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LIFE'S WORK AS IT IS; 



THE EMlGRAirrS HOME IN AUSTRALIA. 



A COLONIST. 






LONDON: 
SAMPSON LOW, SON, & MAttSTON, 

MILTON HOUSE, LUDGATE HIU- 
1867. 



•^« 



HARRILO P»jff«» LONDON 



INTRODUCTION. 



The need of information creates a desdre ^ka,i that need 
shonld be snppHed. If that need has been felt as 
concerns Australia, the author of this little work hnmbly 
trosts its details may help to supply the information 
longed for. 

That information has been carefdlly gleaned dnnaig 
several years' residence in South Australia. 

The writer has been a witness of many of the scenes 
depicted, and has been more or less acquainted with aU 
the leading characters mentioned. 

The emigrant requires to be acquainted with his 
future home and its sober realities. Whereas Austria 
is still viewed as a sort of dream-land, to which, somte- 
how or another, people are to float over ; and, floatbig 
over, they are to drop down into a cloudy, half-defined 
world, that nobody seems to understand. 

That these remarks are not far stretched, may be 
judged from the lucid ideas with which the writer and 
the writer's companion embarked. They were these : 

1st. That Australia lie somewhere the other side of 
the world. 



IV INTRODUCTION. 

2nd. That dust and mosquitoes would nearly anni- 
hilate the unfortunate invaders of the soil. 

3rd. That all kinds of murderous treatment might 
be expected from various quarters ; and upon the 
strength of this the author's companion was presented 
with a rifle to shoot the murderers, with a sabre to 
intimidate them, and revolvers, etc., were bought with- 
out end for the same purpose, mw considering this 
was several years ago, it would be natural to expect 
that a flood of light and information would have broken 
in and dispersed this darkness, especially taking into 
consideration the constant exchange of inhabitants be- 
tween England and the colonies. But not so ! Though 
hundreds and hundreds return to England every year, 
their information not only seems like a drop in the 
bucket, but like a very small one. 

It is scarcely to be credited, the amount of ignorance 
that is still evident as regards Australia. In September, 
1865, a tale has been rife in England that three men 
had been murdered by South Australian savages. 
These three men were really slain in Western Australia 
and Swan River — distant a thousand nules ! But dis- 
tances, people, districts, and divisions, are all huddled 
into one grand mass. It matters not where a thing 
occurred, where a man was slain, where a thing hap- 
pened, if it only be under that one general head of 
"Australia," that idea, that name is all-sufficient for 
everything, even to highly-educated people. 

One of the author's friends, a man of high standing 
in university lore, coolly advised the writer, when 



INTRODUCTION. V 

conimg to Adelaide, not to run the risk of being so near 
the diggings at Ballarat, then rather famed for tragical 
events. The kind adviser was utterly unconscious that 
many hundred miles lie between the two localities. 

Again, the last emigrant ship, in September, 1865, 
brought some respectable females ; amongst them a 
lady's maid, who, like others, came to try her fortune in 
this fair country. She entered a shop well known to 
the author, and expressed the utter ignorance in which 
she had been wrapped concerning Adelaide and its 
resources. She said that every one told her that if she 
came out she would want nothing to wear but the 
coarsest, homeliest materials, and urged her to part with 
a smart, well-stocked wardrobe, as it would be utterly 
useless to her in a land of uncivilization. " But," con- 
tinued the young emigrant, " thankful am I that such 
advice was not taken. On every side I see fashion and 
elegance. Shops innumerable, and handsomely-appointed 
ladies in their carriages, and dresses nearly equal to 
Regent Street. If I want to get a good situation, what 
shoidd I have done if I had appeared in a sun-bonnet 
and dress of serge !" 

This anecdote, related to the author, settled the 
writing of this little book. 

Adelaide and its environs, with the surrounding 
country, for more than sixty miles, may be termed per- 
fectly civilized. The Burra, Mount Barker, Willunga, 
Port Elliott, etc., all rank as large towns in well-ordered 
districts. 

The bush, and bush life, are entireVy ^^^mcX* ^"e^cos^a 



VX INTEODUCTIOK. 

in Australia, and slionld be understood as suclu Con- 
sequently the emigrant wants to understand what 
position in life, what kind of position in Australia, he 
desires to enter upon, otherwise his preparations, his 
outfit, his ideas will all be wrong. The machinery of 
this colony consists mainly of the working classes of 
England, Ireland, and Scotland — we do not mean mere 
labourers alone, but the shopkeeper, the mechanic, the 
artisan, the fiarmer, etc., are all included. This book 
has been written to make emigrants' homes happier ; 
and if it should carry out this object, the author will be 
repaid for any exertion. 

The scenes principally He in Southern Australia, 
within the range of five, ten, thirty, and a hundred miles 
of Adelaide, its capital The author's residence has 
been confined to this colony, and the remarks made 
mostly relate to known facts in reference thereto, though 
other colonies are slightly touched upon. An emigrant 
really prepared for South Australia can prepare himself 
in a great measure for any other, as climate, soil, length 
of civilization, and different productions would consti- 
tute the main differences. Trusting this little work 
may throw at least a taper's Hght on nearly total dark- 
ness, the author confides it to the winds and waves 
which will waft it to bear tidings of an emigrant's home 
to civilised England. 



CONTENTS. 



^>tio 



o- 



PAOB 

CHAPTER 1 1 

CHAPTER II 10 

CHAPTER III 17 

CHAPTER IV 38 

CHAPTER y. 56 

CHAPTER VI 88 

CHAPTER VII 110 

CHAPTER VIII 124 

CHAPTER IX.— Pbactical Hints to Emigrants 155 

APPENDIX 161 



LIFE'S WORK AS IT IS. 



CHAPTER I. 

" Well, Mary, sixpence for yonr thoughts," said Harry 
Jones, as with inquiring look he suddenly presented 
himself before a young spruce-looking damsel. 

" I think you would get rather wet in fetching them, 
and think yourself badly paid into the bargain, if you 
succeeded," she replied. 

" Well, well, my good girl, not quite so fast. I'm 
tired with a long day's work, and come to catch a sight 
of your bright eyes on my way home. I thought you 
were thinking of your Harry ; but it appears there are 
more agreeable thoughts over the water. So, I say, let 
those fetch them for whom they are intended ! " 

" Now that is just like you, Harry," responded the 
damsel ; " and T have a great mind to let your jealousy 
and ill temper bum itself out, without troubling to let 
you know the truth. But ye need not be jealous — I 
was thinking of Australia ! " 

" Thinking of Australia ! Thinking the moon is 
made of cream cheese — just as likely. Thinking of 
Australia! Why, they say that the heat of the sun 
bums you as black as a nigger, and that people die 
of apoplexy by walking topsy-turvy on the other side 
of the world ; that the fruit bakes on the trees ; that 
enormous creatures called kangaroos come hopping into 
your bed-rooms; and snakes as big as your arm are 
found in your very beds." 



2 life's work as it IS; or, 

" Well," said Maiy, looking np, " I may as well be 
killed by a snake, or turned black by the sun, as sit and 
kill myself by stitching from morning till night, without 
being properly paid. You and I have been engaged five 
years, and you have worked hard, and so have I ; but 
six years more will find us much in the same place, I 
reckon." 

"Well," said Harry, "I wouldn't give you two- 
pence for your dismal thoughts, anyhow. But 'tis true, 
we have neither been idle, and yet hope is all we have 
got to live on as yet, that I can see ; and I don't sup- 
pose that that will do much towards furnishing a cottage 
as I should like, or pay the rent either ; and I do not 
like taking you to a home only for you to be in 
poverty." 

"I have heard," said Mary, "that if there are 
snakes, and blacks, and kangaroos, that there is also 
plenty of work, and plenty of money for it, too, in Ans- 
traHa!" 

" But," said Harry, " where is our money to come 
from ? Are we both to swim across to the other side of 
the world ? for I don't suppose we could very well 
manage to walk over the water." 

"Ah," said Mary, "I know a little more than you 
do. Master Harry. Patrick O'Connor has been in, and 
told me that two Government vessels will be sent off 
during the next two months, and that by suitable appli- 
cation free passages may be obtained to Australia ; and 
he says if you and I were married, we are just the 
people to go; and that he intends trying to go also. I 
told him to step in this morning, and we would talk 
over it." 

As she uttered the last word a knock was heard at 
the door, and Pat entered, and thus accosted them : — 

"It isn't Patrick O'Connor that would have made 
bold to spoil the ilegant words ye may be saying. Master 
Harry, or to prevent your staling a kiss, barrin' ye could 
not ha' one given ye fraly." 

"Come, come," said Mary, "I thought you were 



THE emigrant's HOME. 



going to talk about Anstralia, and not about courting, or 
you should never have come.'* 

" Bless yer bright eyes," said Pat, " and if ye were 
not after courten, ye would not be after Australia ; and 
it's jist the ilegant trade I'm thinking of taking to my- 
self, and I'd thank ye to take me ! It shall never be 
said in the land of foriners that Patrick O'Connor had 
to swim across the water to find a sweetheart !" 

" Well," said Harry, " we will try and put you on the 
right tack about courting, if you will put us on the right 
scent about going to Australia. How is it to be done ? 
and to whom are we to apply ? and how soon ?" 

" An' it's in reason," said Patrick, " that one tongue 
can answer three questions at once ? But is it in me to 
desave you ? Why, sure, and faith, 'tis the Queen her- 
self send the vessels out, though they never tould* me 
whether she went wi' them, God bless her. What they 
call the Goverment says that they will send over a few 
ship-loads of likely people ; and they say we must apply 
to '67 f Great George Street, Westminster, London; F. S. 
Dutton, Esq., Emigration Agent."* 

" Pat," said Harry, " we will up and be doing. But 
bow will you like the voyage and the new country ?" 

" Maybe," said Pat, " the voyage won't like me, 
that's more likely ; and as for the country, I'm thinking 
it must be a queer one. They say the natives run about 
without shoes, and likely too ; for they say they walk on 
the top of oar heads, and if I felt a spanking boot or 
sIiDC on the top of mine, arrah, Patrick O'Connor is the 
boy to knock the fellow down with a shillelah the first 
time as I set foot in Australia and could catch him. 
But as the fellows have about six pounds of wool on 
their pates, I am afraid I'll never get to his skull." 

" Well," said Harry, " we will leave the blackies and 
their woolly heads for the present, and just come to 
facts. If we can procure proper certificates for a free 
passage, I will have Mary, if Mary will have me ; and 

* For farther particulars see A.pi^exi^kax'tt- 



4 life's work as it is ; OK, 

we had better sail by tbe first emigrant vessel that goes 
out. I say, the sooner the better." 

"Airah!" said Pat, "so far, so smoothly; but it 
isn't after thinking of Patrick O'Connor that ye be. I 
have only the half of me ready to go, and it is I that 
have to find the other half before I can take it. Sure 
and faith it's the ilegant half, too, or, as English folk 
say, the better half ; but where a better than Patrick is 
to be found is not in me to tell you." 

We will take leave of this family for a short time, 
whilst Mary and Harry are being united, and Patrick is 
trying to find a better half, and will conduct you to a 
small farm-house situated in that beautiful and pictu- 
resque county of Devonshire. 

A lively glow of sunset lights up all around, and the 
sun's last rays kiss the murmuring rill and linger on the 
casement windows, overshadowed with honeysuckles and 
roses. There sits a young wife, who cannot have been 
said to have made much acquaintance with labour or 
sorrow. She listens for a moment. Ah, yes, the latch 
was lifted, and lifted by the hand she was expecting. A 
good tempered, honest face enters, and the husband 
of Eleanor Dingle stands before her. Stocking and 
darning-cotton are taken by surprise, as they are un- 
ceremoniously flung into a neighbouring basket to 
arrange themselves as best they can, whilst the active 
wife, all attention to boiling potatoes, baked meat, and 
hot cofiee, spreads the supper with a light hand and a 
lighter heart for her beloved. The little damsel of all 
work looks on wondering, and thiaks " Missus takes too 
much pains by half." With this reflection, she thinks 
her presence is not needed, and taking her milk pails, 
she saUies foi*th to find companionship with Dolly, Blos- 
som, and Blackberry, her especial pets. 

" Have you heard the news, Eleanor ?" said her hus- 
band. " Squire Thomly is coming to reside at the 
manor-house, and two of his sons with him, and a 
bailifi". His affairs have gone queerly, and he thinks, by 
farming some of his own land (under this man's direc- 



THE emigrant's HOME. 5 

tions), lie can obtain a better income than by merely 
taking the rent. Onr snug little farm is one of tbe pro- 
perties, and we have notice to quit at the end of the 
quarter." 

Eleanor's eye fell as the last words were pronounced, 
and a tear, unbidden, left it's own little fountain to 
course down that fair cheek. But the April cloud was 
soon over, and with as bright a tone as she could assume 
she answered : — 

" Well, Robert, and what can we do ? There is no 
land about here to hire, and we have not sufficient 
capital to purchase and stock a farm ourselves. How- 
ever, we are young and active, and I doubt not we shall 
think of something." 

" I have thought," said Robert, " and wish to know 
if you agree with me. I have a mind to try our for- 
tunes in another country ; to take what money I have 
saved, and to proceed to AustraHa as soon as we can 
settle our affairs. An emigrant vessel sails shortly ; and 
though I should not choose, neither should I obtain, a 
free passage, we may obtain a cabiu on reasonable terms 
in the poop of the vessel. What say you ? " 

And what did Eleanor say ? " Wherever you go, I 
will follow.^* What more could she say ? 

Robert explained his intention of going to South 
Australia, and trying to pui'chase a section, or get one 
on right of purchase. He said that they would for a 
time have to rough it, and to put up with many 
things they had not been used to ; but this mattered 
little, the heart would go with the hands, and work and 
pleasure would be united in that far-off land. 

So Eleanor tried to forget how much she loved all 
that surrounded her, and she endeavoured to look for- 
ward, and fancy a home over the blue waters, even if it 
were not quite so pleasing to her fancy ; and a woman's 
love and a woman's smile cheered the path of Robert 
Dingle as he cast a lingering look on the home of his 
forefathers, and with stem determination resolved to 
meet and conquer aU difficulties. It iFJSia Tio\.\oii^\«JlQrcfe 



6 life's work as it is; or, 

the news circnlated itself in the district, and the good 
old Scotch clergyman who had officiated there so many 
years soon found his way to the farm-house before men- 
tioned. 

"Is it true, Eleanor," said the kind old man, ** that 
you are going to leave us ? I christened you, and 
married you, and I have watched you with interest, and 
it goes hard to part from you now.** 

" Thank you, kindly,'* said Eleanor, " may your 
prayers and good wishes go with us when we leave our 
native land. I shall not forget the instruction I have 
received under your care, nor the kind thought you have 
ever shown to me and mine ; and may God bless you. 
We will write and tell you all particulars." 

It was on a bright, sunny Sabbath mom ; all nature 
seemed as if delighting in the day of rest. Service is 
over at the Httle kirk, a small group have lingered 
behind, and are wending their way to a carefully kept 
grave in that pretty churchyard. It is Eleanor, her 
husband, with one or two more of her family. Thitt spot 
binds her heart to England's soil. That spot makes her 
feet linger, and her heart almost waver. It is the last 
resting-place of her parents ; and shall she leave them 
to slumber alone ? 

While standing in silent grief, the good old pastor 
joined the group. 

"Eleanor," said the old man, "I would not have 
parted from ye of my own free will ; but if our heavenly 
Father has other work for ye to do, go, and the Lord go 
with ye ! My grey hairs will soon be laid by the side of 
those you love, and together we shall rest till the resur- 
rection trump shall sound ; and then, Eleanor, its blast 
will echo from shore to shore ; and if your resting-place 
should be on the other side of the ocean, the sound that 
calls them and me will summon you also, and parents, 
children, and ministers all shall have a glorious meeting 
and recognition. Ye have served God, and loved Him, 
and He will go with ye, even if it be to the ends of the 
earth." 



THE EMIGBAiyT'S HOME. 



Eleanor and lier husband wrong the old man's hand, 
and they parted in silence. 

The next day they proceeded to join the "Mary- 
anne," a fine vessel, then lying at her moorings in South- 
ampton docks, and was to sail on the 1st May. On the 29th 
April, all the emigrants and poop passengers assembled 
at the Government depot, in readiness for embarkation. 
Amongst the crowd we recognize our friends Harry and 
Mary, now Mary Jones. Near to them a bustling little 
man is putting forward rather a bashful young woman. 

" Now then, now then, it isn't Molly O'Connor that 
will be slow in putting one foot afore the other. Make 
an ilegant curtsey to the lady as is going to take care of 
ye, and maybe she'd take a fancy to your bright eyes." 

" Hush, hush," said Molly, " do not let the lady hear 

ye. 

"And for what was my tongue gi'n me, save for 
spaking a word where it may be wanted," said Pat ; 
*' and it isn't in me to grudge the words I would spake 
for Molly O'Connor any day. Arrah, I hope we shall 
not be food for the fishes. Why, those cups and saucers 
might do ilegant on the Queen's table herself, for I can 
see my face shine in them any day intirely ; and what 
more could ye do an' if they were silver ? And, Molly, 
be sure ye be seeing that your name be written clane and 
neat on the box ye brought, so that when ye get old ye 
may be able to read it. They'll be after knowing your 
name without your telling it, I'm a thinking ; but ye 
might say a word, and tell 'em that you are no longer 
Molly O'Flanigan, but that ye've taken the ilegant name 
of O'Connor." 

"Cant ye be quiet," said Molly; "as if they cared 
what my name was — they only want to know what 
U w." 

After the emigrants had been duly mustered, they 
proceeded on board the " Maryanne," where their difie- 
rent berths were marked out and assigned to them. All 
seemed activity and order. There were several passen- 
gers in the poop, as the " Maryaim©" "^^^a ^\ax^t^ ^^^a&s^^ 



8 lifb's woek as it is ; OR, 

witli good accommodation in the cabins at moderate 
prices, owing to its being an emigrant ship. 

We will now introduce our readers to these passen- 
gers. First, we see oar friend Eleanor and her husband. 
Next, a comely-looking lady and her other half, a Mr. 
and Mrs. Farling, said to be going out on speculation as 
linen-drapers, etc. Third, a joyous-looking family, 
" going to rough it in the bush,*' as pretty Jane Sey- 
mour, with hands as white as lilies, said. Now this 
Jane was blessed with athletic brothers, and, if the truth 
were fairly told, the five brothers were the cause of 
driving their fair sister into the bush; for the father, 
despairing of getting them provided for in England, 
had bethought himself of Australia, and, fearing they 
could not think for themselves, had felt himself com- 
pelled to accompany them. Poor mamma had been 
long out of this troublesome world, and so sister Jane, 
not willing to be left behind, goes likewise ; and, going, 
we must follow her and her brothers and father into the 
wilderness. Fourth, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson next come 
under our notice — he, short, fat, rosy ; she, tall, lean, 
gaunt, and pale. Yet, far be it from us to say anything 
was the matter with her, save that the world said she 
had not shown good taste in her choice. But, be this as 
it may, they were going forth to the new world full of 
hope and expectation. K Mr. Anderson had possessed 
a fourth as much money as he did hope, he would never 
have wanted to improve his fortunes. But his pockets 
were light, and his account at the bank lighter still, 
and he thought it best to turn his back whilst he could 
on his difficulties, and begin the world again on the 
other side of the ocean. He was a master miller by 
trade, and had connections in this colony, who, of course, 
kind souls, were to be everything that was good- 
natured. We trust they equalled his expectations. 
Sitting at the far end of the poop was a lady and 
two interesting-looking girls, of the name of Sullivan, 
returning to the husband and father in Adelaide, who 
was a merchant in that place. Lastly, a young gentle- 



THE emigrant's HOME. 9 

man, of tlie name of Ryan, who was intending to experi- 
mentalize upon horses, cows, bullocks, etc., in the new 
country ; he was intending to go to his uncle, who had 
a station near Mount Gambier, and to whom he was to 
be stock-keeper ; and certainly, by the evolutions he is 
making with his smart cane, we should suppose he is 
endeavouring to accustom his hands to wield the stock- 
whip of which he has heard, but which he has never 
held, and what is more, has never cracked. 



10 life's work as it IS; OR, 



CHAPTER n. 

Perhaps we may be permitted to take a sly glance once 
more of our friend Patrick and his "ilegant half," as he 
expressed himself ! 

"It's all up with me, intirely," says Pat, " and sorry 
I am it should be as it is, but my heart neerly clean 
jumped overboard just now with the first feeling of 
moving on the big waters. Oh, that ever my mother's 
son should crass the water. And then to think of the 
waste; it grieves me intirely. The praties and the 
bread never desaved me, poor as they might be, but sure 
and faith they did me good, and made a mon of me ; 
but dear heart alive, the beautiful salt beef, the wee drap 
of good brath, and the rice on the top of both, why they 
won't stay with a poor fellow five minutes, and it's 
mighty hai'd the fine dinner every day should be wasted. 
And it's intirely lean that Patrick O'Connor will be ; 
barrin' that I suffer more than Saint Patrick ever 
did, when he made a mistake, and got one leg into 
purgatory and couldn't get the other out ! And it's not 
a smile 1 can give to my poor Molly, who hersel' looks 
like the ghost of Saint Patrick !" 

Thus moaned and groaned our poor friend. But 
twenty-four hours' breezes "intirely," as he said, "put 
his heart in its right place again ;" and Patrick no 
more regretted that the good dinners were wasted on 
him, as he now profited by the wholesome diet he daily 
had provided. The group of emigrants was a motley 
but respectable one : labourers, mechanics, artisans, 
farm servants, shepherds, miners from Cornwall (a 



THE emigrant's HOME. 11 

sbnrdy race of men), gardeners, shoemakers, etc., etc., 
filled up the remaining list, wldch was rather a large 
one. But as we elsewhere give varions hints how to 
prepare for a voyage, it is not our intention to enter 
into many of its details here; but to follow our voyagers 
to their destination, and so begin to enter upon " Life as 
it w *' in Australia. 

When the anchor no longer held the good ship 
" Maryanne," and when she stood out, sails full set, 
then, and not till then, did our voyagers fairly realize 
that England was no longer to be their home ! Good 
order and good health were preserved on this voyage, 
and there seemed a general feeling of good fellowship 
and satisfaction on board not always met with. Two 
or three of the men on board were musical, and they 
were allowed to exercise their powers for their own 
amusement and the good of the public ! An Irishman 
(not our fiiend Patrick) had brought a guitar, and sung 
in good time, and with great feeling. A Scotchman 
had brought his bagpipes, and (forgive it, oh ye Scotch 
that read these pages) some of the passengers 
thought, all of a sudden, that there was a litter of 
pigs squeaking vigorously in the forecastle, when, on 
running to see the young roasters, as they hoped, they 
found it was Fergus M 'Donald producing a few stray 
notes by way of opening a tune on his bagpipes. 

They had entered upon the third week of the third 
month, when " Land ahoy!" sounded from the man on 
the look-out, and a hearty cheer ran through the vessel. 
They had encountered two or three rough days ofi* the 
Cape and St. Paul's, but this must be expected. On 
one of these occasions a curious scene was presented at 
the captain's table. The squall came on with the pea 
soup, just as it was served ! Up rushed the skipper ! 
down rushed the steward, " Lsidies and gentlemen," 
cried he, "hold hard to your plates!" But alas! the 
soup tureen would not, or did not, hear the message in 
time ; it rushed frantically down to meet a pig's face in 
the centre of the table. The pig's fee©, «2^TTEia\^ *w^- 



12 life's work as it is ; or, 

lowed by tlie soup, made its way to a dish of curry. A 
few cutlets, and a small dish of fish, all took the same 
course, and precipitated themselves headlong into the 
laps of two or three unfortunate ladies. The din of the 
storm, the clatter of the dishes, the horror of the 
steward, the cries of the ladies, the laughter of the gen- 
tlemen, must have been heard and seen to be understood ; 
and with Johnny Gilpin may we say : — 

" When next the storm doth ride abroad, 
May I be there to see." 

The eyes of Eleanor were fixed, as were all others, 
on the now visible shores of the New World. Very 
different the aspect of those shores to Albion's white 
cliffs ; but nevertheless there was something very 
pleasing in seeing land once more. And altogether our 
voyagers were comforted and encouraged. 

Poor little Mr. Anderson (who had found his super- 
abundance of fat rather perplexing in the tropics) came 
panting and puflSng to the captain, in a state little short 
of mental aberration. After using his handkerchief to 
his face, very much as a housemaid applies her mop to 
the floor after she has favoured it with a pail of water, 
he regained sufficient tranquillity to speak, " Dear sir, 
I trust we shall not have to boat it far, I never was 
much used to the water, and I have a horror of small 
boats [' No wonder,* thought the skipper] ; and the men 
have been telling me that we are all going to be sent up 
to the port, many miles, in canoes of bark, made by the 
natives." 

The captain fairly roared with laughter, but checking 
himself, said, " I am airaid my men have been indulging 
,in a joke on new comers," and he might have added, 
" on fat people." " I am certain, however, you would 
take a month to remove in that style — I mean passen- 
gers, emigrants, and baggage ; and believe me, dear sir, 
I have never seen a bark canoe, and you would have to 
travel far before ypu found one. The truth is this — 
there is not sufficient depth of water to carry this 



THE emigrant's HOME. 13 

large vessel over tlie bar to-night, though a pilot is on 
board, and therefore my men have thus enlarged on 
realities/* 

Poor Mr. Anderson breathed more freely, and the 
pockethandkerchief was less vigorously used in its 
work of absorption. 

"It's monstrous hot, captain," said Mr. A ; 

" are we usually to have this weather ?" 

" Well, my dear sir, to be candid with you, to-day 
is one of the coolest you must expect; but I do not 
doubt after running about, and somewhat lessening the 
effects of the good living on board this good ship, that 
the heat will not affect you half as much when the 
thermometer is nearly thirty degrees higher." 

Young Mr. Ryan began to look out for what could 
be seen ; but though nearing land heard no stock- 
whips at present. He thought, unless the cattle were 
ferocious, he would teach the art of civilization, and hunt 
them down with his silver-headed liding-whip. Poor 
young man, he had been used only to the hunting-field and 
steeple-chase : two years hence he will tell a different tale. 

Jane Seymour and her five brothers were in high 
spirits. She had much of the joyousness of the skylark 
about her ; she soared above th,e troubles around her, 
and as she soared she sung. She had been cradled in 
sorrow and brought up in affliction, but that bright, 
young heart was not seared, though it had often been 
bruised. She had learnt to feel for and with others, and 
in her youth she had leamt to trust her God, but He, 
in mercy, had given her one of the most elastic tempera- 
ments that ever was bestowed. Troubles she turned 
into pleasures ; difficulties she called not by that name ; 
in the midst of a wilderness she felt not alone ; and it 
was at the suggestion of this energetic girl, that the 
broken down family had come to try their fortunes in 
the bush, where she fearlessly looked forward to her full 
share of duties, hardships, and even labour. Such sunny 
spirits seem remnants of Eden amidst'a dark and stormy 
world of sin and suffering. 



li life's woek as it is; or, 

" Richard," said Jane to her eldest brother, " I hope 
we shall go into the woods directly we get on shore ; I 
long to be at work and try my hands on bread-making** 
— certainly they looked as though they and dough had 
never made much of an acquaintance together ; " and then 
you know I have learnt to make butter, and to milk. 
Oh, I hope these Australian cows won't kick the bucket 
over just when I have filled it, and " 

" Stop, my dear Jane, I am out of breath already," 
said Richard ; " do, there's a good creature, let us wait 
till these troubles come, and do let us buy bread of the 
baker, and meat of the butcher, and .milk of the milk- 
man, for a few blessed days in peace, without think- 
ing of that dreadful bush !" 

" Why, my dear brother, you do not suppose it is a 
trouble to me ? I shall hear the cockatoos sing*^ (she 
learnt afterwards the right word, namely screach), " and 
I shall see the kangaroos running about, and we will 
have a hut under the branches of big gum-trees, and I 
shall be so happy " 

" I wish I was," said Dick, who, though not ill- 
natured, lacked all his sister's spirit and energy — in fact, 
her very rapid ideas overpowered him in their very 
birth. 

Mrs. Sullivan and her daughters (whom we shall 
meet again) were only returning to a well-ordered home 
in a well-ordered place, namely, the precincts of the city 
of Adelaide. A quiet amusement was theirs in watch- 
ing the various phases of the new-comers, or, as the 
sailors and common people said, " new churns,^* 

"Mamma," said the eldest daughter, "what do you 
think ? I heard that young lady saying that the cocka- 
toos sing ; would it not be kind to tell her that the noise 
they make is about the farthest from song I ever heard, 
and much more resembles the cry of a lunatic than the 
voice of a bird?" 

" Well, my dear," said Mrs. Sullivan, " she looks a 
lady, and has behaved like one all the way, and when 
Mr, SuUiv&n comes on board we will see if she inclines 



THE EMIGBANT's HOME. 15 

to come and see ns, and then perhaps yon might like a 
tnm to hear the cockatoos in the bush and see how she 
succeeds with bread-making," etc. 

So Margaret, quite satisfied, whispered the informa- 
tion to her two younger sisters. 

Pardon us if, before we land our voyagers, we take 
one more glance at poor Patrick, whom we left under 
tender recollections at the beginning of the voyage, and 
also if we inquire what Harry and his bright Mary are 
thinking and planning, now that they feel they breathe 
the air of Australia, and are, as they say, *^ in another 
world." 

" Harry, my boy," said Pat, " sorry I shall be 
intirely, if I do not see ye settled near me, for if the 
cannibals came to eat me, ye could answer for my age, and 
say I was old and tough, and may be they woxdd not 
believe me nor Molly." 

"Oh I will answer for your not being a chicken, 
never fear that," said Harry ; " but as for cannibals there 
is nothing of that kind here !" 

" Well," said Pat, " that may be originally, but as 
they be black and we white intirely, it might strike 
them to have a trial on us, and I shouldn't relish that 
much, nor Molly either. By the by Harry, it's my heart 
goes bump so quick at the thought of all the new things 
we'll be seeing, that I am sure it will work a hole in my 
side if it keeps on working so ; why, anyhow, it's worse 
than sea-sickness, when I thought my heart was going 
overboard anyhow ; and if it had, I am sure I should 
have had to jump after it." 

*' Well," said Mary, " I thought your heart was safe 
in Molly's keeping ; it's highly improper for you to be 
taking care of what does not belong to you." 

" Bless your heart alive, Mrs. Mary, ahone ! it was 
only the sea-sickness that made it so lively ; and Molly, 
who all along tonld me she had no heart at all, for I had 
it intirely, she felt jist the same, bless her, and so she 
does now." 

" Well," said Harry, " shall we bush it, Pat, or ^hs^ 



16 life's work as it is; ob, 

we hire otirselves for a time, and then save a little and 
go farming ?" 

" Barrin' the work, I'd like farming first ; but then, 
why it's little enough I have," said Pat : " my best coat, 
and I've only one, lost one of the tails the other day, 
and so Molly sewed on a piece of an old cloak ; she says, 
if both tails were but one colour it would be better than 
afore. My shoes see daylight aU through them like so 
many winders ; so I'm thinking I'd like to be saving a 
few shiUer afore I go into the wHdemess." 

" Well^" said Harry, " it certainly seems very desir- 
able for your wardrobe, if not for yourself, that you 
should do as I suggest ; and thougKI cannot exactly say 
the same, as regards Mary and me, still we ought to be 
laying by before we spend, so I will look out as soon as 
we land for likely places.'* 

This conversation took place about twelve o'clock 
one day ; and the next morning, about five o'clock, the 
vessel was safely steered past the lightship and over the 
bar; after which the good ship waited, with all due 
politeness, for the inspection of Dr. Duncan. 

As regards the emigrants and passengers, we shall 
select a few and follow them in their new career, stepping 
with them on shore and proceeding to civilized Adelaide. 
From thence we will take leave to conduct our readers 
into the bush, and leave them for a time to enjoy its 
novelty. 



THE emigrant's HOME. 17 



CHAPTER in. 

Being safely landed at the port, our friends found all 
kinds of conveyances waiting for their choice. During 
the time of the rush to the gold diggings, a man was 
scarcely to be seen at Port Adelaide ; but the times we 
write of are some two or three years subsequent to this 
rush, when numbers of men were earning a good living 
by driving port carts, onmibuses, cabs, etc., at moderate 

fares. 

''Why, bless yer heart!" cried Patrick, "there are 
two horses in that carriage, and if their tails and manes 
ain't set on jist the same manner intirely as in old 
England." 

Pat's lucid remark was followed by a hearty laugh 
from the bystanders who heard it ; and who assured him, if 
he would only look out, the dogs ran on four legs, and 
the cats had tails here as well as the horses. 

Before we particularize the various destinations of 
the party from the poop, and also some of the emigrants, 
we would beg leave to introduce to our reader's attention 
scene the first, the City of Adelaide ; and slightly glance 
at some of the notable objects in this fast-increasing 
metropolis. Our friends were surprised that, though 
English-looking, the houses at the port looked poor and 
unimportant ; still they appeared comfortable, though 
somewhat too much in the neighbourhood of sand. 

Two or three years later than the arrival of our 
■ emigrants, a railroad to Adelaide was completed, by which 
the movements of fresh comers have been greatly facili- 
tated. Proceeding in various parties, our emi^raxLt^ 



18 life's work as it is; OB, 

were surprised to see everythiiig looking so English.. 
Though not equal to Melbourne, Adelaide is fast advanc- 
ing on her heels, and many beautiful buildings have been 
erected in the last few years. Eleanor and her hnsband 
pref(;rred, with some others, waiting in the ship for a 
few hours ; but Jane Seymour and her brothers had no 
intention of abiding in the vessel when there was any 
chance of leaving it. 

" Look,'* said Jane, " well, if there is not a street 
broad enough for several carriages to drive abreast ; 
and as for shops, why my eyes are dazzled ; plate-glass 
windows, handsome cornices, gilded ornaments — and 
what is that creature in bronze or gHt," cried she, 
" placed over a handsome-looking shop ? Why, it's too 
big for a fox, too small for a deer, and it's sitting up on 
its tail and hind-legs, like a dog begging for its dinner." 

"Oh," said little Charles, the youngest, "you must 
be blind. Read the words above, ' Kangaroo House,' 
and a very handsome kangaroo and a very nice shop it 
looks." 

" Well," said Jane, "now I have seen one, what next ? " 

They proceeded through the various broad and 
handsome streets with much interest. There, in one 
street — King William Street — was the place or building 
which interests all new comers, namely, the General 
Post Office ; and a very handsome one they thought it, 
though Government intend there should be a much hand- 
somer one built shortly. Then, opposite, were all the 
Government offices, really fine buildiugs, well finished, 
and of white stone. The police station, close at hand, 
did not seem remarkable for its beauty. Amongst 
various other places, a large coaching establishment in- 
terested them, as they found that omnibuses ran fipom 
this place to all parts of the colony, where the roads 
were practicable. This was a comfort. Then, they 
looked at the handsome banks, and the Exchange, where 
so much business is transacted. Pursuing their course 
they noticed the long cab-stands, just like England. The 
further display of shops, the various inns and hotels. 



THE emigrant's HOME. 19 

and then Government House, a substantial handsome 
residence, situate in the midst of a walled garden. They 
then proceeded down North Terrace, saw the handsome 
Institute, the Destitute Asylum, the well built hospital, the 
beautiftd Botanical G-ardens, the Lunatic Asylum, etc., 
and returned by the York Hotel, and up Rundle Street, 
wondering at the diversity of the shops, the beauty of 
the goods displayed, and the elegance and* taste ex- 
hibitec^. The elegant carriages and horses, the well and 
gaily dressed people, seemed quite to astonish them. 
Churches and chapels (some very handsome) they 
noticed also abounded. They afterwards took a trip to 
North Adelaide, where it is cooler, and where, situated 
on an eminence, stand many good houses, amongst them 
the Bishop's residence, a fine structure. They noticed 
also a good savings' bank, insurance offices, and very 
handsome club-house, jail, etc. Everything seemed 
English, and in fact, they could scarcely fancy them- 
selves out of England. They arrived in the month 
of October, one of the most beautiful months in 
the year, the rains over, and the summer barely come, 
and all nature clothed with its brightest garb. The hills 
in the distance looked green and beautiful, and the heat 
at this season was only agreeable. 

Mrs. Sullivan (who we before said was a merchant's 
lady residing in the neighbourhood of town) courteously 
invited Jane Seymour to her house ; and as they intended 
resting for a few days, she gladly availed herself of the 
invitation. Daddy and his five little boys, from five to 
twenty-five, betaking themselves to a very comfortable 
boarding-house. Jane was astonished when she drove 
in Mrs. Sullivan's handsome carriage to her residence, 
and saw an elegant villa and beautiful garden, men and 
maid-servants answering to beck and call. She, like 
many, we may say most others, had formed a promis- 
cuous and strangely confused idea of Australia ; instead 
of expecting to see civilization and elegance in some 
parts, and all the roughness and uncivilization of the 
bush in others, it was all in her mind mixed u^ 2^ ^ ^^^ 



20 life's work as it is; or, 

mixes up the ingredients of a pudding, and by giving 
a friendly stir causes eggs, flour, sugar, lemon, butter, 
milk, all to coalesce together and form a whole. The 
cook's pudding succeeds ; not so the ideas, all jumbled 
together — they never can be brought to act till properly 
separated and sorted. Jane's idea was that the country 
was all uncivilized, that you might by chance buy a 
bonnet or a smart dress, but that you would never want 
them ; that all was rough, all was bush, all was totally 
different from what it really proved to be, and she now 
had to find that bush life and Adelaide life lay as widely 
different as London and some little village in the South. 
Seas ! In Adelaide she found almost anything could be 
had for money. As for bush life, we leave her to tell 
her own tale as to what she found it. 

As Jane Seymour has taken you a tour of Adelaide 
and its grand streets, Mary and Harry Jones and 
Patrick O'Connor shall give you a bird's-eye view of 
their proceedings. Harry arranged that their small 
quantity of luggage should be brought up in a cart ; 
they bargained with the driver to take them too for a 
small consideration. 

"Now thin," said Pat, seating himself ; "now thin 
Molly, jist teach that coat tail to behave itself, and jist 
put the black one on the top of the blue, so that folks 
may think that they are both alike." 

