FROM SYDNEY TO BRISBANE.--POLITICAL DIVISIONS OF AUSTRALIA.--ORDER IN
WHICH THE COLONIES WERE FOUNDED.--EXPLORATIONS AND THEIR EXTENT.--DOCTOR
BASS AND CAPTAIN FLINDERS.--ABSENCE OF WATER IN THE INTERIOR OF
AUSTRALIA.--A COUNTRY OF STRANGE CHARACTERISTICS.--NATURE'S
REVERSES.--HOW THE COLONIES ARE GOVERNED.--RELIGION AND
EDUCATION.--JEALOUSY OF THE COLONIES TOWARDS EACH OTHER.--NEWCASTLE AND
ITS COAL.--RAILWAY TRAVELLING IN NEW SOUTH WALES.--TENTERFIELD AND
STANTHORPE.--COBB'S COACHES.--AUSTRALIAN SCENERY.--THE EUCALYPTUS, OR
GUM-TREE.--THE TALLEST TREES IN THE WORLD.--SILVER STEMS AND MALLEE
SCRUB.--BRISBANE.--RELICS OF THE CONVICT SYSTEM.--QUEEN STREET AND THE
BOTANICAL GARDENS.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A COAL-BREAKER.]
A coasting steamer carried Doctor Bronson and his young companions to
Newcastle, a town which resembles the English one of the same name in
being an important centre of the coal-trade. The distance from Sydney is
about seventy-five miles, and consequently the voyage was of only a few
hours' duration; even this limited time was utilized by a conversation
about the political divisions of Australia and the relations between the
colonies.
The conversation began with a question from Doctor Bronson as to what
the youths had learned on the subject since their arrival at Sydney or
on the voyage from New Zealand. Frank was the first to reply.
"We have read to you our notes," said he, "about the settlement of New
South Wales by the fleet of ships that came out from England by order of
the Government. New South Wales was thus the parent colony, and the
others, with one exception, are offshoots from it. In 1790 New South
Wales established a penal colony on Norfolk Island, which has since been
given up to the Pitcairn Islanders, descendants of the mutineers of the
_Bounty_. Van Dieman's Land, or Tasmania, was settled as a penal colony
in 1803, by Lieutenant Bowen, who was sent from Sydney with a few
convicts and their guards, and formed a settlement near the spot where
the city of Hobart now stands. Queensland, under the name of Moreton Bay
District, was settled in 1825 from Sydney, and became a separate colony
in 1859. Victoria, then known as Port Phillip, and forming part of New
South Wales, was colonized in 1803, and afterwards abandoned; it was
permanently settled from Tasmania in 1835, and on July 1, 1851, the
colony was separated from New South Wales and became independent.
"South Australia was colonized by emigrants from Great Britain in 1836,
and West Australia by a detachment of soldiers and convicts from Sydney
in 1826. New South Wales can thus claim the parentage of all the
colonies of the continent and its adjacent island, Tasmania, with the
single exception of South Australia.
"West, or Western, Australia is described by its name, as it occupies
the entire western part of the continent. South Australia is a misnomer;
the parent colony is in the southern part of the continent, but its
jurisdiction extends from ocean to ocean to the northern shore, and
includes the so-called Northern Territory, or Alexandra Land, which will
one day, no doubt, form an independent government. To the eastward of
the Northern Territory and South Australia is Queensland, and south of
Queensland and eastward of South Australia is the parent colony of New
South Wales. Then comes the colony of Victoria, south of New South
Wales; territorially it is the smallest of all the colonies, but it
isn't small in any other way. Tasmania is a hundred and fifty miles
south of Victoria, from which it is separated by Bass's Strait, which
preserves the name of its discoverer, Dr. George Bass of the Royal
Navy."[10]
[10] See map at the end of this volume.
Frank paused a moment and gave Fred an opportunity to speak of something
he had just read about Doctor Bass. "He made his first expedition," said
Fred, "in 1796, in an open boat eight feet long, in company with
Midshipman (afterwards Captain) Flinders and a crew of one boy. They
narrowly escaped being drowned in the sea, and later in being killed by
the natives when the wind drove them ashore. In the following year
Doctor Bass went in a whale-boat, with a crew of six men and provisions
for six weeks, and found that the coast trended so far to the west as to
indicate the separation of Tasmania from the main-land, and in the next
year (1798) he obtained a sloop, and in company with Captain Flinders
actually sailed through the strait and determined the question."
