Produced by Nick Wall and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: A list of changes is detailed at the end of
the book.
[Illustration: MOUNT KOSCIUSKO.
_From the picture by J. S. Bowman, M.A._]
Australian Pictures
Drawn with Pen and Pencil
BY
HOWARD WILLOUGHBY
OF 'THE MELBOURNE ARGUS'
_WITH A MAP AND ONE HUNDRED AND SEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS FROM
SKETCHES AND PHOTOGRAPHS, ENGRAVED BY E. WHYMPER AND OTHERS._
LONDON
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY
56 Paternoster Row and 164 Piccadilly
1886
LONDON:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
[Illustration: IN THE MOUNTAINS, FERNSHAW.]
PREFACE.
In one respect this work differs from its predecessors. The companion
volumes were written by travellers to the lands which they described,
but AUSTRALIAN PICTURES are by an Australian resident. Hence, when
praise is required, the author has often preferred to quote some
traveller of repute rather than to state his own impressions. Thanks
have to be given to the Government of Victoria, which kindly placed all
its works at the disposal of the author. The official history of the
aborigines compiled by Mr. Brough Smyth is especially a valuable
storehouse of facts for future writers. The proprietors of the
_Melbourne Argus_ liberally gave the use of the views and pictures of
their illustrated paper, the _Australian Sketcher_, and the offer was
gratefully and largely taken advantage of. Mr. R. Wallen, a President of
the Art Union of Victoria, gave permission for the reproduction of any
of the works of art published by the society during his term of office.
Australia is a large place, and it will be seen that, where the author
could not refresh his memory by a personal visit, he has here and there
availed himself of the willing aid of literary friends.
[Illustration: THE SCOTS' CHURCH, COLLINS STREET, MELBOURNE.]
CONTENTS.
Mount Kosciusko _Frontispiece_
In the Mountains, Fernshaw 5
The Scots' Church, Collins Street, Melbourne 6
SECTION I.--INTRODUCTORY.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
AREA OF AUSTRALIA--ENGLAND'S HERITAGE--NATURAL
RICHES--POPULATION--PRESENT PROSPECTS OF IMMIGRANTS--THE SIX
COLONIES--FACILITIES OF TRAVEL--CHARACTER OF PEOPLE. 11-16
_Illustrations_:
A Native Climbing a Tree for Opossum 12
A Road through an Australian Forest 13
Coranderrk Station 16
CHAPTER II.
CONFIGURATION AND CLIMATE.
DIMENSIONS OF AUSTRALIA--MOUNT KOSCIUSKO--THE MURRAY RIVER
SYSTEM--WIND LAWS--THE HOT WIND--INTENSE HEAT PERIODS--THE EARLY
EXPLORERS--STURT'S EXPERIENCE--BLACKS AND BUSH
FIRES--DROUGHTS--UNEXPLORED AUSTRALIA. 17-26
_Illustrations_:
The Giant Gum-tree 18
Railroad through the Gippsland Forest 19
Junction of Murray and Darling Rivers 20
The National Museum, Melbourne 26
CHAPTER III.
THE AUSTRALIAN PEOPLE.
AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRACIES--THE FEDERAL MOVEMENT--IMMIGRATION--CURRENT
WAGES--COST OF LIVING--ABSENCE OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH--RELIGION
IN THE RURAL DISTRICTS--A TYPICAL SERVICE--SUNDAY OBSERVANCE--MISSION
WORK--CHURCH BUILDING. 27-34
_Illustrations_:
Statue of Prince Albert in Sydney 28
The Bower-Bird 29
The Independent Church, Collins Street, Melbourne 33
SECTION II.--BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE COLONIES.
CHAPTER IV.
VICTORIA.
PORT PHILLIP--EARLY SETTLEMENT AND ABANDONMENT--THE PIONEERS
HENTY, BATMAN AND FAWKNER--SIZE OF VICTORIA--MELBOURNE--ITS
APPEARANCE--PUBLIC BUILDINGS--STREETS--RESERVES--PRIDE OF ITS
PEOPLE--UNEARNED INCREMENT--SANDHURST--BALLARAT--THE CAPITAL OF
THE INTERIOR--GEELONG--THE WESTERN DISTRICT--VIEW OF THE
LAKES--PORTLAND--THE WHEAT PLAINS--SHEPPERTON--THE
MALLEE--GIPPSLAND--MOUNTAIN RANGES--SCHOOL SYSTEM--COBB'S
COACHES--FACTS AND FIGURES. 35-72
_Illustrations_:
Semi-Civilised Victorian Aborigines 36
Government House, Melbourne 37
Melbourne, 1840 40
A Railway Pier in Melbourne in 1886 41
A Melbourne Suburban House 44
Bird's-eye View of Melbourne showing Public Office 46
Bird's-eye View of Melbourne looking Southwards 47
Bird's-eye View of Central Melbourne 50
Bourke Street, Melbourne, looking East 51
University, Melbourne 52
The Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne 53
The Yarra Yarra, near Melbourne 55
Bird's-eye View of Sandhurst 58
On Lake Wellington 63
A Victorian Lake 65
The Upper Goulbourn, Victoria 66
Waterfall in the Black Spur 68
A Victorian Forest 69
Staging Scenes 71
A Sharp Corner 72
CHAPTER V.
NEW SOUTH WALES.