Molly having attended to orders, adjusted herself, 
and Mary and Harry completed the group. Each owned 
a five-shilling piece, and Mary had a good stock of 
clothes ; but how were they to begin the world ? How- 
ever, many had begun with less. It was quite early in 
the morning when they started, and arrived in Adelaide. 
To tell of Pat's wonderment and MoUy's surprise would 
take up an entire book ; suffice it to say, Pat's conclu- 
sion was this : "It was I that was desaved intirely in 
these foriners ; there isn't a blacky among them." 

Patrick O'Connor may take comfort in knowing that 
he is not alone in being, as he said, " desaved intirely." 
Harry suggested that, as their finances were somewhat 



THE emigrant's HOME. 21 

in a weak state, it would not be wise to encroaeli npon 
them, and advised taking the driver s suggestion of 
going straight to the labour office (particulars of which 
see at the end of this book), with a view to getting 
immediate employment, and, as Paddy said, "make their 
fortius." 

" Arrah,*' said he, " my coat and I won't know each 
other. If I find myself anyways handy — which my 
mother said I was before I could speak — why, faith and 
sure it's to be dressed ilegantly, that I will be when I get 
the siller, and no mistake." 

Most fortunately, Harry and Mary obtained imme- 
diately a capital situation. A gentleman, hearing of the 
freshly-arrived vessel, had come down to Adelaide in 
search of such a couple, and at once engaged them to 
return with him some distance up the country, though 
not far in the bush. 

Poor Pat was stunned when he found he and his 
friends were going to be separated, and his expressions 
of regret were so strong, and his anxiety for employment 
so great, that it attracted the attention of the aforesaid 
gentleman. 

" Well, my honest fellow," said Mr. W- , " and 

what sort of a situation do you want ?" 

" Well, bless yer honour, and sure enough I'd like 
whatever situation wants me. Mother always said I 
was handy at anything, and she was likely sure and 
faith to know, bless her." 

" But," said the gentleman, " as she does not happen 
to be here to testify to all your virtues, tell us what you 
were last doing before you left England." 

" Doing, your honour ? why, Harry Jones can tell 
you that I was hard at work courting and marrying, 
and had to do it all, and find the girl, and a good one, 
too, in a week. And if that won't show your honour 
that I am quick at anything, why thin it isn't in Patrick 
O'Connor to tell ye." 

" Well," said the gentleman, smiling, " certainly, if 
you are as quick at everything as you^et^ ^\,'0K\a»^^<3^ 



22 life's work as it is ; ok, 

are worth sometliing. At all events, I know some one 
who will try your powers. Your arms do not look very 
weak, and if it is as you say, you will be handy." 

"All the saints bless ye!" said Pat; "hard work 
and Patrick O'Connor never fell out together, and it's 
not likely they'll be making a quarrel of it now, I'm 
thinking." 

Pat was retreating, but, advancing a step or two 
again, and pulling at a lock of his long hair, by way of 
a bow, as if he intended to pull it out, he thus began — 

"Your honour !" 

"Well, Pat." 

" Barrin' the liberty I am taking, would yer honour 
tell me if there are any cannibals in your neighbourhood?" 

" Camels .'"' said the gentleman, " what does the 
fellow mean ?" (not catching the word directly). 

" Well, sir, I mean to say you've no blackies near as 
will make a meal of an honest feller because he's w^hite, 
as it's the heart of Molly it would break intirely if she 
lost me." 

The gentleman was vastly diverted, and remarked 
that others far better educated had made greater mis- 
takes than honest Pat. 

" But," said he, " my good fellow, there are enough 
opossums, and squirrels, and parrots about us to feed 
all the blacks for some years to come, before they think 
about eating you, so you need not fear." 

A comfortable, roomy German waggon and good 
team of horses now drove up to the office. The gentle- 
man told our friends to take their places, and to stow 
away their luggage. Pat said with a sigh — 

" If your honour takes me he takes all my luggage ; 
and it's lighter for the bastes to carry it if it is on my 
back, than if it were in boxes. The bundle we have is 
so small that Molly dropped it coming along, and it was 
scarcely the loss of its weight she felt." 

Mary and Harry's wardrobe was a comfortable one, 
and they looked with wonder at the chests of tea, bags 
of sugar, boxes of soap, bags of rice, etc., etc., which this 



THE EMIGIIANT'S HOME. 28 

gentleman liad bouglit for himself previous to harvest- 
time. These stores were all packed in the waggon, and 
onr fiiends packed in with them. The gentleman, 
monnting a horse, proceeded onward, leaving them to 
come at rather a slower pace. 

Their road lay over the ranges, a good many miles 
the other side of Echnnga, one of the prettiest and best 
roads in the colony. After proceeding. a few miles they 
commenced mounting the hills. But commencing and 
finishing the ascent were two different things. How- 
ever, the road was beautiful, smooth and broad — very 
widely different to what it was a few years ago, when 
the author took a journey in that direction, which will 
never be forgotten. 

"Arrah!" said Pat, "why the Queen herself and 
the Lord Mayor's coach and horses might travel this 
road, though the osses would be for thinking they'd never 
finish climbing. To think that the blackies should make 
such ilegant roads for their carriages !" 

"Maybe," said the good-tempered driver, "you're 
a Httle deceiving yoursetf. Master Pat, for the blackies 
would sooner run up a gum-tree any day than ride in a 
carriage, and I'll be blest if it's a stroke of work they 
ever would, or ever will do, on this road or any other 
either. Curling themselves up in a blanket, and watch- 
ing the smoke travel up to the clouds, and making their 
lubras work, is pretty much their occupation, though 
there are some fine fellows amongst them, and a very 
few industrious ones, for all that." 

Up, and up, and up the little party went, and now 
they had ascended the first range of hills. They turned 
to look on the magnificent prospect that lay behind, 
and, as it were, beneath them. There lay the city of 
Adelaide and its environs, a -vvide-spreading expanse. 
Little more than twenty years ago that plain was 
covered with trees, that city was one vast forest. And 
the few colonists who just pitched their tents on that 
spot, hung lamps in the branches of two or three trees 
at night, to prevent their being lost in finding ea^h. 



24 life's work as it is; or, 

others huts. So different then to what it is now. 
The noble gnm, the beantifdl blackwood, and the 
wattle, all flourished in Hindley and Rundle Street. 
Where now there are pavements and macadamized 
streets, the tall grass waved so high that the cattle 
could not be seen when lying down at a distance, and 
the cockatoos shrieked and built their nests where gen- 
tlemen now walk the Exchange ; while the rosella and 
the beautiful blue mountain-parrots flitted from tree to 
tree ; and the curlew uttered its moumfdl cry at mid- 
night in those very spots where at the same hour car- 
riages are rumbling home from the theatre, and cabs 
and Hansoms are returning from White's Rooms, 
whore a concert very different to that of birds has just 
ended. 

Hard is it for the mind's eye thus to wander back, 
and picture noble forest trees standing in the same spot 
where now looks forth a milliner's shop that would not 
disgrace Bond Street; and where, instead of French 
and English finery commingled together, you would see 
the agile black notching the bark of some noble tree, 
springing from notch to notch, till a hundred feet or 
more above earth he grasps an opossum by its tail, and, 
pulling him out of his hole, descends with the alacrity 
of lightning. Such is life, and such was life, as thou- 
sands of colonists can testify. 

It has been the author's good fortune to be inti- 
mately acquainted with some of the first colonists who 
arrived in South Australia, and to hear their adventures. 
One lady, now in England, recounted to the writer the 
first beginnings of Government House. She happened 
to be one of the circle ; a tent was pitched for some of 
the party, seeing there was only the shadow of a house 
in the distance, and little yet of the substance had 
appeared ; at all events, there was nothing like room 
for all. The people in this tent wanted to eat as well as 
others, but what was there to eat, and how was it to be 
cooked ? A gentleman undertook to kill a sheep, a 
second to cut it up, and a lady in white kid gloves fried 



THE emigrant's HOME. 25 

what she could of it. They had to divide ahont three 
knives and a-half and four plates between the whole 
party ; all sitting round the frying-pan, making a dip 
after reinforcements when so inclined. The dust at 
night blew into the tents to that degree that a house- 
maid's broom would have been called into requisition to 
make features discernible. 

"We may at a future time amuse our readers with 
some of the first sorrows of the colony, but we think 
Patrick and Molly are waiting till we return to them, 
and we fear their patience will be somewhat exhausted. 
Mount Lofty Range is very beautifdl, and the foliage of 
the trees in many parts very fine. A spot half way 
between Echunga and Adelaide, called " Crafer's Inn," 
is very picturesque, though not so much so as formerly. 
Here the charioteer rested his horses and himself, as 
Pat said, " not before it was wanted," after rather more 
than ten miles of climbing. 

After half an hour's rest tbey proceeded, and found 
the beauty of the road increase, houses and cottages 
being dotted here and there, while on each side rose 
tall and gigantic trees. They noticed many of the wild 
flowers that were staying to bid a lingering farewell to 
winter. The magnificence of these beautiful flowrets 
must be seen to be understood. They die as soon as 
summer comes on, but towards the end of winter the 
Tiers (that is what in England would be called forests), 
are perfectly splendid with them ! Sometimes for a 
mile the writer has seen, as far as the eye could reacb, 
one mass of the deepest crimson, interspersed with white 
and pink flowers. Further on, rose colour or very pale 
pink would be the hue, lying like a carpet under mag- 
nificent trees and brushwood. The plant referred to 
would be called by the passer-by a Jieath, but it is not 
its true name ; the botanical name is Epacris, 

The native fuchsias are in great variety, and very 
lovely ; one that is often called the Lezetafolia is pink, 
tipped with the richest crimson and yellow. 

There is another plant that makes gte«i.\i ^o^ Ssi^'i 



26 life's work as it is; ok, 

bush, having something ethereal in its form, and very 
much like a small butterfly, pink and white, with a long 
humming-bird's tongue. Mary begged she might linger 
a moment to gather a nosegay, that might have adorned 
with grace the most elegant saloon. 

A cry all of a sudden was heard from Pat, and all 
rushed to the place. "Well," said he, "if I haven't 
found the creature itself that just desaved our first 
parent. Eve. It's the same, the identical same, as I 
have heard tell of, and that I should find him in Aus- 
tralia." 

How far it was the same that was identical with Eve 
is, perhaps, best left ; but true enough Pat had found an 
enormous snake, wound up, and rather torpid. The 
waggoner quickly finished the poor fellow with the butt- 
end of his whip, doubtless greatly to his dismay, and 
afterwards remarked that it was not of a very venomous 
nature, and would rather avoid people than get in their 
way. 

"Oh," said Pat, "would that he had avoided our 
dear mother Eve, and sure and faith I'd never have half 
the troubles I now bear, and I never should have had to 
work by the sweat of my brow." 

The waggoner was a thoughtfdl fellow, and, though 
somewhat amused, said : "I fear. Master Pat, that if 
the serpent had avoided Eve, Eve would not have 
avoided the serpent ; and my opinion is we all take after 
her, for we are continually running into what we should 
avoid, instead of going straight ahead and keeping out of 
its way." 

They continued their journey, delighted with all they 
saw. The views were splendid — hills, wooded as far as 
the eye could reach. They arrived at a bridge near 
WaUand's public-house, a spot noted for its beauty. 
The Onkaparinga is the pretty river you cross, and cer- 
tainly it is one of the spots that reminds of England ; 
its well- wooded banks, the peculiar colour of the water, 
the way in which it meanders, are very pleasing to the 
eye. Eour miles farther and they arrived at the pretty 



THE emigrant's HOME. 27 

Tillage of Eclinnga. It boasts two good inns, a good 
schoolhouse, a pretty church, a chapel, and some exten- 
sive vineyards and gardens. This village is in the rente 
to Maccles£eld, Strathalbyn, and other places, and has a 
good deal of traffic, being passed through by some 
travellers who go to the Murray and Melbourne. Its 
neighbourhood is lovely, and the town itself very like an 
Jjnglish village. The people are far from wealthy, but 
many of them very comfortably off. 

It is worth while here to speak slightly of the 
Echunga gold diggings, which are only about two miles 
from that village. They are extremely picturesque, 
lying on each side the road, and large forest trees and 
scrub are scattered in every direction. Some time ago 
these diggings were very remunerative, though nothing 
equal to Ballarat and other Victorian diggings. A large 
number of men, however, took out licences and worked 
out their claims, and many of them were very fortunate. 
For about two miles on each side the road nothing is to 
be seen but heaps of yellow earth and holes ; the whole 
ground is a far deeper colour than the freshest gravel in 
England. Some beautiful nuggets have been found, and 
a good bit of surface gold, but now the precious mineral 
is only rarely found, save in very small nuggets and 
particles, land the men often barely earn regular wages. 
A quartz-crushing machine, which was erected at very 
great expense, proved an entire failure. Various com- 
panies, however, are now at work to discover, if pos- 
sible, the quartz reef where the gold is to be found in 
larger quantities. Great hopes are entertained of its 
success. Some very pretty specimens of what are called 
native diamonds or crystals are occasionally found by 
the digger. 

Our itravellers had yet a few miles ftirther to go 
before they finally settled, and Pat said " every inch of 
him ached intirely," and he thought " the next time he 
rode he should walJc,^^ The waggoner, hearing this, 
laughed, and said he would be cleverer than any English- 
man if he could do the two things at once. 



28 life's WORK AS IT IS; OB, 

" Well," said Pat, " I*iii sure it*s not after desaving 
me that you'd be, but it strikes m'e we're very mnch 
like folks wbo are going to the moon, or maybe to the 
stars, for if ye go much farder I reckon the road will 
stop altogether." 

" Have patience," said the man ; " half an hour will 
see us home." 

Half an hour did bring them to the desired haven, 
and the horses were not sorry to be eased of their load. 
The master, who had arrived home long before, came 
ont with a smiling face, while inside the honse (a sub- 
stantial brick edifice) might be seen a smiling housewife, 
busying herself in preparing tea ; for she had lost her 
former servant, and was waiting with some expectation 
for the new arrival. 

Mary was to be indoor servant and her husband out- 
door, and they were to have a detached kitchen and 
room for themselves. Mary was to have ten shillings a 
week, her husband twenty shillings, in addition to their 
rations, including candles, soap, etc. Molly and Pat 
were to go to a neighbouring farmer's, for whom the 
gentleman had acted who had hired Harry and Mary 
Jones. 

" Now thin, now thin, Molly," said Pat, " drop 
your most ilegant curtsey to the lady ; maybe she'll 
give us a bito and a soupe afore we go to our own 
place." 

Whether the curtsey took, or whether the kind 
heart would have suggested it without the curtsey, 
need not be inquired into ; but, at all events, the whole 
party were seated to a comfortable and luxurious tea, 
"fit," as Pat said, "for the Queen herself." Having 
done justice to the fare provided, Pat tugged at his 
mop of hair by way of obeisance and thanks, and being 
kindly invited to come over on a Sunday and see the 
Joneses, he went off" with Molly as happy as a prince. 
Mary found her mistress kind, obliging, and willing to 
teach, and as she was ready to learn, she felt she had an 
excellent place and good prospects, and that with their 



THE emigrant's HOME. 29 

joint wages they might soon be able to lay by a snug 
little sum to begin life for themselves. 

Having safely deposited both these parties, we will 
return to Jane Seymour and her promising regiment of 
brothers, and transport them to their abode ; and, having 
followed Eleanor Dingle and her husband, with other 
parties, to their several homes, we will then return and 
inquire as to the progress and happiness of the various 
individuals who have figured at the commencement. We 
flatter ourselves that by this means the reader will be 
able to become better acquainted with " life as it is " in 
Australia, and will see clearly the difierent prospects 
that open to various settlers. The writer would have 
given a large sum to have had the information before 
starting that was acquired years after. Libraries were 
searched, friends were solicited for books, advertisements 
were carefully investigated, but no practical work on 
South Australia could be found, and the amount of in- 
formation concerning Adelaide very much centered in 
the pleasing information that "dust and mosquitoes 
both abounded." 

But to return to Jane Seymour and her family ; they 
were determined to bush it, and Jane would have been 
really sorry if she had known she was not to have done 
so. Mr. Seymour purchased at a Government land sale 
two sections of land, containing about 160 acres, at thirty 
shillings per acre. The land was utteriy unimproved, and 
heavily wooded ; but contained a self-formed plain, where 
the timber was somewhat sparse, and where they purposed 
to camp pending the erection of suitable buildings. As 
the weather was fine the boys looked forward to this 
outdoor life with pleasure, declaring it would be " quite 

Their nearest post town would be Port Elliot on the 
Goolwa, but these were many miles ofi* ; they were to 
travel on the road to Port Elliot for about fourteen 
miles, and then branch ofi* into the bush — as Jane said, 
the fairies knew where. The land required to be 
cleared and fenced before it could even be ploughed. 



30 life's work as it is; or, 

As Mr. Seymour declared he could not afford to pay for 
improvements, his boys must make them themselves ; 
consequently they were to busy themselves in the bush 
for at least a twelvemonth before they stirred. A horse 
was bought for Jane, and one for her father. Another was 
bought for the joint use of her five brothers. Jane laugh- 
ingly declared the fifth would have a poor seat, and she 
did not envy the fourth ; but the truth was this, that the 
lads were to accompany the waggon, and get a lift at 
times ; and therefore with a horse they could manage 
very well, and Mr. Seymour prudently observed he 
should like to have some money coming in before he 
had more going out. For the carriage of the luggage a 
dray with a team of fine strong bullocks was bought. 
The outfit was purchased in town. Blankets, kitchen 
utensils, pannikins, tents, implements for work, ploughs 
and harrows, some rough chairs and a table, with some 
few other things, form a bush settler's equipment. A 
colonial sofa as a luxury was added. Perhaps no piece 
of furniture was ever so widely used as colonial sofas ; 
it may be from the want of using eyes, but at all events 
an exactly similar piece of famiture has never been seen 
by the writer in England. The colonial sofa is better 
than a common stump-bedstead, not so good as a real 
sofa, but answering the purpose of one thing by day and 
another by night. It is generally made of common 
wood, and does not boast elastic seats, as hard boards 
are not soft to recline on, even when cushioned. We, 
however, strongly recommend to all bush-settlers the 
colonial sofa as indispensable. 

The dray started with the brothers, it being arranged 
that Jane and her father should follow the next day, as 
bullocks never kill themselves by travelling too fast. 
Bullocks have their own peculiar little views and habits. 
There are leaders and polers, and probably middle men 
when six or eight are needed. Habit becomes the second 
nature of bullocks. The writer remarked one day to 
a man who had six bullocks, and was lamenting he 
he could not work them, " Why in the world cannot you 



THK emigrant's home. 31 

use four instead of six ?" " For this reason," said he, 
*' I've only two polers amongst them," meaning those 
who are next the cart, " and the leaders would not take 
the work at all.' And one of the polers is the animal I 
have lost." 

New comers have had many a time to lament their 
ignorance of this simple fact in purchasing teams and 
not trying them first ; besides which, it is not every one 
that can drive bullocks, for bullocks know as well the 
people that do not know them, as a child does when he 
is sure of mastery. Bullock- driving is an Australian 
accomplishment, and the very terms used to them must 
be leamt. The stranger when he first hears the driver's 
loud shout, expects the bullocks to stop ; but no^ they go 
forward. Presently, when he hears a sound that induces 
him to suppose they are to press forward, he sees them 
aU come to a dead halt. Indeed a peculiar vocabulary 
of sounds and of words belongs to Australian bullock- 
driving. This subject has been the more dwelt upon, as 
in the bush, in some districts, particularly where it is 
hilly, horses are seldom used either in waggons or the 
plough ; therefore this information may be serviceable 
to those who have perhaps never dreamt of employing 
anything but horses. 

But oh who shall describe the necessity for care in 
buying horses, especially for ladies ; who shall guard the 
new comer against all the little tricks to impose upon 
him a bucking or a jibbing horse ? Bucking is said to be 
a Sydney accomplishment too quickly leamt and spread, 
like all other bad habits. A great many horses fre- 
quently require to be tried before one can be found 
fairly to face a hill, and yet all warranted staunch to the 
collar. Sometimes a horse will take you very kindly half 
way up an ascent, and then thinking he has done his 
part, he either turns right round or gently backs him- 
self and you down again ; and of course if he upsets 
you, as he generally does, he cannot help it. To see a 
horse buck must be seen to be believed ; some horses 
prop, which is a species of the before-mentioned accom- 



32 life's work as it is; or, 

plishment, but not so bad. A real bucker has been 
known to send girths, saddle, and man over bis head, 
without ever breaking a strap ; generally speaking, they 
send the man flying and burst the girths. Some of the 
natives are magnificent riders, and can even sit these 
creatures. They quite beat Europeans in their horse- 
manship. The mention of one not unfrequent trick 
amongst Australian horses must not be omitted, namely 
that of throwing themselves on the ground, and refusing 
to move ; the plan in such cases is to put horses or 
bullocks before him with chains, and so drag the horse a 
little way till he becomes tired. Sometimes even these 
means are ineflfectual. 

There are many as good (if not as handsome) horses 
to be had in South AustraHa as in England, but new 
comers are always in danger of being taken in. Only 
very recently a gentleman who considered himself a 
judge was thus deceived, to his sorrow, and flung 
from one side of Hindley Street to the other by a buck 
jumper. 

Jane Seymour's horse had been properly educated, 
and knew how to carry a lady, though its canter would 
not perhaps have been thought perfection in Rotten 
Row. Mr. Seymour was also fortunate, for not trusting 
to himself he accepted the kindly volunteered advice of 
an experienced colonist. 

Having taken leave of her kind friends, Jane Sey- 
mour mounts her promising nag, and Mr. Seymour 
accompanies her. They sally forth to meet their bush 
fate ! The road to Willunga is as good a road as that 
to Mount Barker, only it is comparatively level after 
ascending Tapley's Hill, about a mile in length. The 
road is studded on the wayside with cottages and farm- 
houses. You also pass through several small townships, 
and there is no bush ; nearly all the land is cultivated, 
and what is not cultivated is used for grazing land. 
Willunga, from the Adelaide road, is pretty, and there is 
a good inn guarding the entrance to invite all weary 
travellers to repose. Jane did not feel disinclined to 



THE emigrant's HOME. 33 

aliglit after a tliirty-mile ride, and her horse did not seem 
to regret losing its fair burden. 

They, after tea, took a stroll and inspected what there 
was to be seen. Willunga was one of the most beauti- 
ftdly situated townships in Australia, noble gum-trees 
being scattered here and there, and a lovely view of the 
sea in the distance. Unfortunately, however, for the 
picturesque, the heart of the township, which was not 
sold, has lately come into the market, and been cut up 
into a number of small pieces, with miserable Httle houses 
upon them, while all the trees have been cut down, and 
ugly posts and rail fences now enclose the patches. There 
is a pretty Roman CathoHc church and an ugly English 
one ; a very large Methodist chapel, two good inns, a 
recently built institute, a telegraph-office, freemasons' 
hall, other smaller chapels, and a few good shops. The 
township is within six miles of Port Aldinga and 
the sea, and, though rather status quo, may be con- 
sidered flourishing. It must be rather an unhealthy 
place, as three doctors thrive upon the ailments of the 
people. 

Early next morning, Jane and her father rose to 
proceed on their journey. The weather was lovely, 
bright and warm without being hot. They ascended the 
hill which took them to what is called Stony Point, from 
which one of the most beautifal panoramic views meet 
the eye that can be imagined. The magnificent sea view 
in the distance ; the plain here and there studded with 
trees ; the pretty farm-houses dotted about with their 
farmyards and haystacks ; Willunga, whose houses 
nestle together below at the very base of the hills ; — all 
these constitute a really fine panorama. Many a time 
has the writer gazed in rapture on this magnificent view 
of sea and land. The telegraph wire is very obliging, 
and gives its company to the traveller all the way to 
Port Elliot, and seeing that there is scarce a hut to be 
seen on the road, its companionship is not to be scorned. 
Many a time has the author traversed this road for miles 
without seeing a human being. It lays through scrub, 



S4i lifb's work as rr is; oe, 

ifl pretfcy in some parts, but as bad as the other roads we 
have described are good. The road is covered with 
stamps hidden by the sand, and jonr horses are for 
ever stnimbling and threatening your neck and their 
knees. 

Jane was delighted with all she saw, and wild with 
spirits. There is one little inn, or resting honse, half 
-v^ay, called the Square Waterhole, and, rather tired with 
her previous day's journey, Jane ali^ted to rest her- 
self. 

After a short delay, Jane and her father again 
mounted their nags, who seemed rather astonished at 
moving so soon. They proceeded some miles through 
dust and low brushwood rather uninteresting. 

It is not to be supposed that they were trusting^ to the 
direction of fairies, but Mr. Seymour had accompanied 
a friend to view the section, or block of land before he 
bought it, and with some care was able to find his way. 
He perceived the track of heavy wheels just where he 
believed he ought to turn off. He turned off accordin^y, 
but unfortunately he was unaccustomed to *' bush tracks^" 
and soon wandered from that which he ought to have 
followed. 

Our travellers proceeded some miles through inter- 
minable scrub, till they became uneasy, as their horses 
could scarce push their way through the wattle-trees, 
much less could the waggon do so. 

" Father, are we losfc ?" was Jane's earnest ques- 
tion. 

" Well, my child, we are not in the track I intended 
and the sun is getting low." 

Jane's lips quivered and her cheek blanched, but no 
other sign or sound of fear escaped the brave girl. 

" Courage, father," she said, " perhaps we can retrace 
our steps." 

"I have heard much," said Mr. Seymour, "of the 
intense difficulty of new comers keeping to tracks. I was 
offered a guide, but I scorned it, and now I see my 
foUy.'' 



THE e^gbant's home. 35 



u 



Are tha boys safe, father P" was the girl's brief 
qnestioiL 

" I do not doubt it, my girl, as the driver lives a few 
miles off, and is well acquainted with all parts of the 
bush ronnd here." 

" How many miles," said Jane, ** have we come since 
we left the road ?" 

" Judging," said her father, " by the pace we travelled 
befere, and my watch, we must have come between eight 
and nine miles, but the first two were in the right direc* 
tion." 

" Well, father, I think that my eyes are better than 
yours, and I believe, dry as is the ground, I can discern 
the horses' footsteps all the way back ;" and so saying, 
Jane jumped off, took up her riding-habit, and began 
her scrutiny. " Follow me," she said. 

Jane had always been laughed at by her brothers for 
having such a peculiar tenacity, as they said, of sight and 
sound, and had been told that she would have done well 
for some Indian chiers squaw ; but she little thought 
that this acquirement of hers would save her own and 
her father's Irfe. Scarcely drawing her breath, she took 
each step with the greatest care. The dry leaves crumpled 
under her feet at every step, and rendered tracing the 
horses' track tenfold more difficult, and apparently almost 
impossible ; but hei^e and there a bough had been bent 
in passing, and this assisted her. Presently she came to 
soil where the hoofs were really discernible, and in this 
way she trod many weary miles with a mind full of the 
greatest anxiety. 

" Father, will you know where we started wronar ?" 
Bdd the giri; suddenly turning ronnd. ^ 

"I believe," said he, "a large native cherry-tree 
stands where two tracks meet, and we took the wrong." 

After pursuing another weary mile, the cherry-tree 
appeared where two tracks went right and left ; now her 
heart revived. 

" I believe, father, we shall be saved now from being 
lost in the bush ; but now I see the two tracks I should 



36 life's work as it is ; OR, 

scarcely have noticed we were going wrong, had I been 
here before." 

Once more Jane remounted her horse, inspired by 
fresh hopes of success, and after pursuing their way 
cantionsly for three or four miles, voices were heard in 
the distance, and Jane joyfully exclaimed, 

" I am sure I heard Dick's laugh." 

Neither Jane nor her father were at present sufficiently 
colonized to attempt the celebrated Australian " Co-o-e," 
which resounds for miles over the bush when properly 
shouted out, and which has been the means of saving 
many a lost traveller in the wilderness. 

Putting their horses to a smart canter, they soon 
arrived within sight of a busy scene. Tents were up, 
bullocks unyoked, packages lying about, men shouting 
to each other, and above all things a fire outside and a 
kettle steaming away in style, evidently waiting in 
anxious expectation of the travellers' arrival. Jane 
uttered a scream of delight, and all her brothers in 
another minute were at her side. Then followed an 
account of their exploits on each side. 

" We have baked some dampers," said they, " in the 
ashes, and they are splendid." 

"Ah, but," Jane said, "you shall see what I can 
produce in the way of bread, and then away with 
damper.'* 

Jane was delighted with everything; her bright 
spirits never failed to comfort every one around her. 
Oh that happy bush tea, which so many English ladies 
would have thought so dismal ; two spoons were merrily 
passed from cup to cup to stir the tea, or, to speak more 
correctly, from cup to pannikin, for Jane would not have 
much crockery. And then that charming damper, and that 
large half-gallon teapot, which she could hardly lift; 
then the night's rest to those weary limbs, how sweet 
though in a tent in the bush ; and that evening hymn 
of thankfulness that rose so sweetly and was borne on 
the breeze to tell that God was not forgotten even in 
that lone wilderness ! Did not those words of gratitude 



THE emigrant's HOME. 37 

enter the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and did He 
not behold with love that lone family ? Having now 
condncted you to Jane Seymonr's resting-place, we will 
leave her for a short time, and return to accompany 
Eleanor Dingle and her husband to their home in the 
new world. 



98 life's work is it is ; ob, 



CHAPTER IV. 

Having accompanied some of our friends to their place 
of destination, we leave tliem to realize real bush life and 
all its varieties ; we now intend to pursue the history of 
our gentle friend Eleanor Dingle, and her husband, and 
ascertain what semi-bush life was found by them to be. 
That is, they were not inclined to rough it as Mr. Sey- 
mour did, neither did they wish to be near Adelaide ; 
and therefore it was a life between the two, and one 
which may fall to the lot of a large class of respectable 
emigrants. Having landed and proceeded to town, the 
Dingles took up their quarters for two or three days at 
Morecome's Temperance Hotel. They were anxious to 
hear and see a little about the country before they in- 
vested their small property. Mr. Dingle was of opinion 
that it would be better if possible to hire some small 
farm on right of purchase, which he found was frequently 
done. He concluded it would be better to save his 
small capital to work the land, than to bury all his 
money in buying the ground, and then fail for lack of 
means to till it. He fortunately met with an individual 
whose advice could be depended upon, and who lived in 
the district of Mount Barker, about twenty miles from 
Adelaide. He gladly accepted this person's invitation to 
ride up with him and inspect two or three farms in that 
neighbourhood. He selected one which had a lease of 
five years to run, and could be bought at the end of that 
time if the tenant desired. It had a four-roomed and 
comfortable cottage upon it, good sheds for horses, straw, 
etc., and yards where cattle might be driven in, or cows 



THE EMiaBANT'S HOME. 39 

xmlked. There was a running stream through the year 
(haw many new comers see a beantifdl creek after the 
wriny season, and forget to inqnire whether it runs when 
it oeases to rain), a garden of nearly two acres stocked 
with valuable fruit-trees, and an eighty-acre section of 
onltiyated land, besides a small paddock adjoining the 
house. Mr. Din^e felt it was a small farm, but the rent 
was moderate. The land was all fenced and everything 
ready to hand at forty pounds a year ; and there was a run 
outside which would enable him to turn out a few head of 
oattle or horses free of expense ; he would also be within 
reach of Mount Barker township, to sell his farm and 
garden produce — a matter of some importance. The 
outgoing tenant was w'dling to sell his ploughs, harrows, 
horses, etc., at a reasonable rate, and this circumstance 
nmch influenced Mr. Dingle in deciding to take the farm. 
He further found that a thickly- wooded section close to 
his own farm had been purchased by a man who was too 
lazy to clear it, and who was willing to let Mr. Dingle 
have the timber for sale provided he would clear and 
grub up the trees ; and furthermore, if Mr. Dingle woxdd 
femae it he should have the piece of ground rent free for 
two years, and at a low rent for the third. This offer 
was closed in with immediately, for though Farmer 
Dingle had known little of rough work, he was not 
afraid of shaking hands with it if necessaiy ; and he felt 
glad and thankful that he had the prospect of making 
his way in the new country. Eleanor understood a 
dairy, and butter and milk sold well, therefore all seemed 
right. 

Upon his return, Eleanor was dehghted with the 
account of everything. Though her spirits were not as 
buoyant as our friend Jane's, who was casfc in a sunny 
mould, yet she made her husband's home bright by the 
reflection of her own happiness. 

Mr. Dingle had arranged to take a return waggon 
for himself and his effects, as they were rather more cum- 
brous than poor Pat's. Eleanor busied herself in various 
little preparations ; they had brought out with them 



40 life's work as it is ; OR, 

a good many useful things and a chest of drawers, they 
purchased a few common chairs, a table, a colonial sofa, 
etc., and having packed themselves and their boxes and 
furniture in a comfortable four-horse dray, they sallied 
forth to meet their fortunes. 

As we have before said, the ship arrived in the month 
of October, one of the loveliest in the year, as the crops 
are gathered in during December and January. Mr. 
Dingle had to take those standing on the farm at a 
valuation. Of course the seasons this side the world are 
entirely reversed, and the new comer finds it very diffi- 
cult to look for the waving com and ripe barley at 
Christmas, instead of the dazzling snow and hoar frost 
of the mother country. It seems strange for a new 
comer to find that his goose would almost cook in the 
mid-day sun, instead of nearly jfreezing on its road from 
the kitchen to the parlour ; the blazing fire no longer 
thought of and — but we are forestalling our history, and 
as our emigrants will have to pass many a Christmas in 
the new world, we leave them to describe the particulars 
of the season at their leisure and our convenience. 

During the voyage Mr. Dingle had become acquainted 
with an honest fellow of the name of Curtson, who had 
been accustomed to farming in England ; and though 
farming in Devonshire and farming in Australia have 
very many diversities between them, yet EngUsh agri- 
culture well carried out will always answer in any of 
these colonies. It is true, clearing land, grubbing up 
and girdling trees, etc., are somewhat new work. The 
ground requires less artificial help, and instead of frost 
and snow, excess of rain and excess of heat have to be 
combatted with ; but a good farmer or farming man in 
England can always make his land pay far better than 
a slovenly one, or than the man who only begins hus- 
bandry this side the seas. Curtson had been long under 
a good master, and was well versed in his calling. Mr. 
Dingle engaged him for a twelvemonth at twenty-five 
shillings a week and his rations. Eleanor declined for the 
present having any assistance ; she was well aware her 



THE emigrant's HOME. 41 

husband's resources would not snrvive too great pressure, 
and she resolved to work as long as she could, though 
not accustomed to do everything for herself. The route 
to their new home, at which they arrived safely and 
pleasantly, pursued the Echunga Road (before de- 
scribed) for about fifteen miles, and then took a branch 
road to the left. On first seeing her abode, Eleanor 
uttered a cry of dehght ; instead of all the roughness 
she expected, all looked clean, pretty, and homely. The 
woodbine and the rose peeped in quite impertinently at 
the neat casement windows, almost like her own dear 
home. The house was built of cob, an Australian com- 
pound of mud, sand, straw, and water, and the white- 
wash brush had given the whole a most tidy appearance ; 
two chimneys gave evidence that fireplaces were to be 
found inside, and a liice thatched roof promised cool 
days in summer and warm ones in winter ; a neat wooden 
verandah ran round the back of the house, and formed a 
convenient spot for depositing various kitchen appur- 
tenances. The plums were hanging thick on the trees, 
the standard apricots bore their share of fruit (though 
this district does not suit them as well as other 
localities). A very vigorous squeaking was set up by 
two very respectable-looking black pigs, in a very neat 
pigstye; and three tractable-looking cows, as Eleanor 
remarked, not looking in the least ferocious, presented 
their respects to the new comers by uttering a very 
modest little bellow. 

*' Well," said Eleanor, " I shall not grieve any more 
about what I have left ; I shall only think what I have 
around me now. And how happy my friends would be 
to see me so comfortable." 

She peeped into the rooms, and really there was 
quite a pretty sitting-room ; actually the walls papered 
(was there ever such a thing known ?), the windows and 
doors painted, and a neat fire-place ! 

It appeared, however, that she was not to be left in 
quite undisturbed possession of the premises ! A black 
cat, who had evidently learnt that " possession was nine- 



42 life's wokk as it IS; or, 

terrfihs of tlie law," looked at Eleanor when ^be entered, 
but never offered to move an incli ; but when she 
advanced into the room, it rose np on its legs, screwed 
its back into the form of half a crinoline-hoop, and 
Tittered a sound very much like the hiss of a disappointed 
politician, when the opposing member numbers some 
forty more votes than his favourite man. 

Eleanor superintended the unpacking of all their 
worldly goods, and surveyed with delight their arrange- 
ment in her new home. The sofa was to be in the 
sitting-room, and was to tell no stories of having to 
work by night as well as day. The little table was put 
in the keeping-room, the strong, large table was allotted 
to the kitchen, some strong forms were used for meals, 
and the chairs graced the parlour. Then how many 
thoughts revived, as Eleanor unpacked the chest of 
drawers stationed in the front bed-room. There was 
the family Bible, carefully wrapt up, that the dear 
old Scotch minister had bestowed as a parting gift; 
thcft was to be used every day. Then there was dear 
Qranuy's gift — a bright, serviceable, handsome teapot — 
that was to stand on the cupboard (yes, the parlour had 
a cupboard), and it waste smile on aU beholders. Then 
there was the pretty tea-service Brother John had given 
her, and the nice tea-caddy Sister Mary had bestowed. 
And then — what came next ? What does she hold in her 
hands with jealous care ? What is it she unveils with 
something akin to devotion ? One slight covering after 
another is withdrawn, and she holds her breath, as she 
gazes on what meets her eye. It is her mother's 
picture ! A mother, as we said before, not on earth, 
but, as she humbly trusted, in heaven. And that dear 
face must preside over her new home in that far-distant 
land. And as she hastens with reverent love to place 
that portrait in the most honoured place, she breathes a 
prayer that her mother's spirit may hover round her, 
even if she knows it not. 