[Illustration: GOLD-FIELDS OF MOUNT ALEXANDER, AUSTRALIA.]
"I see you have been reading to advantage," the Doctor remarked. "And
please add to your notes that this same Doctor Bass is supposed to have
died a slave in the mines of Chili. He was arrested at Valparaiso in
consequence of a dispute with the authorities, and was never again seen
or heard of by his friends. There was a rumor that he had been sent to
the mines, and that was all."
"If the Australian continent were divided into one hundred equal parts,"
said Frank, "Victoria would include three, New South Wales ten,
Queensland twenty-three, South Australia thirty, and West Australia
thirty-four. The greatest length of Australia is about 2400 miles, and
its greatest width, between Cape York on the north and Wilson's
Promontory on the south, is 1971 miles. It has about 7750 miles of
coast-line, and an area of 2,944,628 square miles. A good idea of the
extent of Australia may be had by comparing it with other countries. It
is about twenty-six times the area of Great Britain and Ireland, fifteen
times the size of France, about one-sixth smaller than the whole of the
United States of America, and only about one-fifth smaller than the
whole of Europe."
Fred asked who gave it the appellation of Australia.
"The name was given by Captain Flinders, of whom we were speaking a few
moments ago," replied the Doctor. "His memory is preserved in a river
and a mountain-range of the continent whose coast he explored. On his
return to Europe he was captured by the French, and was held a prisoner
from 1806 to 1810. He died in England in 1814, shortly after publishing
his book, 'A Voyage to Terra Australis.'"
"There is a great part of the country not yet explored," said Frank, as
the Doctor paused. "A writer on this subject says that the unexplored
region of the present day is almost entirely confined to Western
Australia and a large part of the northern territory of South Australia.
New South Wales and Victoria have an area of four hundred thousand
square miles, almost every mile of which is fairly known; Queensland may
still have a small extent of unknown land in the far northern
peninsula; South Australia has at least two hundred and fifty thousand
miles unexplored or but little known; and West Australia has fully half
a million square miles that have been crossed at intervals by the tracks
of a few explorers. In round figures, the extent of unexplored or
partially known country in Australia is more than double that of the
thoroughly known portion. The continent is almost fairly bisected by the
overland telegraph line, which follows closely the track of Macdouall
Stuart, the explorer, and the telegraph may be considered a line of
demarcation between the explored and unexplored portions."
"And have you ascertained why the continent has not yet been thoroughly
examined?" Doctor Bronson queried.
[Illustration: CLEARING IN AN AUSTRALIAN FOREST.]
"I have," Fred replied, with alacrity, "and I presume Frank has done so
too. It is because there is no water in the interior of the continent,
or but very little. If you look on the map you will see very few rivers,
and none of those that exist is of great size. Australia is nearly as
large as Europe, and see the difference in the rivers. Europe has the
Danube, Rhine, Volga, Don, Vistula, Seine, Rhone--all large
rivers--together with more than twice as many of lesser note, but all of
them important; while Australia has only a single river of consequence,
the Murray. There are hundreds of miles of coast line together where not
a single stream, great or small, flows into the sea, and some of the
interior rivers dry up and disappear in the hot season."
"I read about that too," said Frank; "the Murray and its tributaries,
the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee, are lasting streams; but the Darling, a
river of considerable size, flowing into the Murray from the north, has
the Australian peculiarity of disappearing into quicksands and marshes.
With the exception of the Murray, all the other permanent streams of
Australia are short, and of little consequence; and, like the rivers of
New Zealand, they have been clogged with water-cress, which was
introduced from England in the expectation that it would be a great
luxury."
[Illustration: A WATERLESS REGION.]
"You have hit exactly upon the obstacle which has baffled Australian
explorers," said the Doctor. "All who have sought to penetrate the
interior have suffered terribly from thirst, and some expeditions that
have never been heard from are supposed to have perished from the same
cause. The rainfall in the interior of the continent is slight, the heat
in summer is intense, and even in winter the thermometer sometimes runs
to a high figure."
"Then it is fair to suppose that the interior of Australia is
practically of no use," Frank remarked.
"It is fair to suppose so," was the reply; "but some scientists believe
that good pasture-land and habitable country will yet be found in the
interior, where the few explorers who have been there report only a
desert unfit to sustain human life and impracticable for settlement.
