Name of Bore. | Date of | Depth.| Date of
| | | Completion or
| Commencement. | | Suspension.
---------------------------+------------------+-------+---------------
| | Feet. |
1. Bimerah Run, No. 3, | 11 Aug, 1898 | 5,045 | June, 1900
Whitewood | | |
2. Bimerah Run, No. 1, | May, 1895 | 4,860 | July, 1897
Bothwell | | |
3. Elderslie Run, No. 2, | April, 1900 | 4,523 | Sept., 1902
Cathedral | | |
4. Ruthven Run, No. 1 | 1 Aug., 1905 | 4,515 | April, 1908
5. Ayrshire Downs Run, | Jan., 1895 | 4,438 | Sept., 1897
No. 1 | | |
6. Warbreccan Run | Jan., 1894 | 4,333 | 22 April, 1898
7. Manuka Run, No. 1 | Aug., 1896 | 4,310 | April, 1898
8. Bimerah Run, No. 2, | Oct., 1897 | 4,310 | Jan., 1900
Munjerie | | |
9. Eromanga (Government) | 16 July, 1906 | 4,270 | Jan., 1909
10. Rockwood Run, No. 1, | 15 Dec., 1891 | 4,220 | 15 July, 1897
Glenariffe | | |
11. Albilbah Run, No. 1, | 1 July, 1889 | 4,205 | Sept., 1902
Cable End | | |
12. Ruthven Run, No. 1 | 1 Aug., 1903 | 4,105 | 22 June, 1905
13. Lorne, No. 1 | ... | 4,057 | In Progress
14. Minnie Downs Run | 11 May, 1899 | 4,040 | 30 April, 1902
15. Malboona, Manuka | 18 Feb., 1899 | 4,032 | 7 June, 1900
Resumption | | |
16. Winton (Government) | 16 July, 1889 | 4,010 | 25 June, 1895
17. Darr River Downs Run, | | |
No. 4, Overnewton | Feb., 1892 | 4,006 | 28 Mar., 1894
18. Thornleigh (Kargoolnah | May, 1901 | 4,003 | 15 Sept., 1902
Shire) | | |
19. Windorah (Government) | 1 July, 1902[l]| 4,001 | 24 May, 1905
20. Vindex Run, No. 2 | Oct., 1898 | 4,000 | June, 1900
21. Ayrshire Downs Run, | Sept., 1899 | 3,983 | Sept., 1902
No. 3 | | |
22. Katandra and | | |
Stamfordham Runs, No. 1 | 8 Oct., 1892 | 3,980 | -- 1896
23. Evesham, No. 1 | ... | 3,970 | In Progress
24. Malvern Hills Run, | 1 July, 1890[m]| 3,942 | 10 May, 1894
Gowan | | |
25. Darr River Downs Run, | | |
No. 2, Fairlie | 1 Nov., 1899 | 3,890 | May, 1891
26. Talleyrand, Camoola | ... | 3,870 | -- 1898
District | | |
27. Burenda Run, No. 3, | | |
Gidyea Creek | 16 Oct., 1895 | 3,840 | Sept., 1898
28. Oondooroo Run | Jan., 1900 | 3,800 | 1 April, 1901
29. Mount Abundance, No. 2 | -- 1907 | ... | -- 1908
30. Albilbah Run, No. 2, | 21 Dec., 1889 | 3,800 | -- 1893
Jackson's | | |
31. Greendale, No. 1 | ... [n] | 3,799 | In Progress
32. Vindex Run, No. 3 | 24 July, 1901 | 3,795 | 6 Sept., 1902
33. Muckadilla (Government)| 21 Oct., 1889 | 3,762 | 24 Dec., 1898
34. Redcliffe Run, | Jan., 1893 | 3,750 | 20 Mar., 1895
Redcliffe | | |
35. Clio G. F., Ayrshire | | |
Downs Resumption | -- 1901 | 3,745 | April, 1902
36. Katandra and | | |
Stamfordham Runs, No. 2 | ... | 3,723 | -- 1896
37. Ayrshire Downs Run, | 11 April, 1898 | 3,721 | Sept., 1899
No. 2 | | |
38. Roma Town, No. 2 | 28 June, 1899 | 3,710 | 17 Oct., 1900
39. Nive Downs Run, No. 2, | | |
The Ironbarks | 1 Jan., 1893 | 3,710 | 5 Sept., 1894
40. Roma Mineral Oil | -- 1907[o]| 3,702 | Dec., 1908
Company | | |
41. Wellshot Run, No. 4 | Sept., 1901 | 3,698 | -- 1902
42. Elderslie Run, No. 3 | Mar., 1900 | 3,680 | 18 May, 1901
43. Kensington Downs Run | -- 1897 | 3,650 | June, 1898
44. Wyora, Winton District | 23 May, 1899 | 3,650 | 12 Mar., 1900
45. Darr River Downs Run, | Jan., 1890 | 3,650 | Aug., 1891
No. 3 | | |
46. Darr River Downs Run, | | |
No. 1, Nine-mile | 23 Dec., 1888 | 3,600 | Mar., 1899
47. Longreach Town, Aramac | April, 1897 | 3,590 | 10 Dec., 1897
Shire | | |
48. Noondoo Run, No. 2, | Nov., 1897 | 3,586 | July, 1899
Dareel | | |
49. Manuka Run, No. 2 | Feb., 1899 | 3,581 | June, 1901
50. Fairbairn, Dagworth | -- 1900 | 3,579 | Sept., 1900
Resumption | | |
51. Wellshot Run, No. 3, | 27 Oct., 1894 | 3,561 | 17 June, 1895
Totness | | |
52. Barcaldine Downs Run, | | |
No. 1, Twenty-mil e| -- 1889 | 3,533 | 21 Jan., 1896
53. Lansdowne Run, No. 3, | Oct., 1894 | 3,529 | Jan., 1896
Downfall | | |
54. Jericho (Government) | Mar., 1902 | 3,518 | 15 June, 1903
55. Lerida Run, No. 1 | Sept., 1897 |?3,511 | 16 July, 1898
56. Katandra and | | |
Stamfordham Runs, No. 4 | ... [p]| 3,510 | -- 1907
57. Wellshot Run, No. 1, | 16 Nov., 1892 | 3,504 | 2 Nov., 1893
Bradnich | | |
58. Elderslie Run, No. 1, | Oct., 1896 | 3,500 | July, 1898
Farewell | | |
59. Lerida Run, No. 2, | 12 July, 1898 | 3,500 | 3 Mar., 1900
Glenullen | | |
60. Westlands Run, No. 2, | 18 April, 1893 | 3,480 | 13 May, 1896
Buffalo | | |
61. Acacia Downs G. F., | Feb., 1897 | 3,480 | 20 July, 1897
Bowen Downs | | |
62. Hamilton Downs Run, | | |
No. 2, Campsie | July, 1898 | 3,457 | Jan., 1900
63. Tintinchilla Run, Milo | Before 1895 | 3,411 | Mar., 1895
64. Dagworth Run, No. 2, | April, 1898 | 3,400 | Dec., 1898
Pinnacle | | |
65. Adavale Town | 27 Dec., 1899 | 3,398 | 8 Nov., 1900
(Government) | | |
66. Westbury, Camoola | ... | 3,340 | -- 1900
District | | |
67. Dagworth Run, No. 1, | | |
Crescent Creek | April, 1892 | 3,335 | July, 1893
68. Arabella Run | 13 April, 1896 | 3,335 | 16 May, 1897
69. Jacondol G. F., , | | |
Campbell's Barcaldine | Mar., 1895 | 3,333 | -- 1905
70. Thomson Watershed | Aug., 1891 | 3,319 | July, 1893
(Government) | | |
71. Burenda Run, No. 2, | Nov., 1894 | 3,315 | 14 Sept., 1895
Burenda | | |
72. Bowen Downs Run, | | |
No. 4, Muttaburra road | Aug., 1891 | 3,308 | Oct., 1894
73. Hamilton Downs Run, | ... | 3,301 | April, 1895
No. 1, Clio | | |
74. Noorindoo Run, No. 1 | Mar., 1901 | 3,300 | -- 1904
75. Cooinda, Winton North | 7 June, 1898 | 3,298 | 20 Jan., 1899
District | | |
76. Portland Downs Run | 14 Aug., 1897 | 3,280 | 14 June, 1899
77. Chatsworth Run, No. 1 | ? 1894 | 3,266 | 5 Feb., 1895
78. Sesbania Run, No. 2 | May, 1898 | 3,252 | 19 Sept., 1898
79. Alice Downs Run, |11 April, 1898 | 3,248 | Dec., 1898
No. 2, Norwood | | |
80. Mount Cornish Run, | ... | 3,219 | 4 June, 1907
No. 2 | | |
81. Sesbania Run, No. 5 | 5 June, 1901 | 3,186 | Mar., 1902
82. Sesbania Run, No. 6 | ... | 3,179 | -- Aug., 1909
83. Terrick Terrick Run, | -- 1907[q]| 3,140 | -- 1908
Lorne | | |
84. Sesbania Run, No. 4 | Feb., 1899 | 3,103 | Jan., 1900
85. Noorindoo Run, No. 2 | Feb., 1903 | 3,103 | 2 April, 1904
86. Noondoo Run, Narine | -- 1896 | 3,098 | Nov., 1897
87. Birkhead Run, No. 1, | 29 June, 1898 | 3,095 | -- 1906
Macfarlane | | |
88. Authoringa and | 1 Jan., 1896 | 3,086 | June, 1898
Riversleigh Runs, | | |
No. 2, Rocky | | |
89. Llanrheidol Run, No. 2,| June, 1896 | 3,085 | 3 April, 1897
Acacia | | |
90. Hughenden M. C. | 3 Jan., 1894 | 3,069 | July, 1898
Town Bore | | |
91. Muttaburra District, | ? 1895 | 3,065 | April, 1895
Brookwood | | |
92. Authoringa, No. 3, | Aug., 1898 | 3,060 | -- 1899
Spinifex | | |
93. Muttaburra District, | | |
Weewondilla | ... | 3,060 | Dec., 1903
94. Albion Downs Run | Oct., 1897 | 3,033 | Sept., 1899
95. Muttaburra District, | -- 1906 | 3,030 | 27 July, 1908
Crossmoor | | |
96. Barcaldine North | | |
District, Fairview | ... | 3,028 | 20 July, 1907
97. Myall Plains, Boombah | Feb., 1907 | 3,024 | Dec., 1908
98. Lansdowne, No. 2, | Nov., 1889 | 3,005 | Feb., 1892
Narambla | | |
99. Yarrawonga Run, Ada | ... | 3,000 | June, 1898
100. Tarra Grazing Farm, | ... | 3,000 | -- 1906
No. 4 | | |
---------------------------+------------------+-------+---------------
[Footnote l: Abandoned or suspended at 4,001 feet.]
[Footnote m: Abandoned at 3,942 feet.]
[Footnote n: In progress at 3,799 feet.]
[Footnote o: In progress at 3,702 feet.]
[Footnote p: Abandoned or suspended at 3,510 feet.]
[Footnote q: In progress at 3,140 feet.]
The hydraulic survey, suspended some years ago, has not yet been
resumed; therefore the foregoing return, furnished by the Hydraulic
Engineer in advance of his report, has been compiled from unofficial
documents which have not yet been verified, and is given for what it
is worth.
STATISTICS SUPPLIED BY WELL-BORING COMPANIES.
In order to make the record of artesian boring in Queensland as
complete as possible, the following information has been obtained from
the two principal drilling firms at present engaged in the State.