Leaving Eleanor Dingle and her husband comfortably 
settled in their new home, we will prepare to follow 



THE emigrant's HOME. 48 

some of ovx other friends to their various localities, and 
iheai take a retnm trip, and visit onr various settlers, 
maJring' inquiries how the worid has fared with them 
Binoe last we met. Mr. and Mtb. Fariing, it will be 
TemembeTed, were amongst the poop passengers, all 
their interest being concentrated in linen, silks, cotton, 
«fcc. The wise man considered that, as he had never 
seen a tree above half a dozen times since his mother 
first called him her son, that the bush or even the 
country would not be the place to suit him, nor he to 
fioit it ! He had no yearnings for " dewy meads," and 
romantic forests, and spring flowers. No, not even when 
in jackets and fi411s. He Eked the city, liked accounts, 
and liked the *name of business. He was early sent to 
ft suitable school, and as early as possible had been 
removed firom it, and stuck upon a tall stool opposite a 
liigh desk, to learn book-keeping thoroughly ! Mr. 
Fariing had stuck to business very much like a limpet 
dees to a rock in a storm, inasmuch as it seemed impos- 
sible for the two to part company. And when Daddy was 
tcJ&en away from the cares and troubles of life, Mr. F. 
found himself in a comfortable and prosperous condition. 
He had, spite of all his business engagements, found 
time to marry, which was a matter of wonderment to his 
business friends. Their opinion was, that his ledger and 
his net profits so absorbed his heart, that there was no 
room for anything else to obtain the smallest resting- 
place in it. They were somewhere about correct ; for 
as to having left room for a roving affection in his heart, 
lie would have been almost as much dismayed if he had 
felt five hundred pounds were laying resting themselves 
without being turaed to account. But, like everything 
else, he performed his courting (or, rather, got through 
it) with the smallest possible waste of time, and the 
greatest advantage to himself. The want of a wife was 
only urged upon his attention by the loss of a most 
valuable housekeeper — cross as two sticks, sour as a 
bottle of the best vinegar, but one who clung to the 
stuff, and made the most of nothing. After this irre- 



44 life's work as it is; or, 

parable loss, at the very nick of time, an old merchant 
died, and left a small but secure property to a one-eyed 
daughter. It happened to be that she lived just close to 
the coffee-house where (be it whispered) Mr. Farling 
sometimes indulged in reading a newspaper, and taking 
a slight refreshment. It occurred to him that if he 
only once set on foot the courting, that instead of going 
to the coffee-house he could get a paper, and spend the 
same half-hour with his beloved — thns, in reaUty losing 
no additional time. 

Mrs. Farling (that was to be) did not say "no," because 
she thought it was her last and only opportunity of saying 
"yes," and, being also a shrewd manager herself, she 
was quite an acquisition. The courting took about 
three weeks longer than Pat's, and was then finished up 
in due form at church. Mrs. Farling had relations in 
Adelaide, who had made considerable fortunes in busi- 
ness, and after sundry efforts (very much like trying to 
move St. Paul's itself) she persuaded Mr. F. to pur- 
chase (through his friends) a lucrative business in 
Adelaide, just about being given up by the former pro- 
prietor. We are quite sure that our readers will feel 
certain that Mr. Farling was never fit to encounter 
" life in the bush," and that had he seen a wallaby or a 
kangaroo he would probably have fled as from a lion or 
tiger. A man such as we have described, coxdd not 
with any propriety be placed amidst the screams of the 
cockatoos and the bewildering notes of the laughing 
jackasses. That there were such things he believed, 
but that he never intended to see them was equally 
certain. He intended to remain secure from all intru- 
sion about the centre of Adelaide, and in his handsome 
shop to realize all his long-treasured ideas of making a 
fortune. His weU-stocked windows evidenced taste and 
capital ; and we leave him for a time with his better 
half, thankful they have saved us the trouble of accom- 
panying them a lengthened trip into the country. 

We would here, however, make a slight digression, 
for the comfort of those who are but very small capi- 



THE emigrant's HOME. 4^ 

ialists, and who may have no opportunity of as quickly 
jnmpiiig into a good business as our friend Mr. Farling. 
The author knew a young man whose history gives as 
fiiir an account of what industry will do as any that can 
be met with. He was brought up in a general shop, or 
rather brought up to understand that business. He had 
extremely small means, and could look for no assistance. 
He was in the country, about thirty miles from Ade- 
laide, and he commenced a very small store (as shops in 
the country are called there) in a shed or bam. He 
had nothing in the way of apartments, but used to roll 
himself up in a snug comer at night in blankets. He 
soon found his business increasing. He gave it his 
whole attention, and never neglected the slightest 
chance of enlarging his connection. He kept turning 
over his small capital till he could afford a regular shop ; 
he then, after two or three years, took a larger one, and 
married an industrious young woman in the neighbour- 
hood. Still doing all the work himself in a large busi- 
ness, he continued thriving for years, greatly respected, 
and the original proprietor of the store in the bam is, 
perhaps, as substantially well off as most men in Austra- 
lia. His history verifies the truth of that noted saying, 
" Perseverance conquers all things." 

You will remember young Mr. Ryan, of hopefiil 
memory, with slight boots, silver-headed cane, and, as 
the boys say in this part of the world, a handsome bell- 
topper high black hat. He was without many bad points, 
but most deficient in general information, especially as 
regards the locality to which he was bound. His desti- 
nation was to a sheep station no very great distance 
from Mount Gambier, one of the coolest, most fertile, and 
most beautifdl parts of the colony. Upon inquiry he 
found that a small steamer left Adelaide once a fortnight 
for Guichen Bay, and that, though he could proceed 
overland with a few days' travelling, it would be far 
less trouble to go by sea, and then take a horse for the 
rest of the journey. Mr. Ryan and his luggage went on 
board the little steamer, which behaved better than most 



46 life's work as it IS; or, 

little steaziiers do. The captain did all in his power to 
be obliging, and the vessel did the same by carrying her 
freight to its destination in about fourteen hours. Upon 
Mr. Ryan's landing, he went to an inn or boardmg- 
house, and was very comfortably lodged. Robetown 
and Guichen Bay townships join. The roads a^ut are 
sandy, but the country very pleasant and the climate 
always temperate, so that in the middle of summer 
blankets are not dispensed with at night, and great-coats 
are quite in requisition if the wind blows. Wild-fowl, 
fish, and cray-fish, abound, and it is a most agreeable 
summer residence. Mr. Ryan was delighted to think 
that at present he was within reach of civilization, and 
could have a good beefsteak, cooked English fashion, 
and bread instead of dampers, which last-mentioned 
articles were his dread almost as much as wild cattle. 

Next day, having secured a steed, Mr. R? pursued his 
journey, leaving all his wardrobe to come by a buUock 
dray that was to follow. Arrived at the station (which, 
by the way, but for a guide he would never have found 
had he lived to be ninety), he presented himself aib what 
appeared the front door of a very substantial though 
roughly-built house. He thought it very shocking that 
there was no knocker or bell- wire to pull, and, distressed 
at his own vulgarity, he gave the genteelest rat, tat, tat 
which his before-mentioned English riding- whip could 
produce. He expected a polite-looking servant to open 
the door (as he knew his uncle was a man of wealth), 
but to his astonishment a man, nay a gentleman, opened 
the door, in a serge blouse and moleskin inexpressibles, 
and hands somewhat impertinently browned by the 
sua. 

" Why, uncle, it's you,^^ was Mr. Ryan's first saluta- 
tion. 

" Then I am to call you nephew," said the good man, 

" I suppose, for they sent me word you were coming ; 

but you have grown inches out of all remembrance. 

And, bless me, why I am not fit to shake hands with 

j-ou — I shall soil your gloves ; and really, there's so 



THE EillGEANT'S HOME. 4.7 

much dxLst about me — for I have just been among a mob 
of cattle — ^that I shall make your fine black coat and 
trousers look as if they belonged tx) a miller." 

" I hope they're not wild cattle near here," modestly 
interrupted the young man, without attending to the 
other part of his speech. 

" M'ot wild, boy ! why, bless me, what do you think 
creatures are likely to be, brought up since they were 
calves in the bush, and never seeing men's habitations 
excepting once, when they all had a red hot iron applied 
to their sides, and you won't suppose that left a pleasing 
impression^ do you ? Why you've just come in time — 
they're a mob of the wildest cattle we ever yarded ; 
and if it was not a precious large and strong place, not 
one should we have kept in. They are off to-morrow 
morning to a neighbouring squatter's, who is going to 
take them down with some black fellows, and we just . 
wanted another hand to get them over." 

"Do they rush, uncle?" said the young man; "I 
shouldn't like to have a poke." 

" Well, my boy, I don't suppose they'll be satisfied 
with one rush at you, nor three either. Sfever fear, only 
for goodness sake let them have something to poke ab 
stronger than those fine cloth trousers. Why, they'll 
reach your skin in a minute." 

" Uncle,"' said the young man, nearly petrified, 
" wouldn't my riding- whip keep them off?" 

This was too much for the uncle, and he fairly roared 
at his nephew's expense. 

"Bless you," said he, "you'll have to carry and 
crack a stock-whip some yards long, and some weight, 
too, I can tell you, my boy ! I can lend you a bush 
jumper and a pair of moleskins, though by the by they'll 
be half a yard from your ankles, but that doesn't matter 
a bit. There is also an old cabbage-tree hat, that be- 
longed to one of the black fellows, you can have." 

Poor Mr. Ryan was not comforted with the state of 
things, and began to feel very much as Pat had done at 
first, namely, " that he had ever crassed the water ;" 



48 life's work as it is; oe, 

but it was too late to repent, and lie did not like to 
show the white feather more than he possibly conld 
help. Still it was very dreadful to die in such an igno- 
minious manner as he feared he should. His uncle was 
a gentleman, though he shone like a jewel does in the 
midst of a load of rubbish. The elder Mr. Ryan had 
married the daughter of a wealthy squatter, who was 
well brought up, but at the same time was used to the 
bush, and liked it. 

Though Mr. Ryan had a rough appearance at first, 
his house was not rough in its an^angements. A hand- 
some piano stood in the sitting-room, which was well 
furnished. A good sideboard was in the dining-room, 
and chairs, table, and handsome window- curtains and 
carpet. The bed-rooms were also well appointed. 
There were also various out-buildings belonging to the 
station. There was what is called the bachelor's hall, 
set apart for the different gentlemen who are continually 
travelling, and claim a night's lodging and the hospi- 
talities of the house. Then there was the servants' hut 
— a comfortable wooden house, in compartments, where 
a man and his wife lived, who were servants at the 
station, and into which any wayfaring men seeking a 
night's lodging and refreshment were taken.* Some 
distance further on was a neatly -built house for an 
overseer, and the stock, yards, stables, etc., filled up the 
rest of tlae establishment. 

Under the overhanging weight of the morrow's 
duties, it will not be wondered at by our readers if Mr. 
Ryan eat little and slept less. Dreams of wild cattle 
disturbed what little repose he found. A mother's 
tears in fancy bedewed his face, to think her son should 
be in such imminent peril of life and limb. And just as 
the horns of a bullock are about being parried by his 
riding- whip, he is unceremoniously aroused with a loud 
rap, and his uncle's cheerful voice calling out — 

" Time to get up, boy, time to get up. Just four 
o'clock, and your wardrobe is outside the door." 

It will he remembered that poor Mr. Ryan and his 



THE emigrant's HOME. 49 

own wardrobe had parted company, and parting and 
meeting are two different words, whicli be bad to find 
out to bis cost. He was, bowever, fully aware that be 
must doff bis black attire and don bis busb one. Tbe 
moleskin inexpressibles were, as bis uncle bad gently 
hinted, about five inches above bis ankles, but what 
mattered this, they were all tbe cooler. The blouse, 
somewhat the worse for wear, was very different to a 
West-end cut ; and the cabbage-tree bat looked as if it 
had seen some years' service. 

Having, however, made tbe best of a bad job (as be 
considered), Mr. Ryan sallied forth to meet his fate 
with as much serenity as be could assume. He thought 
he would take a stroll into the back premises and view 
the state of things. There, arriving at one of the yards, 
his eye suddenly fell on something coiled up in a comer, 
and upon another glance, he made a precipitate retreat 
to the bouse, calling lustily for bis uncle. 

" Well, well, my boy, what now ? How have you 
slept ?" said be, coming forth. 

" Why, uncle, pray come directly with one or two 
men. There's a great snake of a light colour curled up 
in one of tbe stock-yards, and it will be biting one 
of us." 

" But why in tbe world did you not kill it yourself ?" 
said tbe uncle ; "it would not have taken so long as 
coming for me ; but I very much suspect you have made 
some mistake. I do not believe any snake would be 
harbouring so near, and none of my men see it." 

They proceeded to tbe spot, where tbe young man 
pointed to tbe cause of alarm. 

"Why, bless me," said tbe uncle, " that's Arthur's 
stock-whip ; it came off tbe handle, and be left it coiled 
up in that comer, I remember, and forgot, I suppose, to 
bring it in. You certainly, when you saw tbe tail and 
body of tbe snake (as you thought), never went near 
enough to find whether it bad a head or not, that's 
certain. However, we'll forgive you. It's not the first 
or second time a whip has been mistaken for a snake, 



50 life's woek as rr IS; oe, 

especially by tliose not very conversant with their colanr. 
Now, my boy, to breakfekst," said the uncle, " and then 
for work." 

Poor Mr. Ryan, the thought of all he was to en- 
counter was breakfast enough for him, so he did poor 
justice to the ample fare before him. 

"Now," said his uncle, " you must learn to crack a 
stock-whip, but you must not think it is an accom- 
plishment learnt in a moment, more than anything else. 
Our stockmen pride themselves on who can make the 
woods re-echo the longest with their crack. Now to 
busiaess." 

And to business it was, and no mistake. One lot of 
cattle had been yarded, another mob had to be assembled, 
and gathered, or rather driven up out of the bush. 

" My dear boy," said his uncle, " I don't think you 
are quite up to stock riding in the bush, but to-day you 
can be a sort of whipper-in, and come with us to see 
what we shall want you to do when you get a little 
more used to it. Here's your horse and your whip, now 
crack it." 

But if he had said, " Now fly," young Ryan would 
have done the one as well as the other. He could swing 
the lash (of some yards' length) so that it came round 
rather uncomfortably on his own shoulders, but as to 
cracking it, he despaired. 

"Well, never mind," said his uncle, " all this is to 
come. Now follow." 

At a very modest distance Mr. Ryan did follow, and 
certainly he was astonished. The larger proportion of 
the mob of cattle happened to be on a plain, but about 
thirty of them were scattered at a short distance in a 
very thick scrub, which none but thorough bush horses 
and bush riders could have penetrated. Some of the 
stockmen went after them, and the cattle taken by sur- 
prise, started off in an exactly opposite direction to that 
which would have been most convenient ; and then the 
shouting, the hallooing, the riding ! No one can enter 
into it but those who have witnessed it. Men rush 



THE EMIGRAITT'S HOME. 51 

tkrongh {daces wkere there scarcely seems a crevice, 
ihe horses penetrate the scrub wherever there is a 
chance of a rush to head the beasts. An accomplished 
stodc horse never fails to find some way through the 
scrub for himself and rider ; all he bargains for is, that 
if he looks to his legs, his master should look to his own 
head, as he takes no estimates as regards elevations and 
heists. If he (the horse) can push himself and his 
rider through the trees, he leaves it to his master to 
waiteh the overhanging boughs, to lay his head often 
nearly flat on the neck of his steed, or at another time 
thrust it very much on one side, as though it were out 
of joint altogether. The stock horse takes his leaps over 
logs and trunks, and pieces of rocks, with this certainty, 
that if he goes his master will go with him, and that if 
they part company it is because they are no match, and 
had therefore as a matter of consequence better separate. 
A stock horse seems to be utterly absorbed in the pur- 
suit of his object ; he will wind, turn and manoeuvre in 
every way to head the animal or animals of which he is 
in chase, and rarely loses sight of the object of his pur- 
suit. A stock horse and Australia are so combined 
together, that without a slight history of the one, we 
could give but a faint idea of the other. Generally these 
animals can stand almost any amount of fatigue. 

After having collected the cattle, the object was to 
drive them into an immense yard, where, as some stray 
ones always get in, they would have to be drafted. 
Perhaps one of the most exciting scenes often or ever 
witnessed in peacefal life, is the yarding of a drove or 
mob of wild cattle. Mr. Ryan surveyed it at a little 
distance remembering " that he who fights and runs 
away, may live to fight another day." Certainly this 
beat all the excitement of fox-hunting and taking the 
brush in England. This was real excitement. Fancy 
hundreds of wild cattle rushing from the pursuers who 
are behind them, and galloping at full speed, many of 
them with tails erect, and nostrils distended, but all 
arriving at a given spot ; and add to this the shouts and 



52 life's work as it IS; or, 

haJloes of the men who sTUTOund them, endeavouring to 
get the leaders of the mob to enter the stock-yard. The 
blacks who were in attendance rendered most efficient 
aid, and at last, by dint of noise and riding, and a dozen 
other things, the cattle were safely yarded. 

Branding the cattle is likewise a wild scene ; but we 
find we might write a volume on stations, and stock 
horses, and stockmen, therefore we must bid the subject 
for the present farewell. 

Mr. Ryan came rather in distress to his uncle, and 
said : — 

" I suppose I ought always to carry sticking-plaister 
and rag with me w^henever I go out after cattle. I see 
young Roy had an ugly wound, and he had to take off 
ids neckerchief to tie it up." 

"And so will you, my dear boy," said his uncle. 
" Sticking-plaister we leave for the ladies ; 'twould take 
a few yards of it every day for all the httle bruises we 
meet with, and expect to do so always." 

Having now distributed, or rather followed, to their 
various places of distribution most of the passengers we 
were before acquainted with, we will now accompany a 
few of the general body of the emigrants to their homes, 
and then shortly return and inquire how the world has 
fared with our old friends, Harry Jones, Pat, Eleanor 
Dingle, and Jane Seymour. 

Of the many miners on board the vessel, we will 
select one of the name of Smith, and with him visit the 
Burra Burra mine, and find out what were his prospects 
of success. He was a young, powerful man, just mar- 
ried to an industrious young woman, both from Corn- 
wall. Having applied at the Burra Burra office, he was 
told that men in his capacity were wanted, and that if 
he went up there was no doubt of the captain giving 
him steady work. Accordingly, having taken his smaU 
stock of luggage to the railway sta,tion, he and his better 
half set forth on their travels. The railway engine did the 
same in Australia as it does in England, namely, it puffed, 
and bJowed, and whistled, and then finally started off as 



THE emigrant's HOME. 53 

if the wind carried it, and the black gentleman was 
behind it to nrge its speed. It is rather hot for engines 
in South Australia, but then they get used to it from 
their own frames. Arrived at Kiipunda, the engine, by 
its stopping, informed the passengers that it went no 
farther, and they were then obliged to proceed to their 
various destinations in carts or conveyances of different 
kinds. The journey from Kiipunda to the Burra, a 
distance of fifty miles, is tiresome and weary at best, 
And the road has certainly no claims to being classed 
with either of the good roads before mentioned, and in 
winter it is no uncommon thing for a vehicle to be over 
the axletrees in mud, and that of a description not of the 
lightest or most agreeable quality. Smith and his wife 
found themselves stowed away (as the driver said) 
rather too closely for comfort, or for the pleasure of the 
horses. The road we must, for truth's sake, say was 
most unpicturesque and uuromantic. There are no 
lovely woodland scenes or magnificent views here to be 
described. A few patches of trees may be seen here and 
there, but as a rule it is a dreary, flat-looking country, 
and little can be said in its favour. However, Sam 
Smith and his young wife heeded not a few annoyances ; 
they were of sanguine temperaments, and looked for- 
ward with joy to the future. After sundry bumpings 
and knocks, and one tumbling head foremost, with 
apologies, into his neit neighbour's lap, they arrived 
at the Burra township. Our travellers at once made 
the best of their way to a small inn, where Smith in- 
tended to leave his better half whilst he went to make 
inquiries. 

A great deal cannot be said in favour of the town- 
ship of Burra, but, as always is the case, there are 
honourable exceptions to the rule. A very good inn, a 
good telegraphic station, an institute, and some other 
buildings, are very creditable ; as a whole, it is chiefly 
the abode of miners. 

Sam Smith presented himself to the captain, who 
upon various inquiries and testings found him a superior 



54 life's work as it is; ok, 

hand at liis calling ; lie, therefore, agreed to give him the 
highest rate of wages in that department, namely, fifty- 
shillings a week.* He was to find a house for himself 
for the first month, and then, if he proved likely to 
remain, a small one would be given him to reside in, in 
addition to his wages. 

Perhaps, as this book is written to embrace all 
classes, it may be interesting to miners (and those likely 
in any way to be connected with mines) to have a list 
of the rate of payments at the Burra Burra ; of course, 
it will give a good relative idea of wages at other 
mines, of which there are almost an innumerable number 
started of late years. The list of wages at the Burra 
mines and smelting works are as follows : — 

Miners .... 30«. to 40*. per week. 

Engine-drivers . . 40«. — „ 

Mechanics . . . 40s. „ 61s. „ 

Labourers ... 27*. „ 30s. „ 



Ditto, Youths . . 18s. „ 21s. 
Boys 10s. „ 15s, 






Smelters — Captain. 40s. to 65s. per week. 
„ Mates . 35s. „ 50s. „ 



n 



Refiners 50s. „ 70s. „ 
„ Labourers 30s. — „ 

Small houses are provided for the miners in the neigh- 
bourhood of the mine. 

It is an interesting sight to a new comer, or " new 
chum," as they are politely termed, to meet a file of 
mules laden with the Burra ore. Carting the ore is 
quite a business in itself, and employs a large number of 
hands and of animals. In the course of a day's journey 
you will meet seventy or more of these mules laden with 

* Captain Koach has been for many years the respected 
captain of this mine, and still continues to hold his responsible 
position with great satisfaction to those connected with the Bnrra 
JSazrm, 



THE emigrant's HOME. 55 

ore, and steadily pursumg their way. Almost all good 
miners C5an get employment at some work or other. 
Such numerous mineral discoveries have been made 
dnring the last few years, that the supply of miners has 
not kept pace with them ; as, though many of the disco- 
veries are at present unremunerative, they cannot be 
proved failures until they have been thoroughly exa- 
mined. Copper seems- the grand mineral wealth of 
South Australia, and the amount lately discovered has 
been enormous. Gold is the grand mineral wealth of 
Victoria. Silver, lead, gold, and bismuth are foxmd in 
South Australia, but copper is the grand wealth. 

Sam Smith and his wife being comfortably settled 
we will leave them for a time. It is now our intention 
to return to some of our old friends, and inquire how 
they are proceeding. After that, we will take a glance 
at some of the sheep stations, and also other occupations 
which are likely to engage the attention of emigrants. 



56 life's wokk as it IS; or, 



CHAPTER V. 

We will now turn to onr friends Master Pat and Harry 
Jones, who are situated within a short distance of each 
other in the country. 

" Your honour," said Pat to his master one morning, 
" it's not in me to wish to lave an ilegant gemmen like 
yoursel'. But it's not to be laughed at continually that 
I can be. Though Ireland is where my mother was all 
her life, so I suppose I was bom there, yet it's not in 
me to see why one side of the channel should make me 
Irish and another English. But as it is so, I'm proud I 
was bom in ould Ireland." 

" Well, what in the name of fortune is up now ?" 
said Pat's good-humoured master. " You work well, I 
like you, you've got on famously during the past six 
months, and there is only one workman besides yourself, 
old Mike, and he is the last to make fan of you." 

" Plase your honour, I'll make so bold as to tell you 
the truth. The summer being very warm, I took to 
waring of my ould hat, which has no top to it ; and 
Molly said letting the air in would keep me cool and 
comfortable. I would not wear the one I puts on on 
Sundays for anything, and I have no other." 

" Well, but what has that to do with your work, or 
leaving me ?" 

" Well, sir, there's a set of birds in your trees as 
knows I'm a Paddy, and a poor one too, and whenever 
they see me a going to work in my ould hat, they sit up 
the most awdacious laugh that ever was heard. As soon 
as one begins, half a dozen more join in, till they make 



THE emigrant's HOME. 57 

such a din and sncli a langliiiig I'm fit to hide myself. 
They look as if they wore a white wig, and were so wise 
nobody csould do anything foolish that belonged to them ; 
but they know I'm neither Australian nor English, and 
as how they set on me, and I cannot beai' it any 
longer." 

Upon hearing this, Pat's master followed the bad 
example of the ill-behaved birds, and laughed nearly as 
lond and as long as they did. 

" Well, Pat," said his master, " why, the birds would 
langh at me as much as you ; they are called laughing 
jackasses, and if they did not laugh they would not have 
earned their name. Now we will try, and I will go 
with you into the fields, and you shall see if tbey do not 
make just as much noise at me as at you." 

" Yery like, plase your honour, but thin it would be 
for very shame of seeing you with the like of one like 
me ; but still it's not in Patrick O'Connor to make a 
run of it, if the birds will only behave decently, and let 
a poor feller alone." 

" Well," said Pat's master, " certainly it has never 
entered my head they were laughing at me, but very 
certainly when their noise has entered my ears, I have 
not been able to prevent myself laughing as heartily as 
they did, for it is impossible." 

" Well," said Pat, " I suppose as these forin birds 
haven't learnt good manners, for there is not one in 
England or ould Ireland would behave the like as 
they do." 

It is evening where lays our next scene, and the site 
a comfortable cottage at the back of a substantial farm- 
house. A young woman is actively preparing the tea- 
table, evidently expecting guests. All is plain, but all is 
neat, and wears an air of comfort which has no kinship 
with poverty. The table is spread with bread, butter, 
jam, a nice piece of home-fed bacon, a substantial piece 
of good salt beef, and some good tea and sugar, with a 
few cakes. The damsel turns her head at the sound of 



58 life's work as it is; oe, 

footsteps, and we see our old favourite Mary Jones, 
looking brighter than ever, and wearing an aspect that 
betokens real happiness and contentment with her lot. 
The footsteps she hears are those of her husband, and of 
Pat and his wife, who are their visitors for the evening, 
being, as we have before said, near neighbours. 

"Blessings on your bright eyes, Mrs. Jones," said 
Pat, taking off his hat in a mock reverential manner. 
". Who would not say that Australia was the place for a 
poor man to come to, when they see the ilegant food on 
the table, and the fat cheeks of Mistress Jones, who 
stands there. It's not in me to make so bold as to say 
things that should not be said. But time was when 
yer ta table was thought to be well spread with one loaf 
and two herring, barrin' the butter, the bacon, the beef, 
the jam, and the cakes ; and little was it but dry bread 
that either of us saw, from one blessed Friday to 
another." 

"Well," said Harry, "I do think we have great 
cause to be thankful, for certainly we have done wonders ; 
we have a comfortable house and good food, and a good 
master and mistress, and we have scarcely need to 
touch our wages, as we had plenty of clothes. We have 
been here only one year, and we have saved and put in 
the savings' bank fifty pounds, and have still left a good 
many pounds in our master's hands ; and this is what I 
call making a man of myself. Now I intend to stick to 
my place another year, and Mary too ; for there is a 
great deal I can learn whilst working, and so can Mary ; 
and when we have saved about eighty pounds more, 
please God give us health and strength, I intend to rent 
a bit of land. I can work in odd hours, and buy Mary 
three or four cows. I shall still keep on working at day 
"v^ork, and then in a couple more years we may perhaps 
be able to purchase a section and get things to work it 
with ; but we will look first before we leap." 

"Well," said Pat, "as for me and Molly, I think 

we may say that it's not in us to be behind an Enghsh- 

maji. But then the clothes they cost somewhat ; master 



THE emiqbant's homd. 59 

said the coat with the bine and the black tail wasn't qnite 
the thing on Sundays, and my best pair of trousers very 
nearly saw daylight through at the knees ; and ^lolly, 
bless her, had only two gowns, and one of them was 
patched so nately that ye couldn't tell the colour of the 
piece it was made of, when it first come together. So 
altogether it has cost us a few gold and siller to set our- 
selves up ilegantly, but we have saved forty pounds 
altogether, and that's a fortin for any one ; and though 
it's not in Patrick O'Connor to be proud, it's mighty 
pleasant not to see the workhouse before ye at the end 
of your days, and a crust of bread and glass of water all 
the while ye are on your road to it. It's the like of us 
that herself the Queen would like to see, God bless her, 
and it's to the health of the Imigration Society that I'll 
drink the first glass of whisky that I come near. How- 
ever, Patrick O'Connor and strong di'ink have parted 
company, save and except as master gives a glass on 
high days and holidays, for whisky and the savings' bank 
never keep together hand in hand long, and I'm think- 
ing that all I put in, whisky would soon take out." 

" So I thiak," said Hany. " A man who would 
make any way here, must turn his back on strong drinks, 
or they will turn his head and his pockets inside out." 

" Well, Harry," said Pat, "I've been to see you, but 
it's only ilegant manners to ask you to come and see 
me ; there's all manner of beautiful furniture in oxtr 
little house master put in, and Molly I always said was 
so handy in patching a gown, could do anything else, so 
she's taken the ould coat what I conld wear no longer, 
for it was just like tinder, and she's made an ilegant 
sofe, cushion at both ends with the bits, and there is 
three stools as good as ladies' chairs, barrin' the backs ; 
and there's a regular drawing-room table, saving it's 
made of rough planks ; and there's a clock on the 
chimly piece, and a good fireplace, and a nice bed-room 
nate enough for any lady in the land, if she could only 
think so," 

" Well," said Harry, " we will come and pay your 



60 life's WOKK as it IS; OR, 

place a visit, and in the meantime I think we onght to 
write home and tell onr jfriends how things really are 
here, and give them a chance of doing as well as we 
have, and perhaps better too." 

Having paid a passing visit to onr first acqnaintance, 
we will proceed a little further towards the neighbonr- 
hood of Mount Barker. A picturesque farmhouse takes 
our attention, and a young woman is merrily plying her 
needle at the door, shaded by roses and vines. Let us 
pause a moment ; do we remember fchafc fair face ? It is 
a little more matronly than when we last saw it, but not 
much. It is our friend Eleanor Dingle, as with her 
placid smile she turns at the sound of a little voice we 
are not acquainted with, and out of a neat little cradle 
peeps a baby face with her own dark eyes imaged there ; 
the little Australian laughs and crows as its mother, 
taking up her treasure, sallies forth to meet her husband 
returning from his day's labours. It is a bright scene ; 
an October sun is setting and reflects its briUiant tints 
on the verdure around. " Just about this time last year 
we came here," said Robert Dingle ; " do you remember, 
Eleanor, and God has prospered us, and the blessing 
bestowed on us by the dear old minister has followed us, 
and we must write and tell him so. We have paid our 
rent, paid our labourers, bought the farming things and 
the dairy utensils, also the cows, horses, etc., and I have 
laid by one hundred pounds from the dairy, the crops, 
the bark and timber off the other section ; and I think 
this is doing well, considering we have only a small 
farm ; but your industry with the dairy has helped con- 
siderably." 

The baby seems to understand all that is said, and 
laughs and crows all the louder, nearly throwing himself 
on to the pitchfork his father is carrying home, and 
seems feirly to meditate a precipitate descent from his 
mother's arms. 

"Well, my Httle man," said his father, "you are 
bom xinder sunny skies, may you have sunny pros- 
pects, *' 



THE emigrant's HOME. 61 

Eleanor's eyes gleam as they rest on her husband, 
and she says — 

" Robert, I have never repented following you over 
tlie seas, but I did not expect such a bright, happy home, 
and so much of comfort. I can scarcely fancy I am not 
in Old England. Oh, if /mother could see us ; I wonder 
if she does,*' and at the thought of that gentle spirit the 
tear trickles dovni her cheek, and witnesses that the lost 
one is not forgotten ! 

" WeU," said Robert Dingle, " I think we ought to 
fulfil our promise of writing, and giving some account 
of ourselves and the country to our old pastor. We 
should not forget old friends in a new country." 

Before we leave the Dingles we would take a glance 
at their goodly farm. The corn-fields are waving with 
their abundant produce, announcing by their golden 
appearance that the sickle will shortly be wanted in one 
paddock ; half a dozen fine dairy cows are grazing, with 
calves by their side ; a nice flock of sheep are feeding 
in part of the section further on, from which our thrifty 
farmer supplies the table. Geese, turkeys, fowls, and 
ducks parade the farmyard, and do justice to any grain 
that would otherwise be wasted ; a succession of grunts 
and squeaks, varying from bass to treble, are heard 
issuing from various pigsties, betokening that they are 
not deficient in occupants. The garden is well stocked 
with fruit-trees ; apricots, plums, apples, quinces, mul- 
berries, loquats, vines, cherries, pears, peaches, almonds, 
figs, etc., all flourish in luxuriance. 

It may be well to remark that different fruits flourish 
in difierent localities. For instance, the gooseberry, cur- 
rant, strawberry, raspberry, all flourish in the districts of 
Mount Barker, Echunga, Mount Gambier, Guichen Bay, 
and other cool districts, but save in peculiar instances, 
scarcely more than vegetate in the warmer districts; 
whilst the apricot does little in the cool districts, and 
flourishes to the most surprising degree in the warmer. 
Apricots, peaches, and nectarines, and all wall-fruit (of 
England), are standards in South Australia, and the 



i 



62 life's work as it is; or, 

yield of some of these trees, especially the peaches, 
almost exceeds belief. Bushels of the finest peaches are 
often to be seen lying nnder a few trees after a windy 
night ; and it is a conamon practice to feed pigs 
on them. As a rule, peaches are smaller and poorer 
than in England, but there are splendid exceptions. 
Many of the standard-grown peaches here would grace 
a dessert at Buckingham Palace. They are of two sorts, 
Cling- stone and Free-stone ; the former generally much 
the largest, the latter much the finest flavour. The 
writer had once a seedling peach-tree ungrafted, and the 
fruit was equal in size, richness of appearance, and de- 
liciousness of flavour to any wall-fruit in England. The 
apricots grow in profusion and great beauty. The More 
Parks are the most remarkable for size and flavour, but 
numerous kinds flourish. On some of the commoner 
large standard trees the apricots are frequently so 
abundant, that a couple of bushels may be gathered 
without their absence being rendered perceptible. Mul- 
berries and vines flourish in all parts. 

Vegetables, like fruit, succeed differently in various 
districts. In the cooler and richer districts, especially 
in the tea-tree guUeys, and other moist situations, the 
potato often yields magnificent crops. They reach 
an enormous size in some places, but in very dry 
situations often completely fail. Peas do well in 
all parts of the colony. Between the hills and the 
plains, there is a difference of some weeks in both the 
sowing and the gathering of the various vegetables. 
The hills, as a rule, are much cooler and much moister 
than the plains, even to the difference of requiring or 
dispensing with a fire. The writer has been enjoying 
a fire of an evening or morning in the hills, when the 
Adelaidians were nearly roasted without one. 

The cabbage, and cauliflower, and turnip, did well 

in South Australia till about ten years ago, when a 

destructive blight appeared, which has never been cured ; 

vegetable-marrows grow in great perfection, cucumbers 

and rhnbarh in the cooler districts ; asparagus thrives 



THE emigrant's HOME. 63 

in some places, but is always ratlier dear. As a mle, 
all English vegetables flourisli. Fruit has become very 
abmidazit in the colony during the last six years ; 
gardens are beginning to come into full bearing in all 
jwtB, and new ones are continuaUy growing with the 
increasing population. There has been what the people 
caJl quite a glut in the market during the last three 
years, whereas before fruit fetched a considerable price, 
and well repaid labour. Nevertheless, there are com- 
paratively few trees to be found. The largest mul- 
berries the writer ever saw in England or Australia, 
grew in the neighbourhood of Echunga ; but the fruit 
arrives to great size and perfection everj^where. The 
black mulberry is generally grown. The loquat, flourishes 
to a surprising degree, and like the mulberry, does well 
in most situations, but prefers the warmer districts. To 
any one not used to the sight, a fine loquat-tree in full 
bearing is an attractive object ; some of the trees are 
poor both in foliage and frniit, but others are splendid. 
In the districts about thirty miles from Adelaide the 
writer has seen them flourish the most gloriously. In 
one garden there were two different kinds, one a standard, 
with immense leaves, and the fruit hanging in bunches, 
each as large as a full sized golden pippin apple. These 
were the finest kind. Another tree grew more in the 
shape of a most luxuriant shrub. It is impossible to 
convey the idea of the beauty of this tree when in full 
bearing, with its weight of golden fruit contrasting with 
its long, dark, rich foHage, and both leaves and fruit 
touching the ground. Almonds and figs, all standards, 
flourish in the greatest perfection, figs, like peaches, 
being constantly used for feeding swine. Apples attain 
great size and perfection, as do also quinces ; pears and 
cherries do well, but are scarcer, and the former are in 
many cases shy bearers, unless in a very moist soil. The 
water-melon flourishes to great perfection, but will only 
do well in new soil. The second year of being planted 
in the same soil it generally fails, and the third or fourth 
will not grow at all. We have diverged in thus slightly 



64i life's work as it is; or, 

describing fruits and vegetables, thinking tbat these 
particulars would be interesting to our readers, and 
that we could not select a wove appropriate place to 
mention them. But to return to our friends. The in- 
side of their homestead was as bright as the outside, and 
many an English comfort had found its way to that home. 

Let us now pass on to a scene in England, far away 
from the spot we have been describing. Let us picture 
in our mind's eye what we are about to describe. 

It is morning ; the dew still sparkles in the butter- 
cups' petals, and the grass still betokens the breath of 
early morn. The birds seem rejoicing in the prospect 
of a spring day, and all nature looks glad. The little 
rivulet dances and sparkles as it tumbles over the white 
stones that impede its course ; the flowers send forth 
their sweetest scent, as they peep in at an open window, 
where sits^ some one reading attentively. We think we 
know that face, though the hair is slightly more silvered 
and the form rather more bent. A sound reaches the 
ears of the reader, it is a knock at the outer door, and a 
few minutes after, with spectacles in hand, he deciphers 
the following address : — 

THE REV. J. McLAUD, 

Tlie Parsonage, 

Whitmore, 

England. 

As he casts his eye for the third time on the word 
England, he heaves a sigh and looks up, and we perceive 
it is Eleanor Dingle's friend and pastor, with whom she 
parted on that last Sabbath mom. 

