QUEENSLAND, THE RICH UNPEOPLED STATE
The northern territory of Australia constitutes the “grand problem” of
the Commonwealth. How vast a problem that is no man can realise until
he in person visits the north. There, in very truth, is the colour
line, drawn, not by the caprice of man, but by the hand of Nature. And
the grand question to settle is, Can the white man live and toil in the
north as he does in the south? One party says “No,” the other party
says “Yes.” When the question is finally settled, then a great era of
prosperity may commence. The natural wealth and resources of the north
are almost incredible. Yet they are largely untapped, and the bottom
reason for this is the nebulous state of the colour question. Once
demonstrate that the white man can live in these tropical regions, and
then will come a great immigration and an abounding prosperity. But
while the doctrine of a “white Australia” is proclaimed coincidently
with the dogma that the white man cannot toil in the north, so long
will the north remain a problem.
Queensland is at once the largest, the richest, and the most scantily
populated of the States of the Australian Commonwealth. Its area is
eight times that of Victoria. It possesses no fewer than 429,120,000
acres, of which only 650,472 acres are under cultivation. And in all
that vast territory there are but 760,000 people. It is amazing, almost
appalling. Little wonder that the Government of Queensland is laying
itself out to attract to this rich country a population from beyond
the seas; for the authorities have the wit to perceive that a land
so fruitful and promising cannot, in the nature of the case, remain
uninhabited for long. Neighbouring peoples with overflowing populations
are not unmindful of the fact that almost at their door there lies a
promised land crying out for men to enter and possess it. The danger
involved in this fact is one that thousands of Australians do not wish
to recognise.
The vast majority of people in the Old Land are utterly ignorant of
Australia, and particularly of Queensland and the north. Let me try to
make the situation clear.
First of all, Queensland has a climate. In the extreme north it is
tropical, in the south it is semi-tropical. The Government claims
that it is the healthiest climate in the world. I hold no brief for
Queensland, and therefore I merely pass on the official statement. But
there is no question about the beautiful climate. In the winter-time
thousands of persons from the south, from Tasmania and New Zealand,
take the trip to Cairns and the north--the land of eternal summer.
“Winter” is practically unknown in Queensland. What a Queenslander
calls “winter” a Londoner would call early summer. In this particular
Queensland stands in direct contrast to Canada, that land which
hitherto has monopolised the British emigrants. Ice and snow are
unknown. The soil is ever fertile, the sky is ever blue. The man who
has no house in which to live need shed no tears; he will probably
find it quite as comfortable to live in the open air. “Sleeping out”
is as common as sleeping in. Even in the south we practised that. In
Melbourne we abandoned our bedroom for the balcony. In Queensland we
should not have a bedroom at all. A superb climate, then, is the first
great asset of this northern State.
When we descend from sky and air to the earth, the prodigious natural
wealth of the land staggers one. It is hardly believable that one
single State can yield what Queensland does. Take, for example, the
matter of fruits. In the Government Bureau at Brisbane there are cases
containing models of the fruits of Queensland. And the list comprises
such luxuries as the pineapple, giant banana, custard apple, cocoa
pods, grenadilla, mangoes, persimmons, tamarinds, pomeloes, paw-paw,
giant plums, grapes, oranges, lemons, apples, pears, peaches, cherries,
figs, apricots, nectarines, quinces, strawberries, passion fruit,
rosellas, blackberries, Cape gooseberries, melons, loquats, and guavas.
Was there ever such a list for one State? These tropical fruits are
simply wonderful--wonderful for variety and for magnificence. Think of
peaches measuring eleven inches in circumference! The great problem
is to find a worthy market for these fruits. Many of them cannot now
be transported to England on account of the distance. But when an
adequate population brings the demanded railway and the mono-rail,
fast steamers and the Trans-Siberian Railway between them, together
with a fast service of steamers in the Panama Canal, diminishing the
distance between Queensland and London, reducing the time of transit to
seventeen or eighteen days, then the Queensland fruits, so strange to
Englishmen, may be found at Covent Garden.
From fruits let us turn to crops. Wheat, maize, oats, barley, rye, and
the usual cereals are, of course, easily grown. Two crops of maize
each year are possible in parts of the country. Besides these, cotton,
tobacco, coffee, rubber, sugar, rice, and arrowroot are easily grown.
Think of the possibilities of commerce when crops such as these can be
produced. When American cotton-planters make their “corner,” and plunge
Lancashire into distress, it might be worth the while of open-eyed
spinners to turn their attention to a British colony where cotton can
be easily cultivated. If persons at home only realised what Australia
is capable of producing!