Artesian wells have been bored in many places, and a fair proportion of
them have succeeded in finding water. There is so much territory in
Australia that it is not likely the capabilities or disadvantages of all
parts of it will be thoroughly known for many years to come.
[Illustration: AUSTRALIAN LYRE BIRDS.]
"And now," he continued, as he glanced at a book he held in his hand,
"let us read what an English author has written concerning this strange
country:
"'Almost everything in nature is, in Australia, the reverse of what
it is in England. When we have winter they have summer; when we
have day they have night; we have our feet pressing nearly opposite
to their feet. There the compass points to the south, the sun
travels along the northern heavens, the barometer rises with a
southerly and falls with a northerly wind. The animals are
disproportionately large in their lower extremities, and carry
their young in a pouch; the plumage of the birds is beautiful,
their notes are harsh and strange; the swans are black, the owls
screech and hoot only in the daytime; the cuckoo's song is heard
only in the night. The valleys are cool, the mountain-tops are
warm; the north winds are hot, the south winds are cold, the east
winds are healthy. The bees are without sting; the cherries grow
with the stone outside; one of the birds has a broom in its mouth
instead of a tongue. Many of the beautiful flowers are without
smell; most of the trees are without shade, and shed their bark
instead of their leaves; some, indeed, are without leaves; in
others the leaves are vertical. And even the geological formation
of the country, as far as ascertained, is most singular. In other
parts of the world coal is black, but in Australia they have
bituminous coal as white as chalk.
"'Taken as a whole, the country, as far as explored, exhibits less
hill and dale, with less compact vegetation, than in most other
parts of the world. In the interior there is a bare, barren, stony
desert, totally unfit for man or beast. A more or less broken chain
of mountains extends from Spencer Gulf, round the south coast, all
along the eastern coast, and round the northern coast, nearly to
Limming's Bight. The rivers are few in number; the watercourses are
very low in summer, and frequently dried up; no dense forest
exists, as in America; the herbage generally is thin, the grasses,
although highly nutritious, growing in patches. The highest peak is
Mount Kosciusko, 6510 feet above sea, at the head of the Murray,
which is the largest Australian river, 2500 miles long.
"'Australia contains no antiquities, and the tourist who expects to
find the ruins of temples, palaces, and pagodas is doomed to
disappointment. It was discovered by the Portuguese about 1530, and
visited by the Spaniards in 1605, and by several navigators down to
Captain Cook in 1770, and settled in 1788. All its cities are of
modern foundation and growth; and Australia may be compared, in a
general way, to that part of the United States west of the
Mississippi River.'
"We shall have an opportunity to verify many of these statements," said
the Doctor, "when we travel in the interior." Then, turning to Frank, he
asked that youth what he had learned concerning the government of the
colonies.
"I learned that they are wholly independent of each other," was the
reply, "and furthermore, that there is great jealousy between them. Each
of the colonies must be considered in many respects a distinct province,
having its own government, local laws, and customs regulations. With the
exception of West Australia, they all enjoy responsible government, and
that colony will no doubt have the same constitutional privileges as the
others before many years. The form of government is a modification of
the British Constitution, the sovereign being represented by the
Governor, who is appointed by the Crown; the House of Lords by the
legislative council, nominated or elected; and the House of Commons by
the legislative assembly, elected by the people.
"The imperial laws are in force unless superseded by local enactments,
and all acts passed by the colonial legislatures must receive the assent
of the sovereign before they can become laws. In each of the colonies
the qualifications for exercising the franchise are placed very low, and
manhood suffrage is practically the rule. An effort has been made to
league the Australian colonies into one great confederation; the
friends of the movement are confident of its success in course of time,
but local jealousies have thus far prevented it."
[Illustration: A MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATURE.]
"It doesn't take long to find out that the colonies are very jealous of
one another," Fred remarked. "It's a pity that this state of affairs
exists; but after all, it has done a great deal towards the development
and population of the country. Jealousy between communities and colonies
is the basis of enterprise, and many things have been done here in
consequence of competition that without it would never have been done at
all. When one colony sends out an exploring expedition another does the
same; when one establishes a system of cheap emigration the rest will
not be left behind. And so it goes through all their enterprises. It is
exactly like the rivalry that existed between our Western States and
cities twenty years ago, and still exists to some extent."