SURVEY OF THE COLONY--SYDNEY AND ITS HARBOUR--THE GREAT
WEST--THE BLUE MOUNTAINS--THEIR GRAND SCENERY--AN AUSTRALIAN
SHOW PLACE--THE FISH RIVER CAVES--DUBBO TO THE DARLING--THE
GREAT PASTURES--THE NORTHERN TABLELAND--THE BIG SCRUB
COUNTRY--TROPICAL VEGETATION. 73-96
_Illustrations_:
Views in Sydney: Government House,
the Cathedral, and Sydney Heads 74
Government Buildings, Macquarie Street, Sydney 75
Statue of Captain Cook at Sydney 77
The Post Office, George Street, Sydney 80
Sydney Harbour 82
Macquarie Street, Sydney 83
The Town Hall, Sydney 85
Emu Plains 88
The Valley of the Grose 89
Zigzag Railway in the Blue Mountains 91
Fish River Caves 92
Waterfall at Govett 93
CHAPTER VI.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
CONFIGURATION--THE LAKE COUNTRY--HEAT IN
SUMMER--FRUIT--GLENELG--ADELAIDE--MOUNT LOFTY RANGE--PARKS AND
BUILDINGS--MOSQUITO PLAIN CAVES--CAMELS--THE OVERLAND TELEGRAPH
LINK LINE--PEAKE STATION--THE NORTHERN TERRITORY--EARLY
MISFORTUNES--PRESENT PROSPECTS--INSECT
LIFE--ALLIGATORS--BUFFALOES. 97-114
_Illustrations_:
Overland Telegraph Party 98
Government House and General Post Office, Adelaide 99
Waterfall Gully, South Australia 100
A Murray River Boat 101
Adelaide in 1837 102
King William Street, Adelaide 104
An Adelaide Public School 105
Reaping in South Adelaide 106
Camel Scenes 108
Peake Overland Telegraph Station 109
Collingrove Station, South Australia 111
Sheep in the Shade of a Gum-tree 112
The Botanical Gardens, Adelaide 114
CHAPTER VII.
QUEENSLAND.
SIZE AND CONFIGURATION--EARLY SETTLEMENT--BRISBANE ISLAND AND
COAST TOWNS--GLADSTONE--ROMA--GYMPIE--TOOWOOMBA--TOWNSVILLE--
COOKTOWN--SQUATTING--THE CATTLE STATION--THE SHEEP STATION--THE
QUEENSLAND FOREST--THE NETTLE-TREE--SUGAR PLANTING--POLYNESIAN
NATIVES--STOPPAGE OF THE LABOUR TRADE--GOLD MINING--THE
PALMER--SILVER, TIN, AND COPPER. 115-130
_Illustrations_:
Brisbane 116
A Village on Darling Downs 117
Valley of the River Brisbane, Queensland 120
Townsville, North Queensland 124
Sugar Plantation, Queensland 127
CHAPTER VIII.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
EARLY SETTLEMENT--MISTAKEN LAND SYSTEM--CONVICT LABOUR--THE
SYSTEM ABANDONED--POISON PLANTS--PERTH--KING GEORGE'S
SOUND--CLIMATE--PEARLS--PROSPECTS. 131-140
_Illustrations_:
Sheep-Shearing 132
Perth 133
Government House, Perth 137
Albany 139
CHAPTER IX.
TASMANIA.
A HOLIDAY RESORT FOR AUSTRALIANS--LAUNCESTON--THE NORTH AND
SOUTH ESK--MOUNT BISCHOFF--A WILD DISTRICT--THE OLD MAIN
ROAD--HOBART--THE DERWENT--PORT ARTHUR--CONVICTS--FACTS AND
FIGURES. 141-152
_Illustrations_:
View of Mount Wellington, Tasmania 142
Corra Linn, Tasmania 143
On the South Esk, Tasmania 145
Views in Tasmania 147
Launceston 148
Hell Gate, Tasmania 149
On the River Derwent 152
SECTION III.--AUSTRALIAN LIFE AND PRODUCTS.
CHAPTER X.
HEROES OF EXPLORATION.
TRAGIC STORIES--FLINDERS AND BASS--ADVENTURES IN A SMALL
BOAT--DISCOVERIES--DISAPPEARANCE OF BASS--DEATH OF
FLINDERS--EYRE'S JOURNEY--LUDWIG LEICHHARDT--DISAPPEARANCE OF
HIS PARTY--THEORY OF HIS FATE--THE KENNEDY CATASTROPHE--THE
BURKE AND WILLS EXPEDITION--ACROSS THE CONTINENT--THE DESERTED
DEPOT--SLOW DEATH BY STARVATION--LATER EXPEDITIONS. 153-164
_Illustrations_:
Native Encampment 154
A New Clearing 155
Splitters in the Forest 157
After Stray Cattle 160
Monument to Burke and Wills in Melbourne 163
CHAPTER XI.
A GLANCE AT THE ABORIGINES.
FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH THE BLACKS--MISUNDERSTANDINGS--NARRATIVE OF
A PIONEER--CLIMBING TREES--THE BLACKS' DEFENCE--DECAY OF THE
RACE--WEAPONS--THE NORTHERN TRIBES--A NORTHERN
ENCAMPMENT--CORROBOREE--BLACK TRACKERS--BURIAL--MISSION
STATIONS. 165-178
_Illustrations_:
A Corroboree 166
A Waddy Fight 167
Civilised Aborigines 169
A Boomerang 173
A Native Encampment in Queensland 174
A Native Tracker 175
Church, Schoolhouse, and Encampment at Lake Tyers 176
CHAPTER XII.
SOME SPECIMENS OF AUSTRALIAN FAUNA AND FLORA.
MARSUPIALS--THE 'TASMANIAN DEVIL'--DINGOES--KANGAROO
HUNTING--THE LYRE-BIRD--BOWER-BIRD--THE GIANT KINGFISHER--EMU
HUNTING--SNAKES--THE SHARK--ALLEGED MONOTONY OF
VEGETATION--TROPICAL VEGETATION OF COAST--THE GIANT GUM--THE
ROSTRATA--THE MALLEE SCRUB--FLOWERS AND SHRUBS. 179-202
_Illustrations_:
Australian Tree-Ferns 180
Dingoes 181
The _Sarcophilus_ or 'Tasmanian Devil' 182
Bass River Opossum 183
A Kangaroo Battue 184
The Platypus 186
The Lyre-Bird 187
The Giant Kingfisher, or Laughing Jackass 189
The Emu 190
The Tiger-Snake 192
Australian Trees 195
Silver-stem Eucalypts 198
The Bottle-Tree 201
Grass-Trees 202
CHAPTER XIII.
