Abrolhos, all in keeping with
the manners of the period and the enormity of
the crime. The severing of hands, the racking
of the offenders, and their executions on stout
gibbets erected from the Batavia's timbers, show
that the Commodore carried out his stern pun-
ishments to the letter.
There is some evidence, worthy of investiga-
tion,— that the Dutch at one time attempted a
settlement in the Kimberley districts of North-
Western Australia. Pearlers who went into
Yampi Sound for the first time some years ago
report having found European fruits growing
wild in the gullies and other signs of civilization
where no white man had been known to penetrate
since Australian colonization began.
It is quite possible that the climate, seasons,
and physical conditions of the Kimberley having
a certain affinity to those with which the Dutch
were familiar in their adjacent East Indian pos-
sessions— Java being even then only a few days'
sail, Timor much less — a permanent station may,
during the course of two centuries, have been
established somewhere in the region of Yampi
Sound. There were many reasons for keeping
secret any such Dutch activities in New Holland.
From 1628 to 1644 Dutch ships touched fre-
quently on the West Australian coast. In 1642,
Abel Janszoon Tasman, in command of the two
vessels Heemskirk and Zeehaen, set out definitely
to ascertain the trend and extent of what was now
known to be a great Southern Continent.
Touching the island of Tasmania, he mistook
it for part of Australia proper, naming it Van
22
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Diemen's Land, which name it retained until
1853. Shaping then a north-easterly course, Tas-
man discovered and named New Zealand.
In the year 1644 Tasman, on a second voyage,
made a closer examination of the shore line from
Arnhem Land to Exmouth Gulf. This includes
the seaward boundary of the present Northern
Territory, the Kimberleys, and north-western
West Australia. Tasman landed at various
points. It was he who gave the name of New
Holland to the western half of the Australian
Continent. The Island State of the Common-
wealth perpetuates his own name. Among the
earliest Australian explorers of all nationalities
there is no name more deserving of honor.
merchandise and treasure to the amount of
78,600 guilders (£6,550). Leaving 68 of the
survivors on the mainland to protect these, one
of the Dragon's boats made for Batavia, which
it reached in due course. Some of the achieve-
ments of open boats along this coast, for practical
heroism and stolid endurance, parallel anything
in maritime history. The Dutch at Batavia
promptly despatched two ships south to rescue
the castaways and salvage the lost Dragon, which
was supposed to be still fast on a reef, not more
than 80 miles north from the present Port of
Fremantle.
Castaways and cargo were never seen again.
The quest of the two ships Jfliitc Falcon and
Mouth of the Blackwood Eiver
Henceforward, to the Dutch, New Holland
comprised all that part of the Continent to the
westward of a meridian line passing from Arn-
hem's Land in Northern Australia to the islands
of St. Peter and St. Francis in Nuyt's Archipelago
south. Their navigators and explorers bad dur-
ing forty years considerably increased the know-
ledge of the Netherland's government as regards
the great Southern Continent. But all the lands
to the eastward classed as the Terra Australis,
remained, then and long afterwards, compara-
tively unknown even in secretive Holland.
In 1648 the Dutch ship Lark, Jan Janszoon
Zeeuw, master, made another voyage of explor-
ation to the West Coast.
Eight years later De Ver guide Draeck (The
Golden Dragon) was wrecked at night on a reef
in latitude 30 deg. 40 — as given by her master
— and 118 lives were lost. There is much ro-
mance and mystery about the subsequent his-
tory of the Golden Dragon, Pieter Albertsz,
master. She had on board a valuable cargo of
Good Hope proved quite fruitless. The follow-
ing year, 1657, the Finch, on a voyage from the
Cape to Batavia, made another resultless search.
In 1658 a third expedition of two ships set out
from Batavia on the same mission, and after an
exhaustive search and survey returned without
tidings of the Golden Dragon or the 68 people
left ashore.
It is probable that the actual reef on which
the vessel was wrecked lay much south of the
latitude given by the master. The natives of
the Blackwood River, which enters the Southern
Ocean a few miles eastward of Cape Leeuwin, are
said to have possessed definite traditions of white
men, which were still current among them when
the first English colonists entered that district.
Some of the survivors of the Dragon may
have either landed at the Blackwood or worked
their way to the southern corner of the Conti-
nent and remained long enough to pass into the
oral history of the tribes. On the other hand,
the presence of the 78,000 odd guilders and
THE DAWN OF HISTORY
23
a valuable cargo may have led to another such
tragedy as that enacted twenty years previously
on the low-lying Abrolhos Islands.
In the middle of the 17th century the world
was still very wide, piracy and buccaneering in
their heyday, and the average ship's crew were
always of uncertain character. It was the in-
cidence of a buccaneering cruise that brought
the first Englishman, William Dampier, to the
coast of Western Australia in 1688.
The Cygnet, in which Dampier was serving
enforced probation as a pirate, was beached in a
suitable haven now known as Cygnet Bay
in the north-western corner of King Sound
not far from the lighthouse on Cape Leveque.
She remained here for over two months, during
which time Dampier took some notes of the sur-
rounding country. The lighthouse stands on a
red sandv point with white beaches running north
and south from it. A ten-knot tide surges in
and out of the Sound, where one gets some of
the most wonderful atmospheric effects in the
world. A sunset in King Sound such as Dam-
pier must have often witnessed, with the camp
fires of his rowdy buccaneers reddening the white
beaches of Cygnet Bay, would be a scene to
remember.
Low, wooded shores, mangrove swamps, and
distant jungles the deft genii of the Tropics drape
at sunset time with purple, rose, and gold.
Even the barren islets, standing sentinel-wise
at the gates of Kimberley, become like the lighted
bastions of ancient cities.
The skies are an opaline splendor, a gigantic
palette on which unheard-of combinations of
color are set up by celestial artistry. The
visitor of to-day stands before these portals of
the gods somewhat in awe, but Dampier seems
to have had a peculiarly prejudiced mind. On
his escape from the buccaneers and subsequent
return to England, he published an account of his
adventures and "discoveries" in New Holland.
Having thus become an authority on his sub-
ject, he was sent in 1699 by William III., in the
Roebuck, under an Admiralty Commission, to
make further explorations and determine if pos-
sible whether or not New Holland was a con-
tinent; or, as some believed, merely "a succession
of Islands."
He entered and named Shark Bay, W.A. on
the I St August, 1699. Here he spent eight days
searching for water without success.
One of the finest crops of Irrigated lucerne
the writer has seen, he found growing near Car-
narvon on the eastern shore of Shark Bay In the
year 191 2. But Dampier missed the Gascolgne
River and all other sources of supply, and so,
proceeded slowly northward.
At last, basing his conclusions on the merest
superficial information, this writer of adventur-
ous books decided to abandon his mission and
proceeded straight to New Guinea !
His Voyage to New Holland in the Year i6qg
was published in 1703. It was the first of a long
series of literary libels on Australia, and passed
through many editions. Like the drunken Vlam-
ing, who three years before had landed at the
Swan River and discovered "neither good coun-
try nor saw anything of note," time has proved
that Dampier, although an Interesting writer,
was a very casual and unreliable observer.
Goonabooka Fool, near Boebume
It has taken over two hundred years to cor-
rect the erroneous impressions of Australia which
his books created in the mind of Europe. The
dismal pictures which he painted of a land bar-
ren and sandy, "destitute of water except you
make wells," became part of the world's mental
equipment as far as Australian physical geog-
raphy was concerned. It has been Australia's
misfortune that other writers of repute have con-
fidently compiled books about the country, based
on casual visits or misinformation supplied by
untrained observers. Even in these days a flying
trip from one Australian city to another on a
lecturing tour entitles an author to express
opinions on all matters Australian.
24
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The Harding River in Flood
Yet there are quiet, strong men in this country
who have spent 40 or 50 years of their lives
studying perhaps one aspect of agriculture or
stock raising, and they hesitate to pose as authori-
ties, knowing well that the country is young, vast,
and largely unproven.
Dampier described the North-west as a land
"destitute of water."
Accompanying this letterpress is a photograph
of "The Harding River in Flood."
The Harding is an insignificant stream near
Roeburne, which place, according to official
returns, receives the smallest annual rainfall of
any part of that coast along which Dampier
cruised.
"Goonahooka Pool, near Roeburne," shows
another phase of the western water question
which Dampier missed.
The impression created in England by Dam-
pier's Voyages was so unfavorable to the South-
Land, that it practically prevented further inves-
tigations. Not till 1770, when Cook landed and
took possession of Eastern Australia, did Eng-
land resume her work of exploration in the south.
In the early years of the eighteenth century
a Dutch expedition out of Timor explored and
mapped the north-western coasts of New Hol-
land, traversing more systematically the courso
pursued by Abel Tasman.
In the Perth Museum is an interesting collec-
tion of relics from the wreck of the Dutch ship
Zeezvyck, which went ashore off Gun Island in the
Abrolhos, in 1727.
The crew of the Zeewyck, 82 in all, spent
nearly nine months on the Abrolhos, where, from
portions of the wreck, they constructed a small
vessel, which they called the Sloepye. In the
Sloepye they finally reached Batavia.
Among these relics may be seen a patched clay
pipe, much worn where the thumb of the long-
dead mariner clutched it, and an old tobacco box,
bearing the motto —
" Eerst't gelt verbruijt
En Dan 't zeegat Uijt."
" First the money spent,
And then to sea again."
These, with crusted and oxidised cannon balls,
fishing sinkers, bullets, square bottles and jars,
copper vessels, spoons, fishhooks, stems of wine
glasses, and broken blue delft of the old willow
pattern, have a homely interest to those who are
concerned with pre-colonial history.
THli DAWN OF HISTORY
With a pewter flagon, some Dutch bottles and
broken churchwardens, collected from the wreck
of the Batavia, they will long remain as eloquent
mementoes of stirring days, when the spirit of
great ad\enturc per\aded the high seas, and the
Southern Continent still lay unexplored, un-
mapped, unknown^
The Zeezvyck had on board ten treasure chests,
containing no less than 315,836 florins, which
were taken safely to Batavia. The Abrolhos —
once of evil fame to shipmen — have yielded
many thousands of pounds' worth of guano, dur-
ing latter years. In 1897 the deposits were esti-
mated at 101,500 tons. Fallowfield & Co., of
Geraldton (W.A.), the present lessees of these
low-lying, historic islands, still actively engage
in this industry. None of the group attain a
greater altitude than fifty feet, but they are the
home and breeding-place of countless thousands
of noddy terns and other sea-birds. In the har-
bor at Geraldton may be seen a rakish little
schooner, a one-time blackbirder with a history —
she can sail like the wind — equipped with a sixty-
horse power auxiliary engine. Her humble but
useful mission nowadays is to freight the precious
brown guano in bags from the islets to Cjeraldton
pier.
Gathering Ouano at the Abrolhos
(26)
Cook's Monument at Kumell, Botany Bay.
THE GENESIS OF AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT.
ALTHOUGH Dutch ships visited the West
Coast of AustraUa at intervals during the
1 8th century, the march of European
events, and the decreasing activities of the Dutch
East India Company threw the hardy Hollanders
more into the background.
Meanwhile Britain extended the radius of her
sea power, and found fresh soil for the roots of
her Imperial ambitions. And, what makes for
the enduring greatness of nations, she had not
allowed her progress to become entirely material-
istic.
When the Royal Society, in February, 1768,
addressed a memorial to King George the Third
petitioning for an expedition to the South Seas to
enable accurate observations of the Transit of
Venus to be made "for the improvement of
astronomy on which navigation so much
depends," the Government of the day saw fit to
grant the request. It was the expansive period
of Chatham and Burke, a meaty time in English
history.
Being also the period of Commodore Byron,
Wallis and Cartaret, British authority decided
that the expedition should have a geographical
mission as well. Having finished their observa-
tions of the Transit of Venus, they should pro-
ceed with further exploration of the unmapped
Southern Continent.
The Commission issued to Lieutenant James
Cook with his command gave that intrepid, if
not flawless, navigator his passport to Fame.
He was fortunate in having as scientific
associate on the Endeavour a man of wealth,
influence and imagination in Joseph Banks, to
whose memory Australia pays grateful tribute.
Although sixteenth-century charts have been
discovered since this great navigator's time, which
indicate that the eastern coastline had been visited
by forgotten shipmen, it is not likely that Cook
knew of their existence.
The work he carried out was original and
invaluable. It was the genius of Britain that
established the existence of a Southern Continent
other than Antarctic, and the blundering but
irresistible genius of Britain that later on turned
the knowledge to practical account.
Cook belonged to the age of great captains.
Prefixed to the log of the Resolution, in which
his second voyage of discovery to the South Seas
was made, is a personal statement, signed James
Cook, in which he admits : —
"/ have neither natural or acquired
abilities for writing. I have been, I may say,
constantly at sea from my youth, and have
dragged myself (with the assistance of a few
good friends) through all the stations
belonging to a seaman from a prentice boy
to a commander."
THE GENESIS OF AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT
27
The success of his first voyage was due
greatly to sanitary organization. The health
and efficiency of his crew were kept constantly in
mind. Cook seems to have been a man of
precision and resource — a trained man fitted by
special services in the wonderful English maritime
school of the period to accomplish what proved
practically the last great work of planetary dis-
covery.
After carrying out their astronomical observa-
tions successfully at Tahiti, Cook's expedition
tentous line in history
Cook's private log on
1770, 6 a.m. : —
than that inscribed in
Thursday, 19th April,
"Saw the land extending from N.E.
JVest."
to
The land was that part of the eastern coast-
line on which Cape Everard lighthouse now
stands. It is still the only place of human habita-
tion in a hundred miles. It was named by Cook
"Point Hicks," after Lieutenant Zachary Hicks,
Captain Cook
bore away for New Zealand. Having circum-
navigated and geographically proved these
Islands, discovered by Tasman 128 years pre-
viously and generally believed until then to be
part of a Continent, it was decided "to stand
immediately to the westward, fall in with the
coast of New Holland as soon as possible, and
after following that to the northward as far as
seemed proper, to attempt to fall in with the
lands seen by de Quiros in 1606." Leaving Cape
Farewell, the Endeavour made for Van Diemen's
Land; but being driven somewhat to the north-
ward by heavy weather, encountered instead the
coast of Eastern Gippsland.
To Australians there can be no more por-
of the Endeavour, who was on watch that historic
morning. To Lieutenant Hicks fell the honor
of sighting the first point of Eastern Australia
beheld by English eyes. Point Hicks was
renamed Cape Everard, out of compliment to
a Victorian politician of the 'Sixties. It forms
the one inglorious instance of a name given by
Cook being blotted from the map of Australia.
Had Cook been able to land between Cape
Everard and Cape Howe he would have found a
country well stocked with fish and game, and
amply provided with fresh water. At the
Wingen River his crew might have refreshed
themselves with the finest white oysters on the
coast.
28
Australia unlimited
Mallacoota Inlet
At Red River, where subsequently some great
European ship unknown left her timbers to rot
among the sedge, the Endeavour's botanist might
have spent delighted days among a world of new
species. Further north, under the heel of Gabo
Island, in romantic Mallacoota, the fairest spot
along the Australian coasts, his ship's company
could have "cast the seine" and been rewarded
by hauls of good black bream, red schnapper, and
other succulent fishes which spawn and feed in
these cool waters in great abundance, and form
part of the vast unexploited wealth of our ever-
teeming Australian Seas.
The shores, between Point Hicks and Two-
fold Bay, where the E)ideavoiir's people "saw
the smoak of fire in sever'l places," are yet as
unknown to the majority of Australians as the
shores between Cook-town and Cape York,
where the smoke of native fires are still seen daily
from the decks of passing steamers.
Yet the first is good temperate, and the second
excellent tropical country; each capable of sup-
porting white population.
Sailing slowly past all this romantic coastland,
Cook kept a careful northern course for ten clear
days and nights, marking and naming the new
coast line as he went.
On the afternoon of Sunday, 29th April, 1770,
the hawse-holes of the Endeavour purred to the
caress of outrunning cables, and the anchor of
His Britannic Majesty's bark took the ground in
seven fathoms at Stingray Harbour — known later
as Botany Bay. Cook's actual landing-place is
marked by an obelisk at Kurnell, on the south side
of the bay.
The Endeavour remained at Botany for six
days. Here, on May is^, died Forby Suther-
land, seaman, and was duly interred at the ship's
watering place. The Illawarra suburb of
Sutherland perpetuates the memory of this first
recorded European burial in eastern Australia.
Here, too, for the first time the European Age
of Iron came in conflict with the Australian Age
of Stone.
For never-to-be-known centuries man in a
primitive stage of evolution had, without moles-
tation, been the sole occupant of a continent. Of
art and agriculture he had remained entirely
ignorant. He was, from north to south, over
all its many thousand miles purely a tribesman,
living according to his tribal laws and traditions.
A nomad, hunter, and fisherman, he possessed
such crude weapons and implements as enabled
him to supply his needs. He had not risen to
the use of metals. His axes and spear-heads
were of stone, such as the European neolith
chipped from primal flints. On the writer's
desk lie two stone spear-heads from Northern
Australia. One example, chipped newly from a
piece of quartz by Myall blacks, is still made
in Central or Northern Australia; the other
was found by a prospector in the Northern
Territory under twenty feet of drift. To the
inexpert eye there is scarcely any difference
between them. But one must have been shaped
thousands of years before the other. Aboriginals
of the North, when the older flint was shown to .
them simply said they do not make their spear-
heads that way now.
THE GENESIS OF AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT
29
Male Australian Aborigine
During the enormous interval which elapsed
between the chipping of those two primitive
weapons- — -perhaps a hundred thousand years- —
the aboriginal inhabitants of Australia had been
free from outside interference. But the hour was
approaching when the Hunter would be called
upon to make room for the Artificer; when,
despite a probable common ancestry, the Man of
Iron, by virtue of his superior knowledge and
attainments, was to dispossess the Man of Stone.
The aborigines became extinct in Tasmania in
1876. One hundred years of contact with
Europeanism had completely exterminated a race
which thousands of years of tribal wars and
uneven battling against the forces of nature had
failed to affect.
The neolithic races of Australia, since the
elaboration of the theory of Evolution, have
become of peculiar interest. During later years
scientists of v-arious nationalities have collected
valuable information concerning our aboriginals,
now only to be met with in an absolutely primitive
state in certain parts of Northern and Central
Australia.
Cook's log of 29th April, 1770, tells how, hav-
ing come to anchor in Stingray Harbor, "I soon
after landed with a party of men, accompanied
by Mr. Banks, Dr. Solander and Tupia (a native
of Otaheite). As we approached the shore the
natives all made off, except two men, who at first
seemed resolved to oppose our landing. We
endeavoured to gain their consent to land by
throwing them some nails, beads, etc., ashore, but
this had not the desired effect, for as we put in
to shore, one of them threw a large stone at us,
and as soon as we landed they threw two darts at
us, but on the firing of two or three musquets
loaded with small shot they took to the woods and
we saw them no more."
This was the beginning of the inevitable con-
flict between Stone and Steel, which could only
have the one ending. It was under very similar
circumstances that Cook lost his life at the Sand-
wich Islands nine years later.
Leaving Botany Bay on May 6th, 1770, the
Endeavour resumed her voyage to the northward,
her captain again charting new seas and naming
new shores as he sailed.
Female Australian Aborigine
30
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
On the 22nd August, 1770, after many vicissi-
tudes, having rounded Cape York and being "in
great hopes he had found a passage into the
India Sea," Cook landed with a party of men on
Possession Island, and a little before sunset took
possession of the country {i.e., the whole of the
eastern coast and adjacent islands) in the King's
name, and "fired three volleys of small arms on
the occasion, which was answered from the ship."
Conjure up this picture, on which depends may-
hap the whole future of the Pacific. The bark
He is a man 42 years of age, bewigged, clean-
shaven, and wearing the uniform of a naval
lieutenant in the service of His Majesty King
George III. The oars fall together and
reappear, scattering pearls of saltwater as, with
rhythmic strokes, the pinnace makes for a landing
place.
Finding on examination from the higher points
of the Island that he has rounded the Con-
tinent at last, and knowing by the Dutch
charts and his own its magnitude and extent, the
Sir Joseph Banks
Endeavour, 370 tons burthen, with her comple-
ment of mariners, marines, officers and scientific
attaches clothed in the uniforms and costumes of
the latter half of the eighteenth century, rides at
anchor.
The blue waters of Endeavour Straits flow
6j fathoms deep under her keel.
It is a tropic afternoon, warm and clear — the
sunlight lending its usual glamor to this Sea of
Islands where the Indian and Pacific Oceans unite
in sucking tides. The ship's bell strikes the hour.
It is half-past 4 p.m. and slack tide. Loudly
the command of an English naval officer is heard;
quickly the boats (pinnace and yawl) are
lowered. Quickly the red-coated marines take
their places with muskets loaded and primed.
Without undue delay the commander follows.
uniformed lieutenant re-assembles his boats'
company on the shore and formally proclaims
British sovereignty over the eastern coasts of
Australia.
After the words have been slowly and solemnly
uttered, an officer gives a sharp order. The
barrels of the long "Brown Besses" drop to the
level and — crash! the echoes of a British volley
for the first time roll down the gullies of
eastern Australia.
As the smoke of the third volley is drifting
over the pandanus trees, the flag of England is
broken from the peak, and crash! come answering
volleys from the ship, followed by the sound of
her whole remaining company cheering lustily.
For many long years the Briton had been at war
upon the high seas, and he had learned to carry
THE GENESIS OF AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT
31
Captain Arthur Phillip
out these functions with a proper formality. But it
is a fine incident; for as the Union Jack, burst
from its folds at the Endeavour's peak, there
broke with it from the folds of the Past, the
Future of a Nation which, if it proves worthy of
its opportunities, may yet become the greatest
that the world has known.
forth with renewed splendor from the gunpowder
clouds of Cape St. Vincent.
Four years after the Government of the
British nation had passed into the hands of the
youthful Pitt, then only 25 years of age, the his-
tory of Australia began. Twenty-three years
previously, in 1765, had come the invention of
Watt's steam engine, which may be accepted as
the genesis of modern industrial civilization; as
the French Revolution, beginning two years after
the establishment of settlement at Port Jackson,
is accepted by most writers as the genesis of a
new political age.
Much opprobrium has been cast upon the
system of transportation which led to the found-
ing of the first settlement, but without transporta-
tion it is doubtful if the occupation of eastern
Australia by the British would have ever taken
place.
Slightly more than 83,000 convicted persons
were deported during the whole period in which
transportation prevailed in New South Wales. A
large number of these were political prisoners; a
larger number victims of laws which have long
been obsolete, and a still greater number were
petty offenders, whose transgressions in these
days would be considered amply punished by a
five-shillings fine. Taking these facts into con-
sideration, it will be seen that the early convict
system was no more than an inverted line in the
chapter of Australian beginnings, having little
or no effect upon the future Australian race, which
had its real foundation in the unimpeachable
pioneer strain of vigorous and enterprising early
colonists.
The actual annexation of the country did not
take place until eighteen years later, when on the
26th January, 1788, Captain Phillip read to the
people of the First Fleet, assembled at Sydney
Cove, the words of his commission.
Meanwhile much water had passed under the
bridges of European and trans-Atlantic history.
The American War of Independence had been
fought, and the Republic of the United States
established. Bunker's Hill, Brandywine, Sara-
toga, Charlestown and Yorktown had become
names of historic importance. "Broken with
age and disease," the Earl of Chatham had been
carried into the House of Lords to utter his last
eloquent indictment of the policy which had
driven loyalty to rebellion, and reddened Ameri-
can soil with the blood of fratricide. Spain,
France and Holland had banded in futile alliance
for the overthrow of Britain, who saw her pos-
sessions in America slip from her grasp, while
the sun of her ascendancy in India rose
triumphantly, and that of her sea power burst
The loss of the American Colonies led
England to seek not only an outlet for her large
prison population — chiefly induced by the brutal
laws and conditions of the period — but a new
field for her colonizing activities. By a splendid
naval organization — the result of generations of
sea fighting — she greatly controlled the ocean
highway and might, in comparative safety, plant
her flag upon the most distant shores.
As an opportune result of her maritime
exploration, there had already come the first
authentic contradiction of Dampier's adverse
judgment on Australia. The scientific eye of
Joseph Banks, trained to correct vision, had
beheld possible fertility where another Dampier
would only have seen a land destitute of all good
qualities. Cook, although he was no agricul-
turist, had pronounced some of the coun*-ry he
saw near Botany as "fit for the production of
grain of any kind."
There is no country more paradoxical than
Australia; no country which can be judged less
32
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
by surface indications; no country so full of
unexpected surprises. After a hundred and
twenty-five years of occupation, Australians
themselves have hegon to realize that the whole
volume of previous conclusions will have to be
re-written; that parts of Australia which were
regarded in early days as waste lands are destined
to prove among the richest sections of the Com-
monwealth. In place of a continent containing
edges of fertility and large areas of sterility, it is
found that the whole Commonwealth can be put
to account, leaving ultimately only a few arid
strips in the remote interior, and these not actual
desert. Of alleged Australian "deserts" the
writer will have more to say in future chapters of
this book.
When in 1779 Banks was examined before a
Committee of the House of Commons as to the
suitability of Eastern Australia for settlement, he
strongly commended Botany Bay, the climate of
which he considered approximated to that of the
South of France; also "he did not doubt but our
sheep and oxen, if carried there, would thrive and
increase."
The Australia which Banks had seen was "'well
supplied with water, and had an abundance of
timber and fuel."
Being asked how a colony of the nature sug-
gested could be subsisted in the beginning of their
establishment, he tendered the Committee some
sound commonsense advice which indicated that
during the nine years since which he had visited
the site of the suggested settlement, he had given
the subject considerable attention. Sir Joseph
Banks, from the time he first set foot
in Australia to the time of his death in
1820, never ceased to look upon the new land
with an eye of faith and confidence. His counsel,
his money and his influence were alike at the
service of the infant settlement.
Banks was perhaps the first European with
mind and imagination to dimly realize its possi-
bilities.
To his influence, exerted over fifty years, more
than to any other cause, can be credited the
fact that the biassed conclusions of lesser minds
did not find oflicial acceptance in England; that
the false counsels of malcontents did not prevail,
and that a flower which will yet blaze brightest in
the wreath of England's glory was not cankered
in the bud. Through all the failures and
vicissitudes of the original settlement, Banks
remained a practical optimist. It was in the
light of this spirit that the Australian Colonies
grew to success. In the light of this spirit the
Australian Commonwealth is destined to become,
without doubt, a rampart of Imperial strength.
* ♦ + *
The first definite proposal for a settlement in
Eastern Australia came from an Englishman with
a foreign name, James Maria Matra.
In 1783 — Pitt's first year of office — Matra
submitted his scheme. Primarily it was intended
to offer relief and compensation to those Ameri-
can colonists who had remained loyal to Britain
during the War of Intiependence, and had suffered
in consequence. Many of these people had
already migrated to British North America, that
is, Canada.
The Home Office, at ihat time, administered
all colonial matters, and unluckily Lord Sydney
administered the Home Office.
Banks favored Matra's scheme; so, later, did
Sir George Young; but Sydney treated it flip-
pantly. He was not disposed to view, or capable
of viewing, the proposed colony in any other
light than that of a convict settlement.
Having duly pigeon-holed Matra's proposal, —
containing many wise, humane, and excellent
suggestions, which might e\en to-day be perused
with profit by some Englishmen and Australians
— the British Government de\'ised a plan of its
own, and passed an Act (1784) in accordance
with statutes of previous reigns relating to trans-
portation.
By an Order-in-Council, made on 6th Decem-
ber, 1786, the eastern coast of New South
Wales was declared and appointed to be the place
whereto the provisions of the statute should
apply.
By an Act (27 George III. c. 2) passed in the
year 1787 the Colony of New South Wales was
established.
And on April 2nd, in the same year, was
issued — "To our trusty and well-beloved Arthur
Phillip, Esquire," his commission as first Governor
of New South Wales. Three weeks later came
his instructions; under which he was to embark
and proceed in the Sirius, and convey certain
tenders and transports to the port on the coast of
New South Wales, called bv the name of Botany
Bay.
Phillip's fleet of eleven vessels, total tonnage
3,000 tons, with two years' provisions for all on
board, sailed out of Portsmouth on the 13th May,
1787. Five months later they left the Cape of
Good Hone, having taken on board there a small
supply of live stock and fruit trees for the infant
colony. On the 20th January, 1788, they were
all safely at anchor in the harbor of Botany Bay.
(33)
S:^Vi5-?'!'&-Wfcl^:
statue to Governor Phillip, Sydney
OLD COLONIAL DAYS.
FROM many causes, writers on Australian
subjects have adopted a subdued tone.
As the mists of this literary timidity are
dispelled by warmer rays of faith, based on
knowledge, our native writers will find in early
colonial history something more than their pre-
decessors ever imagined.
Behind the purely functional records of
officialdom, there lies a splendid volume of human
effort and accomplishment.
Epics of endurance as heroic as any that
marked the conquest of the Americas, thrilling
tales of exploration, romantic stories of adven-
ture, and gentler incidents of pioneer settlement
will furnish gallant and graceful themes for the
future.
In that sparse, hardy, little first Governor,
Arthur Phillip himself, there was a quality that
silhouettes his personality clearly against the
twilight of Time; as sometimes stands out, upon
an Australian hillside, a rugged gum tree in the
gloaming.
His father was a German master of languages
from Frankfurt; his mother an English lady of
some family. His school was a naval college;
his apprenticeship the Seven Years' War. When
there was a temporary lull in English fighting-
growing tired of farming in the New P'orest — he
volunteered, and fought for Portugal against
Spain. His activities found scope when English
guns began to bark again in the Narrow Seas,
and when, in one of the lulls that enabled the
giants of Europe to draw breath, England looked
about her for a blood and iron man to plant her
flag across the furthest seas, she chose this little
Commodore, with shrivelled face and thin
aquiline nose, who had learned courage behind
the carronades and acquired discipline on the
tarry decks of British men-o'-war, probably the
finest seminaries ever instituted, in all the world's
history, for the propagation of these rigid
\irtues.
So, in his brown camlet coat, lined with green
baize, we see the first Governor standing reso-
lutely to his charge. A fine figure he makes in
the foreground of a New World. Nor did he
permit discontent or malcontent to prevail against
him. He found that Botany Bay was unsuited
34
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
for his purpose. Promptly he had three boats'
crews piped, and set northward in person looking
for a better landing.
Presently he rounded a precipitous headland,
and found himself in Port Jackson. In due
course he makes a plain statement to Lord Sydney
of the fact: —
"/ have had the satisfaction of finding the
finest harbor in the world, in which a thou-
sand sail of the line may ride in most perfect
security."
London in the latter part of the year 1788,
said : —
"If the Minister has a true and just description
given to him of it (the country) he will not
surely think of sending any more people here
for there is not one article that can ever
be necessary for the use of man, but which must
be imported into the country."
Against opposition of this character — almost
general among the people who surrounded him —
against conspiracy, famine, and the blunders of
Old Colonial Home
For five strenuous years Phillip stood by the flag
on the shores of Sydney Cove. There were
among his officers men like Ross and Johnson,
who were eager to have it lowered. In order
to effect their purpose — the abandonment of the
colony — these men and others did not hesitate to
paint the blackest pictures of the country to the
Home authorities. The mantle of these false
prophets in the course of time fell upon others.
Entirely erroneous impressions of Australia have
in consequence been sustained abroad, and half
accepted as facts at home. Major Ross, who,
mentally, fathered three generations of Anti-
Australians, writing to the Under-Secretary in
distant authority, Phillip, of the lean face and
aquiline nose, presented a fine unyielding deter-
mination; to which, as much as to his inspired
faith in the future of the country, we can largely
attribute the fact that Australia is to-day a part
of the British Empire.
Upheld by the cleanly figure of Captain Arthur
Phillip, the stage on which is presented the first
group of actors in Australian history, lacks
neither interest nor dignity.
He brought a band of most unsuitable colonists
safely across the seas, to a country which had
only been visited by one previous ship, and, in the
face of difficulties that seemed at times insur-
OLD COLONIAL DAYS
35
mountable, he bedded the roots of European
Colonization so firmly in Australian soil that they
can nevermore be torn from it.
The miseries and inconveniences of early
settlement were occasioned largely by these
facts : —
(i) The population, instead of being
husbandmen and artificers, were by a large
majority untrained convicts or soldiers and
marines.
(2) Absolute ignorance of all concerned
as to the nature and capabilities of a country
entirely new to European experiences.
{3) Mismanagement and incredible lack
of foresight of the home authorities; who
were responsible for the preservation and
sustentation of a body of first colonists far
removed from all sources of established
supply.
(4) The natural discontent of people
exiled from their native country to an
unknown territory at the extremes of the
earth, then from six to twelve months' voy-
age distant, inhabited only by savages, and
subject as they were to probable attack from
foreign nations, who might, without their
knowledge, become at war with the Mother
Country.
It was only to be expected that evil reports of
Australia would be circulated abroad by those
whose only apparent relief lay in the withdrawal
by the English Government of its suffering and
struggling subjects at Port Jackson.
Time has proved that the early impressions of
Australia were entirely wrong.
The first recorders spoke of it as a land either
devoid of timber, or "covered with trees of an
immense size, but scarce worth cutting down."
The fact is that Australia possesses the largest
areas of valuable timbers in the world. She has
hundreds of species of useful and ornamental
commercial woods; and the essential oils and
by-products of her fever-preventing eucalypts are
of incalculable value.
She was described as a country where there was
"neither ore nor mineral except iron and a small
portion of copper."
Every useful earth and valuable gem, every
known mineral, not excluding helium and radium,
have been discovered in Australia. Her output
of precious metals has exceeded that of any other
country. She possesses supplies of coal already
proved sufficient for thousands of years, and
illimitable deposits of ore, containing the highest
known percentages of non-phosphatic iron.
It was said that Australia is a land almost
destitute of animals and birds.
The scientist knows now that it is the most
interesting of all countries to him; a country
which contains not only "living fossils," such as
the platypus, the echidna, and the lung-fish, but
in ornithology (apart from those birds which are
sui-generis) , has representatives of all the world's
feathered families, excepting vultures and wood-
peckers.
It was most freely asserted that the soil of the
country at large was one of extreme poverty, on
which European fruits and grains could never
thrive. This assertion has been repeated with
variations of almost every new district opened
for settlement throughout the Commonwealth
during the last hundred and twenty-five years.
One of the objects of this book is to finally
refute the many libels to which Australia has
been so undeservedly subjected.
It may be stated in advance, that there is prac-
tically no botanical product of either Europe,
Asia, Africa, the Americas, Polynesia or Malay-
sia for which suitable soils and climates can not
be found within the boundaries of the Australian
Com m o nwealth !
Oranges from the irrigated areas of Ren-
mark (S.A.) were last year proclaimed to be the
finest ever exposed for sale in Covent Garden
Markets, London, where they would find com-
petitors from the citrus orchards of the world.
It will be more fully shown in subsequent pages
what the agricultural lands of Australia are really
capable of producing.
The despair of the early colonists was pitiable.
Hear the disgruntled voice of one of Phillip's
officers complaining from the Past: —
"The country, my lord, is past all dispute
"a wretched one — a very wretched one —
"and totally incapable of yielding to Great
"Britain a return for colonizing it. There
"is no wood fit for naval purposes; no fibrous
"grass or plant from which cordage can be
"made; no substance which can aid or
"improve the labours of the manufacturer;
"no mineral productions, no esculent
"vegetable worth the care of collecting and
"transporting to other climes; and, lastly,
"which is of the most serious consideration,
"no likelihood that the country will be able
"to support itself in grain or animal food
"for many years to come" (Major Ross said
for a hundred years) "so that a regular
"annual expense is entailed on the mother
"country as long as it shall be kept."
Only last year the author heard in Port Dar-
win, Northern Territory, homesick officials utter-
OLD COLONIAL DAYS
37
In the Heart of Central Australia
ing the same complaints. The enforced exile has
rarely been known to praise the place of his
imprisonment. Contrast the accusations of the
disaffected with Phillip's plain statement: —
"The climate is equal to the finest in Europe.
All the plants and fruit trees brought
from Brazil and the Cape thrive exceed-
ingly well, and we do not want for vegetables.
The colony is the most valuable
acquisition Great Britain ever made."
But Phillip stood practically alone in his faith
among the "First Fleet" men. He was the one
true believer among the six or seven hundred who
landed with him. Australia is at all times a
difficult country to understand. To the eyes of
the first pioneers, without precedents or experi-
ences to reassure them, the newness of their sur-
roundings added to the natural nervousness of
an outpost. This fear of the Unknown has al-
ways been a poignant sentiment in human affairs.
Very early in the country's history there grew
up a stereotyped conception of the interior as a
dry and waterless desert, composed for the most
part of shifting sands, scorched by everlasting
suns and swept by constant hot winds.
Book after book has been written perpetuating
this fallacy, which has become so firmly rooted in
peoples' minds that it will probably be another
two or three generations before it is finally con-
signed to the limbo of ancient fallacies. It is
doubtful if there are a hundred square miles of
true desert within the whole area of the Austra-
lian Continent, and it is now an established fact
that millions of acres, once regarded as useless
for agricultural purposes, are among the most
fertile and productive lands in the world.
Ignorance and prejudice, at home and abroad,
have militated very greatly against settlement.
Until quite recently Australian children were
taught a local geography quite as absurd as that
evolved by a series of foolish writers, from
Dampier to quite recent times. The geography
of Australia imbibed by scholars in foreign
schools is still full of mischievous statements.
Until the Commonwealth takes the matter
systematically in hand, and proclaims the truth
about itself far and wide, the great mass of out-
siders will continue to believe that "five-sixths
of the whole block of land is desert," as one of
the early Governors declared.
The writer of this book learned at an Austra-
lian bush school, thirty years ago, to regard large
widths of his native land as sterile wastes, which
he has since found covered with crops and sweet
with rain.
The work of exploration, which commenced
with Governor Phillip, has gone on down to the
present day. But neither Phillip nor his imme-
38
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
diate successors seemed to realize that the know-
ledge they won, at the price of much effort and
hardship, was purely local. They were prone
to judge the whole Continent by the necessarily
restricted areas of their own observations. It
is yet only partially realized that there is more
than one Australia, that the range of our climate
and conditions are continental, that for nutmegs
and gooseberries an equally suitable habitat can be
found.
Nor is the national consciousness yet fully alive
to the fact that climates, varying as much as those
of Berlin and Naples, must ultimately lead to
pronounced variations even in human types.
The accounts of first Australian discovery make
curious reading nowadays. Journeys to dis-
tricts which are now reached readily by electric
tram or suburban train service called for armed
expeditions. Where the red-coats of King George
the Third marched wearily, laden with coarse
provision and heavy accoutrements, the motor car
bears a prosperous generation to business or
pleasure; the naked upland has become an
orchard slope, the crude camps of stunted abori-
gines are busy townships, and the pulse of
industry throbs day and night where the silence
of primal solitudes was broken only by the
voices of wind and wave.
Twenty-five energetic years had converted the
children of the First Fleet into men and women
before hardy explorers surmounted the Blue
Mountains which, on sunny days, were plainly
visible from the heights of the Settlement.
Phillip's pessimists did not know, or did not
care to know, that beyond these great Dividing
Ranges and their spurs lay countries of perennial
richness, and mineral fields of incalculable wealth.
Still less could they have foreseen that the site
of their rough barracks and struggling gardens
would in the future be a city of half a million
prosperous inhabitants; or that rutted roads,
where lumbering ox-waggons crawled through
tedious dust or were bogged in the deep un-
metalled mud, would give place to the modern
streets and handsome buildings which make that
city's pride.
At the end of Phillip's five years of office — •
when he begged to be removed owing to bad
health — Botany Bay, Port Jackson, Broken Bay,
and the country about the Hawkesbury and
Nepean Rivers, were fairly well surveyed and
known. The settlement had survived threatened
extinction by famine, and the discovery of the
fertile Hawkesbury lands promised to provide
against a recurrence of that danger.
On the Hawkesbury Biver
(39)
INLAND EXPLORATION.
VERY early in its history, the new colony
began to attract men of the adventurous
type. Among these was Gregory Blax-
land, a Kentish stockbreeder, who migrated to
Australia in 1806. He was then a vigorous man
of 35. Lured by the hope of better pasturages
inland, he set out with Lawson and Wentworth
in May, 18 13, to find a passage across the Blue
Mountains.
The easy success of this, the first properly
organised attempt to surmount an ordinary
natural difficulty, paved the way for a hundred
years of rapid exploration and settlement.
Before Blaxland died in 1835 he had seen the
first page of achievement, at the head of which
he had put an honorable signature, covered with
illustrious names.
His track was quickly followed by Surveyor
George W. Evans, whose astonished eyes in the
same year (1813) were the first to behold an
enchanting country of well watered valleys,
abounding in fish and game, and beyond that
again fertile expanses of still better lands.
Evans discovered and named both the Mac-
quarle and Lachlan Rivers.
As a result, Macquarie, the most industrious of
early Governors, journeyed with his wife and a
military equipage, by a good road, to the new
settlement of Bathurst, 100 miles inland, on the
26th April, 1 8 15. The Conquest of the Interior
had now definitely commenced, and was destined
to go on steadily down to the present day.
Australia had already proved to be a land
entirely different from that depicted by the first
geographers and earliest settlers. Cattle and
sheep were thriving in the new country as well as
or even better than European stock had ever
thrived in the old world. Enterprise, untram-
melled by sentiment, perceived opportunities for
success in many directions. There was no longer
any serious talk of abandoning the work
of colonization, but the complete realiza-
tion of its boundless possibilities has not
come in a hundred years. Even now
groundless fears haunt many minds that those
large unoccupied tracts of the interior of Aus-
tralia, which are yet imperfectly known, will not
prove fit for future settlement. Errors, like
weeds, are hard to eradicate. Truth is a sensi-
tive plant of slower growth.
The early explorers, although their work was
good, were too often guilty of serious errors of
judgment. Among this honorable band no names
stand higher than John Oxley and his successor,
Charles Sturt, both of whom made pronounce-
ments about country they crossed which we now
know to have been foolishly wrong.
Oxley condemned the flats of the Lachlan
River, as "certainly not adapted for cattle," and
stigmatised as "desert" some of the best grazing
country in Australia; the "desert plains" which he
doubted on crossing "would ever again be
visited by civilized man" are now covered by
woolly sheep or waving grain.
Poor Oxley. He was a good-looking young
ex-lieutenant of the King's Navy, who had come
to Australia in 18 12, and received the appoint-
ment of Surveyor-General. Baffled by difficulties
incidental to the exploration of new country, he
Gregory Blaxland
40
INLAND EXPLORATION
41
sat down by the Lachlan River and desolately
wrote in his journal : —
"For all the practical purposes of
"civilized man, the interior of this country
"westward of a certain meridian is unin-
"habitable."
Oxley's "habitable meridian" lay somewhere
about the mid-Macquarie region, and the "unin-
habitable country" is now crossed by profitable
railways, which have lately proved inadequate to
carry away the enormous quantities of wheat
which it is producing.
His final conclusion that "the interior of this
vast country is a marsh and uninhabitable" was
as far wide of the mark as some classical specula-
tions regarding the size and shape of the Earth.
But for many years, like Dampier's "Dis-
coveries," Oxley's baseless and utterly erroneous
conclusions colored impressions which the world
at large held of all our wonderful interior.
Despite his chronic despondency, Oxley in his
explorations found compensations like the Liver-
pool Plains, Port Macquarie, the Tweed and the
Brisbane Rivers.
Of another temperament was Hamilton Hume,
a native Australian. Born at Parramatta in
1797, Hume was by nature a bushman, between
whom and the man of the cities there is ever a
marked difference.
Every Australian schoolboy knows how, in
1824, Hume, after discovering Lakes Bathurst
and George, and the Yass and Goulburn Plains,
led his party of eight from Lake George to
the Southern Ocean; beholding for the first time
the white caps of the Australian Alps, and cross-
ing and naming en route the Murray, the finest
river in Australia which, rising beneath their
snows, pours its waters into the Indian Ocean,
1,700 miles away.
Hume, fortified with colonial experience, cheer-
ful, resourceful, patient, and, above all, correct
in his judgments, is a pleasant antidote to the
depressing Oxley.
Four years later, as a member of the ambitious
Sturt's exploring party, he did good and useful
work.
Captain Charles Sturt, an Anglo-Indian by
birth, who had been Governor Darling's private
secretary, had neither Hume's knowledge of, nor
his sympathy with Australia. Like Oxley, he
erred grievously in his estimate of districts which
have long since been profitably occupied.
Where' Oxley thought he had found a vast
inland marsh, Sturt imagined that he was dis-
covering a drought-stricken desert. Both were
the sport of seasons; both were wrong.
Sturt's pictures of the Australian back-country
have some literary interest, but like other word
paintings which have followed them, they are
much more imaginative than real.
In point of fact, the Australia that Sturt and
some of his literary successors describe is no more
to be accepted as typical than that of Dampier or
the French navigator. La Perouse, who for-
tunately thought the country so poor that "it was
not worth his while to examine it."
Hume and Sturt discovered the Darling River,
which is probably destined to form the future
base for an inland population that will number
many more millions than the whole of Australia
is carrying at present.
The Eiver Tweed
42
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
In Sturt's "Worst Country in the World" —Hospital Sunday Procession, Broken Hill
In spite of his errors of judgment, Captain
Sturt's second great journey in a whaleboat down
the Murrumbidgee River to its junction with the
Murray, and thence past the junction of the Dar-
ling to the mouth of the Murray at Lake Alexan-
drina, is one of the most heroic and picturesque
chapters in the splendid story of southern explora-
tion.
With three soldiers (Harris, Eraser and Hop-
kinson), and three prisoners (MacManee, Mul-
holland and Clayton), Captain Charles Sturt put
to his credit one of the most courageous feats ever
accomplished on any frontier.
Whether facing, as they did, an armed and
hostile band of five hundred sable warriors at
the junction of the Murray and the Darling, or
toiling manfully at the oars of their heavy whale-
boat; or enduring the pangs of hunger on their
woefully reduced return ration, this little com-
pany, working its way alone to the Murray mouth
and back again in the teeth of a thousand diffi-
culties, dangers and privations, stands forth for-
ever famous on the foreground of our Early
Days.
But, with all praise to the courage and personal
character of Sturt, it has to be admitted that he
was greatly lacking in judgment.
His last great expedition proves this.
Returning from England to the newly-formed
province of South Australia, where he was in turn
Surveyor-General and Commissioner of Lands,
he set out on his last arduous journey to the
interior in 1844.
At the time of this outsetting it must be remem-
bered that Sturt was a partially-blind and dis-
appointed man. He had received instructions
from the Home Office to reach, if possible, the
heart of the Continent, and determine whether or
not the supposed inland sea existed there. He
decided to follow up the Darling River, and
struck out in a north-westerly direction from a
point near the present township of Menindie. He
was accompanied by Poole, Dr. Browne, and
McDouall Stuart — a name destined to become
famous in the annals of Australian discovery. He
crossed and condemned the Barrier Range, since
become one of the richest silver-lead fields in the
world, and ultimately reached the 28th parallel;
but the story of the expedition is one of tragedy
and failure. Poole died of scurvy. After putting
up a fine record of courage and honorable
effort, the exhausted leader and his party came
back with what appeared to be negative results.
Country crossed by Sturt (in an exceptionally bad
season), and which he classed as "hopeless
INLAND EXPLORATION
43
desert" has since yielded fortunes to stockowners.
Broken Hill, on the site of which Sturt had
written a despairing entry in his journal, is
to-day a city of 30,000 inhabitants — another
proof of the erroneous deductions which were
drawn from local conditions by men of the finest
personal quality but unfamiliar with the true
nature of a remarkable, new country.
The journeys of Sturt's celebrated rival. Major
Sir Thomas Mitchell, proved more resultful to
our young colonization. Late in the year 1831
Mitchell, then Surveyor-General of New South
Wales, set out from Liverpool Plains; located the
whose bones now rest under the obelisk erected
to his memory in Sydney Botanic Gardens.
Mitchell set out again in 1836, under instructions
from the Government of the parent Colony to
take up his exploration of the Darling at the
point where he had left off on the previous
expedition; follow the river to the Murray, and
return to Yass Plains via its southern bank.
This programme, Mitchell, a soldier of the
Peninsula, greatly extended.
Having finally determined that the Murray
received the waters of the Darling and its vast
network of feeders — which constitute, from their
A Landing on the Eiver Murray
Nandewar Ranges, touched the Namoi and
Gwydir Rivers, and discovered that these two
watercourses junctioned with the Darling.
In 1833 he left Parramatta with a well-
equipped expedition, struck westward to the head
of the Bogan River, and followed it down to the
Darling; where he established and re-named Fort
Bourke. Leaving this temporary stockade, he
followed the downward course of the river for
three hundred miles, and decided that it really
joined the Murray; a fact which had been con-
tested, despite the earlier reports of Sturt.
Mitchell was always unfortunate in his deal-
ings with the natives, who frequently attacked his
party. They practically drove him back to Fort
Bourke, whence in time he made his way to
Bathurst, having lost his botanist, Richard Cun-
ningham— brother of Allan Cunningham, capable
scientist and intrepid explorer and discoverer, in
1827, of the fertile Darling Downs country,
source in south-western Queensland to Murray
mouth, the longest river system in the world —
Mitchell transferred his expedition to the
unexplored southern side of the great river, and
entered what is now the State of Victoria. So
rich and beautiful was the country he traversed
after leaving Swan Hill (locating the Loddon,
Avoca, and Wimmera Rivers en route) that he
called it "Australia Felix." Across this glorious
land went slowly but securely the brave soldier of
Badajoz, until he found the picturesque Glenelg,
and so reached the southern coast. Here the
expedition turned homeward via Portland Bay.
Striking across country, he ascended Mount
Macedon and from its summit, greatly exultant,
beheld Port Phillip. Mitchell's triumphant news
gave an immediate impetus to settlement in the
south. The "Great Desert" theory had received
its first immersion in the acid of fact, but much
time must yet elapse before it reached its final
reduction.
44
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Mitchell's work did not pass unrecognised. It
was not until 1845 that he set out again; this time
to examine the unknown lands in the north-west.
Grazing was now being rapidly extended into new
districts, and settlement followed closely on the
heels of exploration, if it did not even precede it.
Crossing the Darling above Fort Bourke, the
third Mitchell expedition passed through what is
now south-western Queensland, a well-watered
and fertile country, suitable for immediate pas-
toral occupation. Leaving Mount Abundance,
near the present site of Roma, he touched the
Maranoa River, and, keeping on, discovered the
Warrego and Belyando. Turning west again
from the head of the Nogoa (where he had
established a base) he crossed the red soil plains
covered with Mitchell grass, that brought him to
the Barcoo, which stockmen claim to be the best
country in Australia. The Barcoo crosses the
25th parallel 560 miles from the eastern coast.
The existence of pastoral and agricultural
country plentifully supplied with surface waters in
good seasons, and perennially blessed with an
abundant artesian supply — although Mitchell did
not know this — gave the Central Desert delusion
further refutation.
Mitchell's work throughout was well done. He
possessed all the courage of his compeers, and
was gifted with the organization they too often
lacked. Six years after his triumphant return
from the North, he had the distinction of taking
to England the first gold specimen and the first
diamond found In Australia. Besides being the
most successful of our explorers, this soldier of
Badajoz was both author and inventor.
The glory Mitchell achieved by organization
and forethought Leichhardt, on his first journey,
secured by mere good fortune. In these days
Ludwig Leichhardt would probably be regarded
as a "crank." But with a continent of mystery
spreading away from a narrow fringe of know-
ledge, In the vigorous "forties," a man like
Leichhardt, with no bushcraft, no tact, but possess-
ing inordinate self-confidence and vanity plus
audacity, might, like the gambler at the roulette
table, break the bank at his first sitting.
Despite his one accidental success, Leichhardt,
the hero of a hundred Australian stories, cannot
be accepted seriously as an explorer.
Arriving In Australia as a botanist in 1842 —
eager to gain glory in the fields of geographical
discovery, we find him at the head of a party
leaving Jimbour Station, Darling Downs, on the
1st of October, 1844.
Luckily the northern route which he had
selected took him nearly all the way through
country where it would be difficult for the veriest
new-chum to come to grief.
Leaving the Condamine, he met and named
the Dawson; passed on to the splendid Peak
Downs districts, crossed the Mackenzie, Isaacs
and Burdekin, struck across to the Gulf of Car-
pentaria, on the eastern shore of which he was
attacked by natives, and had three men speared —
Including the botanist, Gilbert, who was killed
outright.
From this point to Port Essington, which he
reached on the 17th December, 1845, the story
Sir Thomas Mitchell
of Lelchhardt's expedition Is less cheerful read-
ing; but the long journey he accomplished
through a well-grassed, well-watered Northern
Australia, reduced still further the area of sup-
posed desert, and paved a way for the establish-
ment of many fine colonial fortunes.
The glory which fell to Leichhardt was his
undoing. He now became seized with a vaulting
ambition to cross the Australian continent from
east to west In a direct line. His first attempt
ended in rank failure. The second expedition,
hastily organized, was composed of six white men
and two natives, with twelve horses, 13 mules, 50
bullocks, 270 goats, and a supply of provisions
and ammunition.
This expedition started from McPherson's
Station, Muckadilla Creek, on the south-west of
INLAND EXPLORATION
45
the present State of Queensland — early in April, from Streaky Bay he made the head of Spencer's
1848, and was never more heard of
The Gregory Search Expedition — sent out in
1858 to determine, if possible, what had become
of Leichhardt, discovered only such traces of him
as a marked tree and an old camp on the Barcoo.
In 1856 Gregory had found traces of the lost
explorer on Elsey Creek upper waters. The
Elsey is a tributary of the Roper, and the general
theory is that Leichhardt, being forced to retreat
from the dry country west of the Thomson River,
struck back to the Roper, and then travelled west
or south-west until he got into hopeless difficulties
and perished. If this were so, it is a remarkable
thing that not as much as a shoe buckle of the lost
expedition has ever been recovered.
Gulf, and located Lake Torrens.
On the 1 8th June, 1840, Eyre left Adelaide to
discover, if possible, a stock route from South
Australia to the Swan River settlement in West
Australia. He worked northward from Mount
Arden, at the head of Spencer's Gulf, along the
Flinders Ranges, which he named.
Being unable to find a way round Lake Tor-
rens, which was a mere salt mud bed of enormous
area, at that period, he returned to Mount Arden,
and struck westward, intending to get around to
King George's Sound, if possible, by keeping
closer to the coastline of the Great Australian
Bight.
Overlanding Cattle
There is another theory among bushmen that
quarrels among the party led to a tragedy, that
the survivors of this tragedy, if any, found it
expedient to destroy all traces of the expedition,
and either spent the rest of their days with the
natives, or quietly departed to another country.
It may be that Leichhardt's temper, which was
known to be violent and provocative, has lenl:
color to this belief.
While new lines were being written on the map
of Australia, north and west, the quiet excursions
of one Angas McMillan, from Currawang Sta-
tion, had made known the existence of the fertile
Gippsland districts in the south. In 1838
Bonney and Hawdon had overlanded the first
cattle from the settled districts of the South-East
to the infant city of Adelaide (S.A.) They
were followed by Edward John Eyre, who left
Port Lincoln on the western shore of Spencer's
Gulf (S.A.) in August, 1839, ^"^ crossed the
Peninsula now bearing his name. He found no
surface water in a journey of 300 miles. Eyre,
accompanied by a black boy, pushed on to within
50 miles of the then S.A. border. On his return
Between Fowler's Bay and the Sound lie eight
hundred miles of difficult country. Eyre, with
one white companion, Baxter, and three natives,
set out on the 31st January, 1 841, to cross it. Two
of these natives treacherously shot Baxter one
night during Eyre's absence. He returned to his
camp to find the greater part of his provisions
and his two shot guns and ammunition gone, and
his companion in his death agony.
With the remaining native Eyre pushed on to
Thistle Cove, where he had the good luck to find
a French whaling vessel at anchor. After ten
days rest the indomitable Eyre resumed his heroic
journey and arrived at King George's Sound in
July, 1 84 1.
Eyre, who was afterwards Governor-General
of Jamaica — where he added to his celebrity —
despite his early hardships, lived to the age of
ninety-one years, dying so recently as 1906.
His was another of the heroic yet profitless
journeys which brought brave but unsuitable
explorers celebrity, and helped to perpetuate
pessimistic Impressions of Australia.
46
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The lands where Eyre suffered and despaired,
the supposed-to-be-waterless peninsula that bears
his name, are being rapidly converted into wheat-
growing areas. The Mallee scrubs wherein he
thirsted and struggled are known to be invariably
fertile wheat soils, and below the surface Nature
has conserved, under immense areas, the water
which her wisdom thus protects against surface
evaporation or too-rapid drainage.
different from those he had met in the western
plains along the Warrego and Cooper's Creek.
Here were savages of a different type to the
Southern natives; warriors who would "step over
their dead and fight," and here also were matted
growths and tangled vines and a climate not so
conducive to European activity as the hot but
stimulating temperatures of the interior.
Distant View of the MacDonnell Bange
As this book is being written, gangs of men,
with all the appliances of engineering to hand,
are rapidly levelling a track for the great rail-
way, which, running to the northward of Eyre's
route, will put the wharves of Port Augusta in
direct touch with the wharves of Fremantle, and
join in solid links of transcontinental steel, Aus-
tralia— East and West.
The tragic effort of E. B. Kennedy was made
in 1848, the year of Leichhardt's disappearance.
In the endeavour to open up a northern route,
Kennedy and nine men of his expedition perished.
After some preliminary experience, gained with
Major Mitchell, he landed at Rockingham Bay,
at the base of York Peninsula, at the end of May
with twelve men.
But the jungled mountains of Tropical Aus-
tralia presented a series of difficulties altogether
Kennedy's party succeeded in crossing the
mountains, which formed part of the fertile
Atherton Tableland, by cutting their way through
the dense scrubs, and, falling a little to the west-
ward, made better progress in more open country,
where the Gulf rivers begin their courses. But
the object of the exploration being the eastern
slope, they recrossed into the jungles, and painfully
struggled northward to Weymouth Bay. Here
Kennedy left seven of his men in camp, woefully
short of provisions, and with three white men and
an aboriginal, endeavoured to push on to Port
Albany. From there he promised to send back
the schooner he expected with relief to the party
left behind. Of Kennedy's party, only Jacky
Jacky, the aboriginal, hotly pursued by the wild
blacks, reached Albany Pass alive.
INLAND EXPLORATION
47
Newcastle Waters, Central Australia
He brought the story of Kennedy's death at the
hands of hostile natives, and news that the other
three men had been left at Shelbourne Bay.
The schooner, the "Ariel," made all sail down
the coast to this point, only to find evidence that
the men had been killed by the fierce tribesmen of
York Peninsula.
Of the party left at Weymouth Bay, only two
were found alive — the rest had perished of star-
vation one by one. Kennedy's expedition is one
of the tragedies of Australian exploration; but
the country through which he struggled to his
doom is classed nowadays among the fat lands
of the Far North.
In 1863, '^he two Jardine brothers, young
native-born Queenslanders, carried an expedition
with cattle through hostile country via the Gulf,
and established themselves near Cape York.
These lads literally cut and fought their way
to Somerset, where their father, John Jardine,
was awaiting them. The Jardine family still
remains in occupation of the most northern pas-
toral holding on the Continent.
In 1872 William Hann, accompanied by Dr.
Tate, the botanist, and Taylor, geologist, took
another expedition through the difficult York
Peninsula country, and located the Palmer gold-
field.
From South Australia, during the fifties, much
exploration northward was carried on, by Bab-
bage, Goyder, Freeling, Hack, Warburton, and
Swinden.
But to John MacDouall Stuart belongs the
honour of first crossing the Australian Continent
from south to north. Prior to his first attempt
in i860 he had had many years' experience as an
explorer, first with Captain Sturt, and later in
charge of minor expeditions. Leaving Chambers's
Creek (S.A. ) in that year, he penetrated to the
MacDonnell Range, which he named after the
South Australian Governor of the period. On
the 22nd of April, i860, Stuart camped on the
centre of Australia, naming a high hill, about
two and a half miles distant. Central Mount
Sturt, after his former leader. Posterity altered
it to Central Mount Stuart, a deserving if acci-
dental honor to his own achievement.
Being met to the northward of this point by
water difficulties, and unprovoked attacks by
natives, Stuart, in view of the weakness of his
48
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
expedition, retired on the 27th June. He arrived,
much worn, at Hamilton Springs on the 26th
August.
Seeing that his work was good, the South Aus-
tralian Government, which has never been slow to
recognise the services of its explorers, promptly
voted £2,500 to equip a better organized party,
and placed Stuart again in command.
Once more this intrepid hero of the Great Cen-
tral Unknown set forth, and following closely
upon his previous route, took up the northern
trail where he had left off the year before.
This time he got as far as Newcastle Waters
before he cried retreat.
The authorities in Adelaide, with creditable
confidence in the man who stands forth in the
records of Australian history as a Man indeed,
promptly placed him at the head of a third
expedition. On the 14th of April, 1862, he was
again at Newcastle Waters. From there,
patiently overcoming his difficulties as they pre-
sented themselves, he followed a persistent route
to Daly Waters, and deviating eastward, went
onward to the Roper River.
Following up a tributary which he named the
Chambers, he struck out in a northerly and
westerly course, over the Katherine to the head
waters of a splendid river which he called the
Adelaide. Down the tropical black-soil country
of the Adelaide went MacDouall Stuart and his
band, and on the 24th of July, 1862, after turning
a little to the north-east from the river's mouth,
he had the sublime satisfaction, like Balbao from
his peak in Darien, of beholding the sea.
Dipping his feet and hands in the salt water,
2,000 miles from Adelaide, he knew that after
years of effort his splendid task had been at last
accomplished.
Clearing a space in the scrub and stripping a
tall sapling for his flagstaff, Stuart with his own
hands hoisted the British flag that he had carried
with him for so long.
The Overland Telegraph line now flashes
hourly along Stuart's track the little and greater
happenings of the world.
The journey back was one of tremendous dlfli-
culty. Stuart reached the outposts of civiliza-
tion, a mere skeleton, with Impaired eyesight, his
right hand powerless, and his body grievously
afflicted by scurvy. The Colony of South Aus-
tralia gave him honor and reward and he was
decorated with the gold medal of the Royal
Geographical Society, but he never recovered his
health, and died In England in 1869, leaving a
heritage of achievement to immortalize his name.
While Stuart was battling bravely on his trans-
continental journey, an expedition was outfitted in
the Colony of Victoria, at great public and
private expense, which added another to the list
of human tragedies. Its defeat arose — as did
most of the early failures — from the Inexperience
of brave, ambitious men.
Burke and Wills can no more be accepted as
explorers than I-elchhardt. Between men of this
type and Hume or Stuart, there was as wide a
difference as that between the most Intelligent
saloon passengers of a ship and the experienced
navigators who command it.
It was predicted, by men who knew, that under
the leadership of their Impetuous and spectacular
leader, Robert O'Hara Burke, the expedition was
certain to meet with disaster.
The Burke and Wills expedition left Mel-
bourne amid music and cheers. With camels and
a more complete outfit than has ever been carried
by an exploring party before or since, it arrived
at Menlndle, on the Darling River. A small
party under Burke left this place on the 19th
October, i860. It was a good season, grass and
water were plentiful, and the journey, by a known
route to Cooper's Creek, was accomplished
safely.
Here Burke suddenly determined to take three
men with him and attempt to cross the belt of
then-unknown country which lay between
Cooper's Creek and the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Of the four men who attempted this journey
of 500 miles — Burke, Wills, Gray and King — not
one had the slightest knowledge of bushcraft.
They set out, a quartette of picturesque adven-
turers, eager to cover themselves with glory. By
good fortune they struck the DIamantina, down
which, and by a northern tributary, they worked
through excellent pastoral country over the
ranges and out to the head of the Cloncurry.
From this they got on to the Flinders, and in due
course came to the mangrove swamps at Its mouth
in the Gulf.
As the subsequent fate of the Burke and Wills
expedition has frequently been instanced as a
proof of the harshness and sterility of inland
Australia, it must be stated here that, from first
to last, the route followed by this party lay
through districts which are producing nowadays
the finest sheep and wool that Australia exports
or consumes.
Having touched salt water, Burke hurried his
companions homeward on short rations, and by
long marches.
Gray died on the way back to Cooper's Creek,
under highly suspicious circumstances; the
first life needlessly sacrificed. The three sur-
vivors found, on reaching Cooper's Creek, that
the party at the Depot had started back to the
Darling that very morning — having cached a
store of provisions and left a letter informing
Burke of their movements.
Eria Fitzalani
Pterostylis longifolia . Diurls alba
SOME AUSTRALIAN ORCHIDS.
49
.^o
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
After a few days' rest, Burke insisted that,
instead of making for Menindie by their old
route, they should follow the creek down to South
Australia.
The rest is a pitiful record of blundering, star-
vation and death. They failed to reach their
destination in this direction, and endeavoured to
return to the depot. Wills, being the strongest
of the trio, left his two exhausted companions and
journeyed wearily up the creek and placed a note,
appealing for help, in the cache (where Burke
After Wills rejoined his companions, the party
were reduced to still worse straits. Wills and
Burke perished in turn. King fell in with
friendly natives, <<ind lived with them until found
by E. J. Welch, of Howitt's relief party, in Sep-
tember, 1 86 1.
The bodies of Burke and Wills were removed
to Melbourne, and accorded a public funeral.
In keeping with the hysterical foolishness of the
whole expedition, a hideous piece of statuary was
erected to their memory in Melbourne.
A Native Burial-Place (Weeping-Caps in Foreground)
had previously left a letter announcing his
return from the Gulf and his departure by the
South Australian route).
Such amateur bushmen were they that, on either
occasion, after carefully removing all traces of
the cache having been disturbed — a precaution
against natives — they did not think to mark a
tree, or leave some indication of their visits to
attract the attention of a relief party if it did
arrive. As was subsequently known, Brahe and
Wright, of the depot party, had returned to
Cooper's Creek and, finding the cache apparently
untouched, rode away again, thinking that Burke
had not yet made his way back from the north.
How Burke's camel tracks and fires were not
recognised is one of the many mysteries of this
deplorable expedition.
The latter part of the nineteenth century
brought, into the narrowed field of exploration,
men better equipped by character and experience
for the work.
John McKinlay added to the knowledge of
Central and Eastern Australia, and Wm. Lands-
borough also filled in gaps on the map in the
latter direction.
Gosse and Warburton, in 1873, extended the
radius of exploration to the westward of Stuart's
route, Warburton owing much to J. W. Lewis,
his second in command. His small expedition
travelled from Alice Springs (S.A. ) to the Oak-
over River (W.A. ).
In the early seventies Ernest Giles did useful
work in the middle North-West. He succeeded
finally in crossing to the settlements of Western
INLAND EXPLORATION
51
Australia, his starting point being Beltana in
South Australia.
His return journey from east to west brought
him from the Murchison to Peake Station, on the
overland telegraph line.
In the year 1875 the last exploring expedi-
tion sent out by the Queensland government,
established the fact that the whole of the north-
ern colony was known. This, with New South
Wales and Victoria well-mapped from border
to border, left little to be done on the eastern
side of the continent.
By this time also the telegraph line had cut
through the centre of the continent, establishing
a series of bases from north to south.
In 1878 Ernest Favenc crossed from the Dia-
mantina through what is now the Northern Terri-
tory to Powell's Creek telegraph station, dis-
covering some fine new country.
In the same year H. V. Barclay worked east-
ward from Alice Springs towards the Queensland
border, discovering several new tributaries of
Lake Eyre.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, the
whole of Central Australia was known, and a
great part of it occupied by the flocks and herds
of enterprising pastoralists.
* * * *
Meanwhile Western Australia had been writ-
ing a somewhat independent story of exploration
and advancement.
The area within its boundaries comprising
nearly a third of the continent, there was ample
field for the activities of westerners.
From the establishment of the first settlement
at Swan River in 1829, the work of discovery
was carried on. Beginning with Captain Jno. S.
Roe, in 1830, the long list of Westralian explorers
comes down to the present day.
To the late Sir George Grey, the Gregorys,
and the Forrests, the greater share of credit has
fallen.
During 1 837-1 839 George Grey explored
sections of the North-West Coast, and traversed
the country from Shark Bay to Perth. He dis-
covered and named the Glenelg and Gascoyne
Rivers.
But it was in fields other than exploration that
the name of George Grey afterwards became one
of the most famous in the Southern Hemisphere.
In 1829 a certain Lieutenant J. Gregory, of the
78th Highlanders, being wounded and invalided
from the Egyptian war, came to take up a grant
of land near Perth given him by the Imperial
Government as compensation.
Here his sons learned to be bushmen. Three
of them were destined to write their names as
explorers very large upon the map of Australia.
In 1846 the brothers Gregory made their not-
able journey westward from Perth.
At the head of the Irwin River they located the
first seam of coal discovered in the West.
In 1855-6 A. C. Gregory was put in charge of
an expedition organized and financed by the
Imperial Government.
The object of the expedition was to explore the
centre of Australia, and also to discover, if pos-
sible, traces of Leichhardt.
H. C. Gregory served as lieutenant under his
brother. The famous botanist, Ferdinand Von
Mueller, J. S. Wilson, geologist, J. R. Elsey, sur-
geon and naturalist, and T. Baines, artist, were
Myall Blacks beside a Central Australian Watercourse.
52
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
members of the party, which numbered eighteen
in all and was well equipped with horses,
provisions, and stores.
The expedition was taken by sea to the Vic-
toria River, in the present Northern Territory.
After some useful preliminary exploration, the
Gregorys, Von Mueller and Baines, with six men
and thirty-six horses, left their base (January
4th, 1856) to cross the interior. Gregory
ran the Victoria down to its sources. Here he
established a temporary camp, and then, being a
sound bushman, picked up the first river system
with a southern flow. This, in the shape of
Sturt's Creek, named by him after the explorer,
carried him safely a good 300 miles, accompanied
only by his brother, Von Mueller, and a member
of the expedition named Dean. He returned to
his temporary camp on the 28th March, to find
everything in order and security. The 9th May
found them all safely back at the Victoria. F^rom
here he despatched his schooner to the mouth of
the Albert River in the Gulf, and with most of
his party started overland to Brisbane, which
they reached in due course. Supposed traces of
Leichhardt were discovered at the Elsey Creek.
Two years later A. C. Gregory was put in
command of a light search expedition to follow
up these traces of Leichhardt. The party crossed
from the Dawson (Q.) to the Barcoo, and subse-
quently reached Adelaide. Although it failed
to solve the mystery of Leichhardt, it added
largely to the geographical knowledge of the
period. < t
From 1857, F. T. Gregory, another of this
famous family, is prominent in the annals of West
Australian discovery. In that year, as leader
of a lightly equipped party of horsemen, he tra-
versed a wide range of country to the northward
of the Swan River Settlement, and established its
useful character. In 1861 F. T. Gregory, con-
ducting an English expedition from Nickol
Bay, on the N.W. Coast, discovered the Fortes-
cue, and followed it through to the Hammersley
Range. From here he turned southward, and
discovered the Ashburton : subsequently the De
Grey and the Oakover rewarded the persistent
efforts of this indomitable explorer, who estab-
lished the fact that large areas of the West, pre-
viously supposed to be waterless and barren, were
in reality excellent country.
Among the heroes of West Australian explora-
tion stands Robert Austin, who, in 1854, took out
a Government exploring party in search of pas-
toral and mineral possibilities. Although
Austin's expedition was practically profitless, it is
remarkable for the conduct of its leader, who,
beset by more than usual difficulties, showed in
a marked degree the determination and endur-
ance which have been a feature of all our gallant
attacks on the wilderness.
In the year 1870, John and Alexander Forrest
made their celebrated journey from Perth to
Adelaide, via Eucla.
John Forrest was the first to take the bitter
edge off Eyre's conclusions. He discovered that,
although the lands at the head of the Bight were
not plentifully supplied with surface water, they
were profitably grassed, and, moreover, under-
ground water could be obtained almost anywhere
at a shallow depth.
In a Jarrah Forest, W.A.
Forrest classed the tableland as the finest pas-
toral district of Western Australia, if water
supply could be established. This pronounce-
ment from a practical man will doubtless be veri-
fied to the fullest degree within a few years —
after the Transcontinental Railway is completed.
In 1874 the Forrests again set out on an ex-
tended expedition, seeking to discover a practical
stock route to South Australia, and also to deter-
mine more fully the nature of the Great Inland
of Western Australia. From Geraldton to
Weld Springs, and then to Peake Telegraph Sta-
tion this remarkable expedition was successfully
carried.
INLAND EXPLORATION
53
Alexander Forrest, in 1879, crossed from the
De Grey River to the telegraph line, and, return-
ing to Beagle Bay, followed the Fitzroy River to
the Leopold Range, which he named. Skirting
the southern edges of these difficult mountains,
he struck across country to the Victoria River,
discovering the Ord en route. From the Victoria,
Forrest made his way with great difficultytowards
Daly Waters, on the Overland Telegraph, near
where, almost at the point of starvation, he had
the good fortune to strike a line-repairing party.
Since the days of the Forrests, gaps in Western
Australian maps have been filled by the good
exploratory work of W. J. O'Donnell, Carr Boyd,
Harry Stockdale, L. A. Wells, David Lindsay,
Carnegie, Tietkins, W. P. Rudall, Hann, Brock-
man, and Conigrave.
Little now remains for the geographical
explorer to do; but for the scientific investigator
there is still an almost limitless field in Australia.
For practical and original minds there await
both fame and profit in the acquisition of know-
ledge, which will turn the Far Interior to better
account.
On courage and enterprise, backed by faith
and energy, the foundations of Australian for-
tunes were laid in the past. But the wealth of
to-day is but a beggar's moiety of the unlimited
wealth of the future which will be won by the
application of modern knowledge to local condi-
tions. The explorers, despite their failures and
their faults, have proved that the whole continent
is good.
John Forrest (1874)
54
(55)
AUSTRALIA'S POLITICAL EVOLUTION.
THE political evolution of the Australian
Colonies has been along advanced demo-
cratic lines. The Commonwealth of
to-day presents as great an interest to the econom-
ist as the colonies of yesterday offer to the his-
torian who wishes to study the rise and progress
of self-governing communities.
The 112 years which passed between the land-
ing of Phillip's first contingent at Sydney Cove,
and the 17th of September, 1900, which made
the Federation of the Six Australian Colonies a
date in national history, were strenuous and
active for the generations which came and went,
steadily growing in numbers, experience and
quality at each decade.
It will be remembered that in 1770 England
formally annexed the eastern side of the con-
tinent only. It was not until the year 1829 that
the British flag floated over Western Australia.
The Colony of New South Wales was created
in 1786, Tasmania 1825, Western Australia
1829, South Australia 1834, Victoria 1851,
Queensland 1859. Since the foundation of the
Commonwealth the Federal Government has
taken over bv consent Papua or British New
Guinea from Queensland (1906), and the North-
ern Territory from South Australia (1907).
With the final definition of its geographical
boundaries and the establishment of autonomous
goverment, each colony set itself to its work of
An Australian Jungle
56
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
internal development and government on lines
which have received little alteration since Federa-
tion. The construction and maintenance of roads,
railways, telegraph lines, ports and various
utilities have always made the Minister for Public
Works in each State Government a highly respon-
sible functionary.
Transport — railways, and in some instances
tramways and ferries — being entirely State-
owned and controlled, has added to the respon-
sibilities of administration. Many of the func-
tions which in other countries are still left to
private enterprise are carried out by Government
in Australia.
As all his institutions show, the Australian is a
great lover of liberty and justice. Philanthropy,
for example, is nowhere relegated to the caprice
of individuals, but is overlooked or carried out
by the State. Extreme pauperism, so lamentably
common elsewhere, is unknown in Australia. Tlie
idea of human want or suffering continuing un-
relieved is absolutely abhorrent to the Austra-
lian mind. That one man, woman, or child
throughout the whole circle of our bounteous
Commonwealth, should be without food, clothing
or covering would be taken as a reflection not only
upon our humanity, but upon our generous
country — the freest and most prosperous of all.
So to-day, from ocean to ocean, in Australia it
may be said that there is not one single individual
in utter want, not one cripple without a refuge,
not one unfortunate within reach of assistance
for whom assistance is not somehow provided; no
orphan without a home, no aged or infirm citizen
for whom provision has not been attempted.
Moreover, it has come to be tacitly accepted
by our Governments that employment must be
found for every man who is genuinely seeking
work. Unemployment, under normal conditions,
is a thing almost unknown in Australia; indeed,
the whole country is suffering from a scarcity of
labor.
Australia can support two hundred millions
in the same standard of comfort and security as
readily as she is carrying five millions. Intend-
ing immigrants to the Commonwealth need have
no fear that if accident or ill-fortune meet them
they or their families will be permitted to starve.
Nowhere else are public benevolences more all-
embracing; nowhere do such opportunities for
personal advancement exist.
Although our legislation is being constantly
amended and improved, although the Party
System naturally lends some acidity at times to
political utterances, it must be admitted that the
collective political brain of Australia has been
just, sound, and progressive. Critics who have
not been long enough in the country to catch its
true national consciousness, have accused us of
habituating our people to depend too much on the
State. If this were so, it would only be because
Australian legislatures have always been com-
posed of men from the people, whose sympathies
remain democratic when they have risen to the
highest administrative positions in the land.
Our governments continue to be popular and
paternal, inclined to err rather on the side of
ilHHIHElir?^39Pf^HBiE!i8^^^^^H^HlB
ii 'm>{ • 1
1
Pioneers in the Bush
leniency than harshness. The spirit of the whole
community is evolutionary. We want to estab-
lish for ourselves and our children the best laws
and the best conditions that human judgment and
experience can suggest. Each political party is
honestly actuated by these motives. To a stu-
dent of political economy from abroad the differ-
ence between the declared policies of parties
would be regarded on analysis as very slight. On
the questions of a White Australia and national
defence, they are both in accord. They only
differ as to method of application in regard to
some important questions of legislation. There
are obviously few laws on the statute books of
the State or Federal Parliaments that either
political party is burning to repeal, and it is
mainly around greater problems of reform legisla-
tion or of expenditure that the wordy battles of
legislators are waged.
AUSTRALIA'S POLITICAL EVOLUTION
57
Despite the larger measure of freedom en-
joyed by all citizens of the Federation, despite
social mixture and geographical remoteness and a
wide divergence of outlook — particularly on social
and industrial questions — between the people of
Britain and Australia, there prevails throughout
the Commonwealth a genuine loyalty for that
destined to become something more than a place
of exile and punishment for offenders against laws
which were already beginning to come under the
more humane criticism of the progressive Nine-
teenth Century.
By that time, Eastern Australia had been
proved a profitable field for both pastoralist and
British motherland which the vast majority of agriculturist. Thousands of broad acres under
Australians have never visited. Back of all the cultivation and a vast increase In cattle and sheep
platitude and formula. It Is recognised that foreshadowed the boundless developments of the
solidarity of Empire means something more than future.
a mere expression; that the spirit, if not the From Macquarle's period onward, Australia
letter, of Occidental civilisation has found Its began to attract settlers and emigrants from
Pioneering: Making his Bed for the Night
highest expression In British laws and Institutions,
and these must be preserved.
The edifice of Australian nationalism is yet
incomplete, but its foundations have been well
and truly laid. Some phases of our nation-build-
ing are worth at least a passing reference.
From the establishment of the first penal settle-
ment, under Governor Phillip, the earlier years,
down to the time of Governor Macquarle, were
largely occupied in finding firm rootage for a
white community in alien soil. The creation of
a local food supply was naturally a first considera-
tion. Until a safe base had been established
there would be no expansion.
When Governor Macquarle left Sydney In
1 82 1 the success of Australian Settlement was
assured. He seems to have been the first of the
early Governors to realize that the Colony v.as
abroad, of whom a very small proportion found
occasion to return to their native land.
This migration of Europeans southward to a
country conforming to the climate and physical
conditions of Europe would have been more rapid
but for the great distance between the Old and
New Worlds. The wonderful possibilities of
Australia have not yet been fully realized, and
quick transport and a faith In the country, based
upon fuller knowledge, are still necessary to keep
the tide of European migration directed south-
wards. For the white races, Australia offers a
field of equal opportunity such as exists nowhere
else.
Laws and conditions prevailing In the Com-
monwealth are still but the dreams of reformers
in some other countries.
This is the ripened fruit of much strenuous
political cultivation. The growth of Australian
legislation has been comparatively rapid, but not
58
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITKD
Young Selectors
altogether unattended by agitation and public
excitement.
As far back as 1823, the V'oice of the People
was beginning to be heard. First the Eman-
cipists and those who believed that purgation of an
offence and continued good conduct should entitle
the convict to the full rights of citizenship, began
their remote battle for an instalment of that
freedom and justice so large a measure of which
all Australians enjoy nowadays. A more en-
lightened and humane sentiment was growing in
regard to the treatment of offenders. Into the
old order of soldier-master and convict-slave
the thin end of disruption was inserted by the
Free Settler.
Gradually the interests of Emancipists and
Free Settlers converged. Then the "exclusives,"
the official class, found themselves facing a unit-
ed democracy determined to secure such privi-
leges as full trial by jury and taxation by an
elected Legislature; with this early agitation
William Charles Wentworth came into promin-
ence as a reformer.
At the back of it all there lay the clashing of
interests and the prejudice of caste to gall and
irritate the contending forces.
Wentworth seems to have been a highly
acquisitive colonist, with education and a consider-
able genius for newspaper fighting — two qualities
that have laid the foundation of more than one
colonial reputation and fortune.
Whatever Wentworth's minor motives may
have been, whatever his cupidity, his was the
first big personality in the political arena. As
the great Australian constitutionalist of his
period, his name is reverently preserved. The
Governorship of Sir Richard Bourke (1831-37)
marked the ending of the old assignment system
in New South Wales. Bourke apparently saw
that the original use for which eastern Australia
was intended by the British Government had
become a mere appendix affecting the health of a
Colony already approaching robust growth. The
country had conclusively proved itself to be too
good for such an expedient — it was pre-ordained,
not as a depot for British convicts but as a
maternal matrix for the moulding of nationality
and the breeding of freemen.
The Governor who preceded him. Darling, had
vainly struggled against a growing tide of popu-
lar interest. Bourke was as popular as Darling
had been disliked. He favored the system of
assisted immigration, and advocated the cessation
of transportation. What Bourke sowed in
theory, his successor, Sir George Gipps
(1838-46), reaped in fact. New Zealand had
ceased in 1840 to be a dependency of New South
Wales. Her career of expansion had already
begun and was destined to continue on indivi-
dual lines, broadly similar to those pursued by
the other colonies of British Australasia.
By the time Gipps held the reins of Govern-
ment in New South Wales, the agitation for self-
government had taken a definite form. The
method of Government had been altered, with
Brisbane in 1823, from a military satrapy to a
limited Governorship with a partly autonomous
legal system presided over by a Chief Justice and
enlarged by a modified form of trial by jury.
The Governor's power was also checked by an
advisory Council of seven, holding office under
his own nomination, but permitted to appeal to
the English Colonial Office if they saw fit. The
Governor could introduce no new law for the con-
sideration of his Council until the Chief Justice
had approved it as conforming to British law
applied to the Colony.
A Slab Hut in tbe Bush
AUSTRALIA'S POLniCAL INVOLUTION
59
A Log Hut in the Clearing
The number of Councillors was increased in
1828 to fourteen, with additional powers.
Fourteen years of further progress advanced
the Colony to an importance befitting some less
paternal form of administration. England recog-
nised that the young brood in the South were
beginning to stretch their wings and, wise in the
experience of her American Colonies, prepared
to give them a fuller measure of liberty. In
1840, transportation, at the urgent request of the
people of New South Wales, ceased.
In 1842 the nominated Council became to some
degree a selected body of representatives.
In the re-organised Council, twelve members
were nominees, the other 24 were elected by the
freeholders of the colony owning property valued
at £200, and householders worth £20.
Full legislative powers under the British Con-
stitution were given to this body, with control of
all colonial revenues, except the revenue from the
sales of land, and a fixed civil list.
The Governor still appointed and directed the
Colonial Ministry, but the inauguration of this
reform practically placed in the hands of the
people the moulding of their own political
destinies. They had had some strong men for
Governors, and some of no particular distinction
or capacity, but henceforward the young Colonies
were not to be absolutely dependent for their
peace and happiness on the accident of a Downing
Street appointment.
Five years previously (1837) the ten-acre
block which now constitutes the heart of Mel-
bourne was sold for £500; but destinies were
shaping which would convert the constitution of
1842 into a full measure of responsible Govern-
ment and in a little time make Melbourne the
capital city of a new southern colony.
Already a Land and Emigration Commission
appointed in London had recommended the split-
ting of eastern Australia into three divisions.
Whatever might happen to the western part of
the continent, the east had now become a factor
of Empire. It would never be abandoned, and
it must not be lost either by outside aggression
or internal disruption. The eastern colonists
were loyal, but evidently determined to enjoy a
full measure of freedom and home rule. The
province of South Australia had recently been
founded as an experimental Whig Utopia. Tas-
mania was still regarded as a convict depot, and
Western Australia as a delicate infant In leading
strings.
The colony of New South Wales, which ex-
tended from Cape York to Mount Gambler, had
developed from stock of earlier planting, and its
growth had been accelerated by favorable
natural causes. It was ripening for change.
6o
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The next great question of colonial importance
which rose and demanded an answer was — to
whom do the waste or spare or new lands of the
great eastern colony belong? Are they to
remain the property of the British Government
for its right and revenue; or are they to become
the heritage of the colonists? The new
Assembly, under Wentworth, entered a vigorous
claim for the rights of the Colonial Government
to hold and control the public lands within the
boundaries of the colony. Governor Gipps intro-
duced a system of grazing licenses under which
the squatting or pastoralist class were called upon
to pay a fee of £io a year for their stock runs.
This offered a bone of contention until a ukase
from the home Government decreed the licensees
a fixed tenure of their holdings for a number of
years, with pre-emptive rights at the end of the
term.
An attempt on the part of the British authori-
ties to revive transportation in 1848-9 brought
into existence the first "People's Party" in Aus-
tralia. Wentworth and his followers in the
New South Wales Council, being chiefly repre-
sentatives of the squatting class, were in favor of
the re-introduction of cheap convict labor, but the
smaller landowners, free settlers, and a majority
of the population were determined that the bad
old system should not be resurrected from its
dishonored grave.
So when Earl Grey and the Colonial Office in
1849 P"t ^ tentative hand upon the collar of
Young Australia, they were suddenly faced by a
clenched fist.
Grey, as if to try the temper of the colonists,
despatched the Hashemy with a contingent of 212
convicts to Sydney, and nearly succeeded in bring-
ing about a rebellion. The whole town surged
down to the water front and threatened to repeat
at Circular Quay the history of Boston Harbour.
Governor Fitzroy ordered the Hashemy and
following ships north to Moreton Bay.
So great was the subsequent pressure brought
to bear in England by the People's Party, led by
Charles Cowper, that Earl Grey had to give in,
and presently we find the Imperial Government
pledged to discontinue transportation to eastern
Australia for evermore.
On the very eve of the great gold discoveries
— which threw a vivid beam of limelight over
that part of the world-screen occupied by Austra-
lia— the Imperial Parliament passed its memor-
able Australian Colonies Government Act of
1850.
Under this Act, and under the amended New
South Wales Constitution Act of 1855 and simi-
lar measures, the eastern Australian colonies
began a development which has gone on steadily
to the present time.
The two main objects of the 1850 Act were the
establishment of an improved and practically uni-
form system of government in the Australian
colonies, and to permit of the Port Phillip Dis-
trict becoming a separate colony under the name
of Victoria.
On the issue of writs for the first election in
Victoria, Separation was to be accepted as an
accomplished fact.
The Act provided that the existing Legisla-
ture in New South Wales should decide the num-
ber of members of which a new Council was to
consist in that colony, and should perform the
A Selector's Home
same task for Victoria. One-third of the num-
ber of members of the Council in each colony
was to be nominated by the Crown. The
existing Legislatures in Van Diemen's Land and
South Australia were to decide as to the number
of members in the new Council in each, but they
were not to exceed twenty-four. Power was
given to the Governor and Legislative Council
in each colony to alter the qualifications of
electors and members as fixed by the Act, or to
establish, instead of the Legislative Council, a
Council and a House of Representatives, or
other separate Legislative Houses, to be ap-
pointed or elected by such persons and in such
manner as should be determined, and to vest in
such Houses the powers and functions of the old
Council.
Under this and subsequent Acts and amend-
ments the Colonies of New South Wales, Vic-
toria, Tasmania and South Australia took up the
burdens of local government with full powers to
make laws, impose taxation (including customs
duties) and appropriate to the public service the
whole of the public revenue arising from taxes,
AUSTRALIA'S POLITICAL LVOLUTION
6i
duties, rates and imposts. The Act of 1855 con-
ferred a fuller measure of responsible Govern-
ment on the colonies with the entire manage-
ment and control of Crown lands and additional
powers to pass laws amending the Constitution.
The colony of Queensland was created under
similar conditions in 1859. Western Australia
did not receive full legislative responsibility until
1890.
Governor may see fit to grant a dissolution of
Parliament.
The Executive Council, composed of govern-
ing Ministers, is in each case presided over by the
Governor of the State, always a nominee of the
British Government.
The Royal assent is only necessary for Bills
altering the constitution of a Legislature or
affecting a State Governor's salary or for some
An Australian Farmer's Home
Briefly, the legislature in each State is com-
posed of two Houses, a Lower House or
Assembly, invariably elected by the people voting
nowadays on the one person one vote principle,
and an Upper House or Legislative Council —
either nominees as in New South Wales and
Queensland, or elected, as in the other States, on
a slightly restricted franchise.
Majority government is universal, the admin-
istrative offices being filled by the party having
the voting strength in the Lower House. All pub-
lic appointments, distribution of revenue, and the
government of the country generally, remain
entirely in their hands as long as their majority
prevails on the floor of Parliament. State and
Federal general elections for the Lower Houses
are held every three years, or at such times as the
measure that is required to be reserved under the
Australian States Constitution Act of 1907.
Outside of these reservations the power of the
British Government over Australian State Legis-
latures may be regarded as nil. The Governors
are still appointed from Westminster, but nowa-
days their influences are social rather than
political, and their energies run in non-contentious
grooves.
Although the governments of the States were
modelled largely on the English system, the legis-
lation which has emanated from Australian Par-
liaments during the last half-century has naturally
been much more radical in character than that of
the Home Parliament during the same period,
particularly in regard to industrial matters.
62
AUSTRALIA'S POLITICAL EVOLUTION
63
The Upper Houses, elective in all the States
except New South Wales and Queensland, are
supposed to fill a function of check, and revision,
similar to that accredited to the House of Lords.
In the two States which have held to the nominee
system, a protracted struggle between the two
Houses can be terminated by the party with a
majority in the Lower House swamping the
Council with its nominees, unless the Governor
should veto an undue exercise of the nominating
power.
South Australia, the Constitution of which has
been subject to more amendments than any of the
others — has a device for preventing deadlocks by
a double dissolution. Victoria, Tasmania, and
Western Australia are satisfied to leave the
trouble, if it occurs, to find its own remedy.
The Executive Councils are an imitation of
the British Cabinet. The Governor of each
State stands for the Sovereign, and exercises his
powers on the "advice" of his Executive. He is
at the same time an official of the British Colonial
Office, to which he is supposed to report on
matters of Imperial import. He is called upon
to reserve for the Sovereign's assent such Bills as
may aflFect his State's relations with the Home
Government or with foreign nations.
The number of Ministers and their functions
are constitutionally determined. During the
last ten to fifteen years the fluctuations of politi-
cal parties have been considerable. The advent
of Federation naturally brought about a disturb-
ance in political conditions which has re-acted on
the State legislatures. The extension of the
franchise to women must also have had its effect.
The detailed history of Colonial politics over
fifty years would require a volume to itself.
In each of the Australian colonies the land
problem has called for frequent legislation. This
is to be expected in a young country where ques-
tions of occupation and settlement are continually
demanding consideration.
For many years prior to Federation the sub-
ject of tariffs caused contention in the State legis-
latures.
The Federation of the colonies brought about
interstate free trade with excise and bounties,
and a protective tariff against certain imports.
Seventy-three per cent, of the excise revenues col-
lected have been from beer, spirits and tobacco,
which with starch, sugar (and licenses for the
manufacture of stimulants and narcotics) make
up the customs charges under this head. The
Interstate Tariff Commission, recently appointed,
should greatly facilitate the adjustment of cus-
toms duties, and open the way for the building up
of a rapidly-increasing Australian manufacture.
During the last two decades industrial legis-
lation has received considerable attention all over
Australia. The best efforts of all sides are being
exerted to devise just and peaceable solutions of
those economic problems which have become a
poignant feature of modern civilization.
With majority rule and universal franchise
these matters can safely be left to the contending
parties, who are lacking neither exponents nor
organization.
The broader issues of effective occupation,
defence, and development of natural resources
will give Australian legislators constant occupa-
tion for generations to come.
A station Homestead
(64)
0^ON^,
FEDERATION OF THE AUSTRALIAN STATES.
F
OR nearly half a century the five eastern
Colonies had flourished and grown under
their five separate but similar Constitu-
tions.
The fifty years, from the granting of respon-
sible government to the end of the century, were
full of achievement. Australia had proved a
golconda of mineral wealth; the virtues of her
lands were widely established, her production had
expanded to a degree which the pessimists of a
preceding generation would not have dreamt
possible in five hundred years.
A new type of colonist had come into being,
evolved by over a century of new conditions. It
represented the best of the Anglo-Saxon, the Scot
and the Celt, with a dash of the best of Europe
and America to give it tone. Behind it there
stood the character and stamina of a selected
stock: it was not the weaklings or the cowards
who had turned their faces southward, but the
strong.
Under clear cold stars their camp fires had been
lighted. On the edge of odorous eucalyptus
forests, their broad axes had flashed in the sun-
light. Mountain fastnesses had echoed the
report of their rifles. Over great plains their
horses had galloped — north, south, east and
west they had been staking out a continent for
the White Race.
The land was no longer filled with exiles long-
ing for home, but with freemen, mostly native
born, to whom Australia was a gracious and
generous motherland. State boundaries to them
were doors to different rooms in the one family
house. Constant and unrestricted migration
took place across their borders; everywhere the
same language was spoken; everywhere the
people were of the same kindly, resourceful char-
acter. There might be a little good-tempered
rivalry betwen cities, but the Bush was big-
hearted, democratic, close-knit by a common
experience and interest.
From the beginning of self-government, wise
men foresaw that a closer union of the Australian
Colonies was ultimately certain to result. Such
an "alliance would naturally have to come before
any small intercolonial angles of difference had
become wide arcs of disunion. As the widest
differentiation in nature may date from an
apparently casual deviation, so, in time, some
chance divergence might have developed into a
cause of serious disunion.
65
06
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Nor was it wise that six separate provinces
should continue on the lines of growing into six
separate nations as the years added to their popu-
lation and wealth.
Behind first cautious steps towards Federation
stood an instinct of mutual danger.
Theoretically, the collective mind of Australia
— educated and humanitarian — was, and is,
against war. But the commonsense mind of Aus-
tralia saw that as long as war exists, even non-
aggressive people may have trouble thrust upon
them. In which case it is necessary to meet
attack with resource and organization. Without
a complete Australian Federation no effective
defence system could possibly be evolved. The
weaker and more vulnerable colonies would be
helpless, unaided by their stronger neighbours.
To protect them in case of war it was obvious
that some general defence system under a central
control must be established.
The constant problem of revenue tariffs, more-
over, could only be settled by a common agree-
ment among States ; an agreement which was im-
possible to ensure without a Federal Union.
Great national requirements generally find
individuals Into whom a necessary element of
greatness has entered to strengthen them for the
task.
By character and experience the late Sir Henry
Parkes was well fitted to lead the way to unity.
This he undertook as the crowning effort of a
vigorous political career. Sir Henry Parkes
was one striking example among thousands of
that success which Is certain to young men of
energy and ambition In Australia.
B. R. Wise, once a political associate, in his
Making of the Aiistrtilian Commonwealth, gives
a comparison which Sir Henry Parkes made to a
friend between the life of Mr. W. E. (iladstone
— a contemporary Prime Minister — and his own:
"When he was at F^ton preparing himself for
"Oxford, enjoying the advantages of a good
"education, with plenty of money, and being
"trained in every way for his future position as a
"statesman, I was working at a rope walk (In
"England) at fourpence a day, and suffered such
"cruel treatment that I was knocked down with
"a crowbar, and did not recover my senses for
"half an hour. From the rope walk I went to
"labor in a brickyard, where I was again brutally
"used; and when Mr. Gladstone was at Oxford I
"was breaking stones on the Queen's highway
"with hardly enough clothing to protect me from
"the cold."
He landed in Australia a penniless youth, to
become in due course the most prominent political
figure of that half century of responsible Colonial
Government which led up to Federation.
In the year 1889, being then Premier of New
South Wales, he formally initiated a campaign
which, after assuming many phases and passing
through stage after stage, ended with the Federa-
tion of the Colonies, five years after the veteran's
death.
The movement was greatly strengthened by the
eloquent enthusiasms of a fervent band of
Federalists in the different colonies, among whom
Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin — each
in turn subsequently Prime Minister of the Com-
monwealth— were most prominent.
In the galaxy of famous Federationlsts the
names should be recorded of Sir John Forrest,
Mr. Kingston, Sir John Downer, Mr. B. R. Wise,
Sir Samuel Griffith, Sir George Turner, Sir Gra-
ham Berrv, Mr. James Service, Mr. Isaacs, Mr.
R. E. O'Connor, 'Mr. P. Glynn, Mr. Henry, Sir
Frederick Holder, Sir Josiah Symon, Sir Joseph
Carruthcrs, and ultimately Sir Cieorge Reld.
Some of these were late converts to the Federal
idea, but they all played their parts at various
stages of the movement.
The first National Australasian Convention,
presided over by Sir Henry Parkes, was assembled
on 2nd March, 1881. A bill was drafted and
considered by the Parliaments of New South
Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania,
but did not reach the House in either Western
Australia, New Zealand (which had also been
represented at this Convention) or Queensland.
A Conference of Australian Premiers, held In
Hobart in 1895, declared that "Federation was
"the great and pressing question of Australian
"politics and the framing of a Federal Constitu-
"tlon an urgent duty."
Enabling Acts were afterwards passed by each
of the States except Queensland. A People's
Federal Con\entIon was held at Bathurst, New
South Wales, in November, 1896, and the 4th of
March was fixed as a date for the election of
Federal representatives for each State.
On the 22nd of March these representatives
met at Adelaide.
Constitutional, Finance, and Judiciary Commit-
tees were appointed, and a Bill drafted. This,
reported to the Convention on the 22nd April,
was adopted on the following day, and the Con-
vention adjourned till September. The Parlia-
ments of New South Wales, Victoria, South Aus-
tralia, Tasmania, and Western Australia dis-
cussed the question before the Sydney session of
the Convention, which opened on the 2nd Sep-
tember, 1897. The business of this Convention
Involved the general reconsideration of the whole
Bill, and the consideration of no less than 286
suggested amendments. The Melbourne ses-
sion of 1898, extending over three months,
reached finality.
TFIE COMMONWEALllI
67
Federal Parliament House, Melbourne
Eleven weeks after this last Convention the
first popular vote was taken on Federation in New-
South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tas-
mania. Though the decision was o\erwhelmingly
in favour of Federation in three of the States,
and a smaller affirmation in New South Wales,
the majority was legally insufficient to bring about
the desired result.
A Conference of the six Colonial Premiers fol-
lowed in 1899, and seven amendments were
effected in the Bill.
A second referendum in which Queensland
joined: — but Western Australia stood out — was
held, and the majority for Federation more than
doubled.
A delegation of representatives from the
Federating Colonies visited F'.ngland on the occa-
sion of the submission of the Commonwealth Bill
to the Imperial Parliament. The Bill was
promptly passed through all its stages by the
House of Commons and received the Royal assent
on 9th July, 1900.
A referendum on the tjuestion of Federation
was taken in Western Australia on the 31st of the
same month, and resulted in a large "Yes"
majority. The Western Houses put forward a
petition for inclusion as an original State in the
Union, and on the 17th September, 1900, Her
Majesty Queen Victoria signed a Proclamation
declaring that on and after ist January, 1901, the
people of New South Wales, Victoria, South Aus-
tralia, Queensland, Tasmania, and Western Aus-
tralia, should be united in a Federal Common-
wealth under the name of
THE COMMONWEALTH OF .AUSTRALIA.
Although New Zealand had been represented
at some of the deliberations, the possibilities of
her entering the Federation were at all times
regarded as very remote.
Having reached an important milestone on the
road to nationalism, Australia celebrated the
event with befitting festivities. The First Par-
liament of the Commonwealth was conxened by
proclamation dated 29th April, 1901, by the Earl
of Hopetoun, first Governor-General, and opened
on 9th May by the present King of England,
George V., then Duke of Cornwall and York.
Of the legislation effected by nine Ministries
which have at various intervals during thirteen
years past controlled Federal affairs, those Acts
relating to Colored or Alien Immigration,
Tariffs, Land Fax, and Defence, are probably the
most important.
The establishment of a High Court and a Com-
monwealth Bank, the taking over of Papua and
the Northern territory, the appointment of a
High Commissioner in London, the fixing of a
Federal Capital site, and the commencement of
an Australian Navy and the trans-Australian
railway are among the greater events of the
Federation.
(6S)
General View of Canberra, the Federal Capital Site,
CANBERRA, THE FEDERAL CAPITAL.
IN entering the Federation New South Wales
imposed a condition that the Federal capital
should be within territory of the Mother
State.
Under the Constitution the seat of Common-
wealth (jovernment was to be determined by Par-
liament. The capital and the surrounding area —
not less than lOO square miles — should remain
vested in and belong to the Commonwealth.
An exhaustive examination of suggested sites
took place during following years, and the ques-
tion was hotly debated in Parliament on several
occasions.
In 1908 the Houses agreed that the Common-
wealth Seat of Government should be at Yass-
Canberra; that the territory to be Federally'
acquired should not be less than nine hundred
square miles, and have access to the sea.
The then Minister for Home Affairs, Hon.
Hugh Mahon, in his instructions to the District
Surveyor, admonished him that the Federal Capi-
tal "should be a beautiful city, occupying a
commanding position, with extensive views, and
embracing distinctive features which will lend
themselves to the evolution of a design worthy of
the object, not only for the present, but for all
time."
The necessity for adequate water supply and
sanitation was also emphasised. The site chosen
was to be "easy of access from Sydney and Mel-
bourne, and through them to the other capital
cities, also from a suitable harbor on the coast."
The surveyor, Mr. C. R. Scrivener, reported
in due course. An advisory board was then
appointed, consisting of Mr. Scrivener, Col. .
David Miller, Lieut.-Col. Percy T. Owen, Col.
CANBERRA, THF, FEDERAL CAPITAL
69
showing, in the centre, the Military College, Duntroon
W. L. Vernon — all gentlemen oi expert knowl-
edge and wide experience in public works.
In 1909 New South Wales surrendered an area
of about 900 square miles at Yass-Canberra for
the Federal capital, two square miles at Jervis
Bay for a Commonwealth port, and areas aggre-
gating 2302 acres for its defence.
The Mother State also conceded "the right to
construct, maintain and work a railway from die
territory to Jervis Bay. The right to use the
waters of the Snowy River, or such other rivers
as may be agreed upon, for the generation of
electricity for the purposes of the Territory, and
paramount water right over the catchment areas
of the Queanbeyan and Molongolo Rivers and
their tributaries."
During the regime of Hon. King O'Malley as
Minister for Llome Affairs the capital received
enthusiastic attention. A complete system of
Federal administration for the Territory was
evolved, and premiums offered for the best plan
for the laying out of a city. Designs were sent
in from all over the world.
Three prizes were allotted. The first, £1750,
fell to Mr. Walter Burley Griffin, of Chicago,
Illinois, U.S.A. The second, £750, was awarded
to M. Eliel Saaringen, architect, Helsingfors,
Finland. The third went to Professor D. Alf.
Agache, Paris.
Four hundred pounds was afterwards paid
for a design jointly prepared by Messrs. W. Scott
Griffiths, R. C. G. Coulter, and H. Caswell, of
Sydney, N.S.W.
Subsequently the Departmental Board incor-
porated a design from the plans purchased, to
which new features were added.
This design was approved by the Federal
Cabinet, and the first surveys began in 1913.
Since that date systematized public works have
been undertaken in Canberra and at Jervis Bay.
70
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITl^D
The first consideration was the storage of water
for use of the Federal City. The main reservoir
on the Cotter was originally laid out to impound
650 million gallons. This has been increased
since.
A brick-making plant and power plant were
installed, roads made and mended, and necessary
buildings erected.
F.arlier schemes provided for the building with-
out intermission of Administrative Offices, Courts
of Justice, Police Buildings and Gaol, Military
Depot and Offices, Schools, Obser\atory, Medical
and Hospital Buildings, Railway Station, Post
Office, Government Printing Office, Town Hall,
and other public edifices.
A Royal Military College was established at
Duntroon in 19 10. This provided for the train-
ing of 120 cadets, many of whom later on distin-
guished themselves on active service.
It was proposed to establish railway communi-
cation from the Federal City with Queanbeyan,
Yass, and Jervis Bay. These three lines are
necessary to give ready access to Sydney, Mel-
bourne, and the seaboard.
The average rainfall for the Territory is 25.5
inches — about that of Melbourne or London.
The climate is dry, healthy, and bracing in winter.
On the 12th March, 1913, a date which will
be historical in Australia, the foundation stone
of the Federal City was formally laid by the
(lOvernor-General, Lord Denman, before an
assemblage of politicians, officials and public
personages, but Australian science, literature and
the arts were not deemed worthy of representa-
tion. Owing to the crudities of our callow
political systems, no doubt, the position which
science and art occupy in our national evolution
has not yet been determined. They cannot, how-
ever, be neglected if the Commonwealth is to be
more than a grossly materialistic democracy.
The function of naming the capital was per-
formed by Lady Denman. The official choice of
"Canberra" had up to that moment been kept
secret.
The war and Australia's urgent services in the
cause of Empire have led to a temporary curtail-
ment of work at Canberra. The building of the
city will no doubt be hastened in the coming years
of peace.
On the 30th of June, 19 14, the total expendi-
ture within the Territory was just on half a
million pounds.
The Cotter Eiver, Canberra
(70
TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAYS;
EAST-WEST,
WITH Federation came the Bigger Austra-
lian, who asked for Continental concep-
tions. Transcontinental railway schemes
evolved as a matter of course. The States had
been losers under old social associations; be-
trothed through political interest, they must now
be indissolubly wedded by links of commercial
steel.
Obviously, it was the function of the Common-
wealth Government to complete those expensive
railway systems, which would join the country
East and West, and North and South.
The East and West system connects the port of
Fremantle and the West Australian capital, Perth,
through Kalgoorlie, with Port Augusta in South
Australia. On this system one will ultimately be
able to travel by rail from Croydon, in the Gulf
of Carpentaria, to Meekatharra in Western Aus-
tralia. There will be many changing stations- -
Brisbane, Wallangarra, Sydney, Albury, Mel-
bourne, Adelaide, Terowie, Port Augusta, Kal-
goorlie, Perth; but the traveller will reach his
destination in due course.
Before his departure for London to take up
the duties of High Commissioner, the Right Hon.
Andrew Fisher, accompanied by his secretary, Mr.
Box, and a small party of officials, went over the
East-West route from Port Augusta to Kal-
goorlie.
Gaps between railheads were bridged by camels
and motor cars. The party experienced no great
difficulties or hardships in crossing another of Aus-
tralia's mythical "deserts." Before leaving Mel-
bourne Mr. Box good-naturedly promised to take
notes and snapshots of the country traversed for
Australia Unlimited.
The party returned to Melbourne greatly
pleased with the prospects, as far as future settle-
ment along the East-West railway is concerned.
The distance between Port Augusta and Kal-
goorlie is 1060 miles. At the time Mr. F'isher
went over the route in December, 19 15, the rails
were laid for 332 miles directly west from Port
Augusta, and 390 miles east from Kalgoorlie.
For 268 miles west of Port Augusta the line
passes through good stock country, taken up in
pastoral runs for many years past.
Tarcoola, 258 miles from Port Augusta, is
located in an auriferous belt which has already
produced much gold.
After leaving the South Australian railhead che
expedition — proceeding by camel buggy — entered
into slowly rising country, with sandy soil and
well covered with mulga, salt-bush, mallee, patches
of bull oak, and some pine. There were slight
traces of limestone formation. The weather was
cool and bright.
The following day, Tuesday, was also cool.
Lignum and scattered spinifex began to make their
appearance. The country gradually became
steeper and the timber heavier.
A feature of the country seen on Monday and
Tuesday, as well as on the three succeeding days,
was the numerous evidences of bird and animal
life. The small birds were very tame, and ap-
proached to within a few feet of the travellers. A
bell bird was seen on Tuesday, and a kingfisher
was disturbed on a nest in which one egg was
found.
On Friday night the party, having journeyed
at an average rate of eighteen miles a day, through
mallee and mulga and spinifex, made their camp
72
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
At Ooldea Soak
in an exceedingly picturesque valley. Tra-
velling on early next morning to Ooldea Soak
they found there an excellent supply of water.
Tracks of kangaroos and emus were observed,
while bustards, hawks, crows, and smaller birds
became numerous.'
At one o'clock the journey across the Nullarbor
Plain began.
"This," says the High Commissioner, in his
description of the trip, "is one of the largest, if not
the largest plain in the world. It runs for 430
miles east and west, and its width averages about
250 miles. The plain is bigger than the zvhole of
the State of Victoria. Limestone outcrops are
frequent. The percentage of lime in the rock is
extremely high, at one place attaining 98 per cent.
The chief characteristic of the plain is an almost
total absence of trees. There are isolated patches
of myall and gidyea, and the plain is abundantly
clothed with blue bush and salt bush. At the
head of the line sheep fatten whilst waiting for
the butcher, and I am perfectly satisfied that if
water were made available the Nullarbor Plain
would support at least a couple of million head of
sheep.
"The plain ought to carry about one sheep to
twelve acres.
"It has been demonstrated that over a consider-
able extent of the plain splendid supplies of fresh
water and good stock water can be got by boring.
Freshwater Bore, West End of Railway
TRANSCOXTI N EN TAI. RAI LWAYS
73
On the NuUarbor Plain
There are also many depressions in the plain, in
which dams can be made, with good catchments.
The Commonwealth railway authorities have con-
structed many dams of immense capacity adjacent
to the line. Along part of the track travelled
several four-hundred gallon tanks were sunk, in
order to provide water for surveying and boring
parties and for the safety of wayfarers."
Wild turkeys and other game were frequent on
this wonderful plain, which five years ago most
Australians believed to be a hopeless desert.
Where Mr. Fisher's party crossed the West
Australian border there was nothing but plain and
sky, salt bush and blue bush, without a tree or
even a suggestion of a rise in sight. A surveyor's
post about two feet high had, nailed to it, a small
and much decayed board pointing directly north
and south towards the border line between the
two States. This is the only mark to indicate
the boundary. There were still 56 miles to go
to the head of the western section of the railway.
Thirty-six miles from the border is No. 4 Bore,
where a supply has been obtained of 30,000 gal-
lons of stock water in twenty-four hours.
They had gone a distance of some 340 miles
from the head of the South Australian railway
section, and during the whole journey did not pass
a single traveller on the road, nor see any perman-
ent habitation. "Yet," says Mr. Fisher, "/ am
convinced that the time will come when all that
country will support a population that will be add-
ing to the wealth of the Commonwealth. We
saw no country that could by even the wildest
stretch of imagination be called desert. We saw
arid land, but none that was desert."
The High Commissioner and Party
(74)
On the Border of the Northern Territory
THE NORTH-SOUTH RAILWAY.
THE North-South Railway is already being
pushed on from Pine Creek towards
Oodnadatta.
There are still people who doubt the future of
Central Australia. The following reports from
Mr. T. J. Waldron, of the Department of Exter-
nal Affairs, should give them hope. Mr.
Waldron is a young, intrepid officer, well and
scientifically trained, who has accompanied small
parties of specialists into the heart of Australia on
two occasions, with a view to determining as far
as possible the lands through which the great
North-South railway will cross; its character, con-
ditions, and future uses and possibilities.
The first report is a description of the country
which would be traversed by a railway from
Oodnadatta to Anthony's Lagoon, adopting as
far as possible a due north-and-south line.
We give the text almost as it has been presented
by Mr. Waldron to the Engineer for Construction
and Maintenance of Commonwealth Railways: —
"The south-western side of the Finke River,
on the division between the Northern Territory
and South Australia, marks the boundary of a
stony tableland, extending for some hundreds of
miles through northern South Australia. The
country from Oodnadatta to the border of the
Territory is similar to that seen on the railway
line from W^illiam Creek to Oodnadatta; there
are the same tabletop hills, gidyea creeks, and
occasional larger box creeks. The nature of the
surface rocks is also similar. // is splendid stock
country, and grows edible mulga in addition to
several varieties of annual and perennial salt-bush.
"Before leaving the section of the line within
South Australian territory, however, mention may
be made of the Dalhousie district (80 m.) which
contains numerous hot and warm mineral springs.
The larger springs shelter flocks of waterfowl,
while the medicinal properties of the springs, as a
whole, are worthy of consideration.
"After crossing the Pinke at the border of the
Territory, the country changes completely. A
vast stretch of sandhills (not drift sand) running
a little west of north (say 30°), is the dominating
feature, but it is varied by patches of stony table-
land, and towards the north and west the surface
gradually changes to slightly undulating sandy
plains.
"no M. to J 56 M. (Moderate Construction).
— From 1 10 M. to \:,6 M. sandhills predominate.
The surface of the ridges is covered with a fair
growth of cane grass and herbage, which serves to
bind the loose soil, and for the present eliminates
any possibility of drift sand. The flats between
the ridges are hard loam, and the ridges them-
selves show solid ground at a depth of 12 to 18
inches. The flats are covered with mulga and
other smaller shrubs.
"Anacona Bore, which has a flow of 700,000
gallons per day of practically fresh water, is in
this section. Although it is said to be on the ex-
treme northern border of the great cretaceous
artesian basin, there is no indication of any geolo-
gical formation to justify the fixing of the boun-
dary. There is no change in the character of the
surface rocks until the foothills of the MacDonnell
range mountain system are met with at 230 M.
TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAYS
75
As the boundary of the basin was fixed without an
inspection of the country, and extended only to
include Anacona Bore, there is every reason to
believe that the country from no M. to about
200 M. can be considered as within the artesian
area. In the section i lo M. to 156 M. there are
occasional outcrops of stony tableland, which may
provide some of the ballast required.
River the country improves, there is no surface
water, but there are indications of shallow well-
water in some swamps between Poulia Poulia
Creek and the Hale, 225 M. to 235 M.
"2 JO M. to 280 M. (Moderate Construction).
— 230 M. may be taken as the northern boundary
of the great sand area lying south-east of the Mac-
donnell Ranges.
A Survey Expedition Camp
"1^6 M. to IQO M. (Easy Construction). —
In this section there is a greater proportion of
tableland, more scrub on the sand areas, and also
the debouchure of the Todd River, which is here
lost in the sandhills, and is only traceable by oc-
casional lines of gum trees. As a consideration
in railway construction, it is doubtful whether
these lines of gum trees are worthy of mention.
My opinion is that they are only fed from an
underground percolation, especially since the sur-
face shows no signs of inundation. From a pas-
toral point of view, this section contains very
good country, while the previous section ( i 10 to
156) can only be described as fair.
"igo M. to 2:;o M. (Easy Construction). —
The sand ridges gradually merge into undulating
sandy plains, well grassed, and growing a fair
scrub of whitewood, mulga and other smaller
shrubs. As the line here approaches the Hale
"At this point the foothills of the ranges are
met with, and at 245 M. the line crosses the Hale
River as it flows in a well-defined stream from
these hills. Poulia Poulia Creek also flows across
the line towards the Hale, some 10 miles south
of the possible crossing of the latter. It forms a
swamp before entering the larger river, and may
make advisable a slight deviation to the east, and
a crossing lower down the Hale.
"280 M. to _^o^^ M. (Easy Construction). — For
about thirty miles the line skirts the broken country
forming the eastern end of the ranges, and crosses
the heads of the Innumbra and another, unnamed,
creek, which flows south-easterly towards the
Marshall This country is composed of small
hills and ranges of schists and granite; it affords
no water, and on account of the preponderance of
spinifex-covered ridges it is of little value for pas-
toral purposes. North-east of the line — between
76
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
it and the Marshall — the country improves; it is
watered by several soakages and water-holes in
the latter river, and it has good pastoral prospects.
"305 M. to 340 M. (Easy Construction). —
The next section (of 35 miles) comprises the well-
grassed plains of the Plenty River, which is crossed
at 325 M. This creek is here about 30 chains
wide, and when in flood carries a large body of
water. The channel is well defined, but is very
shallow, the surrounding sandy plains being only
about 20 feet above the creek bed. The creek
runs about once in two years. At 340 M., on a
continuation of the due north line, the mass of
quartzite ranges known as Dulcie Ranges, forms
a barrier which I consider will make an easterly
deviation of some 10 miles imperative. This
deviation zvottld bring the line through the best
watered area in Central Australia, including the
districts of Ooratippra, Oorabbra, and Picton, and
would cross the divide between the northern and
southern river system through a gap between the
Dulcie and Jervois Ranges. Another point in
favour of the deviation is that it would bring the
line clear of the Devonport Ranges at Frew River.
As it seems probable that this deviation will be
justified by a considerable saving in the cost of
construction, and on account of the better quality
of the country passed through, the line is being
considered as adopting the deviation.
"340 M. to 400 M. (Moderate to Difficult Con-
struction).— The districts of Oorotippra, Oorab-
bra, and Picton mentioned above are included in
this section and consist of loamy plains, well-
grassed, carrying a scattered scrub of edible
rushes, and intersected with low quartzite ranges
and many small creeks. These creeks, together
with the rock holes and springs of the hills, form
the sources of a good water supply.
"400 M. to 4^0 M. (Easy Construction). — At
420 M. the Sandover River, a sandy creek as
large as the Peake, on the Oodnadatta line, is
crossed; but it floods only about once in 25 years.
It has not run for the last seven years. The coun-
try in this section on each side of the Sandover
River is undulating sandy country covered with
spinifex, low mallee, acacias, and occasional blood-
woods. It is of little value for pastoral purposes.
"450 M. to sso M. (Moderate Construction).
— This section includes the outlying hills of the
Devonport Ranges and portion of the country
watered by the Frew River system. It is well-
watered, and in these ranges is the new Wolfram
field, which was producing ore to the value of
£1300 per month in October last.
"530 M. to ^ijo M. (Easy Construction). —
Undulating sand, patches of hard red clay, and a
scrub of wattles, mallee, jasminum, and blood-
woods, with a general growth of spinifex, are the
principal characteristics of this section. There
is no natural water and the country is poor pas-
toral country. The north-eastern portion of it
is probably within the sub-artesian basin of the
Barkly tablelands.
"570 M. to (575 M. (Anthony's Lagoon),
(Easy Construction). — This extensive section
comprises open dotvns country, and is undoubtedly
some of the best country in the Northern Terri-
tory. It ofters no difficulties to railway construc-
tion. Sub-artesian bores have been sunk on the
route (on Alroy Downs and Brunette Downs
stations), and on both sides of the line the country
is at present supporting large numbers of stock."
Mr. Waldron's second report contains invalu-
able data concerning regions which are still terra
incognita to all but a favored few. These have
had the good fortune to penetrate the silent Aus-
tralian distances which call to the adventurous
heart of youth, and stir the interest of practical
minds.
They return, browned by the sun but full of
mighty strength and faith. There is a new ex-
pression upon their faces, a new light in their
eyes. It is like the transfiguration of faces that
have known the stress of battle, but, instead of
that haunted look of sadness which young men
bring back from war, there is an exaltation, born
mayhap of freedom and faith! Ask any of these
bronzed, stalwart bushmen — normal, healthy, and
sober — their views on the future of Central Aus-
tralia, and see the enthusiasm which sparkles from
them.
It has delighted the author to quote copiously,
in another chapter, from Mr. Mason's first-hand
report of his arduous explorations in that hinter-
land which spreads northward from the Australian
Bight.
It is an equal pleasure to give here, almost in
full, this valuable report from Mr. J. J. Waldron
on Central Australia, dated 1916: —
"Central Australia has been described many
times, by persons with various objectives. There
are recorded the impressions of explorers, of scien-
tists, of overlanders, of telegraph men, pastoral-
ists, and miners.
"Each has described the country as it affected
the purpose of his visit.
"The first explorers saw in it a region to be
crossed with difficulty before they could reach
their far-off goal, the shores of the Indian Ocean.
"The overlanders and early pastoralists had to
learn its treatment of stock at a considerable cost
to themselves.
"The prospector, though he did not for a
moment doubt the mineral wealth of the country,
was forced to acknowledge that this out-of-the-way
place had features, peculiar to itself, which made
mining more costly than usual. Side by side with
commerce, science solved many of the problems of
TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAYS
77
Central Australia; like commerce, it has left many
of them unsolved.
"The centre of our island continent is not far
away from us. Oodnadatta is on the same parallel
of latitude as Brisbane, while the MacDonnell
Ranges are no further north than Rockhampton.
Yet a person who has visited Alice Springs is
looked upon as somewhat of an explorer, while he
would be a suburban commercial traveller who
"Oodnadatta, the terminus of the great
northern railway from Adelaide, is situated in
very desolate-looking country. The surround-
ing stony tableland is quite bare of timber, and
apparently devoid of herbage; the nakedness of
its flats of "red gibbers" and of its tent-shaped
hills, varied only by scintillating shafts from ex-
posed pieces of gypsum, and the sense of isolation
induced by an encircling sea of mirage, combine to
A Central Australian Scene
had not been beyond Rockhampton. There is one
significant reason for the falsity of public opinion
regarding Central Australia; it is difficult of ac-
cess, and remoteness in Central Australia has
almost become synonymous with aridity.
"The MacDonnell Range country is not another
Ballarat as regards its alluvial gold, but it is not
a Mount Maroomba wild-cat. Its splendid
loamy valleys and saltbush plains do not pretend
to rival the Murrumbidgee flats, but they are emi-
nently suited for sheep, horses, and cattle, while
some of the more easily irrigable will certainly
respond to agriculture. Central Australia has im-
mense possibilities, but their development is at-
tended, as experience has shown, by considerable
risk; carefully and steadily directed capital and
good management will make the country what,
with its wealth, it should be, a prosperous inland
to a highly prosperous continent.
impress one with a feeling of disappointment in
a land seemingly so barren.
"The impression is honest on the part of the
visitor, but most unjust to the surrounding country,
particularly the northern portion of it. The re-
quirements of the town have denuded the neigh-
borhood of herbage and firewood, and the absence
of a watercourse of any size completes the illusion
of desolation. North-east and west of Oodnadatta,
gidyea and gum creeks provide surface-water
and shade, and while this apparently barren table-
land produces the best of cattle feed in perennial
saltbush, stretches of softer soil grow an edible
mulga, which is an excellent fodder in time of
drought.
"Previous to December, 191 2, there had been
a two-years' drought in the belt of country be-
tween Oodnadatta and Blood's Creek, 80 miles
north. The total rainfall for that period was
78
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Near Alice Springs
under five inches, and it fell in scattered showers
of a few points each, yet the losses by stock-
owners were comparatively small; and now that
the drought has broken, the country has recovered
so quickly that this year will probably see 40,000
fat bullocks trucked from Oodnadatta. One
station alone will send 15,000. Central Australia
recovers from a drought more quickly than any
other part of the Commonwealth, and Australia
as a whole is famous for rapid recoveries after bad
seasons.
"Depot for supplies to the Territory as far as
Newcastle Waters, Oodnadatta is the centre of a
considerable carrying trade. About 400 camels
are constantly employed carting supplies to the
stations in the north, while places nearer to the
head of the railway line convey their stores by
waggon and pack-horse. The northern mail
leaves for Alice Springs and Arltunga on the
arrival of the fortnightly train. A coach conveys
it as far as Horseshoe Bend, 210 miles away,
where it is transferred to camels and taken on to
Alice Springs (another 115 miles), and then 80
miles east to Arltunga.
"The road usually taken from Oodnadatta to
the Territory goes north along the overland tele-
graph line across stony tableland for 32 miles to
the Alberga River, which, like all rivers south of
the MacDonnell Ranges, flows east and south to-
wards the Lake Eyre basin. The country to the
east and west of the road is included in Macumba
and Todmorden stations. // 7',^ good stock country
and has this year supplied 10,000 cattle to the
Adelaide market. Fresh water can always be ob-
tained in the Alberga, either in waterholes or from
soakages.
"After crossing the Alberga the valley of a
branch creek, the Stevenson, is followed for 65
miles. The alluvial flats bordering the creek and
the softer country through which the small tribu-
tary creeks flow extend for about five miles to
the western tableland, and for the same distance
to the eastern saddle, which sends numerous creeks
into the box flat estuary of the Finke, still further
to the east. The water from an artesian bore
has been diverted into the Stevenson above its
junction with the Alberga. A fair-sized lake, in
ivhich fish are plentiful, has been formed near
the bore outlet, and the creek is now a permanent
stream for several fniles.
"The road continues northerly over harder soil
and tableland across Blood's Creek and Abminga
Creek.
TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAYS
79
"One hundred and twenty miles from Oodna-
datta it passes to the east of the low range in a
stretch of tableland which denotes the border of
the Territory. Nine miles inside the border is
the telegraph station of Charlotte Waters.
"Dalhoiisie Station lies fifty miles south of the
border on an alternative route from Oodnadatta.
It is the centre of an interesting tract of country.
A slight but extensive depression in the tableland
contains numerous mineral springs, some cold,
others warm. In one, the Big Spring, the water
flows out at a temperature of iiodeg. F., and
forms a lake about a hundred yards wide, which
narrows gradually until it is lost in reed swamps
to the east. The different lakes and swamps
abound in wild fowl of all kinds. Date palms
grow on several of the springs. The surrounding
tableland is good stock country, and Dalhousie
Station recently changed hands at a considerable
figure.
"The line surveyed for the railway from Oodna-
datta onwards lies from five to ten miles to the
west of the road to Charlotte Waters. It keeps
out on the western tableland, crosses the Alberga
and the Hamilton, a tributary of the Stevenson,
and will thus tap the best-watered country in the
far north of South Australia. Here the pastoral
industry is of supreme importance; it is practically
the only interest at present vested in the country.
That its possibilities have been only lightly ex-
ploited on the majority of the stations can be
readily understood from the improvements re-
cently effected on one of them.
"Macumba is a typical cattle station, 35 miles
north of Oodnadatta. It produces feed in abun-
dance, but in a dry time it has few natural waters.
The station was founded during a stretch of good
seasons; the stock multiplied rapidly, and capital
was spent on buildings and stock-yards in anticipa-
tion of continued good fortune rather than in pro-
Workers on the Transcontinental Railway
8o
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
viding against bad seasons. The inevitable
drought came; cattle perished, and so much money
was lost that the station was deserted, and the
country described as altogether useless. Now a
wiser generation has taken up the land again,
stocked sparingly at first, put down numerous
artesian bores, and then stocked more heavily.
The result is that during the last drought, one of
the severest in the history of the country,
Macumba was well stocked, but did not lose a
single beast!
the country are eminently suited to them, but no
great commercial success is likely to come of the
venture until there are sufficient stock to ensure
a steady supply of mohair, and, what is even more
necessary, until men with a thorough knowledge
of the industry have control of shearing opera-
tions.
"Geologically speaking, there is no great change
in the country after crossing the Territory border
at Charlotte Waters. The surface rocks still
belong to the secondary and tertiary formations
Beyond the MacDoimell Eanges
"The history of Macumba is similar to all other
stations in the dry belt of Central Australia, ex-
cept that while this station is now secure from
the ravages of drought, most of the others are
still understocked and reckoned as only of
moderate value. Their sole need is a permanent
water supply; it can be obtained by boring, by
well-sinking, or judicious conservation of the flood
waters of the rivers, but until their stations secure
the advantages of an adjacent railway, pastoral-
ists are not inclined to incur the expenses of these
improvements.
"On Eringa, a station west of Charlotte
Waters, and at Blood's Creek station pure Angora
goats have been bred from imported stock, and
no difficulty has been experienced in managing
the flocks. The climate and the clean nature of
noticeable from Oodnadatta to the outcrop of
older silurian rocks north of Francis Well, and
the area included in the great cretaceous basin
extends for some miles north of the telegraph
station. The landscape, however, undergoes a
complete change; the vast stretches of stony table-
land gradually diminish in extent, and are re-
placed by splendidly grassed sandy ridges and
loamy plains covered with mulga and other
acacias, while the rivers are more clearly defined,
and form portion of the drainage system of the
largest river in Central Australia, the Finke.
"The Finke rises on the north side of the Mac-
Donnell Ranges, flows south through magnificent
gorges of red sandstone in the James Range, and
then south-east through more level sandy country
until it is joined by the Hugh, its largest tributary,
TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAYS
8i
35 miles north of the telegraph crossing at Crown
Point. It then continues its south-easterly course
for about 120 miles to where it spreads itself
out in box flats north-east of Oodnadatta. It
forms again, joins the Macumba, and its waters
eventually reach northern Lake Eyre. The whole
course of the Finice has never been traversed, but
it is probably over woo miles in length. Its
banks are covered with splendid timber and
marked by numerous gorges and gaps, some of
which can be dammed at small cost, the flood
waters thus conserved, and the irrigation of many
fertile valleys tnade possible. At present these
feed for stock is scarce, but there are several
flourishing stations in this belt of country. It is
a noteworthy fact that spots which were once
badly infested with spinifex, but have been re-
peatedly burnt off and stocked, are now produc-
ing splendid grass !
"The proposed railway route crosses the P'inke
30 miles north-west of Charlotte Waters, keeps
to the east of the valley of the Hugh, and after
crossing a low saddle in the Ooraminna Range,
takes a direct course for Alice Springs.
"Francis Well, the head station of Hayes and
Sons, is, as has been said, 80 miles from Alice
A Sheep Station in Central Australia
rich plains support only a few horses and cattle.
The Finke is the main source of water supply for
the southern portion of the Territory. The
country bordering on it and on its several tribu-
taries holds 75 per cent, of the stock south of
Barrow Creek.
"Proceeding north from Charlotte Waters the
sandy nature of the country becomes more pro-
nounced, until an off-shoot of the vast stretch of
high red sandhills lying between the telegraph
line and the Queensland border is crossed, be-
tween Horseshoe Bend, on the Finke, and Francis
Well, 80 miles south of Alice Springs. In places
where the sand ridges are high and well defined,
Springs, and from the station to the foot of the
ranges is the belt of very rich stock country in-
cluded in the Emily Plain. It consists of broad
loamy plains covered with mulga, saltbush, and
splendid grasses. It has an annual rainfall of
nine inches. It is watered from the gaps of the
Ooraminna and the MacDonnell Ranges, and,
even with the present unimproved system of water
supply, two runs alone support 8000 cattle and
3000 sheep. The quality of saltbush country
beef is proverbial, while scoured wool from these
stations has commanded top prices in Adelaide;
but it costs £12 per ton carriage on wool to Oodna-
datta. Owing to the small number of sheep in
82
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
the country, shearing is also very expensive, so
that wool-raising, the natural industry for country
of this nature, is neglected.
"These difficulties of transport are, however,
too general in application to admit of a discussion
of their effects on a portion of a single industry;
the full force of their significance will be better
appreciated after a description has been given of
the country principally affected by them — the Mac-
Donnell Ranges.
On the North-South Transcontinental Eoute
"The MacDonnell Ranges rise perpendicularly
to a height of 2000 feet above the broad Emily
Plain. They stretch in a huge red wall of granite
400 miles across the Territory from east to west.
Many of the ridges are razorbacks; but, in com-
mon with most Central Australian mountains,
these ranges as a whole present a steep face to the
south and a more gradual slope to the north.
Silver-barked mountain ash dot the lower slopes
and zamia palms grow in the more sheltered
gullies; otherwise the principal peaks are quite
bare of foliage. Porcupine, or mountain spinifex,
alone flourishes on the rocky surface.
"The main lines of range have an altitude of
4000 feet above sea level, and are broken at inter-
vals by huge fissures, which serve as openings for
traffic north and south, and through which many
creeks flow. In the gorges thus formed the
greater number of mountain waterholes lie. Some
of these gaps, as they are called, are only twenty
or thirty feet in breadth in the widest part, while
the walls of rock on either side are four or five
hundred feet high. The waterhole in the creek
bed is thus sheltered from the sun, except for a
short time in the middle of the day, and even in
midsummer is delightfully cool.
"Heavitree Gap, through which the Todd River
flows, lies two miles south of the township of
Stuart, and four miles south of the telegraph
station of Alice Springs. This gap is the broadest
of the whole Range openings, and serves as a
gateway for the whole of the traffic across the
Territory. The telegraph line passes through
it. Mr. Graham Stewart has adopted it as the
most suitable crossing for the transcontinental
railway survey. The Ranges here consist of
three parallel chains, between which are level
stretches of fertile plains covered with saltbush
and native grasses. In most places there is an
abundant supply of fresh water at shallow depths.
The smaller hills of the ranges, though strewn
with boulders of mica, schist and granite, also
yield a good growth of grass and saltbush.
Thousands of stock of all kinds — horses, cattle,
camels, sheep, and goats — pass through Alice
Springs annually. Most of them are held for
at least a day or two in the vicinity. There are,
in addition, the stock belonging to the telegraph
station, to the township and to the police, grazing
there the whole year round. Yet the flats around
look the reverse of overstocked. Any traveller
going the road can always turn his horses or
camels loose, and feel confident of their getting
good feed. As a matter of fact, travelling stock
spell at Alice Springs to recover condition lost on
the road.
"The road through Heavitree Gap crosses the
alluvial flat of the Todd through a growth of
"old man" saltbush eight feet high, and winds
among the hills past the town of Stuart to the
telegraph station. It then continues north through
a small gorge, and reaches the vast mulga plain
lying to the north of the ranges fifteen miles from
the Gap.
"The MacDonnells in the neighborhood of Alice
Springs are typical of the whole of the ranges,
which extend about equal distances east and west
of the telegraph line. To the west the mountain
plains become more extensive. On one of them,
the Missionary Plain, the mission station of Her-
mansburg is situated. These western plains and
gullies support comparatively few stock, because
surface water is scarce, and no effort has been
made to obtain water by well-sinking, even in
places where the indications are most promising.
In the eastern portion of the MacDonnells the
TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAYS
pastoral industry is in a more flourishing con-
dition, though sadly lacking in improvements.
The small holdings there have 15,000 cattle and
horses and 6000 sheep. The most important
feature of the eastern MacDonnells, however, is
its vast mineral wealth.
"Since the discovery of gold in the ranges the
operations of the miners have been practically
83
for the small parties at work. No shaft on Arl-
tunga has yet been sunk 100 feet; most of the
deep ones stopped at half that distance. The
other workings included in the Arltunga field lie
within a radius of 10 miles north, east, and west
of White Range. Nearly all of them have proved
profitable for small parties of men to work at
shallow depths.
Typical Central Australian Country
confined to three or four small areas, including
Winnecke's Depot, Claraville, and White Range.
The last named has produced the greatest quan-
tity of gold to date, and gives the most promising
indications of future wealth. It is an immense
mountain of white quartz, remarkable for the un-
usual number of auriferous outcrops that are
spread about within a short distance of one
another, and for the extraordinary width of its
ore bodies. In one place the quartz formation
has been proved to be 340 feet wide, and in
another 200 feet wide. Even if the gold is found
to be confined to these formations, the quantity
that can be recovered must be considerable. It
has been the experience of the small claim-holders
hitherto working on them that the ore became
richer the deeper the shafts were sunk. The ex-
penses of sinking, however, increased too much
"Winnecke's Depot, 28 miles north-east of
White Range, is the only other area outside of
Arltunga proper on which mining operations of
any note have been attempted. Many small lodes
of rich ore have been exploited. The field is still
producing payable gold, but, like Arltunga, the
faulty nature of the country is such that the value
of the intermittent quartz reefs can only be ex-
ploited by shaft-sinking and mining.
"In addition to the sheep country included in
the ranges proper, the Burt Plain, an area of
ideal sheep country, extends along the entire
northern face of the mountain, and has a breadth
of from 30 miles to 150 miles. Some portions
of it consist of open plain, others are covered
with a moderate scrub of edible mulga and other
acacias, while the whole of it is composed of a
loamy soil growing an abundance of native grasses
84
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
and herbage. At present there Is scarcely a hoof
on its 10,000 square miles. It would not pay to
sink wells on it for cattle raising — at least, it
has not justified that expenditure when cattle can
be run in other places without it; but, with the
means of getting wool away, wells would be sunk
and the land immediately taken up for sheep farm-
ing. The average rainfall of the plain is twelve
inches.
A Northern Territorian
"As the value of the MacDonnell Range country
would be greatly enhanced by railway communica-
tion, so the rich pastoral districts lying to the
north, east, and west of Alice Springs would rela-
tively increase in value. At present, they are but
sparsely stocked, or lying idle altogether. Oora-
tippra, Frew River, Elkedra and Murray Downs
to the north-east, Barrow Creek and Stirling to
the north, and Anna's Reservoir and the Lander
to the north-west, would then become the horse
and cattle districts of Central Australia, while the
MacDonnells would be devoted to sheep, mining,
and the closer settlement requisite to meet the
needs of an increased population.
"The fertile plains of the ranges now grow
date palms, fruit trees, and vegetables, while wheat
and maize have been successfully cultivated at
Alice Springs; but whether, by a careful system of
irrigation or by dry farming, these valleys can
be made suitable for closer settlement, will have
to be determined by more extensive experiments
than have hitherto been attempted. In regard to
some of the river flats — the valley of the Todd,
for instance — there is no doubt as to their suita-
bility for the most intense culture, but until the
water supplies of the other flats have been
thoroughly tested it would be premature to sug-
gest agriculture as a staple industry of the Ranges.
"Before summarising the benefits likely to be
derived by the MacDonnell Ranges from railway
extension, the climate of this portion of the Com-
monwealth is worthy of note. It is not too much
to say that it is the healthiest climate in Australia.
Ihe general plain level of the country is 2000
feet above sea-level. Consequently, after the
hottest day in summer the night is cool. The
ground thermometer registers below freezing
point for days in winter time, and the general
winter weather is as genial as could be desired;
bracing mornings, warm, sunny days, and cold
nights. In summer the days are hot, but no
warmer than northern Victoria or central New-
South Wales, while hot winds are unknown. The
extreme dryness of the atmosphere in Central
Australia makes the heat less trying, and adds
greatly to the salubrity of the climate. No in-
fectious diseases are known there. No more
ideal climate for chest complaints could be
imagined; at least two authenticated cases of con-
sumption have been cured by residence in the
district.
"Enough has been written to justify the pre-
diction that zvhoi a closer iiition to the population
of the south is provided, Central Australia zvill be
reckoned one of the greatest pastoral districts in
the Commonwealth. No one who has seen the
country has ever doubted for its future. Side by
side with pastoral progress, the mining industry
of the country will develop as soon as facilities
are afforded it; in deposits of single metals the
MacDonnell Ranges have their superiors in Aus-
tralia, but in the extent and variety of their mineral
wealth they are not equalled. The one thing
necessary, then, to develop this latent mineral
wealth is an extension of the present railway from
Oodnadatta to the MacDonnell Ranges, and its
construction must be urgently recommended."
Out of 20,000 miles of railways, owned and
controlled by the various Australian Govern-
TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAYS
85
ments, the Federal transcontinentals will not be
least important, though perhaps for a time least
financially productive.
Australian railways, their detailed costs of con-
struction, maintenance, methods of working, re-
venues, returns, and general utilities, are deserv-
ing of a special chapter to themselves.
Unfortunately the present edition of Aitslralia
Unlimited must be compressed into one volume.
If the problem of a uniform gauge throughout
Australian railways is solved, local railway his-
tory will be marked by a red-letter line.
Break of gauge Is one of our pre-Federal mis-
fortunes. Despite this and minor difficulties,
our State-owned railways are an asset worth at
least two hundred millions to the people of the
Commonwealth. The average cost of construc-
tion to date has been about £9633 per mile,
equivalent to .£35.65 per head of the population.
Traffic and revenues are continually increasing
in all the States. Costs of maintenance and
working, together with temporary losses on new
lines in some States, sometimes over-balance
receipts.
For the Commonwealth as a whole, during the
eight years to 19 13, there was a net profit on
Government railways during each year.
Civic and Government tramways show similar
results.
In any analysis of our public debt the State-
ownership of railways and tramways must be
taken into consideration — a fact which financial
critics frequently overlook.
A Waterhole in the "Desert," Central Australia
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(87)
Excavation for the Waranga-Mallee Channel, Victoria
IRRIGATION, STORAGES AND ARTESIAN WATER.
As settlement extends throughout Australia, as
fallacies fade and prejudices are over-
come, agrarian production under irrigation
will increase.
In every State of the Commonwealth opportu-
nities for the establishment of storages, national
and individual, most certainly obtain.
So far, irrigation has been looked upon as a
treatment for the more arid districts of the in-
terior. In reality the eastern coast of Australia
is just as amenable and will be proportionately
as responsive to irrigation as the great inland.
The production of sugar-cane upon the Bur-
dekin River in Queensland has been greatly
increased by irrigation, as all tropical production
between Cape York Peninsula and the Logan
District might be increased by the same method.
The northern river districts of New South
Wales, the Tweed, Richmond, Clarence, Bellin-
gen, Hastings, Manning, and Hunter, fertile and
productive as they are, will only reach the maxi-
mum of their possibilities by the adventitious aid
of irrigation.
The Snowy River valley of Victoria, recently
tapped by the opening of a railway from Bairns-
dale to Orbost, is undoubtedly an irrigation and
intensive-culture proposition.
The flats of the Snowy, yielding up to £40 an
acre in maize, can ultimately be made to give
probably three times that per acre to families on
twenty-acre blocks.
Riverina districts of New South Wales, Mur-
ray tributaries of Victoria, the Lower Murray
valley of South Australia are all part of the one
great system which is destined to support hun-
dreds of irrigation settlements, little and great,
beyond those already established.
In Tasmania, water for irrigation is abundant,
engineering difficulties are comparatively slight;
and, side by side with the scientific application of
water to the soils, there can be scientific applica-
tion of hydro-electric light and power.
In Western Australia the same possibilities
exist. In the north-west, for purposes of tro-
pical agriculture, they are particularly valuable.
In the Northern Territory similar conditions
apply.
The subject of irrigation is touched upon in
various parts of this volume. The great
Northern Murrumbidgee irrigation scheme is
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
rapidly reviewed, the future of the Darling River
outlined, and the irrigation areas of Victoria
briefly mentioned.
From Burdekin round to Carnarvon, the ad-
vantages of irrigation are gradually being
realized. More than one ambitious scheme has
been evolved in New South Wales; Victoria
goes on steadily increasing her irrigable acreages
every year.
Hitherto irrigation in Australia has been a
matter of Government enterprise. While this
Commonwealth is to support a population neces-
sary for national preservation — the economic
aspect cannot be disregarded by even the most
hopeful and enthusiastic of Ministers.
Not long before the war a Government depart-
ment was established In Germany to reclaim and
settle the last ten million acres of uncultivated
land which that country possessed. With im-
proved farming methods the waste lands of
Europe and America are rapidly being made pro-
ductive.
Inlet to Waranga Reservoir, Victoria
principle has its advantages, it cannot be denied
that costs have not always been considered In
relation to returns. The author holds that in
reproductive public works, Governments are just
as much under obligation to secure full value for
every pound (and a reasonable Interest on out-
lay) as any syndicate or private investor.
Irrigation can never be regarded as successful
until the actuarial aspects of each proposition
will stand the acid of ordinary commercial audit.
The principle of the scientific application of neces-
sary water to suitable soil has been proved indu-
bitably good, but there is also an economic side
to the question.
As irrigation will be a factor In our future
policy of settlement — an essential factor if the
The productions of Australian lands — highly
fertile and unlimited in area — can be vastly in-
creased by adapting corresponding methods to
local conditions. Not only will Irrigation In-
crease our agricultural output, but it will prevent
losses of live stock In dry districts when the
annual rainfall, as occasionally happens, falls
below normal.
If 22,000 square miles of the Algerian Sahara
can be reclaimed with water from artesian wells,
there is no part of Australia In which cultivation,
may not ultimately become possible.
Country like that around Echuca, which will
In a "dry" state fatten two-tooth wethers to weigh
108 lbs., and produce two-year-old sheep giving
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AUSTRALIA
45 lbs. of wool at a shearing, will do still better
iinder irrigation.
An irrigation block should be established on
every Australian estate where water can be con-
served. The crops raised thereon in good sea-
sons can be converted by ensilage into reserves
for lean years.
In the general application of this principle of
the conservation of fodder and water, the main
problem of the settlement of the Australian
interior will be solved!
When this book has filled Its mission, when Its
author is dust, he asks his sons and grandsons to
remember this simple prophecy — written In the
year 1916. Its significance, if this nation en-
dures, will be then more fully apparent.
What I have said elsewhere of the settlement
of the northern part of South Australia — dis-
tricts with the lowest annual rainfall in the Com-
monwealth— applies here. Even without irri-
gation the siloing of native pasturage as the Irre-
gular rains produce it (In extraordinary quantity
and nutritive quality), with adequate conservation
of water for stock, or tapping of artesian supplies
where such exist, will go a long way towards
answering the most difficult questions of settlement
in the interior.
Along rivers such as the Murray there is no
longer any problem, save that of engineering and
cost. Since the establishment of Mlldura, the ad-
vantages of irrigation do not need much argument.
Mlldura, carrying a prosperous population of six
thousand on an area previously regarded as In-
sufficient for the support of one family, is argu-
ment enough.
Three hundred and fifty-one miles from Mel-
bourne by rail, situated in the dull-looking mallee,
this green settlement has become an object-lesson
to all Australia.
When the pumps are working at Mildura the
weight of water lifted from the Murray equals
200 tons a minute. This, poured out In silver
hydraulic streams through 180 miles of irrigation
channels, comes back again to Mlldura producers
in streams of minted gold.
Crops of 27 tons of lemons from an acre and
a quarter, and 10,000 cases of oranges from fifty
acres of trees are recorded at Mildura.
This settlement has proved the mother of many
others.
Renmark, further down the Murray in South
Australia, may be regarded as the eldest child of
Mildura's success. Lyrup, BerrI, Kingston,
Waikerle, Ramco, Merbein, Wentworth are all
daughters of that parent settlement established by
Chaffey Brothers.
UNLIMITED
South Australia is keenly interested in the Mur-
ray system. Being a recipient and not a contri-
butor, her riparian rights have been difficult to
determine. Under the Murray Waters agree-
ment, subscribed to by three States concerned and
ratified by the Federal Government, it was laid
down that —
1. A system of storages be provided at Cum-
beroona or some other suitable site on the Upper
Murray and at Lake Victoria, and that weirs and
locks be constructed in the course of the River
Murray from its mouth to Echuca; In the River
Murrumbidgee from its junction with the River
Murray to Hay, or alternatively to works in the
River Murrumbidgee, an equivalent extent of
weirs and locks in the River Darling extending
upstream from its junction with the River Mur-
ray.
2. That the cost of the undermentioned works
required to give effect to resolution i, and esti-
mated as follows: —
Nine weirs and locks from Blanche:
town, to Wentworth £865,000
Seventeen weirs and locks from Went-
v/orth to Echuca 1,700,000
Nine weirs and locks from the junc-
tion of the rivers Murray and
Murrumbidgee to Hay, or alter-
natively an equivalent amount
(£540,000) In locks and weirs
from the junction of the River
Darling with the River Murray
upstream 540,000
Upper Murray storage 1,353,000
Lake Victoria storage 205,000
Total £4,663,000
be borne to the extent of £1,000,000 by the Com-
monwealth, and as to the remainder in equal
shares by the States of New South Wales, Vic-
toria and South Australia.
3. That if so desired by the State of New
South Wales, there shall be substituted for the
proposed weirs and locks In the River Murrum-
bidgee locks and weirs to the same estimated cost
in the River Darling upstream from Its junction
with the River Murray.
4. That the flow of the River Murray at Al-
bury, including the natural or regulated flow of
the rivers Mitta and Klewa, and as regulated by
the Cumberoona storage, be shared equally by
New South Wales and Victoria, subject to any
quantity hereby agreed to be sent down the river
for riparian use and for supply to South Aus-
tralia.
91
92
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
5. That New South Wales and Victoria each
have full use of her own tributaries below Albury,
and have the right to store and divert the flows
thereof, or alternatively, equivalent volumes from
the River Murray below their affluences, subject
to provision from such tributaries, or her share
of the flow at Albury, or both, of contributions
towards the share hereby allotted to South Aus-
tralia, and the allowance for riparian use on the
main stream from the affluence of such tributary,
or from Albury to Lake Victoria.
6. That the proportion of the contribution by
New South Wales and Victoria to the share here-
by allotted to South Australia, and for riparian
use in the main stream, be that which the mean
natural flow of the tributaries of each State below
Albury measured at the points of affluence with
the River Murray, with half the actual mean flow
at Albury added in each case, bear to each other.
In calculating the mean flow of the River Darling
for this purpose a deduction shall be made to the
extent of any water diverted by the State of
Queensland.
7. That the minimum quantity to be allowed
to pass to South Australia in each year be sufl'i-
cient to fill Lake Victoria storage once, and, in
addition, to maintain, with the aid of the water
returned from Lake Victoria, a regulated supply
at Lake Victoria outlet of 134,000 acre feet per
month during the months of January, P'ebruary,
November and December; 114,000 acre feet per
month for the months of March, September and
October, 94,000 acre feet per month for the
months of April, May and August; and 47,000
acre feet per month for the months of June and
July, these being the provisions for irrigation
equivalent to a regulated supply of 67,000 acre
feet per month for nine months.
Under this or some similar agreement it
would be possible for the three States to develop
to the fullest extent the fertile valley of the
Murray.
Valuable swamp lands on the lower river will
also be drained and a large population subsisted
on what is now a non-productive demesne.
These lands will no doubt be devoted largely to
the production of lucerne, whereas other Murray
River settlements will vary their irrigated root-
crops with raisins and currants, stone fruits and
citrus, all the profitable growths of temperate
climates.
At the settlement of Merbein, located on the
Victorian side of the Murray, the writer found
new settlers on 20-acre blocks making a good liv-
ing from the start.
One family started with less than £20 in cash,
and within a few months sold £150 worth of pro-
duce, mostly green peas, from partially cleared
ground. Cheap water rates and long periods
for payment of purchase money, with Govern-
ment experts to advise upon all diflicult problems
of cultivation, make a settler's life on irrigation
areas much easier than that of the pioneer of the
last generation.
Reclaimable swamp-lands on the Lower Mur-
ray have been approximated at 250,000 acres of
rich virgin alluvial, which would support 12,000
families under irrigation. This is only a small
proportion of the population which could be estab-
lished between the junction of the Darling River
and Lakes Alexandrina and Albert. These lakes
cover an area of 200,000 acres, which, without
any great engineering difficulty, could, it is said,
be converted into an area capable of carrying still
another 20,000 Australian homes.
There are on our inland rivers strips of fertile
red soil, two hundred miles in length, still await-
ing with the thirst of centuries for these fertiliz-
ing waters which will convert their arid miles into
Arabian gardens of perfume and delight — the sum
of Life and Joy In the world will be increased,
Australia will be strengthened, and her problems
of effective occupation and defence brought nearer
to solution.
Irrigation in Western America has improved
the value of land to £750 an acre. Our red soils
are superior to those of the American West; our
climate and conditions are more suitable for the
growth of citrus and other valuable fruits. We
have better systems of settlement, cheaper land,
cheaper water rates, and State control of trans-
port. Irrigation should prove with us a still
greater success.
Nowhere on earth are more ideal sites for stor-
ages and irrigation to be found than exist on the
Lower Murray. Lake Barmera, for example,
provides for 15,000 acres of richest red soil,
which could be converted into farms at a cost
of £60,000.
The value to the Commonwealth in increased
production might easily reach that amount per
month, to say naught of the value of 750 new
Australian families.
The total navigation length of the Murray and
its tributaries is 3,213 miles, made up as follows:
The Murray, Albury to mouth, 1,366 miles; Mur-
rumbidgee, Gundagai to Murray junction, 666
miles; Darling, Walgett to Wentworth, 1,180.
The watershed of the tributaries in Queens-
land, New South Wales and Victoria amounts to
414,253 square miles, or 265,000,000 acres,
equal to nearly one-seventh of the total area of
Australia. Of this total the contributing area
amounts to 158,499 square miles.
How many Australian families can be settled
within the radius of this great river system ? This
IRRIGATION AND ARTESIAN WATER
93
Pumping Plant at Eenmark, South Australia.
is a question which every Australian may reason-
ably ask his governments, and the patriotism of
those governments may be gauged by the enthu-
siasm of their replies.
When Chaffey Brothers arrived from Califor-
nia in 1886 such replies could not have been so
hopeful as they would be to-day. Mildura was
then a mere sheep run in Northern Victoria.
When the Chaffeys received their charter in 1887,
few people regarded their scheme as one of a re-
volutionary character. Their early settlers
included a number of well-to-do English people,
and some Californians; but Australians were in
a minority. They could not believe it possible
that land which carried a sheep to ten acres was
shortly to produce fruit worth £50 to £100 an
acre. But they know better now!
Mildura, with all its failures and vicissitudes,
was an object-lesson which Australians now
realize as one of the most valuable in the economic
history of our colonization. The Big Area tra-
dition received its first great blow; it had been
demonstrated that a large proportion of Inland
Australia was a twenty to fifty-acre proposition!
After the advent of the Chaffeys, station-holders
with 20,000 acre requirements, growers of cereals
with nothing less than 640 acres for their needs,
shared the burdens and profits of settlement with
fifty-acre men, who rapidly became as independent
as they. For the stock-owner a valuable possi-
bility was established. Henceforth he might, by
the introduction of an irrigation block on his hold-
ing, convert crops therefrom in good seasons into
hay or ensilage and feed it to his stock in lean
years.
Irrigation is now a part of every Australian
government's outlook. New South Wales has
under consideration the following irrigation
schemes : —
Lachlan River. — The construction of a storage
reservoir on this river at a place known as Wyan-
gala, below the confluence of the Abercrombie
River, for the purpose of affording water in the
river channel for pastoral purposes and for the
irrigation of small areas along the river banks by
pumping.
Macqiiarie River. — The construction of a stor-
age reservoir on this river at Burrendong, below
the confluence of the Cudgegong River, for the
purpose of affording water by gravitation for the
irrigation of certain lands to the west of Narro-
mine.
Murray River. — The construction of a storage
reservoir across the Murray River at Cam-
beroona, above Albury, in order to supply water
by gravitation through a canal which will be taken
off at Bungowannah, below Albury, for the irri-
94
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
gation of high-class lands lying between the Mur-
ray and Billabong Creek, near the town of
Berrigan.
Hunter River. — The construction of storage
reservoirs on the Upper Hunter or Goulburn
River with a view to supplying water by
pumping from the Hunter River to the
adjoining lands and supplementing the water
supply of Newcastle. It is stated that
the valley of this river is one of the most fertile
districts in the State, and that it is capable of
carrying a dense population under the conditions
of intense culture by irrigation.
Darling River. — The conversion of Lake
Menindie into a large permanent storage by
means of a diversion weir across the Darling
River and of a canal through Lake Pamamaroo,
the water so stored to be utilised in the irrigation
of the bed of Lake Cawndilla and of certain
lands to the south-west.
Warragamba River. — A scheme has been pre-
pared for the construction of a large storage dam
on the Warragamba River, so as to retain a depth
of 225 feet and a volume of 103,000 million gal-
lons of water. This would be available for the
supply of 80 million gallons daily for the domestic
services of Sydney, 30 million gallons daily for
trade purposes, and 80 million gallons daily for
irrigation purposes In the county of Cumberland.
It is proposed that the water for domestic pur-
poses should be conveyed and delivered at Potts
Hill through 48 miles of open concrete channel
and pipes; that the supplies for trade purposes
should be delivered In the vicinity of the Great
Western Railway, between St. Mary's and Pen-
rith; and that the lands situated along the banks
of the Nepean River and In the valley of South
Creek should be irrigated.
* * * *
How far the limitless supplies of artesian water
with which the continent Is blessed may be used
for purposes of irrigation cannot yet be deter-
mined.
Evidence before the author convinces him that
the invaluable subterranean waters of Australia
are permanent and Inexhaustible. Here Is a
report from Mr. H. H. Dare, the Commis-
sioner for Water Conservation and Irrigation
in New South Wales, upon recent investigations
conducted at Bellata Bore : —
"At this place," says Mr. Dare, "there is an
existing bore which was sunk about twenty years
ago and which had originally a good flow. Lat-
terly, however, the flow had decreased to a mere
trickle over the casing. It was not clear whether
this decrease In flow was due to the loss of pres-
sure or to local causes. A second bore has now
been completed about two chains distant from the
original bore. The bore head Is slightly lower,
and the flow obtained Is somewhat more than that
from the original bore, but very far below the
original flow of the first bore. An experiment
was made with an air lift pump, using a system
much in vogue In the United States, but which has
not previously been employed here. This method
consists In placing a galvanised Iron pipe, about
li In. In diameter, within the casing of the bore,
to a depth depending upon the conditions existing
in each case. Compressed air is then allowed
to flow down this pipe, when the flow of bore is
very largely Increased. At Bellata Bore the flow
before applying compressed air was only about
24,000 gallons a day, whereas under the Influ-
ence of the air this increased to about 398,000
gallons per day. The result of the experiment
appears to show that the water is still present in
the artesian strata, but that it does not come to
the surface In the same quantity as formerly ow-
ing to the loss of pressure head."
When one calculates the total annual rainfall
over the catchment of Inland Australia — which
does not reach the ocean by surface flow and Is not
lost by evaporation — it is reasonable to suppose
that it goes to replenish and sustain those under-
ground seas which have been tapped at various
widely-scattered points by artesian bores.
The "Great Australian Artesian Basin" in-
cludes considerably more than one-half of Queens-
land (taking in practically all of that State lying
west of the Great Dividing Range, with the ex-
ception of an area in the north-west contiguous to
the Northern Territory) ; a considerable strip of
New South Wales along Its northern boundary
and west of the Great Dividing Range; and the
north-eastern part of South Australia, together
with the extreme south-eastern corner of the
Northern Territory. This basin is said to be
the largest yet discovered. It Is about 569,000
square miles, of which 376,000 square miles are
In Queensland, 90,000 square miles In South Aus-
tralia, 83,000 square miles In New South Wales,
and 20,000 square miles In the Northern Terri-
tory. As a result of this provision stock-raising
has been made possible In the most arid parts of
the interior. Over four and a half million acres
are supplied from artesian sources In New South
Wales alone.
The uncontrolled flow from one Queensland
bore was calculated at four and a half million
gallons a day.
Water from bores throughout Australia is
being successfully used for purposes of irrigation.
In some the flow Is too highly mineralized to be
so employed.
The Western Australian system has not yet
been thoroughly explored, but It seems already
that It will prove as valuable an asset as the arte-
Sultana Grapes, Yanco, N.S.W.
k
A Peach Tree, Yanco. N.S.W.
95
96
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
sian sea which underlies all these black soil
prairies which extend from the Gulf of Carpen-
taria through western Queensland and northern
New South Wales.
The total number of artesian wells in western
New South Wales is nearly 500, with an approxi-
mate total flow of III million gallons per 24
hours. In the majority of these wells the water
rises above the surface.
The deepest artesian bore in Queensland is at
Bimera, in the Mitchell district, beyond Long
reach. It took two years to complete, and has
a total depth of 5,976 feet, or nearly li mile.
The daily flow is 700,000 gallons of water at a
temperature of 176 deg. Fahr. The shallowest
is on Manfield Downs, on the Flinders River.
The depth is 10 feet, and the flow 2000 gallons
daily. The proved Queensland artesian area
Irrigation Channel, Berri, South Australia
The Great Artesian Basin of Australia differs
from most other sources of subterranean water
supply in that it is of the one-sided type. It may
be compared to a huge saucer designed to hold
all the overflow from the continental cup.
There may be some slight leakage from a shal-
low lip on the northern and eastern rims.
The estimated intake of that section of it which
lies within the boundaries of New South Wales
is 3,580,273,977 gallons a day. In the central
districts of Queensland there are hundreds of
artesian bores sunk to depths of from 500 to 4000
feet, yielding from 300,000 to 4,000,000 gallons
of water per day. Some in the south-western
portion of the State yield from 2,000,000 to
7,000,000 gallons in 24 hours, but the water is
mainly used for watering stock and runs along
miles of ditches.
includes 400,000 square miles, within which area
there are probably about 1,000 bores.
The total area irrigated in the State is 8,661
acres.
A sub-artesian area of great extent has been dis-
covered, and large numbers of bores ranging in
depth from 100 to 600 feet have tapped inex-
haustible supplies of excellent water.
Under the Queensland "Rights in Water and
Water Conservation and Utilisation Act of
1 9 10," grazing farmers, pastoralists, and dairy-
men, etc., are afforded assistance by the Govern-
ment in putting down artesian bores on their
holdings. Hereunder is an example of what can
be done under the Act in question, so far as graz-
ing farmers are concerned : —
IRRIGATION AND ARTI'SIAN WATER
97
Water for the Kitchen Garden, Yarrie, Western Australia
Cost of putting down a bore on a
grazing area of 60,000 acres,
the whole of which would be
benefited, say £2000 o o
20 miles of drains at £15 per mile 300 o o
I
Total cost of work £2300 o o
This outlay is treated as a loan to the graz-
ing farmer, redeemable in 30 years. Annual
interest and reductions amount to about three
half-pence per acre.
The first actual discovery of artesian water
was made in 1879 on the Kallara pastoral hold-
ing, between Bourke and Wilcannia, New South
Wales, at a depth of 140 feet.
The first Government bore was sunk in 1884,
at Goonery, New South Wales, on the Bourke-
Wanaaring Road. At 89 feet a flow of 24,000
gallons a day was struck.
Since that period travelling stock routes have
been opened up all over Australia by means of
artesian bores. As stated elsewhere, it is still
in doubt as to how far artesian water can be
applied for irrigation.
Experiments made with nitric acid as an anti-
dote for the carbonate of soda occurring in arte-
sian water have resulted in a neutralizing of the
alkali and its conversion into nitrate of soda, a
valuable soluble fertiliser.
This establishes a scientific possibility that arte-
sian water mav yet be largely available.
The carbonate of soda in certam artesian
waters— poisonous under ordinary delivery to
vegetation— can be made a fertilising asset of
incalculable value to the Commonwealth. The
power for this purpose may be supplied direct
from some of the bores. Already many success-
ful agricultural results, such as Pera, have been
obtained from the use of artesian water.
In this, as in many other directions, the Com-
monwealth has barely glanced at the possibilities.
At the same time, in view of the geological
aspect of the question, early regulation and con-
trol of artesian bores is a national necessity.
It has now been proved by meteorologists that
Australia is not a drought-stricken country. In-
creased production of recent years has been due,
not to better seasons — for the seasons have not
been exceptionally rainy — but to improved farm-
ing methods, particularly in "dry" areas, and also
to an extension of conservation, storage, irriga-
tion, better transport, and the artesian supply.
Mr. H. A. Hunt, Federal Meteorologist, has
made a most interesting analysis of Australian
rainfalls and their results. He shows that the
setbacks of past years were due, not to nature,
but to human ignorance.
"In Australia," says this gifted scientist, "past
failures and losses have been due to a variety of
causes; amongst them may be enumerated a non-
appreciation of the absence of natural water-
storage, an ignorance of the adaptability of local
soils and climate, unsuitable methods of working,
a want of knowledge of the existence of a consider-
able supply of artesian and sub-artesian waters,
inadequate means of transit— both internal and
external — and an uncertain market for products.
The staple product upon which Australia has
developed is undoubtedly wool, and this item of
commerce is still its chief export. We have not
to go back many years to the time when the
grower of wool was much in the dark as to the
value of his crop. The mutton was of very little
value to the producer, the demand for such being
entirely confined to our own population. The
wool was sent to the home markets entirely at
the grower's risk, and the price he obtained for it
there was quite a speculation. The conditions
S3
ce
fit
O
M
B
98
IRRIGATION AND ARTESIAN WATER
99
being such, there was little incentive to make ex-
tensive monetary outlays for the conservation of
water and fodder, for the preservation of an asset
of varying and uncertain value. Consequently
when our seasonal dry periods came round (which
are undoubtedly periods of soil rest) disaster was
inevitable to a more or less extent.
"Australia's commercial enterprise is quite on
a different basis now. With the perfection of
refrigerating appliances the meat markets of the
world are open to it. The demand for Aus-
tralia's wool has become such a factor in the
world's supply that if the clip is short the grow-
ers, as a body, reap compensation in the enhanced
monetary value obtained.
"The vicissitudes of wheat-growing tell much
the same tale. The sowing of drought-resisting
grain, dry-farming methods, and scientific manur-
ing have, however, brought the proposition of
profitable wheat-growing from the problematical
to the actual stage. The output has been steadily
growing from year to year, and, considering that
nearly 500,000 square miles of the continent re-
ceive a sufficient average rainfall, i.e., 10 in. and
over during the wheat-growing period (April to
October), the possibilities of future development
in this direction are inestimable. The climatic
history and prosperity of the last ten years or so
contradict emphatically the preconceived notion
that Australia is a particularly drought-stricken
and precarious area of the earth's surface. The
truth of the matter about Australia's rainfall is
that, over two-thirds of its area, it is generally
ample for pastoral and agricultural industries;
that different regions have distinct seasonal dry
and wet periods; and that it is subject in part, but
never in the whole, to prolonged periods when
the rainfall is short of the seasonal average. Aus-
tralia is not peculiar in this respect."
For the sake of future development Mr. Hunt
advises the locking and damming of the Darling
River, and the conservation, in natural storages,
of tropical rains along the western slopes of the
Great Dividing Chain.
Water, he contends, can thus be conveyed by
canals and pipes to the interior, to convert large
areas thereof into the most productive pastoral
and agricultural land.
ri*
The Bed of the Fitzroy Elver, Hughenden, Queensland
(Showing how Water Is obtained for Irrigating In a Dry DUtrlct)
a
lOO
(lOl)
Trucking Ore from Whim Creek to BaUa Balla, W.A.
UNDEVELOPED INDUSTRIES.
THE European War has taught Austraha
many lessons. The nation realizes at last
the necessity for developing its own trade
and industry, for supporting its own manufac-
tures, encouraging local talent, and fostering
native art. The coming years are likely to be
strenuously devoted to a general building up of
Australian production and commerce.
We have all the raw products. We can obtain
all the capital and labor necessary. We intend
to utilize within the boundaries of our Common-
wealth opportunities which we have hitherto
wasted or left undeveloped. In this building
up there will be 'opportunities for labor and
capital unequalled in the history of industrial
civilization.
It is the policy which is going to make Australia
the richest and most powerful, as she is now the
freest and most prosperous, nation of the world.
We will preserve and increase the freedom of
our national institutions, while offering to our citi-
zens, and to those eligible for citizenship, chances
and securities such as no other land can give.
The breed that stormed and held the heights
of Anzac will grow stronger and more self-reliant
as their generations follow. The home-land suns
that browned their burly frames will not cease to
shine from out our blue Australian heavens; the
home winds that filled their mighty lungs will not
cease to blow, and there will be white Australian
loaves and good Australian beef and butter to
give them stamina.
Their well-fed, well-developed bodies will house
vigorous and intellectual minds. They will be
just, powerful and humane.
This policy of Australian development is
already a fixed national ideal.
In September, 19 15, the Federal Minister for
Customs asked the Interstate Tariff Commission
to report as to what new industries could with
advantage be established in the Commonwealth.
The Commission's report was presented to the
Federal Parliament in due course. In their con-
clusions, the Commissioners said : —
"So far as those industries which are already
in existence in Australia are concerned, it has
been shown that there is opportunity for greater
enterprise, better efficiency, and a wider output.
What entirely new industries may be established
is a question depending almost wholly on the con-
dition whether private enterprise, capital, and
expert labour are available for the purpose. This
fortunately has been the case with the iron and
steel industry, which promises an expansion in
industrial activity exceeding by far anything
which may be anticipated from any other source.
If this be successful, the local market is capable
of absorbing material to the value of several mil-
lions sterling, and we may look forward to sup-
plying our own requirements of rails, iron and
steel wire, sheet, rod, angle and constructional
iron and steel, together with innumerable other
articles not at present made here. Attention is,
I02
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
in partiri^lat-, :4tf*irable to the following matters,
as to which a large local dcrqand exists: —
Copper, wire, rod, tubes, and sheet from the
copper.
Tops, yarn, and the weaving of woollen
fabrics from our own raw material.
The saving and utilisation of the immense
quantities of fats and oils, the by-products of
wool-scouring, at present run to waste.
of alunite, valued at £13,700. Alum is used
in dyeing as a mordant, in the manufacture of
white leather, for sizing paper, to harden
plaster of Paris, in medicine, etc.
The systematic exploration of promising
localities in Australia, with the view of the
possible discovery of natural petroleum de-
posits.
The manufacture of tinplate from our own
raw material.
Cedar Logs, Atherton Scrub, Q.
Improvement of the process of tanning and
preparation of leathers, so that their reputa-
tion may command a demand in foreign mar-
kets in preference to the hides from which they
are made.
Investigation as to the possibility of obtain-
ing tannin extracts of commercial value from
barks other than wattle.
The prospect of the profitable production of
alkalies from the natural salt deposits of South
and Western Australia.
The economic production of wood pulp from
the fibre of the forest trees of Australia, or
from other material which may be successfully
cultivated here for the purpose.
The production of alum and potash from
the local deposits of alunite, one of which, in
the county of Gloucester, New South Wales,
is said to be "one of the most remarkable in
the world." In 1912 we exported 3,425 tons
The possible utilisation of cheap water-power
for the purpose of manufacturing calcium car-
bide.
The local cultivation of the better qualities of
tobacco.
The local manufacture of margarine, for
which there is an immense market abroad.
The growing of flax for fibre and linseed.
The manufacture of zinc oxide.
The cheapening of the cost of sugar for
manufacturing purposes.
"The systematic application of scientific re-
search and scientific knowledge to the develop-
ment of all forms of practical industry," the
report continues, "has long been an outstanding
feature of the modern industrial world, and is
fostered as a matter of prime importance by the
Government of Germany and other progressive
countries. In Australia there has been hitherto
UNDEVELOPED INDUSTRIES
103
Brick and Drain Pipe Works, Lithgow, N.S.W.
no co-ordinated effort in this direction, but the
discovery of new methods of utilising raw
materials obtainable here has been left in part to
the voluntary effort of enthusiasts connected with
the universities or technical colleges, and, in part,
to the work of private individuals or companies,
who believe that they see some particular opening
for new undertakings by the study of some special
scientific process. While the Commonwealth en-
courages industry by tariff taxation and by boun-
ties, it has no recognised organ for the discovery
of new methods of using local products or for
diffusing a knowledge of scientific processes
amongst our producers and manufacturers. A
Commonwealth department, operating upon the
problems of secondary as well as of primary pro-
duction, might well be constituted with a view to
the systematic application of science to Australian
industry."
Following this most valuable report, the Prime
Minister, Right Hon. W. M. Hughes, who had
already done a mighty service to the Common-
wealth in freeing its base-metal production from
alien domination, summoned a conference in Mel-
bourne to deal with vital questions of national
research.
Delegates came from all the States. They
represented both the Science and Commerce of
Australia.
The Prime Minister put forward a list of prob-
lems awaiting solution. These included: —
Eradication of vegetable pests, such as prickly
pear, Bathurst burr, Nagorra burr, Califor-
nia thistle. Darling pea, St. John's wort,
onion grass, poison plants, etc.
Eradication of animal and insect pests, such
as rabbits, flies, tick, mosquitoes, white ants,
mice, locusts, codlin moth, etc.
Liquids for branding sheep and cattle that will
be harmless to skins.
Preparation of skins for market, and removal
of wool and hair, prior to tanning.
Maintenance of high class types in sheep,
cattle, and horses.
Scientific method of killing, dressing, and
classifying meat for export.
Possibility of establising carbonising works for
the removal of burr and grass seed from
wool.
Utilisation and recovery of by-products from
blood, bones, glue, gelatine, etc.
104
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Prevention of evaporation and absorption of
water from tanks and dams.
Utilisation and purification of artesian water
for irrigation purposes.
Cultivation of Australian saltbushes and in-
digenous grasses.
Re-establishment of salsolaceous plants on alka-
line soils in dry districts, with and without
artesian water.
Cultivation of medicinal plants.
Cultivation of fibre plants, for paper-making.
Manufacture of nitrogenous fertilisers from
the atmosphere.
Manufacture of nitric acid from the atmo-
sphere.
Production of potash salts for agriculture.
Reduction of losses of coal in coal-mining,
recovery and utilisation of by-products of
coal and coke industries.
Recovery of zinc from its ores.
Manufacture of calcium carbide.
Manufacture of alkalies.
Production by electric furnace of ferro-chrome,
ferro-tungsten, ferro-molybdenum, ferro-
manganese, ferro-titanium, ferro-nickel.
Production of aluminium and its alloys.
Recovery of sulphuric acid, arsenic, etc., from
minerals.
Broadly outlined by the Prime Minister, the
proposals of the Federal Government aimed at
co-ordinating existing institutions — Common-
wealth laboratory, universities, agricultural col-
leges, technical and mining schools, and ordinary
schools. The objective aimed at was to apply
to pastoral industry, agriculture, mining, and
manufacture the resources of science in such a
way as to more effectively develop our unlimited
national resources. Consideration must also be
given to investigation and industrial research,
such as the study of problems associated with our
great primary industries, pastoral, agricultural,
viticultural, and the mining of coal and metals,
and the metallurgical treatment of the latter; and
the chemical and physical study of problems bear-
ing on the secondary (manufacturing) industries,
with a view particularly to the improvement of
the quality of manufactures, the reduction of the
cost of production, and whenever economically
possible the utilisation of waste materials.
An advisory committee was appointed, which,
after a fortnight's deliberation, presented to
Cabinet a report and recommendations.
The establishment of a Commonwealth Insti-
tute of Science and Industry, aided by an advisory
council consisting of nine representing members,
was advised.
This proposal has met with Government
approval. The advisory council is in process
of appointment as this section goes to press.
The plain duty before us is to develop our
resources; to create power and wealth for our-
selves and for our national relations and friends.
From Germany in 19 12 we imported goods to
the value of ^7,153,543 — about one-eleventh of
our total imports.
These included apparel (nearly two million
pounds' worth), manufactured metals (worth
another two millions), beverages, dressed leather,
and other articles which we were quite capable of
producing, and in the future will produce for our-
selves.
There was not an article on the list of German
imports that Australia could not have provided.
Our grass-tree gum had been going to Germany
in large quantities. Some of it was actively re-
turned to us in the form of high explosive.
Not long ago the Imperial Institute brought
under the notice of the Commonwealth that there
is a good demand in England for white diatoma-
ceous earth of good quality.
This substance, which is technically known as
kieselguhr, occurs in several localities in New
South Wales, as at Cooma, in the neighbourhood
of Barraba, and the Warrumbungle Mountains.
In 1897 Mr. G. W. Card wrote an interesting
pamphlet on these deposits in New South Wales,
stating that their existence had long been known,
and from time to time the possibility of utilising
these, more especially in the manufacture of dyna-
mite, had long been considered. Many new uses
are now being found for the material.
Mr. R. T. Baker, Curator of the Technological
Museum in Sydney, in a newspaper interview
recently, said : —
"At the present time European sources of
marble are, of course, entirely closed as far as
Belgium, France, and Germany are concerned,
and a great opportunity has arisen for the devel-
opment of our own marbles. For instance,
European black marble is quite unprocurable here
now. To replace this our black Windellama
marble might be substituted. It is in every
respect equal to the best Belgian black marble.
It is just being realised in commercial circles at
last that in Australia there is to be found suffi-
cient building material in our rocks and marbles
to supply all the nation's wants, both in quality
and quantity.
"As regards tests, in several instances it has
been proved that Australian marbles stand a
greater crushing strain than even our granites.
This demonstrates that Australian marbles have
a much closer texture than the imported ones, and
this enhances their value to the builder and archi-
tect very considerably."
Similarly, the higher quality and superior value
of Australian hardwoods and ornamental timbers
UNDEVFLOPEI) INDUSTRIES .
lO!
are only just beginning to be realised at home.
Thirty million Australian eucalypts were planted
in the United States in 1913.
The Eucalyptus Hardwood Association of Cali-
fornia recently announced that hardwood tool-
handles were giving great satisfaction, and were
considered equal to the best second-growth hic-
kory. Yet tool-handles to the value of £44,237
were imported into Australia in 1912!
Australian hardwoods are easier to work than
oaks, walnuts, and other imported timbers. A
4x4 hardwood scantling is equal in breaking
mtellectually progressive, we have been much
behindhand in our local manufactures. Impor-
tation was a national weakness.
Approximately, Australia consumes two million
gallons of linseed oil per annum, equal to 25,000
tons of seed, nearly every pound-weight of which
is imported. Every ounce of it should be grown
in the Commonwealth.
The grease of our wools is a most valuable
by-product which we have exported and then re-
miported as lanoline, etc., from Germany and
elsewhere for years.
Electrolytic Eoom, Cobar Copper Works, N.S.W.
Strain to a 4 x 3 oregon. Yet in 19 13, over 41
million feet of Oregon were used, with hardwood
at 13/- a hundred, and oregon at 17/6!
Meanwhile America was paying twice as much
for Australian hardwood as they were for their
own Oregon, and regarded it as a far more useful
and durable timber.
Our trees mature much more quickly than the
trees of other countries. For furniture and deco-
rative work we have the most beautiful woods
in the world. Although we have a greater rail-
way mileage per 1000 of the population than any
other country, although we are politically and
We possess the finest clays for potteries, but
we have made little use of them so far.
We are blessed with enormous deposits of
shale — over ten million tons, 60 years' work, exist
in one mine — and the existence of mineral oil
has been established in Papua and on the main-
land. Yet we imported all the mineral oils con-
sumed in the Commonwealth.
Although the British Army Council, before and
during the war, largely used American electrolytic
copper, Australian refined copper is admitted by
arsenals and principal electrical works to be of
excellent quality.
io6
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
It was eagerly sought after by German buyers
during their military-preparatory period, and
much of it was also returned to us with our grass-
tree gum.
Around our shores marine product of inestim-
able value awaits exploitation — tons of fish suit-
able for canning, beche de mer, trepang, shell,
kelp, oil, bone, and fertilizer by-products.
Just as the milling of our wheat here (occa-
sioned by war conditions) yields us additional
profits in wages, etc., of over a million and a
quarter, so the canning and preparing of our own
fish will prove a huge source of national income.
Imported flour in 19 15 convinced our too-often
unpatriotic housewives of the superiority of the
Australian staple.
In view of this fact the assertion that we can
increase our annual wheat yield to 800 million
bushels is received with pleasure.
The millions of money that have gone to our
enemies we shall in the future keep for ourselves.
Primary production will be increased by increas-
ing manufacture, and the undeveloped industries
of this continent will provide wealth and pros-
perity for Australian citizens.
Half a Ton of Rock Ling
( 107)
FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION.
POST, TELEGRAPH, AND TELEPHONES.
IT is a common fact that all machines work
stiffly at the beginning. Time, friction, and
well-oiled parts lead ultimately to smoother
running. After Federation, special legislation,
for which there was no precedent, had to be in-
troduced to meet wider national needs. State
Departments, such as the Post Office and Tele-
graphs, had to be brought under one control.
Co-ordination of departmental activities is not
yet complete in Federal administration. It will
be a long time before the work of nation-building
has reached its finished results. But the work is
going on steadily, peacefully, and in accord with
the spirit which induced the various States to
unite as an Australian Commonwealth.
Federal legislation in most instances has been
framed to increase the general welfare of the Aus-
tralian people.
In some cases — the Sugar Bonus Act, for
example — special measures have been passed to
meet the necessities of individual States.
Certain State activities and changes, such as
lighthouses, have fallen naturally under Common-
wealth control. Others it became necessary to
establish; others yet were called forth by the war.
Special Acts of Federal legislation have given
additional powers to the Commonwealth (lovern-
ment. Some powers conferred by the Consti-
tution have been assumed as a matter of course
or convenience.
Martin Place and O.P.O., Sydney
io8
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Public Works Offices, Sydney
The postal, telegraphic, and telephone systems
of the States were quickly Federalized and taken
over.
Since 1901 they have presented succeeding
Ministers with anxious problems. The complete
solution of these administrative and financial pro-
blems will require time. Neither with public
education nor the post office in a country so wide
and undeveloped as ours, can we look too closely
at the margins between expenditure and returns.
LIniform postal rates now exist in all the States.
There were, at the end of 1913, 5853 post offices
open for business in the Australian Common-
wealth. During that year in round numbers 521
millions of letters and postcards had been handled
by our postal authorities, 137 millions of news-
papers, 70 millions of packets, and four and a
quarter million parcels.
Although a widely-scattered people, it can be
seen from this that the transmission of news and
intelligence is greater per average — and mileage
— than that of most countries. The universal rate
of postage for letters in the Commonwealth has
been fixed since 19 10 at one penny per half-ounce;
printed papers as prescribed a halfpenny per 20z.
or part of 20z.; books printed outside the Com-
monwealth, 4d. per 40Z. or part of 40Z.; for
books printed in Australia, Ul. per 8oz. or part of
80Z.
The latter, a preferential rate, was instituted
with a view to offering some slight encouragement
to Australian publishing.
Magazines, reviews, serials, and similar matter
printed and published in Australia, are carried at
Id. per 8 ounces or part of 8 ounces. Imported
productions of similar character are charged Ad.
per 4 ounces or part of 4 ounces.
Commercial papers, patterns, samples, and mer-
chandise as prescribed pay id. per two ounces or
part of two ounces. Newspapers of Australian
origin — under the prescribed conditions — id. per
20 ounces, and all other newspapers jd. per 10
ounces or part of 10 ounces.
Postage for interstate letters and letters to the
United Kingdom and British possessions all o\er
the world is now uniformly one penny per half-
FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION
109
ounce. The rate on letters to foreign countries,
(excepting New Hebrides, Banks and Torres
Islands, where the rate is a penny per half-ounce),
is twopence halfpenny for each half-ounce.
In November, 1907, the Federal Government
entered Into an agreement with the Orient Steam
Navigation Company Ltd., providing for a fort-
nightly mail service to Europe for a period of ten
years, commencing February, 19 10. The mail
Taranto to x\delaide is to be completed within
twenty-six days fourteen hours, and from Adelaide
to Taranto within twenty-seven days two hours,
but the latter period may be exceeded by thirty-six
hours during the prevalence of the south-west
monsoon. The amount of the subsidy is fixed at
£170,000 per annum; but, if the earnings of the
company be decreased, or the expenses increased,
by reason of any Commonwealth shipping legis-
Hinton Bridge, N.S.W.
service was to be carried out by existing vessels
belonging to the company and by five new mail
ships, which have been specially built, and which
are each over 12,000 tons gross registered ton-
nage and of not less than seventeen knots speed.
An additional new vessel was to be ad4ed within
eighteen months, and another within six years,
from P^ebruary, 1910, and the first of these — the
Orama — entered into running during Novem-
ber, 191 1. The vessels are to call at Fremantle,
Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane, and
at least six of them at Hobart during the months
of February to May inclusive. The voyage from
lation passed subsequently to the date of the agree-
ment, to the extent of not less than £5000 a
year, the contractors have the right to terminate
the agreement unless the subsidy is increased.
Insulated space of not less than 2000 tons of
forty cubic feet is to be provided in each of the
new vessels, and the freights are not to exceed
one halfpenny per lb. for butter and sixty shillings
per ton for fruit. White labour only is to be
employed, and no discrimination is to be made
between unionists and non-unionists. If before or
during the sixth year of the period of the contract
an accelerated service is provided by any compet-
I 10
AUSTRiVLIA UNLIMITED
ing line of mail ships, the contractors must, if so
required by the Postmaster-General, provide a
service equal to the competing service, at an in-
creased subsidy, to be determined by agreement
or arbitration. The Commonwealth flag must
be flovi'n on the mail ships, which the Common-
wealth has the right to purchase at a valuation
at any time. Within six months of the Post-
master-General establishing a permanent wireless
telegraphy station at Rottnest Island, or at any
point on the coast between Fremantle and Bris-
bane, the company must fit the mail ships with
wireless telegraphy installations. The new service
was inaugurated on the iith February, 1910.
At present, mails to and from Europe via San
Francisco are carried by the Union Steamship Co.,
subsidised by the New Zealand Government, and
the Oceanic Co., each of which talies Australian
mails at poundage rates. The services are once in
four weeks.
Before the war the Norddeutscher Lloyd had
maintained a service between Germany and Aus-
tralia, via Genoa, which was subsidised (since
i8<S6) by the German Imperial Government.
The Messageries Maritimes was also subsidised
by the French Government (£120,000) for the
carriage of mails between Marseilles and New
Caledonia.
Apart from main postal routes, the Common-
wealth Postal Department maintains services,
regular and otherwise, with various parts of the
world.
Subsidies paid for services between Australian
ports amount to nearly £5 1,000 annually.
The average time occupied in conveyance of
mails between Adelaide and London and London
and Adelaide during 19 13 was 28 days 18 hours.
Melbourne receives its English mail by train 17^
hours later, Sydney 42 hours, allowing for a seven-
hours' stop-over at the Victorian capital.
In 1913 nearly nine millions value was issued
in money orders and £3,550,781 in postal notes.
Commission and poundage on these transactions
amouted to £133,132. By railway, water, and
other modes of transit the mails of the
Commonwealth were travelled in 19 13 over
nearly 43 millions of miles.
The national postal system found employment
for just on thirty thousand people, besides 5342
mail contractors. Its gross revenues, inclusive
of telegraphs and telephones, reached over four
and a half million sterling.
The total deficit on working during 1913-14
was over half a million. A recent increase in
telephone rates, with the introduction of more
economical management, is expected to make up
the deficiency.
The first electric telegraph for public use was
introduced into Australia in 1854, as a short line
between Melbourne and VVilliamstown. In 1856
Adelaide and Port Adelaide were connected. In
1857 the first Tasmanian line was completed, and
in 1858 Sydney and Liverpool were joined. The
first line in Queensland — Brisbane to Rockhamp-
ton — was opened in 1864. Perth and Fremantle
were brought together in 1869, and the same year
Tasmania was connected with the mainland by
cable.
In 1 9 13 the Commonwealth owned 46,218
miles of line, and there were 4,624 public tele-
graph offices in Australia and Tasmania. During
that year over thirteen and a half million tele-
grams were dispatched from those offices.
The charges for telegrams of 16 words have
been 6d. within prescribed town and suburban
areas, ninepence within State boundaries, and one
shilling interstate, with a general rate of one
penny for every extra word.
Newspaper wires are despatched at special
rates. Commencing in February, 1914, the Postal
Department instituted a system of letter-telegrams
between all telegraph offices which are open be-
tween 7 p.m. and midnight. The letter-telegrams
are forwarded during the night by telegraph to
the office of destination and are delivered as
ordinary letters by the first letter delivery, or are
despatched by mail to the address in the ordinary
way. The rates charged throughout the Common-
wealth are one shilling for the first 40 words,
and one halfpenny for each additional word,
double these rates being charged on Sundays. At
present the service extends to 60 offices in the
Commonwealth.
Under the Wireless Telegraphy Act, the Post-
master-General holds an exclusive right to estab-
lish wireless stations and appliances within Aus-
tralia. He is empowered to grant licenses for
this purpose, but all experimental licenses were
cancelled at the beginning of the war, and all
private installations dismantled for the duration
of hostilities. The Act does not apply to the
Royal Navy. The Commonwealth has a con-
necting circle of, nineteen wireless stations around
the Australian mainland, and stations at Mac-
quarie Island, Woodlark Island, Rabaul, Wil-
helmshaven, Nauru, and Bougainville. The four
latter are located on former German territory,
now occupied by our Government. Forwarding
rates between the mainland and these are 3d. per
word.
The high-power stations are Sydney, Perth,
Woodlark Island, and Port Darwin. These will
form the Australian unit in the Imperial scheme
of radio-telegraphic communication. At the con-
clusion of the war the Postal Department pro-
FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION
1 1
mises an inland scheme, under which isolated
homesteads can be connected with the ordinary
land ser\ices.
The Eastern Extension cable system links Aus-
tralia with the outside world, via Port Darwin,
by several branches. The "All Red" Pacific cable
system was completed in 1902. The Australian
shore end is at Southport, in Queensland, and
there are stations on this route at Norfolk Island,
Fiji, and Fanning Island. A land wire leased by
the Pacific Cable Board joins Bamfield, British
Columbia, to Montreal, and the Anglo-American
and Commercial Cable Companies transmit the
messages of this system across the Atlantic. The
loss on the Pacific system (proportion of which
is borne by the Commonwealth) is a steadily de-
creasing quantity. The administration is by a
board consisting of two representatives each from
Cjreat Britain, Canada, and Australia, and one
from New Zealand.
New Caledonia and New Zealand have
separate cable systems. The latter is jointly sub-
sidised by the Governments of France and the
Commonwealth. Altogether 72,000 miles of
submarine cables and connecting land wires have
terminals in Australia.
The standard public rate for cable messages
between the Commonwealth and Great Britain
is now three shillings a word, and sevenpence
halfpenny a word for "through" press messages.
"Deferred" cablegrams can he sent under cer-
tain conditions at a reduction of 50 per cent.
These messages can only be transmitted after non-
urgent private wires and press cablegrams. They
may be sent via Pacific and Eastern routes to coun-
tries to which the ordinary rate exceeds tenpence
per word.
Week-end cable letters are now charged at nine-
pence per word to the United Kingdom and Portu-
gal, yd. South African Union, 7 id. India, Ceylon,
and Burma, yd. Canada. The minimum charge
on these lettergrams varies from 15/- to the
United Kingdom and Portugal, 118 Africa and
Canada, and 126 India, Ceylon, and Burma.
Total cable subsidies paid by the Common-
wealth in 1913-14 were £10,650. The Postal
Department has established telephone services in
all the capital cities and important towns through-
out the Commonwealth. These in the year 19 13
totalled 1 181 exchanges, with a subscribers' list
of 107,553. ^f" exclusive service the Govern-
ment telephone rental charges vary from £3 to £4,
with twopence per call under the recently-increased
rates.
CUSTOMS AND TARIFF.
UNDER the Constitution, uniform rates of
Customs duties are now imposed, with free
trade between the Australian States.
The responsibility of shipowners, charterers,
masters, or agents in regard to goods carried by
sea has been defined by a Federal Act of Parlia-
ment since 1905. An Act relating to Secret Com-
missions, Rebates, and Profits was passed in the
same year, together with an Act "to compel the
placing of a proper description on certain pre-
scribed goods, on packages containing the same,
being imports or exports of the Commonwealth."
"An Act for the Preservation of Australian In-
dustries and for the Repression of Destructive
Monopolies" was embodied in the Federal
Statutes in 1906. This Act is aimed at trusts
and combinations in trade or commerce, injurious
or detrimental to the public. It has been amended
in 1908, 1909-1910.
"Preferential duties of Customs on certain
goods the produce or manufacture of the British
Colonies or Protectorates in South Africa" were
agreed to in 1906.
The Customs Tariff Act of 1908, repealed pre-
vious tariffs and imposed new rates of .duties, with
preference on certain goods "the produce or manu-
facture of the United Kingdom."
The Customs Act of 19 10 gives the Customs
control of all goods for export, the exportation
of which is subject to compliance with any con-
dition or restriction under any Act or regulation,
extends the machinery provisions for the preven-
tion of the importation or exportation of goods
which are prohibited imports or exports respec-
tively, amends the provisions for the payment
of duty under protest, gives the Governor-General
power to prescribe the nature, size, and material
of the coverings for packages, and the maximum
or minimum weight or quantity to be contained
in any one package of goods imported or exported,
or transported coastwise from one State to an-
other; the condition of preparation or manufac-
ture for export of any articles used for, or in the
manufacture of, food or drink by man; the con-
ditions as to purity, soundness, and freedom from
disease to be conformed to by the goods for ex-
port.
I 12
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Ocean and Interstate Liners,
Customs and Excise yielded £14,881,070 of
revenue during 19 13-14. After the outbreak
of war special Acts were passed relating to trading
with the enemy, and stringent regulations enforced
by proclamation regarding Australian exports and
imports.
A complete reorganization of all matters re-
lating to trade and production is certain.
At the moment of writing it seems that pre-
ferential duties will be a first axiom in the future
tariff, that trade legislation will be enacted having
for its object first the development of Australian
trade, commerce, and manufacture, with sympa-
thetic treatment of certain imports and manufac-
tures of the Empire and its Allies.
In 191 2-13 — the last year from which normal
figures can be given — the total value of oversea
imports for each inhabitant of the Commonwealth
was £16/12/-, of exports £16 7/2. The total
sum collected in duties on merchandise, includ-
ing spirits and tobacco, was £12,545,135. Future
figures will doubtless show a great diminution in
the annual value of imports and a great increase
in that of exports. Australia, as a producer of
food and raw products, has hardly touched the
fringe of her possibilities.
Trade between the Commonwealth and the
Orient has greatly increased in volume since the
war, particularly in regard to Japan.
There is no reason why amicable commercial
relations should not be sustained between the two
countries. Japan has need of much Australian
raw product. "Reciprocity," according to Con-
fucius, is the one word likely to express all virtues.
It is a term which can surely be applied as between
Japan and Australia.
FKDKRAL ADMINISTRATION
iM
and Ferry-Boats on Sydney Harbor
COMMERCE AND FINANCE.
SHIPPING, navigation, quarantine, light-
houses, lightships, beacons, and buoys are
under the control of the Commonwealth.
On arrival of every vessel at a port in the
Commonwealth, whether from an oversea country
or from another port within the Commonwealth,
the master is required to deliver to the Customs
officer a form giving all particulars, necessary for
statistical purposes, in regard to the ship, pas-
sengers and crew. Similarly, on departure from
a port, a form containing corresponding informa-
tion is lodged. These forms, which provide a
complete record of the movements of every vessel
in Commonwealth waters, are at the end of each
month forwarded by the Customs officer at each
port to the Commonwealth Bureau of Statistics,
and furnish the material for the compilation of
the shipping and migration returns.
Entries and clearances during 19 13 amounted
to over ten and a half million tons. Of this Ger-
many was credited with by far the highest propor-
tion.
The tonnage entered at Sydney exceeded that
of every port in the United Kingdom except Lon-
don, Liverpool-Birkenhead, Cardiff, and the Tyne
ports. The gross tonnage of vessels engaged in
regular interstate and coastal services for that
year throughout the Commonwealth had reached
364,937 tons — the growth of 61 years.
114
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Circular Quay, Sydney
Under the Constitution, Federal governments
have power to legislate with respect to banking
and the issue of paper-money.
By an Act passed in 1910, the Treasurer was
empowered to issue notes as legal tender through-
out the Commonwealth, and redeemable at the
seat of Federal Government. These notes have
been issued at 10/-, £1, .£5, £10, £20, £50, and
£100.
There are still 23 private banks trading in
the Commonwealth under various charters, four
of which have their head offices in London, but
the private note issue has now ceased.
The Commonwealth Bank was formally estab-
lished by Act of Parliament in the latter part of
191 1, and opened in 1 913. It received no power
to issue notes: but has the usual functions and
powers of a proprietary institution.
This national bank is controlled by a Governor
and Deputy-Governor appointed for seven years,
subject to correct administration and eligible for
re-appointment.
A Savings-bank department has been establishetl
in connection with its operations, and the various
departments of Commonwealth go\ernment now
transact all their banking business through it.
The total paid-up capital of all cheque-paying
banks of Australia for 19 13-14, amounted to
£31,142,583. The total deposits for 19 14, all
States, equalled £163,854,555, averaging £34/4/ 7
per head of the Australian population.
Revenues. — The Commonwealth Surplus Re-
venue Act of 1910, passed by the Fisher adminis-
tration for a period of at least ten years, provided
"that the Commonwealth was to retain the whole
of the Customs and Excise revenue, and to make
I
FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION
115
to the Government of each State (by monthly in-
stalments) an annual payment, equal to 25/- per
head of the population of the State. The popula-
tion of a State in any financial year was considered,
for the purposes of this Act, to be the number esti-
mated by the Commonwealth Statistician as ex-
isting in the State on the 31st December falling in
that financial year."
Bv the same Act extra financial assistance was
provided for the States of Tasmania and West
Australia, in consideration of the sacrifices made
by these smaller States in yielding control of their
Customs revenues to the Commonwealth.
first complete financial year to £21,741,775 for
1913-14, or £4/5/3 per unit of the population.
Of this. Customs, Excise, Postal, and Land
Taxation contributed the greater proportion.
A Federal Land Tax was first imposed
in 1910. In the Budget of 19 14-15 this
tax was raised by altering the graduation
so that the increase in rate over the whole
taxable value of the estate, for each suc-
ceeding pound of taxable value between £5000
and £75,000, was one eighteen-thousand seven-
hundred and fiftieth of a penny, instead of one
thirty-thousandth of a penny, as hitherto. The
The Law Courts, Melbourne
Under these grants Tasmania receives a first
annual instalment of £95,000; then eight annual
payments of £90,000 each, and a final douceur
of £85,000.
Western Australia receives for ten years an
annual payment, beginning with £250,000, and
progressively diminishing by £10,000 each subse-
quent vear.
One-half the amount was to be detailed to all
the States (including Western Australia) in pro-
portion to population.
The consolidated revenue of the Common-
wealth had increased from £11,296,985 in the
maximum rate for resident owners now becomes
9d. in the £, on estates whose taxable value is
more than £75,000. Corresponding increases in
the rates payable by absentee owners were made,
rising to a maximum of lod. in the £ on estates
whose taxable value is more than £80,000. These
advances are estimated as likely to increase the
annual yield of the Land Tax by £1,000,000.
In addition to this, the Federal Government has,
for the first time, introduced succession duties on
estates of deceased persons, in additicn to those
already imposed by the State Governments. Fhe
new Commonwealth scale of succession duty, after
ii6
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
starting by the exemption of all estates of less than
£1000, ranges from a minimum of i per cent, to
a maximum of 15 per cent, on estates of a higher
taxable value than £71,000.
The Federal revenue from Land Taxation for
the Commonwealth was £1,459,962 for the year
ending 30th June, 1913.
Patents, Trade Marks, Copyright, and Designs
are vested in the Commonwealth. The total re-
venue from these for the year mentioned fell
short of thirty thousand pounds. It is possible
that amending legislation dealing with these
matters will receive legislative consideration
when the question of Trade and Tariff are re-
vised at the conclusion of the war.
Acts for the enforcement of arbitration in in-
dustrial disputes are a feature of Australian State
legislation since 1891. Conciliation and arbitra-
tion laws exist in each of the States, which have
been supplemented, but not yet superseded, by
Federal legislation.
The Commonwealth principal Arbitration Act
of 1904 applies only to industrial disputes extend-
ing beyond the limits of a single State.
Employers and employees may settle disputes
and establish conditions of labour by mutual agree-
ments, which, being registered, have the force of
awards such as are given direct by the Courts in
cases referred to them where the parties do not
agree.
In Commonwealth administration the Court
consists of a judge of the Federal High Court.
This Court may, on application from an original
party, appoint two assessors at any stage of the
dispute.
Cases are brought before the Court either by
employers or employees. The consent of a
majority of a union voting at a specially sum-
moned meeting is necessary to the institution of
a case; the Commonwealth Act requires the cer-
tificate of the registrar that it is a proper case for
consideration.
Australian industrial legislation aims at pre-
venting strikes and lockouts in relation to indus-
trial disputes, other means of settlement being
provided. Such is the declared object of the Com-
monwealth Acts. It is decreed that no person or
organisation shall, on account of any industrial
dispute, do anything in the nature of a strike or
lockout, or continue any strike or lockout, under a
penalty of £1000. The Court may fix and enforce
penalties for breaches of awards, restrain contra-
ventions of the Acts, and exercise all the usual
powers of a court of law.
The Commonwealth Court may prescribe a
minimum rate of wage; it may also, as regards
employment, direct that preference of employ-
ment or service shall be given to members of
unions. An opportunity is offered for objection
to a preference order, and the Court must be
satisfied that preference is desired by a majority
of the persons affected by the award who have in-
terests in common with the applicants.
The Commonwealth Court is to bring about an
amicable agreement, if possible to conciliate and
not to arbitrate, and such agreement may be made
an award. In order to prevent a matter coming
into dispute, the President of the Commonwealth
Arbitration Court may convene a compulsory
conference under his own presidency. Attendance
of persons summoned to attend is compulsory.
Provision is made in the recent Act, whereby, if
there is no settlement arrived at in the confer-
ence, the President may refer the matter to the
Court and then arbitrate on it.
1 here are four ways in which a matter may be
brought before the Court —
(a) By the registrar certifying that it is a
dispute proper to be dealt with by the
Court in the public interest.
(b) By the parties, or one of them, submit-
ting the dispute to the Court by plaint in
the prescribed manner.
(c) By a State Industrial Authority, or the
Governor-in-Council of a State in which
there is no such authority, requesting the
Court to adjudicate.
(d) By the President referring to the Court
a dispute as to which he has held a con-
ference without an agreement being
reached.
All parties represented are bound by the award,
and also all parties within the ambit of a common
rule. The Court possesses full powers for en-
forcement of awards.
Uniformity of industrial legislation is gradually
being achieved throughout Australia. It is gene-
rally recognized by capitalists and workers that
if the principle of arbitration can be successfully
employed, it is a far better and more humane
method of settling industrial troubles than that
of strikes and lockouts.
If by mischance a man or woman fails in life's
battle in this gracious land of freedom and
humanity, they are not penalized for misfortune
nor driven to end their days as mendicants in
some cold and cheerless institution. They may,
as a common right of Australian citizenship, avail
themselves of the provisions of a Federal old-
age pension, which, although small, is yet suffi-
cient to keep them from destitution. Since its
I
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
inauguration, years ago, this system has brought
consolation to some thousands of deserving
people, and pending a fuller legislative accept-
ance of the humanitarian doctrine that poverty is
a social rather than an individual crime, the Old-
Age Pensions Act will continue to fill a beneficent
purpose.
The Commonwealth Invalid and Old-Age Pen-
sions Act came into operation in 1909-1910. The
general administration of the Act is, subject to the
control of the Minister, placed in the hands of the
Commissioner of Pensions, who is assisted by a
Deputy Commissioner appointed in each State.
Power is given to the Commissioner and the
Deputy Commissioners to summon witnesses, re-
ceive evidence on oath, and require the production
of documents for the purposes of the Act.
Each State is divided into districts, each of
which is placed in charge of a Registrar, whose
duties consist in receiving and investigating pen-
sion claims and in keeping such books and registers
as are required for carrying out the provisions of
the Act.
The number of old age pensioners in Australia
represents about i 5 per cent, of the total popula-
tion.
Persons of good character who have resided in
the Commonwealth for 20 years, and who do not
possess accumulated property in or out of Aus-
tralia worth £310, and who have passed, for
women, their 60th year, for men, 65, may apply
for and receive an old-age pension.
The rate of pension payable, whether for old-
age or invalidity, is required by the Act to be
determined by the Commissioner or one of the
Deputy Commissioners, and is to be fixed at such
amount as he deems reasonable and sufficient, hav-
ing regard to all the circumstances of the case,
but must not exceed £26 per annum in any event,
nor be at such a rate as will make the pensioner's
income, together with pension, exceed £52 per
annum.
l*"or an invalid pension the age qualification is
attainment of the age of sixteen years if accom-
panied by permanent incapacitation for work.
For an invalid pension continuous residence for
at least five years is required. In neither case,
however, is continuous residence in Australia
deemed to have been interrupted by occasional
absences not exceeding in the aggreggate one-
tenth of the total period of residence. The appli-
cant for any pension must be residing In Australia
on the date when he makes his claim, and in the
case of an invalid pension must have been incapa-
citated while in Australia.
Payments received by way of benefit from any
registered friendly society, or during illness, In-
firmity, or old age from any trade union, provident
society, or other society or association, are not, for
the purposes of the Commonwealth Act, treated
as Income. As regards accumulated property,
the pension is subject to a deduction of £1 per
annum for every complete £10 by which the net
capital value of the property exceeds £50. Also,
if both husband and wife are pensioners (except
when they are living apart pursuant to any decree,
judgment, order, or deed of separation), the de-
duction in the case of each of them shall be £1
for every complete £10 by which the net capital
value of the accumulated property exceeds £25.
From the capital value of accumulated property Is
deducted the capital \a\ue of a home in which
the pensioner permanently resides, and all charges
and encumbrances existing on the property, other
than the home.
In 19 14 there were only 87,780 old-age and
16,865 invalid pensioners in Australia out of the
whole population. The total amount disbursed
was £2,579,265. In its invalid and old-age pen-
sions scheme Australia makes more liberal pension
provision than any other country in the world.
In 1912 the Federal Parliament enacted that in
future a maternity allowance of £5 should be
payable out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund to
every woman resident of the Commonwealth who
gives birth to a child in Australia or on board
an interstate vessel. Asiatics, aboriginals,
Papuans, and Pacific Islanders are excepted.
For 1913-14 the total payments in the Com-
monwealth under this Act reached £412,780.
By the enactment of the Commerce (Trade
Descriptions) Act 1905, the Quarantine Acts
1908 and 19 1 2, and the Customs Act 1910, the
Commonwealth Government has taken the first
steps towards the exercise of its constitutional
powers for the protection of the public health.
All these Acts are administered by the Depart-
ment of Trade and Customs.
In all the States Public Health Acts exist, and
are in most places rigidly enforced.
Naturalization came under Federal control in
1904. This Is a matter which, in the light of
events, will probably come up for revision. Be-
fore the outbreak of the European war the grant
of a certificate of naturalization entitled the re-
cipient within the Commonwealth to all rights and
privileges of a native-born citizen. Aboriginal
natives of Asia, Africa, or the Pacific Islands,
FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION
119
excepting New Zealand, were barred. By far
the greater number of applicants had been Ger-
man.
The regulation of immigration into Australia
is in the hands of the Commonwealth, which
exercises great care in this direction.
Desirable immigrants have always been wel-
comed, but people suffering from transmissible
diseases or who are mentally deficient, criminals
and others regarded as undesirable are prohibited.
It is likely that immigration laws as they
apply to certain aliens will be modified. 'I'he
spirit of this particular regulation has been pro-
tective rather than antagonistic. It has never
been meant, as far as Australian public opinion
is concerned, to exclude individuals from the Com-
monwealth whose racial standards approximate to
our own.
IMMIGRATION.
AS an example of the prosperity of the Com-
monwealth during 19 13, it was shown by
vital statistics published in April of 19 14,
that marriages had increased 80 per cent, over
the preceding year. In 12 years the average
death-rate had fallen from 12.22 of every thou-
sand to 10.78, while the birth-rate had increased
by over 28 per cent.
Although no country engaged has suffered less
material loss than Australia, it did not require a
general European war to convince a majority of
Australians that the main plank in their national
platform was effective oraipation and develop-
ment of national resources.
For the carrying out of this vital policy, a
greater population is essential. Various mea-
sures had been taken by some of the State and
Federal Governments to bring the attractions and
opportunities of the Commonwealth forward, and
a steady stream of immigrants from Great Bri-.
tain and Europe was pouring in when the crash of
Empires began.
Arrangements had been made by nearly all
State Governments with various shipping com-
panies, whereunder substantial reductions in fares
were made to immigrants. These reductions are
generally granted to all persons desiring to settle
on the land or engaging in any form of rural in-
■ Welcome and Good-bye," on Port Melbourne Pier
I20
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
dustry, to domestic servants, and to any others
who satisfy one of the several Agents-General in
London that they will make suitable settlers. Pro-
vision had also been made whereby settlers might
nominate their relatives or friends for passage to
Australia at greatly reduced rates.
On arrival of ships conveying immigrants,
Government officers made themselves acquainted
with the requirements and capabilities of the pas-
sengers, who were assisted in every possible way
to get a fair start in the land of their adoption.
This system will necessarily be reverted to in con-
nection with future immigration schemes, for the
protection and assistance of the new arrivals and
also to prevent any dislocation of the labor
market.
Intending settlers are taken in hand by officers
of the Lands Department. Their interests are
specially studied by the Department of Agricul-
ture, and they are naturally encouraged to
become successful primary producers. For this
class of immigrant Australia will hold unequalled
opportunities for a hundred years or more.
Apart from various Government schemes for
assisting immigration and increasing settlement
and production in Australia, several private
associations and syndicates have taken a hand in
this all-important national movement.
The British Immigration League has been par-
ticularly active. In connection with this institu-
tion a Land Settlement scheme was organised. Not
more than six per cent, interest was to be received
by those who subscribed money, and provisions
were made for advancing the whole of the pas-
sage-money, if necessary, to eligible settlers. City
youths were to be trained for rural occupations.
Army service men and retired or discharged sol-
diers have been specially sought for by the per-
sons interested in this scheme.
Many plans for settling retired and wounded
soldiers on the land in Australia are under earnest
consideration, as this is being written. The Com-
monwealth has plenty of room, and a friendly wel-
come for such immigrants. Provided they are
not physically incapacitated, thousands of these
trained men can be converted into successful pro-
ducers.
The Federal Government appointed Mr. J.
C. Watson, an ex-Prime Minister of the Com-
monwealth, to organize a scheme for the employ-
ment of returned soldiers. Mr. Watson's
functions have been mainly to secure co-ordination
among .various special agencies which it is pro-
posed shall be established by the State Govern-
ments (1916).
Various large landowners in the eastern States
have made generous offers to assist the objects
of the movement. Some have even placed por-
tions of their estates at the disposal of the Govern-
ment, besides making donations and concessions to
the same end. In New South Wales landed
people offered to accept long-dated Government
bonds for their holdings on fair terms of sale.
These schemes for finding land for soldiers — first,
our own, and later no doubt for soldiers of the
Empire and its Allies — has received popular ap-
proval throughout Australia. Further, all those
pastoralists who have co-operated in the publi-
cation of this volume, and whose names and
addresses may be found in the Pastoral Section
of Aiistralui Unlimited, express their willingness
to answer legitimate enquiries from intending
settlers abroad.
Our civilian community recognizes that those
who have voluntarily fought in this war are help-
ing to preserve this country for liberty and
democracy, and their services in the cause of
humanity shall not be forgotten.
The war has aroused a spirit of freedom and
adventure in civil life in Europe which Australia
hopes will benefit our interests and equally the
interests of our international friends. No other
land can offer the awakened souls of men a
continuation of that open life for which the
adventure of war has given them a taste.
There are further conquests to be made in
Australia by those who have felt the thrill of
action on fields of war; conquests less exciting and
gory, but bringing more permanent and satisfac-
tory results. Apart from this, there is the great
question of the re-organization, and re-establish-
ment on impregnable foundations, of the British
Empire.
Lord Willoughby de Broke, in a letter to the
Secretary of the British Immigration League of
Australia, has stated this aspect of the case with
judgment. "Our chief Imperial wealth," he
says, "consists of men, women, and land. The
development and distribution of these human and
agricultural resources are supremely important.
It is essential that we should regulate what Dr.
Saleeby, with profound truth, in his lectures on
'War and Race Regeneration,' calls 'Our \ital
imports and exports.' We should regulate them
so as to redress the disproportion both of the sexes
to one another and of the population to the square
mile in different parts of the Empire. The
marked excess of one sex over the other is op-
posed to national welfare. In the British Isles
women outnumber men. In Australia, Canada,
and South Africa, men outnumber women. In
the oversea dominions the density of the popula-
tion to the square mile forms an alarming contrast
to that of the United Kingdom.
"Nor can any country thrive where there are
too many dwellers in the towns, and too few on
FEDERAI. ADMINISTRATION
121
The First Unit of the Royal Australian Navy
Entering Sydney Harbor on October 3, 1913
(l-'rom the Pahiliiix I'y A. H '. lUirncss in the Sydney fubltc library.)
the land In linglaiui the towns are overcrowded, hy boys and girls, and release, to the great relief
and in all of his Majesty's dominions, beginning at of the rates, some thousands of workers who are
home, there are not nearly enough people cul- now kept in the workhouse because their proper
tivatmgthe sod. The earth of the British Empire situations are filled by better men and lads who
has not yet been made to bring forth her increase, would migrate if they could find the fare. There
Imperial agriculture is the most vital of all our is work for all, and there are plenty of defenders
industries. After the war is over, the science and when the population of the Empire is properly
art of cultivating the earth will be more valuable distributed."
than ever. There can be no finer object than to q„o„^: c- d-j it j u- • • r
, 1 ^ . ' . , , speeding bir Kider Haggard on his mission of
enable our race to enter upon its vast aencultura • ^ \ ^ v -c i /- -j hf^- l
• , -^ ,, ^ vasL dgiiLuuurai enquiry to Australia, Earl Grey said: — If the
inheritance. i- • • . • ■ i
, . , , , r , ■ , . „ limpire is to continue, there must be great inter-
In a series of thoughtful articles in Sydney n^igration between England and the Dominions.
Mornuxg Herald on the War and Immigration, -phe settlement of vacant Dominion lands with Bri-
Mr. 1. ijedgwick says: —
"Australia has been made what she is by a mil-
lion immigrants and their descendants. The land
was always here, but during the last century the
presence of population has made her worth two
thousand million pounds, whereas formerly she
was worth nothing. Were the horizon clear we
could afford to wait patiently until the present
population had multiplied and covered her vast
areas, but population elsewhere is moving and
increasing at infinitely greater ratios than are the
people of the Commonwealth.
"Encouraging immigration from Great Britain
would go far to helping the motherland and her
people, who suffer from the effects of an over-
crowded labour market, and all its attendant evils.
Increased migration to Australia would increase
the food supply at home, multiply the demand for
her exports, even after allowing for the effects
tons will contribute to the strength and safety of
the Empire."
The whole problem of Empire development
will doubtless be worked out in the light of new
and unexpected experiences. But the future
stability, power, and security of British civilization
depend far more upon the effective occupation and
development of the continent of Australia than
politicians in either London or Melbourne have
hitherto realized.
With even twenty millions of such people as
sent their deathless legion to the Dardanelles,
Australia would not only be seciire against all
invaders, but would become such a bulwark of
Empire as the most ardent Imperialist has hardly
dared to dream of.
One feels certain that this all-important ques-
tion will henceforward receive attention from
of the new Customs tariff, and reduce the number those wise and serious intellects upon whom the
of workers. It would give the older people a onerous burdens of building the future house of
chance to get employment in situations now filled Empire depends.
\
L0UI5 E530N
RODERIC QU\t\H
ARCH 9. T. STRONG
122
^'23)
Melbourne Public Library and Museum.
SOCIAL AND INTELLECTUAL LIFE.
IN Australia there are no aristocratic classes.
Possessors of money being fairly frequent
and exceptionally rich people rather rare, the
evolution of a plutocracy has been checked.
The actual owner of millions is rarely regarded
with reverential or approving eyes.
In the cities money makes, to some extent, a
class of its own. In the bush social barriers are
practically non-existent.
Caste and conservatism are abhorrent to Aus-
tralian custom. If there is any local standard
for gauging a man's worth, it will be good-
citizenship, prominent public services, benefaction
to philanthropic and educational institutions.
Unfortunately there is yet very little artistic
or intellectual association.
Artistic or literary achievement, even scientific
accomplishment, Australians have in the past held
in rather slight regard.
There are indications, however, that Australian
culture and Australian intellectual worth are
coming into their own.
Once it was unfashionable to recognize Aus-
tralian science, applaud Australian literary effort,
or praise the work of Australian artists.
A persistent preference for the foreign article
so discouraged local genius that it grew timid
and deprecatory, or else fell a prey to a melan-
choly which re-acted upon all its aesthetic output.
The cultivation of a distinctive Australian sen-
timent was not encouraged by our higher schools
and universities. The tendency was to import
all our professors and educational experts, our
scientists, editors, and specialists, many of whom
were entirely unfamiliar with Australia's mental
outlook, antagonistic by environment and early
training towards our social and political ambi-
tions, and unsympathetic to native ideals.
Australian writers of my own generation have
felt most keenly the lofty and contemptuous
patronage of pedagogic critics.
We have loved our young country and realized
her. In spite of social and monetary disadvan-
tages, under which we all labored, we have en-
deavoured, to the best of our abilities, to express
our free and glorious motherland.
A few years ago a little group of writers and
associate artists, who mostly found expression
through the Sydney "Bulletin," struck the first
definite national note in Australian literary and
114
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
artistic thought. Their influence has grown
beyond expectation.
The lessons of the war have been costly; but
they have taught Australians that their race is a
virile one, capable of giving a lead in the new
progressive movements of to-morrow.
In the light of these revelations we look for-
ward to a greater intellectual achievement in
Australia from now onward. Literary and
artistic genius of the next generation will not
suffer the neglect and opposition which made life's
highway more flinty to our feet.
In those days the social standing of a cele-
brated Australian artist or author will be at least
as high as that of the German manager of a
cement factory. The presence of intellectuals
at public functions will be considered as desirable
by Ministerial secretaries and such small func-
tionaries, as that of retired liquor retailers and
political nondescripts.
Despite its handicaps, the inventive, artistic,
musical and literary genius of the Commonwealth
has not been inactive. During the last twenty
years its production has steadily increased.
The Mitchell Library, Sydney.
At least an unpatriotic anti-Australian senti-
ment will not hobble their efforts.
Old prejudices will be gone. Ugly old an-
tagonisms will no longer be allowed to lift their
heads and hiss envenomed contempt.
Pictures painted by Australian artists will be
preferred. Books published in Australia will
not enter into such hopeless competition with the
presses of the old world.
Our successors will be encouraged to express
Australia. It is possible that a majority of
them will be enabled to reap an adequate harvest
from their life's efforts.
Turning to the pages of Fr.ed. Johns's Annual
— -the "Who's Who" of Australasia — we find
many famed and familiar names of men and
women yet in the flesh who have "done their bit"
for the intellectual development of the Australian
nation.
Among them, pre-eminent, that of my old
schoolfellow and life-long literary contemporary,
Roderic Quinn, many of whose dainty lyrics have
in them a quality which, among English poets, is
only equalled by John Keats. Quinn's imperish-
able work has not yet received the recognition
it deserves, save from discriminating critics like
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125
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Princess Theatre, Melbourne,
Le Gallienne and Yeats. But it will live in the
literature of Australia when more popular verse
has passed into oblivion.
Among living prose writers of the Continent
the natural genius of Henry Lawson has made
him celebrated. Although one disagrees with
Lawson's outlook, one finds in his work a delight-
ful native art, a profound sympathy, and a fine
patriotism. While Lawson's earlier bush pic-
tures and characters usually depict passing phases
of pioneer life, they are in themselves literary
gems of an eminently readable character.
In the newer school of cheerful and more
authentic descriptive writers Randolph Bed-
ford, Mrs. Aeneas Gunn, E. J. Banfield and C.
E. W. Bean appeal to the Australian with a
knowledge of his country.
Louis Esson, after the methods of the Celtic
Repertory School, has chosen the dramatic form
of expression. Privileged to read over a volume
of Esson's short Australian plays in manuscript
recently, one formed the conclusion that he is
quietly doing work for Australia which will later
on have a high historical value.
Amidst the more scholastic group one notices
the fine poetic genius of David McKee Wright,
Ruth Bedford, Dorothea Mackellar, Bernard
O'Dowd, John Le Gay Brereton, Enid Derham,
Christopher Brennan, Archibald Strong, George
Gordon McCrae, Dorothy and Hugh McCrae,
Dowell O'Reilly, Professor W. A. Osborne, J.
B. O'Hara, and still the list is by no means
complete.
Professor Gilbert Murray occupies a niche to
himself alongside Professor (jrafton Elliot Smith
— two men of which any young country might be
justly proud. Professor Ernest Scott and Dr.
W. H. Fitchett stand for historical literature
and diplomatic journalism. Ambrose Pratt,
Louis Stone, A. B. Paterson, Steele Rudd,
Edward Dyson, Mrs. Campbell Praed, J.
H. Abbott, Ethel Turner, E. S. Emer-
son, Mary Grant Bruce, C. J. Dennis, Randolph
Bedford, Vance Palmer, Katharine Prichard,
Louise Mack, Donald Macdonald, are all well-
known and deservedly popular Australian writers.
There are many other brilliant possibilities among
younger aspirants to the fame of letters.
Prominent among the earlier generations stand
Marcus Clarke, Rolf Boldrewood, Louis Becke,
Lindsay Gordon, Henry Kendall and Victor J.
Daley.
The last name deserves more than mere men-
tion. Daley, as a poet and prose writer, was
Q5CflR ^'^
•5TBW/W
127
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
probably without equal in his own period. He
has left a precious heritage of more than one
volume of polished and artistic verse, and, when
Australian Literature comes to its own, his col-
lected prose will make a small library of delightful
reading.
Among artists Australia has produced cele-
brities like Bertram Mackennal, Rupert Bunny,
John Longstaff, Thea Proctor, Cieorge Lambert,
Mortimer Menpes, Hans Heysen, Frederick
McCubbin, Percy Spence, E. Phillips Fox, Mel-
drum, Edward Officer, Piguenit, Norman and
Lionel Lindsay, Will Dyson, Arthur Streeton,
Julian Ashton, Bess Norris, Tom Roberts, J. S.
Watkins, Mrs. Ellis Rowan, Florence Rodway,
Norman Carter, Margaret Baskerville, John
Shirlow, Sid Long, and scores of others. The
fame of some has so far been confined to local
audiences, who are rapidly learning to appreciate
them; others have achieved celebrity in Europe.
Europe, too, discovered Melba, Ada Crossley,
Percy Grainger, Lalla Miranda, Amy Castles,
Peter Dawson, Oscar Asche, Amy Sherwin, Alice
Crawford, Madge Titheradge, and many others
whose names are world-familiar in the realms of
the musical and dramatic arts.
Many more dramatic celebrities viic/hl ha\e
been produced if encouragement had been given
to Australian talent.
In fields of science and invention Australians
have done much. The fame of Louis Brennan,
the inventor of the monorail and Brennan tor-
pedo, is as widespread as that of Sir Douglas
Mawson, the Antarctic explorer. With Mawson
was associated in his services to science. Professor
David, of geological celebrity.
Professor Sir Baldwin Spencer has won honour
for his researches in and valuable works upon
Australian anthropology; Messrs. E. J. Dunn and
Dudley Le Soeuf publish useful books on local
geology and zoology; Mr. J. H. Maiden is the
leading authority on Australian botany and Mr.
R. T. Baker is doing fine service in economic
Australian botany; both have published valued
handbooks. Mr. E. E. Pescott has done much
to foster an appreciation of Victorian native
flowers. Dr. R. S. Rogers is the leading authority
on Australian orchids, Mr. R. H. Cambage is
working upon the relation of the eucalypts to
the geological formation on which they grow;
Mr. W. M. Bale is doing valuable scientific work
in relation to the fisheries, as are Messrs. Fredk.
Chapman and Etheridge in local palaeontology;
Messrs. W. Gillies, Donald Macdonald and
Charles Barrett are popularising nature study; G.
W. Mathews, Dr. Leach, A. J. Campbell, Robert
Hall, and A. H. Mattingley are equally prominent
among those who are carrying on the pioneering
work done by John Gould in regard to Australian
birds; on butterflies Messrs. G. A. Waterhouse
and G. Lyell are the local authorities; Mr. W. W
Froggatt is celebrated for his research work in
entomology, especially the insects of the South
Seas; the mollusca provide the special field for
the activities in conchology of Mr. C. Hedley,
and much valuable work is being done by Mr. F.
B. Guthrie in original research in agricultural
chemistry, and by Messrs. A. E. V. Richardson
and Hugh Pye in wheat-breeding, and Mr. H. A
Hunt is rendering great service to the country in
regard to meteorological observations.
Less popular, but probably not less gifted, are
men like Professor Durack, Professor of Physics
at Allahabad University, the first white child born
on Cooper's Creek, and other modest Australian
geniuses whose names are hardly known in the
wide Commonwealth which gave them birth.
Law and justice, education, medicine, surgery,
engineering, higher schools and universities, poli-
tics, commerce and public institutions have all
produced Australians of merit and distinction.
In fields of athletics the name of our cham-
pions is legion. World-famous cricketers, foot-
ballers, rowers, swimmers, pugilists, runners,
cyclists, shooters and athletes have won the tran-
sient laurels of superior physical skill or activity.
Naturally, a sunny ■ land where high wages.,
short hours, and ideal industrial conditions pre-
\-ail, gi\'es leisure for general exercise and de-
velopment.
Surf bathing is universally popular along our
beaches, and nowhere else can be found such
splendid types of men and women as the glorious
open air life of Australia is giving us.
"Giants, demi-gods, and super-men" is how an
English critic who saw the Australian legion at
Gallipoli describes our brave, brown boys.
Such men, mated to the brave brown girls one
sees along the sands of Manly or Mordialloc on
summer days, will surely evolve a future race of
even superior mould.
With paternal governments, savings banks,
friendly societies, and splendid State institutions
behind them, decreased domestic anxieties are
making healthier and happier households.
The world is welcome to know that we have
no time in this country for preventable poverty,
dirt, disease, or social, economic, or civic injus-
tice.
We give our people free educational opportu-
nities, and fairly even chances to secure and enjoy
— each and every one — a share of human happi-
ness and earthly success. We give all adult men
and women an equal voice in their own govern-
ment. We protect, as far as we can, the indi-
vidual against the State, and the State against the
individual. We are continually introducing such
laws and reforms as a majority of our people
129
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
consider to be in the national interest. Under
conditions such as these, in time, and with patrio-
tic, persistent, public encouragement — perhaps
with Government assistance through Customs
and copyright — we can and doubtless will be
capable of intellectual achievements such as have
made Hellenic civilization immortal.
Australia, too, may "build below the tide of
war," and base her fame "upon the crystalline
sea of Thought and its eternity."
Visions of a Hellenic Democracy in the South
inspired that little group of Australian writers
who began nearly thirty years ago to give to the
world the first true thoughts, the first timid hopes
and dreams of their Motherland.
Despised and opposed at first, they have seen
the little Promethean spark grow to a steady
flame.
When "Democracy with rifle volleys death-
winged" was born, her cradle was made for more
than one vigorous offspring of Freedom. Vision
has not yet become reality, but in the eyes of
our Poets and Prophets, it is slowly, surely,
grandly assuming shape.
*BS^t»Ja«*:,_a*Siii»*-Jit»iiR»T.*.>- -■>-',-;-,v->-5,-j»au;;!.:--- ■: ;■
^^^^^^H
i
«v ' ]H
-i'^j^^^
i;
« *]
WMt m
A Kookaburra (Laughing Jackass).
( 130
Henley-on-the-Yarra Regatta.
OUTDOOR SPORTS IN AUSTRALIA.
THK climate of all southern Australia is
favorable to athletic development.
Golden beaches extend for thousands of
miles along its coastlines. Brisbane, Newcastle,
Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth are all either
directly on the coast or within easy distance of
cooling surf.
Our coastal populations are afforded continen-
tal opportunities for surfing and swimming.
Their numbers are increased during long summer
months by visitors from inland. Every public
holiday in summer sees the beaches by the coastal
cities and town crowded with bathers of both
sexes.
The system of mixed bathing has gradually
become popular. A decided improvement in the
physical stamina of city women has resulted.
The street-corners are no longer a habitat of idle
youngsters, and the moral tone of the community
has correspondingly improved.
Before the war Australia spent its spare time
and cash very largely in sport. Every country
town had its racecourse, its cricket ground, and
football field.
Apart from genuine athletics — always a fine
thing for national strength and sanity — it must
be admitted there was too much gambling sport.
This might be attributed to the over-prosperity
of a young people, but to the serious-minded
citizen it threatened to become a national evil.
Australia has probably been cured of her horse-
racing and betting fever; but encouragement will
always be given to sports which make for indivi-
dual physique and good health. In all private
educational institutions, in all our State schools,
colleges, and universities sport of this character
is encouraged. All over the Commonwealth
sports clubs and associations are open to young
people of active physical temperament.
Football is a universally popular winter
pastime; cricket has its thousands of summer
enthusiasts. Golf, bowls, tennis, baseball, la-
crosse, yachting, rowing, swimming, hunting,
fishing, skating, boxing, wrestling, coursing — it
would be difficult to find an Australian under fifty
years of age who is not interested — if not an
actual participator — in one or other or more of
these amusements.
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
For those who love the outdoor life and who
are free to wander, there are pleasures of the
open and the wild. The call for fur, fin, and
feather is one which the author himself has fol-
lowed all over the Commonwealth. Memories
of hunting days are the happiest of all. They
carry one from the Adelaide River, where the
black buffalo wallows, to the plains of Carnarvon,
where the grey bustard roams, from Mallacoota
to Wilcannia, from the Proserpine to the Wollon-
dilly, over marsh and stubble, through scrub and
bracken, by reedy swamps and running streams,
over the hills and plains, by cool lagoons and
fresh and saltwater inlets, through the forests and
My father shot bison on the prairies of
America, and wild bustards on the plains of
Australia with equal enthusiasm. Within the
circle of his long days, but recently ended, he
had harpooned eight whales within the Arctic
Circle and hooked black bream in Hawkes-
bury River. He had taken his fill of a man's
life on the frontiers of two continents, and died
content.
Across my vision, as I write, there goes a lad
of twelve with a new 28 bore gun, of which he
is very proud. When, a week ago, we crouched
in the rushes together at nightfall, and he stopped
a brace of black duck on the wing, I knew that
Crowd at a Cricket Match in Australia.
the gorges, through green jungle and grey salt-
bush, round, across and over the great Australian
Continent.
It was in my blood. My grandfather cared
nothing for his possessions, or mine, but he killed
his brace of snipe with right and left barrel, and
could crack the neck of a duck at twenty paces
with a pistol ball. May the gods who preside
over regions where the souls of sporting Irish
squires sojourn forgive him his worldly mistakes!
He dissipated a little heritage which should have
been mine, but I bear him no ill-will. Careful
business men are always plentiful In this world,
but good snipe-shooters are rare.
his reading will not be in ledgers nor his seat on
an office stool.
The Open Way! I remember a lad of seven-
teen chained to a desk in Sydney town, who, when
his annual holidays came round, would hurry into
the bush, with gun and cartridge bag, to tramp
from daylight till dark in pursuit of game. How
he counted off the flying days that ended all too
soon !
Born and reared in the bush, a solitary child,
like many another bush boy, my first friend and
companion was an old black dog. We hunted
spotted daysures (the "native cat" of Australia)
and opossums together. My sporting weapons
A Big Sboot on the Burdekln Biver.
133
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
<3ffA
The Mountain Devil, Western Australia.
in those days were catapults and bows and arrows.
But I doubt if the close-shooting, hard-hitting,
double-barrelled Cashmore gun, with which I
sometimes drop a duck at 70 or 80 yards these
days, brings me as much thrill as did the bagging
of a "soldier bird" with my youthful catapult.
The Open Way! I thank the gods for all
my days, their griefs and joys alike; but I thank
most the gods for those glorious days the bush
has given me. Other men may find their pleasure
in political power; in the amassing of more and
more money; in the social world; but for me the
lakeside, the riverside, the upland and the plain.
I think I know the game trails of Australia
fairly well, and something of the game.
For those who care to listen, I have a few
words to say on this subject. I speak for the
little band of Australian field sports, a brother-
hood without a club or association, made up of
many queer characters, but keen.
Experience makes us wise. When we are
crawling through the rushes we always endeavour
to crawl against the wind. We go quietly, and
as far as possible we avoid conversation— even
with the dog.
Ask us what we consider the best Australian
game birds, and opinions will differ. Put the
question to a plebiscite, and it would probably
be decided in favor of the black duck, the bronze-
wing pigeon, and the quail.
The black duck is a fine table bird, a fast flyer,
and, where he has been disturbed by shooters,
very shy. This beautiful bird has a wide range.
I have shot them on Northern Queensland
lagoons, on the rivers and swamps of the Terri-
tory, in western Queensland, all over New South
Wales and eastern Victoria. Thirty years ago
I shot bronzewings and casual black duck on a
lagoon at Bondi, where suburban villas now
stand.
From my camp at Mallacoota I go out nearly
every evening after the day's writing. There
are places where the duck and teal come in at
dusk to feed. Our bags are not large, but there
is great joy in waiting at the fall of day beside
a swamp or saltwater inlet for the familiar whir-
ring of wings that heralds the arrival of the game.
There is a tonic for the nerves in the quick snap-
shooting and the occasional plunk of falling
birds. There is something soothing in the pipe
— which also keeps away mosquitoes — and the
ride or tramp or pull home, by moonlight or star-
light, after the birds have ceased to come in.
Sometimes we get the grey teal in considerable
mobs. Using a 12-bore Cashmore gun on one
occasion, I killed and disabled with a single
charge of No. 4 shot no less than sixteen of
these birds. This is probably a record for a
cartridge of ordinary loading. The powder
used was "Amberite," which I shoot among other
smokeless sporting powders.
Black duck and teal on the coast are slightly
inferior in flavor and quality to the fatted birds
one kills along the gilgas and billabongs of the
interior; but for black duck anywhere roasted in
a camp oven, or teal grilled over a wood fire, the
sportsman has appetite.
Wood duck — cheiinnela jiibala, the maned
goose, in reality — I have found plentiful in the
upper reaches of the northern rivers in New
South Wales and throughout the Riverina,
^
Plarypu^.
135
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
On my motor-boat journey down the Murray
River, I shot scores of them on the banks and
sand spits. Magpie geese in the Territory and
whistling duck in Northern Queensland I have
found so plentiful that when they rose from the
swamps one saw the shadow of the mob passing
over the ground like the shadow of a cloud drift-
ing across a field.
Up there one gets the beautiful Burdekin duck,
the chestnut-breasted teal, shoveller, and some-
times the white-eyed duck, the "canvas back" of
North America.
Blue-wing are often plentiful on the Victorian
coast. The pink-eared widgeon and the shel-
drake or mountain duck I have shot all over the
eastern States of the Commonwealth. The lat-
ter are most frequent, I think, in the swamps
between Mount Gambier and Casterton.
In wet seasons wild fowl are most abundant in
the back country. The overflow from our in-
land rivers forms lakes, lagoons, and billabongs,
on which aquatic birds by the million come to
feed. There almost every variety of duck known
in the south, and pelicans, black swans, waterhens,
coots, ibis, plovers, snipe, spoonbills, herons, bit-
tern, cranes, cormorants, egrets, grebes, divers,
stilts, rails, congregate.
...lllinTTnini
mm: 1
-TTl'
TT
'liiii
Kangaroo, with Young In Pouch.
Brush Turkey.
The painted snipe is mostly found, in season,
in swamps along the (ireat Dividing Range.
I have shot jacksnipe by the hundred on the
swamps of the Clarence. During a sojourn of
over three years on the northern rivers of New
South Wales I had some splendid shooting.
About the flats of Ulmarra and Lawrence, on
the Coldstream, on the Clarence, above and below
the city of Grafton, on the Richmond River, and
through the Dorrigo I have filled many fine bags.
Quail, too, were numerous. Quail shooting
is to me the best of all outdoor sports. A good
dog, a cool day, responsive cover, and any-
thing up to and over six brace at the finish make
a sportsman's -happiness. Stubble quail, dot-
trel, and brown quail are widely distributed.
Between (iiadstone and Rockhampton, in Queens-
land, and on the western plains of Victoria, 1
have had my best quail-shooting.
The indigenous great grey quail seems to be
extinct. The last of these I chanced upon were
at the western approach to the Dorrigo, by the
"Little Murray," a rushy mountain stream.
When I was a boy these birds were fairly plen-
tiful on the flats of the Fish River, and I have
got them, years ago, about Wollongong and
Dapto and around Camden and the Oaks, in New
South Wales.
The Mallee fowl I have seldom shot. I
remember that they were plentiful on the Lower
Lachlan decades ago, and that excellent custards
were made from their eggs. Emu egg custard
also is not unknown in the West.
King quail were to be got about Yamba, in
northern New South Wales, on the scrubby head-
lands a few years ago. Lately I have shot them
OUTDOOR SPORTS IN AUSTRALIA
137
"All in the Day's Sport."
in eastern Gippsland, between Mallacoota and
Wingen River. Brown quail come down from
Java and the north in thousands at certain sea-
sons and disperse themselves over southern
Australia.
The habits and breeding-places of quail are
always interesting discussion for the Brotherhood
of the Open Air.
(^f pigeons there are many varieties between
Thursday Island and Cape Otway, but I think
bronzewing and wonga are best shooting and
best eating of our Australian species.
The bronzewing is a fast flyer, and, although
there is little art in the actual shooting of the
tnottled wonga, a sportsman deserves all the
wongas he can find, especially in mountain coun-
try.
Bronzewings I remember to have been most
plentiful on the western slopes of the Nandewar
Ranges and between Cowra and Blayney, but a
great deal depends upon the season and the feed.
The topknot pigeon is excellent shooting, and
a fine game bird. The fat "squatter" and the
green scrub pigeon are most flavorable, but too
easily slain to please a true sportsman.
I have stood in one spot and shot twelve
"squatters" one after another in surrounding
trees — enough for the blackboy and myself for
at least two meals — more would be murder.
Ihc little green fruit-pigeons and fantails, like
quail, make acceptable adornment for breakfast
toast, but the flock and Torres Straits pigeons arc
intended for stews.
Flock pigeons are usually plentiful when
the fruit of the cabbage palms ripens and the
Moreton Bay fig is full-bearing in the jungles
of the North. There the brush turkey is also
to be found.
When Siberian marshes freeze over, migrating
godwit, sandpipers, and plover come down the
eastern coast of Australia. With whimbrel and
oyster-catchers, stilts, sea-curlews, spurwings,
golden plovers, and dottrels, they make animate
salty margins and sand-flats of our seaward
lagoons and estuaries.
The Australian bustard, the wild turkey of the
Australian plains, is a difficult bird to approach
on foot, buf one may get within reasonable dis-
tance on horseback or in a vehicle. Bushmen
usually shoot them with a small-bore Winchester
rifle.
Throughout the bush the 32-bore Winchester
is most popular. It is used by marsupial hunters
and sportsmen.
Personally I prefer the short-barrelled 38. for
larger game, and use a 25.20 magazine for wal-
labies and the larger birds.
I vS
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Melbourne Cup, Flemingtou Racecourse.
With the 38. one is sure of kangaroos, wild
pigs and larger game. The Northern buffalo is
only amenable to the Martini bullet; an alligator
may be bagged with a 38.
Practice ammunition for the 303 military rifle
mostly goes after kangaroos, emus, and such liv-
ing targets as the back country affords the trainee
or rifle-club man.
Although scarcely classed as game birds, Aus-
tralia has a gorgeous variety of parrots, many
among which the bushman knows to be edible.
The superb king parrot, the crimson lory, and
the rosella are grain-eaters, whose flesh is excel-
lent. Cockatoos, gang-gangs, and galahs are
tougher, and the honey-eating species somewhat
sweet, unless they be steeped in salt and water
before cooking. Wattle-birds, bower-birds and
ground-pigeons no hunter will despise when quail,
duck and pigeon are not to be had.
Kangaroo hunting is supposed to be a popular
Australian pastime. In point of fact it is a
rather rare amusement in the bush. Wallaby
drives and hare drives will always assemble a
crowd, especially when crops have suffered. Now-
adays the ubiquitous rabbit is held in disregard
by most Australian sportsmen. People who are
cursed with rabbits usually treat the evil with
phosphorized pollard; the average gunner finds
better sport.
Rabbit-shooting has palled on us, except as
practice for small-bore rifles. Bushmen will not
waste shot-cartridges on bunny, who is trapped
like the opossum for his fur or his carcase during
the export season.
Angling in Australia holds in loose but certain
bonds of association a large group of that Bro-
therhood of the Open Way. On seaward reefs
around our coasts good red snapper may be
hooked somewhere all the year round. Along
cool mountain streams fat trout will answer to
the fly in the summer. Red bream, black bream,
whiting, tailor, flathead, yellow-tail, salmon trout,
blackiish bite freely in the estuaries and along
the coast. Rock fish and sea salmon, sharks,
stringrays and tunny delight the angler's heart.
Murray cod and barramundi supply inlanders
with piscatorial pleasure and a welcome change
of diet.
Snapper.
139
140
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
In no other part of the world can the lung fish
be captured, as in no other part of the world
could a sportsman's bag include, if he so wished, a
duck-billed platypus or an echidna — surviving ex-
amples of past forms of animal life, and nearest
living approach of the animal to the bird.
Gun licences are not necessary in the Australian
States, and there are no private preserves. It
is regarded as an act of meanness to refuse a
sportsman permission to shoot over private pro-
perty. There are close seasons for game birds
in all the States, and, curiously enough, one may
not shoot on Sunday. Certain song birds and
birds of beauty, such as lyre birds and black
swans, are perpetually protected.
Apart from these necessary restrictions, the
sportsman may roam far and wide M'ithout let
or hindrance, enjoying the beauty of nature, the
benefit of pleasant exercise, the healthfulness of
fresh air, and the excitement of the hunt.
Australia is a good country, messieurs. We
of the Brotherhood, who seek in friendly rivalry
the first snipe of the season, who stalk gaitered
behind pointers over the stubble, who wade with
retriever at our heels in swamps, and crawl rep-
tilian through coverts; we to whom the iridescent
gleam of a black duck's wing is fairer than the
flash of jewels; we to whom the whirr of an up-
flying covey is music in sooth; we who ride long
miles and lie out o' moonlight nights, we know
how good and beautiful is our Motherland. JFe
know, because, as we rode and tramped and
waded and waited, we soiv and heard.
A Yacht Club Outing.
NEW SOUTH WALES
142
(143)
REVENUES AND RESOURCES.
NATURE has been generous to the Mother
State. If the federation of the Austra-
lian colonies had never taken place, New
South Wales would still have become a great
and powerful and populous country. She might
have maintained a fleet and an army for her de-
fence; and in every branch of manufacture, in-
dustry, and primary production sustained and
developed, within her own boundaries, an autono-
mous nationhood.
Her eastern frontage of 700 miles of seaboard
is a wide-open doorway to the markets of the
world. In Port Jackson, Twofold Bay, Jervis
Bay and Port Stephens she possesses four of the
best natural harbours that anywhere around the
world's borders give access to the Seven Seas;
while scores of minor havens and harbors, made
and in the making, give resting-places for the
feet of her maritime trade.
She holds inexhaustible stores of iron and coal.
In copper, tin, silver, gold, all the useful and
precious minerals, her national wealth is ines-
timable.
From north to south the State is traversed
by a mountain system which forms a compensat-
ing balance in the fluctuating scale of climate.
On its eastward fall, from the Tweed to the
Kiah, everflowing rivers and perennial streams
empty at frequent intervals into the Pacific.
From the tropical banks of the Richmond to
the black flats of Towamba a thousand river-
voices sing their songs of beauty and fertility.
Westward of the mountains run the long, slug-
gish watercourses of the interior; the branching
rivers of the North-west, the spreading systems
of Riverina, the remote, romantic Darling, the
lordly Murray, forming a State boundary 1,800
miles in length.
In the 305,733 square miles which make the
total area of the State, the agricultural products
of cold, temperate, and tropical climates flourish;
gooseberries will grow at Glen Innes and guavas
at Grafton, within the radius of a short day's
journey.
If, from the vantage of some high-soaring air-
ship, one could take in the whole physical fea-
tures of the State, one would see on the northern
coasts tropical jungles rooted in basaltic soils, in-
terspersed with hardwood forests rooted in soils
of lesser fertility; and broad rivers meandering
through alluvial valleys. On the Tweed, Rich-
mond, Clarence, Bellingen, Macleay, Manning,
Hastings, Hunter and Hawkesbury, green
squares of tilth — sugarcane, maize, lucerne —
would proclaim a prosperous agriculture.
South of Sydney there would lie the Illawarra
and Shoalhaven districts — mostly volcanic, rich
and productive, falling away into further forests
of hardwood and open stretches of river and
settlement, through Milton and Moruya, Bodalla
and Bega.
Then along the vast tableland north-to-south
and down its granite slopes and spurs, from Ten-
terfield to Nimmitabel, through' mountain-walled
144
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
valleys and elevated plains the poppet-heads of
many mines, the smoke of many towns would
tell the same tale of riches waiting on enterprise
and labor.
Beyond the north-western, central and south-
western slopes, spreading to the sunset, the de-
lighted spectator would behold an immense plain,
sometimes treeless, sometimes diversified with
timber; with a large black patch in the north-
west, and south and west, for the most part,
either bright red or reddish brown. Lrom Parkes
to Menindie, from Bourke to Swan Hill, from
the railheads of New South Wales to the South
Australian border line, this flat or gently undu-
In a country three times the size of the Brit-
ish Islands, with coasts, mountains, and plains
spread over ten degrees of latitude, there is sure
to be a considerable variation of temperature.
When we go to the meteorologist and the
health specialist, we find that New South Wales
possesses an equable series of climates that can
only be classed with the other Australian climates
for health, and physical and mental efficiency.
To quote Dr. T. P. Anderson Stuart, profes-
sor of physiology at Sydney University, and
Chairman of the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital :
"There are no diseases peculiar to New
South Wales; there are no peculiar risks of
Forest and Clearing
latlng surface, with low ranges here and there,
cobwebbed by rivers and blllabongs and ana-
branches, spotted with silver lakes, which spread
in wet seasons and shrink In the dry, edged with
green wheat and dotted with shearing sheds,
would fill the wider part of his vision. Its fer-
tility may be accepted as universal. Its future pro-
ductiveness cannot be foretold. It is an estate
beyond the range of computation in actual values;
but some attempt will be made In following pages
to show what a possession it forms for the people
of to-day, what a heritage it may become for the
generation of to-morrow.
Having roughly surveyed the physical features
of the country and found that It is a land beauti-
ful and good, let us compare Its climates and see
how they make for health and comfort.
any kind; there are rlO special precautions to
be taken nor provisions to be made prior to
leaving the older lands with a view to settling
in the State. The climate Is much cooler than
is Indicated merely by Its latitude, and, being
In the Southern Hemisphere, its temperature
tends to be equable. It is one of the most tem-
perate and uniform in the world. Owing to
the extreme dryness of the atmosphere, high
temperatures In New South Wales are not
nearly so oppressive as even much lower tem-
peratures would be In London or in France;
and the high temperatures do not, as a rule,
last long. On the New England tableland the
climate of Armidale and other towns may be
considered as nearly perfect as can be found.
Cooma, In the centre of the Monaro plains,
NEW SOUTH WALES : REVENUES AND RESOURCES
H5
at an elevation of 2,637 feet above sea-level,
enjoys a summer as mild as either London or
Paris, while its winters are far less severe.
Kiandra, the highest village in the State
(4,640 feet) has a mean summer temperature
of 56.4, and a winter temperature of 32.5
degrees, corresponding with that of Dumferm-
line in Scotland. . . . The climate of the
great plains, in spite of the heat of part of
the summer, is very healthy, and an inspection
of the death rates amply bears out this view.
Bourke has exactly the same latitude as Cairo,
yet its summer temperature is 1.5 degree less.
New Orleans also lies on the same parallel;
but the American city is 4 degrees hotter in
summer. Accompanied by clear skies and an
absence of snow, the winter season is both re-
freshing and enjoyable.
"In this region the rainfall is lowest of all —
less than 20 inches. The air is dry, so that
in spite of the high temperatures on occasional
days in summer, one does not feel so listless
and indisposed to action as on the coast. From
this difference, temperatures are quite comfort-
able in the interior which would be intolerable
on the coast. Nowhere in the State is the
midday siesta, so common in India, indulged
in. Punkahs are not used.
"From the standpoint of health, it is for-
tunate for the country that dryness is one of
its characteristics; otherwise, instead of being
the abode of health, the interior of the State
would, with abundant rains, have become an
impenetrable jungle, the lurking place of those
malarial fevers which devastate so many fair
regions of the Old World and America. New
.South Wales may, therefore, be compared
favourably with any part of the world; and,
taking into consideration the comparatively
low latitudes in which it is situated, it offers
a most remarkable variety of temperate cli-
mates. From Kiandra, on the highest part of
the Great Dividing Range, to Bourke, on the
great interior plain, the climate may be com-
pared with the region of Europe extending
from Edinburgh to Messina, but more gener-
ally resembling that of Southern France and
Italy. It may, therefore, be regarded as pe-
culiarly fitted for the habitation of people of
European race, embracing, as it does, within
A New South Wales Wheatfleld
146
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
its limits, the climatic conditions under which
the most advanced races of the world have
prospered." (Coghlan.) I know of no evi-
dence of any deterioration of the Anglo-Saxon
people due merely to residence in New South
Wales. A recent writer points out that a
great distinction must be drawn between hot
dry and hot humid regions. In the former
many of the mightiest nations of antiquity had
their home, e.g., Ancient Egyptians, Saracens,
&c., and Europeans thrive and multiply, while
the natives of hot humid climates have always
been lacking in hardihood and warlike propen-
sites. Do not Australians hold a high position
in all branches of manly sport? The one great
need of Australia is population — every other
need is small compared with this one.
"Whatever way you look at it. New South
Wales is a healthy country. Compared with
the death rates of other countries, especially
those of the Old World, the death rate of
New South Wales, — 10.91 per 1,000 of the
population — is remarkably low. For instance,
that of France is 17.5, of the United Kingdom
about 13.8, of the German Empire 15.6, of
Italy 1 8.2, and of Austria 20.5. In England and
Wales 9.5 out of every hundred children born
die in their first year — in New South Wales only
6.8 so die. This favourable rate for New
South Wales is due to the salubrity of the
climate, the absence of pestilences, the superior
social conditions of the people — good, plenti-
ful, and cheap food and clothing — and health-
ful occupations. These figures are the mean
for the State, and even this mean is gradually
falling owing to health legislation, and the
greater attention which is being paid to sani-
tary precautions."
In migrating to New South Wales Europeans
need have no fear of those malarial fevers and
tropical diseases endemic in so many countries.
New South Wales has a welcome for
healthy, energetic settlers. The conquest of
the West is only beginning, and our geolo-
gists have pointed out that the soil of the
great plains "consists almost entirely of alluvial
deposits, which have In the course of ages been
carried down from the tablelands by the rivers
and spread over their surfaces." In other chap-
ters it will be shown what this wide West will
grow under correct conditions. The story of
western America has lurgely been written; the
story of western New South Wales awaits the
pen of Progress. Men will grow rich in the
writing of this story as they did in Kansas and
Nebraska and California; wastes will be turned
into fields; deserts will become gardens; villages
will grow into towns, and towns into cities; and
fortune and independence will wait upon those
who with prudence, industry, and foresight are
going to write this glorious epic of the West.
Already the urban population is too large; the
country is aching for occupancy. A mighty area,
large as a European kingdom, remains for closer
settlement and intensive culture.
And it must be remembered that the settler in
Australia will not be called upon nowadays to
face the hardships and privations of pioneer con-
ditions. Nor will he have to hibernate for many
bleak and barren months of the year, his fields
covered with snow, his stock housed and rugged,
with all farming operations at a standstill and all
the losses, dangers and discomforts of a long
and wearing winter to make up for.
Here he can be up and doing, out and about,
from daylight to dark, if he so wishes, every day
in the year. Here there is seldom ice or snow,
but clear, sunny skies, soft winds, and a healthy,
invigorating climate, wherein all social and do-
mestic pleasures are constantly possible, wherein
one may exercise freely, eat heartily, sleep
soundly, and find an outlet for one's energies-
mental and physical — uncramped by climatic
severities; and unhindered by oppressive laws.
There are, on semi-official calculations, some-
thing like twenty-five million acres of land in New
South Wales which ought to be growing wheat.
On alienated lands suitable for tillage, share
farming is rapidly extending.
It has been shown that an estate which would
return only £2,000 a year from wool will give
£10,000 from wheat; beside leading to the em-
ployment of a much larger number of people.
Share farming has been largely taken up by
immigrants with only limited Australian experi-
ence and without capital; and has been the means
of giving scores of them a good start on the road
to independence.
During the last few years a vigorous policy
of settlement has been pursued by succeeding
governments, a policy which will become more
and more active in the future. Land is rapidly
being made available, not only for wheat-growing
but for dairying, and kindred industries. Separ-
ator, factory, cold storage and rapid transit have I
placed Australian dairy products upon the Lon- '
don market, where they must find an increasing
demand.
The areas on which farming may be made
most successful will decrease in size; and the
minimum acreages will be those where irrigation,
as in the Murrumbidgee scheme, can be invoked
to draw from soils of unequalled fertility the
full measure of their possibilities.
Orchards, vineyards, bee farms, pig farms, fat
sheep farms, ostrich farms, market gardens,
poultry farms — each succeeding year, these and
twenty other specialized primary industries, are
NEW SOUTH WALES: REVENUES AND RESOURCES
H7
Burrinjuck Township, Murrumbidgee Storage Area
being developed all over the State by young set-
tlers; but the field of operations will not reach its
limit in a hundred years.
For immigrants without experience, who are
willing to wait and learn, there will be as good
chances as for the native-born. After all, with
State agricultural bureaus, modern text-books,
periodicals, daily newspapers which devote regu-
lar pages to the man on the land, and the constant
experience of one's neighbors, there is little dif-
ficulty in the novice of ordinary intelligence ac-
quiring the knowledge and practice which bring
success.
Australia welcomes the skilled farmer with
capital, or the expert agricultural laborer, who is
prepared to work in harmony with her estab-
lished industrial conditions, but she is pleased to
have the prospective settler of smaller means or
none at all, providing he brings to her shores a
healthy body and a normal mind. The higher
his ambition the higher his value, as a citizen of
the Commonwealth.
It is not to the cities that he should turn on
arrival, for there competition is keener and his
chances less, but to the wide fields of enterprise
and independence that await him everywhere
throughout rural Australia if he is only industri-
ous, patient and wise.
The Government of New South Wales, realiz-
ing that facilities for an increased rural popula-
tion must be found, are constantly opening up new
lands and building new railways.
In addition to this fixed policy of development
the State has taken the question of irrigation
settlement practically in hand, and at Burrenjuck
constructed the second-greatest water storage in
the world, which is now serving the Murrumbid-
gee Irrigation Area, of which details will be
found elsewhere in this volume.
The Act provides, in cases of resumption, for
the payment of full compensation to the owners;
the amount of which is decided by a legally-con-
stituted Land Court. Apart from Government
resumptions, owing to Federal and State Innd
148
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
taxes, and also to the increasing value of and
demand for agricultural areas, original holders
are everywhere pursuing a policy of subdivision.
During the last few years some magnificent
station properties have been cut up into farms
and sold on long and easy terms to agriculturists.
The average prices realized for these lands —
usually within reasonable distance of local mar-
kets and metropolitan transport — have been
from £3 to £10 an acre.
day. They fenced and cleared and grubbed and
waited; the newcomers must be prepared to do
the same. It is an even chance, which Time can
convert Into a certainty.
The settler enjoys a healthy, interesting life.
He can rely on a living almost from the start
and look forward with confidence to future in-
dependence.
Under the Closer Settlement (promotion) Act,
he can invoke the financial assistance of the Go-
The Burrinjuck Dam, Murrumbidgee Elver
Meanwhile, the value of such subdivided
areas, owing to contiguous settlement, improve-
ment, and the rapid expansion in primary pro-
duction all over the State, is a steadily increasing
one. Land bought a few years ago on the Rich-
mond River for £3 has been resold since for
£30 to £45 an acre. So, from a speculative point
of view, investments in broad acres in New South
Wales can be recommended.
There are still, on the North Coast, large
areas of Crown Lands, suitable for dairy farm-
ing, which are being thrown open from time to
time.
These lands are somewhat removed from al-
ready established settlements; but they hold the
same openings for the pioneers of to-day as the
settled districts held for the pioneers of yester-
vernment Savings Bank to assist him in the de-
velopment and improvement of his farm. The
Crown Lands Department in Sydney officially
supplies information to intending settlers. Cer-
tain Crown lands of the State are to be acquired
under various titles and conditions; such as Home-
stead Farm, Crown Lease, Residential Condi-
tional Purchase, and Suburban Holding. It is
wise for would-be settlers from other States or
from abroad to get into direct touch with the
Lands Department first. The Railway Commis-
sioners issue a special season ticket to land seek-
ers on the certificate of the Superintendent of the
Government Immigration Bureau, Sydney. The
cost of the ticket is £3 los. od. second-class and
£5 5s. od. first-class and is available over all lines
for 14 days.
NEW SOUTH WALES: REVENUES AND RESOURCES
149
Sutherland Dock, Sydney
"For convenience of administration, the State
is subdivided into many Land Board Districts,
in which are appointed various Crown Land
Agents, from whom forms of appHcation are
obtainable, and with whom they must be
lodged on certain specified days. These appli-
cations are dealt with by local governing
bodies, designated Land Boards, who inquire
into and report upon the bona-fides of each
applicant.
"The question of capital values is also re-
ferred to them for report, which is subse-
quently submitted for confirmation to the min-
isterial head of the Lands Department. The
Department issues pamphlets and plans
which explain in simple language the necessary
formulas for taking up available country.
"The local Crown Land Agents will be found
ready to afford any information sought on the
spot, while the Central Inquiry and Informa-
tion Bureau at the Head Office in Sydney lays
itself out to supply all possible detail as to cli-
matic conditions, nature of soil, class of tim-
ber, etc., and all other facts which might be of
service."
As regards markets for her products, New
South Wales, like the rest of Australia, is ex-
periencing no difficulty. For her wool, coal, but-
ter, meat, wheat, tallow, timber, wines, hides, lea-
ther, and minerals, there is ever a growing de-
mand. Europe, America and Japan compete for
her wool clip, the export value of which in the
12 months ended 30th. June, 19 16, was nearly
thirteen and three-quarter millions sterling.
During that year the total exports of New South
Wales reached nearly forty-one millions, while
the imports stood at a little less than thirty-three
and a half millions.
The year 19 13 closed in general prosperity.
There had been record attendances at the State-
schools, record harvests, record cane cheques in
the North, an enormous increase in port improve-
ments, buildings and general public activities.
I50
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The policy which New South Wales is follow-
ing cannot fail to bring enormous expansion, for
the natural wealth of the State has been recog-
nised and the right methods adopted for its rea-
lisation. Public works were necessary; a vigor-
ous policy of public works was adopted. There
might be a small bookkeeping shortage for one
twelve months; but practical gains were far more
than technical losses. Every pound spent in port
improvement, in railway building, in water con-
servation was a pound in the bank of national
asset, bringing constant and increasing interest.
Money borrowed on the London market at 4^
per cent, and put into national investments, such
as these, can possibly be made to return eight
and ten per cent. It is different with money bor-
rowed for the purposes of war; thus for the
soundest financial reasons. New South Wales
stocks continue to attract European investors.
But sound finance without a backbone of
natural resources will not give the most patriotic
of communities a field for expansion. New South
Wales could afford to be more prodigal in ex-
penditure than any other country of similar area.
She has enormous reserves of potential wealth,
which are as yet untouched.
Take, for example, her timber resources,
which, despite all criticism, are being scientifically
developed and universally safeguarded by a vigi-
lant Forestry Department.
The Director of Forests, Mr. R. D. Hay,
supplied some interesting information to the
Dominions Royal Commission: —
The timber resources of the State comprise
hardwoods and soft or brush woods, the pro-
portion being approximately two-thirds and
one-third respectively, and the forests are
mainly located in the coastal and central terri-
torial divisions of the State. The hardwoods
of commercial value comprise twenty-two
species, and the brush and soft woods about
twenty-one.
Only of latter years has the value of our Aus-
tralian timbers been realized. It would be a dif-
ficult matter to estimate what the forests of New
South Wales are worth, and as a national asset
they would probably balance the public debt and
Hetton Colliery, Newcastle
NEW SOUTH WALES: REVENUES AND RESOURCES
151
leave a surplus large enough to build a transcon-
tinental railway.
A British forestry commission has recom-
mended that nine million acres of land in the
Kingdom should be planted with trees, which
would ultimately form a national asset worth,
approximately £560,000,000. Her fifteen mil-
lion acres of wooded lands, as given by Mr.
Hay, ought to be worth quite as much as
that to New South Wales. . .* .
mildness of our coasts, fishermen are not liable
to be continually half frozen at their work in
winter as they are in European and North Ameri-
can waters.
"The surface waters off this coast teem with
fishes of various species, and many of these
could be caught in huge numbers by the Purse-
seine, notably pilchard and mackerel.
"Most of the ocean bottom lying within the
200-fathom line is suitable for trawling.
Hauling Timber, North Coast
Along 907 miles of ocean coastline there exists
an unexploited marine wealth which cannot be
even approximated.
Mr. David A. Stead, Naturalist to the Govern-
ment F^isheries Department of New South Wales,
has, for many years, been collecting valuable in-
formation on the edible fishes and marine pro-
ducts of this coast. He is the author of several
pamphlets and treatises on the subject, and may
be accepted as a thoroughly reliable authority.
In his Facts About the Fisheries of New South
Wales, Mr. Stead points out that, owing to the
"In addition to this, New South Wales has
a great Western River System which is of
enormous value from a fisheries standpoint.
It is rich in fish life, and produces the famous
Murray Cod. Many thousands of miles of
river, lagoon, and billabong are well supplied
with excellent food fishes.
"In the Eastern streams of New South
Wales are to be found that magnificent game
fish — the freshwater perch or Australian bass.
The present annual market supply might be
set down at 16 million pounds weight of fish.
152
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
"Most of I he edible fishes of New South
Wales are well suited for canning.
"New South Wales has a known fish fauna
of about 550 species, nearly all of which are
edible, and at least 250 varieties are of a prac-
tically commercial nature.
"As regards our present fisheries, in many
cases only the fringe of the vast shoals is
touched or drawn upon. Often the fisherman
is practically obliged, in his own interests, to
refrain from sending what he might, for fear
Marbled Flathead
of creating a glut in the market. With the
better opening up of avenues for fish distribu-
tion, an enormous impetus will be given to fish
catching."
Prawns, lobsters, crayfish, and oysters are
abundant on the coast of New South Wales, and
might be canned in any quantity.
Porpoises, whales — the black, hump-back, sul-
phur bottom, finback and pike whale — all find a
habitat on the coast. Sponges, kelp, commercial
seaweeds — 300 known species — and other ma-
rine products and by-products are to be obtained
along the Eastern shores.
How little we Australians know of the wealth
at our doors is exampled by the fact that Spanish
mackerel, one of the highest-priced and valued
food fishes of American markets, until quite re-
cently, was allowed to pass up and down the
coasts of New South Wales in countless shoals,
without any attempt being made to popularize
it as a local article of diet. Not until 1907,
when Mr. Stead pointed out the existence of shoals
of southern tunny, did the Australian angler even
know that the greatest fighting fish of the Seven
Seas was to be had on the coast. The same
authority has frequently drawn attention to the
presence of prodigious shoals of pilchards, which
still remain a neglected fish, as far as Australians
are concerned.
It may be predicted that, before many years, a
great development will take place in Australian
fisheries generally. A vast marine food supply,
such as we possess, will not only be exploited for
home consumption, but for export, particularly to
Asian markets. We have fish as well as meat
to feed the millions. But the fisheries of New
South Wales are another national asset the
nature and value of which are yet imperfectly
understood.
The State initiated a scheme of some magni-
tude for the development of deep-sea fisheries
In 19 1 5 Mr. Stead — who had been despatched
by the Holman Government to Europe and Ame-
rica on a commission of piscatorial enquiry and
for the purpose of acquiring deep-sea fishing ves-
sels for the exploitation primarily of the trawl-
fisheries on the coast of New South Wales — re-
turned to Sydney, bringing with him three mo-
dern steel trawlers. These were started on the
work of trawling soon after their arrival, and al-
though the initial work was largely exploratory
they have demonstrated great possibilities in the
use of the otter trawl in these waters. Hundreds
of tons of fish have already been brought as cheap
food to the people of New South Wales.
During their first fourteen months' work — of a
pioneering, exploratory, and experimental nature
— the three State steam-trawlers brought into the
Sydney food market no less than 2,504,000 lb.
weight of choice deep-sea fish. This great bulk
of fish has been captured by the State's ships and
sold to the public at an infinitesimal cost to the
taxpayers. It is expected that the State trawlers
ultimately will cost the taxpayer nothing.
With this scheme, the Government has pio-
neered the way in the matter of the State as fish-
NEW SOUTH WALES: REVENUES AND RESOURCES 153
retailer. Five fish depots have been opened in vari- Amongst the fishes captured by the State trawl-
ous districts of Sydney for the sale of State- ers are snapper, whiting, flathead, leather-jacket,
caught fish. As the work of the industry deve- John dory, boar fish, morwong, barracouta, ling,
lops, other retail depots are to be opened in the gurnard, nannygai, silver dory, sawfish, skate, cu-
cities of Sydney and Newcastle, and throughout cumber fish.
the country districts. The full scheme will make Though magnificent trawling-grounds have
available vast quantities of a cheap and whole- been discovered at various places^along the coast,
some food. At these State fish-shops the people only the beginning of the necessary exploration
are able to buy fish at prices averaging half those work has been undertaken. Perhaps the best
The Beach, Newcastle
which have prevailed in Sydney. The State fish-
depots make no less than 71,000 sales a month.
Two of the depots serve over 1,000 customers a
day each.
The industry is being expanded by the building
of a fleet of fishing-vessels, the construction of a
large fish-carrying vessel for the transport of fish
from coastal receiving-depots to great distribut-
ing centres; and by the establishment of a chain
of coastal receiving-depots for dealing with the
inshore fishermen's catches.
ground of all, so far discovered, is that stretching
away southwards from off Botany Heads to a
point a few miles eastward of Coalcliff. Another
wonderful trawling-ground lies immediately east-
ward of the North Head of Port Jackson. Of
the more distant grounds so far located (1916)
the best is that lying off Twofold Bay and Disas-
ter Bay.
Great individual catches have been made by
the State trawlers. In many cases the catch per
fishing hour has exceeded that of the catches made
154
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
in
the prolific North Sea
by steam-trawlers
grounds.
The handling of the inshore and estuarine fish-
ermen's catches would mean the gradual aboli-
tion of the middleman — officially regarded as
superfluous.
The placing of central receiving-depots at vari-
ous points along the coastline will ensure the sav-
ing of many tons of food which would otherwise
In addition to freshwater and marine species
the eastern rivers and lakes of New South
Wales are being stocked with trout and other
exotic fishes, which acclimatize without diffi-
culty, and are already a yearly joy and profit to
the angler
* * * *
Running down the Eastern Division of New
South Wales from Singleton to Wollongong is
Harpoon Practice, East Coast.
be destroyed throughout the year, and must large-
ly increase the output.
In the last few years the whaling industry of
New South Wales has also been rediscovered. A
modern whaling concern operating three steam
whaling-vessels, and working in the vicinity of
Jervis Bay, has captured over 350 whales in one
season, yielding a great quantity of oil and whale-
bone. One sperm whale taken in the Tasman
Sea yielded an immense lump of ambergris, which
brought in London no less than £12,000.
It is expected that the New South Wales coast
will become the home of a firmly-established in-
dustry on a large scale in connection with whal-
ing operations.
The only other whaling carried on in New
South Wales for many years has been that in-
teresting industry at Twofold Bay, where the
large cetaceans known as "killers," or "killer
whales," operating in conjunction with the human
whalers, have been responsible for the establish-
ment of a small industry dealing with from eight
to ten whales per annum.
an enormous proven coal-field, which extends in
width from, the coastline to Lithgow in the west.
Maitland, Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong
are all built over this continuous coal bed of in-
estimable value.
Mr. E. F. Pittman, the Government Geologist,
calculated that, at a moderate estimate, there
are 1 15,346,000,000 tons of high-class coal avail-
able for mining in the State.
The development of Australia may have been
directly due to the finding of payable gold in New
South Wales in 1851, but the future progress of
the Commonwealth is more likely to depend upon
iron and coal. It is comforting therefore to
learn that the Mother State possesses an abund-
ance of both.
Slowly but surely the evolution of an Austra-
lian iron and steel industry is taking place.
With unlimited coal, iron ore, and limestone
within reasonable distances, with public sentiment
and political policy as a constant pressure, the
establishment of the iron manufacturing industry
on a firm basis is steadily going on.
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155
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Blast Furnace, Lithgow
At Carcoar and Cadia, less than lOO miles
from Lithgow, the deposits of iron ores have
been estimated at over forty million tons; ten
million tons of which are declared to be of the
highest quality.
Altogether New South Wales has something
like seven millions of money values in mining
plant, smelters, and mining machinery; which
capital outlay has been considerably increased by
the establishment of the Broken Hill Company's
iron and steel reduction works at Newcastle.
Although gold is known to exist over a field
six hundred to seven hundred miles in extent, and
although it has been extensively and profitably
worked for more than half a century, capital in-
vestments in other mineral production seem to be
increasing while the interest in gold mining has,
at least temporarily, declined. Yet it is possible
that to the sixty odd million pounds worth of gold
which New South Wales has produced since
1 85 1, there will be added another fifty or sixty
millions during the next half-century.
In eleven years (1900-1910) the old alluvial
deposits of Araluen, worked over on the modern
dredge system, yielded another half million, and,
with improved processes and automatic machin-
ery, low grade values which would have been
unprofitable a few years back, can now be con-
verted into dividend-producers.
The chief reason for decline in this particular
branch of mineral production is that, during the
last ten years, other things have been found to
pay as well or better than gold mining in New
South Wales.
Silver and lead, tin, copper, antimony, plati-
num, bismuth, molybdenum, scheelite, wolfram,
kerosene shale, diamonds, gem stones, alunite,
asbestos, arsenic, and various other commercial
minerals, exist in unknown quantities, and are
all being profitably worked at different places.
The copper lodes contain ores of a very
much higher grade than those of many well-
known mines worked in other parts of the world,
NEW SOUTH WALES: REVENUES AND RESOURCES
157
Between the years 1858 and 19 12, the value sesses deposits of immense future importance,
of the copper produced in the State totalled The production of precious opal in this State has
£1 1,784,102.
Between 1872 and 19 12 the total tin produc-
tion was worth £9,327,609. Lode and alluvial
tin are both distributed over a large area.
In marbles and clays, New South Wales pos-
already totalled well over a million pounds, but
in days to come those beautiful colored marbles,
declared by experts to be the finest in the world,
will probably be regarded as a greater national
asset.
Copper Mine, Cobar
'5^
i
(159)
Crossing a Creek
TRADE AND PRODUCTION.
FOUR days' steaming from Port Darwin is
the island of Java; less in area than the
State of Victoria, and supporting a popu-
lation of 35 millions of people.
Farther north, lies Japan with forty millions,
and China with four hundred millions. Between
these spreads Malaysia, holding nigh on ten mil-
lions more — while the great Indian Empire, with
its 300 millions, occupies the near North-West.
These countries are much closer to Australia
than Europe or America.
During the last thirty years, radical changes
have taken place in the Asiatic attitude towards
Occidental civilization and habits. As a result,
there is an increasing demand for products,
which, previously, were a negligible quantity in
the import trade of Eastern Asia.
Australia — which may become the greatest
wool, wheat, and meat producing country in the
world — must greatly benefit from this hungry
clamor of the North to be better clothed and fed.
Another cursory glance at official statistics
shows how the Asian trade is growing.
In 1900 the total value of exports from New
South Wales to India and Ceylon was no more
than £174,296. In 19 12 it had reached
£2,894,035.
The export trade to the Straits Settlements in
1900 was only £39,898. In 1912 it came to
£401,481.
The trade with Japan has been a steadily
increasing quantity. It expanded from £133,989
in 1900 to £966,798 for 1912!
All the world is coming into competition as
buyers for the goods that Australia has to sell.
We need have no fear of over-production; our
only anxiety is under-population. The Com-
monwealth, with 1 .47 persons to the square mile,
is still the most sparsely populated of all the
civilized countries of the world. Europe, with
114 to the square mile, could spare us a few
millions from her over-crowded centres, to
mutual advantage.
We could increase the army of Australian pro-
ducers to a hundred millions, and still have room
to spare for millions more on the fertile fields of
our splendid Island Continent.
In the development of manufacturing and agri-
culture, Australia will, during the next fifty years,
require a much larger population than the natural
Increase is likely to give her. The Federal Statis-
tician, Mr. G. H. Knibbs, has calculated that
with the present rate of increase, the Common-
wealth would have 8,534,000 people at the end
of 1950.
The demand for Australia's raw products
alone will necessitate a more rapid peopling of
this great Continent. Australia has certainties
to offer settlers from abroad. More wool will
have to be grown, and more foodstuffs produced.
i6o
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
For butter, and wheat, mutton, and fruit, and
wine, there is no close season. Millions of
broad acres, on which these and a thousand other
commercial products can be grown, are waiting
on the Commonwealth for the labor which will
reduce their potential wealth to actual money.
Elsewhere, humanity is crying for opportuni-
ties. Here, opportunities are crying for human-
combined (under the system of mixed farmmg,
which prevails in many districts) with wheat-
growing, pig-raising, dairying and orcharding.
The system of mixed farming is based on local
conditions. A scientific rotation of crops and
stock is its essential principle. It aims at get-
ting the highest possible amount of profit out of
the soil.
Loading Wheat at a Country Station
ity. It should be the object of wise statesman-
ship to reduce these distortions to proportion,
and between shortage and surplus, to bring about
an equable balance.
Let us examine some of these openings which
New South Wales offers to primary producers
from any country in Europe or North America.
New South Wales is the great sheep-breeding
centre of Australia, and the leader of the world
in the production of fine merino wool.
While the bulk of the sheep shorn are at pre-
sent run on big stations, the tendency is for
smaller holders to go in for woolgrowing. It is
For farmers who have been trained in the more
strenuous agricultural schools of Europe and
North America, mixed farming in New South
Wales offers what may be described as a royal
road to fortune.
Intensive culture on reduced areas under ap-
proved methods of cultivation is greatly needed
to prevent the waste and exhaustion of soils
which have taken place in some agricultural dis-
tricts.
Mixed farming areas visited by the writer,
during 19 12-13, were showing a high percentage
of profits everywhere that good management
existed. Woolgrowing has long been brought to
NEW SOUTH WALES : TRADE AND PRODUCTION
i6i
A Oierry Tree, Bathurst Experiment Farm
a State of perfection in Australia; but sheep-
farming — the raising of mutton and lamb for
export, is yet practically in its infancy. A cross-
bred sheep has, so far, proved the most profit-
able.
The method on smaller farms is to run these
sheep on stubble and culti\ation fields not in crop.
The sheep clean and fertilize the paddocks —
which supply them with a better interim pasture
than untilled country. They rid the wheat fields
of plants which are of no service to the crop, and
fill an economic function as gleaners after har-
vest.
The nett season return from 500 crossbreds
under these conditions in wool and mutton may
be anything up to £500; not, in itself, a bad
annual income for a small farmer.
With no difficulty in turning every pound of
Australian butter, every ounce of wool, every -
quarter of mutton into golden sovereigns; with
soil and climate all in his favor, the Australian
mixed farmer occupies a unique position among
international agriculturists.
Australia has no peasant class. The farm
worker of to-day may be the proprietary farmer
of to-morrow. Nowhere on the face of the earth
is there a country so prosperous, or one which
holds such widespread opportunities.
Fruits of all kinds can be grown to perfection
in New South Wales. The varieties which the
mixed farmer will cultivate depend on his dis-
trict. On the Richmond River he will probably
grow bananas; at Wentworth oranges; in
Monaro, apples or pears.
Fruit-growing as an exclusive occupation is
making many Australian fortunes; but along the
higher tablelands, where the best mixed farming
country is found, good crops of English fruits
can be gathered with certainty every year.
On the lower slopes, up to an elevation of
1,500 feet, peaches, passion-fruit, plums and
grapes give great harvests. After many years
of experiment in jam-making and fruit-preser-
ving, Australia now turns out immense quantities
of the very best product, which has practically
displaced the imported article, and is rapidly for-
cing its way into markets of the outside world.
The West also, is pre-eminently adapted for
the production of dried fruits.
During its long, cloudless summers, the fruit
can be properly ripened and dried. Raisins, sul-
tanas, currants, apricots, figs, and peaches —
nowhere, outside Australia, can these be grown
and handled under more favorable conditions.
Already wholesome Australian dried fruit, free
from dirt and impurities, practically monopolizes
the home market, and is a growing export.
rhe Government of the State has given much
attention to fruit-growing in its various experi-
mental orchards. Data, so collected, is avail-
able for the benefit of orchardists, or those who
meditate the establishment of an orchard.
The young vigneron also will find not only
fields for his labors but a considerable experience
and much Government experiment to guide him.
Although wine growing has not extended as
rapidly as some contemporary industries, New
l62
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
South Wales has some splendid vineyards, and
produces large quantities of excellent wines.
For many years it has been current prophecy
that Australia is destined to become the greatest
wine-producing country in the world. M.
Blunno, viticultural expert, has declared that since
the establishment of this industry in New South
Wales, the supply of wine has never been greater
than the demand. Ten acres of vineyard make
a comfortable living for a family; yet the total
area under cultivation might be multiplied by
fifty.
on large areas is estimated at £io to £15 an acre
per annum. Smaller vineyards, with family
labor, return more. Family experience has a
particular value in this industry. There are
thousands of wide Australian slopes yet to green
with vineyards, and room for hundreds of pros-
perous homes. Families from the wine districts
of Europe will find field and scope for their
energies and experience. As in other branches
of industry, immigrants without capital, who are
willing to work, will not have to wait long for
their chance to become proprietors.
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Wine-Grapes: Thompson's Seedless, Yanco
Australians themselves are not a wine-drinking
people; but there is a growing local demand and
their wine increases in foreign favor, as fast as
its quality is realized abroad. It has been, for
commercial reasons, a difiicult industry to
pioneer. Still, the total export for the State in
1913 was 50,776 gallons.
With modern ploughs and subsoilers, the cost
of preparing vine lands in New South Wales is
between £9 and £10 an acre. All out, a vineyard
may be put in bearing in this State for about £25
an acre. With proper attention, its life can then
be estimated at a period of forty years. The
product, of course, has an increasing value, inas-
much as matured wines, all the world over, com-
mand a higher price. The profit to the vigneron
The industrious Italian, the intelligent
Frenchman will enjoy liberty, leisure, and oppor-
tunity, as hundreds of their countrymen have
already done here. There is no prejudice against
the foreigner who is willing to accommodate him-
self to Australian conditions. He will find
neither legal, nor social, nor commercial distinc-
tion raised against him on the score of his
nationality. Australia opens wide her doors to
these worthy citizens, and gives them warm wel-
come and hearty encouragement. The experi-
ence won by four generations of pioneers is theirs
to profit by. The best traditions of British jus-
tice and free citizenship prevail under the flag of
the Commonwealth. In New South Wales a vigi-
NEW SOUTH WALES: TRADE AND PRODUCTION
^63
Wyandottes, Hooper's Farm, Epping
in
K
■
lant administration has seen to it that assistance
and instruction to settlers are readily available.
The splendid work of a modern agricultural
department, whose experts are in constant touch
with the experiments of other States and coun-
tries, has established a storehouse of knowledge
by which every settler is free to profit. One of
the functions filled by the Department is the care
and supervision of vineyards and the supply to
growers of phylloxera-resisting stocks, which are
propagated on the Government Viticultural Sta-
tions at Narara and Mirrool.
The by-products, wine-lees and wine-stone,
have been very largely wasted by Australian
vignerons, mainly because they have found wine-
making sufficiently profitable without adding to it
a secondary industry. During the last few years
a revolution has taken place in the equipment of
the larger establishments. The most scientific
methods of fermentation have been introduced,
turbinage of white musts adopted and labor-sav-
ing machinery installed. As a result, wine-mak-
ing has been made a still more profitable indus-
try, and the quality of the Australian product
enerally improved.
As in Europe, the Australian wine varies with
soil and climate. The rich, red, dry wines of
Albury and Corowa vineyards have long gratified
many a fastidious English palate. These dis-
tricts also produce excellent Ports, Sherries
and Muscats. From the Hunter River vine-
yards the most famous Sauterne, Chablis, Hock,
and Claret have come. Here some of the first
experiments in wine-growing were carried out;
here, too, is some of the most picturesque country
in Australia,
The cooler climate of New England produces
vvines corresponding to those grown in the colder
vine districts of Europe — all of the finest flavor
and quality in their class.
Wine Grapes, successfully grown in New South
Wales include Syrah, Malbeck, Cabernet, Verdot,
Lambrusquat, Espar Mammolo, San Giovese,
Pinot Noir, Aleatico, Franketal — for the red
wines.
Among the white wines are Tokay, Riesling,
Verdelho, Pedro Ximenes, Marsanne, Muscat,
de Frontignac, Pinot Blanc, Gouais, Blanquette
and Chasselas.
The cultivation of table grapes has been found
profitable in New South Wales, especially when
carried out within reasonable distance of the
centres of population. The average crop is
about three tons to the acre, and the quality of
the fruit equal to anything that the sun ripens
anywhere.
There is a field in this State for the distillation
of export wines and brandies which has not yet
been exploited. Not anywhere in Europe are con-
ditions more favorable to the growth of the most
profitable varieties of grapes. Nowhere could
a wine-producing population live and labor
under happier surroundings. Ultimately the
wines of New South Wales must become
as famous and as popular the world over
as the choicest vintages of Southern Europe.
In fact, it is more than suspected that
much of the wine which is now sold to con-
sumers under foreign labels is really exported
Australian. Under the circumstances, the wine
drinker does not suffer — except in pocket. His
remedy is to demand genuine Australian vintages
and save the difference in price.
164
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
A New South Wales Bee Farm
Among what might be termed auxiHary indus-
tries, the prospective farmer in New South Wales
will find poultry-raising and bee-keeping practi-
cable and possible. Poultry-raising as a spe-
ciality is too often a source of disappointment;
but, as an adjunct to the farm, it becomes a source
of profit. In order to increase the farmer's
revenue the Agricultural Department of New
South Wales provides cold storage for eggs at a
nominal charge; and the Railway Department has
established a specially cheap transport for this
particular product. A grower 500 miles away
can land the eggs from his farm in Sydney at a
carriage of about one penny a dozen; and if
there is a glut in the market, they can be stored
at low cost until prices go up.
It is officially claimed that the finest frozen
chickens received in London have come from
New South Wales. There should be an enor-
mous market in England for Australian poultry.
From a most interesting chapter on Bee-
keeping in the New South Wales Guide for Immi-
grants and Settlers, we will select a few extracts.
The article was contributed to that excellent pub-
lication by Mr. W. Hessel Hall, M.A., who
wisely advocates bee-keeping as an aid to settle-
ment on the mountain lands of the Mother State.
Mr. Hall, growing wearied of the cities, and
being, as his writings indicate, a man with a fine
poetic appreciation of the open life, began
with a small apiary and gradually extended
operations as he acquired practical knowledge.
"A page out of my own experience," says Mr.
Hall, after an informative talk on "Bees," "may
best give the necessary information: —
"First, knowing nothing of bees, I bought
one hive — wicked hybrids — near relatives of
the wasp in temper. To learn how to handle
these fiends I bought 'Root's A.B.C. of Bee-
culture,' and soon learned a good deal about
bees. Several black swarms were given to me
by friends. Next I purchased a good Italian
queen, and breeding young queens from her
replaced the wicked hybrids and blacks. When
I had seven strong colonies I removed to an-
other district, taking my hives 200 miles by
rail. In the new district I bought a couple of
stray swarms for a few shillings each, cut
several nests out of hollow trees, and despite
the loss of many fine swarms at swarming time
3
Q
165
1 66
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
through inexperience and failure to cut the
queen's wings, in two years raised the total to
thirty colonies. Then removing to the barren
stony ridge — then in a state of nature — on
which the writer's home now stands, he
trusted to the bees and to what he could grow
on the stony land for a living for himself, wife,
and four young children. Obtaining the best
strains of leather-coloured Italian blood,
breeding, culling, selecting, he has now as fine
a lot of thoroughbred queens and bees as can
be found anywhere. By dint of clearing,
trenching, draining, manuring, and even sift-
ing, the barren hill has been turned into a most
fertile garden. For years he made his own
hives out of the ubiquitous kerosene case, till
the labour of harvesting the increased yields
left no time for such work. So by ten years'
hard work — earning before he ate — he has
built up a home in which he is satisfied to end
his days. The same opportunities, and much
better, are open to thousands of others.
"In concluding this chapter, the writer
would say that he is not a Government official,
and has not written for hire. The life is one
that he has lived, and is living still.
He is writing in hope of benefiting the State by
helping to solve the problem of settling the
people on the land, and in the hope of helping
others from the Old World, or those in his
own land who desire to escape from city life
to the healthful life of the mountains. The
settler who has a stout heart and possesses in-
dustry and grit need not fear failure. He will
not make a fortune, but room and work for
every child, and a home and a living he may
have. As a reward he will live a life most
varied and interesting — too busy to be dull —
the years will slip by. He will call no man
master. He will have busy times and times
of leisure. In place of the monotony and con-
finement of city labour he will have work most
varied, according to the time of the year, —
clearing, splitting, fencing, building, with
material from his own land, beginning, if need
be, with a sheet of bark or slab hut, and ending
with as good a house as his skill or means can
construct. Hive-making, queen-rearing, un-
capping, extracting, soldering, marketing,
ploughing, or digging, trenching, draining,
planting, reaping, mowing, harvesting, prun-
ing, grafting, budding, picking fruit, packing;
all these and others go to make up the life of
the mountain home. Though not rich, the
settler, like the writer, may have many good
things from his own labour — peas, beans,
pumpkins, marrows, cabbage, cauliflower, tur-
nips, parsnips, and other vegetables from his
own garden in plenty. Honey and honey-
comb in variety and abundance, milk, cream,
butter, eggs, and bacon of his own curing.
From his few trees, peaches, plums, nectarines,
apricots, apples, passion-fruit, oranges — more
than he can eat; strawberries and cream for all
till they can eat no more; the choicest of grapes
in abundance — things that the richest cannot
buy so fresh and good. His children grow
up hardy, deep-chested, and innocent, taller and
stronger by far than their parents, may fol-
low in their father's steps, or in after time in
other callings rise to eminence in the land. To
the men and women who fear God, seek know-
ledge, and are patient in industry, all these
things are possible 'on the mountain lands.' "
In addition to his University degree, Mr. Hall
has graduated with high honors in the School of
Scientific Application. As a successful apiarist,
rather than a University graduate, we attach
importance to his pronouncements.
"One of the most valuable assets of any
State," says Mr. Hall, "is to be found in its
mountain lands, and in the hardy and healthy
men and women they nourish. In New South
Wales this class of country has been under-
valued by settlers in the past, and still remains
in the hands of the State. These broken lands
extend in a broad belt running north and south
right through the State, with an elevation vary-
ing from a few hundred feet on the foothills to
several thousand feet on the higher ranges.
Included in this area is a considerable extent of
tableland with an English climate — the richer
portions of which are already occupied by set-
tlers engaged in farming and pastoral pursuits;
but the immense extent of broken country
embraced in the mountain area is practically
unoccupied.
"Even the poorest tracts contain innumer-
able sites where a home may be made and a
family reared, within easy distance of the sea-
board, and amidst the wholesomest, healthiest,
and most independent conditions to be found
anywhere on earth; provided only that the
settler is content with a simple way of living,
and to produce mainly for the food require-
ments of himself and family — relying on the
sale of honey, timber, and in time on fruit-
growing and dried fruits, for the ready money
to procure the necessaries and small luxuries
which he cannot produce for himself.
"The whole of the mountainous region
above described, together with isolated patches
on the seaboard, and in various other parts of
the State, is clothed with the native forest and
indigenous undergrowth — these, so far as the
near future is concerned, constitute its real
wealth.
NEW SOUTH WALES: TRADE AND PRODUCTION
167
"Those not familiar with this region can form
no conception of the enormous quantities of
honey produced by the native forest trees and
flowering shrubs every year. Occasionally
the yield takes the form of 'manna,' the honey
or sweet sap exuding from small punctures
made in the bark of the trees by the sap-feed-
ing cicada, or dripping from the leaves till the
ground is covered as with a light fall of snow,
with small white lumps of granulated manna
honey. This formofhoneyproduction,however,
is the exception, and not the rule. The usual
thing is for the honey to be secreted in the form
of nectar in the flowers. The members of the
eucalyptus family have a little cup in the centre
of the flower in which the honey is formed.
Under favourable weather conditions, espe-
cially in close thundery weather, the secretion
is very abundant, and the honey can be dis-
tinctly seen shining in the bottom of the flower-
cups. Before the introduction of the honey-
bee much of the honey secreted must have gone
to waste. Some was gathered by the native
bee (Trigotia carbonaria), a little creature
about the size of the house-fly, building a
resinous comb in which it stores the honey,
l-^nglish bees that have gone wild in the bush
are now plentiful, and from their nests in hol-
low trees the settler may obtain a good deal of
the stock necessary to start an apiary.
During the great honey-flows which come
almost every year, and sometimes many times
in one year, the honey supply is so abundant
that much of it, even now, must needs go to
waste for want of bees to gather it. In one
of these flows about 130 colonies in the writer's
apiary last season brought in two tons of sur-
plus honey in a little over a week."
Australia is veritably "a land flowing with
milk and honey," and not the least of her riches
is the possession of settlers like Mr. W. Hessel
Hall, who have realized that their southern
motherland holds a heritage of health and happi-
ness, such as he has elected to enjoy in his frugal
Blue Mountain home.
All along that belt of mountain country, such
homes can be happily established. The writer
of Australia Unlimited, who has spent the greater
number of his own years in the Bush, knows
what perfect health and splendid spirits this free
life in the open brings.
If the Man on the Land cultivates a love of the
beautiful in nature his years 'will never know
monotony. The clear Australian morning, with
its carol of birds, its cool winds and freshening
dews, uplifts his spirit and fills him with a mighty
strength, and he sees the sun rise above the odor-
ous forest into a sky of cloudless blue. His day's
pleasant tasks accomplished, he sees the sun sink
again behind the forest in a splendor beyond
words. After his evening meal is over, he sits
upon his porch mayhap with a softened bush,
arrayed in silver, before him. The procession
of the seasons brings him interest and delight.
The warm spring rain is good to hear upon the
roofs of iron or shingle. Summer gives him
reddened fruit and ripened sheaves. In Autumn
he counts his gains and meditates his future plans.
Winter reinvigorates him with colder winds and
cleansing frosts. No day throughout the year
need be without its interest, its efforts, and its
joys.
Trevltt's Seedling Apple, Yanco.
i68
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
'Hog-Eaisiug and Bacon-Curing Increase the Income of the Man on the Land'
Vor the man of more ambitious mould, there
are greater chances and wider fields of endea-
vour. If he possess the genius of organization,
if he can handle big projects, the Commonwealth
is yet broad and young. Thousands of personal
histories might be cited in every Australian State
of men who "started off scratch," and have won
out. Men who came into the battle of life with
no silver spoon, no heritage of broad acres or
bank accounts, have gained riches in every walk
of life. There is not a country town nor an
agricultural or mining district in Australia with-
out illustrious examples of success achieved by in-
dividual merit and industry alone. Our muni-
cipalities, our Parliaments, our Chambers of
Commerce and Manufacture, can boast a long
roll of such honorable names.
In commerce and production New South
Wales, like her sister States, holds ever-widening
domains. The Pastoral Section of this book
will give examples of many who have engaged in
that staple industry, and the results of their
enterprise.
The dairy farming industry has already had
passing reference. 1 he horizon of its expansion
lies beyond the most prophetic vision. It is
practically illimitable. The total export of
butter from New South Wales in 1913 was close
on a million English sovereigns in value. Some
day it will probably be twenty millions. Austra-
lian dairymen are now turning out highest grade
butter and competing successfully with expert
Danes. For some years the northern coast of
New South Wales has been almost exclusively
a dairy farming proposition; but dairying on irri-
gated farms has yet to come, and there are thou-
sands of suitable dairy farms still locked up
within large areas, and devoted to less payable
purposes. Systematic inspection by expert
officers, a general supervision of the dairy indus-
try, sympathetic treatment, special education, the
supply of thoroughbred stock, have long been
part of the administrative policy of the State.
Great improvements have been effected in trans-
port, carriage, storage and shipment.
The modern dairying industry in New South
Wales has very largely been developed on co-
operative lines. As a result, districts have been
rapidly enriched by full profits going into the
hands of the producers. The prosperity of the
Coast has been phenomenal. Everywhere one
travels, from the Tweed to Twofold Bay, one
finds co-operative factories, with their local
groups of suppliers, large and small, and the
almost universal story is one of success.
Side by side with dairy farming, hog raising
and bacon curing increase the income of the Man
on the Land. Most of the bacon factories are
now co-operatively controlled.
Domestic animals throughout Australia are
singularly free from disease. Sunlight and sweet
pasture,^ and a dry air undoubtedly account for
this.
The advantages to the farmer are unequalled
In any other part of the world. Genuine Aus-
tralian products may be freely accepted abroad
as being wholesome and clean. Unfortunately,
Australian products have sometimes been adul-
terated by unscrupulous foreign traders, and
inferior foodstuffs which never saw Australia,
freely passed off on the English public, under
the disguise of an Australian brand.
Our products have for years been subjected to
a heavy handicap. It speaks well for their
quality that, despite all disadvantages, they have
slowly but surely come right to the front. . . .
Combined pig and dairy farming in New South
Wales is nowadays a highly-profitable occupation.
Here again people from Northern Europe will
find excellent openings. It should be remembered
13
C3
60
a
169
170
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
that dairying can be carried on throughout the
year in Australia. There are no long, cold
winters wherein domestic cattle must be housed
and hand-fed; and none of those climatic dis-
advantages which make the persistent labors of a
dairy farmer still more strenuous in other
countries.
As far north as the Atherton Tableland —
which is a long, elev-ated plateau, right in the
tropics, still covered for the most part with dense
jungle- — the dairy cow and the bacon hog are
doing perfectly well. With a climate better
beyond comparison than that of Denmark, larger
areas of land, greater varieties of animal foods,
and rapid transport to the same markets, Aus-
tralia has come into successful competition with
the most scientific farmers in Europe.
Economic and sanitary feeding, and a steady
improvement of breeds, have made the modern
hog quite a cleanly creature by comparison with
the pig of tradition. As a gleaner on the wheat
farms, an absorber of skim milk in the dairy sec-
tions, he has economic uses. Foodstuffs, which
would otherwise go to waste, are converted by
the curious chemistry of nature into marketable
meat. Our living areas being always on the
hberal scale, the domestic hog gets plenty of
grubbing room. He has the advantages of sun-
light, and abundance of food and exercise. The
climate is congenial to him. In some places wild
pigs have become very numerous. Like the buf-
falo, horse, and kine, these animals find Austra-
lian conditions conducive to rapid development.
On th^ frontiers of our civilization herds of wild
horses. East Indian buffalo, wild pigs and cattle
still roam in their thousands.
The future may demonstrate that silk, flax, and
cotton can all be commercially produced in New
South Wales. For the cultivation of flax and lin-
seed there will undoubtedly be an opening; but
while proved industries are profitable, there is a
difficulty in establishing new ones.
Tobacco and cigar leaf of splendid quality are
grown in this State in small quantities. Ulti-
mately Australia should produce enough for her
own consumption and a large balance for export.
Great Britain alone imports tobacco, raw and
manufactured, to the value of five million pounds
sterling per annum. Australia's own little
tobacco bill amounts to over half a million a year.
Large quantities of tobacco are manufactured in
Australia from imported and local leaf. A visit
to Dixson's and Cameron's factories in Sydney,
and Cameron's and others in Melbourne, discloses
the fact that particular attention is paid to the
health and well-being of the operatives engaged.
It is indeed doubtful if tobacco-workers in any
other part of the world are working under such
sanitary conditions or receiving a higher rate of
wages.
Under the Federal Bounties Act of 1907 a
bonus of 2d. a lb. was paid on locally-grown cigar
leaf — high grade. The period set down for the
payment of this bounty was five years from the
passing of the Act. In 1914-15 £349 had been
paid under this schedule — representing a total
production of 41,891 lb. . . .
The reader of this section must keep in mind
that, although the oldest of the States, New South
Wales has, during a comparatively recent period,
come into the world's field as an exporting
country. The year 1897 was the first in her
history when production exceeded consumption.
Out of a probable 25 to 30 millions of acres
suitable for wheat-growing. New South Wales in
1 9 13 had, according to the Statistical Bulletin,
just 2,231,514 acres under crop. Her total for
all crops, wheat, maize, oats, cane, hay, vines
and potatoes, was much short of four million
acres. Wheat-growing in Australia is a proved
proposition that need give the farmer lit-
tle anxiety. He has but to keep his eyes
open, profit by the experience already
gained by others, conduct his farm on the lines
of an ordinary business, and, in any established
wheat district within reasonable reach of trans-
port, he may look forward with certainty to a
competency in a few seasons. There is no
country on earth to-day which can offer the same
possibilities, and no country in which the neces-
sary interval spent in developing those possibili-
ties into certainties can be more healthily or
pleasantly lightened and brightened by the man
on the land. Australia can challenge the world
in this respect. She is destined to be the granary
of the world, and the men who get here now with
the necessary capital will stand to profit most — -
they and their children!
In British markets, Australian wheat has the
highest value. As far back as 1904 it com-
manded 1/3 a quarter more than Argentine, 6d.
higher than Canadian, and 3 - higher than Eng-
lish grain. Constant experiment and accumulat-
ing experience are certain to increase the quality,
not only of wheat, but of all Australian products.
We are essentially a progressive people, and our
Governments lead the way in the endeavour to
elevate national averages. The wealth which
older nations have wasted in war has in our case
been applied to development in the arts of peace.
Our militarism — now the most comprehensive
citizen-soldier system in the world — has been
organized not for conquest, but for defence.
That New South Wales can produce her wheat
more cheaply than any other country testifies to
the fact that neither soil, climate, nor method is
deficient.
NEW SOUTH WALES: TRADE AND PRODUCTION
171
During the last twenty years the method has
been practically revolutionized. In this refer-
ence the name of the late William Farrer, of the
State Agricultural Department, stands in the
same relationship to Australian agriculture as
that of Berthelot to France.
From the year 1790, when James Ruse, the
first Australian farmer, began to crudely till his
plot of ground at Parramatta, down to the pre-
sent time, no man has deserved better of his
country than William Farrer.
Farrer possessed the two first qualities of
genius, inspiration and patience. His original
mind perceived that in agriculture, as in other
branches of industry, the business of New South
Wales was to establish precedents rather than to
follow them. For years he devoted himself to
the breeding of special wheats, which would be
more adaptable to the conditions of Australia
than those previously cultivated. As the result
of his long labours, he produced half-a-dozen new
types of wheat — drought-resisting and rust-proof
— which revolutionized the industry, brought mil-
lions of acres within profitable possibility, opened
up widening avenues of export, and enriched
whole districts.
Let us hope that a life as noble as that of Wil-
liam Farrer will long be held up as an example to
Young Australia; that his name will be written in
letters as golden as the harvests he has created.
With twenty to thirty millions of acres to come
under wheat, with an increasing production in
butter, wool, and other commodities, with rapid
developments taking place in manufactures, con-
struction, and national enterprise, the future pro-
gress of New South Wales is generally assured.
The total value of production per head of popu-
lation is already higher than in any other country.
The average export of New South Wales is only
exceeded in Belgium, which is, or was before the
war, a clearing-house for Europe.
It is not possible to exhaustively detail all
the industrial, commercial, or financial openings
which the Mother State presents, nor to elabor-
ate the many-sided aspects of her primary indus-
tries; but it could be shown that she is capable
of supporting a prosperous and contented popu-
lation quite equal in numbers to that of Germany.
In the new era of accelerated progress and in-
creasing prosperity, upon which the Common-
wealth has undoubtedly entered, she is destined to
take a leading part.
Harvesters at Work
172
(173)
i^
Open Boat Sailing on Sydney Harbor
SYDNEY HARBOR AT NIGHT.
FROM the Botanic Gardens comes a heavy
odour of magnoha flowers. A sound of
tramping feet is heard down darkened
avenues of Moreton Bay fig-trees. Occasional
shadows of flying foxes flit across a moon just
risen above their spreading branches.
It has been a warm day. The city is cooHng
down. On balconies and verandahs white dresses
show in the moonlight. Laughter and the voices
of children echo from gardens facing the sea.
At Circular Quay electric trams are dropping
their passengers. There is a large proportion
of lovers. On white nights like these the Harbor
calls its votaries by thousands.
The prosperous fruit vendor by the Quay
dreams of Venice and Naples as he watches the
lights reflected rn the waters. It is better here
— as much beauty and infinitely more money. He
blows cigarette clouds. He is content.
Alongside the outer wharves liners are
berthed, leviathans of Orient and P. and O.,
lean Messageries, broad-beamed Nippon Yusen
Kaisha, and clean white Royal Packet Dutchmen.
Further along the waterside, cargo vessels,
tramps, interstate steamers, traders, sailers
(growing fewer), wheat-ships, wool-ships, cattle-
ships, are crowded.
Federal Shire, White Star, Aberdeen, Ameri-
can,— house flags of a hundred companies will
break from their peaks at sunrise and a babel of
polyglot speech arise.
Night and day it is one of the busiest ports
in the world. Its trade is increasing by leaps
and bounds. Each succeeding year the tonnage
is heavier, the volume of import and export
greater.
During thirteen years the port has undergone
a revolution under the Sydney Harbor Trust.
No less than seven millions of money have been
spent in improvement of the harbor and fore-
shores.
A summary of the Harbor Trust's operations
gives the following facts, which may be
of interest to shipmen and merchants of the
Seven Seas : —
Sydney is the fifth port of the Empire, its mari-
time trade being exceeded only by that of four
ports in the United Kingdom — London, Liver-
pool, the Tyne, and Cardi£ The number of
vessels entering the port during the year ended
June 30, 1 9 14, was 10,142, with an aggregate
tonnage of 9,437,310. This shows an increase
over the previous twelve months of 469 vessels
and 723,248 tons. During the last ten years the
tonnage has been more than doubled, the figures
for 1902-3 being 5,960 vessels, and a tonnage of
4,160,757. The tonnage of goods imported dur-
ing the year was 5,081,270, showing an increase
of 221,182 tons over the figures for the preceding
year, the value of the oversea and interstate and
State imports being £53,613,030, and the value of
oversea exports £31,105,773.
174
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED.
If the ghosts of these unwilling colonists who
mourned by Circular Quay a hundred years ago,
that Australia would never pay England for
settlement, could read these figures they would
surely tremble with annoyance at being convicted
as the silliest prophets in history.
"Exclusive of the numerous ferry wharfs and
the multitudinous jetties used for private pur-
poses, there are in Sydney Harbor 55,000 feet
of wharfage in actual use for shipping, and
another 12,000 feet under construction.
"The principal wharfs are leased by the trust
to the various shipping companies, a reserve of
open wharf accommodation being maintained
for the convenience of vessels visiting the port
casually. Most of the wharfs have good shed
accommodation, and the latest are being fitted
with up-to-date mechanical appliances for hand-
ling cargo. Great improvements have been
carried out in Woolloomooloo Bay, the chief of
these being a new jetty running 1,140 feet down
the centre of the bay. The jetty is 208 feet
wide, and has a covered concrete roadway 53
feet in width down the centre, with double-
decked sheds on either side. The cost of the
jetty is in the neighbourhood of £200,000. Ow-
ing to the great increase in the ferry traffic,
some of the big liners that used to berth at Cir-
cular Quay have had to find accommodation else-
where. Seven berths are still available for ship-
ping there, giving a total length of 3,654 feet.
A large proportion of the trade of the port is
done in Darling Harbor, where there are 91
berths available, and all In constant use. The
Pyrmont jetties are fitted with steam cranes and
electric coal elevators. These jetties are used
chiefly for loading coal, coke, frozen meat, and
stock. Horses and cattle are shipped from here
to the East in fairly large numbers, and last
year 142,410,1461b. of frozen and preserved
meats was sent away from the port. Wheat for
export is transferred to ships from the Darling
Harbor wharfs by electric conveyors, capable
of loading 12,000 tons a day into seven vessels.
Provision is being made in Jones' Bay for extra
berths for the use of the largest oversea vessels,
and at Johnstone's Bay and at other places im-
provements are being carried out.