"Spoken like a statesman," said the Doctor, as he nodded approvingly
towards his nephew. "Put your remarks on paper and send them home; they
may be beneficial to some of our friends in St. Louis and Chicago."
Fred promised to do so, and when some time later he wrote out his views
he added the following:
"It's very funny to hear the people of one city or colony talk about
those of another. Each decries all the rest, and represents his own
region as the only perfect one. Talking about the climate, a Sydney man
will tell you that the capital of New South Wales is quite exempt from
the cold winds that make life unbearable in Melbourne and Adelaide. The
Melbourne man tells how you suffer from 'brickfielders' (hot and dusty
winds from the interior) at Sydney, and how the poor wretches in
Adelaide are perspiring at every pore with a temperature and humidity
like those of a Russian bath.
"Each colony has its own postal regulations, its own postage-stamps, and
its own rates for letters and other mail matter. New South Wales is a
land of free-trade, while Victoria, its neighbor, is a land of
protective tariffs; each can demonstrate the advantages of its
particular system, and on the other hand each has a minority party that
wants its laws patterned after those of its rival. The gauges of the
railways are different, so that there is a break at every frontier;
consequently passengers are obliged to change trains, and all freights
bound across the line must be transshipped. The enactments of the
colonial legislatures are often hostile to one another, and sometimes
the rivalry expresses itself so strongly that it seems unfortunate that
the colonies have a common language.
"None of the colonies has any State Church, and all religions are placed
on the same footing. The Episcopalians are the dominant body so far as
numbers are concerned, the Roman Catholics are next, and then come the
Presbyterians, and after them the Methodists. These are the four great
denominations; far below them in numbers and in their order of strength
are the Lutherans and German-Protestants, Baptists, Congregationalists,
Jews, Bible Christians, Church of Christ, Unitarians, and Free
Presbyterians. The Asiatic proportion of the population adds Moslems,
Confucians, and Pagans to the list of religionists. Considering the
recent settlement of the colonies, the proportion of places of worship
to the population will compare favorably with other countries.
"There is a tendency to exclude religious teaching from the public
schools, and in place of this there is a wide-spread interest in
Sunday-schools, which abound all over the continent wherever it has been
settled. In the matter of education the colonies are happily actuated by
the same impulse, all believing that it is one of the vital principles
of good government. The children are taught either wholly or partially
by the aid of the State funds of each province, and in nearly all the
colonies a separate department, under a minister of the Crown, controls
the machinery of education.
[Illustration: INFANT CLASS IN AN INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL.]
"The leading principles of education in Australia are that it is free,
or very nearly so. It is compulsory, and it is secular, though not in
all cases, to the absolute exclusion of Bible-reading. The latest
reports at hand show that there are 5844 State schools in Australia,
with 553,191 pupils and 11,890 teachers. There are numerous
high-schools, academies, and denominational schools in the cities and
larger towns, and there are colleges and universities at Sydney,
Melbourne, and Adelaide."
We will now drop the journals and statistics of Frank and Fred, and
attend to what they saw and heard on their journey.
We left them on their way to Newcastle, which they reached without
mishap. A fellow-passenger told them that several disastrous wrecks had
occurred at the entrance of Newcastle Harbor, which was formerly very
dangerous when the wind blew heavily from the south-east. A breakwater
has been constructed that greatly diminishes the danger, as it protects
the bar from the heavy seas which formerly swept over it. Newcastle is
the outlet of a considerable extent of country, but its principal
business is in coal, of which it ships more than two million tons
annually. The town has many evidences of prosperity, and its appliances
for handling coal are extensive and excellent.
One of the citizens volunteered to show our friends the coal-mines.
While they were making the round of the place he said that a careful
estimate showed that the coal-seams now being worked contained enough
coal to keep up the present rate of production for five hundred and
twelve years. There are thirty-five seams of coal, varying from five to
twelve feet in thickness, and one seam--the Greta--is twenty-one feet
thick. Nearly five thousand miners are employed underground, and one
thousand at the mouths of the mines. The deepest workings are those of
the Greta, four hundred and fifty feet, and the Stockton, three hundred
and eighty feet. The authorities of Newcastle believe they have the
finest appliances for handling coal that are to be found anywhere, and
Doctor Bronson said he certainly did not know of any that surpassed
them.
[Illustration: COMPLETING THE RAILWAY.]