It will be noticed that the list of the Intercolonial Boring Company
includes three bores in South Australia:--
LIST OF BORES OVER 3,000 FEET IN DEPTH PUT DOWN BY INTERCOLONIAL
BORING COMPANY, LIMITED.
Depth.
Name of Bore. Feet. Date Completed.
Ayrshire Downs, No. 3 3,983 September, 1902
Brookwood, No. 1 3,065 May, 1895
Boombah, No. 1 3,024 December, 1908
Chatsworth, No. 1 3,266 February, 1895
Cooindah, No. 1 3,289 January, 1899
Dagworth, No. 1 3,335 July, 1893
Dagworth, No. 2 3,400 December, 1898
Dareel, No. 1 3,586 July, 1899
Elderslie, No. 3 3,626 May, 1901
Evesham, No. 1 3,970 In progress
Fairview, No. 2 3,028 July, 1907
Greendale, No. 1 3,799 In progress
Goyder's Lagoon, S.A. 4,850 March, 1905
Hamilton Downs, No. 1 3,301 April, 1895
Hamilton Downs, No. 2 3,457 January, 1900
Kynuna, No. 7 3,226 December, 1908
Lerida, No. 1 3,511 July, 1898
Lerida, No. 2 3,500 March, 1900
Llanrheidol, No. 2 3,085 April, 1897
Lorne, No. 1 4,057 In progress
Manuka, No. 2 3,581 June, 1901
Mungeranie, S.A. 3,360 February, 1900
Mulka, S.A. 3,445 December, 1906
Mount Cornish, Tablederry 3,219 June, 1907
Mount Cornish, No. 3 3,015 June, 1909
Narine, No. 1 3,098 November, 1897
Ruthven, No. 1 4,105 June, 1905
Ruthven, No. 2 4,515 April, 1908
Roma Mineral Oil 3,715 In progress
Sesbania, No. 2 3,252 September, 1898
Sesbania, No. 4 3,103 January, 1900
Sesbania, No. 5 3,186 March, 1902
Sesbania, No. 6 3,179 August, 1909
Vindex, No. 2 4,000 June, 1900
Vindex, No. 3 3,795 September, 1902
Warbreccan, No. 1 4,333 June, 1898
Winton (deepened) 4,010 June, 1895
Wyora, No. 1 3,600 March, 1900
Note.--Bores marked S.A. are in South Australia.
Brisbane, 1st October, 1909.
BORES COMPLETED AND IN PROGRESS BY WOODLEY LIMITED, BRISBANE, SINCE
31ST MARCH, 1909.
1. Bore at Millie Station, near Charleville, D. McNeill owner.
Depth, 1,732 ft.; water 8 in. over casing; flow 3/4-million
gallons per diem.
2. At Claverton Downs, near Wyandra, Mrs. Whitney owner.
Depth, 1,955 ft.; water 22 in. over casing; flow about 11/2
million gallons.
3. At Bendena Station, Burgess and Co. owners. Depth, 2,232
ft.; water 4 ft. 6 in. over casing; flow about 31/2 million
gallons.
4. At Bonus Downs Station, Mitchell, Sir S. McCaughey owner.
Depth, 3,424 ft. 6 in.; water rising to 60 ft. below surface;
boring ceased in slate formation.
5. At Eurella Station, Donald Fletcher owner. Depth at end
of September, 2,124 ft., still in progress; water rising to
within 150 ft. of the surface.
6. At Clifton Station, C. H. T. Schmidt owner. Depth, 26th
June, 225 ft.; in progress.
7. At Koreelah Station, Charleville. Depth at end of June, 400
ft.; in progress.
8. At Comongin Station, Bulloo, McLean, Barker, and Co.
owners. Depth on 30th June, 600 ft.; in progress.
9. At Aberglassie Station, J. R. and H. C. Loughran owners.
Starting.
10. At Cytherea Station, R. T. Winter owner. Starting.
11. At Airlie Downs, A. Leeds owner. Starting.
APPENDIX J.
CLIMATIC CONTRASTS.
COMPARATIVE VITAL STATISTICS.
Vital statistics are set forth by the various Government Statists
of Australia with extreme particularity. But it is not easy to make
comparative analyses for the purpose of ascertaining the birth rates,
marriage rates, or death rates in the different States of Australia.
The birth rates per 1,000 of the population give no accurate bases for
comparison. They supply only what the statists call the crude birth
rate. The information necessary to ascertain true comparative birth
rates involves knowledge of the number of women of the different
child-bearing ages in the several States; the proportion of marriages
at different ages in each; the number of married women, their ages,
and also the number of spinsters. Married women in their teens are
more fertile than in their twenties, in their twenties than in
their thirties, in their thirties than in their forties. So that to
ascertain the true birth rate the comparative number of married or
marriageable women in the contrasted countries must be ascertained.
For example, if there were 20,000 married women in Queensland between
twenty and thirty; and 60,000 married women of the same age in New
South Wales; and if the number of births among those 20,000 and 60,000
respectively were ascertained, the true birth rate among women of that
age would be obtained. Similar remarks apply to the death rate. The
comparison must be made between a given number of men or women of the
same ages, and then the true comparative death rate per 1,000 of such
persons will be ascertainable, but not otherwise.
It is supposed in many parts of Australia that North Queensland is
less salubrious than South Queensland, and that the Southern States
are healthier than Queensland as a whole. The crude death rate does
not give a basis for this assumption, because there are fewer old
people and fewer young children per 1,000 of the population in
sparsely peopled areas than in settled districts. The lightest average
mortality is among persons between the ages of two and eighteen years;
the greatest mortality among children under two years. Information
is not procurable showing the number of persons in Queensland in age
groups, this information being only obtainable in census years.
The Queensland Government Statistician has furnished the accompanying
table, based on the results of the censuses of 1891 and 1901, showing
the relative salubrity of different parts of the Commonwealth in those
two years for all the States save Western Australia; and it will be
noticed that it differentiates also between children north and south
of the Tropic of Capricorn in Queensland. These figures are valuable
for comparative purposes.
It will be noticed that among children under two years the rate of
mortality north of the Tropic of Capricorn in 1891 was 74.85
per 1,000, and in 1901 73.42 per 1,000. South of the tropic the
corresponding figures were 70.33 and 64.97 per 1,000 respectively, the
difference in favour of the south being 4.52 and 8.45 per 1,000. Of
children under five years in the north the mortality was 39.44 and
32.80 respectively; while south of the tropic it was 33.54 and 29.72
respectively. Thus the difference in favour of the south was 5.90 and
3.08 respectively. Above the age of five years the difference between
north and south is rather more marked, but the comparison of
these, for reasons analogous to those stated above with respect to
comparative birth or death rates, is valueless.
If we take the New South Wales figures, we find that as to children
under two years the mortality in 1891 was 85.12, and in 1901 72.42 per
1,000. Thus North Queensland compares very favourably with the parent
State by 10.27 in 1891, and unfavourably in 1901 by only 1 per 1,000.
With South Queensland the comparison shows a difference against New
South Wales in 1891 of 14.79 per 1,000, and of 7.45 per 1,000 in 1901.
As to children under five years the difference in favour of New South
Wales in 1891, as against North Queensland, was only 0.16 per cent.,
and in 1901 0.43 per 1,000; and as against South Queensland it was
5.74 on the wrong side in 1891, and 2.65 in 1901. It is needless
further to analyse the figures, but evidently the only States
whose mortality among young children is more favourable than South
Queensland are South Australia and Tasmania.
Although these figures are official it may be wise to use them with
reservation. The comparatively high mortality north of the Tropic of
Capricorn is fully accounted for by the absence of the comforts of
life in that newly settled area. In 1901 the mortality beyond the
tropic was, for children under five years, almost the same as in
New South Wales and Victoria. So that, so far as young children are
concerned, we need not fear that the climate of Tropical Queensland
will be found unfavourable to the British race.
The death ratio of the population is somewhat higher in the tropics
than in the South for each age group mentioned, and consequently of
course for persons of all ages; this applies to both the years cited,
1891 and 1901. These years have been selected as, being "Census"
years, the numbers at each age can then be definitely determined. The
mortality rate for 1901 showed a distinct improvement on that for 1891
in all instances except with persons over five years of age in the
South; as regards these the experience for 1901 was fractionally less
satisfactory than in 1891.
[Illustration: "QUEENSLAND and Territory of PAPUA 1909"]
RETURN SHOWING THE POPULATION, NUMBER OF DEATHS, AND THE RATE OF
MORTALITY AT CERTAIN AGES FOR THE YEARS 1891 AND 1901.
----------------------------+----------------------------------------++
| 1891. ||
+--------------+-----------+-------------++
| Census | Number of | Ratio ||
------ | Population. | Deaths. | per 1,000 ||
| | | of the ||
| | | Population. ||
----------------------------+--------------+-----------+-------------++
QUEENSLAND-- | | | ||
| | | ||
NORTH OF THE TROPIC OF | | | ||
CAPRICORN-- | | | ||
| | | ||
Under 2 years | 6,426 | 481 | 74.85 ||
+--------------+-----------+-------------++
Under 5 years | 15,061 | 594 | 39.44 ||
Over 5 years | 93,925 | 1,088 | 11.58 ||
+--------------+-----------+-------------++
All ages | 108,986 | 1,682 | 15.43 ||
|==============|===========|=============||
| | | ||
SOUTH OF THE TROPIC OF | | | ||
CAPRICORN-- | | | ||
| | | ||
Under 2 years | 18,598 | 1,308 | 70.33 ||
+--------------+-----------+-------------++
Under 5 years | 45,264 | 1,518 | 33.54 ||
Over 5 years | 239,468 | 1,970 | 8.23 ||
+--------------+-----------+-------------++
All Ages | 284,732 | 3,488 | 12.25 ||
|==============|===========|=============||
| | | ||
WHOLE STATE-- | | | ||
| | | ||
Under 2 years | 25,024 | 1,789 | 71.49 ||
+--------------+-----------+-------------++
Under 5 years | 60,325 | 2,112 | 35.01 ||
Over 5 years | 333,393 | 3,058 | 9.17 ||
+--------------+-----------+-------------++
All Ages | 393,718 | 5,170 | 13.13 ||
----------------------------+--------------+-----------+-------------++
[cont.]
----------------------------++----------------------------------------
|| 1901.
++--------------+-----------+-------------
|| Census | Number of | Ratio
------ || Population. | Deaths. | per 1,000
|| | | of the
|| | | Population.
----------------------------++--------------+-----------+-------------
QUEENSLAND-- || | |
|| | |
NORTH OF THE TROPIC OF || | |
CAPRICORN-- || | |
|| | |
Under 2 years || 6,933 | 509 | 73.42
++--------------+-----------+-------------
Under 5 years || 17,166 | 563 | 32.80
Over 5 years || 132,466 | 1,448 | 10.93
++--------------+-----------+-------------
All ages || 149,632 | 2,011 | 13.44
||==============|===========|=============
|| | |
SOUTH OF THE TROPIC OF || | |
CAPRICORN-- || | |
|| | |
Under 2 years || 18,454 | 1,199 | 64.97
++--------------+-----------+-------------
Under 5 years || 45,460 | 1,351 | 29.72
Over 5 years || 308,174 | 2,645 | 8.58
++--------------+-----------+-------------
All Ages || 353,634 | 3,996 | 11.30
||==============|===========|=============
|| | |
WHOLE STATE-- || | |
|| | |
Under 2 years || 25,387 | 1,708 | 67.28
++--------------+-----------+-------------
Under 5 years || 62,626 | 1,914 | 30.56
Over 5 years || 440,640 | 4,093 | 9.29
++--------------+-----------+-------------
All Ages || 503,266 | 6,007 | 11.94
----------------------------++--------------+-----------+-------------
NOTE.--Death rates calculated on the estimated mean population of
the two years mentioned above and published in the Reports on Vital
Statistics were--
1891 12.77
1901 11.88
The utilisation of Census figures in order to quote the age condition
at the time is accountable for the slight difference in the total
ratio.