"The scheme laid down by the Commissions to
meet the pressing needs of increasing trade and
the larger modern vessels embraces the remodel-
ling of Darling Harbor, and an extensive wharf-
age scheme In Johnstone's, Blackwattle, and
Rozelle Bays, which are In the heart of the ex-
tending city. The scheme will probably take
ten years to complete. The new wharf frontage
will be about 42,000 feet, and give accommoda-
tion for 71 600-feet vessels, or a fewer number
of larger ships. The cost of this work, includ-
ing the resumption of the foreshores beyond
the present limits of the Trust's domain, will
probably be £6,500,000."
These are facts! But what care the happy
couples coming arm in arm to the ferry-boats?
What care the pleasure-seekers of Sydney, flock-
ing joyously to the Circular Quay?
If sorrow or poverty has a dwelling anywhere
in this harbor city, neither ventures abroad on
nights like this.
Watchers on South Head see an orbed moon
rising out of the Pacific an hour ago: the most
beautiful harbor In the world is now a sheet of
silver dotted with golden lights.
Between North and South Sydney rapid ferries
churn continuously to and fro. The service is
kept up during the twenty-four hours of day and
night; for North and South Sydney face one ano-
ther like Brooklyn and New York. There is
much talk of joining them by bridge or tunnel.
Across the gangways of a fine double-ended
steamer, built to meet a chance roll between the
Heads, a constant stream of passengers Is pour-
ing. From stem to stern this Manly ferry Is
ablaze with electric light. Her long, clean decks
are crowded above and below.
A gong sounds, and she glides swiftly into the
stream, the band on the upper deck playing the
latest comic opera music, or the baritone singer
repeating for the hundredth time the favourite
ballads of the day.
Tired business men put down their newspapers
and take off their hats, to benefit by the harbor
breeze that Sydney loves so well. Amorous
youth draws closer together; smokers pull lazily
at their cigars. No healthy human being can
surely be unhappy amid such surroundings. The
"melancholy Australian" Is conspicuous by his
absence. A close scrutiny of these passengers
fails to locate a single misanthrope.
They are a bright-featured, smiling crowd,
with good physical development, and universally
well dressed. Smart girls, athletic youths, robust
men and women — one sees among them the cheer-
fulness and well-being that result from pleasant
conditions and contented lives. Unprejudiced
world-travellers have remarked the general air
of prosperity which distinguishes an Australian
crowd and contrasted it with the haggard, under-
developed assemblages In countries where climate
and condition press upon the masses to a degree
which Australians luckily are unable to realize.
The observer who enjoys a run to Manly by *
moonlight will return Impressed.
SYDNEY HARBOR AT NIGHT
175
Surf-Bathing at Manly
Settling himself to comfortable enjoyment, he
sees the twinkling shore-lights marking familiar
marine suburbs.
Populous North Sydney presents a hillward
illumination of street lamps merging into the
lights of Neutral Bay, Cremorne, and Mosman,
each with an efficient ferry service of its own.
On the south side, Elizabeth Bay, Double Bay,
Rose Bay follow one another with decreasing
radiance. Rapidly moving lights on the dark
hills beyond mark the electric trams en route to
Vaucluse and Watson's Bay, served also by fre-
quent ferries. From the cliffs over Watson's
Bay the South Head lighthouse sweeps the night
with broad revolving beams, visible for twenty-
five miles.
On the south side again he picks up Athol Gar-
dens and Chowder, and rounding Middle Head
sees the scattered lights of Balmoral, while be-
fore him glows gaily the gaslit Corso and all the
brightness of Manly-by-the-Sea.
Passing the moonlit gateway of the Heads,
with a darker line of ocean behind it, he feels
for a few moments the slow heave of the great
Pacific. Then the double-ended steamer glides
into a fine pier, and he is at liberty to go ashore
and amuse himself.
The marine suburb. Manly, has overrun a neck
of land separating the Harbor from the Pacific.
A glorious arc of golden sand forms its ocean
frontage, which has become one of the most popu-
lar surf-bathing resorts around Sydney.
During the last decade surf-bathing has grown
generally popular. The results among a rising
generation are brown, healthy bodies and a
brighter outlook on life. Youths no longer congre-
gate at street corners. They are to be seen
on the beaches enjoying the surf, finding a vent
for surplus vitality in healthy exercises among
invigorating sea-breezes.
Manly is proud of its progress. It is doubt-
less the fairest and brightest seaside resort on
the shores of the Pacific. As a residential suburb
its popularity has led at times to a house famine,
and the values of its real estate are a steadily-
ascending quantity.
The stranger will stroll quietly down the
Corso. Along a busy avenue leading from pier
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
to ocean beach, people are walking, bare-headed
for the most part. Many are either going to or
returning from a cooling-off in those slowly break-
ing waters, from which one emerges as from a
Fountain of Youth. The chronic surfers are
happy beings. Great health is within them, and
the deepening brownness of the skin a constant
delight. One can pick out "beach girls" from
their paler sisters, who lessen in numbers each
year, for this surf-bathing is likely to become as
popular in Sydney as it is in Polynesia.
Having found the Esplanade, our stranger will
also find an easy-chair provided by a progressive
municipality. If not minded to enjoy the exhila-
rating exercise of a surf bath, he may sit and
watch the bathers splashing in the moonlit surf.
Let him realize that all around this wondrous
harbor, and on many ocean beaches adjacent,
night is musical with the laughter of a pleasure
loving and prosperous community.
Amusement is cheap in Sydney; a paternal
Government makes every popular resort acces-
sible by train and electric car service, and entre-
preneurs lose no opportunity to increase the
dividends of picture shows and other popular
entertainments.
The harbor itself is a perpetual attraction.
A progressive Harbor Trust neglects neither
the useful nor the beautiful in its administration.
The government of the harbor is more difficult
than the government of a province, but as we
have seen, it is satisfactorily carried out nowa-
days.
Hulls of commerce move in ordered proces-
sion up and down its sunlit waters. At night its
silver pathways are crossed and recrossed by
hundreds of small crafts. The tired ships come
home : the brave ships go out with black smoke-
plumes trailing, red and green eyes steadily glar-
ing; but there is no confusion and little noise.
With electric-lit ferry steamers trailing in tor-
tuous courses like fiery caterpillars, blazing quays,
colored lamps, harbor lights, and lights of ship-
ping, the harbor, seen from a distance on moon-
less nights, is even more wonderful.
During summer months Sydney holds constant
marine carnival. The nights on the harbor are
not the least of its attractions.
Yachting on Sydney Harbor
5
00
B
177
(178)
NORTH SYDNEY AND BEYOND.
THE City of Sydney grows around the fore-
shores of Port Jackson like a branching
tree on hothouse soil. Its advance in
building has been greater during the last decade
than that of any modern city. During that period
old Sydney has practically disappeared, and a
new town sprung into existence. Contours have
altered, old landmarks have gone, new suburbs
have been called into being and whole areas re-
modelled and improved.
In buildings of all kinds Sydney spent
£6,250,000 in 19 1 2, and well over seven millions
in 1913.
On either side the Harbor this rapid growth
has gone on. The extraordinary spread of the
northern suburbs really meant the creation of
another city. At first purely residential, this city
of the north side has developed a business sec-
tion— largely retail — and an activity of its own.
It has a suburban railway system connecting
with the Northern Trunk Line at Hornsby and
terminating at Milson's Point ferry: so that one
may go right around Sydney by train, out by
Strathfield Junction, Ryde, Pennant Hills, and
back through Pymble, Killara, and Lindfield to
the North Shore wharf.
Its connecting ferries give access to the metro-
polis at thirty different points along that glorious
foreshore which extends from the Spit to Parra-
matta. It has its electric tram system, extending
from Curl Curl to Chatswood, connecting up
Manly, Mosman, Neutral Bay, Milson's Point,
and the Lane Cove.
It enjoys the possession of Middle Harbor and
Lane Cove River, two most picturesque assets;
and its western slopes extend to the banks of
the Parramatta River.
Height and position, with hills overlooking the
Harbor, make North Sydney desirable as a site
for healthy, breezy homes. Beyond its business
streets it is largely a garden city, where the villas
and cottages of the great Australian middle
classes stand prettily among trees and blooms.
It is a good day's outing to make that loop
around Sydney — especially in Spring, when the
suburban gardens vie with one another in their
displays of choice and beautiful flowers.
One has a choice of transport, but the way
by road and car Is certainly most enjoyable.
We will undertake another of these little
jaunts which leave visitors with pleasant pictures
to bear away In memory when they leave Sydney.
Our way Is by the old Parramatta Road, where
coaches and bullock-drays tolled In our grand-
fathers' days. It is crowded now with electric
cars and automobiles. We take the turn-off to
Gladesvllle and cross the Parramatta river by a
long iron swing-bridge.
Comfortable villas, whose green lawns slope
gently to the waterside, blue and silver bays,
orchards, sparkling reaches, with a low-funnelled
ferry flitting backwards and forwards to the land-
ing-places, red tiles amid green foliage, patches
of eucalyptus and a road winding around the
inlets — flash past like pictures on a screen.
Hunter's Hill, standing between the Parra-
matta and Lane Cove rivers, presents its gardens.
As we cross the heights along the road to Pymble
1 ^
/^
H
4m
¥
a
In George Street, Sydney
NORTH SYDNEY AND BEYOND
179
these flower gardens give place to orchards
smothered in pink and white blossom. The air is
heavy with scent of flowers. As we look back
through openings in patches of tall, straight bush
timber we get charming panoramic views of Syd-
ney. We can pick out familiar suburbs and, be-
yond the crowded parts of the metropolis, behold
sapphire seas and emerald fields. To the west-
ward stand the mountains, blue ramparts indefi-
nitely outlined through a soft haze.
The road to Pennant Hills is just a succession
of picturesque ups and downs through forest and
clearing and the rapidly-extending suburbs of
the North Shore line.
At Pennant Hills we touch the edges of the
old Parramatta orange-groves, somewhat fallen
back these last few years.
This is a romantic country, full of old Colonial
homes surrounded by delightful gardens, where
grey old men and women sit m easy chairs, with
historic tales to tell.
Here wild roses bloom along weather-stained
fences, and English oaks make green contrast
with less vivid Australian foliage.
Years ago Parramatta oranges were consid-
ered the finest in Australia; but the opening of
inland districts for citrus culture has put them in
the shade.
We turn northward again from Pennant Hills
into the sandstone country beyond Hornsby and
enter the Kuring-gai Chase, dedicated as a
National Park for North Sydney in 1894, and
embracing 35,300 acres.
Kuring-gai Chase has a full frontage to both
sides of Cowan Creek, from the head of tidal
water to its outlet in the Hawkesbury River, and
it runs eastward to Pittwater.
The Park has been left largely in its native
state save for the cutting of roads over steep
hills and across steeper gullies to points of in-
terest.
The track into Cowan follows a sandstone
gorge, which, in its primitive ruggedness, will
give the stranger an idea of the Lower Hawkes-
bury country.
As it winds along the face of the gorge, falling
rapidly lower, the landlocked waters of Cowan
come into view. They make an ideal fishing and
boating resort.
The N.S.W. Government Tourist Bureau is
responsible for the statement that —
"Both in Cowan Creek and Pittwater, fish
"of all kinds are plentiful — snapper, black
"bream, whiting, flathead, and flounder are
"to be caught, and in fine weather, by taking
"the launch from Pittwater, an excellent
"day's sport is obtainable on the deep-sea
"fishing-grounds off Barrenjoey. The Cowan
"Creek oysters have a firmly-established re-
"putation amongst the visitors to the
"Chase."
J _ "■ ". Ti.-.«js«ift««i'r-i-.-.v
Euring-aai Cbas«
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Hawkesbury Eiver at Newport
This testimonial applies pretty generally to the
Hawkesbury, which has been the base for many
a joyous fishing camp.
The Hawkesbury rock oyster has a flavor
which would have inspired a Roman bard. Fried,
curried, stewed, devilled or raw, this eternally
popular shell-fish retains its hold on the taste of
a fickle public. Politicians may come and go,
governments may change, star artistes dim and
fade — but the Hawkesbury oyster still clings
firmly to the favor of festive Sydney.
Fishing, house-boating and scenery attract
many people to Kuring-gai Chase.
All Australian Governments in the matter of
national sport and amusements diffuse a spirit
similar to that which animated Cheeryble Bro-
thers. The N.S.W. Government, as befits the
oldest and richest State, is specially paternal in its
attitude. So we find the Tourist Bureau arrang-
ing cheap fares and facilities for pleasure-seekers
to visit all parts of picturesque New South Wales.
One need never be at a loss in Sydney, for an
inexpensive day's outing — the difliculty is to make
a choice among the long list of delightful trips on
offer.
To exploit all the attractions of Kuring-gai
Chase would require a fortnight at least.
We leave Cowan with placid, land-locked
waters o'ershadowed by hills, and climb again
to the opposite summit of Bobbin Head.
The indented bays and long, winding, salt-
water arms of Cowan fading away behind us,
we turn out of the Wahroonga Park and pick up
the Newport Road.
This carries us over some broken sandstone,
until, reaching the top of Foley's Hill, we see
beneath us the blue reaches of romantic Pittwater
spreading north to Broken Bay and Newport,
while Rocklily, Narrabeen and Curl Curl follow
one another down the coast to Manly and Port
Jackson.
It is a delicious bit of hazy coast with beach
and foreland and shallow lagoon to vary its
beauty.
NORTH SYDNEY AND BEYOND.
181
Here Youth and Pleasure may dawdle the
halcyon hours away. Soft Pacific breezes, golden
sands, good hotels, a shade of sheoaks and the
cool surf bring much summer patronage to
this series of seaside places. The pleasant
road takes us across the mouth of Narrabeen
Lagoon and through Curl Curl to Manly. It is
a lotos land where one might sit facing the blue-
est of seas and dream forever, were it not for
the thorn of duties unfulfilled.
From Manly to the Spit, and thence to Mac-
Mahon's Point by the ferry, and we are still in
dream country. Each fresh hilltop brings into
view some new panorama, with little marine cor-
ners and backgrounds. We get glimpses of the
harbor and the ocean, a stretch of city roofs,
the red tiles of residential suburbs, green squares
of public parks, an outline of some prominent
building in miniature, or a familiar tower or
spire. From the heights of North Sydney we
command the great Southern city, which glows
in the glory of a sunset which is beyond Art.
Mosman, Cremorne, Neutral, throw each a
picture on the screen as we glide along towards
the punt at MacMahon's Point.
The perversity of human affairs will naturally
cause us to get to the wharf just as the ferry is
starting out into the stream.
We fill in the wait by watching dusk creeping
over the town. As the electric switches summon
their currents from scores of dynamos, the ferry
steamers are lit in quick flashes, their grey masses
changing from inchoate shapes in an instant to
illuminated moving hulls. They glow like mush-
rooms suddenly displaying their phosphorescent
lights through darkness.
An interstate steamer of ten thousand tons
leaves her berth and swings into the fairway.
Her siren hoots horrid warnings at lesser craft
that dare to cross her path.
A yacht-nosed China steamer creeps cautiously
up stream, leaving behind her a whiff of Asiatic
cookery.
The spires, and stacks, and domes of the
greatest city in the South are slowly fading into
curling smoke and overhanging haze.
Tea Gardens, Como
The Empire Falls, Blue Mountains
182
(i83)
A Trout Stream in the Australian Alps
PICTURESQUE NEW SOUTH WALES.
THE exile to New South Wales of a hundred
and twenty years ago wearied under a
loneliness as intense as the future naviga-
tor of space may some day feel when his ether-
ship is wrecked on a distant planet from which
there is no recall.
He perceived no beauty in a land which from
Gabo to the Tweed is wooing the tourist to-day
with a thousand siren songs.
To the eternal greenness of Australian trees
a century of settlement has added the charm of
alternate cultivation and pasture. Foliage and
flowers of Europe flourish in village and clearing,
cereals of Europe ripen in the paddocks. In
various climates, north and south, along this
glorious coastland, suitable agricultural products
and fruits have been introduced from all over the
world.
It is pleasant to see the peach-blossoms in
young orchards, with dark forest-clad hills be-
hind them.
It is pleasant to watch sugar-cane waving on
the black flats of Richmond River. To view
beyond them Australian hills with patches of
jungle, still holding wild figs and ripened cabbage-
palm fruit for flock pigeons as they fly south in
early summer.
Pleasant is the fertile Hunter Valley with Its
historic recollections.
Pleasant, too, are the green maize fields of
Cambewarra, and the lucerne paddocks of Bega in
the south.
From Sydney, beautiful modern Sydney, home
of progress, pleasure and hospitality, stranger,
tourist, holiday-maker or student can label his
luggage for hundreds of places of interest near
and far.
Let us put care and statistics equally aside, and
go on a short preliminary journey: —
Sir and Madam, — We have brought to the
door of your excellent Sydney hotel a comfort-
able motor-car.
Strapped to the footboard is a corpulent
hamper. It contains a chicken fattened at Pros-
pect Hill; ham cured on the South Coast; bread
made from Cootamundra wheat; fruit from
Parramatta orchards, and, if you are not an
abstainer, a bottle of good red wine from the
vineyards of the Hunter River.
The contents of our basket will reflect no dis-
credit on the Mother State. They are all of
first quality and flavor.
The summer morning is cloudless. Skies ^nd
seas are both wearing sunlit blue robes. With the
softest of south winds blowing in our faces we
will depart by the Illawarra road.
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In the neighbourhood of Cook's River we will
see some old-fashioned homes, dating back to
days when the gentlemen of Sydney wore shoe-
buckles and slipped loaded pistols into their
holsters ere they went a-riding along this old high-
way.
A fleeting flash of blue waters — that is Botany
Bay, where Cook landed one historic autumn
afternoon from his cat-built bark of 368 tons.
A large flat rock under the jetty at Kurnell is
pointed out as the exact spot where the Com-
mander first put his foot on Australian soil.
We leave the Botany Bay resorts, Brighton-le-
Sands, Sans Souci and Sandringham, on the left
hand, and run down by a well-travelled road to
Tom Ugly's Point, where a punt conveys us across
George's River, an arm of Botany Bay.
Further up is Como, where the Illawarra rail-
way crosses this picturesque saltwater estuary.
Everywhere around Sydney delightful little
marine resorts throw out appealing vistas of wave
and sand. No city in the world, mayhap, can
offer so many natural attractions. The wonder
is that Sydney people are so energetic with such
Fairy Dell Falls, Blue Mountains
The New South Wales Government has a
reserve of 248 acres around the landing-place,
which is dedicated to the people for all time.
It is a good place for school picnics, where
young Australia, tired of play, can lounge on
grassy slopes with the wide Pacific before them,
and dream of national destiny.
The Government Tourist Bureau at Challis
House, Sydney, has a standing offer before
teachers to arrange trips for school children at
all times in parties of 50 or more. On these
occasions special trams are provided via Botany
or La Perouse, and special steamers convey the
children across the Bay.
constant lotos-calls in their ears, so many alluring
pictures before their eyes.
All punts in New South Wales are Government,
and free. Undelayed by any collector of tolls we
roll on over a gravelly road bordered by heath,
tea-tree, and wattle. We pass Sutherland,
whence a tramway conveys surf-bathers and
fishermen to Cronulla, a bathing beach lying like
a silver half moon slightly south of Cape
Solander.
We will remember that Cook called the north
headland of Botany Bay, Cape Banks, and the
south headland Cape Solander, after the two pro-
minent scientists who accompanied him in the
o
r—t
■3
185
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
,i4flUflk
The Waratah
"cat bark" Endeavour — long since gone to her
grave in the mud of Newport, Rhode Island,
U.S.A.
From Loftus a branch line of the Illawarra
railway runs down to National Park.
Sydney is rich in parks. She has the beauti-
ful Centennial right at her doors, Kuring-gai
Chase on the north side of the metropolis, and
National Park on the south. These three cover
Flannel Flowers
the largest areas, but there are scores of smaller
parks, gardens, and reserves scattered through
city and suburbs.
The National Park is 18 miles from town. It
has an area of 36,300 acres, with a frontage to
the Pacific Ocean of yi miles — a liberal provision
for the health and pleasure of Sydney people. It
is mostly plateau, 300 to 500 feet high, indented
by the waters of Port Hacking, full of rugged
natural beauty, deep glens, rocky gorges, caverns,
cascades, green fernery, palm trees and native
vegetation.
Those wild flowers which grow in such abund-
ance along this coast, and particularly in the sand-
stone belt between Woy Woy and Waterfall,
here englamor the flowering months of the year
with color.
In Spring the delicate Tecoma aiistnilis hangs
out its purple-tipped ivory bells among masses of
its own green leaves, with which it has arched and
hooded other native trees and shrubs.
It vies with the starry clematis for supremacy
among the climbing vines of the Bush.
Here white flannel flowers, with green centres,
blooming in crevasses of the rocks, remind Alpine
travellers of the edelweiss. Labillardiere, the
famous French botanist, found the flannel flower
growing on the eastern coast early in the nine-
teenth century, and labelled it Actinoliis Heli-
anthi. It belongs to the Umbelliferae, and despite
popular belief, is not closely allied to the true
edelweiss.
Occasionally the hill tops blaze with scarlet
native tulip, and that regal Telopea speciosis-
sima, the Waratah, national flower of New South
Wales; now cultivated in gardens, and freely
depicted in wood and iron, pottery, stained glass
and stone by patriotic Australian designers.
In National Park, near Sydney
187
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
In marshy places, from August to March, the
"Christmas bells" (Blandfordia nohilis) droop
scarlet and golden bugles from slender, sappy
stems.
Along the banks of creeks scarlet banksias toss
in the wind their silky plumes like "pompoms" in
the shakos of marching grenadiers.
Many varieties of Acacia pour out from golden
treasures their bounteous perfumes.
work and worry in various pleasant amusements.
Port Hacking River is also one of the many good
fishing grounds along the eastern coast.
The road onward from National Park through
Heathcote and Waterfall is for a time uninterest-
ing. Once or twice it opens a vista of hazy hills
and distant sea.
Then comes Helensburgh, a busy little town
centred round a colliery.
Bulli Pass, Illawarra District
In this National Park one also finds the yellow
heath-leaved Dillwynia, the graceful Epacris
longiflora (the crimson and white native fuchsia
so dear to lovers of Australian wildflowers), the
honey flower {Lambertia formosa), the pink
Boronia pinnata, the darker colored Boronia ser-
rulata, popularly known as the "Native Rose,"
and, lending scarlet contrast to the white-
flowered eucalypti, the dainty Christmas Bush so
beloved of sunny Sydney.
In the National Park are rest houses for visi-
ors, boatsheds and a Government accommodation
house, much patronized by week-enders who can
fill their lungs with air doubly sweetened by odori-
ferous forest and open sea, while they forget
One of the greatest coal fields in the workl is
tapped here. It extends from Newcastle to
Wollongong. Sydney is built over it, and all
the towns between.
The railway line goes down by cliff and cutting
and tunnel through Stanwell Park — a seaside
corner of great beauty, with green waving palms
and golden beaches — and Otford.
Beyond Otford the railway traveller Is treated
to one of those transformation scenes in which
Australian Nature achieves effect by sudden con-
trast.
The train emerges from the darkness of the
last long, tedious tunnel; swings round a sharp
curve, and discloses a magnificent panorama of
PICTURESQUE NEW SOUTH WALES
189
Christmas Bells
cliff and sea on one hand, with the jungle-covered
ramparts of Illawarra mountains towering up
on the other.
These ranges guard the richness of the South
Coast; they stand like a wall between it and the
rest of the State.
The next stage of our car journey from Helens-
burgh, across the fringe of a sandstone plateau,
brings us to Bulli Bass.
In an Instant the whole scene before us has
undergone a magical change. We have been
travelling over a rather barren country for some
miles, covered with marsh and stunted eucalyptus.
As the car stops we find the land falling away
a full five hundred feet. We are looking down
now upon a sunlit coastland rolling out in indes-
cribable beauty as far as our eyes can see.
Over the edge of the precipice, right beneath
us, is a sub-tropical jungle, vividly green except
where a flame tree thrusts its lighted torch
through arches of matted vines.
This "brush" at the foot of the Bulli Pass
once extended far to the southward, an unbroken
forest of beautiful vegetation; but the land was
too rich to remain a forest for long — except along
the mountain sides, it has been cleared and con-
verted into pastures.
There is a peculiar romantic air over Illawarra.
Standing here on the edge of the mountain wall,
we look down upon a land of seeming enchant-
ment.
It is as still as a picture; so filled with the happi-
ness of a good dream, so flooded with trans-
lucent sunlight that it brings to your heart a sense
of eternal well-being. Nor doubt nor dread are
with you. Your soul has been sprayed by a jet
from some heavenly fountain; surely there is
neither death nor sorrow in the world, nor any
ending but beauty and content eternal !
Over all the world you cannot look down upon
a fairer land than that which lies in emerald and
azure at your feet.
Yonder spreads the noble Pacific, that Cook
and Carteret sailed, that Balbao saluted trium-
phant from his peak in Darien.
Chapters from its splendid story run through
your mind, the Easter Islanders building their
colossi, the sweep of the war canoes, the smoke of
gunpowder darkening the sky line where Captain
Tom Cavendish is pounding the sides of the
Manila galleon; Pizarro bearing south to Peru;
Torres at the helm, Tasman pacing his high
Dutch poop; the old wooden clippers bearing up
for Sydney town — all the romance of trade and
discovery. In the cur\es of golden beaches, lazy
Pacific rollers are breaking — too far away to
hear the sound of white surf. Down a green
strip of coast — mountains on one side, and ocean
on the other — the little coal towns follow one
another; groups of toy houses in squares they
seem from this height and distance.
Below Wollongong, Lake Illawarra glistens,
and beyond that the green farms of Kiama.
o
a
n
190
PICTURESQUE NEW SOUTH WALES
191
We can picnic in a comfortable shade with all
this before us.
Below the Lookout the road dips steeply into
the jungle — a mountain road overhung Ijy tree-
fern and vine.
Half-way down is a magnificent Illawarra fig
tree festooned with creepers, climbing ferns, and
epiphytal orchids.
The jungles are carpeted with maiden-hair
ferns and mosses; sweet with the odour of moun-
tain musk.
Our homeward journey takes us past the Lod-
don Falls, by another road, and on to the quaint
little village of Appin, where briar roses and
alders grow around shingled houses of the old
colonial time.
When coaches ran overland from Campbell-
town to Bulli, sixty or seventy years ago, Appin
was a place of importance. Now it is only among
the aged cypress trees in the little Appin cemetery
that we can find memorials of the Old Colonial
Days that are no more.
From Appin to Campbelltown is by another
romantic road, through long avenues of straight
young eucalypti, by many an old farm house,
over many a hill top from whose summit one sees
— behind a foreground of green pastures — the
Blue Mountains in the distance.
At Campbelltown the Appin road junctions
with the southern road that took the overlanders
to Melbourne when the Victorian diggings broke
out. Many a good man went down that road
with his swag on his back, and came back on the
box seats of Cobb and Co.'s coaches — his fortune
made.
It is a road with historic memories. By it
we run smoothly into the sleepy town of Liver-
pool, over Prospect Creek by one of Governor
Macquarie's stone bridges, through Bankstown
and the western suburbs back to town.
A Mountain Boad
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
■-! •Jii,«WM, anv, '
MOUNT KOSCIUSKO.
THE geologist says Mount Kosciusko is the
oldest mountain in the world; that it was
at one time twice as high as it is now; that
it presents features of interest entirely apart from
the rules and regulations of the Alpine Club.
The N.S.W. Immigration and Tourist Bureau
— a national institution where officials are trained
in the virtues of patience and courtesy — regards
Mount Kosciusko as one of its leading attractions.
Government has spared no expense in making
it comfortably accessible for both summer and
winter visitors.
Like many other things, evolution of Alpine
sport in Monaro has been a slow process.
Most people still believe that Australia is a
universally hot country. They cannot realize that
ice-skating, ski-running, tobogganing, and the
snow sports of the Northern Hemisphere are
possible over some hundreds of square miles of
this Continent.
Mount Kosciusko (7,328 feet) is the highest
point in the Commonwealth; but it is only a hump
in a mighty chain. At a distance it appears, to the
casual eye, no higher than the mountains which
surround it.
Beginning in low hills not far from the Gulf
of Carpentaria, this great dividing chain runs
across three States, growing in height and bulk
as it comes southward.
Like the trunks and roots of a colossal tree,
its greatest strength is at its base.
Let us go down to Monaro and have a look
at the oldest mountain in the world. Its ancient
head was whitened with snows of immemorial
winters (or burned with the herce heat of tropi-
cal summers) before Cotopaxi or Popocatepetl
were born. The giant summits of Europe were
squalling volcanic babies long after it had
reached mountain adolescence. In seniority it
ranks older than Caucasus, Andes or Alps.
With white head bowed beneath a burden of
unthinkable Time, it commands the respect due
to the patriarch peak of a planet on which man
is but a recent occurrence.
Under the arched roof of the finest railway
depot yet constructed in the Southern Hemi-
sphere, at one of the many long platforms, a
heavy engine is just coupling to its train of cars.
It is 8.15 of a winter's evening, and the Cooma
Express is timed to leave Sydney's Central Station
in ten minutes.
The passengers carry heavy overcoats, rugs,
and furs; their long night's journey will be for
the most part through snow-covered mountains.
The carriages are all amply provided with foot-
warmers, the sleeping-berths with extra rugs.
The train is bearing a team of Monaro foot-
ballers home, and a team of Sydney tennis players
is going down to compete with Cooma. Other
passengers are carrying golf sticks and guncases.
MOUNT KOSCIUSKO
193
Again the "Melancholy Australian" is nowhere
visible. Mayhap he is away somewhere reading
about the "weird expectancy" of the Bush.
As the train pulls out there are cheers, good-
byes, and a chorus. The best thing is to get to
bed early. The chronic traveller will sleep com-
fortably in his berth and waken fresh for morning
tea. On rising, he finds the water in the ewers
at the end of the car quite icy. The train is
breezy motor journey towards the higher moun-
tains.
He will, perchance, leave Cooma with the fog
blotting out its rather picturesque surroundings,
and see nothing of interest until his car tops the
first rise southward of the town.
Then noiselessly, magically, the car glides out
of the fog into brilliant sunlight, and there breaks
before his vision a scene he is not likely to forget.
Picnic on the Snowy Biver
running through a thick fog. Cooma is wrapped
in a grey blanket, so he betakes himself to the fire
on reaching his hotel.
They give you good thick steaks in Cooma, hot
buttered toast, fresh eggs, and tea with cream.
It is a town of nearly 3,000 people, the capital
of a well-watered mountain country mostly held
in large pastoral areas. The soils are black and
fertile. They grow rye, oats, lucerne and Euro-
pean fruits to perfection. Monaro sheep, horses
and cattle are among the best in Australia.
Having laid in a good breakfast, the Kosciusko
tripper wraps himself in a heavy overcoat, covers
his ears carefully, rolls his travelling rug tightly
around his knees and prepares himself for a cool
As if some genius had drawn a curtain aside
and disclosed an enchanted picture, he sees the
road winding ahead through a landscape of
rocky hills and grassy plains crossed by running
streams.
In the far distance, the spotless ranges —
which claim his vision most — stand all dazzling
white with snow. Against the cloudless skies he
sees them rising and falling — an ivory sea from
which arise in clearest contours, white peaks, like
islands of alabaster.
There lies the Australian Birthplace of the
Snows; there stand the Frozen Mountains where
the winding Murray and the beautiful Snowy
Rivers have their chill beginnings. The Murray,
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Jindabyne, on the Snowy River
daughter of snows, who, having wedded herself
to the waters of the sun, pours out her flood at
last into the Southern Ocean; the Snowy which
sweeps through the fastnesses of Eastern Gipps-
land and springs to meet her lord the Pacific
across the sands at Mario Bar.
This coming in a second out of dense fog into
cloudless sunlight, takes the traveller's breath
away. If he hails from warmer latitudes and
this is his first sight of snow-capped mountains,
the sensation will be all the more vivid for its
suddenness.
Whether the opening out of this wonderful
view is sudden or comes with due preparation, It
cannot fail to impress and delight all those who
are fortunate enough to make this journey in
winter.
The road onward to the Creel is full of pleas-
ing pictures.
The plains of Monaro, strewn in places with
granite boulders stained by Time, are swept by
clean, cold, health-giving winds.
The people one meets are finely developed.
The tall daughters of Monaro are renowned for
their fresh complexions and splendid figures, and
the riders of Monaro are celebrated for their dar-
ing horsemanship. They are, in fact, a race of
mountaineers of the very finest type.
On green herbage by snow-fed creeks, shaggy
cattle are grazing. Willow and poplar are fami-
liar features of the landscape. From old
shingle-roofs stone chimneys carry off the smoke
of fierce house-fires made up of logs piled in tre-
mendous fireplaces below.
The air of winter is nippy even at midday,
when the sun is shining. The summer nights
are cool, and frosts occur at unexpected times.
The road passes through the village of
Jindabyne, across the rapid Snowy, and over the
singing Thredbo to the Creel.
Here the tra\eller is refreshed with a good hot
meal, and, leaving the black alluvial flats and
lower slopes of Monaro Mountains behind,
begins to climb by wooded hills and ridges
towards that distant snow that he saw shimmer-
ing on the skyline many miles away.
In summer the Creel Is a hiding-place for trout
fishermen. In these snow-fed rivers the speckled
and brown trout increase and multiply with a
rapidity unknown to their native waters in the
Northern Hemisphere.
It Is a curious fact that the blessings and pests
of other lands spread beyond all precedent in
Australia.
In winter the motor services end at the Creel.
Passengers are conveyed over the remaining nine
miles to the Hotel Kosciusko by coach.
The road is constantly up-hill by an easy
gradient.
Slowly climbing towards the Roof of Australia
the traveller looks down at certain points to see
the road by which he travelled from Cooma wind-
ing away over river and plain behind him. The
vegetation begins to alter in character. Black
wattles and snow gums appear, the trees are
stunted, there is more dead timber, and now
comes the snow.
First there are small light patches, lingering In
shady places, on the trunks of prostrate eucalypti.
MOUNT KOSCIUSKO
195
As the track ascends to higher altitudes, these
patches grow larger and more frequent. Springs
of water oozing out through the earth are sur-
rounded by thin ice and small stalactites.
Gradually the whole forest grows whiter,
whiter still, until at last the coach reaches a point
where every tree and bush is mantled. The
entire landscape has been transformed. Fre-
quent creeks splash their steep courses through
reared driver holding his reins firmly in mittened
hands.
The last dwelling on the road is a Government
camp, where provisions and stimulants are kept
for travellers in case of accident. This leaves
the Hotel Kosciusko and Betts Camp (half-way
between it and the summit) to house the only
inhabitants of all this vast winter region. The
rest is primal Nature and perhaps a solitary
Ski-Bunuers at Hotel Kosciusko
arches of glittering ice: long icicles depend from
the bushes by which they are o\erhung, sheets of
ice gleam around the snow-covered boulders of
their winding beds, ice crystals cling to the
sedges — the ways of these mountain waters have
become crystalline and cold!
Snow dazzles unaccustomed eyes with its sun-
lit brilliance. The rocky hillsides are covered,
save for a few damp patches here and there; the
treeless ranges beyond are robed in immaculate
white.
The road itself is covered over now with half-
frozen and re-frozen snow. Mountain-bred
horses place their feet carefully, a mountain-
"hatters" camp. Summer for a few brief
months will cover the snow-coxered slopes of
these mountains with beautiful wild flowers and
convert the gullies and flats into pastures. Sheep-
men will bring up their flocks to fatten on the
summer feed and, for a season, the summit of
Kosciusko will be accessible to tourists in
motors.
But now, and for months to come, the mountain
and the mountains beyond it away to the Victorian
Alps stand silent, white, and lone. An adven-
turer on snow shoes may make a dash for the
summit of Kosciusko, using Betts Camp as his
base, but the great white hills that surround it,
196
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
and extend beyond it to the southward, will sleep
under uncrumpled sheets until December suns
awaken them.
The last mile or more of road is marked out by
tall posts to prevent coaches and travellers from
floundering into snow drifts. A gang of men
is kept to clear the track with snow ploughs after
sudden falls.
A Dog Sled, Kosciusko
At length, feeling colder than he has ever felt
before, perchance, the traveller sees the welcome
chimneys, roofs and gables of the two-storied
Hotel Kosciusko with its lakelet frozen over at
the foot of the slope, and the mountain hunching
up behind it.
The Government of New South Wales has
spent many thousands here. The chateau— as
it should be called — is splendidly appointed, and
its capable manager, overlord as he is of a little
isolated world in the snow — rules his dominion
capably and well. The chef is a genius, the hotel
service is excellently organised, the establishment
heated throughout by steam, the rooms electri-
cally lit and supplied with hot and cold water; the
lounge, billiard, dining, smoking, music and ball
rooms equal those of the best Alpine hotels.
Six thousand feet above sea level, surrounded
by brooding mountains older than the Himalayas,
the guest may now settle down comfortably to the
enjoyments which a paternal management has in
store for him.
Resting after his sixteen hours of travel from
Sydney, he looks out from a world of new and
modern appointment upon a world old when
Alpine Europe was hardly settled on its bases.
Sixteen miles further on, the wrinkled forehead
of Kosciusko is bared to catch the last beams of a
wintry sun. Below him, on the frozen lakelet,
skaters, aglow with pleasant exercise, are edging
appetites for dinner.
The chateau is built of Monaro granite. In
this climate the fireplace assumes a greater im-
portance than in other parts of Australia. The
fireplaces of the chateau are arched with rough-
hewn blocks of solid stone. During the long
frozen months, their red hearths will devour huge
reserves of firewood heaped outside.
From Toowoomba, in Queensland, to Wal-
halla, in Victoria, the wood pile is a prominent
feature of mountain homes.
These People of the Snows are hardy and
happy looking. Nowhere is the air purer or
more exhilarating. Summer and winter alike it
is a veritable source of energy, a constant stimula-
tion that carries no reaction
Over the little valley in which the Hotel
Kosciusko stands there is a hill which the manager
has called "Alpine View."
With a pair of gum boots on his feet and an
alpenstock in his hand, the visitor is counselled
to make the ascent after breakfast.
From a natural platform on the tall granite
rock that crowns this hill, the view will be full
repayment for his morning climb.
He looks over the valley and sees the vestal
ranges sleeping for the winter in long, white
nightgowns descending to their feet. He sees
the humpbacked mountains of which Kosciusko
itself is the highest point. Behind him is the
evergreen forest, every tree and bush drooping
under its canopy of snow. Dazzling white snow-
drifts fill the crevices of the rocks; beneath him,
lipped with ice, the creeks wind among their
snow-covered boulders, bestowing farewell kisses
on these paternal granites before they depart
from their birthplaces to the warmer embraces of
Gippsland and the Riverine.
There is gold in these creeks. After the
spring rains come and meet the snows, an occa-
sional fossicker follows up the streams. They
tell you of a hermit who has lived for years in a
gully some four miles back from the hotel. Now
and again he comes in with his "dust," and takes
out a pack-horse laden with provisions. He is con-
tent with the ranges for his companions; and the
living he makes suffices for him, as for many an-
other solitary throughout the great Australian
Bush.
Olub Lake, Snowy Mountains
197
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It is safe to say that a majority of native-born
Australians have never seen snow. For this
reason Kosciusko appeals more strongly to those
initiates who behold here the Bush transfigured
and supremely beautiful.
For the first time they see those peculiar grey
clouds in skies which seem to draw nearer to the
earth. Magpies carol in the tree-tops, their sweet
melancholy notes heralding a coming change.
Then the first dri\-ing flakes come floating down
through the forest and dancing across the open
spaces like white feathers driven by the wind.
The air thickens. The neophyte watches the
noiseless flakes descending in myriads, gradually
altering the shapes of trees, blotting out the
nakedness of the earth and slowly transforming
a commonplace everyday landscape into a world
of wonder and delight.
Australian snow scenes are especially beautiful
from the fact that our forests are evergreen. The
bleakness of the European snowscape is absent.
The world of Nature takes on a new and delicate
beauty, all ruggedness is toned down and the
whole effect is delicate and fairylike.
To most people the chief attraction of Mount
Kosciusko will be its novel winter amusements.
At the luxurious hotel they may spend a holi-
day in modern comfort and indulge to the full in
snow sports of all descriptions. Ice skating,
tobogganing and ski-ing annually bring their
devotees from great distances. The Australian
need not visit Switzerland nor Scandinavia for
these pleasures. He has his own snow season
extending from May to September each year.
Ski-riding was freely practised in Monaro
before it extended into Europe from the Scan-
dinavian countries. Westward from Kosciusko
is Kiandra, the highest town in Australia. It is
cut off regularly during the winter, owing to the
deep snows which surround it. The connecting
roads can only be negotiated on ski. This first led
to the development of ski-running; the establish-
ment of a championship course, annual races, and
finally an extension of the sport to Kosciusko,
which is more accessible.
The skis used in this country are constructed
of light and pliable mountain ash, one of our
most useful timbers. The ski is a smooth narrow
plank 3i inches to 4^ inches wide, and from
seven to nine feet long, about an inch thick in the
middle thinning to half an inch at both ends. The
front of the ski is turned up. The foot fits
through a broad leather band laced over the
centre, with the heel left free, or is strapped over
the toes and the back of the heels.
Without doubt ski-running, once the art is
acquired, ranks among the most pleasurable
The Summit of Mount Kosciusko
(The highest point in Australia)
and healthy sports in the world. One can invest
it with considerable excitement also.
The amateur finds that his skis have a devilish
habit of going just exactly where he doesn't want
them to; but his falls are amusing even to him-
self, and he naturally escapes unhurt in the soft
snow. If he Is prepared to cut a few ludicrous
capers at first, doesn't mind a few spills, and per-
severes, the pleasure he can enjoy afterwards in
flying over the polish,.J surface of the earth at
express speed, more than compensates for the
initial falls and failures. Experts perform some
incredible feats on ski. On the steep courses they
can get up to automobile speed and negotiate 50-
feet flying jumps with confidence and safety.
With ski the whole face of the country can be
explored, as far as the explorer cares to go. In
winter the summit of Mount Kosciusko may be
reached by an expert in this way.
But, for the average tourist, the time for this
interesting journey will be summer, when the
ascent is made without personal exertion. The
Blue Lake and a magnificent panorama of moun-
tain scenery may then be viewed — under a clear
sky — with all its sweeping hills and granite mono-
liths and mighty gorges.
In summer this mountain climate is the most
invigorating in Australia. One's sojourn in a
land of entrancing beauty and interest is made
more pleasant by the splendid health and spirits
which arise from the inhalation of dry, pure air
impregnated with oxygen.
A summer trip to Kosciusko is a prescription
which any patient finds easy to take. It has
effected many a cure.
(i99)
Orescent Head
THE NORTH COAST.
I
DURING the winter of 19 13 the author of
Australia Unlimited was working south-
ward from Cairns to Stanthorpe via
Townsville, Cloncurry, Winton, Longreach,
Rockhampton, Roma, and other places on the
Queensland map, taking notes for this book.
He had sampled the winter climates of Mount
Kosciusko and Cairns, and found them some-
what different. He spent his last really cold day
of the year at Stanthorpe — shook hands with the
mining warden and his junior on a bleak moun-
tain platform and boarded the Sydney express a
little before sundown on a wintry afternoon in
mid-September.
They give you a good meal in the busy refresh-
ment room at Wallangarra, where you leave a
comfortable Queensland car for an equally com-
fortable New South Wales car on a broader
gauge line.
The sun had lighted the summits of the last
Queensland hills with a wan golden light, but
over the border in New South Wales the western
skies were filled with a beautiful afterglow. On
a pale green background of sky, reddish-black
clouds were floating behind the silhouetted gums
along the ridges. One of the passengers in the
car said, apropos of this remarkable effect, which
we were watching from the windows, that if a
man wanted to enjoy life, artificial life, he should
ive in Vienna, but if he wanted to be a healthy
man, and live a long time, he must remain in
Australia. ...
It was cold at Tenterfield. The big fireplace
in the hotel, packed with blazing logs, reminded
us that September and Spring are not synonymous
all over the Commonwealth.
Magpies were carolling gaily when the sun rose
next morning over that pretty old town, sur-
rounded by its grey New England hills.
Weeping willows down by the sandy creek
swung their drooping branches in response to a
morning breeze that blew cold and fresh on the
cheek.
Thin mists were clearing over the pine-tops,
smoke ascended from the chimneys — it was a
bracing day, when we took our seats in the old
F.N., with the collars of our overcoats up round
our ears and rugs o\er our knees.
We swung out cheerily on the main coach road
to Lismore, passing fields of barley, potatoes, and
other products of colder climates.
In and out of granite hills, where the fine
coastal rivers of New South Wales have their ■
beginnings in clear and rapid creeks — we went
down to Drake, a cold little mining village. At
Tabulam the country opens, and the road crosses
the Clarence River by a fine bridge. The Clar-
ence even here is a broad stream.
At Tabulam, before the door of an old-
fashioned inn, motors going over the mountains
o
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C3
p
400
THE NORTH COAST OF NEW SOUTH WALES
201
and motors coming down from the tableland
assemble these days for lunch. When the writer
caravanned down from the (jreat Range thirteen
years ago there were no motors, and the weary-
ing coach journey from either Tenterfield to
Lismore, or Glen Innes to Grafton, occupied a
day and a night. The motor accomplishes it in
five or six daylight hours. The motor is play-
ing an important part in recent Australian de-
velopment, and will play a still more important
one in the future.
Fat dairy herds and green fields are the fea-
tures of this prolific country, not one-half so pro-
lific as it will be made in the future after farming
men have learned the lesson that is coming to
them.
You cannot keep taking everything out of land
and not putting anything back. You cannot
allow the breed of your stock to deteriorate.
You must not sow one kind of fodder grass and
expect it to last indefinitely. You must learn to
rotate your crops.
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A Boat Harbor on the Eiclmond Eiver
Over beautiful foothills, crowned with tall
hoop pine, we travelled into brush lands covered
with scented shrubs and tropical jungle growths.
Now and again we passed long bullock-teams
laden with smooth, barked pine-logs going to the
isawmills at the foot of the ranges.
We had entered a perceptibly warmer atmos-
phere. Some miles westward from Casino, we
Struck the outer edges of the dairying districts.
[t was now typical North Coast. Lush grasses
[covered the fields, patches of uncleared jungle
still remained along the creeks. Frequent
Bwamps, edged with red water-weed, told of a
leavy and regular rainfall.
Casino had grown in ten years to a busy little
city. We crossed the North Coast railway line,
which is being builded in sections to link up
Sydney and Brisbane by a coastal route, and
turned northward over rich basaltic hills and fine
black flats towards Lismore.
We glided into Lismore at nightfall. Twenty
years ago this city did not exist. To-day it is
one of the brightest, most active and most pro-
gressive centres in the Commonwealth. It owes
its increasing prosperity mainly to the dairying
industry, and for this reason alone the North
Coast will do well to carefully consider the best
methods of improving and sustaining both pas-
tures and herds.
Paspalum has spelled profits; but the future of
paspalum on scrub country is a matter of doubt.
Already the fields are becoming matted over with
the roots of this valuable grass, and in conse-
quence the rain does not penetrate the soil.
Lismore is a city in which its inhabitants take
pardonable pride. It boasts fine buildings,
broad streets, good hotels, public institutions, and
leads the North Coast.
On the cleared hills beyond Lismore is Wol-
longbar, the Government Experimental Farm,
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
situated on typical Big Scrub land. We motored
away on a balmy Spring morning towards
Ballina, calling in at the farm for an hour or two
en route.
At one time these enormous far-spreading
northern scrubs were regarded as worthless
country, except for the cedar which grew in them.
Hardly any productive part of Australia but
has, at one time or another, been set down as
good for nothing.
The Big Scrub lands are basaltic, red and
chocolate, and lighter in color than the volcanic
soil of the South Coast, except on the river flats,
where black alluvials prevail.
Wollongbar, 273 acres in area, is one of
several invaluable demonstration and training
farms conducted by the New South Wales De-
partment of Agriculture.
Among many interesting experimental plots at
Wollongbar that producing Queensland cattle-
cane came under observation. This species of
sugar-cane grows 50 to 60 tons to the acre in
these coastal districts, and is valuable as a winter
feed for stock. It lasts six years.
The manager of Wollongbar opined that the
paspalum fields, which have been the mainstay of
North Coast dairymen for many years past, will
have to be ploughed in the near future. This
can be done for £2 an acre with bullocks. Chiefly
owing to the falling-off of paspalum, pasture lands
which have been sold for as much as £40 an acre
can be bought at present for £25.
It should not cost more than £4 to £5 an acre
to bring this land back to its original productive
value by ploughing, manuring with bonedust, and
re-sowing with couch-grass, which will keep the
paspalum open when it re-appears.
The weight of opinion seems to be in favor of
Rhodes grass as against paspalum for the North
Coast in future.
The average dairy farm in the Big Scrub has
been from 150 to 200 acres in area, which is far
too big. Eighty acres of this country — from
which it is possible to get three crops a year with
manuring — is more than enough for a holding.
Any man who farms eighty acres of Big Scrub
land thoroughly is sure of a handsome living, but
genuine farming and land speculation are two dif-
ferent propositions.
Curiously, against established tradition, wheat
does well on Wollongbar, and does not suffer
from rust.
Experiments at this station have shown
that black winter rye will be one of the best
growths for the Big Scrub. It is a good cropper,
and an effective milk producer, and the district
seems to suit it.
Apart from its experiments in grasses and fod-
ders, Wollongbar has accumulated valuable facts
concerning the growth of hemp, fibres, tropical
fruits and various economic plants. It is a
school of importance for students and dairy
farmers who receive as well the benefit of its care-
ful tests with Ayrshires, Jerseys, Guernseys and
their crosses.
Leaving Wollongbar we rolled over a good
macadamised road through one of the finest dairy
districts in the world.
Westward, beyond a wide coastal sweep of hill
and dale, loomed the distant ranges from which
we had descended the day before.
Their grey granite heights and cold gorges
were but a \-anishing memory.
All around us glowed sunlit vistas of another
land, warmer, more prolific, and pleasanter to the
eye.
Here the green sugar-cane rustled, here the
air was heavy with a scent of clover. Here the
sun glistened on the backs of many a fine dairy
herd knee-deep in pasture.
We crossed running creeks, where pittosporum
bloomed. We surmounted hills and saw be-
neath us farm houses standing amid groves of
bananas.
We skirted margins of swamps, where purple
red-bills, sickle-beaked ibis, and white cranes
stalked in search of food.
Spur-wing plover pittered on the flats. Covey
quail piped in the long grass, and jacksnipe
arrowed across the marshes.
By hill and dale, and pine and palm, we went
down from Wollongbar to Wardell — a riverbank
township surrounded by a grove of forest oaks —
and waited there for the punt to convey us across
the Richmond River.
A barge, deeply laden with sugar-cane, was
being towed upstream by a noisy asthmatical
river tug. The wind ruflled the surface of the
river, and far off we could hear a noise of ma-
chinery where the juice of the cane was being
expressed and converted into good Australian
sugar at Broadwater mill.
The ancient puntman brought his craft slowly
to the bank. The farmers' carts rattled off and
we glided on.
On the opposite side we turned the car north-
wards in the direction of Woodburn. The road
follows the river, and one could not but notice
how the water-hyacinth, that bugbear of tropical
streams, was spreading on the Richmond.
Large areas of land were still under sugar-
cane, despite the profits that dairy-farming has
brought northern settlers. It was cutting sea-
son. Gangs of white labourers were slashing
the jointed stalks with their murderous-looking
cane-knives, and heavy draught-horses were draw-
ing trucks laden with cane along the tramlines
A Holiday on Biclimond Biver
203
204
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
that lead from the fields to loading-places on the
river bank.
Yesterday it was Australia of the Snows. To-
day it is Australia of the Sugar Cane. It is always
well, when people speak of the Australian climate,
to ask which climate they mean!
New South Wales alone has several. The
difference between Tenterfield and Woodburn is
almost as great as that between Florida and New
York.
As we applied thirstily for a cold drink in the
bar of the Woodburn inn, where we pulled up for
lunch, we might have reflected that ski-ing and
ice-skating were still in full swing at Mount Kos-
ciusko.
and potatoes, its excellent bacon and dairy pro-
duce.
A prosperous and hospitable population of
50,000 have found a field for their labors between
Tabulam and the sea; but the Valley of the Clar-
ence and the country surrounding it would sup-
port thousands more.
Some day the output of these coastal districts
will mayhap be increased ten-fold under irrigation
and intense culture; as it is, they contribute greatly
to the wealth of New South Wales. "Timber,
Butter, Maize, Gold and Wool" — that is the
refrain these river waters sing as they roll
towards the Pacific, through an Eldorado of their
own.
In the Big Scrub, Richmond Biver
Erom Woodburn on the Richmond to Chats-
worth on the Clarence, the road runs mainly
through fine hardwood forests.
Half-way between these two places is New
Italy, where an industrious and thrifty remnant
of the Marquis de Rey's ill-starred New Ireland
settlement have proved that the Italian makes a
good Australian citizen.
From the summit of Marora Hill we looked
down upon the Valley of the Clarence, rich and
lovely, the home of agricultural wealth and
abundance !
This broad majestic river spreads out its many
arms and branches through a wide delta of ever-
fertile alluvial soil. For more than half a cen-
tury it has been celebrated for its maize, sugar
The Clarence district has a most interesting
history. Its original settlers were largely com-
posed of Scots and Germans, whose descendants
are, for the most part, well-to-do farmers and
business men.
The Teuton and the Gael have intermarried.
Their progeny, born and raised in a land where
the sugar cane and the banana flourish, appear to
be a healthy type. They are naturally careful
and conservative. The banks of Grafton are
said to have a bigger average of fixed deposits
than those of any other Australian town. Grafton
itself is one of the most charming places in the
world. Located on a bend in the great river, its
broad streets planted with beautiful trees, its
gardens ablaze with the flowers of tropical and
i
o
bo
a
205
206
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
temperate climates, at certain seasons of the year
it can only be described as an Eden, not lacking
Eve, for it has been named, and fitly — "the City
of Fine Trees and F'air Women."
The leafy avenues of Grafton in springtime
are rendered glorious by purple jacaranda and
golden silky-oak, while here and there a flame-tree
blazes like a royal Richelieu among the darker
bunya pines and sycamores.
"See Naples and die." Go to Grafton and
live. But preferably go not in early summer,
when the atmosphere is laden with promise of the
rainy season — unless you are used to hot, moist
climates.
But go to the Clarence sometime, any time, if
you would behold a green gem blazing brightly
in the tiara of settlement which this queenly coast
so proudly wears.
Go to the Clarence! It is a land of romance,
of beauty, of pleasure, and friendship and laissez
faire. You will have boating and fishing and
shooting and moonlight picnics; Scottish gather-
ings. Burns' nichts and Bavarian festivities.
You will hear the skirl of bagpipes in the
banana groves; you will eat American ices in
Prince Street, and at the farm houses they will
give you fresh milk and perhaps passion-fruit and
cream.
At least one evening a week the town band will
play in public and, perchance, you will attend the
annual regatta on the river, or see the Friendly
Societies' Demonstration. Most certainly you
will go by steamer to Copmanhurst, and behold
the upper reaches, and most surely ^ou will go
down the river to Ulmarra, where you can almost
see the maize growing on flats of incredible
richness; to Southgate, where the wharf will
be ashine with polished milk-cans; to Lawrence,
with water-hyacinth purpling the swamps on its
outskirts; to Maclean, the centre of a river dis-
trict of its own; to Brushgrove, surrounded by
dairy farms; to Harwood, where the Colonial
Sugar Company has a splendid mill; to Palmer's
Island, where the sea-breeze grows fresher but
the land is still lush and green; to Iluka, quaint
fishing village, with a broad river frontage and
an ocean beach across the sands, and finally to
Yamba, the watering-place of the Clarence, where
you may fish, surf-bathe and cull fat oysters from
the training wall — if you wish.
If you are a sportsman you can spend many in-
teresting hours along Carr's Creek, and AUipo
Creek, and Alumny Creek, the Coldstream, the
South Arm, the Broadwater, and by many other
creeks, arms, branches and swamps within the
delta of the Clarence.
You may go to Red Rock or Broome's Head
for snapper, to Orara for quail, to Lionsville to
see gold-mining; to the copper-mines of Cangai,
and to Yugilbar station to see the only Moorish
castle in Australia.
Between Copmanhurst and Yamba, a distance
of sixty or eighty miles, there are a hundred
islands in the river. Many of these are under
cultivation; but some have been reserved for
recreation grounds, or other purposes.
From the uncleared islands one can get an
idea of the magnificent vegetation that covered
the banks of the Clarence when the first settlers
came there seventy years ago. Grafton was then
a cedar brush. Enormous banyans, nettle trees,
rosewood tulips, myrtles, silky oaks, and all
the growths of a superb jungle covered the site of
the present city.
First fortunes were made out of cedar; later
money was won and lost in sugar growing; but
the permanent stability of the district was finally
established on dairy farming.
A healthy rivalry exists between Lismore and
Grafton. Lismore, much younger, but flushed
with quick success, accuses Grafton of being non-
progressive; but the old district is solid, if slow.
There is no poverty on the North, but increas-
ing comfort and every prospect of a bigger future
than its oldest inhabitants have yet realized.
Pioneering on the North Coast has never been
attended with the doubt and difficulty which had
to be met and overcome in less favoured parts of
the Commonwealth.
In order that the district may learn more of
its present and future possibilities, a paternal
Government in Sydney some ten or twelve years
ago established an experimental station on the
higher lands a few miles north of the city.
As the writer had seen the beginnings of this
Government farm in a modest clearing in forest
and jungle, it was a decided pleasure to revisit it
after a decade.
A marvellous transformation had taken place.
Entering the gates of the farm, a magnificent field
of wheat first met his astonished gaze! The
Clarence had never appealed to him, or to the
local inhabitants for that matter, as a wheat-
growing country; yet, here was a fifty-acre block
of "Thew" — a Farrerized wheat — high as the
fence and level as a billiard table!
It just happened that the farm contained a
patch of red soil on which the management had
sown wheat — with results beyond expectation.
There was £850 worth of wheaten chaft on that
particular block. Higher up the river, the visi-
tor remembered, around Yugilbar, were belts of
similar country which will, no doubt, yield similar
results.
Grafton Experimental Farm reflects all credit
on the New South Wales Department of Agri-
culture. It would gladden the heart of any good
Australian. For, perhaps more than any other
THE NORTH COAST OF NKW SOUTH WALKS
207
station, it is showing what a catholicity of climate
Australia possesses. In what other part of the
world do we find wheat and pineapples growing
to perfection side by side?
After ten years, the writer of Australia
Unlimited returned to a spot which he had known
as forest and scrub, to find it teeming with produc-
tion.
Of splendid sheep and pigs, fine dairy cows,
and healthy poultry, the Farm has plenty.
But evolution applies to Australian settlement
as to other things. The Clarence, young as it
Is, has had its cedar age, its maize period, its
sugar epoch, and now it is enjoying a prosperous
dairy farming era.
Its permanent future may be in irrigation with
mixed farming, and intensive culture. But it
will always be a prosperous, fertile, and beautiful
district. . . .
Government Experimental Farm, Grafton
Lucerne, potatoes, maize, bananas, citrus fruits
in their several areas, all proclaimed the Clarence
to be a land eminently adapted for mixed farm-
ing.
Local landowners have not yet seen the neces-
sity for intensive farming on smaller areas. They
have gone on taking the same crops off their
ground year after year.
But the time will come on the Coast when 50-
acre farms will be considered quite large enough
for individual holdings. On 50 acres, even
under present easy-going conditions, a man may
readily clear £250 a year.
We crossed the Clarence (nearly a mile wide
at Grafton) by a crowded steam punt, and found
South Grafton dusty and busy.
The building of the North Coast railway line
was in progress, and all the resultant activities
were finding expression in what was once rather
a dull place. The city on the south side of the
river promises to give Grafton proper a close
run for supremacy in the future. Fine new
buildings had been erected; the business places
were constantly crowded; everybody seemed to be
earning or making plenty of money. The
"melancholy Australian" of tradition as usual was
2o8
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
not visible, nor did this scene present an air of
"weird expectancy."
Comfort, prosperity, and content will be found
on the North Coast. But the traveller will seek
in vain for that "typical Australia," of which he
has read so much.
As a souvenir of the Clarence, we bought a 60-
Ib. tin of "Ironbark" honey for 14/6, and
strapped it to the footboard of the car.
There is a flavor about North Coast honey
which will remain in one's memory for years.
From the summit of the hills overlooking the
river, the road takes off to Nymboida, passing
through much forest country. The Nymboida
collects from the southern watershed of the
Clarence, and is itself a noble river where it
empties into the parent stream. It receives some
of the fall from the Dorrigo tableland.
Beyond the Nymboida the road ascends into
the Guy Fawkes, a plateau covered with great
hardwood forests, containing much good farming
and pastoral land also.
These districts all receive an abundant rain-
fall. They contain patches of stiff gravelly soils,
but there are thousands of acres suitable for cul-
tivation. In no other part of Australia does one
iind more beautiful forests or clearer streams.
The waters of the Nymboida run swiftly over
beds of smooth pebbles. Long green water-
weeds sway at its edges. Around these silken
streamers the platypus feeds.
The air of the Nymboida is cooler and drier
than that of the coastland.
Hills rise steeply from the river, and surmount-
ing them the traveller is presented with one of
the finest Australian views.
Beneath him is the valley of the Nymboida,
through which the river, with its strong mountain
spirit, cleaves a wide passage.
The walled mountains of the Dividing Chain,
with their high spurs and deep gorges loom in
blue distances.
Very still and solemn are these mountains.
Their lower heights are covered with dark pines,
their sides are clothed with forests, at their feet
the rivers toss and tumble like mountain children,
shouting at their play.
In the gullies grow palms, tree-ferns and deli-
cate ferns.
The musical tinkling of bellbirds, the purling
of clear waters over moss and orchid, screams
of parrots or the thud of marsupials, these are
all the sounds that break their virgin stillness,
except for the rare grating of a wheel along the
main road, or the chatter of horsemen riding in
company.
Along this Armidale road are fine uplands
covered by hardwood forests, broken here and
there by stretches of dense sub-tropical jungle.
growing in chocolate soil similar to that of the
Tweed and Richmond.
If the traveller turns off the Armidale road
at Tyringham, and takes an easterly course, he
can go over via Perrott's Pinch into the Dorrigo.
It is eleven years and more since the writer
drove a buggy and pair over Perrott's Pinch from
Tyringham, but the memory of that adventure
has not faded. They say the road has been
improved: for the traveller's sake, we will hope
so.
The few settlers who had taken up land in the
Guy Pawkes prior to that time were doing reason-
ably well, growing potatoes, for which the
country was specially suited.
I wrote then: —
"There is no doubt that the country of the Guy
Fawkes is destined in the future to grow immense
quantities of wheat, potatoes, and the valuable
commercial products of a temperate climate.
About Tyringham and higher up toward the New
England tableland, cold-country fruits flourish
and do well. The pastoral and grazing possi-
bilities are also considerable. At the present time
sheep-breeding is being tried on a small scale, and
Lincolns and merinos are said to do well.
"The few settlers, who, with the old cattle
stations, at present occupy the Guy Fawkes, find
an outlet for their stock and produce at Armidale.
On our way up the hills we met some bullock
teams coming down to Grafton laden with pota-
toes. Much of the farm-truck which now goes
to Armidale would, if Guy Fawkes and Dorrigo
were connected by rail with Grafton, probably be
shipped there. The immense possibilities of the
Guy Fawkes and Dorrigo and much of the inter-
vening country, could be reduced to approximate
statistics. Suflice it to say that the country is yet
almost virgin. A few isolated settlers are in a
primitive way endeavouring to make a living, and
are holding on to their selections in the hope of a
future. Without railway communication it will
be impossible to open up this country. The cost
per team of haulage to the Clarence on a ton of
Guy Fawkes potatoes is £1/5/-; the present
market price of a ton of potatoes is £3 in Grafton.
The profits to the grower can readily be cal-
culated. Yet these people, so productive is the
soil, so certain the seasons, and so favourable the
climate, are able to live, and, in a way, are doing
well. The Guy Fawkes was settled or part
settled from New England."
The edge of the Dorrigo Scrub is just thirteen
miles east from Tyringham. Don Dorrigo is a
plateau, averaging 2,500 feet in height, and vary-
ing in width from five miles to thirty, which, with
its spurs, runs out from the main range near
Guyra to Coramba, 30 miles south of Grafton. It
THE NORTH COAST OF NEW SOUTH WALES
209
'The Farmer's Friend'
is without doubt one of the finest belts of vol-
canic upland in New South Wales. Eleven years
ago when the writer went down from Tyringham
as a special commissioner, to report on this coun-
try, it was unoccupied except for a few pioneer
selectors at Dorrigo and Little Plain, who were
putting up a good fight against odds.
One could do nothing else than take up a brief
for these settlers and their country — equally de-
serving of attention.
On the western descent into Dorrigo, from
Tyringham, or on the seven miles climb, from the
Bellingen on the eastern side, a descriptive pen
might spill phrases until they piled into volumes.
The western slope of the plateau is singularly
romantic and beautiful. In places the country
opens out like a park, where well-trimmed forest
oaks, purpled in their autumn dress, stand sil-
houetted in clumps against a background of the
most vivid and peculiar green. This unusual
greenness of the bald hills on the western ap-
proach to the Dorrigo is due to the presence of a
certain indigenous herbage, which does not
appear to grow in any other part of the country.
The Dorrigo rises in a series of abutting slopes,
perfectly bare of trees, and vividly green. On
the summit of these slopes runs a dark line of
dense forest, through which lofty pine trees rear
their ebon spires against a sky of blue.
Ascending over the Bald Hill, from Armidale
side, as one draws near to the dark line of forest
at the summit, it becomes more definite and
understandable. The characteristics of the scrub
show more clearly. It is like the approach to
some tropical island whose rich vegetation seems
to grow up out of the seas as one nears it.
The traveller will stand at last before the
entrance to a dark avenue of tangled tropical
growths, broken by tall pines, and looking back
to the westward see the blue ranges piled away
to sunset. So dense and tall is the Dorrigo
forest, that, although the sun may be swimming
high in the heavens, one seems, on entering the
scrub, to suddenly drop into the coolness and
shadow of late afternoon. This wonderful
Dorrigo scrub is destined in the near future to dis-
appear before the utilitarian hand of civilization.
While the land was being cleared for first
settlement, great logs of valuable rosewood were
constantly burnt off with other ornamental
timbers. Australian rosewood is at the present
time one of the most valuable timbers in the
world. It is in demand by the builders of Eng-
lish railway carriages, and with judicious local
enterprise, it would be in equal demand in
America. For the enlightment of readers, it
may also be mentioned here that there are in the
Dorrigo pine trees holding 9,000 feet of good
saleable timber under the one bark, and that the
selectors have wastefully burnt off this timber
in order to clear their land for cultivation.
But lest any critic of Australian methods
should find herein, as Sir Rider Haggard has re-
cently done, argument for a charge of national
waste, all sides of the question must be taken into
consideration. In justice to the Australian
settler, it must be remembered that the best
timber forty or sixty miles from a railway is worth
nothing; that uncleared forest land is valueless
and unproductive, while land cleared of forest
and devoted to agriculture is an increasing value
to the individual and the State.
In 1902 i wrote of this country: —
"At the present moment the best part of the
Dorrigo, the land which is destined one day to
support a large and prosperous population, is
locked up by Government in timber reserves. The
attempt which is being made by the authorities to
preserve a vast area of valuable forest is a com-
mendable one, but while it keeps the timber stand-
ing as a public asset, it is a distinct loss to the
State in another direction. The land of the
4tO
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Dorrigo is of greater national value than the tim-
ber, but neither land nor timber with judi-
cious management, need remain unremunerative
— a dead waste. If the Government of the State
were to gradually throw open the Dorrigo re-
serves for settlement, reserving the market tim-
bers on each block, at the usual royalties, the
whole difficulty might be overcome. There is not
the slightest doubt that if this were done, sawmills
would be erected, and an additional encourage-
ment given to settlement. There is money in the
Dorrigo, and it only needs a little business enter-
prise to exploit, for the general benefit of the com-
munity, one of the best strips of country in
Australia.
"With an elevation of 2,500 feet, these lands,
now covered with the most magnificent forest I
have ever beheld in any part of the world, would
become in a little time an agricultural Eden, sup-
porting a large dairying and farming population.
Away back from the unrecorded aeons of the
past, the forces of Nature have been at work on
the rich volcanic loam, enriching it with ages of
vegetable decay. The very air of the scrub is
heavy with the odor of exuberant fertility. On
entering into the scrub for the first time, by one of
the many tracks hewn through the dense forest
by the axes of cedar-getters, I felt as one who
stands at the entrance of some ancient cathedral
reared by giants of architecture in mighty days
of old.
"After a few steps, the coarse glare of day is
shut out, and one walks as if in cathedral light,
where scarcely a sound breaks the solemn still-
ness. Here and there, in patches of sunlight,
the leaves of the tall scented lily gleam vividly
green. Dark, glossy-leaved creepers cover the
trunks of the trees. Above the pilasters of tall,
graceful palms, quaintly marked like the pillars
of an Eastern temple, hang tremulous leaves.
Then come the great dark trunks of the pines,
and looking up into their tremendous heights, one
beholds their crowns white with hanging moss —
veritable patriarchs of the forest, they wag their
grey heads at Time."
Shortly after, on the reiteration of these facts,
the See Government began to throw open
the Dorrigo for settlement. The Hon. Walter
Bennett, then Minister for Forests, realized that
the Dorrigo would be of a greater value to New
South Wales as an agricultural district than it
could ever remain as a forest reserve. The
official objections to occupation having been over-
come, the settlement of Don Dorrigo began.
The author's prophecy has been over-fulfilled.
No district in Australia has gone ahead more
rapidly than the Dorrigo during the last decade.
Farm after farm has been won from the jungle,
settler after settler has sprung from small
beginnings to independence, and everywhere there
is progress. Nor have the forests been utterly
wasted. Mills have been established and have
sawn out millions of feet of hardwood and orna-
mental timber, much of which has found a port
at Coff's Harbor, which in turn, from a mere
village, has developed into one of the busiest and
most populous centres of the whole North Coast.
Leaving the Armldale road — which has been
responsible for this digression — our car took the
dusty highway that dips out and falls over coastal
hills and occasional flats towards Coramba.
These North Coast hills are yet covered with
forest. What their uses will be in the future is
hard to say. At present it were well if they
remained forest reserves.
The flats are fertile and for the most part
occupied by selectors. It Is a pleasant land to
travel through at most seasons of the year. In
Spring the forest oak Is In flower and the
eucalypts are crowned with bright young leaves,
like woodland altars tipped with flame.
You will follow the road for some miles
through an open forest In which tall straight
pillars of spotted gum stand as supports to a vast
green canopy. Then you will drop down to a
level stretch of farmland with, maybe, a quaint
old shingle-roofed homestead standing back from
the roadway in a grove of ornamental trees, with
a garden surrounded by weather-stained paling
fences, over which roses are trailing. There will
be cowsheds and barns at the back, ploughed pad-
docks sprouting green maize, a running stream
with dairy cattle grazing along its banks.
These old selections and all they stand for of
pioneer history are facing a new feature In the
landscape — earthworks and bridges, ballasted
track and steel rails; for the North Coast railway
line is being carried along past their doors. The
wattle and hickory which bloomed so profusely
every spring-time along this northern road,
have been rudely torn from their roots, clematis
and tecoma cast aside, hills ruthlessly sliced and
their tops and sides hauled away to make em-
bankments, and now the solitude of Glenugle Peak
Is disturbed by whistles of ballast trains. Coach
days are going, and days of railway carriage and
motor-car have come.
South Grafton is already In touch with Glen-
reagh, which is not sleeping amongst Its fertile
flats and ringbarked clearings, but like Coramba,
young and flourishing, has responded to the call
of progress.
The road into Coff's Harbor from Coramba
goes down by many a sharp curve, from hills
covered with rich jungle, to the sea.
The growth of Coff's Harbor since the Dor-
rigo was opened has been remarkable. Once
given the impetus which, from now on, it is likely
THE NORTH COAST OF NEW SOUTH WALES
2lt
to receive, the whole State will go ahead at the
same speed.
Coff's Harbor may be taken as an example of
Australia's possibilities. The establishment
of fine, modern timber mills followed the influx
of settlers and in ten years a place which con-
sisted of a hotel, a wharf, and a few scattered
houses, has grown to a busy little city. Sensible
administration induced settlement, and enterprise
and natural resources did the rest.
When the tide of European migration turns
southward, as it must inevitably do, it will be
found that Australia can offer more opportunity
for investment and labor alike than even the
United States of America, which now carries twice
the population of Britain. Australia is, in fact.
Between Bellingen and Nambucca stands one
of the finest hardwood forests of the North;
grey box and turpentine are its predominant
timbers.
This valuable forest extends for thirty miles or
so back from the coast, and then gives place to
"apple-tree," and good open country, suitable, it
is said, for closer settlement.
Without cutting into the forests of the North
Coast — which, for the most part, cover land un-
suitable for agriculture — there will be an enor-
mous total area on which population can be
settled with every prospect of success.
Just before sundown we glided into the green
valley of the Macleay. New South Wales is
seen here in a particularly happy mood. If a
On the Paterson Elver
a better America where men and women who are
capable of intelligent effort can confidently look
forward, with reasonable personal luck, to ulti-
mate independence, achieved under the best living
conditions in the world.
Every hour in our journey down coast this fact
was brought home to us.
The country was so obviously rich, so capable
of development, so responsive to treatment.
At the Bellingen everybody was doing well.
At Nambucca they were shipping their thou-
sand boxes of butter a week.
At Macksville, a pretty little township on the
banks of the Nambucca River, prosperity was
evident, and so on from river to river for
hundreds of miles.
stranger, who had gathered his impressions of
Australia from the writings of men like Kendall,
Gordon, and Clarke, were transported to the
Macleay, he would feel as if he had gone to sleep
in a desert and wakened in a flower garden. He
would demand to know what spirit of perversity
had caused an apparently sane people to accept
foolish utterances as expressive of (heir joyous
and beautiful country.
He would see a broad and navigable river flow-
ing through an Eden of fertility. He would
learn that on these river flats 80 to 90 bushels of
maize to the acre are common, while they have
actually produced as high as 130 bushels, and that
their average yield, season after season, has been
40 to 50 bushels.
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On land valued at £35 to £40 an acre, he would
behold perennial crops of lucerne, giving sub-
stance to herds of milch-cows rivalling as wealth-
producers the best dairy herds in Europe. On
living areas (60 to 80 acres are sufficient) he
would find not peasants but individual proprietors
with modern equipment, good banking accounts,
smart driving outfits — probably motor-cars.
He would be gratified to see co-operative butter
and cheese factories giving the farmers the full
profits of their industry. In fine he would see
eight to ten thousand people enjoying a pros-
perity which left no room for failure, poverty or
distress.
Kempsey lies in the centre of this prosperity,
and partakes of it with the complacent air that
comes of good fortune well assured.
Like other Australian towns, it is becoming
modernised, but there still remain many old
shingle-roofed houses of an earlier period. It is
noticeable for its beautiful children and pretty
young girls.
Kempsey leaves with the visitor a pleasing
memory of flower gardens, handsome pine trees,
green flats, clover, weeping willows, and con-
tented-looking cows.
Tall banyans by the river bank remain as
examples of a scrub which has long fallen
beneath the settler's axe.
Morning on the Macleay would be a good sub-
ject for some painter who wished to depict the
happy rural side of Australian life. In his
picture he would show pink peach-blossom in the
orchards, and cottages smothered in purple
wistaria.
Being mere artist he might not express the
clear carol of the magpie, the twittering of spar-
rows, the defiant crowing of roosters, or the low-
ing of cows. But if he were minded to extend
his canvas a little he could throw in a background
of wondrous blue hills, or, to invest his picture
with character, he could paint in an apple-cheeked
housemaid illuminated by clear early sunlight,
sweeping out yesterday's dust from the doorway,
a little bare-legged girl coaxing a cow along the
footpath, and a sturdy householder vigorously
cutting kindling wood in the near foreground. A
homely subject, but one that would be a more sane
and truthful expression of Australia than tragic
canvases on which are depicted terror-stricken
settlers fleeing before bush fires, or emaciated
swagsmen in the last throes of thirst.
Between the Manning and Hastings Rivers
there is another valuable belt of hardwood forest.
The main North Coast Road crosses the Hast-
ings five miles above Port Macquarie.
Here is another fine river flowing through
farmlands.
Port Macquarie, one of the State's earliest
settlements, makes the seaport for this delightful
district.
For him who wishes to read the Book of Old
Colonial Days, and reconstruct in fancy the life
and manners of Australia's first generation, a
visit to Port Macquarie will be filled with interest.
It is a queer old town standing by the bluest of
seas. Some of its buildings are a hundred years
old, a great antiquity for an Australian house; its
Norman church was erected about 1824, and, in
a cypress-shaded cemetery overlooking the town,
there are many ancient headstones.
Along the North Coast Road the Lisbon
lemon grows wild, and crops freely. If the tra-
veller prefers the homely squash to fresh milk or
the liquors of the vine he may have it free of
charge. Presumably it does not pay to cultivate
the lemon along here, as the settler lets his trees
alone and the birds carry the seeds hither and
thither, so that there is no lack of lemons.
Citrus fruits and vines have both been ade-
quately proved in the North, but, while other
industries bring in greater profits and settlement
is scattered and transport expensive, wine mak-
ing and fruit growing will have to stand aside.
It is admitted that Australia can be the great-
est wine-producing country in the world. The
State of New South Wales has many fine payable
vineyards and in days to come will have many
more.
Between Port Macquarie and Camden Haven
is a village called Kew. At a bush hotel our car
pulled up for lunch. The railway-builders had
reached thus far and erected their usual camps of
calico and scrim.
Now here, if anywhere, was the site for one
of those "typical" Australian short stories, be-
ginning with a column of mournful word-painting
about a dark forest full of "weird expectancy," a
half column on flies, a half column on heat, and
perhaps a column and a half of a fight around
the bar of the wayside pub.
All the characters would be adorned with spade
beards, wear red shirts, moleskin trousers and
snake-buckle belts. They would speak a typical
dialect, half cockney and half Western Ameri-
can. Their profanity would be expressed by
dashes and asterisks in great profusion.
Unfortunately for the reputation of our
alleged "descriptive Australian writers," none
of the essentials for this purely imaginative story
materialized.
In New South Wales the Licensing Act is
strictly enforced. A disturbance at a hotel would
mean a black mark against the proprietary; it
might even lead to a cancellation of license. Con-
sequently there are few disturbances at country
inns. I have not witnessed a public-house
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fight since 1890, and I travel the Bush more
than most people. There were no flies, and the
weather was ideal. The North Coast is com-
paratively free from flies at all times. The
few young men about the hotel were clean-shaven
— beards are out of fashion in the Bush.
They were dressed in ordinary modern clothing,
spoke fair English, and used no bad language.
The meal, a shilling lunch, was served at a
crowded table, to a good-mannered, good-tem-
But if he is going towards Camden Haven he
should take a kit of fishing lines.
Or if he means to remain around Taree, on
the Manning, let him take dancing shoes and a
mandolin. He will find all these pleasant north-
ern districts cheerfully sociable.
As evening falls there will be many cosy lamp-
lit rooms and much piano-playing. It would be
an interesting statistical item, and one worth pub-
lishing abroad, to compute the number of Austra-
MUking Machines, Manning River District
pered company. It consisted of soup, excellent
Australian beef, abundant vegetables, and custard
and pie.
The only complaint one might make was that
the helpings were rather plentiful.
This is the Bush of Reality. It may be com-
monplace, but it betokens good, cheap conditions
of living, personal comfort and security. The
prospective citizen need have no fear that he will
be subjected to the disagreeable experiences of
some Australian heroes of romance. In migrat-
ing to the Mother State, the last item he need
add to his outfit is a lethal weapon of any kind.
Unless he is travelling into the far back country
in summer, and not always then, he need not
even provide himself with a waterbag.
lian houses that possess a piano. The average
is probably the highest in the world. . . .
The Manning has fine fat black lands along its
valley, and possesses good back country. For
the Comboyne Scrub, like the Dorrigo, a future
can safely be predicted. The Comboyne is a
well-watered high land, with rich soils. It is yet
mostly covered by tropical jungle, but, like all
scrub land of the North, will be found suitable
for dairying and mixed farming.
Taree, the principal centre for the Manning, is
another "old colonial" town, its gabled houses
and ancient gardens standing side by side with
the dwellings of a modern day.
Wingham, on the North Coast railway line, is
surrounded by lucerne and maize. Like most
THE NORTH COAST OF NEW SOUTH WALES
215
places of any or doubtful importance throughout
the Commonwealth, these northern townships
have their green parks and recreation grounds
where the "melancholy Australian" finds excuse
for gathering in quest of amusement.
At Wingham, although it was September, we
found the night air frosty. We rose with the
sun to complete the last stages of a long journey.
Our way had been over dusty roads where bul-
lock teams were hauling logs to many mills.
Across clear creeks and over shining rivers,
through glades of palms and forests of hard-
wood, by farm, orchard, and township for many
hundreds of miles we had seen nothing but
natural beauty, permanent fertility and genera!
prosperity.
Only one thing might be said of this great
North Coast — it was not carrying enough people
— and that can be said of Australia generally.
I looked across in the clear morning light to
the blue peaks of the Great Dividing Range, —
which I had crossed some weeks before as a low
range of hills between Townsville and Cloncurry.
They were the birthplace of many a river that
finds an outlet in the Eastern Pacific between
Cape Bowling Green and Hobson's Bay.
Through some mountain gap out yonder, this
clear fast-flowing Manning River, too, came down
to water the rich lands of Wingham and Taree
and all the little towns and settlements that are
growing along its fertile banks.
We travelled by a winding river road some 15
miles into picturesque hills and found that we had
taken a track which led to Armidale, impassable
for cars beyond the point where we made our
discovery.
Albeit we got a late breakfast of cheese and
biscuits, the mistake was worth while, for the
road, as far as we followed it, led us by river
reaches and jungles and shining hills full of the
morning's glory.
We got back on the main highway to Glou-
cester, which took us over more hills, and through
pretty valleys, by citrus orchards, dairy farms
and scrub and forest to Stroud, where this parti-
cular journey ended.
Stroud is another "old colonial" village, which
the builders of the new railway left five miles
from a station, as if they loathed to disturb that
colonial air which it wears so happily.
It seems a pity to modernize places like these,
and yet the utilitarian eye perceives how such
country can be made far more productive than it
is now. Scientific fruit-growing, the cultivation
of lucerne, irrigation, intensive farming, — the
land cries out for these things — and it will not
always cry in vain.
At Stroud we finished a car journey of 600
miles through the North Coast District of New
South Wales, a journey which lay all the time
over a demesne of intense fertility blessed by con-
stant good seasons, abundant rainfall and a
benign climate.
This Arcadia is capable of supporting a hun-
dred times its present population, and yielding
a hundred times its present wealth.
On the Manning, near Wingham
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THE SOUTH COAST.
IF you would behold fertility allied to great
beauty, if you are interested in Earlier Aus-
tralia, if you are a lover of mountain,
meadow, river and sea, of green pasture lands, of
subtropical vegetation, pack your portmanteau,
provide yourself with rod, gun, and camera, and
go for a long holiday down the Southern Coast of
New South Wales.
The manner of your journey rests with your-
self. The roads are good, the inns comfortable;
you may motor if you can afford it. You may
drive, or bike, or travel by train. If you are of
strenuous habit, you may walk and send your pack
by the railway, but the true pedestrian's pack is
mostly carried on his back.
Many years ago the writer, with an artist
friend, packed an outfit into a village cart, and
essayed to drive from Prospect to Eden. Later
experience gained in driving a light caravan from
Parramatta to Townsville convinced him that the
village cart is a most unsuitable vehicle for an
expedition of this kind.
The artist was Arthur Frederics, who drew the
pictures for Jerome K. Jerome's ever popular
book, "Three Men in a Boat." He claimed
"Montmorenci," the dog of that famous work as
his very own, and did not fail to draw — invidious
comparisons between him and our dog.
But Frederics admitted that house-boating on
the Thames was pale sport beside village-carting
over the Bulli Pass without a brake.
Eighteen years of sunlight and shadow have
come and gone since we undertook that memor-
able journey. Frederics went back to London at
the finish — he had been anxious for an experience
of the Bush before he left Australia — but its plea-
sant memories are with me yet.
Of my patient and industrious travelling com-
panion I have heard nothing for many years, but
if Time has spared him, and he should chance to
read this, I know that from his cosy corner in
the Savage Club he, too, will look back upon those
days in Illawarra with no regret.
The joint resolutions which we made to write
and limn a Delightful Book have faded Into
that over-populated Limbo where the ghosts of
good literary and artistic resolutions are laid.
Our journey — which we had plotted for weeks
with the enthusiasm somewhat of youth — began
with a series of accidents.
Seal Bocks Lighthouse
I was to have met Frederics at Campbelltown.
We had arranged that he should catch the morn-
ing train, and by making a daylight start from
Bossley Park I reckoned to be there before him.
At that time my plant included an old black
carriage horse, which had belonged to an under-
taker, and was therefore regarded as sedate,
reliable, and suitable for a journey of the kind.
A horse with a serious upbringing, slow of habit,
could be expected to breech a heavily-laden trap
down steep pinches without brakes, and remain
around a camp at night.
That and a steady day's pull were all that we
required. I turned this supposed valuable ad-
junct to a quiet driving tour out to grass when
the expedition was first arranged. The last
week I brought him in and had him hardened with
good Central Cumberland maize, grown in my
own paddock — full of nutriment and free of
weevils.
No horse ever had more considerate prepara-
tion for a holiday.
Before dawn on the appointed day I packed the
cart with provisions, tent, fly, aVe, ammunition,
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
fishing lines, and all the paraphernalia of camp-
ing out.
I departed just as "dawn's left hand was in the
sky," and made the first three miles with all the
joy of- an excursion in my blood.
It was one of those glorious summer mornings
that we get in sunny New South Wales, and the
little orchards and vineyards along the Lans-
downe Road were gemmed with dew.
At the foot of Cecil Hills there was a culvert.
To my intense surprise the staid, respectable
funeral animal that I was gaily driving stopped
dead and refused to budge.
Nothing annoys like a "collar proud" horse. I
laid the whip across his unregenerate loins, and
he responded by kicking the dash-board in.
If one's maiden aunt had suddenly invited a
bishop to a boxing contest, one's astonishment
could not be greater than was mine.
The rest is too disgraceful to be detailed even
after a long lapse of time. The black horse posi-
tively refused to move except in circles. He
wound up a most uncouth gymnastic display by
backing the village cart and its contents into the
drain.
Time softens the harshest asperities of life. I
like to believe now that a sense of propriety, born
of the serious avocation which the animal had fol-
lowed for so many previous years, militated
against his being an accessory to what promised
to be an entirely secular holiday.
But neither Australian resource nor German
philosophy are proof against a horse finally
determined to jib.
I might have consoled myself with a
Schopenhauerean deduction that because all know-
ledge Is relative neither of us had any actual
existence — but that conclusion would not get the
cart to Campbelltown.
So I threw myself on the mercy of a small
farmer near-by, who availed himself of my neces-
sity by charging me a sovereign to drive me
with his own plough horse the remaining two
miles to Liverpool, where I promptly wired to
the unsuspecting artist to get off the Southern
train.
We secured some of his baggage, and the rest
went on to Campbelltown, accompanied by an
irate conductor and an engineer who wanted to
know what his train was being delayed for.
After a consultation of war at the nearest hotel
we determined to hire a horse somewhere, and
went out looking for one.
Liverpool is a quaint and ancient town which
still clings to the leisurely traditions of Governor
Macquarie's period.
On the banks of George's River it has dozed
for a hundred years, and it resents all haste.
Nevertheless, In time we found an enterprising
baker, who agreed to hire us a horse for the
modest sum of two shillings a day.
I offered to exchange him the black horse and
give him a pound to boot, but he would not trade.
We pulled out of Liverpool about midday
with the baker's mare, who adapted herself to the
village cart with refreshing docility; and so
began one of life's happiest journeys.
At a shady creek on the old Southern Road we
outspanned for lunch. The clouds of threatened
disappointment were dispelled under a blue sky,
and we jogged away light-heartedly along the red
road that goes over hill and dale through Ingle-
burn and MInto to historic Campbelltown.
That night we pitched our tent in a clump of
forest oak by the village of Appln. The grilled
chops, cooked bushman-fashlon on the coals, the
billy tea, the little sundries of an open-air meal,
and, above all, the pipes of aromatic tobacco
smoked under the stars — the gipsy pleasures,
which are free to everybody in this glorious
country of ours, sent us to our rugs and blankets
in a mood of tired contentment.
To waken refreshed after a long sleep, and
hear the sounds of the Bush around you, to splash
into a clear creek for your morning bath, and
then to fall with good healthy appetite upon your
open-air breakfast — these are among the delights
of the Open Road.
One advantage of jogging along with your own
cart or caravan, is that you are bound by neither
time nor convention. You can make your day's
journey one mile or twenty, as it pleases you.
On the south side of Appln the road crosses
over a creek by a wooden bridge.
A little flat of green grass, shade, and clear
running water, issued such a pleasant invitation
that we pulled in for lunch.
Afterwards we lounged in the shade, smoking
and listening to the cicadas shrilling their eternal
love-songs through the forest. From midday
till half-past four — unable, perhaps unwilling, to
shake off the exquisite laziness of a hot summer's
afternoon — two care-free travellers, a chestnut
mare, and a black dog watched the sun's decline
through sleepy eyelids.
Then the travellers decided that it was too late
to go any further that day — rest after effort, or
before it, is a fine thing; the South Coast was
always there; one day did not matter.
The artist made a fine pretence of taking pencil
notes of surrounding vegetation with sunset
effects.
We camped under the bridge, as it looked like
rain. Some belated horseman thundering over-
head about midnight, wakened the artist out of a
profound slumber. He seized the tomahawk
and prepared to defend his unfinished sketches at
THE SOUTH COAST OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Otherwise the bridge made
for one night's lodging at
219
the cost of his life,
a quiet open-air inn
least.
The next night we camped on the BuUi Pass,
with Illawarra, like the Promised Land, spread
out below us. We got to the Lookout while it
was yet early in the day, pitched our tent and
watched the changing sunset lights across a still
and beautiful Illawarra, as we ate our evening
meal. Then the moon rose out of the waters
to the eastward, and flooded mountain and coast-
land with silver.
Twinkling lights of Bulli and Corrimal and
Wollongong lay far below us; the air was sweet
with the scent of mountain musk. It was a
memorable camp.
A steep macadamised road goes down the Bulli
Pass. It has been cut along the edge of the
mountain wall, holds several sharp turns, and must
be negotiated at a reasonable pace.
Between the tree ferns, vines and palms one
gets enchanting vistas of a beautiful hilly jungle
falling away towards the sea, with bits of beach
and meadow in the southern corners of the pic-
ture.
Frederics acted as a brake by holding on behind
as I led the horse down the steeper pinches.
We stopped at every bend in the road to wipe
the perspiration from our faces and admire the
view.
Half-way down the mountain there is a cold
spring bubbling up out of the rock alongside the
road. It is surrounded by ferns and green
damp moss. We had a smoke there.
Further on is a giant fig tree. We took the mare
out and let her graze on a patch of rich buffalo
grass, while we inspected this ancient banyan, one
of the most beautiful trees in Australia.
The jungle was cool and shady. Staghorns,
pheasants' nests, orchids, and climbing ferns
decorated the boles of the trees; the ground was
carpeted with luxuriant maiden-hair fern, mosses,
and leaves. There were avenues of tree ferns,
cabbage palms, and bangalows, and a running
creek.
It was a good place to fool about in during the
heat of the day. To get a correct perspective of
the Illawarra one must not be in a hurry. These
sixty miles of country between Coal Cliff and
Shoalhaven are worth lingering over.
At Bulli we found an excellent hotel. Here is
an Australian coal town, but it presents little of
the ugliness associated with coal mining in other
parts of the world.
There are plenty of green fields and gardens,
and by its surroundings Bulli hiight be classed
more as an agricultural than a mining centre.
As far back as 1863 the coal measures were
tapped here. The output is of the highest quality,
and the southern fields, which are being worked
at various points, cover an enormous area. Dur-
mg the last few years many important industrial
works have been established at different Illawarra
centres; great harbor improvements have been
effected and a considerable influx of population
has taken place.
With rich volcanic soils, and still more valuable
coal beds, this beautiful Illawarra, long known
Water Trees, South Coast
as the "garden of New South Wales," is becom-
ing one of the State's best mining, agricultural and
manufacturing belts.
Between Sydney and Nowra, for 92 miles the
railway traverses a green idyllic coastland. Be-
yond that the visitor finds another South Coast
district readily accessible by motor car and coach,
which will yield him rich treasures of sport and
scenery if these be within his quest.
Towards this Southland we set out from Bulli
in due course, trotting cheerfully along a good
hard road through the villages of Woonona and
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Bellambi, where the coal miners' youngsters
grinned cheerfully at us as we passed by their
cottages.
In the distance westward stood Mounts Kembla
and Keira, and, often through the forest trees that
overhung the roadway we caught glimpses of the
Pacific, never bluer than along this coast of palm
and vine.
The old colonial town of Wollongong, natural
capital of Illawarra, gleamed before us, with the
Tom Thumb Lagoon shining on its southern
margins. Here Matthew Flinders landed on his
courageous voyage down the coast, and from his
little cockle-shell the lagoon got its name.
Once it was the haunt of wildfowl; as once the
rushy flats beyond it towards Dapto were the
haunts of quail. Even now one gets good shoot-
ing along this coast, and fishing grounds are
everywhere from Gabo to the Tweed.
That night we slept at a farm at Spring Hill —
full of youthful memories for one of the party.
At old Spring Hill, emancipated from school, and
later from a dull commercial office in Sydney, he
would tick off each day of vacation or holiday
with a sigh of regret.
Spring Hill was in sooth a paradise for youth.
Those memorable days were spent in fishing at
the mouth of the Thumb, tramping up quail on
the rushy flats, waiting at dusk for wild duck in
the swamps, watching the fig trees for flock
pigeons, riding across to Kembla and Keira,
camping by Lake Illawarra, indulging to the full
the glorious activities of youth.
Many a black-backed flathead tautened a wait-
ing line, many a stone plover rose through the
tea-tree and fell, and many a plump brown quail
went into the bag in those golden days. It is
well for a man to carry memories of such days
with him from youth to age. Their brightness
makes amends for amber-colored days which
closed in grey twilights of regret. . .
Driving by the margin of Lake Illawarra, we
saw next day the Five Islands lying off the land,
and thought again of Matthew Flinders pluckily
navigating his little row-boat over new and un-
charted seas.
Through the picturesque village of Dapto
trotted the baker's chestnut mare. It was clear
and cloudless weather, with cool sea-breezes to
freshen the nights.
We had left the coal country behind, and were
journeying now In leisurely stages through dairy
districts, which follow -the coast to Eden in the
South. Lush lands these, growing clover, maize,
and lucerne; well-watered with rippling creeks,
by whose banks grow weeping willows and green,
scented lilies with unassuming flowers that throw
out an unexpected snare of perfume upon a scene
where any dreaming poet might find Inspiration
for his Epicurean muse.
One English artist had already been convinced
that Australia was not a land "where bright blos-
soms are scentless, and songless bright birds."
He had at least inhaled the subtle fragrance of
the scented lily, and heard the blue-cap sing.
From Albion Park we might have taken the
road over the Macquarie Pass to Moss Vale, and
enjoyed some of the finest scenery in picturesque
New South Wales; but a different itinerary lay
before us.
At Shellharbor we rested and lunched, enjoy-
ing the greenness and blueness of this delightful
seaside village.
At Minnamurra River we outspanned and went
a-fishlng. For a summer holiday along this coast,
take a good rod, an ample kit of lines, from silk
twist to stout snapper, a variety of hooks (fly
hook and shark hooks as well), spinners, catgut,
and flies. An eminent authority asks —
What is he doing, the great god Pan,
Down in the reeds by the river?
Making a Poet out of a Man,
Down in the reeds by the river !
Any acknowledged god in the mythology might
be competent to make a poet, out of a man, but
the question of making a fisherman out of the
average citizen is quite another matter.
There are a limited number of people born to
be "compleat anglers," and the great majority
must be content to be mere amateurs.
Anyone can catch fish, when fish are biting, but
the inspired fisherman Is he who can coax fish to
his line when they are diffident or shy. He must,
above all things, learn the mysteries of bait —
which entails an understanding also of the habits
of the finned divisions. Once he has mastered
this, the rest will be with his patience, foresight
and skill.
The wise fisherman will never be disappointed
along the South Coast.
These points we discussed in subdued tones on
a sedgy bank while a making tide brought in the
feeding fish.
We talked of all the fish we might catch along
the South Coast, from sand mullet In the lagoons
to whales at Twofold Bay; of beach fishing for
whiting with longest hand-lines; of rock fishing
for groper and cod; of the sea salmon which
came up coast in myriads at certain seasons, and
are caught by many an enthusiastic beach fisher-
man and wasted; of red bream, squire, and
schnapper, so plentiful on the reefs off shore; of
the tunny, which is found at Montague Island; of
purple scaled jew-fishes running up to a hundred
pounds weight; of cunning black bream; hungry
flathead which can best be attracted by a moving
bait; of mullet amenable to dough, and garfish,
surface swimmers which bite freely on occasions,
THE SOUTH COAST OF NEW SOUTH WALES
221
Dairying at Coolangatta
i
and all the various finned denizens of seas,
estuaries, deeps, shallows, creeks, lagoons and
rivers which we would land in wriggling multi-
tudes before our trip was done. Imagination is a
fine thing, and useful to a fisherman.
Later on, with the camp fry-pan sizzling over
red coals, and our catch of whiting and flathead
cleanly scaled and washed in salt water before us.
we agreed that the life of the open is the real
thing, and that the pale habits of cities were only
ghosts of pleasure beside its flesh-and-blood reali-
ties. There were mosquitoes at Minnamurra,
but we anointed our faces and hands with citron-
ella, made a smoke at night and promised to fix
up the mosquito-net when we camped next time.
It is a lovely bit of road between Shellharbor
and Kiama. The railway cuttings show the
basaltic nature of the country. In fact, Sydney
draws a large proportion of its bluemetal from
the famous quarries of Kiama.
Like all our volcanic soils, Illawarra, Cambe-
warra and Shoalhaven are perennially fertile and
eminently adapted for dairy farming, and Kiama,
a little over 70 miles from the metropolis, has
long been a prosperous place.
The Blowhole, a subterranean syphon, which,
in rough weather, dashes clouds of spray a great
height into the air, has always been a popular
attraction; but the clean little town itself, built
along the edge of its bar harbor, and over the
adjoining hills, facing the Pacific on one side, with
the Saddleback Mountain behind it, and sur-
rounded by its fertile district, is a holiday-maker's
haven.
From here visitors can readily reach Jamberoo,
one of the loveliest valleys in the world; where
they will see rural Australia in all its poetic fer-
tility, and quiet peace — an Australia as different
from that drought-stricken country so lovingly
depicted by ignorant traducers, as the downs of
Devon differ from the desert of Gobi.
Six miles south of Kiama is Gerringong, a
delightful little town where green meadows end
in golden beaches. One comes away from
Gerringong with an impression of sea breezes,
sweetened by clover, rustling the leaves of tall
cabbage palms, standing in fields of burning
green. Purple hills lost in hazy distances,
emerald slopes rolling down to meet the sea, sil-
ver creeks changing now and then to pools
bordered by flowering meads, and an air of pro-
found tranquillity — that is Gerringong.
Berry, seven miles further south, wears a face
of greater activity. It is the centre of the far-
famed Coolangatta Estate, much of which has
been sub-divided and sold as small dairy farms.
With beautiful country in between dotted all
over by dairy farms, Nowra follows Berry along
this southern littoral. Here, on the north bank
of the Shoalhaven River, the railway ends.
Nowra, the capital of Shoalhaven, is a centre
from which a wide area of picturesque New South
Wales can be explored.
The road across Cambewarra Pass, like most
of the passes along the Coast Range, is through
a glory of palms, tree-ferns, and jungle growth.
The lookout near the turn-off to Kangaroo
Valley claimed us for a day. We saw the
Ironbark Tree, Nowia
222
THE SOUTH COAST OF NEW SOUTH WALES
223
green Shoalhaven — spread below us like a great
map — through all its variations of light and
color, during the changing hours. Again the air
was laden with mountain musk, and the whip-bird
and his mate between them made the jungle echo
with the sudden musical cracking of stock-whips.
This Cambewarra lookout gives you one of the
most beautiful panoramic views in the States.
You see Berry in its green squares far away,
with Broughton Creek winding like a silver eel
out to sea. Beyond it Shellharbor and Gerrin-
gong and Kiama. Below, reduced to miniature
by distance, you can pick out Greenwell Point,
Crookhaven and the broader waters of Jervis
Bay. Behind you are the purple mountains,
their slopes alternating with clearing and forest
from which the Shoalhaven unwinds its 250 miles
of ever-widening silver ribbon, until you catch
the glitter of its tidal reaches by Nowra. The
upper course of the Shoalhaven lies within a wild
romantic land. Rising in the Jingera ranges, be-
tween Braidwood and Cooma, the young river
winds through majestic gorges, its banks be-
ing sometimes cliffs 1,500 feet high; it sweeps
through lonely valleys, precipitates itself over
rocky heights, hides its clear pools under masses
of sub-tropical vegetation, and comes down at
last to fertilize those green flats which gleam
between the foothills and the sea.
South from Nowra the road enters a forest
which has yielded much good hardwood.
Fifteen miles' jogging brought us to Jervis Bay,
now the site of the Royal Naval College, and
which will be the port for the Federal capital at
Canberra.
Here we caught good red snapper and had
some fair shooting. At St. George's Basin, a
few miles south of the Bay, we found a great
shallow saltwater haven with tidal creeks and
abundant sport.
By the shores of this romantic basin we made
more permanent camp and reluctantly spent our
last days together, for my mate was bound to
catch his English steamer, and I had to take the
outfit home to Prospect.
Southward across the inlet were the blue hills
of Wandandian and beyond them, southward still,
the fertile districts of Milton and Ulladulla, but
for the present they would have to call in vain.
Not without regret the baker's mare was headed
back to Nowra, where the artist caught the train
to town, and the writer fished and hunted his way
home again.
Eden
224
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Pyrmont Bridge
OUT WEST.
THE Railway Depot at Sydney is ablaze with
electric lights. Its author, the late Hon.
E. W. O'SulIivan, then Minister for Pub-
lic Works, intended that it should be the biggest
railway station in the world. His prophetic
eye surveyed the Future, and beheld the Mother
State as she is destined to become. He fore-
saw that for many years the expanding railway
traffic of a country bigger than Germany was
likely to converge on Sydney, and endeavoured to
provide for its expansion.
The result is a surprise to the most travelled
stranger when he drops out of his sumptuous
overland car and stands for the first time under
the great arched roof of this mammoth depot.
All day and all night there is a constant coming
in and going out of trains at the long platforms,
a hurrying of crowds, a continuous procession of
passengers past the ticket windows and through
the gates.
Electric cars bring in their loads of people,
drop them in the stone vestibule, pick up other
loads of people and rush away to the city again.
From other car systems incoming suburban tra-
vellers alight. Their vacant seats are eagerly
filled by outgoing passengers, and so the perpe-
tual flow of humanity goes on.
Taxis, hansoms, motors, glide or rattle along
to the receiving platforms, drop passengers and
luggage and glide or rattle off with fresh fares.
Uniformed police keep order, uniformed rail-
way servants attend to the requirements of the
travelling public — everything spells organization
and efficiency.
We are taking the reader upon another jour-
ney. We will travel West to-night over the
mountains and out across the plains to the present
rail-head at Condobolin, on the Lachlan River,
over Oxley's "morass" and Sturt's "desert," and
various other landmarks of the earliest explorers.
We will find the "deserts" growing wheat, and
the "morasses" producing wool. We will see
with our own eyes how superficial and wrong
some of these earliest explorers were in their
conclusions.
All New South Wales night trains are provided
with comfortable sleeping carriages. Before we
turn in, a polite car porter comes round with his
card and lists the names of passengers who desire
tea and toast at 6 a.m. next morning.
NEW SOUTH WALES: OUT WEST
225
Our car companions are mostly Western men
— sheep men and wheat farmers, you can tell
them by their height and build — some commer-
cials, "drummers" as our American friends call
them, and a party of officials from the Depart-
ment of Agriculture who are going out with their
Minister to open a Government Experimental
Farm at Condobolin.
The Minister had been a Western farmer him-
self, and the champion ploughman of his district,
before he left the furrow for the forum. Being
New South Wales. Uncleared ridges are
crowded with dark symmetrical cypress pines
( Callitris ) .
This beautiful tree is botanically believed to
be the oldest living representative of its order.
It has a widespread range, is generally accepted
as a sure guide to good wheat-growing soils, and
produces timber, bark, oil and sandarac. White
ants will not attack its wood, consequently it is
invaluable for building purposes in districts in-
fested by termites.
Tumut
what the newspaper men call "a whale for work,
he occupies the early hours of the evening dictat-
ing correspondence to his secretary in a compart-
ment reserved for the journey.
The Western mail glides away from the
crowded depot, and picks out her own track m
some marvellous way from a complicated net-
work of gleaming rails. Gaslit suburbs go by,
with longer and longer intervals of darkness
between them ; Parramatta is passed, and our big
Baldwin engine, with its fiery trail of carriages,
begins to bore heavily into the night.
We rumble away by moonlit St. Mary's, roar
across the Nepean bridge at Penrith, and start
with grinding wheels and snorting funnel to attack
Blue Mountain grades. . . •
The car conductor, with cheerful "Good morn-
ings," is handing round tea and toast. We arc
rolling over the sunlit wheat lands of western
It is a curious fact that the cypress pine secretes
manganese. Bertrand, the French agricultural-
chemist, applied manganese sulphate, at the rate
of 50 kilos per hectare, to land on which wheat
was sown, and obtained an increase in the total
crop of 22 .5 per cent.
Another experimenter, Katayama, of Japan,
has shown that manganese has a stimulating effect
on oats, barley, rice, and cereals generally.
Using manganese sulphate to the soil in the pro-
portion of 0.015 per cent., Katayama found the
increase was 50 per cent, in the yield of straw
and 24 per cent, in seed.
The chemical relations between Australian
cypress pine and wheat are herein established:
which supplies one reason for the fact that where
cypress pine grows well, wheat will also grow
well.
226
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
A reference to Messrs. Baker and Smith's work
on Australian Conifers shows that the habitat of
the cypress pines, white and black, comprises the
greater part of Western New South Wales —
outside of the Black Soil Plains !
The traveller, inhaling the smoke of burning
cypress pine, so typical and. reminiscent of the
back country, may accept it as an incense to Ceres,
ascending from many a woodland altar in the
West.
another leaf in the Gospel of Work, will tread
down the grass which their predecessors have
cheerfully permitted to grow under their feet.
Already the New is overgrowing the Old. An
extension of the wheat areas of the Central
Division is rapidly going on. At present 2,560
acre blocks are regarded as good living areas in
this division. If a farmer gets all that is pos-
sible to get off 2,560 acres, he will have nothing
to complain of.
An Orchard at Wagga
As the train pulls up at wayside stations, this
pleasant odour of pine is wafted through the car-
riage windows from the settlers' chimneys.
Australian settlement may be divided into
four successive periods: — cattle, sheep,
WHEAT, LUCERNE. Thirty-five years ago
the West was cattle land, to-day the West is
nearly all sheep and wheat. But the Director
of Agriculture says, with a confident smile, that
lucerne is going to thrive in places where its cul-
tivation is still regarded as impossible.
On its way down to Condobolin, our train pulls
up at Parkes for breakfast. This is an old
Western mining township with some history.
Like Castlemaine and similar places in Vic-
toria, it is tired and leisurely and lives largely on
the traditions of more vigorous days. The gen-
eration that saw the gold rushes and their easy-
going methods is not yet dead.
By and bye a younger generation, filled with
modern energy and ideas, which has turned over
So rapid has been the increase in production
that the railways have experienced great diffi-
culties in providing transport, but the Govern-
ment is now coming to the aid of the farmer, and
will shortly install bulk storage on American
models.
With ten million acres of good wheat lands
available in one belt, the Government of New
South Wales has wisely seen that adequate pro-
vision must be made for dealing with the enor-
mous production of the future.
The Westerner considers that it does not pay
to haul wheat more than 15 miles to a railway.
Motor traction may extend this payable radius
another five to twenty-five miles, but even then
much railway building and extension will be neces-
sary. But, as we have seen elsewhere, money
expended in this direction will be the soundest
of national investments.
Through flat "box" forest, interspersed with,
cypress pine and graceful evergreen wilgas, we
NEW SOUTH WALES: OUT WEST
227
approach the Lachlan. Underneath the wilga
on the sunniest day there is a patch of dense black
shade. In time, Westerners will cultivate instead
cf cutting down their beautiful native trees.
As we roll across a level landscape our
thoughts — like the white butterflies which breed
Poverty in Central New South Wales would
be as hard to find as snow in Tophet; so every-
body can come out well-dressed, well-fed, well-
mounted.
After lunch a procession of motor cars, buggies,
coaches, sulkies, and horsemen, with the Minister
in the "warrior bushes" out here and drift all ^"d Mayor ahead, starts away towards the site of
over the country — go drifting to and fro. In '^he farm.
fancy we can look beyond the present, and dimly The Farm is on the far outskirts of the town,
see a future full of greater activities. All that I" 'ts virgin state it is flat, dull, uninteresting-look-
these wide western districts need is railways and i_"g; but, as our friend, Mr. Valder, the
a wise settlement policy. There is room in the
Central Division for millions of people. Be-
tween the Macintyre and the Murray what untold
possibilities await development. There are
56,000,000 acres in this Central Division.
From the Black Soil Plains of the far North-
West to the red lands of Corowa in the South, it
forms the heart of the State. The railway
crosses Its entire width only twice — from Werris
Creek across to Walgett, and from Dubbo, on
the way to Bourke.
Lines with great Australian distances between
them have been pushed out some of the way.
Narrabri to Moree (this line is in course of
extension to Mungindi on the Queensland
border), Burren Junction to Collarenebri,
Dubbo to Coonamble, Parkes to Condobolin,
Temora to Wyalong and Barellan, Narromine to
Peak Hill, Junee to Narrandera, Hay, and Beri-
rigan, Wagga to Lockhart and Urana, Koora-
watha to Grenfell, these cross lines all cut into
the Central Division, but there will be many a
loop and extension before the whole country is
adequately rall-roaded. With a progressive
Government in Sydney these things will be done
quickly. Railways will be constructed where
they are justifiable, lands thrown open for settle-
ment, and every assistance and encouragement
afforded to settlers.
Beyond the Central Division lies the Western
Division with all its splendid story yet unwritten,
and before the Central Division stands the East-
ern Division — 62 million acres — with coasts and
ranges and plains holding countless riches yet
unwon.
We arrive at Condobolin in time for lunch,
a Western lunch, in which roast turkey Is a staple
dish.
The district Is alive to the Ministerial visit.
It has the usual deputations waiting with the
usual budget of requirements; but, before all
things, it will be sociable and hospitable. Whe-
ther the Minister grants any or all of Its requests
Under-Secretary and Director of Agricul-
ture, will explain to you, the sites for
■^:..
m :
Bloodwood Trees
Government Demonstration Farms are not
chosen lor their scenic beauty. They are in-
tended to demonstrate, for the benefit of the
general public, what the soils and climates of
particular districts are capable of producing
under correct treatments.
It is the business of the farm management to
discover correct local data, and work for the best
results. If a farm proves that certain soil, re-
garded perhaps as poor or useless, will grow
some particular thing to profit, then the farm is
fulfilling its object.
There are several of these farms in New South
it is gomg to give him a banquet at night, fol- Wales, and the service they have rendered to the
lowed by a dance and social. An "expectancy" State cannot be over-estimated,
which is anything but "weird," hangs over this , The Minister for Agriculture, after turning
part of the Bush. "'^he first furrow, mounts a motor lorry, and tells
228
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Qood Wheat Land
the assemblage some of these things. He points
out to them that, as district settlers, the new
station will directly benefit them: for that reason
they should do all they can to make it a success.
He invites farmers who are anxious to make ex-
periments, and farmers who are in difficulties, to
wait upon the manager of the Farm, whose
function It will be to make their troubles his own.
He predicts a great agricultural future for the
Lachlan, and assures them of his Government's
sympathy in their pioneer efforts.
All of which is distinctly pleasing and illus-
trates the better side of democratic government.
The Director of Agriculture follows. Hespeaks
to the farmers in a hopeful, encouraging way,
urges them to avail themselves of the knowledge
which the department has gradually acquired in
its continual experiments with Australian seeds
and soils and stocks, and hints of future possi-
bilities. The Director is an optimist because he
knows that, although agricultural production is
only in its infancy out here, the West will write
history in this direction during the next 50 years.
He knows that the great State, of which he is a
modest but capable and highly important official,
is increasing her output by millions of pounds
every decade; that within a few years lands which
were once regarded as next door to worthless,
will be worth ten and twenty pounds an acre :
that in the ordinary course of human events
steady workers and wise investors need fear no
failure in New South Wales. Having seen how
the State Government looks after the interests of
farmers, we rejoin the dusty procession going
back to town.
While the Ministerial party is preparing for
the evening function, we will look around a young
city, which the author dimly remembers forty
years ago as a rendezvous for native tribes at
tomahawk and blanket time, and an outpost of
law and order.
Here was the old bush school where he first
imbibed the rudiments. A duststorm came along
one day and blew the roof over the playground.
Here is the Lachlan, wherein a playmate was
drowned one sad summer's morning long ago.
The historic Lachlan, flowing very slowly between
high banks, winds across rich pasture lands. The
shadows of the red gums are mirrored with photo-
graphic reality in its clear quiet waters.
The river seems to have shrunken since the
eyes of a bush child, long years ago, watched its
shadows while his elders fished for "cod "
in the deep holes. A youth looking for green
frogs on the bank says that the fish are just as
partial to that particular bait as ever.
The so-called Lachlan "cod" is of fine flavour,
one of the best fresh-water fishes in the world.
So plentiful in those early days were these huge
Murray perch that the people of Condobolin fed
their pigs on the surplus.
There are a few wistful-looking blacks left out
of the tribes who used to assemble here for their
Government blankets and tomahawks when the
writer knew Condobolin.
NEW SOUTH WALES: OUT WEST
229
The town has a municipal water supply now.
In our time the house blackfellow brought the
daily drinking water from the river in two
buckets, swung from a yoke on his shoulders.
A kerosene lamp outside a rough public-house,
a dusty road with perhaps a dozen dwellings,
police station and court-house — that was the Con-
dobolin of memory. In this Condobolin the
hotels are electric-lighted, the dusty road is a fine,
broad main street, with asphalt pavements, and
all the old landmarks are submerged under waves
of progress.
The future of Lachlan-side is certain. Nearly
every acre of the Middle West will grow wheat
to pay. Much of it will produce lucerne and
other profitable crops. Crosscountry railway
lines will come in time, population will come, pro-
gress, civilization, prosperity, cities, towns, vil-
lages, farms, homes, gardens, factories, industries
— they will all be part of the future of the West.
The type will improve under climate and condi-
tions eminently suitable for the physical and men-
tal development of Europeans.
These new countries want the best that Europe
has to spare; but they have proved their value in
converting some of the worst into some of the
best. There is something expansive in the very
air of our glorious Commonwealth that makes
for the highest physical and mental development
possible to the European races.
To-night a representative of the Government
and his party are to receive the hospitality of the
West. See how these "melancholy" Austra-
lians rise to the occasion ! Observe the
banquet tables laid out on the long balcony of the
hotel, which has been screened off from the street,
and decorated with flowers and greenery. Such
flowers! English roses as fine as any that grow
in rural Britain; great red gladioli, and all the
plunder of Western gardens- — the room is a
blaze of colour and electric light. Gone are the
kerosene lamps and guttering candles of youth-
ful days. Gone are the elastic-sided boots, the
wide-bottomed trousers, the spurs, the Crimean
shirts, and all the pioneer crudities. Decorous-
looking, clean-shaven citizens in evening dress
occupy the chairs, with the Minister and Mayor
and aldermen at the head of the table.
The menu would reflect no discredit on a first-
class European or American hotel. "The wild
and woolly West" forsooth! The refined and
luxurious West, if one prefers facts to foolish
literary fiction. Here is the real West, here in
this room creditably represented at a social func-
tion which includes locally-grown asparagus and
green peas. Here is the true West and the true
atmosphere and sentiment of it.
Listen to the after-dinner speeches of the local
citizens! Are they bewailing their hard lot?
Are they complaining of poverty or neglect, or
drought or disaster? Decidedly not. They
are putting forward their local requirements,
mayhap with a little kindly satire and some dry
humor; but through it all there is a robust spirit,
a sturdy sense of citizenship, and a keen pride in
their district. They honor the toast of the
King, they drink modestly to Parliament, their
own Parliament, and they pay the Minister and
his Department the courtesy which is their due.
They are not all supporters of the party in office;
but it is a social function and political opinions
are put aside. This is democracy in our Com-
monwealth under the Crown.
Glance around this table ! You have heard
that Australians in general. Westerners in par-
ticular, are an unsober people. No criticism was
ever further from truth. The Minister is a total
abstainer, his staff and ninety per cent, of the
assemblage are the same.
At an early hour the meeting rises steadily to
its feet and adjourns to the social hall down
street. In Australia women have an equal voice
with men in the selection of Parliamentary re-
presentatives. There is no suffragette trouble.
The Parliaments of the Commonwealth, State
and Federal, are left to men, but the women of
the country help to select their lawmakers and
their influence in politics is considered good.
So the Minister, as a matter of course, attends
the social and will, later on, by request, deliver a
short address. Meanwhile, in the presence of
robust women and handsome girls in evening
frocks, we may gather an impression of Austra-
lian country womanhood. The impression can-
not be other than favorable. It will be another
testimony to climate and conditions. These
daughters of the West are capable and strong.
With a well-lit hall, good music, good singing,
and a good floor for enthusiastic dancers — the
evening passes pleasantly.
The concertina is relegated to the further back-
blocks; the rude functions of the past have given
place to a refined sociability; the Bush has taken
on a more modern garb. Friendliness has not
vanished, freedom is still the atmosphere, but our
Bush world is correct, conventional, and a firm
stickler for behaviour, sobriety, and good form.
It is to this freedom and security and to such
conditions and chances that Australia to-day is
inviting citizens from Europe and America. They
need have no fear, in bringing their women and
children to the Australian States, that they are
risking either health or safety.
Australia offers present prosperity for an
unlimited number of industrious people and con-
tinental opportunities for coming generations. . . .
On a cloudless, sunny morning with just a nip
of frost in the crystal air which makes mere
I
230
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Old Police Station, Lake Cargeilico
breathing a delight, we bowl out noiselessly from
Condobolin on a four hundred mile motor run
across the plains.
Our road is level but not monotonous. Now
and again it touches the bank of the Lachlan at
one of its innumerable bends, passes through
avenues of drooping branches, breaks out into
the open, where the salt-bush grows; crosses im-
mense squares of treeless plain; and enters again
into belts of timber, where straight cypress pines
find rootage in rich, red loam.
The swamp-lands are covered with succulent
herbage; dry now, but full of nutriment. We
note that the sheep on these dry pastures are in
excellent condition, which leads to a dissertation
on silos and the storage of fodder, on systems
which are going to solve some final problems of
settlement all over the Commonwealth.
The Minister tells how, the previous winter, he
went a long journey into the North-West, and
how, on Tucka Tucka Station, on the borders of
Queensland, he saw lucerne hay which had been
eighteen years in stack fed to stock, the animals
accepting it with relish.
On Sir Samuel McCaughey's station at Yanco,
lucerne hay has kept perfectly for eight years. It
is obvious that the losses of early days through
unexpected variations of season will not be
repeated in the future. Sufficient water and feed
can readily be provided to tide over a series of
dry years, should they occur, and the ever-profit-
able pastoral industry will be extended far beyond
its present limits.
But as we leave the Lachlan above Euabalong
and motor through the red country towards Lake
Cargeilico, we see that the future of the Central
West, away from its irrigation centres, will
largely be wheat-growing, combined doubtless
with mixed farming.
In 1 913 New South Wales added 791,000
acres to her wheat area, and her present progress
indicates at least a million acres a year increase
for some years to come.
Lake Cargeilico is a splendid sheet of fresh
water, capable of supporting a thriving irrigation
settlement when the railway extension from
Wyalong brings producers into touch with
markets.
It is wonderful what results have been
achieved by industry, even at remote distances
from transport. At Hillston the Minister re-
ceives another deputation. Hillston asks for a
railway through Rankin Springs to Wyalong.
One farmer relates the experiences of 25 years
in that district. He has been growing wheat on
200 acres of land, and carting it 60 miles to the
nearest railhead, and he admits that he has done
well. 1
He fallows his land in July, gives six workings
to the one ground, and his average crops of wheat
are from 15 to 18 bushels per acre. Algerian
oats give him ten bags to the acre.
Without doubt this wide belt will all be in-
cluded in the profitable grain-growing areas of
the Central Division. It is likely that the har-
vester will give place to the stripper and power
winnower on big farms; and there will be an
NEW SOUTH WALES: OUT WEST
231
improvement of methods, which will tend to
more economical and effective production.
On leaving Hillston, after a night's rain, we
turn East again. Cypress pine with occasional
stretches of mallee, wilga, and yarran, proclaim
that we are still travelling through wheatfields of
the near future. The rain has made heavy
going, and our car bogs twice in the deep red soil
before we reach Rankin Springs.
Here the fatted turkey again awaits us. Ran-
kin Springs is no more than a fine stone hotel
standing in the heart of a great box forest; where
it was erected 20 years ago in anticipation of a
railway line — which never came.
The lands through which we have been plough-
ing our way all the afternoon, the lands around
us here, and the lands before us, right through to
Temora, are all of one unvarying standard of fer-
tility.
Between Hillston and Rankin Springs we have
found only one settler. Large sections are
tentatively held under what are called in New
South Wales "permissive occupancy" and "occu-
pation licenses."
They range from 33,000 to 128,000 acres; but
when the railway brings closer settlement in its
train, they will doubtless be cut up by the Govern-
ment into 1,500 or 2,000 acre blocks, on which
families should have no difficulty in making an
independence.
With the exception of the Lachlan Range, a
low line of hills which crosses from the Lachlan
to the Murrumbidgee, it is all good. At Rankin
Springs, besides our turkey, basted with cream,
we are given locally-grown figs and potatoes of
finest quality, in earnest of the future agricultural
wealth that lies waiting in the soil.
In a hundred miles of journey we see but two
habitations. From Rankin Springs to Wyalong
we travel the best part of a day through sleeping
lands, which need but one caressing touch from
the hand of Progress to awake in smiling fields
of grain.
As we approach the railway zone towards
Wyalong the forest opens here and there into
wheatfields. Boarding the train at Wyalong we
find, as we go down towards Temora, that the
clearings become general. The country is no bet-
ter, probably not as good, as that through which
we have travelled for three days, but it is crossed
by a railway; and a railway, anywhere through
this Middle West, must bring settlement with it.
Night finds us at Cootamundra, in the heart
of the wheat.
We look back over this rapidly recorded jour-
ney, and from the long film of nature pictures
which have flashed rapidly before us, we retain
some enduring impressions.
Beyond the winding river, and the long levels
of brown flat lands; beyond the belts of cypress
pine — standing silver grey or sombre green, —
beyond the lakes and cowals dotted with wild-
fowl, beyond the majestic stillness of the pregnant
plains, one hears the ploughshares gliding
through furrows of the future and the rattle of
harvesters moving down ripened fields.
For untold ages Australian seasons have come
and gone across the awaiting West. Spring,
mayhap, has passed in rain-wet robes of splen-
dour and scattered grass and flowers over a thou-
sand miles.
Summer has followed, and interwoven her
emerald carpets with frequent threads of gold.
For unrecorded centuries, before the white
men came, these priceless pastures subsisted
mobs of marsupials only; which the black man
hunted when hunger impelled him. Never a
shining ploughshare bit into the red earth of the
plains, never a gardener's spade upturned the
black soil by the rivers' banks.
Then came the early colonist, like an Asian
patriarch, driving his sheep before him. The
country was mapped out to him in wide grazing
areas. He "squatted," improved, conserved and,
with prudence and patience, brought the art of
wool-growing to a perfection which it had never
before attained. He has deserved credit and
earned profit, and these, in all fairness, he must
receive. Great areas of Australia will still re-
main to him, for these areas are more suitable
for pastoral purposes than anything else. But
as the pressure of population increases and good
agricultural land becomes more valuable, the wise
freeholder will turn his country into farms.
Meanwhile, by an active railway and settlement
policy the Government of this Mother State is
hastening inevitable development "out West."
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
A Darling Biver Steamer
THE WESTERN DIVISION.
FROM WENTWORTH TO BOURKE.
THE State of New South Wales covers an
area of 310,367 square miles, which is
greater than that of any European country
except Russia. The area of Germany is only
208,780 square miles, on which sixty-five millions
of people exist.
The population of New South Wales is less
than two millions. It could probably be multi-
plied to equal that of Germany without over-
crowding. The natural resources of the State
would be sufficient to sustain the increase in stan-
dards of Australian comfort.
For purposes of land administration New South
Wales has been divided into three divisions —
eastern, central and western.
The first division extends westward from the
coastline and includes the Great Dividing Range.
Its inland boundary runs north to south from
about the intersection of the 151st meridian and
29th degree of latitude in an irregular line. It
terminates at the Corowa district, on the Murray
River.
Barraba, Tamworth, Wellington, Temora,
and Junee lie just within the E'astern Division.
The Central Division goes back as far as Condo-
bolin. The Western Division begins at Mun-
gindi, follows the course of the Barwon for some
distance, comes south to Euabalong, and takes
along the Lachlan to the Victorian border.
All the lands westward of this boundary line to
the border lie within the third great division of
the State.
This enormous territory has for many years
past been under the jurisdiction of a body called
"The Western Lands Board," appointed by
Government.
With eighty-three millions of acres to super-
vise, the three Board members have grown accus-
tomed to travelling. From Milparinka at the
north-west corner, to Euabalong — in this divi-
sion— as the crow flies, is a distance of 350 miles,
and the crow would cross some wonderful plains
in its flight.
Being yet a hinterland of New South Wales,
held under pastoral lease, in trust for future set-
tlers, a cursory glance over these farthest back-
blocks will prepare us for a later consideration of
more settled districts.
Across the heart of the Western Division runs
the Darling River, which, having gathered its
THE WESTERN DIVISION OF NEW SOUTH WALES
233
waters from Queensland and northern New
South Wales, carries them by a long winding
channel to its junction with the Murray at Went-
worth.
Wentworth is one of the most interesting places
In the Commonwealth. Here, nearly a century
ago, the brave but pessimistic explorer, Sturt,
was met by a painted band of black warriors and
narrowly escaped death.
As the meeting-place of our two longest inland
rivers, it has a geographical importance. Sorrfe-
times when there has been little rain in Queens-
land, the waters of the Darling are delivered in a
clear slow-running current. At other times they
emu has stretched a long neck' to drink; many a
red kangaroo has left his tracks in the mud.
Down this long western river paddle-wheels
of steamers have churned, towing barges behind
them deeply laden with wool. They have gone
up against stream with cargoes of provisions and
supplies.
At Wentworth, steamboat men from Echuca
foregather with steamboat men from Bourke. At
Wentworth, stockmen from west of the Darling
talk horse with stockmen from Riverina.
Twenty to thirty vears ago Wentworth was
among the towns of Farthest Back. To-day
modern influences are converting far-back Went-
The Junction of the Murray and the Darling
sweep down like a river of milk to join the clearer
stream of the Murray, snow-fed at its birthplace
in the Australian Alps.
The Darling brings to Wentworth the uncer-
tain contributions of the Warrego and Paroo from
the far West. It has received the Culgoa, bearing
its triljute from western Queensland, the Namoi
with its rich solutions gathered over the Black
Soil Plains, the occasional surface flow of a
flooded Castlereagh, the mysterious Macquarie
and the romantic Bogan.
On its banks campfires of many travellers have
been lighted. Bells of pack-horses have tinkled
in the bends, and the yapping of sheep-dogs has
been heard. Many a flock of pink galahs has
been mirrored in its green waters; many a thirsty
worth into a garden city, readily reached by rail
from the southern seaboard.
The country around Wentworth is flat, and to
those who are not in sympathy with the Australian
Bush — monotonous. The rainfall is low, averag-
ing less than 1 1 inches a year. Out at Milparinka
it is less than 8. But Milparinka, on the same
meridian, is three hundred miles north, at the
extreme corner of the Western Division.
Wentworth enjoys an ideal winter. Mid-
summer is decidedly hot; hot but healthy, with
cool nights when one may sleep in the open air
and awaken to appetite and strength. These coa-
ditions apply generally to inland Australia.
Send no pessimist to Wentworth, but a prophet!
He will tell you that this place is one day to be the
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
metropolis of the Darling, not the Darling of
1916, with its millions of cubic feet of priceless
waters going wasted to the sea, but the Darling of
the future — locked from end to end, its silver
ribbon fringed by green irrigated colonies as far
apart as Pooncarie and Bourke. For, as surely
as the brain of man has learned to harness the
lightningandbind the genii of mechanical force as
slaves to the Lamp of Invention, this meandering
daughter of the Riverina is destined to bring
wealth and fertility to thousands of Australian
acres.
The Government Irrigation Settlement at
Wentworth has pointed the way. It is one of
those finger-posts to Progress that already stand
here and there across Southern Australia. The
road behind them has been macadamized alter-
nately with Failure and Success: the road ahead
will be paved with gold.
To the behevers in Australia's future, the story
of the Wentworth Irrigation Settlement reads
like a lyric.
The late New South Wales Commissioner for
Irrigation, L. A. B. Wade, told the Dominions
Commissioner in 19 13 that there are 250,000
acres which can be irrigated on the Darling River.
As a careful engineer, Mr. Wade's estimate would
doubtless be a conservative one. We will see
presently what one good western gardener can
coax 50 acres to yield. In farms of 50 acres
this estimate gives us 5,000 new homes for the
Western Division. Under Providence there is
nothing to prevent it if our people are wise and
courageous.
Of Western dry farming possibilities we will
say nothing at present.
Let us deal for the moment with certainties of
irrigation; already foreshadowed at Wentworth
in the far-back West.
Wentworth irrigation area consists of 10,000
acres, located in the eastern angle between the
Murray and the Darling.
Of this about 2000 acres had, at the end of
1 9 13, been subdivided into blocks of from 7 to
35 acres. Each block receives the water at the
highest point and slopes to the natural drainage
lines, thereby minimising the amount of grading
required to prepare the land for irrigation.
The water is pumped from the Murray River
and conveyed to the land by means of sloped
channels two feet wide at the bottom and 3 feet
6 inches deep. From September to the end of
February waterings are given every three weeks.
This meets the summer requirements. From
March to August the soils receive their artificial
moisture once a month. The area thus receives
an equivalent to the rainfall of the north coast
of New South Wales, and gets it just when it
is required for purposes of cultivation.
The departmental chemist pronounces the
soil "with judicious watering capable of bearing
"good crops of anything, especially fruits of all
"sorts suitable to the climate."
The Government of New South Wales grants
Its irrigation leases to settlers here, as elsewhere,
on most liberal terms. The title is a form of per-
petual lease. Rents range from 2/6 to 5/- an
acre. The water rate is £1 an acre. To encour-
age and assist settlers of small means, neither
full rent nor water rate is charged until the fifth
year of occupation.
Residential conditions on this particular area
have not been enforced.
Many of the first settlers were men without
capital, who kept the pot boiling by working be-
yond their blocks when occasion offered, as
shearers or laborers. In Australia any average
Industrious man can find a road to competence if
he seeks for It wisely.
Examples of individual success afford the best
argument. We will take one from Wentworth
Irrigation Area : —
Five years ago an excellent citizen of South
Australia, of the sterling Devonshire stock,
moved up with his family to Wentworth. His
name Is Walter Sage, and It may be said of him
that he impresses one as a man for whom the
flowers would be glad to grow and the trees to
fruit.
When the author of this book — six years ago
— went down to Wentworth on a motor boat ex-
pedition of 1,500 miles from Albury to Lake
Alexandrlna — which established a world's record
for this particular mode of travel and strength-
ened his ever-growing faith In Australia — the
area was just emerging from a rather troubled
infancy. A N.S.W. Government had even con-
sidered its abandonment.
Two years and a half later he was one of a
party of parliamentarians and pressmen journey-
ing by river steamer from Goolwa ' i South Aus-
tralia to Mildura, Vic, to embark the Scotch
Agricultural Commission, and Incidentally to in-
spect proposed lock sites and irrigation settle-
ments along the Murray.
Among this keenly patriotic crowd of South
Australians were some who knew that Walter
Sage had migrated from their State, and they
said,
"If any of these settlers are going to make
a big success on Wentworth, Sage will be
among them. He will be right among the
first."
Wentworth.
235
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Peach-Tree two and a half years old, on Walter Sage's Mock, at Wentworth
So when the writer came again to Wentworth in
1 9 13, under the gracious aegis of the N.S.W.
Minister for Lands and Agriculture, and the
official party was met by the settlers at the pump-
ing station, he looked around for the South Aus-
tralian.
The bronzed, broad-shouldered Sage was
there; and furthermore, his 50 acres of orchard
were there, giving eloquent testimony that the
hands of this Ideal settler had not been idle nor
his judgment at fault.
It was only his fifth year on the area, but the
family crops had given £2,000 clear profit!
With his two sons to aid him, he had taken ugly
bush land and converted It Into a garden of fer-
tility and wealth. Others on the area, including
an irrlgatlonlst from western America, who
swears by Australia these days, had done exceed-
ingly well, but the Sage blocks were yielding the
greatest returns.
His nectarine trees at two years old were giv-
ing him £50 an acre. He had taken three tons
of peaches to the acre, worth £60 a ton: and one
particular crop of the same fruit had brought
him £220 to the acre. But his citrus fruits were
going to prove more profitable than any. Ideal
climate, peerless soils and plenty of water will
make orange-growing in western N.S.W. one of
the most successful Industries of the future. Nor
will there be any fear of cold snaps, which have
caused such tremendous damage to citrus crops in
America, or the physical disadvantages which
attend this industry elsewhere.
Apart from its profits the cultivation of citrus
is one of those pleasant outdoor occupations which
seem to bring people health and happiness as
a natural order of things.
Among orchardists orange-growers form a
gentle aristocracy of their own. Nor do the
people who take up orange-growing need to be
either rich or Independent. A very modest
amount of capital suffices an agricultural settler In
Australia, and even the man who comes to this
country without any capital at all may be
sure, if sober and earnest, that he can speedily
earn and save enough to make a start towards In-
dependence.
For example, the N.S.W. Government offers
him an irrigable holding on the easiest terms, sup-
plies him with the levels of his land, with expert
information as to its treatment, remits a part of
his rent to meet his needs; supplies him with wire
netting at cost price and gives him five years to
pay for it — aids him In every possible way to
success.
The timbered land on Wentworth area has
cost about £5 an acre to clear and prepare for
planting; the open country £2.
The estimated cost of planting with rooted
Gordo grape vines — which have returned a nett
profit of £20 an acre on this area, is about £2/5/-
per acre. Sultanas and currants require for trel-
lislng about £5 an acre in the second year.
Stone fruits, peaches, apricots, nectarines, all of
which the Western Division grows to absolute
perfection under irrigation, cost £4 an acre for
THE WESTERN DIVISION OF NEW SOUTH WALES
237
planting. Cultivation amounts to about £4 an
acre on Wentworth irrigation area.
The price of citrus fruits for best varieties
may be set down at £6 an acre, but planting and
cultivation would be the same as for stone fruits
and vines.
We foresee what the back blocks of Australia
are going to be when we go over a fifty-acre irri-
gated garden such as that of Walter Sage at
Wentworth.
Here long rows of spreading apricot trees,
pruned to perfection, will be weighted down with
luscious fruit when December days — once so
dreaded as a destroyer of grass — are emptying
their quivers of golden arrows over the West.
On umbrella-shaped peach trees, trimmed with
an eye to shade and fruit-bearing branches, mid-
summer fruit will blush like the cheeks of Monaro
maidens.
Here the dark evergreen of citrus foliage
makes a fitting background for yellow and golden
fruit.
The flavor and quality of these Wentworth
oranges give them first place in the markets. In
a little time Walter Sage expects an income of
£5,000 a year from his block.
These irrigated soils have produced sorghum
17ft. in height and lucerne yielding nine cuts in
one year. Thirty pounds an acre have been se-
cured from alfalfa crops. Maize 9 feet high, and
water-melons 65lbs. weight are ^mong the pro-
ductions of this prolific soil. Millions of acres
just as prolific are to be found in New South
Wales.
System in treatment of his land is the most
essential qualification for the settler. Given
systematic attention, the land will do the rest;
for all irrigable cultivation there is nothing bet-
ter in the world and very little as good.
The irrigationist can establish a comfortable
home, rear and educate a family and enjoy a
pleasant rural life with flowers, birds, music, and
friendly association. He will live and labour in
a garden, where the earth simply pulses with fer-
tility, over which the skies are perpetually blue,
and the breeze that sways the drooping branches
of his fruit-trees everlastingly pure and healthy.
In time, none of the water of the Western
Division will be allowed to waste. Its soils are
far too valuable for an acre of possible irriga-
tion to remain undeveloped. Money invested in
irrigation schemes, public or private, is likely to
yield bigger profits on sounder security than
money invested in most other things, even in Aus-
tralia, a land of profitable investment.
In order to make a personal examination of
country along the Darling, the author of Aus-
tralia Unlimited, accompanied of Mr. A. C.
Roberts, of the New South Wales Agricultural
Department, and Mr. Walter Sage, left Went-
worth in a motor car on the 22nd May, 19 13. It
was one of many long Australian journeys under-
taken for the purpose of collecting facts and im-
pressions at first hand.
Sorghum, nine feet bigh
With the expert knowledge of Irrigationist
Walter Sage, the general grip and experience of
an Agricultural Minister's secretary, and the
steady hand of Senior-Constable Bob P'erguson
upon the Renault's wheel, the author felt that he
was in the way of correct conclusions.
We set out from Wentworth on a cool grey
morning, well ovcrcoated and rugged. First dis-
proof of an Eastern fiction — it is not alwaj's hot
in the far interior. On the contrary, the interior
enjoys a long bracing winter.
23»
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
It was the duty of the passenger who occupied
the front seat by the chauffeur to get down and
open gates. The first was about five minutes'
run from Wentworth. It was a white gate. On
the other side of it stood a finger-post.
The left arm bore the legend —
"BROKEN HILL. 200 MILES."
The right said —
"BOURKE. 400 MILES."
We had entered the Country of Great Dis-
tances! Between the white gate and Broken Hill
there was not so much as a village marked on the
map. Between the white gate and Bourke there
were two towns — Menindie (population, 250),
and Wilcannia (900). The rest was sheep sta-
tions and open plains.
Gates occurred at frequent intervals all the way
to Bourke. All the west of the Darling to the
Queensland and South Australian borders is held
by pastoral leases and devoted to sheep-raising
for wool. We were motoring through 400 miles
of squatters' sheep paddocks.
Away from the Darling are the typical rich red
soils of the West. Along the river — brought
down no doubt from the black soil plains of the
Darling Downs and north-western New South
Wales — there runs a wide belt of black land.
The dominant timber is box.
The land along the Lower Darling Mr. Sage
pronounces similar in character to that on which
his orchard at Wentworth is located. This brings
us another of those national sums for which the
writer confesses a fondness. The answers are
so many mallets to smash the addled eggs of old
Delusion and make room in warm nests of Facts
for healthy chickens of Confidence and Effort.
When we Australians get correct answers to
a few of these important national sums we are go-
ing to take top of the world's class.
We will call this "Walter Sage's Sum," because
it was checked by Mr. Sage under the shade of
a redgum tree between Menindie and Wilcannia,
and the answer he pronounced correct.
The sum is simple : —
If W. Sage earns £5,000 in i year from 50
irrigated acres (citrus) fruit — and there are, ac-
cording to L. A. B. Wade, 250,000 irrigable acres
on the Darling — what is the possible capital value
of the annual fruit production thereon?
The answer is Twenty-five Million Pounds!
Citrus lands in cultivation at Renmark, South
Australia, were last year valued at £269 an acre.
The capital value of the 250,000 acres, if they
were under cultivation to-day, would stand prob-
ably at sixty-five millions of money. A generation
hence, if values of irrigable land increase in this
country as they have done in the United States,
the orchards of the Darling would be worth twice
as much.
Few modern investments will return a higher
rate of interest or ensure a greater increment than
those offering right throughout Australia.
Our road — a dusty track innocent of forma-
tion— followed the river to Sturt's Billabong.
Here we left the steep gray banks of the Darling
to cut across country and save that great bend
in which lies the sandy village of Pooncarie.
One leaves the river to enter a silent country.
Spreading redgums give place to stunted vegeta-
tion. Back from the river the squatters have ex-
cavated huge dams and conserved immense quan-
tities of water for sheep. Of natural fodder plants
— especially saltbush — there is no lack. Pastoral-
ists of experience west of the Darling know that,
provided you can establish a water supply, sheep
will carry through the driest years with little loss.
There is always a sufficiency of native feed in
the back country.
In the near future, when the Darling has been
locked and conservation and irrigation settlements
flourish along its banks; when the lakes and ana-
branches and billabongs are turned to account,
when proper transport has been established, this
wonderful river belt between Bourke and Went-
worth will not only support a great population,
but it will form a base on which still further settle-
ment will safely rest — a settlement extending
right to Tibboburra and Broken Hill. All that
now has to be left to chance of season will be
under scientific control.
It is admitted by men occupying large pastoral
holdings that if a scientific artesian exploration
were made of the remote West and proved suc-
cessful, the whole of those backblocks could be
converted into 30,000-acre holdings; and it must
always be kept in mind that the Australian pas-
toralist thinks in largest holdings because he has
been and is a product of original conditions. He
is guided more by methods of the Past than those
which a clamorous Future are likely to force upon
him. He has proved a good pioneer, filling a
useful and honorable function in opening up new
country; but one tendency of Australian progress
is to push him further back — unless, indeed, he
is prepared to fall in with a newer order of things
and from an overlord of leases become an organ-
izer of farms.
If our modern world based its effort on a sen-
timental rather than a practical philosophy, one
would regret the departure of the squatter from
his ancient habitat; a picturesque figure is fading
from the near Australian landscape; the first
chapter of the romance of the Wool Kings has
been closed. But picturesque and romantic as
medieval Europe appears, nobody prays for a
return of the old feudal laws and characters.
THE WESTERN DIVISION OF NEW SOUTH WALES
239
The evolution of human society is everywhere
inevitable. The Australian pastoralist and his
function will be remoulded from the melting-pots
of Time.
Such thoughts were in our minds, when, at the
end of a long day's run, we found ourselves for
a night under the hospitable roof of Messrs.
Dunn Brothers, at Netley Station, on the western
bank of the Darling.
At Netley the Burke and Wills expedition dried
the beef which they took with them on their fatal
journey towards the interior.
There is a fine irrigated garden at Netley.
Here Walter Sage examined orange trees fifty
years old, and pronounced them absolutely free of
orchard pests. He declared Netley garden the
healthiest old garden he had seen in all his life.
That day, far back from the river, we had
carred through red lands, showing only dry feed
and blue bush, which the same authority declared
could be occupied as wheat lands to-morrow if
they were provided with transport.
One can always be guided by a rehable South
Australian opinion on wheat. The growers of
the Central State are now ranked among the best
dry-farmers in the world.
At Netley, in the heart of what many good
Easterners still believe to be a wilderness, we
found paddocks of green lucerne, giving a cut
regularly every six weeks.
Here the orange, lemon, and citron bore pro-
fusely. Here grew olives, nectarines, apricots,
quinces, apples, and vegetables in abundance.
Here, too, were velvety lawns of thick buffalo
grass, graceful cedars, and flowers.
The stalwart Dunns talked eloquently of the
West. The broad-minded Westerner swears by
his heritage. The land he has won is ever dear
to him. A conqueror, he is in turn conquered —
the magical West holds him a willing vassal. He
is happy in her smiles and accepts with patience
her occasional frowns. He knows that the worst
drought is only one of his lady's passing moods.
The men of Netley told us that their country
was barer than usual. They had less water on
their frontages than for several years.
In their opinion the damming of the tributary
rivers had led to a great decrease lower down
and a lessening of navigation — on which the Dar-
ling largely depends for the transport of wool
and supplies.
If The underground-water quest here, as else-
where, is intensely interesting. Recently the
divining rod has come into favor on Netley. Now
the divining rod, divested of all unnecessary
occultism, is based on some yet unexplained physi-
cal or psycho-physical fact. The number of scep-
tics as to its uses is becoming a daily decreasing
quantity, the divining rod having proved a mys-
terious but generally exact guide to subterranean
water.
Of the two Dunn Brothers, one possessed the
gift of the rod; the other did not.
The method adopted by the man with the gift
is simple enough in seeming. He cuts a green
forked twig of a native willow or some pliable
wood, with a stem a foot or so in length. He
then grasps a prong in each hand and walks
slowly over the ground it has been decided to
test.
Navelencla. Oranges
(K6te comparative size witb the penny)
If the diviner comes over a spot where under-
ground water is situated, the erect twig bends of
its own apparent volition. In some unaccountable
way it is attracted towards the surface of the
earth at that particular spot. So strong is this
seeming magnetism that the twig will sometimes
snap off short in the diviner's hands.
There are diviners who profess to tell whether
the water below is fresh or salt. From evidence
collected with great caution over a wide sphere of
operation in this Commonwealth it would seem
that they are more often right than wrong.
Moreover, certain of these men are prepared
to back their faith with their money, a sovereign
240
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
test. They cheerfully sign contracts to sink wells
or put down bores on a basis of no water no pay-
ment. A jury of scientific sceptics could hardly
ask for stronger proofs than these.
On Netley back-country they had just located
water with the rod. If the rod were right they
would cart timber from Broken Hill, fifty miles,
putting on teams, work relays night and day, put
in a centrifugal pumping plant, and start watering
their sheep out there, in time for shearing.
4
especially well if they could be provided with per-
manent water. The average rainfall on Netley
is nine inches a year. For the river frontages
this does not matter so much; there has always
been water enough in the Darling. But the fur-
ther-back sheep cannot all be brought in when a
drought threatens; animals must drink or die;
overstocked frontages are as fatal as under-
stocked back country gone dry. Years ago
the men of Netley decided to put down
Irrigating Peas grown between young Fruit Trees, Yanco
It is amusing to hear the parlor-bred philoso-
pher of cities or the casual visitor declaiming
with a superior air that the men of our back-
blocks are slow-going and lacking in resource.
Men who speculate £6,000 in a single well are
not moral cowards. If the back country men
were what the world has been asked to believe,
the back country would still be all an open
domain for the aboriginal and the kangaroo.
It is a fascinating thing, this Conquest of the
Wild. Away back from the Lower Darling,
about 50 miles east of Broken Hill, there is a
line of Netley holding, where sheep would thrive
a bore in this good but occasionally arid
country. The bore went down 200 feet
and struck^ — air! For a certain number of hours
in the twenty-four there was a prodigious inrush;
as if some imprisoned giant under 200 feet of
earth and rock was filling his Titanic lungs. Then,
for the remaining hours, air was just as forcibly
expelled. That Giant breathed so mighty hard
that the bore had to be abandoned — the casing
would not stand the strain. Besides, the proprie-
tary was not looking for air; it wanted water.
It was certainly air that went in and out of the
bore because, with casual Australian curiosity, the
THE WESTERN DIVISION OF NEW SOUTH WALES
borers held lighted matches to the outrush and it
never ignited.
A number of years elapsed, and another bore
was put down, some distance away, with the same
results. Similar happenings are recorded in the
history of artesian exploration in other parts of
Australia. The water in some artesian bores is
reported to ebb and flow with the tides.
North of Netley (spelt also Netalie) is Menin-
die Lake, one of a series of lakes which follow
in a southerly direction. They are filled from
the overflow of the river in wet seasons and, with
the great anabranch, help to relieve the Lower
Darling of its flood-waters.
241
area, which could be watered by this cheap and
simple gravitation scheme. If box-flats along the
Darling are worth £100 an acre return per
annum, Cawndilla Lake bed would in all proba-
bility be worth more. One can dimly see what
the centuries' deposit of silt would produce in
the way of lucerne. Lands below the junction of
the Murray are declared richer because of pre-
cipitation from the Darling. The drainage area
of the Darling comprises black and red soils as
rich as any in the Commonwealth.
By and by, when the river is locked and cool-
storage boats are installed, there will be a tremen-
dous output of fat lambs, which will not receive
1 —
1 *^
1 ^y^iMMfl^
^P
1 .
'l^lLx'^^^Hfl
in
Children at Menlndle
They occupy many hundred square miles
of country, and can with a little inexpensive en-
gineering be converted into permanent storages.
One of these intermittent lakes — Yarlta — we
circled on our first day out from Wentworth.
Its bed was perfectly dry and bore the appear-
ance of an immense plain covered with good
grass, on which the stock were in excellent condi-
tion. Water is to be got at a shallow depth by
sinking.
Menindie Lake offers an opportunity for an
irrigation scheme. It is fed directly from the
Darling, and can be made to impound from 20
to 25 feet of water at a comparatively small ex-
pense. It is connected by a natural channel with
Lake Cawndilla, a few miles south. The levels
of Cawndilla are four feet lower than Menindie.
The bed of Cawndilla — composed of richest silt
' — would no doubt make a splendid irrigation
their condition from "old-man" salt-bush and
belah scrub; they will be fed on the alfalfa, which
this belt of beautiful country can produce — not
only on our theoretical Cawndilla, but right from
Wentworth to Bourke with proper cultivation.
There was just a taste of frost in the air on
the morning our car left Netley, and all the world
of Nature seemed in an exhilarated mood.
As we bowled along — now approaching close
enough to the banks of the Darling to see the re-
flections of red gums in its greenish-colored
waters, now crossing from bend to bend, over
flat plain, the car would run into flocks of galah
parrots.
In companies of hundreds, with their beautiful
pink and gray plumage, they added a splash of
color to a rather sombre landscape.
242
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A River Trading Steamer
Occasionally we overtook a mob of emus, whose
awkward gallop several times carried them into a
wire fence. Then would come a wild tangle of
birds, flying feathers, avian somersaults, kicking
legs, and gaping beaks, which ended in broken
fence wires and dilapidated emus striding at
accelerated speed towards the horizon.
It is this tendency to break through wire fences
which makes the emu so disliked by sheepmen.
When one saw a raffle of pink and grey feathers
by a river bank, one knew that an eagle had
dined off a galah, but the remains of an emu, with
the usual crow pouring out coarse abuse from an
adjoining tree, meant as likely as not that some
stockman's Winchester had been busy on the
breakers of fences.
There were many varieties of parrots along
the way, including the beautiful shell parrakeet,
its little emerald body flecked with gold, flashing
as it flew across our sunlit track.
Given good companionship, a journey such as
this is a daylong delight.
It was noon when we came to Menindie, a
back-blocks village located among the pink sand-
hills of the West. The landscape hereabout is
by no means a settled quantity. In the post
ofiice yard we found sand banked up nearly as
high as the fence. When a strong wind blows, fine
red sand is left in drifts, as snow is drifted in
colder places.
Menindie is a depressing array of tin-roofed
houses on a sandhill, with only a few scattered
trees to relieve its bareness. Yet Menindie might
be a green oasis, full of shade, fruit trees and
flowers. The Darling is within reach: a cheap
co-operative pumping plant would convert the
ugliest spot in the State of New South Wales
into an attractive garden town.
One day Menindie may be an important west-
ern centre. Let us hope that the generation
which is coming will realize here and in other
parts of Australia, that shady streets and green
gardens make for personal happiness and the
prosperity of towns.
As we carried a well-stocked provision basket
and a "Thermos," there was no necessity to linger
for lunch in Menindie. So we took the trail for
Wilcannia, still keeping to the west side of the
river. A little difficulty with a sand hill having
been successfully overcome, our car stood in due
course under a shady box-tree, while Its occupants
enjoyed an outdoor meal. This open-air living
is one of the many charms which make Australia
a land to which every exile will return if he can.
At dark we were forty miles from Wilcannia.
We lit our reflectors and went on in the starlight.
In that wonderfully clear atmosphere the stars
shine with unusual brightness. The country was
now quite green as the car glided on across that
great quiet plain, sleeping under a cosmic arch
THE WESTERN DIVISION OF NEW SOUTH WALES
243
of twinkling suns. Our lights played mysteriously
along the blue-bush, brought up ghostly outlines
of trees from darkness, and dropped them into
night again.
Puzzled rabbits crossed and re-crossed before
the car; night insects flashed through the incan-
descent beams that lit our track, and now and
then illuminated the wings of a startled bird. By
and by we saw the lights of Wilcannia twinkling
through the night.
To swing into a lighted street with shops invit-
ing Saturday-night custom, out of the still, starlit
darkness — was like passing from one phase of a
dream to another.
But four hungry men soon sat down in solid
reality to a late meal of excellent cold mutton and
pickles, good bread, good butter, and flavorable
tea.
Where was the wild and riotous West of
story and melodrama? And the heat, flies, thirst,
shearers in "the horrors," painted blackfellows,
and all the tawdry setting of alleged "Australian
literature"?
Like the "Great Sandy Desert" of South Aus-
tralia, they have vanished into the Ezvigzeit. If
they ever were, they are no more.
We had seen about two hundred bush people
enjoying themselves at Cuthero, on the Lower
Darling, on the previous day — a public holiday.
We had that morning found the people of Menin-
die tired after their sports and dances, and at
night Wilcannia was rubbing its eyes and threat-
ening to go to bed early after it had had a warm
at the fire.
But at none of these Furthest-Back places had
we seen a single person under the influence of
liquor, nor any fighting, nor heard loud and offen-
sive language, nor witnessed anything beyond the
normal conditions of an Australian country town.
As for the drunken shearer of tradition, the
loud knocker-down of cheques, the recalcitrant,
violent, red-shirted hero of a hundred impossible
fights and foolish adventures, the staggering
figure in gaiters and a snake-buckle belt and wide-
awake— he has gone.
Nowadays, in machine sheds, sober industrious
mechanics, some being young men from the cities
and some being small agriculturists, selectors,
and selectors' sons from the Bush — remove
greasy fleeces to the rhythmic purring of belts
driven by electricity. Singularly few of them are
drinkers, and most of them are fond of sports.
The majority have tidy banking accounts.
Just here we will drop in a photograph, show-
ing a party of these back-country workers, setting
out on bicycles for their next shed.
At the Wilcannia Hotel there was a stone-
floored kitchen with a huge cooking range, from
which a spacious dining-room was supplied with
plentiful cookery — for the West is in nothing
stinted or small. Cobar and Broken Hill, the
last railway points, might each be well over a
hundred miles away, but Wilcannia had an abund-
ance of good things to offer. The old idea that
people in the New South Wales bush subsist on
corned beef, damper, and black billy tea is an-
other of those fictions which are found only in
imaginative literature. Good bakers' bread,
made from whitest Australian flour, is obtainable
all over the country. In any part of the Bush
fresh meat is constantly available, and the average
settler can cultivate as many vegetables and rear
as much poultry as he thinks fit. The rivers,
creeks, even the remotest dams and lagoons gener-
ally teem with fish, and game is to be got in most
parts if a family has appetite for it. In no
country of the world do the people live as cheaply
and well as in Australia.
Shearers leaving Tolamo, Elver DarUng
244
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Furniture, pianos, pictures, and pots may have
to be carried hundreds of miles, but the good bush
housewife has her household gods even "west of
the Darling," and derives just as much pleasure
from dusting and tidying as her sister in the
suburbs of Sydney.
Faced by these simple domestic facts, after
toasting ourselves at a huge fire in the writing-
room, we went comfortably to bed. Glimpsing
through a lifted blind we saw the moon — which
we had watched through the oleanders and
oranges at Netley the night before — rising over
the spreading pepper trees of Wilcannia, 619
miles west of Sydney.
It was a joyous Sunday morning when we glided
out of Wilcannia. A substantial breakfast stood
between us and despair. Never did the face of
Australia seem fairer. Over wide plains of
black soil and red, with a perfectly blue sky,
sparkling sunlight, and freshest air to give us
healthy intoxication, we skimmed on comfort-
able pneumatic tyres. Good country certainly
brightens one's spirits. Northward from Wil-
cannia to Bourke spread the flat lands of the
Upper Darhng. Far West, in the direction of
White Cliffs, we saw blue ranges rising from the
billiard-table level of that mighty plain, through
which the longest river in the world wound its
immemorial length, now in straight reaches, and
anon, like some vast python of the Ancient Past,
writhing itself into serpentine coils and bends.
A long morning's run, another lunch in the
open-air, a glance at the station garden at Killara,
where they showed us date palms 50 years old,
and we were still on plains of incalculable rich-
ness.
Through the galvanized town of Tilpa —
where we saw wool waiting for a rise in the
river to get it away to Adelaide — and on again
over the same level landscape, broken by clumps
of graceful wilga or groups of gums, we went
joyously.
Blacksoil flats and billabongs, then mayhap a
beautiful plain covered with grey-green annual
saltbush — excellent fodder plant — just about six
inches high and level and even as a crop, we
crossed again and again. There was to us
nothing dreary or monotonous in the journey, for
each hour brought us fresh interests. Every-
where we visioned beyond scattered fat sheep and
occasional stations in the bends, beyond the lean
stockman, the biking shearer pedalling towards
Bourke, beyond rarely disturbed solitudes and
vast spaces — a Future in which western New
South Wales would be an invaluable contributor
in settlement and industry to the general pros-
perity of the Mother State.
We bided at Dunlop Station that night. It
was cold and frosty. Sitting with the station
manager before a roaring log fire, we discussed
the problems of the West. The irrigated gar-
dens around this station are growing abundance
of lucerne, fruit, flowers and vegetables.
Dunlop, Tarella and Nocoleeche are under one
financial control. They cover three million
acres of western New South Wales, stretching
out to the Paroo and Warrego.
Dunlop (952,000 acres) shore 140,000 sheep
in the season of 19 12.
On the western bank, in a pleasant bend of the
Darling, 90 miles from the Paroo, this comfort-
able station home is a seat of government for
the largest sheep satrapy in the State. But the
quiet, unostentatious hospitality of Dunlop is
typical of all these west-of-the-Darling stations.
The stranger's welcome, a hot bath, a good room,
an excellent meal, a soft bed, made an harmoni- _
ous ending to a day spent in gliding over wide salt- ^
bush paddocks, lightly timbered flats and pink
ridges where grey kangaroos hopped quietly away
from the motor-car.
The Warrego was in flood when we touched it
next morning above its junction with the Darling.
There had been rain away out along its sources
by Tambo and Charleville and Cunnamulla, in
Queensland. Yellow waters were flowing lazily
through the lignum and lapping the trunks of
drooping gum-trees. A barrier of earth turned
It away from the station garden at Tarella, where
oranges and mandarins were ripening In the sun.
Past losses by flood in that garden had made the
owner wise. Not only can the Warrego come
down in flood, but It can stay In flood long enough
to put another side of the Western water ques-
tion forward for consideration.
Some day none of this surface water will be
allowed to waste, and there will be a wider
development of artesian supply.
Then, with irrigation bases along the streams,
population and production will be tremendously
increased throughout the Furthest West. The
larger part of this country will probably remain
pastoral as at present, but holdings will gradually
be reduced and general productivity Increased
beyond calculation.
The beef and mutton grown out here are of the
very finest in Australia. S
With drooping myalls and wllgas to give them
shade, waving cane-grass on the flats, silver-grey
saltbush, distant mounds of colored sand, and all
the wonderful bird and animal life of the Interior,
these plains throw a glamor In some mysterious
way over the human soul.
They bring a pervading sense of restfulness
and peace to the traveller. The people who
belong to the plains seem of gentler speech and
manner. They are among the strong-limbed,
soft-spoken, brown-skinned Australians who have
I
THE WESTERN DIVISION OF NEW SOUTH WALES
245
I
absorbed the Greater Distances till their hearts
are widened and their souls enlarged
What will be the future of north-western
New South Wales? That is rather a matter of
deduction than prophecy. Already wheat grow-
ing has been extended north and west beyond
Nyngan.
In the near future it will no doubt be extended
still further along the western railway line to
Byrock, even to Bourke. Beyond Bourke — north
and west — is a great artesian basin proved by any
number of successful bores. On the Pera bore
irrigation area, near Bourke, the New South
Wales Government has demonstrated that citrus
fruits can be grown to absolute perfection.
One concludes, therefore, that irrigation and
dry-farming are going to be part of this vast
country's future; that ultimately along the War-
rego and the Paroo, and beyond that again into
the furthest North-West, industries other than
pastoral will gradually extend.
The red hills, covered now with yellow-flower-
ing gidyea and cypress-pine, will be found some
function for their undoubted fertilities.
Instead of Nocoleeche waiting for the Paroo
to come down once in a while and make good
grass-country, scientific treatment will make the
Paroo permanently good.
Ten million acres in Bourke district are carry-
ing under a million of sheep. That order of
things will not remain for ever. Even if rab-
bits have decreased the carrying capacity of some
stations by 50 per cent., neither "sheep" nor
"rabbit" is going to be the last word in the
development of the Northern-West. Holdings
of thirty rather than three million acres, with
seventy-chain instead of seventy-mile frontages to
natural watercourses, will also be part of the
future. Three combined N.W. stations yester-
day shore 300,000 sheep. To-morrow — and the
life of a generation is only to-day — 3,000 hold-
ings will produce more than three hundred times
the annual value of that one crop of wool.
Australia is yet young, but agricultural experi-
ences gained during the last decade have thrown a
new light on the future.
Everywhere pertinent facts and patent com-
parisons will come under the observer's eye.
Everywhere is the beginning of a mighty change
which the rank and file of Australia have hardly
begun to realize. But as the tide of European
immigration and investment turns more and more
to these shores, which it inevitably must, the in-
crease of population and activity will be so rapid
that the mental outlook of the most conservative
will be revolutionized.
Of these pertinent facts the Northern-West
supplies its quota, among them Pera Bore.
This interesting experiment in cultivation under
artesian irrigation has been carried on four or five
miles on the western side of Bourke.
Some important roads lead in to Bourke. One
crosses the Darling by a fine bridge, over which
tremendous bullock teams and trains of camels,
heavily laden with supplies for the far interior, go
North and West. At Bourke the Darling is still
a fine river, kept so largely by a lock and weir
built by the New South Wales Government a few
years ago.
Bridge over the Elver Darling at Wllcannla
246
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The Bore at Pera
The road over the bridge will, if you follow it,
take you on to . Queensland via Wanaaring and
Hungerford — which is 647 miles from the obelisk
in Macquarie Place. Or you may cross into
Queensland by Barringun in a more direct line;
or strike out via East along the Culgoa and down
the Condamine to Dalby and the Darling Downs.
As a rider, a coach-passenger, or a motorist,
you will experience no particular hardships and
jeopardise neither safety nor health. An ama-
teur bushman, carrying his swag after a pro-
longed spree, would doubtless find the country flat
and trying; but a swagman's impressions do not
alter normal facts, and the facts are that you
would on either route cross a rich and interesting
part of Australia.
Why the opinions of derelicts, who cadge flour
and mutton from station cooks, should ever have
been received as authentic expressions of the Bush
is one of the many profound mysteries of colonial
thought.
Men who never planted a cabbage or
grew a geranium have declared some of the most
prolific and fertile lands on the earth to be unfit
for civilized occupation, and their utterly
unfounded assertions have been accepted as
gospel truth!
This mania for distorting realities; for taking
accidental phases of Bush life and character, and
representing them as typical, is one that has beset
the minds of our own writers for two generations.
So that a majority of city people, and nearly all
foreigners, still imagine an Australia which is
almost as far away from the actual prosperous
productive Commonwealth as neolithic Europe
from London or Paris.
Let the reader divest himself of these ancient
prejudices and stand beside the bore at Pera.
He is now in the heart of the Back Country.
He finds himself in a magnificent orangery cover-
ing 25 acres of ground. Outside of that are
another 45 acres of cultivation. The water of
the bore is hot when it reaches the surface; not
quite so hot as that other bore nearer the Border
— the deepest in New South Wales, which taps
the artesian basin at 4,862 feet. The Pera water
comes from a depth of 1,160 feet, and flows at
the rate of 80,000 gallons a day.
It has been flowing so for 17 years, and during
that period the water has constantly been used for
irrigating the 75-acre farm of which it is the life-
giving artery.
The original site was gidyea scrub. The yel-
low flowers of the gidyea {acacia homalophylla)
have an overpowering and offensive odor; al-
though the tree itself — averaging a growth of 20
to 30 feet — might be described as ornamental.
The gidyea flourishes on the red soils of the
Bourke district. In this red soil, common to
inland Australia, and of which there are hundreds
of thousands of adjoining acres just as good — the
Pera Bore oranges are grown. In the opinion of
some experts they are the finest in New South
Wales.
The Valencias average 22/6 a case. The
Washington Navels — usual crop 6 cases to a tree
— bring 17/6. The freight to Sydney is 1/5 a
case; but most of the fruit produced at the bore
is sold locally.
The Washington Navels begin to ripen in May;
the full crop of Valencias comes at Christmas.
The trees receive from six to seven waterings in a
season. The cost of putting down this bore was
£1,300, and the upkeep of the farm is not great.
Pera has proved that artesian water may be
successfully used for the growth of citrus fruit.
Bore water, however, varies very greatly in its
chemical constituents. Much of it is likely to
prove too highly mineralized for irrigation unless
some cheap means can be devised for precipitat-
THE WESTERN DIVISION OF NEW SOUTH WALES
ing certain salts, which are injurious to plant life.
This can be done by the use of neutralizing agents.
It has been found in some places, curiously
enough, that by mixing water pumped from dif-
ferent levels, neutralization takes place.
At Warrawena, 36 miles north of Bourke, on
the Culgoa River, one hears of a flourishing plot
of 13 acres of irrigated wheat and lucerne three
years old. The lucerne here gives nine cuts per
year. These crops result from artesian water,
constantly applied without injurious effects.
Seventeen years' experiment at Pera bore may
be boiled down to the fact that it is peculiarly use-
ful for citrus fruits. This subject of artesian
water has been more fully considered in another
part of this book.
Whatever uncertainty may exist about the
extended use of bore water for purposes of irri-
gation, there is no doubting what our inland soils
will produce with surface supplies.
Adjacent to Bourke weir is a Chinaman's gar-
den and orchard which have been cultivated for
many years. This is irrigated by an antique
pumping plant from the Darling River.
In the orchard we found stone-fruit trees, thirty
or forty years old, still healthy and in good bear-
ing. The trees, although neglected and worked on
poor miscellaneous stocks, were helping to rapidly
enrich the Orientals who had leased the ground.
As usual they produced a luxurious growth of
various vegetables. The soil here was that rich
black alluvial which edges the entire length of the
Darling River. It is an asset of incredible value
to the State of New South Wales, and should
ultimately become one of its greatest wealth-pro-
ducing factors.
Down at an Afghan's camp on the outskirts of
Bourke, 40 camels were being packed with goods
for "Further Back." Turbaned aliens were
"slinging" cases of hardware and bales of drapery
on the huge padded saddles whereby the animal
carried his load.
This "slinging" freight aboard the "ships of
the desert" is neither a peaceable nor gentle occu-
jpation. The camel is admittedly a useful animal,
[but only the besotted imagination of Asia could
[have invested him with poetry. His ungainliness
[is equalled by his vile temper and horrifying voice.
His simplest function is loud with protest. He
[will not "hooshtah" unless he roars. He roars
[during the process of tying his forelegs together
I — which alone keeps him "hooshtahed" while
The is being loaded. All the time he is being
Iloaded he roars, and when he is released he rises
pike the eruption of a mud spring, and if he can-
l^not buck off his load he roars protestingly.
Yet he bears to the people out-back their drums
)f oil and bundles of brooms, bags of chaff, slung
three on each side of him — tin buckets, sugar,
247
kerosene, buggy shafts, biscuits, dingo traps, and
all the paraphernalia one sees scattered about the
loading places at Bourke, at Hergott Springs, at
Broad Arrow — wherever the camel camps are
located.
On the camel's saddle, with its wooden tees,
and gunny-bag saddle-cloth, much needful mer-
chandise goes out across the Australian Plains.
This flat-footed, evil-smelling beast with rope
crupper and leading string in its nose can go
safely and profitably where neither horses nor
bullocks would be possible, and until the heart of
the Continent is railroaded, the cheap-living and
much-enduring camel will continue to do his work.
But at Bourke, as everywhere else, they will
tell you that Australians can effect more with
camels than Afghans are able to do. In proof
of this the number of Afghan camel drivers in the
Commonwealth is becoming less every year.
Ultimately the uses of the camel will be over.
The bullock team is now rarely seen in more
settled districts. Motor-waggons are displacing
both horse and bullock throughout the pastoral
country. Later on they will invade that Far
Back hinterland where the passing camel train is
now a familiar feature of the landscape.
As older methods of transport change, country
is changing with them. The great Western
division of New South Wales — easier of access
and better understood — will be touched in time by
the steel wand of Progress, and out of its cornu-
copia of rich abundance it will pour a treasure
untold.
'All tha time he is being loaded he roue"
(248)
THE WESTERN DIVISION.
WHAT A RAILWAY WILL DO.
SOME day it will all come good. For some
time past New South Wales has been con-
sidering the question of linicing up East
and West by the extension of the State railway
system from its present railhead on the Lachlan,
to Broken Hill.
As far back as 1885 surveys were made for
a line connecting Condobolin, via Euabalong,
Mossgiel, and Menindie, with Silverton.
Another survey was made in 1891 for a link
line from Cobar via Wilcannia. The agitation for
this route was carried as far as the floor of an
unsympathetic Parliament and dropped there.
From that date onward the matter has been
more or less before the public, and much evidence
has been collected.
The Parliamentary Public Works Committee,
having gone exhaustively into the whole question,
recommended that the 373 miles between Con-
dobolin and Broken Hill be constructed.
As one of the big developmental works of the
near future, it is interesting to see what the re-
sults are likely to be.
When these 373 miles of railway are com-
pleted. New South Wales will possess an East and
West route just on 703 miles in length.
From Euabalong to Broken Hill, a distance of
over 320 miles, the lands through which the rail-
way will pass are practically all unalienated — that
is to say, that although leased in pastoral hold-
ings for definite periods, ownership still remains
with the Crown and (subject to the condi-
What the Land is Growing To-Day
i
THE WESTERN DIVISION OF NEW SOUTH WALES
249
tions of present leases and the Western Lands
Act), the country can be dealt with for settlement
purposes as the Government may see fit.
Eight or nine million acres of pastoral lands
within a radius of twenty miles will be directly
served by the construction of the line.
With 6olb. rails the estimated cost of construc-
tion averages £3,237 a mile. With yolb. rails,
£3,464 per mile.
The Chief Commissioner for Railways, in re-
porting favourably upon this scheme, says: —
"If the vast territory between the Lachlan
and the Darling is to become in any way
an adequate contribution to the national
wealth and to become amenable to the
closer-settlement policy of the Government,
the line is a necessity."
At present the annual revenue in rental derived
from the lands to be served by the proposed rail-
way is £5,586. Many of the holdings are leased
for 2/6 per annum per square mile!
Within the influence of the new line there are
a million acres of mallee which will be available
for farms.
The following facts are culled from the report
of the Public Works Committee : — -
"In connection with their visit of inspection,
the Committee on leaving Condobolin travelled
via the pastoral properties of Kiacatoo and Boo-
beroi to Euabalong, along the rich valley of the
Lachlan River, stated to be equal from a grazing
point of view to the land of the Condobolin dis-
trict. The country consists principally of a
series of low-lying flats, partly covered with ex-
cellent herbage, box timber, and yarran. Thirty
miles west of Condobolin are patches of black
soil and sandy ridges, lightly timbered with mal-
lee and pine. Approaching Euabalong, how-
ever, the country is excellent for wheat-growing,
and is fairly well improved.
"At a point about 25 miles west of Condobolin,
the Western Division of the State commences,
and thence the whole of the area to be served
is held under the provisions of the Western
Lands Act of 1901, and is controlled by a Board
of Commissioners. Prior to the passage of the
Act referred to, the whole of the land in the
division was held under the provisions of the
Crown Lands Acts, 1884, and the leases would
have expired in 191 8, whereas under the exist-
ing law they will not expire until 30th June,
1943. The right has, however, been reserved
to withdraw one-eighth of the area from lease
at any time gazetted by the Western Lands Com-
missioners.
"Immediately to the west of Euabalong the
country for several miles is lightly timbered with
box and gum, but is bare of herbage, as the re-
sult, it has been explained, of the severe drought
of 1902, and the roots of the natural grasses
having been eaten out by rabbits. Leaving the
Lachlan Valley in a north-westerly direction,
pine, maljee, and yarran country is met with,
but the bulk of the former is dead, and useless
for sawing purposes. Following the course of
the proposed line, and on either side of it, rich,
sandy, red soil prevails, covered in parts with
belts of mallee, extending for several miles.
Midway between Euabalong and Mount Hope
are to be found undulating ridges, but within
ten miles of the latter township the country im-
proves in quality, and although at present used
for grazing purposes only, may be described as
of a highly valuable character for wheat-grow-
ing.
"For several miles westward of Mount Hope,
there is excellent wheat-growing land at present
used for grazing, covered with herbage, and tim-
bered with pine, gum, mallee and yarran, inter-
spersed with occasional patches of plain. But
good as the country is, along this portion of the
route it improves in quality, and the rich red
soil in the immediate neighbourhood of Roto
homestead is of heavy wheat-growing capacity.
A feature of this portion of the district is the
absence of watercourses, although ample sup-
plies of water for stock are easily obtained by
well-sinking. Situated immediately on the banks
of the Willandra billabong, an offshoot of the
Lachlan River, is Roto station, where experi-
ments in irrigation show the suitability of the
soil for the growth of fruit.
"Beyond Roto to Willandra station, a distance
of thirty miles, the country to a very large ex-
tent consists of open plain, with narrow belts of
box timber along the banks of the Willandra
billabong, and is of superior quality for grazing
purposes. At the time of the Committee's visit,
the plains were carrying a luxuriant growth of
daisy plant, barley grass, trefoil, and other herb-
age.
"Silver grass, crow's foot, and other grasses of
an edible character cover portions of the country
toward Mossgiel. In parts there are large quan-
tities of roly-poly, with lignum on the low-lying
land. Close to the township are extensive areas
of blue bush, mixed with convolvulus and other
feed for sheep. The condition of the latter at
the time of the Committee's visit of inspection
indicates the suitability of the country for graz-
ing.
"Stretches of greyish saltbush plain prevail for
fifteen miles west of Mossgiel, merging into red
soil country, bearing luxuriant growths of spear
and star grass, and lightly timbered with box,
leopard, wild apple, and belar, as far as Ivan-
Q
250
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
hoe. Thence for several miles further west-
ward there is a repetition of greyish soil, bearing
spear, barley, and prairie grass, and saltbush.
As a result of recent bountiful rains the whole
of the tanks, and many natural depressions, were
filled with water, and the stock were in splendid
condition.
"The whole of the country from Ivanhoe to
German Tank is regarded as wheat-growing,
with sufficient rainfall. Traversing the district
in the direction of the latter point, via Bellpajah,
an outstation of Kilfera, the country changes to
red soil, with gently undulating uplands to Ger-
man Tank, around and beyond which belar is
the prevailing timber. There are, however,
occasional patches of mallee and yarran, whilst
the herbage consists of currant-bush, apple-bush,
bluebush, saltbush, silver and barley grass, and
trefoil.
"To the west of Ivanhoe, a series of lakes
(with frontages of box timber) formed by
natural depressions, and occasionally filled by
the overflow from Tallyawalka Creek, an off-
shoot of the Darling River, continue almost as
far as Menindie.
"Approaching Boolaboolka from German
Tank there is a change in the character of the
country, the soil being loose and sandy. Many
of the yarran trees in the vicinity of the lake
in this neighbourhood have apparently been de-
stroyed by flood waters. A few miles west of
Boolaboolka, the sandy soil continues, and the
timber consists principally of stunted pine, the
bulk of which has been destroyed, interspersed
with belts of bluebush. Cotton plant, nelia, and
apple-bush grow freely along with bluebush, salt-
bush and silvergrass. Generally the country as
far as Menindie is similar, and is interspersed
with heavy sandy ridges and clay pans, bearing
bluebush and other shrubs, with box and lignum
belts near the Darling River, where it is low-
lying and subject to inundation.
"Immediately to the west of Menindie, the
country is of a sandy nature, with box and gum
flats adjoining the River Darling. Traversing
the border of Menindie Lake, which, at the time
of the Committee's visit, was dry and covered
with dead box timber, the sandy soil continues
as far as Lake Speculation, where it opens Into
red-loam country, lightly timbered with mulga.
Thence to Kars Station, thirty miles distant from
Menindie, and forty-two miles from Broken
Hill, the country is similar. Immediately west
of Kars, however, there is a good deal of open
saltbush plain, interspersed with nelia bush as
far as Battery Tank, where the soil Improves,
and is suitable for wheat cultivation. Thence
the character of the country changes to heavy,
undulating, gravelly ridges, devoid of timber,
and so continues as far as Broken Hill."
To anyone who understands Australian Back
Country the facts given above will be of special
Interest.
The average rainfall of Condobolln Is 17.23
Inches; Euabalong, 16.49; Mount Hope, 14.81;
Ivanhoe, 13.22; Menindie, 9.16; Broken Hill,
9-33-
As far westward as Ivanhoe therefore (180
miles) the rainfall is adequate under conditions
and methods which have been already established
In other parts of the Commonwealth for success-
ful dry-farming. Six million acres will be served
within that particular radius; which is a fairly
large block to add to the wealth-producing lands
of New South Wales.
The timber and vegetation mentioned In the re-
port are in themselves a testimony to the quality
of the soils. We have learned elsewhere what
cypress-pine and mallee belts stand for. We have
also seen what the Darling River means as an
Irrigation proposition. Again, "the last lands are
the best lands." It looks as If New South Wales
holds an agricultural and pastoral asset in her
remote West of far greater value than her people
have yet realized.
In our consideration of these wide un-rall-
roaded stretches of "back-blocks" throughout
Australia, we must base conclusions not upon pre-
sent results but upon the vastly improved condi-
tions which naturally follow the establishment of
transport.
Much of this country is described as being "so
"prolific of rich herbage in fair seasons that It
"is almost impossible to keep it down with pre-
"sent stock. With railway construction It Is con-
"fidently anticipated that the sheep and cattle
"raising industry will be largely developed.
"In average seasons the district around Euaba-
"long, a small township situated In the centre of
"fairly good grazing country, carries a sheep to
"6 to 10 acres; but the evidence Indicates that
"the construction of the line will almost immedi-
"ately lead to 20 per cent, more stock being car-
"ried, and will prove of the greatest convenience
"in times of drought. In view of the probability
"of large losses as the result of an uncertain raln-
"fall, the pastoral holdings are very much under-
"stocked, experience showing that overstocking
"during dry periods necessitates the lapse of many
"years to bring the flocks to their normal num-
"ber."
Mount Hope — on the line of expected railway
— is the centre of a copper-mining district, and
is also surrounded by extensive tracts of grazing
and wheat-growing country.
"The evidence shows — and the fact has been
"confirmed by the Committee from their personal
"inspection of the district — that the country in -
"the immediate neighbourhood of and around
"Mount Hope Is admirably adapted to wheat pro- ,
THE WESTERN DIVISION OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
251
"duction. Although wheat is only grown for local
"consumption, yields have been obtained, even
"under the old style of farming, of from 15 to
"29 bushels to the acre. The wool is at present
"conveyed by road at high rates to Cobar and
"Nymagee, and its carriage would be transferred
"to the proposed line if constructed. Most of
"the holdings are fenced and otherwise improved,
"and very little trouble is experienced from rab-
"bits and other pests."
Irrigation experiments at Willandra with water
pumped from the billabong "have proved emi-
"nently successful, and have been the means of
"producing splendid crops of lucerne and wheat
"for home consumption." In the opinion of Wil-
landra management the country is excellent for
mixed farming, and within twenty to thirty miles
of the railway 6,000 acres or less would be ample
for successful settlement.
A Train from Up-Country
Roto station lies along a suggested deviation
between Euabalong and Ivanhoe. Its total area
is 152,000 acres. The manager of Roto told
the Works Committee in evidence that the instal-
lation of transport will "revolutionise the condi-
tion of the country, permit the settlers to double
the number of stock at present raised, and to
'a large extent convert the district into one of
"mixed farming."
Willandra is another of the large Western
Division holdings affected. Its total extent is
257,000 acres, of which 87,000 acres are free-
hold.
Mossgiel station covers 190,000 acres. All
through this district water of superior quality is
obtainable at a depth of from 95 to 135 feet.
Blue-bush country extends over one-half the hold-
ing, and is stated to be capable of being put to
agricultural use. The indications are that, with
the adoption of the dry-farming system, excellent
results from wheat cultivation may be obtained.
Mossgiel, Roto, and Willandra would be
touched by the proposed deviation from Euaba-
long. Either route will cut through the heart of
the New South Wales back-blocks, long regarded
as a drought-stricken area, but in reality compris-
^
2,-2
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
ing an enormous extent of productive soils, which,
like the Pinnaroo and Eyre's Peninsula, will grow
wheat, and more.
North and west of Mossgiel is Ivanhoe, a ham-
let in the heart of rich grazing lands — also cap-
able of producing wheat. From here to Menin-
die there rolls 183 miles of good country.
The possibilities of irrigation in the vicinity
of Menindie have received the attention of the
Public Works Committee. The Lake Cawndilla
scheme has been mentioned in another part of
Australia Unlimited.
The utilisation, for the purposes of irrigation,
of Lakes Menindie, Cawndilla, Speculation,
Pamamaroo, and others on the western side of the
Darling has formed the subject of investigation
by the Public Works Department. Ten years
ago surveys were made with a view to utilising
the lake system referred to for the purpose of
irrigating Lake Cawndilla, or for a much larger
system of irrigation to the south. No investiga-
tion was made of the country south of Lake
Cawndilla, but samples of soil were taken from
the bed of the lake itself. At this time alterna-
tive proposals were before the department, the
first being a small scheme to irrigate the bed of
Lake Cawndilla and possibly Lake Speculation,
from water stored in Lake Menindie. The bed
of Lake Speculation was proved, by inves-
tigation of the soil, to be suitable for irrigation,
and it was estimated that an area of 33,000 acres
could be utilised for this purpose. It was also
ascertained that certain difficulties in regard to
the collection of water in the bottom of the lake
after it had been used for irrigation were likely
to exist, and that the water would require to be
pumped; but beyond samples of the soil being
obtained and surveys being made, nothing further
was done in connection with the scheme.
On the eastern side of the river the lake sys-
tem comprises Lakes Boolaboolka, Victoria (not
to be confused with another lake of the same
name near the South Australian border, which is
filled from the Murray), Rat-catcher, and a
number of others, fed from the river in high
floods through Tallyawalka Creek, which takes
off from the river 260 miles above Menindie.
In ordinary seasons the creek does not run,
but when the river is high, water finds its way
to all the lakes of the system. In 191 1 an investi-
gation of this system, with a view to ascertaining
whether water could be stored for the purpose of
serving the lands of the Western Division be-
low the lakes, was made, the conclusion arrived
at being that the system was well adapted to the
storage of a large quantity of water and that
there were possibilities of obtaining sufficient to
justify the establishment of an irrigation settle-
ment.
The writer has no doubt that the Lower Dar-
ling, from Wilcannia to Wentworth, will ulti-
mately be converted into one of the most produc-
tive areas in the Australian Commonwealth. In
Tallyawalka anabranch on the east side, and the
anabranch of the Darling on the western side,
nature has gone ahead of the engineer. The
Lower Darling lake system, of which these ana-
branches are a part, will be converted into stor-
ages, and from more than one irrigation settle-
ment fruit, fodder, and dairy produce will find
a ready market East and West.
Of the Darling and Broken Hill we have
already read. In regard to the latter, it may be
added that —
"Since the opening of the Broken Hill district
'as a mining field the total tonnage of ore ex-
'tracted from the mines has been 23,400,000
'tons, and there are already in sight without any
'fresh developments 13,400,000 tons. Although
'the ore now being raised is of low grade com-
'pared with that obtained in the upper levels in
'the early days of the history of the field, much
'larger tonnages are being handled, and the in-
'dustry, it is contended, rests on a firmer basis.
'For some years the ore reserves have been show-
'ing a steady increase and, notwithstanding the
'fact that the tonnage of crude ore extracted has
'been on the up-grade, are higher now than at
'any previous period in the field's history. It
'is estimated that at the present rates of extrac-
'tion the ore in sight alone is equivalent to a life
'of nine years." Development work is continu-
ally in progress to open up the extensions of the
known ore bodies, and in some instances have
proved the existence of entirely new bodies of
ore.
During their visit of inspection the Committee
could not be other than favourably im-
pressed with the richness of the bulk of the coun-
try traversed, the remarkably luxuriant growth
of the herbage, the healthy condition of the flocks
and herds, and the quality and extent of the fleeces I
on the various holdings.
In conclusion we find them highly recommend-
ing the Government to build this line, which it
is anticipated will pay from the time of its con-
struction, and be the means of adding a new pro-
vince to the State of New South Wales.
Various Australian Governments have been
criticised for following a borrowing policy,
but nowhere in the world can money be
more safely invested than in Australia; no-
where will capital, borrowed at current rates
of interest, give a surer return to the bor-
rower. The whole structure of modern com-
merce and finance is based on credit. If an '
Australian Government borrows money at, say,
4^ per cent., interest, and by expending it on re-
jl
THE WESTERN DIVISION OF NEW SOUTH WALES
253
productive works secures a return of seven or
eight per cent., it is surely sound commonsense
finance.
This is practically what Australian Govern-
ments are doing. As an asset, the Government
Railways of the Commonwealth alone more than
cover the whole of the National Debt. The
country is young, and what it wants more than
anything else is engineering. It borrows money
for engineering projects, which are converted
into national assets, giving a far greater annual
return in revenue to the nation than the amount
of their interest bill. As long as Australian Gov-
ernments follow a safe, sound policy in the appli-
cation of borrowed moneys they need not dread
increasing the amount of the national debt.
If a New South Wales Government should
decide to borrow and spend a million and a
quarter of money on the extension of its western
railway system from Condobolin to Broken Hill,
neither the financier abroad nor the citizen at
home need have any fear that the Government
was making an unsound investment. The remote
red West of New South Wales will pour out hun-
dreds of millions of national wealth when its time
comes, and the time is coming fast.
Every year our knowledge of the West is in-
creasing; every year the Mountains of Inexperi-
ence lie further behind and the Plains of Promise
draw nearer. From eastern seaboard to west-
ern border New South Wales is destined to hear
the hammers of Progress beating out a glorious
hymn of Prosperity upon the golden anvils of
unequalled national resource.
An Australian Dairymaid
(254)
BROKEN HILL.
Another very profitable year has been experienced by shareholders in Barrier mining and
investment companies, despite the dislocation of industry by the strike and the less favourable
metal market. Taking the mining and treatment companies, and the investment concerns, whose
activity is dependent on the mining industry, it is found that total distributions for the year
amount to the enormous sum of £1,693,752. Examination of the details shows that the total
is the gross dividend, no allowance being made for English income tax, and it is found that
the mining and treatment companies accounted for £1,478,376, while the investment companies,
such as the Silverton Tramway, Broken Hill Water Supply, and Globe Timber, made up pay-
ments totalling £215,376. The increase in the dividends for the year is the outcome of the
still prosperous range of metal prices and the important part which the recovery of zinc concen-
trates plays in the operations of the Barrier companies to-day. A noteworthy fact about the
past year in connection with many of these companies' payments was that they were not all
from current profits. The prosperous conditions produced by exceptional metal rates the
previous year led to large distributions, and when the metal market reacted dividends were not
reduced proportionately, so that accumulated profits were largely drawn on in many cases to
make up the above-mentioned total. The South Broken Hill Company retained the distinction
of making the largest distribution, and no less than £300,000 was returned to shareholders. Next
came the North Broken Hill, with £240,000; followed by the Proprietary, £216,000; Sulphide
Corporation, £192,500; Zinc Corporation, £183,962; Amalgamated Zinc, £162,500; Silverton Tram-
way, £125,000; British, £115,000; Water Supply, £75,000; Block 10, £50,000; Block 14, £23,000.
While the figures speak eloquently of the prosperity of the Barrier, it is worthy of mention that
the bulk of the shares in nearly all the companies are held by British and Continental investors,—
Melbourne Argus, December 24, 1913.
AT the further edge of western New South
Wales, about parallel 32 and distant
thirty-five miles from the border line of
South Australia, lies the city of Broken Hill.
This is nowadays the capital of what explorer
Sturt described as the most worthless country in
the world.
Until the projected Condobolin to Broken Hill
railway becomes a reality, the latter city must re-
main most readily accessible from Adelaide. To
get to Broken Hill from Sydney one travels to
Melbourne, thence to the South Australian capi-
tal, and on to the Hill. The journey occupies
at least three nights and two days by train, and
covers 1,397 rniles.
The traveller boards the Limited Express in
Sydney at 8 o'clock in the evening, and reaches
Melbourne at i o'clock next day — 580 miles.
He catches the Adelaide Express again at 4.30
in the afternoon, and lands in Adelaide at 10
the following morning — 483 miles.
That night he takes the Broken Hill Express,
changes from the S.A. broad gauge line to the
narrow gauge at Terowie, and arrives at the Hill
in time for breakfast — -334 miles.
Its comparative proximity to Broken Hill has
been a good thing for Adelaide.
The reader will assume that he is one of an
assorted crowd of passengers boarding the ex-
press at Adelaide. As all readers are permitted
to travel in comfort, he will take his seat in the
observation car, with easy chairs and abundant
room. The majority of his fellow-passengers
crowd the second-class compartments — mothers
with babies, giggling girls, noisy youths, typical
bush people bound for intermediate stations in
the North.
At Terowie, after he has located his sleeping
berth in the narrow-gauge train, he can join the
boisterous crowd which besieges the coffee stall,
and see for himself that an Australian is not
necessarily a melancholy character. Most of these
night-travellers will be miners and miners' people
en route to the Hill.
After snatching their late refreshments they get
into a long car, with parallel seats around the
sides, not too comfortable if crowded, and settle
themselves in rugs and top-coats for the night.
Morning finds the moving train skirting the
low brown hills of the Barrier. Redgums mark
dry watercourses which have their sources in these
hills and may occasionally carry some of their
flood waters as far as Lake Frome. The land
is rich, red and arid — flat, saving for the Barrier
Range.
The sun rises in a cloudless sky. In winter the
days are cool and the climate bracing. After
rains the whole landscape is robed with delicate
herbage and flowers. Miles of white everlast-
ings sometimes give it the appearance of being
sprinkled with light snow. Salt bush, blue bush,
mulga, acacia, the usual panorama — nothing to
indicate that over the fringe of hills, from the be-
ginning of geological time. Nature has been hug-
ging one of her richest secrets.
BROKEN HILL
255
A Broken Hill " Landscape"
Then the train glides smoothly into a vast
amphitheatre in the hills, and the traveller finds
himself among streets and crowds and steam
trams and the traffic of a city.
The people alight. Miners coming back home
are met by their wives and youngsters; people
shout recognitions to their acquaintances, the air
vibrates with questions and answers, and with
a hotel badge on his cap, a stranded player of
minor parts comes forward and looks awkwardly
after our luggage. The cabman charges us 2/-
each to drive 200 yards. He looks at us as if
we ought to have paid him double. It is all in the
manner of mining places.
Broken Hill is not beautiful, but it is vastly in-
teresting.
Early in 1882 this city of thirty odd thousand
inhabitants was part of a sheep run. If an in-
spired magician had gone to the Government
geologist and told him that it was to be the site
of the greatest silver-lead-zinc mine in the world,
that prophet would have been told to take more
water with his whisky.
After 1883 his pronouncements might have re-
ceived more attention.
The discovery of Broken Hill was preceded
by discoveries of silver-lead in adjoining dis-
tricts.
As far back as 1876 Patrick Green found sil-
ver at Thackaringa. Prospectors got to work,
and Apollyn Valley, Day Dream, Purnamoota
and Silverton were opened. Each had its day,
and if mining authorities are right there are pos-
sibilities for some of these old fields yet.
Silverton rose to be a place of some importance
— until the brighter star of Broken Hill quenched
its light.
Prior to November, 1883, this same Patrick
Green — a Menindie storekeeper, full of faith and
determination, an optimist — was using what he
made out of Thackaringa in a mineral quest
along the Barrier. He largely fathered the pre-
liminary fields. In 1883, with a party of pros-
pectors, he arrived at Broken Hill, pegged out a
copper claim, and sank a shaft. The shaft proved
barren of results, and the claim was abandoned.
The actual credit of discovery belongs to
Charles Rasp, a boundary-rider on Mount Gipps
Station, on which the Hill was located. As an
example of what may happen to boundary-riders
in Australia, he pegged out a claim which six
years afterwards was valued at £8,750,000!
A syndicate was formed to handle Rasp's find.
It was comprised — to quote R. de S. Magnussen,
who haswritten an interesting account of the early
field — "of G. W. McCulloch (the overseer of
256
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
"Mount Gipps), two station hands, a blacksmith,
"a jackeroo, and two teamsters." This syndicate
put down a shaft to the depth of 50 feet. The
original company held their property in seven
shares. Their claim embraced Blocks 10, 11, 12,
13, 14, 15, and 16. These seven blocks covered
the property of the original Broken Hill Proprie-
tary Company.
It was some time before the syndicate knew the
lvalue of what it held. Some of the station hands
found the call of 10/- a week on their resources
too great. The ground was then costing £7 a
week to work. They sold out twenty-eighths or
half-fourteenths of their interests. McCulloch
was angry because to get at the workings wire
fences had to be broken and sheep disturbed.
Sheep have always been a sacred interest in Aus-
tralia. One day he played euchre with a man
named Cox on Mt. Gipps Station to see whether
Cox would pay him £50 or £100 for a share.
McCulloch won; Cox paid £100 for the share.
It would have added another million to McCul-
loch's princely fortune.
An early speculator bought three shares for
£320. He sold one for £105, one for £200, and
kept the third. In six years — taking in the
bonuses and dividends it was worth £1,250,000.
Some of the original syndicate became patrons
of art, famous horse breeders, millionaires.
Others passed quietly out of the history of the
Hill.
The discovery of chlorides in large quantities
In 1885 brought the Barrier definitely into the
front rank of the world's greatest mines. In
1905, twenty years later, the value of Broken
Hill's trade — export and import — for the year
was £2,612,334.
Not bad for Sturt's "worst country in the
"world." Sturt was almost as far away from
the true Australia as Dampier.
By 1905 the Broken Hill Proprietary Coy. had
paid in cash and bonuses nearly £1 1,000,000. The
storekeeper on Mt. Gipps was a pessimist. His
mind was full of that peculiar disbelief which has
been so prevalent in Australia. This type of
colonist has always looked on the darkest side.
If the rain did not come at the expected time, there
was sure to be a drought. If it did not stop
raining precisely when the pessimist imagined it
ought to, there was sure to be a flood.
If a crop showed signs of a poor yield, the dis-
trict was permanently unsuited for agriculture.
If the harvests were plentiful the prices were
certain to fall — and so on. This mournful band,
whose delight it has been to prophesy disaster
and defame the country, have been called
"calamity howlers." New South Wales has had
them from the very beginning.
So the storekeeper on Mount Gipps sold his
original seventh interest In the greatest silver-
lead-zinc proposition in the world — for £25 !
This Is what the half-yearly report of the
Company In 1887 said: "After eight months'
time another of the original syndicate also
sold out to his partners, and it was then
found necessary to re-form the Company into
one made up of 14 shares of equal interest.
Towards the end of 1884, the existence of chlor-
ides was first noticed in Rasp's shaft. This gave an
impetus to prospecting, and chlorides were
shortly afterwards noticed on the surface of
the iron ore by Thomas Low, who at the
time purchased, by private arrangement, one half
of a fourteenth share. The rich surface kaolin
ore was accidentally dropped across by Harry,
an aboriginal in the employ of Mr. Jamieson,
who had taken the management of the property.
Since the beginning of 1885, the prosperous ad-
vance of the Company has been most satisfactory,
without check or hindrance, and perhaps unparal-
leled in this respect In the mining history of the
colonies. Not the slightest hitch or dispute to
occasion litigation of any kind has arisen to mar
its progress, things moving smoothly, without
failure, from success to further success. ' The
Broken Hill Mining Company ' was floated into
'The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited'
on the 1 2th August, 1885. The original four-
teen holders appearing upon the first-named Com-
pany's agreement were : — Wm. Jamieson, W. C.
Dalgllsh, K. E. Brodribb, Solomon Wiseman,
Charles Rasp, E. Thomson, Bowes Kelly, W. R.
Wilson, David James, James Poole, Phillip Char-
ley, A. W. Cox, and George McCulloch. Of the
original holders of the first syndicate of seven,
there are now (1887) only McCulloch, Charley,
Rasp, and James, who hold shares In the present
Company. Mr. McCulloch has continued his
large interest In the Company, and has throughout
been prominently Identified with Its marked suc-
cess."
Some figures issued by the Broken Hill Propy.
Coy. In 191 1 show how personally unprofitable
pessimism may sometimes prove In Australia, and
how Faith, national and Individual, pays best in
the long run. Here is the illuminating result from
that once despised corner of Mount Gipps Sta-
tion— "the broken hill."
Normal pre-war figures are given in the news-
paper excerpt at the beginning of this chapter.
To produce, were it even for one year, a
quarter of the world's lead and a sixteenth of the
world's silver is something for this remote corner
of the Western Division, once regarded as the
least profitable part of New South Wales.
BROKEN HILL
257
I
Ore Dressing Plant, Broken Hill Proprietary
But Broken Hill has done more. It has led
the mining world in method and organization
and taught the world new processes and treat-
ments for ores. It has been a training ground
for engineers and metallurgists, some of whom
have risen to world-wide distinction. Its mana-
gers have drawn salaries greater than State gov-
ernors. The fluctuations of its output have
affected the price of metals, ^nd, as the second
city in New South Wales, neither its political nor
financial voice can be treated with disrespect.
Of course Broken Hill was not without the
"boom" which is a feature of all great mineral
propositions. When the richness of the find was
fully realized, Australian speculators and share-
mongers went temporarily crazy. The country
for miles around was pegged out. Syndicate after
syndicate formed, floated, and fell. Men made
L fortunes in a week, and lost them in less than an
K' hour.
H Some of the fortunes were made on a pure
W fiction; others had a solid foundation in fact.
B Block 10 Mine offered an example of the latter.
■ At that period of its development when the man-
agement were expecting to cut the lode, business
in shares became brisk. They stood at £3/6/-
when the announcement was made that the lode
had proved to be phenomenally rich. Then they
sprang to £20, and people who held them found
their bank balances suddenly swollen to a degree
they had hardly anticipated.
In March, 1888, when the boom was at its
height, the capital market value of the Barrier
mines was more than sixteen millions of pounds.
The field has long entered the normal path of
development, and will continue to be a producer
of silver, lead, zinc, copper and gold for many
years to come.
The geology of the Hill has naturally attracted
attention from scientists all over the world. These
remarkable deposits of valuable ores have formed
the subject of many a scientific paper; they have
inspired more than one treatise; and their in-
terest to the mining man, the chemist, and the
engineer is perpetual.
According to Mr. E. F. Pittman, sometime
Government Geologist of New South Wales, the
Broken Hill ore deposits do not occur in what is
258
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
known as an ordinary fissure lode, but are of the
class called "segregated lodes" or "saddle" reefs,
resembling in some respects the auriferous saddle
reefs of Bendigo, Victoria. The Broken Hill
reefs are argentiferous, although they contain a
percentage of gold. They consist, at or near the
surface, of manganiferous ironstone, which below
is replaced by kaolin and oxidised ores (carbon-
ates) of lead. These, again, at greater depths,
are succeeded by sulphides of lead and zinc.
The overcoming of the "sulphide" problem has
been among the historical achievements of the
Hill.
One of the chief points of interest about these
saddle reefs is that while the "legs" of the saddles
invariably thin out and disappear in depth, the
permanence of the mines is assured by the cer-
tainty of other saddles being discovered almost
perpendicularly under the first and at greater or
less intervals of depth.
"The Broken Hill lode," said Mr. Pittman in
1892, "appears to be a huge saddle lode formed
"in a fissure which owed its shape to the contor-
"tions which the gneissic rocks have undergone.
"If this opinion is correct, the possibility is that
"the eastern and western legs will be found to
"thin out gradually as they descend, and in that
"case the depth at which they would disappear
"would depend to a great extent upon the width
"of the synclinal basins on either side of the hill.
". . . What appears, however, to be the most
"interesting question is the possibility of simi-
"larly shaped lodes being found vertically under
"the present one, as they are found to occur in
"Bendigo."
The geological problems of eighteen years ago
have been solved in part; the main consideration
these times is economical working. The mines
in operation^Proprietary, Junction, Junction
North, Amalgamated Zinc, British, Block 14,
Block 10, Sulphide Corporation South, Zinc Cor-
poration, South Extended — with all of them the
matter has resolved itself into cheap process which
will leave a profit on the market values of metals.
So that the visitor to Broken Hill finds not the
romantic mining-camp of early days, but a row of
smoke stacks along the hillside for a mile and
a quarter, over which hangs a heavy plume of
smoke by day and a dull glow of arc lights and
furnaces, reflected skyward, at night.
He hears the hoai'se voices of steam whistles
calling the "shifts." He sees in the distance great
hillocks of "slag" and dumps, the size of which is
some indication of the operations of the particular
property it marks.
These great heaps of tailings stand at intervals
along the line of lode and represent an incredible
amount of underground and surface labor.
As he approaches the scarred hillside a pecu-
liar murmuring noise issues from the disturbed
■slopes. It resembles the droning of a titanic
hive of bees in swarm — rhythmical, persistent —
carrying a note of anger or warning; and be-
speaking a tremendous activity. This ever-present
sound proceeds from the machines along the slope,
purring like gigantic cats in the sun.
All day, all night long they are at work, grind-
ing, grinding ore into dividends for shareholders,
into salaries for officers, into wages for men.
It is not beautiful, this city of the Barrier,
standing unique, tremendous, in an open land-
scape of hundreds of miles. But it is wonderful,
not only to geologists, chemists, engineers, but
to philosophers, students of economics, writers
of history.
The joy of the Hill is a garden, but the scar-
city or cost of water has to be taken into con-
sideration by residents, so the place is not beau-
tiful as it might be. The happiest face in Broken
Hill will probably be that of the lady who has
two small plots of buffalo-grass lawn and a shady
pepper tree in front of her cottage.
Up at the Roman Catholic Convent they have
a bangalow and a cabbage palm, which are treated
with a tenderness akin to that bestowed on deli-
cate growing children.
On the Western Hill stands the granite cathe-
dral. Opposite, on the "broken hill," are the
mines.
Between Religion and Science, facing one ano-
ther like hostile armies, lies the town.
The boundary-riders who watched their sheep
grazing in the hollow thirty years ago, heard no
echo from the future of church bells or machin-
ery. There are, throughout the length and
breadth of this Commonwealth, many another
hill and hollow, pregnant with future cities,
where sheep are grazing peacefully to-day.
If the physical appearance of Broken Hill
children is a guide, there is no part of inland
Australia which cannot be occupied by Europeans.
For seven months in the year the climate of
Broken Hill is delightful; the other five months
are hot. But if people would only learn, the heat
and discomfort of these five hot months could be
minimised.
Unfortunately, Australia has not given the
question of housing, clothing, food, and habit,
the attention which their importance in the scheme
of effective white occupation demands.
Broken Hill offers examples. Its climate is
dry and healthy. Consumptives have been sent
to the Barrier to die, and gone away cured.
For five months out of the twelve, residents
must put up with a certain amount of inconveni-
ence. If the definite objective of the population :
were to reduce that inconvenience by every pos-
BROKEN HILL
259
sible means, life in the summer months would be
as pleasant as any other time. Apart from its
exceedingly healthy climate this land is every-
where intensely fertile. It will grow anything
if it can be irrigated.
Unluckily for Broken Hill, the city water sup-
ply is a monopoly, and the charge is 5/- a thou-
sand gallons for domestic purposes.
This, and the uncertainty that always hangs
covery of a further refining treatment, suddenly
converted into reserves of great value.
The open spaces are crossed and recrossed by
rails; iron trucks rattle; iron arms of steam
shovels swing towards the tailings, dip with auto-
matic movement into the black heap, and swing
back to the railway waggons, loaded with sand
which has already been through the mills and is
now going back to be treated by a new process
and the last fraction of its mineral value ex-
over a mining district, together with the heavy
tariff inflicted by another monopoly controlling tracted.
the connecting railway between Cockburn on the Out of a mass of galvanised roofs, iron
South Australian border and Broken Hill, have smoke-stacks project — spires of the Churches of
Broken Hill Proprietary Silver Mine
itended to make it poor in private gardens and
[foliage. It suffers by comparison with Mount
[Morgan or Kalgoorlie or Charters Towers, nor
Ihave its wealthier citizens displayed the same
Jatriotism as those of Bendigo and Ballarat.
In its remoteness and concentration Broken
Hill, with 7,000 to 8,000 working miners, its
steam trams and camel-drivers, its galvanised
houses and granite cathedral, whirling flywheels,
ore-laden trains, smoke, noise and dust, consti-
tutes a world of its own, a world isolated from
the rest of civilization, and yet more modern in
certain aspects than most cities.
One only needs to visit the surface workings
of the mines to see this. Here one gets a closer
view of these enormous mounds of black sand —
the pulverised hearts of the hills, which, after
being cast aside as worthless, were, by the dis-
I
Mammon, whose votaries are toiling deep under-
ground, some far below the very roots of the
ranges — 1,300 feet and more.
Rusted, discarded machinery lies about every-
where, proof that one expensive mechanical sys-
tem has displaced another, during the twenty-
eight or thirty years of the field's existence.
Telephone poles and electric standards mani-
fest the universal use of the forces of electricity,
which has now entered so largely into the subju-
gation of matter.
That "broken hill" where the wallabies were
once plentiful, is bare, torn, tunnelled, beheaded,
levelled, devilled, and unmercifully dishevelled.
Nature has been ransacked, explored, ex-
ploited and infinitely vulgarised by the spoiler.
Industry, the ravisher of peaceful solitude, from
whose strenuous thighs great wealth is born in
sore travail, has erected its dwelling here.
262
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
filled. Finally, as we have seen, the worthless
waste — from which all mineral values have been
ground, crushed, rolled, washed, and chemically
extracted — is automatically conveyed into a gap-
ing excavation on the crown of the lode, left by
early operations.
Industry has taken the heart out of the hill,
powdered it, sieved it, sifted it, reduced it to com-
ponent atoms, retained what it required for the
uses of man, and returned the country rock as
clean-washed sand.
In her own laboratories Nature effects some
astonishing changes, but she takes lakhs of cen-
turies to get her results. Man, being short-lived,
goes through all the phases of big reductions in
a few hours.
Short of the transmutation of metals, atomic
reduction — exampled in the zinc mill at Broken
Hill — seems to be the last word.
Wages paid on the Hill (1916) are for shift
bosses, £4/10/- a week; miners, minimum wage,
11/3 daily, the hours of labour being 44 hours
per week. On contract work the men earn as
much as 18/- a day. They have a Co-operative
Meat Supply and a Co-operative Store in the
town, both working on a profitable basis.
After nearly thirty years of activity the Barrier
fields still seem to have a long life before them.
Geologists have said that there is a "mother lode"
yet to be discovered. Along the present line of'
the lode stand the poppet heads of putative
mines — some just complying with labor condi-
tions, some moribund or dead. The Pinnacles,
for which great things have been predicted, stands
out in blue prominence in the southern skyline.
Between it and the Hill lie many possibilities, and
Northward again the chances lie.
The Darling River is only sixty-five miles
away. If Western Australia carried water to
Kalgoorlie — 300 miles, New South Wales may
yet be justified in taking water to the Barrier and
beyond it.
The red soils between will grow anything.
Some day it will all come good.
A Broken Hill Silver Mine
{^(>z)
THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY.
KNOWEST thou the land where the citron
blooms?" If Heine had seen the sunny
south coast of New South Wales he might
have written it, "Knowest thou the land where
the rock-melon ripens? "
It was a morning late in January, 1914.
Two of us sat on the balcony of a hotel in Nowra,
and the rock melon's netted rind, neatly divided
into sections, lay empty before us.
We had purchased it in a fruit shop up-street
for fourpence but a half-hour previously. Now,
it was no more than a luscious memory.
From a contemplation of our fruit we turned
to contemplate the green land around us. Fer-
ility and peace were the keynotes in that sweet
ymphony of Nature. " Breathes there a man
ith soul so dead — " who, looking over Shoal-
haven, does not feel proud to be an Australian?
There is no discord in the Aeolian harpings of its
winds; there is naught but beauty in its gently
undulating lines.
English blackberries hung in ripening clusters
on its hedges. Scented lilies diffused their
ineffable fragrance by the banks of its rippling
creeks. Its maize fields are defiant of drought;
there are no pests in its orchards, and the dairy-
en know what riches fountain into the milk-pails,
all the year round.
By the establishment of a storage reservoir on
the Shoalhaven River — at a suitable base above
urrier, 12 miles from Nowra — the latter dis-
rict. Berry, and probably Kiama, could be
[developed as irrigation settlements. Production
would be enormously increased; with a near
market in Sydney, the -future will doubtless see
the whole of this southern Illawarra and Cambe-
arra converted into irrigable gardens and small
airy farms. Near Nowra is a plot of 28 acres,
held by Chinese at an annual rental of £5 per acre.
In dry years, with irrigation, these Chinese
gardeners succeed in raising five tons of potatoes
to the acre — which, doubtless, pays them hand-
somely.
The irrigable belt near Nowra contains about
32,000 acres of magnificent alluvial soil. At the
present time this land is worth on an average £40
an acre. One farm of 800 acres was recently sold
for £40,000. Some of this has produced as much
as 100 bushels of maize to the acre.
^Kas I
Between Nowra and Burrier, however,
there is Government land valued at £1 an acre,
much of which, with irrigation, might be turneJ
to profitable account.
While looking out over verdant Shoalhaven
and discussing these possibilities of future coastal
development, there arrived O. L. Harrison, of
the N.S.W. Forestry Department, in his busy
little Cadillac car.
It had been arranged that we should accom-
pany Mr. Harrison on one of his down-coast tours
of inspection. The journeys and voyages under-
taken in search of accurate material for this book
have never been tedious, but some of them have
proved more enjoyable than others. That ten
days travel with Forester Harrison was amongst
the most memorable. It has left dreamy recollec-
tions of hours that were as near to perfection as
Earth can give.
Although it was midsummer, there had been
some rain; whereby the dust was checked and the
atmosphere sweetened and cooled.
The southern coast of New South Wales en-
joys perhaps the best climate in Australia; its
roads are excellent, its inns comfortable, and its
people hospitable and friendly.
Down the South Coast from Nowra to Eden,
prosperous dairy towns and villages follow one
another. The land is rich, the seasons usually
good, and coastal steamers plying regularly to
the different seaports keep the farmers in touch
with their markets. Overland communication
with the rail-head at Nowra is kept up by motor
and coach services.
Added to all the native attractions of the Land,
we had a travelling companion who knew every
track, bend, and beauty spot, as well as a Sydney
tram driver knows the road to Circular Quay.
From Nowra to the junction of the Crook-
haven and Shoalhaven — where one gets a glint
of the blue Pacific — the road runs through the
alluvial belt already mentioned as a future irriga-
tion possibihty.
We took this before lunch, ere starting out on
our four hundred mile jaunt to the South.
At a little roadside orchard, worked by one P.
Caffery, as an adjunct to his dairy farm, we pulled
262
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
filled. Finally, as we have seen, the worthless
waste — from which all mineral values have been
ground, crushed, rolled, washed, and chemically
extracted — is automatically conveyed into a gap-
ing excavation on the crown of the lode, left by
early operations.
Industry has taken the heart out of the hill,
powdered it, sieved it, sifted it, reduced it to com-
ponent atoms, retained what it required for the
uses of man, and returned the country rock as
clean-washed sand.
In her own laboratories Nature effects some
astonishing changes, but she takes lakhs of cen-
turies to get her results. Man, being short-lived,
goes through all the phases of big reductions in
a few hours.
Short of the transmutation of metals, atomic
reduction — exampled in the zinc mill at Broken
Hill — seems to be the last word.
Wages paid on the Hill (191 6) are for shift
bosses, £4/10/- a week; miners, minimum wage,
1 1/3 daily, the hours of labour being 44 hours
per week. On contract work the men earn as
much as 18/- a day. They have a Co-operative
Meat Supply and a Co-operative Store in the
town, both working on a profitable basis.
After nearly thirty years of activity the Barrier
fields still seem to have a long life before them.
Geologists have said that there is a "mother lode"
yet to be discovered. Along the present line of
the lode stand the poppet heads of putative
mines — some just complying with labor condi-
tions, some moribund or dead. The Pinnacles,
for which great things have been predicted, stands
out in blue prominence in the southern skyline.
Between it and the Hill lie many possibilities, and
Northward again the chances lie.
The Darling River is only sixty-five miles
away. If Western Australia carried water to
Kalgoorlie — 300 miles, New South Wales may
yet be justified in taking water to the Barrier and
beyond it.
The red soils between will grow anything.
Some day it will all come good.
A Broken Hill Silver Mine
(263)
THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY.
KNOWEST thou the land where the citron
blooms?" If Heine had seen the sunny
south coast of New South Wales he might
have written it, "Knowest thou the land where
the rock-melon ripens? "
It was a morning late in January, 19 14.
Two of us sat on the balcony of a hotel in Nowra,
and the rock melon's netted rind, neatly divided
into sections, lay empty before us.
We had purchased it in a fruit shop up-street
for fourpence but a half-hour previously. Now,
it was no more than a luscious memory.
From a contemplation of our fruit we turned
o contemplate the green land around us. Fer-
ility and peace were the keynotes in that sweet
fsymphony of Nature. " Breathes there a man
ith soul so dead — " who, looking over Shoal-
Siaven, does not feel proud to be an Australian?
here is no discord in the Aeolian harpings of its
inds; there is naught but beauty in its gently
ndulating lines.
English blackberries hung in ripening clusters
on its hedges. Scented lilies diffused their
ineffable fragrance by the banks of its rippling
creeks. Its maize fields are defiant of drought;
there are no pests in its orchards, and the dairy-
men know what riches fountain into the milk-pails,
all the year round.
By the establishment of a storage reservoir on
the Shoalhaven River — at a suitable base above
urrier, 1 2 miles from Nowra — the latter dis-
rict. Berry, and probably Kiama, could be
eveloped as irrigation settlements. Production
would be enormously increased; with a near
arket in Sydney, the -future will doubtless see
the whole of this southern Illawarra and Cambe-
arra converted into irrigable gardens and small
airy farms. Near Nowra is a plot of 28 acres,
held by Chinese at an annual rental of £5 per acre.
In dry years, with irrigation, these Chinese
gardeners succeed in raising five tons of potatoes
to the acre — which, doubtless, pays them hand-
somely.
The irrigable belt near Nowra contains about
32,000 acres of magnificent alluvial soil. At the
present time this land is worth on an average £40
an acre. One farm of 800 acres was recently sold
for £40,000. Some of this has produced as much
as 100 bushels of maize to the acre.
^■as i(
Between Nowra and Burner, however,
there is Government land valued at £1 an acre,
much of which, with irrigation, might be turneu
to profitable account.
While looking out over verdant Shoalhaven
and discussing these possibilities of future coastal
development, there arrived O. L. Harrison, of
the N.S.W. Forestry Department, in his busy
little Cadillac car.
It had been arranged that we should accom-
pany Mr. Harrison on one of his down-coast tours
of inspection. The journeys and voyages under-
taken in search of accurate material for this book
have never been tedious, but some of them have
proved more enjoyable than others. That ten
days travel with Forester Harrison was amongst
the most memorable. It has left dreamy recollec-
tions of hours that were as near to perfection as
Earth can give.
Although it was midsummer, there had been
some rain; whereby the dust was checked and the
atmosphere sweetened and cooled.
The southern coast of New South Wales en-
joys perhaps the best climate in Australia; its
roads are excellent, its inns comfortable, and its
people hospitable and friendly.
Down the South Coast from Nowra to Eden,
prosperous dairy towns and villages follow one
another. The land is rich, the seasons usually
good, and coastal steamers plying regularly to
the different seaports keep the farmers in touch
with their markets. Overland communication
with the rail-head at Nowra is kept up by motor
and coach services.
Added to all the native attractions of the Land,
we had a travelling companion who knew every
track, bend, and beauty spot, as well as a Sydney
tram driver knows the road to Circular Quay.
From Nowra to the junction of the Crook-
haven and Shoalhaven — where one gets a glint
of the blue Pacific — the road runs through the
alluvial belt already mentioned as a future irriga-
tion possibility.
We took this before lunch, ere starting out on
our four hundred mile jaunt to the South.
At a little roadside orchard, worked by one P.
Caffery, as an adjunct to his dairy farm, we pulled
"vT^SHiJ'-'" "'■'":"' £-.4ifcC;
■a
3
O
09
264
THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY
265
up to eat peaches and plums. Stone-fruits flourish
in this locality. The amiable Caffery fed us with
red nectarines, golden drop plums, and rosy-
cheeked peaches, till we could eat no more.
We returned to lunch with pleasing impressions
of green flats, fat cows, melon patches, silky oaks,
willows and jacarandas, fertility, beauty and
prosperity. Later, when we set out again on our
journey by the main coast road, it was with a very
contented mind.
The road ran through noble bush, up hill and
down. Blackbutt, turpentine, ironbark, and
bloodwood were the prevailing timbers; but now
and then a hillside curve or bend would bring us
in sight of a gully beautiful with palms and tree
ferns; or a dip downhill led us across a green flat,
where, on cleared farm lands, dairy cows and
maize crops flourished. Always on the western
side of us there was a blue background of moun-
tains, which practically remained, in many varying
contours, all the way down coast. Now and then
we caught a glimpse of blue waters eastward.
So, with mountains on the right, and sea on the
left, we journeyed leisurely.
Over the grassy shoulders of a cleared hillside
we saw Lake Conjola; looking in the afternoon
light like an immense bed of blue cornflowers in
bloom.
We motored into Milton, through rich grazing
and dairying hill-farms; worth in some places £45
an acre.
Milton, lying beyond the railway, is an old and
quaint village. It is perched on a high ridge,
which overlooks a scene of great fertility.
Between Nowra and Eden there are many old-
fashioned gardens, with tall hollyhocks, and blue
larkspur, and red cabbage-roses, to keep folk in
mind of colonial days.
Motor cars and military bands, of course, they
have on the South Coast, but the air of once-upon-
a-time, somehow, clings to it still. Not all the
khaki uniforms, nor bandoliers, nor magazine
rifles, nor high-decked military saddles of its
smart modern yeomanry, can quite dispel the feel-
ing that Captain Waldron or Captain Weston,
with a squad of British regulars in long red coats,
with Brown Besses, bayonets, pipe-clayed belts —
and all the uniform and accoutrements of William
or young Queen Victoria will shortly come march-
ing, drummers and fifers at their head, down the
South Coast road. Nor all the motor cars with
their hoarse noises, polished lamps, coughing
exhausts, and burning engines can quite put out of
one's mind the thought that Cobb & Co.'s mail
coach must be somewhere just ahead.
More forests and flats, maize paddocks and
farms lie before us. There are creeks whereby
the dog-wood and myrtle are flowering. Over
these we will run carefully. The hillsides are
well-graded, the creeks spanned by stout, little
wooden bridges — the roadmakers' art has been
exercised to good purpose. So we glide quickly,
smoothly, and, with constantly stimulated interest,
through an Ideal country.
Now and again we pass a timber mill, usually
no more than a long, low iron-roofed shed with a
saw bench and appliances for hauling logs. These
mills are mostly located on some tidal creek or
inlet, where ready water-carriage relieves them of
their output. Sometimes the timber is rafted, but
more often loaded directly into little coasting
steamers, specially built, on a shallow draught, to
handle this trade.
By and bye we come to UlladuUa, which leaves
a memory of a blue bay, a breakwater and sandy
beaches, overlooked by forested hills. Norfolk
pines and spreading fig trees, throwing a dense
black shade, complete the picture.
Ulladulla, four miles south of Milton, is
located in a picturesque lake district, where fish
and game are plentiful. Like other South Coast
districts, Ulladulla has been the nesting-place for
a sturdy brood of young dairymen who, when the
time came, trekked northward to the more tropi-
cal districts of the Richmond and Tweed, which
they helped to subdue and convert Into rich farm
h
Turpentine Trees
266
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
lands. Just as South Coast men went north
years ago, North Coast men are now trekking
further north into Queensland. The trend of
migration is likely to be from south to north
in the future.
Ulladulla — most melodious of aboriginal
words — will always be beautiful. Its grassy hills,
wide coastal lagoons and jungled gullies lure the
hunter and the dreamer to sylvan delights.
Apart from being a marksman, the hunter
must know the habits of game; the necessary
bushcraft is not picked up in a day. Readers
of this book will bear these facts in mind. Aus-
tralia is a sportsman's paradise, but the sports-
man must learn many pages of Nature's Book if
he wishes to avoid disappointment.
F"or example, below Eden, forty miles or so, is
the Mallacoota Inlet. At certain seasons of the
A Cream Cart
The good rock oyster fattens inshore, and
along romantic sea-margins whimbrel and godwit
call. It is good to tramp some coastal marsh or
foreland, well waterproofed and gaitered, when
the south wind is whipping the spindrift, and,
from grey clouds, comes down a warm slant rain.
Then is the time to crouch under cover, where
the wheeling black duck alight to feed.
Good also it is to whistle the pointers to you at
early morning, ere the dew has left the grass,
and walk rushy flats or stubble paddocks for
quail. One may be assured of sport in proper
season anywhere along this littoral between
Nowra and Eden.
But as fishermen are born, not made, the perfect
hunter cannot be evolved, save from specially
adaptable material. The unskilled amateur will
go into a district where game is plentiful and get
nothing. The experienced sportsman will go
where game are scarce or shy and still secure his
bag.
year a stranger might sail all day over a series of
salt lakes and freshwater rivers and see, perhaps,
a dozen birds. But if the stranger knew just
where to hide from sundown to dark, he might
shoot as many ducks as he could carry.
At any day-time of the year he will not see a
blue-wing duck on Mallacoota.
But if he knew where to "plant," and he knew
how to shoot by the splash of alighting birds or
by starlight, moonlight, or no light at all — as an
experienced duck-shooter can — he will get blue
wing — not earlier than 9 p.m. any evening.
Where those particular blue-wing come from;
where they go ; why they never arrive until night-
fall, and why they leave the waters of Mallacoota
before daylight is one of those nature
problems which the writer has been unable to
solve. It is doubtful if the New South Wales
Intelligence Department — an encyclopaedia of
interesting information — has solved it either. . .
THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY
267
Our good forester said we would get oysters have described the Australian Bush as monoton-
at Bateman's Bay. Having already found him a ous. No botanist, no lover of Nature, could ever
reliable authority on South Coast matters, we find it other than beautiful and interesting. The
accepted his assurance with the faith of Hadji
pilgrims on the road to Mecca.
Crossing the picturesque Clyde River by a slow
punt we came to the Clyde Hotel — another low-
roofed South Coast inn filled with grateful sur-
prises.
They gave us oysters, in sooth, luscious, flavour-
able, memorable oysters, freshly opened — three
large plates.
Then they served us an excellent soup, and
followed it with fish, newly-whisked from the salt
water near by. Then they pressed us to asparagus
and roast lamb and mint sauce, and seemed
grieved because we ate sparingly. Rather than
hurt their hospitable feelings we attacked the
rice custard and plums, and the peach pie with
baked custard; but, there is a limit to the capacity
even of hungry travellers an hour late for Sunday
dinner.
For a while afterwards we sat on the verandah
of the hotel looking idly at the hazy entrance to
Bateman's Bay, looking at sea, island, training
wall, and long reaches of tidal sands — all very
beautiful, full of colour, and fanned by the winds
of perfect peace.
Inland, the still waters of the Clyde opened out
into wooded hills, with blue ranges in the far
background.
It is a picturesque district, and its limited popu-
lation enjoy prosperity — and the finest of oysters.
The fishing, they told us, was good, but we might
not linger.
Once again the quiet, competent Harrison
turned the starting handle of his reliable little
car, and we glided on through alternate forest
and Hat towards Moruya.
Anon, the road wound into coastal hills. Many
stiff climbs and sharp turns gave it variety. The
sides of these hills are thickly covered with dark,
palm-leaved macrozamia, from whose ripe red
seeds — protected by a spiked green outer case,
resembling a pineapple — a food substance re-
sembling arrowroot has, it is said, lately been
extracted. It is claimed that this starchy product
contains much nutriment. An attempt is being
made to commercialise it.
The forests immediately south of Bateman's
Bay contain spotted gum and blackbutt of good
quality. New South Wales spotted gum has been
proved one of our most valuable hardwoods. It
enters largely into carriage work. It is light and
strong, and more durable than American hickory.
The tree itself, with its tall white trunks covered
with leopard-like spots, umbrageous foliage, and
smooth, regular branches, is one of the finest in
^ur glorious native flora. Superficial writers
wonderful hardwood forests which cover so many
thousands of square miles of this Continent are
an asset beyond calculation.
There are yet magnificent belts of com-
mercial timbers in Southern New South Wales,
which are receiving the careful attention of the
Forestry Department.
k
Blackbutt, Bateman's Bay
As we motored through these, our forester
friend gave us details of forestry work, of the
quality, value, tensile strength, and use of various
timbers. He opened for us a book of woodcraft,
which made an interesting journey still more en-
joyable.
By and by, of a clear Sunday afternoon, we
petrolled out of the high timber, and entered a
region of more frequent houses, with trim gardens
and orchards around them.
Moruya appeared before us. The town is ap-
proached by a long bridge spanning a tidal river.
It is the centre of an exceedingly fertile district,
surrounded by alluvial flats growing prolific maize
crops, and has a fine background of blue moun-
tains.
268
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED.
Moruya is hospitable, prosperous, picturesque.
Poverty does not exist on the South Coast; most
people are making money, and everybody enjoys
a good living.
A tour such as ours, leaves the visitor with
impressions of fresh-faced, happy people, good
food, good beds, good roads, pleasant days filled
with panoramas of ever-changing beauty and re-
freshing nights.
The average of South Coast farms is a little
over 200 acres, and the output of agriculture and
dairy produce has materially added to the rich-
ness of the State for the last fifty years and more.
Farm land near Moruya is valued at £40 to
£50 an acre. All South Coast agricultural pro-
Tall hollyhocks, in cottage gardens, mossy
four-rail fences, and an utter absence of that air
of bustle and speculation which one finds in new
places, proclaimed Moruya to be an early settle-
ment.
It has been celebrated for its fine dairy pastures
for many years. The motor car has come, the
separator has come, but the South Coaster, kindly,
good-humoured, and easy-going, still jogs along
comfortably in his own quiet way. The next
generation will probably ' hustle ' — he is satisfied
with to-day.
From Moruya to Bermagui there extends a
coastline which is an open casket of gems
to nature-lovers. The main road skirts shallow
Moruya Cheese FactojTr
duction gives one the impression that people are
not getting anything near the revenue possible
from their lands. But, how can we blame them
for taking things easily? Living in an idyllic
climate, softened by daily sea breezes, surrounded
by sea, sky, and mountains, Levantine in light
and colour, with fishing, oystering, shooting,
sports, races, dancing, and amusements for con-
stant attraction; possessing an easy competence;
dreading neither want nor stintage, owning their
buggies, bikes, saddle horses, motor cars; having
mostly money in the banks, and a certainty of
good seasons — it would be absurd to expect such
people to live a strenuous life.
Even the sea-gulls sitting on the fences in the
main street look lazy and contented.
Lake Coila, a haunt of wildfowl, and runs on to
the Tuross River. This romantic river and
estuary empty into Tuross Lake, an indented
and island-studded sheet of water where fisherman
and sportsman forget fast-flying hours in thrills
of constant kill and capture.
Historic Bodalla Estate is an example of what
can be effected on good country by good manage-
ment. It lies along the Tuross River, a liberal
freehold which has been in the possession of the
Mort family since the days of the late T. S. Mort,
to whose memory, as a pioneer of industry. New
South Wales pays homage. The estate comprises
50,000 odd acres. On 6,000 acres of its im-
proved areas about 300 people find a living. They
are well housed and apparently contented. Th?
Jl
f I
THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY
269
Narooma Bivei
estate pays £8,000 a year in wages. It is the best-
grassed, best-stocked, most scientifically conducted
I estate, with the exception perhaps of Kameruka,
bn the coast of New South Wales. Its dairy
products — butter and cheese — are famous. Its
general appearance is that of a State agricultural
ifarm, conducted on revenue-producing lines.
I There is an accommodation-house at Narooma,
where the traveller can be sure of a good lunch
with fresh oysters as an appetiser.
The channel is crossed by a punt near the
mouth of the inlet — a fine sheet of water that
widens out into picturesque reaches towards the
hills. Mount Dromedary stands out in solid
bulk in the background.
Strong tides pour in and out of the channel;
rarely navigated except by timber steamers, which
read a careful passage to and from the wharves
t the feet of the mills.
Good timber goes out of Narooma, which is
Iso famous for its fishing. It is one of the many
elightful places along this coast, where one might
ipend an enjoyable vacation, forgetting the world
f care, detaching the good rock oyster from his
ative habitat, and filling one's fishing basket with
he spoil of rod and line.
Breakers were combing lazily on a golden
tretch of sand; steep hills throwing their
eplicas into still depths, as we left Narooma
ehind.
Bordered by tree-fern, myrtle, dogwood, pen-
cil cedar, and mountain musk, the winding road
went on. Wild tobacco grew in the bushes and
on the forest reserves, the trunks of the spotted
gum stood like pillars of white marble, orna-
lljimented by dark arabesques.
FHr It crossed out over a shoulder of the Drome-
dary, where Tilba-Tilba is set in a rich pocket of
k
soil, and went down over Wallaga Lake through
Bermagui and Baragoot, and Cuttagee and
Wapengo, all salt inlets, to Tathra, which is the
port for Bega and its district.
At Tanja we turned and crossed Mt. Doctor
George, from the summits of which we looked
down and saw the town of Bega, the capital city
of this far South Coast.
Bega lies on a river of the same name. With the
exception of the alluvial flats along this river, the
district is nearly all granitic hills, getting higher
as they go westward towards the Dividing Chain.
These hills have been largely cleared, and make
excellent pastures. They go out through Candelo
and Rocky Hall, and include some fine pastoral
country of which Nungatta Station, near the
Victorian border, is perhaps the best. This
station, on an area of eleven thousand acres, has
carried 2,500 head of cattle. Nungatta is well
watered, high, and grows good fattening grasses.
This back country is coming into sheep, and later
on will, no doubt, be occupied as dairy farms.
Kameruka Estate, a few miles from Bega, is a
telling example of the value of this southern
granitic country. All over Australia Kameruka
is celebrated.
Its fruits, cheese, and dairy produce are of the
finest qualities. It is delightfully situated among
low rolling hills, is abundantly watered, and has
been laid out and improved on the lines of the
best English estates.
Similar country around Bega — suitable for
grazing and dairying — is valued at £7 to £10 an
acre, whereas the alluvial flats, devoted largely
to maize-growing, can hardly be got for £60 and
£70 an acre. 1 he average maize crop on Bega
flats is from 70 to 80 bushels an acre; but, in
exceptional seasons, this has been increased to 140
270
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Benjamin Boyd's Old Home, Twofold Bay.
bushels. The annual net returns from these maize
lands may be taken (19 14) at from £10 to £12
an acre.
Ultimately the "back country," the rolling
granite hills (such as compose the major part of
the Kameruka Estate) through all this southern
part of New South Wales, from Bega to the Vic-
torian border, will be found more productive on
actual expenditure and receipts than the naturally
rich soils along the river beds. Should an exten-
sion of the railway from Bombala to Twofold
Bay be carried out, all these lands will come within
the range of closer settlement.
The road from the railway at Cooma comes
down to Bega. Nowadays the South Coast and
the tablelands are linked up by motor services
over various routes.
The trip from Cooma to Eden brings the tra-
veller a practical example of the fact that Aus-
tralia is a land of many good climates. He may
leave Cooma in a grey fog or covered with
snow, wrapped to the ears in rugs and overcoats.
He will still shiver at bleak Nimmitabel : but as
the road falls through thickening forests towards
Brown Mountain, the climate becomes percep-
tibly inilder.
On the hunch of the mountain, all at once, from
an elbow in the road, he beholds another world
spread out beneath him. The South Coast is un-
rolled like a green scroll edged with blue. While
the cold mountain air is still nipping his ears, he
looks over into a land of summer, dotted with
patches of green sub-tropical vegetation, and fields
covered with waving maize. In another hour or
so we find him discarding his overcoat, dispensing
with his travelling rug, and talking pleasantly
about surf-bathing.
He eats his breakfast chop beside a roaring
fire, takes his midday lunch amid spring perfumes
from country gardens, and calls for cool drinks
with his dinner at night.
We bided overnight in Bega at the clean and
comfortable Commercial Hotel, where, true to
South Coast traditions, guests are treated like
friends, and feather-beds are found for favored
visitors. Some critical writers have complained
that Australians lack polish. In this country
superficial manners — which mean little — are
sometimes neglected; but kindliness and an hon-
est hospitality, which is common to all classes,
will be found everywhere. If the traveller is
prepared to "take things as he finds them," and
is not given to aloofness, he will soon learn and
appreciate the homely goodnature of the Bush.
From Bega down to Eden the coast road
changes pleasantly from forest to clearing and
back to forest again.
At Merimbula there is an old-established de-
pot for the manufacture of maize flour; a little
roadstead and a wharf where coastal steamers
are berthed twice a week.
The village of Pambula lies in the margin of a
rich pocket of alluvial flat, devoted mainly to the
growing of maize.
Between Pambula Lake and Eden there are
many forest-clad hills. Surmounting the final
ridges the wide, blue waters of Twofold Bay
come into sight, with the township of Eden
perched on an overlooking hill, and Mount Im-
lay standing high and prominent, some miles to
the westward. I
Eden is rich in historic memories of the days
when Benjamin Boyd attempted to establish a
whaling industry on a baronial basis; when the
white sails of wooden brigs and schooners awak-
ened local interest as they came and went, when
Sir Oswald Brierley painted fine canvases on the
southern shore and old taverns re-echoed the !
songs of carousing sailormen.
On the south headland is the unfinished tower
of Ben Boyd's lighthouse. On this side of the Bay
still stands Sir Oswald Brierley's house, with
I
THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY
271
ancient mulberry trees growing in front of it.
The shingles are slipping from its high gable
roof these days, and the plaster is falling from
the walls. Ben Boyd's substantial buildings are
suffering the same fate. For many years they
have stood as silent monuments of a fine failure.
Ihey have helped to keep green the memory of
old times, when Eden was the great whaling depot
of the South Pacific.
The industry has never actually died out. For
thirty years every season the Bay has been the
scene of wonderful whale chases, in which the
"Killers," harriers of the seas, have played a star
part, helping the local whalemen to corner and
kill their whales, and being permitted in return to
tear out their tit-bit, the tongue of the whale, in
repayment.
The Killer {Orca gladiator) is somewhat like
a huge porpoise, with a blunt nose. It has a
high dorsal fin, a black striped body, is 15 to 25
feet in length, and has proved itself to be one of
the most intelligent creatures of the living world.
The Twofold Bay "pack" numbers about
twenty Killers all told. During the season, June
to October, this pack is invariably to be found
about a spot called "Leather Jacket," just off the
south headland. Here they apparently lie in
wait for whales coming up coast. The appear-
ance of a whale off the entrance to the Bay is the
signal for a great commotion among these Killers,
who surround the cetacean, and endeavour to
drive it into the Bay.
The local whaleboats put out quickly, and a
most extraordinary hunt takes place, in which
Orca gladiator works the worried whale for the
whalemen's advantage, just as a pack of harriers
will drive a hare to the gun.
Nor do they leave the quarry until the har-
pooner's lance has finished its deadly work.
Eden whalemen have bestowed fanciful names
on their finned assistants, and take good care to
protect them. A most friendly relationship has
grown up between the boat crews and the Killers,
and the hunt is carried out on a joint organiza-
tion, which generally proves fatal to the whale.
A whale chase in Twofold Bay is a sight that
stirs the blood of the lucky beholder, and the
residents of Eden never grow tired of the spec-
tacle. While the chase is in progress the business
of the town remains at a standstill. Finbacks,
bumpers, right whale, and grampus are all caught
at Twofold Bay in this unusual fashion.
Eden of to-day is a haunt of tourists and a
shipping depot for timber and wool and produce,
brought down tediously by teams from Monaro
and the adjoining districts.
Midway between Melbourne and Sydney, this
fine harbor, as the terminus of a railway from
the tableland, should have a future.
At Kiah, Towamba, Pericoe, Yambulla, Nun-
gatta, and Nethercote there are good farm
lands; some in settlement and some awaiting sub-
division. The hills will grow splendid fruit, and
though old as Australian occupation goes, the dis-
trict is still young in development.
On a blithe, windy morning we went out to
Nethercote, a belt of volcanic soils a few miles
from Eden. En route we halted the German
At the Whaling Station, Twofold Bay
272
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
waggon of one Adolf Fourter, at the summit of
a tall, forested hill. Adolf is a fine example of a
successful Bavarian colonist — blue-eyed, blond-
bearded, hearty, and cheerful. With his compe-
tent Australian wife and three stalwart sons, he
has cleared and cultivated a comfortable farm
out of virgin forest. He holds a 250-acre block
under conditional purchase title. Twenty-one
years ago he began, as a young immigrant, on
91 acres. He had a little colonial experience
and no capital. As he cleared the heavy timber,
he planted maize and potatoes. After a few
years he began dairy farming.
By culling his little herd and testing his milk
carefully he can make his cows each return him
scope of rolling hillsides, where forest and farm
alternate, is a green garden of fertility.
The Southern dairy farmer has been called
upon to cope with the rabbit, and netted fences
cross the landscape in all directions.
At Cobargo, they told us, the rabbit was prov-
ing a blessing in disguise, inasmuch as people
were learning that 640 acre holdings could be
reduced to 320 acres and worked to greater ad-
vantage.
For rabbits, prickly pear, and other foreign
Introductions, which become pests In Australia,
there is one explanation — and a remedy. Rab-
bits, foxes, prickly pear, spread because wide,
waste lands afford them unique opportunities to
A Dairy Farm at Nethercote
as much as £2/3/9 monthly per annum. He
nets nowadays a living of £300 a year, and re-
gards Australia as a good country.
Nethercote soil averages 40 to 50 bushels of
maize to the acre. In good years the crops go
up to 90 bushels. Its farming population seems
exceptionally contented.
We turned northward by inland roads; climb-
ing over the hills that lie between Pambula and
Wyndham, and crossing Myrtle Mountain, en
route to Candelo.
Traversing a short belt of red volcanic country,
yet virgin to settlement, we beheld, from the sum-
mit of this mountain, one of the finest panoramic
views in the State of New South Wales.
Kameruka lay beneath us, with Its boundaries
of dark pines, and the pretty little town of Can-
delo at the head of the Bega River. Candelo is
famed for feminine beauty. In spring all this
increase and multiply. Closer settlement formsj
the one effective check to these evils, simple andl
commonplace enough in their origins, but taking!
on complex and singular aspects from the very!
nature of local circumstance.
In occupied countries some of our worst curses
are cultivated as blessings. We hear that the
French peasant breeds his rabbits as an agree-
able addition to the bill of fare; that the Ameri-
can agriculturist grows prickly pear for fodder;
that the English sportsman preserves his fox.
In Australia we poison our rabbits with phosphor-
ised pollard; employ noxious gases to extermin-
ate prickly pear, and — although a sporting people 1
— shoot foxes without a qualm.
It is true that frozen rabbits are exported
in large quantities. New South Wales sent out,
roughly, seven million pairs of rabbits and hares
in 1 9 13, and nearly five million lbs. of pelts.
THE LAND OF MILK AND HONHY
273
Prickly pear is being turned to some account, and
the English fox skin has become an article
of commerce — but the Australian settler has not
yet learned to look upon these things as valuable
national assets, nor is he to be greatly blamed on
that account.
From Cobargo, back through Wagonga and
Furobodalla, and across the Bodalla Estate again
from west to east, was a lovely afternoon's run.
' )n this track we headed Narooma Inlet and tra-
\crsed some fine spotted gum forests and part-
ially cleared farming lands.
Between Bateman's Bay and Milton next day
we again took a westerly route, which brought
us over Termed Mountain, where we inspected
the locally famous "water trees."
rhese twin trees act as a reservoir for a sup-
ply of clear, cool water, from which the thirsty
traveller may procure a refreshing drink, no mat-
ter how dry the season. The butt of one tree is
hollow. A hole has been cut in big enough to
admit a swagman's billy-can. All sorts of mys-
terious bush explanations are given for this little
natural phenomenon, which do not affect way-
farers with local knowledge, who find the trees bv
the roadside a pleasant place of shade and water
on a hot day.
Late that night our pleasant pilgrimage with
Forester O. L. Harrison finished at Nowra. But
for evermore in joyous recollection we will see
that long, lovely coastland, dreaming lazily be-
tween Shoalhaven River and Twofold Bay.
Lake and inlet, river and mountain, blue skies,
blue seas, blue hills, waving palm trees, glorious
forests, green meadows, whitewashed dairies,
winding roads and all the happy incidents of
travel and adventure through a romantic and
beautiful country will make mental pictures,
whereon we can look with unwearying delight.
White Apple Tree
The white bridge across the river at Towam-
ba, the granite hills of Pericoe on which dark rain
clouds are gathering, Nungatta homestead with
its background of hills, tBe road from Pambula
to Wyndham winding through the gorges, the
lookdown from Myrtle Mountain, the spindrift
on the ocean beach at Narooma — these things
are not easily forgotten; nor are the cool sea winds
coming shoreward in the afternoons, nor the
sparkle of the waters, nor all the light and color
and contour and foliage of a land forever fav-
ored by the winds and sun.
Main Street, Milton
cm
tm
3
a
S
09
274
(275)
Burrinjiick Dam, in Course of Erection (Down-stream Face)
IRRIGATION AND THE RIVERINA.
- /-A Thomases, where machine-made critics
spent their leisure time in predicting the
faihire of each fresh enterprise.
Some years ago the N.S.W. Government
j decided that it would link up Coonamble in the
t North-West with Dubbo, by railway — 90 miles.
One remembers the violent opposition to this
line. The author of this book, driving a caravan
across from Dubbo to Narrabri, en route to
Northern Queensland, in 1899 — met many dole-
ful prophets, who proved, to their own satisfac-
tion, what an utter failure the North-West line
IHKs going to be.
^PLooking up railway returns for the State
recently, he found with no surprise that the 90
miles has been paying £20,000 a year after the
first year of its construction !
IH|So with the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Scheme.
T)espite all predictions of failure, this great
national work promises to be one of Australia's
biggest successes.
These engineering works represent the second
greatest artificial storage in the world — being
only a little behind the Assouan Dam.
T he site chosen for the erection of the retaining
wall was at Burrinjuck, on the Murrumbidgee
River, forty miles from Canberra.
Here the river enters a deep and narrow gorge.
By damming this gorge with a wall of cyclopean
concrete, the engineers were able to throw back
the flow of the river into an enormous natural
basin, capable of containing more water than
Sydney Harbor.
The wall of this colossal dam is 236 feet high
and 752 feet long. It has absorbed over 60,000
tons of cement. Five thousand square miles of
catchment area spread behind it. The actual
irrigation area is located a long day's journey
down stream. The farms receive the water as
it is required.
The Murrumbidgee Irrigation Scheme has been
expensive, but it has established a national asset
of ever-increasing value. The original estimated
cost was £1,169,008; but this will be greatly
exceeded.
The irrigable district, 220 miles from the
Burrinjuck Reservoir, extends on the north side
of the Murrumbidgee River, from Narrandera to
Gunbar, a distance of 130 miles. It contains a
territory of 358,000 acres. Of this 196,000 acres
have been classed as first-class land.
The area will carry at least 3,580 homesteads,
on a basis of 100 acres to a holding.
It is difficult to estimate what the total popula-
tion of the new province will be in another ten
k
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years. If, on 11,000 acres of irrigated land at
Mildura, over 5,000 people are doing well, the
Murrumbidgee Irrigation Scheme should ulti-
mately support as many as two hundred thousand.
Already it has a population of 5,000, and not
one-tenth of the scheme has been dealt with. The
latest official report of Yanco and Mirrool sec-
tions— the first to be thrown open — is inspiring.
" At the beginning of the year," says the
official report to the Ministry, " approximately
330 farms had been taken up on the Yanco and
Mirrool areas.
to the growth of vegetables, tobacco, and other
annual crops.
"Not only have the farms taken up in the initial
stages of the settlement been brought into pro-
duction, but during the year an additional 225
farms, with an area aggregating upwards of
10,000 acres, have been allotted, and in the ma-
jority of cases brought into full use. The setders
as a whole have displayed the utmost energy in
the development of their farms, and they are to
be congratulated on the results achieved. These
remarks apply equally as well to the Mirrool end
Burrlnjuck Dam. Almost Completed (Up-stream Face)
"Most of these were at Yanco, the Mirrool
area having just been opened. Many of these
farms had been taken up only in name, the settlers
were not in occupation, and on many holdings
clearing operations had not even been commenced.
Except in the immediate vicinity of Leeton, there
was little to show that any attempt at closer
settlement on a large scale had actually taken
place. Now, however, conditions are entirely
different.
"From Yanco station northwards for a distance
of 12 or 15 miles on either side of the road, there
is a succession of closely-settled holdings, varying
in area from two to 50 acres. Many of these
have been planted with fruit trees and vines;
others again, have just yielded to their holders
very successful hay crops; while still others have
been put down with lucerne or are being devoted
of the scheme as to the much larger settlement at
Yanco. The first subdivision of the Mirrool area
included about 89 farms. Almost the whole of
these have been taken up, cleared, and cultivated,
with the result that the Mirrool settlement on a
small scale is a replica of the country around
Leeton. The total number of farms allotted
during the year is 560.
"One hundred and fifty additional farms have
been made available for settlement, and these
will be thrown open early in the new year, and
there will be additional areas from time to
time.
"Generally speaking, settlers may be divided
into three classes: — (i) orchardists; (2) dairy
farmers; (3) mixed farmers. Everything points
to success in the whole of the three branches of
intense culture. The results obtained from
es 01 I
1 the I
M
IKKIGATIOxN AND THli RIVERINA
277
An Apricot Tree, Yanco
rrees planted at the experimental farm have been
:xtremely satisfactory, and as the farm was estab-
ished on some of the poorest land in the settle-
nent, it is only to be expected that settlers on
higher-class country will produce even better fruit
— fine as the fruit produced at the farm has un-
Joiihtedly been.
"With regard to dairying, the results obtained
so far have been eminently satisfactory.
"Expert opinion is unanimous on the point that
^ anco offers splendid opportunities to the dairy
farmer. Settlers are rapidly recognising this fact.
Before the local factory was opened cream suffi-
cient to produce 600 lb. of butter per week was
being sent from the areas to the Hay Butter Fac-
tory. The cream suppliers to the local factory
number 60, and the output amounts to approxi-
mately 3,500 lb. per week. The quality of the
butter produced is first class, and no difficulty has
been found in disposing of it at top market rates."
Co-operative canning plants, to deal with the
surplus crops of vegetables are being installed,
and co-operative fruit-preserving plants will also
be a future development.
For the guidance of intending settlers, official
information concerning terms and conditions will
be found in the appendix of this volume.
New South Wales is naturally anxious that
Murrumbidgee settlers should succeed, not only
for themselves and for the sake of the scheme,
but in order that the benefits of irrigation may be
demonstrated beyond all doubt. Nowhere can
there be found a more interesting settlement. The
resources of modern science have been freely
called up to achieve the maximum of result. The
engineer has been given a free hand, and the
artificer is nowhere stinted.
As a result, things have been made possible in
a space of time which the pioneers of the last
generation could never have imagined.
The author saw the beginning of this settle-
ment in August, 1 9 10. The State Experimental
Farm was then the only area planted. In May,
1913, he re-visited it and found profitable agri-
culture firmly established, villages where there
had been solitudes, prosperity and progress
already in being. As a sheep-raising proposition
the annual revenue of Yanco might have been los.
to 15s. an acre in good seasons; but now these
red soils will bring forty, fifty times that return
to the irrigationist.
In May, 1913, there was hardly a railway
station in the south-western radius where one
might not see huge stacks of wheat awaiting trans-
port. Old fields were green with self-sown wheat.
In the new fields, stubble and sheep, and disc
ploughs at work told of a thriving industry. But
the production of wheat lands will never be as
great as that of irrigation areas. The ^o-acre
farmers are the men of the future in Australia.
They will be as independent as the old sheep-
barons, even if their incomes caimot be so high —
and they will not envy the 1,500-acre men on
their grain-growing mixed-farming sections.
278
IRRIGATION AND THE RIVERINA
279
The actual life and growth of this settlement
in the making is good to watch. You go down to
Leeton and put up at a well-patronised boarding-
house, where a crowd of young engineers and
Government officials of all ages and ranks come
regularly to " chop."
Many of them dwell in the canvas town
waiting, like some of the settlers, for houses
which are yet in the building. Material and labour
can hardly be got through quickly enough to meet
the demand for construction. Bustle and business
are in the atmosphere of the place.
Awaiting permanent quarters, this section of
the population makes itself very comfortable
under calico or canvas. The settlement is attract-
ing a good class of people, with intellectual and
social instincts.
While the Avork of ditching and grading, sub-
dividing, fencing, and house building is going on,
social and municipal organisation are also
evolving. Being, in a sense, a huge co-operative
family, the irrigationists are friendly and helpful
to one another.
The new colony on the Murrumbidgee is an
ideal place for the man who would live the healthi-
est of lives, amidst the happiest of surroundings,
and is satisfied with a comfortable income, which
can be supplemented in many ways.
A tour of inspection around Leeton to-day
leaves the visitor with a conviction that he has
seen a district where success is written in letters
of green and gold at every turn. He finds the
most up-to-date butter factory in Australia ; he
sees on the State Demonstration Farm a hundred
examples of profitable production, by which
settlers may be guided. Along the main canal,
which three years ago was no more than a huge
ditch newly cut through \'irgin country, he will see
maize, melons, pumpkins, lucerne, and behold
young fields in the first flush of agricultural
motherhood, new dwellings, new gardens, and
hopeful new residents.
He will see the beginnings of ostrich farms,
dairy farms, orchards, vineyards, all the signs of
intensive culture and close occupation, where a
few years ago there were only long lines of wire
fences and a few scattered sheep.
It was worth while, for this result, that the
Great Dam, 200 miles away, was slowly raised
as an eternal monument to the foresight and pub-
lic enterprise of a young State. It took six
hundred thousand tons of material and sixty thou-
sand tons of cement to weld Burrinjuck Moun-
tain to Black Andrew, and to create that titanic
cup which holds 33,630 million cubic feet of
water that will keep perennially green this
national garden and extend its boundaries year
by year.
In this garden of five thousand plots, fodder
enough can henceforth be grown to supply the
surrounding pastoral districts, if necessary. There
will be no more drought on the area, and no more
shortage in the country round about it. Most
valuable of all, a populous centre of settlement
has been created in the heart of the West!
Irrigation at Yanco
New South Wales meditates the construction
of other storages for the purposes of irrigation:
at Wyangala on the Lachlan River, and Cam-
beroona on the Murray; on the Upper Hunter,
the Warragamba, the Macquarie, and at Lake
Menindie on the Darling.
The financial aspect of the irrigation policy
includes the creation of a sinking fund and the
meeting of any accumulated deficiencies on ac-
count of maintenance and interest that may occur
during the early years of working. In regard to
the Murrumbidgee scheme, it is provided that the
whole cost of the works, both storage and
channels, shall be wiped out in a hundred years.
The Government can do this, and still afford
its settlers all the water they require for purposes
of irrigation, at a lower rate than that charged in
any other irrigation settlement in the world.
28o
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The original \^'arragamba River scheme in-
cludes the construction of a storage dam to retain
a volume of 103,800 million gallons of water.
This would give Sydney a supplementary daily
domestic supply of 80 million gallons, and leave
80 million gallons daily for irrigating lands along
the banks of the Nepean River and South Creek.
The introduction of intensive agriculture into
a country where agriculturists have been used to
large areas and depended on Nature alone, has
not been accomplished without opposition and
doubt. But New South Wales has ever exhibited
a thoroughness about her public enterprise. Con-
fident of her enormous resources, she builds solidly
and fearlessly. In launching her irrigation policy,
after much premeditation, she determined that
she would begin with a scheme on a parallel with
the great Assouan dam. The State has now prac-
tically completed its works at Burrinjuck and on
the Murrumbidgee, and will probably await the
sequel of experience before undertaking another
scheme of the same magnitude. Meanwhile there
is room for many smaller irrigation schemes with-
in the borders of the Mother State. The next
decade will doubtless see a great advance in
irrigation throughout New South Wales.
The Murrumbidgee Scheme may ultimately be
extended to Hay. Between Whitton and Hay,
the railway line runs through typical Riverina
plains, giving, under present conditions, good re-
turns from sheep. Wheat-growing is extending,
and one near day all that vast prairie, from
Carrathool on the Murrumbidgee to Hillston on
the Lachlan, will doubtless come under the plough.
With a rapid extension of dry farming, the estab-
lishment of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Colony,
and necessary railway building, Riverina is coming
into her own.
And what an Eldorado it is! He who has not
seen the Riverina in good season, has never
known how wondrous fertile, kind and fair our
Australian Motherland can be. Her face is
beautiful in many moods, but Riverina is the
maternal smile upon her mouth.
From Cowra to Balranald, from Jerilderie to
Maude, our Southern Sultana, spreads one vast
carpet of emerald, broidered with flowers. Spring
dances her sarabands across it for hundreds of
melodious miles. The early winds of summer
ruffle its grassy seas into undulating billows; but,
instead of the lonesome albatross, cutting cold
crests with down-pointing wing-tips, the speckled
shell parrot and the pink galah match their
colours with its painted flowers.
Life, the life of the plains, is everywhere. The
lagoons are covered with wildfowl, plump black
duck, with iridescent wing-feathers, noisy teal,
swift-flying widgeon, whistling duck, and other
species. White-breasted pelicans, reminding one
of Dutch fishing-smacks, drift to and fro; graceful
black swans, with arched necks, scarlet beaks, and
impudent eyes, move through the water-weeds
like Venetian gondolas.
Cormorants, snake-necked, sharp-beaked, evil-
smelling and predatory, watch on shoreward
snags for their meal of fish.
Along the edges mottled wood-duck sleep with
brown heads tucked under their wings. White,
black and white, and straw-coloured ibis make
Egyptian borders to an Australian picture, as they
stalk along the marshy margins, pausing every
now and then to pick up an insect with sickle-
shaped beaks.
Flock plover and spurwing, jack-snipe and sandJ
piper, white and blue cranes, spoonbills, egretsj
divers, redbills, coots, water-hens, play and feec
upon the surface, or around the margins.
From cypress-pines come the calls of top-knot
pigeon, and turtle dove.
Brolgas, mostly in pairs, but, at sunrise in
dancing parties of twenty or thirty, walk with
stately strides across the plain. Grey bustards,
taking flight before foot travellers, but easily
approachable by horsemen or vehicles, move with
backward-turning heads through the long grass.
Awkward-looking emus cover the distance with
long stilt-like strides. The agile kangaroo hops
gracefully here and there, sitting up and listening
between feeding whiles.
Flocks of galahs and crested cockatoos, and
flights of gorgeously-coloured parrots, all add
colour and animation to a scene which makes an
equal appeal to artist or sportsman.
In good season the Riverina is beautiful and
benign, abounding in fish and game. It grows the
finest of wool. All fruits and flowers flourish on
Its wide domains. It produces the best of mutton
and the fattest of beef; the manliest of men, the
sweetest of women. In good season it Is a dream-
land, a lotus-eater's heaven, a paradise on earth.
The galvanised roofs of Its stations standing
miles apart among their gardens, red level coach-
roads; winding rivers meandering along under
drooping branches of shady trees; wire fences that
seem to run to infinity; rotund sheep, young un-
broken horses, wooden houses with red-raddle
fire-places, kerosene lamps, fly-proof doors,
Austrian chairs, bullock teams and motor cars;
grey myall trees, pointed pines growing in
dignified regularity, as if they had been planted
and pruned, yarran, boree, golden wattle, muddy'
blllabongs, low hills clothed with stunted mallee,
long plains, covered with salt-bush; wide plains
carpeted with grass and wlldflowers; soft winds
perfectly blue skies and exhilarating sunlight —
that is Riverina in spring. i
There is an atmosphere of easy-going pros--
perity about Riverina towns. The pleasant, broad
IRRIGATION AND THE RIVERINA
281
streets of Hay planted with kurrajong and pepper The tables were decorated entirely with roses
trees; the avenues of gums in which Balranald grown in the town. It would have been difficult
takes its pride; these make pictures different from to select such a display from the best Horists'
those which have been painted by imaginative garden in Sydney, which prides itself on its roses,
writers about towns "out back." The "wild and woolly West" was represented
Hay was once a port for all the western wool by a decorous assemblage of well-groomed towns-
as far as Bourke, but the opening of new rail- men in evening dress. The menu was innocent of
Dairy Cows on Natural' Pasture, Murrumbidgee
ways has taken much of its river-transport away.
Still the whistles of river steamboats are heard
along the red-gum reaches of the Lower Murrum-
bidgee, and the chug of paddle-wheels awakes the
echoes of its bends. There are 3,200 miles of
navigable river-waters in Riverina.
Hay, like all the Western towns, is a most
hospitable place where they kill the fatted turkey
on slightest provocation. Once the author thought
of Hay as a singularly hot and uncomfortable
place, unbeautiful and distressing to a degree.
He arrived at Hay wearing a heavy overcoat.
After a hot bath, in a very fine hotel, he was
ushered into a spacious, electric-lit dining hall,
where a banquet had been laid for the visiting
Minister and his party.
traditional corned beef or boiled mutton; but as
a menu it remains in middle-aged memory —
another pleasant recollection of the "western
desert."
The desert which can colour roses and brown
turkeys with such infinite success should make
very pleasant hiding-places for those who call
them " home."
At the conclusion of our elaborate meal a
group of us sat around a warm log fire and talked
of Australia's future. There were some educated
and intelligent local young men in the circle.
Their views on the future of the West would
have astounded some metropolitan " Writers of
the Bush." To them there was no longer any
problem ; but a certainty which would be realised
b
282
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
by increased population. Dry farming had been
proved, irrigation had been proved, wool-growing
had been proved — there was nothing to doubt
and nothing to dread; all they wanted was trans-
port and the right kind of settler; the land would
do the rest.
They believed in their country, because they
knew how good it was. The ridiculous West of
the story-teller moved them to mirth. When
somebody said, " Hay, Hell, and Booligal," the
outside world had been inclined to accept it as a
statement of fact. The gorgeous roses of Hay
put forth their fragrance in denial. Down at
Booligal they said the roses were even better. If
so, Booligal must be a veritable Vale of
Cashmere.
From Hay to Balranald spread the mighty
plains, beautified with blue bush and pearl bush,
needlewood, wilga, and pine. They are com-
posed of black soils and red soils, as fertile as
anything on earth. For every acre of their sur-
face there could be found a use. They contain
the potentialities of five hundred thousand years
of fallow; their virgin breasts are yearning to
suckle thousands of farms.
The 'Old Man' salt-bush, perennial, succulent,
dots the level distances with its silver clumps.
Miles of plain are covered by annual salt-bush —
one of our most valuable Australian fodder plants.
Samphire flats and red sandy ridges, beloved of
the cypress pine, patches of mallee, all these give
the landscape variety. To the man with eyes and a
soul there is no monotony in these magnificent,
fertile distances.
Between Balranald and Euston — close to the
latter township — is Lake Benanee, a splendid
natural reservoir — of Aeolian formation — which
is to be used as a storage for an irrigation scheme.
The projection of a Victorian-built railway
through this district, and the carrying out of this
scheme, and a similar one at Gol Gol, would bring
much fine agricultural land into occupation. If
I were asked to prophesy which part of New
South Wales will be most densely populated in
another forty or fifty years, I should say the
western river belts. At least they should carry
the largest rural population and give the highest
agricultural returns.
The Beginnings of an Ostrich Farm at Yanco.
(283)
Boad and Biver.
THE FUTURE.
WE have glanced over some possibilities of
the Western Division along the Darling.
We have stood at either end of a river
which falls six inches to the mile in 1,200 miles.
At Wentworth irrigation area we saw SUC-
CESS written in large letters. Four hundred
miles higher up the river we saw SUCCESS
written at Pera Bore and the Oriental Garden.
Between these two demonstrations lie the
station gardens, the woolsheds — and all the yet
unexploited offerings of a rich, undeveloped
country.
Pessimists may argue against the future, and as
long as the Man of Faith has no data to offer in
contradiction, the Pessimist may prevail. But
once you establish a scientific fact — it stands.
At Wentworth and Bourke we have the estab-
lished fact that irrigation in Australia is a payable
proposition. Anywhere, everywhere, along 400
miles of road between these points, this fact can
be repeated over and over again.
The area which it is possible to irrigate is
ultimately determined by the amount of necessary
water available — and that is a matter for the
engineers of the future.
The Commissioner for Irrigation to-day says a
quarter of a million acres, enough to support 25
Milduras, with an aggregate population of two
hundred thousand. That in itself would be a
fine thing. It would one day be worth 25 mil-
lions of money annually to the Mother State. But
settlement of the Western Division does not stop
at the Darling. There are other potentialities,
latent yet, but certain to develop later on.
The normal carrying capacity for the Western
Division in sheep is set dowh officially at from 7
to 73 millions over its whole area of 83 million
acres, or about one sheep to 12 acres. The nett
annual revenue from sheep might be at the out-
side five shillings a head. Twenty-five irriga-
tion settlements (another chapter will tell us what
happened at Mildura) would add a revenue of
many millions greater than the whole Division can
give from wool — and these 25 settlements, on
the basis of Mildura, would occupy only a quarter
of a million acres! The area of Dunlop Station
alone is nearly four times that.
Now in one of their reports, we have the
Western Lands Commissioners, Messrs. C. J.
McMaster and Hugh Langwell — both know-
ledgeable men — complaining that they have about
360,850 acres of Mallee lands on their hands, "a
"large proportion of which, although of little
"value for grazing purposes, is, with improved
"methods of cultivation and the adoption of dry-
"farming processes, capable of conversion into
b
!84
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
"agricultural areas for which there is an existing
"and growing demand."
It is all singularly Australian!
Here we have two earnest Commissioners
almost tearfully telling the Minister of the day
that they have nearly half a million acres of
beautiful country which they want to get rid of.
In a few years, as wheat lands, if the story of
Pinnaroo is repeated, it will be worth ten pounds
an acre.
When this particular belt of Mallee is given
communication, it will be found, if the writer's
experience is not at fault, among the most profit-
able land in New South Wales.
At Gol Gol, opposite Mildura, there are about
132,000 acres of vacant Crown lands with a
frontage to the Murray which can be developed
as an irrigation settlement at a comparatively
small cost. These lands are superior in quality
to Mildura.
^^^9-^:^7"^
'l^'^^'^p^f^n--
*^v.
Raymond Terrace Viticultural Station
The Mallee is no good — or rather in Nature's
scheme, too good — for grazing; consequently this
parcel of wheat lands, worth a prospective three
million pounds at least, goes begging for lessees!
"In order to pave the way for the disposal of
these lands, or part of them, the Board an-
nounces that it is going to cut up some into blocks
and "offer them in areas sufficiently large to
"enable the lessees to undertake mixed farming
"on a scale that we believe will be remunerative
"and lead to a development of this part of the
"State."
In actual fact the Mallee in the Western Divi-
sion of New South Wales, bears every appearance
of being superior to Mallee which is being rapidly
settled in Victoria and South Australia. Our
trouble is that Australia, all over, luis loo much
good agriculttiral cotiiitry and not enough people.
Nowadays Lands and Agricultural Depart-
ment reports speak of successful wheat-growing
on eight and nine-inch rainfalls or even less!
We know that profitable dry farming in
America and in South Africa is being carried out
on what would a few years ago have been con-
sidered an absolutely inadequate rainfall.
Says William MacDonald, an agronomist of
world-wide fame:—
"All soils are not suitable for dry farming — ■
"the most important thing is depth of soil;
"sandy or silty loams are the best. The soil
"must be looked upon as a sort of reservoir for
"the storage of water over periods ranging from
"a few weeks to many months. It has recently
"been found that the nitrifying germs are present
"in large numbers in the soils of the drier regions
"and in a very active state."
I
P4
n
o
28?
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Girls Picking Grapes, Hunter Blver District
Soils such as William MacDonald classes
among the hest for dry farming prevail through-
out the West.
"The future of dry fanning is assured. It will
"take its place alongside the sister science of irri-
"gation, and through the combined efforts of the
"farmer and the expert it is destined to exercise
"an enormous influence on the future development
"of the United States and the Biitish Empire."
These words have a special significance for all
Australia. Their peculiar application to the
farthest-out lands of New South Wales will one
day be more fully realised by the people of the
Australian East.
Dry farming is not new; but in its modem
application it will achieve results that it has never
given in Egypt or north-western India. If
ancient agriculturists could remain for thousands
,*^ %
I
A Wheat Stack at Gerogery
NEW SOUTH WALES: THE FUTURE
287
af years in dry country without any knowledge of
organic chemistry and its application to agricul-
ture, dry farmers of the future will do wonderful
things in Australia.
With their drought-resisting stocks and their
fallowing methods, with library and laboratory
■lehind them, they are destined to go out, a silent
conquering army, further and further towards
the heart of the continent.
green with growth and yellow with golden har-
vests.
* * * *
The Gospel of Dry Farming, as given by Dr.
Widtsoe, is simple enough: —
1. Plow deep.
2. Plow in the Autumn; there is no need for
Spring plowing.
On the Karnah Biver, near Bowral
Where the vanguard camps to-day the rear-
guard rests to-morrow — the Army of Invasion is
already on the march. Led by the shining spirit
of William Farrer, this Army of Invasion is pre-
paring its assaults upon the outstanding citadels
of Nature, and its conquests will continue for still
another hundred years.
As the hopeless sage-brush lands of Western
America have fallen under the plough, so will
the salt-bush and spinifex lands of Australia dis-
play their profitable uses.
We can safely predict that the most Western
lands of New South Wales will yet in turn be
^
3. Cultivate the soil in early Spring; as far
as possible after every rain.
4. Fallow the land every other year under a
rainfall of 12 to 15 inches; every third
year under a rainfall of 15 to 20 inches.
5. Grow crops that are drought-resistant.
6. Stick to a few crops; preferably such
staples as wheat, oats, barley, rye,
alfalfa, and when they are established
go on to others.
Simple enough; modified and applied to Aus-
tralian conditions it is already bringing thousands
288
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
of acres of despised back blocks into profitable
agriculture.
Mixed farming at Menindie will be no more an
impossibility for the future than wheat-growing
at Wyalong is to-day.
If 640 acres are the outside limit considered
necessary for a dry-farmer to hold among the
sandhills of Nebraska, a day has to come In West-
ern New South Wales when even less than that
will be a good living area for a farmer and his
family.
How much of these 83 million acres in the
Western Division will be dry-farming country in
1950? If a prophet had got up in Sydney thirty-
seven years ago and foretold that wheat would
be — as it is — the staple crop of certain districts
in 19 1 6, he would have been discredited by the
best-informed agriculturists and severely criticised
by a super-careful newspaper press.
In a recent report of the Western Lands Board
this pregnant clause is inserted: —
"The Commissioners desire to again point out
that the advancement of the Western Division
now depends mainly upon: —
1. Irrigation settlement and distribution of
water for stock and domestic supply.
2. Railway extension, and
3. Making available more country of a char-
acter suitable for small holdings."
Therewith the question of settlement in this
great third division of the Mother State may be
left for the present.
Jones' Bridge, Tumut
VICTORIA
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290
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EVOLUTION AND PROGRESS.
II" the object of this book were historical,
rather than descriptive, the author would
be tempted to devote a maximum of space to
the story of colonization in Victoria. Al-
though the smallest of the Australian States, ex-
cepting Tasmania, it has been so blessed by natural
advantages and sound citizenship that it is now
carrying a larger population for its area than any
of the others.
The Victorian coast near Cape Everard
afforded Captain Cook his first glimpse of
Australian shores; yet it was forty-seven years
from the foundation of the British Colony at
Port Jackson that actual settlement at Port
Phillip began.
Nine years after Phillip's landing, the Sydney
Cove, a wooden cargo vessel of the period,
ended her voyage from Bengal on P'urneaux Is-
lands in the then un-named Bass Strait. The mate,
supercargo, and fifteen of the crew endeavoured
to beat up-coast to Sydney in the ship's long-boat,
leaving the master and several Lascars on the
Island. The long-boat was driven ashore, ap-
parently near Cape Everard, within the present
Victorian border.
Like the survivors of the Monumental City,
wrecked sixty years later on Tallaberga Is-
let, near Gabo, most of them perished before
they gained European settlement. Only the
supercargo and two seamen reached Sydney.
They left the ship in F'ebruary, and were picked
up, in May, exhausted and wounded, by a small
fishing-boat cruising to the southward of
Botany Bay. They had tramped along the inter-
vening coast, living as they might, and dogged
by murderous natives, who speared several of the
band. This wreck flickers the heroic figures ot
Surgeon Bass and Second-Lieutenant Hinders for-
ward upon the shadowy film of History.
Bass, then 34 years of age, at his own request
was provided by Governor Hunter with a good
whaleboat victualled for six weeks and manned by
six men. Thus outfitted, this young Columbus set
southward along unknown and hostile shores
in his cockle-shell. He rounded Cape Howe,
and, entering Victorian waters — then sailless and
uncharted — worked his intrepid course beyond
Wilson's Promontory for sixty miles to Western-
port. There, his whaleboat leaking and provi-
sions running short, he was reluctantly compelled
to put about and fight turbulent seas for 600
lonely miles back to Sydney Cove. He had doubt-
fully demonstrated that Van Diemen's Land was
not, as had been supposed by Dutch and English
navigators, a part of the Australian mainland.
Victorians have reason to be interested in their
first explorer. "Six feet high, dark complexion,
wears spectacles, a very penetrating countenance"
— so he was described. He left Port Jackson in
1803 — six years after this remarkable feat — with
the brig Venus, for the west coast of South
America, to procure salt meat and live cattle for
the settlement. He was taken prisoner by the
Spaniards, and his subsequent fate remains un-
known. It is presumed that he died in South
America.
The immortal Flinders, accompanied by Bass,
sailed in the sloop Norfolk, of 22 tons, in Oc-
tober, 1798, on a voyage of discovery. They
finally established the existence of a strait between
291
292
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Surgeon George Bass.
Captain Matthew Flinders.
Tasmania and the mainland. Lieutenant Grant
in the survey ship, l.ady Nelson, two years later
added to the imperfect geography of the period
by sailing through Bass Strait, on the voyage of
that vessel from London to Port Jackson.
Subsequently, he explored the Victorian coast
in this vessel, of 60 tons, as far as Westernport,
where, during a month's survey, he established
a small plantation on Churchill Island, and built
a block house — the first dwelling and garden on
Victorian soil. Nine months later his chief offi-
cer, Lieutenant Murray, then commanding the
Lady Nelson, revisited the place and found that
the wheat and Indian corn planted by Grant were
flourishing.
Governor King in the latter part of 1801 sent
Lieut. Murray down the coast to make a detailed
examination, with a view to forming a permanent
settlement. He had already forwarded urgent
despatches to England on the subject. Murray —
preceded by Bowen, his chief officer, in the Lady
Nelson's long-boat — entered Port Phillip Heads
on 15th of February, 1802 — a memorable date
for all patriotic Victorians.
Murray was followed, six years later, by Cap-
tain Matthew Flinders in the Investigator. Flin-
ders landed and explored the country on the
western side of the Bay.
King's anxious determination to forestall the
French, who it was believed meditated the occu-
pation of southern Australia, led him to despatch
a party in the Colonial schooner Cnmhcrlaiid, of
29 tons, from Sydney in November, 1802, to
make a particular survey of Port Phillip.
Charles Grimes, the Acting Surveyor-General
of New South Wales, was a member of this
expedition. They fell in with Baudin, the French
navigator, at Sea Elephant Bay, on the east coast
of King Island, on the 23rd of the month.
Having explored King Island, and delivered
an official warning to the Frenchmen to keep off
Australian soil, the adventurous band sailed across
the Strait to Port Phillip, which they entered on
January 20th, 1803.
They remained until the 27th of F'ebruai
examining the foreshores and charting the waters
of picturesque Port Phillip. James Flemming,
who was sent with the party by Governor King
to report on the soil, timber, and natural advan-
tages of both King Island and Port Phillip, has
left a most interesting journal of these explora-
tions, which extended right around the bay, and
included the discovery of the Yarra and other
rivers.
Flemming recommended the banks of the
Yarra as the most eligible place for settlement,
and described the country in general as excellent (
pasture, with fine clay for bricks, good stone, and !
timber inland suitable for building purposes.
i
293
294
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Hemming, in so far, justified the confidence which
King placed in his judgment.
On Friday, October 9th, 1803, there arrived
off Port Phillip Heads the Ocean transport
(Captain Merthon), followed on Sunday, by
H.M.S. Calcutta (Captain Woodriff). These
vessels, at the instance of the British Govern-
ment, had sailed from Spit Head on the 24th of
the preceding April with an assorted company of
bondmen and freemen to form a settlement at
Port Phillip in the then Colony of New South
Wales. In May, 1803, Lngland, seeing that the
Peace of Amiens would prove no check upon the
ambitions of Buonaparte, had declared war
against France. While Lieutenant-Colonel David
Collins of the Royal Marines was landing
his men and stores at Sorrento, Napoleon the
Great was perfecting his schemes for the invasion
of England.
Lieutenant-Governor Collins had heard the
muskets of revolutionary America discharging
hot lead into his father's regiment of red-coats at
Bunker's Hill. He had been Judge Advocate of
the baby Colony of New South Wales under its
first Governor, and at the age of 47 was chosen
to father the settlement at Port Phillip.
If the records are true, Collins brought no
enthusiasm to this task. He was decidedly
anxious to divert whatever colonizing activities he
possessed to Van Diemen's Land. Even before
he left England, he seems to have determined
that this would be his ultimate goal. He achieved
his object at what might have been an incalculable
national cost. The country which he libellously
declared "uninhabitable," and abandoned after a
stay of three months, has proved one of the
richest territories in Australia.
From the window of the room where this is
being written, the author looks out across the blue
waters of Port Phillip, and sees dim outlines of
that very shore whereon the tents of transitory
settlement stood a hundred and ten years ago.
Suburb succeeds suburb and garden follows gar-
den, along the curving foreshores which grow
between.
He turns to the map of Port Phillip prepared
by Surveyor Grimes, and notes that the site of
his own residence is marked down as "barren
sandy hills." The home-grown cauliflowers and
potatoes just placed upon the dinner table are a
present testimony that even good and hopeful
Mr. James Flemming was entirely wrong in this
conclusion. Forty acres of splendid market
garden on the opposite side of the railway line
corroborate the evidence of an amateur agricul-
turist such as the author of Australia Unlimited.
Twelve or twenty, or fifty thousand fruitful acres
around the shores of Port Phillip in 1914 are
greenly contradicting the errors and libels of
1804.
Leaving its little human record of one birth,
a marriage, and twenty-one deaths behind, the
last of the settlement was embarked for Hobart
on the 1 8th of May. Thirty-two years later, one
at least of the Sorrento settlers, John Pascoe
Fawkner, returned to the effective colonization
of Port Phillip. The discoveries of Hume and
Hovell, in 1824, did much to enlighten the colonial
mind regarding the quality of territory south of
the Murray. An abortive attempt was made to
establish a settlement at Westernport in 1824.
Meanwhile the development of the whaling and
sealing industry among those islands which lie
between Tasmania and the mainland led the
Hentys — a family of Sussex sheep-breeders, who
had been unsuccessful land-seekers in Western
Australia and Tasmania — to establish themselves
at Portland. They landed at this fine harbor in
1834 and inaugurated a highly creditable and suc-
cessful colonial career. Victoria has reason to
be proud of the quality of her pioneers, in the
forefront of whom stands this acquisitive and
energetic family. When, in 1836, Major Mit-
chell concluded his triumphant exploration of
"Australia Felix," he unexpectedly found the
Hentys firmly established at Portland.
Without doubt Major Mitchell's glowing ac-
count of the virgin pastures of the south-west
stimulated the tide of immigration which shortly
set in.
John Batman, in 1835, had already landed at
Port Phillip from Tasmania, spied out the land
and seen that it was good. John Batman was
colonial-born, and consequently not filled with
the fears and prejudices which have so often led
migratory strangers to condemn things Australian
which they do not understand. This Parramatta
lad had migrated to Tasmania when he was only
twenty, and engaged in sheep-farming. There he
spent vigorous days of early manhood hunting
bushrangers and endeavoring to conciliate the
unlucky natives, who for twenty years waged
unequal war against the white settlers. f ,
The discoveries of Hamilton Hume, his old ■
boy friend and townsman, first set Batman longing •
to transfer his energies to more profitable fields
than Van Diemen's Land had offered him. The
hopes, desires and beliefs of ten years bore fruit
at last. Acting under a partnership with some '
fifteen enterprising local spirits, some of whom
became the Fathers of Melbourne later on — the
young colonist sailed thither in the schooner
Rebecca, of 30 tons, from Launceston on the loth
May, 1835.
Lieut.-Col. David Collins had then been dead
twenty-five years, and much of the physic
ii(j|l
VICTORIA: EVOLUTION AND PROGRESS.
295
Melbourne, from the St. Kilda Road.
Inc
graphical error and misinformation of his pessi-
mistic period was buried with him.
When, after nineteen days' voyaging, the ex-
rienced eye of Batman surveyed the land around
ndented Head waving with green grass like a
wheat-field, he knew that the story Collins and
his satellites had written just across the Bay at
Sorrento thirty years before, was libellous and
untrue.
The land was so rich and promising that Bat-
man determined to secure the largest pos-
sible area for himself and his associates in
Hobart Town. Three white men and seven
Sydney aborigines accompanied him. F'our days
afterwards his barque lay at the mouth of the
Yarra; and again the hardy adventurer came
ashore and investigated the territory as far as the
present suburb of Eltham. His famous deal
with the natives was made on the 6th June, at
the Merri Creek, near Northcote. P'or 40 pairs
of blankets, 130 knives, 42 tomahawks, 40
looking-glasses, 62 pairs of scissors, 250 hand-
kerchiefs, 18 red shirts, 4 flannel jackets, 4 suits
of clothes, and i i;o lb. flour, with a small annual
rental of similar sundries, the Pizarro-like pioneer
Van Diemen's Land induced eight chiefs, who
epresented a tribe of about fifty aborigines, to
cede to him over a half-million acres, including the
present sites of Melbourne and Geelong. There
was joy among the innocent vendors that day, and
much display of red handkerchiefs and testing of
new cutlery, and presumably the purchaser felt as
much inward satisfaction as the fortunate Mel-
bourne speculator who nowadays succeeds in pur-
chasing a city site, for one foot of which he pays
as much as John gave for all his hold-
ings. Ultimately the Home Government can-
Ifeelled the transaction. On Tune the 8th Batman
1 L-ii
■ft.
boated up the Yarra as far as the falls, just below
Prince's Bridge. "This," he entered in his diary,
which is now carefully preserved in Melbourne
Library, "will be the place for a village." It has
become the centre of a "village" of over 600,000
inhabitants !
While Batman was in Hobart endeavouring to
secure ofl'icial recognition of his concession, John
Pascoe Fawkner, who as a boy of twelve had
been with his parents among Collins's Sorrento
settlers of 1803, came across from Launceston
and staked out his claim by the banks of the Yarra
on the site of the present Melbourne Customs
House. He was accompanied or followed by
several other would-be settlers from Van Die-
men's Land. So the town of Melbourne had its
beginnings in a cluster of tents and mud huts.
Batman brought over his family and all his
belongings; planted an orchard on the banks of
the Yarra, and ploughed up twenty acres of land,
where the Spencer-street railway station now
stands. His subsequent history is mainly a re-
cord of vain attempts to obtain recognition or re-
compense from the Governments of the day for
his services, and finally to be allowed to retain
his little agricultural holding by the river. He
died at the age of 40, apparently a broken and
disappointed man.
With this first genuine effort at colonization
the progress of Victoria began. Up to the dis-
covery of gold in 1 85 1 that progress was prin-
cipally pastoral. Until that year its territory
remained, as "The Port Phillip District," a part
of New South W^ales. It then became an
autonomous colony, and was christened Victoria
in honour of the late Queen.
At the time of its separation from the Mother
State, Victoria had a total population of 76,162,
296
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
and contained a little over fifty-two thousand
acres of cultivated land, no railways and no tele-
graphs. By 1 9 14 the population had increased
to 1,430,878, the land under cultivation was
6,129,893 acres, and the State had 3,840 miles
of railway open to traffic. Its expansion in other
directions had been on the same constantly increas-
ing scale. From the first export of wool of
17^,081 lbs., in 1837, valued at £1 1,639, the pro-
duction had grown by 19 13 to no less than
106,833,690 lbs., nearly all of which was ex-
ported— a proof that the soil, climate, and pas-
turage of the State are ail that these early settlers
believed them to be.
ing well over the Murray into New South Wales
and including the fertile districts of the Riverina.
Between Wentworth, at the junction of the Mur-
ray and Darling Rivers, and Albury, various Vic-
torian railway systems touch the great inland
river at ten different points and extensions recentlv
agreed upon by the Cjovernments of the friendly
States will carry some of these over the border
into New South Wales.
The story of the Victorian goldfields contains
many romantic chapters. Apart from actual
values won — which made an enormous total — the
yields attracted a population from all corners
of the globe, whose energies and abilities proved
'The Block," Collins Street, Melbourne.
I,
I
I
From the date of its first discovery at Clunes in
1851 the value of Victoria's gold to 1913 was
£293,550,928, or about one half the total Aus-
tralian output.
Yet, when the border lines were marked, they
left in the south-eastern corner no more than a
thirty-fourth part of the continent — a territory of
only 87,884 square miles — somewhat less than
that of Great Britain.
The new colony measured 420 miles from east
to west — its extreme length. Its greatest
breadth was just on 250 miles, and its coast-line
only 600 miles.
But Melbourne, with its expansive harbor, has
become the natural outlet for a territory extend-
of sterling service in the general work of develop-
ment. At the end of 1855 the young colony
had nearly five times the number of people with
which her national career had begun in 185 i.
Her annual revenue in those few years in-
creased from £259,433 to £2,728,656, and con-
tinued to Increase until, in 1914, it had reached
£10,731,000.
Those years, from the advent of Batman,
Fawkner and other historic pioneers on the shores
of Port Phillip, to the granting of responsible
government, had often been strenuous. Ihey
were marked by honorable enterprise and vigor-
ous public spirit. They witnessed the steady ex- |
tension of pastoral settlement and production,
and the foundation of agriculture and viticulture
i
VICTORIA: EVOLUTION AND PROGRESS
297
They saw the struggle for independent govern-
ment begin and end at length in success.
The Port Phillip District became a self-governing
community, with its centre of legislation removed
from Sydney to Melbourne, with its own As-
sembly and Council, administrative departments
and a vice-regal representative.
During the period in question (between 1839
and 1 851) the colonists increased their numbers
from 5,000 to 77,000 odd, of whom 23,000 were
resident in Melbourne, 8,000 in Geelong, and the
remaining 46,000 scattered over the Colony.
Their herds, sprung from Tasmanian stock, had
!2;rown to six million sheep and 40,000 cattle,
giving a total export value of nearly a million
pounds sterling in 1850. The land was growing
wheat, potatoes and fodder, and John Batman
had long been proved a wiser man in his genera-
tion than Lieut.-Colonel David Collins of the
F^oyal Marines. During that period also a tale
of adventure and exploration had been woven:
unknown plains had been crossed, unknown for-
ests penetrated, new ri\'ers forded, new mountains
disco\ered and named, and with steel and fire
the pioneers of European civilization had pene-
trated the distances and branded the flanks of
Nature with the marks of human occupation.
That steady pastoral and political advance-
ment which the new country south of the
Murray had followed, was destined to receive a
sudden, unexpected impetus. The proclamation
of responsible Government on ist July, 185 1,
was sequelled on the i6th of the same month by
an equally important pronouncement.
Over the signature of the Mayor of Melbourne
a placard was hung out from the Town Hall
setting forth that
"The Committee appointed to promote the
discovery of a gold field in the Colony of Vic-
toria have the satisfaction of announcing that
unquestionable evidence has been adduced to
them, showing the existence of gold in a con-
siderable quantity both at the Deep Creek on
the Yarra, near Major Newman's run, and
also at the Deep Creek on the Pyrenees, near
Mr. Donald Cameron's house." ....
Following closely on the first discovery of rich
alluvial gold near Bathurst, in New South Wales,
this proclamation set the people afire with
expectation.
A month previously, leading citizens had
decided to offer a reward for the discovery of a
payable gold mine within 200 miles of Melbourne.
This apparently was the successful result.
Even the most optimistic would hardly have
believed that it was to herald the opening of a
natural treasure-house which has yielded a value
now approaching three hundred millions!
Town Hall, Melbourne
If Esmond, the discoverer of reef gold at
Clunes — 96 miles from Melbourne and 22 from
Ballarat — could revisit the land that gave him
fame, if nothing else, he would learn that there
are now 15 mines on the Bendigo gold fields with
shafts over 3000 feet deep, the deepest of the
group being 4,614 feet (in 1912); that no less
than 53 shafts at that period were down below the
2,000 feet level.
Anderson's Creek, Buninyong, and Ballarat
followed quickly upon the discovery at Clunes.
Then came Mount Alexander and Bendigo.
Ararat, Stawell, Beechworth, Maryborough, suc-
ceeded one another; and even the remote fast-
nesses of Gippsland were finally found to be en-
riched.
Hardly had the young State been wedded to
Liberty, ere Discovery, like a fairy godmother,
dowered her with a marriage portion sufficient to
begin national housekeeping on a princely scale.
As treasure chest after treasure chest in the
vaults of Nature was opened, gold mania seized
the people of Australia. Its contagion spread to
other countries. Not since Pizarro unlocked the
riches of Peru had the imagination of Europe
been so stimulated by tales of treasure in distant
lands. In a little time the streets of Melbourne
298
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Central Bailway Station, Melbourne
were almost empty. People abandoned their
business, civil servants left without sending in
their resignations, the police force deserted in a
body. Out of 40 constables in the City only two
remained on duty after midnight of New Year's
Day, 1853.
A constant stream of doubtful emigrants from
Van Diemen's Land was muddily emptied over
Melbourne wharves. The Overland Track, from
Sydney was dotted with foot-passengers carrying
assorted bundles, containing their personal effects.
Presently motley companies from overseas, one
of which included a future Prime Minister of
England, began to land at Williamstown Pier.
Now white-haired but yet vigorous, many among
the number remain to recall the stirring Colonial
days in which they played their parts. They have
seen deep-rutted streets of Melbourne changed
into wide thoroughfares of a great city, and four
thousand miles of railway replace rough bush
tracks by which they travelled towards the fields.
The scene of many a "rush" is marked by pot-
holes or crumbling shafts; but Bendigo, Castle-
maine, Maryborough, Stawell, Ararat and Bal-
larat are flourishing cities, albeit they no longer
depend entirely or even principally upon mining
for their support.
They were wondrous days, full of interest and
adventure. They called to the strong, daring
spirits of Europe and America with golden bugles,
whose echoes haunted the brain of youth for many
a year. They were stirring days when the griev-
ances of a cosmopolitan crowd found vent at
Eureka Stockade; when Luck, which ever plays
will-o'-the-wisp along the paths of men, danced
openly down the main thoroughfares, turning now
and then to scatter a golden benison of nuggets
among the following crowd. Could clerks sit
contentedly upon their office stools or constables
phlegmatically walk their beats when nuggets such
as the "Welcome Stranger," weighing 2,248
ounces of pure gold, and worth close upon ten
thousand pounds, might be unearthed at a stroke
of an amateur's pick?
rhe roaring years of Bendigo and Ballarat
have given place to years of placid progress; but
they made fine vigorous music for young Vic-
toria's debut upon the stage of nationhood. They
left with her a hardy battalion of seasoned
pioneers of finest types to father and mother
younger generations of colonists. They left her
also with roads, bridges, wharves, public works,
municipal and educational beginnings, and an in-
fant railway system. They brought also some
administrative and social confusion and that in-
evitable reaction which follows all great excite-
ments.
In 1852 the deposits of Victorian Banks, on
the authority of the banker-historian, Mr. Henry
Gyles Turner, increased from £820,000 to
£4,330,000, and the notes in circulation from
£180,000 to £1,320,000. It was some time before
such a violent disturbance of the deep waters of
finance subsided and the era of universal gamb-
ling gave place to one of steady investment.
VICTORIA: EVOLUTION AND PROGRESS.
299
Fire Station, Melbourne
Trusts, Lands and Geological Survey, Public
Works, Health, Treasury, Mines and Agri-
cultural Departments, and other offices and func-
tions of civilized self-government.
Apart from all these, which are chiefly under
direct control of the Ministry of the day, the
State has a Local Government system now prac-
tically universal. Victoria has been practi-
cally divided into urban or rural municipal dis-
tricts. There are 15 cities, 10 towns, 36 boroughs
in the State, and 147 shires.
The councils of municipalities are empowered
by Acts of Parliament to levy rates, collect licence
fees, market dues, rents and sanitary charges,
which, with subsidies from the Central Govern-
ment, make their principal sources of revenue.
Their chief functions are the maintenance and
control of streets, roads, bridges, ferries, culverts,
sewers, drains, water-courses and jetties, within
their respective boundaries; and under proper
municipal by-laws to control the traffic and regu-
late the markets, pounds, abattoirs, baths, and
places of recreation; also to make arrangements
Nor might the equally sudden invasion of a for sewerage, lighting, water supply, and the
mixed population occur without social disturb- carrying on of noxious trades; and act as local
ance. There had to be some administration of Boards of Health,
unpalatable economic medicine before the autono-
mous Government of 1837 was enlarged to a
fuller measure of responsible Government in
1856. Great agitation of the public mind and
long conflict with constituted authority preceded
these radical amendments of the Constitution
under which Parliaments of later periods entered
upon their duties.
When Victoria ceased to be a Colony and be-
came one of the States of the Commonwealth on
the 1st day of 1900, she was enjoying the advan-
tages of many democratic institutions. Her
Statute Books were not lacking in liberal enact-
ments. Her Constitution had been greatly
amended and remodelled to meet the popular de-
mands for reform. She possessed a comprehen-
sive system of State Education, and a well-
organized railway service controlled by Commis-
sioners. Her Department of Customs, more
expansive than that of New South Wales,
her Posts, Telegraphs, and Defence, passed
over of course with that of the other States
to Commonwealth control. But she retains
her Chief Justice, Puisne and County Court
Judges, her Masters in Equity and Lunacy,
her Commissioners of Police, Public Service,
Water Supply, Lands Purchase, and Titles, her
Agent-General and other high officials. She has
her own State Electoral System, Marine Board,
Forestry, State Coal-field, Public Libraries, Uni-
versity, Museums, Art Galleries, Reformatories,
Gaols, Training Colleges, Harbor and Tramway General Post Office, Melbourne
300
AUSTRALIA UiN LIMITED
The total capital value of rateable property in
the State for 191 5 was £318,960,116. During
the four previous years there was an increase of
nearly 44 millions in the value of these rateable
properties — one indication of the rapid progress
which Victoria is making.
Out of a population of 1,417,801 in 19 15 the
municipal ratepayers numbered 393,133, who
were responsible for the respectable total given
above. On the authority of the Government
Statist the amount of private wealth only in Vic-
toria in 1 9 14 could be estimated at three hundred
and twenty millions, or £243 per head of the
On the Upper Yarra
population, as against £153 per head in England.
Statistics of the State indicate that the average
wealth of its citizens is steadily increasing. The
public debt is high, like other Australian States,
mainly for the reason that large sums of money
have been invested in public works, a large sec-
tion of which, like the railways, are reproductive.
Thus our public debts are to be regarded more
in the light of profitable investments than liabili-
ties uncovered by assets.
While political evolution was in progress,
the Colony was laying foundations of future
industries. People gradually ceased to expect
to win fortunes from the hands of chance, and
learned to build them on safer grounds of exer-
tion and enterprise. They came to see that the
mineral riches of a land blessed like theirs were
a providential lure to other riches of agriculture
and manufacture which would prove more per-
manent and universal.
When the prosperous "seventies were young,
V^ictoria had completed only 276 miles of railway.
By 1 88 I the mileage had increased to 1,247. I"
1914-15 3,888 miles had been opened. The
problems of transport had been grappled and
practically solved; inevitably settlement and pro-
duction followed.
By 1 89 1, over two and a half million acres of
land had been brought to cultivation. This total
was doubled by the end of 191 1. Coevally with
this increase of agricultural activity, Victoria has
devoted considerable capital to the establishment
of local manufactures. Prior to Federation she
may justly be credited with having pioneered many
Australian Industries. In 1871 her 1740 fac-
tories employed less than twenty thousand people.
By 19 1 5 the number of factories had increased to
5,413, finding occupation for 1 13,834 hands. The
value of machinery and plant, land and buildings,
rose from something over three and a half mil-
lions sterling during that period, to twenty-two
and a half millions.
Between 1881 and 1915 the value of articles
manufactured in Victoria steadily climbed from
thirteen and a third millions odd, to fifty-one and
a half, and is still an increasing quantity.
Perhaps the most significant statistics are those
connected with the Victorian dairy industry. In
I 89 1 the output of butter was under 17 million
lbs. In 1914-15 it reached over 62 million lbs.
In the half century which elapsed between the
opening of her goldfields and Federation, Victoria
had been steadily proving her resources.
The path of progress was not always bordered
by red roses of success. Colonization has ever
been a rude and strenuous process in the history I
of races. The wilderness is not conquered without "
a conflict, the best of lands must be prepared for
the plough. Nor can Governments and social in-
stitutions be got into proper working order with-
out failures and amendments. Neither will the
speculative instincts of national youth all at once
give way to the steady scientific efforts of more
experienced age. The habit of sudden riches had
to be corrected in the closing years of the cen-
tury. The remedy was drastic, but the cure will
be permanent. The genius of Victoria thence-
forward was destined to work in harness with dis-
cretion and science. But certain experiences were
gained during that half-century of progress and
reverse, which invest the outlook for coming years
with elements of certainty. Whereas hope was
often greater than faith, it may be accepted that
I
30I
302
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
faith based on facts will be the guiding star of the
future.
The suitability of the State for rural industries
has been satisfactorily proved; the increase in
dairy output alone confirms that. Profitable
cultivation of wheat on lands previously regarded
as unfit for this purpose, the successful manufac-
ture of raw products into every-day articles of
commerce, and the treatment of irrigable lands,
are all beyond the stages of experiment.
below freezing point. Equable temperatures,
such as these, make for industrial efficiency and
assist to build up vigorous communities.
From an exhaustive table prepared by Mr. J.
M. Reed, ex-Surveyor-General and now Secretary
for Lands, we find that the little State is well
dowered by mountains, having so far as at pre-
sent known, 32 peaks between 5,000 and 6,000
feet, and 37 summits between 4,000 and i;,ooo
feet high. On some of these higher peaks in the
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Tea-Tree on Port Phillip Shores
In subsequent pages these matters will be ex-
amined in some detail, and the claims of Victoria
as a present field for European immigration and
settlement more fully considered.
No matter what future contentions may be
raised about the adaptability of white labor to
Australian tropics, there is no doubt that the
White Australia principle can always be main-
tained without difficulty in Victoria.
The climate is exceptionally suited to Euro-
peans. The physical stamina of her men and the
pronounced beauty of her women are distinctly
evident; nor can this be attributed altogether to
superiority of that original stock from which the
present generation evolved. The mean tem-
perature recorded at Melbourne Observatory
over a period of 59 years was 57.4. The average
showed that on four days during the year the
thermometer rises above 100 degrees in the shade,
and on about three nights in the year it drops
Main Range snow remains in sheltered places
from winter to winter.
Victoria, especially in its eastern districts, is
well watered and supplied with abundant lakes
and streams. It enjoys as high an average rain-
fall as, and a milder climate than, that of Cireat
Britain. The mountain system gives two drainage
areas, one group of rivers falling northward into
the Murray, the other turning southward to the
coast.
The north-west of the State is a vast plain,
originally covered for the greater part with that
stunted eucalyptus which, known as mallee, has
come to be associated in southern Australia with
wheat-growing lands. The south-west holds what
has so far been regarded as the best pastoral and
agricultural district in the State. The eastern
areas are generally mountainous but well watered
and productive. The central districts fall away
from mineral areas to fertile plains both coast-
ward and inland.
VICTORIA: EVOLUTION AND PROGRESS.
303
With the object of improving the main roads
of the State, an Act was passed on 23rd December,
19 1 2, which empowered the Governor-in-Council
to appoint a board, to consist of three members.
The duties of the board are to ascertain by sur-
vey and investigation what roads are main roads;
the nature and extent of the resources of Victoria
in metals, minerals, and materials suitable for the
purposes of road-making and maintenance, and
the most effective and economical methods for
dealing with the same, and for supplying and
utilising the material in any part of Victoria; the
most effective methods of road construction and
maintenance; what deviations (if any) in existing
roads or what new roads should be made so as
to facilitate communication and improve the con-
ditions of traffic; and to record, publish, and make
available for general information the results of
all such surveys and investigations. The duty of
furnishing information that may be required is
imposed on the municipal authorities.
■ The construction of permanent works and the
aintenance of main roads are likewise to be
rried out by the municipalities to the satisfaction
ot the board. The total cost of the works, in the
first instance, is to be paid by the Treasury, but
subsequently half the amount expended on per-
manent works and maintenance is to be refunded
by the municipalities affected.
For the purpose of making permanent works,
power is given to the Governor-in-Council to issue
stock or debentures to the amount of £400,000
a year for five years, and the principal and interest
are a charge upon the consolidated revenue of
the State. The money so raised is to be placed to
the credit of an account to be called "the Country
Roads Board Loan Account," which will be
debited with all payments made by the Treasurer
towards the cost of permanent works. A sinking
fund of I per cent, per annum on half the amount
borrowed is authorised to be paid out of the con-
solidated revenue until half the amount borrowed
is redeemed. An annual payment to the Treasurer
of 6 per cent, on the amount due by each muni-
cipality in respect of permanent works is provided
for, and the cost of maintenance, allocated to each
municipality, must be paid before the ist July in
each year. A special rate, not to exceed 6d. in
the £1 on the net annual value of rateable pro-
perty to meet the cost of permanent works and
maintenance, may be levied in any ward or riding
of a municipality as the council may direct.
According to the Federal Statistician, up to the
30th June, 1 9 14, there were 2017 miles of de-
clared main roads, agreed to by the councils, and
gazetted. In addition, there were 943 miles of
proposed main roads not yet gazetted. The total
amount of contracts for permanent works was
£94,877, of which £23,440 represented contracts
let directly bv the board, and £71,473 by the muni-
cipalities. The net receipts for the year ending
30th June, 1914, were £49,279, of which amount
the chief items were: motor registration fees,
£26,011, and unused roads and water frontage
license fees, £19,193.
Nyora Gully, Healesville
f
304
I
On the Beach at Mentone
PORT PHILLIP AND THE HILLS.
gardening on the outskirts of both cities will ac-
cept as a satisfactory compliment.
In the end, only the very smallest proportion of
our whole Commonwealth will be found unpro-
ductive; but, when the utilities of all Australia
have been determined, it will probably be realized
that Victoria has no real waste lands beyond the
rocky sides of her mountains. On the western
side of Port Phillip basaltic plains extend from
the outskirts of Melbourne to Geelong, occupied
first as pasture for sheep, but in latter years de-
voted to agriculture, principally the production
SINCE Batman's "village" grew to be one of
the major cities of the world. Port Phillip
District has been the scene of rapid
changes. Where ample mid-Victorian skirts
evaded contact with the mud and dust of unmade
thoroughfares, sleek motor-cars convey modern
Beauty to afternoon tea, over faultless street sur-
faces, where traffic obediently follows the move-
ments of a uniformed constable's imperious hand.
John Pascoe F'awkner's weatherboards and slabs
have given place to lordly granite and arching
steel.
I he Yarra, although much yet remains to be ^ r ji i- i ■ r i ^ ,
done, has been improved out of all semblance to "[ ^°'^^^''' ^'^"^^ h=is found a ready market m
the stream wherefrom, one boisterous Monday l^^ metropolis. This sweep of country takes m
morning eighty years ago, Batman filled the Re- I;=^^erton, Werribee, Little R.ver In spnng-
becca's casks with fresh water before setting sail *'"'" '* '' ^ '^"'^ "f /'■^^" ,^"^ gold— the settlers
for Tasmania with a freshly-written treaty which ^'''^'^ acres emerald with flounshmg young crops
purported to make him and his associates lords of °J °^^'' ^"'^. °P/" ''^"=>'"f, °^ fallow golden with
600,000 acres, now the most valuable in the Com- ^^P'^ "^/^"^ m flower. Many Insh farmers took
monwealth "P ^""^ around here when the Colony was young,
Batman,m his overland journey from Indented ^"'^ ^^''^ prospered.
Head, had seen how suitable the lands were for The eastern arm of Port Phillip for the first
pastoral and agricultural purposes. Unlike her few miles is mainly suburban and residential,
older rival, Melbourne has rich soils at her back Then come flat patches of peaty sand on which,
doors, in contrast to the stiff clays and sandstones with the judicious use of fertilizers, highly profit-
on which Sydney is located. Victoria has been able crops of vegetables are grown. Mammoth
described as the "Cabbage Garden of Australia," cauliflowers, potatoes, onions, and tomatoes are
a tag which anyone who has had experience of raised for local sale or export to other States.
i
305
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
While this book is being written, its author is
taking necessary physical exercise and recreation
as an amateur gardener in this very locality. At
first sight one might be inclined, like James Flem-
ming, Governor King's agricultural expert, to
condemn this particular strip of heath and
bracken-coated sand as barren and unfit for cul-
tivation. But never judge Australia by surface
indications! That may be accepted as a guiding
adage. It is certainly adaptable to market gar-
deners in this vicinity, who are making respect-
able fortunes on soils that have no pretence to
richness. The secret, of course, is rational man-
uring, good rainfall, supplemented by irrigation
pleasant work examining a land of such beauty
and attraction, a land of gardens old and new, of
orchards, of blue shores and green hills, of plea-
sant rural roads, along which bush and settlement
alternated, of clean and spacious inns, leafy vil-
lages, grassy slopes and running streams.
Through the seaside suburbs of St. Kilda,
Brighton, Hampton, Sandringham, Beaumaris,
Mentone and Mordialloc, the road runs to Point
Nepean. Port Phillip covers a total water space
of 800 square miles. Along its shores are many
pleasant marine resorts. On the eastern side of
the Bay a beautiful species of "tea-tree" flourishes.
From Sandringham onwards this native tree has
The River Yarra at Melbourne
in some cases, and proximity to market. Proprie-
tary gardeners round here pay wages to their
European laborers which would make an English
or French or German market gardener believe
that the world had gone mad. They give com-
paratively high prices for implements and fertil-
izers, and yet are reaping profits which, to a Bel-
gian peasant proprietor, for example, could be
associated only with the Millennium.
There are still room and opportunity within a
50 miles radius of Melbourne for hundreds of
small agriculturists with a little initial capital.
In the late spring of 191 2, the author ex-
plored the country around this great southern
centre in detail. It had two interests, the scenic
and the practical. Each day's motor journey
brought something of both. In sooth, it was
been carefully preserved. When it flowers in
Spring the whole countryside appears to be dusted
with snow. Residents have learned its value and
cultivate it for hedges and breakwinds. It re-
sembles the olive at first appearance, grows
rapidly and hardily, and is of general service for
groves and gardens.