" Ah !" he ejaculated, " they have not forgotten me. 
I know her hand, poor bairn, and crossing the water has 
not crossed out remembrances of the past." And ejacu- 
lating " God bless them !" he breaks the seal. Having 
perused with earnest attention the manuscript, he 
hastens forth to one of his friends who had known 



THE EMIGBANT'S HOME. 65 

[Eileanor in infancy, and produces tlie letter, which, if he 
will allow us, shall be copied for the benefit of those who 
read this little work. It ran thus : — 

" Reverend and dear Sir, — According to promise, we 
send you a few lines to inform you of our safe arrival in 
this colony, and of our success during the time we have 
hitherto been in this neighbourhood. We often think 
of dear Old England and our happy home, but we have 
found sunny skies and prospects in this far distant land, 
and we do not for one moment regret the change we 
have made. The climate here varies very much in 
different places, but it is very beautiful where we are 
stationed, near Mount Barker. The heat is rarely very 
great, and the nights and mornings cool. Everything 
here is the reverse to what it is in England, though a 
great many false accounts have been given of it by many 
people. The winter here is the time when everything is. 
green and beautiful, and the summer is the time when 
things look dry and withered, though not so much here 
as near Adelaide and in the north. The trees never 
lose their foliage, though many of them shed their bark 
once a year ; and the names of them are entirely dif- 
ferent to those in England. The flowers here, too, a 
great many of them, are everlasting. There are yellow, 
white, and pink flowers that are of this nature, and 
grow in great abundance, and the beautiful everlasting 
grasses grow profasely. The natives are quite black, 
and very ugly, but at present we have not seen a great 
many of them ; but they are very harmless. Every 
district we find the flowers and the birds are different, 
and very often the trees. The flowers here are quite 
different to those near town, and so are the birds. The 
white cockatoos fly in great flocks over the wheat-fields, 
and do much harm, and there are a few black ones with 
splendid yellow crests and wings, but they are very 
scarce. The native swans here are black and very 
beautiftil ; and in some places there is a great quantity 
of wild fowl, which are splendid eating. The neigh- 



66 life's work as it is ; or, 

botirliood here is very pretty, and the gromid well cul- 
tivated. We are in reach of a Scotch chnrch, and there 
are three chapels and an English chnrch near at hand. 
The farming here has answered well. We have had on 
one very good part of the section forty bushels of wheat 
to the acre, and not less than twenty bushels in any 
part; but some people have only twelve or sixteen. 
They say round about here that about twenty bushels 
to the acre is a fair average of crops. Our hay has done 
well ; we have had more than two tons to ihe acre in 
some places, and have sold it at £7 a ton. Wheat has 
fetched about 6s. a bushel, but has been lower ; it is 
likely now to rise. Potatoes sell at about 85. a bag — 
that is, a cwt. — and are very good. Butter varies from 
lOd. to 2s, 6d. a lb., according to the time of year — ^it is 
generally about 1*. 6d. for some months. Milk is 2d, 
and dd. a pint ; eggs from Is, to Is, 8d, a dozen ; flour 
varies from £14 to £20 a ton, according to the price of 
wheat. 

" You will by these prices judge a little of the worth 
of farming produce; and in ad(£tion to all our farm 
produces, we have a good sale for wood at 10s. a load, 
only having to take it a short distance, it pays for 
carting. We have had great kindness shown us by the 
neighbours and clergyman, and really can scarcely ima. 
gine we are so many thousands of miles from home, that 
is from England, for we really feel Australia our home. 
We desire to tell you that the large Bible you gave us is 
used every day, night and morning; and we believe 
that the blessing you asked for has come with us into 
this distant land. Accept our sincere thanks for all past 
kindnesses, and with remembrances to all our old 
friends, 

" We are your grateftd and attached 

"Eleanor and Egbert Dingle." 

The same post that brought this letter conveyed a 
very different, but perhaps not less interesting, epistle 
A'om poor Pat to bia mother, and it ran as follows : — 



THE EHIGRAin:'s HOME. 67 

"HoNOUEED Mother, — It's not in Patrick to forget 
her wlio gave him the ilegant name of O'Connor, and 
it's not in her to forget her son, who was just the boy- 
after her own heart thirty years affo. Dear mother, it's 
not in me to know wheri to be^ for faith and Bvixe I 
shall neyer know where to end. If I had not lost my 
heart altogether, before I took to the water, I shonld 
have lost it intirely after, for it nearly heayed itself np 
intirely with the awkward motion of the vessel, which 
walked so clnmsily over the big waves that it nearly 
made an ind of ns. Dear mother, blessings on yonr 
head, it was an ilegant day when I first set my foot in 
Australia. The blacks are all whites — ^that is, there are 
but few of the foriners to be seen anywhere, and it's all 
Irish, English, and Scotch that you see. The horses 
and dogs have the same ilegant tails as in ould Ireland, 
and run upon four legs. It is me that was desaved 
intirely about the people this side of the water. All 
the blacks are whites, except the natives, of whom I 
have only seen about twenty. It was a lane country 
before the English came to it, for the poor fellers have 
only bones covered with skin, and no flesh to be seen ; 
they look for all the world like Molly's mop-handle, with 
Molly's mop at the top instead of the bottom of it. 
There are a number of audacious birds in this country, 
who have no manners in them, and cannot be taught 
neither, and make a practice of laughing at all the poor 
folks as they set eyes on. Dear mother, it's not in 
Patrick O'Connor to forget his own flesh and blood 
because of the siUer and goold of this country. Anyhow, 
it's for a poor man Australia was made, for they never 
remain long poor when they set their foot in this land. 
It's jist an flegant coat that I wear now, and it's intirely 
a new shirt that Molly has made for the Sundays. As 
to the living here, the Queen herself, God bless her, 
could not complain. No more living on praties, though 
there are plenty of them, but beef and mutton, pork and 
tea, and sugar and flour are all in our rations or 
allowance, and I am fatting up like Father O'Malley's 



68 life's work as it is ; or, 

best pig. Molly's cheeks, bless her, are getting so 
round too that she'll soon lose the sight of her eyes ; 
and it's for sending some of the good things to ould 
Ireland that I should like to be. There's plenty of 
wicked people here as well as good, and there's a good 
many snakes come out of the garden of Eden, I sup- 
pose, originally, but there's no convicts anywhere here. 
It is only once and again that ever one is found. There's 
creatures here that always have to sit upon their tails 
before they can think of going any distance, and then 
they take such leaps. They are called kangaroys, or 
some such heathenish name. They fight the dogs that 
hunt them with their legs, like we would use our shil- 
lelahs. Many of the horses in this country do contrary 
to England or Ireland, and pull backwards instead of 
forwards, that is, instead of going up a hill, they let the 
cart down it, when they get a little way on. The heat 
seems to make the poor craturs dislike to carry burdens, 
as some of them when they get a man on their backs 
send him and the saddle flying arter one another, and 
this is to ase themselves intirely ; and this is called buck- 
jumping. The trees are always green, but the birds are 
not so well educated here to sing, and only know a few 
notes. Some of the birds dress themselves very grand, 
in scarlet, green, yellow, and purple, which Molly says 
is not modest. The wattle bird wears a plain brown 
coat, which she says is much more her way of thinking ; 
and she's always right, bless her, except when she's 
wrong, and that's never. And now, honoured mother, 
as this letter has to be carried so far, if it's any heavier I 
make it perhaps it may be left behind. Molly and I say 
it's not in us to have all the ilegant things and send you 
none ; so it's a five-pound order I send you, for which 
send us your blessing instead is the request of 

" Your own son on the other side of the world, 

"Patrick O'Connor." 

Having visited some of our friends, we think it quite 
tune to take a peep at our young heroine of the bush, 



THE EMIQBAI^t'S HOME. 69 

Jane Seymour, wlio has been living among cockatoos, 
kangaroos, and gum-trees ever since we bid her fare- 
well. In spirit let us rapidly convey ourselves to a 
spot of land far removed from other habitations and 
densely wooded round about. When we visited this 
place with Jane Seymour a year ago we saw nothing but 
tents, and bullocks, and dampers and uncivilization. 
Now, though still far removed from the haunts of man, 
what wonders have been wrought? A neat log hut, 
with windows, door, and chimney, rears its head erect 
on the plain, and there is even a very rustic verandah, 
yet made with taste ; and we are sure some female hand 
has been employed in putting up those snowy Httle 
muslin curtains and blinds, with their pretty edgings ; 
and there lays a whole section, cleared and fallowed for 
the next sowing-time, all the work of the five brothers. 
Already the opossum and the kangaroo and the native 
cat have had to beat a precipitate retreat before the axe 
and the hand of civilization, though they often show 
themselves on the borders. A good stock-yard has been 
erected, as also stables and various out-buildings of 
rough wood. 

And where is Jane Seymour ? Why, if you step 
into the back part of the cottage you will see her 
merrily kneading away a lump of dough; and as 
she kneads she sings. Yes, it is her happy voice that 
always gladdens the heart and cheers the steps of 
those who are her companions in labour. She is a little 
browner, but not less pleasing and neat in her appear- 
ance, and the dimples have, we think, become stronger 
than ever. 

" William," she cries, as one of her brothers pass 
the outer door, "oh, I*m so charmed; there's such a 
beautiful new calf of Brindle's, and it's to be my own. 
It is such a beauty ; and do fetch some of the grass 
you've been cutting and give the old cow a nice feed, 
because you know I was the first one to make her gentle. 
And then be a good fellow and take this milk down to 
those pretty little pigs, for little Joe is away, and I'm 



70 life's woee as it is J oe, 

sure I sHonldii't like to wait any longer for my break- 
fast if I had not had it. And " 

" Well now, Miss Jane, what next ; I declare yon're 
a regular farmeress." 

" Why, what next ?*' said she ; " the poultry that are 
fit to kill mnst be taken to market, or we shall have all 
the new-sown crops destroyed, and it will never pay to 
shut np so many. And then there are the eggs too I 
have been saving. Why, I'm quite proud, I declare ; 
only what a blessing it would be if you men could work 
and live without eating, and then I shouldn't have to 
go thump, thump into this dough every other day, that's 
ceartain." 

EEaving finished the thump, thump, thump, Mary 
jproceeded to the mysteries of baking her bread. Doubt- 
less an our fair readers (who are in the mysteries of 
cooking), expect to see the iron mouth of a large oven 
thrown open, the oven itself properly heated, and then 
the bread duly placed by a shovel into its furthest 
recesses; but this is not bush cookery. Camp ovens 
are universally used throughout the country ; and most 
useftd things they are, made of iron and of various sizes, 
either large enough for a turkey or small enough for a 
dozen apple turnovers (and no room to spare). These 
ovens stand upon four legs ; an exactly-fitting lid has a 
little book of iron on the top of it, wherein a stick or 
poker being inserted, it is politely assisted off when a 
visit to the interior is contemplated. There is a peculiar 
indentation on the lid, and a broad ledge, for which the 
use will be seen immediately. Jane having lifted her 
oven on the fireplace, proceeds to put some live embers 
of wood underneath the apparatus, then placing the 
loaves inside she lifts tiie Hd, previously heated, and 
places it on the oven ; afterwards taking a shovel, she 
places a quantity of live coals on the lid, the ledge pre- 
venting diem tumbling off. The writer has seen and 
tasted as beautiful bread baked in this manner as in the 
most orthodox oven in London. 

^^Now/* said Jane to her brother, as she brightened 



THE EmOBANT*S HOME. 71 

up the fire with a fresh piece of wood, " do bring me in 
some nice she-oak logs, that is the best for cooking by 
£ur ; you see I am getting quite colonial. How different," 
sihe continued, '' are the fireplaces and the fires out here 
to those in England. How aunts and uncles would 
laugh at the huge chimney and the great logs, instead of 
the small genteel grates and the few handfiils of coal 
taken out of a coal scuttle with a small scooper. Well, 
I like these blaziog wood fires five hundred times better 
than that dull burning coal. Australia for me," cried 
the merry girl, " though my hands are a little browner, 
and I do a few things I never heard of before I came 
here." 

By and by Jane's other brothers made their appear- 
ance at the door, crying out, " Oh, we are so hungry ; 
make haste with the dinner, or you'll stand no chance at 
all of our not making a meal oflF yon." 

" Well," said Jane, " that's enough to make one's 
feet move a little fitster than usual ; but what is all 
this buatle about ? one would think you had had no food 
for the last month, and I am sure after you had finished 
breakfast I wondered wherever you coxdd find an appe- 
tite fOTvour dinner before to-morrow." 

" We've been girdling trees," said two of the brothers, 
"And grubbing up the stumps," said a third and fourth. 
*'Now, miss, what are you the wiser ?" 

" A great deal," said she, very pompously ; " girdling 
means taking the axe in a most ruthless manner, and 
cutting the bark all round the tree, making a deep 
incision so that the sap cannot rise at all, and then the 
poor tree loses all its leaves and dies." 

"Well done, sister Jane — capital. Now, please, 
what does * grubbing' mean ?" 

" Well, the signification of * grubbing, ' to-day, 
means, getting so ferociously hungry for dinner, that I 
believe if poor pussy had been stewed in her skin you 
would have declared it a delicious dish. But * grubbing' 
really means getting up the stumps and roots of those 
trees which are out down, and which if left would pre- 



72 life's work as it is ; or, 

vent your being able to plough and cultivate the 
land." 

"Well, Jane, we will recommend yon as the best 
girl anywhere about, for you have a most capital idea of 
everything, and though you've been talking, dinner is 
smoking on the table, and everything looks capital. By 
the by, Jane, there's a gentleman in this neighbourhood 
(we won't mention names) who seems to have taken 
such a strange fancy lately to come and look at all your 
Hve things, and how we get on with clearing the land, 
and he seems to take such pains to find some excuse to 
come again — don't you think he is a very disagreeable 
person?" 

" I dare say," said Jane, smartly, " he would apply 
that epithet to you all for saying this of him ; but he is 
much better behaved than you are, for he politely said 
the other day, ' I am afraid you're overdoing yourself. 
Miss Seymour : no one could believe you were ever 
used to work — don't hurry yourself so ;' and you boys 
come ill and tell me to move fast or you will make a 
meal off your poor sister." 

" Ah, it's just like boys all over the world, is it not ?" 
said the eldest. " If you had had no brothers, you'd never 
have been our sister." 

" Well, it's very certain you are half a Paddy," said 
another brother ; " but come, Jane, is not young Mr. 
Ramsey very pleasant, and very agreeable, and " 

"Very much better behaved than you are," said 
Jane ; "so say no more." 

" Well," said the eldest one, " I have a strong suspi- 
cion that there is something in this house which attracts 
the gentleman, very much like honey gathers bees ; but, 
however, he is a very nice man, and a very prosperous 
one, and " 

" Have you finished ? " said Jane, standing, in 
mock gravity, with her hands crossed before her. " Have 
you finished, sir ? " 

"Oh, Jane," said her brothers, "there's no doing 
anjihrng with you, so good-bye. Da come and see us 



THE emigrant's HOME. 73 

in the afternoon, and we won't tease yon till next 
time. 

Jnst at this moment in rushed the baby of the fanuly, 
a boy of five years old. " Make haste, make haste," 
said he ; " here, Jane, take that poker, and Harry and 
Tom bring two great sticl?s — don't stop to load the 
gun — and come here. I've found a nest of young bears 
np in a she-oak tree, as snug as possible ; diey can't be 
above a day or two old, they're so small." 

" Why, Edward, you goose, who ever heard of bears 
and hot winds together ? and I'm sure it's blowing like a 
furnace to-day. A pretty dear you are, to be sure, not to 
know what opossums are by this time, and you may 
depend upon it that is what they will turn out to be." 

"No," said Edward, very indignantly ; "they are 
covered over with spots, quite ^unlike opossums, and the 
Irishman that lives close by told me to make haste, for 
they were young bears." 

Jane went, but left the poker behind ; and her 
brothers followed, but took no sticks. Edward, tri- 
umphantly leading the procession, pointed to a hollow 
some distance up a tree. Harry soon scrambled up 
the tree, and peeping into the hoUow, saw some eyes 
and some hair, and two noses and a lot of spots. The 
small animals showed fight, but he, nothing daunted, 
pulled out one of the young " bears " by the tail, when 
it turned out to be a native cat. 

" Oh, you little goose," said he to Edward, "what 
do you think of yourself now ?" 

" Well," said the boy, "I never saw one before, and 
if young bears are half as pretty, they are very hand- 



some." 



" Yes," said his brother, " handsome is what hand- 
some does ; and if we had not been lucky enough, 
through your nonsense, to find these young * bears,' 
there would not have been a young chicken alive in the 
hen-roost to-night after they had made their suppers. 
So we must make an end of them just as much as if 
they had been youiig bears." 



74i life's work as it IS; OB, 

Poor little Edward hung his head, and looked very 
silly, bnt excused himself by saying that Pat was more 
to blame than he was. 

" N'ow," said his eldest brother, " if yon're a good 
boy, and don't come telling me any more about young 
bears and tigers, we will go an opossum hunt by moon- 
light, and get yonr sister to go too." So poor Edward 
wa9 comforted, and, holding np his head again, walked 
erect. 

According to promise, aU the brothers tximed out 
the next moonlight night, and coaxed Jane to go with 
them, promising that they woxdd try and take a ring- 
tailed opossnm alive for her to pet. To find opossums 
without dogs would be something like trying to make 
bread without flour. The opossums, by moonlight, are 
so exactly the colour of the bark of the trees, that if 
they only remain still, they look like an excrescence on 
the tree, and they are so wily that if they catch sight of 
the hunter they will remain perfectly motionless for 
many minutes. When not thinking of danger, they 
run and skip and jump about the trees in the liveliest 
manner, though, owing to the heaviness of their bodies, 
without any elegance in their movements. The ring- 
taQed ones are very pretty, and much scarcer than the 
common grey opossum. The blacks make most beauti- 
ful rugs or small carpets of the opossum skins, for 
which they frequently obtain from thirty to forty shil- 
lings. 

The various members of the family immediately 
started off, taking with them two dogs, Snap and Fly, 
and at once proceeded to a clump of she-oak gums, and 
wattle-trees. By and by the dogs began to scratch at 
the foot of a tree, and commenced the peculiar opossum 
yell that dogs accustomed to this description of hunt 
always set up. The boys approached, but nothing was 
to be seen. However, the dogs would not move, and 
tried to increase the music they made. Shortly Jane 
called out, " Oh, I see them, I see them !" and directed 
herhrothera* eyes to two small animals crouched on two 



THE EMIGBANT'S HOME. 75 

separate branches, rather in the shade, but the slightest 
moTement of the head and tail pronounced them to be 
the objects of pnrsnit. One of the boys fired, and one 
of the opossums fell dead. The other, terrified more 
than hnrt, ran down the tree and tried to escape. The 
dogs soon caught it, but before they had done more than 
shake it. Master Harry ran up, and beating them off, 
rescued the little animal for Miss Jane. To her delight 
it was a ring- tailed one, and very pretty she thought it. 
It tried to bite, but Master Harry manfiilly got hold of it, 
and rendered it harmless. By and by he called out, 
** Why, here's three opossums instead of one ; " and true 
enough the pretty cre^ure carried two yoi^ ones in 
her^ pouch or bag, from which they were putting out 
their little heads to have a peep at the world. " Why," 
said Jane, "this is just like the picture I used to look at 
with such wonder and delight in 'Bewick's Natural 
History of Animals.' However, I never thought I 
should reaUy see the strange sight. Now," she con- 
tinued, " I shall keep this as a pet if I can tame it. At 
all events, if the young ones five, they will just be at 
a light age to educate. Her brothers laughed, and 
said they would try what more luck they had. And 
presently yap, yap, went the dogs again, and soon they 
discovered some more of these little creatures. They 
obtained two of them, but they were of the common sort. 
Having enjoyed their ramble, they returned with their 
prizes. When they returned home they found Daddy 
waiting patiently for them, and the young gentleman 
whom something extraordinary attracted to tibe house, 
there also. 

"Bless me," said Mr. Bamsey, as they entered, 
" what, have you turned sportsman. Miss Jane ? " 

" Well," she said, " I was asked to help kill some 
young bears one day, but to-night I went out for the sake 
of a ramble, and the hope of getting a pet, and I have 
succeeded." 

" WeU," said Mr. Bamsey, " it is pretty " (looking at 
the opossum) ; " but wait till you get a nice fruit garden. 



7^ life's woek as it IS; OE, 

and then tell me if you will want opossnms for pets. 
They are most destructive, and spoil more than they 
«at. I have found this to my cost. But what about 
the young bears ? " 

The story was then related, much to poor Edward's 
3Qortification, so, in revenge, the young monkey said — 

" Well, I'm no worse than other people, for brother 
Jack said you came to this house because you were a 
bee, and fond of honey. And I'm sure you're not a bee, 
and we've no honey ; and so he makes mistakes as well 
as me. And Pat said they were young bears." 

The hearty laugh that rang through those cottage 
walls would have cheered the heart of any one on whose 
«ars it fell. And Mr. Ramsey, who somewhat, though 
not entirely, comprehended the joke and the allusion, 
was most exceedingly diverted. 

Jane made a snug little nest in a box for Mrs. 
©possum and her babies, and very pretty it looked. 
The writer has had tame opossums running about in 
every direction iudoors, and not attempting to make 
their escape. They are pretty pets as young, but get 
disagreeable as they grow large. The native squirrel 
ias something of an opossum head, but is much slighter 
in the body, with a thin brush tail. A servant once 
eaught one in a hole asleep, thinking it to be an opossum, 
and brought it in her apron into the house. The crea- 
ture had a most villanous temper, and upon finding 
itself in captivity, bit and fought in the most vin- 
dictive style. It ran round the room and got into a 
comer, and upon a small stick being used to get it out, 
it seized hold of it with such force that great difl&culty 
was experienced in pulling the stick a\5 ay ; had it been 
a thumb or finger, its teeth would have met before it 
would have relinquished its hold. 

The season of Christmas was now approaching, and 

various were the preparations made by this family in 

the bush for its reception. Jane laughing, said, she 

knew it would be too hot for any one to be able to eat a 

2ui of the goose, and told the boys to run and try and 



THE emigrant's HOME. 77 

find some ice to cool the water. Perhaps no one thing 
is so impossible to realize in Australia as Christmas. 
Tme, that in tropical regions it is totally nnlike England:; 
bnt then everything else is alike different fco home. Here 
it is not so ; everything looks English, especially near 
town — dress, honses, fnrnitnre, servants, are all English:: 
bnt when Christmas time comes, with its waving corn- 
fields, its gardens full of flowers and ripe frnits, and 
often a hot wind pouring in at your doors and windows 
(for at this time of year they frequently prevail) it 
seems impossible to recognize old Christmas. The holly 
has found its way to Australia, and adorns the shop 
windows and houses in and about town ; and very pretty 
is it on Christmas-eve to take a turn up Hindley and 
Rundle Streets, for some of the shops are beautifully 
decorated. Although our bush friends were out of the 
way of holly boughs or berries, they were not out of the 
way of she oak trees and native cherries, with the pretty 
little stone growing at the tip of its small crimson fruit. 
So they decorated the room very prettily, and were quite 
charmed with their work when they sat down to tea oa 
Christmas-eve. 

" Well," said Jane, " I wonder whether those ia 
England we have left are thinking about us ; but they 
do not know how happy we are spite of the roughs we 
have had to encounter." 

" I hope the plum-pudding is made, sister," said little 
Edward, " and I hope Mr. Eamsey will come and taste 
it ; he asked me if you would make it." 

" And I hope," said his sister, " you will have one 
of the young bears stewed for your dinner, and will offer 
him either a leg or a wing to prove your good cookery.** 

This silenced poor Edward effectually, but without 
bringing much relief to Jane, for at once the elder 
brother began — 

" Have you killed or cooked the fatted calf for fcd- 
morrow, sister ?" 

" K," was the reply, " yon will undertake to prepane 
it and place it on the table, you shall have it ; onlyihesi^ 



78 life's woek as rr is ; oe, 

will be no room on the table for any of yoitr plates, and 
you will have to go to Adelaide to search for some dish 
large enongh to place it on. However, I have a fat 
goose, and I think that will satisfy all reasonable de- 
mands. And there is a splendid piece of beef, fit for an 
alderman's table in England." 

" Bnt Mr. Ramsey's pudding," suggested Edward, 
forgetting his young bear for the moment. 

" Is already cooking," Baid his sister ; " so make 
yourself happy." 

" And if you are served up with it, you will do for 
sauce," said his brother Harry. 

" And you, sister Jane, will be the honey to sweeten 
it," said Thomas. 

And so the merry family discoursed before they be- 
took themselves to rest. 

A glorious sun rose on Christmas-day, and the 
moments were melting ones. The weather had been 
very wet through June, July, and August ; September, 
October, and November had been almost perfect. The 
bright beautiftd green clothing the valleys and hills, the 
bracing clear atmosphere, just warm enough, but not too 
warm, the summer evenings, the moonlight nights — all 
had been nearly perfect ; but now hot weather was setting 
in, and had been for the last fortnight, with the likeli- 
hood of continuing for the next three months. 

Yery much has been said in praise and in condemna- 
tion of the climate of South Australia ; but the writer's 
beHef is, that take it the year round, it is perhaps the 
finest climate of any of the colonies. Tasmania is, with- 
out question, cooler, but then the winter is almost too 
cold, and the winds very high ; but any individual really 
liking a warm climate will find South Australia very 
pleasant. It is true that when the hot winds (which are 
certainly very disagreeable) come, the good people pufi" 
and pant, and often sigh for England and good old 
Enghsh frosts and snows; but the writer has known 
scores and scores of these very individuals return to the 
mother country flit about like Noah's dove in all 



THE EMIGEANT'S HOME. 79 

^directians, tiying one place afber another, and finally, like 
lier, finding no rest for the sole of their feet, return afber 
two or three years to the very land they grumbled at. 

Of course much depends on locality, and still more 
on the difierence in constitutions. Persons who really 
find heat injure them anywhere had better not cross the 
seas ; but as a rule there seems fiar less of sickness out 
here than in England. The epidemics are few and fer 
between, and consumption is comparatively rare. We 
are not prepared to give a medical disquisition on the 
•dixnate, but for the benefit of those for whom this book 
is written, we may remark that the climate is healthy 
and the atmosphere remarkably clear, dry, and bright. 
Even in winter it is rare for two days to pass without 
the sun gleaming out, if only for an hour. A young 
friend of the author's, brought up under these sunny 
skies, was encased in London fogs for a London winter, 
and (very disrespectfiilly we must say to England) went 
to inquire of his mamma whether there was any sun in 
England, and whether it was ever seen. 

The climate varies exceedingly in different parts of 
the colony. Mount Barker, Echunga, Port Elliot, Mount 
Gajnbier, Guichen Bay, etc., are amongst the coolest 
localities, the night especially being rarely unpleasantly 
warm. Adelaide itself is too hot to be agreeable in a 
hot summer, and the storms of dust and the hot winds 
which are there experienced are often very unpleasant 
to bear ; nevertheless, even in Adelaide summers occur 
in which there is comparatively little heat that is unbear- 
able, another summer may happen to be just the reverse. 
There are many spots within five miles of Adelaide very 
much cooler than the city and very agreeable. Mosquitoes 
have been represented as fearftd in Australia ; but though 
the writer is severely attacked if these enemies are in 
the neighbourhood, some years' experience brings to 
this conclusion that they are not worth a thought. There 
is something very delightful in seeing green hills, green 
trees, and lovely flowers all through the winter, instead 
of frost, snow, desolation, and barrenness ; but most cer- 



80 life's work as it is; oe, 

tainly for all those wlio love frost and snow, icicles and 
ice, leafless trees and cold easterly winds, South. Australia 
is not the place to come. 

But to return to the Seymours and Christmas-day. 
The boys dressed themselves in their holiday suits, after 
having attended to the business of the morning, and 
sister Jane's various little errands ; and, the great pud- 
ding being ready, and the goose, and the beef, and Mr. 
Ramsey, they sat down, a merry happy family, to the 
table. 

" Where is your young bear," said Harry, very mis- 
chievously to Edward, " that Mr. Ramsey was to taste 
when stewed ?" 

"It's where sister Jane's puddiug is," said the boy, 
" not on the table." 

Jane sat down on a Christmas- day in a thin white 
muslin dress and pink ribbons, with the doors and win- 
dows open to allow what little air there was to blow 
through. 

Jane was one of those who have the knack of doing 
everything without seeming to do it. True, she had 
cooked the dinner with her own little hands ; but with 
the speed of lightning, while it was waiting for five 
minutes on the table, she had arranged her toilet and 
looked quite nice in her summer attire. And then 
whilst the boys removed goosy and beef, she slipped 
away, and with Edward's help assisted the pudding so 
cleverly out of its hot bath, that she was back again 
before any one missed her (except Mr. Ramsey). Two 
of her brothers, with a great deal of ceremony and fuss, 
placed the huge mass of currants, raisins, suet, eggs, flour, 
brandy, sugar, and lemon-peel on the table, and declared 
that was an Australian Christmas plum-pudding, and 
that three cheers were to be given to sister Jane for 
making it, with another three for their buying it ; but 
that the stewed bear was nowhere to be found, and they 
feared must have been eaten by the cat. 

Jane said, as the rooms were so smaU, she would 
prefer the cheers to be reserved for out of doors after 



THE emigrant's HOME. 81 

dinner. The pudding was investigated and thoroughly- 
approved, and Edward asked Mr. Ramsey, in a very 
loud whisper, whether he didn't wish he had the chance 
of having a sister to make such a pudding as that. 

No doubt if any of Eve's fair daughters have favoured 
tlje writer with a perusal of these pages, they are begin- 
ning to feel a laudable curiosity concerning this said Mr. 
Ramsey ; and as we do not like to keep the mind in an 
unhealthy state of excitation, we will announce, first, that 
he really was " a man ;" second, a gentleman ; third, he 
had plenty of money ; fourth, he had a heart ; fifth, but 
he was on the very eve of losing this valuable possession, 
and making it over to our fair fiiend Jane Seymour. 
Mr. Ramsey had amassed a large fortune in the profits 
of sheep runs. He had, however, no inclination to leave 
the colony, but he had an inclination to share his fortune 
with a better half. All the ladies he had known had pro- 
nounced him prodigiously particular in his choice. It was 
evident to all he was on the look-out, but that he could 
not find any one to please him, even were he lucky enough 
to please the damsel. His kind friends had decided that 
he would be certain to take a trip to England, and there 
obtain and bring back the desired prize. But, unfortu- 
nately, as it often happens, his Mends had made one 
plan for him, and he had made quite another for himself, 
and without asking their leave (which was unpar- 
donable). 

In his early life he had been brought up in elegance 
and refinement, and he wanted some fair lady who 
would not object to take a lively interest in Australian 
life, and yet who blended with it cultivated tastes and 
refined feelings. Such a one he had found in Jane Sey- 
mour, but he was not at all sure that Jane Seymour had 
found her beau ideal in himself. He therefore shrunk 
from the inquiry, very much as a man dreads turning up 
liis lottery ticket, lest it should prove a blank ; and he 
thought time and circumstances might perhaps enable 
him to prove by his deeds the value in which she was 
held by him, ere he ventured to tell her in words. 

6 



82 life's woek as rr is ; or, 

Hence nTuneroxis little contrivances were made and car- 
ried ont by him, to ease lier labonrs, and make them as 
agreeable as possible ; and many a little difficulty which 
her brothers were supposed to have overcome, many a 
Ktfcle surprise they had prepared for her, was at Im 
snggestion. 

Satan banished our forefathers from the garden of 
Eden, but he could not banish love from their hearts ; 
and though often grievously abused, marred, and 
spoiled, it is a fair flower that is ever brightening the 
most desert wilderness, and the darkest hours. And 
though old as Adam, love is still the theme that interests 
all hearts in all countries, and pure affection sheds a 
halo around it, which nought else can equal. Jane was 
not one to be easily caught, but if her affections were 
once given, they would be given and retained for 
ever! 

In this digression upon Mr. Ramsey, we have to ask 
the pardon of Old Christmas, as we most impolitely 
took leave of him when he had only half completed the 
amiiversary of his birthday. 

After the merry Christmas dinner, the Seymours 
betook themselves to the shade of some noble gum-trees, 
the day being far too hot to admit of any pleasure in 
walking. 

" Janey," said Harry, " here am I spoiling my hand- 
some pocket-handkerchief by the attention I have to pay 
to my hot face in these melting moments ; and there are 
my cousins in England dreaming away their night in 
fancying the snowballs, and skating, and slidmg on 
Christmas-day ; but for all that, I don't envy them, only 
I cannot understand it." 

"Nor I should think could any one else," said little 
Edward. " Why, our noses are red with heat instead of 
cold, and I was too hot to eat half the pudding I 
wanted to." 

" Perhaps," said Mr. Ramsey, " it was owing to the 
knowledge of your voracity that your sister had to make 
so large a pudding ; and I think she ought to pray for 



THE emigrant's HOME. 83 

the liot winds to come generally, and then there would 
be less demand upon her time and attention in the 
feeding department." 

Towards evening a cool breeze sprung up, and in 
half an hour Jane was glad to go and change her Hght 
robes for a much less sjlvan-looking one, and the boys 
buttoned up their coats, and Daddy put on an extra 
one. 

In the cooler districts, the change in the weather 
generally comes on very suddenly, and often there is the 
difference of a blanket in the course of an hour. As a 
role, the change in the weather, sudden as it is, does not 
seem to affect the health, and the cold nights prepare 
for enduring the warmth of the next day. 

Jane proposed that as Christmas-day had passed 
without their being able to attend any divine service, 
that they should smg some of their favourite Christmas 
hymns. And, having good voices, they sounded very 
sweetly, and bore away the last echo on the evening 
breeze. BAving ended the day as usual with family 
devotions, the family retired happily and peaceftilly 
to rest in their Australian home. 

It may be well to remark that places of worship 
have sprung up since the time here referred to, in variotiB 
directions, but the Seymours were too far from church 
or chapel to be able to attend divine service. Yet was 
the Sabbath made a complete day of rest, and by Jane's 
thoughtftd care they suffered comparatively little from 
this privation. After the necessary work in-doors and 
out-doors was completed, all the family were assembled, 
and each of the elder ones by turns read aloud the 
chapters and service for the day. Having read the dif- 
ferent parts they all joined in singing, their sister, who 
was a good musician, having taught them to take dif- 
ferent parts. A happy walk was generally taken in the 
afternoon, from which they returned in time to let the 
boys attend to the cattle, etc., which demanded atten- 
tion, and then, after tea, an evening service was held. 
So that, with the good management of this Httle rose of 



84 life's work as it is ; oe, 

fclie wilderness, all her brothers looked forward with 
pleasure instead of with tedium to the day of rest. 
Jane made religion pleasant, and she always wore a 
smile. 

Having given onr readers some idea of bush life, and 
a Christmas-day in Australia, we intend to take a peep 
for. a short time on a widely different phase of Australia, 
namely, the gay world in the city of Adelaide. 

As we have before said, bush life and town life are 
almost antipodes to each other. People in the bush, 
however, require from time to time to visit Adelaide for 
a few weeks, and consequently it is advisable, as well 
for the sake of those who intend to take up their resi- 
dence in the bush, as for those who emigrate perhaps 
intending to fill government, mercantile, or other situa- 
tions in Adelaide, or elsewhere, to take a peep at life as 
it is in that city, as well as it is in the bush. 

In England, the broad word " Australia " encom- 
passes everything in a heap — blacks, whites ; civilization, 
uncivilization ; log huts, and splendid stone edifices ; 
bullock waggons, and the equipages of the rich and 
great ; — all are alike assembled in a heterogeneous mass 
in the minds of our dear brethren and sisters over the 
waters. It is like a lady's bag of sewing silk, which, 
though containing every variety of colour, has become 
so mixed together by being tangled, that a distinct skein 
cannot readily be dra^vn out. There is not a country in 
the world, we firmly believe, of which so thoroughly indis- 
tinct an idea is entertained as of South Australia. We 
therefore politely invite our readers to accompany us 
for a few days from the wilderness to the great city, and 
there let us entertain ourselves with taking a bird's-eye 
view of some of the proceedings in that metropolis. 

It is the hour of noon, a lively bright day in Decem- 
ber, neither too hot nor too cold, but just perfect ; a 
really beautiful landau, with a pair of extremely stylish 
bay horses, coachman and footmen all complete, whirls 
round and draws up at the front-door of a mansion, 
which we recognize as our friends the Sullivans'. Two 



TUB emigrant's HOME. 85 

young ladies attired in French fashions step Hghtly into 
the carriage, and mamma and an elderly friend, nc 
ways behind in gracefulness and richness of costume, 
take their seats also. Forward is the word given, and 
at a dashing rate they proceed. But they pass twenty 
equipages just as handsome as their own, and bow as 
they pass to as elegantly-dressed individuals as them- 
selves. 

"Mamma," said the eldest young lady, "this is re- 
ception-day at Government House ; we may as well pay 
our respects there first, and then go shopping for the 
ball." 

Accordingly the coachman makes a graceftil sweep 
inix) Government House grounds, displaying his horses 
in best style to those who may at that moment be pass- 
ing. After paying their morning call the carriage is 
ordered to one of the first shops in Bundle Street. 
There, amidst silks and satins, gaujses and muslins, 
feathers and flowers, one would imagine the fair damsels 
would be nearly bewildered out of their seven senses. 
The annual birthday ball at Government House is a 
display of all the fashions and all the elegances that 
have emigrated to Australia. And certainly there seems 
to be no lack of choice, although the goods have been 
obliged to take a sea voyage. A few of the ribbons and 
gloves betoken having suli'ered from the efiects of sea- 
sickness, and have rather a jaded look — these articles, 
with needles and pins, being occasionally injuriously 
affected by the voyage. As a whole, however, the 
materials are as fresh as if Bond Street and Paris were 
within two hours' drive. 

The two Miss SulHvans having selected the various 
articles most becoming their separate tastes, they again 
order the carriage forward, as there are half a hundrec" 
nameless trifles still unpurchased. The horses begin to 
feel that as they have only partaken of luncheon, and as 
it is now half-past five p.m., they would like to dine 
Consequently, they paw the ground with restless im- 
patience, as they draw up at the shop where Cinderella's 



86 life's woek as it is ; oe, 

slippers are to be pnrcliased; and they look forward 
with gloomy impatience to another half-hour's halt. In 
this they are not disappointed, and it is quite six before the 
word " Home " is given to the coachman, and passed to 
them. Bnt home they go in gallant style, and having 
safely landed their fair bnrden, they no doubt feel an in- 
creased appetite for their evening repast. Dinner has 
been ordered for eight, for Mr. Sullivan has invited a 
select party to his hospitable table. Splendid chan- 
deliers, gleaming with scores of candles, shed a softened 
light on all beneath ; costly plate, richly cut glass, and 
elegant china, are in rich profusion ; dainties in fish, 
flesh, and fowl, are served in rapid succession ; and a 
dessert follows which would not disgrace a Lord 
Mayor's banquet in its rich abundance and beauty. 