RETURN SHOWING THE POPULATION, NUMBER OF DEATHS, AND THE RATE OF
MORTALITY AT CERTAIN AGES FOR THE YEARS 1891 AND 1901.--_continued:_
----------------------------+----------------------------------------++
| 1891. ||
+--------------+-----------+-------------++
| Census | Number of | Ratio ||
------ | Population. | Deaths. | per 1,000 ||
| | | of the ||
| | | Population. ||
----------------------------+--------------+-----------+-------------++
NEW SOUTH WALES-- | | | ||
| | | ||
Under 2 years | 66,719 | 5,679 | 85.12 ||
+--------------+-----------+-------------++
Under 5 years | 165,750 | 6,510 | 39.28 ||
Over 5 years | 966,484 | 9,776 | 10.12 ||
+--------------+-----------+-------------++
All ages | 1,132,234 | 16,286 | 14.38 ||
|==============|===========|=============||
| | | ||
VICTORIA-- | | | ||
| | | ||
Under 2 years | 62,102 | 5,822 | 93.75 ||
+--------------+-----------+-------------++
Under 5 years | 148,359 | 6,518 | 43.93 ||
Over 5 years | 982,104 | 12,113 | 12.33 ||
+--------------+-----------+-------------++
All ages | 1,130,463 | 18,631 | 16.48 ||
|==============|===========|=============||
| | | ||
SOUTH AUSTRALIA-- | | | ||
| | | ||
Under 2 years | 17,875 | 1,180 | 66.01 ||
+--------------+-----------+-------------++
Under 5 years | 45,166 | 1,407 | 31.15 ||
Over 5 years | 270,367 | 2,804 | 10.37 ||
+--------------+-----------+-------------++
All ages | 315,533 | 4,211 | 13.35 ||
|==============|===========|=============||
| | | ||
TASMANIA-- | | | ||
| | | ||
Under 2 years | 8,414 | 524 | 62.28 ||
+--------------+-----------+-------------++
Under 5 years | 21,466 | 599 | 27.90 ||
Over 5 years | 125,201 | 1,635 | 13.06 ||
+--------------+-----------+-------------++
All ages | 146,667 | 2,234 | 15.23 ||
|==============|===========|=============||
| | | ||
WESTERN AUSTRALIA-- | | | ||
| | | ||
Under 2 years | ... | ... | ... ||
+--------------+-----------+-------------++
Under 5 years | 6,835 | 293 | 42.87 ||
Over 5 years | 42,947 | 576 | 13.41 ||
+--------------+-----------+-------------++
All ages | 49,782 | 869 | 17.46 ||
----------------------------+--------------+-----------+-------------++
[cont.]
----------------------------++---------------------------------------
|| 1901.
++--------------+-----------+------------
|| Census | Number of | Ratio
------ || Population. | Deaths. | per 1,000
|| | | of the
|| | | Population.
----------------------------++--------------+-----------+------------
NEW SOUTH WALES-- || | |
|| | |
Under 2 years || 64,376 | 4,662 | 72.42
++--------------+-----------+------------
Under 5 years || 159,146 | 5,151 | 32.37
Over 5 years || 1,199,987 | 10,870 | 9.06
++--------------+-----------+------------
All ages || 1,359,133 | 16,021 | 11.79
||==============|===========|============
|| | |
VICTORIA-- || | |
|| | |
Under 2 years || 54,669 | 3,817 | 69.82
++--------------+-----------+------------
Under 5 years || 131,986 | 4,251 | 32.21
Over 5 years || 1,069,355 | 11,653 | 10.90
++--------------+-----------+------------
All ages || 1,201,341 | 15,904 | 13.24
||==============|===========|============
|| | |
SOUTH AUSTRALIA-- || | |
|| | |
Under 2 years || 15,988 | 1,059 | 66.24
++--------------+-----------+------------
Under 5 years || 39,940 | 1,166 | 29.19
Over 5 years || 318,568 | 2,808 | 8.81
++--------------+-----------+------------
All ages || 358,508 | 3,974 | 11.08
||==============|===========|============
|| | |
TASMANIA-- || | |
|| | |
Under 2 years || 8,484 | 492 | 57.99
++--------------+-----------+------------
Under 5 years || 20,865 | 531 | 25.45
Over 5 years || 151,610 | 1,283 | 8.46
++--------------+-----------+------------
All ages || 172,475 | 1,814 | 10.52
||==============|===========|============
|| | |
WESTERN AUSTRALIA-- || | |
|| | |
Under 2 years || 9,303 | 882 | 94.81
++--------------+-----------+------------
Under 5 years || 20,675 | 957 | 46.29
Over 5 years || 163,449 | 1,562 | 9.56
++--------------+-----------+------------
All ages || 184,124 | 2,519 | 13.68
----------------------------++--------------+-----------+------------
RAINFALL AND TEMPERATURE.
The subjoined map shows the curves of equal mean annual rainfall
for every 10.0 inches for Australia, compiled from the most recent
information:--
[Illustration: DISTRIBUTION OF THE RAINFALL OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF
AUSTRALIA]
The following table shows the relative rainfalls at the six Australian
capital cities for the periods set severally against them; also for
the ten-year period subsequent to 1896, during which the average
precipitation was much below that of the total number of years over
which the records extend:--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ten Years'
Total Average Ten Years' Difference Difference Percentage
Place. Number Rainfall Average between for per Annum
of for all Rainfall. the Two. Ten Years. above or
Years. Years. below
True Mean.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Inches. Inches. Inches. Inches.
Brisbane 57 47.47 39.16 -8.31 83.10 -18
Sydney 67 48.80 44.28 -4.52 45.20 -9
Melbourne 63 26.35 25.50 -0.85 8.50 -3
Perth 31 33.03 32.54 -0.49 4.90 -1
Hobart 66 23.38 22.98 -0.40 4.00 -2
Adelaide 67 20.89 20.53 -0.36 3.60 -2
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The following table supplies similar information with respect to
seventeen representative Queensland stations, from which it will be
seen that the mean annual rainfall at Geraldton for twenty-one years
was 145.27 inches, and for the ten years subsequent to 1896 135.81
inches. Thus Geraldton is by far the wettest place in the State.
The lightest mean rainfall for the same period was at Boulia, which
recorded 11.45 inches; and for the ten years, 8.72 inches. The last
column of the table shows that the fall for the ten years was under
the average at every station mentioned, the shortage at Cooktown
having been 28 per cent. each year of the ten. The number of wet days
is not supplied, except for the capital cities. The driest part
of Australia--that which receives a rainfall of 10.0 inches
and under--comprises an area equalling nearly one-third of the
Commonwealth, and includes the central Territory of South Australia,
the extreme western parts of New South Wales, the south-western
parts of Queensland, and the south-eastern, central, and part of the
north-western portions of Western Australia. The limits of this dry
area are shown by the 10.0-inch isohyetal line:--
------------+------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------
| | | | | |Ten Years'
|Total | Average |Ten Years'|Difference|Difference|Percentage
|Number| Rainfall | Average | between | for |per Annum
Place. |of | for | Rainfall.| the Two. |Ten Years.|above or
|Years.|all Years.| | | | below
| | | | | |True Mean.
------------+------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------
| | Inches. | Inches. | Inches. | Inches. |
| | | | | |
Cooktown | 29 | 68.96 | 49.91 | -19.05 | 190.50 | -28
| | | | | |
Geraldton | 21 | 145.27 | 135.81 | -9.46 | 94.60 | -7
| | | | | |
Brisbane | 57 | 47.47 | 39.16 | -8.31 | 83.10 | -18
| | | | | |
Mackay | 36 | 69.42 | 61.73 | -7.69 | 76.90 | -11
| | | | | |
Maryborough | 36 | 46.58 | 39.49 | -7.09 | 70.90 | -15
| | | | | |
Goondiwindi | 28 | 29.27 | 22.99 | -6.28 | 62.80 | -21
| | | | | |
Tambo | 21 | 22.87 | 18.08 | -4.79 | 47.90 | -21
| | | | | |
Bowen | 36 | 40.40 | 35.62 | -4.78 | 47.80 | -12
| | | | | |
Blackall | 27 | 22.59 | 17.92 | -4.67 | 46.70 | -21
| | | | | |
Charleville | 34 | 19.71 | 15.30 | -4.41 | 44.10 | -22
| | | | | |
Hughenden | 22 | 19.12 | 14.92 | -4.20 | 42.00 | -22
| | | | | |
Thursday | | | | | |
Island | 16 | 68.11 | 63.99 | -4.12 | 41.20 | -6
| | | | | |
Springsure | 30 | 26.25 | 22.54 | -3.71 | 37.10 | -14
| | | | | |
Boulia | 21 | 11.45 | 8.72 | -2.73 | 27.30 | -24
| | | | | |
Thargomindah| 25 | 12.53 | 10.03 | -2.50 | 25.00 | -20
| | | | | |
Cloncurry | 23 | 19.35 | 17.02 | -2.33 | 23.30 | -12
| | | | | |
Normanton | 35 | 37.11 | 35.26 | -1.85 | 18.50 | -5
------------+------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------
The following table shows the distribution of the average rainfall
from 10.0 inches and under to over 40.0 inches:--
-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
Average Annual | | | | |
Rainfall. | N.S.W. | Victoria. |Queensland.| South |
| | | | Australia.|
-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| sqr. mls. | sqr. mls. | sqr. mls. | sqr. mls. |
| | | | |
Under 10 inches | 81,144 | nil | 135,600 | 306,663 |
10-20 " | 116,363 | 36,300 | 255,300 | 57,935 |
20-30 " | 77,910 | 27,900 | 173,400 | 13,908 |
30-40 " | 20,414 | 18,770 | 58,700 | 1,198 |
Over 40 " | 14,541 | 4,914 | 47,500 | 366 |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
Total Area | 310,372 | 87,884 | 670,500 | 380,070 |
-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
[cont.]
-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+--------------
Average Annual | | | |
Rainfall. | Northern | Western | Tasmania.| Commonwealth.
| Territory.| Australia.| |
-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+--------------
| sqr. mls. | sqr. mls. | sqr. mls. | sqr. mls.
| | | |
Under 10 inches | 6,300 | 408,300 | nil | 938,007
10-20 " | 213,430 | 400,720 | nil | 1,080,048
20-30 " | 96,790 | 113,700 | 11,395 | 515,003
30-40 " | 120,600 | 39,100 | 5,396 | 264,178
Over 40 " | 86,500 | 14,100 | 9,424 | 177,345
+-----------+-----------+-----------+--------------
Total Area | 523,620 | 975,920 | 26,215 | 2,974,581
-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+--------------
The comparative rainfalls and temperatures at the respective State
capitals, and at Canberra, the embryo Federal capital, are shown in
the following table:--
------------+-------+--------------------------------+
| | ANNUAL RAINFALL. |
Place. | Height+----------+----------+----------+
| above | | | |
| M.S.L.| | | |
| | Average. | Highest. | Lowest. |
------------+-------+----------+----------+----------+
| Ft. | Ins. | Ins. | Ins. |
| | | | |
Perth | 197 | 33.05 | 46.73 | 20.48 |
Adelaide | 141 | 20.38 | 30.87 | 13.43 |
Brisbane | 137 | 50.00 | 88.23 | 24.11 |
Sydney | 144 | 49.35 | 82.81 | 23.01 |
Melbourne | 91 | 25.62 | 44.25 | 15.61 |
Hobart | 160 | 23.40 | 40.67 | 13.43 |
Canberra {| 2,000 |} | | |
(District) {| to |} 23.00 | 50.69 | 16.56 |
{| 2,900 |} | | |
------------+-------+----------+----------+----------+
[cont.]