Spaces widen away from the city, and the trav-
eller enters into delightful rural surroundings.
Something can be written on the attractions of
every Australian capital, but Melbourne has a
charm entirely her own.
There is a Spring-time softness, an atmosphere
half country and half suburb about bayside places
like Beaumaris, Mentone, and Mordialloc which
cannot be matched in Australia. One happens on
■d
a
Pi
O
307
3o8
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
little lavender farms, strawberry and asparagus
gardens in out-of-the-way corners. The week-
ender has not yet destroyed their quaintness. He
is a bird of summer, and haunts the foreshores in
his bathing clothes.
One goes back a little and finds the market gar-
dener plodding down broad paddocks behind his
patient plough horse, or planting out long rows of
cauliflowers after the autumn rains, or in summer-
time loading his cases of ripe tomatoes on to a
lorry on busy afternoons before the market days.
Mayhap one chances on a field of oaten hay with
the new-cut sheaves in stook, sweet-smelling as
those that made the delight of rural England
when Milton was writing U Allegro or Lycidas.
These places lie back from tree-fringed shores
where the campers and week-enders — children of
a later time — have taken possession.
At Mentone and Mordialloc there are long
piers typical of Hobson's Bay, where folks prom-
enade on summer nights.
Beyond Mordialloc lie Aspendale, Chelsea,
Carrum and Prankston, where the railway leaves
the foreshores of Port Phillip and goes across
the peninsula to Stony Point on the shores of
Westernport — now converted into a naval base
for the Commonwealth. A short loop-line re-
turns to Mornington. Dromana, Rye, Sorrento,
and Portsea are all popular watering-places be-
tween that pretty village and the quarantine sta-
tion at Point Nepean.
It was half a mile on the east side of Sorrento
Pier that Collins and his company "settled" for
three impatient months, a hundred and ten years
ago. A few ancient graves remain to mark the
locality.
PVom Mordialloc to Frankston the sun-loving
Australian has found a curve of congenial shore
whereon to erect hundreds of little bungalows and
week-end places. In summer-time the tea-tree
echoes the happiness of Melbourne youth; the
sands are dotted with bathers, and the blue waters
of Port Phillip sparkle with Sicilian light and
color, or ruffle grayly when a cool south wind
comes sweeping over Bass Strait.
The glories of Sydney are more marine than
rural. The beauties of Melbourne are a delight-
ful combination of both. Much has been written
about Sydney Harbor — always a pleasant theme
— but in the wider spread of Port Phillip, with
its fertile shores, there is scope for patriotic paint
and poetic rhapsody. Manly on a summer's night
may be a Venetian Carnival, but Mordialloc on a
spring morning is a page from Whittier.
The habitat of week-enders practically ceases
at Frankston. Beyond that, it is shady country-
side and sunny watering-place down the Bay.
From Frankston there is a fair road across Morn-
ington Peninsula to Westernport. Through the
villages of Hastings and Bittern, it goes pleas-
antly on to Hinders over hill and dale.
In spring-time, orchards smothered in apple
and cherry blossom enliven the way, and green
crops grow fence-high in unpromising sandy soils.
From Flinders to Cape Schanck is idyllic.
Green fields, rolling slopes dotted with sheep and
cattle, grassy headlands; roads that wind o\'er
breezy hill-tops and dip across running creeks,
blue seas and white surf on the beaches, make a
pretty pastoral, full of southern freshness and the
fragrance of fruit, blossom, and hay.
One envies these comfortable citizens whose
breezy farm-lands face the sea. On this fertile
stretch of basaltic country old homesteads are
tucked away in sheltered corners of the downs,
Bocks at Phillip Island
their avenues and groves of dark spiral pines pro-
claiming early settlement.
Westernport is looped like a horseshoe around
French Island and Phillip Island, both of con-
siderable area, both places of attraction for Mel-
bourne visitors, who find here field and marine
sports to make their holidays pleasant.
Cowes, Rhyll and Newhaven on Phillip Island
are popular summer resorts. Tankerton stands on
French Island, and San Remo on the eastern
shores of the Bay. The latter is a quaint little
seaside place with an old-world air about it.
Hedges of sweet-briar and English trees help to
heighten this effect.
For a restful, reflective holiday these Western-
port villages have a quiet call.
It is pleasant to dawdle about the green fields
and old gardens of a place like San Remo, to feel
the keen south wind blowing across the sand
dunes, to watch the long grass waving, to follow
the red and white roads, lifting and dipping over,
slope and hollow, giving now and then glimpses
of blue Cjippsland and Dandenong Mountains anc
blue stretches of ocean on either hand.
PORT PHILLIP AND THE HILLS
309
white-heart cherries, apples, and pears; and on
many a patch of fertile soil it produces profitable
crops of wheat and oaten hay.
Turning back from Cape Schanck towards Port
Phillip, basalt gives place to limestone, but rural
features remain — the squares of green crop, flow-
ering orchards, long hedges, and old houses in
their groves of pine.
Dromana, like these other watering-places, has
its attractions for sportsmen and holiday-makers.
The hotels, with rural heartiness, see to it that
substantial meals are laid before their guests,
appropriate to seaside appetites. Golfers, fisher-
men, shooters can enjoy their respective thrills,
while for the great amusement-loving Australian
public in general the guide-books set forth their
snares. In summer many Melbourne business
people send their families to Mornington, Dro-
mana, Mount Martha, or some other of these
cool and pleasant places, and either make daily
journeys where trains are available, or join their
families for the week-ends. Bay steamers make
regular excursions to the outlying piers of Port
Phillip on either shore.
l^pEastward from Port Phillip are a number of
instricts where small blockholders make comfort-
able livings, where there is room yet for little
capitalists to establish minor industries or supple-
The Beach, Cowes, FliiJllip Island
ment established sources of income with takings
from the land.
The town of Dandenong, through which the
Gippsland railway line runs, is an old-established
market centre, and the capital of a shire. Spread-
ing trees shade its busy main street. Like most
Victorian towns, the aesthetic side of country life
has not here been ruthlessly trampled underfoot
by too-eager utilitarianism. The civic nakedness
which unfortunately attaches to some Australian
places has been decently covered, and the visitor
retains pleasant recollections of the town.
From Dandenong, through the villages of
Sherwood and Tooradin, a road of no especial
interest brings one again to the shallow northern
shores of Westernport.
A little further east and we enter the Koo-wee-
rup area, where Government effort in swamp
drainage and subdivision has been the means of
settling many agricultural families.
The railway which connects Southern Gipps-
land with Melbourne passes through Koo-wee-rup
and branches off at Nyora for Wonthaggi and the
State coal-fields.
Koo-wee-rup is an example of what judicious
road-making and engineering will do. An area
of 53,000 acres has been converted into good,
wholesome farmlands. The roads are flat and
heavy travelling after rain; but right close to the
3IO
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
salty margins of Westernport one sees, on fields
reclaimed by drainage, excellent crops of hay and
other evidences of successful agriculture.
Following the main drain in a north-easterly
direction for about fourteen miles, the traveller
strikes the Gippsland road and railway line, and
comes back through Drouin, Bunyip, Pakenham
and Beaconsfield to Dandenong. These places,
sleeping under the heels of the hills, are all of
more or less agricultural account. Beacons-
field may be taken as an example of an East Vic-
torian village.
by Lilydale to Warburton, and through Yarra
Glen to Healesville — all picturesque routes.
Through all its rugged and fertile length the long
Dividing Range nowhere holds greater scenic
beauties than those which mark the ends of its
splendid mountain course just beyond Port
Phillip.
The Marysville and Warburton districts, which
go well out into the ranges, probably contain more
beautiful mountain views than any similar area in
Victoria. As the Marysville Road rises beyond
Healesville, it takes the traveller up into forests
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In the Drained Area, Koo-wee-rup
English oaks spread their leafy branches down
its streets, its gardens are gay with roses, its
hedges sweet with briars.
Waving crops along the hillsides, ripening fruit
in the orchards testify that this sunny village is
a valuable gem in a setting of emerald and gold.
Tilth and fertility, good seasons, constant rain-
fall are the features of Gippsland: into which
indifferent roads radiate through villages and
townships such as these.
From the old Gippsland Road one might, if so
minded, walk by upward tracks of great beauty to
Gembrook and Fern-Tree Gully, Melbourne's
best-known hill places. As he mounts these hill-
sides, growing steeper by the way, the visitor will
realize that he is ascending the southern wall of a
mountain range which has its beginnings not very
far from the Gulf of Carpentaria and extends
across a Continent.
The nearer ranges are penetrated at three
points — by railway from Melbourne through
Ringwood and Fern-Tree Gully to Gembrook;
of tree-fern, blackbutt and native beech. From
various points of vantage panoramas of southern
Australia at her beautiful best are unrolled be-
neath him.
The higher rainfall of these hills is responsible
for a richer vegetation than that immediately
around Melbourne. Blackwood and mountain
ash (Eucalyptus sieberiana) probably achieve
their greatest height and beauty on these ranges.
The prosperity of Warburton is largely
based on mountain ash. Here, on an area
of 12 acres, one mill with 24 hands has
sawn out £5,000 worth of timber in nine
months. At Neerim a single trunk yielded
10,000 6-ft. palings, worth £115. Members of
this branch of the great Eucalypt family have
achieved a measured height of 300 feet. Fhey
stand among the forest monarchs of the earth.
Despite their tall trees, these hill regions are no-
wise gloomy or repellant. They are forever sweet
with blossom and musical with birds. Acacias and
sassafras, starry-petalled clematis, tecomas, and
Matblnna Falls, HealesYllle
311
s
312
PORT PHILLIP AND THE HILLS
313
The Biver Yarra at Warburton.
other native flowers bloom from season to
season, while the singing birds of the South are
rarely silent throughout the day.
Mount Dandenong, the last of a long line of
ancestral peaks, is over two thousand feet in
height. With the intervening twenty-four miles
towards Melbourne laid out in checker-board
squares below him, the visitor gains from its
summit a view which will not fade from inward
vision in a lifetime. Mount Dandenong can be
reached by regular coach service from Croydon,
on the Healesville line. Other vantage places have
been made accessible. For a healthy summer
holiday, these nearer mountains are not to be sur-
passed within the Commonwealth or beyond it.
Beautiful streams of ever-running water, river-
heads, cascades and creeks, magnificent vistas of
range and valley, titanic forests, glades of tall
tree-fern, groves of myrtle, sassafras and wattle,
farms, orchards make travel in these districts a
day-long delight.
With knapsack, gun or Kodak, one might jog
along from sun to sun, over a tumble of hills, ex-
ploring side tracks, visiting places of interest for
weeks, and still find each day more pleasant than
the one that went before. In this way a pedes-
trian may at his leisure enjoy the beauties of
Mount Olinda, Monbulk, Montrose, Croydon,
Sassafras, Upper Fern-Tree Gully and the Na-
tional Park; he may climb to Sherbrooke and
Bayswater; wander out to Belgrave and Emerald,
on to Warburton, Wood's Point, Healesville and
Marysville, and go even farther afield through
the hearts of many ranges into the very fastnesses
of the Australian Alps.
By Warburton stands Mount Donna Buang,
4080 feet high, where winter snows are slow in
melting. Many prominent peaks lift their rugged
crowns within the splendid mountain circle of
which Donna Buang is a commanding centre..
From the township of Dandenong in the south,
across to the pretty railway suburb of Spring
Vale, there is much delightful orchard and har-
vest land. Glen Waverley is an idyll wherein
ripened cherries and briar roses by the wayside
leave fragrant, colorful memories of bounteous
Spring. These outer edges of Melbourne are
charming in their sunlight and shadow, their
clearings between spaces yet covered with scrubs
and forests; their open fields and native coverts.
Pleasant homes of fruitgrowers, and onion and
potato fields testify to their fertility. They will
ultimately become one continuous agricultural
colony.
Striking across country by Tally Ho and Black
Flat, through vistas of English seeming, one
comes to Mitcham and Ringwood by a rising
road. The hillsides are gay with growing or-
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
chards. Stream and slope, field and farm make
bright the way to Lilydale, famous as the Aus-
tralian biding-place of Madame Melba. In a
district gladdened by many delightful homes, the
world-famous Victorian Bird of Song has built a
beautiful nest.
Coming on to Healesville from Lilydale, one
sees the hazy mountains, which, from Melbourne,
are no more than blue silhouettes, taking on more
Crossing the fertile flats of Upper Yarra from
Healesville to Christmas Hills, the traveller will
see Victoria in one of her typical moods.
The Yarra, beyond the actual city radius, to its
head-waters in the mountains, is one of the love-
liest rivers in the Commonwealth. With clear
waters swept by willows or shaded by ornamental
trees; with graceful bends and sparkling reaches,
it pursues its purling, laughing, singing way over
On the Boad to Sassafras, Mount Dandenong.
definite form. Spaces along the range have been
cleared and converted into farms. A line of tall
trees with slits of blue sky between them marks,
perhaps, the summit of a range whose lower slopes
are green with tilth. Perched on a shoulder of
hill will be the out-of-town house of some Mel-
bourne man of means; lower down an orchard,
further on a little farm.
Healesville is full of quiet Australian charm.
Englamored by forested hills, with a clear moun-
tain atmosphere and cool summer nights, it has
become one of the great resting-places of the
South. The Graceburn Weir, part of Mel-
bourne's water supply, is located near the town-
ship.
sand and pebbles — green water-weeds waving in
its pools, gay flowers mirrored in its depths. It is
difficult to believe that the turgid stream churned
by the screws of Trade, which impresses the visi-
tor so unfavorably on entering its mouth at Hob-
son's Bay, is the same daughter of the mountains
that flashes a silver mirror to the sun by Launch-
ing Place and Warrandyte.
The steep climbs up Christmas Hills are repaid
by glorious panoramic views of Yarra Flats, with
mountains on one side and Melbourne and its
districts on the other.
A road goes down on the west to Elthani,
which is reached from Melbourne through
Heidelberg and Grecnsborough by rail.
Sturt Street.
Botanical Gardens
.Lake wendouret.
.SuburDan B6.ll&ral^:
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A Vineyard at Lilydale.
A little way from Greensborough are St.
Helena and Diamond Creek, rural places of a
type only to be found in Victoria and Tasmania.
Heidelberg was one of the first settlements
along the Yarra. The adjoining district, on which
Melbourne suburbs are now encroaching, still
preserves the flavor of Old Colonial days. Old
vineyards and orchards, old houses sweetened by
alder and rose, pear blossom, tall pines, oak
trees, and trim gardens, feature the landscape.
St. Helena was named by one of the original set-
tlers, who had been associated with the mid-
Atlantic captivity of Buonaparte.
At Diamond Creek, one of the first Victorian
gold mines was, until recently, working. About
here are many young orchards, where apples are
profitably grown. Further inland, among the
hills, are raspberry gardens, giving heavy returns.
All this pleasant country-side is adapted for small
holdings. With city markets and wharves at a
reasonable distance, good fruit, butter, crop and
stock will give the careful block-holder a decent
living and something more.
The Yan Yean Reservoir, which supplies Mel-
bourne with pure water, has been constructed by
damming the Plenty River, a tributary of the
Yarra, at a convenient storage point 24 miles
from the city. A railway goes to Whittlesea, four
miles further. At the foot of the Plenty Range,
supplementary storages have been established
among very beautiful surroundings.
The embankment of the Yan Yean is 3,200
feet long, the reservoir eleven miles in circum-
ference. This pine-bordered lake with background
of blue hills is among the many creditable public
works which have been established in Victoria
during the half-century since gold was discovered
on the banks of the Plenty River.
With a good hill-climbing car, the tourist will
do well to cross from the pleasant clearings of
Whittlesea towards Kinglake — another mountain
district of attraction, where cold-country fruits
bring growers good profits. Kinglake is on the
edges of forests which have yielded an enormous
quantity of marketable timber.
Mitchell Falls, Kyneton.
The River at Yea,
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•a
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PORT PHILLIP AND THE HILLS
River Goulbuni, Alexandra.
Through Kingluke West a hea\y road goes on
to Yea, following down King Parrot Creek, and
passing through the pretty hamlet of Flowerdale.
By pinches, levels and slopes, one gradually climbs
into the heart of mountains where lordly pano-
ramas of billowing hills, vividly green flats,
ravines, forests and precipices await the enthusi-
astic tourist. It is worth any amount of "top-
gear" work and hard climbing by muddy road to
get into these mountains. They will give you an
impression of Australia which you cannot find in
books of travel written by casual globe-trotters.
Along King Parrot Creek, which empties into
the Goulburn River, are quaint old homesteads
dating back, no doubt, to the days of first
Victorian settlement.
Touring eastward from Yea, the road, railway,
and river run side by side through a veritable
land of delight. Nowhere in Australia is there
a more glorious road than that which winds along
the Goulburn Valley from Yea to Tallarook.
The Goulburn, one of the major tributaries of
the Murray, enters that river a little above
Echuca. Like the Murrumbidgee and Darling,
where they join the great river, there is a distinct
difference in the color of the water. On my
motor-boat journey down the Murray some years
ago, I remember that the Goulburn came in un-
expectedly like a dark green ribbon unrolling it-
self over a court dress of silvery silk. The Mur-
rumbidgee was a lighter green, but the Darling
ran like a river of milk. One noticed these
features the more, perhaps, because the waters of
the Murray are so colorless and clear. But the
Goulburn — already no inconsiderable stream — is
clear enough where the road meets it eastward of
Yea. Its swiftly-flowing current is carried along
between steep granite hills that open out here and
there in rushy swamps or patches of black tilth
lands. Fruit and crops, farms and rustic scenery
of especial charm make the winding road to Tal-
larook unusually pleasant. Dark patches of fern
splash the green hillsides with a more sombre
green. Comfortable farm-houses surrrounded by
poplar trees, and old huts of bark and slab en-
groved by older trees, link the present to the
past.
Interstate railway passengers are familiar with
the country that lies between Tallarook and Mel-
bourne. Much of it is rich and good: especially
about the old settled districts of Broadford, Kil-
more, Wallan, Donnybrook and Broadmeadows.
The Sydney Road runs through all these
places. By this long highway the diggers poured
down when the gold excitement was high. By the
Bendigo Road they left Melbourne for the fields.
Inns stand yet by the wayside, where flying
coaches changed horses in the roaring 'fifties,
where lucky gold-seekers held high-revels and
scattered wealth to the winds. Crumbling walls
by cross-roads which echo now the hooting of
motor horns not so long ago gave back the re-
frains of songs that delighted the dandies when
Dickens and Thackeray were revising the proof-
sheets of their earlier novels.
The railway takes more prosaic generations
through Macedon and Kyneton to Castlemaine.
Macedon has during many years been a habitat of
the well-to-do. Rich men's homes lie along
the hillsides. Mount Macedon is 3,3 2 q feet high
and from various points unfolds panoramic
views rivalling those of the Dandenongs. Another
railway has opened the country to Lancefield.
It junctions with the main northern line at Kil-
more.
Kyneton is a further example of a solid \'ic-
torian township, centring a good agricultural
district. But the rich lands of Kilmore, Lance-
field and Kyneton are not yet supporting a
sufficient population. With the inevitable sub-
divisions which are coming, these bounteous agri-
cultural soils will carry a far greater number of
people, and the local towns will benefit in propor-
tion.
Castlemaine is a place of manufacturing impor-
tance. Much staunch Victorian machinery has
been turned out in this little town on the outskirts
of which the signs of old diggings — in the shape
of mullock heaps, pot holes, rotting timbers and
rusty iron — are still in evidence.
Prom Castlemaine across to Creswick and on to
Ballarat the present agricultural landscape is dot-
ted with poppet-heads and dumps where reef-
mining has been pursued with varying success.
Luckily for these old Victorian mining centres,
they were surrounded by some of the finest farm
lands in the Commonwealth. As their mineral
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Coliban Biver, Kyneton.
resources were exploited, the more permanent
wealth of the soil was developed.
Ballarat is no longer a great mining centre, but
a proud, prosperous modern city, whose commer-
cial stability is mainly based upon dairying, gen-
eral farming and manufacture.
From Castlemaine to Daylesford is only a
short run. Daylesford makes a convenient health
district for Melbourne and Bendigo and Ballarat.
High hills, water-falls, trout streams, mineral
springs, are among its well-advertised attractions.
Daylesford, with a population of 4,000 people,
is one of the brightest towns in Victoria. In none
of these many brisk and cheerful country places
within a hundred miles of Melbourne will the
most pessimistic visitor discover that "weird ex-
pectancy" which strangers have been taught to
believe is typical of the Australian bush. It
would be indeed difficult to find within a hundred
mile radius of any other city in the world so much
fertility, so much varied natural beauty, such a
contented and healthy population.
Between Ballarat and Melbourne is Bacchus
Marsh, interesting from both geological and agri-
cultural view-points. Here one of the most suc-
cessful of the State's smaller irrigation schemes
has brought prosperity to a number of settlers.
Bacchus Marsh is synonymous with agricultural
values and excellence of production. Apart from
its celebrity for high-grade dairy products Bac-
chus Marsh is a most attractive resort. I he
Werribee Gorge — now converted into a National
Park — is within three miles of its railway station.
This place holds particular interest for geologists.
Ballarat is also reached by a trunk line from
Geelong. This route takes the traveller through
some fine agricultural districts. The rapid settle-
ment of the State has in a great measure been a
direct result of the construction of lines and loop-
lines in all directions. No part of Australia en-
joys such a complete and effective railway system.
Since the opening of the line to Bendigo, in Oc-
tober, 1862, western and north-western Vic-
toria have been cobwebbed with railroads. ft
I
* *
in Australia than (jee-
There is no fairer place
long, which fronts Port Phillip at the head of
Corio Bay. The western shores of this great
Port are intensely fertile. Geelong itself is rich
in groves and gardens, busy and modern, but yet
a city of flowers. It is most happily located on
sloping hillsides, with a back country of excep-
tional beauty.
From Geelong to Queenscliff is a ilelightful
journey — one to loiter over with a good car upon *
a long October day. The villa and cottage gardens (
41
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
In the Public Gardens, Bacchus Marsh.
of (jeelong will be full of flowers about that
time — parks a vivid green, fields emerald and gol-
den. Imported gorse will make the roadside
hedges seem like the walls of the new Jerusalem,
although the farmer loves it not. Ihe fruit trees
will be a-smother with pink and white. On undu-
lating hillsides fat sheep and cattle will remind the
wayfarer that he is passing along a frmge of the
famous Western District. The great bay will
glitter ; white sails against a background of Aegean
blue and the smoke of steamers will shew that it is
one of the world's busy ports; Barwon River
will gleam across the farmlands, and Lake Con-
newarre flash its silver. There will be glimpses
of blue mountain-peaks in the distance; peace-
ful hamlets with shaded streets to glide through
slowly, a clean little inn to offer gossip or refresh-
ment. There will be scent of roses, clover and
hay, song of skylarks and carol of magpies — all
the elements of a joyous journey through
green expanses that have never borne the cruel
burden of Want or War.
At Portarlington the first page of Victorian
settlement was turned nearly eighty years ago.
Then the aboriginal hunted emu and kangaroo
across those pastures, waving like wheat-fields,
which Batman saw and coveted.
Batman^and his dusky friends have sped thence.
New red-roofed cottages, and some old ones
with the stains of early nineteenth-century wea-
ther upon them, face the Bay where the litde
Rebecca lay at anchor only a life's-length ago.
Farther on is the little marine hatnlet of St.
Leonards, where clean incoming tides bring shoals
of hungry fish to gladden the sportsman's soul.
Let the man whose mind has been filled with
harsh impressions of our lovely South-land go
down by Clifton Springs and Drysdale and Port-
arlington, and recatit!
When he has grown tired of emerald pastures,
waving crops, and flowering orchards, he can
glide out of this rapt demesne to where waves of
the Tasman Sea break on beaches of Barwon
Heads, Torquay, or Anglesea ; he may even wan-
der as far as Lome, and loiter upon the beach or
explore the damp recesses of Cape Otway forests.
He will find shores full of beauty and grandeur,
fields and farms, stretches of bushland swept by
invigorating winds, fragrant with wattle blossom,
sunlight and spray — but nothing to remind him
that Marcus Clarke wrote his dismal preface to
Adam Lindsay Gordon's poems over in Mel-
bourne across the Bay.
It is amusing to hear returned Australians
speaking in raptured voices of the Sunny South
of Llurope, of Lnglish lanes and Irish meadows,
and Caledonian braes. Within the radius of a
hundred-mile arc, drawn east and west of Mel-
bourne, glows a Made verdant land, resplendent
and glorious with mountain and meadow, stream
PORT PHILLIP AND THE HILLS
3*3
and cascade, blue tidal waters and brave sunshine
— entirely healthy, entirely free, which enjoys all
the blessings of peaceful production and still holds
thousands of untilled acres and hundreds of op-
portunities for the establishment of comfortable
Australian homes.
In Melbourne already there are 650,000
people, or a little less than half the population of
the State. The city itself does not need to in-
crease its numbers; but the adjoining rural dis-
tricts should be able to support many times their
present total. Judicious land laws, sub-division
and intensive culture on small areas, the establish-
ment of new rural industries under attractive con-
ditions of labor and residence, will help to solve
this passing problem of centralization. The tap-
roots of a tree are naturally strongest; but the
whole root system must be given room to develop
if the growth of the tree is to have a normal con-
tinuance.
Professor Cherry, formerly Director of Agri-
culture for Victoria, asserts that not one-tenth of
the available land of the State is under cultiva-
tion. It may be seen how the present population of
1,400,000 could be multiplied by ten without ex-
hausting Victoria's agricultural strength.
The opening of an autonomous transport, with
a deep-sea harbor at Portland will help to relieve
Melbourne. This great national work has already
begun.
On the Erskine at Lome.
324
I
Wamiambool.
THE WESTERN DISTRICT.
THE city of Geelong has a population of
35,000. On the outskirts of the town are
several fine woollen mills, where the in-
comparable fleeces of these districts — sought
annually by purchasers from all over the world —
are made into most durable tweeds, Hannels and
blankets. Immediately beyond the town there
liegins the fairest belt of agricultural country in
the Commonwealth. Furthermore, it is traversed
by what, at the end of the year 191 5, was de-
cidedly the best main road in the State.
Geelong being the natural capital of the won-
ilerful Western District of Victoria, we will make
it the starting-point of another journey.
To travel through this agricultural Utopia in
spring, when the crops are rustling against the
top-rails of the fences, is to behold Australia in
one of her most prolific aspects.
Richest volcanic soils, visited by copious rain-
'alls, with a temperate climate, make Western Vic-
itoria from Geelong to Port Fairy a natural
garden. Land has sold for over £100 an
acre within this belt, the output of which in wheat,
wool, dairy produce, has reached a tremendous
total. Some of the wealthiest agriculturists in
Australia have made their fortunes here. If It
were the ambition of graziers to become farmers,
rather than vice versa, the Western District
would be still more productive and closer settled.
When the men of larger holdings see the wisdom
"1 sub-division, either on share-farming principles
or as landlords or financiers, this corner of the
Commonwealth will swell the figures of Victorian
production further still.
Despite this prevailing tendency to large
estates, the Western Districts are highly progres-
sive and prosperous. Some of the best towns in
the State have put civic roots deep into their
basaltic soils, and are destined to grow.
The first of these considerable places along that
pleasant western road is Colac. The town has
a present population of about 4,250 people, with
14,500 in the shire. Dairy farming and its by-
products have proved most profitable. The aver-
age holdings are about 100 acres. It is said lo-
cally that fifty acres properly worked make a good
living area. The present capital value of the
land about Colac may be calculated at from £40
to £60 an acre. Land suitable for the growing of
onions brings as much as £4 an acre annual rental.
Such land was yielding (in 1 9 1 2 ) six to seven tons
an acre, worth £20 a ton at the time. Ten-acre
men were making a fair income. It must be re-
membered that living in this class of country is
very cheap. Hitherto, beef and mutton have been
procurable at prices that keep them on the table
of every working-man : country house-rents are
low, commodities comparatively cheap, vege-
tables and fruit grow readily, and a household
cow or two are easily kept. Taking into consider-
ation climate, constant rainfall, convenience and
company, the small farmer may be better oft on
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
ten or twenty or fifty acres here, than men with
1,500 acres elsewhere. With the wages paid to
agricultural laborers in Australia, any ordinary
farm hand, without capital, can look forward to
becoming a proprietor.
It has become the recognised duty of each State
Government to encourage and assist this class of
settler as far as possible — the greater the number
of agricultural proprietors the better for the ef-
fective occupation and future development of the
whole Commonwealth.
erally, dairymen at least could greatly increase
their returns. Even in these splendid districts
the most casual observer will see idle lands and
neglected opportunities. Still there are plenty of
good farmers and well-worked holdings. As the
Agricultural Colleges get in their good education-
al work and European and American settlers with
up-to-date experience and the necessary initial
capital take up Australian lands, there will pro-
bably be a vast improvement in the handling of
farms.
Thunder Point and Shelly Beach, Warmambool.
Farmers of the Western District have paid
great attention to their dairy herds. Oats, barley,
onions and potatoes, without fertilizers, may be
the standard crops of the Western District, but
the production of butter and cheese, the curing of
bacon, are constantly-increasing industries. Graz-
ing, of course, has always been successful; in fact,
the pastures of the Victorian volcanic belt carry
a majority of the sheep and cattle of the State.
Drought is unknown. For half a century oaten
crops have never failed. Despite these advan-
tages, experts like Dr. Cherry, Professor of Agri-
culture in Melbourne University, still contend that
Victorian farmers are not getting anything like
the possible returns from their holdings. There
is no doubt that, with conservation of water and
fodder, culling and more scientific methods gen-
The town of Colac — electric-lit, with teleJ
phones, cars, linotypes and most of the minor coM
veniences of civilization — like other Victorian
towns of to-day, presents no extremes of poverty '
and wealth. One finds great equality, fine friend-
liness, general comfort and well-to-do-ness, and
keen local spirit among these prosperous little
rural communities.
Lake Colac, a fine sheet of fresh water,
22 miles round and averaging eight feet in depth,
is the scene of an annual regatta. Colac prides
itself on the fact that its Lake offers the biggest
field for eight-oars in the Commonwealth, rather
than on the certainty that its sale yards pen on an
average a thousand pigs a week.
The Shire of Colac would carry at least twice
its present population.
I
THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF VICTORIA.
327
Tower Hill and Lake, Eoroit.
As we go, still westward, through halcyon
land of fields and farms, with good macadamized
roads under us, we see green crops as even as a
^^^[lilliard table, higher than the fences, or stocks of
I^Bipened crops standing in the paddocks with
reapers and binders at work. Black soils, basal-
I^^ic soils, limestone soils, chocolate soils, spread
^fcverywhere.
Otway Forest is marked by a heavy cloud-bank
to the southward. Creeks and freshwater lakes,
lipped by a scarlet weed, are frequent. Orchards
of apricots and other fruit look prolific and
healthy. Sheep and dairy cattle graze along
rolling slopes in lush green herbage. Glossy cows
nuinch contentedly over rich pastures. Lucerne
fields hold bounteous promise of winter hay. Po-
tato plants lift their purple-flowering heads down
long even rows. Dark green squares of onions
patch the hillsides. Fine dwellings, creameries,
smart buggies and new motor-cars indicate that,
whether the land is cultivated to its full extent or
not, the Western District men are neither shiftless
nor poor.
This description applies to all the country be-
tween Geelong and Port Fairy, and takes in Warr-
nambool, Koroit, Colac and Camperdown. The
latter is a smart, progressive town of about 3,000
inhabitants. It is the capital of a shire about 900
square miles in area, holding a present population
§f 10,000, which might be increased to 100,000
■ith closer settlement. Some of the larger estates
re now being sub-divided into 200 and 400 acre
farms. The writer heard of men in the"'Butter
Belt" netting £800 a year from i;o-acre blocks,
his district is watered by many lakes, based in
Id volcanic craters, some of which are of very
great depths. It may be regarded as the heart of
the future closer settlement and intensive-culture
Krea of Western Victoria.
IK.'
i
Warrnambool, Koroit and Port Fairy, all lie
within a few miles of one another, and make the
fertile boundaries of a garden over a hundred
miles in length.
The first is a solid little city with wide, well-
paved and clean streets, sandstone houses, good
stores, manufactories, and other outward evi-
dences of long-standing prosperity. Famed for
its astounding crops of onions and potatoes,
Warrnambool is also a depot of supply for a large
dairy-farming area, than which there is nothing
richer in the Commonwealth. Warrnambool,
like Port Fairy, is a favorite seaside resort, both
with rocky ocean-shore and sandy bay-beach.
Koroit is a smaller repetition of Warrnambool,
some of the most productive mixed farms in Vic-
toria being located on the green volcanic slopes
around it. It is here that a long-extinct volcano
belched forth the richest soil deposits known in
Australia, and made the land worth from £80 to
over £100 an acre.
Port Fairy is the terminus of the western rail-
way system, and a shipping centre. Considerable
port improvements are being effected both at
Warrnambool and Port Fairy. They are both
live towns, with active municipal councils who see
to it that the civic credit of a growing population
is sustained.
Between this town and historic Portland
the coast lands are not of such unvarying excel-
lence, but even the poorest in seeming are capable
of high production with proper treatments, as the
heath lands are now proving.
Portland, among many Australian towns with
high ambitions, deserves particular attention.
It claims the proud historical distinction of be-
ing the first place in V^ictoria where European
settlement definitely began. Two hundred and
fifty-two miles from Melbourne, it is already the
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Loch Ard Gorge, Port Campbell.
terminus of a railway system which taps the
north-western parts of the State and the adjoining
border districts of South Australia.
It has been patent for many years past that
Melbourne, like Sydney and Adelaide, is called
upon to accept more carrying trade than is good
for her development. It is natural in the opening
of new countries that first-established ports along
their seaboards will attract large populations, but
the expansion of Sydney and Melbourne as ports
has been out of proportion.
Both New South Wales and Victoria have now
determined upon a policy of developing their
outer ports and inland railways in order to pre-
vent further centralization. Serious problems of
transport have arisen which need not be discussed
now. It is a sufficient guarantee for the future
of the south, west and north, that the expansive
harbor works at Portland recently commenced
will create a new deep-sea port of the first
magnitude.
Portland Bay is 24 miles by 12, with 32 feet
of water and upwards for berthing at low tide.
It should become an outlet for the Wimmera and
a large section of the Victorian Mallee. Local
production in the shape of timber, grain, potatoes
and the fruits of the temperate zone are already
exported. The Nine-Mile Forest, near Portland,
boasts of producing 15 tons of potatoes to the
acre. Large stretches of heath land, some thrown
open for close settlement, are located in the dis-
trict. Unpromising in appearance, these heath-
covered coastal plains give payable returns of 5
to 10 tons of potatoes from an acre. Strawberry
clover, cocksfoot, rye and other grasses thrive
even in the poorer-looking soils, which extend
across towards Mount Gambier. For their own
especial purposes they are just as valuable under
the high rainfalls of this corner of Australia ;is
the fat lands in other parts of the State.
Freezing works make one of the existing indus-
tries of Portland, whence a hundred thousand
lambs a year are already exported. Farm lands
have a present value of £15 an acre, and are in-
creasing in value. As inevitable export trade
is developed at Portland Bay, settlement will
doubtless increase through all this extreme south-
western division of Victoria.
The north-west Wimmera and Mallee pro-
duce sixty per cent of the total wheat grown in
Victoria, beside a fair proportion of woo! and fat
lambs. It is expected that this output, or a
greater part of it, will ultimately be shipped direct
from Portland. Once direct railway communica-
tion is established between the port and the highly
productive districts northward, their products will
naturally gravitate to Portland, saving thereby
freight distances of 60 and 100 miles.
The linking of Portland and Mount Gambier
by rail will drain the production of that fertile
pocket also by a much nearer channel to the sea.
Between Mount Gambier and Casterton to the
northward, and from (ilenelg to Portland on the
coast, there is a large block of Victorian territory
yet but sparsely settled. '1 he writer crossed
into Casterton from Mount Gambier west
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
and east in the beginning of 19 12, and
crossed at the end of the same year
through Hotspur and Digby — south and north —
from Portland to Casterton again. The rainfall
along this route is the same as that of Mornington
Peninsula — 30 to 40 inches. Nearing Casterton,
the country improves in appearance; yet the
more southern part of it is by no means sterile or
unfit for production. Like the heath lands above
Portland, it can be turned to very good account,
as patches of cultivation here and there are al-
ready testifying.
Coming across from Mount Gambler — the
place where good South Australians go to
when they die — one leaves the black ploughed
lands before reaching the border and enters
what to the average layman seems a desert
by comparison. I remember that particular
journey rather well, because I had for
coach companions a blithe colonist of 70, named
Cawker — an old friend and associate of Adam
Lindsay Gordon — and a pessimist, who was
travelling on account of his health. We left
Mount Gambler while the church bells were ring-
ing and rattled along briskly behind a fair team
of horses, first through a magnificent a\enue of
pine trees and then out on to open country
with rolling hills of a vivid green; a most strik-
ing contrast to Hergott Springs, where I had just
spent a few dry but interesting days. We left the
onion farms presently and crossed into rich
swainp lands yet undrained. Fine spreading gum
trees and flat open spaces featured this region.
The coach stopped just over the Victorian bor-
der at a little place called Ardno to change horses.
Here we got an unexpectedly good cup of tea. The
pessimist had complained about the. country from
the moment we crossed the border line. He kept
on complaining until the coach reached Casterton
late that afternoon. Although they gave us a
splendid lunch in the inn at Strathdownie, he was
not happy. He said there were too many swamps;
the people couldn't be healthy and the food
couldn't be good.
After leaving Strathdownie, the road rises into
country of no seeming quality. There were
patches of heavy sand, which gave the pessimist
an opportunity to talk about Australian deserts.
His heart was not in Australia. Still we reasoned
with him. But as the sand grew heavier and the
stunted forest thicker and more unpromising, a
tone of greater satisfaction entered into his
criticisms. He said they called Victoria the garden
of Australia — was this any garden?
We had to admit that it was not. But, I ven-
tured to suggest, out of a profound belief in Aus-
tralia, that it might be good for something.
"What!" demanded the pessimist fiercely.
"What is it good for!"
I replied that 1 had not enough local knowledge
to enable me to say. Still, my experience told me
that this unpromising soil, covered with poor-
looking timber, was perhaps the very best land in
the world for some particular agricultural pur-
pose!
The pessimist laughed derisively.
The next place for changing horses was at a
little clearing in this ugly forest, where a lonely
hut and a paddock were the first evidence of
human occupation for many tedious miles. The
hut-keeper was a solitary old man who looked
after the coach horses; a tidy ancient whose dom-
estic surroundings bespoke the clean methodical
habits of a typical bush bachelor. He had the
beds ready for the horses and each animal's feed
waiting in its trough.
Cawker, Gordon's friend, was the proprietor
of that line of coaches. He had listened quietly
to the argument as we came along. He
professed to know little about farming, but
he knew the birth-place and history of
every horse on the road. He said the old
hut-keeper had been trying to make a gar-
den. We might get down and have a look at it.
It should be some indication of what the country
between the border and Casterton was good for.
The old bushman was pleased to lead us towards
a sloping piece of ground which he had cleared
and planted, mainly, he told us, to fill in spare
time. It faced towards a creek and seemed to be
no more than a quarter-acre of gray unfertile
sand. The tidy man felt called upon to apologise
for its appearance. He said it looked barren, but
he had found it would grow crops as well as the
richer soil of Mount Ciambier or Casterton. In
proof of this he had, among other things, splendid
beds of strawberries, patches of green lucerne,
and an excellent crop of tomatoes!
The pessimist was thoroughly annoyed. It hurt
him to find his desert actually yielding ripe straw-
berries at the mere call of a casual hut-keeper who
modestly disclaimed any professional knowledge
of gardening; who was, in reality, only paid to
look after Cawker's coach horses and merely cul-
tivated a quarter-acre of available sand to keep
himself from loneliness. We made full use of this
object lesson on the deceptiveness of Australian
appearances. It was a cold day. Phe pessimist
sank into his overcoat for the rest of the journey.
Even when we surmounted the last hills, and saw
the superb undulating plateau of the L^pper
Glenelg lit with sunset radiance, he did not re-
appear.
Casterton is pleasantly located on the fertile i
fringes of Major Mitchell's "Australia Felix." It i
is one of Victoria's active inland centres. Red- 1
brick buildings, fine tree-planted streets, a back-
ground of vividly green hills, swept by cool ,
THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF VICTORIA.
33'
m
—1 1
healthy winds, black flats, richness, cultivation,
electric light, art furniture, a good hotel and the
carpeted comforts of civilization — these finished
the impressions of another day along the border,
rhis day had brought the author into the fourth
corner of Victoria — he knew the other three — •
and it was a consolation to find it capable of grow-
ing strawberries and lucerne at least.
One sees along the western road from Geelong
to Portland, old-fashioned farm houses, with gol-
den fields of dandelion sloping away to willow-
bordered creeks. Like the stone houses of Port-
land, surrounded by formidable walls, they be-
longed to a generation which has gone. Smaller
villas on the hillsides, spanking motor cars and
petrol waggons on the roads, proclaim a newer
era.
About Casterton and along the line to Branx-
holme, where the railway branches for Portland,
the old stone dwellings are fewer, but the land is
still lush and green. Rounded hills, spreading
rees, clear-running creeks, bespeak the happy con-
nction of good rainfall and rich soil. Trucks
lied with fat stock go down the rails, boxes of
tter await shipment at the sidings and polished
ream cans rattle toward the factories. Agri-
Itural prosperity is evident, even in the slowness
f the trains, which stay to pick up trucks of live
ock, bags of potatoes, and "empties" at each
little station.
The distance from Casterton to Melbourne is
200 miles. The ordinary train completes it in 14
hours. This is not entirely the fault of the Rail-
way Department. The leisurely habits of a
population with nothing to worry about are a con-
tributing factor.
From Branxholme the railway takes across to
Hamilton, and then through good open pastoral
country to Ararat. Coming from Casterton to-
wards Melbourne on this line, the passenger has
the picturesque and striking peaks of the Gram-
pians on his left hand, for some distance.
These hills are of particular interest to Aus-
alian botanists; no less than 1865 varieties of
native plants have been classified as indigenous
to them. For lovers of mountain scenery they
also hold a peculiar attraction. They can be
reached at Hall's Gap in 16 miles from Stawell,
on the Melbourne-Adelaide line. The Grampians
iffer in some respects from any other Australian
mountains. Rising precipitously out of level
plains, their timbered sandstone heights have
been the bed of some ancient sea, whose
warm waves beat on vanished southern shores un-
imaginable years ago. High painted cliffs facing
he solid plain roughly mark the borders of this
primal sea. Deep gullies, filled with moss and
fern, pillars and monoliths of naked stone, high
peaks from which the wheatfields of the Wim-
mera and the broken volcanic peaks of
the southern seaboard are visible, make of
the Grampians a sort of watch-tower for Vic-
toria. These rugged sandstone ranges, still
sparsely settled, aloof, remote and unusual, reach
In the Grampians
their greatest elevation in Mount William, 3830
feet high. The orchard settlement of Pomonal is
located on the east slope of Mount William
range. Major Mitchell camped hereabouts in
1836. Apples are its principal product; grown
almost entirely for export and with considerable
success. There is still much Crown land, valued
at £1 an acre, in this district, which, when cleared
of its heavy timber, is worth £25 an acre. This
land has proved suitable for the growth of fruits
332
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Public Gardens, Ararat.
adaptable to temperate conditions and is likely to
become not the least productive part of Victoria.
From Hamilton to Lake Bolac there is good
pastoral land, and from Lake Bolac north again
to the interesting little city of Ararat still more
pastoral and agricultural country. The rounded
hills and grassy valleys of Australia Felix give
place to more open and drier plains, changing
again to lands of hill and hollow which, dipping
across from Ararat through Maryborough, and
rolling off to Ballarat and Bendigo, have made
the richest gold-producing pockets in all Aus-
tralia.
From a sensational mining-field, Ararat has
merged into a mature industrial centre, sur-
rounded like Ballarat by districts which have
abandoned the miner's pick for the plough. This
successful grafting of an agricultural Present on
to a mining Past is a pleasing feature of Victorian
settlement. While this is being written comes an
announcement that the last of the famous alluvial
companies of Ballarat has closed down. Yet
there has been no dislocation of business, and the
prosperity of the city is nowise affected.
This particular mine, the South Berry, in the
Creswick group, was the last of a famous family
of mines occupying an area of about 4 miles, from
which an estimated twenty million pounds' worth
of gold have been taken since 1851. The Madame
Berry Company heads the list of gold producers
in this remarkable group with 387,314 ounces,
valued at oxer a million and a half of money; of
which not less than £855,540 were distributed in
dividends. Sinking in alluvial at Creswick has
varied in depth from 50 feet to 400 feet in the
Madame Berry, the wash beds near the shaft of
which were about 1,100 feet abo\e sea level.
I'he Cathcart mine, on the outskirts of Ararat,
yielded eleven thousand ounces of gold in 1911,
from what was said to be the deepest alknial de-
posit in Australia. Much capital has been ex-
pended in proving the mineral area of the adjoin-
ing Langi Logan and Cathcart groups. This may
be a gold-producing region for years to come.
More exciting chapters in the mineral history
of Ararat have been written than the slow, scien-
tific probing which has established this possibility;
but it will be a golden feather in the cap of this
interesting field if the deep leads which trend
southerly down the Hopkins Plateau from the
Ararat and Cathcart gold-bearing areas, should
yet prove as rich as those wonderful shallow
workings which made the fabulous fortunes of
1855-
Much unwritten adventure and romance hang
over the old workings with which the ground
5ome
Australian
Orchids
Caladenia carnea.
Prasophyllum fuscum.
333
334
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
about Ararat is pockmarked and furrowed. It
was in the precious pipeclay at the bottoms of
these holes that anxious eyes from all over the
earth looked for a fortune in the roaring days.
Imagination can hardly conjure from the
Ararat of to-day, with its well-kept streets and
gardens, the canvas city of 1856-7, where fifty to
sixty thousand people were encamped. Three tons
three and three-quarters hundredweight of gold
went out of Ararat by the gold escort in the
Farms succeeded claims; wheatfields and
orchards followed the fossickers' feverish bur-
rowings, canvas gave way to brick and stone, and
in another metre the epic of Australian settlement
was heroically continued.
Between Ararat and Stawell there are good
vineyards and orchards. Stawell is a tidy, busy
Victorian town, 150 miles from Melbourne, form-
Stawell
springtime of 1857. In that canvas town, where
bygone campfires flickered the shadows of long-
dead diggers on long-folded tents, Julia Mat-
thews acted and Lola Montez danced. On gum-
trees, long since converted into ashes, the futile
proclamation announcing a reward for the arrest
of Peter Lalor was nailed, when wounds won by
would-be patriots in Kureka Stockade were still
unhealed.
There are old men in Ararat still, who remem-
ber as children the great rush of 1855, which
opened the richest alluvial field the world has
known. These worthy citizens have seen the
birth and renascence of a doubly-productive dis-
trict. As the output of metal declined, new
wealth, in the form of superfine wool, sound
wheat and good wine, was created. The Great
Western Vineyard, planted by J. and H. West,
in 1863, now the property of Hans Irvine, has in
itself given Ararat to fame as a viticultural centre.
ing still another metropolis for a productive dis-
trict. This is a sheep-raising, wine-growing and
mineral region. The town, like Bendigo, still
has several gold mines in opL-ration within its
boundaries. With the (irampian quarries nearby,
the buildings of this little city are more solid and
imposing than the structures one sees in most
Australian country places.
Leaving Stawell, the traveller shortly enters
those flat plains which extend through the Wim-
mera and on over the Mallee to South Australia.
The mining areas are left behind, and at Murtoa
over level expanses are written in golden letters
two words, "Wheat" and "Wool." Towards
Warracknabeal and Minyip the landscape has
changed to a sea of wheat or a sea of fallow and
stubble, according to the time of year.
There are good farmers out here, mostly 160
to 640-acre men. They have learned the way
to make sheep and grain pay, and keep on pay-
•Agricijltdrai^
^ E^DUCATION ^
335
336
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Longerenong Agricultural College.
ing. With stuiiip-jiimp ploughs, scarifiers, har-
vesters and hybridised wheats the conquest of the
Wimmera and the Mallee has gone on rapidly
during the last few years. Favored by a wise
policy of rapid railway building, the agricultural
districts of Victoria have been pushed farther and
farther out, until practically the whole of that
great north-western part of the State — which was
once the despair of governments in Melbourne —
has been or soon will be successfully settled.
At Longerenong, between Murtoa and Hor-
sham, the State has established an Agricultural
College and station, where constant experiments
are carried out in connection with problems of
cultivation; particularly with improving the char-
acter and yield of wheats. At this college ac-
commodation is provided for 35 resident students.
Non-resident students, the sons of district
farmers, also attend the classes. In the course
of his perambulations over Victoria, through
erratic lubrication of his car (and taking the
wrong turning), the author was compelled late
one evening to thrust himself on the hospitality of
the Ballenger sub-household, whose 640-acre
farm lies opposite to the Government College.
This family, well-known as successful bee-keepers,
consists of nine boys and two girls. The 640-
acre block, although an old farm, was a new in-
vestment for them. We found three fine Bal-
lenger sons in charge; offshoots of the main
household which lived and labored on its original
holding in another part of the district. These
bachelor boys, with joyous Australian hospitality,
fetl two belated travellers on good Wimmera mut-
ton, honey from their own hi\es, and breati of
their own baking. Having filled their late and
unexpected \isitors, these lads tlrew roiuid the fire
and talked. I'ine clean-living Australian boys!
I heir souls were as upstanding as the peaks of
the blue (irampians, 20 miles away across the
plain. There was no fear of failure in them, no
dour complainings about hard life on the farm.
Ihey meant to win out, as thousands of cheerful
young Australians are winning out on the land.
It was a good thing to waken next morning
from a tired sleep on a "shake-down" before the
fire, and hear those hard-headed, stout-hearted
Victorian lads getting to the work of the day.
They had the carol of magpies and the twittering
of sparrows for orison. Their four-roomed lined
weatherboard cottage was surrounded by shade
trees, mostly young sugar gums, which are
planted as breakwinds on these plains. Green
fields and distant blue hills made their outlook
pleasant. They reckoned to average 20 bushels
of wheat an acre from their section with good
farming, and there was money to be made in
various ways — life to them meant something
worth while.
What these young men are doing in Victoria
thousands of others can also do, if they will face
their personal problems fairly and not expect
everything for nothing. Victoria, like her sister
States, has abundant room and opportunity for
people to whom the virtues of frugality, persever-
ance, and labor have not become old-fashioned.
THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF VICTORIA.
337
It seems to the writer, in his consideration of
Austrahan problems of national development and
individual happiness, that these qualities are not
incompatible with the most radical views on
legislation or the most advanced methods of in-
dustrialism. The Australian settler can be any-
thing he chooses in politics, an uncompromising
Socialist or a fixed Conservative, but if he does
not bring ready hands and right working methods,
he cannot look forward to winning out like these
hearty lads of Longerenong.
Frugality, perseverance, and effort were be-
hind the men who have made the Wimmera one
The town and railway terminus of Rainbow is
situated slightly to the north-east of Lake Hind-
marsh in what is practically the heart of the Vic-
torian Mallee.
Settlement by free selection began in the Wim-
mera district, as far back as 1869. Several suc-
cessive good seasons rooted the small land-
holder firmly and left the first settlers, the pas-
toralists, out in the cold; but the progress of these
far western districts was hampered for practi-
cally the life of the occupying generation, through
lack of transport and lack of knowledge.
Railways came in time. The average rain-
BoUing Down the Mallee.
of the most productive regions in Victoria. New
country is not conquered otherwise. The earliest
pioneers, the advance guard who drove their
flocks and herds before them, could not have
alized that the good pastoral lands they
squatted" upon were destined later on to also
become a granary for the State. The deceptive
dryness of Wimmera soils once more caused a fine
agricultural country to be classed as suitable only
for grazing.
The Wimmera River rises near Mount Cole,
on the Divide, receives some tributaries from the
Grampians, and, cutting through the deep allu-
vial plains of north-western Victoria, empties into
Lake Hindmarsh in latitude 26 S., long. 142 —
about midway between Wentworth, N.S.W., and
Portland, Vic.
fall of twenty inches was supplemented for town
and farm supply by storages established in the
Grampians and at Wartook and Lake Lonsdale.
Then mixed-farming methods of the second settle-
ment period gave place to systematic wheat-
growing. Fallowing, summer working of the
fallows, seed drills, superphosphate, and the har-
vester, improved crops and improved markets,
brought prosperity in their train. The staunch
settlers who had migrated from South Australia,
lived to see their faith justified. They brought
some of these innovations with them. The
farm lands extended out further and further into
the Mallee; new towns sprang up, new railway
lines were built, new settlers came in — the great
plains of the Wimmera, the mallee scrubs, were
covered with hundreds of square miles of waving
^
338
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
wheat; ploughed pastures yielded higher returns
of succulent grass, the settlers raised more fat
lambs, bank accounts swelled, the capital values
of the land rose from £3 to £10 an acre. To-day
numbers of the 320-acre men, who mostly com-
menced with very little capital, are worth from
£2,000 to £40,000. Horsham has grown from
a mere village into a smart little city of four or
five thousand people. Murtoa, Rupanyup,
Lubeck, Dimboola, Nhill, Natimuk, Minyip have
all become places on the map of Victoria. Other
towns and villages are springing up, out to Ouyen
and the borders.
So far as experiments in irrigation have gone,
they prove the Wimmera capable of intensive cul-
ture: a factor which cannot fail to affect its
future. Australia, like the United States, will
pass through several epochs of settlement and
production. Hopeful Western District pro-
phets can already foresee another era of increased
population and production. Between Murtoa
and St. Arnaud the good red and black lands ex-
tend. Between St. Arnaud and Maryborough
the soils seem more adapted for viticulture and
fruit-growing than wheat.
Approaching Maryborough, the face of nature
is once more pitted with the remains of old shafts
and workings. Gold is still being won around
here, although the excitement and the rushes of
early days have become no more than memories
of oldest inhabitants. Maryborough forms yet
another small centre of industry. It may be
classed as a progressive, picturesque, and sub-
stantial city in a mining, pastoral, and agricultural
district.
From this somewhat casual review of the
Western Districts, it may be gathered that
Victorian settlement is not faced by radical
difficulties of indifferent soils or extremes of
climate.
As a comprehensive statement of fact one might
say that nil the Western Districts are good for
some kind of agrarian production; that certain
portions of them, such as the belt between Colac
and Warrnambool, are the best in the Common-
wealth. One of the Scottish Commissioners, who
had the widest international experience, told the
writer he regarded the Western Districts of
Victoria not only as the best agricultural lands in
Australia, but the best in the world! Coming
from such a proverbially cautious source, the as-
sertion receives additional weight.
With the exception of the northern fringe of
the Wimmera and the Mallee, into which they
merge, these districts have a comparatively high
rainfall. Experience is now showing that the
extreme north-western portion receives the neces-
sary quantity of moisture to ensure the success of
wheat. In regard to the Wimmera and Mallee,
it has been argued that the successes of latter
years are due to increased rainfall. Scientific
investigation reveals the opposite. The rainfall
of 1889-96 was heavier than any eight-year
period in the last 24 years, but the heaviest har-
vests have resulted from the driest years — due to
better farming systems and the conservation of
water in the soil by fallowing. It is not the
climate which has improved, but the methods of
Australian dry-farmers.
f
Saw Mill. Warrandyte.
i
^^^
cr~=fr?5?^"?^,K^- .
The Lakes Entrance
GIPPSLAND.
Ir was a doughty Scotsman from the Isle of
Skye, named Angas McMillan, who seriously
attacked the virgin recesses of Eastern Vic-
toria in 1839. McMillan was overseer for a
squattage on the high, cold plains of Omeo —
where New South Wales cattlemen were already
established. After an adventurous journey of
exploration through trackless ranges, in May,
1839, h*^ viewed from a mountain peak the land
spreading from the Australian Alps towards the
seaboard, and realized that it was good. He
came back later in the year and established a
station on the Tambo River, about forty miles
south of Omeo. Using, this as a base, in
January, 1840, he penetrated the new country
as far as the present site of Mafifra; discovering
and naming the great Gippsland Lakes, and the
Nicholson, Mitchell, Avon, McAllister and La-
trobe Rivers.
His next station was formed on the Avon : from
which, in 1841, he opened a route to Port Albert.
Count Strzelecki entered Gippsland in March,
1840. Although he has been credited with the
actual discovery, he was not the first in the field.
Nor did the sensational experiences of his some-
what amateurish expedition forward the interests
of settlement in what is undoubtedly one of the
fairest provinces in Australia.
k
Between Warragul and Bairnsdale one sees
some of the best of Victoria. Gippsland in 1915
produced 5,323,oofj pounds weight of wool, sup-
ported 264,564 head of horned stock, averaged
21.99 bushels of wheat to the acre, and contrib-
uted one of the largest quotas to the sum total
of Victoria's dairy products.
The development of Southern and Central
Gippsland has been comparatively recent. Much
of this territory — originally covered with forests
— was set down as unsuitable for occupation. The
struggles of early Gippsland pioneers are an in-
teresting part of Victorian history.
A few years ago the fastnesses of nearer
Gippsland were untraversed by roads, innocent
of railways, and sparsely settled. On rich
alluvial flats along the rivers there were farms,
but even the volcanic hillsides were still covered
with mighty trees. The Hill Country proper is
now only partially occupied. It forms a section,
averaging about 1,500 feet in height, extending
from the coast of South Gippsland to the Upper
Murray. Its soils are stiff loams for the greater
part, with friable clay subsoils; convertible when
cleared of forest into excellent pastures and the
best of orchards. The average rainfall is over 30
inches, well distributed.
339
340
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
South Gippsland soils, red and gray, are equally
famed for their fertility. Potatoes, onions, root
crops generally, enrich the settlers in these young
districts. But dairy farming has so far returned
the bulk of profits. After the heavy trees have
been felled or killed and the undergrowth
cleared by axe and fire, a mixture, usually com-
posed of rye grass, clover, and cocksfoot, is sown
broadcast. After the first rain this land becomes
payable pasture.
About Leongatha one may study the process
of Southern Gippsland settlement to advantage.
Leongatha is on a railway line which runs down
from Melbourne to Port Albert. It is 78 miles
from the capital, and 273 feet above sea level.
From here a road goes across to picturesque In-
verloch and Anderson's Inlet. Coming over from
Wonthaggi in the direction of the coast, the
traveller will cross a narrow belt of uncon-
vincing sandy loams and clays. But the coal-
fields of Powlett River are a valuable mineral
asset — further proof that Australia is a land of
compensations. Inverloch is another delightful
place to spend a holiday. As one approaches
Leongatha, the change to rich allu\'ial flats and
volcanic hills is remarkable. After crossing
through silent and somewhat monotonous bush for
about sixteen miles, the traveller suddenly glides
into a fair and fertile land, where rung timbers,
vividly green hillsides, young fields, and new
houses announce that ci\ili/.ation has attacked the
wild. Cattle are grazing everywhere. I'he
cowyard and dairy, with milk cans in rows, are
an inseparable part of this landscape.
Leongatha is typical of other towns in South
Gippsland. The history of one is practically the
history of them all.
Not many years ago it was primal forest await-
ing in aeons-old solitude for the advent of man.
The first Gippsland settlers approached their
tasks with heroic courage. Their lives, in some
instances, were literally given to the cause of
progress, and passed without recognition or
reward. They buried themselves among the
darkened trees, remote from railways, unblessed
by roads in the sense that ordinary citizens regard
the word. With steel and fire these outposts
grimly entered upon the conquest of a territory,
whose ultimate value they may have dimly seen
but rarely lived to realize. Their descendants
look out in comfortable possession over green
pastures, which they knew as grassless forest wilds,
overhung by canopies of tree-tops, which shut out
the light of the sun; whose midnight darkness was
dense as that of a coal-mine.
The Government sold them land in 320-acre
blocks for £1 an acre; which was currently-
regarded as beyond its value. So they battled
along slowly, opening out the tall timber, slaying
their giants one by one; agitating the Government
at times for greater facilities, keeping their dis-
trict member's nose to the parliamentary grind-
stone, slowly improving their farms, forming little
nuclei for townships — living altogether rough
and strenuous but healthy and hopeful lives.
These were the men of 25 years ago. Now
forests are pastures and groups of huts have
grown into thriving towns.
Agricultural land at Leongatha, for example,
is worth £25 an acre. As far back as 1909, a
320-acre block was sold for £22/10/- an acre.
In 191 2 this block — one of the original selections
— was bringing £640 a year rental as a dairy
farm. Onion-ground right through the district
was worth £2 an acre rental. There were no
longer any Crown lands in that Shire — which
carried a well-established and extremely prosper-
ous population, not so great perhaps as it will be
later on, when farms of 200 acres have been cut
down to 20 and 50 under more intensive cultiva-
tion, for which they are best adapted.
One man has already cleared £2,400 as his
year's income from 40 acres. Under these cir-
cumstances the thousand-acre farm — there are
still a few — is a losing proposition.
Faking the Post Office as a centre, from a cir-
cular area of ten miles, Leongatha sends 40 rail-
way-truck loads of fat cattle away each week.
The co-operative creamery at Leongatha,
worked on the three-loft gravitation system, with
its receiving room, cooler, chilling room, and
giant churn, could hardly be imagined by (iipps-
land dairymen of 25 years ago. Science and
organisation, tiled floors, and daily milk tests, did
not have a place in the old system. Now the
creamery butter, piled high on its wooden trough,
after the machinery has done its work, proclaims
the golden wealth of Gippsland!
fhere is an interesting Labor Colony near
Leongatha, capably conducted under Government
auspices. It fills the dual function of a reforma-
tory for inebriates and an experimental farm.
This establishment possesses a carefully-culled
dairy herd. For 46 cows the milk test night
and morning has averaged 4.46, which compares
favorably with the famous Western Districts,
declared by a member of the Scotch Agricultural
Commission to be "the finest dairy country in the
world." The best cow in this herd, a cross-bred
Jersey (Holstein sire) in the 191 1 season yielded
8,000 lbs. of milk, worth £16/6/8 in butter
values. When the author of Australia UnUmUed
was introduced to this Gippsland matron in her
seventh year, she had been milking for 305 days,
after her fourth calf, and was then giving 23 lbs
of milk daily on a 5 . i test.
T3
8
a
In
s
34t
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The management of the Labor Farm gives
some attention to orcharding. The manager
invited my ten-year-old son to examine a fifth-of-
an-acre strawberry plot, which had returned £30
net for 191 1. The fruit was just beautifully
ripe. I greatly fear the revenue for 19 12 from
that plot fell short of the expected sum.
The cherries that ripen by Leongatha are "as
big as plums." When we were leaving that
exceedingly pleasant Australian town, a local
watered and fertile as these rich, radiant forest
lands newly won from Nature. They, too, will
have their butter factories and apple and pear
orchards, their raspberry gardens and piggeries
and cow sheds in order.
Lest we should leave this sunlit land with an
impression that the monotonous country by which
we reached it is good for nothing, we pause to
peruse a report which our newspaper friend has
brought along with his superb cherries.
"Bull-frogs," Eastern Gippsland
newspaper man, who is also an agriculturist, came
down to our hotel with a sample box to cheer us
on the way.
We dealt with them next morning as we toiled
up-hill towards Mirboo on second gear. Below
us lay Leongatha — a happy memory. The dead
timber left standing in thin, skeleton groups, the
green patches, rolling dales, flowing creeks and
fields with clumps of tree-ferns standing among
the crop, were all a delightful part of that good
memory. Beyond these, the forest still rolled,
first in broken patches, and then in dark, densely-
wooded distances. "Where the vanguard camps
to-day, the rearguard rests to-morrow." The
wooded vistas outside these occupied places will
be converted in turn to blue-black squares of
onions and green squares of crop; for the land
beyond the radius of the railway is as well-
The report sets forth how one Phillipson, with
rape and paspalum, has turned an area of that
dull-looking coastal belt between Inverloch and
Leongatha into excellent pasture. Sixty acres,
we are told, treated as this settler — and a few
others who follow his example — are treating it,
prove better than 1,000 acres in their natural
state. This land will fatten three sheep to an
acre, and proves extremely profitable — more
proof that Australian productive values are well-
balanced.
Looking across Southern Gippsland from the
hill-tops, one sees that it is destined for mixed
farming on iio-acre blocks; the feeding of cattle
on "siloed" maize, the growing of onions, pota-
toes and fruit — that it is, in fine, another Western
District, and one of Victoria's most valuable
assets.
GIPPSLAND
343
IroiJi J.coiigatha to Mirboo North a inore-
! than-usually bad car-road winds and climbs
, through new country, from which the original
; forest has not all been removed. The cuttings
show the richest of rich chocolate land, with
jj friable soils to any depth; the flats are green and
H moist, — it is as good as anything in the world.
I Go through it, as I did, on a dew-wet morning
: with the magpies carolling and the lories flashing
their splendid plumage from tree to tree, willows
waving gently by many a creekside, smoke issuing
from the chimneys of farm-houses one comes
upon in corners and on tops of hills ! Go through
it while the wind is soft and cool before the heat
t)f the day, when you can smell the new-cut hay
and hear the cream-cans rattling along the roads!
You will see that some of the hillsides are yet
torested; but you will know that every acre is
good, and that soon it will be all occupied and
fenced and covered with grass; that there will be
more sheep in the dales and more cows on the
pastures, more polished cream-cans waiting by the
roadside in the early morn.
There is another creamery at Mirboo North,
brom here a branch railroad goes over to join
the main Gippsland line at Morwell, where, and
at Narracan, there are practically inexhaustible
deposits of brown coal — destined, no doubt, to be
an important factor in the future of Victorian
manufactures.
Ihe way to iMorwell is adventurous-going for
motor cars. Of steep hills and ruts there is no
lack. The writer's impressions of this back-
track are that it is very sandy in some places,
that "crab-holes" are not good for front axles,
and that hauling automobiles out of bogs pre-
vents people getting anything like a reasonable
impression of scenery, no matter how interesting
it may be.
Between Morwell and IVaralgon is open
downs, with distant views of mountain ranges,
which include the Baw Baws. Traralgon is
another prosperous Gippsland township. The
country from here to Sale continues good. Bairns-
dale in the north, on a corner of Lake King,
and Sale, not far from Lake Wellington, are two
little capitals of importance. Both are busy
local centres of about 3,000 population.
Coming up from Lakes Entrance by steamer,
after some hours' journey across the waters of
Lake Victoria, one runs down a narrow seven-mile
strait to Lake Wellington, and out of this by the
Latrobe River into the Thompson, and so to
the town of Sale. It is a most interesting jour-
ney, with smooth water and scenic breaks to make
it more enjoyable. Lake Wellington covers
about 120 square miles: Lake Victoria, much
narrower and longer, about 90. The distance
between Lakes Entrance and Sale is over
80 miles. At Paynesville, fifty miles from
Sale, Lake Victoria junctions with Lake
King. From here boats go down to Bairns-
dale. The Victorian Railways and Tourist
Department issues circular tickets, which will take
the tourist by rail to Bairnsdale, thence by boat
to Lakes Entrance, by second boat to Sale, and
back to Melbourne — or the other way about. The
Lake boats are comfortably appointed, and supply
meals and light refreshments to passengers. They
leave Lakes Entrance for Bairnsdale and Sale re-
spectively at eight o'clock in the morning and
reach their respective destinations in time for
travellers to catch the afternoon Gippsland ex-
press to Melbourne.
The Gippsland Lakes region contains some of
the most attractive resorts in a State particularly
blessed with pleasant places. In eight miles from
Lakes Entrance, Lake Tyers may be reached,
with its Aboriginal Mission Station, where rem-
nants of Victorian tribes are closing the last
chapter in neolithic history.
Beyond Lake Tyers lie Orbost and Mario, on
the beautiful Snowy River, and the remote splen-
dors of Eastern Gippsland.
Gippsland Lakes are Thule to adventurers in
motor boats, who will find many a land-locked
haven with fresh water and level ground for their
:f\ ^-
Lake Tyers
344
GTPPSLAND
345
camps, game, fish and the joys of wide and narrow
waterways. Into these lakes are emptied the
Tambo, the Nicholson, the Mitchell, the Avon,
and the Latrobe. Just across their seaward
margins runs the Ninety-Mile Beach, and all the
swamps, backwaters and lagoons that hide be-
tween Lakes Entrance and Port Albert.
Maffra (1915) £1/7/6 a ton. Ten tons of beet
are required to produce a ton of sugar. Maffra
mill is now fitted with the latest machinery, and a
1,250 h.p. boiler plant for the expression of sugar
from beetroot. The grower usually combines
general farming with the cultivation of beet; he
has leaves and pulp as a by-product for stock.
»
A Backwater of the Mitchell.
From Traralgon to Bairnsdale by road — one
sees that Gippsland is continuously good. Mid-
way is Maffra, where the Victorian Government
has endeavoured to put the beet-sugar industry
upon a profitable basis.
Maffra climate and soil, are said to be partic-
ularly favorable to the growth of sugar beet.
The road from Traralgon takes largely over
granitic ridges covered with ironbark — good
sheep lands. Maffra is more agricultural, rich
and swampy in places. Between Maffra and Bois-
dale and around the latter township most of the
beet farms are located. The average crop is
I <; tons to the acre; price paid at the mill in
i
Beet fields about Boisdale alternate with lucerne
fields and maize. There is a cheese factory here,
and the district has a fine butter average.
The soils are rich as far as Stratford. Beyond
that, on to Bairnsdale, until one comes to the
celebrated Lindenow flats, they do not strike one
as particularly good for agriculture, though scat-
tered settlers state that they possess excellent
growing properties.
It is appropriate that the village of Stratford
should be on the Avon, and that its principal inn
should be proudly called The Shakespeare Hotel.
Bairnsdale, 171 miles from Melbourne, nestles
comfortably in an elbow of the beautiful Mitchell
346
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITFD
River. Like Sale, it has a vigorous business life,
and makes a depot of supply for the settlements
as far away as Cann River and Mallacoota.
Bairnsdale is to East Gippsland what Mecca
might be to the pious Arabian. Fat river lands,
growing maize, silky oaks and willows, give it
beauty and tilth. Its foundry and School of
Mines, banks, stores, canning factory, wharves
and railway station invest it to the bushmen out
of Croajingalong with an air of metropolitan
activity. A pilgrimage to "Barns-dale" is
not a thing to be lightly undertaken, and a good
many bushmen and bushwomen from the border
lands rarely get farther than Orbost, which
should be connected to Melbourne by rail by the
time this volume is issued — converted into a
metropolis further out !
The climate of Central and Eastern Gippsland
is benign. Cool, invigorating winters and sum-
mers, never too severe, produce cherry-cheeked
girls and handsome lads. Prosperity is univer-
sal. Good dwellings, flower-gardens, clean
broad avenues and fine public buildings in the
towns, and comfortable well-appointed farm-
houses, testify to this.
Settlement in Gippsland is yet young. There
are still thousands of good acres to carry
increasing population and thousands of
acres from which yields will be vastly
increased. Not for agriculture alone is
it famous. Walhalla, on the overlooking hills,
has weighted the green gown of Gipps-
land with golden bullion. The celebrated Long
Tunnel mine has yielded, since 1868, roughly
£2,700,000 worth of gold, of which more than a
million and a quarter have been distributed in
dividends to shareholders. The adjoining Long
Tunnel Extended has been an underground trea-
sure-chest from which a million and a half have
been drawn.
Owing, mayhap, to engineering difliculties, a
large section of interesting country, known as
East Gippsland, between the Tambo River and
the border of New South Wales, remains un-
settled. There are yet within this belt three mil-
lion acres of unalienated Crown lands, covered
for the most part with hardwood forests, which in
themselves are a valuable asset to the State.
Leaving Twofold Bay, in New South Wales,
travelling towards Victoria by a rough bush road
one enters a region of tall trees and sparse settle-
ment. The straight border line surveyed by
Black and Allan in 1870-2, beginning at Cape
Howe, crosses constantly over hills and gullies,
which become mountains and ravines as the line
approaches nearer to the point where it meets the
Murray River.
Among all the Australian bush lands there is
none with greater appeal to the eye and the
imagination than that which rolls upward from
the Victorian coast into the heart of the Austra-
lian Alps.
Prom the summit of the trigonometrical cairn
on Howe Hill, you may look down and see the
actual corner of a Continent. Pacing seaward,
you behold the coastline on your left hand, making
off towards Thursday Island, and falling away on
your right towards the Leeuwin.
You may stand at this south-eastern angle of
Australia with the tall pillar of Gabo Island light-
house right under you, and overlook the State of
New South Wales on one side and the State of
Victoria on the other.
Inland, an impressive panorama faces you.
Over a foreground of fresh and saltwater lakes,
forested hills rising into blue forested mountains
make the picture as far as your vision carries.
Below you, like mirrors in the sun, glitter the
ever-changing, ever-beautiful Mallacoota Lakes,
with their wooded shores and islets.
Southward are Red River, the Wingen, Tam-
boon. all the lone, mysterious, coastal creeks and
inlets that follow one another from Bastion Rock
to the Snowy bar.
Sometimes in winter a fishing cutter feels a
cautious way over their uncertain bars, and a camp
fire reddens the foreshore for a few nights.
Sometimes a bushman rides down from Mallacoota
to Cape I\verard. Beyond the visits of these
passing strangers, this first hundred miles of Vic-
torian shore faces the Southern Ocean in greater
quietude than when Captain Cook sighted it. The
coo-ees of dusky huntsmen are no longer heard in
the bloodwoods, or their shouts over its heathy
plains. It is a region filled with the voices of
wind and wave, the making and turning of ocean
tides, cries of whimbrel on sandy flats, howling of
wild dogs in the scrub. Wreckage of unknown
ships strews its beaches, and spindrift sweeps o\'er
lone white sand-dunes; restless waves leave their
tributes of red coral, kelp, and shell along un-
trodden shores.
Westward, Genoa Peak and the Drummer
Mountain stand out in near prominence. Once a
week the mail coach leaves Genoa for Orbost, a
link that binds a handful of far-distant Victorian
settlers to their seat of government in Melbourne.
7 heir few frontier farms are on good black river
flats, but the difficulties of transport hamper their
progress. Apart from these fertile patches.
Eastern Gippsland is heavily timbered. When
cleared it will grow excellent grass.
With a rainfall of 40.59 inches, the
swamps and the coastal plains and oc-
casional jungles of tree-fern and vine, can
an I
m
GIPPSLAND
347
all be made productive. Along the coach
track between Genoa and the Cann River
one sees thousands of yet unoccupied acres similar
to and equally as good as the best Tasmanian
apple country. Outside its forest reserves
Eastern Gippsland will yet become a money-
getter for the State. Apart from any undis-
covered minerals it holds, it is essentially a timber
and fruit and dairy district of the future.
The border line touches the edge of Nangatta,
a rich pocket amid granitic hills, and runs west
by north over the coast range at Bondi and
across the Delegate and Snowy Rivers, till it
reaches the Murray just beyond the iVIain Divide.
For eighty miles or so the Murray, which now
becomes the border line, runs almost due north;
then it turns between Towong and Tintaldra on
its long western journey towards the Southern
Ocean.
Midway between The Pilot and Towong, the
rich flats of the Upper Murray begin. Corryong
and Cudgewa are comfortably tucked away in
this corner, which lies outside the boundaries of
Gippsland proper.
Returning to Delegate River, the border track
takes in from the open plains of Monaro to hilly
and forested spaces which have yet attracted little
permanent settlement. About Bendock and
Bonang a considerable quantity of gold has been
recovered. The country right through from
Wangrabelle and Yambulla to the coast is aurif-
erous and no doubt contains some payable de-
posits of mineral. There is a prospect of an
alluvial field about the Muller River. The
Spotted Dog mine at Mallacoota Inlet is said to
have yielded about £20,000 worth of reef gold,
while it was working. Gold has been found
about Mount Carlyle, the Wallagurah, Genoa
Peak, Club Terrace, and several other places
throughout Eastern Victoria.
From Bonang to Orbost, on the Snowy River,
the chance wayfarer will find habitations few and
far between. At Goonegerah, Jensen's and
Sardine Creek, he may obtain a meal, but the
remainder of his journey will be through dense
hardwood forests devoid of settlement or clear-
ings.
But there will be compensations of com-
manding mountain views, running creeks,
green jungles of similar quality to Com-
hienbar, Cann, and Murrangower. Along
the headwaters of the beautiful Brodribb
River, which joins the Snowy near Mario, there
will be places where clearest waters cascade
under canopies of foliage sub-tropical in charac-
ter. The summit of Mount Buck or Mount Ellery
will reveal a prospect of wonderful mountains,
rolling over Dargo and Tambo and Croajinga-
long.
The Citadel, Buclian.
The Snowy River has brought' down to the
flats of Orbost a detritus won from the limestones,
basalts and granites through which it cuts its way.
Between Mount Kosciusko and the sea it gathers
a fine volume of clear water from ranges in New
South Wales and Victoria.
These Orbost flats are exceptionally fertile.
Owing to remoteness, maize has, until recently,
been their principal product. Of this they yield
enormous crops, sometimes 120 bushels to the
acre, but with the extension of the railway from
Bairnsdale they will no doubt be turned to still
more profitable account.
Between Orbost and Mario the Snowy is navig-
able for small craft, and visitors with any sense
of beauty will be gratified by views of river banks
bordered by ornamental native trees, ferns, wil-
lows, and flowering creepers, with glimpses of
green maize fields or fields glowing with herbage
beyond them. Mario — a pleasant tourist place
— -faces the Snowy bar at the end of the Ninety-
Mile Beach. The Buchan Caves, only a few
miles from Orbost as the crow flies, are usually
reached from Bairnsdale through the village of
Bruthen. The railway will soon traverse this
green pocket at the foot of half-cleared hills —
one of many such places along the creeks and
rivers of this well-watered corner of the State.
,148
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITFD
The flats of Bruthen yield tremendous crops of
maize. There is illimitable scope for the estab-
lishment of orchards through these districts.
Stone fruit, especially peaches and plums and
apricots, should be most successfully grown.
The remaining 32 miles to the Caves run
through monotonous forests of stringybark. and
mountain ash. Occasional teams come in from
these back-blocks laden with wattle-bark and wool,
and go back into the mountains with stores and
supplies.
The view from the last summit over Buchan is
some repayment for a dull drive through the bush.
The Buchan River, a tributary of the Snowy, has
cut the hills and sliced their sides in ancient
chafings for the sea It winds its way far
below, through green flats and over sandy shoals.
The hillsides opposite are dotted with trees
that seem like the trees carved by Swiss toymakers
for the delight of children. Behind them the
mountains are tossed and piled. Their higher
peaks rise triumphantly out of this confusion into
calm blue skies. The limestone in this region
seems to be honeycombed with caves for miles.
Some of the underworld which has been made
accessible to visitors is exceedingly beautiful. The
ventilation is much better than one usually finds
in these underground places, and the passages
and byways of earth smoother and drier-
going. Shawls, mysteries, chandeliers, ala-
baster pillars, marble statues and images follow
one another, as cavern after cavern is lifted out
of Cimmerian night by the magnesium lamps of
the guides.
It gives one a curious sensation of unreality,
this descent through a hole in the hillside into a
region of glamor and mystery, beautiful but
weird. The magnesium light is obscured for a
second and the timid stranger enjoys the sensation
of being immersed in soundless night. He is
enveloped in a blackness more intense than the
night of a coal-pit. The ribbon splutters again
and this aching darkness is, by its magic, trans-
formed into a glittering wonderland filled with
beautiful and fantastic forms. In shining grot-
toes, whose roofs are supported by semi-
transparent columns, cisterns of placid water, fil-
tered into perfect clearness through the purifying
limestone, wait like baths prepared for white
nymphs of the underworld.
From chamber to chamber in this enchanted
Palace of Night the bewildered stranger is led
through lofty vestibules and mysterious corridors.
He enters banquet-halls of giants, boudoirs of
goddesses, workshops of mountain gnomes. In
what might be the frozen feast-room of a Viking,
there is a splendid Christmas tree, laden with
jewelled gifts. In another place "Pompey's
pillar" stands to mark the slow achievement of
those underground sculptors who have fashioned
strange forms with lime and water in the studios
of night. The Victoria Cave, containing a robed
image, bearing strange resemblance to the late
Queen, is a feature in this gallery of subterranean
marvels.
Beyond those caves which have been made
accessible to visitors, others of greater splendor
are being found. The Victorian Government is
spending a reasonable revenue in improving and
making more accessible one of Australia's greatest
nature attractions.
After a couple of hours spent in this fantastic
underworld at Buchan, one emerges to hear the
river singing to the hills, to behold with a sense
somewhat of relief the normal world of sunlight
and shadow. Here tree-tops redden with tender
leaves of springtime, granite peaks watch like
seneschals over green bastions, and blue vistas of
forest-covered mountain, unbroken yet by any
clearing, proclaim the vastness of this unsettled
Australia.
Beyond that picturesque belt of clearing which
makes all the civilization of Buchan, roll eternal
spires and battlements of the Australian Alps.
They sweep northward — Australia's greatest
mountain range — towards the birthplace of her
greatest river, the Murray. They contain many
fertile pockets, many lovely \'alleys, many grassy
flats and rolling slopes which will some day be
converted to settlement.
Three-quarters of an acre of such land at
Bruthen is reputed to have yielded £200 worth
of edible beans in a year.
From Bruthen to Omeo a winding mountain
road follows the course of Tambo River, up
and ever upward into a very sea of mountains.
The bed of the river is sandy and broken by
water-worn boulders of granite. The deep, bass
voice of Tambo recites an unending monologue of
darkened forest and deep ravine; of icy winters
when its channel is filled with roaring snow-
waters, escaping from the Arctic grip of their
parent hills; of summers cooled by mountain airs,
sweet with perfumes of flowering acacias, dog-
wood, and musk. Following the Tambo upward
towards its source, the road takes many windings
— through narrow cuttings along the hillsides,
over white bridges, round steep elbows and across
razorback ridges. There are views of distant
mountains seen through gaps which the river has
worn out by endless action; there are red basal-
tic hillsides, suitable for cultivation. An occa-
sional settler has established his home here and
lives as comfortably and hopefully as our remote
settlers do. At Tambo Crossing the traveller
finds some pretty patches of wheat and maize, and
GIPPSLAND
349
he will conic upon one or two wayside inns within a
hundred miles. Grapes and peaches indicate
that this rugged hackbone of our continent is still
hospitable, still fertile, still full of promise for
future production.
He draws near to Tongio and beholds a few
mountain farms located among colored hills, on
whose steep sides scattered trees are growing.
A sandy river runs over flats where sheep are
grazing. Scarlet lories, with wings of deepest
azure, fly up into drooping gum-trees, and, around
the farmhouses, Australian black, wattles and
European oaks are planted.
o\er which the writer pioneered a cautious way in
December of 1912 with a motor car. Superb
are the views along that hazardous track —
mountain is piled upon mountain, and, through
gorges of wonder, the Mitta chants his defiant
songs of Youth. These streams abound in
English trout. If a man would have cool sum-
mer sport and breathe an atmosphere that is all
oxygen, if he would live the healthful life that
brings soul-satisfying days and nights of infinite
restfulness, let him come out into these indescrib-
able Alps. The very difl'iculties he encounters
will spice his travels like a well-seasoned dish.
In the Buclian Caves.
The road leaves the Tambo near Cassilis, and
crossing over a steep and diflicult mountain range,
strikes the Mitta Mitta River by Omeo. The
waters of the Tambo flow into Gippsland lakes,
but those of the Mitta Mitta join the Murray near
Wodonga, and do not reach their bourne in
Lake Alexandrina for seventeen hundred miles.
The range which makes the divide between them
runs northward into New South Wales. Its
highest peak is Mount Kosciusko, the tallest
mountain in Australia. It is a Land of Big
Things.
Omeo produces gold and grain. From Omeo
to Glen Wills there is a narrow mountain road
Here in this rare mountain air, so buoyant, so
exhilarating, everyday worries of life are seen
through the big end of a telescope. They become
miniature and remote. Here again is another
Australia, wherein one sees snow-covered trees in
the middle of December. Communication with
the outside world practically ceases in winter.
Mount Wills is 5,700 feet high. Above the
snow-level its summit is bare. Beyond it lie the
mysterious Bogong Plains — a wind-swept region
given over to the genii of the hills. The Bogong,
Feathertop, Mount Wills loom like nearby objects
from the summits of Mount Buffalo, which is to
the Victorian Tourist Department what Mount
350
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Mount Wills in Winter.
Kosciusko is to that of New South Wales — a
sanctuary of high places.
The village of Glen Wills is perched in pic-
turesque disarray along a tumbled mountain side.
It depends on gold-mining for its prosperity. In
long winter nights its population pores over
printed pages — it is a well-read, patriotic little
community. Between Glen Wills and Lightning
Creek there are some miles of mountain road that
will fill the hearts of those who travel them with
mingled feelings of anxiety and delight. At
Christmas Creek a view suddenly unfolds before
them which, if they possess the faculty of wonder,
will make an ineffaceable memory.
On broad canvases of Australian Nature pic-
tures magnificent and tremendous have been
painted, but this picture is among those hung
"on the line." From an angle in the track one
beholds a titanic sea, whose wave-crests are moun-
tain-tops, whose hollows are mighty gorges. The
mountain slopes steeply down to the shore of
this blue expanse. A strip of spectral trees slain
by the snows comes first; then a forest of tall,
straight woolly-butt, and then the enthralling
panorama of a thousand cerulean hills, billowing
away as far as the eye carries into distance. The
last of the major peaks upon the skyline is Kos-
ciusko. Drifting clouds make moving patches
of shadow over forests that have never known
the axe. In harmonious quiet — a flawless world
dreams beneath a flawless heaven. Its keynote
is — immensity.
A queenly radiance, Amazonian yet virgin,
englamors it. As I beheld it, the clear air ren-
dered actinic by recent rain, with just enough of
cloud in light fleecy patches to break the bald
beauty of the sunlight, I thought it was the finest
mountain view in Australia — the most impressive
panorama I had had the good fortune to enjoy.
Although we were travelling an anxious road,
taking our motor car over a track which had never
been crossed by a petrol-engine before, or prob-
ably since; although we had lost two hours of a
short afternoon clearing a fallen tree from our
path, and did not know what further obstacles
waited for us in the long downhill that lay between
Glen Wills and the Mitta — we lingered over that
scene.
My companion. Dyer, said it brought him as
near to Heaven as he could ever expect to get.
But I do not think St. Peter will be too severe
on a motor-man who navigated his car without
serious mishap from Omeo to Tallangatta, by an
unknown mountain track, too narrow to let two
vehicles pass anywhere in six or seven miles.
Our hands were blistered from chopping at
the dead woolly-butt which we had encountered in
a cutting where there was no going round. I he
tree was fully eighteen inches in diameter. It
was necessary to hack through it twice with a
light axe of indifferent edge.
In sharp angles of steep grades our half-road
overhung precipices of appalling steepness. The
tree-ferns in gorges below them looked like green
i
GIPPSLAND
^51
mishrooms, the creeks like jrlittering aluminium
)ands. It was a world of wonder and beauty —
md apprehension.
That half-track was overgrown in some places
vlth wild hop-bush which threatened our eyes.
Miows of the previous winter had rutted the sur-
ace on ticklish grades, where straddling ruts
neant putting our outside wheels within a few
nches of the edge. At slowest speed we were
any thousand feet or so of sheer drop. One
slight mis-movement of the driver's hand would
be enough.
The Genii heard our prayer. We braked
unthinkable grades, we rounded incredible curves,
and having glided like a black spider down seven-
teen miles of precarious web, we bumped into a
camp of astonished road-menders at the bottom.
They told us the road over the mountain had been
Winter in the Victorian Alps.
iking great risks. We consoled ourselves with
jM)hilosophy based on the axiom that men die
Py once. While agreeing in subdued tones that
jvery individual lives only under sentence of
leath, we decided that motoring into the abyss
lust be a decidedly unpleasant method of putting
le sentence into execution.
So Dyer called up all his nerve and skill, and I
lade an invocation to the genii of the Alps that
[o boulder in our path would cause the front
Vheels to buck that narrow margin between them
ml the outer edge, that no slippery corner would
ause the back wheels to skid; that no overhang-
tig branch would strike Dyer's eye rounding one
_|f those impossible corners; that no mischance or
■rror of judgment would precipitate the outfit over
L
pronounced unsafe for vehicular traffic. We
had come over it at our own risk. We replied
that we were thankful the risk lay behind us.
After that came the crossing of Lightning
Creek — a brawling tributary of the Mitta Mitta.
I can still see Dyer (he was a little man) grimly
chewing a pepsin tabloid as he crouched behind
his steering-wheel, shoulders hunched and eyes
glittering like points of well-burnished rapiers,
as he precipitated his little American car at that
creek. The bank was steep, and he did not
know the depth of water or the character of its
foundation. The latter proved to be of fairly-
large boulders. The bumping was not good for
a cheap American car, but we won the opposite
bank at sundown and found our cheerful little
352
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Carting Timber from a Bush Saw-Mill.
bush inn and its compensations of food and rest
after the most strenuous day in our exploration of
Victoria.
That night we fell asleep to a lullaby of run-
ning water. The little hostel was located at the
junction of two snow-fed streams wherein
speckled European trout were numerous.
Opposite his front door was the tunnel of a
hillside mine where the innkeeper dug for gold
in his spare time. It was his own mine, and he
worked it all by himself, buoyed by the eternal
hope of fortune which burns in every gold-miner's
heart. Adjoining hills have yielded golden tri-
bute from year to year, and why not his? Nearby
one saw the remains of the Mammoth mine's
flume — once 660 feet long and 120 feet high —
a proof that golden tribute had also been paid to
the hills. The innkeeper's tunnel was already
150 feet in length. Who knows what another
stroke of the pick may bring to light in auriferous
Australia?
We saw much evidence of successful mining in
our journey down the beautiful Mitta valley.
From Lightning Creek to Tallangatta is one
of the loveliest motor runs in Australia, albeit
rough travelling. Road and river keep close
company all the way — a sinuous road tli;
dips over comely shoulders of hills and runs on
as the river broadens, upon levels of gracious pa
ture. Sunlight and the sparkle of water, coo! ar
shady reaches where floating lilies bloom and bi
rushes sway, black farm lands fresh turned by tl
plough, grazing lands green with grass ar
clover; birdsong and fragrance of wild flowers
so this singing stream takes the long road 1
Spencer's Gulf.
Splendid are the white rivers of our Victorii
Splendid is the Snowy, bringing to the Pacific
tide strengthened and sweetened by outpouriil;
from a thousand hills; glorious is the Goulbur
feeding the irrigation farms with its bounteo
flood; majestic is the Mitchell, sweeping throui
fertile flats by Bairnsdale; the lazy Loddon h
her charm; the Yarra its history.
Under banks of the Glenelg are deep niyste '
ous reflections; the yellow waters of the Ove
tell of fine gold won by busy dredges; the Wn
mera sings his epic of wheat and wool, but tl
Mitta Mitta is a lyric poet whose lays, I'l
Lycidas or Endymion, leave a taste of pastor;
sweetness. His rippling natal songs are fic
with couplets from the Alps, his adolescent nictr
GIPPSLAND
353
re the metres of the cavaliers; but, grown to
ligorous riverhood, he sings with the splendor of
llilton and the art of Keats.
rhe poetry of our rivers has never been sad-
iied by the note of battle. It is a poetry of
,ce and peaceful human endeavour, filled with
lices of undcfiled Nature, and echoes of pioneer
ffort. By the singing rivers of Victoria there
Tallangatta is 212 miles from Melbourne, and
enjoys a daily train service. Coaches go to and
from Corryong, on the Upper Murray, and down
the Mitta Valley. Some day Victoria may con-
struct a loop line from Tallangatta to Bright via
the Mitta Valley and Omeo, and thus make gener-
ally accessible the most picturesque mountain dis-
trict in Australia.
A Selector's Hut in the Gippsland Forest.
re homestead sites for those who would forget
ic reddened rivers of Europe and all their dread-
il stories of destruction and strife.
Willows and alders grow by the village of
litta. The traveller makes good going over
.rtile Hats to the railway township of Tallan-
atta, terminus of a branch-line which meets
\iiney-Melbourne railway at Wodonga.
1 his line will, no doubt, be pushed forward
itil it meets the Murray at Tintaldra and
owong, where there is much rich agricultural
iiid, well-watered, blessed by abundant rains, and
cndered pleasantly habitable by the mildest of
iDuiitain climates. Cool winters and balmy
ummers make blessed the regions of Upper Mur-
ay, where settlement thrives and industry in-
rcases.
By going out to Corryong through Cudgewa,
one may reach the Yarrangobilly Caves and
Mount Kosciusko, and return through the lovely
valley of the Upper Murray — which, after con-
struction of the proposed Cumberoona dam — will
be rendered lovelier still by irrigation.
Over all this remote cast of Victoria still hangs
a glamor of the unknown. Swift feet of settle-
ment, lured first by glint of early gold, have
gone rapidly westward and left the East yet
largely unoccupied and difficult of access.
But there is a future for eastern Victoria which
the writer fondly believes will be one of close,
prosperous settlement. Millions of feet of com-
mercial hardwoods make a valuable asset in its
forest reserves and maybe a million acres of pro-
w
354
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
ductive lands await treatment. What wealth of
precious and useful metal remains to be won from,
highly-mineralized regions of vast area time will
determine. This very chapter is being scribed
upon the edge of an East Gippsland forest. Be-
tween the author's camp and Snowy River spread
a hundred lone miles of coastland without a single
homestead, exclusive of Cape Everard lighthouse.
Northward to the border line the country is still
empty. But it will not always remain so. East
Gippsland will yield marine wealth of its
shores and estuaries, wealth of its forests, wealth
of its soils, as other less-favored parts of the
Commonwealth are already doing. Good roads
are a first essential for opening this country, which
will be best settled in small areas of, say, fifty
acres.
The experience of settlement in East Gippsland
is that 1 60 to 320 acre selections in heavily-tim-
bered country are beyond the strength of the aver-
age settler. Forest growth is so rapid that
family effort can only effectually clear a small area
at a time. Prolific soils and heavy rainfall ensure
a constant crop of scrub and undergrowth until
the land is permanently cleared. For all fruits
of the temperate zones. East Gippsland is ideal.
Pigs, dairy cattle, potatoes, agricultural produce,
must ultimately come from a land where maize,
lucerne and paspalum already flourish.
Out of 4,920 square miles of Crown lands in
East Gippsland there will be some unproductive
acres; but, with a rainfall ranging from 40-45
inches at Mallacoota to 32-40 at Orbost, the
poorer soils are brought almost to the standard of
richer land in less-favored districts.
Transport and scientific treatments are neces-
sary. Local experience and local conditions will
make settlement profitable. Without ports,
without railways and practically without roads,
the proved possession of gold, silver, copper, lead,
tin, iron, molybdenum and manganese alone will
not insure the progress of this virgin area of over
three million acres. Nor will its forests of grey
box, bloodwood and silver-topped iron-bark find
markets. Nor will it produce the wool and
butter that it could; nor its coast yield marine
wealth yet unexploited; nor its sunny slopes be
covered with orchards nor its \olcanic and alluvia!
patches be universally converted into farms.
' Good roads are a first essential ' '
Mount Feathertop and Ovens Eiver
THE VICTORIAN ALPS.
J';'1"\VJ<:J-:X Tallangutta and Vackandandah
is a fine strip of vineyard, agricultural and
pastoral land. Sluice, dredge, and shaft
also tell of gold-mining enterprise. Brown hilly
icountry, breaking into grassy Hats, where willows
and drooping gums give shade for sheep, stooks
of wheat in cleared paddocks, frequent creeks —
re all indications that North-Eastern Victoria is
contributor to the general wealth of the nation.
iewa lies midway between these towns — a de-
ghtful hamlet on a pretty little river. A com-
ined hotel and grocery supplies stout farmers
ith beverages and breakfast foods of well-
dvertised brands, while their horses wait
atiently under the acacias, whisking away sum-
er flies with busy tails.
Yackandandah, despite its peculiar aboriginal
name, is a progressive inland town. The stranger,
judging it by the number of its hotels, might
imagine its population to be of poetical Persian
I™ temperament. They are not more bibulous than
^our singularly-sober population in general, but as
the centre of a mining district, Yackandandah pro-
vides accommodation for a shifting community.
Hydraulic sluicing has helped to increase the
prosperity of this exceedingly healthy township.
The pumping machinery is installed on barges,
which are floated from point to point.
Between here and the ancient Victorian town
of Beechworth, the clear dry airs of nearly two
thousand feet elevation edge the stranger's
appetite. One remembers the run across from
Yackandandah before breakfast, through country
viewed too early in the morning to carry any spe-
cial appeal ; the little motor mishap that made
breakfast still later, and finally the compensation
of a solid Australian meal in an old-fashioned
Australian hotel.
One likes Beechworth, not for the "pleasant
walks to the Cemetery grounds, the Hospital for
Insane and Mount Misery," as enumerated on the
printed cards at our old-fashioned hotel, but for
avenues planted with mulberries and spreading
shade-trees, for old churches and trim gardens
and the balmiest airs that ever brought gladness
to one's soul. There is no loud clamor of
industry in this town, which may be reached
by train twice a day from busy Melbourne.
But wide streets and handsome public gar-
dens, substantial stores. Council chambers,
355
356
1
THE VICTORIAN ALPS
357
museiiin, hotels and residences show that there is
no civic poverty either.
As a centre for many tourist attractions, which
can be reached by good roads, Beechworth is well
and justly advertised.
From Mount Stanley, 3,450 feet, the visitor's
eye commands the Alps, Strathbogie and Divid-
ing ranges, and the valleys of the Ovens, Snowy,
King, and Mitta Mitta rivers.
From Beechworth to Wangaratta downward
slopes take us into level wheat and sheep lands,
and a warm dry climate like that of Southern
Ri\erina. Among many prosperous inland
towns Wangaratta, with 5,000 population, wears
an air of confidence. It is a cathedral city, and
the proclaimed capital of the North-Rast. Wheat
and wool its surrounding districts produce in
abundance. Fruit, tobacco, and potatoes are
profitable local products. When Australia be-
comes a manufacturing country, the growth
of little cities like Wangaratta will be greater
than their oldest or youngest inhabitants have
;ver dreamed.
Wangaratta, with its two bi-weekly newspapers,
:s foundry, brewery, creamery, butter, bacon,
lap and brickmaking industries already estab-
ihed, with raw products at hand, could be and
loubtless will be a capital of importance.
The Government has established an Agricul-
ral High School here.
At night the well-lit streets of this little inland
llty present moving pictures of sober citizens,
country visitors, boys in khaki uniforms, girls
in white dresses, all that passing phase and char-
acter of young colonial life which our artists and
writers should endeavour to retain — because the
spirit of Change heralded by the horns of Inven-
tion is rapidly modernizing the Bush. . . .
By good road from Wangaratta, one enters the
Ovens Valley — a land of gold and glamor with
historical memories of old "rushes," rapid
"finds," and frequent fortunes. The sluicing
dredge robs the river of clearness until one gets
above the radius of its operations; but towards
'orepunkah and Bright the Ovens is a clear and
leautiful stream.
Road, river, and railway run down the valley
in parallel lines. They wind through a land of
tall poplars, trim farms, hop gardens, and green
paddocks with hedges of roses.
As the traveller nears the happy village of
Myrtleford, he beholds on the south-east a bald,
granite hump rising precipitously from the edges
of the valley. This is the famous Mount Buffalo,
which calls the tourist with equal attraction sum-
mer and winter.
kThat first sight in the distance is somewhat dis-
jpointing — Buffalo in perspective is neither tre-
ab
tf
mendous nor impressive; it is only when one gets
under the shadow of the mountain or begins to
ascend its granite sides that its mighty bulk is
realized.
The ascent practically begins at the little rail-
way township of Porepunkah, on the banks of
the Ovens. The Government has constructed a
solid road up the mountain, which is now open
to motor cars under reasonable restrictions.
Owing to the precipitous nature of this mountain
road the car was interdicted at first, for fear that
the bones of bush horses at least would whiten
North WaU of Buffalo Gorge.
under the cliffs. The road is narrow but well
graded. As it mounts towards the Government
Hospice it opens up preliminary scenery of great
beauty. After one gets accustomed to gazing
down into abysses that seem miles in depth, the
excitement of gradual ascent is less poignant.
From a distance the north-eastern face of the
mountain bears a peculiar white scar, as if an
avalanche had swept down it and left a glittering
cleft on its bare granite cheek. Coming nearer,
it is seen that the white scar is really a stream of
water which, reaching the brink of that precipice,
up in the clouds, takes a preliminary header of
750 feet into the gorge.
358
AUSTRAIJA UNLIMITED
^ Ml
-**_i'*«<>^
^
I
The Chalet on Mount Buffalo
Though Buffalo is, in the distance, like most
great objects, somewhat of a disappointment, as
the visitor mounts its bastioned flank it becomes
more and more impressive. Ravines and pre-
cipices gather beneath him on his upward climb;
the level world sinks lower and lower; the great
upper world of mountain and cloud unfolds like a
mysterious scroll.
Again the air is heavenly and the sunlight
divine; one's blood tingles in one's veins; life's
difficulties seem easy of conquest, a curious sense
of courage and well-being lifts one's spirits into
the skies — towards which Mr. Catani's narrow
road is carefully winding.
Climbing out of Kurobin Valley this road offers
a halting-place at a junction of streams. Continu-
ous shouting, murmuring and argument goes on
between these gossiping rivulets at their meeting
place. One of them is that white torrent which
marks the face of the mountain from afar — still
ruffled and tumbled from its high dive over Buf-
falo. The little mountain river noisily plunges
under a bridge and hurries away to join the Ovens
in its lovely valley below.
As our road goes up we glimpse the valleys of
Eurobin, Buckland and Ovens at intervals. At a
height of 3,600 feet, it swings round a mighty pre-
cipice and a lordly panorama brings us our first
realization of what natural treasures this hunch-
backed giant has locked in his rocky domains.
Here is no pastoral painted in conventional
lines and curves, but bold vigorous expanses of
primal nature with little squares of culti\ation let
in to make proper contrast between occupied val-
ley and unreclaimed mountain.
Here is another of Australia's splendid dis-
tances, ruffled by the hand of Time into wonderful
contours and amazing curves.
On the southern wall of Buffalo, close to the
Gorge, is a comfortable (>o\ernment chalet, with
accommodation for a hundred guests. There is
no more delightful holiday place in Australia,
summer or winter. Good and sympathetic man-
agement and a reasonable tariff have increased its
popularity. Within a minute's walk guests may
weary themselves with mountain pictures. The
Gorge is a masterpiece in this gallery of the gods.
You stand on the edge of a sheer cliff, which is
the southern wall of Mount Buffalo — and look
down, if you have the nerve, into an amphitheatre
of infinite vastness, where constant changes of
scene lend endless interest to the drama of
Nature. Out towards the skyline is the dress
circle of this mighty theatre — Bogong and Kos-
ciusko, snow-capped in winter, but bottomless blue
in summer-time. There is nothing like the blue-
ness of these glorious Australian ranges, so deep,
so calm, so exultant.
The valley below you — so far below that it
seems to belong to another world — is laid out in
I
^
Eurobin Creek in Buffalo Gorge
359
36o
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
red and green squares of cultivation. From the
granite seats of the gods you can see shadows of
clouds travelling over cleared fields whose still
beauty, miles beneath you, glows with such distant
mystery.
The road in the valley winds like a thread of
golden silk on a robe of green and blue. The
road down the mountain hangs like a silver cob-
web between earth and heaven. Forest-covered
spurs radiate into altitude from their foothills
around the valley. You can follow their out-
lines until they are lost in far-off skies. They are
part of our world's oldest mountain system, worn
down to half their original height by the erosions
of incalculable years. Buffalo was once 5,000
feet higher. On its granite base rested a super-
structure which pierced the clouds of bygone
winters, in aching aeons, ere Atlantis sank beneath
the waters. In this age of men and machines, its
sheer sides of time-worn rock are the wonder and
admiration of summer maidens in Melbourne-
made gowns and picture hats. The snows of
winter whiten its wrinkled forehead for the plea-
sure of scientists and skaters — lured thither by
the attractions of snow sports and a gaslit hotel!
Its leaning towers and battlements are still
assailed by cyclopean forces; weakened mayhap
by everlasting assault but still strong enough to
brave and turn aside ten thousand storms.
One sees where tlownfalling waters have
grooved out a channel in the hillside — a gutter,
yards wide, which drains the roof of Buffalo.
Through it pours with sound eternal that torrent
which seems like the white track of an avalanche
down the mountain side when viewed from Ovens
Valley. Looking down, one sees it smashed into
a veil of spray arcaded by mimic rainbows.
Gaunt snow gums, moss-covered boulders, pul-
pit rocks, lovers' seats are part of the chalet's out-
door appointments. Inside are lounges, dining
halls, hot and cold baths, the little conveniences
which civilized Man finds essential to his happi-
ness.
For his benefit and pleasure snow, wind,
water and sun have done their work. From May
to September the winter-guest skates, skis and
toboggans; from October to April, the summer-
guest engages in what exhilarating pleasures the
season offers him. Not the least of these will be
his inevitable excursions to the Horn; which is
the commanding summit of the Buffalo Plateau,
and readily accessible from the Chalet at the
Gorge.
Here, 5,645 feet above the everyday world, he
can enjoy the finest panoramic view on this con-
tinent. On a sublime pinnacle of rock, as a pil-
grim from some sacred minaret, he looks out over
Victoria and a part of New South Wales. Eighty-
six miles north-east stands Mount Kosciusko, 127
miles to the south and west Mount Macedon,
both easily visible if the day is fine.
A mountain world lies at his feet. Grey snow
grass — thick and springy — purple heather and
buttercups adorn its slopes. Patches of snow
gums, killed by over-rigorous winter, give the
necessary touch of desolation to this singular land.
He hears clear springs bubbling and the song of
crystal creeks making immemorial music over
their eternal boulders. Other round granite
boulders, smooth as cannon balls, scattered
around the landscape, show where creek and
glacier did their work long before ape-men gib-
bered the rudiments of speech. Leviathan rocks
25,000 tons in weight arepoised on axes of ancient
granite. Grey moss beards limbs of trees, lichens
cling to stained rocks. Where are now the poin-
cianas of Port Darwin, the screw palms of the
Gulf? Instead of Horid jungles, Australia the
Unlimited presents here sombre galleries between
snow-clad hills, cyclopean chambers, gigantic
archways, gargantuan plum-puddings, huge
pebbles, cantilever rocks projecting 40 feet, under-
ground cellars, cubes, squares, cannon balls, pin-
nacles and a debris befitting the older foundations
of the world.
Instead of tepid lagoons lipped by pink and
purple lilies, she gives us clear cataracts leaping
into chasms 1,700 feet deep, and falling away to
silver threads in a vertical perspective. Tropical
stillness gives place in season to a stillness of
snow. An Australian in fur-lined coat, on ice-
skates, takes the place of the Australian in a white
linen suit.
From the Horn a complete horizon of view
takes in the Baw Baws, Bogong, a great part of
Gippsland, and southern Riverina.
Sunset seen from this superb summit is a Wag-
nerian opera of light and color; but sunrise is a
glory beyond all expression. There is a camp-
ing-place at the foot of the Horn where en-
thusiasts may spend the night and rise betimes to
bathe their spiritual senses in the ineffable. Be
well in body, be reasonably contented in mind, and
behold the coming of Day over two Australian
States. See its first beams redden the snowy cap
of Kosciusko, and five minutes later purple the
Wodonga plains. See this, and you will see
Australia in one of her tremendous moods, and
realize that this is the Land of Great Things
Under Buffalo, a few miles down the Ovens
Valley, is Bright, one of the prettiest villages in
the Commonwealth. It is not altogether shade
trees, running waters, and shadows of the hills
that make the charm of this little township. It
has a particular atmosphere of peace and good-
i
THE VICTORIAN ALPS
361
fellowship and easy-going contentment. In the
cosy hotel where I bided with Dyer after ascend-
ing Mount Buffalo, with our American car, in
defiance of regulations, one was struck, by the
unusual merit of the pictures — all Australian sub-
jects— which adorned the walls. Enquiry re-
vealed the fact that the landlord's daughter was
an artist, possessing such genius for form and
color as one might expect from the very quality
of her native surroundings.
It hardly came as a surprise to learn that there
was a true artist in Bright. Aesthetic gentle-
ness of river and hill, infinite mood of Nature,
quietude, and call, such influences in places like
these must bring response in artistic expression.
The future of Australia in art, music, and poetry
is as certain as her future in power, wealth and
industry.
Bright has some celebrity as a producer of
gold. There were, at the end of 1914, several
hopper dredges at work in the vicinity. These
dredges were each recovering a good average of
19 to 25 ounces of fine gold per week. They
employ ten or eleven hands to each plant, and,
although greatly condemned as polluters of
streams and destroyers of agricultural land on
the banks of water-courses, they have proved a
highly-profitable investment. The precious "dust"
is washed out of the river silt by a simple hydrau-
lic system and snared on a piece of ordinary coir
matting. Once a week the alluvial gold, fine as
flour, is washed out of the matting. The outlay
on a dredge plant is not beyond the possibility of
a small company, and dredge-mining is by no
means the riskiest of Australian mineral invest-
ments. Where it can be proved that the dredge
is not a destroyer of more valuable assets in the
shape of agricultural lands, there should be
nothing to prevent its extension.
Myrtleford is another delightful Victorian
village, where shady elms throw grateful shade
and a pleasant low-roofed inn invites the passing
traveller to rest. Leaving Bright Road at Ever-
ton the latter may take a westerly track through
Oxley to Benalla, crossing good level agricultural
wheat and wool lands on the way.
Benalla is another important district centre.
Near to Melbourne, on a main trunk line, it wears
more of a metropolitan air than most country
towns. There is a growing volume of business
in all these embryonic cities of Victoria, and they
are the pleasantest of places to live in. Where
transport is established, prices of commodities are
iitdc more than Melbourne; living is low, and
wages high. Ordinary workers, if they be frugal
and secure permanent employment, are sure of
being able to establish comfortable homes at least,
and rear their families under healthy and con-
genial surroundings. Business openings con-
tinually present themselves, nor do these require
the initial capital which is essential in more
crowded centres.
One will look in vain for poverty in such
places. Go down the main streets of these coun-
try towns, on a Friday or Saturday evening, and
you will see a well-dressed, well-fed, happy-look-
ing population. There are no mendicants, no
gutter urchins, no pale work-worn faces, no rags,
k
At Bright
no persona! appeals for help; none of those out-
ward and visible indications of a ''submerged
tenth" which seem inseparable from centres of
population in most countries. Go into the stores
and you will find that credits are generally sound;
go into the Savings Banks and learn that nearly
every householder has an account!
What conditions in Europe will be like when
this book goes forth on its mission, at the con-
clusion of the greatest war in human history, no
man can safely prophesy. But this salient fact
stands out, that during the continuation of that tre-
mendous struggle, the prosperity of Australia suf-
fered no decrease. Involved with the British
Empire in conflict, she has been enabled to send
her contributions of men and money to the
Mother Country, while pursuing her ordinary
362
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
course of settlement and development. The
stability of Australian securities has been amply
demonstrated. In future we are less likely to
hear that the British investor fights shy of Aus-
tralian enterprises.
The financial soundness and prosperity of the
Commonwealth are nowhere made more apparent
than in an analysis of business conditions in our
country towns. Little centres like Benalla are
certain to grow as settlement is extended.
With an irrigation and wheat-growing district
northward in the direction of the Murray, with
rich agricultural lands southward towards the
ranges; with vineyards and orchards and a market
within easy distance, Benalla, Wangaratta, the
townships of north-eastern Victoria generally are
destined to thrive.
The traveller, continuing his journey through
this section of the State, may turn off southward
towards Mansfield, which is the present terminus
of a branch railroad passing through Molesworth
to join the main trunk line at Tallarook. This
cross-road between Benalla and Mansfield gives
a variety of forest and open, hill and river, not
yet too closely settled to have lost its native
charm. Small villages occur, with long intervals
between them. Towards Mansfield, the way is
through well-watered pastures and fertile fields
suitable for cultivation.
The town of Mansfield stands over a thousand
feet above sea level. Like all Victorian towns
along the Great Range, or its many spurs, it en-
joys an equable climate. The warmest summer
days are followed by cool nights. Extremes of
heat or cold lead to neither exhaustion nor dis-
comfort. Natives of these districts are notice-
able for their color and physical development.
The most artistic monument in Australia has
been erected at Mansfield in honor of police
troopers Kennedy, Scanlon, and Lonigan, slain by
the blood-thirsty Kelly gang of bushrangers in
the Wombat Ranges nearby, in 1880. The fine
marble column on its granite base marks a phase
of Australian life which belongs to an adventurous
past. The tourist of to-day who gazes curiously
at this obelisk in the main street of peaceful
Mansfield, can hardly realize the conditions
which made the lawless reign of the Kellys pos-
sible.
Some of the most rugged mountain regions of
Victoria lie within a few miles of Mansfield.
Among scenic attractions for which it is a centre
are Mount Buller, nearly 6,000 feet, and the
Tolmie Tableland. Forest and fern, hill, moun-
tain and valley make interesting the roads which
lead away to Jamieson, Alexandra, and Whit-
field.
Many tributaries of the Goulburn River have
their sources in this part of Victoria. These
snow-fed streams drain a wide area of the eastern
watershed.
Beyond Jamieson to the southward is Wood's
Point. Between these villages, thirty-six miles
of exquisite scenery will make amends for a slow
coach journey.
The Continent does not present anywhere else
such a continued stretch of lofty mountains.
Matlock and Wood's Point are the highest towns
in Victoria. If this country could be rendered
more accessible, it possesses attractions which
would make it probably the most popular resort,
or series of resorts, in Australia.
Wood's Point is the small and lofty capital of
an auriferous district, containing many little
mining villages. Gold Is constantly being won
along this part of the great Dividing Range.
Wood's Point can be reached from Healesville,
Walhalla, and Warburton by bridle tracks
through invariably picturesque country. But the
adventurer will do well to take the summer season
for his journey. Forty miles from Walhalla or
Warburton may easily enough be negotiated dur-
ing summer months, but when winter snows lie
deep on Mount Buller, and the Baw-Baws have
changed their robes of summer blue for white, it
Is quite another matter.
Between Mansfield and Alexandra Is a very
beautiful agricultural district, watered by tribu-
taries of the (ioulburn. If clear, perennial
streams, the mildest of mountain climates, blue
hills, grassy fields, green pastures, tall forests,
x'ineyard slopes, orchard sites, fertility and tilth
make for human contentment, then the people who
ha\'e been fortunate enough to secure holdings in
this favouretl land should be able to enjoy a maxi-
mum of that blessed gift. f
Throughout the Victorian hill country there Is
room yet for thousands of settlers to whom the
possession of a large preliminary capital Is by no
means necessary. From Omeo to Healesville
one sees that Victoria has yet hardly approached
the problem of closer settlement, while much of
the eastern division can still be regarded as virgin.
Between Balrnsdale and Harrietville, following
the course of the Mitchell River, lies another
hinterland in which a vigorous population will
some day find establishment and prosperity.
Alexandra is one of those pleasant Victorian
townships which visitors are loath to leave.
Located In a hollow of the hills, with broad tree-
planted avenues, trim gardens and the abundant
growths of rich soils favored by temperate cli-
mate and copious rainfall. It sparkles like a
goblet filled with some rare vintage. If, in sooth,
a man would drink the true wine of life, let him 1
Pi
O
cm
a
'3
a
36.3
364
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
On the Acheron Biver
rise, as Dyer and I, "ere Dawn's right hand is in
the sky," and gHde out of the sleeping town of
Mansfield, before a single spiral of smoke has
begun to curl from a cottage chimney.
Let him be well along a comparatively good
road before the rim of a golden sun shows above
the most easterly hillside. Let him pull up his
car on the next summit and watch that golden disc
slowly mounting into a sky glorified by a
chromatic arrangement of heavenly colors. He
sees the earth marching forth with banners of
rose and emerald, to greet the Conqueror.
He listens to orisons the bush birds are pour-
ing to the day, canticles of running waters, soft
hymns of trees, the harmony of Morning break-
ing over a land that has never heard a discordant
shout of war.
His heart-beats are tuned to this joyous excite-
ment of Nature; his pulses respond to her
gracious exhilaration. As his car sweeps down-
ward into the next hollow and rattles over a rustic
bridge where a passing whiff of mint and briar-
rose greets him, reminiscent of God knows what
forgotten dreams, he feels that the morning
prayers of childhood are, after all, among life's
most beautiful things.
If readers find in this volume descriptive repe-
tition, let it be forgiven by the fact that Australia
is filled with such a plenitude of delightful places.
Any writer attempting to deal at length with its
natural attractions must claim such an indulgence.
If that road from Mansfield to Alexandra has
left a special memory of morning sweeping over a
land glorified by Nature, one may be sure that
every Australian carries in mind similar
memories — which are not the lesser gifts in his
heritage.
As this is being scribed armed Australians, in
the shadows of the Pyramids, will vision, across
desert sands where slaves of departed Pharaohs
labored, beyond the date palms of historic Nile,
roads that wind around Australian hillsides as
pleasantly as the road from Mansfield to Yea.
Australians, by their camp-fires in African jungles,
will hear in fancy magpies carolling by creeks such
as those that glisten under canopies of tree-fern
from Acheron to Marysville.
Rubicon forest and Rubicon Falls are among
the many beautiful and wonderful assets of
Nature with which Alexandra is enriched. Being
only 102 miles from Melbourne, with a daily train
service, this comfortable little town makes a plea-
sant base for a holiday. Through all this
mountain country, drained by the Goulburn River,
fish and game are plentiful. Within a wide circle,
taking in Trawool, Yea, Alexandra, Jamieson,
Marysville, and Toolangi, one might spend a
whole summer without wearying. If one had a
summer to spare I can imagine no better enjoy-
ment than the exploration of those wonderful
tablelands which spread from Mount Dandenong
to Kosciusko, and from Beechworth to Bonang.
From Alexandra down to Marysville, along the
Acheron River, the road runs through mountain
and meadow land as fair and kindly as any on
the Continent. Good volcanic and alluvial soils
prevail throughout the ranges, and along the
river beds on the north-eastern side of Mel-
bourne. Fine forests of hardwood, considerable
minerals, add to the wealth of districts which are
favored by their proximity to a great city. A
prosperous rural population is gradually pushing
its way into the hearts of those blue hills which
loom upon the north-eastern horizon of the
southern city-dweller's view.
Within 40 miles of Melbourne, in those ranges,
is Mount Donna Buang (4,080 feet) about five
miles to the north of Warburton. Donna Buang is
higher than any point in England, Wales or Ire-
land, and now gives metropolitan people an oppor-
tunity to enjoy snow sports between July and Sep-
tember. As an instance of what a still-unex-
ploited country Australia is, it may be remarked
that the existence of this mountain was practically
unknown to the people of Melbourne until Pro-
fessor Kernot read a paper on it before the Royal
Geographical Society of Victoria in 1907. Since
THE VICTORIAN ALPS
365
then a road has been opened to its summit, and,
having been made accessible from Warburton and
Healesville, it is possible to make a week-ender's
trip to the snows.
Within these ranges lies the famous Blacks'
Spur with its hot-house vistas of tree-fern and
vine. Timbered hills that will yet know the
touch of cultivation, perennial waters, sassafras
and beach and flowering myrtle; roads which
wind often like the avenues of gardens through
forests and jungles of smooth and glossy growth
— Australian nature in one of her happiest aspects
— wayfarers through these hills will find these
delights and more. From the Hermitage on
Blacks' Spur to Narbethong, and from Narbe-
thong to Marysville will give these wayfarers
pictures which will cause them to wonder where
writers have gleaned their melancholy impressions
of Australia. Here is a typical stretch of
Victorian forest and hillside whose beauty and
value cannot be exceeded in any part of the world.
Streams about Marysville are reputedly good for
jpout fishing; Marysville is a place of lovely val-
ys, fern-lipped streams, high waterfalls, cool
_ mosses, scented acacias, noble forests and superb
l^ountain views. From the summit of Lake
"^4ountain (4,000 feet) one looks out over a land
of mystery and wonder, and hears the wind in the
tops of forest giants 280 feet above the ground
proclaiming the glory of Australia.
On its way home from Flastern Victoria our
little American car, much travel-stained, came
over the Blacks' Spur and ran out by a difficult
road along the edge of that blue wall of moun-
tains which one sees from various parts of Mel-
bourne on a fine day. Thus we beheld Mel-
bourne and its environs and the plains and hills
behind them in constantly-changing view-points,
but far and away below us. Near to Warburton
we turned down over the mountain to Launching
Place, where the River Yarra is no more than
a clear-watered sparkling stream.
Through Lilydale, with a cool south wind
blowing in our faces, by that lovely orchard and
garden country that circles Melbourne on the
north and east, past Mitcham, where cherry-trees
were laden with red fruit, through the shady mar-
ket town of Dandenong, and back to breezy Mor-
dialloc, we came so laden with happy recollections
of a long journey through picturesque Victoria
that our mental films in places were doubtless like
photographic negatives doubly exposed.
Behind us — from San Remo to Buchan, from
Buchan to Buffalo, from Buffalo to Eltham, there
glowed a cool, gracious Australia filled as the
jewel caskets of an empress with so many pre-
cious things that their individual values were
overlooked, in general wonder and admiration.
The greater part of this scenic East remains to
be exploited. Its possibilities have not yet been
developed, and its attractions are imperfectly
advertised. Its values are not scenic alone; they
include large areas of virgin lands suitable for
settlement, and great natural resources of forests
and minerals.
'The Hermitage," Blacks' Spur
m
"-*«
^f-
%'
m
m
366
A Settler's House, Rochester District.
VICTORIAN AGRICULTURE.
VIC rORIA'S future progress largely depends
on the extent to which her agricultural
resources are utilised and developed
Though it is the most densely populated State in
the Commonwealth, its vast agricultural resources
hitherto have only heen partially exploited.
With its uniformly rich land, favorable rainfall,
its magnificent water and timber resources, it is
destined to become a State of surpassing pros-
perity. Increased population, extension of the
area under cultivation and the development of
more intensive methods of cultivation are needed
to properly utilise Victoria's rich natural re-
sources.
For decades past it has been called the Garden
State of Australia, because its soil and climate
are such as to permit more intensive methods of
culture to be practised than is possible in any other
State. The rich stretches of volcanic soil in the
Western District and the fertile alluvial and peaty
areas of (iippsland are probably as rich as any
virgin soil in the old world. These lands are
destined in the future to support a dense popula-
tion of contented settlers when intensive methods
of farming are substituted for the existing exten-
sive methods of culture.
A comparison of the agricultural production of
Victoria, the smallest of the States on the main-
land, with that of other States will convey some
idea of the agricultural development here as con-
trasted with other States. Although the area of
Victoria is only one-thirty-third that of the Com
monwealth, it produced in 19 13 approximately —
One-third of the wheat,
Over one-half the oats..
One-half the barley,
Two-fifths of the potatoes,
One-third of the fruit.
And approximately one-half the hay pro
duced in the whole Commonwealth
This is a fine record for a State which occupies
only one-thirty-third of the total area of the Com-
monwealth.
The Government is pursuing an enlightened
policy of development by ( i ) pushing ahead with
the construction of railways to bring every settler
within reasonable distance of a railway, (2) con-
serving in storages the immense volumes of water
which hitherto flowed into the sea and utilising
the water for irrigation purposes, and (3) sub-
dividing lands purchased under Closer Settlement
Acts, and allotment to settlers under the liberal
Credit Foncier System.
It is estimated that the present and projected
storages will impound sufficient water to irrigate
700,000 acres of land. Some idea of the added
wealth which such an area will ultimately mean
to the State may be gained by considering the
annual output of a single isolated irrigation col-
ony— that of Mildura Mildura is a compact
367
368
AUSTRALIA
irrigation settlement of 12,000 acres It sup-
ports on this area a population of 6000 souls, and
the standard of living of the community is as high
probably as any other town of similar size in the
world. The value of its products is £400,000,
or an average return of £33 per acre over the
whole area. If only half this return were se-
cured from the 700,000 acres of irrigation land
that will be available with the projected storages.
Crossbreeding Wheats, Rutherglen Experimental Station
It will mean an ultimate return of £8,000,000
from the irrigated areas of the State.
Industries capable of considerable expansion
and improvement are (a) wheat growing, (b)
dairying, (c) lamb-raising industries. At present
less than 10 per cent, of the total area of the State
is under cultivation, in spite of the acknowledged
richness and abounding fertility of Victoria's
soils.
The area under wheat is approximately
3,000,000 acres. In every wheat district of the
State large areas eminently suited for wheat cul-
ture are still supporting only the roaming sheep
and the occasional steer. The cultivated area
could, if adequate labor were forthcoming, be
easily increased to five to six million acres. In
19 1 5, in response to a special appeal by the Gov-
ernment, the farmers of Victoria put in and bar-
UNLIMITED
vested i J million acres more wheat than had ever
been sown before, even though labor was scarce
and fodder expensive. Not only could the area
be increased by two to three million acres, but the
average yield per acre could most certainly be
increased by at least 50 per cent, if the best
methods of cultivation were universally adopted.
This means that Victoria's annual wheat pro-
duction could be permanently raised to 60-70 mil-
lion bushels instead of 25-30 millions bushels.
In dairying the State is in the midst of im-
portant changes. Dairymen are now beginning
to appreciate the three fundamental factors for
success in dairying — breeding, feeding, weeding
Systematic herd testing, involving the elimination
of the robber cows, combined with rational feed-
ing, and rigorous culling, are increasing the pro-
fits from dairying, and with increased profits will
come a healthy expansion of the industry.
Finally, the natural pastures of Victoria are
eminently suited for the production of a high class
type of export lambs. Hitherto, Victorian settlers
have depended too much on the natural pastures
and too little on providing fodder crops for feed-
ing their herds. With the inevitable expansion of
cultivation, the wider use of fodder crops for
feeding to sheep and the extension of lucerne
growing in the irrigation settlements, lamb-rais-
ing will become a great industry in Victoria, and
numerous freezing works being erected in town
and country provide the necessary guarantee of a
suitable market.
The agricultural production of Victoria is
steadily increasing year by year. In 1915 the
total value of products in Victoria amounted to
£55,000,000 sterling, made up as follows: —
Cultivation £19,765,128
Dairying and pastoral 10,510,954
Mining 1,946,697
Forest produce 881,360
Miscellaneous 1,990,003
Total primary products . . . . £35,085.142
Value added by manufactures 20,053,552
Total value £55,138,194
In a young country like Victoria, depending a
most entirely on the export of primary products
for liquidating interest on national indebtedness,
the stimulation and rapid acceleration of her agri-
cultural industries is a paramount necessity. The
climate and the liberal rainfall, together with the
abounding richness of the soils, place Victoria in
a very fortunate position in regard to offering
attractions for overseas settlers. The range of
ts \
VICTORIAN AGRICULTURE
369
li
Fanners attending a Demonstration of the value of Top-Dressing Grass,
Eutherglen Experimental Station
soils and climate permits a great variety of crops
to be grown. Wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, hay,
lucerne, and all classes of fruit thrive to perfec-
tion, and already in the production of these Vic-
toria outstrips the other states.
Then there are many industries which are al-
most untouched — maize growing, tobacco, flax,
broom corn — all of which offer abundant oppor-
tunity for exploitation. Transport facilities,
which mean much to the producer, are unexcelled
in Victoria.
The Government have realised that the most
ffective means of accelerating settlement and in-
tensive culture of the land is to provide adequate
transport facilities, both by road and rail, for the
primary producers. Victoria contends that no-
where in Australia are the men on the land so
well served with railways as in this State. The
policy of successive Governments has ever been
to drive these arteries of traffic through the agri-
cultural areas of the State until the whole State
has been completely and fully served with trans-
port facilities.
Side by side with the development of rail traffic
as been the improvement of the country roads
Country Roads Board has been created and
ndowed with adequate machinery to improve the
oads, and, above all, wise and healthy legislation,
rem the country stations.
The abounding richness of Victoria's soil en-
ables her to carry a far greater population per
square mile than any other State in the Com-
monwealth. Farms are closer, towns are nearer,
and there are abundant opportunities for social
intercourse. A high standard of material com-
fort in the rural districts is thus possible.
With fertile soil, bracing climate, abundant
rainfall, an excellent railway system, good roads,
and, above all, wise and healthy legislation, Vic-
toria's agricultural future is assured.
Recent Victorian Governments have given
much attention to problems of close settle-
ment. The State Department of Agriculture has
become a highly specialized organization, work-
ing side by side with the Chair of Agriculture at
Melbourne University, the Agricultural Colleges.,
and the Education Department, for the better-
ment of the man on the land. No matter how
Victoria's settlement policy may be regarded by
political critics, the settler who has secured a liv-
ing area is sure of expert assistance and advice.
The author has before him a comprehensive
synopsis of departmental functions and articles
courteously prepared for this volume by Dr. S. S.
Cameron, Director of Agriculture.
The Agricultural Division proper comprises
the following seven branches — Experiment
370
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Farms, Chemist's branch, Science branch. Field
branch, Horticultural, Viticultural, Farmers'
classes and lectures.
The objective of the Division — to quote the
Director of Agriculture — "is briefly to assist in
raising the standard of cultivation and production
in every part of the State where agriculture is
carried on, by means of demonstration plots,
demonstration and experiment farms, regular
courses of lectures, periodical visits and inspec-
results. Expert officers, skilled in different
branches of production, are attached to the
various farms, and give personal advice on all
agricultural matters free. The results of the
researches and experiments are published as they
accrue in the monthly journal of the Department,
and so are made available to all farmers in the
State.
"The State Research Farm at Werribee has
for its objects three main lines of investigation: —
Pot-Culture House, Rutherglen Experimental Station.
II
tions by expert officers, and by the distribution of
pamphlets, bulletins, etc., bearing directly on the
work, of the farmer. Investigations of plant
diseases and of soil and manurial problems are
also a marked feature of the work of the Division.
"There are four Experiment Farms — Werri-
bee, Rutherglen, Wyuna (irrigation), and Ba-
mawm.
"Hundreds of permanent experimental plots
have been laid out at these Experiment Farms, and
the intelligent settler who visits these plots may
learn from the results achieved those practices
which are likely to give him the best financial
1. Exhaustive experiments with cereal crops.
2. Study of irrigation problems connected with
agriculture. 3. The improvement of stock, and
experiments dealing with the breeding of lambs
suitable for export.
"The Wyuna State Farm carries out various
demonstrations and experiments in irrigated agri-
culture.
"The Bamawm Farm is situated in the Roches-
ter irrigation district, and is devoted more parti-
cularly to the culture of tobacco and citrus fruits I
under irrigation, and the propagation of citrus i
trees for distribution.
VICTORIAN ACiRICULTURF.
37'
mmm
-(MaKnL>AMel
Buildings and Water Supply, State Research Farm, Werribee.
"The Rutherglen Experiment Farm and Viti-
jltural Station deals with the culture of vines,
le raising of phylloxera-resistant stocks, both
grafted and ungrafted, for sale to intending plan-
|ters, and experiments on wheat culture and lamb
raising.
"Comprehensive records giving full details of
le experiments in progress and the results ob-
nned are issued from time to time.
Chemist's Branch. — The functions of the
hemist's branch are: — i. To administer the Arti-
cial Manures Act — and to see that farmers are
rotected against fraud and adulteration, in pur-
chasing artificial manures. 2. To analyse soils
submitted by the public, and to offer helpful ad-
vice on the mode of treatment of such soils to
make them more productive. 3. To conduct
laboratory investigations on specific problems
bearing directly on the improvement of farm
practice. 4. To make such analyses of butter,
cheese and other farm products as will lead to an
mproved quality in manufactured products.
"The work of the laboratory includes investi-
gations and analyses of soils, manures, fodders,
waters, and milk for the benefit of the settlers.
"An examination of the manures retailed
throughout the country districts is made yearly
for the purpose of detecting adulteration.
"Examination of waters as to suitability for
watering stock, domestic, or irrigation use, and
reporting on same. Examination of all products
grown on the soil as occasion demands.
"The Science Branch includes botany, entomo-
logy, vegetable pathology and biology.
"The general aim of this branch is to assist
farmers by directing their attention to the pests
and diseases which attack various farm crops and
animals, and to offer such advice as will be helpful
in preventing losses of stock and crops.
"The Government Botanist controls the
National Herbarium, Melbourne, which contains
over a million sheets of plant specimens arranged
and listed for reference, comprising not onlv a
unique type collection of the Australian Hora and
New Zealand, Papuan and Polynesian collections,
but also a very large collection of the plants of the
372
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
whole world, in which American, South African,
Indian and Malayan plants are especially strongly
represented. Owing to the purchase of the
Sonder and other collections, the Herbarium pos-
sesses type and co-type specimens of the flora of
other countries, notably from South Africa in
regard to flowering plants, while in regard to
Algae it contains type specimens from Kutzing
surrounding him, since the absence of such know-
ledge may often cause him considerable loss or
waste of effort.
"The Vegetable Pathologist identifies fungus
pests attacking farm crops, vegetables and fruit
trees, and prescribes methods for overcoming
these pests. He also furnishes to farmers, fruit
growers and others, entirely free of cost, infor-
A Wool Class, Sale Agricultural High School
and others. The character and scope of the
Herbarium is therefore such as to make it a centre
of reference in regard to Australian plants gener-
ally, and also to give it an international standing.
"The Herbarium identifies all plants sent in for
examination and gives information in regard to
them free of charge.
"The investigation of scientific problems in con-
nection with plant life is rendered easier by the
existence of a library comprising some 9,000
volumes — mainly technical.
"It is of importance to a settler in a new
country who finds himself surrounded by a flora
of whose names and properties he is entirely
ignorant, that he should be able to obtain infor-
mation when necessary as promptly and expe-
ditiously as possible in regard to the new plants
mation regarding diseases of crops, and undertakes
methods of control.
"The Entomologist performs a like service witli
regard to noxious and destructive insects, his work!
comprising mainly: — Destruction and control or^
insect pests. Identification and classification of 1
insects. Advising farmers, horticulturists,
orchardists, and the public generally re No. i.
Field and other experiments with insecticides.
Breeding insects that are parasitic on the injuri-
ous species. Instruction in economic entomology
and ornithology by means of lectures, field excur-
sions and literary articles.
"A Government Biologist investigates the
diseases wrought by bacterial foes, and deals with
the means of overcoming them.
VICTORIAN AGRICULTURE
373
Landscape Gardening, at the Botanic Crardens, Melbourne
"Field Branch. — The Field Branch assists
settlers by —
"Carrying out experimental and demonstration
plots on private farms to show the variety of
wheat, oats, barley, roots, etc., best adapted to
local conditions, also the kinds and quantities of
manures and fertilisers that can be most profitably
applied to various crops, and the cultural practices
most likely to lead to success.
"Cjiving advice on the cultivation and utilisation
of various farm crops by correspondence, personal
visits, and by lectures under the auspices of the
local Agricultural Societies.
"Many of the Agricultural Societies hold farm
competitions each year with the object of en-
couraging farmers in the districts to improve their
methods of cultivation. The judges of these
competitions are usually members of the Field
Branch, and these officers are thus enabled to
come into close contact with the farmers of the
district and assist them in their work.
"Officers with an expert knowledge of such
special crops as tobacco, flax, potatoes, scent
plants, have been appointed by the Department to
encourage the growing of these crops.
Horticultural Branch. — The work performed
by the Horticultural Branch covers three distinct
industries, \iz., fruitgrowing and marketing, viti-
culture, and potato growing. Dr. Cameron's
report shows the objective of each section and its
scope, the methods and means adopted in carry-
ing out the various duties, and also the helpful
relationship in which the section stands to those
engaged in the industries referred to. We will
take, for example, the fruitgrowing industry. The
officers of the orchard-supervision section render
advice as to the choosing of localities, planting
and cultivation of orchards, treatment for preven-
tion and eradication of diseases, etc. At the
Burnley School of Horticulture intending growers
are furnished with all the information likely to be
required by them during their participation in the
industry. The fruit inspection section deals with
all matters in connection with the marketing of
the produce (advice re packing, suitable markets,
requirements of other States and oversea coun-
tries, etc.), while at the various Government Cool
Stores growers may keep in storage their surplus
fruits until such time as they can obtain a suitable
market. It will be seen from this that there is
little possible assistance which the Department
does not render to fruitgrowers. As it is in
374
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
this industry, so with the others dealt with by the
Horticultural Branch.
"The duties carried out by the Orchard Super-
visors (i2 in number, one located in each of the
fruitgrowing districts of the State) may be sum-
marised as under: — i. Advising intending
growers respecting the most suitable localities,
of any persons desiring to avail themselves of the
opportunity. Each of these officers is thor-
oughly conversant with the most suitable districts
for fruitgrowing, and by experience is well able
to indicate what classes of fruits and what varie-
ties of each are best suited to any locality. This
proves of great benefit to settlers from other
A Lily Fond at the Botanic O-ardens, Melbourne.
varieties of fruits, etc. 2. Advising growers and
enquirers re methods of planting, pruning, culti-
vation, etc. 3. Advising respecting treatment
and methods of eradicating disease. 4. Inspect-
ing orchards and gardens and enforcing the pro-
visions of Vegetation Diseases Acts. 5. Lectur-
ing on the various branches of horticulture and on
insect and fungus pests, and the best methods of
dealing with same.
"With respect to the matter of advice to In-
tending growers respecting localities, varieties,
etc., any information desired is furnished upon
written or personal application to the Depart-
ment. The services of the Chief Orchard Super-
visor and a staff of ten officers are at the disposal
countries who are unacquainted with local condi-
tions. The same applies with regard to advice
concerning methods of planting, cultivation, prun-
ing, etc., and also with respect to treatment and
eradication of diseases. In addition to the
orchard supervision staff, growers and Intending
growers may avail themselves of the ser\Ices of
the Government Entomologist and Pathologist
previously referred to.
"The State has been divided into eleven dis-
tricts and an Orchard Supervisor has been sta-
tioned in each of these. These officers are in con-
stant touch with the growers In their districts, and
should a grower at any time desire Information,
all he has to do Is to communicate with the Dis-
I
Cro33hre.d WKczxhs under^o\i\^ triors.
WHEATflFRRSdRCHUM
1913 WHEAT
191-a SORGHUM
1915 WHEAT
1916 SORCHUM
Permant-./i i^ctaiTor? Te^f
RUTHERflLEN &XP&R.IM&)HTflL ^T/RTtON
375
376
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
trict Supervisor, who will immediately furnish it
and, if necessary, visit his orchard. Lectures are
delivered on the various branches of horticulture
and on insect and fungus pests, and the best
methods of dealing with these. Where practi-
cable the lectures are accompanied by field demon-
strations.
"To give the Department power to protect
careful and painstaking growers against careless
neighbours and to compel these latter to keep
their orchards free from disease, a measure
termed the Vegetation Diseases Act was passed in
1896. This Act gives power to any properly
authorised inspector to enter on any land whereon
any tree, plant, or vegetable is grown, to inspect
such trees, plants or vegetables, to advise the
grower as to the best means of eradicating any
disease, and, if he neglects to prevent such disease
after receiving due notice, to inflict penalties.
"In connection with orchard supervision there
have been and are being established a number of
experimental orchards for the purpose of demon-
strating to growers and others the beneficial
effects of scientific methods of planting and culti-
vation.
"There is no phase of viticulture on which a
grower may not obtain advice from the Depart-
ment. The Government Viticulturist advises
vignerons on all matters pertaining to vinegrow-
ing, wine-making, etc. Experimental work is
carried out at the Rutherglen Viticultural College
and, under Departmental supervision, at some of
the private vineyards.
"Some years ago practically the whole of the
vineyards in Victoria suffered severely from the
ravages of phylloxera. A vigorous campaign
was instituted by the Department to cope with
the disease, and since then the work of reconstitu-
tion of vineyards has been sustained to such an
extent that the majority of vineyards are now
planted, in part at least, with phylloxera-resistant
varieties. All that was possible was done by the
Department to assist the growers in this work.
Large quantities of phylloxera-resistant stocks are
raised annually at the Rutherglen Viticultural
Station and supplied to the growers at about one-
half the cost of production. In the year 191 6
over 400,000 phylloxera-resistant rootlings were
distributed at the low prices of £6 per thousand
for grafted and £1/10/- per thousand for un-
grafted rootlings.
"Potato (.rowing. — The chief duties carried
out by the (ioxernment potato expert are of an
experimental nature: testing of new varieties and
their suitability to various districts, carrying out
experiments to determine the effects of artificial
fertilizers, testing the effect of various spraying
mixtures on Irish Blight and other potato
diseases. In addition to this, his advice and ex^
perience are always available should any grower
desire to obtain information on any point con-_
nected with the potato industry.
"In addition to experimental work, lectures are
delivered by the expert in potato-growing dis-
tricts, and field demonstrations in various branches
of potato culture are carried out.
Burnley School of Horticulture. — This insti-
tution, comprising 35 acres of a Government re-
serve within three miles of the Melbourne Post
Office, has been in existence for a number of years.
Tuition may be obtained on all subjects pertaining
to horticulture, on bee-keeping, poultry raising,
fruit drying and preserving, and kindred subjects.
"In addition to the ordinary curriculum, free
lectures and demonstrations on various subjects
are given. These enable persons desirous of
obtaining information on one subject only, to do
so without paying for a full course of instruction.
"In conjunction with the school there are large
gardens and orchards which serve for field in-
struction and demonstrations and for practical
training in horticulture. Scholarships are granted
which enable students to continue their studies at
the Botanical Gardens.
"In connection with the instruction in poultry
raising, experimental work in various methods of
housing and feeding is carried out. A number of
egg-laying competitions have been held at the
school, and record results have been obtained.
"Special provision has been made for instruc-
tion to women desirous of studying horticulture.
Numbers have already availed themselves of this
provision.
"Theoretical tuition given at the Burnley
School of Horticulture is supported by practical
field demonstrations. Students at this school
have not only the advantage of being told how the
work should be performed but are shown how
to do it and permitted to take part in the field|J
operations. ^H
"The work of the Live Stock Division may be
summarized under the following heads: — Dairy
supervision, stock diseases, stallion examinations,
sheep industry, pig industry, poultry industry,!
cheese industry, honey industry, general. K
"The Milk and Dairy Supervision Act, which^^
came into operation in June, 1906, provides for
the inspection of dairies and dairy herds in dis-
tricts defined by proclamation under the Act. In
19 1 2 approximately one-fourth of the area of the
State had been proclaimed, each district being
under the control of a Dairy Supervisor, versed in
all aspects of dairy farm operations, who passes a
searching examination before appointment. His
duties are to become acquainted with every dairy
farmer, confer with and gi\e him advice in regard
J
VICTORIAN AGRICULTURE
377
Portion of the Burnley School of Horticulture.
to the better methods of producing milk or dairy
produce, inspect premises, utensils and animals;
encourage him in improved methods of cultivation
of fodder crops, in purchasing and breeding of
dairy cows, testing and culling, and in construction
of farm buildings.
"In 19 1 2 160,000 dairy cows were under dairy
supervision — an average of 13.67 per dairy farm.
The average daily yield per cow, while milking
for a period of nine months, is 6.6 quarts. This
is an increase from 5.64 quarts, the average
amount which was given during the year 19 10 —
such result being mainly due to the advice given
by dairy supervisors having been followed, and
culling having been extensively practised. Power
is given under the Act for the Governor in Coun-
cil to extend the provisions thereof to new dis-
tricts. Every year fresh areas are brought under
such operations, and ultimately the whole of the
State will become subject to inspection by Govern-
ment officers.
"A scheme has recently been introduced for the
purpose of testing pure bred herds of the State,
and for the issue of a Government certificate
to those animals which yield a given amount of
butter fat per annum.
"Victoria," says the Director of Agriculture,
"is particularly free from contagious stock
diseases. There has been no outbreak of
swine fever for two years; anthrax occurs in iso-
lated areas only, and the outbreaks are few.
Pleuro-pneumonia outbreaks average about 4 or
5 per annum. The aim of the officers of the
branch, in checking or repressing these diseases,
is to conserve the interests of the individual as far
as possible.
"The procedure for the prevention of the intro-
duction of diseases from oversea into Victoria is
carried out by the veterinary officers of this divi-
sion. Under the Commonwealth Quarantine Act,
Stock are only permitted introduction from Great
Britain and America, and have to carry the neces-
sary certificates of health, and undergo a period
of quarantine on arrival in this State. The certi-
fication of stallions is carried out by the veterinary
officers of the branch.
"An expert is attached to the branch, whose
duties are to lecture and demonstrate upon all
k
378
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Ploughing, Rochester District
phases of the sheep industry, and breeding for
both wool and carcase production.
"This industry is being tal<.en up by a large
number of farmers and small landholders. Lamb
raising blends well with wheat and cereal growing,
* and has become a regular and increasingly marked
feajijre of mixed farming. Hence the necessity
to have available for those entering on the indus-
try, reliable information and advice.
"Co-operation is being entered into by farmers
of the State, which will mean the regulating and
ensuring of more equitable returns from the Vic-
torian pig industry. The Gippsland farmers have
opened a co-operative bacon factory at Dande-
nong at a cost of £22,000, with a capital of
£50,000, which has a capacity for treating 1,500
pigs per week. Another Company has been re-
gistered (1913) with a capital of £100,000, in
which producers in the Western, North-Eastern,
and Kyneton districts are joining forces with the
object of building a factory in a central position.
The amount of bacon produced in Victoria
(1915) was 13,659,974 lbs., valued at £850,000.
Victoria being essentially a dairying country,
there is room for great improvement. The
State should be able to obtain a larger portion of
the £24,000,000 paid by Great Britain for pig
products.
"Lectures are given throughout the State by
the Department of Agriculture on feeding, breed-
ing, and general management of pigs.
"The value of the poultry industry in 1914 was
about £1,750,000; practically without an export
trade. The industry is one which has great pos-
sibilities ahead of it — the average price of eggs
throughout the year being 1/4 a dozen. Egg-
laying competitions are held annually by the
Department, Avith the result that a considerable
amount of enthusiasm has been induced and better
methods of breeding and management are being
followed.
In 1 9 14- 1 5 a world's record was created by a
pen of six White Leghorn pullets which laid 1,699
eggs, averaging slightly over 2 oz. in weight.
During the progress of the Burnley egg-laying
competition, the following world's records have
been attained: 1913-14, White Leghorns (wet
mash) winter test 565 eggs, summer test 1667;
1914-ii; W.L. (dry mash) 1699, Black Orping-
ton (wet mash) 1562; 1915-16W.L. (wet mash)
1661; 1916-17 winter test, B.O., 570 eggs. An-
other world's record was attained in the 1915-16
competition by 570 hens laying an average of
219.5 ^gS* ^^ch for the twelve months.
The most popular breed of fowl in Vic-
toria is the White Leghorn, which is a pro-
lific egg producer. The last Burnley egg-laying
competition was won by a pen of six White Leg-
horns with a total score of 1661 eggs, giving a
gross return of 18/- per bird. The heavier
breeds, whilst not laying the same number of
eggs, gave a greater return by 1/7 per head, and
this, without taking into consideration the amount
obtainable by the sale of cockerels, indicates the
heavier breed to be the more payable by reason of
the fact that they are better winter layers, when
eggs are dearer.
Grading Land, Shepparton
f
"In 1915 3,497,278 lbs. of cheese were manU'
factured in Victoria. More attention, however,
is latterly being paid to the industry, services of
the cheese expert attached to the Department
being eagerly sought for by cheese-makers
through the State. Instruction given by this
officer is very thorough. He remains on the
farm for three or four days to demonstrate the
manufacture through all stages. As a result,
considerable improvement is reported in quality
of the article now manufactured.
"A bee expert is attached to the branch, whose
duties are to encourage the keeping of bees under ^
VICTORIAN AGRICULTURE
379
proper conditions. This is done by means of lec-
tures and demonstrations throughout the country;
also by means of inspections under the Bee
Diseases Act, which has for its object the sup-
pression primarily of foul-brood. The average
yield of honey from about 53,000 hives may
be taken as 2,500,000 pounds, the bees-
licence costs 2/6 per annum; whilst a bee range,
which must have a minimum radius of one mile,
is let at id. per acre, i.e., £4/3/10 per annum.
Under the Lands Department, on Crown Lands,
bee farms may be obtained on payment of 1/- per
acre per annum; and bee ranges at id. per acre
per annum.
A New District: Tongala In 1913
wax returns being about 40,000 lbs. Owing
to the difficulty, however, in collecting
figures by reason of the scattered location
of the industry in forest country, it is regarded as
an under-estimate. The average estimated
return per hive is 20/-; in many cases, however,
80/- per hive is obtained per annum; whilst only
recently 392 lbs. of honey were gathered in a
month from one hive of (approximately) 40,000
bees. The future of the industry holds great
possibilities, as there are large tracts of forest
country entirely untouched by apiarists.
"Considerable reductions have been made by
the Railway Department in the carriage of bees
and hives, thus enabling apiarists to move their
bees according to season and follow the honey
How.
I^b "From the Forests Department a bee-farm
li
General. — The staff consists of the chief
veterinary officer (in charge of branch), 6 veter-
inary officers, 41 dairy supervisors, 13 stock in-
spectors, 7 experts, and a clerical staff 12. The
services of the whole staff are always available
to advise and assist farmers on any portion of
the industries which have been referred to.
"Additional functions of the branch are the ad-
ministration of the Shearers' Hut Accommodation
Act, and the Sheep Dipping Act. The former
provides that shearers shall be supplied with pro-
per accommodation, under sanitary conditions;
the latter, that sheep, except under certain condi-
tions, shall be dipped annually, and that sheep
found infested with ticks or lice shall not be ex-
posed for sale.
"The veterinary staff is always available to give
information to farmers on questions relating to
38o
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Maize grown hy Irrigation.
health and management of stock, and large num-
bers of replies to queries are despatched
annually."
From the foregoing facts, officially supplied,
intending immigrants and would-be Victorian
settlers generally, will learn with what pater-
nal solicitude a splendidly organized and
scientific Department of Agriculture looks after
their interests, and aids them at every turn to find
the pleasant paths of profit. Facts are prover-
bially dry until the reader finds some personal
application for them. For further enlightenment
of prospective settlers some facts compiled by the
Lands and Immigration Departments, and issued
in 19 14, may be ventured.
"The total number of holdings in the year 1 9 1 2
amounted to 68,703, and the land held,
37,218,798 acres. The land utilized for culti-
vation totalled 5)7o6,579 acres, under sown
grasses 1,085,346 acres, and 30,426,873 acres
were under natural pastures.
"Victorian official authorities estimate the
minimum amount of capital necessary for an ex-
perienced agriculturist to start upon at £300.
"Owing to low cost of feeding, dairymen in
Victoria are able to make more money on lower
average milk returns than dairymen in other coun-
tries. During 24 years £30,365,181 were re-
ceived from butter exported from the State. Co-
operation among farmers has greatly reduced
costs of manufacture and marketing, leaving a
larger profit for producers. As more scientific
methods of cultivation, breeding, and feeding are
adopted, this great national income will be vastly
increased. Oversea markets are still under-
supplied, there is room for the widest expansion
that increased settlement can bring."
Victoria claims to be the granary of the Aus-
tralian Commonwealth. "It has," says Mr. A.
L. V. Richardson, M.A., B.Sc, Superintendent of
Agriculture, "produced more wheat during the
last decade than any other State, no less than
241,807,960 bushels of golden grain having been
gathered in Victoria during the past ten years, or
a yearly total of over 24 millions. The value of
this wheat was nearly 40 millions sterling.
"The wheat industry in Victoria is in its infancy,
and is capable of enormous expansion. Some idea
of the development possible may be gained from
the fact that of the total area of Victoria, namely,
56,245,740 acres, only about 10 per cent, of the
total is at present under cultivation, and only one
acre in twenty is under wheat. Vast areas ideally
suitable for cereal culture and lamb raising are at
present held under purely pastoral conditions,
support merely the roaming sheep, and have never
yet felt the plough. Many of these pastoral pro-
perties are cut up from time to time into farms,
either privately or by the Closer Settlement
Board, and afford excellent opportunities for new
settlers to acquire cheap land on reasonable
terms.
"The principal wheat-growing areas are the
Mallee, the Wimmera, and the Northern dis-
tricts, all situated north of the Dividing Range.
In 1912-13, 2,157,171 acres, or 87 per cent, of
the total area under wheat in the State, were har-
vested in these three districts. There were, in
addition, 20 million acres of land uncultivated ir
these three districts last season, the greater por^
tion of which is ideally suited for wheat-growing.
VICTORIAN AGRICULTURE.
381
"There is probably no country in the world
where wheat can be raised so cheaply as in the
wheat areas of Victoria. Inventive skill and
ingenuity of Victorian implement-makers have
evolved types of machines which, for efficiency
and economical work, could hardly be equalled.
Multiple-furrow ploughs, running to fifteen fur-
rows, four-horse seed drills, and complete har-
vesters, have enabled farmers to till and crop
large areas with greatest economy and efficiency.
This low cost of production, together with the
favorable prices for his produce, has placed the
assured. Most Victorian wheat-growers now
associate sheep-raising with their farming opera-
tions, and find the business exceedingly profitable.
"Over the greater portion of the wheat area
farmers sow their seed on well prepared fallow.
The main object of fallowing is the conservation
of the soil moisture. Practical experience has
shown that by judicious fallowing the yield has
been increased by bushels per acre. Indirectly,
fallowing leads to the unlocking of the dormant
supplies of plant food in the soil. It also en-
ables the farmer's work to be more evenly distrib-
A Hay Crop at Rochester.
Victorian farmer in a secure financial position, and
the beautiful and substantial homesteads, now
characteristic of our wheat-growing areas, reflect
the prosperity attendant on this branch of produc-
tion during the past few years.
"There is every reason to believe that high
prices for wheat have come to stay. The
world's consumption of wheat is increasing.
Wheat is gradually displacing rice and other
cereals in the East. Moreover, the United
States, which formerly dominated the wheat mar-
kets of the world, will soon cease to be a wheat-
exporting country. The controlling factor in the
world's markets of the future will be the harvests
of Australia and Argentina.
"During the past decade wheat-growers of Vic-
toria have been materially assisted by the develop-
ment of the lamb-raising industry. Freezing
works established at the seaboard and in the
country have been the means of securing a staple
export trade in frozen Iambs. Glutted markets
are thus avoided and high prices for lambs
uted throughout the year. Thus, the farmer has
ready at seed time large areas of land in the best
possible condition for sowing.
"At seed time about 60 lbs. of superphosphate
per acre, costing 2/6, are sown with the seed.
"No nitrogenous or potassic manures are
wanted. Practical experience has demonstrated
that Victorian yields are not increased by such
applications. Consequently, our Victorian farmers
do not need to apply costly nitrogenous manures
so necessary in some wheat areas of the Northern
Hemisphere.
"The seed is sown in May, and is ready for
harvesting in December and January. The wheat
when ripe is taken off with a complete harvester.
This machine strips the heads, thrashes, winnows,
cleans, and bags the grain ready for market at
the rate of 10 acres a day, and can be worked by
one man.
"As wheat-growing is invariably associated
with the rearing of sheep, it is the general prac-
tice in the wheat areas to leave about one-third of
Ik
382
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Dookie Agricultural College
the area in pasture, one-third in crops, and the
balance in fallow. This practice, of course, can
only be followed in a country where lands are
cheap and individual holdings large; land values
are still low enough in the wheat areas of Victoria
to enable this method to be followed with con-
siderable profit. In the future, more intensive
methods of cultivation must prevail, but economic
pressure has not yet been sufficient to necessitate
a change in this system of farming.
"Profits in wheat farming will depend naturally
on the nature of the soil, the skill and judgment
displayed by the farmer in the handling of his
resources, and on his business ability. Including
preparation of the land, cost of seed, manure, har-
vesting, and marketing, the average total cost of
production may be taken at 20/- to 25/- per acre.
In the Mallee districts the cost will be less than in
the Wimmera and northern districts. The cost
will vary, too, with the nature of the soil and the
mode of preparation given to the crop. The
average crop of the State may be set down at i 1
to 12 bushels, but individual crops of 20 bushels
and 30 bushels are common enough with careful
farming in the wheat areas. Then, of course,
there are the returns of the wool and the lambs."
With commendable foresight the Government
in 1884 reserved as an endowment for Agricul-
tural Colleges and experimental farms no less an
area than i 1; 0,000 acres. From the revenue re-
ceived from this land the Council of Agricultural
l'".ducation has established the Dookie Agricultural
College.
Dookie College is picturesquely situated on the
confines of the fam.ous Goulburn Valley. Mount
Major forms the northern boundary of the Col-
lege lands, which comprise some 6,000 acres.
In the distance may be seen the outline of Mount
Buffalo and other well-known peaks.
Provision exists at the College for 100 residen-
tial students. Of the 1,200 who have been
enrolled, the names of approximately 300 appear
on the Roll of Honor of Dookie students now
serving their country somewhere in France.
The College was established to teach the prin-
ciples and practice of agriculture, and in the
lecture halls and laboratories the student is taught
these principles, which are correlated with the
practical work carried out by him on the farm.
It is realised that successful farming demands
more and more that the cultivator of the soil be
an intelligent, well-educated man, understanding
not only the best methods of carrying out farming
operations, but also the underlying scientific prin-
ciples.
A farm with 2,000 acres of land under cailti\a-
tion — of which 1,000 acres are ploughed each
year and cropped with wheat, oats, barley, peas,
beans, rape, flax, maize, sorghum, millets and
lucerne — also over 5,000 experimental plots, in-—^
dicate the extent of the practical work which isHf
carried out by the students under skilled in--
structors.
On the 4,000 acres which remain, sheep of
various breeds, cattle, horses, pigs and poultrj
are raised. The sheep consist of Lincolns,'
Leicesters, Merinos and Shropshires. In addition
to the Ayrshire dairy herd, Herefords and Shortj
horn stud cattle are kept.
Dairying is a prominent feature, and factory
management is taught. Neighbouring farmers
VICTORIAN AGRICULTURE
383
bring their cream to the College for manufacture
into butter, of which a proportion is sold on the
Melbourne market.
Pigs bred from a strain imported by the Coun-
cil from l^ngland are greatly in demand — particu-
larly those of the large Yorkshire breed for
crossing with the Berkshire.
The general education of the student at this
College is in no way neglected. English, arith-
metic and commercial bookkeeping form part of
the curriculum, and chemistry, natural philosophy,
botany and zoology are important subjects of the
course.
Domestic arrangements are well provided for,
each student having a separate bedroom. Meals
served in the spacious dining hall are of the best.
Sports and gymnastics afford recreation, and the
social side of the student's life are also catered
for.
Students over the age of 14 years are admitted.
The only charge made is an amount which just
actually covers the cost of the food supplied.
With the opportunities of education offered at
this College and the labor-saving methods of
farming to-day the inducement for boys to be-
come agriculturists is very much greater than in
former years. Many city men have of late years
purchased land for the settling of their boys after
giving them a preliminary training at the College.
The prospects for a trained farmer in this
country are very bright. The demand in the
countries of the old world for our staple products
— wheat, wool and meat — is largely increasing
year by year. There is no fear of the market
being overtaken.
A Veterinary Class at Dookle College
384
Cohuna Main Channel.
IRRIGATION SETTLEMENTS.
GENERAL possibilities of Australian irriga-
tion are treated elsewhere. Victoria
deserves particular mention from the fact
that it was the first State to undertake irrigation
on a large scale.
It is an interesting history, recording some
losses and many gains. Its final chap-
ters are, however, illuminated with pages of
success. Since the first storages were created,
policy and method have undergone changes.
Local trusts have been abolished. Nowadays
the State works for irrigation and water supply
are under control of a commission of three mem-
bers, which also exercises authority over all
streams, and issues licenses and permits for pri-
\ ate diversions of water. There are in Victoria
(1914) 18 irrigation and water supply districts,
26 waterworks districts, and 32 township supplies
served by the Commission. The Government,
after experience, decided that small farms and
individual proprietaries were best. Closer settle-
ment and intensive culture are now the base of its
irrigation systems. Problems which beset irriga-
tionists in other countries are absent in Victoria.
To quote Dr. Elwood Mead, under whose expert
Y
supervision Victoria's State irrigation schemes
were administered until his return to the United
States in 191 5 : "For the last ten years there has
not been a single water-right law suit in this State.
Victorian works are also free from the abuses and
excessive charges which are frequently manifest
where private ownership of water, or rights equi-
valent to such ownership, are recognized. In
Vicloria the price which irrigators pay for water
is measured by the cost of supplying it; no charge
is made for the ivater itself, and no profit is de-
rived, or expected to be derived, from irrigation
works. The State is the sole riparian proprietor,
and those who wish to divert water must obtain
State consent."
The most extensive irrigation works and areas
in the State are those connected with the Goulburn
River, which has an average annual discharge of
about two million acre feet of water per annum.
The area of land commanded thereby, and
suitable for intensive culture is between 600,000
ana 700,000 acres. The costs of the Goulburn
Weir, the W^estern Main Channel, Waranga
Basin, and Eastern Main Channel, have reached
a total of £1,293,000. In four years, after the
385
386
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
beginning of closer settlement, the irrigated areas
increased by 65,040 acres, equal to 80 per cent.
The Goulburn Weir is constructed of granite,
and rises 50 feet from the bed of the stream. Its
width from bank to bank is 400 feet. Above
the granite sub-structure are a series of flood gates
extending right across the river. These gates
are operated by turbines, and when raised provicie
a storage in the basin above the weir equal to
20,661 acre-feet of water.
On either side of the weir is an irrigation chan-
nel. The eastern one is 38 feet wide at the bot-
tom and 56 feet at the top, with a carrying
depth of 6 feet. The western, or main chan-
nel, is much larger, being iio feet wide at the
bottom and 131 feet at the top, with a carrying
depth of 7 feet. The latter channel supplies the
water for the Tongala, Koyuga, Rochester, Nan-
neella, and Bamawm irrigation districts, and it
can be seen how adequate the supply is for the
land now being opened up.
After leaving the weir the main channel con-
veys the water a distance of 24 miles to the
Waranga Basin. This artificial lake has a stor-
age capacity of 196,000 acre-feet; and this can be
increased, by raising the level 10 feet, to a total
storage of 326,000 acre-feet. The basin was
created by building an earthen wall 4! miles long
and 31 feet high. It has two outlets, one supplying
the Rodney channels, having a capacity of 300
cubic feet per second, and the other supplying the
Waranga-Mallee channels with a capacity of
1,000 cubic feet per second.
The main western channel from the Waranga
Basin is 92 miles long, and from it water is taken
off to supply the Tongala, Rochester, and
Bamawm closer settlement districts, and will be
the source of supply for the Stanhope Estate, an
area of over 20,000 acres acquired for closer
settlement.
The whole of the main, subsidiary, and dis-
tributing channels are operated by means of gra-
vitation only.
In addition to the great Goulburn River system,
the Coliban scheme, with reservoirs at Coliban
and Malmsbury, supplies the city of Bendigo and
a large area of orchard and garden district be-
tween that city and Castlemaine. Lower down
on the Loddon River, Laanecoorie Basin, with
the works of Tragowel and Boort districts, irri-
gates 20,000 acres. In the southern part of the
State, Werribee scheme provides water for 3,500
acres at Bacchus Marsh, and 6,000 acres at
Werribee. Land at Bacchus Marsh has changed
hands at £100 an acre, and rented for £5 an acre
per annum. Werribee irrigation lands — which
promise to increase in the same ratio — were being
sold in 1914 by the Government at from £25 to
£29 an acre.
Victorian irrigation works completed and in
construction will irrigate a grand total of 400,000
acres, of which, in 19 13, 250,000 acres were
already being irrigated.
In addition to these irrigation works the State
has constructed an extensive system of channels
for supplying farms of the north-west with
Laanecoorie Weir, on tbe Loddon River
VICTORIAN IRRIGATION SETTLEMENTS.
387
GoiUburn Weir, Nagambie
water for stock and domestic purposes. In some
cases the supply is sufficient to irrigate small
areas. This system of channels provides a
supply sufficient for thirteen millions of acres.
From 1887 to 19 14 the total cost for irrigation
and water supply works was £7,750,000 — a
creditable expenditure for a young State which
^.began its career something more than sixty years
)go-
Dr. Elwood Mead claims that irrigation will
lultiply the population of the State from 10
[o 100 times, and give a corresponding increase
the value of products.
He points out that "an irrigation district is
freed from the vicissitudes and losses that come
nth recurring years of drought; that a densely-
'peopled rural area enjoys good home conditions
and attractive social life. With irrigation two
farm crops can be grown in the year — maize in
summer, wheat in winter; four to six cuttings of
lucerne may be obtained, a continuous milking sea-
son sustained, and all fruits made to yield a
maximum crop."
Under irrigation a ten-acre orange grove will
iring a larger return than a 300-acre wheat-field,
Ind one acre of lucerne will fatten more sheep
than 20 acres of native grasses.
The oldest of Victoria's irrigation settlements is
[ildura, on the Murray, where 6,000 people are
)eing maintained by the products of 12,000 acres
'^alued for 19 13, at £400,000.
The State permits settlers on irrigable areas to
take land to the value of £2,500 unimproved, and
ip to £4,000 in improved value.
The usual size of fruit blocks is from 20 to
40 acres, and of dairying and mixed-farming
blocks from 30 to 200 acres. The State provides
blocks for farm laborers of from two to five acres.
These are scattered throughout the irrigation
districts. It will also erect houses for settlers on
payment of a deposit varying from 10
IHto 30 per cent, of cost. From the be-
l^fcinning of closer settlement, 1909-10 to
■i
1 9 14, population on twelve principal irri-
gation districts had been multiplied by eleven.
An enormous increase in the value of production
had taken place, and there is every indication that
progress in the future will be still more rapid. A
number of important conservation and irri-
gation schemes have been under consideration by
Government. In some cases plans and surveys
are made. It is proposed to create a new reser-
voir on the Upper Murray to contain 750,000
acre-feet of water, sufficient to irrigate 250,000
acres. Another scheme which will doubtless be
carried out is that for the construction of a reser-
voir at Camberoona, on the Upper Murray. This
is to be the joint work of New South Wales and
Victoria. This storage would contain one mil-
lion acre-feet of water, and supply another
250,000 acres of most suitable Victorian land
between Yarrawonga and Numurkah.
Plans and estimates have been made for a stor-
age on the Upper Campaspe to hold 100,000
acre-feet, and irrigate 40,000 excellent acres
between Rochester and Elmore.
In South-Eastern Gippsland there are 100,000
acres of rich river flats, which it is now proposed
to irrigate.
These schemes — with 20,000 acres already
Irrigated by private diversions under Government
permits — bring a proportionately large area of
the State under the benign influence of scientific
storage and application of water. When the
history of irrigation in Australia is written, tribute
must be paid to the faith and enterprise of
Victoria.
Within the northern irrigation area — which
now covers that of a small European province
— the thriving towns of Bendigo, Rochester,
Kyabram, Shepparton, Kerang, Cohuna, Swan
Hill and Echuca are located. These centres of
local trade and industry are greatly benefited by
the settlements of which they have become con-
venient business centres. Victorian irrigationists
are for the most part within a day's railway jour-
Pumping station, Blver Murray
388
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Currants, Shepparton.
ney of the metropolis, and have their district
towns and cities for local markets. Local
creameries and butter factories are also increasing
the prosperity of the settlers, among whom one
finds many shining examples of success. It stands
to reason that the State, having invested large
sums in irrigation works, is anxious that its policy
should be justified in fact. Settlers profit by the
solicitude of the Government. The fertility of
Australian soils under irrigation is abundantly
proved throughout these Victorian areas. In the
Cohuna district one partially-irrigated holding of
40 acres has returned during seven years an aver-
age income of £1,000 a year. A 50-acre holding
at Mildura has produced 10,000 cases of oranges
in one year. In the Rochester district an acre
of tomatoes gave a return of £110. Elsewhere
lemons to the value of £229 were returned by I4
acres. Maize 16 feet high has been grown at
Cohuna, estimated to yield nearly 50 tons to the
acre. On another settlement, on 2 i acres planted
with paspalum dilatatum, 350 sheep vs'ere main-
tained from March until July. The same area,
after the sale of these sheep at satisfactory prices,
was restocked with 25 blood horses, which it kept
in good condition throughout the summer.
Potatoes have given £50 an acre value and beans
£64. A settler on Shepparton No. 1 estate, who
has a five-acre block, picked, in the season of
1913-14, from trees three and a half years old
700 cases of peaches, giving him a return equal to
£30 an acre. Victoria will become one ofthegreat-
est fruit-growing countries in the world. In ten
years her export grew from a value of £5,826 to
£150,000. Out of thirt^^n million acres of
Crown land still unalienated vast acreages are
suitable for fruit-growing. Physical and climatic
conditions are ideal for production of all fruits
which may be grown in the temperate zones — the
world's markets are expanding vearly, and difficul-
ties of transport are being rapidly conquered. Vic-
toria can grow fruit for export nine months of the
year.
Experiment has proved that, with proper care,
in addition to apples, soft fruits, such as apricots,
cherries, grapes, lemons, oranges, peaches, pears,
and plums, may be successfully transported to all
parts of the world.
In 19 1 5-1 6 the State produced a record fruit
crop, only a small portion of which was exported.
Prices obtained are a proof of quality. Pears
have realized 32/- a case on the London market.
Pears from 12 - to 15/-, apples lO/'-, oranges
12/- upwards, plums 10/- to 15/-. Good pros-
pects are ahead of grape exports. The best
variety is the Ohanez. This season (1916)
1,712 packages (28 lb. boxes) were exported,
and these have mostly landed in good condition
and will average profitable prices.
Greater profits per acre may be realized on
fruit-growing than from any other branch of rural
industry. Instances may be quoted where up-
wards of £100 per acre per annum has been
returned from orchards. A fair average profit
of £20 per acre may be placed to the credit of the
fruitgrowing industry in this State.
The irrigation areas will yield constant crops
of valuable fruit. The author visited the thriv-
ing town of Rochester, and from there began a
VICTORIAN IRRIGATION SETTLEMENTS.
3S9
ii-rri-i
I lour of Victorian irrigation districts, beginning
with the younger settlements of Bamawm and
Nanneella. The total area purchased for closer
settlement in the Rochester district, exclusive of
the Echuca estate, is 24,000 acres. This district
as first made available for settlement in 191 1.
n 1914 water rights had been allotted to 15,000
acres, and practically the whole area was under
cultivation. In three years 21 families on Bamawm
increased to 150, mostly on 20-acre blocks.
J .All the sub-Murray country across to Tongala
I^Bs level, and easily watered. Its soils are red to
l^«ellow, somewhat stiffer than the lands across the
^Rdurray, and further west along the river basin.
I^Bluch of it was being reaped for hay when the
^^uthor crossed it in midsummer. The season
had been poor, but there were wide areas of
browning crops alternating with closer settlement
blocks and open spaces sparsely timbered by
drooping coolibah trees. Little houses located
Hpn square blocks, irrigation channels and vivid
green patches of lucerne made a feature of this
^rapidly-changing Australian landscape.
!™ The young settlements were looking forward
hopefully and were generally prepared for the
»*»i''.cs.^«BSW«-*^'W, ,s^e*WK»-:
Measuring Water to the Irrigators.
usual effort of pioneering. Everything was in
the melting pot. The advent of irrigation had
brought about revolutionary changes. Where
one pastoral family had previously lived on 2,545
acres, there were now 32 families of irrigationists.
Rochester district had been practically open and
untilled. Already there were 6,500 acres of
lucerne. When occupation under the new closer
settlement system was complete there would be a
multiplication of population by ten. Railway
traffic was increasing, towns were rapidly grow-
ing, industry had claimed another great Austra-
lian Plain.
The State had greatly aided the district to such
rapid progress. Few of the settlers had sufficient
capital to improve and cultivate their blocks with-
out some financial assistance. Still fewer were
experienced irrigators. To meet the needs of
these settlers 65 per cent, of the houses had been
built by the State. The State had also m three
years graded and seeded over 6,000 acres of land
to lucerne and other fodder crops. The handi-
cap of small capital has been overcome in large
measure by the State making advances on im-
provements up to 60 per cent, of their value, and
^
390
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
furnishing horses and cows where the circum-
stances seemed to warrant this action. In all,
1 88 out of the 255 settlers in the Rochester dis-
trict had been given such advances, and 28 had
been supplied with either horses or cows.
Advice and direction were free to them at all
times, a district inspector having the settlements
under constant supervision, and being constantly
in touch with block holders. Experts of the
Agricultural Department and experienced irriga-
tionists from older districts made frequent visits,
and gave demonstrations and lectures on proper
methods of planting and cultivation.
What this particular Australian plain is cap-
able of may be deduced from the fact that it is
already growing 30 cwt. to the acre of lucerne;
hay, clover, maize, oats, beans, tomatoes, aspara-
gus and strawberries, where only irregular crops
of native grasses were expected under original
conditions.
On the 1,200 small irrigation farms which had
been established in Victoria by 1913, there was
no longer any fear of drought. Green fodder,
ripe fruit, green vegetables were to be had all
through the irrigation districts of the north from
lands that, under other circumstances, would have
been sere and brown. The ten millions that
Victoria has spent on irrigation may not all have
been laid out to bring the highest results, but the
expenditure will ultimately be worth while.
Half a dozen Milduras have been established;
70,000 acres have been converted to intensive cul-
ture, and the task of turning arid lands into oases
each year becomes easier from the experiences
gained.
Figures, compiled by the State Rivers and Water
Supply Commission, show that population has
greatly increased on the irrigation districts.
Not every man who has taken up an irrigation
area has succeeded. There are failures among
irrigationists, as there are among ordinary
farmers. The natural tendency is, by the gradual
elimination of the unfit, to evolve settlements which
contain the highest type of settler. Irrigation
is establishing compact, prosperous settlements in
3-year-old Orange Tree, Cohuna
districts having low rainfalls, making production
and population possible in unexpected places. It
evolves a most desirable class of family blessed
with intelligence, industry and thrift. Conse-
quently the capital Investment of Victoria must not
in this connection be regarded altogether as an
j^^ It,
B
/• ^ .
^ -M
^^^^^^^^HpiT^TiWf^^^l^^^^^^l
^^w^^l
m
^^^^^^1^ '
■"- "** 7 /
^^
ttM
A Home in an Irrigation Settlement
1
VICTORIAN IRRIGATION SETTLEMENTS.
391
Pear Trees, 32 months old
interest-bearing proposition. The national gains
must be reckoned in something more than actual
cash values.
The problem of how much capital a man should
command to get a good start on one of these
Victorian irrigation blocks is difficult to solve. A
great deal depends on the man. Some men
have begun with £50, and are treading the main
roads of success. Other men have had £1,000,
and are still in the lanes. Generally speaking,
if one has £300, energy and good judgment, there
ought to be an independence at the end of the
journey.
The population is cosmopolitan — Britishers,
Americans, PVench, Australians. Few had any
previous experience of irrigation. Some were
professional men, some farm laborers. Sailor-
men and tailormen and gentlemen, they are all
working side by side, or fence by fence, upon this
newly-won Australian plain. The Commission
watches over them with a paternal eye. It is
anxious for their success, it aids them all it can,
hears their complaints, investigates their failures,
and endeavours to be lenient where the settler of
grit and promise makes leeway with his payments
for water or instalments of purchase money.
The State renders the following assistance to
settlers in the grading of land: — •
It rents settlers grading tools at the
nominal charge of 2/6 a day, thus sav-
ing the settler a large expenditure on
these implements.
It furnishes at a nominal cost contour
plans showing the direction of the
slopes, thus enabling the settler to tell
how his land should be graded.
It grades from 5 to 20 acres on about one-
third of the blocks in advance of settle-
ment, and adds the cost of this to the
price of the land.
The settler, therefore, has the option of either
doing his own work or of taking a block where a
part of the work has already been done.
The man who, in this way, goes on to a par-
tially-improved area of 50 acres, with £500
capital, works reasonably hard, and exercises
ordinary business ability, is on a very safe invest-
ment, which will return him a satisfactory interest
in from two to six years. Meanwhile, he is
establishing what may be a beautiful and com-
fortable home; he lives the healthiest of lives,
and commands more of the essentials that make
for human happiness than the average citizen else-
where.
The Commission has reduced irrigation settle-
ment to an exact science. Its carefully-revised
data are nowadays at the disposal of the new
settler, who thus holds an advantage over the
older pioneer.
To settlers dependent on their own labor, and
with limited capital, the Commission strongly
recommends a 20-acre fruit block or a 40-acre
farm block devoted to lucerne and other farm
crops. Settlers who intend to grow fruit must plan
to make their living and payments out of other
crops for three years. Dairying, the growing of
small fruits and vegetables will all work in with
the earlier years of an orchard.
Experience shows that small holdings are the
best. The average cost of the land is about £15
an acre; annual interest and payments on princi-
pal I 8s. an acre, irrigation rates and taxes about
Peach Orchard, 22 months old
7s., making an annual total of 25s. an acre. Thus
the settler with idle acres is on a losing invest-
ment— intensive and complete culture on small
blocks is the policy that leaves the yearly balance
on the right side of the ledger. The following
official statements of receipts and expenditure
taken from actual settlement on recently sub-
divided irrigation areas are interesting: —
392
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
,1^
Measuring Water, Mildura.
The block is lo acres. The settler came on
the block two years previously. The land at the
time was new, unfenced, entirely uncleared, and
unimproved. He had never had experience in
farming before he came on this block, but had
kept a small kitchen garden for home supply. His
entire capital was about three hundred pounds
(£300). He has cleared the whole place, and
the improvements made by him to date are — a
house, poultry houses, hot-beds for plants, shed
for horse and cow, fence of wire-netting around
the outside, and cross-fence, besides the fruit
trees, which are planted on all except about \ acre.
The fruit trees consist of — 500 oranges and
lemons, 250 apples, 100 pears, 2^ figs, 25 plums,
and mixed. Sixty per cent, of these trees are
now in the second year, and 40 per cent, are one
year old. The whole of the place is highly cul-
tivated and successions of vegetables for market,
and fodder crops for home feeding, are growing
throughout the whole year, in parallel lines be-
tween the rows of trees. One general work and
driving horse is kept. One cow is kept, which gives
more than is required of milk and butter for the
Sultanas at Mildura.
I
VICTORIAN IRRIGATION SETTLEMENTS
393
West's, Sheppartou, 30 months after settlement
family of five. Ten pigs were kept on the place fowls have been bred upon the block, giving a
during the last twelve months, and grown to mar- monthly profit of about £2. Besides the fruit
ketable size, bringing a price of £2 los. each when . ' r .t ■ • 1
,, „ ' I- , r t r 1 • trees, some ot the prmcipal crops grown are —
sold. Some or the reed tor the pigs was pur- . . .
chased outside, leaving a net profit to the place of f"^'^^' '"'"^t- P^^^' Potatoes, strawberries,
about one-half, or £12 for the present year beans, beets, cabbages, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes,
(1913). A fine stock of White Leghorn laying pumpkins, and melons.
■ Slatemeut of Receipts and Expettditure for year ended jutli April igJJ.
KliCElPTS, ETC. liXPENDITUKE.
o Sales of Tomatoes £60 o o By Manure purchased £30 o o
Peas 16 o o Wages paid 5 o o
Beans 400 Land and water charges .... 20 o o
Lettuce 6 5 o
Pumpkins 6 5 o
Melons 10 o o
Pigs 1200
Poultry 20 10 o
135 00 55 O O
Add Improvement in orchard .... 50 o o Balance representing net gains
Lfor year 130 o o
Total £185 o o £185 o o
394
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
This shows the direct profit from the block for
the year to be £130. But the principal increase
for the year's work is, of course, in the growth of
the fruit trees. Besides having made more than
a living for the family while the trees are growing,
the increase in the value of these trees is not less
than £5 per acre, making a sound showing of £180
gain for this man's work for one year, on a
lo-acre block.
An inspection of No. 2 Settlement near Shep-
parton, showed more Australia in the making,
an Australia of optimism and opportunity.
American irrigationists here, as on the other
Victorian settlements, speak cheerfully of their
prospects. They consider Australian physical
conditions better for intensive culture than any-
thing in the United States.
Here also they were free from combines, rail-
•:„-s>, '■ '.i'v«i,;v'''- ••;;.;:,(■ .(&»■,■
■■■: t-^.-it ■^:m<*f-^''^'W'0'"
''T^\-^
■•;■'■■■. .^^
K^ -
yv)?t .''"^
»-:.■; ■ *■
■^v -.
*vv.r
► >-M
.»:-j3.
Peach Trees at West's, (Planted 32 months).
From Nanneella to Tongala there is little
variation in the country, and the same newness
was apparent when the writer crossed over these
areas in 19 12. Turning south from Tongala we
passed through the older, more picturesque
orchard settlement of Ardmona, noted for it's
splendid crops of apricots; then on through the
neat prosperous towns of Kyabram and Tatura
down to Shepparton. Shepparton, the centre of
a well-established irrigation district, is northern
Victoria at its best. Orchards and vineyards sur-
round it. Buik on the banks of the Goulburn
River, its leafy avenues, gardens, and wide streets
make it pleasant homeland for a well-to-do popu-
lation.
way trusts, and drawbacks which the smaller pro-
ducer labors under in countries where less atten-
tion is paid to industrial and social legislation.
They had a beneficent Government for landlord,
in control of railways and waterworks. They had
good purchase terms, fixed freights, and cheapj
water supply. All the competent settlers inter-
viewed are satisfied that irrigation in Victoria is
success. Where 6,000 people are sustained o
an area which, under previous methods carrie
one family, irrigation from the national view
point also must be regarded as successful.
An examination of the Victorian irrigation
settlements shows that the contented men are
|(
VICrOKlAN IRRKJATION SETTLEMENTS.
395
The First Year.
Five Years after Planting.
Dr. Wight's, Kyabram.
those who decline to hold more land than they
can put to prolitable use.
Irrigationists are at present charged 5s. per
acre-foot of water a year, which means that a
settler can water several times for a payment of
5s. per acre per annum. The cost for watering
50 acres is £12 los. a year, and 50 acres are suf-
ficient for the average family. So far lucerne
seems to be the staple, and will be until such time
as the fruit-bearing areas come into full crop.
Lucerne gives from three to five cuttings a year,
is fed to cows and pigs, and makes the basis of
a dairyman's profit. In some places sheep in-
stead of cows are kept, the sheep-men contending
that lucerne gives better returns from sheep than
cows. The average of milking cows on irriga-
tion farms is about fifteen. This applies to
farms of 50 acres, of which 30 acres are devoted
to fodder crops — lucerne, maize, millet. Pigs,
poultry, and vegetables for family use — with a
surplus for sale — are, of course, a feature of
every small holding.
Of what this country will grow even without
I ^ •'■ <^<
fp..^
scientific irrigation, the writer found an illustra-
tion in a hotel garden at Murchison on the banks
of the Goulburn.
We came in to Murchison from Shepparton
late one afternoon. A heavy storm, typical of
the Goulburn Valley, had driven us to put up at
the first wayside inn; which, like most Victorian
country hotels, was clean and comfortable. The
storm broke with swishing rain and roaring thun-
ders; poured out its benison, and passed on.
Morning brought perfumes of rain-soaked
earth and radiant flowers. While waiting for
breakfast I went out as usual to look over the
hotel garden. Morning is the proper time to
A Kyabram Orchardist's Home.
examine any garden, but a garden refreshed by
rain overnight has an especial charm. The hotel
people were pardonably proud of their half-acre
of cultivation. The abundance and quality of
its growths were surprising. Asparagus and
rhubarb of the finest quality grew there; figs,
strawberries, mulberries, apricots, apples, goose-
berries and red-cheeked peaches, lemons, pears,
loquats, plums, cherries, walnuts.
396
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Peach Orchard, Ardmona.
There were hawthorn hedges and walks over-
hung by beautiful shade-trees, poplars and gums
among them.
There were plots of vegetables with big white-
hearted cabbages, peas, carrots, beets, celery and
parsnips. There were salads and herbs. Red
roses and white, crimson ramblers, verbena, sweet
peas, poppies and oleanders, grew in that won-
derful garden also, and, where it came up to the
wide verandahs of the house, green drooping
ferns, orchids, and hot-house plants added orna-
ment to utility.
Finally, there was a grape arbor. Than the
odor of grapes in Hower there is nothing sweeter.
So much that is historical, aesthetic, romantic,
attaches to the vine. One smells the grape in
Hower, and lines from Omar and Keats drift
through one's mind as softly as downy butterflies
over meadows lit with spring.
For gentle occupations like the growing of
vines, olives, and oranges, Victoria has profit-
able as well as poetic opportunities.
Practically the whole State is adapted for the
vine. Its climate is milder than the South of
France, and its dry inland districts carry im-
munity from parasitic diseases such as European
vineyards are subject to.
Soils corresponding to those from which the
finest European vintages are won, are classed
among Victoria's poorer lands.
Many payable Victorian vineyards are located
on unirrigated areas, but their yields are much
less than those from irrigated sections.
Under irrigation, yields up to ii tons per acre
of distillation grapes have already been obtained,
worth £3 15s. per ton Proceeds per acre aver-
age from £25 to £35 gross. The cost of pro-
duction (with paid labor) amounts at the outside
to £10 per acre.
Wineries are in operation, and others are being
established. These deal with grapes of different
types, calculated to produce various grades of
wine, such as the export type (full-bodied, dry),
sweet wine for local consumption, and lighter
wines. Payment is made for grapes by these
wineries at varying prices, according to quality of
variety and sugar percentage of fruit. At the
present time the prices range from £4 to £9 per
ton.
I'ew fruits lend thetnselves so well to drying,
lose so little in the process, or meet with a more
readv demand when dried. At present, the
local demand in this direction is considerably
greater than the supply.
Then there are wines, brantlies, \inegar, cream
of tartar and by-products to make \'iticulture more
profitable. The export trade for fresh grapes is
rapidly extending. Victorian grapes can be
placed on European markets in early summer,
long before local fruit has ripened.
Costs of establishing a vineyard in this State
are officially given at ist year £16 3s. 6d. per acre,
second year £2 i6s., third year £8 is., all work
being performed by outside labor. The Depart-
ment of Agriculture employs a staff of experts to
assist inexperienced growers, and every encour-
agement is given to this valuable industry.
Under the Closer Settlement Acts, the Lands
Purchase Management Board is empowered to
expend at the rate of £500,000 per annum in the
purchase for the Crown of privately-owned lands
throughout the State for sub-division and disposal
to eligible applicants. Only one allotment can be
granted to each person. Plans and particulars of
«
VICTORIAN IRRIGATION SETTLEMENTS
397
areas can be obtained at the Crown Lands En-
quiry Office, or from the Secretary to the Board.
Conditions of Purchase.— Land offered for
settlement has been repurchased by the State
from holders at its unirrigated value, and will be
sold to settlers at this price plus the cost of sub-
division and transfer. Land may be paid for
outright; the payments may be extended over 31 i
years; or the balance due may be paid off at any
time. The interest on capital unpaid is 42 %,
anil to this there must be added an instalment of
the purchase price. The payment of these in-
stalments has been so adjusted that a settler, by
paying the equivalent of 6 % annually on the cost,
pays both principal and interest in 3 i i years. The
se liter will nbliiiu a complete title to his laud by
payiug 6 % per aiiiiiim on the cost for 3 i A years.
Lands in the Rochester and Cohuna districts will
vary in price from £8 to £15 an acre. A settler
purchasing a 40-acre irrigated block at £10 an
acre would, on paying to the Government £24
per year for 31 i years, receive a title to his land.
The Water Commission will give advice to
beginners regarding irrigation methods, and,
when desired, will prepare and grade land for
irrigation. The Closer Settlement Board under-
takes to erect houses, fence holdings, give expert
advice to settlers about the purchase of stock,
implements, etc.
Fhe purpose of this assistance is to enable a
settler to go immediately to his farm and begin
proiluctive labour, thus avoiding loss of time,
hardship or discomfort, waste of money in living
expenses, or by making unwise purchases through
lack of knowledge of local conditions.
The Closer Settlement Board will also advance
to settlers amounts equal to 60 % of the money
they expend in improvements, such advances not
to exceed £500, the interest on these advances to
be 5 %. Briefly, the State desires to co-operate
with settlers in every possible manner, and espe-
cially by giving them the benefit of the knowledge
and experience of its expert officers.
Every application for a Closer Settlement Allot-
ment must be made on the prescribed form and
lodged with the Secretary, Lands Purchase and
Management Board, accompanied by the registra-
tion fee of 5s., lease fee £1, and a deposit (equal
to 3 % of the capital value of the land) which is
deducted from the purchase money.
The applicant is required to give evidence of
suitability and fitness, etc., to occupy the land; if
successful, a permit giving immediate possession
is issued (followed by a lease as soon as prac-
ticable), and no further payment is required for
six months. The deposit, less the 5s. registra-
tion fee, is at once returned to any unsuccessful
applicant.
[The present Commission's plan is to work the
loan advances account, always, of course, with
the greatest discrimination, so as to make the
putting on of impro\cments a feature of more
importance than compelling the settler to expend
his initial cash resources at the very beginning in
the purchase of his land. In the carrying out of
this policy, and always seeing to it that the
settler's loan advance account (justified by the
permanent improvements he is making) keeps
in advance of his land purchase arrears, he is
regarded by the Commission as financially sound.
In this way the capable working settler is helped,
and safety to the State is guaranteed in the fact
that the Government does not issue the title to
the land until it is eventually paid up.]
Campaspe Weir, near Rochester.
MALLEE LANDS.
VITAL problems of wheat culture having
been solved during latter years, large
tracts of Australian territory are now
thrown open for cultivation which were pre-
viously looked upon as non-productive.
The Victorian Mallee is one of these tracts.
It occupies an area of 12 million acres, or nearly
one-fourth of the State. Regarded in the old
days as desert country, it was not taken up in pas-
toral holdings. The dense scrub which covered
it was accepted as a sign of valueless soils: the
squatter derided it, the free selector gave it a wide
berth. Thirty-five years ago a Victorian Royal
Commission described it as "a wilderness in the
strictest sense of the term." Covering thousands
of square miles, given over to wild dogs and
rabbits, patriotic Victorians groaned when their
eyes rested on the north-western corner of their
map — so much of the little State could never be
profitably settled, so much was waste land which
would never be revenue-producing.
So, for decades, that dull Mallee scrub lay un-
touched, unoccupied; the wild dog continued to
prowl its arid recesses. Under summer suns it
lay in parched silence — a great lone land extend-
ing from the Murray away to the south-west for
hundreds and hundreds of miles.
From Wimmera came the first signs of its
awakening. Edges of the Mallee go down into
this region, which had early been found suitable
for pastoral occupation. Some enterprising
spirits cleared small areas of scrub and ploughed
it. They found that the normal rainfall was
enough to return payable crops. They found
that Mallee soils were in reality of unusual fer-
tility; that clean Mallee land grew good sound
MALLEE LANDS OF VICTORIA.
399
[lit
It
Clearing the Land for Grass.
wheat. Then the invention of the stump-jump
plough simplified its cultivation — the introduction
of fallow and phosphate ensured a certainty — the
Mallee farmer was evolved. To-day Mallee
farmers are men of importance in Victoria. The
Mallee produces one-fifth of the wheat grown in
the State. The Mallee is crossed by railway
es, and dotted with prosperous townships,
roni Swan Hill across to the South Australian
border, right through the centre of that region
described by a Royal Commission as "a wilder-
ness in the strictest sense of the term," in early
summer there is painted a widening belt of
glorious green which later on is turned to gold.
The three principal counties of the Mallee.
Weeah, Karkarooc, Tatchera, produced in 191^-
16 over thirteen and a half million bushels of
wheat!
The next good season will see the Mallee's pro-
duction at ten million bushels, and there are mil-
lions of acres as good as any yet cultivated to
V
me under the plough.
One of the last official trips made by the ex-
Surveyor-Gencral, Mr. J- M. Reed, before he
became Secretary for Lands, was out through
country in which his staff had spent strenuous
months aligning lands for occupation.
l^fcThe work of Australian surveyors can hardly
'^e calculated in ordinary values. Men of the
theodolite and chain who went out to survey the
Mallee were often cut off from the world for
months at a time. They had to carry water, pro-
\isions and instruments, through trackless wastes.
Their work was done in all weathers and under
all sorts of trying conditions; their difficulties
were legion, their complaints but few.
|j|»On his return from the north Mr. Reed favored
the author of Australia Unlimited with a brief
report which illustrates the progress of Mallee
districts and the policy of settlement therein.
r "'■■■""■"■
veiled through the area of Mallee country extend-
ing from Ouyen, on the Mildura railway line, to
Murrayville and on to Pinnaroo, near the South
Australian border. The surveyed country com-
prises an area of 705,000 acres, in 1,042 allot-
ments, and of these 895 have been disposed of,
the balance of 147 allotments being now available,
and applications have yet to be considered by a
local Land Board. The development of this
country, from the earliest settlement within it in
1909, has been highly satisfactory. It afTords a
very striking illustration of the desirability of
opening up such country by railway construction in
advance of or concurrently with settlement; of
the importance of simultaneous water provision,
and of the clearing of roads for traffic. A large
extent of country is under cultivation on the
eastern section, extending westerly from Ouyen,
also on the western section, of which Murrayville
is the centre, while the central area is rapidly
being cleared and made ready for cropping. The
western section is that on which bore water is
obtainable, and frequently within the range of
view, while travelling, six to ten windmills may
be seen at one time, each denoting a pure and
full water supply for the settler. Some of the
homes have water laid on from the elevated tanks.
The value of this in the hot Mallee country
can hardly be realised. In addition to the
fifteen effective Government bores there are
Heavy Sorghum Crop, Swan Hill.
numerous private ones. To this certainty of
water supply the remarkable progress of the
settlement can largely be attributed. Unfortu-
nately, the eastern limit of the underground
water appears to have been reached, and
farther east surface catchments and storages
will have to be relied on. Very many of the
settlers' homes are of a superior type, being good
iron dwellings with complete outbuildings. The
railway line has been laid for about 62 miles from
400
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Ouyen. In a very brief time it will be extended to
Murrayville, its present terminus at 68 miles. Some
excellent wheat yields have already been obtained,
but this season's crop, while by no means a failure,
will not give average results equal to those of
last year. Local estimates for the Murrayville
portion give an area of 100,000 acres under crop,
Sweeprakc. Hdivcbting Lucerne
with an average yield of 7 bushels. It is esti-
mated that 300,000 bushels are awaiting delivery
at Murrayville. Grain sites are now being laid
out at this station ground, and will supply a very
keen present want. The township allotments
surveyed at the various station sites are in great
demand. A sale of 10 building allotments at
Ouyen on the 5th instant realised ^772, an aver-
age of £77 per lot. At Walpeup six allotments
gave an average of £89 per lot. At Underbool
fourteen allotments an average of £70 per lot,
and at Murrayville, on the 7th instant, twenty-
five town allotments realised £2,617, an average
of £105 per lot."
Victorian Mallee land is prepared for culti-
vation in ' similar manner to that of
South Australia — described in the chap-
ter on settlement in Pinnaroo. In fact,
the Mallee is all part of that vast area of
wheat-growing soil which stretches across the
southern half of the Australian continent from
Cootamundra, in New South Wales, to Albany,
in Western Australia.
The red, sandy, Mallee loam will grow almost
anything on a minimum of moisture. The
transformation from desolate scrub to greening
field is a romance of Australian settlement.
First come the surveyors making their contour
surveys, roads surveys, water surveys, all the
work of those busy bush-camps which the traveller
comes upon here and there. The Mallee is un-
dulating rather than flat. In the northern Mallee
of Victoria sand ridges — some nearly half a mile
long — are a curious physical feature. These
nearly all run north and south. Roads and
courses for water channels are laid down to avoid
these natural obstacles. When necessary pre-
parations have been made by the State, the settler
is allowed into the solitude. He attacks the
scrub with heavy iron and wooden rollers drawn
by bullocks, crushing it down quickly, and burning
off as soon as he can.
Parts of the Mallee are covered with pine, box,
and belah, which take more clearing. This
timber has its value. Large quantities of it have
already been used by settlers for building and
fencing. North of Manangatang good forests
of useful building timbers are still available.
After the erection of a home and the rolling
down and burning off, come fencing, ploughing,
and harvesting, all the seasonal detail of a wheat-
farmer's life.
Supplying certain districts with water has been
one of the State's problems. The States Rivers
and Water Supply Commission has overcome
most of the difficulty.
Nowadays, when a new district is to be opened
up, the F.ngineer for Water Supply and his staff
Two Weeks' Growth of Lucerne.
first go over the country intended for occupa-»
tion, looking for depressions and suitable catch^*
ment sites for Government dams. These are
mostly excavated by settlers, and promptly paid
for by Government, a system which is of con-
siderable local advantage. In some districts, as
we have seen, underground supplies exist. In
other places the State has made water from the
Murray available. The light rainfall, if it
comes at the right time, is generally '
sufficient for an average crop, but water
MALLEE LANDS OF VICTORIA.
401
for stock and domestic purposes has to
be provided. The central part of the Vic-
torian Mallee is almost entirely dependent upon
storage tanks filled by natural rainfall. Lake
Hattah will probably be converted into a per-
j manent storage to supply this part of the great
wheat belt. By the end of 1913 the Commission
had down 63 bores which were tapping water over
an area of 500,000 acres.
The Water Supply officers were then making
I surveys for the reticulation of a large area on the
I Murray border extending from Piangil to Euston.
I It is proposed to build a railway from Chillingol-
lah, the terminus of the Boort line, to Mananga-
tang, to be carried on ultimately to some point on
the Murray. This line would penetrate the
land to be served by the new scheme, which would
embrace an area of 700,000 acres. The water
* will be drawn from a point near Euston, whence
easy gradients may be obtained into the adjoining
country. This scheme has a most important
' effect on Mallee settlement. This land is of fair
IH|erage quality, and at least 100,000 acres are
'■ among the best of the Mallee. Given to agri-
culture, it will mean placing 2,000 families on the
land, and an addition to the national income of
from £300,000 to £400,000 per annum. Other
schemes are being investigated with the view to
further use being made of the Murray. The
reticulation of many new Mallee townships has
been part of this scheme. In the general plan of
settlement in the Mallee this great river will be
an important factor. Since the Water Commis-
sion started its work in May, 1906, the sum of
£295,000 has been spent on the Wimmera-Mallee
supply system, which commands an area of some
6,000 square miles. The works comprise 130
miles of main channel, and over 1,100 miles of
branch channels, with minor storages and tanks.
A million and a half acres of fine wheat land in
the Mallee are still waiting for water, railway,
and roads, that is to say, a million and a half
acres which stand next in natural order of occupa-
tion. Beyond that again are boundless acres
which will some day be turned into fields.
Constant experiment is being carried on with
a view to breeding wheats most adaptable to local
conditions. The celebrated "Federation" and
"Comeback" are likely to be outclassed by
hybridized varieties of greater drought-resisting
powers, superior yields, and higher milling
strength. It is confidently predicted that with
scientific farming Victoria's average yield will be
increased to 20 bushels an acre in the near future.
The yield of the Mallee will then be twice what
it would be under existing methods.
The Victorian Government announces that por-
tions of about 2,000,000 acres of Mallee land
will be made available from time to time in the
near future, in areas ranging from 600 to 800
acres. The purchase money varies from los.
to £r 2s. 6d. per acre, payable by half-yearly in-
stalments over a period of forty years at from 3d.
to 6'id. per acre per annum. A license is issued
for the first six years, during which period the
selector must reside on the land and comply with
improvements conditions varying from los. to £1
per acre. He can then obtain a lease for the
balance of the period, or, by paying the balance
of the purchase money, the freehold of the land.
A Victorian Butter Factory.
402
QUEENSLAND
404
QUEEN OF THE NORTH
TIIJ^SE chapters are written, for the most
part, from recent Queensland travel notes
and personal observations. But it is
:ul\isable to begin with some preliminary facts
ciincerning a vast territory, which has been
(lowered by Providence with everything that
makes for national expansion and power, and
iiceds only people of the right kind to convert its
potentialities into actual wealth.
After nearly 60 years of progress, ending in a
decade of unexampled prosperity, the State of
iQueensJand has reached a definite period in her
history. From now on, her development is likely
to be more rapid. In ten years she has opened up
1.973 miles of new railways, and is rapidly link-
ing up die loose ends of her great, decentralized,
transport system. In ten years her enormous
agricultural reserves have, for the first time, been
clearly defined and the fact demonstrated that
her soils contain a richness greater and more en-
during than the gold of (iympie. Mount Morgan,
and Charters Towers.
It is the intense prodiicliveiicss of Queensland
that appeals to those who have made a study of
primary industries; the enormous extent of her
;dluvial and volcanic soils, her regular rainfall
'>\er vast areas of fertile lands, and the diversity
')f her climate, which enables her to grow black-
lierries and cocoanuts equally well within her
liorders.
As a producer of beef cattle, minerals, sugar,
and wool, she long ago attracted the world's
favourable attention; but as a grower of fruits
and grains and a supplier of dairy produce her
comparative reputation is yet young. She is
essentially a food-producing country, and, apart
from sustaining a large local population, she
must become a great exporter of foodstuffs and
raw material. With a coastline of 2,250 miles,
blessed by frequent seaports and harbours, her
maritime expansion is not hampered. She pos-
sesses a distinct advantage in having autonomous
railway systems, feeding various coastal centres
from inland. I'his remarkable half-million of
people— -with 5,407 miles of operating railway
and over two thousand miles more sanctioned by
Parliament and in course of construction — ^have
carefully avoided centralization of transport:
the development of Queensland therefore must
proceetl evenly.
7 he inter-coastal districts are provided for by
link lines. These will allow closer settlement,
for which they are pre-eminently adapted, its
fullest expansion.
Queensland is a generally interesting and often
beautiful country, wherein robust health, com-
plete liberty, and unequalled chances are free to
every man and woman capable of enjoying them.
From end to end the State can be traversed in
safety, nowadays, by the most rapid methods of
modern transport. The Queensland of tradition,
full of alligators, fevers, and savages has become
the healthiest of the healthy Australian States;
its alligators are eagerly hunted by ambitious
sportsmen — not always successfully — and the
remnants of its savages are, for the most part,
peacefully occupied in the duties of mission sta-
tions, or acting as self-appointed guides to con-
fident tourists.
The history of these fifty-eight years of pioneer
endeavour, which have converted a crude young
colony into a modern State, is fascinating reading.
It makes a brave tale of exploration, adventure,
commercial courage, and oft-times big risks and
battles against odds. Not every deserving pioneer
405
4o6
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Coal Mine, Tannymorel, Darling Downs
has been successful, not every pound invested has
borne interest, not every attempted industry has
been brought into the category of paying con-
cerns. There have been losses, by drought, fire
and failure; but there have also been steady and
Increasing gains. When the totals are taken
out in the national ledger, it is seen at a glance
that the credit side shows an enormously increas-
ing balance. The finances of the State are solid;
its assets are valuable enough to enable its Gov-
ernments to fearlessly and successfully borrow
on the world's money market all that is necessary
for developmental work. Those assets comprise
enormous pastoral, mineral and agricultural areas
of phenomenal richness, from which only a
moiety of their actual and putative wealth has yet
been taken.
How rich Queensland is in minerals another
hundred years of discovery and development will
hardly determine.
She possesses coal measures of enormous area
and incalculable future value.
These deposits have been located in many
parts of the central and southern districts, and in
several localities in the northern and western
districts.
For 200 miles along the south-eastern sea-
board there are coal seams of commercial impor-
tance. Inland there are no less than 600 miles of
coal measures in one unbroken line!
7 he area of the geologically surveyed coal
measures of Queensland — on the authority of
Mr. B. Dunstan, Government Geologist — is esti-
mated at 78,073 square miles, being over 20,000
square miles greater than all England and Wales!
The anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania are
contained within an area of 480 square miles.
The anthracite coal measures of Central Queens-
land have been proved over an area of 37,000
square miles. Queensland anthracite is pro-
nounced as similar in character and quality to the
world-renowned Welsh coal.
Of the total area, 20,000 square miles contain
recognized coal fields, the remainder comprising
lands known to contain coal, but not yet proved
for coal mining purposes.
The mammoth seam in the Mackenzie River
area contains 20 feet thickness of permo-carboni-
ferous coal of good quality. The Clermont
field holds a 66-foot seam of similar coal, and '
other noticeable deposits are the 20 feet of fine
coal in the nine seams of the Burrum area, the 20'
QUEEN OF THli NORTH
407
feet of coal in the Callide area, and the 60-foot
seam of brown coal at Waterpark Creek.
The probable reserves of coal in sight, on a
conservative estimate made by Mr. Dunstan for
the twelfth session of the International Geological
Congress, dealing with the Coal Resources of the
World, were 2,201,300,000 tons.
The Blair Athol seam, 65 feet thickness of
pure coal, is claimed to be the largest in the world.
Blair Athol has a computed 443,440,000 tons in
sight.
In regard to iron and limestone, Queensland
is the fortunate possessor of widespread deposits
of exceeding richness.
We will go to the Go\ernment Geologist again
for some facts : —
Enormous lodes of ironstone and incalculable
supplies of limestone exist together at Kangaroo
Hills, 60 miles from Townsville.
Marble and Morton Islands, at the mouth of
the Styx River, are practically composed of lime-
stone, containing 98 per cent, carbonate of lime.
Iron Island, m close proximity, is estimated to
yield 2,500,000 tons of hematite.
At Cawarral, near Rockhampton, there is an
enormous deposit of chromite and manganese.
\ear-by there is a mass of 70 per cent, hematite
estimated at 250,000 tons, with limestone in prac-
tically unlimited quantities.
At Glassford Creek 500,000 tons of magnetite
have been determined, and large outcrops of
limestone.
Within ten miles of Gladstone 160,000 tons of
manganese are available.
At Biggenden, Maryborough, magnetite and
lime are abundant.
Ipswich has hematite, magnetite and chromite
contiguous to its coalfields.
Mount Leviathan, Cloncurry, consists of a
mass of purest iron ore 200 feet high and a quar-
ter of a mile wide at the base, holding from
foundation to apex 10,500,000 tons of hema-
tite.
With iron, coal, and lime, an inexhaustible
supply, the industrial future of the State is a
matter of population and enterprise.
At Koorboora in Northern Queensland the
largest wolfram mine in the world — the Neville
— is located.
Outside her wonderful gold deposits, the State
produces silver, lead, tin, copper, bismuth, moly-
bdenum, scheelite, graphite, asbestos, metallic
bismuth, antimony, mineral oils, and precious
stones.
The annual mineral production of the State
amounts to about four and a half million pounds
sterling — this with a population no greater in
19 14 than the population of Sydney, and not
&
Gold Ore Crushing at Gynipie
more than twenty thousand of whom are actually
engaged in mining.
These are some of Queensland's known natural
assets. Her capital mineral values are still
largely a matter of conjecture. But iifty-eight
years of scattered discovery have proved that
Nature has been more than usually lavish in allot-
ing her portion of useful and valuable metals.
In conclusion, it is fair to say that the interests
of the mining industry, those of worker and in-
vestor alike, have been carefully considered in
the mining legislation of the State. . . .
Queensland possesses thousands of square
miles adapted for tropical cultivation. Already
she produces ninety per cent, of the sugar cane
grown in the Commonwealth. The area under
cane — about a hundred and forty thousand acres
— can be extended to supply ten times the popula-
tion of Australia. The cane harvest for 19 14
represented a cash value of nearly four and a
half million pounds sterling — the area under
cane occupying nearly a fifth of the agricultural
production of the State.
Sugar growing in Queensland is oiiicially
claimed to be one of the most profitable occupa-
4u8
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
tions open to the agriculturist. There are open-
ings for more planters in the North. Figures
compiled by the Intelligence and Tourist Bureau
in Brisbane in 1915 prove that albeit Queensland,
in the preceding season (1914) produced a total
of 225,847 tons, and New South Wales 19,960
tons of cane sugar, 13,125 tons had to be
imported, mainly from Java and Fiji, to make
up the requirements of the Commonwealth.
Queensland's sugar industry represents an in-
\'estment of about eight millions sterling. Fhe
Colonial Sugar Refining Company has six millions
in sugar production in Australasia, but under-
takes the functions of refiner and distributor
rather than planter.
£7 per week in the season on Northern planta-
tions. Nowhere else in the world is cane sugar
profitably grown with white labor. Having come
safely through a contentious period, it may be
assumed that sugar-growing on that long coastal
belt is destined to great expansion. As Queens-
land's largest primary industry, the State Govern-
ment will continue to afford it every encourage-
ment and protection.
"Any thrifty canecutter," says an official
publication on sugar-growing, "can save
enough out of his earnings in a few years to
make a start for himself as a canegrower. In
fact, many of the most successful growers of
Wool Teams, Wyandra
Ihc Government gives publicity to the fact
that "there are thousands of acres of Crown and
freehold lands adapted for sugar growing, still
available to intending settlers, on reasonable
terms." A large percentage of these are
rich tropical scrubs. The purchasing prices of
these Crown lands range from 10/- an acre up-
wards, and the payments are extended over a
period of 20 years. With £200 to £500 capital,
a man may safely make a start as a planter. The
sugar districts extend along the East Coast from
the 1 6th parallel S. to the 29th, with an average
width of about sixty miles — approximately 30
million acres. Assuming that the population of
Australia increases to fifty millions within a
reasonable period, there will still be enough land
along this tropical coast to grow the 127.60 lbs.
of sugar per head which is sec down as the annual
consumption of the Commonwealth, and leave
a surplus for export.
Since the abolition of indentured colored
labor, white cane cutters have been making £5 to
cane to-day began with nothing. Land can be
got on easy terms, as both the Government
and large firms with sugar interests are doing
their utmost to settle a community of white
cane (/rowers on small areas. At Mackay,
in 1907, over £500,000 worth of sugar, equal-
ling a producing value of more than £500 per
farm, was the product of about a thousand
farmers, fully three-fourths of whom came to
the district as agricultural labourers.
"Many of the millowners who have large
plantations, and also a number of the larger
canegrowers, either lease blocks of their land
to approved new settlers for lengthy periods
on easy terms, or they get a number of experi-
enced agriculturists to cultivate portions of
their areas on the half-share system — that is
to say, the owner of the land provides every-
thing required on the farm in the way of im-
provements anci farming requisites, such as
house, implements, horses, drays, plant, cane,
&c. The agriculturist, on the other hand, is
QUEEN OF THI'; NORTFI
409
(BJ-
;i^
'^S*
Ml ^*-
1^'
l»x.
■ ■,- »,7»
tdSi^^^Ml
M
^^^
Canefields at Childers
expected to find all labour for the cultivation
[and harvesting of the crop. For the due per-
Iformance of his share of the contract he is en-
[titled to claim half the profits of each season's
crop or crops. Quite a number of the present-
lay successful growers took upthe cultivation of
cane under these conditions, and after a few
(rears they saved sufl'icient money to enable
them to acquire properties of their own.
"The lease and half-share systems should
[appeal particularly to agriculturists with
Jimited means. It is understood that the majo-
rity of the proprietors of the large plantations
ire prepared to favourably consider applica-
Itions from agriculturists in Australia or Great
JBritain, Europe, or elsewhere."
"With a view of inducing settlement on the
Hand, the State Agricultural Bank affords
lliberal assistance to the intending settler who
[has only a limited amount of capital. Advances
lare made at the rate of £1 per £1 of an amount
mot exceeding £200 for buildings (not exceed-
nng£4o), ringbarking, clearing, fencing, drain-
ing, or water conservation, also to the extent
of 12/- in the £ of the fair estimated value of
the holding with the improvements made and
proposed to be made. No security other than
a first mortgage is accepted as sufficient. At no
time can the advance to any one person exceed
|£8oo. Advances at the rate of 13/4 in the
|£ on the value of the land and improvements
I may also be made up to £200 for unspecified
purposes. The terms in regard to the repay-
'ment of the loans extend over a period of 25
years, with 5 per cent, interest added. Simple
interest only is charged during the first five
years."
Under the Sugar Works Act of 191 1, owners
or occupiers of cane lands within a specified loca-
lity may apply to the Governor in Council for the
construction of sugar works.
In the event of the Government being satisfied
that the erectionof amillisnecessary — and owners
and occupiers of the cane lands affected having
guaranteed to grow a certain quantity of cane and
pay the rate which may be levied in accordance
with the Act, to make good any deficiency — they
may direct and empower the State Treasurer to
construct the required works, defraying the cost
from the Parliamentary Votes devoted to this
purpose.
"The Treasurer has full power and autho-
rity to manage, maintain, and control such
works, and to grow or purchase cane, but cane
cannot be purchased from aliens, and the em-
ployment of aliens is prohibited in or about
the mills. Provision is made for mill township
reserves, in which the allotments shall be open
to perpetual lease, and the rents are to be ap-
plied for road improvement and other purposes
of public benefit. Interest only, at the rate
of 4 per cent, per annum, will be charged
on advances made by the Government for
the construction of works for a period of
two years from completion; after that
period the loan will be repaid in twentv-
one years by annual instalments at the rate
of £7/12/4 per cent, per annum, covering
4IO
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Kaffir Corn, Biggenden
interest and principal. Any deficiency in the
payments will be made good by a rate levied
on the lands within the area. When the total
cost of the works has been repaid, the cane sup-
pliers may form themselves into a joint stock
company for the purpose of taking over the
works, which the Treasurer is empowered to
transfer to such company."
All the sugar-growing areas are adapted for
the profitable growth of maize, potatoes, and root
crops, tropical fruits of certain varieties, rubber,
rice, tea, cotton, vanilla, &c.
Many canegrowers vary the form of cultiva-
tion with dairying, maize growing, or mixed
farming suitable to local conditions.
But Coastal Queensland is eminently a sugar-
growing region. Recognising this, the Govern-
ment is wisely making provision for the future
expansion of a great industry and offering all
reasonable inducements and securities to those
who are willing to invest their capital or energy
in the cultivation of cane.
Under conditions such as these, it is no surprise
to learn that "canegrowing has changed, from
being the monopoly of a few rich planters and
companies, to the most essentially democratic in-
dustry in Queensland," and that among the list
of planters individual successes might be multi-
plied.
Side by side with the development of the sugar
industry, it is likely that the future will see an
enormous increase in the production of tropical
fruits along that sunlit Eastern coastland.
Mr. Albert H. Benson, Director of Fruit Cul-
ture for the State of Queensland, gives a list of 78
different kinds of fruits which are actually grown
in Queensland.
Mr. Benson has prepared an invaluable little
book under Government auspices on "The Fruits
of Queensland" (1914). Therein he divides
the soils of the North into three classes.
(i) Soils of Eastern Seaboard — and land ad-
jacent to it — suitable to the growth of tropical
and semi-tropical fruit.
(2) Soils of the Coastal Tablelands, suitable
for the growth of deciduous fruit.
(3) Soils of the Central Tablelands, suitable
for the growth of grapes, dates, citrus fruits, &c.
Apples, Stanthorpe
"Here," says this widely-experienced autho-
rity, "all kinds of tree life is rapid, and fruit
trees come into bearing much sooner than they
do in colder climates. In addition to their
arriving at early maturity, they are also, as a
rule, heavy bearers, their fault, if anything,
being towards over-bearing. Fruits of many
kinds are so thoroughly acclimatised that it is
by no means uncommon to find them growing
wild, and holding their own in the midst oi
s
o
01
s
<!
411
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
rank indigenous vegetation, without receiving
the slightest care or attention. In some cases
where cultivated fruits have been allowed to
become wild, they have become somewhat of a
pest, and have kept down all other growths. It
has been actually necessary to take steps to pre-
vent them from becoming a nuisance, so readily
do they grow, and so rapidly do they in-
crease."
Scientific fruit-growing is a profitable industry
in Queensland to-day. But it is only in its in-
fancy.
Australian seasons being opposite to those of
the Northern Hemisphere, our fruits ripen at a
time when the markets of Europe offer the best
prices. With cold storage and rapid transport,
the export trade for such fruits as will bear ship-
ment must be an expanding one.
Bananas do remarkably well In Queensland,
where there Is a practically unlimited field
adapted for their culture. Scrub lands — cleared
at a cost of £i lo/- to £2 an acre — can be planted,
without ploughing, and will produce fruit In ten
or twelve months. It Is by no means difficult to
become a tropical culturlst In this beneficent land.
A banana plantation Is at Its best in three years,
and its average life Is about ten. The cultivation
of this valuable food plant requires little labour,
Papaw Tree
while the harvest, under good conditions. Is re-
markable— 25 to 30 dozen fruit sometimes grow-
ing on one bunch in rich new soil.
Queensland, according to experts, grows the
finest pineapples in the world. The culture of
this fruit Is entirely in the open, no shelter being
given the plants as In Florida and other countries.
It Is practically immune from disease, requires no
specially rich soil, and bears two main crops a
year.
From the Brisbane district — where there arc
bearing plants 40 years old — the pine has spread
all over the eastern coast, and its cultivation Is
increasing rapidly.
Fifteen tons to the acre is not an unusual crop
for Queensland plantations. I'he fruit can be
sold for £3 to ,£4 a ton at a profit. The average
weight for smooth-leaved varieties is 6 to 8 lbs.,
but 14 and 16 lb. pineapples are not unknown In
the fertile North. The canning of this fruit on a
large scale Is an industry capable of great
development.
The mango is another valuable tropical fruit
which grows profusely everywhere outside the
region of frost in coastal Queensland. Full-
bearing trees may be seen along the roadsides and
through the bush, sprung from chance seeds. This
beautiful and prolific tree, whose branches some-
times have a spread of 60 feet, will crop as much
as two tons of delicious fruit in one season —
which at present Is mostly wasted, or concerted
into food for domestic animals.
Papaws — which cure dyspepsia — granadillas,
cocoanuts, delicately-flavoured passion fruit, cus-
tard apples — all these coastal Queensland grows
in utter abundance. In some districts the guava
has actually become a pest to settlers !
In fine, tropical fruits and fibres of highest com-
mercial value can be produced on the coast with
less difficulty than attends their growth in most
other parts of the world, and with higher per-
centages of result.
Deciduous fruits flourish on the coastal table-
lands. Their cultivation is rapidly Increasing at
Stanthorpe and elsewhere. The peach In Queens-
land remains profitable for a much longer period
than In California, Its roots keeping sound for the^L
full lifetime of the tree. Full-bearing trees pro-^F
duce as much as a thousand pounds' weight of fine
fruit.
A surprise which Australia held in store for
people who had always associated the cultivation
of the strawberry with temperate climates, has
been the wonderful success of this fruit In Queens-
land.
Southern markets arc now being supplied with
magnificent strawberries at a time when local
plants are hardly in flower.
QUEEN OF 11 IE NOKIII
4 '3
Orchard, Bedland Bay
The Department of Agriculture takes a
paternal interest in the orchardist, who finds
cheap land available for any kind of orchard he
may decide to plant.
Unlike Florida and other great fruit-growing
districts in the United States, the widespread
orchard lands of Queensland are not subject to
those killing frosts which have caused such tre-
mendous losses to fruitgrowers.
In the tropical northern coast, frosts are quite
unknown, and the most delicate plants can be
grown in certainty.
More remar':able is the fact that, in conjunction
with these ideal conditions for tropical culture,
the climate is one of the healthiest in the world,
free from those epidemics and fevers and pros-
trating temperatures which handicap life for
Europeans elsewhere.
Three species of citrus fruit are indigenous to
the State; which is a sufficient guarantee that the
soil and climate are suitable for the successful
cultivation of the orange and lemon.
After a long experience in the citrus fruit dis-
tricts of America, Mr. Benson says:- — ■
IJ^B "The country adjoining the eastern sea-
lioard, extending from the Tweed River in the
South to Cooktown in the North — -a distance
||Bpf about iioo miles, and extending inland for
nearly loo miles — is naturally suited to the
growth of citrus fruits, and there is probably
Ko country in the world that is better adapted
to, or that can produce the various kinds of
these fruits to greater perfection or with less
trouble, than this portion of Queensland.
There are hundreds of thousands of acres of
land in this area in which the soil and natural
conditions are eminently suited to the growth of
citrus fruit, and in which the tenderest varieties
of these fruits may be grown to perfection with-
out the slightest chance of their being injured
by frost; and where the natural rainfall is such
that, provided the trees receive ordinary care
and cultivation, there is seldom any necessity
for artificial irrigation. At the present time
there are hundreds of citrus trees growing prac-
tically wild in different parts of the coastal
country that are in vigorous health and pro-
ducing heaxy crops of good fruit, even though
they are uncultivated, unpruned, unmanured,
and have to hold their own against a vigorous
growth of native and introduced shrubs, trees,
and weeds.
"We have a better and richer soil than
I'lorida, requiring far less expensive arti-
ficial fertilisers to maintain its fertility. We
can grow equally as good fruit; in fact,
it is questionable if F'lorida ever pro-
duced a citrus fruit equal in quality to the
Beauty of Glen Retreat mandarin, a Queens-
land production. We get as heavy, if not
heavier, crops, and our trees come into bearing
very early. We have no freeze-outs similar to
414
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
those which have crippled the Industry in
Florida so severely in the past that many of
their wealthy growers are actually covering in
whole orchards of many acres in extent as a
protection from frost. If it pays the Florida
growers to go to all this expense in order to
prevent freeze-outs and to produce first-class
fruit, surely we can compete with them when a
seed stuck in the right soil under favourable
conditions will produce a strong, vigorous,
healthy tree, bearing good crops without any
attention whatever.
be carefully irrigated and manured, as these
operations are found to be essential to the pro-
duction of marketable fruit.
"These few instances show how favourably
the conditions prevailing in Queensland com-
pare with those of the great citrus-growing dis-
tricts of Europe and America, especially in the
matter of soil and climate, and I feel confident
that, if the industry were taken up in the same
business-like manner that it has been done in
California and Florida, we could easily hold
our own against any part of the world."
Lemon Trees, Yeppoou, Central Queensland
"In comparing Queensland with the citrus-
producing districts of Southern Europe, we
have the advantage of better and cheaper land,
absence of frost, more vigorous growth, earlier
maturity of the trees, and superior fruit.
"As compared with California, our soil is
no better than theirs, but it costs much less, and
their citrus industry is dependent on artificial
irrigation, their natural rainfall being alto-
gether inadequate for the growth of citrus
fruits.
"In Jaffa, also, where the oranges are of
large size and extra quality, the trees have to
Strawberries are being profitably grown along
that fertile Eastern coast alongside pineapples
and bananas !
The olive and the vine will ultimately be culti-
vated in certain suitable parts of Queensland,
where experimental plantings have given splendid
results. As settlement comes, wine and raisins
will be more freely grown In those dry sunny dis-
tricts of the West, which are particularly adapted
for their production.
When Australia ceases to import all her cord-
age, there will be a field in the North for the cul-
QUEEN OF THE NORTH
415
tivation of sisal hemp and other fibrous plants.
Sisal, being a drought-resisting plant, can be
safely grown on poorer lands with low rainfall.
It is a plant particularly adapted for family settle-
ment.
Sleepers leaving Landsborough for Africa and India
From these facts it will be seen that Northern
fruit-growing is capable of enormous extension,
that the State offers unlimited openings for
orchardists, and that, comparatively speaking, a
minimum of either labour or capital will ensure
a maximum return.
Gold is in the very soil of Queensland; not only
is it to be found at various depths in the mines,
but on the surface of the earth.
It was once believed that only a relatively
small area was arable; now it is known that the
whole State has agricultural values, some of them
among the highest in the world.
Similarly, profitable dairy farming in Queens-
land was once classed among the impossibilities.
With seventy-seven factories on the Downs,
thirty-three in the iMoreton, and fifteen in the
Wide Bay and Burnett district, it is evident that
_ this industry also has d future in the North.
I In 1890 the whole State only produced a little
over nine hundred tons of butter and 76 tons of
m cheese.
' Twenty years later, in 19 10, the annual pro-
duction stood at 13,955 tons of butter and 1851
tons of cheese — Queensland had been converted
from an import to an export country, her surplus
; for that year amounting to nearly a million
pounds sterling in value. Tn 1914, 37,230,240
lbs. of butter, and 7,931,869 lbs. of cheese, and
^>967)486 lbs. of condensed milk were produced.
Bacon raising, which may be regarded as the
profitable by-product of dairy farming, the same
year increased by 25 per cent.
H By this time London buyers had learned to
■I
appreciate the flavour of Queensland cheese, and
her dairy products were becoming well and
favourably known in South Africa and adjacent
Asia, where demands for the products of North-
ern Australia will certainly increase.
Queensland is the greatest beef-cattle raising
country in the Commonwealth; the major part
of her territory is still devoted to pastoral indus-
tries, which are fully dealt with in other sections
of this book. SuflScient to say here that the wool
clip for 1 9 14 was worth six and three-quarter
million pounds, and the meat products (includ-
ing bacon and hams) over six and a half million
pounds sterling. The State breeds thousands of
magnificent horses of all types, of which large
shipments are sent to Asia every year. If native
pastures are rich and wide enough, countries suf-
ficiently mild, and water plentiful enough to sus-
tain and fatten millions of beef-cattle, it seems
reasonable that milch cattle shall also find a habi-
tat throughout her generous territory.
Theory is supported by fact. Not only does
the high-grade quality of Queensland dairy pro-
ducts command top price in the London and Con-
tinental markets, but when samples are exhibited
Olive Trees, Westbrook
at the leading British and foreign shows, they
have invariably secured first honours against all
other competitors.
From the Darling Downs — once the only dis-
trict in which dairying was established — it has
spread to the Logan, Maranoa, and Blackall, and
the Central and Northern parts of the State.
The Atherton tableland is likely to come en-
tirely within the dairy farming sphere. It has, on
its higher levels, a climate equivalent to that of
the Darling Downs, with a much heavier and
more certain rainfall.
With lucerne, paspalum, sorghum, and Rhodes
grass growing freely, as they will do over thou-
4i6
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
sands of square miles in Queensland, the fortunes
of dairy farmers are doubly assured.
Keen rivalry has sprung up among Queensland
breeders of dairy cattle during the last decade,
which has greatly reacted upon the industry.
Queensland milk tests show high results — 2^
gallons, containing 3.6 per cent, of butter fat, will
produce i lb. of commercial butter.
£100 a month is not an unusual milk cheque for
a Queensland dairy farmer.
It is officially proclaimed that the State Lands
Department has large areas of splendid dairying
country, in various acreages, open for selection
in the Wide Bay, Burnett, Blackall, Central, and
Cairns districts at prices ranging from 10 - an
acre upwards. The terms of payments extend
over 20 years; the deposit is the first year's rent
and one-fifth of the survey fees, and the annual
rental is one-fortieth of the purchasing price.
Crown Land for the dairy farmer is available
in Wide Bay and Burnett districts, close to the
railway line.
Its average price is 30/- per acre. Butter fac-
tories are accessible.
Atherton and Herberton Crown lands, adjoin-
ing the railway system and within easy distance
of butter factories, can be had for £2 an acre.
Blackall lands have adjacent railways and fac-
tories, and range in price from £2 upwards.
In the Central Districts, particularly around
Gladstone, some good dairying country is open
for selection from the State at from 20/- an acre
upwards, according to its proximity to the rail-
way.
When (he Great Western and Main North
Coast lines arc opened for traffic, large areas of
lands suitable for dairying will be brought into
the radius of transport. These are to be made
available for closer settlement by the Lands De-
partment.
There are at the present time nearly four and
a half million acres of Crown land suitable for
dairy and general farming available for selection
in various parts of Queensland, on exceptionally
easy terms. .
Advances from the Agricultural Bank may be
obtained on similar conditions to those which
have been quoted in regard to small sugar
growers requiring capital.
Any man of ordinary energy and intelligence,
with two or three hundred pounds' capital, can
commence as a dairy farmer in Queensland with
every prospect of success. Some of the men who
are lifting their £50 to £100 monthly milk cheques
began with less.
The share-farming system has also been intro-
duced into some parts of this State, and will
doubtless extend as settlement increases.
Irrigation and ensilage are being added as artl
ficial aids to these natural advantages which the
Northern agriculturist enjoys. With the general
application of water and storage of fodder, the
last elements of uncertainty will be removed from
closer settlement propositions, and still more
scientific farming will bring still greater results.
Where irrigation has already been attempted
■ — in the Lower Burdekin district for cane grow-
ing; on P'airymead and Bingera sugar plantations,
at (jatton Agricultural College, and by some of
the western bores, the results have satisfactorily
proved that the principle can be profitably ex-
tended, particularly on the tableland and coast.
11
Gatton Agricultural College
Central Railway Station, Brisbane
THE TRAIL OF THE TROPICS.
IjN the spring of 1912, the writer was return-
ing, via Brisbane, from Northern Australia.
To thoroughly appreciate the glory of Aus-
tralia one ought to come South with the spring;
to follow in the season's footsteps from tropical
to temperate latitudes and experience all its
changing effects.
After being away from Australia for a time,
; it was good to drift down from Asia and see the
Northern Territory awakening to intense tropical
life at the end of its brief winter; to steam along
the Barrier in the wake of spring; and then, to
catch that blessed sun-maiden in the fulness of her
blushes at Brisbane.
Very lovable seemed our quieter Southern
landscapes after gorgeous pictures of Orient.
On a cool Queensland morning one entered a
comfortable train — all the passengers speaking
English — and, crossing the Brisbane River, came
all-at-once into open spaces.
Fresh from long journeys in crowded Asia,
where the train passes from squalid suburbs of
one city to squalid suburbs of another — villages,
houses and people in between — the unoccupied
and undeveloped aspect of all Northern Australia
made forcible contrasts.
But it was Australia in one of her most beauti-
ful aspects. First came Ipswich, a little city in
purple and gold, for jacarandas and silky oaks
were all in bloom; then the railway line began to
mount, by a series of remarkable angles and
k
grades, to 'J'oowoomba. I lerc the air is quite
cool even in late October, and people have fresh
natural colour in their faces! Surely this is a
European country!
Then roll out the Darling Downs, high, fertile,
black-soil plateaux, covered with the glamor of
spring.
Frequent watercourses, fields of lucerne, fat
stock — prosperity shines over a landscape
through which the train travels rapidly until late
afternoon.
Then come the orchards of Stanthorpe, where
English, fruit trees are laden with promise. Here
old alluvial workings lie under grey granite hills
— mounds of dead activities with tall monuments
above them.
The shades of evening are falling in deep
gorges at Wallan-garra, where the break of
gauge enforces a change to the wider carriages of
the Mother State.
Night settles down over the mountains of New
England. There is an inward satisfaction in the
knowledge that one is coming back to explore
Queensland next winter.
From Mt. Kosciusko to Melbourne and back
to Sydney within a week was the preliminary
journey.
Then, on a Saturday evening in July, I checked
my baggage for Brisbane and took my seat in an
417
Al
4i8
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
General View of Brisbane, the Metropolis,
old Standard Pullman car that bore my allotted
sleeping berth number.
After a good dinner at Newcastle we turned in
under extra rugs and wakened at Glen Innes for
breakfast.
At Wallan-garra the inter-State passengers
amused themselves watching the transfer of mails
from one baggage car to another. Those mail
baskets bore many labels — Nagasaki, Yokahama,
Ipswich, Cairns, Mareeba — verily we were
Northward bound.
As the train dived into rough mountain
ranges we saw the wattle's burning gold gleaming
against a darker background of eucalyptus forest.
Its perfume was wafted in through our carriage
windows. Queensland wore flowers of welcome
in her hair that sunny July morning.
With the coming of afternoon we broke out on
to the emerald Downs, still rich, fertile and shin-
ing with prosperity.
We were given roast turkey and plum-nudding
for dinner in the Railway Refreshment Rooms at
Toowoomba. The long journey ended by 9.40
p.m. at the Central Station in Brisbane.
As I went to bed at Lennon's Hotel that night
the air seemed sweet with the subtle odor of some
tropical flower. I looked out of the window and
saw the electric light glowing on the dark leaves
of a papaw tree growing in the courtyard below.
A week before I had looked out of my bed-
room window in the Hotel Kosciusko to see the
moonlight gleaming over a landscape deeply
covered in dazzling snow. I woke with the
Queensland sun shining and a rattle of earlyj
electric cars. 1
Brisbane is a hearty place. If there is any
poverty among its 161,938 inhabitants the appear- j
ances of the North must be singularly deceptive.
Everyone seems well-dressed and contented »n
this Summer City.
The prices of all commodities compare favor-*
ably with those of Southern Australia. Situated
about 20 miles from the mouth of the Brisbane
River, the city wharves are still capable of berth-
ing vessels of over ten thousand tons. In 19 14-15
the value of oversea export and import trade for
the port of Brisbane was considerably over
fourteen and a quarter millions sterling.
Wood-paved streets, electric tramways, hand-
some public and commercial buildings, banks, fins
shops, factories, frequent parks. Botanic gardens,
good hotels, libraries, museums, churches, col-
leges, hospitals, docks, markets, theatres, clubs,
cafes, racecourses, baths, and recreation grounds,
make Brisbane a modern city, despite the fact that
fifty years ago its population was less than a
THE TRAIL OF THE TROPICS
419
From the Observatory
I
thousand people. Winter in Brisbane is delight-
ful. Each year a greater number of southern
people go north to enjoy the blue skies and balmy
iiir of this City of the Palms, where in July
fruit-shop windows display strawberries and
custard apples, and adjacent beaches are not too
cold for open-air bathing.
The Director of the Intelligence and Tourist
Bureau had been instructed to prepare a compre-
hensive itinerary; the Chief of Police would give
mc an open letter to his officers in the Back Coun-
try. The heads of other departments, Mines,
i/ands, Agriculture, would all put me in the way
)f official information. It looked like a busy time
ahead. But, as in other States, the interest
which everyone seemed to display in Australia
I'nlivi'Ucd, the universal kindness and courtesy
extended to its author, the patriotic desire to assist
its mission, lightened the tedium of constant travel,
and made the pursuit of facts a pleasure.
Brethren of the metropolitan and provincial
press proffered information concerning the
country, issued introductions, indicated author-
ities. The (jovernment Geologist gave a whole
morning to summarising the physical features of
Queensland — with emphasis on its varied mineral
resources. 1 he Under Secretaries for lands,
Mines, Agriculture, and the Director of Educa-
tion, submitted to exhausting interviews. The
Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and his
staff gave one the impression that the chief delight
of their lives lay in serving the aims of itinerant
authors. The bluff Government printer cheer-
fully overhauled his library of official literature.
The Secretary of the Sugar-Growers' Association
wrote out a sheaf of personal introductions to
sugar-growers and mill-managers in the North.
The secretary of the Pastoralists' Association pre-
sented statistics and reports. Busy commercial
men expatiated on the stability of various indus-
tries— everywhere there was staunch faith in
Queensland's future, a fixed belief that it would
yet prove the richest State in the Commonwealth.
With a three months' pass and open authority
to explore this vast territory, one felt like
Pizarro must have done when he landed in Peru.
Through subsequent pages we will look at some
of the foundations on which Queensland builds
her optimism.
In 1909 the Northern State celebrated her
jubilee.
Fifty years of self-government had filled her
history with fine achievement.
420
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The University, Brisbane
Since 1909 she has added tresh conquests to
her previous records of victory in the shape of
ports and railroads, in the opening up of new
districts, inauguration of industries, the carrying
out of public works.
With a coastline of between two and three
thousand miles, and an area of 670,500 square
miles — three times the size of France — there is
ample scope for the activities of less than 700,000
people.
As a first proof of the State's richness, let the
reader realise that these 680,446 inhabitants —
about the same population as the city of Sydney —
after 50 years' growth, owned as a public asset in
19 1 6, no less than 5,407 miles of railway.
One need only look at the people in Brisbane
streets to see that it is a good country. There is
a general air of well-dressed independence about
the metropolitan community, which one does not
find outside Australia.
Native Queenslanders are tall and tanned by
comparison with southern Australians. But there
is nothing anaemic or unhealthy about them.
Queensland's death rate per 1,000 Is only 10.96
— one of the lowest in the world. The birth-rate
Is the highest In the world — 29.46 per 1000.
Here again irresistible scientific proof coiitrtet
diets another popular error. -''
Queensland has been painted as a perennially
hot country, possessing the least healthy of Aus-
tralian climates, whereas its death-rate is not as
high as Victoria, 12.23; o"" Canada, 14.0.
Its climate, instead of being universally hot
and trying, varies from temperate to cool. It is
only along the northern littoral, during certain
months, that they approximate in severity to the
tropical climates of other countries.
Dense, unhealthy heat such as one experiences
In the tropics of Asia, Africa, Central America,
the East and West Indies, does not exist in any
part of Australia !
From south to north the State extends about
1,200 miles. All the way along, at a short dis-
tance from the coast, the Main Range is a factor
In the determination of climate. As far north as
the Atherton Tableland, the compensations of
neighbouring highlands exist for future dwellers
on the coast, — a lucky dispensation of Nature,
which will make the "White Australia" policy
easier for Queensland.
West of the Main Range the Great Plains,
which slope away to the borders of South Austra-
THE TRAIL OF THE TROPICS
421
lia and the Territory, have an average elevation
of about 700 feet, and enjoy one of the most
glorious winter climates in the world. Within
her borders the Northern State grows all manner
of agricultural products — from rye to cocoanuts.
It is very pleasant to sit out in the refreshment
rooms at these gardens on a cane chair, dew
glistening on green lace-edged palms and the
freshness of morning around you, and attack this
luscious fruit as a prelude to breakfast.
Produce Markets, Roma Street, Brisbane
In the beautiful Brisbane Botanical gardens oi.e
sees the coral tree and the rose flowering side by
side. The palms that wave so gracefully at the
entrance to Parliament House, cannot be accepted
as typical of the electorates which are represented
inside — for wheat at Roma and apples at Stan-
fhorpe are flourishing equally well.
The writer confesses that he likes Queensland
best in her most tropical expressions. There is a
note in the soft north-easter as it blows along the
Great Barrier, rustling the fruiting palm trees
and the sugar-cane, which is not found in any
other Australian symphony.
The palm and the bamboo in the gardens seem
most at home. In Brisbane the southerner
learns for the first time the luxury of custard
;ipples.
Its soft, green rind encloses a white, juicy pulp
in sections, some of which cover black seeds —
bigger than those of the sunflower.
Most of the custard apple is fruit, and fruit of
a flavour which no epicure will condemn.
To get the atmosphere of tropical Australia
one may very correctly eat custard apples in Bris-
bane Botanical Gardens before breakfast.
Here are palms, sunlight and green trees along
the river's bank. If the Irish constable on patrol
is in good conversational mood he will stop and
talk about Western Queensland. In the richest
of Kerry brogues, he proclaims Australia to be
the finest country on earth and Thargomindah in
Western Queensland, where he had spent seven
years, the finest part of it.
422
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
i
Yet Thargomindah is thought to be desert in
some parts of Australia !
In the past, distance lent not enchantment, but
error to the v'iew. Much of the desert report has
been uttered with intention — people who had
found good country, wanted to keep it to them-
Avenue of Palms, Botanical Gardens, Brisbane
selves for mercenary reasons — and for the rest
when nothing definite was known about some part_
of the interior it was classed as "desert."
The "Barcaldine Desert" is now regarded as
a good closer-settlement proposition.
Men who have owned land in the Argentine
say that the finest pastoral lands in the world are
those of Western Queensland. Men who have
gone out from Cloncurry to Croydon found to
their surprise that they were travelling through
emerald pastures, where they had always expected
to find drought-stricken wastes.
After months of constant travel over Queens-
land North and West, an itinerary covering
thousands of miles, the author has failed to dis-
cover even fifty square miles which might be
classed as desert. If it were possible to make
a complete analytical comparison, it would,
he believes, be found that this State contains a
greater proportion of rich land to its entire area
than can be found anywhere else. ^bl
loe ■
1|
From Jardine's homestead, standing in its sha
of palms under Cape York, to the sugar phmtaj
tions of the Tweed, what a coastline!
From Rockhampton to Boulia, what a billow
of mountain and sweep of plain !
No man can compute the riches of the
429,120,000 acres that are contained within those
boundaries.
rhe Queenslander of to-day tells you with
pardonable pride that his imports for twelve
months are valued at seven and a half millions of
money, and his exports at nine and a quarter
millions, that his cattle number five and a quarter
millions, and his sheep twenty-one millions.
Date Palms, Barcaldine
He will call your attention to the fact that
has already constructed 5,407 miles of public andiH
private railroad; that he has another ^2C,
miles in course of construction and 1,554 anc
more miles approved.
But when the population has increased to th^
50 millions of people that Queensland could sue
THE TRAIL OF THE TROPICS
423
Leaving Brisbane for Northern Ports
Hi
port, the statistician of the far future will have
colossal calculations before him. Long before
the State holds five million inhabitants, the world
will know that it is perhaps the richest territory
der the sun.
Let us leave the Capital city for a time and go
forth into this vast undeveloped land, which is
bigger than the combined empires of Germany
and Austria, and little less in area than European
Russia
The old Kyarra — most stable of steamships
— is flying her " blue peter," by one of the Bris-
bane wharves. Heavy-limbed stevedores are
storing the last crates and packages into her deep
holds as we mount the gangway. The dinner
bugle is blown just as the vessel casts off and
begins to drop very slowly down the muddy
risbane River.
There are many typical Queensland characters
around the table. One notices that the children
on board are darker-complexioned, that many of
the women are sun-tanned. Although it is July
k
nobody is over-burdened with winter clothing.
Then we remember the ports of call — Rock-
hampton, Mackay, Townsville, and Cairns, and
it occurs to us that Bombay and Townsville are in
the same latitude — north and south !
From the shady side of the deck we watch com-
fortable suburban villas, perched up on piles, drift
slowly past our vision.
Golden wattle, bougainvillea, and tropical
growths surround them. The distant hills are
blue with a blueness unknown to Southern eyes.
We pass Cape Moreton in the gloaming. The
north-easter, bride of afternoon, ripples greying
seas. The lighthouse is getting busy already —
darkness follows close on sunset in these latitudes.
There is something indescribably soft and com-
forting in the day-fall up here. Sunset colours
behind the Glasshouse Mountains — those tent-
shaped peaks which stand out so conspicuously on
the Northern trail — set one thinking of lights that
fall through the stained-glass windows of ancient
cathedrals. Low. woody hills are outlined against
a pale saffron sky; the beaches of Stradbroke
Island show whitely, while the rest of the world
424
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
is fading into shadow — this silent coming of
Northern night is delightful in all its details.
As we lounge on deck — watching a sky pow-
dered with stars, listening to the wash of the
Pacific against the Kyarra's iron bulk, and the
steady thumping of her engines — a map of
Queensland is outlined in imagination before us.
Romantic fancy flies ahead. We see the
long coastline of a thousand miles, that will face
a rising sun to-morrow morning; jungles that
North for Keppel Bay — the terminus of the first
of those great East and West railway systems,
which will protect Queensland from centraliza-
tion, and allow her development to proceed
evenly.
As night falls, we see Port Alma light ahead.
Port Alma is right on the Tropic of Capricorn.
The steamer slows down to await the midnight
coming of the stevedores who are to deal with
her Rockhampton cargo. We retire to our berths
i
— =& —
:Jd».. ^ . .
^
itKHi
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin
Cronin's Artesian Bore, Barcaldine
creep down to the water's edge, open plains cov-
ered with long grasses, forests of stunted hard-
wood, mouths of rivers, mangrove swamps, coral
reefs, the Great Barrier, the thousands of islands
that lie between Cape Sandy and Cape York.
We see the canefields of Bundaberg; all the
wealth and tilth of a sub-tropical coastland as
different from the coast between (jabo and
(jlenelg in its physical features, in its mode of
life, and in the outlook of its population as Mon-
treal is different from Monterey.
Next day is Sunday. Midwinter weather —
clear, blue, and mild — makes a trip to the North
this time of the year an ever-remembered delight.
Sandy Cape goes by — then the long, low
shores of Lady Elliot Island, with clumps of
trees edging white beaches. They give one the
impression of Australian plains, where one sees,
across a wide, level landscape, perhaps a single
clump of timber standing up conspicuously on the
horizon.
Flying fishes are skimming away from the
Kyarra's bows — a reminder of warmer seas.
We dawdle past the mouth of the splendid har-
bor of Port Curtis, and bear away. East by
with the knowledge that to-morow will lind us
well within the Tropics.
A golden moon, perfectly orange-shaped,
throws a glistening lightway over the calm waters
of Capricorn; sleep comes with the gentlest roll
of a steady ship.
Morning brings out clearly purple hills of the
Queensland Coast, beaches, and, above all,
islands.
From now on we are sailing over a Sea of
Islands. Flat islets, conical islets, islets of all
shapes and areas. Most of them are covered
with a dense tropical vegetation. Very few are
inhabited, and, on many, no one has ever landed.
They are the haunts of birds. Torres Straits
pigeons at night, and flying foxes in the daytime,
find them a safe covert. The atolls are alive
with sea-birds.
It seems as if some lavish hand had scattered
emeralds over a field of lapis lazuli. Perhaps
a yet unworshipped goddess, playing carelessly
wit!; her gem casket, has let some of its jewelled
contents slip through her fingers.
A broad riband of blue velvet winds between
our ship and peaky foreshores, wherefrom ascend
sharp pointed ranges. There are deep bays
THE TRAIL OF THE TROPICS
425
studded with little islands and points of land pre-
ceded by other islands, standing like outposts to
prevent the invasion of the seas.
Our careful passage northward lies all the
way between these thousand islets of the Barrier.
The ocean is constantly calm. It remains for
hours as smooth as an azure shield. Then, in re-
sponse to some feathery breeze, it shows, for a.
morning or an afternoon hour, little wave-tops of
whipped cream.
The Barrier would be an ideal ground for a
yachting cruise. There are little sandy bays for
safe anchorages, beaches for landing places,
green seaward slopes, creeks and springs of fresh
water. Game, oysters and fish can be had every-
where.
Golden whiting swim over the sands with
every tide. Scarlet snapper haunt the seaward
reefs; red bream and squire the shoreward
bays.
Sapphire Fields, Anakie District
Blues and delicate greens are its dominant
colours. It sparkles under floods of cloudless sun-
light by day; at night it is a sea of enchantment
lit by a magic moon.
Black-tipped gulls sail softly over the ship's
wake, or aeroplane ahead of her bows. The
flying fish, with spangled wings, arise in shoals.
Close under a high island, with red bluffs fac-
ing steeply towards the Channel, we steam slowly.
This island slopes away gently on its shoreward
side. Its summit is covered with tall, dark, Nor-
folk Island pines.
Many of these islands — now sleeping idly In
the coral seas of Queensland — will no doubt
some day be profitably occupied. Some of them
are of considerable area and covered with rich-
est soils. On others, gold and other minerals
have been discovered.
Gorgeously-colored rock-cod and all the fishes
of warmer seas feed in and out of wondrous
marine fields, which make these Barrier waters
the daydream of young zoologists.
To the naturalist, the sportsman, the lover of
the wonderful and beautiful in Nature, the Bar-
rier is an everlasting delight.
Here one may see the coral insects' marvellous
work. Here one may gather the wealth of a
tropic sea — from the delicate pearl shell, which
has caught the elusive iridescent glamor of its
native waters, to that giant clam, which, closing
upon the foot of the traditional victim, holds him
in a vice-like grip, until he is slowly drowned by
an incoming tide.
Here the dugong slowly feeds. At the mouths
of the estuaries one shoots alligators and.
426
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
along the coastlands, wild boars, snipe, quail,
wild ducks, geese — the sportsman's larder will
be varied by edible game of many species.
Above all there is the color, the life, the mys-
tery of a coast which has no parallel around
the margins of the Seven Seas. The Barrier is
unique, tremendous, illuminative, a crystallization
of all that has made the South Seas a field for
finest description and most fascinating romance.
Whether one is watching the water breaking
in a thin, white line over some hidden reef; or
enjoying the varying colors of deeps and shal-
lows, there is an ever-present interest interwoven
with the changing hours.
If you would get a mental picture of the Bar-
rier, think of a coast whose softened outlines are
from morn to night, a screen for the play of pris-
matic colors, varying from the tea-rose pink of
earliest dawn, to the Oriental patterns of a sun-
set beyond which one dimly sees the walls of
Heaven.
Think of a sea as blue as the eyes of Rossetti's
Blessed Damozel, as blue as Anakie sapphires, as
blue as Tyrian beads, or the mosaics of Byzan-
tium, or the tiles of the Alhambra — cornflower
blue at midday, turquoise blue in the even-
ing, but sometimes pale green In the shallows
and blue-black in patches where glides the shadow
of a passing cloud !
Think of this enchanted sea, fringed on its
eastward boundary by a reef of coral 1,000 miles
in length, with only two or three known openings
through which a ship might safely pass!
Think of it, studded from North to South with
islands — islands in clustered groups, in archipela-
goes, in tens, and twos and singles; islands keep-
ing solitary sentinel over a wide sea-plain; tent-
shaped islands standing together like the camp
of a sea-caravan; islands strung out like pearls on
a queen's necklace; islands scattered like golden
coins from an emperor's hand; islands where
waving palms beckon from white beaches, islands
where tall pines stand like grounded spears in
a hall of giants; a shower of islands scattered like
raindrops all the way from Capricorn to York;
lighted with the rainbow and sweetened by the
wind that brings the showers.
Think of the Great Untenanted House, of
which this is the Front Door — the State of
Queensland, represented in our western horizon
as we sail along by a hazy purple line. It claims
to be the "Queen State of the Commonwealth,"
"a paradise for willing workers," "the richest un-
peopled country in the world." It calls for farm-
ers, for agricultural laborers, for miners, for
domestic servants, for men accustomed to live-
stock. It offers comfortable homes and good
livelihoods for steady, energetic people such as
these — with opportunities. It wants men with
small capital accustomed to outdoor life; men
without capital not afraid of hard work; "young
men without experience, who are willing to take
employment while they learn the methods of
work in Queensland."
There it lies, with Its natural wealth yet await-
ing exploitation; with, to-day, slightly over a mil-
lion of its 429 million acres under cultivation, its
minerals yet largely unwon, Its richest soils un-
tilled, — and all their potential harvests, yet to
come!
The landllne fades. Presently the lights of
Flat Top show abeam. We will step off at
Mackay — which Is a little less than half way to
the northernmost point of Queensland, and the
capital of a splendid district.
Harbor Improvements are being effected which
will ultimately enable seaward passengers to land
and embark under pleasanter conditions. As it is,
we are crowded — with other shoregoing passen-
gers and their luggage- — into a tossing oil launch.
We round the ship and leave her astern, her lights
throwing distorted reflections Into the water.
The moonlight does not compensate some of our
nervous lady passengers for the pitching of the
little tender : but, after we cross the bar and get
Into the river, even mangroves and mud banks
seem beautiful In the silver of a tropic night.
We land at a dark wharf, smelling heavily of
sugar, and are conveyed in a crowded cab to an
excellent hotel, built on the tropical plan, with
wide verandahs, high rooms, and castiron ven-
tilators to keep them cool. Everything Is clean
and orderly. We switch off our electric light and
sleep under a couple of blankets. In comfort.
The morning comes clear and cool, with a
strong sea-breeze blowing. No one could desire
a more delightful winter climate than that of
Mackay. The prosperity of this town and dis-
trict Is based on sugar. Fourteen years ago the
writer spent some time here studying at first
hand the problem of White Australia; which had
not then received legislative attention from our
Federal Parliament. In fact, the actual Federa-
tion had only just been accomplished. Queens-
land was looking with much anxiety to the future.
Few people In the North believed then that the
cultivation of sugar could be profitably under-
taken without colored labor.
Now the people of Mackay seem to think
that, given certain conditions, the sugar Industry
can better be carried on by white labor alone.
Whatever the ultimate truth of this much-dis-
puted problem may be, the progress made by
Mackay during fourteen years is everywhere vis-
ible.
We have landed at the height of the cane-
cutting season, which — luckily for white labor —
falls in midwinter.
HI
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Westward, at a distance of 45 miles moreover,
stand the Eungella Ranges, 3,000 feet high —
where sanatoria could be established if necessary.
As we have already pointed out, this compensa-
tion of high lands lies behind the eastern littoral,
and will greatly benefit the coming generations.
Eungella is already a health and pleasure re-
sort for Mackay, as well as a tourist attraction
for the outside world.
The summit of these jungle-clad mountains is
monwealth as the black potato lands of Warr-
nambool.
We need not ascend Eungella Range to find
our perspective. A walk down the streets of
Mackay with a warm sun shining and a cool wind
blowing, this balmy July morning, will give us
food for reflection on the diversities of Australian
conditions.
In the gardens, cocoanuts, bangalow and date
palms are the predominant growths. Papaws
Cane Train going to Marian Mill, Mackay
attained from the railhead by a wonderful zig-
zag track. Magnificent vistas of tropical Queens-
land— river, valley, and mountain — reward the
traveller for the steepness of the road. Here the
Southern Australian beholds a country green and
gorgeous; which brings to his mind pictures of
equatorial Africa, the Amazon, or the Indies. It
is difficult for him to understand that this scene
of tropical vegetation and color is as truly
Australian as the eucalyptus forests and subdued
landscapes of the South.
That still, sunlit valley below, through which
the Pioneer River is winding, the jungle, the cane
farms and plantations, are as typical of our Corn-
are ripening in the backyards of the workers.
Some are tenderly covered with a cloth to make
the process gradual and increase the flavor. The
papaw is a healthy, prolific fruit, which is under-
stood to secrete pepsin. It seems generally popu-
lar, and is freely grown throughout Queensland.
Granadilla vines, loaded with luscious fruit
grow over the lattices.
Jacarandas, and other tropical trees, mangoes,
guavas, lemons, beautify the dwellings of this
tropical Australian town. As we go North the
note of difference becomes more pronounced.
Cairns will be Mackay — but an octave higher.
Between the deep bass voices of Wilson's Pro-
THE TRAIL OF THE TROPICS
429
montory and the soprano sighings of Trinity Bay
there is a wide range of harmony.
But, through all the composition, there runs
a standard theme — prosperity.
We will see no poverty in Mackay. We find
instead a population enjoying, almost without
exception, comfort, independence, comparative
wealth.
Sugar-cane planting began here in 1865. The
industry has passed through many stages; but
the suitability of this land for sugar growing has
always been evident, and the progress of the in-
dustry steadily forward, year by year. Some of
the finest sugar mills in Australia are located in
the Mackay district. The value of the crushing
for 1910, at one mill, the Alexandra, was
£600,000. This mill opened its career in 1868
with 1 1 o tons.
For 1 9 14 it was estimated that the district area
under cane would be 40,540 acres.
The crushing for 1914 yielded 43,462 tons of
sugar and one and a half million gallons of
molasses.
The proportion of sugar produced by white
labor alone in 1913 was 91.7 per cent. — only
1 60 1 acres of the 34,000 being "black."
Of the nine mills in active operation in the
Mackay district, it may be said that no group of
mills in any part of Queensland are making a
better financial return.
A number of these mills were erected under
the Sugar Works Guarantee Act of 1893. This
Act was passed to encourage the cultivation of
sugar cane by white labour. The Queensland Gov-
ernment undertook to advance the cost of neces-
sary mills and machinery, taking as security the
title deeds of the plantations, and a mortgage
over mill-buildings and plants.
Of the Mackay mills so subsidised not one has
failed to meet its annual obligations to the State.
In the Racecourse and Marian mills the debts
have been entirely liquidated.
The average size of a planter's holding is
about 120 acres. Cane being a heavy product.
are grown, and experiments carried out with va-
rious fertilizers. A small staff of agricultural
chemists is constantly engaged in making tests
on behalf of growers, and with a view to keeping
up the productive qualities of Queensland cane.
So far, the varieties which have been found
most profitable are "Badilla" and "Goru," both
ongmally propagated from indigenous stocks
procured in New Guinea, where several varieties
of sugar-cane grow wild.
The hours worked by cane cutters in this dis-
trict are 8 per day for the 5 months of the sea-
son. The average earnings are 14/- to 17/- a
day. Bachelors living in camp on the co-opera-
tive system get an abundance of good food,
including plenty of beef and mutton, for 15/- a
Cocoanut Palms at Port Douglas
week. Board and lodging in hotels costs them
a pound a week. It is not an uncommon thing
for railway navvies and workers of that class to
leave their occupation in order to go cane cut-
ting, which they regard as easier and more re-
munerative. Many of the best Northern farmers
the plantations are naturally grouped around the have been cane-cutters. From a worker, earning
mills; the farms being connected therewith by HA to 17/- a day, to a grower, is a mere matter
two-foot tram lines, along which, in cutting sea- of evolution. Nowhere else in the world is the
son, little trucks, laden with the purple, jointed transition from wage-earner to proprietor easier,
cane are drawn by horse or steam traction to the Having spent a pleasant and instructive couple
carriers of the mill. of days at Mackay, we will retire to bed early and
Only a small proportion of the lands suitable endeavor to get a sleep. A good traveller's
for cane growing in the North has been brought motto is, "Sleep when you can, and eat always."
under cultivation. The Government, realizing The Camilla is advertised to sail from Flat
the value of the industry to the State, has from Top, bound North, at a very early hour in the
time to time extended to planters much legisla- morning. The tender is leaving Mackay at 2
tive and financial assistance. a.m. Until the harbor improvements are car-
There is a Government Experimental Station ried out or the North Coast Railway is con-
on the outskirts of Mackay, where, on 35 acres structed from Rockhampton — they are pushing it
of its rich black lands, different varieties of cane along now — we will have to adventure as tide,
k
43 o
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
weather, and the shipping company may decree.
David, the hotel baggage master, suffers from
want of sleep; but, faithful to his duty, he wakens
us at I a.m. We bear our luggage through the
sleeping streets of Mackay to a dark river wharf,
where flare lamps throw a smoky glare over
stacks of mustily-sweet-smelling bags. A fa-
J
of the cabin. In one corner is a cupboard, which
does duty for a bar. Over the dining table hangs
a swing sideboard, containing half a dozen
glasses and two cruets.
A gentleman with a blackened eye struggles in
for refreshment. The engineer comes along for
a nip, and the man with the black eye insists upon
A Pineapple Plantation at Woombye, North CJoast Line
miliar odor of sugar — not unpleasant, but heavy
— arises from the holds of the lighters waiting
alongside the wharf to be towed down to Flat
Top.
We descend by a steep ladder, thinking some-
how of New Orleans — into a stuffy cabin not
much more than ten feet square.
An English steward brings us a blanket and
two pillows, which he spreads out on the tran-
soms. A swing light is suspended from the roof
extending to him the courtesy of the swing side-
board and the cupboard. The Eye proclaims
loudly that he has just "sacked his boss" —
presumably with violence.
The noises of machinery and winches follow
one another. Presently the motion of the swing
sideboard and the cruets proclaims that we have
crossed the bar.
Our only fellow passenger is a young military
captain who sleeps on the transom, lying on
'
THE TRAIL OF THE TROPICS
431
his back with his mouth wide open and the light
of the swing lamp full in his face.
We toss down to Flat Top and come alongside
a fleet of lighters busily heaving out sugar into
the flare-lit holds of a waiting steamer. By and
bye we take two of them in tow. Their tired
gangs are squatted on the hatches smoking after
toil, and mentally calculating the amount of over-
time earned. With their dark hulls behind us,
our tug crosses back over the bar and into the
river again.
Back once more and wait for daylight. At
dawn, aroused by shouting, we go on deck after
a ten minutes' sleep. A lighter has broken away,
and is drifting out to sea. We go after her, and
give our Scandinavian skipper an opportunity to
show his seamanship.
He has all the lovable characteristics of his
race. He handles that prodigal lighter as gently
as a father his errant son; retrieves it softly and
brings it back to anchor.
The Caviilla comes in with the morning — a
sleek, splendid steamer of 10,000 tons.
She has passengers for Mackay, but they have
to wait for the doctor, and the doctor will not
be here until sunrise. Meanwhile, the blond
Scandinavian skipper gives us morning tea in the
little cabin where the cruets have been swinging
steadily all night and are swinging yet.
As we go below we notice that the eye of the
gentleman who has discharged his boss looks
much worse in the daylight. The Scandinavian
shakes his head sadly — he is a sober man.
The doctor comes at last; the prodigal lighter
is laid alongside the Camilla. Somebody hangs
out a rope ladder over her iron flank. The Eye,
the Officer, and Ourselves, climb up, one after
another. We glare fiercely at the deck officer,
a lovely youth in gold braid, who, with a smiling
lady passenger beside him, has been looking over
the rail at our gymnastics. Then we seek out the
purser and book our cabin for Cairns and the
heart of the Australian Tropics.
Girls of North Queensland
■8
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432
Cedar Logs at Cairns
CEDAR AND GOLD.
Go North, young man! And still — go
North! Until you have sailed the Bar-
rier Sea and climbed the Barron Gorge,
you cannot quite appreciate the possibilities of
this Commonwealth. Your way will be made
pleasant. In all the voyages that are offered
to you by tourist bureaux and shipping agencies,
there is not one that you can enjoy under more
comfortable conditions than a voyage from Mel-
bourne to Cairns in midwinter.
A reference to official time tables will show
you when, where, and how you should proceed —
and for the rest, it is only a question of fares
and pocket money. To use an Americanism, you
may be assured that the North will "deliver the
goods."
The writer is middle-aged, blase with travel,
and inclined to be caustic after he loses a night's
rest. This may account for the tone of the fol-
lowing dissertation, which he lifts bodily from
, his notebook : —
R"The trip to Cairns in winter time is de-
idedly popular. Luckily I have a cabin to
lyself — some passengers having landed at
Mackay. The cabins are small rooms hand-
omely furnished. The shipping companies
re evidently determined to make this run the
ost attractive on the coast.
"The Camilla is a vessel of surprises. 1
have counted eight mates in faultless uniforms
and varying degrees of gold braid. When off
watch they promenade the decks with young
lady passengers. The skipper is white-haired
and god-like. He has all the dignity of an
admiral of the Blue. I cannot help thinking
that his officers have been selected to match
the appointments of the dining and music halls
— which are superb. Even the stokers are
superior to anything I have seen coming up out
of a ship's hold. The stewards are of another
race; they look too noble to be stewards. I
would not be at all surprised to learn that there
are many younger sons of distinguished fami-
lies among them. The chef is surely a French
marquis in disguise. I conclude this by the
menu. The cabin boy looks to me like Eros
in an Eton jacket. I should not regard it as
untoward if he took a small bow-and-arrows
from under his vest and fired at the beautiful
widow, who is at present walking the fifth
deck with the eighth mate.
"When the bugler's tarantara suddenly
broke from the alleyway in a call to breakfast,
it sounded like a chord from Mendelssohn's
'Wedding March.' Luckily, we have several
clergymen on board.
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"Later. — I have discovered that the scenery
is the special property of the deck officers. At
least they point it out to the lady passengers
as if it belonged to them. There is no ship
in "The Ways of Many Waters," like this:
My friend, John Masefield, would not recog-
nise the Camilla as a ship. If Joseph Conrad
were writing one of his superb stories around
this vessel he would put rosewater in his ink.
Sometimes I fancy that I am journeying North
in a perfumer's shop which has broken loose
from its moorings."
The course from Mackay to Bowen lies
through the mazes of the Cumberland Islands.
The yachting calm of this romantic sea makes
a voyage on a modern steamer like the Camilla
pleasurable to the worst sailor who ever trod a
vessel's deck. The most critical tripper grows
enthusiastic; invalids forget their ills; passengers
are loath to leave the decks; novels are put
aside; nobody writes letters, for every hour is
filled with fresh interests and the changing attrac-
tions are too vivid to miss.
One way out of the maze lies through Whit-
sunday Passage — which is the heritage of future
landscape painters, who are its most capable in-
terpreters. Mere literary phrase-makers cannot
be expected to do it justice.
Bowen possesses a splendid natural harbor and
a rich district; of which we will talk again pre-
sently.
Townsville is the terminus of another East-
and-West railway system, 562 miles in length.
It faces the ever-blue waters of Cleveland Bay,
with Castle Hill crouching behind it, one of
the most interesting places in Australia, and a
great city of the future. Since Federation, the
black and yellow population has been reduced to
a very small community, and the town seems all
the better for it. The 14,000 people of Towns-
ville are healthy and prosperous-looking. They
will not listen to disparaging remarks about their
climate. Their faith in Northern Queensland is
firmly fixed. A few years ago Townsville was
the centre of a strong Separationist movement,
which had for its object the conversion of this
territory into another State. Although the
causes of old dissension have been gradually re-
moved, the North still complains that its local
conditions are not properly understood, either
in Brisbane or Melbourne.
Whatever its summers may be, Townsville in
July is amber and pearl. The arching skies are
perpetually blue; the sea has an unfading lustre,
and, all day long, cool breezes are blowing.
Nor do the people seem languid or inert.
Sturdy wharf laborers work after the strenuous
manner of wharf laborers in colder climates;
ex-miners from Charters Towers may be seen
tolling in the midday sun at street excavations, or
harbor works.
The young girls are fresh-complexioned, ac-
tive, vivacious, apparently not unduly affected
by the climate; women rear large families and
preserve their health as in Southern Australia
Living is slightly cheaper than in Melbourne or
Sydney. Townsville imports Its requirements
direct from European markets, and directly ex-
ports its wool and meat, and ore.
Looking into the race question at Townsville —
where the School of Tropical Medicine Is doing
good work — one dimly catches some faint out-
lines of the future, and foresees a European type
of leisurely habit, resembling in character the
Southerners of the United States.
A land where mango trees flourish as naturally
as grey tea-trees around Port Phillip; where pa-
paws grow In people's back yards; where sunrise
comes in chrome and vermilion during midwin-
ter: where, on a July day, the stretch of water
between Townsville wharf and Magnetic Island
Is blue as the sea by Tangier — must naturally
evolve a people less robust, but more volatile and
swarthier than the natives of either Geelong or
Hobart.
Where the willow fig (the Ficus Benjaminea
of botany) droops its glorious branches, like the
canopy of a sheik's tent, to make a winter shade
for maidens in white frocks; where belmontia
trumpets proclaim from floral mouths the scented
glory of the Tropics; where magnolias and frangi-
panni load the air with heavy fragrance, subtle
changes must take place in the temperament of
the people, who in after-generations will evolve
— we know not how.
West and South of Townsville there is a won-
derful territory, which we can examine on our
way back from the North.
Between Townsville and Cairns, coastward,
are splendid sugar lands. Halifax, Ingham,
Cardwell, Mourllyan, Innlsfall, are prosperous
places along this littoral where tropical cultiva-
tion Is profitably established and whence settle-
ment will extend.
Between Lucinda Point and Cardwell winds the
celebrated Hinchinbrook Channel.
Shoreward of Hinchinbrook Island, Nature
has constructed a gondola passage for the prows
of Romance. It is narrow enough to bring the
gorgeous tropics before one's eyes like an illu-
minated missal, held open In the hand. It is
beautiful enough to evoke the rhapsodies of the
most prosaic passenger; and moves even com-
mercial travellers to respectful admiration.
South of Hinchinbrook are the glorious Palm
Islands; and North of it is Dunk Island, the
home of Mr. E. J. Banfield, whose books on
tropical Australia are delightful and Interesting
-r
QUEENSLAND: CEDAR AND GOLD
435
reading. Looking at the green, waving palms of
Dunk. Island as we steam past it at sunset over
a lake-like sea of sapphire and gold, we can un-
derstand the happy optimism of this literary
beachcomber of the Queensland Coast. .
Every domestic detail reminds you that you are
in the Land of Summer-all-the-time; but a plea-
sant land withal, where one might eat the lotos
without regret.
Naturally, amid surroundings such as these,
The visitor to Cairns can very easily imagine you ask, "Is the climate a healthy one for Euro-
I
that he is entering the placid harbor of some
South Sea Island.
There is a half-moon beach of white sand, a
reach of mangroves and then high volcanic hills,
lifting their jungled heads into a region of
changing cloud.
Being 908 miles nearer the equator than Bris-
bane, the tropical note is more intense. That
prevailing odor of ripe fruit, reminiscent of the
tropics, assails you from the wharf on landing.
Ripe fruit and sugar on the wharves, and a land-
breeze laden with heavy perfumes that are un-
known to cooler climes — once you have inhaled
this your memory will always recall pictures
similar to those that unfold themselves at Cairns.
You will not be in this interesting town of
seven thousand people — a fair sprinkling of them
Asiatics — for very long, before you discover an
Australia altogether different from the Australia
of current description.
The traveller will find in the hospitable homes
of the far North, conditions resembling those of
India or Malaysia, rather than of Melbourne.
Between the suburban bungalows of Cairns and
the tiled villas of Port Jackson stand the diver-
gences of two thousand miles.
You drive out of the town along a road bor-
dered by pandanus trees, past a swamp where
purple lilies and water hyacinths bloom under
arches of flowering vines and beautiful orchids.
Jungle-clad hills rise before you, glorified by
Oriental coloring. The lights and shadows of a
tropic day pass over their matted gullies and
rounded peaks. A purple haze descends upon
them as the sun goes westward. In a breezy
bungalow built up on piles over a concrete floor,
you are given afternoon tea. The wide verandah
is furnished with cane lounges — you can see that
it is really the sleeping-place of the house —
and that its keynote is coolness. This is not a
climate where closed rooms make for comfort
or health.
The Japanese house-servant has added a little
Asiatic decoration to the rooms with colored
paper and miniature flags in honor of a home-
coming, and looped up the mosquito nets over
the swinging cots on the high piazza with rib-
bons.
You notice in the combined drawing and din-
ing room, hangings, abundant doors — and elec-
tric fans.
Around you are tropic vines covered with
glorious flowers, palms, and rustling bamboos.
peans.''' It is a contentious question, and one
that it is safest to answer through the voices of
scientific observers: —
In the Melbourne Age, under date 29th No-
vember, 19 13, Dr. C. C. Butler Lyne, M.D.,
Health Officer of Cairns, published a letter deal-
ing with the subject of tropical disease, and its
relationship to the health of his own community.
He says : —
"In Cairns we have the lowest death rate
of any municipality in Australia. We have no
typhoid, no diphtheria; pneumonia is un-
known; and of scarlet fever there has been
one case in six years. . . . There is a
certain amount of mild malaria here every
year, which is limited to a particular section
of the town. The only death of a malarial
patient that has occurred during my residence
here — for the last six years — was due to out-
side causes. The Government, the municipal
A Queensland Railway Locomotive
iM
436
QUEENSLAND: CEDAR AND GOLD
437
Council, and the Cairns Shire Council are do-
ing everything they can to eradicate the
causes, and we hope to be perfectly free this
year."
At Kamerunga, a few miles from Cairns, the
Queensland Government has established a nur-
sery for the experimental cultivation of tropical
and sub-tropical plants.
Kamerunga has demonstrated that the commer-
cial agriculture of India, of South America, of
the Tropics in general, is quite possible to North-
ern Queensland.
There the visitor may see tea, coffee, cotton,
cocoa, tobacco, vanilla, ramee, rubber, cocoanuts,
breadfruit, and hundreds of other valuable trees
and plants growing to perfection.
export trade worth eleven to twelve million
pounds sterling, may be set down roughly as ten
times greater than Ceylon.
It is worth remembering that, in Northern
Australia, there are various species of indigen-
ous rice — cotton, limes, nutmegs, tamarinds, pep-
per, rubber, and other tropical plants of com-
merce. On Mount Bellenden-Ker, not far from
Cairns, at an elevation of from 2,600 to 4,500
feet, an indigenous mangosteen (Garcinia Mes-
toni) has been found growing. If a thorough
scientific exploration of the Northern jungles
were carried out, there would doubtless be dis-
covered hundreds of other useful plants and trees.
This will be one of the functions to be filled
by the Federal Agricultural Department.
Para Rubber Plantation at Kamerunga
Oil Palms at Kamerunga
I
Kittool fibre, snake beans, cassava; the cuscus
grass of India, from whose roots perfume is dis-
tilled; citronella, used as an unguent for keeping
away mosquitoes; tonkin bean, used for scenting
tobacco, and worth 20/- a lb. ; egg-fruit, anise,
cardamom, sago, areca nuts, kola nuts — Kame-
runga grows them all.
Mr. Howard Newport, Instructor in Tropical
Agriculture for Queensland, who has had long
experience in British India, said to the writer: —
"Northern Queensland is a richer country
than Ceylon, and its climate is far healthier.
With the climate and soil that we have here,
the return per acre, from tropical agriculture,
should be greater than that of Ceylon."
Ceylon is a little more than three-fourths the
size of Ireland; only about a quarter of the
whole island is cultivated, and the population in
191 1 was 4,109,470. The population of the
Australian Commonwealth in 1911 was 4,455,005.
The area in Northern Queensland suitable for
such cultivation as gives this Island an annual
As an example of how little is yet known of
Northern Australia, the author of this book met
that eminent and enthusiastic Swedish scientist.
Dr. Mjoberg, out in the depths of Atherton
scrub in the winter of 19 13. Dr. Mjoberg spent
three years in Northern Australia, and, as the
world of science knows, has added greatly to
our knowledge of the native fauna. He said that
no less than eighty-five per cent, of the natural
history specimens secured by him in the Kim-
berley district, of Western Australia, were new
to science! Investigations made by him among
northern aboriginals, it might be mentioned in
passing, disclosed the existence of many Suma-
tran customs, a fact which will be of interest to
anthropologists.
Among fruit-bearing trees which are adver-
tised by the Queensland Government as now
available at Kamerunga nursery are the pomelo
{Citrus medica), which travellers in the Dutch
Indies will remember as a huge orange with large,
juicy quarters, — the litchi { Nephelium lit-chi),
the mangosteen, pecan nut, the Davidsonian plum
438
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
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A Good Crop of Pine-Apples
(another Indigenous fruit of utility), eight varie-
ties of breadfruit, jack-fruit, soursop, and
hundreds of other valuable tropical trees.
Plants and trees also available are kola, co-
caine, quassia, croton, kapok, sugar palm, tea,
five varieties of coffee, kava plant, camphor, cin-
namon, pepper, date palm, eight kinds of com-
mercial rubber, and a long list of valuable tim-
ber and shade trees, cereals, and annuals suitable
for the climate.
The Instructor of Tropical Agriculture at
Kamerunga asserts that for the cultivation of cof-
fee the conditions of soil and climate in North-
ern Queensland are in advance of those In
nearly every country where coffee Is being com-
mercially cultivated.
Coffee already planted in Queensland has done
well, even if It has not always been a complete
commercial success.
In North Queensland all the conditions neces-
sary for successful cultivation of coffee may be
found at sea level and on comparatively flat land.
The experience gained by preliminary attempts
— and some failures — Indicate that coffee grow-
ing is destined to become a payable industry in
the North. The plantations in bearing at Mt.
Buderim, Mackay, Atherton, and Kuranda are
giving average returns of 8 to lo cwt. per acre,
and up to 20 cwt. in specially good seasons.
It is estimated that, on 15-acre blocks, Queens-
land coffee planters with a small initial capital
of about £450 may be sure of a minimum 12
per cent, profit on their outlay, returnable In
three years. A small plantation like this, which
could be handled comfortably by one family,
should return an Income of at least £4 a week.
Once a coffee plantation Is established it will
last a lifetime — during which Its owner's living
is assured. ...
From Cairns to Kuranda is the most interest-
ing railway journey in the Commonwealth.
The railroad runs first across a rich coastal
plain, largely occupied by banana plantations,
where the ever-industrious Chinaman busies him-
self In making a colonial fortune — while he may.
In a few years, if the Exclusion Act works out
properly, these Asiatics will have no place in
Australian development. The Act is no more
than an insurance for race preservation and the
Palms. Oairns-Mulgrave Railway
439
440
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
maintaining of highest social and economic stan-
dards.
Leaving this region of cultivation behind, the
train begins to ascend that high range which,
as we have seen, greatly determines the climate
of Coastal Queensland. On the edges of a
palm glade, bananas and papaws are growing
wild. Then the engine puffs over the shoulder
of the first rise, and astonished travellers find
themselves in depths of jungle.
i
smoking dragon of progress that writhes around
a hundred curves in its snorting efforts to reach
the summit of the range.
As the train climbs this impressive gorge,
clinging to its Southern wall as a caterpillar
clings to a rock, the passengers look down from
dizzy heights into foaming waters, into breath-
less jungles, over silent panoramas of inexpres-
sible beauty. Eastward, at one point of van-
tage, they may behold the Barron River, emerg-
Barron Falls, Cairns Railway
Ferns, orchids, palms, creepers, vines, ban-
yans, cedars, silky oaks, kauri pines, have cov-
ered the gullies and hillsides with undulating ban-
ners of green, on which are emblazoned most
gorgeous designs. Carpets of vegetation miles
square are woven into one piece. All nature has
assumed its most florid aspect; spangled butter-
flies and beautiful birds haunt these astounding
everglades — where the botanist and the zoolo-
gist are yet free to roam and enjoy the thrills of
discovery.
Presently the Barron Gorge unfolds itself.
On its other side are seen red gashes, where the
railway builders have sliced off projecting shoul-
ders of mountain to make a foothold for the
ing triumphantly from the duress of mountains,
where, with the last strokes of a victorious
sword, it has cleaved a way to freedom.
Its chafing soul relieved at last, it expands into
broader channels on its way to those blue waters
which await it in the distance.
Stage after stage, through frequent tunnels,
around constant curves, the journey presents new
pictures. Up that splendid cleavage of the hills
the grades continue, and precipices, beneath
grinding carriage wheels fall more steeply into
greater depths.
A steel bridge spans a chasm, into which a tor-
rent is precipitated. As the train crosses it the
spray comes in through the open windows.
£1
QUEENSLAND: CEDAR AND GOLD
441
Pines for Market, Woombye
"Robb's Monument" appears at the edge of a
fearsome scarp of rock, around which the railway
is looped like a signal halliard through the main
truck at a tall ship's masthead. More tunnels
and curves, more jungles, more breath-taking
views and — with a satisfied snort — the sturdy
little Queensland-built engine stops at Barron
Falls Station, 1,065 f^et above sea level.
The Barron Falls are no more nor less than
the sudden dropping of a North Queensland
River, over a rampart of rocks 880 feet high.
Coming out of a tableland, where the annual
rainfall averages 12 feet, it may be guessed that,
in the rainy season, the ordinary grandeur of this
spectacle of wild waters tossed, whirling, and
thundering into the black, slavering jaws of a
gaping gorge approaches sublimity. In this wild
Nature opera one hears, sometimes, the march
of the Valkyries, played by an orchestra of
giants; sometimes the beating of anvils in the
workshops of the Sons of Anak; sometimes the
mad Marseillaise of a host distracted with vic-
tory; sometimes, from boiling cauldrons, a hissing
of antediluvian monsters combating with wing
and claw in the primal ages of the world.
The Barron has been flowing swiftly and musi-
cally over its sands and boulders. It has come
dreaming out of the forests, through the vine-
wedded jungles, with sunbeams for sport and
green water-weeds for playthings.
Suddenly it is hurled into nightmare depths,
amid thunder and explosion. A mist resembling
smoke constantly arises from this scene of
Titanic conflict; and the groans of a broken river
are heard for miles.
Kuranda, the sanatorium of Cairns — and a
tourist resort for all Australia — is two miles
from the Falls. It is a combination of tropical
and temperate climates. The days are children
of Capricornian suns; the nights are daughters
of a Southern brood. Papaws and mangoes
grow in the gardens, with cabbages, turnips, and
other European vegetables.
Down in Cairns, people wear tropical clothing
pretty well all the year round. Here the North-
erner feels the need of an overcoat in winter
after the sun goes down.
From the flat roof of the hotel one can over;-
look a wide unoccupied region. Mount Williams,
a fine jungled mass, stands in the eastern hori-
zon, topped with white cloud. More jungled
hills roll away to the West. There are no clear-
ings visible in all this fertile waste.
The hotel garden at your feet is rich with
fruits and flowers — an earnest of what this terri-
tory will produce. In it there grow limes, man-
goes, bananas, granadillas; while poinciana and
bougainvillea sweeten the coolness of the gloam-
ing.
Coffee Plantations at Mackay
Evening lights are falling over this outpost.
The smoke of fires curls lazily upward. The
tinkle of cow bells, and the carol of a magpie tell
you that you are still in the Australian Bush — a
bush different In color, vegetation, and form to
the familiar bush of the South, but still an In-
separable part of Australia, the development and
occupation of which have an all-Important bear-
ing on the future of the Commonwealth.
It will all come good. These cedar logs on
the railway trucks at Kuranda siding, awaiting
carriage to the port of Cairns, are only a phase
of to-day.
These Impurpled vistas, robed yet In virgin
jungle, will gradually take on another aspect.
They, too, will have their plantations and
farms. The land will grow coffee, and a ple-
thora of other tropical cultures. The rank,
natural growths will give place to paspalum and
442
J
QUEENSLAND: CEDAR AND GOLD
443
CO
Rhodes grasses; there will probably be dairies on
i6o-acre blocks. Mixed farming, suitable to cli-
mate and condition, will be successfully carried
on. P^verywhere there are running streams,
rivers, lakes, possible storages. Hydro-electric
power can readily be generated, the land is cheap
and inexpensive to clear, the soils are rich, the
rainfall is copious — in tine, all the elements of
successful Juiropean settlement are here, and will
not much longer call for human energy and enter-
prise, unheard.
Whatever disabilities residence on the low-
lands may present, life on the plateau is univer-
sally agreed to be healthy and pleasant; there the
European woman keeps her stamina — which is
the most important thing in the settlement of
Northern Australia. In time, no doubt, the ranges,
connected by rapid electrical transport, will
become the chief residential site for families; Ku-
randa at twenty miles' distance is no more than
a suburb of Cairns. Queensland is fortunate in
aving these convenient summer retreats, extend-
ng practically from the head of Cape York Pen-
nsula to Wallan-garra. As for the dry heat of
ihe great plains west of the Ranges, it is invigor-
ting rather than depressing, and the winter over
11 that territory is sufficiently cold.
From Kuranda to Mareeba the road follows,
or a time, the clear waters of the Barron River,
'/hich is bordered on either bank by rich scrub-
ands. This jungle is succeeded by open forest-
country, in which the mining and timber township
of Mareeba is located. Mareeba is flat, dry, and
flourishing.
From the Queensland Government Mining
Journal we take a paragraph : — "Close by
Mareeba, on the Cairns Railway, a reef has been
profitably worked; 16,000 tons having yielded
an average of gdwts. 23grs. At the Tate River,
in the locality of the Golden Treasure, a tiny vein
is thus described by Mr. Skertchley, at the time
(1896) Assistant Government Geologist. "In
many places," he says, "this little seam might
almost be described as gold with quartz
in it, so rich was the stone. The gold
could be dollied out in an
ito felted layers, from which the quartz fell out.
his, however, was only a pocket; the country
has never 'made good' as a big gold producer.
But the adjoining districts have proved among
the richest in Australia for tin and other metals."
The (jreat Northern Tin Mine, the first mine of
tin ore in the matrix in the Continent, was prac-
tically the beginning of Herberton.
The Walsh and Tinaroo mineral district em-
braces Mount Garnet, Herberton, Watsonville,
Muldiva, Stannary Hills, Orient, Montalbion, Ir-
Aboriginal Climbing Tree, Herberton
The whole of this district is rich in minerals;
in fact, it is said that nearly every metal and
mineral and gem of known commercial value
has been discovered within the boundaries of
Walsh and Tinaroo. One of the churches in,
Herberton is said to be built on the surface indi-
cations of a tin lode, and, despite the spasmodic
manner in which the whole field has been handled
in the past, it has given wonderful returns. Cop-
per, silver, and lead have so far been the domi-
nant minerals, but antimony, bismuth, wolfram,
iron mortar and molybdenum have all shown promise of fu-
ture profits. How rich Northern Queensland is
in gold, silver, copper, and useful minerals will
not be adequately known for generations. For all
that far north land, which takes in Cloncurry,
Croydon, Charters Towers, Herberton, Cook-
town, and York Peninsula, prospector and geolo-
gist alike have predicted a future dowered with
discovery and dividend.
Following the Pick, there comes the Plough.
This has been the story of Australian settle-
vinebank, Chillagoe, and other mining places of ment in Queensland as elsewhere. Lured into
account, no account, and possible future. the wilds by real or fictitious fields, the miner and
k
444
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
his camp-followers often remained: the shaft
gave place to the furrow, and the result was more
profitable in the end. Historic Ballarat is
declining as a mining field. It has become an
agricultural centre. Gympie is going the same
way.
Mareeba itself is an example of how the min-
ing industry induces a permanent population,
which ultimately wins more wealth from the sur-
face of the land than the most enthusiastic pros-
pector ever dreamed of gaining from below.
The forest country has a clay subsoil, and
"holds" better than the richer scrub lands.
Dairying experiments made in this class of coun-
try are particularly interesting, inasmuch as their
success will mean that wide areas of forest lands,
which have been set down as "second class," can
be turned to highly profitable account.
It has always seemed to the writer that terri-
tory which will pasture beef stock can ultimately
be converted to dairying.
Mining Men of Mareeba
For a long time Mareeba, as a coach, stage and
rail head, was a busy distributing centre for the
Hodgkinson, Herberton, and Chillagoe fields.
Then the railways were pushed on to Atherton
and Chillagoe, and the carrying trade, on which
the place had grown prosperous, declined.
The population next began to consider the pos-
sibilities of agriculture. Land was taken up,
cleared and ploughed, and cultivation and dairy-
ing introduced with satisfactory results. From one
acre of potatoes a Mareeba settler ingathered
12 tons, which gave him a return of £i6 to the
ton. Land which yields nearly £200 worth of
crop to the acre cannot be barren. Yet none of
the Government lands in this locality have been
valued at more than £1 an acre, and most of
them have been sold to settlers at 2/6.
Mareeba, though situated in what is called a
"dry" belt, has its regular rainy season, after
which the district resembles a wheat field. Here,
as in other parts of Australia, the silo will play
a big part in the future.
The place looks forward also to a manufactur-
ing future. Large deposits of limestone exist at
Emerald Creek, a few miles from the town, and
it is thought that when electrical power is gener-
ated at the Barron Falls, the manufacture of lime
for the sugar industry, and also carbide of cal-
cium, will be undertaken. Sawmills are already
established to deal with the magnificent ornamen-
tal and hardwood timbers of the adjoining dis-
tricts. The Mount Mulligan coalfield is another
near-by asset which makes Mareeba hopeful.
QUEENSLAND: CEDAR AND GOLD
445
Mount Bellenden-Ker
I From Mareebii, one hniiich of the Cairns rail-
fay system runs southward through Atherton
nd Herberton to Ravenshoe.
The line re-enters the scrub near Tolga, a rich
maize-growing district. Tolga is a junction for
another branch which had been extended as far
'IS Jaggan in 1915, and was being carried on
towards the Johnstone River through some of
the finest tropical jungle in Queensland. This
Atherton Tableland has an elevation of 2,466
feet at Tolga and Atherton. Bellenden-Ker and
Bartle Frere ascend to 5,158 feet and 5,438 feet
respectively. The average elevation is 2,000 feet.
The population, which is rapidly increasing,
seems unusually robust. The State-school chil-
dren at Atherton, lined up for inspection, looked
fresh-faced, bright, and active.
There are many settlers from the Richmond
River in this district, who maintain that the
Atherton climate is more equable than that of the
northern rivers of New South Wales.
The Atherton Tableland, it may be taken for
granted, is a "White Man's Country." It con-
tains, at the lowest estimate, a million and a
quarter acres of volcanic scrub lands, better than
the Dorrigo or the Big Scrub.
Most valuable white oak, maple, red oak,
crowfoot elm, silky oak, walnut, rosewood, cedar,
kauri, black and red bean — timbers which the
Forestry Department of Queensland does not
permit to be destroyed on lands thrown open for
settlement — grow through this magnificent tropi-
cal forest. At present the official estimate of a
living area is 100 to 120 acres, valued at £2/10/-
to £5 an acre. The (then) Commissioner for
Lands at Cairns, Mr. G. J. Boulter — a practical
optimist — believed that these 2,000 square miles
fii
of scrub arc among Queensland's most valuable
assets. To the author, who has had the advan-
tage of comparative knowledge, it appeals as one
of the best closer settlement proposilions in this
Commonwealth.
From a commercial point of view, as Australian
land values go — he would estimate the virgin
scrub land at £7 an acre purchase value. The
Government price averages £2 to. £2/10/- for
160 acre sections, 20 years' leases. The maxi-
mum area, he understands, is 320 acres. Six
miles back from the railway, sections are still
procurable by selection. Judging by results of
Big Scrub settlement in N.S.W — kindred coun-
try— Atherton men will do better on smaller
areas. About Tolga, Chinese are paying £1 an
acre annual rental for farms, and cropping them
solely for maize. It is difficult to obtain reliable
information from these people; but there is every
indication that they are rapidly growing rich.
At Kairi, four miles from Tolga, Chinese
farms are said to be yielding 60 bushels of maize
to the acre, worth 6/- a bushel in the field.
The Atherton scrub belt should comfortably
support 125,000 Europeans in rural occupations
alone.
Between Tolga and Malanda the railway cuts
through magnificent jungles. Within a radius of
ten miles, Malanda has gained no less than 500
new settlers in two years.
Malanda is 83 miles from' Cairns. It has an ele-
vation of 2,400 feet. In all Australia, the writer
has not found more prosperous or interesting dis-
tricts than these.
Here, in the heart of Northern Queensland, are
good hotels, good living, tilth, fertility, activity,
446
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
enterprise. The people, who bear every evidence
of health, speak enthusiastically of the land on
which they have settled and made their homes.
Here are rosy-faced women and children, and
hopeful, energetic men.
I re-met at Yungaburra — between Tolga and
Malanda — a family I had known in Eastern
Gippsland. They migrated North some three
years previously, were doing well, enjoying
splendid health, and looking forward with every
confidence to speedy independence.
Not only will this Tableland provide home
and fortune for thousands of families, but it
can be made a place of recuperation for people
from the coast lands and the back country to-
wards the Gulf.
It is a resort on whose natural beauties a de-
scriptive volume might be written.
Prom Yungaburra the traveller rides by green
jungle tracks to see Lakes Eacham and Barrine.
Having beheld these still, mysterious waters of
unknown depths, in which the tangled scrub is
reflected in its changing lights and colors, and
over whose silver, sunlit surfaces butterflies and
birds of gorgeous coloring are mirrored as they
pass — he bears away a new impression of Aus-
tralia. These lakes are the cups of extinct vol-
canoes— of depths varying from 220 to 240 feet.
From the summit of Bellenden-Ker, if he
should reach it, the adventurer will behold a
scene as impressive as that from Mt. Kosciusko
— but as different as the countries of the Equa-
tor are from the Pole.
Over to the westward are the wonders of the
limestone caves of Chillagoe. Within that wide
horizon — which is commanded by the highest
mountain in Queensland — lie the Millstream
Palls, near Ravenshoe; one of the most beautiful
waterfalls in the world, the Tolga Spring Falls,
which is the unexpected outrush of a river from
the mountain side; the Balancing Rock, The
Tully Gorge and Palls, the weird Cashmere
Gorge on the Herbert, the enchanted water gar-
dens of the picturesque Mulgrave — a wonderland
of mountain and jungle, a tropic shoreland, and
a coral sea begemmed with beautiful islands.
Over river and range, lake, island, and sea
the spicy winds of Arafura blow unceasingly.
It is a land the beauty of which cannot be
expressed in words. It is a land whose riches can-
not be expressed in figures. What pictures ! The
wolfram miner, in his lonely camp among the
ranges, sees the sun rising over opal-tinted hills.
The tin "fossicker" washes his dish of dirt,
by some remote cascade, amid a luxuriance of
foliage richer than that of the finest conservatory
in Europe. Cutting his pathway through the
scrub, the surveyor tramples priceless orchids be-
neath his feet and destroys the rarest ferns.
Here are ornamental woods of more exquisite
grain than any the cabinet makers of the P'ive
Continents have ever polished — priceless, per-
fumed timbers that are too frequently burnt into
ash-offerings on the rough altars of settlement.
Here grow nutmegs and spices and sugar, and
the most luscious fruits of the earth.
In these warm seas are coral, red and white,
and pearls and the mother of pearl.
Gold and silver, precious stones, rare and
valuable metals, iron and copper and coal that
make the wealth of industry — all these the land
is rich in.
Its waters swarm with fishes; its forests are
filled with game; fat beeves roam its pastures;
its streams are perennial in their flow.
Into this Promised Land, led by the Joshuas of
jVIining and Agriculture, the army of settlement
is advancing, but it will be many years ere the
last walls of Nature collapse before the trumpets
of Industry, albeit their ultimate activities may
drown the roar of the Barron Falls
One looks down on Cairns on the return from
Atherton with increased interest. That little city
has a manifest destiny: some day it should be as
great as New Orleans. When (he gaps in the
North Coast Line are all filled, it will still be
1040 miles from Brisbane — far enough to de-
velop that destiny by its own initiative. The faith
of Queensland was displayed when the State ex-
pended nearly a million and a half in building
the first 47 miles of railway that climbs the
Barron Gorge and puts Mareeba into touch with
Cairns. The good works of the North are
shown in the patriotic efforts of its citizens to
open, develop, and make known the wondrous
territory that surrounds them.
So Cairns, with its mangrove flats, its cutters
at anchor, its overlooking hills tipped with cloud,
its wide streets shaded by the spreading banyans,
its Japanese and natives, Asian odours and tropi-
cal perfumes, has an interest beyond what the
tourist finds in it. As a city it must expand; as a
port it must grow.
Rafts of cedar, silky-oak, and pine awaiting
shipment, stacks of sugar on the wharves, boxes
of fruit, piculs of coffee, bales of hides,
ingots of copper and silver, bunches of bananas
and bags of ore in the sheds; these ami other
things indicate the lines of its advance, which is
likely to be more rapid than many other parts of
the Commonwealth.
In few tropical parts of the world do workers
command as high wages as in Northern Australia.
P'or example, wharf laborers wheeling and
loading bags of sugar on the wharves, are paid
2/4 an hour for daylight labour; the working
day being from 7 to 5, with an hour for dinner,
and "smoke-o" morning and afternoon. Por
;i
QUEENSLAND: CEDAR AND GOLD
447
Cutting Sugar-Caue.
iiiglit work they receive 3/6 an hour. It costs ;i
working-man in Cairns £1 5 - a week for living,
which includes the usual Australian abundance of
beef and mutton. The workingman's table here
may be supplemented by home-grown pineapples,
(mangoes, granadillas, papaws, and custard apples;
e workingman's pig may get as fat as he will
I sweet potatoes and maize.
» * * *
From Cairns to Mooliba there is a line of
astal railway 42 miles in length. This is a sec-
tion of the great North Coast railway, which is
to connect Brisbane with Cairns, and later, no
doubt, Cooktown and Cape York. Much has
already been built, and more is under construc-
tion. Queensland is installing her transport on
scientific methods, and reaping a merited reward
in rapid development and decentralisation.
The Cairns-Mooliba line runs down a narrow
strip of sugar land, lying between the Coast
Hange and the Sea. I got up in the cool morning-
time to catch a mixed train leaving Cairns at 7.10
a.m. There are 30 stations between Cairns and
Mooliba, and the train stops at them all.
The conductor interested me. He was shunter
and stationmaster on occasion. He coupled and
uncoupled trucks, delivered mails and announced
the names of platforms, including Cu-Cania, Miri-
winni, and Quingilli. Everybody along the line
knew and evidently liked him, and he knew and
apparently liked everybody. It was a slow train,
but very friendly.
Imagine a delightful, fresh morning, and this
friendly train rolling along slowly over Hats and
tea-tree swamps, and then, out into the canefields.
On your right hand is a range of purple moun-
tains; on your left the sea. The tall green cane
glistens with dew.
At the Mulgrave Mill, there is a long line of
waiting trucks loaded high with newly-cut cane.
The leaves have been stripped from its purple,
jointed stalks. One hears the rollers working
steadily, and the heavy sweet smell of the cane
harvest is in the air.
Under the heel of a conical peak one sees a
young cotton and rubber plantation, and beyond
it a galvanised-iron church. Mango trees, bam-
boos, and bananas grow around the homesteads;
over the fences hibiscus proclaim the morning
from the mouths of scarlet trumpets. Pink and
448
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
white Belmontia blooms blazon on the verandahs
— it is a land of glorious flowers.
Is this a white worker's country? It is still a
contentious question in Northern Australia
There are many people in North-Western Aus-
tralia, the Territory, and Northern Queensland
who conscientiously argue in favor of colored
labor.
Sugar lands along this line are \alued at £6 an]
acre as standing scrub, which costs £7 an acrel
to fell and "log up." Cleared of stumps, it is'
worth anything from £15 to £30 an acre.
Many Italians, having got together the neces-l
sary capital, are becoming planters. They are!
proving excellent citizens.
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Cattle Creek, Mackay District
This book has nothing to do with party poli-
tics. It is intended chiefly to correct erroneous
ideas and proclaim non-partisan facts.
With an open mind, the author merely states
that in his opinion the clear tropic air of Cairns
is no worse for European lungs than the sooty
air of London; that life in Mackay is no more
fatal for white women than life in Morrison's
"Mean Streets." At the time of my visit, cane
cutters working 4! days were earning £3/10/-,
£5, and as high as £8 a week. Gangs of Italians
were making £1 a day per man, while the
Mulgrave River planters were netting £40 an
acre for their cane, after paying the expenses of
harvesting and milling.
I pulled off at McDonnell's Creek, to see my
old newspaper friend, Fred Morton, who has
turned sugar grower. His country lies almost in
the shadow of Bellenden-Ker — 5,158 feet of jun-
gled mountain, that reminds one of the moun-
tains of Java. We sat on the verandah and
talked of the country and of its future. In spring,
Morton said, the forest in front of us would be
still brighter with scarlet berries and flame trees
and flowers of all hues, and wonderful painted
butterflies fluttering over it all. In the scrub were
brush turkeys and cassowaries, green pigeons, and
the beautiful Torres Straits pigeon.
Up on the heights there were cataracts and
v/aterfalls rivalling the Barron. Enough hydro-
QUEENSLAND: CEDAR AND GOLD
449
electric power could be generated there to supply
all Northern Queensland.
That Bohemian household presented phases of
Australian life and character which made me feel
good.
With five young sons and a wife who typifies
all that is strong and resourceful in Australian
motherhood, Morton, grown tired of the seden-
tary life, attacks the jungle in middle age with fine
hope and courage!
Under Bellenden-Ker, which from jungled foot-
hills covered with beautiful trees, lianas, ferns and
— the correct outlook on this phase of the colour
question.
Altogether it is a blue and memorable day,
filled with gentle kindness and hospitality and the
sweetness of old acquaintance.
As I go back to Cairns, a neighbouring planter
who has been rung up on the house telephone
puts a heavy bundle of special sugar cane on the
platform of the little railway carriage for ship-
ment south to a family of Australian children
who have never seen a cane field
The sun sets in purple and gold, and lights the
Barrier's thousand reefs and isles. These placid
Maize Growing at Eel Creek, Wide Bay District
orchids, rises to purple heights, constantly
covered in cloud, he has sat him down and made a
Northern home.
He knows the North, believes in it, loves it.
We lunch in the porch, surrounded by ferns and
orchids gathered from the bush. It Is a delight-
ful lunch, and Includes a special dish — the stewed
rind of granadllla with custard — unexpectedly
good. A young cassowary, which followed the
children home from school one evening and
adopted the family, is part of the Morton en-
tourage. It is ungraceful but amusing. We are
waited on at table by a brown-skinned, soft-eyed,
half-caste girl, whom the matron of the establish-
ment is teaching to "live up to her white blood"
k
seas have known hurricanes, but to-night they will
be as calm as Lake Eacham, which was once a
lake of volcanic fire.
We say adieu to Cairns. Gradually the pic-
ture fades away — the mangroves and hills, pearl-
ing cutters and passing steamers, tender young
cedars blushing red in the scrub, coloured tops of
mango trees in flower, towering kauri, cascades,
waterfalls, flowering lantanas, white sails beneath
v/hlte clouds, aboriginal camp fires, black fisher-
men with poised spears upon coral rocks awash
with the incoming tides, tin-miners' tents, maize
fields and farms, banana groves, the great pla-
teau, the poppet-heads, the tin-roofed towns, the
forests, and the long rivers winding through
silent places to the Gulf.
A3
Fisher Falls, Inulsfail, North Queensland
450
1
COOKTOWN, CAPE YORK, THE GULF.
FOR over six degrees of latitude higher than
Cairns the projecting finger of York
Peninsula points towards the equator. To
the majority of Australians this is still terra
incognita. Yet it is as large as England and
Wales, highly mineralised, productive, well-
watered, with high mountains, frequent rivers,
and frontages to two oceans.
Of its west coast — facing the Gulf of Car-
pentaria— comparatively little is known. The
Chief Protector of Aborigines makes an
annual tour of inspection along the seaboard
from Thursday Island southward, where abori-
ginal mission stations have been established at
long distances apart. There are no towns and no
settlement yet.
A telegraph line runs from Thursday Island to
Cooktown on the west side of the Main Range,
which lies more towards the Pacific than the
Indian Ocean.
There are stations at Cape York, McDonnell,
Mein, Coen, Musgrave, Fairview, and Laura.
Mapoon Mission Station is located at the
mouth of the Batavia River, which empties into
the fine harbour of Port Musgrave, 80 miles
southward of Cape York — on the Gulf shore.
The natives engage in beche-de-mer and pearl
fishing. The shores of this coast are low and
sandy, with dense mangrove swamps at the
mouths of the rivers.
At the junction of the Hey and Embley Rivers,
further south, some astonishing native middens
Queensland /Aborigines' Mission Band
452
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
have been discovered. They are from 20 to 30
feet in height, and extend in mounds over several
hundred yards. These heaps are composed prin-
cipally of cockle and oyster shells. The whole of
York Peninsula has apparently been thickly popu-
lated by aboriginals for unknown hundreds of
years before the Dutchmen saw Cape Keer
Weer.
Weipa Mission Station is located 22 miles up
the Embley. There is a track from Weipa to
Moreton Telegraph Station — 436 miles from
Cooktown. At Moreton there is comparative
civilisation, and they get a fortnightly mail !
Iron ore, in supposed quantities, exists on the
northern part of the Peninsula, about Batavia
River particularly. It is readily accessible from
the sea, and may have a future value.
Thick scrub, tea-tree flats, and undulating
downs are the features of the Peninsula, away
from the coast. Geologically, large sections of
the country correspond to the opal-bearing sand-
stones of the Western Tablelands.
With a 55-inch annual rainfall, the Peninsula
generally is luxuriantly grassed and well
timbered.
The coast, between the Mitchell River and
Normanton, is flat, low, and sandy. It was along
here that the earliest Dutch discoveries were made
and the first geographical names given to any por-
tion of Australia. We have to thank Mynheer
of the early seventeenth century for Duyphen
Point, Cape Keer Weer, Nassau and Staaten
Rivers, and Van Diemen's Inlet.
Mangroves, marshes, salt pans, and shallow
muddy seas are the features of the Southern Gulf
Coast.
From some of the islands in the Gulf — almost
unknown and rarely visited — valuable cargoes of
guano have been secured from time to time.
On most of the Wellesley Islands the natives
still remain in possession. Sweers Island, visited
by Flinders in the Investigator, is occupied and
stocked with sheep. Horn Island, near Cape
York, has been worked as a goldfield, and Pos-
session Island, where Cook proclaimed British
suzerainty over the east coast of Australia, has
also yielded some gold.
Mining has practically been the history of this
yet undeveloped northern hinterland. Goldfields,
old and new, mark the outposts of civilisation be-
yond Cooktown. Of all these, so far, the Palmer
has been the greatest. In 1878 this famous allu-
vial field recorded the tremendous output of
116,759 ounces of fine gold. It was the richest
patch of alluvial yet discovered in the State.
For six years its reefs gave an average of 2 oz.
5 dwts. to the ton for every ton of stone put
through the mills. From 1878 to 1908 — in
thirty years of life, the yield of the Palmer made
the grand total of 1,325,095 oz. of fine gold.
:d oi^H
And yet this famous field is not worked
New reefs are constantly being located, and the
Palmer River and its branches continue to yield
gold, year after year. In his Annual Report for
1913 the Under Secretary for Mines says of t^Hj
Palmer: — "There should be a good opening f^^
a prospecting party with up-to-date methods to
find some payable propositions for perhaps
dredging or sluicing."
Without doubt there are "good openings" in I
many parts of York Peninsula, which sadly wants
a more vigorous policy in development am
mining.
"There is," the District Warden says, "a ge
ral depression on all these goldfields, but it wou
seem it is not so much the fault of the mini
themselves as a lack of the capital necessary
work and develop them properly."