The 24th of May has arrived. It is a brilliant scene 
at Government House. The grand ball-room and its 
suite of rooms are thrown open for the reception of the 
invited guests, and hundreds of ladies and gentlemen 
assemble to commemorate her gracious Majesty's 
birthday, and to pay respect to her representatives in 
the far distant land. Let us for a few moments pass 
into the vestibule, and standing aside, see the gay 
throng pass us in rapid succession, as they ahght from 
their carriage. There are judges, government officers 
of all kinds, lawyers, doctors, merchants, squatters, etc., 
aU bearing with them some lovely burden. A carriage 
has just set down two gentlemen and as many ladies. 
The drapery of the latter is most distingue. One lady is 
dark, the other Hght; one floats in a cloud of India 
muslin laces, gauzes and French flowers exquisitely 
wreathed about her dress and hair ; the other, some few 
years her senior, rejoices in rich purple Genoa velvet, 
trimmed with magnificent lace, and a head-dress of 
white ostrich feathers. And this is Australia, we 
mentally exclaim, with its serge dresses, and its sun 
bonnets, and its roughness, and its savageness, and its 
horrors. Dear reader, it is Australia, but we have 
separated the tangled skeins of silk, and we have shown 



THE EMIGBANT'S HOME.' 87 

you the difference between bush life, semi-busli life, and 
Adelaide life, and vast, indeed, is tbe difference. 

The writer fears tbat the explanation will, perhaps, 
never be satisfactorily given why Australia, more than 
any other land, should be viewed, as it were, through a 
mist ; but it is no less strange than true, that in the 
English mind of those at home there seems no definite 
idea of classification of persons, places, or distances; 
and since this book was commenceid, increased strength 
has again and again been given to this opinion. 



88 life's work as rr is; or, 



CHAPTER VI. 

We mnst now leave the gaieties of town for the sober 
realities of the bush, and bring before onr readers a class 
of men whom we have not before brought on the stage. 
Mr. Smith landed in one of the colonies about thirteen 
years ago, a miller by trade ; but he had only worked 
for others, having no capital of his own. He had a great 
idea money was to be made in this line, and certainly it 
seemed desirable to win the fickle maiden Fortune, for 
after he had paid all expenses, he and his better half 
boasted but ten shillings between them. Not dis- 
couraged by the dark and cloudy state of affairs, he im- 
mediately applied for work in his trade, and was fortunate 
in obtaining large wages, though his employer had not a 
large business. His wife went out as needlewoman at 
a small sum daily, and managed to support herself; so 
that, being without children, he could put by a large 
part of his earnings. After a time he became head man 
in a more flourishing business, still continuing to save 
every penny he could put by, his wife taking in needle- 
work, and living with the strictest economy. After 
having saved about two hundred pounds, he thought it 
time to lay the foundation of what he hoped would be a 
splendid fortune. He was not a man satisfied with being 
left behind by any one ; he must be head and foremost 
in the race if he once entered the lists. In the place he 
was now in he had secret intelligence of rises and 
falls in the corn-market, and added to this, he was 
possessed of an amount of shrewdness which, if it had 
been divided between two heads, instead of being pos- 



THE EMIGJRANT'S HOME. 8^ 

sessed by one, would have still been reckoned by others 
an abundant share. He invested his two hundred pounds 
in wheat, and in one month, by a sudden rise (expected 
by him, but not by the multitude), he cleared at one 
stroke forty pounds. We have not space to enumerate 
the various steps which this man made up the ladder of 
fortune, but it seemed something marvellous. After a 
comparatively short time, he amassed enough to buy a 
small business for himself, well knowing that small 
would not long be the word attached to his transactions. 
It is said, and perhaps with some truth, that in his 
native county and country there existed a magnificent 
estate, fit for any nobleman, and that when he set foot 
in his own business, it was with the steady resolve that 
he would never slacken his labours till he was master 
of that princely mansion which he knew could be bought 
if a large sum were offered for it. 

Whether this story be true or not, he appeared t« 
work to it. Building upon building arose, till his store- 
houses and capacious steam-mill vied with any in thesa 
colonies ; vessels were bought and freighted by him to 
all parts ; wealth flowed in on every side. Some fluc- 
tuations and losses took place, but they were as a drop 
in a bucket ; and a short time ago the writer heard he 
had returned to visit his native country rolling in wealth. 
It is not our intention to paint the picture too brightly, 
therefore, of course, there are but very few who must 
expect to do aU our friend accompHshed. Still what we 
have stated are facts ; therefore, as such, let them be 
stated and known. Others may not be so fortunate, yet 
we always think that where a prize is held out it makes 
the race vigorous, even though there be but one winner. 
This, however, is by no means a solitary case. We 
know another individual in the same business wh® 
began as humbly as our friend before-mentioned, and 
who, step by step, ascended Fortune's ladder. Though 
an uneducated man, yet so signally were his efforts 
crowned with success, that he is reckoned one of the 
richest men in his trade. Talking of wealth, no mea 



90 life's woek as it is; or, 

bave made wealtli faster in tliis colony than " squat- 
ters ;" that is, in plain English, sheep and cattle owners. 
Enormous fortunes have been realized in these callings, 
and they have been considered almost to coin money. 
Times and seasons have altered, and when we now write, 
clouds thick and dark seem to have risen in their hori- 
zon and obscured the sun of their prosperity. Still we 
trust there is "a good time coming,*' when they shall 
again have genial seasons, and abundant recompense for 
their labours. Nevertheless, owing to Government 
regulations respecting the valuation of runs, money 
cannot be coined as fast as it has been, even when the 
present losses are made up. Numbers and numbers of 
individuals who have come to their wits' ends for occu- 
pation take to shepherding on runs. It is a quiet, 
though very monotonous life. Their wages are generally 
fifteen shillings and upwards per week, with rations and 
a hut to live in. Overseers get pretty well paid when 
things are bright, as frequently the gentlemen who 
invest large capitals in runs are not resident there, or 
perhaps hold several, and therefore, not being ubiqui- 
tous, are glad to employ trusty men to take charge of 
their stations. There is much more to be done at some 
parts of the year than others ; but there is ffenerally a 
Sood deal Jclaim attention. The sheep in louth aV 
tralia require watering as much as cattle ; they have to 
be frequently counted, and the flocks appointed to diffe- 
rent localities for feed. The lambing and shearing seasons 
especially are times of great bustle and work. The 
flocks in good seasons increase marvellously, and have 
hitherto been one of the great sources of wealth. But 
we shall have again to allude to this subject. 

The greatest lack of South Australia is water, espe- 
cially as so much is needed in this hot climate for man 
and beast, and the want of it has been increasingly felt 
of late years. The Murray is a noble river, and very 
beautiful in some parts; its course continues 2400 
miles, after which it falls into the sea at Encounter Bay. 
J3ut this is the only river of note yet discovered in all 



THE emigrant's HOME. 91 

South Australia. In many parts it is about the width 
of the Thames at London. The Onkaparinga (a native 
name) is very pretty, and some of its banks are as lovely 
as any the writer ever saw. The Torrens supplies 
Adelaide with water, and in some parts is pretty; but 
the Murray is the only navigable river known. Several 
lakes have been discovered, viz., Lake Torrens, Lake 
Victoria, Lake Albert, and the Coorong, at the mouth 
of the Murray, with some others. There are thirteen 
counties in the inhabited part of South Australia; 
Gawler, Light, Stanley, and Burra, on the north of the 
county of Adelaide, Frome on the north-west. Flinders 
on the west, Hindmarsh on the south, Russel, Robe, and 
Grey on the south-east, and Eyre on the north-east. 

Adelaide, the capital, is situated on the banks of the 
Torrens. The country in winter is watered by creeks 
in all directions, but of these only comparatively few 
stand the summer heat, and out of these few a still 
smaller number stand an extra dry year. Wells are 
sunk, of course, and water in most places is attainable ; 
but in faithfulness we are bound to say that want of 
water is the greatest drawback to South Australia. 

Having given a geography lesson, we now think it 
time to take a peep at our Mend Pat, and perhaps from 
him we shall gather some farther account of bush life in 
its most primitive state. 

One fine morning Pat was seen running as fast as 
his legs could carry him to his master's house — 

" Your honour," said Pat, " faith and sure, but I've 
seen a dromedary ; only one hunch on its back is all the 
crater has, and it's covered with feathers instead of 
hair. I see one in the Zoglican Gardens in London, 
and if your honour plase and could shoot the crater, 
we might preserve it in spirits and send it as a curio- 
sity to the museum." 

" Well, Pat, what in the name of fortune have you 
seen ? but certainly you must be bewitched, or possessed, 
or something." 

" Oh no, master," said Pat, " it's only Molly Avour- 



92 life's work as it is; or, 

neen that ever witched me, and I'm tin times the better 
man for it ; but only bring your gun and we'll have 
him." 

Pat's good-humoured master followed, gan on 
shoulder, Pat going ahead. After walking some dis- 
tance, Pat suddenly exclaimed : — 

. " There's the crater that I see, and sure and faith 
isn't it a dromedary." 

" Sure and faith," said his master, " you're a goose, 
^d the creature's an emu, and a very fine one too, and 
though I should not think of putting him in spirits, I 
certainly will have his skin, which is a very fine one." 

Accordingly, taking a good aim, the bird fell, mor- 
tally wounded in its side. 

" Arrah," said Pat, "if it isn't all up with the drome- 
dary, or emu as your honour calls him ; but now I comes 
near it, it's uncommon like a great bird as I see in the 
Zoglican Gardens, that ran about, and they said carried 
all the plumes in its tail that her gracious Majesty wore 
at court, God bless her." 

" Oh dear," said Pat's master, " I wish you were 
English instead of Irish, for you do make me laugh so 
that it brings on that bad cough I had in the winter and 
have only just lost." 

" Sure and faith," said Pat, " you'd wish me to be 
my own mother's son, and if she were niver out of Ire- 
land, is it English that I could be ? But your honour, 
if it hadn't been for going to see those four animals in 
the Zoglican Gurdens, with the dromedaries and their 
humps, I'd never have made the mistake as I did ; but 
the crater's legs were so long, and its back so large, and 
its head so high, that the first thing as my imagination 
came to was to think of a dromedary, only sure and faith 
it was never in me to see the crater had lost two of its 
four legs." 

Certainly it was a magnificent emu, and in splendid 
plumage ; it stood very high. The speed of the emu is 
wonderful if pursued by dogs. They are frequently seen 
in the north and other parts in flocks, but when they 



THE emigrant's HOME. 93 

wander into more thicklj-popnlated districts, they some- 
times come singly or only two or three together. They 
are generally fonnd in the same neighbonrhood where 
kangaroos abonnd, and the skins of these birds are 
much prized, especially the older ones. The blacks are 
v^ery clever in curing them ; the feathers are often used 
as ornaments, and are very graceful though small. 

" Well, Pat," said his master, " can't you skin the 
bird for me ?" 

" Sure and faith, your honour, and ye don't be going 
to think because as I'm a Paddy, I'm a canabil ; why I 
never seed a scalp, your honour, much more took 
one." 

" Oh dear me, Pat," said his master, " what shall I 
do with you ; why it's the skin of the whole bird, not 
merely his head, that I want ; but I see clearly it's no 
use asking you." 

" Ah, but your honour," said Pat, " there's some of 
those darkies in the scrub yonder, and they built what 
they call a whirley or two, and I've been told they'd sell 
every bit of themselves for a stick of baccy ; if your 
honour spake to them, it's glad they'd be to do it, I'm 
thinking." 

"Ah, well, Pat, your second idea is brighter than 
your first, so trot off and fetch two of them." 

Pat made a long face, made a rush at a lock of his 
hair by way of a bow, and said, very gravely, " Your 
honour doesn't mane to make a widow of Molly, and 
may be if I went, and they know as how I'm a Paddy, 
they might be skinning me instead of the bird by way of 
practice." 

" Well, then, we'll go together," said Pat's kind 
master, " and I'll tell them that if they touch you, Molly 
will put them all in a pie ; will that do ?" 

" Anything, please your honour, only nothing, not 
even the bird, as knows how to behave to a Paddy out 
'ere ; it's only yoursel that understands the right thing, 
and knows what I'm made of." 

" It's a great mercy then, and one you can't be too 



94 life's woek as it is; or, 

tliankfal for," said Pat's master, " that you came here 
then ; and I hope yon'll stay, as yon snit me." 

" Bless yonr honour, I'll stay till I go,'' said Pat, and 
off he trotted. 

Arrived at the whirleys, Pat's master called to one 
of the blacks who understood English, and told him 
what he wanted. 

" We understand," said the black, " big bird tumble 
down, never tumble up again, white feller want scalp, 
black feller do it very well: what white feller give?" 
added he. 

" Oh, time enough when I see how the work is done," 
said the gentleman. 

" You give us tucker," said another of the party ; 
" squaw very bad, tumble down sick ; big lot pain, very 
ill, want good tucker." 

"No doubt," said the party addressed ; " but if two 
of you come that is enough. I do not require the whole 
party.'* 

Accordingly the two blacks followed, and with great 
skill in a surprisingly short time scalped, as they called, 
poor Mr. Emu ; a very sharp flint was their chief instru- 
ment of operation, assisted now and then by their 
teeth. 

Perhaps this may not be an inopportune place to in- 
troduce some interesting particulars about the race of 
people who occupied South Australia prior to its settle- 
ment. Many of the tribes are fast dying out, and some 
have become extinct; still in many parts of the colony they 
exist in considerable numbers. They are divided into a 
great many tribes, between most of which a deadly feel- 
ing of hostility exists, and where in some instances black 
children have been in the care of Europeans (and have 
after a time desired to return, to the wilderness), they 
have been intercepted and murdered by intervening 
tribes, long before they could reach their own. Some of 
the men are good-looking and of tolerable proportions ; 
but as a race they are extremely ugly and badly formed, 
Hhe women especially. The first tune the writer saw 



THE EMIGBANT'S HOME. 95 

these natives, Paddy's simile recmred to mind, namely, 
that of a mop-handle with a swap stuck on the top 
instead of the bottom. Their legs and arms are like 
spindles, so miserably thin and bony; they are also 
rather narrow chested ; their colonr is a dirty black, not 
near as dark as negroes, and with much longer hair and 
not woolly, though coarse. Their eyes are often very hand- 
some, and their teeth are splendid, but the features are 
flat, and those of the women frequently repulsive. They 
are, as a race, about the middle height, and without 
much strength, totally different and inferior in every 
way to New Zealanders. Before Europeans made their 
appearance, an opossum rug or a skin of any bird was 
all the raiment they boasted ; but since civilization has 
made its way, those who are about peopled districts are 
generally decently clothed. They have but very few 
children, and few of those live ; therefore, the tribes are 
rapidly dwindling away. They believe in a good and 
bad spirit, but seem to go little beyond this ; they have 
no idols, no places of worship, and but few observances 
of any kind that savour of religion in any way. At a 
death they cut their faces and paint themselves white, 
and the women or lubras call it " crying their man." 
They used to carry the body about for some time, and 
then place it in the forked branches of some large tree ; 
but this has been forbidden of late years, though but a 
short time back one of the writer's friends saw the 
remains of one of these relics in a tree near Encounter 
Bay or Port Elliot. Polygamy is permitted amongst 
them. On one occasion two native young girls, who 
used to be seen in the neighbourhood, were missing for 
a week ; when they returned their faces were torn with 
some jagged instrument, and covered with clotted blood, 
red ochre, and lime, and their hair matted with lime 
and grease. They were asked where they had been. 
Pausing a few moments, they burst into tears and said, 
" Old woman plenty tumble down" (our moder dead). 
They were asked, "What for tear your face?" They 
replied, "White feller only sorry slong his eye," and 



^6 life's woek as it is ; or, 

then pointing to their disfigured faces they said, " Black 
fellers plenty sorry here." 

Some of the tribes have a tradition that the blacks 
when they die become white fellows, and that the Euro- 
peans are consequently connected with them. They 
say, black feller tumble down, white feller tumble up. At 
one of the stations about fifty miles from Guichen Bay, 
a considerable number of the natives had congregated, 
many of them were employed on the station, and some 
ef them became quite attached to the owners ; one of the 
oldest of the lubras used to say to the master of this run, 
" You my son, I your moder, I take care of you, my big 
boy plenty tumble down, you white boy tumble up ; yer 
my pickinine." And upon taking to himself a better 
half and introducing her to his home, she immediately 
was similarly provided with some kind parent, who laid 
claim to her, and at all events she learnt to be very fond 
of the poor creatures. Possibly this curious article of 
faith does not extend farther than some of the tribes. 

The lower Murray aborigines have a tradition that 
they were all birds and beasts originally, and that there 
was no sun, and that darkness dwelt on the earth ; but 
a quarrel arising between an emu and a native, the 
latter threw an egg of the former up to the sky, when 
it broke upon a pile of wood, seemingly prepared for 
that purpose by the good spirit (Gnamderoot), when 
the concussion produced fire, and the earth was flooded 
with light, and the good spirit saw that it was an im- 
provement upon the darkness, therefore he has con- 
tinued to light it up every morning since that time. 
There are many other traditions, but perhaps this is one 
©f the most striking on record. 

At times the natives will work well, but it is only 
for a short time, generally, and only amongst some 
tribes. They cut wood, reap the harvest, and engage 
in whale fishing, as well as any whites, and quite out- 
strip them in horsemanship if taught to ride when 
young. An old settler once related to the writer an 
anecdote of a black's first impression on seeing a horse. 



THE emigrant's HOME. 97 

It was in the earliest days of the colony. Some black 
fellows came to this gentleman and looked with astonish- 
ment at the nnknown animal. They had never seen 
one monnted, and had no idea how to get on to his 
back. The gentleman made them understand he wanted 
one of them to monnt ; presently, to his amazement, 
one of them canght hold of the horse's tail, pulled him- 
self by this leyer up the horse's hind-leg, and seated 
himself with triumph on its back. Luckily for the 
poor fellow it was a quiet old stager, or his head would 
have paid for his temerity. The idea, however, is not 
> quite as strange as at first sight, as the natives are in 
the constant habit of climbing up the most inaccessible 
trees, making a notch with a sharp instrument, and 
going from notch to notch, planting their toes in the 
small space, and raising themselves by means of the 
stick to the next hole they have cut in the. bark. Their 
agility in performing this feat is something wonderftd, 
and 4hey scarcely ever miss their footing. 

Spears are the weapons they mostly fight with, 
and some most ingeniously made have been brought 
from the northern territories. They are extremely 
expert in fishing, taking opossums, diving under water, 
and catching wild fowl. Their whirleys are made 
chiefly of branches of trees and large pieces of 
bark ; they are in the form of half a circle, and are 
shifted to suit the direction of the wind. A huge fire is 
made in front, and then all lay round in the inner circle 
behind the fire. They are fearfiil gamblers, and, since 
they have known Europeans, cards are their grand 
amusement. They wiU stake everything, to the last 
rag they possess, and after working hard for two or 
three weeks, will lose every penny in an hour or two at 
cards. They are extremely clever at playing, and dis- 
play more tact than any one could imagine they were 
capable of. 

In general, they are most peaceable and pleasant 
with the whites ; but there have been some exceptions, 
and there has been lately considerable annoyance caused. 



98 life's woek as it is ; or, 

by tlie natiyes at Lake Hope, and one or two other 
places. They are nsnally looked npon with a kindly 
Lterest bj ^ parties. Their corrobories are wild and 
sayage scenes, and may be heard for miles. At these 
tbey paint themselves aU over with oil jfrom head to foot, 
ornament their heads, then forming a circle begin a war 
dazkce, which is a series of the most extraordinary antics 
evwr accomplished by any clown at Astley's. The 
women sit ronnd, and join in the most nnearthly yells, 
singing, and screams ever heard this side of the infernal 
regions, and can only be heard to be understood, and 
bcong once understood can never be forgotten. These 
orgies always take place by firelight, when the moon is 
at the fall, which adds to the grimness of the scene. 

A missionary establishment and school have been 
supported at Port Lincoln, and is called Ponindee. The 
writer has met with some admirable specimens from this 
establishment, men who clearly proved, both by their 
living and dying, that labonr and Christian care had 
not been expended in vain. But the great dif&cnlty 
always arises of their dying off so fast in a state of civili- 
zation. Thns, as soon as ever a settled commnnity is 
any way gathered, it is broken np. There is another 
missionary settlement on a small scale in another part 
of the colony, chiefly supported by dissenters, to which 
the tribes are encour^ed to come and settle for a time, 
and benefit by the means of instruction. 

There are many more particulars equally interesting' 
to be told of the aborigines, but our pages are limited, 
and we feel we have already rather encroached upon 
them. Nevertheless, the emigrant, be he in what situa- 
tion he may, feels anxious to know something of those 
people to whose land he intends to come ; hence we feel 
that we have not diverged frt)m our original purpose in 
giving rather a lengthy account of the aborigines of 
South Australia. 

We have, it appears, entirely left Pat, and, no doubt, 
he is tired of waiting for us. He watched with much 
interest the "scalping," as he called it, of his dromedary. 



THE emigrant's HOME. 99 

and then inqnired of his master what he was to do with 
the body. 

" Oh, leave that to the darkies," said his master ; 
" 'twill make a famous feed for the sick lubra and all 
her friends." 

" Please your honour," said Pat, " would you tell me 
the raison why white swans are black in this 'ere forin 
country, and the cockatoos, some of them, the same." 

" Well," said his master, " as to that, it's not the 
white swans that are black, only they're black here 
instead of white ; perhaps out of compliment to the 
natives," added he, laughing. 

" Why," said Pat, " I wouldn't like always to be in 
mourning as them birds be; it's mighty dolefiil for them 
anyways, poor things." 

We must now inquire of Pat and Harry Jones how 
their worldly afl&irs progressed. 

" Harry," said Pat, " it's a fine thing to come to this 
forin country. Why, it's a gintleman I shall be, save 
that I'm my own mother's son, and she wasn't a lady, 
bless her ould heart. But faith and sure, its a good 
sum I've laid by in the savings' bank, and a good stock 
of clothes that Molly and I Save to our backs, and she 
only wears her patched gown as she brought with her 
on washing days." 

"Well," said Harry, "it is a good land. I've been 
two years with Mary at service, and we've had a good 
master ; and I'm a-thinking, Pat, you and I might go 
inlo a little partnership concern, seeing we know each 
other pretty well. Now I propose to hire a section, a 
very good one, that is to let with a house upon it. It 
is ready fenced, and very reasonable — only £45 a-year. 
Now I propose that we should put up a little place for 
you with wattle and dab, and then we wiU go halves in 
buying what is wanted ; but I think for the first year 
master would let me a team cheap, as we mustn't go 
on too fast. Then in least busy times one or other of us 
can go out to work, and we will go halves in everything, 
and in the profits. I think with care we caxi.Taa3Cfik5^*->i^i. 



100 life's work as it is; or, 

We will buy two cows, and onr wives can attend to 
them, and the pigs and poultry. I think in a few years 
we may purchase the section, and perhaps another 
besides, if we have good crops. Master says he's sorry 
to part with us, but he would not stand in our way for 
good, and he does think we might succeed." 

" Well," said Pat, " faith and sure it's a gintleman 
yet I'll be. Bless the Queen for sending me here, or 
the imigration society, which I s'pose is all the same. 
And it's Patrick O'Connor that will always have a 
good word to say for them while the breath is in his 
body." 

" Well," said Harry, " at all events we will try and 
do credit to the emigration society, so they shan't be 
ashamed of us, and therefore we mQ consider the best 
way to go to work." 

Harry and Pat having put their savings together, 
found that they had ample to buy implements with 
for farming, also three cows, some pigs and poultry, 
the seed requisite to set, one team of bullocks, 
and still to leave a good lump for the rent and 
for other things needful, till their farm should begin to 
turn in some ready money. They stocked the garden 
with vegetables ; it was already planted with fruit-trees 
and vines, and they also set about building Pat's house, 
of wattle and dab. 

" Arrah," said Pat one morning, " and sure Molly 
Avourneen won't know herself when she has this hand- 
some house to call her own. It's just the place to her 
heart ; and there's an ilegant chimley for the smoke to 
walk out of doors dacentlv, and not smother all the folks 
afore it can make its way to get a breath of air, as in 
ould Ireland." 

Certainly Pat's house was a very decent little affair 
when finished, and one any poor man might be proud 
of. Harry and Mary took a grateful leave of their kind 
master and mistress, and the happy couple commenced 
life for themselves in the bush, surrounded with mode- 
rate comforts, and satisfied in the consciousness that 



THE EMIGEANT's HOME. 101 

by their own honest industry they had obtained inde- 
pendence. 

One day Pat, being out to find straight wattles for 
their work, proceeded further than he had any idea, and 
all of a sudden began to consider whether he was quite 
sure of the way to retrace his steps. There was a track, 
it is true, but on passing this a little way, he was not 
certain it was the same he had taken. He wandered 
about for some time in considerable distress, as the 
evening was fast drawing in, but fortunately, hearing 
the bark of a dog in the distance, his quick ear guided 
his footsteps, and he reached a hut, where the man put 
him in the right way. 

" Sure and faith,*' said Pat, " and I thought I should 
never again see the ilegant house, and beautiful farm, 
and my own Molly no more. Every step I went for- 
ward I went backward, and I thought of the ould mother 
in ould Ireland, and the chimley where all the smoke 
would come down because it couldn't go up, and the 
praties, and the salt herring, and I'd have given my 
handsome farm, and all the good liviug, only to be safe 
there with the life in me ; for I thought what was the 
use of aU the fine things, and no breath in my body to 
eat them, for sure and faith it's starved I should have 
been, if I hadn't heard the dogs bark, and heard it 
quick too." 

We may here be allowed to make a digression, and 
say that no one who has not been in the Australian 
colonies can understand the difficulty of finding or keep- 
ing the right tracks, and the ease of losing them. And 
strange to say, that parties who have laughed at the 
misfortunes and apparent stupidity of others, and who 
have for years traversed the bush safely, have at 
last lost themselves, when and where they least ex- 
pected. New comers cannot be too much on their 
guard when really in the bush, either on foot or horse- 
back. It would make a volume in itself to tell the half 
of all the incidents that could be narrated on this sub- 
ject. There is a great sameness in the Australian 



102 life's woek as it is ; or, 

foliage and scenery. Very often for miles together there 
is little striking variety. This may be one thing. Then 
the cattle tracks are so numerous, that before you stop 
to think, you have taken what appears a bridle path, but 
in reahty only leads into the thickest scrub. But nothing 
is more difficult of explanation than the number of indi- 
viduals who have been lost close to their own homes, 
and never known, but a little care might frequently 
prevent such mistakes. Two instances of this nature, 
out of many others, are worth relating, from their 
tragical interest and truth. The first history is a very 
touching one, and happened to one of the domestics be- 
longing to an acquaintance of the author's. 

A little girl, about thirteen years of age, was employed 
by her master and mistress to fetch in the dairy cows, 
and was in the constant habit of doing so. On the 
afternoon in question she had sallied forth as usual, but 
she went forth never to return. After the lapse of a 
few hours, a vigorous search was instituted, the cows 
were found at no great distance, but no girl ! To the 
credit of this colony, we have always observed that, in 
any calamity of this kind, every one joins hand and 
heart to help. And we have known a whole district 
turn out for nearly a week, riding and walking, to find 
lost children or people, and never return till they felt 
sure they had scoui^ed every spot for miles round. In 
this instance, the most diligent search was made for 
days, but ujiavailingly. The master kept continually on 
tiie look-out, but never could discover any trace of the 
missing one. 

Two years after, when in a scrub not more than a 
mile from home, he noticed a few branches of trees 
placed together on the ground, and in some way or an- 
other they excited his attention. He got off his horse 
and examined them ; they had been arranged by some 
human hand, but not by the blacks. There was a small 
space underneath, and in this recess lay the bones of the 
jooor lost one, who almost in sight of her home had be- 
come confused, in some mysterious way, and finding 



THE EmaSANT'S HOM£. 103 

herself nnable to discover her path, back, had formed this 
little shelter. How it was that no one fonnd her, or 
that she never heard those in pnrsnit, must for ever re- 
main a mystery, as must many other similar cases. But 
a touching relic proved her death was a natural one, 
however fearful ! A Httle Wesleyan hymn-book lay 
by her side undestroyed. On opening it, her* master 
found the following words pricked with a pin in the 
fly-leaf, "Dear father, love God, and don't drink any 
more," with her initials. 

This touching appeal was sent to the father, who 
must have felt it something like a voice from heaven. 
The second instance we shall give was equally strange 
and unaccountable, and occurred some distance north- 
ward. Two gentlemen were at a station with their man- 
servant. Being about to ride over to another station a 
few miles away, over a road with which they were well 
acquainted, they arranged the night before with their 
man that he should rise early and go forward and pre- 
pare breakfast for them at this station. Accordingly 
the man started and got breakfast ready. The gentle- 
men started also, but though the path appeared so plain 
that it was impossible to mistake it, they were never 
seen again, and their horses never returned. Years after, 
their remains were identified, but in so exactly an oppo- 
site direction to the one they were making for, as to 
render it a matter almost of impossibility how they ever 
got there. It was conjectured that in some unaccount- 
able manner they had lost their broad track, that losing 
it and having no compass they had got bewildered, that 
they then had entirely lost their way, wandered to where 
they were found, and they and their horses had perished 
together for want of water. Of course the most vigilant 
search was immediately made the moment their loss was 
discovered, but without avail. 

Space will allow of no further incidents being men- 
tioned, but never let the emigrant trust carelessly to 
supposed knowledge of the bush and its tracks, or when 
he least thinks it he may find himself irretrievably lost. 



104 LIFB*S WORK AS IT IS; OR, 

Hairbreadth escapes have happened to some of the 
author*s friends, who have been too confident in their 
own powers. 

It is now time to take another peep at our fair 
friend and old acquaintance Eleanor Dingle ; her face 
still wears that sunny smile, and her brow that placid 
smoothness which betokens happiness and peace. By 
this time Robert Dingle has been enabled to purchase 
the section and the adjoining bit of land, and he calls 
the homestead his own ; there have been fluctuations 
and roughs as well as smooths, but he has been a suc- 
oessful and happy man, and he feels it. 

" Robert," said his wife one Sabbath morning, " it 
almost seems Hke Old England, and I can scarce fancy 
that sixteen thousand miles of ocean separate us &om 
that beloved land ; there are the Httle ones just trotting 
off to the Sabbath school, and then the Sabbath itself 
seems as sweet and peaceftd as if we were in Devon- 
shire; and there is our own place of worship, and 
others too rising up, and we enjoy an honest indepen- 
dence, and God has given us his blessing." 

" Even so, Eleanor," said her husband. " Sunny 
days have been ours, though many a hard struggle has 
there been when the clouds looked dark, but we did well 
when you nerved my heart to leave behind all we had 
loved, and when you urged me to try our fortunes 
together in this far-off land. And as our little ones 
increase in stature, there will be an abundant field of 
useftdness for them, and they will have every prospect 
of succeeding as well as we have done, and perhaps 
even better." 

The writer thinks that this is one grand feature in 
the colony — it not only opens prospects to the parent but 
to the children ; there is always some opening for the 
industrious, some honest way for obtaining a comfort- 
able living ; and this can scarcely be said in our over- 
populated mother country. During the late drought 
there has been some distress, and in so large a city as 
Adelaide there will always be some cases of destitution ; 



THE emigrant's HOME. 105 

but real abject poverty or want seems a thing diflficult 
to realize in the author's mind. When one remembers 
the wretchedness, the misery, the want constantly visible 
in England, it is something refreshing to feel that it re- 
quires a search before you find individuals who would 
ever thank you for any assistance. Beggars are never 
seen, except a professional by chance emigrate and take 
to his old trade. A free and independent spirit seems to 
emigrate with each new arrival, and persons in England 
can scarcely credit the difference to be found in persons 
of the lower class at the end of a twelvemonth. Per- 
haps a simple little incident will explain how little 
poverty is felt here.* The author happened to be re- 
siding in rather a poor district, perhaps not six rich 
individuals in a population of some hundreds. Having 
occasion to make some purchases at the country store 
(or general shop), inquiries were made as to the price of 
some articles of luxury, but as the price was considered 
extravagant, no purchase was effected. A short time 
after, another individual went to the same store, and 
wanting to purchase some of those articles of which 
there was a large stock before, the reply was aU had 
been sold, and that the demand exceeded the power of 
supplying it. And this was in a year when the affairs 
of the colony were considered at a very low ebb. 

Fabulous stories apparently, but in reality true, are 
afloat everywhere of the extravagance of the times of 
the gold diggings, although Melbourne was the principal 
seat of gay doings. Nearly all the men from South 
Australia went to the diggings, and on their return 
bank notes were flung about with far less reverence and 
care than coppers are in England. Servants were in 
silks, satins, and velvets. Carriages were seen parad- 
ing with the fortunate diggers in ftdl costume, and 
in frill glory ; men who had never owned a five-pound 
note before, returned with thousands, and being obtained 

* Goyemment provides a comfortable destitute asjlum for all 
vrho should be really in distress from ill health and other ciroum* 
Etances, and also a noble hospitaL 



106 life's wokk as it IS; or, 

qnicldy it too often went as it came. Hundreds, how- 
ever made and kept their fortunes, or built them on 
what they then and there obtained. One of our 
governors' wives entered a well-known shop and inquired 
for a dress of richest satin. The shopman produced his 
best, and said it was one guinea a yard. Whilst the lady 
was debating about the price, a rough man in a serge 
blouse entered the store, took hold of the beautifdl 
article, and pulling it towards him said, " That will do 
for my Sal ; put up eighteen yards, here's the money," 
and putting down his money and taking the dress under 
his arm, he walked out of the shop in his glory, rather 
to the discomfiture of the fair lady. 

It is, perhaps, the sunniest side of South Australia 
that real genuine poverty is almost unknown. Poverty 
there consists in not having an abundance, or in nob 
being able to obtain superfluities. To see a labouring 
man sit down to dry bread is a thing unheard of, and to 
hear of any one dying of want, a thing not to be thought 
of. Poverty here, as we have before said, is only com- 
parative, and to the steadily industrious is rarely or 
never known. Children at the earliest ages can earn 
good wages ; women get well paid for labour also ; and 
therefore, even in cases of sickness, want rarely stares 
any one in the face. And should it do so, the destitute 
asylum and hospital are in readiness for the afficted 
and incompetent. 

Then the marvellous difference in the atmosphere 
makes so marvellous a difference in clothing and fael. 
The coldest day in winter is rarely as cold as a spring 
day in March in England Frost and snow are a sort of 
fabulous tale to the children bom in South Australia. 
A very slight fall of snow occurred for about half an 
hour at Echunga, and one of the poorer class of children 
ran screaming to its mother and said, " Mother, mother, 
make haste, here's a lot of soap-suds coming down the 
chimney as fast as they can." A slight hoar-frost took 
place in another neighbourhood, and a good-sized boy 
came in and said, "Lawk, mother, if the grass and leaves 



THE emigrant's HOME. 107 

bean't covered aH over witih white barley-stigar." These 
two simple instances will give an idea of how little dis- 
tress occurs for the want of heavy clothing, large fires, 
or numerous blankets. Of coxirse, frost does occur 
frequently and perniciously, but a piece of ice the thick- 
ness of a shilling is exhibited as a phenomenon worth 
gazing at. In some of the neighbouring colonies frost 
and snow are abundant. At the gold diggings discovered 
in New Zealand, the frost and snow were frightful in 
the neighbourhood of Otago, and the "Blue-slan," men 
perished from cold, and on one occasion so considerable 
was the fall of snow as to nearly bury some of the 
diffffers. Hardships unheard of fell to the lot of many 
of those imforfcanate men who arrived near winter time, 
and who were destitute of means to improve their lot. 
As a rule, S^outh Australian winters are little colder than 
a nuld spring in England, though of course seasons vary, 
and also districts. It is much colder in the north in 
winter than it is in the districts further south of Adelaide, 
though, by a strange anomaly, they as a rule, suffer far 
more from heat and drought in the summer. The 
climate of Victoria is much about the same as South 
Australia ; the summer may be a little cooler, but the 
hot winds are worse when they blow, and the dust more 
insufferable. The two colonies, however, are very much 
on a par if taken as a whole. Sydney is decidedly hotter 
than either, being nearer the tropics. 

It may be well to remark here, that oranges, citrons, 
and lemons, arrive to great perfection in South Australia, 
though at present their culture has been too expensive 
to render them cheap. Large oranges have been planted, 
and are now coming into bearing. Lemons bear most 
plentifully, and citrons attain a prodigious size, and bear 
in great proftision if well attended to. The orange-trees 
here blossom in winter, but fruit and blossoms may 
sometimes be seen on the same tree at once. This is 
especially the case with the lemon. The hot winds are the 
greatest enemies to the orange- trees, as the young oranges 
are often swept off by the spring hot winds and laid is. 



i 



108 life's work as it is; or, 

liimdreds nnder the trees. Irrigation has to be con- 
stantly applied in all orangeries ; and small windmills 
have in many places been erected, at considerable ex- 
pense, by which a constant flow of water is kept up. 

Vines, vineyards, and wine, seem now the great rage in 
Australia. From the richest to the poorest, from the 
mansion to the cottage, we may truly say that every 
man sits " under his own vine," and under his own fig- 
tree. In all the southern and eastern districts the grape 
in etery variety flourishes in the richest luxuriance. 
Bunches of grapes that would be seized upon in Covent 
Garden Market, almost like nuggets of gold, are to be 
seen in South Australia in every cottager's garden by 
the wayside. The weight of the bunches, and the size 
of some of the grapes, are almost fabulous. 

Wine is now becoming almost as great an object of 
attention as the diggings a few years back, though, alas, 
not near so profitable. Our Httle volume is intended for 
facts, not for disquisitions on those facts. An immense 
diversity of opinion is afloat as to the probable amount 
of profit to be insured from the manufacttire of wine in 
this colony, and perhaps it is after all a discussion which 
old Time can alone settle to our satisfaction. Very ex- 
cellent wines have been manufactured, but how far they 
will, as a bulk, be remunerative as the supply increases, 
remains to be proved. 

There is one fact stem in its reality as regards South 
Australia, namely, that the love of drinking is the curse 
of this favoured land. We do not lay it to the manu- 
facture of wine, because it existed long before the people, 
as a body, turned their attention to the subject. Never- 
theless it has been augmented in late years, and only 
recently we heard a magistrate deploring the quarrels, 
the misery, the thousand ills that follow in the train of 
intemperance. And he gave as his judgment that almost 
every man possessing his own hogshead or barrel of 
of wine, had materially added to the love of fermented 
liquors, and its consequent miseries. No doubt the heat 
induces thirst, and thirst begets the love of something 



THE emigrant's HOME. 109 

stronger than water to qnencli it. But we do desire to 
lift a warning voice to all new settlers, in what grade of 
society soever they be, against the first step on this road 
to ruin. Ardent spirits are drank to a fearfdl extent, 
and men toss down one glass after' another, by the 
technical term of " nobblers.*' 

In the bush, and on stations, tea is the grand, and 
almost only, beverage used. Would to God we could 
say that that beverage was adhered to by those who, on 
turning their backs on the bush, seem to rush into the 
very floodgates of temptation, forgetting every interest 
they have, not only for time, but eternity. Smoking in 
the most immoderate manner is another of the evils 
colonists are much given way to. 



