[Illustration: Australia. Shaded portions show where the rainfall is
sufficiently abundant.]
New South Wales (population 1,311,440) is the oldest colony of
Australia and the parent of both Victoria and Queensland. Of all the
colonies, it has, perhaps, the greatest range of productions. On the
low coast lands its soil is of extraordinary fertility, and even in
the dry interior, when irrigation is employed, the fertility is still
extraordinary. As yet, however, but one acre out of every two hundred
is under cultivation, the chief agricultural occupation being
pasturing. Over 50,000,000 SHEEP are kept, principally the MERINO.
Grass grows everywhere, and even the summits of the mountains are
covered. Drought, however, is a terrible drawback, and sometimes
tremendous losses occur. In 1877 over 8,000,000 sheep perished, and in
1884 over 12,000,000. The total WOOL PRODUCTION is very large,
averaging $50,000,000 a year. The export of hides, skins, leather, and
chilled meat, principally mutton, amounts to $10,000,000 annually.
Chilled mutton and beef are sent direct to London, though the passage
takes five or six weeks by steamer and twelve to sixteen weeks by
sailing-vessel. Scarcely less important than its agricultural products
are the mineral products of New South Wales. Its COAL-MINES are the
finest on the continent, and $4,500,000 worth of coal is exported
annually, besides what is consumed locally. Its gold production,
though not very large, is general throughout the whole colony. Its
SILVER-MINES in SILVERTON and BROKEN HILL are among the most famous in
the world, and its tin-bearing lands comprise over 5,500,000 acres.
The foregoing comprise the staple products--the production of
industries already well established. But fruit-growing, including all
fruits, from apples, pears, and peaches, to olives and oranges, is a
rapidly developing industry, no country in the world being better
suited to it. Wine-making, too, is quickly coming forward, the New
South Wales wines equalling in flavour those of France and Spain.
Wheat-growing, cotton-growing, and even rice-growing are also in their
several districts rapidly extending and prosperous pursuits. The
development of New South Wales has only just begun. SYDNEY (including
suburbs 410,000) is the capital and by far the largest city. Sydney,
like Melbourne, is a beautiful city, but its beauty is natural rather
than artificial, and it is well entitled to its name, "Queen of the
South." It is situated on Port Jackson, one of the finest and most
beautiful harbours on the globe. Sydney is the headquarters of all the
various lines of steamships--British, American, French, Italian,
etc.--that trade with Australia, and is indeed one of the great
seaports of the world.