Distance, and difficulty of transport, have rJ
tarded the development of what are undoubtedly
richly mineralised districts. Systematic mining,
experienced workmen, competent management,
and necessary expenditure will come in time.
Alluvial fields beyond the Palmer have yielded
large quantities of gold. The Coen, a hundred
miles to the north, remained undiscovered, or at
least unworked, until 1900. There one digger
won over 1,000 ounces of wash gold. Huntley,
the discoverer of the Coen, "dollied" 300 ounces
that year from a reef near by. Seventeen thou-
sand tons of Coen stone gave an average value
of £5 a ton. The output from Coen has sinci
declined. Reliable opinion is unanimous thai
these fields are by no means worked out
Hamilton field, adjoining the Coen, yielded
over £35,000 worth of gold that year. Like its
neighbours, it is now moribund. *
Croydon, Palmer, Coen, Hamilton, Alice
River, and Starcke goldfields may be regarded as
all parts of one vast auriferous system, which
has already made Northern Queensland another
Ophir, and mining enthusiasts believe it is ye|
only partially exploited. Between the chronil
optimist, who claims that the country has mere!
been scratched, and the careful geologist, who
reports hopefully, there is a wide margin of
chance. One can safely say that many fortunes
will be won — and lost — in these Northern mines
during the next generation. ^'
From time to time rushes have taken place in
the far North. The Batavia River rush, in the
early part of 191 1, caused some local excitement.
This is not to be wondered at. Men who follow
mining believe that the extreme North is still as
rich in possibilities as it has proved in reality.
They have had the sensational experience of the
Palmer, Charters Towers, Croydon, ChilIaQ;oe,
Coen, Herberton, Cloncurry — who dare say these
were all the riches munificent Northern Nature -
had in her immemorial keeping?
X
i
COOKTOWN, CAPE YORK, THE GULF
453
■
■V If the history of Northern prospecting and
■ mining speculation were written, it would make
a fine volume of adventure and sensation.
How often has merest accident preluded
mighty discovery ! How often has the Adventurer
become the Millionaire! The wildest romances
of fortune-hunting could be woven in facts about
the mines, good and bad, that lie between Towns-
\ille and Possession Island.
Batavia River only yielded a paltry 2,500
ounces of gold for twelve months' toil — but who
knows? To-morrow the world may be ringing
with the discovery of another Palmer !
Let the output of Cooktown and York Penin-
sula Districts be, in 191 1, no more than £28,161
worth of gold. Next year some Gulf port may
be crowded with eager diggers on their way to
another Charters Towers!
People do not get so excited over tin. Yet tin
mining of later years has become immensely pro-
fitable.
The tin fields of the Peninsula are spread over
a wide area. They are being worked in a casual
and slipshod fashion- — but the last word has not
Ibeen written in the history of Peninsula tin, nor
of gold, nor wolfram, nor, probably, iron and
coal.
The district from end to end has a good clim-
ate. There is no difficulty in growing fruit,
jvegetables, and other produce on many fine agri-
cultural patches with which the mineral fields are
interspersed.
A Wayside Station on the Cloncurry Railway
During the last three years there has been an
increasing occupation of the remaining pastoral
lands of York Peninsula. In 1912 an official in-
spection was made of the far Northern division
of the Peninsula, and large areas of good grazing
lands discovered.
Such, in fine, is a brief and cursory review of
this long arm of the Commonwealth which
reaches from Normanton and Mourilyan to
Torres Strait.
Thursday Island makes a stepping stone to-
wards Australian New Guinea, which is only a
short day's sail across calm equatorial waters.
The way is spotted with Islands. The town of
Thursday is interesting for its pearling associa-
tions. Here the Japanese diver, the Manilaman,
the Macassarman, the Chinese storekeeper, and
the aboriginal make subjects for students of eth-
nology. Thursday, on a hillside sloping to a
wharf. Is the farthest out of Queensland post
offices — 1,500 miles from Brisbane.
From Thursday Island to Cooktown, coming
South, frequent steamers tread with infinite cau-
tion the narrow passages between the Barrier
Reef and the mainland.
From the time the vessel dips her flag to Jar-
dine's house at Somerset — which is just below
Cape York — there is constant Interest for
passengers during daylight hours, and continual
anxiety for skippers and pilots all times of
day and night. Skippers frequently anchor along
this coast from dark until daylight, rather than
take the risk.
454
COOKTOWN, CAPE YORK, THE GULF
455
Steamers inward bound make Goode Island
light in grey daylight if they can. The narrow
passage into Thursday lies between an archi-
pelago of islets.
Here reefs, shoals, and swirling tides put out
their traps for ships. Through a narrow mouth
in the coral up here, Bligh, with wonderful pre-
There are beaches of white sand and pretty
jungles to keep the ladies amused, and Jardine's
house, with its palms and open courtyard perched
on the side of a hill on the mainland, a little sandy
cove at its feet. But for the men on the bridges
iv is an anxious time passing Mr. Jardine's front
door so closely.
A Banana Plantation
cision, brought his boat on its heroic voyage from
Tahiti to Batavia after the Bounty mutiny
[- — Bligh, the much-maligned, who was compli-
lented on the quarter-deck by Nelson for
)ravery, and accomplished a voyage without
)arallel in maritime history!
Up here the Quetta's iron hull is rusting on
le rock that entrapped her.
Below Sextant Rock and the high hill that
Irounds off a continent — bare of trees, grassed to
Kts summit, and sloping northward to the water
fof the Strait — lies the "pass," where careful men
)n the bridges do "slew" their ships, while all
lands stand by, and second officers go for'ard,
nth, for the most part, Chinese crews.
Anxious, too, for them is that narrow but
supremely beautiful course that leads the iron
feet of Commerce southward to Pipon Island
light, off Cape Melville, on the nether shores of
Princess Charlotte Bay.
The low, sandy shores of Pipon, fringed with
mangroves, may grow monotonous to the three
lighthouse families who occupy those white
buildings which are all the dwellings on, maybe,
two hundred miles of coast. Once, the story
runs, natives from the mainland put off in their
canoes to attack this lonely light-station, and a
terrified woman escaped in an iron tank by her
open door — the sea.
Back from this rocky coast are sleeping moun-
tains blanketed with jungle. Eastward He
456
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Native Canoes on the Bloomfield Biver
islands — some covered with emerald vegetation,
some mere coral reefs and atolls. At sunrise and
sunset flocks of wild ducks and Torres Straits
pigeons may be seen flying back and forth from
freedom's haunts to natural sanctuaries.
At night corroboree fires light the darkness of
shores yet unoccupied by Europeans
Morning off Cooktown is all that the South
Pacific can give. You go to your berth overnight
in the East Indies and waken in the Pacific Islands.
The land under your lee might be Tahiti or
Samoa, or the Fijis. Purple peaks, of Polynesian
contours, rear their jungle-covered heights before
you. Mount Peter Bott — taboo to the natives —
conspicuous among them.
Captain James Cook and his company had this
scene before them from June 17th until August
6th in the winter of 1770.
It was Cook himself who buoyed the channel,
"which I found narrow, the harbour small, but
very convenient for our present purpose."
He brought the Endeavour, then a lame duck,
into the harbour that bears his name, after the
coral off Cape Tribulation had ripped her his-
torical old wooden side. She came in, fothered
under the starboard fore-chains, making fifteen
inches of water an hour, and her gallant company
worn out with exertion and anxiety.
Here she lay careened at the mouth of the
Endeavour River, after going ashore twice on
the way in, for nearly two months, while his car-
penters and armourers employed themselves daily
upon the business of caulking ship, and making
bolts and nails and ironwork. The slopes of
Mount Cook echoed for the first time the lusty
hammering of English coopers repairing the
rotten water-butts of the ship.
Cook's men were kept busy during those weeks
loading and unloading ship, digging wells, cutting
wood, watering, hauling the seine, gathering
greens, catching turtle, making rope and brooms,
and generally performing all the duties which the
eighteenth century commander could find for his
crew.
The tree, to which the old wooden bark was
moored, is still standing, and a monument marks
the landing place of the navigator.
A stone cairn at the almost inaccessible sum-
mit of Mount Saunders on the north-west side of
the bay was re-discovered in 1904. It was about
four feet high, with room in the centre for a flag-
staff. It is said that on one of the stones of the
cairn the word "Cook" had been chiselled.
These historical recollections make the ap-
proach to Cooktown doubly interesting to an
Australian. Here the great captain spent his
longest period on Australian soil.
It was a strenuous time for the Endeavour's
people. Morning off Cooktown would not have
the poetic or artistic appeal to them, which it
brings to the passenger of aesthetic temperament,
who may appreciate to the full the soft early
lights that deepen with the day, the royal ranges
in their purple morning robes, the lake-coloured
rocks, the sea of velvet.
COOKTOWN, CAPE YORK, THE GULF
457
If he be a shore-going passenger, his vessel will
not be tied to that now-dead tree at the mouth of
the Endeavour River, but will land him comfort-
ably at a wharf where logs of sandalwood, bags
of ore, rice and coffee, and boxes of tropical fruit
are waiting shipment.
Fishing, shooting, and beautiful drives through
tropical scenery are offered him. He may go in-
land by railway 67 miles to Laura, and see mines
of tin and gold. By Cooktown he may gather
sandalwood, or seek for nuggets, or pearls.
Perhaps, in the end, it will pay him better to
seek for a good section of scrub land, whereon he
may produce rubber, or coffee, or cocoanuts. Of
such land there are mighty areas yet untouched
in the Far North. The Daintree and Bloomfield
Rivers, between Cooktown and Port Douglas,
and Mount Molloy, 60 railway miles from
Cairns, are all part of that vast scrub, which we
have already viewed at Kuranda, Tolga, and
Malanda. This scrub extends southward to
^^Jiinchinbrook, in varying widths, elevations, and
I^Kontours. It encloses mountains like Mount
^^^lexander, a crater 4,000 feet high. Mount Wind-
'"or (4,000), Bartle Frere, and Bellenden-Ker.
It contains assets such as the Tully and Barron
I Falls, and the Mossman and Johnstone Rivers.
I^Vlills and mines it has, and vigorous settlement
^pi the making; but, as we have already said, it is
productive enough to support 125,000 people on
the land — under conditions which obtain in Aus-
tralia to-day.
Below the Annan River — the greatest tin-pro-
ducing fields of the Far North — lies the town of
Port Douglas on an idyllic strand; green islands
with golden beaches, lagoons, and feathered
palms, cast their shadow-pictures into blue mir-
rors of unruffled seas.
Romantic mountains roll behind it, painted at
sunrise and sunset with the impressionist brushes
of the Tropics. Birds and insects of gorgeous
colours haunt the everglades of these hills.
Trains of pack mules, laden with ore, one time
trod their shady tracks; but now their quietness
W^ rarely broken, save by a native hunter walking
"Softly under the cedars; or a prospector, dream-
ing of fortune, as he rides slowly along with his
pack-horses beside him.
When Port Douglas was the shipping depot
for Hodgkinson and Mount Molloy fields, it en-
■ joyed all the activity that active mining carries
with it.
But Cairns' railway took the product of these
fields another way, and then Port Douglas set-
tled down to develop the alluvial lands of the
Mossman and Mowbray Rivers as a sugar-grow-
ing proposition.
Mills and tramlines, enterprise, and favourable
condition have done the rest— the sugar fields of
Mossman are now among the finest in the
State.
South of Cairns lies the beautiful and fertile
Tully River District, another section of this
Northern Jungle, which, let us hope, will carry
the 125,000 people of our prediction at no very
distant time.
On the Tully the Queensland Government pro-
claims land for farmers which will grow cane,
maize, root crops, lucerne, paspalum, and arti-
ficial grasses; citrus and stone fruits, bananas,
pineapples, cotton, tobacco — recommended as a
special crop for North Queensland farmers —
rubber, coffee and cocoa.
There are not many countries where all these
products can be raised inside the one fence.
The Tully district embraces the land between
Cardwell and Maria Creek, watered by con-
stantly running creeks and rivers, lagoons and
swamps, and destined for agriculture and dairy
farming.
A greater volume of water than the Barron
comes over the Tully Falls, the main drop of
which is 885 feet. Hydro-electric power for the
rapid development of this district could and
should certainly be generated. The author con-
fidently asserts that all this great scrub can be
converted into one of the biggest White Aus-
tralian propositions, in a very few years, by at-
tacking it on American methods.
Tully Falls, Oaims Hinterland
A4
458
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Gallet Creek, Calrns-Musgrave District
There is latent power enough going to waste
between Cooktown and Cardwell to run electric
trams, rapid mountain railways, sugar mills, can-
ning works, fibre factories, butter factories and
creameries, tobacco factories, cotton mills, timber
mills, furniture factories, mines, and various
suitable industries which could be established.
If a Government which has to safeguard and
aid the development of a territory greater than
any European country, except Russia, cannot
stand financially for all this, then let reasonably-
restricted commercial citizenship step in and do
it. The whole Commonwealth will profit by the
rapid filling up of one, at least, of its empty places
in the North.
From Rockingham Bay northward there will
be another Clarence and Richmond and Tweed,
another Dorrigo, and more.
The Tully is rich in cedar, pine, silky oak,
black bean, and valuable ornamental timbers.
Back from the river are natural pastures covered
with good herbage, which, in their virgin state,
will carry three cattle to every two acres all the
year round.
Para rubber, cane, and bananas are the prin-
cipal cultures of the Tully. These can be ex-
tended and other payable agricultural industries
developed.
The rainfall has averaged lOO inches per an-
num during the last 35 years.
Such are the tropical coast lands of Northern
Queensland; such is the great arm of alternate
mineral and agricultural lands, which is known
as York Peninsula; such are some of the higher
scrub lands overlooking the coast. What of the
western country out by Georgetown, Croydon,
Normanton, Burketown, and the Gulf?
The average annual rainfall of Georgetown is
34.05 inches, of Croydon 27.97, of Normanton
37. 6g. Compared with parts of Southern Aus-
tralia this may be classed as adequate, if not
copious.
If a short line connecting Croydon with For-
sayth were built, Normanton and Cairns would
be in touch by railway. It appears to the casual
observer of Queensland development, that short-
ening the sea journey round Cape York and
establishing quicker communication with the
Pacific, would greatly hasten the progress of the
Gulf country, which is not the least of the State's
assets. Its future seems to be essentially pastoral
and mineral.
COOKTOWN, CAPE YORK, THE GULF
459
The history of the Etheridge goldfield, which
now has a rail head at P'orsayth, 263 miles from
Cairns, shows that from 1900 to 1908 the output
of reef gold was, in round figures, 71,346 ounces,
won from 73,279 tons of quartz crushed. A
great portion of the gold-bearing quartz of the
Etheridge carries a heavy admixture of sulphides
of iron, zinc, and lead, which have prevented the
economic treatment of the ore by ordinary
battery process. The number of recorded reefs
is over 200, scattered over a wide area. Most
of the gold won between 1900 and 1908 was from
easily-mined and easily-treated stone. Copper
and silver-lead have also been discovered, and
successfully mined, in this district.
Up to 1 9 14, the total yield of Etheridge, Oaks,
and Woolgar was 582,595 fine ounces, with an
average value per ton cf stone treated of nearly
■£4/5/-, or a total increased value for the year of
£2,476,029.
The goldfields of Croydon from 1886 to 1914
produced in all 758,199 ounces of fine gold.
So much for the mineral side of the question.
A reference to latest stock, returns shows that the
three Gulf districts — Norman, Burke, and Ethe-
ridge— were carrying over a million head of
horned cattle.
Altogether this distant Gulf country is not the
least, nor the worst, of Queensland's posses-
sions.
Whitsunday Passage, North Queensland
I
i
I
Gill Street, Charters Towers
THE HEART OF QUEENSLAND.
THE romance that goes with every great min-
ing field still hangs over Charters Towers.
At least the stranger finds it so. All
remote places in Australia are set down as insuf-
ferably hot. In spite of experience and travel
it is hard to divest one's mind of these precon-
ceived impressions.
Arriving at the Towers late one night in
August, the writer, somewhat to his surprise,
wakened on a fresh, foggy morning in a tem-
perate clime.
The shower-bath had a southern nip in it.
Further west it was destined to prove still colder.
Like Kalgoorlie, the Towers has cool, invigora-
ting winters; and a summer climate which its per-
manent residents find healthy and bearable.
A coastal invalid requiring a refreshing change
'would do well to winter at Charters Towers, Kal-
goorlie, or Broken Hill! Yet what distressing
stories have been published about these places !
What entirely false impressions created!
Strolling down Ann-street, Charters Towers,
under tall willow fig trees which shaded beauti-
ful, pleasant cottages facing the parks, the
riter smiled from the depths of his overcoat at
some of his own previous fancies. Surely this
was not the terrible "Towers" — this Old Vic-
torian mining township transplanted North! Not
Knly poppet-heads in the distance brought Ben-
i
^^tui
iB^^r
digo to mind, but shady avenues, bandstands,
green lawns, gravelled walks, fountains, bush
houses, tennis courts — all of which indicated civic
spirit and public taste. Where was the coarse
strenuousness, the absolute barrenness, the unre-
lieved ugliness that one had been led to expect?
They were like the "Great Australian Desert"
— constantly shifting further and further back.
In sooth, there were signs — in the great "dumps"
of grey and greenish-grey stone which marked the
lodes — that tremendous underground labours had
taken place.
The town was covered with a greyish dust; for
the heart of the hills was being pulverised in huge
stone mills, and a constant burring of machinery
sounded like the ominous swarming of a colossal
hive of bees.
Hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of
mining plant was hived under galvanised-iron
sheds within the city radius, a city of 18,000 busy
people.
Distant smoke stacks on the sky-line showed
the extent of the field. Sounds of signals from
below, winding gear at work; shouts of
school children, rattling of cart wheels, the
tooting of motor horns, all proclaimed that
civilisation had claimed another distant Aus-
tralian range — once regarded, like many a far-off
range to-day, as of no particular account.
461
462
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Chinese Method of Irrigation, Hughenden
From the time of first discovery on Charters
Towers to the end of the year 19 14, this field
had yielded over six and a half million ounces
of fine gold.
The stability and constant production of the old
fields are a feature of Queensland gold-mining.
Gympie, Charters Towers, Mount Morgan, after
long and productive lives, are still among the big
working mines of the continent. Charters
Towers was discovered in 1872. For many years
its annual gold yield has been the greatest of all
Queensland mineral fields. As a copper proposi-
tion Its life begins as late as 1907. Ravenswood
preceded Charters Towers by three years. It
was a party of reef miners from Ravenswood who
located the Towers. Discouraged by the strik-
ing at water level of refractory mundic ore, irre-
ducible by any then known process, this party of
Ravenswood men went westward prospecting,
and, in the usual casual way of mineral discovery,
found what has since proved the richest goldfield
in Queensland — one of the richest in the world.
One of the Charters Towers pioneers made (and
squandered) a fortune of £300,000. He was after-
wards found dead with his swag beside him on
the track between "The Towers" and Croydon.
From the time of its formation to the year
1906 one Towers company — the Mill's Day
Dawn United — returned to its shareholders no
less than £427,500 in dividends.
The area of the proclaimed field is 1,700 square
miles. "The reefs follow a definite system. They
form a sort of horseshoe bend with its convex
side to the south, and underlie towards the centre
of this curve at a low angle." The gold runs in
"shoots," traversing the lodes at various angles,
generally occupying the whole width of the lode,
from wall to wall, but alternating with extensive
blank patches.
The lodes consist of white quartz, in which
sections of "specimen" gold have been found;
but as a general principle the mineralised shoot
carries iron pyrites, with occasionally galena and
zinc blende and traces of copper. The average
observer, examining the reef stone of the Towers,
would be unable to see the slightest trace of gold
in it; but to the men who know, the discovery of
such stone in another part of Australia would set
their hearts thumping.
This lode material is cleanly held in the parent
syenite or granite, which makes the general for-
mation of the low-lying hills of the Towers.
To the average layman there is nothing in the
world to indicate, moreover, that this common-
looking drab range, possessing no particular
eminence, no distinctive feature of gorge or cliff,
or rocky bastion, is seamed and veined, for miles,
with rich quartz reefs which have returned mil-
lions of pounds' worth of precious gold.
In the minds of most people, broken and rug-
ged mountains are always associated with natural
treasure. In reality, the bullion boxes of nature
at Ballarat, Bendigo, Gympie, Kalgoorlie, Mount
Morgan, Broken Hill, Charters Towers, were
just left lying around in most unlikely-looking
places. The same inappropriate surroundings
THE HEART OF QUEENSLAND
463
I tame most of our treasure pictures. The men
fho went prospecting in picturesque or likely-
ooking spots, more often than not were rewarded
with scenery — and maybe a "colour."
The casual traveller, crossing over some place
as barren in seeming as a brickyard, has chanced
Result of Irrigation, Hughenden
on a field which presently set the feet of adven-
ture moving from one end of the world to the
other. It is mostly in stories that the wild and
rugged mountain and the deep, mysterious gully,
conceal the fortune hunters' prize.
The future of Charters Towers district may be
In the Kingaroy Country, Burnett District
464
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
agricultural. There is a basaltic strip of country
extending from the Towers towards Atherton, at
an elevation of 1000 to 2000 feet, which is said
to be similar in quality to Kingaroy district. The
mean annual rainfall of the Towers is 26.67
inches, which is more than sufficient for agricul-
ture elsewhere.
spite of their surroundings, a testimony that the
land is no desert.
Some day both Kalgoorlie and Charters
Towers may be more interested in the surface of
the soil than they have been in the galleries of the
underground.
Hauling Timbei
It would be ludicrous to think that the neat
flower gardens, the mangoes, bananas and pa-
paws, which beautify the comfortable residences
of the Towers, were the result of a climate and
condition unfavorable to the growth of profitable
crops. Good grass can be seen growing by the
side walks in the streets of the town itself. The
leaves of the papaws, the grass alike, are
covered in grey dust; but there they flourish, in
Charters Towers is 82 miles from Townsville,
and a thousand feet higher. The railway from
Townsville to Cloncurry mounts gradually to the
plateau on which Charters Towers is located,
goes as high as 18 19 feet at the 170 mile distance,
and falls again gradually to 400 and 600 feet at
Cloncurry.
Hughenden is 236 miles from Townsville, and
Cloncurry 481. The man who travels down that
THE HEART OF QUEENSLAND
465
A Queen^aud Cattle Camp
long railway, from the coast line to the heart of
Queensland, will learn something of Australia.
A mail train leaves Townsville every Monday
at 8 p.m., and reaches Cloncurry at a quarter
to eight on Tuesday evening. The ordinary daily
train goes only as far as Hughenden, where pas-
sengers remain overnight, and complete their
journey to Cloncurry next day.
At Charters Towers station, awaiting the daily
train, you see a huge stack of parcels done up in
sugar bags, with address labels attached.
This is the daily bread and meat for down the
line — for Ulgulu, Powlathanga, Mungunburra,
d other little sidings and stoppings with weird
aboriginal names, where the stockman, the horse-
breeder, the miner, or the maintenance man
abide.
Out of the Towers, if it happens t-^ be spring-
time, the train runs into a forest of wattle in
bloom, which makes odorous the first few miles.
It is a flat, thickly-wooded country — much of
the convenient timber has been felled for use at
the mines — but it is no desert on the face of it.
Outside each railway carriage is a hook, from
which is suspended a water-bag for the use of
passengers. This, however, means no more than
a fashion — or a convenience.
As you go down into the west, at various sid-
I
ings are stock trains waiting to pass on their way
to Townsville. The Desert-Believer pauses to
think when he sees these long trains laden with
fat cattle, sheep, and horses from the interior of
Queensland.
Tall brown grasses wave before the wind — a
cool, dry wind — and the beautiful cerise blossoms
of the beefwood sweep to and fro on swaying
branches.
This handsome acacia is locally known as
"desert oak" — it could only grow in good coun-
try, and it is not an oak — facts which go to show
that Australian nomenclature is not to be taken
too literally.
At a refreshment room down the line the train
stops for lunch, and the wayfarer gets good
western beef, such beef as makes him wonder if
he has ever really eaten meat before.
Here he may study the men and women of the
west — rough, hearty, healthy, and eminently
cheerful. Why should they not be cheerful,
these sawmillers and drovers, tank sinkers,
sheepmen, cattlemen, and miners, in a land of the
best wages, the best living, the best climate, and
the best chances in the world ! Freedom, justice,
health, absolute security for life and property,
and opportunity — these are qualities and condi-
tions that make for human happiness, and men
466
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
may find them all on the wide lands of Queens-
land.
The train goes on again, constantly stopping to
put down packages and passengers; to throw out
loaves and letters for prospectors and stockmen,
camped perhaps by the bed of some dry, sandy
creek, which, like the rock of Moses, will yield
a clear supply of unexpected water by digging a
hole a foot deep! The tea at the refreshment
rooms was made from just such water — and it
was good.
Good forest and long grass cover the plateau
now. At Cape River, which is nowhere in par-
ticular, a Chinaman loads six cases of fine-looking
oranges into the brake van — the "desert" is re-
ceding yet further into the distance!
At Torrens Creek — where there is a meat pre-
serving works — we have entered a district of fine
red soils, covered with beautiful timbers, and
closely resembling the Riverina in New South
Wales.
Sunset sees us in flat alternate red and black
lands, covered with magnificent grasses. The
train waits for us to dine at a bush public-house
with shy bushmen. Opposite is seated a man
with soft brown eyes and plastered hair, a hand-
some man who "belongs" out in the Barkly Table-
land over the Queensland border.
It is dark when the train reaches Hughenden.
You find a comfortable hotel, commission the
boots to wake you at 5 in the morning, and sleep
with several blankets over you.
To-morrow, they tell you, you will see the
downs, which, the brown-eyed man said gently, is
"the heart of Queensland."
It is still dark. You are taken, half-awake, to
a lamplit platform where another train, with a
row of waterbags hanging out along the car-
riages, is waiting.
Daylight has just broken as this train draws
slowly out- — bound for Cloncurry, 245 miles fur-
ther west.
Dawn's left hand is in the sky, a faint red
colour which gradually turns to deepest rose and
spreads right up to zenith. It reveals to your
astonished eyes a boundless expanse of beautiful
downs, covered with tall, dew-wet grasses of the
richest varieties that Australian black soils pro-
duce !
We pull up at the woolshed four miles from
Hughenden. Across the local landscape a man
is pedalling a bicycle. A horseman follows him.
There are no bushes, no trees; these two figures
grow out of the distance like figures on a photo-
graphic negative, silently, mysteriously — there is
nothing behind them but the skyline where it
meets the plain.
On again in the coolness and the fragrance of
that undescribable morning, a morning that falls
like a prayer from the lips of this Immensity of
Plain and Sky.
Brave old Phillip in your tent by Sydney Cove!
Seer and Prophet in a snuff-stained camlet coat!
We hear your voice calling like a silver bugle
across the years: — "I believe the colony will be
the finest acquisition that England has ever
made!"
The sun has risen ! Like a ship at sea, the
train travels on, the moving centre of an enor-
mous circle — of black soil.
It looks like a hayfield in spring, a hayfield
whereon a ploughman might cut a hundred-mile
furrow without meeting a stump !
It extends from the Gulf to the southern bor-
der— through Aramac, Barcaldine, Blackall,
Roma, and Cunnam.ulla ! It is the Heart of
Queensland! This patch of prairie which we are
crossing now, on a rapid calculation, contains
6,400,000 acres.
To-day they call 20,000 acres a living area.
Some day, one feels sure, that will be reduced to
640 acres, a square mile.
Altogether Queensland may have eighteen to
twenty million acres like this.
Under it all, from the Gulf to the Border, and
further North and South — from Boulia to Black-
all and further — East and West — is ci sea of
underground water!
The inland sea sought by early explorers was
there all the time. But they searched in the wrong
place for it. If, instead of seeking on the surface,
they had looked below, the early History of Aus-
tralia would have been differently written.
It is called the great Artesian Basin. It is one
of the big things of Australia — one of the phy-
sical wonders of the world!
It renders a vast Inland — where pastoral and
agricultural industries would otherwise be subject
to caprice of season — certain of permanent and
profitable occupation.
Another chapter of this volume will be devoted
particularly to the fascinating subject of Artesian
Water. Enough to say here, that it is an asset
to Queensland which cannot be expressed in ordi-
nary money values.
These astounding prairies are covered with
Flinders, Mitchell, and blue grass, which, any
Australian stockman knows, are the finest stock-
feed the Commonwealth grows.
Horses do as well on Mitchell grass as maize.
At Queensland back-block race meetings, it is no
uncommon thing to find on the programme an
event for Grass- Fed Horses against Hard-led
Horses, and the back-country men put their
money on "grass-fed" — and win.
Where the grass has been burned alongside the
THE HEART OF QUEENSLAND
467
Scrub Clearing in North Queensland
m
railway line to make fire-breaks, kangaroos, great
red fellows, can be seen hopping away from the
young green feed. Flocks of bustards, the "wild
turkeys" of Australia, mobs of native com-
panions, emus, and all kinds of native game, are
everywhere plentiful.
Fat bullocks, sleek horses, fat sheep testify to
the richness of the herbage, which can be con-
verted into ensilage or hay.
With proper management Western Queensland
need fear no drought — ample fodder for the sus-
tentation of stock can be stored, and an inexhaus-
tible supply of water is obtainable by simply tap-
ping the earth. It is impossible to overrate the
value of these Central and Western Downs.
Xeither Asian steppes nor American prairies can
vie with them. They are the backbone of the
continent, and will ultimately be the spinal cord of
its settlement.
Listen ! Three hundred and eighty miles west
from Townsville, you stand on a perfectly flat,
blacksoil plain with not a bush, let alone a tree,
sight! It is ready for the plough.
Here you could put the share into a rich, friable
mould, and furrow to the skyline in any direction.
If you asked me what that land is worth, I would
say its ultimate value is one hundred pounds per
acre. Someday, after my bed is made (in good
Australian earth, I hope) that will be its price.
To-day it is — without population — worth no
more than the annual rentals which pastoralists
are paying the Government for it. Even to-day
10,000 acres, carrying 4,000 sheep with greasy
wool at 2/oi a lb., and scoured wool at 3/4 a lb.,
would be a family independence.
When this land is green, in early summer, the
sight of it brings reverence to a man's soul. It is
all one sea of waving grass a level foot high, from
where you stand to where sky and plain meet.
From winter to winter, a snowflake has never
rested upon it. Yet its warmest days of summer
are followed by nights of refreshing coolness.
Four-hundred-mile stretches of prairie, such as
this, do not occur frequently.
Hayfields, a hundred and sixteen thousand
square miles in area, with plenty of water and a
liveable climate, are difl'icult to find outside Aus-
tralia. The population of all Queensland is a
little over half a million people. One of these
hayfields will contain that number without diffi-
culty in days to come.
Between Hughenden and Cloncurry, the downs
have an average rainfall of 19 inches a year, and
the artesian basin extends at least to the silurian
formation, which begins a little to the eastward
of that point.
It may be too soon to talk of agriculture for
this country, but, in the ordinary course of evolu-
tion, its time must come.
468
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Here are some present-day facts locally gath-
ered.
At Torrens Creek, 55 miles to the eastward of
Hughenden, 181 west of Townsville, on 20,000
acres a white man is running 8000 sheep.
Beyond Cloncurry, on Fort Constantine Sta-
tion, are 1280 square miles of good pastoral
country, a fourth of which had "fallen in" (the
leases expired) in 19 13. This would be taken
up on 28 years' lease at ild. to ifd. per acre
annual rental.
About Richmond — treeless downs country on
the railway line, 71 miles west from Hughenden
— the land is being thrown open by the Govern-
ment in 10,000-acre blocks on the easiest terms.
At Hughenden, on ten acres, a Chinaman is
making £1000 a year with citrus fruit and vege-
tables.
You go westward with the sun — at railway
speed — from dawn to dark, and you are still on
the same grassy plain, still occupying the moving
centre of that constant circle which is the horizon.
The sun goes down as it does at sea, and all
around that horizon there is colour in the sky,
and not a tree !
Far away in the west, you may trace the outline
of a low range of hills. That is Cloncurry, where
this wealth of soil and subterranean water gives
place, for a time, to mineral wealth, almost as
incalculable !
For hundreds of miles you have been travel-
ling in a straight line — a long goods train with a
half-dozen passenger carriages, and the guard's
van at the tail.
You have not seen a cluster of houses since
Richmond, at breakfast time. An occasional tent,
an occasional railway siding along the unfenced
track, and a couple of station woolsheds — these
are all the signs of habitation.
The smoke from the engine hangs out across
the plain in a straight, black line, as the smoke
from a steamer's funnel at sea on a calm even-
ing.
It is impossible to describe the light that has
grown up into an absolutely cloudless sky on the
sun's downward track. It is impossible to convey
to the reader's mind adequate impressions of the
immensity, the fertility, the wonder and glory of
these matchless Queensland Downs.
The mineral fields of Cloncurry, say the mining
men, cover the greatest copper deposits in the
world.
They extend, approximately, 250 miles north
and south. In 19 14 they were supporting 4,217
people.
Cloncurry is a series of surprises to the stran-
ger. Five hundred miles inland from Townsville
he expects to find absolute crudity. He enters
instead into an atmosphere of comparative com-
fort and perfect order. Electricity and the inter-
nal-combustion engine are hastening the develop,
ment of inland Australia. Out-back the great dis-
tances, away from the railway lines and beyond
the railheads are rapidly covered by the motor
car. You will see more automobiles than stage
coaches In Cloncurry. The Austraha of Cobb &
Co. is no more.
In August, 19 13, working miners were receiv-
ing 16/3 for shifts, and 11/- for surface work, at
Cloncurry. For 22/6 a week they could get good
board and lodging anywhere on the fields.
On the stations married couples were getting
£120 a year, with free keep and quarters.
Western Queensland is certainly a land of
opportunities, for capital and labour alike.
The future of Cloncurry, they tell you locally,
depends largely on the railway policy. Cloncurry
wants railway communication with the Gulf of
Carpentaria. A gulf port, they say, will mean
the development of many mining shows which
would not pay under present conditions.
The value of the field's output, all metals, for
1914 was £536,575. Over eleven hundred
leases had been taken up as far back as 1908, in
addition to the freehold properties which were
secured 30 years ago.
The Mines Department mentions about 489
mining leases on which exploration or active
operations were being carried on in 19 14.
The principal groups were the Mount Elliott,
Hampden, Cloncurry Copper Mines Ltd., Mount
Cuthbert, Mount Federal, Mount Oxide.
English and French investors hold large In-
terests In Mount Elliott and Hampden-Clon-
curry.
Feeder lines have been put out from Clon-
curry to Malbon, MacGregor, Duchess, Hamp-
den, Selwyn, Mount Cuthbert, and will doubtless
be extended, as this great mineral field is de-
veloped, over the 15,000 square miles it covers.
We are told by mining experts that the "most
promising properties on the whole field have not
yet been exploited very energetically because of
their isolation." One particularly rich group of
mines Is located 150 miles west of Cloncurry
township.
Owing to the distance and cost of transport,
prior to the opening of the great Northern Rail-
way to Cloncurry, only the richest of Cloncurry
ores were regarded as payable. The local defini-
tion of "poor ore" is from 20 per cent, to 30 per
cent., according to locality. Camels are even now
bringing in ore to Cloncurry 160 miles at a cost
of £8 a ton, and the ore is so rich that it pays.
THE HEART OF QUEENSLAND
469
Pretty nearly every form of ore deposit is to
be found in this Cloncurry District, which must
become one of the greatest mining centres in the
Austrahan Commonwealth.
No known copper field can show the same area
and richness of surface deposits. The most
eminent geological and mining opinion is that, in
all probability, these ore bodies will "live" at a
depth.
Fluctuation in price of metals may hasten or
retard the progress of Cloncurry, but, as one of
the greatest — if not the greatest — conper-produc-
ing districts on earth, it is now firmly estab-
lished.
The approved Great Western Railway, which
is to unite Brisbane with Camooweal, via Charle-
ville, and link up the western terminals of
the Rockhampton and Townsville systems from
Cloncurry, Winton, and Blackall — will hasten the
development of the West. It is a conception
worthy of statesmen who direct the destinies of a
Land of Big Things.
All Western Queensland has proved good.
The Gulf is good; from Cloncurry to the Terri-
tory border is good; the Georgina is good, Birds-
ville is good, the Diamantina is good, and the
Barcoo is splendid.
A street in Longreach
■A very large industrial population can be in-
stalled along this great mineral belt. There
should be no difficulty in supplying them with
locally-grown food.
Adjacent pastoral country is already produc-
ing the best beef and mutton in the world. Clon-
curry can itself grow oranges, and has produced
cabbages 28 lbs. in weight. Naturally, a mining
community will pay little attention to agriculture,
but all through the mineral belt, one sees places
where hundreds of fields, orchards and gardens,
might be established.
Not only on the steep banks of the Gregory —
which takes the waters of the Barkly Tableland
to the Gulf — not only along the Leichhardt, the
Flinders and the Cloncurry, is agricultural settle-
ment possible, but ultimately cultivation in some
form or another will be established at various
places throughout the land.
If any man doubts these assertions, he can
look up the stock returns.
In the backyards of Cloncurry you could, with
water, grow cabbages or asparagus. The sand of
the roads is intensely fertile. This district has
been described as "poor mineral country." Yet
some of its mines are yielding 80 per cent, cop-
per!
After rain the red soils of this 80 per cent,
region become green fields. Grass grows up
everywhere. It is a mineral field 300 miles in
length, 150 miles wide, and still no "desert."
Out here, when the cold south-east wind is
blowing, a man shivers in his overcoat.
The interior of Australia is the healthiest clim-
ate in the world. The idea that it is insufferably
hot is a profound error. With the thermometer at
Cloncurry registering 116, one midsummer's day,
they held a sports meeting, in which cycling and
47°
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
foot racing were principal items. July and
August at Cloncurry are appreciably cold. Eight
degrees of frost have been registered at Southern
Cross, Western Australia; winter in the Mac-
Donnell Ranges is described as "severe."
The idea that all the interior is primitive, bar-
baric, out-of-date, is another delusion.
You may go down by rail from Cloncurry to
Hampden and come to a place in remotest
Queensland where £450,000 have been spent in
the development of one mine, or group of mines.
You find there a courteous general manager —
Erie Huntley is he dight — who will introduce you
to the ground floor — electric lit — of a giant
smelter, where 800 horse-power of created force
awaits the direction of modern minds. You will
find 1000 men employed — strong European
workers, enjoying good health and earning big
wages. You will see the red slag at the lips of the
smelters, the huge Iron pots, the iron ore and lime
and copper ore (all got close by from hills that
look like decomposed plum puddings), and you
may watch the whole process of the reduction of
copper ingots from native rock.
In no other part of the whole world would you
find a better equipment, better management, more
economical processes, or more satisfactory re-
sults
Then go back to Hughenden, where Closer
Settlement Is being promoted on 20,000-acre
selections — 28 years' leases, with right to pre-
empt certain portions, or right of preferment —
and walk along the main street to the bank of the
perfectly-dry Flinders River, two to three hun-
dred yards wide. Here you will see a Chinaman's
garden of just ten acres. The industrious Celes-
tials have excavated a small "sumph" hole in the
sand of the river bed, at the head of this garden.
From this soakage, by means of a Californian
windlass and an old grey horse, "John" irrigates
his orange trees, very badly pruned, and waters
other fruit and vegetables.
This primitive pumping plant is a standing
joke. When the attendant Chinaman retires to
lunch, he blindfolds the old grey horse, and that
patient animal walks round and round — unat-
tended.
Yet fortunes are being made on that block by
despised Asiatics!
What the Chinaman can do by Hughenden,
Europeans, working with better plant, on more
scientific methods, can also do — and more. They
can do it, and someday will do it, all over North-
Western Queensland.
Go down south by west from Hughenden over
the same wonderful black-soil plains, covered
with Mitchell and Flinders grasses, feeding fat
stock, horses and sheep — to WInton, one hun-
dred and thirty-two miles.
The difference in elevation is a little over 400
feet; the land is practically the same, but the
artesian water lies somewhat deeper under Its sur-
face.
Here are some 5000-acre men on pastoral
blocks, averaging, so local Information tells us,
a sheep to three acres.
I
A Street View in Barcaldine
After shearing-time motor waggons and teams
converge on WInton from stations away to the
South Australian border, laden with wool, for the
far-off port of Townsvllle. Nearly eleven thou-
sand tons weight of wool was shipped out of
Townsvllle during the season of 1913.
WInton may be taken as the very centre of
Western Queensland. Here and at Longreach,
In fact all over the Great Inland, It may be seen
that the population — men, women, and children
— are of a healthy and vigorous type. There is
comparative roughness of living, but progress will
1
THE HEART OF QUEENSLAND
471
bring gentler conditions, as it has done in older
parts of Australia.
At Winton, with sixty or seventy teams and
motor lorries bringing in wool from out-back, one
may see the real bushman of to-day — an intelli-
gent, shrewd, educated and resourceful character,
altogether different from the dull, uncanny, bur-
lesque creature who represents the Bush in certain
Australian literature and on the melodramatic
stage.
Hughenden, Winton, Longreach, Barcaldine,
Blackall are all modern towns, well supplied with
Ilk and
Grapes at Boiua
modern conveniences, which include sanitation,
water supply, electric light, daily mails, and motor
services.
There are also moving picture shows and
plenty of dancing and amusements for the youth
of the West.
Between Winton and Longreach — railheads
for the Northern and Central systems — there is
regular motor traffic This 128 miles over the
downs, also covered with Flinders grass, and
dotted with sheep and fat cattle, is now only a
matter of a few hours. The whole journey from
the Gulf to Bourke in New South Wales could
easily be done in four or five days with a good
car, allowing for meals and sleeps. Writers on
back-block Queensland would do well to make a
note of this fact. There will be no blacks to
impede progress at any part of the journey; no
fear of hunger nor thirst, no deserts nor difficult
mountains to cross, with petrol for the tank and
water for the radiator procurable all the way.
There will be some gates to open and shut, one
or two sandy patches to negotiate — the rest will
be much easier than motoring from Melbourne
to Geelong. The family motorist can take his
wife and children in absolute security and confi-
dence. Let him choose dry weather in late spring,
and he will behold the Heart of Queensland — a
hayfield 12 degrees of latitude in length, and be-
come for evermore a wildly enthusiastic Aus-
tralian.
Half-way between Winton and Longreach he
will strike a galvanized-iron house on a wide,
open plain.
He may stop his car there for lunch — about 60
miles north of the Tropic of Capricorn — and eat
better beef than city restaurants ever put before
him.
Along this Winton-Longreach belt there are
both artesian and sub-artesian supplies of water.
The small settler may have a cheap scheme with
windmill power from the nearer sub-artesian
source, and the big pastoralist his deep-sunken,
more expensive artesian bore.
Longreach, the terminus of that great central
railway system which finds an outlet at Rock-
hampton, is an entirely prosperous place, with
good shire government and modern conveniences
of town life.
Most of the pastoral leases here will "fall in"
about 1927. Subdivisions already effected have
brought many new settlers to this district. Land
for selection is constandy becoming available in
this way. One hears of great successes rapidly
achieved by small men. A prominent citizen
who ten years ago was a working shearer, now
boasts a fortune of £40,000. There are others
equally successful.
Whether a man achieves fortune or not, there
is no fear of poverty in the West, and he may be
assured at least of reasonable prosperity and
health. The best of food is plentiful — beef,
game, fruit, poultry, vegetables — and only needs
good cooking. High wages prevail everywhere,
and opportunities for betterment await upon those
who will know how to conserve their chances.
The prevailing holdings of 100,000 and
180,000 acres will, in the future, be reduced to
Gidyea Forest
472
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
A Street In Barcaldine
grazing farms, and probably dairy farms, irriga-
tion blocks, and wheatfields.
The people of the Great Central Plateau, re-
freshed by long winters with cool nights and occa-
sional frosts, will have all the necessary energy
and strength to engage in these standard rural
industries for which it is eminently suitable.
How far irrigation from artesian sources can
be carried is not yet possible to determine.
At Barcaldine, where bore water is exceedingly
good, small irrigation plots are producing fruit
successfully. Towards Blackall and Tambo, the
lighter soils and increased rainfall make agricul-
ture more certain. Tambo has an average rain-
fall of 23.28 inches, and Roma 26.09. Experi-
ments on the Government Agricultural Area at
Roma, covering seven years, show that one wheat
grown here (Bunge No. lA, rust-resisting) will
average 20 bushels to the acre. I should say, as
a very conservative statement, that the Queens-
land wheat-growing belt will prevail as far north
as the so-called Barcaldine "desert." Roma is on
the eastern edge of the cypress pine country; how
far westward from there the wheat belt will
extend one hardly dares to prophesy. Charle-
ville, 165 miles further west of Roma, has an
average rainfall of 20.58 inches. Cunnamulla,
121 miles still further south-west, 14.04 inches.
Pinnaroo, South Australia, is making wheat pay
on a 12-inch rainfall and much lower average
crop to the acre than 20 bushels. Latitude, of
course, has to be taken Into consideration, but
specially hybridised varieties, and the fallowing
system, will carry wheat-growing into suitable
soils far beyond the radius which has hitherto
been regarded as possible in our Australian
States. Queensland may, if she chooses, become
a great bread-producer too.
There are good sleeping and dining cars on
the Central Line, which relieve the journey be-
tween Longreach and Rockhampton. Trucking
yards at the western stations indicate that it is
still a cattle country, but it also produces excellent
wool. Between Ilfracombe and Barcaldine the
soils are lighter than those between Hughenden
and Cloncurry. Mitchell grass and grey boree
timber are prominent native growths along
here.
Barcaldine is no more than the other Cities of
the Plain, but its councillors, or residents, have
seen to it that shade trees are planted in the
streets, and that the beautiful indigenous timbers
around the town have not been ruthlessly cut
down. Tree planting is one of those necessary
duties that Australian legislators ought to enforce
and local governments encourage. There are
always natural trees which will grow if they are
asked to, and the ugliest locality may thus be
beautified.
Because of its trees, Barcaldine stands out from
among the cities of Central Queensland, and men
outback speak of it as the Faithful speak of Bag-
dad.
Even the trains of fat sheep from Aramac
leave it with apparent regret.
The thermometer in the Lands Office at Bar-
caldine only once in ten years has reached 105
degrees. The people of Barcaldine ask you to
compare their thermometric readings with those
of western New South Wales.
In point of fact there are many hotter places in
Australia.
Travelling eastward from Barcaldine, the
stranger will meet one of Australia's unexpected
changes. Within a little distance, the dark lands
typical of the Downs give place to loose red soils,
resembling the wheat lands of New South Wales.
THE HEART OF QUEENSLAND
473
The landscape, as If by magic, is suddenly trans-
formed— covered at one sweep of the Magician's
Wand with beautiful timbers, drooping white
gums, wilga, myall, glossy-leaved box, bauhinia,
and ornamental shrubs and flowers. Mistletoes
droop from the trees; the yellow acacias throw
out their pungent perfumes. In the cleared spaces
long grasses wave- — from a titanic field the face
of Queensland has all at once been converted into
a lovely landscape garden.
Never shall I forget the impressions I received
on coming for the first time into this delightful
country, which covers hundreds of square miles!
I had gone down into the Downs from Towns-
ville, out to Cloncurry, back to Hughenden, down
Surely the men who called this a desert were
either woefully ignorant, or wantonly wicked.
A little spinifex grass grows in patches here
and there; that is all the similarity as far as I can
perceive to country that has wrongly, for the most
part, been classed as "desert" elsewhere. Kan-
garoo grass, which is a sign of good country,
grows beside it. A glance at the official map of
Queensland shows naturally that there is an in-
creased rainfall here.
There is a sheepman near me. I ask him a
question. He says, "We get 80 per cent, of lambs
here as against 40 per cent, on the Downs."
Lambing takes place in the hot weather, and there
is more shelter. The planting of shade belts on
Artesian Boie Diain, Barcaldine
to Winton, across to Longreach, and now I was
returning eastward to Rockhampton. For days
I had beheld nothing but treeless or lightly-tim-
bered black soil plains. The sudden change made
a sharper contrast.
Opposite me in the railway car, as we left Bar-
caldine, sat a youth engrossed in a cheap English
novel.
He looked sideways out of the train window,
and remarking, "JVe are in the Desert now,"
resumed his reading. The entrance to this "Bar-
caldine Desert" is marked to me by the fact that
I have seen more surface water and heavier tim-
ber than I have looked on in a thousand miles.
Otherwise it is no more than the change from
Field to Garden.
IL
the treeless Downs would no doubt increase the
average, but the fact stands.
As we get deeper into the "desert," a greater
greenness and softness comes over the scene. I
notice the tops of some graceful gum trees white
with blossom — for it is Spring here. All the
wilgas, too, are dusted with white. In some
places there are acres of purple flowers; in others
patches of shrubs resembling English may. The
heavy odour f'-om a forest of acacia is blown in
on the cool midday air, and yonder there is a sea
of glorious flowering heather.
Rich red soils — tongued with grey ornamental
trees and a riot of wild flowers — so the Desert
smiles. Our "deserts" will enable us to feed
millions of our own and still leave enough over
to help feed other millions beyond the seas!
S
c8
Q
474
Queensland Pastures
EAST AND WEST.
THE man who goes to Rockhampton in mid-
summer, and takes his impressions there-
from, is liable to fall into errors similar
to those of certain early Australian explorers.
Oxley reached the Lachlan in a very wet season,
and concluded that the interior was a vast morass.
Sturt found the Barrier at a dry time, and con-
demned the site of Broken Hill as the most worth-
less country in the world. It is necessary to visit
Rockhampton in August as well as February.
Frost and ice are by no means uncommon in this
part of Queensland during the winter months.
The past history of the district of which Rock-
hampton is the immediate port and centre, has
been largely one of rich mineral discovery, gold
excitement, mining investment, pastoral progress,
trade.
Its future history, from all appearances, will
be equally interesting, but entirely different. It
should be a story of tremendous agricultural de-
velopment, of closer settlement, dairying, fruit
growing, and so on. During the last decade
(1903-13) a complete change has been effected
in the local outlook. Results are now achieved,
especially in dairying, which would have been re-
garded as impossible by Central Queenslanders
of the last generation.
On the pastoral districts which Rockhampton
serves much money has been made, and lost, and
made. To and through Rockhampton the wealth
won on Mount Morgan, Clermont, Emerald,
and other mining fields has poured in a golden
stream. In 19 14 Port Alma, Rockhampton, and
Broadmount handled £3,764,432 worth of ex-
ports, mainly wool, meats, hides, sheepskins, cop-
per, gold, and live stock.
That trade is destined to assume still larger
proportions. This city of 21,000 people is likely
to grow into one of the most populous and pros-
perous centres of the Commonwealth.
This will be independent of Mount Morgan,
or the discovery of any new field as rich, which
the greatest mining optimist can hardly hope
for.
The discovery of Australia has been going on
for more than a hundred years, but it is yet in-
complete. Central Queensland — that generous
section of it which lies between the mountains and
the sea — has afforded a recent illustration of
this.
Inland from the banks of the Fitzroy River,
on which Rockhampton is situated, and out across
country, lie millions of acres of black brigalow
scrub.
475
476
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Brigalow country, like mallee, was always
looked upon as "poor" in the old days.
The brigalow {acacia excelsa), according to
botanists, sometimes attains a height of loo feet.
In ordinary brigalow scrubs the trees are about
60 to 70 feet, and do not make a close forest like
the mallee.
Brigalow country, in Central Queensland, costs
30/- an acre for clearing and seeding with Rhodes
grass. It then acquires a stock-carrying capacity
of four cows to three acres, and makes the finest
of dairy pastures.
Here is a discovery as valuable as Mount Mor-
gan! Less spectacular, but to the people of
Queensland, ultimately worth as much — or
more.
Furthermore, much of this once-despised briga-
low scrub is composed of heavy black and red
soils, fairly well watered, or of such formation
that water can readily be conserved by the set-
tlers.
The first man to take up brigalow is said to
have been a Gippsland farmer, who was as-
tounded at his own success. He found that the
cheap and ugly scrub which could be so rapidly
and inexpensively converted into pasture, would
feed more cows to the acre than any Southern
dairy district. He naturally grew interested —
and rich.
Then the ploughing and planting of the briga-
low began : slowly at first, but latterly with greater
rapidity and confidence.
Potatoes were planted, and returned unex-
pectedly heavy crops. Maize was planted, and
yielded 45 bushels to the acre. Lucerne, without
irrigation, gave five crops in six months. Another
province had been added to Queensland!
This Central Coast and highlands produce tro-
pical and temperate fruits equally well. Straw-
berries and papaws flourish together; the land
will grow practically everything. And there is
an abundance of it, suitable for closer settlement.
Half the country, for 150 miles along the Valley
of the Dawson, is brigalow. The Fitzroy, the
Mackenzie, and the Dawson all await the settler.
North, south, and west there will be available
acres that cannot fail to support comfortable
Queensland homes. Fourteen miles from Rock-
hampton there is a block of virgin red soil, 40
miles long and five miles wide, which, on 160-acre
blocks, should be capable of supporting 800
families. Allowing the usual average of five per-
sons to each household, this gives about one-fifth
the present population of the city itself.
Agricultural living areas, as allocated by the
district Lands office, which controls an enormous
area of Crown lands, run from 160 to 1280 acres.
The danger here, as in other places, is that the
intensive culturist may get too much land. A dairy
herd of a hundred cows is a big thing anywhere.
Gracemere, a celebrated station, now the Bodalla
of the North, milks from 600 to 700 cows. This
huge dairy is conducted on entirely modern lines.
Nowadays, there are few losses from ticks in Cen-
tral Queensland.
The prickly-pear pest requires attention, but
the writer met one dairyman, 80 miles west from
Rockhampton, who has converted his pear curse
into a blessing. He is rearing his pigs on a special
mixture of pear, pollard, molasses, sulphur, and
salt, and claims to be making money.
Wiseheads up here declare the drought of
1902 to have been a blessing in disguise, in-
asmuch as that unexpected shortage taught set-
A MoVi of Central Queensland Cattle
I
■a
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I
5
477
478
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
tiers the necessity for conservation. The average
rainfall for Rockhampton is over 41 inches; 80
miles from the coast it falls to 30 and 24 inches.
It is asserted that the ring-barking and felling of
the scrub causes dry creeks to flow in this district.
A storage for irrigation is meditated at a suit-
able site in the Boomer Mountains, 30 miles
from Rockhampton.
These discursive statements may be accepted
as so many points in favour of future agricultural
development; they could be supplemented by a
volume of facts and figures.
Visitors will not fail to ascend (by rack-rail-
way some of the distance) to Mount Morgan,
the richest gold mine on the continent.
On the way up they will pass, on the outskirts
of the city, swamps covered with red weed, where
the ibis feeds and the white crane stalks among
purple water-lilies : thence, through lucerne
patches, mangoes, and grassy forest land, to-
wards the mountain, where many pleasant homes
have been made in fertile corners.
Mount Morgan is a giant workshop in the
hills, twenty-four miles from Rockhampton.
Gold Mines, Mount Morgan
We will content ourselves with one short ex-
tract from the Annual Report of the Department
of Lands.
The report is printed under the name of Mr.
W. P. Bond, the Land Commissioner for the dis-
trict. He says : —
^^Tlie Barmoya Scrub, which a few years
ago was a zvallaby run, is now a network of
cultivated farms. .
"The chief crops grown are all kinds of
fruit, maize, potatoes, wheat, lucerne, pump-
kins, and Rhodes grass.
"The shallow belar and brigalow scrubs are
particularly suitable for growing Rhodes grass,
which in this locality gives a carrying capacity
of a beast to seven-tenths of an acre."
And remember! There are millions of acres yet
of that cheap, ugly, brown brigalow with the
silver-bronze leaves.
Gold was first discovered here by Edwin Morgan
in 1882. The present share capital of the mine
is one million pounds in £ shares. Since its for-
mation the Company has expended, in round fig-
ures, over ten million pounds sterling in wages,
machinery, taxes and general expenses, and dis-
tributed another nine millions in dividends.
Altogether this one mine has contributed near-
ly twenty millions of money to the wealth of Aus-
tralia. It still employs 2,800 hands, and sup-
ports a city of thirteen thousand people !
The directors' annual balance sheet, issued fur
the year ended 31st May, 1915, shows a total
revenue for that year of £1,005 400, ^""^ ^" ^''"
penditure of £838,760 — of which £742,011 was
for wages, &c.
One comes away from this historic hillside
with a confused impression of busy men and
straining horses, of tremendous dumps, smoking
"slag," huge smelting pots, furnaces, molten
QUEENSLAND: EAST AND WEST
479
^^B^B^i£i_
^fiiiiiiii^Llill^___ ' '^■'
^^^^n^^^
Sockhampton, the Capital of Central Queensland
metal, heavy fumes, whirling belts and noisy en-
gines, cranes, dynamos, locomotives, tall stacks
and electric trams. It is a hub of organization;
a theatre of tremendous energy. Economic ap-
plication of muscle and mind is here. Experi-
ence, invention, ability, are here. The problem
of Mt. Morgan yesterday was the payable reduc-
tion of copper. Unless the bottom falls out of
the world's copper markets, it has been solved.
All-powerful capital is here. It has established
a reservoir of water with a capacity of 376 mil-
lion gallons. It draws limestone flux — 10,000
tons a month — from Marmor quarries principally,
51 miles. It brings ironstone flux from Iron
Island and peulic flux from Many Peaks — 151
miles. It hauls in iron, manganese, coke, sul-
phur, and nitre for the roasting and boiling that
goes on unceasingly in its mammoth kitchen on
the Hill — a kitchen through which there passed
a little less than 260,000 tons of ore, to make
those figures in the Directors' annual balance
sheet for 191 2.
In 1892, when a million ounces of gold had
been taken practically from the surface of Mt.
Morgan, geological reports asserted that "only
a very small proportion of the known amount of
payable ore had been excavated." In 19 15 the
Annual Report of the Under Secretary for Mines
said: —
"At Mount Morgan, still by far the great-
est of our mines, the year, especially for the
latter part, has been one of great activity.
Mt. Morgan last year produced 256,218 tons
of ore, which, with 20,002 tons from Many
Peaks, yielded 106,520 oz. of fine gold, valued
at £452,468 ; and 7,796 tons of copper, valued
at £471,658; 33,978 ozs. of silver, valued at
£3,539; a total value of £927,665. The year's
record is thus highly satisfactory, and encour-
ages the hope that this great industrial enter-
prise will long continue to be the centre of a
large, prosperous, and contented community."
The community, directly and indirectly sup-
ported by Mount Morgan, all told, may be put
down at 5,000 workers. This includes timber
getters.
The town, which nestles at the foot of that
famous hill of gold and copper, seems busy and
cheerful.
The children are well-fed, healthy-looking,
young Australians; the women vigorous; the men
robust. Wages earned by miners run 8/-, 9/-,
10/-, 11/-, to 13/4 a day. Contract men win as
much as 17/6 a day. Costs of living are com-
paratively low.
Does Australia contain more than one Mount
Morgan? It is quite possible. The first Queens-
land gold reef was opened at Crocodile Creek,
in the Rockhampton district, in 1865. Rock-
hampton had seen many rushes and hailed many
local mineral finds before Mount Morgan — a
morning's ride from town — was discovered, seven-
teen years later.
Although it has, so far, proved the richesc
mine on the continent, it possesses many geolo-
gical features common to other gold and copper
propositions.
The country rock, in the immediate neighbour-
hood of the great mine, is mainly composed of
silicified sandstone, grey washes, and undurated
shale. The sandstone is rich in iron pyrites.
As we have said, the gold-bearing surface of
the lode was enormously rich. The gold values
declined with depth : but the copper contents of
48o
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
this astounding mineral deposit increased! To
be at once the richest gold mine and the most
productive copper mine in Queensland has been
the distinction of Mt. Morgan.
It might be said, for the better understanding
of the layman, that Mt. Morgan is, or was, a
pyramid of copper, whose apex was gold.
Although his original theory of the geological
cause of Mt. Morgan (a thermal spring, a gey-
ser, in the open air spouting fitfully water and
chloride of gold), has been proved wrong. Dr.
Jack, ex-Government Geologist, asserted that the
discovery of Mt. Morgan "may lead to others
of equal importance in a direction where gold has
never hitherto been looked for.
"A vast area In our western Interior Is com-
posed of cretaceous rocks, and has been covered
with the desert sandstone, of which isolated table-
lands remain to attest Its former wide expansion.
Beneath the cretaceous rocks, palaeozoic rocks
undoubtedly extend, and these doubtless contain
many reefs as rich in gold as those which are
exposed to view In the ranges near the coast."
Mr. B. Dunstan, the present Geologist, has
said of the field: —
"It is well known that past practices here have
not in a single instance availed to show when
conditions are favorable or otherwise for stone
to carry gold. In the Mt. Morgan Mine itself
It Is Impossible to tell by appearances whether
the stone Is rich or poor. Of two samples which
might be absolutely the same in texture, color,
structure, specific gravity and mineral constitu-
ents, one would perhaps yield as many ounces of
gold to the ton as the other would penny-
weights."
The faith of those who believe another Mt.
Morgan possible may yet be justified.
Stories of the mining fields, for which Rock-
hampton has been, and is, the port and frequent
depot, would make Interesting volumes.
At Mt. Wheeler, 20 miles from the city, a small
boy one day discovered a nugget worth a thou-
sand pounds.
About two hundred miles to the west from
Rockhampton Is Anakie gem field. Here nature
has written a fascinating romance. Here Is an
open jewel-casket of incalculable value.
As a proved gem-producing area, Anakie has
probably no rival in any country — Slam included.
It has taken many years for the Australian
sapphire to overcome a prejudice which was
largely mendacious. But its popularity Is grow-
ing, and the output from Anakie is rapidly in-
creasing.
"The demand for the gemstones of Anakie,"
said the Government Mining Journal, in 1912,
"Is regulated almost completely by the lapidaries
of Germany, who distribute the cut material
throughout Russia, which Is the principal consum-
ing country. The German firms have agents oa
the fields and in the southern capitals of the Com-
monwealth, these latter In turn being represented
by local sub-agents.
"In all there are now (1914), 17 buyers, and
of these ten are stationed at Sapphire and seven
at Ruby Vale. Three of them, representing south-
ern or well-known Continental firms, are always
open for business, and one of them had a turnover
of £6,000 last year (19 12-3), but the activities
of the remainder are circumscribed. Some of
them periodically visit the producing centres,
where they purchase parcels of stone after due
examination, which, it may be mentioned, cannot
be undertaken unless the day be cloudless, for
the prized deep violet blues appear quite opaque
in dull weather. The prime requirements of the
German market since 1906 are stones of a dark
violet blue colour, which in the larger sizes (up
to 3 oz. in weight) bring as much as £5 per
oz. Largest blues are sometimes 3 oz. In
weight. Large blue include the dark violet
stones, 20Z. or more in weight. These, if cut
locally, yield a black gem. It is suspected the
Germans have devised some means whereby the
colouration may be reduced; hence the reason for
the strong demand for these stones. The purest
corundum In the world is found at Anakie. This
also Is bought at a high price by Germany for
some secret process — perhaps aeroplane bear-
ings."
The war has caused a temporary "slump,"
which will doubtless be ultimately overcome by the
opening up of new markets.
It is forty years ago since the first stones were
discovered on this field, which covers an area of
about 200 square miles. The payable ground
is yet confined to two or three central proposi-
tions, of which the "Reward" and "Freehold"
are the principal. Both date from the discovery
of the field. The Reward was granted to the
original discoverer and reporter of the existence
of sapphires In payable quantities. Of the Re-
ward, Geologist Ball says it covers "an area of
160 acres of the richest ground on the field."
Both mines are held by the same man, J. P. Mit-
chell, who arrived In this district from Scotland
ten years ago, as he himself says, with absolutely
empty pockets. It Is understood that he Is about
to open these mines out on a large scale. For
five years, up to and including 19 13, the men
employed on the Reward have met with striking
success; the most valuable gems got on the field
have been produced by this mine. This fact, and
the large area of virgin ground, decided the pro-
prietor to float the Reward and subsequently the
Freehold.
QUEENSLAND: EAST AND WEST
481
m^4^- \
Examining Sapphires
Queensland is a country of opportunities.
Anakie Sapphire Field furnishes more than one
example.
P>om J. P. Mitchell, who five years after his
which would make the lucky owner an independent
man in three years. This, too, considering the
value of the product in the rough, as disposed of
to the buyers. Such mines have been found at
Sapphire Town and at Ruby Vale, and with the
large area of unprospected country, other mines
just as valuable are undoubtedly waiting to be
discovered.
The man without capital benefits, "it being
tacitly understood that the field is reserved for
the small claimholders." Any man holding a
Miner's Right, which costs 5/-, can peg out, hold,
and work his hundred yards square of gem-bear-
ing country. In three weeks he may learn to
make a living, later on good wages, and ultimate-
ly, if lucky, "a pile."
The average working population in 19 14 was
196 miners. The returns in value notified to the
Government, £15,800. There is no penalty in
vogue for inducmg, or compelling returns, and
for obvious reasons it is justifiable to suppose
arrival in Rockhampton was the holder of the '^^at the value actually won was considerably over
largest claims on the field, to the latest new-chum '^hat figure. Yet it gave an average (in 191 2)
seeking a living and experience, Anakie offers an °^ £200 for twelve months per man employed,
almost equal chance.
A man need not be a practical miner to make
a start as a gem seeker on Anakie.
Digging for sapphires is simple. It con-
sists in some cases of "surfacing" or handpick-
ing. In some claims the soil is removed and
treated by washing. In other cases, open cutting,
or removing the overburden from the wash, is
practised, followed by washing, as in the case of
the surface material; or shafts are sunk through
the overburden into the wash, which is then haul-
ed to the surface by a windlass. The term "wash"
applies to the material which carries the sap-
phires. This is readily distinguished from the
barren surrounding country or earth. It corre-
sponds to the gangue of the ore in metalliferous
mining.
The underground workings are not deep, 40
feet being the limit at present. The average
depth is about 20 feet, in firm ground.
The area which can be held by one man as a
claim is 300 feet by 300 feet. The available
country is extensive, amounting to 30 square
miles. A hundred yards by a hundred yards!
Just consider what this means. If only a foot
thickness of wash is found all over this block,
the amount of gem-bearing material would
amount to 6,000 tons. Taking the average re-
turns of the field, the gross value of this is
£1/5/4! per ton. It must always be remembered
that there are exceptional mines where the gross
value goes as high as £40 per ton. Added
to the certainty of making a living on the sap-
phire fields, there is the possibility of dropping
the great majority of whom were working for
themselves.
It has been calculated that two tons weight of
precious stones were removed from Anakie dur-
ing that year.
* * * *
By an intensely blue sea, studded with islands,
lies Yeppoon, much frequented by the people of
Rockhampton in summer. There are hotels and
boarding houses by the shore, where one may
have native oysters, fine fat Queensland roast
beef, green peas, and fruit-salads galore.
Classing Sapphires
Some of the islands along this coast have been
taken up as selections under the Lands Acts of
the State.
An Englishman, a successful grazier from Cen-
tral Queensland, has retired to one island about
a mile and a half from the mainland, 80 miles
north of Yeppoon. He will have fish and oys-
on a property giving a return of £40 a ton, and ters and game and fruit in abundance. To a
48:
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Sisal Hemp, Childers
man who loves the beauty of ocean, sky, beach,
and foreland, there can surely be no pleasanter
place to spend the evening of one's days.
Nor need he be wealthy to find those plea-
sures, which in other countries are reserved for
the rich alone.
The old age pensioner in his tent along the
shore by Yeppoon may get as much enjoyment
out of life as some American millionaires.
Under the wild fig-trees, garlanded with vines,
he may sit and dream an old man's dreams in
peace.
On the borders of Rockhampton, at Lake's
Creek, are located the freezing and meat preserv-
ing works of the Central Queensland Meat Ex-
port Company, where rhany of the fat cattle for
which Queensland is world-famous are converted
into product and bi-product. The price paid here
for bullocks by this Company in 1913 was £7 per
head; for cows, £4/15/-. To-day, prices are as
high as £17 for bullocks,, and £15 for cows in
the Brisbane market. The capacity of the works
is 300 cattle or 3,000 sheep a day. Their
annual export is about 10,000 tons of frozen
meat, and 60,000 cases of canned goods. In
the canning season this place employs over 500
hands. Officials state that "cattle-raising is one
of the most profitable industries in the State, un-
der ordinary conditions. The operations of the
cattle-man depend entirely upon the amount of
capital he has at his disposal to put into the in-
dustry. Still, many men have started with a
few head and gradually worked up."
With a capital of £5,000, it is possible to make
a good start on a 20,000-acre holding. Queens-
land still has millions of acres suitable for cattle-
raising, which can be leased from the Crown for
long periods at particularly low rentals.
Sidney Kidman, the "Australian Cattle Kina,"
Is instanced as a very small beginner. To-day
he is one of the biggest dealers in the world,
owns stations all over the Commonwealth, and
can muster his cattle by the hundred thousand.
Mr. Kidman runs over 20 cattle stations in the
Northern State.
The herds of Queensland in 19 14 totalled
five and a half millions, of which only 387,311
head were dairy cattle; the rest were beef cattle
of various ages and qualities, spread over the
wide, natural pastures of the State.
The great "runs" lie out chiefly in the north
and west — by Camooweal, and Cloncurry, and
Burketown. These range from 2,000 to 5,000
square miles, and may carry from 10,000 to
50,000 head.
Warenda, on the Gregory, has 5,000 square
miles, and until recently ran 25,000 cattle. It
now carries over 100,000 sheep.
Dalgonally, Julia Creek — Cloncurry district,
ran 49,060 head.
Some of the pleasantest Australian literature,
including A. B. Paterson's Clancy of the Over-
flow, has been written around the cattle drover
and his wild, romantic life.
The far west Queensland stations send their
mobs of "fats" by hoof to Oodnadatta; whence
An Ant hiU, 28 ft. high
.a
Q
s
o
o
o
a
o
19
a
o
•a
u
o
a
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484
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
A Mob of Queensland Horses
they are trucked by rail to Adelaide, South Aus-
tralia. These cattle will be on the road from four
to six months, and may travel 2,000 miles before
they reach their market.
Yet the Central Australian pastures are so rich
that large percentages will arrive in splendid con-
dition and command top prices.
This common, everyday fact is in itself a prac-
tical proof that the interior of the continent is
anything but an arid waste.
Not long since, Sidney Kidman brought a large
mob of fat cattle from the far interior to South
Australia. The distance covered was 2,000
miles.
For a mob of 1,000 prime bullocks bred in
Queensland, fattened on Cooper's Creek, and tak-
en by road and rail to Adelaide and Melbourne
the same owner received £15 5s. per head.
Yet, on Cooper's Creek, it will be remembered,
the final scene in the lamentable, yet foolish
tragedy of Burke and Wills was played out only
a half-century ago.
Of gold and beef and wool. Central Queens-
land therefore has no lack. The production of
the two last is constantly increasing. Mt. Mor-
gan has not ceased to spill its millions, and other
mineral riches remain to be exploited. Go where
he may over the coastlands, the highlands, and
the plains, the fortune seeker — whatever his line
— will find little difficulty and no danger in his
path. If he wishes to become a settler, there
are sheep lands, cattle lands, dairy lands, fruit
lands suitable for his purpose. District upon dis-
trict will call him. The country wants him; and
if he be a sane, sober man, with ordinary human
luck, he should not fail to "make good."
It is hard for people in other countries to real-
ize the personal freedom, the expansion, the
opportunities for success, the leisure, and the cli-
mate which Australians enjoy. In all Queensland
there are not yet three-quarters of a million
people, and Queensland covers 670,500 square
miles, in which it would be difficult to find ten
square miles absolutely useless.
Go north from Rockhampton along the coast
to Broadsound ! You pass through good cattle
lands, into the sugar growing districts of Mackay.
Go still north from Mackay! You will cross
over a hundred miles of magnificent soils suitable
for tropical agriculture, to the Proserpine River.
Thence you go down again by open pastoral
and agricultural expanses to Bowen, with its
splendid natural harbor and surrounding assets.
Back of Bowen, 90 miles, say reliable authori-
ties, there "lies another Darling Downs."
Back of Bowen harbor, about sixty miles, there
certainly lies an enormous coalfield, which will
QUEENSLAND: EAST AND WEST
485
be turned to account some day. A thousand mil-
lion tons of high-grade coal will not remain
untouched for ever.
Farming and fruitgrowing are practically be-
ginning around Bowen. Commercial crops
grown in the district of Bowen include bananas,
tobacco, maize, English potatoes, sweet potatoes,
sugar-cane, pineapples, oranges, melons, tomatoes,
all varieties of vegetables, mangoes, cigar leaf,
and calabashes.
Come south from Rockhampton, through
forest and jungle, stock lands and tilth lands,
again to the spacious harbor of Port Curtis.
Here Gladstone stands as the capital of another
wide territory, exporting its frozen meats by the
tens of millions of lbs. annually; its horses, sheep-
skins, hides, minerals, and fruits, and agricultural
products.
Come still further south, to the wealthy city
of Bundaberg, capital of still another prosper-
■; iii:c.W.-^^ff5;iSv:-i^'-^i>;-^te^: V
•T«^
^s^
^
^<»^— """y
<<-•'*•#;
Orion Downs, Springsure District
From 1st January to 31st December, 1914, this
little centre shipped no less than 168.000 packages
of fruit and vegetables, including 110,000 cases
of tomatoes.
Horses, canned and frozen meats, gold, silver,
copper, lead, and bismuth also go out of Bowen.
From thence go still further north — by rail,
if you like — to Ayr, on the Burdekin; and find
yourself in the heart of one of the most progres-
sive sugar districts in Queensland.
ous sugar-growing district. Here the mills turn
out their twenty to forty thousand tons of sugar
in a season.
Near Bundaberg are the famous plantations
of Fairymead and Bingera; and behind it Chil-
ders, Isis, where sisal hemp, tobacco, and sugar
are grown; where, again, there are grassed lands
and jungle lands and all the diverse fertility and
richness of this marvellous Northern State.
486
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Mount Perry copper field is only 67 railway
miles inland.
Go west again to the head waters of the Bur-
dekin, the Mackenzie, the Dawson, the Burnett,
the F'itzroy. You will find open acres, but no
sterile wastes. It is all capable of some produc-
tion, and merely wanting people. Cattle stations
it has, sheep stations, mining places, — but every-
where there is room and requirement for popu-
lation.
There will be interest in your journey, diver-
sity, change, difference in climate and vegetation:
and you will find hospitality and learn the way
of the pioneer.
flashes marble white upon a flamingo-colored
water surface !
Over those coastal hills; pyramids, perhaps, of
copper, whose apexes are yellow, like Mt. Mor-
gan, with gold!
Over the jungles, where wild pigeons feed on
scarlet berries, bunched under a canopy of green
palm leaves.
Over the bngalow, turning its bronze-green
leaves to the evening breeze.
Over the gullies, wetted with rain, cooled by
coming night winds; over the ranges, musical
with soughing of tall eucalypti and eeolian ca-
dences of the pine.
An Island on the Queensland Coast
At the junction of the Comet and Nogoa
rivers you will see lost Leichhardt's marked tree,
where in 1856 A. C. Gregory dug, as directed —
and found nothing.
At Springsure, 206 miles from Rockhampton,
you will breathe invigorating mountain air, en-
joy interesting scenery, and learn the lore of the
runs from rough-riding stockmen and experienced
overseers.
At Clermont you will hear stories of old
digging days; at Blair Athol you may gather
facts about the coal measures of Queensland,
which have here found one of their industrial
beginnings.
* * * *
Lounging on the beach at Emu Park, watching
the clean tides of Keppel Bay, one turns to see
the sun setting in colors of purple and gold.
It is 900 miles westward in the sun's track
to the border of South Australia. Nine hundred
wondrous miles along the Tropic of Capricorn.
Let your fancy follow the sun over these coas-
tal swamps, where the crane's reflected image
Over the temperate western slopes, and down
on the great plateau; over the box forests, over
the flowering wilga and fragrant acacia, out on to
the sheep stations; out farther, till you meet the
wide, glorious Downs, on whose waving grasses,
wander a thousand lowing herds, and on and on
and on, to the Georgina and the Diamantina and
the radiant red heart of the Farthest West.
Follow the sun's track in fancy, follow it in
fact!' Nevermore will you doubt the destiny
of Australia ; nevermore will you doubt that this
great State of 429 million odd acres, five and a
half times bigger than the British Isles, three
times the size of France, has a future of power,
wealth, population, prosperity, and progress.
Follow the sun, from East to West across the
State of Queensland! Follow the track of the
sun!
It rises low over the Great Barrier Reef, and
floods a thousand islands, from Saibai by palm-
clad Papuan shores, to Point Danger, with the
ineffable colors of a southern morning. White
sails of pearling luggers, iron flanks of huge
QUEENSLAND: EAST AND WEST
487
The Florida Bore
coastal steamers, long white beaches, stained fore-
lands, mangroved mouths of many rivers, light-
houses, cocoanut trees, grow out of the night's
darkness, like images on a negative — accelerated
by latitude.
Smoke arises from the little coastal cities far
apart, from townships, from remote telegraph
stations, from the camps of dugong fishers, tim-
ber getters, cane cutters, trappers, nomads, dro-
vers, prospectors, and aboriginals.
Smoke goes up from the selectors' homes in
the clearings; from the planters' bungalows;
from the station dwellings, the miners' huts, the
orchardists' wooden houses standing on piles;
from the scattered habitations and biding places
of six hundred thousand odd people, spread over
670,500 square miles.
Machetes are slashing in the cane brakes,
milk is spurting in the pails; ripened fruits are
being packed into cases; the air is laden with
odours of pineapple, bananas, mangoes, papaws;
axes are flashing in the timber; ploughshares
gleaming in the furrows; horses are being sad-
dled in the stockyards; the dust of travelling
stock uprises; and all the sound and movement
that attaches to human life and labor are called
into being.
But over hundreds of yet unoccupied miles, —
virgin forests, primal jungles, untenanted plains,
unvisited coasts, — there are solitude and the
sounds of Nature only.
Follow the sun over Queensland ! Follow the
sun !
The pearl diver is coming up with his tribute
of iridescent shell, which in the depth of Torres
has captured the pale colors of Queensland dawn.
The miner is bringing up from his shallow
shaft precious opal, which has gathered to itself
the glory of Queensland sunrise.
At Anakie, the sapphire-seeker is holding to
the light gemstones that have imprisoned the blue
of Queensland skies.
By hillward creeks the fossicker bends over his
dish, to see what golden nuggets it may contain.
In the sugar mills the rollers are steadily
crushing sweet juice from the cane. In the mines
jaws of iron are crunching metal from the
rock.
In the woolsheds greasy fleeces are falling away
from the shears. Over many a plain and through
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
many a glade, fat caltle are moving slowly;
while "Clancy rides behind them singing," sing-
ing the glad, melodious song of a free life, in a
free country — a song of Youth and Courage, and
infinite Hope for the Future.
"He sees the vision splendid of the sunlit
plains extended." He shapes their message into
words, and gives it to the winds to carry over-
seas. It is the voice of Queensland calling for
strong men and women; calling to the crowded
older lands of Europe — a voice laden with pro-
mise of healthy lives and happy homes, indepen-
dence, ultimate fortune and ease.
If anyone were inclined to doubt the authen-
ticity of the message let him examine the facts.
Example could be added to example, until the
long list of successes pretty well covered the
whole white races. English, Irish, Scotch, Ger-
mans, Russians, Italians, Scandinavians — men of
every European nationality — have found Queens-
land the best country in the world. Scores of
them have landed on her hospitable shores with
a few shillings, and won out to be farmers of
substance, independent freeholders, solid citizens,
hall-marked with district — sometimes national —
recognition.
For struggling farmers in Europe with agri-
cultural experience and a little capital, Queens-
land offers opportunities for which they will wait
a lifetime in vain.
For the workers who elsewhere can look for-
ward to nothing but uncertainty, poor living, and,
at best, enduring toil till the end of their days —
Queensland holds constant employment at com-
paratively higher wages and shorter hours, re-
ligious liberty, political equality, personal se-
curity, and provision for old age. Added to
these are free education for their children, and
an open chance of fortune in a land teeming with
unexploited wealth.
With little over half a million people in the
State in 19 14, the Government Savings Bank had
a depositors' list of 192,402 names, with a total
savings of nearly lO'] millions of pounds, or an
exact average of £58/8/6 per head.
The twelve banks of Queensland in that year
held assets totalling nearly twenty-four millions.
Yet out of her 429,120,000 acres, the total
area under cultivation had only reached 981,218
acres in 19 14.
It can be seen from these figures what this
country — more than three times the area of
France and infinitely richer in soils and minerals —
will become when she has attracted a greater
population. According to the census of 191 1,
France was supporting no less than 39,601,509
people.
There is nothing that France, or any other
European country, grows or produces that
Queensland, in common with Australian States,
cannot grow and produce equally as well, and
often better. On the other hand, there are many
things of which Europe is entirely barren that
Australia can produce in abundance.
Under these circumstances neither emigrant
nor investor need have much fear that Queens-
land will prove a land of failure.
It is officially proclaimed that, "there are nu-
merous avenues of investment in sheep and cattle
stations, farming and dairying on a large scale,
city and country properties, mines and timber;
in the development of secondary industries, and
in the growing of rubber."
With £150 to £200, a man can start dairying
in a small way, and gradually increase his herd
and operations. On £250 to £300, he could
make an excellent beginning.
One hundred pounds capital would be suffici-
ent to make a start at fruitgrowing.
The man without capital might work for a
farmer or station owner until he had enough to
pay his deposit on the land he eventually selects.
There arc 60 land districts in Queensland; in all
of which Crown Lands are still obtainable.
Conditions under which land can be acquired in
each of the Australian States will be found in
the chapter on The Croivu Lands of the Common-
wealth. These, generally speaking, have been
based on the lines of settlement pursued under
each State Government, but Queensland has a
unique form of tenure, known as "prickly-pear se-
lections": which does not prevail elsewhere.
When we come to the story of the prickly pear
we will better appreciate why prickly pear lands
have been brought under special legislation.
East and West from the Barrier to the Border,
as the sun goes, there is room for thousands of
homes, for dairies, orchards, plantations, mixed
farms, all the various industries that have already
been proved profitable; and for others that will
arise as settlement goes on.
The rougher days of pioneering have passed.
The settler of to-day has all the impetus, the in-
vention, of the 20th century behind him. His
progress is more rapid and certain; his personal
exertions less. He is no longer isolated; rapid
transport brings him into touch with centres of
population — with his markets, his medicine, and
his news.
They were strong men, those northern pion-
eers— broad-visioned, patient, and brave. East
and West, from the Barrier to the Border, they
laid the foundations of a future in which Queens-
land will surely be the motherland of a mighty
race. ,
In the house of our Commonwealth — that
dark-browed sister, so richly dowered, who keeps
the Northern Gate, shall yet, mayhap, become the
strongest and the greatest.
Sheep at the Hermitage, Darling Downs
SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND.
AFTER he has gathered granadillas at
Cairns, heard the nor'-easter sighing in the
bamboos at Rockhampton, and seen the
moon rise over the canefields of Bundaberg, the
traveller should take train to Toowoomba.
A hundred miles from Brisbane, and 1,921
feet above sea level, he may here begin his in-
spection of the Great Northern Tableland and
all it contains.
He will find mountains and eucalypts — a land
altogether different from the tropical coast.
The apple-cheeked girls of Toowoomba might
pass for Victorians in Sydney, or Tasmanians in
Melbourne.
Beside its prestige as capital of the famous
Darling Downs, Toowoomba enjoys a reputation
as a fashionable summer resort for Queensland.
Rich in foliage, coolness, and scenic beauty, it
is one of the pleasantest cities in Australia.
The surrounding district pours out a varied
benison of fruit and flour, wine and cream.
Botanic gardens, parks, residential schools, fine
hotels, daily newspapers, substantial public
buildings, and pleasant villas testify to its im-
portance— not only as a tourist resort, but a city
of wealth, culture, and general prosperity.
Toowoomba is a proud Queen of the Hills,
crowned with garlands of flowers.
At this centre the traveller finds a railway de-
pot of great activity, through which several im-
portant systems send their passengers and
freights.
One branch finds its terminus at Crow's Nest,
34 miles north by east along the Tableland, tra-
versing much good forest and farm lands.
The soils en route are chocolate, red, and black,
exceptionally rich in the scrubs, much of which
has been cleared and converted into field and
pasture, beautified in spring by a wealth of wild-
flower, among which English eyes are gladdened
to see buttercups and bluebells.
The timbers, of good milling quality, include
pine, blackbutt, ironbark, and turpentine.
Wheat, lucerne, potatoes, and maize flourish
up here, equally as well as the cotton grown by
Ipswich at the feet of the ranges. Southern
Queensland is as variously fertile as those north-
489
490
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
em districts, over which the reader has already
glanced.
Another branch line goes, south and west,
through to Wyreema, Pittsworth, and Millmer-
ran — 54 miles.
Pittsworth is a small centre of agricultural
activity. With an elevation of nearly 1,700 feet,
the cultivation of wheat, barley, and oats varies
maize and lucerne-growing.
From Toowoomba, the western railway goes
out to Charleville; and from Charlevllle, south
surface. The Downs were discovered by Allan
Cunningham, the botanist. In 1827 — one of his
many great services to Australia.
Since the beginning of settlement in 1840, they
have been a constant home of prosperity. From
a squatting period, they have now definitely pass-
ed to a closer settlement stage. To-day they are
a vision of green pasture lands, dotted with dairy
cattle of the finest breeds, hillside homes In the
midst of waving cereals, lucerne paddocks, clo-
ver meadows, and orchards — while ploughed
Bullocks Drawing Timber
by west, to Cunnamulla, which is 604 miles from
Brisbane.
The way to Dalby, on this line. Is over green
lucerne lands of the Darling Downs. These
Downs hold four million acres of the richest
chocolate and black, soils In Australia, from four
to sixty feet deep.
This sweet and lovely land is watered by young
rivers fresh from the ranges — birthplaces of the
Condamlne, the Maclntyre, and other affluents of
the Darling, whose flowing currents reach the sea
at the Murray's mouth, 1,800 miles away.
Its average rainfall Is over 30 Inches a year,
and, at almost any part of It, further supplies
of water may be obtained a few feet from the
fields. In chocolate squares, vary the prevailing
green.
At Dalby. there Is another railway depot, with
short branch lines laid out across the blacksoll
plains to Bell and Tara.
At Macallster one sees blue hills In the remote
distance across a fertile blacksoil plain, well wat-
ered, well grassed, diversified by occasional
patches of crop and scattered farm houses. Like
an enormous disc, this plain spreads away to all
points of the compass; crossed by straight roads
and fences, and still dotted with sheep and cattle.
At Warra, the region of prickly pear {opuutia
inermis) definitely begins.
It Is almost uncanny to pass from the sunlit ex-
panses of the Downs into the dark brigalow
492
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Town Hall, Toowoomba, Darling Downs
scrub and find the whole face of nature closely
and evenly covered by this grey-green intruder
from Mexico, which has been the bane of Queens-
land Governments for some years.
Mile after mile the traveller is faced by one
vast, impenetrable, spiny thicket of obdurate
vegetation, which has smothered thousands of
fertile acres and threatens to overrun more.
The Government has offered large rewards
for an effective method of dealing with the pest,
and will practically give infested lands to selec-
tors, who will take them up and clear them of
the Mexican interloper.
A Government Prickly Pear Commission has
spent eighteen months abroad, travelling through
Java, India, Ceylon, South Africa, the countries
of the Mediterranean, South America, the West
Indies, and the United States.
It has returned with parasites, and vegetal
diseases, for further investigations and trials at
the Dulacca Experimental Station, where the
whole problem of prickly pear has been under
careful scientific review.
The Lands Department, the Government Ana-
lyst's Department, and the Department of Agri-
cultural Chemistry are all concerned in the elab-
orate experiments at Dulacca, which are also re-
ceiving sympathetic attention from scientific men
in the universities of Sydney and Melbourne.
As one travels through the dominions of which,
for the time being, opuntia iiiermis is absolute
overlord, one sees why this grey-green invader
has been able to advance its spiny regiments so
victoriously; why all through the dark brigalow
scrub, all over the open spaces, all across the re-
serves, and right up to the selectors' front doors,
its tall globulous growth has overcome all other
vegetation.
The affected regions are mainly those rich
black soils blessed with a sufficient rainfall — •
which would grow the useful and kindly plants
of cultivated fields to perfection.
Had there been a human population to keep
those soils in tilth this prickly, saponaceous cactus
— which has utilitarian uses in other countries —
would never have been allowed to get the upper
hand.
Obviously, closer settlement is the one sure
preventive for such pests; but with a vast State
carrying little more than one person to the square
mile, this is more platitude than cure. . . .
Roma is 318 miles to the west from Brisbane.
People who have been misled by mendacious
stories of Queensland climate will find here a win-
ter much colder than that of Sydney, a summer
less trying.
Clear air, frosty mornings, blue skies! Life
is worth living at Roma in the month of August.
bo
493
494
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
An Early Homestead, Boma District
The traveller fills his lungs and feels the im-
mediate effect in greater vitality and increased
appetite. It is pure oxygen — the invigorating
breath of those great clean, wind-swept, sun-
sweetened spaces of Australia, which lie before
him for thousands of miles when he turns his face
to the West.
He may believe this wind has blown across the
continent through Birdsville and Eromanga and
Charleville from Charlotte Waters. He may
fancy that it was cleanly born in the Indian Ocean,
first touched the continent at Cape Inscription —
where Dirck Hartogs found it, was purified
and rarified as it blew over the plains and ranges,
went lightly across the silent spaces of West-
ern Australia, through the Musgrave Mountains,
and across the Northern Territory to the Queens-
land border.
Between Cape Inscription and Roma lie 2,350
miles of Australia, free from all disease, not a
township of a hundred houses all the way, not
a village in a thousand miles; no fever-haunted
jungles, no poisonous marshes, nothing but odor-
ous eucalyptus forests, inland ranges, and wide,
silent plains. It is a good, invigorating air.
At Roma, 318 miles west from Brisbane, we
find ourselves in the heart of a beautiful dairy-
farming and wheat-growing country, with plenty
of room for settlers.
The fields are white with daisies or yellow and
purple with wildflowers.
We have come to a border region, where the
black soils — which go down from the Gulf of
Carpentaria through Queensland into north-
western New South Wales — are giving way to
the rich red soils typical of the southern West,
the centre, and the far West of the continent.
The timber changes in a short distance from
brigalow and glossy-leaved box to cypress pine,
and those native growths which indicate good
wheat lands in New South Wales.
Wheat-growing out here has proved a profit-
able industry. At the State Farm near Roma
much useful agricultural research is going on.
The wheat plots are particularly interesting.
They wave from the edge of the red soil green
banners of advance; for the grain is going west
and further west, towards the Great Inland
Railway that will join Camooweal to Charleville
in the near future.
At the State Farm they are growing fine citrus
fruits — Washington navel oranges especially —
without irrigation. Apricots and olives give good
results. Grapes flourish, and the vines are free
from disease. Around Roma vineyards and
wheatfields beautify the landscape.
Along the northern road are orchards, oran-
geries, vineyards, hayfields, and wheat crops.
Agriculture — generally speaking — ceases in
Queensland at a few miles' distance from the rail-
way lines. It does not pay to transport products
beyond a certain radius. But the land preserves
its characteristics, and, some day, if there is re-
quirement, intervening areas between present rail-
way zones will be found just as suitable for agri-
culture and dairying. Lucerne and potatoes will
probably be a staple crop out here later on.
Beyond the 320-acre blocks lie the sombre
brigalow, the hills, given over to pear, the myall,
box, and black ironbark — hundreds of square
miles as good as any that has known the plough,
waiting to be converted into farms.
Beyond the farms, on natural pastures, with
artesian water, wool-growing will still remain a
staple industry. There is ample room for both.
Mount Abundance, a station of 100,000 acres,
between Roma and Charleville, is said to carry
3,000 head of cattle and 100,000 sheep.
Transport and people ! That is the basic policy
of Queensland. It is a policy which, if rightly
followed out, will lead to rapid national advances
in the next few years.
The town of Roma was for a short period —
four or five months — lit with natural gas, struck
SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND
495
•*
l»l£i
■!.'<> •'. ft.-
Wheat at Boma
in an artesian bore within the municipal radius.
One night the supply of gas unaccountably
and inconveniently ceased. Since then annoyed
ratepayers have been paying taxes to cover the
cost of a gas supply which has vanished. Geolo-
gists even do not tell why. One theory is that
this was once an oil region, but, probably through
some convulsion of nature, the country was frac-
tured, and the oil escaped.
Although experts assert that the subterranean
reservoirs of oil are no longer there, local en-
thusiasts continue to believe. They have other
explanations for the sudden cessation of the town
gas supply — which, by the way, went to waste for
six years before it was reticulated. The Govern-
ment is now engaged in boring operations in order
to definitely determine whether oil wells of any
extent exist.
Harvesting at Soma
496
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Whether or no there remains any gas or exists
any oil in the earth under Roma, there are cer-
tainly some valuable medicinal waters at Mucka-
dilla Bore, 26 miles further along the western
railway.
The thermal baths at Muckadilla are under
control of the Queensland Railway Department.
Rest houses and bath houses have been estab-
lished, and the number of patients increases.
The Department absolutely declines to receive
phthisical or other contagious or infectious cases
for treatment, but it provides all facilities, — in-
cluding stretchers in railway carriages when pa-
tients are unable to sit up — for the access of the
afflicted to this artesian Bethesda by Mount
Abundance.
If Ponce de Leon might amend his quest and
bring it up to date, he would wire to the manager
a .-
Harvesting Wheat, near Warwick
According to the Government Analyst, the
water is radio-active. It issues from the bore at
a temperature of 124 deg. Patients are immersed
at a heat of no degrees, and also drink freely
of this highly mineralized water, which contains
in each gallon — silica 3grs., iron igr., calcium car-
bonate 3igrs., magnesium carbonate i^grs.,
sodium carbonate i6grs., sodium chloride ygrs.,
sodium sulphate ligrs.
It has been established beyond doubt that the
water possesses highly curative properties in
chronic digestive troubles, and for sub-acute and
chronic rheumatic affections sound medical
authority declares its effects to be marvellous.
This remarkable bore, — which has been the
means of restoring many hopeless invalids to
health — is enclosed by artesian casing and sunk
to a depth of 3,762 feet. It is one of the deepest
artesian bores in Queensland; and has a flow of
23,000 gallons a day — sufficient to supply 600
people with medicated baths.
of the hotel at Muckadilla for a room, wire to the
station-master at Toowoomba for a sleeping
berth, and go down in comfort to his 20th cen-
tury Fountain of Youth in South-western Queens-
land— 300 miles from the coast, 1,170 feet above
sea level — where, in a most invigorating atmos-
phere, summer or winter, he could at least rid
himself of gout and rheumatism.
Having seen the Downs dip slowly into the
red-soil plains, the traveller should return to Too-
woomba, and entrain for Warwick.
Gowrie, Westbrook, Cambooya, and Green-
mount lie on the road — all long famous through-
out Australia for their richness. Butter, cheese,
malt, of the highest qualities have established
their fertility.
Warwick is the centre of an idyllic agricultural
region, which has been turned to good account
by two generations of enterprising farmers. Some
SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND
497
Bending Broom Millet
recent Scotch visitors to Australia have printed
a statement that "the Darling Downs are known
as a region where Nature makes a marvellously
generous response to the farmer, though he be
neither very energetic nor scientific."
It may be that the philosophy of a superabun-
dant country like Queensland is more generous
than that of the poorer land from which these
gentlemen came.
The Queensland farmer need not be more than
half as scientific and energetic as the farmer in
Scotland to reap twice the result.
The farmers of the Darling Downs, facing no
fearsome winters, dreading no denudation of
their inexhaustible soils, being in no wise cramped
for room, inhabiting an infinitely richer territory
than anything north of the Tweed, have no ne-
cessity to put forward that strenuous battle
against unkindlier Nature, to which circumstances
have perpetually condemned their less fortunate
Scotch contemporaries. The Darling Downs
cover an area more than one-fifth as great as the
whole of Scotland. The rolling slopes are bathed
in wholesome sunlight, nearly every day through-
out the year. Its perennial waters run sweet and
clear. It grows maize equally as well as oats,
rye, and barley. It fattens beef and mutton equal
to the best bred quality in Europe. Its lucerne
flats yield six cuttings a year. Its people are uni-
versally prosperous and contented.
What indeed does it matter to them if Edm-
burgh, after eight hundred years, has only half
the population of Melbourne, which is only eighty
years old? What to them that the total area of
arable land in all Scotland in 1910 was estimated
at 3,348,446 acres — much less than the Darling
Downs. In their wealth, independence, and Aus-
tralian ease they are not greatly concerned that
in all Scotland in the year 19 10 there were only
2,674 landowners, who held over 300 acres!
With these facts in his mind the traveller may
visit the dairy farms around Warwick, and on
the verandahs of comfortable villas, commanding
views unequalled in any part of the world for
beauty and fertility, talk under the lilac blooms to
intelligent sons of brave and intelligent pioneers,
some of them Scotchmen, who are prepared for
whatever the future may hold.
498
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Branch railways extend from Warwick to
Dirranbandi, Killarney, and Maryvale. Allora, a
picturesque little township, is approached by a
short railway from Hendon.
These little cities and towns of the Downs are
well planted with shade trees; possess good wide
streets, and are altogether pleasant places. Or-
chards, with stone and citrus fruits, almonds,
chestnuts, olives, walnuts, and table grapes, prove
the catholicity of the climate — which ripens water
melons and blackberries side bv side.
Killarney, at the terminus of a delightful jour-
ney, is one of the most beautiful places in Aus-
tralia. It lies under the northern slope of Mac-
timbered country, with brigalow, pine, and belar
belts.
Texas is the place chosen by Wills & Co. to
foster a tobacco-growing industry in Queensland.
It is on the Maclntyre River (one of the tribu-
taries of the Darling), which forms the border
line here.
At their Raleigh Plantation, a village com-
munity of would-be settlers acquires as workers
an experience of tobacco planting and leaf handl-
ing, which will enable them to become growers
later on.
At present Australia is not producing anything
like enough tobacco for her own requirements.
Potato Field, KiUamey, Darling Downs
pherson's Range, the border mountains between
Queensland and New South Wales — amid arca-
dian surroundings.
Much scrub timber, pine, cedar, silky oak, and
mahogany, has been obtained from the hills
around Killarney. Sub-tropical bird life and plant
life receive the fullest expression in these jungle-
covered plateaux, where ferny gullies, waterfalls,
gorges, lakes, and glorious forests, make a tour-
ist's paradise.
From Warwick, a border railway runs south-
west to Thallon, Inglewood, Goondiwindi, and
Dirranbandi — over 257 miles.
From Inglewood one goes down by motor, or
mail coach, to Texas. The road, after leaving
the red scrub lands of Inglewood, runs through
although she has every facility for so doing. Ex-
perts assert that this country can grow and cure
as good tobacco-leaf as any other, and the fac-
tories already established here are equally cap-
able of making it up.
Thirty to forty thousand acres of good to-
bacco lands have been located in the neighbour-
hood of Texas. Chinese growers in this locality
have raised over six tons of tobacco from 5 acres
in the year, which, at 3od. a lb., the price paid
for the leaf, netted them about £450. This is
an exceptional crop, the average return being
about half a ton to the acre.
Dairying and wheat-growing supplement the
culture of tobacco in I'exas district.
SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND
499
^'
Picking Fruit at Westbrook, near Toowoomba
Crop of Young Maize at Westbrook
500
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
For a stretch of forty or fifty miles on either
side of the Dumaresq, these approved tobacco-
growing lands extend. The flats are roughly a
mile wide on each side of the border. Of the
forty or fifty thousand acres, about 2,000 are, so
far, devoted to tobacco-growing.
The Wills Plantation, — which is part of a
cattle station, purchased by this company — holds
700 acres, already planted, and supports some
400 people. The company is paying into the dis-
trict about £30,000 for tobacco-leaf.
Going from Warwick to Stanthorpe by the
main southern line, the train leaves the Downs
The story of Stanthorpe began about forty
years ago with the discovery of large deposits of
stream tin. It proved to be the richest alluvial
tinfield so far on the continent. The numbers of
potholes and sunken shafts along the banks of
the creek, which meanders over its sandy bed on
the outskirts of the town, remain to testify to the
activity of old days.
In a few years three million pounds' worth of
tin was taken out of the field. When the alluvial
deposits "petered out" and the bulk of the popu-
lation drifted away, many miners and their fami-
lies remained to pick up a precarious livelihood
Planting and Irrigating Tobacco, Texas, Darling Downs
and climbs into another and entirely different re-
gion. The change from basaltic to granitic for-
mation is accompanied, as usual, by a change in
soils and timbers.
The increased altitude — 3,008 feet at Thulim-
bah — also effects a change in climate. Stan-
thorpe district is much colder than the Downs,
some of its hills having an elevation of over
4,000 feet. Climates being as much the result of
altitude as latitude — coastal Queenslanders find,
in their own southern mountains, recuperative air
and temperatures which will help them to pre-
serve the stamina of a white race in the north
of Australia.
as trappers, fossickers, half-hearted settlers, curs-
ing the ill-luck that left them stranded on a de-
serted diggings in the cold and barren hills.
The land, of course, was barren, from the fact
that it was too cold for maize-growing and too
broken for wheatfields.
It was a long time before it occurred to local
inhabitants that the 800 square miles of decom-
posed granite in which Stanthorpe lies might still
have a value — even after three million pounds'
worth of tin had been taken out of it.
Then some enterprising spirits began to experi-
ment with European fruits. The result was
I
SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND
501
tii:-^ - ^..**
Bridge over Dumaresq River, Texas District
better than anybody expected. The Stanthorpe
granite had been decomposed not only to hold
stream tin — which anybody might wash out in a
dish by a creek bed — but apparently to feed a
plant life which was unsuitable for the warmer
coast lands, or the more tropical North.
The little struggling selectors — mostly married
men with young families who could not retreat
with the rest of the mining army when it deserted
the worked-out" field — slowly began, on their 160
and 320 acre blocks, to take heart of grace.
They commenced to extend their orchards of
peaches and plums, apples and pears. As the
fruit came to maturity the local market grew.
Now there are about 4,000 acres of orchards, and
Stanthorpe is once more a place of increasing
Tobacco Fields, Texas, Darling Downs
a
C3
502
SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND
503
prosperity and importance. In this second stage
of its history its fortunes are still based on the
decomposed granite.
^'
Ipswich, 24 miles from Brisbane on the mam
southern line, is a stepping-off place for branch
lines running to Dugandan, Marburg, and Laid-
ley, and to Yarraman Creek, by all of which
routes a portion of the wealth of Queensland is
poured into the metropolis.
Ipswich has laid the foundations of a big coal-
mining and manufacturing future, and will, in
time, become, without doubt, the Newcastle of
the North.
For 200 miles the south-eastern seaboard of
Queensland is enriched by valuable coal measures,
among which the Ipswich fields have been made
commercially profitable.
Its measures are of the Trias-Jura system,
cover an area of 12,000 square miles, and carry
large proved reserves of coal. At present
the Ipswich collieries are responsible for two-
thirds of the output of the State. During 19 14
thirty were in operation. The average value of
their coal at the pit's mouth was 7/4 a ton. It
Quince Tree, Stanthorpe
There is a fresh influx of population now — all
agriculturists, and no miners. While the apples
and nectarines, the cherries and quinces, are com-
ing into bearing, the settlers successfully cultivate
vegetables, specializing on tomatoes, potatoes,
onions, and other profitable garden crops.
Established orchardists are clearing £700 and
£800 a season from their fruits, as a regular in-
come— from that up to £1,800.
One reliable citizen showed the writer a clear-
ance of £900 nett, for the past season, from 30
acres. Two brothers near by are netting £1,100
a year from 60 acres. Uncleared orchard land
in the neighbourhood could be purchased freehold
at from £3 to £5 an acre. The clearing would
cost from £5 to £12 an acre. With good roads,
always possible in granite country, this orchard
belt can be extended many miles back from the
existing railway.
Stanthorpe is a valuable asset to the State of
Queensland.
It grows some of the finest fruit of Australia.
It is the apple orchard of the North, and a sana-
torium for the tropical districts. Retired civil
servants and others who desire a retreat, where
snow in winter is not unknown, are building
homes and planting orchards in the district.
Dredge mining for tin is still profitably carried
on. Wolfram, molybdenite, copper, silver and
gold make chapters in the mining history of th's
interesting mountain region.
Bocks at Stanthorpe
has excellent steaming properties, and is suitable
for the production of coke and gas.
Between Brisbane and the southern border is
a long surfy shore line, with hard sandy beaches
Coal-mining at Bundamba, near Ipswich
504
SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND
505
^x^;:;^^::^
Coke Ovens in the Bundamba District, near Ipswich
for bathers, tidal creeks, and, finally, the sub-
tropical fertility of the Tweed River, across
which, to the southward, spreads the prosperous
big scrub of northern New South Wales.
The South Coast Railway line runs through
the farming district of Beenleigh to Southport,
Brisbane's most popular watering place, and on
to Tweed Heads, where it junctions with the
North Coast line of New South Wales, which
will, in a little time, connect Brisbane wirh
Sydney.
When certain gaps in Australian railways are
completed, it will be possible for a passenger to
entrain at Meekatharra in north-western Aus-
tralia, and journey by rail around to Cairns, a
distance of 4,768^ miles. These railway lines
are all in construction at time of publication of
this book.
Between Sydney and Brisbane, travellers on
this long journey will have choice of two routes;
they may go North by the present overland sys-
tem, or take the Coast route, crossing the border
near Murwillumbah.
Between the Tweed and Brisbane spread the
fertile Logan and Albert districts, reached by a
branch railway from the main South Coast line
The Albert and Logan are old settled districts
— as antiquity in a very new country is reckoned —
and gained an early reputation for their fertility.
The country is picturesque, well watered, and com-
paratively well settled in reasonably small areas.
As Brisbane grows in population their values
must increase.
This applies also to the farm and orchard
lands along the shores of Moreton Bay. This
wide, island-studded sheet of water, with its blue
hills and blue bays, is a fine asset to a growing
city. Snapper-fishing, oystering, shooting are
yet within easy reach of tired townsmen, with
yachting cruises and motor runs to make variety.
There is an ideal bush road bordered by forest
oaks that takes you from South Brisbane to Wel-
lington Point, a tongue of rich, red volcanic soil
thrust out into Moreton Bay. Here are flourish-
ing little farms, convenient to city markets,
whereon bananas, papaws, mangoes, pine-
apples, and strawberries are successfully culti-
vated.
Cleveland, further to the South, also nestles on
the slopes of the Bay. It is chiefly a ten-acre-
block proposition, giving a competence to indus-
trious families from strawberries and pineapples,
which average £45 and £50 a year per acre nett
returns. The advantage of railway communica-
tion with Brisbane is apparent. Sixteen years ago
these Cleveland blocks were worth no more than
5o6
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
£6 an acre in the real estate market. They are
valued now at from £60 to £100 an acre.
Some miles further is Redland Bay, yet a little
way from a railway, but supporting a highly pros-
perous community on its rich chocolate slopes,
which fall gently towards the blue expanse of
Moreton Bay.
The people of Redland Bay and their holdings
are a proof that Europeans can live and prosper
under sub-tropical conditions. Here the student
of Australian development will see sturdy men,
and healthy women and active children amid the
orangeries and banana groves. Their good sub-
stantial homes indicate that the cultivation of
tropical fruits is not only a healthy, but profitable,
occupation in White Australia.
It gives an additional zest for the superb pine-
apple, which you purchase for sixpence, to know
that the white man by whom it was grown, on
this unexpected farm in the forest, is an English
immigrant, who, if he had remained in his own
country, would never have been able to include
pineapple in his daily list of table fruits, let alone
rear and educate a family by its cultivation.
And this kind of settlement is possible of
enormous expansion. Let the Statistician and the
Prophet car out together through the tram-served
suburbs of Brisbane, until the houses grow far-
ther apart and vistas of wooded hills appear.
Gradually the town drops into panorama at their
feet as they climb to the top of Mount Coottha
by a pleasant, winding road.
View from Perry's Knob, Marburg, Moreton District
Coming from Brisbane through the tea-tree
scrub, covered with its sickly-sweet blossom,
through 'forest oak' lands — which are not re-
garded anywhere as of special fertility, over
black tidal inlets and occasional fresh-water
creeks, lipped by vines and jungle — the visitor
is not at first impressed by the agricultural possi-
bilities. But Australia must never be judged by
surface indications. The most unpromising coun-
try is often the richest in results.
Along here you will cross out of a dull forest
and come on a clearing planted with healthy-
looking orange trees. You take the trouble to in-
terview the settler, and he tells you without much
enthusiasm that he has cleared £700 a year from
those seven acres of Washington Navels for
years; that his five acres of pineapples are yield-
ing him a profit of £30 a year per acre, and that
almost any fifteen acres around there is more than
enough for a family.
From the summit of this overlooking hill un-
rolls a lovely scene. Brisbane, with its winding
river, its streets and squares, suburbs, and open
spaces lies below. Southward stand the sharp
volcanic peaks of Macpherson's Range; there
are hundreds of square miles of country, suitable
for forty-acre men, in that direction.
Eastward is Moreton Bay, whose southern
shores we have just been visiting. There is room
for scores and scores of new settlers down there.
The Main Ranges stand out on the western
horizon. Occasional squares of clearing proclaim
that abundant good land lies in that direction,
basaltic hillsides that will produce bananas: fruit
land, lucerne land, dairy farming land. There
is room for more and more people west of Bris-
bane.
Let the Prophet and the Statistician turn their
gaze Northward !
SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND
507
In the nearer distance they see little valleys
and fertile pockets, where people have small
farms within easy reach of the city, and do well
with pineapples, bananas, vegetables, dairy cows,
and mixed products. Green squares of feed oats
and black ploughed patches show that cultivation
is creeping on, but there is room for 10 and 20-
acre men — plenty of room !
Away beyond Zillmere, Strathpine, and Petrie
are a hundred miles through which the North
Coast railroad runs to Gympie.
Citrus orchards in the Blackall have also
proved highly payable.
Yandina, Nambour, Cooroy, Kin Kin, Kenil-
worth, are all attracting settlers. Valuable cedar
and kauri pine have been won from these scrubs.
Gympie, having contributed over eleven and
three-quarter million pounds sterling to the total
gold value won from Queensland mineral fields,
is being converted into a dairying and agricul-
tural district. All the way through this belt,
which extends from the eastern coast in alternate
Scene on the Marburg Railway, Moreton District
If the Prophet hazarded a prediction that two
or three hundred thousand people would some
day hold small farms and orchards in the terri-
tory which this single line of railway traverses —
one east and west branch from Caboolture,
runs through splendid forests, to Kilcoy — the
Statistician could no doubt support the prophecy
with facts.
There are some splendid lands along that route
— the famous Blackall Ranges, the rich scrubs of
Woombye, Maroochy, and Yandina, lands which
will produce strawberries and pineapples and
dairy fodder, as well as any in Australia.
Beyond the Glasshouse Mountains — those
singular peaks, which attracted the attention of
the Endeavour s company as that historic vessel
sailed slowly northward — there are large areas
of glorious palm scrubs which will grow sugar-
cane, bananas, and coffee. At Buderim Moun-
tain (a rich volcanic tableland accessible from
Palmwoods Railway Station) coffee is being
somewhat extensively cultivated.
The pineapple plantations around Woombye
are perhaps the most profitable in Queensland.
There a crop from 25 acres has netted the grower
£1,200.
forest and scrub, there is room, room for hun-
dreds of prosperous homes.
At Theebine, twenty-two miles north of
Gympie, a branch railway has been carved out in
a south-westerly direction through Kilkivan and
Kingaroy to Nanango and Tarong.
This is an interesting journey, taking the travel-
ler into country of comparatively recent and very
rapid development. The land begins to improve
at Kilkivan, and gets still better towards
Kingaroy.
En route to this flourishing district one sees
more green crops, black flats, and fertile slopes
covered with tall pasture grasses. Fat cattle
browse contentedly by flowing creeks; stock trains
and timber trains wait at the sidings, where logs
of cedar and pine and other commercial timbers
are ready to be shipped.
The scrubs of the Upper Burnett and around
Kingaroy are not so tropical in appearance as the
Blackall, but their soils have high agricultural
values.
The towns of Kingaroy and Wondai have
boomed since their beginnings, seven years back,
as centres of surrounding settlement. With an
altitude of a thousand to nearly fifteen hundred
feet, they enjoy a climate suitable for the growth
5o8
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
of maize, lucerne, potatoes, onions, garden truck,
and green crops, and the raising of sheep and
cattle. It is stated that young fields on the Upper
Burnett have given iio bushels of maize to the
acre, and yielded 25 tons or potatoes to the acre at
a time when potatoes were worth £12/10/- a ton.
The paean of South Queensland's pros-
perity is heard loudly at the busy little
township of Wondai. Even 'Scotty,' the
barber, is jubilant. Barbers, as a rule,
are pessimists. Not so one sartorial artist
from Caledonia stern and wild, as his scis-
sors scientifically shorten a wandering writer's
hair. "Is Australia a good country!" Scotty
swears roundly that it is the best. He has tried
Canada too. He began here, three years ago,
with nothing. Now he has £150 worth of stock
and good money in the bank. To him came three
months back "a working chap stony broke." He
asked for a pipe, a pound of tobacco, and matches.
He was going out in the bush for a 'job.' He has
just turned up with a cheque for £40, his three
months' savings, to settle his little account in the
shop. How long would a working chap wait to
save £40 in the old country? Scotty asks this
pertinent question as an illustration of his fierce
contention that Australia is the best country, that
Queensland is the best State, and that his little
town of Wondai is the best part of it. Out of
the mouths of children and bush barbers there
sometimes falls a homely wisdom!
A mournful-looking man, with a stubble-beard
waiting to be shaven, says he knows where there
is some bad country — out on the Boyne, near
Gladstone. This man has a small head and a
bloodshot eye. He does not look like a judge
of country. Besides, his bad lands are a long
way off. Out near Gladstone there would pro-
bably be a local oracle with a bloodshot eye, who,
in a discussion of this sort, would know of bad
country — a long way off, on the Upper Burnett.
These bad lands of Australia are always in the
distance.
In South Australia they used to lie in the
Pinnaroo, but that has been converted into wheat
fields.
In Western Australia they were located in the
north-west; but a Director of Tropical Agricul-
ture in that State has claimed the north-west for
future close settlement.
In Victoria, for years, they were situated in
the Mallee, but the Mallee is now growing thou-
sands of tons of grain.
In New South Wales they were placed for a
generation or more about Wentworth, on the
Darling River, but men are reaping thousands a
year from 50-acre citrus orchards at Wentworth.
In Queensland they were all along from Ca-
mooweal to CunnamuUa, but the Government is
constructing a railway right through that territory,
a railway hundreds of miles in length. Australian
governments do not waste thousands of public
revenue on useless or unprofitable railways.
The 'bad lands' nowadays in popular supersti-
tion exist in Central Australia or the Northern
Territory. Photographs and facts which will be
found in other parts of this volume throw rather
a different light on that matter.
The myrtle scrubs of Kingaroy were once re-
garded as a worthless, impenetrable thicket, but
they can hardly be bought for £15 an acre a few
years after a railway touches them.
A few miles motor travelling over a dusty bush
road brings the traveller from Nanango, at the
head of the.Kilkivan line, to Yarraman Creek,
the rail head of the Brisbane Valley branch line,
which junctions with the southern system at
Ipswich.
This line runs south through the heart of pine-
clad hills. There is a pulp mill at Yarraman
Creek, and all through the ranges timber-getters
are busy 'snigging out' huge logs and hauling
them, by bullock drays and traction engines, to
the railway sidings, whence they are trucked to
mills or exported in the log from Brisbane to the
southern States.
Bunya, hoop pine, and kauri crown the granite
ridges — forest after forest, for miles.
Blackbutt, grey gum, ironbark, and tallowwood
grow over the slopes and flats. The watershed
of the Brisbane River is a natural treasury of
durable and valuable timbers, in which the best
hardwoods and softwoods of the Australian Con-
tinent are represented in magnificent straight
trunks of finest grain and quality.
The Brisbane Valley line is just 102 miles in
length. Dropping the ranges it descends into
rich pastoral and agricultural districts towards
Esk, Coominya, and Ipswich.
Within this circular journey of 370 miles
(without counting the districts between the pros-
perous city of Maryborough and Gayndah,
crossed by another branch line 90 miles in length)
there is a rich undeveloped principality offering
prosperity to any man of industry and intelligence
who cares to accept it.
There is room all over Southern Queensland
for hundreds of thousands of people. Northern,
Central, and Southern Queensland are equally
good.
In fine, the man or woman who decides upon
migrating to Queensland, will find a fair field and
the favour of religious, political, and legal
equality.
The education of every child is provided for;
every adult is entitled to vote.
The Government encourages immigration and
offers land on easy terms, and financial assistance
^^•^-
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
through its Agricultural Bank. On mortality
statistics the climate is the healthiest in the world.
Nowhere else, we repeat, are there better open-
ings, greater chances for self-governing citizens to
enjoy good health, security, contentment, and ulti-
mately, if they are of energetic and ambitious
mind to win whatever success may lay nearest
to their heart's desire.
For would-be landowners (and there is no
human ambition healthier and saner than this)
there are chances that no other country can give at
the present stage of the world's progress.
From mountain, plain, and coast this sturdy
young State is calling, calling for white men and
women to come and share her largesse.
Hear the voice of Queensland, dwellers in the
smoky cities of Europe, toilers in the crowded
fields of the Old World!
It is the voice of freedom, of prosperity, ot
youth, of Jhope.
English, Irish, Scotch, and Welsh — sons of the
Motherland, sons and sons' sons of the bearers
of her banners across the world. Sons of the
men who fought with Nelson to keep the sea-
Scene on Marburg Line
The new Queensland settler may take his
choice of dairy farm, sugar plantation, tobacco
plantation, vineyard, orchard, wheat farm, pig
farm, sheep farm, poultry farm, mixed farm,
horse run or cattle run. He may grow cotton,
coffee, maize, bananas, pineapples, citrus fruits,
or stone fruits, hay, potatoes, or barley. He
may devote himself to mining or mineral dis-
covery, to timber getting, to hunting or fishing
for profit. No matter what his trade, profession,
or occupation, the man who wants a fair chance
in a new country need have no fear of failure.
There is room for men and room for money In
the great north-east State of the Commonwealth,
and no fear that either will be as water spilled
on sand; rather will they be as good seed sown
in rich soil — a productive and ever-increasing
quantity.
roads open; breed of the breed that has turned
the furrow on Cymric hillsides, in Celtic
meadows, by Caledonian braes, on English leas,
descendants of the yeomanry, the peasantry, the
soldiery, the guilds, and the companies, college
men and public school men. This message for
you, especially for you.
A great possession, one of England's greatest
possessions, is In need of men. Six hundred odd
thousand British colonists are holding as an out-
post a territory that will support sixty millions
of people! The outpost calls for reinforcements
from the main army. Broad-browed, hard-
sinewed speakers of Shakespeare's speech, — if the
old love of Adventure is not dead, if the old
splendid spirit of conquest and colonization has
not vanished — this message will not be sent In
vain.
SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND
5"
Russians, sons of the steppes, communal sons
and daughters of the villages, hardy, enduring,
patient and strong, Queensland has black soils
for ploughing. There you shall be freeholders,
and your children will eat white bread. Come!
Finns, in the forests of Queensland winds of
PVeedom sing natal songs through tall dark
pines. Through all the winters their high heads
are free from snow. Come !
Danes, Norwegians and Swedes, Queensland
has dairy lands where, with less labour, the
farmer may win ten times more than Northern
Europe can ever give. Your highest mental and
social and scientific standards are here upheld.
Come !
Dutchmen, you whose colonizing genius has
paralleled that of Britain. Frugal, cleanly,
methodical, and intelligent, for you, particularly
for your people in the East Indies, tropic tired,
here is a land where any man can establish and
uplift a European home. Come!
Brave Belgians, where the flag of Britain flies
you are doubly welcome for evermore. Beneath
the peaceful skies of Queensland — deep and holy
as the heroic spirit that has burned the name of
your native land eternally upon the banner of
human glory — there is, mayhap, a solace for
your sorrows and a salve for your wounds. Come !
Frenchmen, Swiss, here are acres and olives
and vines; beef food on every man's table, fine
wools for growing, sugar, silks, tobacco and
cotton, asking culture. A land of sunlight,
flowers, fertility, beauty. Valiant, light-hearted
husbandmen, vignerons, sowers and tillers of
France, scientific, economic, devoted sons of the
soil, good citizens, liberty lovers, life lovers.
Come !
Men of Southern Europe, here is a climate
that appeals to you, in which you may live and
labour as happily as under your own blue skies,
but with far greater hope of ultimate indepen-
dence and ease. Here there is no poverty, no
crushing burdens of taxation, work for all, cheap
living, opportunities for saving money. Come !
To men of North America, desiring less stren-
uous conditions, milder climates, immediate open-
ings for enterprise; to the South African, tired
of turmoil; to the European who is weary of
sojourn in Asia, yet dreads the return to his cold
northern winters; to White Men all over the
world, Queensland calls!
It is a siren voice. One that the dweller in
southern Australia is also likely to answer if the
spirit of adventure or unrest should seize him.
You hear it in the rustling of the sugarcane
when the north-east monsoon blows along the
coastland —
"The silken soft nor'-easter,
The little lady breeze.
The Lord sends down from China
To cool His summer seas."
You hear it in the lap of tides that make and
ebb across those pearling grounds of the deep-
dyed Arafura Sea. You hear it when the wind
sways those festooned jungles, where the flame-
trees blaze like torches amid the green.
Bottle Tree, Burnett District
You hear it through the bronze-green briga-
low trees, among the sandalwood, and over the
bunya pines.
You hear it down the granite gorges, over the
gnarled gums, and out on the hills, where the
stampers and rollers are at work pounding and
grinding the glittering metal from its matrices of
rock.
You hear it calling from the West, from the
rivers of the gulf, from the Diamantina and the
Barcoo, from the farm lands of the Southern
Downs, from the sheep lands of the Centre, from
the cattle lands of the North, over the salt-bush,
over the grassy plains, over the forests and scrubs
— a wonderful, exultant, anthem of boundless
potentiality, incalculable riches, undeveloped
512
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
resources and unlimited opportunities for the main undeveloped. The tide of immigation will
profitable investment of Labor, and Money, and set more rapidly towards Queensland's shores.
Brains. The way of the Commonwealth is forward. Her
It needs no prophet to foretell that this Call battalions of the north will march in the fore-
of the North will be answered. The world has front of the army of advance, the silken ban-
grown too small for such a wide rich field of ners of progress waving before them, the golden
human enterprise, energy, and investment to re- bugles of prosperity cheering them on.
Nambour Sugar Mill
NORTHERN TERRITORY
Gl
514
PIONEERS AND OUTPOSTS.
I
SOME of the most interesting and produc-
tive lands in Australia lie within the
boundaries of the Northern Territory.
Despite all that has been written, said, and imag-
ined about these yet unexploited regions — which
extend north and south, between the nth and
26th lines of latitude, and east and west from
the 129th degree of longitude to the 138th — they
hold in their 523,620 square miles potential
wealth above and below the ground.
The Territory has a much larger area of land
in proportion to its coast line than any other
division of the Commonwealth; but that coast-
line is still over a thousand miles in length, with
more than one fine natural harbor between Car-
pentaria and Kimberley. Much of the
coast is scarcely known, and yet imperfectly
charted. Large tracts of virgin country in the
Territory remain practically unexplored; other
large areas are being profitably devoted to pas-
toral purposes: the remainder awaits occupation
and development.
It is a land of unexpected distances, silent,
unique, and lone. Its broad coastal rivers, fed
by heavy monsoonal rains, flow rapidly towards
the sea.
When the volume of flood-waters is greater
than they can contain, these rivers overflow their
muddy banks and inundate rich alluvial plains —
through which their final courses wend — leaving
behind a heritage of delta, swamp, billabong, and
lagoon, wherein buffaloes wallow and wildfowl
feed.
Some of these rivers are navigable for greater
distances inland than the rivers of northern New
South Wales. 7'hey water land rich in quality,
but more tropical in character, than the lands of
the Clarence, Richmond and Tweed.
They form, in the writer's opinion, close set-
tlement areas of greater economic ^'alue than any
other series of coastal rivers in Australia.
Three years' sojourn on the Clarence River,
and a close study of sub-tropical and tropical con-
ditions along the eastern seaboard, from
Shoalhaven to the Barron, strengthen this con-
viction.
If a large agricultural population can find habi-
tation and scope anywhere in the Northern Ter-
ritory of Australia, it will surely be along those
fertile river belts, which may, with available irri-
gation, be converted into hotbeds of production.
Whatever immediate difficulties stand in the
way of this desired result, the future possibility
stands good. Capital must be expended; local
experience may have to be acquired and carefully
sifted; reliable labor must be made available,
special inducements offered to settlers, and profit-
able markets established, before effective occupa-
tion of the Territory is accomplished.
These matters are likely to give the Federal
Administration some concern for years to come.
515
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Inland, the Territory presents the usual differ-
ences of forest, hill, and plain which feature the
interior of our continent. They are the result of
geographical and physiographical conditions, and
are in no wise determined by survey lines.
The straight edges of the map give 1,970 miles
of boundary in all.
If we are not influenced by prejudice, pique, or
ignorance, we realize that stepping across one of
these lines (respectively 550, 650, and 770 miles
in length), at any point, does not tal<e us at once
ties of the Adelaide River might have to be ac-
cepted with reservations.
It may be postulated, that, of the 335,116,800
acres contained within those geographical lines,
there will be pastoral, mineral, and agricultural
values as good as those in other Australian States,
and in average proportion.
Of all these acres, in the year of grace 19 16
there were not a thousand under cultivation, fol-
lowing pages will show what potential crops their
fertile expanses undoubtedly hold.
Territorial Inland
into land radically different from the adjacent
land of Western Australia, South Australia, or
Queensland.
Much of the hostile color in which the North-
ern Territory is painted has been acquired by
casual travellers between Darwin and Pine
Creek, a journey of 145 miles along a railway
which was built primarily as an outlet for a rather
monotonous belt of mineral country.
The difficulties of transport in Northern Aus-
tralia are so great, the distances so vast, that
very few people have been enabled to form any-
thing like a comprehensive impression of the
country. Those were, as a rule, either untrained
or unreliable observers. Even the eye of science
is often limited to one perspective. The opinion
of an anthropologist on the agricultural possibili-
But a few preliminary facts must be presented
to throw an explanatory light on the position.
To understand why the whole Territory has
at the present time a population of less than 3,000
white people, we must go back a little into the his-
tory of this remarkable country, bearing in mind
all the time that, mile for mile, the Territory
comparatively holds no greater vacancies than
adjoining parts of northern Australia — that the
problems of colonization it presents are no more
complex than those of Carpentaria or Kimber-
ley.
Abel Tasman visited it in 1644, and found
"cruel, treacherous, and murderous savages."
In 1803 — on his voyage of discovery along the
Australian coast — the indefatigable Flinders met
six Malay proas near Blue Mud Bay. He learned
PIONEERS AND OUTPOSTS
5'7
Sawmillers' Camp, Melville Island
that they were part of a fleet of 60 vessels then
fishing along the coast for trepang.
The Macassar headmen informed him that re-
gular excursions to the North of Australia had
been made by their proas as far back as they could
remember.
There is a noticeable Malay type among cer-
tain coastal tribes in the North. It is probable
that intermittent Malaysian trade in trepang, tor-
toise-shell, and pearls went on for centuries be-
fore Europe knew definitely of the existence of a
Southern Continent.
With their little bamboo barrels full of fresh
water; with rice, cocoanuts, dried fish, and fowls
for provender, the hardy Malays may have ven-
tured South seeking Australian delicacies for the
tables of Chinese mandarins, before Columbus
sailed out of Palos on his memorable first voyage
across the Atlantic.
It has been calculated that trepang, tortoise-
shell, and pearls to the value of a million and a
half, left the North Australian coast in this man-
ner during the hundred years that followed
Flinders' visit.
In 1825 the British Government established a
military depot on Melville Island. Bathurst
Island is separated from it by the narrow Apsley
Strait. These two islands, holding two million
acres, lie to the northward of Darwin.
The nearest point of the mainland is about 15
miles. The distance to Timor 330 miles.
This settlement, known as Fort Dundas, was
located on the north-western side of Melville, on
the shores of Apsley Strait, which is 40 miles in
length, and varies from i i to 5 miles in width.
In 1826 Major Campbell, of the 57th Foot,
was appointed commandant by Governor Dar-
ling. He left Sydney in the colonial schooner
Isabella, on August 19, and arrived on September
19. Campbell took charge of a population of
115 men and six women. The males included 54
prisoners. The live stock included 16 cattle, 23
sheep, and 54 pigs. Sixteen buffaloes had just
been landed from Timor, intended for killing.
The buffaloes imported from Timor for breeding
purposes spread all over Melville Island in thou-
sands, and are in large numbers there at the
present time.
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
It was an unfortunate position. The natives
proved constantly troublesome. The short-range
muskets and pistols of the period left the advan-
tage with spears thrown from ambush. They
killed two officials, two soldiers, and three prison-
ers in all. So the settlement was removed in 1827
to Raffles Bay on the mainland, where it remained
until abandoned in 1829 by peremptory orders
from England. During this period the Malays
visited the depot for trade.
magnitude. It is not enough for the purposes of
commerce to know that a certain plant has
flourished in a garden, or has grown spontane-
ously in particular localities. The questions are
whether over large tracts of country it can be
raised for the protection of the capitalists, and
by means of labor not dear in proportion to that
of other places producing the same commodity,
and moreover, capable of being brought to sale
of that quality and condition which the estab-
Scene in Central Australia
In 1837, under instructions from the Imperial
Government, Sir Gordon Bremer founded the
settlement of Victoria at Port Esslngton, on the
northern shore of Coburg Peninsula. The old
stone jetty, the ruins of the bakehouse, and some
Government buildings still stand. The clearings
have been re-covered by forest. A fine tamarind
tree occupies a site near the church.
In 1840 we find Messrs. Elliot and Villiers re-
porting to Lord John Russell, as to whether this
settlement should be maintained or not.
On the question of agriculture, they said, "No
partial experiment can decide a subject of this
llshed markets would require. To form an
opinion in the present case, we do not find that
enough is known, either of the soil or of the
seasons."
These very wise and pertinent conclusions still
apply in some degree to Northern Territory pro-
duction; but seventy-five years' experience and
change must be taken into our modern considera-
tion of the Northern problem.
In 1842 Captain MacArthur, who had two
years previously succeeded Sir Gordon Bremer
as Governor of Port Esslngton, recording the
convictions of his experience, said: — "Sugar cane
pioni-:ers and outposts
519
Permanent Water — Batchelor Demonstration Farm
will doubtless answer well here; indigo and cot-
ton, though totally neglected, have attracted much
attention. The soil appears to be particularly
favorable to arrowroot. Rice will grow, . . .
but I fearlessly pronounce that European laborers
will never be successfully employed here whilst
amongst that class of people the love of ardent
spirits is so prevalent. It must be considered that
the moment they land here they literally com-
mence life de novo : strange climate, strange soil,
strange products, strange pursuits, all demanding
change of habits, change of prospects, and at last,
effecting a change even in the constitution !"
Captain MacArthur's pronouncement, made
over seventy years ago, might be accepted as a
working guide for the Territory to-day. A con-
sensus of medical experience, gained in the North
during the long interval which has elapsed,
strengthens his declaration regarding the effects
of alcohol in our tropics. Much of the ill-health
and most of the deaths which have been attri-
buted to Territory climate, are in reality the re-
sult of individual intemperance. On this point
the author made special inquiries in the Northern
Territory, and, from a mass of local evidence, is
forced to the conclusion that alcohol is much more
to be dreaded than fever in the North; that in a
great many burial certificates, where the cause of
death in a kindly way has been set down as
"Fever," it should in reality have been written
"Drink."
It may be added, in justice to the \ictims, that
the ways of outposts are hard; that lack of
social enjoyment and restraining feminine in-
fluences in the past, have led men to habits which
inevitably undermine health in any climate, but
spell swift death in the Tropics.
There are men alive in the Territory who have
been intermittent hard drinkers for years — the
frontiersman has rarely been conspicuous for
sobriety anywhere, — but these are mostly bush-
men of iron constitutions who live active outdoor
lives: the toughest, hardiest, pluckiest, most pic-
turesque bunch of wild birds on the continent —
native characters such as Mrs. Gunn depicts
— somewhat conventionalized — in her charming
little book, "JVe of the Never Never." Between
such specialized types and the average product of
civilization, who has gone unacclimatized, too
often unadapted, to the Territory there is no
comparison.
Without pursuing this contentious subject fur-
ther, the writer gives Captain MacArthur's
seventy-year-old opinion a general endorsement.
It is one of the most xaluable contributions yet
made on the subject of European life in a part of
Australia, situated no further from the equator
than Sydney is from Brisbane.
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Goats and Ant-Hills
After McDouall Stuart's last expedition,
organized from Adelaide, had reached the shores
of Van Diemen's Gulf, the Province of South
Australia began to cast an acquisitive eye on the
country between the 26th parallel (her Northern
boundary) and the Arafura Sea.
Between the year 1840, when the Governor of
New South Wales, under instructions from Lord
John Russell, sent Captain MacArthur from
Sydney to take charge of the settlement at Port
Essington, and 1863, the Mother Colony held
possession of all that northern hinterland. She
retained it long after the Colony of Queensland
had been formed, and the boundary of the Cen-
tral Province extended along the 26th parallel
to the West Australian border.
It was suggested about 1862 that the Home
Government should create a separate colony of
North Australia. South Australia succeeded in
turning this proposition aside. In 1863 the Im-
perial Government temporarily annexed the Ter-
ritory to South Australia, with the right to revoke
or alter the arrangement at pleasure.
This right was never exercised, and the Terri-
tory remained under the Government at Adelaide
until taken over by the Commonwealth.
The history of the Northern Territory under
South Australian administration is rather the
story of a child endeavoring to carry a grown
miner's burden of ore to the crusher. The effort
weakened the child. When the stone was brought
to the mill it proved rich but refractory. It could
not be converted by any known process.
In 1864 the first South Australian Resident —
B. T. Finniss — and his staff arrived in the Terri-
tory by sea, and promptly selected a site for the
capital settlement at Escape Cliffs, which proved
utterly unsuitable.
The members of this outpost quarrelled with
Finniss, on whom a Royal Commission shortly
sat and condemned for mismanagement, destruc-
tion of stores, and other great waste of the funds
of the settlement.
The Commissioners pointed out that many of
the party sent were quite unfitted for the work;
that a proper supply of food was lacking; that a
sense of neglect arising from infrequent com-
munication with remote Adelaide and the effects
of a climate "not favorable to European labor,"
had tended to increase insubordination.
It was a bad start.
The South Australian Government, under the
Northern Territory Act, had sold at auction in
Adelaide 243,840 acres of land, and received pur-
chase money amounting to £82,5 <;3 4s. 6d. in re-
turn. The Government was to complete surveys
of the area sold, so as to enable purchasers to
take possession within five years.
Finniss had instructions to carry out this sur-
vey, which he failed to comply with during his
short and stormy career as Government Resident.
In 1866, three years after the sale, the Govern-
ment's obligations to the purchasers began to
press sorely on the Administration, who cast
about for some means of evading them.
Accordingly they moved a series of resolutions
in the Legislative Council, that the "Government
Resident and his party be withdrawn, that no fur-
ther attempt at the survey be made, and that the
monev paid by purchasers for land be refunded
them."
It was said in the course of the debate that
undertaking the colonization of the Territory was
a mistake from the beginning, that the community
in the South was too small and too remote to at-
tempt so big a task.
The resolutions were carried in the Council,
but negatived in the Assembly; except that which
related to the withdrawal of the Acting Resident
and his party from Escape Cliffs.
PIONEERS AND OUTPOSTS
521
A steamer was sent from Adelaide to retrieve
the unhappy first settlers. The land purchasers
warmly memorialized the Government on the
matter of its obligations and demanded the refund
of their money, with interest at 10 per cent., from
date of payment.
Trouble and expense occasioned by this unfor-
tunate transaction, continued until 1869, when
Sur\eyor-(jeneral (joyder and a staff were finally
despatched to the North to select a site for the
capital and undertake the survey of the town lots
and broad acres disposed of in 1863.
were it not that the remoteness of the field opened
a door to promoters and incompetent mine mana-
gers. As a result of companies overweighted
with promoters' shares, unnecessary purchase of
expensive machinery before any work was done,
labor troubles and incapable mine managers, an
undoubtedly rich mineral region was unfairly
slumped.
In 1870 the South Australian Parliament, re-
fusing assistance or co-operation from the other
Colonies, hurriedly passed a Bill to authorize the
construction of an overland telegraph line from
Cyanide Plant
Mr. Goyder, one of the most reliable officials
ever connected with a government service (al-
though South Australia has had conspicuously
able officers, as well as splendid explorers), se-
lected Darwin as the site of the northern capital.
He reported that South Australia had no rea-
son to fear the result of her connection with
the place chosen. The country, he declared, was
suitable for horses and cattle; the soil in the
slopes, valleys, and parts of the tablelands well
adapted for cultivation and mostly rich.
Goyder completed his survey in quick time, and
kept its cost within his estimates. The Govern-
ment of the day backed up its position by an act
extending the time for applications for land, but
the mischief was done.
As a result of a lawsuit brought by certain
purchasers, and finally determined in 1873, the
Government had to pay out £73,396 12s. prin-
cipal, interest and costs.
By the end of 1875 the Territory bill was
£333,546 — an initial expenditure practically bar-
ren of results.
The discovery of gold at Pine Creek in 1871
might have been a good thing for the North
Port Augusta to Darwin. An arrangement
had been made in London with the Eastern and
Australian Telegraph Company, whereby the lat-
ter agreed, upon certain conditions, to extend
the cable service from England to Port Darwin,
and to complete it by the end of 1871.
The estimate for the line between Port
Augusta and Darwin laid before the Houses of
Parliament was £120,000. It cost in actual fig-
ures £420,721 9 10, and proved a rather expen-
sive honor to the quixotic young Colony.
Parliamentary agitation for the construction
of a transcontinental railway — Adelaide to Port
Darwin — definitely began in 1872.
In 1883 an Act was passed by South Australia
authorizing the importation of Indian Coolie
labor into the North for the purpose of carrying
on the work.
In 1883 the construction of the Darwin-
Pine Creek Section was authorized by the House.
G. R. McMinn, the senior surveyor of the Ter-
ritory, had described the country along the tele-
graph line as some of the poorest within its
boundaries, and recommended a deviation in
choosing the route for the railway.
HI
5 22
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
It was originally intended that the line should
be constructed by European and cheap Indian
labor.
The work of construction began in 1887, and
was carried out with Chinese coolies. Inevitably,
no land settlement resulted.
Various efforts were made during the years
that followed to have this transcontinental rail-
way completed on the land-grant system. Both
Houses of the South Australian Parliament, in
1890, passed a motion to that effect, and followed
it in 1902, twelve years later, with a Transcon-
tinental Railway Act. This Act provided for
building, on the land grant system, a link line
from Oodnadatta — where the railway had then
been carried from Port Augusta — to Pine Creek.
The open authority granted by Parliament
never materialized in fact, and the responsibility
of the construction of this railway was laid upon
the Commonwealth, as a condition of the trans-
fer of the Territory in 191 1. . . .
While main lines of developmental policy were
being discussed or attempted in Adelaide, prac-
tical experiences were being gained in the Terri-
tory. It was demonstrated that valuable tropical
products could be grown, if not yet grown to pay.
It was proved that on large sections of the coun-
try beef cattle could be raised to profit, that sheep
and horses would thrive, that pearls, gold and
precious metals might be won.
Whether or not the Territory could be de-
veloped by white labor alone, had not been de-
cided. South Australian opinion was generally
against it; but with the installation of a Federal
White-Australia policy, it became a sine qua non
that the attempt must be made. Legislation per-
mitting colored immigration to the Territory,
placed on the Statutes of South Australia, no
longer applied. No more railways would be con-
structed by Asiatic labor, and outside of aborigi-
nals and the aliens already in the North — nearly
eight times the number of the white population, by
the way — no more colored labor could be im-
ported.
Doubtless this consideration influenced South
Australia in handing over the Territory to the
Commonwealth.
It was argued that the difficulties attending on
tropical agriculture in the North without colored
field labor had been clearly established; that, un-
der the circumstances, it was wiser and fairer to
hand o,ver the country to the Federal Govern-
ment which had instituted a policy locally re-
garded as inimical to the welfare of the Terri-
tory. On the Commonwealth, therefore, has
been laid the burden of South Australia's Terri-
tory debt, and the onus of development under its
strictly White-Australian conditions. The working
out of this problem by the administration in Mel-
bourne is being watched with close interest
throughout Tropical Australia. In it are bound
The Wealth of Tropical Production
PIONEERS AND OUTPOSTS
523
A Flooded River
up momentous questions of race deterioration,
effective occupation, the very existence of the
Commonwealth itself.
Such being the case, it may be taken for granted
that the Administration will spare neither effort
nor expense in the endeavor to make the North-
ern Territory attractive and liveable for Euro-
peans. A great deal has already been done with
that end in view, and the Governmental pro-
gramme includes a great deal more.
The main conditions of the transfer were:
(i) That the Commonwealth should assume the
responsibility of loans effected by South Austra-
lia in connection with the Territory (which
amounted in June, 1909, to £2,748,062), "by
annually reimbursing the State the amount of in-
terest paid in connection with Territory loans;
by providing a sinking fund to pay off such loans
on maturity, and by paying off the deficit in re-
spect of the Northern Territory." (2) That the
Commonwealth should construct a transcontinen-
tal railway from Pine Creek southwards to a
point on the northern boundary of South Aus-
tralia. (3) That the Commonwealth should, at
the time of the acquisition of the Territory, pur-
chase from South Australia the railway from Port
Augusta to Oodnadatta; and (4) That the Com-
monwealth should construct a railway from a
point on the Port Augusta railway to connect with
the other part of the transcontinental railway at
a point on the northern boundary of South Aus-
tralia.
The total cost of the investment to the Com-
monwealth was then calculated at about ten and
a quarter millions of money, and the annual de-
ficit for the first year or two after the comple-
tion of the transcontinental railway at about
£400,000.
^^- .ii!sa*3»*.. -- f wmiWQi' >
I
1
1
1
\i #-.
^;>i|^.^^4.%/:^^l- ':^
,::.^ *f
'■''^•■•^'■T*f-i-'S
J^BB^^^^w ^V" 'BBn
Ir^!^.
(
.aa||j^>-...,' >■'■■■ JM
Kapok Trees, near Darwin
COASTAL CLIMATE AND PRODUCTION.
ALTHOUGH South Australian administra-
tion passed over to the Commonwealth an
annual deficit of £130,000 on the North-
ern Territory, and an annual loss on the working
of the Oodnadatta line of £82,000, her dearly-
hought and P'ederally-paid-for experience should
be of some value.
During the years in which she controlled those
broad demesnes to the northward of parallel 26,
certain resources were determined and certain
possibilities outlined.
Apart from public expenditure, admittedly mis-
spent in some directions, there was considerable
commercial investment.
An analysis of this investment shows that Ter-
ritorial outlay, generally speaking, was not safe-
guarded with that discretion and judgment cur-
rently credited to private enterprise.
In the process of pioneering industries any-
where, losses are liable to overbalance gains. Our
sympathy and admiration are due to those who
take risks from which the benefits, if any, are as
much national as individual.
One cannot help thinking that many little In-
dustrial attempts in the Territory might have
proved commercially successful if better judg-
ment had been exercised by the capitalists behind
them.
Still, they cannot be regarded as absolute
losses; inasmuch as they established facts which,
like beacons in the night, may yet guide the ships
of Northern enterprise to safe havens.
Without doubt the coastal districts of the
Northern Territory will grow sugarcane. I have
personally examined country on the Adelaide and
Daly Rivers which I am convinced will produce
certain varieties of cane as well as any lands in
tropical Australia, the Malay States, or the Dutch
Indies.
T had lived beforehand for years in Australian
sugar country, travelled over practically every
'5 24
COASTAL CLIMATE AND PRODUCTION'
525
Coconut Palms and Sisal Hemp, in the Botanic Gardens, Darwin
mile of it in Queensland, been out into the north-
west of Western Australia, and had just come
from Java, where I had spent some time gather-
ing information on tropical agriculture. Accurate
as I desire to be in all my pronouncements
throughout this volume, I feel under the circum-
stances that this opinion should prove correct.
I might go further and predict that with neces-
sary irrigation, drainage, and the introduction of
specialized x'arieties of cane, the sugar yield in
the Territory is likely to be heavier than in most
parts of Queensland.
Sun, soil, and water are there. Correct treat-
ment will ensure results.
The failure of the De Lissaville plantation, on
Cox's Peninsula opposite Darwin, in the eigh-
ties, was reported due to the method in which the
cane was planted. Although an expert from An-
tigua, sent by the South Australian Government
to report on this matter, pronounced the area
"first-class sugar land and well watered in every
place," I do not regard the locality as suitable for
sugar growing like the Adelaide River, which is
navigable for eighty or ninety miles for the class
of steamers used for freighting sugar on the East
Coast of Australia, and could easily be command-
ed by railway, tramway, or motor traction from
Darwin.
In 1884 the Acting Government Resident at
Darwin reported that, through wrong methods,
capital and energy were literally being thrown
away in respect to local sugar-growing. The
only results were conclusive proofs that the
Territory would grow sugarcane; and that it
could be profitably grown — under exact agricul-
ture.
About this time an English Company started a
plantation on the Adelaide River, which passed,
later on, to other hands. Ultimately its capital
was diverted into pastoral investment, but it left
behind a number of coffee and rubber trees, which
continued to flourish for many years.
This abandoned plantation was visited by Mr.
Holtze, the Director of the Government Botanic
Gardens at Darwin, in 1890. He reported
that the Liberian coffee plants, "which had been
neglected for three years and were smothered in
weeds, were many of them up to 10 feet high,
and covered from top to bottom with fruits."
In 1895 ^ special Commissioner sent from
South Australia to report on the agricultural
lands of the Territory, inspected the remains of
the plantation, and was surprised at th^ vitality
t;26
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Date Palms
of rubber and coffee trees, which he found still
there, in spite of bush fires and neglect!
With the retirement of Mr. Otto Brandt, who
for five years endeavored to establish a plantation
at Shoal Bay on the north-eastern side of Darwin,
desultory attempts at sugar planting ceased in
the Territory.
A good quality of sugar was actually expressed
in some quantity at Shoal Bay, but owing to a
series of unlucky happenings, this plucky planter
gave up in 1890.
In the writer's opinion, neither Cox's Peninsula
nor Shoal Bay holds the same possibilities for suc-
cessful sugar growing as other parts of the coast.
The failure to make a financial success of these
two main efforts can in no way be taken as a proof
that the Territory is unsuitable for tropical agri-
culture.
It is generally admitted by those whose experi-
ence is of any value, that the country is peculiarly
adapted for the growth not only of sugar but
other commercial products of the tropics. The
question will be how to make those things pay.
The cost of irrigation I do not take so much into
account — irrigation and fertilizers can always be
good investments — but the cost of labor and the
distance from markets, must be reckoned with
at present. The Federal Administration, recog-
nizing these facts, is endeavoring to equalize mat-
ters, so that intending white settlers will be placed
on a fair footing with producers in other parts of
Australia. By a special bonus system and the in-
stallation of central mills, as in Queensland, the
Federal Government should be able to establish
the sugar industry.
In the Botanic Gardens at Darwin, the
Holtzes, father and son, have proved over a
period that no less than six hundred different
tropical plants will grow in the Territory.
Twenty years' expei-ience with Para rubber
has shown that it can be successfully grown; that
Cera rubber, the finest species, is best suited to
the country. Liberian and robusta coffees can be
cultivated with the best results. Cocoanut palms
in these gardens twenty years old were carrying
a heavier crop in 19 12 than trees at Singapore or
Batavia. These trees had been hollowed by
white ants, but were still robust and prolific.
The Darwin Gardens form a green and
verdant object-lesson in Territorial possibility.
There one sees breadfruit and jackfruit, sapo-
dilla plums, custard apples, durians, pomelos, In-
dian gooseberries, Bengal quinces, bananas,
Fine-Apple Plant
I
COASTAL CLIMATE AND PRODUCTION
527
blimbing (an East Indian fruit of Havor), and
other delicate fruits of the tropics, all flourishing
and bearing. There grow nutmegs, vanilla, pi-
mento, cinnamon, patchouli, turmeric (used in the
manufacture of curry powder), and other valu-
able condiments and spices of commerce.
There tea and cocoa thrive.
Bananas
Cocaine plants, worth i /j a lb. in Java in
1912, kola nuts, and tamarinds grow without
difficulty. The tamarind grows freely on the north
coasts of Australia, although it may originally
have been introduced there by the Malays.
Of tropical flowers, palms, and grasses this
garden displays a florid variety.
Within its leafy avenues and open spaces one
sees coral trees covered with blood-red blossoms,
splendid poinciana, glorious bougainvillea, white
bunches of frangipanni centred with yellow, scar-
let-flowered quassia, and allamandas with ever-
flowering golden bells.
Dwarf palms, sago palms, tobacco, Bermuda
arrowroot, citrus fruits — which will require irri-
gation to become commercially possible — pine-
apples, mangoes, pawpaws, these have all been
tested and proved prolific.
Among fodder plants which have been experi-
mented with, Coapin, a South African native,
seems likely to prove one of the best grasses for
the Territory. It will grow in swamps as well
as on poor ridges; is always green and always
good for dairy stock.
Paspalum grows luxuriantly, and other foreign
and native grasses of value can be introduced.
Arrowroot, maize, rice, and tobacco are agri-
cultural certainties.
The rice plant is indigenous to Northern Aus-
tralia; also the Tacca primatifidia, which forms
the main supply for Fiji arrowroot.
Indigo is classed, locally, as a noxious plant.
These experimental gardens alone have demon-
strated that in the ordinary soils and conditions
of the Territory there is nothing to prevent a
highly successful cultivation of useful and valu-
able tropical plants.
Ihis knowledge gained, the only problem
which remains for the Commonwealth is how to
produce them profitably; and at the same time
keep tip to racial and ecotwmic standards estab-
lished by existing legislation.
Like most problems of human progress, there
is no doubt a solution; but recent world happen-
ings have shown that this matter can no longer
he delayed.
The policy of the Cook Government with
regard to the Northern Territory was disclosed
in a statement by the Minister for External
Affairs, which was laid on the table of the
House of Representatives in the last session of
1914.
"The development of the Northern Terri-
tory, having been assumed as a continen-
tal responsibility, must," says Mr. Glynn, "in-
. volve for a time a draft, without direct or
immediate return, upon the resources of the
Commonwealth. Its relation to defence, and
to the maintenance of the associated policy of
settlement by white races, suggests that the ne-
cessity for and justification of the expenditure
of the earlier years must be determined by
other than purely commercial considerations.
"It is thought that the time is come for a
comprehensive and continuing policy to be sys-
tematically applied. Notwithstanding the com-
parative failure of more or less fitful and ir-
regular attempts of now nearly 60 years to
settle the Northern Territory, Parliament will
doubtless authorise a substantial capital expen-
diture towards definite, comprehensive and cor-
related objects, especially if made as a loan to
:28
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
How the Grass grows at Darwin
be repaid by the Territory in the event of suc-
cess.
"In view of the possibility of the Territory
being erected into a State, or subdivided, it is
proposed to debit it with the capital expendi-
ture of the works to be carried out. For the
purpose of railway and other works of de-
velopment a loan, the amount of which will be
determined by the estimates, may well be
placed in a trust fund to the credit of the Ter-
ritory, repayable as the Territory shows a
sufficient balance of revenue over expenditure.
The land bill will make provision for moderate
or small freehold areas to be acquired in com-
pliance with prescribed conditions. "
Briefly, the developmental policy outlined by
the Minister included the building of nearly 2,000
miles of railway, at a cost of ten million pounds.
"Under the authority of the Pine Creek to
Katherine River Railway Act 1913 this line
is being built. A survey is being made
of the route from the Katherine to Bitter
Springs. Proposals will be submitted for the
construction of railways to connect, through
the MacDonnell Ranges, Oodnadatta and the
Katherine River; to connect Newcastle Waters,
or some other point on the transcontinental rail-
way, with the Queensland border at Camooweal
or elsewhere, when the Great Western rail-
ways system of Queensland is in course of con-
struction to such place; and, as probably a later
project, to link Anthony's Lagoon on the branch
line to Queensland with the Pellew Islands
at the mouth of the MacArthur River. The
lengths of line would be : — Oodnadatta to the
Katherine, 1,026 miles; Newcastle Waters to
Camooweal, 360 miles; Anthony's Lagoon to
Pellew Islands, 230 miles; a total of 1,616
miles. The cost, with water, roads, &c., would
probably amount to £10,000,000. The work
of construction and the expenditure will be
spread over about eight years. Construction
will be supported by statutory provisions for
some reasonable and direct contribution to-
wards expenditure by the land owners, lessees
and others directly benefited, and for the pro-
motion of closer settlement.
"It is desired to make railway construction
minister to settlement by holding out reason-
able inducements to suitable workers to immi-
grate to the Territory, by making provision
for them to work on the lines at the standard
rate of wages and conditions of employment
prescribed for similar areas, say, in Queens-
land, by any Commonwealth or State industrial
authority, or under the small contract system,
and take up available land for agricultural pur^
COASTAL CLIMATE AND PRODUCTION
529
poses or mixed farming in the vicinity or within
reasonable distance of the railways. The labor
desired (and to secure which steps will be taken
directly by the Government or, when the con-
struction is by large contract, under arrange-
ments with the contractor), is efficient white
workers, with a large proportion of married
men, from the States of the Commonwealth
or Irom Southern European countries. The
proposed land legislation will make provision
for group settlement.
"Bores, which are necessary for communi-
cations, will be put down to tap the under-
ground water supplies and, incidentally, to
make available permanent stock routes. The
three great lines of development are clearly
pastoral, mining, and, as an aid to these, bor-
ing for water.
"Each bore on completion will be leased with
an area of pastoral country sufficient to enable
the lessee to make a livelihood. This will
make the route at all times safe, and demon-
strate the possibilities of the country for pas-
toral development. Covenants by the lessee to
maintain the wells and the supply of water for
the purposes of others will be inserted in the
lease. Approximately, the cost of sinking and
equipment of each bore would be £1,000 to
£1,250. To carry out this policy would prob-
ably mean the establishment of about twelve
complete bores and ten trial bores, costing, in-
cluding equipment, about £15,000 to £20,000."
In addition to this, it was proposed to establish
roads, foster agriculture, and secure a more ade-
quate return from existing pastoral leases. Par-
ticular encouragement was also to be given to
mining and dairy farming. With a view to
assisting immigrants who desire to obtain land
immediately upon their arrival in the Common-
wealth, the Minister decided that the Adminis-
trator of the Northern Territory should have
power under certain conditions to lease land with-
out inviting applications by advertisement. In ex-
ercising this power the administrator must be
satisfied that any person desirous of leasing
land is a bona fide resident of the Territory, or
has a boiui fide intention to become such a resi-
dent within such period not exceeding six months,
as is fixed by the Administrator. The granting of
the lease must also be recommended by the Classi-
fication Board, which is to fix the annual rental
for the first period of the lease. There is a fur-
ther provision that if the lessee does not occupy
the land within six months the lease shall be liable
to forfeiture.
It must be remembered that these outlines of
policy were settled before the war, and that the
financial stringency which has arisen as a result
has made it impossible to carry out the proposed
works with the expedition that was hoped at the
time the Minister made his statement.
Opmions differ very greatly on the question of
colored labor. The late Hon. (afterwards
Senator) T. Playford, of South Australia, after a
visit to India and the Territory, some years ago,
reported : —
"On the question of the kind of labor re-
quired for the growth of tropical products in
the Territory, I have come to the following
conclusion :
"That the Territory must have cheap labor
for tropical products if tropical products are
to be grown and sold with profit /;/ the markets
of the world. This is admitted by all who have
In the Sand HUls
530
AUSTRALIA UiNLIMITED
any special knowledge of the subject. Only
tropical products can be grown in the Terri-
tory. European labor is not cheap; therefore,
if Europeans could stand the climate, tropical
products could not be produced at a profit.
"It is generally admitted that Europeans can-
not stand field work in tropical countries; there-
fore, first on the ground that European labor
is not cheap; and, secondly, on the ground that
laborers cannot stand the climate, it is not pos-
sible to employ Europeans for tropical agri-
culture."
Out of a mass of evidence and opinion favor-
able to colored labor, we will take the preceding
statements as representative of past political and
scientific outlook. It is a momentous question,
and should be approached in the most judicial
manner. It may be politically said that degrees
of latitude cannot be affected by Federal Acts of
legislation. It may be scientifically affirmed that
where the wet bulb of the thermometer stands
constantly at 80 degrees the efficiency of Euro-
peans is inevitably impaired — with deterioration
of the race after one or more generations as the
Weighing Pearl Shell, Port Darwin
After 22 years of experience as Director
of the Botanical Gardens in Darwin, Mr.
Maurice Holtze, since Director of Adelaide Bo-
tanical Gardens, a scientist of great reputation,
gave it as his opinion that the Territory would
surely become a prosperous field for plantation
enterprise, providing that facilities to obtain land
were granted to investors and facilities given to
obtain suitable cheap labor. Mr. Holtze recom-
mended the Tamil coolie, adding, of course, that
intelligent management and careful conservation
of capital on these virgin enterprises were essen-
tial to success.
inevitable result. Just as there are people who
would like to believe in heaven and cannot, be-
cause they consider that the facts are against the
possibility, so there are people who desire to be-
lieve in an all-white Australia but cannot, for the
same reason.
These people may find statements from the
other side helpful to their conversion. First, with
regard to competition in the markets of the world,
it is contended that Australia does not need to
come into competition with her neighbors in the
East Indies, with Ceylon, Central America, and
other countries as a grower of tropical commodi-
COASTAL CLIMATE AND PRODUCTION
531
A Frontiersman
Barkly Tableland as those of the Riviera apply
to Southern Russia.
With Federal encouragement tropical products
can be produced at a local profit by Europeans
if European laborers can stand the climate. Ex-
perience gained by Queensland since the introduc-
tion of the White-Australia policy indicates that
European labor is at least temporarily possible.
The experience gained at Hawaii, the Philip-
pines, and in the construction of the Panama
Canal, proves that white men can prevail in the
tropics.
Experiences gained at Ismailia — where in six
years malaria was exterminated — and Rio
Janeiro, show that this serious obstacle can be
surmounted.
Professor Sir Baldwin Spencer, who has had
an extended experience of the North, claims that
the climate, though trying at times for women
and children, is not unhealthy. Inland, at a
height of from two to three hundred feet, general
good health prevails. "This," says Professor
Spencer, "is an important aspect of the Territory
in regard to its future population. The most
striking feature of the whole country is the gum
tree, and the Territory is pre-eminently not tropi-
ties; that for the time being there will be ample
field for growers to supply local markets — under
a bonus or protection from the Federal Govern-
ment, if necessary — and that, as Australian popu-
lation increases, Australian demands for these
particular commodities will increase with it.
Regarding the efficiency of European labor,
it is argued that the heat of the Australian tropics
is different in character from that of other tropi-
cal countries, Java for instance; that it is dis-
tinctly healthier, drier, and more endurable —
all of which is undoubtedly true.
Further, it is asserted that liuropean labor, and
particularly that of Southern Europe, can now be
permanently and satisfactorily employed in field
work throughout tropical Queensland.
The introduction of white labor into Queens-
land sugar-growing has been admittedly a good
thing lor the State. Further statements in sup-
port of this contention will be found in chapters
of Australia Unlimited dealing with the question
of tropical agriculture in Queensland.
The Hon. T. Playford's sweeping statement
that only tropical products can be grown in the
Territory was evidently based on coastal experi-
ence.
Millions of acres will grow products other than
tropical. The climatic conditions of Port Dar-
win apply as little to the MacDonnell Ranges or
After Ten Years' Tent Life in the Territory
532
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Pastoral and Mineral Areas
cal either in vegetation or cUmate. \n all except
the coastal districts, you have a really cool and
delightful climate for three or four months in
the year."
Since the establishment of an Institute of
Tropical Medicine at Townsville in 191 1, Dr.
Anton Breinl, the director, has made some cau-
tious pronouncements on the subject. In a recent
interview he has pointed out that it is quite wrong
to approach the matter as if the Northern Terri-
tory was one tract of land with even conditions.
Interior and coast districts differ immensely, es-
pecially in regard to wet-bulb readings, which
are the proper estimate of habitable conditions.
The tropical diseases which might affect a white
population in the Territory were not the most im-
portant consideration; it was simply a question
of the effect of climate. As far as tropical dis-
eases went, he was firmly convinced that this divi-
sion of Australia could be inhabited by a white
population.
In his first annual report, the Administrator,
Dr. Gilruth, said "he was satisfied that neither
by reason of climate nor of poverty of soil did the
development of the Territory by white people
present insuperable difficulties or even difficulties
of an extraordinary nature. The health of the
European population was distinctly good, and
that of the children excellent."
Dr. M. J. Holmes — -the Officer of Health ap-
pointed by the Federal Government — in his first
annual report stated :
"The climatic conditions of the Territory
are absolutely compatible with the highest
standards of health. The great majority of
deaths occur from diseases of world-wide dis-
tribution, and not from diseases which could
in any way be attributed to any adverse
peculiarity of climate or unhealthy geographi-
cal situation.
"From the point of view of the question of
the suitability of the Territory for the upbring-
ing of white children, a routine medical inspec-
tion of the schools would furnish important
data. Appearances indicate no deterioration
whatever, mental or physical, in the rising gen-
eration, which appears to enjoy, if anything,
a greater freedom from ill-health than the chil-
dren of the southern States. This, however,
is a matter which will require careful obser-
vation before a positive statement can be made.
The influence of the climatic and other condi-
tions on successive generations will have to be
considered; but, in my opinion, we need not
COASTAL CLIMATE AND PRODUCTION
533
■jtig-^ -f t Wst-^fSl.aS!.^*'
Natives of Oodnadatta
■^awf
fear that the influences will tend towards de-
terioration."
In an unofficial report recently forwarded to
the Minister, Dr. Richard Jones, formerly medi-
cal inspector at Hawaii, based his conclusions on
the investigations made by some of the greatest
and most widely recognized authorities in the
world.
He says that "through the gigantic strides
in sanitation and rational hygiene, together
with the scientific discoveries made in the de-
partment of tropical diseases, we have arrived
at a new era, when the possibility of the accli-
matisation of the white man within tropical re-
gions must be regarded in a totally different
light from that of earlier periods. On inquiry
as to the effect of heat on human beings, it was
found that high temperatures could be tolerat-
ed without harm.
"Though resident in the Hawaiian Islands
for some years, I cannot recall one single
instance where an illness could be attributed to
the heat of the sun. And the laborers, many
of them Europeans and Americans, worked in
exceptional heat in the midst of tall sugar cane.
"Experience proves that, under proper hy-
gienic conditions and careful management, the
European child might live and thrive almost
as well as in a temperate climate.
"Those going to tropical Australia must be
of robust constitution and in perfect health.
Personal habits are also of the utmost impor-
tance, temperance and morality are powerful
weapons in the struggle of life."
Dr. Jones considers it has been proved that the
European can live and perpetuate his kind in tro-
pical regions, that the difficulties in the way of
colonisation are not due to climate, but to
parasitism, and that acclimatisation to a great
extent is a mere question of hygiene and sanita-
tion. The continuous forward march of the
sciences which enables public health measures to
be put into operation, will, in the end, secure for
the Commonwealth Government all that its ambi-
tion desires — not only for the opening up of the
Northern Territory, but for the advancement of
the whole continent.
From all this may we not conclude that — with
proper sanitation, food, and clothing — European
labor in our tropics is possible, and that, with
compensations, there should be no deterioration
of type?
Against this again, Territorians of any extend-
ed experience seem unanimously of opinion that
agricultural development on the coastal districts
will never be permanently established without col-
ored labor. I give an excerpt from a personal
letter just received from an observant Terri-
torian : —
"I will give you the correct definition of this
climate, after eighteen years' sojourn in it, and
you can form your own conclusions. The
climate of the Northern Territory of course
is not fatal; nor is it for most of the year in
any part uncomfortable; in fact, one can lix'c
in it for the first year or two without effects
of any description beyond finding it extreme-
ly trying during the hot season to unseasoned
Europeans. After the first three years, with
the majority, it starts to tell by way of feeling
run-down. From that out with some people
it is a tremendous drain on one's vitality. It
is like all tropical climates; the longer one re-
mains in them the greater is the sap on one's
vitality. You bring men, even horses, from a
cooler climate to this. After a certain time
they lose 50 per cent, of their actual energy.
That is to say, a navvy who can bury the shovel
to the maker's name for eight hours a day in
534
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
a temperate climate can only do it in this, after
awhile, for four hours. A horse from the tem-
perate country that you can ride eighty miles
per day, in this climate will after a time only
carry you forty. I think my judgment, borne
out by ejcperience, worth more than the opinions
of those who have been only a year or two in
the Territory. There is not a greater support-
er of a White Australia than myself, but I am
bound to confess it will not work, in the north-
ern portion of Australia."
Furthermore, in populating the Northern Ter-
ritory it will be advisable at first to select South-
ern Europeans, or people, especially females, who
have been born in or acclimatized to the more
northern parts of Australia.
With anything like reasonable domestic sur-
roundings the robust Westralian or Queensland-
bred woman will experience little or no incon-
venience in the Further North.
But the object of Northern Territorv archi-
tecture, public and pri\ate, should be for the
A Northern Territory School
Such conclusions must, of course, be carefully
examined. At the same time, the author is con-
strained to point out that the effective occu-
pation of the Northern Territory lies not so much
in the adaptability of white men as white women.
Here another argument enters, and may not be
lightly dismissed.
Experience of Northern Australia has shown
that in some cases the health of the white woman
has undoubtedly suffered. Housing, in the writ-
er's opinion, has had much to do with this. Gal-
vanized iron, being portable, has been universally
used as a building material. The Dutch, with
their four hundred years' experience of tropical
colonization northward of Australia, pay greater
attention to this matter. White women, wives of
the official and military classes, are not constantly
housed under galvanized iron in India or the
Malay States and expected to carry out their own
house duties and bear children as well.
future to provide a maximum of shade, coolness,
and comfort for the women of the house.
Accepting that European life and labor are
assured, the main things are the establishment
of transport and the encouragement of profitable
production.
We have seen that no fewer than 600 varieties
of tropical plants can be grown in the Northern
Territory, in parts of the coastal districts.
This would give a substantial area on which
tobacco, cotton, rice, coconuts, rubber, and other
commercial growths may be successfully cultivated
by the right people under the right methods.
In South Timor, only a few hours' sail from
Darwin, the production of copra is a sound
commercial project. The land devoted to this
industry is very often not to be compared to that
of the Northern Territory. The initial cost of
planting coconuts should not be prohibitive, and
subsequent costs to the time of first harvest in-
Dairy Stock — Batchelor Demonstration Farm
/
Merino Sheep — Batchelor Demonstration Farm
535
536
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
stack of Upland Rice Hay
finitesimal. The preparation of copra for the
market is simple; the sun does the most of it.
The by-products of the cocoanut are always vaki-
able, the commercial demand for copra constant.
Established plantations are said to return £28 to
£40 an acre net on the average price since 19 10.
The cultivation of coconuts along the coast
seems therefore to be quite practicable, and bears
every promise of profit. Colored labor in this
particular industry is by no means indispensable
— but a certain amount of aboriginal labor could
be employed. The planter must be prepared to
wait five years for his returns; but, after his
coconut trees are established, he may give atten-
tion to other products.
In considering any danger from future Asiatic
influences, it must always be remembered that the
coastal Territory is a rice-growing country.
It has the same rainfall (60 inches), similarly
distributed in season, as Saigon, and allegedly
superior soils to those of French Cochin China,
one of the greatest rice-growing countries in the
world.
It is not generally realized here that, in the
United States of America, rice is now the twelfth
crop in point of value.
In 1910 U.S.A. had 723,000 acres under rice,
which yielded 24! million bushels, worth about
80 to 90 cents a bushel. The average crop per
acre had increased — by more scientific cultivation,
no doubt- — from 29.9 bushels in the year 1907, to
33.9 per acre in 1910. The crop was worth
between three and four millions sterling to the
nation.
Louisiana and Texas are the principal rice-
growing States. Similar soils to those on which
rice farming in Louisiana is carried out are abun-
dant in the Northern Territory. The average
American farm is from 60 to 80 acres, and the
scientific methods adopted do not necessitate the
exclusive employment of colored labor. Fhe rice
is sown in drills on dry land, and then artificially
flooded. As the crop ripens the fields are gradu-
ally dried off and ordinary reapers-and-binders
used to harvest it.
The Daly and Adelaide, and probably other
coastal rivers of the Territory, seem destined by
nature for the cultivation of this indigenous
cereal.
It may have been that the rice plant was origin-
ally introduced from Northern Australia into the
countries of Asia.
Upland rice grows without any difliculty in the
Territory, and although not such a profitable
crop as paddy rice, will proxe of great value on
soils of lesser richness.
Rice in America is harvested and threshed like
wheat. Despite the fact that wages of agricultural
labor are so much higher in the United States
than in India, the Dutch Indies, China, or Cochin
China, it is claimed that in Louisiana and Texas,
under these methods, the finished product is more
cheaply turned out than in China. In Java field
workers earn 30 Dutch cents (sixpence) a day.
Under manual labor in the Orient one man will
not cultivate more than two acres of rice suc-
cessfully— the average is much less. In those
two States of the Republic, where machinery is
employed, one man can cultivate 80 acres.
Ooco-Nuts
Under similar methods — and there is appar-
ently nothing to prevent their introduction into
Australia — ■ rice could be profitably cultivated
without cheap colored labor in the North.
The proposition is one worthy of attention by
prospective settlers. Rice may yet pay better
than wheat in this Commonwealth.
COASTAL CLIMATE AND PRODUCTION
537
Java, four days' steam from Darwin, is
now supporting — on an area of 48,504 square
miles — a population of over thirty millions.
There is no starvation and nowadays no famine.
This population is largely rural, and derives
its existence from the soil. There are practically
no manufactures on the island.
If only a fifth (16,000 square miles) of this
Territorial belt were taken as being suitable for
agricultural production, it would mean on a fifty-
acre basis, that a million people at least might
be subsisted. On fifty-acre blocks the Govern-
ment of New South Wales are settling hundreds
of families on the Murrumbidgee Irrigation
Area. Ten acres at Mildura, Renmark, or Went-
worth make an ample living area for Australian
families.
Ten drained and irrigated acres on the Daly
or Adelaide Rivers would probably yield more
than ten acres in any other part of the Common-
wealth.
Taking, on a ten-acre basis, the usual average
of five persons to a family, those 16,000 square
miles would carry five million Australians.
Other things being equal, this is not expecting
too much from land that will grow two crops of
maize in a year.
Although I hope Mr. Maurice W. Holtze may
prove wrong in his pronouncements concerning
colored labor, I am convinced that he was right
when, summarizing his 22 years of invaluable
special experience, he pronounced the soil and
climate of the Territory quite suitable for the
production of "sugar, rice, coffee, tobacco, cocoa-
nuts, indiarubber, jute, vanilla, arrowroot, tapi-
oca, sesameseed, peanuts, maize, and the usual
food and fodder plants and fruits of the tropics
and sub-tropics."
For oil and fibre-producing plants the climate
and soils of the North seem specially adapted,
and there is no physical reason why they should
not be successfully grown.
The Northern Territory will grow cotton equal
to the best grown in the United States. When
we take into account that the U.S.A., after the
crisis of 1903, was producing eleven million bales
out of the estimated world's total production of
16 million bales, this fact assumes a peculiar im-
portance.
Between Brock's Creek and the Daly River
the writer recently culled specimens of sea-island
cotton from beside the track at many places.
This cotton was growing wild through the bush,
and not in soils evidencing any special fertility.
It was then the end of the dry season, and the
plants were podding freely. The cotton, it is
said, has been reproduced in this semi-wild
state from stock introduced into the Ter-
ritory at Darwin experimental plots. Seven
of the eight known species of cotton have
thus become native to the country. This shows
that the coast is particularly favorable to the
growth of this ever-valuable plant. If, as assert-
ed, cotton-picking machines have now been per-
fected and the hybridizing of a species of cotton
which will ripen simultaneously proves successful,
there is no reason why Australia should not be-
come one of the world's greatest cotton producers.
It has been accepted by the British Cotton
Growers' Association that the Northern Terri-
tory of Australia is highly suitable for cotton-
growing; but the question of cheap labor enters
into the proposition — until such time, at least, as
the experiments mentioned have brought even-
ripening and machine-picking into practical com-
mercial existence.
Ideal conditions for the growth of cotton are
understood to be deep, mellow soils; plenty of
moisture until the bolls are well-developed, and
a drier atmosphere while the ripening and har-
vesting are in process. These conditions certain-
ly obtain in the Territory.
Expert comparisons have been carefully taken
out between the expected productiveness of our
Northern cotton lands and those of the United
States, which are all in favor of Australia. The
value of cotton land in the United States averages
£6 an acre. In the Northern Territory more
Spiders' Nests
538
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
productive lands might be secured for practically
nothing. The cultivation of cotton is not so try-
ing to white labor as that of sugar cane. It
seems to me that as sugar can now be generally
grown in Queensland (with Federal Government
support) by white labor, cotton-growing in the
Northern Territory under the same auspices, on
small areas, is a possible development.
The bonus system would doubtless meet with
the approval of the Australian States. We have
all the advantages of modern invention, and there
is no reason to suppose that prejudice against
Australian cotton would be any greater than pre-
judice against Australian wool.
If, at any future time, the cultivation of tobacco
on a large scale is encouraged in Australia, there
will be no difficulty in growing large quantities of
leaf in the Territory. Small plantings have al-
ready been tried with excellent results.
If local manufacturers should decide that the
million a year which the Commonwealth is spend-
ing on imported leaf, can be more profitably fil-
tered through the retaining medium of local in-
dustry, there is nothing in climate or conditions to
prevent the establishment of tobacco plantations
in the far North.
In fact, rice, cotton, coffee, and tobacco appear
to be Territorial certainties, if correct treatments
are followed and the economic side of production
is carefully considered.
Recent Government experiments at Batchelor
Farm, 57 miles from Darwin, indicate that
European fodder plants will thrive on country
which, to the casual observer, certainly does not
appear to be of special fertility.
Despite this, it is too early to predict success
for mixed farming and dairying on this class of
land.
If dairy farming can be made successful any-
where in the Territory — on the coast, or along
the line of the Transcontinental Railway, with its
terminus at Darwin — the markets of Asia and
Malaysia lie close at had.
Again, if European cattle and horses will not
thrive. Zebu and Indian cattle, buffalo, donkeys,
pigs, goats, Timor ponies have all been tested
and found to succeed admirably.
Freezing works — the buildings covering over
an acre of ground surface exclusive of yards, etc.
— have been established at Darwin, and the
treatment of cattle for export was commenced in
April, 191 7. The Works are the property of
the North Australian Meat Co. Ltd., and have
been erected at a cost of over half a million
sterling.
By a special arrangement with the Govern-
ment, private owners of cattle may have their
stock treated at the works under reasonable
terms and conditions.
The Government gave no subsidy whatever
towards the cost of the works, but in the agree-
ment mentioned it has been provided that special
rates are to be charged for the haulage of full
train loads of cattle for the works — these rates
being based upon those ruling in North Queens-
land.
The establishment of these Works has neces-
sitated the enlargement of the wharf at Darwin
in order to berth the additional shipping conse-
quent upon the increased trade.
The extension of the railway from Pine Creek
to the Katherine River was undertaken in conse-
quence of the establishment of these works. When
in full swing it is expected that from 400 to 500
head of large stock will be treated daily.
A Native Canoe
Pearling Luggers, Darwin
DARWIN AND PINE CREEK.
FROM the harbor of Dilli, in Timor, to
Darwin is only a run of 36 hours; but
Darwin is usually the visitor's first im-
pression of the Territory. The change from
vivid coloring, dense life, and intense vegetation
in the Dutch Indies, to rather sombre first
glimpses of our Australian coast might be some-
what disappointing to strangers, but to one Aus-
tralian, homeward-bound from Java in September,
1912, the light on Point Charles, fading out with
dawn, was very good to see.
The sun rose as the Mcitaram steamed slowly
into one of the finest open deepwater harbors in
Australia.
Darwin was long ago proclaimed the "Key to
the East." It must ultimately become among the
most important shipping depots in the Common-
wealth.
A cool morning breezte was blowing. The Bay
was clear — a wide expanse of blue and green
waters, with a glimpse of white sand and red
rock here and there around its shores. A table-
top hill stood out prominently in the north-west.
These flat-topped hills are typical of the Terri-
tory.
The outlines of many bays and coves were
visible, some ending in the misty indefiniteness of
distance.
The sunlight possessed those actinic qualities
which the Australian abroad misses so sadly and
which are most pronounced in the North-West.
There is no sunlight like that.
An L-shaped wharf, with a crane and port-
able engine; Fort Hill — without guns — a retain-
ing wall, ending in a red road leading townwards;
Government House, embowered in tropical foli-
age; a lugger and a Chinese junk stealing along
close to the mangroves — that is the port of Dar-
win.
There are other trading and pearling luggers
laid up around some of the bays, and a decrepit
steamer or so may be coughing in from some land
of romance and mystery, but that is all the visible
shipping of this "Key to the East."
Low, wooded shores, long arms of water
reaching inland towards unknown hills — a sense
of great distance, an indescribable quietness, the
quietness of a vast, unoccupied land, hang over it
all. Oriental odors, Australian houses, and fig-
ures in tropical clothing make the passing pic-
ture.
Instinctively, one's imagination follows that
coastline, — eastward to Burketown in the Gulf
of Carpentaria, there is not a township; west-
ward to Wyndham on the borders of the Kimber-
ley, there is not a village within 1,500 miles.
539
540
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Chinese Residents at Darwin
The shores are covered with high brown grass,
and everything is dry. In a few weeics, after the
rains, everything will be more than green.
Just over a hill is Darwin, the unfinished
metropolis of an empty country.
Its Asiatic quarter, housing now only about 600
aliens, presents the usual squalor; but the situation
of the city — that is to be — seems an excellent one,
and the town, as far as it has developed, is to a
writer vastly interesting. Here one might meet
some of the most delightful characters in all the
world.
Here you can talk with men out of unknown,
unmapped, unvisited Australia. You will meet
stray wanderers from Borroloola on the
MacArthur, which is an outpost of seven white
men, 500 miles from Camooweal — its nearest
post office. It also gets a mail from Darwin
every six weeks. You will drink with a man
from the remote field of Tanami, which is 600
miles from Pine Creek. You may interview here
a prospector from Kimberley, or an explorer
from Arnhem's Land, each with tales of the
remoteness to tell.
To these men the life of Darwin is one of
luxury and ease. To them the officials are draw-
ing-room experts, who know nothing about the
requirements of the country or its treatment.
You will meet buffalo shooters, pearlers, stock-
men, adventurers, and hear a gossip gathered
over five hundred thousand square miles of Aus-
tralia; wherein there is not another place as great
and populous as Darwin, with its few hundred
European inhabitants, of which 100 are white
women.
Our literary sympathies are with these pic-
turesque characters. We admire their stamina,
courage, and endurance; but we must often allow
for their prejudices in coming at practical conclu-
sions. They lack comparisons, and, being a few
people in a great country, are perhaps inclined to
be over-critical of newcomers and new methods.
But for manliness, hospitality, generosity, bush
knowledge, they are not to be outclassed on this
continent.
Life in Darwin is distinctly different from
life in Hobart. It has a slightly Asiatic flavor;
but it could be made enjoyable enough. People
who have lived there for 30 years attest its
healthiness. Its rainy season is tepid and trying;
but the dry months of winter are perfect. From
May to September Darwin might be a sanitorium
for the South.
There are nowadays ice, fruit, vegetables,
the little conveniences of civilization. The
finest mangoes and pineapples I have ever tasted
— North Queensland, Dutch Indies, and Pacific
Islands not excluded — are grown on the outskirts
of the town. These little pineapple plantations
are located in most unpromising, dry, stiff soils;
but the fruit has a flavor unequalled, and the
plants — apparently without any special cultivation
— bear profusely.
^^S^^ S-^ 1
r
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r
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f
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'^i^bkJm L
IB? A 'c...^
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^^^HR^v'
R^
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tasL.^,k^,:;
M
Papaws at Point Charles
At Point Charles, across the bay, the lighthouse
keepers are growing abundance of pawpaws, pine-
apples, upland rice, and cocoanuts for their own
requirements on similar unpromising soil. Like
other parts of Australia, one cannot judge the
Territory by surface indications.
The streets of this outpost are not overhung
as yet by tall buildings. There are public offices,
three hotels, and the scattered cottages of
officials and residents; some beautified by tropical
IS
541
542
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Guinea Grass, Residency Grounds, Darwin
trees and flowers, among which the glorious poin-
ciana and the subtle frangipanni seem most popu-
lar.
The dwelling houses are mostly wooden, with
galvanized-iron partitions or walls, concrete or
cement floors, and verandahs of latticed bamboo.
The Asiatic quarter is unbeautiful, but not now
insanitary. Unfortunately, it occupies a promi-
nent position along the main highway from the
harbor. The reserve for aboriginals is on the
other side of the town, and some distance from
it. Here a paternal Government in Melbourne
is doing its best for the dispossessed.
The Hospital of Darwin has doubtless a
most interesting medical history. Since the
Federal regime began it has been enlarged and
improved. I make bold to suggest that the Gov-
ernment will do well to fill the rather frequent
vacancies in its nursing staff by recruits from
Queensland or Western Australia, if they can be
got.
While comings and goings among nurses from
the South have been frequent, there is one local
nurse who has been 19 years connected with this
hospital, who had been for a period of five years
constantly attending to her duties without an
annual holiday, and who claimed that she had
not had a day's sickness during the whole period.
Nurses, professional men, officials generally
who take up their residences in the Far North,
must prepare to adapt themselves to pioneer con-
ditions for years to come. The spirit of the In-
dian Civil Service must be infused into the Terri-
tory. Men and women of sound physical de-
velopment, with altruistic temperaments, are
needed.
They must feel that they are soldiers in a
righteous war of conquest, and accept hardships
incidental to the campaign with courage and
philosophy.
They may not see the victory or participate in
the spoils; but that sense of national duty and
those invaluable sentiments of patriotism and
self-sacrifice, which have made England a great
Colonial Empire, will uphold them in their allot-
ted tasks.
After all, life in Darwin is not nearly so
monotonous as in some inland towns. Facing the
sea on three sides, with broad streets ami open
spaces; with tree-shaded drives, fishing grounds,
good shooting, yachting, sea beaches, and natural
pleasure resorts, blue skies, calm seas, there is
1
I
MErW TYPE: OF RE5ILEN£E:, Ck/^f^WIN .
543
544
AUSTRALIA UNL1MITF.D
An Artesian Boring Party
plenty of interest for those who are not wedded
to a purely artificial life. There may be at pre-
sent a lack of social enjoyment and of feminine
association — a condition neither less nor more
severe than other Australian places have passed
and are passing through in the course of their
evolution from townships into cities.
There are thousands of uncomplaining bush-
folk elsewhere who would find Darwin a place of
gaiety and interest.
With proper health regulations, tree planting,
the encouragement of a sane civic and social
spirit, this capital of the Furthest North will be-
come more and more liveable as the Territory
develops its resources and increases its popula-
tion.
What has to be guarded against in the estab-
lishment of all colonies. If the lessons of history
are of any value, is the untrained, unskilled
pioneer, whose incompetence and failure handicap
other would-be starters in the race.
In my opinion it is absurd to talk of haphazard
agricultural settlement in the Northern Territory
at this juncture.
The very best modern, commercial, and scien-
tific brains, and the widest comparative experi-
ence of tropical methods of production will have
to be brought to bear.
If industries, by protective legislation, can be
placed on a sound economic basis, I have no
doubt that capital could be organized for their
development, but no sane investor approaches a
proposition where he cannot see at least reason-
able security of investment and a possibility of
profit.
The development of the Northern Territory
will not be effected by oflicials, experimental
stations, and government action alone. Encour-
agement must be given to private settlement and
enterprise.
Let the economic basis of modern production
be right or wrong, just or unjust, evolutionary or
enduring, the fact remains that lands which are
rendered profitable by Nature or man can be
occupied, developed, and exploited; while lands,
which from natural or human causes, are not pro-
fitable will be left alone.
After spending some busy time in the country,
after closest study of all available historical,
scientific, oflicial and general information on the
subject, and with a comparative knowledge of
Australia probably unique, I say, with due con-
DARWIN AND PINE CREEK
545
sideration of all the difficulties, that if adequate
settlement is not effected in the Northern Terri-
tory, Man and not Nature will be to blame.
It would indeed be a reflection on that trans-
mitted genius of colonization — which, in little
more than a hundred years, has enabled us to
make our Commonwealth the richest, the freest,
the most vital of all the younger nations — if we
were to confess ourselves beaten by this problem
of white settlement in the North.
Let any patriotic Southerner stand on the cliffs
overlooking Darwin, "the Key to the East,"
and survey the scene. The land before him is
Australian In contour, foliage, color, and forma-
tion. It is the Australia of anywhere north of
the Tropic of Capricorn, where a third part of
Australia lies. The only un-Australian object in
sight will be the corrugated shanties of the Asiatic
quarter, the days of which are now definitely
numbered.
The land, if he could traverse it, would present
to him few features which his general knowledge
of the Continent would not make familiar; the
risks of travel are no greater than Australian
bushmen have been taking, as part of their day's
work, for the last hundred and twenty years.
Let us go out and see some of it: —
The train for Pine Creek, a composite train,
leaves Darwin about seven o'clock in the morning,
twice a week.
It is pleasant to get up early and enjoy the bath
and morning coolness, which rank among the con-
stant pleasures of the Tropics.
The hotel breakfast is reasonably good; not
so light and suitable, or so well served as breakfast
In the Dutch colonies across the water, but better
than some back-country hotels of our experience.
At the railway station there Is a little crowd of
people dressed for the most part in tropical or
sub-tropical clothing — khaki or linen.
The passengers are an assorted company.
A gang of white labourers is going down to the
Government Experimental Farm. They are by
no means representative Australian workers; but
labor happens to be at a premium in Darwin just
now.
In our carriage are a French priest, a pastoral-
ist, and a prospector.
The priest has been a missioner in New Guinea ;
the pastoralist Is returning to his station 300 miles
south of the rail-head; and the prospector Is going
back to his "tin show" somewhere beyond Pine
Creek.
The priest tells us that the people are, reli-
giously speaking, no worse than people anywhere
else. The pastoralist informs us that he has
1,000 head of bullocks which he can send to
Darwin, but he considers they are worth more
than £3 a head.
With his wife and grown-up family he occu-
pies a considerable area of grazing lands, twenty
or thirty miles north and east of Daly Waters
telegraph station, on the overland route. He
describes his holding as rolling downs, well
grassed and eminently suitable for stock-raising.
There is a 30-inch rainfall, although It lies along
the 1 6th parallel, and is 250 miles In a direct line
from the sea coast. It is situated midway across
the Territory, going from east to west.
This sturdy old citizen has lived out In the
heart of the Bush all his life. He regards the
Northern Territory as the best part of Australia.
Whatever the coast may be, he avows that Its In-
land districts will grow beef and wool as well as
Queensland and Western Australia. With a
railway to the Katherine, and freezing works at
Darwin, he will be quite content.
As to climate, he claims that he and his family
have lived all their lives four hundred miles from
the nearest doctor. Certainly, his son recently
had to go to Darwin for medical treatment, as
the result of a mishap.
He was out riding, when the accidental dis-
charge of a revolver put a bullet through his
leg. This was no ordinary ailment, which could
be remedied by a box of Cockle's Pills.
So the wounded youth was carried, on horse-
back chiefly, 300 miles to the railway at Pine
Creek; taken down to Darwin, and, in due course,
completely cured.
The rapidity of his recovery, the old man
argues, is a testimony to the healthfulness of
climate of the Territory.
The prospector has just come to the end of
£400 worth of tin, and is going back to make a
fresh start in life. He is of a different type, but
he has a similar faith in the Territory. He says
"as long as a man keeps In the Bush he is all
right. It is town life that kills people" : whereat
the eyes of the French priest twinkle merrily.
Botanic Gardens, Darwin
II
546
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The train affects no express speed. The line
is unfenced, and the country either side covered
with long rank grass — very dry just now. After
the rainy season it will be a different matter. Then,
they tell you, it will be as high as the telegraph
wires, and green! Tall anthills and stunted
eucalypts are the outstanding features.
At Adelaide River we stay a long time for
lunch. Everybody is entirely friendly, and soli-
citous for the welfare of strangers. The con-
ductor of the train brings along hot water for tea,
and half-a-dozen lunch baskets are opened and
offered. There is no hotel or refreshment
room, but a smiling half-caste presents some ripe
pawpaws at the train windows, and dessert is
assured.
So, through similar country, the only railway
in the Territory goes down by Yam Creek and
Brock's Creek, to its terminus at Pine Creek.
As the present northern rail-head of a trans-
Australian line, that will travel through the heart
of the Continent to the southern rail-head at Ood-
nadatta. Pine Creek has an interest for us. Even
when this continental gap is bridged by 1063 miles
of steel, Oodnadatta will be still 688 miles from
Adelaide. The time is coming when one will be
able to travel from Perth to Darwin by rail. Aus-
tralia is approaching a new era, one in which her
progress will necessarily be more rapid and
general.
First as an outpost, and then as a mineral field
with a history. Pine Creek is worth attention.
It is an unpicturesque bush township of
galvanised iron. But from here a man can
travel southward by the one overland route for
a thousand miles, and not come to another. From
here he may cross, via the Katherine, to the Roper
and thence overland to Burketown, if he can
get through. Or he may pick up the trail from
Brock's Creek to the Victoria River and go on
across the Kimberleys to Derby, before he finds
another village as great. That journey will take
him a good thousand miles.
He might leave the Ord River track on his
right hand and go down through Victoria River
downs and Wave Hill stations to Tanami. From
Tanami, if he dared, he could take the western
trail over the border into Hall's Creek (W.A. )
Or he might go south as far as Newcastle
Waters on the Overland Telegraph Line, and
thence, through Anthony Lagoon and Avon
Downs Station, into Camooweal (Q. ). These
are about all the regular trails, and on none of
them is there a township like Pine Creek, [n
fact, the journeys would be from station to station
on the east and west, with many camping places
in between.
Men take these trails and come through all
right. "Paddy" Ryan, working with the survey
party at Daly River in the spring of 19 13, had
carried his swag across Western Queensland,
through Camooweal to Borroloola, the outpost
of seven whites on the MacArthur, and from there
to the Daly, 2,500 miles in all, unarmed. It was a
long way to walk to a job perhaps; but it served
to demonstrate that the despised "melancholy
colonial" can overcome distances in his own
quiet way.
* * * *
A geodetic survey party — Carnegie Institute
men — has just arrived from Oodnadatta. The
quiet, capable young Australian in charge has
good words to say of the great hinterland to the
southward. Men and horses alike are in
healthiest, hardiest condition after their long
journey.
Pine Creek being the furthest outpost of educa-
tion in the Territory — the next Public School is
1000 miles south — we will go and examine the
Federal School. The teacher is a North Queens-
lander, who has been here since 1906. She thinks,
given a change at the end of every three years,
white women will endure the climate without
trouble. Her 25 scholars — nearly all born at
Pine Creek — she says are just as healthy and
intelligent as the children of Queensland, where
she had 12 or 13 years' experience as a teacher.
School hours are from 8 a.m. to 12.30. The
schoolroom is constructed to give as much air and
coolness as possible. The attendance is good.
Pine Creek is supplied with good sub-arfesian
water pumped from a depth of 80 feet by wind-
mill into a 16,000-gallon storage tank. Water
free from mineral taint may be obtained in this
way throughout large areas of known country. As
far as exploration for subterranean water has
been followed, it would seem that all inland and
Central Australia is adequately supplied. Pacts
bearing on this interesting subject will be found
in another section of Australia Unlimited.
Pine Creek people may have plenty of fresh
meat, green vegetables, pineapples, water-melons,
bananas, and various other local products.
Although the land is far from agricultural in
appearance, old residents claim that it will grow
anything in the way of fruits and garden stuff.
They tell you that at Mt. Ellison, near Pine
Creek, half a ton of pumpkins were harvested
from one seed !
But they are not as proud of this as they are
of the statement that, from one of the claims on
the hills overlooking the town, in six weeks re-
cently, tributary Chinese miners raised 600 tons
of stone, which went over six ounces of gold to
the ton.
These auriferous hills have been burrowed by
Chinamen for years. The Cosmopolitan, worked
by Chinese on tribute for an English company,
DARWIN AND PINE CREEK
547
seems to be the only proposition with any great
vitahtv left. One-half its revenue goes to Eng-
land; the other half to China. Even the miners'
supplies are bought from local Chinese store-
keepers.
As a miner the Chinaman is no acquisition to
any country. Blind stabbing for "followers" is
his primitive method. As a "fossicker" he roots
over everything, covers over everything, cannot
work below water level ; generally speaking, is no
hundred pounds he has made he will saddle his
horse, fill his packs — on credit — and get him gone
into the Silence. There are a few little camps of
"fossickers" away out there in the Night, where
adventurous spirits engage in solitary combat with
Nature's elemental forces — their lives almost as
primitive as those of the blacks. Our sympathies
would be wasted on these Bohemians of the Back
Blocks. They are a free and happy band of
Bushmen, to whom the restraint and regularity
A Creek in Central Australia
I
good to any field, young or old. His joss-house,
his hovel, his bags and kerosene tins, his insani-
tary Asiatic presence are no acquisition to any
mining field.
We are glad to leave the surface workings on
the hills, the ramshackle shafts covered by dry
boughs, the Oriental shacks, built of all sorts of
ugly scraps, and get back to the cleaner corru-
gated surroundings of Pine Creek Hotel.
Even the gentleman from the Interior who, in
blue dungarees and shirt, wanders around the pre-
cincts inviting utter strangers to take drinks with
him, is not so depressing.
This gentleman is also "doing in" the proceeds
of some months solitary work on a "tin show"
over there. When he has spent the two or three
of civilization are unbearable. As the fast-dying
Australian aborigina;! is the last lineal descendant
of the Stone Age, so they will probably be the last
of the true frontiersmen — about whom future
children of civilization will ever love to read.
The dividing walls of our hotel are of galvan-
ised iron; the floors concrete, with a strip of mat-
ting by each bedside. The service is easy-going.
In our absence at the mines the aboriginal
groom, acting on some unexplainable impulse, has
taken all our luggage back to the railway sta-
tion. It is lucky he did not put it on the coach
going to the Katherine.
The passengers by that vehicle will camp out
on the road to-night. The region of regular
accommodation ends at Pine Creek, and is not
548
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
picked up again, saving the Katherine pub, till
the traveller reaches Camooweai or Oodnadatta.
For dinner at this, the last bush hotel for a
i,ooo miles, they give us good beef soup, sucking
pig — with three or four kinds of fresh vege-
tables— plum pudding and watermelon — all in
utter abundance. If the appetites of the Terri-
tory are to be judged by the contents of the
guests' plates, there is no need to enquire fur-
ther if this is a healthy country.
They tell you that there have been no cases
in the local hospital for 19 months: which is
accounted for by the fact that the few sick and
injured people are more likely to go down to
Darwin than remain here. The girl who
waits at the table is one of a family who trekked
across here from Camooweai. She is vigorous
and healthy, and in spite of her onerous duties
professes that she never feels the heat, not even
in summer time.
We must go back from Pine Creek to Brock's
Creek to outfit for the Daly River. We leave
the pack-horses from the Heart of Australia to
rest and meditate; leave the southern trail wind-
ing away between the flat-topped hills into wood-
ed distances and open plains, still unfenced, un-
tenanted, and lone; leave the tin-roofed outpost
that faces Oodnadatta across a thousand unoccu-
pied miles, and entrain for our next stepping-off
place.
Stony ridges, covered with long brown grass,
magnetic anthills, which face always north and
south, creeks fringed by bamboos, with occasional
screw palms and patches of macrozamia, seem
to be the features of this mineralized belt, which
covers a large area north and south of Pine
Creek, and has produced already gold, copper,
tin and wolfram in payable quantities.
At one time Yam Creek had a population of
1,400 people; but it is now a place of rusty kero-
sene tins and empty bottles.
Brock's Creek occupies a depression between
small hills, thinly covered with trees. It may
be briefly described: A tin goods-shed, waiting-
room and telegraph office, with a platform and
hoist, made the railway depot. There is a police
station, a public school, two tin houses, and a
combined galvanized store and "pub." Some
straggling banana trees, rambling goats, and list-
less natives complete the picture.
Ugly as it seems. Brock's Creek is a place of
some importance. A traveller leaving here by
the South-western trail would not meet another
"pub" until he got to Wyndham or Hall's Creek,
in Western Australia; nor would he find another
railway platform until he reached Meekatharra
or Marble Bar.
Over hundreds and hundreds of those miles
there would be no pubs, no houses, nothing but
the sun by day, the stars at night — and the long,
lonely, blazed trail that winds through the vast-
ness of yet unoccupied regions, for which the Fu-
ture holds a destiny which cannot be foretold.
Travelling eastward of Brock's Creek for
twenty or thirty miles, one enters the watershed
of the Mary, which follows — as far as its lower
reaches are known — a parallel course to the Ade-
laide; and empties into a swamp near Chambers
Bay. So far only its head-waters and tributaries
are marked on the map. I am assured by those
few people who have a knowledge of the Upper
river that it is as good as anything in the Terri-
tory.
Rev. Tenison Woods visited the Mary, which
appeared to impress him from more than one
point of view: —
"The country south-east from Mount Wells,
as far as the Mary River," he said, "is ex-
ceedingly rugged, and many of the ranges and
valleys almost inaccessible. The most closely
metalled road would not be more deeply and
thickly covered with stones than the valley and
ranges. Several long and high spurs (500 feet
above the plain) are continued to the eastward
into the valley of the Mary River, but at about
100 miles from South-port the ranges decline
to the level of the plain.
"At the sources of the Mary the river takes
its rise amid flat-topped cliffs of the most pic-
turesque description. The view along the
stony white gorges has few parallels in Aus-
tralia. The valley of the river is hemmed in
by straight cliffs of castellated outlines some
150 or 200 feet high. There is often a slope
or talus at the bottom, but they are only acces-
sible in a few places, and the valley is for the
most part fertile and shaded by fine graceful
palm trees; springs bubble out from the shady
thickets at the foot of the cliffs giving rise to
streams many feet wide, and deep from their
sources. The valley is strewn to a bewildering
extent with huge boulders and masses of rock,
which have fallen down from above, because
the magnesite is very brittle, with a founda-
tion of loose and very friable sandstone. Thus
no very long time would be required for the
springs to crumble and break away the edge
of the tableland, or scoop away the valleys
as we see them now.
"The springs, therefore, I believe to be the
origin of the cliffs and gorges at the head,
not only of the Mary but of the West and
South Alligator Rivers, and many besides. The
magnesite and sandstone strata, are very per-
meable to water. The heavy rainfall of the
DARWIN AND PINE CREEK
549
wet season easily drains through the strata, and
bubbles out at the base, where it has weathered
and broken it away into abrupt, precipitous,
and fortress-like hills.
"Beyond the Mary to the eastward there
is a tableland of a very broken character, form-
ing scenery which has few parallels, I think,
on the face of the earth. To use the words of
my journal at the time of my visit: —
" 'There was no high hill near us, but from
the summit of the steep slope above the camp
a fine view was to be obtained. A fine view
and a strange one; indeed, I doubt if there be
another like it in the world. All around was
such a sight of cliffs and gorge, isolated hills
and flat-topped hills, hills like lighthouses, hills
like fortresses and bastions, and city gates, and
ruined palaces — in short, like everything and
anything except the common-place and monot-
onous. And then there were such combinations
of colours — white cliffs and red cliffs, blue cliffs
and striped cliffs; in fact, I am afraid to go on
for fear of overtaxing the confidence of my
readers. I could have gazed and wondered
at the scene for a long time, and still found
plenty to wonder at and ponder over, for it
is a prospect about which one could imagine
anything. It seemed to me so lifelike and so
deathlike, so real and so imaginary, that I
knew not what to compare it to. One could
hardly believe that such startling shapes, so
like the work of man, could be entirely a freak
of nature, and then the utter absence of any-
thing like human life about it suggested all
sorts of associations.' "
Foregoing facts go to prove that even those
comparatively unfertile areas such as the railway
has penetrated are suitable for occupation. A
large and valuable mineralized area is interspersed
with lands either capable of agricultural produc-
tion or possible for pastoral purposes. The
Darwin and Pine Creek sections and the adjacent
districts will all have their values and uses. They
may not, in the present state of our knowledge,
compare favorably with the inland plateaux or
the river belts, but that they are destined to sup-
port a considerable population the author has
no doubt.
Oovenuuent School at Fine Creek
^^Ii.-I^^"^i
'•^■•■fr
S^ai&^s
•iim,^^iie6iim
tttm^er
On the Daly Blver
THE DALY RIVER.
ON the 13th September, 1912, with W. C.
Kellaway, of the Public Works Depart-
ment, Darwin — a good mate — a black
boy, "Paddy," and two pack-horses, the writer
started from Brock's Creek for the Daly River.
We would be out in the open for some time,
so our plant contained the bushman's usual ne-
cessities of travel — including mosquito nets,
which are indispensable items of all Territory
equipment.
Each man had an enamelled mug, strapped to
his saddle, and the horses carried neck-bags full
of water.
The opening part of the journey lay through
open forest and around or across flat-topped hills
of slight elevation. Coarse grass was plentiful
and creeks frequent — the majority of them dry at
this time of the year.
Skies were cloudless. The midday sun all
through proved exceedingly hot. But we found
the heat dry and bearable. We were close upon
the beginning of the rainy season, when, old Ter-
ritorians assert, the climate is more trying than
at any other time of the year.
Paddy had left my horse standing in the sun
while he was putting the final touches to his packs
at Brock's Creek. When I got into the saddle
it was like sitting on a stove. I had done no
riding since I left Eastern Gippsland, eighteen
months previously, save riding little Timor ponies
to look at volcanoes in Java. I had been living
soft and getting no physical exercise. I confess,
that setting-out filled me with some anxiety, in
view of tales I had heard down South of the fear-
some effects of Territory suns.
After seven days' steady riding, sleeping out
at night under my net, eating tinned beef from
the packs and drinking black tea, I returned to
Brock's Creek feeling fifty per cent, better than
I had felt for twelve months. From which I
conclude that rough, active life in the Northern
Territory of Australia would have no more ill
effects upon me personally than rough, active life
in Gippsland or any other part of the Common-
wealth has had to date. It is true that I have
550
THE DALY RIVER
551
been acclimatised to Australian Tropics, and that
I had just come from a climate which by compari-
son with that of the Territory is as Hades to
Honolulu; but, all the same, I am convinced if
the right kind of men will lead the right kind
of lives in the Farthest North, they can remain
fit and efficient. I express no opinion here on
the question of manual labor; but I should judge
that this rule would be capable of general appli-
cation.
There was plenty of green feed for our horses;
so, belled and hobbled, we left them free to browse
in equine content while we set up our cheese-cloth
nets, topped with calico, over our stretchers and
made ready for the night.
There was plenty of bird and insect life. Litde
speckled doves kept up a constant cooing; the
music of the horse bells was good to hear again.
Our black boy — garbed in blue dungarees and
shirt, an old cabbage-tree hat, and a native neck-
A Glimpse of Daly Kiver
Having left the unpicturesque ridges of Brock's
Creek behind, the country gradually began to
improve. At the Howley, some miles along the
track, a few Chinamen, presumably fossickers,
are living. A genial Asiatic humorist came to the
door of his cabin and invited us to a drink of
"square face." He seemed hurt when we declined
his hospitality. It was a hot day, and he meant
well.
We made our first camp that afternoon at
Green Ant Creek; a well-watered, pleasant place
of biding. The creek was in reality a chain of
beautiful ponds fringed with flowering water-
lilies and shaded by pandanus trees.
lace and charm — unhooked the leather pack-bags,
undid the oilcloth covering from the bundle of
bedding, and made a camp fire.
As the sun set, flocks of white cockatoos scream-
ed from their roosting places along the red hills,
thinly timbered with eucalypts. Ironwood, and
occasional flame trees, brightened the flats; while
the leafless wild cotton, with its yellow flowers
and silky pods proclaimed a future possibility.
Having mealed on "bully" beef, tea, and
bread and jam, after a smoke and a yarn we
crawled under our cheese-cloths and slept, undis-
turbed by the noises of the night, which were no
more than the thudding of kangaroos, the calling
552
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
of night birds and those sounds of nocturnal na-
ture which make a Bushman's lullaby.
The next stage of our slow journey lay at first
through poor, dry country, and then out on to
fine alluvial flats watered by creeks and lagoons.
Long grasses, through which mobs of marsupials
fed leisurely, pandanus, palms, and tropical
growths along the edges showed that the coun-
try between Port Darwin and Pine Creek was
in no wise typical of the Northern Territory,
Screw Palms
We lunched at Station Creek. It must be re-
membered that these places are no more than
local names; that between the Chinamen's huts
at The Howley and Daly River there is not a
single homestead.
Lunching meant getting alongside a creek or
waterhole; unhooking the packs, making tea,
opening another tin of "bully" beef; having some
food, a smoke, and a short rest; then reloading
the packs, mounting and getting on again.
A long afternoon's ride through country of
no special interest brought us to Swamp Billa-
bong, where we found one, Robert Williams, of
New Zealand, outspanned.
Mr. Williams had, he told us, been over to
the Daly on behalf of some Welsh settlers, who
thought of migrating from Patagonia. He was
returning in a waggonette, with two lean, tall,
furtive-eyed natives as guides and companions.
It was a lonely camp, and I think that pleasant,
silver-haired, old gentleman was glad to see us
ride out of the timber at sundown, with our
hobbles and bells jingling a tired tune of travel.
So Kellaway, the placid and thoughtful, and
withal capable Chief of Public Works, the emis-
sary from distant Patagonian Welshmen, and the
writer sat round a camp-fire in the remote bush
and discussed a good many subjects, from Laf-
cadio Hearn's Japan to the breeding of Aire-
dale dogs; while three dusky figures squatted be-
fore an adjoining camp-fire and discussed in the
language of the Stone Age whatever matters of
food, fight, or family may have been in their
minds.
The third day's riding led us through alter-
nating poor, fair, and good country. Certain
places were literally alive with game. Kan-
garoos, red and gray, moved over grassy flats,
where bush fires had left an aftermath of green
feed — like sheep moving in a paddock.
Gigantic jabiru, making a rapid preliminary
run, rose and spread their great wings in flight.
Quail buzzed up from the dry grasses beneath
our horses' feet.
We "spelled" during the heat of midday at
some lagoons, which had been the scene of a
tragical conflict with natives in early days.
All along our track we had found plenty of
good water at short stages, which makes for com-
fort in tropical travel. One can remove the grime
at the end of the day and turn in under one's
cheese-cloth with a clean skin.
The last stage of our three-days' ride brought
us through mineral country where some copper
lodes have been worked with fair result. Beyond
this spread rich, flat lands of the Daly River.
Here we found a settlement in the making.
The site selected by the Government for its Ex-
perimental Farm presented a raffle of canvas and
galvanized iron. Buildings were being erected,
fences run up, and ground cleared for planting.
Lubras in red turkey-twill, one-piece garments,
and black boys in slightly less, hung round the
camps, occasionally making some pretence of la-
bor. A Government survey party was busy plot-
ting out sections for expected settlers.
The Daly proved to be a fine, deep river, with
rapid current, navigable for small craft as far
as the borders of the settlement. Its banks are
THE DALY RIVER
553
bordered by beautiful trees, while cedar, Leich-
hardt pines, drooping gums, casuarinas, iron-
wood, and tea-tree.
Along this river is a stretch of alluvial plain,
approximately lOO miles by 5, which, drained and
irrigated, I would say is worth at least, on com-
parative productive values, £150 to £200 an acre.
The drainage and irrigation works necessary
to bring about this result would no doubt be very
costly, but though the expenditure of capital would
be enormous, I have no doubt that it would be
amply repaid in the course of years.
appear as vast fields of green crops. The flats
are crossed by frequent billabongs or back chan-
nels, through which water runs rapidly in Hood
time, and dotted with lagoons. Beautiful
purple and pink water-lilies fringe these clear
lagoons, which are the haunts of thousands
of wildfowl. On green swamps regiments of wild
geese parade. Spoonbills, egrets, nankeen and
white cranes, jabiru, coots, and wild duck play and
feed. Thousands of marsupials hop along the
edges of the swamps; game in every variety, from
buffalo to quail, make this rich land their habi-
A Water-Lily Lagoon
I spent a long day with members of the Govern-
ment survey party, riding through these wonder-
ful flats, covered by cane grass so dense that
neither man nor horse ahead of me was visible
Eat ten yards' distance. Never in any part of
! the work! have I beheld a strip of country which
seemed better suited for intense tropical cultiva-
tion.
To any experienced eye the alluvial plains of
I the Daly present possibilities which cannot
[be excelled north of Capricorn. Let the
: reader imagine an ever-flowing river, navi-
gable for small craft over 70 miles from
its mouth, winding through magnificent black-
soil flats. For miles these flats are covered
with coarse grass — often ten and twelve
feet high. Where it has been burned off they
tat. The waters are teeming with fish, the air
constantly vibrating with the flight of birds.
In days gone by some Jesuit fathers established
an aboriginal station on the banks of the Daly.
The station was an agricultural success, but an
ethical failure. The natives of the Daly did not
want religion. They made persistent efforts to
spear the missioners. Finally the good Fathers
gave up the mission, leaving behind them a fine
tropical garden and some tilled lands, which were
speedily overrun by cane grass.
The remains of the garden are still there —
groves of mango trees laden with fruit — and the
Territory mango is the finest grown; cocoanuts,
limes and cotton, all run wild, burnt over,
neglected, weed-worried, but yet healthy and
prolific.
554
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Fruits of the Tropics
Ploughing could be done with a 25 h.p. oil
tractor at the rate of ten or twelve acres a day.
Recently the Government offered 13,000 acres
of these lands in holdings from 290 to 620 acres
on remarkably easy terms. Many settlers availed
themselves of the opportunity. They should,
with reasonable luck and good management, do
very well.
For the first 5000 blocks of agricultural land
applied for in the Territory under the Federal
regime, the title given to settlers is perpetual
leasehold; no rent payable for 21 years or for the
applicant's life, whichever period is the longer.
Where rent becomes payable it is subject to
re-appraisement every twenty-one years. It is
doubtful if anywhere in the world such lands have
ever been given away on terms like these. The
Federal Government has evidently determined
that every inducement and compensation shall
henceforward be offered to settlement in North-
ern Australia.
Consider that these lands are alluvial, that they
are the detritus of a river which, like the Clarence
or Richmond, brings water carriage to the far-
mer's door. The Daly is frequently over a mile
wide, and 60 miles from its seaward entrance
has a width of 100 yards of deep, fresh, running
As a personal opinion, I would advance, that
for new settlers on lands' similar to the Daly,
maize should be the most profitable first crop.
The returns come in quickly, and the produce is
relatively easy to handle in transport. The Daly
River land ought to yield an average crop of
60 bushels to the acre
After the ground has been properly handled
and worked it should pay to plant lucerne. There
will be a good market for lucerne hay at Manila
and Singapore. Allowing for wet months, soils
such as I rode over on the Daly ought to give six
prolific cuts of lucerne in the year.
Pig-breeding in the Territory, in view of the
great demand for pork, frozen or salted, which
always exists in the East, is certain to be among
the profitable industries of the future.
The pig flourishes in the Territory. I saw
hundreds of wild pigs on the Adelaide, some of
which I shot and examined. They appeared to
be perfectly free from disease, and were in excel-
lent condition.
Mules for farm work may, later on, be bred
locally. I saw flats on the Daly containing fully
500 acres which were ready for the plough. They
would cost no more than a box of matches for
clearing — no trees to fell, no stumps to remove,
nothing but the long cane grass to burn off. This
country might, as it stands, be used to grow
maize, with certain portions perhaps devoted to
rice in the wet season.
Papaws and Cabljages
THE DALY RIVER
55.?
Pigs bred on the Adelaide River, near Darwin
water. The lower lands are flat and sometimes
flooded, but 30 miles from its mouth the banks
of the river are high and covered by belts of
tropical jungles half a mile or more in width. At
the back of these again lie the open plains with
scattered white gum trees and wide stretches of
tall rich grass, which is oflicially described as
"nutritious and suitable for dairying." This grass
.retains its succulence for nine months of the
I year.
Consider that these intensely rich jungle soils
can be irrigated. The land has already shown
that it will grow crops of maize, sugar-cane,
sorghum, sweet potatoes, and vegetables ! The
modern agriculturist will surely experience no
great difficulty in reducing these elemental factors
to actual wealth.
While out on the Daly country the writer met
Mr. J. E. Palmer, since appointed Director of
the Daly Government Farm. Mr. Palmer is a
New Zealand farmer of considerable experience.
He had just returned from an exploratory journey
50 miles up the Daly River; thence southward
and westward to Anson Bay.
He reported the discovery of a series of ther-
mal springs and a hot lake.
He found splendid plains on both sides of the
River, and crossed thousands of fertile acres,
covered knee-deep in meadow grasses, which
might be converted into natural ensilage if there
were any use for it.
Large areas which he examined Mr. Palmer
pronounced to be eminently suitable for agricul-
tural purposes. In some cases drainage of a
In Tropical Australia
5S6
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
simple and inexpensive character would be neces-
sary. He classed these virgin demesnes as equal
to the best in the Commonwealth.
The establishment of telephonic communication
between Darwin and the Daly, and the installa-
tion of a motor service from Brock's Creek, will
bring this settlement forward.
It is stated that a native has gone with mails
from Daly River to Brock's Creek and back in
36 hours — total distance, 140 miles. It is true
that a man who was accidentally shot with a
Browning pistol was carried on a stretcher by
fourteen native-bearers to the same place in a
few hours, but, like the attacks on the Jesuit mis-
sion, these matters are now part of a story told.
The hand of the Twentieth Century, prosaic,
utilitarian, but bringing greater comfort and
security with it, has closed that chapter in pioneer
adventure. The more rapid the progress of the
Territory is made, and the more of modern
science and invention enlisted in the work, the
better it will be for Australia generally. . . .
With Brother Kellaway jogging placidly be-
side me, and the lean, dusky Paddy spurring the
packhorses along in the rear, I left Daly River
one cool morning to return to Brock's Creek,
altering the route in order to cover as wide a
range of country as possible.
— T —^. 5 : 1
WW^^'.
^ *JW;^
f^^^^jk^
Maize, Daly Bivei
' ' Good Country ' '
By this time I was thoroughly "set," full of
vigor and appetite, and enjoying the rough life
immensely.
Paddy's early morning proposal to carry my
Winchester had been received with no enthusiasm.
I am sorry I cannot give Paddy a certificate.
He was a Daly River native, which accounts for
much. The only recommendation he received
when he was being attached to the expedition
was that he had speared his own father. This
may have been mere Brock's Creek gossip; but
it influenced me in refusing him the carbine and
carrying it thenceforward on my own hip, as I
rode. I have found the short .38 the handiest
rifle for the Bush. It is, however, useless in
hunting buffalo. The weapon used by Freer,
Connell, Lawrie, Paddy Cahill, and all well-
known buffalo hunters of the North is a Martini
service rifle with the barrel cut down to short
carbine length. The shooting is mainly done
from horseback, the weapon being used as a pistol
at close range. The ball is planted, if possible,
into the back of the shoulder or the spine. The
buffalo is liable to get annoyed if shot with a .38,
or even a .42 calibre Winchester.
There was no monotony about our journey.
As we jogged along, to the bushman's tune of
creaking saddles and jingling bells and hobble-
chains, one little incident after another enlivened
us. Once the ubiquitous Paddy, in dismounting,
caught the flapping sole of his ancient boot in the
stirrup-iron, fell, and was dragged under his
frightened horse's neck for some distance. In
falling our athletic, ungainly aboriginal somehow
succeeded in grabbing the reins close to the bit.
This opened the horse's mouth; Paddy's mouth,
exceptionally large, opened also with fright and
excitement, and so they plunged through the tim-
ber, mouth to mouth, a feaisome sight, until we
succeeded in straightening out the mess.
s
P
557
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Despite warnings, the same accident was re-
peated, only on the second occasion Paddy was
dragged some distance under his horse's hoofs.
He would probably have been kicked to death if
his stirrup-leather had not luckily slipped out of
the saddle and left him, much chastened and
somewhat bruised, under an ironwood tree.
Like other travellers of the great Lone North-
land, we followed a daily routine.
In that charmed hour when tropic morning is
still a demure vestal in light blue and gray, we
would wriggle from under our dew-wet cheese-
cloths and find the most convenient place in the
creek, or waterhole, near which one always
camps, for a wash. All around these camping
places one sees sets of stakes, four in number, to
which the corners of travellers' mosquito nets
have been tied. The popularity or suitability of
the camp might be gauged by the number of
stakes. There is plenty of room, and each wan-
derer gratifies his individual instinct in selecting
the space for his "doss."
While we bathed, Paddy attended to the fire,
and put on water to boil for our tea or coffee.
Sometimes we fried bacon for breakfast. After
rashers of this, with mugs of black tea and slices
of bread and jam, or fried onions or tinned cake,
we would set to packing up. Mostly, Paddy left
things lying around overnight. Tidiness was not
one of his accomplishments. Open tins of jam had
a habit of getting loose in the pack-bags, and
lids were rarely closed on anything. While some-
body washed the breakfast plates, somebody else
sorted out the provisions from the pyjamas and
packed them into leather panniers, which hung
one on either side of the pack-saddles.
Rugs and bedding were rolled up, made into
a swag, and covered with a waterproof.
Then the boy brought the horses back to camp
from wherever they had got to, packs were
hoisted, girths tightened up, and the outfit re-
sumed its day's journey.
Towards the end of our first day's ride we
struck a solitary Chinaman making his way on
foot from the copper mine at the Daly to Brock's
Creek. This withered old heathen carried his
belongings slung on a pole. He politely asked
us to have a drink of tea, which he had just
brewed in an ancient billycan from the waters of
Blackfellow Creek.
At night we camped at Pleasant Creek, and
the following day, riding into Brock's Creek, we
struck W. J. Byrne, who has a cattle-run out here
on the western side of the railway line, returning
from Brock's Creek with his blackboy and pack-
horses.
These were all the people of the Daly River
Track.
We might have gone on into the Great Quiet-
ness to the southward and travelled for weeks
without meeting as many — for there are over
all these half-million square miles not more than
2,000 white people.
Of the 70 miles of alternate ridge and flat be-
tween the railway line and the Daly River, which
we crossed twice, it may be said that a great deal
can ultimately be made profitable. A few miles
to the westward of the railway the land generally
improves in quality.
The track leaves mineralized and broken areas
and enters open lightly-timbered country, through
which there is an abundance of coarse grass and
good water. Treeless flats, which are composed
of rich-looking soil, and jungles, occur here and
there. These rich lands could undoubtedly be
converted into farms. Ihey ought to grow cot-
ton and tobacco to perfection. The remainder of
the country seems suitable for grazing. Opinions
differ regarding sheep. "Spear grass" is a present
difficulty. It is likely that sheep will do better
further inland. As a cattle country other parts
of the Territory have been proved beyond all
doubt. And, I repeat, the lands on which herds
of beef-cattle flourish will ultimately support
dairy herds. But, unless population increases at
a greater rate in the Territory than it has done
in Queensland and New South Wales during the
last 50 years, it is, to my mind, much too early to
talk of dairy farming as a staple industry for the
North.
It must be remembered that long leases of
cattle country were granted in 1901 to certain
pastoral companies and individuals by the South
Australian Government. These leases do not
expire until the year 1943. For example, the
Bovril Australian Estates Company Ltd. hold
1286 square miles in the Northern Territory, for
which they pay a total annual rental of £64 6s.
under "Pastoral Permit." Under pastoral lease,
expiring in 1943, they also hold 11,380 square
miles at a total annual rent of £723 13s.
Local authority asserts that the country be-
tween Brock's Creek and the Daly is not suitable
for cattle-raising.
In the present stage of Territorial evolution it
will be wise to keep to certainties, of which there
are plenty, and leave doubtful propositions for
later on. There is no necessity to worry now
over these poor metalliferous tracts which the
railway follows between Darwin and Pine Creek,
when thousands of virgin acres, palpably destined
for the plough, can readily be made accessible
elsewhere.
By the time these have been occupied and de-
veloped, lands poorer in seeming — but as Aus-
tralian experience elsewhere leads one to hope,
perhaps finally richer in some special result — may
THE DALY RIVER
559
be attempted. Colonization elsewhere has fol-
lowed the line of least resistance. It will have to
take the same cautious course in the Northern
Territory of Australia.
In the Daly River Valley and its adjacent dis-
tricts alone, the Commonwealth possesses an
asset, the capital value of which might some day
be approximated at enormous sums.
Unless there is some fatal and utterly unfor-
seen flaw in human experience, some mistake in
careful comparisons, some false premise to logi-
ing the monsoon and intermittent rains fall be-
tween. The line between wet and dry season
in the Territory is clearly drawn. Torrential
downpours feature the wet season, which lasts
six months of the year. The other six months
are, as a rule, quite dry. Agriculture can and
will be made a success: but, as in other countries
where similar climatic conditions prevail, science
must supplement nature, and provisions be made
for storage and application of water. What Vic-
toria is doing at very great national expense, can
Aboriginal Drawings
cal conclusion based on established facts, this
statement should hold good.
But neither on the Daly River nor otherwhere
in the coastal Territory is this increase in values
going to be brought about by a few passes of a
magician's wand. It can only come by a step-by-
step climbing of a Ladder of Experience. Men
must be prepared to learn in patience what they
apply with care. The valor of enterprise should
be tempered with discretion. As regards agri-
culture, the peculiarity of Northern seasons must
first of all be taken into account. In this re-
spect the coastal districts of the Territory and
the Kimberleys differ from the littoral of North-
ern Queensland, where heavy rainfalls occur dur-
be done in the Territory quite cheaply. People
talk of Java, just over the water from Northern
Australia, and draw invidious comparisons. These
people are probably unaware that Java, with all
its tropical rainfall, is irrigated from end to end.
It may be the Garden of the World, but irriga-
tion is the basis of its agriculture fr.om Tanjon
Priok to Pasoeran. When I came down from
Garoet to Djokjakarta, in August of 19 12, I
found some of the intervening country suffering
from a worse drought than any that has occurred
in Australia in my time.
In 1867 the whole of this district was over-
whelmed by an earthquake, which destroyed the
capital Djokja, and thousands of its inhabitants.
560
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It is always at the mercy of the neighboring vol-
cano Merapi. These are evils which the great-
est pessimist in Darwin need not fear. The
division of the Territorial year into wet and dry
seasons is nothing to the handicaps Nature has
laid on the noted Island of Java, which, despite
the same wet and dry season, despite earthquakes,
volcanic eruptions, droughts, taxes, failures of
rice crops, epidemics, and the Chinese, manages
to support thirty-six millions of human beings.
If a subject colored race can achieve so much
in the face of such natural and social impedi-
ments, surely an independent nation of freemen
me of its honest conviction that without cheap,
colored labor sugar-growing in that district was
a rank, impossibility. In 19 14 Mackay told me
of its honest experience that sugar-growing with
white labor was not only possible, but that it
had brought about unexpected and increasing
prosperity!
We come now to the question of pests in the
Territory. Cattle tick has been prevalent. So has it
been in Texas, South Africa, and Queensland. It
might also be mentioned that an epidemic of roup
in fowls occasionally occurs in poultry yards
quite remote from the tropics. Ticks, like other
mf''
Myall Blacks
can overcome infinitely lesser difficulties of settle-
ment in the Northern Territory of Australia !
It has been said that the North could not com-
pete with the cheap labor of Java. If Texas
and Louisiana can grow rice cheaper than it is
grown in China — why not? Further, is it neces-
sary that there should be any competition? Is
Indian cotton, for instance, allowed to compete
with the cotton of South Carolina?
As we can get over the dry seasons, so we
can get over the cheap labor problem. Looked
at from an economic viewpoint, I do not mini-
mise the importance of the question, but I went
back to Mackay in Queensland recently after
thirteen years' absence. In 1900 Mackay told
parasitic diseases, have their remedies. Dips are
resorted to, and cattle become immune. A little
over a decade ago the herds in the Rockhampton
district were decimated by tick fever. Now Rock-
hampton is being rapidly converted into a great
dairy-farming centre. Central Queensland went
through a period of despair in 1899-1900. Now
the people there worry as little about cattle ticks
as the residents of Hobart do about frost.
Termites are very destructive in some parts of
the Territorial Coast. They attack the wood-
work of houses and sometimes destroy fruit trees.
Darwin, however, is not the only spot on
earth which suffers from white ants. Termites
are no more fatal to fruit crops than codlin moths
THE DALY RIVER
561
A Daly Kiver Farm
or other pests. They can be eradicated or pre-
v'ented in similar manner. As for their inroads
on buildings, everybody knows that Parliament
House in Sydney has been honeycombed with
them for years, and large sums of money have
to be spent to keep it in repair.
The obvious remedy is to construct buildings
in ant-infested districts of resistant materials. No
self-respecting termites will waste their time on
bricks, stone, or re-enforced concrete or tiles —
all of which are far more suitable, building ma-
terials for the climate than the wood and gal-
vanized iron so generally used.
I have heard it argued even by Territorians
that certain coast lands will not carry more than
one beast to the square mile, because the natural
grasses are too rank and sour; that when these
are burnt off in March the resultant green feed
only lasts a few weeks.
This, even if true, I do not accept as a fatal
objection to the future productivity of the places
at issue. I examined some of this alleged sour
country, and concluded that it would grow both
Rhodes grass and paspalum dilatatum. If these
do not flourish, or flourish too well — one must
be prepared for contingencies in country where
the ordinary grasses grow to a height of twelve
and fourteen feet — then I feel sure that among
the remarkable variety of native Australian
forage grasses and plants — greatly neglected and
unrealized — there are many which can be intro-
duced. Out of the 360 known species of grass
indigenous to this Continent there will be found
many greedily acceptable of this particular cli-
mate and soil. A country cannot be classed as
unfit for grass because it overgrows one native
variety which is lacking in nutrition for stock
feed. It really seems as if the land in its virgin
state suffers from over-activity, and requires se-
datives rather than stimulants.
Again, if the coast had proved unsuitable for
European cattle, it is certainly suitable for the
Indian buffalo, which, from a few head of stock
left behind when Port Essington was abandoned
by the British Government, have grown into enor-
mous herds.
In ten years after buffalo shooting became an
industry in the North, the Customs records at
Darwin showed a total export of 50,000 hides.
On Melville Island the few buffalo left behind
when the flag was lowered on Fort Dundas had
increased to many thousands, before people on
the mainland realized either their numbers or
value.
Moreover, around Port Essington are herds
of English cattle and horses, bred in a wild state
from some left behind by the settlement. Indian
Brahmin cattle and goats thrive wonderfully.
On the Adelaide, crosses between Brahmin cattle
and Herefords have made excellent stock.
The increase of goats is as high as 130 per cent.
The production of mohair is evidently an indus-
try which would prove successful on the coast.
Donkeys, mules. Zebu cattle, and pigs all thrive
splendidly.
Taking all this into consideration, there seems
no reason to doubt that mixed farming and agri-
culture on tropical lines can be successfully under-
taken throughout the coastal districts.
562
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Aborigines with Buffalo Horns at Melville Island
Such being the case, one naturally concludes
that settlement is only a matter of effort, experi-
ence, and acclimatization.
Summarized, the wet and dry seasons are not
unique, the country is well watered, exceptionally
fertile in parts, has a wide range of productive-
ness, and is not afflicted with pests or diseases any
worse than those with which pioneer settlers in
other parts of Australia have effectively coped.
As Southern settlers sometimes ha\'e to wire-net
their fences against the depredations of rabbits
and marsupials, spray their fruit trees, protect
their dwellings against white ants, so Northern
settlers must meet their difficulties with ordinary
human resource. Even cathedral spires, these
days, are fitted with lightning conductors.
Bound for Melville Island
Headwaters of the Adelaide Bivei
ON THE ADELAIDE.
As the Daly and Adelaide Rivers can both be
made readily accessible from Port Darwin
by fast steamers, motor services, tram-
ways and branch railways, they form the most
likely sites for early settlement.
Thanks to the courtesy of local officials and
the Department controlling the Territory, I was
enabled to visit the latter district, accompanied
by Constable MacDonald, of Darwin. Mac.
was a hefty South Australian who had seen ser-
vice in South Africa, where he had earned two
medals and seven bars. He proved a first-class
bushman and a good mate.
He picked me up one sunny October morning
at the "Eighteen Mile," on the Darwin — Pine
Creek railway line, with the police waggonette.
a blackboy and a pair of fresh horses. We had
packs of bedding, stretchers, rugs, a supply of
tinned beef, bacon and sundries, and flat-sided
billies and dishes to do our own cooking.
The track goes out from here to Lawrie's
homestead, which was all the civilization on the
Adelaide in the latter part of 191 2.
We had plenty of provisions and a tent and
fly. I brought my shotgun, rifle and automatic
Colt, for the shooting on the Adelaide was re-
ported to be good.
A few miles along the trail we met a coatless,
shirtless man carrying a Martini carbine. The
stranger proved to be N. Sunter, who was on
his way back to a camp where his natives were
preparing buffalo hides for shipment. Mr.
563
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A Traveller
Sunter rode with us in the waggonette so far. He
was one of the most interesting characters I met,
even in that Land of the Adventurous and Un-
usual
Thirty-one years of age, an ex-ship's officer,
of medium height, spare build, muscular, sun-
tanned, and hard as nails, this little gentleman
walks a hundred miles a week through pathless
bush; stalking on foot the strongest animal in the
world. He sleeps where darkness finds him, is
frequently wetted by tropical rain, has never had
a touch of fever, and swears by the Territory. A
fine, hopeful little man!
Since July, he tells us, he has been charged by
buffaloes once a week on an average; but he has
been nimble enough on his feet and quick enough
on the trigger to escape injury. He may be ac-
cepted as an example of what is possible to a
white man in Northern Australia.
After dropping our interesting wayside ac-
quaintance at his camp, we drove for some miles
through scrub and forest until we reached a belt
of beautiful jungle, through which flowed a clear
creek. It was a cool, picturesque midday camp.
Cinchona, screw palms, and other tropical
growths shaded us from the sun, while cooing of
fruit pigeons and a ripple of running water made
good bush music.
That afternoon we saw our first buffaloes —
three of them hurling their black bulk through
scrub and undergrowth as they took alarm at our
approach. Until we sighted the open plains of
the Adelaide River a few hours later we travelled
through country of no particular interest. But
wonderful vistas of black, alluvial flats, which
met us as we came out of the timber above W.
Lawrie's homestead, made amends for it.
We drove down under an enormous banyan
tree beside a running creek, half a mile from the
house, and set our boy Tommy, a much supe-
rior native to Paddy, to get our first camp ready.
Out westward an extensive bush fire had sent up
a tremendous cloud of black smoke, fringed with
angry red. Eastward the sunlit plains spread
away towards the sea, a corkscrew line of timber
marking the serpentine windings of the Adelaide
River. Just over there brave McDouall Stuart —
the first man to cross the Australian Continent
from South to North — stooped down and washed
his face and hands in the saltwater when his
splendid task was done. We had come out sud-
denly from a somewhat dull and monotonous
forest, of no apparent value, into a region of in-
describable fertility, covered with long grasses,
watered by lagoons, creeks and billabongs,
teeming with bird and animal life. Everywhere
there was game, and the spoor of game — buffalo
wallows in the mud of the watercourses, traces of
wild pigs, tracks of marsupials, wild horses, wild
cattle, wild dogs. Kangaroos and wallabies we
saw in hundreds; quail, pheasants, wild ducks,
geese, pigeons, bustards, white ibis, cranes, cocka-
toos, owls, egrets, parrots, and snipe haunted the
watercourses, hid in the grasses, or beat the air
with thousands of whirring wings. Every
swamp, every clump of pandanus, every patch of
jungle had its furred and feathered companies.
The waters, as we were destined to learn,
swarmed with fish, and, sometimes, alligators.
ON THE ADELAIDE
565
The soil on the Adelaide is for the most part
deep hiack loam. With appropriate treatment
one feels sure that it can be made highly produc-
tive. The flats are flooded, or partly flooded, in
the rainy season of summer. They are dry
during the winter months and covered with heavy
cane grass, through which buffaloes move heavily.
Here, as on the Daly, drainage and irrigation will
be necessary to convert the best areas into farm
lands. Then they will grow, I believe, every pro-
fitable crop that can be raised in a tropical climate.
The present cane grass, three to six feet high, will
be superseded by more succulent fodder plants,
and for maize, sugar, tobacco, cotton, rice, pig-
South Wales will place on her Murrumbidgee
Irrigation area. Looked at with the experienced
eyes of Asia, or the scientific perspective of Ame-
rica, the Adelaide would make an ideal irrigation
scheme. As population is attracted to the Terri-
tory, this will probably be its ultimate destiny.
As is done in other places, the waters of the
river can be controlled and applied when required.
Meanwhile portions of the land can be devoted
to certain useful purposes — without irrigation.
After we had staked our mosquito nets and
got our bunks ready that afternoon, we went
over to "yarn" with the solitary veteran who has
occupied this outpost, with considerable personal
A Camp
raising, and the raising of stock adapted to the
tropics, there will probably be nothing better in
Australia, which is equivalent to saying that there
is nothing better in the world. There will be
plantations and mills there before many years,
unless the colonizing instincts of Australians re-
ceive some unexpected setback. At the present
time cotton is growing and podding freely along
the Adelaide and its tributaries. Coftee and rub-
ber have been tried, as we have seen in a previous
chapter, with entire success as far as their adapt-
ability to local conditions is concerned.
Boats of 500 tons burthen can safely navigate
the river for at least 60 miles.
This vast champaign, over which we drove and
rode during four following days, laid out as an
irrigation proposition in ten, twenty and fifty-acre
blocks, ought to support as many people as New
success, for many years. He proved to be a
silver-haired, active old man of 65, hale and
strong; with a blue, penetrating eye, the eye of
one not unaccustomed to facing difficulty or
danger.
He rode in at nightfall with a little troop of
colored stockmen — including two lubras in male
attire. We sat amicably together to an evening
meal of curried buffalo and rice, prepared by
Ah Choy, his Chinese cook.
The old man talked of the places and things
he knew; of North and Western Queensland,
where he had spent his earlier days, and whence
in the sixties he had trekked into the Territory;
of Japan, Manila, and Singapore, where his busi-
ness and pleasure have taken him. He has made
much morley shipping horses and cattle to
Manila. He held, under Pastoral Permit, 1,703
566
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Black and White
square miles of the Territory; under Pastoral
Lease, 4,801 square miles; Annual Lease, 400
square miles; Right of Purchase Lease, 160
acres; Agricultural Lease, 640 acres.
To control a principality covering 6,905
square miles would cause some people pride.
Neither ostentation nor luxury seems to be Mr.
Lawrie's weakness. He lives a very simple bache-
lor life, surrounded by his faithful aboriginals
and Chinese, and employs a white overseer for
his out-stations. To see him riding out on his
run, with one of his native stockwomen at- his
saddle bow, clad in men's dungaree trousers,
spurs, print shirt, old straw hat, and clay pipe, one
would hardly judge him to be the overlord of such
a vast domain.
Between Lawrie's homestead and the head of
navigation on the Adelaide, there is no road, but,
setting off early in the morning from the big
banyan tree, we essayed to drive this distance.
If we got there, we would have the distinction
of being the first adventurers to reach that point
with a wheeled vehicle.
It proved a rough but highly interesting cross-
country drive. We had borrowed a Martini at
Lawrie's in the event of striking a buffalo bull
with evil intentions. The old bulls are driven
away from the herds by younger rivals; and, as
is the way with enforced exiles, they become very
resentful.
In the long grass one might very easily drive
right on to buffalo without seeing them. Over
these fertile plains, through which the Adelaide,
fringed by bamboo and paper-bark, winds to
wards its mouth in Adam Bay, we made a cir-
cuitous passage; heading swamps and lagoons,
and dodging, as far as possible, the rougher
ground. Still there were dry buffalo wallows
which had to be bumped over, and hillocky
patches where wild pigs had been rooting.
The day was cloudless and reasonably cool.
Green ornamental trees fringed the lagoons,
where water-lilies gleamed in purple and gold;
pink water-lilies glorified the swamps; green pas-
tures were spangled with gorgeous flowers.
One might readily imagine that we were driv-
ing every now and then over stretches of park
lands; or through a vast botanical garden. It
would be even more beautiful at the end of the
rainy season.
I could never bring myself to destroy game
for which I could not find use; but temptations
to shoot were continual. Wallabies and kan-
garoos constantly hopped away from either side
of us, and sat up within range. We must have
disturbed some thousands of marsupials as we
drove along. Every swamp was covered with
wildfowl.
We found ourselves that night with a mixed
bag, comprising a brace of black ducks, a bustard,
six squatter pigeons, and a couple of geese. The
pigeons were grilled on the coals of our camp
fire for tea, the bustard and ducks I converted
into a stew for breakfast; the geese were donated
to Tommy, who cooked them on the fire as they
came to him, feathers and all, and carried them
on as a standby next day. Mac. said the nigger
enjoyed them more than the stew. He suggested
that I should also get a few flying foxes, out of a
noisome camp of these creatures in the bamboos
by the river.
After that bustard stew. Tommy pronounced
our bully beef "no more good," which gave mo
an excuse to shoot birds for him during the rest
ol the trip.
Our camp that night was located near the
crossing. The grass had been burned off, and
there were nice patches of green feed for the
horses.
After a clean-up, a full meal, a smoke, and a
yarn, we retireci under our mosquito nets and fell
asleep amid the calling of morepokes, the wail of
dingoes, and the noise of wild geese, swans and
whistling duck flying overhead.
ON THE ADELAIDE
567
When I looked out from under the cheese-cloth
I saw the full moon setting silver and white.
A little later the sun came up in rose and gold.
The bush again responded to the call of day. The
North wakened to its wonted life and color. Wild
geese swayed in the tops of the tea-tree; their half-
webbed feet affording them no clutch, and,
stretching out their wings, Hew to new feeding
grounds. P'locks of white cranes with indrawn
necks moved from swamp to swamp. Native
Companions danced their minuets in the sunrise.
Great black buffaloes rubbed their muddy flanks
against a convenient trunk or anthill; and wild
jolted out no doubt in the terrific bumping over
rough ground the previous day. It was a pretty
anxious situation. Our Martini was out of action
for the moment; the chances of stopping an old
buffalo bull on the charge with a .38 Winchester
or a shotgun were so remote that they could not
be taken into account.
Mac. got hurriedly to work on the Martini
with his jack knife, in the hope of effecting repairs
before things happened, while I held the reins
with one hand and slid cartridges and fond hopes
into the magazine of the Winchester. Tommy
fumbled in the ammunition bag for more. No-
»
Buffalo Hunting
Timor ponies galloped, with long tails and manes
floating.
We started back along the Adelaide next day,
keeping as near the banks as we could.
We found the same fecund rich soil, the same
luxuriance of vegetation, the same plentitude of
bird and animal life.
Once we came upon an old-man buffalo. He
rose facing us through the high grass, shaking
his ponderous head and lashing his tail. Mac.
pulled up the horses. Tommy, who sat on the
luggage behind, passed the Martini forward. As
I hurriedly attempted to slip in a cartridge 1
discovered that the breech-block had come loose —
body laughed or sang. We were a busy crowd,
and all the time, as we worked noiselessly, we
kept our eyes on the old bull in front of us.
He had a magnificent pair of spreading horns,
and his sides were glossy with mud. I recollected
that the assistant lighthouse-keeper at Point
Charles, a one-time hunter of buffaloes, a fort-
night previously had drawn a diagram for me,
showing the vulnerable points of these animals.
As nearly as I remembered they were two, the
spine and the flank. He explained that the buf-
falo's hide is about two and a half inches thick. An
ordinary Winchester bullet would not penetrate
it, also that it was next to impossible to shoot a
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burtalo coming towards you, inasmuch as the
skull and horns made an effectual armor-plate for
the small brain located at the back of the head.
Further, I remembered that Lawrie, in his ex-
ploits after buffalo, had had every bone in his body
broken except his neck.
A little experience Freer from the Alligator
River had related, flashed through my mind. In
the off-season you will generally find Freer at the
Hotel Metropole in Sydney. You would scarcely
believe that he spends some months of the year,
with a plant of 35 natives and 65 horses, out on
the Alligator, shooting buffalo for their hides. It
was a graphic story of a charge by a wounded
buffalo. His horse fell, his rifle went oft under
him, and when he recovered his senses he found
a dead horse and a dead buffalo beside him, and,
as he expressed it, "the toes of one of his feet
where the heel ought to be."
So Freer lay a fortnight in camp at the Alli-
gator with a broken ankle and dinted ribs, trying
to retain control of his natives and his senses —
until he had to give in at last and get the niggers
to carry him aboard his lugger. The story of
how he sailed the lugger to Darwin with a broken
foot and ribs was the most dramatic part of it;
but it went out of my head because, just then,
Mac. handed back the Martini with the announce-
ment that it would shoot now. Simultaneously
the bull seemed to alter his mind. Turning
round, he made towards the distant hills with the
sun flashing along that glossy, two-and-a-half-inch-
thick hide.
Tommy was a Palmerston native, and unused
to buffalo. He had turned a sort of sickly gray
color. This was his second big fright on the
trip. He had been sent to the river for water
the evening before, and nearly trod on an alli-
gator. The game in that district was almost too
plentiful.
We got back to Lawrie's safely at the close of
the day, and made another camp. . . .
On Sunday we decided on having a sort of
picnic down the river at Alligator Creek. The
previous day Mac. had spent with the Chinese
carpenter effecting repairs to the waggonette. The
buffalo wallows had proved too much for the
drawbars and some of the ironwork. Our mos-
quito nets were tied to the wheels of the buggy,
and the harness was hung in a stunted tree. Op-
posite stood Lawrie's bachelor quarters, a three-
roomed house built of galvanised iron, with
wrought-iron posts and ties — an indication that
white ants were bad on the Adelaide. The floors
were made of wood blocks bedded in cement. The
Chinese cook slept in the harness room, and there
were back rooms for the household.
In front of the house was a stack of rice straw,
some banana and orange trees.
The stars were yet showing. A clank of wild
geese came from invisible birds overhead. There
was a light in the house and a fire in the kitchen.
A clatter of gins began. It commences at day-
break, lasts all day and well into the night. Pre-
sently a tall lubra, dressed in a one-piece print
frock edged with red braid, comes out to let the
goats — there are some hundreds of them — out
of the enclosure in which they have been penned
during the night.
Breakfast over, "Topsy," a cheerful-looking
half-caste girl, goes down to the stockyard with
a couple of bridles over her arm to bring up the
saddle horses.
Topsy and Jimmy and the Boss ride off to-
gether. We are to meet them at Alligator Creek
for lunch.
The old man makes a rather picturesque
figure with his sunlit grey beard, his open shirt
front, old felt hat tilted back, brown dungaree
pants, elastic-sided boots, and spurs.
With his bodyguard riding slightly in the rear,
he goes from point to point, looking at his cattle.
It is a warm Oriental Sunday. They are get-
ting a waggon away loaded with buffalo hides.
The Chinaman, who is blacksmith, carpenter and
cook, and a devoted servant, is in charge. He
leaves a very fat colored lady to act as cook in
his absence.
A tall native woman goes down to the stock-
yard for his saddle horse. She takes a great
stride and swings her arms after the manner of all
native women as they walk.
The team horses are brought up. I he women
go among them fixing nose-bags and talking
shrilly to the animals.
There is much going to and fro, and much
chatter in native dialect and broken English. The
team is harnessed at last. With an aboriginal
sitting on top of the smellful hides, and the
weather-beaten Chinaman riding slowly behind,
it takes its way through the scattered timber,
swaying heavily, leaving a dense cloud of dust in
its wake.
We got our own horses harnessed to the empty
buggy, and with "tucker" and water-bag, gun,
rifle, and ammunition, picked our way through
the pandanus, across the level high grass plains
towards our rendezvous at Alligator Creek. The
water of this creek was fresh in certain places, but
backed up by the tide. When the tide falls, the
barramundi are left in shallow water, and may
be speared or shot. Accompanied by Jimmy, I
went along the creek and began the day's sport
by getting two splendid fish, about 2olbs. weight,
with the Winchester.
1
ON THE ADELAIDE
569
Jimmy found the fish. If I would pray for
any gift, I think it would be that I might have
sight as keen as that of an Australian black-
fellow !
To put a .38 Winchester bullet into the back
of a barramundi's head by shooting into the water
at a certain angle, is easy enough when you have
learned the trick; but to first find the fish planted
alongside a log in the waterhole or hidden in
waterweeds, requires eyesight which very few
Inishmen possess.
mob which I calculated contained at least two
thousand, alighted about two hundred yards from
where I was stretched out in the half-baked mud.
I pulled out my automatic Colt and emptied it
among them. This shook the whole swamp up.
Mobs of black duck flew high into the air, and,
after circling, dived down again with a threaten-
ing noise like that of distant thunder. A flock of
jack snipe flew past me. I cut out a couple with
two barrels of No. 2 shot intended for ducks.
Parras, whistlers, teal, ibis and cranes came along
A Creek in Central Australia
We lunched on "bully" beef, biscuit and black
tea, brewed by the lady in dungarees.
Jimmy undertook to show me a place where
"plenty bird sit down." On the road I shot a
fine boar, and a brace of Torres Straits pigeons.
Presently we came to the edge of a long narrow
swamp, which was literally alive with game. I
laid down flat in a buffalo wallow near the edge,
and instructed the boy to go up one side and
come down the other. It was after midday, the
sun was hot on my back, and I attracted plenty of
mosquitoes. But I forgot these discomforts,
watching the movements of more edible game than
I have ever seen together in one place. As the
nigger, attired only in his shirt and hat, scouted
along the edge of the watercourse, the birds be-
gan to come down in companies, battalions, bri-
gades. Geese seemed to be most numerous. A
at different heights and ranges; in a word, the
shooting on that swamp was all that a good
sportsman might imagine in his rosiest day-
dreams.
The acting-cook prepared our barramundi for
high supper that Sunday evening. We three white
men mealed heartily off the finny section of the
day's bag. The balance went to the blacks. I
noticed that Topsy dressed for dinner — that is to
say, she changed her dungaree trousers to a print
skirt. We kept up some style out on the fron-
tiers of the world that memorable Sabbath
night.
About midnight I was awakened by a douche of
cold water on my face. It was raining. After
the calico top of my mosquito net had gathered
all it could hold, I must have turned — and emptied
the contents over myself. I could hear the rain
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
beating heavily on to the warm earth. Mac. was
swearing at the blackfellow for something he had
neglected to do. So I scuttled out with my rug
and spent the rest of the night in an old cane
lounge on Lawrie's verandah. The anopheles
stood on their heads and punctured me as I slept.
It was evident that the rainy season had com-
menced, although the morning came blue and
clear. The sun soon dried our nets and blankets.
We decided to get on towards Darwin and make
a safe and early camp.
So we turned our backs on the Adelaide, rich
■ and fertile, destined some day, no doubt, to be a
site of settlement and industry. Its productive-
ness is beyond question. This river valley is large
enough to support a great population. Under
proper treatment it should be as profitable as any
agricultural area in Australia.
A long pull through theforest brought us again
to the creek where we had rested for lunch. We
spelled and watered our horses, boiled tea,
gnawed some tough Torres Straits pigeons,
grilled by Lucy the cook at the homestead that
morning, opened a tin of beef and another of
canned peas, smoked, yarned, re-harnessed, and
make a short afternoon stage to Howard Creek,
where we found Ah Choy and Binghi returning
with Lawrie's team. It was an amusing company.
The Chinaman was lean and wrinkled, the
blackfellow fat and round. He had mutton-chop
whiskers, and his round face wore a chronic grin.
We stretched a tent-fly over our nets to avoid a
repetition of the previous night's experience, hung
up our water-bag, arranged our saddles and har-
ness neatly, and covered the provisions, ammuni-
tion, and photographic stuff with oilcloth.
After he had belled the horses and let them go
for the night, the fat blackfellow amused himself
trying to spear fish in the creek.
I presented our Tommy with a swamp pheasant
which I had just shot. He put it on the coals of
the camp fire to roast for his dinner. It came off
very black, but Tommy seemed to enjoy it.
We were out of bread, so Ah Choy obligingly
made us some "Johnny cakes." One learns not
to be too particular in the Territory. After the
usual preparation he spread the coals carefully
and laid the round discs of dough — mixed and
kneaded on a bag — on top. We scraped the char-
coal and ashes from them ourselves when they
were cooked.
That was my last camp in the Territory. I
felt as we sat round the fire, an incongruous com-
pany, that such pictures of reality as we made,
though common enough in the Bush to-day, will
soon fade from the screen on which so much typi-
cal of pioneer life has been cast by the cinemato-
graph of Time. Our camp reproduced in some
measure the early days of Southern Australia,
slightly modified by modern conditions. It repre-
sented the actual life of the North in 1912.
Through the darkness that had crept over this un-
tenanted land, red fires, such as ours, were twink-
ling— with lonesome distances between them.
Companies such as ours were squatted on the
ground before these solitary fires: little companies
made up of a white man, or maybe two, and
aboriginals or chance Asiatics. "Fhey smoked
pipes and talked, or watched the coals reflec-
tively.
Behind them were the shadowy outlines of trees
■ — -eucalypts, and palms, or a background of salt-
bush, or the naked plain.
From every point of the compass came the
whispers of northern Night; but there was no
distant echo of crowds, no hum of cities, no
pale reflections from the lights of towns. East-
ward stretched Arnhem Land, as innocent of
white men as in those quiet days — seventeenth-
century days — when lumbering hulls of Holland
cautiously felt their way along its coasts. Thou-
sands of square miles out there had never yet
been trodden by a white man's foot.
Southward spread other unknown lands, which
no white man has entered.
Everywhere, like an expectant hostess with
banquet spread, the Territory awaited the coming
of her guests. Looking into that last camp fire,
while the Chinaman and the blackfellows talked
quietly together, while the owls hooted and wild
dogs howled, I heard in fancy a hymn of the
Future, rising from low vibrant nature notes to
chords reverberant with human endeavor. I
heard the whistle of the Trans-continental Ex-
press and saw her headlights boring dark gaps in
the MacDonnell Ranges. I heard the rumble of
freight trains laden with fat sheep and wool going
down from Barkly Tablelands towards the Mac-
Arthur. I heard the Victoria Downs through
passenger train, the Roper River Mail, the mixed
train from the Mary, the Arnhem Land Express.
I heard the screws of fast coastal steamers
churning the waters of Gulfs Van Diemen and
Carpentaria, and the explosions of auxiliary en-
gines of lesser craft, exploiting the little rivers on
a shallow draught.
I heard the chug-chug of rollers in mammoth
sugar mills, the buzzing of cotton jinnys, the thud-
ding of presses in tobacco factories, the clinking
of harvesters in ripened rice fields, the buzzing of
shears in machine sheds, the hissing of refrigera-
tors, the thousand homely sounds of human pro-
gress.
ON THE ADELAIDE
571
Repairing the Waggonette at Lawrle's
I saw, in imagination, the young cities of
Darwin, Daly, Victoria, Adelaide, Roper, Arn-
hem, MacArthur, Katherine, Anthony, Barkly,
Arltunga, MacDonnell — beautified by leafy
avenues, fountains, and glorious gardens, electric
lit and alive with enterprise — these and a hundred
more covering sites yet unnamed. I saw, in fine,
a splendid young State come to her own; another
star added to the flag of the Commonwealth. I
heard the voices of her representatives in the
Federal Houses at Canberra; I saw steel muzzles
of cannon in her forts pointing seaward; I heard
the wireless keeping watch by night and day along
her summer seas; I heard scouting aeroplanes
coming home to their military hangars; I heard
the tramp of young Australian feet at drill. And,
as the light of the camp fire slowly died, I lifted
my eyes to the tropic stars, glittering like bayonet-
points above me, and prayed the God of Nations
and of Battles that my vision might be true; that
this Northern State-to-be might put her young
feet upon the paths of Destiny, as her Southern
Sisters had providentially done — in peace
The Pine Creek to Darwin train was due at
the 20-Mile about two o'clock. Despite a broken
swingle-bar we got there before noon. Mac. and
I had our last "billy" of black tea together. He
left me and drove off through the forest towards
Darwin. I sat in the little galvanized-iron shed,
which was all the railway station, and did some
hard thinking over Territory matters.
_ Characters on the galvanized iron indicated
that the shed had been erected by Chinese carpen-
ters. At one time there were 10,000 Chinamen
in the Territory. The continuation of the line
will be by white labor. Already it is on the road
to the Katherine.
One hopes that fibrous cement, which is only a
shade dearer than galvanized iron, will be used in
the station buildings. The heat under that shed,
although it was still early in October, was far
from comfortable. There was a sign down the
railway track, "Look out for Trains." With two
trains a week to look out for, the infrequent popu-
lation are fairly free from accidents.
I had the railway line and the three wires of
the Overland Telegraph for company. It had
rained again in the night, and the air was heavy
and drowsy. There was a billy of tea beside me,
some biscuits and cheese, an oil-cloth swag, a can-
vas swag, cartridge bag, camera, rifle, and a
bundle of spears; so if anything happened to the
train I could last out.
There was a truck of buffalo hides waiting on
the side track, so I guessed it hadn't gone through
ahead of time. One heard so many curious stories
about the Pine Creek railway. The Bush around
me was utterly barren of human presence; but it
was civilization compared to the Bush that lay
beyond.
Down there only 20 miles was Darwin, with
500 people; and over there, another 20 or
30 miles, was Lawrie's homestead on the
Adelaide.
My thoughts went back to the Adelaide, to that
white-headed old man of 65 and his primitive
entourage. One would travel eastward from that
three-roomed galvanized outpost of liuropean
civilization right across the Territory to Cape
Arnheim — four hundred miles as the crow flies —
and not meet another house. Lawrie himself re-
presented a pioneering type which was common
enough in the southern parts of Australia in our
grandfathers' times. His life was made up of
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
elemental things; he had no need for white table
cloths to cover the wooden table whereon his
native servitors set out his meal of curried buffalo
and home-baked bread or damper, tea with goats'
milk and brown sugar for sweetening. Like many
another successful Australian, he had gone out on
to the very edge of things and taken the risks. He
knew the ways of natives. His black boys held
him in considerable fear, if not respect. He had
seen rubber and coffee fail from causes with which
the Territory and its climate had nothing to do;
but he had made cattle pay, because he was hard
of limb, sound of head, and knew how to take
advantage of chances a good country gave him.
For these reasons he deserved respect. At 65
years of age, after spending over 40 years in the
Northern Territory, he was a robust, active,
healthy old man. He rose before the stars had
left the sky, hurled himself like an athlete under
his terrific shower bath, and dressed to a loud
accompaniment of orders shouted to his staff. His
patriarchal day began amid a rattle of horses,
goats, cats, dogs, and natives generally, and in-
cluded a wild ride after cattle, or a still wilder
chase after buffalo, with cutting out, yarding,
branding, shooting and skinning as accompanying
episodes of either pursuit.
In sooth, the saddles and pack saddles on their
racks under his verandah were never left there
for ornament; nor were the Martini carbines,
the belts of cartridges, skinning outfit of knives
and steel in a leather roll, hung upon the walls of
the adjoining room, kept for mere effect. The
hides, pegged out on the ground at the back, the
buffalo meat in the cask, and the pile of horns, dis-
proved that.
If the buffaloes spoiled the water for his stock
in dry seasons by wallowing in the waterholes —
nothing will drink after them — at least they con-
tributed hides to his revenue, worth a pound each,
and meat to the larder of his retinue.
If on his out-stations wild blacks had sometimes
speared his cattle, the more civilized tribesmen
had entered his service.
So in what moments of rest he permitted him-
self, this remarkable old Territorian, overlord of
nearly 7,000 square miles of Australia, might lie
on his cane lounge and justly congratulate himself
on his achievement.
He was an actual proof that white men can
live and may prevail in the farthest North; that
men who have the pluck to get out on the Edge of
Things must win out.
What men like "Old Bill" Lawrie can do in
Northern Australia, young men who have
strength in their limbs and courage in their hearts
can do under the constantly-improving conditions
that obtain in the Northern Territory to-day.
Let the man who reads this remember that
eastward from Lawrie's to the coast, four hun-
dred miles, there is not another homestead yet.
All that unoccupied demesne — including the whole
plateau of Arnhem Land, 1,000 feet and less
in height — is well watered, traversed by good
rivers, and undoubtedly holds virgin riches to be
won. Much of it remains to be explored; all
of it is waiting to be conquered. This much is
known, that there are splendid agricultural lands
on the South Alligator, the East. Alligator, and
the Goyder; that mineralized areas exist toward
the heads of the Liverpool and Blythe Rivers —
whose courses are not yet completely mapped.
Here is an open chance for the adventurous
spirits of Europe, America, Australia. The maps
of the world are every day being filled; the map
of the Territory, from Lawrie's to the Gulf of
Carpentaria, is still largely open spaces and dot-
ted lines.
Even the coast, from the Queensland border
to Melville Island, is yet imperfectly known and
marked. Van Alphen River, Abel Tasman River,
who knows anything of these? Or of the coast
from Sandy Head to Port MacArthur, where it
is proposed to establish freezing works some day.
The MacArthur is good pastoral country.
Between Borroloola, the MacArthur, and the
Limmen River one hears that there is an excel-
lent belt of alluvial soils, for a distance of over
a hundred miles. The Limmen, and its tribu-
tary the Wickham, with their affluents, are said
to water good, well-grassed pastoral lands, where
cattle have done splendidly.
The MacArthur Country begins with man-
grove flats, five or ten miles wide, along the
coast. These are followed by an alluvial belt,
particularly pronounced along the rivers. Then,
at an average of 25 miles, a sandstone tableland
occurs, which gives place to a geological dip
into limestone and surface plains which rise
gradually towards Barkly Tableland.
The MacArthur itself is navigable for vessels,
of light draught only, for 40 or 50 miles, but an
excellent harbor could be established at its mouth,
which would be an outlet for a productive in-
land region, spreading as far back as the overland
telegraph line.
The coastal belt is suitable for tropical agri-
culture. The tablelands, well-grassed, well-wat-
ered, which begin about 60 miles inland from Bor-
roloola, are stated to be admirably adapted for
sheep.
Off Port MacArthur lie the Sir Edward Pellew
Group of islands; blessed by constant rainfall and
greened with much vegetation. On Vanderlin
Island, the most easterly of the group, there are
good landing and deep water. Cocoanuts are
growing there, and Centre Island, in the heart of
the group, is covered with tamarind trees, grow
i
ON THE ADELAIDE
J /J
'Like the Patriarchs of Old"
ing from seeds dropped by Malay trepang fishers
for hundreds of years. VanderUn Island is
20 miles in length, and is lOO square miles in
area. Groote Eylandt, eighty miles or so to the
northward, occupies about 950 square miles. It
has a light sandy soil, full of decayed vegetable
matter, and is sparsely timbered. Groote Ey-
landt is well watered, and has a copious rainfall.
It is described as an ideal place for cotton-grow-
ing.
Between the Limmen and the Roper — 40 miles
— is a strip of saline plain, said to be of no par-
ticular value.
The Roper is a splendid stream, navigable for
90 miles for vessels of light draught. It rises
in a country of undulating downs, covered with
black soil, and, like the Daly and Adelaide, will
be one of the Territory's richest assets. The
Hodgson, Elsey, and Wilton Rivers are impor-
tant feeders. Approaching the Roper Bar, tra-
velling east, is that weird range described by Dr.
Woolnough : —
"From Mt. McMinn to Hell's Gate, a
distance of about 13 miles, the track runs across
alluvial flats all the way. Hell's Gate is a
most extraordinary feature. There is a sharp-
ly defined escarpment consisting of red sand-
stones and shales like those of Mt. McMinn.
They are, however, weathered most remark-
ably into forms exactly like those shown in
pictures of the 'Bad Lands' of Nebraska. The
pass through the range is a narrow gorge, with-
in which rise on every hand turrets and spires
of blood-red sandstone, quite precipitous in
character and so closely set that a vehicle is
forced to wind hither and thither to find a
way through. These towers vary in height
from 20 feet up to 150 feet, and the horizontal
stratification of the rocks composing them adds
to the quaintness of their outlines. The whole
gorge, with its contents of fantastic shapes, is
enclosed by battlements of similar red sand-
stone rising to a height of at least 150 feet,
and giving the whole place a most sinister ap-
pearance, which well justifies the Dantesque
name applied to it by the pioneers. The pass
opens out on to the summit of a small plateau,
but this is soon passed over, and the descent
of its eastern edge is begun."
The Roper originates as a perennial stream
at Bitter Springs. It is fed by many springs,
which, hot and cold, are numerous in the
Territory. Deep and wide, its banks covered
by a dense growth of pandanus, it can, at a com-
paratively little engineering expense, be converted
into a great inland waterway for vessels of
draught. Some of its deepwater reaches are
forty miles in length. To the Roper River
lands the advantage of a hundred miles
of water carriage through the heart of their
tropical richness cannot be estimated. The
gardens of the few white people who represent
European settlement on the Roper are a living
testimony to the productivity of the soils. It is
believed that Irrigation can be installed on the
Roper at comparatively moderate costs.
The Elsey holds large areas of alluvial. From
Port Roper to Blue Mud Bay there are rivers
and supposed rivers, with patches of cypress pine
and alluvial, but of this stretch very little is
known.
574
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Off Cape Barrow, among the nest of islands
which are scattered along these coastal seas, there
are trepang and pearling grounds, of which the
Japanese and Malays have the best knowledge.
In the northern bight of Blue Mud Bay there
is reported to be good anchorage, although these
waters have not been properly surveyed. Tre-
pang and turtle are plentiful in Caledon Bay, and
in Melville, Arnhem, and Buckingham Bays also.
Between Caledon Bay and Cape Arnhem there
is an unnamed bay with good anchorage in three
to four fathoms. The Caledon Bay Prospecting
Company, who examined this country in 191 1,
reported : —
"We would particularly mention as suitable
for cultivation the lands to the north of the
Walker River, and probably along the Koola-
tong River, while the areas of swamp country
through which the party travelled after leaving
the Wyonga River to Caledon Bay should
make excellent farming country. These lands
are mostly covered by a deep black loam, and
are abundantly watered, fresh water extending
right to the shores of Caledon Bay, which is
quite easy of access from the back country;
much of the lands from Caledon Bay back
West to the Goyder River could be farmed,
i.e., lands South of the Divide, but their posi-
tion would for the present leave them useless
for all practical purposes. Along the swampy
valley of the Goyder River the whole of the
lands comprised in an area of about 900 square
miles is splendid plantation and agricultural
country, probably no better existing in Aus-
tralia.
"In the matter of pastoral country, after
leaving the Wilton River and going East, with
the exception of a narrow strip of diorite
country extending from Diorite Creek to the
Rose River, we practically did not again touch
upon what could be termed good pastoral lands
until we were within twenty miles of the head
of the Goyder River. We passed through
much land that might be classed as inferior,
but certainly not good, from the head of the
Goyder and back West for some "forty miles.
Taking in the Wilton and the site of the old
Bulman Station, and continuing down the Wil-
ton River to its junction with the Roper River,
the country is undoubtedly deserving of much
attention in pastoral interests."
The Government has established a sheep station
at Mataranka at the head-waters of the Roper
River. The land which is being utilised for this
purpose was formerly held under lease by Messrs.
Lawrie and Co., who agreed to surrender the
lease for the purpose of establishing the station
where tests could be carried out regarding the
possibilities for successful sheep raising. The
area is well watered by the Roper River, the Elsey
Creek and various billabongs more or less per-
manent.
Two thousand ewes and forty-five rams were
purchased on the Queensland border, and after
an overlanding journey which occupied 8 months,
arrived at the station with about 10 per cent, of
loss.
Beyond two small home paddocks no general
fencing was undertaken until it was ascertained
that there was no herbage on the station dele-
terious to the sheep. A dingo-proof fence was
then erected enclosing an area of about 10,000
acres.
Pending the completion of the fencing the
flock had to be shepherded by day and penned by
night. Naturally under these conditions neither
the animals or the wool benefited. Since the
fencing was completed, and the sheep have had
their liberty, a great improvement has been
noticed both in the animals and the fleeces.
A Northern Territory Bushman
ON THE ADELAIDE
575
Spring near MacArthur River
^^Ltl
Wessels Islands are described as poor and
sandy, but the English Company Islands — -so
called by Flinders — are said to be good. They
have a height of about 300 feet, with deep water
around them; although between 11 deg. and 12
deg. North, they possess an equable climate, being
constantly swept by sea breezes. The coastline
between here and Goulburn Islands is incom-
pletely charted, and rarely visited by Europeans.
The Goulburn Islands are well-watered and
fertile.
On South Goulburn- — 30 square miles in area —
there is a beautiful lake, covered with water-
lilies and fringed with corkscrew palms. About
4 or 5 thousand acres have been declared suitable
by the late Mr. Nicholas Holtze (who visited
the Group in 191 1) for indiarubber, sisal hemp,
cocoanuts, or cotton. Sea Island cotton of good
uality he discovered growing wild.
Good pearling grounds probably exist off this
island. North Goulburn, 14 square miles, holds
"nice loamy soil, well adapted for Para rubber,
cocoanuts, or upland rice." Both these islands
also contain grass lands suitable for stock. On
Grant Island there are 3 to 4 thousand acres
suitable for cocoanuts and sisal hemp. Croker
Island, area 126 miles, is further to the west-
ward. It lies just off Coburg Peninsula — where
the remains of the English settlement of Port
Essington are still to be seen — and contains a
large area of land very suitable for agricultural
purposes. Mr. Holtze estimated that there was
an area of at least 10,000 acres of first-class land
in one part of Croker Island, "without a stick or
a stone on it, which, with partial drainage, would
be admirably suited for Para rubber, sugar cane,
maize, or upland rice."
On Coburg Peninsula are herds of wild Timor
ponies, wild pigs, wild cattle, and buffaloes.
Melville Island, facing the mouth of the Ade-
laide, has an area of 2,400 square miles. It sub
sists large herds of buffalo, and may therefore be
accepted as pasture land of good quality. It is
composed of alternate forest, swamp, plain, and
jungle. The soil of the latter is a light sandy
loam, in which tobacco, cocoanuts, rice, and cot-
ton would thrive. Melville and Bathurst Islands
adjoining it are both well watered, and have a
high rainfall.
Dr. Jensen, who has recently examined por-
tions of the Coast and coastal islands between
Darwin and the MacArthur, summarizes his
conclusions as follows: —
"Many parts of this great uninhabited area
are ideal for coconut plantations and cotton,
while tropical fruits would thrive. The cheap
productions of Asiatic countries will, of course.
576
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
not succeed here until either the natives can
be taught plantation work, or the place of
labour can be taken by machinery. The sandy
coastal soils are not really poor, for dead coral
and shell material exists in them in some abun-
dance. During most of the year (at least seven
or eight months) the ground water is deep,
hence either deeply-rooting crops or drought-
resisting crops must be grown. The capil-
larity of the soil is, however, excellent, and no
dense clay sub-soil comes in to interfere with
capillarity and drainage in these coastal areas
of recent elevation.
The following crops should be capable of
thriving in these regions : —
( 1 ) Perennial, without irrigation, every-
where.— Cocoanut, cotton, pine-
apple, guava.
(2) In damp places along rivers and bil-
labongs (flooded country). — Pas-
sion fruit, bananas, guavas, limes,
oranges, lemons, pommelos.
(3) Irrigated in dry season. — Rice, lu-
cerne (in places), wheat (in
places), melons, sweet potatoes,
yams, pumpkins, and other vege-
tables.
(4) In wet season, same as above (3).
(5) Dry farming for dry season growth,
wheats.
The character of the permo-carboniferous
country is not such as to enable one to build
up hopes of its successful utilization in agri-
culture or grazing. A few gorges or river beds
through these areas afford sufficient space for
farming operations to be carried on, but, gen-
erally speaking, the best use that these areas
can be put to is their utilization as aboriginal
reserves, since game is fairly plentiful in all
the numerous gullies that intersect them.
Much of the flat country covered by the
Palasozoic behind the north-west coast would
be good grazing country. The English Com-
pany's Island and Cape Wilberforce are quite
useless for agricultural purposes; Groote Ey-
landt has the appearance of containing much
valuable farming and grazing land.
It should also be remarked that the coastal
stretch from Mount Saunders to Port Brad-
shaw has the appearance of containing a con-
siderable stretch of rich agricultural and pas-
toral country."
This pronouncement is included in a Geological
Report, issued as Bulletin No. 10, by the De-
partment of Home and Territories.
The Rev. Tenison Woods, who in his lifetime
made very few mispronouncements, has left this
as a heritage of hope: —
"I can confidently assert that the Northern
Territory is exceptionally rich In minerals, only
a small portion of which has been made known
to the public. I do not believe that the same
quantity of minerals, veins of gold, silver, tin,
copper, and lead will be found In any equal
area in Australia. In fact, I doubt if many
provinces will be found in any country so singu-
larly and exceptionally favored as Arnheni
Land in respect to mineral riches. The penin-
sula of Arnhem Land will eventually become
one of the greatest mining centres of Austra-
lia."
If the prophecy of this renowned and reli-
able scientist Is fulfilled, then, the 400-mIle stretch
of mostly-unmapped territory, which constitutes
William Lawrie's backyard, must ultimately come
into its own.
With consolations like these to comfort my
mind, I filled In that long wait for the Darwin
train.
Edible Turtle
A Hundred Miles up the Boper River
INLAND DISTRICTS.
LEAVING the coastal belts, one enters a
drier and healthier climate. Our present
maps of the Northern Territory show that
pastoral occupation inland, so far, is concentrat-
ed on three great belts — one in the north-west,
known as the Victoria River Country; one to
the east, described generally as the Barkly
Tableland; the third, centrally located in the
south, and extending through the MacDonnell
Ranges, down to the South Australian border.
These, with a few large leases and permits
along the Overland Telegraph Line, make pretty
well all the marks of occupation on our maps in
the year 19 17. Nor can the term occupation
applied to these, be accepted in the sense in which
it is used in regard to other parts of the world;
or even in respect to the more settled districts
of the Commonwealth.
The building of the Overland Railway from
Oodnadatta to Pine Creek must bring a large
part of Australia into the realms of practical
value. Although I have not personally been fur-
ther south than the Katherine, or further north
than Hergott Springs, on this route, I am bound
to deduce from reliable evidence at hand that
there is an enormous amount of good and useful
country along this 1,063 miles, which will be
crossed by the proposed line, or may be made
accessible from it.
When, at Pine Creek, I saw the horses of the
Geodetic Survey Party turned out after crossing
the Continent north and south. They were in
better condition than my own horses have some-
times been at the conclusion of a comparatively
short coast journey in the south.
Mr. Kidson, the chief of this party, was a fel-
low passenger later on, from Darwin to
Brisbane. I spread a map of the Territory, on
which I had been making some notes, before him
in the saloon of the Taiyuan, one afternoon, and
marked down his descriptions and opinions of
country he had crossed over.
This map is before me now. I judge that
the opinion of Mr. Kidson — who has been en-
trusted by the Carnegie Institute with the Geo-
detic Survey of Australia — is quite as reliable as
that of some chance traveller; especially as it is
577
578
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
supported by evidence collected from all sources
worthy of any attention.
I will take the notes from the map just as they
come, and the reader will understand that therein
he has the condensed description of 1,063 m'les
across this Continent.
We begin at Charlotte Waters near the South
Australian border. Mr. Kidson's scientific eye
discovered this to be stony tableland, falling into
lands covered with succulent, good Mitchell grass
— pastoral country.
ling through already established pastoral districts,
which are taking us into the once-alleged "Dead
Heart of Australia." These stations send the
finest fat cattle to Adelaide markets.
At Alice Springs (2,500 feet) it is '"all good
Mitchell grass, silver grass, and rich herbage."
We are now in the MacDonnell Ranges, said
to be the ideal climate of all Australia. An ele-
vation of 3,000 to 4,000 feet ensures cool nights.
In winter ice and frosts are frequent. The late
Oodnadatta Railway
It must be kept in mind that the lowest rain-
fall is in the extreme south, and that it is a gradu-
ally increasing quantity as we go northward.
The Dalhousie thermal springs indicate that
artesian waters will be obtainable all along here.
Following up the F'inke River for thirty miles
or so, we enter mulga and mallee scrub, covering
rich plains subject to floods — where water can be
procured at shallow depths through dry seasons.
Beyond this is marked "good country," until we
arrive in the neighborhood of the 25th parallel;
where, for a time, it becomes poor. Hereabouts
the prevailing vegetation is desert oak and spini-
fex. Half a degree further north we are again
in good country, covered with saltbush and cotton
bush.
The stations of Hayes Bros, formerly held by
the Willowrie Land and Pastoral Association
Limited run along the 24th parallel. Here we
find very good plains, and patches of green
grasses, even in dry time.
Bear in mind that we are all this time travel-
James Tyson, the most successful stockowner of
the last generation, pronounced the MacDonnell
the best in Australia for horse-breeding.
From Alice Springs men report having travel-
led east and north-east for 150 miles through the
most succulent herbage up to their horses's knees.
All the MacDonnell is suitable for sheep,
cattle, and particularly horses.
In fact, the whole distance from Oodnadatta
to the Katherine has been defined by competent ■
authority as good for cattle and horses.
The southern wall of the MacDonnell Ranges
rises from the plains like a rampart 1,000
feet high. At intervals of a few miles there are (
fissures through this wall, from which a water-
course emerges. The Hale River flows through
the largest of these fissures, which is only 10
or 15 yards wide in places, with walls rising 500
feet or more. This narrow moat in the moun-
tains has a length of five miles. It sometimes
opens out to a width of two chains, is absolutely
J
INLAND DISTRICTS
579
Horses in the Northern Territory
impassable for camels, and contains permanent
waters on which the sun rarely shines.
The Ranges, which run east and west for
400 miles, are about sixty miles wide. They extend
across the Territory in one direction almost to the
West Australian border. The highest points
average 3,000 to 4,000 feet above sea level.
Mount Heughlin is 4,756 feet high. They are
largely auriferous, and include the Arltunga
Goldfields — about 45 miles from the Overland
Telegraph. Coal has been discovered in the
valley of the Hale River.
After crossing these ranges the traveller enters
the great Inland Plateau, on which he remains
in his travels northward until he reaches the
coast ranges, over 800 miles away. The annual
rainfall at Alice Springs is 1 1 inches, which, as
we have said, increases all the way north. They
have had 4,000 sheep at Alice Springs for the
use of telegraph officers, and they are reported to
do well. Peaches and apricots thrive there.
After the monsoonal rains, seeding grasses cover
the earth. At these telegraph stations fresh vege-
tables are grown, and record pumpkins and to-
matoes have been raised. There is no question
about the fertility of the inland soil.
Resuming our journey, we pass on towards
Anthony's Well. The Mueller and Sandover
Rivers take their rise here, to flow some hundreds
of miles into the interior and disappear.
Cattle in the Northern Territory
58o
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
At the 23rd parallel we are in splendid coun-
try. From there to Barrow's Creek Telegraph
Station, elevation 1,724 feet, It is all good —
buck bush and salt bush, which the bushman
avows is a sign of rich soil anywhere.
Murray Downs Station, parallel 21, is very
good, but there is some poor country a few miles
wide between Barrow's Creek and this point.
good pastoral country is shown within a few miles
of the Western Australian Border midway be-
tween parallels 20 and 21. This splendidly
grassed section occupies about 500 square miles.
All that lies between the explorer's out and in
trails is marked "Terra Incognita."
The Davidson Expedition endured some dry
and lonely times; but the worst accident that be-
A "Heart of Australia" Station Homestead
We have now crossed three hundred miles of
the Territory, with only two small patches mark-
ed "poor."
North of Murray Downs we enter the Daven-
port and the Murchison Ranges, described as
"patchy." The map plotted by C. Warnecke
from Mr. Allan Davidson's explorations, 1898
to 1 90 1, includes the Davenport, Musgrave, and
MacDouall Ranges. It covers a wide district,
extending from the Overland Telegraph Line
some miles to the West Australian borderline.
Gardner's Ranges, along this borderland, and the
lands below Tanami to the 21st parallel, are well
marked. The course of the journey out lay due
west along the 20th parallel from Kelly's Well
on the Telegraph Line, for over 120 miles. It
then takes north-west to the 19th parallel, and
runs that down to the border.
The journey back was from Tanami, south and
east, to Barrow Creek Telegraph Station. Very
fell it was the washing out of a camp and destruc-
tion of stores by heavy rains, in February '98!
I'ollowing this terrific downpour, all Central Aus-
tralia seemed filled with the croaking of millions
of frogs, the waterholes became stocked with fish,
and game was plentiful.
At Elkedra Creek the party camped at what
had been a large waterhole, but then contained
only a foot or two of water and many fish. The
weather was intensely cold, frost being frequent.
This seemed to paralyze the fish, which would be
found floating around helpless in the mornings.
The larger ones, weighing up to three-quarters
of a pound, were picked out as required and fried
for breakfast. When the sun rose and the water,
warmed, the remaining fish revived.
Mr. Davidson describes much of the countr
he traversed as indirectly proved to be deserti
or of no value from a mineral point of viewf
The greater part of it will doubtless become use4
581
582
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
ful for pastoral purposes. The establishment of
permanent water supplies will be essential. Judg-
ing by Mr. Davidson's own observations in the
Murchison, there is a great probability that the
artesian formation of Western Queensland enters
into this part of Central Australia. We will have
to revise our impressions of the heart of Aus-
tralia. Heavy rains and frosts are not features
of deserts.
The Frew River has its beginning at Murray
Downs. Before reaching the Frew, Mr. D. J.
Gordon — a journalist in whose judgment one can
place confidence — found, 1,300 miles from Ade-
laide and in the very heart of the Australian Con-
tinent, a valley along the Spence Creek which he
"had seen nothing to equal."
Mr. Gordon, representing the South Austra-
lian Register, entered the Frew region in 1891
from Barrow Creek — the limit of his journey
northward.
His description of the lands he traversed is
sufficient to show what pessimistic delusions have
haunted the people's minds concerning Central
Australia.
"On either bank of the Spence," says Mr.
Gordon, "grow large trees, confusing in their
very variety, luxuriant grasses, wild flowers,
and delicate ferns. Large snow-white lilies
grow to the water's edge, while the screeching
cockatoos and beautifully plumaged birds that
fly overhead all tell us we have come into a
new country. On our right, about a quarter
of a mile away, running parallel with the creek,
is a high range of hills rising abruptly and over-
looking the valley, with white lime-trees and
vegetation growing to the very tops, and
flowering creepers overspreading the rocks.
The sky, sun, air, and eloquent waters, inspir-
ing mountain-tops, the murmuring and glossy
woods, are all evidence that here is this val-
ley Nature deals with a bountiful hand. . . .
Here the Frew commences, the water trickling
down the side of a high rocky hill, and start-
ing off in a little stream until, assisted by some
tributaries, it broadens out, and within a few
miles of its rise flows with some force. We
camp in a narrow gorge, through which the
river runs, and where there is a huge rockhole
of great depth. We rode for 35 miles along
the Frew, which at the time of our visit was
running. Altogether, the country is the best
watered and the finest we have yet seen. At
places the Frew is almost wide enough and
deep enough to be navigable. Where the Frew
Head Station is situated the river widens out,
and there are several splendid sheets of water.
It is evident, from the vegetation, that the
Frew country has a good rainfall, and as the
river contains a variety of fish, some of them
being several pounds in weight, it is pretty good
evidence that protracted droughts are un-
known. Some of the station hands have caught
sufficient fish in the waterhole — Tootoowa, as
the natives call it — close by the station, in two
hours, to last all hands, for a week. Birds are
very numerous on the Frew. Twenty-five miles
below the station we saw a sight to delight in
— a moonlit lake some two miles long; on
either bank the typical Australian gumtrees
towering above the water in majestic splendour,
making with their evening shadows a picture
full of the sublime and beautiful. The natives
have christened the place with a pretty name
— Arralooloola. Nature's gifts are -plentiful
here, and we saw wild ducks, pigeons, emus,
and kangaroos, and no doubt in the water are
fish in abundance. The valley of the Frew be-
low the station opens out, the ranges leaving
the river at one place almost at right angles,
only to return again, however, later on. The
grass and foliage, rich and luxuriant, are made
green with the running of rivers and gracious
with temperate air. We journeyed west and
north-west over several unnamed ranges to-
wards Tennant Creek, passing a large fresh-
water swamp, alive with wood-duck, until we
struck a creek called The Whistle Duck, owing
to it being a rendezvous for the whistling duck.
When out here we came across several good
patches of healthy saltbush, the finding of
which set at rest any doubts as to whether the
country is suitable for pastoral purposes.
There are some very fine waterholes on the
Elkedra, providing a plentiful supply of water,
and the valley is almost as rich in herbage as
that of the Frew. In our various journeyings
over the Frew country we noticed the follow-
ing trees : — Gum, bean, corkwood, paper-tree,
tea-tree, gidyea, bloodwood, beefwood, iron-
bark, lancewood, and emu and apple tea-tree.
There were several others that wc were un-
able to class. Then as to grasses and herbage,
we saw Mitchell grass, silver grass, kangaroo
grass, blue grass, mulga grass, and harpoon
grass that grows downward in the shape of a
harpoon. Then there is saltbush, bluebush
(much the same as the Queensland bluebush),
Queensland barley grass, herbage, and various
kinds of creepers and runners. There was one
fine specimen of grass, very much like an oat
stalk, that our horses took a great fancy to.
Then we noticed also various native fruit trees,
such as the currant-bush, native orange and
pear trees, plum, yam, and quinine bushes. ij
Birds are numerous. There is, of course, the
crow and magpie; where can you go in Aus-
tralia and not find them? Among the cocka-
INLAND DISTRICTS
583
Chambers' Pillar, Central Australia
toos there are the Major Mitchell, galah,
black, pink, and white. Among others, there
are the magpie, lark, bowerbird, parrots of a
dozen varieties, ringnecks, bliiebonnets, and
galahs, kingfishers, doves, pheasants (small
birds with lovely fantails), hawks, (eagle,
brown, and kite hawks), rock pigeons, with
pretty little topnots and very tame, slate-
coloured pigeons, bronzewing, and flock
pigef)n, robin redbreasts, skylarks, mutton
birds, the minah, Derwent jackass, morepoke,
bellbird, lyrebird, blackbird, and curlews. The
woods are full of these and other kinds of
birds. The sportsman would be able to find
plenty of game in this country to the east of
Barrow Creek. There is, of course, the kan-
garoo and emu, the latter being unusually large
in these parts, wild turkeys, ducks (the whistle,
black, teal, diver, and woodduck), wallabies,
wild dogs, euros, paddy melons, kangaroo rats,
wideawakes, and mountain devils."
Over three hundred miles eastward in a bee-
line from this place — where wild honey is plenti-
Iful and the woods are full of doves — lies Clon-
curry, in Queensland. The Barkly Tableland rolls
Jetween. Leaving this interesting proposition
[for the moment, we will proceed Northward.
After crossing the Murchison — which is one
[of the Central Australian mineral possibilities —
[we get down to Tennant's Creek through spini-
fex and scrub; thence to Powell's Creek, through
alternate rich agricultural and pastoral lands.
Powell's Creek Telegraph Station is on the
edge of the Barkly. Tracks go east from here,
from Renner's Springs Station (30 miles South
of Powell's) to Era Downs Station and Anthony
Lagoon. The annual rainfall at Powell's Creek
is 15 inches. Renner's Springs are located in
exceedingly rich, well-grassed country. They be-
long to the peculiar type of mound springs com-
mon in Central Australia, and form a permanent
supply. Through all this little-known region,
and right across the Barkly to the head of the
MacArthur River, water is obtainable at shallow
depths, and there is evidence to show that it
can be supplied from sub-artesian sources.
F>om Powell's Creek to Newcastle Waters
all this country is marked "good." A
little to the northward the best forest on this
thousand-mile line exists. From Newcastle Wat-
ers a trail runs north-west to Victoria Downs
Station. The Waters are described as an inland
lake 100 miles in circumference. From New-
castle Waters to Daly Waters the way is across
a level plateau dotted with fairly tall scrub, in
which lancewood and ironwood prevail. After
Daly Waters, and beyond the i6th parallel, all
the land is rolling downs, with a thirty-inch rain-
fall, increasing to 40 inches at the Katherine
River; where one enters the outer edge of those
coastal conditions and climates that obtain for
584
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Pine Creek Railway
the remaining 200 miles to Darwin, and which
we have already examined.
From Powell's Creek to the Katherine, for
three hundred miles, all authorities agree that
some of the very best lands in the Territory are
to be found. All this wide region — which we
have reason to suppose stretches from the West
Australian border to the Gulf of Carpentaria —
appears to be adapted for pastoral and, partially
at least, for agricultural purposes.
That section of it contained in the Barkly
Tableland is undoubtedly among the best in Aus-
tralia. There are over 80 million acres between
these two points on the Overland Route, which
are composed of high, well-drained land, immune
from drought, enjoying a healthy climate, resem-
bling that of Western Queensland, with proved
capacities for the profitable raising of sheep and
cattle, and possibly capable of growing specially
hybridized wheats.
The reader has now travelled the unbridged
gap between Ooduadatta and Ppte Creek, and
finds none of it classed as desert. One or two
strips in the South are marked "poor." The
rest is valuable, and should all be turned to pro-
fit within a reasonable period. Within that
silent storehouse is locked a pastoral and mineral
wealth of inestimable values. The Heart of
Australia is no longer "dead." On the contrary,
it pulsates with red life. From its arteries it
will yet pour out vigor and strength through the
whole body of the Continent. Let us be done for-
ever with this foolish talk of the "Central Aus-
tralian Desert." Where the rivers supply fish
several pounds in weight; where the fresh-
water swamps are alive with game; where Mit-
chell grass and wild oats grow profusely; where
bronzewings and bellbirds call, is no desert, but
a sweet and wholesome land, awaiting only trans-
port and settlement to make it as productive as
other regions in the South and East and West of
Australia. These, condemned as "deserts" by
early ignorance, are now proved to be among
the richest in the world. Enterprise, Faith, Good
Management — these are the magic words where-
by the doors of this Treasure House will be
opened. Australia need have no fear of calling
the young blood and the strong blood of the
world to share the largesse of her boundless
acres; there will be enough for all. The "Red
Heart of Australia" will carry millions of people.
The whole Continent is good from its inmost
core to its outmost rind. The Northern Terri-
tory of Australia can no longer be looked upon,
even by the most prejudiced critics, as the Bad
Spot. It is as sound and healthy as all the rest.
In thirty years after the linking-up by trans-
American railways, the United States increased its
population from 38 to nearly 80 millions. In
thirty years from the opening of the Trans-Aus-
tralian Railways, if the people of Australia act
wisely, this Commonwealth should be the theatre
of a still greater advancement. The foundation of
Australia's exceptional wealth is her pastoral in-
dustry. Only a relatively small portion of the
Territory has yet come into pastoral occupation.
Climate and soil are such as lead to profitable re-
sults in other parts of the Commonwealth. All
that is required will be the establishment, in cer-
tain districts, of permanent supplies of water;
which are undoubtedly available as they have
proved to be in western New South Wales,
Queensland, Western and South Australia.
During the driest time that Southern Austra-
lia has known, Sidney Kidman, a man wise in
his generation, was sending out of the Territory,
week after week, mobs of prime fat cattle to
markets rendered unusually profitable by that
very dry time.
From the days when John McDouall Stuart
first saw and named Chambers Pillar — that re-
markable natural monument which* may be accept-
ed as the Centre of the Continent — to the year
1 9 14, many fallacies regarding Inland Australia
have been exploded. Some of these early mis-
conceptions have clung to the Northern Terri-
tory and helped to retard its development. But
the settler or the investor of to-day will have all
the experience of those intervening years to guide
him in his consideration of the Territory as a
field for his energies or his capital. He will dis-
card over-prejudiced or unreliable opinion, and
form his conclusions from facts.
Stuart himself, although he was the first white
man to cross Central Australia, over fifty years
ago, does not anywhere describe the country
which we have just run over on the map as desert
or unfit for occupation. On the contrary, he
records frequent watercourses, and fertile lands
splendidly grassed. Sturt Plains, the PVew, Daly
Waters, the Strangways, he speaks of in glowing
INLAND DISTRICTS
585
A Eiver of the Farthest North
i
terms. Of the Roper he says simply: "This is
the finest country I have seen in Australia." It
reminds one of the laconic entry Governor Phil-
lip made in his logbook, on entering Port Jack-
son: "I have this day discovered the finest har-
bor in the world." Phillip and Stuart each pos-
sessed the seeing eye.
Stuart gave the Chambers, the Katherine, the
jWaterhouse, the Adelaide unstinted praise. Sum-
ing it all up at Thring Creek (N.T.), on July
4th, 1862, a most memorable day in the history
of Australia, he wrote devoutly, cheerfully, and
with the direct simplicity of a great mind: —
"I can hear the wash of the sea. Stopped
the horses to clear a way whilst I advanced
a few yards on to the beach, and was delighted
to behold the water of the Indian Ocean in
Van Diemen's Gulf. Thus have I, through
the instrumentality of Divine Providence, been
led to accomplish the great object of the ex-
pedition, and take the whole party safely
through one of the finest countries man could
wish to behold; good to the coast and with a
stream of running water within half a mile
of the sea. From Newcastle Water to the sea
beach, the main body of the horses have been
only one night without water, and then got it
within the next day. // this country is settled
it will be one of the finest colonies under the
Crown, suitable for the growth of any and
everything."
This was written seven years before I was born.
The name of John MacDouall Stuart was one
of the first that, as an Australian, I learned to
revere. The judgments of middle age — ripened
by an experience of this Continent which, in all
modesty, I might claim to be exceptional — have
strengthened my respect and admiration for this
great and brave man. The country which he
praised so highly is not yet adequately settled;
but there is no reason to doubt that Stuart's per-
spective was aligned to facts. His viewpoint is
strengthened and supported by the opinions of
other reliable authorities. . . . Bachelors
of Science, who sit down at Emanuel College in
the University of Cambridge and form transcen-
dental deductions as to the future of settlement
in our Island Continent, are likely to prove false
586
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
prophets. But the experienced bushman or ex-
plorer, native-born and raised on the frontiers —
where physiographic and economic theory so
often proves worthless — rarely commits an error
of judgment in determining the value of new
country.
J. A. Giles — who crossed and examined Cen-
tral Australia in 1872-4 — sprinkles his descrip-
tions with enthusiastic phrases. He speaks of
rich chocolate loam, magnificently grassed and
lightly timbered, towards the Katherine. The
land on either side of this river he describes as
"magnificent, consisting of rich, black, loam,
chocolate, and brown clay, with lighter soils, all
splendidly grassed and timbered." He confirms
Stuart's good opinions, although his trip was un-
dertaken in a comparatively dry season, and finds
valuable lands, with grass and water, all along
the overland route from the Katherine to Char-
lotte Waters. There are a few dry stages; but
the great bulk of the Territory north to south
is rich and useful. Of the MacDonnell, from the
James Range to Barrow Creek, 250 miles, he
writes: "It is, as far as climate, water, grasses,
and herbage are concerned, admirably adapted
for sheep, cattle, and horses. The climate is
much milder than in the Northern runs of South
Australia, and the country is infinitely better
grassed."
The late Ernest Favenc, speaking ten years
later of the Barkly Downs, which he crossed
between parallels 17 and 19, classed it, outside
of certain poor patches, which are to be expected
in any area so vast, as "equal to anything in Aus-
tralia."
Favenc was among the first to point out the
natural richness of spinifex country; a value
which is now practically recognized in North-
western Australia, where spinifex chaff is regard-
ed as among the best fodders for stock. Certain
varieties of this once-derided plant — which has
always been associated in the Australian mind
with desert — are now proved to be among the
best of our native fodder plants. Mr. A. S. Cot-
ton, one of Queensland's most successful stock-
owners, and part-owner of Brunette Downs Sta-
tion, in the Barkly Tableland, says : —
"My experience is that spinifex is the best
insurance you can have against drought.
There is the porcupine spinifex, which is not
so good as the other, but it occurs only in
patches, and if a drought is on the stock will
eat it. I had a run in Queensland, near Hugh-
enden (in the 1900 drought) which was prac-
tically all spinifex ridges, and while my neigh-
bours all round me in the black soil country
were losing thousands of stock, I came through
without any loss at all."
Favenc believed the spinifex itself was value-
less, but he found in his various trips across the
Territory, that "even in what is known as the
worst spinifex desert, there are vines and grasses
that horses and cattle are always eager for and
do well on." Favenc told me more than once
that he regarded the Northern Territory as the
best part of Australia.
A. S. Cotton recently testified before the Rail-
way Commission that, in his mind, the Barkly
Tableland was the finest horse and cattle country
he had ever seen, and absolutely free from stock
diseases. The station mentioned was carrying
35,000 head of stock. He hoped that it would
one day carry 100,000 after they had developed
their water resources. They had put down six
sub-artesian bores to a depth of 200 feet, and
had not failed to get water in each case. The
supply was worth 2,000 gallons an hour per bore.
It rises to within 170 feet of the surface. Geo-
logical report shows that bores properly dis-
tributed over this tableland, and along the main
routes, will ensure safe travelling for men and
stock and convert the whole district into settle-
ment country. There are already about 65 pri-
vate bores on the Tableland, supplying the large
pastoral properties. These bores give from
20,000 gallons to 70,000 gallons a day. The
supply appears to be inexhaustible. Pumping
tests extended over 74 hours to the full capacity
of the pumps made no difference in the water
level in the bore. It is expected that under this
again a true artesian supply exists. Sub-artesian
being obtainable everywhere on the Barkly Table-
land at an average depth of 300 feet, artesian
is considered fairly certain at 2,000 feet or over.
The Tableland extends from the Queensland bor-
der, near Camooweal, in a north-westerly direc-
tion, to within 40 miles of the Overland Tele-
graph Line at Powell's Creek — a distance of 300
miles, with an average width of 100 miles. Its
elevation is 600 to 1,000 feet above sea level;
Professor Spencer says 2,000 feet. Its 20 million
acres are generally accepted as the most valuable
pastoral and probably agricultural land in the
ritory.
It is proposed as part of Federal development ,
to connect this tableland by railway with a port
at the Pellew Islands.
The problems of Its settlement do not appear
difficult. Economic power for the pumping of
sub-artesian water to the surface will have to bej
established. Shade and timber belts may require]
to be planted; cheap and quick transport installed.
After that, the development of the Barkly as aj
stock proposition (sheep, horses, and cattle)j
should be rapid and general.
INLAND DISTRICTS
587
Alfred Giles, who in 1880 had been six times
across the Continent from Adelaide to Port Dar-
win, with deviations from the telegraph line east
and west, has recorded glowing opinions of the
Red Heart of Australia. Five of those six jour-
neys he travelled with stock — sheep, horses, and
cattle.
"Rolling downs, grassy plains, rich pastoral
and agricultural lands, richly grassed slopes;
open plains of blue-black soil, capable of produc-
ing all kinds of tropical vegetation, permanent
watered by permanent rivers and springs; and
our annual tropical rainfall renders the word
'drought' as having no meaning here. We
have at times a scarcity of feed toward Sep-
tember and December, but, to counteract this,
enormous stacks of splendid bush hay could be
stored in March or April, and chaffed-up; and
who knows what agriculturists may not, ere
then, tempt the soil to produce — maize, sweet
potatoes, oats, and the Indian grain, that would
fodder the shipments of horses on their brief
Crossing the Katherine Blver
ater, abundant water, water easily obtainable
it shallow depths by sinking, springs, never-fail-
ig streams, lands all that the most exacting set-
tler could require; good timbers, limestone in un-
limited quantities, good building stone, rich black-
loil flats and valleys; open black-soil plains, with
ibundance of permanent water in billabong
:reeks" : these are the features Explorer Alfred
Giles had discovered in his journeys across the
Territory. Twenty years after, in 1902, he wrote
"My 25 or 30 years' experience in this Ter-
ritory enables me to point to vast areas of such
suitable country (for the breeding of horses),
voyage to the East? The country is capable
of doing all this, as you know — indeed, it has
been waiting the opportunity. Northern Aus-
tralia will take her place amongst the great
producing countries of the world in tropical
and semi-tropical productions, besides her im-
mense mineral resources."
As late as 19 14, full of belief, he gave similar
evidence before the Federal Royal Commission
on Territory Railways. On this occasion he tells
us, among other things, that the Roper is suited
for mixed farming. Of his own experience, he
says that cattle bred on the coast country will do
just as well as on the downs country, and that he
588
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
has never had the slightest trouble with horses
up there.
This man, whose faith has stood the test of
30 years' experience, knows that there is no "dead
heart" in Australia. He knows that the core of
the Continent, which extends from Charlotte
Waters to the Katherine, is sound and good.
Out of this mighty heart what treasures of
meat and wool are destined to be poured! By
its maternal beats what millions will yet be fed
and clothed! As Australians realize their heri-
tage, the industrial pulsations of that Red Heart,
feeble now, will grow to constant rhythmic throbs
which will send through the great transcontinen-
tal aorta floods of national life into the veins and
arteries of the whole Commonwealth.
Chas. Winnecke — explorer and surveyor,
whose name has also been written upon the maps
of Central Australia — says of the Barkly Table-
land : —
"I was able to trace the exact south-western
boundary of these magnificently-grassed downs
and plains from latitude 18 deg. 30 min. S.,
longitude 134 deg. 30 min. E., to latitude 22
deg. S., longitude 137 deg. E. and 138 deg. E.
— a distance in a north-west and south-east
Northern Territory Forest
direction of nearly 400 miles. To the north-
east of this line the country which I examined
to some distance beyond the Queensland boun-
dary (longitude 138 deg. E.) consists of open,
magnificently-grassed Mitchell grass downs and
plains, intersected by numerous large and small
watercourses, some of which, from the volume
of water that sometimes flows down their chan-
nels, have been termed rivers. Two of these
were discovered and named by me, viz., the
Playford and Buchanan Creek. These — like
the Rankine, James, and Herbert Rivers, and
Creswell, Brunette, Corella, Lome, Happy,
and other creeks — have clay channels, contain-
ing numberless large and small waterholes,
some of which have been known to last stock
several years without being replenished. Ex-
cellent facilities for large dams exist almost
everywhere in these rivers and creeks.
"The bluebush, of a few feet in height, and
the polygonum, which sometimes attains a
height of 20 feet and more, are most excellent
feed for stock. My horses, of which I had a
very large number, thrived amazingly on these
two plants. Almost without exception, the
whole of these tablelands consist of this variety
of country. The famed Mitchell grass pre-
dominates everywhere, but several other allied
grasses are found interspersed with it. This is
most noticeable near the belts of timbered
country.
"During my connection with the develop-
ment of this country near the Queensland bor-
der, I ascertained that abundance of water can
be obtained at a depth of about 200 feet below
the surface. At this depth, apparently, there
is a strong and unlimited underground flow of
water northward, on which exhaustive pump-
ing could make no diminishing impression.
"I was employed in surveying and sketching
or mapping this country for nearly 18 months,
during two summers and a wet season, and
found the climate equal to that of the temper-
ate zones further south. The temperature
ranges from 26 deg. F. in June to 120 deg. in
January. During this latter period, however,
the prevailing south-east breezes neutralise the
general effect of such a high temperature.
"Fever is an unknown ailment here; no single
instance then and since has come to my know-
ledge. The elevation of this country above]
sea-level on the western parts is about 800 feet,,]
and on the eastern portions near the Queens-
land border, latitude 22 deg., about 450 feet.j
This, I think, may account for the equable)
climate.
"In my opinion — which I expressed then^
against the general conviction, and which has
INLAND DISTRICTS
589
Horses from the MacDonnell Banges
since been verified by actual proof — this coun-
try is eminently suitable for sheep that have
thrived in higher latitudes immediately to the
westward, and on greatly inferior country,
without showing any deterioration either in the
wool or carcase after a number of years.
"The average rainfall is about 20 inches,
though this has been greatly exceeded of late
years.
"My experience of the Northern Territory
extends over 35 years. / have been astounded
at the frequent mention of desert country. My
experience is that some of the finest pastoral
country in the ivorld is found in Central Aus-
tralia. Water, principally artesian, is more
abundant than supposed. Gold is scattered all
through this vast area, one quartz range show-
ing gold for fully 36 miles. The Orabarra
Reef, in the Jervois and Tarlton Ranges, has
never been visited by any white man but my-
self. Professor Tate and experts Watt and
Achimiovitch (members of the Horn Expedi-
tion, of which I was commander) all stated that
the best indications of diamonds exist to the
west of Charlotte Waters. Coal of good qua-
lity is found in the MacDonnell and more
northern areas. It speaks for itself that more
than a fourth of the Territory is settled with
stations, mines, etc. / have no hesitation in
declaring that it will be the finest and most
remunerative country in Australia."
David Lindsay and W. H. Tietkins, both men
whose names are inscribed on the honor roll of
Australian exploration, have published optimistic
conclusions regarding the Territory. Mr. Lind-
say is the author of an enthusiastic book, entitled
"Territoria," which, as well as Mr. Simpson
Newlands' valuable collation on the North-South
Transcontinental Railway, I have found most in-
teresting and useful.
Travelling westward from the MacDonnell
Ranges, Mr. Tietkins finds "beautiful streams of
water, luxuriant pasture, grassy mulga flats
covered with luxuriant herbage; flat, well-grassed
country; delightful weather, charming surround-
ings, the evening air laden with the delicate per-
fume of many wild flowers; flowing springs, really
open country, rich in every variety of pasture;
very splendid and well-grassed country; more
bright flowers in blossom all round, their varied
hues and delicate tints presenting a brilliant and
ever-varying panorama of splendor, eclipsing all
the vetch which grows here in patches of an acre
or two; the color of its flowers, a bright carmine,
forming quite a feature of the landscape."
Judging by this it will be vain to look for that
mythical "Australian Desert" in this direction.
Descanting on Lake Amadeus and the adjacent
country, Mr. Tietkins says : —
"Within view of this Lake Amadeus are two
of the most remarkable features in Australia.
I refer to Mount Olga and Ayers Rock; but it
is a subject that baffles any power of descrip-
tion. This granite wall, with its several indents
or bays, is half a mile long, I dare say, and
right at the foot, or foundations as it were,
and in the indents, deep pools of beautifully
clear cold water will be found, upon which the
sun never shines, the granite walls rising quite
perpendicularly on either side for over 1,000
feet. Mount Olga is a few hundred feet higher
than Ayers Rock and covers a much larger
590
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
area, and, I think, quite inaccessible. The wall
on its northern side is quite as perpendicular as
that of a room, and towards the top it hangs
over: but from the foundations of this monster
there issues a stream of beautiful water that is
as permanent as the hill itself. It runs for a
few chains over a pavement of coarse pudding-
stone or conglomerate, and is then lost in the
sand."
Professor Sir Baldwin Spencer describes Ayers
Rock as "a huge dome-shaped monolith, brilliant
Venetian red in color, a mile in length and five
miles in circumference: its sides rising precipi-
tously to a height of 2,500 feet, it stands out in
lonely grandeur against the clear sky."
An Ant-HiU
The MacDonnell Ranges and the Barkly
Tableland have been proved, and are only await-
ing railway communication to increase their pre-
sent productiveness, perhaps a hundredfold. With
the establishment of transport and water supply,
it would seem that the white spaces on the map,
which stand between them, will also be filled. Our
knowledge of these spaces is not yet complete;
but, as far as it carries us, we have every reason
to believe that they will have their uses and values
like the rest. With the conservation of water in
certain places, they will at least have grazing
values equal to other parts of Australia which are
being profitably worked.