110 life's wobk as rr IS; or, 



CHAPTER Vn. 

It waiS about the middle of summer, that is, in the 
month of January, that the Seymours had their jBrst 
serious alarm from bush fires. Towards evening, Jane 
had been attending to her flourishing poultry-yard and 
colony of young ducklings, and about an hour affcer she 
noticed a strong light shining rather strongly in the 
north-west direction of their abode, just on the outside 
of some thick scrub. She immediately ran for one of 
her brothers, to give the alarm. She had heard of bush 
fires, but never seen one. 

Harry declared it was some fire just starting, and 
that the promptest measures must be taken to arrest its 
progress. Their cattle not being numerous (and settlers 
being few and far between), the kangaroo grass had grown 
to a great height just outside and round about the scrub 
and their sections, and once let the flames encounter 
this, and all their efforts would hardly save the home- 
stead and fences. 

"If," Harry said, " they could beat it baxjk and con- 
fine it to the trees, the flames would run up them instead 
of running along the ground ; but almost everything de- 
pends on the wind, which seems very much inclined to 
shift to the wrong direction." 

All hands were called (not to the pump) but to the 
fire. Jane put on her leather gauntlets, and sallied forth 
with them. Mr. Ramsey, who by some unaccountable 
accident was there, was a famous help, from his know- 
ledge of bush fires ; but all the extra help to be obtained 
was the services of two Irish labourers, who had been 



THE EMIGRAKT's HOME. Ill 

helping in the hay harvest, and were \raiting to reap 
the com which was ripe. 

As the twilight flitted away, the fire gained strength 
and exhibited its powers. A lond crash was heard, as 
one of the monstrous trees of the forest fell to rise no 
more ; and the fire, having been busy some time before 
it was discovered, was beginning to make . great havoc 
amidst the scrub. 

" Look, look !" said little Edward, " see the flames 
dancing round that tree like fire-works! Isn't it 
splendid ? There ! there ! it is up to the top of that 
big gum-tree, and I know it is hollow at the bottom, and 
it must come down in a few minutes! Isn't it glo- 
rious ?" 

"Well," said his father, "it would be a good deal 
more so, if I felt my crop of wheat safe in the bam, and 
my fences were a little farther off". We shall save the 
house and the homestead, but I fear it's little we shall 
see of our crops to-morrow morning, if the wind does 
not shift." 

" Oh, courage, father," said Jane, " don't be down- 
hearted. Why, dear me, there's nine of us, and there's 
many a worse fire than this been put out by fewer people ; 
hasn't there, Mr. Ramsey ?" 

But Mr. Ramsey either did not or would not reply, 
and did not seem quite so confident in their strength, or 
the power of the green boxighs with which they waged 
war upon the devouring element. 

Poor Jane ! with all her energy, it was no woman's 
work, and so they told her to go and keep guard, and 
tell them if any sparks fell towards their section or 
fences. 

The little body of men, armed with green boughs, 
beat back the fire with xmremitting vigour, and got 
severely scorched by the advancing flames. Spite, how- 
ever, of their united efforts, things looked very dark, or 
rather very bright, for the flames were lurid. And now 
at one moment a gum-tree was illumined as by a phos- 
phorescent light. At another time, one of these gi^antici 



112 life's work as it is ; OR, 

trees feU with a crash that resounded far aad near in the 
stillness of that summer evening. 

Jane could have enjoyed the spectacle, had it not 
been for her fears ; but it was terrible to see desolation 
impending on the work of their hands, and on the 
labours of years. With the greatest presence of mind 
she herself dipped blankets into water, and with 
Edward's little strength they succeeded in covering the 
roof of the cottage partially. Her brothers had made a 
bush ladder, which they ascended, and though Httle 
good might be done, yet all was done that was in her 
power. Hour affcer hour the men battled with the 
flames, till fairly exhaasted. Still they had prevented 
its crossing the grass paddock, and there was hope 
that the homestead miorht be saved. Jane made a large 
pail ftdl of tea, which Edward carried to the weary men, 
and which somewhat refreshed them. 

By and by a shout was raised, " The wind is changed, 
the wind is changed, we are saved." And the wind had 
changed, and the fire went crackling and roaring into 
the thick scrub, and amongst the tall gums, and turned 
its back on the abode of man. 

Perhaps nothing is grander than a bush fire, and 
nothing much more terrible when it approaches the 
haunts of men ! The writer has seen the most extraor- 
dinary accounts of this devouring element, and the most 
marvellous picttires sent to England have come back to 
Australia, of great serpents sitting upright waiting for 
the fire to approach, and all such like extravagancies, 
which it is supposed will be fully believed by our 
brothers and sisters over the water. Perhaps few in 
every-day life have had more opportunity of witnessing 
bush fires than the author, who time after time has been 
in the greatest peril, and times without number has 
gazed, at safe distance, on the devouring element. One 
of the grandest sights ever witnessed was in a ride on 
horseback from the very same neighbourhood where our 
friends the Seymours were located. The writer had 
started with a party on horseback from Port Elliot, 



THE EMIGBANT'S HOME. 118 

and as the bnsh was approached, vast columns of smoke 
arose in three different directions. As the hills were 
ascended, a view was obtained of the destroying ele- 
ment, but it took an hour's hand gallop to arrive close to 
the scene of destruction. Never was there a grander 
sight than was viewed that day, and never dfid the 
author understand, before that occasion, the meaning of 
those words, " Chariots of fire !*' 

But how vain to attempt to describe what can scarcely 
be understood by being seen. The volumes of flame and 
smoke wreathed and curled and rolled along the ground 
as if it went conquering and to conquer. It was only 
low scrub, consequently there were no trees to hide the 
view. Two volumes of fire met, and then seemed as if 
they vied with the lightning's speed in their progress. 
Another fire on the other side had started up near 
Mount Jagged, and here were the party riding as it 
were in the midst of destruction. The terrific splen- 
dour of those overwhelming chariots of fire will never 
be forgotten, but though rolling on each side, yet they 
were some considerable distance firom the road, or the 
heat would have been too intense to bear ; by and by the 
fire was observed to be taking an angle, and making at 
the most tremendous speed lor the square water hole. 
If it crossed the road, which was narrow and surrounded 
by bush, the journey could not be continued for that 
day; consequently the horses were put on their fiiU 
speed, and rode a race with the devouring element. 
There seemed little chance, as no angle could be made 
to shorten the distance. How the flames were watched 
and the distance measured with our anxious eyes, and 
how difficult it was to encourage the horses to head their 
fearful antagonist ; once or twice it seemed as though 
all was up, and that a retreat must be beat ; but as the 
water hole was reached, a shout was set up, " We can 
pass, we can pass ; the fire has taken another direction.'* 
Seeing the great danger that threatened, the owner of 
the square water hole had burned all the scrub round 
for half a mile, and put the fire out afterwards. Thus 



114 life's work as- it IS; or, 

the deYonring element had nothing to feed upon when 
it arrived at this spot, and conseqiieiitly it took another 
du^eotion. This plan is continnally adopted to stay 
bush <Bres, and is often very effectnaL 

About five years ago the most destructive fire took 
place that has ever been known in South Australia. A 
fearfbi conflagration started at two diflerent points in 
one of the hilly districts. After spreading desolation 
and deslamction in. every direction, the two fires con- 
verged • and swept through the valley of Hindmarsh, 
destroying property to an enormous amount : it con- 
tinued its desolating, course for a vast extent till it 
sw^t round to the district of Macclesfield, where its 
progresB.was:terrific»; hundreds of people were- rendered 
hiteeless -and 'pemdlessi, waggons, implements, houses, 
stBPoks, everything but the clothes on their backs was 
lost. A subscription was -set on foot and liberally 
responded to for the sufferers' benefit, and most of them 
w«re enabled to combat once more with the world and 
itadif&culties. 

But to return to our Mends. A most amusing inci- 
destet in bush life occurred some few months after the 
firiB, namely, a bush wedding. Eeaders, don't be alarmed, 
it's not our little friend Jane Seymour going to take 
flight at* present, her wings are not ready for such a 
fe^ But it is the story of a wedding of one of the men 
who had been employed at times on their farm. He was 
a very respectable fellow, pretty well off for money, but 
not 'for manners, as you will presently see. Somehow 
or another he had managed to win the heart of some 
fair damsel, and he was about to take her for better for 
worse. There was no church within less than twenty- 
fife miles, and so they were obliged to wend .their way 
on horseback for lack of a carriage and four. Some of 
the boys got scent that this man would be married, and 
determined to witness the wedding. At an early hour 
the bride sallied forth to meet her fate, and the bride- 
groom followed about half an hour later, the father-in- 
law bringing up the rear; he was to give her away, 



THE EMIORANT'S HQMiT^. H»5 

bridesmaids being . dispensed with. Arrived at the 
church or its vicinity,, the bride dismounted without 
assistance, hung her horte by its bridle to the fence, and 
waited patiently for the arrival of her future spous€v thus 
learning her first lesson of submission. In about twenty 
miautes he arrived, and, without speaking, tied his horse 
up likewise to the rails,. after which he said, " Come. on> 
the parson's waiting.!' So the bride did come on, and 
so did Daddy, and they all stood round the commnniQa 
rails in silence. Whilst our damsel was waiting a little 
outside,. a circumstance occurred which may interest our 
lady readers. The bride pulled off her rough ' cotton 
gl£>ves, and gingerly drew on a pair of white silk ; but, 
alas I the white silk, were too small, or the hands too 
large, which amounts to much the same in the end, and 
certainly the contrast presented by three inches of red 
wrists and snow-white gloves was not becoming. Nothing, 
daunted^ she sailed up the church as we have before 
said, and the service was begun, and the. clergyman was 
obliged to tell the bridegroom he must answer the 
responses. . Presently he came to the part where the 
ring requiring to be put on the hand, the bride 
had to pull off her gloves, and this waa no small job. 
She tugged, and twisted, and pulled, but the glove 
seemed determined to do anything rather than yield. It . 
was at last forced to give way, and took to splitting,, 
and by this means the hand was prepared for the ring. 
The question being asked, " Wilt thou have this woman 
for thy wedded wife ?" the bridegroom sturdily rephed, 
" 'Spose, sir, that's what I com'd for." The clergyman 
gently told him to respond properly, and giving him the 
ring back to place on her finger, the man seized her 
hand and began to make the effort ; but alack, the ring 
took after the glpves, or the gloves after the ring. The 
hand was hot and swollen, the ring was not elastic, 
being gold, and at last he groaned forth, " It's a jolly 
tight fit and no mistake," and settled it down barely 
half way over the joint. After the service was completed 
he put his cross to his name, marched out one side of the 



116 life's work as it is; or, 

chnrcli, and the bride followed down the other side. He 
got on his horse and rode off, doubtless to prepare the 
way, and left the bride to mount her horse and follow as 
best she might ; they arrived at their ftiture home half 
an hour after each other. 

We trust our readers are gratified with the account 
we have rendered of a bush wedding, though we will 
not answer for it that all bush weddings shall have as 
much piquant interest as that of our friend in question. 

As our friend Jane Seymour had plenty of work to do, 
her brothers planned a little amusement for her ; but, of 
course, Mr. Ramsey had nothing to do with it, only by 
some strange mistake he was there. The horses and dogs 
being got ready for a journey, they started, a merry party 
of five, including Jane, for the hunt. They proceeded 
some miles before they got scent of their game, and then 
two or three kangaroos were seen hopping about and 
some more quietly feeding ; but soon the pretty crea- 
tures raised their ears, and scenting the dogs' approach 
forthwith started for flight. But one of the ladies was 
carrying her two young ones in her pouch, and was less 
nimble than the others ; one of the best kangaroo dogs 
gained rapidly upon the creature, who at last, finding 
the race unequal, stood up, turned round, and, fighting 
with the gi'eatest desperation, kept the dogs at bay. 
One lay dead at her feet when the hunters came up, but 
the others, spite of scratches and bru'ses, pressed on to 
victory. The result seemed, however, doubtful, the animal 
being a remarkably large and powerful one, and appa- 
rently as ready to turn upon the men as the dogs. One 
of the gentlemen seized a club, and, to save the dogs, 
levelled it at the poor kangaroo whilst fighting. The 
conquest was then soon finished, and the kangaroo 
secured as a prize. The young ones were saved, and 
taken home as pets by the victors. The hunters had 
no sooner overtaken this animal than they set to work 
and followed up their other game. Eine fun they had, 
leaping over pieces of rock and logs, rushing through 
the scrub, now here, now there ; horses, with distended 



THE emigrant's HOME. 117 

nostrils, enjoying tlie sport almost more than the riders. 
Such a chase they had, and the dogs literally flew over 
the ground. A good kangaroo dog is worth a good 
sum of money. These creatures are something of the 
appearance and nature of greyhounds in England, only 
much larger and stronger. Some of them have magni- 
ficent heads, such as Landseer would like to depict on can- 
vas — so much intelligence and such brilliant eyes, that you 
cannot help feeling there is something superior in them. 

Presently, whilst pursuing the kangaroos, they 
started two of Pat's dromedaries, versus emus. They 
were noble birds, and very politely taking the same 
course as the kangaroos, increased the amusement of 
the hunt. One of the gentlemen had a rifle, and after 
pursuing them half a mile, brought one of them down ; 
the other, taking a different course to the kangaroos, 
was allowed its life and liberty. Jane was a capital 
horsewoman, and thoroughly enjoyed the hunt, declaring 
she would be first in getting up to the kangaroos. 
They had taken the tail of the other kangaroo (a pon- 
derous article) for soup. Two more were despatched, 
and two more tails were added to the store ; and then, 
with light hearts, they proceeded to their bush home, 
some miles distant. 

Soon after this hunt Jane took another ride about 
ten miles distant, and was nearly wild with the beauty 
and luxuriance of the bush flowers. The exquisite 
carpet Nature had spread rivalled the richest work the 
Brussels loom ever eflfected. Scarlet, pink, and white 
flowers were arranged in rich profusion in every direc- 
tion ; a beautiful native creeper hung its delicate white 
blossoms on the branches and scrub within its reach. 
All Nature looked lovely, as arrayed in spring garb and 
festal costume. The first heavy rains had produced all these 
beauties, and had made the wilderness gay as a parterre. 

The trees in Australia are like the flowers and birds ; 
each kind is found belonging to especial districts. The 
tiers, as they are called, or ranges of hills, are chiefly 
covered with stringy bark trees, and amongst the stringy 



118 life's work as it is ; OR, 

bark the flowers most abotiiid that wo have been speaking 
of. Then yon will find for miles little else bnt white 
gum-trees of all sizes, interspersed with the wattle and 
the native cheny. Again, in another district, you ^JHll 
see little else than the she-oak, apecnliar tree, with long 
hanging foliage, like thick tufts of green horse=-hair ; 
and this is of great service in feeding cattle. Again, 
the black wood and the red gum are found, and in other 
districts the native pine is most abundant, and very 
beautiful in foliage, very much like the Cypressia tribe 
in their appearance. The flowers differ with each dis- 
trict, and so do the birds. Many of the parrots are 
most, gorgeous in plumage. The rosella, shell parrots, 
laui-ies, black and white cockatoos, blue mountain par- 
rots, rock parrots, ground parrots, are amongst the 
number the most to be admired. Some of the cockatoos 
with pink crests are splendid; the black ones, with 
yellow crests and wings, have a magnificent effect. 

One day Jane's brothers were sadly disturbed by 
finding that some large eagles had built a nest in an 
immense tree in the neighbourhood. Poultry of all 
kinds disappeared to supply the wants of the family 
table ; a young kid, or two or three young lambs, made 
a diversity in their repast ; and a party was formed, if 
possible, to get rid of these formidable creatures. How- 
ever, the boys had . a great idea of capturing the yonng 
birds whilst their mamma and papa were absent on a 
foraging expedition. Accordingly, watch was kept, and 
when the birds went off, one of the party was deputed 
the task of ascending. The nest was situated in the 
forks of a tree, but it was of such enormous size, height, 
and width, that were the full particulars given, it would 
be set up as a traveller's wonder. Suffice it to say, they 
had to get upon the top of the nest before they could 
attempt to get at the birds, and the person could stand 
with safety on its walls. The young birds were an 
enormous size, several feet from tip to tip of their wings. 
With some difficulty the young eaglets were secured, 
and handed down, just as Mr. and Mrs. Eagle appeared 



TKE EMIGEANT's HOME. 119 

like specks in the horizon, retnming^ with some dansty 
morsel. The boys htirried home with their priza as fast 
as possible, and secured them in an out-house. Mr. 
Ramsey then loaded his rifle, in the hopes of a1/ least 
bringing down one of the parent birds. . They swooped 
down over the nest, uttering the most piercing tsries, 
and seemed as if consulting as to -the best mESthod t)f 
recovering their offspring. ' By. and by one of them 
rested on the branch of a dead gum-tree, and afforded 
a splendid mark. Mr. Bamsey aimed, but though 
wounded, the noble bird did not fell, but with heavy 
wing flew to a tree at some distance. The other one 
took fright and soared away, leaving his wounded oom- 
panion behind. Mr. Ramsey reloaded his rifle, and 
taking aim at the bird's head, it fell with a heavy crash 
to the ground. It was a magnificent bird, and -an enor- 
mous size. 

Some few days after this, in a sandy part' of the 
scrub, the boys came upon one of the greatest curiosities 
iu Australia, namely, a native pheasant's nest. Certainly 
it is £ most extraordinary production, and one which 
can be hardly believed by those who have never seenit. 
It congists of an inmiense conical mound of sand, scraped 
togethsr and piled up by the claws of these indeifiatigable 
birds. The native pheasant is somewhat about the size 
of thOiCommon pheasant, only stronger built, and rejoices 
in plaii plumage, and with very starong claws, adapted 
for scmtching. They commence nest-building' first by 
making au immense hole, and filling it with c&y leaws, 
etc., then throwing up the sand behind them till it be- 
comes h large heap, the leaves causing extra heat. \A 
numbe? of birds belong to the same establishment ; ihe 
eggs, about the size of a large duck'sj with extremely 
brittle shells, are deposited in layers round and round 
the coiical mound, and the sand being slightly scratdied 
over tiem, they are then left to the care of the winds of 
heaven They are some weeks in hatching. 'It has been 
said bj some that the parents place food, such as grubs, 
etc., within the reach of the young biinis, to feed on as 



120 life's work as it is; or, 

soon as they come ont, but the author does not vouch 
for the truth of this statement. Certainly it is one of 
the most remarkable circumstances connected with the 
feathered tribe in AustraHa. 

As regards birds, there is little idea of music amongst 
them. There are one or two which make a feeble attempt 
at a few pretty notes. The chorus of the magpies is 
about the most musical thing to be heard. There is one 
bird with two notes extremely like those of an English 
nightingale, but it there ceases its song. Some of the 
very small l3irds are exquisitely beautifdl, and some are 
no bigger than a good-sized Canadian humming-bird. 
The bronzed- winged pigeons are very beautiful and ex- 
cellent eating. 

A short time after the capture of the eagles, Jane 
Seymour received an invitation to a farmer's and sheep- 
owner's on the River Murray, and having sedulously- stuck 
to her duties, her father thought the time was comefor her 
to take a little pleasure, more especially as she desired to 
see a different part of the colony to that which she had 
before been in. One of her brothers accompanied her 
on horseback to the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Brown. 
It was a long journey, and they had to take mare than 
two days to accomplish it. The house was lot well 
built, but situate in a most picturesque spot diiectly on 
the banks of the river. Two or three fine trees shjwled the 
house, and the Murray reeds grew in rich abindance 
all along the edge of the water. A pathway lad been 
made down to the river's edge, where a boat lajl moored, 
looking very inviting. Both the riders and hoBes were 
glad of a rest, and Mrs. Brown hastened to peJform the . 
duties of hostess. Rather an extensive sheep-run was 
rented by her husband, who had resided in thij; locality 
for some years, and had realized some considerable 
property. Whilst sitting at tea a loud cackling of geese 
was heard outside. Jane ran to the door, an| such a 
magnificent flock flew over the house, and settled them- 
selves down on the water, about a quarter of i mile or 
less up the river. The hostess laughed, and siid Jane 






THE emigrant's HOME. 121 

would not get up and have a peep at the geese when she 
had been there as long as they had, for they were tired 
of the sight of them. The native goose is a beantiftil 
bird, of a more graceful shape by far than the English 
goose, and with such an exquisite touch of bright green 
near the bill. It is very good eating when young, but 
rather strong and coarse when old. It is rather difficult 
to know how to make the delicate inquiry of age when 
shooting promiscuously, and therefore your dish is of an 
uncertain nature as to its quality. 

Mr. and Mrs. Brown promised Jaae's brother a 
morning's shooting next day, and Jane was to go in the 
boat. They also said if some of the blacks came, they 
would exhibit their diving powers. Next morning Jane 
was up with the sun and peeping about everywhere, but 
she thought she would not on any account change her 
own dear little home for that locality, though pleasant 
in summer. The Murray looked a noble river certainly, 
and its broad expanse of waters sparkled in the sun- 
light. After breakfast some provisions were got in 
readiness, and the party proceeded to the boat. They 
were to go down the river some distance to a noted spot 
for wild fowl, and then land and partake of luncheon ; 
afterwards Jane's brother was to go in pursuit of some 
wild turkeys known to be in the neighbourhood, and 
then they were to return by water in the afternoon. 
Jane thought she would like to handle an oar, but the 
oar did not at first approve of her handling ; she caught 
what they called crabs every few minutes, but laughingly 
said she must conquer, and so she did; and before 
they had been on the water an hour she really had 
attained quite a masterly dip. They arrived at the spot 
where a number of teal were to be seen, and having 
taken a good water-dog, Mr. Brown fired a double- 
barrelled gun, and, killing two or three close together, the 
dog swam and 'brought them to the side of the boat. 
These birds are beautifdl eating, and more delicate than 
other wild fowl. Soon after, some of the party landed 
and greatly enjoyed a luncheon of cold fowl, ham, pastry. 



122 life's work as it is ; or, 

etc. Mr. Brown proposed tlie ladies should remain and 
watch the blacks did not take some baits he had put down 
for Murray cod, while the male members went in search 
of the wild turkeys. This was accordingly done. After 
a walk of two or three miles, Mr. Brown and his X>arty 
espied two turkeys in the distance : Australiaii ttffkeys 
are much bigger than the English turkey, and mare 
delicious than any kind of game found in Australia. 
They sell for as much as fifteen shillings apiece in'^ Ade- 
laide, and are never found except in the bush. They are 
not near so plentiful as wild geese and other birds, and 
are reckoned quite an article of luxury. 

Jane's brother was fortunate enough to bring down 
one of the birds, the other was wounded but got away. 
They espied a few more at a further distance, but .tijaae 
being expended they thought they had better reiairn 
with their booty. Jane was delighted with the turkey, 
as it was the first time she had seen one, and examined 
it minutely. 

Mr. Brown commenced also an examination of his 
lines, and soon found there was a tremendous large cod 
fish on one of them. With some care he brought; it to 
land, where it splashed and dashed as if surprised at its 
treatment. Fish had become so common to : Mr. . ;and 
Mrs. Brown, they scarcely now troubled themselves to 
catch it ; but Jane wished to see and taste everything. 
This was about a twenty- four pounder, and when cooked 
was of delicious flavour. 

We would here remark that the fish of South 
AustraKa is, without a question, rather inferior to that 
in England. The butter fish is, however, very delicious, 
but very scarce and dear. Whitings, snappers, and 
snooks are very fair, and also the rock fish. The salmon 
and mackerel are not bad in themselves, but -when 
associated with these names seem so inferior to expecta- 
tion, that the author never could care for them. . Sharks 
abound in many parts, and there has been a Trhale 
fishery established in the neighbourhood of Port Elliot 
for some years. Not proving sufficiently productive, it 
has fallen off; but the writer is informed that it is 



THE emigrant's HOME. ^ 123 

about to be renewed. Sbrimps, crayfisb, and crabs are 
constantly to be obtained in town in the season. Oyster 
beds are formed in several places, and are tolerably 
abundant ; but like the other fish, cannot take a place 
with an English oyster in flavour. 

But to return to our party. The blacks had come 
up as Mr. Brown expected, and he told them to follow 
him a short distance ; he then proceeded quietly along 
the banks of the river where the teal and ducks 
abounded, and taking aim killed two or three. The 
blacks leaped into the water, and brought them out like 
poodle dogs. A little further on they saw another flock, 
which the blacks approached noiselessly, let themselves 
into the water underneath some shrubs, so as not- to be 
noticed, dived under water, and most cleverly cau^t 
hold of the legs of some unfortunate duck, and instantly 
pulled it under to prevent its screaming and frightening 
the others. The blacks just taking breath with their 
mouths for a moment above water, dived again, aid 
several more were captured in this manner ; they then 
swam to shore with their booty, for which they received 
some small payment. 

Jane was delighted with this feat, for it was quite 
novel to her. Rowing home, they saw some wild pigs 
snorting and grunting amongst the reeds. There are a 
large number in this neighbourhood. Arrived at the 
lauding place the little party went ashore with their 
trophies, and heartily enjoyed a bush tea. The next 
morning they mounted their horses by daybreak, and 
took a^ride to survey the country. The appearance was 
totally different to that of the bush where Jane lived. 
The ground'was much flatter and altogether of a diffe- 
rent description : in many parts the Murray scrub was 
thick though low, and here and there flowers might be 
seen altogether different to those in the neighboxirhood 
of the Seymours. On the morning of the fourth day 
our travellers again returned home, and as we have not 
time to accompany them on their journey, we leave them 
to the Fates, whilst we pay a short visit to our friend 
Pat and Harry Jones. 



124 life's work as it IS; or, 



CHAPTER Vin. 

"Arrah,** said Pat, one fine morning, "and is it in me 
to desave yon, Hany ; sure and fait£ but I've fonnd the 
wedge of gold that Acban bnried, and as how I can't 
get it up, and it's at the bottom of the big field where 
we've been ploughing." 

" Good gracious," said Hany, " what nonsense is 
this, old fellow ? I hope you've found the Babylonish 
garment as well, for if it wasn't too mouldy it might be 
useful ; but what are you fooling thus for, my man ?" 

" Well, come and see," said Pat, no way distressed 
or discomfited by Harry's unbelieving words ; " you go 
and see. Faith and sure, because it's ould Ireland I 
com'd from, no one will belave it, if I said I was my own 
mother's son." 

** Well, if your mother's brain were half as active as 
yours," said Harry, "there wouldn't be such a pair 
found this side the water, I'll be bound, my boy, at ajiy 
rate ; but come along." 

On arriving at the spot Pat showed his prize, but 
certainly Achan would never have endangered his life for 
this wedge ; it was a piece of quartz certainly, of a 
most pecuhar shape, and there were several sprinklings 
of particles of gold in its surface, perhaps a quarter of an 
ounce in all, upon examination. It had been partially 
ploughed up and set on an end, and presented rather a 
peculiar appearance. 

The author may here remark that it is a common 
thing in South Australia to find traces of gold in various 
parts. A boy picked up a piece of quartz in the garden 



THE emigrant's HOME. 125 

walk tlie other day, very respectably sprinkled with 
particles of gold, and several such pieces had been found 
near the locality, and yet no gold in paying quantities 
has ever been discovered. 

"Well," said Pat, "it's not quite a fool that I be, 
Master BLarry, for if it isn't Achan's wedge of gold, it's 
a stone as looks mighty like a wedge with gold a glitter- 
ing on it." 

"Well," said Harry, "my opinion is, that this 
ground has been worked by wiser hands and heads than 
ours, and I do not think it will pay us to lose silver in 
hunting for gold we may never find. So we'll take 
Achan's wedge and put it as an ornament on the chim- 
ney-piece." 

" Ah, well," said Pat, " it isn't in me to run away 
from work, if work runs after me, and I'm thinking 
that will be as long as I've legs to stand on." 

" Very likely," said Harry, " that will be my case 
too. But nevertheless, there is some comfort in working 
when we get something for our work. And now, my 
boy, I think that we might almost scrape enough toge- 
ther to be buying this section in another year, when the 
lease is up." 

" Arrah," said Pat, " and it's a lady then that Molly 
will be ; and it's a bright day when I shall see the siller 
and goold that buys a bit of land to call my own." 

And now let us take a peep at Mary Jones. Why, 
she looks as plump and as rosy as a damsel can be, and 
she is bustling over her nice dairy, setting up her bright 
milk-pans with an air of womanly pride, listening to 
the pigs squeaking for breakfast, with the ear of an 
amateur for sweet music, and preparing, after she has 
relieved the milk of its cream, to satisfy their appetites. 
All things look flourishing. Molly is in the poultry- 
yard, with her turkeys, ducks, geese, and fowls. The 
ducks, when fat, will fetch seven shillings a pair ; the 
geese, according to size, from nine to twelve shillings ; 
fowls in the country about four shillings a pair ; turkeys 
rather more than geese. And she has been very sue- 



126 life's work as it is ; OR, 

cessftil in rearing them and taking them to market.- 
All has a look of honest plenty and comfort-— of ."work,i 
but not of toil ; of latonr, but that labour well requited, 
well rewarded. 

" Oh dear,'* said Pat one day, " it's not in in© to be 
complaining of the land as IVo fonnd so good, .but 
certain it is I wish the flies had never taken it into their 
heads to imigrate, for I am sure more take a free pas- 
sage over here than ever belonged to onld Ireland and 
England together, and it's crazing me intirely to keep . 
the craters from making the sheep walk wken: it!» . 
dead." 

Poor Pat, this lamentation and assertion was not &r- 

fefcched ; no donbfc, dust and flies are two of the greatest- 

discomfitures of the colony, in some places far worse 

than others, and in some localities there seems some, 

attraction which is undefinable. The writer has sat. 

down to tea in houses where scarcely a fly was to be 

noticed, and after the meal was begun it was a matter 

of question as to who was to gain the day, the taJ:>le and 

eatables were so covered by the intruders. As to meat, it 

is very hard to keep, especially in the summer, the flies 

penetrate everywhere ; still nothing so bad as in India, 

where the meat has to be eaten as soon as killed. No 

way is better than hanging meat up in a tall tree. But 

certainly flies are a perfect pest to the housekeeper, and • 

swarm and increase so rapidly that a whole colony "will 

be hatched and come to life in a few hours. We are 

bound to give a truthful account of the Australian 

homes, and this is one of the greatest disagreeables 

attendant on the colony. Poor Pat certainly was 

not discomfited without cause, though we are not 

prepared to say whether the flies emigrated, or whether 

they were just inhabitants of the colony. Mosquitoes 

are troublesome, but nothing equal to our friends the 

flies. 

" Molly, my dear," said Pat one morning, " it's an 
ilegant lady intirely that you'll be now, though it's the 
pigs and the poultry and the cows that 'as helped you 



THE emigrant's .HOME. 127 ' 

to be so^ It?s tlie section weVe bought now," said Pat, 
trinniphantly ; " and Hany Jones and Patrick O'Connor 
have got two halves of it, and that makes the whole. 
And it's -mighty hard I've worked, and it's many a 
goose- and a tnrkey and a duck that you've taken to 
market ; but it's the siller we've got, and the goold too, 
and now* Patrick O'Connor has got to call no man 
master. Hmrah for Australia and ould Ireland ! for if 
I hadn't been my blessed mother's son, I should never 
have been here, I'm thinking. It's only six years since 
we crassed the water and since we were courtin', and 
now to think thatyer mistress in your own house and 
land ; and not a drap of whiskey has crassed my lips 
this many a day, or it's not the section that would have 
been mine. Oh, it's a lucky day as the Imigration 
Society and Queen sent me over the water, God bless 
her." 

And now we fear it is almost time to take leave of 
Harry and Pat. We do it almost with a , feeling of 
regret. We have followed the latter in his coat of many 
colours to his first situation in abject poverty, though 
in brightness of spirit, and we have traced his onward 
career to the time when, master instead of servant, he 
could boast a moderate competence in a comparatively 
short time. The history of Pat has been the history of 
hundreds, who, beginning by beiug servants, end with 
being . masters. Pat and Harry did not fall into the 
temptation that shipwrecks so many, namely, going on 
too fast, and so losing all. They and their wives earned 
large wageSj and had nothing to pay for food or house 
rent. They not only saved a large part of their, wages, 
but put it into the savings' bank, and there it accumu- 
lated during their two years of service. 

The great fault in Australia is, that as soon as people 
get a few pounds together they begin to scout being 
servants. They perhaps hire something, for which 
they can barely pay the rent. They then have to bor- 
row money, or go into debt ; a family comes on ; they 
struggle against poverty, and never overcome it. Large 



128 life's work as it is ; or, 

wages are always attainable in tlie colonies for respect- 
able couples ; and if they would only adopt tlie plan of 
our humble friends tbere would be far more of prosperity 
than often exists among tbe working classes. Australia 
is the place for the poor man, and we unhesitatingly 
say no one need be in poverty there, and fe^v with any 
management can avoid getting a fair competence for 
after years. We consider, as a rule, that the poor of 
England are those who do the best in Australia ; still 
if young men and others who come out here -would 
adopt Pat's plan, though in a different sphere, much 
more could be effected for their advantage. Suppose, 
for instance, either a single man or a young married 
couple make up their minds to bring oat their small 
capital, to set up farming or keeping sheep, they will 
generally find that if they proceed at once to spend their 
little all in what they know nothing about, ruin will soon 
stare them in the face. Whereas if, according to w^hat 
they are capable of, they seek for some situation where 
they not only learn Australian ways, but earn some 
Australian money, they are able to leave untouched 
their hoard till they see the best way to spend it, the 
best locality in which they can be situated, and the best 
time for becoming their own masters. So many things 
have to be learnt which nothing but experience can 
teach, and which if bought dearly leaves no capital 
whereby to profit by the money lost and the experience 
gained. 

There are also people always on the watch to fleece 
new comers, and to give them advice to suit their ow^n 
ends and purposes. Some individuals, in fact we may 
say numbers (who have brought out even handsome 
capital with them), have, through falling the prey to 
designing people, and through over haste in investing 
their money in what they knew nothing about, lost 
everything. Australia is England's antipodes ; is it 
likely, then, that English notions, English ways, English 
ideas, hold good there ? True, English manners have 
emigrated to an extraordinary degree ; but, nevertheless 



THE emigrant's HOME. 129 

most tilings are totally different to those of the mother 
country. The seasons are entirely reversed ; many of 
the things cheapest here are the dearest in England, and 
vice versa; employments the most profitable in the 
mother conntry may be the least remunerative hero ; 
property invested in England yields from three to five per 
cent, at highest ; the same safely invested here, yields 
eight, ten, twelve, and even more, per cent., according 
to the sums in which it is placed out, the securities, etc. 
Two instances, in different grades of society, to illus- 
trate the writer's remarks as to new comers, shall be in- 
troduced. A most industrious young man in the humble 
walks of life, emigrated, with his wife and child, to South 
Australia, and after paying all expenses, had thirty pounds 
in the savings' bank. Having an excellent character, he 
could immediately have obtained high wages, either as 
coachman, gardener, or labourer, being very clever, and 
having had experience in these various occupations. He, 
however, thought that, having alittle money, he would keep 
his own master. He accordingly took a little cottage, 
bought a cart and horse, gave a considerable sum for 
the goodwill of a little business, which, had he waited a 
few weeks, could have been obtained for half the amount. 
He went into this business just at a time of year when 
the customers wanted but little carting to be done. 
He had to feed his horse at a high price, whilst he was 
scarcely earning enough to keep it ; and after getting 
into all this mess, then applied to one of th6 author's- 
friends for advice. The money having been spent that 
might have kept him going till his trade increased, he 
contracted debts he could not pay. He had to be sold 
up, and the last time the author met him he was 
finishing where he ought to have begun, namely, by 
earning good wages by driving a cart belonging to his 
master. This man has put himself back years by his 
anxiety to begin too largely at first, and by acting on 
first impressions, instead of waiting to gain experience. 
One out of hundreds of instances in the higher gi^ades 
of society may now be mentioned to elucidato the same 



130 life's work as it IS; OB, 

thing. A yonng man of liigh family went out to South 
Australia with enough property, properly employed, to 
have made his fortune. Like many others, he instantly- 
commenced purchasing — of course utterly ignorant of the 
sudden fluctuations in value of what he bought. He 
hired men to assist him in his work, at enormous "wages. 
What he had purchased suddenly fell in the market. 
He hoped for better times. But he had inrested every- 
thing. However, worse times came instead of better ; 
the wages that were due he was compelled to pay, and 
so he was forced to sell at any price. At last he found 
himself without five shillings to call his own. Some 
ftiends assisted him, but his spirit was broken, and he 
was not one who was fitted to turn round and work for 
others. His tale was a sad one. Some of his old 
servants are Hterally, through lucky chances, wealthy 
men, and some little time ago their unfortunate master 
died, and his funeral expenses were paid through the 
kindness of a friend. Had this man only acted wisely, 
he might have now been worth his thousands a 
year. 

Space would utterly fail to tell half the anecdotes of 
successful and unsuccessful, emigrants that have come 
under the author's notice, but one remarkable instance 
of almost fabulous industry and prosperity may be here 
quoted. A young woman emigrated with her husband 
some years ago to South Australia, having been unfor- 
tunate in a neighbouring colony. They brought next to 
nothing with them. They were by trade market- 
gardeners, and commenced in an extremely humble 
manner, selling a few vegetables, fruit, etc., the man 
hiring a small piece of ground, and tilling it himself, to 
procure their daily bread. Whilst engaged in this occu- 
pation, he was suddenly taken ill, and had to be removed 
to the hospital. The wife, of a most energetic character, 
was then left to fight her way as best she might. She 
hired a little stand, or very small shop, in Adelaide, 
where she could take the vegetables and fruit her hus- 
band had grown, and which were now ready for sale. 



