diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/65166-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65166-0.txt | 6522 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 6522 deletions
diff --git a/old/65166-0.txt b/old/65166-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a03b34a..0000000 --- a/old/65166-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6522 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Rambles in Australia, by Edwin Sharpe Grew -and Marion Sharpe Grew - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Rambles in Australia - - -Author: Edwin Sharpe Grew and Marion Sharpe Grew - - - -Release Date: April 26, 2021 [eBook #65166] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAMBLES IN AUSTRALIA*** - - -E-text prepared by Nick Wall, Charlie Howard, and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made -available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 65166-h.htm or 65166-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/65166/65166-h/65166-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/65166/65166-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/ramblesinaustral00grewiala - - - - - -RAMBLES IN AUSTRALIA - - - * * * * * * - -MILLS & BOON’S RAMBLES SERIES - - -“_The books are not designed as guides. Up to a point they may be used -as such. They are really very pleasant essays by writers who know their -subjects, and they may be read with pleasure and instruction quite -apart from their utilitarian value to the traveller._”--Liverpool -Courier. - - -Rambles around French Châteaux. - - By FRANCES M. GOSTLING, Author of “The Bretons at Home.” With 5 - Illustrations in Colour by L. LELÉE and C. R. ANDREAE, 33 from - Photographs, and a Map. Crown 8vo, 6s. - - -Rambles about the Riviera. - - By FRANCES M. GOSTLING. With one Illustration in Colour and 40 - from Photographs. Crown 8vo, 6s. - - -Rambles in the Black Forest. - - By I. A. R. WYLIE, Author of “My German Year,” “Dividing Waters.” - With 5 Illustrations in Colour and 24 from Photographs. Crown - 8vo, 6s. - - -Rambles with an American in Great Britain. - - By CHRISTIAN TEARLE, Author of “Holborn Hill.” With 21 - Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 6s. - - -Rambles in Norway. - - By HAROLD SIMPSON. With 8 Illustrations in Colour by PAUL E. - RITTER, and 32 from Photographs. Crown 8vo, 6s. - - -Rambles in Florence. - - By G. E. TROUTBECK. With 8 Illustrations in Colour by ROSE - MCANDREW, and 32 from Photographs. Crown 8vo, 6s. - - -Rambles in Ireland. - - By ROBERT LYND, Author of “Home Life in Ireland.” With - 5 Illustrations in Colour by JACK B. YEATS, and 25 from - Photographs. Crown 8vo, 6s. - - -Rambles in Holland. - - By EDWIN and MARION SHARPE GREW. With one Illustration in Colour - by DOUGLAS MACPHERSON, 32 from Photographs, and a Map. Crown 8vo, - 6s. - - -Rambles in Australia. - - By EDWIN and MARION SHARPE GREW. With 32 Illustrations from - Photographs and a Map. Crown 8vo, 6s. - - -Rambles in the North Yorkshire Dales. - - By J. E. BUCKROSE. With 4 Illustrations in Colour and 23 from - Photographs. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. net. - - * * * * * * - - -[Illustration: KARRI COUNTRY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. - - Frontispiece.] - - -RAMBLES IN AUSTRALIA - -by - -EDWIN & MARION SHARPE GREW - -Authors of “The Court of William III” -“The English Court in Exile: James II at St. Germain” -“Rambles in Holland” - -With Thirty-Two Illustrations -from Photographs and a Map - - - - - - -Mills & Boon, Limited -49 Rupert Street -London, W. - -Published 1916 - - - - - TO - - OUR AUSTRALIAN HOSTS - - IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE - OF MUCH KINDNESS - - - - -PREFACE - - -This little book aims at giving such general impressions of Australia -as could be gleaned during a visit lasting from July into September, -and including some time spent in each state. We have tried to convey -some idea of the aspect of the country itself, with its brilliant -sunshine, great plains and trackless forests; of the social atmosphere -of warm-hearted hospitality; of its economic problems and democratic -legislative experiments. These last are so essentially Australian, that -it seemed impossible to omit some reference to them, but they hardly -fall within our scope, and are only lightly touched upon. Figures and -facts quoted are taken from official handbooks and pamphlets. - -With regard to the illustrations, those of Western Australia were -provided by the kindness of Mr. Gibbs, of the Lands Department at -Perth, and Mr. L. V. Shapcott, Premier’s Office, Perth, who was -good enough to take special photographs for us. For those of South -Australia we have to thank Mr. Vaughan of the Lands Department. - -At Melbourne the Secretary of the admirably organised Government -Tourist Bureau was kind enough to have the views of Victoria specially -printed for reproduction. For the views of New South Wales we have to -thank the Hon. Dugald Thomson, and for those of Brisbane the Secretary -of the Government Tourist Bureau for Queensland. Lastly, our grateful -thanks are due to Captain Muirhead Collins, Permanent Secretary of the -Australian Commonwealth in London, for his great kindness in reading -the proofs and for much valuable criticism. - -If _Rambles in Australia_ leads even a few readers to wish for a closer -acquaintance with, and a better understanding of, this great country -of which we are so ignorant at home, it will not have been written in -vain. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PART I. WESTERN AUSTRALIA - CHAPTER PAGE - I. THE LAND OF THE UNLATCHED DOOR 3 - II. FIRST IMPRESSIONS 9 - III. PERTH: A PARADISE FOR THE WORKING MAN 20 - IV. IN THE BUSH 34 - V. AGRICULTURE AND GOLD 51 - - PART II. SOUTH AUSTRALIA - VI. A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW 73 - VII. ADELAIDE 88 - VIII. COMPULSORY TRAINING AND SOCIAL LIFE IN ADELAIDE 98 - - PART III. VICTORIA - IX. COLLINS STREET--MELBOURNE 113 - X. SOCIAL LIFE IN MELBOURNE 121 - XI. BALLARAT 132 - XII. THE BLACK SPUR 146 - - PART IV. NEW SOUTH WALES - XIII. SYDNEY HARBOUR 165 - XIV. SYDNEY AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD 173 - XV. THE BLUE MOUNTAINS AND A BUSH PICNIC 186 - - PART V. QUEENSLAND - XVI. BANANA-LAND 205 - XVII. THE BEGINNING OF THE TROPICS 212 - XVIII. A DAY IN THE QUEENSLAND BUSH 221 - XIX. IN AND ABOUT BRISBANE 230 - - PART VI. TO THE NORTHERN TERRITORY - XX. THE GREAT BARRIER REEF 245 - XXI. THE NORTHERN TERRITORY 272 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - THE ILLUSTRATION ON THE COVER OF A CLEARING IN THE BUSH IS FROM A - WATER-COLOUR IN THE POSSESSION OF MAJOR C. J. MARTIN, F.R.G.S. - - KARRI COUNTRY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA _Frontispiece_ - _Facing page_ - PERTH FROM “THE NARROWS” 20 - FELLING KARRI 43 - OXEN HARNESSED TO A LOG AT BIG BROOK 49 - ORCHARD AND HOMESTEAD, BRIDGETOWN 59 - THE PREMIER OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA 63 - NORTH TERRACE, ADELAIDE 89 - WOOL STORE, PORT ADELAIDE 94 - WATERFALL GULLY, BURNSIDE, NEAR ADELAIDE 104 - OSTRICH FARM, SOOTH AUSTRALIA 108 - THE RIVER YARRA, FORTY-EIGHT MILES FROM MELBOURNE 122 - THE AUSTRALIAN ALPS, NORTH-EAST VICTORIA, MOUNT FEATHERTOP, 6,300 143 - THE DIVIDING RANGE 147 - TREE FERNS IN THE BUSH, NEAR MELBOURNE 155 - VIEW OF THE AUSTRALIAN ALPS FROM THE MURRAY RIVER FLATS 158 - CIRCULAR QUAY, SYDNEY 178 - SOUTH COAST, NEW SOUTH WALES 180 - NATIONAL PASS, BLUE MOUNTAINS 188 - SHEARING TIME, NEW SOUTH WALES 193 - A FLOCK OF SHEEP, KINROSS STATION 195 - MANLY BEACH 198 - THE BRISBANE RIVER 214 - CHARLEVILLE BORE 218 - NAMBOUR 226 - BOTANIC GARDENS, BRISBANE 238 - TOWNSVILLE 248 - BARRON FALLS SCENERY AT CAIRNS 254 - THE BARRON RIVER 258 - THURSDAY ISLAND 265 - VIEW NEAR DARWIN 275 - COCONUT GROVE, DARWIN 279 - ANTHILLS, NORTHERN TERRITORY 289 - - - - -PART I - -WESTERN AUSTRALIA - -[Illustration: - - MAP OF - AUSTRALIA - to illustrate - “RAMBLES IN AUSTRALIA” - - _George Philip & Son Ltd_ - -Mills & Boon Ltd] - - - - -RAMBLES IN AUSTRALIA - - - - -CHAPTER I - -INTRODUCTORY: THE LAND OF THE UNLATCHED DOOR - - -Opposite to us was Australia. During the long days of the voyage across -the bleak South Indian Ocean it had seemed no more than a vague area -on a map, small, as all countries and even continents are, compared -to the interminable stretches of the sea. But the voyage was ended -now, and Australia, first no more than a blur on the horizon, and then -solidifying into a shore with green trees, had now become resolved into -an island with a lighthouse; and now into a harbour with wharves and -quays and a background of houses behind the sheds and derricks. There -was a train puffing in the distance; and here fussed a launch bringing -with it people from the shore.... - -Quite suddenly the Blue Funnel Liner which has had the accustomedness -of a home to us for all these weeks, shrinks to the aspect of a ship, -of no more importance to us than a passenger train; and impatience -seizes us to be off. There is the land, alluring in a glow of sunset -barred with feathery clouds ... there’s a shore breeze calling, let us -go! - -So much for the emotions of arrival. They are quickly submerged by -occurrences which are no less stubborn in the poetic moments of -reaching a new land, than at any other time. The Blue Funnel Liner had -been behind her time, and had not wired her subsequent gain of a few -hours; our arrival had been expected, and was to have been made the -occasion of a greeting by the Government of Western Australia to the -members of a scientific mission on board. Western Australia’s first -greeting was to have taken the form of a garden party at Government -House, Perth; and as the invitations had been distributed over -hundreds of miles of a wide country weeks before, no postponement -had been possible. The garden party was being held--in our regretted -absence--and the Port Medical Authorities, not to be done out of their -festivity, had gone to it. So there Western Australia was--at our -garden party, and there peering at the land of promise were we. - -Hours went by. Those of us who had hastened over lunch and wrestled -impatiently with trunks and hold-alls that be they attacked ever so -early never can be packed at leisure, wandered about the decks, finding -that they had lost their friendliness with their deck chairs, and had -become as little homelike as a railway platform. The deck-steward, who -had become merely a deck-steward instead of philosopher and friend, -recovered some of his old standing by telling us that we were to have -an early dinner on board, after all. But it was an empty meal. We so -much desired to be gone. And at last we were. The sunset had faded, -the swift dusk had deepened into night, when at last we went down the -gangway and stood in Australia.... It was Australia, though beneath our -feet were the planks and rails of a wharf. The French have a proverb -that at night all cats are grey. This wharf, might it not have been the -wharf at Liverpool or Tilbury? Not quite. There was the Southern Cross -overhead; and in the warm darkness there was a something--something -that was not England. - -The party that had been so long companions split up and were scattered. -The writer of these lines became for an hour or so more single than -any of them, for business took him at once into Perth, where he -had to find Reuter’s Agency. So looking back, and sorting out his -recollections, he remembers first the friendly host that met him and -walked to the railway station at Fremantle; and after that the Swan -River shining in the starlight as the train crossed it; and after that -nothing but the soft Australian night stealing in through the open -carriage windows and seeming to come through whispering trees--until -the train drew up at the lighted terminus of Perth. And Perth? In the -darkness it was much like any other town at which one should arrive at -night. Not like Paris, where, as a Frenchwoman in Bâle once said to -us, at ten o’clock “Ça commence,” nor yet like London, where, in times -of peace, the streets are still open-eyed. But not unlike a provincial -town; with some shops still brightly lighted, though most of them and -the office buildings, are shut; a town with lights, but not lit; and -with streets that are kept awake only by the street lamps. Through -one such street I tracked down the office I sought, receiving much -friendly aid by the way; and finally arriving at it in company with the -publisher’s clerk of the Perth newspaper. - -That is another outstanding recollection: the publishing office with -two clerks, one rather sleepy, the other painstakingly deciphering an -obituary notice which a small girl had brought in. When he had at last -made it out, and felt that he could leave the office for a few minutes -in charge of his companion, he put on his hat and said he would come -with me. So he did. As a matter of history his kindness was unavailing, -except to make me feel that Australia was filled with friends, for the -office we wanted was vacant. So back I went through the gaunt streets -and on to the railway station, where I was too new to the country to -disregard the notice that smoking was not allowed on the platform; and -presently the train was again taking me back to the suburb of Cottesloe -Beach. - -This was a country railway station, evidently. Just like one at home, -to the two lighted shops just outside, and the white road stretching up -a hill in the starlight. The road up which I was directed was dotted -with houses wide apart; with shaded lamps which I could see through -the shrubs; and now and again a piano tinkling. It was very still. At -last I found the house I sought. Very white, with trees about it, and -a windmill for its well; and windows lighted for the stranger. No; not -the stranger, but the unknown, welcome guest. The gate in the wooden -fence was swung back; there was a light in the hall; and the hall door -was wide open, though the hall was empty. And that was how I thought -then, and have always thought of Australia. It is the “Land of the -Unlatched Door.” - - - - -CHAPTER II - -FIRST IMPRESSIONS - - -It behoves visitors to Australia to realise that they will have a good -many things to do for themselves that they have never done before, and -that the conditions of travelling, for instance, are very different -from those in Europe. To begin with, the station porter is absent, -and everyone has to carry his own hand baggage, for in a country, -where labour is very scarce and very highly paid, there are no loafers -ready to scramble for odd jobs, even at a port. What cannot be carried -ashore by the passengers is left to be dealt with, frequently much to -its detriment, by agencies whose representatives come on board for -the purpose and convey it, or some of it, to its owner’s destination. -Stray packages, providentially arrive in time to go on to the next -stopping-place with their owner. This applies not only to landing, but -to railway travelling; so that it can easily be arranged for by those -who are prepared in advance. - -It was quite dark when we went ashore, and it is the oddest sensation -to land in an unknown country after dark. We had been told on the -boat that the station was at a distance of ten minutes’ walk, but in -the absence of cabs and porters its whereabouts was problematical. We -therefore deposited our bags and awaited events. - -Then out of the obscurity a man came up with some hesitation and asked -us our names. It was our host, who had been guided to us in the dark by -some occult sense, for we were unknown to each other except by name. He -greeted us heartily with the kindly solicitude of an old friend, took -possession of us and the larger share of our hand baggage, and carried -us off to the station. - -It was our first experience of an Australian welcome and Australian -hospitality; that hospitality, which for unaffected kindness and -generosity, can surely have no counterpart on any other continent. The -hospitality that makes a guest free of all his host’s possessions, -that grudges no time or trouble in his guests’ interest, and that is -bestowed in the spirit not of a giver, but the receiver of a benefit. -As we walked towards the train the ground seemed curiously soft, as if -we were walking ankle-deep in dust. It was not till next day that we -found that this part of Western Australia consists everywhere of loose -yellow sand like that by the seashore. The night was very mild after -the keen sea air, and encumbered with bags and our heavy coats, we -arrived at the station in time to see the train go out, and waited for -the next one in a large empty booking-hall. At last the little train -rattled in, and we started. We crossed the broad Swan River, above -which a crescent moon was hanging, and Venus shone with the luminous -brilliancy of southern skies. One of us went on to Perth: the other -descended at Cottesloe Beach. - -Here the station fly was waiting. It was shaped like a French diligence -and drawn by two ruminative old white horses. The driver, surprised and -startled at the apparition of a fare, climbed down, and lit a candle -inside the fly, the light of which disclosed white lace curtains at -the windows tied up with red ribbon. A few minutes jolting drive, and -we were at our destination, and, jumping out, plunged immediately into -soft, deep sand, before the entrance to a large one-storied house, its -corrugated iron white-painted roof shining in the starlight as if it -were covered with snow. - -Our hostess, who had waited dinner for us an unconscionable time, had -neither allowed that, nor her welcome to get cold in the interim, and -took us to a room sweet with the scent of a great bowl of wattle, and a -bunch of very large, deep purple violets--a room that seemed strangely -quiet after the long-heard straining and cracking of the timbers in our -cabin. Here our sleep was lulled only by the fitful creaking of the -little windmill in the garden. - -The charming house in which we stayed at Cottesloe Beach was typical -of nearly all West Australian houses. It stood, as even the smallest -workman’s cottage stands, in its own grounds detached from its -neighbours’, a roomy bungalow with a broad verandah running right -round it. The verandah is an essential, all-important part of a West -Australian house. The family sleep in it all the year round, using the -bedrooms merely as dressing-rooms; they live on another side of it -during the day. - -In the country suburbs the houses are built on piles to protect them -from the attacks of white ants. White ants can eat everything except -jarrah, a hard red eucalyptus wood, which has been tried for paving -London streets. The foundations of all the houses are formed of jarrah -piles; on the top of every pile is put an iron saucer, and on this -again is erected the superstructure of the building. The iron saucer -is indispensable, and, “capping the pile,” takes the place of laying -the foundation-stone. The white ants can neither penetrate it, nor run -outside it, for they won’t come into the light. - -An immense corrugated galvanised iron water-tank stands beside every -house, and most of the larger ones have their own windmill for pumping -up water. - -All the gardens were gay with flowers in this beautiful climate, -even at the end of the winter. Masses of purple kennedya,[1] a showy -climbing plant with a small pealike flower, hung from a high wooden -fence surrounding our host’s house. Geraniums grew like shrubs, and a -magenta bougainvillea was a curtain of colour. - -We arrived in Australia with the wattle; the mimosa sold in London -shops can give but little idea of its trees, shining like cloth of gold -among the grey eucalyptus, and outlining the streams. It is comparable -to our hawthorn, though it is not in the same way a harbinger of -spring, for the mild and flowery winters have no terrors. Australians -are immensely proud of their wattle. They never lose an opportunity -of commenting on its beauty, and just as no two Irishmen can agree -on the exact identity of the Irish shamrock among a variety of small -trefoils, so wherever you go in Australia a different variety of mimosa -is pointed out as the “true” Australian wattle. - -One soon takes as a matter of course the brilliant unvarying Australian -sunshine, but on our first walk the day after our arrival, it seemed -as if we were wandering in a land of limelight; its hard dazzling -white brilliance appeared artificial and unreal. There seemed to be -an absence of chiaroscuro, and of atmosphere, the clear-cut distance -gave an illusory impression of nearness, annihilating perspective; the -eucalyptus with their light, springing branches, sparsely covered with -long, narrow leaves, give little shade. From pictures and photographs -one is led to suppose that Australian scenery is not unlike that -of England. It is wholly and entirely different, not only in its -atmospheric effect, and in the more uniform and heavier colouring of -its foliage, but every individual plant is unfamiliar. Australia, one -may say, roughly speaking, is one vast forest of eucalyptus or gum -tree. The gums have many varieties, far too numerous for the traveller -to distinguish, from the slight pale trees that are not unlike a -silver-barked birch, to the soaring giants of the karri forest, with -their smooth white stems; but whatever the variety, the prevailing -tinge is a bluish grey. Sometimes the forest or “bush” has been cleared -away to make room for orchards, and crops, or towns, or grazing land; -sometimes acres of trees have been “ringbarked,” as it is called, a -rapid and cheap way of clearing land, by cutting out a ring of bark -so that the tree dies, and only a skeleton forest remains, letting in -light and air to the soil. But the “bush” is never very far away. It -seems to be only waiting to close in again, and swallow up once more -what has been so laboriously cleared. West, east, north, and south, -the gum tree predominates, though the bush varies in the nature of its -undergrowth, which in the tropics becomes rich and beautiful. - -The general effect of Australian landscape to English eyes produces an -impression of austerity. It is never friendly, perhaps because of the -general absence of water, the sombre wooded hills, the vast dun plains, -have something aloof and forbidding. - -It would be difficult to find anything in life more stimulating and -delightful than the first walk in a new country, where every sight and -sound is unfamiliar. Strolling along the soft, hot sandy road that -first morning, past the low-verandahed houses, each with its wooden -palisade, its windmill and big grey water-tank, we came to rising -ground overlooking the Swan River. Behind were the low deep blue hills -of the Darling Range, and the broad river lay glassy in the heat of -the sun, blue as the Lake of Geneva on a summer’s day. Its wooded -banks run out in little spits of land with white sandy foreshores, one -or two small white-sailed boats were floating idly on it, and some -water-fowl swam on its unruffled surface. The foliage of the gums with -which its banks are covered is dark and uniform in colour, and had the -massive effect of our trees in autumn, before the leaves have begun to -turn. The air was heavy with the scent of some white-flowering shrub, -the stillness was unbroken except by the note of a magpie; the place -seemed a paradise. So it must have looked to the first settlers, the -first pioneers, who stood, as we stood, looking down on it. It left an -ineffaceable impression, and we never again saw anything more beautiful -than that view. - -Western Australia is famous for its wild flowers. We were a month too -early, but even so we saw many strange and beautiful varieties. They -are more numerous here than anywhere else in the world, even now many -have not been classified. The most characteristic are as unlike as -possible to our delicate evanescent wild flowers at home; strongly -growing, determined, having adapted themselves, by becoming wiry or -leathery, to all exigencies of heat or drought. The banksia, for -instance, looked as if a fir-cone had suddenly burst into bristling -pink flowers; the hard cone of it is called by the natives a “mungite,” -and is used to kindle fire. Some unobservant person once told the West -Australians that their birds were all songless, their flowers all -scentless, and being naturally self-depreciatory, they have quoted it -ever since. The bird-notes are very beautiful and clear in quality of -tone; the note of the magpie will at once occur to the most casual -observer, to quote only one instance. Old Dampier, in 1699, on his -first landing in Western Australia was struck with “the small birds, -all singing with great variety of fine shrill notes.” He mentions too, -being observant, as befits an explorer, “the small flowers growing on -the ground, that were sweet and beautiful,” and where else is there a -better description of the eucalyptus “sweet-scented and reddish within -the bark,” and “with long narrow leaves ... on one side whitish and on -the other green.” But the “racoons” (kangaroos) which were so numerous -as to be easily caught, and were “very good meat,” are now but rarely -to be seen, where he first sighted them. - -Cottesloe Beach, our headquarters while we were in Western Australia, -is a pleasant seaside suburb, with, as its name suggests, an immense -beach of finest white sand, lapped by smooth waters and protected by -Rottnest Island from ocean storms. The cliffs of Rottnest Island, -showing yellowish in the bright sunshine, with the white needle of -the lighthouse sharply defined are the first sight of land as ships -approach West Australia. - -The half an hour’s railway journey to Perth runs through other little -garden suburbs, for all Australian towns straggle out for many miles -into the country, and cover a very large extent of ground. Space is -unlimited, and nobody’s domain large or small, need elbow that of his -neighbour. The little train on its narrow gauge railway rattles past -roads of one-storied houses, standing on their piles; each with its -verandah, and sloping iron roof, each surrounded by its palisaded -garden, with its purple kennedya, its pink geranium and wattle, each -with its inevitable tall grey iron water-tank; somewhere about there is -sure to be an array of the ubiquitous kerosene tin, utilised either as -a pail, a basket, a flower-box, or all three. We saw them used to form -chimneys, even to construct a raft. These suburbs have an air of having -loose ends left hanging out. It is all so new; there is no time to -attend to details when time is so essentially money. So bordering the -low fences are rough undergrowth and gum trees and banksias, and coarse -wiry grass--the beginning and the end of the bush. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -PERTH: A PARADISE FOR THE WORKING MAN - - -The city of Perth is in a transition stage. Scattered over the low -hills of the Swan River, its situation is magnificent, and its climate -superb, but it is as yet only partly built, or rather it is undergoing -the gradual process of rebuilding. As the municipality becomes more -wealthy, handsome houses are replacing temporary structures, so that -imposing white official buildings alternate with makeshift affairs -hurriedly run up in earlier days, when need was urgent and money was -scarce. Perth is, then, on its way to becoming a fine town, and its -public buildings are being constructed from simple designs in good -taste. - -[Illustration: PERTH, FROM “THE NARROWS.”] - -But what most impresses the new-comer from Europe in Australian -towns is not the buildings, but the people. Here is no miserable -sordid fringe of the poor and wretched. In this happy country there -is no poverty. Its people are well fed, well clothed, well housed, -well-to-do. Whatever her problems, and they are many and difficult, -and not to be lightly pronounced upon by the casual visitor, it is the -glory of Australia that she has no poor. - -It appeared to us, especially in the West, that a characteristic type -is developing; lean, loosely hung, wiry, with eyes deep-set from the -strong sunlight. In odd contrast to European towns, men everywhere -preponderate over women in the streets. Perhaps because of its newness, -the attitude of the other states to Western Australia is still a -little patronising. Western Australians themselves are fully conscious -of this, they on their part always talk about “the East” in tones of -desire: “I hope we shall go to the East next year,” is often heard in -Perth. At first we thought they meant China or Japan, but we soon found -that in Western Australia “the East” means Melbourne or Sydney. They -stand for London or Paris, and one lady said plaintively: “If I have a -nice dress, when I go to see my sister in ‘the East,’ she says, ‘You -didn’t get that made in Perth.’” - -Perth, however, is looking forward. She knows the time will come -when she can compete fearlessly with her elder sister the capital of -“the East.” Meanwhile she has achieved the acquisition of the most -attractive zoological gardens of any Australian city. They are small, -but charmingly laid out, the animals left free to roam about in their -own little grassy paddocks. The pleasant shady walks are lined by the -pretty Cape lilac, which in July is bare of leaves, but covered with -clusters of yellow berries, very decorative in effect. These gardens -lie on the far side of the Swan River, and a ferry-boat plies across -its shining blue waters. Numbers of black and white water-fowl swim -alongside, diving below and bobbing up again, or settling on a row of -posts that run out from the shore, each one like a little black and -white carved ornament. The gardens are a few minutes’ walk from the -landing stage. We found them charming, the darker evergreens everywhere -lighted up by patches of golden wattle. The kangaroos and wallabies -feeding in their little enclosures hop up and put gentle inquiring -noses into your hand. - -Perhaps it is because the little wild Australian animals are so -pathetically confiding that they are becoming extinct. The authorities -do all they can to preserve them, but it appears to be inevitable, -though deplorable, that the native wild animals of Australia, charming -little inoffensive creatures, are becoming rarer every year, in spite -of large reserves or national parks, where everything is left untouched -in its wild state. Unfortunately some of the most interesting cannot -be kept in captivity. This applies, for instance, so we were told, -to the koala, or little tree-bear, and to the curious duck-billed -platypus, a little animal covered with a wiry brown fur, with the bill -of a bird, and something of the habits of our river otter. The gardens -possessed a one-eyed alligator that caught pigeons in its mouth with -astonishing dexterity, and swallowed them whole in two gulps; and -some fascinating cranes with beautiful vermilion legs, that danced -as gracefully as any ballerina. Our own visit to the gardens was -pleasantly concluded by tea, which an Australian lady was hospitably -dispensing to ourselves and some other English visitors. - -Tea is a most important feature of Australian life. Tea comes in with -the maid and hot water in the mornings, and tea is drunk at breakfast; -“Morning tea” is a settled social institution. We were invited to it -on several occasions, it is served at eleven o’clock. Tea next appears -at or after lunch. Afternoon tea is a matter of course everywhere; -but it comes in again at or after dinner, and is very often drunk the -last thing at night. One would think so much tea would undermine the -strongest constitution, but it is made very weak with a great deal of -milk. Australians themselves feel that their indulgence in tea-drinking -is rather excessive but they account for it by saying that “In the -bush you cannot get anything else to drink,” and neither seek nor offer -other explanation. - -It was at this Perth tea-party that we first saw the brown heavily -scented “boronia,” for which West Australia is famous. The tables were -decorated with that and the delicate pink Geraldstown wax flower. -Boronia has a small chocolate-coloured flower, yellow inside, and is so -sweet that its scent is overpowering in a room or on a dinner table. -The genus was named after an Italian botanist. There are many varieties -in Australia, which, to the uninstructed eye, do not in the least -resemble each other. _Boronia megastigma_, the West Australian variety, -is used for the manufacture of scent, and is cultivated for sale; it is -one of the most characteristic spring flowers. - -We were not long in discovering that Western Australia, whatever -course its future development may take, is at present a paradise for -the working-man. Nowhere else is life made so pleasant and easy for -him in such matters as housing and education; nowhere else are his -children given such facilities for making their way in the world in -their turn. To begin with, education is provided free of cost, from -the primary school to the University. In the primary schools boys are -given manual training, and girls are taught cooking and domestic -economy. Special facilities are provided by the Government to meet -the needs of scattered settlers in the bush remote from centres of -population; wherever it is possible to assure an average attendance of -even ten children within a radius of three miles, schools are already -established. The Education Act even takes into consideration the case -of isolated families, where the muster of children is less than ten; -the department pays £7 a year for each child on condition that the -parents find a suitable teacher, and will supplement this grant, so -that he may have a minimum of £30 a year over and above the cost of his -board and lodging.[2] In effect the Government pays part of the salary -of a private tutor. It can be easily imagined that the education grant -must be a very heavy one, in proportion to the population. It amounts, -in fact, to about £1 annually for every individual in the state. - -From the primary schools children are drafted into the secondary -schools, when they are able to profit by the advanced standard of -teaching. There are also technical schools, where trades are taught, -and a training college for teachers. - -We visited one of the intermediary schools, the Perth Modern School, -as it is called, at Leederville, a suburb between Perth and Cottesloe -Beach. We found a handsome red brick building, looking like a -Nonconformist college in one of our older Universities. In the large, -well-kept grounds there is room for football, tennis, hockey, and a -gymnasium is provided in a detached building. - -The school is admirably constructed for its purpose, the classrooms -opening out of a large central hall. We were unexpected and -unannounced. In the course of our researches in pursuit of the -headmaster we were impressed with the excellent discipline and tone of -a school in which the children’s attention was not to be distracted by -the presence of strangers glancing into their classrooms in passing. -The teachers, masters, and mistresses, all wore university gowns. -The headmaster, alert and enthusiastic, showed us over his spacious, -airy school-buildings, including the well-equipped laboratory and the -department of domestic economy. Western Australia does not neglect the -practical side of its children’s education, and here the girls are -taught dressmaking, millinery, and cooking. The dining-rooms of the -staff, and those pupils whose homes are at a distance, had the air of -a well-appointed restaurant, with its small tables daintily set out -with clean linen, and fresh flowers brought by the children. We noticed -among them what looked like a small edelweiss, the Australian “flannel -flower.” - -The period of education at these intermediate schools consists of a -four years’ course lasting from 12 to 16. A “Leaving Certificate” -on the completion of the four years’ course must be obtained by -examination to enable the student to pass into the University. Some -students are drafted into the Training College for Teachers, or, after -the four years’ course is finished, students may stay on at the school -to study special subjects. We were impressed with the appearance of the -children. They were healthy, well-to-do, and attractive; their manners -were frank and without self-consciousness. - -One of the older girls, who was deputed by the headmaster to show us -the way to the station, would have compared favourably with any English -schoolgirl of the same age. Her father had visited England, “and -you have no _sand_ in England,” she added, half incredulously, “and -father could not make them understand about the sand here.” She came -from up-country, and was able to tell us that two handsome large grey -and black birds with a singularly limpid note were “rain birds.” She -also pointed out to us two large castor-oil trees, and told us that -the magpies, predatory, knowing-looking birds, which are to be seen -everywhere in Australia, are called “break o’ day boys” in the country, -because, like our cocks, they call the neighbourhood. - -It is only quite recently that Western Australia has acquired its -University; it is in fact of such new foundation, that, like some -of Perth itself, it is still housed in temporary buildings. Its -professorial staff is appointed, and it confers degrees, but the -scene of its labours is at present in a number of classrooms beneath -a corrugated iron roof, opposite the charming gardens of Government -House--Australia is very good to its governors in the matter of houses -and gardens. But Perth is developing with great rapidity, and a -probable permanent site for the University is already talked of, on the -banks of the Swan River, in the National Reserve or King’s Park.[3] - -If working-men are liberally treated by the state as regards education -for their children, they are treated no less generously as regards -housing accommodation. - -One afternoon we visited, in company with the State Premier, some of -the houses the state builds for working-men. The bungalows were built -on the Western Australian plan on piles; one-storied verandahed houses -each in its own palisaded plot of ground about a quarter of an acre in -extent. Outhouses, including a washhouse, were at a little distance -from the main building. The houses were pretty and picturesque; they -were constructed of coloured “sand” bricks, made of cement and sand, -and had corrugated iron roofs. They vary in type, and the intending -purchaser can see the plans and make his own selection according to -his taste and means. Those we visited were situated on the pleasant -outskirts of Perth, with a view over the Swan River. We went over -several in the course of construction, and then made our way to a -street of occupied houses. We left the motor-car behind here, for the -roads were of soft sand like a sea beach. The sand was held together -by a low-growing plant, a kind of mesembryanthemum, locally known as -“pig’s face.” It has very thick, succulent leaves and an attractive -flower like a large primrose-coloured thistle. Sheep or cattle will -eat it, and it is almost independent of moisture. We visited some -new-comers who had lately taken one of the houses. The owner was a -member of the Legislative Council, and had recently left the goldfields -to come and live in Perth; for Western Australia holds that it pays -its legislators to legislate, and requires of them whole-hearted -devotion to the service of the state for their £300 a year salary. He -had already made his garden. The front lawn was sown with grass and -sanded over, and he was busied in making a vegetable garden in the -sand, in which early spring flowers were showing even then. - -Inside, the rooms were large and well furnished, the bedrooms opening -on to the broad, shady verandah that faced what would eventually be the -lawn. As we drove away the Premier pointed out a small wooden house in -a tiny plot of ground--that, he said, is all a man can do without state -aid for the same money. - -As to the financial part of the scheme, it is regulated on no principle -of extravagant philanthropy, but is conceived on a sound commercial -basis, to repay the Government the interest of 4½% on the capital -expended. The payments of the tenants are calculated on a basis of -5%, with a rebate of ½% on punctual payment. The land on which their -houses stand is inalienable, that is, at the end of ninety-nine years -it reverts to the state, and in the meantime the owner cannot dispose -of it except to the Government, who will take it back on a valuation, -allowing compensation on improvements, or making deductions from the -original cost on depreciations. To be eligible as a tenant a man’s -income must be under £400 a year, and he pays a small deposit. The -most expensive houses vary from £600 to £700. The tenant’s weekly -payments, which may be spread over a period of thirty years, eventually -make the house his own; but his payments may vary in accordance with -his means, and he can make his house his own at any point by paying -off the balance. No wonder that with such inducements to linger in -the neighbourhood of a town, men should shrink from the harder, more -vigorous life up-country. Yet it is “up-country” men that Australia -wants, to clear, sow, and till her rich, fertile soil; with enterprise -and energy to win certain fortune, and courage to face the initial -hardships and loneliness, which bring their own reward. - -With all her natural advantages Western Australia’s development is -only a matter of the last twenty years. Like most of the rest of the -continent, she has an inhospitable and forbidding coast. The Dutch -knew of the existence of a southern land or, “Terra Australis,” before -the end of the sixteenth century, and Dutch captains sailing from the -Cape to Java and the East Indies not infrequently found themselves -within sight of a desolate and unknown coast, which they gradually -charted, till it was mapped in outline from the Gulf of Carpentaria to -Cape Leeuwin. It was not, however, till nearly the end of the century -that the first Englishman landed in Australia, when Captain Dampier, -commanding the “Roebuck,” navigated the western and north-western -coastline in 1699, and was not encouraged by what he saw there. - -Sailing from the Downs in January with fifty men, and twenty months’ -provisions, Dampier sighted the low, even shores of Australia in August -of the same year, and entered Shark’s Bay, as he called it. He and his -men went ashore, but sought in vain for water on that waterless coast, -digging wells, but to no purpose. A hundred years later, in 1803, the -continent was circumnavigated by Matthew Flinders, who suggested that -“Australia” should be substituted for the Dutch name of New Holland. - -Still nearly another century passed away before Western Australia begun -to grow and prosper. In 1826 Major Lockyer was sent from Sydney, with -troops and a party of convicts, to occupy King George’s Sound on the -south coast, where the Port of Albany stands to-day, and a few years -later the Swan River Settlement was formed in the neighbourhood of -Fremantle and Perth; but these first beginnings of the colony were -unpropitious, and it languished till the discovery of gold brought the -first great influx of population, and with it the consequent demand -for agricultural produce, which at last gave an impetus to Western -Australian development. - -Slowly the outside world began to realise the immense possibilities -of this great territory, which occupies about one-third of the whole -continent, and has an area eighteen times that of England and Wales. -Within its fertile and beautiful interior, stretching from the -temperate to tropical zones, were found districts well fitted for -raising cattle and sheep, for agriculture, and fruit-growing and the -cultivation of vines. Vast primeval forests of valuable timber cover -many square miles, while the discovery of coal and other minerals -accompanied that of gold. Western Australia is no less fortunate in -its climate than in its natural resources: over the greater part of -the state it is equable and pleasant without violent extremes. The dry -season lasts into April; the greater part of the rainfall, which varies -in different districts of the state from 40 to 10 inches, taking place -between May and September. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -IN THE BUSH - - -One great source of wealth to Western Australia are the karri forests, -covering thousands of square miles. Karri is a kind of eucalyptus -closely allied to the better-known jarrah, one of the hardest woods -in existence. It has been used at home to pave the streets of London. -In all but one respect karri is as good as jarrah, its only point of -inferiority is that it cannot be employed for underground purposes, -while jarrah can be left under water for twenty years without being any -the worse for it. Karri has to be specially prepared--“powellised” is -the technical term--and that is an expensive process. Otherwise it is -almost impossible to tell the two woods apart, except by the ash after -burning. - -Western Australia asserts that its karri trees are the tallest in the -world, though Victorians make the same claim for the giant gums of -Gippsland. So far these Gippsland trees have been proved to be the -tallest in Australia. The official measurements are: height, 326 feet -1 inch; girth, 25 feet 7 inches; measured six feet from the ground.[4] -Their dimensions are surpassed by the Californian redwood, which have -been found attaining a height of 340 feet; but whatever the actual -measurements, the effect of the immense height of the Australian -trees is everywhere imposing enough to warrant competitive statements -concerning it. - -Remote from all habitation, the difficulties in the way of felling -and transporting the karri are very great, and the Western Australian -Government have in consequence established some state sawmills about -two hundred miles up-country, in the heart of the primeval, uncleared -forest. It is the nucleus of a new township called Big Brook. Australia -has not shown herself altogether felicitous in her nomenclature, for -generally it is neither original nor descriptive, except where native -names have been adopted, which, if not euphonious, have a meaning. - -We had the good fortune to be in Perth on the occasion of an official -visit organised by the Government. Australian trains always run at -night, and so avoid much tedium and loss of time. After an early -dinner, we started from Perth at 7.30 for Big Brook in a special train. - -The line, like all Western Australian railways, was laid on a narrow -gauge, with the result that the carriages jolted and rocked like a -small boat in a storm. An odd little characteristic feature of West -Australian travelling is that at the end of each carriage is suspended -a canvas water-bag, with a cup attached to it. They are also seen -hanging in verandahs, impressing on the stranger that he is in a dry -and thirsty land, where water is always precious. - -One of the advantages of the Western Australian climate is that -the nights are cool, though the spring sunshine was intensely hot. -Whoever organised this Government visit to the sawmills had a very -high standard of comfort, for from first to last it was most admirably -arranged. We were a small but very pleasant little party, and met and -talked in the friendly Australian way, in each other’s compartments. -About nine o’clock a light supper was brought round, and we soon after -went to bed and fitfully to sleep under a mountain of rugs. Whenever -the train stopped there was a loud chorus of frogs from unseen swamps. - -We were called next morning by the conductor bringing us tea, and -later, while we were dressing, he came round with fruit. We woke to -find ourselves already in the depths of the forest among the soaring -white trunks of the karri, the early sun tinging their smooth trunks -with red. The line had been recently made, and the sleeping cars were -very heavy, so we proceeded slowly. There was very little sign of life; -we could almost feel the great deep silence of the forest, moist, and -fresh, and cold, in the frost of early morning, for it lies 400 feet -above the sea level, and the temperature was very different from that -of the dry sandy plains of Perth. At long intervals solitary wooden -houses stood in little clearings, with grave-eyed children before the -doorway, shading their eyes to watch the unfamiliar passage of a big -train. More seldom we came upon a scattered village of tents, roughly -put up like a gipsy encampment, pitched among the damp undergrowth. -There was something pathetic in the deep isolation of these pioneers, -though the near neighbourhood of the railway made their lives almost -metropolitan, compared with those of many Australian settlers. - -As we drew nearer to our journey’s end, we passed an occasional small -clearing, where the yellow sandy soil had already been planted with -apple trees for the fruit growing, which is one of the industries -of the future for Western Australia; or patches of forest had been -ringbarked,[5] and left to die, after the cheap but wasteful method -of clearing in use. Visitors to Australia cannot help being impressed -with the waste of timber, which seems appalling to an inhabitant of -an over-populated northern country, where everything grows slowly, -and every inch of wood has its economic value. They are too ready to -rush into print, or public pronouncements, on a subject of which only -prolonged residence in the country, and a more than superficial study -of its economic problems, could enable them to judge. In the first -place the cost of transport is prohibitive, or means of transport may -even be non-existent; and secondly, in a new country time is money. -Great tracts of forest all over Australia are ringbarked and left to -rot. In the Government sawmills at Big Brook, the debris of the great -karri trees is lost. There is wholesale waste, wholesale destruction -of timber going on in Australia, the least intelligent observer -cannot fail to mark it, but time is literally money in Australia. “We -can’t afford to wait,” said one of the leading statesmen of Western -Australia, commenting on the waste of timber at Big Brook. “We -sacrifice five pounds to gain twenty,” said one of the shrewdest and -best-informed officials of Victoria. - -By the common process of ringbarking, dead trees are left standing -over great areas of forest land, vast white skeleton armies, a strange -and desolate sight. If the land is to be used for arable purposes, -the trees have to be removed; but for pasture, when the trees are -dead, and can no longer deprive the grass of nourishment and moisture, -they remain standing for years, till in time with the process of -the seasons, and the attacks of insects, the hard wood decays and -crumbles away. Thus the destruction of forests goes on in order to -provide timber for building; for fencing, mining, fuel, as well as -for commercial purposes of export, or to improve, or create, arable -or pasture land. In Western Australia besides, green timber is cut -for fuel, in the neighbourhood of the goldfields, because of the -scarcity of coal, but natural reafforestation is usually allowed to -proceed. However, when all these necessities are admitted, there has -been a deplorable waste of timber, the want of which is already felt -in settled districts; and it is hoped that further wanton destruction -will be prevented, and replanting will be undertaken by all the states. -Official opinion is becoming alive to the importance of the question -to the future history of Australia. Victoria and New South Wales are -doing some planting, but South Australia is the only state in which -forest plantation is being carried on on a large scale.[6] - -The railway ended abruptly in a large clearing in the forest about -fifteen miles from the coast and two hundred miles from Perth. The -air was that of a keen autumn morning, and we climbed down from our -carriages, for there was of course no platform, feeling stiff and -chilly, to find breakfast waiting for us in a big wooden hall, with a -great fire blazing in the kitchen, which opened out of it, the most -cheering and comfortable sight in the wilderness. These halls are a -feature of backwood settlements in Australia; they are utilised for -all social and business purposes, and are the common meeting ground of -the community. In this instance the landlord leased the building from -the state, and provided meals for the men employed in the sawmills. -He invited us to inspect his pleasant kitchen, the floor sanded with -sweet-smelling, deep-red sawdust. At the back he was putting up -bedrooms in small detached one-storied wooden buildings. Big Brook with -its keen, pure air, the sweet, clean scent of the fresh-sawn wood, and -all round, the illimitable forest, mysterious and impenetrable, would -be an ideal resting-place, if anyone in Australia were ever over-worked. - -But meanwhile breakfast was waiting for us, a never-to-be-forgotten -breakfast of good coffee, hot rolls, porridge, new-laid eggs, and -chops the tenderest in the world, the product of the local sheep. Fig -jam, with which it concluded, was excellent. Figs grow readily in -Western Australia, and produce abundant crops of fruit. They were very -noticeable at this time of year, as they were the only deciduous tree. - -After breakfast we visited the whole settlement, which of course was -built entirely of wood. In the school, in a bright, cheerful classroom, -a master was conducting the tiny classes of well-dressed, rosy-cheeked -children. Opposite the school was a billiard-room, where the men could -meet in the evenings; there was also a bank, and a post office. We were -impressed by the splendid physique of the men; they were as agile as -cats, muscular and supple; and these qualities were necessary, for the -work is very dangerous from the moment the axe is laid to the root of -the tree. The logs are of immense weight, they bound and crash down the -incline to the back of the mill, when they are unloaded from the truck, -and fly asunder with great force when they are sawn. The log, or trunk -of the tree is first sawn in two longitudinally, and is then again -cut into smaller and smaller slices, till it becomes planks. The saws -are graduated, becoming more and more fine. The task of keeping them -true is an accomplishment of great delicacy, it is one man’s work; he -corrects deviations in the metal with a hammer, judging them entirely -by eye. - -In the neighbourhood of the sawmill all the air is filled with flying -sawdust, and the sweet scent of the freshly sawn wood. The dust falls -to the ground in deep red masses, the flying chips look like scraps -of raw meat, but the rich colour fades when they dry. The process of -preparing the karri wood for use is at present a very expensive one. -The planks have to be stewed in order to preserve them. They are put -for this purpose into immense tanks of molasses, and left seething -there to harden. It is hoped that scientific experiment may evolve -a less costly method. After going over the mills we were taken up a -little railway line into the forest to see a tree felled. We sat on -benches on trucks behind the engine, which carried a supply of wood -for its boiler, for the cost of bringing coal up to Big Brook would be -quite prohibitive. Even the boilers that work the mills are fed with -wood. The engine was run by a magnificent-looking old stoker with a -white beard and the air of a patriarch. When we scrambled off the -trucks on to the soft, rich earth of the forest, we had to wait to let -a bullock team go by, twenty-four of them pulling one log with a big -metal “shoe” on the end to prevent its digging into the ground. The -passage left a deep slide in the red earth. The bullocks are bound -together in twos by very uncomfortable-looking, heavy wooden yokes, and -their progress is punctuated by frightful yells and cracking of whips -from the drivers. - -[Illustration: FELLING KARRI.] - -We had not far to walk; the sun was now almost oppressively hot, and -the steamy atmosphere was full of the rich, moist smell of the damp -earth and the undergrowth. The woodcutters, who fell these immense -trees, are so skilled that they can gauge the exact spot on which they -will fall to within a few inches; such accuracy is a matter of life and -death in tree-felling. When we arrived on the scene the great trunk -of the karri was already sawn through by two men working on a kind of -little platform erected round it. For an instant the slim, white tree -tottered, while we held our breath, then it began to fall slowly, at -first with a crackling sound; finally it came crashing and tearing its -way among the neighbouring trees, followed by a shower of leaves; there -was a sound as of the firing of a big gun; all the earth trembled; it -seemed, as if the whole vast silence of the forest was shaken. A second -tree that we saw felled measured one hundred and fifty-eight feet to -the first fork. - -The woodcutters are paid by the load that the bullocks draw, the bare -trunk of the tree when its branches have been lopped off. We were told -that they can make as much as £6 a week. The cost of living does not -amount to much more than 25s. a week for a single man, as he can board -sumptuously at the Hall for 22s., and the price of lodgings is about -1s. 6d. This leaves a considerable surplus, and in Big Brook there is -no means of spending money. In consequence, men occasionally go off to -the nearest town when they have amassed a small capital, and stay there -till it is all spent, and they have nothing to show for it. They work -eight hours a day, and everything is regulated by contract. They are of -various nationalities, but all of magnificent physique. While we were -waiting to remount our railway trucks, a team of forty-eight bullocks -passed, dragging one enormous log of twenty tons weight, the drivers -cracking their long whips, screaming and leaping into the air in a -frenzy of inarticulate excitement that somehow conveyed a meaning to -the bullocks. Soon after we began the return journey we passed through -a belt of jarrah, the still harder kind of eucalyptus that we had only -seen in the form of piles; the trunks were reddish instead of white -like the karri. - -We saw also for the first time a common feature of the Western -Australian bush, the curious “Black Boys,” called in Queensland “grass -trees.” They look like a knotted dead trunk with bulrushes growing on -the top in thick bunches. Sometimes the trunk is forked, and there are -a pair of odd bushy heads on one black misshapen trunk. - -The bush in this part of Australia has little diversity. The keen -air of the early morning had made us very hungry, in spite of so -substantial a breakfast, and we were not sorry to reach Jarraduck, -the settlement in the forest where lunch was waiting in another large -wooden hall. The long tables were decorated with masses of golden -wattle and purple kennedya. Lunches of this kind, and we sampled very -many, are always just alike, varying only with the resources of the -neighbourhoods,--lots of flowers and a warm welcome, plates of assorted -cold meats, of which turkey is an almost inevitable ingredient; -elaborate sweets, of which one is always an excellent trifle, and fruit -of the district, in this case the small, sweet, thick-skinned local -orange. - -The refined-looking, sweet-faced landlady seemed inappropriate to -the rough surroundings. “We shall just stay here till we can better -ourselves,” she explained. A few more hours brought us out of the -forest, there were more clearings, homesteads became more frequent, -the red soil was freshly ploughed for oats, orchards began to take -the place of the eucalyptus, with apple trees not yet in blossom, -and orange and lemon trees covered with fruit. The country became -hilly, and half-castes were at work in the fields, shock-headed, and -unintelligent-looking. We had left the bush behind, and were now in the -region of an older settlement, the fruit-growing district of Western -Australia. Fruit-growing is becoming one of the most important factors -of Western Australian industry, and it is hoped that it will prove an -even greater source of prosperity, because a more permanent one, than -the gold that cannot last for ever. The climate, and much of the soil -in the South-West are admirably adapted for all kinds of fruit-growing. -The apples are excellent, so are the oranges, pears, plums, apricots, -and peaches, strawberries and gooseberries, all of which are grown -successfully. Fruit-growers, who have taken care in selecting a holding -where the soil and conditions are favourable for their crops, have not -long to wait before reaping their profits, as six-year-old apple trees -have been known to produce from £50 to £60 an acre. It is important -also to select a fruit for growing that will travel and keep. In 1913 -there were still more than 88,000 acres suitable for the cultivation of -fruit or vine-growing, subdivided into convenient blocks and waiting -for selectors. - -Bridgetown is the centre of the fruit-growing district of Western -Australia. Motor-cars were waiting to show us the neighbourhood, -and we started in the golden light of the late afternoon sun to see -something of the country. It was our first experience of Australian -motorists. To enjoy motoring in Australia one must have an adventurous -disposition. Except in the neighbourhood of large towns the roads are -very rough; indeed, the long droughts make it impossible that they -should be otherwise. The soft, dry soil crumbles away, the light dust -is stirred up by every passing vehicle, leaving deep ruts, so that the -same road is often on different levels, and a car runs along at a sharp -angle, with one wheel poised on the edge of a rut, and the other in a -hollow. Practised drivers achieve this difficult accomplishment with -much skill and the minimum of jolting, but even so, the car often takes -flying leaps. So we started on an apparently breakneck career, holding -tight on to the sides of the motor, and dashed up and down hills that -an English motorist would have hesitated to look at, red and rutty as -a Devonshire lane in winter. We never knew the name of that kindly -motorist, who so gallantly risked his own and our lives, not to mention -his machine, in showing us as much as possible of the surrounding -country before the light faded. He was one of the many, many unknown -friends who did us some passing kindness on our rapid journey, leaving -only a warm memory behind it. Hail and farewell to each and all of them! - -The country-side was very beautiful, more English, and less -unfamiliar-looking, than anything we had yet seen, with steeply -undulating hills and valleys, springing young green crops, and -orchards, with apple trees whitened against some parasitical scab, or -oranges and lemons. The comfortable homesteads had a more finished -and abiding air than anything we had yet seen; for Bridgetown, as our -host explained to us, “is a very old settlement--sixty years old!” It -even possessed a tiny stone church, which gave it a pleasantly homely -and established air. We crossed the beautiful Blackwood river by a -picturesque wooden bridge where the river flows through a deep gorge -up which black and white wild duck were sailing. In the fading glow of -the sunset the country looked still more English, for the groups -of gum trees that crowned the hills were indistinguishable, and the -evening light seemed to diffuse an atmosphere of calm contentment over -the thriving country-side, as of a day’s work well done. We ran through -the little scattered township, to the Freemason’s Hotel, at which our -friend the motorist deposited us, and vanished into the dusk. - -[Illustration: OXEN HARNESSED TO A LOG AT BIG BROOK.] - -As we went in out of the darkness one of our fellow-travellers brought -us a specimen of the pretty, curious “kangaroo paw,” a flower that -looks as if it had been cut out of bright red and green moss, whose -buds take the exact shape of a kangaroo’s little foot. After dinner -we strolled along the broad, silent country road, leading out into -the deep stillness beyond, broken only by the barking of the village -dogs, and the croaking of unseen frogs. The men of the neighbourhood -loitered in the light of the shop windows, kindly looking and highly -curious. We met at Bridgetown a Government official at the head of the -Fruit-growing Department. He told us that this corner of South-Western -Australia, a district as large as the state of Victoria, was the finest -soil for fruit-growing in the whole state. The industry was of very -recent growth, the first trial shipment was only made ten years ago, -but since 1907 the trade had been established upon a commercial basis, -and the export of apples was greatly increasing every year in quantity. - -Western Australia has also successfully exported grapes, but -unfortunately the manufacture of wine is now on the decline. A very -delicate and pleasant chablis is produced there. We tasted two kinds, -a pale, and a warmly coloured golden chablis. They compared favourably -with the light wines of Italy, and though like them, they would -probably lose all their character and flavour after being fortified for -export, they could be grown for home consumption. The explanation of -the decline given to us at Bridgetown was that since Federation, and -the abolition of inter-state customs, growers cannot afford to mature -their wines sufficiently to compete with the longer established trade -of the Eastern states. It is hoped that raisins and currants may be -produced, and the climate is also suitable for the growth of olives; -the evergreen trees would serve the further purpose of affording -shade for the cattle. Our return journey was made successfully and -uneventfully, and we slept soundly, only awaking occasionally, to find -ourselves being shot to and fro like shuttles in a spinning mill; and -arrived home to breakfast at Cottesloe Beach. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -AGRICULTURE AND GOLD - - -It was the discovery of gold in West Australia that gave the first -real impetus to the development of the state. In the earlier half of -the nineteenth century the country was urgently in need of labour, and -from 1843 onwards was glad to supply the deficiency by the importation -of convicts. The convict system “assigned” people, as it was called, -to the settlers to live upon their property and perform compulsory -labour for them; the residue worked in “road gangs” or in Government -penal settlements. All the other states, as they grew and prospered, -began to resent the dumping on their shores of the least desirable -element of the population from home. As early as 1837 a Parliamentary -Committee was appointed to inquire into the whole question, both from -the point of view of the unhappy convicts and their Australian hosts, -and recommended that the practice should cease. It was, however, too -convenient a solution of a difficulty to be readily relinquished by -the home authorities. It continued in a modified form till the Eastern -states protested so vigorously and actively, that soon after 1848 the -home Government, not without reluctance, were obliged to limit the -importation of convicts to Van Diemen’s Land, as Tasmania was then -called, and Western Australia. - -The fact that Western Australia was glad to utilise this forced labour, -and continued to do so, for many years later, provoked deep resentment -in the Eastern states; it was seriously suggested that Western -Australia should be boycotted by the other colonies. It was not till -1868 that transportation was finally abolished, and by that time the -colony was firmly established. - -So far the most important product of Western Australia has been her -mineral wealth. As early as 1842 mining operations were begun with the -discovery of lead and copper. Minerals form three-fourths of the value -of all the exports by the state since 1900, and nearly a third of the -whole mineral produce of the continent from the same date. The chief -mineral has of course been gold. It was discovered in the north at -Kimberley in 1882, and the announcement of the discovery brought many -fortune seekers whose adventure ended in disappointment, for Kimberley -has not produced any startling results. The real history of mining -in Western Australia did not, however, begin till 1892. It was in the -early nineties that the gold rush took place to the mining centre of -Coolgardie, and it is the East Coolgardie goldfield which includes the -mining centre of Kalgoorlie, that has produced more than half of the -whole value of the mineral products of the state. The total produce was -calculated up to the end of 1912 at more than £113,000,000, and of this -total more than 54% was produced by the East Coolgardie goldfield.[7] -The principal part of it came from the famous group of mines which -form the “Golden Mile” at Kalgoorlie. Much has been written about -the goldfields of Western Australia, and the gold rush of the early -nineties. Now Coolgardie has burnt itself out, is a dead city, though -mining is still carried on at Kalgoorlie. When gold was discovered -there was no water within three hundred miles of Coolgardie, and an -engineer of rare gifts and indomitable enterprise, conceived a scheme -for conveying water from the hills round Perth the three hundred odd -miles through the intervening almost desert plains. His name was C. Y. -O’Connor, and he is also responsible for the artificially constructed -harbour at Fremantle. - -He got his water from the Darling Range, the low wooded hills that -make such a charming background to the Swan River, utilising a stream -in the hills to form a great dam or weir. Mundaring Weir is one of -the sights of Perth, not merely as a triumph of engineering, but for -its beautiful scenery. We started early in the afternoon one hot day -on the pretty little journey up to the granite slopes of the Darling -Range. The intervening country is almost populous, and very busy. The -line runs through Midland Junction, where the rolling stock for Western -Australia is constructed, and past a blank stretch of brickfields. The -granite begins to crop out on the grassy slopes of the hills as the -train approaches Mundaring. The neighbourhood is very fertile, with -large vineyards, and groves of orange trees covered with fruit. The -river, which forms the weir, had the appearance of a large lake lying -between steep, wooded banks, in the hot afternoon sun. It was faintly -reminiscent of Coniston, except that a large area of the trees on the -distant hills had been ringbarked to increase the water supply. They -stood a melancholy sentinel company on the hills they had once clothed, -tossing twisted, white arms to Heaven in mute appeal. The air was heavy -with the scent of wattle flashing golden among the sombre grey of the -other trees. The distant rattle of frogs in some backwater below, and -the occasional sharp trill of a bird were the only sounds to break the -stillness. We descended the rocky bank to get a better view of the -great dam. Its concrete walls are so sloped that the falling water does -not leave them at any point, and so an impact that would wear out the -wall is avoided. - -In the course of its construction a large fissure was discovered in the -bed of the river, which had to be filled in with cement. We visited -the power-house, where the great pumps are busy day and night sending -water to the goldfields. It took eleven days from the time the first -trickle of water left Mundaring Weir for it to reach Coolgardie. -While the work was nearing its completion, its successful achievement -seemed incredible to the outside world. Unfortunately the inventor of -this great experiment, Mr. C. Y. O’Connor, died just too soon to know -that the water from Mundaring Weir had covered the three hundred odd -miles to the goldfields. A statue of Western Australia’s famous state -engineer stands on a hill above the scene of his greatest achievement. -The execution of this scheme, as well as that of the harbour at -Fremantle, were largely due to the influence and interest of Sir John -Forrest, first Premier of Western Australia, to whose enlightened -views and active patriotism the state has owed much. - -We had tea at a hotel, whose verandah overlooked woods falling steeply -away at the back. It was a charming little place, and we should have -liked to stay there, forgetting that in Australia there is no soft, -lingering twilight, but dusk follows immediately, darkness very -swiftly, on the setting of the sun. Sometimes there is an afterglow, -a luminous orange light suffuses the darkness, and the heavy masses -of gum trees stand out inky black on the horizon. Such an afterglow -illuminated our return journey from Mundaring Weir to Perth. - -Apart from its natural beauty and engineering achievement, Mundaring -Weir, or at least its neighbourhood, has a peculiar interest for the -zoologist. It is the home of a certain little black animal. To the -uninitiated its appearance is something between that of a small black -slug and a caterpillar, but to the scientific man it is of paramount -importance, because its legs are not real legs. Peripatus is its name, -and it lives under stones. Only recently, however, the secluded and -innocent life of the unfortunate peripatus has been rudely interrupted, -and he was in fact well-nigh exterminated by the visit to Perth of a -learned society all in search of specimens. So that henceforth the -peripatus will be more esteemed than ever in the scientific world. - -We said it was the gold rush that created, or at least accelerated -the agricultural development of Western Australia. The influx of -population, with the direct aim of gold-digging, brought in its train -a dependent and attendant crowd of settlers to minister to its needs -by the provision of agricultural produce, meat, flour, butter, and -vegetables. Moreover, many of those who had come out to seek gold in -the mines, sought it instead in the fruits of the earth, in grain, and -in hay, in fruit and corn-growing. In the extreme north, known as the -Kimberley country, cattle are raised; south of that, in the south-west -pastoral district, sheep are the principal stock. The wheat belt, as -it is called, is a strip of country stretching about five hundred -miles from the Murchison River in the north, to the south coast east -of Albany. But the limits of the wheat-growing area cannot at present -be defined, the riverless districts of Australia are not desert in the -sense that the Sahara is a desert; strips throughout the so-called -desert are pastoral country on which grass will grow, supporting a -more or less sparse vegetation. After rain the desert is clothed with -vegetation, and the permanent plants depend on small local supplies of -subterranean water. But there is besides a vast artesian storage. These -so-called desert areas are shrinking every year, and the “wheat-line” -is encroaching upon and absorbing them as improved methods of -agriculture prevail. Thus at present farmers “are getting remunerative -crops from regions of low rainfall and light sandy soil, which would -have been looked upon as chimerical a decade ago.”[8] - -The land laws in Western Australia are framed on easy terms for the -settler. The holdings are limited to two thousand acres of agricultural -land, including a homestead farm, or the equivalent of five thousand -acres in grazing land, but the husband or wife of the holder may select -an additional thousand acres of agricultural land, or two thousand -five hundred acres of grazing land. A homestead farm of 160 acres can -be taken up by new settlers on payment of about £9 in fees, with an -additional 30s. for a Crown grant at the end of seven years. Larger -grants may be had at from 10s. an acre, payable in twenty years without -interest. Certain conditions attach to land purchase. The holder of a -homestead farm of 160 acres, for instance, must reside there for six -months in each of the first five years; he must expend four shillings -an acre within the first two years, and a total of fourteen -shillings an acre in seven years, of which total only £30 is allowed -to be deducted in value for the cost of his house. Half the land must -be fenced within five years, the whole within seven years. One hundred -to a thousand acres of “Conditional Purchase Land,” at from 10s. an -acre, may be taken up. It is paid for in forty half-yearly instalments, -which, during the first three years, need not exceed 3d. an acre. -Conditions of residence, relating to improvements and fencing are, of -course, attached to these holdings. Conditional purchase by direct -payment is made on equally easy terms. - -[Illustration: ORCHARD AND HOMESTEAD AT BRIDGETOWN.] - -We spent a Sunday in Perth, which was devoted partly to attending -the cathedral service, and partly to visiting a native compound -some distance away. Perth appeared to be a church-going place, -and its people, Prayer Book in hand, and in their Sunday clothes, -were setting off to their various places of worship, of which the -neighbourhood affords a great variety. The service in the cathedral -was well attended, and was conducted with that dignified simplicity -characteristic of the best traditions of English church worship; and -the familiar words of the liturgy seemed more deeply filled with -meaning in this far-off country. The singing of the choir was an -admirable performance, and would compare favourably with that of most -English churches. - -After the service we were to lunch with the State Premier, and his -car was waiting for us. The chauffeur was not the uniformed and -correct personage, who drives our cars at home, but, as befits a -democratic country, a genial and friendly soul, who having bade us -welcome to the car, whirled us up to Mount Lawley, throwing occasional -information at us over his shoulder. Mount Lawley is a pleasant suburb -of Perth, if one can talk of suburbs where all is suburban; it lies -upon the slopes of the Swan River, and commands an inspiriting view -of the city, spreading out far and wide over its hills in vigorous -new growth. This Australian household in which we were guests had a -charmingly patriarchal atmosphere, for three generations sat at table: -a delightful, picturesque old couple, who had come out to Australia in -those hard and grinding early days, before a colonist had his bread -buttered, and his house built for him immediately on his arrival. - -It was on this occasion that we saw for the first time those -formidable, but insignificant-looking Australian pests, the white -ant. We had gone out to see our host’s collection of wallabies, -large, brown, rat-like creatures, with the hind legs of a rabbit, -and we expressed a wish to see also the insect that could eat -everything except iron and jarrah wood. Australians cannot bear to -disappoint a guest. They would regard it as a breach of hospitality, -and an exhaustive search was made at once, till some white ants were -discovered under a wooden tub of plants--tiny white specks hurrying -away from the light. - -The road to the Native Compound, for which we started after lunch, led -through the King’s Park or Government Reserve. Near all large townships -the Government has wisely set apart a tract of country to remain public -property. These are not parks in our sense of the word, for they are -not laid out in trim lawns and flowerbeds, or at least only a small -fraction of them; but the bush is left in its wild state, a sanctuary -for birds and animals. In the King’s Park red carriage drives lead -through the bush, at one point giving place to lawns and flowering -trees, and commanding a fine view of the Swan River and of Perth, -whose extent we for the first time realised. We were impressed by the -prosperous air of the crowds, whom the fine warm Sunday afternoon had -brought out; there were none among them who did not look well-to-do. -But our afternoon was only beginning. The Native Compound lay in the -direction of Guildford, a village about ten miles off, a settlement -of some antiquity compared to Perth. The way out into the country was -crowded with innumerable buggies taking whole families for an airing, -and a haze of red dust hung over the road. - -We passed the race-course, as indispensable to an Australian town -as the post office, and the football ground, where we paused for a -moment to look on at a vigorous match between “the jockeys” and the -“bread-carriers.” Farther on people were playing on a newly laid-out -golf-course, driving off from tees on which the unfailing kerosene -tin did duty for sand-boxes, though one would hardly have thought -it necessary to collect sand in boxes in Western Australia. Turning -up a narrow, muddy road, we passed a lot of small nursery gardens, -“Chinamen’s gardens,” with the Chinamen busy in them, but the activity -of the Chinaman in Australia is hardly more popular than that of the -white ant. We ploughed and splashed our ways along this side track, for -the road was not made, till it ended abruptly in a gate. Now inured to -the methods of the Australian motorist, we almost expected the car to -take the gate in its stride, but having opened it, we ran up the side -of a grassy bank on to a sort of plateau, girdled by the bush, with -what looked like a very low-class gipsy encampment in one corner, -not aristocratic gipsies with vans, but dirty little round tents -like those that were formerly dotted about the banks of the Thames, -near London, in haymaking time, but which have vanished before a too -inquisitorial County Council. - -[Illustration: THE PREMIER OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA.] - -This was the native camp we had come to see; it had been a -camping-ground for the blacks from time immemorial, and the present -owner of the estate leaves it free to those, whose camping-ground was -formerly the whole vast continent. There are not very many natives -in Australia now; it is supposed by some that they were never very -numerous, that the struggle for existence on those arid plains and -waterless hills was too severe for these hardy nomads. Be that as -it may, they are dwindling, and in contact with the whites they -lose the primitive virtues they possess. The natives we saw at the -camping-ground near Perth certainly did not appear to have primitive, -or any other virtues. They were, it is true, principally half-breeds, -and whether regarded from the physiological or moral point of view, -they were a depressing spectacle. They were provided with Government -blankets, instead of kangaroo skins, and some form of a mission was -singing hymns for their edification; but both men and women were a -miserable, degenerate, apathetic looking crew. They talked English -with a cockney accent. The strange mob of yapping, small dogs of -indistinguishable breeds were the only thing that evinced much vitality. - -There were, however, among them a few full-blooded blacks. One of -these, a shrewd-looking old woman with a grizzled mop of hair, told -us that when she was a baby, “the white people took me, but I lay -in the wood and listened to my people talking till I learnt their -language; then I ran away and went back to them.” We were anxious for -an exhibition of throwing the boomerang, or “kyle,” as they call it, -that curved stick, which, apparently missing its aim, describes an arc -and returns to the hand that threw it. The half-castes have lost the -art both of throwing and carving the kyle, and are too indolent to -achieve either, but an old native stepped out from among them to show -us how it was done. He had thick black hair, and his bright dark eyes -gleamed in his flat, glistening, ebony face. It was very curious to -watch him standing there turning his head about, sniffing and feeling -the direction of the wind, and at last he threw the kyle, spinning, -circling, returning, many times, while we watched him fascinated, and -the motley crowd of half-breeds looked on too at the art they had no -skill to practise. They have even lost the art of making fire with -the hard fruit of the banksia, “mungite” is the native name for it. -“Never go before a black,” they say in Western Australia; they can’t -be trusted, apparently, not so much from their malevolence as a sort -of light-hearted instinct of destruction. For instance, seeing a man -standing by the wall of a small shed at a little distance from the -camp, one of the blacks playfully let fly at him with a boomerang. He -fortunately missed the man’s leg, but made a hole in the building. - -We left the camp, for there appeared a pretty little English girl, -who, having heard that there were visitors to the compound, had been -sent by her mother to ask them to tea in the hospitable Australian -fashion; so following a grassy track, we came to our great surprise -upon a dignified old country house on a wooded promontory overlooking -a higher reach of the Swan River. The owners of this beautiful estate -belonged to one of the “Seven Families” of Western Australia; that is, -they were descended from Australian grandparents on both sides. In -Australia one says, “My grandmother came over in 1830,” as we should -say in England, we came over with the Conqueror; for 1830 is in the -West, at all events, the beginning of Australian civilised history, -and those early settlers had a heroic struggle, and had to face every -sort of hardship, hunger, and the want of any kind of comfort, in a -way that settlers of to-day, even those who venture upon the strenuous -life of the backwoods, can never experience. The details of the lives -of these pioneers would form an extraordinarily interesting chapter in -Australian history, and, as was the fashion at that time, they beguiled -their loneliness with keeping diaries, a most valuable fashion to the -historian, for even the dullest chronicler unconsciously throws light -on manners and customs of the day, commonplaces to him, that the next -generation has forgotten. But invaluable as these old diaries would be, -they have unfortunately been in most cases destroyed. - -Our hostess told us regretfully of several instances she had known of -this being done by very old people. They were very small communities -in those days, the life was rough and wild, and there was no public -opinion to control it, and, for that very reason, these intimate -records would have been all the more valuable and curious. As we sat -at tea in the charming drawing-room, with something of an old-world -atmosphere, somebody commented to our hostess on the extremely -difficult approach. Yes, she said, matter-of-factly, I prefer to have -no road to the house, it keeps “sundowners” away. The sundowner is -the Australian tramp; he arrives at nightfall and demands food and -lodging; if he does not get it, the householder pays the penalty in -missing poultry, or burnt ricks. Of course he only extorts this toll -in lonely places; but what a delightful career for a man of indolent -habits, and sufficient obtuseness of feeling, to wander through that -beautiful country, where the sun always seems to shine, sure, if not of -a welcome, of supper, bed, and breakfast, where he would. - -The golden light of the setting sun was flooding the river and the -wooded hills, when we came away, our host and hostess pointing out to -us sadly a noble English oak tree on their lawn, that the white ants -had riddled through and through, reducing it to touchwood. We hurried -back, entering once more, as we neared Perth among a crowd of returning -cars, buggies, and bicycles, a haze of its soft red dust, while from -its hills the city itself was wrapped in a mysterious dull grey -twilight. - -On one of our last days at Perth we paid a visit to the Parliament -House. Only the back is finished, and is impressive in its simplicity -of white freestone columns. The designs for the front are very -effective, the interior simple and well proportioned. While as for the -Upper House it is as luxurious as the council chamber of a medieval -Dutch town hall. We observe in passing that they provide remarkably -agreeable hot buttered toast there. - -Our host on this occasion was an ex-Minister of Education, from whom -we learned many interesting facts about the social and economic -development of Western Australia. He was especially enthusiastic on the -importance and good