------------+-------+-----------------------------------------------------
| | TEMPERATURE.
Place. | Height+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------
| above | Mean | Mean |Highest | Lowest | Average| Average
| M.S.L.| Summer.| Winter.| on | on | Hottest| Coldest
| | | | Record.| Record.| Month. | Month.
------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------
| Ft. | Fahr. | Fahr. | Fahr. | Fahr. | Fahr. | Fahr.
| | | | | | |
Perth | 197 | 73.9 | 55.6 | 112.0 | 33.6 | 75.1 | 54.6
Adelaide | 141 | 72.3 | 52.0 | 116.3 | 32.2 | 73.3 | 52.5
Brisbane | 137 | 76.0 | 60.0 | 108.9 | 36.1 | 77.3 | 58.0
Sydney | 144 | 70.8 | 53.9 | 108.5 | 35.9 | 71.5 | 52.3
Melbourne | 91 | 64.9 | 49.2 | 111.2 | 27.0 | 66.3 | 47.7
Hobart | 160 | 61.4 | 47.0 | 105.0 | 27.7 | 62.1 | 45.7
Canberra {| 2,000 |} | | | | |
(District) {| to |} 69.7 | 45.0 | 109.0 | 16.0 | 72.0 | 42.0
{| 2,900 |} | | | | |
------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------
The mean humidity at the several capitals is as follows:--Brisbane
mean averages, 68.1; highest, 85; lowest, 47. Sydney mean averages,
73, 90, 55. Melbourne mean averages, 72, 76, 67. Adelaide mean
averages, 56, 84, 33. Perth mean averages, 63, 83, 45. Hobart mean
averages, 72, 76, 67.
APPENDIX K.--EDUCATION STATISTICS.
I.--STATE PRIMARY EDUCATION (1907).
----------------------------+------------+-----------------+-----------+
| Queensland.| New South Wales.| Victoria. |
----------------------------+------------+-----------------+-----------+
| L s. d. | L s. d. | L s. d.|
Amount per head of estimated| | | |
population | 0 10 11 | 0 10 6 | 0 9 6 |
Amount per district scholar | 3 3 2 | 3 9 2 | 2 18 7 |
----------------------------+------------+-----------------+-----------+
II.--PRIVATE SCHOOLS (1908).
------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+-------+
|Undenomi-|Church of| Roman |Lutheran.| Total.|
|national.| England.|Catholic.| | |
------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+-------+
Number of schools | 86 | 8 | 61 | 2 | 157 |
Teachers--Male | 26 | 6 | 57 | 2 | 91 |
Female | 170 | 32 | 372 | | 574 |
Gross enrolment--Male | 786 | 236 | 4,883 | 29 | 5,934 |
Female | 1,386 | 344 | 6,400 | 34 | 8,164 |
Average daily attendance| | | | | |
--Male | 654 | 216 | 4,220 | 24 | 5,114 |
Female| 1,289 | 297 | 5,200 | 28 | 6,814 |
------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+-------+
CHURCH OF ENGLAND SCHOOLS (1909).[a]
-------------------------+------------+--------------+----------------+
Schools. | On Roll. | Average | Teachers. |
| | Attendance. | |
-------------------------+------------+--------------+----------------+
St. John's Day School, | 44 boys, | 33 boys, | 6, and 1 music |
Brisbane | 134 girls | 107 girls | and 1 drawing |
| | | |
Holy Trinity Day School, | 33 boys, | 30 boys, | 3 |
Woolloongabba | 42 girls | 37.6 girls | |
| | | |
St. Paul's Day School, | 35 | 29 | 2 |
Maryborough | | | |
| | | |
High School for Boys, | 112 | 112 | 9 |
Southport | | | |
| | | |
Glennie Memorial School | 50 | Very good | 6 |
for Girls, Toowoomba | | | |
| | | |
Eton High School for | 50 | 97 per cent. | 9 |
Girls, Toorak, Hamilton | | | |
| | | |
St. Paul's Day School, | 35 boys, | 25.3 boys, | 4 |
Ipswich | 62 girls | 47 girls | |
| | | |
Theological College, | 14 students| ... | 3 |
Nundah | | | |
| | | |
Tufnell Orphanage, | 70 children| ... | 5 workers |
Nundah | | | |
| | | |
Industrial Home, | 21 inmates | ... | 2 instructors |
Clayfield | | | |
| | | |
High School for Girls, | ... | ... | ... |
Stanthorpe | | | |
-------------------------+------------+--------------+----------------+
[Footnote a: Furnished by Mr. A. A. Orme, Diocesan Registry, Brisbane.]
ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOLS (1909).[b]
-------------------------------------------------------+---------+
SCHOOLS TAUGHT BY SISTERS-- | On Roll.|
| |
_Archdiocese of Brisbane_-- | |
| |
Brisbane (High School), All Hallows; (Primary) | |
--Elizabeth street, Ivory street, South | |
Brisbane, Kangaroo Point, Red Hill, Wooloowin, | |
Toowong, Rosalie; Sandgate; Ipswich; | |
Helidon; Toowoomba (2); Dalby; Roma; Warwick; | |
Stanthorpe; Gympie (2); Maryborough; | |
Bundaberg; Beaudesert; Southport; | |
(Orphanage), Nudgee | 6,226 |
| |
_Diocese of Rockhampton_-- | |
| |
(High School), Rockhampton; Townsville; | |
Charters Towers; (Primary), Rockhampton; | |
Townsville; Charters Towers; Mount Morgan; | |
Hughenden; Gladstone; Longreach; | |
Winton; Mackay; Ravenswood; Clermont; | |
Emerald; (Orphanage), Neerkol | 4,228 |
| |
_Diocese of Cooktown_-- | |
| |
(High School), Cooktown; (Primary), | |
Cooktown; Cairns; Geraldton; Mareeba | 572 |
| |
SCHOOLS TAUGHT BY CHRISTIAN BROTHERS-- | |
| |
_Archdiocese of Brisbane_-- | |
| |
(College), Nudgee; (High School and Primary), | |
Brisbane; Ipswich; Toowoomba; Gympie; | |
Maryborough | 1,880 |
| |
_Diocese of Rockhampton_-- | |
(High School and Primary), Rockhampton; | |
Charters Towers | 740 |
|-------- |
Total | 13,646 |
-------------------------------------------------------+---------+
[Footnote b: Supplied by the Church authorities.]
[Illustration: GOVERNMENT HOUSE, NOW DEDICATED TO UNIVERSITY PURPOSES]
APPENDIX L.
INAUGURATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND.
In older lands Time seems to move with so deliberate a step that his
march is scarcely noticed, and the passing of fifty years is but a
small matter, though within the past half-century discovery after
discovery, advance after advance, has been made. Still these things
have come gradually, and, like all the great triumphs of peace, have
been achieved calmly, orderly, and almost imperceptibly. It has been
different in these new countries, whose practical history comprehends
scarcely more than the span of one man's life. Queensland has grown
out of nothing (from the point of view of civilisation) to a fair
stature of importance. Fifty years is the sum of its existence as a
self-governing State, but within that brief period the country has
been reclaimed from the wilderness, and made the home of a happy,
progressive, and enlightened people. Bearing in mind what Queensland
was fifty years ago, and what it is to-day, it will be admitted that
its jubilee was eminently worth celebrating, not in a mere spirit of
festivity, but in the spirit of a people conscious of what has been
done, and full of enthusiasm for continued development. No better
evidence of that could have been afforded than by the particular
method of celebration decided upon--the dedication of the most
historic building in Queensland to the purposes of a University.
It would have been easy to have devised a more showy plan, to have
arranged for festivities that would have given greater immediate
pleasure, but it would not have been possible to have marked the
jubilee day with anything so admirably calculated to promote the best
interests of the people, or so likely to abide in the public memory.
That was the view of Mr. Kidston and his Government, to whom belong
the honour of having given effect to the long-cherished aspirations of
that numerous body who desire to see Queenslanders an educated as well
as a prosperous people. For many years there had been a movement afoot
for the establishment of a University. As far back as 1891, a Royal
Commission, under the presidency of the late Sir Charles Lilley,
had inquired into the matter and reported strongly in favour of the
project. Premiers who were themselves graduates of universities and
cultured, far-seeing men had recognised the need for a University, but
the matter obstinately remained in the air. For some sixteen years,
largely supported by the Sydney University, a Council had carried on
University Extension Lectures, educating not only the students, but
the public. Finally, the present Premier, realising that the time was
ripe for a definite forward move, placed educational reform in the
forefront of his policy, and succeeded in getting legislation passed
for the establishment of the institution and in securing a liberal
provision for maintaining it. This much achieved, everything was
sufficiently far advanced for an impressive dedicatory ceremony on
the day chosen for celebrating the jubilee of Queensland--Friday, 10th
December, 1909. It was not possible, of course, for the University to
be actually in operation by that date, but it was possible to take
the first step by solemnly setting apart for its uses the building in
which it is proposed to conduct it. That was precisely what was done
on this occasion, and with a simple dignity and an earnestness of
purpose that could not well have been surpassed. Everything combined
to make the day and the event memorable, to lift it out of the
commonplace of public occasions, in a word to make it historic--the
most historic event since the promulgation of Queensland's free
Constitution. The building itself had been the honoured home of every
Governor since 1861. As was happily phrased in one of the speeches,
it had been the centre of social and political life. What more
appropriate than that it should be invested with a new function--be
given, as it were, a new lease of life in the great cause of
citizen-making? What more interesting than that the chief figure
in the ceremonial should be Sir William MacGregor, himself a great
witness to the value of university training, a distinguished servant
of the Empire, one of the select band of Empire builders who have
united ripe scholarship with tireless energy and firm grasp of
national business and the ways of the world? It was a singularly happy
circumstance that this was his first important public act as Governor
of Queensland. But a few days before he had taken over the reins
of government from the hands of the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Arthur
Morgan. As befitted the occasion and the interest which they had taken
in the matter of the University, Sir Arthur and Mr. Kidston also took
a prominent part in the ceremony. The presence of Professor David, of
the Sydney University, who was a prominent member of the Shackleton
Expedition to the Antarctic regions, and of Professor Stirling, of the
Adelaide University, lent additional distinction to the event, visibly
representing, as it did, the cordiality with which those important
institutions regarded the advent of Queensland into the sisterhood of
Australian University-States.
Never before in its history had Government House been the scene of
a gathering so unique. The Premier struck the keynote of the whole
proceedings, when he said that they were met "to erect this white
stone, as it were, to mark this point in our national progress." He
was alluding to the marble tablet, which had been affixed to the wall
near the main entrance, recording the dedication of the building to
its new purposes. Also, he declared the democratic foundation of the
institution in the significant sentence: "In very truth it may be said
that the Queensland University is of the people, and I trust that the
Senate, when they start to manage this institution, will remember that
it is also to be for the people."