THE EMIGBAKT'S HOME. 131 

She had to drive many miles into town, and had two 
small children. Nevertheless she sednlouslj plied her 
trade, which at that time was an extremely profitable 
one, gardens being very yonng, fimit and vegetables very 
scarce, and a great demand for them existing. This in- 
defatigable woman, after selling all day and visiting her 
husband, would not be able to wend her way home till 
long past the nsnal hour for resigning work : then, 
during half the night, she would mend, make, and wash 
for her children, prepare the next day's food, and, rising 
at dawn, she wordd again be at her post as saleswoman. 
Having found that there was an extraordinarily beauti- 
ful piece of garden ground for hire (on the right of pur- 
chase), she determined never to rest till she had obtained 
this piece of land for her husband. After working almost 
night and day for some time, she saved enough to feel 
certain of the first half year's rent. She then went to 
the owner, told her tale, and was allowed to hire this 
garden, on the right of purchase if the rent was kept up. 
By this time her husband was discharged from the hos- 
pital cured, but not strong, and this indefatigable woman 
never slackened in her undertaking. Her husband was 
able to plant vegetables, etc., with some help in the 
digging. She continued her visits to town by the 
earhest dawn, and so established her character for 
honesty and first-class produce, that her little shop 
was constantly crowded, and she has told the author 
that often she had hardly time or space to serve all 
that came. By this unwearying industry and great 
cleverness, she not only saved the next half-year's rent, 
but a hundred pounds towards the land's purchase, in 
the course of a year. A succession of good years, high 
prices, and large custom, followed. The owner came 
one day and said : — 

" I am in distress ; I must raise money somehow. I 
did for you all I could when you were in distress, and 
made things as light as I could." 

"You did, sir," said she. "What do you want of 
the purchase-money ? " 



132 life's wokk as it is; or, 

"Two hundred pounds," said he; "the other two 
hundred to be paid in another twelvemonth." 

" Sir," said she, " there is the two hundred pounds, 
and there is a cheque for the other two hundred, and 
then it is my own; and if I keep the money I may 
spend it." 

And this heroine in humble life, with her own lips, 
has told the author that she paid this sum down with 
her own hands in the short space of four years, besides 
the rent and living. Of course times are changed, so 
many having their own gardens, and though hundreds 
still drive an excellent trade as market-gardeners, money 
could not be made at this rate. But we do say that this 
woman deserves to be held up as a pattern to all of 
what may be done. She was showing the author over 
their splendid fruit-garden and orangeries the other 
day. " This," she said, " I may honestly say is the pro- 
duce of the work of my own hands." Yet she was the 
very reverse of anything masculine or rough, and had 
been well brought up. She and her husband have had 
a capital house built in a beautiful situation. They are 
now seeing their children growing up around them a 
credit and a delight to them, and they are people worth 
thousands. 

We must now take a last peep at Eleanor Dingle 
and her spouse. But a cloud has darkened their other- 
wise sunny picture. She is in mourning for her first- 
bom, a boy of seven years old, his father's pride and his 
mother's sunshine. They have become well off in this 
world's goods, and are surrounded by plenty. Perhaps 
the following letter may tell more than we dan of par- 
ticulars. It is addressed to her old pastor : — 

"Honoured and reverend Sir, — God has indeed 
prospered us in the work of our hands, and we no^v have 
abundance for ourselves and our children. But a heavy 
bereavement has overtaken us, and we seem for a time 
as if all was gloom. Our first-born has been summoned 
from us, and the first child that opened its eyes in this 



THE emigrant's HOME. 133 

sunny land is departed for ever. He was playing as 
usual one bright summer morning, and followed his 
father to the field, to crack his little whip, and, as 
he said, help drive the horses. After some time he 
complained of sickness, and his father brought hiTn 
home ; low fever set in, and seemed to gain ground 
rapidly. There was a good doctor in the neighbourhood, 
whom we sent for, who at first gave great hopes, but on 
the third day a change for the worse was evident, and 
on the sixth day our child was no more. The bitterest 
pang was to feel that, in this hot climate, we could not 
keep the dear remains to gaze on them. Instead of 
doing as in England, we were obliged to have the dear 
little body deposited in its last resting-place the evening 
of the second day. And this is a thing which always 
occurs in this colony. People are seldom ill a very long 
time, as a rule, and when they are taken, interment has 
to take place almost immediately. I think it is the 
greatest of the few trials we have met with in this 
colony. But our dear one is at rest. He loved his 
Sabbath-school, though so young, and always went with 
us to a place of worship once a day ; and it seems like a 
dream that next Sabbath no Willy will be running by 
our side, when we wend our footsteps to the house of 
God. We know you have thought of us in your prayers, 
and we know that you will feel for us in our sore trouble. 
As regards this world, we have prospered as much as 
we could abnost desire, and we have every reason to re- 
joice that ever we crossed the seas. And bitter as has 
been the parting, our little one is safe from all the trials 
and sorrows he might have had to encounter. — That 
you may be long spared to us, is the earnest desire of, 
your ever grat^fal, 

"Eleanor and Egbert Dingle.'* 

We must here remark that the speedy interment of 
friends and relations, as described by Eleanor, is perhaps 
one of the greatest trials in a hot country. As we have 
before said, we consider there is far more health here 



134 life's work as it is ; ok, 

(in proportion to tlie population) than in England, and 
there are fewer pestilential diseases. Typlms fever and 
colonial fever frequently occur, and scarlet fever w^as 
very much about three years ago ; but many of the 
fearfully desolating pestilences that sweep England are 
scarcely heard of, much more known in South Australia. 
There is, however, no doubt that there is often a very 
rapid termination to illnesses. And people sometimes 
seem well, ill, dead and buried, in an incredibly short 
time, but not so suddenly as in India and other hot 
countries. 

One of the peculiarities of Australia is its dust- 
storms. They are much worse in and near Adelaide 
than in the hilly regions, and they are far worse further 
north than in Adelaide. The whole atmosphere for a 
few hours seems impregnated with sand ; you swallow 
sand at every breath you draw outside, and yet it pro- 
duces no lasting evil. It is an old say id g, " Every man 
must eat a peck of dust before he dies," but certaiidy no 
one could confine under such modest limits the amount 
every man has to dispose of in the Australian colonies. 
The wind rises, and then the dust, till often the air is 
as much thickened as in a fog. This is one of the dis- 
agreeables of South Australia and its sister colony 
Victoria. Small whirlwiuds are very common, and that 
sometimes on a perfectly tranquil day. 

The author has stood in the garden, and all at once, 
a hundred yards off, has seen everything springing into 
the air, in the most ludicrous manner — dry leaves, dust, 
bits of hay, sticks, etc., all performing a sort of reel in the 
air, and twisting round and round as if they would 
never cease going. This lasts about three minutes, and 
all is placid again, but fearful winds are frequent in 
their occurrence at some time in the year. The thunder- 
storms are sometimes very fearful, but of late years the 
author has not witnessed one which could be called as 
severe as those in England. 

Great floods occur, as well as great drought. Mel- 
bourne has suffered most severely from these innnda- 



THE emigrant's HOME. 185 

tions, and South Australia has often been a sufferer to a 
smaller extent. The rains of late years have scarcely 
amounted to the name, compared to what they were 
during the times of the first settlers, and for some years 
afterwards. About six years ago, the author was in a 
neighbourhood where a tremendous flood occurred from 
excessive rains and overflowing of some large creeks. 
There were hedges on each side the road, and so high 
did the water rise, that it carried a cart, man, and horse 
completely away over these hedges — trees were torn up 
by the roots, whole gardens laid waste in an hour, houses 
clogged up with mud driven in and rushing through 
them ; barrels floated in every direction. One ch3d 
was lost in trying to cross part of the torrent. Bridges 
were broken in. The author's cellar shared the same 
fate (being dug out of the ground and roofed, away from 
the house), it fell in with a tremendous crash. Milk 
tins, milk pannikins, bottles, casks, all were overwhelmed 
in the same fate. The water rushed through the garden 
like a sea, ploughing up the ground deeper than any 
plough-share could have done, tearing up the soil and 
its produce in the most relentless manner, and causing 
a scene of desolation the writer will never forget. 

At such times it seemed difficult to understand that 
drought, fearful in its consequences, could ever overtake 
a colony where such floods were witnessed. 

Slight earthquakes have been felt in different parts 
of the colony, but have never been known to do any 
amount of damage. An old crater of a volcanic moun- 
tain exists in the neighbourhood of Mount Shank. Hail- 
storms occur sometimes with fearful force, the stones 
having been known as large as a pigeon's egg, though 
this is not common. Hail- storms do much damage to 
the gardens at the spring and faU of the year, especially 
to the young fruit just setting. 

Flowers that in England only are reared with care 
in greenhouses and hot-houses grow out of doors here 
in the richest profusion. The author's verandah is one 
mass of scarlet, white, and purple paesion-flowers. 



KjG life's work as it is; or, 

Oeraniums of all kinds flonrish in the open air ; the 
most beautiful creepers flourish in rich provision and 
variety. One of the most beautiful flowers of this colony 
ig called the sturt pea. It has a magnificent blossom of 
the richest crimson, and large black knobs or spots in the 
centre of the flower, formed very much like a pair of 
butterfly's wings. It is most difficult to rear in gardens, 
but grows wild in profusion in some parts of the north. 
There are various parasitical plants, some of them very 
pretty. A most beautiful crimson creeper adorns the 
ground in spring, running over the surface of the earth 
for yards, with its bright blossoms peeping every- 
where. 

There is one feature in Australian life which, though 
decidedly on the improvement, wants amendment, and 
that is the perfect complacency with which people, even 
with excellent means, still remain in the bush in huts 
and houses which abjure the name of comfort* It is not 
that we deprecate a bush or log hut, or a wattle and 
dab one, with a shingle roof, and fire-place big enough 
to swallow up the house itself. The writer has spent 
many happy hours in a bush hut, where the stars could 
be seen shining through the roof, and a little duck-pond 
of water in front of the fire was always the first conse- 
quence of a shower of rain. But what we are speakii^ 
of is this (and we hope it may stir up a feeling of 
emulation) — people that really have made their hun- 
dreds and thousands, and have brought up families 
around them, are still contented with a tumble-down hut 
of two or three rooms, furnished by a couple of chairs, 
a colonial sofa, a rough table, and perhaps a couple of 
bush bedsteads. These people, instead of enjoying 
what they have saved, and really ending their days in 
comfort, " grub on," as they call it, always going to put 
tip a house that is never built, priding themselves, per- 
haps, on good stables, stack-yards, etc., and living in a 
house that the author would have mistaken for a cow- 
shed that wanted repairing. It is the love of keeping 
money, and also a kind of indolence that in no way 



THE emigrant's HOME. 137 

keeps pace with their former industry and perseverance. 
As we have said before, this state of things is mending, 
nevertheless there is great room for improvement. 

We think it now time to take a peep again at our 
friends, the Seymours, and to inquire how it fares with 
them in the wilderness. It is the beginning of winter. 
The extraordinary growth of verdure which, after the 
rains the warmth occasions, can only be seen to be 
understood. Whole plains that looked as dry as chips 
and as yellow as a guinea start up as if by magic with 
vegetable life, and in incredibly short time the grass is 
inches in length. The earth literally seems to heave 
with the mass of vegetation bursting forth from its 
prison to life and freshness. All nature looks glad, the 
hills are clothed with verdure, and a more beautiftd 
sight need not be desired than this robing of nature in 
her garb of loveliness. Jane delighted in the autumn 
of the year ; she loved to watch all these changes, and 
to gaze on the beauty of the surrounding landscape. 
Mr. Ramsey has not been idle during our absence. He 
has besieged the fortress of that gentle heart which had 
led him a willing captive (unknown almost to the con- 
queror), and the citadel has surrendered. Jane declined 
leaving her father and brothers, on the plea of having 
no one who could supply her place ; but, fortunately for 
her, the eldest brother had found a heart and hand 
willing to be linked with his, and therefore, as he had 
agreed to remain at home, his wife was not unwilling to 
take some of Janets duties, though we hardly fancy 
their being done as well by any other hand. As we 
have before said, Mr. Ramsey had amassed a consider- 
able fortune by sheep runs, and liking the colony and 
its climate, he did not desire to leave it. On one of his 
stations an excellent stone house had been built, and 
was really a handsome structure, and to this he intended 
to take his fair bride, as soon as she would consent to 
accompany him. She had been a sunbeam in the path 
of all that knew her, and she was not likely to be less so 
in her new home. The boys and her father deeply 



138 life's woek as it is ; oe, 

grieved at her loss ; nevertheless, they said it was only 
£a,ir that her labours shonld in some measure cease, and 
they could not be selfish enough always to wish to keep 
her. It was arranged that she should go and stay at a 
friend's house, where a church was within a few miles' 
distance, and that after the ceremony she should return 
with her husband to his station, distant about ten miles 
from her own home. 

Speaking of churches, it is perhaps a good opportu- 
nity to allude to the Sabbath and its observance, and 
also to the state of religious opinions in South Australia. 
As regards the Sabbath, there is an immense improve- 
ment (even in the bush) in the manner in which it is 
observed. Cattle-hunting used to be too often the em- 
ployment of this sacred day, and often Httle difference 
was made between it and working days. In well- 
peopled districts chapels and churches have risen in all 
directions, and the Sabbath, as a rule, is made a day of 
rest. Of course some break it, and there is certainly a 
lack of love for attending places of worship. Still, as 
a whole, the Sabbath is observed rehgiously. There is 
no doubt that Dissenters are far the most numerous body 
in this colony, and have an immense number of places 
of worship. By means of their lay agency there is 
doubtless much good effected in the bush. Churches of 
England are rapidly on the increase, and are building in 
all parts of the colony. There are thirty-eight clergy- 
men at present belonging to that body scattered about 
in the colony. There are six churches in Adelaide, and 
several a few miles distant. Sunday-schools have sprung 
up in all directions, and are well attended ; and there is, 
altogether, a very considerable amount of religious insti- 
tutions of this kind, for the information of *those with 
families. Schools of all kinds have sprung up in South 
Australia. A college and several public schools offer 
the means of good education to boys, and ladies' schools 
are most numerous and dispersed over the colony. 
Government schools for the middle and lower classes 
exist in every distiict, and are well managed and Tery 



THE EMIGBANT'S HOME. 139 

reasonable. Sixpence, ninepence, or a shilling a week 
insnres a good amount of plain schooling. 

It was a bright snnny morning in an Australian 
spring month, when a bridal party wended their way 
throngh the bnsh to the nearest plaice of worship in the 
neighbourhood. There was Jane Seymour, our sweet 
little Mend, all smiles and blushes, in her pretty, simple 
white muslin dress (she would have no silks and satins), 
and her delicate dove-coloured mantle, and simple 
bonnet with its sprig of orange blossoms and its deli- 
cate veil. All looked like the owner, simple, but in per- 
fectly good taste. No one could see her and not say 
" God bless her." They had borrowed two waggonettes, 
and Mr. Ramsey drove his own and a pair of horses, 
a decidedly stylish turn-out ; and he did not look one 
whit less bright than Jane. After a beautiful drive 
they arrived at the little church, and there, with reve- 
rence, promised all that those do promise who go through 
that solemn yet happy ceremony. Perhaps some of my 
readers would like to know whether a handsome bride- 
cake decked the table, and for their information I can 
assu3re them that a box had arrived from one of the first 
confectioners in Adelaide the night before, and npon 
being opened, a bride-cake of no mean size or pretensions 
ofiered itself to view, and was placed with great exulta- 
tion by the boys on the breakfast table the wedding 
morning. 

It was about two months after this, that we will 
take a peep at a sheep-station in the neighbourhood of 
our former little friends. It is early morning, and the 
last dewdrop lingers on the petals of a beautifol rosebnd 
which some httle hand is gathering. It is not Jane 
Seymour's, but it is Jane Ramsey's. Bright and joyous 
as ever, her garden and her poultry-yard her delight, 
she saUies forth to enjoy the deHciousness of an early 
summer morning. As we have before said, the house 
was good and handsome, and adjoining it were the 
various offices always appended to a large sheep 
station. There were the kitchens, the servants' rooms, 




140 life's work as it is ; or, 

the bachelors' hnt, or hall, as you choose to call it, and 
some other detached buildings. Hospitality was the 
order of the day with Mr. Ramsey as with most of his 
class, and the wayfarer, be he poor or rich, always finds 
hospitable bed and board at these stations. If any 
comes whom the master and mistress particularly wish 
to invite, they are made one of the household ; if not, 
the bachelors' hall, or the men's kitchen, affords enter- 
tainment to travellers of every grade ; and few days 
passed without one or more visitors, and often several, 
going up or down. The house was well, we may say 
richly furnished. As a rule, our squatters show con- 
siderable taste in their houses and furniture when they 
decide on building on their runs for a permanency. 
Many handsome houses have been erected in the 
last few years, and great pains taken to furnish them 
with every luxury and comfort. A beautiful Brussels 
earpet, rejoicing in its bright hues, adorned the floor of 
Jane's drawing-room. A large and lofty room it was, 
with French windows, and handsome cornices, and 
draperies to match the elegant damask of the rosewood 
chairs. A splendid piano adorned one end of the room, 
and an elegant French couch, lounging chairs, etc., filled 
up the other ; an elegant chiffonier, with large mirror, 
was adorned with vases of wax flowers ; small tables, of 
beautifal workmanship, were covered with elegantly- 
bound books, and various fancy articles; and a small 
round table in the centre of the room was covered 
with a splendid cloth, to match as near as possible the 
earpet ; and on its centre was a blue cornucopia for 
flowers, in a massive silver stand, the present irom Mr. 
Ramsey to his fair bride. This she always delighted to 
fill, and she was gathering flowers for this especial pur- 
pose when we first saw her in the early morning. Wow, 
surely, ladies in England will not say this drawing-roona. 
was so very badly famished, nor so very despicable, 
because it was in Australia and in the bush. Jane 
delighted in riding out with her husband, and going 
with him round the station. Sometimes he had to go 



THE emigrant's HOMfe. 141 

to out-stations, aaid she often accompanied liim, but this 
was the head station. 

Shearing and lambing were the busy times, but there 
was always work to bo done. Mr. l<amsey employed 
overseers, but he was always about taking an interest in 
everything himself. There were a number of shepherds 
on the head station who took their sheep out every day, 
and returned with them at night to fold them. They 
had to be frequently counted. The shepherds had huts on 
the borders of the station, miles away from Jane's grand 
house, and there they were provided with rations, and 
about fifteen shillings a week. Shepherding is a most 
monotonous life, but perhaps not so unpleasant as some, 
especially to those who do not care much about great 
activity. The sheep sometimes require, however, sharp 
looking after, as if a hundred or so get detached, they 
often go off in a body, and get entirely lost, or desiroyed 
by wild dogs. Two instances of this occurred within a 
few weeks of writing, to two different parties. Sheep 
also require, if possible, fresh ground each day to feed 
over, and not to be taken to the same spot many days 
consecutively. Watering the sheep is a great labour^ 
where running water does not exist. Immense sums of 
money are spent in sinking wells, sometimes to enormous 
depths ; and then the labour is great to draw water for 
thousands and thousands of sheep. In dry weather the 
sheep wiU drink a gallon of water at a time. The salt 
and blue bushes, which are low shrubs growing on many 
of the stations, are of great service in feeding the sheep 
when grass gets scarce, and of the greatest value to 
sheep-owners. In good years the lambing is considered 
to be about a hundred per cent., to Hve ; and this increase 
of course produces wool next shearing time ; therefore, 
in good seasons, the profit is most considerable. The 
sheep are generally in their third or fourth year before 
considered fit for mutton. The wild dogs are terrible 
enemies to the sheep-stations. They are worse in some 
places than others. But they often commit frightful 
havoc among both sheep and lambs, not contenting 



142 life's work as it is; or, 

themselves with killing a few, but worrying, and biting, 
and gnawing a number of their unfortunate victims, 
without finishing any. The native dog is very ngly, 
has a sort of woolly appearance, is generally light 
coloured, with bushy tail, and sharp nose, and large set- 
up ears. It utters a most unearthly howl, and its yell 
is always heard with dismay by the squatter. I^ative 
dogs are not so numerous as they used to be, bnt at the 
same time are very troublesome. Shearing season is a 
most busy one ; everything gives way to the all-absorb- 
ing occupation, and aU hands are pressed into service. 
Shearing is quite a harvest in this colony, and men from 
all parts go up to the north to officiate in relieving the 
sheep of their woolly coats. 

On every station there is a store, containing every 
article hkely to be wanted by the settlers. Food of all 
descriptions, from a sack of flour to a box of sardines, 
needles, thread, tapes, sugar, tea, coffee, common clothing, 
etc., all form part of the store, and all the shepherds, and 
every one belonging in any way to tlie place, buy every- 
thing from the master, who procures the things and 
retails them out for the accommodation of his men. 

And here we may say a word about stores in the 
country. They are totally different to English shops. A 
country store means an (minium gatJwrum of everything 
that can be disposed of, from a sack of flour to a needle, 
and from a needle up again to a ploughshare. They cer- 
tainly are most useful places when at a distance from 
town. And the store almost always gets the post-office, 
and the post-office brings customers. 

Telegraph stations are now built all over the colony, 
and telegraphic wires run in every direction. Pass- 
ing, the other day, on the road to Echunga, the writer 
saw the trunk of a tree that was left standing made use 
of as one of the telegraphic posts ; and looking at it 
caused a train of thought which certainly interested the 
writer if not the reader. A few years ago, and the road 
that was being travelled was one dense forest, where 
nought was seen but the kangaroo, the opossum, and 



THE emigrant's HOME, 143 

the emu, and nothing in the shape of man was to be seen 
but the dark savage and his lubras, and no dwelling 
save the native's whirley of bark and leaves. How 
strange ! In a few years a carriage-road has been formed 
that might compete with the Queen's highway in Eng- 
land. Houses of refi^eshment occur every few mQes ; 
settlers are scattered in every direction, and the hand of 
man has cultivated the soil and made fair the wilderness. 
Those very trees, up which the native climbed in search 
of the opossum and the squirrel, are now the medium of 
communication to the whole colony, by means of the 
most finished invention man has ever produced. And 
when we glance back and remember that thirty years 
ago the white man was not known in this land, certainly 
it is strange, wonderfol, and hard to be understood.* 
Civilization has indeed made rapid strides, and almost 
outstripped onr most vivid imagination. 

Speaking of trees, the Australian foliage is totally 
different to England in every way. There is a great 
want of depth of shade in the green, and there is nothing 
in the slightest degree to compare with the Enghsh oak, 
the chestnut, or the beech. There is a great sameness 
in the foHage, and though we do not in the least agree 
with a lady wlio said the trees all looked like a bundle of 
dead fire-wood, we certainly must say the trees can 
neither in foliage nor form vie with those of England. 
The writer has a great partiality to the Australian 
bush and its peculiarities, but there is certainly nothing 
here that will compare with the luxuriance and beauty 
of England. 

We have taken a long flight from the sheep- station, 
and must now return quicker than we came. Jane 
Ramsey Hved in the hearts of all who had the happiness 
of knowing her, or of being under her gentle rule. She 
had the happiness of seeing most of her brothers hap- 
pily married, after realizing a comfortable competency 

* The settlers have penetrated, and have their stations, as far 
into the country from the coast as John O' Groat's Honseis to the 
Land's End. 



144 life's work as it is; or, 

by their honest labours ; and now "we must reluctantly 
bid her farewell, trusting that her example, her resolu- 
tion, her brightness, and her success may be a star of 
hope to many a sister emigrant who may hereafter 
follow her footsteps. 

We began the book with Harry and Pat, and so 
mast we finish it with a few more lines concerning our 
first friends. 

"Harry," said Pat, one day, "it's a pistol that I 
must get, and that's certain. Why, stire and faith, if 
the rogues haven't stopped up every blessed keyhole in 
the house, so that it's not a door nor a drawer we can 
lock ; and the next thing will be, I'm thinking, that our 
money will all be going faster than it came, if we have 
any." 

" Good gracious ! Pat, what in the name of fortune 
do you mean?" said Harry, "have you seen the 
thieves ?" 

" Seen them ? no," said Pat ; " why, do you think 
the awdacious willans would let me see them ? Faith 
and sure they shall see a pistol first time I see them, 
they may depend upon it." 

" Well, let me see," said Harry, who, though accus- 
tomed to Pat's peculiarities, could not this time quite 
fathom as much as usual, " I'll be bound it's something 
like Achan's wedge of gold. But let's see." 

Upon Harry accompanying him, Pat with many a 
gesticulation, proceeded to exhibit to hun the work of 
the willans, as he called them. 

It certainly was true every keyhole was filled up, 
and not a key could turn to be of the slightest use. 

" And," said Pat, mournfully, " there's all the 
ilegant clothes as ever I bought in that long drawer, 
and if it's taken they are, I should have to go to church 
without any ; for sure and faith I could never put on 
my work-a-day clothes nohow." 

" I have it, I have it," said Harry ; " I recollect now 
what I have heard. Do you hear that Httle sort of 
ticking, in that large keyhole ?" 



THE emigrant's HOME. 145 

"Faith and sure I do," said Pat, "it's very mucli 
like as if the craters were at work now, only they must 
be spirits." 

" Well, they are at work," said Harry, " but they 
are insects, and not spirits. It is the mason wasp, 
building her nest where she lays her eggs. And they 
always choose these unfortunate places ; I remember now 
being told so." 

" Well," said Pat, " that's a blessing, for sure and 
faith and I began to think it was nothing of our own 
we should soon have but our skins." 

One day the poor fellow came, in sad trouble, and 
declared there had been an earthquake in the floor of 
his back kitchen, for the " boarding of the floor was all 
going to pieces, as if it had been blowed up." 

All the misfortunes always seemed to follow poor 
Pat, though he certainly had also his share of prosperity. 
The white ants, those fearful intruders, had taken the 
liberty of continually living at his expense, and now 
they had finished their repast, the boards had given way 
like so much powder. 

Time would fail to tell of half the havoc that these 
minute but fearfnlly mischievous Httle insects commit in 
South Australia and elsewhere. The author has lived 
in an apparently well-built house, where at nearly 
every footstep you expected to be precipitated into 
some unknown chasm. The rooms being partially 
carpeted, the extent of the havoc was not always 
known. Sometimes a lady would move her chair into 
an unfortunate corner, and plump would go down one 
leg of the seat, and up would go the other, leaving 
the unfortunate damsel wondering where she was de- 
parting to. Perhaps a servant would be crossing 
the room with a tray of glasses ; all of a sudden one 
ibot would be nearly lost sight of, by a sudden plunge, 
endangering the affrighted owner of breaking her nose 
by tumbling on the glass beneath it. Perhaps the 
author or a friend was inclined for a lounge, where- 
upon, not balancing oneself to a nicety, the extra 



146 life's work as it is; or, 

weight on one side the sofa or conch cansed the leg to 
descend into some fearftd hollow with a sndden crash, 
driving all sleep effectually away for the next half hour. 
It became at last exactly like living on the top of one of 
those large pits covered over with bonghs for the pur- 
pose of entrapping wild animals. And all this was the 
work of the white ants. 

This is part of dear-bonght colonial exp^ence. 
Varions ways may be devised very much to prevent this 
mischief, and some wood can be obtained which the 
white ant will not even touch. The author has dug 
thousands and thousands of them up in the course of a 
few hours in the garden, at certain times of year. 
Nearty all the fences are made of posts and rails» and 
fearful is the havoc these little creatures make of the 
posts. Burning the posts before putting them into the 
ground very much prevents the evil. The author had a 
valuable collection of illustrated works, which were 
seldom used, and put out of the way. Some little 
time elapsed without their being taken down, bat one 
morning the housemaid disturbed their repose. Upon 
taking down some of the largest volumes, she ran in 
great distress to show the fearftd inroads of the white 
ants. They had made grooves an inch deep in every 
direction, and had so utterly ruined the books, that 
unless one had seen them, it could scarcely hiave 
been believed. 

There are a great many insects in South Australia, 
but nothing to compare with India. The most dis- 
agreeable are the enormous centipedes and the scor- 
pions, the bites of both of which are very painftiL 
Beetles of all kinds abound, but not much more than in 
England. Spiders are numerous, and some of them 
enormous in size. The spider which forms the curious 
lid to its underground nest, is a native of this colony, 
and frequently found. Snakes in some places are nume- 
rous, and the small ones are very venomous ; but so far 
as the author's experience goes, they are more numerous 
in Devonshire than in South Australia. Lizards are 



THE emigrant's HOME. 147 

very nninerons, and quite liarmless. Some of azL enor- 
mous size, others very small. On a fine warm day they 
may be seen running about in scores by the water's edge, 
on stones and bits of rock. 

As regards the butterflies and moths, they are most 
inferior to those in England, which seems strange, when 
we look at the exquisite beauty of the birds in this 
region. The author has never seen a really splendid 
butterfly in the colony, and but few fine moths, and 
still fewer handsome ones. There are some very beaii>- 
tifal smaller insects. 

Speaking of the colour of birds, a considerable traffic 
is carried on with the procuring of birds for English 
vessels. Thousands of birds leave every year for the 
benefit of a sea voyage. The shell parrots, or Budgerry 
gars, are one great attraction, and are sent away in 
large numbers. Cockatoo parrots are very beautiful, 
and very much sought after. Parrots and cockatoos all 
come in for a share of patronage, and captains of vessels 
make considerable sums by turning part of their vessels 
into an aviary. Some of the most beautifol birds, such 
as cockatoos, with pink crests, etc., are seldom seen 
except in the overland route to Victoria. 

Speaking of that colony, we may as well inform our 
readers that steamers ply between Melbourne and Ade- 
laide about twice a week, their passage varying from 
two days and a-haJf to three days. Sailing vessels are 
continually plying to and fro, and a telegraphic wire 
enables colonists to learn each other's proceedings in a 
few minutes. 

We have hitherto said Httle as regards the bulk of 
society as it is in this colony, and we would here make 
a few remarks on the subject. It is an entirely mistaken 
idea that South Australia has anything to do with penal 
settlements. And perhaps there is no colony where 
there are fewer stray convicts than in South Australia.* 

* The laws are very stringent m preventing convicts coming 
to this colony. 



148 life's work as it IS; or, 

The tone of society is good, and a most evident desire is 
evinced to keep it up. 

Merchants and tradespeople here form a most 
numerous, respectable, and influential portion of society. 
There are a very considerable stafi* of government 
officers, several banks, and consequently a considerable 
number of clerks belonging to them. There is no lack 
of medical men in the colony, though we believe there 
are still openings for good practitioners in the country 
districts. Lawyers and auctioneers likewise flourish to 
a most extraordinary degree. Printing offices are esta- 
blished both in town and country ; and the newspapers 
that are dispersed throughout the colony are highly 
creditable to the land. 

The individuals residing in the bush are divided 
principally into three classes — farmers, squatters, and 
labourers. There are some extensive slate and stone 
quarries, all of which afford work to numerous hands. 
Some of the original shareholders in the Burra Burra 
mine have made immense fortunes. And there certainly 
has been a very large amount of money reaped in dif- 
ferent ways from South Australia. The author always 
considers that a penny in England and a shilling here 
are about equivalent. Only that far more importance 
is often attached to the expenditure of a penny in 
England than of the shilling here, even by the poorest 
classes. In Melbcurue this feeling exists in a tenfold 
degree. 

Magistrates, local courts, and police are distributed 
all over the colony, and everything is conducted with 
order and regularity in the different districts. Much 
has been said in England about bushrangers and all 
their horrors in South Australia. But, as usual, South 
Australia is confounded all in a lump with !N^ew South 
Wales, New Zealand, Victoria, and Tasmania ; and the 
truth is, that regular bushrangers are scarcely known or 
heard of in this colony, though extremely troublesome 
in all the surrounding ones. 

A gentleman told the author the other day, that his 



THE emigrant's HOME. 149 

friends had all such an idea of the horrors attendant 
upon convicts and bushrangers in South Australia, that 
he was quite afraid they would be in perfect distress as 
to his being out there. A tale that the author once 
heard in England exactly sets forth the way in which 
everything that occurs in the colonies is jumbled up 
together. 

One day a woman came to a cousin of the author's 
in great distress, telling him her husband had 
been a sodger, had been so sick and ill that he was 
disbanded from his regiment, and that, as his half- 
pay was very insufficient in his iU state of health, she 
hoped he would give her something. The gentleman, 
being a little interested with the woman, began to 
question her, and inquire what service her husband had 
seen? 

" Oh," she answered, " he had been a great traveller, 
in fact that he had been all over the world." 

Of course the hearer instantly began to include in 
this wide range Hindostan, China, Austraha, Spain, 
France, and a few more nameless countries. And 
turning to the woman, he said : — 

" But what countries was it where he had been 
most in ?" 

" Lor, sir," said the poor woman, " I'm sure I can't 
tell you, only he has been to every one of the sheers " — a 
term given to all counties in England that end with 
"shire." 

Now this poor woman's ignorance seemed most 
palpable and most laughable, but if we come to analyze 
it, it strikes us that her geography lesson was not so 
widely different to many of her educated .cotemporaries ; 
for if the English pubhc, because they hear of bush- 
rangers and convicts in Tasmania and New South 
Wales, consider that one and the same as South Aus- 
tralia, we can say but little in favour of the extent of 
their information beyond hers. 

There is one thing we would mention in our closing 
pages, and that is, that no one should attempt to come 



150 life's work as it is ; OR, 

and bnsh it in this colony, who does not bring a large 
Bnpply of the ingredient— contentment. 

Money is very pleasant to handle, but it is not always 
as pleasant to gain. The history of a lady friend recurs 
to mind, who, something like onr young friend Jane 
Seymonr, tnmed everything to brightness. Hiaving 
been brought up in luxury and refinement, she bad con- 
sented to share her fortunes with the man of her choice. 
He, owing to adverse circumstances and ill health, 
deemed it advisable to quit England, and it was at ber 
suggestion that they determined to battle wdth the 
roughs of an Australian bush Hfe. Our heroine did not 
appear even commonly fitted for the life she had chosen, 
inasmuch as she had known little else beyond the ele- 
gancies of life, and but few of its sober realities and ex- 
periences had come in her path. However, she deter- 
mined that her motto should be, " Perseverance conquers 
all things." Arrived in the colony, and perfectly igno- 
rant of everything, she still bravely battled with all 
difficulties. 

Soon after she came, it was the author's lot to pay 
a visit to her home in the bush, and it certainly did 
prove what fair fingers, with a light heart and strong 
energy, could efiect. The log hut contained but two 
very small rooms, with bad earth floors — only a wooden 
partition partially raised between them, and the only 
extra, a small room used as a kitchen, stood on the left 
side. On entering, it seemed as though one was in some 
magical abode. All outside was rough and unfinished 
in the greatest degree, though picturesque ; inside, Bpite 
of wooden partitions and mud floors, all was taste and 
brightness. Xhe walls were hung with a quantity of 
beautiful chintz that this fair damsel happened to have 
brought out in her stores, and the effect of the drapery 
was excellent. Over the window, so small as only to 
own four panes of glass, were arranged some snow-white 
muslin curtains, with a pretty little arrangement of the 
same material at the top, and looped up with ribbon. A 
miniature chest of drawers stood in one comer, covered 



THE emigrant's HOME. 151 

with crochet- work, and on it were placed some beautiful 
little articles of foreign china and glass. The table in 
the centre was only deal, but covered with a bright 
table-cloth. A few pictures and other ornaments were 
scattered here and there. The husband's handsome gun 
was suspended over the fire-place, and a nice piece of 
cocoa-nut matting concealed the worst irregularities of 
the mud floor. 

There was the little lady herself in the midst of 
making a batch of bread, but looking as nice and neat 
as if in her own home in England, only her hands were 
white with flour, and her sleeves neatly looped up. 

"Oh," she said, joyously, "youVe caught me; but 
I'm so proud, my husband says I make the best bread 
he ever tasted, and that the first time I made it, it was 
better than the person's who taught me." 

And this was the joyous spirit with which she has 
gone through the career she marked out for herself, 
forgetting the clouds, and only dwelling on every ray of 
sunshine that brightens her path. Prosperity soon 
spread her mantle over the happy pair, and she is now 
no longer obliged to loop up her sleeves ere she makes a 
descent into the flour. But, nevertheless, her love for 
bush life has ever remained the same, and she has often 
laughingly remarked : " My servants never make my 
husband's bread as I used to make it for him in the slab 
hut." 

These incidents in true life may cheer many a faint 
heart, and strengthen many a faint spirit, afraid to en- 
counter difficulties likely to come within their path. 
The old Irishwoman's beautiful remark holds good 
here as well as in her own country — " There's a silver 
lining to every cloud ; " and if people in general (par- 
ticularly emigrants) would look (as the lady before 
mentioned did) to the silver lining instead of the cloud, 
an immense amount of happiness would be obtained, 
where otherwise there is nought but grief and vexation 
and disappointment. Life is made up of trifles, and as 
the world is not made for us, but we for the world, 



152 life's work as it IS; ob, 

surely it is best to tread with light step over the daily 
troubles and little wearisome perplexities that are always 
occurring in our path. 

Before we drop the curtain, we must take one more 
parting peep at poor Pat. He has just finished writing 
an epistle to his mother, which runs as follows : — 

" Honoured Mother, — ^As this laves me in health this 
side of the water, faith and sure may it find ye same on 
the other side. It's not in me to desave you, nor to say 
more than should be said, but it's a jintleman that your 
son Patrick O'Connor is intirely. Harry Jones has been 
the boy, and a good one too, and it's together we've 
bought the fine section, and the house, and the cows, 
and all that's belonging to it. It's not iu Patrick 
O'Connor to be living on all the grand things in this 
countrie, and not to think of the herring and the praties, 
and the dry bread in ould Ireland that ye're eating. 
And it's proud he would be, and Molly too, if his onld 
mother would crass the water in the big ship, and leave 
the herring, and the praties, and the dry bread behind 
her. No more of seizing for rent, no more cowld, no 
more wanting blankets ; it's the Queen herself could-na* 
wish a more ilegant dinner than Molly brought before 
me last Sunday — two beautiful fowls that the life was in 
them but twelve hours before, and a bit of the pig as 
was killed in Easter week, and a pudding made of the 
milk that wasn't made into butter, and praties and 
bread besides. And it's so fat that Molly O'Connor be, 
that her eyes are grown much smaller since she came 
from ould Ireland. It's not the siller or the gould as 
Patrick O'Connor would grudge for his honoured 
mother, only if the Imigration Society helps, it's proud 
he will be to forward the remainder. It's mighty quear 
as the big ship will make you feel, and it's your heart 
that will very near jump overboard when she begins to 
move, but never mind, Australia is the land for the poor 
man, and it's not poor that he'll be long. Some awda- 
cious willans called mason wasps stopped up all Molly's 



THE emigrant's HOME. 153 

keyholes the other day, so it was nothing we could 
fasten or unfasten ; and the white ants has been making 
of an earthquake in the wood of the back kitchen. But it*s 
little the matter it be, so long as we get the siller and the 
gould, and all the comforts round us. It's the beautiful 
beaf and the powltry, and the bacon, and the white 
bread, I'm a thinking that will more than make up for 
all this, and leaving ould Ireland iuto the bargain. And 
now, honoured mother, it's the son of your ain flesh as 
sends you the money for you to come over the water, 
the sooner the better. 