Those regions which spread across from the
overland telegraph to the West Australian border,
north of the 19th parallel, have been, for the most
part, already determined. They include the fam-
ous Victoria River and the huge cattle stations of
the Bovril Australian Estates Limited, Connor,
Doherty and Durack, Joseph Bradshaw, Copley
and Patterson, W. T. Buchanan, and others.
These holdings comprise a solid block of leases
45,000 square miles or more in area, extending
from the mouth of the Victoria, nearly as far as
Tanami goldfields in the south. Much of this
country should ultimately come in for closer set-
tlement. There is a large extent of volcanic soil
on the Victoria Downs, which has been described
as similar to that of Mt. Gambier — easily one of
the most fertile districts in Australia.
Southward from the head waters of the Vic-
toria, fine sheep country also exists.
Mr. L. A. Wells, who in 1907 completed a
trigonometrical survey of 32,000 square miles
between Pine Creek and the Western Australian
border (one-half of which he declared arable)
acquired during his two years and two months'
work much valuable information concerning this
section. His report on the "Character of Country
Adjacent to the Victoria River" appertains to an
area of 10,000 square miles of what he describes
as "splendid pastoral country, generally thinly
wooded and luxuriantly grassed with a species of
Mitchell grass, Flinders, and other rooted and
annual varieties. This area," he says, "includes
about two and a half million acres of plains, ele-
vated flats and downs, consisting of black, brown,
and red soil, a large portion of which is very rich,
being fertilized by the decomposing basaltic rocks.
The whole of the country is fairly well timbered.
About 130,000 head of cattle were then depas-
turing within the 10,000 square miles in question.
Owing to so many advantages — the numerous and
abundant natural waters, prolific grasses, and as-
sured rainfall — it is an ideal breeding country for
stock, and I doubt if there is a better cattle country
in Australia. In my opinion, about one-half of the
32,000 square miles, equal to 10,240,000 acres, is
good arable land, whilst the whole area has col-
lectively a herd of 200,000 head of great stock
depasturing thereon. A large portion of the best
country is but lightly stocked on account of the
absence of natural waters, whilst the whole of the
herd mentioned are dependent on natural sup-
plies. With increased facilities and by keeping
the stock out from the permanent supplies as long
as possible, this area would depasture 400,000
head of cattle. A considerable portion of this
area, comprising the lower end of the Victoria
River Downs run. Wave Hill run, and south-east
thereof, Invermay, Gordon Downs, and portions
of the Ord River run, is suitable for sheep-raising
on extensive lines. The Plora, Daly, and Kathe-
rine rivers are running streams all the year round,
whilst the Victoria and Wickham rivers have
beautiful reaches, several miles in length, of deep
and wide permanent waters. There are also
many other permanent supplies off the rivers."
Wm. F. Buchanan has testified regarding the
thousand or so square miles held by him on the
INLAND DISTRICTS
591
Victoria that "it is some of the best in the Terri-
tory, and the increase and health of cattle raised
there are good." As regards the expenses of
carrying on the industry, Mr. Buchanan held that
"increased population and a greater amount of
energy thrown into pastoral matters will reduce
them. The Territory is as good as Queensland
for pastoral pursuits."
is no inconsiderable stream. Its course runs east
to west. Deep water prevails at the mouth of the
Fitzmaurice; but there is a whirlpool tide. The
Fitzmaurice waters the northern section of the
Bradshaw pastoral limit.
Fifteen miles south of Victoria River Station,
it is stated, the good sheep country begins, and
extends in that direction for 200 miles, and
Palms, ErichauS Ranges
Cattle-raising began out here in the early 8o's.
t has had ample time to prove itself. The herds
ave ranged from 2,000 to 40,000 head on these
stations. There are still immense tracts to come
into occupation, and the carrying capacity of those
ken up can doubtless be greatly increased.
Victoria Downs Station has an area of between
leven and twelve thousand square miles. It is
mostly Flinders grass country, well watered. At
the end of 19 12 this station was carrying 107,000
head of cattle and 900 head of horses, which was
ot within 30,000 of its estimated capacity. The
rainfall here is between 23 and 24 inches, well
■distributed.
1 The Fitzmaurice River, which enters the sea
r"" ""'""'"■■'•'"■ ""■"■■
int
Hie
10,000 square miles in the neighborhood of Long-
reach and Wave Hill are suitable for dairy farm-
ing.
Wave Hill Station — classed by Americans as
superior to any cattle lands in the United States —
has an area of 10,725 square miles, and was re-
cently carrying 75,000 head of cattle and 1,500
horses. With the establishment of a sub-artesian
water supply, the manager estimates that it will
support 40 or 50 thousand more. He regards
sixty-five per cent, of Wave Hill as being suitable
for sheep. The average rainfall here is about 20
inches, distributed from September to March.
Stock from this station have been driven, year
after year, across to Newcastle Waters, over to
Corella and Lake Nash, and down the Georgina
592
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
to Glengyle in Queensland. This route crosses the
Northern Territory from north-west to south-
east, and takes over the border into Central West-
ern Queensland. Cattle must have grass and
water, as any tyro knows. It will be superfluous,
therefore, to seek for the supposed "Central
Desert" on this route.
Although there is little yet known of the un-
mapped spaces to the southward — which extend
from the Western Australian border-line right
across the Territory to Queensland, crossed only
by the Telegraph line — it is believed that a good
south-eastern stock route can be established from
the Victoria River districts to the overland tele-
graph line.
Mr. Davidson in 1900, on his mineral explora-
tion, made several journeys to and from the Tele-
graph line. Mr. Alec Ross crossed with camels
from Tanami after the rains. His trip, from
Tanami to Alice Springs, was safely completed in
29 days.
On his return he took a more southerly trail,
and reported traversing some very good country
en route.
It has been recommended that the Victoria
River should be connected with the proposed main
trunk line by a branch line from Katherine River.
Looked at with other eyes than those of the cattle-
men, who have proved the good land for their
own particular industry, such a railway should be
a sound national investment.
The Western Coast has a rainfall of 50 inches,
which gradually diminishes to 20 inches at Wave
Hill, between 200 and 300 miles inland. Fruit
and vegetables will grow freely over this well-
watered belt of 50 or 60 million acres; rice and
sugar-cane mayhap on the alluvial plains of the
lower Victoria ; sheep and horses on the uplands —
this vast corner of the Territory is undoubtedly
rich in productive possibilities.
The Victoria has the longest watershed — ap-
proximately 100,000 miles — and is the most im-
portant river in the Territory. At its mouth it is
26 miles wide, and is navigable on high tides for
25-feet vessels as far as Blunder Bay, where there
is good anchorage in 6 to 7 fathoms of water.
Altogether it has iio miles of navigable waters.
Between the two proposed points of connec-
tion lies Willeroo — another undeveloped, fertile
district — and the head of the Daly, of which
wc have already read the most favorable reports.
The Flora River Falls are along this route,
55 miles from the Katherine. The Flora is a
tributary of the Daly. It is described as being
slightly different to all the other rivers in the
Territory, and carries one of the largest volumes
of water. According to Mr. T. H. Pearce, of
Willeroo Station, an experienced pastoralist: —
"It is estimated that 90,000,000 gallons per
hour pass over the Kathleen Falls. From the
Kathleen Falls to the junction with the Kath-
erine, a distance of 15 miles, is one large water-
hole. The depth of the water just below the
falls is 70 feet or more. Above the falls the
water extends for 8 miles, and on the loamy
banks a considerable area of land suitable for
agriculture is to be had."
On the southern edges of the Victoria leases,
lies (Mucka) Clare Innes Station. Crossing the
1 8th parallel East of here one enters a land of
which little is known. In the opinion of Mr.
Pearce — who has crossed this hinterland — with
railway communication and a proper conserva-
tion of water, it will carry 20 to 30 millions of
sheep easily, and a great number of big stock as
well.
He describes it as level throughout, with edible
spinifex, grassed patches, and a little stock bush.
Water is obtainable at shallow depths.
The reports of the Davidson Central Austra-
lian Mineral Exploration Expedition, 1898 to
1900, greatly confirm this view. Mr. Davidson
(who first located Tanami), although his mis-
sion was purely geological, found at least one
500-mile square of "splendidly grassed pastoral
country."
The southern trail from Mucka to Tanami
takes the occasional traveller through alternate
poor and good land. In 191 1, Mr. Lionel C. E.
Gee, then Magistrate and warden in the Terri-
tory, went down to Tanami from Mucka, 170
miles, and was agreeably surprised to find that
the term "desert" applied to this region was a
misnomer. Mr. Gee reported that —
"Large areas of good and fair pastoral
country exist throughout, so far as the vast
extent of waste lands has been examined: and
I have come to the conclusion that, apart from
the mineral probabilities of Tanami — which I
trust will be systematically and thoroughly
tested later on — the pastoral possibilities are
great, and that altogether the effect of the
Tanami discovery is to add a new and valu-
able province to the Northern Territory.
During the hot and dry time, when there
seemed little for the animals to eat except spini-
fex, the horses and camels kept in splendid
hard condition and, to use a bush expression,
'you could ride all day without wetting the
saddle-cloth.' Many practical stockmen have
expressed to me their convictions that Tanami
district will prove an ideal place for horse-
breeding. ■
The country may be classed as rolling downs
of considerable general elevation, determined
INLAND DISTRICTS
593
by the Government Geologist's barometrical
observation as about 1,400 feet above sea level,
sandy rises, red loam flats, stony rises, stony
and sandy table country; these alternations ex-
tending for vast distances in every direction.
Low trees, bushes, and spinifex, are seen every-
where. Spinifex is generally regarded as an
abomination; but there are three varieties here,
two of which contain very nutritive qualities,
and are good fodder plants for stock as a
standby. When in seed after the rains patches
look, like waving oatfields. There are, of
course, extensive areas of useless desert spini-
fex. The long red loam flats which are fre-
quently crossed are well clothed with many
sorts of bunchy grass, bushes and patches of
mulga and supplejack — the two latter being ex-
cellent camel feed.
The conclusion is forced upon one that,
apart from the considerable auriferous proba-
bilities of the district, there are pastoral pos-
sibilities which will, sooner or later, be intelli-
gently developed and utilized; probably in the
first instance in the direction of horse-breeding,
for which the country seems particularly suit-
able."
The recorded rainfall at Tanami for 10
lonths was 15 J inches, three times greater than
that of Oodnadatta and surrounding districts
j(8oo miles south), wherein the pastoral indus-
Itry has long been successfully established. The
iheat of midsummer Mr. Gee found to be —
"dry, burning, clear, and not unhealthy; and
every day there is a breeze of more or less
strength from the south-east. The nights are
perfect throughout, nearly always still and
cloudless, and, owing to the elevation of the
country, a coolness in them which makes sleep
natural and refreshing."
The months of July and August were cold, the
lowest register being 50 deg. Bright, sunny days
and cold, clear nights — the typical winter of In-
land Australia.
Hall's Creek (W.A.) lies 220 miles north-
westward of Tanami by a well-watered track.
Mr. Worgan, now of Darwin — who acted
as warden at Tanami for 12 months while this
field was being actively worked by small parties
of miners a few years ago — thinks well not only
of the mineral, but the pastoral prospects of the
district. He regards it as good "dry" country
quite suitable for occupation under ordinary Aus-
tralian conditions. He advises a thorough
artesian survey of all the southern portion of
the Territory. On his return journey to Darwin
Mr. Worgan walked 600 miles (from Tanami to
Pine Creek) beside his camel.
I value Mr. Worgan's judgment quite as highly
as that of any disappointed prospector who fail-
ed to locate a great Boulder or a Mount Mor-
gan in these remote regions.
Evidence adduced before the recent Federal
Railway Commission leads us to believe that even
the remote south-western corner is capable of
profitable occupation. Sub-artesian water is sup-
posed to exist, and 50 per cent, of the land at least
carries good edible bushes and grasses.
The south-western corner is similarly possible.
With the establishment of these final facts, I must
unreluctantly announce to those chronic pessimists
who have clung for three generations to a belief
in an ever-receding "Australian Desert," that this
bogey is now definitely relegated for all time to
the Limbo of Ancient Lies. It will have for men-
dacious company in these shadowy realms, to
which we now consign it, many a hoary fable
gathered from the classical geographies of an
unreliable past.
A Garden at Alice Springs
The Prospector's Camel
MINERAL RESOURCES.
OUT of a mass of contradictory opinion,
emanating from both practical and theo-
retical sources, we will now endeavor to
form a reasonable estimation of the mineral re-
sources of the Northern Territory, as far as they
have been examined.
The history of operative mining in these yet
imperfectly known expanses of Australia, which
lie between the 26th parallel and the Indian
Ocean, is condensed into a comparatively small
volume. It is advisable to turn the leaves very
carefully, and to let the "bulls" on one page en-
gage the "bears" on the other as best they may.
Gold was first discovered, in 1869, by Govern-
ment survey parties on the Blackmore and Char-
lotte Rivers. There is a fixed belief among a
majority of those who have had any experience
in the Territory that misdirected enterprise, bad
management, and unreliable labor alone have pre-
vented their country from equalling or eclipsing
the adjoining States of Queensland and Western
Australia as a producer of useful and valuable
minerals.
This belief has some foundation in fact. At
the same time we must consider that first South
Australian and then Federal Governments, would
hail with delight the discovery, in this unoccupied
possession, of a field such as Kalgoorlie or Char-
ters Towers. Taking the scientific aspect first,
we find the Rev. J. E. Tenison Woods, as far
back as the year 1886, predicting that the penin-
sula of Arnhem Land will become one of the
great mining centres of Australia.
The whole of the geology of the Northern
Territory, Tenison Woods describes as being "of
a simple kind. The formations are few in num-
ber. There are no fossils, and the exposed sec-
tions are numerous and clear."
"The most conspicuous, as well as the most
common, is mica slate. It is not crystalline,
and therefore I do not call it metamorphic.
At Talc Head, Darwin, the brilliant show
of mica which there occurs marks the occur-
rence of five or six mineral lodes; also at Snad-
den Creek, McKinlay Mine, and Mount Shoo-
bridge. The whole of this formation is paleo-
zoic, and probably, from its mineral character,
of the same age as the auriferous slates and
schists of Victoria, New South Wales, etc. In
those colonies it is called 'lower silurian,' but,
in justice to Professor Sedgwick, should be
named 'upper Cambrian,' or (as proposed as
a compromise) 'Ordovician.' There are no
fresh fossils to verify this Identification. Plant
impressions are certainly found in the slates
at Pine Creek, but they cannot be identified
as yet; but the whole character of the forma-
tion is such as to leave little doubt on the mind
of the geologist as to the identity in age with
the auriferous deposits elsewhere.
Dykes. — In every part of these deposits
there are dykes, mineral lodes, and faults.
594
MINERAL RESOURCES
595
i
Near Port Darwin there has been a consider-
able overflow of ancient lava, which now con-
sists of a few hills of diorite, a volcanic rock
of deep blackish-green color and waxy lustre.
It consists of crystals and hornblende, mixed
with felspar, triclinic in small quantities. Un-
til more carefully examined, the rock at Port
Darwin camp may be called 'diorite.' There
are also diorite dykes in many places, especi-
ally where the gold has been abundant, such
as at Margaret Creek and other places. In
addition, the country is interlaced in abundance
with dykes or veins of a greyish-blue flaggy
rock of volcanic character and extraordinary
hardness. The term generally used by the
miners for the outcrops of the heads of a vein
is a 'blow,' and the idea of their origin is con-
nected with the action of fire. Whatever may
be the origin of veins, it is certain that the
burnt red and black appearance is the result
of exposure to the action of air and water,
which has rusted the iron ores and decomposed
the other minerals. For a long time past the
miners have had a prejudice against what are
called 'ironstone blows,' or caps of lodes in
which there was a great development of per-
oxides of iron. They have often been tried
and found poor in gold, or destitute of it, so
that even prospecting them has been generally
abandoned. There are a good many through-
out the district, and the majority have been un-
touched. They are the heads of true mineral
lodes, the mineral character of which will not
be determined until the water-level is reached.
Silver, copper, and lead are the principal min-
erals to be expected in them, with, probably,
a little gold. I think they are rich ore, but not
suited for ordinary methods of treatment, or
the battery appliances in use here. New and
patent methods for the separation of the ores
will have to be adopted.
Granite. — All round the mining area is a belt
of granite. I infer that it is a complete ring,
though I have not traced it in every part. Thus,
granite is found on the west side all along the
telegraph line, and on the east side all along
the valley of the Mary, on the north side
from the Fergusson to within four miles of
Pine Creek, and on the south about the neigh-
borhood of the Finniss River. On the north-
west and south sides of this belt the granite
is pink in color, coarse grained, with large crys-
tals of orthoclase felspar often two inches and
more in length. Usually this coarse kind of
granite is termed granite porphyry. On the
west side it is partly of this kind, but on the
east its place is almost entirely taken up by
blue, close-grained granite — a valuable stone.
On all sides this granite crops up into hills of
lOo feet and more in height, but never quite
so high as the metalliferous slates.
The existence of this belt of granite round
the mineral deposits is of the greatest impor-
tance. It is a state of things which all experi-
ence has taught to be the most favorable for
mineral deposits. Usually the greatest rich-
ness is found at the edges of these formations,
or rather at the junction of the slates with the
eruptive granite; and from what I have seen,
this locality seems to be no exception. All
along the east side of the ranges, or the val-
ley of the Mary River, there is a continuous
outcrop of mineral veins almost upon such junc-
tion.
It would seem as if silver, lead, copper, and
tin were the metals developed on the edges of
this junction, while gold exists generally
throughout the slates. But the district is hard-
ly sufficiently prospected to form safe conclu-
sions. The width of this ring of granite varies
as far as it is known. On the south of Pine
Creek it is at least 15 miles wide, and in some
parts of the valley of the Mary it must be
nearly as much, as well as on the north. On
Primitive Windlass
596
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
the west it is overlaid by sandstone and mag-
nesite rocks. An accurate geological survey
of this line of junction would lead to the dis-
covery of many mineral lodes.
When the belt of granite is traversed we
find that the metalliferous formation again
crops out on the north and south — thus the
whole country between Southport and Port
Darwin consists of that formation capped here
and there with a little magnesite. There are
many quartz lodes, and I am of opinion that
the outcrop of ironstone in ridges of black
nodular limonite marks the locality of mineral
lodes. There is every reason to suppose that
the junction between the granite and slates on
the outside of the granitic ring should be as
rich in mineral lodes as the inside line of junc-
tion. Mineral lodes, which become barren in
passing from one country to another, become
metalliferous in returning to the country from
which they took their origin. Thus, then, the
edge of the granite country on the outside of
the belt to the westward of the telegraph line,
to the south of the Fergusson and north of
the Finniss should be prospected, and may
prove to be rich in minerals."
Such was the opinion of one of the foremost
Australian geologists twenty-eight years ago, re-
garding the more northern portion of the Terri-
tory.
Between the years 1873 and 1891, 261,801
recorded ounces of gold, won principally by
Chinese, were exported from the country. As
mining has been very largely In the hands of
Chinamen down to the present day, such results
as are obtainable must be accepted as mere ap-
proximations, and will be much under the actual
values.
By that time, it had been pretty conclusively
proven that the country was rich at least in gold
and tin.
Between first discoveries in the coastal dis-
tricts and the present time, several fields have
come Into passing prominence: Arltunga (in the
MacDonnell Ranges), Tanami, the Katherine,
and others more or less known to investors.
Mr. H. Y. L. Brown, for many years Govern-
ment Geologist for South Australia, examined
many metalliferous districts throughout the Ter-
ritory, and contributed much useful and Interest-
ing Information to our still imperfect knowledge
of Its mineral resources.
The rocks forming the Musgrave Ranges, he
declared were most favorable for the occurrence
of metallic minerals. Of these remote regions
he gave a scientific judgment: "It Is reasonable
to expect that In a country composed as this
Is of highly metamorphic granite rocks, upheaved
and Intersected by Igneous dykes, metallic min-
erals exist and will be found when the country has
undergone thorough exploration."
Mr. Allan Davidson's party located and
proved low-grade reefs in the Murchison Ranges
between Barrow's and Tennant's Creeks, which
were too remote from railway transport then to
be payable, but should prove profitable when the
Transcontinental Railway reaches this district.
It must be remembered that, geologically. Cen-
tral Australia remains to be mapped. The Great
Paleozoic Plateau takes in the Musgrave and
MacDonnell Ranges. The astoundingly rich
gold deposits discovered In West Australia occur
In these rocks. The Paleozoic Plateau, with its
auriferous possibilities, occupies the greater area
of the Northern Territory. It rolls In metamor-
phic folds across from the known gold-bearing
regions of Western Australia, to the known gold-
bearing regions of Queensland, holding within Its
silent, time-worn heart, heaven knows how many
Great FIngals, and Great Boulders, as recurring
birthday gifts for young Australia.
Pilbarra, Ashburton, Murchison (W.A.),
Southern Cross, Coolgardle have been some of
the plums in this old metamorphic pudding. It
is reasonable to suppose, with the geologists, that
the Territory has received its share of the argen-
tiferous ingredients with which that ancient house-
wife, Time, enriched the dish.
Mica, tourmaline, beryl, and garnets are all
plentiful in the MacDonnell Ranges. Low-grade
gold has been located by prospectors at many
places, which later on will pay to work.
The principal mica localities are on the north-
ern watershed of Hart Range, in the vicinity of
Mount Palmer; where the gem stones mentioned
also occur. The number of mica-bearing dykes
Is considerable. They extend over a large area.
A little mining has been attempted in this dis-
trict. This Industry requires capital, and depends
upon the price obtainable for the product. When
the railway enters the MacDonnell, like other
mineral propositions there, It will no doubt pay.
Mr. Brown, In 1904, pronounced Arltunga to
be a very promising field, with large bodies of
fairly rich gold-bearing stone. On Hatch Creek
and Coodlnga, which are both in this southern
division, he Inspected two small quartz reefs, then
returning prospects of about 2oz. of gold per
ton. The White Range, Arltunga, he reported
as remarkable for the extraordinary number of
auriferous outcrops spread about within a short
distance of one another. He believed at the
time that with good management, economic min-
ing and treatment of the ore, large and payable
returns of gold would continue for many years
to come.
d
MINERAL RESOURCES
597
Gold was discovered in the matrix at Arltunga
in 1897, at which time the gullies and ravines
thereabout were being worked for alluvial. This
goldfield is in the MacDonnell, 70 miles north-
east of Alice Springs Telegraph Station. From
the White Range Block, in 1902, 209 tons of
stone yielded 472 ounces, approximate.
Arltunga field — which is pretty well watered
— has yielded a fair amount of gold to date. Pro-
fitable mining is likely to go on there for years.
Transcontinental Railway, it is exceedingly likely
that many payable propositions will be opened in
this proved gold-bearing region.
In the more northern fields, mining has been
carried on with vicissitudes for more than 30
years. Gold, tin, copper, wolfram, silver-lead
have been won in payable quantities, and continue
to be won, but there have been no sensational de-
velopments such as the high geological opinion
Chinese Bagging Dried Concentrates
Mr. Brown held that the Territory was an
extensive and valuable field for mining opera-
tions; that it required to be opened by deep-sink-
ing on those parts already located, and that a
large proportion of likely country remained to
be prospected.
Mr. A. Davidson's extended mining explora-
tion of eleven thousand square miles east of the
transcontinental telegraph line, during three years
1898 to 1901, did not result in the discovery of
a field which under the conditions could be re-
garded as payable. Mr. Davidson located sev-
eral gold-bearing reefs, including Tanami, which
has since yielded a fair amount of gold. He dis-
covered copper and opals, and, in several locali-
ties, alluvial gold.
The elevation of the MacDonnell country ex-
amined is 2,000 feet. With the opening of the
of Rev. Tenison Woods, for example, would have
led us to expect.
Seven years ago, 1907, the gold bullion pro-
duced and recorded for the year (exclusive of
the MacDonnell Ranges) was 8,023 Aoz., valued
at £23,504. For the same year the northern
fields gave 436 tons of tin, worth £41,365. The
chief tin-producing districts then were Horseshoe
Creek, Mt. Todd, Mt. Wells, West Arm, and
Snadden's Creek. Shows were being worked also
at Mt. Shoobridge, Mt. Tolmer, The Finniss,
and the Daly River. Horseshoe Creek and Mt.
Todd stood first in point of production.
About twenty thousand pounds sterling worth
of copper was the total for that year, which, with
four thousand pounds worth of silver-lead, and
eleven thousand pounds worth of wolfram, made
up the whole mineral production of the country,
598
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
from the MacDonnell northward. Chinese miners
were then receiving six to eight shillings a day,
and European miners three pounds ten to four
pounds a week.
Chinese carpenters and engine-drivers re-
ceived eight to nine shillings a day, as against
£4 and £6 a week to Europeans.
In the following year the output of gold was
slightly less, but its value slightly more. Tin
showed a slight decrease owing to a fall in price.
Copper and wolfram fell. Altogether, the total
decrease of Territory production in minerals for
that year was £37,490.
In April, 1909, gold was first discovered at
Tanami in payable quantities. In the same year
Tin Concentrates
alluvial tin was found at Umbrawarra, near Pine
Creek. That year the Territory returns (north-
ern section) showed a slight increase.
Its best five consecutive years had been a total
yearly average of £108,000. Its average during
the five years preceding 1909 was £90,456.
During 19 10 some silver-lead and zinc pro-
positions in the Boolman locality were brought
prominently before the public by a Melbourne
syndicate, £10 shares reaching £180 in
a couple of months, a few being pur-
chased locally at the latter figure. This rash
speculation, coupled with incorrect statements and
erroneous published reports of the marvellous
richness of the formations, caused a rush to that
locality. A large area under mineral lease appli-
cations was taken up by speculators, who formed
syndicates, but on the receipt of a report by
Mr. Wilson, a mining expert, condemning the
field, all the holdings were abandoned.
The Umbrawarra tin show was worked out and
Tanami abandoned the year before the Territory
passed over to Commonwealth control. It was
not a bright one as far as mining was concerned.
From 1894 to 191 1 the total recorded value of
minerals won was £1,500,000 (approximately).
During 191 1 the mining industry showed no
genuine improvement, and little development
work of a progressive nature was carried out.
In 1 91 2 the Federal Government appointed
Dr. H. I. Jensen, D.Sc, Director of Mines and
Chief Government Geologist for the Northern
Territory.
Like the Rev. Tenison Woods, Dr. Jensen
seems to have formed a high opinion of the
mineral resources of the Territory. He is a
scientist of great energy and considerable repu-
tation, and appears to have determined upon an
exhaustive personal examination of the land in
which he occupies such an onerous and important
post.
Already Dr. Jensen has supplied us with geo-
logical reports on the Darwin mining district,
the MacArthur River district, the Barkly Table-
land, and a progress report on the geological sur-
vey of the Pine Creek district, all of which have
been now issued as official bulletins by the Depart-
ment of External Affairs.
Dr. Jensen has come to the conclusion that cer-
tain reefs at Pine Creek are "saddle reefs," re-
sembling in mineralogical formation the famous
saddle reefs of Bendigo.
Mr. H. Y. L. Brown, years previously, exam-
ined the field, and was inclined to that belief.
Since Dr. Jensen's period the field has been visited
by Mr. E. J. Dunn, until recently Government
Geologist of Victoria. Mr. Dunn has pro-
nounced the Pine Creek field to possess a close
structural resemblance to Bendigo. He
says : "/ am satisfied that the gold-bearing
quartz will be repeated in saddle after
saddle as one sinks upon it. I am satisfied from
the work already done on the surface that the
stone is rich enough to warrant a large expendi-
ture of money."
Since then Mr. Oliver, now Director of Mines,
has very carefully plotted the reefs of the fields,
and shown them to be nearly all saddles and legs
of saddles.
These conclusions are highly important. If
correct (and there is a strong weight of expert
evidence) they set aside the contention of miningJ
critics that the gold of this, the most importantj
and productive field yet located in the Territory/
does not live to a depth. It is a curious thing,i
that in the earlier years of Broken Hill this theoryj
MINERAL RESOURCES
599
was also current. "The saddle nature of the
reefs," says Dr. Jensen, "accounts for the pre-
vailing idea that the reefs are purely superficial.
In no case has a shaft been sunk deep enough to
catch the next saddle below. So consistent is the
southerly pitch that one may safely predict nume-
rous saddles — at least six or eight super-imposed
at the south end of the field. In no instance has
any but the topmost saddle been worked. That
the gold is as good in the lower, unexposed sad-
dles as it has been on the surface, is not only cer-
tain from geological deductions, but the table of
assays shows that rich stone has been obtained
from considerable depths by diamond drilling.
Altogether six bores have been put down at Pine
Creek and two at the Union, seven miles north of
Pine Creek. In tvi'o of the Pine Creek bores no
lodes were met with, though small quartz leaders
carrying gold were frequent. (Nos. 2 and 4.) In
two others only low-grade quartz reefs, but in
Nos. I and 6 good values were obtained."
Of the assays mentioned. No. i (date
29/4/13), Pine Creek, at a depth of 486 feet, on
bore angle of 45 deg., vertical depth 343.61 feet,
gave 20Z 4dwt. igr. of gold, and looz. idwt., on
average of ift. of stone.
At about 360 feet vertical depth No. 6 gave
40Z. iidwt. I Igr. gold.
"It is therefore certain," concludes Dr. Jensen,
"that by sinking shafts on the south end of the
field saddle after saddle of rich quartz will be
met with." Further investigations with the dia-
mond drill are being made.
Pine Creek field is over forty years old. Up
to date is has yielded about one million pounds'
worth of gold, mostly won by Chinamen working
as miners for Europeans, who hold the mineral
leases.
The Eleanor claim gave one man 9,000 ounces
of gold in five years. In the Christmas Mine, 35
tons of stone gave 480 ounces, and as high as 40
ounces per ton have been reported from another
mine. In November, 1894, the New Thunderer
Mine reported crushing 150 tons for 872 ounces
of gold, at a depth of 70 feet. In 1891, a crush-
ing from the Republic gave 255 ounces of gold
from 9 tons of stone.
If returns such as these are to be repeated
at lower depths, then the last has not been heard
of Pine Creek as a gold-producer, providing al-
ways that labor and costs are not going to so re-
duce the profits that the legitimate investor will
hesitate before embarking his capital here.
BbThe field, as the writer saw it in the latter part
of 1912, presents a discouraging spectacle, owing
to the rooting and burrowing of Chinese, which
has been going on for so many years. Still, on
the claim next to where the diamond drill was ex-
ploring at that time, it was reported to me that
six hundred tons of stone, raised within the pre-
vious six weeks, had gone six ounces of gold to
the ton.
Despite antiquated Asiatic methods, a general
air of squalor and untidiness, and ubiquitous evi-
dence that the Chinaman had followed his inevi-
table "white-ant" policy, I came away from the
mineral region around Pine Creek and Brock's
Creek with a haunting belief that it was like a
strong child which had met with an illness. I felt
that proper treatment only was needed to effect a
cure; that its temporary disability would not pre-
vent the child in question from entering later
upon a vigorous youth
Dr. Jensen has examined the metalliferous area
on the MacArthur Riv^er. Giving evidence before
the Railway Commission, he condensed his infor-
mation as follows : —
"Around the MacArthur head station, about
40 miles from Borroloola, there is a large
metalliferous limestone area, in which I think
several permanent lodes will eventually be dis-
covered. So far, only the small leases of the
nature of aggregations have been worked. The
ores found in this limestone country are chiefly
A Territorlan
6oo
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
ij:*v*i
complex silver-lead zinc ores, which do not pay
to work in such a remote region. I believe that
when railway communication is established be-
tween the MacArthur River and a port in the
Pellew Islands, this metalliferous area will sup-
port a great many miners, and it might then
become possible to open the large ore bodies
and erect smelting works in the district. The
development of this field would certainly not
pay under existing conditions. Further back
at Yah Yah, still in the MacArthur River dis-
trict, there are other copper lodes, out of which
a few tons of excellent copper ore have been
taken. But, of course, mining did not pay, for
the reasons already given. The Yah Yah
country is very similar to the district between
Carlton Hill and Argilla in the Cloncurry dis-
trict.
"Encircling the Barkly Tableland is a rim
of metamorphic rock which is highly mineral-
ized, but none of the mineral veins hitherto
discovered has been large enough to warrant
extensive operations. With the establishment
of transport many of these smaller shows could
be opened up and profitably mined, and larger
ore bodies would be sought for and probably
found." . . .
In 191 1, a prospecting party, under agreement
with the Acting-Administrator, left Pine Creek
for the Roper River and Caledon Bay, which
lies some thirty or forty miles southward of Cape
Arnhem.
They found several new rivers and added
greatly to existing knowledge of the physio-
graphy of that region. This party was absent
from May to September. It examined a circuit
704 miles in length. With the exception of what
they believed to be antimony — found in small
quantity in the Ranges between Caledon Bay and
the Goyder River — no mineral of consequence
was discovered.
Much of the lands traversed, however, they
reported suitable for cultivation, as we have al-
ready seen.
Professor W. G. Woolnough made a geo-
logical examination of certain mineral areas in
the Territory about the same time. His report
from a mining viewpoint is extremely non-com-
mital.
"Mt. Diamond," he says, "is another of those
depressing places so frequent in the Territory,
where thousands of pounds worth of mining
machinery is standing idle, although report states
that, at the time of cessation of work, the ore
values in the mines were most promising."
The Rev. Tenison Woods many years previ-
ously said of Territory mining generally: — -"Not
one of the mines hitherto worked or abandoned
has been exhausted of gold, not 25 per cent, of the
auriferous reefs of the country have been fairly
tested. A slight examination convinces me that
many of the reefs in the Territory contain rich
metal, even though the prospector has turned
away from them."
1
MINERAL RESOURCES
60 1
In regard to Wolfram Camp — Territorially
described as the richest wolfram mine in the
world — Professor Woolnough remarks: — "The
main wolfram lode is situated in the slates at their
immediate junction with the granite, a position
which seems most favorable to the development
of the mineral on a large scale." The tin claims
hereabouts he describes as of small dimensions
Approaching Horseshoe Creek, the scene
changes from the auriferous belt to one of tin.
Much attention has recently been directed to the
tin-bearing region, of which this is a part. From
the Horseshoe — which lies between Pine Creek
and the Katherine, about 40 miles from the for-
mer place — the field extends in a north-easterly
direction to Hidden Valley. This stretch of tin-
Bobbing a Turtle's Nest
and not much value. But, beyond the limits of the
granite, in a southerly direction in Hidden Valley,
very promising tin shows were being worked
among the slates. He says: — "It is not poverty
of mineral which renders the granite workings
unprofitable, but its dissemination over such a
wide area. The tin particularly is distributed
through the granite in considerable quantities, but
nowhere in sufficient abundance to render extrac-
tion on a large scale possible. Only by working
on the scale on which Nature does is concentration
possible. By the weathering of the granite and
the sorting of the weathered materials by run-
ning water, the tinstone has been concentrated as
alluvial tin, under the alluvials which form the
extensive plains of the district. Whether it can
be recovered from these economically is a ques-
tion which can be answered only by trial. By means
of well-equipped dredges it might be possible to
save the tin, as has been done in other places. The
association of tin and wolfram introduces an awk-
ward problem, as these two minerals have so
nearly the same specific gravity that it is very
bearing country resembles the Irvinebank field in
Northern Queensland.
The metalliferous area at Horseshoe is about
5 by 22 miles; Hidden Valley about the same.
The country is traversed by fissures running
N.N.W.-S.S.E. The fissure lodes in the chlorite
schists are themselves rich in tin, and the chloride
schists on either wall of the lode impregnated
with tin also. It is considered that if a battery
capable of treating formation about li per
cent., at a profit, were established there would
be a great future for this area. Existing bat-
teries cannot treat ore going less than 5 per cent,
tin profitably. Great local faith exists in the fu-
ture of this field, which seems to be shared by
the geologists.
Mt. Todd tin mines are located a little to the
southward of Horseshoe Creek.
Below Katherine Telegraph Station are the
Maude Creek gold mines, now abandoned. This
area appears to be patchy. The belt eastward to
Urapunga on the Roper has, so far, not displayed
any special claim to mineralogical attention.
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
I
Copper Mine, Coronet Hill
From Pine Creek to Sturt's Creek, on the west-
ern side of the Overland Telegraph, a geological
map made by H. Y. L. Brown, on L. A. Well's
topographical survey, does not show any metal-
liferous rocks of mineral value beyond the Pine
Creek and Katherine regions. This survey took
in Willeroo, the head of the Flora, and the Vic-
toria, as far as Gordon Downs Station — between
the 1 8th and 19th parallels. Between this point
and Tanami some gold-bearing areas were lo-
cated.
Tanami, although it added a short picturesque
chapter to the history of Territorial mining, did
not prove another Coolgardie. Its remoteness,
while adding to the romance of the field, greatly
handicaps any chances it may still have. The
nearest store and hotel are at Hall's Creek, in
Western Australia, 231; miles. The nearest place
of afternoon call to the northward is Victoria
River Depot, 410 miles.
Mr. Worgan, who was at Tanami for twelve
months, assured me that the country for 100
miles around is worth prospecting. But when
the Afghan carriers charge £40 a ton carriage
on supplies from Victoria Depot, and £27 a ton
from Hall's Creek, neither of which are exactly
centres of civilization — it will be realized that
the ordinary prospector, who, after all, is the sun
est gold finder, anywhere, is somewhat handi-
capped.
The difficulties of getting to and from Tanami
have also to be considered. Davidson located the
field in 1900. In 1904 Davidson, Lawrie, and
Campbell got on to payable gold there. Half a
dozen daring spirits had visited the spot in the
interval. Lawrie's party were unable to remain,
as the water in Tanami rock holes, their only
visible supply, gave out. In 1906-7-8 Lawrie, with
different mates, went back and worked while the
water held. Lawrie, Lambert, and Brown work-
ed together in 1908. In 1909 Brown perished
while travelling from Gordon Downs to Tanami.
In 1909, Government Geologist Brown went
down and examined the place. On his return to
Pine Creek he telegraphed to the Minister for the
Northern Territory in Adelaide, that the field
was an important one, and that the rich stone
found near the surface would live to a depth.
The lode formation of the district he described
as "typical auriferous country."
Just after he left, Lawrie's party found 2ilbs.
of stone carying 180 ounces of gold. More allu-
vial was discovered about the same time. With
this a limited rush to Tanami began, which ended
badly for some of those who joined it.
In 1910 Government well-sinkers established
a water supply, after the little isolated population
had undergone a most anxious time.
The discovery of good water at 163 feet was
followed late in February by rain. In three days
eleven and a half inches had fallen. The whole
face of the country changed as if by magic. Rock
holes, swamps, lagoons, were overflowing, and
green herbage carpeted the face of the land. fl
Experienced miners on the field were full of
confidence in its future, and hung on bravely. A
mining expert from Adelaide, despatched at the
instance of syndicates in that city, however, sent
in an unfavorable report, which apparently dis-
couraged the investment of large capital. The
prospecting parties were composed of men of
limited resources, and Tanami, although it had
yielded about £10,000 of high-grade gold, gradu-
ally sank into a state of suspended animation.
Prospectors working from Tanami as a base
have located gold at various points within a
radius of 52 miles. Gold-bearing reefs have also
been reported between the MacDonnell Ranges
and the Barkly Tableland. The values of these
are believed to be high enough to make their
working payable if some means of communication
were established. Mr. Davidson — who was un-
doubtedly a most careful and thorough mining
expert — has placed on record the following con-
clusions, which we must regard as having a very
I
'^z^y'M
/^ujTu^iyi
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Men who are Needed for the Territory
important bearing on the future development of
this part of Australia : —
"Taken together, all these belts represent a
very extensive area of metalliferous country,
and of such a promising character that the re-
sults obtained appear contradictory to all or-
dinary indications. The fact that in most in-
stances the returns were low-grade is a marked
feature of the reefs throughout these regions.
At the same time I am convinced that many —
under more favorable conditions — will pay to
work; also, to all those connected with prospect-
ing, it is only too well known that a large ele-
ment of luck enters into this work, and it is but
rarely that the pioneers of a country strike the
good things it may contain. This occurs, despite
the most careful working; and, although in this
instance it was the rule to test everything in the
nature of a lode or reef, I am only too well
aware that, notwithstanding the fact that I was
well supported in the desire to miss nothing,
the best may still remain to be unearthed by suc-
cessors. The country is there and the gold is
there, and it remains for others to improve on
the prospects obtained.
Throughout the lower Northern Territory
there is an enormous area of metalliferous
rocks, extending throughout the MacDonnell
Burt, Treuer, and the ranges south of the
western end of the MacDonnell, and also in
the vicinity of and to the north and north-
east of Anna Reservoir country and the Bux-
ton Range. In addition to the known gold-
bearing areas, much of the country included in
these ranges will, no doubt, be proved to carry
gold; but nothing but a series of rich discov-
eries would advance the country under present
conditions.
The one essential feature necessary for the
development of the interior and the opening of
payable goldfields is cheaper communication.
This can only be accomplished by continuing
the Transcontinental Railway across the con-
tinent. An extension from Oodnadatta to the
MacDonnell Range and the Arltunga gold-
field would very materially assist In opening the
interior, and make other portions more acces-
sible. The possibilities this country contains
certainly warrant a great endeavor (even at
a sacrifice for a time) being made to create a
central mining population. As in any other
country far removed from the manufacturing
centres, a very heavy initial outlay will be re-
quired to develop the mining industry of the
interior; and, in view of the advantages to be
derived from this source, no effort or expendi-
ture should deter those in authority from con-
structing a line which would induce strong min-
ing companies to operate In Central Austra-
lia.
This statement was taken from Mr. David-
son's notes on country explored east of the tele-
a
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
white and Black
graph line, printed after three years' close
scientific prospecting, in which he located Tanami
and added greatly to our general knowledge of
the hinterland lying to the east and central west of
the Overland Telegraph line. The indications
are favorable to the existence of alluvial gold.
Of the possibilities contained in the Tanami
country he held a highly favorable opinion :
"When once payable lines of reefs are discov-
ered in narrow belts of exposed country they will
be traced into the areas now covered with sand
and alluvium; thus opening up enormous possi-
bilities."
Dr. Jensen estimates that there are 100,000
tons of two-ounce stone to be worked in the
claims that have been pegged on the Tanami field
Dr. Jensen visited the field, where he saw
13,700 tons of ore exposed, which he estimated
to be worth 14,000 oz of gold. This alone would
keep a lo-head battery, dealing with 24 tons a
day, occupied for two years. Dr. Jensen further
said that the claims in the neighborhood should
have 100,000 tons of stone to work on, contain-
ing, on the average, i oz. of coarse gold and i oz.
of fine gold, or 2 oz. a ton. Within a mile of
the Tanami well, there were 60,000 tons of
quartz available for treatment.
East of Tanami some fine pastoral country was
discovered.
From Darwin to Tanami is 696 miles. J
The indefatigable H. Y. L. Brown, Govern-
ment Geologist for South Australia, conducted
extensive surveys and examinations over the
north-west, north and eastern parts of the
Territory from 1905 to 1907.
He reported to some extent hopefully on the
auriferous prospects of the mines then working
in the neighborhood of Brock's Creek, and found
the indications favorable to payable deposits of
copper, and of lode and alluvial tin, in the Daly
River district, where much mining has been done.
Mr. Brown declared that there was a large open-
ing for dredging and hydraulic sluicing in the
Territory.
"The following," he says, "are the princi-
pal alluvial diggings eligible for inspection by
those interested in hydraulic sluicing by up-to-
date methods: — For gold — Bridge Creek,
Howley, Pine Creek, Union, Brock's Creek,
Fountain Head, Woolngie, Wandi, Yam
Creek, Shackle, Houschildt's Diggings, The
Driffield, Maude Creek and Mount Gates,
Margaret; for gold and tin — Sandy Creek,
Horseshoe Gully (west of Spring Hill).
Water would have either to be conserved in
dams or obtained by pumping, and operations
would probably have to be suspended during
the dry season in most cases.
For bucket dredging the following river and
creek flats and low-lying country are likely pro-
positions:— For gold — Mary River (upper
branches). Watt's Creek and McKeddie's dig-
gings. Little Phillips River, Adelaide River
(heads of), Darwin River, Mount Ringwood
diggings, Blackmore Creek, Tumbling Wat-
ers; for gold and tin — McKinley River and
branches, Edith River, Ferguson River, Cullen
River, Margaret River, Finniss River and
branches, creeks and flats below Mount Wells;
for tin — Mount Tolmer (creeks and flats),
Bynoe Harbor district.
In these a good supply of water, in most
cases running, is available. At Mount King-
wood water could be obtained from a large
lagoon."
So far, mining enterprise has not responded to
what seems an exceedingly likely proposition.
Mr. Brown estimated about 7,400 square miles
in the north-western section as metalliferous —
gold, tin, and copper being the principal metals.
Much of this still remains to be scientifically pros-
pected. He found that In spite of vast sums of
money having been put up by English capitalists.
MINERAL RESOURCES
607
A Surveyor's Camp
with the avowed intention of developing well-
known lines of reef at a depth, a shaft which, away
back in 1886, had been put down 300 feet at
Spring Hill, remained the record depth!
Among the mines which had been practically
abandoned, so far as mining development is con-
cerned, but which he held should be systemati-
cally re-opened, the following may be mentioned
as examples : — Eureka and Maybell, gold, silver,
and lead; Evelyn, silver, lead, and zinc; Extended
Union, gold; Daly River Mine, copper; Mount
Wells, tin; several mines on the Pine Creek and
Union lines of reefs.
As a result of his examination of the north
and north-east coast, the South Australian Geo-
logist recommended to be prospected for gold and
other metallic minerals the areas around Mel-
ville and Caledon Bay, the tributaries of the
Roper northward, westward, and southward of
Leichhardt's bar; the MacArthur country, and
particularly the Alligator Rivers and the country
to the southward drained by their tributaries.
A Government Exploring and Prospecting Ex-
pedition to the south-western portion of the Ter-
[j ritory in 1905-6 added another bright little story
to the history of Australian exploration; but prov-
ed practically resultless from a mining point of
view. The party was under the command of
Mr. F. R. George, who died at Alice Springs on
Jiis return from the wilderness, leaving the note-
books of the expedition — written up to date — to
be posthumously published by his Department.
Australia is fortunate in the possession of public
officers like F. R. George, late of the South Aus-
tralian Mines Department. If any reader of
Australia Unlimited should ever reach Alice
Springs, I would ask him to stand at this man's
graveside — if he were buried there, as I presume
— and tender the military salute. It will be a
little act of recognition to the memory of a good
soldier of the Frontier.
His Journal, which has a pathetic interest, is
before me as I write this. The party left Tod-
morden Station near Oodnadatta, S.A., on Sep-
tember 28th, 1905.
Their route was laid to the southward of
Ayer's Rock and Mt. Olga, below Lake Amadeus.
It ran down the Petermann Ranges to the West
Australian border, between the 24th and 25th
parallels.
The entry in the Journal opposite October 15th
reads: —
"Travelled on, bearing 240 deg., until our
outgoing pad of last trip and followed this to
about two miles S. 60 deg. E. from Michell's
Nob. Recent native tracks. Passed several
small clay-pans containing water. My birth-
day, and am now 32 years of age. Camp No.
14."
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The expedition had a hard time. Two men
were treacherously speared by natives, but recov-
ered. Some of the camels died, and, it being mid-
summer, the heat was trying to men isolated and
depending, as they were, on what water supplies
they might find In the new lands they were travers-
ing, under the additional handicap of two tem-
porarily disabled comrades. The party returned
to Alice Springs on 31st March, 1906, where sud-
den change of water and diet affected the leader,
who had been weakened by the strain of the pre-
ceding months. After a brief illness he died on
April 4th.
The Journal records the discovery of good pas-
toral patches; but no payable mineral was located.
The work of this expedition was continued by
Mr. W. R. Murray, to the east and west of
the Overland Telegraph Line, and through parts
of the Davenport Ranges. Most of the time was
spent In seeking for an alluvial field, as low-grade
reefs would not pay owing to remoteness.
As with the earlier trip under the leadership
of F. R. George, this examination disclosed no
more than the presence of gold in reefs here and
there. Colors were got by dry blowing.
The climate was described as splendidly
healthy, and travelling In the cool months ex-
tremely pleasant.
Since the writing of this book began, favorable
reports have been published regarding a fresh
discovery of tin at Maranboy, some 50 miles from
the Katherlne River Telegraph Station. The
field is remote. Dr. Jensen, after an examination,
has determined It to be two to four miles In width,
and covering an actual area of about 20 square
miles. Twelve tons of ore bagged yielded nearly
50 per cent, of concentrates.
So far Mt. Wells has been the best tin mine
In the Territory. It has yielded about one-third
of the total output. Unusually rich tin ores have
been worked to profit at Bynoe Harbor, and on
the Venture Syndicates' claims at Horseshoe
Creek. Distance, cost of production, and cost of
transport have all to be considered.
Like most other Industries In the Far North
and Centre, developmental mining will need first
the aid of good roads and railways, and, unless
the discovery of exceptionally rich fields — such as
Broken Hill, Kalgoorlle, or Ballarat — brings in-
evitable activity and Investment, progress will be
slow. As the case stands, there are a limited num-
ber of openings for judicious Investment, and a
large field for speculative exploration.
A vast region which has been proved to contain
copper, lead, Iron, tin, gold, tantalite, mica, and
gems is worthy of thorough scientific exploration.
The most modern machinery, labor-saving appli-
ances, adequate water supplies, transport, and
the best of management, will be necessary even
after payable fields are opened.
Camels Drinking at a Creek
»
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Ml
•a
6ro
ADELAIDE AND THE HILLS.
lOUTH AUSTRALIA was proclaimed a
Province under the British Crown in 1836.
It was granted self-government in 1857,
md entered the Federation as an Australian State
|in 1 90 1.
Its present area is 380,070 square miles, with
population of less than half a million.
I noted these facts in a guide-book as the Mel-
Ibourne to Adelaide express roared up the incline
from Bacchus Marsh on Thursday, April nth,
1912.
Brown autumn lands of Victoria — some in
fallow and some newly turned by the plough —
were fading into dusk. I was going West to
travel through all the winter months, but I would
not see a flake of snow!
On the platform at Ballarat I foregathered
with a spectacled stranger, who told me that blacks
were still dangerous between Wyndham and Pine
Creek, but if I interviewed one Durack in Perth
he would be able to give me more specific informa-
tion concerning a trail into the Territory which I
wanted to take later on.
From the casual way in which that stranger
spoke, Durack might have been just across the
platform, so I guessed my fellow-traveller was an
Australian.
We breakfasted at Murray Bridge, where they
.specialize in fried fish.
p Between the Bridge and Mount Lofty I dis-
cussed agricultural machinery with the son of an
^American manufacturer, who was touring Aus-
tralia for pleasure — plus business. He said the
Irm already had 9,000 ploughs at work In the
Commonwealth. Wheat-growing lands of South
Australia were evidently being turned by Ameri-
can ploughshares.
The plough-maker thought Australia a wonder-
ful country, but greatly undeveloped.
At Mount Lofty one saw orchards laden with
ripened fruit, beautiful homes tucked into corners
of the hillsides, almond groves and gardens ablaze
with color.
Then came distant views of Adelaide from the
train windows — Adelaide, which vies with Hobart
for beauty and charm. The surrounding country
was brown and dry, as the end of summer usually
finds It, but the capital city displayed no depression
or anxiety; dryness is a passing condition well
understood by South Australia.
I went uptown to see some old friends, and
heard for the first time of the West Coast, where
they were opening new wheat lands. The people
had discovered that there were some ten million
acres of new bread-producing land over there, but
were not excited about it. Canada, at the period,
would have been announcing the fact from all
the railway hoardings and lecture platforms in the
United Kingdom. Over all that valuable area
(I again remembered) settlers during a life-
time would never experience a fall of snow!
The City of Adelaide one always finds bright,
breezy, busy, and sunny. Speedy electric-car ser-
vices run down its wide streets. Automobiles and
motor-bikes rubber along; solid stores and ware-
houses proclaim the permanence and importance
of its commerce. But whiskered, tanned faces,
sprinkled through the city throng, bring to mind
611
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
broad sunlit spaces behind this prosperous centre
of South Australian population. Out there old
colonizing features, old identities, old characters,
and slow, bush ways still prevail. Out there pack-
horses and camel-trains are more frequent than
motor-lorries, and occasional white horses of the
Mounted Police are the only outward and visible
signs of government and law.
Casual visitors who behold at the Adelaide
Tourist Bureau, fruit in jars, mineral specimens in
cases, paintings of wild flowers and photographs
of selected scenery, cannot realize the long, long
distances that lie beyond the easy garden tracks of
touristdom. Away north and west, the red heart
of a continent pulsates with vigorous life.
In his pleasant villa at Rose Park, my old
friend, Fred Johns — whose "Notable Austra-
lians" and up-to-date "Annual" are standard
works of reference in every newspaper office
library — talked of South Australia with life-long
enthusiasm.
Some years ago he bought a piece of land in an
eastern suburb of Adelaide, where he could enjoy
a view of the hills and sleep quietly in the morn-
ings. Now he cannot see the hills for houses, and
he cannot sleep late after long nights at his office
because of hammering and sawing from the build-
ing of new houses and more new houses. His
only consolation is that he can sell his home at a
considerable profit and get farther back to escape
the rush of on-coming Adelaide. He uses these
facts to illustrate the progress and prosperity of
the city. Its cleanliness, order, and good govern-
ment were too apparent to need illustration.
The beauties of North Terrace make Ade-
laide's chief attraction. Here or hereabouts are
concentrated most of the public institutions, the
Museum, Botanical and Geological Gardens, Pub-
lic Art Gallery, Technical Colleges, and so on.
Buildings of great architectural charm face a
square of beautiful gardens, wherein green palms,
glorious flowers, and fountains afford patriotic
citizens constant satisfaction.
Under arches of roses the lovers of this
southern capital may walk on Sundays. The
people seem peculiarly gentle, neither so active
nor so assertive as the folks of Sydney, nor
so commercially alert as the folks of Melbourne.
Mayhap the great empty spaces beyond the city
have imbued them with a spirit of quietude and
rest.
Adelaide is located upon a plain which begins
to slope upward into hills towards the south and
east.
To the South Australian capital these hills are
an eternal boon. In fertile valleys much
garden produce is rais x'chards enrich their
slopes, o'ut-of-town ; ^cnces and sanatoria nestle
upon their summits. They ripen juicy straw-
berries and exceptional peaches for the city mar-
kets. Their vineyards, olive groves, and almond
trees yield valuable harvests.
Visitors, taking a tram to the foothills, can walk
from the terminus of one suburban system to
another — along a series of dipping and winding
roads bordered by hedges of grey olives. Front-
ing these rural roads are many delightful litde
mansions and villas surrounded by vines and foli-
age. The city sleeps in sunlight below, blue waters
of St, Vincent's Gulf beyond it making a pano-
rama of tilth and beauty which is probably with-
out equal in the world.
South Australia, "Our Lady of the Sun," was
enjoying her beneficent winter when I came to her
with note-book and kodak in 191 2. The green
gardens, bright flower beds, and rustling cotton
palms of Adelaide gave me pleasant welcome.
I stood in King William Street at 5.30 p.m.
of a soft April afternoon to watch the crowd.
The sunlight, clarified and golden, with a tinge of
red in it, illuminated the tops of tall buildings; the
air was fresh, it carried a faint odor of ripened
fruit and new-mown hay — the autumn flavor of a
good season drawing to a close.
A well-dressed, comfortable crowd of pedes-
trians filled the pavements. Along a wide street,
roofed by blue sky, waggonettes with two horses
— universally well groomed and well fed — were
making a leisurely pace. White-capped tram-
guards and motor-men with khaki coats propelled
their swifter conveyances skilfully through the
traffic.
In sunset light the Town Hall spire seemed
like a shaft of gold. At Government House gates
stood a guard house, without sentries. Wildfowl
played and splashed on the artificial lake beyond.
Every street running east and north gave a dis-
tant view of the hills. On green lawns of Parlia-
ment House grounds hydrants were showering
and sparkling sprays of water.
No pale, ragged operatives wended a weary
way homeward. Active young men on bicycles,
smart girls in trams, having completed their eight-
hours' day in shop, office, or factory, rode cheer-
fully away to suburban cottages, where gardens
and pianos were the rule. Adelaide has no slums,
no congested quarters, none of the poverty and
depravity of Old World cities. It is gloriously
clean, prosperous, and Australian!
From the pointsman in his cage aloft, who
directs the street cars in the way they ought to
go, to the last apprentice in the street, from the
automobile proprietor to the gentleman driving
the municipal dust-cart, they all had their privi-
leges and their chances.
ADELAIDE AND THE HILLS.
613
Who visits Adelaide for the first time will cer- see the rural side of South Australia. He may
tainly give an early day to the Hills. White turn from Clarendon towards Mount Lofty,
winding roads climb into these by gradual ascents where dainty villas and more pretentious man-
at different points. One usually goes up by one
route and returns by another.
As the ascent is made, one turns at elbows
of the road to look back upon Adelaide, with its
spires and gardens, its broad avenues and squares
of green.
Up in the ranges there are many picturesque
villages. I have seen them in the springtime, all
sions of the rich make cool retreats in summer.
Coming through thinly-timbered hills to Piccadilly,
he will pass many vineyards.
On Piccadilly flats most of the vegetables con-
sumed in Adelaide are grown. xMarket gardeners
here are a prosperous class. They have good sub-
stantial homes, and some possess motor-lorries
to cart their produce to market. The Chinaman
is conspicuous by his absence.
Orchards in Mount Lofty Ranges
blossom and fragrance. That year I rolled
through them in autumn, when their poplars were
turning golden. The orchard trees were disrob-
ing themselves of tinted leaves, preparing for
winter sleep — a habit acquired from older lands;
which they have not yet learned to discard. Briars
hung red berries over our track. Old inns invited
rest. Old stone houses slept amid their shade of
laurel, hawthorn, and pine.
Through lovely Coromandel Valley and back
through the delightful village of Clarendon will
be a pleasant run for the motorist who wishes to
Through valleys, filled with perfume of ripened
apples and quinces, the motorist comes to Nor-
ton's Summit, where the finest panoramic views
of Adelaide are expanded for the enlightenment
of visitors.
A great deal of this interesting and picturesque
hill country is yet open for new settlers, who can
do well with orchards, vineyards, and gardens.
The climate is benign, living cheap, and markets
within an hour's jow As the city expands
the area under settl through the hills will
extend also. ''hhii
Ik
6i4
Ostriches on a Port Augusta Farm
PORT AUGUSTA, HERGOTT AND THE GREAT
INLAND.
SOME of my most interesting travel days
were spent in Broken Hill. An account of
that astounding city of the "Wilderness"
will be found elsewhere. It was on a Sunday night
fhat I left it. Pleasant acquaintances I had met
gave me final farewells at the railway station,
as if they were really sorry to see me go. Broken
Hill may not be a beautiful place, but it is ex-
ceedingly hospitable.
The sleeping-car was stuffed with mining mag-
nates, including a Hill millionaire — somewhat
stout and wheezy from good living.
I climbed awkwardly into a top berth in the
narrow car and slept, more or less, until I felt the
conductor quietly shaking me at 4.20 a.m. I had
arranged to pull off at Petersburg, which seemed
a remarkably quiet and starlit place when I slipped
off the express a few minutes later.
At the railway station bar two travellers were
quietly drinking; a tired-looking woman and a
child sat in the waiting-room. Roosters were
crowing somewhere in the darkness.
A hotel-runner with a rich Irish brogue seized
my gripsack and piloted me to the "commercial"
room of his hostel, where I amused myself until
daybreak writing in my note-book impressions of
, Jroken Hill.
\^f That morning I spent enquiring into the pros-
pects and products of Petersburg and its sur-
roundings. I found that this important railway
junction was 1,800 feet above sea-level, that it
had become the centre of a wheat-growing district
constantly increasing in area, and that the average
rainfall for 31 years had been 13.03 inches. On
this rainfall, with fallowing and the use of phos-
phates, local soils produced up to 20 bushels of
wheat per acre.
Water was procurable everywhere by sinking to
depths of from 80 to 200 feet. The local supply
was entirely from such wells or dams.
Minerals, including radium, were present
through the adjacent country.
In the afternoon I entrained for the North.
Blue, cloudless skies and a new light of special
actinic quality made glorious a Central Australian
day. Through wheat lands, ploughed and fal-
low— chocolate or red in color — the railway ran
for many miles.
The country was bare of trees, except for oc-
casional clumps of mallee. Distant hills glowed
in orange and purple lights, sharp of outline, Aus-
tralian, and very loveable to Australian eyes.
Their slopes must be beautiful beyond expression
when spring rains call the land, and from end
to end it emeralds in reply.
Farther north, as night falls, naked hills take
on the most delicate tints of violet, orange, and
blue — the clarify of the atmosphere brings their
outlines out like a contour map.
In dry, gravelly creeks, beautiful eucalypts
spread a grateful shade. Little groves of cypress
pines appear at intervals, the rest is physiography
and intense color.
^
6r-
6i6
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Port Augusta is destined to become one of the
most important places in the Commonwealth.
Located at the head of Spencer's Gulf, it will be
the terminal port for two transcontinental railway
systems, which are destined to open up the north,
centre, and west of a continent. With 27 feet of
water at its wharves, it is capable of berthing
vessels of highest tonnage.
By the time this book has gone forth the East-
West Transcontinental will probably be open for
traffic. The line between Katherine River in the
rose color in early light of morning — these fea-
tures impress themselves on the traveller's
memory.
There is no running water to be seen at this
time of year. There are chocolate fields ploughed
ready for wheat, but no green growths in a
hundred miles. These come later with seasonal
rains. Out of Its unleached soils this land will
give highest agricultural returns. Its possibilities
are yet imperfectly realized. It has been damned
as "desert," but it is no more desert than countries
Flinders Bange
I
Northern Territory and Oodnadatta may be some
years in construction, but it is part of our Federal
policy, and must be accomplished.
Australians do not yet realize what the con-
struction of these two great inland highways will
mean to the Commonwealth. Even Port Augusta,
when I visited it in 19 12, had not thoroughly
awakened to its good fortune.
En route to Hergott Springs I left that interest-
ing little town dreaming by the shores of its gulf.
Sunrise spread over the hills above It — such a
sunrise as one gets out in this clear, dry atmo-
sphere— an Inundation of softest shades In orange
and purple, gradually revivifying and glorifying
the earth.
Coarse red sand, saltbush, dry creek-beds
bordered by spreading gum trees, pointed peaks,
which carry close populations under correct treat-
ment.
Loaded at little solitary railway stations, with-
out platforms or much convenience, wheat in in-
creasing quantity already goes down each year
along cheap narrow-gauge South Australian lines,
from places once regarded as utterly unsuited for
farming.
At Quorn one buys meat pasties and sandwiches
for the long train journey to Hergott and Oodna-
datta. Quorn is a place of green trees, gardens,
and good hotels — the best In the North. Teapots
and hampers are part of travellers' outfits.
Once a fortnight the train goes right through
to Oodnadatta. Water for the locomotive Is
carried along on trucks fitted with specially-con-
structed tanks. This section of railway crosses
PORT AUGUSTA, HIlRGOTT, AND THE GREAT INLAND.
617
into a part of Australia with lowest recorded rain-
falls.
A man with a corrugated neck and a dried
portmanteau occupies the seat opposite. We en-
gage in conversation. Out here strangers become
friends at once. Everybody seems friendly,
patient, good tempered.
The man with the dried portmanteau is manag-
ing a sheep station covering 15,000 square miles.
He knows the Cooper and Lake Eyre as well as
I know Collins Street, Melbourne.
Our route takes us over Flinders Range, a re-
markable mountain system of great geological
age. Its sharp, pointed summits are treeless;
its sides and slopes, generally speaking, destitute
of vegetation.
Millenniums ago those bare roots of worn-down
mountains were perhaps covered by tropical
forests. Some day, when possible storages have
been established and subterranean sources of
water supply located, the lands below, now the
home of sandstorm and mirage, will be perma-
nently green again.
A sudden patch of perhaps forty acres nicely
timbered and covered with waving grasses, as
the result of a natural uprising of underground
waters, shows what fertile properties these loose
red sands contain. One good shower of rain
will always cover this country for hundreds of
square miles with waving grasses and nutritious
herbage. In ordinary times it is the home of
the goat, the donkey, and the camel. In good sea-
sons it will depasture sheep and cattle by the
thousand.
All day the train rolls northward from Quorn.
We pass through Beltana, which was a base for
exploring expeditions in early days. Good salt-
bush grows here, and there are frequent shade and
permanent water.
Between Beltana and Leigh Creek there is a
series of flat pancake hills, with time-worn edges,
all pointing southward. Then come masses of red
ironstone and low hills covered with saltbush.
At Leigh Creek they have located good coal.
Over red, gravelly plains spreading to the
horizon, over grey saltbush, over Lands Beyond
the Plough, there rose full-orbed a clear, wonder-
ful, Central-Australian moon!
So by a narrow-gauge track, unfenced — where
the train sometimes runs over a strayed camel —
the traveller comes at last to Hergott Springs.
Hergott is a base for the camel-carriage of
Central Australia. From here trails go out to
Cooper's Creek, to the Diamantina, to Birdsville,
and the back of beyond.
Through days of brilliant sunshine and dewless
nights, these gaunt, flat-footed beasts plod on, with
turbaned Afghan drivers beside them, laden with
boxes, bales, and barrels for distant stations in
the Bush. Musha Khan, with his cerise turban
Camels in Central Australia
Nl
6i8
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Afghans Loading a Camel
and a foot of shirt hanging out under his coat, is
overlord of many swarthy servants, and master of
a household presided over by a European wife.
Tired pack-camels of Musha Khan come down
to drink at the overflow from the artesian bore at
Hergott, when their long journey back is finished.
Fresh pack-camels of Musha Khan fill them-
selves from the same source before starting out
to pad their 24 to 30 miles a day across the Great
Inland.
In a backyard of the Afghan quarter I watched
a group of Mahometans throwing a camel calf, to
brand him. The yells of that young and lusty
camel went out across Central Australia. A small
Afghanistralian youngster hopped about excitedly
while the colored section of his family busied
themselves. When the agony was over and the
siren of the ship of the desert had sunken to a
protesting gurgle, that half-caste child executed a
dance which he had probably learned from a
corroboree in the native quarter.
In Hergott there are a European, an Afghan,
and an aboriginal quarter — the last somewhat re-
moved from the town.
Good dates are grown near Hergott, Musha
Khan informed me, and Musha should be a judge
of dates; Other good things will grow at Hergott
and beyond it — right into the heart of the con-
tinent.
By and by the aborigine, the Baluchi, and
the Hindoo will give place to pure Australian
types; internal-combustion engines will supplant
camels, and civilization spread her polish over
the surface of the land.
It was at Hergott that I met Woodhead, of the
South Australian Mounted Police. His station
was located on the Birdsville track, 200 miles out
towards the border of the State. It covered three
degrees of latitude in depth, and extended in
length from about longitude 137 to 141.
Despite his responsibility for the preservation
of law and order over so much of the map. Wood-
head was brown, stalwart, and cheerful. He in-
formed me that good oranges might be obtained
at Birdsville or Alice Springs for 4/- a dozen, and
fair potatoes for 1/6 a lb. — housekeeping in the
remote interior has its problems, especially when
the camel train is overdue.
I attended a race meeting at Hergott with my
friend Woodhead. He introduced me to a con-
stituent, who had come down from Birdsville to
witness that function.
At Hergott races I met also Adam Khan, who
promised that I should be stoned for attempting
to photograph him and his half-caste family. He
was a fierce, resentful character, Adam Khan, and
lives in my memory with a Japanese lady of doubt-
ful age and no apparent reputation, who promised
me worse punishment for a similar offence at
Broome.
A Horse Waggon at Hergott
PORT AUGUSTA, HERGOTT, AND THE GREAT INLAND.
619
Afghan and aboriginal preponderated at the
races.
That night there was a theatrical performance
and a dance at the boarding-house where I
dwelled. The dining-room was cleared of its
stools and tables after the play. Women in white
silk dresses (bought, one guessed, from Indian
hawkers), bushmen in short coats and "peg-top"
trousers, footed it gaily over an uneven floor until
daybreak.
Saddling the Favorite
Hergott is remote, but I failed to discover any
"melancholy Australians" there.
1^^ I had a word on the overland telegraph line
^^^ith Alice Springs and Charlotte Waters; neither
station reported any of this mythical species in
their locality. Charlotte Waters complained that
pelicans and ducks were causing trouble to the
wires — flying against them in mobs, I presumed —
but otherwise our brief telegraphic conversations
were quite cheerful.
Still Alice Springs is 994 miles from Adelaide
and 1,105 ^"d three-eighths miles from Port Dar-
win— they gave us the exact mileage themselves
— and there is yet no Limited Express, with dining
and sleeping cars attached, on that route.
j At Hergott, under the guidance of Said Gool-
meer, storekeeper, we visited the only Mahometan
mosque, of my knowledge, in Australia. It was
Lady Visitors
constructed, minaret and all, of galvanized iron.
A solitary Afghan squatted on his praying carpet
within, facing the East. He went on with his
adorations as if the small party of Unbelievers
had no existence.
The open Koran was there, the towel, and the
bathing pool. Ladies, who accompanied us, were
allowed just inside the door with their boots on.
Woodhead had a prisoner to take to Port
Augusta, so we went back together. With us on
Law and Order
At a Hergott Springs Bace Meeting
620
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
the down joLirney was Constable White, of Oodna-
datta, who had spent two years in a police camp
in the Northern Territory, before that country
was taken over by the Federal Government.
Thornton and Murphy, of the S.A. Mounted
Force, we left behind at Hergott to police the
Entire North for the time being. Murphy had
stood for law and order ten years at Anthony
Lagoon, in the Territory, and, newly wed, was
enjoying a transfer to comparative civilization.
They were all good men. Quiet and com-
petent, never flurried, never tired. Men of this
fibre made military history at the Dardanelles.
We had a mixed company in our train going
South. There was the gentleman with the old
Panama hat, the variegated kerchief, and the
quirt — a champion rider of the Bush. "Nothing
foaled can shift him," they told me. There were
the prisoners, for whom one felt sorry — because
freedom out there seems a more precious thing;
there were Afghans, jockeys, and a small boy
who was travelling 500 miles "to get his teeth
fixed."
Out of the clear lights and colors, the mirages
and vast distances of Central Australia, we drew
near to Quorn.
I went down through wheat lands to Gawler,
where beautiful red soils, ploughed and seeded,
lay waiting for the rains.
Teams with clouds of dust behind were plough-
ing up the wheat-fields everywhere, miles and miles
of wheat-fields, proclaiming Australia to be the
future granary of the world, and South Australia
— the dry central State — not the least productive
section thereof.
Five million acres under cultivation for wheat,
oats, and lucerne in 1915 proved this fact. The
State produced thirty-five million bushels of wheat
in 1915, thirty millions of which were available
for export. Add to this three and a half mil-
lion gallons of wine, and a wool crop worth over
two millions of money, and we get an idea of
the prosperity enjoyed by the less-than-half-a-
million people who constitute the present popu-
lation.
Another indication of prosperity is the sav-
ings of the people. In 1916, 299,308 South
Australian depositors had to their credit in the
State and Commonwealth Savings Banks (includ-
ing the penny banks) £10,035,036, an average
per depositor of £33/10/7 and per inhabitant of
£23/2/11.
South Australia claims the construction of the
first State-owned railway in the British Empire,
the invention and establishment of the Torrens
system of land titles, and the introduction of the
first complete system of local civic government.
Like the other Australian States, it has its free,
secular, and compulsory school system. There
are at the present time more than 850 primary
State schools in South Australia; 21 District
High Schools, located in the more populous
centres, and a School of Art in Adelaide. The
chief Technical School is tht South Australian
School of Mines and Industnss in Adelaide:
there are also Technical Schools at Gawler,
Kapunda, Moonta, Mount Gambicr, and Port
Pirie.
The Government offers annually 90 scholar-
ships and bursaries for competition among the
boys and girls of the State. These entitle the
winners to a period of free tuition at one of the
high schools, a private secondary school, or the
University, together with a sum of money for
maintenance. It is possible for a pupil of a small
country school to gain an exhibition at the age of
I2i, and attend the Adelaide High School, or a
District High School for three years. During this
time the Senior Public Examination of the Uni-
versity may be passed, and if the student does
well he may be awarded a Senior Exhibition, and
secure a further two years' free tuition at the Ade-
laide High School. He may then pass the Higher
Public Examination and be awarded a bursary,
covering a four years' course at the University in
either arts, science, law, or medicine. If he take
up either the arts or the science course it is pos-
sible to gain an evening studentship, and eventu-
ally secure the B.A. or B.Sc. degree.
Besides the scholarships offered by the Govern-
ment, the University and the endowed secondary
schools referred to above also award a large
number. Thus a practically free course is open
from the lowest class in a primary school to the
attainment of a degree or a scholarship from the
University.
The University of Adelaide was founded in
1874. It grants degrees in arts, science, law,
medicine, and music, and diplomas in music, com-
merce, and in various branches of applied science.
It was the first University in Australia to grant
degrees to women.
People who migrate to South Australia can be
sure of good laws and good wages, land on easy
terms, and free education and opportunities for
their families.
A population, less than that of many cities, who
produce up to seventeen million pounds annual
wealth, have prosperity and happiness to share
with less fortunate immigrants from other lands
anxious to establish homes in the central Austra-
lian State.
PRIMARY PRODUCTION.
YORK Peninsula resembles Italy on the map.
It projects like a Wellington boot from the
mainland of South Australia, with its
western coastline on Spencer's Gulf and its eastern
shores along the Gulf of St. Vincent. Its average
rainfall is low, but with modern treatment it has
been found that nearly all the Peninsula will grow
wheat profitably. Its farmers to-day are prosper-
ous citizens, who own motor-cars and fat banking
accounts.
The celebrated copper mines of Wallaroo and
Moonta have made it a centre of great industrial
activity. Wallaroo, the port for Moonta, on
Spencer's Gulf, is a substantial town. Wallaroo
and Moonta have produced approximately four-
teen million pounds worth of copper since their
discovery. In the output of this metal South Aus-
tralia leads the Commonwealth. The Kapunda
mine, about 50 miles north of Adelaide, was dis-
covered in 1842. Burra Burra mine added some
five millions to the total wealth production of the
central State. Silver-lead and iron also exist in
large quantities. At Iron Knob, 21 million tons
of high-grade ore (66 per cent.) are estimated.
Broken Hill Proprietary draw largely on this de-
posit for their reduction works at Port Pirie.
Thirty-three miles of privately-owned railway
connect this valuable mountain of iron with the
seaboard of Spencer's Gulf.
The phosphate deposits of South Australia are
particularly valuable and extensive. A thousand
tons of phosphatic rock has given 64^ per cent,
tricalcic phosphate, with only 2 per cent, of iron.
At Kadina, running eastward across Yorke
Peninsula, one enters a series of plains, which
have at one time been lightly timbered with mallee
and pine. They are now cleared along the rail-
way route, and given to the plough.
Smelting Works at Port Pirie
621
622
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Crusliing and Sorting Plant, Wallaroo Mines
This limestone country is growing the best of
wheat. Its farmers have established water sup-
plies for domestic purposes, phosphates are
readily obtainable, and the areas are large enough
to permit of profitable fallowing.
Fine chocolate plains lie around the head of
St. Vincent Gulf. From Port Wakefield the line
turns across to Balaclava over dark red wheat
lands, spreading as far as the eye can see.
When I visited this territory early in May the
drills and rollers were at work, filling the horizon
with pillars and walls of dust which rose skyward
all day long.
Blyth and Clare are the centres of this mag-
nificent wheat belt; there crops of 35 and 40
bushels to the acre are gathered. Wheat is grown
all the way north to Port Pirie and on to Port
Augusta.
Wheat has been South Australia's staple. The
dry farmers of that State are admitted to be
among the best and most advanced agriculturists
in the world. The grain produced is of the
best quality, giving highest percentages of flour
and a good color. It always commands the most
profitable markets in Britain.
South Australian practice is to crop the land
once in three years, the second year after harvest
being given to grass and stubble, the third to
fallow.
Costs of production are exceptionally low,
owing to the use on large areas of multiple-
furrow ploughs; eight- and ten-horse cultivators;
1 1 ft. drills, strippers, and harvesters. With these
appliances and the favourable conditions existing,
an average yield like that of 1912-13 (10.34
bushels to the acre) pays the farmer well. One
man can produce as much as 5,000 bushels a year.
Very light dressings of superphosphates are suf-
ficient.
The raising and fattening of sheep and lambs
is generally combined with wheat-growing. Men
with small capital, energy, and discrimination are
bound to win out on the wheat lands of South
Australia.
The Government Immigration authorities con-
sider that £1,000 to £1,700 is a sufficient capital
for cash-paying newcomers desiring to take up
1,000 to 1,500 acres freehold under Crown Lands
terms. This sum will enable them to improve,
stock up, and keep going until the first crop is
harvested.
F^xperienced mallee farmers would be safe in
selecting wheat lands on a capita! of £500. The
wide, level, dun-colored expanses of mallee, which
SOUTH AUSTRALIA: PRIMARY PRODUCTION.
623
were once regarded as the poverty of the State,
have now proved a mine of wealth. The gold
flow from that inexhaustible mine increases year
by year. The prosperity of Adelaide is a re-
flection of the prosperity which prevails through-
out the rural districts. Millions of acres have
distillery in the Southern Hemisphere is already
located in South Australia.
The vineyards are totally free from phylloxera,
and all other serious diseases of the vine.
A pleasant parallel industry is the growing of
currants and raisins, which has proved extremely
Traders on the Upper Murray
m
yet to come under the plough. There is room in
South Australia for thousands of wheat-growers
still.
* * * *
The wines of the central State are justly famed
around the earth. Sun and soil combine to give
local vignerons best results. French experts have
been imported, but France has also learned from
South Australia. Land in abundance suitable for
vineyards is available. Comfort and competence
wait those who will take them up.
The quality of local wines is constantly improv-
ing, the quantity exported increases annually —
this may be regarded as one of the greatest in-
dustries of the future. The largest winery and
profitable to the limited few who have undertaken
it.
South Australia already produces 30,000 gal-
lons of olive oil per annum, of the finest quality.
Net returns from olives amount to about £15
per acre. The grower can become his own manu-
facturer, and waste or poor ground on many hold-
ings may be profitably utilized for the cultivation
of olives.
There are 500 lineal miles of South Australia
suitable for the production of temperate and sub-
tropical fruits. The finest peaches grown in Aus-
tralia may be had in Adelaide in January, and I
have seen the most beautiful strawberries selling
in the streets of that city at tenpence a box.
k
Sandstone CliS and Fool
624
SOUTH AUSTRALIA: PRIMARY PRODUCTION.
625
A Big Melon and a Little Kangaroo
Local apple-growers estimate an average net
return of £20 per acre.
The almond and the apricot flourish. The
Murray Valley, with irrigation, grows citrus fruits
to perfection.
Bee-farming and poultry-raising in certain dis-
tricts will also yield good livings of themselves
or increase the profits of fruit-growing and mixed
farming.
The south-eastern districts are most suitable for
the production of potatoes and root crops.
Naracoorte, famed for its caves, is reached
through forest country closely resembling those
Victorian districts which lie at the feet of the
Grampians. Over level limestone roads, arched
by spreading gum trees, the tourist may travel
through cool and rainy regions to green Mount
Bock Formation
Gambler, there to behold the Blue Lake and many
other interesting evidences of volcanic action, com-
paratively recent. The intervening lands are
mainly occupied by sheep farmers.
Mount Gambier soils are exceptionally fertile,
and the town itself is attractive and progressive.
The funnel of an extinct crater happening to be
within municipal radius affords an outlet for sur-
plus rainwater and some civic rubbish. For this
Government Reclaimed Area, Murray Bridge
626
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Angaston
and other reasons, Mount Gambler is clean and
sanitary, a place of frequent showers, of foliage
and ilowers.
Its evergreen surroundings delight the eyes of
inland-dwellers, who find it fresh and cool when
Central Australian suns are pouring out their
summer heat. Drought has never clutched it with
fevered hand. It is always an oasis, a tourist
resort, a rest place for the heat-browned sons and
daughters of the North.
Good South Australians, when they die, go to
Mount Gambier. The poet Gordon dwelled
there, and gave the place celebrity. On the hill-
side above the Blue Lake, an obelisic marks the
spot where that rhyming horseman achieved his
hazardous jump, with a fair chance of rolling with
his steed down the steep red sides of that old
crater into the waters below.
Mount Gambier, with its exquisite greenness,
its roses, its pine groves, black ploughed fields
(worth £40 an acre to-day), volcanic lakes, and
romantic surroundings, should have influenced
Gordon's muse. One fails to understand how
the poet retained his melancholy impressions of
Australia after living for years in one of its most
fertile, fragrant, and prosperous places. Like
others who have written about Australia — and
who are even yet accepted as inspired exponents
of this mighty continent — Adam Lindsay Gor-
don's eyes beheld the land through darkened
glasses, in which a true perspective was deflected,
by the angularities of personal misfortune, into
false and erratic curves.
South Australia has many other beautiful and
pleasant places besides Mount Gambier, but it is
doubtful if any of them would have brought cheer-
fulness to Gordon's melancholy soul.
The modern traveller will find in the vineyards
and gardens of Angaston, in the orchard slopes
and fields of Gawler, on the golden shores of Port
Victor, by the joyous seaside at Glenelg, along
the Coorong, and down the Murray, a thousand
joys and beauties that the morbid poet missed.
He will find that South Australia, too, is a vast
garden wherein will yet be grown a greater abun-
dance of wheat and wine and wool; where all the
fruits and flowers of the world may be profitably
cultivated by a happy and prosperous people.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA: PRIMARY PRODUCTION.
627
South Australia is only at her beginnings. She
has in the Murray Valley an asset of incalculable
value. With irrigation this will support many
times the present population of the State.
She has, in the great MacDonnell Ranges, soon
to be opened by a transcontinental railway, the
best horse-breeding country in Australia.
She has Eyre's Peninsula, of which we have
written elsewhere.
She has the Great North, the problem of which
can be faced with equanimity in the light of estab-
lished facts.
She has her hundreds of thousands of
acres of wheat - growing mallee, her oil-
fields, her copper deposits, her inex-
haustible supplies of iron ore — better than
that of Elba, marine riches of her coasts,
agricultural resources of her ranges and plains —
all that a rich and yet only partially explored
country of vast area, benign climate, and stored
opportunity, can give to those who are weary of
countries less blessed by nature, less free, less at-
tractive to the eyes of Youth and Adventure, less
likely to yield the prize of personal success which
all men covet.
The Beach at Glenelg
The "Dead Heart" of Australia
THE "DESERT" MYTH.
THE history of Inland Exploration has been
sketched in somewhat tedious detail in
order that readers of this book may be
enabled to arrive at more accurate conclusions
regarding modern Australia.
During the 125 years of nation building,
misconceptions have arisen which can only be dis-
pelled by persistent contradiction.
We have seen how, in old colonial days, the
whole Continent was condemned as arid and
inhospitable.
During the genesis of colonization, confident
authorities asserted that only a limited section of
the eastern littoral could ever be rendered habit-
able.
In the middle period of European occupation
it was generally accepted that nature had irrevo-
cably cursed Australia with desert areas of
enormous extent.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century,
these "deserts" had shrunk to a very small pro-
portion of the whole Continent.
In the first decade of the twentieth century!
thoughtful people have come to doubt the exist-
ence of one actual desert within the wide borders
of the Commonwealth.
The author, while journeying on his special
mission over the Australian States, met L. A.
Wells in Adelaide, and asked him for a pro-
nouncement for this volume upon that still
unoccupied hinterland between the 121st and
129th meridians and 19th and 31st parallels — of
which, as one of the last explorers, he possesses a
more intimate knowledge than any man living.
Into the grey-blue eyes of Explorer Wells
(eyes that have looked over great distances)
there came a light of faith. He said: —
"/ believe the country that is apparently
desert will he no desert for future genera-
tions!"
Judged by the lessons of the past. Wells is right.
The country which was apparently desert for two
628
'-^~^~fo^t-ST\/^Tt:U/^lV ^
I
629
630
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The Bread of the Wastes
preceding generations is no desert for the genera-
tion of to-day.
Contrast the optimistic prophecy of this Aus-
trahan-bred explorer of 1891 and 1896 with an
entry in Captain Sturt's journal sixty years
earlier : —
"I have the melancholy satisfaction of
discovering the worst country In the
world!"
This entry was made at, or near, the present site
of a city, where Pullman sleeping cars are nightly
bearing travellers to and fro; where more than
sixty millions of mineral wealth have been won
from the hearts of the hills; where many a green
garden stands in fragrant proof that the school
of observers to which the brave and gener-
ous Sturt belonged — were utterly wrong!
Had Sturt but known it, the red sandy soil of
the Barrier (the basic red soil of Australia) Is
everywhere proving, under correct treatment, the
most fertile In the world.
Let us see how this Desert Myth originated.
It is easier to understand nowadays that the
physical conditions prevailing over a great part
of inland Australia misled early settlers and
explorers as to the actual quality of the country
they condemned.
The greater part of the Interior consists of a
low, level plateau, covered, broadly speaking, with
loose friable red soils, so fine In some districts that
they appear to the casual eye as sand.
Instead of a "Dead Heart of Australia" there
exists in reality a Red Heart, destined one day to
pulsate with life.
Certain parts of this country suffer (or benefit,
as the future may decide) from an occasional dry
season. In other parts, towards Central Aus-
tralia, the annual ramfall is admittedly low. But
it must he remembered that no part of Australia
Is absolutely rainless; that a dry season is, more-
over, always local In character. In one or two
districts, or over a section of a State, the annual
rainfall may fall below the average, as Is the
nature of seasons everywhere, but never at any
time has anything like a universal drought
occurred. While the meteorological conditions of
the Southern Hemisphere remain as they are, it
never can. Add to this the fact that over thou-
sands of square miles of Australia, over nearly
all the well-watered coastal districts that extend
from the Glenelg, on the borders of South Aus-
tralia, around to King Sound, In the north-west
of Western Australia, and again over the whole
south-west of Western Australia, from Albany to
Geraldton, a dry season Is practically unknown.
Owing to the porous nature of their typical
red soils, and to other physical features of
the Inland country, the rains, Instead of being
carried off to the sea, are retained. This, as a
generalization, applies to the major (western)
portion of the Continent.
It led people to believe that extensive areas of
Australia, being without flowing rivers, were to
be classed as waterless wastes.
In reality this absence of rivers is one of the
providences of Nature.
Australian Nature, of her ancient wisdom, has
substituted permanent underground storage and
flow for regular surface condensation and
drainage. Nowhere In the earth's physical his-
tory is there to be found a more wonderful com-
pensation. Here Is the first of those many para-
doxes presented by the oldest of the Continents,
old in time but new to the experiences of civil-
ized man.
Traveller and settler alike have been baffled
and discouraged by conditions which, later on,
were found contributing to successful settlement.
The Explorer, being perforce a writer of some
sort, gave his impressions to the world. The
more literary faculty he possessed the more his
pen-pictures of waterless wastes and sandy
Saharas unrelieved by any oasis, left his readers
with firm convictions that Inland Australia was
unfit for permanent occupation by white men.
Weird, indeed, have been the Imaginings of
those who have never seen the "back country."
To many of them It Is still a weary desert,
covered with stunted salt-bush and spiteful splni-
fex; where lost travellers, who have had the mis-
fortune to enter Its confines, for some heroic
reason, gasp out their dying breath with empty
waterbags beside them; while clouds of flies and
crows afford the only shade between them and a
pitiless sun.
THE "DESERT" MYTH,
631
Certain better-informed Australian writers,
with a craving for the fV uniatic, have fostered
these impressions. A country unknown to War,
must, for the purposes of fiction, be invested
with some thrilling features. Accidental hap-
penings like dry seasons and bush fires have been
made to appear the permanent conditions of the
Continent.
This long-accepted desert has made a back-
ground for more than one typical Australian
story.
Roughly, it runs north and south between the
River Murray and the Melbourne to Adelaide
railway line.
Thousands of travellers have crossed its
southern edge in the firm belief that they were
Long Beach at Morgan on the Murray River
Foreign writers, not knowing any better,
accepted the stereotyped descriptions of ignorant
or prejudiced observers, and helped to create a
"typical Australia," which is quite alien to the
actual Continent.
Melancholy, for certain explainable reasons,
has been a feature of local Australian writings.
It seems strange that the most cheerful and pros-
perous population in the world should have been
represented in the fields of expression by a bril-
liant band of writers and artists whose predomin-
ant note is gloom.
As a first example of misjudgment in matters
Australian, we may take the "Ninety Mile
Desert;" so marked on Australian maps until
quite recently, and still so branded on maps out-
ide Australia.
11'
passing through a real desert. Thousands of
Australian school children of the last generation
were taught to identify it as desert on the class
map.
And to the eye of an outsider it would still, in
its virgin state, appear to be a very barren and
ugly country indeed. But, as the Pinnaroo
District of South Australia, it is furnishing one
of many proofs that we must never judge
Australia by surface indications.
The story of the Pinnaroo has been an object
lesson to those who would still doubt the future
of our Commonwealth.
Let us go and see what happened to the
"Desert," and why, as desert, it has been removed
from the map of Australia after occupying an
ignoble place thereon for 60 or 70 years.
632
AUSTRAIJA UNLIMITED
iiake Bonney Landing, Murray River
On the 2 1 St April, 19 12 — as it happened, a
period of unusual dryness in South Australia —
the writer boarded a train at Adelaide station
bound for this "desert." The other occupants
of the carriage were the representative of a fire
insurance company and a smart, clean-shaven
young fellow, who looked rather like an English
tourist.
The train climbed over Mount Lofty Ranges
and rattled down to Murray Bridge, where a
pleasing vista of green irrigation farms along
the bank of a wide river hinted the future possi-
bilities of this fertile Lower Murray Valley.
A motley crowd of rough but good-humored
South Australians — lean, tall, tanned fellows for
the most part — crowded into the refreshment
room.
Failing to secure some fruit that he was seek-
ing, the insurance man re-entered the carriage as
the train was starting, and with strong Australian
emphasis expressed his disappointment.
Whereat the smart, clean-shaven young
man explained, waving his hands towards
the hills which we had just descended: — "Too
much fruit grown around here. It doesn't
pay to send it to the railway station to sell. I
know one man who took 5,000 cases off his hold-
ing last year. Suppose he only got five shillings
a case for it, that's over a thousand pounds, isn't
it?" We agreed.
"Well, who is going to peddle apples on a
railway platform when they can sit under their
own verandah and make a thousand a year out of
them?"
It was the class of question that conveys its own
answer, and it applies not only to apple-growing,
but to many other avocations in free and indepen-
dent Australia.
The absence of fruit in retail quantities having
opened up avenues of conversation, the smart
young man with the tourist appearance and
polite but friendly manner, turned out to be a
wheat farmer from the Pinnaroo.
In comic journals a farmer is inseparable
from long whiskers. He is generally alluded to
as a "hayseed," or "Dad Wayback." Old figures,
like old fictions, die hard. But it has to be con-
fessed that much of the farming in this country
is being done now by smart, clean-shaven young
men, who play tennis with their farmer neigh-
bours on Saturday afternoons. Quite frequently
a glance at the gripsacks of these well-informed
young men discloses old European luggage-labels.
At Tailem Bend our train split into two
sections: one part departing for Serviceton and
Mount Gambier, the other making a leisurely
departure for the "desert."
Tailem Bend may never be beautiful, but it
is located in a limestone belt where, on 1,000-acre
blocks, farmers are finding that they get good
crops in good seasons.
THE "DESERT" MYTH.
633
The Tailem Bend .to Pinnaroo railway is of
very recent construction. It was opened in 1907.
After much agitation the Bill authorizing its con-
struction had been taken through the South Aus-
tralian Parliament by a political ruse, its oppon-
ents loudly declaring to the last that the revenue
would not pay for the axle grease. Much to the
chagrin of these earnest pessimists, the line has
not only paid its working expenses, but it bids
fair to clear the cost of its construction as well.
This "desert" railway was cheaply built; its
platforms are yet no more than hard earth, and
points of the compass. A man lost in its blue
silent distances would be as helpless as a man cast
overboard in mid ocean. Ten chances to one he
would die of thirst; for there are no rivers, no
streams, no permanent creeks and rarely any sur-
face storages in the Mallee.
It was this that terrified and repelled the men
of preceding generations. To cross the Mallee
safely one needed to be a good bushman. The
Mallee being grassless and apparently without
permanent water, was useless for stock. No
wonder it was classed as worthless desert.
Harvesters at Work in the Pinnaroo
the stations mere galvanized sheds and sidings,
with stacks of wheat awaiting shipment nearby;
but it has served to open up a new province where
fortunes have been rapidly won.
Land which was sold by Government at 8/6 an
acre less than ten years before, was changing
hands at £6. Men who started with nothing had
become independent, and — speculative increases
aside — all the capable wheat-farmers throughout
the district had done exceedingly well.
Everywhere along the line one saw the work
of pioneer settlement going on. In the shallow
limestone belt, which fringes the deeper red soils,
the fields showed piles of stones as well as Mallee
roots. The farm houses here were mostly built
of white stone. A dry expanse of stunted, lead-
colored Mallee stretched away from patches of
newly-cleared land, which followed the railway
in a narrow intermittent belt.
This sea of squat, ugly bush extended to all
But, lo ! a miracle of Australian nature.
It was discovered later on that, at a maximum
depth of 240 feet everywhere under the limestone,
there is a plentiful supply of good sub-artesian
water for all stock and domestic purposes.
And, lo ! the miracle of the Human Mind!
It was also found that the average soil of the
Mallee country is peculiarly adapted for the
growth of wheat; that by the application of a
certain fertilizer, and by judicious fallowing, the
rainfall of the very driest Pinnaroo years is quite
sufficient to ensure profitable crops ! !
And now comes a simple equation. As the
physical composition of the Mallee country is
monotonously similar, if one acre or one hundred
acres will produce a profitable crop of wheat, the
whole of it, given transport, can be converted into
farms/
What a fine sum for the Australian school-
master of to-day.
634
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Sons of the "Desert"
He says to his class —
"Boys, I have before me a map of South Aus-
traha, dated 1890. There is a corner here to
the eastward marked 'Ninety Mile Desert.' It
appears to be about ninety miles in length, and
on an average fifty miles wide. There are 640
acres to a square mile. How many acres does
that desert contain?"
And the bright boy of the class, the boy who
is going to grow into a smart, clean-shaven
farmer, fond of Saturday tennis and rifle shoot-
ing, will promptly reply : —
■'Two million eight hundred and eighty thou-
sand acres."
"Boys," continues the schoolmaster, "I have
before me also a copy of the Adelaide Register,
dated 191 2, which contains an advertisement
offering a farm of 875 acres of this very country
at £5/15/- an acre. Now, to be well inside the
mark, we will work out the whole area as just
two million acres of wheat lands worth £5 an acre
— which gives, as the blackboard shows you, a
capital land value for this particular block of
'desert' of ten million pounds!"
* * * *
When one learns that there are many mil-
lions of acres of this class of country within the
already-determined area of profitable production,
one begins to dimly realize the opportunities
Australia holds for modern agriculture.
Naturally those keen dry-farmers, the South
Australians, are running out new railway lines into
their Mallee country.
And this "conquest of the desert" is so vastly
interesting.
The train stops at a clearing in the Mallee,
where one sees a township in the making. One
stands up elbow to elbow with tall brown bushmen
at the counter of a galvanized-iron refreshment
room. The counter is covered with a gaudy
linoleum, and behind it are coarsely-gowned bush
girls handing out cups of strong tea and pies.
The train moves on again in a leisurely way
through more virgin Mallee and fresh clearing.
The light-colored soils have given place to red.
At all the sidings there are trucks — full of knotted
Mallee roots — waiting to be taken away. Thou-
sands of tons of these roots have been removed
from the wheat fields — after the cleaning and
burning is finished — and sold. They have a high
calorific value, and bring the settler locally
10/6 a ton. The clearing of the Mallee is a
simple and inexpensive process. The scrub is
first rolled down with a traction engine, hauling
an old tubular boiler (for choice) behind it. This
or some heavy object is used to iron the scrub out
flat; after which it is burned off and the roots
removed in time. The rolling costs 3/6 an acre,
picking 12/- an acre — about 15/- an acre in all
to get it in trim for crops.
The Mallee soil gets better and firmer after it
has been worked.
It is now the ploughing and planting season.
The freight trains are bringing in gaudily-painted
agricultural machinery.
In the vicinity of each substantial farm house,
one sees a windmill. It is a land of tanks and
wells, but vegetables and fruit are everywhere
being produced by irrigation — the Pinnaroo water
is good for all purposes.
The banks seem to have opened little galvan-
ized offices at nearly every stopping place along
the railway, and the great grain-handling agen-
cies are equally well represented.
A fine red dust works its way into the railway
carriages — the dust of the desert, rich with the
accumulated fertility of untold ages. The home-
coming farmers who have been down to the city
on business do not appear to mind this dust. It
may still furnish a theme for discomforted
writers, but it is a marvellous producer of wheat,
and wheat is Bread. The good old Australian
"desert" only waited to be tickled and it laughed
— into baker's loaves !
Lean out of the carriage window and breathe
the air of the "desert" — it is like wine! See the
sun setting over the desert — it is a glory ! Behold
the sons of the "desert." They are six-foot men,
stalwart and strong, independent landholders,
freemen, each adult a ruler with an equal voice
in the government of the country; and each adult
woman — sister, mother, wife or daughter — the
same.
The train rolls on. Undulating into blue in-
finity spreads the Mallee, with brown stubble
fields marking the steadily-encroaching wheat.
The clean-shaven man is approaching home.
He tells with quiet pride of the progress of his
particular district. He says they always have
cool evenings and nights, even if it is hot in sum-
mertime. In the spring his country, all the coun-
try, is bright with ffowers. Six years ago there
was nothing at the town of Pinnaroo, the ter-
THE "DESERT" MYTH.
635
minus of this line. Four years ago two houses.
Now there are streets and solid buildings of stone
and concrete; churches, a public library — they are
called "Institutes" in this State — a photographic
studio, a newspaper, most of the primary things
of civilization !
At Pinnaroo we disembark and find a comfort-
able hotel, where they charge you for good meat
meals 1/6, for clean beds 1/6, and give you a
her wherever the Flag of her Progress is carried.
Here six years ago, remember, only the wild dog's
howl was heard across a waste.
It is hard to realise that this broad, dusty street
— bearing all the familiar signs and legends of
the butcher and baker, the lawyer, the banker,
and the land agent — with its row of young sugar-
gums, which have replaced the beautiful scrub
pines, its concrete sidewalks and plate-glass fronts.
Pinnaroo
bath with an abundant flow of clear water. We
go out to buy postcards at a stationery shop.
The proprietor is a Londoner. He had been a
carpet buyer in Asiatic Turkey for an English
firm. He has seen brigands hanged. He prefers
the town of Pinnaroo to either Aleppo or Bagh-
dad. The worry of persuading the Turks to
make carpets of a color design that would suit
the European taste is upon his mind no more.
Day is calling across the "desert." One hears
a bronzewing cooing in the cypress pines some-
where on the outskirts of the town.
The air is frosty; the water in the bath quite
sharp.
Where current impression would conjure up
distressing visions of a country burned by per-
petual heat, one finds a delightful winter climate,
bracing, cool and enjoyable for many months in
the year. And this applies to nearly the whole
of inland Australia.
Pinnaroo is beginning the day lightheartedly.
The State-school bell tolls out in token that Aus-
tralia bears the blessings of free education with
its coach-teams and horsemen, bicycles and motor
cars- — owes its growth and vitality to four good
wheat seasons. Yet the figures are these. In
1896 the first selector took up 4,000 acres of this
country, which he sold in 1901 for £10 an acre.
His first crop of wheat was 13 acres, from which
he reaped just 32 bags of the finest wheat, and this
was the first actual demonstration from the desert.
But not till the railway came in 1907 was wheat
grown for export. In 1907-8 the Pinnaroo Hun-
dred yielded 55,350 bushels of wheat. In 1915-
16 its crop increased to 665,662 bushels, and the
crop of the adjoining districts advanced in pro-
portion during the same period.
A cultivated belt about fifteen miles wide, with
a railway line running down the middle of it!
But another line is being pushed on, and it is
only a question of time when all this great area
of Mallee will be converted into one vast wheat-
field.
On the other side of the Victorian border,
which is only a few miles away, five out of eleven
million acres of the same Mallee are already
growing wheat, and there are another three mil-
636
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
lions In sight! Here also the "worthless wastes"
have been converted into fields and gardens with-
in a few years.
So much for the dry-farming possibilities of
the "desert." Later on we will see to what fur-
ther account it may be turned under irrigation.
As the various aspects of Australian settlement
are studied, it will be found that experience has
almost universally reversed earlier opinion. If
any farmer had predicted thirty years ago that
the Pinnaroo would become a granary, or that the
Mallee lands of Australia were destined to form
the great wheat areas of the Continent, he would
probably have been removed to a lunatic asylum.
So with the more conservative Australian
minds of to-day. They cannot realize yet that
the country from sea to sea is one vast Continent
of undeveloped riches. Differing from all other
countries in flora and fauna, it also presents a
series of physical and climatic paradoxes. If
Australian nature sometimes masks her smiles
with frowns, it is only that her ancient lineage
forbids the familiarity of the unworthy. She
would test her courtiers before she admits them
to her confidence. It is within the Law of Evolu-
tion— which may only be Providence in disguise
— that a strenuous environment produces an en-
during type. Fortunately for the future of Euro-
pean civilization in the Southern Hemisphere,
Australia has presented paradoxes and difficul-
ties, for the overcoming of which both mental
and bodily activity are necessary.
The problem has been solved, the equation
worked out as far as the Mallee Is concerned.
There is no longer any doubt: the settler of the
future will know exactly where his opportunities
lie. He will know the correct treatment of the
soils. The rest will remain with his individual
industry. From the moment the axe is laid to
the first root on his holding, the path to success
will be plainly marked for his feet. Barring the
chance of personal fate, he may confidently look
forward to ultimate independence and security.
^^-iL,/'/fc i^iM.
stripping Wheat on Land once Condemned as Sterile
In South Australia
637
An Apricot Orchard
DROUGHT AND DRY COUNTRY.
DURING the hundred and odd years of
their experience, Australians have learned
that certain districts at uncertain periods
are liable to spells of extremely dry weather.
The primary industry in each division of the
Commonwealth has been pastoral. Consequently,
the failure of natural pastures on which stock,
and particularly sheep, were dependent, has led
to heavy losses. These losses in the early days
temporarily affected the prosperity of an
entire colony. Not only pastoralists, but a
large number of business firms and townspeople
would suffer as the result of a drought in the
back country. As other industries grew up and
the areas of occupation were extended, these de-
pressions became less general. The stock owner,
also, in the light of experience, became better able
to meet the physical difficulties accidental to his
occupation. In time two highly important facts
were made plain. First, that no matter how
severe or extended the drought might prove on
the sheep stations, there would be found in the
majority of holdings enough native vegetation to
carry the stock through // water were obtainable.
Secondly, when the rainfall returned, as it inevit-
ably did, to normal, the country recovered its cus-
tomary fertility with astonishing rapidity; so that
the losses of dry seasons were compensated by the
gains of the good seasons which followed.
These two features of the much-dreaded
Drought made the silver lining to a cloud in the
light of which Australian pastoralists have de-
veloped much cheerfulness and a resource which
will ultimately cause the drought not to be
dreaded at all.
Much pessimistic literature has resulted from
the drought, which lends itself peculiarly to
word-painting and dramatic description. Some
of the most impressive pictures by which Austra-
lia has been disadvantageously advertised abroad,
were thus created out of entirely local visitations.
We may safely predict that the trials and losses
of the Past will not be repeated in the Future.
It is incidental to Australian meteorology that
the rainfall of certain clearly-defined dry districts
will at times fall below the average. In other
parts of the Continent the rainfall will be con-
stantly low. But it is also providentially true
that under an enormous surface needing water
the most, right away into the heart of Australia,
has been found to exist a subterranean sea of
artesian water, whereby the remotest places are
now being rendered capable of profitable occupa-
tion.
Apart from this, the conservation of water
in surface storages is everywhere possible
throughout these dry districts, which comprise
some of the most fertile lands we possess. This
carries with it extended possibilities of irrigation
and closer settlement for each State.
Not only is the "dry country" Australian learn-
ing to depend less upon the rainfall and more
638
DROUGHT AND DRY COUNTRY.
639
upon human foresight for water for his flocks and
herds; but, as a stock raiser, he is coming to the
conservation and storage of fodder also.
It has long been known that the natural herb-
age of our great plains is richest in nutriment.
This, with beneficent climates, has led to the pro-
duction of beef, mutton and wool such as no other
land can grow. But it has only of later years
been learned that this natural herbage can be con-
verted into ensilage and more than sufficient of
it kept in hand to make the longest and severest
Australian drought no more than a disagreeable
incident, which might occur once in the average
pastoralist's lifetime.
Beyond this stage in the evolution of an indus-
try there doubtless awaits a time when these stocks
Australia men will be masters of the seasons in-
stead of their slaves.
With the extension of railways, the conserva-
tion of water, and the storage of natural fodder,
the future possibilities of the "dry districts" are
going to be enormously increased.
Large tracts of Australia are coming into occu-
pation, for which the wildest enthusiast of the
last generation would not have dared to forecast
a profitable future.
Take, for example, that huge belt of territory
which extends from the western shores of Spen-
cer's Gulf across to Esperance in Western Aus-
tralia.
This belt may be said to begin with Eyre's
Peninsula, comprising about fifteen million acres.
Jetty, Port Lincoln
Agricultural Machinery for Eyre's Peninsula
of local fodder will, when needed, be supple-
mented by fodder readily transported from closer
settlement areas.
In north-western New South Wales the silo-
ing of native herbage has proved an entire success.
The system can doubtless be applied elsewhere,
as in the northern parts of South Australia, a
country which has hitherto proved very uncertain,
ere exist extensive areas of fertile but arid
soils covered at times with magnificent grasses,
thousands of tons of which might, when occasion
ffers, be converted into fodder reserves. In the
dry climates of our back-country, stock-feed pro-
^^perly conserved will last an unusually long time.
I^B The day will doubtless arrive when all over
Now Eyre's Peninsula has been looked upon as
one of the waste places of this Continent. The
writer confesses that he had little knowledge and
less opinion of the Peninsula and the wide lands
beyond it until quite recently, when he found him-
self on the comfortable deck of the s.s. Morialta,
bound for Port Lincoln, watching cows, horses,
and nine-furrow ploughs coming inboard from the
busy wharves of Port Adelaide.
The Port, with all its maritime activities, its
marine stores, groups of firemen and sailormen,
was modern enough. So, too, were the ship's
passengers fore and aft. Some were evidently
bushmen, some commercial travellers, some far-
mers, and some, who went for'ard with swags
640
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
and folding stretchers, railway navvies and men
of the camps.
At last H.M. Mails arrived in huge canvas
bags, the mail for the Peninsula and beyond it —
letters for Eucla on the Bight, where the delivery
is once a month, newspapers for the outposts on
the Gawler Ranges, harvester literature for the
nearer places, and literature concerning ammuni-
tion and supplies for further back.
The Morialta's lines were cast off, and her
screws began to churn the very smooth waters of
St. Vincent Gulf, into which York Peninsula
dips an arched foot suggestive of Italy. Nor
might any Italian sky be clearer than that in which
the sunset colors lingered, nor any Mediterranean
breeze kindlier than that which brought the
Morialta's passengers good appetites for dinner.
Among them was Surveyor Murray, who
knew the corner of the Commonwealth whereto
we were bound better than anybody, having spent
the greater part of a lifetime tracing its features
in that particular detail which falls to the function
of Government Survey.
Sitting on a hatch under the stars, Surveyor
Murray forecasted the future of the Peninsula
and told how underneath its apparently inhospit-
able limestone, very often at the shallowest
depths, there was water, and how, with the use
of superphosphates, four-fifths of its fifteen mil-
lion acres (in areas from 1,500 to 2,000 acres)
were capable of producing — Wheat.
The discovery of twelve million acres of good
grain-growing lands in one corner, which has long
been regarded as a negligible quantity, adds ano-
ther item to the national asset. Some countries
would make rather a fuss about it, but the Aus-
tralian, being used to big things, accepts the fact
as a matter of course — or criticism.
We came into Port Lincoln with the sunrise.
Port Lincoln is the depot for Eyre's Peninsula.
It is one of the best natural harbors in Australia,
well sheltered and deep.
It has two entrances. The Gulf vessels come
in by one gate and go out by the other, in perfect
safety. It is capable of accommodating a fleet of
battleships, and will be used by the Federal Gov-
ernment as a naval base.
Around it spread low, bushy hills covered with
mallee. Its waters abound in edible fish, and its
shores are rich in oysters. Eighteen miles distant
mineral oil has been discovered, a fact which may
hasten the future of this excellent port.
Hardly were the Morialta's lines fast before
the cranes began to heave out material — sleepers
from the forests of New South Wales, steel rails
from wherever Australian departments make
their purchases, fishplates, and all the familiar
truck and gear of railway construction.
The uses of the Peninsula being no longer in
doubt, the Government in Adelaide was marking
out railway lines, surveying lands which were to
be made available for settlers, and examining the
country for water supply.
From Port Lincoln fifty miles of railway were
already open. This line will be pushed up, with
feeders, into the heart of the Peninsula. Other
lines will go out into the Mallee, running up the
coast of Spencer's Gulf, along the western coast
to Streaky Bay, and ultimately, no doubt, across
to Eucla.
Along these iron roadways the Mallee will
go down; the wheat will come up — another Aus-
tralian "Desert" will be splashed with alternate
green and, gold.
A man's outlook is largely colored by the feel-
ings of the moment. A man like Explorer Eyre,
struggling from one native well to another
through absolutely unknown and hostile country,
looks upon his surroundings with different eyes
from the man who, after a comfortable breakfast
in Port Lincoln, mounts the box seat of a coach
and sets out for the West Coast behind a spank-
ing team of horses.
All the way to Denial Bay, 284 miles away,
he will experience neither hunger nor thirst that
he cannot readily satisfy.
He will bowl along a good road, bordered by
mallee scrub and sheoaks in places, and in other
places by patches of fine agricultural country, by
parklike slopes and forest places abounding in tall
timber.
He will take tea at the rest houses and dinner
at the hotels, and a hundred miles from Port Lin-
coln he will still behold wheat stacks and stubble
fields!
At Streaky Bay, eighty miles farther, he will
find that township sites are at a premium; and at
Murat and Denial Bays — still farther, where the
railway is to go in time^ — he will still be in arable
country with an assured future. And so on to
Chintawanta and Eucla, over a territory as large
as a European kingdom. Along this coast — yet
imperfectly lighted and little known to the out-
side world — from Thistle Island — which is grow-
ing good barley — to Nuyt's Archipelago, there
are already many little ports wherefrom the
annual shipments of wheat are steadily increasing.
From Peter Nuyt's Islands — which marked the
terminus of Dutch navigation eastward — to
Esperance there will be many more.
4
On the eastern shores of the Peninsula, Tumby
Bay has grown up like a goldfields township, only
based on a certainty, where the gold town too
J3
o
02
<
641
Ol
642
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
often rests in the shallow wash-dirt of specula-
tion.
Behind Tumby Bay roll fine blue hills, and fac-
ing its long, weedy beaches are stout stone build-
ings, with brick "tucks" to gratify the eye.
Here are huge stacks of wheat covered with
galvanized iron, flour mills, an "Institute," and
picture shows. Tumby has been entirely built
being built. It runs parallel to Eyre's Peninsula
at a considerable distance northward, and sweeps
away across the Nullarbor Plains, west to Kal-
goorlie — over a thousand miles in all. A large
section of Australia which it will traverse is yet
undetermined. Western America was far better
known and understood when the first trans-Ameri-
can railway was constructed.
_^m^^^mttm
mm^^s^m^
i
A Sheep Station Homestead
up by wheat in six years, and its comfortable-
looking population know that it is the beginning
of a great centre.
At Franklin Harbor the Gulf steamer picks up
a group of wheat farmers going across to Wal-
laroo, to catch the morning's train for Adelaide.
Watching these quiet, manly fellows, number-
ing, one feels sure, some agricultural college men
among the younger members, listening to their
conversation as they sit about the decks smoking,
one realizes that the old melodramatic Australia,
the Australia of the red-shirted bushman, the sun-
downer, and the drought is rapidly becoming a
thing of the past.
From Port Augusta, at the head of Spencer's
Gulf, the Transcontinental Railway Line is now
Much of the country that the Union Pacific
line crossed was then classed as "desert." But
the American dry-farmer of to-day knows better.
The Australian dry-farmer of the future will
be able to pronounce more fully upon the land^
to be crossed by his trans-continental, after fur-
ther experience has been gained.
In the light of what has already been written
it can at once be realized that not 1,000 square
miles of Australia is likely to prove worthless.
As far back as 1896 the Western Australian
Government dispatched an expedition under the
command of Arthur Mason to obtain Information
respecting a supposed incursion of rabbits from
SOUTH AUSTRALIA: DROUGHT AND DRY COUNTRY
643
South Australia. The rabhit — as all the world
knows — has been a cause of many losses (and
some profits) in Australia. The reason for the
rabbit will be made clear in another section of
this book.
Even in a big country like ours, where officials
are called upon to perform the most arduous
tasks, and actually do perform them with a mini-
tion; also a full description of country, soil, and
vegetation met with, and its possibilities; and also
collect any specimens of natural history or flora,
and note any auriferous or mineral indications,
and fix positions of same."
So with three men, eight camels, and provisions
to last about five months, we find the expedition
leaving Kurnalpi on the 17th of June. Kurnalpi
A Forest Pool
mum of error and a maximum of patience, the
commission issued to Mr. Mason was fairly com-
prehensive.
Among other things, he was "during his travels
to record any natural features of interest met
with, or any incidents of importance; and also
endeavour to fix any positions, landmarks, water
holes, or springs, so that they may be laid down
in our maps for public and departmental informa-
was then the farthest out settlement, travelling
eastward.
For the first week it rained every day, but the
water did not remain on the surface.
This is a peculiarity of the whole south-west-
ern part of Australia, in which there is not one
long river of account. The diamond drill is show-
ing why — the storage is below.
Brieflv summarized, the Mason party travelled
k
644
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
east by south, a distance of about 300 miles, to
a point some thirty miles from Eyre's Sand Patch
on the Great Australian Bight. It then bore
away in a straight line to the north-east, two
hundred and fifteen miles, and then fell back due
south to Eucla, 160 miles.
This divides the journey into three long stages.
Mr. Mason condensed his experiences into a
printed report of just 50 pages. It is one of the
most interesting official documents ever issued
by a Government Printer.
Wewill take a few extracts: —
(First Stage.) —
"The country between Kurnalpi and Yindi
looked magnificent, there being abundance of
grasses, saltbush, and numerous Howers.
The soil about Yindi is of a rich, dark red loam.
. . . On the 24th June we left Yindi. For
the whole distance during the first day and for
a few miles on the next day the country was undu-
lating; of a rich, dark loam covered with salt
bush and grass, and timbered with mulga, casua-
rlnas, willows and gums. It is magnificent for
stock purposes. Within about eight miles of the
Ponton there was plenty of good feed, the grass
containing so much moisture that after the camels
had been feeding for an hour they required no
water.
"For the whole fifty-six miles, the Oasis to
Yayoudle Rock Hole, we passed through the most
magnificent pastoral downs I have ever seen, and
occasionally through small 'oases' of from one to
ten acres each in area, with beautiful green feed of
trefoil and other grasses two feet high. The
country evei'ywhere had the appearance of an im-
mense farm, covered with all varieties of grasses,
flowers, and shrubs. The flowers were beautiful
to see, and consisted of Sturt peas, marguerites,
daisies, and everlastings. Everywhere the eye
can reach it is one vast sea of beautiful changing
shades of green. . . . For the next few days
our course was 125 deg., on which bearing we
travelled about fifty-six miles through some of the
best grazing country in the Colony. . . . The
soil is exceedingly rich, of a dark red loam,
around Yayoudle, and the country is of limestone
formation. The plain is richly grassed. This
was the end of the first section of the explora-
tion."
(Second Stage.) — •
"Leaving the main camp, on the i6th July we
(Mason and Yonge) started on the journey to
Boundary Dam, travelling on a course of 40 deg.,
a distance of 215 miles. After going about twenty-
five miles through some splendid gently undulat-
ing grazing country we came on to the plains.
which we named Premier Downs, after the Hon.
Sir John Forrest, Premier of Western Australia,
who in 1870, on his trip from Perth to Adelaide
via the Great Australian Bight, penetrated some
considerable distance inland. These Downs are
entirely destitute of timber, and covered with
magnificent grasses, wild oats, barley, and kan
garoo grass, etc., a great variety of flowers, in-
cluding white and yellow marguerites, etc. Ail
around for miles in every direction, the plains
have a really beautiful appearance. We jour
neyed 104 miles through this magnificent country.
The soil throughout is of a rich red chocolate
loam! At 150 miles we struck the timbered
country — myall, mulga, wattle, etc., with plenty
of grass, flowers, saltbush, etc."
(Third Section — From a point near Boundary
Dam South to Eucla.) —
At this point the natives, during the night,
entered the camp, unhobbled the camels, and
drove them off beyond any hope of recovery by
men on foot; stole the greater part of the pro-
visions, and left the party with eight gallons of
water 160 miles from Eucla, their nearest known
source of permanent water supply.
They determined to walk the hundred and sixty
miles !
And now let Arthur Mason tell his own story
of the retreat to Eucla. It is one of many fine
tales of the Australian Bush, and it has this par-
ticular value that, in spite of all his hardships and
suffering, the man never loses faith in the country
he is crossing over: —
"On the 27th July we left our ill-fated camp,
near Boundary Dam, on our long and perilous
tramp to Eucla. We started early, walking foi
an hour and then resting for half an hour, endea-
vouring to the utmost to keep up our strength.
The load we carried proved heavy, and my hurt
knee was already beginning to make itself felt;
my only hope was that it would last the journey.
The course we steered was about 174 deg., which
would strike about ten miles west of Eucla. The
country passed through for the first twenty-seven
miles was almost desert, of an undulating lime-
stone and sandy composition, with scrub, spinifex,
mallee, quondongs, myalls, and a little salt and
blue bush. Water may possibly be obtained in
the sand hills by digging. At night, for want
of a moon, we found it very awkward walking;
and it was bitterly cold, as we had no other cloth-
ing but what we stood up in. At the twenty-
seventh mile we came on to the open plains, which
looked magnificent, being covered with many
varieties of beautiful flowers, grasses and herb-
ages. My feet began to be painful, and through
the broken limestone ever which we had to pass,
I found it difficult to proceed. In consequence
SOUTH AUSTRALIA: DROUGHT AND DRY COUNTRY.
645
i
A South Australian Mail Coach — Port Lincoln
to Eucla
felt very nervous, for I knew that if my knee
gave way it was all over with me. At night
we slept on the plains in a black frost, and on
rising our clothes were quite stiff with ice. The
weather was pleasantly warm during the day,
and, of course, we were fully exposed to the sun's
rays, and as we found the water was evaporating,
we had to tear up some of our clothes to protect
the waterbags.
"After travelling about sixty miles we passed
the extreme limit of the blowholes, many of them
being in full blast; in some the sound was like
rushing water, in others like a train at full speed,
and again like the noise of an approaching hurri-
cane; many blow outwards and others suck in-
wards. On several occasions we tried to go
down them, but only succeeded in getting down
about twenty feet. They are spirally constructed,
and are not more than eighteen inches to two feet
in diameter. Once I got caught in one, and it
took me some considerable time to get out. /
believe the holes lead to an immense quantity of
underground water.
"The country is magnificent, one of the grandest
grazing lands in the world, thousands upon thou-
sands of acres, covered with many varieties of
grasses, viz., kangaroo, couch, umbrella, wild oats,
and barley, etc.; numerous flowers, amongst them
stars of Bethlehem, marguerites. Start peas, ever-
lastings, etc.; and several shrubs, including salt,
blue, and cotton bushes, pig-face, wild grape,
marsh mallows, and also some red creeping
poison. We found it very dangerous walking
at night on account of the blowholes; they are
hidden by the grass, and on several occasions we
nearly fell down them. We were still on the
plains, and it was terribly cold during the night;
we got nearly frostbitten sometimes. There was
no wood to make a fire; the water was commenc-
ing to get very low; the provisions were finished,
and we were beginning to feel the pangs of hun-
ger. I did not know how it would end, as Eucla
was still a long way off."
This portion of his narrative is quoted because
it emphasises the important fact — that in spite of
its lack of surface water — due to physical condi-
tions alone — the land so painfully traversed was
"still magnificent and looked like fields of
undulating crops."
Obviously the rains, although quite adequate to
ensure these growths, soak rapidly away through
the porous limestone.
A little human ingenuity to conserve a suffi-
ciency of this water for domestic purposes is all
that the country needs to make it capable of
producing enormous wealth.
Mr. Mason says of the Premier Downs: "Even
without water it is the richest pasturage I have
ever seen, and is even better than the Riverina."
Altogether he estimated that there were "30
million acres of some of the best pastoral and
agricultural land in the world" within the radius
of his travels.
Since 1901, Transcontinental Railway explora-
tions and developments have largely verified
these statements. There is no doubt now that,
as all Western Queensland has been made occu-
piable by surface conservation and by the dis-
covery of artesian supplies, so the greater part
of South-Western Australia, long regarded as
useless, will prove a national asset of incalculable
value.
* * * *
We have seen that of Eyre's Peninsula twelve
million acres are set down as arable, and that in
the continuing country between Eucla and Kal-
goorlie 30 million acres are pronounced "the best
in the world." What now of the country follow-
ing on after that, the part of South-Western Aus-
tralia lying between Mason's Camp at Yayoudle
Rock Hole, above Eyre on the Bight — and King
George's Sound — roughly, about 450 miles?
Taking an average width of 100 miles, this
gives another twenty-eight to twenty-nine millions
of acres.
Esperance lies almost midway between Eyre
and Albany. It is 836 miles from Adelaide, 524
from Fremantle, and 220 from Norseman, the
nearest railway depot. Esperance is yet fairly
remote from any centre.
Remoteness has too often been confused with
o
c3
646
SOUTH AUSTRALIA: DROUGHT AND DRY COUNTRY.
647
South Australian Merinos
barrenness in our ideas. Outlying places are con-
demned on any chance statement, simply because
they are remote. Their inaccessibility puts them
at a disadvantage, and the voices of the few
people who could testify to their possibilities are
not heard. It must be kept in mind that the whole
continent is still new to settlement; that each dis-
rict in each State is clamoring for attention.
Since the opening of the eastern goldfields of
Western Australia this country to the southward
f Kalgoorlie has become better known.
A direct railway survey has been made and a
million and a half acres of fine wheat country
determined along its route. The average rainfall
over the largest area is 23 inches — more than suf-
ficient for the growth of cereals. Pinnaroo pro-
duces millions of bushels on an outside average of
15 inches!
The climate is found also to be delightful, with
cold invigorating winters, and summers during
which there are compensating breezes at night
after the hottest days; for all this land faces the
Antarctic Ocean, and is continually swept by cur-
rents of cooler air; altogether a country fitted for
occupation by Europeans.
Another undeveloped agricultural province
may be added to the list, possessing at Esperance
what is claimed to be the "best natural harbor
from Port Darwin to Port Phillip," holding with-
in its wide-spreading arms stretches of rich wheat
and dairy lands.
So promising is this Mallee that a number of
experienced South Australian dry-farmers have
selected lands — obtainable from the Government
at ID - an acre on easy terms — and although han-
dicapped yet by lack of transport, are quite satis-
fied that their future will be a rosy one.
On one farm, 45 miles north of Esperance, 600
acres recently gave 2^ tons of hay to the acre,
and a cleared paddock of 1,000 acres, left to
grow grass, carried 800 sheep, 16 horses, and
several cattle for nine months of the year. There
is no difficulty with water conservation, and the
district is as healthy for stock as any in Australia.
Take this in conjunction with the proved fact that
the lands of the coastal sections are capable of
intense culture, and the last area of this "Great
South-Western Desert" begins to look quite as
promising as the preceding forty-two million
acres.
Let us hear what some of the pioneers are
growing, over in that country where Eyre stag-
gered, thirst-tormented, exhausted, despairing, on
his western way; where the great waves of the
Bight beat on hundreds of miles of lonely shores;
where the average Australian imagination con-
jures up a vision of desolate sand dunes and for-
bidding sterility.
Mr. J. W. White, an ex-member of the South
Australian Legislature, a recognised authority on
Mallee, who was also a member of a Commission
appointed to report on the Mallee lands in the
central State, after taking up his residence in the
Esperance district and living there for several
years, writes: — ■
"It has been proved without doubt that the
land in and around Esperance is capable of intense
culture. As an example, in the garden of Mr.
F. Douglas, vines, figs, apples, peach, mulberry,
apricot, etc., bear fruit that for quality and quan-
tity is equal to anything in other parts of the State.
The vineyard, situated about three miles inland,
planted by Mr. Sims, contains a choice selection
648
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
of table grapes, the bunches of which often weigh
from 6lb. to jlb. each. On the Dalyup river,
20 miles west of Esperance, and from five to ten
miles inland, are the orchards of Messrs. Rouse,
Daw and Irvine. All kinds of fruit grow there
in profusion.
"The wonderful growth of vegetables is notice-
able wherever settlement has taken place. Pota-
toes and onions weigh 2lb. and 31b. each. The
former near the sea coast can be grown success-
fully all the year round, as also can tomatoes.
Marrows, pumpkins, squashes and pie melons
grow in fallowed land without irrigation, and
yield heavily. An abundant supply of fresh
water is obtainable at from ^ft to 12ft. sinking,
in most places within ten miles of the coast.
"Twenty-six miles north of Esperance some of
the best farming land in the State is to be seen,
and extending northwards for a distance of 40 to
45 miles. Wherever cultivation has taken place
results have been most satisfactory."
There is in reality less doubt about the possi-
bilities of this last section of the Great Southern
Belt than the two more eastern divisions.
Of the land that lies between Albany and the
Leeuwin something specific will be said later on.
For the present it suffices to know that it is already
in places producing profitable crops of grain. In
other parts it is covered with the finest and most
valuable hardwood forests in the world.
Any agricultural amateur knows that deserts
do not produce titanic trees, or 15 to 30 bushels
of wheat to the acre; but it requires some special
Australian experience to realize that waterless
tracts of country like the Premier Downs, though
superbly grassed and timbered, are not desert
either. In the light of experience also we learn
that enormous stretches of porous soils may re-
ceive a rainfall sufficient to yield the finest har-
vests when brought under the plough, and yet
refuse the unprovided traveller enough drinking
water to keep him alive.
We have jolted roughly over that part of Aus-
tralia which lies between the 141st meridian and
the 115th: i.e., from the eastern boundary line of
South Australia to the shores of the Southern
Ocean. The string of that bow is 1,500 miles
long, and the bow itself (only a narrow slice cf
the continent) holds probably 70 million acres,
which, mostly untouched, may be classed as "the
finest pastoral and agricultural lands in the
world." The most that can be said against them
is that they are lacking surface waters in certain
places. But they receive more than an adequate
rainfall, and the application of the merest human
effort and intelligence will make them eminently
liveable from end to end.
From the border of South Australia east to
Cape Howe, lies the State of Victoria — how good
has been shown in detail elsewhere.
From Leeuwin to Howe, in fine, there rolls
the whole Southern breadth of the Australian
Continent, and behold! it is all good.
An Irrigated Orchard
Drying Raisins at Eenmark
IRRIGATION, WATER CONSERVATION AND DRAINAGE
NATIONAL irrigation in the arid and semi-
arid States of America was once a dream
of the future — to-day, it is in actual prac-
tice. Country which was considered as "desert"
now supports, with the successful and economical
application of water, tens of thousands of pros-
perous settlers.
South Australians, who know their country and
appreciate its resources, are for expansion as
regards irrigation. They know that the monarch
river of Australia — the Murray — which flows
through their State for nearly 400 miles, can be
used as a fertilising agent on a grand scale.
It is officially estimated that there are 160,000
acres of low-lying lands along the Mur-
ray within South Australia which, at moderate
cost, can be reclaimed and made available for
intense culture. There are also approximately
250,000 acres of high lands which are capable of
irrigation by pumping.
The birth of practical irrigation in the Central
State dates from the advent of Messrs. Chaffey
Bros., at Renmark, in 1887. Previously, a num-
ber of progressive settlers had practised artificial
watering, but not on an extensive or properly
established system.
The State Department of Irrigation and Re-
k
clamation was formed in 19 10. A vigorous
policy is now being pursued in preparing settle-
ments that have hitherto been utilised for nothing
more than sheep runs. Vast areas of fer-
tile land still remain in the hands of the
Crown, to be ofi^ered at a small rental and
under ideal conditions to the settler who is able
to contribute industry and intelligence, with a
reasonable amount of capital, towards its devel-
opment.
Renmark affords a striking example of the
many prosperous communities which, with in-
creased population, will become established on
South Australian river areas. To-day this settle-
ment stands as a monument to the persevering
industry and intelligence of those settlers who
were undaunted by initial difficulties and early
failures. In 1913 a total of 5,237 acres were
irrigated, and the results achieved during several
years past have been remarkable; the total value
of the produce is not less than £135,000 annually.
The Renmark Settlement has established a
reputation for the quality and flavour of its dried
fruits. The prevailing climatic conditions enable
sun-drying to be carried on with more than ordi-
nary success. It is also the home of the famous
Washington Navel oranges, which a leading
649
650
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Irrigation Drain near Beachport
English journal declared were undoubtedly the
finest that had ever entered Covent Garden.
A little more than 5,000 acres has been settled
under the State's scheme for developing these
lands, while over 40,000 acres are now in process
of preparation for allotment, by the construction
of water supply channels and the erection of pump-
ing plants. Yet this is the fringe only of lands
on which successful irrigation practice is possible.
The lands mapped out for future development
comprise about a quarter of a million acres, cap-
able of producing to the greatest perfection the
peach, apricot, nectarine, orange, lemon, fig, pear,
and grape-vine — including the muscat, sultana and
zante currant varieties for drying, and doradillas
for distillery purposes. Lucerne and other fod-
ders have also proved their adaptability to both
the sandy and heavier soils of these areas and
are everywhere being grown successfully.
The State's operations in providing for future
settlement are not confined to the class of lands
already dealt with. The reclamation of the
swamp lands on the lower reaches of the river
also forms an important part. The reclamation
policy was inaugurated by a former Governor of
the State, Sir W. F. D. Jervois, who in 1881
reclaimed about 3,300 acres of swamp land near
Wellington. Further areas were developed by
private enterprise from that time onward, and
in 1904 State operations were commenced by the
reclamation of Mobilong and Burdett areas.
About 3,000 acres of this class of land are now
held under Closer Settlement conditions, and
many familes are making a comfortable living
off areas varying from 20 to 30 acres. Several
swamps, comprising about 5,000 acres, are in
course of reclamation.
Many thousand acres still remain to be dealt
with, whilst the reclamation of Lake Albert,
situated near the Murray mouth, and compris-
ing an area of 40,000 acres, is receiving serious
consideration. Lake Alexandrina, of 75,000
acres, is also to be considered. Major Johnson,
who has been engaged by the State in preparing a
scheme for locking the River Murray, has
already made a special report on the subject of
the reclamation of these areas.
The soils on these lower reaches of the river
have proved by analyses and actual results to be
amongst the richest in the world. They are com-
posed of layer upon layer of rich river silt, inter-
mixed with immense bodies of decomposed vege-
table matter to a depth in many places of over '
40 feet. There can be no possible shadow of a '
doubt that, where such lands are properly re-
claimed against the inroads of flood waters and
SOUTH AUSTRALIA: IRRIGATION AND WATER CONSERVATION
651
The Austin Excavator Working on Swamp-lands, River Murray
effectively drained, they will become some of the
most productive in the world. In refer-
ring to these lands in a pamphlet published
in 1903, Professor Perkins, now Director of
griculture for the State, said: "The swamp soil,
s might have been anticipated from the results
of the mechanical analysis, is abnormally rich in
itrogen; of phosphoric acid it contains twice the
mount normal to a good average soil, and pos-
sibly ten times the quantity usually found in the
average South Australian soil; in potash, soluble
and strong acids it is exceedingly rich."
Practical results from these lands include a
crop of 150 tons of onions from five acres, grown
by Messrs. A. W. Morphett and Co., of Woods'
Point. The average annual lucerne hay crop is
from seven to ten tons and over. During the
summer of 1914-15, when the State was visited
by its record drought, the settlers on the reclaimed
lands reaped a rich harvest, the returns for
steam Shovels at Work on South-Eastern Drains.
652
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
lucerne-hay reaching up to £90 per acre. Dairy-
ing, pig and sheep raising are the principal occu-
pations of the settlers on these lands.
The conditions applying to allotment are simple.
The lands are allotted under the Perpetual
Lease system, at rentals based on 4 per cent, on
the unimproved value, or cost of the land when
resumed by the State and cost of reclamation.
Water and drainage rates are also charged, suffi-
cient to cover cost of pumping and drainage and
general management expenses of the areas. In
the case of irrigable lands, as distinct from those
reclaimed, interest on the channels and pumping
plants is obtained through the water rate. The
area of land either irrigable or reclaimed allotted
to any one applicant is restricted to 50 acres, but
this area has proved to be much in excess of what
can be successfully developed by one man without
the hire of considerable labor.
Assistance is offered to the lessees in preparing
the land for planting, the Department having
power to expend up to £15 per acre on the irrig-
able and reclaimed land in each lessee's block, for
fencing, clearing, grading and constructing irri-
gation channels and tanks, or in other words, the
land can be actually prepared for planting, with
the exception of the ploughing. An amount equal
to not less than 15 per cent, of the estimated cost
of the work must be paid as a deposit, the balance
being repayable by 20 annual instalments with
interest added, commencing after the expiration
of the fifth year. The lessee, however, has the
option of paying off the whole of the amount due
at any lesser period.
Further advances can be obtained on improve-
ments effected by the settler on his holding, in
the erection of buildings and other improvements
and the purchase of stock. The services of an
expert irrigation instructor are available to ad-
vise the settlers, free of cost, on all matters
pertaining to the development and management
of their land. Further than this, assistance is
offered in the marketing and disposal of produce
through the erection by the Government of fruit-
packing and grading sheds, and it is intended to
still further extend this means of assistance by
providing distilleries and butter and cheese fac-
tories. ' '1
Undoubtedly, the future of irrigation develop-
ment in the Central State is exceptionally bright.
At the present time, the local markets can con-
sume much more than the produce from these
areas, while the increase in population in the near
future, with the exploitation of markets further
afield, should give a wonderful impetus to these
long-neglected and unsettled lands.
The problem of Water Supply is inevitably one
of vital importance to a growing country, especi-
ally to a State in which the greater part of the
yearly revenue is derived from its agricultural
and pastoral industries.
Though, in the eighty years since its first
colonisation, the population of South Australia
has only ranged from about 400 people in 1836
fo 433iOOO at present, this far-sighted, if small,
community has up to June 30th, 19 16, expended
£5,413,853 in water conservation and reticula-
tion— an outlay which represents a capacity
in reservoirs, etc., of 8,056 million gallons.
Roughly, four and a half millions was spent in
reservoirs and reticulation for the settled areas,
and the balance in water provision for outside
and remote districts, and the opening up of mail
and cattle tracks into the central regions and to
the north-eastern borders of the State.
The water supply for Adelaide and suburbs is
obtained from the watersheds of the Torrens
and Onkaparinga rivers, which have a catchment
area of about 305 square miles. Thorndon Park
was the first reservoir from which the city was
supplied: it was constructed in 1857, and had a
holding capacity of 139 million gallons. In 1872
Hope Valley reservoir was constructed, to hold
746 million gallons, and, from these two,
Adelaide and its suburbs were supplied until 1896
when, owing to the rapid increase in the popula-
tion and the extension of the deep drainage
system, a further source became essential. In
October of that year, the largest reservoir in the
State — Happy Valley— which took five years to
construct, was brought into operation. It is filled
from the Onkaparinga River, and has a holding
capacity of 3,200 million gallons. Looking ahead,
however, the Government, with an eye to the
city's continual expansion, are now constructing
a reservoir at Millbrook with a holding capacity
of nearly 3,650 million gallons, which, when com-
pleted, will provide an auxiliary supply for the
city and suburbs.
There is a stretch of country nearly 300 miles
long, between Happy Valley (a few miles south
of Adelaide) and Port Augusta (in the north),
which Is reticulated by a continuous and ample
supply of water from the various reservoirs of
the Metropolitan, Barossa, Bundaleer, Beetaloo,
Port Germein, and Port Augusta systems. They
are tapped with about 3,200 miles of mains and
represent a gross annual revenue of £170,000.
The principal country water districts are the
Bundaleer, Barossa, Warren and Beetaloo, in
which a number of towns, as well as country lands,
are supplied. The holding capacities of these
reservoirs are 1,334, 1,000, 1,000 and 899 mil-
lion gallons respectively. Many miles of con-
crete channels and tunnels convey the water to
these storages from their different catchment areas
of about 724 square miles, upon which the aver- '
age rainfall is about 19 Inches on the Bundaleer,
28 inches Barossa, and 26 inches Beetaloo.
i
SOUTH AUSTRALIA: IRRIGATION AND WATER CONSERVATION
653
Barossa Reservoir (capacity — 1,000,000,000 gallons)
The water districts reticulated with mains of
ifferent sizes extend from Aldinga in the south
Port Augusta in the north, and include an area
!>f about 3,708,748 acres. A good supply has
3een provided in each of the districts for all land-
holders, which is of immense value to the farmers
as well as the State. Several Murray River
townships and country lands are supplied with
water pumped from the river into small reser-
voirs or tanks. Mount Gambier in the south-
j east has an unlimited supply of excellent water
j pumped from the Blue Lake, which, with precipi-
tous banks 200 to 250 feet high, is perhaps the
I^^nost picturesque lake in the Commonwealth,
^f The semi-arid nature of much of the interior
and the precarious natural water supplies at one
time rendered the occupation of a great deal
of the country impossible for pastoral or agricul-
tural purposes, and only in exceptional seasons
could the main north-eastern stock routes be tra-
versed with cattle. Now, however, the great
stock routes, extending north-east to the boun-
i^^daries of New South Wales and Queensland,
Pflfcorth to the Northern Territory, north-west to-
ward the Musgrave Ranges, and south-west to
|^_the border of West Australia, have been opened
l^^p by a system of wells, bores, reservoirs and
tanks with the necessary pumps, buckets, and
troughs, constructed often in the face of great
I
difficulties, work having at times to be suspended
until the arrival of more favorable seasonal con-
ditions.
In some cases, the stock route supplies become
pioneer supplies for agricultural settlement, to-
gether with such further provision as may be
necessary. In those districts where underground
water is not available, excavated reservoirs up to
six million gallons capacity have been made where
suitable catchments and ground exist, and exca-
vated tanks, concrete-lined and roofed, with capa-
cities of 200,000 and 500,000 gallons, have
lately been adopted with success for the smaller
catchments, while numerous masonry tanks of less
capacity have been constructed in the past.
As a preliminary aid to agricultural settlement
a large number of catchment sheds, each with gal-
vanized tanks, aggregating 10,000 gallons capa-
city, have been erected on lands thrown open for
selection, and a similar type of shed with tanks
is also used on stock routes where no natural
catchments exist.
The south-western portion of the greatest
known artesian basin lies within the borders of
South Australia. The extent of the Australian
artesian basin is 590,000 square miles, of which
the central State has, as determined by plani-
metrical measurements, about 102,400 square
miles.
654
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
South Australia was one of the first States to
move in extensive artesian boring. Every suc-
cessive experiment was keenly watched, and,
before long, a definite area was mapped out in
which it was tolerably certain that water in great
quantity could be obtained almost everywhere by
the use of boring rods.
The theory formed — that the excessive rain-
fall on the Queensland Great Dividing Range
soaks down into an immense layer of porous
strata between two impervious rock beds, form-
ing a kind of water sandwich — appears to be
to be explored by the drill, and the problems of
the south-westerly extension of the Great Basin,
or of the existence of other supplies in the western
region, have to be solved.
Keen engineering minds the world over have
for years been giving of their best in the great
work of conquering unutilised lands. How the
waste and arid acres of immense distances have
yielded to the fertilising agency of irrigation
forms history in many a now-thriving settlement.
On the other hand a wonderfully fertile tract of
country known as the South-East, is largely given
Drain excavated by machinery in limestone country
borne out by the facts, as revealed by the drill
within the assumed artesian area. South Aus-
tralia has within the great basin, forty-one useful
bores, of which thirty-one are artesian, and the
remainder sub-artesian. These vary in depth
from 280 feet to 4,850 feet, and in temperature
from 86 deg. F. to 208 deg. In the River Mur-
ray basin, useful water has been found in seventy-
three bores, the two southernmost of which flow.
In various other localities, twenty-six successful
bores have been sunk, and three of these are
artesian.
In addition to the above, a large number of
experimental and exploratory bores have been
put down, one of which, within the great basin,
has attained a depth of 5,458 feet, without so
far securing useful water. Private enterprise,
too, has made rapid strides in boring, and the
more progressive agriculturists, pastoralists, and
gardeners have their own bores and pumping
ing plants. Vast areas of this State still remain
over to swamps. This country lies in close
proximity to the dry sandy belts of mallee.
It is the dream of South Australian statesmen
to convert it into a closely-settled and highly-
cultivated region of a productivity akin to that
in the drier portions of the district, where the
rich volcanic soil continuously yields wonderful
crops of cereals, fodders, and vegetables. With
a rainfall averaging from 25 to 30 inches
annually, all that nature requires to restore her
equilibrium in this waste country is a scheme of
artificial drainage.
The district reveals some remarkable features.
The settled portions are situated chiefly within the
counties of MacDonnell, Robe, and Grey, which
comprise approximately four million acres.
General features of the country are a series
of low ranges running parallel with the
seacoast, with flats between them ranging in
width from one to six miles. The ranges are
COLTIVflTION OP INFECIOR COONTFJY UNQER IRRIC/qTI0A4
/^E/qR MILLICtNT. 50UTH ^OSTQflLM
655
II
656
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
covered with trees and scrub and are usually of
a sandy nature on top, with, in places, a surface-
crust of limestone overlying sandstone. These
ranges, little used except for grazing purposes, are
proved capable of growing apple and other fruit
trees.
The flats between the ranges vary, in soil
quality, from rich peaty ground to very shallow
soil overlying hard limestone. All are, or have
been more or less subject to inundation by flood-
waters which accumulate on the flats. The only
natural outlet for these flood-waters was in a
northerly direction along the low or western side
of the flats. The porous nature of the sub-soil
on some of the higher levels causes a good deal
of percolation under the ranges from one flat to
another. Many instances are known where
large quantities of water, at one time, disappeared
into what are locally called run-away holes.
During recent years these run-away holes appear
to have lost their absorbing capacity to a large
extent, and it has been found impracticable to
utilize them to any great degree in permanently
draining the country.
Drainage, therefore, must be by way of arti-
ficial outlets to the sea. Getting down to serious
work, Parliament, in 1908, passed a bill authoris-
ing an expenditure of £300,000 on main drains
to intersect the country and carry the flood-waters
in a direct course to the sea. Prior to this, some
work had been done in the way of cutting drains
along the valleys to assist the floods along their
natural course northwards. These drains, to-
gether with others yet to be constructed, will act
as feeders to the main line of drainage towards
the sea. The whole of the drains which were con-
templated under the Bill are now well advanced
towards completion. Considerable improve-
ment in the country traversed by them is already
apparent. Though draining produces a notice-
able effect almost immediately, the land is usually
not at its best until after a drying period of about
three years.
The Millicent district may be said to be the only
area in the South-East where complete drainage
of the land has been carried out. Here between
75,000 and 80,000 acres of land have been
drained, and what was once only fit for grazing
has now become one of the most fertile and pro-
ductive areas of the State.
The amount spent on national drains in the
South-East other than those provided for in the
1908 Bill is £346,627, which includes the cost of
the Millicent drainage scheme. A further sum
of ■£35.378 has been spent under another Act
which empowers the Government to construct
drains on requests being made by the landowners,
the cost to be refunded to the Government in
forty-two yearly instalments, with interest at 4
per cent. The area to be benefited under the
1908 Bill is given as 1,700,000 acres. The
works proposed, however, will not give complete
drainage to this area, but are designed as the
main arteries of a system which will eventually
be carried out under some scheme of closer settle-
ment not yet formulated.
A good deal of the land in the South-East is
held in large holdings, which are used exclusively
for grazing. This prevents the country from
paying the amount required to give complete
drainage, but closer settlement under a Govern-
ment re-purchase scheme should rectify this con-
dition of affairs, and the South East would then
make rapid advancement in point of productive-
ness and population.
Undoubtedly, South Australia may be congra-
tulated on its drainage enterprise. Nothing simi-
lar has been done in any of the other States. In
191 1 the Engineer-in-Chief (Mr. Graham
Stewart), under whose direction the drainage
works are being carried out, was commissioned by
the Government to visit Europe and America for
the purpose inter alia of selecting suitable machi-
nery for making the extensive excavations neces-
sary to cut direct lines of drainage to the sea.
The department has utilised the most up-
to-date methods in the work. The machines,
which were introduced in 1913, have removed
nearly 3,000,000 cubic yards of excavation. Rock
drills are used for boring holes for explosives,
and the latter loosen the ground sufliciently for
the economic and expeditious operation of steam
navvies. The plant has proved highly satisfac-
tory, especially in a work unfavourably situated
for manual labor on account of the wet nature
of the country. The scheme and its progress
have been favorably commented upon by all engi-
neers who have visited the works.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
PI
658
Western Australia
DAMPIER'S "MISERABLEST COUNTRY"
IT will be remembered that the Voyager Dam-
pier, in the year 1688, roundly condemned
the whole Australian Continent, be-
cause he failed to readily supply his ship with
water along that limited portion of the North-
West Coast which he visited.
Describing the land as "barren and destitute
of water unless you make wells," he strengthened
his assertion by declaring its natives to be "the
miserablest people in the world." Such a race
would naturally be natives of the miserablest
Country — and for two centuries all the world
accepted Dampier's statements as facts.
Several preceding centuries had believed the
world to be flat, and it required much argument
to correct this popular error.
That portion of Western Australia visited by
Dampier in 1688, is still believed to be the
poorest of the Commonwealth.
As our readers have been asked to accept some
facts concerning the admittedly good parts of
Australia, a little account of this "miserablest
country" makes an appropriate conclusion.
There is a regular fortnightly service from
Fremantle (W.A.) along the North-West Coast
and down to Batavia and Singapore, carried out
by the W.A. Steam Navigation Co. and the
Ocean Steamship Co. conjointly.
We will board the ss. Charon, two thousand
eight hundred tons, at Fremantle, with a good
supply of Kodak films and a notebook. It is also
well to take some tropical clothing, for Australia
enjoys more than one climate.
Forward, the crew is composed entirely of
Malays. Aft, all hands except the engineers and
Ideck officers, are Chinese.
We will find Captain Dalgliesh affable, and we
will cultivate him. He will let us have the run
of the chart room, and he knows the North-West
Coast as well as any man afloat. He is also an
authority on the law of storms.
Our cargo consists largely of supplies and mer-
chandise for the Nor'-West towns and sheep sta-
tions. Forward, laid along the deck, are several
huge piles of jarrah, intended for repairing the
wharf at Cossack, which suffered in the great
Koomhana gale.
Our first port of call is Geraldton.
While the vessel is putting cargo out at the
long pier we will go ashore and look round.
There is a railway from Perth, 306 land miles,
to this place, running through country which is
being rapidly settled and converted into dairy-
ing, pig raising, horse breeding and wheat grow-
ing districts, enjoying a sufficient average
'An air of leisurely prosperity at Geraldton"
659
66o
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Harvesting on Hawkhuist Estate, York
rainfall of i8i inches. In this neighbourhood
Pelsart landed after the wreck of the Batavia.
As the historical Abrolhos Islands bear 40-45
miles due west at their highest point, we will not
be able to see them.
There is an air of leisurely prosperity about
Geraldton. Pelsart marooned the two first
authenticated Australian white settlers at Cham-
pion Bay. The population of town and district
numbers at present — three hundred years later —
13,500.
Judging by the bales of sheepskins and wool
waiting on the wharf to be hoisted into the
Charon's hold for Singapore, the outskirts of
Dampier's "miserablest country" are not alto-
gether hopeless these days.
If Pelsart could come back to inquire what be-
came of his two mutineers he would see what fool-
ish conclusions some fine old sea-captains cher-
ished about the quality of this particular coast.
He would find wharves, mills, railway yards and
many unexpected changes, including 32-bushel
crops inland. He would hear that one concession-
aire had sold £400,000 of land between Perth and
Geraldton in 2! years; that the North-West is
regarded by experienced pastoralists as being
amongst the best sheep country in Australia, and
that from Geraldton eastward one might travel
by railway to Sandstone (309 miles) and west
and north to Meekatharra (334 miles) through
lands classed first as agricultural and wheat, and
then through good pastoral and mineral country,
to his journey's end.
The old Dutch commodore, who had such an
unhappy experience along here in 1629, would be
still more astounded to find orchards of citrus
fruits, wherein the average yield from a single
mandarin-tree is 200 dozen of excellent quality.
The sand plains that seemed so barren to his
eyes, and to the eyes of Dampier and others who
followed him, he would hear spoken of as good
summer pasture for sheep; while the country cov-
ered with stunted trees — York gums, jam and
black wattle — is classed among the best. The
York gum land, when cleared, at a maximum cost
of £2 an acre, grows excellent pasturage. Its
soil is a heavy loam, easily ploughed, and
cannot be surpassed in the State for the growth
of cereals. It is refreshing to find that in the
coastal strip from Geraldton to the Murchison
River there are still hundreds of thousands of
acres of good country available for settlement;
that more than one site for an irrigation colony
exists, and that a i6-bushel crop of wheat is
often possible from these first-class arable lands,
on which any practical man can make a good liv-
ing and more.
Of coal and gold, lead and copper, this par-
ticular district in the "miserablest country" has
added no mean sum to the national output. The
Great Fingal goldmine at Day Dawn alone has
produced about £4,000,000 in gold to date!
As nowadays in America land is valued by the
amount of lucerne it will grow, the fact that ex-
periment with lucerne out here has demonstrated
its power beyond doubt to get rooted and live
through the hottest summer, without irrigation,
is worthy of attention.
As in other so-called "dry districts," water is
available in good supply at a depth of 20 feet.
Inland from the coast again is a vast artesian
basin, the extent of which is yet unknown.
So, for the growth of cereals, fruits, dairy and
garden produce; for the raising of stock, and for
the production of precious metals, this section of
"miserablest country" is proven quite suitable.
Both Master Dampier and Mynheer Pelsart
were wrong. The land which produces oranges
— 14 to a stem — peaches, apricots, grapes, pas-
sion fruit, figs, nectarines, and other luscious
fruits; where "sweet potatoes grow like weeds,"
and melons crop 20 tons to the acre, is good
enough for European settlement!
DAMPIER'S "MISERABLEST COUNTRY"
66i
In the morning, leaving Geraldton, we will
slide back the teak door of our deck cabin, while
the "boy" is getting our "chatty" bath ready, and
behold the brooding shores of Western Austra-
lia, under whose ruffled breast a covey of fledg-
ling islets are nestling, and the fresh, invigorat-
ing breeze will come to us across a sunlit sea.
We are travelling north in midwinter, when the
seas are always smooth and the skies are always
clear. Each day brings us farther into the Aus-
and tie up at Carnarvon Wharf late in the even-
ing— a day after leaving Geraldton.
This part of the coast, projecting farthest to-
wards the early tracks of Indian trade, was
apparently the first known to Europeans. Here
came Dampier in the Roebuck, in August of 1699,
when William the Third was King.
We will rise early, for the mornings on this
coast are too beautiful to miss.
I
I
Loading Camels for Nullagiue
of
t
\m
tralian tropics — that wonderland which has yet
be pictured and written and sung.
There are 150 tons of pearlshell waiting ship-
ment at Broome, and the skipper is anxious about
the tide, although we are yet many days from
that port — for the thirty and forty feet tides
of the North-West Coast have to be reckoned
ith.
As the lazy hours drift by we will steam round
e sandy headland of Cape Inscription, where
stands one of the few lighthouses of this coast —
the most westerly beacon in Australia. From
here our course lies north-east across Sharks
ay to Carnarvon, on the Gascoyne River. We
pass Bernier and Dorre Islands, used as lock hos-
pitals for natives by the Westralian Government,
It is an open port, facing Geographe Channel,
so named by M. le Capitaine Baudin, in the days
when the First Napoleon was Emperor of France,
and tried to name Australia "Terre Napoleon."
A broad electric-blue band right around the
horizon, a sky stained to the zenith with an in-
credible blending of colors, herald the sunrise.
A whale ship, red and smeared, is steaming
slowly into the roadstead. In her "crow's nest,"
a white barrel at the crosstrees, no lookout is sta-
tioned. Her bomb gun for'ard glitters in the
dawnlight.
She drops anchor softly and comes to rest, the
flag of Norway drooping over her stern.
The Malays chatter and laugh as they begin to
take the Charon's hatches off.
662
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
One's splash bath is cool and refreshing, and
the brightness and smoothness of the Tropics are
with us now.
The cabin boy slips in announcing, with silken
voice, the benefaction of "tea an' toas'."
Our Carnarvon cargo will not be all out before
night time, and as there is wool to load, we can
breakfast at our leisure, before walking the mile-
long jetty that takes us towards the town.
Unloading Pearl-Shell
It is Saturday, and there is a large assemblage
of Australians, young and old, at the sports
ground to witness a football match.
These residents of Dampier's "miserablest
country" are surprisingly active, cheerful, and
prosperous-looking. To all enquiries regarding
the climate they give optimistic replies. When
we ask about the country they take us to one
Angelo, a resident of substance, who is carrying
out some experiments in agriculture at a little dis-
tance from town.
Angelo is an Australian and an enthusiastic be-
liever in the destiny of the North-West. He
brings a buggy and drives us across a very dry
plain to the banks of the Gascoyne, where he has
laid out his irrigation area.
Now the Gascoyne, like many other Australian
rivers, is among the paradoxes of this unrealized
continent. For many months at a time it appar-
ently ceases to flow. To the eyes of an inexperi-
enced observer, like Dampier for example, it
would then be a river of dry sand — no more.
Dampier spent eight days around here vainly
looking for water. Apparently the river was not
running in August, 1699. Other staggering,
swaggering figures out of the Past have landed,
looked, and turned seaward again, roundly curs-
ing an inhospitable shore.
Had they only known it, the Gascoyne — which
drains an enormous area of country — was running
all the time — below !
Under that wide, sandy river bed, and for a
mile or more wide, on either bank, for a proved
distance of 100 miles upstream, there is a constant
and abundant flow of good, clear water. This
fact our friend Angelo realized full well. One
doubts not that many who are to come, the future
settlers of the North-West, will know also.
There is a "sumph" hole sunken in the sand
some distance away from the Gascoyne, and a
petrol engine is pumping up water at the rate of
about 1,300 gallons an hour. This, supplemented
by a supply lifted by windmills, is disbursed over
the area under treatment, as the particular sec-
tions of Mr. Angelo's cultivation require it. The
soils are typical Australian red soils, similar to
those about Yanco in New South Wales, or such
as are found anywhere through the saltbush dis-
tricts.
The water is struck at a depth of about 24 feet
from the surface. Unlike some of the artesian
supplies, it is not highly mineralized. The system
followed here is to give the ground 2 cwt. of
"super" and half a ton of lime to the acre. The
results stand, or rather flourish, before us. Here,
for example, are ten acres of irrigated lucerne
planted in November which gave five "cuts" be-
fore July 13th. At the March cutting this lucerne
was three feet four inches high, after twenty-seven
days' growth !
Here also are tomatoes — worth £1 a case in
Perth — pomelos, papaws, lemons, oranges, and
mandarins in fine promise, figs in profusion,
plantains, mangoes, guavas and rock melons, with
peas, cauliflower, and all kinds of vegetables.
As evidence of the catholicity of climate in this
district, we will gather a sample of cotton grow-
ing alongside a bed of strawberries.
The success of the Angelo irrigation area at
Carnarvon can be repeated in hundreds of thou-
sands of similar sites in the North-West. There
is room for millions of prosperous people in that
vast hinterland between the Murchison and the
Kimberleys, which to-day contains only 7,000 in-
habitants. ...
DAMPIER'S "MISERABLEST COUNTRY'
663
Diver and Crew on a Pearler
»The following morning will find us on the way
) Onslow, just around the shoulder of the Con-
nent. We have now entered the pearling
grounds, which extend round to Cooktown on the
Queensland Coast. They are a national asset
II worth at least a million annually if they were rea-
sonably exploited. We are running down a little-
known coast line, where the ship's charts still
i carry dotted lines in places and shore-lights are
few and far between. On the islands offshore,
— of which there are hundreds, from a few acres
in area to the size of a European duchy — we
I could get wild sheep and turtle in abundance.
Behind Onslow extends, as usual, plenty of
good pastoral and agricultural country. For 50
miles in places one might run a straight furrow
through richest soil without clearing a stump.
These lands will grow anything. They must
some day come under the plough. Individual
fortunes are certainly being made in the North-
West. Recently a man bought a station for £1,000
i^H the conclusion of a dry spell. The good rain
^^Tame shortly after, and he made £40,000 on
his deal. But that is not the final destiny of the
Great North-West, despite the fact that our old
Charon already has 1,500 bales of wool, worth
£14 a bale, in her holds.
\m^ Onslow itself is low-lying and sandy. It faces
''the Indian Ocean — calm enough except in the
typhoon season, and dotted now with sails of the
pearling luggers in the offing, laying east by north
for Port Hedland or Broome.
We lie at anchor, waiting until the two-
masted lighters with huge brown fore-and-aft
sails, bear slowly down to us on a nice little ruffle
of wind.
They are laden with bales of wool and heavy
boxes of pearl-shell, and manned by crews of fine-
looking half-castes. There is much colour in the
North-West.
It takes all day to dump the cargo in and out.
At last the lighters, fully laden with fodder, tyres,
sulkies, beer, groceries and other requirements of
remote Australia, spread their brown wings in
the lovely afterglow of sunset, and drift away
ever so slowly towards the low-lying sandy shore.
The Malays fasten down our hatches again.
The Captain is finishing a game of bridge; the
passengers lounge about in their deck chairs
enjoying a rather warm evening breeze — the
characteristic dry air of this coast, purified by
contact with the great plains.
Strange Asiatic words, shouts, and orders echo
along the decks. Presently the screw begins to
churn phosphorescent seas, as we bear away for
Cossack.
Morning finds us among the islands of Dam-
pier Archipelago. This coastland being impreg-
nated with iron (of which there are large
deposits, as well as gold and other metals), red is
the dominant note in Nature's color scheme.
Between Onslow and Cossack there is a
calling place for steamers called Fortescue,
where the ship's compasses are always affected —
probably by a submarine deposit of iron. At
Magnetic Shoals and Cape Lambert, similar
i
Cleaning Pearls
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Pearling Luggers at Anchor, Port Hedland
deviations are to be expected. To quote that
naval oracle, the Admiralty Chart: —
"The whole of the coasts of North-
Western Australia are as yet very imper-
fectly examined and charted, and mariners
are cautioned accordingly."
We will pass Legendre Island towards evening.
Its red masses of ironstone, shaped into fantastic
natural architecture, look like the canyon villages
of New Mexico.
Next morning we will find ourselves by the
high wharf at Cossack, built, as all wharves have
to be built on the North-West Coast, to meet the
tremendous rise and fall of tide.
Day glides gloriously over a red headland, and
brings an immediate sparkle to the sea. We
may go ashore on a tropic beach, and gather pink
seashells and spotted cowries. It is all blue and
gold. Sky, land, and sea have taken on brighter
colors, and the dim shadow, the mist, the spin-
drift, the grey clouds of the temperate zone have
vanished — we are in another country, where
people wear white clothing and helmets in
winter.
Along curving forelands, like the walls and
battlements of ancient cities, of square and solid
seeming, stand naked masses of ironstone.
Rank grasses grow along the sea margin, but
inland there are deep red soils holding rich pas-
ture and succulent herbage. Where there is a
good tropical rainfall — 1 1 inches have fallen in an
hour — one finds running rivers and lush bush
growth.
Big men wearing wide-brimmed felt hats and
khaki trousers, are laboring to land the long
sticks of timber from the steamer. Their calm
and easy efficiency and great strength make favor-
able contrast with the excitability and lesser
physical strength of the Malay crew. Whether
or not Tropical Australia is to be conquered
entirely by Europeans, the I'uropean is the more
competent and capable worker, albeit independent
and harder to handle in large operations.
We will leave the pearling luggers at anchor,
the sage-green hillsides, the pink and white cliffs,
the lighthouse and the tramway that make the
picture of Cossack, and we will go out on a
A Pearl Blister,
(Containing either a Pearl or Mud)
DAMPIER'S "MISER ABLEST COUNTRY"
665
jMimmmth
Fort Hedland
i ^(
fourteen-foot rise, our skipper handling his ship
ke an archangel in white uniform and gold
raid. With a cool breeze blowing, a clear sky
nd a smooth sea, the run to Depuch Island is like
yachting trip on Sydney Harbor. But in the
willy-willy months we would find this to be the
pivot of tremendous storms. The roofs of
the houses in Cossack are secured by chains to
prevent their being lifted off by the wind. At
Depuch we find evidences of the Koombana
gale and other typhoons.
Here is the Concordia barque, refloated and
lying off the narrow sandy beach, where, luckily,
she went ashore. Opposite our anchorage is a
schooner, high and dry, and near by the Crown
of England, broken in two; part of her stern
visible above the water, and a raffle of wreckage
ashore.
The lighter. Cuprum, laden with wool and
Ore and manned entirely by Greeks, comes along-
side. The Chinese tally clerk, a neat person
who always wears white shoes, takes up his posi-
tion with his back to a stay, to set down in his
tally book in neat English hand-writing, the
number and distinguishing marks of the squatters'
wool bales as they are swung inboard. He checks
also the baskets of champagne and other require-
ments of the mines, as they go out.
It is another side of Australia, with which Aus-
tralians are little familiar.
Ik
The products of this coast are mostly sent for
transhipment to Singapore. It is cheaper than
shipping them to Perth and thence to Europe.
Depuch Roads make the port for Balla Balla, a
rich mineral district, where, within a radius of 20
miles, iron, silver, lead, copper and gold have been
worked at a profit; but the mineral resources of
the wide North-West are practically untouched.
Competent mining authorities predict that it will
yet prove the Ophir of Australia.
It is, somehow, a rich mysterious light of Ophir
that softly glamors all the afternoon. Deepest
greens and blues and reds are continually coming
and going over sea and land. A green tide runs
like a flooded river under the ship's quarter, and,
beyond the colored islets, spreads a sea of abso-
lute azure.
Shoreward rises a series of ruddy hills, with
patches of vegetation sprinkled through them.
Around a wall of geranium-colored rocks the
tide rapidly recedes and leaves marine growths
of vivid hues to add their quota to the painted
picture.
White trunks of distant gum trees are sil-
houetted against the universal background of red.
But in the falling sunset everything turns to rose
and gold. For the mystery and romance of this
enchanting coast, neither the stout Greeks in the
lighter nor the brown Malays in the hold have
much leisure. They are kept intensely busy to
get everything in and out, so that our ship may
Ql
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L. T^
The Chinese Tally Clerk
depart upon the next tide. Tides here are the
constant study of shipmen and to this, in the
typhoon season, is added a constant study of the
glass.
In the hghter's cuddy — which is no more than
a square malt tank cut down to accommodate an
American stove — a huge pot of stew is cooking.
Demetrius, the lighterman, has evidently learned
to appreciate our good Australian mutton, of
which he may cheaply procure an abundance here.
Such wages and such living could never be his
along a Mediterranean shore.
Like the Italian, he is a good colonist, and the
children of both make fine Australians.
The last bale is inboard, the last packet slung
over the side. Our anchor is lifted out of a
hyacinth lake, the drops falling from it as red as
zircons when it leaves the water. With golden and
vermilion clouds floating lightly overhead, we slip
onward to Port Hedland over an opaline sea.
From Port Hedland a railway runs through
the Pilbarra goldfields to Marble Bar — 125 miles.
We are now over a thousand miles from Fre-
mantle. Marble Bar is said to be the hottest
place in Australia. One month the temperature
averaged 112 degrees, but — and here is a strik-
ing fact — the people of Marble Bar are "White
Australians" to a man.
Ask any of these residents — one white woman
at least has lived there for 18 years and mothered
a family of twelve — ask them without prejudice
if they regard their climate as healthy and live
able for Europeans, and they will say "Yes."
They tell you that the white man can work in
the sun of the Australian tropics better than the
black; they tell you that they are singularly free
from all kinds of sickness, and they point with
pride to their children.
All this can doubtless be attributed to the el
ceeding dryness of a climate wherein the moa
intense heat is invigorating rather than enervaj
ing-
The way into Port Hedland is wicked ar
winding, as our skipper knows. We slow dowr^
before the Outer Bar, and the voice of the Malay
leadsman at his station is heard droning —
"Maark Tree!
"Undah Quartah Tree !
"Hahahrp Tree — Dee-ee-p pfour!
"One'n'a qwartah, pfour, Hahahrp pfour"-
Beyond the Inner Bar lies a sandy point on whic
the houses of Port Hedland have been thrown
one hopes more from expediency than choice.
Heaving the Lead
pie^
The steamer is safely landed at the piej
There is more wool to load. We will go ashore
and hear what the local people have to say about
things.
They are all firmly convinced that they live in
a healthy country. There are mud flats and
J
DAMPIER'S "MISERABLEST COUNTRY"
667
m
angrove swamps about the place, but it is
claimed to be free of fever. We will hear from
e mountainous O'Meara, foreman of the rail-
ay gang, that his heavy fellows find the climate
perfectly healthy, but a trifle too hot for mid-
day work during a summer which lasts from
November to March.
His fettlers are earning 15/- a day. O'Meara,
a railway builder of much experience, asserts
emphatically that they can outlast and outwork
any colored laborer.
He swears that one white railway navvy is
worth at least ten coolies.
O'Meara is not, physically, the kind of person
with whom one would care to argue violently
and his gang look more like gladiators in
the pink of condition than the weak and degener-
ate white man who is usually associated with the
Tropics.
Furthermore, out here one meets the finest type
of man Australia is producing. They are, as a
body, of stalwart and enduring physique;
generous, intelligent, and courageous in tempera-
ment.
No band of frontiersmen ever met difficulty
r danger as light-heartedly as that bronzed
bush brigade of the North-West.
Our Australian bushmen are unequalled riders,
peerless shots, resourceful hunters and brave as
men may be; but the revolver and the knife have
never been permitted to usurp the functions of
judge and jury as in some other new countries.
Not a mining camp along our whole continental
line of advance but has been strictly kept to law
and decency, from the putting in of the first pros-
pector's peg to the height of the highest rush.
There is not a settled district throughout the Con-
tinent to-day where men carry firearms, although
they have been everywhere free to do so. Only
in very few places nowadays in the far North
need one anticipate any trouble with natives. No-
where on earth is there a greater security for
every citizen, or better protection for life and
property than in the Australian Commonwealth.
Out here, where the pearler, the trepang-
fisher, the trocus and tortoiseshell gatherers, and
the beche-de-mer men sail over yet uncharted
seas; where the prospector, the drover and the
stockman ride across yet unmapped distances;
where police stations are hundreds of miles apart,
there is no open lawlessness, and — despite a
mixed population — comparatively little crime.
From Port Hedland to Broome our course will
be across a corner of the Amphinome Shoals, past
Bedout Island lighthouse, and wide of the Ninety-
Mile Beach to Roebuck Bay.
Broome is the great pearling depot of the
North-West. Here we find Asia and the East
m^a^i
O'Meara, Boss of the Gang.
668
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
On the Road to Marble Bar
Indies fully represented. There are 2,500 people
in Broome, of whom 1,500 are aliens.
In a business street we will read, following one
another, the signs of Horimoto, Japanese cabinet
maker; Kazakos, Greek fish-vendor; Ted
Quinn, Irish saddler; Chas. Mummery, English
chemist.
The Charon, having £43,000 worth of pearl-
shell to take aboard, we can go ashore for dinner
at a hotel, where Japanese waiters will serve us
with superior mien. We will see the many
picturesque activities of the pearling industry,
and hear the two sides of the case — all of which
may be given later.
The Asiatic quarter in Broome is decidedly un-
pleasing. It consists of narrow lanes and
insanitary houses, where dirt and overcrowding,
most offensive to Australian eyes, certainly pre-
vail.
Pearls worth — before the war — four to five
thousand pounds a shell are sometimes found.
Pearls worth a thousand are fairly frequent.
Life on these white-sailed luggers, lying east
by north around the Western Australian coast was
worth, to the adventurous, more than the price of
pearls. Many of those engaged in the industry
were born gamblers, who went ashore for high
play now and then. These are the men who pay
£500 for a good-looking blister and sell it for 5s.
ten minutes afterwards if it proves a "duffer."
The luggers watch one another very closely.
When they see a fellow away out off the land, and
guess he is on "shell," the whole visible fleet
swoops down on the spot like a flock of gulls. On
Saturdays the supply ships go out with wood and
water, provisions and necessaries. With an east
wind, not too strong, the pearler is happy. The
crews at the pump sing as the shell is coming
aboard and work morosely when the diver is
not on it. The deepest pearling grounds which
can be worked are at 22 and 23 fathoms. Divers
have groped for shell at 30 fathoms; but the
mortality is high enough under what may be called
normal conditions. The principal pearling
grounds are from Amphinome Shoals to Roebuck
Bay, and round to King Sound. The celebrated
'Southern Cross' pearl was found at the Lacepede
Islands. It is said that this queen of pearls was
discovered in a shell on the beach and first sold
for 25 shillings.
The natives of the mission station on Sunday
Island vary the cultivation of tropical produce
with pearling — the whole coast, before the war,
was more or less interested in shell. If you
i
DAMPIER'S "MIShlRABLEST COUNTRY"
669
wanted to buy pearls cheap, you would go to the
yardmen in the hotels. You might get a bargain
worth £50 for £5. I spoke with a nice little man,
who produced £120 worth of pearls in a Cockles'
pill-box from his waistcoat pocket. There was
an ex-policeman along the coast who owned a
hotel and four pearling luggers. There were
The coast, from Sharks Bay northward, is all
looked upon as pearling grounds, but the work-
able places extend intermittently over this wide
marine area, in depths up to 26 fathoms.
Shells exists in deeper waters farther from the
land, but it cannot be got at. The deeper water
gives better patches of shell, just as the most in-
Coongan River, Marble Bar.
men who went to the coast with next to nothing —
two of my own bush school mates among them —
and came away "close up" millionaries.
It is a romantic life; the grounds have stories as
opaline as the wide-lipped shell they bear. Out
here "Gentleman James" pursues his tossing way
among a thousand sparkling islands. Out here
"Black Jack" goes up and down flying the pirate
flag on his lugger. Down here come queer craft
out of Java, out of Koepang, out of the Malay
Archipelago. Without doubt Asian strangers are
landed at times in quiet bays, mangrove fringed,
where the patrol boats of the Commonwealth, if
there are any, do not go.
The pearling industry began thirty years ago
on this coast with naked divers, mostly aborigines,
who fished new grounds with whale-boats. When
I first went into the north-west there were about
3)500 men engaged in pearling, of whom a few
hundreds were whites.
u
accessible regions seem to hold the biggest nuggets
of gold.
This industry has been worth £300,000 to
£400,000 a year to the Commonwealth. Before
the war pearlers reckoned that it ought to yield
five millions within fifteen years. Pearling is not
the only marine industry along this coast, trepang,
trocus shell, tortoise-shell, beche-de-mer are all
abundant.
Diving for pearl-shell has been brown man's
business. The mortality among white divers has
always been heavy. White workers earn at
wharf-labouring, safely, as much as diving would
bring them, so they do not put on the dress and
go below. Those who have done so, mostly got
paralysis and died or else got out.
Out of 300 coloured divers on the coast deaths
average 20 a year; so the luggers' crews are com-
posed of Malays, Manilamen, Javanese, and
Japanese. The latter make the best divers.
670
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These men sign on for a period of three years
at thirty shillings a month; Singapore is the re-
cruiting ground. Earnings increase to 50s. a
month with experience. Practised divers get £3
a month and a "lay" of £30 a ton on shell.
Pearlers whom I talked with in Broome said their
keep a warship to patrol, probably a fleet of them.
Men would land to get wood and water and
abscond. In fine they preferred to live under the
British flag, but, if driven off the northern coasts,
they could live under another and still take pearls
and pearl-shell from Australian waters.
Japanese Monument, Broome.
divers were making £150 and £200 a year; most
of which they spent in that town during "lay-up"
season. They believed that the white man could
not dive. If the Commonwealth Government
insisted upon a White Australia policy in connec-
tion with the pearling industry, the luggers would
go over to Java and register under the Dutch
flag. This, my pearling friends explained, would
be certain to cause international trouble sooner
or later. Luggers would come across and work
off shore, outside the three-mile limit, and inside
it wherever they could. Australia would have to
As poaching shell along a coastline of 800 miles
presented little difficulty, I saw no reason to
doubt their statements. Chinese and Arab
owners of luggers registered in Koepang already
carry on nefarious trading. They can see a
steamer's smoke a long way off, and glide away
into one of the many unknown creeks and bays
along this coast.
The Asiatics are quite familiar with our un-
charted places.
Most of the business in Broome is carried on
by Japanese. It may be true that during the
DAMPIER'S "MISERABLEST COUNTRY"
671
monsoon, the "lay-up" season, pearling crews
spend ashore nine-tenths of the money they have
earned afloat, but they spend it chiefly among their
own people. In Broome one finds Japanese
billiard-rooms, Japanese brothels, Japanese clubs,
Japanese doctors, and Japanese stores. Japanese
newspapers and magazines circulate, and the
Japanese language is written and spoken more
than English. The Japs import their food and
clothing from Nippon.
Broome wants building and sanitation by-
laws badly. It might be made a beautiful tropical
city — the palms and flowers in the mission garden
and the houses in the European quarter prove
this — but its crowded, neglected Asiatic quarters
are not good for Asia, and reflect no credit on
Australia. As long as this continent contains
alien citizens they must be given all the privileges
of citizenship, and encouraged, or compelled, to
carry out all its duties.
The people of Broome, believing that their
prosperity depends upon pearling, excuse and
tolerate conditions which would not be allowed
to exist elsewhere in White Australia.
The people of Broome are wrong. Beyond
pearling, which, like mining, is always a specula-
tive industry, there lie permanent pastoral and
agricultural possibilities for their districts — as yet
realized by very few.
Right in the town of Broome two artesian bores
have been put down. Water was struck at 1,600
Landing at Broome
A Westralian Mounted Policeman
feet depth. The second bore yielded a million
gallons a day.
There are large areas of pindan country. At a
hundred feet depth everywhere at the edge of
the plain, wells yield good supplies where 500
to 1,000 head of cattle can be watered. The
maximum capacity of these pindan wells is esti-
mated to be as much as 40,000 gallons a day.
These discoveries have begun to put a dif-
ferent aspect on the question of settlement.
Fourteen years ago there was no water, no cattle
— nothing. Now water is being located every-
where, and there has been a rapid increase of
cattle and other pastoral development.
It is a relief therefore to leave the Asiatic
quarter and come up town agair> and see the clean
tropical houses of the Europeans, built up on piles
or masonry pillars, which, with their wide veran-
dahs and open rooms, ensure health and coolness.
Many of them have gardens, for the red sands of
Broome will grow anything if watered. The
cable station is a fine building, with trees and
grounds. Occasional street palms and baobab
trees, with a beautiful blaze of flowers in the
Mission garden, show how this tropical town
might be beautified.
Like all the North-Western population, the
white people of Broome seem well and robust.
The chemist says the climate "is rather too
healthy for his business." Others, who have an
opportunity of forming correct conclusions, sup-
port this statement.
Of course there are people who drink too much
whisky; for the Australian has not yet realized
that overmuch alcohol is quick death in the
tropics.
-vS^.
A Camel Train
A Camel Sulky
672
DAMPIER'S "MISERABLEST COUNTRY"
673
I
The Camel as a Lady's Hack
Leaving Broome in the heel of its great open
bay, its placid green-blue waters dotted with
white sails of pearling luggers, we will sail on
through the Buccaneer Archipelago to the mouth
of King Sound. By Cape Leveque terrific tides
make white water on seven-fathom depths. Our
ship will go down the Sound with a ten-knot tide
that stirs up the mud from the sea bottom.
We are landing the first white woman for the
Leopold Ranges, and she is getting her goods and
chattels ready — chairs that unscrew, wire stret-
chers which will roll up, mosquito tents — the
furniture which experience of outdoor life has
told her to collect. Her husband is going up
to the Leopold to take charge of a mining pro-
position, and she has elected to go with him.
We have reached Derby, the last place of any
importance on this coast until we arrive at
Wyndham in Cambridge Gulf, at the other side
of Kimberley, 537 miles by sea, and nearly 400
miles across country in a straight line; but the
journey across country should only be undertaken
by an experienced bushman, for a large part of
the Kimberley country is not yet occupied by
Europeans; although the grapes and European
fruits found growing wild there, with the old guns
and Dutch relics that have been picked up, lend
colour to the belief that the Dutch established a
secret outpost here hundreds of years ago.
From Derby to Wyndham lies a fertile pro
vince, enjoying a regular rainy season. It is an
intensely tropical country capable of producing
rubber, cocoanuts, dates, fibres, coffee, cotton,
rice, and other valuable commodities. Its seas
are rich in pearls and trepang — which is prepared
here and shipped to Macassar and Singapore
Off the Kimberley coast lie the Lacepede Islands,
where that great "Southern Cross" pearl was
found a few years ago.
Occasional pearls that bring four and five
thousand and many worth a thousand are got
along this coast. Pearl and trocas shell are a
constant export.
The rice plant is indigenous to Kimberley, as to
the Northern Territory. Date seeds thrown
casually upon the soil will spring up in the wet
season. Here flourishes the beautiful baobab
tree, introduced, mayhap, in the far past by Arab
sailors. Here grow a thousand tropical plants,
which might be turned to profitable account
Sheep and long-horned bullocks the Kimberley
produces most successfully. Cattle, so far, have
been its chief export, but, its future will not be
pastoral only. Its vegetation and physical
features differ from the rest of tropical Aus-
tralia. One enters the Kimberley forests to find
beautiful white gums drooping over long brown
grasses, which give place to green natural pastures
in the rainy season.
Native trees with scarlet beans and the spread-
ing baobab displace the quiet eucalypts of the
South. Both surface and artesian water are
plentifully disbursed over this as yet undeveloped
As a Carriage Horse
territory; which also abounds in gold and tin and
other precious metals. In its beautiful alluvial
valleys the tamarind trees are growing from
stock dropped originally as seed by visiting
Malays, perhaps long before Cook landed at
Botany Bay. Its rivers, lagoons and chains of
ponds teem with fish and game. If it were
developed by closer settlement it would be a land
of Plenty and Profit. It is not wise policy that
so much highly-productive country in the North
should remain unoccupied. With conservation
of water, ensilage, tropical agriculture and stock
raising on small areas this country will support
thousands of prosperous homes.
674
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Captain Dalgleish and "Paddy'
the rocks which constitute the backbone of the
ranges.
"These rocks are, in the main, granite, basalt,
and other volcanic rocks, limestone and sand-
stone. As may be expected the resulting soils
contain a plentiful supply of mineral plant-food
elements. The aridity of the climate, which
prevents the excessive leaching of soluble salts,
tends to maintain the initial fertility of such
soils.
"A depth of free soil, such as we are not accus-
tomed to in the South-West is a striking feature
of the North-West land.
"From the Gascoyne to the Yennary, leguminJ
ous plants abound. The solanums are alsej
very prominent and afford an explanation of th^
luxuriant growth of tomatoes, chillies, cape
gooseberries, and egg fruit (bringels), found il
gardens.
"Every plant met with is pretty well an edibU
one, and few there are that sheep or other stoclj
will not eat at some period of the year.
"This variety of natural feed thus giveS
an explanation of the reason, now tha^
wells and artesian bores are well distributed
over the country, of its comparative safety evcfl
in years of drought.
Lest all the foregoing should be regarded as an
enthusiastic defence of Dampier's "Miserablest
Country," it is advisable, in conclusion, to supple-
ment it by some extracts from official sources: —
Bulletin No. 13 of the Department of Agri-
culture of Western Australia, is entitled
"The Nor'-West and Tropical North."
The author of this most valuable report is Mr.
A. Despeissis, M.R.A.C., and ex-Commissioner
for Tropical Agriculture.
He was given a special commission from
his Government to go into the whole ques-
tion of agriculture in the North-West and the
Kimberleys, and the report embodies the result of
his skilled and patient investigations. First he
has something to say about the soils: —
"The drainage area of the North-West and
Northern Rivers covers immense areas. The
country forms an extensive succession of prairie
lands, intersected at distances by the beds of
rivers and watercourses, a number of which only
run for a few months in the year. These im-
mense plains extend between the sea board and
the ranges, which rise about 60 to lOO miles
from the coast.
The soil, on the whole, consists of deep allu-
vial deposits, the result of the disintegration of
A Baobab Tree, Derby
^f^5 on ^be E^hua^C
^ST
_^\Af>-
g^M^NPqR/^H
I
675
676
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Date Palm, Yarrie
"Except in isolated spots, which are appar-
ently salty, no fears of a rise of alkalies need be
entertained. The analysis of soils officially taken
strengthens this statement, which to some
extent has already been demonstrated at station
gardens, where particularly fine vegetables are
grown under a system of artificial watering.
"Over the North-West the soils are very deep,
and to a great depth are very consistent both
physically and chemically. In that respect it is
much like Utah, another arid country, where
the valleys are broad and level, the soil deep,
and every foot suitable for agricultural pur-
poses. There it is found that, under ordinary
conditions, the soil is able to retain in each foot
an amount of water that is equivalent to about
three inches of rainfall. The average total
rainfall for Utah is 12 inches, which could be
retained by about four feet of soil according to
this calculation. Consequently a farm, the soil
of which is eight feet deep, can retain, without
loss of drainage, the total rainfall for two years,
and if 12 feet deep, the rainfall for three years,
provided the land be thoroughly and suitably
cultivated.
"The problem therefore which concerns the
Utah farmer and also the farmer on our dry
areas in a great measure is the storage of as
much as possible of the rainfall Into the soil.
By means of appropriate surface cultivation this
he is able to do in a great measure.
"The importance of deep soils is recognised in
both arid and irrigation farming, and shallow
soils are of little value in arid farming.
"From the Gascoyne to the Ashburton, where
the level country consists of 10 to 20 feet of free
loam, the conditions required for retaining rain-
water are distinctly favourable.
"Underneath an apparently waterless country
it has been proved that there exist vast stores of
water, which every few miles are tapped by
means of wells.
"The objective of station owners is to provide
water for stock at least every six miles, and
unless a river with pools of water runs through
the country, wells are now put down. They
are from 10 to 100 feet deep, the majority 20
to 40 feet.
Prospectors of Kitchener Mine, Bamboo Creek
"Of late years, the windmill has become a
familiar feature in the landscape, and when the
country is clear, one has at times two or three
mills in sight when travelling.
"Inquiries made on my return, from Perth and
Fremantle firms, enable me to state that during
DAMPIIiR'S "MISERABLEST COUNTRY"
677
A Ship of the Desert
the last five or six years over 1,200 windmills
have been sold for the North-West."
Now comes a statement of supreme import-
ance. As a flash suddenly illuminates and makes
clear the darkness of a landscape, so does this
statement, solidly grounded on scientific fact,
throw a clear white light on the problem of the
conquest and development and effective occupa-
tion of an enormous territory.
"From the Gascoyne to the Ord in Kimberley,
over twenty rivers carry away the flood water
during the rainy season, and drain an immense
stretch of country about 2,000 miles wide.
"The conservation of portion of the flood
water which at times runs to the sea is an
engineering proposition which I am told by the
officers of the Water Conservation Department
offers no difficulty/
"When the North-West rivers are properly
"dammed, and a systematic method of water con-
"servation and distribution is effected, millions of
"acres of rich plains along lengthy river front-
"ages will be made available for the plough.
"Land bringing los. per i ,000 acres rental will
"sell for as many pounds an acre." Back the
prospect this opens up with the knowledge that
"systematic borings have revealed the presence of
"an almost continuous artesian supply of water
"around the coast-line of JVestern Australia be-
"tween the tableland and the sea-shore," that vast
areas of sub-artesian water have already been
located at Kimberley, and out as far as Hall's
Creek, and imagine what the future of this coun-
try will be for irrigationist and pastoralist alike!"
Remember also in regard to the former that
enormous deposits of guano exist along the
coast from Sharks Bay northward, and that
lime in abundance is found through the North-
West and Kimberley.
The report afl'irms further on that —
"The soil of the North-West in every respect,
both physically and chemically, is suitable for
raising some kind of tropical crops, the choice
of which would be governed to a great extent by
the amount of moisture, either naturally or arti-
ficially imparted to that soil.
"A vast area of fertile country, well watered,
remains yet to be opened on high plateaus north
of the King Leopold Range, and there again
the country will probably be found to be cap-
able of carrying a white farming population.
"Provided some of those comforts which
abound in other tropical countries are procur-
able, the North, for seven or eight months in
the year, can be made as pleasant as almost any
portion of Australia. Women, probably on
account of their sedentary life, do not stand the
climate as well as do men, who live mostly out-
doors."
^^
/* ' j\ ^ VIM r •
k
A Trolly driven by Sail
678
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
This statement applies pretty generally to
Northern Australia. It opens up an aspect of
European settlement which has been fully con-
sidered in another part of this book. The Com-
monwealth, with less than five million people,
annually imports £4,382,000 of products cap-
able of being grown in her own tropical North.
As our population increases this sum will increase
with it. Australia has reached a stage when
she must take into very serious consideration the
effective occupation and development of her
tropics, which extend over hundreds of thousands
of square miles.
Among the crops which the North-West and
Kimberley are capable of producing profusely —
according to the Department of Agriculture — are
almonds, apricots, arrowroot, bananas, bread-
fruit, coffee, cocoa, cocoanuts, cotton, dates, pea-
nuts, grapes, maize, oranges, olives, rice — "which
should become for the tropical North what wheat
now is for the southern part of Australia" —
rubber — there grows in Kimberley a native
gutta percha tree, and an allied native rubber
which extends over the Territory and North
Queensland — sesamum, sisal hemp, tobacco and
other tropical and sub-tropical crops.
Such being the case, it only remains for wise
Governmental policy to rapidly develop a large
area of this continent, which we have proved to
be anything but the "miserablest country" in the
world.
Already the land richly produces wheat,
beef, mutton, wool, horses, pigs, and
other crops and stock of commercial value.
Its possibilities have hardly been glanced
over, its potentialities are yet unknown,
but with correct treatment, it can be made
like the rest of Australia — a land of wealth,
health, and happiness for many millions of the
White Race.
'\- ^
Sheep at the Harding Biver
■■*«,.
^s
„ .^ J
■>
■
r^
CTH
The City of Perth
WHAT THE WEST WILL DO
S
li
PICER was my cabin mate on the
voyage to Western Australia. He
had been to Ashanti, the Gold Coast,
western and southern America, China, Siberia,
the Rand, all places where gold men go.
But Coolgardie, at the height of its glory,
was the thing of his experience. He was
ike an Alpine climber who in his time has looked
iver many tall mountains, but has a vivid memory
of one transcendent peak that rises above all the
others. Spicer, after the manner of mining ex-
perts, was retrospective and prophetic. He recol-
lected how in the early days 25 miners perished,
going out to a new Westralian rush, because
Lindsay's Afghan camel-drivers forgot or mis-
understood the instructions, and failed to follow
up the excited prospectors with supplies of water.
He predicted that the Pamirs will be the copper
country of the future and Bolivia the land of tin.
He swore by the Krooboy, invariably dressed for
dinner, though the custom was optional on our
merely interstate steamer, and growled because
he had to be in Mexico in a few weeks, revolution
or not. He was familiar with all the known
and unknown processes for the reduction of pay-
able or unpayable minerals, and he had 3,000
photographs, taken by himself, of the gold mines
of the world.
Spicer had been shot in Portuguese Africa, and
sunstruck in Arizona. He was a walking
azetteer, a mine of splendid stories, an interest-
ng and instructive travelling companion, with re-
ned tastes in literature and sound judgment in
cigars.
i
ci
In Western Australia you will yet meet many
men of this type, for Western Australia, until
then a mere British colony of the dullest type,
suddenly became, in the early nineties, a golden
Mecca towards which pilgrims began to pour from
the four corners of civilisation, and especially
from the forty-four corners of its frontiers.
There have been, and no doubt will continue
to be in this world, sons of Jacob who will be
farming men and stay peacefully at home and go
the rounds of the nests after the laying hens, and
sons of Esau who will chase the wild goose from
Alaska to Leonora, and after resting awhile, re-
pursue that elusive bird to Meekatharra and
Marble Bar.
Since the world grows smaller year by year,
and German cannon carry twenty miles, it is well,
mayhap, that one-third of a continent remains to
the adventurers. It is the devout prayer of the
author that when Australia Unlimited is issued
the greatest war of history will be over. Its con-
clusion should leave some hundreds of thousands
of stout-hearted Europeans with nowhere par-
ticular to go, and nothing in particular to do. Let
them give Australia their serious consideration.
Let them reflect that the western third of this
continent contains a total area of over six hundred
and twenty-four and a half million acres, of which
I3>5 84,000 acres are in process of alienation.
Let them remember that at this date the total
population of Western Ausralia was only
318,016.
The United States expects to get five million
new immigrants after the war. There is no
country which has more need for immigrants than
679
68o
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Western Australia, while its vast and varied
desmesnes will give employment and wealth to
millions. The total number of its inhabitants is
not yet greater than half the population of Sydney.
Imagine an area of 957,920 square miles holding
a population hardly equal to that of a London
suburb, when it is capable of sustaining all the
people of England and FVance in greater comfort
than they ever enjoyed before the great war.
Although the people of Western Australia are
so few in numbers they have achieved great things.
At the end of the financial year 19 15-16 the
State had produced gold to the value of 125^ mil-
lions; add to this nearly a million pounds worth of
copper, nearly a million pounds worth of coal, and
nearly a million and a quarter pounds worth of
tin, and it makes a fine total from mineral wealth
alone.
In 1915-16 the State had 1,867,547 acres under
crop with edible grains. The value of timbers
exported during that year totalled £442,014, of
pearl shell £162,597 ('" 1913 't had been
£374,729), of wool £1,273,183, and of wheat
£1,023,362.
In fine, the trade of three hundred thousand
people — men, women, and children — was worth
£8,983,000 in imports, and £8,040,484 in ex-
ports.
Our voyage across the Bight from Adelaide
occupied four days, during which one had an
opportunity of discussing the West and its
problems with many home-going passengers.
Most of these people had migrated from the east-
ern States of Australia during the great gold-find-
ing period. Beyond an occasional trip East, which
they may take for sentimental or business reasons,
none of them wished to return. They were
enthusiasts whom the "Golden West" had claimed
for evermore. They seemed universally proud
of their adopted country, realised her incalculable
resources, and fervently believed in her future.
This fine local patriotism is general throughout
the West.
The gold fever brought the cream and the
dregs of the Eastern States. It is safe to say the
dregs have long drained away: the cream remains.
You meet loveable and hospitable folks all over
Australia, but there is a fine hospitality and rugged
manliness about Western Australia which invites
the stranger to prolong his stay.
F"or a student of pioneer character there is a
golden field wherein will be found at their highest,
those British qualities which glorified the
shambles of Yser, and lit with rainbow light the
darkness of the mine-strewn submarine-haunted
North Sea.
Among that quiet well-behaved crowd of West-
erners In the Kyarra's spacious saloon, there were
some whose ventures, privations, failures, and
achievements would make volumes as interesting
as the best of fiction.
You meet such characters all through the un-
peopled distances of this great State. They are
not boastful — the Britisher holds it small to boast
— but they have gone through remarkable experi-
ences without losing grip; and their atmosphere is
one of quiet strength and great self-reliance.
From home-going Western Australians I
gathered preliminary good impressions of a
country which was new to me.
My first near-view of Western Australia —
whose coasts gave European eyes their earliest
impressions of a new continent — was gained on a
grey May morning, near Albany.
Islands, bluish bays, and cone-shaped peaks
grew more distinctly from the water. Then came
Albany with bare granite rocks, splashes of dark
shrub, steep low cliffs, sandy beaches, and blue
low-lying hills. Slaty clouds drifted away. The
land before us was lit by a pale orange light, a
land with an air of mysterious distances, drawing
you towards them with the ancient Lure of Gold !
A cool north wind was blowing, which would
be anything but cool In summer. Slow Westerners
on the upper deck awakened at the approach of
home. Soft lights glowed in their eyes; but they
did not display the wild enthusiasm with which
returning Sydney people enter the Heads of Port
Jackson.
Cone-shaped hills in the background rose
higher, mottled granites of nearer hills grew
plainer, and with the sun at last ascendant, we
glided over a spacious harbor to the pier.
Although Albany is so far south In latitude, it
seems tropical In climate and conditions. While
the ship lay at her wharf a tremendous rain-
storm, reminiscent of Northern Queensland, swept
across the bay. The beauties of Albany Harbor
compensate for a certain dullness In the town. It
is a summer resort for the Goldfields, the centre
of a growing agricultural district, and a port of
some importance. It Is the capital of the South-
West, and the South-West contains fifty million
acres of virgin agricultural land waiting for occu-
pation and development. Rainfall along the coast,
Albany to Cape Leeuwin, Is from 30 to 50 Inches
annually. Soils of the South-West vary from sandy
to heavy chocolate loams, producing potatoes,
onions, root crops, cereals, maize, and millet;
fruit — especially apples — and general produce.
Dairy farming is yet only In Its infancy, but
a proved success.
When cleared of timber this land becomes
splendid natural pasture. It can be rendered
more productive by the sowing of artificial grasses,
which grow readily.
68i
682
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Guano deposits are believed to exist in caves
along this coast. There is scope for irrigation
and intensive farming on drained swamp-lands.
Living areas well watered and productive are
practically gi\'en away by the Government. The
climate is perfect, the summer temperature rarely
above 80 degrees.
Fremantle is usually the first Australian port
visited by steamers coming out zia the Suez Canal.
It is interesting, but unbeautiful. Large sums of
public money have been expended on harbor
tralian culture and progress, will benefit by
association. The Commonwealth will gain more
from this transcontinental railway than mere
pecuniary profit on outlay
It was Empire Day when I arrived in Perth.
Some thousands of State school children were
assembled in one of the public parks.
Western Australia has an educational system
similar to that of the other States. Primary educa-
tion is free and compulsory. General religious
Yachting on the Swan Elver
works. Since the discovery of the goldfields F re-
mantle has become a shipping and transhipping
depot for an enormous territory containing the
greater part of Western Australia's present popu-
lation. The connecting of Fremantle with
Melbourne by rail is going to effect a great change
in western commercial life. Mails will be brought
overland daily. Transport of passengers and goods
between the East and West will be shortened
by days, and two countries. East and West, welded
more closely. One result will be that the more
populous East will gain a better understanding of
the undeveloped West and its needs. The West,
by coming into closer contact with centres of Aus-
teachings are given. Compulsion is regulated by
the distance of parents from established schools,
two miles being the limit for children between the
ages of six and nine. For those between nine and
fourteen, three miles. But the State makes a
driving or riding allowance at the rate of sixpence
per day for the children of settlers beyond this
radius, if the child attends school regularly and
punctually. Every effort is made by the Depart-
ment of Education to carry the school to farthest
back. Provisional schools are established on an
average minimum attendance of ten pupils. Vast
as the State is, the immigrant need have little fear
that his children will not receive the same educa-
WHAT THE WEST WILL DO
683
^^m):
Bathers on the Swan Biver
nal opportunities as those of the more-settled
East. By means of provisional, half-time, and
sparsely-populated districts schools, the Depart-
ment follows the pioneer. The system of training
has wisely been adapted to meet probable require-
ments of a generation destined to carry on the
work of settlement and occupation. It aims at
being more than usually practical. The school
buildings are designed with proper attention to
lighting and ventilation, with class-rooms giving
an allowance of eleven square feet space to each
child. Systematic medical and dental examina-
tions of all State school children are carried out.
Beyond primary schools is the Perth Modern
School, and the new University. Bursaries and
exhibitions are part of the system, with continua-
tion classes and technical schools in the larger
towns. It is intended that Perth University shall
be a free and democratic institution, and its cur-
riculum more practical than classical. A Chair
of Agriculture has been privately endowed.
So much for the school system of the Great
West. The scholars assembled in loyal demon-
stration that day seemed of lighter physical mould
than the children of Eastern Australia, somewhat
browner than Tasmanian or Victorian children,
but doubtless quite as healthy and enduring as any
other Australian type.
The people of Perth approximate to the people
of Brisbane in physical appearance. The native-
k
born men are tall and lean, the women smart, tall,
and generally good-looking. There is a local
tradition that the eastern-bred woman has to go
home from time to time to keep healthy; a theory
based, I imagine, more on sentiment than fact.
All my enquiries, general and scientific, indicate
that the climate of Perth, at least, is no more try-
ing to European women than the climate, of
Sydney. There are no complaints among the
native-born. Some of the freshest and healthiest-
looking girls in Australia are to be found in
Kalgoorlie.
The national emblem of the West is the black
swan, mentioned by Juvenal, and later by
Camoens. Specimens were probably introduced
into Europe from Western Australia long before
Pontius Pilate represented Roman government in
Jerusalem.
The emblem is everywhere patriotically dis-
played, on the summits of buildings, at the bows
of steamers, in shop windows, on post-cards,
letter-heads, stamps, flags, and various appropri-
ate surfaces. Some of the commercial swans look
exceedingly like geese, but the official swans are
generally graceful and pleasing.
On the Swan River, which greatly adds to the
attractions of Perth, flocks of black swans are fre-
quent; the birds are legally protected, tame,
despite the passing of steamers, motor-boats, and
all the disturbing machinery of civilisation.
684
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Perth, with its 107,000 people, is a beautiful
and attractive city. I used to think of it as a very
dry and dusty place, but during the several
pleasant busy weeks I spent there rain, heavy rain
at that, was rather too frequent.
During fifteen years the modern city has been
built. St. George's Terrace, overlooking the Swan,
is one of the finest streets in Australia, running
from an important business thoroughfare into a
residential avenue.
sees, beyond a vista of embowered villas built in
Swiss and Italian styles, a fine city spreading to-
wards a background of blue hills, he realises that
the West also is good.
In King Park expansive lawns, plots of glorious
flowers, groves of ornamental trees gleam in the
foreground facing the city. Behind them still
grows a native vegetation, comprising the oldest
and most enduring forms among surviving botani-
cal species.
Ascot Racecourse, Perth
Between the modern houses of new Perth, old
shingle-roofed dwellings are still sandwiched, but
these examples of cruder architecture are rapidly
disappearing.
Blue clear winter skies, cool winds, and soft
rains are etched deeply into my impressions of
Western Australia, particularly of Perth. These
things the eastern Australian finds hard to realise.
He has been schooled by jaundiced teachers into
a belief that the West is chiefly composed of sandy
wastes. When the astonished Easterner takes his
first walk through King Park and, from the sum-
mit of a curving terrace, beholds the lawns and
gardens of the West, sees the lovely waters of
Swan River, dotted with motor-boats and yachts;
Beautiful scarlet, white, and yellow-flowerec
eucalypti overhang red gravel roads, char-
acteristic of Perth. Black oak, xanthorrhea,
stunted gums, give the dark native bush a
generally sombre appearance. Where other
growths find root in its fertile sands and
clays they are invested with greater bright-
ness by the contrast. The palm tree and
the fig tree naturally flourish in a congenial clim-
ate. Western Australia's dark-looking sandy
bush lands, cleared, cultivated, and planted under-
go a magical transformation. Anywhere around
Perth, one can study this wonderful process of
assimilation. On the one side yellow sterile-looking
sands carrying their curious native growths, on
WHAT THE WEST WILL DO
685
■e oti
The Swan River at Perth
lU
tc
i€ Other side the same sands transformed into
glossy lawns and gardens. Elsewhere similar
results can be observed — the no-account sands are
being converted into orchards and fields.
Ten acres of such soils are enough to support
a family. The Department of Agriculture asserts
that a settler worth £30 an acre, initial capital, is
certain of a living on that area, which will give
him abundant crops of apples, pears, plums,
peaches, apricots, and grapes. The orchards of
Western Australia are remarkably free from
pests; the fruit produced is among the very best
in this Commonwealth.
Perth and its suburbs find constant market for
quantities of fruit. A large surplus of suitable
\ arieties is now annually exported.
Within a radius of 20 miles from the capital
the student of agriculture and settlement will
secure enough practical example to convince him
that Western Australia can support her millions
too.
He need go no further than the village of Guild-
ord to discover that the sombre South-West is
really a land wherein Time has stored the produc-
tive powers of half-a-dozen geologic periods;
where Nature has concentrated the germinating
forces of a hundred epochs and covered them with
coarse carpets for their better preservation — or
disguise.
Guildford is an old settlement with many archi-
tectural relics of earlier Western days. It is the
centre of a proved district, where farming and
fruit-growing have been carried on for many
years.
The author went over the wonderful vineyards
of Mr. G. Barrett-Lennard, which are an illustra-
tion of what the West will do. It was the i6th
of June when we visited this place. A second crop
of grapes was ripening on some of the vines. The
main crop — which is annually held back to reach
the London market at the most profitable time —
had been harvested.
This vineyard is irrigated by water pumped to
a main storage and gravitated thence to the vines.
It occupies some hundreds of acres, and represents
thousands of pounds of invested capital and a
life's work, but the proprietor has the satisfac-
tion of receiving the best prices paid for table
grapes in the City of London, where he stands in
competition with the growers of the world.
Exhibit after exhibit from the Barrett-Lennard
vineyard has brought an array of first prizes which
stand to the joint credit of individual enterprise
and the State.
Mr. Barrett-Lennard informed us that the de-
mand was inexhaustible. Year by year he has
added to the area under cultivation, investing his
capital with perfect faith in the future of an indus-
try which he has greatly pioneered in the West.
686
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Rainfalls in this district are adequate. Soils of
this vineyard generally, are of a friable character.
What this experienced vigneron described as his
most prolific and profitable section, was apparently
no more than a patch of white sand.
Passing through Guildford and on towards
Mundaring one sees the beginnings of settlement
on small areas. The bush is still dark and sombre,
covering soils of an unpromising appearance in
eastern eyes. But their quality has been proved to
the satisfaction of scores of small settlers who are
busily clearing and planting orchard blocks. Their
little weatherboard cabins are still surrounded by
ringbarked or fired timber. Patches of trees have
in some places been uprooted by explosives, leav-
ing large holes in the ground. Whereas houses
around the older settlements are beautified by
orchards and ornamental trees, these places are
still raw and crude, but all pregnant with the same
fruitful possibilities. Yellow soils that to-day are
thickly burdened by jarrah, xanthorrhea, broad-
leaved banksias and macrozamia, will in a few
years be growing the finest of the world's fruits.
As the old houses along the Swan are surround-
ed by luxuriant foliage, these cabins will have
given place to modern cottages and villas dozing
happily among their groves of sunlit trees.
One notices that bananas flourish in the Chinese
gardens along the Swan River, and a few miles
further inland at Mundaring apples of the very
finest quality are freely grown, so that there will
be a wide range of trees from which the planter
may select his stocks.
In another direction, but still not far from the
capital, is a settlement called Lower Roleystone.
Here the author inspected the holding of a settler
named Butcher, who on a somewhat hilly section
of typical south-western country has done exceed-
ingly well with citrus fruits.
This settler came in here 24 years ago. He
began, he tells you simply, by supplying timber
to local mills. Gradually he became interested in
fruit-growing. Twenty years gone he planted 57
orange trees. They are still there — two rows.
He has taken from these two rows of trees 1,200
cases of fruit in a year, worth £500. Finding the
orange pay he gradually increased his trees to 400.
He has installed a simple and inexpensive irriga-
tion scheme and waters his trees once every three
weeks in the bearing season — from January to
April.
His thorny mandarins, seedlings, have given
him 15 cases to the tree, worth 15s. a case. His
markets have been confined to Perth and the Gold-
fields. This excellent settler is a native of West-
ern Australia and 47 years of age at the time of
our interview. He told us candidly that he began
with a borrowed five pound note. He was now
the owner of 5,000 acres of land, had an increas-
ing income from sheep, horses, and fruit, and was
worth at least seven or eight thousand pounds.
He had recently been offered £3,000 for his 15
acres of orangery, but declined to sell. What this
man has achieved in the South-West, thousands
of others may also do — thousands have already
done.
Like the successful orange-grower of Roley-
stone, they started their careers from scratch.
They came, many of them, from the East with
little or no money a few years back. To-day they,
too, are landed proprietors, financiers, merchants,
successful farmers, men of leisure and means.
One meets these hearty characters everywhere,
none of them too proud to admit their humble
beginnings; all of them enthusiastic about the
Great West and her golden future. They may
be a little too much inclined to conviviality,
they are proper men.
SOUTH TO LEEUWIN AND ROUND AGAIN
FREEDOM and good fellowship are in the
air of the West. From Eucla to Wynd-
ham the hand of hospitality is opened to
the stranger unless he is a loafer or a rogue.
Destitution is unknown, poverty is rare and,
under normal conditions, unemployment unusual.
The men of the outposts make one very welcome.
There is little formality, but great good nature
and toleration. I was reminded of this by my first
interview with the Hon. John Scaddan, the elected
leader of a territory more than four times greater
than that of Japan. I found the Premier's
secretary far more difficult than his good humored
chief, who not so long ago was a working miner,
and had risen, by sheer quality and opportunity,
to the first position in a free State.
His friends and followers know him with demo-
cratic affection as "Happy Jack."
We sat with a map of Western Australia before
for some time considering my itinerary. When
I delicately suggested that Western Australia
should be cut into three States the Premier smiled
in a non-committal fashion. He said I had better
go and see the South-West for a beginning. They
had a strip of country down there as big as Vic-
toria, which he believed was destined to be another
Victoria for agricultural production. The Gov-
ernment fruit expert was going down there next
week and we might travel together.
Then, as six other Australian Premiers have
graciously done, he bade me draw freely on all
sources of official information and sent me forth
armed with an open authority to commandeer in-
formation for Australia Unlimited. Later on I
met the ex-Premier, Mr. Frank Wilson — since
restored to office— who also placed a mine of
personal information at my disposal. It
has been my good fortune to gain sup-
port and assistance for this volume from legisla-
tors and officials representing entirely different
shades of political opinion.
Mr. J. F. Moody, the Government Fruit Com-
missioner, proved a good travelling companion. A
native of New South Wales, with practical experi-
ence of fruit culture, he had no delusions about the
West as a fruit-producing country. He said it
was probably the best in the world. We travelled
■M^ully a thousand miles together, inspected a series
of districts, and went thoroughly into problems
of settlement and agricultural treatment. As a
result I became affected with the Fruit Commis-
sioner's enthusiasm and returned to Perth with
much broader views of Western resources.
Chauffeur Adolf Geigor, and photographer,
E. L. Mitchell, made up the party. The first
stage of our motor journey took us to Brunswick
State Farm. This Government farm and agricul-
tural station is located on comparatively good
lands; but they do not represent the best of the
South-Western Division.
Still the enquirer need have gone no further to
learn that Western Australia is a land of re-
sources, the range and scope of which are yet
unrealised. From Perth, in a morning's run, we
passed through miles and miles of unoccupied
bush nearly all of which could be turned to profit-
able account.
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Land that will be Cleared for Cultivation
687
688
SOUTH rO LEEUWIN AND ROUND AGAIN
689
A New Selector at Brunswick
These second-class lands changed to land of
first quality; hundreds and hundreds of square
miles of it, sparsely populated, is still for the
most part available for settlement.
Brunswick State Farm showed what might be
done, what 7niist be done if one-third of a conti-
nent in area, but still in population only an outpost
of three hundred thousand Europeans, is to be
effectively occupied by the white races.
Let there be no delusions about this matter, no
splitting of party straws, nothing of theoretical
platitudes, mincing of facts! This book has been
subsidised and supported by Labor and Liberal
Governments, and much of its facts are subject to
official verification. But its author reserves to
himself the right to make whatever pronounce-
ments he may consider to be in the interests of the
Commonwealth and the Australian people. He
affirms that all that part of Australia which lies
west of meridian 141 will have to be seriously
approached as a closer settlement proposition
from now onward. A sufficient population iniisl
be established in the Northern Territory, in South
Australia, and in Western Australia to ensure
permanent, effective occupation, and a realisation
of the White Australia policy. If the States con-
k
cerned cannot deal with this problem it must de-
volve on the Commonwealth. If the Common-
wealth is unequal to the task the Imperial Govern-
ment must respond to the call.
This is not a question of either Labor or
Liberal policy, of profits or wages; it is a question
of preserving the integrity of the British Empire.
It is the one question on which, in the author's
opinion, the Empire would be justified in dictating
a course of action to the self-governing Australian
people.
Brunswick State Farm in itself was a scientific
demonstration that 300,000 people have no ethical
or just right to monopolise enormous areas of
food-producing territory unless they encourage
the landless millions of Europeans to share their
opportunities. To convert those wastes to pro-
ductive account a vast increase of population is
necessary. Western Australia, with the aid of
the Commonwealth, should pursue the most liberal
and persistent of immigration policies.
The management of this interesting Experi-
mental Station is excellent. Milking sheds, pig-
sties, dairy pastures and orchards all testified to
this fact.
690
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
On the Biisselton Road
We inspected an area of 33 irrigated acres of
lucerne which was yielding eight crops per annum.
We saw the experiments which were being made
with pasture grasses, and noted that paspalum and
Berseem clover, Egyptian variety — were giving
most satisfactory results. We saw green fodder
crops along the banks of the creek, fat cattle, sleek
hogs, splendid horses, and fine sheep. We were
told that stock were entirely free from disease,
and that what was being done there under Govern-
ment management might be done .well and profit-
ably by hundreds of agriculturists over thousands
of square miles in the South-West.
We left Brunswick State Farm with a comfort-
able feeling that the arid West was in reality a
land of intense agricultural productiveness.
Running southward from Pinjarra this conclu-
sion was rendered still more certain. The country
seemed to get better and still better every mile we
covered. Beautiful flats, fertile hills, volcanic
slopes, an annual rainfall of 40 inches — It was
Indeed another Western District enjoying a
climate more equable than that of Warrnambool
or Korolt.
We passed through the prosperous port of
Bunbury — centre of a rich agricultural and timber
section — and on to Busselton, the capital of a still
more fertile district. Our road to Busselton ran
through a glorious forest of tuart, one of
Western Australia's most valuable hardwoods,
and an exceedingly beautiful tree.
The tuart {E. gomphocephaUi) is peculiar to
the South-West. It is only found in a narrow
coastal belt extending from Guildford to Bussel-
ton. It apparently achieves Its greatest height
and girth in limestone formations. The Western
Railway Department uses the hard-grained,
tensile, tuart extensively in the construction of
rolling stock.
Busselton district Is yet only on the fringes of
Its agricultural possibilities. Where the land had
been cleared it was covered with green grass and
clover. Frequent creeks and rivers, running clear-
ly over beds of limestone, with abundant pasture
will make this corner of the South-West highly
profitable for dairying.
We entered Busselton by a natural avenue
shaded by tuart trees, and left It en route to
Yallingup and Margaret River Caves, by another
shady avenue of peppermint trees.
The road to the caves is the best in Western
Australia. In alternate red and white. It rises
over hills covered with beautiful eucalypts, and
dips into curves along the river.
It opens the way to the most wonderful and ex-
tensive cave region In the Commonwealth. From
the shores of Geographe Bay to the Leeuwin,
and probably right around Into the Great Austra-
lian Bight, this cave district extends. It has only
recently become known. A settler by Yallingup
was out In the bush looking for his horses one day
In 1899. A mallee hen flew up from what looked
like a hole In the hillside and attracted the settler's
attention to a cavity. Bushman-like he took off
his bridle reins and stirrup leathers, buckled them
together and lowered himself Into the earth and
went home with tales of wonder. Since then forty
thousand visitors have visited Yallingup.
We found a comfortable cave house, under
Government management, and plenty of accom-
Eoad near Brunswick
«l
691
6()2
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The Old Mill at Busselton
modation and amusement for tourists. Prom here
we explored adjacent caves at our leisure.
The formations in these caves, particularly the
"shawls," are of exceptional beauty. Stalactite
of delicate semi-transparent texture and marvel-
lous colouring has been woven by the spinners of
Time into patterned fabrics such as one sees in the
dim light of an Oriental bazaar. Subterranean
looms, working in utter silence through incalcul-
able Night, have turned out dazzling draperies,
which hang in perfect folds from the roof of this
bazaar. Mysterious potters and sculptors have
labored through unthinkable periods to produce
the fantastic, the majestic, the sublime. Marble-
white pillars sparkling with the radiance of
polished brilliants, organ pipes (whereon the
guide sounds a perfect octave), mysteries, coats-
of-arms, spread-eagles, statues, teddy-bears, and
sticks of macaroni, are all part of their labors.
The finest cave in this Yallingup group yet
explored has been called Bedford Hall. It is
difficult of access and imperfectly ventilated, but
it will repay the male visitor who, after wriggling
and squeezing and crawling through heaven knows
what labyrinths and tunnels of the underworld,
finds himself, grimy and half suffocated, within its
mysterious walls. H
Bedford Hall, 150 feet below the surface of
the earth, is about the last word in underground
wonders. The author is blase regarding caves,
but he would endure the same difficulties to visit
that glittering cavern again.
The Government had opened up 82 chains of j
caves, grottos, and caverns at Yallingup. Not the '
least interesting among a series of interesting
sights is the tap-root of a red gum, which hangs
from roof to floor in one of these caves, no less
than 120 feet below the surface where the tree
itself begins to rear its lofty trunk towards the
sky !
From Yallingup we went down to Karridale,
through some of the finest agricultural lands in
the Commonwealth.
The South-West is the home of the hardwood.
Here forest after forest of karri and jarrah^
springs from splendid soils. The white-barked
wandoo, resembling spotted gum in appearance,
and useful in the construction of railway carriages,
red gums, swamp gums, all flourish.
SOUTH TO LEEUWIN AND ROUND AGAIN
693
After native timbers have been ringbarked on
the loamy hillsides, mammoth native clover and
burr-clover — often four feet in height —
spring spontaneously from the soil. Where
the clover seed comes from is one more
mystery of Australian nature. With the
application of phosphates these crops of
pasture can be enormously increased. The red
gum areas are particularly fertile.
Once cleared and ploughed they will grow any-
thing.
Lime in any quantity is easily procurable, guano
deposits are to be found along the coast. The
South-West is destined to become an agricultural
factor of the highest value.
Co-operative settlement, or the cutting up by
syndicates of large areas into 200 or 500 acre
regions in the South and North-West are devoted
to the purposes for which Nature intended them.
Meanwhile the forests of the South-West are
yielding a valuable natural product and consider-
able revenue.
By the courtesy of Millar's Ltd., we were put
up at Karridale for some days and given an op-
portunity to examine the methods of this powerful
commercial organisation in dealing with timber.
One grey day some years ago a hundred hurried
ladies came to Karridale. They had been landed
from the wreck of the "Pericles," and were grate-
ful for the cheerful welcome of the only biding-
place within a score of miles.
A few miles from Karridale the picturesque
Blackwood River opens out over a sand bar into
the Southern Ocean.
Millar's Mill, Karridale
SO
blocks and preparing same for settlers, seems to
be the solution of the problem. Individual enter-
rise will not overcome difficulties of pioneering
r open a way for that rapid settlement which is
so necessary if the Commonwealth is to be pre-
erved.
A board of scientific experts should be ap-
pointed to classify the agricultural lands of West-
ern areas. Once these have been determined,
and while the work is going on, large areas could
be settled on the group or community system, by
the Government, or by private enterprise under
^^—bxed Government conditions.
^^B If artesian water exists, as we may now con-
l^prlude it does, all the way from Eucla to Broome,
the inland districts can safely be left for pastoral
development while those enormous fertile coast
I
Squat farm houses, with wide square stone chim-
neys and shingled roofs show that the Blackwood
has been an early settlement. Hereabouts the
remnant of the Dutch crew of 68 who landed from
a wreck near the mouth of the Swan in 1656 are
believed to have finished up. First settlers on the
Blackwood River found traditions among the
natives which gave colour to the theory. It is
likely that the 68 survivors of the Golden Dragon,
historically stated to have been left on the South-
West coast in the year 1656, may have chosen to
remain close to Cape Leeuwin where they would
have some chance of sighting any Dutch vessels
rounding the continent.
The Leeuwin itself is a little finger of land
pointing inward to the Bight — worn-down reefs,
the break of seas on rocky islets off shore, white
694
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Young Australians, Jarrahdale
patches marking further shoals and reefs. It was
through difficulties and dangers such as these that
an intrepid Dutch navigator felt his way around
this historic corner in 1622.
We came down to the Leeuwin, the first motor
vehicle to bump its way right to the lighthouse,
on a clear winter's afternoon. When we reached
the point where it was impossible to proceed
further west or south on Australian soil, we
alighted somewhat reverentially. One felt inclined
to take off one's hat to the memory of the hardy
Dutchman of three hundred years ago.
They have justly mentioned his achievement on
the base of the pillar 115 feet high, from which
on these nights revolving catoptrics flash out a
half-million candle-power warning to modern
mariners of steam.
The lighthouse is a fine grey pillar built from
local freestone and dedicated in 1895 to the
world's mariners by Sir John Forrest. It faces two
sides of the Australian continent. East and north
the land falls away from it in sandy beaches and
long low headlands. On a fine day the meeting
oceans are all sapphire and pearl, with skipjack,
herring, and snapper ready for the hook, but in
wild winter weather, with mighty breakers smash-
ing over numerous shoals and loud winds whistling
round the corner of a continent, the light-keepers
on Leeuwin sit by the fireside and smoke.
A few miles eastward of Leeuwin is Augusta,
where, along the sea-margins moist with spin-
drift, noises of modern industry drown faint
echoes of colonial days. Eighty-two years ago
Colonel Molloy with a military party formed his
settlement on the Blackwood. We saw what had
been an enclosure in the forest where decaying
wooden tablets marked the graves of some of
these early settlers.
This extreme south-western corner of Australia
will be suitable for dairy-farming, for the growth
of lucerne and fruit, for pig-raising and mixe^
farming.
The Millar Company have 4,000 acres of fre^
hold at the Leeuwin and 20,000 acres elsewhere
in the district, which may be devoted to farmina
on the share system.
The large estates of the West will probably
forced into sub-division by heavy land and incomi
taxes. iVIuch good agricultural land is locked uf
in the South, while in the North-West some 300J
million acres are at present depasturing no niorj
than four millions of sheep.
Western Australia must get revenues to con^
tinue her development. She must have population.
Her unoccupied spaces are a greater danger to the
Commonwealth than those of the Northern
Territory. She will not deserve the assistance of
her sister States, if she allows any parochial or
party considerations to stand between her and this
national objective.
Unloading Jarrah Piles, Cossack
11
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696
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
On the Margaret River we found excellent soils
with slopes eminently suitable for the growth of
citrus fruits. There is scope for an irrigation
settlement here.
Returning to Busselton we crossed eastward
through 40 miles of indifferent country to Nannup.
This strip of white sandy plains, iron-stone ridges
burnt out by bush fires, sere leaves, silent places,
crooked timber, desolation and loneliness gradu-
ally changed to good country again.
First came occasional flats, some of which were
occupied. A house (black or unpainted as a rule)
ploughed ground, orange trees, water, greenness.
after all are Australia's waste places, how vast!
her profitable and productive domains.
Between Nannup and The Warren, in
pocket of the hills we found the interesting DixJ
son homestead, begun 50 years ago in the hear^
of an apparent wilderness by the father of the
present family. A fine old brick and shingle resiJ
dence, surrounded by cypress pines, stood amonj
cleared paddocks and fields. Behind it was stif
primitive forest, sombre and tall.
Although the Dixsons had established the facd
that their land would grow anything, their sub-
sistence has been largely by cattle-raising. In the
Hauling Jarrah Logs
tilth followed on stunted timbers and barren
acres.
Nannup subsisted by reason of an adjoining
timber mill. There were two stores, and a hotel
at which we secured decent accommodation, and a
few new frame houses and earlier dwellings
roofed with shingles. The inhabitants were mostly
timber people and those who attended to their
wants — rough workers, but earning good money
and enjoying good food and healthy conditions.
With sap-stained hands, roughly clad, hardened
with toil, browned by the sun, they were free men
in a self-governing country, and enjoyed equal
chances of fortune in a land where fortune has
often fallen in the most unexpected places.
We left Nannup after early breakfast. A light
fog was only lifting above the tree-tops, cool fresh
airs blew over the dewy land, sunlit forests
arched with bluest skies lay before us. The clouds
of yesterday had fled, barren scenes had changed
to scenes of fertility, and we realised how narrow
early days, when everything for household use had*
to be carted 60 miles, there was no other means of
living, but they realised now, with a railway in
reasonable distance, that their holding of 1,200
acres could be turned to more profitable uses.
Vines and roses, orchards in bearing, cleared
paddocks planted with rye and potatoes, these
showed the possibilities. There are millions of.t
acres of Crown lands in the West where fruitful .
homesteads will profit by the experience of ,
pioneers like these. *■?
One left that lonely old gabled home amid its'
fruit trees, flowers, and fields feeling light-hearted •
and optimistic for the future of the West.
Leaving Dixson's we crossed a running brook
and began to mount the opposite slope. Again
the world changed. We were approaching the
edges of the karri, tallest and finest of Westralian
timbers. The traveller realises at once that
nothing short of heavy rainfall on richest soil
could have produced such forests. j
i
SOUTH TO LEEUWIN AND ROUND AGAIN
697
New Settlers in the Forest
^
tf
All one day we motored slowly through a wind-
ing avenue, under trees such as can be found no-
where else in this world. Imagine this titanic
forest covering 1,200,000 acres of ground — miles
on miles of perfectly straight, smooth trunks,
towering like pillars in a temple averaging 200
feet in height, four feet in diameter, and 120 to
150 feet to the first branch! In some places stand
kings among these regiments of giants, three hun-
dred feet high, without a branch on the first 160
jCet of their round, polished trunks.
Looking up through the lofty canopy of leaves
one sees, as if from a deep shaft, distant patches
of blue sky and hears the wind in the tree-tops a
long way off !
In my varied impressions of Australian Nature
there is none so vivid, so curious as that of the
aeolian song of the wind in the branches of the
karri, remotely overhead. Usually the wind
talks to us as a near and familiar friend. In
the karri its voice is heard in spiritual, mysteri-
ous echoes, like the music of muffled bells far up
an old cathedral tower.
The religious impression is heightened by one's
surroundings. Patches of sunlight filter down as
if through stained-glass windows, and amid the
shadowed pillars one listens to the music of dis-
k
tant waterfalls rising and falling like the notes of
an organ. Had the Greeks known a forest such
as this, with what mythical shapes would they not
have peopled it?
When the smooth grey trunks of the karri
have been ringbarked in occasional clearings, one
realises from the dead timber the incredible height
of these trees.
When the soils in which they have found root-
age is bared to the sunlight, after millions of
years, it literally chokes with new growth. The
problem is which will be more valuable, the grey
timber or the red land that grows it?
Powellized karri is being used for sleepers on
the Transcontinental Railway — to the apparent
satisfaction of the Federal Government. It has
been claimed officially that for superstructure, for
wood-blocking, and for the construction of rail-
way waggons it is equally useful.
On our way to The Warren, in the heart of the
forest, we came upon two Yorkshire immigrants
just landed. They had secured an area of 283
acres from the Government and were attacking
it with typical British resolve. They had located
close to the track with pups, goats, fowls, tubs,
and a raffle of miscellaneous effects.
s 1
698
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Karri
Their stretchers and blankets were spread
under loose sheets of galvanised iron.
With broad axes and saws they were preparing
to "make good."
They were pleased with the land, which they
had secured at i6s. an acre, with 20 years to pay
off, and they reckoned to go in for mixed farming
and sheep.
A father, three brothers, and four farmer
friends in Yorkshire were waiting to hear how
they got on; if they saw success ahead the others
would follow.
Men like these, for their courage alone, are an
asset to any young country, and Western Aus-
tralia should see that they are given a fair chance
to succeed. The only danger with a resolute type
like this is that the newcomer may be encouraged
or allowed to take up land, even the best land, too
remote from existing transport. Most of the
failures among Australian settlers arise from
their selecting in heavy country away from port or
railway. When production does become possible,
haulage and distance from market take away the
profit. Men wait for railways, which, through
no fault of governments constantly faced with
heavy expenditure on public works, are a long time
coming, and they grow tired of waiting.
The future policy throughout Australia will be
to build railways ahead of settlement, and not
after it.
Along that 48 miles between Nannup and The
Warren through the karri belt, there were fine
alluvial flats, good red and chocolate soils, abund-
ant streams — all the factors of primary produc-
tion. Reserving the best of the timbers would
still leave room for settlement.
The Warren is the home of the Brockman
family, who have held this outpost singly for 50
years. Another quaint old brick house, convict-
built; ancient pear trees — highly prolific — roses
and vines have left a happy memory.
With bush hospitality the establishment pro-
vided lunch for a party of four utter strangers
as a matter of course.
The next fifty miles, which we traversed to-
wards Bridgetown, in an easterly bearing, gave
us a still better impression.
This belt is composed entirely of good soils
benefited by heavy rainfall.
Bridgetown is located in the fattest of fat lands.
The districts surrounding are exceedingly pros-
perous and progressive — for Western Australia.
The winter climate of this corner is glorious;
cool nights and clear days succeed one another
for weeks. The land is ideal for lucerne and
root crops. It grows fruit to perfection, is excel-
lent for sheep-raising or dairying. The inhabit-
ants are fresh-complexioned and moderately
active; the young women resembling most in type
those of Victoria. Production can be extended
indefinitely in the South-West, and carried inland
to the beginning of the great wheat belt.
From the tin-field of Greenbushes, across to
Bunbury, we travelled through districts still
largely awaiting occupants, which can be made
capable of supporting thousands of families.
Our home journey was not devoid of interest.
Owing to leakage in a petrol pipe two of us
walked to Whitley Falls in the great calm of a
Western Australian bush night. It was a dark
and lonesome road; but at length we saw the dim
light of a bush "pub," and heard the grunting of
pigs. Mitchell said it was like the song of night-
ingales.
There was to be a wedding at the "pub." the
following day. Festoons of coloured paper had
been stretched across the dining room. The
establishment was heavy with preparation. We
had difficulty in securing a late meal of cold beef.
There was no bed for one visitor, let alone four,
and none probably at Mundijong — the nearest
place.
Towards midnight Adolf, who had remained
at the Serpentine with Moody and the car,
SOUTH TO LEEUWIN AND ROUND AGAIN
699
^ = ^>'f .
Wheatley's Apple Store
cider and vinegar, jams and preserves of all kinds,
fruit canning and drying (i.e., the curing of
currants, raisins, apricots, apples, peaches, etc.).
District Inspectors are appointed for the sup-
pression of orchard and garden pests, and to-
assist the Commissioner in his educational work.
These officers are continually travelling their
several districts from orchard to orchard.
Districts are safeguarded to prevent the trans-
portation of pests to clean areas, and the use of
second-hand fruit cases and bags is limited to
guard against the dissemination of destructive
insects and other pests.
Beneficial insects have been imported from
abroad and liberated under the direction of the
Government Entomologist.
Settlers in the South-West will have the advan-
tage of an experienced department behind them.
To cope with problems of clearing new country
the Government has installed ten traction engines
ivhich are constantly at work in various parts of
the State.
By the use of traction engines the cost of clear-
ing is considerably reduced, and settlers are en-
abled to place their land under crop earlier than
would be possible by the ordinary means. An
engine is sent to any district from which a sufficient
number of applications are received. The actual
I
I
succeeded in fishing the rubber or whatever it was
out of the carburetter. We slid sleepily into
Perth about daybreak, still convinced that when
the Great South-West gets its due it will become
one of the most closely-populated and highly pro-
ductive territories in the Commonwealth.
The Government, realising this, has endea-
voured to organise its development on scientific
lines. Mr. J. M. B. Connor, State Agricultural
Commissioner for the South-West, had done a
great deal to realise this result.
The Commissioner for the South-West has the
direction of the dairying division, and imparts
information on questions concerning the cultiva-
tion of root and fodder crops, and the care,
management, and breeding of stock. Many small
herds are being accumulated throughout the dairy-
ing districts, where an abundant rainfall favours
the production of the essential root and fodder
crops.
Particular attention is being devoted by the
Commissioner to raising suitable stock.
The Fruit Industries Commissioner — who ac-
companied us on this most interesting tour — gives
advice to settlers on all questions connected with
the planting of fruit trees and vines, their culti-
vation, pruning, manuring, spraying, the picking,
packing and grading of fruit for export, making
A Pear Tree, Bridgetown
700
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
cost of performing the work is charged to the
settler. This is at the rate of i6s. 8d. per hour
during the time that the engine is actually
employed. The owner of the land is required to
provide sufficient water for the engine (approxi-
mately 200 gallons per day) for which purpose
water carts are provided. The maximum term
of repayment is 10 years in half-yearly instal-
ments, or for a lesser period, depending on the
position of the applicant. Interest is charged at
the rate of 5 per cent.
In order to enahle settlers to clear mallee and
scrub country at a minimum cost, special
machinery is provided for the purpose, the cost
fteing reduced by this means from 30s. to los.
approximately.
Dixson's in the Jarrah Forest
On the Brunswick State Farm
Another View of Dixson's
'Brockman's," The Warren
Nuggets of Gold (actual size)
From Euby Well, Peak Hill Goldfield
I
^^■"^ROM the year 1886 to date, over 600 tons
^Hfi of gold, valued at about 129 millions sterl-
1^^^ ing, have been won in the State of
Western Australia. No one with any knowledge
of the subject doubts that wealth perhaps greater
than this remains to be discovered.
Although the colony was established in 1829,
nd rewards were constantly offered for the dis-
covery of a payable field, it was not until 1886
that a party of prospectors from the Northern
I^J'erritory located the Kimberiey goldfield.
I^H With this event the romantic history of the
I^Kreat Western State really begins. The Kimber-
'^■ley "rush" was followed in 1888, and subsequent-
ly, by discoveries at Yilgarn, Golden Valley,
Southern Cross, and Pilbara.
fin, copper, antimony, and asbestos were
oevally determined in the rich North-West and
ore tin at Greenbushes in the South.
In 1889 rich alluvial gold was found at Ash-
urton. In 1891 the Murchison was proclaimed
THE GLAMOR OF GOLD
a goldfield. In 1892 Bayley and Ford discovered
Coolgardie, and the subsequent history of gold-
mining in Western Australia became sensational.
Bayley and Ford were Victorian miners. They
left Perth in April, 1892, on an ordinary gold-
finding journey, making a north-easterly track.
When about 250 miles out on this trail they
lost their horses and were compelled to make for
the bush village of Newcastle to secure others.
Leaving Newcastle they crossed the Southern
Cross district, went through the new Yilgarn fields
and struck eastward, following the almost obliter-
ated tracks of Hunt's exploring expedition of
1864-5.
The quest for water brought them to a native
well, which the tribesmen knew as "Goldarda."
There was good feed on a flat near the well for
their horses, and the country being highly aurifer-
ous they set to prospecting. The result was that
Bayley and Ford in less than a month had 200
ounces of gold in hand. From their first find this
701
702
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Crowd of Miners Listening to Father Long
lucky twain worked on quietly in the great quietude
of the bush, until their provisions began to run
out. Then they made back to Southern Cross for
further supplies. The day after their return they
located what became known as Bayley's Reward,
and hammered out of the lode before sunset §00
ounces of specimen gold!
On the appearance of another couple of miners
who had scented their find and followed up quickly
on their tracks, Bayley rode back to Southern
Cross and applied for a lease of his lode, from
which the other two had quickly hammered off
200 ounces ! In proof of his claim Bayley showed
the Mining Warden 554 ounces of gold! Such
was the opening chapter in this romantic story.
Three days after the news of Bayley's find.
Southern Cross was deserted and a rush of gold-
seekers from all over Australia, from all over the
world, had begun.
By July, 1901, ten years later, Bayley's original
claim had yielded gold valued at £529,454, and
paid in dividends £183,600.
Followed "The Londonderry" and "Wealth of
Nations," the first no more than a rich pocket
which served to attract British investors; the
latter a low-grade mine after its first sensational
yields of three pieces containing 1,144 ounces.
This mine was located by an Indian camel driver,
who received 10 shillings for his share. The
Perth syndicate which owned the camel— part of
their prospector's outfit — took out £23,000 i^
gold and then sold the mine for £140,000. ^•-
Coolgardie then became a centre from which
various lines of discovery radiated into the mulga,
Menzies, Broad Arrow, and Kanowna among
these. Kanowna (first known as White Feather)
proved the richest alluvial field in Western Aus-
tralia. One day's record of gold sold to the banks
is stated to have been no less than 20,000 ounces!
Lode mining followed alluvial in most cases.
About nine months after Bayley and Ford re-
ported their find at Coolgardie, Patrick Hannan,
prospector, his mate Flannagan, and about 150
others were making for a reported new field some-
where out in these great dry central distances
which had become lighted up by a magical glamor
of gold.
They camped 25 miles from Coolgardie to await i
teams and water-carts which were following. In
those exciting days the miners raced ahead to the
finds and let the "grog," water, and provisions
come after them. That night it rained. The
WESTERN AUSTRALIA: THE GLAMOR OF GOLD
703
Announcing the Locality of the "Sacred Nugget," Kanowna, 1908
excited crowd, knowing the iguana holes and
soaks would be full, pushed ahead. Hannan and
Hannagan had lost a horse, the search for which
delayed them. While looking for the strayed
animal, Flannagan pickeci up some slugs of gold.
They stayed permanently behind the rush and
"specked" 100 ozs. in a few days. Then Hannan
posted back to Coolgardie and put In an applica-
tion for a reward area, which is now the north-
eastern end of Hannan's Street in the city of
Kalgoorlie. Hannan belonged to the dusty band of
"dry-blowers," who prospected ahead of raucous
civilisation. They formed the vanguard of an army
of occupation, which has converted more than one
arid, silent spot into a centre of industry.
The "dry-blower" carried his pick and shovel
id dish, from which he blew (usually by means
oT a bellows worked by foot or hand) the lighter
rticles of his prospect instead of washing it.
The "dry-blower" or the "shaker" was a son
of circumstance, a surface worker at best, who
could not stay. Without him, nevertheless, the
lode miner and the capitalist could not have been.
While I was on the fields, a small alluvial rush
broke out at a place called Ora Banda. Cutbush,
then Mayor of Kalgoorlie, and Johnson and
m
Friedman — all good fellows and excellent friends
— were interested in a mine out there which they
wanted me to see, I decided to go down to Broad
Arrow, cross over through the mulga to Ora
Banda, and meet the "dry-blower" at home.
Johnson went up with me. He and Friedman
were working partners in the mine, both fine physi-
cal types, normal, intelligent, strong Australians,
who had "made good" in the West. Johnson
told me that he had come to Kalgoorlie 14 years
before, run down, a physical wreck. The climate
had re-converted him into a healthy and robust
man.
Broad Arrow had been the scene of one of the
sensational rushes of eighteen or twenty years
back. The pepper trees sighed regrets for glories
departed. In the railway refreshment rooms and
on the platform coatless men in blue dungarees,
soft shirts, and wideawake hats secured a leisurely
meal. Most of these were miners or men carting
firewood to the mines — which consume 600,000
tons a year.
In galvanised-iron buildings painted white,
with air spaces under gabled roofs and wide ver-
andahs. Government officials put in their day's
work.
704
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
A notice board outside the Mining Warden's
office carried information regarding prospecting
areas, leases, exemptions, and summons notices to
appear at the Warden's Court on dates fixed by
authority under penalties, within the jurisdiction
of the Mining Acts. Good ironstone-gravel tracks
led off here and there to old workings or old fields,
to the Great Beyond !
Once there were eight lively hotels in Broad
Arrow, but now a solitary "pub" is sufficient for
the business.
ence, never learned. In this case the hump-
backed team was hauling a heavily-laden jinker
under the guidance and advice of a sun-burned
bushman with a bullock whip. By the way that
bushman talked to those camels it was evident that
he had neither love nor respect for them ; but they
worked with a docility, an humbleness, no Biblical
camel ever knew. One could see by their
demeanour that a new situation had arisen, one
that offered no precedent, a situation sordid, un-
poetic, and lowering to the traditional status of
Characteristic Quartz Outcrop
The glamor of the field has gone. A shaft in
the distance, the little wooden cross of a tin church
and memories of the "Golden Arrow" and "Hill-
end" remain.
Waiting for Johnson's motor-car to come in
for us — it had punctured somewhere out in the
mulga — we whiled the time away watching a
camel team hauling out water pipes from the rail-
way yards. The Government was installing a
pipe line to supply Ora Banda with salt water,
which would have to be locally condensed.
The snarling of the camel is a fearsome sound
to hear; the camel, so like an animated ant-hill, is
a fearsome beast to handle, but the Australian
bushman does things with the camel that Asia and
Africa, with all their thousands of years' experi-
camelhood. But they did as the dusty persoh
with the bullock whip decreed. For this is a coun-
try where precedent does not count, where the
achievements of men and beasts are mightier than
the heroes and animals of antiquity. Jason was
fortunate in his Homer, but who will justly sing
the accomplishment of Mercer, 70 years of age,
who journeyed with two mates from Kalgoorlie
to Tanami and back — 2,000 miles — on a rumour
of gold.
Platelayers going by on their trolley with Win-
chesters ready to shoot the grey bustard, the wild
turkey of the Australian plains, bicycle tracks .
radiating towards the horizon, goats tied to ver-
andah posts of the railway station, red downs
dotted with grey salt bushes and clumps of black
wI':sti<;rn Australia: the glamor oi- gold
705
Coronation Day at Bamboo Creek
oaks, clay pans, gold-diggers' claims and work-
ings, above all a sky blue beyond blue, and over all
a delightful air that sets the blood tingling. All
these told you that you had come closer to the
heart of the Great West.
It was dry, but no desert; arid but not sterile.
Yesterday the music of the stamper proclaimed
that it had awakened from immemorial slumber;
to-morrow, who knows? Its level expanses, filled
with the nitrogenous riches of a million years,
may echo the song of the traction plough?
At Ora Banda Hotel I found a friend. Garnet
by name. We had never met before, but he
was a great reader of mine, and he guessed that
sooner or later I was pretty sure to turn up. Out
in the bush a day or two later I met Paddy Mac,
who also said he had been expecting me for some
time.
Paddy belonged to the old dry-blowing brigade,
the crowd that "Dryblower" Murphy, "Bluebush"
Wethered, and "Peter Doubt" Spruhan have
expressed in rugged verse and prose, the sun-
baked, fly-bitten regiments who by camel-back,
horse-back, and on foot have carried their water-
bags, their half-hundreds of flour, their Colts and
Winchesters and tobacco pipes, where even the
bravest of our brave explorers might have hesi-
tated to go. Paddy told me the only thing he had
left on earth to love was the old she-camel that
brought him out to the West. For 18 years he
has hung on looking for a lode, such as Hannan
and Bayley found, such as thousands like him have
sought and hoped for. His first mate died, his
second mate was starved out, but Paddy still hangs
on in his little gunyah in the bush back of Ora Ban-
da. Years ago he struck a bit of gold. Now and
then he prospects out a little more — enough, to re-
plenish his store of provisions. He runs a few
fowls who keep themselves and get fat on white
ants, fossicks for his lode when the impulse moves
him, and would rather go without a meal than
miss his weekly number of the Sydney Bulletin.
It is just possible that Paddy Mac may strike his
lode before he crosses the Last Divide. I ex-
amined a lode not three miles from his hut which
shows how luck, rather than science, is of service
to the gold-seeker in this country. The apex of
this particular lode was just thirty-six inches
from the surface, and its discovery came by merest
accident. The surrounding country seemed on
the surface to be more suitable for growing
oranges or wheat than anything else — providing
one could get enough water. There were no visible
indications of mineral wealth, nothing more than
salmon gum and saltbush to testify to its existence
a few feet below the surface. Yet I offered that
little mine to a Melbourne crowd for £50,000 a
few days later, and subsequent events proved that
they missed a good investment. I doubt if the ex-
haustive geological and petrological survey which
they talk of in the lobbies of the Legislature in
Perth would ever reveal the existence of "shows"
such as these. Only the guiding hand of Provi-
dence is any help in the matter, and the ways of
Providence are inscrutable, according to the best
authorities.
Legislation may cheapen the cost of living in
Western Australia, reduce cab fares, limit the
public houses, establish many more government
tanks to hold half-a-million gallons of water,
erect State batteries and perform a thousand pub-
lic functions, but it cannot reduce the vagaries of
human fortune to a formula or establish the exist-
ence of payable gold in any given spot by mathe-
matical calculation.
Any man in that dryblower's camp in the bush
back of Ora Banda could tell you that — and more.
An outpost of about 40 held that spot at the time
I visited it. Some ages before the appointment of
the first Government geologist, a river whose
course will never be marked on a map swirled
around ancient boulders and through channels in
pre-historic rocks, depositing from time to time
Sulphide Dump (worth about £10,000)
At Gimblet Goldmine, Ora Banda
7o6
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The First Westralian Goldmine (near Southern Cross)
specs and chunks of gold. Some of this gold was
absolutely pure and some of it still carried quartz
from its original matrices. Time — which, philo-
sophically speaking, is only a method of conscious-
ness— went on : the never-to-be-mapped river was
diverted from its channel, or dried up or disap-
peared in some convulsion of the earth's crust.
Its dry bed was covered over with soil gradually,
or suddenly, to a depth of perhaps six feet. This
served as a most effective cloak or veil for the gold
below the surface. Saltbush grew out of the soil,
which was exceedingly fertile, mulga, salmon gums
and an occasional very beautiful currajong tree.
Then a sun-shrivelled, hard-living son of human
conditions arrived out of the quiet unpeopled
plain, threw his belongings down in the shade of a
bush, scraped a sample of earth into a tin dish and
subjected it to special examination. He was
satisfied with what he saw. He marked off a space
of 75 feet for himself, put up a tent and went to
work. By ones and twos, mostly twos, other skin-
dried, tough-living sons of earthly desire drifted
at intervals out of the still bush, marked off claims
and set to work burrowing into and baring the bed
of that Unmapped River. Each, meanwhile,
eagerly and systematically sought to transfer to
his own particular leather pouch, or pocket, those
slugs, specks, and chunks of alluvial gold which
had fallen by virtue of their higher specific gravity
into the crannies and pot holes and crevices over
which the immemorial waters of the never-to-be-
mapped river had poured and sung.
Among the claims, protected by a little barri-
cade of stones and a little fence of sticks, a Cape
gooseberry was growing, the miners' pet. They
would go without a drink to keep that plant
alive !
I wanted to see some alluvial gold. The secrecy
with which this class of miner envelops a new
find stood in my way at first. But before I left the
little rush, an old Irish prospector produced from
his trousers pocket a greasy rag wrapped around
a little parcel made up of an equally greasy seg-
ment of newspaper. This he reverentially un-
rolled and showed two pieces of gold, with iron-
stone, worth about £30. Subsequently I read in '
the newspapers that a 40-ounce and 44-ounce '^
nugget had been found at Ora Banda. The men
engaged in road-making had thrown down tools
and made for the field.
It was an interesting corner of the bush, with
its camps and claims, and gritty figures of men at
work in the wash. A perfume of burning sandal-
wood filled the air from fires lighted to dry the
dirt before it was treated in the dry-blowing
machines. When mining is slack the floating
population occasionally devotes itself to collecting
sandalwood for sale.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA: THE GLAMOR OF GOLD
707
The rattle of the dry-blowers went out across
rich saltbush flats, over red ironstone ridges,
through beautiful drooping wilgas and groves of
salmon gum and white boles of gimlet wood. Dry-
blowers fitted with handles and an adjustable
wheel, which can be trundled along barrow
fashion, were among the "plants" of this primitive
field. Some of these may have been brought 500
miles. Distances in the West are different. One
or two of newer appearance had been wheeled
on. Huge "mullock" heaps were being put
through the puddling mills, vats, and filter
presses. From these the gold, in a solution like
clear water, is poured out over zinc shavings —
where galvanic action is set up — and precipitated,
a somewhat more complicated and scientific pro-
cess than the wasteful methods of early mining
days.
The mullock heaps here were worth i is. a ton.
one little mine has £17,000 in its heap; and in
/"
^ — ^
'^^rv^ ^^ -^vrnf
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^k|. jL^m^^ .i/jt/Lga^ 'X^^^^H
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^^^«^ ->•' t .--'^ ' ^^Tt
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Jiia
Alluvial Miners, Ora Banda
■fverf
amp
^er from Broad Arrow, about 40 miles. In one
;amp I noticed a new hide bucket. These are
made in Kalgoorlie, and appertain to deeper sink-
ing. And there were long-handled shovels, dishes,
blucher boots, tinned meats, "fifties" of flour,
tinned beans and peas, and fish, wire meat safes,
stretcher beds, water-bags, and all the usual be-
longings of a mining camp.
At Ora Banda I found the Alford family, who
had driven overland with cattle from South Aus-
tralia— father, wife, and daughter. They took
two years on the journey. Ora Banda has long
been known as a good lode-bearing field. At the
|»time of my visit there were several mines
IHtn operation and considerable cyaniding was going
the house where the final process was going on
£50 a day was being silently deposited in little
tanks chemically set like traps to catch the same
metal which that wrinkled old Irishman unrolled
with reverence from a greasy rag!
The men who are interested in gold finding,
or gold treatment — and these make up a
majority of Westerners — have no time for agri-
culture or any other industry.
Talking with a mine manager out here, I
happened to mention that the surrounding salt-
bush was one of our most valuable Australian
fodder plants.
"D — n the saltbush," he replied; "it's no good
for mining timber."
7o8
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Wild Flowers at Murrim Murrim
Which led to a discussion on the qualities of
local woods for these purposes. The mining man
asserted emphatically that salmon gum was the
finest wood in the world.
The only attempt at agriculture out there was
that of a despised citizen who had taken a log,
studded it with iron spikes, scratched over an acre
of the free red loam and thrown in wheat. Great
local surprise was expressed at the appearance
of what I found in the month of June to be a nice
green crop. It confirmed my belief in a future
for this country which most mining men of to-day
cannot appreciate.
When dry-blowers and cyanide plants have
filled their respective functions, when steel-lined
rooms and galvanised roofs have given place to
an architecture more suitable for hot climates;
when the number of 10,000 gallon tanks has been
multiplied, the storages generally increased, when
the "flute players," i.e., the "talkers," are all gone
and the "doers" come into their own, this land will
enter upon another and more lasting phase of pro-
duction.
When my father marched from Fort Laramie
to Benicia with General Harney's regiments there
was little thought that Nevada and Utah and
Wyoming would be over-run by farmers within
the next generation.
Where Johnson and Martin and I pulled up our
American car to examine that green crop, which
had been sown broadcast after scratching the pri-
mitive soil with a pre-historic plough, there is no
thought to-day that another generation may see
the land glowing with wheat and vine.
Yet if our rulers are wise, it will be so. And if
they are not wise, then the fate of Belgium will
have been no example and no warning for the
people of this Commonwealth.
The closer settlement of Western Australia pre-
sents to-day far less difficulties than the settlement
of the Hawkesbury Valley did a hundred years
ago. There are no great mountain chains to cross
and roads are easy of construction, roads suitable
to the petrol carriage, which eats up the miles
after a fashion our fathers never dreamed of. The
road from Broad Arrow to Ora Banda, for in-
stance— running in a bee-line for miles — had been
cleared and made by camels who do not cut up the
soft loamy soils with their flat feet. The saltbush
and wilga had been grubbed out, and the top soil
scraped aside. A hundred miles west is no more
than ten east. With a team of 24 camels they
were laying the water-pipes between those two
places at the rate of 2i miles a day. This included
the opening and filling of the trenches. They
would need to do this when the lowest wages paid
by the Water Supply Board at the time was 1 2s.
a day. The trench was opened with a special steel
mould board plough (a wheel appliance gauging
the depth exactly), and ingeniously filled by a
simple mechanical contrivance after the pipes
(Australian patent pirated by the Americans)
were rapidly laid down.
In days to come, when hydraulic engineers and
dry-farmers ha\'e changed the face of the West,
stories of gold and gold-seekers will make good
reading.
The gnamma holes, those primitive storages,
said to have been made by aborigines in the past,
will remain as curiosities. The gnamma hole is
usually about 8 feet deep. It is located in the
granite outcrop in a kind of natural cement and
retains a limited amount of good water, which
has sa\'ed many a traveller's life.
Other natural features of the country will par-
tially change. The human characters who have
invested it with added interest will pass away.
With them will disappear another phase of
pioneering, full of type and incident. The men
A Gnamma Hole
5
WESTERN AUSTRALIA: THE GLAMOR OF GOLD
709
Sandstone, East Murchison Goldfield
who followed the little "leads" and "shoots" on to
payable gold, who celebrated their discoveries
with roaring sprees, who paid in "dust" and
called no man master, will have gone for ever.
Prendergast, "Shandygaff," Taffy Wilson,
Dunn the Fighting Man — the prospector and his
peculiar parasites — will have vanished from the
fringes cf civilisation. Thieves who were hunted
out of remotest camps under a modified lynch law,
to take their chances in wastes unknown, honest
men who crowded 200 strong around the con-
denser on a new "rush" to pay 2S. 6d. a gallon
for a bag of hot water, half of which would be
pressed out before they got away from the crowd
— new chums and old hands, will all alike have
joined the Great Majority.
That hardy breed which was lured into the
West by the glamor of gold will perhaps leave
worthy successors behind, but the free, wild life
will be gone. The chances of fortune will also be
laid on more mathematical lines. How uncertain
these have proved is instanced by many a romantic
story. There was the case of the new chum Eng-
lishman who arrived at a far out "rush" and pro-
ceeded to make a nuisance of himself by asking
experienced claim-holders for advice. At last,
wearied of foolish questions someone told him to
"peg out there and be d — d."
"There" was a piece of unlikely-looking ground
which no experienced miner would touch. The
new chum pegged out, to the joy of the whole field.
But the laugh went the other way when inside of
an hour the new chum brought up a 30-ounce
nugget in his amateur dish of wash.
There was the story of the boomster (told me
by himself), who earned £5,000 one morning be-
fore breakfast, pegging out claims for London
investors. Of the other man who came to Kal-
goorlie selling hot pies and went away worth
£80,000. Men who chased the "goose" into the
unexplored on the strength of "mulga wires" and
gulls who listened to promoters at the other end
of the cable were actuated by the same motive, but
the actual followers of the wild goose got the most
excitement. They saw the W^est and tasted its
joys. Some of them went right down to elemental
conditions.
There was a little man — Edwards was his name
— a "Cockney," who sat with me in the hotel at
Kalgoorlie all one Saturday evening and talked.
As every writer knows, the great majority of those
who get good experiences have no sense of literary
values. But there is an occasional man with a
"seeing eye," and Edwards was one of those
men.
710
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
He had followed the "water dog," the man who
goes to find water for diggers, and he had gone
alone. He knew Kimberley, The Cross, Pilbarra,
Murchison, in their pre-Coolgardie days, and he
knew the fields from the start. He had lived
among the cannibalistic natives of theNorth-West,
who had eaten his Italian mate "all but his heels."
He knew the straight tracks of an emu with zig-
zag cross tracks indicate that the bird has gone
He described the crowd in spotless moles who
rode into Cue after having found gold.
He told how, after seven months in the saddle,
his principal desire was for crystal sugar which
somehow represented refinement, luxury, the
smoothness and sweetness of civilisation to him
at the time.
I learned from him thatthe finest crop of empty
bottles on this Continent can be harvested at
Oroya Groldmine, Black Range, East Murchison
to water and come back feeding! Knowledge
such as this is worth more than gold. In the wide
arid stretches of the interior it is just such know-
ledge which saves men from disaster and death.
He knew the mistakes of some early explorers,
and had a quiet contempt for "pot-house pros-
pectors" and "flute players." In the early days
of Cue he had walked with his mates to Millie
Camp, lo miles for water, before breakfast, to
come back with full bags and find their claims
jumped. One man lost three claims in a week
this way, going out to get water for a sick mate.
He could tell you the difference between the
"Nor'-Westers" and the "Pack-Saddle Men," the
men in inevitable flannels and moleskins, and the
men who wore waistcoats.
Cossack if one could only find a profitable way to
get them out.
This item was reverently added to the "Re-
sources of Western Australia" in my note-book.
I learned from him that, when it is a case of life
or death, tying a handkerchief filled with salt over
a blackfellow's mouth may Induce him to disclose
the existence of a water hole, but rarely of a sacred
well. Being absolutely without water from mid-
day, Thursday, until late on Saturday night, was
his most poignant experience.
His mate, Charlie, was an outlaw from Queens-
land, who had not, to his constant regret, seen a ,
Melbourne Cup for 17 years, but he knew all
horses, pedigrees, and performances from the
beginning of things.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA: THE GLAMOR OF GOLD
711
So without a drop of water left, under the
cloudless, day-long heat of a mid-summer sun,
away in the remote North-West, these two rode
on "pushing" the pack horse in front of them, all
day, every day from noon on that best-remem-
bered Thursday of their lives until the indistinct
Saturday of their deliverance from death.
"I tried a stone in my mouth," said Edwards.
"It brought away part of the roof of my mouth
when I took it out. We came to a dry creek
down the bank. We smelled the ground, it was
damp. We scratched away the sand near a big
stone, dipped our faces in and drank. Charlie
ladled out a dishful for his horse. The horse
wouldn't drink, so he threw the dish at him
and swore. We seemed to tumble over then and
go to sleep. Next morning Charlie wakened up.
It was the day after Derby Day in England. He
sat up and wondered what horse won. Then he
wondered why his horse had refused to drink
Frazer's Mine, Southern Cross
ed and began sinking a hole; left that without
getting any water and pushed on. All day Satur-
day we didn't speak to one another. All day
Saturday I thought I was travelling in a train from
the docks to Fenchurch Street. At the foot of the
steps leading down to Fish Street Hill, I thought
there was a little 'pub' I knew 20 years ago,
where they sold cool, delicious, bitter ale. That
kept me up. I wasn't tired. I wasn't hungry. I
wasn't thirsty. I was just expectant and kind of
glad.
"It came dark, but we kept on. No use stopping
now. We kept right on. By and by coming out
of a dream like, we felt the ground going away
from us. Charlie was leading his horse. He went
after two days without a taste. Then he looked
over at me and sang out. 'Good God! look at
your face !' I was only half awake, but I opened
my eyes wide and looked at him, and I said,
'Great Scott, look at your own !'
"We faced one another, sitting up on the moist
sand. Our faces were caked with scum where we
had dipped them in to drink the night before. No
woncier Charlie's horse refused it. It took us two
hours to clean out that hole before we had another
drink of it."
Charlie was lost at last and never seen again.
Edwards often wondered what had become of
him. He was minus an eye, so his old mate told
me. I fancied I could see this one-eyed Charlie,
712
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
hatless, in moleskin pants, and flannel shirt, at
a bush race meeting, betting his mates five
ounces to one, and setting up the whisky and rum
at a sovereign a bottle.
He went out duck shooting in Kimberley on
one occasion. His gun burst and shattered part
of his hand. Being outside the region of doctors,
Charlie, one-eyed Charlie, took a tomahawk and
cut the dismembered part oft himself. He
recovered.
"Between Sandy Creek and Taylor's" this one-
eyed, one-handed figure of the grim North-West,
went out with two horses and disappeared. We
can bet he died game.
A Currajong Tree
Coming down Barrack Hill, Paddington, which
is a suburb of Sydney, in December of 19 14, a
knot of brown fellows in khaki got into my
compartment in the tram.
Curiously, the story about that one-eyed man
drifted into my mind. I could not help thinking,
although the Germans had shown no lack of per-
sonal courage, the German Empire with all
its resources could not produce just that type; the
type from which Charlie was recruited, and which
I saw reflected in the khaki-clad gentlemen
opposite. I felt sure those gentlemen would
acquit themselves with valor and resource.
They are filled with quaint superstitions ; they
pay their tributes to Bacchus, believing that the
to
I
gods of luck fa\ored the feckless; but this Legio
of the Long Track is nowise unintelligent, or
unafraid. From the expert prospector who can
"dry dish" 70 dishes a day to the English new
chum, they are all children of chance, prepared to
take the "duffers" with the finds. The knowi
old hands will strip in the afternoon and get t
morning breezes to blow, the new chum will sh
his sweat with less economy.
They earn their dust hardly, and scatter it
freely. Too often the "pack-horse storekeeper,"
and the publican skim the cream of a rush — trad-
ing bad liquor for a pound a bottle; nails, three
for sixpence, and horse-shoes and flour at a shilling
a pound.
One hears of thirsting men who bought a
shilling's worth of brandy and received a "nob-
bier" of water with it; how processions of diggers
went out to new rushes; how the unprovided, in-
experienced, sometimes died on the track; how the
most enduring and wisest won through, sucking
the water through a bit of cloth in the salt clay
pans, staggering on from rock hole to rock hole,
and finally staking out claims that brought them
riches, or nothing at all.
They are a combination of bushman and miner,
men who could pick out the tracks of a special
horse in a mob of 500, who had as keen an eye for
indications of gold in a landscape of a hundred
miles radius. They say among themselves that a
man who cannot stand a stroke of lightning is no
good for that country. In point of fact, where
men like Edwards, sometime of London, can sur-
vive, harden, and become entirely competent, the
average man can also live and enjoy life as it
would be impossible for him to do under gentler
conditions. The harder days are done. At the
last "Bullfinch" rush men who could command
motor-cars got in first, lube skirts reached Kal-
goorlie before they became fashionable in Sydney,
and the lady who took to champagne drinking be-
cause she was always christening new batteries
(the custom being to break a case over the
machinery and go on a three days' drunk) is dead.
But the glamor of gold still clings to Western
Australia. The sun of the fortune-hunter has not
set. Beyond the farthest-out fields, there are yet
vast regions unexplored. Within the radius of
known fields there are golden possibilities yet un-
exploited, lodes and nuggets which have eluded
the gold-seeker's grasp. Kalgoorlie will not be
the last of the great mines, nor Nullagine the final ;
word.
The Government geologist kindly presented me
with forty-two volumes of reports. I have not
read them all, but I have read enough to convince
me — with what I know — that only a moiety of the
mineral wealth of the Mighty West has yet been
seen. ■ !
I
b
s
7'3
7'4
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
When Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie had called
the fortune-seekers of the world to them, the dis-
appointed went away often poorer than they
came. Having missed expected riches they had
no good reports of the land that disappointed
them. It was to them and to their followers, the
"Waterless West," a waste in which gold might
be found, but hardships and perils outbalanced all
possible gains. The first and last charge against
Western Australia which calls for investigation is
that of aridity.
Even these discursi\'e pages prove that the dry-
ness of the State is partial, not general. The gold-
fields happened to be within the dry zone. To
make life and labor possible the young State was
faced with the problem of a goldfields water sup-
ply. She replied with Mundaring Weir and the
biggest hydraulic pumping scheme in the history
of engineering.
The concrete face of Mundaring is not more
solid than the national spirit which undertook this
task and completed it within five years. These
three hundred thousand people of the West have
already spent five millions sterling on water i
servation. The goldfields scheme, whereby w
for cities, mines, and gardens is carried a distance
of 350 miles, is responsible for over three and a
quarter millions of this. The number of towns
supplied now approaches 30, and extensions of
116 miles have been made- to serve agricultural
areas. The average daily consumption of wateiB
is about three million gallons. The maximum
delivery per day is five million gallons. From a
strictly-actuarial viewpoint the scheme has proved
improfitable, the annual revenues being inadequate
to cover working expenses and interest, and leave
a proportionate contribution to sinking fund. But
if shortages in sinking fund do occur, the gains to
the State in other directions will more than com-
pensate for them. The total public debt of West«l
ern Australia is over thirty-four millions. ItS
assets, including revenue-producing works, such as
this Goldfields Water Supply, keep good the
national credit. Under-production, under-popula-
tion, are far greater dangers than borrowing
money for such necessary national undertakings. ,
i
Helena River, Mundaring
IGHTEEN years before I landed in Perth,
ri . two of us tossed up a coin in a
wine saloon in Rowe Street, Sydney, to
see whether we would join the expectant
bands who were then daily packing the
steamers for Fremantle, or stay in our billets. We
were both well placed at the time. Neither felt
particularly sorry when the toss went against us.
But I know that I ha\'e missed the best experience
this Continent had to offer in my lifetime. It
would have been worth more to a young journalist
of 24 than six or seven hundred a year.
As I went up the Kalgoorlie track in 191 2 the
moon was shining brightly. Every now and then
one caught the glitter of a bottle or a tin that had
heen emptied by those early pilgrims to the fields
aa»i«^«gwaMi.-
Hannan Street, Kalgoorlie
KALGOORLIE
"Young man," said he, "the finest lot of horses
and barmaids went up that road that ever
travelled anywhere in this world."
I believe him. No doubt there went up that
track also some of the worst and best the world
held at that period. They came from all over;
such men as only great wars and great discoveries
will bring together. They came with large hope
and little money. Some went back in a few months
with their fortunes made. Others left with empty
pockets and full curses.
As the trenches of the army converted clerks
into heroes, so the fields brought out latent
qualities in some characters, and exposed hidden
meanness in others.
Men got chances which could not possibly come
b
The man who sat in the railway carriage opposite to them under ordinary circumstances. Just as
me had a fine business in Hay Street, Perth, but the rapidly-changing fortunes of a battlefield
he sighed when he spoke of the boom days at reduce colonels to honorable dust and elevate
Coolgardie, where his original fortune had been subalterns to colonels, so the rapidly-rolling
made. wheels of fortune presented different faces to
He looked out of the window, and the moon- different individuals on the fields. Opportunity
light on his silvery hair made him venerable. came and the wise man seized it. One man made
715
7i6
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
half-a-million in railway construction. He took, a
contract to build the line at £i,ooo a mile. People
said he was insane. But there was a clause in his
contract which enabled him to levy interim tolls
on passengers and goods. After the first 20 miles
of road had been constructed this particular wise
man cleared £20,000 a week. F^or him Western
Australia was the finest country in the world.
The foolish man bought champagne in Cool-
gardie at £15 a case, drank half of it with his
friends, passed the half-emptied case back to the
publican, and bought another at the same price.
The glory of the moment departed, and the fool-
ish man found no good in the West.
Nothing changes more rapidly than values on
a goldfield.
The Council Hall at Coolgardie was sold while
I was in that decayed city, for £250. Yet it cost
£13,000 to build; £700 was spent on champagne
at the opening ceremony.
Some oldest inhabitants looked back on those
opening ceremonies^ — which must have been paral-
yzingly frequent — as the best part of the boom
days.
They remembered particularly the festivities
which took place when the great goldfields pump-
ing scheme was completed, how a camel escort of
principal citizens went out to meet Sir John For-
rest and got astray, and some of the party did not
return for two days. How the banquet termin-
ated with an inspired humorist walking round
the table with his foot in an oyster pie. Then De
Baun turned out the lights. And somebody asked
De Baun, who was the caterer, next day how he
kept account of the crockery and cutlery for that
colossal feed: "Did you count it in?"
"Yes," he counted it in.
"Did you count it out?"
"No," said De Baun, "I swept it out."
The West is wide-hearted, jovial, prodigal
still. I had to tell my friends in Perth that even
the temperance drinks I have confined myself to
for many years cannot be taken as if through a
tube.
At Kalgoorlie, although all drinks were still a
shilling, one found the frequent invitation to
"liquor up" embarassing. The bar-maidens of
Kalgoorlie are still the most beautiful and exem-
plary in the world, but a busy literary man does
not necessarily gain information suitable for a
somewhat staid publication from Junoesque
divinities in frequent temples of Bacchus. Kal-
goorlie preserves most of the traditions and many
of the habits of boom days. It is still, perhaps,
the most interesting city in Australia.
Every mining machinery agency on earth seems
to be represented there. The old claims appeal
instantly to the stranger's imagination. Here
School of Mines, Coolgardie
fortunes were actually lost and won. Here gold-
seekers of all nationalities shovelled and scraped
under Australian suns, waiting that chance which
was to bring each of them his heart's desire.
The old claims look like red anthills now. The
earth has been burrowed and sieved for miles.
One sees the last marks of picks in long-abandoned
claims where the owners finished up eighteen or
twenty years ago. One sees also fresh workings
of fossickers — chiefly ancient miners who will not
take the old-age pension. They make a living,
and sometimes a little rise, by pawing over old
ground.
On the quiet Sunday of my arrival in Kalgoorlie
I went up on a hillock overlooking the city. It
gave me a fine commanding view of the greatest
goldfield on earth. Everywhere I saw shafts,
poppetheads, machinery, and paddocks of iron-
stone gravel pockmarked, burrowed, tunnelled,
pitted and torn. Great heaps of yellow clay,
gravel, and stone; smaller heaps of red clay,
gravel, and stone. The stones at my feet were
quartz, but the gold of Kalgoorlie does not all lie
in quartz. Its famous telluride ores faced mining
experts with a problem which the genius of Aus- ,
tralia finally solved on the spot. Along the
Golden Mile mullock heaps became tall hills; for
there lies the rich core of the field. The turning
*t-
KALGOORLIi:, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
717
over ot the immediate landscape has been general.
In his rage for wealth, Man creates ugliness.
Here a chaos of holes and hillocks defaces crea-
tion. In his passion for order man re-creates
beauty. There lie patches of green cultivation,
parks, gardens, ornamental trees. A line of
low blue-black hills on the horizon shows what
ing away from the mineral area; soils which Mr.
Foster Eraser erroneously classed as "desert"
from information gathered, presumably on his one
hurried journey to Mundaring Weir.
With an average rainfall of 10 inches, dry-
farming experts of to-day will readily agree that
such soils are by no means outside the wheat area.
Intersection of Hannan and Maritana Streets, Kalgoorlie
Kalgoorlie was like before the eyes of human
discovery were attracted by a glitter of gold.
Nearer to view are the little white houses of work-
ing miners, with an occasional vine, a rare fence,
an infrequent effort to make a real garden within
a real enclosure which would be a barrier to pre-
datory goats — inseparable from mining claims in
this country.
A cool breeze was blowing from the south-west.
It is the prevailing wind, which has helped to wear
the mountains of the interior down to their
golden roots, to alternately disclose and hide
their riches. There was absolutely not a hands-
breadth of cloud in the whole blue expanse of sky.
I he air was like wine that glorious June morning
when I surveyed the great field from my com-
manding hill-top above the Golden Mile. One
■aw blood-red soils instinct with fertility spread-
What they will do under Irrigation, wherever
irrigation can be made possible, we can gather
from local examples.
Just below my range of vision is a miner's
shack and claim. Three iron pipes have been
lashed together for poppet-heads. A wire rope
and whim make the winding gear. This miner
is married — a pair of woman's stockings flutter
from a rope outside the shack, which with a shirt,
a towel, and a pair of socks seem to constitute a
family washing. One cannot help thinking that
men like these would live infinitely more comfort-
able and productive lives as small irrigationists or
dry-farmers.
The present Western Australian wheat belt ex-
tends from Northampton to Albany, a distance of
600 miles. Its average width is about 60 miles,
and its approximate area 60 million acres. With
7i8
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Oranges Grown at Kalgoorlie
an average crop of ten bushels to the acre, there
would be a production of six hundred miUion
bushels of grain per year from this strip alone.
But the wheat belt will not be contained within
these theoretical boundaries; in time it will be
extended, one feels sure, as far as Kalgoorlie, and
farther. Men laugh when one speaks of Kal-
goorlie as an agricultural district. Men would
have laughed a few years ago if Temora were
talked of as a future wheat-growing area.
Laughter is cheap. Ridicule may impede, but it
will never prevent progress. No one knows how
long Western mines will last, but wealth of West-
ern soils is eternal. With irrigation their true
productive qualities are brought out.
In Ayr Street, Kalgoorlie, an old Mildura
settler, L. C. Noland, has a quarter-acre garden
under irrigation from the goldfields water supply.
His water rates amounted to two shillings and six-
pence a week. This quarter-acre interested me
quite as much as the Golden Mile. It displayed
an even more valuable and permanent asset. No
quarter-acre on Yanco or Mildura showed heavier
yields or greater variety of production. The
quality of both fruit and vegetables was superb.
Lisbon lemons and Mediterranean orange trees,
five years of age, I found in magnificent bearing,
carrying crops of the choicest quality. They were
worth 4d. a lb. in Kalgoorlie at the time. With
i6olbs. of fruit to a tree there was some profit in
the proposition. San Michael of Azores oranges
displaying their great golden balls among glossy
leaves — Joppas in heavy clusters, prolific man-
darins, all testified that soil and climate were
eminently suitable for growing high-class citrus
fruits.
Red Prince sultanas, Gordo Blancos, Zante
currants proclaimed them equally suitable for the
growing of grapes. Nectarines, peaches, Japan-
ese plums, figs, mulberries, apricots, Mr. Noland
was growing them all, and his garden contained,
moreover, one hundred \arieties of beautiful
roses. In his neat little bachelor house, electric lit,
with poultry, books, and garden, giving him both
pleasure and profit, L. C. Noland appealed to me
as a good Australian citizen. His example is one
that the congenial Westerner might more often
follow; decreasing, perhaps, the profits from
public-house and picture show, but increasing
national and indi\'idual wealth, and increasing
ultimate happiness to an incalculable degree.
Down at Kalgoorlie Racecourse one saw again
what water and good gardening can do in the
heart of the West. But it was the subtle difference
between the painted lady and the pretty house-
wife. The quarter-acre in Ayr Street remains the
kinder memory. They had 150 varieties of
geraniums at the racecourse and 650 hybrids, and
a plant-house full of asparagus ferns, palms, and
ornamental plants of great variety. The lawns
and grounds are as green and smart as those of
I'lemington.
Water is the secret. In early days condenser
water cost 2S. a gallon. The difficulties of getting
a bath were incredible. Personal discomfort
incidental to passing conditions made dusty exiles
regard the place as unfit for habitation. Now
Kalgoorlie householders going in for an irrigated
garden get their first 5,000 gallons for £1. After
that, up to 20,000 gallons, the charge is 2s. a
thousand. From 20,000 it increases to 2s. 6d.
Mr. Noland's meter reading from 21st December
to 1st of April, the driest months, gave a consump-
tion of 18,000 gallons. Under these circum-
stances there is no excuse for that consumption of
bottled beverages, which begins before breakfast
with a certain unsober section of Westerners, who
evidently aspire to perpetuate earlier bad habits
of the fields.
The Government Health Officer at Kalgoorlie
informed the author that "the consumption of
alcohol is still beyond all reason, and is the cause
of a higher mortality."
Normal life in the city of Kalgoorlie is undoubt-
edly healthy. A number of weak-lunged people
from the coast go thither for change. Ihere is no
hygienic necessity for white women to take an
annual holiday. The change from heat of day to ,
evening coolness is sudden, but in an atmosphere
as dry as the interior not harmful. Frost in
winter is unexpectedly frequent on the fields.
KALGOORLIE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
719
Li\ing can also be made pleasant. An abund-
ance of fresh fruit and vegetables — much of the
latter locally grown — plenty of fine gardens, shade
trees, flowers, the city has a great deal to make it
attractive.
After its mineral era is over it may look for-
ward, like Gympie and Ballarat, to a continuation
of its prosperity in other realms of production.
The tropical inland cities of Australia
should be greater hives of industry in another
hundred years than our coastal cities are to-day.
When ladies of adventure, who retired on fortunes
Sydney. One of these girls had gone to work in
Kalgoorlie at the age of 14. She had been 14
years in the same place, with little or no change,
except a holiday to Perth.
The other girl had had 12 years continuous
service. They were both plump, robust, clear-
complexioned, and indisputably healthy, a condi-
tion and appearance which applies to a majority
of the women in Kalgoorlie and Boulder City.
The winters are perfect, clear sunlit days,
golden sunsets full of colour, white stars and silver
moonlight, air so pure that it makes mere living
A Garden in Kalgoorlie
won, barmaids who married millionaires, "swamp-
ers" (the fellows who rushed the rushes), pro-
moters of crazy companies are no more than
memories, other generations of Westerners will
draw new wealth from lands that lured their sires
with the glamor of gold.
Let it be thoroughly understood that this part
of Western Australia, at least, is unequivocally a
white man's country. In summer, local ther-
mometers may register i 10 degrees, but the nights
are cool. White women can live comfortably and
attend to their domestic duties. In the hotel
where I stayed were two waitresses, natives of
an exhilaration — these are among the blessings
that population enjoy.
Men who go away from Kalgoorlie for a holi-
day tell you they are glad to get back again.
Handsome, red-cheeked girls, and rosy children
tread the wide streets of Kalgoorlie and Boulder
City. There is no poverty and few unemployed.
The visitor hardly expects to find such fine
stores, fruit and fish shops, smart cafes, frequent
if costly electric car service, green lawns, shady
avenues, bright gardens, nor such civic patriotism
and well-managed public institutions.
AUSTRALIA UNLliMlll-D
Goldfields Girls
Among other things I inspected the Municipal
Electric Lighting and Power Plant at Kalgoorlie.
They generate here a 650 kilowatt power, in
addition to an accumulator giving another 500
kilos per hour. The longest service is i^ miles;
lighting rate, 6d. net; power, 4d. to 2d.; heaters,
i4d. This plant has shown a profit of £80,000
since its inception 14 years ago.
The street service is conducted by private enter-
prise. Its debenture holders are getting the
profits.
As another example of the unusual in Australian
conditions, which has taxed our inventive faculties
and made us resourceful, may be instanced the fact
that in the Municipal power house, all the accumu-
lator's plant is carefully covered to prevent the
ironstone dust of Kalgoorlie destroying the cells.
Iron, as the electrician knows, is deadly to cells.
This accumulator plant is capable of 1,000
amperes for an hour, or 500 for three hours,
and does away with two shifts. Its economy and
reliability are established.
The local fuel being entirely wood, the manage-
ment has installed a hot-air plant which saves
them £500 a year.
Kalgoorlie takes some pride in its public insti-
tutions, and boasts that their locally-made grano-
lithic track on the electric-lit recreation ground is
the fastest in the Commonwealth.
It is by the wonderful machinery of the mines
that more serious-minded citizens wish the
stranger to be most impressed, for this represents
in one respect resembles a great manufacturing
centre rather than a goldfield.
Paddy Hannan's miner's right is framed in the
Town Hall. Hannan first discovered alluvial
gold at Kalgoorlie — a fact which entitles him to
a pension and perpetual fame. Kalgoorlie was
known as Hannan's, away back in 1896. Han-
nan's right hangs there upon civic walls, but il
represents no more than a passing phase in tht
history of Kalgoorlie. Up on the Golden Mih
stand the mills which slowly grind the heart of j
low range of Australian hills to impalpable dust. ■
Local engineers complain of having to impor
all their machinery. On vacant blocks through
out the town, one sees boilers, engines, fly-wheel
— a raffle of steel and iron gone to "scrap." The>
too, represent a passing phase, defunct mines'
bones of dead floats, out-of-date processes. U
at the Golden Mile there is no rust on their boiler ,
— yet.
The story of the Golden Mile is more thrill«i_
than a chapter from Monte-Cristo. 1 1
In 1893, after the exciting find of Coolgardi'
two brothers, George and William Brookmai
jam makers and grocers in Adelaide, decided th;
they, too, would make a bid for fortune in tl
West. So they formed the Coolgardie Minir
and Prospecting Company with a capital of £15;
in ten shares, £5 paid up and five shares reckonc
as paid to £5. The preliminary capital w:
organised to despatch three men to the fields wl
were to do their best for the syndicate and thei ,
selves. A practical miner named Pearce, accoi
panied the enterprising grocer, W. G. Brookma
the Kalgoorlie of to-day, the modern city that to the West. Coolgardie was just petering 0
KALGOORLIK, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
721
when Brookman gathered together his famous
syndicate of fifteen. Ada Crossley, the Australian
singer, is said to be one of the bunch. The north-
ern end of the little range had given the first
gold — Hannan's Reward. Brookman couldn't
get near it. It had been pegged out to the last
inch. So he went away south-east three miles, as
a good company promoter might do, took a 404
acre lease, saw the warden and claimed exemp-
tion !
back in Albany he got the surprise of his life when
he learned that Brookman had accidentally
pegged off the richest mines of Kalgoorlie.
This is the popular story. On the other hand,
it is well to remember that Zebina Lane was the
son of a Californian pioneer, that he was born in
Bendigo with the thump of the stampers for his
cradle song, that he was familiar with all matters
appertaining to mining from boyhood, that he had
been manager of Block 14 Mine at Broken Hill
A Native of the Goldflelds
"hey called it derisively "Brookman's Farm."
The claims yet retain their original symmetry,
shape, and size. It was so far away from the line
of lodes, so remote, such an obvious impossibility,
a "wild cat, "a "side show," that the whole field
treated it with derision. But Fortune is a great
jokist. Brookman got to work and found a little
"leader." Zeb Lane, the already famous Zeb
Lane, paragon of promoters, came along and had
a look at it. Report said, and still says, that the
Great Zeb didn't think much of it, but went to
England to float a company. It was boom time
and the British public "sprang" to the tune of
£175,000. They say that when Zeb Lane arrived
and paid a quarter of a million in dividends out
of this mine to its shareholders before he saw
Hannan's or the Great Boulder. He probably
knew a Golconda when he saw it.
He went to Western Australia in 1893 to in-
spect the goldfields. The Great Boulder was then
owned by the original (Adelaide) syndicate. He
got the offer of this and other properties, so the
old records say, and taking a trip to London
floated the Great Boulder and two other
companies.
Practical work on the Great Boulder began
when Lane returned from England in 1894. The
capital of the company, as we have seen, was
722
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
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Early Days on the Golden Mile
£175,000 in £1 shares. By the end of 1895 six
shillings per share had been paid in dividends, and
up to that time 4,291 ozs treated, yielding 26.817
ounces of gold, worth £4 2s. 6d. an ounce. Some
British investors had good reason to congratulate
themselves on an Australian speculation.
In 1898 the Adelaide syndicate was wound up.
The disbanding company voted its original
capital, £150, to its secretary as a bonus. The
chairman (G. Brookman) stated, for the benefit
of the public, that the capital value of the shares in
the companies promoted from their holdings at
the Golden Mile ("Brookman's Farm") was
then £7,275,000. Those companies had produced
at that date gold weighing 17 tons and worth
£24,000,000. The money distributed to the Ade-
laide shareholders was £950,000 in cash and
£3,421,000 in shares.
The visitor to "Brookman's Farm" to-day finds
machinery and process worthy of the richest group
of gold mines in the world. The London agent,
the champagne-drinking manager, and the gor-
geous promoter have disappeared. Sober mining
engineers and metallurgical chemists have taken
their places. Twenty years' experience stands
behind the mining managers of Kalgoorlie.
In 1893 the only machinery on the field for
treating surface alluvial and quartz were the
"shaker" and "dolly pot." In 1894 a unit mill
was erected on Kalgoorlie Mine, tailings from
which have assayed £40 a ton. In 1895 an
Austral Otis ball mill was erected, to be replaced
by a ten-stamper battery in a gully between the
Lake View Consols and Great Boulder Proprie-
tory Mines. The ore was hand-fed, amalgamated
in the boxes and copper plates, passed over blanket
tables into pits, and the slimes run off into dams.
The sand in the pits was stacked for future treat-
ment.
When I visited Kalgoorlie in 191 2 an enterpris-
ing engineer named Truman, who had invented a
new method of treating slimes, was doing exceed-
ingly well. He had bought up a number of dumps
(the residue of mines, consisting of ore which has
already been subjected to one or other of the old-
fashioned methods of extraction) and was run-
ning the charcoal out of them, into which gold
had been precipitated. The charcoal had been
put into trucks to prevent contents sticking to the
sides. Those clinkers were worth £300 a ton.
The little mulga sticks which had got into the
slimes In solution and picked up fine gold were
worth £50 a ton. The by-products of modern
mining have often proved more profitable than
original reductions.
The oxidised ores at Kalgoorlie cut out at
relatively shallow depths, and gave place to sul-
phides— which brought another metallurgical pro-
blem for solution. Soon after sulphides were met
with, telluride of gold was identified on Block 45
Lease, and subsequently in all the other mines,
in exceedingly rich ore bodies. At that time the
fields possessed no means of reducing telluride,
which had to be shipped to smelters at P'remantle,
Dapto, and Wallaroo.
Freight and smelting charges took a good slice
of the profits. Constant experiments and frequent
installations of new processes went on at most of
the big mines for years. Finally the Merton and
the Edwards types of furnaces for the dry-crush-
ing mills were introduced from Victoria. The
treatment resolved itself into a breaking of the
ore in Gale or Blake crushers, milling in Krupp
or Grifiin mills, roasting in Merton or Edwards
furnaces, cooling the ore, or not, and mixing with
weak cyanide solution.
In classification the sand was ground in pans
and the coarse gold amalgamated, the slimes from
all sources thickened and run into agitators,
treated with cyanide, and finally filter-pressed.
The residue is disposed of in xarious ways.
In the wet-crushing mills Wifley tables have
been generally installed to separate the pyrites
from the ore. The concentrates are roasted in
Merton or Edwards furnaces, ground fine, and
amalgamated in pans, agitated with cyanide, and
filter-pressed.
The first tube mill used in gold reduction was
introduced at Hannan's Star.
The fall in costs caused by local improvement;
in treatment has been considerable. When th(
ores of Kalgoorlie were being shipped to smelter;
costs went up to £6 a ton. Nowadays 10s. 6d. ;
ton for wet and dry-crushing mills may be givei i
as a fair average.
In 1909-10 The Golden Mile — 13 mmes—
was treating a grand total of 73,000 tons of crudi
ore each month, and 5,900 tons of concentrates
This is a world's record. Taking into calculatioi
the prices of labor and material, the costs of e.\
traction were lower than that of any other niininj
KAL.GOORLIE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
723
field. This happy condition still prevails, a high
tribute to the efficiency of Western Australian
mining management.
The surface of the Marvellous Mile is to-day
a line of colossal factories with high chimneys,
where, under high roofs, ore bodies automatically
elevated from underground workings are sub-
jected to enormous forces which grind them as
wheat is ground in a mill. The fine floury dust is
subjected to chemical process and the last possible
atom of metal extracted.
In gigantic \ats with revolving spindles, the
floury heart of the hills is chemically treated.
Ball mills, crushers, and roasters slowly and de-
liberately perform their functions. Within these
weird re\'olving merry-go-rounds one gets a vision
of Hades. Enormous heat, enormous power,
irresistible acids have all been harnessed to the
will of science. The capital value of this machin-
ery of the fields is calculated in millions, but in-
vestors may rest assured that the element of
waste has been practically eliminated and profits
are being made on the smallest margins of payable
product.
After producing 50 million pounds worth of
gold in eighteen years, ore to the value of ten
millions was still blocked out in the workings of
eleven principal Kalgoorlie mines. And Paddy
Hannan, the Irish prospector, who discovered the
field in 1893, is a pensioner of the State.
There is still in Kalgoorlie a business man who
was offered Lake Views at 6d. — they went to £38 ;
Boulders at is. 6d. — they went to £18; and Ivan-
hoes at 2s. 6d.- — they went to £17. He told me
with a self-pitying twinkle in his eye, that he
"turned them all down."
Deserted Alluvial Diggings.
7^4
On the Sheep Hills, Newmarracarra
THE SIX DIVISIONS
THE products of Western Australia are:
Sheep, cattle, wheat, and all cereals, fruit,
and wine, timber, pearls and pearl shells,
gold, coal, and other minerals.
Western Australia needs: Farmers, orchardists,
vignerons, agricultural labourers, and industrious
men of all kinds who are able and willing to work
on the land.
Western Australia claims: That no other State
has a better or more healthy climate than is found
in her agricultural areas, or has so excellent a
market for all agricultural produce and fruit.
Nor is there any State which does more, if so
much, to give practical encouragement to settlers
on her lands.
Western Australia gives evident proof of the
value she places upon land settlement and of her
bona fide desire to increase her agricultural ex-
pansion by the unique concessions she grants.
— Official Bulletin.
At the risk of repetition, I must insist upon the
fact that the sub-division of Western Australia
into three States or Territories is necessary. The
Government at Perth is faced with a task beyond
the range of human possibility. The time has gone
k
— it went early in August, 19 14 — when Austra-
lians can afford to shelve racial problems, or post-
pone national tasks. To-day is red enough, but
to-morrow may be redder still. Had it not been
for Britain's naval expenditure during the last five
years — an expenditure which a large number of
representative Britons opposed tooth and nail —
the Governments at Perth and in Melbourne
would ere this have been relieved of their re-
sponsibilities. The salaries of legislators would
also have automatically ceased. In order to face
with some degree of equanimity a situation which
may be even blacker than that of August, 19 14,
Australia must begin now a policy of immigration
and land settlement which will convert the
potentialities of her waste places into actual pro-
duct and ensure perpetual tenure of this continent
to a white race, living according to the freest and
most liberal European standards.
We can, while pursuing this policy, if our legis-
lators see fit, offer our friends and allies commer-
cial compensations.
Unless we are prepared to frame such laws
and create such conditions as will lead within the
next generation to the occupation and develop-
ment of our vast wealth-producing domains, we
725
726
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
will have neither title nor justification to offer in
support of our exclusive policy. Nor will we,
perhaps, have the necessary strength to enforce it.
The theory that we can call upon Britain always
to defend us is a confession of unfilial cowardice
and helplessness. It is a mistaken patriotism at
best, as dangerous to the Motherland as to our
own. That pre-war delusion cherished by some
fatuous Australians, that in the event of trouble
in the Pacific the United States would come to the
assistance of the Commonwealth, has no material
substance behind it.
over an area of 975,920 square miles, representa-
tive government is hardly possible, rapid colonisa-
tion not to be hoped for, and continuation of
present ownership extremely doubtful. I have
listened vainly for an answer to many riddles in
the West. The East is busy with its own local
affairs, and greatly ignorant of the facts. One
solution of the difficulty came from a German
professor about five years ago. He suggested
that the unoccupied but fruitful spaces of Western
Australia should be given over to Germany on
the grounds (ethically substantial) that Britons
Pearling Luggers at Broome
Therefore, it behoves every public man, every
patriot throughout the length and breadth of Aus-
tralia, to strive for the laws and conditions which
will bring our ship to havens of national security,
prosperity, and the peace which results from an
entire preparedness for war.
This occupation of Western Australia is one of
those vital national problems which must be at-
tacked. The country to the south of the 28th
parallel could be more readily settled if it were not
handicapped by the burden of the great north-west
and eastern divisions. The Kimberleys, all that
fine tropical territory north of the 20th parallel,
would work out its destiny much better with a
government at Derby or Broome.
But with a population of 107,000 in Perth and
suburbs, and a balance of perhaps 220,000 spread
were making no use of them, while Germany was
badly in need of colonies for her crowded people.
It was, no doubt, part of the German programme
of 1914 to carry this theory into fact. Because
Germany — thank heaven — has failed in this
attempt, Australia must not consider the ledgei
closed. The first balance-sheet only has beer
struck.
There are people in Sydney and Melbournt
who still regard Western Australia as an arid lam
producing gold in large quantities, but generall;
unsuited for agriculture and of indifferent valu
for pastoral purposes. These people would b
surprised to learn that those sands of Westeri ,
Australia which early explorers classed as deser
are among the richest soils in the Avorld. EacI
year the truth is being manifested that vast inlani
WESTERN AUSTRALIA: THE SIX DIVISIONS
727
Whim Well Copper Mine
districts of the West which have been regarded as
doubtful, even by better-informed Australians, are
really of immense future value.
On maps of Western Australia since 1907 a
red line has been drawn connecting Hall's Creek,
in Kimberley Division, with Leonora in the
Central Division.
This is marked "Stock Route, A. W. Canning,
1906-7." It runs from near the i8th deg. of S.
Latitude to the 29th, in a south-westerly trend, for
about 1,050 miles. Between Hall's Creek and
Wiluna, half across a continent, there is not yet a
single hamlet! I sat in the vestibule of the Palace
Hotel one evening thinking what uninhabited
distances spread away into the darkness beyond
the circle of the lights of Perth. As I sat there I
noticed among a group of lean, brown Westerners,
a man I was looking for. A large proportion of
the men who passed through that lamp-lit vesti-
bule towards dining saloon or bar were of this
type. One often wondered what back-bush his-
tory these spare, sun-browned fellows had
written.
The man I wanted to see was Canning. He
had promised to come in and have a yarn. I
noticed as we sat in the dining room together
later on that he had a grey-blue eye, the long-
distance eye one might call it, which seems typical
of these explorers and back-bushmen.
He told me in a quiet, modest way all about
the highway he had built through the West. Be-
fore he undertook to make a new line across the
k
map of Australia he believed that water existed
throughout the eastern division from the fact that
the aborigines, of which there have been consider-
able numbers, never migrated.
His equipment for the survey included 21
camels, none of which he lost, and a herd of goats
which kept the party in milk and fresh meat. After
survey the construction of the route — marking
a track and making wells — occupied two years.
This time he took out 62 camels, 400 goats, and
no tinned meats. He moved like a Biblical
patriarch, halting with his expedition from time
to time to labor or rest. The equipment included
windlasses and troughing for 54 wells.
At each well he established a depot. For 830
miles of the stock route there are wells averaging
14 miles apart. Native names have been given to
these. Looking at the map one would think that
they were places of habitation, but there are no
houses between Hall's Creek and Wiluna.
Mr. Canning says that his route lies through
patches of fair, good, dry country, through coun-
try which is sometimes good, and in good seasons
among the best. In dry lakes covered over with
soil there was always succulent pasturage. He
was agreeably surprised to find such a large area
of fair, pastoral country, and particularly pleased
by discovering that everywhere there was an
abundance of water to be had by shallow sinking.
It was gratifying to get an inflow of 4,300 gallons
an hour at a depth of 9 feet, as Mr. Canning did
in the heart of what was once believed to be a
waterless desert. At a depth of twenty feet it
was usual to get a flow of 2,000 gallons an hour.
We can better understand now why the interior of
728
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Westralian Natives.
Australia is crossed by so few flowing rivers; prac-
tically all the rainfall of an enormous watershed
is retained by a vast underground storage system,
which will prove of incalculable value to future
settlers. If the establishment of wells at an aver-
age distance of 14 miles for 850 miles on
Canning's stock route is possible, the interior of
Western Australia will nearly all be turned to pro-
fitable account by pastoralists. Immense areas
are still open to pastoral occupation. Canning's
route traverses also some hundreds of miles of
sand hills and spinifex. The prevailing wind is
south-east, and these hills all run in the same
direction. This is only a central belt, which con-
stitutes about all the actual desert of the continent.
Explorer Wells believes much of it will some day
be converted. The northern end of Canning's
route lies along Sturt's Creek, which once a year
may flow through all its course and carries fine
pools of permanent water on which wildfowl are
plentiful. In flood time, like other rivers of the
interior, its waters submerge the surrounding
country for miles. Several profitable cattle
stations have been established in this region.
Farther south the natives have been troublesome,
and cattle-spearing has been one of the drawbacks
to pastoral settlement.
South of the 20th parallel there are great areas ;
of good country, then comes the sandy belt and ■
more good country from about the 23rd parallel
south. None of this has yet been taken up, so far
as the writer knows.
Since the Canning route was made possible
mobs of cattle have been driven down from Kim-
berley to Lake Way station, thence to Perth,
arriving in good condition at their long journey's;
end. Their drovers also arrived as healthy and'
fit as men could be. The men of Canning's ex-
pedition returned without a touch of fever. The\
were free from illness of any kind during theii
two years' exile. With goats' meat, wild turkeys
pigeons, and kangaroos thev enjoyed a change ol
diet which doubtless helped them to avoid those
physical disabilities which some of the explorer:
suffered from.
East Kimberley graziers have, says an officia
report published since the opening of Can
ning's stock route, been deeply interested t<
see a demonstration made of the practi
cability of overlanding mobs of 200 t(
400 head of cattle along this newly openei
route to the Eastern Goldfields market. Al '
though wells have been put down at intervals o
about 14 miles along a stretch of 800 mile
WI'ISTERN AUSTRALIA: THE SIX DIVISIONS
729
erroneously called "desert" country, yet a practi-
cal demonstration alone of the capabilities of
these wells to water good sized mobs of travelling
cattle and of the pastures to support them, has
been anxiously looked forward to. This demon-
stration has since been successfully carried out,
and this season a mob of horses — over 100 — and
three mobs of bullocks — 250 to 350 strong — were
overlanded. One of these mobs, under the care
of two experienced drovers, James Thomson and
Geo. Shoesmith, was attacked by wild blacks and
the drovers were murdered. The others reached
Wiluna in splendid order, the loss being only 3
per cent., while the bullocks are reported to have
gained weight on the track. The opening of
this stock route offers, therefore, an important
outlet to a good market for cattle which until then
had to be driven down the Ord Valley to Wynd-
ham and had to face losses sometimes of 25 per
cent., due to tick fever, irrespective of other losses
at sea and depreciation whilst on board ship. This
new outlet will also enable cattle owners to market
within the State large quantities of stock, which
in previous years had to be overlanded to the
Queensland meat works. I am told that, in 1909,
16,000 head of cattle were overlanded to the
Eastern States.
The journey from Hall's Creek to Wiluna
ng this new route takes four to five months,
"nd all those who have used it speak highly of
the watering facilities provided.
A few days after my interview with A. W.
Canning, there happened in to the Palace Hotel,
another lean, hard man with a penetrating brown
eye, an eye that I would not care to see looking
at me in hostility behind the sights of a rifle. This
was Sergeant Pilmer, of the Western Australian
Mounted Police, just returned from a punitive
expedition in the North-West. This expedition had
been sent out in charge of Sergeant Pilmer by the
Government to bring the murderers of the droving
party to justice. The hostile natives came in con-
tact with the police at Libral Well, a little south
of where Canning's stock route crosses the 22nd
parallel. The Sergeant gravely said that "he did
not think they would do it again." They found
and buried the remains of the party which had
been murdered.
It was Pilmer who hunted down the notorious
native bandit, "Pigeon," and his gang. He had
had fourteen years' service on the North-West
coast, and his firm belief in the future of that
hinterland was based on a first-hand knowledge.
The Pilmer expedition crossed from Weld
Springs, discovered by Sir John Forrest in 1874, to
Goodah on the Sturt, better known as "Gregory's
Salt Sea." This country. Sergeant Pilmer states,
is capable of supporting a very large population.
There is abundance of water at shallow sinking.
The prevailing soil is a rich loamy sand adapted,
he believes, for the growth of rice and wheat.
The expedition found plenty of native wells and
surface water as pure as rain water, conserved by
a wise providence — or beneficent nature — making
provision over a period of ages for the establish-
ment of future population.
They went through after a three years' drought
and found in places, where there had been local
thunderstorms, patches of the most succulent
vegetation.
Present difficulties in the way of occupation are
that this good territory lies 300 miles from the
nearest rail-head at Nannine, and 200 to 300
miles of bad country intervene.
One can go down into it by way of Ashburton
or by the Gascoigne and Burton stock routes.
The southern end of this Eastern Division,
although lacking surface water, will, it is believed,
prove profitable.
David Lindsay, Frank Hann, L. A. Wells,
Sergt. Pilmer, and Surveyor Canning know the
interior of Western Australia as well as any
men living. I have discussed the subject with
them all, excepting Hann, and none are pessimis-
tic regarding the future uses of this vast hinter-
land.
Waiting for Kangaroos.
730
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The opinions of the Forrests corroborate
theirs; although these belonged to a previous and
perhaps less hopeful generation. The early
knowledge which Sir John Forrest gained of his
native State doubtless helped to confirm his faith
and inspire his good works.
The maps of Sir John Forrest's famous expedi-
tion from Champion Bay to the overland tele-
A Prospector
graph line in 1874 are marked in alternate good
and bad. "Grassy country," with frequent water,
prevails to the Robinson Ranges. Here at the
head of the Murchison, the Forrest party
found "most magnificent country, beautifully
grassed and thinly wooded." Towards the Kim-
berley Ranges the lands crossed deteriorated in
quality for a short distance and then changed
again to "fine, open, extensive flats, richly grassed,
many clumps of immense white gums studded
over the plain." Weld Springs is described as a
"beautiful oasis." In the Warburton Ranges
there are grassy flats which compensate the ex-
pedition for a bad stretch crossed, in an easterly
direction from Weld Springs. So the interior
presents smiles or frowns through the Warburton,
Cavanagh, Tomkinson, Mann, and Musgrave
Ranges onward to the Alberga River and the
overland telegraph line.
I met many prospectors in the West who had
penetrated these unoccupied spaces marked as yet
only by the hands of discovery or exploration.
These men belong to the "Dry Belt;" they are a
part of its loneliness, its mystery, its immensity.
When the women, the parsons, and the goats
arrive they go farther back. Their feet have
strayed into unknown regions; their eyes have
beheld unknown places. As a rule they are quiet,
grave men, but not pessimists. Ask them what
they think of the interior and they will tell you —
"some day." Some day the vast hinterland,
through whose solitudes the dusky native flits
noiselessly in his spinifex sandals, will pour out
treasures of gold and wool.
The manners of this brigade may not be per-
fect, but their knowledge is first hand. They have
been out into the solitudes, and seen !
One dry-belt prospector told me how the war-
den of the furthest field ordered all the people
back because of a coming water famine. He and
his mates "took the back-country back for it," i.e.,
disobeyed the warden's injunction and travelled
farther into the unknown. Away out in the hot
hinterland they discovered a lake of beautiful
fresh water covered with wildfowl. The fellows
100 miles in were perishing for water.
Their camels were uneasy as they sat with their
noses to the camp-fire that night. In the morning
they found themselves surrounded by hostile
natives. My friend did not pursue the subject
further. He said "they came through all right."
From which I concluded that the natives forced
matters to an issue.
Alleged ill-treatment of aborigines by explorers
and surveyors in Western Australia has made men
take risks rather than chance an indictment. The
Central Australian native is treacherous; but he
has a marvellous intimacy with the land over
which he roams. His knowledge of the where-
abouts of water he sometimes desires to keep to
himself. In order to preserve their own lives,
white men have, and do commandeer tribesmen to
ask as guides. If the ironwork of Canning's wells
has sometimes come in handy for native chisels
Salt Formation in a Mine
1
WKSTFRN AUSTRALIA: THE SIX DIVISIONS
731
and spear-heads, it is some payment for informa-
tion reluctantly or willingly given by the blacks.
This hinterland, all Central Australia in fact, is
far better watered than was ever expected. Sur-
veyors of the Canning expedition located water
on plans made from native maps drawn in the
sand. By getting the blacks to tell them what
growths prevailed thereabouts they could judge
what a distant soak or well was like. The native
wells were found, as a rule, in sandstone. They
were usually filled with detritus and had to be
reservoir, and were in the habit of visiting it for
a supply.
Canning, who had surveyed the line for the
rabbit-proof fence, one of the Government's
big public undertakings, spoke pleasantly of that
cold, clear underground pool in the heart of
the continent. He said he had walked 80 miles
without a drink once, when the sun was bordering
on 150 in the shade, with a poisoned camel behind
him and very uncertain prospects ahead. Another
time he claimed to have done 210 miles with
Natives Fishing in the De Grey River
mil
cleared and deepened. After putting some of
these wells down ten feet the survey party got a
How of 400 gallons an hour. One of the best
supplies of water on the route the chief discovered
by following a runaway native down a natural
tunnel in the rock. Crawling after his dusky
hase he caught him by the foot about 20 feet
linderground and held on. Fifteen feet farther
the tunnel opened out into a spacious arched
chamber 100 feet in length, which contained a
pool of clear, cold water, six feet deep. The
party were able to enjoy a swim, subsequently,
nder the high roof of this cavern in the heart of
Australia ! Fire-sticks of the natives showed that
they knew of the existence of this subterranean
k
camels in five days with water only once en route.
Despite hardships incidental to the penetration
of new lands, his faith in Western Australia was
intense. Dry though the climate of some districts
might be, he had found the heat healthy and bear-
able. Men who would be dead in an hour in
India could work without a hat in 120 degrees of
heat in the West.
Sitting on a bench in King Park next day,
with the beautiful Swan River at my feet, I tried
to picture mentally that great Canning trail, 1,050
miles in length, which began off there, hundreds
of miles beyond Coolgardie, and ended away out
in Kimberley, where grass five and six feet waved
over hundred-mile stretches of glorious country.
732
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
A Westralian Aboriginal
On the coast of Kimberley they found European
fruits growing wild, and signs of early Dutch
occupation. East and south from Kimberley,
somewhere, are the tracks of a waggon, 58 years
old.
Canning thinks Leichhardt reached the lower
part of the Northern Territory — the blacks of
the interior have a legend to the effect that the
party quarrelled among themselves and that the
tribesmen slew the remnant. This, as I have said
before, is a current theory among bushmen of the
Dry Belt.
Rock pictures of Kimberley aborigines indicate
early contact with Europeans. I examined some
reproductions done by the Fathers of the mission
station at Drysdale River, wherein the figure of a
man is depicted wearing sabots, trousers, and
jersey — all very evidently Dutch of the sixteenth
or seventeenth century. Crosses carved in stone
are frequent, and rock figures, undoubtedly Euro-
pean, including the model of a boat, 44 feet long,
have been recently discovered.
Kimberley is still terra incognita, where a few
fortunate pastoralists have established cattle
stations; where occasional pearling luggers dare
the 40-feet tides of Collier Bay and Cambridge
Gulf; where daring spirits, white and black, face
overland by long-blazed trails, and equally daring
spirits, white and brown, make landings at the
mouths of bays and rivers of which Australians
hardly know the names, or pursue their quiet
ways among islands over which the flag of the
Commonwealth has never more than theoretic-
ally waved.
Terra Incognita also, is much more of that
tropical North. Who knows of the Throssell
Ranges at the head of the Oakover, where the
blacks, if they catch you, will strangle you with a
rope made of reeds?
That is the way they found John Pickering, who
had left his mate Colreavy to make over to
Nallagine. That is the way other wanderers have
finished up. Constable Fogarty, of Onslow, a
Limerick lad with a blue eye, could tell you some
weird stories of that hinterland — Constable
Fogarty, whose next mate is stationed 1 90 miles
from him, who goes out cheerfully 300 miles in^
the back-country to arrest a native.
But the Throssell Ranges are good, with plentT
of grass and water, and promising with gold. So,
like the Leopold, this fastness a hundred miles
long and 16 miles wide is destined soon to yield
its secrets. Perhaps more than one mysterious
Curious Aboriginal Marking
>
3
734
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Coppin's Gap near Marble Bar
Stream, like the Ruddle, will be found running
away from it to lose itself in the sand.
Sitting on my bench in the park I tried to pic-
ture Canning's wells, timbered with straightdesert
oak — impervious to white ants — which has been
carted sometimes a hundred miles on camel back.
I watched in fancy lonely drovers with their herds
of fat cattle stringing southward from soak to
soak, keeping careful lookout at night for mar-
auding blacks or stampeding steers. I saw the
deep water holes of Sturt's Creek covered with
duck and teal; the flat-topped Central Australian
hills, the long grassy plains, the belts of spinifex
and sand.
The vegetation of the park included bottle
trees, palms, figs, cedars, scarlet eucalypts, silver-
leaved banksia, acacias, and oleanders — varied
growths of the world's gardens. Over there on
dark blue hillsides, the oldest vegetation of a
planet shaded its oldest and richest soils. Out
there, beyond there, the wonders and wealth of
that planet's oldest terrain awaited exploitation
at the hands of modern science and industry.
The houses facing the Park and overlooking
Swan River, occupying perhaps the finest city sites
in Australia, gave the lie to drunken Dutch
Captain Vlaming, who derided the surrounding
land on his flying visit in 1696. A red road dip-
ped downward under shady trees, a broad ex-
panse of distant roofs, some red-tiled and some of
galvanised iron, the smoke of many chimneys, the
exquisite greenness of the Park itself, the bluest
sky, the purest air, a still, delightful atmosphere,
a glorious panoramic view of Perth bounded by
its hills — all this tended to delight one with the
West. A recurring charm beyond all was the
feeling that one had entered a land of surprises,
of the unexpected, of vast distances pregnant with i
possibilities, nebulous yet, but destined to take]
on definite shapes; to give forth secret riches anc
open treasure chests which were filled before the v
mountains of Europe had risen upon their founda
tions.