To the ceremony were bidden all who could lend to it distinction and
interest. It was no mere official or exclusive gathering, but one
which represented in full measure the democratic character of the
Queensland people. Those high in place were there; those who in
university life had won honour; those who had laboured to lay
the foundations of the educational system of which this was the
culmination; the people for whose children this was to be in a real
and practical sense the great training school and character-building
institution; the children from whose ranks were to be drawn the
earliest students. The scene was one which will live in memory long
after the University has begun its work, and will be recalled when in
their gladsome, perhaps boisterous, fashion the students hold their
commemoration days, or when in more thoughtful times the men and women
who have gone forth from it girded for the battle of life revisit
its shady walks and studious halls. The building and its charming
environments lent themselves to an impressive spectacle. In the
bright summer day, the well-kept grounds and the rich foliage of the
neighbouring gardens presented a picture of rare colour and beauty.
Beyond lay the broad river glistening in the sunlight. Above arched
the ineffable azure scarcely flecked by clouds. In the distance lay
the far spreading city, with its pulsating life and varied activities.
Under the shadow of the graceful building and in a sweeping
semi-circle were massed the spectators, with eyes concentrated on
the main portico, which had been converted into a stage for the
interesting drama of the afternoon. A curved structure had been thrown
out from the masonry, and decorated and canopied with maroon and
white. Grouped around this were arranged the chairs provided for the
seven hundred invited guests. Among these were many wearing their
university costumes, which vied in colour and variety with the dresses
of the ladies. Beyond this enclosure were drawn up, rank behind rank,
250 boys and 550 girls chosen from the fifth and sixth classes of the
metropolitan schools, each wearing Queensland's colours, maroon and
white, and 200 State school cadets in uniform. All had been assembled
in Alice street, and marched in procession to the space allotted to
them. They were there for the double purpose of supplying a choir and
adding to the representative character of the assembly. Beyond
their lines were gathered the members of the general public. The
arrangements entailed a good deal of planning and forethought, but
every part of the ordered and dignified ceremony was smoothly carried
out. The military element, drawn from the 9th Australian Infantry
Regiment, was lined up along the whole front of Government House, the
scarlet coats and white helmets supplying a fringe of colour to that
part of the picture.
The time fixed for the ceremony was half-past 3 o'clock. The reserved
enclosure was then filled, the intermediate space was thronged with
school children and cadets, and the outer circle was made up of those
whom interest or curiosity had drawn to the spot. It was no small
evidence of the genuineness of that interest that, though hundreds
were too far away to hear the speeches, they remained during the whole
proceedings. They took their cue from those who were nearer, and
when they saw or heard them applauding they joined in and swelled the
volume of enthusiasm. One of the first to take his place on the dais
was Mr. W. H. Barnes, to whom it had fallen, as Secretary for Public
Instruction, to pilot the University Bill through the Legislative
Assembly. Not long afterwards there came Mr. A. H. Barlow, M.L.C., the
veteran Minister, who had had much to do with the preparation of the
measure, and who had charge of it during its progress through
the Upper House. Among early arrivals were Miss MacGregor, His
Excellency's daughter, and Mrs. Kidston. Punctually at half-past 3 His
Excellency the Governor, Sir William MacGregor, arrived, dressed in
his Windsor uniform and wearing the long flowing blue silk cloak
and decorations of the Grand Cross of St. Michael and St. George,
accompanied by Lady MacGregor and Mr. Kidston, Premier of Queensland.
Mrs. Kidston presented Lady MacGregor with a beautiful bouquet, and
almost at the same time the band of the 9th Regiment struck up "The
National Anthem," the whole assemblage rising as the patriotic strains
were heard. The duties usually devolving upon a chairman fell to
the Premier, who occupied a chair on one side of a small flag-draped
table, while His Excellency sat on the other side. Near by were the
Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Arthur Morgan, wearing his robes of office,
the Chief Justice (Sir Pope A. Cooper) in court dress, the Speaker
of the Legislative Assembly (Mr. J. T. Bell) in his flowing robes,
Professor David (representative of the Sydney University) in
his official robe, Professor Stirling (the representative of the
University of Adelaide) wearing the scarlet robe of an M.D. of
Cambridge, and His Grace Archbishop Donaldson in the scarlet and
ermine of a D.D. Central Queensland had a venerable representative in
the person of the Right Rev. Dr. Hay, Moderator of the Presbyterian
General Assembly. The Roman Catholic Archbishop, the Right Rev. Dr.
Dunne, had as his representative Rev. Father Byrne, the Administrator
of his diocese. The distinguished company included also Mr. Justice
Real and Mrs. Real, Mr. Justice Chubb and Mrs. Chubb, Mr. Justice
Shand, Mr. D. F. Denham (Minister for Lands) and Mrs. Denham, Mr. T.
O'Sullivan, M.L.C. (Attorney-General) and Mrs. O'Sullivan, Mr. W. T.
Paget (Minister for Agriculture and Railways) and Miss Paget, Mr. J.
G. Appel (Home Secretary) and Miss Appel, Mrs. Barnes, Mr. A. G. C.
Hawthorn (Treasurer) and Mrs. Hawthorn, Mr. W. Lennon, M.L.A. (Acting
Leader of the Opposition) and Mrs. Lennon, Miss Celia Cooper, Mr.
C. W. Costin (Clerk of Parliaments), Mr. Anthony Musgrave, (Private
Secretary to His Excellency), Captain Scarlett, A.D.C., and Captains
Newton and Claude Foxton, honorary AA.D.C. Members of both Houses
of Parliament, prominent public servants, the mayors and aldermen of
Brisbane and South Brisbane, representatives of other metropolitan
civic bodies, leading citizens, and consular representatives had their
seats in the enclosure fronting the official dais.
By a happy arrangement the ceremony was inaugurated by the assembled
children singing "The National Anthem," to which were added three
of the patriotic verses of "The Australian Anthem" composed by
Queensland's sweet singer, the late J. Brunton Stephens. The fresh
musical voices rang out true and clear, carrying far through the
still, scented air the simple words of devotion and patriotism--
What can Thy children bring?
What save the voice to sing
"All things are Thine"?--
What to Thy throne convey?
What save the voice to pray
"God bless our land alway,
This land of Thine"?
Oh, with Thy mighty hand
Guard Thou the Motherland;
She, too, is Thine.
Lead her where honour lies,
We beneath other skies
Still clinging daughterwise,
Hers, yet all Thine.
Britons of ev'ry creed,
Teuton and Celt agreed,
Let us be Thine.
One in all noble fame,
Still be our path the same,
Onward in Freedom's name,
Upward in Thine!
[Illustration: VIEW OF DEDICATION CEREMONY]
The last notes had scarcely died away, when the Premier rose to
invite His Excellency to assent to the University Bill of 1909, and to
dedicate the building to the University. He prefaced that proceeding
by a speech, which summarised the course of progress in Queensland,
touched upon the difficulties it had been necessary to overcome, and
the achievements in settlement and development which had made this
ceremony possible. More than that, it focussed as it were in a few
sentences the destined scope of the University, and the liberal
provisions by which it was to be made accessible to "all our young
people without regard to class, or creed, or sex." Twenty foundation
scholarships were the generous birthday gift to the University. There
was a great outburst of enthusiasm at this announcement, and the
applause rang out again with renewed strength when His Excellency
stepped forward, and read a congratulatory message from His Majesty
the King. This was a fitting prelude to the able and statesmanlike
speech which His Excellency made. This over, Mr. Costin presented the
University Bill for His Excellency to sign. His Excellency dipped his
pen in the ink held by a handsome silver inkstand, and affixed his
signature to the charter of the University. Then, pressing an electric
button, he revealed to view a marble tablet--the white stone of
which the Premier spoke--designed "to mark this point in our national
progress."
The building had now been dedicated, but it yet remained symbolically
to hand it over to the people. This was done by His Excellency's
presentation to Mr. J. T. Bell of the University Act, and Mr. Bell's
acceptance of it on behalf of the people of Queensland. Eloquent
speeches from Mr. Bell, Professor David, and Professor Stirling
followed, each in his turn drawing from the assemblage the endorsement
of enthusiastic applause. Once more the aid of the children was
invoked, and, under the direction of Mr. George Sampson, F.R.C.O.,
they sang to the music of "The Old Hundredth" "The Children's Ode,"
specially written for the occasion by Mr. W. J. Byram--
Dear land, the queen of all fair climes!
To jewels of thy diadem
We add to-day its brightest gem,
A guiding star for after-times.
Thy sons shall grow in wisdom's power,
Thy daughters win an ampler grace,
And both shall mould that higher race
Gifted with learning's priceless dower.
Here as the seasons wax and wane
May Science still increase her store,
And Truth be reverenced more and more,
And Tolerance and Justice reign.
Father of all, our effort bless!
Without thy aid we are as nought,
We are but children to be taught
Thy way that leads to perfectness.
One graceful ceremony remained, and that typical of beauty, life, and
growth--the planting of a tree to be known as "The University Tree,"
its destiny to grow with the University, and afford grateful shade
to those brought within its wholesome influence. The pleasant duty of
planting devolved upon Lady MacGregor, and it was carried out by means
of a silver trowel presented to her by the Premier. The business
of the afternoon had now concluded; the first step toward the
establishment of the University had been taken: its future home had
been dedicated.
THE DEDICATION SPEECHES.
The PREMIER (Hon. W. Kidston), in rising to ask His Excellency to
dedicate Government House to the purposes of the University, said:
Your Excellency and Ladies and Gentlemen,--To-day Queensland completes
her first half-century as a self-governing community; and we are met
to honour the occasion--to erect a white stone, as it were, to mark
this point in our national progress. Fifty years ago a handful of
settlers, not quite 24,000 in number, claimed and obtained the right
to manage their own affairs; and the British Government, in granting
that right, virtually handed over to those few pioneers the ownership
of this vast territory now called Queensland--a territory exceeding
in area the combined areas of England, Scotland, Ireland, France,
Portugal, Spain, and Italy. If we consider how few they were and the
way in which they undertook the work of opening up and civilising this
vast territory, we must recognise that our first pioneers were men
of enterprise, of self-reliance, and of high courage. (Hear, hear.)
Although our population has increased twenty-four times since then, we
are still but a handful in this vast land. When we try to compare the
Queensland of to-day with the Queensland of fifty years ago--the
cities and towns that have been built where then was the untrodden
bush; the thousands of miles of railways and the many thousands of
miles of roads, like a network all over this great area; the rivers
that have been spanned by bridges; the harbours that have been made;
the endless miles of telegraph lines that give rapid communication
between the townships scattered all over the State--all the things
that go to mark a civilised people--when we consider to what extent
that work has been carried out by such a mere handful of people, we
may well commend the men who have preceded us. (Hear, hear.) And it
was not only in the matter of material development that these men did
good work. Many years ago they established an educational system which
still obtains--a system so effective and comprehensive that all over
this vast territory of Queensland wherever ten or a dozen children can
be brought together there you will find a State school. (Hear, hear.)
And even beyond that, by means of the itinerant teachers, the
scattered children of the bush are sought out and have at least the
rudiments of education brought to their isolated homes. (Hear, hear.)
To-day we seek to commemorate our establishment as a self-governing
community, and at the same time to show our appreciation of the
excellent work done by our predecessors in opening up this new land
and in promoting the civilising and humanising agencies that have made
Queensland what she is; and I hold that we can show our appreciation
of the good work our predecessors did in no better way than by
imitating and continuing that good work. We who have eaten of the
fruit of the trees which our predecessors planted; we, the men of
to-day, may also seek to plant so that the children of to-morrow may
gather the fruit. (Hear, hear.)