results of cadet training, which he had done much -to promote. In the case of schoolboys of twelve to fourteen years old -it consists mainly of physical training calculated to produce better -development. This training carried out by the school teachers is given -for not less than fifteen minutes a day, the boys learn marching, -drill, and either first aid, swimming, or miniature rifle-shooting. -Teachers are trained for the purpose of giving this special education -in Government Schools of Instruction, where certificates of proficiency -are conferred; but the whole subject of the complete and admirable -system of Australian military training is dealt with in another chapter. - -Soon after our arrival we were overtaken by rumours of European war, -almost incredible, except that Europe seemed so remote. Then came the -news that Germany had declared war on Russia and France. Great Britain, -it was said, would stand aloof. Even so the news was sufficiently -serious, and telegrams on the Perth post office were eagerly scanned. -It was not till quite the end of our visit that definite intelligence -arrived that England had joined the cause of the Allies, and even then -nobody realised it in the least. - -Our last day came all too soon, warm and sunny, when we made the short -journey from Cottesloe Beach to Fremantle. The war news seemed more -real, when we saw a German tramp held up in the harbour, with the guns -of the forts trained on her. The big Orient liner was lying alongside, -and we boarded her with many regrets at what we were leaving behind, -for we had to say good-bye to many friends, and our cabin was filled -with flowers, sweet violets, and the heavy scented boronia, of which -Western Australia is so proud. At last we started on the four days’ -voyage to Adelaide, and it was not till we reached Northern Queensland -that we again encountered that atmosphere of primitive freshness and -novelty, that we were leaving behind. So we left Western Australia, -with its warm-hearted, generous people, its vast, almost untouched -resources of primeval forest, and rich soil, its social problems, -on which the visitor is incompetent to pronounce, problems acute in -the old world, making themselves felt even here, especially that -seemingly irreconcilable one of the interests of the Labour man and the -Liberal. Irreconcilable so it seemed to us, for the Labour man may be -clear-sighted, but he cannot afford to be far-sighted, because, as he -himself would put it, he can’t afford to wait. - - - - -PART II - -SOUTH AUSTRALIA - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA - - -In a poem written long ago by Bret Harte the opening of the Pacific -Railroad which joined East to West was commemorated in an imagined -dialogue between the engines that met midway on the track. - - What was it the Engines said, - Pilots touching--head to head, - Facing on the single track, - Half a world behind each back? - This is what the Engines said - Unreported and unread. - -Then Bret Harte went on to record the puffing phrases in which each -engine described what it brought from the land of its base: the engine -from the East, speaking of the shores where the Atlantic beats, and -the broad lands of forest and of prairie; and the engine from the West -rejoining that it brought to the meeting the storied East:-- - - All the Orient, all Cathay - Find through me the shortest way. - -That parable will find a new application (will have found, perhaps, -we should say) in the meeting of the engines on the track which is -to join Western Australia to South Australia, Perth and Albany to -Adelaide. One might speculate on what the engine from the West would -say on this occasion. It might breathe a few words of the Orient, and -would be entitled to add others concerning Afric’s sunwashed lands, -for it is not to be denied that the bulk of the liners coming through -Suez, and all those from the Cape, make West Australia their headland. -But East Australia touches Cathay more nearly both in climate and in -steamer connections, and a day will dawn when the construction of yet -another railway from Port Darwin in the Northern Territory will make -that port the nearest to Europe; and there are yet other projects -for joining Australia in shorter and shorter links to Panama and San -Francisco. So perhaps the engines will call a truce over their claims -on the older East and West, and will confine them to that newer West -and fast-developing East which the Australian continent provides within -itself. - -The engine from the West, if it were of a philosophic turn might say -that the land it came from was of immemorial age, a relic of the -world before the Deluge; that its strange flowers, its bush coming as -close to its towns and settlements as grass to the trees on a lawn, -were older than mankind, and if by some accident of social progress -its towns and villages were swept away, then in a few years Western -Australia would slip back through time till it became again a strip -of the earth as the earth was when first the mammals began to appear -on its surface. Western Australia is as old as that; and he who looks -on it now with any spark of imagination cannot but be thrilled at the -vision afforded him of the planet as it was millions of years ago. No -tropical country, perhaps no country at all which men inhabit, except -Patagonia, conveys this impression of the unaltered primeval world. -But one could hardly expect a locomotive, a thing of steel and steam, -to dwell on this aspect of the land of its adoption. Rather would it -say that in Western Australia you could see at its earliest and best, -man the pioneer, making for himself a clearing, a home, a community in -the wild, blazing out the trails, watering the desert, laying a toll -upon the elements. Here he had built a town growing like a city of -enchantment in the bush; here he had found gold in the wilderness; and -here--you could see him at the beginning--he was carving wheat-lands -and orchards from the forest. Now, lastly, he was going to bring his -fields and forests and the harvest of his untapped sea-board by rail to -the markets of the East. - -The locomotive from the East, with puffs which politeness had hitherto -repressed, would yield the point about antiquity in order to show that -in the more modern period the East had done very well with its time. On -the progress of Melbourne and Sydney it would not enlarge; suffice it -to point out the advantages of Adelaide. - -It lies between the hills and the sea, a trap for sunbeams; a garden -city sweet with almond blossom in spring, tree-shaded in summer. A -girdle of parks is about its comely waist, and beyond them lie suburbs, -where the houses all have room to breathe. In the towns of the old -world the houses are on the top of one another, and the people too. In -Adelaide expansion takes place laterally, stretching out always to the -encircling range of hills; and the houses are one-storied. The city is -linked with its suburbs by radiating tramlines; and here one may pause -to interpolate an anecdote. Some years ago, when the writer was in -Naples, he was journeying by one of the trams which runs round the rim -of Naples’ incomparable bay. On the garden seat in front of him were -two Americans, who looked with him at the lovely vision, and said one -of them: “Well, I’ve been most everywhere, and seen most everything, -but I’ve never seen anything to compare with----” The writer leaned -forward to catch the anticipated eulogy on the view. “But,” concluded -the American lady, “I’ve never seen anything to compare with our car -service at Seattle!” - -That is what the locomotive from the East would say about the car -service at Adelaide, which links up the spreading homesteads of the -periphery with the nucleus of handsome buildings, official, municipal, -educational, commercial, at the centre of the city. Adelaide is a -city within a park, surrounded by a garden suburb, and that is as -good a definition as one can find of it. It is handsome within its -city limits, taking a pride in its big buildings, the University -standing among lawns, its handsome private houses, its broad streets, -its general air of competence; but outside them, beyond the parks, -one would rather call it charming. The motor-car is bringing its -changes to Adelaide as to other places in the world. Just as in -London a generation ago the merchants and the well-to-do City men -built big houses at Streatham and Dulwich, but now are moving out to -Ascot or Sunningdale, so in Adelaide the prosperous are now building -towards Mount Lofty and the hills--though the gradients here are -trying even to the hard-driven Australian motor-car. The fringe of -suburbs is therefore occupied by what in England we should call -the professional classes, though no such conventions segregate the -trading, the commercial, the professional classes in the same way as -in the home country. But Adelaide is in one respect different from -other Australian cities. It has more nearly a professional class--or -may we say a professorial class?--than Perth or Melbourne, or Sydney, -or Brisbane. An English journalist once tried to express it by saying -that Adelaide represented “culture” in the Commonwealth; but that is -unkind both to Adelaide and the Commonwealth, for the soil of Australia -is unfavourable to the growth of culture or any other pretences. But -Adelaide has a large population in its trim bungalows of the suburbs, -interested in university work, in education, in social and democratic -problems, in art, in literature. It has the most eclectic collection of -pictures of any of the states; and here perhaps one may tell another -story. In the year before the War there was an outbreak of allegorical -canvases on the walls of the New English Art Club where a return to -primitive methods of expression in paint reflected the activities -of Post-Impressionism and Cubism and Futurism which permeated the -studios of Europe. Among others who had a hack at allegory was that -most capable of the younger school of painters, Mr. W. Orpen, and he -produced a representation of “The Board of Irish Agriculture sowing -the Seeds of Progress in Ireland.” It was a picture which was full of -remarkably fine drawing, as one might expect from one of the best two -draughtsmen in Britain, and the nude figure of the lady distributing -seed (on the left of the canvas), as well as the two naked babies in -the middle, and the black-clothed missioner on the right, were all -admirable. But what did it mean? Most English critics were silent on -this point, and nobody seems to have troubled Mr. Orpen to explain -himself, for, as Wilde wrote to Whistler, “to be great is to be -misunderstood.” However, the picture was bought for the Adelaide Art -Gallery, which is rightly anxious to collect work of the younger -artists, and made no mistake in choosing Mr. Orpen as one of the most -brilliant among them. - -When, however, the picture was hung at Adelaide, the people gasped. -Then they wrote to the newspapers. Then artists wrote to the -newspapers. Some of them sympathised with the public bewilderment. -One of them, the best of Australian water-colourists, bludgeoned the -public for their ignorance in not appreciating the colour and drawing -of the masterpiece; but he did not insult the picture by saying what -it meant, and that was what the public wanted to know.... Probably -the discussion would be going on yet, but the War put an end to it, -and the picture in 1915 still adorned the Art Gallery; and we hope -it may continue to do so, though it was rumoured that Mr. Orpen had -offered to substitute something less recondite. However, this anecdote -will perhaps illustrate the vividness of the interest which Adelaide -takes in artistic and intellectual movements. It is an interest which -may be perceived in its active University, a University that has -contributed several first-class men to English Universities, and is -no less perceptible in its society which reproduces very closely the -social atmosphere of an English University town such as Cambridge. The -resemblance becomes closer still if the comparison is made between -Adelaide’s flowering and tree-shaded suburbs and the residential -environs which stretch away from the University town at home. - -Such is Adelaide. Beyond and outside it, and on the farther side of the -tree-covered barrier of hills is rural South Australia, which, if one -were to indicate on a map, one might shade off to the northward as the -population grew less dense and the region of widely separated sheep -stations became more prevalent. As the herbage grows more scanty and -the water supply more precarious, the sheep stations themselves become -larger and fewer, till they give place to desert. Perhaps the greatest -surprise to a European visitor is the kind of land which in the more -distant stations, where the rainfall sinks very close to the margin of -double figures per annum, is called pasture land. It is khaki-coloured -and scanty, and one would imagine that only a persevering sheep could -find anything on it to eat. Industry is certainly demanded of the -sheep, for the phrase of three acres and a cow is altered in Australia -to five acres to a sheep. When the rainfall sinks the sheep has still -farther to travel for its daily meal; when it fails, the back block -sheep farmers see their sheep die by the thousand and ruin approaching. - -Nowhere does the rainfall become a factor that can be neglected, and -South Australia was suffering from drought in the year 1914, when -we visited the state; but though the extremity of scarcity had not -been reached, there seemed to eyes accustomed to English well-watered -pastures, hardly any water at all. From the summit of Mount Lofty, -whence one could so easily see the vast shield of the sea, there were -also pointed out to us nearer patches of water shining like dull steel -in the hollows of low hills. These were the reservoirs, basins filled -by streams which we called brooks. These storage reservoirs are the -device which South Australia is developing to counteract drought; and -we visited a new one in course of construction among the hills to the -north-west of Adelaide. - -That was the day on which we visited Mr. Murray’s sheep farm, a mere -trifle of forty miles from Adelaide. Before leaving the subject of -the reservoir, which was interesting from the engineering design of -its dam, then being thrown across the gap of two hills--a difficult -and masterly piece of work--one may give some idea of the size of the -basin by remarking that Mr. Murray, who lived some ten miles away, -had protested against the first plans. The reason was that when the -reservoir became filled it would have come flooding up to his front -door. A very pleasant front door it was too, belonging to something -that was part manor-house, part farm, and the counterpart of which -might have been found in many an English county. A long, low house with -windows meant to shade large, cool rooms, a wide hall, with pictures -and polo sticks and photographs--photographs of famous sheep--and a -side table gleaming with silver--the cups won as prizes. In front of -the house roses and flowering borders and a lawn--on it playing a -collie and a tame kangaroo. Beyond, the orchard garden. And not a sheep -in sight. - -Far better as a picture, our host and his tall sons on the stone steps -to welcome us; and in the pretty drawing-room--the drawing-room of a -Victorian house at home--the hostess and her daughter. You might see -them both any summer’s day at Hurlingham, or Henley, or at Lord’s when -the Oxford and Cambridge match is being played. - -However, our purpose was to see sheep. Could this be a sheep farm? -Where were the countless thousands which ought to have filled the -landscape--as they do in the photographs? We had driven over rolling -downs of short grass, through clearings of trees, and by tracks which -made the car leap like a tiger as it cleared the ruts, but where were -the sheep? We had seen other things that filled us with delight, a -flock of wild cockatoos--and though that may seem nothing to you who -read, let us add that there is an inexplicable thrill in seeing wild -anything that one has never before beheld except captive. There were -flocks of green and red and blue parrots too, and the laughing jackass -perched on the tree-stumps. But about the sheep? - -They are there; no doubt about that. An Anglo-Australian whom we -know at home once confessed to us that the only blot on life in that -southern continent of free air and sunshine was that there was too -much sheep in the sheep-rearing districts--there was nothing else to -talk about. And at this point we recall an anecdote told to us by Dr. -E. S. Cunningham, the editor of “The Melbourne Argus.” There was a -Colonial Conference in England some years ago, and he and some of the -others who came to it, Mr. Deakin among them, went back to Australia -across the United States. One night in the Far West their train was -held up by accident, and they stopped at the hotel of some wayside -station. After supper, as they sat round the red-hot stove of the -hotel parlour, some of the citizens of the township blew in for their -evening conversazione, and hailed the opportunity of conversation with -strangers. - -They quickly found that the strangers were Australians, and as quickly -turned the conversation on to the comparative advantages of the two -continents. - -“I suppose now,” said one of them, “that you reckon to have a few sheep -in your country. We have sheep here too. Some. Now what size holdings -do you put up down there?” - -Mr. Deakin, to whom the question was addressed, paused reflectively -and said: “Well, I don’t know that I’m well posted about sheep; but I -believe my friend has some knowledge of the subject. Cunningham, what -was the size of that farm that Colonel Burns got rid of last autumn?” - -“I can’t quite tell you the size,” said Dr. Cunningham, after assumed -cogitation. “It was pretty big. There were about a quarter of a million -sheep with it.” - -The American looked from one to the other, and expectorated at the -stove in a discontented manner. After a minute or two he started in -again. - -“We get a good figure for our stock hereabouts,” he observed; “we breed -for quality. I guess wool is your strong suit. Now what about is your -figure per sheep over there?” - -Again Deakin referred to Cunningham, the authority. - -“What was it Murray of Adelaide was asking for that merino ram of his, -Cunningham--it was called Lion II, I believe?” - -“I don’t know what he was asking,” returned Cunningham swiftly, “but I -can tell you what he got for it. He took eleven hundred guineas.” - -The American looked from one to the other and swallowed hard. - -“Thunder!” he said. “Give me cattle!” - - * * * * * - -Well, we didn’t see the quarter of a million sheep, and Mr. Murray’s -thousand-guinea ram lives only in portraiture in the hall of his -farm; but we did see some of the famous herd of which Lion II was -the congener. They had been rounded up for us, about fifty of them, -in one of the shearing yards; and most attractive animals they were. -Their thick merino fleece was about five inches deep, like soft fibre, -and their thick necks were in folds--concertina folds, as they are -called. They have been bred to this type, and their peculiar scientific -interest is the information which they afford to the explorers of -Mendelian principles of the permanence of the so-called “factors of -heredity.” But to the practical stock-breeder their immediate interest -is the vast amount of wool they yield. Mr. Murray said (if memory is -not at fault) that they each yielded about fifteen pounds’ weight of -wool at a shearing. - -Of course the reason why we saw so few sheep is that, though this was -a comparatively small holding of very good pasture, and the sheep on -it are all, in a sense, specimen sheep, yet here, as elsewhere, the -thousands of the flock are spread over a very wide area of pasturage. -It is only at the shearing season that the sheep would be brought -together in great numbers. These occasions, and the life on sheep -farms--especially in the back blocks, where the life is wilder, the -herbage scanty, the seasons precarious--are interesting enough, though -here we cannot dwell on them. What does remain as the recollection of -Mr. Murray’s sheep farm is that of a hospitality and a generosity which -are so natural that they are never ostentatious, but which, long after -the day and hour have gone, warm the heart with the memory of them. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -ADELAIDE - - -We had been warned to expect cold and rough weather, if anywhere, in -the great Australian Bight, but like everything we had ever been told -about Australian weather, the prophecy was fallacious. The Tuesday in -August on which we sailed from Fremantle and the four following days -of the voyage were fine, calm, and sunny. We skirted a coast bound by -gneiss rocks, rounded, ground, and weather-worn to smoothness, with -immense breakers dashing their foam up the face of the cliffs. Except -the beautiful harbour of Albany, it is a most inhospitable-looking -coast. - -On the third day out a wireless message from Perth warned the captain -to alter his course and to moderate the ship’s lights at night so as -to disguise her. It was a significant suggestion, that the War, the -outbreak of which took place while we were at sea, but in which we -hardly yet believed, was a matter of grim earnest. Otherwise the voyage -was uneventful. We reached Adelaide, sliding in through glassy water, -with land on either side, and numbers of diving birds swimming -round us. After the inevitable delay of disembarkation that seems so -unnecessary to the impatient traveller, we at last got ashore, walked -through the Customs, merely an amiable formality, and took the train -for Adelaide, which is at some distance from its harbour. The line runs -through salt marshes, dotted with pink mesembryanthemum in flower. -Then come trim suburbs with English names, a Cheltenham among them; -presently the train appeared to be running through the streets of a big -city, and we had arrived at Adelaide station. - -[Illustration: NORTH TERRACE, ADELAIDE.] - -The different capitals of the Australian states are as unlike each -other as possible, and Adelaide is especially distinctive. This -graceful garden city has none of the rawness of our dear Perth. She -has, on the contrary, an established air. The hotel at which we -stayed might have been in any large town in the world, except for a -certain friendly loquacity on the part of the staff, and a trifling -indifference to details characteristic of Australia. - -The first impression of Adelaide is a delightful one. She is a city -of space and light and air, with broad, tree-planted streets and fine -buildings; in fact, more like the Australia we had imagined, because -less unlike England, than the West. The cathedral with its twin -spires dominates the whole from rising ground. The city is laid out in -straight lines, separated by parks from its spreading, growing suburbs, -the whole place is green and restful. - -In the afternoon of our arrival we were motored round the city and its -suburbs, and a closer acquaintance deepened this impression, for we -passed through avenues of plane trees and saw English plants growing in -the gardens. Rising ground revealed the lovely situation of Adelaide -and gave a view of the city as a whole, scattered among her trees and -gardens, girdled by green hills rising abruptly from its environs, with -the grey Pacific spread out to infinite distance beyond. The cloudy, -hazy distances, a certain crispness in the air, as on a fine March day -at home, the grass that grows freely everywhere, and suburbs with such -names as Knightsbridge, all deepened the sense of familiarity. We shall -always see Adelaide in imagination as we looked down on her that early -spring day, with all her orchards a delicate pale pink mist of almond -blossom, and the soft grey distances that felt like home. - -Of course, there was a great deal that was unfamiliar: here were hedges -of olive, thick-set and cut like box, other hedges were made of the -South African box-thorn, and everywhere the sides of the roads were -yellow with a pretty pale oxalis, regarded by the inhabitants as a -noxious weed and called Sour Sod. There were many vineyards, and sheep -and lambs feeding, for South Australia is largely a pastoral state. The -development of pastoral industries has been an important element in her -general prosperity. The pastoral settler gauged the capacities of the -land and paved the way for agricultural and closer settlement. South -Australia now has a larger acreage under cultivation in proportion -to the population than any other state, and the annual returns from -pastoral industries amount to nearly £4,000,000. In 1912 between two -and three million pounds’ worth of pastoral products were exported, -including sheep, cattle, horses, frozen meats, skins, hides, tallow, -and wool. - -South Australia was declared a province under the British Crown in 1836 -by Governor Hindmarsh in the reign of William IV, so that the state has -a history stretching back over a period of nearly eighty years, during -which time she has progressed rapidly, and at the time of our visit -was actually enjoying great prosperity after a series of good seasons, -though we heard on all hands in Adelaide that there had been two dry -springs and rain was badly wanted. - -The climate is mild, the high temperatures that occur in summer are -mitigated by the absence of humidity, and extreme cold in winter is -unknown. Sheep, cattle, and horses live out of doors all the year round -and thrive on natural herbage, so that neither artificial feeding -nor housing is necessary, and the cost of production is thus greatly -reduced. It is superfluous to enter here into figures showing the -purposes for which the area of the state is leased or alienated, but -beyond the limits of agricultural settlement more than 143,000 square -miles are held by Crown lessees as sheep or cattle runs. Formerly the -principal part of South Australian wool was shipped to London, and -it was not till within the last forty years that local wool auctions -attained importance. - -Agriculture is determined by the rainfall, which varies from 10 or -11 inches in northern and inland districts to 30 or 35 inches in the -south and in the more hilly regions. Within these widely varying -conditions almost anything can be grown from corn to grapes, nearly -every kind of cereal, fruit, or vegetable. But economically all the -conditions of agriculture are very widely different from those at -home, for it must be taken into consideration that the wages of farm -labourers are about double those paid in England, and the cost of -plant and implements about 50% more. Wheat predominates in the value -of all crops grown, for while it is estimated that the total value of -all crops, including fruit, amounts to £18 per head of the population, -the value of the wheat crop for grain and hay is over £13 per head. -The production of hay in Australia is intimately associated with the -cultivation of cereals, as the greater bulk of this fodder is composed -of wheat or oats. The Year Book returns for 1911–12 show more than two -million acres under wheat cultivation with a total production of over -twenty million bushels, a low average compared with other countries, -but against which must be set the exceptionally low cost of production -brought about by conditions of soil and climate. - -One peculiarly local industry is the growth of wattle for its bark, -which is utilised for tanning leather. The industry is a lucrative one. -At from five to seven years old, when they are fit to strip, the trees -yield from one ton an acre, and the market price of the bark is from £5 -to £8 a ton. - -But we must again insist that in trying to estimate the position of -agriculture in Australia the different labour conditions have to be -taken into consideration. In the first place it is possible for a man -owning a team of eight or ten horses and the latest and best machinery, -to do all the work on a holding of from 200 to 240 acres of wheat -himself, with some extra help at harvest time, so extensive is the use -of labour-saving machinery--multiple furrow ploughs, for instance, -12 or 14 furrow twin ploughs on the lighter land, and 8 to 10 horse -cultivators. This being so, it can be easily seen that there is no -surplus of skilled labour, for under such conditions a capable man very -soon saves enough to begin farming on his own account, especially as he -can get cheap land on easy terms. This, of course, applies to Australia -generally; at harvest time, though the demand for labour is great and -the pay high, thoroughly efficient men are not to be had. The same -thing is true of dairying, so that the farmers are actually reducing -their herds to numbers that can be conveniently managed by their own -families with the aid of milking machines. - -[Illustration: WOOL STORE, PORT ADELAIDE.] - -At the same time the Labourers’ Union has drawn up a “log” of prices -and hours of labour, and requires its acceptance on the part of the -farmer, who would be willing enough if the supply of labour were -efficient. Economists question whether, if these conditions, including -the regulation of hours, were enforced, the result produced might -not be an increased adoption of grazing, where hardly any labour is -required. - -In the pastoral industry all conditions of labour and living are fixed -by the Arbitration Court, and good accommodation is provided for -shearers. Among farmers, on the other hand, though good food is always -provided, the men often have to sleep in machinery sheds. Here, as -everywhere else, labour is dependent not merely on supply and demand, -but on desirable conditions of employment, and it is extraordinarily -interesting to see our tentative efforts in the direction of Wages -Boards, and the regulation of employment, reproduced in the form of -the finished article in the Commonwealth, which had no great mass -of vested interest and tradition to oppose to a generous system of -Labour Legislation. It must be remembered, however, that Australia -can hardly yet be considered as a manufacturing country, though her -industrial development has been so rapid in recent years, that the -total value of manufactures already amounts to more than a quarter of -the whole production of the country. It is calculated that the value of -productions from all sources per head of the population exceeds that of -any other country. - -The Australians meanwhile, seeing the course which the future -development of their country is likely to pursue, have taken time by -the forelock, and in order to obviate the recurrence of the disastrous -conditions in the Old World have inaugurated an elaborate system of -Labour Legislation calculated to safeguard the interests of working -men and women in all branches of occupation. Such measures as Wages -Boards, Conciliation and Arbitration Court Systems, a minimum wage -under the Factory Acts, an eight-hours day, early closing, and holiday -regulations, are accomplished facts all over Australia, though their -constitution is not uniform in the different states. - -A Government Labour Exchange was established in 1911 to bring employer -and workmen into communication. This does not, of course, include -professional and clerical labour. All the departments of Public -Service, including the railways, apply to the Labour Exchange for -workmen, and if the work lasts for less than two months the men’s fares -are refunded to them. - -Of course, not all Australians see the social development of their -country in the same rose-coloured light. The social reformer and the -moral enthusiast are seldom business men; to such the question appears -in a wholly different aspect--in terms of material profit and loss. - -Each state has its own industrial problems, and the question of -water supply occupies the attention of all who are concerned with the -development of South Australia, for the only area in the Commonwealth -having an average annual rainfall of less than five inches, the Lake -Eyre region, lies within the limits of this state. Throughout the more -closely settled part of the state the difficulty has been met by the -Government by the construction of reservoirs and the distribution of -supplies. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -COMPULSORY TRAINING AND SOCIAL LIFE IN ADELAIDE - - -Adelaide, when we reached it, was like the rest of the Australian -continent, celebrating the declaration of war by a tremendous outburst -of patriotism; the whole place fluttered with little flags, Union -Jacks were on every bicycle or cart or motor-car, loyal crowds were -assembling at street corners. We in England have no conception of -the depths of feeling that our fellow-countrymen in Australia have -for “home.” It embraces all those who come out there on a visit, so -that instead of strangers in a strange land they feel like a dear -and welcome friend returning to his own people. By the evening the -occasion had been felt to be so momentous that the youthful male -population, with whom the streets were crowded, had celebrated it in -some cases to excess, and this was the sole occasion on which we saw -anything approaching to intemperance while we were in Australia, or -on which the population forsook its habitual and universal beverage -of weak tea. That they were carried away by enthusiasm was all to -their credit. Trained to military service from his school days every -Australian realises, as few Englishmen have yet done, the importance of -self-defence, and the obligation of every man in the country to take -his share in it. - -We have much to learn from Australia, but in no respect more than in -her admirable system of universal military training. We have already -mentioned her cadet training in schools. When a boy reaches the age of -fourteen he becomes a senior cadet, and a general military training -is added to the physical training that is already part of his school -curriculum. At the beginning of the year in which he reaches his -fourteenth birthday he has to be registered, and his registration -papers are sent to the Area Officer, under whose jurisdiction he -now passes. This officer sees that the boys go up for their medical -examination; after passing this, a boy is measured for his uniform, -and allotted to his company in the senior cadet battalion of the area. -The average percentage of rejections after the medical examination is -only seven and a half. The senior cadet is now subject to military -discipline and becomes part of the military system of the country. He -has to attend four whole-day drills of at least four hours, twelve -half-day drills of two hours’ duration, and twenty-four night drills of -one hour’s minimum duration. Boys who are still at school may be formed -into special companies. It is an important feature of the system that -all the companies in a battalion area form one battalion independently -of the numbers involved, for the battalions are training, not fighting, -units. The training for senior cadets consists of physical drill, -company and some battalion drill, field training and musketry. An -excellent provision secures good work on the part of the cadets. At the -end of each year’s training an inspection takes place, and all who fail -to satisfy the regular officer responsible, lose the value of their -year’s work, as the Act requires an additional year’s training for each -failure of the inefficient. - -Ammunition and uniforms are supplied free. In his fourth year of -training the senior cadet must satisfy the medical officer of the -training area of his fitness, those falling below the standard are -certified in their record books as “exempt.” In the third stage -of his training, from eighteen to twenty-six years old, the young -Australian becomes a member of the Citizen Forces. This system is -gradually superseding the older militia, which prescribed a period -of three years’ training only, and consequently attains so much the -more an efficient military standard. The training is arranged as far -as possible with a view to the convenience of the men, who are only -obliged to be absent from home during a short period spent in camp -every year. Parades are held on holidays, Saturday afternoons, or in -the evening. In some districts Sunday training has been advocated -and has raised considerable opposition, but Brigadier-General J. G. -Legge, C.M.G., commanding, at the time of writing, the Division of the -Australian Forces in Egypt, in an article on Australian Defence,[9] -reminds his readers that “not so many centuries ago it was the law of -England that every able-bodied man should practise with the bow at the -village butts on Sunday after church hours, and why not now on Sunday -afternoons? This would get over the difficulty with employers quite -well.” Pay is given for attendance at parades in the Citizen Forces. - -Under the universal training system all start as privates, and each -rank competes for promotion to the one immediately above it. But it -must be remembered that in Australia, as in other new countries, there -are no sharply drawn class distinctions, there hardly exists an idle -class, and to quote Brigadier-General Legge once more: “Brains and -practical proficiency alone will carry weight with units such as we now -have to lead and discipline in Australia.” There is no room in that -happy land for the promotion of influential incompetence. - -The Australian system is working smoothly and well, and presents the -spectacle of a trained and disciplined people, far indeed removed -from militarism, yet with a corporate sense and a deep and zealous -patriotism. Almost equally important is the fact that the Australian -Government makes ample provision for all munitions of war and equipment -for its forces. - -It is with the boys that every country must begin. “I believe this,” -wrote Lord Methuen,[10] “to be the proper solution for the national -defence of this country.... It is to be noted that each colony has -adopted compulsory cadet training as its foundation. We worked on Lord -Kitchener’s admirable Australian scheme in forming the Citizen Army in -South Africa.... The physique and discipline of our nation will gain -enormously if the lad is trained from the age of twelve till he reaches -eighteen.... Let the nation accept the principle and the details can be -made to fit in without any difficulty.” - -With regard to Education South Australia is, in one respect only, the -least progressive of the states, for it has fixed the minimum age at -which children may be employed in factories at thirteen, as compared -with fourteen elsewhere. Victoria leads the way with a minimum of -fifteen for girls. On the other hand, the state has been a pioneer in -dealing with destitute and neglected children. The Chief Secretary of -the Government appoints a State Children’s Council composed of men -and women. Its work is conducted on the most enlightened methods. -The children, whether, as in most cases, they are boarded out, or in -institutions, are judiciously looked after and provided for, till the -boys have reached the age of eighteen, and the girls of twenty-one -years. The work, whether paid or unpaid, of the large staff of -assistants in urban and country districts, is given alike “ungrudgingly -and in the spirit of the volunteer,” says Mrs. Margaret Wragge, a -member of the council. Thus the state is providing with foresight for -the useful careers of every one of its future men and women. - -In the matter of general education the system is that in force -elsewhere. Primary education is free and compulsory, there is an -elaborate system of training for teachers, who are given every -facility for self-improvement. Technical education is provided for -by the “School of Mines and Industries.” The Adelaide University is -of comparatively old foundation, as it dates from 1874. It has been -fortunate in receiving generous endowments from local benefactors, and -has handsome spacious buildings. The name of the late Sir Samuel Way, -the Chief Justice, and a prominent, active citizen, will always be -associated with the progress of the University. - - * * * * * - -As we have said, Adelaide is girdled with hills, of which the most -important is Mount Lofty, and part of this high ground has been set -aside as a national reserve, a park in perpetuity for the community; a -large area left in its natural state, to show what Australia once was -to the children’s children of the first settlers. - -[Illustration: WATERFALL GULLY, BURNSIDE, NEAR ADELAIDE.] - -The drive up the hills is not an easy one, for the road ascends steeply -and the ground falls sharply away. The view over Adelaide grows more -and more beautiful with every few feet of the ascent, as the semicircle -of hills, with their valley and city, and the illimitable expanse of -ocean are spread out below. The reserve is a vast area of sloping green -lawns, more or less thickly covered with trees. Growing among the gums -were the curious shea-oak, and the still more curious wild cherry, -whose stone grows outside the fruit; the wattle was here only -bursting its yellow balls into flower. We saw a clump of the pretty -drosera or sundew, and a quantity of small purple orchids not unlike -our blue squills in shape and size. - -All kinds of birds live in this retreat: especially the Australian -magpie with his odd conventual air, and the white cowl and black frock -that make him look like a Dominican friar. - -The magpies are sociable birds, friendly and companionable. They are, -besides, greedy and carnivorous. An Australian lady, who was acting -as our hostess on this occasion, told us she had once seen a magpie -swallow three mice in succession, and sit afterwards ruminating over -their digestion with the three tails hanging down from his beak. - -There, too, was the laughing jackass, or to call him by his musical -native name the “kookaburra,” who resembles in shape and colour a -large untidy jay. We heard for the first time the sweet note of the -Australian thrush, and saw several redheaded parrots. The road led into -a beautiful wooded glen, a favourite place for picnics. - -Picnics are a great institution in Australia, and to avoid the dangers -of bush fires little open-air hearths are made in such places as these, -with an iron rod across them and hooks for hanging the “billy” to boil -the water for the weak tea that is the invariable accompaniment of all -meals. There is always plenty of dry wood in that dry climate, and -generally a little shelter is put up, with a rough table and benches, -sometimes a tank for rain water, but this, when it is there, has a way -of being rusty. On this occasion time demanded our return, for we were -lunching with one of the University professors, so we came back to the -city that is only less pastoral than its hills, and were deposited at -our destination by the kind new acquaintances, who had devoted a long -morning to us. - -Our hosts lived in a charming bungalow on the side of a hill, the -garden was full of early spring flowers, jonquils and other bulbs. -Their guest house was detached, as it were, in a little garden of its -own, which seemed a particularly pleasant way of entertaining one’s -friends, giving a sense of freedom both to visitors and hosts. In -the drawing-room was a big bowl of camellias, which flourish in the -open air in Australia. Our host and hostess came of one of the oldest -Australian families; that is, their daughter told us her grandfather -came over in 1837 and her grandmother three years later. Life was a -hard thing in those days. To begin with, there was the six months’ -voyage in the old sailing ships. In their early days of married life -they had no food except salt pork and damper, or a kind of bread made -without yeast, which is very nice on a picnic, but would be trying -as a staple form of food. On Sundays they had rice boiled in water -and raisins. “My grandfather used to be so hungry that he once shot -a sitting magpie.” It must, even so, have been a meal of bones and -feathers. - -There was something patriarchal about this pleasant, cultivated -household. The settlement which the earlier generation had won from -the bush remained in the family, and the descendants of its servants -still served them. After lunch we were taken off to tea in the -hospitable Australian way to some friends of our hosts’ who were -giving a tea-party. Their house lay at some distance from the town, -with its back to the hills. It was approached by a park much like an -English park, with eucalyptus for oaks and magpies for rooks, and the -house itself was much like an English country house, and an English -tea-party, with great bowls of roses and violets in the drawing-room. - -It would be difficult to find anywhere a lovelier situation than the -slopes of these hills, facing the far-distant sea. The entrance to -the drive was heavy with the scent of stocks, and gay with masses of -red geranium, a bougainvillea covered with purple flowers hung over -the flight of steps, and below the garden lawns, on which the large, -handsome black and white Australian wagtails were hopping about, -orange trees displayed their golden fruit and glossy leaves against a -background of almond blossom, and ripe limes and grape fruits. - -As it was only about three miles back into Adelaide, with a good road -and a fine evening, we proposed to walk home to our hotel, as we had -had no exercise since we had left England. The suggestion, however, was -considered so entirely impracticable as to be not worth discussing. It -was merely waved aside, and the whole time we were in the country we -were impressed by the fact that Australians never seem to walk. They -motor, they have excellent tram services, but except up-country they -don’t seem to ride. An older resident at Adelaide lamented that there -were actually so few young men who could ride in the district, that -their numbers were insufficient to keep up the local Hunt Club. - -[Illustration: OSTRICH FARM, SOUTH AUSTRALIA.] - -We left Adelaide on a warm sunny August day. The long, long railway -journeys from one state capital to another are made by night. The -trains are dusty, the scenery monotonous, so that the tedium and -discomfort are by this means minimised as much as possible. Of -course, there are beautiful tracts of country, that the railroad -passes through, but in a land where the eucalyptus is everywhere -the prevailing form of vegetation, and water is rare, monotony is -inevitable. On leaving Adelaide the main line towards Melbourne runs -through charming park-like country, with green lawns and trees and deep -gorges. The train climbs the Mount Lofty range with delightful glimpses -of the sea, and an ascent punctuated by peculiarly sulphurous little -tunnels, reminiscent of those on the Apennines. - -Afterwards we crossed a spacious pastoral country dotted sparsely -with homesteads, peaceful in the great calm of the luminous evening, -then the swift dusk fell and blotted out all. At Murray Bridge we -paused for dinner, in the old-fashioned continental way. Dinner in -railway stations in Australia is simple and expeditious, and in our -experience invariably excellent. It is thrown at the traveller by a -miscellaneous assortment of young women, who fall over each other -in their hospitable anxiety to get through the menu in time. That, -however, did not suffice, for having hastily despatched our soup and -the very good turkey, which is always a standing dish in Australia, -and trifled with a sweet, we were summoned back to the train. Here -we observed in passing along the corridor to our own carriage a -bulky-looking passenger disgorging from his pockets large quantities -of the dessert, which we had had no time to eat, and which he had -adroitly commandeered. He was bulging with it, in fact, and was now -proudly exhibiting a selection of it spread out on the opposite seat -of the carriage--five oranges, three apples, and some bananas. Seeing -our eye upon him he offered us a share of the spoils, as a species of -hush money in kind. Oranges and apples and bananas are delicious in -Australia; the dry soapy things sold for bananas in London give no idea -of what a pleasant form of food a fresh banana can be. - -He is no traveller who cannot sleep on any occasion under any -circumstances, even in a rattling and draughty train. After a good -night we woke up next morning to see an immense grassy plain stretching -away to the horizon on either side. Cattle and sheep were feeding, and -there were patches of plough land. For the first time the “bush” had -retreated to a respectful distance. - - - - -PART III - -VICTORIA - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -COLLINS STREET--MELBOURNE - - -On the day we reached Adelaide the train that took us from Port -Adelaide to the city slipped by an encampment of tents, those of the -naval division; and on the day we left Melbourne we saw the recruits -for Australia’s first contingent swing past us along Collins Street. -Splendid they looked: young and strong and confident. The cars and -motor omnibuses bunched up by the pavement, and the people hung out -of the windows to cheer as they went by. I remember I suddenly found -myself without a hat and the tears running down my cheek, when the last -of them disappeared in the dust, the crowd closing in behind them. -There was only a fortnight or so between that first glimpse at Adelaide -that war had begun, and the assurance that Australia had grasped what -was to be her share in it, when she sent her boys on the way to camp -through Collins Street. - -Collins Street. For better or worse, for richer or poorer, Melbourne -will always be expressed to us in terms of Collins Street. It is a -wide street of tall buildings, and it photographs well. It has not -grown up haphazard. It is rectangular; and it exhibits Melbourne’s -ideal of doing the thing well, and of doing it in an official way. No -street in London is very like it, though Melbourne has more in common -with London than any other city we have ever seen. There is the same -nucleus of business and trading, shopping and luxury; the parks almost, -but not quite, set in the middle of things; and trams and suburban -lines linking up nearer suburbs (with High Streets of their own), and -more distant ones with large houses and their gardens, and more distant -ones still where the houses are cheaper. It has an official residence -for the Governor-General, set, as Buckingham Palace is, in a green -park; and it has a river though we will not press the point of any -resemblance in it to the Thames. In short, if you were to name anything -in London to us--Regent’s Park or Tottenham Court Road, the Mansion -House or the Natural History Museum, St. Pancras Railway Station or -the Reform Club--we believe we could find you something of the kind in -Melbourne. They have even a Tate Gallery, and it has pictures which -might have been the choice of the Chantrey Bequest. - -One word more about Collins Street, and then, having served its -purpose as a simile, we may leave it. It is a London street, the artery -of an organism much smaller than London, so that it is a composite. -It has shops and clubs, hotels and banks, and nearly all are square -and solid. It is as wide as Kingsway, but less uniform than that -thoroughfare will be; as busy as Cheapside, but less heterogeneous; as -popular as Regent Street, but one of less specific attractions; and -the one characteristic of it which is unmistakable is that it is the -principal street of a big city. That is what Melbourne is. It is a -city, a city where money is made, and big business goes on. It is to -Melbourne and to Collins Street that you must come if you are to talk -to the men who are planning and financing and ordering the Australia of -the future. - -There is a Melbourne of another kind, just as there are many Londons. -There is Melbourne of the University, nestling in its gardens and -secure in the strongest foundation a University can have, the solid -research of its professors and teachers. It would not thank us for any -forced comparison with the ineffable charm that the years and memories -have brought to our own older Universities; but it has their air of -unself-consciousness and breeding. - -There is Melbourne, too, which sets the fashion; and which, if the -word were not so detestable, forms the “society” of the capital. -But “society,” so misused a word elsewhere, is more vague in its -application in Australia than elsewhere. Government House is the -vortex about which it eddies; and perhaps cards for Government House -garden parties, or receptions, or invitations to Government House -luncheons and balls may be the fount of as much rivalry and as many -heartburnings as in the oldest capitals of Europe. Certainly Government -House maintains a ceremoniousness which is in extraordinary contrast -to every other usage in this land of democracy. Ladies curtsey to the -Governor-General’s wife and to the Governor-General, as if they were -of Royal blood, instead of the representatives of Great Britain. The -Governor-General goes out to lunch attended by an aide-de-camp; nobody -would go to a reception at Government House in anything other than the -most official dress he was entitled to wear; nor would any lady go -in anything that was a stitch less than the best of her dresses--for -Government House is the Court. And yet ... one day when one of us was -lunching at the Melbourne Club,[11] the Governor-General came into the -luncheon room and sat down at our round table, with his aide and a -friend, and the other lunchers at the same table, who all more or less -impartially went on with their own conversation or exchanged a word -or an answer with the Governor-General, were an editor, a doctor, two -business men, a lawyer and a geologist. There was somebody else whose -profession I have forgotten, but the luncheon party was very typical -of the social life of Melbourne, and typical, too, I think, of what is -the most vivifying and vigorous thing in Australian intercourse and -converse. - -In England, not altogether as a consequence of our social conventions, -though they are the chief thing, the people of one social circle know -very little of one another; and doctors, lawyers, artists, or literary -or scientific men, merchants, men in commerce or finance, tend to limit -their intercourse to those of the same profession as themselves. There -are exceptions to this rule, of course; and it grows less rigid. But in -Australia such limitations hardly exist at all. If you have a job of -any kind, in letters, or politics, or science, or commerce, or trade, -and are doing it well; and if you are a man of intelligence--then you -stand on your merits, not on your social position, and you are of the -same standing as anyone else. A few years ago in an English novel -written by a lady of talent and insight, a duke is made to say, as -almost his last utterance on his death-bed, “We big-wigs have a good -time.” Such an incredible observation would appear even more fatuous -in Australia than in Eaton Square; for there are no “big-wigs” in -Australia. - -It would be hard to say who or what takes their place in such a -democracy: talent perhaps; ability in such public affairs as bring a -man into relation with European politics or with the home country, -though in politics or affairs men do not stand apart from their fellows -as they do over here. In England, or in any European country, the men -of affairs are known to their countrymen chiefly by their photographs. -How many people, for example, in England have ever seen Sir Edward -Grey? But in Australia the public men are not photographed; they are -known to everybody and are spoken to by everybody. The only exceptions -are the Governors. If they are men of great ability, a limited divinity -hedges them, but they are the only people thus fenced in, and the -fence can be seen through if they are not first-rate. If there are no -big-wigs in Australia, the land is knee-deep in critics. - -In the absence of any deeply separated social circles in Melbourne, -there is a social life of unbounding vitality and capacity for -enjoyment. During our stay there, despite the outbreak of war, a -great deal of ceremonial festivity was taking place, so that abundant -opportunity was given for surveying Melbourne in its ball-dress at -Government House, or in its silk hat and morning coat at official -garden parties. One impression left on the mind and the eye was that -these things were sufficiently uncommon and sufficiently enjoyed for no -one to leave them out if they could attend them. I have a recollection -of good-tempered struggles for hats and coats at the City Museum and -Library (where a conversazione was held), such as obliterated every -other impression--even the impression of that massive and graceful -City Library with its domed roof and white arcading; or of the serried -multitudes coming and going from the supper rooms. There was the -hunt for the motor-car, too ... in a sudden night wind that brought -stinging dust from the north ... and there were the throngs of ladies -quite cheerfully sacrificing their satin shoes as they walked along -the streets to the cars, sometimes to the street cars. For if you go -home by street car in Melbourne it makes no difference to your social -standing. - -Gay, cheerful, social, hospitable Melbourne. It is full of memories -of kindnesses, of hospitality, of dinner parties, of gay and--forgive -the blighting phrase--of that cultivated converse which our better -instructed grandfathers called “good talk”; of houses which were -luxurious and homes which were deeply comfortable--and of one house, to -which, however long and tiring the day, we always came back as those -who come back home. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -SOCIAL LIFE IN MELBOURNE - - -The country surrounding Melbourne was far more populous than anything -we had yet seen. The land was very flat, and the plain was extremely -bare, even denuded; there was hardly a tree to be seen on the great -expanse; scattered over it were innumerable little yellow boulders, -thousands of them. Sometimes they had been laboriously collected and -heaped up to form walls. These are the recollections which the approach -to the Victorian capital by railway from the west leaves in the mind. -The entrance to Melbourne itself is much like that to any other great -seaport. The masts of the ships showed above the houses, the air -was cool and fresh, and invigorating after the night in the train. -Melbourne was in fact the coldest place we visited in Australia, but -even here heavy winter clothing such as one would wear in an English -winter is unnecessary in that dry air and brilliant sunshine. - -Our hosts had sent their car to meet us, and we spun out of the station -yard into a city of immensely wide straight streets, sometimes rather -sharply ascending and descending, with handsome tall buildings, some -of which had a quite venerable air; the cathedral of St. Paul’s, -for instance, is grimy with age. From a local station people from -the suburbs were pouring out to their day’s business, as if it were -a London terminus, and there was little to distinguish them in -general appearance from the London morning throng. We gleaned a rapid -impression of gardens and parks and open spaces, and after crossing the -Yarra River, arrived in the pleasant green hilly suburb of South Yarra, -where we were to stay. The car drew up at a large bungalow in a sloping -street of bungalows each in its own garden. A broad verandah ran round -the one-storied house; at the entrance to the garden a pepper tree had -been cut back and a rose trained over it. These lovely trees, with -their grey fern-like foliage and strings of red berries are very common -in Australia, but they are untidy things in a garden, with obstreperous -roots. Geraniums were in flower even here, and a pink camellia bush. - -[Illustration: THE RIVER YARRA, 48 MILES FROM MELBOURNE.] - -The door was flung open by our hostess almost before we had had time to -ring the bell. We had arrived unseasonably early in the morning, rather -chilly, rather tired, with that uncomfortable, unkempt sensation -attendant on a hurried toilet in a rocking train, breakfastless, very -hungry, and it is only on such an occasion that the whole-hearted -warmth of an Australian welcome can be appreciated at its true worth, -a welcome no less generous to strangers than to recovered friends. -Our host and hostess in Melbourne had never seen us before, yet not -only were we made to feel as if we belonged there, as if their house -was a home in which we had the claim of longstanding friendship or -relationship, but though they were both very busy people of many -engagements, their car was placed at our disposal during our visit, -and they themselves made use of the very efficient Melbourne tram -service. Perhaps this extraordinary and generous kindness, which we met -everywhere, differing only in degree, not in kind, exists in Australia -as nowhere else. - -It is sometimes spoken of as Colonial; and so in the best sense it -is. We had some foreshadowing of it at the Cape. Here certain of -the passengers had a collective invitation to a motor drive round -Table Mountain by the members of the local automobile club. A day’s -entertainment was planned by them, but owing to contrary currents our -boat was late. We only had a few hours to spend there. It was between -seven and eight o’clock in the morning when we went on deck, and -our host for the moment, a boy of about seventeen, came up smiling -and helped us into our fur coats. “Are you always as nice as this to -strangers?” we asked. “_You’re_ not strangers,” he said, with genuine -surprise, and even a little hurt. And it is that feeling that makes -colonial travelling such a delightful experience. Even the conductor -on the train will bid you a cordial farewell and hope you will enjoy -yourself. England must seem a cold place to Australians when they come -to it on a visit. We once heard some travelled Australians discussing -this very point. After lavishing hospitality on his English visitors -the Australian comes to London, and perhaps meets his former guest at a -club. After some few minutes’ conversation he says, “When are you going -back?” and adds, “Ah, I hope I shall see you again before you go!” and -that is all. - -On the afternoon of our arrival in Melbourne, we went to a tea given -by the Women’s Union at the University. Australian women are in a -very superior position to their British sisters; they have the vote, -and their share in political life takes place quite unobtrusively -and as a matter of course. Women’s suffrage was adopted in Victoria -comparatively recently, and the state is now governed by the vote -of all those over the age of twenty-one who have not been convicted -of felony. Consequently there is no aggressive “Women’s Movement,” -though women have their own separate clubs in all the large towns, -and do useful and active work both in connection with public bodies -concerned with their interests, and in political organisation. We were -frequently asked with surprised incredulity if the newspaper reports -of suffragette activities at home were not wholly untrue or at least -greatly exaggerated. To women in peaceful possession of the vote, the -exasperated fuss on both sides about conferring what seems to them so -simple and obvious a benefit was wholly incomprehensible. It appears -that in Australia it has had very little effect on the balance of -parties except that of strengthening the Labour vote to some extent. - -An active and experienced citizen of Melbourne has recorded his own -conviction that the measure “has produced little or no change for -better or worse in the general course of legislation. It has not -purified public life in the sense in which the term is generally used; -it has not enabled women to obtain adequate treatment in the subjects -they are specially interested in. It has in my opinion made but one -substantial alteration--the capacity of women to organise political -associations has been demonstrated repeatedly, and the interest of -women in public affairs is in conspicuous evidence.”[12] Working -women are, however, already in a better position in Victoria than in -any other part of the world. As long ago as 1873 an Act was passed -forbidding the employment of any female for more than eight hours in -any day in a factory. Nowhere is the factory worker, whether man or -woman, better looked after as to his wages, personal safety, health, -and moral surroundings than in Victoria.[13] A little over 33% of all -the women in the state are employed in factories, earning an average -wage of 17s. 4d. a week. - -In any comparison of labour conditions at home and in Australia it must -be borne in mind that though foodstuffs cost about the same, imported -manufactured goods of all kinds are dearer. The higher wages are not -therefore proportionately greater in purchasing power. They have, -however, been much affected by the institution of Wages Boards. These -were first established in 1896 with the definite object of raising -the wages of women employed in the clothing trade, especially the -sweated home workers. The measure had the immediate effect of raising -wages in this trade. The Boards, which are composed of equal numbers -of employers and employed, elect a neutral chairman, discuss all the -aspects of the trade, and fix a minimum wage accordingly. The system -has now been gradually extended to practically all urban industries, -in which wages have in consequence steadily risen. The Wages Board, -says the Chief Inspector of Factories, “has now come to be regarded -pretty generally as the most nearly perfect system of fixing fair -wages and conditions that has yet been devised.”[14] It is a cardinal -principle of the Victorian system that, having provided the workers -with the means of securing a fair living wage, it takes no cognisance -of strikes. It is claimed that the Victorian method has had the result -of preventing strikes. - -But to return to the Women’s Union tea at the University. Our hostesses -were representative of Melbourne’s social activities, and it was a -pleasant and interesting festivity, as well as an introduction to the -University, the centre of Australian intellectual life. The University -has done much to leaven Melbourne society, and has been fortunate in -securing first-rate men, not merely in point of scholastic attainment, -but in an equally invaluable social refinement. A splendid growing -country like Australia should have only the best we have to send, -whether as teachers or governors, nothing less is worthy of her deserts -and importance as a factor in the empire. The University is the -coping-stone of the educational machinery of Victoria, where the whole -of the primary and secondary education is in the hands of the state, -with the exception of certain schools owned by religious corporations. -There is an admirable system of small rural schools, and teachers -earn promotion by good work done in them. There are also a number -of technical schools and Agricultural High Schools--an interesting -development--one of which we visited. - -The University Buildings stand in tree-planted grounds, with the -imposing Wilson Hall in the foreground. It is used principally for -social purposes and for examinations, and is an ecclesiastical -building, like a large college chapel, spacious and well proportioned. -In front of the open doors stands an immense Moreton Bay pine, one of -the handsomest of Australian trees, evergreen, like all the native -vegetation, large and shapely with glossy dark leaves. It is so called -from the beautiful Queensland bay on which Brisbane stands, where it -grows in great profusion. On the lawn beyond, two great black swans -were feeding, looking oddly incongruous. The various schools have their -main lecture rooms and laboratories grouped round an artificial lake -in the middle of the grounds. Residential denominational colleges are -erected on grants of land within the University precincts. One of them, -the Methodist College, we visited through the kindness of the wife of -the President, who showed us over the buildings. - -It was vacation, and all was swept and garnished, but we saw the little -chapel, the dining-hall, library, and the men’s rooms. All was very -pleasant and comfortable, with fine views over Melbourne, and all was -as unlike as possible from the dreamy, stately old halls where our -English boys go and learn to be luxurious and extravagant at home, and -also learn other things which after all cannot be learnt elsewhere. -We were present at the conferring of some honorary degrees at the -University. It was a gay and picturesque scene, with the doctors’ -scarlet gowns on the platform; and what we missed in the ancient -academic atmosphere that gives to such functions their impressiveness -at home, was compensated for by the lively interest and enthusiasm -of the visitors by whom the hall was filled. The ceremony was -incidentally memorable from the fine enunciation and beautiful voice of -the Professor who presented the candidates to the Chancellor. - -After the degree ceremony we went on to the Town Hall, where the -Lady Mayoress was giving a tea-party. Mayors and Mayoresses are very -important people in Australia; they are lavish in their entertainment -of strangers, and are the centre not only of the civic life of a -town, but often of its social life as well, the two things being -usually indistinguishable. The Melbourne Town Hall is worthy of a -great city that is the seat of government, and the rallying point -of all the different phases of life on the continent. One sumptuous -council chamber is decorated with Australian woods, many of them very -beautiful, the central panels of black wood especially, which were -delicately variegated like the back of an old fiddle. - -The same day we went to an evening party at Federal Government -House. Melbourne is the seat of the Federal as well as of the State -Government; and the balls or receptions at Government House bring -together what in a less democratic country one would call the society -of the state. Society in Melbourne is very cultivated and agreeable. It -is more settled, more homogeneous, more cosmopolitan than elsewhere -in Australia, so that here, if anywhere, one loses the sense of a -new country, which is at the same time part of its charm. The women -and girls in Melbourne are also prettier, and more prettily dressed -than elsewhere, and it makes a cult of charming-looking, elderly, -white-haired matrons, wearing the dignity of their years becomingly. -Not that pretty women and girls are not to be found everywhere, but -Melbourne has a colder, more bracing climate, and is more in touch with -the outside world. Two facts that tell in complexions and clothes. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -BALLARAT - - -Nobody has seen Australia who has not seen a goldfield, and though with -a certain reluctance, for the way was long and the trains unprovided -with restaurant cars, we decided to visit one from Melbourne, whence, -as one counts distance in Australia, they were easily accessible. The -choice seemed to lie between Bendigo and Ballarat; they were equal as -far as we were concerned, but there was something about the name of -Bendigo that expressed a smug prosperity, while Ballarat suggested -something of the unbridled spirit of adventure and undisciplined -audacity of the pioneer. We elected in favour of Ballarat. We started -very early in the morning, as you have to do in Australia if you -want to get anywhere, feeling full of enterprise and prepared for -any hardship. There had been a riot in Ballarat, they told us, quite -a serious affair, with military intervention. The line to Ballarat -runs at first through the flat country that we had already traversed, -covered with the odd little yellow boulders, which a well-informed -passenger now assured us were formed of lava. There had been a lava -flow all over the plain in some former geological period, he said, and -the lava had gradually broken up into these little yellow boulders. -The line then crosses the Bacchus Marsh Valley; this neighbourhood is -the centre of the milk and butter trade, and china clay is also found -in the district. Farther on we passed through the beautiful Werribee -Gorge, remarkable for having been “eroded through glacial conglomerate -into the underlying Ordovician sediment,” a well-informed passenger -hastened to explain to us. While we listened respectfully an immense -bird appeared hovering, lonely, majestic, above the gorge. “Aquila -audax,” cried the too well-informed passenger eagerly; the largest -known eagle. “How do you spell “Hordax?” inquired a lady. This tacit -reflection on his pronunciation so discomfited him that he retired to -another carriage, and we proceeded on our way unenlightened. - -No sooner were we within sight of Ballarat than all our hopes of -adventure were dashed; instead of the mining town that we had expected -with little rows of corrugated iron huts, and miners in wideawakes -and shirt-sleeves, what we did see was a cloud of white dust driving -along a road, and behind it a town like any other town, containing, as -a guide-book informed us, a “Hospital, Orphan and Benevolent Asylums, -Women’s Homes, Mechanics’ Institute, with Library, Fine Art Gallery, -Banks, Commercial Houses, two Town Halls, three theatres, forty -churches, School of Mines and Museum, Agricultural High School, State -schools, six iron-founderies, a brewery, a flour and two woollen mills, -boot and other factories...!” - -We were fifty years too late. We had come to see Ballarat, and we -were shown it by a kind and hospitable stranger to whose care we had -been consigned for the purpose. There is a tremendous fund of local -patriotism in Australia. Everybody is very proud of their own town, -for the simple reason that they have seen it grow and helped to make -it. They have a paternal or proprietary interest in it. In Ballarat -they are most proud, and justly so, of their principal street, Sturt -Street, called presumably after the pioneer who named that wonderful -hanging scarlet and black flower “Sturt’s desert pea.” Ballarat lies on -the side of a hill, and Sturt Street, very wide and planted with trees -in the centre, slopes sharply away through and out of the city towards -a green hill that rises abruptly, and is framed, as it were, by the -street. - -Ballarat, we found, was gradually relapsing into what it had originally -been, an agricultural centre. It was in the year of Queen Victoria’s -accession that six prospectors, seeking good pastures for their flocks, -reached Mount Buninyong, and looking westward saw a rich expanse -of well-watered country that was soon settled as sheep runs, with -its centre at Buninyong. It was not till 1851 that gold was first -discovered in New South Wales, and the Melbourne authorities, alarmed -at the consequent exodus of population, offered a reward of two hundred -guineas for the discovery of gold in the state of Victoria. In July a -man accidentally discovered gold in felling a tree at Buninyong, and -a further search revealed the presence of gold in immense quantities -on the site of what is now Ballarat. In those early days, “The Roaring -Fifties,” as they were called, diggers hastened to Ballarat from all -parts of the world, including New South Wales itself, for gold in such -quantities had never been seen before. The whole neighbourhood became a -vast encampment of tents and huts, and the peaceful sheep-farmers were -forced to migrate. - -The Government sought to enforce order among the cosmopolitan riotous -crew of diggers. Licences were issued for a fee permitting them to -work within certain specified limits, and the violence used in -enforcing this rule in 1854 produced a riot among the diggers, who -opposed armed resistance to the police and Government soldiers at what -was known as the “Eureka Stockade.” Order was restored after some -bloodshed, but the ringleaders went unpunished, for public opinion -was on the side of the diggers. The gold licences were withdrawn and -the grant of parliamentary representation soon brought about more -civilised conditions, or, in the words of the local guide, “Thus these -early years of revelry and devilry have faded and dissolved into the -far-famed golden city of the south, the garden city of Ballarat.” - -That was sixty years ago. The greatest output of gold for any one year -in Victoria occurred in 1856, and amounted to nearly £12,000,000 in -value; for many years afterwards the mines yielded annually more than -five millions sterling. It can be easily seen that the discovery of -gold had a very great influence on the prosperity and development of -the State and the disposition of its cities. Ballarat and Bendigo, for -instance, are respectively the second and third cities in Victoria. -As the extraordinarily rich surface alluvial deposits of gold were -exhausted, mining was carried on at lower depths, involving greater -expenditure of plant and machinery, and producing smaller profits. -But in Ballarat, both east and west, there is a profitable field for -further development. After having been well fortified with lunch, our -host of the day took us off to see a gold mine. - -We motored through the handsome main street of Ballarat, noting with -surprise the number of very large and important drapers’ shops, with -their impressive expanse of plate glass. They were all having what -they called “clean up sales,” and we wondered how a population of -about 42,000 could possibly support them, till our chauffeur, who was -also the owner of the car, explained that Ballarat was the metropolis -for the whole surrounding agricultural neighbourhood of the mines. On -the way we passed through old Ballarat, the driver jumping a gutter -with surprising skill. Old Ballarat is a wonderful, ramshackle-looking -place, run up anyhow in the early days of the gold rush, when fortunes -were made in other ways besides digging, and a “pannikin of rum” -fetched an ounce of gold. It had the air of Earl’s Court after the -season, when the exhibition is shut; the houses were of all shapes and -sizes, and the arcades over the pavement were the only concession to -convenience. - -Gold-mining, like all other forms of mining, is an untidy process, and -we presently came to rough, shapeless patches of irregular yellow -ground, all holes and hillocks, and now partly overgrown, where mining -had formerly been carried on. Our destination was a hill of grey heaps -and smoking chimneys. Even an Australian motor-car looked askance at -the approach to it, so we walked up, for this was the mine we were -asked to visit. We were shown into an office out of which opened two -dressing-rooms. A litter of old boots was on the floor, the walls -were hung with derelict felt hats and clean suits of butchers’ blue -overalls. Here we were asked to attire ourselves suitably for the -occasion. It is an odd feeling that of walking out into the light of -day for the first time untrammelled by skirts, but this agreeable -sensation was detracted from by carrying several pounds’ weight on -either foot and by the difficulty of keeping on a large alien hat. -Some other visitors were going down the mine, and one of the ladies’ -hats blew off. Retrieving it from the mud, a man politely offered her -his own, a quite clean one, in exchange. It belonged to somebody else, -but he had had the foresight to select it in the dressing-room in -preference to those provided for visitors. We were each furnished with -a tallow candle. - -Going down a gold mine feels exactly like being one of a new box of -Bryant and May’s matches. A little two-storied platform takes down -eight adventurous souls at a time. There is a bar across to hold on -to; two people stand on either side squeezed close together. Then the -platform is lowered so that four more can get on to its upper story. -With stringent warnings to inexperienced passengers to keep their free -arm pressed close to their side, the platform descends the shaft just -like a box of matches being pushed into its case. It is quite dark in -the shaft. A sound of running water accompanied us, and we could hear -it swishing far below. As we got lower it got hotter and hotter, till -it felt as if we were suspended above the steam of some immense kettle, -producing a curious feeling of suffocation, which, however, wears off. -We had a general impression that the bottom of a gold mine would be a -beautiful, glittering thing, with shining white walls of quartz and -glimmering threads and patches of gold shining in it like the small -samples given as mementoes to visitors. Nothing of the kind. It might -as well have been a coal mine. On scrambling rather breathless out of -the little cage, we found ourselves in a low, small, open space, with -walls of some dun-coloured reddish stone, and narrow tunnels running -off it with wooden supports for the roof. That was the gold mine, -and except that in this Turkish bath of grotto and passage men were -“picking” walls like rock-salt or alabaster, nothing more is to be -said. - -Coming up the shaft we were on the top of the platform, and the water -we had heard going down now splashed on to us, as if somebody with -a primitive sense of humour was watering us from above with a large -watering-can. Altogether, we were very grateful for the blue overalls -and the hats. Apropos of these, when we had recovered our own clothes -and were waiting to inspect the machinery above ground, a distraught -gentleman was passionately inquiring for his hat. The lady who had -exchanged hats observed innocently that there was quite a nice hat -hanging up in her dressing-room. He hurried off to look, and emerged -ruefully with the hat in which she had been down the mine. It had been -well watered with muddy water, and was now almost indistinguishable -from the hats provided for the purpose. - -The machinery was to the uninitiated much like other machinery. There -were enormous pumps, fascinating like all such powerful, ruthless -looking things. We saw the slim-looking cable that draws the cage up -the shaft--(“Looks thin, don’t it?” said the workman in charge of -it)--and the stamper for breaking up the quartz, and the sifters, which -sift the mineral when it is crushed. - -But there was much more to see. We were taken to see the Agricultural -High School. These schools are an interesting feature in the Australian -system of education, and play an important part in it. The Ballarat -Agricultural High School is a large, well-lighted building standing -in its own grounds, where students can learn the practical arts of -agriculture, at the same time that they attend classes, they learn to -test milk and to understand the properties of soils. As it was Saturday -we were unfortunately unable to see any classes at work. The art room -had a south light, which is the aspect corresponding here to our north. -The afternoon was now far advanced, so we paid a rapid visit to the -Botanical Gardens, very large and handsome ones, adorned by statuary -that is the great pride of Ballarat, the work of a local artist. - -Finally, skirting Lake Wendouree, a piece of ornamental water on which -pleasure steamers run in the summer, our host took us to his house, -where we had a high tea, with one of those sumptuous cakes that only -Australian housewives can produce. The journey back seemed very long, -and we were very tired. There were innumerable stations, all quite -dark, so someone ran along the train, inquiring at each carriage, -“Anyone for ...?” whatever the name of the place happened to be. There -never seemed to be anyone, and he then said in disappointed tones, -“Right Oh! Jerry,” and we slowly creaked under way again. - -We were very glad when we at last steamed into the brightly lighted -Melbourne station, and found our kind host and hostess waiting -there for us with their car, in spite of the lateness of the hour. -Afterwards, in talking over the development of Australia with the -people who lived there, we learned how great a part had been played by -the discoveries of gold in populating the state. The first permanent -settlement in Victoria, the smallest of the five states of Australia, -was made by some immigrants from Van Diemen’s Land, as Tasmania was -then called, in Portland Bay in 1834. This is an open bay which lies -at some distance from Melbourne to the south-west; it was found to -be unsafe for shipping, and there was a lack of good land in its -immediate neighbourhood. Melbourne was founded the next year at the -head of the deep inlet called Port Phillip Bay by parties of settlers -from Van Diemen’s Land. Other settlers came from Sydney, and beginning -to explore the interior were struck with its great capabilities. -Immigration rapidly progressed, regular government was established -under Captain William Lonsdale in 1836, and the capital was named -Melbourne. - -[Illustration: THE AUSTRALIAN ALPS, NORTH-EAST VICTORIA. MOUNT -FEATHERTOP 6,300 FEET.] - -By the end of 1850 the population already numbered more than 76,000 -people. The next year gold was discovered, and in 1851 the population -had risen to over 400,000, and was six times that it had been before. -The gold boom brought in its train cultivators, and pastoral settlers, -for the staple of Australia is still wool. The state has an area of 56 -million acres, less than 6 millions of which are under cultivation. The -climate varies greatly according to rainfall and elevation, and there -are even snow-bound districts during the winter months. Part of the -country with a low rainfall is excellent for the cultivation of wheat, -and one of the principal problems in Victoria is to guard against an -uncertain rainfall by the conservation of water. For the north-east and -north extensive irrigation works have already been undertaken, but the -whole question awaits further investigation. - -At present it is not known whether drought cycles can be predicted; how -far the large quantities of water which flow through the Murray River -and its tributaries could be utilised for irrigation; how far improved -methods of farming will increase the extent to which the rainfall can -be utilised. “No country in the world,” says Dr. T. W. Barrett, whom -we have already quoted, “is more dependent than Australia on such -knowledge as can be afforded by meteorology; and perhaps no country in -the world is more disadvantageously placed, since at present there is -no means of obtaining information from the waste of ocean which lies to -the south.” - -This brings us to a problem of very great interest in the land -question in Victoria, a tendency to convert agricultural into grazing -land. Returns show that the very large holdings of 10,000 acres are -decreasing in number, and that an aggregation of holdings of from 500 -to 800 acres constitutes the present problem. The successful farmer -tries to increase his holding, but when he begins to grow old, and is -confronted with the disorganisation and high wages of agricultural -labour, he relinquishes cultivation and resorts to grazing stock on -his larger area, which will provide him with a comfortable living. -Consequently less labour is employed, the local schools decline, the -trade of the neighbourhood languishes. So it comes about that many of -the richest districts of the state are the least progressive. “The land -around these centres,” says Professor Cherry of Melbourne University, -“is probably as rich as that in any part of the world. But instead of -the farm areas being reduced by subdivision they are steadily growing -larger by aggregation.... The evil is intensified, because as the land -goes out of cultivation, the workmen leave the district and general -stagnation ensues.... Not one-tenth of the available land is under -cultivation.”