Without doubt, these enormous domains to eas
and north and south, would support their prosper
ous millions. Any policy daring to oppose thei
occupation would be a policy of madness. Then
was only one policy for a nation possessing s<
many millions of food-producing acres — to ensur
their peaceable settlement by people of the whit
race before they were settled at the instance o
armed force.
Still sitting on my bench I reviewer
some of the facts I had collected. First there wa
the Eucla Division reaching from the South Au;
tralian border to Esperance, along the shores 0
WESTERN AUSTRALIA: THE SIX DIVISIONS
735
the Great Bight, an undoubted land of promise of
ij which I have already spoken.
( Esperance, especially, seemed ripe for settle-
ment. Here on thousand and two thousand acre
blocks farmers can do well. In the light soils of
this district one man with a team and a set of
implements can readily put in a crop of from 200
to 300 acres. With the assistance of an extra
hand he can take his crop off. The policy of such
holdings will be 250 acres in crop, 250 acres
fallow, 250 for sheep, and 250 to come and go
on. It is, so far, a non-artesian district, but with
sheep stations contain as much as two million
acres; there five-year-old sheep, bred on milk
bush, have never drunk water, and waistcoats are
infrequent and linen collars rare.
The Eastern Division crossed by Canning's
stock route we have just had under review, and
found to possess a most promising future.
The last division of the Western State, Kim-
berley, we know to be a tropical hinterland of
tremendous productive powers.
While I was in Perth, Conigrave, the explorer,
had just returned from an eighteen months' trip
its 15- to 25-inch annual rainfall, wells and sur-
face conservation will be adequate. Esperance is
worthy of port improvement and a railway. The
quality of Premier Downs and the territory
crossed by the Trans-Continental Railway is con-
sidered elsewhere.
Next there was the South-Western Division,
taking in Albany, Perth, Busselton, Bunbury, and
all those valuable forest and agricultural tracts
over which we glanced in a preceding chapter.
Then the Central Division, containing Kalgoor-
lie and those great mineral areas, whose riches
have astounded the world.
Then the North-West, where, in another
chapter, we follow and disprove Master Dampier,
our first English critic. In the wide North-West
"out back of Wyndham." He had been living in
No Man's Land on kangaroo meat, and he was
hard and fit. If I were to print all the enthusiastic
statements made to me by this scientifically-trained
traveller, the most conservative-minded people
would cease to doubt the future of the Far North.
Mr. Conigrave — latest but not least intrepid
Australian explorer, had examined territory pre-
viously unvisited by Europeans and found it
entirely good.
Within these six great divisions is the whole
State of Western Australia contained. Each in
turn displays resources of the richest kind. Each
division has its particular advantages, but all labor
under the disadvantage of scanty population and,
for the north-west and Kimberley, a distance far
736
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
A Date Palm, with Fruit
A progressive Government policy of construct-
ing light agricultural railways, combined with a
vigorous system of inducing immigration, is prov-
ing a speedy means of increasing the acreage
under cultivation.
A Commissioner for the Wheat Belt has been
appointed to ensure the observance of the best
and most up-to-date methods of this important
branch of agriculture. His advice is available,
and he is anxious to be consulted on questions of
tillage, fertilisation, the varieties of crops to be
grown, etc. A considerable amount of his time
is employed in touring the country, imparting in-
formation to settlers on the spot, and in lecturing
at various centres. By this means local conditions
are best served.
Pamphlets are published for free, distribution
on matters pertaining to cereal culture, the fer-
tility of the soil, etc.
Special legislation exists for the protection ^B
settlers by the registration of fertilisers, which aff
required to contain the stipulated fertilising con-
stituents, according to the brand or name under
which they are sold. Samples are taken and
proven by analysis, and any attempt in the direc-
tion of misrepresentation on the part of the ven-
dors is promptly followed by prosecution.
Three State farms are under the control of the
Commissioner, Nangeenan, Chapman, and Nar-
rogin. These afford practical demonstrations of
too great from the seat of government. Again,
Western Australia should be three States instead
of one.
Between Geraldton and Wyndham (with the
exception of a short line from Port Hedland to
Marble Bar) there is not yet a single mile of rail-
way. This vast sweep includes all the North-West,
Kimberley and the Eastern Division — an area
greater than the whole of Queensland. It cannot
be said that effective white occupation exists
here !
Owing to climatic conditions and regularity of
rainfall in the wheat belt, the average yield for
ten years in Western Australia has been the high-
est, except Queensland, where the area cultivated
for wheat is by far the smallest in the States.
In the five years preceding 19 14 the State had
opened 954 miles of new railways into the wheat
belt. In 1 9 14 632 miles further had been author-
ised and were under construction. Altogether,
Western Australia had 2,854 miles of railway
builded.
The area considered necessary tor wheat
farms is of not less than 1,000 acres. Clearing in
the Wheat Belt costs 20s. to 25s. per acre. A
settler with £300 initial capital is morally cer-
tain of success.
Irrigated Garden, near Carnarvon
^
»
737
t'l
7.38
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
McGibbon's Estate, Bruce Bock
the methods to be observed in the cultivation of
cereal crops. Experiments are undertaken for
determining the best varieties suited to the differ-
ent parts of the State. Seed, well graded and true
to name, is also distributed from these sources.
Intending immigrants are officially promised: —
First quality land at moderate prices.
Financial assistance by the Agricultural Bank
in the form of loans from £25 to £2,000 maxi-
mum.
Assisted passages from Great Britain for
farmers and farm laborers.
Special reductions in rent for the first three
years of occupancy. Expert advice on farming,
grazing, wheat-growing, fruit-growing, intense
culture, stock, and all agronomic subjects. Main
roads cleared in advance of settlement. Water
supply in the wheat country. Railways existing
and projected to all agricultural land centres with-
in reasonable distance. Freezing works, cool
storage facilities. Shipping. Abattoirs. Regular
rainfall seasons. Glorious climate. Practically
only two seasons — spring and summer. No long,
cold, dreary winter months.
4
tallyll
The lands of the State are departmental
classified as follows: —
Approx. Area.
Sq. Miles_^
1. Dairying, fruit, grazing, intense cul-
ture for vegetables, including
potatoes, &c., in suitable places,
the latter particularly in the
coastal swamps
2. Sheep, oats, fruit
3. Cattle, horses, &c
4. Wheat and other cereals,
some cattle
Larger grazing farms , wheat in
variable seasons
Sheep, cattle, horses, &c 647,220
Sheep and cattle chiefly. A large area
is suited for the growth of cotton
and tropical fruits 178,00^
sheep.
68,500
48,500
Total 975-920
Outside of her gold and mineral fields, which
cover an area equal to 6i times that of England
and Wales, the sunny West has sources of wealth
■MMiaiiliijat,' -'- ■ ^- ^
■'hS^i
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^■^^^^IMH^B^^k^^BK .^ '
- T-\| — -^
^^^^^^^■■^■■■1
»
Bullock Wool-Team, Carnarvon
WESTERN AUSTRALIA: THE SIX DIVISIONS.
739
beyond computation. While the population
equals one to every three square miles, this wealth
must remain for the most part unrealised.
"WesternAustralia's greatest and most pressing
need" says the Lands Department, "is more popu-
lation, more particularly settlers on the land, and
it is her boast at the present time that she can
country is in the interior and on the North and
North-West coast. Here are to be found, particu-
larly in the North, millions of acres which carry
nutritious indigenous grasses and scrubs on which
stock thrive. These northern pastoral areas
possess a good climate, and are practically free
from stock diseases. The country has also
Felling a Karri Tree.
ler the best inducements for the orchardist,
viticulturist, gardener, farmer or grazier. The
wonderful climatic advantages, the enormous
vacant areas practically drought-proof, the excel-
lent wheat, fruit, and grazing lands, are calling
for thousands of settlers and laborers
Although at present practically confined to the
coastal fringe, the pastoral industry has immense
capabilities of expansion. The truly pastoral
wonderful recuperative powers, for though the
rainfall is light as one proceeds inland, the edible
shrubs are remarkably hardy and provide susten-
ance through long periods of dry weather, and the
soil, being rich, responds immediately to the
slightest fall of rain with a strong growth of
grass.
"On the cattle stations of the North, fencing is
largely dispensed with, the cattle being allowed to
■
740
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
m^
•■«43r^^
A Camel Wool Team
Town Water Supply, Derby
roam at will except for periodical musters for
branding. But in the sheep country, all the runs
are divided by sheep-proof wire fences into pad-
docks varying in area.
"Systematic water conservation during recent
years has done wonders in improving the carry-
ing capacity of the country. By well-sinking,
water is obtained at shallow depths and raised by
windmills or other motive-power. The most im-
portant development in this direction, however,
has been the successful tapping of the artesian
basin. Throughout the North- Western Division,
boring has resulted in immense flows of water
from subterranean reservoirs, and a great en-
hancement of values. Country previously con-
sidered impracticable is now being stocked up, and
as the artesian basin is known to be of vast extent,
the most sanguine hopes are justified of water
from this source similarly enriching other areas '!
now regarded as almost worthless."
A Wheat Waggon drawn by Donkeys
TASMANIA
742
NORTHERN TASMANIA
LAUNCESTON AND THE TAMAR.
FOR many years one entertained a mental
picture of Tasmania in which barren stones
and bitter snows loomed through sub-
Antarctic mists. That heart-shaped island to the
southward of the Australian continent held no ap-
peal for a native of the mainland with sunlit views
of life.
When Tasmania joined the Commonwealth,
Australia began to regard its smallest State with
more interest.
Shortly after Federation, a commercial pro-
position took me to the northern part of Tas-
mania. It was winter time. My Tasmanian
friends said I would see the Island at its very
worst. I shipped at Melbourne with an almost
Antarctic outfit, in which I was half inclined to
include a pair of snow shoes, to aid my progress
about Burnie and Launceston.
I found the Scotch mate of the ship suffering
from sciatica, which I mentally attributed to his
being in the Tasmanian trade.
My (irst view of the Island was off the Nut of
Stanley, when I ventured up on deck in a chilly
morning. This dark headland lay like a
couchant lion to guard the southern stronghold
of a white race. A sharp wind came over grey
seas, blowing from that lone mysterious South
where the planet turned noiselessly on its axis —
where seal and penguin had their habitat, and
weird volcanic lights reddened eternal snows.
Sunrise came with a slowness noticeable to one
who was more used to the swift movements of
the tropics; one thought how differently the morn-
ing danced in at Cairns.
The Scotch mate stumped off the bridge, and
said, "It's a nice mornin' again."
I ventured to remark that it was rather cold.
"Mon," said he, "ye dinna ken cow'd. Ye should
hae a wunther in the North Sea." I learned from
him later that he had contracted sciatica in Glas-
gow, and had really taken a berth in the Tas-
manian trade in order to enjoy a congenial
climate.
As the sunlight grew, one noticed that the land
was of a most vivid and refreshing greenness.
By the time our ship was laid alongside the
pier at Stanley, I had revised some of my pre-
conceptions of Tasmania. Pale sunlight on the
hills took on a warmer glow, tall, attenuated trees
on their summits seemed less like shabby-genteel
ladies; and the snows and stones of early imagina-
tion dispersed with the mists.
Our Scotch mate limped up to the skipper,
and announced "eight hundra' bags of potatoes
and a hundra' an' fifty tons of ore," as that little
port's contribution to our freight.
While vulgar winches were rattling this into
the holds of the Melbourne SS. Company's
"Sydney," some of us went ashore and climbed
on to the "Nut" to get a more extended view of
the Island.
I remember that climb from the fact that an
argument which had begun between two of my
fellow-passengers in Melbourne was reaching a
critical stage.
One of them was a hotelkeeper from Williams-
town, who had shipped on a sailing brig as a
743
744
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
boy, and acquired experiences. He was in the
Straits of Sunda during the eruption of Krakatoa.
He had been smuggling gas-pipe guns to abet
rebellions in the South Seas. He possessed a
pair of clear steel-blue eyes, and drank much
whisky.
The other was a garrulous, semi-sober drum-
mer, who touted for a shady business concern in
Brisbane. He boasted of convivial hours spent
with Henry Lawson at the Civic Club, of which
he swore that wayward literary genius was a life
member.
ately one saw that the Tasmania of reality was
an exceedingly beautiful and fertile country.
The day had grown warm and sunny. Be-
neath us, running eastwards towards Burnie and
Devonport, was a coastline of alternating beach
and foreland. Inland were patches of tall timber,
interspersed with clearings.
Just across the neck, joining the Nut to
the mainland, was a stretch of coastal plain
of apparently indifferent quality. From the
edge of this strip began the volcanic downs
of Northern Tasmania — among the greenest,
fairest, and most fertile lands on earth.
The Nut, Stanley
Five minutes' conversation with the drummer
had convinced the hotelkeeper that his fellow-
passenger was a liar; so he made a point of con-
tradicting his every statement. The discussion
was interminable. It covered almost everything
within the range of passengerdom. When the
drummer made excursions into wider domains,
the hotelkeeper followed him like a hunter, and
brought him down. He potted at him sitting,
and when he essayed a flight into higher regions
of mendacity, he was peppered on the wing.
A hundred yards from the summit of the Nut
the combatants succumbed breathless. Through
this fortunate accident we were enabled to enjoy
an undisturbed view over the district. Immedi-
Since I first viewed this scene, that apparently
worthless strip of coastal flat, about a thousand
acres in area, has been cleared, drained, and
planted as an apple orchard by the Van Diemen's
Land Company. It was a part of their original
concession, regarded for half a century as of no
agricultural value. My friend Leslie Evans, of
the Government Agricultural Department at
Hobart, took a keen interest in this proposition.
When we were approaching Stanley on our
ofl'icial journey in the summer of 19 14 we went
over this area together.
I found it to be in appearance no more than a
thousand acres of typical peaty sand located on
a sea margin, with patches of whiter sand inter-
LAUNCESTON AND THE TAMAR
745
North Coast Railway, near Bumle
spersed, growing in its primitive state clumps
of tea-tree, sword-grass, and rushes. There are
at least five hundred thousand similar despised
acres along the eastern coast of Australia.
As Mr. Evans was interested in the enterprise,
he was curious to hear my judgment, rather, I
think, for its comparative than scientific value.
I told him candidly, "If this will grow apples
there is no waste land in the Commonwealth."
Presumably the experienced Van Diemen's
Land Company is not investing fifty or a hundred
thousand of its capital in agricultural duffers.
The Stanley apple proposition should be a suc-
cess, though the locality suffers from exposure to
heavy winds, and breakwinds may be found neces-
sary.
Looking down coast from the Nut one saw
that the cold, bleak island of early fancy was in
reality a land of forest, farm, and orchard, all
pleasantly fertile and green, or rich with promises
of future fertility and greenness.
With our potatoes and ore safely stowed, we
steamed along over placid seas to Burnie. Square
ploughed fields of chocolate ground on the hill-
sides looked like brown patches on a green dress.
An Irish passenger maintained that there was
ily one island within the circle of the Seven Seas
to compare with Tasmania for beauty, for
climate, and for richness of soils. He said Tas-
mania would be another Ireland, capable of sup-
porting a population greater than that of his own
green motherland before the migration of the
Irish began.
Ireland was a western segment broken off the
European Continent, Tasmania a southern seg-
ment broken away from the Australian Continent
— his Celtic imagination saw something signifi-
cant in this comparison.
For the rest, he was a prosperous orchardist in
the Tamar Valley, going back home after a holi-
day on the mainland.
A Scotchman for business, an Englishman for
philosophy, and an Irishman for propaganda.
His eyes filled with tears, his voice quivered with
emotion, as he fondly compared the island of his
adoption with that of his birth.
"Young man," he exclaimed, leaning over the
steamer rail and pointing to the shoreline,
"yondher lies the finest potato land outside the
County Cavan, and beyant it is the sweetest apple
country, barrin' me own parish, in the whole wide
wurrld."
As our coastal voyage continued, the Tamar
apple-grower handed out facts concerning Tas-
mania, all gathered from practical experience.
He told us how the finest fruit-growing lands of
the Island were those which the two first genera-
tions classed as worthless, how settlers had rushed
the heavily-timbered red volcanic country, and
borne all the burdens and costs of clearing it
when they might have secured the lightly-timbered
greyer soils, which, as orchards in full bearing,
are now worth £ioo an acre. But of course there
were no swift oversea steamers, no cold storages,
no foreign markets for Tasmanian fruit in earlier
days.
Night fell as we steamed along that smiling
coast. Lamps of little towns twinkled through
the darkness to starboard; finally, with red lights
of Devonport in line, we slipped slowly into
VI
746
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
smooth waters of the River Mersey — and tied up
at our wharf. Devonport seemed very grave
and still under a clouded moon; electric arcs
flickered over deserted pavements — my first Tas-
manian town had gone to bed.
In the morning Devonport, unrolling leisurely
from a blanket of mist, proved an entirely pros-
perous place, compactly built and conveniently
laid out.
A narrow-gauge railway runs along the coast
from Burnie down the valley of the Mersey and
asmanian
lish another on the shores of the Ta
Derwent.
Early in 1914, while at work on this compila-
tion, I met in Sydney the late Hon. A. E. Solo-
mon, then Premier of Tasmania.
Mr. Solomon courteously invited me to accom-
pany him on his return, and see more of the Island
State than previous flying visits had enabled me
to do.
A few weeks later we crossed the Strait, and
landed in Launceston together, where I was im-
^^^Hj
|^4^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H
^HBL ^IB ^^^^^ri^^^H
Hl^ ^^^H
^■^|^H|H|
Hartnett Falls, Upper Mersey River
junctions with the main line from Launceston to
Hobart.
The Mersey is a strong, rapid stream, bordered
by acacias, willows, and poplars.
Misty hills, green rain-wet fields, tea-tree
hedges, boxthorn 'and cypress, figure in my first
mid-winter impressions of Northern Tasmania.
Black basaltic pebbles, and heptagons of rock,
tall timber — dead along the hillsides where the
young farms are — red-cheeked people, and gene-
ral prosperity are also in the picture.
I found the climate milder than the air of Mel-
bourne at that time of year. I returned to Vic-
toria with a feeling that, after all, some excuse
might be found for Lieut.-Colonel David Collins,
who, early in the nineteenth century, abandoned
a settlement at Sorrento, on Port Phillip, to estab-
mediately put in touch with sources of oflicial and
general information.
Launceston is among the most modern and
commercially-active cities of the Commonwealth.
In civic service it is much ahead of Melbourne.
The generation of cheap, hydro-electric power
for municipal purposes on the outskirts of the
town is partly responsible for the progress of the
city. Hydraulic generation of electrical force
can be greatly extended in Tasmania — the land
of lakes and rivers. It will aid the rapid develop-
ment of her great natural resources. With her
cool climate and cheap power, the Island State
may aspire to become a great manufacturing base
for the Commonwealth.
The electric light and power station located on i
the South Esk River is worth a visit — for it?
scenic surroundings, if for nothing else.
LAUNCESTON AND THE TAMAR
747
Electric Power Station, Launceston
^^BWith iio feet head of water the engineers,
modern magicians, have secured a direct result
of 1360 h.p. The system is alternating, and 3-
phase — 50 cycle giving 5200 volts.
The waters of the Esk have been diverted by
a tunnel, 2762 feet in length, to feed with in-
herent force four giant dynamos in the gorge
below.
France's spiral turbines communicate with each
dynamo. The generators are of 300 kilowatts,
and from this power station in the hills overlook-
ing the city, Launceston, with its 24,000 popula-
tion, is enriched with light and power. Over
30 miles of public streets are thus lighted, and
4000 private consumers supplied. A most
efficient and payable municipal street car service
is also maintained.
The municipality controls the whole light and
power services, charging for lighting yd. per
unit for the first 10 units per half-year per 8-c.p.
lamp, and li^d. per unit for all over this quantity,
subject to a discount of id. and id. per unit re-
spectively if paid within 14 days.
I' or power and heating, charges are 2 id. per
unit for the first 200 units per quarter per brake
horse-power or kilowatt, id. per unit for all over
this quantity, subject to a discount of ]d. and ^d.
per unit respectively if paid within 14 days.
Alternative sliding scale for large power con-
l^mers up to 80-h.p. Discount, 12I per cent.
HpThe Council wires premises, and customers
may pay for their wiring in cash or on the de-
r "'" '" "■ '~ '■"■"
over a period not exceeding 10 years, with interest
at the rate of 6 per cent, on the unpaid balance.
Alotors are supplied on rental, 15 per cent, per
annum being charged, or sold on very liberal
terms. Payments may be extended over a period
of three years, with interest at the rate of 10 per
cent, per annum on the unpaid balances.
A word on the Island's hydro-electric resources
may be inserted here.
In 1909 the Tasmanian Parliament granted
concessions to the Complex Ores Company, which
opened the way for a development of latent
hydro-electric power.
Five years later the Government acquired the
works from that company and proceeded to com-
plete what is known as the Great Lake Scheme.
Under this system cheap force is supplied to
Hobart and intervening stations.
The Great Lake is the most extensive of many
fine natural reservoirs scattered over Tasmanian
highlands.
It has an area of 42 square miles, is 3250 feet
above sea level, and receives the rainfall of over
two hundred square miles.
By the erection of a dam, 700,000,000 cubic
yards of water have been added to the original
contents.
F"rom the outlet of the Great Lake the water
runs down the River Shannon for four miles, and
then a canal three and a half miles long carries
the water into a lagoon, with an area of 300
acres, which acts as a regulating and settling reser-
voir. From this lagoon a mile of wooden pipe.
I.AUNCESTON AND THE TAMAR
749
four feet in internal diameter, and three-fourths
of a mile of double steel pipe take the water down
to the power station on the bank of the River
Ouse. The total fall in the mile and three-
quarters is 1 132 feet. Allowing for losses, this
gives a net head of 1050 feet at the turbines.
In the power-house is installed plant with a
capacity of 9000 electric horse-power. The plant
can be increased, as the demand requires it, to
30,000 horse-power, and eventually to consider-
ably more than that. The next link in bringing
the power to the place where it will be used is the
transmission line, 63 miles long, from the remote
upland valley of the Ouse to Hobart. Along
this line, 700 steel towers, each 70 feet high,
carry three copper wires, with a capacity of 20,000
horse-power delivery. A second set of three
can be added at any time. The station near
Hobart breaks down the transmission line volt-
age of 88,000 to connect it with the city. There
are two sub-stations, with which a complete system
of distributing mains is connected. The mineral
output of Tasmania will be greatly facilitated in
future by the extension of cheap electrical power.
The island stands first among the States as a
producer of tin, second in silver-lead, and fourth
for copper.
Her coal production is smaller than any of the
^tates except South Australia. Her savings in
)al alone should quickly reimburse her for out-
ly on the Great Lake Scheme.
This new power will be utilized for the making
of munitions of war, the production of nitrates
and carbide of calcium, and for the treatment of
complex mineral ores.
It will be generally applied for lighting pur-
poses, for tramways, and for manufactures.
Hobart, with the finest harbor in Australia,
must benefit enormously. One can safely fore-
cast a vigorous future for this southern city, par-
ticularly in the manufacture of woollens from
the superb fleeces of Tasmania.
Launceston is only a 16 hours' steam journey
from the mainland. Vessels enter the mouth of
the River Tamar at Low Head early in the morn-
ing, and reach Launceston, 40 miles, before
lunch-time. The banks of the Tamar are beauti-
fied by extensive apple orchards and picturesque
homes.
Many retired Anglo-Indians have established
themselves here. These orchard lands — until re-
cent years valued at no more than ten shillings
an acre — are bringing their owners good annual
incomes, and their capital values, when cleared
and planted, have increased two hundred fold.
The waters of the Tamar, home of the succu-
lent flounder, are clear and sparkling. This
winding water-journey of forty miles takes the
traveller through a halcyon land of meadow and
slope which spring smothers under blossoms and
autumn reddens with ripened fruit.
Woollen Mills, Launceston
750
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Trevallyn and the Eiver Tamar, Launceston
At the end of an idyllic passage comes Laun-
ceston, which beyond the progress already noted,
is one of the cleanest, best governed cities in
Australasia.
From a publication issued by the Town Hall
we learn that — "If a gentleman desires to reside
in Launceston and to build, the Corporation will
supply the building stone, execute the sewering and
sanitary work, cement his pathways, asphalt his
tennis court, lay on and supply his house with
water, instal and supply it with electric current
to light his rooms, heat his radiators and clothes
iron, and work his sewing machine and lift. His
children can be educated at the State schools, of
which the members of the Council form the Board
of Advice. They can learn to swim in the Cor-
poration Baths, while those desiring it may
luxuriate in a Turkish bath in the same building.
The Corporation Museum and Art Gallery are
open for their education and pleasure. In the
Corporation reserves, parks, and Cliff Grounds
they can take part in games, and often enjoy ex-
cellent music supplied by bands subsidised by the
Corporation. They can attend literary and
musical competitions, and participate in tourist !
drives organised by the Tourist Association, both
similarly assisted. They will be able to travel
about the city in the Corporation's up-to-date
electric tramways, which are considered by com-
petent judges to be equal to any similar systems ,
in the Australian States. He will know that the
Public Health and Sale of Food and Drugs Acts
are administered by the Council, and that the
Corporation owns and controls the only abattoirs
and fish market in the city. If unfortunately his
house catches fire a municipally subsidised fire
brigade, in whose management the Council par-
ticipates, will hasten to stay the conflagration.
Should illness overtake him he can be treated at
the General Hospital, on whose board of manage-
ment the Council is represented, and finally, when
he 'rests with the blest,' he will have the solace of
knowing that his body will be interred in the
Corporation Cemetery."
This is municipal socialism; but the city fathers ^
make no profession of being socialists. On the
other hand, Broken Hill, ruled by rankest social-
ists, cannot compare with Launceston at all.
LAUNCESTON AND THE TAMAR
751
Beyond the cleanly streets of Launceston lies
a rich, basaltic country, good for dairying and
general agriculture. Black soils, benefited by
ample rainfall, make Tasmania famous for root
crops. The climate of Northern Tasmania is
similar to that of the south of England, with
winters less severe. In springtime, hedges of
gorse, hawthorn, and briar remind English people
still more of their motherland.
But there is no pov'erty here. Everybody earns
fashioned. This may have been the case some
years ago, but Launceston, Burnie, Devonport,
Hobart are modern cities, with modern conveni-
ences and plenty of commercial activity.
Although Tasmania is as great in area as Scot-
land, its whole population is little more than
200,000 people.
Along the main line of railway between Laun-
ceston and Hobart the traveller sees how little
In Denison Gorge, Scottsdale, near Launceston
good wages, enjoys good food, wears good cloth-
ing, and is housed in at least moderate comfort.
Launceston is a city of parks and gardens,
enterprise and progress.
Southern womanhood probably finds its highest
physical expression in Tasmania.
In Launceston and Hobart the women are
dowered with much beauty and refinement. All
through the Island one sees the type of Shelley's
Devonshire Maid — the rosy healthy rural maiden
of older English poetry and fiction.
There is a delusion on the mainland that the
cities of Tasmania are slow-going and old-
has been done to develop this rich and beautiful
island, well capable of carrying the millions who
subsist on rugged Scottish soils. There is no
intensive cultivation here, no farming on narrow
acreages, no rigid agricultural economies, no
scientific effort to make the land yield all it can.
One sees rich black soil and flats, capable, no
doubt, of growing lucerne, given over to the
grazing of a few sheep on native grasses. Dairy-
farming as it is carried on in the State of Vic-
toria is rare in Tasmania.
Lands such as these are worth, on average,
£15 an acre. They will yield, under present
752
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methods of cultivation, 25 bushels of wheat or 35
bushels of oats to the acre.
The Tasmanian winter climate is not as cold
as mainlanders believe. It is not nearly as cold
as in Denmark, where modern dairying has at-
tained probably its highest results. As Tasmania
corresponds in hemispheric position with Southern
France and Northern Italy, it is better suited for
dairying than Denmark or Sweden.
Tasmanians are even more credulous than Aus-
tralians. They have been told that they are slow-
going and behind the times. They believed it.
Launceston natives regard themselves as pro-
vincials in comparison with folks of Melbourne.
They imagine that Melbourne, having twice the
population of all Tasmania, is twice as pro-
gressive. When I informed them that, at that
time, Melbourne had no electric street traction,
that mails in that city were not delivered on
motor-cycles, that electric ironers, fans, and radia-
tors in private houses were not then general, they
seemed surprised, these things being all part of
their daily lives. It is a long way from Laun-
ceston to Thursday Island, and much misunder-
standing exists between.
When (at a cost of £400,000) Launceston
completes its harbor scheme now under way, and
gains a low-water depth at Bell Bay of 36 feet,
production in Northern Tasmania should be
greatly stimulated. Direct deep-sea carriage will
be established with valuable agricultural, orchard,
and timber-growing country.
Leaving the volcanic soils of Northern Tas-
mania for the moment, we find through the central
or midland section broken country, country with
fertile valleys rejoicing in black soil slopes suit-
able for fruit and flats from which successful
hop-growers have in the past netted £50 an acre
profit per annum.
By sharp curves a narrow-gauge railway
rounds these hills and crosses the flats. Old
colonial houses surrounded by hawthorn hedges
occur now and then, and a few solidly-built
villages at long intervals. The rest is mostly
forest and sheepwalk. There are still nearly ten
and a half million acres of unalienated Crown
lands in the Island out of a total of 16,778,000
acres.
Devonport
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753
SOUTHERN TASMANIA:
HOBART AND THE DERWENT.
COMING out of good sheep and potato land,
the approach to Hobart is delightful.
Hobart is without doubt the most pic-
turesque of all our capitals.
The overland line enters the Derwent Valley
some distance from the city, running through
orchards which slope towards the waterside,
orchards laden in late summer with ripened apples
and pears.
Mountain shadows are reflected in the deep
waters of Derwent, which in winter time are
capped by lingering shadow-snows.
Black swans float gracefully over these sub-
merged peaks; motor-boats break their contours
with busy propellers; occasionally a white sail
detaches itself from some sheltered haven and
fares forth towards the breezy south.
Hobart is located on hills which slope steeply
to the shores of the best harbor in the Common-
wealth, a harbor sheltered from all weathers,
and capable of floating the leviathan fleets of the
twentieth century. Behind the city Mount Wel-
lington climbs skyward, sheltering, and s'ometimes
chilling, the city of red brick and stone at its
feet. The 40,000 or so who make up the resident
population of city and suburbs can gather from
the formation of clouds on their paternal moun-
tain-top some indication of coming weather.
I have found no fairer place than peaceful
Hobart Town of a sunny Sunday morning, with
all her church bells chiming and the skies clear
save for a white cap of cloud on the summit of
Mount Wellington.
Cobblestone gullies, narrow streets, old stone
prisons, warehouses, and public buildings tell of
colonial beginnings.
The architecture of Hobart In 1915 will re-
mind old colonists of Sydney forty or fifty years
ago. We see In Hobart the terraced houses,
the solid masonry and shingles of our grand-
fathers' period. Bluestone and sandstone pre-
dominate as building materials. Solid masonry
everywhere shows that labor was cheap In those
early days. Hobart has the steepest streets of
all the Commonwealth cities.
From sheltered corners, buttressed by walls of
solid masonry, one gets glimpses of the harbor.
These appear like pictures In stone frames, with
blue water in their further distances, and beyond
the sloping shingled roofs In the foreground are
smooth spars and gaudy funnels of ships at
anchor.
Virginia creepers, beeches, oaks, and pines,
with flower gardens laid out in the l'"ngllsh fashion
give the town an air of old-worldness which Is
rare In Australia. This savor of old-fashion
mellows the Island for the literary and artistic
palate.
From attic windows under gabled roofs eyes
now dimmed by age or closed in death looked
out over these narrow streets as Sir John Franklin
went by.
Down at the Hobart Museum they have Sir
John Franklin's gun, a fine old double-barrelled
fowling-piece, and some relics of the Ill-fated
Arctic expedition, including a tattered fragment
of a boat's ensign left at Cape P'elix In 1847, ^"'^
discovered In 1859. The same institution pos-
sesses a Schiedam bottle left by Pelsart on the
x'^brolhos, and the full skeleton in a glass case
of Truganlnl, the last Tasmanian aboriginal.
To the anthropologist, Truganini is the most
Interesting thing in Hobart. As the last of a
neolithic race whose origin and history are
fascinating subjects for scientific investigation,
Truganini Is famed and remembered while the
most important people of early Hobart sleep In
neglected cemeteries, forgotten and unsought.
Great men have come from afar to visit
Truganini at the Museum, to make exact
measurements of her skull and compare its brain
capacity with that of pithecanthropus crectiis and
rhe Pithdown ape-man.
In the year 1876 Truganini, the last remnant
of Tasmanian tribes, passed over to the hunting-
grounds of the aboriginal elect. She lived to 70
years, and saw her native island take its first
toddling steps on the path of civilisation. In her
piccaninny days Tasmania was a settlement in
swaddling clothes. Before her death had closed
a last chapter In the history of a race far older
than the Briton, her native Island had become
an autonomous colony, with a Governor, Houses
of Parliament, and all the complicated parapher-
nalia of administration on which the Australian
loves to lavish his surplusage of levies, fines and
taxes.
754
HOBART AND THE DERWENT
755
Carnarvon (Port Arthur)
Simple life of Tasmanian savagery, naked, un-
ashamed, elementary, had given place to the
over-complex, over-clothed, and over-strenuous
civilisation of the nineteenth century. Hobart,
from a collection of queer huts and buildings —
such as one sees in fascinating old color-plates
of the period — had grown to the size of a re-
spectable linglish town.
Much of its architectural quaintness it still re-
tained, and keeps to this day. It would be a
pity for the snug little town under Mount Wel-
lington to enter into competition with those ugly
toadstools of cities which have grown up from
hotbeds of progress in a night. She must, to be
in keeping with herself, preserve her high sloping
roofs of shingle, her thick stone walls and narrow
streets, whose steepness is a pleasant change from
the dead levels of avenues elsewhere laid out ac-
cording to diagram and faced on either side by
J^rallclograms in concrete and steel.
I^JFor a long summer holiday go to Tasmania,
at least once in a lifetime, and spend a week of
It in Hobart. Having sampled all the climates
of the Commonwealth, I can commend that of
Hobart in midsummer. The eastern coast of
Tasmania and Eastern Gippsland, in Victoria, I
pronounce to be, as far as climatic conditions are
concerned the two perfect dwelling-places of the
world.
k
A week in Hobart will be little time enough
for the tourist. If he is wise he will keep away
from all the relics, mementoes, and literature of
the convict period (including among the latter
the morbid inspirations of that melancholy genius
Marcus Clarke) , and take Hobart and its beauties
as they are to-day.
Visitors with gruesome imaginations are wel-
come to gloat over the ruins of Port Arthur and
soak themselves in the comparatively brief but
lamentable history of convict settlement, just as
other people are at liberty to spend their bank
holidays at the cemetery; but for those who love
sunlight and scenic beauty, the eternal glory of
mountain path and riverside, the delight of motion
and the call of the Day that is Ours, there will be
less of interest in the Days which were Theirs and
Done With.
Hobart has a Tourist Bureau to tell people
where to go, and most people want to be told
where to go. Both being blessed with interesting
and attractive surroundings, competition for tour-
ists between Launceston and Hobart is rather
keen, but Hobart probably secures the greater
number. Within its ranges are Tasman Peninsula,
D'Entrecasteaux Channel, Huon River, and the
silver reaches of the River Derwent. To a de-
scriptive writer these would yield sufficient matter
for a pleasant little volume. At the southern end
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
of Tasman Peninsula lie the ruins of Port Arthur
penal settlement, known nowadays as Carnarvon.
Apart from its convict memories it is one of the
most attractive of Tasmanian townlets. From
its ancient oaks and elms, its fallen roofs and
crumbling walls englamoured by a ghostly past,
its buildings of solid freestone, its shores honey-
combed with caves and blowholes, brooding
mountains, winding driveways, ancient grave-
is one of the most beautiful valleys in the world.
Coromandel Valley in South Australia, the valley
of Burragorang in New South Wales, and the
valley of the Derwent are among the glories of
the Commonwealth, but of these the Derwent is
fairest. When its hop-fields are in flower Der-
went is a dream, when its apple orchards are
reddening it is a desire. At all times it is good
for the eyes of artists. Its moods will some day
yards, and darkly enfoliaged paths, the visitor
will bring away impressions mysterious and un-
familiar.
Excursions into the beautiful Derwent Valley
make less impressive but brighter memories. As
far upstream as Bridgewater the waters of Der-
went are more lake-like. Above Bridgewater
the river really begins. The waters, grown
clearer, reflect in sensitive detail mountains and
trees. Tasmania, being for the most part a
rugged volcanic country with a high rainfall,
there is no monotony in its landscapes. The
valley of the Derwent presents alternating pic-
tures of primitive forest and cultivated flat. It
be the theme of poets. If a tired man goes td
New Norfolk he will find himself in an
atmosphere of absolute rest. In this littlA
elysium — 25 miles by rail from Hobart —
sweetened by scent of apples and hops, where
the hotels are good, the trout fishing excellent,
he can perhaps forget for a season that there
is war in the world.
At Plenty, a little farther on, are hatcheries
where the Tasmanian Fisheries Commission
breed ihe various species of trout and salmon
with which the splendid streams of the Island
are stocked. These fish ponds are shaded by
ornamental trees and bordered by green lawns — -
HOBART AND THE DERWENT
757
The River Derwent at New Norfolk
Tasmania's infant fishes revel in artistic sur-
roundings.
Between Plenty and Russell, its present
terminus, the narrow-gauge railway follows the
Derwent, crossing and recrossing the river at
several points, an engineering necessity which
greatly adds to the interest of a most delightful
journey.
From this point the beautiful Russell Falls
are available. Seven miles from Russell the
rustic delights of Ellendale will attract lovers of
the simple life. Lakes in which speckled trout
are reported plentiful, caves, gorges, waterfalls,
and all the tumbled glories of this glorious island
have their expressions here.
For a young man there should be nothing better
than a tramp along the Derwent Valley in summer
time.
For the more rapid cyclist or motor man, the
aesthetic tourist, for all to whom the cool, in-
vigorating south appeals, there is no pleasanter
resort at all times. When days of war have
given place to years of industry and peace such
districts as these, and Tasmania is rich in them,
will attract not only visitors and tourists but per-
^
manent settlers who are seeking to establish
homes amid healthful, beautiful, and fertile sur-
roundings.
The Huon, accessible from Hobart by road
or by the winding strait named after a French
navigator, is one of Tasmania's earliest settled
districts. Much of this most picturesque voyage
lies over smooth, blue, southern water sparkling
between Bruni Island and the mainland. The
channel varies in width from two to ten miles,
and the steamers' regular course brings the travel-
ler to many delightful little Tasmanian townlets
nestling amidst orchards and gardens. Some
of these are popular holiday places for
the people of Hobart. Over Dover Bay,
land-locked and glorious — south of the Huon —
looms Adamson's Peak (4017ft.), snow-capped
for most part of the year. Beyond it, at the ex-
tremity of the range, stand Mount Hartz, with
Lake Hartz, a broad sheet of silver water, forest-
fringed, at its feet. Sea fishing and oystering
are good here. The Huon Company's tramway
takes one, by permission, into the heart of a hard-
wood forest, which has already yielded an enor-
mous quantity of highest-grade commercial
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
timber. Geeveston, Franklin, and Huonvilie, the
head of navigation, are all more or less centres
of the apple industry. By road, and the roads
of Tasmania are good, Huonvilie is only 23 miles
from Hobart. The overland journey is charm-
ing, and the round trip one of the most popular
on the itinerary of that excellent institution, the
Hobart Tourist Bureau
Port Cygnet is a saltwater indentation of Huon
River, on the opposite shore from Geeveston.
It, too, depends for its prosperity on apples,
timber, and tourists. Tasmania may be deliberate
in matters industrial and mayhap political, but the
little island has for some time awakened to the
value of its natural attractions. The Tourist
Bureaus, both in Launceston and Hobart, are
highly developed institutions, endeavoring, I
fancy, to achieve a maximum of result from a
minimum of outlay. There is no visible extra\'a~
garice in Tasmania, but more attention might be
given to investors and less to invalids. Tasmania,
from a scenic point of view, is wondrously beauti-
ful and attractive, but the country possesses
agricultural and industrial possibilities as great
as, and in some respects greater than, any State
in the Commonwealth. No other 26,000 square
miles under the six-starred flag can equal it for
the variety and wealth of its natural resources,
which, like Australian resources elsewhere, remain
greatly undeveloped.
Hobart is the most beautiful of southern cities.
It may yet be the most important. It is
the best naval base in the Commonwealth; it could
become great in manufacture and shipping.
The capital of one of the earliest Australian
colonies, it assumes the dignity of comparative
age. The southern island was discovered by stout
old Abel Jans Tasman on the 24th of November,
1642. On 4th March, 1772, Marion du Fresne
cast anchor in Marion Bay, on the eastern coast
of the shores which Tasman had seen and called
Van Diemen's Land a hundred and thirty years
previously. A year later Furneaux visited and
named Adventure Bay, at the junction of North
and South Bruni Islands. These historical places
are both within easy distance of modern Hobart.
In 1777, four years afterwards. Cook, on his
third voyage, landed from the Advenlnre and
Discovery at the same spot. Bligh, in 1789,
put in twelve days here on his way to Tahiti.
In 1792, on the occasion of his second voyage,
which ended in the most picturesque mutiny on
record, the brave, bad-tempered Bligh again
visited the southern part of Van Diemen's Land.
In 179;^ D'Rntrecasteaux completed a nautical
survey of the channel which bears his name.
In 1794 Captain Hayes entered and named
the Derwent. It was not until 1803 that Lieutenant
John Bowen, of the historical Lady Nelson,
hoisted the flag over the first British settle-
ment at Risdon, on the eastern banks of the Der-
went, opposite the present city of Hobart. Go-
vernor Collins was the father of Hobart. Arriv-
ing at what was then known as Sullivan Cove on
the 15th February, 1804, he chose the present
site for his settlement.
Thereafter, until the Federation, in 1900, the
story of Hobart is one of colonial governors and
colonial days. Sixty years after Collins dropped
anchor in the Derwent the Duke of Edinburgh
turned the sod of the first railway, and the follow-
ing year the island was connected to the main-
land by cable. During its hundred and odd years
the old town has grown slowly. It is still insular
in habit, but its orchards and gardens are divine.
There be some restless spirits who proclaim that
the town and the State in general require new
blood and fresh enterprise, that the national popu-
lation should not be less than a million, that the
richest sheep lands and potato lands, mixed farm-
ing lands, orchard lands are awaiting develop-
ment. They say, these restless spirits, that
minerals, timbers, and soils of untold wealth are
still untouched.
Doubtless they are right, and ultimately they
will have their way; but one still hopes that if
progress comes Hobart will not be modernized
out of recognition. The high-decked street cars,
built apparently on the model of Abel Tasman's
ship, akhough they do not make such leeway,
enable one to see more of the shingled roofs than
those rapid electric cars which, with frightful
jarring noises, whirl the eager citizens of Sydney
to business or pleasure.
These tramways are the property of the muni-
cipality, which was incorporated in 1857, and is
responsible for an exceedingly clean and well-
kept city, blessed with fish markets, abattoirs, and
other civic conveniences, and a supply of excellent
water derived from sources at Mount Wellington.
One judges from the fact of ofl'iciating clergy-
men being asked to pay only half fees at the
Tasmanian Club that the society of Hobart is
somewhat ecclesiastical in tone. One understands
that mid-Victorian proprieties are rarely outraged
by a native population remarkably reverential by
comparison with the citizens of Townsville or
Mackay.
At Hobart one feels naturally the inclination
to go to church on Sunday mornings. At Towns-
ville, alas, the temptation is to go fishing in-
stead.
On the occasion of my visit to Hobart, Synod
was electing a new bishop. Never before in any
Australian town had I seen such public interest
taken in any ecclesiastical event.
Ihough dignity and propriety in Hobart be
as high as the street cars, though important per-
HOBART AND THE DERWENT
759
sonages are as strictly guarded by their inferiors
as ("he antiques in a museum, though convention
be as implacable as a Prussian colonel, there is
something gentle and homely about the old town,
the gentleness of a kind-hearted spinster lady in
old-fashioned silks breathing of lavender.
I find in my Tasmanian notebook a malicious
parody, "Send no poet to Hobart, send flowers."
I think the flowers I would send would be frangi-
panni, and port wine magnolias; but then I am
a child of Australian suns, and it may be that the
morning on which I made that malicious entry
was cold
color and design, but others solidly builded in
the knowledge of winter, are laid out and fur-
nished after the manner of modern Europe in its
temperate latitudes.
The public buildings of brown freestone, so
largely used in early Sydney, have the stern
solidity of pre-Commonwealth days. Hobart is
like the Sydney of earlier recollection, and its
steep, narrow streets are similarly named. iVlel-
bourne and Adelaide hv.ve broken away from the
early Sydney tradition Perth and Brisbane show
distinct traces of it, but in Hobart it becomes a
replica.
Fern Tree Bower, near Hobart
The next entry says; — "But side by side with
this ancient city of formulas, ghosts, shingle
roofs, and grim old public buildings ig a new
town, of the 20th century, and the laughter of
gay tourisi girls re-echoes from the corridors of
those ancient colonial buildings which are now
mere relics of the past."
The suburbs of Hobart are built on sloping
hillsides. Virginia creeper, ivy, cypress, the
growths of old English gardens, surround most
of their villas. Some of these are still saddened
by ancient furniture, horsehair chairs and couches,
eavy cedar sideboards, and carpets of Victorian
l^fiieavy
The waterside by Hobart is fascinating. Old-
fashioned characters are to be met who live com-
pletely out of the modern world of shipping and
trade. Little sailing vessels and fishing smacks
lie by the wharves. One among a knot
of idlers, I spent the whole morning on the pier-
head watching a fisherman driving a direct retail
trade with a constant stream of customers. He
had a stout well-boat, capable, no doubt, of
weathering all the rough and tumble of Lower
Derwent and the adjoining straits. With a scoop
he brought up each flapping prize, knocked it on
the head with a wooden mallet, passed a con-
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
venient loop of wire through the gills, and handed
it up to his purchaser on the wharf. For a house-
holder of leisure, I can imagine, next to catching
it himself, no surer way of securing a fresh-fish
dinner. There was a friendliness and cleanli-
ness about the method which lifted it above the
ordinary sordid ways of fish hawking.
Little ketches and cutters laden with bags of
grain or lengths of sawn timber made an appro-
priate foreground for this breezy picture.
The waters of the harbour were deep and clear,
unpolluted by the usual debris which finds its way
into crowded ports. Behind us rose the town in
a series of gradually ascending tiers, and over us
was a very blue Tasmanian sky. The fisherman
and his well-boat interested me more than the
pictures in the Tasmanian Art Gallery, which con-
tained, as far as I could see, little work of either
Tasmanian or Australian artists, saving some
examples of Heysen, presented by subscribers.
The Tasmanian Library houses a good supply
of decorous fiction. It is sustained by small
annual grants from Government and Municipal
Council, plus the revenue from lectures.
Any judge of national character can see by a
Friday night crowd in Hobart that returns from
the latter source are likely to be small.
The pale student is conspicuously absent.
There is no lack of vitality in this crowd, more
active in its movements than crowds of the north.
Matrons and girls alike are robust and rosy, and
there are apparently no striking extremes of
poverty and wealth.
If not aesthetic, these natures are at least
cradled in delightful natural surroundings.
Hobart, seen from the hills, with its dark shingle
and bright red roofs, its gardens, its vegetation,
its blue land-locked bay surrounded by mountains,
its splendid roads, running out through suburbs
where patches of orchard and cultivation fringe
the town, is easily the prettiest city in the Com-
monwealth. Stone walls and hawthorn hedges,
deep distant gorges, cleared hillsides, and hills
still covered by ancient forests, white sails on far-
off bays, dark pines and green willows, make a
frame for the picture. Hobart, as I visualize it
one blissful Sabbath morning — gone into the
ewigkeit — is almost a prayer.
Church bells are tolling, tolling. Bands of chil-
dren in uniform are marching to service. A bishop,
in black apron and ecclesiastical putties, walks
soberly along. Behind him, in irreverent
proximity, strolls a tourist whose Norfolk suit
and rolled-top stockings betoken that pleasure,
like piety, has its distinctive vestments.
Pausing among the inscriptions in a very old
cemetery hardly a stonc's-throw from the business
and official heart of the city, I hear the wind
from Mount Wellington whispering, among the
leaves of lordly elms and beeches and through
the cypress, stories of old Hobart Town. Some
of them are laments, but some are glad, with
drums and fifes and marching redcoats, and
laughter of gentlemen in pumps and knee-breeches
going a-courting.
I tell myself that I will come back to Tasmania
some day to rent one of these delightful villas
perched up on a hillside, and write a book about
old times; a cheerful, joyous book, full of the
vigor of young settlement and the wine of ad-
venture in new lands.
The children will attend a Tasmanian seminary
to receive a stiffening in propriety as an antidote
to that recklessness born of beaches on the Aus-
tralian mainland which leads young soldiers into
surfing in the face of Turkish shrapnel.
Their mother will gratify a long-deferred
ambition to read Meredith's novels (a task which
cannot be undertaken amid the distractions of
life), and between trout-fishing expeditions to the !
rivers and lakes of the Island, I will write my
historical novel. Yes, truly, Tasmania is the
place for leisured literary composition.
Being on the sea coast, Hobart, with an annual
average temperature of about 55deg. F., possesses
only one among the six well-marked climates which
Tasmania boasts, but although the climates of
the little island do vary in a most unexpected
manner, the summers are nowhere unbearably
hot, nor the winters unendurably cold. The
mountain plateaux of the interior and the southern
ranges have the coldest winter in the Common-
wealth, distinct from the mild winters of the
east coast, which, owing to warm sea currents,
resemble those of the Mediterranean. In summer
the Midlands days remind one of western New
South Wales, but the nights are cooler.
The west coast is a land of enormous rain-
fall. One should have a winter in Hobart to
get the true taste of the south, and see the Tas-
manian mountains capped with constant snow.
One should ascend Mount Wellington in sum-
mer when the famous Fern Tree Bower offers its
greenest attractions, and also in winter, when the
journey savors of an Alpine adventure.
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A Tamar River Orchard
SETTLEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT.
m
To Mr. Leslie Evans, of the Department
of Agriculture at Hobart, I owe much
particular knowledge of Tasmania. With
a literary mind, his outlook was enlightened and
unprovincial. When the late Hon. A. E. Solo-
mon, a gentle and courteous politician whom
Tasmania could ill spare, arranged for Mr.
Leslie Evans to accompany me on an official tour,
he knew evidently that he was matching one
enthusiastic spirit with another. At the outset of
our journey my faith in the States of the main-
land was equalled by Evans' faith in his native
island.
At the end of it my belief in the industrial and
agricultural possibilities of that island was as firm
as his own.
There were two other members of our party
whom one seems to have forgotten, but to the
energetic Evans, for the time being guide, phil-
sopher and friend, I shall not only remain under
lasting obligation but remember as an affinity.
On a sunlit Monday morning, well aired, we
left "Highfield," acar together, crossed the
Derwent by the powerful "Kangaroo" punt to
picturesque Bellerive, and glided out towards
Sorell.
The way was brightened by small orchards of
apricots and apples, healthy and well kept, as the
majority of Tasmanian orchards are.
Tasmania has learned that clean, scientific
orcharding pays. The slipshod methods which
one frequently sees on the mainland are practic-
ally unknown. Southern fruitgrowers are in the
business to make it return the biggest profits pos-
sible from suitable soils and acceptable varieties.
We crossed stone causeways which proclaimed
that labor for road making and bridge building
had once been cheap in Tasmania. Our roads
throughout a long motor journey around and
across the island were superb, a fact for which
we had primarily to thank unwilling immigrants
of long ago.
Sorell proved a grain-producing country of
limited area. We crossed over hills of barren
seeming and ran down to Orford, a little port
on the east coast. Across a blue-water strait
we saw Maria Island, its northern end rising into
conspicuously high hills.
Over this blue-water channel, fringed with
golden sands, two topsail schooners were pound-
ing— their tall white cloths full-bellied, and the
spray flashing like flung diamonds at their bows.
761
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
It was as fine a picture as one might see in
southern seas. Instinctively it brought to mind
brave Abel Janszoon Tasman beating up the same
coast two hundred and seventy odd years before.
From his vessel's heavy Dutch bows the spray
also fell in sunlit jewels, and, full-bellied with the
wind, her lone sails stood whitely against that
same background of cobalt blue.
A few miles farther we found our first lunching
place at Spring Bay. It was a hearty Tasmanian
lunch, with plenty of good roast beef and pudding
to it, served in an old hostel with mid-Victorian
appointments.
Hard by Spring Bay the enterprising Tas-
manian firm of H. Jones and Co. — producers and
exporters, as every Australian housewife knows,
of most excellent jams and preserves — have
planted a magnificent orchard of apples and pears
310 acres in area. Local conditions seem especi-
ally adapted for the growth of pears. These
soils to Australians elsewhere would appear
incapable of such results.
On either side of this block of 310 acres, capital
value of which can hardly be less than £30,000,
are thousands of acres just as good and suitable
for orchard purposes. Throughout Tasmania
hundreds of similar acres await occupation and
treatment. No State in the Commonwealth
needs a bolder policy of immigration and settle-
ment; no State is more immediately suitable for
unacclimatized settlers from Northern Europe.
Australia herself must decide whether the future
civilization of the continent is to be Asiatic
or European. Australian statesmen hencefor-
ward must be judged by their outlook on this
question. One thing is certain, we are no longer
justified in our political attitude towards the
people of the Orient. We have no moral right
to exclude natives of India and Japan while
we continue to follow our present haphazard
policy of settlement and immigration. The waste
acres of Tasmania, like those of the mainland,
proclaim these facts with tongues pregnant of
destiny and disaster.
Australian heroes of the Dardanelles have won
enduring fame. It is open for Australian states-
men to win, without personal risk, honors as
enduring as those that are now inscribed upon
the banners of the bush brigades who fought by
Gallipoli.
Southern statesmen who can grapple with this
problem of settlement and development, boldlv,
fearlessly, apart from petty influences of party,
undisturbed by the hooting or hand-claps of
crowds, will earn monuments as high as those
America owes to Washington and Lincoln, or
England to Hampden and Pitt.
Who would not be patriotic with the East
Coast of Tasmania unfolding a blue and golden
tapestry before him, the softest of summer winds
blowing and the clearest of skies overhead?
The wide reaches of Oyster Bay glittered, with
picturesque Schouten Island and Freycinet Penin-
sula— the names tell of early French and Dutch
voyages to our shores — shielding them with a
protective arm extended towards the boisterc
south.
Tucked comfortably away in a sheltered corner
of this wide blue bay is Swansea, a little gem of
a marine village, where black wattle freights the
winds in flower-time with incense from golden
censors swung by invisible acolytes before the
altars of Nature. |
Good Tasmanian wools are grown in this dis-
trict, which, were our southern industries better
developed, might locally be made into tweeds for
tourists. Like most accessible Tasmanian places,
Swansea puts out a welcoming hand to visitors.
All over the island a visitor will find his inns com-
fortable, tables good, sheets well aired, and
charges low. What more can any traveller ask?
He will find, moreover, about them a certain air
which will remind him of those inns which
Dickens describes with his most exquisite touches.
In sooth, some of them were established during
the period of which he loved to write, and doubt-
less were modelled originally upon their English
contemporaries. They too had their ladies in
dimity, snufi^-taking guests, and gentlemen of the
road. To their front doors once drove top-
hatted celebrities with champing teams and re-
splendent coaches. Romance has not passed
them by, nor tragedy neither.
At sunny Swansea there is a nine-mile beach
fringed by casuarina and banksia. In summer
occasional groups in "Continental" bathing attire
make a modern foreground for that ancient vil-
lage with its old houses, old gardens, old barns, 1
and convict-built public buildings, solid, dark and
stern.
By ever-splendid motor roads, almost as care- '
fully maintained as the high roads of Java, over
stone causeways and stone bridges, we came to
this blue resort of quaint and olden seeming.
Its three-storey brick gaol was now a store. Its
iron-barred windows told of lawless days. We
left it there to dream amidst a perfume of wall-
flower from gardens with hedges of dipt yew.
gardens wherein grew blue larkspur, daisies, rose-
mary and thyme. It recalled to mind far-back
dreams and impressions of childhood, revivec ;
mayhap by perfumes wafted from its ol,di
fashioned flowers. vl
Throughout Tasmania, for one traveller a
least, this has been the recurring impression, fillec
with all the delightful sadness it evokes.
One understands how early British colonist;
hungered for home, and how they endeavored t(
TASMANIA: SETTLEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
763
re-create the England of memory in an island like
this.
From Great Swanport, a place of lagoons and
waterfowl, we turned north-west past shining,
deep Lake Leake, and on to Campbelltown by
nightfall.
This township lies in the heart of the Tas-
manian midlands, home of famous merino sheep
and much historical tradition. The main road
At one of the great fireplaces of the inn, built
to accommodate generous logs — for winters of
the midlands are passing cold — his Victorian
Highness may even have toasted his ducal toes !
One remembers Campbelltown by these things,
and by the sun, setting behind the Western Tiers,
that plateau of 3000 feet high, on which the great
lakes of Tasmania are located and in which many
of her rivers have their birthplaces.
At Devonport Station
and railway from Launceston to Hobart run
through it. We bedded at a comfortable inn
which pre-dated the railway period. Hunting
pictures of the thirties hung on its walls.
Its stables were built of solid stone. The
candlesticks, the carved mantels, low ceilings and
broad stairways spoke of days that are gone,
days of more leisurely habit, of slow transport,
crudity, credulity, but strong in prim, quiet accept-
ance of colonizing duties and difficulties, heroic in
effort and rich in achievement.
In the "parlor" of this early hostel were cedar-
framed chairs and sofas graced by decorative
carvings of forgotten wood-workers. On one
of these couches — a coat of arms proudly figured
upon its back — tradition held, the Duke of Edin-
burgh reclined, when a Tasmanian visitor in
1868.
k
From Campbelltown we ran north by west
along Macquarie River to the delightful town of
Cressy, through some of the best pastoral lands
in Tasmania. This country reminds one greatly
of far western New South Wales. There are
possible sub-divisions within this area.
Cressy is a business centre for a large fertile
district wherein grain is largely grown. It lies
on the edges of the dairying and potato-growing
areas of Northern Tasmania — a fragrant, charm-
ing old place, with well-trimmed gorse hedges
around its fat farm lands, stout country homes,
and every sign of prosperity and production.
From here down to Westbury, through Glenore,
Oaks, Hagley, and other villages, there is no
sweeter highway in the world.
If I had to live in any Australian village, I
think I would choose Westbury. Everything
764
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The Devil's Gullet, Western Tiers
about it, from the clock in the church tower to
the doctor's garden, wherein I once ate inordinate
quantities of ripe plums, is part of a pleasing pic-
ture. A serenity and a rustic beauty hover over
Westbury which would calm the most strenuous
soul and bring contentment even to a member of
the Stock Exchange, despite himself.
Weeping willows gracefully overhang the brook
that meanders around the town; beautiful
Monterey pines remove last traces of harshness
from visiting winds; leafy streets, green fields and
gardens, beauty and serenity — it has all the quali-
ties that go to make an ideal village. Apples
in its orchards were no redder than cheeks of the
maiden who bore smiles and substantial helpings
to our lunch table. The cream of Westbury still
flows richly over the apple pie of memory. It
is one of those thousand places on a traveller's
memory-road to which he turns when rest long-
ings are upon him.
The blue hydrangea, the Golden Bride Lily of
Japan, bloom at the doorsteps of its cottages.
Beyond it, far off across a dozing landscape of
field and farm, stand the Western Tiers — azure
walls of mountain shimmering through a haze.
Through far-spreading lands such as these, rich
as any in the Commonwealth, we glided, smoothly
as the rhythm of a Swinburnian lyric, to Delor-
aine, a considerable place on the Meander River.
Deloraine is among the fairest and most pros-
perous of Tasmanian towns. It lies just between
cereal-growing lands and rich, red, volcanic
potato lands of the north-west Coast.
From Deloraine to Devonport, through Eliza-
beth Town and Sassafras, the road runs directly
across these magnificent basaltic hill lands, de-
voted largely to the growing of root crops at
present, but destined no doubt to become dairy
farms later on. The average potato crop is five ■
tons to the acre, giving usually a value of about
£4/10/- a ton. At times the yield is as great
as twelve tons per acre. The holdings are of
about 200 acres, and the potato fields, which form
a small proportion of this area, have in some
instances been cropped continuously without
renewals for twenty-five years.
The present capital value of this land can
be set down at £30 an acre. The soil is rich,
velvety-looking. It will produce anything thikH
can be grown in the temperate zone. ■
After a hundred years of settlement there are
yet only half a million acres of Tasmania's sixteen
millions under cultivation. But there is no reason
why this compact little country, so universally
fertile and productive, should not under the newer
order of things progress much more rapidly.
The wider angle of view upon Imperial expansion
which must result from the greatest war in human
history will make her legislators extend their
horizon. That ridiculous assumption of age,'
which is as appropriate to the case as the filling
an infant's feeding bottle v,""h whisky instead of
TASMANIA: SETTLEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
765
vi
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milk, must be given no place in future considera-
tions of an island State yet in its childhood; nor
must Tasmania expect to lean helplessly on her
ampler sisters of the Commonwealth. Ireland
is geographically a small unit in the total of a
British Empire; but Ireland, despite her ancient
grievances, still lives in the favorite imagery of
her poets as Kathleen na Houlahan, very young
and very fair. She has her established manufac-
tures, her expanding industries, her shipyards, her
intensive agriculture. Tasmania can grow as
good flax and as fine potatoes, as solid bacon, as
rich milk and cream. She has better minerals,
timbers, clays, and wools.
She can turn out blankets, woollen goods, and
oatmeal, butter, fruit, and a thousand things.
When the organisation of Australian industries
is completed Tasmania will get her share.
"The best of the world lies between latitudes
40 and 50," say patriotic Tasmanians. Men
from Scotland speak of oatmeal, and men from
Bradford tell you that the good water and the
good wool of the island ought to ensure the best
blankets. Some day there will be mills in plenty.
Down by Latrobe, on the banks of the Mersey,
our expedition came again into apple country,
s Jones and Co.'s great orchard on the East
oast showed what one side of the island will do
in the production of pears and apples, these apple
gardens of the Mersey demonstrated that North-
ern Tasmania is also profitable fruit country.
The industry can be vastly extended. Bush
nd is still available for £1 an acre freehold, quite
as good as that which has been converted into
orchards. The whole island abounds in peren-
nial streams. Agricultural settlement is not sub-
ject to drought, seasons are even and do not run
to extremes.
In Northern Tasmania we spent several
pleasant days traversing rich and profitable potato
lands which lie around Ringarooma, Scottsdale,
Branxholm, and Springfield; crossing round in
due course to SheflSeld, a prosperous township
in basaltic hills south-west of Devonport.
From here we ran down to the foothills of Mt.
Roland, which marks the end of the Western
Tier, a fine bold mountain 3000 feet high, along
the blue wall of which it is an outward sentinel.
These districts remind one greatly of Gipps-
land. One sees the same intense greenness of
the cleared land, the same patches of tall dead
trees, the same background of dark-looking for-
ests and hazy hills. The farmhouse and the roses
are also there, older and more English-looking,
but resembling the Gippsland hillside farms. But
there is a mighty difference in the roads. Before
the advent of the Victorian Country Roads Board
gave one at least hope for the future, a journey
through Gippsland occasioned as many grave con-
The Alum Cliffs, Mersey River
siderations as a journey through Russian Poland.
But the beautiful, well-kept, macadamized roads
of Tasmania held no such terrors for travellers.
To this day it is almost impossible to motor
through Eastern Gippsland, but one can car in per-
fect comfort and perfect safety, from one end of
Tasmania to the other. By the connecting of
Orbost in Victoria with Eden in N.S.W. an alter-
nate road route between Sydney and Melbourne
would be opened. After a century and a quarter
of settlement there is only one road between these
two great capitals!
For strategic reasons alone one would expect
the New South Wales Government to extend the
good coastal road which practically ends at Two-
fold Bay to the Victorian border, and the Vic-
torian Government to construct a good road be-
tween Orbost and that point. The whole expen-
diture necessary is so small that one wonders at
the statecraft which has been responsible for such
neglect.
Climbing by a splendid Tasmanian road from
Sheffield to Staverton, one realized more fully
the advantages which Tasmanian settlers had
over Gippslanders in this respect.
Rising out of the clearings into ringbarked
areas new to occupation, the strenuous task of
these Tasmanian pioneers grew more apparent.
766
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Here was being waged a heroic struggle between
man and nature.
Enormous trees towered skyward — trees whose
peers can only be found in the hearts of Gipps-
land forests or in the kharri country of Western
Australia.
Into the steep basaltic hills ran straggling lines
of stone and log fences. Fallen logs of unbeliev-
able girth and length cumbered the earth. In
one place I saw where an ingenious settler had
felled four trees in the form of a square to make
a small paddock — -the breaks in this little field
were closed with stones.
Were it not for the fact that here we have
twenty feet depth of the richest chocolate soil and
a forty inch annual rainfall, settlement would not
pay. No wonder such soils raise those tall spires,
reaching to incredible heights, in sapless, leafless
witness of its growing qualities. One Tasmanian
blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) showed a height
of 350 feet, theodolite measurement.
A 90-ton schooner was built entirely from an-
other Tasmanian tree.
Into this wilderness of logs and dead timber
we penetrated as far as our car could go. We
examined a wayside schoolroom, crowded with
healthy children, and reflected that, despite their
difficulties, these settlers possessed many compen-
sating advantages. They had splendid roads,
good schools, good horses, high prices, good pros-
pects, health and liberty. No country in the
world could offer them better chances than those
which lay before them.
On older lands below, shingle-roofed barns
were plentifully filled every year, and snug
homesteads surrounded by flower gardens showed
what the labors of their predecessors in settle-
ment had achieved.
From Devonport to Ulverstone is a dimpled
land. Here fecund soils, richly red and choco-
late, annually produce bountiful crops of potatoes.
One meets waggon-loads of this floury product
along the road. In nooks that seem like bits of
English downs flocks of Shropshire sheep rest and
graze.
Pigs, in carts a-journeying, proclaim it market
day in Ulverstone. Men in gaiters, barking
dogs, blue-eyed schoolgirls, blackwoods left to
spread their shade in cleared fields, brawling
creeks and clear-watered rivers, sparkling hill-
sides, winding roads, make picture-subjects for
Australian artists. There is no sweeter pastoral
in all the world. Beauty, fertility and fragrance
make all the miles of travel along this idyllic
coast glorious and memorable.
Between Ulverstone and Penguin railway and
road run side by side. One hears the waves of
Bass Strait breaking; one hears the magpie carol-
ling; soft airs, blue bays, white beaches, green
fields and perfect roads keep travelling pleasant.
Around Penguin there are wide stretches of good
basaltic land.
Fine Monterey pines and hedges of green fat-
leaved boobyalla feature Penguin, which is also a
holiday place and centre of an agricultural dis-
trict. One sees more pigs, cows, and sheep being
driven to market — sheepmen and dogs all red-
dened by the fertile dust of Northern Tasmania.
Little narrow-gauge trains puff along, laden
with potatoes and timber. These things make
productive contrasts to merely aesthetic assets of
sweeping coast, headland, beach and bay, mono-
tonously musical with incessant lapping of waves
and pungent with salt smell of seaweed and
marine growths.
From a business viewpoint the best of these
Bass Strait towns is Burnie, the natural capital
of a potato-growing and dairying district which
cannot be surpassed. There are good hotels in
Burnie, and I know of few watering-places in the
south where one could better spend a summer
holiday. Burnie, Rockhampton, and Port
Augusta are three widely-separated Australian
towns with a big future. But if I were called
upon to reside permanently in any of them,
I should choose Burnie without a second's hesita-
tion.
I group these three places because they have
been conspicuously marked for progress. Port
Augusta will be the terminus of two great railway
systems; Rockhampton and Burnie each have a
great developing background. They are ports
with rich agricultural districts behind them.
Chocolate soils, heavily timbered, but each year
coming more and more into cultivation, extend in
thousands of acres around and beyond Burnie to
Waratah in the West Coast Division.
The railway to Zeehan runs through much
unoccupied land of high agricultural value. It
is heavily timbered, like the land which has been
converted into potato areas, but it can also be
turned into farms. There are at least a million
acres here awaiting settlers.
Zeehan is 90 miles from Burnie and the centre
of active mining industry. Tasmanian agricul-
tural authorities assert that the future of the
West Coast lies in dairy farming. Its mineral
history, in which Mount Lyell figures so promi-
nently, holds many brilliant chapters of pro-
duction. Mount Lyell is asserted to be the richest
and most scientifically developed copper proposi-
tion in the world.
The West Coast has an astounding rainfall,
possesses many fine streams, and is believed to
hold mineral resources far beyond anything de-
veloped. Much of it is still unmapped and un-
explored.
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P.
Pi
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Burnie is a terminus, also, for Blythe River
ironworks. Making provision for its future,
some £150,000 have been expended in harbor
works. An investor might do worse than lay
by a few good building allotments in this thriving
Tasmanian town.
From Burnie to Stanley we had blue ocean
on one hand and lovely hillside farms on the
other. Stubble fields stood here and there, but
the greater part of this land is cropped for pota-
toes. The farmers plough their tubers in and
plough them out. They do not desire the strenu-
ous life of the dairyman. Rolling softly through
the most idyllic country I have ever traversed, I
could sympathize with this outlook. It was such
a sweet and lazy land: so rich, so responsive.
Why live laborious days when one might crop
ample acres easily, thereby obtaining a sure living,
and for the rest enjoy the music of those clear
creeks, the glamor of gentle slopes nursing happy
hillside farms on their rounded shoulders, inhale
the breath of blackwood and fern, sweet briar,
hawthorn, dandelion, and pine carried on ocean
breezes blowing ever softly from the sea?
The blue and balm of that coast can never be
forgotten. Orchards laden with ripened fruit,
gardens full of flowers, rivers purling over sand
and pebbles, wind in the bracken, kine in the
yards, a white sail in the oiling — the coast road
from Burnie to Stanley, bounded by log fences,
or wire, sometimes stone walls, winding and curv-
ing over hills and dales, has left an impression
as beautiful as a child's dream of heaven.
Tall timbers stand darkly dead on the hills,
but the sun shines bright on ploughshares along
the slopes. Beyond the coastal belt one sees the
vanguard of settlement working slowly inland.
Stumps in the fields — the feet of giants long con-
verted into smoke — tell us that once this beauti-
ful country was densely forested. Regrets for
the destruction of timber need not trouble us.
Fields are worth more than trees; a fact which
self-constituted forestry authorities are loath to
admit.
Right across this fertile littoral, a barren
sandstone or limestone range — The Sisters — has
been thrown. It rises to a thousand feet in
height, is bare of anything except grass-tree, and
makes a narrow wall between two immense gar-
dens. Nature seems to have feared that the uni-
versal beauty and richness of the country would
become monotonous without a contrast, so she
laid The Sisters down like a seam between two
strips of exquisite carpet.
Within sight of the Nut of Stanley there
are some fine dairies, averaging 37s. 6d. to £2
a cow per month returns for five months of the
year on natural feed.
The Van Diemen's Land Company, whose
concession embraced some of the best agricul-
tural lands in the world, are selling now at £30
an acre.
Buyers are not far to seek, and one heard of
a transaction in broad acres between the Com-
pany and a sometime tenant-farmer amounting
to £17,000.
From Stanley we returned by a back road
through Mount Hicks, Yolla, and Henrietta, prac-
tically all the way through splendid chocolate
soils, encumbered by millions of myrtle logs
felled by the settlers' axes, and rapidly decaying
on the ground. These farms in-the-making will
be just as good as those nearer the coastline.
Tasmania has no definite immigration policy,
but her Crown lands can be readily acquired, and
she has room for thousands of settlers.
In this remarkably pleasant journey from
Hobart around and across the Island one saw
that there were openings everywhere for indus-
trious people.
Beyond those green places, where of ancient
forests only a few shady blackwoods remained,
beyond the logs and dead trees of newer lands
half cleared, in blue hazes one beheld where the
farms of the future would in their turn slowly
evolve from distances yet virgin, but full of pro-
mise as those already won from Nature by the
settler's hand.
i
Ringtail Gully, Waratah
769
wi
A Young Orchard.
AGRICULTURE AND PRODUCTION.
THE soils of Tasmania are deficient in lime,
but they show a larger percentage of
nitrogen than those of Australia. As
there are unlimited deposits of limestone avail-
able in various parts of the State, this deficiency
need not be taken into account.
Good limestone unroasted can be put on the
railway trucks at a cost of £i a ton, with a car-
riage of one halfpenny a ton per mile. The
standard quality applied is one ton per acre for
agricultural purposes and a half-ton broadcast
for pastures.
When the writer last visited Tasmania, there
were only thirty butter factories throughout the
Island. There might have been many more were
it not for the disadvantages. Butter was not
frozen solid on the road to Melbourne, where
the Island's product was largely shipped. Ob-
viously Burnie, the port which serves those
splendid dairy districts of Northern Tasmania,
will become a shipping depot for export over-
seas.
There are no pleuro, no ticks, no anthrax, and
very little contagious disease among cattle in Tas-
mania, which is rendered additionally immune by,
the fact that the sea forms its sole borderline.
Scab in sheep has been eradicated. F'or long
wools and merinoes Tasmania holds first ptafi
Its climate gives the sheep a strong constituted
and the finest quality wool.
The best of blood stock has been exported t(
the mainland. That strain of heavy horses foij
which Victoria is celebrated owes its stamina td
stock supplied by the Van Diemen's Land Com
pany, who possess also the finest examples o
milk Shorthorns in the Commonwealth. Fron
one of these cows the yield has been 64lbs. o
milk per day, giving 2ilbs. of butter a week.
If Abel Janszoon Tasman had only known it
he was the discoverer of a land far more proliti
than Holland, with a better winter climate an^
all advantages for the production of the chees
and butter which have made prosperity for th
Dutch.
Like all the other States, Tasmania will in th '
future require as many suitable settlers as she ca
obtain.
770
.1
Table Cape, North-West Coast
771
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
In an agricultural sense the only partially-
settled parts of the Island in 191 6 were the north
and north-west. The districts served by the main
railway line were mostly devoted to sheep rais-
ing. The lake country suited summer pastur-
ages, and on the southern portions of the Island
fruit-growing was an increasing industry.
The south-west was still practically untouched.
It is known to be exceedingly rich in minerals,
and contains large sections of undoubtedly good
agricultural lands.
First-class Crown lands were available some-
what away from the railway radius, and heavily
timbered, at £1 per acre. Land suitable for fruit-
growing— as our chapter dealing with Crown
Lands of the Commonwealth sets forth fully —
could be obtained for ten shillings an acre.
Several subdivisions of freehold estates in
older-settled districts have been successfully
carried out. The Van Diemen's Land Company
disposed of small farms — cut from some of their
vast holdings in the north — at £30 an acre.
On the Tamar many orchards have been
cleared and planted for retiring Anglo-Indians,
who find the climate most congenial. An Indian
official with, say, five remaining years of service
before him, can thus have a productive home
prepared for himself and his family, and take
possession upon his retirement from the arduous
services of the tropics.
Since cold storage became an established fact,
the area under apples has steadily increased.
The markets of the world were open, and Tas-
mania as a grower of apples became famous
abroad. This crop was well on the way to half
a million annual value before the war.
With increased purchasing power of foreign
consumers and cheaper freights, Tasmanian
apples can be made a staple fruit throughout the
northern hemisphere. They can be on the market
when the local product is not available. For
quality and flavor they equal, and often excel,
the best varieties grown in Europe.
Scientific orcharding is quite as necessary in
the southern hemisphere as any other part of the
world, and settlers who will secure the greatest
returns are those who keep this fact constantly
before them.
Orcharding is methodical work, but it requires
a certain amount of discretion and energy. With
proper treatment results are higher than from
almost any other form of agricultural produc-
tion. Forty pounds per acre has been about the
average yield in Tasmania.
For small capitalists with families it offers
good openings. A man can go on with the pro-
duction of small fruits while his trees are coming
into bearing, he is sure of an increasing living,
and enjoys a pleasant, healthy life.
For the small, general farmer, Tasmania is
rich in unexploited chances. The Government
extends to him a paternal hand, and gives him
every encouragement to make a successful estab-
lishment.
Mixed farming in the south includes stock-
raising, dairying, fruit-growing, poultry, and pigs.
Forage and potatoes are also grown in suit-
able localities. Potatoes have long been a Tas-
manian staple, especially on north-west coastal
lands.
The values of export in latter years have gone
up steadily to figures approaching £500,000 an-
nually. These totals could, of course, be multi-
plied tenfold by increased settlement.
Cleared lands in potato districts are often
available at reasonable prices, but there are so
many good investments for intending agricul-
turists all over the Commonwealth that golden
opportunities are turned down for others that
appear to be richer still.
For the assurance of intending immigrants
with families, it should be stated that throughout
Tasmania are scattered hundreds of free State
schools, and that high schools and colleges, both
State and proprietary, are established in the
larger centres of population.
Mr. Leslie Evans proffers some sound advice
for young settlers: — "Land is cheap and the
climate is delightful. Women have votes in this
part of the Southern Hemisphere. English
grasses and clovers flourish here, and English
landscape scenery can also be enjoyed. In fact,
Tasmania is Old England over again, minus some
undesirable features. But don't think you are
coming to Tasmania to pick apples off trees in
the streets, because they grow in orchards which
are in most cases several miles from the cities.
Don't imagine a couple of hundred pounds is all
you require to set you up In the fruit Industry
without further effort, because It will not do so;
the less capital you have the more work must be
done. Don't think it is 'infra dig' to take your
coat off if it hampers the play of your muscles;
no one will make remarks about your being in
your shirt-sleeves In hot weather. Above all,
please do not, as many have done, begin to teach
your employer the second week you have been
on the orchard. This has resulted, with one other
falling, in getting many Englishmen looked
askance at in this part of the world. Work hard i
the first week, and make up your mind to work "
harder the second, because the chances are you
will not be 'fit' at the beginning. Don't take
your money, if you bring any, out of the bank
until you have been In the State at least six months.
Make this a golden rule, and if any one wishes
you to break it, don't accept the suggestion."
TASMANIA: AGRICULTURE AND PRODUCTION
773
t
Mr. Evans has prepared a report on the crops,
conditions, and possibilities of Tasmanian agri-
cultural districts for Australia Unlimited.
The Hiton District. — The residents at the dif-
ferent centres in this belt are largely sons of
pioneers who were no doubt attracted by timber
possibilities. The banks of the Huon are more
and more being dotted with orchards, while for
aquatic pastimes the river can hold its own with
any stream in the Commonwealth. The outlying
ranges, including the famous Hartz Mountains,
Adamson's Peak, and the "Sleeping Beauty" or
"Huon Belle," together with the lesser peaks, on
a still summer morning present a scene of daz-
zling beauty which no pen can justly portray.
In the winter months (June to August) the
climate of the Huon is severe.
South Bruni and D'Entrecasteaux Chantiel. —
The D'Entrecasteaux Channel links up the Huon
River with the Derwent, where Hobart, the capi-
tal, stands, 12 miles from its mouth. The
Channel is much nearer by water to Hobart, and
its shores are studded with charming villas. The
views from the surrounding hills are beyond de-
scription. South Bruni, where orchards are com-
ing into prominence, shelters the southern and
astern side of the Channel, and this place must
e visited and seen for itself. As a yachtsman's
aradise, the Channel has no counterpart in the
outhern Hemisphere. On both sides of any
entre between Gordon and Mills Reef there are
0 miles of lovely, landlocked lake-like water-
ay; generally speaking, bold water to the very
anks, and ranging from one to four miles in
idth. The rugged grandeur of the surrounding
ills, the dainty little bights and anchorages, to-
;ether with the smooth water, will some day be
;uly appreciated.
The Glenorchy District. — Glenorchy is a small
burb of the capital, where a fine quality of fruit
grown. The land here is beginning to carry
;n enhanced value, owing to the fact that the
ty is extending in that direction, and building is
going on apace. One small orchard of four acres
gave over 1000 bushels of apples to the acre for
some years, but it is now played out. Hop culture
is carried on in a small way at this centre.
Orchards extend right on to South Bridgewater,
nd there are many fine sites to be purchased.
The Bagdad Valley. — Twenty miles from
obart by rail brings one to the Bagdad Valley.
A nice little centre, English in character, is Bag-
dad, but it enjoys a lighter rainfall than the Huon,
and yields are not so heavy. There is a sprinkling
i^jiiere of professional men from the capital who
l^^wn orchards. Bagdad holds the proud position
t"' ■""'"'"■ "*'"■'"■
price on record was given. The amount stands
at considerably over £200 per acre.
The Derwent Valley. — New Norfolk, Mac-
quarie Plains, and Glenora are situated in the
upper part of the valley of the River Derwent.
Many thousands of fine acres of orchard lands
can be seen throughout this magnificent belt. The
last bend of the Derwent approaching New Nor-
folk is pre-eminently picturesque. Here the
waters of the Derwent, and higher up the valley
those of its tributaries, are employed for irriga-
tion purposes both for fruit and hops. The fine
plantations and palatial residences here show
what apple-growing means to the settler.
Tasman's Peninsula. — Before proceeding to
the northern end of the island it would be well
to briefly note what Tasman's Peninsula is capable
of, as there are many hundreds of acres of suit-
able land yet to be employed in this vicinity.
Some phenomenal yields have been taken off a
small patch at Nubeena. The Peninsula will
always remain historically of importance owing
to its past. Here the tourist finds Port Arthur,
Eaglehawk Neck, with the Blowhole, Tasman's
Arch, Devil's Kitchen, and the Tesselated Pave-
ment. Much activity is being displayed on the
foreshore of Norfolk Bay, a large inland sea,
where our warships go for ball practice.
Orchards are being extended in several direc-
tions, and its proximity to Hobart assures it a
fine future. A few miles higher up the coast
Messrs. H. Jones and Co.'s orchard of 300 acres
at Triabunna is linking up the outlying centres
with profitable fruit production.
The North-East. — At Scamander and Georges'
Bay, now mainly of interest as watering-places
where bream and other fishing is enjoyed, fruit
culture is progressing. The mild climate pro-
duces a very highly-colored apple, and there are
thousands of acres still the property of the Crown
near St. Helens (George's Bay). A good rain-
fall (29 inches) is enjoyed. The soil, being
largely decomposed granite, results in an apple of
firm flesh and well adapted for carriage to dis-
tant markets. Some day in the not far distant
future the north-east will command high attention
as a fruit-producing area.
Travelling west from George's Bay the
orchards at Scottsdale and Lilydale come into
view. The highest-grade apples are grown at
these places, and there is plenty of room for new-
comers. Scottsdale flourishes on rich basaltic
soil arising from decomposed volcanic rock, which
is brick-red in color, and the vigorous trees, if
rightly pruned, centre their activities in the direc-
tion of heavy yields. Color might be declared
the dominant feature of apples grown in this
774
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
belt. It remains to be seen whether the still
milder climate at St. Helens will not produce a
better apple in this respect. Judging from what
has been grown at Scamander and George's Bay,
the growers at Lilydale will require to maintain
the highest standard of cultivation.
Estuary of the Tamar. — Fruit-growing on the
banks of the Tamar River was practically
I
dential houses with orchards than the estuary of
the Derwent.
The Mersey Valley. — Last, but by no means
least — in the opinion of some, first of all — we
approach the Spreyton district, where apple cul-
ture is making a distinct forward movement.
Latrobe, Spreyton, Railton, and Devonport will
in the near future produce many thousands of
Lake Hartz, Hartz Mountains
unknown ten years ago. Now there are
over 4000 acres planted. In 1908 there were
only 724 acres. Modernity is the main charac-
teristic of this movement, both in regard to sys-
;em and management. In another decade or
earlier the I'amar will be a scene of great activity,
when ocean-going steamers call for fruit at Bell
Bay. This estuary has a foreshore of at least
100 miles. River scenery of a very beautiful
character goes in with the selection, and already
its banks have been embellished by the presence
of comfortable homes, picturesque gardens, and,
what should be of greater import, cultured people.
The lower reaches of the Tamar Estuary
have a longer foreshore (shore-line) for resi-
cases of high-grade apples, and as the port 0
Devonport is adjacent there is every natura
facility. Perhaps nowhere else in this State wil
there be found so many retiretl Anglo-Indian
as within a stone's-throw of Devonport. Thi
fact, combined with the rich surrounding countr
and all the enjoyments of modern life, shouJi
exert a strong attraction to newcomers.
Taking districts seriatim, Mr. Evans give
valuable information regarding local product;
land values, and lands available, more partici
larly in northern areas:
Stavertoii (Sheffield District). — The land i
this district is worth from £3 to £12 per acrt
Gordon Elver Gorge, West Coast
I
775
776
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
St. Columba Falls, George Eiver
according to the clearing that has been carried out.
Peas, oats, and potatoes grow well, but the dis-
trict is adapted to dairying and grazing. It will
carry two sheep to the acre in properly fenced
paddocks.
Barr'tugton. — On chocolate farms oats go up to
80 bushels to the acre; potatoes 8 tons per acre;
two acres for a fully-grown beast; two sheep to
the acre. The price of land runs from £12 to
£20 per acre.
Stoodley—^[\%Qd farming prevails, mostly
potatoes. Since the Irish blight, blue peas have
been very profitable. - Land runs in value from
£5 to £30 per acre, average price £12. The
number of stock on 100 acres — 30 sheep, 6 cows,
20-30 pigs, and the usual stock to work the farm.
Forth. — Mixed farming — wheat, oats, peas,
beans, potatoes, mangolds, hay, dairying, poultry,
sheep. Oats and hay are the most profitable
crops. Land is worth from £15 to £27 per
acre. Fifty acres is considered the minimum on
which a living could be made. The land will
graze one beast to the acre, or eight sheep on the
same area. LTncleared fruit land is valued at £5
per acre; when cleared its value rises to £15 per
acre.
Ridgeley. — Land uncleared is valued at £2 to
£4 per acre, partly cleared £10 to £15, whilst
cleared land rises to £15 to £20 per acre. There
is splendid feed where the land is good and of
even quality. The district is well provided with
transport, shipping, markets (Burnie and Wara-
tah). The minimum area to make a living off
is considered to be 50 acres. Mixed farming
prevails, dairying, grazing, cropping. The best
crop is considered to be the potato, which averages
4 tons to the acre. Oats are largely grown, and
yield 50 bushels to the acre. Dairying and graz-
ing are extensively carried on; sheep not general in
this district. The land will carry one beast to
three acres; one cow to four acres, which allows
for a little cropping. Sheep, one to the acre on
good runs.
ipal]
rhel
ODS 1
Irishtown. — Potatoes and oats are the princi
crops of this district, taken alternately. The
former average 4 tons to the acre. Hay crops
give 2 tons to the acre, but good crops rise to 3
tons per acre. Since Irish blight broke out dairy-
ing has made great strides. The soil is well
suited to cereals, pulse and roots. First-class
land is worth from £1 to £10 per acre, the price
depending on situation, amount of improvements
and instalments paid to the Crown, rather than
on its quality. Partially cleared land is worth
from £3 to £5 per acre. Not less than 100 acres
should be purchased as a holding. Grass land
will carry one cow to three acres; roughly cleared
land one cow to six acres, or one ewe and lamb per
acre.
Kindred. — Mixed farming holds sway : potatoes
are grown on the chocolate soil. Oats for grain
and hay. Peas, turnips and mangolds, the latter
to supplement the green feed for dairying, which
has made great strides, as witness the establish-
ment of co-operative butter factories at Ulver-
stone, Burnie and Devonport. Wheat is only
raised In small quantities for home use. All
stock enjoy the best of health. Pork raising as
a supplement or adjunct to dairying goes on.
Beef, mutton, wool are produced In small quan-
tities. The price of unimproved land is about
£15 per acre. Improved areas run from £12 to
£25 per acre. The holdings run from 100 to
150 acres, but 50 acres are considered the mini-
mum from which a living could be made. The
land will carry one beast to the acre, or three sheep
to a similar area.
The altitude Is from 500 to 700 feet. The
roads in the district are good. j
Preston. — Mixed farming: oats and potatoes
are the leading crops. Potatoes yield from 5 to
10 tons per acre; oats from 50 to 80 bushels per
acre. It is considered that 100 acres are neces- '
sary to make a living off. Bush land Is valued
at £4 per acre, grazing land at £7/10/-, and
TASMANIA: AGRICULTURE AND PRODUCTION
777
improved farms at £13 per acre. The land will
carry about one beast to two acres, and one sheep
per acre. The grazing land is best suited for
dairying.
North Motion. — Potatoes and oats are the
principal crops grown in this district. Potatoes
are planted from June to October. The mild
winters allow a continuous supply of fodder to be
grown. Partly cleared land is valued at from
£8 to £12 per acre; cleared land at from £20 to
£24 per acre. Fifty acres are required to make
a living on. The altitude of the district is 500 ft.
Mount Olympus, Lake St. Clair
New Ground. — Mixed farming: wheat, hay,
potatoes. Improved areas are valued at from
10 to £30 per acre. From 50 acres upwards
are needed to make a living on. Fruit land, un-
cleared, runs from £2 to £14 per acre, according
to situation. £10 per acre will fit fruit land for
I the plough or planting. Sheep on farms (not
runs), two to five head per acre. One beast to
two acres.
Moorville Road. — Potatoes are the leading
crop in this district. Oats, peas, hay also largely
grown. Dairying is carried on here. The best
land is valued at from £12 to £20 per acre. Mini-
mum area to make a living on 100 acres. Pota-
toes yield from 5 to 6 tons per acre; oats, 50
bushels; hay, li tons; blue peas, 40 bushels per
acre. This district grows good grass. English,
cocksfoot, white and red clover, turnips, mangolds
do well here.
Devonport. — Potatoes, dairying, and mixed
farming. First-class land is worth £25 per acre.
Dairying land from £10, subject to the clearing
done. A good living can be made on 75 acres of
red soil, and 125 acres of dark loam. Uncleared
fruit land is worth from £1 to £10, according to
its position. Fruit land, newly planted, is valued
at £30 to £40 per acre. Coming into bearing,
£60 to £70, with cost of looking after added. The
land in this district would carry a heavy head of
stock, but it is not utilised much for grazing. Crop
yields are heavy here.
Table Cape. — Mixed farming: potatoes, oaten
hay, oats, blue peas, wheat, barley, in the order
named. The district is admirably adapted for
dairying and grazing. Uncleared land is valued
at about £6 per acre. Improved farms, £25
per acre. Minimum area to make a living on,
50 acres. Fruit land uncleared, from £3 to £10
per acre. Cost of clearing ranges from £10 to
£20 per acre. Grass land will carry three sheep
to two acres ; one cow to three acres. On scrubbed
and grassed land one cow to four acres, if fire-
weed and ferns kept down.
Scottsdale West. — This district is admirably
adapted for dairying, as it is well watered and
grows grass and clovers to perfection. Mixed
farming is carried on, peas, oats, potatoes, roots.
Drabsoil partially cleared is worth from £3 to
£8 per acre. Chocolate soil partially cleared and
grassed rises in value from £10 to £14 per acre.
The minimum area to make a living on dairying
is 100 acres. Clearing land suited for orcharding
costs £10 per acre. The land will run two sheep
to an acre or one beast to four acres.
Scottsdale. — All classes of farming and horti-
culture are carried on here, but dairying is per-
haps the most profitable. First-class cleared
farms are worth £20 per acre, and 100 acres are
sufficient to make a living on. This price applies
also to cleared fruit land of first-class quality
close to the railway. Uncleared fruit land can
be had for £1 per acre. As much as £100 per
acre have been taken off an orchard in this dis-
trict in one season. Some farms will carry from
5 to 10 sheep per acre, others only one.
Lilydale. — About 2000 acres, also smaller
holdings, available for orcharding and mixed
farming in this district.
Avoca. — There is not much land available in
this district, as it is mostly held as large estates
used as sheep runs, but well adapted for mixed
778
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
XiObster Creek, Leven River
farming, hay, wheat, and cereals. Price of land
.£2 to £3 per acre. Taking the good with the
bad land, the area required for a holding is not
less than 1000 acres. It will carry one sheep to
the acre, which number could be increased by
cropping.
Frankford. — Grass, dairying, and rearing
stock. Most profitable farm products, oats and
potatoes. Price of land from 30s. to £7. Mini-
mum area required, 150 acres. Fruit land,
cleared, £7 ; uncleared, £3 per acre. When fenced
against rabbits and cleared would carry four
sheep per acre; i beast per acre.
Upper Flowerdale. — Mixed farming and dairy-
ing are carried on at this centre. Potatoes are
planted from April to October, and the yield is
from 6 to lo tons per acre. The dairying indus-
try is making headway. Cocksfoot and other
grasses and clovers do well, and last in the ground
from five to seven years. Partly cleared and
cleared farms run from £8 to £25 per acre. Land
scrubbed, grassed and fenced, without further im-
provements from £3 to £8 per acre. The land is
increasing in value as the metal roads are extend-
ing further back. The number of head of cattle
the land will carry varies according to the clearing
and grassing done. A fair average would be
two sheep to an acre, and one beast to three acres.
If fodder crops are grown, the average is much
higher. On one of the best 400-acres, with
fodder and grass land, there were reared 800
lambs and fattened for market; 400 ewes were fed
and 10 cows milked, besides running surplus cattle,
horses, etc., to work the farm. Out of the 400
acres, 60 acres were planted with potatoes, oats,
etc., for marketing.
St. Helens. — Crown land is available in this
district, £1 per acre first-class; 100 acres scrubbed
and grassed sufficient to make a living by dairying.
Second-class land is available, suitable for fruit-
growing, at a cost of 10/- per acre; clearing cost
from £10 to £15 per acre. Land can be cleared,
fenced, and planted with fruit trees for £20 to £25
per acre. The land will carry, when cleared and
grassed, one cow on 3-5 acres; three sheep per
acre. There are nearly 100 acres of young
orchard land in this district. Large areas of
land near the port are still available. The fruit
colours well here. Dairying is carried on at
TASMANIA: AGRICULTURE AND PRODUCTION
779
Pyengana, Gould's Country, New England, and
Upper Scamander. The cheese factory at Pyen-
gana produces 70 to 80 tons of cheese per annum,
and in addition there are large dairymen who do
not supply the factory. Gould's Country also pos-
sesses a factory. Pyengana is 20 miles from St.
Helens, Gould's Country 12 miles, and Scamander
12 miles. The roads are good in this part of
the island. There are considerable areas open
for selection suitable for grazing. The climate
is, perhaps, as mild as any part of the State.
for their own use, and who sell in the district
chiefly.
There is no land for sale here, all available
sites having long since been taken up. It is not
an orcharding district. Recently very fair land
has been discovered in the broken country of hills
and gorges, between Mount Nicholas and Mount
Victoria, which is heavily timbered, and more or
less unexplored.
The drawback to the cold plains In this district
Timber Train in Geeveston Forest
Transport by steamer to Hobart or Launceston
.at 17/- per ton.
1^
St. Mary's. — The district is a long-settled one,
and there is no land now for sale. The land is
occupied mostly for pastoral purposes and dairy
farming; but since the railway opened In 1886,
ereals are on the increase. The farming com-
munity here Is divisible into three classes: —
(i) Pastorallsts In the valley of the Break o'
Day, who also grow wheat and oats. (2)
Tenants in the valley who rent portions of the
above estates and grow the same cereals. (3)
Settlers In the hill districts, opened up since the
'sixties, chiefly by Germans, who grow enough
Is the perishable nature of the timber, which con-
sists of "cabbage-gum," "swamp-gum" (the open
country variety), and "white-gum," all of which
suffer from the cold and windy climate, and are
continually on the break down, causing a litter,
which requires constant clearing up. This
militates now, with the high price of labour,
against keeping the runs clear. A run, or
paddock, cleared up, will in seven to nine years be
just as "dirty" again.
Caruarvoit. — Dairying and orcharding are the
principal industries on Tasman's Peninsula. Cul-
tivation consist principally In growing fodder for
stock. A hundred acres of good land are con-
sidered a sufficient area to make a living on.
78o
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
There is plenty of land in this district suitable for
orcharding; clearing light scrub costs from £5 to
£15 ; heavily timbered costs £25 to clear ready for
the plough. Orchards newly planted cost £40
per acre; in full bearing £100. Scrub land,
grassed, the first season will carry a fat beast to
the acre, but after two or three years it will take
about three acres to keep a cow, and about three
sheep to the acre. During July, August, and
September, stock will require feeding, or to be
turned on to a bush run.
Wattle Grove. — Fruit culture is the chief in-
dustry in this district. Apples, pears, stone fruit
and berries grow well. Uncleared land runs in
price from £5 to £10 per acre; cleared land, £40;
orchards newly planted, £50; in full bearing, £100
upwards per acre. Roughly cleared land will
carry one beast or five sheep to the acre. If
tillage were employed this number could be in-
creased. A capital of £2000 should purchase a
property with a turnover of between £400 to £500
per annum.
Tyenna. — The hop is the most profitable crop
on the river flats. Potatoes and vegetables grow
well. There is fine grass country, and the dis-
trict is admirably suited to dairying. The bulk
of the land is held by the Crown, and costs from
10/- to £1 per acre to purchase, and £3 per acre
to scrub the timber, ring, and burn off, and sow
with grass. The cost of clearing the timber would
be much more. A few settlers will sell at prices
ranging from £6 to £8 per acre, which means 3 or
4 acres under cultivation, and from 50 to 100
acres in grass on roughly cleared land. Small
fruits grow well here. The land will carry two
sheep to the acre all the year round, but owing to
the rough state of the country, each acre is taken
up to the extent of about 2 square chains by stand-
ing timber, logs, bark, and rubbish. It will carry
one beast to every 4 or 5 acres all the year round.
Apples grow well, but take the black spot as no
spraying is carried out. If the settler grows
hops, a small area will suffice for a living; but_
for mixed farming, which is general, it is cor
sidered that from 100 to 150 acres are required t<|
live on.
Glen Hiion. — Land for sale under freehold
rare in this centre. The cost of clearing new*
land and preparing same for orchard purposes
varies from £20 to £25 per acre. Orchards in
full bearing cost from £100 to £150 per acre to
purchase. Roughly cleared land will depasture
two head of cattle per acre in summer; in winter
3 acres are required to support one beast. Crown
land exists at the Denison and Weld Rivers.
Packing Stores to the Bingarooma Tin-Alines
THE ISLANDS OF TASMANIA.
TASMANIA is, in reality, the mother of many
islands. She is surrounded on all sides
by her fledgelings. They are a vigorous
brood, cradled in sturdy southern conditions. As
time goes on, they will find homes and wealth for
thousands of strong Australians.
Wind-swept and sea-girdled, these Islands of
the South, to a great degree are still awaiting for
human occupation and development : —
The Furneaux Group of Islands — of which
the largest are Flinders, containing about 513,000
acres. Cape Barren, about 110,000 acres, and
Clarke Island, 28,000 acres — is situated in
Bass Strait, off the north-east corner of the
mainland, from which it is separated by Banks
.Strait, about 15 miles across in the narrowest
place. It lies in almost a direct line between
Cape Portland and Wilson's Promontory, and
forms one of the links that remain of the mountain
system which undoubtedly at one time connected
Tasmania with the Continent of Australia. The
formation of this group, we are officially informed,
is almost exclusively granitic and Tertiary, with
metamorphic schists and sandstones in places. Tin
has been discovered on each of these islands, but
not in payable quantity.
Clarke Island is leased as a sheep-run, for which
it is best adapted. Cape Barren Island, as the
name suggests, is broken, rough, and the soil of
poor quality. Some 4000 acres across the western
end have been set aside as a reserve for the use
of half-caste inhabitants.
k
A Harvesting Scene, Olenore
781
782
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Selection under "The Crown Lands Act," until
recently has been practically confined to the
western border of Flinders Island, where about
10,000 acres have been taken up and are being
improved. During the years 1909 and 19 10 most
of the useful land on Flinders Island was selected,
and is now on its trial.
Some of the smaller islands are exceedingly fer-
tile, notably Great Dog, Green, Kangaroo, and
Preservation Islands. The sooty petrels (Puffiniis
teiuiirostris), better known as mutton-birds,
abound, and are the principal means of support to
the native islanders. The young birds are cap-
The distance from populous centres, of course,
presents a difficulty that would have to be taken
Into account. It is of importance to note that
these islands lie in the direct routes between
Hobart and Melbourne, and between Launceston
and Sydney; they are therefore con\'eniently
situated for trading.
No official rainfall record is kept at Flinders;
but at Goose Island, 15 miles away, the record
shows 79 inches per annum. This plentiful water-
supply docs not appear to obtain on Hinders
Island, as the settlers frequently complain of the
scanty rainfall, and they estimate the annual fall
On the North Coast Boad
tured in their holes by night in hundreds during
the month of March. They yield up large quan-
tities of pure oil, and are then pickled for the out-
side market. Wild ducks are plentiful, and
swans and Cape Barren geese are obtainable.
Chappel, Babel, Storehouse, Forsyth, or Penguin
Islands, and part of Little Green Island, are re-
served as "rookeries" or breeding-grounds for the
mutton-birds.
From the position of these islands, the richness
of the soil, and the temperature of the climate —
for which the latitude, the low elevation, and local
salt-water currents are responsible — they are
peculiarly adapted to the production of vegetables
of every description during the winter months,
when they are unobtainable on the mainland, and
would therefore command a high price. The
question therefore suggests itself whether a pro-
■fitable trade in early vegetables could not be
opened up in conjunction with the fishing industry.
at about 20 inches. This comparatively \oy
estimate may be due to the rapid absorption of
water during the summer months, owing to the
sandy nature of the soil. The fact remains, how-
ever, that the island is not so well watered as could
be wished, and the water in several creeks and
lagoons is brackish and unfit for drinking.
Hunter Group. — These islands lie near the Tas-
manian coast, between Woolnorth antl King
Island. The group includes Robbin's Island,
24,4<;o acres; Walker Island, 1720 acres; Tre-
foil Island, 255 acres; Barren Island, 21,000 .
acres; Three-Hummock Island, 23,000 acres; I
Perkins Island, 2600 acres; with the small islands
of Albatross, Steep, Stack, Kangaroo, and Petrel, I
containing collectively about 1300 acres. The first ,
three islands named have been granted to the Van
DIemen's Land Company, and comprise a small
proportion of fair land, Trefoil being exception-
On the Eiver Mersey
783
784
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
ally good. The most of the other islands are
leased from the Crown for pastoral purposes at
low rentals. They are unsuited to cultivation.
Maria Island. — Maria Island, so named by
Tasman, the enterprising navigator, in the year
1642, forms a prominent feature on the east
coast of the mainland. Its principal place
of communication is Triabunna, 9 miles dis-
tant by boat. It was used as a penal settlement
in the forties, of which there are still many signs
remaining. It covers an area of 24,000 acres.
It presents a bold and rugged aspect along the
north-east shore, the highest point, called Mount
Maria, rising to an altitude of 2329 feet In about
i^ miles. The best land, which was included In
the old settlement, extends from Port Darlington
at the extreme north of the island southerly along
the western shore, and comprises about 1500
acres, 500 of which have been sold to the directors
of the Maria Island Company, and about 1000
acres purchased under "The Crown Lands Act"
by selectors. A large proportion of the land pur-
chased and applied for was at one time cleared
and cultivated, and included a hop plantation. At
present 12,300 acres are leased for pastoral pur-
poses.
The peaks of Mount Maria are composed of
grey granite rock, whilst the north-east corner of
the island exposes Immense masses of fossiliferous
limestone, giving place along the western shore to
diabasic greenstone, or trap and sandstone rock
towards the southern end, which is of a sandy and
worthless description. Tin, gold, and silver are
said to have been discovered, but In small quan-
tities.
Practically, the whole of the Island Is now avail-
able for settlement. About 4000 acres have been
selected.
Brum Island (Norih and South) forms the
eastern shore of D'Entrecasteaux Channel. The
island extends northerly from Bruni Head, off
Southport, to the estuary of the Derwent, which is
distant 13 miles from Hobart. It Is of very
Irregular shape, and connected by a narrow
neck or Isthmus at Adventure Bay. It comprises
a total area of 90,000 acres, of which 28,000 have
been alienated. Of the portion remaining, there
is some good heavily-timbered and scrub land in
the neighbourhood of Little Taylor's Bay, South
Bruni ; but settlement thereon is hampered by the
want of direct communication with a market, al-
though steamers pass daily through the Channel
to and from the capital. It is of Igneous origin,
in which greenstone predominates. Portions of
the north-west of South Bruni, and the extreme
south and north of North Bruni, are of Tertiary
formation, In which anthracite coal has been dis-
covered, but so far has not been turned to profit;^
able account.
Orchards are being planted out at Daniel'^
Bay, South Bruni, where a comfortable boarding-
house has been established. Thence excur-
sions may be made to Cloudy Bay, with its
clouds of mist caused by the breaking of the heavy
surf upon its rocky shore; Cloudy Lagoon; Ad-
venture Bay, with a sandy beach some 6 or 7 miles
in length; celebrated for the variety of marine
shells to be found there; and the lighthouse at
Bruni Head, from which may be obtained a beau-
tiful and extensive view of ocean and distant moun-
tain. Bream-fishing can be had in a large creek
flowing Into Cloudy Lagoon, and Daniel's and
Taylor's Bay abound In fish of all kinds.
Schoiiten Island, lying to the south of Freyclnet
Peninsula, off Little Swanport, is unfit for culti-
vation, but sound and otherwise suitable for depas-
turing sheep. The greatest drawback experienced
In working this Island is the inconvenience of boat-
ing the stock to and from it. It comprises 8500
acres of more or less stony country.
The Macquarie Group. — This group is situated
In the South Pacific Ocean, in latitude 54° 50'
south, and in longitude 159° east, distant from
New Zealand In the south-westerly direction
about 600 miles. It was originally discovered
In 181 1 by some adventurers from New South
Wales engaged In seal-fishing. It comprises
Macquarie Island, about 18 miles in length by all
miles In breadth; Bishop and Clerk, 30 miles to
the south; and Judge and Clerk, 7 miles to the
north of Macquarie Island. It is low-lying, with
not a stick of timber anywhere to be found, and
has been worked for years as a birding and sealing
ground by authority of the New Zealand Govern-
ment, under the belief that It was a dependency of
that Dominion, but more recently under licence
from Tasmania. The other Islands are of less
Importance, but used for similar purposes.
BRITISH NEW GUINEA
(PAPUA)
Yl
NATIVE: VILLflCe, PT MORESBY.
m
I
II
5ETTLE:RS -HOME. 5/!M/1Rfll
786
1
I
Samarai, Fapua
BRITISH NEW GUINEA (PAPUA)
IN area the island of New Guinea exceeds
300,000 square miles. Discovered by
Europeans four hundred years ago, it still
mains an undeveloped country.
In 1914 the total white population of Papua
(British New Guinea) was only 1186. This
was increased some few hundreds by the occupa-
tion of the German portion of the Great Island,
in September of that year, by a military expedi-
tion raised and despatched by the Australian Go-
vernment.
All those parts of the island west of the 141st
degree of latitude — about 150,000 square miles
— belong to the Dutch.
The German portion included the north-eastern
mainland, the larger islands of Bismarck. Archi-
pelago, and nearly 200 smaller islands.
The south-eastern portion only is a depen-
dency of Australia, being under the administra-
tion of the Commonwealth, but not included in
Papua is divided into eleven magisterial dis-
ricts, presided over by a Lieutenant-Governor.
Papua is entirely tropical. The native popula-
on has been approximated at half a million. The
apuan is of a more advanced type than the
aboriginal of Australia, has some knowledge of
gnculture, and is probably more capable of con-
ormmg to the manners and usages of civilization.
Native labour has been largely utilized for con-
struction of roads and public works, for clearing
forest to establish plantations, and for the culti-
vation of such tropical products as rubber and
coconuts.
Colored service is voluntary. Employers are
under legal obligation to properly house and
feed their native servants, who must also be re-
turned to their villages at the completion of their
agreement. Refusal to work after engagement,
or desertion from service, renders the laborer
liable to punishment. The term of Indenture is
limited to three years. Wages must be paid In
the presence of an officer of the Government.
Under just conditions, the Papuan is said to
have been converted into a faithful and intelligent
servant.
In March, 19 14, two hundred and twenty-eight
plantations had been established in British New-
Guinea. These covered an area of 43,000 acres,
and were yielding good profits.
Coconuts, sisal hemp, rubber, and cotton were
the principal products, with coffee, vanilla, kapok,
tapioca, cinnamon, tea, maize, and tobacco as
secondary industries. Rubber trees yield an aver-
age of 2lb. per tree here, as against lib. in the
Malay States.
About 350,000 acres of coconuts had been
planted by natives for food supply. In conformity
with a Government regulation.
The Government had established six planta-
tions, of a total area of 1,515 acres, for the pro-
pagation of coconuts and Para rubber. Others
78'
788
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
are being developed by means of five annual
Government loans of £5,000 each.
Although the greater part of the interior is
still unexplored, enough is known of New Guinea
to justify the conclusion that it is one of the
richest and most suitable countries in the world for
tropical agriculture. Tea, coffee, cocoa, rice,
cotton, and tobacco will be profitably culti\ated.
"The above, it must be remembered, represents
the total local outlay of the proprietary company,
as there are no rents to pay for the first ten years,
no survey fees, and no costs for the preparation
and registration of the lease.
"New Guinea is said to be the best rubber-grow-
ing country in the world. There are enormous
areas of easily-accessible virgin land suitable for
Sisal Hemp at Fairfax Harlior
So far the attention of planters has mainly been
given to the growth of Para rubber and coco-
nuts.
Costs given in The Ofiicial Handbook of Papua
for preparatory work are as under: —
"Para Rubber. — For cutting down the timber
and burning same, with the exception of the large
stumps and logs, lining, holing, and planting with
120 trees to the acre, and handing over a Para
rubber plantation well weeded and in good going
order, contracts have been let at £6 per acre, and
satisfactorily fulfilled. This price has allowed a
reasonable profit to the contractor. This does
not include rubber plants, erection of buildings,
etc.
this industry, with a heavy and even rainfall. The
cost of clearing and planting 250 acres with rubber
in the Territory of Papua — over six years — is
equal to about £17 per acre.
"The manager of one of the largest coco'iut
plantations in the Territory, in an article appear-
ing in the issue of the Tropical Agriculturist, Cey-
lon, for October, 1908, says: — 'The Territory
is situated outside the hurricane zone, has ar :
agreeable climate and a plentiful rainfall (excepl
in the dry belt of the Central Division). Thus the
planter has every advantage which nature car
bestow to render his enterprise successful. The
soil is considered equal in richness to anything ir
the world; and our correspondent's experience
leads him to express it as his opinion that, in th(
BRITISH NEW GUINEA
789
course of a few years, when Australia has realized
what a valuable asset she possesses right at her
very doors, Papua will have become the most pro-
lific and richest exporter of tropical products out-
side of Ceylon. Labour is plentiful and cheap,
and land easily obtainable on the most liberal
terms. His estimate of the expenditure neces-
sary to plant 500 acres of coconuts for the first
year is £2,856, or £5 13s. 3d. per acre, including
the erection of houses for the manager and as-
sistant manager. The cost of planting 1,000
acres (?oo acres the first year, 300 acres the
second vear, and 180 acres the third year) is —
First year £2,856
Second year ii935
Third year 1,602
Fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and
eighth years VjI 15
£13,508
or £13 I OS. per acre.
"The above planting costs represent the experi-
ence of a manager who planted 300 acres with
coconuts in this Territory."
Alluvial and volcanic soils prevail along the
least and up to elevations of 6,000 feet.
Mount Victoria, in Owen Stanley Range, has an
elevation of 13,200 feet.
Good harbors, high mountains, and broad, ever-
flowing rivers are physical features of this great
undeveloped island. The Fly River is navigable
for small craft for over 500 miles.
Capital for the development of tropical in-
dustries has of latter years been forthcoming.
The authorities have aimed at anticipating and
removing as far as possible the difliculties of
pioneering.
Government buys land direct from the natives,
which it leases in perpetuity to planters, in areas
not exceeding 5,000 acres, at an annual rental of
threepence per acre.
But these are mere official facts; dry, as facts
usually prove, but necessary for reference.
To most of us, there is another New Guinea,
a land of wonder and mystery, where tattooed
head-hunters in weird war-paint and feathers
tread dripping jungle paths darkened by tower-
ing tropical vegetation. Volumes of absorbing
ethnological interest can be written about the
tribesmen, the men of the polished stone age, their
traditions, superstitions, and customs.
Broad, rapid-flowing rivers, and mountains that
lift their heads from foothills of forest into the
snows; feathery palms, and Birds of Paradise are
A Native Village
790
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
in our vision of the Dusky Island. They are a
part of its gorgeous reality.
Precious sandalwood and ebony, beautiful orna-
mental timbers, bamboos, scented woods, and
ornate tropic flowers are all to be found in the
jungles of the real New Guinea.
Indigenous cotton, sugar-cane, rubber, vanilla,
nutmeg, ginger, bananas, breadfruit, sago palms,
nuts, fruits, and vegetables, all grow as profusely
as in the neighbouring East Indies. New Guinea
is as fecund, as naturally lavish, as rich, as Borneo
or the marvellous island of Java — no more than
a two-days' sail from its shores. Drugs, dye-
woods, spices, pearls, pearl shell, tortoise shell,
and gold are among its products.
A New Guinea Belle
Copper, silver, tin, lead, zinc, iron, manganese,
sulphur, and petroleum have all been discovered,
and large coal beds are also said to exist.
Of all these, mineral oil has probably the
greatest value.
Oil struck on the Vailala River is pronounced
to be of excellent quality. Exploratory work so
far carried out indicates that the petroleum fields
of New Guinea, like those of Java and Sumatra,
cover a large area. The establishment of this
fact is of vast importance to the Commonwealth
and to the Empire.
Not long before the war, England voted two
million pounds out of consolidated funds to en-
able the Admiralty to carry out its agreement
:)
with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. At that
time nearly fifteen millions of British money were
invested in oil production in Russia, of which ten
millions might be regarded as "effective" capital.
The British Empire, with only 2.6 of the
world's oil supply, may find in Papua a proper
of inestimable value.
With modern means of preventing and co:
bating tropical diseases, European life in Ne;^
Guinea is attended by constantly lessening risks.
The more settled districts are well policed by
native constabulary controlled by white officers.
The ordinary comforts and pleasures of a
planter's life in the tropics may be enjoyed safely. I
For the adventurous mind, the ethnological \
student, the lover of Nature in its more florid ex- I
pressions, for the sportsman, the Dark Island of
the North has an eloquent call.
There are stores, hospitals, missions, hotels, '
bungalows, schools, cart roads and horse tracks,
rest houses, in Papua already. Later on there ,
will be railways and motor cars.
Wild pigs, crocodiles, cassowaries, scrub
turkeys, marsupials, ducks, quail, snipe, and
pigeons in abundance await the sportsman.
As this valuable island is opened up, its moun-
tains will afford healthful sanitoria for Euro-
peans. Within a day's journey of Port Moresby
altitudes of 2,000 feet give cool nights and less
oppressive days.
The beautiful island of Samarai is the base of
an archipelago of great tropical beauty, extend-
ing eastward to the Louisiades. To quote the
Hon. Staniforth Smith, who (until he volunteered
for military service as a private) was Adminis-
trator of the Territory of Papua : "The scenery is ■
always beautiful, in many instances grand and
majestic. In a cruise through the islands a fasci-,
nating panorama of novelty and beauty unfol(J[H
itself before one's gaze. Tiny islets, crowned with
palms, and clad to the water's edge in robes of .
emerald green, dot the horizon, and contrast
strangely with some giant peak, grim and weather-
scarred, that springs sheer out of the watery
depths. In other places mighty cliffs, hidden by
walls of foliage, shut out the view, and usher the |t
traveller into some land-locked harbor, where he ~
can drop anchor on a shingly beach, and explort
the hidden recesses of the primeval forest, or visii
the peaceful villages of its interesting inhabitants.
"To the mountain-climber the more inaccessibli
central main range offers great attractions, bu
expeditions of this nature require the engagemen
of guides and carriers, and more elaborate ar
rangements.
"On the north-east coast, in the neighbourhoo<
of Cape Nelson, the high, bold, headlands an(
deep indentations, forming small land-locked bays
i:
BRITISH NEW GUINEA
791
have been compared to the famous fiords of
Norway; while inland little-known mountain
chains and smoking craters invite the more ven-
turesome to explore their secret recesses.
"In the Western and Gulf Divisions the low-
lying country is less picturesque; but the mighty
rivers, fringed with sago and nepa palms, are
navigable by steam-launch for many miles. The
inhabitants of the large villages on these rivers,
are a strong and vigorous race, whose staple food
is sago. The large communal houses, or 'dubus,'
Headquarters are located, one being as much as
900 miles away. Garrisons are maintained at
each of the important stations.
"The trade of the possessions is principally
copra, but exports consist also of cocoa, medi-
cinal barks, maize, and shells (used for making
pearl buttons). The average monthly output of
copra is 1,000 tons. All exports come to Aus-
tralia in British vessels, and all stores, rations and
commodities used in the territory for trading and
the upkeep of plantations go from Australia.
At Sariba, near Samarai
seen at these villages, sometimes 300 feet long
and 60 feet high, constitute the highest conception
of native architecture. In most instances, these
large dwellings are used exclusively by the male
inhabitants."
i
In connection with New Guinea these notes
^aken from a recent Budget speech of the Minister
for Defence are interesting: —
"The possessions previously known as German
ew Guinea, south of the Equator, continue to
be occupied by Australian troops, under
Brigadier-General Pethebridge, as Administrator
and Commanding Officer. The islands are at
arying distances from New Britain, where the
^
"Under the terms of surrender Germans who
subscribed to the oath of neutrality, and have
observed regulations, are permitted to follow
their vocation within prescribed areas, but the
proceeds from any business or plantation are
officially supervised to prevent any benefit
accruing to the enemy.
"The Customs receipts from October, 19 14, to
30th June, 1916, were — Import duty, £39,570;
and export duty, £8,695.
"At the end of 19 13 the white population of
the colony, including Japanese, was about 1,600,
of which 75 per cent, were Germans. Since our
occupation about 300 Germans have been sent out
of the colony. There are about 1,300 Chinese
in the possessions.
792
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
"About 75,000 acres are under cultivation —
mostly coconuts.
"About 12,000 natives are variously employed
in connection with plantations, the usual period
of contract being 3 years. As a rule, natives
work more satisfactorily when employed on an
island quite distinct from that which they are
natives of.
"German paper money is not now recognised
as currency in the possession, but German silver
and nickel coins are accepted at the value of 1 1
for a mark. Any German silver money which
comes into the Commonwealth Bank at Rabaul is
not re-issued, British money gradually supplanting
the German currency.
"A branch of the Commonwealth Bank of Au
tralia has been established at Rabaul, and it!
business is steadily increasing.
"The health of the troops is most satisfactory,'
owing to the precautions taken by the Military
Medical Staff."
I
Para Rubber Trees (6 years old) at Javarere, Papua
PATRIOTIC, BENEVOLENT,
AND NATIONAL
Zl
704
AUSTRALIA'S ARMY AND NAVY.
I
L
THE ethical motif behind Australian mili-
tarism is Home Defence. But at the out-
break of the European War, the States, in
complete Federal concord, voluntarily came for-
ward with men and money to assist the cause of
Britain and her Allies. Australia felt that she
owed allegiance to the Parent Isles from which
her original stock had sprung. In what she
regarded as a just war she was prepared to con-
tribute more than a fair proportion of her blood
and treasure.
Although a referendum of the men and
women of Australia resulted in a majority against
conscription, the Commonwealth still contributed
volunteers, and her soldier sons still continued to
fight like Paladins across the sands of Egypt and
down the shattered, shell-torn front that marked
the boundary between the Teuton and the Gaul.
In the year 1870 the last Imperial regiment had
been withdrawn from Australia. From that date
— prior to Federation — the Colonies maintained
small detachments of permanent soldiery, and
extended the militia system with a cadet training
in the larger schools.
At the time of Federation, the total defence
force of the six incoming States was under 30,000
men.
The Commonwealth, as provided by the Act
of Constitution, took over control of defence
matters in due course. The Federal Act of 1909
did away with the old voluntary scheme, and intro-
duced a compulsory military and naval system for
home defence.
While totally opposed to war, the enlightened
democracy of Australia were unanimously re-
solved that every future citizen born in the Com-
monwealth should be trained and ready to defend
his native country against possible armed aggres-
sion.
The Act of 1909 provided:— Junior Cadet
training for lads 12 and 13 years of age, followed
by Senior Cadet training for lads from 14 to 18
years of age; and thereafter adult training for
two years in the citizen forces, to equal 16 days
annually, followed by registration (or a muster
parade) each year for 6 years. Arrangements
for registration, enrolment, inspection, and medi-
cal examination of persons liable to be trained
were made. The latter acts introduced neces-
sary modifications, the principal being the exten-
sion of adult service to eight years. On ist
January, 191 1, by proclamation, compulsory
training was established. The already existing
militia (voluntarily enlisted) were free to com-
plete the three years for which they had engaged
to serve, but conformity to the new system was
essential. Officers and non-commissioned officers
might re-engage. All male inhabitants of Aus-
tralia, who are British subjects, and have resided
in the Commonwealth for six months, are liable
to serve. Exemptions exist for certain indivi-
duals and classes of people; and may be granted
in the case of unpopulated and sparsely populated
areas. The training is as follows: — Prom 12 to
14 years of age, in the junior cadets. From 14
to 18 years of age, in the senior cadets. From
18 to 26 years of age, in the citizen forces. All
male inhabitants of Australia between the ages of
18 and 60 years are made liable to serve in the
defence forces in time of war.
At the conclusion of his tour around Australia,
undertaken in order to advise the Commonwealth
upon questions of defence, the late Lord Kit-
chener said that "one of the greatest needs of
Australia was systematic, statesmanlike, and com-
prehensive railway extension; that trunk-lines
opening up communication and developing the fer-
tile districts in the interior would undoubtedly
stimulate the growth of population, as well as
foster trade, and considerably increase the means
of defence."
This is a question which will concern Australian
statesmen long after the two Transcontinental
lines, now in course of construction, have been
completed.
Railway-builders are Nation-builders also ; they
deal with certainties, whereas much that party
politics embodies in the too-wide horizon of its
activities, is open to doubt.
This article may fitly include a few interesting
facts dealing with what Australia — a small, en-
lightened, but non-militant democracy — has done
in what she regarded as a just war against bar-
barism.
The first Australian Division of 20,000 left
Australia on the 1st November, 1914. Twelve
795
796
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The First Australian-made Armored Motor Car
months later over 100,000 troops had been
organized, equipped and despatched for active
service abroad. This number had increased to
220,000 on the 31st July, 19 16, on which date
there were, in addition, 45,000 men in training in
camps in Australia. In addition, many miscel-
laneous units requiring special training had been
raised and despatched from Australia.
The Imperial Army organization has been
rigidly adhered to, and the system of training
modelled on that of the Imperial Army. During
the period of training, special arrangements were
made to ensure thorough training in musketry,
bayonet fighting, scouting, entrenching by day and
by night, the use of bombs, grenades, etc.
To ensure that the training and examination of
officers of the A.I.F. are conducted on uniform
lines, all candidates, after selection on the results
of preparatory competition examinations in their
respective military districts, are sent to a final
officers' training and qualifying school at Dun-
troon, where the staff of the Royal Military Col-
lege is available to supervise the school.
Already 1,382 candidates have attended the
school, and the consequent effect is the stan-
dardizing of the training of the troops, which is
a very material factor in the efficiency of the
Army.
The Minister of Defence, in his Budget speech
late in 19 16, was able to announce: —
"Except in the case of one or two items which
the Imperial Government has undertaken to
supply, the whole of the troops forming the
Expeditionary Forces of the Commonwealth
have been fully clothed, and fitted out with the
very latest fighting equipment. No unit up to
the present time has embarked for Australia
deficient in any single article of clothing or
equipment which would in any way impair its
fighting efficiency.
"The fitting out for service abroad of units
which hitherto had not formed part of the Aus-
tralian war organization called for considerable
initiative and resource, as much experimental
work became necessary in providing new stores —
regarding which only meagre details were avail- 1
able locally. All difficulties in this respect, have,
however, been successfully surmounted, and it
has been made manifest that the resources of the
Commowivcalth in labor and machinery sufficed
to produce almost every item of necessary mili-
tary equipment.
"For transport and supply services in connec-
tion with troops embarked to date, 3,400 vehicles
and 16,000 sets of harness have been provided.
Practically all these vehicles have been made in
Australia, also about 11,000 sets of saddlery.
The Government Harness and Saddlery Factory
has turned out an enormous amount of leather
and canvas work, embracing 150 distinct articles,
and has proved a most valuable adjunct to the
resources of the Department in the execution of
the orders for supplies urgently required to
meet unforeseen demands.
"It is satisfactory to note that 25 per cent, of
the rifles supplied to the Australian Imperial
Force have been manufactured at the Common-
wealth Small Arms Factory. The weapons
AUSTRALIA'S ARMY AND NAVY.
797
supplied from this source have been well re-
ported on.
"The supply of Small Arm Ammunition (also
made in Australia) has always been found to be
one of the greatest difficulties in time of war.
The resources of the Commonwealth have been
severely taxed in this connection, but all re-
quirements have been fully met.
"The troops in military occupation of the late
German possessions in the South Pacific, in addi-
tion to some thousands of native police and
others employed by the Administrator, have had
arrangement of those services was made. Such re-
arrangement has worked well and smoothly, and
the public can be confidently assured that all
invalids will receive the very best possible treat-
ment. As the Government of India were short
of nurses, a large number have been sent from
Australia to assist them in nursing their in-
valids."
Up to date of the Minister's pronouncement, no
less than 216 decorations for service in the field
have been gained by members of the A.I.F., in-
cluding fourteen Victoria Crosses.
i
I
to be provided with ammunition, equipment, and
pecial clothing to comply with climatic condi-
tions and local custom.
"Provision has also been made for the main-
enance of the Citizen Army to enable the train-
ng prescribed under the Defence Act to be
carried out and to facilitate efficient mobilization
if necessary.
"Every endeavor has been made to keep the
Medical Services up to the highest possible stan-
dard. Complaints were received in the early
part of the year regarding the conduct of the
Australian Hospitals in Egypt. As a result, the
Director-General of Medical Services visited all
medical units overseas, and a complete re-
Senator Pearce was also able to announce
that : —
"The Central Flying School, at Laverton, has
been established for the training of officers of
the military forces, as military pilots, and for
the training of non-commissioned officers as
mechanics. Permanent personnel consisting of
three officers and 50 other ranks is provided.
"The aerodrome is 700 acres in extent, with a
water frontage on which hydroplane hangars are
being constructed.
"The buildings at the Flying School include
aeroplane hangars, repair shops, offices, officers'
quarters, and non-commissioned officers' quar-
ters.
798
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
"The repair shop is fully equipped, and in it
complete aeroplanes are constructed. The
aeroplane engines are constructed in Melbourne.
"The flying equipment at present comprises
eight aeroplanes and one hydroplane.
"A half-flight of the Australian Flying Corps
was organised, trained, and despatched to
Mesopotamia in April, 1915. A squadron of
the Australian Flying Corps, consisting of 28
officers and 200 other ranks has been despatched
for active service, and a further squadron will
be despatched in a few months.
"Schools for officers to qualify as pilots are
held regularly."
In
rd to the
4
he^J
regard to the Royal Military College, the
following facts are officially supplied :-
"The College was officially opened on the
27th June, 191 1. Its object is to provide a
supply of thoroughly well trained officers capable
of undertaking the duties of administration an(
instruction of the Citizen Forces. The Colle
has been established somewhat on the lines
West Point in the United States, and the C
lege course is free, entrance to same being
competitive examination, which is open to all
who fulfil certain prescribed conditions.
"No charges of any description are made to
parents of successful candidates for admission
Interior of Metal-Rolling Mills Female Operatives at Work
Small Arms Ammunition Making in Australia
AUSTRALIA'S ARMY AND NAVY.
799
jp>
'■■*'**^ ' ««M«*.
;^' .^
TTnnf
[{ I IP
Australian Light Horse Field Artillery.
"Of the graduates from Dimtroon, seven have
been mentioned in despatches, three granted Mili-
tary Crosses, and one the Croix de Guerre."
In 1909 — -"for the more effective coastal de-
fence of the Commonwealth" — in agreement with
' the British Government — Australia decided to
establish a naval unit of her own.
The battle cruiser Australia arrived in home
waters in September, 1913. Eleven months
plater she was hurriedly coaled in Sydney harbor
I^Hnd sent forth on her historic mission to German
'^rJew Guinea, which was captured by the Austra-
I^lian troops.
^K Subsequently the Australia played the overture
to that tragical and heroic act in the drama of
naval war when the Falkland Islanders heard the
thunder of Admiral Sturdee's guns announcing the
doom of Von Spec's squadron.
The destruction of the German raider Emden
by the Sydney gave early laurels to the young Aus-
tralian navy, and further justified a policy which
had brought about the entente between Australia
and England regarding naval defence.
The establishment of a Naval College at Jervis
Bay, the port for the Federal Capital, was a part
of the new scheme of defence. Other colleges
and naval bases are being developed. The course
of naval training pursued here is similar to that
of English Naval Colleges, but the pay of the
men — who enter for a period of five or seven
years, with liberty to re-engage for a longer
period — is double that offered by the British
Navy.
At Jervis Bay in 19 16 the College held its full
complement of trainees.
Some of the Crew of H.M.A.S. "Australia"
8oo
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The following is an official sketch of the fleet's
work to the winter of 1916: —
"Although the work of Australian warships
during this second year of the war has been less
spectacular than before, its importance and value
to the Empire have in no way diminished. In
naval war, just as in land wars of the older type,
fighting occupies a comparatively small part of
the war's duration. During the wars with
France from 1793 to 1815, for instance, the num-
ber of engagements — even counting engagements
between single ships — averaged about one per
year. The real work of the navy, persistent, ardu-
ous, usually monotonous, is blockading, patrolling,
occasionally convoying; preventive rather than
destructive, and in this sort of work Australian
ships and crews have for the last year taken their
full share. In most cases the work has been
done in tropical climates; it has produced few pal-
pable results in prizes or ships destroyed; it has
necessitated long periods of continuous steaming
at sea, apparently objectless sentry-go, which try
both ship and crew more severely than does the
excitement of actual fighting. But a fence is
all the more satisfactory when nobody tries to
climb it, and the patrol devoid of incidents is
probably all the more effective.
"H.M.A.S. Australia, which reached England
on 28th January, 1915, and was at once attached
to the Grand Fleet in the North Sea, has since
then been engaged in assiduous patrolling as flag-
ship of Vice-Admiral Pakenham, in command of
the second battle-cruiser squadron. She was by
ill-luck unable to take part in the Jutland battle.
"The two light cruisers, H.M.A.S. Sydney and
H.M.A.S. Melbourne have been engaged on more
varied service. They were attached, on arriving
in European waters, to a squadron under the
command of Vice-Admiral Patey, and have since
been employed in patrols and investigations, which
have taken them as far south as Monte Video, and
as far north as Halifax, in Nova Scotia. This
has meant not only an unusual amount of sea time
but life in climates varying, often sharply, from
the cold of a Canadian winter to the perpetual
moist heat of the Gulf of Mexico — by the end of
last year, for instance, the Sydney had steamed
well over 100,000 miles during her commission,
nearly three-quarters since the outbreak of war.
More than half of the Sydney's sea time has been
spent in the tropics. When the course of events
admitted of it, the two ships paid visits to several
British possessions in the Atlantic and the Gulf.
"While the two newest cruisers were on this
duty in the Atlantic, H.M.A.S. Pioneer was en-
gaged in somewhat similar work in the Indian
Ocean. She was attached to the squadron that
blockaded German East Africa, and took an
active part in many of its more exciting opera-
tions. From the time of her arrival off the
African coast she was employed, in company with
other ships, in watching the mouth of the Rufigi
River, up which the cruiser Konigsberg had taken
refuge, and when, in July, 191 5, the monitors
sent out from England entered the shallow river,
and succeeded in blowing up the enemy ship, the
Pioneer was employed in shelling German land
defences at the river mouth. Later on she visited
Capetown, and has since been used on regular
patrol work, also taking part in several visits to,
and attacks on, coast towns in the German
colony.
"The remaining ships of the squadron —
H.M.A.S.'s Encounter, PVarrego, Parramatta,
Yarra, and Una, along with the Psyche and Fan-
tome, temporarily attached by the Admiralty to
the Australian Navy, and manned by Australian
crews, have been effectively and continuously
employed nearer home in guarding the routes bv
which Australian trade and Australian convoys
traverse the neighboring oceans. In the course
of this work they have covered huge mileages,
mainly in tropical waters, under conditions of
much discomfort. They have entered many
harbors previously little known and rarely visited,
and thus have added to the world's permanent
stock of maritime knowledge.
"Besides the warships of the squadron the
Navy Office has under its charge many other ships,
a fleet of transports, and another of cargo vessels,
as well as colliers, oil ships and supply ships for
the use of the fighting fleet. Of these naturally
little can be said except that they have throughout
the year performed their allotted duties steadily
and well. Besides carrying to the various seats
of war the several Australian contingents — men,
horses, and gear — the transports have carried to
Europe Australian products — wool, wheat, mea)|
etc. — to the amount of 180,000 tons. Another
85,000 tons have been carried in the cargo vessels.
The Commonwealth indeed has become the big-
gest shipping firm in Australia. It employs a
total tonnage of about 680,000, and uses for its
ships other than warships during the year more
than 420,000 tons of Australian coal. The ships
recently purchased by Mr. Hughes will add to the
work done in this direction.
"The whole of this mass of traffic has moved
securely through the oceans under the protection
of the Imperial Navy, whose squadrons imprison
the German High Seas Fleet, deny to German
trade the Atlantic trade routes, blockade German
coasts in the Indian Ocean and keep the western
Pacific free from German raiders and gun run-
ners. In each of these tasks some Australian
warship is taking its part as usefully and credit-
ably as, if less conspicuously than, Australian
troops are taking theirs in the war on land."
8oi
s
802
STATE EDUCATION IN NEW SOUTH WALES.
ins
I
AT the end of the year 1913, Mr. Carmichael,
Minister for Public Instruction in New
South Wales, enlightened the public with
some highly interesting facts.
"The outward and visible signs of educational
progress," said Mr. Carmichael on this occasion,
"may be seen in the new Education Offices, which
are fast approaching completion, in the founda-
tion of the Teachers' College now being laid
within the University grounds, in the Conserva-
torium of Music, which is being remodelled in the
Government House grounds, and in the hundreds
of new school buildings of the most modern type,
while others have been made more fitted for edu-
cational purposes by remodelling. Chief of the
new schools are the new High School at North
Sydney, and the new High School at Orange,
while there is scarcely a suburb, and certainly no
inspector's district, throughout the State where
;onsiderable sums have not been spent during the
ast year in making school buildings more fitted
conserve the sight, hearing, and general health
f school pupils.
Apart altogether from school buildings, the
striking feature of 19 13 is the remarkable growth
of public interest in education. There has been
an unprecedented increase in school enrolment,
and a record attendance, which reflects in a re-
markable degree the influx of population into this
State. No other State within the Commonwealth
can show anything approaching the increase in
school population that New South Wales is
able to show for 19 13."
In order that those interested in international
methods of education, as well as intending citizens
of the Mother State, should know definitely how
the educational activities of New South Wales are
organised, the State Director of Education, Mr.
P. Board, has kindly prepared a synopsis of the
system, which the author of Australia Unlimited
gratefully acknowledges.
Nowhere throughout Australia are the advan-
tages of education underestimated, and nowhere
are Australian children allowed to grow up in
ignorance. It is greatly to the credit of these
young States that successive Governments have
made extended provisions for raising the intel-
lectual standards of their communities.
K There is probably no part of the British Em-
ised world, where so determined, and for the most
part so successful, an effort has been made to
incorporate education with the life of the people
as in New South Wales. It is necessary to re-
member that the State has an area of 310,000
square miles, and a population of 1,856,000 —
that is about six people to every square mile.
When it is considered that 763,000, or about
three-eighths of the total population, are concen-
trated in the metropolitan area, approximately
12 square miles ( 1916), the difficulty of the prob-
lem of furnishing educational means to a scattered
population may be realised. The two largest
Primary Schools in Sydney have an enrolment of
1835 and 1786 respectively, while there are over
a thousand schools scattered throughout the most
remote parts of the country, where the attend-
ance is less than 20.
New South Wales has shown a commendable
activity in the provision of educational facilities
for outback families. It is to these that the State
Education Department holds out a helping hand.
Wherever an average attendance of 20 pupils
can be guaranteed the State erects a school build-
ing, equips it with furniture and apparatus, and
supplies and wholly pays a trained teacher. If
the attendance does not reach 20, but is more
than 10, a school is established provisionally,
under the same conditions, and is known as a
"Provisional" school, alike in all respects to the
Public school, into which it will be merged when
the attendance increases to 20.
While the Education Department is thus pre-
pared to establish a school where it is warranted,
it is the policy of the Department wherever prac-
ticable to establish a "central" school, and convey
the pupils to the school by vehicles, or — on the
coastal rivers — by motor launch. F^or instance,
instead of establishing a number of provisional
schools four or five miles apart, one large school
well staffed and thoroughly equipped is estab-
lished. The children for miles round meet at
specified places along the road, and are picked
up by subsidised coaches, which are timed to
arrive at school at 9 a.m. In the afternoon the
pupils are conveyed to or within easy walking
distance of their homes.
Occasionally two groups of children, perhaps
five to ten miles apart, may be found — not suffi-
803
8o4
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
dent to warrant a school being established in
each, but conjointly more than sufficient. In
such cases a "half-time" school is established,
the teacher dividing his time between the two
schools. So keenly alive are these bush children
to the advantages of education that many of them
attend both schools. Then there are cases when
the families are even too scattered to be
gathered into two such groups. If the residents
of a locality are prepared to provide a suitable
Quite recently it was discovered that there were
children out in the West who were not able to
taice advantage of any of these opportunities. The
Education Department thereupon equipped a van
or caravan with school material and furniture-
placed a specially-selected teacher in charge, and
started him out on a kind of gipsy, or rather mis-
sionary, circuit. The teacher would drive his van
up some mountain gully till he reached the iso-
lated home of a selector. Here he would pitch
A Kindergarten Class
room, an itinerant teacher is appointed, the State
again supplying the necessary text-books and
materials. This itinerant teacher moves from
house to house, from which the name "house-to-
house" schools is derived. If a resident in a
thinly populated locality, with a family of not less
than four children, or for the matter of that, tw )
families of two or more children each, care to
engage a tutor or governess, the State subsidises
the salary of such teacher to the extent of £5 per
pupil in average monthly attendance up to a maxi-
mum of £50 a year, or in the Western
districts £6 per pupil, with a maximum of
£60. Even single children are looked after,
for if the child has to be sent away from
home because the parents are out of reach of
any of the foregoing facilities for obtaining edu-
cation, a "boarding allowance" is paid up to a
maximum of £5 per year.
his camp, and for a week or so would gather tnPJ
little bush children round him. Before leaving
he would furnish them with books and other
materials, and map out a course of instruction, ,
promising to come back in four or five weeks j
and stay another week. Then the horse would |
be hitched to the van, and, no doubt to the ,
regret of both children and parents, would move |
on to the nearest selector some miles away. j
Again, there is a great deal of railway con
struction in progress in New South Wales, ant 1
the navvies make camps near their work t
moving onwards as the railroad is made. Tc j
give the children of the railway builders educa 1
tional opportunity, the Department of Pubb
Instruction provides a portable school, whi:l
moves on with the railway camp.
In the settled districts there are modern school
equipped with all the newest educational ap
Sydney Technical College and Museum
Conservatorium of Music, Sydney
805
8o6
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
pliances and staffed with trained teachers, that
will compare favourably with schools in any part
of the Empire. It is obvious therefore that
whether a family resides in the heart of Sydney,
the eighth largest city in the world, or way out
in what is sometimes humorously described as
the "back o' sunset," every child is the object of
the State's educational care. In fact, every child
between the ages of six and fourteen years resid-
ing within two miles of a public school is com-
pelled by law to attend for a specified number of
days in each year.
At the close of 19 15 there were 2640 State
primary schools in operation, attended by
227,546 pupils, and taught by 6,511 teachers.
The total cost of education for the year was over
a million and a half. There is no local educa-
tional rate, the whole cost being borne by the
Government out of ordinary revenue. Every-
thing is absolutely free. Not only are no fees
charged, but the pupils are supplied with most of
the necessary school material, such as readers,
writing tablets, etc., without charge.
Secondary Education. — The State provides
the means of Primary Education for the child of
every man in the State, and if the pupil has suffi-
cient ability to take proper advantage of it every
child may proceed to a course of Secondary Edu-
cation leading right to the University. The open
door of opportunity stands wide. The only pass-
port required is ability. High Schools have been
established in Sydney, and in several country
centres no fees are charged. By means of a
system of certificated examinations all pupils,
whether resident in the city or in the country, are
enabled to take advantage of these High Schools.
An examination is held at the close of each year,
based upon the work done in the Primary schools.
As a result of this examination a number of bur-
saries are awarded, giving assistance while attend-
ing a State High School. It Is recognised that
the pupil attending a large school In the city, with
all the additional educational facilities, has a
decided advantage over the pupil attending a little
school in the country. In order to equalise the
conditions, a number of the State bursaries are
allotted for competition among country pupils
only. A further distinction is even made in
favour of pupils taught in one-teacher schools.
The winner of a bursary receives a grant of 30/-
in order to purchase books, and a money grant
of from £30 to £40 a year, if, in order to attend
the High School, the child has to board away
from home. If, however, the pupil can remain
at home he is given a free railway ticket to the
nearest High School, and a grant of £10 for the
first year's course, £10 for the second, £15 for
the third, and £20 for the fourth year. During
1915, 300 of these bursaries were awarded.
It will be seen that every boy and girl through-
out the State has the opportunity to obtain a
thorough course of Secondary education leading
right to the doors of the University. At the end
of the fourth year's High school course the pupil
may secure a leaving certificate, which under
specified conditions as to the subjects studied gives
admission to the University. The brilliant pupil
of limited means is still the object of the State's
fostering care, for under the University Amend-
ment Act of 19 1 2, two hundred University exhi-
bitions are awarded, which exempt the student
from payment of all fees. He may thus become
a doctor, a dentist, a barrister, or an engineer. ^H
It is obvious therefore that social or financnfl
status is no bar to the advancement of the clever
child of the poorest man in New South Wales.
Primary education Is brought to his door. In spite
of the wide distances of Australia, and if he has
the ability, he Is carried on by means of bursaries
to any of the professions — Medicine, Law, En-
gineering, Science or Education.
Continuation Schools. — It is not given to
every parent, however, to allow his child to re-
main at school to the age required for a Univer-
sity course, even with the assistance of State bur-
saries. For these the Day Continuation schools —
or, as they are called in New South Wales, the
"Superior" schools — still free — are open.
There are three types of Superior schools —
Commercial, Junior Technical, and Domestic;
the course In each case lasting two years.
These schools are intended to prepare
boys in some measure for the career
upon which they are likely to enter. If
a boy Is to enter upon a business career he may ■
attend a Commercial Superior school, where he Is
fitted for a subsequent training in office work by
being taught such subjects as commercial arith-
metic, bookkeeping, shorthand, office routine, and
business principles. If, on the other hand, he Is
likely to take up a trade, or to engage In any other
occupation that requires technical knowledge,
with hand dexterity, he goes to a Junior Tech-
nical Superior school, where he Is taught drawing,
benchwork In wood and iron, elementary science,
and trade arithmetic. At the end of the two
years' Superior Public school course the boy from
the Junior Technical school may enter a Trades
school, which, in conjunction with his workshop
experience, will turn him out a competent trades-
man.
Girls after leaving the Primary school ma)
enter a Domestic Superior school, where th*
course of instruction has been drawn up with the
aim of fitting them to manage a home. In add!
tlon to continuing the girls' general education
the course includes cookery, laundry, dress
making, millinery, gardening, art and hom'
STATE EDUCATION IN NEW SOUTH WALES.
807
Jixnior Technical Class in a Public School
"4:
i
i
ecoration, music and social exercises; while the
cond year course gives a practical training in
usiness principles, tor girls destined to enter
,pon commercial careers.
If, however, the pupil cannot remain at school,
ut has to enter upon some wage-earning occupa-
ion at the age of 14, provision is made for him
continue his education after working hours.
vening Continuation schools — Commercial,
Junior Technical, and Domestic — have been
established, in which the course is much the same
as that of the Superior Public school, though
necessarily not of so extended a character. These
schools are held three evenings a week, and, like
all other State schools, are free to everybody. At
least, a fee of sixpence per week is charged; but
if the pupil attends regularly, the whole amount
of the fees paid is refunded at the close of the
year, almost affording a means of compulsory
saving! The object is to offer a premium for
regular attendance.
It will be seen, therefore, that the State has
made provision for almost every possible set of
conditions. To the parent who can afford to
How his child to continue at school until he is
8, the University is open, or the boy is education-
Jly fitted to enter upon some professional career.
or those boys and girls who are only able to
remain at school until they are 16 before becom-
ing apprenticed or entering into business, the
Superior schools make provision; while for the
boys and girls who have to leave school when they
are 14, the Evening Continuation schools will
afford facilities for extending their education.
Then the Trades School and the Technical Col-
lege provide opportunity for boys to become not
only efScient tradesmen, but captains of industry.
The wide activities of the Department of Pub-
lic Instruction in regard to the various forms of
education afford numerous opportunities for
entering the teachers' profession. Boys and girls
who intend to become trained teachers have their
path made very easy. By passing a competitive
examination for "probationary students" at the
age of 15 they are given two years free educa-
tion in a High school, and during the second year
are given an allowance of £12 if the student re-
sides at home, or £30 if the student has to board
away from home. They pass then by competitive
examination to the Teachers' College, where they
undergo a training of from one to three years.
The majority remain at the Teachers' Training
College for two years. During their course of
training at the Teachers' College students are
given an allowance of £30 if they remain at home,
and £50 if they board away from home. At the
completion of their period of training they are
appointed as assistant teachers at a commencing
salary of £110 per annum, increasing according
to classification within four years to £186.
Physical Education. — The State makes
provision for the mental development of the boys
and girls of New South Wales, and the greatest
care is taken to ensure a corresponding physical
development. A part of every day is devoted
to physical exercises, and one afternoon a
week is set apart for organised games. Practi-
8o8
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
cally every school has its cricket, football, and
tennis club, while swimming is part of the school
curriculum wherever there are bathing facilities.
Life-saving and First Aid are taught in many
schools, while debating clubs, camera clubs, and
kindred school associations are established at all
the more important schools. Every school has its
own library, and boys are encouraged in a taste
for healthy, wholesome literature. In Sydney,
Newcastle, and some of the other large centres,
an annual display of physical drill is one of the
most popular entertainments of the year. In
Sydney a voluntary association of teachers under
the name of the Public Schools' Amateur Athletic
Association has for the past 25 years organised
school competitions in various sports, and has
while they do not attempt to prescribe for any
ailment, the defects noticed, particularly in con-
nection with eye, ear, nose, throat, and teeth, are
pointed out, and the parent advised to secure im-
mediate medical assistance. Where it is found
that the indifference of parents has resulted in no
action being taken, a school nurse visits the home
and personally impresses upon the parent the
necessity for immediate action. During the past
two years arrangements have been made for
Travelling Hospitals and Dental Clinics for the
purpose of treating children whose ailments had
not received attention under the arrangements
already described. The Travelling Hospital
visits country towns and remains in each suffi-
ciently long to treat the ailments of children re^
Hawkesbury Agricultural College
furnished an annual spectacular display of phy-
sical drill. The schools have been associated in
this way with some of the most notable recent
events in Australian history. For instance, at
the inauguration of the Commonwealth, at the
time of the visit of the American Fleet, and on
Empire Day and Coronation Day, spectacular
displays were made which embodied in some
form the event that was being commemorated.
These displays are attended by enormous crowds.
Medical Inspection. — The child's physical
welfare is safeguarded by regular exercises, and
a system of medical inspection has recently been
instituted, revealing to many parents unsuspected
ailments in their children, which undetected would
have involved a life-time of misery. The school
doctors visit the various schools periodically, and
vealed by the medical inspection which had not
received attention by other means.
"Go ON THE Land." — Recognising that agri-
culture must always be an important factor in the
national life of any new country, the Education
Department at all times endeavours to induce
boys to go upon the land. At almost every
country school there is an experimental plot which
is used both for horticulture and agriculture
Many of the schools have miniature farms in the
playground, and Nature Study forms an impor-
tant part of the ordinary Primary School curricu-
lum. For some years the Public schools for-
warded an exhibit to the Royal Agricultural Show
held annually in Sydney, which was intended tJ
show that the operations of the school garden
were not meant so much to produce prize flowers
STATE EDUCATION IN NEW SOUTH WALES.
809
and vegetables as to show the educational pro-
cesses underlying the treatment of the subject.
Another important phase of the Department's
work in connection with agriculture is the institu-
tion of Rural Camp schools for city boys. These
Rural Camp schools are held in centres of agricul-
tural settlement, and the co-operation of the
farmers is readily given. Usually the Rural
Camp school consists of 12 boys and a teacher
from each of twelve schools. The Education
Department provides tents, food, camp outfit, and
so on, each pupil contributing a sum varying,
according to the distance travelled by rail, from
-j ■'• to 10/-. This amount covers railway fares
and all expenses while in camp. The camp lasts
a week, during which time the boys are initiated
into the actual working of the farm. They take
part in the \arious operations — milking, plough
ing, haymaking — according to the season of the
year, and the result has been a quickening of
agricultural interest in the minds of boys who
without these school camps might never have seen
a farm.
There is an Agricultural High School at Hurl-
stone, near Sydney, at which boys of 14 and up-
wards undergo a two years' course of study pre-
paratory to entering the Hawkesbury Agricul-
tural College, or one or other of many experi-
mental farms scattered throughout the country.
It will be seen from the foregoing statement
that the principle of "equal opportunity" under-
lies the whole of the State educational system.
In addition to all this, the State has extended
its Agricultural College education to provide
cheap agricultural training for a large number of
boys, British and Australian.
These Farm Apprentice schools are carried
out in connection with the State Experiment
Farms. At these schools boys are trained as farm
labourers, and are giv^en sufficient instruction to
enable them to go on the land when age and
opportunity permit.
■a
8io
A State Infant School, Auburn, Melbourne
STATE EDUCATION IN VICTORIA.
AMONG the nations, Australia presents the
unique spectacle of a continent, 2,400
1^^ miles long and 2,000 in breadth, where the
^■eople speak the same language without a single
provincial dialect, and where the percentage of
illiterates is comparatively much lower than over
any corresponding area of the earth's surface.
If we have not yet attained the ideal of an
educated democracy, we can still reflect with
pardonable pride that the foundations have been
well and truly laid. In the matter of elementary
instruction at least we can confidently challenge
I comparisons.
Taking New South Wales and Victoria as
examples, it can be seen that education throughout
Australia is regarded as a most important national
institution.
A sketch of the rise and progress of education
in Victoria, the first Australian State to institute
a system of free, secular, and compulsory public
[^instruction, must, to be intelligible, take into ac-
^■ount the earlier developments of education in the
parent State of New South Wales. At a time
.-__when that State included what are now Victoria
ll^^nd Queensland, the education system was begun
under the auspices of the various churches by
.—jneans of grants from the State. Then came
l^phe appointment of a Board of National Educa-
tion (1848), and the establishment of certain
national schools in common with the existing
k
denominational ones. In 1850, the year before
the colony of Victoria was formed. New South
Wales had 43 national and 184 denominational
schools in operation. It was not till 1867 that
the parent State entrusted the control of public
education to a Council empowered to expend all
moneys appropriated by Parliament for primary
education. The Council was permitted to grant
aid to denominational schools, but this principle
was not favored by a majority of the people,
who felt that the work of public instruction ought
to become a department of the Government, and
be placed in the hands of a Minister directly re-
sponsible to Parliament. Accordingly the Act
of 1880 made the New South Wales system
wholly undenominational, and wholly free except
for a fee of threepence a week (repealed in
1906).
In Victoria, the dual system, national and
denominational, was in force from the time of
separation ( 1 85 i ) , until 1862, when the Common
Schools Act dissolved the two Boards, and set up
a Board of Education consisting of five laymen.
School fees were charged, varying from sixpence
to half-a-crown weekly. But the Board system
was unsatisfactory, and the memorable Education
Act of 1872 established a Department of Educa-
tion and instituted the principle of free, secular,
and compulsory education, which has been main-
tained in its integrity to the present day. The
8n
8l2
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
landmarks of educational progress since that time
have been the abolition of the plan of payments
to teachers by "results;" the provision of a per-
manent head of department with the title of
Director; the periodical tightening of the regu-
lations enforcing attendance at school; the pass-
ing of statutes establishing on the one hand kinder-
garten schools, and on the other high schools and
technical schools (including schools of domestic
arts for girls, high schools, agricultural high
schools, and higher elementary schools for both
When pupils are nearing the completion of
their elementary-school course, which, in normal
circumstances, ends when they attain the age of
fourteen, the attention of their parents is directed
to various types of intermediate schools which
have been provided for the purpose of giving
some suitable educational approach to their future
vocations. Elementary pupils may obtain at the
age of tweh'C a Qualifying Certificate which will
enable them to enter either a junior technical
school or a high school. Thus the system of
Victorian State School Gardens
sexes, and junior technical and technical schools
for boys) ; the more efficient training of teachers
(aided greatly by the bringing about of closer
relations with the Melbourne University by means
of free studentships admitting to the course for
the Diploma of Education, and of other con-
cessions with regard to the courses in arts and
science) ; the enforcement of the registration of
private schools, with its corollary of periodical
inspection by State officers; the provisions for
physical culture and military training in elemen-
tary schools and high schools (brought into
actual practice by a wise co-operation between the
Education Department of the State and the De-
fence Department of the Commonwealth), the
establishment of an advisory Council of Educa-
tion, the members of which represent the Uni-
versity, the great public schools, and the State
technical, high, and elementary schools; and last
but not least, the institution of a system of physi-
cal examinations of pupils by a staff of school
medical officers.
The report of the Victorian Minister of Public
Instruction for the year ended 30th June, 19 16,
showed that there were over 2,000 elementary
State schools, as well as special schools for afflicted
and delicate children.
intermediate education overlaps slightly the
course of the elementary school. Those pupils
who remain in the elementary schools take a sup-
plementary course till they qualify for the Merit
Certificate, obtained in their fourteenth year.
Junior technical schools are worked in conjunc-
tion with the senior technical schools. The
course of instruction is, for the first two years, of
a general character, fitting pupils for further tech-
nical work. Third-year students begin to spe-
cialize in the particular trade or class of work
which they intend to take up. They then merge
into the classes of the senior technical school.
In the high schools, a four years' course and
a six years' course are provided. The first twc
years of the high school course is of a genera
character. At the conclusion of this, pupils ari
allowed to specialize in accordance with theii
future careers. Thus one section may take ;
course preparatory to University study, anothei
to commercial work, another to agricultura
work, and girls may take a special training ii
domestic arts, which includes dressmaking, mil
linery, needlework, cookery, laundry, house
wifery, etc. No fees are charged in junio
technical schools and high schools for pupil
under fourteen years of age. Very small fee
Physical Training for Boys Domestic Economy for Girls
State Education in Victoria.
813
8i4
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
are charged for other pupils, and there is pro-
vision for a remission of these fees and for mak-
ing grants of books and apparatus under special
circumstances. The State also provides a liberal
system of scholarships for intermediate and
higher education.
In connection with the elementary school
system, there are established centres for special
training, for example, woodwork centres, cookery
centres, and schools of domestic arts. In wood-
work and cookery centres, pupils from elementary
schools attend for certain hours in the week, and
return to their elementary school for instruction
in other subjects. In the schools of domestic
arts, specialized instruction is given to girls in the
last two years of their elementary-school course.
In addition to the subjects English, geography and
history, and arithmetic, the girls receive theoreti-
cal and practical training in household manage-
ment, cookery, laundrywork, needlework, and
personal and domestic hygiene.
The formation of the Schools Horticultural
Society, with practical work in planning and
planting, and the culture of flowers in the gardens
attached to many of the State Schools in town and
country, is also a pleasing portion of the special
training devised for the children in their leisure
hours.
Training College for State School Teachers, Melbourne
THE STATE SAMARITAN.
A'
USTRALIA, the Benjamin of Nations, has
been able to avail herself of all national
experience. She may take the good and
leave the bad. She is free to follow precedents
or establish them.
In the boasting and rivalry of nations claiming
the highest civilisation there has been much smoke
of black materialism and very little true spiritual
fire. After all, a nation's claim to greatness lies
not so much in its armaments, or its trade, as in
the sum of its contribution to the moral and in-
tellectual advancement of the human race. For
philosophy, Greece was weak in numbers, but her
foundations are built below the tide of war; and
for morality, the symbol of a wooden cross
has overcome obstacles that might have resisted
ten thousand swords of steel.
Australia has adopted a system of citizen sol-
^^^ry, not for war, but that she may be enabled
^^■enjoy the blessings of Peace.
In similar manner she has installed a system
of State benevolences, not because she desires to
encourage mendicancy, but in order to prevent
it.
Recognise the rights of misfortune and you
do away with charity. Where there is no merit
in giving and no shame in receiving; where bene-
volence is not left to the judgment or caprice of
individuals; where the State is the protector of
the weak and helpless, every taxpayer naturally
becomes a philanthropist.
Sentiments such as these are part of our poli-
tical consciousness. State-applied humanitarian-
ism is really the spiritual inspiration behind most
of our later legislation.
Unlike our elder brother in Democracy we do
not accord the Almighty Dollar perpetual rever-
ence. We relieve our work with considerable
play. Although we applaud merited success, we
are not without sympathy for honest failure. This
IS our national philosophy. So convinced have
we become of its righteousness that we are con-
standy extending its application.
In another section of this book, reference is
made to Federal Old Age Pensions and Mater-
nity Bonuses.
Apart from the benefits which each citizen of
the Commonwealth is entided to under these
Acts, the different States devote large sums of
revenue to the care of the sick and aged, the
young and helpless.
Most of the State capitals have several large
and well-equipped Hospitals, and there is at least
one in every important town or centre of urban
population, the latter being often a Hospital and
Benevolent Asylum combined. Special Hospitals
for women, children, incurables and those suffer-
ing from consumption and from infectious diseases,
also lying-in homes, dental hospitals, deaf-and-
dumb and blind asylums, inebriates' sanatoria,
lunatic asylums, and quarantine stations, are to be
found in every State.
The number of General Hospitals (not includ-
ing special institutions) in the Commonwealth in
1915 was 398, involving an expenditure of
£1,280,461, the number of indoor patients alone
attended during the year being estimated at not
less than 179,829.
Of Benevolent Asylums in the Commonwealth
there are (1915) about 25, either endowed by
their respective State Governments, partly or
wholly, or supported by voluntary contributions.
In addition to the Benevolent Asylums, there are
a number of benevolent and charitable societies
which minister to the infirm and destitute in the
several States. Of Orphanages there are 45,
with several Industrial Schools and Reformatories;
throughout the Commonwealth.
The few remaining aboriginal natives of Aus-
tralia are protected by the various States (except
Tasmania, where the aboriginal is extinct), and
in the more closely-settled States, such as New
South Wales and Victoria, they are cared for in
Mission Stations, where they are housed and
encouraged to work and their children receive
elementary education. About £80,000 is spent
by the States yearly on this account.
Some idea of the liberality with which the State
Governments and the community generally
respond to the call of charity may be gathered
from the fact that, in a population of rather less
than five million white people, the amounts fur-
nished by Government and those raised by public
subscription, etc., but excluding the old-age pen-
sions and maternity bonuses, which are not given
in the name of charity, considerably exceeds
£3,000,000 annually.
815
8i6
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Besides which there are Public Health De-
partments, Dental Boards, and State institutions
for the purposes of vaccination, for the regulation
of the sale of drugs and stimulants, for the pre-
vention and spread of contagious diseases, and
for the safeguarding of the public health against
impure food and adulteration.
Under the portfolio of the Minister for Labor
and Industry, each State administers its Labor
Bureau, the Factories and Shops Acts, Minimum
Wage Act, Early Closing Acts, Truck Acts,
Apprentices Act, Workmen's Compensation Act.
Saturday Half-Holiday Act, and the Industrial
Arbitration Act, which may all be regarded as
measures of remedial legislation. In the same
category should be included the Shearers Accom-
modation Act and the Miners Accident Relief
Act.
Each State has also institutions for the protec-
tion of girls and the correction of juvenile
offenders.
The care of children who are dependent on the
State through accident or misfortune is not left
to chance charity. It has been made a scientifi;
cally-organised State function. W^
Recognising that the herding of large numbers
of children in foundling hospitals leads to all sorts
of evils, Australia has adopted the boarding-out
method. ^Hl
In 1895, under the barrack system, the toraP'
mortality stood at 105.9 P^r thousand. In 191 1
this had been reduced to 69.49 per thousand — a
proof that the improved methods of dealing with
foundlings had led to a great saving of human >
life. j
In New South Wales alone, of the 1 1,492 chil- ,
dren under supervision for the year 19 15, 6,612 I
were with their mothers. This humane system of
affording relief to mothers on whom, through
death or desertion, the whole care of a family may
have been thrown, reflects credit on the community
which has adopted it.
The supervision of State children is carried out
by a staff of Departmental inspectors, to each of
whom is assigned a district. There are three lady
One of the Wards at Sydney Hospital
■a
S
817
8i8
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
inspectors also, who are specially charged with
supervision of the conditions of infant life, and
who visit and inspect infants placed out apar!
from their mothers in the city and suburban
areas.
while the wages are transmitted half-yearly to
the Board's offices, and banked to the apprentice's
credit.
One-third of the accumulatetl amount is paid
to the children when the term of indenture has
"Cicada," Burwood, Sydney. State Home for Children
The homes are chosen for the children with a
view to obtaining for them suitable supervision
and training. Every applicant for a State child
is required by law to present a form, which sets
out the environment of the home. Each form
must be endorsed by a magistrate and a clergy-
man, or other prominent resident. The home is
inspected by an officer of the Children's Relief
Board before children are sent, and subsequent
supervision is exercised over it.
Payment for maintenance ceases when children
are 13 years old. If physically fit they are then
apprenticed under the provisions of the State
Children's Relief Act.
When they have been indentured, children re-
ceive wages and pocket money according to a
scale prescribed by the Act. The pocket money
is paid weekly to the children by their employers,
expired, the balance remaining at interest unt
they attain the age of 21 years.
In rural New South Wales, taking the Mothe
State as a typical example, there are also thirtee
Cottage Homes, eight of which are devoted t
invalid and crippled chldren.
The Farm Home — which is composed of fi^
of these institutions grouped at Mittagong-
deals with truants and juvenile offenders cor
mitted from Children's Courts.
The Farm Home is largely self-supportfflr
The treatment, whereunder the younger lads a
entirely separated from their elders, has bei
found most resultful in reforming and improvii ,
wayward and neglected children.
The policy adopted is — the shortest possib
period of detention, compatible with good I
MITTflOO/^C SCHOLARS
Some New South Wales Government Institutions under the State Children's Belief Board
819
820
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
A Bedroom at "Cicada," Children's Home, Sydney
haviour, a strict insistance on school attendance,
discipline, cleanliness, and obedience.
The institution is practically a technical school,
where this class of youth is taught, in a healthful,
pleasant way, a number of useful things.
A Government medical officer is in regular at-
tendance, and a Government dentist visits the
Home regularly every week.
State-supervised institutions for the preserva-
tion of infant life include the Babies' Hospital at
Thirlmere, the Home for Sick Infants at Pad-
dington, and the Home for Mothers with Infants
at Croydon.
There are also probationary Farm Homes at
Dora Creek and Toronto, for the treatment of
boys who have been determined sexually de-
praved or mentally or physically unsound. The
results are pronounced to be favourable.
Street trading by children under i6 years of
age is controlled by the provisions of the Neg-
lected Children and Juvenile Offenders Act. The
minimum age at which a juvenile license for street
trading can issue is 12 years in some occupations,
and 14 years in others.
Girls are not allowed to engage In street occu-
pations, and the moral welfare and education of
the boys is strictly overlooked by the local autho-
rities.
The exploitation of child labour is not one of
the pillars on which our young democracy would
rear the edifice of its industrial development. We
can challenge the world in humane legislation. It
is our universal hope and aim that, when our
population has sprung from five to fifty millions.
the conditions under which they will labor and
dwell shall be better than they are to-day.
In Australia at the present moment neither
starvation, nor sweating, nor juvenile labor, nor
illiteracy nor Injustice, Is tolerated. And what
we have not done we are on the way to do.
In the State hospitals the very best medical
skill, honorary In many instances, is free to in-
mates. Kindness and humanity, accompanied by
organised service, are officially regarded as the
need of the afflicted. Each year sees some fur-
ther reform or Improvement in the national sys-
tem of aiding the weak and helpless. To protect
women and children, to care for the sick and aged
throughout Australia^thls has come to be a re-
cognised function of administration. No change
of Government will alter this outlook. In fact,
each succeeding Minister endeavours to add to
the good work of his predecessor. Step by step
we are building up a system of applied humani-
tarianlsm, which alone shall entitle us to march
with the vanguard of civilised nations.
We pride ourselves upon this, as greatly as
upon our riches and resources. Those who would
become citizens of the Commonwealth will do
well to remember that If misfortune or sickness
overtakes them, they will find that in this country
the rights of misfortune are recognised.
While the State, as Samaritan, bases its deeds
of succour and consolation upon the soundest
Christian principles, it avoids all semblance of
charity and extends Its strong arm for the support
of the helpless, on the grounds of citizenship and,
necessity.
THE LATE THOMAS WALKER, OF YARALLA
A PREMIER AUSTRALIAN PHILANTHROPIST
AS a philanthropist the good name and fair
fame of the late Thomas Walker live
thirty years after his death and will doubt-
less live in the grateful memory of future Austra-
lian generations. Blessed by worldly wealth,
this fine citizen sought to apply his money for
the benefit of humanity, not only in his
own time, but for all time to come. One
of Sydney's most successful commercial men
of the nineteenth century, he built up a very con-
siderable fortune, first as a general merchant,
later as a banking and financial magnate. He
was not a pastoralist in the strict sense of the
word, but large pastoral interests came into his
hands during the course of his career, and thus he
became a power in the pastoral world.
Records of worldly success, be they ever so
brilliant, are soon forgotten when those who have
achieved them pass into the Great Silence; but
^
the memory of noble deeds and high achieve-
ments in the cause of Humanity is fortunately slow
to fade. Great as the late Thomas Walker's
donations to charities were while he lived, they
were overshadowed by his legacy of the fine Con-
valescent Hospital so charmingly situated on the
Parramatta River, near Sydney, which worthily
perpetuates his name.
He was born at Springfield Place, Leith, Scot-
land, on May 3rd, 1804, being the elder son of
Mr. J. T. Walker and his wife, Ann Walker, of
Perth. He arrived in Sydney in 1822. He
immediately entered the employment of Messrs.
William Walker and Co.. who carried on a busi-
ness as general merchants at Battery Point, Syd-
ney, Mr. William Walker being his maternal
uncle.
Thomas Walker remained in the employ of his
uncle's firm for many years. He displayed such
821
822
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
"Yaralla," Sydney. The residence of Miss Eadith Walker
marked business ability that when the original
partners retired, the business was handed over
to Mr. Thomas Walker and a cousin, the London
house being Walker Brothers & Co. They car-
ried it on with high success. The enterprise, how-
ever, did not offer sufficient scope for a man
of Mr. Walker's commercial talents, and he also
devoted him.self to pastoral pursuits. He secured
large commercial and pastoral interests, one of
them being a half share (with Sir Terence Mur-
ray) in Yarralumla station, now included in the
Federal capital area. From the 'thirties until
1858, he was Identified at different periods with
other station properties.
With a wide diversity of interests, he had by
the time he reached middle age accumulated a
large fortune. His energy was intensified into
genius, and he became the "live wire" In verv
many of the large commercial institutions of
his day. He Mas a director of the late Austra
llan Steam Navigation Company and o her Syd
ney institutions. He had great pleasure in his
later years in occupying the position, year after
year, of President of the Bank of New South
Wales, an institution In which he had long been
Interested. He took a deep interest in this in-
stitution, which was founded in 18 17, because it
was the first bank established In Australia that
attained proportions worthy to be compared with
not a few of the great monetary institutions of
Great Britain and America.
When advancing years necessitated a slowing-
down of his energies, he gradually withdrew from
the directorates of the many financial institutions
with which he had been actively connected, but
he retained the position of President of the Bank j
of New South Wales to the day of his death.
Mr. Walker applied his wealth wisely, and
delighted in acts of beneficence, donating dur- \
Ing his lifetime m.any thousands of pounds to
the relief of the suffering and in aid of various
charitable enterprises. In April, 1882, jusi
before he left for a short trip to the ok
country, he placed a cheque for £10,000 Ir
the hands of his friends, Mr. Thomas Bucklanc
and Mr. Shepherd Smith, to be distributed b]
.hem among certain benevolent institutions.
The gentlemen nominated carried out the tasl
and the £10,000 was distributed among twent;
charitable institutions in sums varying from £10(1
to £800. '
A PREMIER AUSTRALIAN PHILANTHROPIST
523
Mr. Walker's main claim to the grateful re-
membrance of his country is to be found in the
convalescent hospital which bears his name. It
is built on the Parramatta River, adjoining his
old home, "Yaralla." This memorial to a high-
souled Australian citizen stands alone. It is sin-
gular, everlasting, a national gift of eternal value.
It had been the philanthropist's dream to carry out
the work himself; but, fearing that he would not
"With a view to enable them to do so, I hereby
direct my trustees to appropriate and set aside
out of my estate not less than £100,000, for I
assume that this sum may be sufficient for the
building and maintenance of the hospital I have
in view to establish My idea is that the
hospital and other buildings connected therewith
should be erected on that part of my land known
as Rocky Point on the Parramatta River."
The Entrance Hall, "Yaralla"
live to see it accomplished, he explained what
was in his mind fully in a codicil to his will, of
which the following is an extract : — •
"For a considerable time past I have had it in
my mind to establish on part of my land here
(Yaralla) a hospital on a somewhat extensive
scale for the reception and restoration to health
of convalescent patients from the hospitals of
Sydney and elsewhere. But the pressure of other
claims on my time has prevented me from carry-
ing this project into effect.
I^P "Should this still be the case at the time of
itty death, then I enjoin the trustees of my will
and my daughter to accomplish my design as
soon after my decease as it may be practicable
to do so.
The trustees of the estate and Miss Eadith
Walker, his only child, were called upon to carry
out the noble project. Our illustrations show
how ably and faithfully they performed that
duty. The hospital is unique in design, situation
and management. It is only in name that it is
associated with other hospitals The founder's
idea — liberally interpreted and amplified by those
who carried it out — was to provide a home where
recuperating invalids could rest as the guests of
the institution, while regaining health under per-
fectly ideal and beautiful surroundings. So artis-
tically and liberally was the whole scheme carried
out that even the magnificent sum set apart by
Mr. Walker (which, by the way, did not include
the cost of the land, a valuable Point jut-
824
A PREMIER AUSTRALIAN PHILANTHROPIST
S25
Dutch Tower on the Wharf.
Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital.
t
I
g out into the Parramatta River) was insuffi-
cient for the building and endowment, if the plans
prepared by Messrs. Sulman and Power, the
architects, were to be completed in harmory with
the design. Additional amounis were at once
made available by the founder's daughter with
affectionate loyalty to her father's high intent
in the good work — the late Miss Joanna Walker
and Mrs. Annie Sulman (nee Masefield) also tak-
ing part. The total expenditure was £150,000,
with the sums invested for the maintenance of
the hospital, i.e., about £5,000 per annum. The
site indicated by Mr. Walker at "Rocky Point"
was chosen out of the "Yaralla" property. About
thirty acres are included in the hospital grounds.
In front of the beautifully laid-out gardens is a
landing-stage, at which the river-steamers call.
A quaint Dutch water-tower has been erected
with a cosy waiting-room, and above it a smoking-
oom.
The central or administrative hospital building
ontains the matron's apartment and offices, doc-
tor s office, dispensary, board-room, library and
waiting-room. Beyond this is the entertainment
hall, connected by a broad vestibule leading to
he two wings set apart for female patients on
the left and male patients on the right of the
administration buildings. The entertainment hall
seats 200 persons and is handsomely ornamented.
It is lighted by specially designed and exquisitely
painted windows, and has over the entrance a
small gallery and at the opposite end a raised
platform. Here concerts and other amusements
are arranged for the patients, and occasionally the
matron and nursing staff invited their friends to
a dance, prior to the War.
The Joanna Walker Memorial Cottage Hos-
pital for children is built on the same property,
a little to the left of the women's wing. The late
Miss Joanna Walker, sister to the philanthro-
pist, was always most interested in promoting the
comfort and welfare of children. Her residuary
legatees provided a children's cottage and in-
creased the usefulness of the main hospital, as it
allowed the portion previously devoted to juvenile
patients to be added to the accommodation for
females.
The Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital is
absolutely unsectarian. It has, during nearly a
quarter of a century, brought sunshine to many
a weary heart. It completely fulfils the intention
of its benevolent founder, which was to allow
826
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
patients discharged from the hospitals, and other
convalescents, to spend a little time recuperating
their health in ideal surroundings before taking up
again the burdens of life. Thousands who have
regained their health look back upon their for-
tunate sojourn upon the quiet river, with pleasure
and gratitude.
The late Mr. Walker wielded a great
power in the financial world of Sydney
in his day, but always had a constitu-
tional dislike for active politics. Hence he
did not gain that more showy popularity
which the politicians of his period enjoyed. New
South Wales has probably cause to regret that
Mr. Walker did not enter active politics. Had
he obtained a position in politics corresponding
to that he achieved in commercial life, his genius
would undoubtedly have proved invaluable to the
colony of New South Wales.
The stand he took upon the land question
showed that he had more than ordinary knowledge
of the subject. His letters and pamphlets ad-
dressed to the Legislature, and later to the people
of New South Wales, displayed great intellectual
vigor and absolute fearlessness.
Mr. Walker's idea, from which he never
wavered and which he urged with great earnest-
ness, was that a system of agricultural areas
should be established. He held unswervingly to
the conviction that in sanctioning free selection
before survey all over the country Sir John Rob-
ertson's Act did irreparable injury to the pastoral
industry and to the State. Had the policy he
advocated been pursued, it is contended by his
modern disciples that "the Governments of
modern times would not have had to resume at
enormous cost the big pastoral holdings, bought
in the first instance in many cases for a mere song,
and which have been required for closer settle-
ment during the past decade."
Mr. Walker looked forward to a time when
the value of the land would be enormously in-
creased. He urged that it should be held by the
Government and let at a fair rental for grazing
purposes, and such as was suitable for agriculture
sold from time to time at full and fair prices. In
one of his pamphlets addressed to the people of
New South Wales he declared that twelve mil-
lion acres of our best lands had been "thrown
away" — entailing a loss of as many millions
sterling, at the very least. He wrote: —
The Joanna Walker Memorial Children's Cottage Hospital
A PREMIER AUSTRALIAN PHILANTHROPIST
827
"Have you eyes that see not and ears that hear
not, or are you asleep, or is it that you are all
so engrossed by the pursuits you are individually
engaged in, that matters of general concern, be
they ever so momentous, are allowed to escape
your notice? I am led to ask these questions
from seeing that you appear to be unconscious of
the great wrong that is being done you by those
to whom the care and management of your mag-
nificent landed estate is confided. That grand
estate is of far greater value than the rest of the
and fair prices proportionate with their respective
values — these being modes of procedure consis-
tent with reason and common sense — the bulk of
your estates are let in large areas at low and
quite inadequate rates of rent, and for such brief
terms and on such other unfav^orable conditions
as render it impossible for the tenants to afford
a higher rent; and all the better part of it so
placed at the disposal of a limited and specially-
favored class of people that they may pick out
the choicest morsels they can find and purchase
In the Garden at "Yaralla"
property possessed by you as a community, and
if rightly managed should suffice to provide for
almost all the proper expenses of your govern-
ment, and so relieve you of the heavy burden of
excessive taxation. Yet you are torpid and inert
whilst this property of inestimable value and im-
portance is being devastated and given away.
You are being thus robbed of all the advantages
to which you as owners thereof are entitled, and
which would be yours were the property managed
by honest agents having common sense.
"Instead of the most part of this estate being
ad interim let for grazing purposes at full, fair,
and reasonable discriminating rates of rent which
would provide an enormous and growing annual
income to the State, and other portions of it suit-
able for agricultural operations being sold at full
^
the same at a very low fixed uniform price, pay-
able in minute yearly instalments during a long
period of time; such price being far below the
value in the market of the land thus parted with,
which of course varies in accordance with the
special qualities and position of each portion re-
spectively.
"The scant and altogether incommensurate
amount of money thus obtained is almost wholly
absorbed in maintaining a vast army of adminis-
trators which, conveniently for the purposes of
the government, is called into existence and kept
fat by this pernicious system of dealing with your
property.
"In this wantonly wasteful and destructive way
upwards of twelve million acres of the best of
your land have already been thrown away; en-
828
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
tailing upon you a loss of as many millions of
pounds sterling at the very least."
Referring to the evils of the land legislation of
New South Wales, Mr. Walker was of opinion
that "if any private person were found
dealing with his property in such a way as this
(that is, by the State), he would most
certainly be treated as a lunatic; and were a
trustee for others to act in such a way he most
"Yaralla" (Entrance Front)
assuredly would be held personally liable and, as
a fraudulent agent, subjected to condign punish-
ment.
"The original cause of all these evils is doubt-
less the Land Law of 1861, which was enacted,
it is said, in a fit of passion, and most certainly
passed in the absence of sound judgment and
ordinary foresight at the instigation of a states-
man who, in this instance at all events, as has
been proved by dour experience, made a great
mistake, however good his intentions may have
been."
In his last appeal to the people of New South
Wales on the land question (dated from his home
at "Yaralla," Concord, in September, 1884, two
years prior to his death) Mr. Walker wrote: —
"Actuated by a desire to be of use to the com-
munity of which I have so long been a member,
and to which, in the course of nature, I must
soon say farewell, I have in numerous printed
letters laid before the members of both Houses
of Parliament representations regarding this im-
portant matter, which I hoped might be useful.
But I am sorry to say — except that I have been
told by very many members that they entirely
concur with my views — these letters have not
been productive of any appreciable effect. They
have been as if addressed to hungry wolves in
sight of their prey. In these I have attempted
to set forth the true state of the case, and I now
take a final leave of the subject, hoping and trust-
ing that such a settlement of this important mat-
ter will yet be made as will be the most beneficial
to the community as a whole."
Of such firm and fearless thought was Mr.
Thomas Walker, broadminded, benevolent, rich
in heart and soul as well as in worldly possessions.
He left Australia his debtor for national convic-
tions fearlessly spoken, for noble gifts of mind
and heart and hand.
It should be mentioned that Mr. Walker was
a member of the old Legislative Council of New
South Wales prior to the granting of responsible
government. With others he voted for the
severance of Port Phillip from New South Wales,
and was one of the first four members (the Rev.
Dr. Lang being another) who afterwards were
elected to represent Port Phillip in the Legislative
Council, and, of course, resigned membership on
the erection of Victoria into a separate colony.
A wise man, a far-seeing man, a capable man;
after a good life lived, by his high intent is still
poured out daily a gracious oil of human kind-
ness to salve the wounds and soften the sorrows
of his less-fortunate fellow-citizens.
His opportunities for doing good were more
than usual. He made unusual use of them to
help and heal the afflicted.
Australia, free, humane, and enlightened, holds
and will hold the memory of the late Thomas
Walker in reverence and high regard. He died
on September 2nd, 1886, in the 83rd year of hi?
age.
George Fife Augas,
The Father of South Australia
THE ANGAS FAMILY.
PIONEERS, PASTORALISTS AND PHILANTHROPISTS.
THE "Province" of South Australia has
always prided itself upon the purity and
probity of its citizenship. High philan-
thropic and economic ideals were embodied in its
beginnings. Wakefield was associated with its
formation. Among its earliest pioneers were
men of the Pilgrim Fathers' type, men of stern
uprightness, such as those who, for conscience
sake, journeyed overseas with William Penn.
Pre-eminent among them stands the name of
George Fife Angas, who would be a historical
figure in any country, whose life was the life of
one of the world's successful men, whose memory
iwill long endure as the actual Father of a free
[Colony in the South.
I He was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England,
nn 1789. His father was a coach builder and
shipowner in a large way of business, claiming
descent from the Earls of Angus, who played their
vigorous parts in Scotch history.
In the year 1804 George Fife Angas, then aged
15, was apprenticed to his father's business, in
which he soon developed a great proficiency.
Philanthropic work must have appealed to his
imagination very early in his career, for we find
him at eighteen successfully organizing "The
Benevolent Society of Coachmakers," in his
native town. At twenty he was an overseer in
his father's factory, at 24 he married.
Our chief interest in his career lies in his con-
nection with the South Australian Company,
which established the first settlement in that
colony and laid the foundations of its prosperity.
In 1829 Mr. Robert Gouger was inspired with
829
830
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
the idea of founding a British colony on the south-
ern coast of Australia on the system propounded
by Edward Gibbon Wakefield. When, early in
1832, Mr. Angas received a prospectus of the
proposed company he at once expressed his
willingness to take up as many shares as would
qualify him to become a director. He was
elected, accordingly, as a member of the pro-
visional committee.
His first action in this capacity was to enter a
protest against paupers being sent out as settlers.
He also expressed the hope that the appointment
of a Governor would be left in the hands of the
Company until the population had reached 10,000
and a Legislative Assembly had been established.
When the colonisation scheme had been further
considered, Mr. Angas put his ideas into more
definite and detailed shape. His programme
comprised the following distinctive points: — i.
— The exchision of convicts. 2. — The con-
centration of the settlers. 3. — The taking out
of persons of capital and intelligence, "and espe-
cially men of piety." 4. — The emigration of
young couples of good character. 5.- — Free trade,
good government, and freedom in matters of
religion."
We next find Mr. Angas promising Mr. Gouger
that he would act upon the Board of the South
Australian Association formed to carry out the
provisions of the South Australian Bill which, in
1834, had been passed by the British Parliament,
after considerable opposition, eventually over-
come by the Duke of Wellington. On May 5th,
1835, IVIr. Angas was gazetted one of the eleven
Royal Commissioners, the chairman being Colonel
R. R. Torrens, whose Land Act was to make his
name prominent in the annals of Australian his-
tory, while the secretary was Rowland Hill, of
penny postage fame.
To meet the conditions in regard to purchase
of land in the proposed colony, Mr. Angas sug-
gested the formation of a Joint Stock Company.
His idea was to "establish a collateral company
to purchase the required amount of land, to em-
ploy the emigrants, and to provide the capital
necessary for the working of the Colonial Govern-
ment," frankly expressing his belief that unless
these objects were accomplished the project of the
new settlement would assuredly prove a failure.
His fellow-commissioners, however, did not
agree with him. The affairs of the association
reached a deadlock. The disappointing situa-
tion did not, however, deter Mr. Angas from
further effort in this direction, with the result that
he succeeded in securing, by September 29th, of
that same year, a capital of .£20,000 subscribed
by himself and four others, wherewith to start
"The South Australian Company," which was to
make the establishment of the colony practicable.
About a fortnight later the capital of the com-
pany was increased to about four thousand shares
of £50 each, making up the sum required by the
prospectus to justify the Directors in proceeding.
Mr. Angas was elected chairman. His position as
a director in the company necessitating his resig-
nation as a Commissioner, the Government, at
Colonel Torrens' request, allowed him to retain
his seat for three months — long enough for him
to see all the preliminary measures required bv
the Act completed. Among the directors also of
the company were Raikes Currie, Charles Hind-
ley, John Pirie, John Rundle, and Henry Way-
mouth, all of whose names were in due time per-
petuated on the principal streets of the new
city of Adelaide. Mr. Robert Gouger officiated
as secretary.
Mr. Angas continued to influence men of capi-
tal in the big cities in this new pioneering Com-
pany, and in forcing the Government to facilitate
the despatch of the first settlers, which the Com-
missioners seemed unable to effect. His shipping
interests also helped him in this task. For
many weeks he worked hard in fitting out
three vessels with emigrants, provisions, and
live stock for the new colony. On February
22nd, 1836, one month after the legal
formation of the Company, the John Pirie set
sail, followed two days later by the Duke of York,
with Mr. Samuel Stephens, colonial manager of
the Company, and other officers and servants,
taking with them very complete instructions pre-
pared by Mr. Angas relating to banking, ship and
boat-building, commercial and shipping affairs,
whaling and fishing, the erection of houses and
warehouses, wharves and dockyards, the charge
of stores, the working of mines and quarries,
flour, saw, and other mills, and many minor mat-
ters. The third vessel was the Lady Mary
Pelham. Their destination was Nepean Bay,
Kangaroo Island, and there the first South Aus-
tralian colonists, who were of a very superior
type, pitched their tents.
Negotiations between the Company and the
Bank of Australasia, for the establishment of a
branch of the latter in the new colony, having
failed, Mr. Angas submitted to the South Austra-
lian Company a proposal for forming a bank out-
side of the affairs of the Company but working
in its interests, and this being accepted, Mr.
Edward Stephens was sent out from England as
manager of the South Australian Banking Com-
pany, with a framed banking-house, iron chests,
and the entire plant of the bank, together with
bank notes, engraved in London, varying in value
from I OS. to £10, and representing in the aggre-
gate the sum of £10,000. Mr. Henry Kings-
cote was Chairman of Directors, and Mr. Angas
THE ANGAS FAMILY
831
one of the directors. In 1867, the title of "The
Bank of South AustraHa" was adopted.
Mr. Angas had already, in 1828, in conjunc-
tion with his cousin, Mr. Thomas Joplin, founded
the National Provincial Bank of England. He
was further to be intimately associated with the
establishment of one of the most successful of
Australian banks. In 1837 ^"^ °f the directors
, of the Tamar Bank in Tasmania, Mr. Philip Oak-
den, went to England to negotiate with an Eng-
lish company for the sale of that bank, with the
object of increasing its capital and extending its
operations. He interviewed Mr. Angas and
won his interest in the proposal, the outcome of
their interviews being that Mr. Angas formulated
a scheme for the establishment of the "Union
Bank of Australia." Early in July that institu-
tion was formed, with G. F. Angas on the first
Board of Directors.
His business interests in the colony were looked
after at first by Mr. Flaxman, his confidential
clerk, whom he had sent out from England for
that purpose, but who became infected with the
land fever then at its height. He bought largely in
Mr. Angas's name and incurred heavy responsi-
bihties which nearly brought his principal to ruin.
Some idea of the boom may be gathered from the
I act that this small community of 16,000 acquired
learly 300,000 acres.
Illustrative of the widespread character of Mr.
Lngas's colonising interests, it is interesting to
lote an occurrence which had an important bear-
ing on the history of New Zealand, then to some
extent colonised from New South Wales. He
received a visit from a Frenchman, Baron de
Thierry, whose brother had in 1837 gone to New
Zealand and there possessed himself, by means of
barter with the natives, of a large tract of country
in the North Island. Mr. Angas gathered from
the conversation that the French Government in-
tended making a settlement there. He accord-
ingly informed the Colonial Secretary, Lord
Glenelg, who suggested to Mr. Angas the forma-
tion of a Joint Stock Company to promote a
British settlement. Mr. Angas hesitated to take
any interest in another colony; but the Govern-
ment acted on his information and appointed
Captain William Hobson, R.N., to proceed to
New Zealand as "Her Majesty's Consul and as
eventual Lieutenant-Governor," to propose to the
Maoris to recognise Queen Victoria as their
sovereign. He arrived there in January, 1840,
and secured the adherence of the North Island
chiefs to this proposal, taking possession of the
South Island on the ground of discovery. Mr.
Angas's information proved correct a few months
later, when the British Consul politely but
firmly informed a French expedition that they
were forestalled. The British Government was
not unmindful of Mr. Angas's invaluable services
in saving New Zealand for the Empire, and
offered him first a knighthood and then a
baronetcy, both of which he declined.
, ^ «a.U JjioUij !£(,,,-»[ T).^!?* ^^^^IZ^
The South Australian Company
An interesting contemporary Souvenir of the First Board
of Directors, January, 183B
George Fife Angas resolutely put aside all per-
sonal honor. He declined to allo'v his name to
be used in christening the ports, towns, or physical
features of the new colony of South Australia,
although his memory has been since perpetuated
in the naming of the town of Angaston, Angas
Park, and certain streets and parks about Ade-
laide.
On many occasions during future years, his
co-workers in Adelaide had urged Mr. Angas to
join them there, but his numerous and important
home interests made that impossible. It was
evident, from the diary he kept regularly during
his life, that South Australia occupied the first
place in his mind. But he had many interests of
a great financial value in the colony, including
large tracts of country near Adelaide, and he re-
cognised that these required some personal over-
sight, especially as the colony was suffering depres-
832
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
•
sion. So he decided to send out one of his sons.
John Howard Angas, then only nineteen years of
age, but already a man after his father's model,
to represent him in the new colony and look after
The Hon. John Howard Angas
his large interests there. The young man, in
company with his sister and her husband, Henry
Evans, and their infant son, set sail on Good
Friday, 1843, in the barque Madras. Mr.
Angas's eldest son, George French Angas, an
artist, and a friend of Landseer, went to Austra-
lia on a visit about this time, and made a great
number of sketches and notes, which he ultimately
published in his "South Australia Illustrated,"
"The New Zealanders Illustrated," and "Savage
Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand,"
"A Ramble in Malta and Sicily," &c. He opened
the first art exhibition held in the new colony, in
1841;, and was for a time curator of the Sydney
Museum.
He
raiH
hej
Mr. J. H. Angas proved a wise and energetic
steward of his father's interests. He had, before
leaving England, studied and practised land-sur
veying, in which he became very skilful. He
was also exceedingly tough and enduring physi
cally, as he soon pro\ed when he began pastora'
life in the- South Australian bush. When hj
arrived he found that property was selling f
less than the cost of the title-deed two years
before, homes were being let to respectable tenants
rent free and Adelaide was half deserted. But
his first year saw a definite turning of the tide.
Governor Grey's policy of encouraging people t^^
settle on and cultivate country lands rather tha^Hl
herd together in the city was beginning to bear
fruit, and a bountiful season in i 843 was encour-
aging the farmers, the harvesting being greatly
accelerated by a recent introduction of the Ridley
reaping machine. What helped most, however,
was the discovery that the colony was rich in
mineral wealth. The opening of the Kapunda
mine attracted population and revived trade and
commerce, but it was to pastoral pursuits that Mr.
J. H. Angas instinctively turned.
Although portions of the paternal property in
the Barossa ranges was highly mineralised, he had
his father's distaste for mining ventures. So,
within a few days of his arrival, he found his
way to the locality, then known as "The Surveys,"
in which was German Pass, then consisting of one
house and two cottages — now the thriving town
of Angaston. There, at the head station of
Tarrawatta, in a pleasant valley heavily timbered
with giant gum-trees, with the river Gawler flow-
ing through it, some four miles east of Angaston,
he made his headquarters, living in a stone hut
of two rooms which, increased in size, is still stand- \
ing. Later on he built the Valley House on the
left bank of the river, and lived there for years
an extremely busy and often wandering life,
nearly always in the saddle, looking after his
father's extensive and scattered properties. He
was the pioneer pastoralist of that fertile district, i
He had, like most pioneers, exceedingly rough
experiences, but laid surely the foundations of his
father's and later his own exceptional prosperityif
He used Tarrawatta for depasturing stock, one
of his successful speculations at this time being
the taking over of a thousand head of cattle from
the S.A. Company's property at Gumeracha to
depasture, payment to be made in kind. Similarly
flocks of sheep were obtained on the agistment
system, payment being one half their increase and
produce. Later on, when the Burra Burra
\
THE ANGAS FAMILY
833
copper mine was opened he did a big business in
buying and breaking in bullocks for teams, open-
,,, jg a depot near Gawler.
|l^ In 1848 Mr. G. ¥. Angas found himself
compelled by circumstances to resign from the
Board of the South Australian Company, of which
he was chairman, and which he had served so
well for over twelve years. He was able, in
replying to a resolution acknowledging his great
services, to remind his fellow-directors that the
new colony had a population of 33,000, and a
public surplus of £15,000. Failing health again
suggested to him the advisability of spending his
l^pmaining years — he was now sixty years of age
— in South Australia. So, having sold out of
all his many English interests, he set sail in the
ship Ascendant, with his wife and youngest son,
on October 3rd, 1850. In the same vessel, the
British Government sent to Adelaide the impor-
tant, indeed historic document of the New Con-
stitution, granting self-government to South Aus-
ti-alia.
A few days after landing in his adopted coun-
try, Mr. Angas was entertained at a public dinner,
his hosts including some of the first settlers, who
had gone out in the pioneer vessel and had dwelt in
the temporary canvas town on Kangaroo Island.
l£ was no mean compliment, and no empty one.
h
House
that the chairman paid him when in describ-
ing the early attempts to found the colony, he said
that "after the first efforts were made the
machine stuck fast, and but for George Fife Angas
would have stuck there till the present moment,"
a statement that received emphatic assent from
the assemblage.
Those were proud and happy days for Mr.
G. F. Angas. Here at last he beheld the settle-
ment he had done so much in establishing. Now
the population stood at 63,700, exclusive of 3,730
aborigines, 174,000 acres of land were enclosed,
and 15,000 acres depastured by cattle and sheep.
The public revenue was £280,000 per annum,
showing a surplus of £40,000. Its import trade
was £887,000 and its export £571,000, employing
tonnage of 168,500, inwards and outwards. Wool
exported was over 3! million pounds weight, while
44,594 cwts, of metal and 8,784 tons of copper
ore had been exported during the previous year.
"Nowhere," says his biographer, "had greater
changes and improvements been eifected than in
the Barossa ranges district and upon the exten-
sive lands possessed by Mr. Angas. Through the
judicious and farseeing management of his son,
the wilderness had been made to blossom as the
rose."
He had barely settled down in his new home at
H34
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
CoUingrove House
Lindsay House, Angaston, when he was gazetted
a member of the Board of Education and a Justice
of the Peace. When the first Legislative Council
under the new Constitution was elected, Mr.
Angas was returned unopposed for the Barossa
district. He soon found himself engaged in
many a sturdy fight on the important public ques-
tions which came up for settlement. Somewhat
conser\'ative in his views he was not always on the
winning side.
That he was still acceptable as a legislator was
proved in 1S57 when, in spite of his unsuccessful
opposition to universal suffrage, he was elected a
member of the Legislative Council by a large
majority, in the first Parliament (of two Houses)
elected under the amended Constitution. At the
close of the first session he visited England for
two years and on his return to the colony was
escorted to his home by a lengthy procession, an
address of welcome being presented to him. He
was re-elected to the Council in 1865 but a year
after was compelled by increasing infirmities — he
was then nearly 80 years old — to resign his seat,
when the House unanimously gave expression to
the gratitude of the colony for his eminent ser-
vices, even an old opponent declaring that he was
always regarded as "a deep-thinking, clever man
who never hesitated to declare what he thought
was the right view and was never overawed by
popular clamor."
In his old age, he retained a good deal of his
philanthropic enthusiasm, even in the comparative
retirement he enjoyed at his beautiful home
at Angaston. On December 28th, 1878,
he celebrated the forty-first anniversary of the
founding of the colony by handing over to the
authorities as a gift the Angaston Recreation Park
of twenty-one acres. On the following ist May
he celebrated his ninetieth birthday and a fort-
night later he died, leaving three generations of
descendants. It may fairly be said of George
Fife Angas that he made the founding of South
Australia his life-work, emulating the example of
his distinguished predecessor. Sir Joseph Banks,
who for so long overlooked the interests of the
Mother State of New South Wales.
Mr. John Howard Angas never made politics
a principal interest in his life; but when his father,
through increasing infirmities and old age, was
unable to continue his political career, it was to
his son that the public looked to carry on the
family tradition. At first, J. H. Angas declined
to enter politics, in spite of the flattering terms of
a voluminous requisition — a roll of foolscap
sheets of signatures about 14 feet long, which was
addressed to him in 1868 — asking him to stand
for the Barossa electorate at the next general
election. The second request from Fanunda.
Angaston, and Gawler in December, 1871, he felt
it unfair to decline. He was in due course elected
by a very large majority. He was never an active
party man, and concerned himself only with ques-
tions on which he had special knowledge or con-
victions. One of the longest speeches he made
in the Legislature was on the Land Bill. He.
introduced a bill amending the Aliens Act in
regard to making naturalisation easier and
cheaper. He also interested himself in the over-
THE ANGAS FAMILY
835
land teleifraph from Adelaide to Port Darwin, his
intimate knowledge of the interior of Australia
making his views of special interest. He
favored the land grant system in connection with
a proposed transcontinental railway, and actively
supported the policy for the preservation of
native timber. In various debates on education,
immigration, road and railway construction, he
took an active part, but strongly opposed the
break of gauge. In 1876 he was compelled for
health reasons to retire from politics.
After an interval of eleven years, however, he
was again persuaded to enter the political arena.
In 1887, he was asked to stand for the Legisla-
tive Council for the Central Division, which in-
cluded Adelaide. The requisition referred to
his long residence, great experience, and practi-
cal knowledge ; his well-known enterprise and
deep interest in the welfare, development, and
advancement of the province, which would cause
his presence in the Legislature to be of great
service "at the present critical period of our his-
tory." Mr. Angas re-entered Parliament when
general depression, following the great land
boom, was but faintly showing promise of
future prosperity. A good harvest, a rising
market for pastoral products, and mineral dis-
coveries both at Teetulpa and on the Barrier, gave
the colony new hope. Moreover, the jubilee of
South Australia was about to be celebrated.
The Hon. J. H. Angas was in full sympathy by
temperament and experience with such a situation.
He had lived through periods of seasonal adver-
sity, and knew that they were followed by years
of plenty, but he knew also that future prosperity
would not be won by the mere endurance of a
handful of colonists. Consequently we find him
a warm supporter of what should be the basic
Australian policy — attracting a desirable class of
emigrants to increase production, of giving tenants
security of land tenure, protecting local industries,
and especially conserving water and extending
irrigation. Though he was a large landowner,
he advocated land and income taxes, at the same
time making the public income balance expendi-
ture. Mr. Angas served out his term, but when
that expired in 1894 he definitely declined to con-
tinue his parliamentary career.
k
The Church at Collingrove
^36
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
When, in 1854, Mr. J. H. Angas went to Eng
land on a visit, partly for a holiday and parti-
cularly to settle some of his father's affairs, he
met, at the house of a married sister, the family
of Mr. Collins, a millowner of Cheshire. This
gentleman's only daughter became Mr. Angas's
wife and returned with him to Australia. The
voyage was made in a Dutch cattle boat, which
carried only one other passenger, and was an
exceedingly distressing experience. The young
couple built their home, "Collingrove," in a val-
ley near the old Tarrawatta station. At first
only a humble abode in picturesque surroundings,
it is now a handsome, commodious residence,
situated in fine park-like lands. Less than two
miles away, by a road through the estate, stands
Lindsay House, where Mr. George Fife Angas
lived, now the home of his grandson and succes-
sor, Mr. Charles Howard Angas, who was born
in England during a visit of his parents.
Shortly after his marriage, he had acquired on
his own account the first of many properties that
he conducted with such conspicuous success. This
was the Mount Remarkable station, which became
the nucleus of his extensive enterprises in the
North. This station was eventually increased to
45,000 acres. He devoted considerable personal
attention to his pastoral holdings, improving and
developing them to a high degree. Among the
flockmasters of Australia, though not unrivalled,
he was without a peer.
In the early 'fifties, Mr. Angas entered into
partnership with Mr. A. B. Murray in a sheep
run in the Murray Valley, meeting with such suc-
cess that in 1855 they won the first prize for im-
ported merino rams at the Adelaide Agricultural
Show. He had also bought in England
a herd of ten stud bulls and cows, which
had been chosen from five different breeders.
At the same time he turned his atten-
tion to horses, and made a beginning with the
Collingrove Clydesdales, which afterwards be-
came famous, by purchasing the two-year-old
draught entire, Sultan, which had been adjudged
in England the best of his year and class, also a
mare of corresponding character. He followed
up the importation of the Clydesdale stallion
Sultan, with Argyle and Rantin Robin, both Scot-
tish champions, and Young Lord Clyde, a horse
of high repute.
Soon afterwards, as a consequence of natural
increase, he formed the Arrowie and Wirrialpa
runs, and stocked them with the progeny reared
at Mount Remarkable. A vast tract of country,
including several thousands of square miles on
Stuart's Creek, was leased from the Crown as a
cattle run. Station after station was added in
the far North until the entire concern, under
the direct management of Mr. J. H. Angas, in that
part of the colony, assumed vast proportions.
Yet he never bought a property without in-
specting it personally and later satisfying himself
that the improvements he thought necessary were
carried out. He visited each station at intervals,
and he would take an active part in the cattle mus-
terings, and in the drafting and classifying of
stock.
The Hill River estate was purchased by Mr.
Angas in 1871 from Mr. C. B. Fisher. It com-
prised 55,000 acres. The homestead is charm-
ingly situated In a cosy nook of the sheltering hills
near a little rivulet, with a garden of rich soil; it
Is about 90 miles north of Adelaide, and has an
altitude of 1,500 feet above sea-level. With the
station he purchased a large portion of the cele-
brated merino flock.
Point Sturt was one of Mr. Angas's later pur-
chases. It Is different In topography and sur-
roundings from any other of his properties. He
secured it in 1888, expressly for his famed Short-
horn stud. It is 3,200 acres in extent, compris-
ing the whole of a peninsula jutting Into Lake
Alexandrina. Its soil is not rich and has a lime-
stone foundation, but it is well grassed, lightly-
timbered, and well suited for a stud farm. Kings-
ford, famous for its herd of Herefords in Mr. J.
H. Angas's time, lies a few miles from Rose-
worthy.
FinnIss Springs, directly south of Lake Eyre,
which was occupied by Mr. Angas under lease
from the Crown so recently as 1898, comprised
578 square miles. It was used as a breeding
station, and turned out many fine cattle. He in-
stalled 20 artesian bores here, and at Stuart's
Creek, which pour out an aggregate of 225,400
gallons per day. One struck water at 740 feet —
the others varied between 35 to 131 feet — and
yielded an additional 36,000 gallons; while still
another, at a depth of 962 feet yielded a flow of [
nearly a million and a half gallons a day. i
In many of his public activities, Mr. John .
Howard Angas closely followed in the footstep; 1
of his father. Thus he took the latter's positior I
as a Vice-President of the local branch of tht |
British and Foreign Bible Society and in 1885 ;
when the constitution and title of the local organ ;
ization was altered, he became the first Preslden
and held that office until his decease. He gav ■
liberally to the Society's funds, and especially t '
that for the erection of Bible House in Grenfell ;
street, Adelaide. He also took an active part I
the work of the local branch of the London Mi; '
sionary Society, with which also his father ha (
been closely connected, and he founded and prir j
cipally sustained several missions in the Scut
Seas, and especially the Angas Island Mission '< ,
New Guinea. He took a great Interest in th
I
837
838
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
splendid work in London of Dr. Barnardo's
National Waifs' Association, many of his gifts,
totalling several thousands of pounds, being
given through his sister in England, Mrs. John-
son, one of Dr. Barnardo's first and most consis-
tent supporters.
It may briefly be mentioned that, as his father
was the first Treasurer of the British and Foreign
Sailors' Society — which indeed owed its origin
The Angas Memorial, Adelaide
to Mr. G. F. Angas and his brother, William
Henry Angas — it was only appropriate that Mr.
J. H. Angas should be closely associated with the
Society's work in England and he succeeded Lord
Brassey as President, when the latter came to Vic-
toria as Governor. The Angas interest in the
Society is still preserved, Mr. Charles H. Angas
being elected Vice-President in 1903. A per-
manent memorial of the services of the family
is preserved in London by the establishment of a
"Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Angas Room" in the
Society's Home for Sailors at Ramsgate, Eng-
land. Mr. C. H. Angas is Commodore of the
Bethel Union Association, London, and possesses
a bust of Nelson made from copper and mounted
on wood from the great admiral's famous war
ship, H.M.S. f'ictory, which was presented to him
by the British and Foreign Sailors' Society as a
memento of his ancestors' and his own services to
the Society.
The Australian Bushmen's Club was another of
Mr. J. H. Angas's philanthropies, he and his
father being generous contributors to the Bush
Missionary Society, which was founded in 1856,
and out of which the Bushmen's Club naturally
grew.
Brief mention only can be made here of
Mr. J. H. Angas's part in establishing the
Inebriates' Retreat, Mr. G. F". Angas hav-
ing given sixty acres at his estate of
Belair for the purpose in 1876 and a
sum of -£1,000, his son giving £500 and
subsequently supporting the institution liber-
ally; also Flope Lodge, and Angas College for
the training of young women missionary students;
the Convalescent Home at Semaphore, the Home
for Incurables- — to which he gave his salary as a
member of Parliament as a yearly subscription,
and in which he built and furnished a room for the
female inmates; the Hindmarsh Town Mission,
initiated by Mr. G. F. Angas and liberally car-
ried out by his son ; the Blind and Deaf and Dumb
Institution, with its Angas Home and Farm; and
the Adelaide City Mission, the Benevolent
Society, the Boys' Brigade, and other institutions.
The name of Angas is also prominently asso-
ciated with the Adelaide Children's Hospital and
Training School for Nurses, with which Mr. G.
F. Angas and his son were closely connected from
the commencement. On the list of Life Gover-
nors the name of G. F. Angas is first and that of
J. H. Angas second, both having given liberal
donations even before the hospital was built. The
Training School for Nurses is a handsome build-
ing, presented by the Hon. J. H. Angas, M.L.C.,
in 1893, the foundation-stone of what is known
as the "Angas Building" having been laid in April
of that year by Mrs. Angas. One of the wards
in the hospital was named after the late Mrs. J.
L. Parsons, who was Mr. J. H. Angas's niece.
He was Vice-President and took an active part in
its management, as has his son, Mr. Charles H.
Angas, who is now (1916-18) the President of
the institution. Portraits in oils of Mr. and
Mrs. J. H. Angas were presented by subscrip-
tion to the hospital and unveiled in 1901 by the
then Governor, Lord Tennyson, who spoke of
them as "among the most munificent people he
had ever met. and to whom South Australia owed
an incalculable debt." To the Adelaide Univer-
sity, the School of Mines, and Roseworthy Agri-
cultural College, Mr. J. H. Angas also gave most
liberally and usefully. His private benevolences
must have also represented a great sum and it has
been said of him that while he gave liberally he,
gave wisely, and that consequently his gifts were
of all the greater benefit to the community of
which he was in the truest sense a "good citizen.
THE ANGAS FAMILY
839
Charles H. Angas on "Fleetwlng"
(From the Original Painting by Harington Bird)
M
m
i
_ Mr. J- H. Angas did not quite attain the
great age of his father, though he so greatly re-
mbled him in his disposition and temperament,
_ he lived till May 17th, 1904, having reached
the age of eighty without any appreciable diminu-
tion of his mental faculties. It was said publicly
of him that: "He was a man with an infinite
capacity for taking pains. His years were full
of business, rich in Christian zeal, and fruitful
in benevolence."
It will be apparent from the following brief
histories of the various Angas studs that Mr. J.
H. Angas, and his son, Mr. Charles Angas, have
done yeoman service to Australian stock-breeding.
The fine Collingrove herd of Shorthorn cattle
was founded by Mr. J. H. Angas as long ago as
1845, quite in the early years of South Australian
settlement, by the purchase of twenty-five heifers
and a Comet bull from the South Australian
Company, at that time the only importers of pure
stock to the State. Since then the breeding and
character of the herd has been maintained by the
importation of a large number of high pedigree
bulls and cows. In 1879 Mr. Angas went to
gland and there selected and sent out eighteen
ws and heifers and six bulls from the most re-
nowned studs in Great Britain, sparing neither
trouble nor expense to obtain the best specimens
of pure Bates blood, in which the most fashion-
able pedigree was combined with perfect form
and sound constitution. Amongst those im-
orted were many celebrated animals, such as
It
Oxford Beau 7th, Duke of Hazlecote 62nd, Wild
Prince 6th, and other sires; together with Rugia
Niblett, champion cow at the Royal Agricultural
Show held at Bristol in 1878; her daughter. Rose
Niblett, who proved herself the grandest of
breeders, all her calves having been prize-winners,
three of them champions; Blanche Rose 6th, dam
of several champions, and many others.
As a prize-taker for Shorthorns Mr. J. H.
Angas was eminently successful as has been his
son, Mr. C. H. Angas in continuingthe stud. In
Charles Howard Angas
840
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
1894, three bulls, Waterloo Earl of Sockburn
3rd (63512), Viscount Ruddington and (66492),
and Czarevitch, the lust-named, the champion at
the Royal Show in England, unfortunately died
through an accidenc soon after landing. The
other two did good service at the stud. These
were followed in 1908 by Adbolton Thalia King
(97771), a son of the celebrated King Christian
of Denmark and Royal Blanche (96864), two
very fine animals selected by Mr. Charles IT
Angas when in England. In 19 13 the herd was
sold by the Trustees of the late J. H. Angas
after the disposal by them of the Point Sturt pro-
perty, the pick of these, consisting of thirty odd
cows and three bulls being purchased by Mr. C.
H. Angas, who now has them located at Hutton
Vale, near Collingrove, where he continues to up-
hold the reputation of the stud. He has since
imported another bull, Adbolton Royal Sovereign,
now in use in the herd. In 1917 he easily won
the bull Championship at the Adelaide Royal
Show with Rugia's Prince 40th, by Royal Blanche
(imp.) out of Rugia Niblett 30th; a son of his,
Duke of Wortley 42nd, winning in the youngsters'
class at eleven months old. The white cow.
Charming Oxford 51st, won the female Cham-
pionship. The Angas Shorthorn prize-list to
date (19 17) comprises 1,050 prizes, including
I 19 Championships.
The Collingrove Hereford stud was founded
in 1869 by the importation of the bull May Duke
(3965), bred by Mr. W. G. Preece, of Salop,
and the cows Lady Wilson, Stately, and Wini-
fred. Two years later a bull named Bruce, bred
by Mr. P. Turner, of Pembridge, was imported
from England and used in the herd. At a later
date Mr. Angas purchased for 200 guineas the
celebrated Jeannie Deans with her bull calf,
afterwards called Charlie Deans (5252), and
which was never beaten on the Show-ground, tak-
ing five first prizes and a Champion cup in Ade-
laide and first prize at the National Show in Vic-
toria in 1 88 1. Three years later Mr. Angas
purchased the two-year-old prize bull, Sir Roger,
from Mr. F. Reynolds, Tocal, New South Wales,
while in 1885 the first prize yearling bull at
Sydney, General Gordon, and a first-prize yearling
heifer, Minerva 3Sth, also the prize two-year-old.
Comely 6th, were added to the herd. In 1904
Mr. Charles H. Angas selected in England the
Hereford bull. Spark (23167), and sent him out
to Collingrove. He was possibly the finest and
best-fleshed Hereford bull that ever came to Aus-
tralia. The only time he was exhibited he won
first prize and Champion in Melbourne, and he
left magnificent stock. Since then Mr. C. H.
Angas selected Twyford Lancer (25844) in
England, in 1908, and in 1913 the herd was sold,
owing to the trustees having disposed of Hill
River station. The Collingrove Hereford prize-
list consisted of 507 prizes, including 62 Cham-
pionships.
The Collingrove herd of Ayrshire cattle, bred
chiefly for milking-cows, was established in 1887
by Mr. J. H. Angas, who purchased the Cham-
pion bull Herd Laddie and a few cows imported
from New Zealand, including Lucy 2nd and
Dainty. The foundation members of the herd
and their descendants were very typical of the
breed and the cows proved wonderful milkers.
Herd Laddie won no less than 8 champion prizes
at Adelaide and Melbourne against all comers; he
was one of those rare perfect specimens which
crop up occasionally and carry all before them.
He was a most successful sire, and the herd during
the short period that they were bred at Collin-
grove won 66 prizes.
Mr. J. H. Angas's famous stud of Hill River
Merinos was founded by him soon after his arrival
in South Australia. In i 845 he had bought some]
sheep from the South Australian Company, whosel
stud had been formed nine years previously by the]
importation of some fine pure-bred merinos from!
Saxony, with later some from Tasmania. Mr.
Angas bought 750 ewes from the Company, and
also a choice lot of stud ewes and rams. New
blood from France was brought in in 1855, also
later some Spanish merinos from the flock of King
George III. Two celebrated Tasmanian rams,
Hercules and Cssar, were bought at high prices,
their characteristics being density and evenness of
the fleece. Low-set, large frames, carrying
fleeces of first quality combing wool, became dis-
tinguishing features of his sheep .
The Hill River merinos are very hardy and are
considered suitable for dry and rough saltbush .
country. They have made themselves specially at
home in the north-western portions of New South
Wales and Western Australia, the south-western
districts of Queensland, and the valley of the
Darling river in New South Wales.
As Collingrove is situated in a district when
foot-rot was at one time very pre\alent amongsi ■
he merino sheep, Mr. J. H. Angas was inducec
to try longwools, and finding from the records o
the Royal Agricultural Society of England tha
the Lincoln produced a greater combined valu
of wool and carcase than any other breed, ani
was singularly free from foot-rot, he determinei
to try that breed of sheep. ■ The first importa
tion was in 1865 from the flocks of Messrs. Hal
of Lincolnshire, and George Angas, of Bawtr^
Yorkshire. These were followed by ten ram
in the following year. In 1869 eighteen ewe
and six rams, a very choice selection from Messr
Hall and Turner's flocks, were imported, and i .
1 87 1 and 1872 further shipments followed. ,1
1879 ^i"- Angas made a selection from the celi
brated stud of Messrs. Dudding, of Wragb-
THE ANGAS FAMILY
841
Bugias Prince 40th,
Champion Angas Shorthorn Bull
Lincolnshire, leading prize-takers at the Royal
and other English shows for several years, and
famed for the heavy fleeces of their sheep. One
of these sheep imported by Mr. Angas — Panton
Duke — clipped in 1878 no less than 3olbs. of
washed wool, one year's growth. The success of
the Collingrove Lincolns was most marked on the
Show-ground, they having taken no less than 23 1
trizes. The Bradford Chamber of Commerce
(varded Mr. Angas the highest commendation
)r samples of Lincoln wool and equal praise was
yen him at the International Show at Vienna.
I The Collingrove stud of Lincoln sheep has
radually, through continuous importations,
built up a reputation second to none by means of
prizes at the principal shows, and in the sale ring.
I Mr. Charles Angas has proved conclusively that
'\ the crossbred ewe (by a Lincoln ram and a
Merino ewe) is the most suitable from which to
breed export fat lambs in Australia. That the
Collingrove Lincoln stud has maintained its repu-
tation is proved by the fact that — until he ceased
showing in 1899, when they won both Champions,
every first prize, and every second prize but one
in Adelaide — these sheep had won no less than
231 prizes.
The present Collingrove Merino stud was
formed by Mr. C. H. Angas when in 1887 and
tj 1888 he brought down a small draft of selected
! sheep from Hill River station to form the nucleus
of the new flock. Most of them were pure Hill
Hiver merinos, but some of the ewes were the
progeny of the fine ram, Hercules (purchased by
Mr. J. H. Angas for 1,150 guineas), their dams
being Hill River bred. The draft consisted of
three stud rams, forty-six ram lambs, two hundred
ewes, and thirty-nine ewe lambs. Two of the
rams were Ca?sar (aged) and Wonderland (2-
tooth), which had been purchased by Mr. C. H.
Angas at Melbourne Ram Sales. Caesar, who
dam by Sanscrit by Sir Robert; while Wonder-
land was by Little Wonder 2nd, by Champion
Little Wonder, dam by Sanscrit by Sir Robert.
C<esar was killed in an accident in the winter fol-
lowing his arrival, but he left his mark on the
stud, his son Anthony, among other good pro-
geny of his, winning the Reserve Championship
at the Adelaide Royal Show. Anthony left
many descendants worthy of him, among them
being several winners of high honors. Won-
derland, on his part, left a large number of fine
sheep as the result of his seven years' of service,
probably his best son being Surprise, who gained
first prize in a very strong class against thirty-six
competitors at the Adelaide Royal Show. Subse-
quent additions to the stud have been two Murray
rams from Mount Crawford — King of the Ring
and Portland. King of the Ring was the son of
Champion Wool Prince, and was a prize-winner;
Portland being sired by Portsea. Another
addition was Glasslough, also from Tasmania,
whose sire was Sovereign by Golden Horn 2nd,
the latter being the sire of the noted President,
sold for 1,600 guineas and again, when seven
years old, for 1,000 guineas. More recently,
some successful rams have been added, including
Spark, bred at old Wanganella, who is still in the
stud.
The Collingrove Merino stud flock is notable for
its wonderful evenness of type, in spite of numer-
ous out-crosses of blood, the sheep being short-
legged and deep of body, with well-sprung ribs,
and of exceptionally hardy constitutions. The
fleeces are light in condition and of high quality for
South Australia but are large, giving a splendid
yield, realising just about top prices for that State.
The wool is of good length, density and evenness,
and very good on the back — the last quality being
one for which the Collingrove merinos are cele-
brated. The average weight and value of the
Charming Oxford 51st,
Champion Angas Shorthorn Cow
842
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
fleeces, taking the latest figures, are as follows
(1917) : — Average weight for all grown sheep,
13 lbs. 4!f ozs., and selling at an average of
15s. lojd. per head, bringing up to 23id. per lb.
During Mr. J. H. Angas's visit to England in
1879, he selected and sent out to Adelaide a draft
of the best pure Berkshire pigs obtainable in the
old country, and thus founded the far-famed herd
at his Hill River station. He began to show
pigs in 1882 at the Royal Agricultural Show in
ried on. The most approved varieties of wheat
were grown for seed and the produce of the farm
was successfully exhibited at the Royal Agricul-
tural and other Shows in South Australia, Vic-
toria and New South Wales. The prize flour at
the Paris Exhibition was made from White Tus-
can wheat grown at Hill River. These wheats,
which were only exhibited between 1879 and
1885, but won 63 prizes, including the £50 Chal-
l^<^ ,
Hackney Stallion, "Shirley Freelance" (imp.)
Adelaide, when he took eight first prizes. After-
Avards he invariably secured awards for his ex-
hibits, having taken no less than 103 prizes. In
Victoria, at the National Show in 1884, he gained
Champion for boar and sow of the large breed,
and sow of the small breed, also six first prizes
and one second for other exhibits. These pigs
were afterwards sold, when twelve head (all but
three being under twelve months old), realized
£478 i6s., or an average of £39 14s. 6d. per
head, the highest price (£157 los.) being paid for
the sow Lady Severn. The descendants of the
J. H. Angas herd are still being bred at Hill
River by his grandson.
Not only was the Hill River estate devoted to
stud stock, but agricultural farming was also car-
lenge Cup for best lOO bushels of wheat in Ade-
laide, won three times, three Champion prizes
in Melbourne, and the Champion in Sydney,
have been celebrated for uniformity of sample,
size, and weight of grain, as well as flour-pnU'B
ducing qualities.
Mr. J. H. Angas was also the largest
shareholder and chairman of directors of
the South Australian Ostrich Company, with
its farm at Port Augusta. At both Hill
River and Collingrove he grew currants, there
being 20 acres of these at his Hutton Vale
farm; at Hill River he cropped 5,000 acres of ,
specially approved varieties of wheat in one sea-
son. He used mules for draught and harness in
the arid north, and at various times imported high-
THE ANGAS FAMILY
843
class donkeys to improve the breed, and got a
friend on one occasion to select him a stallion and
a mare in America.
The Collingrove Pony stud was commenced by
Mr. J. H. Angas so long ago as 1866, but from
that time to the present the pedigrees of the stock
have been carefully kept, over seven hundred well-
bred animals being on the register. Although
for some years no particular type was aimed at,
only good sires and mares have been used, and
all the foals have been sold except an occasional
mare kept to make up the number of breeders.
In 1889 Mr. Charles H. Angas, who has since
taken an active interest in the stud, was so struck
by the bone, substance, style, and possibilities
as a sire, of the imported Hackney pony. Young
Sir George ( 2789 ) , that he purchased him. He
fully realised expectations, and Mr. Angas was
thus encouraged to build up a type of pony then
very scarce in Australia — a general utility pony
up to a big weight in saddle and capable of pull-
ing a good load in harness. Since 1900 not on;
of the best fillies has been sold until bred from,
and then only to make room for younger and
better animals.
In 1904, while on a visit to England, where he
inspected many horses and ponies, he selected the
chestnut 3-year-old colt, Gallant Crompton
■ 8153) — by Royal Danegelt (5785), out of
f,ady Dorothy (185) — a full brother to Bonny
Danegelt, the Champion of England. This colt
won five firsts and reserve for silver medal in the
old country as a 2- and 3-year-old, and Mr. Angas
was only able to get him owing to his being an
odd size, viz., 14.2. He has won first prize
whenever he has been exhibited, and is certainly
one of the most perfectly shaped hackneys in
existence. His stock from Young Sir George
mares have been most succesful, showing great
substance and quality, and being Hne movers. At
the same time Mr. Angas, who with his sons is an
enthusiastic polo player, imported a Polo Pony
sire and mare, viz. : Autocrat, by Hurlingham —
Housemaid, a beautiful dark brown, who had won
ten prizes in the best company, and Rosemary, by
Rosewater — Flirt, said to be the best 14-hand
polo pony in England, and a prize-winner. The
breeding of polo ponies did not, however, prove
profitable and so Autocrat was sold.
Mr. C. H. Angas, in 1909, made other pur-
chases in England of a Hackney stallion and three
mares. The stallion is Shirley Freelance (9881),
a lovely mover, dark brown, by Warrener
(8025), by Whitegate Swell (6933), from Mell
\'alley Princess, winner of over a hundred first
and champion prizes. His dam was the cham-
pion Gold Foil (13513), by the champion Sir
Horace (540). Shirley Freelance won twelve
prizes at eight shows in England in hand and
harness, beating two champions; in Australia he
-tUii^-^-:.
Capt. Ronald Fife Angas
Lieut, Dudley Thayer Angas
844
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
won first and champion in Melbourne and 3 firsts
in Adelaide (the only times he was shown),
while his stock have won many prizes, in-
cluding champions in Sydney and Adelaide. Of
the mares imported in 1909, Angram Rosarine
(^18872), a dark chestnut, by the champion
Rosador (4964), by Danegelt (174), her dam
being Princess ( 10428), by Garton Duke of Con-
naught (3009). This mare won 29 prizes in
hand and harness in England, including 16 firsts,
two Hackney Society medals and Reserve Cham-
pion. She has produced many fillies used in the
stud and some good colts. Another imported
mare was Polophelia (20159), a dark chestnut,
by Polonius (4931), by Wildfire (1224), her
dam being Towthorpe Dame (16294), by Grand
Master 2nd (5230). She won 17 prizes in
England, including six and reserve champion at
Olympia in 1908; also first in Adelaide, the only
time shown. Her stock have turned out splen-
didly, and one of her colts. Politician, a prize-
winner, is now in use at the stud. The other
imported mare is Rusper Midget (19478), a
dark chestnut, by Parbold Gordon (721 1), by
General Gorden (2084), her dam being Parbold
Midget (1673). She has won six prizes in
England in hand and harness at Olympia and the
Hackney Society's show in London, and first in
harness in Adelaide, the only times she has been
shown. In 19 10 Rusper Midget had a nice
black foal to the champion. Little Ruby (who was
sold for £2,000) , and she has since produced some
very fine stock, including the winner of the cham-
pionship at Melbourne and reserve championship
in Sydney in 19 17. The CoUingrove ponies are
now the property of Mr. Ronald F. Angas. They
have been winners wherever shown, and without
doubt are unequalled in the Commonwealth at the
present time.
The Angas Estate near Angaston — now com-
prising Lindsay Park, CoUingrove, Hutton
Vale, and Tarrawatta — is one of the most
notable properties in the State, its rich
valleys providing fine grazing paddocks, with
great red gums and other trees affording
shelter and adding a park-like appearance
to the demesne, while the rolling hills in the
immediate distance complete the picturesque
beauty of the scene. Lindsay House grounds
include a small park, in which a herd
of fallow deer browse among English trees
and Indian black buck contrast curiously
with the beautiful high-bred Jersey cows of the
home dairy-herd. King George, when travelling
with his brother in their "middy" days on H.M.S.
Bacchante, stayed at Lindsay House, and when
visiting Australia again as the Duke of Cornwall
and York, renewed his pleasant recollections of
his visit to that picturesque country residence.
Like his uncle, George French Angas, Mr. C.
H. Angas has decided artistic ability. As a pas-
toralist and an excellent judge of stock he has
painted many admirable portraits of his prize
cattle and horses. As a keen sportsman,
especially as one of the crack polo-players of Aus-
tralia and a keen devotee of the sport for over
thirty years, as also of coursing, he has
painted pictures of his polo-ponies, grey-
hounds, bull-dogs, fox-terriers, etc. The entrance
hall and billiard room at Lindsay House are de-
corated also with stags' heads, proud trophies of
the chase. He was also for years a devotee of
yachting.
These mementoes represent the lighter side of
a life full of activities in philanthropy, and in pas-
toral and business interests. Besides his stock-
breeding at CoUingrove, Mr. C. H. Angas has
large interests in the Tarella Pastoral Company,
the South Australian Portland Cement Company,
the Meadowbank Company, and others. He is
a Trustee of the Pastoralists' Association of
South Australia, and a member of other public
bodies, and though he has always declined politi-
cal office and other public duties, he has fully
accepted the responsibilities of his position as a
leading citizen of the State. He married the
eldest daughter of the late William Dean, of Ade-
laide, in 1885.
The trustees of the late J. H. Angas have dis-
posed of many of the Angas properties owing
to the recent government taxation. The CoUin-
grove estate now consists of only 4,600 acres,
and this three years ago Mr. C. H. Angas handed
over to his eldest son, Ronald Fife Angas, who
held a commission in the Royal Field Artillery
on active service in France, where he had been
for two years, when he was transferred to the
Royal Flying Corps, having been mentioned in
despatches. Captain R. F. Angas married the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alick J. Murray,
of Mount Crawford. The second son, Dud-
ley Theyer Angas — who had to resign through
ill-health his commission in the Naval Air
Service in England, after going through
the German South-West Africa campaign
and some months in the Naval Air Ser-
vice at Yarmouth, England — is now living
at Hill River, of which he retains the head station
and some 4,000 acres of arable and grazing land
bought from his grandfather's trustees. At this
place he combines wheat-farming with the breed-
ing of a small stud of high-class merino sheep.
Mr. C. H. Angas's third son, John Keith Angas,
is still at school. His only daughter was mar-
ried in 1908 to Major the Hon. R. D. Ryder, a
brother of the Earl of Harrowby. Her husband
was killed in December, 19 17, while on active
service in France.
"Fortuna," Bendlgo. The residence of Mrs. (Jeo. Lansell
GEORGE LANSELL
BENDIGO'S "QUARTZ KING"
WITH Bendigo and Ballarat is associated a
romance distinctive from the inevitable
adventure of mining fields. Both were
the scenes of early alluvial rushes, when fortunes
and misfortunes alike were written on the pages
of the Past. Both developed into deep-lead
fields, whereon the fossicker gave place to the
investor. Both are to-day Victorian cities of in-
dustry and importance.
The history of Bendigo could not be written
ithout copious references to the late George
Lansell, who by exercise of a considerable genius
contributed so largely to its successful develop-
Kient and continued prosperity.
He died in March, 1906, at "Fortuna," on the
amous New Chum mine, aged 82, with a long
lifetime of profound vhievement brought to a
ipeaceful close.
|Mpeacefi
His father, Thomas Lansell, was a business
man in Margate, England, where the great min-
ing man of Bendigo was born. At the age of
14, George, the eldest son, entered his father's
business.
It happened that a younger brother, Wootton,
was a rover who after a voyage round the world,
— a feat of some distinction in those days, —
invited his brothers George and William to follow
him to Australia. In the year 1853 we find our
subject leaving the prosaic surroundings of grocery
and chandlery to try his fortunes in the Sunny
South.
The good old sailing ship Virginia — she would
be a marine curiosity to-day — landed them at
Adelaide. George started up country and began
his career as a gold digger at Echunga. After
six weeks he returned to the South Australian
capital.
845
846
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G-eorge Lansell
Here thrilling stories of gold discoveries in
Victoria reached the Lansell brothers, and we
find them shortly afterwards at Bendigo, where
they opened up a business. As butchers and
soap and candle manufacturers to the polyglot
population of the roaring field of Bendigo, they
filled a useful function as partners for three years.
About this period (1855) the alluvial work-
ings on old Bendigo showed signs of exhaustion,
and the problem of quartz mining began to arise.
The geological formation of Bendigo and its his-
tory as a goldfield are exceedingly interesting.
The Bendigo goldfield may be considered to
occupy about 140 square miles or a tract 20 miles
long by seven wide, the Mall in the centre of the
city being the heart of the auriferous area; in-
deed, an old mine still rears its head among the
commercial buildings of the city.
When the field was in its natural state, great
blocks of quartz stood high above the surface in
many places, thus arousing great expectations
doomed to disappointment in the early times
before the character of the saddle reefs was fully
recognised. There is a zone of silurian rocks
exposed along portions of the New Chum, Gar-
den Gully, and Hustler's line of reefs at the sur-
face that was exceptionally favorable to the
occurrence of gold. What their total thickness
may be can only be determined by the extension
of the surveys already made. In Lansell's 180
shaft the present depth is over three thousand
feet, and it may fairly be expected that some
hundreds of feet of strata must yet be added.
It was Indeed owing largely to George Lan-
sell's consistent enterprise and indomitable per-
severance, that quartz mining was actively con-
tinued in Bendigo for over forty years, with the
result that hundreds of shafts have been sunk
around the city to depths varying from a few feet
to the depth of Lansell's famous 180 shaft.
Between the shafts, hundreds of miles of levels
and crosscuts have been driven, opening up to
view the stratified rocks of this region in a
manner perhaps nowhere else excelled.
The yield from the Bendigo field from 1851
to i860 is stated as over 4^ million ounces. Bal-
larat during the same period yielded 4,800,000
odd, but these returns do not include gold pri-
vately got. By 1864 great progress had been
made, the weekly average of gold taken away by
the escorts having risen to 5,000 ounces, this
owing to the steady improvements in the yields
from the old reefs as they were explored deeper,
and in a much lesser degree to the improvements
(still very primitive) in the methods employed
in getting and crushing the ore. By that time
Bendigo had established itself as an unequalled
field for reefs.
At the beginning of the next year ( 1865) many
new and rich reefs in various portions of the field
were discovered, but owing to the scarcity of
water their development was comparatively slow,
yet by 1866 there were no fewer than 139 regis-
tered companies, about fifty of which possessed
steam machinery. In June, 1871, the quartz
reefs of Bendigo were just beginning to prove
the truth of the prophecies of earlier years,
Garden Gully, Hustler's Reef, and the New
Chum having given gold in abundance. Garden
Gully raised from 1865 to 1891 3,326,300 ounces ,
and distributed £865,600 in dividends, the called- '
up capital being £21,646. At Windmill Hill,
where an old man and his sons obtained half a
ton of gold in three years, the company obtained
£16,000 worth in one month. , ™
The Government survey shows that there aW''|
no fewer than 276 distinct quartz reefs in the
district, and the Government records show that
from 1 85 1 to 1890 sixty million ounces of gold
were secured, but this does not include the gold
taken away privately by owners, the amount having
been estimated at four million ounces. Bendigo's
average yield of gold yearly is now about 165,000
ounces, considerably the highest in Victoria.
There are no less than 53 shafts over 2,000
feet deep on the Bendigo field and several exceed '
4,000 feet in depth, the deepest being the Vic-
torian Quartz shaft which is down 4,614 feet.
GEORGE LANSELL, BENDIGO'S "QUARTZ KING"
847
Mr. I'. J. Dunn, who is the great authority on
the subject of Bendigo reef formation, says: —
"When first discovered much of the surface of
the Bendigo goldfield was strewn with quartz.
Prominent quartz veins seamed the country, or
I stood up in isolated masses above the surface.
I Alhivial gold at first absorbed undivided atten-
1 tion, but the occurrence of "specimens," or pieces
of gold with quartz matrix attached, quickly led
to a closer inspection of these numerous quartz
veins, with the result that gold was found
"From the peculiar structure of the reefs, it is
easy to understand the many disappointments and
discouragements that pioneers of reefing at Ben-
digo had to encounter. Nearly all the reefs were
'saddle reefs' or the 'legs' from which the cap or
saddle portion had been removed, or else were
'spurs' in all their variations. Fortunately, the
quartz, bodies at and near the surface were com-
monly rich in gold. This encouraged the enter-
prise and perseverance which led eventually to
the unlocking of the mysteries of this goldfield, as
sprinkled as fine particles through the quartz.
"Gold in the undisturbed quartz was first
noticed at Specimen Hill, J'laglehawk, and very
soon the idea of abstracting it occurred. At
first attempts were made by means of hammers
and other primitive tools to crush the stone and
secure the gold, and even by such means some
men succeeded in making a living; then "dollies"
were used or light stamps worked by hand, later
on wooden beams shod with iron, and so on to the
present heavy iron shaft and stamp, and while
the alluvial gold is all but exhausted, the veins of
auriferous quartz promise employment to the
miner at Bendigo for centuries to come.
shafts were sunk and crosscuts extended In search
of the gold matrix. Before the gold-bearing
quartz at and near the surface was exhausted, the
'second formation,' as it was called, was dis-
covered, or, in other words, it was proved that
the saddle reefs recurred the one below the other.
This formed an epoch in quartz-mining at
Bendigo.
The most peculiar feature about the quartz
veins of the Bendigo district is the occurrence of
the so-called "saddle reefs." These are bodies of
quartz of lenticular form that are bent over the
axial lines, the superficial transverse section of
the reefs over "centre country" often amounting
k
848
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The Music Boom, "Fortuna'
to 400 or more superficial feet. They extend con-
tinuously along the axes for miles, thickening out
or diminishing in size as they are traced along.
They are often from 20 to 50 feet across, fre-
quently 20 to 30 feet in height, and in some cases
the quartz extends upwards through the fissured
rocks for a height of 100 feet or more. These
saddle reefs are not only of great size in places,
of remarkable persistence in length, but they are
also notable for recurring in depth one below the
other. Some are very small just as others are of
enormous size, yielding enough stone in a length
of a few hundred feet to keep a mine busy for
years.
It is when the several characteristics of the
saddle reefs are fully appreciated that the vast
resources of this district become apparent.
Dealing only with the eight-mile block already
surveyed there are, say, twelve distinct lines of
reefs each 8 miles long; each of these lines carries
several reefs, one below the other, probably of a
remunerative character. On the principal lines
many of these saddle reefs are of immense bulk.
Unsurveyed there remains a tract of country —
proved auriferous by the surface workings — that
is many times larger than the eight-mile block
and through which the same anticlinal structure is'
known to prevail. Even within the eight-mile
block, the extent of ground worked during the last
forty or fifty years, Mr. Dunn asserts, is insigni-
ficant, compared to what awaits development.
In the other margin of Bendigo country, ovei
which alluvial workings extend, the gold appear;
to be distributed rather through "spurs" thar
saddle reefs, but this may be only apparently th(
case, in consequence of the little that has beei
done in the way of mining along "centre coun
try" in this area; below, says Mr. Dunn, the zone
that have proved so productive may be lookec
for with certainty. Saddle reefs and thei
"legs" have produced an immense quantity 0
gold, but a very appreciable further amount ha
been obtained from the spurs, or veins of quart
that intersect the beds of sandstone and slate a
all angles, that form so valuable a feature in man
of the mines.
But little or none of this knowledge wa
available to miners and investors in the year 185-
nor indeed for many years afterwards. Still, a
the alluvial returns grew less, quartz mining o
Bendigo commenced to interest more deeply thos
who looked to permanent developments.
849
a
850
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Small companies and small working parties
began the work. In one of these small com-
panies George Lansell purchased an interest. He
lost his money. He put money into claims and
sustained further losses. But his faith in quartz-
mining grew stronger. He believed that for-
tunes far beyond those already won by lucky
diggers lay in the reefs of Bendigo.
While doubting the efficiency of the methods
then employed in reducing gold ore from stone,
he persisted in buying shares in a number of com-
panies— very few of which returned him any
"profit.
At long length, Fortune smiled. He bought
A Cabinet, "Fortuna"
a«., large interest in the old Advance Company on
the Victoria Reef — which during the early
'sixties had yielded fair returns. In the year
1865, this happened to be one of the few pros-
perous claims, a general depression having fallen
upon the Bendigo field. At that time the hopes
of the pioneer reefers had fallen very low.
Yet while the star of Bendigo seemed waning,
the star of the Lansell fortunes was beginnin ^
steadily to rise. The Cinderella mine, on John-
son's Reef, in which he had also previously ven-
tured, now began to return profits. It was these
two mines that laid the foundations of Mr. Lan-
sell's fortunes and brought him his reward for
persistent enterprise. The Victoria gold-mine
returned him dividends. He took Interests also
in the Windmill Hill, Great Northern, and Young
Chum mines — serving on their respective direc-
torates. In fine, he became interested at length
in almost every reef in the district, and his sound
judgment and discernment proved most useful in
their development. He rose head and shoulders
above the other pioneer quartz-reefers; he was
appointed a director on the boards of a great
number of mines and his influence over the
destinies of Bendigo mining grew year by year.
From this time forward the history of George
Lansell is practically the history of Bendigo
quartz-mining. He made a careful study of
quartz-reefing, and did not hesitate to sink deeper
and deeper in his search for gold, in spite of the
contrary opinion of many of his associates. It was
a hazardous venture. Fie stood to lose all as
well as win much, and one instance of the latter
occurred when, in one fortnight, he made a profit
of £14,000. On the other hand, he lost thou-
sands year after year in unprofitable enterprises
on the field, though in the main he was successful.
As he continued to prosper, so did he continue
to invest his money in new mining companies.
So consistent and confident was he that he became
known as the "Quartz King of Bendigo," and
was the most sought-after adviser in mining
matters.
He was the promoter of the Garden Gullv
United Mine, the most famous of ail Bendigo
mmes, in which, in spite of its varying fortunes
and long-delayed success, (jeorge Lansell always
had the greatest faith. On one occasion a
shareholder offered to a leading Bendigo citizen
2,000 shares in the mine at a penny each, rather
than meet further calls upon them, but the citizen
declined to invest and so lost a fortune.
In 1868 the prospects of the Garden Gully field
generally improved, and four tributes were
formed to work the ground leased by the original
company, to whom they undertook to pay 17J per
cent, of all the gold they might win. The tribute
companies sunk four shafts on the 620 yards 0)
property they worked, with the result that remark
able results were obtained — some of the mos
phenomenal returns known to Bendigo.
Mr. Lansell was always ready to back hi
opinion and stand by it, with the result that h
became the sole owner of several mines, such a
the 180 of romantic history, 616, 222, 83, Comet
Sandhurst, North Red White and Blue, Soutl
Red White and Blue, and the Sheepshead.
Most of these claims were originally held b
companies in which Mr. Lansell had large intei
ests. He continually increased these interest;
buying out faint-hearted shareholders, until h '
eventually owned all the shares. He then san
the shafts deeper and deeper, venturing larg
GEORGE LANSELL, BENDIGO'S "QUARTZ KING"
851
sums of money but maintaining his firm faith in
the properties, eventually reaping his rewards.
Something of the romantic history of this
pioneer "180" mine may be told here. It was
originally opened in the 'fifties by the Witt-
scheibes, who sold it for £30 to Messrs. Theodore
Ballerstedt and Son. The new owners sank
deeper in the claim and realised such nn immense
fortune that they believed the mine to be ex-
hausted. When Mr. George Lansell offered
appropriate name of "Fortuna." It is indeed a
princely mansion, picturesquely situated on a hill,
amid pleasant gardens, its interior furnished in
luxurious but tasteful style, and containing a col-
lection of valuable articles from different parts
of the world. Here it was his custom to enter-
tain royally the distinguished visitors to Bendigo,
and the past Governors of Victoria, the Marquis
of Normanby, Sir Henry Loch, and Lord Hope-
toun, being among those who enjoyed his lavish
Lansell's "180" Mine
it
IC
m
em £30,000 for their property they did not
hesitate to accept. The reef had been reached
at 180 yards (hence its name) but Messrs.
Ballerstedt's workings had reached about 450
feet; Mr. Lansell did not hesitate to adopt his
variable custom and continued to sink deeper
and deeper still. From the first stope he cleared
(lucky figure!) £180,000. Eventually he went
down to a depth of considerably over 3,300 feet,
making it the deepest mine of its day in the
Southern Hemisphere. Great wealth was
ound in the various levels of the mine, and it
proved one of the richest of the New Chum line
of reef. It was on this claim that -Mr. Lansell
built his beautiful home, to which he gave the
hospitality and viewed the resources of the city
under his able guidance.
As a local historian has said: "If Mr. Lansell
reaped the fruits of his enterprise, it must be
remembered that he never withheld his hand from
the work of developing our reefs. Hundreds of
miners were kept at work through his faith in
the field's resources. He was always of opinion
that all Bendigo's side lines of reefs are worthy
of more attention than is at present bestowed upon
them, more especially as they will, if found pro-
fitable, be more easily worked. His enterprise
will be understood from the fact that, in addition
to the mines he personally owned, he was a
director of thirty-eight others, in which he pos
k
852
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
sessed very large interests, and in the working of
which he took a direct personal and practical
share, being especially active and optimistic a.
times when the prospects of any of his enter-
prises looked darkest and most hopeless. It is
certain that if it had not been for George Lansell
and his faith and fine temperament, Bendigo
would not have had so prosperous a history. He
was the pioneer and patriarch of quartz-reefing.
He always encouraged his miners to take an in-
terest in mining investments. Many have had
to thank him for laying the foundations of their
fortunes."
During a seven years' residence in London, Mr.
Lansell married an English lady, ivliss Edith
Bassford, who had been educated in Bendigo. At
the request of a number of influential residents of
the Quartz City, Mr. and Mrs. Lansell returned
to Bendigo and settled there permanently. Their
family consists of five sons and one daughter,
namely, George Victor, Edith V., Horace V.,
Leonard V., Eric V. (deceased), and Cyril V.
Lansell. All the sons volunteered for active
service during the great war, three being accepted
and one son (Leonard) rejected owing to the loss
of an eye.
Apart from the great material advantage to the
district resulting from his almost limitless mining
activities, Mr. George Lansell was a good citizen,
a faithful friend, and a generous helper. Un-
ostentatious even retiring as he was, he was most
liberal in his public charities, and especially in his
private benevolences, and it was to the credit of
the citizens that, after his death in 1906 at the
venerable age of 82 years, the city of which he
was the most prominent pioneer, should do hir
the exceptional honour of erecting a statue to his
memory in its central public square.
Statue to Mr. Qeorge Lansell at Bendigo
Sydney Cove in "First Fleet" Days
(From au Early Painting)
THE ABBOTT FAMILY
HUNTER RIVER PIONEERS
THE Abbotts, who settled at Wingen on the
Upper Hunter and in other parts of
northern New South Wales, are a very
old, very numerous and very widely-spread pio-
neering family in every part of Australia, and in
every phase of Australian life.
The first of the family to reach Australia was
Captain Charles Abbott, who arrived with his
regiment two years after Governor Phillip estab-
lished his headquarters on the old tank stream
or creek which emptied into what is now Circular
Quay, Sydney, the shipping centre of Australia.
In 1808, when the tempestuous rule of Gover-
or Bligh had become intolerable to the colonists.
Major Johnston, with the assistance of Captain
.^, John Macarthur and Captain Abbott, and the
■■co-operation of almost all the free settlers, de-
posed and imprisoned the Governor, and took
over the government of the colony. Two years
ater the Regiment was recalled to England.
Captain Abbott was the principal witness for
Major Johnston in the trial by court-martial of
that officer in 181 1.
Captain Abbott did not return to Australia
after that date, but the knowledge of the country
which he had acquired induced a large migration
of members of the Abbott family in the late
'thirties and early 'forties of the nineteenth cen-
tury. Some of the Abbotts now settled in Aus-
tralia came from England, but the greater part
of the migration was from Ireland, which, at
that time, was over-populated and in a very
depressed condition.
The Abbotts who came from Ireland to Aus-
tralia in 1838 and onwards had one advantage,
in that it was not their first attempt at colonisa-
tion and pioneering in very difficult and dangerous
surroundings. Just two hundred years earlier
when Oliver Cromwell came to the conclusion,
after much heart-burning and prayer, that "for
the safety and freedom of the British nation it
was necessary that the man of blood, Charles
Stuart, should be either restrained or evicted
from the throne of Great Britain and Ireland,"
he consulted with his cousin, John Hampden, and
pointed out "that to meet the King's Forces,
k
853
8S4
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Mrs. Eleanor Kingsmill Mrs. Frances Amanda
... . Abbott,
•*'"'°"' Wife of John Kingsmill
Wife of Thomas Abbott, Abbott,
both came to Australia in 1838
decayed serving-men, tapsters and such rabble
were of no use. To match them they must have
men who had the fear of God before them,
and would make some conscience of what they
did." John Hampden thought "the idea a good
one, but impracticable." Cromwell did not ac-
cept his cousin's opinion, but at once proceeded
to put his idea into practice by selecting from
among his neighbors and personal friends one
hundred and nine "God-fearing men — men who
feared God and feared nothing else," and com-
missioning them to each select ten men of the
same character, to form the rank and file of his
regiment. That was done, and the selected men
submitted for Cromwell's approval, tested in
every possible way and culled out if necessary.
The result was "The Ironsides," "which never
were beaten, and never considered the number of
the enemy." In the list of the hundred and nine
men first selected by Cromwell appears the name
of John Abbott, known later, after the fashion
of the times, as "God-be-with-us" Abbott.
When the long wars of the English Revolution
were over, this old Ironside, with his family and
numerous relations, settled in Ireland on the
lands which Cromwell had conquered, and re-
sumed for closer settlement, from the supporters
of the Stuarts. This was the first colonisation
by the Abbotts, who after 200 years moved on
to Australia, to take their part in "bringing the
waste places of the earth into use."
In 1838 Thomas Abbott and his wife, Eleanor
Kingsmill, with their six sons and two daughters,
arrived in Sydney, numbers of nephews and
cousins arriving with them, or in the next few
years after that date. They settled for the most
part in what is now the northern part of the
State of New South Wales.
Thomas Abbott, the head of the family, was
the direct descendant of John Abbott, the old
Ironside and Puritan, who settled in Ireland
about 1 654-1 656, after his many battles in Crom-
well's wars, and his wife, Eleanor Kingsmill, was
a descendant of Sir Edward Kingsmill, who was
sent over by Queen Elizabeth to form a Colony
or Plantation, as it was then called, in Ireland,
and was highly commended for his success by
the Royal Commission which Elizabeth sent over
"to enquire into the state of our Plantations in
Ireland."
When Thomas Abbott reached Australia he
was 68 years old, and brought with him two
daughters, Mrs. Anne Shaw, a widow with three
children, and Miss Martha Abbott, afterwards
married to Thomas Allen, then Governor of
Parrama''ta Gaol; and six sons, John Kingsmill
Abbott, Joseph Abbott, Thomas Kingsmill Ab- 1
bott, Henry Palmer Abbott, Benjamin Abbott,
and Robert Palmer Abbott, two other sons and
one daughter having died in Ireland.
As the Abbotts did not bring much capital to
Australia, they were not entitled to a free grant
of land, and did not get any. Thomas Abbott,
the head of the family, got a Government ap-
pointment, and remained in Sydney, so that he
might send his four younger sons to Cape's Col-
lege, a very high-class educational establishment,
to which so many of our leading men in Australia
owed their early training.
Mr. Cape was of the class of teachers who
are "born, not made," and Australia was fortu-
nate in having such a man to train and teach the
youths of his day. His boast was that "he had
never turned a failure out of his school."
John Kingsmill Abbott, the eldest son of
Thomas Abbott, was married before leaving
Ireland to Frances Amanda Brady, daughter of
Captain W. E. Brady, a retired military officer,
who had charge of one of the districts into which
Ireland was divided when the Royal Irish Con-
stabulary was formed. A few years after land-
ing in Australia he bought 330 acres of land
adjoining the village of Wingen, and leased the
adjoining station. Glengarry, on the Page River,
a tributary of the Upper Hunter.
This was the first start of the Abbotts in the
work of developing the Pastoral Industry of
Australia, which has since grown to such large
dimensions. The land then taken up still remains
in the hands of John Kingsmill Abbott's descen
dants, with considerable additions purchased fron^
the Crown as the years went on, and is now ver)
highly improved, and used chieHy for breeding
sheep and cattle, and partly for farming.
John Kingsmill Abbott died in 1847 ^t Scone
Upper Hunter, leaving one daughter, Lydia, anc
THE ABBOTT FAMILY
855
four sons, Joseph Palmer, William Edward, J. H. M. Abbott served through the South
Thomas Kingsmill, and John Henry, all born in African War in the Australian Light Horse, was
Australia, and under seven years old. Frances
Amanda Abbott, his widow, remained on the
The late Sir Joseph Palmer Abbott,
Eldest son of John Kingsmill Abbott
station, and with the help of a few convict ser-
vants, carried on the work until her children
were educated and started in life, dying at Win-
gen in 1902, aged 83 years.
The eldest son, Joseph Palmer Abbott, adop-
ted the law as a profession, practising as a
■^Bolicitor at Maitland and Murrurundi, and later
I^Vbn in Sydney. In 1880 he was elected to the
|H-egislative Assembly for Gunnedah, and held
that seat until 1887; he was then elected for
Wentworth and held that seat until 1901, in
which year he died. He was appointed Minister
"or Mines in 1882, Minister for Lands in 1883,
and Speaker in 1889, which office he held until
1901; he was knighted in 1890, was a member
of both the Federal Conventions by which the
Commonwealth Constitution of Australia was
drafted and adopted in 1900; he married Eliza-
|H|beth Macartney, eldest daughter of Dr. Macart-
ney, of Maitland, who died in 1880, leaving
three children, John Henry Macartney Abbott,
jfc Frances Amanda Abbott, and Macartney Abbott.
given a Commission in the Imperial Army, then
took up literature, writing "Tommy Cornstalk"
and other well-known books of Australian life.
He is now on service with the Australian Im-
perial Forces. Frances Amanda Abbott married
Norman Simpson, of Burindi station, Manilla
River; she is now a widow with four children,
two sons and two daughters, the eldest son
(eighteen years old) being a private in the Aus-
tralian Imperial F"orces abroad.
Macartney Abbott, second son of Sir Joseph
Abbott, adopted the law as a profession, prac-
tising as a solicitor in Sydney. He was elected
to the Legislative Assem.bly of New South Wales
in 1913, and again in 1917, for the Upper Hun-
ter; he married Elizabeth Hall, of Scone, by
whom he has two sons, William Edward Macart-
ney Abbott, and Terence Kingsmill Abbott. Sir
Joseph Abbott was married for the second time
to Blanche Solomons, of Maitland, by whom he
had three daughters and one son, Lydia Abbott
Abbott, Blanche Abbott, Eleanor Kingsmill Ab-
bott, and Joseph Palmer Abbott. Blanche Abbott
married Charles Kater, of Mumblebone station,
Warren, and Joseph Palmer Abbott is a lieu-
tenant in the Royal Field Artillery, now serving
in France.
William Edward Abbott, second son of John
Kingsmill Abbott, left the Sydney Grammar
Macartney Abbott, M.Ii.A.,
Second son of Sir Joseph Palmer Abbott
School at 16 years of age to take charge of the
station property at Wingen in i860, which up
to that time had been managed by his mother.
He gradually converted the leaseholds into free-
856
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
W. E. Abbott, of Wingen,
Second son of John Kingsmill Abbott
be Police Magistrate at the same place, then
transferred to Maitland, and later on appointed
one of the Stipendiary Magistrates of Sydney.
He was Chairman of the Sydney Stipendiary
Bench when he died in 1891. He married
Marion Lydiard, eldest daughter of Charles
Lydiard, Inspector of Police in charge of the
Bathurst district of New South Wales, and left
one daughter, Dorothy Frances Louise Abbott,
who married A. P. Parbury, of Scone, and two
sons, Charles Aubrey Abbott and Thomas Kings-
mill Abbott, who both enlisted as privates in the
Australian Imperial Forces in 19 14. Lieutenant
C. A. Abbott is still at the front, and Sergeant T.
K. Abbott, wounded at Gallipoli, returned to
Australia unfit for further service. John Henry
Abbott, fourth son of John Kingsmill Abbott,
was killed by a fall from his horse on the station,
at the age of nineteen. Lydia Abbott, only
daughter of John Kingsmill Abbott, married
Joseph James Shaw, a cousin, who came out to
Australia with his grandfather, Thomas Abbott,
in 1838. She has one son, John Abbott Kings-
mill Shaw, solicitor, of Scone, New South Wales.
Joseph Abbott, the second son of Thomas
Abbott, the head of the migrating family of
Abbotts, entered the civil service of New South
Wales, soon after landing, married Alice Rum-
ley, and left one daughter, Josephine Eliza Anne,
holds by purchase from the Crown, and added
largely to the area by the purchase of adjoining
properties, continually improving the land and
stock, and bringing under cultivation all land fit
for that purpose, thus making the property one
of the most valuable on the Upper Hunter.
In 1889, W. E. Abbott was elected member
of the Legislative Assembly for the Upper Hun-
ter, but was defeated at the next General Election
in 1 89 1. He never made any further effort to
enter politics, devoting all his energy to pastoral
work. He was a member of the Pastoralists'
Association of New South Wales from its incep-
tion in 1890, serving as President of that body
for 13 years, and also was President of the
Federal Council of the Pastoralists of Australia
at many of their most important meetings. He
has been a prolific writer on matters of pastoral
and scientific interest, a member of the Royal
Society of New South Wales since 1877, and a
frequent contributor. He was awarded the
Society's bronze medal in 1884. W. E. Abbott,
who still owns the land first taken up by the
Abbotts in Australia, was never married.
Thomas Kingsmill Abbott, third son of John
Kingsmill Abbott, on leaving the Sydney Gram-
mar School, spent a few years on the station at
Wingen, then entered the civil service as Clerk
of Petty Sessions at Gunnedah, was promoted to
The late Thomas Kingsmill Abbott, P.M.,
Third son of John Kingsmill Abbott
THE ABBOTT FAMILY
857
House built by John Kingsmill Abbott, at Wingen,
On the first 330 acres of land purchased by the Abbotts in Australia in 1843
■who married T. W. Harriott, late chairman of
the Metropolitan Land Board.
I^fe Thomas Kingsmill Abbott, third son of
^ihomas Abbott and Eleanor Kingsmill, after
leaving Cape's College, entered the Post Office,
Sydney, then an Imperial institution, reached the
position of Under-Secretary, but retired on ac-
count of ill-health at forty years of age. He was
twice married, but left no children surviving. He
died in London, England, about 1882.
Henry Palmer Abbott, fourth son of Thomas
Abbott and Eleanor Kingsmill, after leaving
school, entered the Australian Joint Stock Bank,
retiring from that institution after having attained
the position of General Manager in Queensland.
He married Elizabeth Lord, and left surviving
him two sons, Henry Abbott, solicitor, of Sydney,
Thomas H. Abbott, stock and station agent, of
Sydney, and three daughters. He died at 80
I —years of age in Sydney about 1904.
V Benjamin Abbott, fifth son of Thomas Abbott
and Eleanor Kingsmill, on leaving school, went
into pastoral work, married Sarah Barnet, and
left two sons and daughters surviving him.
IK Robert Palmer Abbott, of "Barsham," near
^urrurundi, eldest son of Benjamin Abbott, mar-
ried Matilda Martin, of Glen Innes; he is still
I^Utving and has three sons and three daughters.
the eldest son, Thomas Kingsmill Abbott, serv-
ing at the front in France.
The second son of Benjamin Abbott was Arch-
deacon Thomas Kingsmill Abbott, Principal of
the Armidale Grammar School, who married
Annie MacDonald, of Sydney, and died without
issue about 1913. Emma Abbott, eldest daugh-
ter of Benjamin Abbott, married R. D. Allen, of
Cuerindi station, Manilla. Lydia Frances Ab-
bott, of Armidale, the second daughter, is unmar-
ried. Benjamin Abbott died at Tamworth, 83
years old, in 1912.
Robert Palmer Abbott, youngest son of
Thomas Abbott and Eleanor Kingsmill, who
came to Australia with his father In 1838, took
the law as his profession, practising in Sydney
as a solicitor, and was elected to the Legislative
Assembly for the seventh Parliament in 1872,
was appointed Minister for Mines in 1874, and
continued in the Legislative Assembly until 1882,
He was appointed to the Legislative Council in
1883. He was unmarried, and died, 68 years
old, in 1898.
A short time after John Kingsmill Abbott
bought his first 330 acres of land at Wingen in
the early 'forties of last century, John Abbott —
a nephew of Thomas Abbott — bought land on
the Manning River, north of the Hunter, and
D2
858
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
called his property "Laurel Hill." That pro-
perty, which is near Taree, is still in the hands
of his descendants. John Abbott, of "Laurel
Hill," the last survivor of the pioneer Abbotts
who came from Ireland to Australia in 1838, died
in 1915, aged 96 years, in full possession of his
faculties to the last. He married Jane Mills,
who is still living, and had four sons and seven
daughters, all settled on the Manning and along
the North Coast Rivers of New South Wales.
John Abbott did not go in for politics, but de-
voted all his energy to farming and grazing.
When his descendants had increased to scores and
he was in his 91st year, the first death occurred in
his family — a grand-daughter, 3 years old.
Another member of the Abbott family who
came to Australia from Ireland in the late 'thir-
ties and early 'forties of the nineteenth century
was Joseph Abbott, a cousin of Thomas Abbott,
the head of the pioneering family. After finish-
ing his education in Sydney, Joseph Abbott went
in for commerce, joining the firm of T. S. Mort
and Co., woolbrokers, Sydney, at the bottom of
the ladder. Later he became partner in the firm,
which ultimately was floated into a Joint Stock
Company under the title of Goldsborough, Mort
and Co. He was elected to the Legislative
Assembly of New South Wales for Newtown in
1888 and again in 1889, 1891, and 1894, giving
up politics in 1895. Joseph Abbott left a large
family. He died about 1907.
Lieut. Chas. Lydiard Aubrey Abbott, Private Thos. Klngsmill Abbott,
Eldest son of Thos. Klngsmill Abbott Son of Robert Palmer Abbott,
of Barsham, Murrurrundi
Sergt. Thos. Klngsmill Abbott,
Second son of Thos. Klngsmill Abbott
Lieut. Joseph Palmer Abbott,
Youngest son of Sli Joseph Palmer
Abbott
John Henry Macartney Abbott ("Tommy Cornstalk"),
Eldest son of Sir Joseph Palmer Abbott
The Old Tank Stream at Sydney Cove
{From a Contemporary Print)
"BELL'S LINE"
AND AN EARLY AUSTRALIAN FAMILY
AWAY back in the year 1807 the stout ship,
Young fViUiam — sea-stained and wearing
the marks of ocean travail — one day
dropped anchor in Sydney Cove.
The arrival of any vessel was an exciting event
to the new settlement. Cut off by thousands of
water-miles from their homeland, occupying a
still precarious foothold upon Britain's remotest
possession at the Antipodes, the rugged band of
early colonists hailed the advent of a white sail at
Port Jackson Heads with quickened heart and
moistened eyes.
The incoming voyagers in their turn looked
with curiosity, mayhap anxi.ety, upon those strange
Australian shores which held for many of them
future homes — or graves. After the anxieties
and perils of four or six months' voyage they
beheld at last the crude beginnings of settlement,
with feelings of hope or despair as the case might
be. For some that cluster of wattle-and-dab huts
by Sydney Cove was to become a magic postern
^to prosperity and content. For others it was but
door between one prison-cell and another.
Among the "free' voyagers by the Young Wil-
liam was an ensign of the 103rd Regiment, named
Archibald Bell, wearing the uniform of his
Britannic Majesty, King George the Third. This
officer, as he walked the decks of that old wooden
sailing ship, never probably imagined himself as
the progenitor of a long line of Australian
families.
It was on December 6th, 1806, that Ensign
Archibald Bell left England by the Young JFil-
liavi. He was accompanied by his wife and
family of seven children — five daughters and two
sons, Wilham and Archibald — another daughter
Sophia (who afterwards married Mr. H. P.
Dutton) was born on the voyage, thus leaving a
family of ten (Bells), who landed in Sydney from
that vessel on 12th July, 1807, hale and hearty.
In the following year, 1808, he is one of the
prominent figures in the arrest and deposition of
hot-headed Governor Bligh, which sensational
event set the colony in an uproar. He was called
to England as a witness in the Bligh-Johnston
trial, and did not return until 1812. The earliest
Australian land grant to the Bell family was a
block fronting the old Tank Stream (which is now
only a memory) right in the heart of Sydney.
This block he regarded as "too far away," so
Archibald Bell exchanged it for a block nearer
Government House. Part of the land secured
859
Jamieson Valley,
860
Blue Mountains
86i
862
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The Late Hon. Archibald Bell, M.I..C.
In exchange was the site on which Parliament
House in Macquarie Street now stands. Owing
to his absence in England on the Bligh business,
the title to this land was not made clear. Lengthy
ligitation followed. It was not until 1870 that
the matter of this title was finally settled, and the
heirs of the Bell Estates received £1,000 as com-
pensation.
The young ensign carried with him a letter of
introduction from the Hon. Wm. Wyndham,
Secretary of State, to Governor Bligh, in which
the writer requested the Governor to do all he
could for the bearer and to grant to him 500 acres
of land and a necessary number of assigned ser-
vants, etc. These instructions from the Secre-
tary of State being complied with, Belmont Estate,
on the Hawkesbury River, near Richmond, be-
came the home of the Bell family. On the
death of Lieutenant Bell this Estate was be-
queathed to J. Thomas Bell, his youngest son,
who was born in Australia, afterwards pass-
ing to Mr. Frank Little, who married Mrs. Fen-
nell, widow of late Captain Fennell, A.D.C. to
Governor Brisbane, and who was fourth daughter
of Archibald Bell, eventually passing into the
hands of Major Phillip Charley, who has erected
a palatial residence on the site of the old house.
By Archibald Bell's will a portion of land almost
in the centre of the estate was reserved from sale
for a burial-ground of any of his descendants,
and where he and two of his youngest children
are buried.
The subsequent history of Archibald Bell can
be traced from the early records of the colony.
He figures prominently in many happenings. In
1812 he was raised to the rank of lieutenant.
Afterwards he was attached to the Royal Veteran
Company.
Lieutenant Bell acted as barracks-master in
18 1 8. This was only a temporary appointment.
We find him in charge of the military in Windsor
district from 18 13 to 1818. He was appointed
chief magistrate of the Hawkesbury in 1820.
With him in this latter capacity were associated
Captain Brabyn and Mr. William Cox, two well-
known pioneers and members of the Council
(Legislative) in 1832. In these days the
magistrates had a strong body known as
the Grand Jury associated with them (of
which Mr. John Dight was foreman).
Lieutenant Bell held office as chief magis-
trate until 1 83 1. In his official capacity
he resided for a part of the time at Government
House, Windsor. His family residence was at
Belmont. In 1820 Governor Macquarie ad
dressed him as "Magistrate for Cumberland."
He was for many years the pivot of early colonial
society in the district, and was one of the founders
of the Hawkesbury Benevolent Society, which was
brought into existence in 18 18. He was a
member of the old Legislative Council before the
institution of responsible Government.
Archibald Bell's family soon became distri-
buted over the country. William, the eldest son,
left the paternal home, "Belmont," as a very
young man in 18 15 to make his own way in the
world. The youngest son, J. Thomas Bell,
married Miss North, daughter of Colonel North,
of Queensland. One of the daughters married
Mr. George Cox, of Wimbourne, Penrith, son of
William Cox, senior, of Clarendon — one Mr.
Faithful, of Windsor — one Mr. Coley, of Wind-
sor— another Captain Fennell, A.D.C, and after-
wards Mr. Frank Little, of Scone, and another
married Mr. H. P. Dutton, who also came of the
early Australian stock. Many of their families
settled down in various parts of Queensland, and
played a prominent part in the pioneering of the
northern State.
The historic property known as "Belmont," on
the Hawkesbury, originally consisted of a number
of small holdings which were purchased and con-
solidated by Lieutenant Bell. In his day the tide,
which now only comes as far as Windsor, used to
rise as far as Belmont. He constantly improved
the estate and built a fine old homestead, fortified
against the inroads of blacks or bushrangers. A
BELL'S LINE
863
The Homestead, Pickering
portion of the original building still stands as a
monument to the excellent work of the builders of
a century ago. The greater part of the old
building was, howev^er, demolished in 1892, when
it had passed out of the possession of the family.
Lieutenant Bell died at Belmont in 1837, and
his grave, with that of his wife and grand-
daughter, is still to be seen on the Belmont estate
I in a clump of oleander trees on a hill between the
homestead and the main road.
His son, James Thomas Bell, continued to re-
side on the Belmont estate. He was for many
years a leading Australian landed proprietor. He
was a local magistrate from 1839 to 1844. The
property afterwards passed into the hands of Mr.
Henry Newcomen, and was subsequently pur-
chased in 1 89 1 by Major Philip Charley, who
made many valuable improvements, including the
erection in 1893 of a fine modern residence which
he called "Belmont House."
Lieutenant Bell's son, Archibald — who mar-
ried Frances, a daughter of Captain North, of the
Imperial Army, who was a respected citizen and
for many years a leading magistrate of
New South Wales — won fame by his ex-
ploring feats in the early days. A few years
after Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth crossed
the Blue Mountains (in 18 13), young Archibald
Bell discovered another road known to this day
as "Bell's Line." This crossed over the Kurra-
jong Mountain, opening out toward Wallera-
wang. This was in 1823. Mount Bell and the
village of Bell (on the western line near Mount
l^fc Victoria) are named after this explorer.
^^^ Bell's Line provided a safe and easier track for
stock. When pastoralism was moving out to
Bthe promised land across the mountains a large
proportion of the settlers' sheep and cattle went
via Bell's Line, and all fat cattle and sheep to
Sydney market until the railway carried them.
I Bell's Line held more facilities for resting
stock than the original route. It avoided the
k
difficult track down from Mount York, which had
to be negotiated before the Victoria Pass road was
made. Visitors nowadays who look askance at
the precipitous old track down the mountain side
at this point wonder how any living thing made
the descent. They can realise why the stock-
owners preferred to travel by Bell's Line. In
this way they can appreciate what the value of its
discovery was to the colony in early days.
The coming of the railway naturally robbed
Bell's Line of its usefulness. Its fame as a
colonial highway has departed, but it was one of
the highest achievements of pioneering days, and
associated its discoverer for all time with the
development of the pastoral industry.
Archibald Bell, junior, was the first to have
stock taken from the Hawkesbury to Hunter
River. It was he who, after discovering and
marking Bell's line of road over the Blue Moun-
tains from Kurrajong towards Bathurst, meeting
the Blaxland-Lawson line near the Western Fall
of the mountains at a place since named Bell
after him, immediately started on another ex-
ploration from his father's home, "Belmont," to
the Hunter River, following on the track of Howe
and Singleton, and came upon them, camped on
the banks of the Hunter at Patrick Plains, after-
wards called Singleton. The explorers were out
of rations and supplies. For this work he was
granted 1,000 acres of land on the Hunter River,
which he took up and occupied and named
"Corinda." This property was seven miles
below Patrick Plains.
We have before us a copy of the original diary
which Archibald Bell, the younger, kept during
his explorations when he discovered the track over
the Blue Mountains. His first expedition started
on August 1st, 1823, when he climbed over the
Kurrajong Mountain and plunged into the un-
known interior. So rough was the way, that
only six or seven miles' progress per day could be
made. For five days they pushed on and then
864
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
had to give up the attempt, being unable to find
a safe descent from Mount Tomah. They re-
turned to Belmont, re-equipped, and set out again,
on September ist of the same year, determined to
attempt a passage to Cox River from Richmond.
From Kurrajong they travelled north-west about
four miles to Picture Hill, and then made westerly
till they reached Tomah. Here they found their
previous error had been in trying to open a pas-
sage to the west. Bearing south, they discovered
an easy descent, which brought them over to level
country. In some places this early exploring
expedition had to cut its way through brush for
miles. They pushed on as quickly as possible,
and marked out a road. The diary speaks in glow-
ing terms of the character of the soil on Mount
Tomah, and of the advantages of the new track
for stock traffic. This discovery proved of im-
mense advantage to stockowners in the early
days.
During his stay at "Corinda" Archibald Bell,
junior, explored the country about the heads of
some of the main tributaries of the Hunter
River, and secured a considerable area of free-
hold land called "Milgarra." His was the first
vehicle driven on the Hunter, the country being
very mountainous and rocky. Frequently he
had to take the horses out of the vehicle and let it
down rocky precipes with ropes and chains fas-
tened to trees. Later he made another explor-
ing expedition further up the Hunter River
and took up other grants on the Wybong Creek,
in the Scone district for himself, his father, Cap-
tain Fennell, and Captain Bedwell. He also took
up St. Helliers, adjoining Mussellbrook, for
Colonel Dumaresq.
Owing to the drought and generally depressed
state of the whole country during the 'forties —
when sheep inland were only worth one shilling
to three shillings, and bullocks seven or ten
shillings — he felt it necessary to leave his com-
fortable "Corinda" and take charge of his estate
of "Milgarra" in 1849. Ten years later he
purchased "Pickering," on the banks of the
Hunter from Captain Pike, and lived there with
his family until his death in August, 1883.
During his term at "Pickering," he represented
the Upper Hunter district in Parliament and, on
his voluntary retirement, he was appointed to the
Upper House, of which he was a member until
the time of his death.
He bequeathed his property, "Milgarra," to his
two eldest sons, Archibald and George, leaving
"Pickering" to the two younger surviving sons,
F. S. and H. W. Bell. The new owners q^
"Pickering" shortly after taking over the pi^|<
perty, joined two of their immediate neighbors
in the first experiment of shipping live cattle to
England. It was, however, anything but a
financial success, though the animals shipped in
Sydney arrived well and sound in England. The
expenses consumed about 70 per cent, of the
proceeds.
Pickering Estate this year (1917) has passed
into the hands of the sons of F. S. Bell, great-
grandsons of Lieutenant Archibald Bell. The
other property, "Millgarra," is one of the very
few estates still owned by descendants of thf
original grantee.
Pure-bred Red Durham Oattle at Pickering
"COX'S PASS"
AND SOME ACCOUNT OF AN EARLY PIONEERING FAMILY.
THE history of the Cox family in Australia
dates hack to the first years of settlement
— almost to the days of the First Fleet —
for it was in 1800, and in the first month of that
year, when Lieut. William Cox (with the duties,
if not the rank, of Captain commanding) landed
at Sydney Cove, where the first Australian settle-
ment had its quarters. He was born in England,
at Wimbourne, Dorsetshire, on December 19th,
1764. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth's
Grammar School in his native town, the school
standing on the site of Saint Cuthburga's ancient
nunnery.
Lieut. WUllam Cox
William Cox moved to Devizes, Wiltshire,
when he attained manhood, and married Rebecca
Upjohn, of Bristol, when he was twenty-five years
of age. He was a man of good estate, and
served in the Wilts Militia with many other
country gentlemen, who thus showed their desire
and capacity to serve their country. In 1795 he
■^ joined the regular army, being gazetted an ensign
l^in the 1 17th Foot. About eighteen months later.
at Cork Harbor. In that historic year of '98
the Rebellion in Ireland broke out and the Irish
"rebels" were being transported, on capture, to
Botany Bay, the settlement in that recently
founded British possession on the continent of
Australia, that had been discovered in 1788 by
Captain Cook. One of the parties of prisoners was
sent out in the Minerva (Captain Salkeld), under
the charge of Lieut. William Cox as commanding
officer, with Lieut. Maundrell, of the New
South Wales Corps, as second-in-command. The
Minerva reached Port Jackson safely on iith
January, 1800.
Thus it was that Captain Cox came out to
Australia, where he at once joined the New South
Wales Corps, which afterwards became the 102nd
Regiment. He received the appointment of Pay-
master of the colony in succession to Captain
John MacArthur. The terms offered to these
officers were very good. They were to be first
officers and then colonists. Most of the large
holdings of land in those days, indeed, were
originally Crown Grants to army and navy
officers, freely given by the Government of the
period with the idea of inducing settlement in the
new British colony. Heavily timbered for the
most part, it required pioneers of the right stamp,
who were prepared to live in virgin country, risk
the treachery of natives, and undertake the Her-
culean task of clearing and improving a forested
wilderness. Those were the days of privation
and hard living. Capital was scanty, and a man's
best assets were health, strength, and unbounded
energy. The pioneers often had little or no
money to devote to their strenuous tasks. Labor,
however, was cheap, being comprised for the
most part of "assigned" servants, that is, con-
victs placed at their service.
At this time — the figures actually represent the
position in the previous August— the settlement
had not made much progress; the entire live stock
consisted of about 150 horses, 700 cattle, 5000
sheep, 2700 goats, and 3500 pigs, while the land
under cultivation was less than 10,000 acres,
wheat and maize being the principal crops. But
it was men of the stamp of William Cox who
improved the production of the new colony. He
having meanwhile exchanged into the 68th Foot, did not wait any time before starting his career
he was promoted to a lieutenancy. ■ In 1798 he as a colonist and producer, and in so doing made
received the important appointment of paymaster a characteristic move.
IH recep
86s
866
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
He purchased Brush Farm, on the Parramatta
River, which was then for sale. It was only a
hundred-acre place, but at that time there was
so little cleared land in the colony that it seemed
spacious. He had "assigned" servants handed
over to him, and with them he set resolutely to
work, and soon turned Brush Farm into a model
property. We read in his biography of his early
William Cox, Jimr.
struggles against the enemies of the farmers — rust,
blight, floods, hailstorms, fires, and insects — but
he succeeded in spite of all. In the twenty months
or so to October, 1801, the farm had been much
increased, and is thus referred to in the Public
Records: "Mr. Cox purchased from settlers 1380
acres — 400 cleared, 248 acres wheat and maize,
24 horses, 20 head of horned cattle, 1000 sheep,
and 200 hogs." It will thus be seen that this
pioneer had early become a considerable property
owner.
He also purchased Canterbury Farm, adjacent,
from the Rev. Mr. Johnson, who made a fortune
early — not exclusively out of the oranges — and
retired from farming. In 1802 Mr. Cox was
employing no men, the largest establishment in
the colony, and they were a contented and pros-
perous community. The Government was always
glad to purchase all the wheat grown at los.
the bushel, and stock was also very dear. A
brood mare was quoted as being worth £100 to
£150, a cow from £30 to £50, and sheep from
£3 to £4. So farming and stock-raising were
profitable.
Captain MacArthur had taken up the cele-
brated "Cowpastures" estate, where the herd of
wild cattle was found, and Camden Park in 1805,
but the valley of the Mulgoa was still unoccupied.
Two sons of William Cox — George and Henry,
fine strapping young fellows — heard of good
agricultural and pastoral country there, and went
out to view it. They were attacked by blacks,
but eventually reached and took up the country
with their father's help, calling it "Littlefields''
and starting a dairy farm there in 18 10.
When Captain Waterhouse, who had a very
valuable flock of Spanish merinos which he had
imported from the Cape of Good Hope, left the
colony, he sold part of his flock, which had done
well, to William Cox, who took them to his
property at Canterbury until he sent them to
Mulgoa. There Mr. George Cox then started
sheep-breeding as the premier industry, and
bought some excellent Rambouillet merino ewes
from Sir John Jamieson, of Regcntville, and a
number of rams from Mr. Riley, of Raby. Thus
was laid the foundation of the fine breed of sheep
which made the name of Cox prominent in the
list of sheepbreeders, and this at a time when
there were not more than 6,000 sheep in the
colony, chiefly of the hairy Bengal breed, useful
only for meat, and not more than 500 prime
merinos.
At this period, too, the limits of the colony
of New South Wales were arbitrarily fixed by
the great range of the Blue Mountains, which
rose from the Nepean River close to the Mulgoa
Valley, and had defied the efforts of many in-
trepid explorers to cross the barrier. In 18 13
John Cox
"COX'S PASS"
867
rp
however, Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth
achieved the hitherto impossible. Governor
Macquarie then sent Surveyor Evans to report
on the lands thus revealed, and when a favor-
able report was received he looked about for a
man capable of superintending the making of a
road across the mountains.
William Cox had sold his Brush Farm and
Parramatta properties and had moved to Claren-
don, near Windsor. He was then the Chief
Magistrate of the district, and when he offered
his services as superintendent of the road they
were readily accepted, as he was persona grata
with the convicts who must supply the necessary
labor. To him, then, in 18 14, the Governor
entrusted the task of constructing a carriage road
from Emu Plains, on the left bank of the Nepean
River, across the Blue Mountains, to "that fine
tract of country to the westward of that dis-
covered lately by Mr. Evans." He was given
thirty laborers and a guard of eighty soldiers,
adequate provisions, stores, and implements. On
July nth, Mr. Cox prepared for his task by
converting a cart into a caravan to sleep in, as
well as to carry his personal luggage; on July
17th he left Clarendon, and two weeks later he
was able to report that the workmen were going
on with much cheerfulness and doing their work
well, though the timber was both thick and heavy,
the bush strong and thick, and the roots hard to
grub up. The weather proved generally fine,
except for occasional hurricanes, and during
most of the time cold; there was some sickness
among the men but no fatalities, in spite of the
great rocks of the mountains, which proved
"uncommon hard and flinty." The task was
completed satisfactorily on January 14th, 1815,
and in April of that year Governor Macquarie
drove his carriage over the loi^ miles of the
new highway, from Emu Ford to Bathurst, 145
miles from Sydney. Then began a new era in
the history of New South Wales and, indeed, of
ustralia.
When the Governor, on that inaugural drive,
reached the river on the far side of the range,
he named it, after the man who had bridged it,
the Cox River. He also gave the name of Cox's
Pass to that precipitous part of the road that
winds down 676 feet of the ridge of the moun-
tain at Prince Regent's Glen, leading to a valley
of good pasture land and soil fit for culti-
vation. He made to Mr. Cox, in consideration
of his gratuitous services as superintendent, a
grant of land on Bathurst Plains, on the right
bank of the Macquarie River, which the new
owner named "Hereford." He also sent him
an official letter of thanks. Mr. William Cox
accompanied the Governor and Mrs. Macquarie
I.
on their official drive over the new road. Mr.
Oxley and Mr. Evans were also of the party.
William Cox's sons also took important parts
in the development of New South Wales. When
William Lawson returned to Bathurst after his
unsuccessful attempt to cross the Liverpool
Range, he gave a glowing account of the grand
country he had seen. This stirred the ambition
of George and Henry Cox, and they volunteered
to join Lieutenant Lawson in taking up the land.
The agreement made between them was that the
Messrs. Cox were to take all the land on the
south bank of the Cudgegong River and Lawson
would take all that was on the north. This was
ninety years ago, and the party set out courage-
ously into the strange, roadless domain of the
wild blackfellow, on horseback, and with their
flocks and herds, their waggons and household
goods, and a goodly store of provisions and other
necessaries. These were indeed the pioneers.
The party moved down to a waterhole which
the blacks called Mudgee and camped there in
1822. The town of that name now covers the
site of the old camp, which is 190 miles from
Sydney. Nowadays Mudgee is a considerable
town, and a busy one, the thriving centre of a
great district devoted to sheep-breeding and agri-
culture, with a population of 4,000 prosperous
people. George Cox made his home at Burran-
dulla, one of the finest places in the colony.
Some three miles down the Cudgegong River a
hut and yards were erected as an outstation by
George Cox on a pretty place of park land which
he called "Menah."
In the meantime, William Cox had established
a station near the junction of the Cudgegong and
Macquarie Rivers and called it "Burrandong,"
and his son George made his home there.
William Cox also took up land at Coolah in asso-
ciation with Lieut. Lawson, and his son George
was soon across the range, by the Pandora Pass,
where he took up "Garrawilla" and "Nombie,"
which Oxley, the Surveyor-General, had first seen
and named Lushington Valley.
In 18 19 Mrs. William Cox died, leaving five
sons, and two years later Mr. Cox married again,
adding to his family three sons and a daughter.
William Cox died in 1837 at the age of 72 years,
leaving behind him a reputation second to none
among those grand old pioneers who laid the
foundations of the Mother State. His numerous
sons, too, left their names on the records of the
early pastoral development of the State, and
themselves left large families of worthy descen-
dants to the present generation. It may be briefly
stated that of William Cox's first family William
Cox, junr. — who had remained in England and
served as a young officer in the Peninsula War —
came out to New South Wales and married the
868
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
daughter of Captain Piper, after whom Point
Piper, Sydney, was named. He founded Hobart-
ville, near Windsor, and afterwards took up
station properties near Muswellbrook and near
Warrialda. George inherited Clarendon (which
Chas. H. Cox, J.P.
was afterwards sold by his son, Charles Claren-
don, to Mr. Arthur DIght), and himself founded
Wimbourne. He maried Elizabeth, the daughter
of Lieut. Archibald Bell, of "Bell's Line" fame.
James went to Tasmania and founded Clarendon,
near Launceston. Henry possessed much property
in the Mudgee district. Edward lived and died
at Mulgoa. Of the second family, Edgar in-
herited "Hereford." Thomas became a clergy-
man and went to England; he inherited some
Sydney city property from his father. Alfred
became the owner of "Burrandong," but sold it
and settled in New Zealand. The daughter mar-
ried Captain Isherwood and moved to England.
All of William Cox's family left many worthy
descendants. A few of these only can be men-
tioned— E. K. Cox (the stud-breeder). Dr. James
C. Cox (President of the Fisheries Commission),
sons of Edward Cox, one of whose daughters
married the Earl of Lindsay; the Hon. George
H. Cox, J. D. Cox (of Cullenbone), A. T. Cox
(of Mudgee), and Chas. Clarendon Cox (of
Broombee), all sons of George Cox. Of the
third, fourth, and fifth generations there are fully
five hundred. Burrandulla and Oakfields, at
Mudgee, are still held by members of the Cox
family, but the pressure of population around the
inland towns has forced the pastoralists to take
up more distant country. Descendants of Wil-
liam Cox the elder are now settled in Queensland
and in the northern parts of New South Wales.
Charles Hobart Cox, J.P., of "The Oaks,"
Muswellbrook, is the third son of John Cox, who
was the second son of William Cox, junr., of
Hobartville. The latter married his cousin,
Georgina, the daughter of George Cox, of Wim-
bourne, who had married Miss Bell and had eight
sons and four daughters. John Cox had Negoa,
near Muswellbrook, which still belongs to hyj
three daughters, and also the Well Station, ali^l
near Muswellbrook, of which his son, Charles
Hobart Cox, bought half at his father's death
and named "The Oaks," there being many oaks
growing in the creek which runs through the pro-
perty. It is nine miles from Muswellbrook, and
consists of 3,500 acres of basalt country, undu-
lating, with creek flats, and is timbered with box
and currajong, with a sprinklin<T of ironbark. It
carries a good flock of Lincoln crossbred sheep,
and a few cattle and horses.
John Alan Holiart Cox
The owner of "The Oaks" has three sons and
a daughter, the two elder sons being abroad on
active service. The eldest, John Alan Hobart,
enlisted in 1915, was in the Gallipoli campaign
to the evacuation, and is now serving in Palestine
with the gun squadron of the 4th Light Horse
Brigade. Charles Hobart Cox, junr., enlisted in
January, 19 17, and is with the Australian Field
Artillery in France. The youngest son, Rex
Hobart, is 18 years of age, and is assisting his
father at "The Oaks." Mr. Cox, indeed, comes
of a military family, several of his immediate
ancestors having served in the British army besides
those already mentioned, and there are now fully
fifty members of the Cox family on active service
abroad, while many have made the great sacrifice.
THE
AUSTRALIAN PASTORAL LNDUSTRY
870
W© /::3ig toiirafesGeir'oD DEKaligsiF^
AND SOPIE OF ITS LEADING SPIRITS
^
THE history and romance of ranching have
become a feature of American hterature.
The romance and history of the Austra-
han stations remain largely unwritten. But there
are volumes In them, full of adventure and brave
human effort. They have their heroes and hero-
Ines — as interesting as the fine lads and fair
adies of Texas and Old Virginia.
When the commonplace of a pioneering
(veryday has been mellowed by time, Aus-
ralian writers of the Winston Churchill type will
urn as naturally to station life for theme and
nspiration as American authors have turned
to the planters' life of Old Virginia. They will
find in it pabulum for stirring verse and story,
while magazine and book artists of the future will
decorate their dainty pages with many a happy
picture typical of our sunlit Island Continent.
Australia has been, is, and will doubtless con-
tinue to be, the greatest pastoral country in the
world. On this foundation the early prosperity
of the colonies was laid by enterprising minds
of the Captain MacArthur type. On this foun-
dation it is based to-day.
In every State of the Commonwealth wool and
stock are now staple products. One-sixth of
the world's wool is grown in Australia. The
export of beef, mutton, and by-products Is an
enormous and constantly-increasing quantity.
Australian fleeces have long been famous. In
the marts of industry and commerce our staple
product has made us well and favorably known.
Every season buyers from all parts of the
world assemble at various wool exchanges of the
Commonwealth to bid for our fleeces. Being
a rural industry. It has in it more romance than
ordinary modern industrialism.
I
Reserve Stock-Feed on a Blverina Station
871
>
cS
a
s
■c
a
872
:t
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
873
The pastoralists form the richest and most
influential body of employers, and workers con-
nected with this industry have the largest and
most powerful union.
Close to the wall of the shed a long line of
shearers, with stooped backs and bare arms,
greasy with animal fat and perspiration — the
long shafts of the machinery constantly sing-
ing overhead — hour by hour work the cutters, up
and down among the woolly bodies of the most
stupid and profitable of domestic animals.
Boys with baskets, "pickers up," as constantly
rush the freshly-shorn wool to the tables, where
it receives its first classification.
Then comes in turn the baling up of the wool,
its departure from the shed, by railway truck, or
team, or motor lorry, towards whatever port it
is destined for.
Then begins, with the major portion of our
most valuable national product, the excitement
of the wool sales, the dumping and stevedoring
and shipping — all delightfully interesting and
gratifying to Australian eyes.
The wool season for 1914-1^ — the first year
of the war — was entirely satisfactory, a proof
that the foundations of our wool trade are solidly
based.
A Beef Shorthorn
P
^^H There is no scene more typical of Australian
^^Bife and character than a big shearing shed in
^^B>peration.
'^" Since the introduction of machines these estab-
lishments have undergone a great change, which
is reflected in the habits of shearers and their
associates. A shed such as Yanco covers ten
thousand square feet of space. Clean pens,
modern fittings, sanitary surroundings, lifts, elec-
tric light and power make a shed nowadays more
like a barber's shop on a large scale.
At these emporiums in the remote Australian
interior there gather annually regular companies
of shearers, rouseabouts, offsiders, and fillers of
various functions in the economy of the trade.
Then begin a great bustle, a burr of machinery,
a yapping of sheep-dogs, the shouts of drovers,
the ascending song of human effort.
Across open plains, where grow the bright
green drooping wilga and the dark green cypress
pine, sheep by the thousands are being driven,
iwith long greasy fleeces ready for the shears.
p Each silly-looking sheep in turn sits for a little
time with crossed feet in the shearer's arms,
while the cutters are applied to his surface by
expert hands. Then, his natural covering re-
moved— mayhap sections of his skin with it —
bare, humiliated, and monotonously comical, he
is turned out down the shoot to go back and grow
I wool for another season, or to be converted into
Windmill and Sheep-Trough, Yooroohla, N.S.W.
09
cf
S
u
o
o
874
THE AUSTRALIAN PASTORAL INDUSTRY
875
Private Bridge over the Light River, Anlaby Estate, S.A.
No matter what calamities have overtaken
civilization, people must have clothes, blankets,
and other essentials of woollen manufacture.
BThe value of the Australian wool clip for the
eason ending 30th June, 19 16, was well over
26,899,000 sterling. Record values for sheep
obtained owing to shortage of lambs and increased
requirements. All the wool produced in Austra-
lia, saving only about 3^ per cent, used in the
|^H>cal manufactories, is exported.
So far the State of New South Wales has
led the Commonwealth in sheep production.
4,176,000 of the 10,239,000 sheep slaughtered in
the Commonwealth in 1915 were bred in the
.Mother State.
"In all the States," says our Federal Statis-
tician, "considerable attention is now being paid
to the breeding of a class of sheep that will best
meet the requirements of consumers. Crosses
between the Merino and the Lincoln, or between
the Merino and the Leicester breeds, have proved
exceedingly valuable, as they furnish both a good
quality of wool and also an excellent carcase for
export purposes. The breeding of Shropshire
and Southdown sheep with a view to combining
meat production with that of wool is also on the
increase. Special attention is being paid to the
raising of lambs for the home markets, as it is
becoming very widely recognised that with suit-
able breeds, the export trade in lambs is a very
rofitable one."
Under a Federal Act of 1907 bounties are pay-
able on Australian combed wool or tops exported,
£10,000 per annum being the maximum sum
available to any exporter.
M
^
In 20 years — 1895 to 19 15 — the quantity of
Australian wool sold locally more than doubled,
and the export vastly increased. Sheepskins to
the value of over £9,000,000 sterling were ex-
ported during the last five years of that period.
The next twenty years should see an enormous
expansion of the industry.
Were it not that this compilation has a definite
mission before it, its author would have de-
lighted to present a less serious aspect of the
great primary industry on which the prosperity
of Australia largely rests. Down our mighty
Southern plains, along our cool tablelands, over
our Northern downs and out across the Centre
and the West, the sheep and cattle runs, which
make our wealth and pride, await the pen of
artistic description and historical interest.
But that story may not be fully told within
the covers of our present volume. Unable
therein to compile a complete history of Austra-
lian pastoralism, the publishers have confined
this section to a limited number of examples of
enterprise and success.
The families, of whom a brief personal history
is given here, have done well by Australia and
deserve well of it. They have been among our
strongest and most resolute pioneers, and such
rewards as they may have won are no more than
their due.
Although a persistent advocate of closer
settlement, the author recognizes the incalculable
asset such men and women make to a new coun-
try. Furthermore, he is gratified to think that,
by materially recognising a publication which has
been intended for the benefit of all Australia,
876
■
THE AUSTRALIAN PASTORAL INDUSTRY
As the Pastoral Industry is in many aspects of
a highly technical nature, the author has had
associated with him in the compilation of this
section Mr. R. J. Withers, Secretary to the Syd-
ney Wool-Selling Brokers' Association, and an
expert writer on the kindred suhjects of stock
and wool. Mr. Withers has spared neither time
nor effort to bring to the pastoral pages of this
book the exactness without which they would be
of little value to those who are interested ia
stock-breeding and the qualities and values oj
Australian sheep and wool.
P!
A South) Australian Pastoral: Keynetou
these good Australians have become de facto
active agents for immigration and settlement,
and have in a majority of cases expressed a will-
ingness to supply information and advice through
correspondence or otherwise to intending
settlers.
To Mr. P. J. Nally, of Queensland Govern-
ment Tourist and Intelligence Department, the
author is indebted for some of the data concern- '
ing Queensland pastoralists. ^m
Mr. H. N. Maitland acted as pastoral inter-" ^
viewer throughout, and has travelled thousands of_
miles through the sheep and cattle district^
enlisting the support and assistance of prominer
pastoralists.
The articles may be accepted therefore as
correct record of the life and labors of those lead-
ing spirits whose enterprise calls for inclusion here,
and an exact result of costly experiments made
by enthusiasts in the improvement of flocks
and fleeces which have made Australia famed as
the foremost producer of mutton and wool in
the world. That part may prove somewhat tech-
nical to the average reader, but it is of intimate
interest to thousands of Australians, and a section
under this heading would be incomplete without
its inclusion.
Romney Marsh Ewes and Lambs, Victoria
The Homestead, North Yanco Station
SIR SAMUEL McCAUGHEY, M.L.C.
NORTH YANCO
SQUARE-SHOULDERED, with a strong
head set firmly, I can see the figure of
this remarkable man as he sat in an easy-
chair in his fine dining-hall at Yanco before a
bright log-fire one winter's evening six years ago.
I had come down from the great storage basin
at Burrinjuclc with a Commission from the Gov-
ernment of New South Wales, to inspect and
describe the second biggest irrigation proposition
in the world. For years I had made a close study
of irrigation and, during a 1,500 mile motor-boat
journey down the Murray River, had but recently
examined some of its possibilities.
I he name of Sir Samuel McCaughey had
been, of course, pre-eminent among the pastoral
kings of Australia, but it was also well and hon-
orably known in the history of pioneer efforts to
make irrigation in Australia a practical success.
The man had a vivid human interest for me, as
he sat there in his chair with the firelight on his
As I studied the face — a strong North of Ire-
land face (he was born in Ballymena, in the
County of Antrim in 1835) — I saw therein cer-
tain lines which betokened the qualities of the
man. Here was a staunch, inflexible type which
would achieve success anywhere, but in a country
like Australia, where the best man is given every
chance to win, its success was only a matter of
time.
Such men as Sir Samuel McCaughey create
opportunity, if it happens to be denied them.
Rich enough to be independent of criticism, they
are free to pursue national ideals or persona!
philanthropies as no party-politician or paid
advocate is permitted to do. Strong enough to
defy public opinion where they consider public
opinion to be in error, their worldly success makes
finally for the benefit and betterment of a com-
munity. The good work they frequently do is
unknown to a hydra-headed public, but their
face. He had risen by sheer brains, courage, and marks must be indelibly impressed upon the plas
financial genius from the position of station over- tic material of a nation still in the making,
seer to the much-criticised but universally-coveted No man has occupied a more prominent posi-
prosperity of a millionaire. tion in the pastoral industry of the mother State
877
878
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
during the past half-century than Sir Samuel
McCaughey. Few men have displayed as much
enterprise or achieved such material results.
Although he has gradually retired from pastoral
pursuits and disposed of a large number of his
station properties owing to advancing years, he
The Hon. Sir Samuel McCaughey, M.L.C.
has lived to see the successful outcome of his
efforts and the materialisation of many of his
industrial schemes.
His uncle, Mr. Chas. Wilson, preceded him
as a settler in Victoria, where he had been asso-
ciated with his brothers, John and Alexander,
for fifteen years before revisiting Ireland in 1855.
On his return to Australia he was accompanied
by his nephew, Samuel McCaughey, then a young
man of twenty.
He was placed by his uncle on Kewell, a station
in the Wimmera district of Victoria. For two
years he filled the position of overseer, and for
a further two years he made an efl'icient manager.
His whole heart and soul were in the work. He
early displayed a particular aptitude for pastoral
pursuits. It was his metier, his inspiration, his
gift. Genius gains strength by knowledge. The
young manager determined to gain all the experi-
ence possible. In those four years in the Wim-
mera district he acquired the "colonial experi-
ence" which alone was necessary to supplement
the energy and resourcefulness native in him. In
i860 he purchased Coonong, Narrandera, as well
as an interest in Singorimba, a property of 40,000
acres adjoining Goolgumbla, his partners being
the late Mr. David Wilson and Mr. John Coch-
rane.
The Coonong property was not very highly
improved. It had been a cattle station
exclusively. Owing to a very serious slump about
that time in the value of cattle, it was decided
to sell off and stock up with sheep. The herd
was cleared out at ruinous prices. A few years
later Mr. Wilson sold his third interest to Mr.
Cochrane, who for a year longer held a two-
thirds share in the properties and then sold out
to Mr. McCaughey.
Becoming sole owner, Mr. McCaughey put
forth his best endeavours to improve the place.
In the face of great financial difficulties he con-
structed tanks and dams, erected fences, and
stocked up. It was some years before Coonong
became a profitable proposition. The key of the
whole matter lay in improving the water supply,
as the Colombo and Coonong Creeks were fre-
quently dry, the latter for a dozen years at a 1
stretch. Thus the place in its original state was
a rather risky pasturage for sheep. Mr. Mc-
Caughey, however, set to work to improve the
natural resources in this respect. In conjunction
with the late Sir Samuel Wilson, he started out
to deepen the intake of the Yanco (of which
Colombo Creek is a branch) from the Murrura*f
bidgee.
He persevered in the work of water conserva-
tion, and eventually proved what splendid results
could be achieved by irrigation in the more arid
districts of Australia. This may be ranked -
among the greatest achievements of Sir Samuel
McCaughey's life. It was due to his efforts that
the great Burrinjuck irrigation scheme finally
emerged from theory to reality.
His work in water conservation has earned
him a place as a seer— one who plans for genera-
tions unborn. He was appointed to the Legis-
lative Council of New South Wales in 1899 and
was created a Knight Bachelor in 1905.
As a sheepbreeder, Sir Samuel McCaughey
has shown the greatest enterprise and a deter-
mination to spare neither trouble nor expense in
improving the breed of merinos. The first pur-
chases of importance in connection with the
Coonong ffock were made from Widgiewa, then
owned by Mr. Cochrane. These were old ewes
of large frame and excellent quality of wool. To
SIR SAMUEL McCAUGHEY, M.L.C.
879
i
The Homestead, Coonong
impreve the Hock he purchased rams from the
late Nicholas Paget Bayly, of Havilah, one of
the most celebrated breeders of his day, also
from the late Mr. R. Q. Kermode, of Mona
Vale, Tasmania. In 1866 he followed up these
purchases by securing a couple of renowned Ercil-
doune rams, the wool of which was conspicuous
for its lustre and softness. Mr. McCaughey,
however, considered the fleeces too open for cen-
al Riverina, and the Ercildoune rams were suc-
eded by two Tasmanian rams bred by the late
on. James Gibson, of Belle Vue, Epping, Tas-
mania, the breeder of the celebrated ram, "Pre-
dent," sold for 1600 guineas.
In 1873, having acquired extensive stations in
the Riverina, Mr. McCaughey returned to the
Bayly blood for a further infusion by buying 200
rams. In 1874 he made a further purchase of
1,000 rams, and in 1875 he bought the whole of
the season's output — 2,000 head.
Exhaustive experiments followed for the pur-
pose of ascertaining the best type of sheep for
his country, and extensive purchases were made
of the finest specimens of sheep raised in New
South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria, and Queens-
land, price being a secondary consideration when
a good ram was offered. Rams were bought
from Mount Fyans, Jellallabad, Nareeb Nareeb,
and East Talgai. The best results were obtained
from the rams from East Talgai and Nareeb
areeb.
In 1882 he purchased an excellent sire from
Messrs. Austin and Millear, of Wanganella.
The hoggets by this ram were so satisfactory that
Mr. McCaughey purchased ten two-tooth Wan-
ganella rams, which had been exhibited at the
Deniliquin show that year, for 4,000 guineas.
The next purchase was a number of young rams
i^^from Boonoke. In 1885 three stud sheep exhi-
■■tited at the Deniliquin show gained three first.
two champion, and two grand champion prizes,
besides innumerable other prizes, at Wagga and
Narrandera. The exhibit of Coonong sheep at
the Philadelphia Exhibition in 1876 was awarded
a bronze medal.
In 1883 Mr. McCaughey bought at the Sydney
stud-sheep sales ten Calif ornian rams — three of
Rambouillet strain and the balance of pure Ver-
mont blood. So pleased was the flockmaster with
results, that he visited America for the purpose
of securing the best sheep he could purchase.
With the aid of Mr. E. N. Bissel and Mr. Wm.
Chapman, he went round the best flocks and
secured some of the finest sheep in the State of
Vermont. It was admitted that he devastated
the stud flocks of the very finest specimens of
their pure full-bloods. In only one instance did
he fail to secure an animal selected, and in that
case no money would tempt the owner to part with
the ram in question. Mr. McCaughey's first
shipment was 120 ewes and 92 rams; his second
shipment numbered 310. Among the sheep
selected were some from the Stickney stud,
which dates back to 1834. Besides these direct
shipments Mr. McCaughey secured the pick of
several shipments of American sheep, in all about
100, for the Coonong flock.
Turbine Windmill, Coonong
88o
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
With the progeny of these sheep he became
invincible in the show ring, and for years he
occupied the premier position at the Sydney Sheep
Show — winning championships every year. So
great was his success that the show came to be
regarded by many as a "one-man affair." In
the interests of the Association Mr. McCaughey
generously decided to stand down for a few years
and allow others to secure the coveted honors.
comparing favorably for size of carcase, length
of staple and plain bodies with the best in Aus-
tralia. For many years he bred all the rams
required for his own stations, which meant some-
thing like 2,400 rams a year, and also sent drafts
for sale at the Sydney Stud Sheep Fair, which
realised satisfactory averages.
Coonong, the central pivot of Sir Samuel's
sheepbreeding operations for many years, is on
Blacksmith's Shop, Upper Yanco Station
As years went on, the Coonong flockmaster
found that other considerations besides wool were
coming to the front in the pastoral world. In-
stead of making the weight of fleece the all-
important consideration. Sir Samuel realised that
a larger carcase must be grown, because mutton
was becoming a great factor in profitable sheep-
breeding. He set to work therefore with char-
acteristic enthusiasm to evolve a larger-framed
type and, by extensive purchases of Wanganella,
Boonoke, and South Australian sheep, he
achieved his object, the resultant sheep soon
the Riverina plains, ten miles from Urana anc
thirty miles from Jerilderie. He transformed
it from a cattle station into one of the most highly
improved sheep-stations in New South Wales.
Goolgumbla, until recently the property of Sir
Samuel McCaughey, comprised 120,000 acres,
and was purchased in 1872 from Sir Samuel
Wilson. It lies forty miles from Jerilderie. Its
successful management is largely due to Sir
Samuel McCaughey's enterprise in providing
water facilities to what was once a waterless dis-
trict with no permanent creeks. Large tanks,
SIR SAMUEL McCAUGHEY, M.L.C.
88i
Era Grader, making Drains, Upper Yanco Station
dams, and sub-artesian bores and wells solved
the problem.
The tanks, pro\Ided with suitable drains, are
dependent on rain water, while a big supply is
pumped from the wells. At one of these a 5 in.
centrifugal pump is installed, with a capacity of
2,600 gallons per hour; while at the other is a
4 in. water-lifter with a capacity of 10,000 gal-
lons per hour. Eighteen of the tanks can be
filled from these two wells.
Sir Samuel recently sold Goolgumbla to Mr.
G. E. Stuart. The Goolgumbla flock, when Sir
Samuel owned it, comprised 82,000 sheep. Ori-
ginally it was of the Vermont strain, but subse-
quently Boonoke and Wanganella rams were
used with marked success. In 1880 Sir Samuel
purchased Toorale and Dunlop on the Darling,
together with other leases in that district, amount-
ing in all to three million acres, and carrying
260,000 sheep. After holding these places for
thirty-two years he sold out in 191 2 for £250,000
to Messrs. Robinson and Vincent, who had man-
aged the properties for him for many years. In
1 88 1, in partnership with Messrs. H. and J-
Stuart, he purchased Rockwood in Queensland,
and subsequently added Barenya, Antrim, and
[Tower Hill, in all about 600,000 acres.
In 191 1 these properties were sold for
1260,000. In 1882 he purchased Coree, Denili-
uin, and about eight years later sold it to his
brother, the late Mr. David McCaughey. He
also owned 2,000 acres north of Narrandera and
Bonus Downs station in the Mitchell district of
Queensland.
.^- In 1900 Sir Samuel purchased North Yanco,
l^psituated 15 miles from Narrandera, and com-
prising 100,000 acres, from Messrs. H. and C.
Douglas. Recognising its peculiar adaptability
for irrigation, he concentrated all his energies in
this direction, constructing over 200 miles of
channels, by which means he was able to irrigate
40,000 acres when there was a good flow of
water in the Murrumbidgee. During the spring
months he usually had sufficient water to flood
from 10,000 to 20,000 acres. He illustrated in
such a practical way the possibilities of irriga-
tion, that the Government was induced to take
up the Burrinjuck reservoir and Northern Mur-
rumbidgee canal scheme, which has since been
carried to successful completion.