The minerals and gems of Queensland are remarkable. Practically all
the minerals are found in this Northern State: gold, silver, copper,
iron, coal, tin, lead, bismuth, graphite, etc.; while the gems include
diamonds, sapphires, rubies, topaz, opals, emeralds, agates, cornelian,
amethyst, and rock crystal. The total value of the output of gold from
the mines of Queensland to the end of 1909 was over seventy million
pounds sterling, while the total value of minerals, other than gold,
was more than twenty-two million pounds sterling. There are about 250
varieties of minerals pertaining to the jewellers’ and lapidaries’
craft, and more than half of this number are found in Queensland.
The great sapphire field of the State embraces an area of 400 square
miles. One locality bears the suggestive name of “sapphire town.” Yet,
with all this profusion of gems, the sapphire and the opal cannot be
obtained in Queensland more cheaply than in London or in Paris. A
“ring,” I suppose, keeps up the prices.
Industrially, this land is the working man’s paradise. Farm labourers
obtain from fifteen to twenty-four shillings a week, _plus_ board and
lodging. Ploughmen receive from fifteen to twenty-seven shillings
a week, _plus_ board and lodging. Ordinary labourers--lowest paid
of all workers--six to seven shillings per day. Navvies, seven to
twelve shillings per day. Carpenters, ten to fourteen shillings per
day. Blacksmiths, ten to fifteen shillings per day. “Useful lads,”
from five to fifteen shillings per week, _plus_ board and lodging.
Domestic servants (girls and women), from eight shillings to a pound
per week. Cooks (women), anything from one to two pounds per week.
What will ploughmen and farm labourers in England think of this scale
of payment? Agricultural labourers and domestic servants are in great
demand. Compared with the industrial conditions in the Old Land and
in Europe, Queensland offers a veritable paradise to the worker. The
marvel is that more people from the Old Land do not come to Queensland,
especially when it is remembered that approved emigrants can obtain
a passage for £5. Fourteen thousand miles for £5--think of it! As
I watched the procession of merry youths and maidens passing along
Brisbane streets and heard from one or two of them the story of their
coming out from slumdom in England, I could only wish that capable
and willing people “at home” who find it difficult to live, and who
know nothing of ample spaces and a sunny climate, might find their
way to Queensland--that fair spot in God’s creation where poverty is
unknown and where work ceases to be drudgery. But only the capable and
willing should make the voyage. Queensland is no place for fools or
idlers. What Queensland sorely needs is a population of able-bodied
people--English people, who will bring with them the best traditions of
the Old Land. Queensland alone can easily carry a population of fifty
millions of people. At present she has only about one-hundredth part of
that number. Young men and women of England, to whom life is a bitter
struggle, why do you not think of Queensland? Men and women of sterling
character coming out here would help to lay the foundations of a great
and a glorious State....
One day we had a delirious motor ride through the bush, our objective
being a seaside resort thirty or forty miles distant. When we left the
city it was farewell to men. Mile after mile we travelled without
encountering a single human being, or passing a single habitation. It
was one solemn, vast solitude. A road, well made, traversed the forest.
Around us and ahead of us lay the “bush,” an immense entanglement of
“scrub,” dominated by the everlasting gum-tree. Strange birds flew
here and there. Their plumage was often gorgeous to the last degree.
Strange and uncouth animals crawled across the road from bush to bush.
Once we surprised an iguana, a terrible-looking creature of most mild
habits. The iguana, appearing upon the scene for the first time, sends
a chill to the heart of the spectator. This glorified lizard has
the visage of a demon and the courage of a rabbit. It scuttled away
before our approach. In the heart of the bush we came upon a tragedy
that must often be enacted amongst the animal dwellers of the great
solitude--a kangaroo, a mother, unable to resist the pangs and pains
thrust upon her by her destiny, lay dead upon the roadside. And above,
on a branch of the tree, stood a pair of laughing jackasses, guffawing
their loudest, as if life knew no tragedy and no pain. Another time
we encountered a large snake, which stupidly raised its head against
the motor. Kangaroos, snakes, macaws, parrots, “jackers”--these and
their kind are in possession of the forest. Here and there man has
settled down and commenced to cultivate the land. At once the soil has
responded. We passed great patches of bananas and acres of pineapples.
The ground awaits only the stimulus of the spade and the living seed,
and it responds immediately with a prodigal crop of fruit. Here is this
fertile country, taken all in all richer than any other, calling out to
man to come and endow himself with its treasures.