[15] And it must be borne in mind that agriculture is the -basis of existence in Victoria. - -The Government realise this. There are the Agricultural High Schools, -an Agricultural College, a School of Agriculture at the University, -and every primary school has its experimental plot of ground for -gardening. Australia has its own peculiar problems to solve here as -in other districts, especially that of breeding wheat which will -be “drought-resistant and capable of growing outside the existing -rainfall margin of profitable cultivation.” It is believed that vast -areas of pastoral country in the interior of the continent, which now -support a few sheep, might be successfully brought under cultivation, -if a kind of wheat could be evolved that would grow, as many native -grasses grow, under a low rainfall. As yet the average of wheat grown -per acre is very low, only amounting in ten seasons up to 1911–12 to -10·58 bushels an acre, due, it is believed, partly to imperfect methods -of cultivation, as well as to the growth of wheats that are not well -adapted to local conditions. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -THE BLACK SPUR - - -The Victorian bush is very beautiful owing to the immense tree-ferns -that grow among the gums, and during our stay in Melbourne we were -motored out to Black Spur, a favourite objective of Melbourne picnic -and week-end parties, and a point of the “Great Divide,” as the -Dividing Range of Australia is familiarly called. From Melbourne, which -lies at the edge of a plain, the country rises to the great Dividing -Range. This belt of highlands starts from Queensland, and separates -the coastal drainage from that flowing westward. An early rain had -laid the dust, so that we had ideal conditions for motoring, as we -left the city behind us, and passed through a region of trim villas -or bungalows in gardens, each one of which showed its patch of wattle -gleaming among the grey gum trees. At one point the road was bordered -by fir trees, often planted by early Scotch settlers to remind them of -home. Presently we had left all traces of the suburbs behind and were -crossing “Kangaroo Ground,” where, alas! kangaroos have long ceased -to browse and skip. The distant mountain range loomed up before us -gloomy and threatening. Every stream we crossed had its course marked -by a ribbon of wattle flashing among the sombre eucalyptus. Boys were -going out rabbiting this spring morning with bags of ferrets; the whole -country-side lay open to these infant patriots intent on slaying their -country’s enemies. The day was like a showery April morning at home, -with heavy drifting clouds, that threw deep shadows on the dark mass of -the mountains rising on our left. Sometimes we ran through cleared open -country with pale patches of early crops, oats or barley, springing -here and there, or lean store cattle, brought from up-country to be -fattened for sale, and feeding on the richer pastures. Sometimes our -way led through the bush, sometimes through occasional villages. - -[Illustration: THE DIVIDING RANGE.] - -At last we had climbed Christmas Hill, and stopped to survey the famous -view from its summit. Here the road runs between banks with the dark -shining gum trees stretching away on either side. We climbed through a -fence, where a little cleared space enabled us to look over the tops of -the trees to the valley of the Yarra spread out beneath; a wide, wide -plain with the stern-looking ranges in the background. Below us the -Yarra meandered like a yellow ribbon threaded through the green, for -its course was outlined by flowering wattle. Beyond, the gloomy and -forbidding wall of the Great Divide went up to meet the low-hanging -clouds. - -At the foot of the Black Spur there is a sort of pleasure place, -with villas, hotels, and a golf course. Immediately afterwards we -began to ascend a very steep gradient. Here the Government have taken -over a reserve large enough to provide a sufficient water supply for -Melbourne. From time to time we had seen the aqueducts on our way. In -the early part of the year there had been a great bush fire; it had -raged for three weeks, and the smoke had hung about distant Melbourne -like a fog. The after effects of the fire were curious and very -interesting. In some places a whole gully had been burnt out, leaving -only the immense white poles of the gums upstanding like the masts of -ships. So wonderful is their vitality that in many cases the gum trees -had begun to reclothe themselves with young green shoots as if with -ivy. Great tree-ferns shot up too in the cleared spaces, repairing the -havoc that the fire had wrought; bracken covered the ground, and some -kind of pink heath was coming into flower. The fire had been curiously -partial, sometimes leaping the road, sometimes leaving a small area -untouched. Nothing can be done to stem the torrent of these fires or to -arrest their course, for they travel at sixty miles an hour. - -Descending from Black Spur, we stopped to lunch at one of the -characteristic Australian picnic places, above a tumbling mountain -stream close to a place called Fernshaw. A fine rain was falling, and -it was pleasant to find the shelter of a roof, and dry benches and -tables. The place was a bird sanctuary; beautiful, and to us, unknown -varieties came and watched us from a wooden fence that bordered the -little clearing, or hopped about on the grass. The gorgeous Australian -robin flaunted his brilliant vermilion and black plumage, here was the -fabled “blue bird” in the life, a kind of wren; green finches, a large -crow, the ever-present magpie, of course, and pretty fawn-coloured -honey birds, said to cull honey from the flowers like bees, and the -peewit, black and white, like a smaller magpie, and so called from his -shrill, insistent note. - -On the slopes of the Black Spur the eucalyptus attain to an unusual -height, even for their soaring growth, and some of the tallest trees -in Australia are to be seen here. It is impossible to be long in the -country without hearing much discussion on questions of forestry. A -great part of Victoria is still forest, about 4,000,000 acres of which -are reserved by the state. But though there is much valuable timber--in -the mountain ranges in the north-east especially--it is impossible to -transport it. Much forest country is let for grazing at nominal rents, -and forest let for grazing is inevitably burned. The timber is cleared -out by fire to obtain pasture. The fires are generally lighted on -purpose, with the consequent enormous destruction of valuable timber. -On the other hand, there are few cases in which the timber could be -profitably sent to any market, and a land covered with forest cannot -be used for grazing. Australian public opinion is becoming alive to -the importance of this question, and there is a Department of Forests -in the state of Victoria, but it is not considered that its powers are -sufficiently drastic and untrammelled, or its supply of expert opinion -adequate.[16] - -The return journey was an exhilarating experience, for it was downhill -most of the way, and we spun through the sweet invigorating air, with -one wheel generally poised on a higher level than the other, bumping -and plunging, dodging the deep broad ruts, holding on tight with that -pleasant sense of adventure and hairbreadth escapes that only an -expert Australian motorist can give. At one point we stopped to take -a photograph of the Yarra, where its swift green stream took a sharp -bend in a low-lying meadow. Its opposite bank was one brilliant blaze -of wattle; through a gate in the hedge the mountains showed blue and -distant. While we were adjusting the lens a kookaburra somewhere out -of sight burst into his peals of derisive laughter; the shrill chorus -of unseen frogs, an ever-present accompaniment to the stillness of the -Australian country, was the only other sound. It was so typical, so -arresting, so unlike anything to be seen elsewhere, that we wished we -could have transferred the whole scene with its intensity of colour and -freshness to these pages. While we were busy on the bank a boatload -of rough boys swung into sight, shouting, barging, and splashing, -disturbing the peaceful charm of the little picture, breaking up and -destroying the reflected wattle on the smooth water by the bank. We -called to them to put ashore. They immediately did so, and, landing, -came up to us and asked some technical question about the photographic -process--it was a colour photograph on glass--with perfect civility -and friendliness. The little incident was such a marked contrast to -the relationship of different classes of the community at home that it -impressed us as being equally characteristic with the scene in which -it took place. - -As we neared Melbourne the wet roads of the morning had already dried -and we were swept home in a cloud of dust. We arrived in time for a -very late tea, and went on to dine at one of those pleasant colonial -houses, whose warm friendliness and lavish hospitality is so homelike -and yet so un-English. - -The next day, after lunching at Government House, we visited the -zoological gardens. This was the first unpleasant example of Australian -weather; it was like a nasty March day, with gusts of cold wind -sweeping up swirling clouds of blinding, stinging dust. It only lasted -one day as a weather sample, but it was a singularly objectionable day, -with a kind of parching quality in the air. - -On this occasion we pursued a fruitless quest on which we had already -exercised considerable energies since our arrival in Australia. We -were very anxious to see a live platypus, that curious little hairy -animal, with the bill of a duck, which burrows, or used to burrow, -for it is becoming very rare, in Australian river-banks. We were told -that if we wanted to see a platypus we must go to Tasmania, there were -plenty there, but this was not part of our programme; however, there -was actually at the moment a live platypus in Melbourne. They do not -survive in captivity, but this hapless platypus had been sacrificed -in the interests of science, and was on exhibition at the zoological -gardens. We therefore made our way thither, our hearts beating high -with hope and excitement. The porter at the gate was calm, not to say -indifferent; it was also approaching closing time. We entered vaguely, -none of the animals could help us in our quest for the platypus, -neither the mild and browsing kangaroos, the haughty eagles on their -perch, or the slim cranes, like the answer of the winds brought by -‘sage Hippotades,’ “they knew not of his story.” - -We were at last directed to a large wire enclosure, in the midst of -which lay a little muddy pool, it was planted with tall bamboos, amid -which fluttered innumerable small birds. Here, said a passing official, -the platypus was incarcerated. We eagerly watched and watched in -vain the unruffled and opaque surface of the pond. The platypus had -effectually concealed his outraged feelings in the mud. He is a shy -animal and resents observation. By this time, however, we felt that our -journey to Australia was vain unless we saw that platypus. Night was -drawing on, it was long past closing time. In these desperate straits -we penetrated with sacrilegious feet a threshold inscribed “private” -and unearthed the daughter of the keeper. She was very sympathetic, -but not encouraging. Her high authority, however, produced a man with -a key, and we squeezed in among the bamboos, which we found sharp -and aggressive plants, and with ruthless cruelty warmly applauded -the efforts to stir up the platypus out of the mud with a stick; but -the despairing platypus had buried itself beyond the reach of human -intervention. We were forced to give up and retreat, and it seemed to -us, as we went out of the gates, that the large blue parrot, who sits -sentinel on his perch at the entrance, winked at us derisively. - -The same evening we were at least gratified by the sight of a stuffed -platypus. It was at the museum, where there was a civic reception. The -municipal buildings at Melbourne are on a most imposing scale. The -museum, picture galleries, and free library are all under one roof. The -museum is beautifully arranged. Most interesting to English visitors -are the complete collections of native animals of all kinds. Every -sort of kangaroo and wallaby is represented. From immense creatures -sitting up with that air of surprise peculiar to them, as if they were -wondering what had happened to their forelegs, to little things of the -same species no bigger than a cat. We saw the curious sharp-nosed -bandicoot, and at last our search was rewarded by a sight of the -platypus. All these smaller animals were exhibited under their life -conditions, with sandy burrows, or whatever they might be, carefully -reproduced. - -[Illustration: TREE-FERNS IN THE BUSH NEAR MELBOURNE.] - -The picture gallery consists principally of modern paintings, many of -them by Australian painters or of Australian scenes. - -It seemed to us that the painter has yet to arise who will really -capture the spirit of Australian scenery. It is so wholly individual a -thing in colour and chiaroscuro. In a photograph it shows not unlike -Europe, but the heavy opaque look of the gums seen massed together at -a little distance does not resemble anything on this continent, nor -does the rather sad, almost dun-coloured effect of the grey eucalyptus, -near at hand, nor the translucent atmosphere, the clarity of light, the -brilliancy of sun, that makes a London winter seem a thing of abysmal -gloom following on those illumined days. - -Leaving the picture gallery, a long corridor leads to the free -library, and Melbourne is justly proud of its beautiful and luxurious -reading-room, in every way worthy of the chief city of a great -democratic country. Circular in shape, it is surmounted by a dome so -high that it rather dwarfs its proportions. But looked down upon from -an upper gallery the effect of space and the soft radiance of the -electric light falling on the white walls combine to give a charming -architectural effect to the whole. Every member of the public over -fourteen years of age has the right of free access to the library. The -trustees have evolved an admirable system of a “travelling library,” -for circulation among country residents of the state. - -It was a very pleasant evening. Every section of Victorian social and -official life was represented, for in an Australian town if there is -an evening party everyone goes to it, because there are not dozens of -other things going on at the same time as in London. So that everyone -goes to everything, and thus in the smaller societies of colonial towns -a few days in a place suffice to make many acquaintances, and a visitor -can never feel a stranger. - -The authorities, however, always hopefully provide an amount of -cloakroom accommodation, which is to the needs of the guests in the -proportion of a sentry-box to an army. Having already experienced this -idiosyncrasy at Adelaide, we prudently deposited our wraps behind -a large stuffed kangaroo and asked him to keep an eye on them. He -faithfully fulfilled his charge. - -We lunched next day with one of the leading citizens of Melbourne, one -of those active, public-spirited men that colonial life produces, whose -patriotism has grown with the growth of the town he has done his part -in building. It was interesting, because in the colonies everyone is -doing something and is ready to talk about his business, whatever it -is. One of the guests, for instance, had a thousand acres of dairy farm -in the neighbourhood of Bacchus Marsh. He could grow seven or eight -crops of lucerne a year, but it cost him 30s. an acre for irrigation. -Our host had a fascinating hobby of keeping a small private menagerie. -In a sloping paddock beyond the garden a number of kangaroos were -nibbling the grass; they were quite tame, but their pace if they are -startled is incredible; they don’t appear to touch the ground, but seem -to fly with their long hind-legs stretched out like a bird, skimming -the ground with a curious effect of great speed. - -This was the only occasion during our stay in Australia on which we -saw a wombat. He is a thick-set, squat animal, about three feet long, -and not unlike a large guinea-pig in build. He lives on grass and -roots, and in his native state burrows a home for himself with his -sharp claws. He is such an inveterate burrower that in captivity he -can only be kept in an enclosure with a concrete floor and corrugated -iron sides without a door; in fact, his pen resembled those in which -pigs are incarcerated for life at Las Palmas, except that it was quite -clean. He seemed not unfriendly in a molluscous way; he lifted his flat -head to take grass from our hands, and his odd bristly fur felt like -the spines of a porcupine to the touch. - -But the most engaging denizens of the garden were the little opossums. -The opossum bears a rough sort of resemblance to a squirrel with a -long prehensile tail, and, like squirrels, lives in trees. When we -went to look at them only the little pink inside of an ear was showing -through the open door of their hutch. Then one brown eye appeared, a -little hand-like claw was cautiously advanced towards the biscuit held -out to it, a bushy whisker emerged, and slowly the whole opossum came -into the open. They are most charming little things, very gentle and -well-mannered; they gingerly hold your hand in their tiny white claws -while they delicately nibble at your biscuit, and if they inadvertently -bite your finger by mistake they immediately draw back with an air -of distressed apology. Little Australian animals have an exquisite -urbanity that makes them the most endearing acquaintances. - -[Illustration: VIEW OF THE AUSTRALIAN ALPS FROM THE MURRAY RIVER -FLATS.] - -It was a bright afternoon of sunshine, and the Botanical Gardens to -which we went on the way to an At Home were looking their best after -an earlier rain. They are laid out on rising ground, with ornamental -water, sloping lawns, and graceful groups of trees. - -In the evening we dined very pleasantly with a university professor, -when a fellow-guest at dinner described his experiences in shooting -the rapids of an Australian river. He and the friend who went with him -had to keep their food in watertight bags, as the canoes continually -upset. The one thing, he said, was whatever happened never to let go of -the canoe, or you would find yourself two hundred miles from anywhere, -bereft of all means of existence. “Was it dangerous?” somebody asked. -“You are never out of danger,” was the reply. And it is this sense of -the possibility of adventure that constitutes part of the charm of -colonial life, where men come into contact and into conflict with a -nature not yet all sleek and combed. - -Our last day at Melbourne we spent in driving round the city and such -of its environs as we had not already seen. We visited St. Kilda’s, the -watering-place of Melbourne. A low, grey, cloudy sky threw a pale light -on the waters of the great inland sea, with its pretty opposite shore. -This is Melbourne’s pleasure-place, with hotels along the front. - -Returning through the older part of Melbourne we saw the old road -along which men went out to the diggings, with some of its original -galvanised iron buildings still standing. We passed by the cemetery, -where the first settlers were buried, closed long ago. As we -returned into the everyday busy streets of the great city we met the -newly formed Australian contingent of troops marching out to their -camping-ground. There can be few people so invertebrate that they can -watch levies on the march without a responsive thrill, even in time -of peace, and these men were going to fight not for their homes and -families and country, but were relinquishing all for their distant -kindred in a life-and-death struggle miles away. This great unpeopled -country, where men are so urgently needed, was gladly sending of its -best to “the Old Country”--“home,” as they tenderly call it, with a -depth of sentiment incomprehensible here, and incomprehensible to -anyone who does not know and feel his own patriotism awake and flourish -on alien soil. - -Our last visit was to the Tourist Bureau, which in general management -and organisation is incomparably the best in Australia. Here we were -given our choice of the admirable views of Victoria and small handbooks -of local interest. That afternoon our visit concluded. - -We left Melbourne feeling more Australian than the Australians. The -afternoon sun was gilding the level plain as we sped across it, passing -scattered villages, often little more than clusters of iron-roofed -shanties, with a horse, its bridle hitched to a post, and children and -dogs playing in the road. After the swift darkness had come, there -was a clear night of stars lighting up the dim country, the great -spreading empty plain with its scattered gum trees, while the lamps -of the carriages sent out shafts of light, like searchlights, across -brilliantly illuminated patches, momentarily visible in the darkness. - - - - -PART IV - -NEW SOUTH WALES - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -SYDNEY HARBOUR - - -When we were sailing from Batavia in Java to Colombo there was a New -Yorker on board, who was buying rubber in anticipation of the needs of -belligerents, and who knew most of the places in the world where rubber -was to be raised or bought. His views on Australia we have forgotten, -and his denunciation of the Indies, as places where the white resident -must deteriorate, do not matter here. What we do recall is the dislike -he expressed, as an Eastern American, for the pretensions of the West, -especially of California. “There’s nothing they’ve got,” he would say, -“that they don’t want to tell you about. Why, you take a Californian, -and he’ll stand there and blow out his chest, and talk to you about his -climate and climate! There’s Los Angeles.... I want to tell you right -now, that Los Angeles is the one place on God’s earth, where you can -get a sunstroke and a frozen foot at the same time.” - -Other Americans, Californians, to whom we have repeated this -description, attempt to palliate it, but they admit its force; and the -fact is that being a people with a sense of humour, they recognise the -exaggeration as the recoil which we all experience when anything is -over-praised to us. It is very hard for a young country not to praise -its possessions, not out of conceit, but from a human desire to elicit -praise from a superior critic. We “know you’ve got some great things,” -they say by inference to the visitor, “but you’ll admit that this thing -of ours is not so bad.” Thus when the citizen of Ballarat points out to -you the glories of his main street, he does not ask you to compare it -with Piccadilly or the Champs Elysées, but he would like you to think -that it is something for a mining community to have cut out of the Bush. - -So now to Sydney Harbour. Long before we ever saw it we had heard of -it. They think no end of Sydney Harbour, we had been told. They say -it’s better than the Bay of Naples. “If ever you meet an Australian, -and tell him you’re going to Australia,” Phil May once said to the -writer, “he’ll be sure to say, ‘Well, you look out for Sydney Harbour.’ -It’s a fine place,” added May reflectively; “but, you know, if you tell -an Australian that the only thing you have to complain of in Australia -is the toughness of its beef, he’ll say, ‘Tough? Well, what of it? -You have to have it tough to sole boots with it.’” With which cryptic -observation he left the subject of Sydney Harbour, of which he was -quite incapable of giving any further description. - -We are in not much better case. But let us say at once that whatever -one might expect of Sydney Harbour, whether having heard so much of -its beauties, one came to it prepared to deny them, or whether merely -eager to confirm one’s expectations, Sydney Harbour would always be -ready with its surprise. It reminds one of that Street in Tours to -which Balzac paid so affectionate a tribute, the Street where there was -always sunshine and shadow and a fountain playing, the Street that was -like a coquette ... in brief, the Street where he was born. For Sydney -Harbour, too, is everchanging; the Pacific is at its gates; and it has -a beauty which captures affection; in brief, it has charm. But it is -quite unlike what one expects of it. Our first glimpse of it was from -a heavy vehicle ferry, and when we rubbed the rain from the windows -of our car, we looked through rain on a prospect that might have been -Portsmouth, so little could we see. But if anyone should come to Sydney -Harbour by sea, he might arrive at the right first impression. If you -will lay your hand on the table with the fingers spread, you will -have some sort of a notion of the shape of this noble inlet. From the -sea you would come into it at the wrist between Sydney Heads, which -are jutting cliffs of sandstone, with the sea breaking at their base. -Then far away inland, the fingers of the harbour stretch for miles, -fingers very uneven in length and thickness and formation. On one of -them stands Sydney and the suburb melodiously named Wooloomooloo, -which was once a swamp, and is now as valuable as Brixton. On other -fingers are springing up Dulwich’s and Wimbledon’s and Surbiton’s; some -fingers dig so far into the continent that their headwaters are lost -among tree-clothed hills miles and miles away ... and all this, town -and suburb, and garden city and seaside and country village--all is -Sydney Harbour. We saw it a bit at a time, as this or that excursion -took us along its ramifications, now in a motor drive to Sydney Heads, -or in a taxi through the park that runs to the edge of its waters. -But it was most familiar to us, as to anyone who lives in Sydney, -by its ferry-boats, which run to and from its many promontories and -its growing suburbs, and find their terminus at the Charing Cross of -the harbour--Circular Quay. At night with their lighted saloons and -incessant movement, coming and going, the ferry-boats make Sydney -Harbour into a feast of lanterns. In the daytime no one could describe -it and convey any impression of it; for it changes so, and has so many -aspects: - - The haze on the hills northward and westward. - The large and small steamers in motion.... - The white wake left by the passage, the quick tremulous whirl of - the wheels. - The flags of all nations, the falling of them at sunset. - The scallop-edged waves in the twilight. - The stretch afar growing dimmer and dimmer, the grey walls of the - houses by the quays. - On the neighbouring shore the fires from the foundry chimneys - burning high in the night. - -Or again: - - I too, many and many a time crossed the harbour of old. - Watched the seagulls.... - Saw the slow-wheeling circles and the gradual edging in towards - the south. - Saw the reflection of the summer sky in the water. - Had my eyes dazzled by the shimmering track of beams. - Looked towards the lower bay to notice the vessels arriving. - Saw their approach, saw aboard those that were near me. - Saw the white sails of schooners and sloops, saw the ships at - anchor.... - -That was written by a poet of another harbour, but it catches better -than any description I can give, the life, the humanity of Sydney -Harbour. - -It will be the same, perhaps not less beautiful, fifty years hence. -But people who have lived there long, look at the encroaching villas -of Mosman’s Bay, and all the suburbs on that side, and say rather -sadly, “I can remember the time--ten years ago, twenty ... when there -wasn’t a house there.” And one cannot help an apprehension lest in -years to come, the tree-clothed heights and headlands may not all be -whity-brown with the houses of citizens. Doubtless on the side of the -harbour opposite to Circular Quay another Sydney will spring up which -will be to the old one what Brooklyn is to New York, and will have -its own factories and its own Mayor. One can hope only that it will -grow up maintaining some idea of public parks--which ought all to come -down to the water, and fend off the encroachments of houses--and of -town-planning. There is plenty of room now. Room will be dearer later -on. - -Sydney itself is an object-lesson. It is a fine town in parts. It has -a fine park. Macquarie Street is fine; so is the enclosure of the -University; and there are the Botanic Gardens, and the Domain. You -cannot ask for better than that. At least I cannot, who am a Cockney, -and found in Sydney a town which had grown up haphazard very much like -London. Its best streets rather narrow and far from straight, just like -London’s; its Circular Quay bearing signs of reform that must have been -very much needed; its plebeian insertion of Wooloomooloo dropped in -the middle of the town much as Clare Market and Drury Lane were, or -are, left in between the Strand and Holborn. To a Londoner Sydney will -always be a homelike place. Those who live there will seem to him like -lifelong friends, and it will be his fault if they are any less. - -The Glasgow Scot, it will be remembered, said that Glasgow was a -gran’ place to get out from; and New South Wales is very accessible -from Sydney. During most of the year the inhabitants do not live very -far from the city; for it is so much more easy to reach the spring -woodlands, the summer and the sun than it is from London. Manly Beach -and surf-bathing are just over the road; Broken Bay, where the simple -life presents itself without affectation, is round the corner; Pitt -Water and sounds and creeks and broads, where in September the wild -swans come, are a cycle ride away. In the background hover the Blue -Mountains; rather mysterious heights, because the light reflected -from the glossy leaves of the trees which wrap these hills as closely -as fur, gives always to them a bluish sheen. Even Melbourne admits -the Blue Mountains, and says without grudging that nowhere is there -anything quite like them. In the hot days of summer ... it can be hot -in Australia--once on a scorching day at Lord’s I remember that Jim -Phillips, the umpire in many Test matches, responded to a remark on -the heat: “Hot? Why, in Australia they’d call this ‘a break in the -heatwave!’” ... in the hot days of summer people take bungalows in the -Blue Mountains and come by morning train to town. It is worth it. In -the winter, by way of contrast, the holidaymakers can go still farther -up-country, and obtain ski-ing. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -SYDNEY AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD - - -The approach to Sydney by rail lies through wooded hills with beautiful -views of dark ranges in the distance. It had been raining overnight, -and everything was glistening in the early morning sun that lighted up -the red shoots of the gum trees. Along the line were small encampments -of workmen, who have to live under canvas to be within reach of their -employment on the railway. - -We had been told that Sydney would be very hot, but our first -impression was one of all-pervading moisture, for after the long -spell of dusty, dry weather, the rain had caught us up at last; a -fine driving rain that made everything sodden. Our host met us at the -station, and took us to identify our luggage, which was lying in the -mud on another platform. Our first view of Sydney was of tall houses -crowded together in narrow streets, more like those of a European town; -for the city has grown up anyhow, instead of being schemed on the -rectangular, spacious plan of the newer capitals. We caught passing -glimpses of fine buildings and open spaces, “Hyde Park,” and Macquarie -Street, the Harley Street of Sydney, where all the doctors live, -advertising their whereabouts with immense brass plates on the railings -of their houses. - -Descending this broad street, we were on the famous Sydney Harbour, -the most beautiful in the world, Valparaiso its only rival. One always -thinks of a harbour as a round place full of shipping, with crowded, -dirty wharfs. Sydney Harbour is quite different from this; it is a -series of creeks running up into the land, its different arms separated -by wooded hills, whose trees are rapidly disappearing in a tide of -villas. Wherever you are in Sydney, you are never far away from some -fresh aspect of the harbour. - -Our car ran on to a steam-ferry, already crowded with cars and carts, -climbed the bank on the other side, and passing a terrace of houses, -like an old-fashioned London suburb, drew up at a garden gate. We -never saw anything prettier in Australia than that garden. A sloping -tree-shaded lawn, bordered by grey, close-clipped salt bush, led down -to an old house, chocolate-coloured, two-storied, gabled. On the right -of the path was a large tree, still bare of leaves, but covered with -long, scarlet blossoms. It was the coral-tree (erythrina), common -in the warm north-eastern latitudes of Australia. The house itself -had an old-world charm, and a certain exquisite freshness that caused -us some anxiety as to the effect of our very travel-stained luggage -on its spotless interior; but the wise Australian hostess, whom long -experience has acquainted with the treatment her guests’ trunks will -have received at the hands of railway officials, sets an uncarpeted -room apart for their reception. Here the muddy, battered things are -deposited, and their owner can gingerly approach them there, for it is -not usual in Australian households for the maids to unpack visitors’ -luggage, and, generally speaking, one may say this is fortunate for the -visitor. - -The front of this charming old house was no less beautiful than the -back. It had been built long ago by convict labour, and was heavily -barred and shuttered against their possible depredations. The bedrooms -looked out over the harbour, a beautiful view of never-ending -kaleidoscopic fascination. Beneath the trees under the window -large steamers came, and the busy traffic of smaller craft slipped -soundlessly to and fro. It was a scene of continual colour, movement, -and life, with its silent background of wooded hills. - -Sydney, with the exception of two days of heavenly blue skies, was -unpropitious in its weather during our stay; when it wasn’t raining, -which it did intermittently with great violence, it was blowing up -clouds of dust, in preparation for the next shower, and no amount of -rain seemed really effective in laying its stinging, swirling clouds. -However, we set off after lunch to visit the University, and walked -down a steep lane to the little pier where the steamers call for the -Circular Quay, whence the different boats run to one and another point -in the harbour. It is a charming little journey from Kirribilli Point, -by which musical native name, with its characteristic reduplications -of the vowel sounds, our temporary home was called; Old Admiralty -House lies picturesquely among its high gardens, and on the opposite -shore, on a green mound with two sentinel trees stands the little -fortress-like building where the first governors of the colony lived. - -A tram from the Circular Quay runs up the principal street of Sydney, -past the Town Hall and the Cathedral to the University grounds. We made -a dash through the pouring rain to the University buildings, which -stand on high ground, overlooking the town. The University was founded -in 1850, though its scope has since been greatly enlarged. It comprises -faculties of arts, law, medicine, and science. As at Melbourne, -denominational colleges, of which the principal ones are Church of -England and Presbyterian, have been established and incorporated with -it. A woman’s college, undenominational, has also been built within -the University grounds, as well as a hospital, where medical students -and nurses are trained. The fees for tuition are fifteen guineas a -year in the Faculty of Arts, and twenty-seven guineas a year in the -professorial schools; but though these fees are hardly more than -nominal, pupils from the Government High Schools or Registered Schools, -can be awarded exhibitions on the result of the Leaving Certificate -Examination of the Department of Public Instruction, which give the -privilege of free education during the University course. These -exhibitions are, however, limited in number. - -The handsome University main building will eventually form the front -of a proposed quadrangle. There is a large hall for examinations -and public meetings, and lecture-rooms for general subjects; but -the Science and Medical Schools are separately housed. The general -educational system of New South Wales, primary and secondary, is -established on much the same lines as that already described in Western -Australia. Only those children are admitted to the secondary schools -who have obtained a qualifying certificate. Every precaution has been -taken to render the technical education of the colony as efficient -as possible. Conferences, attended by both employers and workpeople, -discussed and drew up a course of instruction. Trades schools were -established that should lead up to the technical colleges, and by a -wise provision, without which the whole fabric of technical education -is rendered nugatory, an “entrance qualification” for the trades -schools was made compulsory. In some trades, by arrangement with the -employers, apprentices attend a trades school during working hours. -Every precaution is taken that the children in scattered, outlying -districts shall not elude the benefits the state provides. Wherever -central schools are possible, children are taken to them free by -coach, or in the coastal districts by launch. “Bush” children have -“Provisional” or “Half-time” schools,[17] provided for them. “Caravan” -schools visit scattered families. “Flying Camp” schools accompany -railway construction. - -[Illustration: CIRCULAR QUAY, SYDNEY.] - -It is claimed that New South Wales exhibits the most perfect -existing system of centralised educational administration. All state -education is controlled by the Public Instruction Department, -and the whole cost is paid out of consolidated revenue. There is no -educational tax or local rate. - -It seemed to us, as we assimilated all these facts, that first day in -Sydney, that our colonies were doing things while we talk about them; -but it must be remembered that they have to form, while we have to -reform, and the first is much the easier task. - -We got back to Kirribilli Point, eluding the heavy showers as far as -possible, but Sydney looked as miserable as all towns on a thoroughly -wet day, producing a confused impression of chilly damp, streaming shop -windows, jostling umbrellas, and liquid mud. The next day was better, -fortunately, as the Governor of New South Wales was giving a garden -party. - -Government House, itself an unimportant structure, is charmingly placed -on a point of the harbour, with gardens sloping down to the water. -Towards evening the sun shone out, and gave us the first impression -of the real Sydney, and our host seized the opportunity to show us -something of the place as it ought to look. We motored to South Head -along a road, where verandahed and balconied houses clustered in -gardens on the hills above the harbour, clinging, as it were, to the -rocks, which crop out everywhere among the short grass, smoothed and -weathered by time. Graceful grey pepper trees grow in many of the -gardens, drooping over the fences. The road, which ran up and down -hill, ended abruptly in a boulder. We got out, and walked along to the -edge of the South Head, the southern extremity of the entrance to the -harbour, where the purple Pacific booms in the cavities of the high -sandstone cliffs. This view from the South Head is one of the most -beautiful in Australia. The blue waters of the harbour are guarded by -sentinel cliffs, and misty range on range of low hills stretch away -inland. - -Here we saw growing for the first time the lantana, a hardy shrub, not -unlike the “meal tree” of our hedges at home, but with pink and yellow -flowers. It is a very decorative thing, but is regarded in Australia, -and especially in Queensland, as a noxious weed. - -We returned home by way of the Domain, or public park, adjoining the -Botanical Gardens, along a road lined by the stately Morton Bay Pine. - -[Illustration: SOUTH COAST, NEW SOUTH WALES.] - -One day in Sydney was devoted to an excursion by boat round the -harbour. It is a curious fact that Captain Cook, in his careful survey -of the east coast of Australia, should have missed Sydney Harbour. -When exploring the east coast of Australia in the “Endeavour,” a ship -of 368 tons, he spent some time in Botany Bay in the spring of 1770, -where he buried one of his men, took in wood and water, and made some -ineffectual attempts at friendly negotiation with the natives. He gave -the bay the name by which it was afterwards known because of the “great -quantity of plants, that Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander collected in this -place.” He then sailed away to the North, passing Sydney Harbour at -two or three miles’ distance; merely noting that “there was there a -good bay or harbour, in which there appeared to be good anchorage,” -which he called Port Jackson. Here, years later, after the revolt of -the American colonies; when the English Government was faced with the -difficulty of disposing of the convicts, who had been formerly shipped -to America; a scheme was set on foot, partly through the initiation of -Lord Sydney, for shipping them to Botany Bay, and founding a colony -there. An expedition was sent out under Captain Philip, the first -governor of the colony. The fleet sailed in May, seventeen years after -Captain Cook’s exploration of the coast of New South Wales, as he had -named it, and took thirty-six weeks to reach Botany Bay by way of -the Cape and Brazil; but on his arrival Governor Philip came to the -conclusion that Botany Bay was not suitable for a settlement, and, -coasting north, entered the opening between the north and south heads -of Port Jackson, and discovered the magnificent harbour inside. - -He selected as a landing-place a bay four miles from the opening of the -harbour, where there was a good spring of fresh water, and excellent -anchorage for many of the largest ships of that day. He therefore -made this his landing-place, and called it Sydney Cove, after the -then Secretary of State for the Colonies. On January 26th, 1788, -the date now commemorated as the anniversary day of the Foundation -of the Colony, the rest of Captain Philip’s fleet sailed round from -Botany Bay, and anchored in Sydney Cove, near what is now known as the -Circular Quay, though at that time the cove ran a good deal farther -inland. It was Governor Philip who planned the principal streets of -the new township of Sydney with a width of 200 feet, which was instead -unfortunately, reduced to sixty feet by his successors, producing -a narrow, crowded effect, instead of the generous sense of space -characteristic of cities in the new world. - -The quay was a process of slow development. As late as 1803 Governor -King issued a general order which stated that “The framing, -lengthening, and planking of the wharf on the eastern side is complete, -and the inhabitants are expected to cart material to fill it up and to -make a way to it.” An admirably simple method of accomplishing public -works; equally salutary with the measures then in vogue for dealing -with loafers: “All persons loitering about the wharves will be put to -hard labour for the rest of the day.” The wharves grew up, like the -city, in gradual response to the needs of the increasing population. - -But in 1900 an outbreak of plague produced stringent reforms. In -order to prevent its recurrence the Government took over the whole -of the wharves, regardless of cost, placing the business of their -reconstruction in the hands of a Harbour Trust, who have swept away old -wharves, provided new ones, and had the foreshores made rat-proof. - -Sydney Harbour baffles description; pages would give no idea of its -varied charm and beauty. It is difficult even to realise that its -shores occupy a length of 188 miles, made up of innumerable bays -and creeks running up among its wooded hills. Some of these, in the -neighbourhood of the main centres of traffic, are fringed with busy -wharves and lined with shipping. On the opposite side from them the -hills are thickly dotted with villas, but in the more remote arms of -the harbour the bush remains still untouched and primeval, hiding quiet -sandy beaches in its recesses. - -Roughly speaking, one may say the harbour divides itself into two main -sections; that on the northern side of the entrance called Middle -Harbour, and the more extensive southern portion which, with all its -many ramifications, runs west and ends in the Parramatta River. It is -on the southern shores of this side of the harbour that the commercial -life of Sydney is centred, the great and busy city with all its -thronging wharves. On the northern shores are the picturesque houses of -the well-to-do residents; for Sydney is also a pleasure city, and the -land-locked waters of the upper reaches of the harbour are delightful -for sailing, rowing, fishing, and bathing, while in the immediate -neighbourhood are the popular surf-bathing beaches of Manly and Coogee. - -We had already visited some of the northern shores of the harbour, -but we had not penetrated to the west. The day was fine, the weather -propitious. Our steamer started from Fort Macquarie, and we sailed -first to the outer harbour, gaining varied impressions of the serrated, -undulating shores; past the old Federal Government House, and the -beautiful Botanic Gardens, which adjoin the public park, known as -the Domain, and run down to the shore; past Macquarie Point and -Wooloomooloo; past Rushcutter’s Bay, and past the charming Rose Bay, to -the steep escarpment of the North and South Heads, where the Pacific -comes rolling up its breakers. On the return journey we went as far as -Cockatoo Island in the Parramatta River, one of the most westerly of -the many picturesque islands scattered within the harbour. Here are -the Government docks, originally constructed by convicts; for Cockatoo -Island was formerly a penal settlement. In the last year or two the -docks have been very much extended, and shipbuilding is now carried on -on a large scale. - -At the colliery of Balmain coal-mining is carried on at a great -depth below the harbour. It was growing late when we returned to -our starting-point, but the evening light was loveliest of all on -Kirribilli Point above which a crescent moon was hanging. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -THE BLUE MOUNTAINS AND A BUSH PICNIC - - -We had heard much of the famous Blue Mountains during our progress -from West Australia to New South Wales and were anxious to visit them. -In the early days they formed an impenetrable barrier between Sydney -and the rich country beyond. Many vain and unsuccessful attempts were -made to cross these labyrinthine ranges. Each successive line of -heights is so like another, its eucalyptus-covered shoulders with the -deep, blind gorges between, for long baffled and defied all attempts -at exploration. The first of these efforts was undertaken as early as -1793–4 by three naval officers; but it was not till 1813, in the time -of Governor Macquarie, that some settlers interested in stock-breeding -won their way through. For a time, like all their predecessors, they -got entangled in the bewildering network of gorges that make travelling -here so difficult, but at last, chancing upon a dividing spur that ran -westward, they pursued its ridge till, arriving at the summit, they saw -below them a fairly open valley with a running stream and good pasture. - -Governor Macquarie at once followed up the important discovery by -sending out another expedition, which led to the discovery of a river -flowing westward, the “Macquarie River,” and subsequently opened up the -country beyond. A road was constructed across the mountain in 1815. -Early inland exploration in Australia forms an interesting and often -tragic chapter in the history of the continent. Its story has been told -in detail in Favenc’s “Australian Exploration.” - -We got up very early in the morning. How delightful it was to throw -open the shutters on to the green trees and lawns of the garden with -the busy blue waters of the harbour below, the big ships lading and -unlading their cargo on to tenders, the little local steamers bustling -to and fro, looking as if there was not room for them all. Breakfast, -including a very agreeable kind of marmalade jelly, made of sweet -oranges, was brought to us at seven o’clock, and we started shortly -afterwards. It was a still morning with a threat of rain, and heavy, -drifting clouds. The water round the little wooden landing-stage of -Kirribilli Point is so clear that small shoals of fish can be seen -distinctly swimming about the piles, and we watched for some time a -little speckled thing that looked like a mouse in shape. - -[Illustration: NATIONAL PASS, BLUE MOUNTAINS.] - -We passed out of the suburbs of Sydney, through the outlying red wooden -houses, with corrugated iron roofs, surrounded by greenery and standing -in cleared spaces. Then came green fields, sometimes with the dead -trees or their stumps still remaining. We noticed numerous orange trees -before we left the populated district. The hour was still very early; -we slept peacefully for the greater part of the journey. Unless the -faculty of sleeping in a train is cultivated, there is no enjoyment for -the Australian traveller, for he must always journey scores of miles -to get anywhere, and the country, generally speaking, varies little in -character. On this occasion we awoke to find ourselves in a sort of -Swiss scenery, with range on range of blue hills. This endless vista -of gum-covered hill after gum-covered hill made it easy to see why for -years the Blue Mountains were the despair of pioneers, who, surmounting -one range, found another in front of them exactly the same. The view -was only varied by red escarpments in places. The stopping-places, as -we slowly mounted higher, were entirely conventional. We might have -been looking out on a suburb of London--Sydenham, for instance, -as far as the aspect of the neat suburban houses was concerned. The -illusion was deepened by the appearance of “Springfield Ladies’ -College,” very trim and sedate among its neighbours, only the gardens -bore camellia bushes for roses. - -Leura, on the other hand, gives the illusion of a Swiss village, with -its background of high dark hills, large flourishing hotels, and rows -of fir trees. Our destination was Katoomba. These hill settlements are -on the way to becoming thriving towns. A large and excellent hotel -already dominated the one main street of shops. The Blue Mountains are -a popular week-end, or holiday resort for Sydney, whose residents can -easily attain the pure mountain air, after the steamy heat which is -said to be the normal condition of the city in summer. Katoomba could -only boast of one modest street, but it supported two chemists’ shops, -and a furnishing company, conducted by a man of unsurpassed initiative -and a sense of the dramatic. One would not have supposed that there -was scope for such a faculty in the furnishing trade. But in his shop -window was represented not mere specimens of his wares, not merely -pillow-slips and dining-tables to tempt the hardy pioneer from the -backwoods, but that hardy pioneer himself. The whole shop front had -been converted into a scene representing a sumptuously furnished hotel -bedroom, in which a young man, a wax figure, had retired for the night. -His clothes were thrown carelessly about the room, his boots and socks -kicked off by the bedside, his gun leant in one corner, the contents of -his small tin trunk were neatly arranged on the dressing-table. A small -table, on which were a pack of cards and an empty champagne bottle, -bore testimony to his gay bachelor habits, but before he went to bed -his last thought had been otherwise, for open upon the writing-table -was a letter written in a large bold hand to his “Dearest Henriette,” -lamenting his loneliness, and asking when the happy day would come -on which they should set up house together. The whole scene was so -realistic that the youth of Katoomba could not linger long unmoved in -contemplation of it. - -We lunched at the large hotel of the little settlement, its verandah -overlooking a fine vista of misty hills that must have been superb on -a sunny day, but the rain clouds hung heavily over them, diffusing an -exquisitely soft light under the low grey sky. After lunch we started -on the top of a coach drawn by five horses to see some of the falls -for which the neighbourhood is famous. It took skilled driving over -the rough tracks that did duty for roads. We bumped up and down steep -ascents and descents, swung round impossible corners with glimpses -between the trees of range on range of misty blue mountains stretching -away illimitable, mysterious, aloof, with no sign of life on their soft -gum-clad slopes. - -Occasionally the coach stopped, and we got down, while the guide -who accompanied us pointed out some famous views or some especially -beautiful fir-clad gully, with a little trickle of water falling from -the rocks and tinkling away unseen. There seemed to be no birds or -animals. The guide said that the foxes were killing off the small -native animals in these gorges, and that of the koala bears, which were -once numerous, there were very few left. A price is given for foxes’ -skins in the hope of exterminating them. We were told in Melbourne that -they fetched 10s. On one of these occasions we heard a curious noise, -something like the gobbling of a turkey, made by a large brown bird, -which the guide affirmed to be a lyre bird. - -The Katoomba Falls, which we visited last, were on a much more imposing -scale. The water comes down from a great height in a succession of -falls. As a matter of fact an extra supply of water was turned on for -the benefit of ourselves and some other visitors, so that altogether -our impression of Katoomba was that of a very sophisticated spot. The -excellent hotel and the soft sweet air, even in winter, though it is -3000 feet above sea level, would certainly make it an ideal place for -rest, with an endless variety of delightful walks, which would reveal -in their season all kinds of plants, animals, and insects, as well as -the magnificent mountain views. It was dark when we started on the -return journey, which seemed so interminable that we marvelled at the -hardihood of the people who actually live at such places as Katoomba -and go into Sydney for business, for such we were told there are. The -lights of Sydney and a very belated dinner were more than welcome. - -It is difficult in a new country to think in large enough terms--to -realise, for instance, that New South Wales is more than two and a -half times as large as the whole British Isles. In this vast expanse -of country the climate varies greatly, from that of Mount Kosciusko in -the south, where ski-ing and other Alpine sports are carried on in the -winter, to the warm and humid districts of the north. There is thus -a correspondingly great variety of products; from wheat, barley, and -maize to sugar-canes and tobacco, cotton, and olives; from strawberries -to that much over-rated tropical fruit, the mango. - -[Illustration: SHEARING TIME, BURRAWONG STATION, NEW SOUTH WALES.] - -The state of New South Wales may be roughly divided, geographically, -into three areas. A coastal district; plateaux or tablelands, of -which the Blue Mountains form part; and the western or inland plains. -Agricultural and pastoral production varies according to the character -of these different areas. - -Dairying is making rapid progress in the coastal districts of the -north; the tablelands afford admirable conditions for mixed farming, in -which the raising of sheep and cattle is combined with the growth of -cereals; the western slopes are the centre of the wheat industry; while -the vast area of level grass land in the far west give pasturage to -40,000,000 merino sheep. - -For the chief contributing factor to the pastoral wealth of Australia -has been wool. By far the greater part is exported, for though local -woollen mills have been started they do not absorb much more than 1¼% -of the whole clip. It was the introduction of the merino sheep from -South Africa, through the agency of a Captain MacArthur in 1797, that -laid the foundation of the Australian wool trade, for the merino unites -the faculty of producing the finest wool with the capacity of seeking -its food over the most extended areas, and of resisting drought. - -New South Wales is now the most important wool producing state in -Australia, and exported in 1912 44·4% of the total export of wool from -the continent. The Commonwealth Returns for 1911 show that Australia -exported 44% of the total value of all wool imported into the United -Kingdom alone, in round numbers more than fourteen million pounds’ -worth, as compared with seven millions from New Zealand, and two from -Cape Colony. - -By far the most important product after wool is wheat. In 1911–12 -a little over 65% of the whole area under cultivation was devoted -to wheat. At present less than 2% of the land in the state is under -cultivation, though over 92% is occupied. “In the past New South Wales -has filled a most important place as the premier wool-producing country -in the world. But during later years the production of wheat and other -cereals has been steadily increasing.... The land is the great source -of wealth, and we cannot continue to let the great part of such wealth -lie idle.... Australia, and more particularly New South Wales, may -confidently accept “mixed farming” as the solution of the land problem.” - -The days of enormous runs, at all events on land suitable for -agriculture, are numbered ... the big run, having served its turn, is -fated to undergo subdivision and closer settlement.[18] Under the -Closer Settlement Act large areas of good land have been repurchased by -the Government and disposed of at from 25s. to £5 an acre. The terms -are very easy; a small deposit has to be made, and the remainder is -paid off over a term of years. Many large private estates are being -periodically cut up, and under the Closer Settlement Promotion Act -three or more persons having agreed with the owners of land as to -price and area, may apply to the Crown to purchase the lands.[19] The -system of “Shares Farming” is being worked with great success in New -South Wales at present. The landowner supplies the land, the tenant -the labour, the produce of the combination is equally divided. By this -means the farm labourer without capital soon acquires land of his -own.[20] - -[Illustration: “A FLOCK OF SHEEP,” KINROSS STATION, NEW SOUTH WALES.] - -Among the many charms of Sydney and its neighbourhood are the flat -sandy beaches that have made surf bathing popular. Our host had -planned a delightful expedition by motor and motor-launch that was to -culminate in a real Australian picnic in the bush with “billy” tea and -damper, showing us on the way Manly Beach. The morning was drizzling -and heavy, but Australian weather at its worst always has lucid -intervals, and soon after our early start the rain had cleared off. Our -way led through the extensive suburbs of Mosman, past many arms of the -harbour, like lovely inland lakes with wooded banks, down to a narrow -point called the Spit, from which a ferry crosses to the eastern side. -Here we met many other motor-cars, all converging on the same point, -and after crossing on the ferry and climbing a steep hill, we had left -Sydney and its harbour behind, and presently began to have glimpses of -the Pacific. The drive was one of endless charm and novelty: sometimes -we passed what looked like a rushy inland lake, sometimes we were close -to the shore. Several miles of the coast land here have been bequeathed -to the Salvation Army, which has erected various buildings on this -beautiful site. At one point a sandy bar separated a reach of still -water from the great sunlit breakers beyond, and within it hundreds of -black swans were swimming. - -There were numerous week-end cottages among the gum trees. The road -ended under a steep hill, its hedges covered with a sweet-scented -yellow flower. We had reached our destination of Pittwater, an arm -of Broken Bay, so named by Captain Cook. It looks like a great lake, -the low hilly shores covered with trees down to the water’s edge. -Our motor-boat was waiting at the end of a little jetty. The tide -was low, and in the mud alongside were myriads of little crabs that -disappeared with astonishing rapidity, scuttling into their holes. It -was a pretty little voyage across this smooth arm of the sea, in which -big yellowish-green jelly-fish floated beside us. At the landing on the -opposite side of the creek the shore was fringed with small oysters. - -In the bush spring flowers were already beginning to appear. Ferns -and cotton palms grew among the gums, a yellow clematis was coming -into flower, and the lovely pink starlike Queensland rose, that is not -really a rose, but a kind of boronia. We lunched at one of the picnic -places provided by the forethought of a paternal government, with a -place to boil the billy all ready, and a wooden shelter with rough -benches and table. There is always plenty of dry wood in Australia; -a soft-water tank was part of the equipment, and the billy was soon -boiling; so we had our billy tea and damper, a kind of unleavened bread -that is very agreeable, and it was great fun, though the pioneer effect -of it was rather diminished by such accessories as hock and salmon -sandwiches. Then we gathered a bunch of the lovely unfamiliar flowers -and started on our return journey, which was varied by our running -along Manly Beach, crowded with Sunday pleasure-seekers even in these -early spring days. - -Sydney is so split up and scattered over its hills that it takes some -time for a stranger to realise its extent. All these Australian towns -are so extraordinarily well-to-do; there is never anything like our -working-class suburbs. “Where do the poor people live?” we used to ask. -The obvious answer being that there are _no_ poor. - -[Illustration: SURF BATHING, MANLY, NEAR SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES.] - -For us Sydney will always mean Kirribilli Point, and the old house, -whose owner called it by the pretty native name of Wyreepi--“Come and -stay”--a name eloquent of the unfailing kindness and hospitality within -its portals--an old house shuttered and barred against the depredations -of the early lawless convict settlers who had helped to build it. The -name evokes a mental picture of its red gables and chocolate-coloured -walls, with the gravel paths to match; its hedge of grey, closely -clipped salt bush, its sloping lawns and tall trees, its beds of sweet -peas and stocks, sweetest of spring flowers, the coral-tree its bare -boughs hanging with scarlet flowers; and in front the grass sloping to -the water’s edge, and the endless panorama of the harbour. - - * * * * * - -Those who have unlimited time at their disposal can choose between -taking ship at Sydney and coasting up to Brisbane in preference to the -very long and exhausting railway journey of about thirty hours; though -by so doing they would miss the magnificent scenery of the Hawkesbury -River, and the smiling suburban country-side that the train passes -through after leaving Sydney, with the red iron-roofed houses scattered -among the gum trees. The Hawkesbury River runs into the northern -extremity of Broken Bay, bordered here by a national reserve of great -beauty called Kuring-gai-Chase. Formerly trains from Sydney were met on -the shores of the river by a steamer, which took passengers across to -the other side to continue their journey; a delightful experience on a -fine day, for every traveller on its shores must long to make a closer -acquaintance with this noble and mighty river. Now, however, it is -spanned by a bridge, which crosses to Long Island, where it resembles -an Italian lake. Along the shore the water showed through a fringe of -coral-trees. Farther north the country grew more tropical; we noticed -a tiny house flanked on either side by two tall brugmancias in flower. -And the undergrowth of the bush became more varied. We saw for the -first time a curious kind of white bulrush, growing like the “black -boys” of Western Australia. They looked just like very tall church -candles, their black spikes forming the wick. The bush is always the -same, that is, it is always a forest of gums; but it has nevertheless -an individual character from the undergrowth in the different states -and latitudes. - -We stopped for some time at Newcastle, an inferno of smoking chimneys -and coal-dust. The coal deposits of New South Wales are its most -important source of mineral wealth, and her coalfields are greater -in area, and produce a better quality of coal than those of any -other state; it is hoped for that reason that New South Wales may -become the principal centre of manufacture in the continent. Coal was -first discovered in 1797 in the coalfield south of Sydney, and soon -after coal was found in the cliffs at Newcastle, which has become an -important centre of export. - -After leaving Newcastle the line turns westward from the coast and -crosses the fertile Hunter River valley, where the soil is so rich that -it yields as many as eight crops in one year, averaging between three -and four tons to the acre. We stopped for dinner at what we supposed to -be in the dark a small wayside station called Singleton. It is actually -a town of considerable importance, with a population of 10,000, and -the neighbourhood is famous for its breed of horses. We dined in the -characteristic wooden, iron-roofed hall. An immense advertisement of -the local hairdresser at one end inquired, “Is your hair ringbarked?” A -selection of the population, boys in front and men behind, a serious, -rough-looking group, watched us at our meal with silent and rapt -attention from the open doorway. - -Soon after passing Singleton the line ascends steeply, crosses the -Liverpool Range and runs through the Liverpool Plains, where some -of the best wheat is grown. We awoke next morning to find ourselves -passing through forest, and changed trains at Wallangarra, the border -station where the gauge changes from four feet eight and a half -inches to three feet six, so that all passengers and luggage must be -transferred. - - - - -PART V - -QUEENSLAND - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -BANANA-LAND - - Oh Land of Ours, hear the song we make for you-- - Land of yellow wattle bloom, land of smiling Spring-- - Hearken to the after words, land of pleasant memories. - Shea-oaks of the shady creeks, hear the song we sing. - - -Those lines were written by an Australian in exile, for he was with -the Australian contingent in the war in South Africa. He is dead -now, and he did not long survive the brave soldiers whose epitaph he -wrote beginning with those words, which seem, to one who has known -Australia only a little, to sum up in a wonderful way the clinging -memories of the land. He spoke too of the “blue skies clear beyond the -mountain-tops,” and “the dear dun plains where we were bred,” and there -are no two sentences which more simply or clearly bring back Australia -to the mind. But it is the Australia of the west and the south. When -the Hawkesbury River is crossed eastwards, and the flats where the -first Cornstalks were raised have been left behind, a new country comes -into vision. It is tropic Queensland, whose inhabitants are called -Banana-landers, because the banana finds the climate very suitable to -its growth.[21] - -Naturally the change is not immediately apparent in the long, long -journey by rail. The enchanting cool stretches of the Hawkesbury give -place to the ascending grades of the hills; then there are interminable -stretches of the dun plains, broken by lengths almost as long of gaunt -forest, sometimes dead wood. Then the plateau of fine pasture of the -Darling Downs, and the descent warmer and moister and greener as you go -into the land of the banana and the pine. It is also, if you strike far -enough north, the land of the prickly pear. - -Railway journeying is not a bad way of seeing a country if you have -no better. One can gain an impression of China such as nothing can -obliterate by taking the North China Railway up to Harbin; and people -have written books of impressions of Java on the strength of the five -days’ journey which can be made from the port of Sourabaya, through -crumbling Djokjokarta and the wondrous Javanese highlands to Batavia. -So something of the nature of Queensland can be arrived at by that long -night and half-a-day journey by rail, though if we were asked what -was the chief impression which, at this distance of time, is left on -our minds, we should answer that it was one of wood and pasture lying -waiting for men and money--vast resources which need the spade and the -axe and the drill--and more railway. - -Side by side would be quite another impression, one quite without -significance. It was that of the little township, one of many, where we -stopped for supper--a meal engulfed in all possible haste, and yet in -the midst of it there suddenly appeared on the platform of the hall, -which on ordinary occasions is probably used as a cinema theatre, -the Mayor. We were, as we should again explain, members of a large -travelling party, and the opportunity was one which the Mayor could not -resist. He bade us welcome to ---- (the name is forgotten), and added -what delight it was to see among us so many happy faces.... Then having -had our meal cut short by the oration, we hastened back to the waiting -special. - -Queensland is full of townships like that--townships which are -springing into towns. Sometimes they seem to consist of a few boards -knocked together with telegraph wire; at a later stage they have added -a handsome Town Hall, a Catholic cathedral in red brick, a humbler -Church of England one ... but most of them retain the suburb of -wooden-frame houses. They do not spring out of the bush in the same way -that the towns of Western Australia do; perhaps because the clearings -have been made larger. But everywhere you seem to see right back to -the beginnings of the place, when a few people settled there and lived -there; and gradually added this and that to it, till Townsville, or -Maryborough, became to them the finest place in the world--because they -called it home. Even Brisbane, with its broad bank-building-fronted -Queen Street, retains something of the same aspect. - -But Queensland is not its towns. Queensland, if you go but the smallest -distance away from them, is the unconquered wild; the land where the -blacks still signal with fires; where the forests smoulder and blaze -for days in the burning sun; a land where it is possible still to be -an explorer. Only a few days ago we were speaking to a professor in a -laboratory in London, who lived ten years in Australia, and mentioned -Queensland. His face lit up in a reminiscent gleam. “I once went for a -holiday on the Queensland coast,” said he, “and we had rare sport. We -used to go shark-spearing. It can only be done on a few nights in the -year. The season is when the sharks come in to the coast; and it must -be moonlight ... and you race along the beach with nothing on, and you -can see the sharks in the under curve of the big rollers as they break -on the beach. And if you are quick and have the knack you can stab -at them from underneath, and they can’t get you. I got two or three, -though I was only a learner ... the finest sport ...” His voice trailed -away into silence. Our friend the distinguished physiologist had gone -from dusty London to a place in a tropic land eleven thousand miles -away. - -That is Queensland as it seemed to us: a place in which the towns -were still additions rather than a part of a land where enchantment -and adventure still linger. There is an island on the coast which is -quite near a thriving town of meat-packing warehouses, streets full -of sun and dust and flies, and it is called Magnetic Island. You can -reach the island by a steam launch, and the people of the town often -make the trip, and when they get there presumably they have lunch at -the boarding-house hotel. It is a wooden building with washing hanging -out in the backyard and a dissipated emu stalking among the fowls. A -melancholy bird which seems to have come unstuffed. So there is nothing -romantic at the outset of a journey to Magnetic Island. - -But wait. Twenty paces away from the hotel is a stony path, and the -trees have closed in behind you. A hundred yards, and if you strayed -away from the path the way would be lost. Dense trees, rock cropping -out at times, and no way out. A strange bird calls somewhere in the -distance, but it is otherwise very still and stifling. There is a tree -covered with yellow flowers, but it has a poisonous look; and if you -venture to pluck it a regiment of stinging ants sallies out at you. So -you drop it and go on. And here is a tree covered with butterflies, -thousands upon thousands of them. And now you come to a mangrove swamp, -and if you look down at the roots of the mangroves you will find the -rare fish that live half in and half out of the water, and can hop -about in the mud. So suddenly you realise that this is an island such -as all the adventurers and pirates and wrecked sailors have been cast -upon in the romances. Here they would have sought long for water, -and perhaps have sought in vain. Here they would have had painful -experiences with poisonous berries, and would for many days have had -to live on shellfish. Perhaps one day they would have seen ascending -smoke behind that rocky ridge, and realised that hostile natives were -waiting to fall on them. Long, long they would have waited for help and -rescue, and perhaps have left only their whitening bones to tell other -mariners in other years that rescue came too late.... - -If you would add verisimilitude to these fancies you can find it, for -on a secluded beach of Magnetic Island lies the skeleton of a ship that -was wrecked there. It will lie there for many years to come, for it is -worth no one’s while to salve it. But to one who saw it a year ago it -was a priceless relic, for it proved to him that even now in Queensland -the old romance, the old adventure, and the spirit of them still linger -in the lands that lie within our reach beyond the seas. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -THE BEGINNING OF THE TROPICS - - -Soon after crossing the Queensland border we entered a stony country -in which intrepid settlers had built themselves houses among granite -boulders. In spite of this the soil of the surrounding district is very -rich, and consists largely of decomposed granite, which stretches for -eight hundred miles round the township of Stanthorpe, and is specially -good for fruit-growing and vineyards. “There,” observes the guide-book -poetically, “roses bloom all the year round on the cheek of the young, -and vigour characterises the movements of the old.” - -The line then crossed open country cleared of gums; on the pastures -numbers of horses were feeding. Mountain ranges stretched away to -the far distance with deep grassy gorges. At one point we passed a -large patch of prickly pear, one of the most terrible of Queensland -pests which has had to be dealt with by special legislation, both in -Queensland and new South Wales. Botanically it is known as a form of -_Opuntia inermis_. It resembles the cactus hedges common in Southern -Italy, and was introduced by Governor Philip in 1789, who brought -it from Rio de Janeiro as food for the cochineal insect. It is said -that the first plant was regarded as so great a curiosity that a -gardener was dismissed for neglecting to water it. This may be an -apocryphal story, but at any rate the prickly pear took so kindly to -the Australian soil, and climate, that vast areas have been overrun by -it to an entirely disastrous extent. No entirely successful measures -have been evolved for coping with its devastating increase. It is -a most serious anxiety to agriculturists, for it is estimated that -in Queensland alone thirty million acres have been affected by it, -and that it spreads at the rate of one million acres a year. It has -found its opportunity in the fact that the districts best suited to -it are sparsely populated. No economical means of eradication have -been devised. In New South Wales the cost of destroying this pest was -calculated a year or two ago at ten or twelve million pounds. Its -barbed spinules produce severe irritation in men and animals, and -besides its habit of entrenching itself in gullies, on hilltops, and -places difficult of access, it is propagated by birds and stock, which -eat the seeds; and every joint, or piece of one, forms a new plant. - -The township of Warwick lies in the foot hills of the Darling Downs, -which the line now crosses. This is one of the most fertile areas in -the state. There are over four million acres of rich black soil, formed -of decomposed basalt and many feet in depth. It is well watered, has a -plentiful rainfall and a temperate climate. Toowoomba is the capital -of the district. It is a thriving, growing town, an important centre -of agricultural, and especially dairy, produce. The line now turns -sharply east, and descends again to the plains, where we saw fields of -Indian corn or maize, the stalks left standing after the crops had been -gathered. - -Long before we arrived at Brisbane it was dark. The less said about -Brisbane hotels the better--in all respects. There seemed to be a -billiard-room somewhere below our uninviting quarters, for we heard -the click of balls, and a man’s voice thickly reproached a comrade for -having “given his girl a rosary and made her a Roman Catholic”--an -interesting sidelight on the ease with which conversion may be -effected. It was so pleasant to be out of the train, that after dinner -we strolled about the brightly lighted arcaded streets of the town, -and found our way to a broad, swiftly flowing river that reflected the -lights of the city. - -[Illustration: THE BRISBANE RIVER.] - -We had now left the mild Australian winter behind us, and were -in the height of an English summer, wearing the thinnest summer -clothes, though Brisbane counted it as early spring. Brisbane is a -most beautifully situated town, set among hills washed by the river, -which runs into the sea eighteen miles away. Its many handsome public -buildings are fronted by gardens full of tropical vegetation, its -broad arcaded streets, filled with people, prosperous-looking like all -Australians. In the charming suburbs on the slopes of the green hills, -the houses are all built high on piles, each capped by its inverted -saucer to ward off the depredations of white ants. The deep, verandahed -houses are screened from the sun by straw blinds. - -Politically, Queensland is the youngest of all the Colonies. A convict -settlement was founded at Moreton Bay by Governor Brisbane in 1824, but -it languished and was soon afterwards abandoned. In 1842 Moreton Bay -was proclaimed a free settlement. Not till 1859 was state separated -from New South Wales by Letters Patent establishing Moreton Bay as -a new colony under the name of Queensland. The constitution of the -colony is modelled on that of New South Wales; that is to say, there -is an Assembly or Lower House, whose members are salaried and elected -by manhood and womanhood suffrage. The Legislative Council or Upper -Chamber has a continuous existence. It is interesting to note to -what extent the Australian Second Chambers have acted as a retarding -influence on the democratic legislation of the Assemblies. A well-known -Australian writer observes that: “Designed as Conservative bodies, -the Councils have certainly fulfilled the retarding function of a -Second Chamber. Nearly every measure which is claimed as democratic -and progressive has had to pass the ordeal of several rejections.... -The resistance of the Councils to drastic schemes for breaking up the -large pastoral holdings, and to land taxation, and the brake they apply -to ‘Socialistic legislation,’ have driven many if not into the ranks, -at any rate to the support of the Labour Party, and have been the -main cause of the zeal of that Party for enlarging the powers of the -Commonwealth Government, in whose constitution a forward policy has to -encounter no such obstacle.”[22] - -The promoters of the Colony in these early days had little idea how -rapid would be its growth or how great its material prosperity. Very -little was known of that vast area, and its resources were practically -undiscovered. As for the coastal waters, little more was known of them -than had been described by Captain Cook and Lieutenant Flinders. The -stretch of smooth water that forms a natural harbour for a thousand -miles inside the great barrier reef was unimagined. The northern coast -land was believed to be uninhabitable by white men; the interior was -supposed to be an almost waterless area of intolerable heat, while -experts affirmed that if sheep survived at all beneath the tropical -suns of Queensland, they would grow hair instead of wool. - -Meanwhile the young Colony throve and prospered, and in 1909 held an -exhibition of her products to celebrate the completion of the first -half-century of her separate existence. Besides live stock, raised -on the rich, indigenous grass crops, which cost nothing except wire -fencing, Queensland products include cotton, sugar, butter, cheese, -bacon, wheat, maize, potatoes, oranges, pineapples, and other tropical -fruits. Her minerals consist of gold, copper, tin, coal, besides gems. - -It is, however, Queensland’s pastoral industries that are the main -source of her wealth, and which form more than half the total value of -her exports. The great sheep district is in the “Western Interior,” -which occupies about half the area of the state. Here undulating downs -extend to the horizon, almost treeless, except above the watercourses. -In the summer season many of these become a mere series of water holes, -but the discovery of the great supply of underground water, over a -district reaching from the extreme north of Queensland into New South -Wales and South Australia, has made it possible to transform them into -running streams by means of artesian bores. It is a melancholy fact -that many of the pioneers in the industry got poor returns for their -hard and strenuous enterprise. In the early days labour was scarce and -dear, and in the absence of railways or good roads it took from six -to nine months to convey the wool to the coastal district by means -of bullock drays. It was many years before the great agricultural -possibilities of the Darling Downs were discovered and utilised, though -this rich district supplies more than 70% of all the oats, wheat, and -barley grown in Queensland. The Queensland farmer is at present in a -most fortunate position; he has good stock, cheap land, first-rate -pastures, and a climate which allows production to go on all the year -round. As immigrants from Great Britain are under normal conditions -admitted on payment of a nominal fee as passage money, there is an -unlimited scope for agricultural enterprise. - -[Illustration: CHARLEVILLE BORE.] - -The morning after our arrival at Brisbane we went out to gain our -first impression of the city and its immediate neighbourhood. The air -was soft and humid, as it is all along the north-eastern Australian -coast line, and our first walk left upon us a mingled impression of -brilliant sunshine, dust, and palm trees. In Brisbane there is tropical -vegetation everywhere; the charm of the tropics, their glorious -never-failing sunshine, and the picturesque and profuse vegetation is -first felt here. If it were not for the fine, all-pervading dust, it -would be Paradise. Here, too, we first encountered tropical fruits. -The pawpaw looks like a dark green elongated melon. Its firm yellow -fruit is rather tasteless, but eatable with sugar. On the whole, we -came to the conclusion that it was not worth while, and the same may -be said generally of all tropical fruits. The smell of a ripe mango -is sufficient to deter all but the hardiest vegetarian. The pawpaw -plant is handsome, tall, and palm-like in growth, closely resembling -the small greenhouse auralia. It is common in the gardens of Brisbane -suburbs. - -All the public buildings are dignified and handsome, with white stone -fronts. The University buildings are adapted from a former Government -House, and stand in beautiful grounds which run down to the river. - -The Botanical Gardens, which flank the drive, are also washed by the -broad, swiftly flowing river. They are enchanting to linger in more -so even than the world-famous tropical gardens of Buitenzorg in Java. -Perhaps it was the moisture and greenness after the arid look of most -of the rest of Australia at the end of the dry season, that seemed -to us so refreshing and delightful. At any rate, we never tired of -wandering in these gardens, where hedges of sweet peas and stocks -alternated with every kind of gorgeous tropical flowering shrub, now -just coming into bloom. Here were palms and sloping lawns; by the river -grew the curious bunya bunya trees, with their bare arms and mop-like -ends; here were greenery and quiet; and, most blessed of all, freedom -from dust. Above the river two large kingfishers often glanced to and -fro; they must have had a nest close at hand. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -A DAY IN THE QUEENSLAND BUSH - - -This was one of the most delightful of all the many crowded days we -spent in Australia, for it revealed to us the wonder and the beauty of -the Queensland Bush. - -We started early for the station through the streets that leave on -one’s mind, looking back, an impression of sharply defined black and -white, from the contrasting sunlight and shadow in that brilliant -atmosphere. The three hours’ journey to Nambour, where we were to see -a sugar manufactory, was full of interest. The line passes quite near -the curious peaks, which Captain Cook called the Glass House mountains. -The origin of the name is conjectural, but it is supposed that the -conical shape of some of them resembled the glass-blowing factories -in the England of his boyish days. These bare, isolated peaks push -themselves up sharply and precipitately from the plain. They are formed -of trachyte or some kindred igneous rock, and geologists are not agreed -as to their origin among the surrounding sandstone. We saw again many -of the grass trees, as they call the Queensland variety of the West -Australian “black boy.” The tropical bush begins about fifty miles -from Brisbane, where a Government Reserve has been created on either -side of the line, which passes through a belt of forest with palms and -ferns and richly varied undergrowth. Now and then a little party of -men at work on the line would shout clamorously for “papers.” Their -only chance of getting news of the outside world is to attract the -attention of passengers in the passing trains, and get them to throw -out newspapers. The country round here is very rich and fertile, and -for the first time we saw pineapple farms. In a good year pineapples -can be bought in some parts of Queensland for threepence a dozen, so we -were told. They are very good and juicy, and they make a very pleasant -form of jam. The plants look like rows of low-growing rushes or very -coarse grass. - -Towards twelve o’clock the train pulled up between a field of -sugar-canes and the Moreton Central Sugar Mill. Sugar is a very -handsome crop, when the canes are bearing their tall, feathery flowers. -The canes themselves are dark red, jointed like bamboo; the plant is -not unlike a very large maize in general effect. Nambour is a centre -of the sugar-growing industry, and there are plantations on the slopes -of the hills and the banks of the rivers. Two hundred and eighty tons -a day are crushed at the Moreton Sugar Mills just outside the town. -Its neighbourhood is pervaded by the peculiar sweet, thick, cloying -smell of the canes, a smell that can never be forgotten; we recognised -cargoes of raw sugar afar off on every wharf and landing-stage and -railway station on which we encountered it, during the remainder of our -stay in Australia. - -The history of sugar-growing here is very interesting. It was started -originally on the system of large plantations worked by coloured -labour. No other system of working sugar plantations in the tropics was -known. Natives were imported from the Pacific Islands. Planters erected -their own mills, and conducted their business through managers and -overseers. In the early seventies the industry was rapidly developing, -but two circumstances intervened to hamper it. The price of cane sugar -fell owing to the great increase in the manufacture of beet sugar in -Europe; the Government prohibited the employment of coloured labour. -These circumstances revolutionised the industry. The large plantations -gave place to smaller farms worked by white labour; the farmers -received Government grants to enable them to erect co-operative -factories; further, a Government bounty was imposed as a compensation -for the withdrawal of coloured labour; this was subsequently abolished. -The Central Mill System by which groups of farmers control the -factories continues. The canes are crushed and the sugar sent to the -refiners. The work of manufacture is carried out under scientific -supervision, and state sugar experimental stations test the various -species of cane, and determine which are most productive, and most -immune from disease. Thus the Queensland Sugar Industry is specially -interesting, because it has solved the problem of carrying on a -tropical manufacture with white labour. - -The Moreton Central Sugar Mill, which we visited, is close to the main -line of railway, but light railways run in all directions through the -district to bring the canes up on trucks to the mill. Masses of dark -red cane were lying about round the mill, and coming in on little -trucks. The raw cane tastes faintly sour. The sugar mill itself was -filled with the all-pervading sickly, thick, sweet smell of the raw -sugar, and streaming with moisture. The temperature is very high. We -climbed under and over moving machinery, were asphyxiated with steam, -nauseated with sweetness, and covered with molasses, all in the -pursuit of knowledge. - -Still it was a very interesting experience. All processes of -manufacture are interesting. The canes are shot in from outside, and -crushed by a series of heavy rollers till a thick juice pours out. When -this is all extracted the exhausted fibre is burnt in the furnaces. -The juice of the cane is boiled in great vats. In its final stages of -boiling it is thick and black as tar. It is then run into revolving -cylinders, called centrifugalisers. These rotate at a very great rate, -and are fascinating to watch, for in a few minutes the dark, sticky -mass has disappeared, and the sides of the cylinder are coated with a -coarse yellow sugar very much sweeter than that which appears on our -tea tables. - -We at last emerged from the mill, instructed, but very sticky, and -cast about for some spot in which it would be possible to obtain soap -and water. There were buildings of some kind close by, warehouses or -something of the sort, connected with the station, with two men sitting -on the verandah. We asked them if they could tell us the nearest way to -soap and water. One of them indicated with his pipe a large galvanised -iron tank with a tap in the bottom, and a broken tumbler, but they -shook their heads over the problem of soap. We turned on the tap -hopefully, but the Australian rainfall was quite inadequate to remove -molasses. So we went in search of the Nambour hotel. However new an -Australian town may be, it always has an hotel or two, and a sort of -communal hall. Nambour has in addition a few shops and some stray cows -and horses. We watched a cow eating sugar cane with every manifestation -of pleasure. It was not till we got to Queensland, by the way, that -we began to see horses everywhere, just as we had imagined them in -Australia, hitched up to gates by the bridle. - -We made our way to the hotel, where everyone was very busy preparing -lunch. There was no hot water upstairs, but, penetrating into the -kitchen, where there was a great bustle, and anything extraneous was -very much in the way, we succeeded in getting a pudding basin full -of hot water and a teacloth, and attacked the molasses in the yard -outside, before an audience of poultry. Molasses, however, appears to -yield to nothing, not even chemical cleaning. It always re-emerges. So -relinquishing the vain attempt, we repaired to lunch. - -[Illustration: NAMBOUR.] - -Whatever you _don’t_ have for lunch in Australia, you always seem -to have turkey. It is like the inevitable _poulet_ in Continental -hotels. There must be enormous quantities of wild turkeys there; -at any rate, they are always succulent. We also always had very good -and elaborate trifles, and very weak tea, and, on this occasion, -strawberries and cream and pineapple. After lunch there was a long -interval, while we sat on a fence, and watched another ruminative cow -eating sugar cane. We were waiting for the “loco.” We were not very -clear what it was, and when it arrived, it turned out to be a little -engine drawing some trucks, across which rough planks had been thrown -for seats, like those at Big Brook; but whereas the engine on that -occasion was stoked with logs, and gave out a fragrant aromatic smoke, -this dilatory “loco” burnt some kind of soft coal, and had a very -short chimney, so that we were deluged with large and solid smuts, in -comparison with which the molasses were the merest trifle. However, -the country through which it took us was so beautiful and enchanting -that nothing else mattered. It was our first experience of tropical -bush. Elsewhere there had been little undergrowth, the tall gums soared -upwards unimpeded. Here the vast white eucalyptus trees were festooned -with thickly interlacing creepers hanging in great ropes. High up -on the trees grew masses of staghorn ferns and orchids. Far out of -reach the graceful, delicate “rock lily” hung its pendulum of pale -chablis-coloured bells, and still more exquisite were the fragile white -blooms of another orchid. In places were stretches of sugar plantation, -and banana fields, always with their background of hill and forest. The -fresh greenness of everything was delightful, for the district is well -watered. - -The line, which was sometimes laid across rough logs thrown over a -small gorge, with a stream running through it, ended abruptly in the -Maroochy River, swift-flowing between low banks, with the tall trees -of the forest on one side, and a sugar plantation waving feathery -heads of bloom on the other. We walked back with two friends. It was -much more silent than an English forest. There was no pattering of the -small feet of birds on the dry, dead carpet of leaves, and no continual -twitter. A profusion of ferns grew along the track, and a quantity of -large scarlet raspberries. The gum trees were putting out their red -spring shoots. Sometimes the clear, sharp call of the peewit sounded, -or the infectious peal on peal of mocking giggles from the kookooburra, -sometimes the frogs were crying all together, as they cried in -Aristophanes’ time, “Breckkek kek kek--koax koax,” and now for the -first time we heard the Australian bull frog that clucks like a hen. -Here and there was a clearing with a homestead with high verandahs. -They made one long to spend a month in that lovely place, and feel -day by day the great peace of the forest, with only the frogs and the -trickle of a stream over its smooth, brown rocks to break the stillness. - -We passed occasionally a little camp with a rough cooking place, but -there was never anyone in them. As we emerged from that charmed country -into the more prosaic, cultivated land, where pineapples were growing, -and bananas with their great purple bells, we saw a beautiful brown -bird with a long tail, silent and stately as the bush itself. It looked -down on us from the high fork of a gum tree, but did not condescend to -fly away. Hospitable Nambour had prepared tea for us on our return; not -what we mean by tea at home, but the Australian tea, a meal calculated -to stand a traveller in good stead till breakfast next morning. Of all -our sunny Australian days that walk in the bush was one of the most -charming episodes. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -IN AND ABOUT BRISBANE - - -The Brisbane River, flowing gently between its green banks, is a -favourite resort of picnic parties, one of the most popular forms of -entertainment in Australia, where dry wood is abundant and the weather -can be depended upon; and the party pride themselves on their skill -in producing “billy” tea in the shortest possible space of time. One -sunny afternoon we started up the river in a motor launch. On either -shore were pretty suburban houses, each with its shady verandah, and -palm trees in the gardens. The river does not, however, always flow -softly and invite pleasure-seekers to embark upon it. Brisbane people -often allude in awestruck tones to “the Flood,” when the river rose and -swept away the peaceful bungalows on its banks and wrought much havoc. -After a pleasant little voyage we landed with some difficulty on a -rickety wooden pier, on the banks of an immense meadow of coarse rough -grass stretching away for many acres, with other scattered picnic -parties in the far distance; evidently a favourite spot. Our billy -was soon boiling, and when tea, which is on these occasions a sort -of sacrificial rite, reminiscent of the early settlers, was over, we -went up the bank to prospect, and heard for the first time the sound -which so many Australians had described to us, “the moaning” of the -shea-oak in a rising wind. We had heard it described as “weird” and -“depressing,” and it is certainly extraordinarily uncanny. The foliage -of the shea-oak is like a lot of knotted whip-cord, and when all its -strings are swept together by the wind it gives rise to a strange cry -that seems to come from far and near, shrill, insistent, and full of -foreboding. It is impossible to compare it to any other sound. - -Among Queensland products are its precious stones, and Brisbane at -first seems to support a quite disproportionate number of jewellers’ -shops. It is specially famous for its black opals, which are not black, -but a sort of peacock blue, with wonderful high green lights. These -beautiful stones are of infinite variety in depths of colouring, and -their very novelty makes them attractive, but all the same the visitor -should only make purchases in the presence of an expert adviser, for, -even in the case of jewellers of high repute, he will find that what -he pays for his stones in Brisbane may bear no relation to the value -attributed to them by a London firm. Almost every known precious stone -is found in Queensland, including diamonds. Opals occur in the upper -cretaceous rocks in the western districts of Queensland, and sapphire -mining is carried on to a considerable extent in the Anakie district -west of Rockhampton. The stones are blue, green, or yellow in colour. -They occur in an alluvial lead, and their original matrix is a basalt -found near the source of the alluvial deposit, the gems having been set -free by the weathering of the rock. - -We saw some opal cutting in Brisbane. It is done in the jewellers’ -workshops. They buy the rough-looking brown lumps from the miners, and -they are cut open and polished with emery to test their value. - -One characteristic Australian sight we were unable to see, the “wool -sales.” The trade in this principal source of the continent’s wealth -was at the time practically at a standstill. Owing to the war the -annual wool sales could not be held. Before the war, the buyers, -chiefly German and French, attended the wool sales in the principal -Australian towns, so there was practically no market for the fine -merino wools. September ought to have been a busy month in Brisbane, -for that is the season of the wool sales. But if we could not see the -sales, we thought it would at least be interesting to see the wool, and -as in Australia you need only express a wish to have it gratified, an -acquaintance of our river picnic of the day before volunteered to show -us the principal Brisbane wool store. - -It was a morning of dazzling Queensland sunshine, with a light -breeze off the sea, when we motored down to the wharf where the big -store-houses are built. Here the wool comes in on trucks in bales -of jute, and at first the visitor sees only endless rows of shelves -stacked with brown bales. These bales, or jute sacks, which are made -in India, are all marked with the name of the grower and the district -and quality of the wool, in a kind of shorthand unintelligible to the -layman. The “clips,” as they are called, are separated into the fleeces -proper and the other parts, packed in the jute sacks, labelled, and -sent straight to the storehouse. Our expert friend could tell, by -taking a handful of the wool out of any sack at random, the district -from which it came, explaining to us that this handful was stained with -the red earth peculiar to certain plains, while another contained the -characteristic “trefoil burr,” a little seed-vessel, which curls itself -tightly among the wool. In the sales samples of the wools of different -growers are taken from the bales and spread upon tables in an immense -upper room. The walls were painted a light blue, to soften the glare of -the light and throw a becoming tinge on the wool, as pink lamp-shades -are used for the complexion. Here the dealers inspect it, and it is -afterwards sold by auction, though the seller puts a reserve price -upon it. From the warehouse the bales can be run down a sort of shaft -directly on to the cargo boats for Europe; but the wool packs, as they -are called, are first squeezed in a press and bound with iron bands to -facilitate their shipment and storage. Some deterioration takes place -in the colour if it is kept longer than two years. - -The most remarkable thing about the presence of this immense quantity -of wool was that, though the sheep are not washed before they are -sheared, the fleeces had none of the oily unpleasant smell of a flock -of sheep, but the warehouse only smelt of the jute bales. As we were -coming away we were shown some merino rams in a little pen yet in -possession of their deep silky fleeces. The breed of merinos has been -so greatly improved since its introduction in 1797 that merino rams -fetch as much as five hundred guineas, while in 1913 two rams actually -were sold for 1600 and 1700 guineas respectively. Merino sheep did -not, however, thrive on the coastal districts, and British sheep were -therefore imported for breeding purposes. - -It was later the same day that to escape from the dust, which is -Brisbane’s besetting curse, we went by tram out into the suburbs. -Brisbane itself is on the sea level, but its suburbs climb the hills -behind it. The suburbs are only scattered bungalows dotted among -the green, with their flowers and paw-paw trees and palms. Patches -of eucalyptus scrub remain here and there, and rough roads connect -them with the main road, up which the tram climbs steeply. After its -terminus the road still climbs the hill and we climbed with it, till -we came to a green lane, where was a rare butterfly with wonderful -metallic blue wings fluttering above a yellow-berried duranta bush, -and where we heard a laughing jackass, and watched some untidy-looking -magpies. All Australian birds are rather untidy-looking, as if they had -lived so long in the bush by themselves, that their toilets could not -be regarded as of consequence. - -From these innocent diversions we were driven by a smart shower to take -refuge in the nearest bungalow, which had an inviting verandah. The -house belonged to a Scotch settler, who welcomed us like old friends, -brought out cushions for the wicker chairs, and when the shower was -over begged us to prolong our visit--it was “so nice to see someone -from home.” Last summer, she told us, had been the hottest for thirty -years, but with that exception she had not felt the tropical heat -excessive. When we came away she gave us the handgrip of the exile. - -The most beautiful point within easy reach of Brisbane, commanding -a magnificent bird’s-eye view of the city, the bay, and surrounding -country, is Mount Coot-tha Reserve, or One Tree Hill. It is only a few -miles out of the town, and a friend motored us up there one afternoon. -On the way we stopped to have tea at her house. In the drawing-room was -a heavily carved massive upright piano. We commented on its unusual -case, and our hostess told us it had been in “the Flood,” and the works -were ruined, but it was impossible to get them replaced in Australia. -Going on to talk of the drawbacks to life in Brisbane, she said that -before a storm the house would be filled with flying cockroaches and -other insects, and she showed us photograph frames and book bindings -riddled with small holes by the ravages of silver fish. Under her -carpets were quantities of crushed naphthaline to prevent their being -eaten, and a winter coat that was left hanging up by some oversight, -she said, was immediately ruined. We were considerably perturbed after -this on coming across a large whiskered silver fish among our clothes, -when we were packing, but his wicked intentions were frustrated -prematurely, and there were no ill-effects from his presence, though -we actually brought a silver fish home to London, where he was found -between a trunk and its cover, and instantly slaughtered as something -exotic and uncanny by the maids who were unpacking. He probably, -however, came from Java. - -After tea we continued our journey to One Tree Hill, our hostess -actually was wearing a stole made of the skin of a platypus. The fur -was curiously wiry to the touch. Mount Coot-tha, like all reserves, is -the original untouched gum forest with carriage drives running through -it. At one point the trees had been cleared away to give a view of Lake -Enoggera, the reservoir of Brisbane, cradled in green hills some miles -away. - -From the western extremity of the hill the view is very extensive and -extremely beautiful. Brisbane is spread out below nestling in greenery, -with its winding river, and Moreton Bay far off lying placid in the -sunshine. The view is bounded by distant hills. - -There is generally some one feature of a town that stands out -afterwards more distinctly than the rest. In the mental picture -that the name of Brisbane evokes it will always be the Botanical -Gardens, cool and quiet with their banks sloping to the river, that -wake the pleasanter memories. Here we came often to escape from the -all-pervading dust, and here we came on our last evening in the brief -twilight that intervenes for some few minutes between sunset and the -fading of the afterglow. The level rays of the sun silhouetted the -grotesque bunya-bunya trees on the river-banks so that they looked like -bunches of crooked housemaids’ mops. The peace and calm of the quiet -place were intensified by the rapidly falling dusk. Except for the -scolding and chattering of a party of white Australian cockatoos in an -aviary, there was no sound but the swishing of the wind in a grove of -dry bamboos, and the little cropping noise of some kangaroos feeding -and skittering about in a paddock. In a small round pond fringed by -Cape lilies a bull-frog was beginning to cluck. Already the palm trees -were black against the fading orange afterglow. A too peremptory -custodian cut short the enchanting moment; it was closing time he -said. So we made our way back through the busy clangour of the crowded -streets, and for the last time sat out on the balcony after dinner in -the dusty half-light of the street lamps and the stars, and watched the -Southern Cross above the palms, and Venus shining with a lustre and -a brilliancy unknown to northern skies. - -[Illustration: PALM AVENUE, BOTANIC GARDENS, BRISBANE.] - -Our last morning came filled with the bustle of packing and departure. -And for the last time let us urge upon travellers to Australia to -take far less luggage than they can possibly imagine they will want. -Let them bear in mind, in the first place, the great inconvenience of -transferring small luggage, when there are no porters, the hideous -nuisance of packing and unpacking if they have to do it for themselves; -the very much simpler standard of dress that prevails in a new country, -where even in the capital people are contented to go out to dinners -and theatres by tram; well-to-do people dressed in elaborate cloaks -and satin shoes. The variation of climate compels a fairly large -assortment of clothes of different weight. But cut it down rigorously. -This digression is inspired by the recollection of the exhausting -nature of our packing in the heat. When it was done we had to charter -a cart and a man, and freightage in Australia is far from cheap, to -take it the half-mile to the station, where its mountainous bulk was -with difficulty packed into the very dusty little train that runs from -Brisbane to Pinkenbar, lower down the river, whence the steamers sail -for the Northern Territory. - -We had already paid one visit to Pinkenbar to engage a porter, a lean, -tall, weather-beaten old man, selected on the wharf, to bring a truck -to the station and convey our luggage to the boat. When we arrived and -got out of the train with a litter of small baggage, the first thing -we saw was a large American trunk tightly jammed half in and half out -of the window of the guard’s van, the guard having got so much of our -luggage between himself and the door that he could not get it open. -Fortunately, however, our porter from the wharf was on the spot in -every sense of the word. He first shouted encouraging directions to the -guard, and then by the exercise of brute force thrust the trunk back -through the window without doing any serious damage to that perturbed -official. Eventually, with the help of another man, we got under way -and proceeded to the landing-stage. The rough intervening ground -was overgrown with tall blue thistles with flowers like pale yellow -anemones; they looked as incongruous as if someone had stuck them on. -After seeing our luggage over the ship’s side and consigning it to the -steward, we returned to Brisbane in search of lunch and recovered our -calm, for the boat did not sail till towards evening. - -It was after lunch on this last day that we saw a thing we had always -wanted very much to see and despaired of doing so. It was the little -Australian tree bear, or koala bear, once very common, now becoming -rare. We heard from a French waiter that there was one in the hotel, -and presuming on our experience of Australian good nature, sent a -message to its unknown owner to ask if we might see it before we left. -He brought it down immediately, carried in the arms of his little girl, -and it really was an adorable little thing. It was about the same size -as the very largest child’s “Teddy Bear,” grey in colour. Its little -hand-like fore paws were holding on to the lace of the little girl’s -pinafore, one on each side of her neck, and it turned its head and -fixed a pair of wistful eyes upon us. She said it slept all day and -woke up at night, when it cried for milk like a cat. It only ate gum -leaves. “When we were boys,” said its owner, “we used to hunt them. It -took thirty or forty shots to bring one down, and then it would take -eight or ten dogs to finish one, they are so tough.” Even so, these -charming and harmless little animals, which live in the gum trees and -feed on their leaves, are becoming exterminated. - -It was late afternoon when we made our third and last visit to -Pinkenbar. The scene in the neighbourhood of the station was so -typically Australian that we lingered regretfully to take a last look -at it. The rough dusty road that led away inland, the drove of horses -in an enclosure waiting to be entrained for the War, with another horse -hitched on to the fence by its bridle, the clear strong stereoscopic -light, a paddock of burnt grass, the scattered row of houses beyond, -with flat grey roofs, built high on piles, and beyond again gum trees -and more gum trees. We turned away towards the wharf with a certain -sadness, for this spacious country with its austere beauty and its -handful of warm-hearted inhabitants is wonderfully endearing in -spite of, or perhaps because of, all its crudeness. We distributed -our newspapers among the men loafing and smoking on the wharf, who -took them with that frank friendliness of a country, where class -distinctions are almost unfelt; and went on board the boat that lay -alongside, still busy with the bustle of departure. - - - - -PART VI - -TO THE NORTHERN TERRITORY - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -THE GREAT BARRIER REEF - - -We had already made acquaintance with the “Montoro” when she was -unlading in Sydney Harbour, her final port of call, and we now spent -on board three of the pleasantest weeks of our journey. There is -a great sense of peace and cleanliness on a ship after long dusty -travels. The “Montoro” was a small boat, less than 6000 tons, but -remarkably well-appointed and arranged, our airy bedstead cabin was -positively spacious, with the luxury of a large wardrobe and a full -length looking-glass in its door. The staff were Chinese, efficient, -ubiquitous, noiseless, and their gentle soft-voiced ways were -particularly restful after the rough and ready Australian servant. On -board we found awaiting us letters from home, the last we were to get -for two long months, for our Java mail, delayed by the war, followed us -to England. Presently we were slipping down to the sea between the low -banks of the green river, with a light breeze. Venus was rising and the -moon, and the shore lights began to glimmer. - -Our first day out was choppy and rough, but a heavy shower smoothed out -the sea like oil, and the next day saw us inside the Barrier Reef, in -the Coral Sea that stretches away to the extreme north coast. Captain -Cook had made the same voyage that we were making in the summer of -1770 in a boat of 368 tons, and we thought our boat small! He noted -and named every headland and bay along “this dangerous coast, where -the sea in all parts conceals shoals that suddenly project from the -shore, and rocks that rise abruptly like a pyramid from the bottom, -for more than 1300 miles.” Even now, when every inch of the course has -been charted, the voyage is dangerous for the same reason, the low flat -islands are nearly indiscernible at night. The mountainous coast is -almost uninhabited, except by natives, unfriendly now as then; and is -almost entirely unlighted, as hitherto the Government has not been able -to incur the expense of erecting and maintaining lighthouses, except in -the neighbourhood of the few existing townships. No ship’s library on -this course should be without a copy of “Captain Cook’s Voyages,” or, -at any rate, no traveller should fail to provide himself with one, as -the record of this early navigator in these seas adds immensely to the -interest of the journey to-day. - -The voyage within the Barrier Reef will always be one of the most -beautiful in the world. Once inside the Coral Sea, to awake in the -morning and go on deck is to dream an exquisite dream. Here is halcyon -weather, the heat of the sun tempered by light airs off the water, -and seas of an indescribable translucent turquoise green rippling -past among innumerable islands. One after another they appear in the -distance, shadowy and vague as clouds; slowly they take shape like -brown uncut opals; a nearer view discloses sandy coves, grassy slopes, -pine trees and forest. They grew more and more numerous, and, as the -day closed in beneath plum-coloured clouds, the soft light lay gently -and hazily upon them, till the sun sank in a sky of vivid orange. -The charm of this wonderful passage never palls, for its variety is -endless. Sometimes the austere, dark mountainous shore is visible, with -columns of smoke upon it, native fires as Captain Cook saw them two -hundred years ago, for they are still used as signals. - -The sea is rich in all kinds of life for those who care to look for it, -and we were fortunate in having on board an accomplished naturalist, -who, in shirt-sleeves for coolness, and a large-brimmed hat, looking -like a sort of drawing-room pirate, sat all day in the bows searching -the clear blue water with a pair of field-glasses, and shouting to -all, who were interested, to come and see what he had found. It was -he who taught us how and where to look for, and what to call, the -unfamiliar birds and sea beasts that we saw. - -On the June days two hundred years ago on which Captain Cook cautiously -essayed his dangerous journey in a rickety boat on uncharted seas, he -often named the islands and headlands after days of the week or month. -So it happens that one of the loveliest points on the voyage is known -as “Whit-Sunday Passage,” because it was on that day that Captain Cook -navigated it. - -[Illustration: TOWNSVILLE.] - -Our fourth day out we reached Townsville early in the morning. Its -absurd name is said to be due to the fact that the inhabitants wished -to commemorate the benefactions of a fellow-citizen called Town, -and did not know how to achieve their end less tautologically. We -woke early to find ourselves in a beautiful land-locked bay, called -Cleveland Bay by Captain Cook, who recorded that “the east point I -named Cape Cleveland, and the west, which had the appearance of an -island, Magnetical Isle, as we perceived that the compass did not -traverse well when we were near it.” “They are both high, and so is -the mainland within them, the whole forming a surface the most rugged, -rocky, and barren of any we had seen upon the coast.” He also -notes that they saw “several large smokes upon the main.” To-day a -picturesque little township lies under a sharply escarped granite hill, -with stately, misty coastal ranges in the background. Probably Captain -Cook, like ourselves, saw the beautiful yellow “white-headed eagles” -flying across the harbour. We took some time getting in because the -pilot ran on to a mud-bank, for the bay is very shallow. At last we -came alongside a wharf, and at once went on shore and started on the -long walk to the town. It was very, very hot on shore, and clouds of -grey dust met us all along the road from the landing-stage. We hoped to -reach the church on the hill, at all events before the Sunday service -was quite over. - -Townsville is a picturesque little place, a mining port growing -continually in importance; and in that transitional stage, when rough -wooden corrugated iron buildings are giving place to brick. There -were some very showy hotels calculated to attract the miner with his -pockets full of money, when he comes to town to taste the sweets of -such civilisation as it affords, to spend all he has gained, and to -live riotously as long as it lasts. This at least is the popular -conception of the habits of miners, which was continually impressed -upon us. We were never able to verify these statements, because -though we occasionally conversed with miners, they looked anything but -dare-devils and spendthrifts, and it seemed scarcely delicate to ask -them if it was true that they periodically repaired to the nearest -town to paint it red as long as their money lasted. As for the shops -on either side of the broad, dusty, empty streets over which the -heat brooded, they seemed to consist principally of lettering. Every -minute shanty had above it vast boards proclaiming in letters as large -as itself the name of its owner and the superiority of its stock, -whether bicycles or tents, both essential articles of merchandise in -an outlying Australian town. The more ambitious shops had placards -inside. One enterprising draper called on the passer-by to observe the -rebuilding of his “palatial premises,” while another drew attention to -“Dame Fashion’s latest caprices.” - -We passed a cotton tree with ripe pods, growing in a garden, and -several coco palms, the coconuts hanging in yellow bunches like a -cluster of immense bananas. After crossing a river bordered by mangrove -swamps, and passing through the main street, we struck off up a steep -hill in quest of the church. On climbing a granite mound we found -ourselves at its doors, with a beautiful view of the bay and its green -shores, but no service, for probably to suit the habits of the people -in a hot climate, it had ended about the time our churches at home are -beginning. Following an admirable plan, pursued elsewhere in Australia, -only a section of the church had been completed. There was an apse, -and enough space beyond it to seat a fairly large congregation. It was -very simply constructed, and had the dignity that simplicity gives to a -building. It was of red brick with an ambulatory and a kingbeam roof, -and had an air of being carefully tended. We lingered there a little -wistfully, for in a country very far from home there is a sense of -intimate nearness in hearing read that familiar liturgy, which contains -the noblest prose in the English language. Leaving the church behind -we wandered down towards the shore, and came to a wonderful tangled -garden. Tall palms grew there, and masses of feathery crimson grasses; -bananas drooped their immense purple bells, and the frangipani tree -was bursting into bloom, holding out to us over the fence bunches of -its dazzling, scented, creamy blossoms at the end of its bare, blunt -boughs. Returning, we faced the strong breeze off the sea, which had -been at our backs on the way up. We knew all about the dust on that -walk, and were very glad to attain once more the haven of the ship. - -In the afternoon the whole population came down to the wharf in cars -and buggies to inspect the Australian hospital ship, which was lying -alongside ready to sail. We strolled on the shore, where a large -convolvulus with very succulent leaves grew profusely among the stones; -and watched a forest fire on a mountain at the farther end of the bay; -since the morning it had gradually worked its way right round the crest -and was crawling down one side. Our stay at Townsville should have been -a very brief one, but we were delayed there for three or four days by -the Customs officials, as we were carrying a contraband cargo of meat. -Nobody wanted to stay in Townsville, as there was nothing to be seen in -the neighbourhood, and it would mean cutting short the duration of the -ship’s visit to the Northern Territory. - -The second day of our stay there, we climbed the granite peak that -rises behind the town, going across by a little ferry-boat that plies -between the wharf and the opposite side of the harbour. A strong wind -was blowing in from the sea, as we steamed across to Townsville, lying -deep in dust in the hot sun. We made our way up to the Castle Hill, -the red granite peak that dominates the town. A very steep path leads -up to it, and on the rocks above some goats and kids were silhouetted -against the clear blue sky like a scrap of Swiss scenery. The town from -this side is scattered along the shore, and the slopes above it half -hidden in tropical foliage. Below us were the Botanical Gardens, the -hospital embowered in trees, with the patients lying out on a shady -balcony. Everywhere was the heavy scent and glorious bouquets of gold -and white frangipani. We had been sent in the wrong direction, and -missed the path, so that the ascent was very steep and rough, but we -went on, slipping and scrambling up among falling stones, clinging on -where we could, among big butterflies and lizards, and large brown -grasshoppers with black spots. As we climbed higher Townsville spread -itself out beneath us charmingly. Bungalows nestled among vivid green -foliage, beyond were the blue bay, and its boats, ours amongst them, -riding gaily at anchor, with the dark green wooded mass of “Magnetic -Island” rising behind. Higher still we rested, while a fish hawk soared -far above in the clear blue, and on the southern side Townsville looked -like nothing but a vast mud flat with the river winding through it, and -houses dotted among the mangrove swamps. One fancied that one big wave -might submerge the whole. - -On Wednesday we sailed early, keeping fairly near the coast, and -reaching Cairns the same night. Cairns is the port of Trinity Bay--“a -large and deep bay which I called Trinity Bay after the day on which -it was discovered,” says Captain Cook, who had spent the intervening -days in coasting up here from Whit-Sunday Passage. At Cairns we wished -profoundly that the stringent Australian labour laws would prohibit -night work, for our boat was lading or unlading with all the clangour -and shouting incidental to these operations till 3 a.m. We had to be -called early, because we were only to wait long enough in port to give -the passengers an opportunity of making the return journey to the -famous Barron Falls, about twenty miles inland from the coast, among -some of the most celebrated Australian scenery. From the porthole of -the ship’s corridor we looked straight into a mangrove swamp, beyond -was a background of misty dark hills with heavy clouds rolling down -them. - -[Illustration: BARRON FALLS SCENERY AT CAIRNS.] - -Cairns, apart from its fame for the beauty of its falls and mountain -scenery, is already an important place, and will become much more so, -for it is the port for the rich inland districts, with which it is -connected by railway. This fertile country is suitable for bananas, -maize, for dairying, as well as for the timber trade. In the -neighbourhood of Herberton, south-west of Cairns, fruit-growing is -carried on, and apples, plums, pears, peaches, and vines are all -successfully cultivated. The sugar industry is, besides, a most -important factor in the prosperity of Cairns. Not far from the railway -station of Redlynch, at the foot of the Barron Range, are the Kamerunga -State Nurseries for growing coffee, bread-fruit, coconut, and rubber, -and carrying out all kinds of experiments designed to solve the -problems of tropical agriculture. - -The country is also rich in minerals. Herberton is the principal centre -for the production of tin, and the Herberton and Chillagoe districts -contain deposits of tin, copper, silver, lead, bismuth, gold, and coal. - -Our time, however, did not admit of our penetrating far enough into -the interior to inspect the development of all these agricultural and -mineral sources of wealth, which have so great a future before them; -nor did it admit of our extending our journey far enough for even a -glimpse of the curious and beautiful volcanic Lake Eacham. We had to -content ourselves with the Barron Falls. We went ashore early, but -the boat was late, and the train had got tired of waiting and gone -away, so there was a long interval while it was fetched back and put -together again. We sat about on sacks on a high covered platform, and -conversed with some of the lean, long-limbed Australian workmen about -the Australian labour question. - -Immediately in front three ibises were feeding on a sort of salt -marsh. The range of hills behind was half hidden in cloud. There was -an all-pervading smell of raw sugar from bales awaiting shipment, -and though it was not yet very warm the atmosphere was heavy with -moisture like that of a hothouse. There did not seem to be very much -of Cairns--one or two hotels and boarding-houses, a few wide grassy -streets. The scattered houses on high piles had a more than usually -unfinished air, with washing hanging out, kerosene tins lying about, -and bare-legged children playing among them. There were a great many -goats; two of them had discovered a bag of maize on the wharf and were -having a happy time. At last our train arrived, consisting of one -or two carriages, so arranged that the backs of the seats could be -reversed, and as they all turned sideways you faced the whole length -of the carriage, like a Pullman car, and we got the whole of the view -during the journey, for most of the time the train has one side against -the hill. - -The line from the wharf runs among the houses to the station, where -the school children were just arriving from up country settlements. -After passing some tea gardens, which looked oddly sophisticated in -the bush, we found ourselves among banana fields and pineapples, but -everything was more or less obscured by fine driving rain. There was -still a fair number of scattered houses, built of wood and iron, with -a deplorably drenched air, and handfuls of draggled English flowers -in their little gardens among tropical fruits, paw-paws, and lemons. -When the ascent begins the line soon enters the wonderful tropical -forest--indescribable, unimaginable in the abounding luxuriance and the -variety of its tangled, matted growth. The stately soaring eucalyptus -is always the staple factor in Australian scenery, but here they are -linked together and festooned with heavy ropes of giant creeper, -“vines” they call them in the tropics. - -In the thick undergrowth are ferns, paw-paw trees, bananas, mango -trees, with dark glossy leaves and feathery flowers, and the poisonous -“nettle tree,” or “stinging tree” (_Laportea gigas_). The leaves are -very large, of delicate pale green in colour, and covered with soft -hairs. The stinging hairs, though not large, are so virulent that -cattle have been known to die from the poison. An Australian botanist, -Mr. A. G. Hamilton, “once saw a cow which had rushed through a lot of -small plants. She had lost all her hair and looked like an india-rubber -cow.”