[Illustration: THE PREMIER (HON. W. KIDSTON) OPENING THE PROCEEDINGS]
Perhaps, Your Excellency, I am not just the person to discuss
educational methods, or to seek here to give instructions to the
Senate who will manage this University; but I may express the hope
that the University of Queensland will provide for the youth of
Queensland the highest culture and the best university training that
can be got, at any rate, this side of the line. (Hear, hear.) At the
same time I would not have it forgotten that Queensland is a hive of
working bees; and all our educational institutions, from Kindergarten
to University, should keep that fact in view. There is this difference
between the youngest University in the Empire and the oldest: Oxford
was established by a King; the University of Queensland is established
by the People. (Hear, hear.) Queensland is democratic not only in her
political institutions: she is democratic in heart and sentiment; and
the desire of our people for a University is simply the desire that
Queensland may be an educated democracy--the safest, the strongest,
and the happiest community in which men can live. (Hear, hear.) I
would have the Senate always remember that it was the desire of our
people that inspired the crowning of our educational system by the
establishment of a University, that in very truth the Queensland
University is "of the people," and I trust that the Senate will never
forget that it should be "for the people." (Hear, hear.) It is not all
of us who can go to a University or directly share in its advantages;
yet the whole community should, and I hope will, receive a general
benefit. I hope that its influence will radiate downwards through all
the ranks of our social organism; that those who have the advantage
and the privilege of the more liberal education which our University
will give will be like the leaven which the woman put in three
measures of meal, and will leaven the whole community. (Hear, hear.)
Parliament has made what I think is fairly adequate financial
provision for our University. A sum of L50,000 is being set aside from
this year's revenue for meeting what may be called the initial cost.
(Hear, hear.) And, besides that, a sum of L10,000 a year is being
provided for what may be called the annual working charges. (Hear,
hear.) I may also announce to-day that the Cabinet, subject of course
to the approval of Parliament, has resolved to institute a certain
number of foundation scholarships as a step towards equalising
educational opportunities for our young people and by way of opening
the door to ability and special merit. (Applause.) It has been decided
to establish twenty foundation scholarships--(applause)--tenable for
three years, each of which will carry free entrance to the University
and L26 per year, or, in cases where students, to attend the
University, must live away from home, L52 a year. These scholarships
will be equally open to all our young people without regard to class,
or creed, or sex. (Applause.) There will also be a foundation gold
medal, carrying a prize of L100 a year for two years, for the purpose
of encouraging original chemical research--(applause)--a similar
medal and prize of a similar amount, tenable for two years, for
engineering--(applause)--and a foundation travelling scholarship of
L200 a year, tenable for two years. (Applause.) The scholarships will
of course be competed for annually, so that in the third and each
succeeding year there will be sixty of these scholarship students at
our University. (Applause.)
I now ask Your Excellency, as representing His Majesty, to assent to
the Bill, which has been approved by both Houses of Parliament, for
the establishment and endowment of the University of Queensland, and
on behalf of our people to dedicate this building, now your home, to
the purposes of the University. (Loud applause.)
HIS EXCELLENCY SIR WILLIAM MacGREGOR said: Mr. Kidston, Ladies and
Gentlemen,--The first duty I have to perform here to-day is to read
to you a telegram which I received this forenoon from the Right
Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies. This telegram
is dated London, 9th December, at 1.45 p.m., and is addressed "The
Governor, Brisbane." The Secretary of State says:--
"I am commanded by His Majesty the King to convey to you the following
message:--
"His Majesty the King heartily congratulates the people of
Queensland on the completion of fifty years of responsible
government. It is the earnest hope of His Majesty the King
that the enterprise and loyalty which have marked the first
half-century of the State of Queensland may be its abiding
heritage and that the prosperity which is evident at the close
of this period may be multiplied abundantly in the years to
come." "CREWE."
For two reasons I have put in writing what I have to say on the
important subject that has brought us here to-day. The first is that
I cannot make myself heard by a large audience. The second is that we
are assembled here on the occasion of the Jubilee of Queensland, and
that fifty years hence the Jubilee of the University of this
State will also be celebrated, and it is desirable that those who
participate in that ceremony should know in what spirit the
University is being founded: what are our hopes, our aspirations, what
appreciation we have of our duty towards our posterity and the future
of the great country we and they have to develop. I trust that for
this reason all speeches made here to-day may be carefully recorded,
as we now enter upon a new phase of the intellectual life of
Queensland, a matter that cannot but be of far-reaching importance to
the next and succeeding generations of this State.
I deem it a fortunate circumstance that, a few days after my arrival
in Brisbane, I should have the privilege of participating in a
ceremonial for the establishment of "The University of Queensland," of
taking part in a State function of historical and of great social and
economic importance.
We live in an age of more rapid progress than any that has ever
preceded our own day: and for my part I am prepared to believe that
we owe to education the enormous advances in recent years in health,
wealth, and in the amenities and comforts of life. It is now well
known to us all that the nation that is backward in education is, or
soon will be, behind in all that makes a people great and prosperous.
I am aware that these facts were fully recognised by many men in
Queensland long years ago, for I well remember the former efforts
that were made to found a University here--efforts that failed through
causes that happily no longer exist. One of the most noticeable facts
in the social and economic life of English-speaking people in recent
years is the great impulse that has been given to the development and
extension of university teaching. It may with a good show of reason be
said that Australasia led up to the great educational revival of
the last quarter of a century, by the opening of the now famous
Universities, of Sydney in 1852, of Melbourne in 1855, and of Adelaide
in 1876. Then followed the University of Tasmania in 1889. The wave of
university education has left the United States with 40 universities,
16 of which are very great, and 415 colleges. The movement has been
as pronounced in Canada, where higher education is receiving great
attention, due in a large measure to the splendid liberality of
wealthy and patriotic citizens. The same influence has been profoundly
felt in the United Kingdom. The Victoria University was founded in
1880, and the London University was reconstituted in 1900. Birmingham
University dates from 1900, Liverpool University from 1903, the
University of Wales from 1903, Leeds University from 1904, Sheffield
University from 1905, and the two national Universities of Ireland
from 1908. To come nearer home, New Zealand has her University and
affiliated colleges; and West Australia is at this moment taking
active steps for the establishment of her own State University,
so that it remains at present doubtful whether Queensland or West
Australia is to play the part of the most retiring of this pleiad of
Australasian Universities. Hitherto the youth of Queensland has had
to go elsewhere for residential university education. Fortunately
for Queensland, she has had an active and influential committee for
university extension lectures, the members of which have patriotically
performed good service to the State by arranging for lectures that
have helped to procure from beyond the State university certificates
of competence by a considerable number of the youth of this country.
This committee has fortunately been able to do enough to demonstrate
how much we need a University of our own. They are entitled to the
warm thanks of the community for what they have done. I have had an
opportunity of knowing from the admirable lectures of Professor David,
on the 4th and 8th of this month, how interesting, instructive, and
valuable those lectures can be. I have said enough to show you that
if Queensland did not now, without any further delay, proceed to
found her University, this, one of the greatest, most promising, and
wealthiest provinces in the Empire, would, as far as education is
concerned, occupy a very conspicuous and unenviable position among
the great countries of the world; especially would this be the case in
regard to the sister States and Dominions.
What is a University? I have seen a University defined as a place at
which students from any quarter of the universe could be received
to study, irrespective of nationality. What we understand here by a
University, and what we aim at, is an institution where any person
can find the fullest and best instruction of the day in any branch of
knowledge. It will be the head corner-stone of the system of
education that has been legalised in this State, a school that will be
accessible to all, and will afford equal chances and opportunities
to rich and poor alike, without reference to sex or religious
denomination. I know of no institution in modern social life that
equals the University in giving a fair chance in life to the youth
that is capable and is able and willing to work; although, for my
part, I can only regard schools of all grades as only preparatory for
the studies that have to be incessantly pursued after one ceases to
attend classes, if one does not resign oneself to falling behind; thus
the primary school prepares for the secondary school, and that school
leads to the university, which last furnishes the highest and best
intellectual equipment for one's life work, an equipment of such
character that it can be obtained and be certified to by the
university, and by that alone. It supplies to the bearer the hall-mark
of the State that the man or woman that bears it has had the best
instruction that the country can supply.
[Illustration: HIS EXCELLENCY SIR W. MACGREGOR ADDRESSING THE
AUDIENCE]
What is to be taught in the University? You will find that the
University Act makes provision for the establishment of certain
faculties in which instruction shall be given; the preamble shows that
the University is to provide "a liberal and practical education in the
several pursuits and professions of life in Queensland." In no other
country can the pursuits and professions of social and economic life
be greater than they are, or will be, in Queensland, having regard to
the extraordinary multiplicity of its resources. Such a broad purpose
as that set out in the University Act leaves little option to the
ruling power of the University as to what subjects are to be taught.
That question is determined in a large measure by the work of other
universities, for it is a foregone conclusion that the University
of Queensland is not to occupy a position in the educational world
inferior to that of any sister university in Australasia. We are well
aware that their standard is high; and we recognise that we start
late, and are therefore behind, and that we have a hard task before us
to overtake the other universities; but this has to be done, and will
be done. I dwell on this because there should exist no misconception
as to the scope of the Queensland University, especially in regard to
what is called the classical side of instruction, in contradistinction
to the scientific or practical. We recognise that the literary records
of the world have, in the main, been successively committed to
the languages of the Chaldeans, the Greeks, the Romans, and the
Anglo-Saxons. If those languages are dead, their remains are so
constantly brought before us every hour of our lives that acquaintance
with those of them that are usually taught in what is called the
faculty of arts forms a necessary and indispensable part of the
education of every accomplished or finished scholar, and of most
professional men or women. At the same time, therefore, that this
University will provide the best tuition in the classical languages
of the past, we cannot but see that times have changed; that, for
example, in no country in Europe or America could the Prime Minister
now conduct official business in Latin with King or Governor, as was
the case in England not very long ago. No Prime Minister could now
electrify a drooping Parliament with a Latin quotation, as Pitt did.