In connection with this scheme Yanco was re-
sumed by the Government; but in recognition of
the good work Sir Samuel had done, the Govern-
ment granted him the use of a block of 30,000
acres during his life-time at a rental. On this
portion he had built himself a noble mansion
some years ago, placed in the midst of beautiful
I
Men's Quarters at North Yanco.
E2
882
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
surroundings. He intended this to be his home
for the rest of his days, and spared no expense
in making it comfortable and a desirable place
in every way. The eight acres immediately sur-
rounding the mansion were carefully graded for
irrigation. As a result the grounds, garden, and
orchard have made marvellous progress. To-
day, where once the occasional sheep grazed
undisturbed, there is a flowering oasis, fed by
many fountains and sweet with the odor of fruit
and flowers. It forms a verdant illustration of
what can be effected by brains and enterprise,
and points to the green and glowing possibilities
which lie ahead of Australia when water-conser-
He carried out more sheep-breeding experi-
ments than most people in his desire to secure the
very best type for his properties. Instead of
clinging tenaciously to one type through thick
and thin he was anxious at all times to experi-
ment. If he made mistakes he was the first to
profit by them.
He has been a very active member of the New
South Wales Sheepbreeders' Association ever
since its foundation, and has occupied the posi-
tion of vice-president for many years. Although,
advancing years naturally restrict his operations!
and movements, he is always a prominent figurej
at the annual Show. No sheepbreeder in Aus-,
Sawmilling Plant, North Yanco Station
vation and irrigation are generally accepted as a
gospel of economic salvation.
From an agricultural point of view. Sir Samuel
in his experiments proved the district to be admir-
ably adapted to the cultivation of wheat, oats,
and lucerne.
The outstanding feature about the career of
Sir Samuel McCaughey is his courageous enter-
prise, his desire at all times to do everything he
turned his hand to thoroughly and well. He has
grudged neither time nor expense in attaining the
desired end. His action in going to America
and paying over £25,000 for Vermont sheep,
buying the best animals he could secure, regard-
less of price, is an illustration of this.
tralia notes more carefully the points of the
exhibits. He is pre-eminently a judge of sheep,
which means something in Australia.
Here are two characteristic incidents in his in-
teresting career. At an annual dinner of the
Sheepbreeders' Association some years ago, a
Ministerial speaker was not enthusiastic about
the construction of certain irrigation works. Sir
Samuel quietly offered to lend the Government
a quarter of a million sterling to carry out the
work. He did not fear to back his faith with
his gold — a characteristic feature of this remark-
ably successful citizen of the Commonwealth.
A few years ago a great rivalry existed in the
show ring between the late J. S. Horsfall, of
SIR SAMUEL McCAUGHEY, M.L.C.
883
Woolshed at North Yanco (45 stands)
fi
Widgiewa, and Sir Samuel McCaughey, of Coo-
nong. For years Mr. Horsfall had to play second-
fiddle to the champion Vermont ram breeder, but
he bought some of the best Coonong sheep, and
eventually succeeded in rivalling his veteran com-
petitor, who had, however, the satisfaction of
knowing that the sheep which had beaten the
Coonong stud were of the same blood.
I The first Coonong sheep when the station was
stocked with sheep came from Widgiewa. Many
years later when the then owner of Widgiewa
wished to breed prize sheep he had to go to
Coonong for his stock.
These are matters of the greatest historical
importance among men who aspire to be
champions of sheep and wool in Australia. The
country has benefited far more by their friendly
rivalry than the people know. True, they have
made personal successes, but they faced, many of
them, in the possibilities of failure, anxieties that
might often have broken the nerves and spirits
of lesser men.
It may justly be said of Sir Samuel McCaughey
that he never sat down to bewail his fate when
conditions were against him; nor did he fol-
low the old blind style of stocking up to the hilt
in good seasons and trusting to Providence that
favorable conditions would continue. He went
rather on the principle that Heaven helps those
.who help themselves, and Instead of praying for
rain he constructed dams to save the rain when
It fell. When the rainfall was not sufficient to
fill his surplus storages, he set to work to tap
artesian supplies and erect windmills to lift the
water from the wells, and canals to carry It where
it was required.
IGoolgumbla, for example, when It came Into
his possession, was a waterless property with no
permanent creeks.
By means of dams and drains constructed at
enormous expense, there is now an abundance of
water for all the sheep this property Is capable
of carrying. At Coonong it was the solving of
the water problem which made the station the
great success it became. Irrigation channels In
every direction pay tribute to the thoroughness
of Sir Samuel's work. At North Yanco, of
course, irrigation Is the strong point. The change
which has been brought about Is entirely due to
the foresight of the veteran Irrlgationist in recog-
nising the suitability of the land for Irrigation.
Sir Samuel has acted on the Idea all along that
It Is man's privilege and duty to complete the
work that Nature leaves unfinished. Instead of
the olden-time cry — heard even now — of "what a
grand place Australia would be If we could only
regulate the rainfall," he proceeded, like a prac-
tical patriot, to conserve the rain that fell and
eliminate waste and loss by Improving the methods
of conservation, storage, and distribution.
In the earlier days of pastoral pursuits. It was
just a question of making the most of good sea-
sons and being ruined by the bad ones. A few
dams were constructed to store some of the rain-
fall; when they dried up the squatter shifted his
sheep or gave up the struggle and watched them
die. But Sir Samuel McCaughey went further
than merely digging dams. He attacked water-
courses, altered channels, widened the intake of
creeks and increased the flow of water throughout
his properties; where there were no creeks to
carry the water he constructed channels. At first
the ideas were crude; but so successful were the
schemes that he was encouraged to look further
ahead and evolve bigger plans for water-conser-
vation and irrigation. He selected properties
that were reduced in value and carrying capacity
on account of their comparative dryness, and by
884
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
his brainy schemes of water-conservation and
irrigation converted them into heavy carrying
country. Herein lies the secret of his greater
success.
Naturally, he reaped his revi'ard, the result of
his policy being to convert large arid areas, which
in their natural condition were mere death-traps,
into well-watered properties — a policy which, so
far as water-supply was concerned, enabled him
to defy practically any drought. It transformed
pastoral enterprise in dry districts from what were
really reckless gambles, into reasonable business
propositions. Few, if any, men connected with
the pastoral industry spent money upon improve-
ments with such a liberal hand, and, if the proof
of the pudding be in the eating, the course
adopted was a very wise one. In connection with
this point, it is a matter of much interest, both pub-
lic and private, to note that the wealth accumula-
tions of Sir Samuel McCaughey are represented
by little or nothing of what is called "unearned
increment." In other words, if to the price he
paid for a property (either to the Crown or a
private person) be added the amount he expended
upon improvements, it would be found that the
aggregate of the two sums would at least equal,
in probably every instance, the price at which he
sold — or could sell — the property. The history
of Sir Samuel's enterprise contains no instance of
where, having bought land at a low price, he has
secured, on sale, a largely increased price as a
result of enhanced unimproved value. That is
to say, Sir Samuel's money has been made, not
out of successful land speculations, but out of
breeding stock and growing wool.
Sir Samuel McCaughey has not been slow to
appreciate and encourage brains and enterprise
wherever he has come across them. The fact
that several of his managers and overseers be-
came his partners in pastoral ventures, is an in
stance of this. Some of the deals which turned
out his best investments were those into which
he admitted men in his employ as partners and
financed them in large unimproved properties.
The continual improvement was not confined
to the properties, by any means. Sir Samuel was
experimenting all his life to produce the best type
of sheep and wool. In this direction he showed
quite as much enterprise as in improvements. No
expense was ever spared to secure sheep which
he thought might benefit his flock. No man has
ever conducted more sheep-breeding experiments;
probably no one has ever stood in such a pre-
eminent position as he did during the years that
the Vermont type was highest in public favor.
Sir Samuel was always open to conviction.
When in the fulness of time he was shown that
the Vermont type was not destined to suit Aus-'
tralia as well as other types, he immediately set
about purchasing the best Boonoke and Wanga-
nella sheep available to build up his sheep to the
popular ideal. In this connection he showed his
ability to move with the times, and so retained |
his position in the front rank of successful stud-
sheep breeders.
Though advancing years now limit Sir
Samuel's personal activities, he is still en--
ihusiastic on the subject of sheepbreeding
in Australia, and no one realises better
that the future possibilities of the pastoral
and agricultural industry are boundless, that we
have as yet but scratched the surface of Australia,
and that the real development of the country is
still to come. He has played his part in working,
out the destiny of our Commonwealth, and, after
a life of unusual activity and interest, he is con-,
tent to look back upon a successful career of ex-
treme usefulness to his country and to look hope-
fully to the future to see others continue the
great work of development that he has initiatec
on the lines which he has shown to be correct.
One of Three Haysheds at North Yanco (capacity 800 tons)
1
I
Mr. and Mrs. James Mitchell
TABLE TOP ESTATE.
I
N the pioneering sense, the true spirit of
romance and stern reality were intimately
associated from colonial beginnings in con-
nection with the famous Table Top Estate, a
passing view of which is familiar to passengers
between Melbourne and Sydney by the main trunk
railway. The property lies some few miles
north-east of the pretty border town of
Albury, and is within easy reach of the
historic Murray River, crossing-place of the
greatest of Australian explorers, Hamilton
Hume. Curiously enough, the family whose
name has become indelibly associated with the
Fable Top Estate, and also with the early history
of settlement In this country, became indirectly
connected by marriage with the descendants of the
discoverer of the Murray. Rawdon Hume, the
brother of the explorer, married Mr. James
Mitchell's sister Emma, and William Huon,
brother of Mrs. James Mitchell, married a grand-
daughter of Rawdon Hume.
The real romance of the Mitchells and the
Huons, however, had its beginnings away back in
the tempestuous period of the French Revolution.
Among the fugitives from France at this
time was Ciabriel Louis Huon de Kerilleau — a
member of the French aristocracy, in whose veins
second fleet. The man of royal descent had con-
cealed his identity by taking the name of l.ouis
Huon, and as Louis Huon he enlisted as a private
under MacArthur. Soon after arrival in Aus-
tralia, the commander of the fleet, having dis-
covered that Private Huon was a personage of
some consequence, the emigre was given his dis-
charge, together with a grant of land; and he
subsequently settled in the Shoalhaven district and
devoted himself to the raising of sheep. In that
district Mr. Fluon and his wife founded a family
whose history is largely the history of pioneering
and pastoral development in New South Wales,
and more especially the Riverina.
One of Mr. Louis Huon's grandsons, Mr.
William Huon, took up Wodonga Station — just
across the Murray from Albury — and thus be-
came the first of the pastoralists to follow in the
track of Hume and Hovell and acquire a holding
on the southern side of the river. A daughter
of the same family — Miss Elizabeth Huon — was
born at Parramatta in the last decade of the nine-
teenth century, and in 1813 was married to Cap-
tain Mitchell, a retired naval officer. In the time
of Governor Brisbane they settled on a Crown
grant in the region of Goulburn, and the late Mr.
James Mitchell, who built up and developed
flowed the blood of the Bourbons — and his young Table Top, and made it one of the fmest pastoral
wife, who sought refuge in England, and eventu- properties in the Commonwealth, was their fourth
ally came to Australia with Captain MacArthur's son.
885
886
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
View from Verandah, Table Top Homestead (looking North)
As boys, Mr. James Mitchell and his brothers,
accompanied their mother (then a widow) to
Mungabareena, on the Murray, which station
originally embraced the area which is now the site
of Albury. This property was first taken up by
Mr. Charles Hobson Ebden, a well-known Vic-
torian, but was sold in 1836 to Mr. Charles Huon,
who presented it to his sister, the widow of Cap-
tain Mitchell. Mr. James Mitchell, and his
brothers — Edward, Thomas, and John Huon F.
Mitchell, who is still alive (1917) at the great
age of 86, and resides at Ravenswood, Victoria —
were the first white boys seen on the Murray, and
during their early years were brought into intimate
association with the blacks. The region at that time
was one of the head centres of the great Worad-
gery tribe of aborigines. The white boys soon
made friends with different members of the tribe
and were privileged to accompany them on hunt-
ing and fishing expeditions. In this way they
acquired a considerable inner knowledge of the
habits, tribal rites, and general character of the
blacks, and learnt to speak the Woradgery tongue
with both fluency and accuracy.
For some years Table Top (or Mungabareena,
as it was then called) was managed for his mother
by Mr. Thomas Mitchell, her eldest son. Even-
tually this gentleman took up Tanganbalanga
Station, on the Kiewa River, across the Murray,
but some years later established himself on what
is now another well-known station, Bringenbrong,
picturesquely situated at the junction of the
Swamp and the Indi Rivers, and which is the be-
ginning of the Murray. It was on this property,
which in recent years was celebrated for the pro-
duction of cattle and thoroughbred horses in the
ownership of Messrs. P. and W. Mi»-chell, that
the surviving members of the once great tribe of
Woradgery blacks were given a home to live in
comfort and safety until the end of their days — an
act of generosity and humanity which was but in
keeping with the attitude of the whole of the Mit-
chell family towards a wild race inherently un-
equal to the task of adapting itself to the change
of conditions and whose extinction was conse-
quently only a matter of time. The sole survivor
of this tribe died some years ago on the Murray.
I
TABLE TOP
887
k
Table Top Homestead, looking South
In the meantime the station had been given over
to Mr. James Mitchell by his mother after he
had completed his education at the celebrated
King's School, Parramatta. At that period it
was comparatively an insignificant holding, em-
bracing only about 3,000 acres. In the years
which followed, Mr. Mitchell gradually extended
the area, until it contained some 50,000 acres of
^^beautiful undulating country, varied by hills,
l^pralleys and mountain ranges — the whole present-
ing one of the finest landscape scenes to be met
with in all the fertile region of the RIverina.
At first. Table Top was capable of carrying
only 3,000 sheep. Even after it had been con-
siderably improved and increased in area, it was
still only equal to running from 8,000 to 10,000
sheep; and whenever a dry season of unusual
severity occurred, it was the practice to send the
stock to the mountains for the summer months.
However, with the acumen and the foresight
jHfeKrhich he brought to bear upon all his pastoral
undertakings, Mr. Mitchell systematically set
about the task of overcoming all natural disabil-
i
ities and making the station one of the safest and
most consistently productive in the whole of Aus-
tralia. By degrees, all superfluous timber was
disposed of, natural watercourses were dammed In
suitable and convenient situations, capacious tanks
were excavated, and everything that was humanly
possible was done with the object of making
Table Top self-contained and self-sustaining, even
in the most unpropitious of seasons.
With shrewd judgment and practical ability,
Inspired by the great confidence which he always
had in the future of the district and the country,
Mr. Mitchell went on applying himself energeti-
cally to the purpose of producing high-class sheep,
cattle, and horses; and eventually he had the satis-
faction of realising his aims and his ambitions to
the fullest extent. In due course. Table Top be-
came famous all over Australia, not only for Its
sheep and wool and Its magnificent herd of Devon
cattle, but for Its thoroughbred horses, some of
which made the Mitchell colors popular and
familiar on the principal racecourses of Mel-
bourne, Sydney, and other parts of the country.
888
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
With extensions of area and improvements,
Table Top — which in the course of a decade or so
was made to present more the appearance of a
splendid and spacious park than of a pastoral
holding — was increased to about 50,000 acres and
for many years it carried no fewer than from
50,000 to 60,000 sheep, some 3,000 head of cattle
and a considerable number of horses. As a
matter of fact, it possessed this great capacity
right up to the time when a large portion of the
estate was subdivided and sold for agricultural
purposes.
Mr. Mitchell's thoroughness and practical fore-
sight, aided by sound judgment, enabled him to
make Table Top famous alike for its merino
sheep, its noble herd of Devon cattle, and its high-
class blood-horses. In recent years Mr. James
Mitchell received valuable assistance from his
sons. In connection with the building up of the
fine classes of sheep produced on Table Top, and
whose fleece is frequently to be noted at the head
of the city price lists in the market reports, Mr.
Mitchell was very ably assisted by Mr. Fred. J.
Mitchell, his eldest son. Like his father and
other members of the family, Mr. F. J. Mitchell
is a very keen sportsman. He trains a large
number of horses of his own, and his colors are
well known in Victoria and New South Wales,
but he also takes a great interest in sheep, and to
his skill, judgment, and knowledge is largely due
the distinguished place which the Table Top
flock has won by consistent merit during the past
quarter of a century.
Mr. James Mitchell never took any active part
in public life. But he took a very real interest
in public questions and affairs, and gave generous
aid to every movement which he conceived to be
likely to advance the welfare of the community
and the country. He unostentatiously devoted
much money to charitable purposes, and his bene-
factions to the Albury Hospital alone aggregated
thousands of pounds. Mr. Mitchell died in
1 9 14 in his 79th year. He is survived by his
widow, who was Miss Sarah Jane Huon, a rela-
tion on his mother's side, two sons and six
daughters. The sons are Messrs. F. J. and
Herbert F. Mitchell; and the daughters are
Mrs. J. J. Hore, Mrs. Ray Tovell, Mrs. John
Hill, Mrs. R. A. Houston, Mrs. James Stephen,
and Mrs. A. C. Macmillan. A third son
(Reginald) was killed in a riding accident in
1888.
A man of generous and genial nature and
hospitable instincts, the late Mr. James Mitchell
was held in widespread esteem. Like most of
the men who have lived for many years in intimate
relationship with the great heart of Nature, he
had a genuine love for the bush and wild life.
The fine estate of Table Top will stand
for generations to come as a fitting and noble
monument to the memory of an Australian of the
best type — the type which went forth with in-
vincible spirit, regardless of hardship, personal
discomfort, and peril to conquer the wilderness
and to render incalculable service to the nation
by developing the natural resources of the country.
Table Top Mountain
(Looking North from the Horse Paddock, Table Top Estate)
**" ^*^*^^^ff^^B
^ ^
'"IP. ij
^ m.~ •«ci**' . ,^«^—ts:r.
I^Si^^'^^^kE
1*
^^^Sb^^^ ^ . 'Ifl^^OS
■Hi^faHilkiA.iiMMk,. ^^^^1
Some Murgha Stud Bams
MURGHA
AND ITS PEPPIN-WANGANELLA MERINOS
ABOUT the year 1825, when Australian
wool first came prominently before
British manufacturers — ^with the pros-
pect of adequate future supplies, to render
them independent of foreign countries — grave
anxieties arose in the minds of experts
whether the warmer climate of this country would
seriously depreciate the fleeces before long. Ex-
perience had previously shown, they contended,
that when the fleeces of sheep were carried within
a certain distance of the equator, the character of
the wool was invariably lost, and it gradually
assumed that of hair.
Time proved the pessimists entirely wrong.
To-day — nearly a century since the "warning" was
written — our finest wool is coming from the hot,
dry interior. If there is a tendency to breed a
more robust type of wool at the present period, it
is because our heavy, robust sheep can best with-
stand the vagaries of climate and cut a heavy
fleece of medium wool — -which is very acceptable
to the trade. In other words, it has been found
that it does not pay to push the ideal of fineness
I too far, and the popular sheep to-day is the hardy
"doer" and bale-filler.
Probably, had the sheep been left to them-
selves, the old-time experts might have been right
in Australian sheep-breeding has been the prin-
ciple of selection and the strict, impartial, and
regular culling of the flocks. By this means,
pitfalls which beset the path have been avoided,
and the constitution of our sheep has been built to
fit the land they have to live in.
The sheep raised on Murgha, a stud-station of
36,700 acres, on the Edward River, about 45
miles west of Deniliquin, may be regarded as
typical of the class of animal which yields the big-
gest dividends to-day. This is one of the purest
of the Peppin-Wanganella studs, having been
originally founded by the old-time partnership of
Austin and Millear, who were the purchasers of
the Wanganella estate from Peppin and Sons in
1878.
The Murgha stud was actually founded on a
choice draft from Wanganella, and subsequently
became the property of the late Mr. Albert
Austin, one of the most prominent figures among
the early stud-sheep breeders of Australia. He
in turn disposed of it in 1906 to his sons, A. J.
and H. L. Austin, who secured 75 ewes — being
a fair run of some of the best ewes on Wanga-
nella. Three special stud rams were also pur-
chased from A. Austin, senr., then sole proprietor
of Wanganella. The stud was owned and con-
trolled by the brothers for some years, but the
889
F2
890
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
partnership was eventually dissolved (in 191 2),
and the late Mr. A. J. Austin retained Murgha.
This property consists chiefly of black-soil
plains. It is permanently watered by large
creeks, which run through it and provide ample
the highest point being 450 guineas in 1917. The
sheep have a reputation as great "doers." They
are not pampered in any way, but paddock-fed and
bred to stand the peculiarities of the Australian
climate.
Murgha Stud Bam, No. 7
Murgha Stud Bam (pure Wanganella)
water for irrigation. The homestead, a large
brick building, is pleasantly situated, surrounded
on three sides by fertile gardens. At the rear
flows a large stream, on the banks of which is
erected a large pumping station that gives the
home all the water required.
The Murgha sheep have achieved a great re-
putation, and have been in strong and increasing
demand in all the Australian States and in New
Zealand. They have also been taken in large
numbers for South Africa, giving the very best
results. Considerably over a thousand head
have gone to South Africa, ewes averaging up to
75 guineas. It was Mr. A. J. Austin, indeed,
who was largely instrumental in creating the
present large demand for Wanganella sheep in
South Africa.
The most noted sire on Murgha has been No.
94, a Wanganella ram which produced very high-
class progeny. This ram had a big influence on
the flock. The progeny of Murgha stud are
in the front rank of the big-framed, hardy, robust,
merinos, so generally popular of recent years.
The Murgha stud now has a basis of 6,000
breeding ewes, divided up into the following
denominations: 600 special stud ewes, 1,200
double stud ewes, 900 long-stapled double stud,
1,200 second double stud denser than the first
double stud, 480 of Sir Charles blood — kept
separate — and 1,980 single stud ewes.
Murgha sheep have made some excellent aver-
ages at later annual stud sheep fairs in Sydney,
The property is now in a highly improved state,
and is conducted by the administratrix of the late
Mr. A. J. Austin.
As the Murgha stud has been built up from the
original Wanganella type, it is interesting to note
a few facts not generally known about the pioneers
of these sheep. The Peppins, father and sons,
came from Dulverton, Somerset, England, and
arrived in Australia in 1850. In March of the
following year they purchased Minaluke station,
Mansfield, Victoria, but this venture was not a
financial success. In 1858 they secured the
Murgha Stud Bam (pure Wanganella)
THE MURGHA MERINOS
891
Wanganella property, then a squatting lease, and
founded their famous Wanganella stud in 1861.
After the death of Mr. Peppin, senior, the bro-
thers Peppin carried on the property. They had
had experience with merino sheep in England
before coming to Australia. Their grandfather
in the fronk rank of popular favor. They are
noted for weight of fleece and quality of wool,
and are hardy in the extreme.
The late Mr. A. J. Austin was a man of great
enterprise, who inherited largely his father's
ability to handle high-class sheep. When Mr.
^
^:-.
i
I^B was one of those who procured some of the merino
I^P sheep imported into England from Spain by
George IV., and had bred these animals for some
years with more or less success, although they did
not attain anything like the results that were after-
wards secured in Australia.
Some years after the purchase of Wanganella
by the Peppins, they secured Boonoke and stocked
it with sheep from Wanganella, so that the
Boonoke and Wanganella strains — the two most
famous in Australia to-day — had absolutely the
same foundation stock. On the death of his
brother in 1878, Mr. Frederick Peppin, the sur-
viving partner, sold both properties to wind up
the estate. Wanganella, with its stud flock, was
sold to Messrs. Austin and Millear, and Boonoke
to the late Mr. F. S. Falkiner.
■ In the early 'nineties Messrs. Austin and Mil-
lear, who had in the meanwhile achieved won-
ders in the further development of Wanganella
sheep, founded Murgha stud with some of their
best stock. Subsequently the late Mr. Albert
Austin took over this station. Its history since
I has already been dealt with.
No expense has ever been spared by its owners
in carrying out improvements on Murgha, and in
developing its high-class flock on the most up-to-
Murgha Stud Bam No. 94 and one of Ms Sons
Albert Austin disposed of Murgha to his sons,
Mr. A. J. Austin took second pick with his father
in selecting the flock. All his pick produced
heavier fleeces than those selected by his father.
The special ram picked out by Mr. A. J. Austin
turned out the celebrated "94," which is admitted
to have been one of the best Wanganella-type
rams ever bred.
When, in 19 14, a new sire was sought for the
Murgha stud, the choice was No. 838, a high-
class ram from the late Albert Austin's stud.
Although he did not live long, he left nearly 200
descendants, among which were some "top-notch"
animals. He has been described by the expert
writer, "Bendleby," as "one of the most impres-
sive and valuable of all rams bred in the old
Wanganella stud. He deservedly ranks among
the most famous of all Australian merino sires
from President, Sir Thomas, Donald Dinnie,
Boonoke No. i, and Sir Charles onwards."
Already one of his sons. Clinker, has been sold
for 600 guineas as a yearling. Among the other
sons of 838, the young 15.1 has already made his
mark as a sire, several fine youngsters standing to
his credit in the Murgha stud.
The Murgha sheep are in strong demand nowa-
days. Large numbers are bred and sold. They
have gone all over the Commonwealth, and have
8Q2
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
invariably given satisfaction. In South Africa
they have established a name second to none, and
as a result there is a large and steadily growing
demand for this market.
The development of the Murgha sheep was a
matter of brains, enterprise, and experience. The
late Mr. A. J. Austin was born and reared in the
cult of high-class merino stud-sheep breeding. He
possessed a peculiar native ability which he de-
veloped by long experience and constant practice.
He was a man who aspired to a practical ideal,
and was satisfied with nothing short of its com-
plete attainment.
He bought part of Goolgumbla from Sir
Samuel McCaughey in 191 1, a freehold property
of 14,361 acres named Neyliona. He was
also for a time part owner of Wanganella and
Bringagee stations, and had pastoral interests
also in Queensland.
In tracing the history of these successful Aus-
tralian sheep stations, it can be seen that indivi-
dual courage and initiative have almost invari-
ably met with their due reward. The Common-
wealth owes permanent recognition to the patient
efforts of enterprising citizens, who, generation
after generation, have devoted their labor and
Murgha Stud Ram (pure Wanganella)
capital to the building-up of a foundational indus-
try on which the prosperity of the whole popull^
tion is firmly based.
The owners of Murgha have each in turn
demonstrated that Australia is a good country
for those who will approach its industrial pro-
blems with a wise determination to win.
Some Murgha Stud Ewes
Uardry Homestead
UARDRY, ON THE MURRUMBRIDGEE
It breeds no wasters on its lands —
These wide Australian plains
Are held by strong Australian hands
That firmly grasp the reins ;
Wild horsemen these, who race and wheel
The clustered gums between;
They keep the stirrup to the heel
'Way down in Riverine,
Far out in Riverine;
Undaunted souls and hearts of steel
Are found in Riverine.
— "Bells and Hobbles."
THOUGH explorer Oxley found in it only an
"impenetrable morass," and other pessi-
mists saw it as a "drought-stricken waste,"
this glorious Westland has long become a store-
house of wealth for Australia. Its suitability for
sheep was established in early Colonial days.
P Losses have occurred, mainly through lack of
foresight or knowledge of Nature's laws, but as
the years fell these losses grew less or, at least, in
the light of experience, men learned to provide
.^-against the accident of season.
HP fine fortunes have been made in Riverina, fine
holdings reclaimed from virgin wastes, and fine
I Australians born and reared beneath its clear
invigorating suns.
And we are yet but at the beginning of the
Whether that Future is to be less wheat and more
wool, or more wheat and more wool, does not
matter.
Nothing can alter the fertility and produc-
tivity of this great Western storehouse of
natural wealth. In no other part of Australia
have better results been obtained in the breed-
ing of large-framed, sound-conditioned merino
sheep — carrying bulky fleeces of combing wool of
high character — than on these great saltbush
plains unsuited in the beginning for agriculture,
which have been converted into ideal merino
sheep country. The pioneering studs have at-
tained, by sheer merit of the sheep produced,
the proud position of being recognised as the
aristocracy of the present-day sheep-breeding
industry.
893
894
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
In the central west of the Riverina, on the edge
of the saltbush plains, lies Uardry, the property
of Charles Mills (Uardry) Ltd., one of the
first-flight studs of Australia It comprises
some 70,000 acres, and has a frontage of twenty-
passed (1917). The shed is equipped with
twenty-four stands and a Ferrier wool-press.]
Adjacent are well-constructed and comfortable
men's quarters, and many wood and iron cottage
for station hands.
Uardry Homestead
seven miles to the Murrumbidgee. Flat plains
fall back five miles or so from the river, the
frontage country being composed of red soil with
a clav sub-soil, a fringe of red-gum timber running
along the river bank.
On a slight eminence overlooking a wide
stretch of the river stands the Uardry homestead,
surrounded with fruit, flower, and vegetable gar-
dens. Willows, sugar-gums, silky oak, and other
trees give ample shade. The homestead is a
comfortable old-fashioned bungalow containing
some fifteen living rooms and stores; it is practi-
cally encircled by a twelve-foot verandah.
The woolshed is of iron, and is passed on
the way from the Uardry railway siding,
about three miles from the homestead, and
is nearer the river than the railway so that,
should the roads be bad in wet weather, the wool
is taken to the river bank and loaded direct into
steamers and sent to the Melbourne market via
Echuca, as was done during the season just
Here for upwards of four decades the lat«
Mr. Charles Mills devoted his life to continuou^
and far-sighted improvements in the property
He determined that the most profitable sheep,
not only for the Riverina, but for all the hot
dry districts of Australia, was a large-framed,
roomy animal of robust constitution. He recog-
nised in the Peppin strain the type of sheep he
wanted, and stuck to that blood through th:c|
and thin. His faith in his ideal never wavered
and he lived to see the type he had done so much
to develop and perfect come into the front rank
of popularity, where it has stayed. 9m
The life story of the grand old man of Uardry
is that of a typical Australian pioneer. He
was born in Selkirkshire, and brought up on
his father's Horsburgh Castle farm in Peeble-
shire. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy,
and subsequently had eight years' farming experi-
ence before leaving in 1863 for Australia. Mount
II
UARDRY, ON THE MURRUMBIDGEE
895
Pleasant station, In the north-east of Victoria,
where 30,000 sheep were run on rough mountain-
ous country, gave him his first insight into Aus-
tralian sheep methods, and he later secured an
interest in Morton Plain and Watchem, on the
I
Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Mills
fringe of the Mallee in north-western Victoria, in
partnership with iMessrs. Andrew Neilson and J.
J. Smart. Selling his interest in 1873, Mr. Mills
took a trip to Scotland, and there married a
daughter of the late Mr. John Ainslie, of
Fairfield, near Edinburgh. On returning to
Australia he, with his old partners, purchased
Uardry, and devoted all his abundant energy to
improving the property and its flock. Upon the
death of his partners he bought all the interests
in Uardry and became its sole proprietor.
The late Mr. Charles Mills died full of years
and honors at his Melbourne residence, Toorak,
in 1916. Although in his 84th year, he main-
tained his connection with and interest in Uardry
to the day of his death.
The transformation in Uardry as compared
with the old days, has been accomplished by brains
and capital, and plenty of both. Once the back
country was badly watered, but nowadays Uardry
is one of the best watered and most highly
improved properties in Riverina. The "old man"
saltbush has practically all died out, but creeping
saltbush is plentiful, and, together with sweet
grasses and herbs, irrigated on scientific lines,
make the property an ideal one for merino sheep.
The Uardry flock has the merit of being pure
Peppin blood. It was founded in 1864 by the
purchase of 5,000 four-year-old ewes direct from
the Peppins, of Wanganella, by Messrs. Wragge
and Hearne, who owned Uardry at that
time. This historic purchase also included some
very select rams for use with the ewes, and the
new flock was established at Uardry in 1865.
In the following year the finest ewes were selected
to form a stud flock, and in this manner the owners
bred up to 1876, when Mr. Mills came upon the
scene. From that time to the present day the
same policy of breeding has been followed.
While acknowledging that the Uardry sheep
owe their origin of type to the Peppin strain, there
The Murrumbidgee at Uardry, in Flood
896
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
is a vast difference between the sheep of to-day The breeding flock consists of about 1,200 stud
and the type when the Peppins pioneered it. The ewes, classed into the following grades : — Extra-
Uardry sheep of the present day are wonderfully special studs, special studs, long-wooUed special
uniform, approaching perfection in constitution, studs, medium-woolled special studs, double studs,
frame, and fleece. The experience, skill and first studs, and second studs. From these ewes
Loading Wool for Echuca at Uardry from the bank of the Murrumbidgee River
ability of Mr. Charles Mills and his sons achieved
great things. The late Mr. Ainslie Mills — the
elder son — managed the property for about eight
years after the retirement of his father and upon
i
1
his death in 1908 his brother, Mr. Neilson Mills, the^r purchasers,
took over the management and has carried out
its duties with conspicuous success.
The principal business of Chas. Mills Ltd. is
the breeding of stud sheep. The production of
wool is a secondary interest, though always a
feature necessarily in the dominating character-
istics of the flock. For that purpose the pro-
perty has been subdivided into over 100 paddocks,
each of which is permanently watered. There is
on the property an irrigation plant that waters
about five hundred acres divided into small sec-
tions, where the extra-special studs are bred.
Altogether there are 38 ground tanks, 11 wells
some 4,000 rams are bred annually and — after
some rejects and the special reserves are taken
out, the remainder — which are nearly always
booked up well ahead — are ready for delivery to
The usual prices for Uardry flock rams run
from 4 to 10 guineas. Each year Charles Mills
(Uardry) Ltd. sends to the Sydney Ram Sales a
draft of two-year-olds, which are readily sold up
to high figures.
During the last decade or so a revolu-
tion has been wrought in the character
and softness of Uardry wool, the result of
the persistent process of scientific selection.
No outside blood has been introduced for
over 50 years. The success of the stud is a
triumph for in-breeding on careful lines, and the
splendid development in the character of the wool
is due to careful and expert selection with a
and 15 sub-artesian bores on Uardry, all being definite aim in view
equipped with windmills, supply tanks, and The Uardry wool is very soft and bright and
troughs. of pronounced character. It may be best
UARDRY, ON THE MURRUMBIDGEE
897
illilillililililililililiilillliililililillilil^
iiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiniiiMiiiuiiiiiiiJiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiimiiiuiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiJiiuiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiii^
■■^t^umfm&'Vf^Si--^'^'^ ;
Annual Classing of Young Bams at Uardry
Young Earns brought In to be Classed, Uardry
mi I I
I I
898
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
A Typical Uardry Stud Earn
described as a bold combing wool of medium to
strong quality.
Uardry sheep have not appeared in the Show
ring for many years, but at one time were regu-
larly shown at Hay and won 104 champion and
first prizes and 60 seconds.
Experts have agreed that there are no better-
shaped or better-conditioned merino sheep in
existence than those of Uardry, whilst their pre-
potency is most remarkable. Perfection in the
form of Uardry sheep is due to three causes —
the excellence of the foundation stock, the con-
stant personal supervision of one man (whose
idea of what a merino sheep should be has
stood the test of time), and the suitability of the
country and climate. Experts have been im-
pressed with the breadth of the Uardry sheep
across the top of the shoulder and the depth and
roundness of the barrel.
The owners of Uardry are determined not only
to maintain the present high standard of excel-
lence of their stud, but to even improve it, if pos-
sible, and they will continue to breed for char-
acter in the wool.
Kismet
Uardry Special Ram, 2 years old, grass-fed
The Homestead, Yooroobla
GUM SWAMP AND YOOROOBLA.
O district in Australia has contributed more soldiers, it having been approved by the Advisory
to the prosperity and stability of the pas- Board as suitable for agriculture,
toral industry than the famous Riverina Gum Swamp is a typical Riverina Station. The
plains, on which millions of sheep have produced property is one of the most valuable in the dis-
their fleecy wealth for many a year. trict. Its broad plains, alternating with strips of
Eminently suitable for merino-wool production, well-timbered country, are liberally grassed. It
large tracts of land have been almost exclusively is in every way suitable for sheep. Mr. Simp-
devoted to pastoralism. Despite fluctuating
seasons, the pioneering pastoralists of Riverina
I have steadily improved their properties. Their
flocks have also been brought as near to perfec-
tion as science and experience can bring them.
Among the celebrated properties of this
great district is Gum Swamp Station, which lies
about fifteen miles to the south-east of Jerilderie,
Rnd thirty miles to the south-west of Urana. It
riginally comprised 30,000 acres of freehold,
and was taken up by the Kennedys in the early
days. After many changes of ownership, it
l^^ell into the hands of the late Mr. George
■^■•^erguson Simpson, whose name was identified
I^Hfith its development for many years. Trustees
^^^ow control the property. In 191 5 the trustees
sold 12,800 acres to George Ferguson Simpson,
■■^e elder son of the founder, with the homestead
and one-third of the sheep. This portion has
been named Yooroobla. The balance (17,000)
IS still known as Gum Swamp Estate and is owned
ly the Trustees, but has been offered to the
overnment for the repatriation of returned
son has recently purchased 4,000 acres from the
Wunamurra property of Messrs. Peterson and
Sargood, almost adjoining Yooroobla, with a
frontage to the Billabong Creek.
Mr. Simpson has over 12,000 sheep with
breeding CAves and the yearly increase of 4,000
lambs, bringing the shearing up to 16,000 sheep.
Originally Nowranie also was run in conumc-
tion with Gum Swamp. The late Mr. G. F Simp-
son was the guiding genius of the two properties.
After the death of the founder, they were carried
on by his trustees, until 1903, when they were
divided and the management of Gum Swamp
was undertaken by Mr. George Ferguson Simp-
son, eldest son of the founder. Under his man-
agement the character of the flock has been fully
maintained, and the development of the estate
continued.
The late Mr. George Ferguson Simpson was a
man of foresight and enterprise. He de-
voted his life to bringing the property to an
advanced state of development. The problem of
providing an adequate water supply was one 0/
899
900
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The Late George Ferguson Simpson
the first that had to be tackled. Yooroobia
Station now luxuriates in a splendid supply, ob-
tained from a number of wells and bores. Alto-
gether twenty-two bores have been sunk on the
estate at a big cost, but the expenditure has proved
a sound investment. Water is indeed to be found
anywhere on the estate. The watering facilities
are so arranged that in each of the twenty pad-
docks, into which the property is divided, there is
a separate and permanent supply.
The boundaries of the estate are all wire-
netted. The cost of this improvement was natur-
ally a big item, but it has given the property
immunity from the rabbit pest — an enviable posi-
tion in pastoral Australia.
The homestead, woolshed, and station buildings
are supplied by a big dam, from which the water is
pumped by engine power. In early days the
drought was always a serious and dreaded possi-
bility, but a good deal of the pastoralist's anxiety
has been eliminated in the scientific 20th century
by improved watering facilities, and the provision
of a "standby" in the shape of dry fodder or
ensilage. The policy of Yooroobia Station is
to carry a "standby" of as much as a thousand
tons of hay. The homestead is surrounded by a
fruit and vegetable garden of about three acres
in extent, which affords one of the many examples
of the exceeding richness of Riverina soils.
Yooroobia and Gum Swamp flock is as cele-
brated as the station. The sheep have been
developed on practical lines by a pastmaster in
breeding. To-day it represents a payable,
popular type, demand for which is far in excess of
supply. With an average total of 30,000, the
annual sales of rams run to about 500. Good
figures are realised, and orders come from all
the States of the Commonwealth. The stud was
founded on Tasmanian blood; the greater number
of the rams were obtained at high figures from the
leading studs of that favored island.
Mr. Simpson believed in paying big prices for
the best rams procurable. An instance of this
was his purchase of the ram, Admiral, bred by
the late Mr. Thomas Gibson, of Esk Vale, Tas-
mania, the price of which was 1,500 guineas. This
ram in his day represented the finest Tasmania '
could produce, at a time when its merino stud I
sheep-breeding industry was at zenith. *
Having obtained the highest strain available in
the Southern Hemisphere, Mr. Simpson set to
work to improve his flock by careful selection.
His object was to build up frame and constitution'
while giving every care to the maintenance of a
high quality of wool. Soon the flock was so well
established that outside purchases were discon-
tinued, and a system of inbreeding and selection
adopted, from which splendid results have been
obtained.
Mr. George F. Simpson
GUM SWAMP AND YOOROOBLA.
901
The Woolshed, Yooroobla
The Yooroobla sheep of to-day stand out in
'1 every way as a most desirable type. They are
big-framed, and of robust constitution. The wool
Iis a long-stapled class of about 64's quality, the
whole flock cutting an average of about ten to
^Heven pounds per head.
^* One of the noted rams on Yooroobla was
Jumbo, who secured first, champion, and grand
l^fcampion prizes at the Wagga Show in 1908.
^^This was a fine big, bold type of ram, who
stamped his characteristics on the flock to a very
■^■larked extent.
The lambing on this estate generally takes
place in April-May, and 80 per cent, is about the
average marking. The sheep have enjoyed such
immunity from the various ills that merino sheep
are heir to, that it has not even been necessary to
dip the flock. The only trouble experienced of
late years has been with the fly, but this evil has
been greatly minimised by timely attention and
' crutching.
Horse-breeding has been carried on at Yoor-
oobla for many years, and the station draught
horses are a credit to the breeders. Several well-
bred mares were brought out by the late Mr.
Simpson from Scotland, together with the cele-
brated stallion. Marshal Keith. This animal cost
the late Mr. Simpson a thousand pounds; but he
I Jiroved a very good investment, winning innumer-
I^Ble prizes at shows throughout New South
NVales and Victoria, besides establishing a type of
draught horse that would be hard to beat any-
where.
Stock-breeding activities at Yooroobla were
not, however, confined to sheep and horses; the
Shorthorn dairy herd is one of the best in the
country. The herd was founded on stock pur-
chased from the late Mr. William McCulloch, the
i
well-known Victorian breeder, and the herd has
been carefully bred up until it now holds a posi-
tion of distinct merit.
The late Mr. George Ferguson Simpson was a
Scotsman, a native of Aberdeenshire, who traced
his descent from a long line of successful farmers.
For generations, his ancestors have been among
the foremost prize-winners in the cattle sections
of the best Scottish Shows. He received his
early training with stock on a Scotch farm, and
came out to Australia as a young man. He
settled near Melton, in Victoria, and for a
number of years followed agricultural pursuits.
In 1870 he moved to New South Wales, and
settled at Nowranie. He became, as already
noted, the presiding genius at Nowranie and
Gum Swamp.
The present-day position of these stations is
largely due to his constructive ability, his energy,
far-sightedness, and enterprise. A man of pro-
nounced public spirit, he was in the forefront of
every movement for the advancement of the dis-
trict in which he had settled, and of the pastoral
industry in general. His earnestness and great
capacity made him a pillar of strength in any
movement with which he was identified, and as
President of the Urana Hospital he did much to
establish and maintain that institution.
His son, Mr. George Ferguson Simpson, who
now manages the estate, was born at Nowranie in
1873, and received his education at Toorak Col-
lege, Victoria. After a successful school
career, he secured a position in the ofllice of a pro-
minent Victorian avooI valuer. During his con-
nection with the wool-buying branch of the in-
dustry, he naturally obtained a close insight into
its technical and commercial side. A few years
later, he was recalled to Nowranie, where he com-
902
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Typical Sires, Yooroobla Sale Rams. (All Prize-winners)
pleted his practical education in pastoral matters
under his father's able tuition. Upon the death
of his father in 1896 he assumed the manage-
ment of the two stations, and continued to man-
age both until 1903, when the properties were
divided and he took over the management of
Gum Swamp as trustee. In 1898 Mr. Simpson
' ' Perfection ' '
Yooroobla^bred Ram. (Champion and Grand CShampIon)
married Miss Agnes McLarty, youngest daughter
of the late Mr. Donald McLarty, of Bundure, a
well-known pastoralist.
The whole of the improvements on this
station are of a substantial character. The
station is up-to-date in every particular. Efficiency
and thoroughness are marked features in the
management of the estate. I'he wool-shed is
constructed on modern lines, and is fitted with
twenty machines, the power necessary being sup-
plied by an eight-horse-power steam-engine.
The conditions prevailing in the Riverina dis-
trict when the late Mr. Simpson settled there,
were very different from those of to-day. The
battle was far more strenuous, the properties
were to a large extent undeveloped, and the im-
provements of the most modest proportions. It
required men with big hearts, unbounded energy
and perseverance, and withal a substantial
amount of capital to carry the struggle through,
and at the same time build up their flocks and
develop the carrying capacity of the stations.
Mr. Simpson was designed by nature for a
pioneer. No difficulty was too great for him,
no task too strenuous. Reverses only fired him
to greater efforts. As we have said, drought
conditions to-day lose much of their severity owing
to the fact that dams, bores, and irrigation
plants have enabled the pastoralist to com-
bat nature with every hope of success; but all
these improvements had to be brought about by
pioneers. The success which ultimately crowned
the efforts of such men as Air. Simpson was very
richly deserved. He did not attain it as a result
of a gamble with conditions, but as the outcome
of a fight to better the adverse conditions which
nature had imposed as her fee to fortune.
Fortunately, Mr. Simpson was one of those
pioneers who lived to see his dreams come true, to
see the place he had mapped out in the early days
materialise in the evening of his Ufe, and to see
also his son qualifying himself to carry on the
work of management of the estates which he had
developed.
Yooroobla-bred Ewes (under 18 months)
Typical Nowranle Stud Bams
K"^ IVERINA Stud sheep appeal to buyers be-
^ cause they are able to withstand hard-
ships and hav'C abundance of constitution,
ears gone by, sheep-men gave big prices at the
Sydney or Melbourne stud-sheep fairs for stylish
rams in the pink of condition. These showy
, animals were "got-up" for sale in first-class style,
1 but the buyer sometimes found that a rain which
had been pampered by rugging, feeding, and
j shedding from infancy was frequently unfitted for
I the battle of the seasons in the dry interior. The
wool, too, was apt to change in character Avith the
change of locality. Although the sheep had
been brought to a high pitch of perfection, it
;ould not maintain its quality and stamina under
adverse conditions. It became necessary to
evolve a class of animal that could be guaranteed
to thrive in hard seasons. Riverina sheep,
which very largely fill the requirement, have never
^^^een housed or pampered in any way. They are
I^Bll exposed to the elements, run in paddocks and
grass-fed; so the risk of loss to buyers has been
.very largely removed. This Is the index to that
emarkable success which has been gained by the
old Australian type of late years. It is a factor
^-whlch specially appeals to Queensland buyers.
Wf The Northern State has become one of the best
customers for Riverina stock. Competent
authorities do not attempt to belittle the value of
NOWRANIE
iifc
the Tasmanian importations of stud sheep which
were frequent during the closing quarter of last
century, but results obtained since then by the
Riverina sheep have conclusively proved that the
modern buyer has a preference for the resilient,
acclimatised sheep bred under dry conditions —
sheep that can be relied upon to battle bravely
through unfavorable seasons.
The sheep bred on Nowranie possess in a mark-
ed degree the characteristics which have made
Riverina sheep famous. This property, which
belongs to Messrs. Ferguson Simpson & Co., lies
midway between Urana and Jerilderie, New South
Wales. It is bounded on the north by Cocket-
gedong, and on the west by South Yathong and
Gum Swamp. Nowranie is a typical Riverina
holding, comprising 40,000 acres freehold, mostly
open plain country, with belts of timber and
forests (chiefly boree and box) and is highly im-
proved, having been systematically developed
since it came into the possession of its present
owners in 1903, from the trustees of the late G. F.
Simpson. With a rich soil and a well-distri-
buted rainfall, Nowranie supports 30,000 to
40,000 sheep on the valuable grasses indigenous
to the district. It is completely fenced with
rabbit-proof netting.
The principal water supply is the Nowranie
Creek, to which there is an extended frontage.
903
904
ALiSTRALIA UNLIMITED
A Flock of Merino Ewes, on Nowranle
This is supplemented by water pumped from wells
by windmills. Each of the 26 paddocks, into which
the property is subdivided, has its water supply.
Bore water has been struck at a depth of 150 feet,
and rises in the bores to within 115 feet. Tanks
and dams have been made freely, and contain
sufficient water to stand at least two years of
drought.
The Nowranie flock is founded on the Gum
Swamp strain, dating back to 1870. Mr. Fer-
guson Simpson — who has been managing partner
since 1903 — has bred the flock entirely within it-
self. The rams as a consequence have great pre-
potency. They are large-framed and possess
great constitutions. The wool is of the robust
type, with a good length of staple, generally
free and bright. Nowranie sheep — which have
never received any pampering, but are raised
entirely on the natural nutritious grasses of the
estate — cut heavy fleeces of very profitable wool.
Mr. Simpson makes a speciality of breeding rams
for sale, generally disposing of 500 to 600 each
year.
Lambing on Nowranie takes place in April and
May, and the percentage marked in normal times
is from 75 to 80. Shearing generally takes place
in August, when 30,000 to 40,000 sheep are put
through. Hundreds of thousands of sheep have
passed through the old wool-shed, which, although
erected many years ago, has been brought right
Herd of Cattle on Nowranie
NOWRANIE
905
up-to-date and is fitted with twenty-five shearing-
machines, driven by an eight-horse power steam-
traction engine, an engine, by the way, which is
put to a variety of profitable uses. The wool
and Brighton Grammar School, he took up
station work under the guidance of his father.
On the death of the latter gentleman in 1895 he
continued to work the properties in conjunction
f >-%
f/f
Tho Woolshed, Nowranie.
Ioes to the Melbourne sales and invariably realises
'ell up to the top level for Riverina wool, being of
type for which, of late years, there has been a
cry strong and consistent demand.
Although grazing is the chief aim at Nowranie,
few hundred acres are now cropped annually
or station use. Mr. Simpson believes in mak-
ig ample provision for unfavorable seasons, and
generally has about 800 tons of hay stacked on the
property, each stack being protected from the
weather by a galvanised-iron roofing. This
supply is a sound insurance against drought losses.
As a rule, there is sufficient for a two years' siege.
There is a small but select Shorthorn stud
at Nowranie, which was founded by Mr. Simpson's
father. Mr. Simpson also makes a speciality of
brood mares; and a stallion, a son of Marshal
Keith, was imported at a cost of a thousand
guineas. Marshal Keith was a splendid type of
horse, and took champion and first prizes at Nar-
randera, Wagga, Sydney, and Melbourne Shows,
The dam of the present stallion, named Rose,
was a very high-class mare, purchased by the late
Mr. Simpson for 120 guineas from Mr. Brady,
of Kyneton, Victoria. This was the champion
mare at all the shows in Riverina and had an
unbeaten record in the show-ring. An Arab
stallion named Sleet, bred by the late Mr. J. D.
Cox, of Cullenbone, was also used on Nowranie.
Mr. Ferguson Simpson is the second son of the
late Mr. G. F. Simpson, and was born at Now-
ranie in 1876. Educated at Toorak College
with his brother George, until 1903, when he took
over Nowranie.
Nowranie House is the old original homestead;
comfortable, commodious, and modernised in
every possible way. It is an ideal country home,
pleasantly situated in and surrounded by well-
cared-for gardens.
As already indicated, Mr. Simpson is finding a
splendid field for his sheep in the northern State,
"Eose,"
A Champion Brood Mare, Nowranie
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Mr. Ferguson Simpson
where he can dispose of more than he can breed.
No less than 300 stud rams have gone to Queens-
land in one order. They have given every satis-
faction to their purchasers, as is evidenced by the
fact that repeat orders are frequent.
Modern improvements on Nowranie include a
number of bores which give a good flow and
greatly add to the carrying capacity of the place.
The woolshed is fitted with 25 stands of machines.
It is supplied with acetylene-gas lighting, which
enables a full day's work to be obtained at shear-
ing time.
Mr. Simpson has proved a highly progressive
station-owner. He has cleared and had under
cultivation 1,500 acres of land, but after achieving
this and purchasing up-to-date machinery, he has
been compelled to give up agriculture on a large
scale, owing to the scarcity of labor. The same
trouble is being felt everywhere in the country.
There is no doubt that the future of agriculture in
Australia depends largely upon how far the labor
problem can be solved.
I
Nowranie Stud Merino Bam
The Homestead
THE WANGAMONG ESTATE
THE PROPERTY OF W. B. SANGER. DAYSDALE. N.S.W.
ai
I
ANGAMONG — a native name meaning
"pigeon plains" — is 34 miles from Jeril-
derie and ^S miles from Corowa, thus
being situated in the southern centre of the country
f the big, robust-bodied Riverina merinos. It
as founded by the late John Mildred Sanger in
1 853) with the very biggest framed ewes obtain-
able, of MacArthur's Camden blood, to which
were added some Learmonth rams. That was
the foundation of the Wangamong stud flock,
which is nowadays recognised as not only one of
the oldest of Australian stud flocks, but one of the
best developed and most up-to-date.
In 1863 Mr. Sanger went to Wanganella and
saw Peppin and Son's historic imported Rambouil-
let ram, Emperor. He was so impressed with his
magnificent type that he bought ten stud rams
of Emperor's, which were regarded as the pick
of that season. These sons of Emperor (certi-
ficate No. 71; Royal Rambouillet Farm, which cut
s four, six, and eight-tooth respectively, 21, 22,
nd izi lbs. of very bright, strong, dense wool, a
ery big, plain-bodied sheep, with square frame
and masssive neck) , were the pick of the entire
Topping of 1862 of stud ram lambs by Emperor
out of pure Wanganella stud ewes. This in-
troduction further improved the Wangamong
type, previously large-framed, and gave all the
size wanted. No further infusion of blood was
necessary, nor was any made. The man and the
ountry did the rest; Wangamong sheep de-
eloped a type of their own.
The late Mr. J. M. Sanger lived to see his
deal perfected, and a type of Merino sheep
evolved which was in the front rank of its class.
He was identified with the flock right up to the
time of his death in 1904. In 1907 the stud
flock was divided, Mr. W. B. Sanger, the eldest
son of the founder, taking the homestead, and
his brother, Mr. C. D. Sanger, the southern por-
tion. The stud flock was divided by the simple
expedient of the brothers picking out the sheep
turn about, according to their judgment.
The founder of Wangamong was born in Glou-
cestershire, England, in 18 16, and was a man full
of independent thought and action. He was a
member of the Royal Geographical Society and
placed before that body in England a scheme for
the Panama Canal, which many years after has
been adopted. He arrived in South Australia in
1837, among the first settlers, bringing with him
letters of introduction to influential people.
These, however, he did not use, preferring to
follow his own bent in starting various concerns.
Finally, after managing Messrs. T. and J. P.
Bear's various properties, he settled at Wanga-
mong in 1850.
Mr. William Brent Sanger was born at Wan-
gamong in 1864, and educated at Mr. J. Henning
Thompson's Kew High School. At the early
age of sixteen he took an active part in classing
sheep and recording individual results. For abom
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A Wangamong Riverina Ram
(Big, plain-bodied, loug-stapled, robust type of 60 years'
standing)
four decades he has never left the helm at the
stud, always adhering strictly to the chart mapped
out by the founder. He is a well-known sheep judge
and has, since 1887, been appointed to judge at
leading shows in Australia over seventy times.
His son, Lieut. John Mildred Sanger, born in
1888, and educated at the Geelong Grammar
School, took an active part with his father in the
management of the estate, until he enlisted for
active service in the war. In 19 15 he joined the
Royal Field Artillery, serving in France. He
has been recommended twice for the Military
Cross and mentioned in General Haig's
despatches.
Mr. W. B. Sanger married Isobel Kate,
daughter of the late R. W. Larritt, C.E., of Mel-
bourne, who was for many years Inspector-
General of Roads and Bridges in Victoria. He
has also three daughters, one of whom is married,
being Mrs. Frank Austin, of Avalon, Victoria.
The Wangamong country is partly open-
timbered box, interspersed with myall and salt-
bush plains and sandy loam rises, with natural
grasses. The average annual rainfall is 15^
inches. There is no green grass from Novem-
ber till April.
Wangamong holds, and has always held, the
best all-round, all-wool average price per lb.
greasy wool record for Central Riverina, wher-
ever conditions are against the high prices — burr
and dust under at least six months' dry conditions.
A noticeable feature is that with this bold comb-
mg (staple 3 J to 4 iinches in rams and 4 to 5
inches in ewes) there is practically only one class,
viz., AA combing.
In 19 14, the driest year on record, with a 6-inch
rainfall, all Wangamong sheep averaged 12A lbs.
of wool. On November, 19 16, the following
Australian record was scored: —
Wangamong over S (with arrow through) in
diamond.
Sold by N.Z.L. & M.A. Co., Melbourne.
28id. (in grease) 50 bales.
All Fleece averaged 28.03d. Record to
November 14.
All Broken, ist & 2nd Pieces, 25d. Record to
date.
All Bellies, i9id.
Locks, 8d.
All Wool, 20 - per sheep. 94 % breeding ewes.
The flock rams from Wangamong are in great
demand, being sold to buyers all over the Com-
monwealth, and also in South Africa and New
Zealand. The yearly output is about 1,000 to
1,500 rams.
Of historical interest in the pastoral sense, one
of the earliest stations of Riverina (still retain-
ing the old original homestead and surround-
ings), famous for its fleeces, Wangamong is a
fine example of pastoral enterprise, courageously
initiated and cleverly maintained, and, with the
other old-established, still-existing studs, should
be recognised as helping to establish the present
position held by the sheep and wool industry of
Australia.
Double-Stud Ewe, Wangamong
The Homestead, from the Lake
THE " BIG SPRINGS " ESTATE, WAGGA WAGGA
Li \
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IG SPRINGS, situated nineteen miles north-
west of Wagga Wagga, comprises a large
natural depression, interspersed by slopes
hich tend to break the monotony of the land-
scape. The name of the property supplies the
key to its special feature — the big springs which
provide an all-important element in stock-rais-
ing, and equip each paddock with a permanent
water supply. Nature has been generous in her
treatment of this station. Its owners have sup-
emented Nature by Science with successful
esults.
The property originally contained 18,000 acres.
Subsequent additions increased it to 25,000 acres.
It is all undulating country, highly improved. The
» average rainfall is 27 inches.
Mr. George Paterson Wilson, under whose
ownership the estate has been developed, is a
native of the Vale of Leven, Scotland. He came
to Geelong, Victoria, when seventeen years of age.
After working a year for a Geelong firm, he put
n twelve months on his uncle's property at
arambool, near Buninyong. Next he went to
Ararat, and at the age of nineteen undertook the
management of Wonga Lake, ninety miles from
Horsham, for his brother William. These were
pioneering days, when station work was mostly
"ringing," clearing, and building. Two years
were spent in improving the latter property before
it was sold. The next two years of Mr. Wilson's
life were spent in New Zealand. On returning
to Victoria, he put in eighteen months in a Mel-
bourne business, trading as Wilson and Crosbie,
general merchants. In conjunction with an old
partner of his brother, named George Wilson,
although no relation, he purchased Big Springs.
In the year 1865 they paid £15,000 cash for the
property and 12,000 sheep. The flocks were
steadily increased until 67,000 head were carried,
in 1893.
Big Springs had been first taken up in 1855 by
the late Mr. John Peter, of Tubbo, who held it
till i860, and then handed it to his stepson, Mr.
James Bourke. In 1863 it passed by sale to Mr.
John Donelly, of Bywong, Gundaroo. The
Wilsons held it conjointly until 1872, when both
partners wished to become sole owner, but a
difficulty arose, as neither cared to name a pries
for his share. By mutual arrangement, a visit to
a lawyer's office followed. Here seated each
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side of the man of law, the partners wrote down
a figure on the understanding that the writer of
the higher offer was to become sole owner. Mr.
George Wilson's bid exceeded that of Mr. George
Paterson Wilson by £700, and the property passed
to the former.
in sole possession ever since, steadily improving
the place until it has long since been regarded as
one of the finest stations in a celebrated pastoral
district. As an example of its values one pad-
dock of 2,200 acres has carried up to 7,000 sheep
all the year round. The clip from this flock has
The Woolshed and Huts
4
Leaving Big Springs in 1874, Mr. George
Paterson Wilson took a trip to Europe, and on
his return purchased Pomingalarna, Wagga, in-
creasing its area and greatly improving it. Sell-
ing out a few years later, he went to Melbourne
and joined Mr. John Todd, of William-street,
Melbourne, in a general merchant's business. He
severed his connection with the business later on
and took another trip to England. On his return,
he formed a syndicate with two of his brothers
for the purpose of developing the sugar industry
in Levu, Fiji. To that end £35,000 was ex-
pended in machinery alone, and a mill erected and
fitted which cost £110,000. Making some pro-
gress at first, the fall in sugar brought about re-
verses which, after four years of struggling,
necessitated the abandonment of the mill. The
experiment cost each of the brothers a fortune.
In 1886 Mr. George Wilson, who had become
the sole owner of Big Springs, wishing tu realise
all his properties, opened up negotiations with his
old partner. This resulted in the property once
more changing hands. Mr. G. P. Wilson has been
reached iio bales; the price gave an average
return of 1 1/- per acre. In the 'nineties, wheat-
growing was successfully inaugurated. In i895|.
there were 400 acres on the creek under wheat. "
Gregadoo, an adjoining station, was leased by
Mr. Wilson in the 'nineties and carried about
12,000 sheep. It has since been purchased by
the owner of Big Springs. In 1894, 640 bales of
wool were turned out. The following year a
scouring plant was added and the wool scoured —
natural water facilities tending to effective treat-
ment of the wool.
The never-failing water supply on Big Springs
renders it an oasis in the Riverina in droughty
times. Its owner has provided agistment for as
many as 55,000 sheep, in addition to his own
flock of 35,000. This was done three or four
years in succession. The general carrying capa-
city of the property was about i^ sheep to the
acre, but in summer as many as four sheep to the
acre have been carried for a stretch of four
months.
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A Good Field of Wheat
Extensive wheat-farming has been the more
recent development on Big Springs, and has
proved signally successful. During the last two
decades the area under crop has been steadily in-
creasing, operations being principally conducted
on the share system. Naturally, the inroads on
stock have been great, and the numbers carried
have come down. Of late years the sheep have
been of the comeback, type, producing good fleeces,
with big carcases which fatten readily. Mr. Wil-
son has also been successful with Shorthorn cattle
and as a horse-breeder.
Although it has attractions and possibilities
beyond most pursuits, Australian pastoralism can-
not be regarded as a long series of unbroken suc-
cesses. Flood, fire, and drought have, in the
earlier stages of its development, taken each its
disastrous toll.
In common with other river-stations. Big
Springs has had some experience of flood. Its
wonderful natural water supply has kept it im-
mune from drought; but the great bush fire which
swept through the Wagga district in 1905, in-
flicted heavy damage on the station. Big Springs
was right in the track of the fire, and had no pos-
sible escape. The run was completely burnt out.
Every acre of grass, together with the standing
crops, and thousands of bags of wheat which
had just been harvested, were burnt. Mile upon
mile of fencing, the woolshed, and about 3,000
sheep were destroyed.
Every cloud has its silver lining. Even in his
reverses Mr. Wilson was not downhearted. More
fortunate than many of his neighbors, who were
compelled to send their sheep away for agistment
owing to every vestige of grass being destroyed,
he was able to retain his flock. This he did by
feeding them for four months on roasted wheat.
The sheep did well on the novel diet; in fact, they
fattened on it. Australian Nature has her com-
pensations.
.Although the fire inflicted so much damage, it
did a certain amount of good, inasmuch as it ren-
dered great help in clearing up the property.
Areas which were densely timbered and littered
were left almost open plains after the visitation.
There was hardly a hollow log left on the pro-
perty to shelter a rabbit. In this clearing-up
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work it has been estimated that the fire made good
to the extent of about 2/- per acre.
Big Springs homestead is a commodious brick
building of ten rooms, lighted with acetylene gas
throughout, and surrounded with labor-saving
appliances of every description. A fine billiard-
room has been erected a little apart from the
main building. In front of the homestead is a
beautiful lake — eight feet deep in places — which
covers an area of about seven or eight acres.
The big springs, from which the place takes its
name, are physically remarkable. The water
from one has great medicinal properties, being
very similar to the Perrier water of the Pyrenees.
It is not unlikely that it will be converted to a
more practical use in the future. One spring
supplies all the requirements of the homestead for
household purposes. From another spring a
supply of 80 to 100 gallons per minute can be ob-
tained. One of the springs irrigates twenty acres
of lucerne.
One rather unusual improvement on the station
is a large swimming basin, 20 feet by 10 feet.
which has a depth of five feet. Here a refresh-
ing bath can be obtained all the year round. The
temperature is a uniform one of sixty degrees.
Rabbits have been troublesome on this estate,
but the pest has been attacked in a very systematic
manner. There are more than sixty miles of
wire-netting fencing on the station. Altogether
there are eight netted blocks, from which the rab-
bits have been cleared out. This has been a long
and costly operation.
The sheep-dip is of modern type. It provides
the sheep with a 60-ft. swim, the water for which
is pumped up from the adjoining creek. The
policy of Mr. Wilson is to dip the sheep six weeks
after shearing, when the wool has made a start to
grow. Experience has proved this policy to be
an efficacious one, because it kills ticks and other
vermin, bursts the grass-seeds, and is a splendid
preventive of the fly pest.
The shearing shed — in keeping with the other
station improvements — is fitted up with twenty
shearing-machines driven by an eight-horse
engine.
A Part of the Garden
Merribee House
MERRIBEE.
"But when the Spring comes green,
She puts her feet a thousand miles
Across the Riverine."
— Bells and Hobbles.
TO thoroughly appreciate the richness of
Australia, one must see the Riverina at
its best. Many of the station properties
described in this section of the book, are located
either in the heart or upon the borders of the
western river system of New South Wales. They
are, as a rule, highly-improved properties, stocked
in these days to the fullest carrying capacity, and
contributing greatly to the national wealth.
Either as present pastoral areas or future farms
they can be classed among the best lands in the
Commonwealth.
Merribee, formerly known as North Gogel-
drie, lies about fifteen miles west of Barellan.
The south-western portion of the estate skirts the
Burrenjuck irrigation area. It comprises 33,000
acres of valuable well-grassed pastoral lands, of
which 22,400 acres are freehold. Timbered
with boree, for the most part, with a proportion
of pine, box, yarran, and currajong, the estate
presents picturesque panoramas of alternating
hills and flats, the red soil being fertile and
luxuriantly grassed; the principal grasses are
white-top, barley, trefoil, corkscrew, and crow-
foot. The country is specially suited for fatten-
ing stock and stud breeding. There are numerous
tanks and dams which provide ample water during
seasons when the rainfall, averaging 16 inches, is
normal; and there are also wells and bores, from
which the water is raised from a depth of about
1^0 feet by windmills, which provide a per-
manent supply in dry seasons. Most of the
better supplies have been obtained by use of the
divining rod, sinkings made without it having
generally been failures.
The estate, which was purchased in 1908 by
Mr. William Wilson Killen, was formerly owned
by Mr. Godfrey Mackinnon, who worked it in
conjunction with North Goonambil. Mr.
Killen had just disposed of his Bull Plain estate,
between Corowa and Berrigan, for the purposes
of closer settlement, and he transferred to
Merribee some 7,000 of the pick of the Bull
Plain sheep. Thus the Merribee flock is
founded on the well-proved Bull Plain stock. The
sheep, for about twenty-five years, have been
bred mainly to the South Australian strain, with
an original foundation of Wangamong, Quia-
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mong, and Wanganella blood, and a few of the
pick, of the old Bull Plain flock. There were,
later on, some valuable additions of ewes from
Rhine Park and Cappeedee. This line of
breeding has evolved a type of sheep eminently
suited to the Riverina, carrying heavy fleeces of
long-stapled wool ranging from medium to
strong. In normal times the flock totals about
15,000 head of merinos, all of which are studs.
The original introduction of South Australian
rams was of the Pitt's Levels blood, but for the
William Wilson KlUen
past twenty years the fresh strain has been ob-
tained from Mount Crawford, Rhine Park, Cap-
peedee, and Wirra Wirra — all pure Murray
blood. Mr. Killen's ideal all along has been a
uniform type of hardy animal, giving a com-
bination of a heavy fleece of profitable wool with
weight of carcase, and he has always done his own
classing and the purchasing of stud sires. He
has had the satisfaction of winning practical ap-
proval of his policy. This is evidenced in the
large and increasing demand for Merribee rams
and repeat-orders from breeders who have found
the type profitable. Some indication of this is
shown in Mr. Killen's correspondence, especially
from northern New South Wales and Queens-
land. One stock agent writes: "Your rams are
getting an exceedingly good reputation here.
Their progeny cut well and that, after all, is the
best proof of value." A Queensland buyer
says: "Your rams have earned a very good name
in this district, and what I have seen of their
progeny are fine, big, active sheep, well suited to
battle through a drought."
Merribee is devoted solely to stud-breeding,
and the annual output of rams is about 2,500.
The top rams have cut over 31 lbs. of wool, and
the general average in ordinary seasons of the
whole flock, about 4/';ths of which are ewes, has
been well over I3lbs., with twelve months'
growth, the lambs averaging 5lbs. 2ozs. at ;l
months. The wool brings good prices on the
London market, considering the dusty character
of the country in summer and the prevalence of
trefoil in the district, and at the Sydney wool sales
this year (19 17) Merribee greasy fleece realised
22fd., while first greasy pieces fetched up to
i84d., and second greasy pieces to i6d. — the top
prices in the A. M. L. and F. Co.'s catalogue
of over 3,500 bales sold on November
28th, 1917. The principal aim at Mer-
ribee, however, has not been to produce a
high quality of wool, its owner holding the con-
viction that, over the larger part of the sheep
country of Australia, the best type to produce is
a strone-woolled sheep combining weight of car-
case with weight of fleece, together with robust-
ness of constitution, and that this type is more
profitable to growers generally than the more
delicate lighter-fleeced and more attractive fine-
woolled sheep. Length of staple is a leading
feature of the wool, and it is safe to say that no
longer-woolled merinos are to be found in Aus-
tralia.
The experience of Mr. Killen, which is con-
firmed by many other breeders, is that the fine-
woolled sheep do not carry their wool to so great
an age as the strong-woolled animals, and that
they deteriorate much more in their yield of wool
after middle age. He has always bred a plain-
bodied sheep, and would have nothing to do with
the wrinkly type, even when they were most
fashionable. He preferred to keep steadfastly
to the large-framed plain-bodied type, positive in
his own mind that they were the more profitable,
and that the craze for the wrinkles would be short-
lived. The Vermont craze had a longer life
than he prophesied for it, but in the end Mr.
Killen had the satisfaction of seeing the type he
had always believed in, and had stuck to through
thick and thin, win its way into first place in the
favor of the bulk of sheepbreeders.
Mr. Killen is likewise convinced that the popu-
larity of the large-framed, robust type is no mere
passing fancy but has come to stay. The great
aim in breeding the Merribee sheep is to secure a
heavy fleece of wool on a big animal of symmetri-
cal proportions and great constitution. The goal
has been the production of the most profitable
combination of wool and mutton, regardless of
MERRIBEE
917
Merribee House.
minor points and show-yard fads. It takes
some courage in sheepbreeding to stick to one's
opinion and continue to breed a type of sheep
which is not popular, when it would be an easy
matter to change the type to the popular one by
an infusion of outside blood. Mr. Killen all
through believed in the pure Australian type, and
went through the years of the Vermont craze
absolutely confident that the majority were wrong
and that the craze for wrinkles was going to work
its own cure.
Events proved that he was right. He has
since reaped the reward of his loyal adherence to
the big-framed type. It is now some years since
the pendulum swung back to the old Australian
form. Each year has seen a tendency to inten-
sify the popularity of these sheep. The result
has been that the demand for all such sheep has
been keen, and Merribee has enjoyed to the full
its share of the increased demand. The outlook
for sheep of the Merribee kind appears bright.
During recent years of high wool-values, the big
bale-fillers have proved splendid investments. The
demand is now in excess of the supply. This is
likely to be the normal state of affairs in the
future.
A special contest carried out for some years at
the Corowa Show was based on the commercial
value of the sheep. The competing animals
were shown at one Show, and came up the fol-
lowing year, when they were again shorn and
the wool scoured and valued. The sheep were
weighed, one-third of their weight being allowed
for offal and the balance valued at rid. per lb.
The prize was awarded to the sheep returning
the most valuable combination of wool and
mutton. Mr. Killen was successful in winning
the contest six times out of seven.
Mr. Killen adheres to the old system of hand-
shearing. He has tried the machines, but his
experience is that the results are not so profitable
with the machines as with the blades, consequently
machines are not installed at Merribee. A two-
years' trial was given to them by Mr. Killen at
Bull Plain, but they were discarded in favor of
blades.
The herd of pure pedigree Shorthorn cattle
until lately maintained at Merribee, which was
descended from the Madowla Park and North
Gogeldrie herds, has been removed to Blowering
station, only a few Jersey milkers being now
kept at Merribee.
Although he considers the Merribee property
to be outside the safe wheat area, Mr. Killen has
been cultivating a considerable area of cereals.
Taking advantage of the present good seasons,
he is conserving a quantity of the natural grasses
and also of wheat, oats, barley, and lucerne, in
the form of ensilage stored in pits, and also in the
form of hay, so as to provide against the inevit-
able future dry seasons. The principle he has
adopted for the storage of ensilage is to make
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pits on slopes of the rising ground, about 6i feet
deep and 80 feet by 20 feet on top, with almost
perpendicular sides and slopes on the ends, about
four to one, to admit of carts or drays beingloaded
when taking out the ensilage. A pit of this size
Merribee Merino: A Good Staple
holds about 120 tons; the grass or crop is filled
into the pit and stacked about six and a half feet
above the surface, and is allowed to project about
18 inches outside the side-edges of the excava-
tion. The teams are not driven over the ensilage,
as is sometimes done, but it is well trampled down
by horses, after the pit is nearly full, and
then afterwards covered to a depth of three
to four feet with the earth from the excava-
tion, which is formed dome-shaped over the en-
silage, taking care to leave no inlet for water.
The cost is somewhere about 6s. per ton of en-
silage, including the excavation of the pits by
means of plough and scoop, which costs gd. per
cubic yard. The pits are, of course, placed near
the crops to minimise cartage.
In addition to Merribee, Mr. Killen has a
leasehold, Dumossa, in the Hillston district, about
forty-five miles from Merribee, consisting of
about 69,000 acres. He is a principal partner in
the firm of Killen and Armstrong, of the Blower-
ing station, in the Tumut district, consisting of
about 19,000 acres and carrying about 10,000
sheep and 500 cattle; and he has also a third
share with relations in Killen, Ekin & Co., which
controls Nariah and Malonga stations, of about
120,000 acres in the Wyalong district. These
two properties carry between 25,000 and 30,000
sheep, and are worked in conjunction with Goo-
bragandra (29,000 acres) in the Tumut district,
to which a number of the sheep are sent during
the summer and dry seasons.
Another of Mr. Killen's interests is the firm of
Killen & Co., in which his brother, Mr. Edward
Killen, and others are also partners. This firm
controls Mooculta, near Bourke, comprising
122,000 acres; Marra on the Darling River, near
Tilpa, of about 310,000 acres; Talyealye, on the
Paroo, which abutts on the Queensland border,
comprising 255,000 acres; and Willara (188,000
acres) adjoining Talyealye on the south. The
flocks at present (191 7) on Killen & Co.'s
stations (now much understocked) comprise
about 50,000 sheep, and there are also 1,500
beef cattle and 250 horses. The cattle
are principally descended from South Comon-
gin Shorthorn herds, and are some of the
finest cattle to be found in that part of the coun-
try. The sheep were originally founded on the
Canowie strain of South Australia, in which
Boonoke and VVanganella blood has been largely
infused, and latterly the South Australian blood
has been reverted to. Mr. Killen has recently
taken the members of his family — his wife,
daughter and three sons — into partnership in all
his properties, the new firm having the title of
The Merribee Company Ltd.
The new homestead, Merribee House, is a very
handsome and most up-to-date building on a pic-
turesque site, occupying the slope of a low hill
near the centre of the estate. It is constructed of
sandstone, quarried on the property, and consists
of three stories and a tower. The rooms are large
and lofty, and there are all the comforts and con-
veniences of a city home. The extensi\e grounds
include a plantation of shade trees, and there is
also a large orchard, a vinery, and vegetable and
Mr. and Mrs. W. Killen and Family
Merribee Country, with Mount Binya in the Distance
A Flock of Merribee Ewes and Lambs
921
HZ
922
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
flower gardens, laid out very attractively. From
the house very fine views of the surrounding
country are obtainable, that from the front of the
house looking over the station towards the Bynya
mountain being especially beautiful.
Mr. Killen married in 1891 Marion, the third
daughter of the late Hon. Charles Young, who
for nearly twenty years represented Kyneton in
the Victorian Parliament. One of their sons
Edward, joined the Royal Flying Corps in Eng-
land, and on his return after being incapacitated,
his only other brother, Harold, of military age
joined the corps, and has received a commission.
Mr. Killen has always taken his share in any
movement for the advancement of the district,
and for the betterment of pastoral conditions
generally, serving on the executive committees of
the New South Wales Graziers' Association (Pas-
toralists' Union), the Stock-Owners' Association,
and Farmers' and Settlers' Association. He is
also a member of the Yanco Shire Council and
the Narandera Pastures' Protection Board. Mr.
Killen has also taken a keen interest in State
affairs, and was recently approached with a view
to his representing his district in the State Parlia-
ment. His sole recreation is fly-fishing, every
season seeing him enjoying a holiday on the
Monaro tableland or on his own fine trout stream
on Goobragandra.
Mr. Killen has recently purchased a seaside
villa, Burnham, on the cliff at Manly, as a sum-
mer residence.
Tantallon Country, with Homestead
THE TANTALLON LINCOLNS
THERE is much fine pastoral country in
the Orange and adjoining districts.
For the most part hilly, and, in fact,
mountainous, the temperatures are moderate
to cold, the rainfall is good, and the soil
is a rich red, which means not only succulent
pasturage, but prolific vegetation when culti-
vated. About Orange there are many orchards,
yielding fortunes in cherries, apples and pears
especially, and the potato-fields give their
abundance. The town is one of the best in
western New South Wales, its handsome man-
sions and villas, its prosperous business firms, its
factories — and its numerous hotels — affording
abundant testimony to the high productive value
of the country surrounding it.
Only some thirteen miles from Orange, and
located equally in the Orange and Molong dis-
tricts, is a property of 3,200 cares on the Bell
River, which has of recent years developed from
a somewhat neglected out-station into a sheep-
breeding station of note. Now known as Tan-
tallon— historic Scottish name! — it was purchased
in 1905 from Major Claude Smith by Mr. and
Mrs. William Hood: under Mr. Hood's able
and experienced rrtanagement it has become a
valuable possession, and its future is assured.
Mr. and Mrs. William Hood
923
924
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Mr. Hood has had the advantage of practical
experience in some of the most difficult parts of
this vast and varied continent. He came out
from East Lothian, Scotland, at the age of seven-
teen, fresh from school and eager to try his for-
tune as a pastoralist. His father, James Hood,
who had been a farmer, followed him in the next
year, 1868, his brothers Robert and Alexander
having previously established themselves here.
Robert became well known in the Western
District of Victoria as the owner of Merrang,
as did his father when he rented Woollaston,
Tantallon Lincolns
near Warrnambool, in the same district, after-
wards and until recently the home of the Hon.
Walter S. Manifold.
William Hood went to the Paroo, in Queens-
land, and in those days of his youth became
known as "Paroo," a dashing horseman. He
later took his share in establishing the game of
polo in Victoria, which became so popular among
the young pastoralists of that State and South
Australia, and led to the establishment of many
fine polo pony studs. On the Paroo his father,
James Hood, his uncle, Alexander Hood, and
James Wise Torrence had taken up country in
partnership at Currawinya, about a million acres
in extent, and there kept merino sheep and Dur-
ham Shorthorn cattle. Mr. Hood remained there
until 1876, when the property was sold to Hector
Yearling Filly by Earlston (imp.) — La Tosca
and Norman Wilson. He then went to Cooper's
Creek and established a station there with his
cousin, Walter C. Hood, who had been "jackeroo-
ing" with him on Currawinya. It had a twenty-
mile frontage on both sides of the creek. They
stocked it with Shorthorn cattle from the Barwon,
but only remained there twelve months, when
they disposed of the run to Henry Collis, of
Innamincka. They took their stock to Eyre's
Creek, founding the now well-known station of
Annandale, on the Queensland and South Aus-
tralian border. There they remained until 1894,
but the price of cattle being then very low they
took some bullocks to Wodonga, on the Victoria-
New South Wales border, selling Annandale to,
Sidney Kidman.
"Wentworth," 4-year-old Draught Stallion
THE TANTALLON LINCOLNS
925
Three Lincoln Ram Lambs, 9 months old,
Bred by William Hood, Tantallon
This closed the more adventurous period of
William Hood's career. He was then content to
become an employee of Thos. Edols and Co., at
Burrawang, near Forbes, where he had charge of
the stud of pure Durham cattle, for which he
imported some fine stock from England, and
made it one of the most famous herds in Aus-
tralia. There he married Miss Emily Edols in
1898, and in 1905 Mr. and Mrs. Hood purchased
their present property near Orange, which they
called Tantallon, building a fine homestead and
establishing themselves there permanently. The
estate is exceedingly picturesque, as well as pro-
viding good pasturage, and is well timbered with
box and gum trees, the Bell River affording per-
manent water.
Finding the country eminently suitable for the
breeding of pure-bred Lincoln sheep, Mr. Hood
purchased, in November, 1908, a choice selection
of 96 Lincoln ewes from his cousin, R. A. D.
Hood, of Merrang, Hexham Park, and also a
ram, "Merrang" (No. 864, Merrang). With
these he founded a stud which has been uniformly
successful, and which has been built up solely
on the Merrang strain. In June, 1910, he pur-
chased another Merrang ram, "Bar None IL"
(by Bar None), No. 60, Merrang. An addition
to the flock was again made in October, 191 2, in
the shape of two rams, Nos. 199 and 209, Mer-
rang, grandsons of Bar None, and fifteen selected
ewes; these seventeen additional sheep were all
D. Hood. Of the fifteen ewes, two were by
the imported rams, Quarrington Langton and
Southern Star, four with rings taken from the
Merrang selected ewes and five without rings.
Though he keeps the flock fresh with new pur-
chases from Merrang, Mr. William Hood is
already finding in-breeding possible, and in the
aiuiner Tom Edols Hood
926
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
successful with many of the most notable Aus-
tralian sheep studs.
Besides the sheep, for which there is already a
demand far exceeding the available supply, Mr.
Hood fattens a number of cattle on Tantallon,
and has for the past seven years grown wheat on
the estate on the share system, which has proved
very successful. He keeps a fine Clydesdale
draught stallion, "Wentworth," which secured
first prize as a two-year-old, and has in the past
two years won two first prizes and championship
at the local show; also a very neat little pure-bred
Welsh pony stallion, the only one of its class in
the district.
Mr. Hood has had associated with him in the
management of the station his only son, Tom
Edols Hood, who is at present serving in the
near future will probably breed his flock entirely Australian Field Artillery on active service in
within itself, a system that has been proved highly France.
Welsh Mountain Pony Stallion, "Tantallon"
IURRAWANG, situated on the River Lach-
lan, is one of the oldest and best-known
stations in New South Wales. It has been
' developed from a tangled waste into one of the
most highly-improved properties of the Mother
State.
This beautiful holding was taken up in the
brave old colonial days. Its earlier history is
exceedingly interesting. Its first owner was Mr.
Lloyd, a Sydney merchant, and an early pro-
prietor of the Sydney Sugar Works. He sold out
to Mr. Augustus Morris, who in turn passed the
property on to Dr. Youl and Mr. Wm. Martin,
of Melbourne. Dr. Youl later sold out his
share to his partner, and Mr. Wm. Martin was
I^^ined in partnership by the Hon. J. G. Francis.
^P Burrawang was purchased In 1873 by the late
Mr. Thomas Edols, from Messrs. Francis and
Martin, and has remained in the possession of the
F.dols family since that date. At the time of
the Edols' purchase, Burrawang comprised
520,000 acres, and was practically unimproved,
the wild dogs and marsupials being very trouble-
some. Burrawang had been a speculative pro-
perty, rather than a productive proposition. The
Burrawang House and Lagoon
BURRAWANG
late Mr. Thos. Edols enthusiastically undertook
the task of Improving the place.
Colossal as the task appeared In the beginning,
he carried it stage after stage to ultimate success.
Vast sums were expended in fencing, clearing and
killing scrub and timber, in the sinking of
wells and making dams. A great expanse covered
by swamps, such as caused Explorer Oxley to de-
clare the Lachlan "an impenetrable morass," was
transformed into good pasture-land by the potent
agency of over a hundred miles of drains. The
entire property was subdivided into about 150
paddocks for stock.
Years of patient endeavour gradually brought
Burrawang to a very high state of perfection.
Coevally with the material improvement of
the estate, the development of Its flocks was
carefully carried out. When the run was owned
by Messrs. Francis and Martin, Its sheep bore a
good flow of South Australian blood in them.
Most of the ewes had been purchased from Mr.
Hurtle Fisher, Mount Schank and Mount Gam-
bier, South Australia, while some came from the
Liverpool Plains.
927
92t
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
In 1875, five hundred rams were purchased
from Mr. Nicholas Bayly, in his day a pre-eminent
breeder, who made the Havilah sheep celebrated.
In the Havilah purchase there was found a ram
of such high character that it was decided to use
it in the stud flock. This decision proved to be
a wise one, for the experiment, if such a display
of sound judgment can be so termed, proved com-
pletely successful. Competing at Forbes Show
The late Thos. Edols
this ram beat one bought in Tasmania for three
figures.
Later Mr. Edols was induced to purchase rams
from the late Hon. James Gibson, of Belle Vue,
Epping, the doyen of Tasmanian breeders. The
Tasmanian strain did not, however, prove suit-
able. The progeny was discarded, and the rams
sold.
In 1880 six rams were purchased from Austin
and Millear, Wanganella. One of these rams,
old "Bestwool," laid the foundation of the present
high reputation of the flock. At the same time
some 700 two-tooth rams were purchased from
the same source, being mostly of the Premier and
Warrior strains, considered two of the best rams
on Wanganella. Two more high-class Wan-
ganella rams were purchased in 1887. Since
that year no further purchases have been made,
but the aim of the stud has always been to pro-
duce a sheep of the Wanganella type and improve
it if possible.
The late Mr. Thos. Edols made the develop-
ment of Burrawang his life's work A native of
Bridgewater, Somersetshire, where he was born in
1 8 19, he came to Tasmania at the age of thirteen,
and spent some years in the island State, after-
^
C. Hedley Edols
wards engaging in farming pursuits in Victoria.
For some years he owned and worked a farm
known as "Edolstone," at Cowie's Creek, near
Geelong. In 1857 he was awarded a prize for
the best managed farm in the district. Subse-
quently, Mr. Edols purchased a station known as
"Upper Regions," Bonnigar, near Dimboola, in
Victoria. He remained there for some years,
afterwards selling out and migrating to Burra-
wang.
In 1895 the property was formed into a limited
liability company, with the shares apportioned
among the family. During the later years of his
life, Mr. Thos. Edols gradually relinquished the
Thos. Reginald Edols
BURRAWANG
929
Typical Burrawang Stud Bams
active management of the estate to his four sons,
Frank, Hedley, Ernest, and Edward, who con-
tinued in their father's progressive footsteps.
The last-named died in 1906. A few years later,
Hedley and Frank bought out the beneficiaries
under their father's will. Subsequently, they
dissolved partnership and divided the estate and
its flock equally, taking pick for pick of the sheep.
Mr. Hedley Edols retained the old home, and his
brother took the upper part of the run.
Burrawang to-day consists of 42,000 acres,
carrying 30,000 sheep, and is divided into a dozen
sections, all rabbit-proof netted. Most of it is
open country timbered with belah, myall, box, and
pine. The black and red soils insure valu-
able pastures, and a large portion of the estate
is suitable for agriculture, a good deal of wheat
being grown, while the rich black soil of the river
flats and the drained swamps afford excellent fat-
tening areas for stock. Besides the Lachlan
River, the property is liberally watered by creeks,
and there is a large lagoon of some three miles
in length, which gives a picturesque water front-
age to the homestead and provides the family
with swimming and boating.
The Burrawang woolshed is among the largest
in the State, and is fitted with 88 sheds of electric
machine shears, the electricity being generated by
a steam engine.
The Burrawang sheep are of a most valuable
type, deep-framed and roomy, carrying heavy
fleeces of a class of wool much sought after by
buyers. The sheep are unhoused and purely
grass-fed, and have a uniform and robust appear-
ance, with bold fronts and level well-topped
frames, well-sprung ribs, and a great depth of
body. The stud sheep are greatly sought after,
not only in New South Wales and Queensland, but
also in South Africa, to which latter country large
shipments have been made with very satisfactory
results. Their highest average at auction was
made at the Sydney Stud Sheep Fair in 19 10,
when £167 per head was netted. The demand
nowadays is greater than the supply.
As many as 273,000 sheep have been shorn
at old Burrawang off 300,000 acres, returning
wool within seven bales of 5,000. Its show-ring
record is an excellent one. Between 1882 and 1890
150 Burrawang sheep were shown at Forbes,
winning fourteen championships, forty-six firsts,
fifteen seconds and twenty-four special prizes,
these being about equally divided between rams
and ewes. Twenty thousand sheep were shorn
in two days by eighty-eight shearers in Burrawang
wool-shed.
South African appreciation of Burrawang
sheep is well expressed in the following letter
which appeared in the 'T^armers' Weekly," pub-
lished in Bloemfontein, signed by Messrs. W. D.
Hilder and Co., of the Transvaal, under the head-
ing, "A suitable type for South Africa" : —
"About 18 months ago we imported from Aus-
tralia thirty Burrawang sheep, originated from
the Wanganella type. When they arrived we
were very pleased indeed with them, for they
were covered with beautiful long wool of very
good quality, and the rams were of a large robust
type. Shortly after we got them they became
beautifully fat: South Africa undoubtedly agreed
with them. They showed themselves a very
handy sheep, and sheared from 18 to 23 lbs. of
fine clean wool. The following season, on a
very poor pasture, they sheared from 17 to 20 lbs.
On the arrival of these rams we asked the
opinions of many farmers, which were anything
930
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Mount Burrawang
but encouraging. Had we listened to them, we
should no doubt have soon parted with our rams.
We have now 1,300 lambs from them, and a finer
set of lambs we have never had since we started
sheep-farming. The wool of these lambs was
recently sent to Durban. The seven months'
wool, unsorted, fetched 9^. and the four and a
half months' wool fetched 8-%d. The bales aver-
aged 380 lbs., so their wool is not so light, after
all. The lambs have shown themselves very
hardy up to the present, and get fat on any
ordinary pasture. We have also imported twenty-
five Burrawang ewes, which lambed here when we
had no provision for them. They made splen-
did mothers, had any amount of milk, and reared
their lambs with absolutely no trouble. The
ewes clipped from 12 to 14 lbs. . . . We
are convinced this is the true type of sheep for
South Africa."
As a result of the demand in South Africa for
his sheep, on top of the big output to Queensland,
Mr. Edols finds it difficult to keep pace with his
market. This has led to prices being increased
for his stud sheep.
Apart from the improvements on natural values,
which have made Burrawang a model Australian
station, its stock have brought credit and adver-
tisement to the Commonwealth.
Mr. C. Hedley Edols, the master of Burra-
wang, has a family of three sons and three
daughters. The eldest son, Thomas Reginald,
joined in 19 16 the howitzer brigade of the Aus-
tralian Field Artillery, and has since been trans-
ferred to the Royal Flying Corps.
Shearing Sheep by Machinery: Burrawang Wool-shed
THE TOCAL HEREFORDS,
AND SOME NOTABLE THOROUGHBRED HORSES
ALTHOUGH the Tocal Hereford herd was
not the first to be established in Australia,
its history links up the greatest herd of the
very early days. The names of Hobbler, of
the Hunter River, and Reynolds, of the Paterson
River, are very prominent among the pioneers of
the industry.
Charles Reynolds was himself the son of a
great breeder of stock and prize-winner in Eng-
land. He had for some years managed his
father's stud of horses and cattle at Raddon
Court, Exeter, and when in 1839 he decided to
transfer his interests to Australia, the stud was
disposed of.
Fired with the ambition to take a high place
among Australian breeders, his fine practical ex-
perience stood him in good stead. Soon after his
arrival from England in 1840, Mr. Reynolds
rented Louth Park, near Maitland, and purchased
from Mr. Geo. Hobbler, some Hereford cows
and the bull. Captain, a son of Trojan (im-
ported). This bull was used until 1849, when
he died from snake bite, his place in the herd being
taken by his son, Thurlow. He also kept a few
Leicester sheep.
In 1 84 1 C. Reynolds and his brother Richard
purchased the Mooki Station on Liverpool Plains
and at the outset lost 80 per cent, of their cattle
from drought. Mr. Reynolds retained his in-
terest in the Mooki station until 1848 and then
sold out to his brother, Richard.
Champion Tocal Hereford Cow: Minerva
932
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The late Charles Reynolds
At that time the pioneer breeder of Hereford
and Devon cattle in the Hunter district was
George Hobbler, who had previously imported
good specimens of the breeds from England to
Tasmania in the earliest days of that colony, and
from there to New South Wales. He remained
at Louth Park until 1848. On January ist,
1844, he leased the Tocal Estate, on the Paterson
River, 9 miles from Maitland, and removed his
Hereford cattle and horses from Louth Park to
Tocal, which has since, under himself and his
son, won and maintained a reputation as one of
the greatest breeding-grounds for cattle and
thoroughbred horses in Australia.
This fine estate comprises 4,360 acres on the
Paterson River, with numerous creeks, dams, and
springs, so that there is abundance of water. It
is ideal stock-raising country.
When he first established himself at Tocal,
Mr. Charles Reynolds, in 1856, imported from
England, the Hereford bull, The Captain ( 1409)
— a Royal prize-winner in England — also the cow.
Wanton, with the heifer-calf. Columbine, at foot.
Two years later he bought the imported bull
Thruxton (1422), and then followed Lord Ash-
ford and Royal Head, the latter, a big winner in
England, becoming the sire of Triumph and Sir
James. Sir James was a phenomenal sire. Lord
Ashford produced some grand stock. Next Mr.
Reynolds used in turn Wanderer (The Captain —
Wanton), Calendar, Young Carlisle, a pheno-
menal bull by The Captain out of Columbine.
In i860 he had purchased the estate of Dunin-
ald, on the opposite side of the Paterson River,
which he had leased for some years previously,
and there established his herd of Devon cattle,
while the Herefords were bred at Tocal. He
was seldom beaten in the Hunter district, and he
and his son since have raised many Hereford
bulls and cows which have carried off champion-
ships and first prizes in Royal Shows. It is, in-
deed, impossible to do more than refer briefly to
that fact — of trophies and medals there are cabi-
nets full at Tocal, championship ribbons, and cups.
The Tocal Herefords were winning prizes at the
H.R.A. and H. Association Show in Maitland in
1845.
As a breeder of thoroughbred horses, Mr.
Charles Reynolds was destined to make a great
success. The Tocal stud soon became known
far and wide on the turf and in the breeding
stables. He had brought together some good
mares of the then most famous breeds, and the
sires Auron, Akbar, Emigrant, and Gratis — all
the best procurable. In 1854 he purchased
Cossack, the son of Sir Hercules and Flora
Mclvor — who was the most renowned colonial
racehorse of his time, and from this infusion of
crack blood the Tocal stud dates its fame. Cos-
sack also sired the Champion Stakes winner,
Talleyrand.
His purchase in 1864 of New Warrior, a per-
former of note in England, resulted in the ac-
quisition of a fine progeny, including Tim Wiffler,
The Pearl, Warrior, Tarragon, Tinfinder (the
dam of The Assyrian), Romula, The Prophet,
Volunteer, Juanita, Detection, Lottery, Phyrrus,
The Spy, Titania, and others of equally high
repute. In 1869 he bought the famous race-
horse. The Barb, from Mr. Tait for 2,000
guineas for stud purposes to follow New Warrior.
Of this horse, that good judge, James Wilson,
senr., said, "The Barb was a Shakespeare among
horses."
Mr. Charles Reynolds died in 1871, owing to
an accident, at the age of 65 years. His widow
lived until 1900, when she died at the age of 82
years, her family consisting of four sons. At
Mrs. Charles Reynolds' death the studs were
dispersed. Mr. Frank Reynolds, who took on
the Tocal property, bought the pick of the Here-
fords. Mr. Frank Reynolds' sons are Charles,
Darcie Frank (who is now the manager of Tocal
for his father), Henry Ernest, and Arthur Rens;
the last-named is serving with the 6th Light Horse
in Palestine.
In T873, the Hereford cows Lioness, Con-
stance, Chloe, Careless, Circe, Josephine, and
Carissima, were purchased from J. D. Toosey, of
Cressy, Tasmania. They were all descended
THE TOCAL HEREFORDS AND THOROUGHBREDS
933
from Matchless and another cow imported from
England by the Cressy Co. in 1825. In 1876
the yearling heifer, Last Day, descended from
Rebecca (imp.), was purchased from Mr. George
Loder. From this cow descend the famous Last
Day family. In 1879 15 Hereford cows, all
descendants of Minerva (imp.) were purchased
from Mr. A. A. Dangar.
In 1 88 I Dale Tredegar, a winner at the Royal
Show in England, was purchased, and his influence
on the herd was noteworthy; his sons Bondsman
and The King of the Vale, were in their turn suc-
cessful sires at Tocal. Pearl Diver 4th, by Pearl
Diver (imp.) out of Leonora 2nd (imp.),
an English Royal Show winner, was next
introduced. In 1884, Lord Warden was pur-
chased for £300, and among later importa-
tions were Prince, Sarchedon, Three R's, Chippen-
dale, Silurian, Knight-]-"rrant, Rossmore, Duke of
Albany, who won the Championship at the Royal
Sydney Show in 1903, 1904, and 1905, M'nevis,
bred by Mr. James Stuckey, of New Zealand,
Blenheim and Major from the noted English
breeder, Mr. John Tudge. Blenheim was three-
parts brother to Princess May, the English cham-
pion. Then we come to the great sire Wonder,
imported at the end of 1907 by Mr. Frank Rey-
nolds, and which is well remembered by breeders
as one of the finest Hereford bulls that ever came
to Australia.
Wonder produced in Australia a fine list of
bulls and cows, champions all. Prince Edward
was also contemporary with Wonder, and he was
an example of what could be done in breeding
bulls at Tocal. In 191 2 Prime Minister came
from the Tudge stud and proved a very success-
ful introduction. In the following year Mr.
Reynolds began to use the Tocal-bred Manifesto,
by Rossmore-Maritana. Duplicate (imp.) went
into the stud in 19 14, and in the same year Twy-
ford Horace was bought from Mr. S. G. Hayter,
of Twvford, Herefordshire. He was a well-bred
bull of Lord Wilton descent, and he sired Twy-
ford Major, Twyford Lord, and others. Lord
Palmerston, one of the crack Tocal bulls was put
into the stud also in 19 14, and so was the prize
bull Wonder 31st. In the following year Mr.
Reynolds imported Broadward Waterloo, and
began to use Wonderful (by Wonder), another
great prize winner.
After Mr. Frank Reynolds succeeded to the
charge of the Tocal racing stud, the next stallion
purchased was one of the greatest Australia has
known — Goldsborough. His history is worthy of a
separate article, but it must suflSce to mention here
that he sired the winners of six hundred races,
worth nearly £75,000. Among his daughters,
was Frailty the dam of Trenton, Niagara, Havoc,
Zalinski, Cuirassier, and Lancaster. Then fol-
lowed the notable stallion, The Drummer, a son
of Stockwell's brother Rataplan; he did excellent
service at Tocal, siring The Pontiff, Chicago,
Drum Major, and others winners of lesser note.
Then Splendor, a fine horse by Speculum from
Imported Hereford Bull: Twyford Horace
934
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
a Stockwell mare, was procured and he sired
winners of over four hundred races, valued at
Frank Keynolds
£43,337. The two stallions. Simmer (imported)
and Medallion were secured for the St. Simon and
Musket blood, which has been liberally crossed
on the dams descended from New Warrior, The
Barb, The Drummer, Goldsborough, and Splen-
dor.
A noteworthy stallion of the first decade of this
century was Sir Tristram, a princely sire, by the
great Bend Or, winner of the Derby and sire of
Ormonde, with a pedigree "as long as your arm."
Medallion was Sir Tristram's confrere at Tocal,
and he was a son of Nordenfeldt, and showed all
the characteristics of the famed Musket blood.
Imported in 19 12, Knightlight, bred by Lord
Rosebery, with a record of twenty-eight winners
up to date, is at present in the Tocal stables.
Last year (1917) Mr. Reynolds bought the im-
ported Don Reynaldo by St. Trusquin (win-
ner of the Two Thousand Guineas, and other races
worth £32,965 ) . He is a half-brother of Diadem,
and was bred by Lord D'Abercorn. Diadem won
the Two Thousand Guineas Stakes.
Although the Reynolds family have been iden-
tified with Tocal for so many years, it is only
recently that Mr. Frank Reynolds has had the
opportunity of purchasing it. He also owns
Glendarra, a small property adjoining, and Guy-
gallen, consisting of 3,200 acres farther up the
Paterson River. These are worked in connection
with Tocal.
The Homestead, Tocal
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The Garden, Mookl Springs
MOOKI SPRINGS STATION,
A NOTED LIVERPOOL PLAINS ESTATE
ONE of the oldest, most highly improved
and famous stud breeding and fattening
properties on the far-famed Liverpool
Plains is Mooki Springs Station, situated 250
miles from Sydney, some 19 miles west of Quir-
indi, at the southern end of the north-west slope of
New South Wales.
Mooki Springs is the property of Mr. Rodney
R. Dangar, eldest son of the late A. A. Dangar.
It comprises 26,000 acres of black-soil plains, with
pine ridges on basalt formation, watered by the
Mooki River and numerous wells. Water is
obtainable at a depth of 30 to loo feet. The
;area of the estate formerly embraced about
46,000 acres, but through sales of some 20,000
acres, the dimensions are on a less ample scale.
It is practically wholly a pastoral property, sub-
divided into <;4 paddocks, which are gradually
being fenced into smaller paddocks. Lucerne is
I grown, and wheaten and oaten hay for the pur-
pose of supplying the station with feed for the
working stock.
in
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I
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i
Tts fame has been most widely spread among
stock owners by its high-class stud animals, and,
among fat-stock buyers and the meat trade, as a
fattening property.
Three separate studs demand close attention —
Suffolk Punch horses, Durham cattle, and Devon
long-woolled sheep.
Suffolk Punches have been bred at Mooki
Springs for the last 25 years; the stud comprises
40 brood mares. There is a keen demand for
mares and geldings, and when any consignments
are offered at auction they evoke ready competi-
tion. At a sale at Maitland in 19 13, on behalf
of the executors of the late A. A. Dangar, of
Baroona,and R. R. Dangar, of Mooki Springs, 1 14
head were yarded to a large attendance of buyers.
Bidding was brisk and very satisfactory prices
were realised. Geldings made from £45 to £53,
mares £40, fillies £30, three-year-olds £20 to £25.
This is one of the many successful sales that has
taken place of the well-known breed.
9.35
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Devon Long-Woolled Sheep, Mookl Springs
With regard to Shorthorn cattle, during the
last I 8 years five bulls have been imported from
England, to keep the stud up to the highest
standard. Other bulls have also been purchased
at the Royal Agricultural Show Sales, Sydney,
from time to time, amongst them being ii6th
Duke of Derrimut, Champion at the Royal in
IQ13. There is a strong demand for Mooki
bulls; they are snapped up readily at 12 months
old. The stud consists of some 60 high-class
pedigreed cows.
The breeding of Durhams was commenced at
Mooki Springs in 1882, soon after the station was
purchased, but no records were kept until 1898,
when, Messrs. Dangar Bros, having dissolved
partnership, the property was taken by the late
Mr. A. A. Dangar, who for many years owned
the well-known Baroona herd of Durhams which
had been dispersed in 1891.
In 1897 Mr. Dangar imported two very fine
bulls — a red, Baron Dursley 5th, bred by Sir
Nigel Kingscote, and a roan, Roxana's Prince,
bred by Major A. H. Brown. These were joined
with fifty cows, the pick of the whole Noorindoo
herd sent down from Queensland early in 1898,
and fifty, the pick of the Mooki Springs Station
cows.
;' \r'- ] ]
.v^gwip'^-'jaL^
Suffolk Punch Horses, Mooki Springs
n
3
5
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M
o
o
937
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Baron Oxford 21st,
Mooki Shorthorn Stud Bull
Some of the Noorindoo stud cows were de-
scended from cows bought by Messrs. Dangar and
Bell, of Noorindoo, from Messrs. D. C. McCon-
nell and Sons, Cressbrook, in 1885, and running
back to original A. A. Company's cows in the
middle of the last century, when all the A. A.
Company's cattle were descended from imported
stock.
Two very line heifers were bought at the R.A.S
Show, Sydney, in 1908, viz., Flower of Derrimut
41st, and Royal Matilda and. Purchases of stud
cows were also made at the Burrawang dispersal
sale.
Of the imported bulls used during the last
twenty years five have not been used outside the
Mooki Springs herd, and their blood is unobtain-
able excepting from bulls sold from the estate.
The chief objective in the management of this
herd has been to breed robust, early maturing,
lengthy cattle, red or rich roan in color, suitable
for Queensland conditions, most of the young
bulls having been sent to that State.
The cattle are all grass-fed, and always live
under natural conditions. A sale of portion of
the herd took place at Quirindi on i8th April,
19 17, when bidding was spirited and high prices
were realised.
The stud and flock of Devon long-woolled sheep
at Mooki Springs is the only one in Australia.
The first importation was made by the late Mr.
A. A. Dangar in 1897. The first draft of 12
rams (put to Boonoke ewes) was tried for two
years. So satisfactory was it that further im-
portations of rams and ewes were made, establish-
ing the stud. They are in size long, with deep
bodies, and are early-maturing. The wool is of
the Lincoln type. Lambs by Devon rams out of
crossbred or comeback ewes average 4olbs., and
are readily sold to the freezing works at Aber-
deen.
Stock shades on the open plain are much in
favor at Mooki, owing to the absence of flies.
In places where flies are troublesome you will see
sheep go and camp in the open plain, rather than
seek shade in timber where flies are troublesome.
There are thousands of kurrajong trees on the
Young Durham Bulls, Mooki Springs
i
MOOKI SPRINGS STATIOX
939
property, which are of the greatest value, and He returned to Australia via America and
were the means of saving much stock in the 1902 Canada in 1894. The trip through Canada was
drought. Any young trees found growing in one to be remembered, being held up for five
the paddocks are looked after and protected, as days at Calgary owing to heavy floods. The
the value of them is inestimable in times of emer- railway was washed away in many places through-
g^"cy. out the Rocky Mountains which necessitated
■^C!SCI2E=s*
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•=2CCIZ2Z5^
I
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The Home Paddocks, Mooki Springs
Mr. H. C. Carter is the manager of the
Station, and has been with the Messrs. Dangar
for 25 years. It is greatly owing to his discern-
ment and good judgment that the studs have been
so successful.
Mr. Rodney R. Dangar was educated at All
'Saints' College, Bathurst, N.S.W. In 1890 he
went to England and remained away for four
years. Most of that time was divided between
the Colonial Agricultural College, HoUesley Bay,
Suffolk, a shipping merchant's office in London,
and some months in Bradford, acquiring a close
insight into the handling of wool. All this,
besides seeing the world, was a splendid training
for his future life in the pastoral and commercial
activities of Australia.
^^■activ
seven transfers gnd very little to eat for two
days. Eventually he got through to Vancouver,
doing about 50 miles by steamer on the Eraser
River, as the line was completely submerged for
that distance. When he returned to Australia,
he went, in July, 1894, to Mooki Springs and
gained his station experience there, and at
Yallaroi and Gostwyck.
In 1899 the late A. A. Dangar went to England
and left R. R. Dangar to supervise all his interests
in Australia. This work he carried on until
19 1 2, when the properties were divided amongst
the sons, and he then became the owner of Mooki
Springs and Waterloo Stations (the latter has been
recently sold).
In 19 1 2 "Peach Trees" was purchased, a pro-
perty of 2,500 acres on the North Coast of New
940
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Mooki Springs Stud Shorthorn Cows
South Wales, eight miles from Stroud. It is
heavily grassed, well watered, well improved
country, with an easterly aspect and an assured
rainfall of over 40 inches a year. Various clovers
and other grasses have been laid down with
marked success. It has proved a very useful
adjunct to Mooki Springs, in the shape of a depot
and relief, country during droughty periods, its
carrying capacity being about 600 to 700 head of
cattle.
Lately Mr. R. R. Dangar has purchased
"Rotherwood" — a charming country home near
Sutton Forest, in the Moss Vale District, where
he intends to reside.
wamm
^ mi^.^^SSiu^
Shaded Water-troughs on the Plain Country, and Stock Shades in Background
The Original Edinglassie
(From contemporary water-color drawing)
EDINGLASSIE
AND THE MYSTERIOUS DIVINING- ROD
Ja
EDINGLASSIE, Muswellbrook, is one of
the oldest and best-known properties in
New South Wales. It was originally a
grant made to one George Forbes (a brother of
Sir Francis Forbes) in the very early days of last
century. The Australian pastoral industry was
young, but full of promise. Pastoral settlement
was spreading westward into newly-discovered
country across the Blue Mountains and north-
ward to the Hunter River.
Edinglassie did not remain long in the hands
Mr. Forbes, but was acquired by the late Mr.
ames White, the founder of a family which has
played a most important part in the development
of pastoralism. This gentleman — the grand-
father of the present owner, the Hon. J. C.
White — came to Australia in the early 'twenties
to manage one of the Australian Agricultural
Company's properties in the Stroud district. A
few years later he purchased Edinglassie on his
own account, and stocked it with sheep.
k
Edinglassie when it came to the- hands of
James White, senr., was a "run" little improved,
and incapable of carrying anything like the num-
ber of stock which may be depastured on such a
property to-day.
All the adventure and uncertainty of frontier
life were still incidental to Hunter River settle-
ment. Social conditions were rough and crude.
The settlers depended almost entirely upon convict
labor for the development of such primiti\'e in-
dustries as they were endeavoring to establish.
Often properties — of great value nowadays —
were exchanged for annuities. The owner of the
land received no cash but an annual payment, the
purchaser gambling on the length of the vendor's
life.
Fine-woolled merinos were raised on the
Hunter River in large numbers, while the colony
was still an outpost of civilization. Edinglassie
took its place in the van of the young industry,
and boasted one of the leading flocks. In later
941
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
years, when the finer grasses were all eaten out,
sheep gave place to horses and cattle, a condition
which has remained permanent. Edinglassie
terms of land and sheep, but poor in knowledge
of local conditions. Beyond paddocks for
horses, there were no enclosures. Sheep were
The Late James White.
The Late Francis White
James White The Hon,
Five Generations of the "
J. C. White James White, Jiinr.
Edinglassie" White Family
is now one of the noted fattening properties of a
celebrated district.
In the genesis of its story there were no station
sub-divisions or boundaries, and practically no
fencing. Fencing wire did not come into use in
Australia until about i860. It was slow work
cutting timber and erecting post and rail fences.
It was then a general belief that fortunes might
be easily and rapidly made in the sheep industry.
The high hopes of many a settler were fulfilled in
years of early plenty; in years of drought,
ruin came to many who had been wealthy in
shepherded in the daytime and brought ir
enclosures at night for protection.
The Edinglassie pioneer, Mr. James White,
proved himself an able sheep-breeder and station-
manager. He did remarkably well with his
flocks, securing additional holdings as his position
improved. At his death, in 1844, he was one
of the leading pastoralists of the State, and had
done much to advance the iiiterests of the Hunter
River district. The property came under the
control of his widow, who proved herself a most
capable manager in the interests of her sons,
i
943
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
t
A Farm on the Edinglassie Estate
f
among whom were the Hon. James White and
Mr. Francis White. The latter was the father
of the present owner of Edinglassie, the Hon. J.
C. White and Mr. Francis J. White, of Saumarez,
Armidale. Before many years the family had
considerably extended their station operations by
taking up Narran Lake, and also the fine property
so well known as Belltrees, and at a later period
added the Waverley estate adjoining, the two
forming the finest estate in the settled districts
of the colony.
The firm of White Bros., consisting of the
Hon. J. C. White and his five children, with
headquarters at Edinglassie, have the largest
herd of pure pedigree Angus cattle in Australia,
importing periodically the best bulls procurable
An Imported Bull, Edinglassie
in England. 1 he bull illustrated is a recent
importation bred by J. J. Cridlan, England.
The Whites are remarkable men in more
ways than one. The Hon. James C. White, of
Edinglassie, is perhaps one of the most successful
water-diviners in the State. He has for twenty
years been studying and experimenting with the
divining rod, and has patiently put all research
possible into the work. He has been able and
happy to render considerable service to smaller
settlers by finding water for them on numerous .
occasions, and is an enthusiast in the science.
Like electricity, the faculty of divination escapes
analysis. It is a subject referred to elsewhere
within this book. In some instances Mr. White
has been able to find water after repeated failures !
in promiscuous sinking. One doubting settler ;
refused to follow his advice. He put down bores j
and sunk several wells, against Mr. White's judg- [
ment — without success. The latter located
water a short distance from one of the failures,
and eventually induced the man to sink there by |
offering to bear the cost of the work if he was i
not successful, and to allow the settler, who had i
exhausted his funds, to repay him the cost ol !
sinking over a period of years, if the result was a|
success. 1 he water was found. |
In another case a Muswellbrook gentleman in
voked Mr. White's assistance in divining watei [
on a certain paddock which had been acquiret j
and which, without water, would be a bad invest |
ment. Mr. White eventually located a good flow
He estimated the depth to be 390 feet — thi
water was found at 40 feet.
The Hon. James 0. White and his Divining Eod
945
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The methods adopted by Mr. White may be
thus described: He first locates the water or
underground stream, ascertains its course by
means of the rod, and estimates its volume. Hav-
ing achieved this apparently mysterious result he
goes into the centre, or what represents the centre
of the stream on the surface, and brings the rod
sharply back against his chest, moving off briskly
at right angles from the course of the stream.
As soon as the rod dips, it is his indication as to
the depth at which water will be found. For in-
stance, if he starts in the centre of the stream
and walks 20 feet prior to the dip of the rod, he
estimates the depth at 20 feet.
In photograph No. i, in which Mr. White is
seen holding a small bag in his hand, he is dealing
with the finding of other substances than water,
— for which he uses what he terms a "closed
stick." This is a willow, as shown in the photo-
graph, the ends of which have been burnt in the
fire, and will give no response to the finding of
water or any substance unless that substance is held
in the hand of the operator. In this case, Mr.
White was testing the quantity of salt contained
in certain M'ater below ground. By using coal
he successfulUy located coal. A seam discovered
by him is being successfully worked in Muswell-
brook district to-day.
In photograph No. 2, which demonstrates Mr.
White's method of holding the stick, he is
starting off therewith in position to cross the
line. In photograph No. 3 he has just walked
up to the mark with the salt and the closed stick.
Immediately beneath the point of the rod is the
flow of a known stream whose corrosive proper-
ties are amply demonstrated by the remains of a
400 gal. tank beside it. No. 4 shows the stick
as it has dropped. It will be noticed, in looking
closely at his hands, that there is a great strain on
the muscles. When it is recognised that that
strain is entirely in an opposite direction to the
downward arc of the rod, it will be seen that the
occult science of divination cannot be denied.
Photograph No. 5 illustrates the strain in the
reverse direction to the arc of the stick in its drop;
for as soon as this operator releases his hands,
the ends of the stick revolve several turns in the
reverse direction. As a matter of fact, it is
quite a common occurrence for the stick to break
off quite short against the hand. It must be re-
membered that this strain is definitely and posi-
tively reversed to the downward fall of the stick.
In photograph No. 6 Mr. White is seen divining
quite close to the main road, and many feet above
the flat where he knew he could find water.
Photograph No. 7 shows Mr. White's well
some miles from his homestead right away on the
top of a range of mountains. This well is
situated a few feet below the Pinee Trignometical
station, and 500 feet above the nearest water. It
is not the first instance, by many, in which he has
discovered water practically at the top of a range
of mountains.
Some of the wells on the fiat are so heavily
charged with soda and other minerals that thev
are totally unfit for use. Mr. White's faculty
for detecting the presence of all mineral sub-
stances is ample security against any risk in this
direction. Mr. White believes he can locate
almost anything contained in the ground, provid-
ing a closed stick is used and some of the substance
held in the hand.
So much controversy has arisen about the
efficacy of water-divining, that the experiences of
Mr. White are of national value. They show that
the divining-rod in the hands of an expert can
give satisfactory results. In some cases, other
experts may have failed to satisfy scoffers. Lack
of knowledge of the yet inexplicable physical
laws under which they were working may have
been the cause of their failures. In the case of
Mr. White we have an expert of long experience,
who has studied the matter with the sole object
of arriving at truth, and who is above suspicion.
Our pastoral representative has guaranteed that ^
the tests are absolutely all that is represented.
The photographs, by which we have endeavored!
to illustrate the action of the rod in Mr. White's]
hands, were specially taken in order that the'
operation of subterranean divination might be
better understood by the public, and by those who
are scientifically interested.
By research, investigation, and the exercise of
what may be a somewhat rare individual faculty,
Mr. White has undoubtedly thrown additional
light on an obscure subject.
The determination of underground water is a
matter of vital interest not only to pastoralists,
but to Australian settlers in general. Any method
which gives the desired result, whether it be per-
fectly explainable or not, is an asset of great value.
B
" ■■"^ ELLTREES Estate, one of the finest and
most celebrated pastoral properties in
New South Wales, embraces a wide extent
h of rich country in the Upper Hunter district.
lathis station is owned by Messrs. H., E., A., and
"^v. White. It has been in the possession of the
L^White family for over sixty years, while a portion
I^BF it, "Gundy" Estate, has been in their hands
since 1839.
One of the earliest pioneers, Mr. H. C. Sem-
pill, took up this country in the 'twenties of last
century. The pastoral industry in Australia was
then in its swaddling-clothes. Some years later,
' Mr. Sempill exchanged Belltrees station for other
properties, with William Charles Wentworth,
whose name is so intimately associated with the
early progress of Australia. Wentworth was
one of the intrepid three who discovered the
track over the Blue Mountains in 18 13, and made
pastoral development possible in Western New
South Wales. In 1848, Wentworth rented Bell-
trees to Messrs. J. F. and H. White, and in June,
1853, they purchased the estate.
The new owners subsequently added to Bell-
trees the adjoining stations of Elleston, running
to the head waters of the Hunter, and Waverley,
situated on the Isis and Page Rivers. Belltrees
had been worked successfully for many years by
Mr. H. C. White, before the present partners
took possession in 1889. The property was then
run in the names of H., E., A., and V. White,
the partners being Messrs. Henry L. White, W.
Ernest White, Arthur G. White, and Victor M.
White, sons of the late Mr. Francis White, of
Edenglassie, Muswellbrook, who was a son of
1.
the late James White, the early owner of Eden-
glassie and Timor.
The founder of the White family in Australia,
the late James White, came to this country in
1825 in charge of a consignment of merino sheep
for the Australian Agricultural Company. On
September 23rd, 1839, he received a Crown grant
of 1,280 acres, situated at the junction of the Isis
and Page Rivers, and known as the Gundy estate.
Gundy is twelve miles from Scone, and about the
same distance from Belltrees, of which estate it
forms a part to-day. Mr. James White was the
father of the late Hon. James White, Mr. H. C.
White, the late Mr. Frank White, and four other
sons.
Belltrees was a celebrated station even before
the Whites were connected with it. In the early
'forties of last century — when it was held by the
celebrated W. C. Wentworth — it is recorded that
180,000 sheep were shorn at Belltrees, being
brought from Cassilis, Kickerbil, Coolah, Gam-
mon Plains and other stations to be washed and
relieved of their wool. At that period, as we
have seen, all wool was washed on the sheep's
back. Facilities for washing were particularly
good at Belltrees.
This splendid station was worked for some
years by Mr. H. C. White, a famous judge of
stock. Mr. H. L. White has managed the place
since 1885. It was in 1889 that he, in partner-
ship with three of his brothers, purchased the
estate. Under that partnership the brothers
shared the responsibility and work of manage-
ment.
947
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948
BELLTREES
949
lea
g
m
Manager's Residence, Belltrees Estate
Belltrees in 191 2 contained an area of 160,000
acres secured land, but recent sales have reduced
the total to about 100,000 acres, the whole of
which is worked by the owners.
There are some 2,000 miles of fencing on the
estate, enclosing paddocks, the largest of which
is about 1,500 acres.
The country consists of small river and creek
flats, backed up by abruptly rising ridges, which
lead up to the higher spurs or offshoots of the
ain or Liverpool Range.
The land towards the heads of the creeks is
ough, and was originally covered with a dense
rowth of timber, which, at great expense, is being
;radually killed. Some of the small flats are
ich, and utilized for lucerne growing as a graz-
ing proposition.
The lower lands are found more suitable for
cattle, while the higher lands are devoted to
sheep; the basalt country, occurring at a height of
about 2,500 feet is eminently favorable to the
production of high-class merino wool. These high
lands are covered with good natural grasses right
to their summits, which run up to 4,000 feet; the
whole estate carrying stock equal to a sheep to
ihe acre in all seasons.
In 19 1 2 the Terreel estate, of 14,000 acres,
part of the Gloucester estate, near Port Stephens,
was purchased for use as a stand-by in dry times;
it has proved of great benefit.
The water supply on Belltrees is nearly all
natural. The Hunter, the Isis, and the Page
Rivers wind about through the grassy valleys and
creeks, which occur at intervals of two or three
miles. These hold water all the summer, ensur-
ing a bountiful supply everywhere. Perch, mullet,
and eels are plentiful in these waters. The
Whites have evinced practical interest in the
acclimatisation of English trout. Several lots
have been released in reserved waters in Stewart's
Brook and other streams.
The foundation of the Belltrees flock was laid
with Havilah blood. That strain has been ad-
hered to ever since. For many years a point was
made of securing some of the best Havilah rams
sent to the Sydney Stud Sheep Fair, and up to 400
guineas each were paid. With the exception of
the crossbred flock, all the sheep on Belltrees are
of Havilah blood, and a stud flock is maintained,
the surplus rams finding a ready sale in Queens-
land.
The country has proved itself wonderfully
suited to merino wool production. The high
quality of the wool produced bears constant testi-
mony to this fact. The Belltrees clip was
formerly sold In London, but has for many years
now been offered in Sydney. It has always com-
manded high values. On several occasions it
has obtained the season's record price. In early
days this wool obtained a high reputation for its
length, quality, and soft handling. It was spe-
cially sought after by the world's buyers. In
1880, 1 8 id. was reached for 54 bales, — this being
the highest price obtained for Belltrees' wool up
to that time. It is worthy of note that in Sep-
tember, 191 6 (during the war-time wool boom,
but in the earlier stages of that boom), Belltrees
wool sold in Sydney to 23 2d. per lb. in the
grease for 31 bales — the wool being attractive
shafty of good character, sound, fine, and in
excellent condition.
A sample of Belltrees' wool grown in 1861 is
still preserved at the homestead. It shows very
fine quality and fair length; but, of course, the
density of the modern fleece is missing. Another
sample in the home collection is a fleece of merino
wool with a staple thirteen inches long, cut from
a sheep that had gone wild in the mountains.
Belltrees' fat cattle are extremely popular in
the Sydney market, where large numbers are sold
annually.
Bachelors' Quarters, Belltrees Estate
950
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
During 1907, for five consecutive weeks, Bell-
trees cattle topped the Sydney market; one
draft was divided between that place and Mel-
bourne, both lots bringing the highest price of the
sale.
The herd is an important one, and breeding
conducted on a large scale; the favorite breeds
being Shorthorn and Polled Angus, the latter
used chiefly for crossing purposes.
The Shorthorn stud is an old one, bulls from
Warrah and Bylong having been used up to
1889, in which year a large purchase was made of
On the 20th December, 1915, ninety hea
Belltrees red Shorthorn bullocks averaged £27
13s. 5d. in Sydney.
A well-known judge, writing about this co:
signment, said: — "What I admire In your b
locks is their shape, and masculinity, witho
coarseness; strong, robust, vigorous doers, witji
most meat where most wanted."
The Polled Angus herd is small but seled
consisting of about seventy cows ; it was estab;
lished in 1897 by the purchase from Mr. D.
Clark, of GIppsland, Victoria, of his stud. HI
Ith
Typical Belltrees Stud Merino (Havllali) Bam
pure bred heifers from the Martindale stud
(founded by the late Hon. James White from
imported stock).
These heifers were of the celebrated "Border
Chief" strain, and mostly red In color. The
owners then decided to raise a stud of Red Short-
horns, and used nothing but red bulls from 1889
to date. Many high-class animals have been
used, several of them imported. In 1908 two
of the partners toured Great Britain in search of
the best available red bulls; one. Red Chief, was
obtained at a cost of 800 guineas, whose progeny
to-day predominate the herd, and are remarkable
for their rich color, high quality and sound con-
stitution.
class bulls, many af them imported, have been
used ever since.
Interesting to breeders is a story embodied in taH
live stock records of Belltrees. A Shorthorn coi^
with a calf by a Polled Angus bull, was running
In a small paddock. In which stand the training
stables. The calf took very kindly to the refuse
of the stables, and grew into a thick heavy bul-
lock. When sent to market and killed It was
found that, at exactly 1,009 days old, It gave pre-
cisely 1,009 lbs- dressed weight, having made an
average of beef equal to i lb. per day of its life.
Horsebreeding has always been a prominent
feature on Belltrees. The thoroughbred stud was
BELLTREES
951
Private Suspension Bridge at Belltrees
(Total length 150 yards, used chiefly for the crossing of sheep over the Hunter Elver)
very extensive one, and has produced some
mous racehorses.
It was founded in 1889 upon twenty very high-
ass fillies (presented to his nephews by the late
on. James White), the progeny of Chester and
artini-Henrl.
A private training establishment was kept up
n the estate, and many good performers turned
out. Several wins, including a December Stakes,
Derby, Doncaster, and Anniversary Handicaps
were secured at Randwick.
for some years an annual sale of horses,
thoroughbreds, draughts, utility and ponies was
held in Scone, but in 19 14 it was decided to quit
horse-breeding on a large scale, and in February
of that year a big and highly successful clearance
sale was held; all the mares, except a few special
favorites, being disposed of. The owners were
extremely lucky in disposing of the stud before
the slump in horse-breeding took place.
H. L. White was the first agriculturist to grow
.Uora spring wheat, of which he sold seed all
ver Australia. He found, however, that it
did not pay to grow grain which had to be carted
22 miles to Scone. Cultivation has since been con-
fined to wheat and oats for hay, and to lucerne
and rape.
I Ringbarking of native trees was begun on a
large scale on Belltrees before it was generally
£ited in New South Wales. In the very early
, a large ring of bark was taken off and the
^^Vi
tree was also sapped in the centre of this ring.
The object of the double operation does not seem
clear. It was probably done with a view to
keeping down suckers — which are a great nuisance
here. The timber is chiefly "box," with good
belts of river oaks and some very beautiful curra-
jongs.
Mr. Henry L. White has this year ( 1917) pre-
sented to New South Wales and Victoria respec-
tively two unique and valuable collections; to
the Mitchell Library, Sydney, his magnificent set
of the stamps of New South Wales, and to the
National Museum, Melbourne, his priceless col-
lection of the skins of Australian birds. This
munificent patriotism is at one with the recent pre-
sentation by his firm (Messrs H., E., A. and V.
White) to the British army of an aeroplane cost-
ing £2,500, which at the time of writing, though
once "wounded," has done good work in the fight-
ing area of Flanders.
The stamp collection of this devoted Australian
philatelist, who is a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic
Society of London, was a specialised and un-
rivalled one. We use the past tense, because it
is now distributed; the Victorian, Tasmanian and
South Australian sections to members of his
family, the Queensland and Western Australian —
which, with those of New South Wales, were his
especial favorites — being retained by himself,
and the New South Wales donated to the public
institution named. His specialised Queensland
952
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
collection he purchased from Mr. E. D. E. van
Weenen in 1879. It was thus that he started
what has since been an active hobby of his, though
it has had to share with other of his active inter-
ests— the collection of skins and eggs of Austra-
lian birds, and the scientific breeding of horses,
cattle and sheep on the Belltrees estate.
Neither the collection of New South Wales
stamps nor that of Australian birds can be more
than briefly alluded to here, though some idea of
the value of his princely gifts to the nation must
be given. The New South Wales stamps alone
are worth to-day, at catalogue prices, at least
£15,000. They commence with the embossed
letter sheet of 1838, of which there are three used
specimens, and three unused reprints; the numer-
ous Sydney views of various months in 1850,
several of which have taught hitherto unknown
facts to philatelists; the Laureates of different
dates from 1851 to 1854; the Diadem series of
1856 to 1864 (including many notable speci-
mens) ; the De La Rue, Centennial, Carrington,
Postal Union, Jubilee, and Commonwealth issues,
"O.S." stamps, postage dues, registration, tele-
graph, and fiscal stamps, etc. So complete is the
collection that It is possible to specify the few
missing plates among the "Views" and the
"Laureates" — thirty-three among the former and
fifty-seven among the latter. There are many
notable specimens, especially among the Diadems,
and there is the last volume containing essays,
proofs, and reprints that will be found of great
interest by philatelists.
As an ornithologist, Mr. White, who is a mem-
ber of the British Ornithologists' Union, has also
displayed a fine public spirit. Collectors are
usually selfish people, or the faculty for
accumulation would not be theirs. Mr.
White has shown that he has a very
generous view of the pleasures of hobby-
riding. He gave £1,000 to the Ornithologists'
Union for the furtherance of its scientific work,
and presented to the Union a complete set of John
Gould's famous colossal work, "The Birds of
Australia," valued at £350. Now he has handed
to the nation his valuable ornithological collection,
In its cabinets, the whole scientifically classified
and in perfect order, and delivered at the Na-
tional Museum, Melbourne, free of all cost, under
the special care of a competent naturalist, Mr. S.
W. Jackson, R.A.O.U., who had for the past ten
years been curator of the collection. It consists
of 5,000 specimens, valued at as many guineas,
and contains many unique examples. It has been
Mr. White's ambition to possess the largest and
most complete collection of Australian birds and
their eggs In the world and, with Mr. Jackson's
help as collector and classifier, his laudable
ambition has resulted In the acquisition by the
nation of a unique contribution to practical
knowledge.
Mr. H. L. White's collection of Australian
birds' eggs is the finest thing of its sort in the
world. Commencing In 1S75, as a small boy at
school in Cioulburn, he has ridden his hobby
pretty hard ever since, with the result that he has
secured the eggs of all but 25 of the 900 species of
birds inhabiting Australia and Its Islands.
In his early days he was content to collect for
himself, but of late years has sent expeditions all
over Australia In search of his various wants.
Of the 25 species mentioned above, he despairs
of two only, they having become extinct during
the last 25 years. The collection is contained in
five large specially-constructed cabinets, the con-
tents being scientifically classed, labelled, and
catalogued, with full histories. Mr. White's
library of books relating to Australia is a very
large one, and contains many rare and valuable
works. He is a regular buyer when old col-
lections are broken up. Being thorough Austra-
lian in all his ideas, he displays his books in hand-
some cases made of Queensland maple timber; the
cases occupying the walls of a large, well-lighted
room.
Of the other members of the firm (Mr. W. E.
White died in 1914), Mr. A. G. White resides at
"Kioto," about half a mile from Belltrees House,
while Mr. V. M. White lives in Sydney.
Heur>- L. Whit?
N. N. DANGAR, of PALMERSTON and NOORINDOO
i
AMONG old colonial families, those sturdy,
four-square colonists who have done for
Australia what the Pilgrim Fathers and
their descendants did for North America, the
name of Dangar is written in golden letters also.
It may be said that a first cream of pastoral
enterprise was skimmed from the glorious Hunter
River districts of New South Wales.
The Hawkesbury seems to have been the cradle
of our vigorous free-selector type; while the more
expansive Hunter attracted early settlers with
more capital and a wider outlook. Their pro-
geny— reared among the fertile and productive
surroundings of these beautiful first pastures of
the Southern Land — imbibed a strong faith in
Australia.
They were big men, hefty men, strong
of hand and generous of heart. The
mystery and adventure of a New Land gave a
fillip to their daily lives, lifted them above the
commonplace, and invested them with an interest
which reacted on their temperament and charac-
er.
Among such a sturdy, confident band we find
the late Henry Dangar — the founder of the
Australian house of Dangar — of whom the pre-
sent owner of Noorindoo is a grandson.
Brought up on his father's farm at Neots, in
Cornwall, Henry Dangar migrated to Australia
as a young man of 23. He obtained a position as
assistant Government surveyor in the young
colony, and was enabled to form a correct esti-
mate of some of its agricultural and pastoral
values.
He became one of the pioneer pastoralists of
New South Wales, otherwise of Australia. He
is described by a writer who knew him
personally as "a favorable specimen of one
of the numerous sturdy young sons of Eng-
land, who seemed specially formed for the
creation of a greater Britain in Australia.
Favored by none of the special gifts of Intellect
or fortune, but possessing the particular qualities
essential to the attainment of success — strong
common sense and resolute energy — he availed
himself of the opportunities of his time, and in
953
J2
954
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Part of the Rose Garden, Palmerston
gaining a moderate share of that success he had
the gratification of contributing to the develop-
ment of a great colony." He left five sons, in-
cluding Albert Augustus Dangar.
A. A. Dangar was born at Neotsfield, near
Singleton, one of his father's stations, in 1840.
He was educated at Truro (Cornwall) Grammar
School, while his parents were living for a few
years in England, and also at Hamburg, in Ger-
many. After a short time in the merchant ser-
vice, he returned to Australia at the age of
eighteen years, to take his place in his family as a
pastoralist. A few years later, when he was
only twenty-three years of age, he became
manager of his mother's properties,
Gostwyck, Yallaroi, and two western
cattle stations — in fact, the important and exten-
sive Dangar estates. In 1870, he was managing
partner with his brothers in the firm of Dangar
Brothers, thus continuing his management of the
family pastoral properties, others having in the
meantime been acquired, including Noorindoo, in
the Maranoa district, Queensland, in 1872, and
Mooki Springs on Liverpool Plains, New South
Wales, in 1882. When the firm was dissolved
the fine property of Mooki Springs fell to A. A
Dangar in the division, with a small portion of
Gostwyck, known as Palmerston. On a beauti-
ful site on the latter property he built a fine bun-
galow residence, which is now the home of his
son, N. N. Dangar. He leased Gostwyck
from F. H. Dangar, and in 1901 bought the pro-
perty outright, ten years later transferring it to
his son, Capt. C. C. Dangar. He died in 1913.
The late A. A. Dangar
PALMERSTON AND NOORINDOO
955
l^»steps. No better known, or more wirely
honored pastoralist has found place among
the big men of the industry. He was a leading
member of the New South Wales Sheepbreeders'
Association, and was one of the most broad-
minded men connected with pastoral pursuits.
Mr. N. N. Dangar, of Noorindoo, is thus for-
tunate In his forebears. He brings to the man-
agement of his pastoral property hereditary apti-
i^« tude and a fine family experience.
^P Though he has a beautiful home at
"Palmerston," near Armidale, his prin-
cipal interests are concerned with Noor-
indoo station, near Surat, Queensland, on
the south side of the Balonne River, about 34
miles from Yeulba, and 10 miles from Surat, one
^^of the oldest Queensland towns. The property
^^Kas a seven-miles frontage to the Balonne River.
^it embraces an area of 62,000 acres freehold and
^^^72 square miles of leasehold. A slice of 20,000
JJacres has recently been resumed by the Queens-
land Government.
Palmerston is a most picturesque property. It
was given its name in compliment to Mr. A. H.
Palmer (later Sir Arthur Palmer, Lieut-
Vlew from Palmerston House.
the general manager of Mr. Henry Dangar's
stations. About 750 acres of freehold, it was
part of Gostwyck, from which it was severed at
the first sub-divisional sale. Years ago the
station stud of Suffolks was kept there, and the
working horses for Dangar Bros.' various pro-
perties were bred there. Some years later the
stud was removed to Mooki Springs in the
Liverpool Plains district, when that station was
purchased. Then a portion of the Gostwyck
stud flock was kept at Palmerston, mostly young
ewes and breeders, and a small lot of lambing
ewes every year, also young sale bulls.
The Palmerston property was made over to
N. N. Dangar in 1909 by his father, who in the
following year built the present homestead on a
specially fine site. Mr. A. A. Dangar, however,
died two years later, and his son made it his
residence. Mr. N. N. Dangar at present has a
small stud of Devon-Merino sheep at Palmerston.
and also a few Durham cattle, fattening a few
bullocks each year.
Noorindoo is one of the oldest of Queensland
properties. Its history is particularly interesting.
In January, 1840, the late John Campbell first
took up pastoral property and formed a cattle
i
Governor of Queensland), who was for years camp in Queensland territory. He was followed
956
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Devon-Merino Crossbreds, Ewes and Lambs, Palmerston
by the late Peter Leslie the same year. Then
came a hardy band of pioneers, who followed in
the land of promise hard on the heels of the
intrepid explorers, who ever pushed out in search
of fresh pastoral country. Noorindoo was taken
up by the Halls, of Dartbrook, in 1849 ^"'^
stocked with cattle.
As early pioneer troubles were overcome,
Noorindoo was gradually enlarged by the pur-
chase of adjoining properties. It was continued
as a cattle station, variously owned, until in 1873
it was purchased by Messrs. Dangar and Bell,
the firm consisting of the late Mr. A. A. Dangar,
of Whittingham, and Messrs. F. S. Bell and H.
W. Bell, all well-known Hunter River men. It
was agreed to make Mr. H. W. Bell the manag-
ing partner, and he displayed great ability in that
capacity.
Messrs. Dangar and Bell found it a profitable
investment to work Noorindoo as a breeding- I
cattle station until 1883. It was then decided to
sell the herd of 10,000 head. For the next eight
or nine years the station was used as a cattle-
fattening property with very satisfactory results, j
The late Mr. Dangar was a great believer in
the suitability of the country for carrying a
robust type of sheep. In 1891 he prevailed upon
his partners to stock the property with sheep, and
it has been devoted to sheep ever since. Mr.
Dangar being the sheep man of the partnership,
it was left to him to select the stock. He was so
impressed with the excellence of the big robust
Devon-Merino Ewes and Iiambs, and Hereford Bulls, Palmerston
PALMERSTON AND NOORINDOO
957
Tiie Woolshed, Noorindoo
m
addon Rig wethers — which he saw reahsing
:op figures at the Homebush sales — and so con-
inced that this type of big-framed, heavy wool-
arrying animals was particularly suited to Noo-
indoo, that he decided to stock up with Haddon
ig sheep.
Accordingly he visited Haddon Rig, and as a
esult of his inspection 13,000 five-year-old cast-
br-age ewes, 4,500 two-year-old ewes and 12,000
ethers, all from Haddon Rig, were delivered at
oorindoo. As might be imagined, the purchase
as a fairly expensive one, but it proved a sound
nvestment. It was followed up a year later by
further purchase of 10,500 Haddon Rig ewes,
;ogether with 400 five-guinea Havilah rams,
he resultant lambing, numerically and ether-
ise, was excellent. After three years the count
ave 72,000 head, despite the heavy sales of
wethers which had taken place in the meantime.
The lambings were from 90 to 95 per cent.
All this time Mr. H. W. Bell had managed the
roperty for the partnership with great success,
ut in November, 1894, he decided to retire,
after a continuous service of twenty-two years,
r. F. R. Rouse was placed in charge, and has
now filled the position for another twenty-two
years.
! The Messrs. Bell sold out to the late Mr. A.
A. Dangar in 1896. Mr. Dangar continued the
flock, using Havilah rams right up till about ten
years ago, when he decided to substitute his own
Gostwyck rams, which had by that time reached
a high pitch of perfection. Their introduction
to Noorindoo was marked with great success.
A first-class Shorthorn herd was bred up at
Noorindoo, the original cows, which were speci-
ally fine animals, coming from Cressbrook.
Baroona bulls were used mainly, also Douglas
(imported) and Montpelier (imported) were
used in 1898. A picked lot of 130 cows and
calves were sent to the late Mr. A. A. Dangar's
Mooki Springs station, in New South Wales,
and from these and some which he had already
on that property, the Mooki Shorthorn stud,
which has since achieved fame, was started.
The water problem has always been difficult
at Noorindoo. At great cost the problem may
now be regarded as permanently solved. An
ample supply has been secured for all require-
ments. From first to last nearly £19,000 have
been spent on the work. First tanks and dams
totalling 120,000 yards and costing £5,000 were
put in. Then wells were dug and windmills
erected costing £3,000. Then, in 1891, an ar-
tesian bore was sunk to a depth of 3,350 feet at
a cost of £3,670; unfortunately this did not over-
flow, but gave an inexhaustible supply. A year
later, after the 1902 drought, a second bore was
sunk 3,103 feet, costing £3,692, with more suc-
cessful results, the flow producing over half a
958
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITF.D
Sinking No. 3 Artesian Bore, Noorlndoo
million gallons. In 19 13-14 a third bore was put
down 3,441 feet at a cost of £3,596, when a
million-gallon flow was secured.
The prickly-pear has been a great pest, but it
has been fought systematically and regardless of
expense. As a result — after an expenditure of
something like £3,000 — the pest has been eradi-
cated.
A new head-station was built in 1903, commo-
dious and comfortable. The whole of the timber
used was grown on Noorindoo and cut and
dressed by the station plant. x'\.n up-to-date
shearing-plant, with all conveniences and men's
accommodation, wool-shed, etc., has also been
provided. Every possible facility has been in-
stalled for handling the sheep and wool.
We have no record of the change of owner-
ships of Noorindoo before 1873. Since that time
the property has had four ownerships: — Dangar
and Bell, A. A. Dangar, Dangar and Sons, and
the present owner, N. N. Dangar. The latter
gained his pastoral experience on Noorindoo
under its present manager, Mr. F. R. Rouse, and
afterwards managed Waterloo station for his
father before becoming owner of Noorindoo in
1912.
No. 2 Artesian Bore, Noorindoo
Pepth 3,100 ft. with a capacity of 500,000 gallons a day. Waters 12 miles of country. Initial cost, £3,000,
J
A Herd of Shorthorns at Yetman
THE DIGHTS: PASTORAL PIONEERS
N the earliest days of Australian settlement,
when famine was only averted by the in-
dustry of the Hawkesbury pioneers, who
arned for their district the title of "the granary
f Australia," the name of Dight was associated
with primary production. Ever since the original
John Dight landed in Sydney in 1801 to the pre-
sent day, four generations of this family have
played a distinguished role in the great practical
drama of Sheep and Wool. The history of such
a family is largely a reflex history of our staple
industry. There has been no phase of develop-
, ment, no period of disaster, and no vital change
' in conditions wherein at least one of these genera-
tions has not shared.
In the early stages of the colony's development
no name stood out more prominently than that of
Dight, of Richmond, and later of Singleton and
Yetman. When the Hawkesbury represented
the "back country" their original Richmond pro-
perty, under careful cultivation, gave forth its
grain, and its patriotic owner sent his harvests to
the public store in preference to accepting the
higher rates obtainable in the market. Later,
after a career of great public usefulness in his
adopted district, he secured a grant of land near
Singleton. His sons in turn became pioneers of
that region, and did much to develop its latent
resources. With other sturdy colonists, they ex-
Klored the inland pastoral country and, as time
went on, took up land in the "newer" districts
which they had helped to discover and render
habitable.
The original John Dight, who was the founder
of this historic Australian family, was born In
1772. He came to New South Wales as sur-
geon of the ship Cornwallis in 1801, bringing with
him his wife Hannah and an infant daughter.
The ship, by the way, was named after the Mar-
quis of Cornwallis, the famous Governor-General
and Commander-in-Chief of India. In the his-
toric days of New South Wales, when shortage of
foodstuffs became insistently imminent, supplies
had to be obtained from India, hence the connec-
tion of Cornwallis with Australia. A portion of
the Richmond district was subsequently called
Cornwallis in memory of the old ship.
It is not recorded that John Dight ever prac-
tised as a surgeon in Australia. Upon his
arrival he secured a position in the Commissariat
Department, which he held for a while, and then
settled at Richmond, in the Hawkesbury district.
In the year 1807 his name appears as one of the
signatories to an address presented, by "holders
of landed estates and principal inhabitants of the
Hawkesbury, Portland, Richmond, and neigh-
bouring districts," to Governor Bligh, thanking
him for his "unbounded attention" to the welfare
of the district and the colony at large in the
"dreadful crisis" in which he found it. The
959
960
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
signatories declared they had subsci-ibed all the
grain they could possibly spare for the public
store at the fixed price, "rejecting any greater
prices, which they would have received in the
market." The name of John Dight again ap-
pears in an address of welcome presented by
Hawkesbury settlers to Governor Macquarie in
1 8 10. He was appointed Coroner for the
Hawkesbury district in 1828, and held that office
up to the time of his death, which occurred at the
age of 65 years in 1837.
G. W. Dight, Senr.
A few years before his demise he received a
Crown grant of a considerable area near Single-
ton— Stafford and Clifford. His wife died in
1862, at the age of 81. The family consisted of
five sons, Messrs. John, Charles, George, Samuel,
and Arthur Dight, all well known pioneer pas-
toralists, and six daughters, one of whom married
Hamilton Hume, the explorer. John and Charles
Dight took up land near Albury and on the Yarra
River, where the Dight mills became well known.
George and Samuel became the owners of Stafford
and Clifford. The youngest son, Arthur, pur-
chased Clarendon from Charles Clarendon Cox
in 1862, and made that place his home. He was
interested in the station properties Yendah
and Windah in Queensland. He entered Parlia-
ment as representative of the Hawkesbury in
1869, and died in 1895.
George Dight and his brothers-in-law, John
and James Howe, were the first to take up land
on the Namoi River. Breeza was then the fringe
of civilisation, but, having heard from the blacks
of a big river further out, the party, with a stock-
man named Parmeter, pressed forward. They
were guided by a native, who, after piloting them
for seven or eight miles, became scared of hostile
blacks and went back. The party, however, went
on, located the river, and took up a considerable
area of land on the Namoi, namely, Carroll and
Kibah. The Howes took the former and Mr.
Dight the latter. From the Namoi, the party con-
tinued their adventurous journey and struck the
Mclntyre River, taking up the country on both
sides of the river, from the junction of Oaky
Creek (about six miles above the present Yetman
homestead) to the junction with the Dumaresq
River, the boundary of New South Wales and
Queensland. George Dight took up Yetman for
his mother, Tucka Tucka and Boonall for him-
self and brother Samuel. Tucka Tucka shortly
after passed into other hands.
Mr. G. W. Dight, senior, is the eldest and only
surviving son of the late George Dight, of
Stafford, Singleton, and was born there in 1842.
He was educated first by private tutors, and later
at Maitland Grammar and High Schools.
G. W. Dight, senior, had no practical in-
terest in the old homestead for some considerable
time after the death of his father, but in 1888 his
mother gave up possession to him. On the death
of George Dight in 1851, the stations were under
the management of his brother Samuel. On the
death of Mrs. John Dight, Yetman was left by
will to her two sons, Samuel and Arthur. Boo-
nall, on the death of George Dight, was carried
on by Samuel, in the interests of himself and
Mrs. George Dight. After a few years Samuel
Dight and Mrs. George Dight bought the in-
terests of Arthur Dight in Yetman, and the joint
business was carried on for some years under the
former's management. In 1870 G. W. Dight,
senior, and his brother John bought their uncle
Samuel's interest in the properties and took up
their residences there, the former at Yetman and
the latter at Boonall. They carried on the pro-
perties in partnership for several years, but sub-
sequently managed each property separately.
Boonall has since been disposed of.
G. W. Dight, senr., married in 1869 Isabella
Margaret Brodie, daughter of Peter Brodie, of
Glen Alven, Murrurundi. Of this marriage there
were five children — one son and four daughters.
The family lived at Yetman from 1870 to the
end of 1889, when they made their home at
"Teringa," Armidale.
Yetman homestead now belongs to G. W.
Dight, junr., his father retaining a considerable
portion of the freehold and improvement leases
on the western end.
Shannon Vale Homestead
I
^^W i THEN the good men and true of old Sydney
1/1/ settlement turned northward in the
l^ft early days, they found well-watered
^^pastures and rich river bottoms along the Hunter
River.
Faring further north and west, they came upon
cool, fertile uplands of the Great Dividing
Ranges. These high lands proved especially
suitable for cattle and sheep. The climate was
bracing; snow fell in winter time, but never lay
long upon the ground.
Several fine stations were founded, some of
which still remain in the possession of families
whose progenitors were among the earliest Aus-
tralian pioneers.
The pastoral history of Glen Innes district in
New South Wales dates back nearly a hundred
years. It is regarded to-day as one of the most
favored parts of the mother State. Its wool
has gained a wide repute, and its stock can hold
their own in any competition. The climate is
ideal, and lends itself to the best possible results
in breeding. Here men of experience have made
wise use of Nature's bountiful gifts. Many
properties on the northern tableland are highly
improved. Closer settlement has come naturally,
because the district is capable of supporting a
large population of producers, but there are still
many notable large holdings in the district.
SHANNON VALE
i
Shannon Vale, the property of Major James
Frederick White, has been a long-standing
example of experienced and enterprising manage-
ment. It came into the hands of the White
family in the 'nineties of last century when Mr.
Edward White, the father of the present owner,
purchased it with the idea of breeding cattle to
be sent down to his Martindale property for fat-
tening. At the same time he purchased Elgin
and Newton Boyd, adjoining, embracing them
also in this scheme.
His plan proved an entire success. Thousands
of Shannon Vale-bred bullocks have gone on to
Martindale for fattening purposes, eventually
reaching the Homebush market in prime condi-
tion and realising top prices. The Martindale
fattened bullocks have a great name at the metro-
politan saleyards, and always command the
highest ruling rates, being keenly sought by all
the principal operators.
Shannon Vale was originally owned by Thomas
Rusden, and then comprised an area of about
70,000 acres. It was sold at auction to the late
Alexander Rodgers, of Glen Elgin, and eventu-
ally when all the properties of Mr. Rodgers
were sold, they were purchased by the late
Edward White, and, on that gentleman's retire-
ment, were taken over by his sons. In 19 14
961
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The late Edward White
these properties were divided, and Mr. J. F.
White purchased the Shannon Vale property.
Shannon Vale has been an important link in
the chain of properties controlled by the Martin-
dale White Bros., as the sons of Mr. Edward
White have been known for many years. The
Glen Innes properties have yielded their yearly
quota. Major James F. White has proved a
highly successful station manager. He now fills
the position, in addition to controlling Shannon
Vale, of manager to the Martindale White Bros,
combination.
Major J. F. White is a grandson of the ori-
ginal Mr. James White, who came to Australia
in 1805 and secured a Crown grant of 1,280 acres
at Gundy in the early days. He afterwards pur-
chased Edinglassie, Timor, Baroona, and other
properties. He was a famous pioneer of the
Hunter River district, and laid the foundation of
the great success won by his sons and grandsons
in the pastoral industry.
James F. White is one of four sturdy sons who
have followed in the footsteps of a worthy father
and grandfather. The late Mr. James White,
the early owner of Edinglassie, was one of the
notable pioneers of the State. The four
brothers represent the third generation of the
White family, which has for three-quarters of a
century been in the front rank of Austrahan pas-
toralism. Born and bred in an atmosphere of
stock-raising. Major White is a recognized judge
of stock. He has been carefully trained in the
intricacies of station management, and to
inherited ability has added a fine personal
enthusiasm.
The family interests of late years have tended
more to the production of cattle than sheep. In
this section the Whites have been deservedly
pre-eminent. The profitable and technical
industry of fattening cattle for market has
been followed on sound scientific and busi-
ness lines. The business of producing food
supplies for the metropolis and for the ex-
port trade is quite as important from a
national viewpoint as that of devoting lands and
energies to the production of wool. Moreover,
experience has proved that it is quite as resultful in
a financial sense. It relieves the landowner from
worries incidental to keeping down latter-day
pests, the difficult demands of shearers, and so on.
It is not our province here to enter into the rival
merits of sheep and cattle, but rather is it the
desire to emphasise the point that both have their
places in the scheme of things Australian, and
that both are necessary to the full development of
the Commonwealth.
Local conditions must always have much to do
in determining which of the two sections is likely
to prove the more profitable. In Queensland
large cattle stations have gradually been im-
proved, fenced, subdivided and devoted to sheep.
On the other hand, in some of the closer settled
districts of New South Wales, and notably in the
northern district, properties which in days gone
by were devoted to merino sheep, have since been
used for cattle-fattening purposes and early lamb-
raising, — with satisfactory results. The eating-
out of the finer grasses by sheep has had some-
thing to do with this ; but the big profits obtainablca^;
by fattening stock for market have naturally beeifl*
the most potent factor. Metropolitan fat-stock
buyers have for years lamented the fact that^
beef supplies have steadily fallen off, and high
prices for cattle well repay those who have de
voted themselves to the business, where their pro^
perties are suitable.
Mr. Edward White, the father of the present
owner of Shannon Vale, and of the Martindale
White Bros., was born at Edinglassie, Musvvell-
brook, being the youngest son of the late Mr.
James White. He obtained his pastoral educa-
tion on Edinglassie and on other of his father's
properties north of Belltrees. In 1864 he pur-jj'
chased Merton from Captain Ogilvie— now the
residence of his son, Mr. Edward Reginald White
— and in 1875 he secured Martindale, a property
of 30,000 acres, from his elder brother, the late
Hon. James White, M.L.C. Martindale lies
on the Hunter River, at its confluence with the
Goulburn River, about ten miles from Denman,
and its settlement dates back to the old Colonial ,
days.
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963
964
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Major J. F. White, of Shannon Vale, was born
at Martindale, on the Hunter River; he was
educated at the Sydney Grammar School, where
he became captain of the Football Club and also
stroked the school rowing-crew, which won the
All-Schools' Championship in 1893. After
leaving school he took up polo-playing, and,
when he came to Shannon Vale, was instrumental
in founding the Glen Innes Polo Club. On the
outbreak of war, J. F. White enlisted in the 6th
Light Horse, under Colonel (now General) C.
Cox. He left Australia as a Captain in Decem-
ber, 1 9 14, and after serving for three months
in Egypt was promoted major and sailed for
Gallipoli in May, 19 15. He remained there
until November of the same year, obtaining the
temporary rank of Lieut.-Colonel. He was
invalided for enteric fever, and returned to Aus-
tralia in February, 1916, being gazetted to the
rank of major for services rendered. Major
White is a member of the firm of Martindale
White Bros. He is Vice-President of the
Central New England Pastoralists' Association,
member of the Severn Shire Council, President
of the Glen Innes branch of the Returned Sol-
diers' and Sailors' League, and Chairman of the
local committee of the Graziers' Association.
Major White was married in 1903 to a
daughter of the late Hon. Chas. B. Dutton, at
one time Minister for Lands in Queensland.
Their family consists of two sons. Rex, aged 13
years, Cedric, aged 11, and one daughter, Sybil,
aged 9.
Mr. Edward White retired from active pas-
toral pursuits for some years before his death,
living at Kigwigil, his beautiful residence at
Kirribilli Point, Sydney. He had vivid memories
of the early days, and from his stock of reminis-
cences many interesting historical stories might be
compiled. He remembered Muswellbrook, for
instance, when it resembled an English village —
even to the detail of the old-world "stocks" for
offenders in the public square.
Most of the large holdings in the district were
originally Crown grants to army and naval
officers, freely given by the government of the
period, with the idea of inducing settlement in the
new British colony. Heavily timbered for the most
part, it required pioneers of the right stamp, who
were prepared to live in virgin country, risk the
treachery of the natives, and undertake the Her-
culean task of clearing and improving a forested
wilderness.
Those were the days of privation and hard liv-
ing. Capital was scanty, and a man's best assets
were health, strength, and energy. The pioneers
of the White family possessed these qualifications
to a pronounced degree. Landowners often had
very little money to devote to their strenuous
Major Jas. F. White
i
tasks. Labor, however, was cheap, comprised
for the most part of "assigned" servants. The
policy of the Crown was to allot Its prisoners to
the settlers, granting the latter land in proportion
to the number of men they were prepared to re-
ceive. This had the dual effect of encouraging
settlement and of relieving the Government of
the expense of supporting its motley charges.
Muswellbrook and Maitland grew thus in the
early days. Originally a sheep district of
Colonial fame, the greater number of Its station
properties were ultimately devoted to horses and
cattle.
SHANNON VALE
965
In Colonial times a steamboat service was
established between Morpeth and Sydney. Mor-
peth became a port of some importance. The
first northern railway was inaugurated between
Morpeth and Maitland by a private company,
which ended in failure. The only marketable
products then were wool and tallow; but there
was considerable trade in both.
slaughtering sheep and horses for their skins and
tallow may appear ruinous nowadays, but
it afforded temporary salvation to the Australian
pastoral industry in its blackest days.
In the 'forties, forced sales of sheep were made
in New South Wales as low as one shilling per
head — with the station thrown in. Sheep were
the mainstay and hope of the colonists of the
Shannon Vale Country: The Mann River
On Martindale much success was attained in
breeding horses. The original type was of the
old English stamp, with large bone and powerful
quarters. Blood stallions were mated with
mares of the period, with a pronounced dash of
Cleveland Bay or coaching blood in them. They
were very active and hardy. They could do sixty
miles a day for days on end. The time came,
however, when horses had little value save that of
their hides and tallow, and many hundreds were
boiled down for the latter product. A boiling-
down establishment was working at Maitland,
where settlers could have their horses and sheep
reduced to "by-product." The policy of
period, but, when wool prices went so low as to
barely counterbalance the cost of production, mat-
ters became serious. The natural increase was
the sole profit. When this increase could not be
disposed of, pastoralism reached absolute low
water. Tallow was worth £25 per ton in Sydney
and up to £40 per ton in London, hence the
drastic remedy of turning sheep-flocks into tallow
had something to justify it.
The celebrated William Charles Went-
worth owned a boiling-down establishment
at Windermere, near Maitland. In 1843
(the year this practice began), and in
the following year, 217,797 sheep were boiled
966
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
I
Old Shannon Vale: Homestead, looking East
down in New South Wales. In 1850, there were
I ID boiling-down establishments, and 798,787
sheep were treated. In seven years 261,169
cattle and 2,364,539 sheep were boiled-down in
the parent colony. Mr. Wentworth's establish-
ment catered for the settlers of the Hunter, Wel-
lington, Liverpool Plains, and New England dis-
tricts, charging 9d. per head for slaughtering,
skinning, cutting up and boiling sheep, packing the
boiled fat in the sheepskins in suitable and secure
parcels for exportation and putting them on board
the steamer at Green Hills. Threepence per
head was charged for washing the skins, taking
off the wool, drying and putting it into clean packs,
and delivering those bales to the ship. The owner
of the sheep had to pay freight on his wool and
tallow to Sydney, or Mr. Wentworth would take
at his option wool at i/- per lb., and tallow at
28d. per lb. in payment for all charges. The
freight on wool was 7/- per bale to Sydney, and on
tallow I /- per cwt. Horses, splendidly bred and
of excellent stamp, could be bought at 10- per
head.
The Shorthorn stud at Martindale was founded
on specially selected heifers purchased from the
famous Bylong herd, bred by the late Mr. John
Lee. These cattle were considered the finest and
purest in the colony. Mr. Edward White was
not content with this, but imported very fine bulls
and cows from England. The stud was thus
started on a very sound foundation. Mr. White
devoted himself to the development of this herd,
with the result that it soon reached a high stan-
dard. The Martindale property now maintains
a stud of about 500 head, and Shannon Vale sends
along something like 5,000 bullocks for fattening.
Bolivia station, in the Tentorfield district, was
purchased by Mr. Edward White in 1880 from
the late Mr. Edward Irby, a pioneer of that part
of the country. He also purchased Ballandean,
a run of 200,000 acres in Queensland, which his
son, the late Mr. Walter White, managed for
some years. On the death of this gentleman, his
father disposed of that property.
The history of the White family is an especially
interesting one. Overlords of many broad acres
since the very beginning of Australian pastoral
enterprise, they have devoted unstinted energies
and hard-won capital to the improvement and
advancement of our basic industry. Good sports,
upright and honorable to a degree, they have won
credit and distinction in a new country where, more
than in any other land on earth, the best men suc-
ceed.
Their descendants may look back with pride
upon progenitors who made use of opportunities,
who kept a brave face when the skies were over-
cast and progress and plenty seemed afar off.
Australia's honor roll of pastoral pioneering is
brightened by names such as these.
il
At Bamomie, on the Clarence Blver
"RAMORNIE" AND THE TINDALS
I
I
LUSH and verdant lands are the Northern
Districts of New South Wales. First
comes the green, sub-tropical littoral,
watered by river systems which have their origins
in the Great Dividing Ranges. These rivers, hav-
ing accumulated increasing burdens, spread out
m deltas, creeks and arms as they approach the
sea.
Fertile beyond the average, — a greater por-
tion of these coast lands is given over to agricul-
ture; but the cool upward slopes, foothills and
plateaux, that lie to the westward, have been for
the most part devoted to pastoral production.
Famous among cattle stations of the North
Coast are Yugilbar and Ramornie. The Moorish
castle erected on Yugilbar by the late Edward
Ogilvie and the pioneer meat-works of Ramornie
are equally matters of district pride.
The story of Ramornie is a most creditable
chapter in the history of the Tindal family. This
vigorous family — one of great activities and
achievement — was well-rooted in good English
stock. Its success in Australia may be taken as
another example of what this land of oppor-
tunities will yield to courageous and intelligent
enterprise.
Mr. Charles Grant Tindal, the founder of the
family in Australia, was born at Honiton, in
Devonshire, in 1824. His father. Captain
Charles Tindal, R.N., was afterwards the Gover-
nor of the Bank of England at Birmingham, his
uncle, Sir Nicolas Tindal, was for some years
Lord Chief Justice of Common Pleas. Naval,
military, financial, legal and commercial faculties
appear to have been pretty freely distributed
among the Tindals.
In studying the history of Australian successes,
one notices how hereditary traits and character
are seldom lost or weakened under the new and
strenuous conditions of colonizing life. C. G.
Tindal, after an education at the famous King
Edward's School, Birmingham, came to Austra-
lia at eighteen years of age. His father's old
naval friend. Captain Ogilvie, was at the time
established at Merton on the Hunter River.
From here young Tindal went farther north
967
968
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Charles Grant Tindal (1824-1914)
to join Captain Ogilvie's son, the late Mr.
Edward Ogilvie, who had just taken up Yugilbar
Station on the Clarence River. Here Charles
Grant Tindal acquired his early "colonial experi-
ence," a process which has converted so many
of England's best sons into sterling Australian
citizens.
From Yugilbar, after a year or so, we find him
droving and exploring in territory which now
forms part of the State of Queensland. A little
later he bought Koreela, on the head-waters of the
Clarence, where he lived a full pioneer life, being
his own horse-breaker, bullock-driver, and stock-
man.
Old "bullockies" of the ranges spoke of him
in after-years as being able to handle a team as
well as the best professional. His pluck and
skill at drafting in a stock-yard in the days of wild
cattle and sliprails, — before the advent of gates —
were long a local tradition.
Adaptability is one of the Englishman's traits.
The Tindal stock was strong and determined. It
is represented to-day by men who have set square
jaws to their tasks in the trenches in France, or
wherever the call of Empire led them.
Mr. C. G. Tindal was joined at Koreela by a
younger brother, Frederick. Soon afterwards he
purchased Ramornie, on the south side of the
nit 1
noble Clarence, about i8 miles above the fair
city of Grafton.
Having sold Koreela, he returned to England
in 1856, leaving his brother in charge of
Ramornie. In England he married Miss A. A.
Travers, a daughter of the head of the firm of
Joseph Travers and Sons. Just before his
return to Australia he received the melancholy
news that his brother had been drowned crossing
the dangerous Eastonwell Falls on the Clarence.
Mr. C. G. Tindal had long been considering in
what way surplus fat cattle could be more profit-
ably treated than by boiling down. In 1862
went to England to study the subject of canni
beef and making Liebig's Extract. The result
of his pilgrimage and investigation was the forma-
tion of the Australian Meat Company, with
works on the Orara River, known as the
Ramornie works. These were opened in 1866
and worked part of every year up till 19 15 in-
clusive. In 1879 Mr. Tindal bought out the
others partners, and became the sole owner.
From 1867 to 1890 — though residing principally
in England and managing the English end of the
meat business — he made frequent trips to Austra-
lia. After 1890 he remained in the old country,
leaving his eldest son, C. F. Tindal, to manage
the Australian properties. In January, 19 14, he
died at his English home in Eversley, Hampshire,
his wife having predeceased him by some eleven
years. Both in Australia and England he en-
joyed a wide reputation as a specially capable,
energetic, straightforward man, and a fair,
though strict, master.
Meantime, the Australian properties had been
increased by the purchase in 1885 of the Bon-
shaw and Gunyan amalgamated stations, situated
on both sides of the Queensland — New South
Wales border, near Texas. A few years after,
Trigamon, adjoining these properties to the west,
was bought from Mr. W. Campbell. About ten
years later, Albany Downs leasehold, near Mit-
chell, on the Maranoa, was also acquired.
Mr. C. G. Tindal was an excellent judge of
stock. He imported many good stallions and
bulls, among the former being Pitsford (winner
of English 2,000 guineas), Reugny (winner of
Liverpool Grand National), Livingstone, War-
like, and others. He also at one time owned old
Sir Hercules, and the celebrated Cassandra.
Their son Yattendon was foaled at Ramornie. A
small but excellent stud of Devon cattle was
formed at Ramornie in the early 'nineties. About
the same time the famous stud of pure Herefords
was started at Gunyan. Both the Devon and
Hereford studs have been liberally fed with im- ,
portations of high English blood. Many splen-
did heifers and a few bulls were also obtained
from Mr. Reynolds' Tocal Hereford stud.
I
RAMORNIE AND THE TINDALS
969
The Homestead, Head Station, Baiuoruie
Mr. C. G. Tindal also imported several Suf-
folk stallions, and there is an excellent Suffolk
stud at Ramornie, among those imported being
Cavalier (2nd at the English Royal Show), and
Rendlesham Sprightly ( ist at English Royal
Show). The former was imported as long ago as
the early 'fifties.
There are in 19 17 at Gunyan 500 pedigreed
breeders all entered or eligible for entry in "Here-
ford Herd Book" — among stud bulls now in use
are Magnitude, imported (ist Brisbane, 1916),
Admiral, imported, Rosador 2nd (ist Sydney),
Wonder 3rd (ist Sydney), Sir Edgar (ist Syd-
ney), etc., etc. At Ramornie there are 125 pure
pedigreed Devon breeders, carefully culled — the
principal bulls in use being two imported from the
stud of Mr. C. Morris, Highfield, St. Albans.
England.
Several excellent Devon breeders have been im-
ported from time to time, including Royalist 4th
of Pound (ist R.A.S.E.). Both the Hereford
and Devon studs are kept carefully culled, and
are remarkable for their even excellence of qua-
lity, combined with great constitution. It is Mr.
Tindal's ambition that the single T brand should
be recognised as a hall-mark of value.
The Gunyan and other properties in Queens-
land or on the Queensland border have been from
970
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
1886 under the very able management of
Mr. H. F. Elwyn, son of General Elwyn, R.E., an
old friend of Mr. Tindal's; while the Clarence
River properties, and the general management
have been in the hands of Mr. C. F. Tindal, to
whom his father handed them over as a gift in
19 10.
In March, 1914, Mr. C. F. Tindal bought
Newbold Station on the Clarence from Mr. W.
Mr. and Mrs. C. F. Tindal and Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Tindal
A. B. Greaves; this property adjourns Ramornic,
on the up-river side. In 19 13, Mr. C. F. Tindal
handed over the active management of Ramornie
to his son, C. H. Tindal, having a short time
previously bought a residence, "Bona Vista," two
miles out of Armidale, from which he is able to
reach any of his stations, except Albany Downs,
in a day's motor drive.
This is a brief outline of the Tindals and their
Australian fortunes to the momentous and terrible
days of 1914. Then came the call of the blood!
Trumpets of War blared again across the Narrow
Seas, rolled in stirring echoes over Atlantic
waves and reverberated still further beyond the
"long wash of Australasian seas."
"Drake he was a Devon man.
And ruled the Devon seas."
It was fit and seeming that the old Devonshire
blood should answer from the ends of the earth.
Mr. C. F. Tindal's second and third sons found
the call of Empire irresistible. Among the first,
they had taken their places in the fighting ranks.
Mr.Archie Tindal, the elder of the twain, joined
the Royal Held Artillery as 2nd Lieutenant. He
fell in the battle of the Somme. His command-
ing officer, in memorial correspondence, paid
graceful tribute to his fearlessness and resolution
as a soldier, and the high place he held in the
affection alike of men and officers.
Mr. Nicolas Tindal obtained a commission in
the 2nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment.
He was still in France at New Year, 1917. In
September, 19 16, Charles and Arthur, the eldest
and youngest sons, together with their mother,
sailed to England. On arrival they joined the
St. John's Wood Artillery Training School for
Officers, while their mother went to help Miss
Tindal's Auxiliary Military Hospital at her
house in Eversley, Hants.
Of the third generation of Ramornie-born
Tindals, Charles Henry, born in 1887, married
Gladys, daughter of Sholto Cay, Esq., of Mack's
Creek, Queensland, and has issue a daughter and
two sons. He was educated at Sedberg School,
Yorkshire. Archibald, born in 1888, was edu-
cated at his father's old school, Wellington Col-
lege. Like him, he won the mile and two-mile
races and the steeplechase. He married Dorothy,
daughter of the Ven. Archdeacon Moxon of
Grafton, and left a daughter and a son. Pre-
viously to volunteering, he was assistant manager
at Gunyan. Travers Grant, the third son, died
as a schoolboy; Nicolas, educated at Southport
and Armidale Schools, was working at Gunyan
when he volunteered. Arthur, the youngest,
was educated at Southport and Armidale, being
before he left, the Captain of the latter. He
then went to St. Paul's College, Sydney Unixer-
sity, and had just passed the first year's medical,
when he left to take a commission in the English
army, reaching E^ngland on his 19th birthday.
Both he and his brother Charles volunteered dur-
ing the latter part of the voyage (when in
waters rendered dangerous by enemy sub-
marines), to take several hours a day "look-out"
duty, and an hour a day assisting the stokers, who
were short-handed.
Epitomized, the history of the Tindal family
becomes one of almost universal service in the
cause of Empire: —
The family of Charles Grant Tindal — founder
of the Australian family — were: —
RAMORNIE AND THE TINDALS
971
Charles Frederick Tindal, born at Ramornie,
Clarence River, in 1857. He was educated at
Wellington College, Berkshire, England, and
married his second cousin, Edith Tindal, in 1885.
For 25 years he was general manager for his
father in Australia; later he owned the properties.
Anne Grant Tindal, born at Ramornie in 1858,
resides at Fir Grove, Eversley, Hants, England.
Since the outbreak of war in 19 14, she has been
running it as an Auxiliary Soldiers' Hospital.
John Travers Tindal, grazier and farmer, lat-
terly resident at Tatiara, near Glen Innes,
N.S.W., married in 1887 Mary, eldest daughter
of the late E. D. Ogilvie, of Yugilbar, Clarence
River, N.S.W. On the outbreak of war he went
to England, and worked in a munition factory for
a considerable time, later as special constable,
to free a younger man for war. His only son,
Humphrey, died of malaria while serving
with the artillery in East Africa; one
daughter is working at Messrs. Stilwell and
Sons, Naval Agents, London, and two on farms
in England, in order to free men to fight. Mrs.
J. T. Tindal is doing Red Cross work in Sydney.
Highfield Ploughboy (18 months),
Bred by C. Morris, Highfield, Herts, England.
Magnitude,
Imported Hereford Bull (1st Brisbane, 1916).
Highfield Fearless (2 years),
Bred by C. Morris, Highfield, St. Albans, Herts.
Wonder 3rd (1st Class, Sydney, N.S.W.) ,
Bred by S. Reynolds, Tocal, N.S.W.
972
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Maria Louisa Tindal, obtained certificate as a
fully trained nurse at the London Hospital, and is
now resident at Newton Abbot, England.
Jean Emilia, married C. V. Mather, then of
Spring Grove, Casino, N.S.W., now of Fairleigh,
near Armidale, N.S.W. She has three daughters
and a son, "all too young for war work," the
compiler of the Tindal memoirs remarks, with
something like regret.
Elizabeth Grant, married Godfrey Holt Stil-
well, of Messrs. Stilwell and Sons, Naval Agents,
London. Their two eldest sons are serving with
commissions in the English Army; the eldest,
John, was wounded and taken prisoner in Mesopo-
tamia. Both volunteered soon after the out-
break of war.
Esther Kirkpatrick, married Lieut. -Col. H. F.
Faithfull, of the Indian Army (now retired).
Residence, The Priory, Frimley, Surrey. The
children are too young for war work, but both
Col. and Mrs. Faithfull are energetic workers in
various patriotic societies for aid of our soldiers
and sailors. Col. Faithfull is a director of the
Australian Meat Co. Ltd., London, formerly a
branch of the Ramornie, N.S.W., business.
This, at least, can be accepted, as an indication
that after two and three generations, Australians
of a good English stock remain true and loyal to
the land of their forefathers. They turn natur-
ally from the in-terests of civil life to military ser-
vice in the cause of a nationality the sacredness of
which neither Time nor distance can lessen in their
eyes.
Australian Meat Company's Works, Ramornie
lb
Donald Campbell,
Of Glengower Estate, Campbelltown
J. A. CAMPBELL, OF DUNGALEAR
MANY fine Captains of Industry have risen
to distinction in that pastoral brigade
which has formed the outposts of Aus-
tralian settlement. From the four kingdoms of
Britain and Ireland they or their forebears came
to the conquest of a new world. As Raleigh and
Dralce and other valiant souls fared west, the
prows of their argosies were turned south in
later days.
The glamor had not faded from the Seven
Seas. To the men of those wonderful little
islands which lie upon the western confines of
war-worn Europe, the waters have retained their
ancient lure. They were a maritime people, and
the highways and byways of the oceans were
dear and familiar to them. Beyond the Narrow
Seas which make the immediate horizon of their
island homes, were new lands to occupy and
colonize. For over a hundred years stout Eng-
lish, Irish, Scotch and Welsh hearts have
answered to the call of "Southward ho !"
Australia gained what Britain temporarily lost.
For, as events have proved, the Motherlands
have but lent in blood and brood what the sunny
Southern lands are proud and happy to repay in
the hour of need.
Since this compilation began, one of the most
honored native-born captains in that brigade
which have been holding the outposts of British
civilisation in the south, has followed his two
brave sons to the Great Beyond. Men who know
the Australian pastoral industry take off their
hats to the memory of the late J. A. Campbell,
of Dungalear and Tubbo.
He was born at Bullock Creek in 1854, but a
few years later went to Glengower Estate,
near Clunes, Victoria, when his father, Donald
Campbell, purchased that property from
Captain McLachlan. He was identified all
his life with pastoralism, as befitted a
member of a family which, on both sides, had
been farmers and graziers for generations near
Oban, Argyleshire, Scotland.
For thirty-six years he was the owner of Dun-
galear Station, Walgett, New South Wales.
Throughout that period he followed a system oi
consistent improvement. The property was re-
cognised as one of the most highly improved in a
district which has had a long experience of pas-
toral successes and reverses.
Enterprise, foresight, and adaptability to
modern conditions enabled the broadminded
973
974
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
*»^iS«
Manager's House and Barracks
owner of Dungalear to crown his life's labors
with high success. His pride was in the develop-
ment of his merino flock. He had the gratifica-
tion of eventually seeing his sheep gain a position
in the front rank, an achievement of which the lay
mind can hardly realise the importance.
Emulation among pastoralists has been a fine
tonic to the industry. It has helped to make our
staple product, Australian wool, eagerly sought
for by the looms of all the world. It has raised
the standard of wealth in this country higher
than the average citizen would deem possible.
To men like the late J. A. Campbell, who
sought to improve the value and quality of Aus-
tralian fleeces, honor and credit should be given
in no unstinted measure. They have been the
backbone and spinal marrow of our national
prosperity.
Dungalear sheep are big-framed animals of the
robust breed which has come so markedly forward
in recent years. The wool from Dungalear is
high-class, and of a quality which finds much
favor in the busy world of flocks and fleeces
to-day.
Mr. Campbell was of the vigorous type that
age mellows and makes more capable. He super-
intended the management of Dungalear till his
death in 1916, acting also as managing director
of Tubbo, Narrandera, one of the largest estates
in Riverina — in which his family was interested.
At Tubbo he adopted the same progressive
policy. As a result Tubbo clip became highly
popular with wool-buyers, that polyglot band
who bring to Australian salerooms something of
the vociferous energy which makes the Chicago
Wheat Pit a theme for the descriptive writers of
America.
Mr. Campbell's personal hobby was the breed-
ing of thoroughbreds in horses and cattle. He
took a pride in the pedigrees of all his stock, and
even the dairy cows attached to his Melbourne
residence were always pedigree cattle. Mr.
Campbell always kept a few stud horses at Dun-
galear, and bred some fine animals. His Win-
garoon established a record for his time; while
Wingarara won the Grand National Hurdle in
world's record time for the distance over hurdles.
In the politics and economics of pastoralism,
Mr. J. A. Campbell was, for years, a prominent
personality. He was one of the founders of the
Pastoralists' Association of Victoria, which body
was formed in 1890, and occupied the position
of President from 1902 to 1906. In the latter
year the association was reorganised and formed
into two divisions. Mr. Campbell was elected
President of the Pastoralists' Union of Southern
Riverina, one of the divisions. He was still
holding that position at the time of his death in
19 1 6. His presidential addresses at the annual
meetings were always regarded as pronounce-
J. A. CAMPBELL, OF DUNGALEAR
975
and the Homestead, Dungalear Station
lents of high value. In addition to the honor-
ible office, he was the representative of the Vic-
torian and Southern Riverina bodies at practically
Every convention of the Pastoralists' Federal
;!ouncil of Australia, and took a prominent part
|n the lengthy arbitration proceedings between
le Pastoralists' Union and the Australian
''orkers' Union in 191 1.
In November, 1916, when the British Govern-
lent purchased the balance of that season's wool-
clip, each section of the industry was called upon
to elect representatives to sit on a Central Wool
Committee. This body was charged with the
management of the scheme for handling and
shipping the wool. Mr. Campbell was chosen
as one of the two representatives of the growers.
The appointment proved a most popular one.
The subject of this sketch was recognised as a
man with special qualifications for the position.
He displayed marked ability in constructive work,
and his death a month later proved a great loss
to the Committee. The sense of this was ex-
pressed, not only by the central body, but by the
State Wool Committees in Victoria, New South
Wales, and Queensland.
Mr. Campbell was a vice-president of the Aus-
tralian Sheepbreeders' Association for many
years, and took a very active part in the work
of the Association and in the arrangement of its
annual exhibitions in Melbourne. He was also a
director of Dalgety and Co. Ltd., Melbourne, and
brought his wide experience of pastoral matters
to bear in this connection to the great advantage
of that company.
The success of the pastoral industry in Aus-
tralia, particularly during the last quarter of a
century, has been due quite as much to the able
men who have guided its destinies and steered it
clear of pitfalls, as to the effect of seasons and
natural facilities. Whilst past-masters in the art
of sheepbreeding have devoted their lives almost
exclusively to the task of perfecting types and of
evolving a class of sheep capable of producing
a heavy fleece of high-class wool and with the
constitution to withstand the vagaries of climate
which have to be contended against, others have
rendered quite as signal service in solving the
many problems which have from time to time
beset the Industry, in acting as its mouthpiece in
resisting what was regarded as unfair legislation,
and in dealing effectively with the many and
varied pests which have had to be contended
with.
To a large extent these public-spirited advo-
cates have had to spend a very considerable por-
tion of their time in working for the good of all.
This they have done right joyously; recognising
that what makes for the common good makes
also for the good of the individual. In the legis-
lative councils of the pastoral industry brainy,
able, and far-seeing men have done splendid ser-
vice. No name stands out more prominently in
976
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
connection with Southern Riverina and Victorian
sections than that of Mr. J. A. Campbell.
None have been more widely known or popular
in the pastoral industry than he. His ability was
not confined to station management, but found
expression also in the larger sphere of pastoral
politics. His experience embraced all details of
pastoral work, but it was not so much his experi-
ence as his broad-minded spirit and optimistic
outlook which made him a power in the industry
He possessed a charming, genial personality.
Kindly, lovable, tactful, eminently fair-minded,
and generous to a fault, his popularity could be
well understood. His honesty of conviction and
deed, and his fair-dealing instincts earned the
respect not only of his fellow-pastoralists but also
of the labor section of the industry. He was a
man whose word was his bond; who never missed
an opportunity of doing a kindness to his fellow-
man.
For more than a quarter of a century Mr.
Campbell was an untiring worker in all move-
ments calculated to be for the advancement and
general good of pastoralism. No man connected
with sheep-raising in Australia has contributed
more to the success of the pastoral industry and
to smooth the path of those engaged in it. He
spared neither time, trouble, nor money, but gave
freely of his ability and means. His ripe experi-
ence was always at the call of his fellow-graziers,
and there is no doubt that he frequently over-
taxed his health and strength in labors for the
common good. As a mediator in times of labor
troubles he proved himself a tower of strength.
Mr. Campbell left a widow and a family of
two sons and four daughters. Two other sons.
Lieutenants Donald and Walter Campbell, were
killed in action in the "big push" in France in
1916. Lieutenant Walter Campbell had just pre-
viously been awarded the Military Cross for
gallant conduct on the field. Vigorous and active
as he was even at the age of 62, this fine old
colonist felt keenly the loss of the brave sons who
had laid down their gallant lives in far-off France.
There is something finely pathetic in the clos-
ing scene of this useful and honorable life.
Although living for years prior to his death at
his home, "Ottawa," Toorak, Victoria, he had
kept in close touch with Dungalear and Tubbo.
He kept in harness to the last, and with all the
heavy weight of new sorrow upon him, went
stoically about his work to the day before he died.
One of his commercial compeers, speaking for
the rest, summed up his qualities in a short sym-
pathetic obituary notice, which appeared in the
columns of the "Pastoral Review": — "In the
cities J. A. Campbell was noted for his combina-
tion of strength and friendly, pleasant manner,
and was respected by all and loved by most of
those with whom he came in contact, while his
honor and probity and straight-dealing gave him
an exalted position among the business men of
i\.ustralia. But it was amongst the bush people.
J. A. Campbell
perhaps, that his real worth, his kindly heart, were
best known. When the news of his passing be-
came known, his friends in New South Wales, on
the Murrumbidgee, and along the northern rivers,
experienced a poignant sense of personal loss.
Genuine grief and sorrow remain for the death
of one whom they knew so well, for the man who
had never turned a deaf ear to those who needed
real sympathy or help. He is gone, worn out
by hard work and by grief at the loss of his brave
sons who died for the Empire."
4
The Homestead
I^^T^HE city of Rockhampton, Queensland, needs
I no inspired prophet to predict for it a
progressive future. Any ordinary lay-
man may forecast that from the certainties
already within his vision. Apart from adjacent
mineral riches which have found their highest ex-
pression in Mount Morgan, its pastoral and agri-
cultural surroundings must make it a growing
centre of population and industry.
Close to Rockhampton lies Gracemere, one of
:he oldest and most celebrated of Queensland
itatlons.
In the memoirs of the late J. A. Macartney we
nd that hardy pioneer relating with pleasure his
rrival at Gracemere on the 31st of December,
857. Here he found hospitality and welcome,
like many a northern traveller before and since.
ockhampton was then a place of only three per-
lanent residents. It went through its pack-
laddle and bullock-dray periods, saw the Great
^ush to the goldfields, had its boom days, and
ilowly settled down to its present stability.
iracemere has been a constant contributor to the
prosperity of Rockhampton.
The name of Archer is held in general respect
,in the North, where so many good Australians
GRACEMERE
(ARCHER BROTHERS LIMITED)
have "done their bit" towards the upbuilding of a
queenly State.
On the 1st July, 19 16, an amalgamation of the
firm of Archer Brothers Limited, of Gracemere,
and Messrs. R. S. and J. Archer, of Torsdale and
Coolibah, was completed, the combined firms
being carried on as Archer Brothers Limited.
From an interesting review of the Archer
family, published at the time in the Rockhampton
Bulletin, we learn that the firm of Archer had
been then in existence for 75 years. In 1839
Mr. David Archer resigned the management of
Wallarawang and Louie, in New South Wales,
the properties of his uncle, Mr. Walker, and
formed the firm of D. Archer and Co.
Sheep were purchased from the well-known
Louie flock, and preparations were made to travel
across New England to the Darling Downs,
where settlement was just starting, Mr. Thomas
Archer being second in charge. Unfortunately
for the new firm, scab broke out in the sheep,
necessitating a twelve months' delay, so that when
the Darling Downs were reached, the pick of the
country had been taken up. The leader, Mr.
David Archer, pushed on ahead of the party and
eventually took up Durundur, near Moreton
977
K2
978
GRACEMERE
979
The Garden, Gracemere Homestead
Bay, Mr. David M'Connel, who had settled at
Cressbrook a year earHer, being his nearest neigh-
bor. Durundur was occupied until 1845, when
the run and cattle were sold to a brother of Mr.
D. M'Connel, the sheep being moved to Emu
Creek, and Cooyar taken up that year.
The story, as it goes on, makes clearer the
movements and methods of early pastoralism.
Led by men of enterprise and daring, flocks and
herds were continually migrated to new pastures.
Bold and confident spirits acted as the vanguard
of settlement. The more timid or cautious fol-
lowed on. Each year fresh territory was brought
into occupation. Late-comers, if they missed the
ick of suitable lands, profited by the trials and
periences, failures and successes of their fore-
runners.
From Cooyar exploring trips were made by Mr.
Thomas Archer to Mount Abundance (Roma)
and to the Upper Burnett, where, in 1848, D.
Archer and Co. took up Coonambula and brought
their sheep there; a new firm, Charles and Thomas
E Archer, taking up and stocking the adjoining
Archer returned to England in 1852 and did not
revisit Australia.
In 1853 Charles and William Archer made an
exploring trip to the North, following up the
Burnett waters across Rawbelle, whence they
crossed to those of the Fitzroy. Following up
the Dee River, and crossing the Dee Range, they
took up the Gracemere run, on which the town of
Rockhampton now stands, naming the Fitzroy
River and surrounding mountains en route. On
their return to the Burnett, Charles and Thomas
joined their firm to D. Archer and Co. (David
and William), under the style of Archer and Co.,
and, in 185';, removed their sheep (the descend-
ants of the Louie stock) to Gracemere.
At Gracemere Archibald, Colin, and James
Archer joined the firm, these and their brother
William being at different times in charge of the
property.
In the succeeding years a stud of Shorthorn
and Hereford cattle was formed, the first bulls
being imported from England in 1864, importa-
tions following in 1870 and 1888.
98o
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
In 1872 Minnie Downs, on the Barcoo, was
acquired, and the sheep were sent out there, also
part of the cattle. Minnie Downs was sold in
1882 to Messrs. Irving and Co. In 1891 St.
Helens was bought, and was sold in 1903, after
the droughts, culminating in 1902, had wiped out
a fine herd of 8,000 head.
The author of Australia Unlimited travelled
through this part of Queensland during that
memorable period of disastrous drought and per-
sonally beheld its devastating effects. The cour-
age of the pastoral North was never before, and
probably never will again, be put to such a severe
test.
Science and good seasons have enabled stock-
owners to recover from the combined ravages of
drought and ticks. Northerners of to-day, re-
compensed in a great measure for the losses of
that anxious time, look forward with confidence
to the future of the industry. The losses of the
past are over and done with, as far as human fore-
sight can prevail. Valuable knowledge has been
gained. So great are the recuperative powers
of all Australia, and of Queensland in particular,
so strong is the faith of the men who have read
their country in the pages of personal experience,
that nobody doubts the future.
Rockhampton, among other things, is now the
capital of a dairy-farming province, capable of
vast extension. In our general Queensland sec-
tion dealing with this district, these facts have
been more fully set forth. Dairying has been
carried on at Gracemere since 1892; but, in con-
sequence of a keen demand for beef cattle, and,
consequently, for high-class beef bulls, it has been
I
determined to break up the dairy herds and
return to the breeding of Shorthorns and Here-
ford stud bulls. Gracemere will also be used as
a depot for the herd bulls bred at Torsdale.
A rearrangement of the partnership was made
in 1899, David, William, and Thomas carrying
on the firm as Archer Brothers. On the death
of the three partners, their executors, in 1907,
formed the limited company of Archer Brothe^
Limited.
The firm of R. S. and J. Archer was form^
in 1884, the two original partners being latdT
joined by their brothers, the late Charles Archer,
and, on his death, by E. W. Archer. A stud
herd of Herefords was at once formed by pur-
chase of cows from Gracemere, and has no\^^
grown to large dimensions the dot and arro^^f
brand being well-known all over the State. Ten
years ago Shorthorns and Red Polls were addet
to the stud, which now numbers 1,800 cows
the three breeds.
In the review from which we have quoted,
is announced that this herd will now be worked
in conjunction with Gracemere, the aim of the
firm being to produce high-class herd bulls of
these three beef-producing breeds. Recourse
will be made to the best English herds for new
strains of blood. Already two Red Poll bulls
are en route to Queensland, and further importa-
tions of Shorthorns and Herefords are contem-
plated next year.
The firm will be under the management of R.
S. Archer at Gracemere, and John Archer at
Torsdale, sons of David Archer, the founder o£^
the firm.
en
led
I
Hereford Cattle, Gracemere, Q.
,1'
I
The Homestead, Hidden Vale, Grandchester
UEENSLAND is proud of her pioneer-
ing pastoralists. They were men of
resolution, energy, perse-
indomitable
^■verance, intrepidity, and acuteness. In the face
^■of obstacles and difficulties, they blazed their
^^Kracks through the State of Queensland when
^^■t was a wild and dangerous land inhabited
^^^nly by treacherous blacks. Life under the
most favorable conditions was crude and primi-
tive. It required stout hearts to face Its diffi-
culties as they were presented day after day.
These stout spirits stuck manfully to their work.
In the main success eventually attended their
efforts. To-day their names are indelibly written
in the pastoral history of Queensland.
Among these pioneers who experienced the
stress of that wild, rough-and-ready period
of pastoral life, Alfred John Cotton, J. P.,
of Hidden Vale, Grandchester, in the Moreton
district of South Queensland, holds a prominent
place. Though many of his compatriots have
been removed from the lists of pastoralism by
death or financial disaster, Mr. Cotton is now
spending the later period of his life in peace, con-
tentment, and prosperity.
The subject of this sketch was born at St.
Heliers, Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, on
June 2 1, 1 86 1, and was educated privately at
Brighton, England, and at the Taplow Grammar
School. He is the only male survivor of the
ALFRED JOHN COTTON
HIDDEN VALE AND BRUNETTE DOWNS
k
late Charles Nelson Cotton, a London merchant.
For several generations the Cotton family
were largely interested in the business life of the
Greatest of Cities, and an uncle (Sir Richmond
Cotton) was Lord Mayor of London in 1875.
At the age of 14 years, Mr. Cotton was
apprenticed to the mercantile marine. He
served his indentures on the Edeline, a
barque of 700 tons, from the shipping home of
John Brodie and Sons, London. He was next
transferred to the Isles of the South, another of
the same company's vessels. At a later period
he continued his indentures on the Clara, one of
the old time ships which had carried large num-
bers of immigrants from Great Britain to Queens-
land. In 1879, while the vessel was at Hong
Kong, he completed his indenture, and became the
third mate. Though only 18 years of age he
proved himself well fitted for his command. With
500 Chinese coolies aboard the Clara set sail for
Antigua. Trouble broke out aboard during her
long voyage of 90 days. But when mutiny reared
its ugly head, the young third mate, by a display
of grim determination and fearlessness, assisted
in cowing the ringleaders. The coolies were
eventually landed at their destination. In 1880
he became third officer on the Dartford, a bigger
ship than the Clara. During recent years the
Darlford was used by the Union Steamship Com-
pany as a training ship for cadets. On the arrival
981
9S:
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
an interest in Goorganga Station, in the Proser-
pine district, North Queensland, which had
formed part of the estate of the late W. J.
Dangar. From 1890 until 1895 cattle were
successfully bred there, but with the appearam
of the tick pest in 1895, it suffered a serious set^
back. In that year practically the whole of the
herd was wiped out by the pest.
At this time Mr. Cotton was not quite
years of age. Undaunted by this heavy loss
placed an overseer on the station, and decided
engage in the buying and selling of stock. At
first his operations were on a small scale, but with
financial assistance from the Bank of New South
Wales, he was ultimately enabled to do big things
in this direction. When the South African War
broke out he secured contracts from the Imperial
Government to supply 10,000 horses for military
purposes. The carrying out of this contract
necessitated his own personal supervision. He
visited all portions of Queensland and the nor-
thern section of New South Wales in order to
procure suitable animals.
Emboldened by his success as a stock-buyer,
Mr. Cotton decided to again turn his attention to
cattle-raising. With this end in sight he acquired
Powlathanga Station, near Charters Towers,
:he
I
Alfred John Cotton
of his ship in Sydney in 1881 he decided to leave
the sea, and secured employment on Yaleroi
Station, in New South Wales. After four years
experience among sheep and cattle, he obtained
a position as overseer at the shearing-shed at
Taloona Station.
He next decided to go droving, a life which has
always held attractions for young men. Faced
with lack of funds to purchase a complete drover's
outfit, his friends made up the deficiency. His
droving life began in 1886. For about six years
he successfully transferred large mobs of cattle
from the northern portions of Queensland to New-
South Wales. The care and skill he displayed
in handling stock won for him the confidence of
the pastoralists. He was generally regarded as
one of the most successful drovers of the period.
Being of frugal temperament, Mr. Cotton
saved enough money to enable him to acquire
fl
Mrs. A. J. Cotton
ALFRED TOHN COTTON
9«3
"Elected"
A. J. Cotton's Champion Blood Stallion
(The Eug was made of his numerous Championship
Elbbons)
North Queensland. Subsequently he purchased
!oalbrook, in the Hughenden district of North
Queensland; Bauhinia Downs, Goomally, and
Redcliffe in the Springsure district of Central
Queensland: Lawn Hill and Punjaub, in the
IBurketown district, North Queensland; Inkerman,
in the Ayr district. North Queensland; Wood-
Btock, in the Townsville district. North Queens-
land; Mount Spencer (Mackay district. North
Oueensland), Maryvale (Morven District, South-
western Queensland), and Canobie (Normanton
district. North Queensland). Goorganga Station
was sold in 1905. After holding the other
stations for a number of years, Mr. Cotton dis-
posed of them, and in 1913, entered into partner-
ship with the Hon. James C. White, M.L.C., of
Muswellbrook, New South Wales, and Mr. F. J.
White, of Saumarez, New South Wales, in the
carrying on of Brunette Downs, a cattle station
in the Northern Territory, comprising 9,000
square miles of country. The partners trade
under the title of The Gulf Cattle Company.
Every year Mr. Cotton, who is managing director
of the Company, motors overland to the station,
where he remains some time supervising opera-
tions.
Brunette Downs is ideal cattle country, with
stretches of undulating open downs, carrying
abundance of Mitchell and Flinders grasses in
normal seasons. Here and there are clumps of
timber, principally gidya, which afford shelter for
the stock. The station is well watered through-
out by eighteen sub-artesian bores, windmills, oil
and steam engines being utilised for raising the
water to the surface for the stock. Every year
about six additional bores are put down. There
are also a number of earth tanks, built above the
ground, having a capacity of from 250,000 to
300,000 gallons.
There are from 30,000 to 40,000 head of cattle
on the holding, but, when the proposed improve-
ments are carried out, it is expected that the
station will carry fully 150,000 head. The best
strains of herd bulls are obtained from all parts
of the Commonwealth. The renowned Warroo
strain is mostly used for breeding purposes at
present.
The stockyards are of an extensive character,
and have been built on the most up-to-date plan.
L
Hidden Vale Suffolk Punch Family Group: Mariner and Progeny
984
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Hidden Vale Shorthorn Bulls: 15 to 20 months old
The comforts of the employees of the company
are well looked after. In 1915 the old home-
stead was replaced by a fibro-cement structure
of commodious and comfortable proportions.
Bathrooms have been provided, and water
has been laid on to all parts of the home-
stead. Several motor-cars are used in con-
nection with the operations of the station.
Horses are also bred for station requirements.
These number fully 1,000. Cloncurry (North-
western Queensland) is the nearest railway station
to Brunette Downs. On the arrival of supplies
at Cloncurry they are conveyed to the holding by
the company's camel team, which numbers forty.
The average annual rainfall on Brunette Downs is
I 5 inches.
Hidden Vale, the home of Mr. Cotton and his
family, comprising 11,000 acres of splen-
did agricultural and grazing country, all
of which is freehold. It has an aver-
age annual rainfall of 27 inches. It lies
four miles from the township of Grandchester,
and is 44 miles by rail from Brisbane.
Hidden Vale was formerly portion of the original
Franklyn Vale Station, and is ensconced by the
Liverpool Range. It is one of the most beautiful
estates in Queensland. The home is almost pala-
tial in its proportions. It was built by the pre-
Stud Shorthorns on Hidden Vale
ALFRED JOHN COTTON
985
'Mintoburn," Mr. A. J. Cotton's Tasmanian Home
I
sent owner in 1901 on the most modern architec-
tural design. A splendidly-arranged garden and
lawn add considerably to the beauties of the place.
From many points of vantage, particularly from
the balconies of the house, delightful vistas of the
surrounding country can be obtained.
Mr. Cotton purchased Hidden Vale in 1901
from Mr. J. P. Jost. The property is watered
by Mort's Creek. It possesses a number of
springs, which give an abundant supply of good
water. On this holding Mr. Cotton devotes the
greater part of his attention to the breeding of
stud Shorthorn bulls, thoroughbred horses, best
adapted for producing remounts for military pur-
poses, and Suffolk Punches. As an exhibitor of
cattle and horses at the Brisbane and other shows
in the State, Mr. Cotton has held, for years past,
an enviable record. His thoroughbred stallion
Elected (Trenton — Rejected) carried off cham-
pionship honors on six different occasions at Bris-
bane show, and also annexed Lord Hopetoun's
prize for champion blood stallion, and also first
prize, at the Sydney Show in 1904. This cham-
pion sire is now dead. General utility horses
are bred for stock work, the services of thorough-
Ibred sires being used In order to sustain a good
standard. Suffolk Punches are raised for
draught and farming purposes.
The breeding of Shorthorns at Hidden Vale is
given the closest study. They have become re-
nowned throughout the State. At regular Inter-
vals new blood from the best English strains is
high standard of the Hidden Vale stud. Among
the recent importations are: — Manoravon Ran-
ger, bred by Mr. E. Jones, Manoravon, Llandilo,
South Wales; Bapton Eros, bred by Mr. J. Deane
Willis, Bapton Manor, Codford, St. Mary, Wilt-
shire, England; and the Shorthorn cow, Fifield
Marigold (Imp.) bred by Mr. F. W. P. Mat-
thews, Fifield, Oxford, England. Manoravon
Ranger (a stud bull) was landed in Brisbane in
1915, and Bapton Eros (another stud bull) and
Fifield Marigold (the stud cow) arrived In Bris-
bane In 1916. The stud herd aggregates 250
head.
Mr. A. J. Cotton's Motor Launch
L2
986
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
"Canobie"
Mr. A. J. Cotton's Steam Yacht in Tasmania
Though Hidden Vale is regarded as the home
of the Cotton family, they rarely spend the whole
of the year there. Mr. Cotton has another
charming home in Tasmania, on the d'Entrecas-
teaux Channel, about 23 miles from Hobart. It
is to Mintoburn, the Tasmanian home, that Mr.
and Mrs. Cotton and family journey every year
just before the festive season. During his so-
journ in Tasmania Mr. Cotton erected on portion
of his property an apple-evaporating plant, which
is worked by the Channel Fruit-Evaporating Com-
pany at Kettering. By the installation of the
most modern machinery, these works have a capa-
city for producing 300 cases of evaporated fruit
daily, while the output for the season is nearly
10,000 cases.
Mr. Cotton devotes the greater part of his
leisure, when he is in Tasmania, to yachting. In
1914 he succeeded in winning the Hobart and
Launceston Cups with the Canohie, which he
sailed himself. Mr. Cotton is also an ardent
fisherman and field shot.
Mr. Cotton was married in 1890 to Miss
Annie Bode, daughter of the late Mr. Frederick
Bode, one of the earliest pioneering pastoralists
of North Queensland, one, too, whose name is
prominent in the pastoral development of the
State. For nearly fifty years the late Mr. Bode
was a part-owner of Bromby Park, a cattle station
in the Proserpine district. North Queensland.
The Cotton family consists of three sons and a
daughter. Frederick Sidney, Victor Richmond,
and Douglas Alfred, and Vera Eveline, an only
daughter. The eldest son, Frederick Sidney, left
for England by the R.M.S. Maloja on September
7th, 19 1 5, and was appointed a second-lieutenant]
in the Royal Naval Flying Corps. Subsequently, j
he was attached to the Coastal Defence Corps, and
was engaged in active service at Nancy and Dun-J
kirk. While attached to this corps, he took part
in a number of bombing raids over the enemy's!
lines. In consequence of his eyesight being af-|
fected by the high altitudes which his aeroplane
negotiated, he was Invalided to England early in'
1917 for medical attention. Having been de-
The Cotton Family
clared unfit for further service at the war front,]
he was appointed to the position of second in com-i
mand, with the rank of first lieutenant, at thcj
Hendon Flying School, one of the principal
aviation schools in England. He has since re-
signed his commission and returned to Australia,
bringing with him a bride, Joan Morvaren,
McLean, daughter of Alexander McLean, ofl
Scarborough, England.
The Standard of the House of Edmund Jowett, of IVlannini^ham
This Standard contains (looking from left to right) —
(a) The Arms of the family (A Three-masted Qallexi wilh sails furled).
(b) The Badge of the family {A Horned Owl wilh an annulet or ring in its mouth).
(c) The Crest (a Demi-Pegasus Reguardani).
(d) The Motto: Animo et Prudentia {courage and foresight).
EDMUND JOWETT, M.R
A GREAT QUEENSLAND PASTORALIST
IN our literary section dealing with the State
of Queensland we have outlined the chances
that wait upon enterprise in the bountiful
northern State.
The successful pastoral operations of Edmund
Jowett in this State are a proof of this.
What Mr. Jowett has been enabled to do in
one department of industry, other men may rea-
sonably hope to achieve in a country where oppor-
tunity is not monopolised by any privileged class.
If there is one faculty more than another
required in the work of nation-building it is
organization — a quality which the subject of this
sketch possesses to an unusual degree. Organi-
zation is his genius, and pastoral production in
the North has benefited by it.
In the development of his commercial strength
Mr. Jowett has incidentally improved and made
productive large areas of country which previ-
ously contributed little or nothing to the sum
total of Australia's wealth.
The story of Mr. Edmund Jowett's Queens-
land pastoral operations is one of success follow-
ing on a remarkable display of enterprise and
pluck. Men who go out of the beaten track and
face big risks, devoting all their capital and
energy to opening up and improving pastoral
t country as Mr. Jowett has done, render a valu-
able service to the State. Unfortunately, pioneers
do not always meet with the success which their
enterprise merits, but in the case of Mr. Jowett's
Queensland operations, prodigious as they are,
the huge holdings of to-day were built up gradu-
make each separate holding as safe as was
humanly possible.
Abundant faith in the future of the pastoral
industry has been part of Mr. Jowett's stock-in-
trade. His enterprise knows no limits. A
gambler in neither stock nor property, Edmund
Jowett has worked on a definite policy all along
in connection with his Queensland properties.
He has, almost without exception, specialised in
properties which were practically unimproved,
carrying barely a tithe of what they could support
when brought under modern methods and condi-
tions. He has spent money unstintedly in im-
proving the properties which have come into his
hands. There has been a definite policy of im-
provement in putting down bores and making
dams, in subdividing the country into paddocks
and generally increasing the carrying capacity of
his stations. He has also organised the working
of his places in such a way that the maximum
results may be obtained from all such expenditure.
Mr. Jowett's methods are thorough. He has
his own tank-sinking and artesian-boring plants,
which are transferred to each new property in
turn. When they have finished their work, there
is a permanent water supply, and windmills to
lift the water into the dams. The result is that
a dry, waterless property which could only carry
a very small sheep and cattle population, is trans-
formed into a heavy-carrying safe property, and
the increased returns amply repay the cost of the
improvements.
Mr. Jowett first secured pastoral interests in
Queensland about thirty years ago, when he pur-
987
988
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
chased Kynuna and Belkate stations, which to-
gether embraced an area of about a thousand
square miles. These stations are situated half-
way between Winton and Cloncurry. The pre-
vious owners of the property were Messrs. A.
K. Finlav and Co., and the purchase money ran
into £15,000. The stock on Kynuna then was
about 12,000 sheep; but the property was capable
of great development. Mr. Jowett set to work
constructing dams, sinking bores, subdividing, and
generally bringing the place under the influence
of modern conditions.
Edmund Jowett, M.P.
The transformation brought about at Kynuna
affords a very striking example of successful
enterprise. Mr. Jowett spent over £70,000 in
improvements, with the result that although the
area had been reduced to 668 square miles, the
property normally carried 200,000 sheep as
against an original 12,000 sheep on a thousand
square miles. The improvements here necessary
may be accepted as typical of many of the Queens-
land properties. They totalled a large and com-
fortable homestead, nine large dams, seven
artesian bores, subdivision into thirty-three sheep
paddocks, erection of large shearing-shed with
forty stands, and a scouring plant capable of
treating 220 bales a week, which had an output
of about 3,?oo bales a year.
In 1899 — a year memorable in wool circles on
account of the unprecedented high level of values
(causing it to be generally remembered as "the
boom year") — Mr. Jowett extended his Queens-
land operations by the purchase of Quambetook,
situated between Kynuna and Richmond. At the
date of purchase this holding had an area of 223
square miles, which has since been reduced to
1671 square miles. It was unstocked at the time
of purchase and had been a cattle property. To
convert it into a sheep station cost Mr. Jowett
£12,000 for improvements, apart altogether
from the cost of the stock. Mr. Jowett stocked
it with sheep from. Kynuna, and Quambetook now
carries 30,000 sheep.
In 1902 — which will be remembered as the
year when the long-drawn-out drought of seven
years reached its culminating point — Mr. Jowett
was faced with great difficulties. The wet sea-
son had completely failed. Kynuna Station, con-
sisting of 400,000 acres, divided into t^j^ sheep
paddocks, all of them abundantly watered — had
not a blade of grass on it.
The sheep had been greatly reduced in numbers
by the droughts of 1899 and 1900, but in April,
1902, Mr. Jowett had 80,000 sheep to provide
for and no grass at all at Kynuna.
He made a series of journeys in the North-
West, seeking grass and water wherever it was
to be found, and after a few months' wanderings
secured grass and water for the whole of his
sheep.
Among other journeys he went out to Camoo-
weal and to the Northern Territory. On this
journey he purchased Flora Downs Station, which
has an area of 400 square miles. There was
plenty of good grass, but no improvements.
The new owner's first act was to put down a
bore; fortunately he struck water just as a mob
of sheep arrived from Kynuna. Subsequently he
bought Yelvertoft, which immediately adjoins
Flora Downs and comprises 300 square miles.
His boring plant put down four bores on Yelver-
toft and Flora Downs.
In 1905 Mr. Jowett bought the Barcoorah run
in the desert, near Aramac, embracing 198 square
miles. This property carried 4,<;oo sheep and
300 cattle. Before long he had it supporting
30,000 sheep and 200 stud shorthorn cows. The
water supply is from Lake Barcoorah, supple-
mented by a number of sub-artesian bores, water
from which is lifted by windmills.
In the same year Mr. Jowett purchased East-
mere, which lies about fifty miles from Bar-
coorah, further to the East. Subsequently he
A GREAT QUEENSLAND PASTORALIST
989
took up from the Crown as waste lands Doong-
mahulla, Shuttleworth, Finnigan, Tunggi and
Langlands. Afterwards he purchased Labona.
He heavily improved the whole of this group,
which now carries about 30,000 sheep and about
6,000 head of cattle.
boring plant; with the result that the property is
now highly improved and heavy carrying; it
generally maintains a large number of sheep.
Some years ago Mr. Jowett made the unique sale
of 40,000 fat wethers in one line to the Gladstone
Meat Works, all fattened at Mount Marlow.
P
F^^low r
"Manningham,
The Melbourne Residence
" Toorak
of Edmund .Towett, M.P.
I
n 1905 Mr. Jowett also secured Mount Mar-
low run, near Isisford, embracing about a thou-
sand square miles. This property was without
stock or improvements. He promptly put
down several large dams and bores, the
water from the latter being raised by
windmills. Mount Marlow has a double
frontage to the Barcoo of about thirty
miles and several large and permanent waterholes.
I The country is mainly grassed plains, with belts
of gidyea scrub and scrub-covered ridges,
bounded by a range of isolated low mountains.
Mr. Jowett's tank-sinking plant was at work here
Mr. Jowett purchased Bunda Bunda, near
Richmond, comprising 552 square miles, in 1908.
During the 1902 drought he had seen this pro-
perty magnificently grassed when there was no
feed anywhere south of Flinders, and formed the
estimate that it could easily have carried a very
large number of sheep during that extremely
perilous time. The sale price was £50,000, but
this included 20,000 head of sheep and 11,000
cattle. The property now carries 40,000 sheep
and a few thousand cattle.
When Mr. Jowett purchased Bunda, all the
country to the North was abandoned waste Crown
lands as far as the town of Croydon. In 191 1
990
AUSTRALIA UxNLIMITED
Mr. Jowett took up 2,100 square miles of these
waste lands. He named the country Pontefract,
and put down eight artesian bores. Pontefract,
which seven years ago was a wilderness of waste
land, quite unwatered, now carries 14,000 head
of cattle.
Capt. Arthur Craven Jowett
The next large purchase made by Mr. Jowett
was at the end of 1908, when he bought Verge-
mont, near Longreach, which had an area of
1,200 square miles, with between 8,000 and
9,000 cattle and 300 horses. Later on Mr. Jowett
took up 2,157 square miles of unimproved waste
Crown lands west of Vergemont. The total
area of leased land now worked in connection
with Vergemont is 2,549 square miles. The
greater part of this area has been heavily im-
proved.
Palparara station, a property of 2,566 square
miles on Farrar's Creek, south-west of Long-
reach, was purchased in 1910 from Mr. Sidney
Kidman. Later on in the same year, Mr. Jowett
purchased Wyobie, near Dalby, comprising
11,000 acres of freehold, highly improved, ad-
joining the famous Jimbour estate.
Among Mr. Jowett's other properties, almost
all of which he took up as waste lands from the
Crown, and spent very large sums in developing
are; — Armraynald, Floraville (near Burke-
town), Blair Athol (on the Cape River), Bath-
easton (between Clermont and St. Lawrence),
Rutland (near Springsure), Drummondslope
(near Alpha), Foxborough (on the Moonie,
near St. George), Mount Howitt (on Cooper's
Creek, carrying 5,000 bullocks of fattening ages),
Berrimpa (near Jundah), Mount Tutah (near
Pentland), Glenroy and Westbank (Cloncurry),
and Fairyland and Durah (Chinchilla).
Mr. Edmund Jowett comes from a very old
Yorkshire family, whose name was originally
spelt Jouet.
Members of his family have for generations
past been engaged in the wool trade, and have
also been noted for scholarship.
One branch of the family settled at Manning-
ham, Yorkshire, and from it were descended
several great scholars and divines. Among them
were the Rev. Joseph Jowett, principal tutor of
Trinity Hall, Cambridge, from 1757 to 1795.
His younger brother, Henry Jowett, was lecturer
and tutor of Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Another descendant of Henry Jowett, of
Manningham, was the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Jowett,
one of the most renowned scholars and theolo-
gians whom England has ever produced. He
was the Master of Balliol College, Oxford, from
1870 until his death in 1893.
Edmund Jowett was born at Manningham,
Bradford, Yorkshire, on January 6, 1858. He
was educated at Mr. James Ward's Classical
School, Clapham Common, London.
Mr. Ward was a teacher of great distinction,
and his school had in its day a great reputation
for scholarship. One of his pupils was Mr.
James Knowles, the founder and first editor of
the Nineteenth Century. Among Mr. Jowett's
school fellows was the distinguished novelist. Sir
William Magnay, Baronet.
Upon leaving school Mr. Jowett was sent to
learn the wool trade at his uncle's mill at Thorn-
ton, near Bradford. He came out to Australia
when eighteen years of age, entering the wool
trade in Melbourne. For twenty years he was
associated with the Australian Mercantile
Land and Finance Co. Ltd., and only
retired in 1908. For many years he was one of
the best informed writers in the Australian wool
trade. His contributions to the Melbourne
"Argus" won for him the position of a recog-
nised authority, particularly in regard to such
vexed questions as estimating the wool produc-
tion of the Commonwealth.
In his early days in Australia Mr. Jowett was
also a recognised financial authority. So far
back as 1880, and for many years afterwards,
he was a valued contributor on financial subjects
to the Australasian Banking Record.
A GREAT QUEENSLAND PASTORALIST
991
R
Mr. Jowett married the daughter of the late
Mr. John McCalkim, a well-known Melbourne
merchant, who also owned Brymedura and
Gamble stations in the Molong district of New
South Wales. Mr. Jowett had a family of three
daughters and two sons.
When the great war broke out in August, 19 14,
Mr. Jowett and his wife and their two sons were
in England, both their sons being at Cambridge
University. The two brothers immediately
joined the army, and secured commissions on Sep-
tember 15 in the Northumberland Fusiliers.
They served with their regiment for about
twelve months.
Having both taken their degrees in mining
engineering at the Melbourne University, it was
felt that their knowledge of mechanics would be
very valuable in flying. They each therefore
learned to fly, and early in 19 16 were sent to
France, where they flew from the same aero-
drome. On the night of July 8, 1916, the younger
brother, Eric Craven Jowett, did not return. It
was afterwards ascertained that he had chased a
German machine, and when he was about six
liles within the German lines, about 3,000 feet in
the air, a (lerman machine came suddenly out of
cloud and shot him down.
ITe died soon after landing, and was buried in
he military cemetery at Miraumont.
His elder brother. Captain Arthur Craven
owett, is still serving with the Royal Flying
orps.
Captain Arthur Jowett married Evelyn
ranees, the daughter of Charles Frederic Hill,
f London, whose wife was a daughter of Henry
uinness, of Burton Hall, Stillorgan, County
ublin.
Mr. Jowett's three daughters are all married,
one to Lieutenant R. V. Powell, M.C., of the
Scots' Ciuards, one to Lieutenant Clive Fairbairn,
of the Scots' Guards (son of Senator George Fair-
airn), and one to Mr. J. S. Burston, eldest son
of Brigadier-General Burston.
When the British Government, in November,
19 1 6, decided to purchase the Australian wool
clip, and it became necessary to appoint two
gentlemen to represent growers on the Central
Wool Committee, charged with the task of for-
mulating and supervising the whole scheme, Mr.
Jowett was selected as one of the pastoralists'
representatives on that committee. The appoint-
ment was heartily approved by the pastoralists
of all Australia. Mr. Jowett's long experience
of pastoral conditions and his extensive Queens-
land interests have given him such a wide out-
look on pastoral matters, that he has proved a
most valuable member of the Committee.
Mr. Jowett has also been for the last two years
the President of the British Immigration League
of Australia.
He also accepted the post of special Honorary
Representative in Australia of the Royal Colonial
Institute in connection with its efforts to settle
British sailors and soldiers on the lands of the
Empire. !
P'or the greater part of his life Mr. Jowett took
no part in political life. In January, 1917, how-
ever, he came out as a supporter of Mr. W. M.
Hughes and of the Nationalist Party.
At the general election of May, 1917, he was
invited to contest — as a forlorn hope — the con-
stituency of Maribyrnong, comprising several
very populous working-class suburbs. Mr.
Jowett received most unexpected support, and
although he was not successful, he reduced the
Official Labor majority from 9,260 votes in Sep-
tember, 1 9 14, to only 1,673 votes in May, 1917.
The vigor and popularity of his campaign at
Maribyrnong excited widespread public interest,
and when five months later a vacancy occurred in
the country electorate of the Grampians, he was
invited to contest the seat. This he did, and won
it by a majority of about 2,000.
Mr. Jowett took his seat in the Federal House
of Representatives in January, 19 18, and has
since taken an enthusiastic part in recruiting and
in other public movements, in addition to an
active participation in the debates of parliament.
JOHN ARTHUR MACARTNEY, F.R.G.S.
PIONEER AND EXPLORER
TO-DAY the traveller crosses and re-crosses
the Golden State of Queensland In a com-
fortable railway carriage, or glides along
passable roads in his motor car.
There is no fear that he will be assailed by
thirst, tormented by hunger, or that his life will be
endangered by treacherous savages.
The conveniences of twentieth-century civiliza-
tion are everywhere at his command. Distance
may have lost some of its romance, but the aver-
age man's life is made much softer and more
pleasant.
But it was far otherwise in Queensland thirty
or fifty years ago. Then the northern squatter
or settler had to go out upon the very edges of
civilization and "make good" in the face of many
difficulties.
Among many notable representatives of the
old, bold, strenuous days, was sturdy John Arthur
Macartney, of Xewstead, lately deceased at the
ripe age of 84.
He was one of the old explorers and pastoral
pioneers who lived to see the magic wand of
Change create order and development, where. In
Onniston House
the beginning, there were only solitude and primal
waste.
In the organization and building up of the
Northern Pastoral Industry, J. A. Macartney
played a leading part. But he was first of all
an explorer. Australia owes a big debt to the
undaunted efforts of men of this type. They
were for the most part modest, quiet men, with
scientific qualification or Inclination.
They went ahead of settlement, taking their
risks as they came. With grit, energy, and
enterprise beyond the usual, they pierced the
Unknown and established themselves In remote
places, content to face the anxieties, the risks,
and the dangers of the Bush. With pack-saddle
and quart-pot, they fared inland in "the days
when the world was wide," and opened up new
country for the pioneer graziers to occupy with
their ever-increasing flocks and herds.
The difficulties attending exploration in the
late John Arthur Macartney's youth were greater
than the generation of to-day can realize. He was
called on to face Nature in her untamed moods,
to risk his life in piercing tracts of country pre-
viously untrodden by white men, and still in the
hands of wild blacks, who resented trespass on
their camping and hunting grounds.
Few indeed lived as long to enjoy the fruits of
their efforts and see the developments of the con-
quered country as did Mr. Macartney, or to have
his services so generally recognised, appreciated
and acclaimed.
John Arthur Macartney was a native of County
Cork, Ireland, where he was born in 1834. He
was a son of the late Very Rev. Dr. H. B.
Macartney, who was for 43 years Dean of Mel-
bourne, and a cousin of E. H. Macartney, M.L.A.
He was a boy of fourteen when he accompanied
his parents to Australia, landing In Melbourne in
1848. He went as associate to Sir Redmond
Barry, the well-known Victorian judge, in 1852,
and remained with him for eighteen months.
After spending a few years In the young South-
ern City his father set him upon the land as
a pastoralist. He was thus engaged when the
gold fever overtook Victoria. This provided
young Macartney with an excellent opportunity to
secure handsome returns for his produce. He
did not follow the blind rushes all over the coun-
try, wheremany made fortunes and often lost them
as rapidly as they were made. Mr. Macartney
found the goldfields his great chance to dispose of
agricultural produce at big prices. During the
hey-day of the Victorian rushes he sold hay as
992
JOHN ARTHUR MACARTNEY, F.R.G.S.
993
high as £70 a ton, oats at 35/- per bushel, water-
melons at 6d. per lb., and grapes as high as 10/-
a bunch. The produce was grown on Mr.
Macartney's station, Warouly, on the Ovens
River.
Honest money was acceptable enough, but Mr.
Macartney was not destined to remain a market
gardener. Energies and activities such as he
possessed would not find sufficient scope in grow-
ing cabbages, even at gold-rush prices. In 1857
he went to Port Curtis district, Queensland, and
in i860 he formed Waverley station on Broad
Sound. He spent many years improving and
developing the property, and went through many
vicissitudes of seasons, remaining in possession of
the station continuously to the year 1896, a
period of thirty-six years.
In partnership with Mr. E. G. Mayne, he ex-
tended his operations in northern latitudes. This
partnership continued for many years with
marked success, and with great advantage to the
colony.
Mr. Macartney was a man of extraordinary
force of character. At sixty-two years of age, he
was ruined through droughts and, at an age when
ost men are retiring from active life, he set out
to rebuild his fortunes — no easy task for a pas-
toralist through those years of low prices and
bad seasons. Yet through the most strenuous
efforts he at length succeeded in rehabilitating
himself.
Mr. Macartney owned numerous properties in
Queensland, including Waverley, Diamantina
Lakes on Diamantina River (from 1875 ^o
1909), Avon Downs, Annadale, Bladensburg,
Tamworth, Hidden Valley, Escott, and other
well known stations. His Northern Territory
estates comprised Florida — 10,000 square miles
on Castlereagh Bay, Arafura Sea — The Pastures,
Maud Creek, and Auvergne ( 8,000 square miles) .
At the time of his death in 19 17 he owned New-
Mr. Macartney's explorations date back to
1857. For thirty years he was always more or
less on the move. He explored virgin country
all over the State, from the east coast to the
South Australian border, and over into the North-
ern Territory; he travelled westward to the Vic-
toria River, northward to the Arafura Sea, and
J. Arthur Macartney
round to the Gulf of Carpentaria. During all
this travelling, Mr. Macartney took up blocks of
stead, between Barcaldine and Longreach, Joyce- land here and there as fancy dictated and oppor-
dale, near Jericho, Agnes Water (on the Pacific
Ocean), and Ormiston (on Cleveland Bay, near
Brisbane).
As an explorer, Mr. Macartney did splendid
work in Queensland and the Northern Territory,
striking out in directions where no white man had
previously dared to venture. The great rides
which he accomplished in the early days are known
nd talked about to this day all over northern
Queensland. In recognition of his exploring
■^ achievements he was made a Fellow of the Royal
U Geographical Society — no man has earned
the honor more. His explorations opened up
^^ new country, and induced others to take up land
^^ for pastoral occupation, and so developed largely
the resources of Central and Northern Queens-
land.
i
tunity allowed, and in most cases stocked these
squattages either on his own account or in partner-
ship with Mr. E. G. Mayne.
On one of his exploration journeys, Mr.
Macartney was almost sixty hours without water.
He and his party had to take the bits out of the
horses' mouths. The two men who were with
him begged him to turn back; but he knew that
would mean certain death and he believed they
must strike water if they went on. When, at
last, he saw that they were nearing water he
warned the men and his black boy to keep the
pack-horses in hand till they could remove the
packs, as their lives depended on the rations being
kept dry. The men, however, rushed into the
water when they reached it and left Mr. Macart-
ney to unpack and hold the horses. When the
994
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Hereford Cattle at Waverley
men came up to him, bringing him a billy of water,
he was so angry that he threw the water away and
refused to get himself a drink until his horses
were safely unsaddled.
When travelling in new country where he saw
hostile blacks during the day, Mr. Macartney
often made his camp for tea early and then, pack-
ing up again, camped for the night further
on, so that the blacks could not discover his posi-
tion by his fire. He never watched at night,
realising that, travelling as he often did with only
two black boys, it would have been impossible to
do so effectively. He went to sleep early and
slept so lightly that the very smallest sound in-
stantly woke him.
During one of his explorations in the Northern
Territory, travelling with only two white men and
two black boys, Mr. Macartney was not heard of
for nine months; the South Australian Govern-
ment were just sending out a search party when
he returned.
Some of our earlier Australian stockmen prac-
tically lived in the saddle, but Mr. Macartney's
rides covered thousands of miles, and often ex-
tended for months. When he was living
at W^averley he frequently rode into Rock-
hampton, a distance of 125 miles, in one day,
transacted his business that night, and rode home
again the next day, a total of 250 miles in two
days. This is a test of endurance that few men
would come through to-day.
It must be remembered that there were no made
roads in those days in the interior of Queensland,
no bridges, and no artesian water supplies. Con-
sequently the men who ventured out exploring into
the far North West, had to be prepared to suffer
severe hardships. Then there was the ever-
present danger of trouble with the blacks, but in
this regard Mr. Macartney was singularly for-
tunate. In all his wanderings he was only
attacked by blacks on one occasion. This while
he was exploring the Florida country in the
Northern Territory, where he subsequently took
up 10,000 square miles. He had two men and
a black boy with him at the time. One moon-
light night the blacks attacked the camp, but dis-
persed on being fired upon. They returned at
dawn with reinforcements and made hostile de-
monstrations, but gun-fire again frightened them
off. This was his only personal adventure with
hostile blacks, although his stations were some-
times molested and a few of his cattle killed.
As a proof of the healthiness of Queensland
climates, as an example also mayhap of the stout
constitutions of Australian pioneers, John Arthur
Macartney, lived to the ripe age of 84 years, hale
and hearty. In his home at Ilfracombe, he
looked back with satisfaction upon the lengthen-
ing vista of his active years. He enjoyed the
esteem of a generation who knew him by his his-
torical exploits. He died at his residence, Orniis-
ton House, on June loth, 1917. He was a
cousin of Sir William Ellison-Macartney, recently
Governor of Tasmania. He married in 1861,
torical exploits. He died at his residence, Ormis-
Miss Flora Wallace-Dunlop, a great-grand-
daughter of Sir Thomas Dunlop, Bart. When
she accompanied him to Waverley as a
bride, Mrs. Macartney was the "farthest-out"
woman then living in Queensland and proved a
brave pioneer. Mrs. Macartney predeceased
her husband. 1 hey had four sons and four
daughters, two sons surviving being Mr. Burgh
Macartney, of Western Australia, and Lieut.-
Col. H. D. K. Macartney, D.S.O., of the A.I.F.
Mr. Macartney made Waverley Station his
headquarters for many years, and saw the growth
of Rockhampton from its very earliest days. In
the first week of 1858, when he rode into Rock-
hampton, the population of the town consisted of
JOHN ARTHUR MACARTxNEY, F.R.G.S.
995
three persons only. The Bush Inn, then a rough
slab shanty, stood on the site now occupied by the
Criterion Hotel. However, the inn was closed
that day because the proprietor had gone to
Gayndah to be married, and most of the other
residents had ridden off to this important event.
The capital of Central Queensland was then a
mere bush town, and Gracemere Station a larger
and more important centre of population than
Rockhampton.
Rockhampton, like many another Australian
city, owed its rapid rise to the discovery of gold.
There was a rush to the Fitzroy in 1858, owing
to gold having been discovered at Canoona. The
results were, however, small and did not justify
the rush. The Canoona diggings were soon
worked out, but the temporary prosperity which
the gold imparted to the town gave Rockhampton
its start. Later on, when Mount Morgan became
an enormous wealth producer, gold once more
gave the central city a big lift.
The gold fever did not strike Mr. Macartney;
or, at least, it did not lure him away from his
pastoral holdings, and from his explorations. He
went on long trips in unknown country, doing his
Jxavelling on horseback. It has been stated that
f. A. Macartney covered a greater number of
miles on horseback than any other man in Aus-
tralia.
To the modern generation of Qucenslanders
Mr. Macartney is best known as the owner of
Diamantina Lakes Station in the North Gregory
district, in which Mr. H. L. Heber-Percy was his
partner, and Waverley Station in the Port Curtis
district. Both these properties he held for over
thirty years.
His life story, fully written, would be, in major
part, the history of Pastoral Queensland. He
was owner and part-owner of 33 different
stations, some of which he held for two or three
years, and others for periods ranging from four
to forty years. He was one of the first magis-
trates of Queensland, receiving his commission in
1861.
By such tough and determined stock has the up-
lifting of the Northern State been done. While
the British Empire can produce sons of this type,
the work of construction will go on. Let us hope
that in the building of that new edifice of Empire
which will superimpose upon the brave, battered
foundations that already span the earth, there will
be found a new pioneering band as valiant in their
way and time as the "four-square" Australian
group in which John Arthur Macartney made a
prominent and honorable figure.
Lagoon at Waverley
Kooralbyn Homestead
CHARLES WYNDHAM BUNDOCK, B.A.,
OF KOORALBYN
" 'Tis not in mortals to command success :
But we'll do more, Sempronius — we'll deserve it."
CHARLES WYNDHAM BUNDOCK,
B.A., has learned the meaning of
the poet's lines, since he commenced
his career in 1882. At the age of 22,
accompanied by three of his brothers, he
left his home on the Richmond River, New
South Wales, and journeyed to North Queens-
land. They purchased the lease of Natal
Downs, comprising 1,000 square miles of country,
from Messrs. Chatfield, King and Co., at a satis-
factory figure. This station is about 70 miles
south-west from Charters Towers. It was at the
time of its purchase stocked with Merino sheep
and Shorthorn cattle of the beef strain. A few
years after they had acquired the property,
Messrs. Bundock Brothers disposed of the sheep,
and devoted all their attention to the breeding of
beef Shorthorns and thoroughbred horses. The
cattle were of the famous "Bates' " strain, the
horses came from the equally famous Wyangarie
stud established by Mr. Bundock, Senr., on the
Richmond River, and carried on by him for over
sixty years.
Thirty-five years ago social conditions in North
Queensland were in the rudimentary stage. The
treachery of the blacks was a decided menace to
the successful pursuit of pastoral activities by the
pioneers. Pastoralists had to be constantly on
the alert against attacks upon their stock and even
their homesteads. Pastoral residences had not
assumed the commodious proportions of to-day.
but the old bush homes had a glamor of their own.
The original homestead of Bundock Brothers was
nothing more than a "humpy," with slab walls and
a mud floor. Whenever occasion demanded a
visit to Charters Towers, it generally took two
and a half days to accomplish the journey on
horseback. To-day the distance can be covered
in a few hours by motor car. At that time the
railway had not extended beyond Ravenswood
Junction.
Though faced with many difliculties from the
outset — difficulties which would have crushed
the hopes of less valiant hearts — the Bundock
Brothers soon made Natal Downs a paying pro-
position. Prior to the great drought of 1890
this station carried over 30,000 head of cattle
and 400 thoroughbred horses. The drought
reduced the cattle to 2,600, while only two thor-
oughbred brood mares survived the disaster. Un-
daunted by such a crushing reverse, the Bundock
Brothers quickly set about re-stocking their
station. No difficulty was experienced in getting
financial assistance from their bankers, and
another start was made. Australia's moods are
never harsh for long. Fortune smiled again,
and the station flourished for a number of years.
Then came another less severe period of adver-
sity, which caused the brothers to again seek the
aid of their bankers, but with ready financial aid
at the right time, the station was brought safely
through one more vicissitude.
996
CHARLES WYNDHAM BUNDOCK
997
M^mamtmm^tm
View on Kooralljyn Station, from tfce Homestead
Itf
For many years now Natal Downs has been
carried on by Mr. Charles VVyndham Biindock.
His three brothers (Prank, lulward and Henry)
who were associated with him, have joined the
(freat majority. The management was entrusted
0 Mr. Patrick Salmon, who eventually acquired
interest in the station. To-day, Natal Downs
's controlled by Messrs. Bundock and Salmon
rothers. Mr. T. J. Salmon was taken into part-
rship in January, 19 13.
In consequence of resumption by the State
overnment, the present area of the holding is
.00 square miles. It carries 5,000 head of cattle
d 150 head of horses. To-day there is a com-
brtable home on the station. The country con-
sists chiefly of open, rolling downs; portion of it,
however, is fairly timbered. Under normal con-
ditions it is covered with Mitchell and Flinders
grasses principally. It is watered by the Cape
River, six sub-artesian bores (four of which are
salt), and several cement dams. The country is
admirably adapted for the breeding of stock, par-
ticularly beef cattle. The prices received for
these are sufl^icient proof. For many years past
large drafts of cattle have been regularly sent by
rail to the meatworks in Townsville and else-
where.
Mr. Bundock is one of the most successful
P feeders of horses for remount purposes in
le State. In this connection he has had
ver 40 years' experience. The stock on Natal
)owns have a dash of Arab in them, and many
of them have distinguished themselves on the
Australian turf. Dagobert, a Wyangarie-bred
horse, won the Summer Cup (Sydney) and Sea
Breeze, carrying 6st. nibs., won the Queensland
^^. Cup in 1905.
Wm Until his death, a few years ago, the well-known
■■thoroughbred stallion, W.W.C. (Canzoni—
Party) was used in the stud. Previously the
Bundocks had the famous thoroughbred stallions:
The Dean (Yattendon — The Nun), Normanby
(New Warrior — Zenobia) and Grandchester
(Darebin — Esmeralda). To-day, Luzon
(W.W.C— Lucia) and Blue Book (True Blue
— Lady Mary) are the Natal Downs sires.
Chas. Wyndham Bundock
998
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
In 1890 Mr. Bundock purchased over 12,000
acres of freehold country near Laravale, in the
Beaudesert district, on the South Coast line. The
property comprises splendid agricultural and
grazing land, and is well watered. It was only
partly improved, and the price paid was 29/- per
acre. The holding, which is known as "Koor-
albyn," is the home of Mr. Bundock. Over
£20,000 have been spent in effecting improve-
ments on Kooralbyn.
graduated in 1878. While at school he won pro-
minence as a footballer. On leaving school he
worked on his father's station for a number of
years, and acquired a thorough knowledge in thi
breeding of cattle and horses. When he, togeth
with three brothers, left home and went
Queensland to engage in pastoral pursuits, the;
had each £1,800 to start with — an inheritam
from their grandmother. On such a compara-
tively small capital the brothers made good; their
Cattle and Horses on Kooralbyn Station
I
The surroundings of Kooralbyn are made
pleasant by smiling Australian landscapes, moun-
tains and valleys.
LInpretentious in appearance, but roomy and
comfortable, the homestead nestles amidst its
gardens, another happy and peaceful Australian
home testifying to effort rewarded, and human
trial ending in prosperity and content.
Kooralbyn is used chiefly for fattening drafts
of cattle, which Mr. Bundock buys from time to
time. From 1,400 to 1,600 head are fattened
in a mob, and sold to the meatworks. There are,
also, 30 thoroughbred horses on the holding.
The high standard of the stock is maintained by
the utilization of the blood stallion, Campagnard
(Biltalto — Finis). As at Natal Downs, the
breeding of horses for remount purposes is suc-
cessfully carried on.
Mr. Charles Wyndham Bundock was born on
Wyangarie Station, in the Richmond River dis-
trict. New South Wales, in 1858. He was
educated at the Sydney University, where he
fine courage overcame difficulties which might
have broken weaker men. M
Mr. Charles Wyndham Bundock has always
taken a keen interest in the advancement of \
Queensland. Every patriotic movement with this
object receives his whole-hearted support. Being
a breeder of thoroughbred horses, he is naturally
an enthusiast in racing, his colors (scarlet
jacket with blue sash) being often carried to vic-
tory. He is a member of the Queensland Turf
Club and the Queensland Club.
Mr. Bundock's father — Wellington Cochrane
Bundock — was born in Paignton, Devonshire,
England, in 18 12. He left the homeland with
his brother (Alexander Frederick) on December .
13th, 1835, in the Henry Tanner, and arrived'
in Sydney Harbor on May 15th, 1836. Mr.
Bundock, senior, proceeded to the Richmond
River district, New South Wales, in the early ,
part of 1843, ^"^1 took up country at Myrtle.
Creek, where he engaged in sheep-raising. Later
he followed the same pursuits at Wooroowoolgen.
CHARLES WYNDHAM BUNDOCK
999
About the beginning of 1844 he established
Wyangarie, on the Richmond River, where he
devoted the whole of his attention to the breed-
ing of beef Shorthorns (Bates' strain) and thor-
oughbred horses. All the brothers of Mr. Bun-
dock, senior, belonged to the British Navy, in
which they figured prominently. His brother
(Alexander Frederick), however, retired from
the Navy prior to coming to Australia. The
father of Charles Wyndham Bundock married
Miss Mary Ellen Ogilvie, daughter of Com-
mander W. Ogilvie, R.N., on August 12th, 1841.
Commander Ogilvie took a conspicuous part in the
battles of Copenhagen and Trafalgar. For gal-
lantry in action, Ogilvie was raised from midship-
man to lieutenant by Lord Nelson himself, and
subsequently became commander. In 1848 Com-
mander Ogilvie and his wife paid a visit to Mr.
and Mrs. Bundock at Wyangarie. Mr. Bundock,
senior, had six sons and two daughters. He died
in 1898 at the age of 87.
Mr. Charles Wyndham Bundock is the only
male member of the Bundock family alive to-day.
His two sisters, Mrs. Murray-Prior, of Maroon
Station, Beaudesert district. South Coast Line,
and Miss Bundock, are still living. He married
Kiss Scarvell, daughter of Mr. E. A. Scarvell, of
essrs. Want, Johnston, and Scarvell, solicitors,
mil
Sydney. He has one child — a daughter — who is
12 years of age. The charming appearance of
the home at Kooralbyn is due to Mrs. Bundock,
who is an ardent floriculturist.
Necessarily short as the memoirs in this
section of Auslralia Unlimited must be, they are
in themselves so many proofs that opportunities
for pastoral success have not been confined to any
particular State or district of Australia.
All over the Commonwealth chances offered
and still offer for the exercise of those colonizing
qualities, which have brought men like the sub-
jects of these biographical sketches to honorable
prosperity.
Outside the names included in the pastoral sec-
tion are hundreds of others, who are equally de-
serving of mention if space and opportunity had
permitted. It may be the author's congenial task
to present to the world a fuller account of the lives
and efforts of our Australian pastoral pioneers.
Much material has been collated for the purposes
of this volume, which holds certain historical
values, that may be published at a later date.
In tracing the progress of families such as
that to which Charles Wyndham Bundock be-
longs, one really follows a course of Australian
history, the interest of which is enhanced by the
intimate human atmosphere it contains.
Willoughby House
WILLOUGHBY,
A CENTRAL QUEENSLAND STATION
MR. ALBERT DURER ALEXANDER,
of Willoughby, near Barcaldine, Cen-
tral Queensland, was born at St. Kilda,
Melbourne, Victoria, in 1863, and was edu-
cated chiefly at the Church of England Gram-
mar School, Melbourne. He attended this school
for five years, and left at the end of 1878, shortly
afterwards matriculating. He left school too
young to have found his place in either a first
eleven or twenty, but has always been of an active
disposition, and a keen cricketer. He is the son
of the late Mr. Thomas Alexander, of South
Yarra, Melbourne, Victoria. His father was a
native of Wiltshire, England, and was attracted
to Australia with a brother and nephew. They
landed in Melbourne in 1852, and, like nearly all
the arrivals of that date, made their way at once
to the diggings at Bendigo. After some experi-
ence there, both Mr. Alexander, senr., and his
brother returned to Melbourne, and entered the
Civil Service, the former remaining in this occu-
pation until 1878. He was of a literary turn of
mind, and a great admirer and collector of old
engravings and paintings, and was also on
terms of friendship with all those who were
Jll
prominent in Art circles in Melbourne. Mr?
Alexander, senr., married Miss Jane Eurnell, who
was born near Dublin, Ireland, and was a
member of an old and cultured country family.
Accompanied by two brothers, this lady arrived
in Melbourne about 181; 2. One of her brother^*
had been previously in the British Army, but on
arrival in Victoria he became an officer in the
Mounted Police Force. Afterwards he filled the
position of Superintendent of Police in the Gee-
long district for a number of years. " An elder
brother, who had studied medicine, and gone to
India, became head of the Madras College of
Physicians and Surgeon-General In the Army. In
family, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Alexander had
three surviving children — the late Mrs. MIlo R.
Cudmore (who left four sons), Dr. Lilian H.
Alexander, M.A., of Melbourne, and Albert
Durer Alexander, of Willoughby, Central Queens-
land.
In 1880 the subject of this sketch was afforded
an opportunity of going to Messrs. McFarland's
Barooga Station, on the Murray River, to learn
sheep-breeding and wool-growing. He remained
there for ten years, and during the latter five
1000
WILLOUGHBY ESTATE, CENTRAL QUEENSLAND
lOOI
years of this period he occupied the position of
manager. Whilst on this famous station Mr.
Alexander made a close study of all phases of
the sheep and wool industry. In 1890 he relin-
quished his position at Barooga, and proceeded
to Queensland, where, in 1 891, he took up a block
of 10,000 acres, which was afterwards called
Vermont, being a portion of the Wellshot Resump-
tion. He entered into partnership with the late
Mr. J. F. Cudmore, formerly of Milo Station
brought from Jerilderie. All were eventually
trucked to Charleville, and afterwards travelled
in separate flocks to their destination. It was
intended to purchase Boonoke stud rams to keep
to that strain alone, but the dry seasons that
ensued after the arrival of the stud ewes, and
with no water in the new tank on the country
taken up, and the difficulty in getting suitable
country from time to time to keep them alive,
prevented the consummation of this idea; conse-
(south-western Queensland), to found a stud
flock and breed rams for that gentleman's Tara
properties, near Saltern (Central Queensland),
or for anyone else who might require them.
Passing through Brisbane, a few Vermont rams
offered there by Messrs. Clarke Bros, were pur-
chased, and, later, returning to the Riverina dis-
trict, he was fortunate in being able to purchase
from the late Mr. F. S. Falkiner 600 aged stud
ewes of the pure Boonoke strain. Then, at Mr.
Cudmore's desire (who had been an old and con-
istent user of the Murray rams), he went to
Adelaide, purchased there stud rams from the
flocks of Messrs. John Murray (Rhine Park)
and Alick Murray (Mount Crawford), and had
them sent over to Junee, where the ewes were
quently the rams already purchased were used,
except that after the first lambing Mr. Alexander
discarded all the Vermonts but one, believing that
the yolk they carried was unsuitable to the dis-
trict. With the exception of a few stud rams
from Mr. A. J. Murray's Mount Crawford flock
in 1895, "o other blood has been used, and the
flock has been bred since then from within itself.
In 19 10 the Minnie Downs stud flock was pur-
chased. This was a very old Australian, and
noted Central Queensland, flock, the originals of
which were brought from the old L.U.E. flock in
New South Wales in the early forties by the
Messrs. Archer Bros., when they — delayed by an
outbreak of scab — found the Darling Downs
country occupied, they pushed on to the Burnett
I002
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Typical Willoughby Stud Rams.
River, and settled there. The L.U.E. flock was
founded in 1823 of pure Spanish and Saxony
Merino strains, and whilst in Messrs. Archer's
possession they obtained rams of pure Saxony
blood for the ewes they had. After discovering
the country of the Fitzroy River, and settling at
Gracemere, the sheep were sent there. About
1875 Messrs. Archer Bros, purchased Minnie
Downs station, near Tambo (Central Queens-
land), and transferred the sheep there. Some
time afterwards they sold out to Messrs. Wm.
Irving and G. N. Griffiths. The new owners pur-
chased for years stud rams from the flock of Mr.
N. P. Bayly, of Havilah, New South Wales; also
a flock of aged stud ewes. The sheep resulting
from this blend obtained great successes when
exhibited, and earned a well-deserved reputation.
Some time after the death of both of these
owners, Irvingdale stud grazing selection, to
where the stud had been removed, was sold with
all the sheep. In 19 10 Mr. Alexander purchased
all the studs, and since being in his possession he
has bred the flock within itself. The object aimed
at with the Willoughby flocks is to breed an all-
round type of sheep of good frame and constitu-
tion, well covered with a profitable fleece of good
quality, but not too fine — sheep, too, that are
good doers, and not of a wild disposition. The
results obtained are very gratifying. All the rams
are readily disposed of, and give satisfaction to
stud Merino Kams, Willoughby
WILLOUGHBY F.STATE, CENTRAL QUEENSLAND
1003
stud Merino Ewes, Willoughby
their purchasers; any surplus stock of sheep hnds
ready buyers.
In 1900 Mr. Alexander purchased the other
half-share in Vermont stud farm, and in 1904 he
acquired Willoughby, his present home. The
latter holding was portion of the Saltern Creek
Resumption, and is situated about 40 miles from
Barcaldine by road. Woolbrook Grazing Farm,
with an area of 4,400 acres, was taken up in
1908, and is within six miles of the railway line.
Generally speaking, the Willoughby country, with
an area of over 50,000 acres, consists of open
downs, which, in normal seasons, carry an abun-
dance of the best grasses — Mitchell, Flinders,
Blue, etc. It is also better provided with shade
timbers than the average downs, and is well
watered by artesian bores, etc. Prom 20,000 to
22,000 well-bred sheep, 150 head of Shorthorn
beef cattle, and 60 head of horses are carried,
and a fairly large stud flock of sheep is main-
tained.
In 1897 Mr. Alexander married Miss F. C.
Brown, the eldest daughter of the late Mr. A.
R. Brown, one of the pioneers of the district,
and for many years and until his deaih manager
of Saltern Creek Station. Besides being a very
capable manager, he was foremost in promoting
honest sport of all kinds, and both Mr. and Mrs.
Brown endeared themselves to all in the district.
Mr. and Mrs. Alexander have a family of four
sons and two daughters. The eldest son (just
over sixteen years of age) is a boarder at his
father's old school. Mrs. Alexander is an enthu-
siastic gardener, and has a fine garden with lawn
and citrus trees surrounding Willoughby, giving
the place an attractive appearance. There is a
spirit of hospitality about Willoughby, which
makes itself felt as soon as one enters its portals.
Having always lived some distance from town,
Mr. Alexander has been prevented from taking
prominent position in local affairs, but he has
always been ready to support anything appertain-
ing to the advancement of the district or the State
of Queensland generally.
A Willoughby Stud Ewe
Albert Durer Alexander
Murray Vale House and
THE MURRAY MERINOS
AMONG the pioneer pastoralists of South
Australia during the first years of its
settlement appear the names of John
Murray and Alexander B. Murray, of Mount
Crawford, who were destined quickly to make
an indelible mark on the pastoral history of
the new colony. These men were the founders
of the celebrated Murray Merino flock, the name
of which, it will be noted, appears very fre-
quently in the descriptions of other flocks in this
volume. It was founded seventy-four years ago
— to be exact, in 1843 — ^^'^ '*^ had apparently its
origin in the first merino flock in Australia, that
of John MacArthur, of Camden Park, New
South Wales. It was Mr. A. B. Murray who
bought 100 merino ewes in that year from Mr.
McFarlane, of Mount Barker, which were under-
stood to have come from Camden Park. These
ewes were divided between A. B. Murray, and his
sister-in-law, Mrs. P. M. Murray, of Glen Tur-
ritt, Truro, and John Murray, of Mount Craw-
ford. Afterwards, another hundred ewes, in
lamb to a Tasmanian ram, were purchased by
John Murray from Mr. McVittie, who had a
station near Blumberg.
The origin of Mount Crawford Estate, how-
ever, dates from 1843, but in 1839 A. B. Murray
and John Warren, senr., explored and had the
survey made of section 918, Hundred of Parra
Wirra, part of the Barossa Special Survey, of
which he was a pioneer. In the same year his
brother John — who had been a shepherd in the
Cheviot Hills in Scotland, and had fed for exhi-
bition the stud of Mr. Bryden, the famous Cheviot
sheep breeder — came to Australia and, after two
years at Bull's Creek, purchased half of section
918 from him in 1843. To go back a little, Mr.
A. B. Murray had first settled in Malcolm's Flat,
now Magill, a town four miles from Adelaide,
the property being purchased by Mr. Mal-
colm, son of Sir Pultney Malcolm, Mr. Murray's
second cousin. Mr. Murray was the manager.
The original section at Magill passed into the
hands of a Mr. McCowan, and later into the
possession of A. B. Murray, whose son. Chief
Justice Sir George Murray, still owns the part
of the section not yet built upon.
To-day the ruins of the original homesteads of
the brothers stand within sight of each other on
the present Mount Crawford Estate, and they
must have been humble residences, although
built of stone, with which the property abounds.
But still humbler homes of slab and dab preceded
these, until A. B. Murray startled the neighbor-
hood with his palatial residence, of which by the
bve an amusing story is told. A dour old Scotch-
man, who lived in the neighborhood and watched
with paternal interest the beginnings of the young
pioneers, is narrated to have looked upon the
architectural opulence of Mr. A. B. Murray's
1004
THE MURRAY MERINOS
1005
Outbuildings, Mount Crawford
Ihoouse" — of two diminutive rooms and a lean-to
-with some disfavor, saying to a friend in con-
dence : "Sandy Murray'!! coom te na guld, mon.
le's gettin" too flasli. He's bui!din' a stoon
lioouse wi' a passage."
I^P Alt!iougli t!ie two brotliers had each his own
^wes, they worl<^ed together and used each other's
rams until A. B. Murray left Mount Crawford
and took up Tunglcillo and Wirrabara. John
Murray in 1853 purchased from Mr. William
'i Mitchell, of North Adelaide, who had built it,
a small house on the present site of the residence
of Mr. Alick J. Murray, with its section of 85
acres of land. This original homestead occupied
'j the space now devoted to the large central hall of
Murray Vale House, the additions making up the
present bungalow residence, having from time to
time been built around this relic of the early days.
The mountain took its name, it is said, from an
early overlander named Crawford, who used to
make his camp at its foot. The native name was
Tetaki. Mount Crawford is just seventeen
-jpiles east of Gawler.
I^P The high-class character of the original Mur-
ray flock is proved by the fact that a ram bred
the year after its foundation took Champion prize
at the Adelaide Show against imported rams. The
same ram took the Championship in six conse-
cutive years, in spite of the fact that many other
importations were made by other flockmasters.
Among the first of the late John Murray's prize-
winners was an exceptional ewe. She was shown
at the Adelaide Show about 1845 '" ^ P^" w'th
two of Mr. A. B. Murray's sheep and they gained
a first prize. The ewe afterwards produced twin
rams, one of which was Old Prize. She had a
very robust constitution and great fertility, and
she produced many great stud sheep. When
killed, at fifteen years old, because she was blind,
she was found to be in lamb. The ram. Old
Prize, began his show career at the age of ten
months by winning a first, and he afterwards
scored many first and champion prizes. He
was a great son of a great dam, possessing strong
prepotent power, and left his mark upon the
Murray flock in an exceptional degree, the stud
being largely inbred to this ram for an unusual
length of time.
Other famous early Mount Crawford rams
were The Duke of Edinburgh, who was regarded
by Mr. John Murray as the finest sire he ever
bred; his son. Prince Imperial — who won two
Champion prizes in Adelaide in two successive
years (1875 and 1876), and whose fleece, which
weighed iSlbs. i2ozs. while his live weight was
205lbs. — was for three successive years one of
the six placed first at the Adelaide Shows; and
Trophy, who won in 1873, as a grass-fed compet-
ing against housed-and-fed rams, the silver trophy
valued at 150 guineas presented by the Old
Colonists in England for the best combing-woolled
merino ram, and who also won the Champion
prize at the Adelaide Show in the following year.
Mr. Murray refused an offer for Trophy of 500
guineas, an exceptional price in those days, pre-
ferring to retain him in the Murray stud.
THE MURRAY MERINOS
1007
It is noteworthy that while Trophy's stock were
stronger in a most marlced degree in the female
line than in the male, the double champion, Duke
of Edinburgh, though he bred a number of fine
ewes, was especially strong in the male line, and
his progeny were particularly prepotent in males.
Thus we see how skill is needed in mating the
sheep so as to breed up to a certain standard and
fix dominant types. By means of his system of
pedigrees of females, Mr. Murray had been able
to insure that sires are only used upon such
families as are considered sufficiently prepotent
in the male or female line as may be required.
\o outside ram has ever been introduced into the
Murray flock since it was established.
The late John Murray
(Founder of the Murray Merinos)
The Murray Merino flock is the original
source of the plain-bodied South Australian sheep,
with its absence of folds, and of recent years a
characteristic is that they are also open-faced, thus
being able to graze freely without injury on long-
grass country.
The founder of the flock would never under
any circumstances artificially feed or house his
sheep, in spite of the extreme climatic conditions
of heat and cold ruling on the property. He be-
lieved, and the present owner believes, in the
"survival of the fittest" in regard to sheep-breed-
ng, and an animal which did not do well under
natural conditions was excluded from the flock.
This necessitates a severely critical eye and a
judgment which can foretell the future develop-
ment of a lamb. "Utility" is the object always
kept in view, so as to breed an animal which will
reproduce strong character even when subjected
to extreme conditions of climate or feed. Thus
Mr. Murray established the reputation of the
Murray Merinos and created a strong demand for
his stock throughout Australia, and from New
Zealand and South Africa, which has since con-
tinuously increased, many of the purchases being
repeat-orders and contracts covering a number of
years.
Among the celebrated Murray sheep of later
years, bred by Mr. Alick J. Murray, have been
Constitution, Lion, and his great son. Lion II.;
Fame, the 500-guinea ram, classed by his pur-
chaser as the cheapest animal he ever bought;
Portsea, sire of five out of six Champions in three
years; Radium 2nd, a grand stud rum, sold to
Mr. Ben Chaffey, of Moorna, in 1914, for 1,000
guineas; and many others which have contributed
their quota to the record achieved by Murray
rams in winning the Championship in Adelaide
on all but fifteen occasions during sixty-seven
years. The prizes won by the stud may be sum-
marized as follows: The two gold medals for five
best combing-wool merinos, 4-tooth rams and
2-tooth ewes, presented by the Duke of Edin-
burgh in 1867, six silver cups and trophies, and
medals numbering considerably over a hundred.
In the late 'forties, or early in 1850, A. B.
Murray took five ewe hoggetts, belonging to him-
self and his brother, John Murray, to a Melbourne
show, and won second prize against imported and
Victorian ewes, although they had been walked
to Port Adelaide and taken thence by boat.
The wool of the Murray flock has always been
distinctive. Its founder, in speaking of the
principle upon which he had managed it since its
inception, said: "I take care to breed from rams
of sound constitution, with as much quality of
wool, length of staple, softness and lustre as pos-
sible, with ample yolk, but never lose sight of
great weight of wool." The result of his con-
sistent pursuit of his ideal, continued by his suc-
cessors in their turn, is that the Murray wool to-
day is of a bold, robust type, long in staple yet
remarkably soft to handle and quite free from
kemps. The comment of the judges at the Syd-
ney Show in 1873, was that "Mr. Murray's wool
is a remarkable combination of softness and
strength; a bright, lustrous wool, exceedingly
clean," while a South African expert, after ex-
amining some Murray sheep imported there,
officially gave a most favorable report on the
sheep and the splendid quality of their wool.
London woolbuyers of the highest repute have re-
ported on the Murray wool with equal praise.
Both the Sydney experts already quoted remarked
of one typical exhibit: "We have examined the
ioo8
AUSTRAIJA UNLIMITED
prize fleeces with the greatest interest, and may
at once say that of this class of wool it is the most
beautiful specimen we have ever seen. The growth
is deep and sound, the staple clear at the root, and
evenly and compactly formed— a picture of
vigor and strength. The fibre is of strong
quality, especially towards the skirts, but it is not
too coarse considering the great depth of the
staple. The condition is light (about 55 per
cent, yield), and the appearance bright and lus-
trous. Such wool as this will always command
attention, for of its kind it is a perfect article."
The medal of the Great Exhibition in London,
1862, was awarded to Mr. John Murray for fine-
ness of quality and size of rams' fleeces; also the
gold medal of the South Australian Agricultural
Society for combing merino wool; the medal,
diploma, and report for six fleeces of choice selec-
tion at the Great International Exhibition at
Philadelphia in 1S76; and many other valuable
prizes for fleeces in later years.
The Murray flock affords a wonderful proof
and example of the much-debated system of in-
breeding, for it has always been pure and self-
contained, and has increased as the years have
passed its incontestable reputation for robustness
of constitution, well-developed frames, and heavy
fleeces of profitable wool. This result has been
achieved by the consistent policy of breeding from
within. Its history, consequently, has not only a
pastoral but a scientific interest, as it also affords
definite proof of the good effect of what the
American stock-breeders call the "climatic out-
cross," which is a preventative of any ill-effects
arising from persistent in-breeding. This was
made possible by the fact that the Murray flocks
for many years, first under the ownership of the
late Mr. John Murray and afterwards under that
of his four sons, the late Messrs. John Murray,
junr., T. Hope Murray, W. A. Murray, and
the present owner of Mount Crawford, Mr.
Alick J. Murray, were bred on four estates
situated in areas where climate and soil vary to
some extent, so that an exchange of sires, practi-
cally an outcross yet within the flock, could be
effected when thought desirable. |
In 1887, on the death of the late John Murray,
his four sons — John Murray, junr., of Rhine
Park, T. Hope Murray, of Mount Beevor,
Alick J. Murray, of Mount Crawford, and W. A.
Murray, of Cappeedee — purchased the whole
Murray Merino flock from the executors under
their father's will and divided it into four equal
parts in such a way that each should have one-
fourth of equal merit. In 1902, in accordance
with the will of the late W. A. Murray, the Cap-
peedee stud sheep were equally divided among his ^
three brothers, Mr. John Murray, junr., leaving
his portion at Cappeedee, which he rented and
carried in addition to Rhine Park. He died in
THE MURRAY MERINOS
1009
of the District Council of Mt. Crawford for a
number of years, but declined nomination for
parliament.
Murray Vale House at Mount Crawford is a
handsome and commodious pastoral home, set on
a rising site amid well-grassed hills and shady val-
leys on which is much splendid native timber,
chiefly red gum of noble proportions. The house
is approached from the main road by a fine
avenue of well-grown English and Australian
trees and has a large garden in which Mr. Mur-
ray indulges his hobby of rose-growing.
The Barossa ranges, amid which the Mount
Crawford Estate stands, are likely to loom large
in the future annals of South Australian produc-
tion, for they contain not only deposits of gold,
which has been won since the early years of settle-
ment, but also Australian rubies, opals, beryl,
greenstone, rutile, graphite, and a very fine fire-
clay declared by experts to be the best in the
world. It is supplied under contract in large
quantities to the Broken Hill Proprietary Com-
pany for their retorts at the Port Pirie smelting
works.
Adjacent to the Mount Crawford Estate is
now a reservoir covering an extensive area; con-
sequently the historic and beautiful Mount
Alick J. Murray
1 90 1, and his property is now carried on by his
sons. Mr. T. Hope Murray died in 1906.
The late A B. Murray's son is Sir George
Murray, K.C.. the present Chief Justice of South
Australia, Lieutenant-Governor, Chancellor of
the Adelaide University, etc.
Mr. Alick J. Murray, the owner of Mount
Crawford Estate, was born in 1859, and was edu-
cated at St. Peter's College, Adelaide. He mar-
ried in 1892 a daughter of the late Mr. Edmund
Bowman, of Barton Vale, Enfield, and has two
ns and a daughter, the latter being the wife ot
apt. Ronald Fife Angas, of CoUingrove. Mr.
A. J. Murray has been active in pastoral and agri-
cultural interests generally, being for many years
a member of the Board of the Roseworthy Agri-
ultural College and twice President of the Royal
gricultural and Horticultural Society of South
ustralia. As honorary Commissioner he has
purchased stock for the State Government, and on
more than one occasion has made liberal gifts,
inchiding the leading bull of his Jersey stud, to
i^jhe Roseworthy College, the pupils of which are
^Jtiven the advantage annually of witnessing a
sheep-shearing and woolclassing demonstration at
(■Ir. Murray's farm at Gawler. He is a director
f Elder, Smith & Co. Limited. He was chairman
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The late John Murray, Jr.
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
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Crawford property has been purchased by the
Government, and within a short period will be no
more than a memory. But the famous Murray
Merino flock will be preserved and it is hoped
will, under the direction of Mr. Alick J. Murray's
sons, still maintain its high and unrivalled repu-
tation. At Concordia, near Gawler, and at
Catarpo, near Mount Bryan, whither the studs
are already mostly moved, they will remain in pos-
session of his two sons, John Cyril Murray and
Eric Moray Murray, the elder of whom is at
present (191 8) serving with King Edwat
Horse in France. He recently married Miss
Knox, of Melbourne.
The Murray stud does not live on an old
reputation but remains consistent to its earliest
ideals. There is no stud in Australia that has so
firmly resisted the inroad of "ideas" and it affords
the best object-lesson available anywhere in this
country of the successful operation of a principle,
founded upon a scientific fact and practised with
undeviating precision.
Murray Merino Stud Ewes
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(Grazed at large on Natural Grasses only, and not on Lucerne)
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The late Mrs. McBride
R. J. M. McBride
Mis. McBride
McBRIDE, OF BURRA
iti
THE career of Robert James Martin
McBride, the well-icnown pastoralist and
philanthropist of Burra, is a living testi-
monial to the State of South Australia. It again
demonstrates the fact that those who are willing
to "go on the land" in Australia, even though
they lack experience or training or capital, may
win from their Mother earth a share of her
natural bounties. Mr. McBride was one of the
adventurous spirits who came to this continent
in the early years of settlement, when conditions
were often against the pioneer, and everything
had to be learnt by courageous seeking. Mr.
McBride, who was born at Newry, in the North
of Ireland in 1831, had the good, red blood of
adventure in his veins. The son of an officer in the
British Army, he adopted the sea for his calling
in the days when steam-power was in its infancy.
He served his apprenticeship on the sailing ships
of the period, later on transferring to steamers
of the well-known Cunard line. He had the
thrilling experience of shipwreck and the
knowledge that came with two voyages around
the world.
During one of these voyages he came (in
852), to Australia. His arrival at Melbourne
was marked by a stirring episode. He took an
active part in the capture of a seaman who had
committed murder and set fire to another vessel
before attempting to escape. Mr. McBride
visited the new Bendigo goldfields and, after an
uneventful year, went to Sydney, where he joined
a vessel bound for Shanghai, and made his way
to London. Australia had left a vivid impres-
sion upon his mind. He returned in 1855. He
made his way on foot — for he possessed only five
shillings — from Port Adelaide to the Burra-
Burra copper mine, a distance of 107 miles. He
secured work on the mine, and shortly after-
wards took a fencing contract on Hillside station,
owned by Mr. J .W. Tyler, where he remained
there as overseer and storekeeper. He then
bought a team of bullocks and engaged in carting
stores for the Burra mine, which proved a very
profitable occupation.
In 18159 Mr. McBride began his career as a
pastoralist, having arranged for purchase rights
over a large tract of country in the Burra dis-
trict adjoining the Government Wells and North-
VVest Bend Stations. This property he named
"The Gums." He made a complete success of
his new enterprise, using to the utmost advantage
his native industry and shrewd business instincts.
Such men as R. J. M. McBride have laid the
■
lOII
IOI2
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED.
foundations of a new nation the basic qualities of
energy, enterprise, and honesty. He worked
"The Gums" for twenty years and then trans-
ferred the property to his eldest son, Mr. W.
J. McBride, who disposed of it to the present
owners, Messrs. T. H. Pearse and Son. In a
few years Mr. McBride had acquired other pro-
horses, the discipline not occupying him more
than two hours in any case. He always worked
on the lines adopted by Bellew, the great Ameri-
can horseman — kindness and never taking your
eye off the animal.
His brief experience of mining at Bendigo,
though unsuccessful, gave him some interest in
Mr. E. J. McBride's Residence at Kooringa
perties in the Burra district, including Pine Valley
Station, Drayton, Teetulpa, Faraway Hill, Finger
Post, Oakleigh, and Redcliffe. In 1897 he had
acquired Outalpa Station, comprising 910 square
miles, which was stocked with 44,000 sheep and
400 cattle and horses. Shortly afterwards he
bought for £53,000 the fine property of Oulnina,
where he spent large sums in improvements be-
fore selling out to Mr. R. Crawford. He also
held 3,500 acres of valuable freehold, called
Norman Farm, near the Burra.
Mr. McBride has always been a lover of
horses, and spends much of his time even now, in
his old age — he was 85 years old in 19 17 — in
driving his fa\orite steed, leaving his motor car
for his family's use. During his career as a pas-
toralist he claims to have broken in all his own
that class of enterprise, and it is not surprising to
find that he has taken a considerable share in
the development of the mining activities of South
Australia and the other States. He was one of
the first to advocate the opening of the great
Broken Hill mines, and invested in the Proprie-
tary Company; he eventually sold his shares, at
a very large profit. He also took a considerable
interest in the early development of the Golden
Mile at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, also the
Great Boulder, in the same State. Of the latter
he formed the first syndicate and took up seven-
teen claims.
Mr. McBride has not occupied any public
offices at any time during his career, but he has
been a most active philanthropist, doing much
practical good to the community, and giving away
McBRIDE, OF BURRA
1013
during the last twenty-two years nearly £100,000,
including gifts to the war funds aggregating
£15,000, not only giving with a lavish hand, but
with a lack of ostentation characteristic of him as
a man. He lives modestly in Queen Street, Koor-
inga — a photograph of his home, taken under
exceptional climatic conditions, is engraved as one
of our illustrations — and there interests himself
chiefly in church work, his only public office being
that of steward and trustee of the Kooringa
Methodist Church, where he still conducts a class
meeting at an early hour every Sunday morning.
In 1856, he married Miss Elizabeth Dunn, of
' Dublin, and has five sons and six daughters. Mr.
W. J. McBride lives at Aberdeen; Mr. R. M.
McBride is the owner of Stony Gap and Finger
Post; Mr. A. J. McBride is at Fullarton; Mr. T.
McBride has Redcliffe and Florieton; and Mr. N.
H. McBride has Mannahill. His daughters are
Mrs. J- C. Sandland, of Koonoowarra, Kooringa;
Mrs. W. G. Hawkes, of Koonoona; Mrs. R. A.
Bohme, of Nackara; Mrs. E. Keynes, of North
Adelaide; Mrs. S. Alker and Mrs. E. Evans, of
St. Peter's. There are 59 grandchildren and 13
great grandchildren, many of the former now
serving their country at the front. Mr. R. J.
McBride's first wife died several years ago, and
in 1903 he married the widow of the late Mr. R.
Robertson, of Broken Hill.
arandsous and Oreat-GrandBons ou Active Service
The Woolshed, Anlaby
Anlaby House
THE DUTTONS, OF ANLABY
AN English estate in Australia, with an un-
disturbed family history, and all the
■ home-like attributes that permanent occu-
pancy, wealth and good taste can insure, are the
terms in which Anlaby can best be described. Es-
tablished by a Dutton in the early days of South
Australia, the estate was from the first designed
to form a permanent family home. One
generation of the Dutton family after another
has, in nearly eighty years, added to its outward
attractiveness and its inward comfort and self-
dependency until to-day it stands not only as a
record of pride and affection, but of that pros-
perity that comes from the sound pioneering
principles of men capable of using to the best pur-
pose the advantages offered by a new country
esponsive to enterprise.
The personal history of the Buttons of Anlaby
is interwoven with the development of the central
State. Elaving its origins in the English village
f Dutton in Cheshire, it sent out one of its
ions to the new British colonies in the Southern
emisphere. This was Frederick Hugh
Hampden Dutton who, after serving as
British Vice-Consul at Cuxhaven in Han-
t>ver from 1814 to 1832, settled in the 'thirties
n Victoria and was one of that's colony's
arliest settlers. Two of his sons — he had a
1 IS
St_
He
New South Wales and there engaged in pastoral
pursuits. The eldest, William Hampden Dut-
ton, who was born in 1805 in England, was a
large land-owner in the Mother Colony.
On October ist, 1835, the then Governor of
the new colony of South Australia, Captain Grey
(afterwards to become celebrated as Sir George
Grey, Governor of New Zealand) issued "Modi-
fied Regulations for the Disposal of Land in the
Colony;" an appendix contained Article 5
which provided for what were known as "Special
Surveys" of land offered by the Crown for lease
as pastoral runs. Four years later, on October
25th, 1839, fresh regulations were issued, the
Special Surveys district being divided into 200
sections of eighty acres each and of these sections
the purchaser was at liberty to select 50 sections
or 4,000 acres. From the commencement of the
year 1839 to the 29th February, 1840, about
113,000 acres had been marked off in sections,
exclusive of special surveys. Six of the last,
namely: Mount Barker, Gawler, The Three
Brothers, Little Para, The Meadows, and Cur-
rency Creek, were completed or on the point of
being so.
Of interest in this connection is the following
from The Australian of March 38th, 1838: —
"Five hundred cattle, the property of W. H.
Dutton, Esq., which were dispatched overland
1015
ioi6
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Francis Stacker Button, C.MG..
1839 the lessee of 2660 acres at Richmond,
N.S.W. On September 26th, 1846, W. H.
Dutton and Alexander Lang Elder took up a
special survey of 20,000 acres at Mount Remark-
able, in accordance with the terms of a new Regu-
lation, which placed areas of that size on sale.
Mr. W. H. Dutton, however, died in 1849 ^t the
age of 44 years.
It was at his instance that his brother Frederick
Hansborough Dutton came to South Australia in
or about 1839, for it was at that time that Mr.
W. H. Dutton sent to him about 1 200 sheep from
New South Wales in charge of a Mr. Malcolm.
Messrs. E. Spicer, Ewen Cameron, and Alex-
ander Buchanan had about 1000 sheep each and
these, with Mr. Dutton's consent, they "boxed"
with his, and those gentlemen assisted Mr. Mal-
colm to bring the whole lot to South Australia.
They were first taken to Mr. F. H. Dutton's
station at Koonunga, which was already an es-
tablished sheep-run, and they remained there until
1 84 1 by which time they had doubled in number.
Mr. F. H. Dutton went into partnership with
Captain C. H. Bagot in the Koonunga estate, but
after about two years the partnership was dis-
solved.
from the Murray River to Portland Bay, have
arrived safely at their destination, with a loss of
three head only. The party was six weeks
performing the journey. These cattle are to be
shipped for Port Adelaide, the Hope, Capt. Hart,
having been chartered for the purpose." Supple-
mentary to this is a paragraph which appeared in
the Southern Australian on July 21st, of the same
year: "New Arrivals. — The Parland has brought
a full cargo of sheep and horses on account of W.
Hampden Dutton, Esq., who has also arrived with
his lady and family. We congratulate the
colonists on the accession of another enterprising
and well-informed settler; and we trust, in the
course of the present season, to welcome many
such. We are glad to hear that out of 1,500
sheep only three have been lost on the passage.
With this addition our increase of sheep during
the last week exceeds three thousand — a some-
what substantial commemoration of the second
anniversary of the colony."
The first entry recorded on the list of contracts
for Special Surveys was the following: January
iith, 1839, W. Hampden Dutton, 4,000 acres,
in the vale of Mount Barker, including the sta-
tions of Messrs. Finniss and Bonney. The appli-
cation was made by Mr. Dutton on behalf of
himself, D. McFarlane, and Captain Finniss, all
colonists of New South Wales, but on the original
lease in the possession of the Dutton family only
the name of W. H. Dutton appears. Another
document shows W. H. Dutton to have been in
Frederick Hansborough Dutton
THE BUTTONS, OF ANLABY
1017
In January, 1842, Mr. Dutton, according to the
official list, owned 9,750 sheep, while C. H. Bagot
had 1,155 ^nd with partners a further 2,650,
Messrs. Dutton and Hardy appearing in the same
list as possessing 2,400. At that date only the
South Australian Company (19,760) and G. A.
Anstey (9,560) had anything like that number
of sheep, the next highest being 6,000 (D. Mac-
farlane), 5,200 (E. & E. Peters), and 5,100
(Wm. Keynes).
Mr. F. H. Dutton was the first to take up the
Emu Flats run, consisting of about 150 square
miles, which extended from the hundred of Bright
in the north to Dutton Town in the south, and
took in Neales, Eudunda, Point Pass, Australian
Plain, Peep Hill, nearly to Apoinga. This was
included in the 300 square miles of country north-
east of Kapunda, held by Mr. Dutton on lease.
The area was unfenced and the sheep had to be
shepherded, but Mr. Dutton never forbade his
neighbors allowing their stock to wander
over his pastures. Later, fencing made it pos-
sible to run the same number of sheep on a smaller
area, and the station was consequently reduced to
about 90 square miles. Mr. Dutton was still
generous to his neighbors, for he made no claim
upon them for a share of the cost of fencing,
which must have been very considerable.
Meanwhile one of the shepherds, Peter Sebis-
ton, who later was overseer at Anlaby for many
years, discovered — through his dogs leaving him
in hot weather — a spring of splendid water near-
by the southern boundary of the run. This in-
duced Mr. Dutton to take up an eighty-acre sec-
tion, including the spring, about eleven miles from
Kapunda. There the manager, Mr. Alexander
Buchanan, the father of Mr. Justice Buchanan, of
the South Australian Supreme Court, built a
shingle hut as the head-station homestead. This
hut was eventually replaced by a stone house,
which eventually became the present fine mansion available for purchase large areas of the original
known as Anlaby House, the home of the Dut- leasehold holdings, compelling holders to pur-
tons. Mr. Buchanan remained as manager of chase or reduce their areas, he was a large pur-
the estate until his death in 1865. He was sue- chaser and from time to time bought the freehold
ceeded by Mr. H. T. Morris, with whom he had of some 70,000 acres immediately adjoining the
been associated for many years, and later by Mr. homestead block, some at the upset price of £1
A Medal of 1832
Peter Miller, who had been associated with Mr.
Ij Morris. Mr. Mayoh Miller, son of Mr. P.
Miller, succeeded his father as manager, and
occupied that position from 1896 to 1906. Mr.
C, de N. Lucas has been manager since 1906.
Several good seasons followed the establish-
ment of the Emu Flats run, and the flock greatly
I increased. As things improved, Mr. Dutton pur-
j chased from the government a section on each
side of the Julia Creek, thus securing the waters.
Originally the rent paid for the land held on lease
Kas los. per acre, but when, about 1850, the
overnment, needing revenue, surveyed and made
per acre. In 1864 and thereafter more was pur-
chased at prices ranging up to £4 and even going
as high eventually as £7 per acre. About 1853
the number of bales of wool at Anlaby at shear-
ing-time aggregated 600 and this had increased to
1,066 bales in 1875, and to 1,184 when 49,231
sheep were shorn. Since then the flocks have
decreased, but in 1904 when 43,280 sheep re-
turned 1,043 bales of wool the average per head
was the highest. The highest pre-war price of
later years was I3fd. in 1907. The wool is not
now the main consideration at Anlaby, but its
brand DTN is still sought out by wool-buyers.
N2
ioi8
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
good strong land suitable not only for grazing,
but for wheat-growing, with occasional outcrops
and ridges. It is well watered by the River
Light and the Julia Creek, and also by numerous
never-failing springs and dams on the estate.
There are eight bores, which were made under the
direction of the divining-rod — in this case, a piece
of copper wire and a magnet. They provide ex-
cellent stock water. There was an abundance
of heavy timber in earlier days but, although many
trees have been since felled, fresh plantations
have been made from time to time so that the
property to-day is well timbered and is not in
danger of being denuded of its timber supply or
shelter for stock, as has been the case with some
pastoral properties.
The first woolshed on Anlaby was a very primi-
tive affair, being made of slabs covered with
thatch, and by no means watertight. The pre-
sent large woolshed, built of brick and stone, was
erected in 1875 and has since been added to. In
1875 that scourge of all pastoral enterprise, the
rabbits, appeared on the run and a great deal of
money had to be spent on keeping them down, as
they increased marvellously in spite of all pre-
cautions, £1,500 being spent in six months in
rabbit-destruction and a similar policy followed
in ensuing years. The only consistent effort
made in the district to eradicate them was, in fact,
made at Anlaby. Latterly, however, the plague
has been mastered and the estate is now com-
paratively free.
In 1856 Mr. Dutton improved his flock by the
introduction of some imported Rambouillet rams,
and between that date and 1869 five more dif-
ferent importations of specially-selected Merino
rams were made from Saxony, which were of
service in fixing the robust type of sheep and
fleece which has always been characteristic of the
Anlaby flock. In addition to these a few rams
Mr. F. H. Dutton always treated his old
employes with that generosity and kindliness char-
acteristic of the English country gentleman. He
never forgot their faithful service, but looked
after them in their old age.
The native name of the country was Pudna, but
this Mr. Dutton replaced by the more euphonious
one of Anlaby, after a village in Yorkshire,
England, with which the family was associated
and where Miss Charlotte Dutton, a sister of the
Messrs. Dutton, lived after her marriage. The
Anlaby Estate is situated in a picturesque dis-
trict, which has an average rainfall of from 18 to
20 inches, the soil of the greater portion being
t^
'^•^^^«
H^^.
Lli^k
en f 1 1? ■ « •
■-.im — ^-qsW'-^.'
.^, -I -.- ■'■-■-if
The Kennels, at Anlaby
THE BUTTONS, OF ANLABY
1019
h
The late Henry Dutton
were purchased from Pitt's Levels and subse-
quently the best Murray Merino rams procurable,
the object having always been to fix a high stan-
dard for flock rams and a heavy wool-production
per head from the ewes, rather than to breed
specially-developed sheep for show purposes.
Latterly, and for many years, the new blood in-
troduced has been from the Murray flocks and
the Anlaby sheep are now practically a distinct
strain of the famous Murray Merinos.
Mr. F. H. Dutton presented to the town an
area of about forty acres in Kapunda — ideally
situated for recreation purposes — which he
specially purchased for £500, and further
assisted by subsequent liberal donations and be-
quests. This is appropriately known as Dutton
Park. He adopted the same generous attitude
in regard to the Kapunda Hospital, giving some-
thing like £2,000 towards the purchase of the
grounds and the erection of the building and
finally leaving it a bequest of £2,500. He died
in England in 1890 at the age of 78 years.
Mr. Francis Stacker Dutton, who was born in
1816, came in the first instance to South Australia
at the invitation of his brother William, from
Brazil, to join in the pastoral ventures of the
brothers. He went first to Sydney in 1839;
then to Melbourne for eighteen months, and,
in 1 84 1, joined his brother Frederick, who had
gone to South Australia. He shared with Mr.
C. S. Bagot, the son of Captain Bagot, at that
time his brother's partner, the distinction of dis-
covering copper in 1842 on the Koonunga Estate,
Kapunda. He bought eighty acres, which he
considered covered the whole mineral area, but
that was very far from being the case. Captain
Bagot bought the next section of a hundred acres
which was only the beginning of the great
Burra-Burra rush and the opening-up of a valu-
able mine which revived the then-failing fortunes
of the new colony. Mr. Dutton, however, sold
out in 1845, having tired of his mining venture,
as he did later of pastoral life, turning to politics
for a career.
When, in 1 85 1, a Legislative Council was
granted to South Australia, Mr. F. S. Dutton
was the first candidate in the field — the first
pioneer to seek the suffrages of the settlers. He
was elected for East Adelaide and was re-elected
for the same constituency in 1855. He was one
of the leading spirits in framing the new Con-
stitution. In 1853 when the proposal to estab-
lish a local Parliament was discussed in the Legis-
lative Council, Mr. Dutton favored popular
election of members as against nomination by the
Crown. He was actively supported by Mr. G.
F. Angas among others, but his motion was lost
on a division. Two years later, however, the
Henry Hampden Dutton
1020
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Council was dissolved and, though some of the
members were nominated, the greater number
were elected, Mr. Button being among the latter.
In 1857 he was elected to the Legislative As-
sembly as a member for the City of Adelaide in
the first Parliament. In 1858 he was a member
of the Select Committee on the Bill to amend the
Act dealing with pastoral leases. He was Com-
missioner for Crown Lands in 1 857-1 859 and was
twice Premier. He went to London as Commis-
sioner for South Australia to the Great E'xhibi-
tion of 1862. In 1865 he was Minister for Pub-
lic Works, but resigned to accept appointment as
Agent-General in London, for which position he
was especially well fitted. He was created a
Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St.
George. He retained the post of Agent-General
until his death in 1877. The district of Dutton
in South Australia is named after him. The
new townships of Hansborough and Hampden
Grange have latterly been named after the Dutton
family. He was an Associate of the Institute of
Civil Engineers, a member of the Royal Institute
of London, and a Fellow of the Royal Geogra-
phical Society; he was the author of "South Aus-
tralia and its Mines."
When Mr. F. H. Dutton died, he was suc-
ceeded as owner of Anlaby by his nephew, Mr.
Henry Dutton, the son of Mr. William Hampden
Dutton. He was born in Victoria in 1848 and
educated at St. Peter's College, Adelaide. He
received a business training, and was for several
years connected with the Bank of South Aus-
tralia. In addition to the ownership of Anlaby
Estate, he became a partner with Mr. John Mel-
rose in the well-known North Booboorowie sta-
tion, a well-grassed country of some 36,000 acres,
situated a few miles from the Burra, which is now
sub-divided and used for agriculture. He also
acquired the James Martin ironworks and
foundry at Gawler. He was a Fellow of the
Imperial and Colonial Institutes, and a prominent
member of the Australian Pastoralists' Associa-
tion. He lived at Anlaby, and took a keen in-
terest in the estate, and was also prominent in all
things appertaining to the welfare of the district,
where he was affectionately known as the
"Squire" of Anlaby. His chief recreations
were gardening and yachting, and he indulged in
considerable cruising in his splendid steam yacht,
The Adele, R.Y.S., 350 tons, the only craft of
her class in southern waters. She has now been
acquired by the Government, and is used on
national service connected with the war. He
installed the glorious gardens and conser-
vatories of Anlaby, as they now are, and
stocked them with all the choicest flowers, shrubs
and trees. The roseries, lily-ponds, orchid and
fern-houses; the terraces, lawns, shrubberies, and
THE DUTTONS, OF ANLABV
102I
orchard show the skill and devotion of a true hor-
ticulturist. Mr. Henry Button died in 1916.
It may be mentioned here that the father of Mrs.
Henry Dutton — Mr. George Thomas — built the
first residence at the suburb of St. Kilda, Mel-
bourne.
Six miles from Anlaby is the village of Hamil-
ton, so named by George Robertson, who kept
the old inn and laid out the township, after his
native place in Scotland. Here St. Matthew's
Church was erected by Mr. Henvy Dutton as a
memorial to his wife, uncle, and daughter. ir
is a small but dignified stone edifice of the Early
Norman style of architecture, cultured taste as
well as liberal expenditure being evidenced in the
completeness and beauty of the furnishings and
decorations, the artistic oak carvings and tra-
ceries, the massive silver and brass ornaments, the
beautiful stained-glass windows throughout the
church, the marble font, and the sweet-toned pipe-
organ. The well-proportioned roof of the chan-
cel was designed by Sir T. G. Jackson, Bart., R.A.,
the distinguished English architect.
The present owner of Anlaby, Mr. Henry
Hampden Dutton, only son of Mr. Henry Dut-
ton, carries on the traditions of the family and
devotes himself to the direction of the Estate.
Anlaby has been his home since boyhood. Ele
was born in Adelaide, February 13th, 1879, and
educated first at St. Peter's College in that city
and afterwards at Lancing College, Sussex, and
Magdalen College, Oxford, where he secured
his B.A. degree and rowed in the Oxford Uni-
versity Eight (1900). He has travelled exten-
sively in the Rocky Mountains (where he shot
several fine buck, the heads and antlers of which
adorn the dining-room at Anlaby House), New-
foundland, and Morocco. He, together with a
mechanic, is the only person who has tra-
velled by motor car right across this con-
tinent, through Central Australia; this he
achieved in 1908 in the early days of
motoring. He offered himself for active service
in the war, but was rejected owing to an old injury
to one of his legs. Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Dutton
are enthusiastic and well-informed collectors,
Anlaby House being a treasury of valuable furni-
ture, antiques, old books (including many first edi-
tions), and mezzotints, and original paintings by
'owlandson, "Phiz," Herring, G. Vincent, J.
(tark, Somerscales, B. W. Leader, R.A., J.
•edder, R.A., H. S. Tuke, R.A., Caton Wood-
^—ville, George Lambert, Hans Heysen, and others.
^B^s an enthusiastic lover of Australian trees he
^■las recently planted several reserves near the
^■lomestead with many specimens of acacias, gre-
^Pl^illeas, melaleucas, hakeas, and other indigenous
shrubs and trees. In 1905 he married Emily,
daughter of Mr. J. F. Martin, of the engineering
4.
I
I022
THE BUTTONS, OF ANLABY
16,000 acres in the Anlaby Estate to-day, about
4,000 having been recently sold on terms to
farmers. The total area worked under the
share system is 10,000 acres. The wheats found
to be the most suitable are Federation, Mar-
shall's No. 3, Yandilla King, and Dart's Im-
prov'ed Imperial, in that order securing best
results in all seasons.
The owner of Anlaby is farming 1,000 acres
for the purpose of growing the seed wheat, and
is also growing a large area of peas and catch-
crops, such as sorghum. The flock of Merino
sheep kept for their wool is 5,000 and, in addi-
tion, there are rather more than that number in
connection with the farming for fattening pur-
poses. He is also baling and storing a con-
siderable amount of hay against bad seasons.
Anlaby Estate to-day presents the appearance
of a village, there being many stone cottages for
the farmers, and it has all the advantages of a
self-contained domain. It is a good example of
sound management, equitable dealing, and enter-
prise, and suggests a new phase in the development
of Australian pastoral holdings, which may prove
of great value to' the community and solve many
problems of closer settlement.
^tfi
, ja,f .w'.-^
St. Matthew's, Hamilton
Dutton Memorial Church
works, Gawler, and has two sons, John Hans-
borough and Richard Hampden Dutton.
In recent years the Anlaby Estate has been con-
siderably reduced in area, owing to the purchase
of 47,000 acres by the Government for closer
settlement purposes. Mr. H. H. Dutton
adopted the principle of the half-share system,
and at present there are fifty farmers growing
wheat on the estate under that arrangement, some
with the covenant-to-purchase clause in their
agreements have larger holdings and have
erected cottages and improved the land
generally. In 1914 all had their hold-
ings offered to them, and 90 per cent,
agreed to purchase. They are supplied with
seed wheat, grown and graded on Anlaby
so as to assure the best quality in some
dozen varieties, and half the superphosphates,
each party finding their own bags and twine, the
crop being divided equally. The grazing rights
belong to the owner, Mr. Dutton. There are
The Chancel, Dutton Memorial Church
.1
"Eringa," Kapunda, South Australia
SIDNEY KIDMAN,
THE AUSTRALIAN CATTLE KING
As the stock are slowly stringing
Clancy rides behind them singing;
For the drover's life hath pleasures
That the townsfolk never know.
A. B. Paterson.
ALL the romance that goes with the stringing
herds that wind across the purple plains of
sunset is not dead. The Australian
drover, similar to, yet different from, the American
cowboy, still rides with his packhorse beside him
across that wide, blue horizon which the smoke of
civilization has not yet bleared.
Whenever one thinks of Cattle and of Central
Australia nowadays, the personality of Sidney
Kidman arises before one's mental vision. It is
part of the picture, a figure in the foreground,
arresting attention. The Man is a Big Man;
he would be a big man anywhere in modern in-
dustrial civilization. He is one of the biggest
men in Australia to-day.
"Sid" Kidman, "Jimmy" Tyson, "Sam"
MacCaughey belong to the race of giants. By
fire and strength of will, by steel of patience
and eternal effort, they rise like Titans above the
crowd.
Sidney Kidman acknowledges cheerfully to
simple beginnings. He has no social or per-
i
sonal pretensions. But from the Roper River to
the Torrens his name is written in letters of
Wealth and Power.
The Kidmans are of an old English farming
stock, the type of people who have proved the
backbone of "British dominions beyond the
seas." When, in 1849, the world seemed to be
going to California to pick up new-found gold,
the Kidmans came to South Australia, from Bury
St. Edmunds, England, content to make their
living from the land and what it would produce.
They settled as farmers at Black Hill, Fifth
Creek, near Adelaide, and afterwards removed to
a farm near Roseworthy, almost adjoining the
present Agricultural College.
Sidney Kidman was born at Black Hill, on May
9th, 1857. Six months later his father died.
Faced early with the necessity of making his own
living, his school-days at Norwood were brief,
and he was only thirteen years old when he left
home to make his way in the world. He had,
however, no ambitions beyond those natural to
1023
1024
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Sidney Kidman drafting Horses, Oakland Downs Station
his early associations, for he was a country boy
with country interests. He had always been
fond of animals, and would attend the sale-yards
and interest himself in cattle. It was natural,
therefore, that he should, as a boy, do a bit of
droving for the different purchasers at the sales
and that, mixing with the experienced drovers of
the district, and hearing their talk about the life
and doings of the back country, he should decide
to adopt droving as his means of livelihood.
Investing fifty shillings in the purchase of a
saddle-horse, he made his way towards New
South Wales, but he did not get far, for his horse
knocked up at Terowie. The forlorn youth
chummed up with another wayfarer, and the two
made over to what is now the famous Broken Hill
"Barrier." There were no suspicions in those
days that this forbidding-looking country was the
veritable Tom Tiddler's Ground it shortly after-
wards proved to be, and in any case young Kid-
man was concerned with "stock" and not with
"shares." He obtained employment on the
Mount Gipps Station — which then belonged to
an old pioneer known as "German Charlie" —
first as cowboy and later as a stockman, at the
munificent salary of ten shillings a week. After
a year or two of this strenuous but unprofitable
employment, he ventured to suggest that a rise in
wages would be in order, but his boss differed
with him on the subject, and handed him his
cheque. So, looking for another job, he "padded
the hoof" to fresh country, pulling up at Poola-
macca run, where he succeeded in finding work.
This was rather better than his late employment,
as it yielded him £i a week.
Relating some of his experiences on Poola-
macca Station, Mr. Kidman tells how, when he
was "tailing" horses, he one day found they had
strayed away while he had gone to the homestead
for his lunch. He followed up their tracks on foot,
but could not get within sight of them. The
situation seemed hopeless when he came upon a
man sinking a tank, and, without asking leave, he
took the man's horse and followed up his strays.
He reached a water-hole known as "Joe's Water-
hole," but the horses had gone on; young Kidman
was obliged to camp there for the night. He had
no food whatever, and satisfied his hunger by
killing small birds. Going on next day, he suc-
ceeded in coming up with the horses, returning
with them to the station. On the way he was
"warmly" received by the owner of the horse he
had borrowed, but he succeeded in pacifying the
man by relating his dire necessities and offering to
purchase the animal.
With young Kidman, the job on hand rather
than its difficulties, always received first con-
sideration, and so it was that he was able to take
advantage of such opportunities as came in his
way. That has been characteristic of his whole
career. At this time there was a drought, and
flour was fetching from £50 to £75 a ton. Cart-
age from Wentworth to Menindie was worth £15
a ton, and £25 to Wilcannia. Having saved a
little money, Kidman was able to take advantage
of these conditions. He bought a bullock-team
and carried loading between these places, making
money; thus he started himself on his career of
consistent enterprise and varying fortune.
SIDNEY KIDMAN, THE CATTLE KING
1025
Six Hundred Horses "rounded up" at BuUoo Downs, N.S.W.
Starting for Kapunda Horse Sale, 1917
He was one of the first at the Cobar rush, but
seeking metal in its minted form, not as a
prospector. Mr. Kidman himself tells this
part of his life-story: "I sold out my
working-bullocks and went away to Cobar.
I had a butcher's shop there, and also used to
cart copper ore from Cobar to Bourke, on the
Darling. At this time Cobar in all directions
was open country. There were a number of
miners and other people about, but there was no
flour, tea, or sugar to be had. I got a horse and
went to Condobolin, on the Lachlan. I bought
some bullocks and a lot of sugar, tea, and other
rations. At Cobar I sold the sugar at is. a lb.,
the salt at 6d., the small tins of jam at 2s. 6d.
each, and the soap at 5s. a bar. I didn't know
much of trading or I would have bought tons
more. I was butchering, and had a selection
with another man right where the town of Cobar
now is. It was what they called a free selection,
and consisted of 140 acres. I have seen water
there is. a bucket, flour £10 a bag and £100 a
ton. I sold the butchering business because I
couldn't get the cattle. I had to go to Wynbar
station, buy six or eight cattle, and drive them
about 80 miles through the bush. I carried my
bullock hides in a bullock waggon from Cobar to
Menindie." At Menindie he got work with his
brother George and went over with a mob of
cattle to Adelaide, earning 25s. per week.
At this time, Mr. Kidman was twenty-one years
old. He inherited £400 or so, his share of
£4,000 left by his grandfather in England, which
was divided between him and his five brothers
and three sisters. He went back to the
Darling, bought a mob of horses from Redan
station, and, with one man, brought them
to Terowie, from where he drove them himself.
They sold at an average of nearly £20 a head.
That gave him a good start. He continued buy-
ing and selling horses until, when he had got
together a mob of 230 at Bourke, the bottom fell
out of the market. He left the district after in-
creasing his mob by 100 horses, selling them
round Wilcannia, and later on also out in Queens-
land. That closed his horse-dealing for a time.
Shorthorn Cattle at Nundorah Station.
I026
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Sidney Kidman Starting Drovers for Cattle, Queensland
Those he could not sell he made use of by taking
the mail contract from Terowie to Wilcannia and
to what soon became the famous field of Broken
Hill. Then he sold the contract, which even-
tually came into the hands of Hill and Co., who
made a fortune out of it when the Broken Hill
mining-field was discovered.
Mr. Kidman returned to cattle-dealing with
small initial success, owing to a period of drought,
so speculated in chaff, buying at £io and selling
at £30 a ton after carting it "out-back,"
also buying oats at los. a bag and sell-
ing at £1. Then he returned to cattle-deal-
ing once more, going to the Cobham Lake and
buying all they could muster — 900 cows and
bullocks — out of a herd of 10,000, for £3 each,
selling them at the Burra Burra mine, South
Australia, having taken them by way of Broken
Hill.
On this trip occurred one of those romances of
mining which are always worth recounting. In
Mr. Kidman's own words: "En route I met Jim
Poole — then partner with David James — who
owned a two-sevenths share in Broken Hill, sink-
ing a tank at the Nine-mile, which is a few miles
from where Broken Hill is now. I gave Jim
Poole ten of the culls for one-fourteenth share in
Broken Hill, and I also left ten bullocks to be
broken in. The culls were worth about 80/-
each. I paid a £6 call on my share to sink Rasp's
shaft, the first shaft that was ever sunk on the
Barrier. I M^as going up in the coach
from Terowie to Broken Hill. Harris, a
sharebroker, was a passenger. I told him
I had a one-fourteenth share in Broken Hill
which I would sell for £150, one-twenty-eighth in
the Bobby Burns, for which I wanted £250, and a
mine called Dunstan's Reef, for which I asked
£200. In twelve months the Bobby Burns was
not worth much ; while I was in Queensland they
carted Dunstan's Reef into Broken Hill for flux;
and Harris sold my one-fourteenth share in
Broken Hill to Bowes Kelly and Weatherley for
£150, of which I got £100."
The true inwardness of this incident will be
made clear by reference to the chapter on Broken
Hill in another part of this book. Suffice it to
say here that Mr. Kidman's one-fourteenth share
six months later was worth £70,000. To-day
it would be worth close upon £2,000,000. Phillip
Charley and George MacCulloch, Broken Hill
magnates, were both Sidney Kidman's mates on
Mount Gipps run, one as boundary-rider, and the
other as storekeeper.
About this period, Mr. Kidman went away
into Queensland and bought cattle, the values of
which he understood better than mining shares.
He went out on the Mulligan to Sandringham
station, which he now owns among many other
more extensive properties. He entered into
partnership with his brother Sackville, who was
running a large butchering business at Broken
Hill, and Nicholls, trading under the name of
Kidman and Nicholls, Sidney Kidman buying the
cattle. The brothers at the same time went in
for dealing, buying sheep in large quantities, and
SIDNEY KIDMAN, THE CATTLE KING
1027
often had from fifty to sixty thousand on the
road. They also had the mail contract between
Cobar and Wilcannia and Wilcannia and Mount
Brown, and, later, mail contracts in Western
Australia. The partnership was only broken by
his brother's death. There was not much
money in stocks in those days, but with the
butchering business he did well. He is still
running mails in Queensland, and from Hergott
Springs to Birdsville.
It was actually the drought and times of depres-
sion in the last decades of last century that gave
Mr. Kidman his first real start in life — a substan-
tial start that set him on the high road to a success
few have achieved, even in this land of golden
opportunities. When nearly everybody else was
practically ruined and the whole country was
brought face to face with insolvency owing to the
drought, Mr. Kidman found himself with a little
capital, laboriously accumulated, and many fine
opportunities for using it, and, what was of more
value to him, the confidence of the stock agents,
who allowed him credit. He knew, as probably
no other man knew, what were the actual re-
sources in stock of the great far-back stations
which were being abandoned in all directions, or
were in the hands of the banks. He knew that
much stock was wandering about in the free coun-
try "back of beyond," finding some sort of sub-
sistence far out of sight and knowledge of their
owners. It was a risk, but one that appealed to
a man of Mr. Kidman's metal, and it bore to him,
with his exceptional knowledge, great possibilities
of profit. So he went into the MacDonnell
Ranges country, bought Owen's Springs with
3,000 horses and 500 cattle and all the plant, for
£1,500. This was in 1880. He went up there
and lived on the run and mustered the horses
himself.
After the big drought of 1903, he bought up
some of the abandoned runs, with their brands,
and rounded up the mobs of straying cattle.
These he travelled to the nearest towns and sold
profitably, continuing to lay out further capital and
with further credit from the stock agents, in other
properties and stock. He found more cattle and
horses in northern Australia, right up to the Gulf
of Carpentaria, than were believed to exist in
those times of disaster, when dead stock were
more numerous than live ones. He had little
capital himself but was well financed, and came
out with a profit of £40,000. This was the more
remarkable as the country, in those pre-bore days,
was by no means safe for stock on account of
the scarcity of water. Drought indeed has meant
heavy losses for Mr. Kidman, even up to recent
Kears. In the great drought of I9i4> he lost
But to go back to the 'eighties. This period
definitely opened up Sidney Kidman's won-
derful financial career. Gradually, by hard
work and clever dealing, he had accumulated
capital. With this he bought more stations,
nearly all cattle properties, and stock. He was
always dealing; buying thousands and selling at a
profit — sometimes immediately, if he saw the
chance of even a small profit on a quick turnover.
Sidney Kidman
He has dealt . in stations as he has dealt
in cattle, buying and selling with judgment and
with honesty. Kidman has the reputation of
being one of the fairest dealers in Australia.
Buyers and sellers alike trust his word and his
iudgment. He has done many "a Big Deal,"
running up into even six figures, without "a
scratch of the pen" between buyer and seller.
Now he directly controls or holds 60,000
square miles of country — twice the area of Eng-
land or of Scotland, a third greater than Ireland,
more than two-thirds the size of the State
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Salt-Bush, Yantara Station
Teams of Wool-waggon Camels, Yantara
of Victoria, two and a half times the
area of Tasmania. Yet Sidney Kidman
knows all he wants to know about his
estates, what stock every section of it is carrying,
and what stock it can safely carry at the moment;
what water is there and what grass. He knows
all these things personally and intimately. In the
intervals of his visits to his various properties he
is kept regularly posted up with the latest informa-
tion regarding each from his offices in Adelaide.
And once advised, he remembers all without fur-
ther reference to letters or notes; in fact, in such
matters his memory is phenomenal, and a won-
derful asset.
The immensity of his operations has revolution-
ised the cattle and horse industry in Australia.
We have already described to some extent, his
great business in cattle. Equally is he paramount
in regard to horses. Not only do the Indian army
authorities rely upon him to largely augment their
regular supplies of remounts, but locally, he to a
large extent controls the horse market — -at least
as far as South Australia is concerned. When
he started the now celebrated Kapunda horse
sales, he showed at once to those who deal in
horses that the names Kidman and Kapunda must
in future be very constantly in their minds; other-
wise they could not keep in touch with the Aus-
tralian market as regards the sale of horses.
The annual horse sales at Kapunda, in-
augurated by Sidney Kidman when the closing
of the copper mines had practically killed the
town, are now famous throughout Australia, at-
tracting buyers from all parts. They have
almost taken the form of a national fair. Mr.
Kidman frequently takes a hand at these functions.
At a sale of Kidman's cattle — at Homebush,
New South Wales, in 19 13, the cattle king caused
much amusement to buyers by insisting on the
auctioneer accepting and selling at, in each
instance, the first bid offered. The result was
that about three hundred cattle, in pens of about
fifteen to twenty-five, were sold in about ten
minutes. He repeated this quaint idea at the
Melbourne market in 1917, when the mob made
a remarkably good average. In the words of
Mr. Harry Peck, his auctioneer: "It was the best
and quickest sale I have ever had." Mr. Kidman
good-humoredly told the buyers that the less he
got for his cattle, the less he would have to -pay
in commission.
Some idea of the extent of his operations
may be gathered from the fact that in 19 13
he disposed of, in the fortnight he spent in
Sydney, about twenty thousand head of cattle pri-
vately to the Queensland and Sydney Meat
Works, exclusive of the mobs sold every day in
the markets of Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney.
Merino Sheep at Yancanna Station
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A Camel Team carrying Cases, Oodnadatta
As many as six thousand bullocks came from one
station in Queensland.
Mr. Kidman considers that the time has come
when breeders of horses in Australia should de-
vote more of their attention to the production of
good light animals. The supply of draught
horses — the breeding of which, during the past
few years, has received a tremendous impetus
owing to the rapid opening up of new agricul-
tural areas — has reached the demand and, in-
deed, reveals more or less of a surplus. On
the other hand, Mr. Kidman points out that there
are fewer really good light horses in Australia
now than there were 15 years ago. Yet the de-
mand for these is constantly growing. "A sound,
well-bred light horse," he said, "is worth nearly
double as much as a medium draught, which to-
day realises only about half the price it did a few
years back. We have reached the stage when
the farmers can breed all the draughts necessary
for their own needs, and the breeders on the out-
side country should therefore go in for what will
prove the most profitable to them."
Mr. Kidman has bought and imported blood
stallions for several years. He has probably
introduced more light horses than any other single
purchaser in the same period. He has sold great
numbers to India and for the British Government
Remount service.
He made his first visit to Europe in 1908, in the
company of his wife, his son and three daughters,
thus pleasantly celebrating the completion of fifty
years' active life in the land of his birth. While
abroad, he and two of his daughters attended the
great Durbar in India and he was warmly wel-
comed by those who had long known him in con-
nection with the Indian horse trade.
Mr. Kidman's three daughters were married
in 191 1, 1912, and 1913. Miss Alma Kidman
became Mrs. Sydney Reid, Miss Edna Gwendoline
is Mrs. Sidney Hurtle Ayres, Miss Gertrude mar-
ried Lieut. Clover, of H.M.A.S. Protector. His
son Walter is still a lad and is at college in
England. Mr. Kidman's daughters, Gertie
and Edna, proved themselves worthy of
their father's reputation as a bushman by
accompanying him on a memorable journey
through Central Australia in September of
1 9 10, — journeying on horseback from their
home at Kapunda to Cunnamulla in Queensland,
spending five weeks on the journey, riding in fine,
sunny weather on stages of forty to sixty miles a
day, and visiting Mr. Kidman's various stations
and outstations. Mr. Kidman and a black boy
accompanied them in a buggy with tent and camp
outfit. The stations visited were Mundowdna
and its outstation, Clayton; Kanowinna, where
they encountered the great steep sand hills in the
Lake Hope country that dismayed the explorer
Sturt; Innamincka, near Cooper's Creek, where
che Burke and Wills tragedy took place; then over
the Queensland border to Napper Merrie, where
the homestead garden and orchard proved a
paradise — there is nothing of the bareness of
the "desert" about any of the Kidman homesteads
in Central Australia, if water can be got within
thousands of feet of the surface — then Durham
Downs, Nocatunga, Bulloo Downs, Thargomin-
dah, Norley, with another glorious garden.
SIDNEY KIDMAN, THE CATTLE KING
103 1
Ardoch, Dundoo, Moongarrie, to Cunnamulla.
Out of the 1,000 miles covered on the journey
more than half of the track lay through the Kid-
man properties.
It is only possible to speak in wide terms of
Mr. Kidman's properties and interests and enter-
prises. His holdings are too numerous to be
named in detail, and cover country which cannot
'-^^
f\
. ' ■wp -^\^^^n^^
■ jw^W^^^ •>.*«««h3I^*"*'
The Homestead, Fulham Park
be calculated in acres. He is a breeder of cattle,
horses and sheep, but his title of the Cattle King
of Australia is true in that he breeds more cattle
than anything else, and possesses more than any
other man owns or has owned at any time in
Blood stallion, "Passing-By"
Australia. Most of this is in Shorthorns, but
he is a great believer in Herefords, and since he
bought the fine CoUingrove stud of Herefords
from the trustees of the late J. H. Angas, he has
been introducing the bulls from that stud into his
herds with good results. He took champion and
y 1st prize in the Adelaide Royal Show in 1917.