Since the visit of our friends we are told that the railway from Sydney
to Newcastle has been completed, and also the line which connects with
the one from Brisbane, at the frontier between New South Wales and
Queensland. From Newcastle they went by land to Brisbane; near
Tenterfield they left the railway for a coach-ride of forty miles, which
brought them to Stanthorpe, where they found a train to carry them to
their destination. At several points on their coach-ride they saw the
working-parties making cuttings and fillings along the route for the
railway that now completes the connection between the capitals of the
colonies of Queensland and New South Wales. There is now continuous
railway communication from Brisbane to Adelaide, a distance of very
nearly eighteen hundred miles.
The train left Newcastle at 7.15 in the morning, and brought them to
Tenterfield at a little past midnight, the distance being three hundred
and eighty-one miles. It carried them through a country of varied
characteristics--hill, valley, plain, mountain, forest, and open country
presenting themselves in succession. "It can be briefly described," said
Frank, "as an agricultural, pastoral, and mining region, some of it
being of great value, and other parts quite forbidding in aspect, owing
to the scarcity of water. We passed through some of the gold-fields of
New South Wales, but did not stop to visit them. We were told that
considerable quantities of diamonds had been obtained near Bingera, one
hundred and ten miles north from Tamworth, an important town on the
railway, about half-way between Newcastle and Tenterfield.
"The names of stations on the line of railway are a curious mixture of
native and foreign words; the foreign ones including English, Scotch,
Irish, and American, together with some that were difficult to classify.
For example, there were Murrurundi, Boggabri, Currabubula, and Moonbi,
all of Australian origin; and then we found Hamilton, Lochinvar, Dundee,
Stonehenge, Emerald Hill, Kentucky, and other familiar words. Then
followed Doughboy Hollow, Honeysuckle Point, Kelly's Plains, and Willow
Tree, which reminded us of names that we had heard in the Pacific States
of America.
"Occasionally we saw herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, and were not
surprised to learn that the country is considered an excellent region
for raising those animals. We passed through forests of gum-trees, as
they are called here, the ordinary appellation of the Eucalyptus, of
which there are many varieties. Compared with the trees of England and
America, the gum-tree is not beautiful, and no one would think of
growing it for ornament alone, but on the whole it is by no means
ill-looking. The leaves do not spread out horizontally, but depend
vertically from the boughs. Consequently the tree gives little shade in
the daytime, but the traveller who passes through a gum forest at night
blesses this peculiarity of the tree, as it admits the light of the moon
and stars, to the great advantage of the wayfarer. Compared with
European trees, the verdure of the Eucalyptus is scanty, and its green
is rather sombre. Some of the varieties of this tree are far more
attractive than others, the handsomest of all being the Banksia, named
after Sir Joseph Banks.
[Illustration: A FALLEN GIANT.]
"The _Eucalyptus amygdalina_, or giant gum, has the reputation of being
the tallest tree in the world, and the Australians are greatly pleased
to mention this fact. There are reports of giant gum-trees that exceed
five hundred feet in height, but the highest one with an official record
is on Mount Baw-Baw, Gippsland; it was measured by Mr. Hodgkinson, a
civil engineer, who certifies to its height of four hundred and
seventy-one feet. This is considerably more than the height of the
tallest of the Big Trees of California, according to the authorities we
have consulted. New groups and forests are discovered from time to time,
and perhaps one of these days we shall hear of a giant that exceeds five
hundred feet.
"The Eucalyptus has been carried to other countries, and it seems to do
well all over the world where the climate is not too cold for it. It
grows rapidly, and is said to prevent malaria and fevers; we asked
Doctor Bronson about the latter statement, and he said he was greatly
inclined to believe it. The French introduced it into Algeria, and found
that fevers diminished rapidly or disappeared altogether where it grew,
and they are so thoroughly convinced of its utility that they have
planted great numbers of Eucalypti. Mr. Bosisto, commissioner for
Victoria at the colonial exhibition in London, 1886, discusses this
subject thoroughly, and says that malarious diseases are not native to
Australia, and imported fevers diminish in violence. He thinks this
effect is caused by the Eucalyptus, which is evergreen and constantly
exhausting humidity from the earth, and throwing off oil and acid from
its leaf. A small quantity of Eucalyptus-oil sprinkled in a sick-room
improves the air at once and renders breathing easier. Mr. Bosisto
contends that the volatile oil thrown off by the leaf absorbs
atmospheric oxygen and transforms it into ozone.
[Illustration: SILVER-STEM EUCALYPTI.]
"The giant gums are sometimes called 'silver stems,' for the reason that
after they have annually shed their bark--they shed their bark and not
their leaves--the new skin is of the whiteness of silver. As the trunk
is perfectly round, and the lowest limbs are often two hundred feet and
more from the ground, the sight of a group of these enormous trees is a
very fine one. The giant gums are more slender than the Big Trees of
California; the former are the tallest in the world, but the latter have
the greater diameter in proportion to their height.
"Next to the giant gum is the red gum, or _Eucalyptus rostrata_, and
next to that is the blue gum, or _Eucalyptus globus_. The former is the
finest timber-tree, while the latter is the most favored for its
anti-fever qualities and is the tree most frequently carried to foreign
lands. Don't expect me to go through the whole catalogue of Eucalypti,
as there are fully two hundred of them, according to the botanists; the
lowest and most wide-spread is the _Eucalyptus dumosa_, or mallee scrub,
and you may judge of its extent when I tell you that a single tract of
mallee scrub shared between South Australia and Victoria covers an area
of nearly nine thousand square miles. 'And it isn't the largest area of
scrub, either,' says an Australian at my elbow.
"Well, the mallee is a strange-looking plant, and I can compare it to
nothing better than the frame of an umbrella turned bottom up and
without any handle in the centre. It has a globular mass at its base,
with a few horizontal roots, and then a long tap-root that goes down to
a great depth till it reaches moisture. Above-ground there are a lot of
shoots, or stalks, from a foot up to twenty feet long, each of them
having a tuft of leaves at the top.
"No surface water can be found in the districts where it grows, and the
scrub is just a little more than high enough to hide a man on horseback.
To be lost in the scrub is very dangerous; you cannot see in any
direction, there are no trees you can climb to find your bearings, water
or food is not to be found, and the victim is very likely to lose his
reason and die of thirst, starvation, and insanity. Terrible stories
have been told us of the death of people lost in the scrub; men have
gone there to search for missing friends, and both searchers and sought
have never been heard of again."
[Illustration: FROM TENTERFIELD TO STANTHORPE.]
It was after midnight when our friends reached Tenterfield, and at nine
o'clock the next morning they were on the coach and dashing away towards
Stanthorpe. Over the plains and hills they went at good speed, and were
reminded of previous rides in the newly opened regions of the Rocky
Mountains and in California. Coaching in Australia is less famous than
formerly, owing to the rapid extension of the railway, but there are
still many interior lines where the old system is maintained. Coaching
in Australia owes its development to some enterprising Americans--Cobb &
Company--who went there in the times of the gold discoveries, and
established lines over all the principal roads, from the coast ports to
the auriferous districts. The wonderful tales of coaching west of the
Missouri River a quarter of a century ago might be repeated concerning
the same business in Australia.
Doctor Bronson and his companions had no time to examine the mineral and
other attractions of Tenterfield, though they were invited to do so.
Gold, silver, tin, antimony, plumbago, and other minerals are found in
the region round about the town, at distances varying from five up to
forty miles. Some mining localities were pointed out along the
coach-road, and rich specimens of gold-bearing quartz were shown by the
fortunate possessors.
Cobb's coach carried them safely to Stanthorpe, sometimes called the
Border Town, owing to its position on the frontier, and the Sanatorium
of Queensland, in consequence of the salubrity of its climate. It is
celebrated for its tin-mines, which are scattered around the
neighborhood; the product varies considerably from one year to another,
being affected by the scarcity or the abundance of water.
They spent the night at Stanthorpe in a fairly comfortable hotel, and
at nine o'clock on the following morning left by train for Brisbane--two
hundred and seven miles--where they arrived at half-past ten in the
evening.
Frank and Fred were out the next morning at an early hour to see the
sights of the capital of Queensland. They found it smaller than Sydney,
the total population within a radius of five miles of the centre of the
city being less than a hundred thousand. It is on the river Brisbane;
river and city were named after Sir Thomas Brisbane, the governor of the
colony of New South Wales in 1825, the year when the city was founded as
a penal settlement. The river surrounds it on two sides, and gives it an
excellent water frontage; from the city to the debouchement of the river
into Moreton Bay is about twenty-five miles by the course of the stream,
though not more than half that distance overland.
Their walk took them along Queen Street, the principal avenue, to
Victoria Bridge, a fine structure of iron which spans the river between
North and South Brisbane. The bridge is more than one thousand feet in
length, and divided into thirteen spans, with a swing in the centre to
permit the passage of vessels. Like most works of the kind, it is said
to have cost more than double the original estimates of the engineers
who planned it.
[Illustration: A BALCONY.]
The youths were not favorably impressed with the streets of Brisbane, on
account of their narrowness, Queen Street being little more than sixty
feet wide, and the others in the same proportion. They asked why the
streets were made so narrow, when there was such an abundance of land in
Australia at the time the place was founded, and were told that it was
due to the orders of one of the early governors, Sir George Gipps, who
wished to be economical with the land of the Government. But if Queen
Street is narrow it is by no means unattractive, as it can boast of many
fine shops and substantial buildings, including several belonging to the
Government. Frank called Fred's attention to the verandas that on one
side of the street ran almost from one end to the other, and extended
quite across the sidewalk. Fred rightly conjectured that they were
intended to screen pedestrians and goods from the heat and glare of the
sun, Brisbane being blessed with a climate of tropical character.
A policeman of whom they made inquiry pointed out the post-office,
town-hall, and exchange, the two last-named being in one building, which
also contains the chamber of commerce and the council-chamber, and also
the court-house and other public edifices. They were all fine buildings
with the exception of the court-house, which is a low, solid-looking
structure of stone, two stories in height, and of unattractive
appearance. Fred asked the policeman the reason of the difference in
these buildings.
"The court-house is one of the old prisons of the days of the convict
system," was the reply; "it was the female penitentiary and work-shop,
and at one time was crowded with women who had been transported from
England to spend the rest of their lives in Australia. It will probably
be torn down before many years, as the people want to get rid of
everything that can remind them of the convict system."
Turning to the right at the end of Queen Street, and close to Victoria
Bridge, they walked along William Street, past the museum, and the
Houses of Parliament, till they came to the Government Domain, which
contains residence of the colonial governor. Close by are Queen's Park
and the Botanical Gardens, and here they lingered until it was time to
return to the hotel and meet Doctor Bronson, who had announced his
intention of sleeping till a late hour.
The river makes a sharp bend around Brisbane, and the Government Domain,
Botanical Gardens, and Queen's Park are prettily situated at the end of
the point of land enclosed in the bend. In colonial parlance it is
called a "pocket," and Queen Street may be said to run across the top of
the pocket, as it extends from the river to the river again, just as the
numbered streets of New York go from the water on one side of Manhattan
Island to the water on the other.
[Illustration: PALM-TREES IN THE BOTANICAL GARDENS.]
Frank and Fred thought they had nowhere seen more attractive Botanical
Gardens than those at Brisbane. They were particularly impressed with
the row of trees that lined the river-bank; they resembled pines, and
were of a sugar-loaf shape, and the custodian of the place said they
were known as bunya-bunya trees. All the shrubs and plants indigenous to
the colony are to be found in the Gardens, together with exotics from
all parts of the world whose climate in any way resembles that of
Queensland. Our friends were told that the Gardens had been of great
practical value to the colony in facilitating the introduction of plants
which could be cultivated to advantage. Indigo, madder, coffee, and tea
plants were introduced into Queensland by means of the Botanical Garden,
which first developed them, and then sent seeds and cuttings to those
who made application. Sugar and cotton were also developed from the same
source, and at present the sugar and cotton interests of the colony are
of very great importance.
On their way back to the hotel the youths again encountered the
communicative policeman. Pointing in the direction of a round building
similar to a windmill and supporting a signal-mast, he said,
"That is what we call the Observatory, and it is used for signalling
vessels coming into the harbor. It's one of the relics of the convict
time; there was once a windmill there where they ground the grain for
the convicts to eat, and when the wind didn't blow the prisoners had to
work a treadmill in the lower part of the building. I used to know an
old fellow who had often done his 'trick at the wheel;' he said he used
to have to go it four hours on a stretch, and when through with his
trick he was ready to lie down and take a rest. There isn't any part of
the treadmill there now, as it was quietly stolen away by the boys, who
sold the old iron for a good price."
[Illustration: "NO MORE TRICKS AT THE WHEEL."]