So far as I know, the last Parliament in Europe to use Latin as its
language ceased to do so some three-score of years ago. The classics
have come into disfavour owing in a large measure to the fact
that they were overdone, that time was wasted on utterly valueless
subtleties in learning them. They were associated with too much
book and too little practical work. Here we shall have a course of
classics, an arts faculty, equal to that of other universities,
but without unduly encroaching on other faculties of more modern
development and of more direct utility in the evolution of modern
economic life. It would, however, be unreasonable to expect that the
University of Queensland could be brought into the world full-grown at
its birth. The University of Sydney began with four professors. I am
informed by the very distinguished gentleman who is Chancellor of
the University of Adelaide that the now great University of that city
entered on its career, in rented premises, thirty-four years ago, with
three chairs--classics, mathematics, and natural science. Now it has
faculties of arts, science, law, medicine, electrical, mining, civil
engineering, commerce, and music; and it has ranked, by letters
patent, for the last twenty-eight years, with the old universities of
the United Kingdom. The Adelaide University now has eleven professors
and twenty-six lecturers. It supplies to us a splendid example of
courage, of energy, and of perseverance, and that example we mean to
follow. (Applause.) Our late start is not without some compensation,
for not only are we able to profit from the experience of others, but,
what is equally important, we can adapt our University courses to
the needs of the country untrammelled by the vested interests and the
threadbare traditions that make it so difficult for old universities
to adapt themselves to the exigencies of modern educational
requirements. If one thinks of Queensland as she was this day fifty
years ago, and as she is to-day, it can be seen that he would be
a bold man that would predict what faculties, what tuition, may
be required, and may be given, in the Queensland University half a
century from now. The moral to be drawn from this is, to make a start
on an elastic plan that may admit of indefinite expansion. We
require a broad and strong foundation, able to carry a great edifice,
sufficient to provide the most comprehensive tuition, not only in what
is known, but also to facilitate and encourage original research and
invention, as set out in the Act. Even sport will not be forgotten,
for it is an important consideration, in a non-residential university,
to foster that feeling and regard for a bountiful mother that
should animate the students of every great University. One thing is
abundantly clear: that because we are determined to have a university
equal to the needs of this great State, a university that shall
stimulate those of the sister States, and because we start at so
late a date, we must begin with the very best teachers that can be
procured, the most learned and enthusiastic men in their several
departments. On those men will in a large measure depend the future
character and standing of our University. The best men will be the
cheapest. Queensland can afford to employ them, and we know they will
be a profitable investment. (Applause.) A university costs money, much
money, especially in the technical departments, such as engineering,
mining, and agriculture. The endowment of universities has been
recognised in recent years as having such strong claims on public
funds that they cannot be overlooked. That principle is accepted here.
Our nearest neighbours have conferred valuable land areas on their
universities; and they have been very liberal to them in money grants.
In this respect the oldest of our Universities, that of Sydney, led
the way with wisdom and a liberal hand, and to-day New South Wales
reaps her reward. It may safely be assumed that the Parliament and
Government of Queensland will be equally liberal and far-seeing.
But the different Universities have in recent years profited in an
extraordinary manner from the munificence of private citizens. In ten
years the technical schools, colleges, and universities of the United
States received in that way L23,000,000. Perhaps the largest amount of
such gifts in any one year was in 1903, when they received L3,350,000.
It appears that in 1907 nearly L300,000 was bequeathed to universities
and colleges in the United Kingdom. It has become a common practice
for private citizens to found a university chair to bear the name of
a person whose memory it is desired to preserve and to honour. Others
that are not in a position to do so much as that have very frequently
established a bursary or scholarship, sometimes sufficiently large
to maintain a student at the university, or to partly do so. The
bursaries that produce the best results are those that are given by
open competition. But others that are limited to a specified name or
locality, according to the desire of the donors, are very useful. Some
men of good will are not permitted by their means to do more than to
found a prize for proficiency in some branch taught in the university.
This State possesses an enormous area; the productions are varied in
a very unusual degree, and they are of enormous value present and
prospective; and there can be no reason to suppose that Queenslanders
are to be less generous and patriotic towards their University than
our neighbours have been towards theirs. I shall be satisfied if we
have citizens here as generous as Russell in Sydney, as Ormond in
Melbourne, and Elder and Hughes in Adelaide. I think that no more
patriotic nor useful disposition of one's money could be made. We
start under the best auspices, for we have before us now a most
gracious message of congratulation and good wishes from His Majesty
the King, whose life is devoted to the welfare of his subjects, and
there are with us to-day representatives from the great Universities
of Sydney and Adelaide. Each of these Universities has sent us a man
of world-wide reputation. I know well what I am saying when I tell you
that the names of Professors David and Stirling are as well known,
and are as highly honoured, by the learned men and women of Europe
and America as by the people of Australia. (Applause.) It is a great
honour to us to have such representatives here to-day, and for their
presence we owe hearty thanks to their respective Universities, and
I bid them a hearty and appreciative welcome to Brisbane, for I feel
sure that they and the Universities they represent will always extend
to us sympathy, good advice, and an excellent example; and I am
certain that they will be delighted to see us here in a position to
offer them that healthful emulation that cannot but be advantageous to
all concerned. I now, ladies and gentlemen, take the first practical
step towards the founding of the University of Queensland by complying
with the request of the Hon. William Kidston, Premier of the State, to
assent to the University Bill of 1909; and I shall thereafter, in your
presence, deliver this copy of the Act to the Hon. Joshua Thomas Bell,
who will receive it on behalf of the people of Queensland; and, this
done, I shall, by unveiling a commemorative tablet, dedicate this
building to the purposes of the University of Queensland. (Loud
applause.)
[Illustration: HIS EXCELLENCY UNVEILING THE DEDICATION TABLET]
HIS EXCELLENCY, having signed the University Bill, and assented to it
on behalf of His Majesty the King, handed a copy to Mr. Bell, Speaker
of the Legislative Assembly, saying: It is with profound pleasure and
great hope that I present this Act to you on behalf of the people of
Queensland. (Applause.)
HIS EXCELLENCY: I now proceed to unveil the commemorative tablet which
dedicates this house to the University of Queensland.
By pressing a button, His Excellency unveiled a tablet bearing the
following inscription:--
DEDICATED
TO THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND
BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR,
SIR WILLIAM MACGREGOR, G.C.M.G.,
ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE OF QUEENSLAND,
ON 10TH DECEMBER, 1909,
THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE
ESTABLISHMENT OF RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT
IN QUEENSLAND.
W. KIDSTON,
CHIEF SECRETARY.
The HON. J. T. BELL (_Speaker of the Legislative Assembly_) said: Your
Excellency, Mr. Kidston, Your Grace, Ladies and Gentlemen,--If I
may for a second, before uttering the few sentences I propose to do,
mention a personal matter in regard to His Excellency, I should like
to do it, and that is to express the consternation I felt at the
announcement which His Excellency made that in his opinion all the
speeches that are delivered upon this occasion should be of such a
character that they may be perused with pleasure and with instruction
by those who are celebrating the jubilee of this institution fifty
years hence. May I say that I find it sufficiently difficult to cope
with my contemporaries without having to make in addition provision
for posterity? I listened to His Excellency's address with the
greatest satisfaction, as everyone did who heard it, because it was
felt to be a fitting deliverance for such an occasion as this. Whether
now, or five years hence, or ten years hence, or when the jubilee of
this institution is celebrated--as it will be celebrated--anyone
who wants authoritative information concerning the present education
systems of the world, of the Empire, and particularly of Australia and
in regard to this University, can turn to His Excellency's deliverance
with the knowledge that he can get all the information there. (Hear,
hear.) I at least feel--and so does everyone who has any acquaintance
with the fact--sympathy with the allusion which His Excellency made
during his remarks to that body of men who are known as the University
Extension Council. I do not know how far back their labours began--it
was certainly more than ten years--but these men, free from any
instinct of self-advertisement, and prompted only by influences that
were unselfish, did their very best in our small community years ago,
and year after year, to lay the foundations of a university. (Hear,
hear.) I am of opinion, although these things are difficult to trace,
that it was the labour of these men of the University Extension
Council, and their influence upon the public and upon the men in
public life, which really laid the foundations of this gathering, and
caused the Government of the day to institute the University. I
say all honour to those men, and I hope that their names will be
perpetuated somewhere or other. (Hear, hear.) I should like to say
that in dedicating this building to the purposes of a University,
those of us who are Queenslanders born and bred, not of the first
but even of the second generation, must feel some interest in the
transformation that such an edifice undergoes. I can only hope that
it will play its part as well as a University edifice as it did as a
Government House. Ever since, I suppose, 1861 or 1862, it has been the
home of Her Majesty's or His Majesty's representative in this State.
It was the headquarters of the social and political life of the State,
and it has, through its various inhabitants, performed its duties
well. There is this to be said, that it has housed in the past men
of the character that it will house in the future--men who possessed
qualifications that equally adapted them to live in this building in
the future, and within its new surroundings, as they were qualified to
inhabit it in the past. Let us think for a moment of some of the men
who have made this building historical. Let us think of Sir George
Bowen, our first Governor, a man who, before he became private
secretary to Mr. Gladstone, was the representative of the Crown in the
Ionian Isles, was an Oxford don, a fellow of his college, and a man
with an academic reputation. He came out here and lived with us, and
in one way at least his classical impulses have left their impression
on the community in the nomenclature of a number of creeks and hills
in Southern Queensland. (Hear, hear.) Then we had Lord Lamington,
a man of some academic pretensions; but, greatest of all from a
university standpoint, we had Lord Chelmsford, a man who was an honour
to his college, his university, and to the State which he governed.
(Hear, hear.) He was one of the very few men in the public service of
Great Britain who had ever come south of the line who were able to
say they were fellows of All Souls--(applause)--which represents in
university distinction what the V.C. means in the military field.
(Applause.) He was a man of qualifications that we were proud to have
in our Governor, and I know that when the proposal was made to him
that this building which he inhabited should be converted into a
university he was one of the first and most enthusiastic advocates of
the proposal. (Applause.) Lastly, we come to the last occupant of the
building, our present Governor, Sir William MacGregor, and no happier
instance can be found of what a university education can do to produce
an Empire builder and a stern man of the world than is to be found in
the person of His Excellency. Whatever may be the class of inhabitants
who are going to labour within these walls in the future, they have
had forerunners of whom they have no reason to be ashamed. Just let me
add a few sentences more. This building has some distinct advantages
from a university point of view. The sole object of a university is
not to instruct men to pass examinations; it has a wider sphere than
that. There was a time--it existed through ages--when the conception
of a university was an institution that turned out scholars. To-day, I
venture to say, it has become recognised that the duty and the object
of a university is the production of citizens. (Applause.) And you
will not produce citizens merely by making them go to lectures and
periodically answer questions in an examination. In the university
life one of the chief and most valuable features is the comradeship,
the common citizenship with the other members of the university, the
participation in athletic sports, the _esprit de corps_ that comes
from belonging to such an institution. And from that aspect I look
with pleasure upon the Brisbane River, only a few yards away, where we
shall find in the future, I hope, a university boat club, which club
has always been a prominent feature of universities in Great Britain,
as it is now becoming in Germany. And in connection with athletics,
and especially aquatic athletics, you will find the students of this
University will uphold the reputation of British students. (Applause.)
I do not propose to speak at any greater length. I am convinced that
after the liberal and, as far as we can see at the present time,
adequate provision that has been made by the Government of the day for
the management of this University, you will see men attending it who
will make their mark upon the community. (Hear, hear.) I repeat that
I hope that the test of the success of this University is not going to
be purely a literary test, though let it be tested in that way too.
I am convinced that those who look at the University from the broader
standpoint feel confident that this University is not going to turn
out merely scholars--merely men who can pass examinations--but is
going to turn out men of the world, and is going to have a striking
effect upon the tone of our citizenship. (Hear, hear.) I hope that
not merely morals, but, in some degree at all events, manners, will be
cultivated in this University; and we, a handful of people, who
spend comparatively enormous sums every year on primary and secondary
education, shall have additional reason to be proud when we see the
effects of the University now inaugurating being spread throughout the
land. (Applause.) I thank Your Excellency for dedicating this building
to the purposes of a University, and I rejoice that we have a man of
your character performing such a ceremony. (Applause.)
THE HON. W. KIDSTON: I have here apologies from the Chancellors of the
Universities of Melbourne and Tasmania, regretting their inability
to be present with us to-day. One of the pleasing features of this
celebration is the kindly and friendly way in which the Universities
of sister States have received the advent of their younger sister, the
University of Queensland. (Hear, hear.) But the Universities of
Sydney and Adelaide have done more: they have sent Professor David
and Professor Stirling respectively to say a few words to us on this
occasion and to wish us Godspeed. I now ask Professor David to speak.