" From your ain flesh and blood, 

"Patrick O'Connor." 

It*s a bright summer's morning, and all nature look* 
bright and gay; years have rolled on since Eleanor 
Dingle and her husband first left the home of their fore- 
fathers, and sailed forth to an almost unknown world to 
try their fortunes. Prosperity has, as we before said, 
brightened their path, though sorrow has at times 
dimmed it. A group are gathered together at a pretty 
church not twenty miles from Mount Barker, and white 
ribbons and gloves, and white dresses, remind us very 
much of our previously formed ideas of what a wedding 
should be. Let us draw nearer, and take a peep, and 
gratify a little laudable curiosity. 

We think that pretty dark-eyed, gentle-looking 
maiden reminds us strongly of our early friend, Eleanor 
Dingle, and yet there can be no daughter old enough to 
think of anything connected with this occasion. The 
problem is soon solved. Eleanor and her husband have 
gradually advanced into more than competency, and are 
now worth their thousands. Eleanor's thought was for 
those she had left behind, and who had not been so 
fortunate as herself. 

Her orphan sister was accordingly invited to make 
her home this side the waters. And a lovely girl of 
eighteen, she had arrived about a twelvemonth ago in 
the colony. A young and wealthy farmer in the neigh- 



1^ LIIS'S WORK AS IT IS ; OB, 

IxMirhood, struck more witli her gentleness even than 
her loveliness, sought and won her hand, and the happy 
party we now see is assembled to celebrate a naarriage 
pleasing and gratifying to aU parties. 

A handsome honse now occnpies the place of the 
former humble cottage of Robert Dingle. Tall trees 
wave their shady branches over the drive np to the 
house. A beantifol garden lies on each side tiie drive, 
and the land, splendidly cultivated, in addition to other 
sections he had purchased, hes at a short distance. All 
tell a tale of peace and plenty. All looks joyous, aU 
bright. A handsome waggonette, the property of Robert 
Dingle, drives up with the bride and bridegroom to the 
front of the residence, followed by their relatives and 
friends. An elegant but simple breakfast is laid out 
just like the taste of our Eleanor of olden times. And 
she, surrounded by four little olive branches, greets the 
new-made bride with a hearty and loving welcome. 

"May you," said Eleanor, "have all the blessings 
fell to your lot which God has in his mercy showered 
upon your sister and her husband. That large Bible, 
which was my wedding giffc from our dear pastor, has 
guided our steps, and taught us from whence aH pros- 
perity has flowed. And may you, dearest Mary, find as 
I have done, that joy, gladness, and prosperity may be 
indeed found in the emigrant's home. 



THE emigrant's HOME. 155 



CHAPTER IX. 

PRACTICAL HINTS TO EMIGRANTS. 

The following hints to intending emigrants, fonnded 
npon personal experience, it is hoped may not be deemed 
nninteresting. The emigrants sent out, or assisted by 
Government, are first assembled into a large and com- 
fortable depot previons to embarkation, where every 
arrangement has been made for their comfort and con- 
venience. Every box shonld be marked in large white 
letters with the name of the owner ; and should state 
whether it will be reqnired or not during the voyage. 
When on shipboard, the boxes may once a week be had 
up from below, but if not marked "Wanted on the 
voyage," they are stowed away out of reach. 

It is most important to provide well against the mis- 
fortune of getting things wet, owing to the difficulty of 
getting then\ easily dried. Warm clothing is also of 
great importance, as there are no fires allowed in the 
cabins, however cold the weather may be. This is a 
thing often forgotten. Government provides tin plates, 
cups, water-cans, etc., for the use of the emigrants, and 
if they behave well, these articles belong to them on 
their landing (no unacceptable addition to a bush 
kitchen). 

The emigrants are generally divided at meal-times 
into small companies, or messes, and then the one ap- 
pointed to take the head fetches the provisions for the 
table. The fare is generally good — biscuits, good pea- 
soup, salt beef, pork, rice, etc., etc. A surgeon always 
accompanies the vessel, ae well as a matron and Bchool- 



156 life's work as it is; or, 

master. Those who are really ill, and in want of addi- 
tional comforts, are allowed supplies through the doctor 
by his order. Preserved milk, wine, sago, arrowroot, 
etc., are provided for the sick. All the emigrants who 
go free, or partly so, are considered under the care of 
the matron, doctor, and schoolmaster. Divine service 
is held on board, if the weather be suitable, on Sundays, 
and the children have the opportunity of improving 
their minds, and being under some restraint at the same 
time. 

As a rule, the directions given for one emigrant tib^ 
will apply to another ; but the voyage must much d^; 
pend on the vessel, the time of year, the captain, and 
the doctor, the state of health on board, the character of 
the emigrants, and last not least, the temperament and 
disposition with which the emigrant embarks. 

A determination to be satisfied and happy spreads a 
bright light on what might otherwise be considered 
dark and dreary. A contented mind is a continual 
feast, and this fact is never more evident than on ship- 
board. The writer has frequently heard the most con- 
flicting accounts of the same voyage from parties who 
came out under the very same circumstances, in the 
very same vessel, and with the very same appointments. 
One must also remember on shipboard there is no 
grazing land for cows, nor brewers, where fresh yeast 
can be obtained ; and no room for any amount of sheep 
or cattle. These things borne in mind, the fare may be 
considered excellent. 

As this little work is really to prepare the emigrant, 
it may be useful to enter into a few little details that 
may interest the careful housewife. 

The comfort of the voyage will be greatly increased 
by the possession of a few trifles otherwise only granted 
to those passengers who happen to be upon the sick list. 
People have a great idea of taking home-made preserves 
with them, but lamentable experience has generally 
proved that jams do not choose to pass the tropics 
without being terribly disturbed. The writer was much 



THE emigrant's HOME. 157 

amused with, an account given of one emigrant ship, 
where the person speaking said, " that they believed, off 
Brazil and the Azores, there was not a pot of jam en 
board the ship that was not working its own free pas- 
sage." Of course, if it is thus busHy engaged, it loses 
all its good qualities ; it takes up much room, creates 
much disappointment, and is also too sickly for a sea- 
sick appetite. There are preserves, made air-tight, 
which may be bought reasonably, and which will keep. 
But the thing of all others to stand a voyage, and the 
most adapted to a sickly appetite, is the old-fashioned 
S^^h marmalade. It may be bought extremely cheap 
t^ some places ; and a few pots of this, a few boxes of 
sardines, a few good small biscuits, and some such 
simple things, are invaluable. 

As regards famiture, persons must use their discre- 
tion a little. Government emigrants have little room 
allotted for stowage, beyond boxes ; and those who can 
afford to pay, will find it better to buy what they want on 
arrival. Bedding of all kinds is useful to take, being 
very expensive to buy. Indeed anything that can be 
taken free of freight is valuable on arrival. But if the 
parties intend to rough it, little furniture is thought of 
in a bush but; and if more is required, the auction 
rooms and second-hand shops in Adelaide will supply 
tables, chairs, and colonial sofas at a comparatively 
moderate rate. 

Civilization is so on the increase, that ftirniture sbops 
may be found situated above twenty miles from Adelaide. 
This is a very considerable advance towards the bush, 
inasmuch as parties residing round about can suit them- 
selves so much short of town. 

Wearing apparel suitable for England, for the 
working class, is suitable for South Australia. The 
women dress exactly the same, the men generally adopt 
a blue serge shirt, and some kind of a broad-brimmed 
felt or straw hat. Servants wear the same things here 
that they do at home, but dispense with caps, though 
not with finery. 



158 life's work as it IS; oe, 

The poop cabins are geneirally good and commodions, 
opening into the saloon, and no Govermnent emigrants 
are allowed, without leave, to go to that end of the 
vessel. An excellent table is ordinarily kept, and plenty 
of delicacies provided for invalids. Any luggage or ftir- 
niture taken in these cabins is not charged as extra 
freight ; but all furniture or luggage not taken into the 
cabin is charged so much extra if over the weight allowed, 
aud the charge is heavy. Different vessels make different 
regulations as to the quantity of luggage that may be 
taken without extra cost. Half a ton to esich individual 
is sometimes allowed. This seems a good deal, bnt in 
reality is very soon found far short of requirements in 
many cases. Before starting, all hanging shelves, boxes, 
washing-stands, eveiything moveable, should be fastened 
to the cabin floor, or sides, by a carpenter, otherwise, 
some fine morning may find all your things scattered 
north, south, east, and west, and yourself, perhaps, 
underneath all. The sea asks no leave, and the pitching 
and tossing of some vessels exceeds all idea. What- 
ever is wanted for immediate use should be close at 
hand, as sea-sickness often disables masters, mistresses, 
and servants for some days ; and it is a great conso- 
lation if, in such times, there is a place for everything, 
and everything is in that place, and that place is near. 
The writer would have given much for a few of these 
hints learnt by bitter experience ; but kind friends often 
have no knowledge on the subject, and if they have, 
they forget to give the advice till too late. The very 
great and unavoidable closeness on ship-board, and the 
peculiar smell which haunts nearly all vessels, makes it 
most desirable to take some refreshing scents, but 
nothing that is sickly. A few drops of Rimmel's 
vinegar in a basin of water will refresh the weary 
voyager in an extraordinary manner. All these little 
luxuries make unpleasant things very bearable. It 
wiU depend on the size of your cabin whether you have 
berths or a small bedstead, either of which the passenger 
furnishes. 



THE emigrant's HOME. 159 

The generality of cabins are fiimislied with small 
lamps, to be pnt ont at the honr of rest, and a large 
one is kept burning during the night in the saloon on 
many vessels. The steward generally attends to the 
cabins. 



APPENDIX, 



I. 

It is very important that new comers to the colony shonld be well 
acquainted with the various national provisions that are made for their 
necessities, should occasion reqaire. The following details are there- 
fore jjiven of Government and other institutions. 



HOSPITAL. 



A large, airy, well-appointed building is appropriated for the sick, 
whether suffering from accident or general illness. Able medical men 
and efficient nurses are provided, also abundance of good food. Tea 
and other little luxuries are provided by the patients or their friends. 

If any one requiring the benefit of the hospital are in circumstances 
to pay something weekly, it is expected that they do so. But if in 
necessitous circumstances, they are provided for entirely. Of course, 
those who are able a^e glad to contribute a portion to this valuable 
establishment. Most of the medical men appoint certain hours in the 
week, when they see i)atients gratuitously. 



LUNATIC ASYLUM. 

It is painful to think of the necessity of such a refuge, but it is a 
comfort to know there is such an establishment, should the afflicted 

W 



162 APPENDIX. 

require it. This asylmn is a large airy dwelling, near the hospital, 
and dose to the Botanical Gardens. 

It has all the needful appointments that snch an establishment 
requires. 

There would be comparatively few within* these walls if a due 
regard was had to sobriety. In this warm and exhilarating climate, 
fermented liquors of all kinds take great effect on the system, and 
affect the brain with fearful rapidity. Let all new chums take heed to 
this warning. It is too late if they learn this sad truth &om painful 
experience. Sober men, if blessed with health, are certain to obtain 
at least a comfortable livelihood. 



DEsrrruTB asylum. 

In South Australia, as in all other countries, there are some unfor- 
tunate persons who, from various causes, known and unknown, get 
into dificulties which prevent their supporting their families for a 
time. In such cases the children are taken into the Destitute, and are 
clothed, fed, and taught. Women also are provided for, if incapable 
of providing for themselves. Widows with families (if represented as 
requiring it), are assisted with rations for the younger children, which 
is an important help, and yet there is no feeling of degradation in it. 
If a man from sickness is incapable of providing for his wife and 
family, provision is made for them by rations, whilst actually 
required. 

The Destitute Asylum is near the hospitaL All districts have 
officers appointed to make due examination of cases, which are duly 
reported, and relieved from the Adelaide Asylum, with rations, or 
orders on stores to provide them. 



ORPHAN ASYLUM TOE GIRLS. 

This invaluable institution is supported by public subscriptions, and 
directed by a committee of influential ladies, who take unwearied pains 



ly niDlie r11 needful araangemeDts for the benefit and 
wpliaii ^rlB. Govemment baa pnrchased a, large, well- 
lb re un a^jliun. This gift leaves t^e funds at libeFty 
llaluSdren. 

U direoU ths hooaehold aibjrs, and inatracta the girls. 
tinwlit t«> perform all UiB domestic dntiea of the 
IL9 instrDitad in reading, writiDg, ciphering, needle- 
I Thns they are ^radnallj fitted to ta^e reapsctable aitnations 
1^ etc. Tb^so QiphitiiB are provided with everything, they 
H islotlied. and make all their own gannents. The children 
b sfiBerFiiI uttii liappj, that it is quite a pleaanre to visit the 

asjlnm, even if orphans. The; can soon esm theiT 
fe. luiil Ggbt for t^kemeelvea. The ladies who watch orer this 
a kind iutet«at in the orphana, after they are placed 
em with i> neat appropriate anpply of dothea. 



aKBV ants' eome. 
great importance to n8w eomera. It is sitn- 

D u fenialu immigrantB land, the; can go direct to this 

}f ifrwiuiring places. At a amall cost (Is. 6d.) per day, they 

rtably lodged oud boarded, and every pajna is taken by the 

lod matron to direct them to appropriate piscei. 

inquire for servants to this Home, as soon as a 

rvsote and masters or mistresaes are immediate 

But ahoald the femaJea be onsacceasM at fire!', 

hia Home till tliey find the right place. 

ome ia equally adapted to provide a aafe and oom- 

_rnnng women ont of place, or for any interval 

b ahanging plaoBS. Or even if poor health neceaeitatestbem 

rt tehiiation, (hey will, nnder any of Heae circnnistanoes, 

to prntidpoMd at a rery amall cost. 



164 



APPENDIX. 



LABOUB OFFICES. 

These offices, situated in Kin^ William Street and Bundle Street, 
are the places where men, most especially, can obtain all needful infor- 
mation relative to situations of every description. Women also often 
get places from this dex>ot, as they are regular register offices for both 
sexes* 



CAB STANDS AND OMNIBUSES. 

It is perhaps worthy remark that there are omnibuses at a very 
cheap rate running during the day to the suburbs of Adelaide ; and 
covered carts, cars, and carriages of all descriptions can be hired at a 
moderate price to any part of town or elsewhere. 

Omnibuses run to all parts of the colony at a very moderate charge, 
and at a very good speed. 



SERVANTS' WAGES.— FEMALE. 

PER ANNUM, WITH BOARD AND LODGING. 

Domestic and Dairy Maid-Servants, 



Dairymaids 

General Servants 

Good Cooks 

Kitchenmaids 

Housekeepers 

Housemaids 

Laundresses 

Xurses 
Nurse-girls. . . 
Upper Nurses 
Waiting-maids 



(According to 



distance.) 



£ 


s. 


d. £ 


s. 


d. 


18 





to 23 








18 





„ 26 








26 





„ 30 








18 





„ 21 








23 





„ 30 








20 





„ 26 








26 





„ 31 








15 





to 20 








5 





„ 15 








20 





„ 26 








26 





„ 31 









APPENDIX. 



165 



MALE SERVANTS. 
Domestic and Fcurm. 



Farm Boys (13 to 14) 

Men Bollock-Drivers at Stations 

Ditto for Roads 

Ditto for Farms 

Gardeners 

Coachmen ... 

General Farm- Servants 

Harvest-men 

Hntkeepers (according to distance) per annum 26 
Married Couples (according to distance) „ 45 

Milkmen „ 45 

Ploughmen, single „ 40 

Shepherds, single (according to distance) „ 39 



£ 8, 

10 

45 

45 

• • • • t • 4fU \j 

■ • • • a • ^nl v 

... about 60 

per week 14 

18 



» 











d. £ s. (Z. 

to 15 

„ 52 

„ 60 

„ 52 

„ 60 
and upwards 

to 18 

„ 25 

„ 31 

„ 60 

„ 52 

„ 52 

„ 53 



Per Week, with usual Rations. 



■DaKers ... ... ... ... 

Bush Carpenters 

Butchers 

Cooks (male) 

Grooms (with occasional perquisites) 
Ostlers (with perquisites) 
Slaughtermen 



1 5 to 1 10 

1 5 „ 1 10 

1 10 „ 2 

15 „ 1 

15 „ 1 

15 „ 1 

1 10 „ 2 



Per Day, without Board and Lodging. 



Watch and Clock- makers 
AVheelwrights 



12 to 14 
9 „ 10 



Carters 
Confectioners 



Per Week, without Rations. 



2 
2 2 



16G 



APFBVDIX. 



Per Scale below, wiUiout Bations. 

£ s, d. 
Brickmakers, per 1000, without burmng 
Fencers, per rod ... 

Sawyers, per 100 feet| Cedar 

Ditto ditto Deal 

Stone-breakers, per cubic yard 

Wire Fencing, per rod 



£ s. d. 
12 
2 6 to 3 





„ 



11 
8 
2 
1 



6 „ 



3 

2 



Per Day, without Board and Lodging. 



• • • • • • 



Blacksmiths 

Bricklayers 

Cabinet- makers 

Carpenters ... 

Carriage-makers 

Co(^>er8 
Engineers ... 
G^alvanized Iron- workers... 

Iron-fonnders 

Labourers ... 
Masons 

Killers 

Miners 

Painters 

Plasterers 

Plumbers 

Quarrymen... 

Saddlers 

Shoeing Smiths 

Shoemakers (labour market over-stocked) 

Storemen 

^ cti 1 vX a ••• ••• >•• ••• ••• ••• 

JL fl "TIP' ^ ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• 

Adelaide, May 24i?i, 1866. 



• • • • • • 



(and piecework.) 



• • • • t ■ 



7 
10 
8 
8 
8 
7 
9 
8 
9 
6 
9 



to 




9 










8 
5 
8 
9 



10 












7 
7 
7 
7 
7 
8 



8 





6 



6 







6- 





























$9 

it 
Si 

39 

9t 
» 

n 
» 

99 
99 



10 
9 
10 









99 
» 



12 6 

10 

12 

11 

8 6 

7 

10 



8 

9 

10 

8 

9 

9 



APPENDED 167 

ODD FELLOWS. 

It is perhaps worthy remark that various Lodges are in existence 
in this Colony, and in a flourishing condition. It is with great plea- 
sure that we see this is the case, as there is no question that they are of 
the greatest benefit to society ; the members, in case of sickness, being 
supplied with efficient help, and widows and orphans receiving a con- 
siderable sum in case of death. 



n. 

SOUTH AUSTKALIA. 
IMMIGEATION" EEGULATIONS. 

Begvlations for the issvdng of EmhwrTcation Orders cmd the gromi/mg 
Remission Certificates, framed hy His Excellency the Oovemor- 
i/n- Chief with the ad/uice of the Executive Council, in accorda/nce 
with Act No. 4, 21st Victoria. 

ASSISTED PASSAGE REGULATIONS, 

Under which Settlers may obtain assistance out of the PvhUc Fv/ads, 
towards the introduction to this Colony from Britain, of persons 
in aid of the cost of whose passages they may contribute certain 
sums. 

CONDITIONS. 

1. Any person, resident in this Colony, desirous of procuring a 
passage from the United Kingdom to South Australia, for emigrants 
of the undermentioned classes, coming within the following regola- 
tions, may effect that object by contributing in this office such of the 
sums of money named hereunder as may apply in each instance. (For 
Application Forms, see Schedule A.) 

2. On payment of the money at this offioe, a oertificate will be 



168 APPENDIX. 

issued (Schedule B) guaranteeing passages to an equivalent number of 
persons as per scale hereunder, on presentation of the certificate to the 
South Australian Emigration Agent in London, provided they are aj)- 
proved on inspection by such Emigration Agent. 

3. The certificate will have twelve months' currency, will be trans- 
ferable, but only to persons of the same nationality as those mentioned 
in the certificate — and in no case will the contributor have any portioa 
of the money paid refunded to him ; but, in order to prevent any in- 
justice arising through the non-emigration of any of the persons for 
whose benefit the certificate was in the first instance obtained, the 
Emigration Agent will receive, in Britain, any money balance which 
may be required under the regulations, to entitle the persons who 
actually claim under the certificate to passages. 



CLASSES ELIGIBLE. 

4. The following are the classes eligible for passages : — 

I. Married agricultural labourers, shepherds, herdsmen, and 

copper miners, not exceeding forty-five years of age. 

II. Single men, or widowers without children under sixteen, of 

any of the above classes, not exceeding forty years of age. 

III. Single female domestic servants, or widows without children 
under sixteen, not exceeding thirty-five years of age. 

IV. Married mechanics (when required in the Colony), sucli as 

masons, bricklayers, blacksmiths and farriers, wheel wiights, 
sawyers, carpenters, etc., also gardeners, not exceeding forty- 
five years of age. 

v. Single men of class iv. (when required) not exceeding forty 
years of age. 

VI. The wives and children of married emigrants. 

5. The emigrants under these regulations — personally, in the case of 
single adults of sixteen years and upwards, and by the head of the 
family in other cases — must, prior to embarkation, sign anundertakiiig 
in the sum of £20; which, however, will not be enforced unless the 



APrENDIX. 169 

person, or any one or more of the persons named in such nndertELking» 
or on ivhosc behalf such undertaking shall have been given, shall leave 
or attempt to leave South Australia within two years after arrival. 

6. The Emigration Agent will, after approval by him, issue em- 
barkation orders to persons thus nominated and approved in rotation, 
according to date of acceptance, so far as may be consistent with their 
sanitary precautions, regulating the proportion of young children 
proper to be embarked with adults in vessels ; regard being always, 
had, also, to the current rate and proportion of Government emigration 
to this Colony. 



PAYMENTS TOWARDS PASSAGES. 

7. The following sums must be paid in aid of the passages of: — 

£ s. d. 

For each Male 4 

„ Female 3 

Children under fourteen years of age, half -the above rates. 



QUALIFICATIONS. 

8. Eligible Candidates, — ^The candidates must be in the habit of 
working for wages at one of the callings mentioned above, and must be 
going out with the intention of working for hire in that calling. They 
must be sober, industrious, of good moral character, in good healthy 
free from all mental and bodily defects, within the ages specified, 
appear physically to be capable of labour, and have been vaccinated or 
had the small-pox. 

Ineligible Candidates. — ^Passages cannot be granted to persons 
intending to proceed to the other Australian Colonies ; to persons in 
the habitual receipt of parish relief; to families which have more than 
two children under seven, or than three under ten years of age ; to 
parents without all their children under sixteen, then in Britain ; to 
children under sixteen without their parents; to husbands without 



1 70 APPENDIX. 

their wives, or wives without their husbands (unless, in the last three 
instances, the inirents, husband, or wife be in this Colony) ; to single 
women who have had illegitimate children; or to persons who have 
not arranged with their creditors. 



APPLICATION AND APPKOVAL. 

9. The first step is to address the Emigration Agent in London, or 
his nearest selecting agent, for an application form (Sch edule C), whidi 
must be accurately filled up and returned to the officer issuing same. 
If the applicants are married, the certificate of their marriage must be 
sent at the same time. Time and place for a personal inspection of the 
applicants will thereafter be appointed, and they will also be informed 
what other certificates (if any) are required in support of their applica- 
tions. The candidates will, on or after inspection, be informed whether 
or not a passage can be granted. If it can, they will, as soon as pos- 
sible, receive an embarkation order from the Emigration Agent in 
London {which is not trcmsferahle)^ naming the ship in which they are 
to sail and the time and place of joining her. 



OUTFIT, ETC. 

10. Candidates must find their own outfit, which will be inspected 
before embarkation by an officer duly authorized by the Emigration 
Agent. The emaUest quantity that will be allowed is — for each male 
over twelve, six shirts, six pairs of stockings, two warm flannel shirts, 
two pairs of new shoes or boots, two complete suits of strong exterior 
clothing, four towels, and 21bs. of marine soap ; and for each female 
over twelve, six shifts, two flannel petticoats, six - pairs of stockings, 
two pairs of strong boots or shoes, two strong gowns (one of which 
must bo made of a warm material), four towels, and 21bs. of marine 
soap. 

[N.B. — If any difficulty is experienced in procuring good ma- 
rine soap where the applicants reside, there will be ample 
opportunity for purchasing it after their arrival at the 
depot.] 



APPBlOJfX. 171 

Two or three coloured shirts for men, and an extra supply of flannel 
for women and children, are very desirable. 

The quantity of baggage for each person over twelve must not 
exceed twenty cubic or solid feet, nor half a ton in weight. It must 
be closely packed in one or more strong boxes or cases not exceeding 
fifteen cubic feet each. Larger packages and extra baggage, if taken 
at aD, must be paid for. Mattresses and feather beds, firearms, and 
offensive weapons, wines, spirits, beer, gunpowder, percussion caps, 
lucif er matches, and any dangerous or noxious articles, cannot be taken 
by emigrants. 



CAUTIONS. 

11. Candidates must not reckon upon passages, or make any pre 
parations for departure, unless they receive notice that they have been 
approved on inspection. Persons cannot be received on board ship 
without an embarkation order issued by the Emigration Agent, nor 
unless they are in a fit state of health for the voyage. 

Any false signatures, mis-statements, or omissions to state a ma- 
t erial £9.ct in the candidate's papers, or any attempt at deception what- 
ever or evasion of these regulations, will debar such candidate &om all 
after consideration for a passage to this Colony ; and in the case of 
false signatures, will, moreover, render the offender liable to a heavy 
penalty under the Passengers' Act. 

Failure to attend at the time and place of embarkation, without 
having previously given to the Emigration Agent timely notice, and a 
satisfactory reason, or any insubordination or misconduct in the Emigra- 
tion Dep6t, or on board ship before sailing, will subject candidates to 
the loss of their passage. 

All communications by intending emigrants to this Colony, are, 
until further notice, to be addressed, post-paid, to G. S. Walters, Esq., 
Emigration Agent for South Australia, No. 5, Copthall Court, London. 



172 APPENDIX. 

SCHEDULE A. 

Application under Assisted Passage ReguXations, 

South Australia. 

I, t , liaving resided in South Aostzalia for the epwce 

of six months, hereby apply to contribate the snm of £ towards 

the passage to this Colony of the persons named on the hack hereof, or 
of such persons as may be nominated by me, or any person aathorized 
by me, in the United Eingdom, under the above-named regulations 
current at this date. 

[Signature.] 
[Witness to signature.] 

* Address in full and date. f Occupation. 



SCHEDULE B. 

South Australia. 

Crown Lands and Lnmigration Office, Adelaide, 186 . 

I hereby certify that , of , in this Province, 

has this day paid the sum of pounds shillings, under the 

AssiBted Passage Begulations current at this date, for the purpose of 
procuring the conveyance by sea to Port Adelaide, of the persons 
named on the back hereof, or of an equivalent number of such eligible 
persons as may present this certificate in the United Kingdom to the 
Emigration Agent for South Australia, and be approved of by him. 

Secretary to Commissioner. 



SCHEDULE C. 

[Note. — This application must be returned, duly filled up, to the 
Emigration Agent for South Australia, 5, Copthall Court, London, or 
to his officer from whom received, accompanied by the authorizing 
certificate issued in the Colony, within twelve months from the date 
of the latter.] 



APPEin)ix. 175 

AppUcatum of a Passage to South Australia, in virtue of a pa/ymeni 
made for henefit in Adelmde, v/nder the Assisted Passage 
Regulations. 

I, , hereby make application as above, and beg to annex 

hereto a certificate that did on the 186 , pay to 

the Commissioner of Crown Lands and Immigration, at Adelaide, the 
suQi of pounds shillings, to entitle , subject 

to the undermentioned regulations and conditions, to passage to 
South Australia in a Goyemment Emigrant vesseL 

[Applicant's signature and address in full.] 
[Date,] 

[Here follow the ''Assisted Passage Regulations " in extenso ; also^ 
usual columns for particulars of age, sex, occupation, etc. 

Assisted Passages obtainable in England under certain 

drcumstomces. 

When, and in case the applications from persons resident in the 
Colony shall be insufficient in number, the Emigration Agent in Eng' 
land will be authorized to grant assisted passage certificates or em- 
barkation orders to persons in Britain, subject to, however, and in 
accordance with the foregoing regulations, so far as the same are 
applicable. 

FREE PASSAGE REGULATIONS. 

Regulations for the selection of Persons in Britain for Free 

Passages to this Colony, 

CLASSES ELIGIBLE. 

1. The following are the classes eligible for selection for free 
X)assages : — 

I. Married agricultural labourers, shepherds, herdsmen, and 

copper miners, not exceeding forty-five years of age. 

II. Single men, or widowers without children under sixteen, of 

any of the above classes, not exceeding forty years of age. 

III. Single female domestic servants, or widows without children 
under sixteen, not exceeding thirty-five years of age. 



174 




iv, Mnrruid moefaafiiai (when n i pur ed. m ihe 
mtuttmUf \mtM layen* Madwnritmi, an 1 1 

wiwyfrm, t:strit*!nUsnf etc, also gaideoen^ wjcauefin^ &rtj- 

V, HintflA rri'm of cUum it. (wlieii reqimied) 

y««ni of iif(0. 

VI, Thif Wiv<?ff fttid chiMrcn of msnied 



qt/ALIPICATIOKS. 

2# I'V'hjiht^ (Uimduhdi'H. Tlio candidates most be in tbe Iiabit cf 
nupfhin'j fnf uuufftt n\. <m«j of tho ca11ini|ps mentioned abore, and nrxstbe 
f(o}ri« otii with ih«i inf<<mti^m of working^for hire in that eaUBSoM^. Thej 
mtiKt' Sm ft'fhfir, iri'liiMtriotiM, <>f gr>od moral character, in good heakb, 
fftm frnm »\\ rrt'iriUl and bodily defects, within the 
n-pptHir phyMwstiJIy to bo capable of labour, and haye been 
)m4\ itifl Mmnll'pox. 

tnr.UifU/lfi (Jfivdiii/dm." PuMmf^ cannot be granted to 
\n^mttUnt( Utprinmnfl iotho other Australian Colonies; topenmis in 
iUn tmhidml rfi(!«ipf. of pariHli relief; to widowers and widows with 
j/nunyf fUMr^m^ io piirontH without all their children under sixteen 
iUtitt m Hriiiiirii to (Oiildron under sixteen without their parents; to 
huMbnridft wiUi'/tit Utoir wives, or wives without their husbands; to 
«jrn<l« unm ov<ir forty; io single women over thirty-five; to single 
wom«tft who hiivo hud illnpriliniato children; or to persons who have 
wti itrmnj(«<l with thoir creditors. 



API'LICATION AND APPROVAL. 



«J. Tho first stop is to iiddross the Emigration Agent for South 
AnMtralifi in London, or hin nearest selecting agent, for an appUcation 
form, which must bo accurately filled up and returned to the oflSicer 
issuing same. If the applicants are married, the certificate of their 



APPENDIX. 1/5 

marnage must be sent at the same time. Time and place for a per- 
sonal inspection of the applicants will thereafter be appointed, and 
they will also be informed what other certificates (if any) are required 
in snpport of their applications. The candidates will, on or after in- 
spection, be informed whether or not a passage can be granted. If it 
can, they will, as soon as possible, receive an embarkation order from 
the Emigration Agent (which is not tra/nsferable)^ naming the ship in 
which they are to sail, and the time and place of joining her. 

4. The emigrants under these regulations — ^personally in the case 
of single adults, and by the head of the family in other cases — ^must, 
prior to embarkation, sign an undertaking in the sum of £20 ; which, 
however, will not be enforced unless the person, or any one or more 
of the persons named in such undertaking, or on whose behalf such 
undertaking shall have been given, shall leave, or attempt to leave. 
South Australia within two years after arrival. 



OUTFIT, ETC, 

5. Candidates must find their own outfit, which will be inspected 
before embarkation by an officer duly authorized by the Emigration 
Agent. The smallest quantity that will be allowed is — ^for each male 
over twelve, six shirts, six pairs of stockings, two warm flannel shirts^ 
two pairs of new shoes or boots, two complete suits of strong exterior 
clothing, four towels, and 21bs. of marine soap ; and for each female 
over twelve, six shifts, two flannel petticoats, six pairs of stockings^ 
two pairs of strong boots or shoes, two strong gowns (one of which 
must be made of a warm material), four towels, and 21bs. of marine 
soap. 

[N.B. — ^If any difficulty is e:q>erienced in procuring good 
marine soap where the applicants reside, there will be 
ample opportunity for purchasing it after their arrival at 
the depot.] 

Two or three coloured shirts for men, and an extra supply of flannel 
for women and children, are very desirable. 



176 APPEITDIX. 

The qaaaiity of hoiggnge for each person over twelve must not 
exceed twenty cubic or solid feet, nor half a ton in weight. It mnst 
he closely packed in one or more strong boxes or cases not exceeding 
fifteen cubic feet each. Larger packages and extra baggage, if taken 
st all, must be paid for. Mattresses and feather beds, firearms, and 
offensive weapons, wines, spirits, beer, gunpowder, percussion caps, 
Iticif er matches, and any dangerous or noxious articles, cannot be taken 
by emigrants. 

CAUTIONS. 

6. Candidates must not reckon upon passages, or make any pre- 
parations for departure, unless they receive notice that they have been 
approved on inspection. Persons cannot be received on board ship 
without an embarkation order issued by the Emigration Agent, nor 
unless they are in a fit state of health for the voyage. 

Any false signatures, mis-statements, or omissions to state a 
material fact in the candidate's papers, or any attemx^t at deception 
whatever, or evasion of these regulations, will debar such candidate 
from all after consideration for a passage to this Colony ; and, in the 
ease of false signatures, will, moreover, render the offender liable to a 
heavy penalty under the Passengers' Act. 

Failure to attend at the time and place of embarkation, without 
having previously given to the Emigration Agent timely notice, and a 
satisfactory reason, or any insubordination or misconduct in the Com- 
missioners' dep6t, or on board ship before sailing, will subject candi- 
dates to the loss of their passage. 

All communications by intending emigrants to this Colony are until 
further notice, to be addressed, post-paid, to F. S. Button, Esq., S7, 
Great George Street, Westminster, London, S. W. 



REMISSION CERTIFICATES. 

Regulations under which Remission Certificates, available in the 
purchase of Crown Lands, may he claimed, where Irrvmigra/nts 
haA!e teen introduced hy private persons. 
Persons having resided in South Australia for at least one year, 



APPENDIX. 177 

who may introduce from the United Kingdom, at their own cost, im- 
migrants of either of the cksses specified in the Assisted Passage 
Regulations, shall be entitled, on the arrival of those immigrants, to 
receive from this office a certificate for an amount equal to the cost 
which might have been incurred by the Government for the emigration 
of such persons ; such certificate to be receivable as cash at the Trea- 
sury for the purchase of Crovoi Lands on or after maturity, and the 
amount expressed therein to be based upon the average contract rate 
payable per statute adult for emigrants by the three Government emi- 
grant vessels then previously reported as chartered : Provided — 

I. That such persons have been inspected and approved by the 

Emigration Agent in England, or that notice of such intended 
introduction of immigrants be addressed in writing to this 
office at least six months prior to the date of their arrival in 
the Colony. 

II. That, on landing, a certificate be obtained from the Emigra- 

tion Agent at Port Adelaide, to the effect that the immigrant 
so introduced is eligible for acceptance by the Emigration 
Agent at the date of departure from England. 

III. That on presentation of the money certificate at the Treasury 
after its maturity (two years after date), there be attached 
thereto a declaration, in form of Schedule at foot hereof, that 
the persons in respect of whose introduction the certificate 
was issued, have been constantly since arrival, and are then, 
resident in South Australia, and have not during such resi- 
dence been recipients of public reHef. 



SCHEDULE. 

I, , being one of Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace 

for the Province of South Australia, do hereby certify, that on this 

day of , 186 , personally came before me, at 

of (whose signature was hereto appended in my presence,) 

who solemnly and sincerely declared that the person named hereunder 
(who also appeared before me and acknowledged the accuracy of the 

VL 



178 APPENDIX. 

statexnent), w introdnoed by h to this colony at h private oost^ 
aad the perscoi referred to in a certain Remission Certificate, dated 
(also produced and now signed by me), entitling , 

the said to the abatement of £ , in the price of the South 

Australian Crown Lands. And I also certify that the said 
and further declared before me, that had not sinco the 

bden absent from this Colony, and had not been at any time, 
during residence here, rec^>ient of public relief. 

[N^ame of Immigrant referred to.] 



(Signature of Magistrate) J.P. 

(Signature of holder of Remission Order) 



SUPPLEMENTARY REGULATIONS, 
Gazetted l^th Jrnie, 1868. 

Any person, though ineligible under clause iv. of these Regulations 
[Assisted Passage Regulations], who shall pay to the Emigration 
Agent in London the full contract rate of passage-money of the ship 
in which such person comes to this Colony, or on whose account there 
shall have been paid to the Commissioner of Crown Lands and Immi- 
gration, in this Colony, or some authorized person in his behalf, a sum 
to cover the passage-money, such sum to be based upon the average 
contract rate payable per statute adult for emigrants by the three 
Grovemment vessels then previously reported as chartered, shall be 
allowed a passage in a Government emigrant ship, provided that such 
person is in good health and not likely to become chargeable on the 
Colony, and that he or she sign an agreement to conform to the rules 
to be observed on board ship. 

The provisions of the existing remission certificate regulations 
may be applied in respect of any person coming out to this Colony in 
a Government emigrant ship, provided that there shall have been paid 
to the Emigration Agent in London the full contract rate of the 



APPENDIX. 179 

passage- money of the ship in which such person conies to this Colony ; 
or that there shall have been paid to the Commissioner of Crown 
Lands and Immigration, or some authorized person in his behalf, a 
sum to meet cost of passage, such sum to be based upon the average 
contract rate payable per statute adult for emigrants by the three 
Grovemment emigrant vessels then previously reported as chartered ; 
provided, however, that such emigrant sign an agreement to comply 
with the rules and regulations of the ship. 



THE END. 



HABBZLD, PBUTTIB, LOKDOV. 



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.List of Publications, 15 

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16 Sampson Low and Co.'s List of Puhlications. 

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