THE SQUATTER AND THE SETTLER.
PRESENT MEANING OF THE WORD 'SQUATTER'--CATTLE-RAISING--CAPITAL
HAS CONFIDENCE IN SQUATTING NOW--ORIGIN OF MERINO
SHEEP-BREEDING--MANAGEMENT OF A RUN--DROUGHT--BOX-TREE
CLEARINGS--MODERN ENTERPRISE--SHEEP-SHEARING--'SUNDOWNERS'--FARMING
PROSPECTS--CHEAP LAND--EASY HARVESTING--SMALL CAPITAL--SELECTION
CONDITIONS--BUSH FIRES--BLACK THURSDAY--THE OTWAY DISASTER--LOST
IN THE BUSH--MISSING CHILDREN. 203-219
_Illustrations_:
Driving Cattle 203
A Merino Sheep 206
Ring Barking 209
A Bush Welcome 213
Before and After the Fire 216
Found! 218
A Squatter's Station 219
APPENDIX 220
INDEX 221
SECTION I.
INTRODUCTORY.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
AREA OF AUSTRALIA--ENGLAND'S HERITAGE--NATURAL
RICHES--POPULATION--PRESENT PROSPECTS OF IMMIGRANTS--THE SIX
COLONIES--FACILITIES OF TRAVEL--CHARACTER OF PEOPLE.
[Illustration: A NATIVE CLIMBING A TREE FOR OPOSSUM]
[Illustration: A ROAD THROUGH AN AUSTRALIAN FOREST.]
'Australian Pictures' must necessarily consist of peeps at Australia. It
seems presumptuous at first to ask that great island-continent to creep
into a single volume. But sketches of parts and bird's-eye views will
often reveal more to the stranger than a minute and fatiguing survey of
the whole. These pages, though few in number, will, it is hoped, convey
to the reader some idea of that vast new world where Saxons and Celts
are peacefully building up another Britain.
Some of the early errors about Australia must have already faded away.
Few can now believe that her birds are without voice and her flowers
without perfume, and that the continent itself is a desert fringed by a
habitable seaboard. Yet it is perhaps hardly realised by the many how
grand is the heritage secured in Australia for the British race. The
extent of territory is enormous. Twenty-five kingdoms the size of Great
Britain and Ireland could be carved out of this giant island and its
appendages, and still there would be a remainder. Its total area,
2,983,200 square miles, is only a little less than the area of Europe.
At first it was supposed that only a limited portion of this enormous
tract would be available for settlement, but this fear is dying out. The
central desert, that bugbear of a past generation, has an existence, but
man is pushing it farther and farther back. Where the explorer perished
through thirst a few years ago we now have the homestead and the
township; water is conserved, flocks are fed, the property, if it has to
be offered for sale, is described as 'that valuable and well-known
squatting block.' The tales that were first told were true enough, but
man, as he advances, subdues the country and ameliorates the climate.
Already Australia exports to the markets of the world the finest wheat,
the finest wool, and the finest gold. Her produce in these lines
commands the highest prices, and no test of superiority could be more
conclusive. In two at least of these items the export could be
indefinitely increased, and meat and wine can be added to the list. On
such articles as these man subsists, and they are produced here with a
minimum of expense and effort.
The total population of Australia is 2,800,000. The settlers have drawn
about themselves over 1,100,000 horses, 8,000,000 cattle, and 70,000,000
sheep. But three millions of men and tens of millions of creatures fail
to occupy; they do little more than dot the corners of the great lone
island. In the north-west of the continent there are tracts of country
which the white man has not yet penetrated. Tribes still roam there who
may have heard of the European stranger, but who have never seen him.
Adventurous spirits are now pushing into these distant regions, but
there will be pioneering work for many a long term of years, and after
the pioneer has had his day the task of settlement begins. Even in
Victoria and New South Wales, the most thickly populated of the
colonies, there are many fertile hillsides and valleys as yet untrodden
by man. The population has sought the plains, where the least
expenditure was required to make the earth bring forth its increase.
Some of the richest land in both colonies has yet to be appropriated,
the settler having neglected it because it has to be cleared. The giant
eucalypt of the uplands frightened the colonist away to the lightly
timbered, park-like plains; but now, thanks to the extension of the
railways, the mountain ash, the red gum, and the blackwood, with their
companions, are found to be sources of wealth. Thus, in the old states
and in the new territories alike, openings exist for the agriculturist
and the grazier as favourable as have ever been offered. More fortunes
have been made in Australia within the past ten years than have ever
been accumulated before. The labourer has put more money than ever into
the savings-bank or the building society. The farmer has more rapidly
become a comfortable, well-to-do personage; the grazier or squatter has
seen his income swell. The value of city property has increased as if by
magic. It may be truly said that the chances and prospects of the new
arrival are greater to-day, and are likely to be greater for years to
come, than they were even in the feverish flush of the gold era.
Australia is for the present divided into six colonies. As time rolls on
we may expect six times this number of states. If some of the larger
provinces were at all thickly populated they would be absolutely
unmanageable for administrative purposes. The states are named Victoria,
New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia and
Tasmania. They will be noticed in these pages in turn. Victoria, with an
area of 87,000 square miles, has a population of a little more than
1,000,000. Thus it is the most densely peopled of the group.
Agriculture, gold mining and wool growing are its prominent industries,
and it is the colony in which manufactures are most developed. New South
Wales has also a population of 1,000,000, with an area of 309,000 square
miles. She is a pastoral colony. Queensland, with an area of 668,000
square miles, has less than 350,000 people, a circumstance that shows
how little she has been developed. Her industries are pastoral and gold
mining; and in the far north sugar plantations have been established
under somewhat unhappy auspices. South Australia has an area of 903,000
square miles, and a population under 350,000. Much of her territory is
absolutely unexplored. Her little community is clustered about Adelaide,
and has relied so far upon the export of wool, copper and, above all,
wheat. Last of the continental states comes Western Australia, the
Cinderella of the group. Her population is only 35,000, her area is no
less than 975,000 square miles, much of it being absolutely unknown,
while the greater part has no other occupants than the black man, the
emu and the marsupial. Tasmania, the little island colony, has a
population of 135,000, and an area of 26,000 square miles.