(Applause.)
PROFESSOR DAVID (_Sydney University_) said: Your Excellency, Mr.
Kidston, Your Grace, and Ladies and Gentlemen,--It is a great honour
for me, as representing the elder sister amongst the Universities of
Australia, to bring a message of goodwill to our young University--the
University of Queensland. (Applause.) It is under happy auspices that
this young University is having this grand building, with such fine
memories of the past, dedicated to its uses. We have in our present
representative of His Majesty a gentleman of ripe scholarship and
learning, one who has been throughout his whole life, as he is now and
as he long will be too, a great power for good, a great power for all
that is uplifting and ennobling to the British Empire--Sir William
MacGregor. (Applause.) We have, too, this dedication ceremony
performed in the presence of a representative of the Government who
has shown that he has the greatest possible grip of all that is
needed to make a university such as this young University a People's
University; one, too, who has at heart, I know, the good and
prosperity of his country--the Honourable the Premier, Mr. Kidston.
(Applause.) The present Ministry, with great foresight, have resolved
to make this University not merely a University of Brisbane, but the
University of Queensland. (Hear, hear.) And it seems to me, as one who
has studied university matters for some years in the past, that it is
an act of great wisdom on the part of those who have controlled the
inception of this movement that they have decided to associate here
together the Technical College and the University. (Applause.) I
feel sure that the association will make for the good of both these
institutions, which never should be divorced from one another, and
between which there should be nothing more than friendly rivalry, and
always an interchange of courtesy, of hospitality, and of confidence.
(Applause.) Another point, and a very important one, which I
was delighted to hear from the lips of Mr. Kidston, is that this
University is to be able to appeal to the farthest boundaries of this
great State, by virtue of these sixty splendid scholarships which the
Government have decided to endow--(applause)--that will bring in many
boys and girls who otherwise, through remoteness or want of means,
would have been unable to avail themselves of this University
education. Thus I am sure that, although this University will start,
no doubt, with but a small number of students, even amongst the small
group of students who may come first to this University the nation
will reap no less rich reward than did the University of Sydney when
it started with a mere handful of students. That University celebrated
its Jubilee only in 1902, and amongst its first handful of students
was no less a man than he who was the honoured Chancellor of our
University, Sir William Windeyer; than he who did so much not only
for New South Wales but Australian science, our late Government
Astronomer, Mr. H. C. Russell; than he who is now an ornament to the
Bar, an honour to his University, and a great honour to this State and
to the whole of this Commonwealth, Sir Samuel Griffith. (Applause.)
Certainly it will not be for want of plenty of good material that this
University will not flourish, for we in Sydney know of what splendid
materials your grammar schools, both for boys and girls, are made, as
well as many of your other schools. We know it right well in Sydney,
for there, many a time and oft, your boys and girls take prizes over
the heads of our own. (Applause.) Then a word in conclusion, and that
is this, Your Excellency, and ladies and gentlemen: That, just as in
medieval times when the universities were started, Feudalism, which
made for isolation and all that was selfish, was broken down chiefly
by the University influence, which gathered the people and drew them
together in that great bond of brotherhood and learning, so in these
troublous times, when class is ranged against class, and when Labour
is pitted against Capital, surely we need the levelling influence of
a University--not an influence to level down but an influence to level
up in a noble, common brotherhood. (Applause.) We need universities as
well as we need "Dreadnoughts" and Kitcheners--as we do need them to
keep our country foremost in the arts, not only of war--even in war a
university may do much; we have a Director of Military Studies at our
University at Sydney, and I trust you will have one here--but to keep
us foremost in the arts of peace. In the matter of the foundation
of the universities of the Old World, you will remember that it was
through the Crusaders that those universities were founded. It was the
fiery zeal for Faith that started those universities. The Crusaders
were brought into contact with the learning of the Eastern World,
and so Learning and Faith were brought together in the foundations of
those old Universities of Paris and Oxford. Sometimes Learning only
flourished: sometimes only Faith: sometimes Reverence only, sometimes
Faith. May it be our fervent prayer that in this noble hall both
Reverence and Learning shall for ever dwell together in sweet harmony.
(Applause.) As representing the older sister University of Sydney,
from the bottom of my heart I wish to our young sister University on
this historic occasion all goodwill--a message of goodwill, a message
of Godspeed. (Applause.)
PROFESSOR STIRLING (_Adelaide University_) said: Your Excellency, Mr.
Premier, and Ladies and Gentlemen,--My first duty is to present to the
Government of Queensland, on behalf of the University of Adelaide, its
very cordial thanks for the invitation so courteously extended to it
that it should be represented on an occasion which will assuredly be
a memorable episode in the annals of this great and prospering State.
And in this connection I am desired by our Chancellor, Sir Samuel Way,
to convey to this gathering his great regret that his judicial duties,
now of a very exacting kind, have prevented his acceptance of the
invitation extended to him in the first place as our chief official,
and of doing honour to the event that is being celebrated. My second
and principal duty is to offer the cordial congratulations of the
University I represent to the Government of Queensland, and through it
to its whole people, that now at last, after many years, the keystone
is being placed upon the arch of the educational edifice of this
State. (Hear, hear, and applause.) I have had the honour of being
connected with the University of Adelaide ever since its foundation,
now thirty-four years ago. I can well remember its early struggles,
its efforts to take a fitting place in our national life, and I
am glad to have lived long enough to see many of its aspirations
fulfilled--(hear, hear)--aspirations that have been fulfilled in spite
of what has not always been a very whole-hearted support either on the
parts of successive Governments or of the people for whose benefit
it was intended. But I think it is now well recognised that the
University is playing a useful and essential part in the intellectual
life of the community, and that any arrest to its progress would be
nothing short of national disaster. These recollections of our early
struggles lead me to say that it will now be very interesting to us,
as onlookers, to see whether this last-born of the great educational
centres of Australia--founded as it has been by a Government that
claims to be at least as democratic as the Governments of its sister
States--will escape the criticisms, sometimes quite undeserved, that
have at one time or another been directed, certainly against my
own University, and, as I think I may say also, against its sister
institutions. Then, too, in the adjustment of the work of the
University there will no doubt recur the perennial discussion--indeed
it has already been initiated to-day by His Excellency--as to the
relative importance in an educational system of culture as opposed to
material science. I am glad that I am not called upon to enter into
that question to-day. But, speaking now from a point of view which
concerns literature no less than science, I may be permitted to say
that it is gratifying to hear the announcement of the Honourable the
Premier that the claims of original research will be brought
within the scope of the institution which takes its origin to-day.
(Applause.) Surely it is a desirable, even a necessary, function of
the chief seat of learning of a State that its professors and teachers
should not only teach that which is known, but that they should
themselves be contributors to the sum of human knowledge. There can be
no doubt that the prestige of a university depends far more upon the
extent to which its teachers are known as originators of knowledge
than upon their daily routine lectures, however honestly or however
ably these may be delivered.
[Illustration: LADY MacGREGOR PLANTING THE UNIVERSITY TREE]
Every professor worthy the name will admit that the burden of
teaching, unrelieved and uninspired by the stimulus of independent
work and thought, may indeed become destructive of the intellectual
energies. This infant University, launched as it is upon its career
with the goodwill of a prudent Government and with, I believe, to an
unusual degree the good wishes and support of the people, has the
great advantage that it may profit by the example of the institutions
that have preceded it; and fortunate will be the University of
Queensland if, by adopting the good that may be discerned in its
sister institutions, and by avoiding their mistakes, if such have
been made, it shall enter upon and pursue a blameless career of which
all men shall speak well. Even in their relatively short careers, as
time goes for States and institutions, it can be perceived that the
Australian Universities have to some extent developed individualities
of their own, and this is just what is to be desired. A Minister of
France under the Third Empire once made it his boast that on the same
day and at the same hour every corresponding class in every Lycee
throughout the length and breadth of the land was performing the same
allotted task. That boast bespoke an undesirable uniformity which is
not likely to find favour in British communities, least of all in
these States, where we have become accustomed to strike out new lines
in education for ourselves. Therefore, it is to be desired that the
University of Queensland will in its turn, evolve an individuality of
its own, that it will be inspired by the particular requirements of
the State whose interests it serves; and, further, may I express the
hope that the fact will become recognised, which has not easily
gained recognition in the Australian communities--namely, that a
well-founded and well-equipped university may be one of the best
assets, material as well as intellectual, that can be possessed by
any State or Nation. Your Excellency, I have been ordered to be brief
in my remarks, and, interesting as are many of the thoughts that
arise on such an exceptional occasion, I must conclude by expressing
once more, on behalf of the University I have the honour to represent,
and with all earnestness and sincerity, our fervent hope that this
University of Queensland, so auspiciously inaugurated, will prosper
to the uttermost, and that it will grow in usefulness and dignity as
it grows in years, and that at length it will stand forth as a noble
monument to the great State whose far-seeing Government and whose
public-spirited citizens have this day launched it on its career of
promise. (Applause.)
THE HON. W. KIDSTON: I have now to invite Her Excellency, Lady
MacGregor, to plant a "University tree," which I hope will grow and
flourish as we expect the University to do, and that in the years to
come, when many who are here to-day have passed away, the tree will be
known as "Lady MacGregor's tree."
On a spot in front of the dais, Her Excellency planted a tree with
a silver trowel on which was inscribed: "To Lady MacGregor, from the
Chief Secretary of Queensland, Hon. W. Kidston, 10th December, 1909."
Lady MacGregor then declared the tree well and truly planted.
BRISBANE:
ANTHONY JAMES CUMMING, GOVERNMENT PRINTER.
1909.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Note:
Missing or damaged punctuation has been repaired.
The mid-dot, usual for the period, was used for decimals, and
where used, has been retained.
L.s., _locus sigilli_ ( = the place of the seal).
Part of the text of Map 8 was on the next page after 2 pages
of maps, and has been moved to join the beginning of the map 8
text, for better flow.
The Barwan River, described in the Proclamation in the Government
Gazette, and under Queensland (Map 9) is now known as the Barwon
River.
Illustrations (photographs) through the book appear facing
every 4th or 8th page. Where a photograph intersects a
paragraph of text, it has been moved to the end of the
paragraph.
Page 27: 'freetrade' corrected to 'free trade' "... the
enhanced prosperity resulting from interstate free trade."
Page 69: 'arrear', archaic, but probably correct in 1909.
"... unoccupied land might be leased for fourteen years by a
council when rates had been permitted to fall into arrear for
a term of four years." (Webster's Dictionary, 1913 Edition).
Page 207: Mining: 1872: Gold raised in Queensland: L537,365.
The first '3' could be '2'. The scan is smudged and unclear.
Page 229: 'Mount Cornish, No. 3'.
The '3' may be a '5'. The scan is unclear, even at different
magnifications.
Page 237: Brisbane, mean summer temperature, '76.0' could be
'73.0' or '75.0'. This is a 'best guess'; the scan is smudged
and unclear, and part of the number is missing. '76.0' has
been selected after a careful comparison of the '6' with nearby
numbers. 76.0 deg.F is also closest to the current Brisbane mean
summer temperature of 24.8 deg.C, or 76.6 deg.F, and in the same chart,
the current Brisbane mean winter temperature of 15.6 deg.C, or 60 deg.F
is the same as that given in this 1909 book (60 deg.F).
Page 243: 'acessible' corrected to 'accessible'.
"... by which it was to be made accessible to all our young
people without regard to...."
End of Project Gutenberg's Our First Half-Century, by Government of Queensland