' As regards his holdings, the largest single area
is probably the Innamincka country in northern
IHBouth Australia, which covers some 7,500 square
IBniles, the largest holding of any individual owner
same part are Eringa and Macumba, between
them representing over 4,500 square miles. Ful-
ham Park, practically within the suburban area of
Adelaide, is another of his properties, and it is
here that he keeps the Angas Hereford stud.
Here also is a fine stable of thoroughbred horses,
including Sir Simon, sire of Bullawarra, which
latter proved to be one of the best steeplechasers
in Australia. Bullawarra was bred by Mr. Kid-
man on Norley station in Queensland. In the
same stable is an imported English thoroughbred,
Passing-By, which comes from the well-known
Black Sam blood. Mr. Kidman is too busy a
man to devote much attention to the racing field,
but, as we have seen, he deals largely in horses,
especially army remounts, a thousand or more of
which he ships to India every year.
Mr. Kidman has also many properties in the
western corner of New South Wales, but in
Queensland are located some of his biggest
stations. He is also largely interested in the
great Gulf country. Norley, Bulloo Downs and
Durham Downs are some of his greater Queens-
land properties, but he has an area of 6,000 square
miles in the same State, in which are such stations
as Glengyle, Annandale, Sandringham, and some
others that are worked together.
Sidney Kidman's Daughters,
On their Horseback Trip through Central Australia
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The principle upon which Mr. Kidman works,
and by means of which alone can he deal with the
vast stocks he carries, is to have, as it were, a
chain of properties across the continent of Aus-
tralia, from north to south, so that whatever the
season in various States, and even in the unusual
condition of a general drought, he is always able
to find pasturage for his stock somewhere. Thus,
.A-YT^t SSaSF.-Ml^ iW^Xm^i
Allandale Homestead, Central Australia
right across Central Australia, and even in the
far Northern Territory, Kidman cattle and horses
are grazing. And there are also in Western
Australia Kidman herds of cattle, horses, and
mules.
Among his many interests is the Bovril Aus-
tralian Estates Limited, a company which he
formed while in England in 1908, and in which
he is a shareholder and a director. The chief
property of the company is the great Victoria
Downs run in the Northern Territory, which
includes the Carlton station. This is the
largest cattle run in Australia, covering
as it does 12,500 square miles, roughly. It
is, indeed one of the largest, if not the very
largest, cattle properties in the world, and its
development, as the result of Messrs. Emanuel
and Kidman's enterprise, is conclusive evidence,
if such were needed, of the great Cattle King's
public service to the country. It is well grassed
and watered mostly by springs; its carrying
capacity has been proved to be at least 160,000
head of cattle, and 25,000 calves are, under
normal conditions, branded in one year.
Recently, Mr. Kidman has added to his list
of properties the fine country comprising the
stations known as Bond Springs, Allandale, and
Crown Point near Oodnadatta, Central Austra-
lia, which consist of five million acres, and is good
country for cattle and horses. It stretches right
up into the Northern Territory. J'he accom-
panying views, taken at the present time on this
property, will give an idea of its character, and
will amply disprove the popular superstition about
all "desert" country in the "dead heart" of Aus-
tralia. Others are interested with him in this
property, which is run under the trading title of
the Crown Point Pastoral Company Limited.
It will be seen that Kidman, more than any
other man at any time in Australia, has improved
and developed the great "waste" lands of the Far
North and the wild Central areas. He has
found underground water there and brought it
to the surface, as the numerous ever-flowing
artesian bores on his properties testify. One of
them is the best in this country, with a constant
flow of four million gallons of good water per
day. It may be fairly said that without Sid-
ney Kidman, these uninviting districts would have
remained waste lands for indefinite periods.
Like all good Australians, he sees our urgent
need of population for this Continent. He
has done much, on his visits to Europe, to
assist suitable immigrants to South Australia. He
is still strongly of opinion that there are thousands
who would avail themselves of similar oppor-
tunities offered either by Government or private
individuals. "Australia can do with them all,"
he says. "Some of those who came out under
the arrangements I made were on the railways and
'buses. They have turned out to be first-rate
workers. At first they were a bit green, but it
was wonderful how quickly they dropped into
their places. They are scattered about my sta-
tions in South Australia and Queensland, and
when I go to England again Ell see ab'out getting
SIDNEY KIDMAN, THE CATTLE KING
'0.35
more of them." As a result of his first "glean-
ing," twenty-five London 'bus-drivers, who had
been earning I2s. 6d. a week, and their families
were transplanted by him to his various stations
as boundary-riders.
Mr. Kidman is thoroughly satisfied with his ex-
periment. The wives have, according to Mrs.
Kidman's testimony, proved to be good cooks, and
therefore of great value on a station. After a
month one driver, who before he landed in Aus-
tralia had never been bestride a horse, was able to
take charge single-handed of a mob of travelling
cattle.
He is gifted with an unfailing instinct in choos-
ing youths and men for employment, and very
rarely does he make a mistake. He not only
gets the best service but retains it, and many a
letter reaches him from his men, gratefully
acknowledging his justice and liberality as a
"boss," and from the parents of youths he has
trained to efficiency as stockmen.
Now a millionaire, he still has an unpretentious,
though commodious and picturesque home,
*'Eringa," Kapunda, about 50 miles from Ade-
laide, though he is not much at home, as he is
usually visiting one or other of his many proper-
ties or the cities of the States on business. He is
simple in his tastes, dress, and manner, but it must
not be supposed that he is an eccentric per-
son— quite the contrary. Strength of will is his
chief characteristic: but he is too much absorbed
by his many acti\ities and interests to concern him-
self with mere appearances and conventions. He
is a very companionable man, and when out in the
far-back country with his associates and his
station hands, he is a constant source of enter-
tainment with his humorous stories of his ex- -
periences and the men he has met in his travels
far and wide. As one who has travelled many
leagues with him has said: "Humor is Sid Kid-
man's safety valve." On his many and varied
travels he is always on the look-out for the
humorous side of every incident. He knows Aus-
tralia as no one else knows it — that is, the real
Australia, not of the cities, but of the country,
the back country where Nature is still as it has
always been, and where Man is only at the start
*of the great work of development.
Sidney Kidman knows men and he knows stock.
He seldom makes a mistake in his judgments of
either. Many stories are told of him in this con-
nection. Travelling once in the Adelaide to
Melbourne express, he fell in with a young Eng-
lishman, straight from home, and looking for a
job, with no experience to help him. Sidney
Kidman had sized him up, and said to him: "I've
got a mob of cattle to be taken across counry to
Brisbane. If you can be ready to start on Fn-
I
Artesian Bore, AUandale Station
day, you can have the job." The Englishman
took the job and "made good."
Another characteristic Kidman anecdote. Some
years ago, he sold a number of horses to a circus
proprietary. The circus fell on evil days and could
not produce the necessary coin to pay the bill, so
Mr. Kidman constituted himself the treasurer of
the show. He took the money at the entrance at
each performance, and filled in the rest of the
time by acting as ringmaster, a position for which
he was exceptionally well qualified. In this way
he travelled from Wilcannia to Bourke, and at
the latter place, having paid himself what was
due to him, retired from his unaccustomed task
and returned to the care of his station properties.
Mr. Kidman is a humorist — also a teetotaller
and a non-smoker. He has a faithful memory,
a keen sense of fun, a rough and ready manner,
and a simple conversational style which make him
an entertaining raconteur. He is a big, strong,
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but not heavy looking, dark-complexioned man,
with bright eyes and a humorous mouth.
He has the "Bush sense," which no true towns-
man can ever hope to acquire. His natural in-
stinct for the sunny side of life, his love of a
good yarn, and his personal simplicity mark him
for a bushman, albeit the wealthiest bushman in
the Commonwealth. He reflects the life of the
land, the life of Outback. He is a typical "Good
Australian," for he has brought the Far North
and the waste lands of this vast, empty continent
into practical use, and has made many an area
of back-country that was risky for stock-raising
practically drought-proof with ever-flowing wells
and ever-filled watcrholes. His "deserts" have
been con\erted into fattening pastures.
It is a free, independent, and exceedingly
healthy life. It gives a sense of equality which
breeds in Kidman's men no servility in dealing
with the "Boss," high as he may tower over them
in worldly possessions. It instils in Kidman
nothing of the tyrant or the snob — albeit a
millionaire he is still a plain business man, a
specialist in stock, a genius in judgment as regards
station values, a careful man to whom waste is
abhorrent, and senseless extravagance a cardinal
sin.
Mr. Kidman was the first to respond to Mr. C.
Alma Baker's appeal to Australians for the pre-
sentation of battleplanes, costing £2,700 each, to
the British Cjo\ernment for use on the Western
front in the war, and the first, bearing his name
and registered as "Australia I — South Australia
I," has been doing good service in I^rance.
Mrs. Sidney Kidman has recently also given a
battleplane to the Australian Air Squadron.
An Artesian Bore on one of Mr. Kidman's Central Anstralian Stations.
?
KEYNES, OF KEYNETON
A QUIET little village in the beautiful Angas-
ton country of South Australia is Keyneton,
taking its name from the station property
which it abutts upon, and which in its turn was
named after its founder, the late Mr. Joseph
Keynes.
He was a typical pioneer, a stalwart English-
man of kindly disposition and sound judgment.
He was born at Blandford, Dorsetshire, in 1810,
and was a nephew of the famous English Con-
gregational minister, John Angell James. His
father and a brother were also ministers of the
same denomination. When only twenty-nine
vears old he was engaged by the late George Fife
Angas. as a good hand with sheep, to bring out to
South Australia in the good ship Anna Robertson,
a number of sheep for the newly-established
colony, of which Mr. Angas has always been
regarded as the Father. His brother, William
Keynes, was also one of the early settlers and in
January, 1842, possessed 5,100 sheep in the
State, but he soon sold out to Joseph Keynes.
Having carried out his commission, and hav-
ing found the new colony a good place, with
obvious possibilities for a young and enterprising
man used to the land and to stock, Mr. Keynes
took up a run in 1841 under lease from the
Government in the splendid country where Mr. J.
H. Angas had also secured properties on behalf
of his father. Mr. Keynes' estate, of which he
eventually obtained the freehold and which he
named Keyneton, consists roughly of 17,000
acres, situated about 60 miles N.N.E. of Ade-
laide, and about eight miles from Angaston. It
comprises both flat and hilly country, and is
eminently suited for stud sheep-farming. The
Keyneton flock, which consists entirely of merinos,
numbers about 10,000. The estate also carries
a small herd of Shorthorn cattle and a stud of
draught horses.
Mr. Joseph Keynes entered enthusiastically on
the congenial taste of building up a valuable pas-
toral holding and establishing a family property
at Keyneton. He was an unpretentious man.
Bicbard B. Keynes
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saa^i^Eis^ss^sifmi^msmiim^^^^s^i^S:'
The Homestead, Keyneton
and contented himself with only an adequate
residence, but he continuously improved his estate
from the pastoral point of view. He devoted
himself especially to the improvement of the
merino and he became favorably known in that
respect, not only in South Australia but in adjoin-
ing States. He was elected a member of the
committee of the Royal Agricultural and Horticul-
tural Society so early as 1840, and he always took
great interest in agricultural shows. He was
also active in local affairs, being Chairman of the
North Rhine District Council from its formation
in 1875 until he resigned in 1882, when he was
presented with a testimonial by his fellow-
townspeople as an acknowledgment of his ser-
vices. He was for many years a Justice of the
Peace, and exerted himself also in the cause of
local education. He died in 1883, at the age of
72-
The formation of the Keyneton merino flock
was commenced in 1842, when Mr. Joseph Keynes
obtained a large number of merino sheep from
Mr. George Morphett, of Adelaide, and a smaller
lot in the same year from a Mr. Hull, or Hall, of
Grange Farm, South Road. At the same time
fourteen rams were secured from Castle Bagot,
Light River, and three from Mr. Crisp, Gawler
River. In 1847 some Murray rams were used,
also some of Mr. Joseph Gilbert's, from Pewsey
Vale. In 1851 an imported ram named Nudi-
cotan or Nudicot, a direct descendant of the his-
toric merinos sent by the King of Spain to King
George III., and added by him to his stud sheep
farm at Windsor Castle, was purchased. As was
the custom at that time, Mr. Keynes then turned
his attention to the Saxon strain, and in 1858
obtained two imported rams from the then cele-
brated flock of Adolf Steiger, at Lenteurltz, in
Saxony; these rams were descended from the pure
merino flock of the Prince of Reuss, at Klipp-
hausen. Saxony, which was composed of sheep
descended from the famous stud flocks which King
Charles III., of Spain, had presented to the
Elector FViedrich August of Saxony. This is
going into history with a vengeance, but it is in-
teresting from that point of view and as showing
that Mr. Joseph Keynes was thorough in his
search for a type that should establish his flock
on up-to-date lines. These were the two rams that
Mr. Otto Neuhaus had about this date exhibited
in Melbourne and Sydney and had won first
prizes. After 1877, when two Murray rams
had been obtained from Mount Crawford, no
fresh blood was introduced until 1906 when Mr.
R. R. Keynes, the present owner, secured a prize
ram from Mr. Murray Dawson, of Wirra Wirra
station, and some from Murray Vale and Rhine
Park.
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Typical Keyiieton Ram
Typical Keyneton Ewe
The records of prizes won by the Keyneton
merinos are very incomplete. It appears from
the diaries of their founder that he made his first
successful exhibits at the Angaston Show in 1858,
and that at later dates prizes were won at Mount
Pleasant, near Keyneton, and at Kapunda. It
is also known that prior to 1883 some prizes for
wool were won at Adelaide Shows, and in 1876
a bronze medal and certificate of award were
secured at the Philadelphia International Exhibi-
tion. Since that date, however, it is on record
that Keyneton won at Adelaide in 1885, the
first prize for three rams' fleeces and In 1886 a
commemorative medal at the Colonial and Indian
Exhibition, the latter being for fleeces from sheep
bred by Mr. R. R. Keynes, in spite of the fact that
no great attention had been paid then — nor has it
since — to preparing sheep or fleeces for show.
Besides sheep, Mr. Keynes breeds draught
horses with success and has also a small herd of
Shorthorn cattle, the herd being founded upon
stock secured from Mr. E. M. Bagot's well-
known stud and from Mr. Joseph Dunne, while
Angas bulls have been used. A recent addition
is a fine young pedigreed bull of Derrimut strain
from Canowie station.
Mr. Richard Keynes was born in 1857 and was
educated at Parkstone, Dorsetshire, after which
he spent three years in London obtaining use-
ful mercantile experience. In 1877 he joined
his father on the Keyneton estate, to which he
succeeded on that gentleman's death. He married
in 1884 a daughter of Mr. Abraham Shannon, of
Moculta, and their family consists of two sons
and two daughters. Both sons share with their
father in the management at Keyneton, though
the elder, Joseph Keynes, is at present (1917)
serving in France as a gunner in the 4th Field
Artillery Brigade, which he joined in August,
191 5. Mr. R R. Keynes does not interest himself
in public affairs beyond serving his district as a
member of the local Council, to which he was
elected in 1886 and since 1894 has occupied the
position of Chairman.
I
«1
Gunner Joseph Keynes
Blchard Neville Keynes
Koonoona Country.
KOONOONA
THE KOONOONA ESTATE, though it was
comprised in the big grazing areas held
under lease by the early pastoralists of
South Australia, was not known by that name
until 1863, when the Hon. Walter Duffield took
the property. Previous to that year he leased
Outalpa. When he established the now well-
known Koonoona flock he took there fifty spe-
cially-selected merino ewes from C. B. Fisher's
already-established and successful Hill River stud,
and a Murray ram from Mount Crawford.
Koonoona for some years comprised about
43,000 acres of undulating hilly country and flat
land, but, owing to sales to the Government
of the best agricultural parts for closer settlement
purposes, the estate now consists of some 20,000
acres of freehold. The major part is a range
about twelve miles long sloping to east and west,
of between 1,200 and 1,500 feet above sea-level,
the surface being generally stony and but lightly
timbered. It 'is situated about 90 miles north
of Adelaide, and six miles south of Burra.
It has an average rainfall of about 17 inches
annually, and is very healthy sheep pasture, with
great extremes of heat and cold. Koonoona
sheep are raised solely on the natural pasturage
of the country, and are very strong; consequently
they never deteriorate when exposed to severe
climatic tests in more northerly latitudes, and
improve considerably under better conditions.
When the Koonoona property was reduced by
Government purchase, new country had to be
secured. The trustees, in 1906, acquired Win-
nininnie, all saltbush country, in the north-east, on
the Broken Hill line, 116 miles from Koonoona,
with a 7-inch rainfall. Later on a small place
named Studholme, in equally dry country to the
east of Burra, with a 9-inch rainfall, was pur-
chased. Winnininnie comprises 96,000 acres, and
Studholme about 6,000. These outstations are
used for depasturing the dry sheep and also, in
favorable seasons, flock and selected rams, which
proceed by drafts to customers in the interior,
thus giving the advantage of still further acclima-
tising the sheep.
Originally Mr. Duflield had as his partner the
late Mr. Joseph Barrett, of Lyndoch, and later
Mr. Thomas Porter took the latter's place. Mr.
Porter was managing partner until his death in
1873, and subsequently Mr. (now Colonel)
Frank Makin, of Adelaide, a son-in-law of Mr.
Duflield, became a partner, the late Mr. John C.
Sandland being manager. Since the death, in
I 88 1, of the Hon. Walter Duflield, the trustees
of the estate have been his son, Mr. D. Walter
Duffield, Col. Makin, and Mr. F. W. Bullock, all
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The late Hon. Walter Duffield
of Adelaide. Since 1892 Mr. W. G. Hawkes
has been manager.
From the first, until 1890, only Mount Craw-
ford rams were introduced into the flock, but in
1892 a very high-class ram named Trojan, a son
of the celebrated Cappeedee, was purchased from
the late W. A. Murray, of Cappeedee. He
proved to be the best of the Murray rams ever
used at Koonoona and left some fine stock.
The intention of the owners, from the first,
was to raise large-framed sheep, free from
wrinkles but with a good neck, of sound robust
constitution and yielding a heavy fleece wool of
a bold combing description. Considerable suc-
cess had already been attained when, about 1902,
Mr. Hawkes found that the flock had become
more or less stationary. Nothing but satisfac-
tory progress, he considered wisely, would prevent
deterioration, and so he determined to try
the introduction of Wanganella blood. In that
year he bought Warrior VI., a high-class 7-year-
old stud ram, from the late Albert Austin, of
Wanganella. So successful was this experiment
that two rams were added in 1906 from the late
Thomas Millear's Wanganella Estate, one of
which proved highly satisfactory. Five years
later a useful 32-year-old Wanganella ram was
purchased from the late A. J. Austin, of Murgha.
The latest purchase, in 19 13, was a notable one,
Majuba, grandson of Donald Dinnie, being
bought for 700 guineas from the Canowie stud,
some fine stock standing there to his credit
already.
In all, only four Wanganella rams have been
introduced into the Koonoona stud, yet their fine
qualities have been stamped more or less on the
whole flock. Since then, the principle of in-
breeding from their own rams has been adopted.
Koonoona sheep now show all those qualities of
shape, good frame, strong heads, and wide horns,
and a deep fleece with long staple, which have
characterised the South Australian merinos,
together with the special Wanganella characteris-
tics of greater density and higher character of
the wool. A well-known authority, writing re-
cently, said of the present-day Koonoona rams: —
"Those points which are most impressed on my
mind, are great frames and generally good ap-
pearance, length of staple, broad back; density,
character, and, above all, the softness of the
wool."
Probably the most successful sire ever bred on
Koonoona was Rajah, a son of the Wanganella
Estate ram already mentioned, out of a pure
Koonoona ewe. The stock got from him has
been of strikingly uniform excellence. Two of
his sons are Kitchener and Lloyd-George. The
former, 32 years old, has magnificent physique —
W. G. Hawkes
I04I
Lord Kitchener (By Eajah)
Koouoona Special Stud Bam 3V2 years old
long and low set, with great loins, bold front, and
a good head and carriage. His wool is of a
4-inch staple, strong but very soft and full of
character, with a broad lock and packed well all
over the frame, cutting 23 lbs. this year (1917)
of the truest strong wool. An offer of 850
guineas for Lord Kitchener has just been refused.
Lloyd George is another great burly ji-year-old,
very solid and of great depth, good front and
thighs. His fleece, which at 2] years cut 275 lbs.,
is a splendidly lustrous and dense, true wool of
good length and character. Another Rajah ram,
named Admiral Beatty, 42-years-old, is big but
very shapely, with a fine covering full of character
and well packed on; his good front, broad back
and great thigh are noteworthy. A very good
24-year-old ram, also by Rajah, was sold at the
Adelaide Show (1917) for 250 guineas to
Messrs. T. H. Pearse and Sons, of The Gums,
who buy nothing but the best, and another fetched
225 guineas.
Mr. Hawkes, however, does not make stud
sales his principal object, but is satisfied to im-
prove his general flocks by the use of rams he
Lloyd George (By Bajah)
Eoonoona Special Stud Earn, iVi years old.
02
I042
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
could easily sell as studs. Consequently the out-
put of flock and selected rams now reaches 2,500
per annum and stud sales are also highly satis-
factory. Under the able supervision of so
skilled and experienced a judge as Mr. Hawkes,
and so keen and energetic a student of breeding as
his son, who is married and lives on the station,
it is certain that the Koonoona stud has a great
future before it as well as a highly successful
present. Mr. Hawkes' other son, Lieut. W. R.
Hawkes, it may here be mentioned, served with
the Australian Imperial Forces, and had been
twice wounded; he was recently killed in Flanders
after three years of fighting.
Hardiness is, as we have seen, a leading char-
acteristic of the Koonoona sheep, the turn-off of
the rams and surplus ewes having for years past
gone to Western Australia and the principal
regions of the North-West, while a very strong
demand has set in from Queensland, which is
steadily increasing, as also from the dry country
of New South Wales.
The wool clips taken from Koonoona and
Winnininnie give fine returns. The Winnininnie
samples taken in the 19 15-16 season from 42 to
5^ years old wethers with iif months' growth,
and grown with less than 5 inches of rain that
year in saltbush country, showed tremendous
growth, free and strong, but showing plenty of
quality. In June, 1915, 250 Winnininnie wethers
created a record sale in the Adelaide market,
averaging £2 15s. lod. apiece, 61 of the tops mak-
ing £3 3s., and loi £2 17s. — a record for Austra-
lian merino wethers. In November, 1916, 2,700
cast ewes from Koonoona, from 1 2 up to yi years
old, averaged £2 2s. 4d. off the shears at the
Burra. The 19 17 figures are also excellent, a con-
signment of 255 Koonoona wethers, 3 and 4 years
old, having averaged £2 12s., a result only second
to the previous year's record. The skins of these
wethers returned an average of 25s. 4d. each for
just 12 months' wool, while Winnininnie has
shown an average of 152 lbs. per head, for barely
12 months' wool. A line of 1,200 Winnininnie
wethers, aged 2 and 3 years old, averaged 17I
lbs. last season (1917) and 3,200 dry sheep
averaged five bales to the 100. The whole of
the grown sheep on the various properties, and
numbering 19,128 — only 1,700 of which were
wethers — averaged 13 lbs. 2^ ozs. of wool each
at the recent 191 7 shearing, large quantities of
the fleece being appraised at 223d. per lb.
The appearance of the Koonoona sheep to-day,
with their striking uniformity in type of big bold
commercial animals carrying such a high combina-
tion of wool and mutton values, is significant of
what may be accomplished by long years of
undeviating purpose.
)
Admiral Beatty 31/2 years old
Koonoona Special Stud Bam, (By Bajah)
Old Bungaree: From an Early Painting
(TIk' lioiiK'stfad fottafjic as (iist built by 0. C, Hawker and his brothers)
BUNGAREE
A GLIMPSE at the old pioneering days is
obtained in the incident of the founding
of the well-known South Australian
pastoral property known as Bungaree, which is
situated a hundred miles north of Adelaide and
seven miles north of Clare.
It was as long ago as 1841 — six years after
the founding of the colony and only two years
after the pastoral areas were first surveyed by
the Government — that the brothers George C,
Charles, and James Hawker set out northwards,
1 with sheep, for the purpose of settling on the
" property they had decided to take up. They
found that Mr. Robert Robinson, also with sheep,
I was hastening in the same direction with ithe
" same intention. Mr. G. C. Hawker — who
was then only twenty-two years of age —
left his brothers in charge of the sheep and
I^^urried on, unhampered, to their destination,
^paking up the country they had in view. Mr.
Robinson contented himself, as well he might, by
settling on a property in the same district —
which subsequently proved itself to be one of the
finest sheep-runs in South Australia, the Hill
River Estate, where the late J. H. Angas later
established his well-known merino stud.
(^k The Hawker brothers were associated together
^nn the Bungaree Estate for a short while, until
Mr. G. C. Hawker bought out their interests
and become sole master of the great Bungaree
run, which then extended from Clare to the foot
of The Hummocks ranges, and from Kybunga
to six miles north of the Broughton River. It
was for some years all leasehold, but when it
was, from time to time, put up to auction by
the Government, Mr. Hawker purchased in all
about 84,000 acres. According to the official
list, Mr. G. C. Hawker's flock at January, 1842,
numbered 3,500 sheep.
Mr. Charles Hawker took up the adjoining
station of Anama and remained there for many
years, until, at his death, it was added to the
old Bungaree Estate.
Mr. George C. Hawker did not confine
himself to pastoral pursuits, though he always
retained his active interest in and made his head-
quarters at Bungaree, for he became one of the
leading statesmen of South Australia. The second
son of Rear-Admiral Edward Hawker, and
grandson of Capt. James Hawker, R.N., he was
born in England in 18 19, and educated at Trinity
College, Cambridge, where he secured his M.A.
degree. He came to Australia in 1839, as a
very young man, to engage in pastoral pursuits.
These he continued actively until 1858, when he
entered Parliament, being returned unopposed,
and he was also returned at the succeeding elec-
tion. He was a member of the Select Committee
I
1043
I044
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
^ » m.
■rmn~T'
Panoramic View of Bungaree Homestead,
appointed in October, 1858, to inquire into the
objections of the stock-holders to the Bill for
imposing an assessment on all stock depasturing
on waste lands. His parliamentary career was
one of exceptional success. He had only been
two years in the House when he was elected, in
i860, as Speaker, and was re-elected after the
general election of 1863, holding office until
1865, when he went with his family to England
for the purpose of educating his sons. He
returned in 1874, and two years later re-entered
Parliament and became Treasurer and after-
wards Chief Secretary. In 1881 he was Minister
for Public Works for three years. He was in
Parliament twenty-five years in all.
Bungaree consists partly of hills rising 1300
feet above sea-level, lightly timbered with gum
and she-oak, with an average rainfall of 22
inches, and of hot, dry, treeless plains with
only a 15 inch rainfall. Varied conditions
from the heat of summer to storms and frost
of winter, thus prevail. It is fine country for
sheep, as is proved by the fact that they grow
to a great size and are conspicuously robust,
there being no artificial feeding or shelter to
coddle them. It is indeed said of Bungaree sheep
that the only disease they die of is old age.
The original Bungaree flock was formed out
of 2,000 ewes descended from King George III.'s
merinos, the same breed as the original Camden
Park flock of Captain MacArthur, in lamb to
Emperor
Champion Adelaide Boyal Show, 1881, 1882, 1883
Cecil Rhodes
A Famous Old Buugarce Stud Ram
BUNGAREE
1045
Woolshed and Outbuildings
Steiger rams. These ewes were purchased by
Mr. (ieo. C. Hawker from Mr. Thomas Icely,
of Bathurst, New South Wales, and were tra-
velled overland to South Australia. In 1853
five Negrette rams were tried, but as their pro-
geny proved inferior they were discarded from
the stud. In 1858 and 1861 several Ram-
bouillet rams were imported from France and
used in the Bungaree stud, and their stock was
in every way satisfactory. Mr. John Noble,
who was for many years stud-master at Bungaree,
and to whom the excellence of the sheep is due,
described these rams as large-framed, straight-
backed, big-boned, robust sheep, well covered
with a fleece of payable wool, long and strong
in type. About the year 1862, Mr. John Hope,
of Koolunga, made Mr. Hawker a present of
another imported Rambouillet ram; this proved
to be the best of them all, and it is chiefly to this
ram that the Bungaree merino owes the high
position it holds to-day.
In the years 1S65, 1874 and i 887, a ram in each
year was bought from Mr. John Murray, of
Mount Crawford, and were tried without much
success. In the late seventies three high-priced
rams, including one for 1000 guineas, were pur-
chased from Mr. W. Gibson, of Scone, Tasmania.
These rams were tried, but did not suit the
I
Typical Bungaree Ewe
Miss Monkey
A Bungaree Ewe of the Eighties
1046
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The Homestead, Bungaree
climate. Two were subsequently given to friends
in the south-east of South Australia, and the other
ram died.
In 1889, three rams were bought from Mr.
Albert Austin, of Wanganella, and tried in single
flocks of selected ewes. The outcross produced
very showy sheep, and did fairly well in the
Adelaide show, but not as well as the pure Bun-
garees.
The late Hon. Qeo. C. Hawker
Mr. Noble discarded the stock by the Wanga-
nella rams, the majority of which were sold, and
the balance sent to Carriewerloo. After this no
further experiments were tried, and the old flock
was kept pure. Before the trial of these rams
pure Bungaree stud rams brought good prices,
and were bought by breeders in New South Wales,
\'ictoria, Queensland and Western Australia,
while thousands of flock rams were distributed
over the whole of Australia.
In 1882 seventeen Bungaree rams were sent
to the Melbourne sheep sales, and averaged £97
each. The following year eighteen Bungaree
rams realised an average of £143, the top price
being .£651.
As for fifty years, rams had to be sent up
to Mr. Hawker's stations in the north — Paral-
lana, on the edge of Lake Frome, and Carrie-
werloo, west of Port Augusta, and Warraweena,
N.S.W. — what was required was a large-framed,
sound-constitutioned sheep, able to stand the
dry and arid conditions and do well anywhere,
and then clothe it with a Heece of robust comb-
ing wool with long staple, without any excess
of yolk or tip. This was the type that, during
the long period he was in charge at Bungaree,
Mr. John Noble set himself to breed. As testi-
mony of his success, it may be stated that two
thousand wethers on their way to market from
Parallana, when shorn at Bungaree, clipped an
average of 164 lbs., hand-shorn, each year; whilst i
an average taken of a thousand Parallana wethers j
■
1047
1048
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
I960 Bungaree Wethers, Bred in the Far North of South Australia
These sheep (six and eight tooth) were returned from Parallana Station, Lake Frome, and delivered at Adelaide.
They clipped an average of 19 lbs. 10% oz. for HVo months' and 16% lbs. for 12 months' growth.
sold to Adelaide butchers showed cold dressed
weights of 88 lbs. It was quite common, and
still is, for full-mouthed fat Bungaree wethers to
average over 70 lbs. dressed. In 1895, five fat
Bungaree wethers took first prize at the Adelaide
Show and averaged 139 lbs. each when dressed.
It was in the late seventies that Bungaree
started showing sheep at Adelaide. In five years
they took eight champion, twelve first, twelve
second, and five third prizes. One ram, Emperor,
was never beaten, and took the championship in
1 88 1, 1882, and 1883. At six years old this fine
ram cut 22^1 lbs. of wool, and his live weight was
256 lbs.
The Bungaree wool is notable for its uniform
quality and the consistency with which it fetches
high prices. On the last occasion on which wool
was sold from the whole of Bungaree, that is,
before the firm of Hawker Brothers was dis-
solved, the London reporter of an Adelaide daily
thus commented upon the prices secured by the
clip at public auction : —
"This clip fulfils one condition which I
have always maintained is the 'reckoning-
day' of all wool, namely, the verdict of the
salesroom and the price there made, for its
buyers take the wool amidst frantic yells,
and pay big prices for the same; that alone
is sufficient to stamp the mark of approval
on the clip. I call the above excellent prices,
and every lot sold like fury."
At the death in 1895 of the Hon. G. C.
Hawker, the extensive Bungaree property was
divided among his five sons, who continued to
work it as a whole until 1907, when the firm of
Hawker Bros, was dissolved, each son taking his
share of the estate and stock. Mr. E. W.
Hawker took the eastern portion, Mr. Michael
S. Hawker the northern, Mr. Walter Hawker
the central, Mr. Richard M. Hawker bought the
head station of Bungaree, with the original home-
stead; Lieut. H. C. Hawker, R.N., took the
north-west portion.
The present Bungaree stud, which was origi-
nally two-fifths of the old Bungaree stud, is now
owned by the estate of the late H. C. Hawker
and Mr. R. M. Hawker in partnership, the two
properties being worked as one by the latter
gentleman. The stud has been kept absokitely
Shorn Bungaree Wether
VVeighed 200 lbs. live weight and cut
;0 lbs. of wool
Property of H. C. and R. M. Hawker, Bungaree, Clare, S.A.
1049
1050
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The Church at Bungaree
pure since the year of the division, 1907, and the
sheep are bred on the same lines followed by the
late Mr. Noble. All sheep showing excessive
folds are discarded, and only the sheep with the
largest frames are kept in the stud. Any sheep
showing weakness of constitution is discarded, no
matter how good a fleece it carries. The ewes
at one and a half years are all bred from. The
jiercentage of lambs marked in 19 17 was 90 per
cent, from 7752 ewes, including 1500 one-and-a-
half-year-old ewes. The breeding ewes show,
over the period of the past ten years, an avrage
of close on 90 per cent, of lambs.
The young sheep have to be weaned on to
natural dry feed, which has little nourishment
in it at Bungaree, and they usually have a bad
time; hence those with the hardiest and best con-
stitutions come out on top. In 1917, 11,608
grown sheep, including 7752 breeding ewes, all
ages, 3^00 weaners, and about 350 rams, mixed
ages, cut an average of i rj lbs. light-conditioned
wool. Bungaree has supplied the Mutooroo Pas-
toral Company with flock rams for many years,
and the secretary to the company, Mr. Adamson,
has kindly supplied the following particulars: —
The whole of the Mutooroo wethers were sold
in the Adelaide market as follows: — 191 5, 12,060
wethers averaged 33/1; 1916, 8559 wethers
averaged 33/1; 1917, 6834 wethers averaged
36/10. The wethers were from two to three
years old.
The lambing in 19 17 at Mutooroo was 45,669
lambs from 46,395 ewes, or 98 per cent.
The young Bungaree rams are eagerly sought
for by buyers from all the States and New Zea-
land, and as the stud is not increased to meet the
demands, only a limited number can he offered
each year.
Bungaree Special Stud Ewes
Proper^ of- M-S'MflWKE-k., Nd^Barfpcrree , yacka,S^-^£/sf
105 1
Panoramic View of North Bungaree
NORTH BUNGAREE.
WHEN the partnership in the Old Bungaree
Estate of the Hawker Brothers was dis-
solved in 1906 Mr. Michael S. Hawker,
the fifth son of the late Hon. G. C. Hawker, took
over the northern portion of the run, together
with his proportion of the stud sheep. During
the past nine years 11,000 acres of the North
Bungaree station have been sold, and it now com-
prises 8,500 acres, 3,000 of which is rough
hilly country with timber, and the balance undulat-
ing untimbered country. To this was added
2,630 acres purchased by Mr. Hawker from the
executors of the estate of the late A. S. Browne,
on the subdivision of the well-known property,
Booborowie, which Is open undulating country
with creek fiats suitable for lucerne. This is
now worked in conjunction with North Bun-
garee, as is also Hill Crest, a property comprising
6,800 acres, twelve miles from Orroroo, to which
the young rams and ewe-weaners are sent. As
Hill Crest is in the northern area, with only a 12-
inch rainfall, the young stock become accustomed
to any harsh conditions they may have to contend
with after being distributed to various buyers.
Mr. Hawker also has a property in New South
Wales — Tolarno, on the Darling River.
The stud consists of about 5,000 breeding
ewes, comprising 900 special studs, 1,600 first
studs, and 2,500 studs. Mr. Hawker has
always aimed at breeding a big, plain-bodied,
robust sheep, covered with long-stapled, soft-
handling, strong combing wool, showing plenty of
character and carrying little grease. Having
had a long experience with back-country stations,
he knows exactly the type of sheep that give the
best results in the dry areas of Australia.
North Bungaree sheep have not been bred up to
take prizes at shows; extra development has been
avoided, return per head being the object kept in
view. The result is that to-ciay, as a commercial
proposition. North Bungaree sheep are on a very
high level. They are essentially mortgage-
lifters, and can show a cash return per head that
will hold its own with anything in Australia.
What first strikes a visitor when inspecting the
stud is the evenness of type and symmetrical ap-
pearance of every lot of ewes, whether they are
special studs or only single studs, and the length
of staple on all of them.
105:
NORTH BUNGAREE
1053
♦1
Homestead and Outbuildings, showing
Another prominent feature is the number of
high-class sheep. At the Adelaide Non-Compe-
titive Sheep Exhibition in September, 191 7, North
Bungaree had 21 rams and 20 ewes on view. The
ewes are great mothers, not being encumbered
' with useless development; they can battle for
themselves and rear their lambs without attention,
and there is little difference in lambing percentage
ij between the special ewes and ordinary stud ewes.
" North Bungaree sheep are very prolific, the
lambing percentage throughout the whole stud in
1916 being 89 1-3 per cent., while in 1917 it was
92 per cent. At Tolarno, which is 30 miles
south of Menindie, N.S.W., and decidedly dry
country, the lambing from 10,100 ewes, including
i,(Soo i.;-year-old maiden ewes, was 93.7 per
cent. One paddock of 2,440 ewes marked
1^^0.60 per cent.
I^P As an example of the heavy weights of wool
cut by North Bungaree sheep in northern areas,
Partacoona may be cited. This station, lying 30
miles east of Port Augusta, is owned by the firm,
E. B. Hawker, and is worked in connection with
North Bungaree. The sheep are bred up from
North Bungaree cast-for-age ewes and specially
selected rams. The wool clip in 19 17 consisted
of 456 bales cut from 13,356 sheep, including
4,100 lambs; the grown sheep averaged ijlbs.
i2{ozs., and the lambs 4lbs. 40ZS., the latter being
dropped in May and June, and shorn at the end
of September.
The North Bungaree Merinos are great bale-
iillers, and the price obtained for the wool com-
Hercules (by Perfection I.)
Bred by Albert Austin, Wanganella
Purchased by M. S. Hawker, North Bungaree, and Walter
Hawker, Anama, for 1,700 guineas
1054
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Typical Bungaree Country
pares very favorably with that of any stud in
South Australia. The 1917 clip, consisting of
265 bales, was appraised in December, 19 17, and
January, 19 18. The whole of the Heece por-
tion, consisting of 153 bales, averaged 21 7-8d.
per lb. The following are principal prices ob-
tained : —
<; bales Super. Hogts 25id.
AAEAAH 235d.
AAE 23id.
AAH 2 lid.
AE 2id.
AE 2oid.
BBHBBE 22d.
BBH 2oAd.
A Pieces H 2oid.
A Pieces E I9:rd-
A Pieces E 19 id.
Pieces E i5!fd.
A Bellies H I5id.
A Bellies E i5d.
Locks 6|d.
AA Lambs i7id.
AA Lambs i5fd.
A Lambs 13d.
Lambs S^d.
60
13
10
9
5
15
I
4
I I
I I
10
I
I
4
12
The striking feature about these prices is prob-
ably that from a clip consisting of 265 bales all
told, one big line of 60 bales should realise 235d.
This we can accept as convincing proof of the
high quality and general evenness of North Bun-
garee sheep.
In 1 9 14, in conjunction with Mr. Walter
Hawker, of Anama, the stud sire, Hercules, by
Perfection I., was purchased from Mr. Albert
Austin, of Wanganella, for 1,700 guineas, and
was used in the North Bungaree and Anama studs
for two and a half years, when he was sold to
Mr. H. L. Austin, of Eli Elwah for i,?oo
guineas. The well-known Wanganella special
stud ram. Perfection I. was leased for six weeks
in 1 9 14. Hercules and Perfection 1. were mated
with big-framed, robust-woolled, plain-bodied
special stud ewes. Both these rams nicked
admirably with North Bungaree ewes, their pro-
geny retaining the big frame and length of staple
for which these sheep are so well-known, but the
wool has been improved thereby in character
and density. In 1916 forty-five i i-year-old
ewes, the whole drop by Hercules, averaged
i4Hbs. of high yielding wool per head. That
the North Bungaree sheep do well on dry country
is proved by the fact that there is such a keen
u
C
3
O
U
<J
u
03
■OB
C
3
03
1055
1056
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
3-Year-Old North Bungaree Stud Ram
demand for the rams from Queensland that they
are usually booked well ahead. Already the
present season's drop is sold for delivery next
year.
The following quotation from the Adelaide
Register, of January 3rd, 19 17, headed "Fine
Two-Tooth Merinos," will be of interest in this
connection: — "Among the sheep which attracted
special attention at the Christmas market at the
abattoirs were 142 machine-shorn pure North
Bungaree merinos that had come down from the
Partacoona Station, near to Gordon. They were
enthusiastically admired, and those who saw
them will be interested to learn that, although
only 18 months old, they realised the following
excellent prices: — 32 wethers, 36s. yd.; 73
wethers, 34s. id.; 28 wethers, 31s. id.; and 9
stags, 28s. 4d. The price obtained for the top
line represents probably the highest ever recorded
at a local metropolitan market, and possibly in
Australia, for machine-shorn two-tooth merinos,
and is a striking testimony to the quality and early
maturity of the North Bungaree sheep."
Another recent press criticism — this time by
"Rawden" in The Pastoral Rcviciv — may be
quoted : — "Going through the various consign-
ments at the Adelaide Show (1917) one could
not but be struck by the almost general Infusion
of Wanganella blood and its effects, for while the
sheep have retained that great frame for which
the South Australians have become so justly
famous, there has been a marked improvement in
the character and density of the fleece. This was
Illustrated in the team from Mr. M. S. Hawker's
North Bungaree property, some of which
were of the old Bungaree blood pure, whilst
others contained the Wanganella Infusion through
the use of Hercules. Altogether, it was a not-
able collection, both rams and eyes carrying a
long, robust staple, well packed on to Immense
frames."
The stud sheep sales from North Bungaree
during 1 917 show some noteworthy results. Of
the high-priced rams, one was sold at 450
guineas, one at 250 guineas, one at 200 guineas,
and three at 100 guineas; two fetched 75 guineas,
twelve 50 guineas, one 35 guineas, eleven
£30 5s., seven 25 guineas, one 20 guineas, and
twenty £20; 25 fetched 7 guineas apiece, 771 five
guineas, and 1,113 three guineas. Of the ewes
255 were sold at 2 guineas, 70 at 20 guineas, 420
at 35s., 620 at 50s. ; 300 were sold for Queensland
for 6 guineas each, and 20 went to the same State
at 10 guineas.
h
One-and-a-Half- Year-Old Earns. Sired by Hercules
The Homestead, Anama
WALTER HAWKER, OF ANAMA
PART of the old-time Bungaree estate is 2 ozs. As "Rawden" said in The Pastoral
Anama Station, the property of Mr. Review recently : — "Mr. Walter Hawker, Anama,
Walter Hawker, the sixth son of the late had a large consignment of rams and ewes at the
Hon. George C. Hawker. At the death of his last Adelaide Show (191 7), and a good lot they
father he received a fifth part of the original were. Seven of the ten rams were by the Wan-
I
holding and subsequently, at the dissolution of the
late firm of Hawker Brothers, he received, in
common with his four brothers, one-fifth of all
the stud and flock sheep on Bungaree.
While the foundation of the Anama Merino
flock came originally from the parent Bungaree
stud of the late Hon. G. C. Hawker, the special
sires introduced from elsewhere have tended to
its improvement and the establishment of an in-
contestably high standard. In 19 13, in conjunc-
tion with his brother, Mr. M. S. Hawker, the
owner of Anama, purchased the historic ram,
Hercules, from Mr. Albert Austin, of Wangan-
ella, for 1,700 guineas. After using this fine
sire in both the North Bungaree and Anama
studs for two and a half years, during which time
he sired nearly six hundreds lambs, the Messrs.
Hawker sold him to .Mr. Henry Austin, of Eli
Elwah,for 1,500 guineas, nearly the original price.
Of the Hercules offspring at Anama, practically
none were culls; they were indeed especially good,
and among them there were many magnificent
rams. Most of the latter cut over 20 lbs. of
wool, some reaching 22 lbs., and up to 23 lbs.
ganella sire, Hercules, out of Anama ewes of the
old Bungaree strain, and there were also both
rams and ewes of pure Bungaree blood. They
were all immense, plain-bodied, deep sheep again,
one of the ewes being abnormally so, and having
a 5 feet 9 inches girth. Mr. Walter Hawker is
a great enthusiast and deserves every success."
The sire of Hercules — Perfection I. — was
leased for Anama in 19 13 for six weeks from Mr.
Henry Austin for £300, and used at Anama and
North Bungaree with considerable success, some
splendid stock in the 109 lambs Perfection I., left
behind him being thus acquired. Hawker ewes
were also sent to Sir Charles II. and Admiral
Charles, noted Bundemar rams. Mr. Walter
Hawker also bought, in 19 14, 54 ewes at the dis-
persal sale of the Cocketjedong stud flock, in-
cluding 17 by the celebrated Sir Charles, to form
a small stud of pure Wanganella blood. In 19 15
he got straight from Bundemar five stud ewes, of
which four were by Sir Charles. In 19 17 these
were culled down to 13, and the balance sold.
On Anama are 30 special and ist stud rams, cut-
ting from 20 lbs. to 26 lbs., of which the ram,
1057
P'
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Progress (3 years old)
(By Perfection I. — Miss Togo)
Miss Togo (by Togo)
Success, is typical. Progress, cutting 26 lbs for
loi months' growth, carries the most development
of any ram on Anama, but his stock are plain-
bodied. There are over 1,300 special and ist
stud ewes on Anama, of which Miss Togo, the
dam of Progress, and Lady Togo, may be taken
as a sample for shape and style. Lady Togo
cuts her great fleece, 20 lbs. i oz., because of her
great size and length of staple — ^i inches — not
because of any excessive wrinkles or density, from
which she is free.
The surplus Anama ewes are eagerly competed
for. In 19 17, 802 culled flock ewes, ranging
from i-i years to 8 years old, averaged 45s. 3d.
per head, by auction at the Burra. This is a
record for this class of sheep in South Australia.
In 19 16 the wethers averaged over 40s., except
a small lot of culls, which were sold at 35s. The
fleeces of the best rams are always scoured. In
1917 the three top stud rams scoured as fol-
lows : —
Greasy
Weight.
241b. 130Z.
2olb. lOZ.
171b. 40Z.
Progress
H151 .
Hi 1 1 .
Scoured
Weight.
I2lb. loz.
I2lb. lOZ.
Yield.
48.62%
58-94%
I lib. 3ioz. 65.04%
In 1917, 100 2-tooth rams cut an average of
14 lbs., and 105 stud and flock rams, ranging
from 22 years old to loi years averaged 18 lbs.
3 ozs. — a great achievement, considering the high
yielding quality of the wool.
Worked in connection with, and as part of
Anama, are now the choicest stud paddocks —
between 5,000 and 6,000 acres, — of the old Hill
River Estate, magnificent sheep-country, and also
3,000, some of the best of South Booboorowie,
where fine crops of lucerne are grown. Mr.
Walter Hawker has also a depot of some 3,000
acres in Western Australia, one of the oldest loca-
tions, U4, where he keeps 2,000 stud ewes. Mrs.
Walter Hawker has a fine property, Kalabity,
comprising 188 square miles, eighty miles west
of Broken Hill. Kalabity was started five
years ago with a flock of purchased ewes, none of
which cost more than 12s., some as low as 7s., on
which Anama rams have been used since the start.
The 1,500 culled ewes from this property in 19 17,
mostly 4-year-olds, have sold up to 42s., averag-
ing 30s. 8d. ; 2,150 hoggetts, including 400 4-
tooth wethers, averaged 15 lbs. 11 ozs. of wool,
the return working out at about 45 bales to the
1,000, which Is proof of what can be done by
using good rams on indifferent ewes. This wool
fetched up to 15 2d. per lb. The Anama wethers,
as lambs, are sent to one of these back-country
stations, where they grow to a great size, and it
Is a common thing for the full-mouthed fat wethers
to average over 70 lbs. dressed. Hawker
wethers have, indeed, been known to average
nearly double that weight dressed.
No wethers are kept at Anama except those sent
from Kalabity and other northern stations to fat-
ten and to be sold In the wool. Many of the
ewes are kept till they are 12 or 13 years old; in
fact, as long as they will rear a lamb. Notwith-
standing this fact, the breeding ewes average from
II to 12 lbs. of wool, according to the season.
The Anama sheep are of robust condition, large
and free from body-wrinkles, so they are specially
suitable for crossing with the small, dense, wrinkly
sheep which were so fashionable some years ago.
They have given uniform satisfaction, whether
sent to New South Wales, North Queensland,
Western Australia, or even to New Zealand and
South Africa, because they improve rather than
deteriorate when put on the better pastures which
thev find there. Mr. Walter Hawker has always
sought to produce, and has succeeded In pro-
ducing, a payable, useful sheep, avoiding all
io6o
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
extremes, and looking at the profit per sheep
rather than only at a price per lb. for the wool.
Constitution is made a great, indeed the greatest
point of, and with that invariable object in view
none but the most suitable of the stud are ever
bred from. Consequently, not only is the stud
kept at its highest point in the quality of its
iambs, but the lambing percentage is high —
usually about 90 per cent. Even during the
period of the severest drought on record in
South Australia, that of 19 14, the percentage
of lambs averaged 72 per cent. Large-framed,
shapely sheep, with plenty of bone, with wide-set
sians undoubtedly excel. The milk contains more
solids than that of any other breed, and is there-
fore more wholesome for all stocks and also for
the human race, the milk globules being smaller.
A Dutch Friesian cow will milk and breed twice as
long as any other breed; the quality of milk after
the butter-fats have been extracted is far greater
than that of any other breed, because it contains
much more casein; and she produces more milk
per 100 lbs. weight of body and yet will eat less
per 100 lbs. weight.
The official tests show that the breed has over
50 per cent, more 2-year-old heifers giving over
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Special Stud Anama Merino Ewes
(Bred by Walter Hawker, Anama, and grazed on Natural Grasses only)
horns and a clean face, carrying a long, strong
fleece spinning about 6o's, showing as much crimp
as possible, are the Hawker Merinos to be found
at Anama. Mr. Walter Hawker does not aim
at piling on the wool, but rather seeks to cover
the sheep as evenly as possible with a high yield-
ing wool. In 19 1 6 the Anama wool fetched up
to 21 |d. per lb., and in 19 17 up to 24d., iS^d. for
1st pieces. That Mr. Hawker gives his per-
sonal attention to the breeding and classing of
his sheep, is a guarantee that all that leave Anama
are up to the ideal he has established for his stud
and flock.
For the past five years Mr. Walter Hawker has
been building up a small herd of pure Dutch
Friesian cattle, known formerly as Holsteins. He
has spared no expense in importing the best blood
from New Zealand, that country having long
passed the experimental stage in regard to this
breed, though it is not yet as largely used in Aus-
tralia as it undoubtedly will be in the near future,
when its unsurpassed merits are known. Both
as milking cows and as beef cattle the Dutch Frie-
600 or 700 lbs. of butter-fats in a year than any
other two breeds of milking cattle combined, and
they average the highest net profit per cow when
all the products of a cow are taken into account.
They also show an actual increase in production
till past 10 years old, and, in fact, do not reach
full maturity until fully 1 1 years old. They
also live longer than other cows, and will fatten
splendidly for beef when past the producing age.
Cows of Mr. Walter Hawker's own breeding give
from 50 to 60 lbs. of milk a day, the percentage of
butter-fats being 3.2 lbs. Both cows and bul-
locks require less delicate feeding, and are hardier
in resisting changes of climate. The bullocks
not only make fine beef, but are also good workers,
being strong, quiet, and tractable.
The two specimens from the Anama stud of
Dutch Friesian cattle, photographs of which are
here engraved, are high-class animals. The bull,
King Segis of Dellhurst, was imported from Mr.
W. J. Lovelock, of Friesland Park, New Zealand,
who has the largest and best herd in the Dominion.
His sire. King Segis Wild Rose Homestead, was
WALTER HAWKER, OF ANAMA
io6i
Dutch-Friesan Bull
King Segis of Dellhurst (21/2 years old)
imported from America and is the winner of many
Championships and the sire of many champions,
including the King of the Dominos, the winner of
28 Championships. Iwo of the daughters of
King Segis Wild Rose Homestead were Lady
Cliffside II., and Dominos Friesland Belle, both of
whom won the Junior Gold Medal in New Zea-
land, and seven of his daughters produced as 2-
year-olds, an average of 501.38 lbs. of butter-
fats in the year under semi-official tests. One cow
of his pedigree gave 29.618 lbs. of butter, an-
other 29.35 lbs., and a third 28.137 lbs., each in
seven days. His dam, Duchess of Dellhurst,
gave 18,485 lbs. of milk and 615.85 lbs. of butter-
fats in 12 months as a 2-year-old. His grand-
dam, Ethel of Dellhurst II. (imported) gave
17,663.2 lbs. of milk and 638.85 lbs. of butter-fats
in 12 months, and his great-grand-dam, Minne-
wawa Isobel, 138.4 lbs. of milk and 19.172 lbs.
of butter-fats in seven days.
The heifer is Dominos Holland Belle, by
Friesian Laddie (by Cliffside Laddie, winner of
25 Championships), sire of 10 Certificate of
Merit daughters, each averaging 481.35 lbs. of
butter-fats in 12 months. Her dam is Dominos
Friesland Belle, whose test started at 2 years
and 99 days old and was — Milk, 14,352 lbs. and
butter-fats 533.48 lbs. In twelve months. Her
grand-dam, Dominos Dutchland Bel'.e, is the dam
of the King of the Dominos, the winner of 28
Championships. Her grandsire, Kruger II., got
six Certificate of Merit daughters, whose average
was 540.58 lbs. of butter-fats in the year.
^■-wf*
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I
Dominos Holland Belle Topsy Lassie Daphne Blossom
Anama Dutch-Friesian Stud Cows
(Ten IVi -year-old Ewes.
Lucemedale Stud Merino Ewes
First Prize pen of ten ewes at tlic Xew South Wales Sheepbreeders' Association Sheep
Show, Sydney, June, 1917. Sold for 100 guineas each.)
LUCERNEDALE.
As showing what can be done in a short period
in South Australia by enterprise, initiative,
and youthful vigor, the Lucernedale
Merino stud at Mount Bryan is of very special
interest. Without unlimited wealth, and on a
comparatively new country, the brothers Arthur
and Horace Collins, trading under the style of
Henry Collins and Co., have already put up many
records, and have, in a short time, brought their
stud to a high state of perfection and their busi-
ness to a sound condition of profit.
This has been done in a marked degree by the
qualities mentioned, and an investigation as to
the methods employed demonstrates the fact
that there is still room — and plenty of room —
for fresh enterprise in the Australian pastoral
industry. It is, of course, equally apparent that
there are many ways in which dire failure may
be experienced, but the Messrs. Collins have
been able to avoid the many pitfalls in their path
by initiating a consistent policy and prosecuting
it with single-minded determination. Thus, and
thus only, can success be achieved in any enter-
prise, and in pastoralism this factor operates
with especial certainty. For disaster can be
achieved much more easily than success, and
faulty judgment can result in irreparable loss,
more swiftly and surely in the pastoral than in
many other industries. It is difficult to retrace
steps taken upon the pathway of failure, owing
to the permanent damage done to a flock by un-
skilful breeding and disastrous experiments.
Modem Progress
Champion Lucernedale Stud Ram
(Adelaide, 1914)
No. 1
Champion Lucernedale Stud Kwe
(Adelaide Competitive Show, 1914)
1062
LUCERNEDALE
1063
Lord Charles
p'urfhased from Estate of F. E. Body, Bundcmar, for 2,000
guineas. Used in Lm-ernedale Stud, 1915 and 1916, and then
sold for 1,500 guineas.
Dandle Dinmont
Lucernedale Stud Ram, of pure Wanganella Blood.
Cost 1,550 guineas.
The history of the Lucernedale stud is brief.
It was started some twenty years ago by Mr.
Henry Collins, the father of the present owners
and senior partner in the firm until the middle
of 19 17. Then a dissolution of partnership took
place, whereby to each of the partners were
apportioned different sections of the estate, which
had comprised 4,500 acres in the Mount Byran
district. South Australia.
P The winter months at Mount Bryan are very
cold. The summers are hot, with an average rain-
fall of eighteen inches. The country is chiefly of
a rich chocolate, and on the flats lucerne can be
grown fairly successfully, Lucernedale now having
between 400 and 500 acres sown with this fodder.
The property is situated close to the highest point
above sea level in South Australia.
The present owners of Lucernedale, Arthur
and Horace Collins, took over the property and
the whole stud flock as their share. P'or several
years the stud had consisted of purely South
Australian sheep, until the value of the famous
Wanganella blood was realised and blended with
the South Australian blood. The proprietors
even then decided to proceed cautiously, and con-
tented themselves at first with introducing a ram
that was one-half Wanganella blood. They
were, however, so pleased with the result that
they decided to introduce extensively the pure
Wanganella strain.
The exceptional stud ram, Dandie Dinmont,
was purchased in 19 10 by Messrs. John Collins
and Sons, of Collinsville, from Mr. James Rich-
mond, then the proprietor of the Haddon Rig
stud, for the sum of 1,550 guineas. This fine
animal caused quite a sensation when shown in
Sydney that year on account of his wonderful
covering. With only twelve months' growth on
him he cut a fleece of 36 lbs. 8 ozs. of clean
bright wool, which when scoured turned the scale
at 17 lbs. 5 ozs. — said to be a record. During
the season 19 14 Dandie Dinmont served 312
ewes and 273 lambs were reared; from the two-
tooth of this drop the following year £3,233 of
stock was sold, yet all the best ewes were kept
in the stud and most of the best of the rams.
Dandie Dinmont, during the 1917 season,
although between nine and ten years old, served
271 ewes, from which nearly 100 per cent, of
lambs had been obtained, in spite of the very
rough weather experienced during the winter.
Another noted son is Eclipse. His daugh-
ter. Ewe No. I, was champion ewe at the
Adelaide Royal Show in 19 14 — the last com-
petitive show held in Adelaide.
During the year 19 14 five ewes were pur-
chased from the estate of the late F. E. Bod)-,
of Bundemar, at the record price of 100 guineas
per head. The Messrs. Collins have never hesi-
tated to pay big prices for the stock they want,
and have always found that principle essential
to immediate success. These ewes were on
exhibition at the Sydney sales of that year,
and, although only eighteen months old, were
considered to be equal to, if not actually, the
best five ewes that had ever been seen in Sydney.
They were of pure Wanganella blood, and by the
world-famous ram Sir Charles, which is reported
to have sired more high-priced sheep than any
other sire living. The purchase of these five ewes
caused a very great deal of comment at the time.
Quite a number of stud-masters stated that the
price was altogether out of reason, and that the
Collins family could never expect to see their
1064
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
money back. This, however, fortunately proved
to be wrong. During the first year that these
ewes were on Lucernedale, however, only one
ewe out of the five increased the stock. Her
lamb, by the great sire, Dandie Dinmont, was
Dandie Again (By Dandie Dinmont)
a ram, and as a one-year-old proved to be of
exceptional merit. He was sold to Mrs. E. W.
Hawker, of East Bungaree, for 500 guineas,
just paying back the initial outlay for the five
ewes. ]
But that is not all. Since then, high-class stock
have been continually coming from these ewes,
until no less than 2,500 guineas has been received
from their progeny (rams only), and five of their
rams are still on hand at the time of writing
(191 8) and all of the ewe progeny. Besides,
the original five ewes are still alive and doing well,
each having a lamb now at foot by Dandie Din-
mont. All this distinctly proves that, where good
judgment is used, 100 guineas for a ewe can be
paid and still show a margin for substantial profit.
From either of these ewes there has not been a
ram sold for less than the dam cost.
During the following year more pure-blood
Wanganella ewes were introduced, also the pure-
blood two-year-old stud ram. Gentleman III.,
from the F. E. Body estate, at 1,000 guineas.
This ram was mated with pure ewes, and the stock
turned out exceptionally well. They are to-day
among the very best on Lucernedale. One
ram of this lot was sold for 600 guineas, and,
strange to say, was out of one of the five 100-
guinea ewes from Bundemar. A ram lamb out of
this same ewe was sold at fourteen days old for
150 guineas, and turned out a phenomenal sheep.
A ram by Gentleman III. has just been sold to
South Africa for 750 guineas.
With Gentleman III. three ewes were pur-
chased from Bundemar, and also nine of the same
blood from Sir Samuel McCaughey, of Coonong,
New South Wales — absolutely the pick of Coo-
nong 2-year-olds. For one of the Coonong ewes
100 guineas was paid, the nine averaging nearly
forty guineas per head. The loo-guinea ewe
was on exhibition at the Sheepbreeders' Show in
Sydney that year, and was considered to be the
best ewe ever seen at the show. As a breeder
she turned out a thorough success, her first lamb
by Gentleman III. being a very high-class ram.
The Coonong ewes also proved good breeders and
have been consistently successful.
Besides the Bundemar and Coonong ewes, 860
pure Wanganella ewes were purchased from the
late Mr. A. J. Austin, of Murgha, and Mr. Harry
L. Austin, of P'airlie Grange. For a number of
the ewes brought from Murgha 50 guineas was
paid; with the exception of one ewe, these were
the pick of the 2-year-old ewes on Murgha.
1 he following year another visit to Bundemar
resulted in the purchase of the famous sire Lord
Charles, by Sir Charles, for 2,000 guineas, also
36 of absolutely the pick of the Bundewar one-
and two-year-old ewes, at a very high price, and
further 108 first stud young ewes at a lower price,
besides 35 other ewes of the same blood, the best
choice of two other well-known studs in the same
district. The ram Lord Bundemar was ai:
the same time purchased from the F. E. Body
estate for 500 guineas; he was sold by the Collins
brothers for 800 guineas to Messrs. Sidney Austin
and Sons, Wambiana, Trangie, New South Wales.
The progeny of Lord Charles include No. 11,
sold for 1,100 guineas; No. 60, sold for 1,200
guineas; No. 62, sold for 750 guineas; No. ^-,
sold for 600 guineas; No. 10, sold for 400
guineas; No. 22, sold for 350 guineas to go to
Africa; No. 192, sold for 250 guineas; No. 47,
Gentleman III.
Pure Waiigaiiella Earn. Cost 1,000 guineas.
io65
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
250 guineas; No. 197, 200 guineas; and several
at 150 guineas, also 11 ewes at 100 guineas each.
During 19 16 nearly 500 very high-class
ewes were purchased from Murgha at prices
ranging from 100 guineas per head down, and
included in this purchase were 37, which, with the
exception of one ewe, were absolutely the piclc of
to Lucernedale to be served, and just lately the
capable manager of Murgha, Mr. A. Wigan,
reported that he has an exceptional one-year-old
ram by Dandie Dinmont, and that, if all goes well,
he expects to have him on exhibition in Sydney
in 1918.
In 191 7 the highest-priced ram at the Sydney
Lucernedale Imported Border Collie Sheep-Dog
Hemp "Bucking Them Through"
Consldereil by Exjerts tlie Finest Workor in Australia
the young ewes on Murgha. In the following
year a further purchase was made from Mr. F.
B. S. Falkiner, of Haddon Rig, Warren, New
South Wales, of 25 of the best of 306 extra
special reserve Wanganella-blood ewes, for 945
guineas.
It will be seen that the policy of the owners of
Lucernedale has been to purchase the best, and
nothing but the best, either in rams or ewes, from
the highest-grade studs offering of the strains
deemed most suited for Lucernedale. In this
way no less a sum than £13,000 has been safely
invested, the good judgment of the purchasers
having been amply demonstrated by the results
achieved. Many instances might be quoted where
the Collins brothers' choice has been supported
by the most experienced breeders, but the follow-
ing must suffice: — During the season 19 15 they
purchased a ram from Messrs. Sidney Austin and
Sons for 500 guineas, used him in the Lucerne-
dale stud for a month, and sold him to the late
Mr. A. J. Austin, of Murgha, for 750 guineas.
In the same year, Mr. Austin sent 37 of his ewes
sales was purchased from the Murgha p]state for
use in the Lucernedale stud. Altogether consider-
ably more than £20,000 has been spent in the
introduction of pure Wanganella blood to
Lucernedale, which stud can now appropriately
be termed the Wanganella of South Australia.
The Bundemar-bred ram. Admiral Charles, by
Sir Charles, which was sold for 1,200 guineas to
Mr. Harry L. Austin, of Eli Elwah, has been
purchased for use in the Lucernedale stud, and
the well-known Perfection II., half-brother of the
famous 1,700-guinea Hercules, of Bungaree, has
also been secured by the Collins brothers. Per-
fection II. was bred by the late Mr. Albert
Austin, of Wanganella, and he refused 1,000
guineas for him as a four-tooth. The Lucerne-
dale stud averages for nine rams sold privately
during the 19 14 season showed 238 guineas.
During 19 15 eight rams averaged 227 guineas,
and in 1917 nine stud rams have been sold at an
average of 393 guineas and eleven ewes at 100
guineas each. These were the progeny of Dandie
Dinmont and Lord Charles. The top price
LUCERNEDALE.
1067
Co/7^/c/ered /^^e best Co/oo/d,/-bred dq^ eUer
secured for a ram bred on Lucernedale was 1,200
guineas for No. 60. Two rams were sold to the
proprietors of the Wanganella Estate for use in
the Wanganella stud and a number of others to
noted New South Wales breeders, including a
stud ram to Urangeline Co., N.S.W^., a special
stud ram at 750 guineas. Five special stud rams
to date this season have averaged 777 guineas,
I id in ten days between 6,000 and 7,000 guineas'
orth of rams were sold.
In the show pen, the Lucernedale stud has been
highly successful. At the last competitive
Adelaide Royal Show, held in September, 19 14,
both championships were secured by their sheep,
besides the reserve championships for ram and a
number of other first and second prizes, practically
sweeping the board. At the Sheepbreeders' Asso-
j elation Show in Sydney, in 19 17, the Lucernedale
stud secured the much-coveted first prize for a pen
of ten ewes, unhoused, of under two years old,
also first prize in the two-year-old ewe class with
a hoggett, and several second and third prizes.
The exhibition of these ewes in Sydney — success-
ful in spite of the fact that for the seven weeks
previous to the show ten inches of rain had fallen
on them, and in transit on board ship to Sydney
they again became wet with salt water and were
so when judged — caused a very favorable impres-
^^on in sheep circles.
I^B Sheep from Lucernedale have gone to all parts
I^Bf Australia, also to New Zealand and to South
l^ft.frica. and a very ready demand is experienced
for all available flock rams, which have been sold
for the quite exceptional price in this State of
five guineas per head. The average price of nine
stud rams sold privately during 19 14 was 238
guineas; eight stud rams during 1915 averaged
227 guineas; while in 1916 the average price for
seven stud rams was 366 guineas, eleven ewes
fetching 100 guineas; the figures for 191 7 are
eleven special stud rams, which averaged 393
guineas per head.
A specially interesting and unique feature of
the Lucernedale Estate is its stud of Border
Collie sheep dogs, claimed to be the best col-
lection in existence. The Messrs. Collins have
spared no expense during the past nine years
in securing the very best dogs procurable in Scot-
land, in which country the Border Collies have
won a world-wide and unrivalled reputation, and
also in England, when dogs of the highest repu-
tation have been available there. At the present
■
io68
I
106IJ
loyo
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
time there are at Lucernedale five of the greatest
dogs Scotland and England have ever produced.
A brief description of these cannot fail to be of
the highest practical interest to sheep-breeders
and dog-fanciers alike.
First there is the notable black and white
Collie, Trim, who is considered wherever the
Border Collie is known to be the best brood-bitch
living. She is the daughter of Ancrum Jed, a
bitch that died at Lucernedale, leaving a lot of
wonderful stock behind her. Trim's great sons
at Lucernedale are Sweep, the double Inter-
national winner, who has also won in England
and Scotland twenty-two first prizes, fourteen
seconds, twelve thirds, four fourths, and two
fifths; and Don, his stable mate, also a double
International winner, who also has eight firsts,
eight seconds, three thirds, one fourth, and a
sixth to his credit. These are claimed to be the
two greatest sheep-dogs alive to-day, each having
won the most coveted of all dog-trial prizes, the
International in Scotland, twice — an unrivalled
achievement. They were both owned and worked
by Mr. Armstrong, who only left the trial course
twice in four years without one or the other of
these dogs being in the prize-list. They are the
first winners of the great event to be imported
into the Southern Hemisphere. Sweep won the
International in 1910 and 19 12, and Don carried
it off in 191 1 and 19 14. The International Trial,
which is run in Scotland and England, is con-
sidered the champion sheep-dog trial of the world.
Lammermoor Queen, the dam of the world-
renowned Mux (by Don), is also in this kennel.
and she is considered to be as a breeder second
only to Trim. There are also a number of other
imported cracks at Lucernedale, for which up to
100 guineas each has been paid. Hemp (im-
ported) won the Sydney Championship in 19 14,
and others of his dogs during the past four years
have scored dozens of first prizes in Scotland, Aus-
tralia, and New Zealand. In 1917 Frisk also
won the Sydney championship and was first in the
single sheep contest, putting him right round the
course, with Garry fourth and Jimmy third in
the notice class. Frisk won three out of four
of the championships competed for in New
South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania,
being second at the Victorian Championship.
Garry won the novice class prize in 19 16 in
Sydney. Lucernedale dogs, have also won the
championship of South Australia three times.
"Wallace's Moss" is also here — a second and a
fourth prize winner of the International, Scot-
land, and considered by many to be the best
worker and sire ever produced in Scotland.
Considerably over £1,000 has been spent in
imported dogs alone in building up the Lucerne-
dale Border, sheep dog stud.
Before the war broke out arrangements were
being made by the Commonwealth Government
with Mr. Arthur Collins to visit the Panama
Exposition for the purpose of giving demonstra-
tions of working sheep with his dogs, thereby
representing Australia officially in this particular
branch. It may fairly be said that Lucernedale
has the greatest kennel of working sheep-dogs
owned by any one person anywhere.
Jimmy (imported) .
Prize-winner, Second International, Scotland, at 10 months old.
Glenelg Homestead
THE DOWNIES, OF GLENELG
TASMANIAN PIONEER PASTORALISTS
THE records of the Downie family of Tas-
manian pioneer pastoralists, go back to the
very early days of the Island State, when
it was known by its Dutch name of Van Diemen's
Land. Andrew Downie, the first of that Scot-
tish family to venture forth to new lands — it was
indeed a venture in those days — was a solicitor in
a good way of business, but of a spirit that found
the practice of the law too humdrum. So
he sought new fields for his enterprise in the
new British dominions overseas. He arrived at
Hobart Town, as the southernmost city was then
called, in the good ship Skelton, on December
22nd, 1822, settling at Newtown. He roved
about the country for some time, finding useful
«mployment in suppressing the cattle- and sheep-
stealers, who were a great source of trouble and
danger in those days. On one occasion he was
attacked and left for dead, his leg being broken,
but he managed to escape by hiding in a hollow
log.
For his services, he received a grant of 1,000
acres of land from the Crown, but this he disposed
of and obtained another grant, in 1832, of a
similar area, in the Hamilton district, to which
he gave the name of Glenelg. Here he suffered
severely from the depredations of the blacks,
and he and his men had always to be
armed while moving about the property. On one
occasion, Mr. Downie had a narrow escape of
being speared, but shot his assailant — the only
native he ever killed. Anyone going from the
homestead to the well to draw water — some con-
siderable distance — had to carry two buckets on
a yoke over the shoulders, and also a gun. Men
who could establish and maintain a home in such
wild places were obviously of the best type. A
roadless wilderness, with only stock tracks and
those of the most primitive kind; huts made of
slabs and lath-and-plaster, or log-huts affording
the rudest shelter; foods and utensils of the most
simple and comfortless kind, represented the
"creature comforts" of the pioneers.
Yet these brave, spirited, and resourceful men
found the new land so good that they often per-
suaded their relations — other spirits like unto
themselves — to join them in their enterprise. So
it was with Andrew Downie. After eleven years
of pioneering, he came to the conclusion that Van
Diemen's Land had proved itself and so, on one
of his visits to the old country, he persuaded his
brother Thomas to return with him. They
1071
1072
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Mr. and Mrs. William Downie
reached Hobart on September i8th, 1833, '" *^he
ship I.ochiel, and went at once to Glenelg, culti-
vating some of the property, with sheep, cattle,
and horses grazing on the remainder. On
another of his visits "home," Andrew Downie
married a Scotch lady, who became very popular
in Tasmania. So successful were the brothers
at Glenelg that they persuaded their brother Wil-
liam, the youngest of a family of fourteen, to join
them. William was in sole charge of his father's
estates at Stirling, Scotland, and the old man
strongly opposed his emigration, threatening to
cut him off with the proverbial shilling. He
consequently landed in Hobart on September
22nd, 1838, in the ship Rajah, without financial
resources; indeed his sole wealth consisted, appro-
priately enough, of two sixpences, which are still
in the possession of his son, J. W. Downie. He
at once joined his brothers, and proved the most
skilful and resourceful member of the partner-
ship, combining high intellectual faculties with
untiring energy and physical fitness, he was of the
Mr, and Mrs. J. W. Downie
1
THE DOWNIES, OF GLENELG, TASMANIA
1073
best type of Scottish colonist. He was the
founder of the well-known Tasmanian family, and
the great-grandfather of its present youngest
members.
After working Glenelg successfully for about
five years, he decided to found a family for him-
self, with the true instinct of a pioneer, marrying
on July 7, 1843, Miss McDermid, to whom he
had become engaged while in Scotland. To his
wife he undoubtedly owed much of his success in
life; she shared with him to the fullest extent all
the difficulties and hardships of early pioneering
in Tasmania.
In 1854 Thomas Downie joined in the
exodus to the new goldfields in Victoria, and there
succeeded in amassing a fortune. A few years
later Andrew Downie and his wife (they had no
family), returned to Scotland permanently, while
his brother William rented from him his Tas-
manian properties. When he died, at the age
of 85, he left Glenelg to William Downie, who
was twenty years his junior.
Then William Downie and his good wife
settled down in real earnest at Glenelg, and
worked the property with energy and enterprise
in accordance with their own ideas, and always
with success. He was a strict but just and kindly
disciplinarian. He never had any difficulties
with bushrangers, and when employing prisoners
from Port Arthur, invariably found them easy to
manage, never requiring the severe treatment
found necessary by some less tactful employers.
He had, in fact, a great gift in the management
of men. Many of his employees remained with
him thirty or forty years, and those who sur-
vived him passed into the employment of his sons,
when he gave up to them, in later years, the active
management of his various estates. As in Scot-
land, his draught horses had beaten all comers at
the Stirling Shows, so in Tasmania his stock
always did well at the Shows and in the sale-yards.
His merino sheep became famous for their size
and the fine quality of their wool. They com-
manded at the sales amongst the top prices of the
market with a bulky, heavy fleece and good length
of staple, and the fats and stores were always well
competed for. No expense was spared in pur-
chasing the best sires the State could produce, and
the ewes were procured from the best flocks
in the Midlands. Nine good sires were pur-
chased from James Gibson, Bellevue, at Camp-
belltown Show, which made an excellent founda-
tion; they were, in those days, of plain body, after
the Sir Thomas style, of large frame, good length
of staple, and splendid free wool. The herd
cattle, as well as the milkers, were Devons, and
were from the best bulls, purchased mostly from
Messrs. C. B. Grubb, Strathroy, and others.
They proved a very hardy breed of good workers,
suitable for rough hilly country and fattening well.
1
■
General View of Glenelg Estate, from the North
Q2
I074
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Greenwich Homestead
In 1854 William Downie bought Glen Der-
went, in the New Norfolk district, for his
wife, as a more restful home for her, and
they took up their residence there, improving
it, and engaging in hop and apple growing. Al-
though he had no previous experience in their cul-
tivation, Mr. Downie succeeded in growing the
heaviest crops in the district, and secured the
highest prices, putting his produce on the market
in the best possible condition. Meanwhile,
Glenelg and other properties which he had ac-
quired were under competent management, Mr.
Downie visiting them occasionally and supervising
their progress. He had added adjacent land to
Glenelg, and also acquired Dungrove in the Both-
well district, and Lagoon of Islands in the Great
Lake district, the latter being a good outlet for
stock, principally in the summer months.
His elder son, John W. Downie, assisted his
father in the management of all the properties
from 1869 to 1873, in which latter year he took
charge of the pastoral properties for the firm of
W. Downie and Sons. His younger son, Archi-
bald T. W. Downie, had the management of Glen
Derwent, settling there on his marriage in 1874
with the eldest daughter of Ralph Terry, of Lach-
lan Mills, New Norfolk. He was Warden for
New Norfolk for several years, and took a pro-
minent part In the affairs of the district. He re-
linquished pastoral pursuits, and devoted himself
with great success to the fruit and hop plantations.
He died suddenly In Melbourne In 1905, leaving
four sons and five daugters. His eldest son,
Wm. Vivian, enlisted for active service in the great
war and, while In Claremont camp, died of menin-
gitis; two other sons, Lieut. Alan Downie and
Corporal C. T. Downie, are now (191 8) at the
front. The fourth son, Andrew Downie, is a
successful hop and apple grower in New Norfolk.
Dungrove Homestead, Bothwell District
THE DOWNIES, OF GLt'NELG, TASMANIA
1075
In his youth, J- W. Dovvnie gained a knowledge
of book-keeping and general commercial methods
by serving for a time in a merchant's office in
Hobart. Such a preparation in business methods
was characteristic of his father's ideas of
thoroughness and was useful to the young man
in his management of Mr. William Downie's con-
siderable interests. When he married, in 1878,
the eldest daughter of F. W. Wise — who was
well-known in the commercial world and was the
owner of the old steamer. Monarch, which ran
regularly for many years between y^ew Norfolk
and Hobart — his father built for him a beautiful
and commodious cut-stone residence at Glenelg,
which stands in picturesque country between Mac-
quarie Plains and Hamilton. Mrs. Downie has
always proved herself a splendid helpmate to her
husband, a good mother, and a generous friend.
In the year of his marriage J. W. Downie won a
seat in the local Council against the Hon. N. J.
Brown, which he held for 38 years, and was also
made a magistrate for the Territory in the same
year. In later years his friends unsuccessfully
endeavored to persuade him to accept appoint-
ment as warden for his district, and also to stand
for Parliament.
As a pastoralist he has been like his father, a
man of initiative and resourcefulness, and has
continuously improved the properties, increasing
their area by over 10,500 acres. He purchased
a good deal of land round Glenelg, some of which
belonged to the late Mr. Joseph Clarke. He
was the first in the district to poison rabbits with
phosphorised oats and he, by degrees, had all his
estates sub-divided and fenced with rabbit-proof
wire-netting, representing over 120 miles of fenc-
ing. This proved a most efficacious method and
paid for itself over and over again, in spite of
its high cost, at first averaging £75 a mile. He
devoted most of his attention to pastoral work;
he would have done more in agriculture but for
the fact that the land, although otherwise suit-
able for cultivation, was too stony. He con-
tinued on his father's lines of breeding stock, and
never hesitated to relinquish methods he found
unsuccessful. This was the case with the wrinkley
sheep, which were fashionable during William
Downie's latter days, but proved eventually de-
ficient in length of wool-staple and small in the
bone. When a change was deemed advisable,
Mr. Downie did not hesitate to make it. He
procured in 1904 from Alick J. Murray, of
Mount Crawford, and others, that type of merino
which has now become the standard, with greatly
improved frame, size, and bone, cutting a much
heavier fleece of a stronger type — a sheep of
much sounder constitution — afterwards modi-
fied by Mr. Downie, with the assistance of
his eldest son, W. G. Downie, who is a fine judge
of wool. The result has been highly satisfactory.
In 1 90S J. W. Downie was awarded Diploma of
Honor for best three fleeces of merino wool at
the Franco-British Exhibition.
Believing in the principle of giving his family
an early start in life, Mr. Downie, in 19 10, made
over to his three elder sons a good portion of his
properties — Glenelg to William G. Downie; Dun-
grove to Frederick G. Downie, and part of Broad
Bottom and Greenwich to Roy G. Downie. Later
on he gave other properties to his youngest son.
Gunner Keith G. Downie, who is at present
(1918) on active service. There are two
daughters, one of whom is Mrs. C. F. Parsons,
of Bloomfield, and the other, Miss Phyllis
Downie, is principally occupied in patriotic work.
Mr. and Mrs. Downie retired to Hobart, where
they live in a handsome villa Mr. Downie recently
erected in Davey-street.
I
William G. Downie.
Fredk G. Downie.
Roy G. Downie.
Gunner Keith G. Downie.
Q2a
^^T-^-r-^-^^^V:.
ROZELLE
NEWTOWN
1076
GOVERNMENT SAVINGS BANK OE NEW SOUTH WALES
ALTHOUGH the Australians, as a race, may From whatever angle we look at these facts
reasonably be considered pleasure-loving and figures, they undoubtedly speak eloquently of
~T "=*t"'"=il .--esult . of exceptionally the thrift and prosperity of Australians, and the
favorable climatic conditions, tending to an open- provisions made by the Savings Banks and other
air life— yet it is a fact that they save almost as such organisations for the encouragement and
well as they spend, and they are royal spenders assistance of thrifty persons,
and liberal givers. All this is evidence, if such
were needed, of the prosperity of the country, a
prosperity dependent chiefly on good seasons and
profitable markets, for Australia is primarily a
producing country.
For many years that has been the normal con-
dition, with the exception of one year of devas-
tating drought — 1913. But Australia is a coun-
try of quick recoveries. The year before the war,
1914, may be taken as a normal year, and will
provide the general facts and comparisons for
our present purpose, though more recent figures
will be given by way of actual information.
The total population of the Commonwealth in
1914 was about five millions, with males and
females almost equal, of which over a quarter
are children under fifteen years. This gives us
then a wage-earning community of considerably
less than three and a half millions, for it is
obvious that not all over that age are wage-
earners or even self-supporting. Out of these
there must be a large proportion who do their
financial business through banks in the ordinary
way, without special regard to "savings" in the
usual sense. This is shown by the fact that the
deposits of cash alone in the commercial
banks throughout the Commonwealth were
£163,854,555 in 1 9 14 — the most recent normal
year. This out of the annual income of Austra-
lians, which totals over 250 millions.
But it is in their smaller savings that the real
thrift of the people is shown. We find that out
of these three million and a half of wage-earners
there are no less than two million depositors in
the Government Savings Banks. In New South
Wales, out of rather more than a million persons
of self-supporting age, more than half, over
756,000, are depositors in the Government Sav-
ings Banks throughout that State, with a total
sum of over £37,000,000. Even this huge sum
does not cover other direct savings or prudential
The Government Savings Bank of New South
Wales occupies the unique position of being the
second largest Savings Bank in the British Empire
— its total deposits being only exceeded by those
of the Post Oflice Savings Bank of the United
Kingdom.
The history of the Bank has been one of steady
progress, and the following summary of the ex-
pansion for the last eight years will show to what
extent the facilities of the Bank are availed of
by the public of New South Wales: —
Year Ended.
3 1st Dec, 1910
„ 1911
„ 1912
n I9I3
30th June, 1914
n I9I5
,n „ I916
n I917
No. of Depositors'
Accounts. Balances.
368,306 .. £15,190,819
407,011 .. £17,595,694
460,382 . . £20,128,598
506,028 . . £22,216,985
680,060 . . *£3 1,996,268
694,108 . . £33.537.017
719,319 .. £34,615,222
756,917 .. £37,049,189
*Includes 150,838 accounts, totalling £8,835,266
1 8s. 4d., taken over on amalgamation with the
Savings Bank of N.S.W.
The Bank is essentially a people's Bank. It
receives deposits of even small amounts of one
shilling, whilst it offers attractions to the man
who, by patient saving, can build up an account
of £500. It pays interest at a rate (35 per
cent.) higher than is paid by any other Savings
Institution in the State, and gives to every depo-
sitor the best guarantee possible — the guarantee
of the Government — for the repayment of all
deposits.
Interest is calculated on the monthly balance
and added to the accounts on the 30th June in
each year.
In addition to having one account in his own
provisions, such as life insurance, the annual pre
miums paid into the New South Wales branches name a person may open:
of these companies being not less than
£1,800,000 odd. This takes no account of
payments into Friendly Societies and similar
associations.
(a) Joint accounts with other persons.
(b) Trust accounts on behalf of other
persons.
•
1077
1078
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
It is important that this Bank should not he
confused with the Post Office Savings Bank. Some
years ago this Bank had its agencies at the Post
Offices, but the business was removed from them
in 191 2.
There are now 132 branches established in the
principal cities, towns and suburbs, and in addi-
tion to these there are nearly 500 agencies under
the control of State Government Officials, such as
Crown Lands Agents, Clerks of Petty Sessions,
Police Officers, etc., and others in charge of Muni-
cipal and Shire Clerks, Stock and Station Agents,
chemists and other professional or business men,
under conditions which guarantee to the depositors
close attention to their requirements with the
strictest secrecy as to their affairs.
The Bank offers its depositors every service
and convenience in transacting business. The
Commissioners' aim is to further the interests of
depositors and the community generally to the
best of their ability. The depositor with a small
account receives the same attention and courtesy
accorded the man whose deposits run Into hun-
dreds of pounds. Essentially, the business of the
Bank is to encourage thrift.
The Bank Is not only a service to depositors
whilst they are In New South Wales, but if their
business or recreation takes them to other States
of the Commonwealth, New Zealand, or to the
United Kingdom the facilities of the Bank will
follow them.
Every penny saved and deposited in the Ciov-
ernment Savings Bank of New South Wales adds
so much to the depositor's future prosperity — It
may do more, for there Is no knowing what op-
no local branch of the Government Savings Bank
of New South Wales, this system has been
established. By its means the Savings Bank busi-
ness may be conducted by post without any cost
to depositors. To deposit money, the depositor
may send an Australian note, money order, postal
note, stamps, or adopt any other means most con-
venient. The Bank returns to the depositor the
postage or cost of registration by adding it to the
amount of the deposit.
For the encouragement of thrifty habits In
children. Penny Savings Banks are established at
nearly all the public schools throughout the
State, where any amount from i d. upwards
Is received. The value of these Penny Banks
in promoting thrift among children, at the
impressionable age when good habits can be
formed as easily as bad ones, is inestimable, and
will ultimately have a very close bearing upon the
prosperity and soundness of the community.
When the children have an account of £1 they are
Induced to open an account In the Government
Savings Bank.
As a further Inducement to small savings,
deposit boxes for home use, not only by chil-
dren but by adults, may be purchased at 6d. each
from any branch of the Bank. A few months'
experience of this system will prove the truth of
the old adage that if we look after our shillings
our pounds will look after themselves.
The following table will be Interesting as show-
ing how money will Increase with Interest if
deposited regularly every week. The results are
rather startling: —
Amount
Paid in
WILL
AMOUNT TO IN-
Weekly
1 Year
2 Years
3 Years
4 Years
5 Years
6 Years
7 Years
Is.
£1 12 6
/5 6 10
£■& 3 0
£\\ 1 3
/14 1 10
£\1 4 8
/20 10 7
2s. 6d.
6 11 9
13 8 2
20 9 9
27 16 8
35 9 1
43 7 3
51 13 n
5s.
13 4 0
26 17 8
41 1 7
55 16 2
71 1 10
86 19 0
103 12 5
10s.
25 8 7
53 16 7
82 5 3
HI 15 3
142 7 5
174 2 5
207 11 5
^1
52 17 11
107 14 10
164 12 11
223 13 10
284 18 11
348 9 10
415 8 9
Calculated on tlie mininuiiu inontlily balance at :i% per cent, uji to £.500.
portunltles may be seized if one has money avail-
able in the Savings Bank for Immediate invest-
ment when a safe opportunity arrives. Garfield
once said, "Things don't turn up in this world
until somebody turns them up. Experience
teaches that It is the men and women who pay
attention to small savings that become wealthy."
The business of this Bank Is to help the "men
and women who pay attention to small savings."
A new departure has been made in the interests
of people residing in the country. This is the
Banking by Post system. To meet the conveni-
ence of those who reside in places where there is
In addition to its Savings Bank Department
activities, the Bank lends money on mortgage of
approved securities at low rates of Interest. The
lines on which these loans are made are briefly set
out in the following paragraphs : —
Loans from the Advance Department and the
Advances for Homes Department are repayable
by Instalments which include both Interest and
principal, and repay the loan In the term fixed
when the loan Is granted.
Valuation fees and legal charges are on a low
scale.
I079
io»o
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
The Advance Department may make advances
upon any of the following tenures : —
(a) Freeholds.
(b) (i) Conditional purchases, with or with-
out associated conditional leases.
(2) Homestead grants.
(3) Homestead selections.
(4) Settlement leases.
(5) Settlement purchases.
(6) Conditional purchase leases.
(7) Additional conditional purchase
leases.
(8) Special conditional purchase leases.
(9) Crown leases.
(10) Homestead farm leases.
(11) Irrigation farm leases (as defined by
the Crown Lands Acts).
(12) Holdings that have been converted
into any of the foregoing tenures
under the Crown Lands (Amend-
ment) Act, 1908, the Crown
Lands (Amendment) Act, 1912,
or any amendment or consolidation
thereof.
Loans can only be made for the following pur-
poses, which shall be set out in the mortgage —
(a) To pay off existing encumbrances on, or
to purchase the land offered as security.
(b) To pay off money owing to the Crown in
respect of the land.
(r) To make improvements on the land, or
to improve and develop, or to utilise
the agricultural or pastoral resources of
the land, or to enable the borrower to
carry on agricultural or pastoral pur-
suits on the land.
(d) To build a home upon the land.
Loans cannot be made by the Advance Depart-
ment on freehold land situated within the boun-
daries of any city, town, or village. The mini-
mum sum that may be loaned from this Depart-
ment is £50 and the statutory maximum £2,000,
although £750 is the most that is being advanced
to any borrower just at the present time.
The Closer Settlement Promotion Department
represents another phase of the activities of the
Bank.
The Closer Settlement Promotion Act, 19 10,
was passed to enable advances to be made to any
three or more eligible purchasers desirous of
securing blocks on private estates provided the
applicants agreed with the vendors as to pur-
chase price.
Application must be made to the Under Secre-
tary for Lands in the prescribed form, and ac-
companied by a receipt showing that a deposit
towards the cost of dealing with such application.
amounting to £5 for each of the applicants, has
been lodged with any Crown Lands Agent, or
with the Under Secretary for Finance and Trade.
Upon the Minister for Lands being satisfied as
to the eligibility of the applicants and of the suit-
ability of the land for Closer Settlement purposes,
an inspection of the blocks applied for is made
by the Bank's Valuator and the Advisory Board,
and provided the valuation arrived at is satisfac-
tory, advances up to 94.I per cent, of the ofl'icial
value of the land are arranged by the Commis-
sioners for terms of 35 years, repayable by instal-
ments of £5 I OS. for every £100 borrowed. The
instalment of £5 los. per cent, includes interest at
the rate of £4 los. per cent., the balance being
credited in reduction of principal.
Under this Act the Commissioners have the
power to advance up to three-fourths of the official
value of improvements effected by the holders
after the original advances are made, provided
that such advances shall not exceed two-thirds of
the sale value of the security as determined by
the Bank's valuator.
Under the Advances for Homes Department,
which is to the home-seeker what the Advance and
Closer Settlement Departments are to the farmer,
advances may be made to any person, who has not
a home, for the following purposes : —
(a) To erect a dwelling house on his holding
as a home for himself and his family,
or after erection or partial erection of
such dwelling house to enlarge or com-
plete same ;
(b) To purchase a house and land enclosed or
occupied therewith as a home for him-
self and family; or
(f) To discharge any mortgage, charge, or
encumbrance already existing on such
holding.
The maximum amount to be advanced to any
person will be £500, but shall not exceed three-
quarters of the value of the property as certified
to by the Bank's valuer. No advance less than
fifty pounds will be made. The maximum periods
for repayment of advances are: —
(a) For brick, concrete or stone buildings, 30
years;
(b) For wooden buildings, 20 years;
but the Commissioners may, in their discretion,
fix shorter periods.
In Building Loans, progress payments will be
made as the work progresses, but at each pay-
ment an amount sufficient to finish the building,
etc., in accordance v/ith the plans and specifica-
tions, will be retained by the Bank until the work
is completed, when the final instalment will be
paid.
OLIVE GROWING IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
G. F. CLELAND & SONS LTD.
I
SOUTH AUSTRALIA Is pre-eminently the
Land of the OHve and the Vine. Her
dry, sunny climate makes the cultivation of
at least two sub-tropical products, oil and wine,
a certainty.
As other famous products of Mediterranean
countries find congenial clifhates and soils in the
Commonwealth, the olive has put its roots deeply
into the sunlit slopes of South Australia.
As far back as 1851, olive oil from South
Australia was given honorable mention at the
great exhibition. Its clearness, color, and flavor
— even in the then almost virgin stages of the
industry — were remarked by the judges. Experts
of to-day officially declare that "no oil which
has ever been produced surpasses it in quality,
lucidity and flavor."
Over 70 years ago, Sir Samuel Dav^enport,
who had lived for some time in the south of
France, migrated to South Australia. He saw
in the calcareous nature of the soil around Ade-
laide, and in local climate and condition, a pos-
sibility for successful olive cultivation.
Rather as a national demonstration than a
means to personal profits Sir Samuel decided to
establish near his residence at Beaumont, South
Australia, a business having for its object the
commercial production of wine and oil.
To quote the Australian Vigneron: "He im-
ported from France and parts of Southern Europe
choice plants and skilled labor, as well as ap-
proved appliances, tools and implements. The
vineyards at Beaumont have consequently become
universally recognised in their perfection of cul-
tivation, and are justly noted for the quality of
the vines as well as the wines produced. The
quality of the wines is shown by the high position
in which they were placed at the Melbourne
Intercolonial Exhibition, receiving the second
highest points for the Grand Intercolonial Cham-
pion Prize, while the olive oil, on account of its
purity, has become celebrated. The Beaumont cel-
lars cover a very considerable area. The visitor
is struck with the order and compactness of the
arrangements. A large Chilian mill, formed of
large masses of granite, and worked by horse
power, hydraulic screw and lever presses used in
the manufacture of olive oil, stands conveniently
adjacent, and as a wine-making plant is equally
convenient and the site of the cellars judiciously
selected, the saving of labor is immense, although
during the height of the olive season the men
are constantly employed day and night. After
nightfall the creaking of chains, the tramp of
feet, the hoarse shouting of the men, and the
grinding of the mill, combined with fitful clouds
of steam illuminated by candle and lantern, form
a picture at once striking and impressive."
Although Sir Samuel Davenport initiated the
business, the labors of development and expa,n-
sion fell principally on his nephew, Mr. G. F.
Cleland. In 1869 Mr. Cleland, then a lad of
seventeen, began his work in the Beaumont cel-
lars. For fourteen years he assisted Sir Samuel
Davenport, and gradually acquired from the
various experts employed from time to time a
thorough practical knowledge of the respective
theories and practices. Owing to his intimacy
with the subject he was able to recognise the
good points of each, and distinguish and rectify
the bad; and to adopt from all a theory and
practice of his own which have caused him to
become an authority in South Australia, not only
in olive oil and wine and brandy making and
blending, but also in pruning and general viti-
culture.
The Beaumont olive plantation is the most
productive in the State. Stocks from Malaga,
Gibraltar, Lisbon, Cannes and Nice, Southern
France, Florence and Bari have retained and in-
creased their reputation in Beaumont soils.
Not only have the best species of trees been
cultivated, but the whole plantation has been
thoroughly trenched and manured — a labor of
years.
Mr. Cleland has stated that from fourteen
acres he harvested in 19 10 seventy-three tons of
olives.
He has done much to encourage the planting
of olives in South Australia, not only as presi-
dent of the Vinegrowers' Association, president
of the District Councils' Association of South
Australia, and chairman of the District Council
of Burnside, but as a commercial citizen of special
experience who sees in extended olive culture a
good thing for South Australia.
The business premises and city cellars of
G. F. Cleland and Sons Ltd. now occupy the
basement of the A.M. P. Buildings, King
William-street, Adelaide, and their trade extends
over the Commonwealth and to India, China,
Europe and America. In the good times com-
ing for primary producers, not only this pioneer
and premier company but the olive growers of
South Australia generally are likely to prosper.
lOSi
A Government Tank
These tanks supjily the miners with the only water procurable for manj- miles, except
small quantities for drinking.
QUEENSLAND GEMS
FRASERS LIMITED, BRISBANE
ATTRACTED by the iridescent glitter of
peerless black, opal through the windows
of Erasers Limited, of 142 Queen Street,
Brisbane, one sunny day in 19 15, the writer
slipped into the shop and spoke softly to the
manager.
He was subsequently indebted to Mr. Sankey
Eraser, of that interesting establishment, for
much information concerning the gems of Queens-
land.
In no country of the world are such varieties of
gems unearthed as in this State of "Crystallized
Sunshine." Wherever the country is poor in
Queensland from an agricultural point of view.
Nature seems to have enriched it with precious
stones that literally pale the treasured gems of
Europe, many of which claim historical associa-
tions.
The world-famed opal, the "Burning of Troy,"
in the crown of Hungary, at one time valued at
£200,000, is a pale sickly silicate when compared
with one gorgeous opal cut by Messrs. Erasers
Limited. This stone burns like a forest fire in a
setting of darkest midnight, and shows in addi-
tion every colour of the rainbow when moved.
The opal mines owned and worked by Messrs.
Erasers Limited are in the desert sandstone
country, where little vegetation grows, and where
less water is obtainable.
There is a large belt of this opal-bearing coun-l
try running from 200 miles in New South Wales]
to a point near the Gulf of Carpentaria. Ir
Queensland this Opal Sea is 700 miles long by 15C
miles wide.
The writer was invited to inspect the gem-cut-j
ting establishment of the above-mentioned fin
at their workshop in Adelaide Street, Brisbanei
There he was allowed to gloat over a collection of
gems ready set out for exhibition in the Panama
Exposition at San Erancisco, which included some
thousands of opals more gorgeous in colorings
than all the pictures of the year's Academy.
Besides opals Queensland produces sapphires,
colored yellow, white, green and the ordinary blue
stone. i\lso topazes, olivines, rubies, garnets,
tourmalines, and dozens of other varieties of
colored gems. This favored State has also one
of the largest pearl fisheries in the world, and
sends to Paris and London many perfectly spheri-
cal pearls of finest lustre.
Mr. Eraser, one of the directors of PVasers
Limited, who had just returned from a holiday
spent in digging opals in the firm's mine, showed
a number of photos, which he had taken both
1082
QUEENSLAND GEMS
1083
underground and on the surface of the Australian
opal mines.
Mining for opal is a simple process: — A
shaft is dug about 40 or 50 feet deep through the
capping of sandstone. Directly the clay is
struck a horizontal drive is made, having the
"band" at junction of sandstone and clay on the
roof. In this band the opal is found.
The life of an opal miner is full of interest.
It would be more pleasant if water had not to be
carted miles for camp use. The opal drives are
perfectly dry, and when ventilated are cool in
summer and warm in winter.
Sapphire digging has employed as many as 600
men at a time in the Clermont district of Queens-
land, where the wash is dug up and puddled before
the stones are sorted out. This is the only field
in the world where sapphires of five colors arc
dug in the one claim. At times a stone is found
one end of which is a different color to the other.
Wages of gem-cutters are about three times as
high in Queensland as in Germany before the war,
so it is only by having up-to-date electrical auto-
matic machines like those used by Messrs. Erasers
Limited, that Australia could compete with
foreign cutting.
Messrs. Erasers Limited, besides cutting
Queensland gems, melt the gold and mount the
cut stones as brooches and other jewellery for
shipment to Europe and America.
In the same workshop, spectacles and lenses of
all kinds are manufactured and ground, electrical
machines being used for all the work. It is to
the extension of such enterprises that Australian
Industry most look in the future. In her gems
Queensland possesses an asset of incalculable
value.
A Closer View of One of the Mine-Heads
Showing three miners and windlass for pulling up the buckets of opal dirt
en
■06
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H
CROWN LANDS LAWS OF AUSTRALIA
I
3
ay
(ii.)
Central Railway Station, Sydney
NEW SOUTH WALES: EPITOME OF CROWN LANDS LAWS.
(Compiled for Australia Unlimited hy Arthur J. Hare, Under-Secretary for I^ands, Sydney ;
by direction of the Minister, Hon. W. G. Ashford, M.L.A.)
ADMINISTRATION.
The Slate, for the purposes of the Crown Lands Acts is classi-
fied into three divisions — the Eastern, the Central, and the
Western. These divisions are merely arbitrary, but are important,
in view of the fact that the law, in many respects, differs in
each. The lines separating each division run irregularly north
and south. The total area of the State is 198,058,880 acres,
e.\clusive of Lord Howe Island, and the Commonwealth terri-
tory, of which the Eastern division contains apjiroximately
60,684,326 acres, the Central, 57,055,846 acres, and the Western,
80,318,708 acres.
The head office of the Department of Lands is in Sydney,
and is presided over by the Minister for Lands, the present
occupant of which office is The Hon. W. G. Ashford, M.L.A., the
permanent head of the Department being the Under-Secretary
for Lands, Arthur John Hare, Esq. Branches of the Department
are now situated at various parts of the State.
The Irrigation areas of the State are administered by the
Commissioners for Water Conservation and Irrigation, who
except as regards matters of public policy, have full control of
Irrigation settlement promoted by the State Government.
The Western division is under the management and control of
the Western Land Board, consisting of three Commissioners
created under the authority of and for the purpose of administer-
ing the Western Lands Acts. The Board is empowered to act as a
Local Land Board in all matters respecting lands in the Western
division which require to be ilealt with by a Local Land Board.
At the head office in Sydney an Information Bureau is in exis-
tence, where the fullest and latest particulars as to the situation of
available land in the Eastern and Central divisions of the State,
and the prices and conditions under which it may be taken up,
are obtainable. Information with regard lo the Western Lands
Acts and available land in the Western division may be obtained
from the office of the Western Land Board, George St., Sydne)
METHODS OF DISPOSAL OK CROWN LANDS.
The principal methods by which Crown Lands are now
alienated or leased are Settlement Purchase, Conditional Purchase,
Irrigation Farm, Homestead Farm, Suburban Holding
Purchase, by virtue of improvements, Conditional Lease,
Crown Lease, Week-end Lease, Lease within an Irrigation Area,
Residential Lease, Improvement Lease, Scrub Lease, Inferior
Lands Lease, Special Lease, Snow Lease, and Annual Lease.
Lands may also be obtained under Occupation Licence.
Prior to the year igi2, lands were also alienated or leased
as Homestead Selections, Settlement Leases, Conditional Purchase
Leases, and Special Conditional Leases ; but no areas are now
made available under such tenures, which are practically super-
seded by Homestead Farm, Crown Lease and Suburban Holding
tenures. Lands are not now thrown open for original Conditional
Purchase, but there are still large areas in many Districts
remaining available for selection under that class of holding.
Certain areas also contain land open for Special Conditional Pur-
(iil)
IV.
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
"The Hole in th« Wall"
(On the Bead from Glen Innes to Grafton)
chase lease. Land may also, in some instances, be disposed of
by Auction, after auction application or by Special Purchase if
considered desirable. Leases of town lands may also be offered
at Auction or by tender.
LIMITATIONS AS TO SELFXTING.
Provision is made to prevent the maximum area allowed for
the class of holding applied for being exceeded, except by way
of additionals as hereafter explained, and persons who have
previously selected are in special circumstances disqualified.
So that a selector may obtain a living area, it is provided (hal
the maximum area mentioned hereafter as being that which may
be obtained with respect to a Residential Conditional Purchase
series. Conditional Purchase Lease, Homestead Selection and
Settlement Lease, may (within areas specially set apart for
additional holdings) be exceeded by means of an additional
holding, which, together with all other lands held by the appli-
cant (except under lease having less than five years to run), does
not exceed such an area as in the opinion of the local Land
Board is sufficient for the maintenance of the selector's home
thereon in average seasons and circumstances.
Lands held by both husb,tnd and wife (unless where judicially
separated) are taken into account as if such lands were held
by one person. In order to make up a home maintenance area
Homestead Farms or Crown Leases may under certain conditions
be applied for as additional areas to other holdings held under
the Crown Lands Acts.
QUALIFICATIONS TO SELECT.
Any person of, or over the age of J6 years, if a male, or i8
years if a female — if otherwise not disqualified — may apply for
or otherwise acquire frsm the Crown, or may acquire from a
private person or hold any purchase (other than a non-residential
conditional purchase or a settlement purchase) selection, lease
other than a week-end lease or licence.
A person who is not natural born or a naturalised subject of
His Majesty is debarred from applying for an original con-
ditional purchase, an original conditional purchase lease, an
original homestead selection, or an original settlement lease until
he has resided in New South Wales for twelve months, and then
at the date of application he must lodge a declaration of his
intention to become a naturalised subject within five years from
that date. This residential limit of twelve months does not,
however, apply to applicants for homestead farms, crown leases,
suburban holdings, week-end leases, and leases within Irrigation
areas, but aliens who become the holders of those tenures shall
become naturalised within three years after becoming such holders,
under penalty of forfeiture of the land and all improvements
thereon.
A married woman is distjualified in most cases from applying
for an original holding, unless she is judicially separated and
actually living apart from her husband, but she may, out of
moneys belonging to her separate estate, apply for a homestead
farm or a Crown lease, or — where her husband has not acquired
one — a suburban holding.
If a woman should, while unmarric<l, make a conditional
purchase, she will be entitled after, as well as before, her
marriage, to make additional conditional purchases by virtue
of it.
Facilities for acquiring land under the Crown Lands Acts by
soldiers absent at the war are also provided. In such cases
applicalion and declaration may be made in name and behalf
of the absentee by a person duly appointed and empowered under
l)ower of Attorney to so act. Under the Returned .Soldiers' .Settle-
ment Act of 1916, special provision is made for the settlement
of returned soldiers on Crown lands or lands acquired under
the Closer Settlement Acts. Under this Act land may be sel
apart for disposal to returned soldiers only, and the Minister
may assist such settlers thereunder with respect to clearing, fenc-
ing and general improvement of the land, erection of buildings,
purchase of implements, stock and other things necessary (0 satis-
factorily occu]n' and develop the land.
RESIDENCE CENERALLV.
Residence in certain circumstances may be suspended or remitted
or may be carried out on a holding of a member of the same
family, or on another of applicant's holdings, or in a village
or town or elsewhere within reasonable distance, with the consent
of the Land Board.
CONDITIONAL PURCHASES.
The Conditional Purchase (or, as it is sometimes called, the
Free Selection) system, dates back to the year 1861. As the words
imply, a conditional purchase is a purchase in fee simple, subject
to the fulfilment of certain conditions before the grant can be
obtained. These conditions include residence for a term of ten
years, the fencing or other improvement of the land, and the
payment by annual instalments of the purchase money with
interest at 2i per cent, per annum. A conditional purchase may
be of land in the Eastern or Central divisions, and may comprise
unreserved country land not held under lease. The fact of
land being held under annual lease or occupation licence and
containing improvements is not a bar to purchase, nor is survey
or classification of the land a necessary preliminary. If an appli-
cant selects land containing improvements, he accepts an obliga-
tion to pay for them, but payment may be spread over a period
and arranged for in instalments. In either of the divisions
mentioned the minimum area which may hi- selected as an original
conditional purchase is 40 acres, the maximum area being in the
Eastern Division, 1,280 and in the Central division 2.560 acres.
The maximum areas referred to may be acquired at intervals.
(v.)
VI.
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
that is to say, the selector may take up a comparatively small
area at first, and gradually supplement it by what are called
additional purchases.
No Crown lands are now set apart for Conditional Purchase,
but there are, throughout the Eastern and Central divisions,
considerable areas available for selection under this tenure. Where
the land has not been set ajjart at a ]irice it is obtainable at
a statutory price of £i per acre; and in other cases, at prices
above or below £i per acre, as fixed by the notification setting
the land apart. In any case, an applicant may obtain an appraise-
ment of an area not in excess of a living area by making the
necessary application within the prescribed periods. Lands avail-
able for Conditional Purchase are also available for Conditional
of an additional holding as previously explained. With his
application, wdiich must be made on the proper form and lodged
with the Crown Land Agent, he is required to pay, if the rent
has not been notified, a deposit of 2d. per acre (which is taken
as a provisional rental until such time as the Land Board ap-
praises the yearly rental of the land), and also a survey fee. The
lease has a term of forty years, and is subject to the same con-
ditions of residence, fencing, or improvements as are attached to
a conditional purchase. The selector may reside on cither the
purchase or the lease. The lessee has the right at any time to
convert his lease, either wholly or partly, into a conditional pur-
chase.
The term of the lease is divided into three periods, two of
15 years each, and one of 10 years. The annual rent for each
A New South Wales Station Homestead: Dungalear
Lease in association therewith (see Conditional Leases). A
dejjosit of l/- for every £ of purchase money and survey fee, or
one-tenth thereof, must be paiil with the application. Stamp duty
is also required.
A conditional purchase may be converted into a homestead
farm.
CONDITIONAL LP;ASES.
Conditional leases are associated with residential conditional
purchases, and are obtainable in areas available for conditional
purchase by virtue of conditional purchases applied for or held.
The conditional lease must adjoin the conditional purchase by
virtue of which it is applied for unless it be a conditional lease
of land within an area set apart for additional holdings. .See
last paragraph under heading "Limitation as to Selecting." The
maximum area that can be leased is limited to an area three times
as great as that of the conditional purchase, but the area of the
purchase and lease combined must not exceed 1,280 acres in the
Eastern, or 2,560 acres in the Central division, except by means
period may, on the application of the lessee, or on a reference
by the Minister, be separately determined.
CONDITION ATTACHED TO CONDITIONAL PUR-
CHASES AND CONDITIONAL LEASES
The resilience term is ten years, and must be entered ujion
within three months after confirmation unless suspension is
granted. Other conditions are fencing of boundaries or improve-
ments to be effected.
NON-RESIDENTIAL CONDITIONAL PURCHASES.
Non-residential Conditional Purchases are another class of
holding, as the name denotes, without residence, but subject to
certain other conditions.
ANNUAL LEASES.
Annual leases of unoccupied land, not reserved from lease, may
be obtained for grazing purposes, on application to the local
I
(vii.)
Vlll.
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Crown Land Agent and payment of a deposit of £l los. for each
320 acres or less area, or may be offered by auction or tender.
They carry no security of tenure, but are somewhat largely
availed of for temporary purposes; and if the land should not
be absorbed by conditional purchase, etc., they are renewable
from year to year by payment of rent in advance on or before
the 30th September. No one lease can comprise more than 1,920
acres ; but there is no statutory limit to the number of leases any
one person may hold. No conditions of residence or improve-
ments are attached to them, the only condition being, as already
explained, payment of rent annually in advance.
With respect to a lease applied for, the rent is appraised by
the local Land Board, and the application is subject to the
Minister's approval. The Minister may, after three months'
notice, terminating at the end of the then current year, cancel
any annual lease. In certain circumstances an annual lease may
be converted into a lease under improvem'"' conditions for a
term not exceeding ten years.
SPECIAL LEASES.
The law provides for a class of leases termed Special Leases.
Such leases are chiefly to meet cases where land is required for
some industrial or business purpose — such for example, as for a
brick kiln, tannery, wool-washing establishment, etc., etc. — but
land may be obtained for many other purposes, including grazing
and agriculture. Land under the sea or under the waters of any
harbor, lake, river, etc., is deemed to be Crown lands, and may
be leased for the erection of wharves, bathing places, etc. A
special lease may be obtained on application at an appraised rent,
or disposed of at auction or otherwise. No one lease can exceed
320 acres, but there is no statutory limit to the number of leases
The Waratah
any one person may hold. The term of lease cannot exceed 28
years. The conditions are accommodated to the circumstances
of each case. The rent is payable annually in advance.
Application for a special lease is made to the Crown Land
Agent for the district with a deposit of £3 and a survey fee
according to a fixed scale.
Provision is made for the conversion of special leases for cer-
tain purposes into (i) a conditional purchase lease, (2) a con-
ditional purchase, (3) a homestead selection, (4) a settlement
lease, (5) a conditional lease, and (6) a homestead farm.
RESIDENTIAL LEASES.
A "Residential Lease" of land within a gold or mineral field
may be granted to the holder of what is termed a "Miner's
Right." Such right is obtainable under the provisions of the
Mining Act. Application for the lease is made to the local
Crown Land Agent with a deposit of £1, a pruvisional rent of
IS. per acre, and a survey fee according to a fixed scale. The
maximum area which may be leased is 20 acres, and the maximum
term of the lease is 28 years. The rent is determined by the
Land Board, and is payable annually in advance. The Minister
may at any time direct a re-appraisement of rent. The principal
conditions of the lease are residence during the currency of the
lease, and the erection within twelve months from the commence-
ment of the lease of such buildings and fences as are necessary for
the performance of this condition. The lessee is given tenant-
right in improvements.
Provision is made for the purchase, on application, by the
holder of a residential lease at any time after the expiry of the
first five years of the lease.
HOMESTEAD FARMS.
A homestead farm is a lease in perpetuity, and for which after
five years from confirmation, a grant will be issued subject to
conditions of residence and payment of rent. Crown lands are set
apart and subdivided into blocks for homestead farms, full par-
ticulars being notified in the Government Gazette as to the area
of each block, attached conditions, capital values, rental, and
estimated value of improvements, etc., together with the date
when the land will become open to application.
Crown Lands available for Conditional Purchase (unless other-
wise notified in the Gazette) are also available for Homestead
Farms. Land may also be set apart by Gazette notification for
Homestead Farms — applications therefor being limited to persons
who hold certain lands — to provide a home maintenance area.
Qualifications to Apply. — Any person (including an alien)
who : —
(a) Does not own or hold under any tenure — other than a
lease having less than five years to run (unless such lease
confers a right or power to purchase the freehold which
right or power may still be e.xercised) ; or
(b) Owned or held under any such tenure, and has not
divested himself of the ownership thereof or purported
so to do, in order to evade the provisions of the Act —
an area (except town or suburban land within population
boundaries the value of which exclusive of improvements
does not exceed one hundred pounds) which when added to
the area of the homestead farm applied for may be held by
the local Land Board to be substantially in excess of a home
maintenance area, may apply for any block notified as a
homestead farm.
A married woman may, with moneys belonging to her for he"
separate estate, apply for and thereafter hold a homestead farm.
A person shall be disqualified from being an applicant for a
homestead farm if —
(1) under the age of 16 years, if a male, or
(2) under the age of 18, if a female, or
(3) subject to any legal disability other than marriage ot
coverture, or to any disqualification specially mentioned
or provided in the Crown Lands Consolidation Act, 1913
CROWN LANDS LAWS OF NEW SOUTH WALES
tx.
A Flock of Merino Stud Rams
A person not qualified to apply for a honiesteail farm shall also
be incompetent to hold a homestead farm, except on devolution
under the will or intestacj' of a deceased holder.
A person who is rendered incompetent under suli section (b)
may apply, if he obtains and lodges with his application a cer-
tificate by the Minister, that the circumstances under which he
divested himself of the land do not warrant his disqualification.
Any alien who becomes the holder of a homestead farm must
become naturalised within three years, under penalty of forfeiture
of all his interests in such farm together with all improvements
thereon.
In estimating what constitutes a home maintenance area, the
joint area held by husband and wife (unless where judicially
separated) is taken into account as if such lands were held by
one person.
Rent is at the date of 2 J per cent, of the capital value, and
must be paid half-yearly in advance. The capital value of each
farm for the first twenty-five years period is fixed by the Minister,
and notified in Gazette setting the land apart. If the applicant
is dissatisfied with such value, he is entitled to have it appraised
by the local Land Board on application in the |)rescribed form
lodged within twelve months after confirmation. The prescribed
application must be accompanied by the fee of £3. During the
first five years of the lease of the farm, the lessee may, instead
of payment of rent, expend during each year a sum equal to rent
for such year on improvements of a fixed, permanent and sub-
[ stantial character, the same (except boundary fencing) being in
addition to those which may be otherwise required as a condition
of improvement or expenditure of the lease. Lessee must notify
his intention on the prescribed form at least three months prior
to date when rent for the period will become due.
In the event of a transfer being approved, within ten years
from confirmation, the transferror may, at the Minister's dis-
cretion, pay to the Crown a sum, not exceeding the rent so re-
served and unpaid during the first five years of the lease. The
annual rent for each subsequent 20 years' period is at 2j per
cent, of the capital value or separately determined by the Board,
exclusive of improvements on the farm owned or efl'ected by the
lessee, but inclusive of improvements owned by the Crown.
Applicatictt and Survey Fee. — Application must be made on the
prescribed form and must be accompanied by the survey fee or
Ht least one-tenth thereof, and a half-year's rent, or a notification
that the applicant intends to elTect improvements in lieu of pay-
ing such rent. The balance of survey fee is payable in nine
annual instalments with interest at the rate of 4 per cent, per
annum.
Neither deposit nor survey fee need accompany an application
for a holding within a classified area if such be lodged during
first week land becomes available, but must be paid (unless
improvements are to be effected in lieu of rent) as directed by
the Land Board.
The application must be lodged personally by the applicant,
or by a duly authorised agent, or sent by post to the Crown Land
Agent of the district in which the land is situated; if sent by
post, it is preferable to transmit the amount required by postal
notes, money order, or bank draft.
Applications lodged or received by post during the week be
tween Monday and Saturday next following, both inclusive, will,
when conflicting together, be deemed to have been lodged simul-
taneously on such Monday; but applications which do not conflict
will take effect on the date of receipt by the Crown Land Agent,
but if any Monday is a public holiday, conflicting applications
lodged or received during the week will be held to have been
lodged simultaneously at the Lands Office d.iy next following
such Monday.
Consideration by Land Board. — The Land Board of the dis-
trict or any other Land Board in the Slate, if specially directed
by the Minister at the applicant's request, considers all applica-
tions as soon as practicable after lodgment and when necessary
directs a ballot.
Conditions. — The conditions to be fulfilled are: —
Perpetual residence.
Payment of rent and balance of survey fee.
Payment of value of improvements not owned by the Crown,
if any, on the land when applied for.
Any special condition notified when land is set apart must
also be carried out.
The residence condition is perpetual and commences within six
months after confirmation of the application; the Land Board
may, however, on application, permit the lessee to reside in a
village, or town, within reasonable distance for the purpose of
educating his family. Where the farm is difficult of access, or it
is otherwise undesirable that the holder or his family should be
compelled to live thereon, the Board may also permit residence
AUSTRAIJA UNLIMITED
to be carried out anywhere witliin a reasonable working distance
of such farm. It is further provided that in certain circumstances
residence may, with consent of the Chairman or Board, be carried
out on the holding of a member of the same family.
Residence may also, with permission, be suspended or remitted
for such period as the Board may determine, or be carried out
on another holding of the selector within reasonable working
distance.
I'rolfclion against Sale for Debt. — .K liomestead farm may.
under certain conditions, be protected by registering an instru-
ment in the prescribed form with the Crown Land Agent, accom-
panied by a fee of £i. Where the grant his issued the instrument
must be lodged with the Registrar-General, accompanied by a fee
of los.
S ,
Transjer. — .A. homestead farm is not transferable other than
by way of mortgage until five years' residence has been com-
pleted, unless in case of sickness of lessee or family, or other
adverse circumstances, and with approval of the Minister, or in
cases of death or lunacy of holder, or by an execution creditor,
or by a mortgagee who has submitted the land for sale by auction.
A transfer cannot be made to a person who would hold more
than a lionie maintenance area. The Minister's consent to any
transfer is necessary. Transfers of homestead farms, where trans
ferabU* before grants, must be lodged with the Crown Land Agent
in the prescribed form, with parchment copy, and be accompanied
by a fee of 7s. fid. and amount of stamp duty. Application for
the Minister's consent to transfer by way of sale, mortgage, lease,
or otherwise, must be in the prescribed form and be accompanied
bv a fee of los.
CROWN LEASES.
A Crown lease has a term of 45 years. The title commences
from the dale of application, if valid. During the last five
years of the term the holder may, with the approval of the
Minister, unless the contrary be specified in the notification set
ting apart the land, convert so much of it as will not e.\ceed a
home maintenance area into a homestead farm.
Available Land. — Such lands may be applied for as are notified
from time to time in the Government Gazette as available for
Crown lease.
Crown Lands available for Conditional Purchases (unless
otherwise notified in llie Gazette) are also available for Crown
Lease.
Appliealion, Rent, an,l Snrvey Fee. — The provisions for ilie
making of applications for Crown leases and their lodgment with
the Crown Land Agent are very similar to those that govern the
making of applications for homestead farms. A half-year's rent,
at the rate of i\ per cent, of the capital value and at least one
tenth of the survey fee, must (unless deferred, as in the case of
hcvmestead farms) accompany the application. The capital value
of each lease for the first period of fifteen years is fixed by
the Minister and notified in the Gazette setting the land apart,
but if the applicant is dissatisfied with such value he is eniitleil
to have it appraised by the local Land Board on application
within twelve months after confirmatiim in the prescribcil lorni.
The rent must be paid half-yearly in advance; annual rent shall
not be less than £1. ,\ survey fee in the same proportion as
that provided for in connection with homestead farms must also
be paid in connection with a Crown lease.
Rent for the first year of the lease will be remilled if in
addition to any improvement or expenditure condit.'(m attached to
the lease the lessee expends in effecting on the lease improve-
ments of a permanent fixed and substantial character a sum equal
to the rent for that year. Intention to so effect additional im-
provements must be notified at least three months prior to expira-
tion of first year of lease.
Residence. — The lessee shall reside on the land leased during
the whole term of the lease, and such residence shall commence
within six months after the confirmation of the application for
the lease, but the local Land Board has the same power of
modifying the condition as it possesses in respect to a homestead
farm.
Proleelion against .^ale for Debt. — A Crown lease may, under
certain conditions, be jirolected by registration, as in the case of
homestead farms.
Transfer. — The provision for and the restrictions in regard to
transfer are similar to those that govern such action in connec-
tion with homestead farms. Transfer i,/ust be lodged with the
Under-.Secretary for Lands, accompanied by a fee of £1. Stamp
duty must also be paid.
Conversitin. — During the last five years of the lease, unless
debarred by the notification setting the land apart, the holder may.
with the Minister's approval, convert so much as the Land Board
considers does not exceed a home maintenance area into a home-
stead farm.
SL'BIRBAN HOLDINGS.
A suburban holding is a lease in perpetuity, and is subject to
the contiitions of perpetual residence and payment of rent. After
five years, provided conditions have been fulfilled, a perpetual
lease grant will issue, subject to conditions attaching to the
holding.
Qualifications to apply or hold a Suburban Ilc'.iing. — Any
person (including an alien, who must become naturalised within
three years after becoming the holder) whose wife or husband
CROWN LANDS LAWS OF NEW SOUTH WALES
XI.
(unless judicially separated) has not ac(|uired a suburban hold-
ing and who is —
(a) net under the age of i6 years, if a male ;
(*) not under the age of i8, if a female;
(i-) not subject to any legal disability, other than nonage or
coverture ;
may apply for a suburban holding.
The disqualifications shall not apply to any person who becomes
entitled to a suburban holding under the will or intestacy of a
deceased holder, or in cases of possession by a mortgagee or
execution creditor.
Available Laiit/s. — Only such lands arc available as may be
notified from time to time in the GoTernmeut Gazette and the
applicant is restricted to one holding as set apart.
Application, Rent, and Suri<i-y Fee. — The provision for the
making of applications for suburban holdings, and their lodg
ment with the Crown Land Agents, are similar to those that
govern the making of applications for homestead farms. A half-
year's rent at the rate of 2j per cent, of the capital value of
the land and at least one-tenth of the survey fee must accompany
the application, unless deferred as in the case of a Homestead
Kami, the rent must be paid half-yearly in advance, and the
annual rent shall in no instance be less than 5/-. The capital
value of each holding for the first period of twenty years is fixed
by the Minister, and notified in the Gazette setting the land apart.
For each subsequent twenty years' period the annual rent is 2i
per cent, of the capital value as separately determined by the local
Land Hoard, exclusive of improvements effected or owned by the
holder, but inclusive of Crown improvements. A survey fee, in
the same proportions as that provided for in connection with
homestead farms, must also be paid in connection with
suburban holdings.
Protection against Sale jor Debt. — A suburban holding may,
under certain conditions, be protected by registration, as in the
case of a homestead farm.
Transjers. — A transfer must be to a person (jualified to apply
for a suburban holding, but, as already pointed out, this does
not apply to any person upon whom such a holding devolves
under the will or intestacy of a deceased holder, or in cases of
possession by a mortgagee or execution creditor. Transfers,
where transferable before grant, must be lodged with the Crown
Land Agent on the proper form with panhment copy, and accom-
panied by a fee of 7s. 6d. and stamp duty.
IRRIGATION FARMS.
An irrigation farm lease is a lease in perpetuity, the princip.1l
conditions att.aching thereto being perpetual residence and pay-
ment of rent (based on 2j per cent, of capital value), and (he
carrying out of such other conditions as may be notified when the
land is set apart.
The capital value is gazetted for a period of 25 years, at the
end of which time it is re-appraised for a period of 20 years, and
is subject to similar re-appraisement for every subsequent 20
years' period.
Only such lands are available as may be notified from time to
lime in the Government Gazette, and must be taken in areas as
notified.
The land may be protected against sale for debt as in the case
of Homestead Farms, etc. Any person other than a married
woman not judicially separated of or over 16 years of age, if a
male, or of or over 18 years, if a female, or two or more persons
jointly may apply.
An alien is not barred, but he must become naturalised within
tliree years under penalty of forfeiture. Transferable with con-
sent of the Commissioner for Water Conservation and Irriga-
tion at expiration of five years ; earlier transfer only in case of
sickness or other adverse circumstances, death or lunacy of se-
lector, seizure for debt. Lands may also be disposed of as town
lands and non-irrigable land. Town lands blocks may be dis-
posed of by auction.
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(xii.)
VICTORIA : INFORMATION TO INTENDING SETTLERS.
Supplied for Publication in Australia Unlimited hy direction of the Minister in charge of
Immigration, Hon. W. Hutchinson, M.L.A., Melbourne.
The settlement of the land in Victoria is carried out under
three distinct headings, according to the class of land to be
disposed of, and its suitability for different branches of agri-
cultural production.
Crown lands, other than lands accjuircd for Closer Settlement,
which are disposed of by the Lands Purchase and Management
Hoard or the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission, are
dealt with by the Crown Lands Department. The Commission,
allots irrigable land to settlers and supervises their operations.
CROWN LANDS.
Ordinary Crown lands are generally unimproved, and are
situated in the more remote portions of the State. About
13,000,000 acres remain in the hands of the Crown, of which
nearly 5,000,000 acres are known as "Mallee lands" (wheat
growing).
Available Crown lands are divided into the following classes : —
Agricultural and grazing lands (including Mallee lands).
Swamp or reclaimed lands.
Special settlement areas,
Auriferous lands,
Land for sale by auction,
and the methods of acquiring such lands will be found briefly
stated iu the following jiaragraphs. Selectors should make
themselves thoroughly acquainted with the conditions, which arc
fully set out in every title issued.
AGRICULTURAL AND GRAZING LANDS.
SELECTION PURCHASE LEASES.
The land available for selection is divided into three (3)
classes, and may be secured umler very easy terms. Selection,
the popular method of acquiring land, permits a settler to obtain
land which, together with any country land held by him, shall
not exceed £2,500 in value. The land is selected under a
Selection Purchase Lease, which has a currency of 20 years, or,
if preferred, of 40 years. The half-yearly payments of rents
are credited towards purchasing money. The table subjoined
shews the maximum area which may be selected, the rental
charged and the improvements it is necessary to effect on each
class of land resjjectively.
The lease is not negotiable during the first six years of its
currency, nor can the land be sub-let, but a lien may be regis-
tered to the value of the improvements effected on the land.
After six years, if the conditions of the lease have been complied
with, the lessee may obtain a Crown Grant by paying the balance
Tea-Tree on the Sea-Shore
EXPLANATORY SELECTION TABLE.
I
(a) Value per Acre.
(6) Value of Improvements per Acre to be effected by a Selection
Purchase Lessee before the end of Specified Periods-
■D
C
Area.
a.
is
Annual Rental
(payable half-yearly).
Residence Lease (Section 46.
Land Act 1915).
Non-Residence Lease
Section 50. Land Act 1915).
0
1
s
0
(A*
If
T3 0
u u
C
"(3
20-Year
Period (Resi-
dence or Non-
Residence.)
40-Year
Period
(Residence
only).
>
•a
c
U
V
U
rr,
a
>
"to
s
>■
C
■H
en
g
u
a
u
s
1st
2nd
3rd
Ac.
200
320
640
Ac.
640
1,000
1,280
15/-
10/.
per Ac.
1/-
9d.
6d.
pet Ac.
6d.
4id.
3d.
3/4
2/6
6/8
5/-
5/-
10/6
7/6
Total.
£1
15/-
10/.
6/8
5/-
3/4
13/4
10/-
6/8
£1
15/-
10/-
1/6/8
1/13/4
Total.
15/-
10/-
(a) Under Section 8, Land Act 1J15. the value may be fixed higher if the value of the land is greater than the minimum stated, in
which case the lialfyearly payments are increased pro rata.
(b) \nv oavment made by an incoming applicant for existing improvements is credited as expenditure, and improvements made in
excess for any one year (if maintained) are set off against expenditure required the next or followmg years.
(xiii.)
XIV.
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
of purchase money due, but, should he prefer, he may con-
tinue to hold, under the lease, which is then made a negotiable
document, and the title may be operated on as freely as a Crown
Grant, into which it may be transformed at any time, on pay-
ment of the balance of purchase money.
SELECTIONS OF MALLEE LANDS.
The facilities for selection are extended to the Mallee lands,
the great wheat-growing areas of this State. The table supplies
information respecting these lands also.
AURIFEROUS LANDS.
Provision is made for the acquisition of small blocks on auri-
ferous lands in order that persons may establish homes and
su]>i)lement their other means of livelihood.
LAND FOR SALE BY AUCTION.
Crown allotments in cities, towns and boroughs, and isolated
blocks up to 50 acres may be sold by public auction on very
liberal terms.
SWAMP OR RECLAIMED LANDS.
Swamp or reclaimed lands are disposed of in areas not
exceeding as a rule 160 acres (acording to the quality of the
land and the cost of reclamation) under the following con-
ditions : —
(a) Under Conditional Purchase Lease, the purchase money,
together with interest at 4* per cent, per annum, being
payable by equal half-yearly instalments embracing a
period not exceeding 314 years.
(*) Under Perpetual Lease, with an annual rental equal to
4 per cent, of the value of the land, and subject to
re-assessment every ten years,
(c) Sale by Auction, as in the case of other Crown lands.
BEE FARMS.
Annual licences for Bee Farms may be granted (not more
than three to any one holder for areas not exceeding a total of
10 acres at an annual rcnlal of I /- (24 cents) per acre. No Bee
Farm Licence is issued without a Bee Range Licence, which
may be secured by payment of Jd. (i cent) per annum for every
acre of Crown lands within a radius of one mile of the apiary,
and all timber suitable for bees may be protected from destruc-
tion on any such areas, even though held under grazing leases
or licences.
GRAZING LICENCES.
Pastoral lands, which comprise a large proportion of the
Crown lands of Victoria awaiting development, and also any
other Crown lands or reserves, may be licensed for grazing pur-
poses only. The area which may be held is unlimited, and the
rental charged is based on the value of the land for grazing
purposes. Licences are renewable annually for any term not
exceeding seven years, with the right to fence and make d.ims.
])rovided the permission of the Minister be first obtaiiieil, hut a
licence may be cancelled at any time.
SPECIAL SETTLEMENT AREAS.
Special Settlement Areas may be ])roclaimed where expenditure
for the imi)rovement of the lands has been incurreil by the
Crown. The land may be accpiired under a Conditional Purchase
Lease. The maximum area allowed is 200 acres. The Crown
Grant will contain a condition that the lan<l sh.all be used for
the purposes of agriculture and residence.
GENERAL CONDITIONS.
Applicants for land, whether male or female, must be of the
full age of eighteen years.
Successful applicants are required to pay the cost of survey,
and the valuation of improvements (if any) on the land, either
in cash or by instalments.
A permit to occupy the land may, if desired, be issued imme-
diately after the first rent has been paid.
Any person who has complied with the conditions of his Selec-
tion Purchase Lease may be granted a suspension of payments
of instalments up to 60 per cent, of the value of the unencum-
bered improvements he has effected.
Monthly and fortnightly lists of lands available are published
which supply fidl details of lands available in all ])arts of the
State.
A Fern GitUy, Victoria
Cymbidiiuu canaliculatum
(XV.)
XVI.
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
TERMS AND CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH CLOSER
SETTLEMENT LANDS MAY BE ACQUIRED.
The Closer Settlement of repurchased land has been one of the
principal features in the policies of successive Governments since
1898, when the first legislation was introduced.
Changing conditions and matured experience have since that
period given rise to considerable amendment and liberalization
of the Closer .Settlement Acts. The extension of the railway
systems and improvement generally of transit facilities each year
brings new areas within the requirements which are regarded as
essential to successful settlement. Proximity to the railway,
towns, markets, churches, schools, banks, post-offices, &c., con-
siderably reduces the diflicultics of the new settler.
Agricultural Labourer's Allotment to £350 ($1,680).
Workman's Home to £250 ($1,200).
(3) Allotments are sold under a conditional purchase lease
having a term of 31J years. Applicants are required to lodge a
deposit equal to 3 per cent, of the capital value of the land
applied for, together with £1 Js. ($6.00) lease and registration
fees. In the event of an application being unsuccessful, all
moneys lodged, less the registration fee of 5s. ($1.20), is re-
turned.
(4) Residence upon the allotment, or upon the estate of which
the allotment forms a part, or upon land adjoining the estate and
not separated from it by more than a road or water-course, is
compulsory for eight months in each year, in the case of a farm
A Lord of the Forest. An old Gum-tree used as a Church, Gippsland.
The terms and conditions under which Closer Settlement lands
may be acquired are within the means of any person of moderate
capital and experience. The measure of assistance which may be
given under the Act enables the settler to erect the necessary dwell-
ing, out-buildings, and fencing during the early years of settle-
ment without undue strain on his own resources.
GENERAL CONDITIONS GOVERNING THE SALE OF
CLOSER SETTLEMENT LANDS.
(1) Applicants, male or female, must be over the age of
eighteen years.
(2) The maximum value of land which may be held by one
lessee is — Farm Allotment to £2,500 ($12,000), except in the case
of an allotment where a valuable homestead is erected, when the
value of the land may be increased to £4,000 ($19,200).
holding. In the cases of Agricultural Labourers' and Work-
men's Allotments, residence for eight months in each year is also
compulsory, and each lessee by himself or his family must reside
on his own allotment. Provision is made for substituted residence
on a farm allotment during the first three years of the lease con-
ditionally on the application being made when the land is applied
for. The substitute must comply with the residence condition
for the prescribed period in each year, and otherwise fulfil the
requirements of the lease. On all Closer Settlement land the
residence condition carries on into the Crown grant, when
obtained, and any sub-lessee or transferee must also comply in
this particular. Leave of absence from the land may be obtained
under special conditions.
(5) Upon a farm allotment it is a condition of the lease that
permanent and substantial improvements to an amount equivalent
to 6 per cent, of the capital value of the land shall be effected
CROWN LANDS LAWS OF VICTORIA
XVII.
TreeFerns.
by lessee before the end of the first year. Before the end of the
third year, the value of the improvements must be increased to
io per cent., and by the end of the sixth year to a total value
f 20 per cent, of the capital value of the land.
Where substituted residence is granted as provided in par. 4
nprovements must be effected as under: — Before the end of the
rst year, to the value of 10 per cent, of the purchase money ;
I the increased value of 5 per cent, during the second year; and
■ a further increased value of 5 per cent, during the third year;
and to the total value of 30 per cent, before the end of the si.\th
year of the term of the lease.
L'lKjn an Agricultural Labourer's Allotment a substantial dwell-
ing to the value at least of £30 ($144) must be erected by the
end of the first year, and the boundaries of the allotment must
be securely fenced by the end of the second year.
Upon a Workmen's Home Allotment a substantial dwelling to
the value at least of £50 ($240) must be erected within the first
year of the lease, and other improvements to the value of a fur-
ther £25 ($120) before the end of the second year. On estates
within the metropolitan area the Board is empowered to advance
£250 ($1,200) towards the erection of a suitable dwelling, con-
ditionally on the lessee contributing at least £50 ($240) in cash.
(6) In the case of a farm allotment, the lessee may after the
first si.\ years of his lease transfer, sublet, assign, or mortgage
the whole or part of the allotment. Within the first six years of
his lease, under special circumstances, a lessee may be allowed
til surrender his allotment, and sell his interest in the improve-
ments efl^ected by him. The lease of the incoming person com-
mences from the date of his occupation.
In the cases of Agricultural Labourers' and Workmen's Homes
Allotments, lessees may transfer, sublet, assign, or mortgage at
any time with the consent of the Board conditionally on the
transferee or assignee being eligible and willing to comply with
the conditions of the lease.
(7) The Crown Grant may be obtained at the end of any half-
year after the first twelve years of the lease have expired on
payment of the balance of the purchase money. Residence by
the owner or occupier for the time being is required under the
Crown Grant.
(8) The Closer Settlement Acts provide that where through
unforeseen circumstances settlers cannot meet instalments punc-
tually, they may obtain a temporary susjwnsion thereof up to
60 per cent, of the security value of the permanent and sub
stantial improvements effected by them, or an advance up to the
same amount, provided the instalments are paid to date, may be
obtained for a fixed |)eriod in order to enable them to continue
working and further improving their allotments. All advances
or suspensions carry an interest charge of 5 per cent, per- annum
upon the amount suspended or advanced. The maximum advance
or suspension which may be made to a settler on a farm allotment
on account of improvements efl^ected within the first six years of
his lease is £500 ($2,400). If the lease has been in existence
over six years, the Board may increase the advance by an amount
up to 60 per cent, of the principal which has been repaid, the
total advance not to exceed £1,000 ($4,800).
(9) Advances may be made to licensees or lessees under cer-
tain sections of the Land Acts, not being Closer Settlement lesse---s.
Such advances are made only up to 60 per cent, of the security
value of the permanent and substantial improvements effected by
llie licensee or lessee, and are repayable over a period of years
not exceeding twenty, and carry an interest charge of 5 per cent.
Interest and principal are repayable half-yearly.
(10) Where advances or suspension of instalments are made,
the insurable improvements must be insured, either with the
Board or an outside company. If insured with the latter the
policy must be in the joint names of the lessee and the Secretary.
Lands Purchase Board. Premiums must be paid by the lessee.
AVAILABLE ALLOTMENTS.
All information in regard to the allotments available for appli-
cation, together with amount of instalment thereon and cost of
improvements, if any, should- be made to the .Secretary of the
Lands Purchase Board, or the Inquiry Branch of the Lands De-
partment. Railway tickets at half rates will be available
for the purposes of inspection. Occupation of lands available
will be given immediately on approval of the application by the
Board, and on payment of the fees due.
IRRIGATION AREAS.
The State has acquired and subdivided land in Irrigation
Districts, and offers it to settlers, under the Closer Settlement
conditions above described, in holdings of from 2 to 100 acres,
and at prices varying from £6 ($28.80) to £30 ($144.00) per
acre.
Each holding is connected by channel with the Government
Water Supply Works (administered by the Stale Rivers and
Water Supply Commission, Melbourne).
The most northerly areas, those within the Cohuna, Koon-
drook. Swan Hill, Nyah and Merbein Districts, are supplied
from the Murray Rirer, while the .Shepparton, Stanhope, Tongala
and Rochester areas in the famous Goulburn Valley are served
from its principal tributary, the Goulburn. The Werribee Dis-
trict, in the Southern portion of the State, and within 17 miles
of Melbourne, is supplied from the Werribee River.
Water for irrigation is supplied by the Commission at the
boundaries of the settlers' holdings, the charges made being only
those necessary to cover the cost of supply, without profit. These
charges range, in the Northern districts, from 5/- ($1.20) for
gravitation water, to 15/- ($3.60) for pumped water, per acre
foot of the water delivered to the irrigator. The charge at
Werribee, where there are special conditions, is at present 20/-
($4.80) per acre foot.
The Commission makes a practice of advising and assisting
settlers, in the matter of the erection of buildings, preparation of
land for cultivation, and generally regarding dairy farming and
other forms of agriculture under irrigation.
Applications are invited from intending settlers, or those inter-
ested in irrigaticn. Full and reliable information will be fur-
nished all enquirers.
Applications and all letters should be addressed to the State
Rivers and Water .Supply Commission, Melbourne, Victoria,
Australia.
s
•a
pq
c3
O
O
(xviii.)
QUEENSLAND'S LAND LAWS
(Information supplied by the Secretary for Lands, by direction of the Hon. the Premier).
Land Laws. — Queensland offers her broad acres of exceptionally
fertile lands to settlers on the most liberal terms and conditions
in the world. At the present time there are many millions of
acres of 2Kriciilfurai and grazing lands available for selection,
made up as follows : — Agricultural farms, prickly-pear selections,
grazing farms. These areas may be taken up under the follow-
ing modes and conditions: — (i) Agricultural selections, i.e.,
agricultural farms, perpetual leases, agricultural homesteads, and
free homesteads; (2) Grazing Selections. i.e., grazing
homesteads and grazing farms; (3) Prickly Pear Selections;
.'4) Unconditional Selections. Priority is given to applications
for land under the perpetual leases clause of the Act.
Agricultural farms suitable for dairy and general farming,
may be taken up in areas up to 2,560 acres under personal resi-
dence conditions at prices ranging from los. per acre upwards,
the payments therefor extending over 20 years. The annual
rental is one-fortieth of the jjurchasing price.
Perpetual Lease Selections. — The conditions of personal resid-
ence and improvements as jirescribed for agricultural farms apply
to selections under this mode. Rent for first period of 10 years,
li per cent, on the notified purchasing price of agricultural farms,
^'he rent for each succeeding period of ten years is determined by
and Court.
Afjr'uultnral Homesteads. — Maximum area, 320 acres; price,
6d. per acre ; annual rent, 3(1. per acre ; term, 10 years. These
eas are only available in remote localities.
Grazing Selections. — Maximum area, 60,000 acres ; personal
esidence conditions, improvements compulsory; rent, from iJd.
per acre upwards ; term of lease, not to exceed 28 years. Annual
rentals after first period of seven years are determined by Land
Court.
Unconditional Selection. — Maximum area, 1280 acres; price,
from 13s. 4d. per acre upwards, payable in twenty annual instal-
ments.
Prickly Pear Selections. — Maximum area, 2560 acres ; lease, 25
years, divided into two periods ; peppercorn rental during first
period, compulsory eradication of prickly pear. In the case of
liadly infested land, it is optional for the Lands Department to
iilfer a bonus to the selector for the clearing of the land, and when
freed from the pest, he is entitled to a i\ei!i\ of grant without
any payment except the deed fees.
Selection by Aliens. — h\\ aliens must become naturalised before
(hey can acquire land, and pass a test in reading and writing in
Iluch language as the Minister for Lands may direct. .>\n alien
pust reside two yecirs in the Commonwealth before he can
leconie naturalised.
F
sett
IHP"
■Issislance to Settlers. — The Government issues to the intending
settler desirous of inspecting Crown lands with a view to select-
ing an area not greater than 5120 acres, a railway ticket from
e railway in Queensland nearest to his home at half the
irdinary fare. If the intending settler subsequently . selects
a selection subject to jiersonal residence conditions, and not
exceeding 5120 acres in area, the half-fare paid by him is re-
:unded, and his family, self, ordinary household furniture and
ects, agricultural implements, seed, one dray, and one set of
harness, are carried free to the railway station nearest to his
selection.
Every assistance is afforded the man on the land to improve
his homestead. Since the inauguration of the Stale .Agricul-
tural Bank in 1902, the loans to the end of Jun^jvigij, are as
follows: — Advances approved, £416,190; instalmtnts paid,
£296,396; total advances to date, £1,147,996.
4
i^^'x^^M
l;^^^
An Orchard, Mapletou
(xix.)
XX.
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Coke-making, Bundamba Collieries
The Agricultural Bank Acts Amendment Act of 1911-14-15 pro-
vides for advances to holders of lands held in fee-simple, and used
or about to be used bona-fide for agricultural or dairying purposes,
agricultural farms, agricultural homesteads, grazing farms, graz-
ing homesteads, unconditional selections, or mining homestead
leases, held under Part VIII. of the Mining Act of 1898; also
any other lands which the Governor-in-Council may, by Order-
in-Council, published in the Gazette, declare to be agricultural
lands for the purpose of this Act.
Advances. — Advances are made for the following purposes : —
Payment of liabilities already existing on the holding; purchase
of stock, machinery or implements ; agricultural, dairying, graz-
ing, horticultural, or viticultural pursuits on the holding, and
adding to the improvements already made on the holding.
Advances for any of the following purposes, namely, buildings
not exceeding £40, silos, ringbarking, clearing, fencing, draining, or
water conservation, may be made of an amount not exceeding
£200 to the full value of the improvements proposed to me made :
Provided that, in the case of an advance being made for the
purpose of freeing land from prickly-pear, the managing director
shall retain such proportion of the advance as he things proper,
not exceeding one-half part thereof, for such period as he thinks
proper in order to secure the effective and permanent freeing of
the land from prickly-pear! Advances at the rate of 13s. 4d. in
the £ on the value of land improvements may also be made up
to £200 for unspecified purposes.
In no case shall the total amount of the advances under this
Act, exclusive of the advances made under the last preceding para-
graph, exceed 12s. in the £ of such estimated value.
For the purposes ot making advances under this Act on the
security of a miner's homestead lease, as defined by the Mining
Act of 1898, such leasehold shall be considered as if it were held
in fee-simple by the lessee thereof.
No advance under this Act shall be made to any aboriginal
native of Asia, Africa, or the Pacific Islands, who has not first
obtained in the prescribed manner a certificate that he is able to
read and write from dictation words in such language as the
Secretary for Agriculture may direct.
No security other than a first mortgage will be accepted as
sufficient. At no time can the advance to any one person exceed
£800. Applications for advances not exceeding £200 will have
priority.
Form of Improvements. — Clearing, breaking up, ringbarking,
fencing, draining, bores, wells, dams, and reservoirs, buildings,
machinery (if a fixture) silos, cattle-dips, stockyards, and any
other improvements which may be prescriljed by regulation.
Mode of Payment of Advances. — Where advances are made for
the purpose of payment of liabilities already existing on the hold-
ing, the advances will be paid upon the execution of the neces-
sary securities ; for stock, machinery, and implements, orders
may be given to the vendors when the securities have been regis-
tered ; and when made for the purpose of agricultural, dairying,
grazing, horticultural, or viticultural pursuits on the holding,
or adding to the improvements already made, advances will l)e
paid on the value of jjrospective improvements effected, and pro-
[jortionally as the improvements are being carried out, i.e., appli-
cants can receive instalments of the advance while the work is
proceeding, or in a lump sum on completion of the improvements.
Rale of Interest. — Interest at the rate of £5 per centum per
annum will be charged upon all atlvances, and must be paid half-
yearly on the 1st of January and 1st July in each year. In
respect of any advance made by instalments, ti^e tlale on which
the first instalment is advanced shall, for tlie purposes of the
Act, be deemed to be the date on which the advance is made,
but interest will only be payable on the amount of the actual
instalment from the date of payment thereof.
Fees Payable. — All applications must be accompanied by n
valuator's fee of £3, in post-office order, cash, or postal notes, or it
may be paid to the credit of the trustees in the nearest Govern-
ment Savings Bank (No. of Pass-book P 5597). Should the
application be declined, half the fees will be refunded. .■\])pli-
cants must pay all costs of investigation, preparation, and regis-
tration of securities for advances.
Repayment of Loans. — In cases where advances have been made
for the purpose of payment of liabilities already existing on t!ie
holding, purchase of stock, machinery, or implements, the bor-
rower shall, on the ist day of January or the 1st day of Jul)',
as the case may be, following the date of the advance, be^iin to
redeem his advance, inclusive of interest, by payment of £4 os. 3d.,
CROWN LANDS LAWS OF QUEENSLAND
XXI.
half-yearly for each £ioo borrowed, until tlie whole has Leeii
paid; the first instalment of such repayment shall lie due and
payable on the ist January or July next ensuing after the ad-
vance was made. In cases where advances are made for the
purpose of agricultural, dairying, grazing, horticultural, or viti-
ciiltural pursuits on the holding, or for the purpose of effecting
improvements or adding to those already made, loans mav have
a currency not exceeding twenty-five years. During the first
five years simple interest only is payable. At the expiration
of five years from the 1st day of January or the ist day of July,
as the case may be, following the date of the advance, the bor-
rower shall begin to redeem his advance by payment of £4 os. 3d.
half-yearly for each £loo borrowed, inclusive of interest, until
the whole has been paid. Provided always that the advance may
be repaid sooner than is here provided, and in larger instal-
ments.
Mim-rs' I/omestfad Leases. — Under the provisions of "The
Miners' Homestead I-eases Act of 1913," homestead leases can
be taken up by qualified persons on any mining field in the
State as follows: — Within the boundaries of a town, i acre;
within I mile radius, 20 acres ; outside i mile radius, from So
to 640 acres, the latter being the maximum area. During the
first period of thirty years the annual rental on homesteads up
to 40 acres is is. pej acre, and 6d. for any addititional acreage
in e.xcess of this ar'-'a. This rental does not apply to home-
steads acquired by tender or sale. After the expiration of the
thirty years' lease a nominal rental of is. only can be demanded.
The minimum annual rental for any lease is 5s. On the recom-
mendation of the warden, and with the approval of the Minister,
leases of homesteads may, in certain areas, be tendered for or
tsold by public auction. They can also, with the approval of
[the Minister be transferred by the lessee to a qualified resident
of the district in which they are situated. The annual rentals
lare payable on or before the 31st December in each year. Appli-
cants for leases must be qualified residents of the districts in
vhich the homesteads are situated. Applications for leases made
Ibetween the ist January and 1st July must be accompanied by a
year's rent, and those made between the ist July and ist January
by half a year's rent. During the first period of thirty years,
fjhe lessee must keep the prescribed fences or improvements on
the land in good order, keep the land clear of noxious weeds and
plants, and, in all cases where residence applies, occupy the land
by the residence thereon of himself or some qualified jwrson.
The Minister may, however, grant the lessee exemption from the
personal residence conditions for such time and on such terms as
he thinks fit, and may make reservations and stipulations in
regard to the right of the lessee or anyone mining on the home-
stead to cut or destroy timber. The qualifications of aliens in
respect to their becoming lessees are specifically defined in the
regulations of the Act. These homestead leases are suitable for
mixed farming, dairying., market gardening, &c.
To 30th June, 1914, 5,014 dwellings under the above Act have
been erected the monetary advances aggregating £1,288,074.
The Workers' Dwelling Act. — This Act, which has been so
much availed of since its introduction, provides a means of
enabling persons under certain conditions to obtain their own
homes by an easy process of repayment.
For general information the provisions of the Act as now
amended are here briefly summarised : —
(fl) The Act applies to any part of- Queensland.
{!>) The maximum sum that can be borrowed is £300, at the
rate of 75 per cent, of the total security.
(c) The borrowed amount is repayable at the rate of 13s. 3d.
per month per £100 for 20 years, but may be paid oH
at any time during that i>eriod. The interest is
charged only on the monthly balance,
(rf) Amount payable to the Department with each applica-
tion to cover expenses is £3, plus los. registration fee of
mortgage.
To ascertain the amount an applicant may borrow, the follow-
ing items are added together : — Value of land, fencing, dwelling,
and plans and stove, and the advance will be three-fourths of the
total.
The conditions to be observed by intending borrowers are : —
(a) Land must be freehold;
{b) Applicant must not possess any other dwelling in
Queensland or elsewhere ;
(c) Salary must not be over £200.
Air information will be promptly supplied by the Secretary.
A Queensland Home
<
i P
(xxii.)
SOUTH AUSTRALIA: LAND SETTLEMENT.
CONDITIONS OF ALLOTMKNT.
PURCHASE-MONEY AND RENT.
Crown Linds in South Aiistr.ilia .ire subdivided into siicli sized
blocks as may lie recommended Ijy the Land lioard and approved
by the Commissioner of Crown Lands. The land is then gazetted
oiien to application at purchase-money and rent fixed by the lioard
:ind api)roveiI by the Commissioner; the full rent under the pre-
sent law is, as a rule, fixed at 4 jier cent, on the purchase value
of the land.
The Crown Lands Act. 1175 of Tqi4 (re-enacted by .'\ct iiqq
of IQ15) provides that on certain lands where the Commissioner
of Crown I^ands directs (jirincipally malice areas) perpetual
leases, or agreements with covenant to purchase, may be granted
without any payment during the first four years of the term.
During the following six years the settlers will be required to
pay interest at the rate of 2 per cent, per annum on the pur-
chase value of the block, and from the commencement of the
eleventh year, in the case of agreements to purchase, the pur-
chasers must pay the purchase-money and interest in sixty half-
)-early instalments of £2/16/5 for every £100 of purchase-money.
The agreements will, therefore, be for a term of 40 years. In
the case of perpetual leases the rent from the expiration of the
tenth year will l>e at the rale of 4 per cent, per annum on the
purchase value fixeil on the blocks.
The holder of land under agreement has the right to complete
purchase at any time after the expiration of six years of the
term, proviile<l he has comi)lied with all the covenants of the
agreement, and has expended a sum equal to 5/" P*^"^ ^^^e in
effecting improvements on the block to the satisfaction of the
Commissioner.
The holders of both agreements to )nirchase and leases will be
recjuired to clear and render available for cultivation not less
than one-eighth of the cultivable area, as specifie<l in the Gazette
notice, during the first two years of the term of the agreement
or lease, ami also a similar area during the secontl two years of
the term, and thereafter during each succeeding year they must
clear and render available for cultivation not less than one-eighth
of the specified cultivable area until three-fourths of such area has
been cleared and rendered available for cultivation. The area
so cleared must be maintained in a cultivable condition during
the currency of the agreement or lease.
Fruit-Drying. River Murray, South Australia
(xxiii.)
XXIV.
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Cowan's Reclaimed Area on the Murray
The settlers are also required (o reserve five acres out of every
250 acres comprised in their blocks for the growth of timber, and
must not destroy any timber trees on the area so reserved.
SIZE OF BLOCKS.
As pointed out, purchase-money and rent are fixed by the
Land Board on the value of each block according to location
and its quality ascertained after inspection. No purchase-money
or rent can be quoted for any particular district. After survey
of the necessary roads and reserves has been effected, the Land
Board recommends the size of the blocks into which the land is
to be divided. These blocks generally vary from about 1,000 to
1,500 acres, which is quite sufficient for a farm where the land
is fairly good for wheat-growing.
APPLICATIONS— HOW MADE.
After the land has been surveyed it is gazetted open to appli-
cation for periods ranging from one to two months. All appli-
cations must be lodged with the Secretary for Lands by a specified
date, which is notified in the G overnment Gazette, and subse-
quently places and times are fixed at which the Land Board will
hold meetings to take evidence from persons desirous of making
oral statements in support of their applications. The evidence
is given on oath in open court, and persons present have the
right, and are invited, to challenge any statement made which
they believe is incorrect. After the Board (which consists of
three members) has heard all the applicants, or as many as have
attended to give evidence personally in support of their appli-
cations, it proceeds to make the allotment, each application being
dealt with on its merits. All other things being equal, the Board
is required by Act to allot the land to the applicant who agrees
to reside on it for at least nine months in each year; and if it
is not so allotted, a reason must be assigned for departing from
the directions of the Act. The Board's decision on allotment is
final.
PROVISION FOR WATER AND ROAD.S.
During recent years considerable alteration has been made in
the method of dealing with Crown lands suital)le for agriculture.
In the country north and south of the Tailem Bend and Brown's
Well railway line, east of the River Murray, wells and bores
have been put down in the hundreds ofl^ered for application, and
roads have been and are still being cleared for the use of settlers.
The cost of these works is added to the price of the land, and,
considering the great benefit which will be derived by the new
settlers, the small additional amount per acre which they will be
called upon to pay will be scarcely felt by them. The same
provision will be made on tiie lands in course of survey anti to
be surveyed for settlement in all hundreds in this district.
On the land in course of survey for offer on Eyre's Peninsula,
water will be provided for the use of new settlers by means of
tanks and reservoirs, and roads will be cleared and the cost
charged to the blocks in a similar manner to that previously
described.
In addition to the above provision for water, settlers on
Crown lands held under perpetual lease or agreement wilh
covenant to purchase may, in accordance with the provisions of
Section 26 of "The Crown Lands Act, 1915," apply to the Com-
missioner of Crown Lands to have rain sheds and tanks erected
on their holdings (for the purpose of conserving water) on
giving an undertaking to pay the cost of the work as certified
by the Commissioner, with interest (from date of certificate) as
may be fixed from time to time by proclamation, the payments
to be made concurrently with the rent of half-yearly instalments.
This provision in the Act will be of great benefit to many
settlers in districts where water is not obtainable except at con-
siderable cost, as it will enable them to get on to the land with
a sufficient supply of water for them to proceed with the work
of development until they can construct tanks or reservoirs, as
the nature of the country may permit. These sheds will not
only aflTord catchment for water, but can be utilised as temporary
dwelling places, and a protection for machinery, etc.
CROWN LANDS LAWS OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA
XXV.
A stack of Wheat at Port Wakefield
LANDS RKPLRCIIASEU FOR CLOSER SLTTLLMLNT.
Closer settlement lands are allotted in the same manner as
ordinaiy Crown lands.
The first measure authorising the repurchase of land for closer
settlement was passed in 1897. This Act provided that the land
repurchased was to be offered on perpetual lease only at a rental
of not less than 4 per cent, per annum on the cost of the land,
including expenses of subdivision, &c.
In iqo2 an Act was passed abolishing the system of leasing
repurchased land in perpetuity, and providing for such land being
[offered on agreement with covenant to purchase. Under this Act
the term of the agreement was for 30 years, the purchase-money,
with interest thereon, being jiayable in 60 equal half-yearly in-
I stalments at the rate of £2 i6s. jd. for every £100 of purchase-
I money. The Crown Lands Act of 1903 contained the same pro-
visions. The purchaser had the right of completing purchase at
the expiration of six years if he had fulfilled all the conditions
of the agreement.
In 1905 a further Act was passed which extended the term of
the agreements to 35 years, during the first five of which the
purchasers are required to pay interest only at the rate of 4
per cent, per annum on the purchase-money fi.xed for the blocks,
after which purchase-money and interest become payable as under
the Acts of 1902 and 1903. The purchasers cannot, however,
j.'complete purchase until the land has been held for nine years.
The legislation of 1914 (re-enacted by Act iigg of 1915)
further extends Closer Settlement Agreements entered into after
the passing of the Act, where the Commissioner of Crown Lands
fdirects, by increasing the terra to 64 years, the instalments of
[■purchase-money and interest for the first 16 half-yearly payments
being at the rate of £1/11/5 '^<"' every £100, and the subsequent
instalments being at the rate of £2/8/4 for every £100 of the
purchase-money. In this case the purchaser has the right to
complete purchase at any time after six years from date of agree-
kinent, if all the conditions have been complied with, and pro-
[-vided that interest at the rate of 4 per cent, per annum is paid
[from the date of the agreement to the date of completion in
I addition to i)urchase money.
The conditions of closer settlement agreements require the pur-
chasers to expend during the first five years of the term a sum
equal to £3 for each £100 purchase-money in substantial improve-
ments, such as buildings, fences, or making provision for water,
&c. The purchasers are also required to fence the boundaries of
the blocks within five years from allotment of the land. If there
are improvements on the land at the time of allotment, they are
paid for in precisely the same manner as the land, or the pur-
chaser has the option of paying for them in cash, and the amount
which he is required to pay for such improvements is set against
that which the conditions of the agreement require him to expend
in improvements during the first five years of the term.
Since the passing of the Crown Lands Amendment Act of 191 1,
the purchaser can — on any date when his instalments are payable
— pay off the purchase-money any sum of not less than £50, or
any multiple thereof; this, however, does not entitle him to obtain
the grant of the land until the prescribed period has e.vpired.
The holders of these agreements are not entitled to cut any
growing timber on the land during the first five years, except for
the purpose of effecting improvements or rendering the land
available for cultivation, and then only with the written consent
of the Commissioner of Crown Lands.
HOMESTEAD BLOCKS.
Land for working men is offered in blocks, the unimproved
value of which must not exceed £100, and the holder, or a
member of his family, must reside on the land for at least nine
months in each year. The lands are offered on either agreement
to purchase or perpetual lease, and the purchase-money and rent
are fi.xed in the same manner as for ordinary Crown lands. The
holders of these blocks have one advantage which is not granted
to the other Crown tenants ; they can protect their holdings from
sale by creditors by having their titles indorsed as "Protected
Homestead Blocks." This indorsement can also be carried on to
the land grant when the holder completes purchase. The effect
of this indorsement is that no subsequent mortgage will have any
validity, nor can any creditor take action for the sale of the
holder's interest in the lease or agreement for the recovery of
any debt contracted after the indorsement of the deed. The in-
dorsement cannot be removed except in the case of transfer, when
the transferee may request that such indorsement be removed
fiom the title.
(xxvi.)
CROWxN LANDS LAWS OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA
XXVll.
TKANyFEKS OF LEASES AND AGREEMENTS.
No transfer of any lease or agreement can take effect unless
first approved by the Commissioner of Crown Lands on the re-
commendation of the Land Board, and no land that has not been
held for five years can be transferred unless the holder thereof
proves that refusal to allow the transfer would inflict great hard-
ship on him. This restriction does not, however, apply to trans-
ASSLSTANCE TO SETTLERS ON CROWN LANDS.
ADVANCES TO SETTLERS' HOARD.
The holders of agreements or leases, wliicli iniliirle the lessees
of reclaimed and irrigation lands, can apply lo the .Advances In
Settlers Board for loans up to £850, for the pHri)o«e of etfecting
Improvements on their holdings, paying olf mortgages, purchasing
stock, or for any other purpose.
m.
«MiN«PMMMMM«MMM>
} m->.
Haymaking at Saddleworth, South Australia
fers by e.Necutors or administrators to devisees. All applications
to transfer — e.Kcept those last mentioned above — must be gazetted
for not less than two weeks; this also applies to applications for
permission to sublet where the land has not been held for six
years and the term of the i)roposed under-lease e.xceeds three
years.
Should the holder apply to transfer any agreement or lease of
land allotted under the provisions of Acts 1175 of 1914 and 1199
i of 1915 before the expiration of the tenth year of the term, the
Commissioner may require that instalments or rent shall be pay-
able as from the time when the transfer takes effect, i.e., the
transferee will not necessarily receive the concession as regards
rent or interest during the balance of the first ten years of the
lease or agreement, as the case may be.
MAXIMUM AREA OE HOLDINGS.
Of ordinary Crown lands, suitable for agriculture only, or for
agricultural and pastoral purposes combined, one person can hold
an area which, together with land already held by him under any
tenure — e.\cepting pastoral lease — would not exceed £5,000 un-
improved value; or if the land is suitable for grazing purposes
only, and is within Goyder's line of rainfall, he can hold up to
the carrying capacity of 5,000 sheep or an equivalent number of
great cattle, whilst if the land is outside Goyder's line of rainfall
the limitation is a carrying capacity of 10,000 sheep or an equiva-
lent in great cattle. This provision applies to land whether
acquired by allotment, transfer, or under-lease.
Of land repurchased for closer settlement the purchaser can
hold up to the unimproved value of £4,000, if suitable for agri-
culture or for agricultural and grazing purposes combined, or
up to the unimproved value of £5,000, if the land is suitable for
pastoral purposes only. In cases where there are excessive im-
provements there is no limitation of the unimproved value of
repurchased land which may be held by one person.
The Board has power to advance up to £650 for the purpose of
effecting improvements, paying off mortgages, or for any other
purpose. It can also lend up to £200 for the purchase of stock
with which to stock the holding; the security in this case must be
equal to one-third more than the advance to be made. For
effecting improvements the first £400 can be advanced £1 for £1
on the full value of improvements and of lease to that amount,
and the balance of £250 up to 75 per cent, of any additional
value of such improvements and lease. For the other purposes
the money can be advanced up to 75 per cent, of such value.
Examples. — Suppose a lessee holds a lease which with improve-
ments is worth £360 ; he would be entitled to a loan of £360 for
effecting further improvements, or for any other purpose to a
loan of £270, i.i'., 75 per cent, of such value.
If his lease, with improvements, were worth £600 he could
obtain for effecting improvements a loan of £550, arrived at as
follows ; — ■
For £400 value, £1 for £1 £400
For £200 additional value at 75 per cent. 150
£550
The borrower pays interest only for the first five years of the
term, after which he commences to pay the principal and interest
in half-yearly payments extending over 35 years. The interest is
charged at a rate fixed from time to lime by proclamation, and if
it be paid within 14 days from due dale a rebate of one-half i)er
cent, is allowed, i.e., if the rate fixed at the time of granting the
loan is 5I per cent, and the borrower pays within the specified
lieriod of 14 days, only 5 per cent, interest will be required from
him.
The Advances to Settlers .\ct has been largely availed of,
especially under the more liberal terms provided in recent Ads.
Up to the 31st March, I9l7i ^474.568 had been advanced to
1,662 settlers.
XXVlll.
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
ADVANCES ON HOMESTEAD BLOCKS.
Eoans not exceeding £50 can be granted to the holder of a
homestead block on half the value of existing improvements for
the purpose of effecting additional improvements on the land, and
are repayable with interest at the rate of 4 per cent, per annum
in twenty equal annual instalments at the rate £7 7s. 2d. per
centum. The borrower has the right to pay off the loan at any
time.
ADVANCES FOR WIRE NETTING AND VERMIN-
PROOF FENCING.
Loans are granted to agriculturists, pastoralists, and others for
the purchase of wire netting for the purpose of protecting crops
from the ravages of rabbits, and for erecting dog-proof fences to
prevent the inroads of wild dogs. These loans are repayable by
twenty annual instalments with interest at a rate fixed from time
to time by proclamation. Since 1890 £710,000 has been ad-
vanced for the purchase of wire netting and for the purpose
of erecting vermin-proof fencing. The system has proved highly
satisfactory, and, but for the assistance given the settlers in this
direction, a large area of land, which is now successfully occupied
lor agricultural and pastoral purposes, would have remained prac-
tically unoccupied, while the yield of wheat would not have been
nearly so great as at present had the farmers not protected their
crops with wire netting.
TOW^N LANDS.
Town lands are surveyed in lots usually one-ijuarler of an acre
in area, and each town is, where practicable, surrounded by park
lands. The town lands are offered at auction at upset prices
ranging from £10 per acre upwards, the purchaser being re(|uired
to pay 20 per cent, of the purchase-money at the time of sale,
and the balance within one month. Until recent years there had
been no limitation to the number of allotments which could be
purchased by one person ; but under the provisions of present
Acts the Commissioner of Crown Lands may direct that not more
than a specified number of allotments shall be purchased by or
on behalf of any one person, and should more than such number
of allotments be acquired contrary to the provisions of the Act
the sale will be cancelled and become void, notwithstanding the
fact that the title may have been issued for the allotments so pur-
chased. Allotments purchased under these provisions cannot be
transferred, mortgaged, or otherwise dealt with within a period
of six years from date of the sale without the consent in writing
of the Commissioner of Crown Lands; and if any dealing takes
place contrary to this condition the sale will become void and the
land revert to the Crown.
LANDS AVAILABLE FOR SETTLEMENT.
There are at the present time about 1,500,000 acres of Crown
Lands in hundreds in various parts of the State, available for
application for allotment by the Land Board under per-
petual leases or agreements to purchase. In addition a
large area of about 1,000,000 acres, chiefly on Eyre's Peninsula
and the West Coast and between the Pinnaroo hundreds and the
River Murray, is in course of survey or to be surveyed during
the next two or three years. As these lands are thrown open
to application particulars will be published in the G overnmer.l
Gazette and supplied to any person desiring to obtain informa-
tion.
A large area of land for pastoral purposes is also available
for application for allotment by the Pastoral Board.
PASTORAL LANDS.
Pastoral lands, outside hundreds, are let for a term of 42
years, except when the land is likely to be required for closer
settlement, in which case leases are issued for 21 years only.
Leases for a term of 42 years are subject to revaluation of rent
for the last 21 years thereof. At the expiration of the term of
the leases the value of improvements, which are the property of
the lessee, is payable by the incoming tenant, and then paid to
the outgoing lessee. Lands comprised in pastoral leases issued
under the present Pastoral Act can only be resumed for public
works, such as railways, roads, public buildings, water conserva-
tion, etc., or for mining or any purpose incidental thereto, or
as a site for a town, park lands, etc., or for the purpose of
intense culture, which is defined as cultivation by irrigation.
Pastoral leases cannot be transferred or sublet without the written
consent of the Commissioner of Crown Lands.
WHERE TO OBTAIN INFORMATION.
The Lands Department affords every facility for intending
applicants and other enquirers lo obtain information relative to
land open to application and lo be offered. An officer has been
specially appointed for the purpose of answering inquiries in this
direction. This officer is conversant with a large portion of the
land which is in course of survey and obtains information as to
the best means of inspecting the Hundreds and other particulars
of interest to inlen<Iing applicants. He also advises them of the
conditions under which various lands may be taken up.
This department distributes free of cost about 16,000 plans
annually to enquirers for lands open. These free plans are accom-
panied by details giving the areas of the blocks and the prices
at which they are offered, as well as a short general description of
the land and the conditions under which it may be applied for.
When any land is gazetted ojien lo application, placards are dis-
tributed over the State notifying the fact and also that plans
and full detail may be obtained on application to the Secretary
for Lands.
Orchards and Virgin Lands, Mylor
A Camel Team Resting, in the Far North.
THE NORTHERN TERRITORY : HOW LAND MAY BE ACQUIRED.
Information supplied by the Hon. Atlee Hunt, Secretary for Home and
Territories, under direction of the Minister.
TENURE.
Northern Territory v.icant Crown lands are dlsposecl of under
The Crown Lands Ordinance 1912 on a leasehold system. Under
the Northern Territory Administration Act 1910, .Section 11, no
Crown lands shall be disposed of for any estate of freehold.
There are five ways of disposing of land, namely, by (a) Agri-
cultural Lease, (b) Pastoral Lease, (c) Grazing Licence,
(d) Town Lease, and (e) Miscellaneous Lease.
AGRICULTURAL LANDS.
Agricultural lands comprise cultivation and mixed farming and
grazing lands. The classes into which agricultural lands are to
be classified are as follows : —
Subdivision A. — Cultivation Earms.
Class I. — Maximum area 1.2S0 acres
„ 2 „ , 2.560 ,,
Subdivision B. — Mixed Earming and Grazing.
Class I. — Maximum area 12,800 acres
„ 2 „ , 38,400 „
The terms and conditions governing agricultural leases are set
out in the Ordinances in detail. Before being offered for lease
these lands have to be first survej'ed and then advertised open for
application. The work of surveying is being pushed ahead as
quickly as possible, and openings of this class of land will take
place from time to time. Advertisements will be issued specifying
the areas available and the conditions attaching to their occu-
pancy.
These leases are perpetual, that is, granted for all time. The
lessee is under certain obligations as set out in the Ordinance,
which will be set out in detail in the covenants and conditions
of the lease. If these are not complied with, the lease may be
forfeited. In the case of the first five thousand blocks of agri-
cultural lands taken up on perpetual lease after the commence-
ment of the Ordinance, no rent shall be payable for the period
of the successful applicant's life, or twenty-one years, whichever
is the longer period. Where rent becomes payable it is subject
to reappraisement every twenty-one years.
Every lease of agricultural lands shall contain a covenant by
the lessee that he will establish a home on the land within two
years after the commencement of the lease; and subject to any
exemption granted by the Lanil Classification Board for cause
shown, that he will thereafter reside on the leased land for a
period of six months in each year in the case of land for cul-
tivation, and for four months in each year in the case of land
for mixed farming and grazing.
Lessee is also bound by fencing and cultivating conditions, and
in case of. mixed farming and grazing by stocking conditions.
The extent of cultivating, fencing, and stocking is determined
by the Board, and inserted in the Gazette notification that the
land is available for leasing. The time allowed for performance
of these conditions will be as liberal as possible, and the Board
may extend such time in any case where lessee has been unable
to comply with the conditions within the time specified.
PASTORAL LEASE.
Pastoral leases arc granted for twenty-one and forty-two years
(according to the classification) under the terms and conditions
set out in Divisions i and 2 of the Ordinance. No residence con-
ditions are imposed, but provision is made for insertion in the
lease of fencing and stocking conditions. A considerable extent
of the vacant Crown lands of the Territory is eminently suited
for pastoral purposes. It is not yet available for pastoral lease.
In the meantime it can be applied for as a grazing licence. A
grazing licensee holds his land on a year-to-year tenure at a
rental based on the carrying capacity of the land. He pays at the
rate of is. for every head of great cattle and 3d. for every head
of small cattle per square mile, with a minimum of is. per square
mile. He may obtain permission to effect improvements on the
grazing license area. When the land has been surveyed and
advertised open for application for pastoral lease, he may more-
over apply for the whole (or part depending on classification)
of his license area as a pastoral lease. He will be entitled to com-
pensation for the value of any improvements effected by him on
the grazing license area in the manner prescribed, not included in
any pastoral lease which may be granted to him.
TOWN LEASE.
Leases of town and suburban lands are offered for sale by
public auction to the highest bidder at an upset annual rental
fixed by the Land Classification Board. .A.mong other things
(xxix. )
XXX.
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
On the Finke River
with the Crown, by which he is entitled to acquire the freehold,
provided that such land is being cultivated or improved, or bona
fide intended to be cultivated or improved for the production of
any commercial product.
APPLICATIONS.
All particulars and forms of applications may be obtained from j
the Secretary to the Advances to Settlers Board, Darwin, or fromj
the Secretary, Department of External Affairs, Melbourne. No
fees are payable on application.
PURPOSES FOR WHICH ADVANCES ARE MADE.
Advances are made to settlers for the following purposes: —
(a) For making improvements on their holdings;
(b) For purchasing any implements, plant, or machinery,
approved by the Board, for use on their holdings ;
(c) For stocking their holdings; or
(cl) For paying otf mortgages or charges on their holdings.
LIMIT OF ADVANCES.— I'RO RATA ADVANCES.
The total advances made to any one |>erson shall not exceed
£800. and may be granted as follows: —
(a) For purchasing approved building material a sum not
exceeding oni' hmidred pounds.
(b) For purchasing approved fencing material a sum not
exceeding one hundred pounds.
(c) For erecting buildings thirteen ih'Uliiigs and jourpence ■
in the pound, not exceeding one hundred pounds.
(d) For erecting fencing thirteen shillings and jourpence in
the pound, not exceeding one hundred pounds.
the lease shall contain a covenant to erect on the lands within
such lime as is notified in the conditions on which the land is
offered buildings to a value specified in those conditions.
MISCELLANEOUS LEASE.
Miscellaneous leases may be granted for any period up to
twenty-one years for any Crown or reserved or dedicated lands
for any purpose approved of by the Minister. Such leases shall
contain such reservations, covenants, &c., as the Administrator
shall deem advisable.
MODE OF APPLICATION.
Applications for lease may be made on the prescribed form.
Forms are obtainable at the Lands Office, Darwin, or at the
office of the Department of External Affairs, Melbourne. Appli
cants for agricultural or pastoral lands advertised open for appli-
cation should see that their applications are at the office of the
Land Board, Darwin, or the Department of External Affairs.
Melbourne, on or before the last day for the receiving of same.
Applications for miscellaneous leases may be made at any time
whether the land has been gazetted as available for leasing or
not, but must be sent to the Lands Office at Darwin. Applica-
tions for grazing licences may be made at any time, and must
also be sent to the Lands Office, Darwin.
ADVANCES TO SETTLER.S.
Advances to Settlers' Ordinance 1913.
TO WHOM AD\ANCES CAN BE MADE.
Under the Ordinance advances may be made to any iierson
residing in the Northern Territory who is the holder of any land
under freehold or leasehold from the Crown or under agreement
CROWN LANDS LAWS OF THE NORTHERN TERRITORY
XXXI.
(e) For ringbarking, clearing, breaking up water conserva-
tion, and other improvements approved by the Board.
fifteen shillings in the pound.
(f) For the purchase of approved stock fifteen shillings in
the pound on the value of the holding with the im-
provements made thereon, after taking into considera-
tion all sums already advanced and still owing on the
security, not exceeding three hundred pounds.
(g) For the purchase of implements, machinery or plant
approved by the Board, fifteen shillings in the pound
on the value of the holding with the improvements
made thereon, after taking into consideration all sums
already advanced and still owing on the security, not
exceeding on hundred pounds.
(h) In case the holding is not of sulVicicnt value in excess
of all encumbrances (or at all) to permit of an ad-
vance being made as provided by the last two jire-
ceding paragraphs, the Board may grant x\n advance
not exceeding ten shillings in the i)ound on (he value
of the stock, implements, machinery or plant |)roposed
to be purchased.
(i) For paying off mortgage, fifteen shillings in the pound
on the value of the holding.
.An advance may be paid by instalments as the improvements
have been effected or the purchase made.
.\(tention is especially invited to sub-clause E above-mentioned,
under which he is able, subject to the Ordinance and Regula-
tions, Id obtain 155. in the pound up to i"8oo, for iniprovenienls
effected. The undermentioned table shows the advance which
he may obtain under this sub-clause :t—
Value
Improvements
Amount of
Loan
Value
Improvements.
Amount of
Loan.
£66 13 4
/50 0 0
/666 13 4
/500 0 0
133 6 8
100 0 0
800 0 0
600 0 0
266 13 4
200 0 0
933 6 8
700 0 0
400 0 0
300 0 0
1066 13 4
800 0 0
533 6 8
400 0 0
REPAYMENT OF .\DVANCES.
For the first five years next following the date on which an
advance is made the settler is not asUeil to repay the loan, but
is to pay interest only on the advance of 4 per cent, per annum,
ihe first ])ayment of interest becoming (hie on the 1st July in
the year following the granting of the advance.
After the expiry of the first five years, however, ihe settler shall
repay the advance to the Board by twenty-five equal yearly in-
sialments, together with simple interest on the balance of the
advance for the time being unpaid at 4 per cent, per annum.
The instalments on the 1st July in each year.
Any advance may at the option of the settler be repaid al any
time sooner than prescribed, or in larger instalments.
An Immigrants' Home has been erected at Port Darwin to meet
the requirements of intending settlers arriving there with their
families.
Men who "Make Good" in the North
Sons of Gwalia Gold-mine, Western Australia
WESTERN AUSTRALIA: LAND LAWS AND CONDITIONS OF SETTLEMENT.
(Information supplied for inclusion in Australia b'ntitniied hy direction of the Premier,
Hon. Henry Bruce Lefroy, CM G , M.Iv.A.)
Land Selection. iNot more than 2,000 acres of Agricultural
Land, including a Homestead Farm, can be held by any one
person, or its equivalent in Grazing Land, i.e., 5,000 acres. The
husband or wife of the holder of 2,000 acres may select an addi-
tion.i! 1,000 .icres of Agricultural Land, or 2,500 acres of Grazing
Land.]
In i8g8 a Consolidated Land Act was introduced, which came
into operation on the 1st January, 1899, and this Act, together
with amendments that have been made to it from time to time,
comprise the Land Laws in force at the present time, and under
these laws land may be selected, subject to the following con-
ditions : —
HOMESTEAD FARMS.
On payment of a fee of £1 is. (including is. duty stamp), and
the cost of survey, any person, if the head of a family or male
who has attained the age of 16 years, and who does not already
hold more than one hundred acres of land, may obtain a Free
Homestead Farm of 160 acres subject to the following con-
ditions : —
Personal residence for si.\ months in each of the first five years.
E.\penditure of 4s. per acre in improvements during the first two
years; a further si.\ shillings per acre during the ne.\t three years,
and 4s. per acre during the last two years; making a total of 14s.
per acre in seven years. Fencing of half the boundaries in the
first five years, and the whole in seven years. £30 of the ex-
penditure on a habitable house is allowed towards the amount
of improvements ret]uired. .\t the end of the term of seven
years, provided all conditions have been complied with, a Crown
Grant is issued, costing thirty shillings.
CONDITIONAL PURCHASE, WITH RESIDENCE,
SECTION 55.
P'rom 100 to 1,000 acres may be acquired at a jirice to be fixed
on survey and classification at an annual rental for the first
five years of the term equal to interest at the rate of 7 P^r cent,
per annum on the cost of survey and the value of the improve-
ments (if any) thereon, the term of the lease not to exceed 30
years. Provided that the minimum rent during the said five years
shall be ten shillings ]ier annum, subject to the following condi-
tions : — ■
Personal residence on the land (or on an adjacent holding) for
six months in each of the first five years. Residence by wife,
parent or child over 16 years may also be accepted as compliance
with this condition. Expenditure on improvements must equal
the purcha.se money but need not exceed £1 per acre, at the rale
of one-fifth of the purchase money every two years from date of
lease; one-half of the land must be fenced within five years, and
the whole within ten years.
CONDITIONAL PURCHASE, WITHOUT RESIDENCE,
SECTION 56.
The same area of land as under the previous section may be
ac(]uired without the condition of residence but subject
to all of the conditions iirescribecl for selections under Section 55>
except that the total value of improvements shall be 50 per cent,
over and above the amount of purchase money, but need not J
e.xceed 30s. per acre.
(xxxii.)
CROWN LANDS LAWS OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
XXXIll.
CONDITIONAL PURCHASE, BY DIRECT PAYMENT.
From 100 to 1,000 acres may be acquired under this Section,
the purchase money being payable in twelve months ; 10 per cent,
being paid on application and the balance by four quarterly
instalments, on the 1st January, April, July, and October, the
first of such instalments to be paid on the first day of the quarter
ne.xt following the commencement of the licence.
The licensee must, within three years from the date of the com-
mencement of his licence, fence in the whole of the land and
than cultivation. From too to 5,000 acres may be acquired, the
price ranging from 3s. yd. to los. per acre, fixed and payable as
in Sections 55 and 56.
Residence for six months in the first year, and nine months in
each of the next four years by the lessee, or residence may be
performed by an agent or servant. Improvements valued at one-
fifth of the purchase money must be made during every two years
of the first ten years of the lease. The land must be fenced within
ten years.
Grape-pickers, Armadale, W.A.
within seven years from such date expend upon the land, in
prescribed improvements, in addition to the exterior fencing, an
amount equal to los. per acre.
iVIaximum Area. — Including a Homestead Farm and Con-
, ditional Purchase (with and without residence), the total area a
I selector may acquire is fixed at 2,000 acres, but the holder's wife
(or husband) may take up a further 1,000 acres under Section 56
■(non-residence), or 2,500 acres Conditional Purchase Grazing
[ Lease under Section 68.
CONDITIONAL PURCHASE LAND FOR ORCHARD.S,
VINEYARDS, OR GARDENS.
Small blocks of land, from 5 to 50 acres, can be acquired at
Ifrom IDS. per acre, payable by 10 per cent, deposit, and the bal-
Pance in half-yearly instalments in three years, subject to the fol-
I lowing conditions: —
The whole must be fenced, and one-tenth of the area must be
[cultivated as a vegetable garden, or planted with vines or fruit
[trees within three years.
CONDITIONAL PURCHASE, GRAZING LEASES.
These so-called Grazing Leases are merely conditional purchases
Ipf non-cultivable land, or land which is more suitable for grazing
NOTE. •
(a) In estimating the area held by a selector, 5,000 acres of
Grazing Lease, or non-cultivable land, is deemed to be equivalent
to 2,000 acres of ordinary Conditional Purchase, or cultivable
land, and therefore, a person holding 1,000 acres of cultivable
land may select 2,500 acres under Grazing Lease; and if the
selector holds 2,000 acres of cultivable land, or 5,000 of non-
cultivable land, the husband (or wife) in addition, may take 2.500
acres under Grazing Lease, or 1,000 acres of cultivable land
under Sections 55 or 56.
(b) Selectors under each of the lliree foregoing classes of con-
ditional purchase (Sections 55, 56 and 68) may, on the expiration
of the lease, or at any time after five years, acquire the Crown
Grant of the land, provided the required conditions have been
fulfilled and the full purchase money paid. Under Sections 57
and 60, the Crown Grant may be acquired at any time on com-
pletion of conditions and payment of the balance of the purchase
money.
(f) In selections under each of the foregoing classes of con-
ditional i>urchase land, the cost of survey and the proportionalc
amount of the cost of any roail clearing, water supply, etc., in
the immediate vicinity, and the value of any improvements that
XXXIV.
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
A Flock of Sheep at Mlnlgin, Narrogin, W.A.
may be on the land (which has been I'arried out by the Govern-
ment) is added to and included in the price of the land.
(rf) In the case of selections under Sections 55, 56 and 6S, a
deposit of one-half the yearly instalment of interest on survey
and improvement (if any) plus five shillings lease fee, and five
shillings registration fee is re<|uired, and in the case of Sections
57 and 60, 10 per cent, deposit must accompany the application.
(e) Any person of 16 years of age or over can select land and
mortgage and transfer as if of the full legal age.
PASTORAL LEASES.
Crown lands within the .State may be leased for pastoral pur-
poses as follows : —
RENTALS.
Pastoral Leases are granted for a term expiring on or before
the 31st December, 1948, at a rental fixed after a])praisement :^ — •
Previous to appraisement the following rents are payable : —
Kimberley and North-West Divisions los., Eastern Division, 5s.,
and Eucla Division 3s. per thousand acres per annum.
A quarter or half-year's rent is payable with application.
At the end of fifteen (15) years the rent is subject to re
assessment for the residue of the term of the lease, but will
not be increased by more than half of the rent i\\ed for the first
term of the lease.
AREA.
The maximum area that can be heltl liy one jjerson or firm is
1,000,000 acres, but in specified Districts the Governor may fix
the maximum area at less than 1,000,000 acres. Any com-
bination of persons cannot hold more tlian 1,000,000 acres in any
one division.
IMPROVEMENT CONDITION.S.
Within 5 years from the commencement of the lease, to
the value of £5 ; and
Within 10 years from the commencement of the lease, to the
value of £10 (inclusive of the value of improvements
effected during the first five years of the term), for every
1,000 acres of the ai;ea leased, and such improvements
shall be maintained in good repair, and so far as neces-
sary renewed during the term of the lease.
.STOCKING CONDITIONS
Within two (2) years from the commencement of the lease,
at the rate of 10 head of sheep or 2 head of large stock for each
1,000 acrfes of the area leased.
Within five (5) years from the commencement of the lease and
until the expiration of the first seven years of the term, at the
rate of 20 head of sheep or 4 head of large stock for every
1,000 acres of the area leased.
During the remainder of the term of the lease, at the rate
of 30 head of sheep or 6 head of large stock for each 1,000 acres
of the area leased.
SOUTH-WEST DIVISION.
Land in the South- West Division is granted at a rental of 20s.
l)er thousand acres i)er annum without re-appraisement or im-
l)rovement conditions, but subject to the stocking conditions men-
tioned above.
AfiRlCULTCRAL LANDS PLRCHASE ACT.
This Act, which was originally passed in i8y6, and Consolidated
and amended in 1909, provides for the repurchase by the (Jovern-
ment of land situated within 20 miles of a railway for tlie
))urposes of agricultural settlement. Lands so acquired are
deemed to be Crown Lands, and are disposed of under the pro-
vision of the Land Act, subject to slight modifications.
The selling price is fixed at a sum that will cover the amount
paid for the land, plus five per cent, and the cost of survey, etc.
Selectors are charged five per cent, interest per .innum on the
unpaid balance of purchase money, and the purchase money, as
received, is paid to the credit of a Special Trust Fund to be
I
CROWN LANDS LAWS OF WESTl-RN AUSTRALIA
XXXV.
iV
II
Wheat at Railway Siding, Pingelly, W.A.
applied in payment of interest and the redemption of debentures
by which the land was purchased.
In the case where a special date is appointed for throwing
open an area, and there should be more than one applicant for the
same block, the matter is referred to a Land Board for decision
as to whom the block shall be allotted usually within two weeks
from date appointed for lodgment of applications. Railway
tickets at e.\cursion rates are issued by Railway Department to
enable applicants to attend the Land lioard ; application for
same to be made to the Secretary of the Land Board.
Copies of the Regulations embodying the above provisions and
giving further details may be obtained on application.
On a selector proceeding to any district for the purpose of
ielecting land, the nearest Government District Land Office will
supply all information, plans, and pamphlets. Similar informa-
tion, may also be obtained at the Head Office of the Lands
Department.
The Railway Department grants a special concession in the
way of fares and freights for a new selector's family and goods
on production of a certificate of bona fides from the Lands
Department up to si.\ months after date of approval notice.
A registration fee of 5/- (but no lease fee) is payable with
every application, for Homestead Farms, ( >rchard Lands, and
Land purchased by direct payment.
THE AGRICULTURAL BANK.
Advances up to a maximum of i^2.ooo are made by this
Institution to assist farmers on the security of Conditional
Purchase, Homestead P'arm, or Freehold Land, to improve their
holdings, or to pay off e.xisling mortgages, purchase stock or
machinery. The rate of interest is 5 per cent., except for
advances on stock and machinery when if is 6 per cent., and
unusually long terms are allowed for the repayment of the
principal.
A Crop of Potatoes at Osboume Park (estimated 10 tons per acre).
>
<!
Si
Eh
i-H
(xxxvi.)
\
TASMANIA: LAND LAWS RELATING TO SELECTION
(Information supplied by the Department of I^ands and Surveys, Hobart ; and officially
verified for publication in Australia Unlimited).
Classlfwation of Land. — The Crown Lands of Tasmania are
divideil into two classes — (i) Town lands and (2) Rural lands.
The former comprise lanils within the boundaries of any city,
town or town reserve ; and within a distance of five miles of any
city. Rural lands comprise (a) First-class land ; (b) Second-class
land ; (c) Third-class land. Town lands can only be purchased
at auction, or if, after having been offered at auction and not
sold, by private contract, within one year after the auction sale.
Rural lands may be purchased at auction, or may be selected
for purchase privately.
Selection. — Any person of 18 years of age and upwards may
select an area not exceeding 200 acres of First-class land, 300
ucres of .'Second-class lami. and 600 acres of Third-class land.
Survey Fees. — In order to make the payments during the first
year of purchase as light as possible, the Lan<ls Department
advances to the selector of any First-class land four-fifths of the
amount of the fee necessary for the survey of the land. The
balance is payable in four years, to which is added 2s. 6d. in
the pound interest. For lands at Auction and for Second and
Third-class lands the Survey fee must l)e paid in full.
Terms of Purchase. — The price of First-class land is not less
than One Pound per acre, with one-third of that price added as
a premium for credit, which e.xtends over a period of eighteen
years. For second-class land Ten Shillings an acre is the mini-
mum price, with one-third ad<led for credit, the period of which
is fourteeen years. For third-class land, the price is not less than
Five Shillings an acre, with one-third added for credit for
fourteen years.
Homestead Areas. — Any person of the full age of eighteen
years or over who has not previously purchased land in Tasmania
may make a selection of a Homestead Area of First-class land
not exceeding 50 acres, at One Pound per acre, with one-third
added for credit.
The selector of a Homestead .Area pays a cash deposit of
Two-pence per acre at the time of sale, but pays nothing more
towards the purchase-money until the fourth year, when the pay-
ments for that and the fifth year are at the rate of Ten-pence an
acre, and for the remaining eighteen years an annual payment
of Two Shillings an acre.
Australian Hardwood. The Finest in the World.
Timber Train in Geeveston Forest, Tasmania
(xxxvii.)
XXXVIU.
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Fruit for the English Market, Hohart
Milting Areas. — "A Mining Area" under the Crown Lands Act
comprises land in the vicinity of a mining field, and which is
specially proclaimed a mining area. The land so proclaimed may
be selected as First-class Agricidtural land, not exceeding loo
acres, on the terms provided for the purchase of these lands.
Second-class lands within a mining area may be sold at auction.
but no lands within a mining area can be sold as Third-class.
All lands purchased within a mining area are open to any person
to search or mine for gold or other metals or minerals; but before
any such person can commence searching or mining he must
obtain jiermission in writing from the .Secretary for Mines, or
the nearest Commissioner of Mines.
Coiidilious oj Purchase. — Upon all First-class land selected or
purchased under the present Act habitual residence is necessary
for five years, commencing one year after date of purchase, and
shall be continuous; but on land within a mining area the period
of residence is three years. In both cases this may be complied
with by the selector himself, or some member of his family, or
some one employed by him or on his behalf.
Improvements. — All Town lands purchased on credit must be
improved to the value of a sum at least equal to the sale price
of the land.
Upon First-class lands the selector must expend a sum of not
less than 2s. 6d. an acre of the whole area in substantial improve-
ments every year for the first eight years.
By paying off before the expiration of the period of credit
all selectors obtain a rebate of the added premium in proportion
to the une.xpired period of credit.
Second-class land must be likewise improved to the value of
at least One Shilling an acre per annum for the first five years
before the selector can pay up and obtain his Grant Deed.
Third-class land must also be substantially improved to a
value of at least Sixpence an acre per annum during the first
five years before balance of purchase-money can be paid, and
Grant Deed issued.
Crown land cannot be selected as Third-class if it is within
the boundaries of a pastoral lease.
Improvements on all lands must be of a substantial nature,
and include dams, wells, cultivation, fences, clearing or draining
of land, the erection of a habitual <lwelling, or farm or other
buildings upon and permanently attached to the soil of such
land.
Mode of Seieefioii. — When the intending selector has decided
in which part of Tasmania he will make his choice of land — to
assist him in doing which he will obtain ready assistance from
the District Surveyors or from the officers of the Crown Lands
Office — he must fill in a form of application obtainable from the
various Post and Police Offices throughout the State, from any
Bailiff of Crown Lands or District Surveyor; and at the Crown
Lands Office, Hobart, and Lands Branch Office, Launceston.
The land having been surveyed, and plan furnished to the
Surveyor-General, if it is found that the land is not reported as
likely to contain minerals or timber of commercial value, the
applicant is called upon to pay deposit, and on payment a contract
of sale is mutually entered into. Further jiarticulars of the
Land Laws mav be obtained from "The Crown Lands Guide,
4
Apple-picking in a G-lenora Orchard
)
A Farm Scene at Longford, Tasmania.
(xxxix.)
xl.
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
igi2"; cost IS.; obtainable from the Crown I, ant
and Lands Branch Office, Launceston.
Office, llobart,
AGRICULTURAL BANK.
Under "The State Advances Act of 1912" (3 George V., No.
53) the Agricultural Bank of Tasmania makes advances to per-
sons holding land on credit purchase from the State of Tasmania,
and also on freehold country lands.
The following are the conditions upon which loans may be
obtained : — ■
1. Amount of each loan to be not less than £25 nor more than
£1000.
2. No advance on land held on credit purchase shall exceed
(me-half of the capital value of the land as estimated by the
Trustees after deducting from such ca])ital value the amount of
instalments unpaid to the Crown at the date of the loan ; and
no advance on freehold property shall exceed three-fifths of the
capital value of the land as estimated by the Trustees.
3. The rate of interest is six and one-half (6i) per cent,
per annum.
4. After five years the borrower will begin paying off the
principal, and can extend the repayments over 25 years ; provided
that the advance may, at the option of the borrower, be'' repaid
at any time sooner than is provided, and in larger instalments.
5. Advances may be maile for any of the following purposes; —
(a) Payment of liabilities already existing with respect
to the holding, or payment of the balance of any
purchase-money in respect of the purchase of the
holding, or any stock, machinery, or implements
therefor.
(!i) For carrying on agricultural, dairying, grazing, or
horticultural pursuits on the holding.
((■) Making the ])rescribe<l improvements on the holding.
(il) Adding to the improvements already made on the
holding.
6. The valuation fee must be paid by the applicant whether
the loan be granted or not.
PASTORAL LANDS.
Pastoral lands, outside hundreds, are let for a term of 42
years, except when the land is likely to be required for closer
settlement, in which ease, leases are issued for 21 years only.
Leases for a term of 42 years are subject to revaluation of rent
for the last 21 years thereof. At the expiration of the term of
the leases the value of improvements, which are the property of
the lessee, is payable by the incoming tenant, and then jiaid to
the outgoing lessee. Lands comprised in pastoral leases issued
under the present Pastoral Act can only be resumed for public
works, such as railways, roads, public buildings, water conserva-
tion, etc., or for mining or any purpose incidental thereto, or
as a site for a town, jiark lands, etc., or for the purpose of
intense culture, which is defined as cultivation by irrigation.
Pastoral leases cannot be transferred or sublet without the written
consent of the Commissioner of Crown Lands.
wherp: to obtain information.
The Lands Department affords every facility for intending
applicants and other en(|uirers to obtain information relative to
land open to apjilication and to be offered. An officer has been
specially appointed for the purpose of answering inquiries in this
ilirection. This officer is conversant with a large portion of the
land which is in course of survey and obtains information as to
the best means of inspecting the Hundreds and other particulars
of interest to intending applicants. He also advises them of the
conditions under which various lands may be taken up.
This department distributes free of cost about 16,000 plans
annually to enquirers for lands open. These free plans are accom-
jianied by details giving the areas of the blocks and the prices
at which they are offered, as well as a short general description of
the land and the conditions under which it may be applied for.
When any land is gazetted open to application, placards are dis-
tributed over the State notifying the fact and also that plans
and full detail may be obtained on ajiplication to the Secretary
for Lands.
A Tasmanian Forest
"WJ
Page
Abbott Family 853
Abbott, J. H. M 126, 856
Abeicrombie River 93
Abminga Creek 78
Aboriginal Mission Stations —
343, 542, 668, 815
Aborigines, Australian —
22, 28, 46, 50, 295, 452, 559
603, 728, 730, 732, 754
Abroholos, Houtman's —
19, 24, 25, 660
Acacias 76, 83, 188
Acheron River 364
Adam Bay 566
Adam Khan 618
Adamson's Peak 757, 773
Adelaide 48, 52, 611, 652
Adelaide River —
48, 516, 524, 546, 563, 606
"Adventure," The 758
Adventure Bay 758, 784
Afghans 247, 618
Agache, Prof. D. Alf 69
Agricultural Banks, State —
409, 416 738
Agricultural Education —
336, 357, 372, 382, 809
Agriculture —
77, 300, 318, 368, 444, 472
Agriculture, Department of . . 120
Albany 19, 46, 400, 680
Albany Pass 46
Albatross Island 782
Alberga River 77, 79, 730
Albert District 505
Albert River 52
Albertsz, Pieter 22
Albion Peak 220
Albury 92, 163, 885
Alcohol 519
Aldinga ^53
Alexander, A. D 1000
Alexandra 318, 362
Alexandra Sugar-Mill 429
Alexandrina, Lake 92, 349
Alfalfa 237, 241
Alford Family 707
Alice River Goldfield 452
Alice Springs—
50, 82, 84, 578, 592, 607, 619
Aliens 409
Alkalies 102, 104, 676
Allamandas 527
Alligator Creek 568
Alligator Rivers 548, 607
Alligators 138
Allipo Creek 206
AUora 491, 498
Alluvial Mining —
77, 156, 297, 332, 361, 701, 706, 723
Almonds 625, 678
Alps, Australian . . 41, 233, 339, 346
Alps, Victorian 195, 355
Alroy Downs J6
Alum Cliffs ;[65
Aluminium 104
Alumite 156
Alumny Creek 20b
Ambergris 1^4
Amphinome Shoals *""
Page
Anacona Bore 74
Anakie Gem-field . . . . : . 425, 480
Anama 1059
Anderson's Creek 297
Anderson's Inlet 340
Angas Family 829
Angaston 626, 832, 834
Angelo 662
Anglesea 322
Angling 138, 179, 220, 267
Anglo-Indians 749, 771
Anglo-Persian Oil Co 790
Angora Goats 80
Anise 437
Animals, Australian 135
Anlaby 1014
Anna Reservoir 84, 604
Annan River 457
Ant-hills 4S2, 520, 590
Anthony's Lagoon . . . . 74, 528, 583
Anthony's Well 579
Anthracite Coal 406
Anthrax 377
Antimony .. .. 156, 407, 443, 701
Apple-bush 211, 250
Apples —
161, 167, 331, 503, 625, 699, 745, 773
Appin 191, 218
Apricots . . 161, 237, 579, 625, 638, 678
Apsley Strait 517
Arabs I''
Arafura Sea 520
Araluen 156
Ararat 297, 331
Arbitration, Industrial 116
Archer Bros 977
Ardmona 394, 396
Ardno 330
Areca Nut 437
"Ariel," The 47
Arltunga Goldfield . . 78, 83, 579, 5i>6
Armidale .... 144, 208, 953, 959, 969
Armored Motor Car 796
Army, Australian 66, 795
"Arnhem," The 19
Arnhem Land . . . . 22, 540, 572, 594
Arrowroot 519, 527, 678
Arsenic 156
Artesian Basin, Great—
94, 466, 655, 660
Artesian Water— „ „„ „.
44, 46, 52, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80, 94
97, 104, 240, 245, 473, 496
589, 662, 677
Artists, Australian • • 124
Asbestos 156, 407, 701
"Ascedant," The 83^
Asche, Oscar 128
Ash, Mountain 82
Ashburton 596, 701, 729
Ashburton River 19, 52, 676
Ashton, Julian 128
Aspendale 308
Assignment System 58
Atherton 416, 438, 464
Atherton Tableland—
46, 102, 170, 415, 445
Athletics 128
Atolls 424
Austin Excavator boi
xli
Page
Austin, A. J 889
Austin, Robert 52
"Australia," H.M.A.S 799
.iKslnilia del Kspiritu .Snnio .. 18
Aimlralia Felix 43, 294, 330
Australian Alps . . 41, 233, 3'>9, 346
Australian Army and Navy . 121, 795
Australian Flying Corps . . . . 798
Australian Imperial Force . . . . 796
Austrians 146
Authors, Australian 123
Aviation 797
Avoca 777
Avoca River 43
Avon River 339, 345, 737
Ayers Rock 589
Ayrshire Cattle 840
Babbage, B. H 47
Bacchus Marsh 320, 386
Bacon 378, 415
Badilla Sugar-Cane 429
Bagdad Valley 773
Baines, T 51
Bairnsdale 87, 339, 343, 345
Baker, Richd. T 103, 128
Balaclava 622
Bald Hill 209
Bale, W. M 128
Ball, Geologist 480
Balla Balla 101, 664
Ballarat 297, 315, 318, 332
Ballenger, Messrs 336
Ballina 202
Balranald 280
Bamawm 386, 389
Bamawm State Farm 370
Bamboo 421, 790
Bamboo Creek 676, 705
Bananas —
161, 412, 438, 455, 458, 527, 678, 790
Banfield, E. J 126, 434
Bangalow Palms .... 190, 219, 428
Banking, Australian . . 114, 298, 488
Banks, Sir Joseph 26, 29, 32
Banks Island 109
Banksia 188
Bankstown 191
Banyan-trees 212, 219
Baobab-tree 673
Baragoot 269
Barcaldine .... 420, 424, 470, 472
Barclay, H. V 51
Barcoo River 44, 52, 469
Barkly Tableland—
76, 530, 577, 586, 600
Barley Grass 249
Barmoya Scrub 478
Barossa Ranges 652, 832
Barraba 232
Barracoota 153
Barramundi 138, 569
Barren Island 782
Barrenjoey 179
Barrett, Chas 128
Barrett-Leonard, G 685
Barrier Range '*2' ^tr
Barrier Reef, Great 425
Barringum 246
Barron Falls 440, 444, 457
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
1912"; cost Is.; obtainable from the Crown Lands Ofi'icc, ITobart,
and Lands Branch Office, Lannctston.
AGRICULTURAL BANK.
Under "The State Advances Act of 1912" (3 George V., No.
53) the Agricultural Bank of Tasmania makes advances to per-
sons holding land on credit purchase from the State of Tasmania,
and also on freehold country lands.
The following are the conditions ujion whicli loans may be
obtained : —
1. Amount of each loan to be not less than £25 nor more than
£1000.
2. No advance on land held on credit purchase shall exceed
one-half of the capital value of the land as estimated by the
Trustees after deducting from such capital value the amount of
instalments unpaid to the Crown at the date of the loan ; and
no advance on freehold property shall exceed three-fifths of the
capital value of the land as estimated by the Trustees.
3. The rate of interest is six and one-half (6J) per cent,
per annum.
4. After five years the borrower will begin paying off the
principal, and can extend the repayments over 25 years; provided
that the advance may, at the option of the borrower, be repaid
at any time sooner than is provided, and in larger instalments.
5. Advances may be made for any of the following purposes : —
(a) Payment of liabilities already existing with respect
to the holding, or payment of the balance of any
purchase-money in respect of the purchase of the
holding, or any stock, machinery, or implements
therefor.
(h) For carrying on agricultural, dairying, grazing, or
liorticultur.al pursuits on the holding.
((■) Making the jirescribed improvements on the holding.
(<0 Adding to the improvements already made on the
holding.
6. The valuation fee must be paid by the ajjplicant whether
the loan be granted or not.
PASTORAL LANDS.
Pastoral lands, outside hundreds, are let for a term of 42
years, except when the land is likely to be required for closer
settlement, in which case, leases are issued for 21 years only.
Leases for a term of 42 years are subject to revaluation of rent
for the last 21 years thereof. At the exjiiration of the term of
the leases the value of improvements, which are the property of
the lessee, is payable by the incoming tenant, and then paid to
the outgoing lessee. I^nnds comprised in pastoral leases issued
under the present Pastoral Act can only be resumed for public
works, such as railways, roads, public buildings, water conserva-
tion, etc., or for mining or any jiurj^ose incidental thereto, or
as a site for a town, park lands, etc., or for the purpose of
intense culture, which is defined as cultivation by irrigation.
Pastoral leases cannot be transferred or sublet without the written
consent of the Commissioner of Crown Lands.
WHERE TO OBTAIN INFORMATION.
The Lands Department affords every facility for intendinjj
applicants and other enquirers to obtain information relative to
land open to api)lication and to be offered. An officer has been
specially appointed for the purpose of answering inquiries in this
direction. This officer is conversant with a large portion of the
land which is in course of survey and obtains information as to
the best means of inspecting the Hundreds and other particulars
of interest to intending applicants. He also advises them of the
conditions under which various lands may be taken up.
This department distributes free of cost about 16,000 plans
annually to enquirers for lands open. These free plans are accom-
panied by details giving the areas of the blocks and the prices
at which they are offered, as well as a short general description of
the land and the conditions under which it may be applied for.
When any land is gazetted open to application, placards are dis-
tributed over the State notifying the fact and also that i>lans
and full detail may be obtained on application to the Secretary
for Lands.
A Ta.smanian Forest
Page
Abbott Family 853
Abbott, J. H. M 126, 856
Abercrombie River 93
Abminga Creek 78
Aboriginal Mission Stations —
343, 542, 668, 815
Aborigines, Australian —
22, 28, 46, 50, 295, 452, 559
603, 728, 730, 732, 754
Abroholos, Houtman's —
19, 24, 25, 660
Acacias 76, 83, 188
Acheron River 364
Adam Bay 566
Adam Khan 618
Adamson's Peak 757, 773
Adelaide 48, 52, 611, 652
Adelaide River —
48, 516, 524, 546, 563, 606
"Adventure," The 758
Adventure Bay 758, 784
Afghans 247, 618
Agache, Prof. D. Alf 69
Agricultural Banks, State —
409, 416 738
Agricultural Education —
336, 357, 372, 382, 809
Agriculture —
77, 300, 318, 368, 444, 472
Agriculture, Department of . . 120
Albany 19, 46, 400, 680
Albany Pass 46
Albatross Island 782
Alberga River 77, 79, 730
Albert District 505
Albert River 52
Albertsz, Pieter 22
Albion Peak 220
Albury 92, 163, 885
Alcohol 519
Aldinga 653
Alexander, A. D 1000
Alexandra 318, 362
Alexandra Sugar-Mill 429
Alexandrina, Lake 92, 349
Alfalfa 237, 241
Alford Family 707
Alice River Goldfield 452
Alice Springs —
50, 82, 84, 578, 592, 607, 619
j^liens 409
Alkalies '..■■..■■ 102, 104, 676
Allamandas 527
Alligator Creek 568
Alligator Rivers 548, 607
Alligators 138
Allipo Creek 206
AUora 491, 498
Alluvial Mining —
77, 156, 297, 332, 361, 701, 706, 723
Almonds 625, 678
Alps, Australian . . 41, 233, 339, 346
Alps, Victorian 195, 355
Alroy Downs J6
Alum Cliffs ;[65
Aluminium 104
Alumite 156
Alumny Creek 20b
Ambergris 1^*
Amphinome Shoals oo '
Page
Anacona Bore 74
Anakie Gem-field . . . . : . 425, 480
Anama 1059
Anderson's Creek 297
Anderson's Inlet 340
Angas Family 829
Angaston 626, 832, 834
Angelo 662
Anglesea 322
Angling 138, 179, 220, 267
Anglo-Indians 749, 771
Anglo-Persian Oil Co 790
Angora Goats 80
Anise 437
Animals, Australian 135
Anlaby 1014
Anna Reservoir 84, 604
Annan River 457
Ant-hills 482, 520, 590
Anthony's Lagoon . . . . 74, 528, 583
Anthony's Well 579
Anthracite Coal 406
Anthrax 377
Antimony .. .. 156, 407, 443, 701
Apple-bush 211, 250
Apples —
161, 167, 331, 503, 625, 699, 745, 773
Appin 191, 218
Apricots . . 161, 237, 579, 625, 638, 678
Apsley Strait 517
Arabs 1'^
Arafura Sea 520
Araluen 156
Ararat 297, 331
Arbitration, Industrial 116
Archer Bros 977
Ardmona 394, 396
Ardno 330
Areca Nut 437
"Ariel," The 47
Arltunga Goldfield . . 78, 83, 579, S$»6
Armidale .... 144, 208, 953, 959, 969
Armored Motor Car 796
Army, Australian 66, 795
"Ariihem," The 19
Arnhem Land . . . . 22, 540, 572, 594
Arrowroot 519, 527, 678
Arsenic 156
Artesian Basin, Great—
94, 466, 655, 660
Artesian Water —
44, 46, 52, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80, 94
97, 104, 240, 245, 473, 496
589, 662, 677
Artists, Australian . . •••■•• 124
Asbestos 156, 407, 701
"Ascedant," The 8^3
Asche, Oscar 128
Ash, Mountain 82
Ashburton 596, 701, 729
Ashburton River 19, 52, 676
Ashton, Julian 128
Aspendale 308
Assignment System 58
Atherton 416, 438, 464
Atherton Tableland—
46, 102, 170, 415, 445
Athletics 128
Atolls 424
Austin Excavator ooi
xli
Page
Austin, A. J 889
Austin, Robert 52
"Australia," H.M.A.S 799
.Itistrolia del Espiritu ^nnlo . , 18
AKSIidJin Felix 43, 294, 330
Australian Alps . . 41, 233, 3')9, 346
Australian Army and Navy . 121, 795
Australian Flying Corps . . . . 798
Australian Imperial Force . . . . 796
Austrians 146
Authors, Australian 123
Aviation 797
Avoca 777
Avoca River 43
Avon River 339, .345, 737
Ayers Rock 589
Ayrshire Cattle 840
Babbage, B. H 47
Bacchus Marsh 320, 386
Bacon 378, 415
Badilla Sugar-Cane 429
Bagdad Valley 773
Baines, T 51
Bairnsdale 87, 339, 343, 345
Baker, Richd. T 103, 128
Balaclava 622
Bald Hill 209
Bale, W. M 128
Ball, Geologist 480
Balla Balla 101, 664
Ballarat 297, 315, 318, 332
Ballenger, Messrs 336
Ballina 202
Balranald 280
Bamawm 386, 389
Bamawm State Farm 370
Bamboo 421, 790
Bamboo Creek 676, 705
Bananas —
161, 412, 438, 455, 458, 527, 678, 790
Banfield, E. J 126, 434
Bangalow Palms .... 190, 219, 428
Banking, Australian . . 114, 298, 488
Banks, Sir Joseph 26, 29, 32
Banks Island 109
Banksia 188
Bankstown 191
Banyan-trees 212, 219
Baobab-tree 673
Baragoot 269
Barcaldine .. .. 420, 424, 470, 472
Barclav, H. V 51
Barcoo River 44, 52, 469
Barkly Tableland —
76, 530, 577, 586, 600
Barley Grass 249
Barmoya Scrub 478
Barossa Ranges 652, 832
Barraba 232
Barracoota 153
Barramundi 138, 569
Barren Island ^2
Barrenjoey 1^9
Barrett, Chas 128
Barrett-Leonard, G 685
Barrier Range 42, 254
Barrier Reef, Great 425
Barringum ■ • 246
Barron Falls 440, 444, 457
xli
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
ai_ Page
Barron River 440
Barrow Creek . . . . 84, 580, 583, 596
Barton, Sir Edmund 66
Barwon Heads 322
Barwon River, N.S.W 232
Barwon River, Vic 322
Basalt Rocks .... 201, 309, 590, 764
Baskerville, Margaret 128
Bass (Fish) 151
Bass, Surgeon George 291
Bass Strait 291
Bastion Rock 346
Batavia 20, 24
"Batavia," The 19, 25, 660
Batavia River 452
Batchelor Demonstration Farm —
535, 538
Bateman's Bay 267, 273
Bathurst . . 39, 43, 66, 161, 297, 867
Bathurst Island 517
Batman, John 294, 322
Battery Tank 250
Baudin, Capitaine 292, 661
Baw Baws, The 343, 360
Baxter ^45
Bayley & Ford 701
Bayswater 313
Beachport 650
Beaconsfield 310
Beagle Bay 53
Bean, C. E. W 126
Beaumaris 306
Beche-de-mer 106
Becke, Louis 126
Bedford, Randolph 126
Bedford, Ruth 126
Bedford Hall Cave 692
Bee-Keeping .... 164, 336, 378, 625
Beech, Native 310
Beechworth 297, 355
Beef -cattle 415
Beenleigh 505
Beet Sugar 345
Beetaloo o52
Bees'-wax „ 379
Bega 143, 183, 269
Bega River ^/j-
Belar Trees 249, 250, 478
Belgium IJl
Belgrave ^^^
Bellambi 220
Bellata Bore J^.%
Bell Bay ^52
Bell-birds 71, 208
Bell Family 859
Bellerive "ol
Bellingen River . . 87, 143, 209, 285
Bellpajah Out-station 250
"Bell's Line" ■ • • • 859
Belltrees 947
Beltana 51, 617
Belyando River 44
Benalla 361
Bendigo . . 258, 297, 320, 387, 845, 849
Bendock 347
Benevolent Asylums 815
Bennett, Hon. Walter 210
Benson, Albert H 410
Berembed 99, 274
Bermagui 268
Bernier Island 661
Berri 90, 97
Berrigan 94
Berry 221, 263
Berseem Clover 690
Bertrand, M 225
Beryl 596
Betts Camp 195
Big Scrub Lands 202, 445
Big Spring 79
Big Springs Station 909
Biggenden 407, 410
Bight, Great Australian . . 45, 52, 76
Billabong Creek 94
Bimera 96
Bingera 416, 485
Birds, Australian .... 139, 280, 952
Page
Birdsville 469, 618.
Bishop and Clerk Island .... 784
Bismuth 156, 407, 443
Bitter Springs 573
Bittern 136, 308
Blackall 416, 472
Blackall Ranges 507
Black, Andrew 279
Blaekbutt-trees . . . . 267, 310, 489
Black Duck 134, 569
Blackfish 138
Black Flat 313
Blackmore River 594, 606
Black Range Minefield 710
Black Soil Plains . . 227, 233, 470, 490
Blacks' Spur 365
Blackwcod River 22, 693
Blackwood-trees 310
Blair Athol Coal Mine .... 407, 486
Blanchetown 90
Blaxland, Gregory 39
Blayney 137
Blue Grass 466, 1003
Bligh, Capt 455, 758
Blimbing 527
Block 10 Mine 257
Blood's Creek 77, 80
Bloodwood-trees 76, 227
Bloomfield River 456
Blowhole, The (N.S.W.) .. .. 221
Blowhole, The (Tas.) 773
Bluebush 72, 249, 588
"Bluebush" Wethered 705
Blue Lake 625, 653
Blue Mountains —
38, 167, 182, 225, 866
Blue Mud Bay 516
Blue-wing Duck 266
Blunder Bay 592
Blunno, M 162
Blyth 622
Blythe River 768
Boar-flsh 153
Board, Peter 803
Bodalla 143, 268, 273
Bogan River 43, 233
Bogong Plains 349
Boisdale 345
Bolac, Lake 332
Boldrewood, Rolf 126
Bonang 347
Bond, W. P 478
Bonnev, Chas 45
Booberoi Station 249
Boolaboolka, Lake 252
Booligal 282
Boolman 598
Boomah Mountains 478
Boree 472
Bores . . 72, 94, 240, 246, 401, 528, 654
Boronia 188
Borook Station 587
Borroloola 540, 599
Bossley Park 217
Botanic Gardens —
173, 373, 419, 525, 545
Botany Bay . . . . 28, 32, 38, 184, 291
Botany Heads 153
Bottle-tree 511
Bougainvillea 441, 527
Boulder City 719
Boulter, G. J 445
Boundary Dam 644
Bounties Act, Federal 170
"Bounty," H.M.S 455
Bourke — •
145, 234, 238, 239, 245, 281, 471
Bourke, Governor 58
Bovril Australian Estates Co. —
558, 590
Bowen 434, 484
Bowen, Lieut. John . . . . 292, 758
Bower-birds 138
Box-trees . . 81, 211, 226, 238, 249, 250
Boyd, Benjamin 270
Boyd, Carr 53
Boyne River 508
Page
Bradshaw, Joseph 590
Brahe, Wm 50
Brandt, Otto 526
Brandy 163
Branxholme 331
Bread-fruit 437, 678, 790
Break o' Day Valley 779
Bream 138
Breinl, Dr. Anton 532
Bremer, Sir Gordon 518
Brennan, Christopher 126
Brennan, Louis 128
Brereton, John de Gay 126
Bridge Creek 606
Bridgetown 699
Bridgewater 756
Brierley, Sir Oswald 270
Brigalow 476, 490
Bright 353, 357, 360
Brighton 306
Bringles 674
Brisbane 52, 417
Brisbane, Governor 58
Brisbane River . . . . 41, 417, 423
Brisbane Valley 508
British Immigration League . . 120
Broad Arrow Gold Mine .... 702
Broadford 318
Broadmeadows 318
Broadmount 475
Broadsound 484
Broadwater River 206
Brockman, F. S 53
Brockman Family 698, 700
Brock's Creek 537, 548, 606
Brodribb River 347
Broke, Lord Willoughby de . . 120
Broken Bay 38, 180
Broken Hill—
43, 238, 240, 248, 252, 254, 615
621, 721
Broken Hill Proprietary Co. . . 256
Brolgas 280
Bronzewing Pigeon 134, 137
Brookman, Geo. and Wm 720
"Brookman's Farm" 721
Broom Millet 497
Broome 661, 667, 726
Broome's Head 206
Brown, H. Y. L 596, 602, 606
Brown Coal 407
Brown Mountain 270
Browne, Dr 42
Bruce, Mary Grant 126
Bruce Rock 738
Brunette Downs 76, 586
Bruni Islands 757, 784
Brunswick State Farm 687
Brush Turkeys 72, 137
Bruthen 317
Buchan 365
Buchan Caves 347
Buchan River 348
Buchanan, Wm. T 590
Buckland River 358
Buffaloes —
138, 170, 515, 517, 556, 561, 567
Buderim 438, 507
"Bulletin," Sydney 123, 705
Bum 191, 219
Bulli Pass 189, 219
Bulman Station 574
Bunbury 690, 698
Bundaberg 485
Bundaleer 652
Bundamba 504
Bundock, C. L. Wyndham .... 996
Bungaree 1043
Bungaree North 1051
Bungowannah 93
Buninyong 297
Bunny, Rupert 128
Bunyip 310
Burdekin Duck 137
Burdekin River . 44, 87, 133, 416, 486
Burdett 650
Burke, Robt. O'Hara 48
I
INDEX
Klii!
Page
Burke Goldfleld 459
Burnett 415
Burnett River 486
Burnie 744, 766
Burnley School of Horticulture —
373, 376
Burra Burra Mine 621
Burragorang 756
Burrawang 927
Burrendong 93
Burrier 263
Burrinjuck Dam .. .. 147, 275, 878
Burrum Coalfield 406
Burt Plain 83
Burton Stock Route . 729
Bushgrove 206
Busselton 690
Bustards .. ..72, 137, 280, 46/, 583
Butcher, Mr 686
Butter 168, 300, 415
Buxton Range 604
Bynoe Harbor 606
Byrock 245
Cabbage Palms 137, 219, 221
Cable Service Ill
Cadels ^95
Cadia . 156
CaflFery P 263
Cairns '. . '199, 416, 433, 435, 441, 447
"Calcutta." H.M.S 294
Caledon Bay 574, 600
Calgardup Cave 735
Callide Coalfield 407
Cambage, R. H 128
Camberoona 93, 279, 387
Cambewarra 18^. j^^
Cambooya ■ • 49b
Cambridge Gulf 730
Camden \^^
Camden Haven '^'■'^
Camels- ^^^^ ^gg^ g^g^ g^2^ ^^^^ ^^^
Cameron, Dr. S. S 369
"Camilla," The ■ • 429
Camooweal 469 528
Campaspe River ^'''' ?oq
Campbell, A. J 1^8
Campbell, Duncan » '?
Campbell, J. A 9^3
Campbell, Major .. oil
Campbelltown, N.S.W 191, 217
Campbelltown, Tas 'o^
Camperdown ^^ '
Camphor *^S
Canberra „"„
Candelo ^'^
Cane-grass 206
Cangai oac
Cann River .. ••.■••■ ;•,,•■ "^*
CanninRT Fish, Fruit, Vegetable's— ^^^
Canning' Stock Route .... 727, 730
Cape Arnhem „o-.
Cape Barren Island '°^
Cape Barrow .. • • • • qV „V(, or a
Cape Everard .... 27, 291, 346, 354
Cane Farewell rj^^
Cape Felix . • ■ ■ „Qg
Cape Gooseberries .... ■ ■ ^74, ^u
I ar. !".--»' ::-.:i9.-3«, 646 «
Cape Leveque 423
Cape Moreton ^j^q
Cape Nelson • • „„o
Cape Otway 137, 6i^
Cane Schanck ., „ ,
Cape Solander \°
Cane Tribulation *
Cane Wilberforce . . . . • • • • • • ^'^
Cape York 28. 30, 47, 59, 451
Carbide of Calcium ««*
Carbonates : ■ • • • Trg
CarcoKr ::„ .
Card. G. W \l^
Page
Cardwell 434, 457
Carmichael, Hon. A. C 803
Carnarvon, Tas 755, 779
Carnarvon, W.A 23, 88, 662
Carnegie, D. W 53
Carpentaria, Gulf of . . . . 44, 48, 192
Carrathool 280
Carr's Creek 206
Carrum 308
Carstenz, Jan 19
Carter, Norman 128
Cashmere Gorge 446
Casino 201
Cassava . . 437
Cassilis 349
Casterton 136, 328, 330
Castlemaine 226, 298, 318
Castlereagh River 233
Castles, Amy 128
Caswell, H 69
Catani, Mr 358
Cathcart Gold Mine 332
Cattle—
39, 78, 81, 83, 269, 297, 339, 415
482, 494, 590, 673
Cattle-cane 202
Cattle Creek 448
Cavanagh Ranges 730
Caves, Buchan 347
Caves, Margaret River 690
Caves, Yallingup 690
Caves, Yarangobilly 353
Cawarral 407
Cawker, Mr 330
Cecil Hills 218
Cedar Pine 102, 206, 433, 441
Central Australia 28, 51, 76
Central Mount Stuart 47
Central Queensland 416
Central Queensland Meat Ex-
port Co 482
Centre Island 572
Ceylon 437
Chaffey Brothers 88, 93, 649
Chambers' Creek 47
Chambers' Pillar 584
Champion Bay 20, 730
Chapman, Fredk 128
Chapman State Farm 736
Charleville 244, 472
Charlotte Waters . . 79, 578, 594, 619
"Charon," S.S 659
Charters Towers 443, 461
Chatsworth 204
Cheese 378, 415
Chelsea • 308
Cherry, Professor 323, 32b
Childers 409, 482, 485
Chillagoe 443, 446
Chillies 674
Chillingollah 401
China l^^
263, 438, 445, 470, 498, 522, 546
551, 571, 596, 659, 791
Chintawanta 640
Chlorides 25b
Christmas Bells lo»
Christmas Creek ^o"
Christmas Hills ^14
Christmas Mine °^^
Chromite 407
Churchill Island 292
Cinnamon 438, 527, 787
Circular Quay, Sydney . . . . 60, 173
Citronella 437
Citrus Fruits-^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^_
494, 507, 527, 625
Claraville 83
(^jafg bZZ
Clare Innes Station .... . . • • 592
Clarence River . 87, 136, 143, 199, 204
Clarendon 612, 867
Clarke, Marcus 126, 322, 755
Clarke Island • • Jfl
Clays 104, 157
I'ago
Cleland & Sons Ltd 1083
Clermont Coalfield 406, 486
Cleveland 505
Cleveland Bay 434
Clifton Springs 322
Climate —
32, 37, 70, 84, 144, 198, 302
413,. 531, 608
Cloncurry 407, 443, 468
Cloncurry River 48
Closer Settlement —
148, 367, 380, 396, 650
Cloudy Bay 784
Cloudy Lagoon 784
Clover 202, 693
Club Lake 197
Club Terrace 347
Clunes 297
Clyde River 267
Clydesdales 836
Coaches 78, 191
Coal—
35, 104, 154, 188, 219, 406, 444
486, 503, 579, 589, 660, 680, 790
Coal, Brown 340 343
Coalcliff 153, 219
Coapin 527
Coast Range 221
Cobar 105, 157, 243, 248
Cobargo 272
Cobb & Co 191, 265
Coburg Peninsula 518
Cocaine 438, 527
Cocoa . . 437, 527, 678
Cocoanuts —
412, 428, 437, 525, 536, 572, 575
678, 787, 792
Cockatoos 138, 280, 582
Cockburn 259
Cod 425
Coen Goldfield 451
Coffee 438, 441, 525, 678, 787
Coff's Harbor 210
Cohuna 385, 387
Colac 325
Coldstream River 136, 206
Collier Bay 732
Collingrove 834, 836
Collins, Hy. & Co 1065
Collins, Lieut.-Governor —
294, 746 758
Colonial Sugar-Refining Co. . . 206
Colored Labor 408
Comet River 486
Combienbar Creek 347
Comboyne Scrub 214
"Comeback" Wheat 401
Commerce 113
Commonweath, The 67, 795
Commonwealth Bank 114
Como 181, 184
Complex Ores Co 747
"Concordia," The 665
Condobolin 224, 232, 248
Condomine River 44
Conferences, Federal 66
Conigrave, Explorer 53, 735
Connor, J. M. B 699
Conservatorium of Music . . . . 805
Continuation Schools 806
Convention, Commonwealth . . 66
Convicts 31, 58, 60
Coochin Coochin Station . . . . 483
Coodinga 596
Cook, Capt. —
24, 27, 31, 184, 291, 452, 458, 758
Cook's River 184
Cooktown . 28, 413, 443, 451, 456, 663
Coolangatta Estate 221
Coolgardie 596, 679, 702, 716
Coolie Labor 530, 667
Cooma .... 103, 144, 192, 223, 270
Coonamble 275
Coongan River 669
Coonong 878
Co-operation .... 212, 262, 340, 378
Co-operative Settlement . . . . 693
xliv
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Pnge
Cooper's Creek 48, 128, 484
Coorong River 626
Cooroy 507
Cootamundra 231, 400
Coots 136
Copley & Patterson 590
Copmanhurst 206
Copper^
102, 104, 156, 206, 250, 407, 459
468, 479, 486, 503, 597, 660
680, 701, 749, 767
Coppin's Gap 734
Copra 536
Coral Reefs 425
Coral-trees 527
Coramba 208, 210
Corio Bay 320
Cormorants 136, 280
Cornelius, Jerome 20
Coromandel Valley 612, 756
Corowa 163, 227, 230
Corrimal 219
Corryong 347, 353
Cossack 659, 694
Cotter River 70
Cotton —
170, 437, 519, 536, 575, 662
678, 787, 790
Cotton, A. J 981
Cotton, A. S 586
Cotton-plant 250
Couch-grass 201
Coulter, R. C. G 69
Councils, Legislative 59
Country Roads Board .... 303, 369
Cowan Creek 179
Cowes 308
Cowper, Chas 60
Cowra 137, 280
Cox, A. W 256
Cox Family 862, 865
Cox's Pass 866
Cox's Peninsula 525
Cox River 867
Cranes 136, 202
Crawford, Alice 128
Crayfish 152
Credit Foncier System 367
Creel River 194
Crescent Head 199
Cressy ^63
Creswick 318, 332
Cricket 131
Croajingalong 346
Crocodile Creek 479
Croker Island 575
Cronulla 184
Crookhaven .• ■ 223, 263
Crossley, Ada 128, 721
Croton 438
Crown Lands —
61, 148, 249, 354, 416, 488, 752
771, 782, 784
Crown Point 81, 1032
Crowsfoot Grass 249
Crow's Nest 489
Croydon 313, 443, 452, 458
Cu-Cania 447
Cucumber-fish 153
Cudegong River 93, 867
Cudgewa 347
Cue 710
Culgoa River 233, 247
Cullen River 606
"Cumberland," The 292
Cumberland Islands 434
Cumberoona Storage 8S, 353
Cunnamulla 244, 472
Cunningham, Allan 43, 490
Cunningham, Richd 43
"Cuprum," The 665
Currant-bush 250
Currants .. ..92, 161, 388, 623, 718
Currawang Station 4.|)
Cuscus Grass 437
Custard Apples 413
Customs Ill
Cutbush, Mayor 703
Pngo
Cuthero 243
Cuttagee 269
"Cygnet," The 23
Cygnet Bay 23
Cypress Pine . 225, 231, 245, 494, 615
Daintree River 457
Dairy-farming —
146, 148, 168, 201, 212, 221, 269
272, 277, 300, 325, 327, 340, 368
380, 415, 444, 476, 497, 652
751, 768, 770, 777
Dalby 246, 490
Dalev, Victor J 126
Dalgleish, Capt 659, 674
Dalgonally Station 482
Dalhousie District 74
Dalhousie Station 79
Dalhousie Thermal Springs . . 74, 578
Daly River — •
524, 537, 550, 561, 590, 597
Daly Waters 48, 53, 545, 583
Dalyup River 648
Dampier, William 23, 31, 659
Dampier Archipelago 663
Dandenong 309, 365
Dangar Family 953
Dapto 136, 220
Dare, H. H 94
Darling, Governor 41, 58
Darling Downs —
43, 238, 246, 415, 417
Darling Harbor, Sydney 174
Darling River —
41, 48, 88, 92, 94, 99, 232, 234, 238
241, 245, 250, 262, 279, 318, 490
Darwin 516, 539, 595
Darwin River 606
Date Palms —
79, 84, 244, 428, 438, 526, 676
678, 736
Davenport Ranges 580
David, Professor 128
Davidson, Allan 580, 592, 602
Davidsonian Plum 437
Dawson, Peter 128
Dawson River . . . . 44, 52, 476, 486
Day Dawn 660
Daylesford 320
Daysures 132
Deakin, Rt. Hon. Alfred .... 66
Death Rate 119, 146
De Baun, M 716
Deep Creek 297
Defence, Australian 66, 795
De Freycinet 18
De Grey River 52, 730
Delegate River 347
De Lissaville Plantation . . . . 525
Deloraine 764
Demetrius 666
Denial Bay 640
Denman, Lord and Lady .... 70
Denmark 170
Dennis, C. J 126
D'Entrecasteaux 758
D'Entrecasteaux Channel . . . . 773
Depuch Roads 665
Derby 673, 740
Derham, Enid 126
Derwent River and Valley . . 756, 773
"Desert" Country —
32, 37, 39, 41, 43, 73, 589, 593
628, 642
"Desert Oak" 465
Despessis, A 674
Devil's Kitchen 773
Devon Sheep 937
Devonport . . 744, 752, 763, 774, 777
Devonport Ranges 76
Diamantina River . . . . 48, 51, 469
Diamonds 44, 156, 588
Diamond Creek 316
Digby 330
Dieht Family 959
Dilli 539
Dillwynia 188
Dimboola 338
I'ilKO
Diorite Creek 574
Dirck Hartogs, Capt 18
Dirranbandi 498
Disaster Bay 153
"Discovery," The 758
Diseases, Tropical 530
Divers 136
Dividing Ranges —
38, 94, 99, 208, 215, 232, 269, 310
357, 362, 380, 654
Divining Rod 239, 915, 945
Dixson's Homestead 696
Doherty & Durack 590
Domestic Economy 806, 813
Donkeys 740
Donnybrook 318
Dookie Agricultural College . . 382
Dora Creek Farm Home . . . . 820
Dorre Island 661
Dorrigo 136, 205, 208
Dory 153
Dottrels 137
Douglas, F 645
Dover Bay 757
Downies, of Glenelg 1074
Drake 199
Dried Fruits 161
Driffield 606
Dromana 309
Drought 77, 80, 97
Drouin 310
Drummer Mountain 346
"Dry" Belt, The 444, 730
"Dryblower" Murphy 705
Dryblowers 703, 707
Dry Country 45, SO, 97
Dry-farming .... 234, 245, 251, 284
Drysdale 322
Drysdale River 732
Dubbo 275
Duck, Wild . . 134, 266, 280, 569, 583
Duffield, Hon. W. . . 1039
Dugong 425
Duke of Edinburgh 758, 763
"Duke of York," The 830
Dulacca Experimental Station . 492
Dulcie Ranges 76
Dumaresque River 500
Dungalear 973
Dunk Island 434
Dunlop Station 244, 283
Dunn, E. J 128, 598, 847
Dunn Brothers 239
Dunstan, B 406, 480
Duntroon 70, 796
Durack, Professor 128
Dutch 18, 26, 693, 732
Dutch East India Company . . 18, 26
Dutton Family 1014
"Duyfken," The 18
Dyer, Mr 350
Dykes 594
Eaglehawk Neck 773
East- West Railway 71
Ebony 790
Echidna 35, 140
Echuca 88, 318, 387
Eden 223, 265, 270
Edinglassie 941
Edith River 606
Edols Family 927
Education, State 683, 803
Eel Creek 449
"Eendracht," The 18
Eendracht's Land 19
Egg-fruit 437, 674
Egg-laying Competitions . . . . 378
Eggs 164, 378
Egrets 136
Eleanor Claim 599
Elections 61
Electric Lighting and Power —
260, 458, 720, 746
Elizabeth Town 764
Elkedra 84
Elkedra Creek 580
INDKX
xlv
Page
Ellendale 757
Elliott, Mount, Copper Mine . . 347
Elmore 387
Elsey, J. R 51
Elsey Creek 45, 52, 573
Eltham 295, 314, 365
Emancipists 58
Embley River 451
"Emden," The 799
Emerald 313
Emerald Creek 444
Emerson, E. S 126
Emigration 57, 298
Emily Plain 81
Emu Creek 509
Emu Park 486
Emus 72, 138, 242, 2S0, 583
"Encounter," H.M.A.S 800
"Endeavour," The —
25, 30, 186, 456, 507
Endeavour River 456
Endeavour Straits 30
English Company's Island . . . . 575
Ensilage 90, 93, 416
J'lpacris lonfii/lora 188
Era Downs Station 583
Eringa Station 80
Erskine River 323
Escape Cliffs 520
Esk River 746
Esperance 640, 645, 735
Esson, Louis 126
Estuary of Tamar River . . . . 774
Etheridge 128
Etheridge Goldfield 459
Euabolong 230, 248, 250
Eucalypts 35, 105
Eucla 52, 640, 645
Eunella Ranges 428
Eureka Mine 607
Eureka Stockade 334
Eurobin Creek 359
Eurobin Valley 356, 358
Eurobodalla 273
Euston 401
Evans, Hy 832
Evans, Leslie 744, 761, 771
Evans, Surveyor Geo. W. . . 39, 867
Evelyn Mine 607
Everard, Cape 27, 291, 354
Everton 361
Excise 63, 112
Exmouth Gulf 22
Experimental Farms —
161, 201, 206, 225, 227, 277, 370
689, 809
Exploration 3^7
Exports 159, 173, 680
Extended Union Mine 607
Eyre, E. J 45, 640
Eyre's Peninsula . . . . 45, 627, 639
Fairfax Harbor 788
Fairview 451
Fairymead 416, 485
Fallowfield & Co 25
Fantail Pigeon 137
"Fantome," H.M.A.S 800
Farming, Dairy (see Dairy-Farmmg)
Farming, Dry 234, 245
Farming, Mixed —
160, 207, 337, 485, 587
Farrer, Wm 171, 287
Favenc, Ernest 51, 586
Fawkner, John Pascoe 294
Federal Capital 68, 223
Federal Land Tax 115
Federation, Australian 63, 64
"Federation" Wheat 401
Ferguson, Constable Bob . . . . 237
Ferguson River 595, 606
Fern Tree Bower, Hobart . . . . 759
Fern Tree Gully 310
Ferries . . . 1'74, 178
Fever 519, 588
pfgs ; ■. . 161, 662
Finance, Public 150
"Finch," The ^^
Page
Fingal Mine, Great 660
Finke River 74, 78, 80, 578
Finniss, Lieut. B. T 520
Finniss River 595, 597, 606
Finniss Spring 836
First Fleet, The 31, 37
Pish—
39, 106, 138, 151, 153, 220, 243,
280, 425, 580
Fish River 136
Fisher, Rt. Hon. Andrew .... 71
Fisher Falls 450
Fisheries Commission, Tas-
manian 756
Fitchett, Rev. Dr. W. H 126
Fitzroy, Governor 60
Pitzroy River 99, 475, 486
Five Islands 220
Flannagan, Mr 702
Flannel Flowers 186
Flathead 138, 152, 153
Flat Top 426, 429
Flax 102
Flaxman, Chas 831
Flemming, Jas 292, 306
Flinders 308
Flinders, Capt. William —
220, 291, 452, 516
Flinders Grass . . 466, 470, 591, 1003
Flinders Island 781
Flinders Ranges 45, 617
Flinders River 48, 96, 470
Flock Pigeon 137
Flora River 590, 592
Florida Bore 487
Flounders 749
Flowerdale 318
Flowers, Wild 55, 186
Fly River 789
Flying Fishes 424
Flying Foxes 424
Flying School 797
Fogarty, Constable 732
Football 131
Forests —
150, 209, 267, 270, 310, 322, 346, 347
348, 353, 445, 508, 625, 673, 697
Forrest, Alexander 51, 52
Forrest, John — ■
51, 52, 66, 644, 694, 716, 729
Forsayth 458
Fort Constantine Station . . . . 468
Fort Dundas 517
Fort Hill 539
Fortescue 663
Fortescue River 52
Forth 776
Fountain Head 606
Fourtor, Adolf 272
Fowler's Bay 45
Fox, E. Phillips 128
Foxes 272, 424
Francis Well 80, 81
Frangipanni 527
Frankford "778
Franklin '^58
Franklin, Sir John 754
Franklin Harbor 642
Frankston 308
Eraser, Foster 717
Fraser Limited 1084
Frazer's Mine 711
Frederics, Arthur 217
Free Settlers 58, 337
Freehold Gemfield 480
Freeling, Col 47
Freer 568
Freezing Works 538
Fremantle 22, 46, 659, 682
French 292
French Island 308
Frenchmen 146, 162
Freshwater Point 748
Fresne, Marion de 758
Frew River 76, 84, 582
Freycinet Peninsula 784
Friedman, Mr 703
Froggatt, W. W 128
Page
Frome, Lake 254
Frost 413
Fruit—
93, 161, 208, 215, 236, 249, 271,
313, 322, 331, 348, 354, 388,
410, 472, 632, 645, 648, 660
687, 699, 718
Fruit Pigeon 137
Furneaux 758
Furneaux Islands 291, 781
Gabo Island 28, 346
Galah Parrots 138, 280
Gallet Creek 458
Game Birds —
39, 73, 243, 280, 564, 583
Gang-gangs 138
Gardner's Ranges 580
Garnets 596
Gascoigne Stock Route 729
Gascoyne River . . . . 23, 51, 662, 676
Gatton Agricultural College . . 416
Gawler 626, 833
Gawler Ranges 640
Gee, Lionel C. E 592
Geelong 297, 320, 325
Geese, Wild 136
Geeveston 758, 779
Geigor, Adolf 687
Gem Stones 156, 1084
Gembrook 310
Genoa Peak 346, 347
Geodetic Survey 577
George, F. R 607
George, Lake 41
George River 776
George's Bay 773
George's River 218
Georgetown 458
Georgina District 469
Geraldton 19, 25, 52, 659
German Pass . . 832
German Tank 250
Germans and Germany —
88, 113, 146, 204, 232, 480, 726
779, 791
Gerogery 286
Gerringong 221
Gidyea Scrub . 72, 74, 77, 245, 246, 471
Gilbert, Mr 44
Giles, Ernest 50
Giles, J. A 586
Gillies, W 128
Gilruth, Dr 530
Ginger 790
Gipps, Governor 58, 60
Gippsland —
27, 45, 297, 308, 310, 339, 360
Gippsland Lakes 343
Gladesville 178
Gladstone, Rt. Hon. W. E 66
Gladstone .... 136, 407, 416, 485, 503
Glassford Creek 407
Glasshouse Mountains . . . . 423, £07
Glenelg 323, 626
Glenelg River . . . . 43, 51, 330, 352
Glen Huon 780
Glen Innes 143, 201
Glenore 763, 773, 781
Glenorchy 773
Glenreagh 210
Glen Waverley 313
Glen Wills 349
Glenugie Peak 210
Gloucester 165, 215
Glynn, Hon. P. H 527
Goats 80, 561
Godwit 137
Gold—
18, 44, 71, 83, 154, 156, 196, 206
296, 316, 318, 332, 334, 346, 347
352, 361, 362, 407, 415, 452, 459
462, 478, 503, 521, 588, 596, 599
660, 680, 701, 845
"Golden Dragon," The .. .. 22, 693
Golden Mile 720, 722
Golden Plovers 137
"Golden Sea Horse," The . . . . 19
xlvi
Page
Golden Valley Goldfield 701
Golf 192
Gol-Gol 2tS2, 284
"Good Hope," The 22
Goodah 729
Goode Island 450
Goolgumbla 880
Goonabooka Pool 24
Goonegerah 347
Goonery »o
Goose Island '°^
Gordon, Adam Lindsay —
126, 322, 330, 626
Gordon, D. J 582
Gordon and Mills Keef 773
Gordon Downs Station .... 590, 602
Gordon River Gorge 775
Gormanston 767
Gorn Sugar-cane 429
Gouger, Kobt 829
Goulburn Islands 575
Goulburn Plain 41
Goulburn River . . . . 318, 362, 385
Goulburn Weir 385, 387
Goulburn Valley 382
Gould's Country 779
Governors 60, 63
Gowrie • ■ • • 496
Goyder, Surveyor-General . . 47, b^l
Goyder River 574, 600
Graceburn Weir 314
Gracemere Station 476, 977
Grafton . . 136, 143, 201, 204, 206, 210
Grainger, Percy 128
Grampians, The 329, 331
Granadillas 412, 428
Granite —
75, 82, 103, 195, 347, 503, 595, 773
Grant, Lieut 292
Grant Island 575
Grapes — ■
161, 163, 236, 286, 349, 388, 396
650, 678
Graphite 407
fr T* im S G S '
81, 83, 202, 249, 269, 340, 561, 580
590, 644, 690
Grass-tree 104, 106
Gray, Chas 48
Grazing Licenses ""
Great Australian Bight —
45, 52, 76, 644
Great Barrier Reef 425
Great Boulder Mine 721
Great Central Plateau 472
Great Fingal Gold Mine . . . . 660
Great Dog Island 782
Great Lake Scheme 747
Great Northern Tableland .... 489
Great Northern Tin Mine .... 443
Great Swanport • 763
Great Western Railway . . . . 94, 528
Great Western Vineyard . . . . 334
Grebes 136
Green, Patrick ^55
Green Ant Creek 551
Greenbushes 698, 701
Green Island 782
Greenmount 496
Greensborough 314
Greenwell Point 223
Gregory, A. C 51, 486
Gregory, F. F 52
Gregory, H. C 51
Gregory, Lieut. J 51
Gregory Search Expedition . . 45
"Gregory's Salt Sea" ...... 729
Grenfell 169
Grey, Earl 60, 121
Grey, Sir George 51
Griffin, W. B 69
Grimes. Chas 292
Griffiths, W. Scott 69
Groote Eylandt 573, 576
Ground-pigeons 138
Guano 25, 452, 677, 682, 693
Guavas 428, 662
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Page
Guildford 686, 690
Guinea Grass 542
Gulf of Carpentaria —
44, 48, 96, 192, 451
Gum Swamp 899
Gum-trees . . 75, 249, 625, 692, 766
Gumeracha 832
Gun Island 24
Gunbar 275
Gundagai 92
Gunn, Mrs. Aeneas 126, 519
Gurnard 153
Guthrie, F. B 128
Gutter-percha Tree 678
Guy Fawkes 208
Guyra 208
Gwydir River 43
Gympie 407, 444
Gypsum 77
Hack, Stephen 47
Haggard, Sir Rider 209
Hagley 763
Hale River 75, 578
Halifax 434
Hall, Robt 128
Hall, W. Hessel 164
Hall's Creek 546, 602, 727
Hall's Gap 331
Hamilton 331
Hamilton Goldfield 452
Hamilton River 79
Hamilton Springs 48
Hammersley Range 52
Hamond Island 18
Hampden-Cloncurry Copperfield 470
Hampton 306
Hann, Wm 47, 53
Hannan, Patrick .... 702, 720, 723
Happy Valley Reservoir . . . . 652
Harbor Trust, Sydney 173
Harcourt 395
Harding River 24, 678
Hardwoods — ■
105, 143, 150, 208, 211, 223, 267
346, 347, 353, 364, 444, 692
Harrietville 362
Harrison, O. L 263
Hart Range 596
Hartnett Falls 746
Hartogs, Dirck 18
Hartz Mountains 773
Harwood 206
"Hashemy," The 60
Hastings 308
Hastings River 87, 143, 212
Hatch Creek 596
Hattah, Lake 401
Hawdon, Joseph 45
Hawkes, W. S 1039
Hawker, Hon. Geo. C 1043
Hawker, M. C 1051
Hawker, R. M 1046
Hawker, Walter 1059
Hawkesbury Agricultural Col-
lege 809
Hawkesbury River . . . . 38, 143, 179
Hawks 583
Hay 90, 277, 280
Hay, R. D 150
Hayes, Webbe 20
Hayes & Sons 81
Hayes Bros 578
Healesville .. .. 304, 310, 314, 362
Health, Public 118, 144
Heathcote 188
Heavitree Gap 82
Hedley, C 128
"Heemskirk," The 21
Heidelberg 314
Helena River 714
Helensburgh 188
Helium 35
Hell's Gate 573
Hematite 407
Hemp, Sisal 415
Henley-on-the-Yarra 131
I
I'uge
Henrietta 768
Henty Brothers 294
Herbarium, National 371
Herbert River 446
Herberton 416, 443
Hereford Cattle . . 483, 840, 933, 969
Hergott Springs 616
Hermansburg 82
"Hermitage, The," Blacks' Spur 365
Herons 136
Hey River 451
Heysen, Hans 128
Hicks, Lieut. Zachary 27
Hidden Vale 981
Hidden Valley 601
High Court 116
Hill River 836
Hillston 230, 280
Hinchinbrook Channel 434
Hinchinbrook Island 434
Hindmarsh, Lake 337
Hinton Bridge 109
Hobart 66, 749, 753
Hobson, Capt. Wm 831
Hobson's Bav 306
Hodgkinson Goldfield 443
Hodgson River 573
Holtze, Maurice 525, 530, 537
Holtze, Nicholas 575
Home Defence 66, 795
Honey 168, 208, 379
Hood, Wm 923
Hope Valley Reservoir 652
Hopetoun, Earl of 67
Hopkins Plateau 332
Hops 366, 756, 780, 1076
Horn Island 452
Horses . . 83, 415, 587, 591, 1032, 1051
Horseshoe Bend 78, 81
Horseshoe Creek 597, 601
Horsham 336, 338
Horticultural Society, Schools 814
Hospitals 815, 821
Hotspur 330
Houschildt's Diggings 606
Houtman's Frederick de . . . . 18
Houtman's Abrolhos 19, 24
Hovell, Capt 294
Howe Hill 346
Hewitt's Relief Party 50
Howley, The 551, 606
Hugh River 80
Hughenden 464
Hughes, Rt. Hon. W. H 103
Hume, Hamilton 41, 294
Hungerford 246
Hunt, H. A 97, 128
Hunter, Governor 291
Hunter Islands 782
Hunter River —
87, 94, 143, 163, 183, 279, 853
Hunter's Hill 178
Huntley, Erie 470
Huon District 757, 772
Huonville 758
Hurlstone Agricultural High
School 809
Hutton Vale 844
Hydro-Electric Power 68, 87
landra 169
Ibis 136, 202, 280
Ice-Skating 192
Illawarra 28, 143, 186, 219
Illawarra Fig-tree 191
Iluka 206
Immigration —
56, 119, 120, 147, 380, 679
Imports 173, 680
Indented Head 295, 305
India 159
Indian Ocean 41, 76
Indigo 519, 527
Industrial Legislation . . . . 116, 816
Industrial Schools 815
Industries 101, 300, 368, 765
Infirmaries 815
xn 111
aijs'j:ralia unlimited
Ingham 434
Ingleburn 218
Innisfail 434, 450
Innumbra Creek 75
Institute of Tropical Medicine . 530
Intensive Farming —
84, 160, 207, 215, 394
Invalid Pensions 118
Inverloch 340
Invermay Station 590
"Investigator," The 292, 452
Ipswich 407, 417, 502
Irish Bulls 941
Irishtown 776
Iron . . 35, 154, 407, 452, 459, 621, 663
Iron Island 407
Iron Knob Mine 621
Ironbark-trees 222, 345, 489
Ironstone 258, 407, 664
Ironwood 583
Irrigation —
81, 87, 146, 207, 215, 234, 244, 251
252, 263, 367, 385, 416, 478
649, 654, 662, 682
Irvine, Hans 334
Irvinebank 443
Irwin River 51
Isaacs River 44
"Isabella," The 517
Isis , 485
Italians 146, 162, 204, 448
Ivanhoe 250, 252
Jacaranda-trees 417, 428
Jack, Dr 480
Jack-fruit 438
"Jacky-Jacky" 46
Jacobs, Adrian 20
Jaggan 445
Jam-making 161
Jamberoo 221
James Range 80
Jamieson 362
Jamieson, Sir John 866
Jansz, Willem 18
Japan 112, 159
Japanese 435, 663, 671, 791
Jardine Brothers 47, 455
Jarrah Wood 52, 692, 695
Jarrahdale 694
Jasminum 76
Java 20, 137, 159, 536
Javarere 792
Jensen, Dr. H. 1 575, 598
Jensen's 347
Jerilderie 280
Jervis Bay .. 69, 143, 154, 223, 799
Jervois, Sir W. F. D 650
Jervois Ranges 76
Jimbour Station 44
Jindabyne 194
Jingera Ranges 223
Johndery 153
Johns, Fred 124, 612
Johnson, Major 650
Johnson, Mr 703
Johnstone River 445, 457
Jones, Dr. Richd 532
Jones & Co., H 762, 765, 773
Jowett, Edmund 987
Joplin, Thos 831
Judge and Clerk Islr.nd 784
Junee 232
Jungle 208
Kadina 621
Kaffir Corn 410
Kairi 445
Kalgoorlie 71, 645, 703, 715
Kalimna 341
Kallara 97
Kameruka 268
Kamerunga Sta'-S Nursery .... 437
Kangaroo Grass 473
Page
Kangaroo Hills 407
Kangaroo Island 782, 830
Kangaroos —
72, 134, 244, 280, 467, 564, 583, 729
Kangaroo Valley 221
Kanowna 702
Kapok 438, 787
Kapunda Mine 621
Karkarooc 399
Kars Station 250
Karri-trees 692, 739
Karridale 692
Katayama 225
Katherine River —
48, 528, 583, 590, 616
Kathleen Falls 592
Kava Plant 438
Kellaway, W. C 550
Kelly Gang 362
Kelly's Well 580
Kelp 152
Kempsey 212
Kendall, Hy 126
Kenilworth 507
Kennedy, E. B 46
Keppel Bay 424, 486
Kerang 387
Kernot, Professor 364
Keynes Family 1035
Keyneton 876, 1035
Kiacatoo Station 249
Kiah River 143, 271
Kiama 189, 221, 263
Kiandra 145, 198
Kidman, Sidney 1023
Kidson, Mr 577
Kieselguhr 103
Kiewa River 90, 355
Kilfera Station 250
Kilkivan 507
Killara Station 244
Killarney 498
Killen, W. W 915
"Killer" Whale 154, 271
Kilmore 318
Kimberley — ■
21, 22, 437, 540, 673, 701, 726, 732
Kin Kin 507
Kindergarten 804
Kindred 776
King, Governor 292, 306
King, John 48
King George's Sound 45
King Island 292, 782
King Leopold Range 677
King Parrot Creek 318
King Parrots 138
King Sound 23
Kingaroy 463, 507
Kingfishers 71
Kinglake 316
Kingscote, Hy 830
Kingsgate . . 155
Kingston . . 90
Kitchener Mine 676
Kittool Fibre 437
Knibbs, G. H 159
Koepang 670
Kola-nuts 437, 527
Kookaburra 130
Koolatong River 574
Koonoona 1039
Kooralbyn 996
Koorboora 407
Kooringa 1011
Koo-wee-rup 309
Koroit 327
Koyuga 386
Kuranda 438, 441
Kuring-gai Chase 179
Kurnalpi 643
Kurnell 28, 184
Kurrajong-trees 281
Kyabram 387, 395
"Kyarra," The 423, 680
Kyneton 318, 378
Page
Laancoorie Basin 386
Labillardiere, M 186
Labor Colony, Leongatha . . . . 340
Lacepede Islands 668
Lachlan Range 231
Lachlan River —
39, 41, 93, 224, 228, 232, 248, 279
Lady Elliott Island 424
"Lady Mary Pelham," The . . 830
"Lady Nelson," The 292, 758
Lake Albert 92, 650
Lake Alexandrina . . . . 92, 349, 650
Lake Amadeus 589
Lake Bananee 282
Lake Barmera 92
Lake Barrine 440
Lake Bathurst 41
Lake Bolac 332
Lake Bonney 632
Lake Boolaboolka 252
Lake Cargellico 230
Lake Cawndilla 94, 241, 252
Lake Coila 268
Lake Colac 326
Lake Conjola 265
Lake Connewarre 322
Lake Eacham 446, 449
Lake George 41
Lake Hartz 757, 774
Lake Hattah 401
Lake Hindmarsh 337
Lake Illawarra 189
Lake King 343
Lake Leake 763
Lake Lonsdale 337
Lake Menindie . . . . 94, 241, 252, 279
Lake Mountain 365
Lake Pamamaroo 94
Lake Pambula 270
Lake Rat-catcher 252
Lake St. Clair 777
Lake Speculation 250, 252
Lake Tuross 268
Lake Tyers 343
Lake Victoria 92, 252, 343
Lake View Consols 702
Lake Wallaga 269
Lake Way Station 728
Lake Wellington 343
Lake's Creek 482
Lakes' Entrance 339, 343
Lalor, Peter 334
Lambert, George 128
Ijiimbcrliu fui mosa 188
Lancefield 318
Lancewood 583
Land and Emigration Commis-
sion 59
Land Boards 149
Land Settlement 120
Land Tax 115
Land Values 59, 148, 340
Lander River 84
Lands Department 120
Landsborough 415
Landsborough, Wm 50
Lands Purchase Board, Victoria 396
Lane, Zeb 721
Langi Logan Mines 332
Langwell, Hugh 283
Landsdowne 218
Lansell, George 845
La Perouse 41
"Lark," The 22
Latrobe 765, 774
Latrobe River 343, 345
Launceston 294, 743
Launching Place 314, 365
Laura 451
Laverton 305, 797
Lawrence 136, 206
Lawrie, W 563, 602
Lawson, Lieut. W 39, 867
Lawson, Hy 744
Leach, Dr. J. A 128
Lead 156, 261, 407, 459, 660
Leatherjacket . . 153
INDEX
xli
IX
Pago
Leeton 276
"Leeuwin," The 19
Leeuwin, Cape . . 19, 346, 646, 693
Legal System 58
Legendre Island 664
Legislatures 56, 58, 60
Leichhardt, Ludwig . . 44, 52, 486, 732
Leigh Creek 617
Lemons .. ..88, 212, 388, 428, 662
Leongatha 340
Leonora 727
Leopold Ranges 53, 673, 732
Le Souef, Dudley 128
Leven River 778
Leveque, Cape 23
Lewis, J. W 50
Libral Well 729
Licensing Act, N.S.W 212
Lignum 71, 244, 249
Lightning Creek 350
Lilydale, Tas 733, 777
Lilydale, Vic 310, 314, 365
Lime 693
Limes 437
Limestone — •
71, 72, 154, 309, 348, 407, 444, 446
599, 622, 625, 770
Limmen River 572
Lincoln Sheep 208, 840, 924
Lindenow 345
Lindsay, David 53, 589
Lindsay, Lionel 128
Lindsay, Norman 128
Ling 106, 153
Linlithgow, Marquis of 67
Linseed 105, 170
Lionsville 206
Lismore 199, 201, 206
Litchi 437
Lithgow 103, 154, 156
"Little Dove" (Duyfken), The . . 18
Little Phillips River 606
Little Plain 209
Little River 305
Little Swanport 784
Little Taylor's Bay 784
Liverpool 191, 218
Liverpool Plains 41
Lobster Creek '778
Lobsters 152
Local Government 299
Loch Ard Gorge 328
Lcckyer Creek 404
Loddon Falls 191
Loddon River 43
Logan District 87, 505
Londonderry Gold Mine 702
Long, Sid 128
Long Tunnel Mine 346
Longerenong Agricultural Col-
lege "^36
Longreach 470
Longstaff, John 128
Lome ^22
Lory, Crimson 138
Low Head 749
Lower Murray River 87. 93
Lower Roleystone 686
Lubeck 338
Lucerne — „„„
92, 212, 215, 230, 241, 247, 251, 368
391, 400, 415, 476, 489, 650, 660
Lucernedale 1065
Lucinda Point ^ 434
Luggers 539, 668, 726, 732
Lung-fish ^^'li^
Lyell, Geo 128
Lyne, Dr. C. C. Butler 435
Lyre-birds l^JJ
Lyrup •'"
Macallister •• 490
MacArthur, Captain .. 518, 853, 869
MacArthur, Port 572
MacArthur River — ,„^ „„„
528, 572, 575, 583, 599, 607
Macartney, J. A 992
I'ngo
McBride, Robt 1011
McCaughey, Sir Saml 230, 877
McCubbin, Fredk 128
McCulloch, G. W 255
MacDonald, Constable 563
Macdonald, Donald 126, 128
MacDonald, Wm 284
MacDonnell 451
MacDonnell Ranges —
47, 74, 77, 82, 84, 470, 528, 577
596, 627
MacDonnell's Creek 448, 586
McDouall Ranges 580
Macintyre River 227
Mack, Louise 126
Mackay —
426, 438, 441, 448, 484, 560
McKeddie's Diggings 606
Mackennal, Bertram 128
Mackenzie River . . 44, 406, 476, 486
Mackellar, Dorothea 16, 126
McKinley, John 50
McKinley Mine 594, 606
Macksville 211
Maclean 206
Macleay River 143, 211
McMaster, C. J 283
McMillan, Angas 45, 339
McMinn, G. R 521
McPherson's Station 44
Macquarie, Governor 39, 57, 191, 866
Macquarie Island 784
Macquarie Pass 220
Macquarie Plains 773
Macquarie River, N.S.W. —
39, 93, 233, 279
Macquarie River, Tas 763
McRae, Dorothy Frances 126
McRae, George Gordon 126
McRae, Hugh 126
Macrozamia 267
Macumba Station 78
Madame Berry Mines 332
"Madras," The 832
Maffra 339, 345
Magnesite 596
Magnetic Island 434
Magnetic Shoals 663
Magnetite 407
Magnusshi, R. de S 255
Magpies 189
Magpie Geese 136
Mahon, Hon. Hugh 68
Maiden, J. H 128
Mails ll**
Main Range .... 302, 347, 451, 506
Maitland 154
Maitland, H. N 876
84, 87, 204, 211, 217, 327, 263
267, 269, 270, 272, 348, 388, 445
476, 489, 508, 554, 678, 787
Malanda 445
Malaria 532
Malays 17, 516, 527, 659
Malaysia 159, 524
Mallacoota Inlet —
28, 134, 137, 266, 346, 354
Mallacoota Lakes 346
Mallee, The 398
1VlS.ll6G
46 71, 76, 249, 283, 302, 328, 337
380, 382, 398, 615, 621, 633
Mallee Fowl 136
Mammoth Mine 352
Manangatang 400
Mandana, Alvara de 17
Mandarin 413, 662, 686
Mandurah 675
Manfield Downs 96
Manganese 225, 407
Mangoes— ^^ 428, 454, 527, 540, 662
Mangosteen 437
Mangrove Swamps 48, 449
Manjinnys 688
I'agB
Manly 175, 308
Mann Ranges 730
Manna Honey 167
Manning River . . . . 87, 143, 212, 214
Mansfield 362
Manufacturers 300
Manures 381
Mapoon Mission Station . . . . 451
Maranboz 608
Maranoa River 44
Marble Bar 666, 734
Marble Island 407
Marbles, Australian . . . . 103, 157
Marburg 507
Mareeba 443
Margaret Creek 595
Margaret River . . . . 606, 690, 696
Margarine . . 102
Maria Creek 457
Maria Island 761, 784
Marian Sugar-mill 429
Marion Bay 758
Maritime Trade 173
Mario Bar 194, 343, 347
Maroochy 507
Marora Hill 204
Marquis de Rey 204
Marriages 119
Marshall River 75
Mary River 548, 595, 606
Maryborough, Vic 297, 338
Marysville 310, 364
Maryvale 498
Mason, Arthur 642
Mataranka Station 574
Maternity Bonus 815
Mathinna Falls 311
Matthews, Julia 334
Maude 280
Maude Creek Gold Mines 601, 606
Mauritius, The 19
Mawson, Sir Douglas 128
Maybell Mine 607
Mead, Dr. Elwood 385
Meander River 764
Meat 485
Medical Inspection of Children 808
Mein 451
Melba, Madame 128, 314
Melbourne .. 59, 115, 290, 295, 365
"Melbourne," H.M.A.S 800
Meldrum, Max 128
Melons 662
Melville Bay 607
Melville Island . . . . 517, 561, 605
Menindie — ■
42, 48, 238, 242, 252, 288
Menpes, Mortimer 128
Mentone 306
Menzies Goldfield 702
Merbein 90, 92
Merimbula 270
Merino Sheep .. 160, 208, 763, 840
(also see Pastoral Section)
Merribee .. .. , 915
Merri Creek 295
Mersey River .. 746, 765, 774, 783
Merthon, Capt 294
Messageries Maritimes 110
Metropolitan Reservoir, Adelaide 652
Mica 82, 596
Michell's Nob 607
Middle Harbor, Sydney . . . . 178
Milk and Dairy Supervision Act 376
Mildura . . 88, 93, 276, 283, 367, 387
Military College, Duntroon . . 70, 798
Milk 416
Milking Machines 214
Millar's Ltd 693
Millbrook Reservoir 652
Miller, Col. David 68
Millet 497
Millicent 656
Millie Camp 710
Mills, Chas 893
Millstream Falls 446
Milparinka 232
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
! Page
Milton 143, 223, 265, 273
Mineral Oil 105, 407
Mineral Springs 74, 79, 496
Minerals —
35, 38, 76, 104, 143, 156, 364, 407
443, 503, 594, 665
Minnamurra River 220
Minto 218
Minyip 334
Miranda, Lalla 128
Mirboo 343
Miriwinni 447
Mirrool 276
Mirtleford 357
Missionary Plain 82
Mitcham 313, 365
Mitchell, E. L 687
Mitchell, J. P 480
Mitchell, James 885
Mitchell, Sir Thos. . . 43, 46, 294, 330
Mitchell Grass —
44, 466, 470, 472, 578, 588, 1003
Mitchell Library 124
Mitchell River . . . . 345, 362, 452
Mitta 353
Mitta Mitta River 90, 349
Mittagong Farm Home 818
Mixed Farming —
160, 207, 251, 288, 443, 587
771, 776
Mjoberg, Dr 437
Mobilong 650
Mohair 80, 561
Molesworth 362
Molongolo River 69
Molybdenum .... 156, 407, 443, 503
Monaro 144, 161, 192, 347
Monbulk 313
Montague Island 220
Montalbion 443
Monterey Pine Trees 764
Montez, Lola 334
Montrose 313
"Monumental City," The . . . . 291
Moody, J. P 687
Moolibah 447
Moonta 621
Moorish Castle 206
Moorville Road 777
Mordialloc 306
Moreton Bay 415, 505
Moreton Bay Fig-trees .... 137, 173
Moreton Telegraph Station . . 452
Morgan 631
"Morialta," S.S 638
Mornington 308, 330
Morphett & Co., A. W 651
Mort, T. S 268
Morton, Fred 448
Morton Island 407
Moruya 143, 267
Morwell 343
Morwong 153
Moss Vale 220
Mossgiel 249, 251
Mossman River 457
Mount Abundance 44, 494
Mount Alexander 457
Mount Arden 45
Mount Bellenden-Ker 437
Mount Bogong 349
Mount Brown 260
Mount Buck 347
Mount Buffalo 349, 357
Mount Buller 362
Mount Carlyle 347
Mount Cole 337
Mount Cook 456
Mount Cootha 506
Mount Crawford 1004
Mount Dandenong 308, 313
Mount Diamond 600
Mount Doctor George 269
Mount Donna Buang 313, 364
Mount Dromedary 269
Mount Ellery 347
Mount Ellison 546
I'age
Mount Feathertop 349, 355
Mount Gambler . . . . 59, 136, 328
Mount Garnet 443
Mount Gipps Station 255
Mount Gates 606
Mount Heughlin 579
Mount Hicks 768
Mount Hoortz 757
Mount Hope 249
Mount Imlay 270
Mount Keira 220
Mount Kembla 220
Mount Kosciusko —
192, 347, 349, 353, 360
Mount Leviathan 407
Mount Lofty 611
Mount Lyell 766
Mount Macedon . . . . 43, 318, 360
Mount McMinn 573
Mount Maria 784
Mount Martha 309
Mount MoUoy 457
Mount Morgan 478
Mount Mulligan 444
Mount Nicholas 779
Mount Olga 589
Mount Olinda 313
Mount Olympus 777
Mount Palmer 596
Mount Perry 486
Mount Peter Bott 456
Mount Remarkable 836
Mount Ringwood 606
Mount Roland 765
Mount Saunders 456, 576
Mount Shoobridge 594, 597
Mount Stanley 357
Mount Todd Tin-mines . . 597, 601
Mount Tolmer 597, 606
Mount Wellington 752
Mount Wells 548, 597, 606
Mount Wheeler 480
Mount Williams 441
Mount Wills 349
Mount Windsor 457
Mount Victoria, Tas 779
Mount Victoria, Papua 789
Mountain Ash 82, 310, 348
Mountain lands 166
Mourilyan 434
Mucka 592
Muckadilla Bore 496
Muckadilla Creek 44
Mudgee 867
Mueller, Ferd. von 51
Mueller River 597
Muldwa 443
Mulga Scrub . . 71, 74, 75, 77, 80, 83
Mulgoa Valley 866
Mulgrave 447
Mulgrave River 446, 448
Muller River 347
"Mullock" heaps 707
Mundaring 714
Mundijong 698
Mungindi 232
Municipal Councils 298
Murat Bay 640
Murchison, Vic 395
Murchison Goldfield, W. A. —
596, 701, 710
Murchison Ranges 580
Murchison River 51, 730
Murgha 889
Murphy, Constable 620
Murphy, "Dryblower" 705
Murrangowee River 347
Murray, A. B 836
Murray, Alick J 844, 1004
Murray, John 1004
Murray, Lieut 292
Murray, Prof. Gilbert 126
Murray, W. R 608, 640
Murray Bridge 611, 632
Murray Cod 151
Murray Downs 84, 580
Murray Perch 228
Page
Murray River —
41, 43, 87, 92, 136, 193, 227, 233
297, 347, 389, 626, 631, 649
713, 733
Murrayville 399
Murrin Murrin 708
Murrumbidgee River —
42, 87, 90, 92, 275, 318
Murrumbidgee Irrigation . . 147, 275
Murtoa 336
Musgrave 451
Musgrave Ranges 580, 596
Musha Khan 617
Mutton-birds 782
Myall Blacks 28, 51
Myall Scrub 72
Myrtle Mountain 272
Nally, P. J 876
Nambour 507, 512
Nambucca River 211
Namoi River 233
Nanango 507
Nandewar Ranges 137
Nangatta 347
Nangeenan State Farm 736
Nanneela 386
Nanngai 153
Nannine 729
Nannup 696
Naracoorte 625
Narbethong 365
Narooma Inlet 273
Narooma River 269
Narrabeen 180
Narrabri 275
Narracan 343
Narrandera 275
Narrogin State Farm 736
Narromine 93
Natimuk 338
National Herbarium, Melbourne 371
National Parks . . . . 186, 313, 320
Naturalisation 118
Nature Study 808
Naval College 223, 799
Navy, Australian 121, 795
Nectarines 236
Neerim 310
Nelia Bush 250
Nepean River . . 38, 94, 280, 866
Nethercote 271
Netley Station 239
Neville Wolfram Mine 407
New Britain 791
New Caledonia Ill
New England, N.S.W 163, 417
New England, Tas 779
New Ground, Tas 777
New Guinea (Papua) —
18, 23, 55, 67, 105, 787
New Hebrides 18, 109
New Holland 22, 27
New Ireland Settlement 204
New Norfolk 756, 773
New South Wales —
32, 55, 59, 87, 94, 143, 160
N.S.W. State Education 803
New Thunderer Mine 599
New Zealand .. 22, 27, 58, 67, 111
Newcastle . . . . 94, 151, 154, 156, 188
Newcastle Waters . . 47, 78, 528, 583
Newhaven 308
Newlands, Simpson 589
Newmarracarra 725
Newport 180
Newport, Howard 437
Nhill 338
Nicholson River 345
Nickol Bay 52
Nimmitabel 143, 270
Nine-mile Forest 328
Ninety-mile Beach 345
Ninety-mile "Desert" 634
Nocoleeche Station 244
Nogoa River 44, 486
Noland, L. C 718
INDEX
Pago
Noorindoo 953
Norddeutscher Lloyd Co 110
"Norfolk," The 291
Norfolk Bay 773
Norman Goldfield 459
Normanton 452, 458
Norris, Bess 128
North Goulburn 575
North Motton 777
North-South Railway 74
North Australian Meat Co. . . 538
Northern Queensland 437
Northern Territory —
19, 22, 28, 51, 55, 67, 74, 87
94, 515
Norton's Summit 612
Nowra 219, 222, 263, 273
Nowranie 903
Nubeena 773
Nuggets 701
Nullarbor Plain 72, 642
Nungatta Station .... 269, 271, 273
Numurkah 387
Nut of Stanley 744, 768
Nutmegs 437, 527, 790
Nuyts, Peter 19
Nuyts Archipelago 640
Nymboidi 208
Nvngan 245
Nyora 304, 309
Oakden, Philip 831
Oakover River 50, 732
Oaks, The 136
Oaks Goldfield 459
Oasis 644
"Occupation Licences" 231
"Ocean," The 294
O'Donnell, W. J 53
O'Dowd, Bernard 126
Officer, Edward 128
O'Hara, J. B 126
Oil 790
Old Age Pensions 116, 815
Oliver, Mr 598
Olive-growing in South Aus-
tralia 1083
Olives 414, 623, 678, 1083
O'Malley, Hon. King 69
O'Meara 667
Omeo 339, 349, 353
Onkaparinga River 652
Onions 313, 325, 340, 648
Onslow . 663
Oodnadatta —
74, 77, 81, 482, 522, 528, 616
Ooldea Soak 72
Oorabbra 76
Ooraminna Range 81
Ooratippra 76, 84
Opals 157, 1084
Ora Banda 703
Orabarra Reef 589
Oranges —
34, 88, 161, 179, 236, 2.39, 246
388, 414, 506, 618, 649, 660
662, 678, 718
Orara 206
Orbost 87, 343, 354
Orca (lladiaior 271
Orchard Supervisors 374
Orchards —
161, 218, 236, 348, 498, 501, 638
648, 749, 761, 765, 771
Orchids 49, 333
Ord River 53
Ord River Station 590
Ord Valley 729
O'Reilly, Dowell 126
Orford 761
Orient 443
Orient Steam Navigation Co. . . 109
Oroya Goldmine 710
Osborne, Professor W. A 126
O'Sullivan, Hon. E. W 224
Olford 188
Otway Forest 327
Ouse River 749
Page
Ouyen 399
Ovens River 357
Overland Stock Route . . 52, 298, 584
Overland Telegraph Line —
48, 53, 78, 82, 577
Owen, Lieut.-Col. Percy T 68
Owen Stanley Range 789
Oxley 361
Oxley, Surveyor John 39
Oyster Bay 762
Oyster-catchers 137
Oysters . . 27, 152, 179, 180, 267, 269
Pacific Ocean 30
"Paddy" 674
Paddy Mac 705
Pakenham 310
Pakenham, Vice-Admiral . . . . 800
Paleozoic Plateau 596
Palmerston 953
Palmer Goldfields 47, 452
Palmer, J. E 555
Palmer River 452
Palmer, Vance 126
Palmer's Island 206
Palm Islands 434
Palms 208, 419, 421, 439
Panbula 270, 273
Pandanus Tree 573
Papaws . . 412, 428, 527, 540, 554, 662
Papua 18, 23, 55, 67, 105
Para Rubber 458, 788, 792
Parkes, Sir Henry 66
Parks, Public 186
Parliaments, Australian . . . . 56
Paroo River 233
Parrakeet, Shell 242
Parramatta . . 41, 43, 170, 178, 225
"Parramatta," H.M.A.S 800
Parramatta River 178
Parrots .... 138, 208, 242, 280, 583
Paspalum — •
201, 202, 388, 415, 441, 527, 690
Passion-fruit 161, 412
Pastoral Lands —
44, 48, 52, 75, 79, 84, 208, 269, 331
380, 420, 468, 589, 592, 638
644, 779
Pastoral Permit 60, 558, 565
Pastures — ■
202, 228, 231, 269, 339, 342
368, 458
Patchouli 527
Patey, Vice-Admiral 800
Paterson, A. B 126, 482
Paterson River 211
Paynesville 343
Peaches —
161, 236, 349, 388, 412, 579, 623
Peak Hill Goldfield 701
Peake Telegraph Station .... 51
Pea-nuts 678
Pearce, Senator 797
Pearce, T. H 592
Pearls and Pearlshells —
425, 517, 661, 726
Pears 161, 699
Peas 92
Pecan Nut 437
Pelicans 136, 280
Pellew Islands . . . . 528, 572, 586
Pelsart, Commodore Francis —
19, 660, 754
Penguin, Tas 766
Pennant Hills 179
Penrith 94, 225
Pensions 116
People's Party, The 60
Pepper 437
Pepper Trees . 281
"Pera," The 19
Pera Bore 97, 245
Perch 228
Pericoe 271, 273
Perkins, Prof 651
Perkins Island 782
Permissive Occupancy 231
Perpetual Lease 652
Pags
Perrott's Pinch 208
Perth 51, 659, 682, 734
Perth Museum 19, 24
Perth Public Library 21
Pescott, E. E 128
Pests 103, 272
"Peter Doubt" Spruhan 705
Peter Nuyts Islands 640
Petersburg 615
Pethebridge, Brigadier-General 791
Petrel Islands 782
Petrels, Sooty 782
Petroleum 790
Pheasants 583
Phillip, Governor . . 31, 33, 38, 291
Phillip Island 308
Phillipson 342
Phosphates 621
Phylloxera 376
Physical Education 806, 813
Piangil 401
Piccadilly, S.A 612, 614
Pickering 863
Pickering, John 752
Picton 76
"Pigeon" 729
Pigeons 137, 424, 569, 583
Pigs 168, 378, 476, 554
Piguenit, Mr 128
Pilbara 596, 701
Pilchards 152
Pilmer, Sergeant 729
Pilot, The 347
Pimento 527
Pine Apples —
412, 431, 438, 441, 505, 507
527, 540
74, 516, 521, 546, 577, 594, 598
Pine-trees . . 71, 209, 249, 425, 489, 021
Pinjarra 690, 713
Pinnacles, The 262
Pinnaroo 399, 472, 632, 647
"Pioneer," H.M.A.S 800
Pioneer River 428
Pioneering 57
Piper, Capt '. . 868
Pipon Island 455
"Pirie, John," The 830
Pitt, William 31
Pittman, E. F 154, 257
Pittosporum 202
Pittsworth 490
Pittwater 179
Plantains 662
Platinum 156
Platypus 35, 140, 208
Playford, Senator Thos 529
Plenty 756
Plenty Ranges 316
Plenty River 76, 316
Pleuro-pneumonia . . 377
Plovers 136, 137, 202, 280
Plums 161
Poinciana 441
Point Charles 540, 567
Point Danger 486
Point Hicks 27
Point Nepean 306
Point Stuart 836
Polygonum 588
Pomelos 437, 662
Pomonal 331
Ponies 843
Ponton 644
Poole, J 42
Pooncaire 234, 238
Population . . . . 159, 295, 297, 680
Porepunkah 357
Porpoises 152
Port Adelaide 638
Port Albany 46
Port Albert 339, 345
Port Alma 424, 475
Port Arthur 755, 773
Port Augusta —
46, 521, 616, 642, 652, 766, 842
Port Bradshaw 576
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Pago
Port Campbell .. ... .... •■ 328
Port Curtis 18, 424, 48b
Port Cygnet '»«
Port Darlington •• '»^
Port Douglas • . 429, 457
Port Essington .. .. 44, 518 561
Port Fairy -5/5, 6^t
Port Germein ^^^
Port Hacking l»o
Port Hacking River !»»
Port Hedland .. ■••■•• ••„ ^^f
Port Jackson . . 18, 31, 143, 153 291
Port Lincoln 44, 640
Port Macquarie ' iai
Port Moresby '°°
Port PhilHP3-^g^^ 29^^ 302, 3O6, 308
Port Phillip District, The . . . . 295
Port Pirie Smelting Works 261, 621
Port Stephens 14d
Port Victor 0^0
Port Wakefield o^^
Portarlington • ■ • • ^^^
Portland 294, 323, 327
Portland Bay ^^' Hi
Portsea ^"°
Portugese ■ ^'
Possession Island 'i n«
Postage ^"»
Postage Stamps ^o^
Potato-growing, State ^'o
^°'1ol!lo8, 231, 263, 272 313 328
340, 388, 444, 476, 485, 489, 498
508, 625, 648, 745, 764, 776
Poulia Poulia Creek • • ^5
Poultry Industry . . 164, 378, 393, 625
Powellised Kharri • ■ o9 (
Powell's Creek ' oxn
Powlett River ?*"
Praed, Mrs. Campbell 1^6
Pratt, Ambrose '■f^
Prawns f/
Premier Downs "^^
Preservation Islands '°^
Preston { '^
Prichard, Katherine ^^°
PricWy Pear 272, 476, 490
Primary Education »"^
Prime Minister °^
Proctor, Thea ^^°
Proserpine River *°*
Prospect f^^
Prospect Creek '■^^
Protection |?
"Psyche," H.M.A.S 800
Pye, Hugh 1^»
Pyengana ''
Pymble . . ^'°
Pyrmont Bridge '^^''
Quail 134, 202,220
Quarantine ^^|
Rainbow 337
Rainfall —
77, 84, 99, 145, 250, 330, 337, 339
346, 354, 452, 458, 467, 490, 536
545, 579, 583, 588, 593, 638, 647
654, 660, 664, 676, 680, 690, 735
Raisins 92, 161, 623, 649
Raleigh Tobacco Plantation . . 498
Ramco 90
Ramee 437
Ramornie 967
Rankin Springs 230
Rasp, Chas 255
Ravenshoe 445
Ravenswood '732
"Rebecca," The .. .. 294, 305, 322
Red River 28, 346
Red Rock 206
Red Soil 44, 92, 472, 662
Redland Bay 413, 506
Reed, J. M 302, 399
Referendum 67
Reformatories 815
Renmark 35, 88, 238, 649
Renner's Springs 583
Republican Mine 599
"Resolution," The 26
Responsible Government . . . . 61
Returned Soldiers' Repatriation 120
Revenues H^
Reward Gem Field 480
Rhodes Grass . . 202, 415, 443, 476, 478
Rhyll .- 308
Rice .. 437, 519, 527, 536, 673, 678
Richardson, A. E. V 128, 380
Richmond 468
Richmond River —
87, 136, 143, 148, 161, 183, 202,
265, 445
Ridgeley 776
Ringarooma 'otj
Ringtail Gully 769
Ringwood 310, 313
Risdon 758
Riverina . . 87, 134, 158, 275, 280, 360
Roads Board, Victorian .... 303, 765
Robb's Monument 441
Robbin's Island 782
Roberts, A. C 237
Roberts, Tom 128
Robinson Ranges . . . . ■ ■ ■ ■ 730
Rochester 367, 386, 388
Rock Cod 425
Rock Lily 180
Rockfish 138
Rockhampton .. 136, 429, 475, 76b
Rockingham Bay 46, 458
Rocky Hall 269
Rodway, Florence . . • 128
Roe, Capt. J. S 51
"Roebuck," The 23, 661
Roeburne 24
Rogers, Dr. R. S 128
Roly-poly Grass 24.)
Quarries • /^^ Roma 44, 472, 492
Quartz 438, 527 RomneyMarsh Sheep ;;,„--^^^ 87b
Quassia fiQ
Queanbeyan °
SSV. 55, •94,- -96, -405, 419
Queensland Gems i"°*
"Quetta," The 455
Quingilli . . : 11'^
Quinn, Rodenc . . •••■•• • •, « ^97
Quiros, Pedro Fernando de . . 1», f '
Quorn *^1^
792
tabWts".'.'.".138V272,6i3; 885, 1076
Racecourse Sugar Mill 4^»
Radium _?^
Raffles Bay ol°
Rails •• 1^°
Railton "^
^^''Zr^, 70, 84, 148, 178, 224, 227
264, 296, 300, 331
Railways, Transcontinental—
46, 52, 71, 0^1
Roper River .. 48, 573. 587 600
Rose River 574
Rosella Parrots 138
Rosewood 209
Ross, Alex 59Z
Ross, Major ' ^r,
Roto Station 249, 251
Rottnest ti58
Rowan, Mrs. Ellis 128
Rubber .... 437, 525, 575, 678, 787
Rubicon Falls 364
Ruby Vale 480
Ruby Well 701
Rudall, W. P 53
Ruddell River 734
Ruse, Jas ""
Russell 75b
Russell Falls • • 7o6
Russell, Lord John 518, 5^0
Rutherglen Experimental
Farm 368, 371
Ryan, "Paddy" 54b
Page
Rye 308
Rye Grass 202
Saaringen, M. Eliel 69
Sacred Nugget 703
Saddle Reefs 258, 598
Saddleback Mountain 221
"Saerdam," The 21
Sage, Walter 234
Sago 437, 527, 790
Said Goolmeer 619
St. Columba Falls 776
St. Helena 316
St. Helens 773, 778
St. Kilda 306
St. Leonard's 322
St. Mary's, N.S.W 94, 225
St. Mary's, Tas 779
St. Peter and St. Francis Islands 22
St. Vincent's Gulf 612, 622
Sale 343, 372
Saleeby, Dr 120
Salmon 138
Salmon-trout 138
Salt-bush —
71, 74, 77, 81, 104, 238, 244, 249
282, 287, 582
Samarai 787, 790
San Remo 308, 365
Sandhills 74, 81
Sandover River 76, 57J
Sandpipers 137
Sandringham 30b
Sandstone 80, 189, 596
Sandy Cape 424
Sandy Creek 606
Sandy Head 572
Sandwich Islands 2J
Sanger, W. B 907
Sapphire 425, 480
Sardine Creek 347
Sariba 791
Sassafras, Tas 764
Sassafras, Vic 313
Savings Banks .... 128, 488, 1078
Sawfish 153
Scaddan Hon. John . 687
Scamander ' '>>, ' '^
Schanck, Cape ■ 308
Scheelite ^^nr^ ol
Schist 75, 8i
Schouten Island 762, 784
Scott, Professor Ernest 12b
Scottish Commissioners 338
Scottsdale 765, 773, 777
Scottsdale West •• 777
Screw Palms 552, 564
Scrivener, C. R 08
Scrub Pigeon 137
Sea Elephant Bay ^9^
Sea Curlews 13^
Sea Islands 575
Seal Rocks f 17
Seaweeds • • ■ ^9,f.
Secondary Education »Ub
Sedgwick, Professor 594
Sedgwick, T 1^1
Sesamum : .X' „\\ oni
Settlers' . . . . 60, 120, 146, 330, 391
Sextant Rock 45.5
Shackle 606
Shale 104, lob
Shannon River '* '
Shannon Vale 9bl
Share-farming • ■ ■ . 41b
Sharks Bay 18, 23, 51, 669
Sharks
Shearers' Hut Accommodation
Act 379
^^"^19748, 72, 81, 83, 88, 158, 160, 208
226, 244, 245, 297, 346, 379, 452
467, 482, 494, 579, 590, 622,
673, 770
Sheep-dipping Act • 379
Sheffield 7b5, (74
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AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Page
Shelbourne Bay 47
Sheldrake 136
Shellharbor 220
Shepparton 387, 394
Sherwin, Amy 128
Sherwood 309
Shipping, Australian . . . . 113, 173
Shirlow, John 128
Shoal Bay 526
Shoalhaven 143, 219, 263
Shoalhaven River .... 221, 223, 273
Shoesmith, Geo 729
Shorthorn Cattle .... 770, 839, 936
Shoveller 136
Silky Oaks 417
Silos 90, 93
Silurian Rocks 80
Silver 156, 255, 407, 503
Silver Grass 249
Silver Lead —
42, 254, 459, 597, 621, 749
Simpson, G. P 899
Sims, Mr 645
Singleton 154
"Sirius," The 32
Sisal Hemp —
415, 482, 485, 525, 575, 678, 787
Sisters, The 768
Skate 153
Skating 360
Skertchley, Mr 443
Ski-running .... 192, 195, 198, 360
Slates 594
"Sloepye," The 24
Sloyd Woodwork Classes .... 810
Small Arms Factory . . . . 796, 798
Smith, Prof. Grafton Elliot . . 126
Smith, Hon. Staniforth 790
Snadden Creek 594, 597
Snake Beans 437
Snapper .... 138, 153, 206, 223, 425
Snipe 136
Snow 192
Snowy River —
69, 87, 193, 343, 347, 352
Solander, Dr 29
Solanums 674
Soldiers 120
Solomon, Hon. A. E 746, 761
Somerset 47, 453
Sorell 761
Sorghum 237, 399, 415
Sorrento 293, 295, 308
Soursop 438
South Australia —
19, 47, 55, 59, 60, 63, 74, 87, 94
520, 611
South Australian Company . 830, 839
South Berrv Mine 332
South Bruni Island 773, 784
South Clifton 216
South Creek 94, 280
South Goulburn 575
South Gate 206
Southern Cross Goldfield —
470, 596, 701, 711
"Southern Cross" Pearl 668
Southport Ill, 505, 596
Spain 17
Spear-grass 249, 558
Speculation Lake 250, 252
Spence, Percy 128
Spence Creek 582
Spencer, Prof. Sir Baldwin —
128, 530, 590
Spencer's Gulf 45
Spicer, Mr 679
Spinifex —
71, 75, 76, 82, 287, 473, 586, 592
Sponges 152
Spoonbills 136
Sports 131
Spotted Dog Mine 347
Spotted Gum 267, 269, 273
Spreyton 774
Spring Bay 762
Spring Hill 220, 607
Page
Spring Vale 313
Springfield 765
Springsure 507
Spruhan, "Peter Doubt" . . . . 705
Spurwings 137
"Squatter" Pigeon 137
"Squatters" 60
Stack Island 782
Stanley 744, 768
Stannary Hills 443
Stanthorpe . . 199, 410, 412, 417, 500
Stanwell Park 188
Star Grass 249
Starcke 452
State Trawlers 153
Staverton 765, 774
Stawell 297, 331, 334
Stead, David A 151
Steel 154
Steep Island 782
Steep Point 19
Stephens, Saml 830
Stevenson Creek 78
Stewart, Graham 82, 656
Stilts 136, 137
Stingray Harbor 28
Stingrays 138
Stirling 84
Stock Routes 52, 82
Stockdale, Ily 53
Stone, Louis 126
Stony Creek Falls 460
Stony Point 308
Stoodlev 776
Stradbroke Island 423
Straits Settlements 159
Strangways River 584
Stratford 345
Strathbogie Range 357
Strathdownie 330
Strawberries . . 342, 412, 505, 623, 662
Streaky Bay 45, 640
Streeton, Arthur 128
Strikes 116
Stringybark Trees 348
Strone, Archibald T 126
Stroud 215
Strezlecki, Count 339
Stuart 82
Stuart, Chas. McDouall —
42, 47, 520, 564, 584
Stuart, Dr. T. P. Anderson . . 144
Sturt, Capt. Chas. . . 39, 41, 47, 630
Sturt Plains 584
Sturt's Billabong 238
Sturt's Creek 52, 728, 734
Styx River 407
Sugar —
87, 102, 202, 345, 407, 426. 448, 458
485, 518, 524, 790
Sugar Palm 438
Sugar-beet 345
Sugar Bonus Act 107, 409
Sugar Refining Co., Colonial . . 408
Sugar Works Guarantee Act . . 429
Sunter. N 563
Sulphides 258, 459
Sultanas 95, 161, 237, 718
Sunday Island 668
Sullivan Cove 758
Surf-bathing 128, 131, 175
Sutherland, Porby 28
Swamp Lands 75, 92
Swan Hill 43. 387, 399
Swan River 23, 45, 51
Swanport, Great 763
Swans, Black 136, 140, 280
Swansea 762
Sweers Island 452
Swimming 131
Swine-fever 377
Sydney —
63, 107, 113, 142, 173, 178, 280
"Sydney," H.M.A.S 799
Sydney, Lord 32, 34
Sydney Cove 31, 34, 291, 859
Page
Table Cape 770, 777
Table Top 885
Tabulum 199
Tdcca primal i^idid 527
Tailem Bend 632
Tailor-fish 138
"Taiyuan," The 577
Talc Head 594
Tallaberga Islet 291
Tallangatta 352, 355
Tallarook 318, 362
Tallyawalka Creek 250, 252
Tally Ho 313
Tamar Estuary 774
Tamar River 748, 771
Tamar Valley 745
Tamarinds 437, 527, 572, 673
Tambo 244
Tambo River .... 339, 345, 348, 470
Tamboon River 346
Tamil Coolies 530
Tamworth 232
Tanami . . 540, 546, 580, 592, 598, 602
Tanja 269
Tank Stream, Sydney 859
Tankerton 308
Tannymorel 406
Tantallon 923
Tapioca 787
Tarawatta Station 832
Tarcoola 71
Taree 214
Tarella Station 244
Tariff Commission 63, 101
Tariff, Customs Ill
Tarong 507
Tasman, Abel Janszoon —
21, 24, 516, 758, 762, 770
Tasmania . 21, 29, 55, 59, 87, 115, 743
Tasman's Arch 773
Tasman's Peninsula 773, 779
Tatchera 399
Tate, Professor 589
Tate River 443
Tathra 269
Taylor 47
Tea 437, 527, 787
Tea-tree 302, 306, 452
Teal 134, 136
Technical Education 805, 812
'rrroiiKi inoilirdis 186
Telegraph, Overland . . 48, 53, 78, 82
Telegra phy 110
Teleg"aphy, Wireless 110
Temora 231, 718
Temperature 469, 760
Tennant's Creek 582, 596
Tennis 192
Tenterfield 143, 198
Termeil Mountain 273
Termites 560
Terowie 254
Trrra AustmliN 22
'I'me XnpoJron 661
"Territoria" 589
Tesselated Pavement 773
Texas 498
Thackeringa 255
Thargomindah 419
Theebine 507
Thermal Springs 555, 578
"Thew" Wheat 206
Thierry, Baron de 831
Thistle Cove 45
Thompson River 343
Thomson, Jas 729
Thorndon Park 652
Thornton, Constable 620
Thredbo River 194
Three-Hummock Island 782
Thring Creek 585
Throssell Ranges 732
Thulimbah 500
Thursday Island . . . . 137, 346, 451
Tibboburra 238
Ticira AtistrnJ 18
Tietkins, W. H 53, 589
INDEX
Iv
Pago
Tilba-Tilba 269
Tilpa 244
Timber—
35, 81, 105, 150, 209, 249, 265, 267
269, 310, 354, 438, 444, 445, 458
472, 489, 498, 508, 582, 664
680, 779, 790
Timor 21, 24, 517, 539
Tin—
102, 156, 407, 453, 503, 596, 598
680, 701, 749
Tinaroo Tinfield 443
Tindal Family 967
Tintaldra 347, 353
Titheradge, Madge 128
Tobacco —
102, 170, 269, 437, 485, 498, 527, 787
Tobogganing 192, 360
Tocal 933
Todd River 75, 84
Todmorden Station 78
Tolarno 243
Tolga 445
Tolga Spring Falls 447
Tolmie Tableland 362
Tomatoes . . 388, 485, 648, 662, 674
Tomkinson Ranges 730
Tongala 379, 386, 389
Tongio 349
Tonkin Bean 437
Toolangi 364
Tooradin 309
Toowoomba 417, 489
Topknot Pigeon 137
Toronto Farm Home 820
Torquay 322
Tcrrens, Col. R. R 830
Torrens Creek 466, 468
Torrens River 652
Torres, Luis Vaz de 18
Torres Island 109
Torres Straits Pigeon . . 137, 456, 569
Tortoise-shell 517
Tourmaline 596
Towamba 143, 271, 273
Townsville . . 430, 432, 434, 470, 530
Towong 347, 353
Trade 159
Tramways 85, 758
Transcontinental Railways —
46, 52, 71, 521, 697
Transport ?47
Transportation 31, 59, 60
Traralgon 343
Trawlers, N.S.W. State 152
Trawool 364
Tree-ferns 219, 310
Trefoil Grass 249
Trefoil Islands 782
Trepang 106, 517
Trevallyn 750
Triabunna 773, 784
Tropical Diseases 532
Tropical Medicine, Institute of . 532
Trout 13S, 352
Truganini 754
Truman, Mr 722
Tuart-tree 690
Tucka Tucka Station 230
Tully Falls • • 446, 456
Tully River 457
Tumbling Waters 606
Tumby Bay 640
Tumut 225, 288
Tunny 138, 152
Tupia 29
Turkeys, Brush — ■
72, 73, 137, 280, 467, 583
Turmeric 527
Turner. Ethel 126
Turner, Henry Gyles 298
Tuross River 268
Turpentine-trees . . . . 211, 265, 489
Tweed River — •
41, 87, 143, 265, 413, 505
Twofold Bay . . 28, 143, 153, 270, 273
Tyenna 780
Tyringham 208
TyKon, James 578
Uardry 893
Ulladulla 223, 265
Ulmarra 136, 206
Ulverstone 766
Umbrawarra 598
"Una," H.M.A.S 800
Union Bank of Australia . . . . 831
Universities 620, 806
Upper Burnett River 507
Upper Flowerdale 778
Upper Hunter River 94, 279
Upper Murray River 90, 96
Urapunga 601
Vailala River 790
Valder, G 227
Valencia Oranges 240
Vanderlin Island 572
Van Diemen's Gulf 520
Van Diemen's Land —
22, 27, 60, 291, 294, 298, 758
Van Diemen's Land Company —
744, 768, 770, 782
Vanilla 437, 787, 790
Vegetables 37, 305, 648, C62
Venture Syndicates 608
"Venus," the 291
"Verglude Draeck, De," 22
Vernon, Col. W. L 69
Victoria 55, 60, 87, 291
Victoria Downs Station .... 583, 5S0
Victoria River —
52, 53, 577, 590, 592, 602
Victorian State Education .... 811
Vidler, E. A 14
Vineyards —
162, 218, 236, 396, 414, 623, 645, 685
Viticultural Stations . . . . 163, 376
Vlaming, Capt. Willem de . . 18, 23
Volcanic Soils 271, 625, 734
Wade, L. A. B 234
Wages 262
Wagga 226
Wagonga 273
Waikerie 90
Wakefield, E. G 830
Waldron, J.J 74, 76
Walhalla 346, 362
Walgett 92
Walker, Thos 821
Walker Island 782
Walker River 574
Wallabies 138, 564, 583
Wallagurah 347
Wallan 318
Wallangarra 199, 417
Wallaroo 621, 642
Walpeup 400
Walsh Tinfield 443
Wanaaring 246
Wandandian 223
Wandi 606
Wandoo 692
Wangamong 907
Wangaratta 357, 362
Wangrabelle 347
Waranga Basin 387
Waratah, Tas 766, 769
Waratahs 186
Warburton 310, 313, 362
Warburton, Major P. E 47, 50
Warburton Ranges 730
Warden 202
Warenda Station 482
Warnecke, C 580
Warra 490
Warracknabeal 334
Warragamba River 94, 279
Warragul • • 339
Warrandyte 314, 338
Warraweena 247
"Warrego." H.M.A.S 800
Warrego River . . . . 44, 46, 233, 244
Pago
Warren, The 652, 696
Warrnambool 325, 327
Wartook 337
Warwick 474, 496
Washington Navel Oranges . . 246
Water Conservation —
70, 73, 147, 275, 385, 400, 740
Waterfall 186, 188
Waterhens 136
Waterhouse, Capt 866
Waterhouse, G. A 128
Waterhouse River 585
Waterpark Creek 407
Water-trees 219, 273
Watkins, J. S 128
Watson, J. C 120
Watsonville 443
Wattle-bark 102
Wattle-birds 138
Wattlegrove 780
Watt's Creek 606
Wave Hill Station 590
"Wealth of Nations" Goldmine 702
Weeah 399
Weipa Mission Station 452
Welch, E. J 50
Weld Springs 52, 730
Wellesley Islands 452
Wellington 232, 650
Wellington Point 505
Wells, L. A. . . 53, 590, 602, 628, 728
Wentworth 90, 92, 161, 233
Wentworth, W. C 39, 58, 60
Werribee 305, 371, 386
Werribee Gorge 320
Werribee State Farm 370
Wessels Islands 575
West, J. and H 334
West Arm 597
Westbrook 415, 496, 499
Westbury 763
Western Australia —
21, 23, 26, 45, 51, 59, 67, 87
94, 115, 659
Western District of New South
Wales 281
Western District of Victoria —
322, 325, 378
Western Lands Board, N.S.W. —
232, 249, 283
Westernport 291, 308
Western Tiers 763
Wethered. "Bluebush" 705
Weymouth Bay 46
Whales 152, 154, 271
46, 84, 99, 106, 146, 161, 170, 206
225, 228, 230, 247, 249, 251, 280
328, 334, 339, 368, 380, .382, 399
472, 489, 494, 622, 633, 640, 645
717, 736, 842
Whim Well Copper Mine .... 726
Whimbrels 137
Whistle Duck Creek 582
Whistling Duck 136
White Apple Tree 273
"White Australia"—
56, 64, 302, 426, 530, 534
560, 666, 670
White Cliffs 244
White, Constable . . 620
White, Edward 961
"White Falcon," The 22
White, Francis 941
White, James 941
White, J. W 645
White, Major F. J 961
White Range Goldfield . . . . 83, 596
Whitewood ' 75
Whitfield 362
Whitley Falls 698
Whitsunday Passage . . . . 434, 459
AVhiting 138, 153, 425
Whittlesea 316
Whitton .280
Wickham River 572, 590
Ivi
AUSTRALIA UNLIMITED
Pago
Wide Bay 415, 416, 444
Widgeon 136
Widstoe, Dr 287
Wilcannia 238, 242, 245
Wildfowl 39, 73, 243, 281, 782
Wilga Scrub 227, 244
Willandra Billabong 249
Willandra Station 249
Willeroo Station 592, 602
William Creek 74
William, Mount 331
Williams. Robt. . . : 552
Williamstown 301
Willoughby 1000
Willourie Pastoral Association 578
Willow Pig 434
Wills, Mount 349
Wills, W. J 48
Wills' Tobacco Plantation .... 498
Wilson, Geo 909
Wilson, Hon. Frank 687
Wilson, Sir Saml 878
Wilson's Promontory 291
Wilton River 573
Wiluna 727
Wimmera . . . . 328, 337, 380, 382
Wimmera River 43, 337
Windellama Marble Mines . . . . 104
Wines 163, 396, 623
Wingen 853
Wingen River 27, 137, 346
Wingham 214
Winnecke's Depot 83
Winton 470
Wise, Hon. B. R 66
Withers, R. J 876
Wodonga 349, 353
Wolfram —
76, 156, 407, 443, 503, 597, 601
Wolfram Camp 601
Pago
Wollongbar 201
Wollongong .... 136, 154, 188, 219
Woman Suffrage 63
Wombat Ranges 362
Wondai 508
Wonga Pigeon 137
Wonthaggi 309, 340
Woodburn 202
Wood Duck 134, 280
Wood-pulp 102
Woodhead, Constable 618
Woodrift, Capt 294
Wood's Point 313, 362
Woods, Rev. Tenison . . 548, 576, 600
Wool—
48, 81, 90, 97, 102, 103, 146, 149
160, 251, 296, 328, 334
339, 467, 470
Woolgar Goldfield 459
Woolloomooloo Bay 174
Woolngie 606
Woolnorth 782
Woolnough, Dr 573, 600
Woombye 430, 507
Woonona 219
Worgan, Mr 593, 602
Wov Woy 186
Wright, David McKee 126
Wyalong 228, 231, 288
Wyandra 408
Wyangala 279
Wyndham 273, 673, 729
Wyonga River 574
Wyuna State Farm 370
Yachting 140, 176
Yackandandah 355
Yah Yah 600
Yallingup . . . 690
Yam Creek 548, 606
Pago
Yamba 136, 206
Yambulla 271-, 347
Yampi Sound 21
Yanco 228, 276, 877
Yandina 507
Yan Yean Reservoir 316
"Yaralla," Parramatta 821
Yarangobilly Caves 353
"Yarra," H.M.A.S 800
Yarra Glen 310
Yarra River . . 292, 300, 305, 314, 365
Yarraman Creek 508
Yarran Trees 249
Yarrawonga 387
Yarrie 97, 676
Yayouble Rock Hole 644
Yea 318, 364
Yellow-tail 138
Yeppoon 414, 481
Yilgarn Goldfield 701
Yindi 644
Yolla 768
Yonge, Mr 644
York 737
York Gums 660
York Peninsula —
18, 46, 87, 443, 451, 621
Young, Sir George 32
"Young William," The 859
Yugilbar Station 206
Yungaburra 446
Zamia Palms 82
Zebu Cattle 561
Zeehan 766
"Zeehan," The 21
Zeeuw, Jan Janszoon 22
"Zee-wolf," The 19
"Zeewyck," The 24
Zinc 102, 261, 459, 598
The Lagoon, at Burrawang
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