[23] - -[Illustration: BARRON, RIVER CAIRNS.] - -The construction of the line must have involved a considerable feat -of engineering, for it winds up the hills like an Alpine railway. -Presently we began to have glimpses of deep dark gorges with a broad -green river flowing beneath us, then we crossed a waterfall slipping -down an almost perpendicular rock, and in flood covering the railroad. -The rain had ceased, and now the rolling clouds, soft loose masses -resting gently on the tops of the tallest gums, suddenly drifted away -and revealed a vast landscape of rare loveliness. Looking down the -opening gorge, we saw the valley of the Barron River, for almost its -whole course, winding to the sea, a pale streak below the dark slopes -of the mountains. The train stopped within sound of the thunder of -the Barron Falls. The swirling water takes its magnificent plunge -in tumultuous clouds of white froth to the gorge below, where rare -butterflies hover, and white cockatoos flutter among the tops of the -gum trees. Above all the tumult two swallows were darting to and fro, -they carried one’s thoughts home. Higher up the river there were -silent green backwaters, and soft sandy foreshores, where little pink -bivalve shells were lying. A big hotel dominated the neighbourhood -of the little station, and a young man and woman, faultlessly -attired in bathing costumes that would have done credit to a French -watering-place, were picking their way daintily down the steep slopes -to the river, giving the oddest note of incongruity to the wildness of -the place. We weighed anchor as soon as the tourist train brought us -back to the wharf. - -We now entered on what proved to be the most interesting part of our -journey, for we kept farther inshore, and the coast became continually -more enchantingly beautiful and more full of interest. It was a time -of halcyon days and balmy nights. The ship’s company were very young -and gay and musical. In the starlit darkness of the tropical evenings -they sang and played charmingly. The Marconi-man was a violinist, the -supercargo had a fine baritone,--the very name of supercargo suggests -the atmosphere of Captain Marryat’s novels, an atmosphere of adventure. -The night we left Cairns the captain had some of the deck lights turned -out, because they made steering more difficult. He said that on a rainy -night he was obliged to anchor, for the coral sea is here often only -six or seven fathoms deep; but that on a clear night, even when there -was no moon, the officer on the watch could still “pick up the islands -with glasses.” The small coral islands are innumerable, and often quite -flat, so that only a practised eye could discern their neighbourhood at -night, even with glasses. - -A great charm of travelling by sea is that it brings one into intimate -relationship with all sorts and conditions of men. People who stay at -home have a tendency to get into sets, to associate too exclusively -with people of their own kind, whose points of view, standards of life -and habits are all more or less the same as their own, and so they -settle into grooves and get dull, and their minds become inelastic. On -a ship, at sea, especially a small ship, the society may be as varied -as the world. One of the most interesting people we met on our travels -was a passenger on the “Montoro.” His business was shipping. He knew -all the islands that are scattered in enticing little groups from the -Torres Straits to beyond New Guinea. He could distinguish at a glance -the different types of natives--Kanaka boys from the Torres Straits -islands, pale-skinned, shock-headed Papuans, yellow Melanesians, or -sooty Cingalese. He knew every inch of the route we were travelling, -having often made the journey. Formerly boats of this line had gone -across to Port Moresby, in New Guinea; and our original intention had -been to visit the island and gain at least a passing glimpse of the -curious native life there. But the boats had been taken off, because, -as our fellow-passenger explained, the route was too dangerous and -expensive in ships and lives. Outside the Barrier Reef there is always -a swell, in which the small boats rolled heavily, and the passengers -grumbled proportionately. On the return journey the prevailing strong -winds heap up heavy seas, and are apt to drive a ship past the narrow -opening in the Reef. Small boats of about 800 tons now run directly -from Thursday Island to Port Moresby. But though we had all the -inclination, we had no time to make this most interesting journey. - -Our fellow-passenger had an interest in the Pearl-fishing Industry -carried on in the neighbourhood of Thursday Island, by the “Island -boys.” These natives of the Torres Straits Islands, for that is what -the term means, have a Government inspector to look after them, and -see that they get a fair proportion of the profits of the trade. -Whatever those profits may be, they are sometimes hardly earned, for -there are many sharks. On one occasion a boy was diving and a shark -seized his head in its mouth. The boy dug his knees and nails into -its throat, forcing it to let go, and was rescued by his friends, his -whole chest horribly lacerated. He was taken ashore as quickly as -possible, and eventually recovered; but the doctor, who was summoned to -his aid, was so impressed with his marvellous escape from death, that -in the interests of science rather than of his patient, he sent for a -photographer and had the boy photographed as he was, before applying -his medical ministrations. One photographer had the photographs made -into picture post-cards. We could buy them, our informant said, when we -reached Thursday Island. The proofs of this story are, unfortunately, -incomplete. We hurried to the post-card shop, when we landed a few -days later, but the photographer, who also sold stamps and string, -sword-fish’s fins, coral, and newspapers, said the post-cards were -sold out. We asked to see the negative, but being busy with other -customers, he excused himself from finding it. We were unable to inform -the narrator of this missing link in his story, for he had left us to -embark for New Guinea on a little boat, in which he would sleep on -deck, and have his meals in the one cabin by the light of a swinging -lamp. We were sorry to lose his amusing company. - -It was during the passage between Cairns and Thursday Island, that -Captain Cook, after having so far successfully navigated these -dangerous seas in his small sailing ship, “became,” by running on -to the Barrier Reef, “acquainted with misfortune.” The name Cape -Tribulation marks the headland to the north of the scene of his -disaster. His boat had passed safely over a shoal, while the ship’s -company was at dinner, though the sudden shallowing of the water -to eight fathoms had caused some temporary alarm. Nevertheless, -all seeming once more safe, “the gentlemen left the deck in great -tranquillity, and went to bed.” A few minutes before eleven, however, -they had struck upon the Barrier Reef, and remained immovable, except -by the heaving of the surge that beat her against the edges of the -rock upon which she lay. In a few minutes everyone was upon the deck, -“with countenances which sufficiently expressed the horrors of the -situation,” for “we had too much reason to conclude that we were upon a -rock of coral, which is more fatal than any other, because the points -of it are sharp, and every part of the surface so rough as to grind -away whatever is rubbed against it, even with the gentlest motion.” It -was not till a week after this disaster, a week of continual labour -and acute anxiety, that they succeeded in getting the ship ashore at -Endeavour Harbour. The place of Captain Cook’s landing is marked by -a low brownish green mound jutting out from the coast, which along -here has a most inhospitable air, the coastal ranges coming down to -the water’s edge. The days passed into weeks before the damage could -be sufficiently repaired to set sail again. As we passed near inshore -these same coastal ranges were deeply purple, with clouds rolling down -their sides. There was no sign of life, not even the smoke of a native -fire, the scene had great breadth and solemnity. - -[Illustration: THURSDAY ISLAND. VIEW OF THE HARBOUR.] - -It was on the same day that we too saw the Barrier Reef, at first -looking like a long sandy bar. Presently the coral itself showed with -some pelicans on it. Here, too, were the blue lagoons of fiction, -small coral islands, with little sandy coves, and pelicans, the only -inhabitants, walking under the trees. The warm water of the sea was -full of life. Yellow-banded snakes swam by, from two to four feet long. -We counted twenty of them in one day. Dampier, exploring the west coast -of Australia in 1699, notes these curious water snakes, which are -said to be very poisonous. He was sailing out of Shark’s Bay when he -observed some “serpents swimming about in the sea, of a yellow colour -spotted with dark brown spots. They were each about four feet long, and -about the bigness of a man’s wrist.” On several occasions we saw -turtles swimming just below the surface of the water. Sometimes the sea -was covered with a thick floating yellow substance not unlike the brown -“scum” which coats stagnant pools at home. Some of it was collected by -letting down a bath sponge on a string. The microscope revealed it as a -low form of animal life. - -Frigate birds were not uncommon, and one night there came on board two -lovely bright green “bee-eaters.” - -So the long sunny days slipped away, and towards sunset the misty -coastal ranges became dim and unsubstantial in the dove-coloured -evening light, while inshore one little white sail could be seen, that -might have been the ghostly vessel of Captain Cook himself. Wednesday -Island was passed the next morning. The islands here mark the days on -which Captain Cook sighted and named them, and we entered the narrow -Thursday Island Passage. - -Thursday Island lies at the extreme northerly point of Australia, Cape -York Peninsula, that juts out, and narrows into a point forming the -eastern side of the Gulf of Carpentaria. To the north of it are the -Torres Straits, to the south Prince of Wales and other islands, among -them that Possession Island on which Captain Cook landed, and formally -took possession of the whole eastern coast in the name of George III, -calling it “New South Wales.”[24] It is a centre for pearl-fishing, and -a Naval Base. It is a sort of native cosmopolis. Every shade and tone -of colour can be seen here, Chinese, Island boys, Papuans, and Malays. -We entered the harbour, where the water was again that wonderful -greenish blue turquoise, and the little fleet of pearling boats rode -at anchor, for the War had put a stop to the industry. Thursday -Island itself was a gay-looking little place, its shores covered -with scattered bungalows, and a tropical forest covering the hills -beyond. Moored near to our own boat was the little New Guinea steamer, -manned by native Papuans. They wore nothing, down to their waists -any way, which was as much as we could see of them, and were a pale -chocolate-au-lait colour, with great mops of black hair. They returned -our enraptured staring by grinning at us with all their white teeth, -aware that they were objects of interest and beauty. This was the first -time we had seen all kinds of natives, of different shades. They manned -the boats round the steamer, that brought on board plenipotentiaries of -the official visits which always precede and delay a landing. At last -we drew up alongside the jetty, and were allowed to go ashore. - -On the shore were innumerable empty coconut shells, also all the -derelict kerosene tins that had not been utilised by Australia were -washed up on the beach. Many of the little shops sell pearls, but the -uninitiated will find that they will do a better bargain with their own -jeweller at home, though the blister pearls are extremely pretty, and -can be bought for a few shillings. We also bought for threepence a copy -of the Thursday Island daily paper, which measured a few inches, and -was only printed on one side. It contained war news of a bewildering -nature. All the shops had large printed notices up in the windows, -warning the inhabitants what to do in case of a raid by a German -cruiser, for the “Emden” and the “Scharnhorst” were then at large. At -the ringing of a bell the women and children were at once to repair -to certain specified places of refuge. The little native children are -extraordinarily tough, and must be nearly as difficult to finish off -as a koala bear. We saw a small black naked baby of about two years -old fall off a verandah. It rolled down a steep flight of steps like a -football. We were hurrying forward to pick it up, but it immediately -scrambled to its feet, whimpered a little, and trotted off, none the -worse. - -The post office to which we went to see if there were any telegrams, -with news from home, had rows of private letter boxes with glass -windows, as it was the custom for people to fetch their own letters. A -notice warned the owners that they must do their own repairs to these -boxes, as their messengers were in the habit of smashing the glass to -extract the letters. Another notice proclaimed that a murderer was -wanted. He was eighteen years old, the son of a half-caste Chinese -mother and a Kanaka father, a parental combination which one could -imagine was fraught with dire possibilities. We walked about the -island in an almost intolerably hot sun, on loose cobbles, alternating -with deep, soft sand. It is an arid, stony place, and bristled with -khaki-clad men. Inside the provision stores, which stood wide open, -Japanese were mending sails. - -Following the path above the little town through a sort of rough scrub, -the ground was overgrown with some strongly smelling aromatic herb, -burnt brown in the sun. We saw here one of the rare ornithoptera, -a gorgeous blue velvet butterfly, and numbers of grasshoppers with -yellow wings that made an odd noise like little castanets as they came -out of the dead herbage. There did not seem to be many living things -except coconut palms and the beautiful heavily scented blooms of the -frangipani. We met the gorgeous nuns belonging to some Roman Catholic -sisterhood, dressed in dazzling blue raiment, which would have put the -“lilies of the field” quite out of countenance; and we avoided the -tropical forest that clothed the farther side of the island, tempting -as it looked at a distance, and were glad that we had done so. Several -of the passengers, who had made an expedition to it in search of -entomological specimens, brought back more than they intended, as they -got badly stung by green ants and ticks. The green ants are very pretty -and interesting at a safe distance; they are green with bright red -legs, and make their nests by sewing together the leaves of a tree, so -as to form a sort of large bag, but their sting is very gainful. The -ticks are much more seriously unpleasant, as they burrow in the skin -to lay their eggs there, leaving their legs sticking out, and if the -victim fails to extract all portions of them they produce a sore and -painful scar. - -Thursday Island has an interesting church--the “Quetta” Memorial -Church. It stands in a green enclosure, with a blooming frangipani -tree, and commemorates the loss of the S.S. “Quetta” of Glasgow, which -some years ago sank on an uncharted rock one moonlight night, with -the loss of nearly all hands. We went into the quiet and airy place. -Just inside the door hangs in a frame, what seems to be a collection -of coral and shells, but closer inspection showed it to be a porthole, -that sixteen years later had been recovered, after having “suffered a -sea change,” and become so encrusted with the beautiful growth of the -sea floor that it was hardly any longer recognisable. - -Returning to the ship, glad to escape from the blinding heat, we found -an oil boat moored alongside. On her some Japanese were eating their -rice with chop sticks, while a brown boy of unknown nationality, and a -picturesque absence of clothes, cleaned cooking pots. - -We now had to cross the wide mouth of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and -round the westerly headland, behind which is the bay, that shelters -Port Darwin in the Northern Territory, our last port of call in -Australia. We sighted two frigate birds and quantities of large white -jelly-fish. We often saw, too, bones of the cuttle-fish floating on -the water, like bits of white paper. They were noted also by Dampier -on approaching the Australian coast: “We began to see some scuttle -bones floating on the water,” he remarks, “and drawing still nearer we -saw quantities of them.” The voyage after getting free of the Barrier -Reef was less entirely pleasant, as all deck and cabin lights had to -be darkened, or left unlighted at night, to disguise or conceal the -ship from prowling German cruisers. The portholes were blackened and -kept shut, the windows of the dining saloon boarded up each evening, so -that dinner was a stifling affair, and our pleasant informal musical -evenings came to an end, for no one could endure the atmosphere of the -music-room. There was, however, compensation, for the darkened decks -were very restful in the evening, and the stars were brilliant as they -had never seemed before, Venus making a path along the water like -moonshine. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -THE NORTHERN TERRITORY - - -The Northern Territory is one of Australia’s many problems. How can the -immense tract of rich and fertile country with its tropical northern -area be cultivated, and its great resources developed, without the -importation of coloured labour? The native black population, though -they are useful and efficient with stock, are found to be unadapted for -agriculture, and incapable of the steady methodical work essential to -its success. The immigration of Chinese, who formerly were the market -gardeners of the neighbourhood of Port Darwin, supplying the small -resident white population with fruit and vegetables, has now been -discouraged, and we saw the plantations they had cultivated falling -back into, and becoming merged with the wilderness of the bush. It is -still an open question whether white men can perform manual labour -under the tropical suns of the coastal belt. Yet the future of Port -Darwin must be assured if it is eventually to become our nearest and -most direct port of call in Australia. It will in time be connected -by railroad with the southern states, as it now is by the telegraph -service. In the interior nomadic tribes of blacks hunt and fish and -wander; hardy settlers have pitched their homesteads in a clearing -in the forest, and raise cattle there, with the nearest neighbour a -hundred miles away; the lonely buffalo hunter plies his lucrative trade -with the help of native hunters. - -The Australians themselves do not seem to know very much more about the -Northern Territory than the average Englishman. They speak of it as an -arid wilderness, much in the same way as they regard Western Australia; -yet, to the visitor from home, it is the beauty and the wildness of -Western and Northern Australia, that make an appeal far more profound -than that of the busy, civilised, and comparatively populous southern -and eastern states. With all their differences they are still too much -like home to stir the imagination. What is popularly known about the -Northern Territory is largely learned from the writings of a clever -Australian woman,[25] who has lived the isolated yet stimulating life -of the settler’s wife in the interior. The part to be played by women -in the future of the Northern Territory is a very important one. It is -a hard thing for a man to go into exile with his cattle and his black -retainers, but if Australian or European women will consent to share -the hardships, and the rough life, and the loneliness, in order to -make a home for their men; bringing to it, as opportunity offers, the -atmosphere and the comforts of civilisation, the problem of opening up -the inland country is helped considerably on its way. That there are -compensations in the life no one can doubt, who has talked with those -who know it, or seen the lonely homesteads in the bush, that wonderful -primeval forest with its manifold beauty and mystery. - -For those who stay at home, no better idea of it can be derived -than from reading Mrs. Gunn’s “We of the Never Never,” in which she -describes the daily life of a cattle station up-country, and all her -odd adventures with the native servants, honest warm-hearted creatures, -with the artless cunning, and the caprices of children. The residents -of Port Darwin talked of the light-hearted gaiety of their native -servants, and their happy irresponsibility. Yet they seem to work well -in their own erratic way; but from time to time they find the call -of the wild irresistible, then they obey it, and steal away to their -native island, or forest tribe, till the conditions of life there weary -them, and the whim seizes them to return. - -[Illustration: VIEW NEAR DARWIN.] - -Approaching Port Darwin from the east the navigation is difficult and -dangerous. All the day before, we had steamed very slowly in order to -avoid reaching the passage of the Vernon Isles after nightfall. The -islands are inhabited, and the smoke of bush fires was frequently to be -seen, either signal fires lighted by the natives, or by Europeans, to -burn off the dead grass at the end of the winter. - -The approach to Port Darwin is charmingly pretty. The tropical -vegetation that comes down nearly to the water’s edge is a vivid green, -and the cliffs that fringe the shore a warm red. The tops of quite -important-looking houses were showing among the trees. - -This was Port Darwin, where we had been told there was “nothing to -see,” for it was only “an arid wilderness.” There is no sensation -quite like that of steaming slowly into an unknown port, the future -is so fraught with delightful and unusual possibilities. The shores -take shape and colour, houses just descried with glasses become clear -and distinct, people are seen on the beach, the vegetation can now be -identified, and finally the ship draws up alongside of the wharf, or -the tender has come to fetch us, and we set foot on a strange shore in -quest of new adventure. - -At Port Darwin adventure had come to us. It was the prettiest scene -imaginable. The coming in of a boat is a gala day for Port Darwin. -It brings letters, and newspapers, and butter, and contact with the -outside world. So the rough wooden pier wore an air of some gay -festival, for most of the European inhabitants had come down to -welcome us on our arrival, and to claim those among us, who had had -introductions to them from friends in the other states. The men were -all in sun helmets and white ducks, the women in white linen, and the -little pier, crowded with its throng of white figures in the strong -sunshine, had for background the brilliant red and green of the shore. -We were fortunate in falling to the share of an official who knew and -cared for the district, and could tell us all we wanted to know about -it. His wife was with him, and another lady, to whom we had had an -introduction, and whose husband was kept busy by the incoming mail. - -They are great organisers at Port Darwin. We were to be taken to -a tea-party in the Botanical Gardens, and received there by the -Administrator, as the Governor of the Northern Territory is called, -and his wife; and an evening lecture was to be given by one of the -passengers. With Australians you become friends in a very short -space of time in their own country. Of their generous kindness and -hospitality too much cannot be said, and the very fact that you are -ignorant of all they know is a bond. At home it is different. They -are often a little on the defensive, because they have an idea that -we shall assume superior airs and consider them “colonial”--a vague -term of opprobrium. Then, too, our ways chill them; their open-handed, -open-hearted hospitality is the natural thing there. In a country, -where there is a perennial shortage of servants, nobody minds or -regards it, if the hostess and daughter of the house change the plates, -except in the richest and most sophisticated circles. We should put off -a dinner-party if our servants were ill, because we are so hampered by -hard-and-fast conventions, not so much because we are inhospitable, but -because we must maintain an accepted standard--it must be impossible -for an Australian quite to understand this. - -A little stuffy lumbering train takes passengers and merchandise from -the wharf to the foot of a steep hill that leads up to Darwin. But it -was too beautiful to immure ourselves in it, so we walked to the shore, -where a Government horse and cart had been commandeered on our behalf. -Its reins were held by “Tommy,” also in white ducks and all smiles. -Tommy was the native servant who, with his “lubra” and a Chinese cook, -ran our friend’s house. We got in and began the ascent of the steep -red hill. The Government horse was tough but deliberate, and crawled -leisurely through the thick red dust. The air was heavy with the sweet -strong scent of a curiously twisted Japanese-looking tree, not unlike -an olive. It was covered with small white flowers, and was called -a milkwood tree. The natives say that the milky juice of the wood -produces blindness. - -At the entrance to Darwin is the Chinese quarter, all tumble-down tin -shanties, unsightly and comfortless, and very poverty-stricken looking, -with shrill children screaming and playing in the dust. Its appearance -gave one an inkling why Australians would rather dispense with the -cheap and efficient Chinese labour than leaven the population of their -great clean land with people who could thrive contentedly in a little -colony of pigsties. Here suddenly was a bullock cart laden with wood, -the little Chinese driver in his immense flat hat, looking exactly as -if he had just stepped off a valuable old tea-tray. It was the very -soul of all Oriental picturesqueness. Leaving behind the comfortable -verandahed houses of the European residents, we struck into a soft red -road that led through the bush to the Botanical Gardens. It seems -incongruous to talk of Botanical Gardens in a place that is yet hardly -a town, but in a new country foresight is essential, and the Government -has set apart here as elsewhere a reserve for the future, when Port -Darwin shall be a great busy port crowded with shipping, and its lonely -shores thronged with houses. - -[Illustration: COCONUT GROVE, DARWIN.] - -It was just at the end of the dry season when we were there, and as -we drove along between eucalyptus and coco palms, and all kinds of -unfamiliar tropical plants, their vivid green contrasted oddly with the -absolutely bare red soil--there was not a blade of grass or green upon -it. This is its normal condition in the dry season, which occurs with -perfect regularity from May to October. The rains are ushered in by -violent thunderstorms and hurricanes, increasing in frequency till the -end of November, when about an inch of rain falls nearly every day. In -January the wet season has penetrated to the heart of the continent. - -Of course, these climatic conditions do not exactly apply to the whole -of a tract of country, which covers more than 500,000 square miles. -From north to south the Territory extends for about 900 miles, and -it is roughly divided into three areas, according to its climatic -conditions. The northern coastal belt is well watered by numerous -rivers, many of them navigable for some distance inland; the district -is very fertile, especially in the neighbourhood of the rivers. It is -described as “luxuriantly grassed” and well adapted for dairying, for -intensive farming, which is, however, at present non-existent, and for -the growth of many subtropical products. - -Farther from the rivers the land is held to be suitable for agriculture -and grazing. This tract of country stretches inland to the tablelands, -where different conditions prevail, and which form the second climatic -zone. The rainfall here is less than half that of the coastal area. The -land rises to some fifteen hundred feet above the sea, and the sharp -distinction between the wet and dry seasons is less strongly marked. -In these tablelands, though there is a poor supply of surface water, -subartesian water is available by shallow boring. The conditions here -are admirable for stock raising. The third area stretches into the -temperate latitudes of the South Australian border, where the rainfall -is variable, but on the average low. Here are the McDonell Ranges, -including fine tracts of country that compare favourably with any part -of Southern Australia. But when all this has been said there remains at -present the question of transport. The great transcontinental railway -has now been extended from Pine Creek to Katherine River, and the -Government has decided to construct another section from Katherine to -Bitter Springs. - -Till lately, settlement has not progressed rapidly on the land in the -immediate neighbourhood of the railway. It is hoped that the Northern -Territory lands will be better developed as the trade in frozen beef -develops. At present the mainstay of the state is beef-production. In -an article on the Northern Territory in “Australia To-day,” December, -1914, Mr. W. H. Clarke, late Director of Agriculture, states it as his -opinion that: “The possibilities in this direction are not far behind -those of Queensland, where the meat export industry is taxing already -to the utmost the output of cattle.” He goes on to say, however, “That -many holdings have been stocked and abandoned, hundreds of leases have -been taken up and forfeited. Men of sound experience and substantial -means have tried the industry in different parts of the Territory, and -given it up in despair. To-day some of the foremost cattlemen condemn -the country outright, yet there are many stations carrying between -them about half a million head of cattle.” He explains the causes of -this anomalous state of affairs by the distance from markets, “the -waste and anxiety of inadequately watered stock routes, an industry -in most cases on lines of crudest pioneering,” a lack of fences or -musterers, and, in the dry season, drinking-places that become “boggy -death-traps,” which hundreds, sometimes thousands of cattle frequent, -“till their numbers are decimated.” The opening of the Freezing Works -at Darwin, and the extension of the railway are the first steps towards -making it worth the while of the Territory pastoralist to remedy these -defects. Freezing Works are being erected. - -Agricultural lands are granted in the Territory on perpetual leases -as long as the holder complies with certain conditions, such as the -erection of a house within two years on his lands, and residence there -for a certain number of months in each year. Pastoral leases are -granted on still more easy terms, and advances are made to settlers for -the purchase of building materials, plant, fencing, and stock. - -The mineral wealth of the Northern Territory is as yet unexplored, -and is still awaiting a more complete geological survey, before it -can be estimated accurately. Gold, tin, and copper have been found in -considerable quantities, but have not as yet been adequately worked. - -When we visited Port Darwin the rains were expected. In about another -week, said our host, they would begin, and in less than a week from -that time the bare red soil would be covered with springing vegetation, -three or four feet high. Here the mango trees, that we had seen in -flower at Cairns, were already bearing the yellow globes of their -fruit. Among a grove of coco palms we saw the picturesque corkscrew -palm, with its odd spiral stem, but we saw no animal life, except a -few peeweets of the smaller kind, though our host said the flocks of -wild geese, that herald the coming of the rain, had already begun to -pass overhead. He also pointed out a spot on the road, in which a short -time before, a large kangaroo had run out of the bush and, startled at -seeing him, cleared his horse’s head at one bound. - -At the entrance to the Botanical Gardens we saw our first banyan -tree, bare of leaves, and showing the curious formation of the -branches. Later we passed one that had already burst into leaf. -The drive afforded lovely glimpses of the harbour, its bright blue -waters lapping the green, wooded shores. In the Botanical Gardens -there were as yet few flowers. The scarlet coral-tree was there, and -another scarlet flowering tree, and some waxy, red hibiscus. The -Administrator and his wife received their guests upon a lawn, that -had somehow retained its grass, and we then sat about at little -tables, and were waited on by the young daughters of the residents; -and anyone seeing their pretty bright faces and healthy colour, would -feel that the much-abused climate of Port Darwin had been greatly -vilified. The scent of a wood fire was wafted over to us, from where -the billy tea was boiling on some logs. The air was delicious; but we -had not started till the heat of the day was over, for, owing to the -unfortunate detention at Townsville, our stay at Darwin, a place of a -hundredfold its interest, had been lamentably curtailed. We had hoped -to see something of the native life. Here the native population has -retained its primitive simplicity. The natives of the interior do not -come into contact with other races. They are, unfortunately, dying out, -like the native Australian animals, for what reason is not definitely -known. The Commonwealth Year Book for 1912 gives the total number of -the native population of the Northern Territory as 20,000, and adds -that it is believed they are rapidly dying out. Of these, 1223 were -semi-civilised, through coming into contact with, or being in the -employment of, European residents. - -The Australian native has always been in a different position from -other primitive peoples. He has not had to contend either with races -superior to himself in intelligence, or with savage wild animals. -Consequently he has had nothing to sharpen his wits, and remains the -most backward race now existing. Professor Baldwin Spencer, the most -recent authority on this subject, points out that though the natives -make use habitually of numerous kinds of grass seed, which they grind, -and make into cakes, it has never occurred to them to sow these seeds -and secure a regular crop. And he adds: “In many tribes, at least, this -is because he knows nothing of the relation between the seed and the -adult plant, and thinks that the latter grows because he makes it so do -by magic.” The habits and character, the strange customs and ingenious -superstitions of these interesting people have been charmingly -delineated in a series of unpretending sketches called “The Little -Black Princess,” by Mrs. Gunn. It is a sort of popular Fraser’s “Golden -Bough,” and is valuable as preserving a record of the everyday life of -the Europeans in the Northern Territory under conditions that must of -necessity soon pass away. - -We could not hope to see the “myals,” or wild blacks, and it was -already drawing towards nightfall. Our host, with delightful -resourcefulness, proposed to take us to the local gaol, as it afforded -the only opportunity of our making acquaintance with the natives. -It was a question whether we could get there before it was dark. A -Government motor-car had just driven up, arrived back from the Daly -River. Its driver was having a hurried sandwich, which he must have -badly wanted, but he at once consented to take us. It was a powerfully -built car, covered with dust, and with no doors, so that we had to -scramble in over the sides, which we did with great alacrity. As we -were starting one of the ladies who had taken charge of us said, “Of -course you will dine with us to-night. Our servants have gone off, and -we have got workmen in the house, but that will make no difference, if -you will come.” There was the typical Australian hospitality, which -is so unlike what we mean by the word. If we had accepted, we should -no doubt have had an excellent dinner served on the verandah; but we -declined, as we had to dress for the evening lecture, and accepted -instead an invitation to supper afterwards. - -This point satisfactorily settled, we proceeded to the gaol. The gaol -looked very clean and new and official. Its gates were closed, and some -scarlet hibiscus was in flower by the fence. On a look-out station -a sooty black man was keeping watch with a telescope for incoming -vessels. The prisoners had all gone to bed for the night, but they -were fetched out to make our acquaintance, and lined up in the grounds. -Inside it was cool and airy, with black cement floors, to match the -inmates. Out they came, the poor gaol-birds, wild things of the woods, -with the limitless forest to roam over, cooped up in a cell for -following the natural bent of any wild animal to fight and kill. They -have little sense of time, and their sentences are not for long; they -spend nearly all their day in the open air. They stood in a pathetic -little row in their dark blue prison dress, with their sooty, shaven -heads. One was in chains, as being held to be dangerous and likely to -give trouble. There seemed to be different types, some of them were -much flatter-nosed than others. Most of them were in for murder; in two -cases it had been provoked by cruelty. In one of these a white man had -justly earned the hatred of his black neighbours. The case, said our -friend, had been very well got up.[26] It was proved that the dead man -was fishing for bêche-de-mer[27] one moonlight night; the natives whom -he had injured lay in wait for him, and speared him to death. Morally -they were justified by their own code, but the forces of order were -obliged to assert themselves. - -Life sentences are imposed for murder, but the prisoners are always -released, the period of their detention depending on their good -behaviour, for often they pine away in captivity. - -Looking at these simple, childlike, confiding creatures, who play -marbles for amusement, one felt that any white who could treat them -cruelly deserved all he got. Only one of them looked at us with the -gloomy, smouldering eyes of a caged animal. The others all greeted -our host with beaming confidence. One man’s skull was deeply cleft -horizontally for about two inches. “By a black fellow,” he remarked -without resentment. Another from Pine Creek was asked what he was in -for. “Longa fight Chinaman,” he responded with a reminiscent chuckle -of satisfaction. It was the last amusing thing the poor fellow had -done. Another was in “longa kill Chinaman,” as he unconcernedly -explained. Our friend with the cleft skull had committed a very cruel -murder. After acting as guide to a white man in the bush, he followed -him secretly for days, and finally murdered him in his sleep for the -little food he had got left, and he was almost starving at the time. -We had come from England and must return, our host told them. “No -savvy,” they replied vaguely. So we said good-bye to our poor little -dusky brothers, and turned back to the Botanical Gardens to recover the -Government cart and horse. At parting, our driver took out of a native -basket a little collar of coloured beads made by the natives up the -Daly River, and gave it to us as a memento of our brief acquaintance. - -[Illustration: ANT-HILLS.] - -There were only three cars in Darwin, and the snorting noise made -by the one in which we returned awoke our horse to such terrified -and mettlesome curvetting, that we could only remount the seat with -considerable difficulty. We drove back through the gathering dusk with -flying foxes soundlessly flitting across our path. By the time we -reached the jetty darkness had come on. We had to make a hasty change, -and after a hurried dinner, we started back again in the heavy, moist, -scented darkness to find the hall in which the evening’s lecture was -to be delivered. It was very funny to find that early closing was -compulsory in Darwin. Chinatown must hate it. The little shops were -half lighted, and in the dusk seated figures like small Buddhas were -dimly discernible outside. A strong, Oriental smell hung over it all. - -We shall always remember the scene of the lecture in the Town Hall. The -moist heat, the little red ants that swarmed on the floor, above the -voice of the lecturer, the frail rattle of the grasshoppers outside -insistent and unceasing; and the white-clad rows of men, gravely, -unwaveringly attentive. - -After the lecture the kindly lady, who is the wife of the -Administrator, proposed a delightful scheme of giving us an early -breakfast at seven, and driving us out to the nearest native compound. -How exquisite the freshness of morning would have been in that tropical -country, and how full of interest and novelty the whole expedition. We -were only too eager to go, but there were depressing rumours of our -departure at dawn. We were now to visit our hostess of the afternoon, -and, guided by our host, we stumbled across what they called a paddock, -which seemed to be full of tussocks of some dead weed that smelt like -horehound. - -The stars were brilliant, the Southern Cross pointing our way as it -hung just above the dark roof of the house. At the entrance to the -garden was a banyan tree, and there were green ants’ nests among the -leaves of the other trees, neatly sewn up like long, narrow bags, -and green ants with red legs were running about everywhere, even on -the window-sills. We sat on the verandah, and were given buffalo -tongue sandwiches, which have an agreeable, esoteric flavour, quite -incomparable to anything else. It was all very pretty and comfortable, -despite the absence of servants. The Port Darwin housewife has to wage -an active and unceasing warfare against insect pests. Food cannot -be left on the table for a short time without ants swarming on it. -Large cockroaches three or four inches long lurk behind furniture; -the destructive silver fish conceal themselves in unopened drawers, -and mosquitoes make life a continual irritation, unless ceaseless -precautions are taken. Still, active vigilance will reduce all these -pests to a minimum. - -The pleasant evening slipped away too soon. It was time to return to -the port. We strolled back through the mysterious night, moist and warm -and scented by flowering frangipani in the gardens of the dimly seen -bungalows. Our boat lying below in the harbour was a blazing patch of -light; the glow of a distant bush fire lit up the opposite coast; and -that was all--all that we saw of the Northern Territory, mysterious -fascinating, and beautiful, with its vast and intricate problems -of labour and climate waiting solution. For with early morning we -slipped away from its red and green shores, just as the rising sun had -crimsoned all the glassy sea. That is our last memory of Australia, -and of all the places we visited it was Port Darwin that we were most -loth to leave, for we somehow felt that Australia had kept her best -till last. - - - PRINTED BY - WM. BRENDON AND SON, LTD. - PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND - - - - -FOOTNOTES - - -[1] A genus named after a nurseryman who introduced these Australian -plants into London. - -[2] On the goldfields the grant is £8 10s. per each child and the -teacher’s income £40. - -[3] A summary of the history of Western Australian Educational -Development will be found in the State Handbook, contributed by the -Hon. Walter Kingsmill, formerly Minister for Education. - -[4] From the Federal Handbook to Australia, p. 204. - -[5] “Ringbarking” is effected by cutting away an encircling strip or -ring of bark round the trunk and so slowly killing the tree. - -[6] See Federal Handbook for this question, pp. 171, 414. - -[7] Federal Handbook, pp. 445–53. - -[8] Federal Handbook, p. 173. - -[9] “Army Review,” Vol. IV., January, 1913. - -[10] “Times,” January 28, 1915. - -[11] Ladies are not admitted to the Melbourne Club. - -[12] Dr. J. W. Barrett, C.M.G., M.D., in the “Handbook to Victoria.” - -[13] See Mr. H. M. Murphy, Chief Inspector of Factories, on the -“Victorian Labour Laws,” “Handbook to Victoria,” p. 203. - -[14] H. M. Murphy. - -[15] “Handbook to Victoria,” p. 40. - -[16] “Handbook to Victoria,” p. 42. - -[17] In the “Half-time” school the teacher divides his time between two -centres. - -[18] See “Sheep and Wool for the Farmer,” Part I., J. Wrenford -Matthews. Published by the Department of Agriculture, N.S. Wales. - -[19] For details of this system see “Wheat in New South Wales,” by G. -L. Sutton, Tourist Bureau, Sydney. - -[20] “Farming on the Shares System,” Government Tourist Bureau, Sydney. - -[21] In reference to the vast amount of sand in West Australia, the -West Australians are called “Sand-gropers.” Life was hard in early -South Australia, and hence the South Australians remain “Crow-eaters”: -Victorians, proud of their giant gum trees in Gippsland, are called -“Gum-suckers,” and only the New South Wales people are genuine -“Cornstalks.” - -[22] W. Harrison Moore, Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne. - -[23] “Flora of the South Coast,” “Handbook to New South Wales,” p. 395. - -[24] There has been considerable difference of opinion among writers -on the early history of Australia, as to whether Captain Cook did or -did not name the whole of this district New South Wales. It is true -that the name New South Wales does not appear in Cook’s journals, and -Bladen, editor of the “Historical Record of New South Wales,” says that -“the name appears to have originated with Hawkesworth,” who edited -“Cook’s Voyages.” Kitson, however, cites a letter written by Cook, 1771 -(“Life of Cook,” p. 149), in which the words occur, “The east coast of -New Holland, or what I call ‘New South Wales.’” Hawkesworth therefore -did obtain the name from Cook. - -[25] Mrs. Æneas Gunn, “We of the Never Never.” - -[26] An account of this interesting trial has been brilliantly given in -“An Untamed Territory,” Macmillan and Co., by Miss Elsie Masson. - -[27] In Malay called tripang. - - - - - * * * * * * - - -Transcriber’s Notes - - - - -Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a -predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they -were not changed. - -Simple typographical errors were corrected; unpaired quotation -marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left -unpaired. - -Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs -and outside quotations. - -The List of Illustrations refers to an illustration on the cover, but -the source of this eBook did not include that illustration. - -Footnotes originally were at the bottoms of pages; in this eBook, they -have been sequentially renumbered and placed at the end of the book. - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAMBLES IN AUSTRALIA*** - - -******* This file should be named 65166-0.txt or 65166-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/5/1/6/65166 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - |