AUSTRALIAN WINTER--THE FLOODS.
THE VICTORIAN CLIMATE--THE BUSH IN WINTER--THE EUCALYPTUS, OR
AUSTRALIAN GUM-TREE--BALL AT CLUNES--FIRE IN THE MAIN STREET--THE
BUGGY SAVED--DOWN-POUR OF RAIN--GOING HOME BY WATER--THE FLOODS
OUT--CLUNES SUBMERGED--CALAMITY AT BALLARAT--DAMAGE DONE BY THE
FLOOD--THE CHINAMEN'S GARDENS WASHED AWAY.
I was particularly charmed with the climate of Victoria. It is really
a pleasure to breathe the air: it is so pure, dry, and exhilarating.
Even when the temperature is at its highest, the evenings are
delightfully cool. There is none of that steamy, clammy, moist heat
during the day, which is sometimes so difficult to bear in the English
summer; and as for the spring of Australia, it is simply perfection.
It was mid-winter when I arrived in Majorca--that is, about the end of
June, corresponding with our English December. Although a wood-fire
was very pleasant, especially in the evenings, it was usually warm at
midday. The sky was of a bright, clear blue, and sometimes the sun
shone with considerable power. No one would think of going out with a
great coat in winter, excepting for a long drive through the bush or
at night. In fact, the season can scarcely be termed winter; it is
rather like a prolonged autumn; extending from May to August. Snow
never falls,--at least, I never saw any during the two winters I spent
in the colony; and although there were occasional slight frosts at
night in the month of August, I never observed the ice thicker than a
wafer. I once saw a heavy shower of hail, as it might fall in England
in summer; but it melted off the ground directly.
In proof of the mildness of the climate, it may further be mentioned
that the Australian vegetation continues during the winter months. The
trees remain clothed in their usual garb, though the leaves are of a
somewhat browner hue than in the succeeding seasons.
The leaves of the universal gum-tree, or Eucalyptus of Australia, are
pointed, each leaf seeming to grow separately, and they are so
disposed as to give the least possible shade. Instead of presenting
one surface to the sky and the other to the earth, as is the case with
the trees of Europe, they are often arranged vertically, so that both
sides are equally exposed to the light. Thus the gum-tree has a
pointed and sort of angular appearance, the leaves being thrust out in
all directions and at every angle. The blue-gum and some others have
the peculiarity of throwing off their bark in white-grey longitudinal
strips or ribands, which, hanging down the branches, give them a
singularly ragged look, more particularly in winter. From this
description, it will be gathered that the gum-tree is not a very
picturesque tree; nevertheless, I have seen some in the far bush which
were finely proportioned, tall, and might even be called handsome.
The fine winter weather continues for months, the days being dry and
fine, with clear blue sky overhead, until about the end of August,
when rain begins to fall pretty freely. During the first winter I
spent at Majorca, very little rain fell during two months, and the
country was getting parched, cracked, and brown. Then everybody prayed
for rain, for the sake of the flocks and herds, and the growing crops.
At last the rain came, and it came with a vengeance.
It so happened that about the middle of October I was invited to
accompany a friend to a ball given at Clunes, a township about fifteen
miles distant; and we decided to accept the invitation. As there had
been no rain to speak of for months, the tracks through the bush were
dry and hard. We set off in the afternoon in a one-horse buggy, and
got down to Clunes safely before it was dark.
Clunes is a rather important place, the centre of a considerable
gold-mining district. Like most new up-country towns, it consists of
one long street; and this one long street is situated in a deep
hollow, close to a creek. The creek was now all but dry, like the
other creeks or rivers in the neighbourhood.
The ball was given, in a large square building belonging to the
Rechabites, situated in the upper part of the town. The dancing began
about half-past nine, and was going on very briskly, when there was a
sudden cry of "fire." All rushed to the door; and sure enough there
was a great fire raging down the street, about a quarter of a mile
off. A column of flames shot up behind the houses, illuminating the
whole town. The gentlemen of the place hastened away to look after
their property, and the dance seemed on the point of breaking up. I
had no property to save, and I remained. But the news came from time
to time that the fire was spreading; and here, where nearly every
house was of wood, the progress of a fire, unless checked, is
necessarily very rapid. Fears now began to be entertained for the
safety of the town.
The fire was said to be raging in the main street, quite close to the
principal inn. Then suddenly I remembered that I, too, had something
to look after. There was the horse and buggy, for which my friend and
I were responsible, as well as our changes of clothes. I ran down the
street, elbowing my way through the crowd, and reached close to where
the firemen were hard at work plying their engines. Only two small
wooden houses intervened between the fire and the inn. I hastened into
the stable, but found my companion had been there before me. He had
got out the horse and buggy, and our property was safe. Eight houses
had been burnt down along one side of the street, before the fire was
got under.
After this excitement, nothing remained but to go back and finish the
dance. Our local paper at Majorca--for you must know we have "an
organ"--gave us a hard hit, comparing us to Nero who fiddled while
Rome was burning, whereas _we_ danced while Clunes was burning. But we
did not resume the dance till the fire was extinguished. However,
everything must come to an end, and so did the dance at about five
o'clock in the morning.
Shortly after the fire, the rain had begun to fall; and it was now
coming down steadily. We had nothing for it but to drive back the
fifteen miles to Majorca, as we had to be at business by 10 o'clock.
We put on our heaviest things, and set off just as the first streaks
of daylight appeared. As we drove down the street, we passed the
smouldering remains of the fire. Where, the night before, I had been
talking to a chemist across his counter, there was nothing but ashes;
everything had been burnt to the ground. Further on were the charred
timbers and smoking ruins of the house at which the fire had been
stayed.
The rain came down heavier and heavier. It seemed to fall solid, in
masses, soaking through rugs, top-coats, and waterproofs, that we had
before deemed impervious. However, habit is everything, and when once
we got thoroughly soaked we became comparatively indifferent to the
rain, which never ceased falling. We were soon in the bush, where
there was scarcely a track to guide us. But we hastened on, knowing
that every moment increased the risk of our missing the way or being
hindered by the flood. We splashed along through the mud and water. As
we drove through a gully, we observed that what had before been a dry
track was now changed into a torrent. Now hold the mare well in! We
are in the water, and it rushes against her legs as if striving to
pull her down. But she takes willingly to the collar again, and with
one more good pull lands us safely on the other side, out of reach of
the ugly, yellow, foaming torrent.
By the grey light of the morning, we saw the water pouring down the
sides of the high ground as we passed. It was clear that we must make
haste if we would reach Majorca before the waters rose. We knew that
at one part of the road we should have to drive near the bank of the
creek, which was sure to be flooded very soon. Our object accordingly
was, to push on so as to pass this most perilous part of our journey.
On we drove, crossing dips in the track where foaming streams were now
rushing along, while they roared down the gullies on either side. It
was fortunate that my companion knew the road so well: as, in trying
to avoid the deeper places, we might have run some risk from the
abandoned shafts which lay in our way. At last we got safely across
the water, alongside the swollen creek, now raging in fury; and glad I
was when, rising the last hill, and looking down from the summit, I
saw the low-roofed houses of Majorca before me.
I found that we had been more fortunate than a party that left Clunes
a little later, who had the greatest difficulty in reaching home by
reason of the flood. At some places the gentlemen had to get out of
the carriages into the water, up to their middle, and sound the
depths of the holes in advance, before allowing the horses to proceed.
And hours passed before they succeeded in reaching their destination.
During the course of the day we learnt by telegraph--for telegraphs
are well established all over the colony--that the main street of
Clunes had become turned into a river. The water was seven feet deep
in the very hotel where we had dressed for the ball! All the back
bed-rooms, stables, and outbuildings had been washed away, and carried
down the creek; and thousands of pounds' worth of damage had been done
in the lower parts of the town.
A few days later, when the rain had ceased, and the flood had
subsided, I went down to Deep Creek to see something of the damage
that had been done. On either side, a wide stretch of ground was
covered by a thick deposit of sludge, from one to four feet deep. This
was the debris or crushings which the rain had washed down from the
large mining claims above: and as it was barren stuff, mere crushed
quartz, it ruined for the time every bit of land it covered. The scene
which the track along the creek presented was most pitiable. Fences
had been carried away; crops beaten down; and huge logs lay about,
with here and there bits of furniture, houses, and farm-gear.
I find the floods have extended over the greater part of the colony.
Incalculable damage has been done, and several lives have been lost.
The most painful incident of all occurred at Ballarat, where the
miners were at work on one of the claims, when a swollen dam burst
its banks and suddenly flooded the workings. Those who were working on
the top of the shaft fled; but down below, ten of the miners were at
work at a high level, in drives many feet above the bottom of the
claim. The water soon filling up the drives through which they had
passed from the main shaft, the men were unable to get out. They
remained there, cooped up in their narrow dark workings, without food,
or drink, or light for three days; until at last the water was got
under by the steam-pumps, and they were reached. Two had died of sheer
privation, and the rest were got out more dead than alive.
The poor Chinamen's gardens down by the creek, under Gibraltar, had
also suffered severely by the flood. MacCullum's Creek, in ordinary
seasons, is only a tiny stream, consisting of water-holes
communicating with each other by a brook. But during a flood it
becomes converted into a raging torrent, and you can hear its roar a
mile off. Within about five hours the water in it had risen not less
than twenty feet! This will give you an idea of the tremendous force
and rapidity of the rainfall in this country. Of course the damage
done was great, in MacCullum's as in Deep Creek. A heavy timber bridge
had been carried quite away, not a trace of it remaining. Many miners'
huts in the low ground had been washed away; while others, situated in
more sheltered places, out of the rush of the torrent, had been quite
submerged, the occupants saving themselves by hasty flight in the
early morning; some of them having been only wakened up by the water
coming into their beds.
One eccentric character, a Scotchman, who determined to stick to his
domicile, took refuge on his parlour table as the water was rising.
Then, as it got still higher, he placed a chair upon the table, and
stood up on it, the water continuing to rise, over his legs, then up
and up; yet still he stuck to his chair. His only regret, he
afterwards said, was that he could not get at his whisky bottle, which
he discerned upon a high shelf temptingly opposite him, but beyond his
reach. The water at last began to fall; he waded up to his neck for
the bottle; and soon the water was out of the house; for its fall is
almost as sudden as its rise.
I was sorry for the poor Chinamen, whom I found, two days later, still
wandering about amidst the ruins of their gardens. Their loamy beds
had been quite washed away, and their fences and some of their huts
carried clean down the creek. One of them told me he had lost 30_l._
in notes, which he had concealed in his cabin; but the flood had risen
so quickly that he had been unable to save it. I picked up a
considerable-sized stone that had been washed on to the Chinamen's
ground; it was a piece of lava thrown from one of the volcanic hills
which bound the plain,--how many thousands of years ago! These
volcanic stones are so light and porous that they swim like corks, and
they abound in many parts of this neighbourhood.