All the capitals are on the seaboard, and, setting the Western
Australian Perth aside, the traveller can proceed from one to the other
either by the magnificent liners of the Peninsular and Oriental, the
Orient, and the British India Steam Navigation Companies, or he can
avail himself of splendid Clyde-built steamers run by local enterprise.
Very shortly he will be able to land at either Adelaide or Brisbane, and
journey from the one point to the other by rail, as the iron chain is
almost continuous now, and missing links are being rapidly completed.
Whichever capital he lands at, he will find a network of railways
branching into the interior, and seated behind the locomotive he can
visit places where a few years back the explorers perished! Only if he
is very ambitious of sight-seeing need he have recourse to coach, horse,
or the popular American--but acclimatised--buggy.
So far as the people are concerned, he will find that he is still in the
old country. Traveller after traveller, Mr. Archibald Forbes and Lord
Rosebery in turn, and a host of others, affirm that the typical
Australian is apt to be more English than the Englishman. There is no
aristocracy, it is true, and no National Church. Each state is a
democracy pure and simple, under the English flag. But the Queen has
nowhere more devoted and loyal subjects, and nowhere are the Churches
more numerous, more active, and apparently more blessed in results. The
traveller meets with English manners, English sympathies, and a frank
hospitality which, the compilers of books and the deliverers of lectures
affirm, is peculiar to Australia. But he finds the race amid novel
surroundings, amid scenery whose peculiarity is vastness, with a
distinctive vegetation unlike any other, with seasons which have little
resemblance to those of the old country; and the occupations of the
people, he discovers, are also often new. When a writer undertakes to
sketch the scene, it must be his fault if he has nothing of interest to
relate.
[Illustration: CORANDERRK STATION.]
CHAPTER II.
CONFIGURATION AND CLIMATE.
DIMENSIONS OF AUSTRALIA--MOUNT KOSCIUSKO--THE MURRAY RIVER
SYSTEM--WIND LAWS--THE HOT WIND--INTENSE HEAT PERIODS--THE EARLY
EXPLORERS--STURT'S EXPERIENCE--BLACKS AND BUSH
FIRES--DROUGHTS--UNEXPLORED AUSTRALIA.
[Illustration: THE GIANT GUM-TREE. [_See p. 196_]
[Illustration: RAILROAD THROUGH THE GIPPSLAND FOREST.]
It is not possible to understand Australia without a glance at the
physical conditions of the continent. A good angel and a bad, an evil
influence and a beneficial, are ever in contention in nature here. From
the surrounding sea come cool and grateful clouds; from the heated
interior come hot blasts, licking up life and absorbing the watery
vapours which would otherwise fall as rain. Sea and land are ever in
conflict.
[Illustration: JUNCTION OF MURRAY AND DARLING RIVERS.]
Australia measures from north to south 1700 miles, and from east to west
2400 miles--the total area being somewhat greater than that of the
United States of America, and somewhat less than the whole of Europe.
The peculiarity is that all its mountain ranges worth taking notice
of--all that are factors in the climate--are comparatively near the
coast. Thus the main dip is rather inland than outward, and this
formation is fatal to great rivers. An interior mountain chain such as
the New Zealand Alps would have transformed the country. The enormous
coast-line from Spencer's Gulf to King George's Sound is not broken by
the mouth of any stream. Such rainfall as there is in this district must
drain either into the sea by subterranean channels, or into the inland
marshy depressions called Lake Eyre, Lake Gairdner, and Lake Amadeus,
which are sometimes extremely shallow sheets of water, sometimes grassy
plains, and sometimes desert. The best land is that between the various
ranges and the sea, because there most rain falls. And the greatest of
the ranges is that which runs from north to south along the east coast
of the island, passing through Queensland, New South Wales, and
Victoria, and culminating in Mount Kosciusko, whose peak is 7120 feet
high, and whose ravines always contain snow. Only at Kosciusko does snow
lie all the year round in Australia, though the mountains near it, about
6000 feet high, are also almost always covered. To this range we owe the
one river system at all worthy of the continent. The waters from the
western side of the Queensland mountains--there called the Dividing
Range--flow down the Warrego into the Darling. Here they are joined by
the waters from the higher ranges of New South Wales and Victoria,
called the Australian Alps. These waters have been brought down by the
Murray, the Murrumbidgee, and the Goulburn, and the united floods fall
into the sea, through Lake Alexandrina, between Melbourne and Adelaide.
On paper this river system shows well. The Darling has been navigated up
to Walgett, which is 2345 miles from the sea, and this distance entitles
the Australian stream to rank third among the rivers of the world, only
the Mississippi and the Amazon coming before it. But the facts are not
so good as they seem. The Darling depends upon flood waters. Sometimes
these flood waters will come down in sufficient volume to enable the
stream to run from end to end, and sometimes they fail half-way. The
river is never open to navigation all the year round, and frequently it
is not open to navigation from year's end to year's end. The occasional
failure of the Darling for so long a period upsets all calculations. The
colonists will take this stream and the river Murray in hand some day,
and will lock both and preserve their storm waters, and the
south-eastern corner of the continent will then have a grand river
communication. Stores will then be sent up, and wool will be brought
down with certainty, where now all is doubt and speculation. Commissions
to consider the subject have been appointed both by the Victorian
Government and the Government of New South Wales, and conferences are
this year (1886) being held upon it and cognate subjects. Unhappily,
there are no other streams in Australia that can be so dealt with,
though it should be added that the last has not yet been heard of the
rivers of Northern Australia. We are ignorant of their capacities,
though a good guess can be made about them.
Taking Australia from east to west, we find a high range skirting the
coast on the east, and supporting a dense sub-tropical vegetation, and
giving rise to an extensive but uncertain river system. Next comes a
more sterile interior, composed of desert, of shallow salt lakes, and of
higher steppes in unknown proportions. Approaching the west coast we
meet ranges again, and rivers and fertile country.
Mr. H. C. Russell, Government Astronomer for New South Wales, in his
valuable pamphlet on the 'Physical Geography and Climate of New South
Wales,' points out that 'if water flowed over the whole of the
Australian continent, the trade wind would then blow steadily over the
northern portions from the south-east, and above it the like steady
return current would blow to the south-east, while the "brave west
winds" and southerly would hold sway over the other half--conditions
which now exist a short distance from the coast. Into this system
Australia introduces an enormous disturbing element, of which the great
interior plains form the most active agency in changing the directions
of the wind currents. The interior, almost treeless and waterless, acts
in summer like a great oven with more than tropical heating power, and
becomes the great motor force on our winds, by causing an uprush, and
consequent inrush on all sides, especially on the north-west, where it
has power sufficient to draw the north-east trade over the equator, and
into a north-west monsoon, in this way wholly obliterating the
south-east trade belonging to the region, and bringing the monsoon with
full force on to Australia, where, being warmed, and receiving fresh
masses of heated air, it rises and forms part of the great return
current from the equator to the south.'
The 'hot winds' of the colonists are produced by the sinking down to the
surface of the heated current of air, which in summer is continually
passing overhead; and when this wind blows in force upon a clear
summer's day things are not pleasant. The thermometer from time to time
indicates a degree of heat which is almost incredible. In Southern
Melbourne the official record gives a reading of 179 degrees in the sun,
and 111 in the shade, and at the inland town of Deniliquin, the official
register in the shade is 121 degrees. Man and beast and vegetation
suffer on these days. The birds drop dead from the trees, the fruit is
scorched and rendered unfit for market. The leaves of the English trees,
such as the plane and the elm, drop in profusion, so that in early
summer it will seem as if autumn had set in. The sick, especially
children, are terribly affected, and the doctors attending an infant
sufferer will say that nothing can be done except to pray for a change
of wind. Happily, such days as these are rare. The hot blast will not
often send the temperature up to more than 100 to 105 degrees, and the
duration of the heated wind is limited to three days, and often it
prevails during only one, sunset bringing with it a cool southern gale.
A moderate hot wind is relished by many people, for the air is dry and
even exhilarating to the strong for a while; and the claim is made that
it destroys noxious germs and effluvia. Sometimes the hot wind will
gradually die out, but on other occasions a rushing storm will come up
from the south, driving the north wind before it, and in that case the
welcome conflict will be preceded by whirling and blinding clouds of
dust, and will be accompanied by thunder and lightning and torrents of
rain. The fall of the temperature will be something marvellous. The
thermometer will be standing at 150 deg. in the sun; then the wind will
change, rain will fall, and in the evening the register will be 50 deg.,
making a difference of 100 degrees in seven or eight hours.
That these days are exceptional is shown by the manner in which
vegetation generally flourishes, and by the admiration which each
colonist has for the climate of that particular part of Australia in
which he resides. 'The Swan Settlements,' says the Western Australian,
'are the pick of the country. No hot winds there.' At Adelaide the
visitor is told: 'Yes, we are often hotter by ten degrees in the sun
than they are in Melbourne, but ours is a dry, not a moist heat.' In
Melbourne the tale is reversed: 'Sydney is muggy,' it is averred; 'you
cannot stand that. A dry heat is the thing, but those poor beggars at
Adelaide have it too hot altogether.'
No doubt many mistakes occurred in the descriptions of Australia given
by the early explorers. Brave and intelligent as they were, they were
'new chums,' and certainly not born bushmen. Transplanted from a small
island, continental features overpowered them. Forests which took weeks
to traverse; plains, like the ocean, horizon-bounded; the vast length of
our rivers when compared to those of England, often flowing immense
distances without change or tributary--now all but dry for hundreds of
miles, at other times flooding the countries on their banks to the
extent of inland seas--wearied them. Then we know that our cloudless
skies, the mirage, the long-sustained high range of the thermometer in
the central portion of the continent, troubled them a good deal more
than they do us, and helped to make them look on the dark side of
things. Hence, as a rule, their reports were unfavourable.
Sturt's account of his detention at Depot Glen is enough to frighten
anybody, and cannot be read to this day without emotion. Here, 'stuck
up' by want of water, he dug an underground room, and he and his men
passed a terrible summer. The heat was sometimes as high as 130 degrees
in the shade, and in the sun it was altogether intolerable. They were
unable to write, as the ink dried at once on their pens; their combs
split; their nails became brittle and readily broke; and if they touched
a piece of metal it blistered their fingers. Month after month passed
without a shower of rain. Sometimes they watched the clouds gather, and
they could hear the distant roll of thunder, but there fell not a drop
to refresh the dry and dusty desert. The party began to grow thin and
weak; Mr. Poole, the second in command, became ill with scurvy. At
length, when the winter was approaching, a gentle shower moistened the
plain; and preparations were being made to send the sick man quickly to
the Darling, when Poole died, and the mournful cavalcade returned,
leaving a grave in the wilderness. Yet this locality proved in time to
be a very good sheep-run, differing in nothing from others around it;
and eventually was found to be a gold-field, and was extensively worked.
Runs about the spot are commonly advertised in the Melbourne or Sydney
papers as carrying immense flocks, and as valued with the stock at from
L50,000 to L100,000. The explorer was, in fact, within a few miles of
Cooper's Creek.
This process of conquering the interior is still going on. Man modifies
all countries, and Australia is no exception to the rule. Even the
blacks played their part, and it was a mischievous one. They had an
instrument in their hands by which they influenced the whole course of
nature. This was the fire-stick. With this implement the aborigines were
constantly setting fire to the grass and trees, both accidentally and
systematically, for hunting purposes, and probably in their day almost
every part of New Holland was swept over by a fierce fire on an average
once in five years. Hence the baked, calcined condition of the ground in
many parts of the continent, the character of our vegetation, and the
comparative scarcity of animal life. The eucalypts survived the fiery
ordeal, because of the hardness of their bark; and, when every other
creature perished, or had to abandon its litter, the marsupials leaped
over the flames with their young in their pouches. Strange as the
assertion may appear in the first instance, it may be doubted whether
any section of the human race has exercised a greater influence on the
physical condition of a large portion of the globe than the wandering
savages of Australia. The white man is working in an entirely opposite
direction. By clearing the forest he limits the area of the bush fire.
He constructs reservoirs, dams rivers, sinks wells in order to bring
subterranean water to the surface, and irrigates land, so that a spot
where even the hardiest scrub failed to grow in its natural state, is
covered with luxuriant crops. Province after province has been rescued
from the wilderness already, and the grand work is likely to go on.
Those who look at what has been done in the way of reclaiming territory
in Australia will be in no hurry to set bounds as to what man is likely
to perform.
It is not wonderful that the first inquiry of the practical settler
should be as to the rainfall of the country he proposes to occupy. The
map most eagerly scanned in Australia is the 'rainfall' map, prepared by
the Government, and issued by the leading weekly papers. A glance at
this production reveals the tale which it tells. The coast-line is shown
in a dark blue, to indicate the heavy rainfall of from thirty to seventy
inches. A pleasant blue represents a moderate rainfall on the interior
belt of plains, averaging from fifteen to twenty-five inches. Then comes
a faint tint spread over what is called the 'never, never' country,
where the rainfall is five or ten inches per annum, and where the rain
will descend at once, or for two years there will be none, and then the
whole average supply will drop from the clouds in one rushing downpour.
Under such circumstances it will be readily imagined that the terror of
the Australian settler is a drought. Even in the moments of his utmost
prosperity he has his anxieties about the next season. A district which
has been rainless for a year or two years is a pitiful spectacle of
desolation. The grass disappears; the wind carries with it whirling
columns of dust; the trees of the dreary plain become more sombre and
mournful than ever. If there is a little water left in any dam or
reservoir, it is rendered putrid by the carcases of sheep and cattle,
for the wretched animals become so weak that, once they fall or stick,
they are unable to rise or to extricate themselves. The sun rises in
heat, sails through a cloudless sky, and sets a ball of fire. The nights
are dewless. The moon only renders more ghastly the depressing
panorama.
Mr. Russell complains that pictures of the drought are usually
exaggerated, and it may be well therefore to quote official figures. In
two years, according to Mr. Dibbs, Treasurer and Premier of New South
Wales (November 1885), the drought in New South Wales has killed 200,000
horses, 1,500,000 head of cattle, and 13,500,000 sheep. A loss which is
estimated at from L10,000,000 to L15,000,000 has fallen upon a single
colony, and a single industry in that colony! But this drought was felt
with equal severity in parts of South Australia and of Queensland, and
it would be no exaggeration therefore to double the figures communicated
to Parliament by Mr. Dibbs. And when 400,000 horses, 3,000,000 cattle,
and 27,000,000 sheep die miserably of hunger and thirst, it is certain
that scenes must occur the gloom and wretchedness of which can hardly be
over-painted. One squatting company in the north lost 150,000 sheep out
of 250,000 in the drought in question, and the survivors were kept alive
with difficulty. Scrub was cut down for them. The living gnawed the
bones of the dead. The company's shares went down to two shillings in
the pound, and other squatting property similarly situated was equally
depreciated, when one January morning, 1886, the Melbourne, Sydney,
Brisbane, and Adelaide papers gave prominence to the welcome news of the
break-up of the drought. From this place, that place, and the other, all
down the line, came telegrams of the fall of three inches, four inches,
five inches, and six inches of rain, the water saturating the ground,
filling the dams, and sending the price of pastoral property up as
though by magic.
The drought disaster, of course, is most felt in the newly taken-up
country. Here a state of nature obtains, while, as time rolls on, and
profits are made, water is conserved, and the run is practically made
drought-proof. A minimum quantity of stock can be kept, and the
remainder can be travelled to a district which is not smitten. The
recuperative powers of the country are enormous; and if the squatter is
afflicted one year he holds on, with the consciousness that with three
or four good seasons in succession he is a made man.
How little we yet know of Australia as a whole has been brought under
the popular notice by an address delivered by Mr. Ernest Favenc at a
meeting of the Australian Geographical Society, held at Sydney in
January 1886. South Australia alone has an area of 250,000 square miles
unexplored, and Western Australia has an enormous tract of 500,000
square miles, which has been just rushed through, and no more, by three
explorers, Messrs. Forrest, Giles, and Warburton. Here is a total of
unknown area equivalent to the heart of Europe--say to Germany, France,
Switzerland, Austria, and Hungary, with Italy thrown in. Of course the
country to the west of the Overland Telegraph Line, being for the most
part unknown, is all described as hopeless desert, but Mr. Favenc doubts
the story, and no one is better qualified to express an opinion upon the
subject than this gentleman. He stands in the first rank of practical
pioneers. The facts that go to support the idea of the existence of
large belts of rich prairie land in this huge area are these: In the far
interior the transition from barren desert country to rolling downs is
sudden and abrupt; without warning, you step from one to the other. The
good and the bad country lie very much in bands; and an explorer making
an easterly and westerly track might travel in a bad band continuously,
if he had the misfortune to strike one.
Mr. Favenc's suggestion is that a well-supplied party should start from
a station on the Overland Telegraph Line, and should strike for Perth,
making, however, extensive excursions on both sides of their route. The
bee-line business is almost useless. It would be well if the Australian
Geographical Society could take up the idea, for it is somewhat of a
reproach to the three millions of inhabitants that Australia should be
less mapped out than Africa; and there is pleasure also in reducing to
its narrowest limits that bugbear of the youth of the colonies, the
great fiery untamed Central Desert.
If, however, no more exploration be resolved upon, the work will only be
postponed, and not abandoned. As one coral insect builds over the other,
or as one wave on a rising tide overlaps its predecessor on the shore,
so the last outlying pastoral station is speedily passed by one just
beyond it. In this way settlement creeps on. Progress, though slow and
unsensational, is sure.
[Illustration: THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, MELBOURNE.]
CHAPTER III.
THE AUSTRALIAN PEOPLE.
AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRACIES--THE FEDERAL MOVEMENT--IMMIGRATION--CURRENT
WAGES--COST OF LIVING--ABSENCE OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH--RELIGION
IN THE RURAL DISTRICTS--A TYPICAL SERVICE--SUNDAY
OBSERVANCE--MISSION WORK--CHURCH BUILDING.
[Illustration: STATUE OF PRINCE ALBERT IN SYDNEY.]
[Illustration: THE BOWER-BIRD.]
The Australian colonies are, one and all, democracies of the most
advanced type. Annual Parliaments have been advocated, though at present
triennial legislatures are the rule. Payment of members, it should be
added, is not adopted by all the states, but the principle seems to be
spreading. Two Houses are established in each colony, a Legislative
Assembly and a Legislative Council. The former is always elected by
manhood suffrage; the latter, as in Victoria and South Australia, may be
an elected body, or, as in New South Wales and Queensland, it may be
composed of members nominated by the Crown. How the second chamber
should be constituted is one of the problems of the day. Every now and
then one or the other of the colonies is treated to 'a deadlock' between
the two bodies; and more than once in Victoria public payments have been
suspended in consequence, and popular passion has run high.
The Australian democracy has worked well upon the whole, and has given
security to life and property. The best proof of this is the rapid rise
of colonial securities in the public favour. When New South Wales, South
Australia, and Victoria commenced to build their national railways in
1857-1860, they were glad to sell six per cent. debentures at par in
London, and now they float four per cent. loans at a premium.
The colony of Victoria is altogether protectionist, and South Australia
has given in a partial adherence to the system. To the author the policy
seems to be wrong in theory and practice, but the belief is widespread
that, even if sacrifices are made, the resources of the colony are thus
developed.
Twenty years back the populations of the various colonies did not touch
each other: each colony spread from its own centre; but now this
isolation has disappeared. Settlement is contiguous with settlement, and
trade and intercourse are accelerated accordingly. The colonies can no
longer ignore each other, and hence the movement for federation has
gathered strength.
The first Federal Council met in Hobart in January 1886, but
unfortunately jealousies had crept in, and the new body was shorn of its
fair proportions. Federalists cannot help feeling greatly disappointed
that the results hitherto have been so small, and yet probably there is
much more to rejoice over than to be downcast about.
Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia were represented at
the Council, and such laws as it can pass will thus affect three-fifths
of the area of the continent. The absence of South Australia is
understood to be accidental. She is really one of the parties to the
federal bond, having agreed to the terms, and having invited the
Imperial Parliament to pass the Enabling Act, and her early adhesion is
expected with confidence. No continental state will then remain outside
except New South Wales, and it is fairly to be presumed that she will
not be insensible to the pressure of public opinion, both in Australia
and throughout the Empire, especially as care is being taken to soothe
the local susceptibilities that are now offended. The Federal Council
meets for the present at Hobart, the chief town of Tasmania, and this
town may, for the present, be called the 'federal capital.'
The immigration into Australia is about eighty thousand men and women
yearly. If double or treble that number came, they could well be
accommodated. The labourer of to-day is the employer of to-morrow; and
as soon as a man acquires landed property his chief complaint is the
paucity of hands to improve his holding.
A few specimens of wages may be taken from the official list of Mr. H.
H. Hayter, Government Statist of Victoria. On the whole, labour is more
in request in Victoria than in most of the sister states, and the
figures may be taken as representing fair average rates for Australia
generally. Servants, with board, coachmen, and grooms, 20_s._ to 30_s._
per week; female cooks, L40 to L65 per annum; laundresses, L35 to L52
per annum; general servants, 10_s._ to 14_s._ per week (these figures
are for 1884, and there has been a heavy rise in 1885-6); ploughmen,
25_s._ per week and board; blacksmiths, 10_s._ to 14_s._ per day;
boiler-makers, 10_s._ to 14_s._ per day; plumbers, L3 to L3 10_s._ per
week; lumpers, 10_s._ to 12_s._ per day; masons, carpenters, bricklayers
and plasterers, 10_s._ to 12_s._ per day.
On the other hand, the necessaries of life are cheap. Bread is 6_d._ the
4lb. loaf, and beef and mutton are retailed at from 3_d._ to 8_d._ per
lb.; butter varies from 9_d._ to 1_s._ 6_d._ according to the season;
milk is 4_d._ to 6_d._ per quart; potatoes 2_s._ 6_d._ to 4_s._ per
cwt.; tea 1_s._ 6_d._ to 2_s._ 6_d._ per lb.; rabbits are sold at 1_s._
per pair, and hares at 2_s._ each.
In the Australian colonies there is neither an Established Church, nor
is any aid given by the State to the cause of religion. The
denominations are now entirely dependent upon the voluntary exertions of
their members for support. A strong feeling has grown up both among
politicians and the people in Australia that the State ought not to
interfere in ecclesiastical matters upon any pretext. The Churches,
therefore, are simply corporations empowered to hold property upon
certain conditions, and at liberty to manage their own affairs as they
think fit.
There are, however, great difficulties in the way of maintaining
religious services regularly. In many of the country districts the
population is sparse and scattered; and, however willing the people may
be, the paucity of their numbers renders it hard for them to support a
church. Only a mere handful can be gathered together, most of whom have
a hard struggle in their private lives; for, although they own the land
which they cultivate, they have to wait until it is cleared for the
expected return. The difficulty is enhanced by the fact that each
denomination wishes to have a footing in every village, in order to meet
the wants of its own people. In many townships where there is room for
one strong and self-supporting Protestant congregation, there are three
or four, each of which is embarrassed by its own weakness. Some attempt
has been made to prevent the weaknesses of disunion by co-operation
among the Churches. The Episcopalians and the Presbyterians combine to
support a society which is intended to supply the religious wants of the
rural population. The money that is thus raised is spent principally in
the erection of buildings, which are used alternately by clergymen of
each denomination, so that the preferences of the people for their own
form of service are gratified at the least cost, and without any
rivalry.
By such means the Churches have spread their network well over the land.
There is not a township of any importance that cannot boast of two or
three neat and substantial edifices dedicated to the service of God.
There is not a district that is not visited at intervals by ministers or
agents of the different denominations, some of whom have to ride long
distances in order to overtake every part. The vast plains that stretch
between the rivers Darling and Murray are traversed by clergymen who
visit from station to station. The deep forests of Gippsland and the
Otway ranges, inhabited by a hardy race of farmers whose lives are
spent in clearing the jungle, are not left unprovided for. Though
everything is not done that could be desired, it may be said with
perfect truth that the Churches strive earnestly to keep pace with the
continual migration of the people towards the backwoods of the country.
It is a pleasant thing to attend a rural service on a typical Australian
day, when the sun is hot and the sky cloudless, and the whole landscape
steeped in peace and quiet. Driving along the road, we see the sheep
couched in the grass, or we pass a clearing where wheat and oats are
growing among the blackened stumps of fallen trees; and nothing disturbs
the stillness of the scene save, perhaps, the lazy motion of a crow, or
the rush of a startled native bear, a sleepy, gentle, little animal, an
enlarged edition of the opossum. The church stands a little apart from
the few houses that form the infant township. It is generally built of
wood, and surrounded by tall gum-trees, which, however, afford a very
scanty shade from the burning heat. Here is gathered on the Sunday
morning a collection of buggies and horses, for the people come long
distances, and it is necessary in Australia to drive or ride. The
congregation stand in groups before the door, chatting over the week's
news, and waiting for the clergyman to arrive. The Day of Rest is the
only day in the week in which they have an opportunity of meeting, and
many come early and loiter with their neighbours till the service
begins. They are all browned and tanned by scorching suns, but they
speak with the self-same accent that they learnt at home. There are
Scotchmen of whom, to judge by their speech and appearance, it is hard
to believe that they have not very recently left their native glens, and
Irishmen whose brogue is wholly uncorrupted by change of climate. Most
of them, however, have been settled for many years on the land,
retaining their old customs in the solitude of the bush, and among the
rest a due regard for the worship of God. The children have caught, to
some extent, the tone of their parents, and one could almost imagine
oneself in a remote parish of Britain. The service itself heightens the
illusion. The hymn-tunes are old and familiar, and sung very slowly to
the accompaniment of a harmonium. The exhortation of the preacher is
brief, telling the old and yet ever new story of the Saviour's love, and
it is listened to with evident attention. One hour suffices for the
whole worship, and the audience contentedly disperse, and turn their
faces towards their lonely homes.
In the towns the organisation of the different Churches is effective.
Their agencies are at work in the poorer quarters of the large cities,
where the evils that exist in the Old World are showing themselves on a
smaller scale. They have stood out strenuously for the observance of the
Lord's Day, and with marked success. Sunday observance, if not so strict
as it is in Scotland, is more general than in England. There is no
postal delivery. Trains are not run on the main lines, and a limited
suburban traffic is alone allowed. All movements for restricting labour
on the Sunday meet with cordial sympathy and practical support.
[Illustration: THE INDEPENDENT CHURCH, COLLINS STREET, MELBOURNE.]
Though now independent in their government of the Churches in England by
which they were originally founded, and which they continue to
represent, the colonial Churches maintain a close relationship with the
mother-country. Bishops, and the best preachers, are still brought from
home to the colonies. All the important congregations send to England
for a minister when there happens to be a vacancy, and all the men who
have made a deep impression on the community have been trained there.
The whole religious and spiritual life of the colonies is inspired and
stimulated by that of England, both in the sense that they naturally
lean upon the stronger thought of English writers, and that they are
guided by ministers who have studied in British universities. There are
colleges connected with the more important denominations, which, it is
hoped, will gradually grow till they rival those of other lands. As yet
they are incompletely equipped, and one or two men have to bear the
brunt of work that is usually divided among four or five.
In a new country, which attracts to itself all sorts and conditions of
men, nearly every form of belief is represented. Many of the sects,
however, are very small, and may be said to be practically confined to
the metropolitan cities. The Catholic Apostolic Church, the
Swedenborgians, Lutherans, Moravians, Unitarians, and various bodies of
unattached Protestants, are thus limited. The Episcopalians, the Roman
Catholics, the Presbyterians and Methodists have by far the largest hold
on the people, while Independents and Baptists are fairly numerous and
influential. Altogether, the Churches provide accommodation for more
than one-half of the people, and the ordinary attendance at their
principal weekly service amounts to fully one-third.
Sunday-schools flourish in every part of the country. The total number
of children attending them is returned in Victoria as 73-1/2 per cent.
of the whole who are at the school age, and the average is not much less
in any other colony. When allowance is made for the children who are
kept at home by parents that prefer to give their own instruction, and
for those in the country who cannot well attend a Sunday-school, it is
evident that there are comparatively few who receive no religious
education at all.
The love of church building, which every nation has displayed, is by no
means wanting among the Australians. In every town the ecclesiastical
edifices are the chief features, and in the larger cities some of them
are imposing structures. Cathedrals are gradually rising in different
places. Even the Churches which are not usually credited with paying
much respect to outward appearance are inclined to beautify their
buildings.
It would be too much to expect that the denominations could lay aside
their differences and unite. But a very kindly feeling exists for the
most part between them, whether it be due to their equality, or to the
novel circumstances in which they were placed when they began their
work. That it may continue and tend to further co-operation is the
earnest wish of all.
Statistics, giving the most recent facts about the condition of the
various Churches in the colonies, will be found in the Appendix.
SECTION II.
BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE COLONIES.